Extra Saving Jade Pt 1
Jade never quite fit in.
She was either too much, or too little. She played video games, yes, but she also wanted to wear pink and sparkles, and she thought dragons were just about the best things ever. Despite all of this, no one ever seemed to want to play with her. She was either too tall, too talkative, too quiet. Ultimately, she was too much, so she kept quiet... until she was too little.
Her brother, Aegis, was always too busy. Once they realized he had the Alpha gene, their father had gone all in on trying to train him for it, and Aegis was determined to excel. This was all well and good, but all of Jade’s favorite games were multiplayer, and now that Aegis was too busy… she had no one to play with her.
Then puberty hit.
Aegis hit the half-way shift first, of course. He was older by a year; that made sense. Even then, though, he’d hit it early. He was the first in his class to shift, and everyone just nodded and said, “That makes sense.” He was made for this.
Jade was dead last.
“Are you ever gonna shift?” One of the girls asked, curling her lips. She was in the half-way shift, herself, that terrible phase of puberty. “You’re the Alpha’s daughter. You’re like, the runt, or something. The runt of the litter!”
That name stuck.
“You can’t stress over it,” her mother, the Luna of the pack, tried to explain to her one night. Jade sobbed in her bed, covers over her head, begging to stay home from school, because wherever she went, if Aegis wasn’t around to stop them, all her classmates called her “Runt”.
“How can I not stress?” Jade sobbed. “Mom, why can’t I shift? Why isn’t it happening?”
“I told you, honey. The more you stress your body out, the longer it’ll take to change.”
“If I could just change, people would finally like me,” Jade sobbed. "Can't Daddy tell them all to stop?"
"He could," the Luna said slowly, "but that wouldn't be a good thing."
"Why not?!"
"Forcing them to stop doesn't make the thoughts go away, and it doesn't make you stronger. It forces them to lock those feelings inside... and bigger packs than ours have fallen because of it."
Jade didn't want to understand... but she thought she did. I have to do this myself. I can't have everyone else fighting my battles for me. I just... I wish I wasn't alone.
If I could just shift, she thought, pinning her whole world on that first shift, then the bullying would end. If I could just shift, they’d all finally accept me. If I could just shift, all my problems would get better…
She should’ve known better.
When Jade finally shifted, the bullying got worse. “Dead last,” Brittani Choi laughed, howling with laughter. She was the Queen, the head honcho, the witch with a capital “B” of the student body. Even the older kids stayed on her good side. “You really are the runt of the litter!”
Brittani was one of those awful girls, the ones that weren’t a werewolf, but wanted to be. To Aegis’s face, she was all fluttering eyelashes, sugar and sweetness, kindness itself. She’d pretend to be nice to Jade, an act she put on directly in front of him.
Thank God Aegis wasn’t an idiot.
“I’m glad she’s not a werewolf,” he said, curling his lip in frustration one afternoon. Jade was hiding in the bathroom, and he was sitting outside the door, ignoring their father’s summons for training. “If someone like that was actually in my pack, I don’t know if I could be a good Alpha.”
“You’re the best at everything you do,” Jade sniffled. “Why am I the worst?”
“You’re not the worst, Jade. There’s no skill barrier here. They’re making it harder on your body, and they know it. That’s what Mom says.”
“What if Mom’s wrong? What if it’s me? What if I’m broken?”
“You’re not broken.”
But she found it very hard to believe him.
Things didn’t get easier. Aegis closed himself off; just about everyone he knew was after him for something. The future Alpha of Black Lake Pack was a hell of a connection to have, not just in the pack, but in the town. He would be the Alpha of the largest pack in the territory; to be his Luna was to essentially be a real life Queen. To be his Beta was to be the Captain of the Knights… or something like that. The Guinevere and Lancelot to his King Arthur, sans the whole cheating bit.
That was a lot of pressure to put on any teenager.
When Aegis was thirteen, he attained shifting mastery. That was young, even for Alphas, and it only seemed to drive it home that he would be an exceptional Alpha. He withdrew into himself, and the rest of their classmates tried even harder to win his favoritism- a gift none of them would ever get.
By the time everyone else hit fourteen or fifteen, they’d all gotten their mastery. With each passing day- with each classmate that got their final shift- Jade’s horror deepened. She was locked in the half-way, and she was only getting older, a fact that they all most definitely noticed.
“The Runt still isn’t shifting,” Brittani sneered in the hallways, when Aegis wasn’t nearby. “You can’t hide behind your books, Runt. You’re too big, too tall, too awkward. You’re always going to look like that.”
“And you’re always going to be a rat, but I don't see you getting all bent over it!”
Jade looked up in disbelief, peeking through her thick hair. She knew the girl who spoke, standing at the end of the hallway like a comic book hero. She was one of the many who had doe eyes for Aegis; in their science class, Jade was pretty sure she’d caught her doodling her name with Aegis’s all over her notes.
“Ugh,” Brittani said, flipping her perfect hair and looking at the girl. “You. Just when I think I’ve gotten rid of you, there you are, like some kind of bad odor.”
“I’m glad you know you smell,” the girl said promptly, striding down the hallway. Behind her was Ivy Melina, a girl who brought trouble- and laughter- everywhere she went. She and Sylvia Lake- the girl leading the way- had been inseparable for as long as Jade could remember, a friendship she had envied with all her heart.
Why can’t I have that?
“Whatever,” Brittani snapped. “Can’t find Aegis? We all know you’d be following him if you had the chance.”
“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” Ivy laughed. Her thick, dark curls bounced with her energy. “As if you don’t try to get him to walk you home everyday!”
“Shall we recount the number of times he’s turned her down?” Sylvia wondered loudly.
Brittani flushed red as the hallway was filled with snickers.
“Whatever, freak,” she snapped. “You’re such a poser, pretending to be all high and mighty! Aegis isn’t here to notice, so you can quit the act!”
Miraculously, she flipped around, and her dedicated gaggle of zombies following behind her, all of them shooting Sylvia and Ivy murderous looks. It was her money that they liked; her father and mother were rich beyond reason, and powerful beyond belief.
Watching all of that go down would have been enough, but not a second later, Sylvia was on one side, sliding her arm through Jade’s, and Ivy was on the other.
“I’m getting real sick of watching her be such a witch to you,” Sylvia announced. “I should’ve done something sooner.”
“All that mooning around has got you distracted,” Ivy snickered.
“Oh, shut up,” Sylvia said, turning pink. “As if he’d ever notice me.”
Jade tried to untangle her arms. “You don’t have to-“
“We’re here as your escorts,” Ivy said brightly. “I’m the muscle. Anyone tries to get close, and I’ll knock their block off.”
“No fighting, Ivy, you’re on probation,” Sylvia groaned. “Seriously. I promised your mom I’d keep you out of trouble.”
“Braver men have failed before you, my friend.”
“What we’re saying,” Sylvia said, ignoring Ivy, “is that we’re your new guard dogs. I’m sick and tired of everyone being assholes.”
“On God,” Ivy said, holding up a hand like she was taking a solemn oath.
And they kept their word.
For days after this, any time Brittani and her horde of minions approached Jade, Sylvia and Ivy appeared out of nearly thin air to harass, harangue, and generally attack her tormentors. Then, when all seemed to be at peace again, off they went, without seeming to want or expect anything in return.
It was… bizarre.
Jade was no stranger to people acting nice toward her- at least, temporarily- because of Aegis. He attracted the female population like flies to honey. The more surly and short he got, the worse it seemed to get. Jade knew better than to fall for those sorts of people; she was wise to the game. Get close to the sister, get close to the next Alpha.
But Sylvia was… different. Now that Jade was paying closer attention, Sylvia never sought her out when Aegis was around. Jade said nothing about Sylvia’s actions to her brother out of curiosity, and shockingly, Aegis never brought it up, which meant Sylvia had never mentioned it, either. If no one else was bringing it up to him, it was likely because they were either embarrassed at their own lack of action, or didn’t want Sylvia to get the leg up over them… and Sylvia seemed fine to let sleeping dogs lie.
This was… confusing to Jade. No one had ever done anything for her, for her. The concept that someone could actually be concerned about her not because of what she could do for them, but because it was unfair to her, was new and somewhat terrifying. What if they’re just better at the game than others? Jade asked herself, fretting in front of her mirror.
Then Sylvia and Ivy started sitting with her at lunch.
It was a sudden thing, and quiet. Jade never ate in the cafeteria; too many people. She ate alone under the stairs near the back of the quad where Aegis and half the pack hung out, Paul acting like his personal bouncer.
“There you are,” Sylvia said, dropping onto the floor next to her. “Oooh, the concrete is cold here. No wonder you like this spot.”
“Be so for real,” Ivy snorted, sitting on her other side. “She’s here because there’s no way Basic Brittani would ever deign to duck under stairwells.”
“Even better,” Sylvia laughed.
“What are you doing?” Jade asked, her voice small.
“Well, frankly, we’ve been trying to figure out where you ate for like, weeks,” Sylvia said. “I could’ve just asked, but I thought you might lie to me if we did, so we’ve been trying to figure out where you were.”
“We’re guard dogs, right?” Ivy held up her sandwich and grimaced. “Ugh. Another ham and cheese. Mom’s been going overboard for Marcus lately; all I get are soggy sandwiches.”
“I’ll trade you,” Sylvia said, offering up her own plate. “I’ve got leftover spaghetti.”
“Oh, hell, yeah.”
Jade watched them in silent awe and fear. The two were closer than close, the very type of friendship she’d always dreamed of, but never accomplished.
“Why’s everyone so mean to you all the time?” Ivy asked finally, turning to look at her. “I mean, it’s been going on for years. It feels almost like it’s just overstayed its welcome, at this point.”
“I… don’t know,” Jade said quietly. “I think it’s all Brittani.”
“No, that’s a good point,” Sylvia said, very serious. “Everyone’s afraid of Brittani. I mean, let’s be real, they’re just glad they’re not the ones with the targets on their back.”
“She's not even that bad,” Ivy added. “I mean, what’s the worst she’s thrown at us so far, name-calling? Like that’s something I’ve never heard before.”
"There was that one girl who left town because of how badly Brittani bullied her," Jade pointed out in a small voice.
Ivy frowned. "Oh, yeah. Karishma. I forgot about her. I wish I'd done something back then, too, but I was uh... indisposed."
"In detention," Sylvia corrected, winking. "Also, I was thinking- do you want to come shopping with us after school? There’s a couple of thrift stores here that have the best circulation of clothes. I’m talking serious brand names that just… I dunno, don’t sell or whatever, but man, you can get some really good stuff for pennies.”
“I… I don’t know,” Jade said, shrinking back. The list of possibilities for pranks and betrayals were endless…
“You can bring your mom, if you like,” Sylvia offered. “I’m sure Aegis is busy, and I don’t want to stress him out with anything like that.”
The comment confused Jade. She squinted at her. “But… you like him, don’t you?”
Sylvia turned scarlet and looked at her feet. “I mean, yeah, but why would I want to make life harder for the guy I like? He’s got enough problems on his hands. Besides- I’m not even a werewolf.”
That was interesting. Jade sat up a little, curious in spite of herself. “Don’t you want to be with him?”
“Oh, more than anything,” Sylvia gushed. Ivy snorted into the spaghetti.
“Don’ get 'er shtarted,” she said, around a mouthful. “She’ll never quit.”
“Oh, be quiet,” Sylvia scoffed. She turned back toward Jade. “That’s not the point, though. It’s not going to happen, and I’m fine with that. But I think what you really need is something to feel comfortable in. Powerful, even.”
Jade’s eyes widened. “Powerful?”
“Clothes are power,” Ivy announced. “Finding your fashion is scary, but man, when you find something you feel good in, it’s crazy what it can do for you. I swear by that.”
“I know it seems vain,” Sylvia said, “but seriously. We don’t even have to buy anything. We can spend some time trying on some new clothes, and you can start to see what you feel the best in. What do you think?”
Jade toyed with her shirt. She'd always worn big, baggy black clothes to try to disappear. Hard, when you were the last mid-shift pubescent werewolf on campus. “You… really don’t mind?”
“No way,” Ivy said. “Scout’s honor.”
“You’re not a scout, Ivy.”
“Whatever, then- Guard Dog’s honor.”
Jade heard herself laugh, and was almost shocked by the sound of it. A thread of hope bubbled in her gut. Could she really have what they had…?