Page 14 of Legacy Wolf: Semester One (Legacy Wolf #1)

RAWLING

“I still have my stupid English paper to finish.” Jack dropped her head into her pillow and screamed.

I understood the feeling. The professors had been piling on the work lately, and I hated it.

Shit, all of the students hated it. The professors had lulled us into a quiet calm before the storm, as it were, the last two weekends, leaving Jack and me bored with nothing to do, and now… boom, all the work.

I couldn’t concentrate. Everything was distracting me, from the sound of the fluorescent light on our ceiling to the slight breeze through our window. I needed to get out of this place and now.

Things had been different lately. I couldn’t even quite pinpoint how—they just were. Part of it was Jack. Ever since that day she came back with Atticus and told me I stank, things had been different. She wasn’t mean or anything, she just looked at me with almost pity from time to time.

I did ask her about it a few times, but she brushed me off, saying it was just the stress of soccer and classes. And maybe I was just being overly sensitive or it was me feeling trapped in Sombertooth. Whatever the case was, a day out was in order.

“What if you took a few hours off to refresh your mind?” I asked when she finally picked her head up. “Sometimes walking away for a bit makes things easier.”

It was true, regardless of my motives.

“What do you have in mind?”

That was easier than I thought it would be.

“Let’s go to town. We can buy junk food and grab some coffee from a cafe, and I don’t know… we’ll find something.” I wasn’t even sure what stores were in town. But it was better than chilling here and not getting anything done.

“They don’t really like us going to town.” Which wasn’t a no. “The townspeople don’t like to be inundated with students.”

That was the complete opposite of my last school. The town we were in thrived because of the influx of money brought in by the way we tended to throw money around irresponsibly. Between the bars and the convenience stores, students spent a ton of cash there.

“But the influx of money would be good, right?”

Jack shrugged.

“So you won’t go with me?” Because I had to get out of the room, this house, and this campus.

“No. I will. But there are rules.” She climbed off of her bed and stretched. “First, let’s put on some non-school clothes, and then I’ll give you the rundown.”

It didn’t take long for me to find my jeans and a hoodie. The feeling of having my own clothing on relaxed me some. I hadn’t realized how much I missed them. The uniform was fine, but my comfy jeans… nothing compared.

Jack came out of the bathroom wearing leggings and a hoodie. Even if the townspeople did despise students from Sombertooth, we were probably fine. Nothing about us shouted we were from the university except our age.

“Okay, there are rules.” She started to dig in her desk drawer. “From what I understand, these are the businesses we aren’t welcome in.”

She held the paper out for me. It wasn’t an official letter or anything, just her own handwriting scribbled across the paper. The list was not short.

“How do you know this?” I knew they were sketchy about us heading there, but a full-on list like this brought it to an entirely new level.

“I pay attention,” was all she said. She grabbed the list, folded it up, and shoved it in the pocket of her hoodie. “Let’s go. As much as I hate it, I do need to be back in time to work on my stupid paper.”

The trip to town was short, and I felt myself relaxing the farther we got from campus.

There were days when it felt like I’d made the best decision ever by coming here and others when I was wishing I’d never even applied.

Now that I had my godfather’s book, the days of questioning my decision were fewer.

“It’s nice out, at least,” Jack said, breaking the silence we’d found ourselves in.

“Yeah, not too bad.” The coffee shop that was on our no-go list came into sight. “Maybe there will be another coffee shop?”

“I heard there’s a bakery on the next street over.” And instead of crossing the street and passing the coffee shop, Jack went the long way around. She hadn’t been kidding when she said the places were on the no-go list.

Weird, but whatever. I could learn what was and was not off limits. The last thing I needed to do was to get in trouble. Coach would flip her lid if I was disqualified from a tournament because I was too busy being brought in front of the discipline board because I caused a ruckus in town.

“I hope they have cupcakes,” I said.

I could already smell the bakery. Whatever they were making, I wanted some.

“Watch where you’re going.” Of all the voices I wanted to hear, Atticus’s wasn’t one of them.

“Where did you come from?” The words fell from my lips before I thought them through, and when I looked up, I noticed Atticus wasn’t alone. Nope. He was standing there with Phelan.

“Same place you did, I suspect.” Atticus smirked. “Although I suspect that unlike us, you really shouldn’t be there.” As if he were some magical being that didn’t have to abide by any rules because of his magnificence.

“I just meant I didn’t see you coming,” I grumbled, wanting nothing more than to not be here having this conversation. “Have a nice afternoon.” I went to grab Jack’s arm to lead her with me, but she moved as I did.

“We have just as much a right to be here as you do.” Her hands formed little fists at her side. “You are not better than us just because?—”

“I think we’re going to grab coffee,” Phelan cut her off. “Bye.”

Atticus wasn’t happy about his friend interfering, but he went along with it, and Jack stayed put, just watching as they walked away.

“They aren’t worth it,” I reminded her. Although given she was in some sort of messed-up relationship with Atticus, I doubted that she would believe me. I knew I wouldn’t if I were in her position.

And in a way I guess I was, but at least Phelan wasn’t evil.

“They’re going to go to the coffee shop.” She whipped out the list. “What makes them think they can do whatever they want?”

I didn’t want to get into it with her. She and I both saw firsthand that rules only applied to some people, and that certain people had the ability to do whatever they wanted. For whatever reason, Atticus fell into that category. Did I like it? Fuck no, I hated it, but it was what it was.

“Ignore them. Let’s just get our sweets on.” She looked at me and gave a single nod. “I bet we can eat enough sugar to give us energy to get all our work done.”

“You mean to make the dentist happy.” She forced a laugh. “You’re buying.” She shoulder-bumped me.

“Only fair since I dragged you out.”

We walked the short distance to the bakery.

It wasn’t set up as a place to buy a treat and sit and enjoy it with a cup of coffee, but that didn’t stop us from picking up an entire box full of delights.

They had everything, from cupcakes to macaroons to donuts.

If it was sweet and bad for you, they had it.

“You get to pick the next stop.” I held our box, using all my willpower not to open it right up and devour the goodies inside.

“Maybe we should just go back.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “I think I’ve had enough town for the day.”

“No candy store?”

That had her lips curling into a small smile.

“Maybe I could be convinced to get some candy.”

We walked back into our room just over an hour later with enough candy and baked goods to feed the entirety of Phoenix House. Not that we were sharing.

As uncomfortable as it was running into Atticus and Phelan while we were out, I was still glad we went. I needed the air and some break from campus. Jack must’ve too. She finished her paper in record time, and the two of us spent the night watching cheesy movies and devouring far too much sugar.

“Sorry I was weird while we were out.” Jack climbed into bed and clicked off her lamp. “I know Atticus is not a good guy. I do. But the sex is amazing, and it’s not like I want to be his girlfriend.”

I hoped she was telling the truth, but the pair was very touchy-feely at Sombertooth. Maybe it was me being with Jack that made Atticus so bad-tempered today. I always thought Jack had the upper hand in whatever they called what she and Atticus had.

Phelan was never as cruel as Atticus was to pretty much everyone. Or maybe he was and I was choosing not to see it.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re amazing.”