Chapter 10: Teacher's Pet

I heard Nick ask me from his seat across the table. I reached for my binder and dug through my papers for a moment before coming up with the thick packet.

"Here you go, Mrs. Hersh's 500lb packet of doom." I said robotically, imatating the saleswomen I saw on TV. Nick chuckled and as he took the packet pretended to struggle getting it until his lap.

"Oh wow, this is 500lb." Nick gasped, his eyes going wide as he pretended to look shocked. The both of us laughed, struggling to keep the chuckles down since we were in the library.

"You really go all out for a joke huh Nick." I sighed once we had once stopped laughing. Nick looked confused and I wondered why.

"What do you mean 'go all out for a joke?" He asked me, flipping through the pages of the study guide with his eyes to the book now.

"You pretended to find the book heavy right?" I asked unable to believe that he really struggled with it.

"No," He frowned, still flipping through the pages for what he was looking for. "This book is damn heavy. I had to concentrate a bit for it."

My mouth opened in shock and Nick was about to ask why I was making that face but instead I just started laughing again.

Nick and I were in the school library to get some well needed studying. We would've done it in our room but having a desk to lay out your stuff and hold your computer compared to your bed is much better. And Warlo was blasting his music, though all three of us can enjoy some Kpop two of us can't study with it.

Things like this were pretty normal for me after going to my classes for a few weeks. I am feeling comfortable at this school and the new student jitters have all but vanished. My relationships with the people around me are not that different from how they were when I first arrived. I had gotten closer to my brother and sister and we all got along even better than we did when we all still lived together, especially my brother, Orlando, and I. My sister and I had stayed somewhat close after she started coming to Calfuray Academy by talking online and through our mind link constantly, but I had never felt comfortable enough with my brother to do the same. But now that we had the school to further bond over I could see that conversations now came easily to the two of us.

Sam has also started to become a large part of my life and I am glad to have a best friend so soon; The rest of my friends, unsurprisingly, are primarily the four guys that I first met. Harvey, Thulani, Nick, and Warlo.

Though talking to the four of them at once sometimes is an awkward affair we all seemed to get along just fine. Warlo and Harvey became surprisingly close even though they constantly bickered, but Warlo seemed to find himself in a discussion or argument with just about anyone and it is borderline magical how you can suddenly find yourself arguing against him over pickles. I actually had a discussion with Warlo over male rompers and by the end of it I realized that I didn't know what they were. But the real problem I had here was him.

I know I should have gotten over him or at least gotten some information, but our "relationship' was almost exactly the same as it was the first time I tried to see him. He now talked a little bit more about his childhood and asked me to talk a lot more about myself so our talks we're now conversations. Yet there still seemed to be no chance of me seeing who he was. At least with his permission. And to make it even worse he had started touching me. Running his fingers along my scalp, his hands up and down my arms, even completely pulling me against his chest and hugging me. I felt like I was being slowly torched and my tormentor had no idea of the pain that he inflicted.

I was truly falling for a faceless stranger. A faceless stranger with four siblings and parents who only started being a part of his life once he could live alone. Parents who only realized their mistakes when those mistakes could no longer be reversed or fixed. I cried when he first told me and what broke my heart was the emotionless way that he had revealed the information to me, offhandedly like we were talking about the weather.

I sighed heavily from my spot in the library. Thinking about him nowadays always did this, I either became extremely happy or painfully moody.

"You're thinking about them again aren't you." I looked up to find Nick shaking his head oddly.

"What?" I heard what he said but at the same time I didn't so I asked anyway. Nick scoffed and gestured to me.

"You always get like this when you think about them, whoever this person is they have got you whipped man." Nick explained, shrugging unapologetically. I gaped at him but he just laughed in my face.

"What, I'm not . . . nobody has me whipped Nick." I told him firmly, crossing my arms. Nick nodded his head but his sarcastic 'sure' was so fake I knew that the point was poorly received.

Nick and I only knew each other for a short amount of time but it seemed like the sneeky little guy had started to read me like an open book. It was getting annoying trying to keep things from him and he made it his business to bud his nose into my business. Yet I was somehow still hanging out with him.

Now way would I tell him any of that though, the guy would read right through those words and find even more meanings that I didn't even know were true!

"Anyway, have you gone over the points that you needed to study yet? I want to get back so we can watch a movie in the den." I started putting away my books as I asked Nick but he shook his head. I was changing the subject, hoping to get him to drop it. Seems like it was working.

"No, I'm almost done but I still need a little bit more time." He told me. I slouched back into my seat and opted for going to watch a few YouTube videos while I waited. "And are you sure that you can watch a movie? Those guys can get possessive over that TV." I could see why Nick would be worried but I knew the guys too and I had it covered.

"I called ahead to get some help, don't worry it will be clear when they have to leave." I assured him, grinning a little against my better judgment.

Nick now looked suspicious but I didn't let on that anything could possibly be wrong and stuffed in my earbuds to play my video.

Tal read some fan-fiction about himself again and I cringed as his friends continually joked about it. I was too innocent to watch it without blushing every three seconds yet I still watched Reaction Time constanly. I was able to watch a few more videos and finally Nick finished studying.

"Done!" He grinned before he winced once he remembered where he sat. I snickered quietly from his embarrassment and started packing up. "Fudge . . ."

He got his stuff packed away in record time and were soon leaving the library. We were so focused on our conversation that we did not notice the man walking up to us.

"God morning Mr. Davidsson, Mr. Teranova." A voice greeted us with shockingly good pronunciation. We both snapped our heads towards the voice and were surprised to find Mr. McCain standing in front of us.

"Mr. McCain! Good afternoon. What are you doing in the library?" Nick asked, recovering from his shock must faster than I was able to. Mr. McCain -the famous one's brother- held up the book in his hand to a now sheepish Nick.

"Well I had borrowed a book earlier so I thought returning it would be a good course of action once I was done." He explained humorously. I found myself unconsciously relaxing around our teacher and genuinely smiled.

"Yeah, probably." I agreed jokingly. Mr. McCain looked at me and though there was something behind his lingering gaze I could not for the life of me figure it out.

"Probably." He repeated softly. Nick was oblivious to our exchange and chattered on with our teacher a little bit longer before I 'smoothly' pulled him away and we were somehow able to leave the library. After we were already away from the young teacher Nick continued to babble on about him for a solid five minutes.

"He is such a cool teacher, when he speaks I really understand his point. Plus he is famous too-!" Nick told me excitedly until I cut him off suddenly.

"Famous?" I interrupted, confused. Nick just looked just as confused as I when I asked. "What are you talking about?" Nick stopped to look at me incredulously.

"What do you mean 'what are you talking about'? He- . . . never mind." Nick sighed, deciding to just keep walking instead. I whined and followed him closely.

"C'mon, tell me!" I pleaded, raising the pitch of my voice to make it all the more annoying. But Nick still continually shook his head and I realized in disappointment that he would not budge.

"If you do not know what he did already then you will just have to find out by yourself." He told me firmly, leaving no room for argument. I grumbled since I was still upset, saying under my breath that he was just being stubborn. Nick ignored me though and eventually we made it to the dorms.

"I cannot wait to watch a movie." Nick told me excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

"Me too," I agreed, forgetting all about our earlier conversation. "I just hope that they do not give us too much of a hard time." Nick furrowed his brows at my statement.

"I thought you said that you figured it out?" He said in disappointment. I nodded as I opened the dorm room door.

"I did," I confirmed simply. "I never said that the guys would be happy with it though." Nick groaned but I wasn't to bothered with the problem; teenage boys did not scare me. Nick was no longer excited to watch that movie and I enjoyed his unease immensely.

~~~~~

I mentally thank the wide hallways as I hurry through the hall with the large group of students surrounding me; because of the extra space I was able to breath and for that I was eternally grateful. My next class was with the younger McCain and I was buzzing with excitement since he had told us what we would be talking about today. He was going to finally get into some of the specifics on each of the species, I was not sure which one he planned on starting with but he could have started with magic users and I still would have been just as eager to get to class.

I saw the door to my class on my left and after some struggle walked into the classroom. A good amount of students ha already arrived and I nodded at the few that I knew before giving a small smile to my teacher.

"Good afternoon Mr. McCain." I greeted, giving a small bow of my head before scurrying off to my seat. I heard the smooth reply of "good morning" follow me as I walked but I didn't make any further response. I relaxed into the chair that I had now claimed as my own and laid my stuff on the seat next to mine as I waited for the rest of the seats to fill with students.

"Good afternoon Dr. McCain." I heard Samantha cheerfully greet our teacher, she practically sang out with words with her melodic voice and the small raise of his brow that Mr. McCain gave her told me that he noticed too.

"Good afternoon Samantha." Mr. McCain smiled. He was standing up straight, completely ignoring his work, and gave his full attention to Sam. I was actually surprised. It seemed as if our teacher had a favorite.

"Oh please, call me Sam." Sam replied in a purr. If that was not enough of an indication that she was flirting with Mr. McCain then the wink that she sent his way afterwards did the trick. Mr. McCain didn't give any reaction to her wink and instead just nodded.

Sam walked confidently up to where I was seated and I removed my books to free up her seat now that she had arrived.

"Did you just seriously flirt with our teacher and get away with it?" I whispered in awe to my friend who was calmly putting down her stuff. Sam laid out her pen, pencil, and and binder before turning to me.

"Of course I did." I freaked out as quietly and stealthily as I possibly could. I was not sure that I was excited or nervous as fuck that she had done that but I expressed the emotion fully to her anyway. "Calm your balls, it is harmless flirting. I am not trying to get into the great McCain's pants, and even if I did -which I obviously do like hello- there is no way that he would go out with me he has his eyes on another." Sam told me all of this with startling clarity and a nonchalance that calmed me right back down. But I was now curious.

"He has his eyes on someone?" I echoed thoughtfully. "Who?" Instead of answering my question Sam just gave me an incredibly irritating smirk.

"Why don't we just file that as yet another thing that I know and you don't know, hm?" She teased, giggling a little as she spoke.

"Oh fuck that." I whispered, hearing Sam giggles grow just a tad bit louder. "I'll add it to the reasons why you're a secret asshole/Sadist who takes pleasure in my discomfort, frustration, and pain." Sam's eyes went wide and she looked genuinely stunned.

"Wow, you have had a lot of time to think about this haven't you." Sam softly chuckled still stunned. I rolled my eyes jokingly and shook my head.

"Oh don't act like you don't have a line of Masochists outside somewhere in the woods at night." I scoffed jokingly as Sam struggled to contain her laughs. "I have exposed your fetish. Take it like a Dom." That did it and soon Sam was beside herself with laughter. I was right there with her and when the bell finally rung we were still trying to stop laughing, only to to start again the moment one of us spoke.

"Sam, Sebastian, would you like to share with us why you can't stop laughing?"Mr. McCain asked innocently, leaning further back into his chair. "I have been wondering for a while now. With those words Sam and I quickly sobered up and glanced at one another. This line was used ocuntless times when students interrupt a class but Mr. McCain looked honestly interested: so I told him.

"Oh I was just joking with Sam and said that she was hiding the fact that she was secretly a Sadist." I explained as fast as I possibly could. "It was funnier in the moment." Instead of looking annoyed as most teachers would have at this point Mr. McCain instead gave a small smile with underlying humor behind it.

"My brother and I did the same thing a couple of days back." He confessed, following it with a short chuckle. "I was only joking when I brought it up at first but when I thought back to past experiences with a child and the way he was with ex-girlfriends I ended up seriously asking him the next day. He got so mad he dumped some linguine on my head, then cursed himself for wasting such good food." The whole class was laughing and after a few moments calmed back down. "Now that we have gotten our laughs out of the way let's focus on the topic at hand." Mr. McCain got up from his seat and walked around his desk to write on the huge white board.

The moments the words started appearing on the board I was already opening up my own notebook and writing down the words.

"We will be discussing shifters, the only shifters that we consider apart of the Species are human to animal shifters. There are thousands of different types of shifters that exist and you will probably meet at least a hundred different kinds in your lifetime," Mr. McCain said. "But we are going to be focusing specifically on the kind that makes up the majority." He pointed to the words that he had displayed in huge letters for all of us students to see. "Wolf-shifters, or more commonly know as Werewolves."

~~

"Ah, it looks like the bell is about to ring. I have copies of the book that we are using for werewolves next to my desk if any of you would like to look over the material on your own time. Richard Meyers' details of the species, especially wolf-shifters, is one of the best that you can find. Actually-"The bell rang loudly, interrupting Mr. McCain who had been in the middle of a rant.

As funny and easy going as Mr. McCain was he sometimes let his passion carry him away and without any of us realizing the time that past he would check his watch and see that he had been talking for way too long. If he got the chance Mr. McCain could talk for five hours straight without even thinking to ask for water. So while I was a little disappointed that he was not able to finish, there was a very good chance that he would have continued on for much longer.

The rest of my classmates and I speedily packed up our things and the students streamed out of the door, resembling a river with their speed. I would have been right at the front of that stream rushing to class but after hearing him speak I wanted to talk to Mr. McCain before I left.

Since I decided on doing so before class ended I was relaxed and calm when I packed up my stuff. I figured that if I wasn't leaving the classroom yet I did not have to move as if a spider was on on my ass.

Samantha though, did not have similar plans and seconds after the bell rang she was up and almost to the door.

"By babe!" She called as she moved along with the stream. Instead of replying verbally I just blew her a kiss; seeing the action Samantha made a bold decision and I gaped, completely insulted, as she smacked it away. Her cackles could be heard long after she was out the door and I was still frowning when my slow ass finally finished getting his stuff.

But oh-so-smart-me did not realize that there might be other students who wanted to speak to our beloved teacher and thus I found myself at the back of the ten person long line. I audibly groaned to express my annoyance but, for obvious reasons, no one came to my aid so I just shuffled to one foot to another while I waited. Mr. McCain talked to a boy at the front of the line for a few moments before the boy abruptly left for the door, scurrying away so fast I sincerely became worried for him.

"Excuse me, guys." He said loudly raising his hands to gather our attention. "If you're coming to me for any reason other than school work, I won't ask, just know that I will ask for details and you will not get any . . . good opportunities by trying to seem 'lost' or in need of help."

With that announcement at first everyone stayed put in line but eventually people in the line slowly, almost as if trying to seem discreet, left to head on to their next class. Even the girl who had been standing right in front of him left and I sent a mental prayer to her since the embarrassment in her mind because of that will be great.

Only two people were left in front of me and the girl who was at the front of the line before only needed some help with the assignment and she was gone. There was now only one guy standing between Mr McCain and I; he sounded like getting the answers he needed would not take two seconds so I checked my phone to see how much time had passed.

I had been waiting for six minutes and I felt myself suddenly get nervous when I realized that I had Dr. McCain next. I had not been late to a single one of his classes yet but I saw how he got with other late students and I idolized him far too much without taking his anger, or possible disappointment, as a huge blow to my self-esteem.

I ignored thoughts of what my happened if I were late and instead thought about how I would go about telling Mr. McCain what I wanted to say. It was not a straight up "all about school" question and I worried that it might seem a little weird coming from me but I really wanted to to ask him.