Walking into the mall reminded me of all the times I came here with Harley. The high ceilings, white tiled floor, and white walls made me think back to before any of this.

I remembered how I dreaded coming to the mall with her because of how crazy she would get when she was shopping, but now I was excited. I hadn't seen mom in quite awhile and I missed the hell out of her. My step dad couldn't come, but she was going to meet us by the fountain in half an hour. That would give us some time to walk around and show everyone how to act around people in malls. Plus, it would give Eli plenty of time to prepare himself for meeting our mom. He was extremely nervous about meeting her for some reason, but I knew she already loved him to death.

"This is so cool!," Cam exclaimed with a wide smile as he looked around us at all the stores. I looked at our group, noticing how Axel was surveying our surroundings to make sure we were safe. He had a protective arm around Eli's waist and I noticed him glance at me and Cam occasionally as well. Harry was holding onto Indigo's hand, making sure he didn't get distracted and run off on his own in excitement. Titan and Logan were talking with Jace and his friend. Harley was talking to me excitedly about all the stores she wanted to stop at and telling stories of us to everyone. One story was about the time we came to the mall when we were still fake dating. I had lost a bet previously in the week, so I had to do whatever she said. She decided to dress me up in ridiculous clothes and to make it worse, she made me kiss a really buff guy and he ended up punching me. The stories were quite embarrassing but I knew she wouldn't stop even if I asked her to. It was harmless anyways.

We decided to wait until after meeting my mom to stop in any stores. Harley complained for the entire half an hour, but when I started to ignore her sighs and complaints, she stopped.

As the top of the fountain came into view, excitement boiled inside me and I excitedly looked around.

At first I didn't see her, but then I saw a familiar head of brown curls. I smiled, gave Cam a quick kiss on the forehead before guiding him over to my other side where Axel could hold him, and quickly pushed my way through the crowd of people blocking my way to my mom.

"Mom!," I shouted over the voices and she turned around towards my voice. She spotted me as I finally got through the crowd and I pulled her into a tight hug. "I missed you so much," I said against her shoulder.

"I missed you too, sweetheart," I heard her sniffle a little.

We pulled away from each other a moment later and I looked around for everyone else. It looked like they were struggling to get through the crowd blocking the fountain. I could see some people were getting roughly pushed aside and shook my head when I saw an angry Axel shoving his way through. He was leading the group and everyone quickly followed after him.

"Never run off like that again," he said sternly and I nodded with a smile.

"I'm sorry. I got excited," I admitted and he shook his head in frustration. Before he could say another word, my mom introduced herself.

"I'm Sarah, Kit and Elijah's mom. It's nice to finally meet you," she said with a smile.

He smiled at her and held out a hand for her to shake as he said, "I'm Axel. It's great meeting you, ma'am."

"Oh, please. Call me Sarah," she pulled him into a hug and I chuckled when he gave me a look begging for my help.

"Mom, you're going to kill him if you keep hugging him that tightly," I stated and she released him.

I saw Elijah hiding behind Logan and I sighed. I walked over to them, reached behind Logan, and pulled Eli over to me.

"I'm nervous," he said to me, "What if she decides she doesn't love me because of who I used to be?" He was biting his nails nervously and shifting from foot to foot.

"Eli, mom already loves you and accepts you and everything you've been through. She's going to be overjoyed when she sees you," I hugged him tightly and felt him nod his head against my shoulder. I pulled away after a moment and led him back over to mom.

She saw Eli and gasped. He was gripping onto my hand tightly and gave her a quiet, "Hi."

She walked to us quickly and pulled him into the tightest hug I'd ever seen. Tears were sliding down both their cheeks and arms wrapped around each other.

"I'm so sorry I never looked for you. I should never have believed that shady doctor, and I am so sorry I did. I love you so much, sweetheart," she said to him.

"I love you too, mom. It isn't your fault, so please don't blame yourself. I'm here now, that's what matters," he sniffled and she nodded.

They hugged for awhile longer, but pulled away when Harley sighed dramatically. My mom raised an eyebrow at her and Harley pulled her into a hug.

"I love you, Sarah, but I am dying to shop right now," Harley whined and mom laughed.

"Alright, lets go shop then," mom said and we all began walked to some stores. Mom was introduced to the rest of the group and we ended up spending at least two hours buying Eli a ton of clothes. The rest of us got a few things, but Eli got the most.

We were walking past the food court when I heard Indigo gasp. We all stopped and looked at him in question. He was staring at an ice cream place and was almost drooling.

"He loves ice cream. Could we stop and get some?," Harry explained and we nodded.

We all followed him and got some for ourselves. Since Indigo had gotten a huge bowl for himself, we decided to sit at some tables. I had finished mine probably five minutes after getting it, and everyone else was still working on theirs. Indigo had only eaten about a third of his and I sighed.

So, instead of complaining like Harley was, I decided to people watch.

"Come on, eat faster! There's a store I want to go to before we have to leave!," she let out a frustrated groan. "Harry, help him eat his ice cream," she demanded and Indigo curled his lip up in a snarl while guarding his bowl.

I looked at Cam and noticed him licking ice cream off his hand like how a cat does when they are grooming themselves and I grabbed his hand to stop him.

"As cute as that is, we should probably try to avoid suspicion. I'll go get some napkins, okay?," I kissed him gently and he nodded with a smile. I stood from my seat and walked back over to the ice cream place to grab some napkins. There were two girls paying for their cones and I ignored them.

I grabbed a small stack and turned around to go back to my group.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here! Where've you been, Kit? We've all missed your sexy ass at school," a guy from my old school, Wren, fake pouted. He approached me with his friends trailing behind me and snickering to each other.

"Sure you have," I rolled my eyes and tried walking around him but he stepped in front of me to block me. I sighed and crossed my arms.

"You know, now that you're gone, I have girls all over me. I've gotten so much pussy that I've actually needed to give my dick a break," he smirked.

"Congratulations? You know, bragging about being a slut isn't very attractive."

"You're just jealous that you never got any of this," he gestured towards himself, "I'm always up for a quickie in the bathroom though," he winked.

"I've told you a million times, I'm not interested. Accept it and move on. Besides, you probably have an STD now. You should probably get tested." Fuck, this was such a waste of time. "Now, if you will excuse me," I tried to move around him but he blocked me again. I sighed and he opened his mouth to speak but a voice beside us interrupted him.

"For fucks sake, he isn't interested, jackass. Just fuck off, already. As entertaining as it was, it got old fast. I'm sure this guy is tired of your bullshit too," a girl beside us said. I looked and gasped quietly. Damn, this girl was gorgeous.

She had long, wavy, half black, half blonde hair, striking icy blue eyes, and pale skin. She was wearing black ripped skinny jeans, a black cut off shirt, and wearing a dark red flannel on top of it that was unbuttoned. She was wearing black boots and had a septum piercing.

"Damn, baby. You are sexy as hell!," Wren looked her up and down, "Would you and your friend like to join us? We'll take you away from this... trash," he shot me a disgusted look.

I looked at the girl beside her and noticed how equally beautiful she was. She had cotton candy pink hair, a white t-shirt that had a rainbow on it, and white jeans on. She had freckles that littered the bridge of her nose and cheeks, but I noticed that it almost looked like they were sparkling. It was probably makeup.

"No thanks," she cringed and I laughed at Wren's surprised look. He was acting like he had never been turned down before.

"What are you laughing at, asshole?," he glared at me.

"Oh, nothing," I smiled and he clenched his fists.

"Dude, There's some guy over there shooting you death glares. I really think we should get out of here before he comes over here. He looks like he wants to kill us," one of his friends said to Wren. We all looked over and just as I suspected, Axel was looking at Wren and his friends like he was about to shift and rip them apart. Even from here I could see his hands shaking. He was trying to hold it back, but was having a lot of trouble. He was close to shifting.

"This isn't over, Kit," Wren said to me and walked away with his friends.

"Dude, it looks like your boyfriend is about to shift in the middle of the food court," the girl wearing black said and I hurried over to Axel.

He gripped onto me and pulled me close. He buried his nose in my neck and was inhaling my scent to calm down.

"Who were those boys?," he asked in an angry voice.

"Just some assholes from my old school. They aren't important," I assured him and he gripped onto me tighter.

"You are mine, Eli's, and Cam's," he growled lowly and I nodded in agreement.

"Fido, you better quiet down before someone hears you," the dark haired girl said and his head snapped up.

I turned my head to look at her and then I realized what she said. She knew Axel wasn't human. Did she know about the rest of us? Shit.

"Oh, relax. We aren't human either," she rolled her eyes and her friend shushed her.

"Em, quiet down before someone hears," she reminded and the girl, Em, nodded.

"I'm Ember Redwood, and this is Celine Michaels. You are?," Ember introduced and gestured towards us.

"Um, I'm Kit. This is Axel, Elijah, Cam, Harley, Harry, Indigo, Titan, Logan, Jace, his friend Daniel, my mom, and our two chaperones," I nervously introduced. I'd never been in this situation before, so I was nervous.

"It's great meeting you! We need to get going, but we should meet up and hang out sometime!," Celine said cheerfully.

"Yeah, there's a party tomorrow night at a friend of our's house. You should come," Ember said with a small smile.

"I don't know if that's a very good idea. Plus, we would have to sneak off campus," Axel answered.

"Oh, come on. Don't be a stick in the mud," Ember rolled her eyes, "If you change your mind, text me and I'll send you the address." She grabbed my arm and wrote her number on it with a pen Celine handed her.

"Um, okay," I said and they left after saying goodbye.

Well that was interesting.

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