Page 77 of Ava: Part Three

So she sat down for hours and mulled over what they had to do. Even though Alpha Diego had almost commanded her the other day, she could still feel Mr Patrick’s magic in her body, so she still had some form of protection. At least, she hoped so. The thoughts she was having were dangerous. Because she knew it wasn’t just Mr Hansson they would have to fight; it was the councillors and the guards, too.

“Ava.”

She snapped out of her thoughts and saw Douche Dexter standing in front of her, wiping his face. She hadn’t even seen that the session was over. After hours of sitting, she was no closer to a solution.

“Hey,” she said warily.

“I...Uh, I know it’s late, but I wanted to apologise for what my dad did. I didn’t ask him to,” he started.

“I know,” she said. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

His father was a bigger bully than he was, but she had bigger problems now.

“If you want me to come over to study after dinner or you want to meet in the library, we can do that whenever you’re ready.”

Right. Schoolwork. She had bigger problems than that, too.

“Sure. I’ll let you know.”

Douche Dexter nodded and then walked away to join the rest of the class that was leaving. Could she still call him Douche now?

She stood to leave when Coach Henderson called her to the side.

“I’ve asked the dean if he can set things up for you to train with Ezekiel,” the coach started. “I don’t want to sideline your progress, but I think you’d have more of a challenge training with someone like...”

Someone like herself. She wasn’t offended. She didn’t point out that she had trained with everyone else just fine before she had shifted. She couldn’t make them less afraid of her, so arguing was pointless.

“Sure. Let me know when you do,” she said and then turned to walk away.

“Ava.”

She turned back and saw him watch the door as the last student left.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but be careful. Emily was murdered, but they’re walking around as if that’s normal. Keep your head down, okay?”

That was surprising. Coach Baxter would have been the first to throw her under the bus.

“I’ll try. Thanks.”

When she left the training room, she didn’t feel as depressed as she had been the other day. But she knew she was still a long way away from anyone putting what she had done behind them.

She went straight to the locker room—no, the new dressing room she had been assigned with her new role—and picked up her bag. She would shower at home. Her father was coming to see her, and she was anxious to know if Mr Hansson had approached him at all.

“Ava.”

Miss Popularity. Besides Zeke, Derek and Myles, no one else had spoken to her since her shift. She turned to see Jared coming up the hallway with his kit on and his bag slung over his shoulder.

“I’ve told you to keep away,” she said, looking around to see if Andrei would just pop up again out of the blue.

“I know, but I haven’t been able to come near you since that day. I wanted to thank you,” he said as he stopped in front of her. “I know it wasn’t easy, but you saved my life. Again. It’s becoming a habit.”

“Or maybe it should be a sign to you that it’s dangerous to be around me,” she mumbled as she started walking again.

“What do they want?”

Straight to the point.

“Something I don’t know I can give them,” she sighed.

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