After lying there in shock for a few more moments, I mustered the strength to get up and hurried to my room.

Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it, sliding down to the floor.

As the reality of the situation began to sink in, a strange pain in my chest intensified.

Soon, it became unbearable.

It felt as if someone was relentlessly stabbing my chest while I screamed at them to stop.

I tightly shut my eyes, threw my head back, and let out a scream.

Tears welled up and streamed down my face, one after another, until my visage was a complete mess of water and salt.

Suddenly, my entire body grew heavy and weary.

My heart ached to the point where I thought stabbing it would be less painful. I sniffled and whimpered, slumping further onto the floor.

I lay there with my head resting on the cool marble for a considerable while, contemplating the events of the day.

So much for wishing for a mate, right? So much for daring to hope?

I suppose that's how fate operates, then.

Happy birthday to me.

...

The next day was school. Of course.

It feels like this world has some sort of grudge against me.

First, my mate rejects me.

Second, I can't feel my wolf, which makes me question whether I'll even shift in a fortnight or not.

And third, my best friend isn't at school.

Julie Paxton, also known as the energy ball of the school and my closest friend, wasn't going to be here today. She texted me this morning, saying she had to urgently leave for Mexico to visit her grandma. Honestly, the fact that she isn't here is really getting on my nerves.

Yeah, she's Latina. Another reason why she's as energetic as HELL. And absolutely feisty.

Unlike me, she's gorgeous, and her accent is everything!

Her mate will be so lucky to have her. Well, unlike mine...

I shook my head, trying to shake off those thoughts.

I still haven't told her about what happened on my birthday.

And this damn pain in my chest just won't go away.

Letting out a sigh, I slammed my locker shut.

I refuse to think about him. He clearly doesn't care about me, so why should I care about him?

Hugging my books to my chest, I walked with my gaze fixed on the floor.

I didn't want to look up. If I do, I might catch a glimpse of him, and I don't want to see him.

I don't want to see him because I know if I do, I'll break down in tears.

Ugh, why am I so weak? I thought to myself when suddenly someone's arms wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling me into yet another embrace.

Damn, so many unexpected hugs.

I turned around to find my other best friend, Jaxson Hastings, standing there with a grin on his face.

Jaxson, also known as... Wait, he's not known as anything. He's just ordinary like me.

Yay for us!

"Jax!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly.

"Whoa!" He whispered, but he hugged me back nonetheless.

"Where were you this morning? I checked your locker, but you weren't there," I muttered, my voice muffled by his shirt.

He began to respond, but his words were interrupted by a loud growl that emanated from behind me.

Fear sent shivers down my spine. The growl carried authority.

I immediately turned around to see Nicholas, looking furious with his black eyes and clenched fists, watching us.

His gaze focused on Jax's arm around my waist, and he growled again when Jax pulled me closer, as if protecting me.

At his second growl, I quickly untangled myself from Jax's embrace and stood there awkwardly. I didn't want to cause a scene.

Nicholas's expression shifted into one of satisfaction as he noticed the distance between me and Jax. Soon, his eyes returned to their normal color.

With one last menacing glare in our direction, he walked away as if nothing had happened.

My jaw dropped at his behavior, and I gasped.

Okay, what the hell just happened?

Quinnie

I tugged Jaxson along with me as we headed to our next class after that embarrassing encounter with the Blockhead.

Yeah, I called him that. Because that's exactly what he is. A Blockhead with a capital B.

My mind involuntarily drifted back to the party, and a pang of heartache surged through me as I thought about him and how he pushed me away.

I thought mates were supposed to love each other...

Shaking my head, I tried to focus my attention on the thermodynamics problem in front of me.

"Okay, so when the standard value of the equilibrium constant is positive... The standard Gibbs free energy becomes negative because it is -2.303RTlogK-"

"Pssssshhh, Quinn," someone nudged me from behind, and I brushed him off, knowing it was Jax.

I resumed working on the problem at hand when he poked me again, this time with a pencil.

I glanced back at him and hissed, gesturing for him to be quiet.

He jutted out his bottom lip and gave me a puppy dog look.

I wanted to burst into laughter, but I settled on giving him a stern look. He widened his eyes, and they started to dramatically glisten.

I snorted.

What a drama queen.

Ignoring his antics, I continued working on my question paper when a slip of paper landed on my leg, causing me to gasp.

Did he just pass me a cheat sheet?

Doesn't he realize we have a test going on? What if someone saw this?

Panicking, I decided to pick up the paper and throw it away, but it was too late. My teacher snatched it away from my lap.

Pray to the holy mother of macaroons.

I screeched and leaped to retrieve it, but he raised his hand, and, well, my 5'6 height was no match for my teacher's towering 6'3 frame.

Seriously, 6'3? Did he inhale steroids or something?

Eventually, I gave up my futile attempts to reach for the paper and huffed in frustration. He smirked triumphantly at me.

"Well, well, well," he said. "Looks like Ms. Ackerman has something interesting for all of us." He opened the paper and cleared his throat.

No, he wouldn't...

"Dear Quinn,

I know you're upset with me for rejecting you last night. But you need to understand, baby, the neighbors have started complaining. They say they can't handle the noise anymore.

Our love must be too loud for this world, honey.

I promise you, I'll find a world that accepts us and our loudness, just as we are.

Until then, please forgive me.

Yours truly,

Caspar the Friendly Ghost."

My eyes widened, and a deep blush spread across my cheeks as I read the contents of the note.

Oh god.

"Hmmm," the teacher remarked, "looks like a love letter to me. You may proceed to take your exam."

He turned to me, an amused glimmer in his eyes and a mock frown on his face. "And Ms. Ackerman, I would advise you to save your lover's quarrels outside my class. I mean, I know this is a chemistry class, but this is taking it a bit too far."

Needless to say, I received a detention slip as well.

Fuck my life.

...

"Awwww, come on! Don't be like that!" Jax whined, but I continued to ignore him and briskly walked out of the room.

He jogged, almost ran, to keep up with me, and I couldn't help but smirk internally.

You see, Jax is human, and being a werewolf, I'm much faster than him.

"Hey! S-Stop!" He pleaded, panting as he caught up with me. "Why are you so angry with me?"

I came to an abrupt halt, seething with frustration.

"What do you mean? Why am I mad? How can you expect me not to be mad, huh? I have EVERY RIGHT to be mad at you!" I snapped. "You caused a scene out there! What was the need for that, huh? Do you realize how embarrassed I was? That note sounded so inappropriate. And not everyone out there probably thinks I'm some sort of sex-starved slut!"

I finished my tirade, breathing heavily, and looked up.

Jax's face had paled, and he wore an expression of hurt.

Regret washed over me instantaneously.

He hung his head low and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Quinn..."

My eyes softened, and I opened my mouth to say something, but he stopped me.

"It's just that..." He started, kicking a stone along the path with his foot, his head still down. "You weren't acting like yourself today. You looked so sad. I didn't... I didn't like seeing you that way. I-I'm sorry for what I did. I just wanted to make you laugh. And... and I thought it would be good-"

I cut him off with a tight hug, wrapping my arms around his torso and burying my face in his chest.

"Shhhh," I comforted. "Don't say anything more. Quinn loves you!"

He stood frozen for a second before relaxing and reciprocating the embrace, wrapping his arms around me too.

Chuckling softly, he said, "I know, Quinn-Bear. Jax loves you too."

He kissed the top of my head, and I closed my eyes, a smile spreading across my face.

...

Detentions can't be that bad, right?

Well, that's what I thought as I entered the room.

But then I saw the blockhead sitting there too. At first, my stomach fluttered at the sight of him, and I scolded myself for reacting to his presence so strongly.

However, when I looked around, I realized he wasn't alone after all.

His arm was wrapped around a blonde who was practically sucking his neck off.

My heart stopped, and the once-fluttering butterflies felt like they died a merciless death. The excitement I had felt earlier turned into a deep sense of hurt when I saw him with her. My stomach dropped, and a profound pain filled my chest. The wolf I could no longer feel suddenly howled in agony inside me, and I felt numb.

For some reason, I couldn't tear my eyes away from them.

This morning, I had cursed him and despised him with all my might. And now, here I was, feeling hurt and envious of him. How ironic, huh?

He must have noticed my presence because he lifted his head and smirked.

I ignored him, refusing to dwell on how devilishly gorgeous that smirk was, and looked away.

The last thing I wanted was to make him think I was jealous.

Because I wasn't. I was just territorial.

He's my mate, and I have every right to feel that way. But whatever. Screw it.

And how were the teachers allowing them to engage in such behavior during class anyway?

Oh, right. There was no teacher in detention.

Yay, high school.

They were occupying the last row, so I decided to sit in the front row. The farther, the better.

Even though I hated sitting in the front. It made me feel like everyone at the back was staring at me, and that always creeped me out.

I was about to take my seat when the classroom door swung open, and the great Jaxson walked in with a triumphant look on his face.

"GUESS WHO'S GONNA KEEP YOU COMPANY, Quinn-BEAR?" He exclaimed with excitement and hugged me tightly.

Only he could be happy about getting detention, I thought, laughing.

I hugged him back, momentarily feeling a sense of happiness before a loud growl echoed in the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Blockhead giving Jax a murderous glare.

Oh god. It was only the first minute of detention, and I had already managed to anger the Blockhead. Who knows what will happen in the next 59 minutes...

Quinnie

God must hate me.

Yup, that's the only logical explanation for the kind of torture I'm being put through right now.

Shortly after Jaxson's surprise visit, the teacher entered the class and seated himself in front of us.

He gave us all a blank stare for a good 5 minutes, and just when we thought he would lecture us on good behavior, he started going through some essays, completely ignoring our presence.

Awkward.

The Blondie left the class shortly after, claiming she didn't have after-school detention and was only here to keep The Blockhead company.

I snorted.

"Give some company?" More like "give something else."

The value of that "something else" depends on how dirty-minded you are.

"Jaxson?" The teacher suddenly called out, and I stifled a gasp.

Oh, he speaks!

Turns out he's Jaxson's German teacher and he needed his help.

"Can you assist me in carrying these to the staff room?" he asked, rising from his chair. He gathered a bundle of papers and gestured for Jaxson to carry his briefcase.

Jaxson, being the goody-two-shoes he is, agreed and followed the teacher.

He threw me a "I'll be back soon" look, and I smiled, nodding.

Only after they both exited the class did I realize the situation.

The Blockhead and I were now alone in this room.

Oh, macaroons.

•°•°•

5 minutes, 43 seconds, and a few milliseconds later...

"OKAY, SERIOUSLY?" He burst out suddenly, and I nearly jumped a foot in the air.

Talk about being random.

...and loud...

"Are you that desperate, Ackerman? Going out with a guy who looks like he's in freakin' freshman year just to make me jealous?"

My jaw clenched as I comprehended what he said, and I snapped.

How dare he talk about my Jax like that?

"EXCUSE ME?" I said, turning around.

When I turned around, I realized how close he was standing to me. My nose almost touched his chest, and I gasped, instinctively taking a few steps back.

I backed away, and he smirked, probably enjoying the fact that his presence affected me.

Jerk.

A hot, hot jerk.

But still a jerk.

"What's the matter, princessa?" he said, huskily. "Does my closeness affect you?" He moved closer to me, teasingly.

I shook my head and responded almost immediately, "No!"

His smirk deepened.

He continued moving closer, and I kept backing up.

One step forward, one step back. One step forward, one step back. One step forward, one step ba-

I gasped when my back touched the wall opposite the main door and looked at him with wide eyes.

His eyes danced with smugness and amusement as he registered my expression.

He moved as close as he could, and I could feel the warmth of his body against mine.

My wolf inside me started stirring with excitement, and I couldn't help the tingles that erupted under my skin.

He picked up a strand of my brunette hair and twirled it between his fingers.

"I'm liking this position," he whispered, his warm breath washing over my face, sending butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

I do too, I thought to myself, guiltily.

I closed my eyes, trying to savor the moment, but he had other ideas. He lifted my chin with his thumb, making me look directly into his eyes.

My breath caught in my throat as I stared directly into his beautiful grey eyes. I had never seen them from this close before.

His eyes were silvery grey near the pupil and became darker towards the rim. From afar, you'd think they were just grey. But if you looked closely enough, you could see that the area near the rim was a deep blue, with flecks of icy blue within the grey regions.

My lips parted as I took in just how stunning my mate was.

I hate how painfully beautiful he is.

Because it only makes it harder to hate him.

"I don't like seeing you with that kid," he said, and something inside me snapped.

I had forgotten about his words.

But now I remember.

Thanks for ruining the moment, Blockhead.

I placed my hand on his chest and tried to push him away. When he didn't even budge under my force, I growled.

"MOVE!" I said, threateningly.

He didn't move an inch.

I gritted my teeth and pushed him harder, ignoring the sparks that tingled through my arm as it made contact with his chest.

"MOVE, GODDAMMIT!" I growled and gave him a final push.