First day

It was weeks later when the principal approached Lupita on the bench. She was just sitting and munching on the last pastry when he came up to her and sat down.

"Don't remember telling you you could sit," Lupita said in an unbothered tone and placed the empty paper bag in her backpack. She didn't have any food now.

The principal just raised a brow but didn't comment on her tone. "You are accepted into the school. If you will follow me I will escort you to your class, but before we can do that, I need to check if what you marked was real."

Lupita raised a brow at how he got right to the point, almost matching her tone. He stood up quickly and walked away, looking back briefly to indicate for her to follow him.

Lupita rolled her eyes before she took her backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and walked after him.

They walked through a pair of glass doors and into the empty school. They walked and walked until they finally reached a strange room. The air smelled funny and Lupita didn't like it one bit.

The principal opened the door and stood aside. "After you," he said in a sweet tone.

Lupita looked at him cautiously before carefully taking a step in; the principal followed soon after.

The room was dark in the beginning before they eventually entered a lit part of it with a red, velvet chair in the middle. Not creepy at all.

"Cozy," Lupita said and scrunched up her nose.

"Please sit down in the chair," the principal said and playfully shoved her shoulder.

Lupita growled lowly at him. He pulled his hand back quickly and she refocused her attention on the chair. It looked comfy, but the whole room reeked of danger.

"You must be insane if you think I would ever do that," she said and took a step back.

"It won't hurt you. Look, I'll even sit down in it," he said in a cheery voice and practically skipped over to the chair. How were humans so… cheery?

He did as he promised and sat down on the chair with a wide grin spread across his face.

"See? Not dangerous," he said and stood up then patted the chair.

Lupita carefully walked over to the chair and sniffed the air around it. After she found nothing wrong, she carefully sat down. She almost sank down in the soft cushion and gripped the arms of the chair to not think into the abyss.

"Ok," the principal suddenly said while clapping his hands together, making Lupita snap her head up to look at him. "I am going to need you to react to what I have right...here." He pulled out a purple flower and pulled it close to her.

"Get that thing away from me!" Lupita shouted and got up from the chair. "Is that what you want!? Torture me?!"

"Well, you passed the first test," the principal said and walked over to her. "Now please touch it."

"You must be cra-ahh!" Lupita pulled her hand back as he touched the flower to her exposed skin. It burned like she was touched by hot iron.

"Ok, next test," he said and walked away.

Lupita stared at him and then she looked at her wrist. There was a small burn there. She closed her eyes as images of that night flashed through her mind. She looked at her burn again before carefully bringing it up to her mouth and licking it. The pain faded almost immediately and the wound slowly faded away.

"That is a neat trick."

Lupita looked up and staggered several steps back as he held a silver danger in front of her.

"You are not putting that thing near me!" she growled at the man. She knew her eyes were a glowing blue at this point and that her veins were turning black up her neck. A soft tingling sensation went through her entire body and she felt her canines grow and sharpen in her mouth as her teeth softly pierced her skin.

"I believe I won't be needing it," the principal said and put it away. "You are really a werewolf. Now," he took off his glasses, cleaned them on his shirt, and put them on before he continued, "What is your pack's name?"

Lupita glared at him. "I don't have one."

"Oh. Well, that is unfortunate," the principal said and scratched his beard. "But, I would like to welcome you to our school!"

Lupita glared daggers at him. She wasn't sure if it was really worth going to this school anymore after this. What was the rest of the school like? Did every classroom do this?

"Now, the classes just started so I will escort you to your first class," the principal said in the same cheery voice as before. He took her shoulders and pushed her out of the room and through the door into the blinding light. Lupita squeezed her eyes shut at the brightness but quickly opened them again, blinking away any black spots that covered her vision.

The principal guided her through a multitude of halls, and she took extra care to look at every door.

"Science, (werewolves)."

"Science, (vampires)."

"Science, (faeries)."

"Math, (kitsune)."

And so on.

Every room was for a different species and subject.

Weird.

The principal eventually stopped by a door that said, "English (werewolves)". He knocked on the door and a "come in" was heard from the inside. The principal opened the door and pushed her in.

"Elizabeth, this is Lupita Monilys-"

"Månelys," Lupita corrected and looked out over

the class while still trying to hide her eyes. There were a lot of people in the class. She could sense both alphas, betas, and omega's sitting in the classroom from both the same and different packs. Whose stupid idea was it to mix ranks and packs?

"Monalys-" he still didn't say it right - "will be joining our school today, and I hope you will all treat her with respect," the principal said while turning to the other kids in the classroom.

A kid raised his hand and Lupita sniffed the air, focusing on him. He had a threatening smell. Alpha.

"Yes, Louis?" the principal asked.

"What pack is she from?" the boy asked in a deep voice.

"She is packless," the principal said without missing a heartbeat.

Lupita looked at him as if he had grown three heads. Did he really just say that? In front of everyone?!

There were a bunch of "oohs" and teasing laughs heard around the room. The principal clearly had no idea how werewolves did things. It was a humiliation to not have a pack.

"I will leave your seat placement to Miss. Elizabeth," the principal said and walked out.

"Ok, Lupita, you can sit next to… Jazmyn," the teacher said and pointed to a dark-skinned girl sitting in the back.

Lupita refrained from groaning and walked over to the girl with strange hair - Lupita remembered the style was called dreadlocks - and sat down beside her. Just looking at the girl brought back painful memories of the night.

"Hi, there! I'm Jazmyn, though the teacher already said that," she said suddenly while sticking out her hand.

Lupita stared at it. She then looked back to the front, ignoring the girl completely.

"Ok," she said in a low, comical altered voice.

Lupita shook her head and tried to hide a smile as she paid attention to the teacher explaining some grammar stuff.

"Do you have anything to take notes with?" Jazmyn asked while taking notes in a book covered in lines.

"No," Lupita said shortly.

"To be honest, I thought you were mute. Where are you from? You have an accent," the girl pestered.

"I won't tell you anything. I barely know you," Lupita said shortly.

"Then get to know me!" the girl said in a cheery voice that reminded her painfully of the principal.

"Are you sure you are a werewolf?"

"Half! My mom is a werewolf, my dad is human."

"That makes painfully much sense."

"How so?"

"You are as cheery as a human but have the features of a werewolf."

"Lupita!" The girl looked up as her name was called. "Unless you want detention on the first day of school I suggest you stop talking. Same with you Jazmyn, you don't want another one."

"Sorry," Jazmyn said and gave a cheeky smile. Lupita just nodded.

"Ohh, the stray is being scolded! Are you going to run to your alpha for help?" a boy teased.

"Finn, unless you want me to call your alpha I suggest you also close your muzzle," the teacher said sternly with a hidden growl in her voice. "Anyone else that wants to interrupt my lecture…no? Good." And then she went on with the lecture.

Lupita kept paying attention, trying her best to remember it all as she didn't have any books.

English was hard. She knew how to speak it, but it was insanely irritating to learn and she didn't understand why they had to learn it if they all already spoke it. English didn't make much sense, but then again, no language makes sense if you think about it.

The first bell rang and Lupita stood up, ready to get out.

"Ah, Lupita, can you stay? You too Jazmyn," the teacher said.

Lupita groaned but walked over to the teacher's desk, Jazmyn following close beside her.

As they stood in front of the teacher, Lupita realized the similarities between the teacher and Jazmyn. Both had the same dark skin, though Jazmyn's was slightly paler, they also had the same amber eyes and strong facial features.

"So, I am giving you your timetable," the teacher said and placed a small piece of paper in front of Lupita which had a lot of different, colorful squares. "It is very easy, Jazmyn will explain. I am so happy that you are joining us at this school. I am one of the head werewolf teachers here, so if you have any questions, or if you just need to talk, I am right here. And Jazmyn is my daughter so I hope you two will be friends." That explained the similarities at least.

Lupita looked over at Jazmyn to see her playing with her hair while she smiled nervously.

"But I must ask, and sorry if I am being rude, but are you blind?"

Lupita looked down immediately, hiding her eyes.

"No, I can see perfectly fine," she said and pulled at the hem of her tattered shirt.

"And where are your pare-"

"Dead," Lupita cut her off, knowing where the conversation was going.

"I am so sorry, little one. Do you have any place to stay?"

"No, but I'm fine. I don't want to be a part of a modern pack." She had already been somewhat happy with her old one. The lights, traffic, and all the modern stuff in the city were already getting to her head and she had no intentions of joining a new pack.

"Ok, but our home is always open," Elizabeth offered and smiled. Why was she being so nice? "Now, hurry to your next class." She ushered them out and Lupita began to walk with Jazmyn. She would have preferred to walk alone but she didn't have a choice.

"So, we have history right now. To be honest, it is boring but we learn a few things from it," Jazmyn said as they walked around the halls, bumping into a lot of people as they went.

Lupita could smell so much. She could smell the occasional girl with too much perfume, a boy with too much deodorant, a werewolf trying to show off their smell - for some reason. She even caught a whiff of saltwater. Wait? Saltwater?

Lupita stopped and turned around to see a girl laying on the floor, only that half of her body was now an iridescent blue fishtail. So that was what the test meant by mermaid.

"Can you look where you are waving that fucking thing!" the girl shouted in a heavy accent.

"Sorry," a boy said, there was an accent there too but not as thick as the mermaid's. He had sparkly green hair and looked rather skinny. He had slightly slanted eyes and was wearing all different shades of green. Couldn't be human or werewolf. He carefully helped the girl dry up and then he helped her to her feet once they came back.

"That is Aoi and Mia. Aoi is a faery, you can see it on his ears and his sparkly hair. And Mai is a mermaid if you didn't already see that. But mermaids can also be distinguished by their long nails, sharp teeth, unusual colored hair, and also their ears," Jazmyn said as she looked at the confused look on Lupita's face. "Mia is from Australia, and Aoi is from somewhere in Asia, he never said where. Might be because he doesn't know himself."

Lupita nodded, turned away, and kept walking, she didn't want to make friends.

"I know them very well actually. We are very good friends," Jazmyn kept going.

Lupita sighed. This girl was so clearly half-human it was painful.

"Can you please, stop talking or at least lower your voice?" Lupita asked.

"Oh, of course. Sorry, I get really carried away when I talk," Jazmyn said and nervously picked at her hair.

"Don't worry. It's just that when you are a full-blooded werewolf, your senses are often heightened," Lupita said and patted her back.

Jazmin smiled and bumped her shoulder into her. Lupita was taller than her so her shoulder bumped into her arm.

"I have a feeling we will be very good friends," Jazmyn said with a smirk, and Lupita knew there was no way out of this.