Chapter 29: Annabelle

It was Tuesday morning and the first week back since Thanksgiving. Fenris would be suspended for the two weeks they went back to school before Christmas break, but she was really sweet and still woke up at seven in the morning to drive Annabelle to school and would pick her up afterwards.

After giving Fenris a quick kiss Annabelle jumped out of the car and closed the door, then walked into school with a big smile on her face. Getting to her locker she saw Elisa and Mary standing next to it and ran over to them, giving both of them a big hug.

"Wow, you seem to be in a good mood." Mary laughed when Annabelle stepped back and turned to her locker.

"I am. Fenris makes me so happy, it's a little weird living with her, but it's nice." Annabelle said, putting in her locker combination.

"How's it weird?" Elisa asked, scrunching her eyebrows.

"Well, when I lived with my parents it was more like I just existed there. Now I don't mean the whole cheesy 'I wasn't living till I met her I was just merely existing!'" Annabelle said dramatically, "I mean, living with my parents it felt like I was in the way. When ever I wanted anything there had to be a good reason, whether it was a laptop for school or a snack, there needed to be a reason. But, with Fenris she wants me to have what I want. We went grocery shopping last week and she asked me what I like to eat. It was such a simple question, but my parents never asked me that when they bought groceries. When I saw the candy isle there were so many sweets I wanted to try that I never had the chance to. Almost every sweet I looked at Fenris grabbed and put in the cart, I never had that before. I'm so used to having to explain what I want that whenever I ask Fenris for something it still shocks me when she says I don't have to ask." Annabelle said, smiling at her locker.

"Annabelle, I'm so sorry I didn't protect you better, love you better. You should never have felt that way. I knew that our parents neglected you emotionally and I tried to make up for that, but I guess I didn't realize how neglected you actually felt. I'm sorry." Mary said, looking down in shame.

Annabelle hugged her sister tight. "It is not your fault and I didn't say any of that to make you feel guilty. They are the parents, they should have done better. You're my sister I have always known and felt the love that you give me. The only reason I am probably still alive today is because of you. I love you Mary." Annabelle whispered in her sisters ear.

Mary squeezed Annabelle then pulled back and wiped her eyes, "I'm fine. You better hurry and get your stuff the bell rings in a few minutes." Mary said.

Putting her books away and grabbing the ones she needs for first period Annabelle felt her phone buzz indicating a text and pulled it out. Seeing it was a text from Fenris, Annabelle smiled and opened the message, but when she saw what the text said her smile dropped.

"That is so stupid!" Annabelle yelled, slamming her school locker shut after having re-read the text on her phone.

The action scared Elisa, who had been standing next to Annabelle talking to Mary, causing the small vampire to jump. "What's wrong?" Elisa asked, putting her hand to her chest, which was weird since she didn't have a heartbeat.

"Well as you know Fenris got suspended for two weeks, and I live with her now. So yesterday and today she dropped me off and was going to pick me up. She's not allowed on school property during her suspension but we figured if it was just for a few seconds it was fine. Apparently Johnny, who somehow didn't get suspended, saw her and told the principal he didn't feel safe or something knowing she was still coming on school property. So the principal called her and told her if she comes back they'll call our police on her."

"Wait didn't that witch lady put a curse on her stopping her from coming onto school property anyways?" Elisa asked.

"She did, but Fenris remembered the phrase she said and looked it up. It was just temporary and had a lifespan of a week, which ended during Thanksgiving break." Annabelle explained.

"I think we're all going to be in the same gym class today so why don't you ask Ray to drive you back. I'm sure he'll say yes but him and I been having a lot of alpha/luna training lately, so he might not be able to do it after today. He told me his parents are looking to pass the pack to us in the next two years or so." Mary said, looking a little nervous.

Annabelle put her hand on Mary's shoulder, "You'll make an amazing luna, and thank you, I'll ask Ray. Thankfully I have my drivers license and I can drive myself to school for the rest of the week."

*Ring! Ring!*

"Well that's the bell, so I'll see you at lunch Elisa, and in gym Mary." Annabelle said quickly, walking away and waving goodbye.

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[Uhh gym. I hate gym.] Annabelle thought sourly as she changed into the plain grey athletic clothes the school gave her.

Most would think that because she is a wolf that gym would be easy for her, but it's not. Annabelle can't even do the human gym class that supernaturals like witches and elementals take. Most omegas can at the very least do that, but sadly Annabelle has no muscle despite all her training at her old pack. The only reason she is still in the gym class with the werewolves and vampires is because she can shift.

Putting her long hair up in a ponytail Annabelle walked outside to the open field next to the p.e. center. They mainly used the center for drills and survival training, but when it was time for combat training the best place to see everyone was the big field right next to it.

Annabelle both liked and disliked combat training. She liked it because she did know what she was doing, that was the only good thing that came from all that excessive training her mom put her through. The bad thing was that she was too weak to actually use any of it so the only thing she could do was defend. This was the first combat training of the year and Annabelle was really nervous about it, she didn't want to get beat up in front of everyone.

She saw Mary talking to Ray and quickly went over to her and hugged her, needing comfort. Mary put an arm around her and squeezed her, "Hey, you okay?" Mary asked.

"Just a lot of memory's from training at the old pack." Annabelle said. Mary understood what she was saying and just nodded her head.

"Wait, Annabelle do you not know how to fight?" Ray asked shocked, his eyes comically wide.

Annabelle looked at him and couldn't help but smile. Ray just had this way about him that made everyone around him comfortable. Most would probably say it's because he has a strength about him that makes you follow him, but Annabelle thought it was his goofiness. Even looking at him now made her laugh. His gym clothes looked like they were made for someone much shorter and not as muscular so Annabelle could clearly see his abs through the t-shirt. That combined with his wide-eyes and open mouth had Annabelle giggling at him.

"No I actually know combat, but I'm too weak to use any of it properly. The best I can do is defend, I can't even counter properly all of the time." Annabelle said, not wanting to go into it any further. "Oh before I forget could you drive me to Fenris' after school?" Annabelle asked. Ray opened his mouth about to say something when the gym teachers walked out, instead he just nodded his head and turned to the teacher.

Every supernatural species had their own gym teacher because a werewolf can't teach a dragon combat, and a dragon can't teach a mermaid combat. So the school had a gym teacher for every species. The werewolves teacher was a beautiful small African American girl with dark skin and bright blue eyes. Despite her size she is one of the top warriors in her pack, and is very respected at the school. Everyone just knew her as Jane, no last name, no Mrs., just Jane.

"Alright everyone, pair up. Make sure your partner is of the same rank as you, there should be an even number of alphas, betas, warriors, and omegas." Jane yelled, walking off to the side.

All the wolves started running around and getting paired up right away, it was best not to make Jane mad. They lined up with four groups in five rows, trying to evenly space themselves, knowing what to do because they did the same thing in their own pack.

Annabelle ended up in the first row, paired with an omega boy just an inch or so taller than her. He looked to be the embodiment of a nerd with his thick glasses, stick like stature and bright curly red hair and freckles. She had seen him around but didn't know his name.

Once Jane saw that everyone was paired up she howled to get everyone's attention. "Now that everyone is paired we are going to start on combat. We will be going over hand-to-hand today, no shifting is allowed. You might be a wolf and prefer to fight in your wolf form, but not every opponent you fight will be a shifter. So we will be going over how to fight in our human form as well. Understood." Jane spoke loud and clear with a stern tone.

" Understood!" everyone yelled together.

"Since I don't know everybody's ability in combat, you will be switching between one person attacking and the other defending. This is all we will be doing today because I need to see everyone." Jane stated and then walked off to the other side of the first row.

Annabelle turned to her partner and he looked at her nervously. "I-I'm not very good at combat." he said softly.

Annabelle smiled at him gently, "Neither am I." she said.

He still looked at her nervously, "But aren't you the mate of that powerful h-hybrid?" he asked.

"Yeah. So?" Annabelle said, tilting her head to the side.

"I-I don't want her coming after me because I t-touched you." The boy said paling at the thought.

Rolling her eyes Annabelle now looked at him annoyed. "She won't hurt you because you touched me in combat training, in class. Since you're so nervous why don't I attack and you defend."

He nodded and moved into a awkward defensive stance. Annabelle moved to the side and they started circling each other waiting for the other to make a move.

Looking at the way the boy moved Annabelle could tell he didn't know much when it came to fighting. Not only was he holding his arms in a position like 'he thought this is how they should be', but he also tucked his thumbs in his fist which is the easiest way to break them.

While the two had been circling, Annabelle noticed that Jane had made her way to them and was now watching them, or more Jane was watching her. Getting nervous Annabelle decided to attack. Seeing an opening in the boys side Annabelle ran forward and kicked at his side. The sudden action caught him off guard and he lurched to the side but didn't fall over like she had wanted. Going for another attack Annabelle did a quick jab to his face when his hands weren't all the way up, but he was still able block her hand. Frustrated Annabelle surged forward and made to tackle him, he saw the move coming and moved around her pushing against her back and causing Annabelle to face plant on the ground.

Sitting up Annabelle could feel a slight pain on her chin and when she touched it and pulled her hand away there was a little blood. She the attacker, the one who is supposed to do damage, had scraped her chin. Huffing she stood up and brushed the grass off her hands and knees then turned back to her partner.

When he saw that Annabelle had not only hurt her chin but was bleeding the boys eyes got wide and he backed away, then ran off like a demon was chasing him.

"What was that?" Jane asked walking up and standing next to Annabelle.

"He's scared of my mate and now I think because he hurt me he believes she's going to kill him." Annabelle told her, watching the boy fade into the distance. [Wow, he's a really fast runner.]

Jane just hummed then turned to Annabelle, "You're a terrible fighter." Jane said. Annabelle hung her head and waited for the yelling and punches, just like what her mom would do to her after a terrible training session. "But you know what you're doing. I saw you before you attacked, you easily saw your opponents weaknesses. The flaw was how you attacked." Annabelle picked her head up and looked at Jane listening to her every word. "You moved like you were someone twice your size and had more strength than you. I don't think you were taught how someone of your structure should fight. What I want to do is train you myself, I think you have a lot of promise to be an amazing fighter. You can never be as strong as some of the others, but strength isn't everything. So every class you and me are going to pair up."

"Y-you'd really do that for me?" Annabelle stammered.

Jane smiled, "Yes, you have potential and that's all I need in order to teach you. Besides, I don't think that boy will have the nerve to set foot near you again." Jane laughed.

*Ring! Ring!*

"That's the bell so go get changed and I'll see you next class." Jane said, turning and walking away.

Annabelle stood there dumbfounded, then a huge grin slowly spread on her face and she ran off.