Chương 908: PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: THE MEANING OF B+
Abigail's dad was not a man who was easily fazed. He beamed at us making me feel sure that Abigail inherited her signature smile from this guy. I looked from her dad to her mum. Abigail's coloring was definitely her mum's, but her daily expressions were like a page off her dad. Her slender height though... That was a mystery. Anyway, the exact expressions looked astoundingly different when worn on Abigail's dad. The smile was the same - both rows of teeth on high beam, but whenever Abigail did it, it looked like the shining expression of a cheerleader at the end of the routine. On her dad... not so much.
Abigail's Dad was an orange-haired man with a disproportionately big mustache. When he moved his mouth, his mustache would twitch, almost like it was alive. I had to work hard not to stare at it, or notice how his breathing had sped up, or how Abigail's smile on him looked downright smarmy. I know I was the alpha and all, but I took just a half step back. Henry gave me a look. If he could mindlink, I was sure he would be like, "What the hell, Sam. You're leaving me to deal with this guy?"
Yes, yes, I was.
And if Ivan was still back at his tirade against women and the class' new Guys Charter, I was sure he was going to point directly at me and accuse, "See! See! That's exactly what I mean! You girls are all "girls can be alphas too" and "girls are better than boys", but once something hard comes up, you suddenly become a "lady" and need a guy to take care of it!"
Which was NOT true, by the way. I did NOT need Henry to take care of it. Harvey and Ki were here. Hahaha, I'm kidding! I'm kidding!
But if I'm going to be very honest, my weakness was dealing with circumstances where I probably shouldn't chikaboom and kill anyone. Those situations were always tricky.
Anyway, Henry wasn't a progressive-minded human like Ivan. Henry was a typical lycan chauvinistic alpha. He sidestepped just to block me off a little. I appreciated that, really. It made me feel safe.
Oh, wait. It wasn't that Abigail's dad was looking predatory or anything - I mean, he was, but not like inappropriately. I realized I was making him sound like some kind of pervert. It wasn't that way. It wasn't so much the lust in his eyes than the dollar signs. Abigail's dad was a true blue businessman who could smell money for miles, and I felt quite sure Henry stank like the jackpot.
My dress was pretty stinking rich too. It's not like Abigail's dad would know I only had $40 at my disposal on a daily basis. Like the rest of the world, they just see the dress with too many crystals, the men in Betamen suits who were constantly surrounding me, and the $$$ contributions and investments my FAO had been tweeting towards a better future.
I mean, yes, my signatures were on the cheques, BUT the financial decisions were made in consultation with a list of names according to every budget report I had signed off, and there would always be one or two other signatures required above where "F. Alpha Samantha Kingsley Lorent, Nigh Leaf FAO, Green Packlands" had to sign off. In short, that wasn't my money. Trust me, money that you couldn't use as you please wasn't really your money.
Just like the college fund Mum and Dad had put in my name. That wasn't my money. That wasn't even my future money. That was my future college's money. Not that I was complaining. Not every pup had a college fund. I know because Dean told me so.
"I'll probably have to work my way through college." Dean said.
"I'll work with you!" I offered because that sounded like fun. I imagined working in the kitchen, like when we volunteered at the packhouse kitchen, "I'm good at making sandwiches."
Dean made a face at that, "I'm not going to work at subway!"
And then he shrugged, "Maybe I'll give music lessons."
Ben shrugged, "Not me. I'm getting a scholarship."
"You need to be really smart to get a scholarship." Lizzy said. At that time, Ben was in a phase where he wasn't turning in his homework and leaving half his test papers blank, so he was barely passing anything at school.
I went home and told Mum and Dad that I was going to work hard and get a college scholarship or work at subway because I was going to be independent and cool and put myself through college.
"Minimum wage isn't enough for college tuition fees." Savy informed me.
"Oh, Sam." Mum shook her head.
"A scholarship always comes with a bond." Dad shook his head too, "I'm paying to keep your freedom."
It had never occurred to Dad even once that I wasn't smart enough to get a scholarship anyway. After the last two years of middle school, it had become quite apparent to me that I wasn't exactly scholarship material, so I stopped talking about putting myself through college.
I know there were lots of smart pups like Savy and Lizzy and Ben (when he started taking school seriously) who got A's like it was the default alphabet that came with the report book. Let's just say my report books had a bit more variety.
Not all of my friends were smart. Jessica and Dean had B and C averages. So in comparison, my B+ average was pretty good.
"My mum says I'm a girl so as long as I pass, it's okay." Jessica explained. In that case, Jessica was going above and beyond what her parents expected from her.
"It's because you're going to a mixed school." Dean said, "If you had to attend a pure Lycan school like New Leaf, your grade would be much lower. My mum says all schools grade with a bell curve, and pure Lycan schools are more academically demanding because wolves are smarter than humans, so the bar is much higher."
Oh. I guess? I mean, I didn't really know what a bell curve was, but I understood from Dean's tone. My B+ was probably equal to Dean's C, or probably worse.
This had upset me at first. Enough that I had dramatically declared my lousy B+ as a farce to my family. As usual, Mum listened and rubbed my back. Dad frowned his thinking frown, "You're someone who likes to get B+."
Wait, like WTH, did Dad think I was getting B+ averages ON PURPOSE? Like what kind of genius did he think I was to be able to pull that off? I wasn't Ben!
Apparently, Dad had done some kind of analysis on my GPA since elementary school. My elementary school had streamed students to three different types of classes, and I had spent at least a year in each.
It didn't matter whether I was in a "low achieving class", a "high achieving class" or a class in the middle, I always came out with a B+.
"You like to take the comfortable second place." Dad concluded, "You want to win but not too much. I don't know why."
"Because I'm a humble wolf." I answered proudly. My family had a good chuckle. Nothing changed. I mean, the next school Dad sent me to was Winderhill High, and I was still hovering around the B+ line.
I never quite knew why though. It's not that I wasn't trying. Sometimes I did get A's, but then I'll also get B's. And on the rare occasions when I did break the glass ceiling and get an A+, I'd also get an odd C to balance it out. Or a D... You know, for the terms when I got too many A's.
It's happened so many times that I've pretty much given up on it.
"I'm just destined to be a B+." I think I wrote this in my diary when I was in middle school. It was a short diary that lasted less than a week. I had never been good at finishing long-term projects like diaries. The fact that I'm still writing this one must mean something.
I still think I'm a B+. Like I haven't seen my report card yet, but I had seen the exam scripts and the marks for each paper. It's about right.
And it wasn't just my results either. I was always pretty good at most things, but I was never the best. Like I was good at stickfighting, but some of the guys were better. I was good at orienteering, but there were other pups who could read the map faster.
I had never been the worst at something, but I've never been the best either.
"Well, if you add it all up, you'll be the best overall scorer." Savy tried to comfort me.
Who added stuff like that up? It's not like I could point at Jonah after being defeated by him at Stick Fighting (again) and say, "You might be the best stickfighter, but if this was a Stick Fighting, Rope Skipping, Ice cream eating competition, I'd win. And if I don't, I'll just add a few more elements into the mix."
"Thanks Savy, but life doesn't work that way." I told my little sister sadly.
Even my looks were a solid B+. I knew because Dean told me.
"You're pretty." He had remarked one day after Lycan Study Group.
"Thanks." I beamed. I was feeling good about my hair that day, and Savy had helped me put my outfit together.
"I mean, you're pretty, but not that pretty." Dean clarified.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, all the guys say you're pretty, but it's not like you're that pretty." Dean told me, "Like you're maybe just above average."
"You mean, like a B+?" This was about the time in Middle School, when I was in that B+ funk.
"Yeah." Dean nodded, "Something like that."
"Oh." I nodded, "I kinda knew that."
"Oh." Dean sounded surprised.
I would never have thought I was the kind of girl who would worry about her looks. I was more like the t-shirt and jeans, kickball, and stick fight kind of girl. But later that day when I was washing my hands, I stopped to look at myself in the mirror - like really looked at myself. I tried to see myself objectively but TBH, I really liked what I saw. I was having a good hair day and maybe it was just me, but I would have given myself an A. Was that really narcissistic of me?
It's not that I thought I was a hot beauty or anything. But I thought I was pretty. Mum and Dad always said so... lots of adults said so... Suddenly, I remembered all the adults who hadn't said so. The majority of people in my life never commented on it. Maybe the ones who did were just being nice. I sighed. Maybe I wasn't that great a judge for these things. I should bear in mind that my A was possibly just a B+ to everyone else. Mum always said it was good to be self-aware, and a B+ wasn't a bad grade. It wasn't like I felt I was a big fat F, so my confidence wasn't rock bottom, just taken down a notch.
This could be a good thing. I mean, maybe it kept me humble. Hahaha.
Wait, why was I entertaining childhood flashbacks now? Wasn't I supposed to be at a party? Who zoned out to analyze childhood epiphanies while at a party? In my defense, it was (at least for the first five minutes in) a very boring party. I tried to force a smile and pretend I was listening.
Focus Sam!
I must have zoned out for like at least a full minute or two, but thanks to Henry, no one seemed to notice. He was politely nodding to whatever Abigail's Dad was saying - who was probably the reason for me zoning out in the first place. I was just in time to listen to Abigail's Dad praise Henry's family investments and say how interesting it was that his mattress company had so much in common with Henry's family business.
{What's Henry's family business?} I asked my wolves. I had always thought when an Alpha excused himself to attend some family business, it was either something to do with his pack, or something to do with his family.
{That would be GS, Alpha. GS is one of the leading consulting firms for Business Intelligence services in our continent.} Harvey supplied.
Ah. I nodded. No, I had never heard of it. I tried my best to keep my smile on and look vaguely interested.
"What say you, Alpha Princess? Do you fancy investing in SMEs?" Abigail's Dad asked me.
"Of course, she would." Henry answered for me, "Her investments are only pro-Green Packlands though. You won't get a cent from her unless you offer her something towards her pack's economic progress."
If I looked surprised, it was only because I didn't expect Henry to rescue me from looking stupid in front of everyone.
"Don't look at me like that." Henry smirked, "It's pretty obvious with the investment portfolio your FAO had taken on this year."
Yeah, I should know this. I nodded dryly, "Guess nothing gets past you."
Henry laughed, "Not if I can help it."
And Abigail's Dad and Mum, and some of the nearby guests quickly laughed along. Oh, the young alpha is ever so witty! I shall require a fan with which to fan myself whilst I swoon in his presence! I mean, that was the vibe they were giving me anyway.
Meanwhile, the cool girls were working it! Abigail had dropped back a bit because she needed to sulk on the side and while Henry provided the diversion, and I mostly stood there zoning out to contemplate the meaning of B+, the cool girls remained remarkably focused on their mission...
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katisnow
katisnow Merry Christmas, my dear readers!
I'll be off for Christmas. So the story continues on Monday! Have a very blessed Christmas, and may your heart (and tummies) be full and warm this Christmas!
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