* * *

 Perhaps yesterday wasn't the best day for Sage, but she was determined to turn it around today. She might've asked Haylee for help on what to wear to school, and the only reason Remus thought that was because he didn't think his mate could pull off creating a style like that.

He loved her endlessly but Sage loved her sweat pants just as much as the next wolf. This was not that wolf.

With the warm weather coming through, she took one of the many shirts that the witches gifted her. It was a boho, or that's what Haylee tried to explain Sage the title of it is. But she looked adorable never the less as she had leggings and yes, sneakers.

Though she really didn't want to wear them.

Remus had spat in his coffee in seeing her, sweet goddess have mercy, she looked so unmistakably normal that it hurt him even more from what happened yesterday.

Almost as much as it did when she slept in her art room.

"Hey Munchkin, are you ready for today?" She nodded enthusiastically, and he sighed in relief that she was pushing to get past the car fiasco.

"Have everything ready?" She pointed off towards her bag and smiled, but her silence only told him she was nervous.
"Come here, hun." He cooed, and she instantly came forward towards him, not really expecting him to be so straightforward in dragginh her down to sit on his lap.

But she conformed never the less and hummed out a sigh. "You have nothing to worry about Sage, high school is supposed to be hard."
"I want to be normal." She said looking up, but he shook his head. "We don't get to be normal. If you lived in a pack with your parents as the daughter of an Alpha and Luna, you still wouldn't be a normal pack member."
"But I know my mom and dad." She whispered, and all Remus could do was rub her shoulder and feed her a few bits of bacon from his plate.

But it was time to drop her off at the high school, and whether it was the bouncing knee on the car or darting her attention to the other few cars here and there.

"Do you have your phone?" She nodded, turning her attention off towards her mate, and tried to give him a smile.
But it wasn't all that convincing.

"If you don't think you're up for it Sage, you can always come home or go to the office."
"No, have to."
"Says who?" Sage blinked and her shoulders fell. "Me."
"I'm proud of you, whether you go to school or not. I'm still proud of you." He said, pulling over towards the curb so she could get out of the car with the rest of the student population heading into the building.

Taking off her seatbelt she moved forward to kiss her mate, and he smiled against the embrace. "I see you later?"
"Text me at lunch if you can, and make sure you eat your lunch." She smiled and hurried out the door and walked with the crowd, perhaps it was the pup's ignorance and what not but Sage felt thankful for that.

She didn't voice how she felt in being called Luna, but Sage associated the term with her mother.
And it was a painstaking reminder of what she's lost.

"Luna?" A girl said with little confidence, but it did peak Sage's interest.
"Lisa?...Hello." The girl nodded, she hid behind big glasses, but Sage did like her smile and returned it.

"Please call me Sage."
"Oh um...Are you sure? I don't know if that's appropriate for me to—" Sage nodded and looked around, the smells of hormonal teenagers were rather gruesome, and while she wanted to wear one of Remus' hoodies. She knew it'd be too much of an Alpha scent and throw people to worry.

It was completely different seeing the hallways so filled with life, considering she walked through them with Remus during a period.
"Mr.Graves said you wanted to join us in Bio lab, but we have that just before lunch...So you'll just be shadowing me for the entire day." Sage nodded her head, and followed side by side towards the first class.

English.

Sage felt relatively relaxed in finding a seat right beside Lisa, and it was rather a culture shock to see some She-wolves have mate marks while others didn't.

She'd have to ask about it later, but for right now she listened to conversations around her. What her family didn't understand was Sage's version of normal was what she saw in the shows and movies, or what she compared to in books.

Sage just wanted to go to school to learn, not to be Luna. But to get the experience everyone around her had managed, and that meant having English class at 7:30 in the morning.

The teachers were all informed, but the Luna made no move to introduce herself and they didn't want to put unnecessary stress on their leader so they left well enough alone.

Though Mrs.Rosewood was absolutely excited to be able to teach her Luna that very morning. Course it took a moment for Sage to realize the drastic change of setting, a teacher up in front of the classroom—Discussions, classwork, raising hands for questions.

Yet it was informative, and Eli reminded her that this was the future of the pack these wolves here sitting all around her.

The only issue with not being recognized of Luna was the insane amount of disrespect that was flying this way and that, and a few times the teachers were awaiting their Luna to step in and perhaps throw a punishment their way.

But Sage stood by her want of normalcy and took the bit of shameless flirty a male had done. Even if her neck held a claim.

"I don't like Brandon, he's full of himself."
"'full of himself' mean?" Sage questioned, and the sweet girl that Lisa is, she explained the definition without hesitation. It didn't happen often throughout the day, but there was a reason why Mr.Graves picked Lisa.

He thought she could use a friend and she was heavily responsible in work ethic.

"Would you look at that! Omega actually made a friend!" A few males and other she-wolves laughed, and Sage thought wildly. She didn't know slang or the terminology of 'loser' or anything of the sort.

But she did know it was bothering Lisa, and from shadowing her so far today, the she-wolf beside her was the sweetest pup there was, so she stopped in the hallway right then and there and stalked towards the oblivious male.

"Say it again." She said, and the male turned speechless. He hadn't been prepared for confrontation but the 'loser' was still swirling in the back of Sage's head.

"I said you and—" Sage hadn't wasted another moment, the lanky pup who didn't have a chance to properly fill out had been slammed against the locker as Sage held the collar of his shirt.

"No. Don't talk. Think before speak." She said, her broken English managing just fine as she let go of the male. He was a junior, and while he wasn't exactly an Omega, the middle classes were still a little tier crazed as subordinates, having to fight for rank and all.

Lisa stood back in awe, knowing full well that she should've disagreed about not calling the Luna by her title. But wouldn't it be worse not to listen to the Luna?

"Home school bitch, why don't you go back to mommy and daddy." Lisa flinched, and it was a force of habit when Sage's growl filled up the small length of the hallway.

And every's neck was shown in a sign of submission.

"What is your name?"
"Sam Turner." He spoke, his wolf chiming him for upsetting the she-wolf in front of him. But he hadn't a clue as to why his wolf was in a mess of submission, especially considering it came from a skinny she-wolf no taller than his chest.

"I remember that." She stated, walking back towards Lisa who scurried to follow, only for Piper to roll her eyes as the group who submitted without a second thought was in a mess of confusion.

"You're fucked." Piper teased, and Sam huffed in question. "Yeah? How so? Girl's a twig." The she-wolf perked her lips and leaned forward to the male's ear.

"That twig is the Luna, dipshit." And thus, Piper continued off towards Biology. The only reason the girl knew the Luna was coming today was because her Biology teacher explained to the entire class what was going to happen.

Piper greeted the Luna properly, but it caused her to frown.
"Please call me Sage." It was simple enough, and for record of what just happened, Piper understood.

She herself was adopted from another pack, well they were relatives of her but part of her knew why Sage wanted some normalcy. If it wasn't that, then the whole student body would've had an assembly otherwise.

"Good Morning class!" Mr.Graves cheered, and it was a very different attitude than when she spoke with him beside Remus. Though then again, he was Alpha.

It was a sign of respect.

"Now then, let's go over the pre-lab but we can't have any fooling around today. We'll need the full period today to get through the experiment." He spoke, which allowed the class to go and retrieve said assignment. And while Piper was prepared to show Sage what the teacher was talking about, Piper was ultimately surprised that the Luna had managed to produce the same worksheet.

With just a lot more work on it.

"Someone studied for this lab, huh?" Beck said, and Lisa sucked in a breath.
"Did you get my email?" The she-wolf questioned, and the male scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I skimmed it, thanks for the notes." He deemed before turning back to the front of the class.

"Beck, this is Sage. Sage, this is Beck...Wow, was that so hard?" Piper said while rolling her eyes, waiting patiently for the spark of the name to catch him.

And he acted like a deer in headlights.

"Y-you're the Luna?"
"Yes." Sage said with a bit of cation, but she smiled down to her phone. It was clear that everyone at the table saw that the top was 'Remmy' and Beck gulped.

"I—I'm so sorry Luna—"
"It's Sage."
"W-what?"
"My name is Sage, please don't call me Luna." Piper watched in pure amusement that Beck was quivering in his seat while Sage took in the rest of the classroom.

Mr.Graves came around with his grade book to see who did and didn't do the assignment, and while he did have expectations for the Luna. She surpassed them, and he couldn't help but read through her work.

"Well done Mrs.Moon, now who would like to tell me what they got for question one?" Throughout the lecture portion, Mr.Graves caught that Sage was writing down notes, seeing that she really was dedicated to learning. And when she didn't understand something she simply leaned closer towards Lisa and asked for a different worded explanation.

Some of the phrases used were at a higher level than what Sage was used to, but Lisa managed to condense it.

When Bio was over, Sage followed both Lisa and Piper off towards the cafeteria. It was similar to the room at the packhouse but much more Pup-oriented.

"Do you think we're having pizza because Sage is here?" Piper teased, and it caused her to tilt her head in confusion. "Pizza because I'm here?"
"Yeah, the school wanted to make a welcoming gesture...Though I'm sure Turner is still pissing his pants." Piper snickered off to the side and grabbed one of the trays, which left Sage to follow by example.

It was strange how pups didn't recognize the Luna right away, but almost all the adults in the cafe managed to place extra food onto her tray.
Two slices of pizza, an extra brownie.
Remus surely had something to do with this.

Following Lisa and Piper, she sat down in a circular chair, one that spins and found herself rather comfortable with those she was sitting with.

But that wasn't all who was in the group, Beck appeared as well with a sheepish smile. Though his return allowed for another two males to come forward, Cody and Brian.

However, Sage turned to grab her backpack and pulled out her phone, smiling to see that there were dozens texts from everyone.

Remus, Jack, Eli, Luke and Liam. Even Haylee and Jade managed to send her their best wishes.

And Blake made it a point to send one of those moving pictures that she loves so much of a puppy.

"Luna I have to ask, do you like memes?"
"Memes? I don't know memes." She honestly admited, and Beck hurries to her side and showed her a few—Though he switched it up and catered to her interest in puppies as well.

"Someone's popular, is that the Alpha?" Piper teased, and Sage simply nodded.
"Remmy said text at lunch if I can." The entire table stilled at the mention of the Luna's nickname for the Alpha, but Beck was the first one to crack.

"Oh dear sweet goddess, thank you for this blessing. I would've never believed it if I didn't hear it myself."
"What?"
"You call the Alpha 'Remmy'...It's disrespect if we were to call him by his first name—or just his first name," Piper explained, but Sage frowned.

Was she not meant to call Remus by his first name?

Anxiety wracked her as she soon put her phone away, missing Remus' next text as she tried to focus on those around her.
However what she failed to see was Sam Tuner talking to a she-wolf.

"Um Sage...Y-you know Kelly, right? The Alpha's—" Sage's eyes turned defensively towards Lisa, though it was calm and collected. It was clear what was happening.

"Kelly's sister is coming over, she likes to start trouble."
"I play smart," Sage whispered and smiled off towards Piper who decided to talk about the bio lecture a bit more with Sage, who again, found it really engaging.

She didn't doubt her Luna was smart, but it was the males that were starting to see the fine lines of either the pack's tribal tattoo on her shoulder or the claw marks on her opposite shoulder side.

"Luna Sage, it's so nice to properly meet you." Sage's eyes flickered up towards the pup, her voice was laced with venom and since Sage was very familiar with the slimy words of scientists, or the wannabe dominant attempts of other Luna's...This was nothing.

"Hello."
"My name is Kara, Kelly's sister. You know she dated Remus for—" Sage's eyes turned black.
"Disrespect Alpha you disrespect me." She claimed, laying down the law quite clear.

It had been a while since Kara had been taken down by someone of a higher status while being in school, and although her sister was no longer together with the Alpha—She still reigned high in the school's political system to really fall from her sister's fault.

"I'm sorry Luna, I didn't mean to be disrespectful. He's like a brother to me, or would've been if—"
"If I don't come or don't stay." Lisa swallowed while Piper was still eyeing Kara to simply let this all go, what purpose did she have other than upsetting Luna?

They all knew how protective the Alpha was over his mate, and rightfully so.

But Kara was a devious she-wolf, she knew the ins and outs of the law. And while Sage might be Luna, attacking an underage wolf was considered against the law—Unless prompted. When Kelly was first experiencing the break-up with Remus, she told her sister everything, and while some of it is true to this day, others are outdated information.

"Need something?" Sage questioned, taking another bite of her salad as she turned a rather sly eye towards the she-wolf in question. Piper did have to give it to her Luna, she was indeed playing smart.
And the calmness was wildling Kara up immensely.

"No...I guess not." She said, rising up for her seat before muttering under her breath a foul word. One that Piper's eyes grew tenfold.

"Not from a retard mutt like you." It took a collectived five seconds before Sage sucked in a breath and turned to her phone, texting a full sentence before leaving her tray and going back towards Kara.

"What the hell do you—" Kara didn't have a single ounce of preparation before Sage plowed her fist directly into her nose and straight into the wall.

Um Sage, did you mean to send that text to me or Remus?

Jackson's voice called out to her, and she simply mended the tendons in her fist as she sighed.

You, I'm done with school.

Isn't it lunchtime? Is everything—

Now Jack. I want to leave.

Sage was never a demanding she-wolf, but the Delta knew something was wrong. Especially when he pulled up to the school to see Mr.Graves speaking to her, and while the teacher tried to remain helpful, Sage's face remained placid.

Jack rushed out of the car and looked at both of them, but Sage's eyes were dead.
Perhaps one day of high school could take it out of her.

"Delta Jackson, never thought you'd step foot on school grounds again..."
"Mr.Graves, the Luna called me and—" Sage nodded to her teacher and continued off towards the car and shutting it roughly.

She did really want to leave.

"I'm sorry I can't disclose what happened."
"What?!"
"The Luna said I couldn't, I do believe that she doesn't want the pups involved to get in trouble from the Alpha...But I don't know how far that will go, given what's happened. I'm sorry I can't be any more help than that." Jackson sucked in a breath, knowing full well this was going to go over smooth with the Alpha.

And while he was happy that Sage contacted someone and got herself out of the situation, there was still some curious glances Sage received from Jackson.

"Can you drive me home?"
"Sage, I really think we should tell the Alpha, I know you told Mr.Graves not to tell him, but the school has policies for this. Can you tell me what happened, please?" Sage's eyes started to water instantly, pinching the brink of her nose she shook her head.
Clearly whatever happened, was having a massive effect on her.

"Sage...Come on hun, I want to help. And I can't help if I don't know what's happening."
"I'm not normal...And I can't be normal." She said, looking straight ahead and not daring to move her attention elsewhere.

"We're werewolves hun, we're not normal at all...But Remus—"

"Remus can't help me be Luna. Kara's right. I'm a retarded mutt." She said, getting out of the car and slamming the door before heading into the house.

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Date: 06-21-21

Time: 9:14

Words: 3241

Sage's first day of school didn't go entirely as planned, but it's time to introduce a few new characters!
✨Lisa and Piper✨

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Author's Question:
What is the one thing every Werewolf story has in common?