Short chapter but pt 2 is gonna be up straight after!

"Okay but you can't actually think that this is a good idea," I say, shoving a handful of chips in my mouth before passing the bag back to Henry.

He leans against the tree trunk swallowing the food in his mouth. "Oh on the contrary, Miss Elignton has been hounding me since last year to convince you to join and I don't think I can attend another debate meeting without fulfilling her request," he replies and I ponder over his words.

"You say they are taking in new members this afternoon?" I ask and he nods.

"Yup," he replies. "They are gonna be in the school newspaper room and you're practically guaranteed a spot."

I raise a brow at this. "Because of Micah?" I ask and I notice the way his casual expression falters slightly at mention of my mate.

"I meant because you are amazing at what you do," he says. "But I suppose that'll probably help too."

"Look I've been meaning to talk to you actually," I say and he sits up straighter, his attention snapping into focus.

"What about? Has he hurt you?" He asks and something about the way he jumps to the worst conclusion doesn't sit well with me but I shrug it off.

"No," I say, shock on my face. "That's not it at all. It's about tonight," I say and realisation quickly comes over his face before a slight shock, like he expected my parents to have convinced me out of it.

"Oh, you're still doing that?" He asks and I nod.

"Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I just want to treat this like a regular date, see how things go," I say with a shrug, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"But you've never been on a regular date," he points out.

"It can't be that difficult, I mean am I nervous? Sure, but if this goes horribly wrong then at least I know what I'm getting into," I reply, mumbling my words.

"I think you shouldn't do it," he blurts, the proclamation coming out with complete certainty.

"I figured," I say, an edge to my tone and he scrunches his face in confusion to which I give him a blank look. "I know you told my parents," I say and he looks slightly taken aback. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

"I'm just trying to look out for you Thea," he says, his use of my childhood nickname doing nothing to soften the blow.

"By going behind my back? I've got this under control Henry, I thought out of all people you'd be on my side with this," I say and guilt quickly consumes me.

"I am on your side," he says quickly, like anything else would be complete blasphemy. "I just truly think this is a bad idea, getting involved with him any further is a bad idea I mean he might not be compulsive now but it's only a matter of time until his instincts kick in," he says and I give him a look.

"He doesn't seem like that kind of guy, I feel like you're being dramatic," I say and his grim expression doesn't pass.

"None of them seem like that but they're half animal, Thea. One minute he might be all lovey dove but the next think you know, he's all possessive Alpha male, ready to sink his teeth into your neck."

I flinch at the thought but don't let his theatrics play out. He's a debater. He exaggerates things. It's what he does.

"Theres a lot of bad about this situation, trust me I get it but if he really is my enemy then maybe its better to keep him close. If he is under the perception that all is lovey dovey whilst I decide it isn't for me then it'll be easier to get away and if I decide not to, then..." I see a look of fear begin to sink into Henry's expression as I think about what to say but luckily, I'm saved by the bell.

"I shouldn't have gone behind your back," he says, standing up and I begin packing my things as he does. "I didn't think your parents would make it so obvious but that doesn't matter, it was a stupid friend move and if you conspired against me with my parents I'd be mad too. I'm sorry," he reiterates and I zip up my bag, standing to meet his stance.

"Conspiring?" I comment with a sly smile. "Maybe I should be more mad."

His guilty face breaks into a bright smile and he rubs the back on his head, like he always does when he's nervous, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks. "You know what I mean," he mumbles and I laugh.

"Friendship hug?" I ask and he moves over to me fast, embracing me into a giant bear hug that makes me squeal from shock before erupting into a giggling fit.

"Okay, okay," I say between laughs, squeezing him back before tapping his shoulder. "That's enough you big lug, you're gonna squeeze the air out of me," I comment and he laughs, putting me down.

"I'll see you on Saturday, Thea," he says, smiling as he walks backwards to his next class. "And go to that meeting after school! Or else your fire and fear jester partner shall cease to exist!"

He continues walking back and I scoff. "I won't miss your pick axe swinging ass, trust me," I comment and his smile beams once more before he turns around, walking away to his next class.

I tighten my grip on my backpack and set off to my next class, wondering the whole way if I actually would have a fire and fear partner if Henry decided to shun me.

-

"Sorry I'm late," I huff, rushing around the corner into the newspaper room before wiping my disheveled hair from my face.

Miss Elignton turns to me, along with the three other people sat in the room and smiles broadly. "Thea," she says warmly. "That's no problem at all, I'm just glad you could make it. Please, take a seat."

She gestures to the table that the four of them are sat at, sprawled with papers, pens, mugs and books of different kinds. I give her a tight smile and look at the other people in the room, trying to maintain a brave front in the face of complete strangers-somethings I'm admittedly horrible at.

A boy with green tipped hair, braided back into neat rows returns my smile, and I notice the nose ring he wears, along with glasses that look too big for his face-something that I presume is a bold statement given their neon colour that matches his hair.

The girl next to him looks entirely different, her baby blue cardigan wrapped neatly around a proper school uniform, an outfit that nobody wears and her hair tucked away into a hijab that matches the colour of her sweater. She has no nose piercing and doesn't sport any excessive jewellery aside from a sleek golden bracelet and basic necklace. She hardly notices my entrance, her attention is fully on Miss Elignton and the pen in her hand taps furiously against the pad of her notebook.

The last girl in the room makes whatever trace of a forced smile I had vanish within a millisecond. Her hair is midnight black and her attire matches, her jewellery surpassing that of the two oftener by a milestone with the chains and rings and piercings over her body. Her brown eyes are magnified by neon green eyeshadow, the colour matching with the other dude and upon further inspection it looks as if she has that same green accent incorporated into other parts of her look two.

It isn't the eye contact that somewhat startles me-though it does admittedly put me on edge-but rather the completely dead pan expression she gives me, not one ounce of interest in my presence showing.

I walk around her, sliding into an empty chair that is free either side, placing my bag onto the ground and folding my arms casually before just tucking them under the table, realising I probably look stupid.

"So we were just assigning out tasks for the upcoming paper, Athena," Miss Elignton says to me, like she had already made the point clear and in my surveillance of the group members I completely zoned out on her.

Probably why the scary girl was staring at me. Hopefully.

"Oh yeah, cool, whatever," I say reminding myself to reign in the babbling.

"Great, well Jesminda here," she says, pointing to the smartly dressed girl, "Is our editor, along with me of course and to her right is Finn who is a journalist that writes mostly opinion pieces along with some creative texts and over there is Gia and she is in charge of the comic strip stories along with taking most of the photos at events," she explains and Finn again smiles at me, making me return his gesture and divert my gaze.

"Cool, I'm Athena," I blurt without thinking, the fact that I've already been introduced slipping my mind.

"So what kind of role were you looking to take on?" She asks me and I gulp.

"Well I'm good with doing anything, really," I say, not wanting to overstep into anyones territory.

"I've taken a look at some of your previous English assignments and you are a standout in writing articles, would you be interested in joining Finn doing journalism? I am sure there are plenty of storied for the both of you to cover," she asks and I nod, relieved that she offered because truly, I wanted that job.

"That sounds great, where do I start?" I ask.

"Well we have just broken down most of the key events that will be happening until the next fortnight. My thoughts are that you will write more of an informative article, collecting relevant interviews and accounting for the events and Finn will write his opinion pieces on them," she suggests and though the thought of interviewing people makes me slightly nauseous, the idea of being an on the job journalist of sorts excites me.

"Yeah, cool," I reply with a smile.

"The first event on our list is next weeks football match to kick off the season. It's against a neighbouring pack too so that should give you extra content," Miss Elignton says.

"You'll be able to get personal interviews from the captain too, now," Jesminda says, slight excitement to her words. "He usually declines or gives short answers but since you're his mate I'm sure he'd be happy too."

My stomach sinks slightly but I try not to let it show. It'll give us something to talk about tonight at least but part of me wanted this to be an escape from all that, not something that led me further to it.

"And she'll probably be around the pack house more too, we could probably get interviews with the higher ups," Gia says, her tone disinterested as she looks to me. "Right?"

The direct question throws me off a little. I haven't even met these people yet, I'm hardly comfortable enough to ask for interviews. Just like the others here would be shit scared, so am I.

"Oh, um, I dunno that's all like still a little crazy," I say with a fun laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

"We completely understand Athena, you just do what you feel is comfortable and if you need me to help arrange interviews with coaches and whatnot, that's what I'm here for," she says with an assuring smile.

"Thanks," I mumble.

"If you need a lift to the game Gia and I can come pick you up, too. We usually go to these things together and talk things through before hand so if you need a lift let us know," Finn says with a smile before looking to Jesminda. "If you need a ride to watch the game too we can get you," he says to her and she breaks from jotting down notes for a moment to look up at him.

"Yeah, sounds good," she says, looking back at her paper.

"Well now we've just got to divide up the rest of the events," Miss Elignton says, clapping her hands together happily and I hope that Micah isn't an integral part of most of them.