"The bottom line is that we never fall for the person we're supposed to."
~Jodi Picoult

Spencer

Elsa wasn't at school for three days. Her texts to me were short and cryptic. I wondered if one of her family members discovered our secret, but if that were the case, she would've told me by now, and one of her family members would have tried to kill me.

Perhaps one of her packmates started to suspect our relationship, or at least that she was having a relationship with someone. Maybe they didn't know it was me, but they knew it was someone in the school, which would mean she'd have to be extra careful texting, explaining the short texts.

With the thought firmly planted in my head, I backed off of contacting her, although the waiting made me anxious. I wanted, no, needed, to know she was okay. My pack mates sensed my anxiety, too, no matter how hard I tried to hide it. They tried prying into what could be bothering me but failed to get anywhere.

I currently stood in the hallway with Jack and Gigi when Elsa and her pack walked past us. Instantly, I noticed something was off, but it was Gigi who figured it out.

"Why is there a new guy with them?" she queried.

"I've never seen him before," Jack mentioned.

"He's certainly clinging to the twin... which one is that?"

"Elsa," I said. I watched as my girlfriend smiled and chatted with the newcomer. He kept his eyes trained on her but, as if sensing my gaze, glanced up at me. We held eye contact for a couple of seconds before he looked back at Elsa. Using my super-hearing, I focused in on their conversation, meanwhile pretending to listen to my packmates. They seemed none the wiser.

"Who's the guy staring at me? The tall one?" the guy asked.

Elsa craned her neck around. "That would be one of the Stark alphas- Spencer. The two people with him are his pack mates, Gigi and Jack. The latter one hates me after I kicked his ass when he tried to make fun of me for being an omega. As long as you're with one of us, they shouldn't bother you. If you come across Spencer by himself, don't worry. He'll want nothing to do with you since he wants nothing to do with us. What's your first class?"

"Uh, gym," he replied.

"Cool, you'll be with Thea in that. She'll be pleasant to you, but don't let her push you around. She likes to get under people's skin, mine included, and she's very good at it."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll see you at lunch?"

"Of course. I'll see you then." Elsa smiled and left, heading towards the physiology classroom.

"Spencer, are you even listening to us?" Gigi prodded, waving her hand in my face.

Guess I wasn't as good at pretending to listen as I thought I was...

"Find out who he is," I ordered.

"Why are you worried about a newcomer in the Laroche pack?" Jack inquired.

"Because I want to know why they have a new pack member," I answered shortly.

"How are we to find out about him when they won't speak to us?"

"Do what I did and listen in on their conversations. Glean any information you can. I want to know." I stalked off from my group. Jealousy surged through my veins. All I could focus on was the look he gave my girlfriend; it was anything but platonic. She seemed oblivious to it, but she was also incredibly oblivious to how many guys stared at her as she walked by. Sometimes I wondered if Elsa knew just how stunningly beautiful she was.

Upon entering physiology, I found her sitting at her regular desk. I took the seat next to her. Before I could even say 'hello,' she said, "You reek of anxiety. What's up?"

"Who's the new guy?" I responded casually.

"His name is Finn; he's from an allied pack. His pack disappeared about six months ago, and he's been on his own ever since. He doesn't know what happened to him, but my parents are trying to figure it out."

"Oh."

"What else is on your mind?"

"Nothing."

She sighed. "Then why has your anxiety not gone down whatsoever?"

"I just don't like your new packmate."

"She rolled her eyes. "You've never even met him."

"Doesn't matter. Finn's part of your pack."

"So, because he's part of my pack, you're automatically not supposed to like him?"

"Yes."

"Then you're not supposed to like me."

"Yeah, but I do. It's different. You're a... girl."

"So if Finn were a girl, you wouldn't hate him?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"But aren't you supposed to hate everyone in my pack automatically?"

"Technically, yes. But I-"

Elsa placed her hand on my arm and said, "Spencer, tell me the truth. Why do you not like Finn?"

I sighed. "Because he won't take his eyes off you..."

"Are you jealous?" she asked. I could hear the slight undertone of amusement in her voice despite her attempts to hide it. "Why on earth would you be jealous of him?"

"Because like I said, he won't take his eyes off you, even when he's speaking to the group. I don't like it. Besides, he's in your pack and a hell of a lot more desirable than me in your pack's eyes."

Elsa was about to respond, but the teacher began the lesson, and we fell into an uncomfortable silence, only worsening my anxiety. Maybe I was being unreasonable, but I just didn't like the way he watched her. It got under my skin in a way I didn't think possible. Maybe it was because I knew any guy in her pack had a better chance of staying with her than I did. Sure, I had the status, the power, the looks, but I failed to have the approval of her pack.

The most important thing of all.

At least right now, I didn't, but who knew when that would change?

I wanted to ask her more about Finn, but the entire class was a lecture; we weren't even allotted time to work on homework. Now my anxiety mixed with frustration because all I wanted to do was talk to my girlfriend. All I wanted to do was sort this out, so we weren't fighting. The arguing worried me. I didn't want this small hiccup to turn into something bigger, something that could jeopardize our relationship. The more I thought about it happening, the worse my anxiety became.

By the end of class, I nearly shook with the pent up stress and worry, something my girlfriend picked up on.

As Elsa prepared to pack up, she said quietly, "Listen, he's brand new to the area, and since I'm the one that found him, I offered to show him around and... I don't know, be his guide."

"Are you sure he sees it that way?" I countered.

"Yes. And even if Finn does have feelings for me and asks me out, I'd say no."

"What excuse could you give him? You can't tell me your pack doesn't want you dating someone. In our lives, we date and marry young."

"Yes, my parents have been asking. However, they also know there's no one in my pack I'm interested in, and the only available guys of our kind for me to date are in your pack, which isn't supposed to happen, so all I say is I'm not interested."

"And you believe he'll understand?"

"Whether he believes it or not won't change my mind. He's my friend, and he's going to remain my friend. I also have two older sisters and two older brothers who would back me up. Look, you don't have to like him or trust him, but at least trust me."

"I do trust you, but you're Omega in your pack. You don't get a say like the others do. I'm worried they won't give you a choice in the matter."

"Thank you for reminding me of my restricted freedoms because of my status. If my parents ever tried to force me into a relationship I didn't want to be in, I would leave."

"You could come stay with us," I offered.

"Your pack would kill me."

"Not if you were under my protection."

"Yes, they would. As much as it sucks, this is the problem with being in a secret relationship," Elsa said. At that moment, the bell rang. My girlfriend stuffed the rest of her belongings into her bag and stood up.

I rubbed my face, her words from the day I told her I liked her echoing in my head. "You knew we would encounter these problems. Why did you say yes to me?"

"Because I was selfish, and I wanted to be with a guy I liked. But you knew about these problems too because I brought them up, so why continue encouraging me to go out with you?"

I was silent for a moment before saying, "Because I was selfish and wanted to be with a girl I liked."

Elsa bit her lip. "Spencer, the longer we do this, the harder it's going to be for us to break it off with each other. Just think about that, okay?"

"Do you want to break up or something?" I demanded.

"No!" Elsa exclaimed rather loudly. A few heads turned her way, but with one glare from her, they hastily swiveled back around. "I'm just saying that maybe we should've just stayed friends. Because then, if we needed to break it off, it wouldn't hurt as bad. We've barely been dating a month, and we're already encountering problems. Once we're out of school, it's going to become harder and harder to make excuses to see each other."

"I thought we were going to try and bring our packs together?"

"That was me grasping at straws to rationalize what I was doing by entering a relationship with you wasn't totally selfish. If you told your pack about me right now, what would they do?"

"They'd kill you."

"And mine would kill you. As much as we want it to happen, our packs will never get along. You and me... we're different than them, and that's why we get along. We see the insanity in feuding over something we don't know what it's about. They don't, and they're too stubborn to ever change. It would take something drastic for them to see what we do."

I stood up, shoving my books into my backpack. "I'd say the two of us dating is pretty drastic."

"Spencer, you know what I mean. I'm talking drastic as in the two of us run away, or one of us dies, or one of us nearly dies because our packs couldn't come together."

I sighed, not wanting to admit she was right. "I'll see you in English."