Ella’s POV
It’s been an hour and Rachel hasn’t left her room. I felt awful for upsetting her. She was right; I had no right to question her like that. I’m not sure what came over me and I felt so ashamed. Becca was already in bed sleeping and I could see the faint light under Rachel's door, indicating that she was awake.
I knocked on her door lightly and I heard her faint voice saying, “Come in.”
I took a deep breath before opening the door and poking my head in. She was curled up on her bed and her eyes were red like she’s been crying. It made my heart squeeze painfully in my chest; I had hurt her.
“Hey…” I said softly.
When she didn’t say anything, I stepped into her room.
“Rachel, I’m so sorry,” I breathed, shutting the door behind me. “I was a total monster, and you didn’t deserve that. You were right; it wasn’t my business. He’s your father and I don’t have a right to tell you what to do.”
“He wants to have a better relationship with me…” she murmured, lowering her gaze. “I want to give him a chance to redeem himself.”
“I understand that completely. I’m sorry I gave you the third degree...”
“I know you don’t trust Alpha Jonathan, but he’s not that bad, Ella. He saved my father’s business. Without him, my father would have gone bankrupt. We owe him a lot for that,” she said, meeting my eyes.
Suddenly, I was getting a weird feeling. Alpha Jonathan always had an alternative motive when it came to things like that. He’s a wealthy businessman and owns basically everything; what would he want with a small restaurant that was on the verge of bankruptcy?
I wanted to ask her, but I decided it was probably better if I didn’t. So, I kept my mouth shut.
“Can you please just give them a chance? For me?”
I sighed, not wanting to argue with her anymore.
“Sure,” I said, forcing a small smile. “I will give them a chance, for you.”
She smiled widely at me and leaped to her feet, running toward me and wrapping her arms around me.
“Thank you, Ella,” she breathed.
I hugged her back, but I couldn’t shake that nasty feeling that was bubbling in the pit of my stomach.
….
The next day.
It was finally Saturday, which meant I had two days to prepare for my first real student committee meeting of the year. I was beyond excited but also incredibly nervous. I learned a lot about these things from my father. When I was young, I used to sit in on his Alpha meetings, so I knew how to speak in front of small crowds and get my points across effectively.
I just hoped enough students wanted to join the committee. I was going to need a handful of students if I wanted this committee to be successful. Rachel finally agreed to be a part of it; last year she wanted no part in it. But this year she wanted to join. I also had Brody, Becca, and a couple of others who were a part of the committee last year.
But so far nobody else has asked to join, which made me nervous.
“How about we create flyers?” Becca suggested.
We sat in the dining hall eating our breakfast and talking about the committee. Rachel hadn’t joined us yet, but at the table sat Brody, Becca, and our new fairy friend, Kay. She had just told me she wanted to join as well, so at least we were one person closer to having a full committee.
I wanted at least 10 members and so far, we had 7.
“That’s a great idea,” I said, writing that down in the notebook that sat beside my plate.
Every Saturday the dining hall had a buffet for breakfast. It consisted of every breakfast food imaginable. Most of the time I’m usually in the calypso pack by now, but Colton had a few things to do this morning, and I wanted to brainstorm some of Monday’s meeting with my friends, so we decided not to return until later this afternoon.
My father was still at the pack interrogating Xander and searching for Jazzy with the warriors. My mother was still in the rogue village keeping the shield in place while Hazel recovers in the hospital. It won’t be long now until she can return to the village herself and my mother can return to the Nova pack. I’m sure she’s probably exhausted and missing my father terribly.
I looked at Kay who was nibbling on her fruit salad.
“Did you get your abilities back yet?” I asked.
She frowned and glanced up at me; I could see sadness in her eyes as she shook her head.
“Not yet,” she murmured. “Has the board said anything to you about when we could be expecting them back?”
“I think they still need to figure out what caused them to disappear,” I admitted. “Hopefully soon.”
She sighed and nodded as she took another bite of the fruit.
“I hope so…” she said, sounding all sorts of defeated.
“Has anyone seen Rachel?” Becca asked. “She was gone before we woke up this morning, which is very unlike her.”
It’s true that Rachel is usually the last of us to wake up on weekends. It was strange that she was already awake and gone this morning.
“I haven’t seen her at all since yesterday,” Brody answered.
Becca looked at him and then narrowed her eyes like she was just remembering something.
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