FIRST HE BROKE MY HEAD

(TIMELINE 3, WHEN I WAS 9)

If I thought Bell was annoying as an elementary school brat, he was worse at Middle School.

It was like the moment he reached Middle School, he was too cool to play with me. He wouldn't climb trees or race me around the Lorents long driveway. Most of the time, he would be playing games or watching videos on his phone.

"My useless son." Alpha James would bemoan, "Would you look at him? He doesn't even know how to dine at a table anymore."

And all the adults would look at the lanky teenager slouched at the dinner table with his phone in hand.

"James, put your phone away." Lady Amber was censuring, "We do not use our phones at the table."

"We do!" I piped up because I was still a dumb elementary school pup, "Dad is always on the screen - especially during breakfast."

Dad cleared his throat.

Luckily Lady Amber was very smooth, "Well, I'm sure it's because your Alpha father is very busy."

I nodded, because I knew Dad was working, not watching videos of big boys running around like dumb pups and yelping rude words. Bell was wearing earphones, but I had very sharp hearing even as a pup.

Anyway, Bell grudgingly put his phone away because it was Lady Amber who asked him to.

"The ear muffs too, if you don't mind." Lady Amber would say.

"They're earphones." Bell would say, but he pulled them down to hang around his neck. I could hear the rock music blaring from it. I guess Bell didn't entirely turn off his phone.

"Thank you." Lady Amber would nod primly at the compromise.

"He never listens to me." Alpha James complained.

It was true. By the time Bell was in Middle School, he ignored his father completely in front of company. Apparently, their relationship was even worse when out of the public eye. I heard Luna Edith worry to my Mum about the escalating fights between father and son, "T...th...they...can cannot bbbbe le...left alone!" Luna Edith fretted.

In a few occasions, his two aunts had to rush home to stop Alpha James from killing his own son.

Luna Edith wrung her hands, "I...I... dddd...don't know how... how long more..."

If it sounded like Luna Edith was going to just wring her hands until father and son kill each other, yes. I think that was the gist of it.

My mum and the ladies at the Lorent household had grown very close by now - unlike Bell's relationship with everyone else in the world.

For most part, Bell would ignore Dad too. Dad never seemed to notice it though. I'm not sure if it was because Dad was truly focused on zen thoughts and adult conversations, but he coolly ignored Bell's existence for most parts too.

Bell would be polite but terse with Mum and his aunts. He did nothing to encourage any further conversation or comments from them.

If you thought that was bad, he was worse to his own mother. She had been seriously ill for a long while, and was only able to return home in his last year of Elementary School. But Bell had not visited her while she was in treatment, nor would he look at her or speak to her at all when she returned home.

"My mother is dead." He told me dramatically when she had first gotten back, "What you see is an empty shell. Nothing but my father's puppet."

"That's just mean!" I scolded him.

Bell shrugged, "Forget it. You're just a crybaby. How would you know anything?"

At around this time, I met Charles too. Before the 6th grade, he ate alone in the nursery with his governess. In the Lorent world, young Alphas were brought up by a string of nannies and governesses until they were "old enough" to have private tutors.

Now that Bell was in Middle School, Alpha James was hopeful that he could employ a young but extremely promising Lycan lecturer to stay a few years in the Lorent Pack to tutor his sons, "I'm sure you've heard of Teacher W.A. Chimay. Although he's young, I'm told he is an all rounded lycan teacher and powerful orator."

Dad nodded but he wasn't as smitten over the young lecturer, "I've read some of his papers. He writes beyond his years, but his arguments are strictly from the traditional Lycan perspective. There is nothing new in them."

Alpha James laughed, "Teacher Chimay's research is specialized in historical Lycan texts after all. But that's good too. Young Alphas need to know their roots."

Alpha James cast a meaningful look over to Bell, who ignored him. It was Charles who answered, "History is meaningless. And our roots are rubbish. Dad, you need to stop checking the rearview mirror and start facing the road ahead. That's called foresight."

Bell nodded and smirked at his father.

Alpha James ruffled up immediately, "What do you mean rubbish?"

How dare his sons call their Glorious Lorent Pack's history rubbish?

"Our pack emerged from dark times." Lady Amber quickly stepped in to educate her nephews, "But it was thanks to your father that our Glorious Lorent Pack can see the light of today. We should be grateful for what we have today..."

"Yes, yes... our Alpha father was so great, we are eternally grateful." Charles sometimes sounded like Ben. He also could get impatient like Ben. And although I never saw it with my own eyes, he had an even shorter temper than his rebellious brother.

"Ac...actually, Jjjames is...is not a ba...bad ch..ch..ild." Luna Edith often felt it was important to remind Mum. Luna Edith remembered a time when Bell was the most affectionate and sweet child.

"He has a heart of gold." Lady Amber agreed, "Just like his father."

If the men heard them, they didn't show it.

"Grateful to be stuck in this goldfish bowl." Bell told his brother because Charles was the only person in the house that 13 year old Bell wasn't too cool to exchange words with.

"Why you..." Alpha James growled.

"Do you want to hit me again, old man?" Bell challenged, "I'm not a pup anymore. I won't lose."

But he was a pup. Bell hadn't shifted yet.

"I'll fight you." I said when no one else said anything. (Growling was not counted.) In the Lorent household, it was often like this, as if keeping silent would solve anything. This brat was going to have to learn his lesson.

"You?" Bell smirked, "I don't want to beat up a Crybaby."

But I was determined to teach MY FIANCE a lesson. He thought he was so cool in Middle School now. I was going to cut him down to size, "Let's settle it once a for all. If you win, you can be the alpha. But if I win, you have to apologize to your Dad."

"Why should I apologize?" Bell asked, "I said nothing wrong."

There must've been a hundred good arguments against that, but I wasn't good with words in this life either, "Shut up and fight."

Bell sighed, "Spoken like a true barbarian. But can you beat me, Crybaby?"

I looked directly in his eyes, "For your disrespect to your elders, I will make you pay."

Ah, because I was about the age when the King's Agent movie was released, and thought such righteous declarations were cool.

We had a stick fight. I was the best stick fighter in my cohort at 9. Back then, not even Jonah could beat me (mostly because he only overtook me in size and strength a little later). But I was proud and strong, AND I was fighting for what was right.

I felt very confident, so it came as a shock to me when I kept being pushed back. Bell hit fast and hard, I could barely block his attacks.

"You've been practicing!" I said accusingly.

"So have you." He slammed back hard. It hurt, even though I blocked it, I felt a sharp pain shoot down from the base of my palm into my wrist.

"Do you think I would actually lose to you, Crybaby?" Bell sneered. He jumped and slammed down the stick over me again. I saw it coming, it was a repeated move, but I couldn't move my stick, my hand wouldn't turn, it was also hurting like nothing I had ever felt in my life.

I bit my lip and forced my body to compensate for the lack of movement in my wrist anyway, twisting away, I attempted to roll out of range, but I was too late.

There was a cracking sound... how should I describe it? It was like a large egg cracking.

And that was how I got my head broken in this timeline. To Dad's credit, he didn't drop me off the back of his bike in this timeline. Oh, wait, I take that back. He did, but they were the usual drops where I just bounced back up on my feet again.

Oh well, on the bright side, it put everything back on track and I was able to practice Dad's merging technique from around age 9 or 10, just like in the Original Timeline.