| Fight. Flight. Freeze

"Mr. Meyer, please lift your head while I'm teaching." I looked up at the older lady as she continued staring at me. I glanced to the side when I heard a quiet chuckle, rolling my eyes when I saw it was the blonde douche from earlier. I let out a quiet scoff as I silently popped my knuckles. "You must pay attention in this class, you will need the credits if you want to graduate." Mrs. Ortiz, my bio teacher, continued to scold.

I closed my eyes, raking my hand through my hair as I took a deep breath, tilting my head back before letting it out and looking back at her, "Okay, sorry." I replied, a small nervous smile appeared on her face at my reply. I guess she expected me to argue her down; Why argue when I can just sleep sitting up?

Of course, I'm not going to do that though.

When class finally ended I was stopped by Ms. Ortiz, she held me there until everyone was gone before starting to speak. "I apologize if I offended you in any way Luna." She spoke quietly with her eyes to the ground.

I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable at the fact that my teacher was a member of Ades pack and that she already knew I was his mate. "It's fine." I shrugged "I'm your student, so I hope me being your... Luna, won't change the way you treat me." I answered, hesitating on calling myself her Luna.

She smiled as she lifted her eyes from the ground, "Thank you." I gave a small smile back before awkwardly nodding my head and leaving. As I walked out the room Eze, as usual, was waiting by the lockers across from the classroom; I glanced up at her before looking away with a quiet sigh and walking past, ignoring as she followed close behind me. "Is there a reason you're following me?" I questioned once her continuous hovering became too much to ignore.

"Well we are going to the same place." she answered simply, a small awkward smile on her face as she rubbed at the nape of her neck. "I'm assuming by the way you keep glancing at your phone we're not going to be riding together..." She trailed off and I noticed from the corner of my eye how she leaned closer to me, peering over my shoulder for a glimpse of my phone screen.

I turned my screen off and put my phone back into my pocket, "Yep, Ricky's going to pick me up. Should be here any minute now." She seemed confused at my answer as she sped up to walk beside me.

"Isn't his school almost thirty minutes away? How could he get here so soon?" she questioned. I could see she was clearly hesitant to ask by the way she kept glancing at me, refusing to hold eye contact. "He decided to leave early so I wouldn't have to wait as long as last time." She hummed in reply and I looked away, focusing on walking as I assumed the conversation was over with. "But doesn't he go to some prestigious private school?"

"Yeah?" I replied with a raised brow, silently questioning what that had to do with anything. "Can he really  afford to be skipping school if he goes to that kind of school?" I looked over to her with the same raised brow, she glanced away at my stare but was quick to look back.

"I'm just trying to say that.. since he goes to a private school..  it would've probably been better for you to come with us. That way he wouldn't have to miss any important classes?" She explained. I looked away with a hum.

"Does it really matter?" I questioned as we finally made it out of the enormous school, "I'm not forcing him to leave early, he offered and I didn't decline." I shrugged as she remained silent, I could tell she wanted to say more; Honestly it was starting to get a little irritating, why does she care so much about what Ricky decides to do with his time?

"Hey puppy!" I looked up to Ricky as he called out to me, he had a big smile on his face as he sat his helmet down before making his way to us, "How was school?" He questioned, looking at both of us.

Eze answered with good and I grumbled under my breath, "Met some random douchebag but besides that my day was just fine and dandy." I tried not to sound sarcastic but the words came out before I could stop them. Mood swings, a symptom that comes with a strained mate bond, if I had been fully rejected and accepted the rejection it'd only last a week but since I haven't been rejected, my terrible relationship with my mate is hurting our bond and probably causing both of us negative side effects.

Ricky ruffled my hair as he glanced down at me, obviously hearing the aggressive tone in my voice. I felt bad when I saw him giving me a pitied look but he was back talking to Eze before I could say anything. "Glad to hear his shitty mood hasn't had too much of an effect on your day." He joked pointing a thumb back at me.

I stood awkwardly to the side as they spoke to each other, joking and talking about what they had done today. When I finally got tired of standing I walked away towards the bike; Grabbing Ricky's helmet and slipping it on before leaning against the large bike.

Minutes later Ricky knocked on the visor smiling as I sent him a glare through the tinted cover, he reached for my head, probably to take the helmet off but I dodged his hands and went onto the back of the bike.

He sighed, clearly noticing my attitude as he climbed in front of me. He sat there for a few moments, waiting for me to wrap my arms around him before shaking his head when noticing I wasn't going to.

He turned towards me, raising a brow as I stared up at him "Really?" He questioned with an joking grin. He groaned when I didn't answer before grabbing my arms and forcefully put them around himself. When he had us both situated he turned back to Eze. I watched as he tipped his head towards her, causing her to laugh as we zoomed out the lot.

The ride was quick and we were pulling in front of the pack house minutes later, when we got there Ricky parked in front and got off; Pulling the helmet off my head once I got off. "Bärchen!" We both turned as the energetic voice came closer, I gave a small smile as he stopped in front of us.

"Aren't you supposed to be picking up Eze?" I questioned, raising my brow when he shrugged in reply. "Not a very good designated driver are you?" I joked, causing him to scoff with a grin.

"Always picked you up on time didn't I?"

I let out a quiet snort, "You've only picked  me up twice." I countered, he opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by Ricky who let out a low forced cough. Zane looked from me to Ricky, looking back to me as I cleared my throat "This is Ricky."

"The friend." He replied, remembering our conversation from this morning. I grinned with a nod, "The one and only." I replied, laughing when he frowned.

"I'm Zane." He greeted, putting his hand out for Ricky to shake. Ricky stared down at his hand before lifting his own and shaking it "I'd say my name but someone already ruined my introduction." He replied, glancing at me as I flipped him off. Zane laughed at our bickering, separating their hands as he looked back at me.

"Well let's go in." We followed Zane as he made his way Into the house "So how long have y'all known each other?" He questioned, obviously just trying to make small talk.

"Too long." Ricky replied, earning a hard elbow to the arm from me, "Nine years." He winced, fixing his answer and rolling his eyes when I gave him a quick eye shutting smile. "So where is everyone?" He questioned, glancing around the empty common area.

"Well it's the middle of the day so they're either coming home from school or in town." He explained, turning towards the steps as we heard them creak "Or if they're like Dapper here, they never left their room." He snickered as Kyle passed by, glaring up at him as he did.

We watched as he went straight to the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal, fruity pebbles. He arched a brow at us when he noticed our staring, "What?" He questioned between crunches. I let out a quiet laugh as he made his way to us, leaning against the wall next to Zane as he took in another colorful scoop of cereal.

Zane stared down at him for a few moments before Kyle finally felt his gaze and looked up; Zane leaned down and opened his mouth, grinning when Kyle moved him and his bowl away from the tall beta. He glared up at him before moving to the stairs, stopping only to stare at me as I made my way behind him.

He looked down at me from the middle of the stairs before shrugging his shoulders and continuing up with me still behind him. "Alright! I guess we'll just find something to do ourselves!" Zane shouted from the kitchen as we made it to the second floor.

Kyle groaned, rolling his eyes at the over dramatic beta, "You do that!" He shouted back, continuing his march up the many steps until we made it to the 7th floor. I opened his room door as we walked up to it, having a feeling he was going to ask me to do it anyway. "Thanks."

I nodded in reply before closing the door. "So what's the plan?" I questioned, sitting on the bed as he slouched into the black beanbag from before.

He gave me a questioned look as he paused his crunching, "You followed me, remember?" He arched a brow as I lightly patted the palms of my hands on my thighs. "Wanna play some games?" He questioned, already starting to set down his bowl.

"Not really." I answered, causing him to pause his movements as he looked back at me. "Can we just talk?" I nervously glanced at him before moving my eyes back to my lap.

The room was quiet but I could still feel his eyes on me, after a few moments he let out a hum "Sure." He replied and I let out a sigh of relief "But I'm warning you before you get too comfortable, I am not a licensed therapist." I chuckled as he took in another scoop of what was mostly just milk.

"I'll keep that in mind." He let out a quiet chuckle and then everything was back to quiet "Last time I was here you told me to leave, and I know you were probably joking but it actually had me thinking..." I trailed off as he looked up at me with a questioning expression.

"I wasn't joking but okay. Continue."

I sighed as I quietly tapped the tips of my finger on my legs, "What other options do I have?" I questioned, causing him to give me a look of pure confusion. "Before I spoke to you, I thought I didn't have any options. That all I could do was sit and wait for Ade to

Make a decision but that day I realized I do, I do have options. But I don't want to run away so.."

I paused to swallow the saliva that had built up in my mouth. "What other options do I have?" I looked at him firmly as I repeated my question. He sat quietly in the Bean bag before shrugging his shoulders.

"Fight, flight and freeze." He replied "What?" I questioned. "Fight. Flight. Freeze. Those are your options." He put the bowl down at his feet, taking a moment to stretch and pop his bones before looking back at me "You've already tried the freeze approach by sitting to the side and allowing Ade to do what he wanted; I'm assuming you didn't like that very much." I shook my head no with a small frown.

"You said you don't want to leave; I don't know why you don't but that's your decision so I'm not going to question it." He leaned as far up as possible while staying in the continuously sinking bag of beans. "What's left?" He questioned.

"Fight?" I answered, unsure. "Fight." He repeated more confidently. "Rather fighting is getting revenge or just literally fighting for your mate is up to you." He shrugged standing up as he picked his bowl off the ground "All I know is that I need some more cereal." He mumbled, leaving the room as I followed behind him, quietly laughing at his words.

When we got to the first floor I watched as Kyle made his way to kitchen before heading the opposite way towards one of the many sitting areas, I was surprised to see both Zane and Ricky watching some horror movie together.

Zane was half laying across the couch, propped up by the arm of the couch while Ricky was sitting on the carpeted floor "Now I'm actually curious, do you really not have any Beta work to do?" I questioned, grinning when he laughed with his back to me and his eyes still on the screen.

"Of course he does, he's just lazy." Kyle commented as he made his way to me with a fresh new bowl of cereal. "Not true."

"Sure it isn't." He replied, making his way into the large sitting area before plopping down next to Zane who smirked before patting the area between his legs. Kyle glanced away from his bowl before rolling his eyes and folding his legs so that he was seated criss-crossed on the sofa with his bowl in his lap.

The beta huffed, straightening his legs back out as I sat down beside Ricky. He glanced my way before wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer. I smiled before leaning my head on his shoulder "Did you get to talk about everything you needed to?" He whispered, passing me a bowl of popcorn I hadn't realized he had until now.

I took a little bit of popcorn, stuffing it in my mouth as I nodded in reply "I'm glad." Was all he said before both our attentions were focused solely on the movie.