Kiss An Alpha novel Chapter 3

Before she had even finished speaking, people started standing and moving toward their friends. I never understood why teachers say the whole "work with new people" thing when they let us pick groups. Surely they knew that their words would be ignored entirely. Why bother try?

I watched as two girls approached rather confidently, swaying their hips as they walked. Marcella shrank back in her chair as one of them gave her a not-so-subtle glare, as if to say 'back off'. For a moment, they both looked back and forth between Mason and I, as if they were trying to make a decision.

"Hey, Kieran" one of them, Emily, said finally, eyes focused on me. I only knew their names because they were some of the 'popular girls'. With the way she batted her eyelashes and played with her hair, it was obvious she was flirting with me. I wasn't too surprised; it was always the popular girls who thought they'd have any success.

"I was wondering if you'd maybe like to work with me and my friend?" She nodded towards the the girl next to her, Jenna, who smiled and batted her fake eyelashes. "I know Marcella is your usual partner for projects but, hey, it's always good to try new things, right?" She had an annoying amount of confidence in her eyes, as if she knew she wouldn't be rejected.

"I'm not really a fan of trying new things," I deadpanned. The girl visibly deflated and blushed in embarrassment. I didn't feel bad in the slightest as I turned to Marcella with a grin. "Be my partner?"

Cella rolled her eyes but nodded nonetheless, and I knew that she felt at least a little satisfaction at my blatant rejection. Marcella wasn't a fan of Emily or Jenna or any of the girls in their little clan.

"Mason, right?" Emily turned to Mason as if she hadn't just been rejected a second ago by me. Wow. Mason nodded warily as she rested her palms on the edge of his desk and leaned forward slightly. "How about you? Want to work with us? You can come over to my place after school so we can...start," she said suggestively. Mason smirked up at her and leaned forward in his seat so that they were only inches apart.

"Sounds like fun," he said, grinning. "It's too bad I'll have to miss out, though. I was hoping to work with Marcella here," he turned to Cella with an eyebrow raised in question, completely disregarding Emily as she huffed indignantly.

Cella looked at me with wide, worried eyes and I gave her a look that clearly said don't you dare. Then she looked at Emily for a moment, red faced and glaring at her, and I knew I'd lost. If there was anything Marcella loved more than me, it was pissing of the populars. "I don't see why not," she said, smiling. Mason smiled back and winked and I nearly gagged.

"I see why not," I hissed.

"You could always work with us instead," Emily interjected.

Annoyed with her desperation, I hissed, "Get lost." Emily and Jenna both huffed and stormed off, attracting the attention of a few classmates.

"Do you have a problem with working with me?" Mason asked innocently, but the challenge was there in his eyes. No way in hell was I about to say yes and give him that satisfaction.

"Why, of course not," I said, my voice sugary sweet.

"Okay class," Ms. Jenkins spoke up. After a few moments, the chatter died down and she continued. "When I call your name, tell me who's in your group!"

"The only thing that needs to happen is him learning his place. Have you seen him? When he walks into a room, he makes eye contact with every single person, as if he's establishing his dominance or some dumb shit. I swear, he probably pisses on the ground to mark his territory or something. He thinks he so macho, like he's some kind of big shot," I ranted.

The more I thought about him, the more frustrated I grew. "It's like he knows how much attention everyone gives him," I continued angrily. "He's the 'hot new kid' and he knows it. He bathes in the attention. He fucking swims in it!"

"Kinda like you?" Marcella quipped, catching me off guard.

"What?"

"Oh come on," Cella crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me expectantly. "You know it's true. You get just as much attention. Everyone looks at you when you walk into a room. Girls like Emily constantly flirt with you. And you love it. You love the way everyone knows your name. You love the way you're pinned as 'bad boy', because you know that it only attracts more eyes. You love the way you can reject girl after girl but they just keep coming because you're Kieran Callisto.

"You're the dude that everyone wants but no one can have. Girls wish they could be with you, guys wish they could be you because the girl they like likes you. The only difference between you and Mason is that he's more approachable. I think that's why you don't like him; you think he'll steal your attention. You knew from the moment you saw him that he would be a rival," Marcella finished, seemingly satisfied with herself.

"You done?" I asked boredly, causing my friend to glare. "For the record, I'm not an attention whore. And the reason I don't like him goes way beyond that. He's not what he say he is."