SERAPHINA'S POV
Few minutes later, I'm standing outside the door with the tube of ointment in my hand, doubting everything I have just heard inside the room.
All that talk about owning me for a month and owing him a debt. There's no way he was serious, right? No way there's a rule like that.
Yet he left me with the rule book to go over it myself. I look down at the thick-rimmed book, knowing he acted way too cocky for it to just be a lie or a tease.
I have a bad feeling about this.
"Sera!"
Olivia leans off the wall she's been on while waiting for me for the past few minutes, hugging me tightly again. All the sore points on my body throbs all at once.
Jasper that seems to have been with her all this while draws closer as well, putting enough distance between us while we have this very warm reunion.
"I'm fine, we just had a little chat and nothing happened." I assure her when she pulls away, but the look in her eyes lets me know it's not enough for her.
"How could you, Sera?" She begins, hurt written all over her face as she suddenly shoves me backward. "How could you risk your own wellbeing getting on that boat when you don't know how to swim?"
Oops, I'm in trouble.
"I didn't know it was going to capsize." I say nervously and trying to remedy the situation.
"That's not an excuse! You plan for every eventuality, especially when the goal is winning, isn't it?"
"C'mon, Olive."
I try to touch her now and she swats my hand way from her shoulders, glaring at me.
"You wanted to win this competition so badly that you didn't even take some time to think about things like this, didn't you? That's my issue with all this. You have no regard for your own safety!" She begins grilling me on the spot just like Artemis had, only hers feel more painful.
The hateful look she gives me, directed solely at me, like I've stabbed her a million times.
"I don't understand why you're so pissed at me. I made sure you weren't hurt, and the only reason I did all of this in the first place was to ensure that you and I - the both of us - don't have to be bullied anymore."
"I didn't ask you to go this far for me, and maybe your bullying wouldn't be so bad if you weren't so keen on walking on everyone's toes instead of laying low for a while, like I asked you to in the first place!" She yells in my face at the top of her voice, shutting me up.
She then huffs at me, folding her arms below her chest and looking away.
I'm immediately pissed by her reaction.
Lay low, she says.
Be quiet. Don't let them see you. Don't anger them more than necessary. Don't step on their toes. Act like you don't exist.
How does any of that count as living when everything you do depends on how some pompous prick decides it?
I've lived my life that way for most of my time in the orphanage, answering to older kids that derive some sick kind of joy in trampling over others.
I've had to answer to them over and over again, until I realized standing up for myself is the only thing I can do for me, and now she wants me to just take it all and not do anything.
"Wow, I didn't think that all my hard work was so bothersome for you." I say bitterly.
"Is that all you got from what I said?" She looks at me more hurt than she was before.
"Okay, okay, ladies, break it up."
Jasper steps in between us suddenly, acting as a barrier and I'm suddenly more than grateful that the conversation comes to an end before I have to deal with it.
I wipe out the little bit of tears welling in my eyes before facing Jasper again.
"You, what does Artemis mean by owning me for a month?"
I watch as his forehead contours briefly and his head tilts to the side as well, shrugging.
Just great. Even he doesn't understand.
"Are you ever useful?" I say, sighing and turning away to rub my temples.
"Hey, I'm more than useful, for your information."
"Whatever."
I don't need any of this. Not while I still have to figure out what Artemis is up to and also deal with the fact that I failed.
"I'm going back to school to grab my shit from my locker." I say, leaving the both of them behind as I move.
I know I might have sounded harsh to them and maybe just a bit of me feels guilty, but there's nothing I can do right now - it's already been done.
I'm not one to dwell on my mistakes too long before taking the next step.
As I move forward, I realize I'm being followed and when I look back, I see Olivia behind - though she says nothing or offers any more words to me.
I let her, not stopping her either. She can do whatever she wants, especially after our little argument.
I walk into school hallway that remains silent now that no one is around to stare with venom in their eyes, or shake their disapproving heads at me. The sunset paints the sky golden and sets its light over the creamy white walls of the school.
I in no way feel good walking in here. And compared to other dreadful days of stepping into school, this time feels worse than ever.
Because I lost.
After all that hopeful bragging that I could do it, putting myself out there, standing in front of them with my nose held high. After all that unbothered act and pretending like I could possibly beat Artemis in his games.
I didn't even come close to crossing the finish line. No, I drowned like a weakling because I was so scared and I tipped the boat over.
I caused my own demise like a fool, rushing to win without even thinking everything through. All these cuts and bruises on my skin with no win to account for it.
Maybe Olivia is right.
I stop at my locker, resting my head against it instead of pulling it open.
"Sera?" Olivia speaks now despite the residual annoyance in her tone.
Even when she's pissed off, she still bothers to follow me to get my things from my locker.
"I'm sorry." I mutter under my breath, though the words leave my mouth as an inaudible gasp.
"What?"
I look up at her now, revealing my tear-stained face and crying eyes, the snot sliding down my nose.
"I'm sorry. You were right; I am a failure." I wail out, suddenly unable to hold in my sobs anymore.
She moves closer to me too fast, enclosing me in a tight hug while I unleash all my emotions on her shoulder, tear by tear.
"I should have just laid low, I should have apologized. I shouldn't have joined the games in the first place, but I was just angry and dumb and wanted to mean something to no one." I wail at the top of my voice, clutching onto her tightly as I bare my broke heart.
What's the point of fighting against a system I can't beat when I never win?
"No, no. I didn't mean you shouldn't do anything. I'm sorry for telling you to keep quiet and take their bullying when that clearly isn't who you are." She breaks into a sob as well, holding me tighter.
Her wolf strength chokes me a bit, but I take it all as punishment.
"I was just sad and worried. You let yourself get all banged up and you didn't even care if you had to hurt yourself just to win. That's not okay!"
"I'm sorry I don't take more care of myself. It's just, not much people have ever bothered about the scars and bruises, so I didn't either. I promise, I won't let myself get hurt so easily next time."
We finally pull apart and she looks at me with wide, hopeful, tear-stained eyes.
"I promise, I won't be a wimp and tell you to be bullied."
"Olive, you're not a wimp, I don't think you are." I say to her more seriously, taking a hold of both her hands in mine.
No wimp would ever stand in front of someone like Artemis and boldly defend her friend, or argue with him like that.
She has a strength in her that she doesn't even realize yet.
"That makes me feel a lot better actually." She finally smiles, sniffling a bit. "The truth is, I am a bit jealous of your stubborn yet strong resolve to do the impossible." She says, cupping both my cheeks, but I disagree.
All the pain from losing rushes into my chest again, and I pull away from her, avoiding her gaze.
"Don't be. That's gotten me nowhere but beaten up and depressed. Artemis won. He was always going to. I stood no chance against him from the beginning."
"Oh, Sera. Winning the game isn't the only way of winning. You may have lost a title, but there are things more important than winning."
I raise a brow at her words that don't make sense to me.
The whole point for competing was to win, so what else would there be to gain if I didn't achieve my main objective?
"What do you mean?"
"Can't you hear it, Sera?"
"What?" I ask, still confused.
She raises her hands to her ears, hearing something that I clearly can't yet.
I focus all my attention on listening to pick what she's talking about, and I finally pick up something. It starts out very faint until it only grows louder and louder with every second.
I can hear chanting from a crowd of people, not just a small group. Curiosity gets the better of me and I go closer to the nearest window before I see it myself.
A crowd of students gathered just outside, holding up boards and chanting... my name.
Sera! Sera! Sera!
"They're a group of Omegas, silenced for many years in school and have joined together to form a group on their own, all inspired by you. They're cheering on for you, Sera."
"That can't be... that's not possible." I shake my head in disbelief, backing away from the window to look at her. "But I'm human."
"You're a human that stood up against the Alpha Prince when no one, not even us omegas, could. You were defenseless, yet you stood strong against the tyrants that roam our school. There's no way they wouldn't see just how awesome you are."
Her words sound honest, her amber eyes hold nothing but love and care for me - yet I don't get why, I don't understand any of it.
I had lost, I was a loser and yet... yet they're standing out there supporting me, the very same loser they had hated.
"You did something. Standing up against the bullies did something that none of us could ever do."
"I did this..."
"Yeah, you did."
She pulls me in for another hug again, pushing out all the pain and self-doubt that I could possible feel.
I, Seraphina Hawthrone, did this.