6 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, LYCAN STUDY GROUP
"Now we're going to give you another five minutes. The ones to bring $10,000 up to the front table win," Mrs. Beta said.
"What about the past challenges?" Lizzy asked.
"We never said the winner had to win all the challenges," Mrs. Beta smiled.
"Wait, let me get this straight: the past challenges don't count?" Jonah asked.
"The winners are the ones who put $10,000 on the table first," Mrs. Beta confirmed.
"Yes!" Jonah fist-pumped. "Come on, Ben, let's win this thing."
Ben was thoughtful.
"What? It's okay. You can play to win too, Ben. It's more fun with competition," I said.
Ben shook his head. "It's impossible to win. The math doesn't add up. Jessica's team made the most, and they could only make $760 in 5 minutes. How is it possible to make $10k?"
"Maybe we'll be faster at it now," I said.
"Maybe we can rob the others," Jonah suggested.
"That doesn't seem very nice," Dean said.
"Wouldn't stop Carlie," Ben smirked.
"No, Ben. We can't rob our own friends!" I decided.
"It's just a game," Ben shrugged.
"I'm not robbing anyone," I said.
"Look, nobody is going to win this. We might as well," Ben said.
"What are we going to rob them with?" Jonah asked.
Ben smirked.
Okay, no.
No, no, no.
"Ben, you can't rob your own friends!" I hissed at him.
"Don't worry, I won't rob you," Ben said.
"That's not it! There must be a better way!" I said. "Like, how about we share the prize?"
"Hey, everyone, Sam says if you give her your money, she'll share the prize with you. If you don't, Ben will rob you!" Jonah broadcast.
Wait, what? No! That's not what I meant.
"That's like extortion!" someone protested.
"Jonah, you're a big fat liar! There's no way Sam would say that!" Lizzy shouted at us.
"I don't mind helping you win, Sam," Delilah said. "It's not like Carlie and I have a chance."
"Yeah? Then why don't you help me win?" Angela said.
Over the next five minutes, everyone made as much money as they could. Some of the notes had jagged edges; many weren't rectangular in shape... The quality control was nonexistent.
Dean and I made $1,240 in total. Ben and Jonah made $1,000 and just stopped.
"This is enough," Ben said.
Jessica and Angela wrangled Delilah and Carlie into a forced coalition and came up with $2,300 altogether. This included about $60 that Carlie stole from Jay and Nolan.
And then I had a brilliant idea! I wrote a "cheque" for $1 million and put it on the table. "Keep the change."
"No," Ben smirked. "Make us the change in $10 bills."
"If you can't, we don't mind taking real cash either," Jonah piped in.
Great, now the two of them had turned to robbing our teachers.
Teacher S.O. started laughing. "Oh, you kids! Okay, okay... You win."
Teacher Rose had a very complex expression drawn on her face.
Mrs. Beta remained calm. "Alright, the game is over. Please sit down."
"You still owe us $990,000," Ben informed her.
"You may collect it from my son," Mrs. Beta smiled.
Ben groaned at that.
"Hahaha." Jonah laughed. "That's you."
"Shut up, Jonah," Ben grumbled, and the two of them sat down.
After that, we had to take turns sharing what we learned about ourselves and our friends.
Jay learned that cute girls are the worst.
Carlie learned that Jay thinks she's cute.
Delilah learned that even the most useless wolf had some uses.
Jessica learned that when wolves worked together, they could achieve what was originally impossible.
Lizzy learned that Ben was ruthless.
"I can't believe you were going to rob us!" she scolded.
"It was just a game," he shrugged.
"You know, it's interesting... I just happened to read about it the other day... regarding the predictive nature of game behavior..." Teacher S.O. started.
We listened for about 15 minutes.
"So you're saying that Ben is likely to really rob us in real life too?" Jonah asked, wide-eyed. "I just learned something new about my best friend."
I think Jonah forgot that robbery was his suggestion.
Ben simply shrugged. "I will do whatever is necessary for this pack to win."
"Even robbing your own pack members?" Lizzy questioned.
"If there aren't any better options," Ben answered.
Oh boy. The worst part was, something told me that if push came to shove, all my Betas would be just as ruthless. Actually, my Luna too.
Oh, my poor, poor pack!
"Don't worry," I tried to comfort everyone. "I won't let that happen."
"That's why you're the Alpha!" Lizzy agreed.
"I am very curious. I think it would be interesting to hear what our future Alpha learned," Teacher S.O. broached. "I mean, we have all learned a lot... some more than others, but I was hoping for a more serious learning point. I wonder if you can share what you have learned. These challenges were all specially designed to teach not just about teamwork, but I also observed many points on management under crisis, resource constraints, and a wealth of other interesting leadership theories..."
"Oh, just please stop, Teacher S.O. We want to go for lunch!" Ben said.
"Yes, yes, it's lunchtime, I know, but aren't you all curious? I was so surprised by the $1 million check. What made you think to draw that, Sam? And why $1 million?"
I didn't really think all that much about it, actually. It was just a game. Gasp! Did that mean, in real life, I was very likely not to think all that much about it?
"I was just playing," I said... and then I realized, "Was there supposed to be a right answer to this challenge? What was it?"
The adults paused, and for the moment I feared I was about to get the "there is no right or wrong answer" speech.
"Actually, you were all supposed to realize that if you pooled all your money together, it would easily make $10,000 and you'd all be winners," Mrs. Beta told us.
Oh.
"Hahaha, and Ben was going to rob everyone," Jonah started laughing.
"It is still a viable solution," Ben said.
"I have to say, you kids really think outside the box," Teacher S.O. said. "I remember when I was young..."
"Maybe we should let them go have their lunch," Mrs. Beta interrupted politely.
She gave me the prize. It was 20 token cards for the new arcade in Gate City. I gave them to Lizzy and Savy to help me pass them out. The guys totally whooped over their boon.
"You're right. We should have robbed them," Jonah said. "Then we'd get all the token cards to ourselves."
Ben smirked. "It's still not too late."
"Don't even think about it, Ben!" Lizzy scolded.
Ben and Jonah just laughed and slapped each other high fives. They were having fun.
And then Mrs. Beta gave us all our homework. We needed to write a reflection piece about what we learned today. There were also three readings from our Lycan Study files. She wanted us to write solutions we thought our pack might apply to the various Lycan issues discussed in our notes. I flipped open my file and noticed that today's reading was on Lycan pack economies after the Great War. Oh, great.
There were also extra reading references that could be found in the library if we were interested.
Whenever teachers worked very hard, they would expect their students to work hard too.
Teacher S.O. clapped his hands to get our attention over the general groaning from the weight of the homework. "Alright, everyone, now you may go for lunch. I'm sure you all have much more to discuss about today's games. It is really very interesting, the way playing games can help us gain valuable insight about how our minds work. For example..."
"Thank you, teachers, for your guidance!" Ben stood up and bowed suddenly.
His entire group snapped immediately to attention. The rest of us followed by instinct. "Thank you, teachers, for your guidance!"
And then we turned tail and ran.
"They might be rascals, but when they suddenly turn around and thank us like that, I know they are good rascals," Teacher S.O. said to the other two teachers. "In fact, just the other day..."
But none of us stayed back to hear what must have been another interesting and fascinating story. We were too hungry.
No, that was a lie. Even if we weren't hungry, we would still have left.
The guys all gathered around Ben at lunchtime, which was weird, given that it was common knowledge that Ben was already ready to rob them just now.
"What's happening with the guys?" Jessica asked.
We all looked at Lizzy. "I dunno."
Then Lizzy turned to me. "Don't you have his schedule, Sam?"
I did? Oh, did she mean my phone?
"Everything is in his schedule. And I mean EVERYTHING," Lizzy divulged.
"I didn't bring my phone," I said. (I hadn't seen it for ages.)
"Well, there you go!" Lizzy answered. "My dad wanted to know if there was a teenager who wasn't attached to her phone, and I have found one."
The other girls laughed. It was just us girls at the table today, since the guys were clearly busy. Even Flynn, Link, and Kevy were at their table. Ben looked like he was bossing everyone around. Now and then, one of the other guys would make a joke, and they'd all laugh and then get back to business again.
"Maybe it's the party," Lizzy said. "Oh, or Sam's guests! Sam is having guests today, right? 'Cause I wanted us to dress up in Savy's new room... But Luna said not today."
"Oooo.... You girls moved in?" Jessica gushed. "Invite me! I want to see what the new Alpha House looks like."
"Oh, it looked fancy!" Carlie said. "There was a pool with really hot guys swimming in it... Not that I was looking. I just happened to glance up."
"Yeah, right," Delilah said. "Who were you looking at? Alpha Kingsley?"
At that, Carlie squealed, "No! It wasn't! I swear! Unless Alpha Kingsley had the body of a fight dog... or two, or three bodies..."
In her defense, she argued, "It was very steamy, the glass... So it was hard to tell."
"Steamy. Yeah," Delilah said.
"What's steamy is your head," Angela scolded. "You probably imagined most of it."
"Hey, can we come to your house to swim?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah, that'll be cool," Darlyn said, sounding excited. "Swimming in winter!"
I nodded. "Yeah, okay. But not today. Urmmm... Ask Ben."
"What? Why Ben?" Angela asked. "Don't tell me the two of you..."
"Ben and Sam?" Lizzy made a really rude snorting noise. "There is no way."
"Besides, Sam already found her mate," Jessica said.
"Oh? Who?" Angela asked, leaning over.
"Is it my Harvey? It's my Harvey, isn't it?" Carlie gasped.
Delilah hit her. "Stop that! It's disgusting!"
"Sam's mate is the future Alpha of the Lorent Pack," Jessica said in a hush-hush voice... right in front of me.
"Ohhhh... I heard he's hot," Delilah said.
"All future Alphas are hot. The question is how hot," Angela said. "Photo. Show me the photos."
They all looked at me. And then remembered: no phone. (I had no photo either, actually, but who's asking?)
Jessica continued to spill the tea. According to her, my mate was James Lorent the Fourth. He was the hot and rebellious type. He had come for Thursday Night Training a few times with his beta, Ki, who was the hot and smooth type.
I had never heard it like this before. It was very interesting how many different types of hots there were.
Once Ki came for training with such low pants, it was obvious he wasn't wearing anything under them.
"Oooo... Like Ben right now?" Carlie said.
"Why do you remember stuff like that?" Angela scolded.
"I always remember underwear-related things," Carlie boasted.
Back to the serious gossip: Even though he was the future Alpha, he was going to be Sam's Luna. In our pack, we call him Luna Bell because we were about to merge and become the Moon Bell Pack. So Luna of Moon Bell had been shortened to Luna Bell.
Wow. I never knew that. It was a very convincing origin story.
Anyway, Luna Bell was handsome and cool and really scary fierce. All the guys are scared of him. Jessica's brother, Jack, said that he must be the strongest fighter in our merged packs. He definitely had the largest wolf in our generation.
And he was totally head over heels in love with Sam. It was so obvious, you'd have to be blind not to see it. The way he watched her when she wasn't looking. The way his stony expression would soften when she spoke. The way he touched her hair. The way his wolf's posture was always so protective around her. The way... They were totally soul mates.
Any wolf who saw them together would sense their mating bond.
And you know what the funniest thing was? Jessica met her Lorent cousin the other day, and she said that the Lorent Pack's trending topic was the fearsome Alpha Sam.
Alpha Sam was a monster with magic powers and such strong Alpha command that no wolf could refuse her bidding. She was undefeated, cleansing our packlands of rogues and even defeating other Alphas who challenged her.
Because their future Alpha was so gorgeous, Alpha Sam fell in love with him, subdued his rebelliousness, and even poached the Lorents' true beta.
Now their packs were merging with ours as Moon Bell, but they all knew they would be subject to Night Leaf. Life as they knew it might be over forever. Everyone was anxious to death.
At that, the girls laughed. "What? Our Sam, a monster?"
"Well, she is a really strong fighter," Angela said. "She did beat Gamma Endo one-on-one."
"Who's that?" Carlie asked. "Is he hot?"
"Morning Light Gamma," Angela answered, and then decided to help Carlie understand better. "Nix's dad."
"Oohhh..." Carlie swooned with understanding. "Nix...."
"That's probably how she got Morning Light under her too. She beat up their Gamma," Jessica decided.
Not only was I present to hear the gossip about me, I also had the honor of hearing it as it got created.
"I heard Moon Bell is going to be the whole Green Packland," Delilah said. "We rule!"
"Girl power!" Carlie decided. "What? Sam is a girl, right? Isn't a girl Alpha, like, very special?"
"Sam is the ONLY female Alpha on the continent, maybe even the world!" Lizzy informed everyone.
Actually, there were one or two on the next continent...
"That's why she's the Alpha Princess," Angela decided.
"Girl power!" Carlie declared again.
"Hey, Lizzy, maybe you can become the female Beta?" Delilah suggested.
Lizzy shook her head quickly. "No way! Ah, no offense, Sam, but being the Beta is like the worst job in the pack. I'd rather leave it to Ben."
I laughed. Of all the things said over lunch today, that must be the truest.