Chapter 2
1972 Words
Chapter 2
Rylee was making last-minute arrangements for the wedding, and with a final date set in stone, she, Milan, Melody, Michelle, and Diana were sealing the RSVP invitations out later in the day.
“My tongue is getting numb from licking all of these envelopes!” Michelle whined.
“So is mine,” Milan griped.
“I’m getting nauseous now,” Melody stated while gagging.
“We’re not even halfway through!” Rylee exclaimed.
“Can we at least eat something?” Melody asked, rubbing her stomach.
“Yeah, Rylee, it’s an hour past lunch time, and I need to go pick up Nic from school soon,” Michelle stated while looking at the time on the wall clock.
“I also need to get ready for my therapy session,” Milan said.
“Fine! You guys go. I need to finish these,” Rylee said and dismissed them. Everyone except for Diana left Rylee’s office. Rylee noticed this and quirked a brow at her.
“What?” Diana asked.
“You’re awfully quiet? Why aren’t you leaving with them?” Rylee asked.
“I have nothing better to do. Victor’s working, we don’t have kids, and I’m not all that hungry,” Diana answered. “I might as well stay and help you until we get this done.”
“Thank you, Diana,” Rylee genuinely replied. Diana smiled and nodded, and they continued to seal the envelopes. An hour and a half later, they were down to the last few dozen invitations, but Rylee’s alarm went off. Wyatt was going to be home from work soon. “I think we can stop here, Diana. Thank you again,” Rylee said.
“No problem. I was happy to help. Perfect timing, too. Victor will be home from his duties in about thirty minutes, so that gives me time to make dinner for him,” she said, stood up, and stretched. She hugged Rylee and took her leave. Rylee stacked all the completed invitations in one corner of her office and the unfinished ones in another. Rylee sighed, relieved that she and the girls had been able to complete the bulk of the work.
She left her office and closed the door behind her. She went down to the main floor of the packhouse and was happy to see that Sam and Aurora were playing with some of the pack members.
“Sam!” she called out to her son.
“Hi, Mommy!” he greeted joyfully and ran over to her. Pack members bowed their heads in respect when she made herself known to the pack.
“Did you have fun at school?”
“No,” Sam pouted.
“Why?” Sam shook his head and didn’t want to answer her. “Sweetie, what happened at school?” she asked again, but Sam refused to answer.
“Luna, I’m glad I ran into you.” Rylee looked up to see Sam’s teacher.
“Ms. Moore, what’s wrong with Sam? Why is he telling me he didn’t have a good day today?” Rylee questioned with concern etched in her tone.
“I think it would be best if we spoke in private,” Ms. Moore replied. Rylee nodded. She left the kids with the pack members, completely unfazed, since she knew they would be taken care of. She and Sam’s teacher went to her office. Rylee shut the door and locked it to ensure no one disturbed them.
“Ms. Moore, what happened today at school?”
“Well, Luna, as you know, the school the pups attend caters to both humans and supernaturals.” Rylee nodded. “Even though Sam is well-liked by most of his peers in class, some of the humans are quite mean to him, one child in particular,” Ms. Moore stated.
“Are you telling me that he’s being bullied at school? He’s a child!”
“Luna, you know as well as I do that children can be ruthless, no matter what their ages are,” Ms. Moore replied.
“Are you defending the bully!?”
“No, of course, not, Luna. The bully was punished, and I made a call to their parents. Unfortunately, many human parents don’t seem to care when their children are misbehaving and chalk it up to kids being kids.”
“That’s ridiculous! Bullying at any age is unacceptable!”
“I agree with you, Luna. Which is why I believe you and the Alpha should meet with the other child’s parents,” Ms. Moore suggested. Rylee’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I want to know what this child did to my son before I even begin to think about meeting anyone,” Rylee stated.
“Well, because of our genes as werewolves, many of the pups that attend the school are in the higher percentile when it comes to size.” Rylee nodded. She understood that Sam was larger than most children his age. “Well, this is why Sam is being picked on. He’s the largest in his class, and to the humans, it looks like Sam is too old to be in their class, and they’re saying he’s a bad student, and that he isn’t very bright.”
“Are you telling me that they’re calling him stupid!? Because he’s bigger than they are!?”
“I didn’t want to use those exact words, but, yes, Luna.” Rylee scoffed in disbelief.
“How can a child be so mean?” Rylee asked incredulously.
“There are many reasons why children turn into bullies, Luna.”
“Which are what?”
“Their parents could have been bullies when they were young, their home life isn’t very nice, they’re bullied at home, or there could be something negative going on at home that is affecting their personality.”
“Such as?”
“Sometimes a toxic divorce can be the culprit,” Ms. Moore answered. Rylee sighed heavily, annoyed that her son was being bullied. “Luna, this is why I’m suggesting you and the Alpha have a parent-teacher conference with the other child’s parents. Sometimes the adults can find a solution and teach it to the children.”
“Sometimes?” Ms. Moore could only nod.
“Being a teacher and getting to the bottom of something like bullying isn’t an exact science, Luna. We can only try out every solution and see which one will work. But there are instances where none of them do.”
“So, what? Sam will always be the victim of bullying?”
“No, that’s always the case—”
“But you’re saying it could be possible?” Ms. Moore couldn’t answer, but she didn’t have to. With Rylee’s powers to read minds, Ms. Moore had already given Rylee the information she needed. “Thank you, Ms. Moore. I will speak with Wyatt when he gets home in a little bit. Please set up the meeting.” Ms. Moore nodded, bowed her head in respect, and left Rylee’s office.
Rylee puffed the piece of her hair hanging over her eye out of the way and scratched her head in frustration.
“Ugh! I don’t have time for this!” she shouted to herself.
“Dearest?” Rylee snapped her head to see Wyatt staring at her.
“Hi, Wyatt,” Rylee said aloofly.
“Okay, I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that your attitude right now is because of Sam’s teacher leaving your office a second ago.”
“You would be correct.”
“What happened, Tink?” Wyatt went into her office and rounded her desk. She stood up, and Wyatt took a seat in her chair; she then sat in his lap. Rylee didn’t want to reiterate what she and Ms. Moore talked about, so she placed her forehead against Wyatt’s and telepathically replayed their conversation for him.
By the time she was done, Wyatt was outraged that Sam was being tormented at school all because of his size and genetics.
“Wyatt, Sam’s too young to be victimized,” Rylee said, saddened by the news.
“I know, Dearest. We’ll have the meeting with the other parents, and we’ll get to the bottom of this. But until then, all we can do is be there for Sam and show him that there is nothing wrong with him. He’s an extraordinary child, and he’s loved and cared for in the pack,” Wyatt replied in an attempt to placate Rylee before she completely lost her cool. Rylee nodded and leaned her head on Wyatt’s shoulder for comfort.
“Why is being a parent so hard?” Rylee asked.
“If being a parent were easy, then no one would struggle to raise their children. It doesn’t matter what species you belong to; raising children is a challenging job.”
“I really need to know who this child is,” Rylee stated. Determined to find out, she stood up and left her office, leaving Wyatt in the dust.
“Wait for me, Tink!” Wyatt shouted after her and was hot on her trail. Rylee went back down to the living room and found Sam with the same pack members. Aurora was in the playpen, being watched by her nanny, while Sam was roughhousing with some of the male pack members.
“Sam, honey, can you come here, please?” Rylee requested.
“Yes, Mommy,” Sam replied with a smile. He ran over to Rylee, but ended up bypassing her completely when he saw Wyatt behind her. “Daddy!”
“Oh! Hey there, my big boy!” Wyatt smiled and lifted Sam into the air.
“Seriously?” Rylee instantly became jealous.
“Hey, buddy, Mommy needs something from you,” Wyatt told Sam.
“Okay,” Sam nodded.
“Let’s put your head to Mommy’s, okay?” Wyatt instructed. Sam nodded again and immediately placed his forehead against Rylee’s as Wyatt held him steady in his arms. Rylee quickly used her powers to sift through Sam’s mind and found the memory of him being picked on at school that day. When she broke the connection, Sam was none the wiser about what she did. Wyatt silently asked if she had gotten what she needed, and she nodded in confirmation.
Wyatt placed Sam down and allowed him to go back to playing, while he and Rylee went up to their room. When they got there, Rylee nearly burst into tears.
“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay, Dearest. Tell me what you saw?” Wyatt comforted her. “Wyatt, it was so awful. His feelings were so hurt because of this other child,” Rylee replied.
“Tell me what this other kid said to him?”
“Everything Ms. Moore said, he did. He called him big, ugly, and stupid, and that's the reason why Sam is so big and still in preschool, because he isn’t smart.”
“But we all know that isn’t true. Humans don’t understand our species.”
“But it’s not like we can tell this other child’s parents what we are,” Rylee responded.
“No, we can’t. But when they see how big I am, it will make sense. Humans can’t deny genetics, and that some children are just bigger than others,” Wyatt stated logically.
“But Sam is only three. He doesn’t understand how genetics works,” Rylee retorted.
“The good thing is, he doesn’t have to. He’s a little boy, and all he should be worried about is having fun and being loved. He’ll understand as he gets older.” Rylee sighed and nodded. She knew Wyatt was right, but it didn’t help her broken heart at seeing Sam’s sullen expression to being called mean things.
- Writer
