Mated to my best friend's crush

"Isn't he just so fucking sexy?!" My best friend Carlie squealed from beside me.

I looked over and saw Daniel Benson standing at the end of the hall with two of his friends. Jeremy, who was to his left, and Lucas, who was to his right.

She's been crushing on him since 10th grade, making it two years in a row now.

"Why don't you go and tell him that?" I say as I look at her unamused, this being the millionth time we've had this conversation.

She yelled back, "Don't be an idiot, Lauren! I can't just tell him that!"

I smirked as I said, "Besides, don't you think Jeremy's way hotter?"

She gasped exaggeratedly before saying, "How dare you compare that Godly being to that hideous rat!"

I sighed and said disappointedly, "What did I tell you about calling people rats?"

"..Not to do it," she said, sounding like a child who just got scolded by their parents, which is kind of what's going on right now.

Carlie began crushing on him after he helped her pick up her books when she tripped on her own feet. It was like a scene out of a cheesy Romance movie, but they haven't had any other interaction since. She's just been watching him from a distance. But maybe that's for the best. He's a werewolf, so he's going to find his mate soon enough. It'll be hard on Carlie, but that's the way things are. All werewolves can find their mates after they turn 18.

Speaking of mates, it's almost my turn to find mine. When I was little, I dreamed about finding my mate. I used to think that having a mate was the best thing in the world. I thought it was going to be like those princess movies where the prince saves the princess and they end up living happily ever after. Now that I think about it, I feel like cringing. I was so naive back then.

"Lauren! Did you not hear the bell ring? Let's go to class!" Carlie yelled as she pulled my arm, dragging me to our first period.

When we entered the class, I took my seat next to Carlie. We had English, which was one of the only subjects I liked. The main reason I like this class is because we basically just read the whole period. Afterwards, we do have to write an essay about the book, but since I enjoy the books it's not so hard.

Our teacher Mr. Castel began speaking. He gave us our instructions, then went to sit at his desk to use his computer. I doubt he was doing any work. He was either playing games or watching porn.

I opened my copy of Animal Farm, which was the book we were currently reading. We were to finish it by next week and have our essay turned in. I continued where I last left off, on chapter 8. I hardly got any reading done before Carlie started bugging me.

"Lauren! I'm so bored and we've only been here for like ten minutes!"

We have a block schedule, so our classes were around two hours long. On Mondays and Wednesdays we have odd classes and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have even classes. Then, on Fridays we have all classes, so the periods only last around 50 minutes.

"Why don't you start reading your book instead of complaining?" I asked annoyed.

"I don't get it at all! Why are the animals talking? Why are the pigs the smart ones?" She asked, looking at me with pure confusion.

I began explaining to Carlie, "The animals are meant to represent people during the Russian Revolution. You see, when-"

"Arghh! Stop! You're gonna make my brain hurt! For Pete's sake, this is English class not fucking History!" She yelled, and I'm pretty sure it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

A few heads turned our way, then went back to minding their own business.

"Just read the damn book, Carlie. If you don't, I'm gonna tell your mom you're failing English," I say as I turn back to my book.

"No, no, no! Please, don't tell my mom! She'll give me that look. I hate it when she does that! It always makes me scared that she's gonna come after me and strangle me!"

"Then finish your work! This is why you're failing!"

I knew she was doing that adorable pout of hers, but I won't give in. It has no effect on me anymore.

I've gotten better at handling her. She used to be waay out of control, but now you could say I've got the bone to tame the dog... Not that I'm calling her a dog or anything, although she does sometimes act like one.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard my name whispered from the back of the classroom. I scanned the back of the classroom, and my eyes met Daniel's. My heart jumped when my eyes met his beautiful blue eyes, which were an unusually light shade of blue. They went perfectly with his sharp features. His jawline was brought out well, with a refined nose hooked over deliciously perfect lips that naturally...- Wait.. Did I just use perfect to describe him?! Gahh, what's wrong with me?!

He must've known I overheard him because he quickly looked away and began "reading" his book. I looked away too and pretended to read my book.

I quickly glanced at him a while later and saw him staring at the back of Carlie's head, lost in thought... Wait, what?! Was he nervous because he thought I caught him staring at Carlie? Was he staring at her and not at me? Ohh.. I feel stupid now, thinking he was looking at me. That made me a little sad, but I ignored the feeling. Carlie will be excited when I tell her I caught him staring at her. She'll be happy to hear her obsession wasn't so one-sided.

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