Chapter 7 – The Novel Leak

My phone buzzed in the middle of my Algebra class and I flipped it over to take a look at it. It was another picture from Liam. This time, it was a selfie of him sitting behind the wheel of his sports car, wearing dark sunglasses. I almost blocked him right then and there. For almost a week now, Liam had been sending me daily photos of his life. Yesterday, he’d sent me a picture of him, mid-play, on the hockey field. The day before that, he had sent me a picture of his meal - a massive burger, fries and a soda. Every time he sent me these daily photos, he never said a word. He never gave any context. Never even said hello. It was like he was trying to get me to miss him by sharing his life, thinking that I’d cave and call him. I swear, Liam was such an arrogant narcissist! He was used to getting whatever he wanted from any she-wolf. And now, here I was, keeping my distance. And so, he was putting the full court press on me with the constant photos. Well, he could send all the photos he wanted, I still wasn’t going to respond to any of them. I flipped my phone face down and tried to pay attention to the figures my teacher was writing on the board. … After class, I walked outside down the middle of the campus lawn. “Yeah, that’s totally her,” I heard somebody say over my shoulder. I looked back and saw two she-wolves giggling in my direction. I frowned but kept going. A little bit later, another two girls walked by mean, their eyes never leaving me. When they passed, I heard them say, “Can you believe here. What a dummy.” The third time I overheard someone whispering near me as I made my way back to the dorms, I knew without a doubt that it was me everybody was talking about. I picked up my speed. I had to get out of the open. Something was going on and I had to figure out what it was. … I slammed the door shut behind me as I entered my room. “I think everybody is talking about me,” I said to Monica who was sitting at her desk scrolling on her phone. She looked up, a worried frown on her face. “Oh, everybody is definitely talking about you,” she said. “What?! Why?” I didn’t see how I could be the topic of any conversation. I always tried to keep a low profile. I didn’t go to parties. I didn’t talk to any guys. Except for the whole Noah and Liam situation which had died down, I couldn’t think of why people on campus would have my name in their mouths. “It’s your book, Ella,” Monica said. “What book?” I said. I was confused about what my book had to do with people gossiping about me. “Parts of My Werewolf Love got leaked anonymously. It’s everywhere.” My heart began to beat faster. No. No, no, no. How could that be? It wasn’t possible. I was the only one that had access to my laptop. But then I remembered the paper copy I’d thrown in the trash. “Oh my God,” I said, sliding down to the ground. “I know. I’m so sorry Ella. And apparently, Noah is saying he’s the inspiration for the novel.” I shot a look in Monica’s direction, “He can’t prove that.” Monica winced. “Well, he’s got the evidence. And he’s showing it to everybody. He’s saying he’s your dream lover.” Monica turned her phone to me and I leaned closer to where she was on her bed. On a social media app, Noah was sitting in his room, reading passages from my novel. These passages were about a human girl main character who sent gifts to her werewolf lover. After every passage, Liam would grin at the camera and pan it to the exact same gift that I had given him. “That bastard,” I said, shooting up from the ground. I yanked the door open. “Where are you going?” Monica asked, surprise all over her face. “I’m going to go find Noah.” … This time, As I walked back to Noah’s dorm, the she-wolves were bolder in mocking me. One of them stepped right into my path, a smirk on her face. “Hi daydream girl. Have you found your fated mate yet?” I didn’t say anything. I tried stepping around her but she wouldn’t let me pass. “You’re such a fool you know that. Thinking that any werewolf would fall in love with a human girl like you. So pathetic.” I brushed past her, my head hanging low. I felt so humiliated and all I wanted to do was go back to my room, curl up in bad and….but no. I had to find Noah. So, I kept going. When I got to Noah’s dorm, I stormed right in and walked straight towards his room. I tried to ignore all the stares and whispers coming my way but I couldn’t completely block them out. When I got to Noah’s room, I banged on his door. I kept banging but he didn’t open the door. Finally, someone in the room next door opened their door and looked at me. He started to laugh. My cheeks burned. “Calm the hell down, human. Your dream lover isn’t here. He’s at practice.” I turned around and quickly headed towards the hockey rink. … Noah was in the middle of practice, but I didn’t care. I stormed right onto the field, driven by fury and hurt. “Noah!” I yelled. Noah’s head snapped up in my direction. “Oh, you.” “You leaked my book? How could you do that to me?!” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Noah said with a shrug. His teammates started to laugh as if they knew something I didn’t know. He was lying, I knew it. “You’re lying, just admit it!” I said stepping up closer. “Maybe it was your roommate who shared your delusional dreams. Did you every think about that?” Noah said. “And by the way, if you think I care that you jumped from me straight to Liam’s bed, you’re more delusional than I thought. He can have my sloppy seconds.” His words felt like a hot slap across my face. I couldn’t believe how deeply and how quickly Noah’s feelings for me had turned to hate. Especially since he was the one that had done me wrong. “Dude, I can’t believe your brother broke his “no humans” rule and slept with her. I’ve totally lost all respect for him,” one of Liam’s teammates said. Another teammate added, “Yeah, like, it’s Liam, he has so many other options, but he picks this basic girl? What kind of Alpha even does that? He’s stooping so low just for--” Suddenly, an arm wrapped around my waist, and pulled me close. I knew those arms. I knew that embrace. And as hard as I had been fighting it, my body felt instantly relaxed wrapped up in it. I looked up into Liam’s steely eyes. “You should have realized Ella has always liked me better than you, brother,” Liam said. Instantly, all the posturing that Noah had been doing seconds ago was gone. His ego was totally deflated. Noah’s eyes narrowed like he wanted to attack.