A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven “Arial?”

He had understandably been surprised to see me, so had the girl under him who was also missingher shirt

She was laying down on a school desk, legs wrapped around him, and I quickly averted my gazebefore I saw anything else. “What the hell are you doing here?” he yelled. I could hear the sound ofhim zipping his pants back up and tugging a shirt on. “What am I doing here?” I repeatedincredulously. “You mean why am I here after you made m e wait for over an hour?!”

I turned back around to face him having assumed it was safe to do so now. “Oh shit, was thattoday?”

"Oh, really? You don't recall even though I literally reminded you only a few hours ago?!” He rubbedat the back of his neck staring at the ground. At least he looked a little guilty. But it didn't matterbecause I was furious. Nothing he was going to be able to say would make me calm down. It waslike something inside me had been triggered and I could feel myself losing control.

*..I'm sorry, Aria.” “You're sorry?! You were so preoccupied screwing this girl that you couldn't evenlet me know you wanted to cancel?”

He looked up to face me then and I felt that same familiar feeling of wanting so badly to buckleunder the weight of those eyes. But not today. Today, I refused to back down as it fuelled my rage."Woah, hey,” the girl interjected. “Let's leave me out of this, okay? I don't need to be caught u p inyour weird... Goddess mark shit.”

If 1d still had my wolf, I would have ripped her throat out right then and there. It was probably herlucky day that I was still underage. “Kira,” Cai warned, making it clear that he didn’t think what she'dsaid was appropriate. “I think it's best that you leave if you truly don't want to get involved.”"Alright, fine. Enjoy your kiddie after school playtime,” she said with a huff. I scrutinised her u p anddown, watching as she fixed her skirt until, finally, she walked towards the door. I was glad to seeher hightail it out of here, but the feeling lasted only a few seconds.

“Freak,” she whispered as she walked past me.

I raised my hand so quick, seconds away from grabbing her, but suddenly Cai was there, restrainingme in his grip. I conceded to just stare venomously at her until she left.

“Aria, calm down already.” “Is that how you see me?" I asked, ignoring his request. I turned towardshim, feeling a wave of angry tears bubbling to the surface. I gritted my teeth i n an attempt to stopthem from falling but it didn't work. “See you’? he asked, confused. “Like a child! A charity case! ..Afreak.” He let go of my arm in surprise. “What? No, of course not.” 1 “But you'd rather spend yourtime here in her skirt? Because I'm not as entertaining, right? Because you think I'm just a kid?"

He sighed and shuffled uncomfortably. “...You'll understand when you're older.”

I burst into laughter. Was that really all he could say? I was mentally eight years older than

nerve to think I didn't understand exactly what he had been doing and why.

I advanced on him quickly, striding towards him with an absolute conviction. With every step I took,he paced backwards in response, unsettled by my sudden approach. But I kept walking all the wayuntil his back was up against the wall and finally trapped. And I stared up into his eyes with extremeseriousness. “Do you truly believe I don't know anything, Cai?”

He was still trying to press himself further up against the wall, but it was a futile attempt. The onlything creating distance between us now was our height difference. When he eventually came to thesame conclusion that there was no point in trying to move, he finally looked down at me, his eyessearching mine as if he was looking for something. I waited for his reply as he opened and closedhis mouth several times, almost as if trying to replace the right words to say but nothing would comeout. Then, finally, I lost patience. I angrily sighed and turned away, heading towards the door. “Youwant to know which of us is the child? Go take a good, hard look at yourself, Cai.” “Aria, wait,” hecalled after me. “I'll make it up to you. We can do some extra lessons and I'll even teach you aspecial fighting technique only taught at my pack” I disregarded what he was saying and keptwalking, choosing to reply without even turning to look at him. “Don’t bother, Cai. I'd rather notspend my time with someone who can't even take me seriously.” “Well, then you'll get your wishanyway," he called out. “I'm not going to be here for much longer.”

I paused in my tracks and finally looked back at him.

*...What do you mean?”

“I mean my exchange is up in a week or so. I'm going to be forced to head home soon.”

Whatever feeling of calm I had managed to hold a few moments ago was abruptly thrown out thewindow, my fury being reignited. I wasn't sure what made me angrier; the fact he'd ditched me forover an hour to get into a girl's pants, or the fact he had been planning to leave so soon and hadn'teven brought it up until now. “Are you actually telling me right now that you were planning to goback home in a week, and you weren't even going to tell me?!” “No! I was going to tell you! Ofcourse, I was.” “When?! via a letter when you'd already returned?! I thought we were friends, Cai.What the fuck is wrong with you?” “No, don't be stupid!”

I stormed back towards him, quickly making up the ground I'd previously made between us. “Youwant to make it up to me, Cai?" I asked rhetorically. “Fine then.” I threw a punch towards his facethat he dodged effortlessly, moving his head to the side to avoid the blow.

“Aria... what are you doing?”

He took a step back to make some distance, but I didn't let him get away. I swept my leg up at himin an attempt to hit his side, but he quickly blocked it with his arm. “What do you mean? Youthought this was going to be fixable by just a simple make up training session, right? Well then, hitme, Cai!" I shifted my weight to my other leg and tried to surprise him with a kick from my otherfoot. The movement was fast enough that he did almost miss it, but at the last second, he grabbedmy ankle, holding me in place. “Stop this,” he growled. I refused to listen to him, his request onlymaking me want to hit him more for trying to tell m e what to do.

He still hadn't let go of my leg, so I took the opportunity to grab onto one of the desks behind me,using it as leverage to support my weight. Lifting myself into the air, I then kicked him square in thechest, forcing him to release my ankle and stumble several feet backwards.

"Hit me, Cai," I said trying to goad him, covering the space I'd just made again.

"No."

I went to punch him in the jaw, and, to my surprise, he didn't even try to defend himself this time.My hit landed perfectly against the side of his face and I was left staring at my hand in disbelief."What are you doing..?” I asked in complete shock.

But he didn't answer me. Unsure about what else to do, I then tried to hit him again; a right hookstraight into his stomach. He coughed and stumbled back but, still, he didn't try to defend himself.I screamed out in anger at his refusal to engage and ran up to him, hitting him again and againseveral more times, all of which he endured and never once raised a hand against me.

“I said fucking hit me, Cai!” “No! I won't!" he finally yelled back. “This isn’t the gym, this isn“t training.I'm not going to hurt you.” The weight of his words slowly started to wear me down as I continuedto attack him, my punches against him slowly becoming weaker. “...Please... hit me..." I could feelmy tears coming back and I swallowed hard to keep them at bay. He refused to answer andcontinued to let me come at him. When I finally admitted that he wasn't going to react, I slumpedto my knees in front of him, defeated. It had only taken a few more hits before I had finally stopped,my tears having fallen enough by that point to obscure my vision.

"Are you done?” he asked after several moments had passed. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn'tstand this feeling of being insignificant once again. Was it actually impossible to hope someonewould put me first for once? That I would be someone's priority? 1

Because I realised that was the real reason as to why I was so angry. It wasn't about the girl, orabout him being late... it was because I thought Cai had actually cared about me, that we werefriends. But I knew there was no real reason for him to have felt that way. He was an incrediblycharismatic and friendly guy to every person he met. The truth was he probably had a tonne offriends, maybe even a best friend waiting for him at home. And yet I'd had the audacity to assumethat maybe I was equally that important to him. ... That maybe I mattered. “..Go,” I whisperedquietly. “What did you just say?” he asked, sounding unsure as to whether he'd heard right.

“I said go, Cail" I yelled, shooting my head up to meet his gaze. “Leave already! Go back to yourterritory and have a great life!” He didn't hesitate for even a second longer. He just turned aroundand left straight out the door, not needing to be told a third time.