I enter the studio at the back of the store. I pick a big blank canvas, put an apron on, then I attack the canvas, pouring every anger and frustration and sadness into it. And, it is only after I'm done when I realize that my cheeks are wet with tears.

I stare at my work-it's a semi-abstract, with layers and swirls of colors of demons and angry lines of heartbreaks. A single white dove is flying alone. Its fluttering wings are almost translucent. The dove is ethereal, too exquisite for its surrounding. My hope and strength. I am good enough.

"Oh, honey," says mom from behind me. "That is...absolutely amazing." She gasps. Tears are filling her eyes as she stares at the painting.

After school, my two friends show up looking excited. They both drag me to shop for some new outfits and get my hair trimmed up a bit and add a few very bright red highlights. Oh, joy, retail therapy.

***

"You guys suck! Why are we watching this movie again?" complains Penny as she throws some popcorn on my head.

"Hey, Reese voted for this movie too," I argue, flicking some popcorn back at her.

For someone so sassy and looking so tough, Penny's a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror films. Reese, who's always looking like a sweet Disney princess, can't seem to get enough of them. I'm stuck in between them.

It's Saturday evening, and we are currently watching Annabelle: Creation on Netflix in my bedroom and Penny is hiding behind a big pillow on her lap.

Mom and dad are still at the store and Autumn is out with her friends.

"Come on, Penny, it's not that scary," says Reese, shoving a big scoop of Ben and Jerry's in her mouth.

Penny scowls and throws another handful of popcorn onto our heads. Reese giggles and picks another bowl to empty it over Penny's.

"You are so helping me clean my room before you go tonight," I warn them laughing, throwing more popcorn at the both of them.

All of a sudden the familiar pain starts at the base of my stomach, knocking the wind out of me.

"GenGen, what's happening?" asks Reese in alarm as I writhe in pain.

"Nothing," I gasp. Oh no, I don't want them to see this.

"Should I call your mom?" asks Penny, panicking.

"NOOO.No," I yell, clutching my stomach. "Don't.. tell my mom." I choke out. Tears are starting to run down my cheeks.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" asks Penny again.

"I think I know what's happening," answers Reese, gripping my hands on my stomach. "That manwhore Logan is doing somenasty things with some slut," she continues coldly.

Penny lets out a string of curses.

The pain is excruciating. I think I passed out after a while. Thank goddess for that.

When I open my eyes again, Reese and Penny are still there. Reese is still holding my hand tightly in hers with tears on her face. Penny is fuming and walking around the room as if she wanted to kill someone.

"Hey, you're still here," I smile, feeling exhausted.

They both snap their heads to look at me. Penny is looking totally pissed, and Reese is staring at me with sadness, pity and also some anger. I don't think her anger is directed at me though.

"How many times had this happen, hon?" asks Reese.

"I bet this is not the first time," says Penny, looking at my belly now exposed from my t-shirt that has ridden up from my twisting and squirming.

My stomach is black and blue. The bruising came from me clutching my stomach so hard when the pain gets too much.

"This is the fourth time so far," I decided to be truthful. They had seen me in pain, after all, there's nothing much else to hide.

Penny starts cursing all over again. "It's not fair! He can't do this!" yells Penny.

"Now where are you going, Penny?" asks Reese when Penny jumps to the door.

"Where else? I'm gonna go and kick his ass off to the moon!" Penny wails hotly. Her chocolate brown eyes turn even darker, showing that her wolf is close to the surface.

"No, you're not," announces Reese, dragging her back into the room.

"Oh, hell yes I am!" argues Penny, trying to get out of Reese's firm grip on her arms.

"We're not kicking anyone's ass today. We're going to do even better," Reese declares. That makes Penny stop struggling.

"He's hurting one of us and we're beyond pissed. Girls, we're getting even. It's operation payback," announces Reese.

What did I do to deserve such awesome friends? "I love you guys," I say as I hug my two besties.

Penny writes down our plan for Operation Payback on paper. If that's not a commitment, I don't know what is.

Most of the ideas come from Reese and Penny. I just scrunch up my nose at most of them. Well, maybe all of them.

There are a few phases to our Operation Payback:

The first one is for me to look awesome and get the attention of un-mated boys at our school. Umm...I think that needs a lot of work, but maybe that can be done. Maybe. I don't know.

The second part is for me to flirt with some guys to make him jealous. According to Reese, all werewolves, especially the Alphas are very possessive of their mates...even with the ones they've rejected. We'll have that theory tested soon. I kinda doubt that he cares. He has the beautiful Mia and all the other girls anyway.

The third phase is for me to get a boyfriend since I don't have a mate anyway.

The third phase would lead to phase four, and this is the toughest one for me...lose my V-card so that he can feel the pain he causes me when he's with someone else. I'm not sure if I'm on board with this one.

"It's not like you're saving yourself for your mate anymore," argues Penny when I disagree with the fourth stage. Ouch!

"GenGen, you have to commit to this. Promise me you're going through with this. He made you suffer, he's gonna pay. He should feel at least a fraction of the pain he put you through. You're gonna show him what he's missing. You're going to show him that you don't need him. He needs you," commands Reese spiritedly. "Doesn't he know that an alpha needs his true mate to be really strong? This pack is going to the wolves...like literally.

"I'm getting an ulcer just thinking about him and Mia leading the pack." Reese shudders.

The thought of the two of them together is less painful now. Maybe because I haven't been around him in a while. I don't think I'm good enough to be a luna, but I don't know what I'll do when the two of them become the alpha and luna of the pack.

"You think they'll kick me and my family out of the pack once they become alpha and luna?"

"They can't do that, can they?" asks Penny.

Yes, they can. The three of us sit in thoughtful silence for a few minutes before I suggest that we let our wolves out and go for a run.

It's a great relief to let Ezra out. I feel light and feel almost normal again. I should let my wolf out more often.

Penny ends up spending the night at my house. Reese has a date with River later that night and has to leave. Both of Reese and Penny are coming for a sleepover again tomorrow night.

After Reese left, Penny wants to watch Deadpool and drools over Ryan Reynolds. I've drooled over him like a thousand times, so I decided to butcher Elizabeth Browning's beautiful sonnet, How do I Love Thee , changing the word love to reject and tape it on my wall.

How do I Reject Thee?

How do I reject thee? Let me count the ways.

I reject thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I reject thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I reject thee freely, as men strive for right.

I reject thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I reject thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I reject thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I reject thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but reject thee better after death.

Penny thinks I'm nuts. I think it's funny in a sick, twisted and sad kinda way.

Original Poem:

How do I love Thee? (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men might strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints,–I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!–and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Chapter III

Operation Payback

Today is Monday. Last night, the girls had a sleepover at my house so that we can get ready for school together. We're starting Operation Payback-phase one.

"So, tell me why are we wasting our time doing this again? We agreed that he's a worthless jerk anyways," I ask, as Reese pulls and tugs at my hair.

"Well, reason number one, he's gotta pay for what he put you through. Number two, isn't this fun? I'm excited to do this!" answers Penny.

"And reason number three, it stops Penny from going crazy ninja on Logan and getting herself thrown into the dungeon," adds Reese.

"I still think we're just wasting our time. No amount of work will get me noticed around school when all the other girls are so gorgeous."

I stare at Reese in the mirror. Reese looks like a doll in her yellow gossamer sundress, a white cardigan, and a pair of bright yellow sandals. Her golden curls are in a high ponytail, tied with a white filmy ribbon.

"Genesis," sighs Reese, turning me around to face her. "Even without all the makeup and the makeover, you're easily the prettiest girl in school."

"Boys are always staring at you, you're just too dense to notice," adds Penny, dabbing some color to her eyelid. Penny is rocking her new sleek hairstyle with black shorts and dark blue crop top paired with high top black sneakers and also a black leather jacket. Truly, Penny is so gorgeous, she looks like a model to me.

"Hey! I resent that," I complain. "If you think I was already pretty why do we need to do all this then?"

"Honey, the makeover and all this is just to boost your self-confidence...plus, you finally agreed to let us dress you up. It's like having a real-life Barbie doll to play with," replies Reese gleefully. "Oh, I can't wait to have a baby girl with River...well, not yet, but in a few more years."

"You'll make a wonderful mother, Reese," I smile, imagining her with babies.

"Yeah, she will. And I'll probably be the worst mother ever. I'd probably forget where I left my pup when I'm too busy playing Crashlands or something," confesses Penny.

We start laughing at that because Penny does tend to forget things when she plays her games.

Checking my reflection in the mirror, I have to admit, I like how I look in the small purple top and a white skater skirt. The top follows the contours of my body like a glove, the V-neckline just skimming over the rise of my creamy skin, making my boobs look bigger...sort of. The skirt makes my legs look long and endless. I have a pair of white converse on. My hair is in big loose curls.

"I envy your long legs." Reese sighs. She really has no reason to envy my anything.

"My goddess, you girls look stunning!" exclaims my mom when we get to the bottom of the stairs.

"Thanks, Lavinia," reply Reese and Penny.

Mom hugs all three of us with tears in her eyes. I think she's thankful for my friends for getting me up and about again. Ready to get back to school again too.

We join dad and Autumn in the kitchen for breakfast. Mom has made lots of pancakes for us.

Later, Autumn joins us in Reese's car for a five-minute drive to school. I know Autumn enjoys spending time with my friends too. She's known them since she was in diapers. They're more like big sisters to her.

"I'd like to do my hair like yours too soon," says Autumn, pulling at a lock of my hair before she jumps out of the car and disappears into the crowd.

"That's the closest to a compliment I've ever gotten from her," I inform Penny and Reese.

"Sisters," mumbles Penny, shaking her head. "Sometimes I'm glad I'm an only child."

I notice we draw a lot of attention as we exit the car. I wonder if it's because they know about what happened between me and Logan, or because of our new looks.

Some students stop and stare. I hear whispers here and there. My strong werewolf hearing catches the word "Logan's mate" and "rejected" several times. I hear some guys lewd comments too. "Damn she's hot, I'd tap that." I catch a girl's bitchy voice saying clearly, "Gosh, who gets rejected by their own mate? How pathetic and embarrassing. I'd kill myself if I were her." Either way, I can't say that I'm enjoying it.

Remembering our mission, I hold my head up high, paste a smile on my lips and defiantly add a sway to my hips. Reese gives me a smile and a wink before her attention is taken by River who is jogging over to meet us.

"Atta girl," whispers Penny.

I see Logan's blond head facing away from us when we get nearer to our classroom.. Penny's grip tightens around my arm. Logan is talking to Zeke and Hunter. He seems relaxed, leaning against one of the lockers. Well, at least he doesn't have his tongue down Mia's throat this time.

My wolf Ezra perks up and seems more restless the closer we get to him. I think she can't decide whether she wants him or is furious with him for treating us like trash. His delicious smell is messing with me even when I'm very determined not to feel anything towards him anymore. The mate pull is still very strong.

Zeke's wandering eyes find me and flicker up and down my body. His blue eyes darken even more when I give him a tiny smile.

I find Hunter also staring at me and I give him a bigger friendly smile. Didn't I tell you I think Hunter's a nice guy?

Logan sniffs and looks around. His eyes widen as soon as they land on me. I let my smile go slack, my eyes go cold and look away. Penny tugs at my arm and whispers something so low, but it sounds like "Phase one a success, moving on to phase two."

Penny and I slip into our English lit classroom and take our regular seats near the middle, next to each other. The room is only half filled, and a steady stream of students are still coming in.

"Did you see how he was staring at you?" whispers Penny excitedly, bringing her chair closer to mine.

Before I could answer, the door bangs open and Logan walks in looking intently at me. Boy, he's still so good looking. It's killing me. I lean back in my chair, trying to be as far away from him and his delicious smell as possible.

He slides into his seat in front of me, facing backward, staring at me while I pretend not to notice.

Zeke takes a seat beside him, surreptitiously glancing at me from time to time.

"This should be fun," whispers Penny, gleefully. She's having too much fun with this.

I flip my hair and turns around to face Zeke with a smile.

"Hey," I whisper softly but loud enough to make sure that he can hear me. I smile coyly at him before lowering my eyes to Julius Caesar in front of me.

"Hi," Zeke answers and he gives me that slow smirk that melts so many girls' panties as I peer up at him through my eyelashes. His eyes travel down the length of my legs underneath the table.

A growl beside him interrupts Zeke. The future delta straightens up and snaps his head around to look at his future alpha.

Logan is staring at us with a clenched jaw and dark eyes. His nose flares in anger. Even now he's looking hot. Well, hotter actually. I can feel Ezra's anger though as well as her attraction towards Logan and his wolf.

Well, well, well...theory tested. Steeling my resolve, I decided to ignore Logan.

A buffed looking boy enters the classroom seconds before the teacher does. I can tell from his smell that he's a human. I smile when his eyes land on me and his eyes widen comically. Then he cockily makes his way over, sitting in an empty chair on the other side of me.

"Hey," he says, smirking. I smile flirtatiously at him once before deliberately ignoring him. I hear another growl and swallow the laughter that tries to escape my lips.

"So, how's it going?" the boy asks. I smile but keep my eyes trained on the front since the teacher has started teaching. I can see Logan clenching his jaw, his whole body is stiff. Oh I know, I'm feeling like jumping at him right now too...even after he rejected us. Sad really. Pathetic.

Not wanting to be pathetic, I focus my attention on annoying him instead.

I stretch my legs to the side, giving the human and Zeke a clear view of my long legs. The human boy doesn't disappoint, but Zeke stares straight ahead, looking flustered.

"My name's Kevin. You're Genesis, right?" He keeps trying.

"Yep, you got that right," I mumble softly under my breath, but he must have heard me because Kevin shifts his chair closer to mine.

Logan is gripping the side of his desk tightly. So tightly, I wonder if he's going to break the table soon.

Wow, this is actually a lot of fun.

I wonder if he's even listening to a word our teacher was saying for the last fifteen minutes or so.

Then an idea strikes me. I rip a page of my notebook, making it obvious, and start writing. Then I make a show of passing the note to Penny.

The paper is ripped away from my fingers before Penny has the chance to grab it, not by our teacher, but by Logan Carrington.

He scans the note once, crumples it, then throws it on the wall. His desk scraps back noisily and his chair almost toppled over as he stands up and angrily stomps out of the room.

The whole class, including the teacher, are left staring at the door that he disappeared through.

In the note to Penny I wrote: Don't you think Zeke is hot? I think he is super hot!

When I manage to meet up with the rest of my friends during lunch, Reese is bursting with excitement. Apparently, Penny had been busy the whole morning, texting Reese about the development of our plan.

"I wish I were there," moans Reese, as we wait in line to get our food.

"You should've seen her. I think we've created a monster," gloats Penny.

"Remind me not to cross you, girls," says River, laughing.

"As long as you're not hurting Reese, we're good, buddy," Penny pats his arms playfully, but the look in her eyes warns him that she's very serious.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he smiles dreamily into Reese's eyes.

"Those two make me sick sometimes," quips Penny as we walk to the table with our tray of food.

"You're just jealous," responds River.

"Wow, if looks could kill," says Penny.

Most of the people at the popular table are staring at us...or me right now. Logan is nowhere to be seen, and Mia is giving me a deathly glare.

I choose to look the other way and ignore them.