Imprinted (Progress) by Sara Imes (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📖

been crying?”. Natalie looked at the girl concerningly. Hayden was taken aback by this. Why would this girl care if she was crying? Everybody in the pack despised her. Wanted her dead. So what was different about this girl? A heartless, freak a nature… . Hayden heard Seth’s words in her head. Hayden looked down to the girl.

“Yes. Yes I was crying.” “Why? Do you mind if I can come in so you can tell me?”. Hayden shook her head and opened the door fully so Natalie could come in. Natalie sat in the chair Seth threw back when leaving last night, then she looked over to Hayden. Hayden closed the door with a click and sat back on the bed. “I’m not supposed to be in here. The pack heard what Seth said to you”. Hayden cringed.

The whole pack heard what Seth said to her? Oh great. “Yeah we did. I didn’t like what he said to you. You're his mate. He shouldn’t speak to you like that”. “But he is right. I am heartless, a freak of nature.” Hayden felt tears start to rise in the back of her eyes. No, Hayden thought bitterly, I refuse to show any weakness to her. No matter how nice she is to me.

Without noticing, Natalie had managed to move from the chair, onto the bed. She was now sitting next to Hayden, her hand on hers. As if reading her mind, Natalie said, “It’s okay, you can cry in front of me. I won’t tell anyone.” Hayden looked down to the girl, and then to the girl's pale hand on her olive colored one. Hayden felt the dam keeping the tears at bay break. She let the tears spill out from her eyes down to the bed sheets. Natalie smiled and pulled Hayden into a hug.

She felt Natalie rub her back softly. Natalie smelled of soap and roses. A very comforting smell. “It's okay, let it out”, Natalie whispered into her ear. And she did. She let all her bottled up feelings about Seth be released through her tears be washed away. After a few minutes, Hayden sat back up. She smiled down at Natalie and sniffled. She smiled back at Hayden.

“Thank you, Natalie. I really appreciate this.”, Hayden said. “No problem”, Natalie said carelessly. “But...does this mean you love Seth? I mean if you didn’t i'm pretty sure you wouldn’t be this upset about what he said”. Hayden looked away. She didn’t know what she felt for Seth. All she knew she felt something strong and powerful for him. And that scared her.

“I don't know exactly Natalie. All I know is I haven't felt this way about anybody before in my life. And to be honest, it's scaring me.”. Natalie smiled and took hold of Hayden’s now shaking hand steadily. “I can’t say I know how you feel. But how about you come down stairs with me?” Hayden shook her head instantly. “No. I really don't think that’s a good idea. The whole pack hates me and you said you weren't supposed to be talking to me so…”. Natalie shrugged and pulled Hayden off the bed anyway. “I'm not taking no for an answer”. Suddenly Natalie’s hand was clamped onto Hayden’s hand like steel. She was clearly not going to let go of her hand. Hayden sighed and let Natalie drag her out of the room and down into the living room.

 

Chapter Thirty

 

“So tell me about yourself?”, Natalie asked, coming back into the living room with orange juice and a small piece of sausage. “Well… I'm eighteen, both of my parents are dead, I love bands and anime...my favorite color is red.”. Hayden shrugged. “That’s about it.” Natalie chuckled “That can’t be it. What type of bands do you like?”. “Well, I love Of Mice & Men, Black Veil Brides, Pierce the Veil, Bring Me The Horizon, Sleeping with Sirens, and Panic! at the disco”, Hayden said, shrugging nonchalantly. “Wow! Really? That’s all the bands October and Jessica like!”. Natalie exclaimed.

“You know what. I'll be right back. You stay here.” Before Hayden could stop her, Natalie was already taking two steps at a time up the steps. Hayden waited quietly in the living room until Natalie returned with two girls. One had long blonde hair with the bangs covering her left eye, caramel colored skin, a black tank top that red ‘My music taste is better than yours’, red Converse, and black skinny jeans.

The other girl had chocolate colored skin, three red cheeks marks, round purple eyes that were laced with black eyeliner and red eyeshadow, black hair with red streaks dyed in. The girl also had a black nose piercing and wore bracelets with band names on them. Hayden felt herself smile. Hayden felt a sudden burst of hope. Maybe these girls would like her since they liked the same thing. But that hope was washed away when Hayden looked up at their scowling faces.

Natalie pushed them both closer to Hayden. “Hayden! This is October and Jessica.. They like the same music you do. They also like anime! Now be nice.” Natalie pushed October and Jessica on the couch. Both scooted down the couch, away from Hayden. “Well im October”, said the girl with the blonde hair, gruffly. “I'm Jessica”, said the other girl. Hayden nodded and held out her hand.

The other girls just stared at her hand as if it was dipped in poison. Then after Natalie cleared her throat, they both shook her hand. Natalie clapped her hands, “Good. Were making process! I'll be right back. I'm going to go get snacks.”. With that, Natalie rushed out of the room. The room was suddenly thrown into a dead silence. Neither of the girls said anything. Oh what’s the point? These girls hate me, why would they willingly talk to me? “So Natalie says you like the same bands we do. Is that true?”, October said. Hayden shook her head, “Yeah. My favorite band is Of Mice & Men. My second is Black Veil Brides”. Are they giving me a shot? Both of the girls nodded in approval.

“The rest of the pack hates our music. They call it annoying since you can’t understand the words sometimes. But we always tell them to shut up and if they don’t like it they don’t have to listen.”, said Jessica. Hayden smiled brightly. She did the exact same thing when she was going to school and played her music out loud. People would tell her to turn it off. But she would never listen, she would just block out everybody else. “Yeah, I understand that. When I was going to school, before my parents were killed, I played my music out loud. People told me to shut it off or that it was distracting. But I would still play it, no matter what people said.” Hayden heard Jessica suck in a breath. Hayden looked up to Jessica quickly.

Did I say something wrong?, Hayden thought. “Your parents were killed? So were mine.” Hayden blinked. They had something in common besides having a strong passion for bands. Hayden saw tears start to rise at the back of Jessica eyes. With her legs making the decision before the brain could, Hayden got off the couch and walked over to Jessica. Hayden leaned down and hugged Jessica tightly. Jessica sucked in a breath, but hugged Hayden back. Hayden knew how Jessica felt. Jessica’s parents dead maybe had been when she was young, Hayden guessed. No matter how long ago it was, you can never forget the pain of losing your parents. Jessica pulled away first, looking up to Hayden with grateful eyes. “Thanks. You know, you're actually not that bad. Say October, let's go get the rest of the pack so they can meet Hayden. This Hayden.” October smiled and nodded. They both jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs. As they left, Hayden felt herself smile.

Chapter Thirty One

 

It had taken a while for the entire pack to warm up to Hayden. Once Jessica and October dragged the rest of the pack, besides Seth, Ashley and Dylan, down the stairs into the living room, they all just ignored her and pretended as if she wasn’t there. They would have stayed like that if Natalie, October and Jessica didn’t force the whole pack to make conversation. Now, the whole pack was joking around with her, laughing with her. Not giving her hateful glares. “Oh great. The last thing we need is another goth girl.”, Alexander said jokingly. In perfect unison, October, Jessica and Hayden said, “We are not goth”. The girls both looked at each other and laughed. “Fine. Emo then”, Jonathan jabbed back.

The girls both rolled their eyes and punched Jonathan in the arm. “Ow”, he said, rubbing his arm softly, “No need for violence, ladies”. Hayden smiled and looked around. The whole pack was starting to get along with her, maybe even like her. And not just because Seth told them too, because they wanted to.

Before Hayden could stop her mouth she said, “So does this mean we're friends? You guy’s don’t hate me anymore?”. The whole room went into dead silence then. Hayden bit her lip. Here it comes. The part where they said they still hate and despise her. But Natalie stepped forward, taking Hayden’s hand. She smiled sweetly at Hayden.

“You're my friend, Hayden”. Hayden smiled brightly and pulled Natalie into a tight, warm hug. Natalie hugged back.

She then pulled away and turned back to the group. It was still silent in the room, but the next person to step forward was Jessica, then October. Hayden smile grew bigger. Jessica and October stood beside Hayden, hands on her shoulders. Hayden smiled her appreciation to both of them, and they smiled back. Big bright smile. Next, was T.J and Justin, standing behind October and Jessica. Then the rest of the pack came to stand behind Hayden. Except Jonathan. His arms were crossed around his chest, looking at Hayden with a blank stare.

Then his face relaxed, producing a humorous grin. He shrugged and stepped forward, slightly blushing and saying, “Yeah, I guess you're pretty cool”. Hayden laughed, really laughed. Was this what it was like to have friends? A family? Hayden felt tears stab the back of her eyes. And instead of holding them back, she let them fall carelessly down her cheeks. She felt a hand wipe them away. She looked up and saw it was Jessica.

Hayden smiled and opened