Did it surprise you that I would do something like this?
Now that I'm thinking about it, my mum's parting shot before sending us home sounded like she had been fully expecting it.
And far be it from me to disappoint my own dear mother! Muahahahaha….
First thing's first! To Savy's room!
If I was going to get into trouble, I might as well have company. What? It would be fun.
I opened her door without knocking. "Wanna go spy on the Lorent meeting?"
Savy had her earphones on, but she lifted her brow at me and pulled them off. I could hear something angsty screaming and thumping from them.
"Mum said not to hang around," she reminded me dutifully.
"And we aren't," I told her. "We are… What are we doing there, Savy?"
Savy thought for a while. "Maybe we are returning a book to the library?"
She picked up a couple of books from the floor next to her bed. They were history texts. Why would Savy be reading history? But I didn't have time for this. "Let's go."
"In that?" Savy gave me a critical look.
I looked down at my "I'm with Stupid" T-shirt and remembered that we were possibly going to bump into the Lorents.
"Maybe a dress?" I tried to guess.
This was tricky. We should dress up to NOT look like we had purposely dressed up, but still look very acceptable to our Lorent visitors. "I'm with Stupid" wasn't going to cut it.
I opened our walk-in wardrobe from Savy's side for some point of reference.
"We need to look casually put together, since it's a Sunday at our own pack house," Savy offered some pointers.
"And feminine and demure," I added because I remembered how traditional the Lorent pack was.
Savy nodded and asked aloud, "What would the alpha's daughters wear on a Sunday?"
We both looked down at ourselves and laughed.
I tsked loudly and shook my head in mock seriousness. "Terribly shocking!"
Eventually, we managed to put together something with stuff we found at the deepest part of our shared walk-in wardrobe.
You'd never guess what! I didn't even remember having them—matching white summer dresses!
The dresses had wide skirts that covered our knees. The tops were somewhat light for the January weather, but we layered on lightweight knitted sweaters.
Savy wore the pink one, while I pulled on a light teal one.
The sweaters had pearls sewn into the neckline.
I found white stockings. They were from a couple of years back, when Savy still did ballet. We pulled them on. They really stretched out when I wore them, but they looked fine.
By now, this was 100% a dress-up game.
Savy found ribbons—white ones. I pulled one around my head like a headband and tied a bow.
Savy made a face, but she let me do it for her too.
After tying the silly ribbon around my collar every day the previous week, I had become quite proficient at making bows.
We put on light-colored Mary Janes—pink for her and blue for me. I can't say why we even had these since they had never been worn.
Then we shuffled to the mirror.
"No!" Savy shouted, aghast at our reflection.
I couldn't help but grin—at her reaction as well as our transformation. Wow.
We looked ridiculous, but I thought my mum would have approved… if we were taking a family portrait! Hahaha.
"Exchange with me!" Savy demanded.
I was laughing out loud now and almost refused her, just to watch her misery. Savy hated wearing pink.
But I was too kind and took off the shoes and sweater to exchange. Now I was in pink. I looked so… OMG.
Let's just say that if I were a girl, I should totally do this look. I mean, I was a girl, but I was not this type of girl. Actually, I did not think this type of girl existed, at least not in our pack.
I wished the guys could see this. Their expressions would have been priceless.
We did our makeup, curling our lashes and adding just a touch of blush, just for effect. I was really careful to keep it light and natural.
What were we dressing up for again?
Oh, right.
We might have digressed somewhat from the original plan.
"Let's go," I said.
We had taken so long dressing up that I wouldn't be surprised if the Lorents had already left.
Savy seemed to have realized our mistake too. "Sam, we look like… Sam, this is stupid. Everyone is going to laugh at us."
"No, everyone is going to laugh at me. Hurry up." I was grinning now. I had a new plan.
This was going to be so fun.
"We're going to walk into the pack house and act like this is what we are usually like," I told Savy. "Then we'll see everyone's stupefied faces, and all of them trying to act natural to cover for us in front of the Lorents."
"If they even recognize us," Savy grumbled.
Heh heh heh heh heh… That would have been funny too.
"And if we meet anyone who laughs and makes fun of the alpha's two sweet, precious daughters, we will cry," I ended the last part darkly.
Savy was cackling softly now. I was sure she was imagining evil beyond my understanding.
I wished it were April Fools' or at least Halloween.
We headed downstairs and toward the pack house. Savy remembered at the last minute to grab the books she had borrowed from the library room.
Oh yeah, we were supposed to be spying on, or checking how Dad was handling the Lorents. Yes, we would do that too.
"Sam?" Savy said to me as we stepped onto the pack house porch. "You are going to be in so much trouble for this."
I froze and almost turned back, but one of the Lorent warriors was standing at the front door. He bowed the moment we neared and flung the door open for us.
Too late to turn back now.
We walked into the pack house to find our hallway littered with a few Lorent men. They stood at attention immediately.
The curved stairway up to Dad's office and the library looked strangely familiar, yet different. Oh, flowers. There were fresh flowers—white roses in matching glass vases—and the blue stair rug with gold trim had been laid out.
I took Savy's hand and tugged her along past the stairs and toward the kitchen.
At the last minute, I had decided to turn tail and abandon our mission. But only at a casual pace so as not to arouse any suspicion from the few Lorent warriors standing around. I needed to escape while I still could.
I had not considered the trouble I was going to be in when Dad saw us. I had forgotten about that part, but now that Savy had reminded me, I was determined to avoid it.
We would go through the dining hall, to the kitchen, and out the back door.
Good plan, except I had forgotten that the rest of the Lorent men were in the dining hall. They paused the moment we entered, but they looked back down at their food almost immediately.
I completely ignored them and headed to the kitchen, with Savy quickly following my lead. The moment we stepped into the kitchen, Savy breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Oh my."
We both looked up and saw Esther staring at us.
She grinned. "You're both looking lovely today."
Oh yeah, uh, erm. I looked at Savy, who looked back at me.
"I guess you're supposed to be upstairs greeting our visitors, huh?" Esther turned her attention back to the counter. "The stairs are that way, you know?" She wiggled her eyebrows at us.
Oh. She thought we were supposed to be there and were trying to get out of it. The irony.
Then she loaded a tray. "Help me bring more tea up. The one upstairs is either finished or cold by now."
"But… but…" I tried to explain.
"No buts." Esther shook her head. "I'd bring it up myself, but you girls look dressed for the part."
"But…" I tried again.
Savy had put down her books to lift the tray, but it rattled noisily. Seriously? Did she still want to go to the office?
"It's heavy," Esther warned belatedly.
Savy put the tray back down.
"Fine, I'll take it." I sighed and lifted the tray. It was heavy, but I was taller and stronger than Savy.
Satisfied, Savy picked up her books from the counter.
"I'm going to be in so much trouble after this," I grumbled under my breath.
Savy smiled sweetly at me. "Don't worry, Sam. This one will be on me."