"Yeah, I bet being the new girl sucks. Ready to learn your parts of speech again? I never understood why they did this every year." 

Jay nods and frowns at the workbook, trying to act like this was a boring bit of repetition, rather than a boring bit of new stuff. "We don't really have a choice, do we? Maybe they think it doesn't stick in our heads?"

"It probably doesn't, if you don't pay attention. Most people are lazy and don't care, which is a bad combination."

"That...is horribly accurate," Jay can't help a slight chuckle, her estimation of the girl goes up a notch. 

And then: to work. Because Jay doesn't want a lecture for failing any classes. And if she's less reticent to ask questions than normal, who's to know?

Certainly not the English teacher, who seems to expect them all to avoid making eye contact or moving their arms for fear of being called on. 

Grammar ensues, and the bell does, eventually, end their misery. 

"What do you have next? Maybe we can walk together." 

"Lunch next, I think," Jay says. "Then chemistry."

She's not forgetting that she has someone to talk to at lunch, she just figures she can slip away if she needs to.

They walk.

Mina attempts small talk. 

Did Jay watch the game? How does she like the weather here? Why did she move? Oh my gosh, did you hear about their town scandal?

Jay looks blankly at her before realising she should respond.

What ga-Wait. Lacrosse is big here right? Did they win? The weather's fine. It's not the coldest place she's lived, nor the warmest. Simon's job. (Don't call him Tantalus in front of the uninitiated.)

Town scandal? You mean the Hale fire and who caused it? Hard to miss!

Yeah, apparently the new girl who moved, just before Jay, lived with the arsonist for a month, and now she's dead. 

It's pretty mysterious and scary. 

Speaking of mysterious and scary, here's the cafeteria.

The story doesn't really scare Jay. The cafeteria does. She forcibly reminds herself that she is unlikely to be attacked by these teenagers, and if she is, she can probably fight them off...

She scans around herself, looking for the boy she's supposed to be talking to.

There is a boy sitting at a table with his friend, looking her way. 

His friend stands up, weaving through the crowd towards her.

"Want to sit with me and my friends?"

"Thanks, but I just remembered I wanted to talk to the Coach about something."

Which is excuse enough, Jay hopes, to duck out of the cafeteria. Hopefully he follows, and she has an apple in her bag that'll keep her going through the afternoon.

Well, it must be enough. Her new friend doesn't follow her.

"Hey," says the werewolf.

He wasn't being particularly stealthy, but werewolves move fast, even when they're trying to act human. 

If Jay's startled, she doesn't show it.

"Hey," she echoes blandly. "There roof access anywhere? Seems unlikely we'll be disturbed up there."

And if it also shows her how to access the roof without having to look around herself, he never needs to know.

"There might be, but I don't know how. We can just find a spot by the pool or the music room, no one will hear us over the noise."

Jay hums out an affirmative and away they go to find a quiet corner.

"So talk," she says, not willing to give away what little she does know.

"I think you should ask the questions, and I'll answer them. We'll cover more ground that way." 

"Want to tell me why you were lying about the lack of an alpha then?" Jay goes straight for the hard one. "I mean, sure, you have resident hunters, but the larger the pack the stronger it is."

She considers. "How long have you been a wolf?"

And then: "And should I be worried about your interest in Ms Argent?"

"I don't know what you've heard about the Hales, but the last alpha we had turned me, and killed a dozen people last month. The new alpha killed him."

"Rumours mostly," Jay says. "We knew the Hale fire had happened, we didn't know who was responsible until this came up." She hums. "Well. That certainly explains the rash of animal attack deaths. We'd thought it was...unusual."

She tilts her head. "And you're just going to ignore the question about Ms Argent?" (Jay hasn't quite elected herself bodyguard, but if this is going to be a problem, she's not going to let it fester.)