When Alpha Draven said the command for everyone to change into their respective field wear, Lena didn’t think much of it.
Back at North Ridge, field wear usually meant heavy sweatpants and faded gray fleece jackets. She silently wondered what kind of standard athletic wear Sanatio Academy issued to its Ascendants.
Beside her, however, Khloe looked deeply disturbed.
"That shameless dog knows exactly what he’s doing," Khloe muttered under her breath.
She let out a sharp, tense laugh. It was clear she was panicking–she had to protect Lena from drawing any more of Alpha Draven’s hyper-fixated attention.
They moved with the crowd, Lena still enduring the invasive, burning stares of the surrounding House One Ascendants as they pushed into the locker rooms.
The space was wide, lined with rows of metal lockers. Lena slowed her pace, looking around the unfamiliar layout and wondering if she even had a designated spot. She had just arrived yesterday.
"Your locker is right over here, honey," Julian said, gesturing toward a panel near the end of the aisle.
To her surprise, her name was already logged into the interface. Lena pressed her thumb against the digital scanner, and with a clean click, the heavy metal door swung open. She reached inside to pull out her issued field wear.
Her jaw instantly dropped.
How was she supposed to train in those?
What she held didn’t look like training clothes at all. It looked more like something a toddler would wear than an athletic fit.
Most importantly, it was completely, undeniably different in size from the standard uniforms every other she-wolf in the room was pulling out of their lockers.
Was this seriously the right thing?
Frowning, Lena aggressively searched further into the depths of the locker, knocking aside the hangers, but there was nothing else inside. Just this small fabric.
As if sensing something was wrong, Khloe walked over, hanging her own standard field wear over her shoulders.
"Did you find it? Let me see what–" She choked on her sentence, her eyes widening as she took in the supposed field wear. A flash of disgust crossed her features. "I just knew something was off."
"Maybe the school made a mistake in my size?" Lena said logically. She had no reason to believe someone had tampered with her field wear.
Khloe, however, shook her head, believing she knew exactly who did this. Without a second thought, she handed her own uniform into Lena’s hands. "Take mine. Give me that thing. I’ll wear it."
Popping his head around the locker partition, Julian’s eyebrows shot up. "Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t think it’s such a good idea to defy Alpha Draven–"
"It’s fine," Khloe interrupted fiercely, snatching the small fabric from Lena. "I can handle whatever Alpha Draven has prepared. We are not letting him see her in this."
For a second Lena was confused why she was risking herself to protect her like this. She wanted to tell her to stop. It was her problem, not theirs.
"Only Alpha Christopher should." Khloe added, instantly making Lena frown.
It just wasn’t entering her head, was it?
She didn’t know another way to say she wasn’t interested other than tuning her out completely.
They quickly changed in their respective stalls. Because Lena was naturally skinnier than Khloe, the uniform fit decently well around her waist, but the chest area was a complete disaster.
The fabric still tightly hugged Jessica and Elle, practically straining against her chest.
When she finally stepped out of the stall, Khloe was already waiting, looking thoroughly bothered by the visual.
"You still look absolutely stunning," Khloe sighed.
Lena turned toward the long mirror on the wall, checking her reflection. Her breath caught slightly. She did look stunning.
Honestly, she hadn’t even realized she was this attractive until she came to this academy... no, until the exact moment she stopped hiding beneath her oversized tomboy sweatshirts.
But she had only worn those because of the slut-shaming title she had carried back in the North Ridge Pack.
"We still have a problem," Khloe murmured, her eyes locking onto Lena’s chest. She snapped her fingers as a sudden spark of inspiration hit her face making her whip around to face their third roommate. "Julian. Give her your shirt."
"What?!" Julian gasped, defensively clutching his issued top against his chest.
"You have to help protect her, Julian!" Khloe pressed.
"I don’t have to do a single damn thing," Julian shot back, rolling his eyes. But the moment his gaze shifted to Lena–noticing how visibly uncomfortable and exposed she looked under the tight fabric of the shirt–he let out a long, defeated sigh. "I fucking hate both of you. Fine. Take it."
He aggressively unbuttoned his loose, oversized training shirt and tossed it directly at Lena.
Lena quickly slipped it on over her uniform top. Because Julian was a guy, the shirt was completely loose on her frame, dropping down to provide a much safer, vastly more covering layer of armor.
"See? This is infinitely safer," Khloe said, nodding in approval. "Draven won’t be able to see a thing."
A moment later, the door to the adjacent stall clicked open. "Alright, how do I look?" Julian asked, stepping out into the center of the locker room aisle.
Both Lena and Khloe instantly fell into a stunned, dead silence.
Because Julian was naturally tall, Khloe’s uniform shirt had practically turned into a literal crop top on his frame.
Even though the fabric technically fit his slim torso, the hemline cut off dramatically high, completely revealing his navel to the open air.
Julian absolutely hated the frozen look on their faces. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I mean... it’s really not that bad," Khloe stammered, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
Nervous, Julian turned to Lena for a realistic verdict. "Lena? Just be honest."
"It’s better if I don’t say anything," Lena said flatly, keeping her expression perfectly neutral.
Panicking, Julian immediately marched over to the long mirror to see the damage for himself.