Chapter 2 The Alpha Female

I climbed onto the bus and kept my head down. Everyone stared at me, putting their backpacks on empty seats as I passed. I found an empty seat in the back and took it quickly.

I looked out the window and avoided the looks and whispers from the other students. Everyone knew who I was and everyone knew how I was treated. It had been worse when the Horace brothers were still in school. It almost gave the other students license to mock me and tease me just as ruthlessly.

Now they mostly just talked about me behind my back, which was easier to ignore. Everyone except Anastasia, who seemed to think it was her mission to make sure I continued to suffer just as much as I would have if the boys were still in school. Part of me wondered if she blamed me for the twins breaking up with her. It was possible. Though she should have known better than to think that Dylan, at least, would have settled down with her.

“Hello,” came a new voice I hadn’t heard before, “is this seat taken?”

I looked up to see a pretty girl with golden hair smiling down at me. I raised a curious eyebrow. I hadn’t seen her before but if she went to our school there was no way she didn’t know who I was.

“Um, sure?” I answered, feeling confused. Her smile grew wider as she sat down.

“I’m Emma,” she started. “I’m new. I just transferred here. What’s your name?”

“Rhea. I feel like I should warn you. You won’t make many other friends sitting next to me. They might bully you right alongside me. I won’t be offended if you want to consider changing seats,” I admitted.

Her expression softened and she looked at me like she thought I was exaggerating or lying.

“That’s all right, I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that—” Before she could say anything else, she was interrupted by a shrill laugh.

I rolled my eyes and looked forward to see her standing there in all her glory. Anastasia Duchannes.

“What in the world is this?” she asked loud enough that the entire bus could hear. She made her way back toward us, keeping her sharp green eyes locked on me. “You actually found someone to talk to you?” Now she turned her eyes on Emma. “You must be new. Let me help you out, sugar. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort of people. That one there, she’s the wrong sort of people. Since you’re new, I’ll let this slide. Feel free to choose another seat.”

Emma looked at me and seemed a bit shocked. I shrugged sympathetically. I had tried to warn her.

“I told you I won’t be offended,” I replied to Emma’s unspoken question.

“What could you have possibly done to warrant such treatment?” Emma whispered.

Anastasia laughed again. “Are you serious? Look at her. This right here is the filth of the filth. She comes from the lowest rung on the totem pole. She isn’t worth anything,” she answered.

Emma’s expression hardened. “Everyone is worth something,” she replied. Anastasia looked taken aback for a moment. I felt stunned. I had never seen anyone stand up to Anastasia like that, especially not on my behalf. “I think I’m fine where I am, thank you.”

“Well, Rhea, it looks like you found another bottom dweller. I hope you two fat asses are comfortable sharing such a small seat.” Anatasia’s eyes lingered on Emma and I knew she had plans to make her regret her choice.

“Thank you but I don’t think you should have done that,” I whispered.

Emma smiled at me. “I don’t like bullies. It’s not okay how they treat you,” she answered.

I half smiled. “Except now you just earned yourself the same treatment. Trust me when I say Anastasia isn’t the kind of girl you want to piss off.”

“Tell me about her.”

I proceeded to explain that Anastasia came from a prominent wolf pack. Her father was an Alpha and a cruel one at that. It had left Anastasia cold and evil. I explained about the Horace family and how she had dated the twins. How she still came around and hooked up with all of them. I mentioned how Anastasia had chanced away any other girl who showed even the slightest interest in any of the brothers. I told her how the boys treated me and that Anastasia took up their mantle.

“I think she hates me the most because she can’t get rid of me. She had nothing to be jealous of. None of the Horace brothers would ever dream of being with someone like me but still, I think she views me as some kind of threat. Anyway, there’s no limit to the kinds of awful things she will do. She’s turned torture and bullying into an art form,” I answered dryly.

Emma took a deep breath and looked forward. “Well, that’s a lot. I’m so sorry you’ve been through all that. That’s not okay,” she whispered.

I shrugged and tried to brush it off. “It is what it is. Soon I’ll be 18 and get far away from this place,” I said with a longing sigh.

“Where will you go?” she asked.

I smiled at her and we started talking about our dreams and the future. It was one of the best conversations I have had in a long time. I realized how long it had been since I had had a real conversation with someone other than Myra and Jane. Not that they weren’t great friends but they were much older than me and in a lower station. They couldn’t fully understand everything I went through.

Emma on the other hand was also 17 and seemed to really understand what it was like to be bullied and treated so poorly.

When we arrived at school I said goodbye as I headed to my first class.

“Wait!” Emma called after me. “Do you want to have lunch together? What’s your number? I’ll text you when I get out of class.”

I smiled and walked back, giving her my phone number. I was excited that for the first time since coming to live with the Horace family, I wouldn’t be eating lunch alone in the bathroom. I waved goodbye and headed to my first class.

Classes were not as terrible as the in-between times. The teachers didn’t seem to care so much that I was being teased and tormented but they cared when their lessons were interrupted. That was enough to put a stop to most student’s chances to harass me.

I enjoyed first period the most. Math and numbers always seemed to come easiest to me. I was finding geometry even more fun than algebra.

Normally, as the day moved on I found myself dreading lunch but knowing that I was going to hang out with Emma again made me feel different—better. I felt a sense of comradery that I had never felt before. It was nice to have someone to share all my hard times with. It was nice to be validated in my feelings about it all.

Emma texted me about five after midday. She asked me to meet her by the bleachers in the open field. I quickly went through the lunch line and grabbed a bit more than usual. I still felt starving after missing breakfast.

I tried to keep my head down and avoid any contact with other students. I didn’t need any more comments on my diet or my looks. I took the long way around the quart yard to avoid Anastasia and her band of loyal followers. I somehow managed to make it all the way to the field without anything but a side comment in passing.

“Hey, how were your first classes?” I asked.

Emma gave me a strange look. “Well, you were right. It was a terrible choice to be friends with you. News travels very fast in this school,” she exclaimed.

I nodded. “I warned you,” I repeated.

She nodded and popped a few grapes into her mouth. It was peaceful out in the field. There were a few odd couples in the area as well but almost no one else. I could still hear the other students laughing and talking near the quart yard and the cafeteria but we would go unnoticed for the most part sitting on the benches. I wondered momentarily why I had never thought to sit out here before.

“So, tell me about your old school and why you moved here,” I asked.

Emma scoffed and began to tell me about life in her other city. It didn’t seem that different from where we were except she was closer to the beach. She told me she had never been particularly popular and always tended to be an outcast. I laughed at her.

“Well then, maybe you did choose the right company,” I teased.

She smiled at me. We talked more about school and why her parents moved to a new city and a new pack. She seemed calm and content with almost everything, even the parts of her life that didn’t seem particularly pleasant. “How do you manage to stay so positive?”

Emma didn’t look at me but instead kept her eyes closed and aimed toward the sun.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I wish I had a better answer for you but also I haven’t had quite the life you had, Rhea. Things might be different if our situations were switched.”

The bell rang, urging us back to our classes. As we walked back to the main campus, Emma asked me to hang out again after school. I felt delighted. I was certain I would get some hell for not coming home straight away but it was worth it to feel like I had some semblance of a life. It was worth it to have a friend.

The rest of the day carried on like normal. I did my best to stay focused despite some of the students passing me terrible notes and making whispered comments about me. I found it easier to put up with now.

I met Emma by the bus station after school and walked with her to her house when it let us off. We spent a few hours talking, doing homework, and eating snacks that her mother had put out. I wondered if this was what life was like for all normal children.

It was wonderful. I wanted to stay but knew I couldn’t.

When it was getting closer to dinner time I said goodbye and started to head home. I knew Myra and Jane would be missing me and I couldn’t give Luna Simona or the boys any other reason to be cruel to me.

I walked into the house and headed toward the living room and into the kitchen. I stopped when I saw Ger and Dylan very intimately on the couch with some girl I didn’t recognize. She was going back and forth between making out with each of them while they let their hands run wild over her body. She let out soft coos of pleasure but stopped abruptly when she saw me standing there. As soon as she stopped, Ger and Dylan looked up as well and narrowed their eyes in anger when they saw me.

“Get out you nasty perv! What are you doing just standing there like some dumb idiot?” Dylan screamed.

I quickly forced my feet to move and headed into the kitchen. Both of them were still calling after me. I heard the girl exclaim that she had to leave.

Oh, no. I knew I was really in for it now.

“What is it? What’s happened?” Simona asked, coming into the kitchen. She was followed quickly by Dylan and Ger.

“This dumb girl was spying on us in the living room. We were… entertaining and our guest left early. She wasn’t comfortable with a nasty little spy,” Ger explained.

I swallowed hard.

“I think we should punish her,” Dylan added.

I could tell from my adoptive mother’s expression that that was exactly what they were going to do.