Alpha Dearest

Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

"Beth, open up." I could see Kellan's shoes under the bathroom stall, the little red heels reminding me of The Wizard of Oz. Tap your heels together, and say "There's no place like home." I wonder if I could manage to snatch those off her feet without her noticing.

I wish it was as simple as that. Just five little words and everything would be back to normal. Maybe if I thought "Casey is all mine, forever," enough times, it'd come true. No drama, no Madelyn, and everything I lost would at least be worth something.

"Beth, do I have to come in there?" Kellan sighed, shifting so her weight was more on one bright red shoe than the other. I honestly don't know how she found me. My sobs were quiet; barely noticeable to even me. My knees were up to my chest where I sat on the toilet seat. The stall I was in had a torn "Out of Order" sign taped to the door. No one should have noticed me.

With another aggravated sigh, Kellan knelt down onto her knees, giving me the evil eye under the stall. With one sharp tug on her tight pencil skirt, she lay on her stomach and army crawled under the bathroom stall, pushing toilet paper away from her with a disgusted hand motion. I couldn't help but let out a snot-filled giggle, watching as she sat up once she was in the stall with me, dusting off her red shirt that was tucked into her black skirt. With a deep exhale, she sat on the dirty ground with her back against the left wall, placing her heels up against the right one.

Kellan looked at me with sad eyes, waiting for my sobs to slow to sniffles, before asking me, "You know, Madelyn is just another shark out for blood."

When I gave her a confused look, she continued on, "She'll attack you whenever she sees you, going for the quickest target so she doesn't miss an opportunity. She'll look to draw blood, and once she sees it, she knows she's winning. You can't let her see what she does to you. It will only fuel the fire."

I raised my eyes from their grave gaze on the floor, giving Kellan a sad look. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."

Kellan, with a small side smile, looked to her pencil skirt. She picked at an invisible piece of lint. "A lot has happened since Kindergarten."

I shifted, crossing my legs on the closed toilet seat. Kellan was avoiding my eyes as they searched her, thinking about what to say next. "But... the night of my Ceremony... you guys were all together like you were friends."

She let out a cold, harsh laugh. I could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes, which she was trying to hold in. She shuffled along the dirty bathroom floor to help me, not to cry and to get help. I could see that she was frustrated with the tears that were ruining her purpose. I, on the other hand, hated needing help. "We were never friends. In fact, before you and Noah came into the room, she was biting my head off about how you would hate me like everyone else." She had a sour look on her face as she looked, well, more like glared at the wall in front of her. "About how no one would want to be friends with a loser like me, whether they knew my past or not. But I remembered you. I knew you weren't like that... and the fact that I was right just made Madelyn even angrier at you."

I gave Kellan a small smile, not daring to bring up whatever past she was talking about. I knew that her parents had split up when she was younger, with both her brothers leaving to live with their dad. Kellan was the youngest, only 6 at the time, and was stuck to take care of her depressed, mute mother. I remember when we were little; she had to walk to and from the Woman's shelter outside of Ravenswood because no school bus could take her there. At least now her mother seemed healed, and Kellan and Alice were close and taking care of each other before I got here. And they had moved out of the shelter.

"It's not your fault she hates me. It's hers." I paused, waiting for her to calm down. Focusing on her problems made me forget about mine. "Madelyn is just another shark out for blood."