"You're going to make us late, Ash," Blaise groaned impatiently from the bottom of the stairs. I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily. "I'm going as fast as I can," I muttered under my breath.
It was a lie though, I wasn't going as fast as I could. In fact, I was going as slow as I could to avoid going to the clinic for as long as I possibly could.
"Hey, hurry up," my sister, Nina said coming to stand at the doorway to my room. "I'm tired of hearing Blaise call your name."
I let my foot slam on the ground after I finished tying my shoes and looked at my sister, rolling my eyes. "I'm going, okay?" I pushed past her to the stairs meeting my twin at the bottom. "Why'd you take so long?" he asked, basically bouncing with excitement.
I honestly don't know how he could be this excited to get pricked with a needle just to wait a week to get the results of a stupid test that told you where you stood in society.
But of course, Blaise had nothing to be scared of unlike me because one he wasn't scared of needles, and two he was a full-blown alpha, it was obvious. He did not need a stupid test to tell him that.
I on the other hand had no idea what mine would tell me.
"Ready boys?" our dad asked, looking at us through the rearview mirror. Blaise nodded excitedly but I could only manage a mere smile back through the mirror.
"Ash, was something wrong honey? You took longer than I expected you to."
Longer than Mother expected me to take because I was telling everyone, falsely, that I was excited about this stupid test like my brother was.
That fact could be farthest from the truth, I'm nervous, actually I'm anxious. I'm not sure that my test is going to show that I am an alpha like Blaise.
Yeah, twins, ninety-eight percent of the time get the same results but I had a bad feeling and don't know how our father will react when we get our results back.
Our father, Grant St. James was a pure alpha male and so was his father and his father's father and so on. He was all about teaching us about how an alpha would handle things and was proud of his sons for all of our achievements.
Blaise and I are the first set of twins in the St. James family and all our relatives were so happy when we were born, that our family would have two strong alpha males that followed after our dad and possibly take over his very successful company as our own.
I could feel all these thoughts picking at my soul as I looked out the window at the passing trees.
What if I let them down? What if I was a beta... or an omega?
I cleared my throat before replying to my mom but my twin took the opportunity to answer for me. "He's scared of needles, that's why he was taking so long." he chuckled. I should never told Blaise that I was frightened of needles. "I- no, I couldn't find my shoes," I stuttered, then looked down at my feet.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Omega," Blaise teased, poking at my arm.
I growled at my brother.
"Enough," Father said, staring at the both of us before I could retaliate. "There's no reason as to why you two shouldn't get the same results as each other. Now stop fighting." he glared at the both of us through the mirror.
I couldn't help but feel like Dad was speaking to me even more than Blaise, that somehow he felt or knew I was nervous.
----
Once we got into the clinic I looked around, nervously. Everyone in this waiting room would be waiting to take the A-B-O test or in other words get pricked by a super long needle that would inject pheromones into soft spots on their bodies, then get their blood drawn with another needle.
The pheromones are to heighten the gene in one's body that makes them an Alpha, Beta, or Omega.
Some people used to lie about whether they were alpha or not so the government created the ABO test so no one could lie anymore. Our family was one of the first ones to create the first injections and find the cells that differentiated Alphas from betas and omegas. our dad now owns the lab that created the A-B-O (alpha, beta, omega) test.
Everyone has to go through with the test after they turn sixteen now. When the person's first heat or rut is supposed to happen within that year.
Blaise and I turned sixteen two days ago but my father got us in sooner than most other patients would be in. It usually takes a month or so to get an appointment for regulars.
"St. James," one of the nurses called, standing at the door leading to the back of the clinic. I sat straight up as soon as I heard her and looked at my brother who shrugged. Both of us looked at our father who stood up and went to talk to the nurse.
My nerves were getting worse by the second but when Dad came back over to us at our seats and motioned for Blaise to get up, I felt a little better.
But really, only a tick size better.
"Ash, stop moving your leg like that," Father said without looking at me, sitting back down in his chair a seat away from me. I looked down at my leg that I was previously bouncing and sucked in a shaky breath trying to stay still.
"Only a prick!" Blaise came out from the door, jumping directly in front of me, causing me to jump slightly. Blaise thought it was funny so he got this smug look on his face and I wanted so bad to smack it off but all I did was scrunch my nose at him.
"St. Jame-" a different nurse than the one who came out for Blaise looked down at the clipboard she was holding confused. Father stood up telling her. "There are two of them," he looked at me and motioned to stand up.
"Ahh, I see. Twins," the nurse said smiling and putting her arm around me as I went over to her. I gulped down a lump in my throat as I looked around the back space of the clinic, walking with the nurse wherever she was bringing me.
The smell of the nurse's perfume only made me more nauseous, and I was trying to subtly push away from her until she let go of me and left me in a doorway to a room with a chair covered in that white paper you would usually see in doctor's offices.
"Doctor Lazardi will be in shortly. Wait here, please." She smiled at me and left. The room was cold but that was not the reason I kept having total body shivers.
I feel like an experimental specimen under a microscope here, even though no one is in the room with me. I just couldn't help but get the feeling I was being watched.
And I probably was.
There was something off about the clinic. It was eerily quiet...
But maybe most sixteen-year-olds weren't scared of the needles that would hold their future.
The problem is that I am afraid of those TWO things... the needles and my future.
"Hi there," the doctor came into the room, scaring me a little bit with her loud voice against the silence. I smiled but I didn't say anything as I watched her put two needles on the counter by the sink, maybe I couldn't speak even if I wanted to.
The needles... one for putting the pheromones in the Soft Spot (as it's called) and the other to collect blood for when the cells are activated.
I gulped again against my will and felt my blood run cold.
"You are Ash, correct?" She said drawing liquid from a tiny bottle into the needle. I opened my mouth to say something but it took a couple tries for me to get anything out. "Ye- yeah, Ash St. James."
"Perfect," she took her eyes off the needle and what she was doing to smile at me. "You and your brother look exactly alike, you must be identical twins," she's trying to be friendly but I can't focus on anything other than what's at task here.
So I gave her a small smile and nodded my head.
I didn't know if Blaise and I were identical or fraternal twins because our family didn't care to ever find out.
Or maybe they knew and never told us.
But we're just twins, at least to us.
"Alright, are you excited to find out if you're an alpha?" The doctor smiled excitedly as she felt all of my soft spots trying to figure out which one of them would take the pheromone injection the fastest.
I held still, frozen and unmoving, unable to answer.
I hate that my only option is Alpha, from society and my father.
What would I do if I wasn't an alpha?
Would father kick me out?
Would Blaise, Nina, or my mother even miss me?
A thousand more questions filled my mind as I sat there on that white paper in the cold room but as the doctor's cold, sanitizer-smelling fingertips touched my neck, I tensed up.
I clenched my teeth and resisted the urge to swat or turn my head and maybe bite her hand.
"Okay, we got it–"
The last thing I remember is a sharp discomforting feeling in my neck.
----
A/N: Hi guys, sorry I was so inactive for the longest time. I can't promise I will be more active here but I'll try to update this story and others that I have in my Google Docs that I've been trying to get out here. I did try another app called Inkit but I decided to stay with Wattpad.
lol, I've been using Wattpad for a long time now
anyway let me know what you want from me. I can't promise anything but I'll try :)
Thanks for reading/commenting/voting. You are appreciated!