14 My Brother’s Beta
If I thought that the shopping trip was awkward, then the car ride was torture. Picture this: Kyle driving, Aaron in the passenger seat and me in the back, sitting in the middle seat. Kyle’s talking about how hot the new English exchange student is, while Aaron nodded in (what I hope is) fake enthusiasm.
“How do you even know what the English girl looks like?” Aaron asked, looking at my brother curiously. “She’s not meant to arrive for another week, according to Mrs. Callahan.” (Mrs. Callahan is the head of English).
“I saw a photo of her,” he winked at me. “She’s hot!”
“You already said that,” Aaron and I muttered at the same time. I tried to hide a smile at that.
“What’s got you two so down?” he raised an eyebrow at me through the rear-view mirror, before giving the same expression to his best friend. “And why have you been so awkward, Beth?”
I just shrugged. “I guess I’m just missing my friends from England, and this exchange student’s just reminded me of them.”
I watched as panic slipped into Kyle’s expression, and he clenched the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. “You better not be planning on moving to England like Rebecca, are you? I mean, I could handle loosing her – because I don’t really remember her - but it’s different with you.”
“I’m not moving,” I said firmly, reassuring him. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to miss people.”
“I get that, it’s just-“
“I’m not moving,” I repeated, looking at him sternly through the mirror. “Can we talk about something else, please?”
“What’s the point?” Aaron grinned at me, turning in his seat. “We’re already here.”
Sure enough, Kyle pulled into an empty parking space in the middle of the school’s lot. I looked out of the window, watching in amazement as almost everyone who was in a fifty-meter radius swarmed over to the car.
I locked my car door.
“Is that really necessary?” Aaron laughed, unlocking the door – much to my horror.
“Since when have-have…” I couldn’t think straight, seeing as people had their faces practically pressed up against the windows in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the boys. “Have people been, well, swarming you?”
“Since I became Alpha eight months ago,” Kyle smiled, winking. “Majority of these people are in our pack, with a few humans who just go with the flow and pretend to know why we’re so amazing.”
“Amazing,” I scoffed, “You always missed the toilet until you were fifteen.”
“Hey, you promise you wouldn’t ever talk about that again!”
“Dude, if you’re worried about me finding out,” Aaron chuckled, “I already know.”
“How the hell-“
I didn’t end up hearing the rest of my brother’s rants. This is due to the fact that some sleazy-looking blond ripped open Kyle’s door, gave him a – long – kiss, then slammed the door shut and ran. The three of us stared at the door for a while, stunned, before Kyle started grinning. “I told you – amazing.”
* * *
The school was just like I remembered it; grey brick walls with large tinted windows, huge glass classrooms, an indoor gym that held two basketball courts and a workout room, and about fifty rooms purely for the torture that is school.
I long staircase led up to the school’s main entrance, which was littered with both rubbish and students. I’ve got to admit, from the looks that all these people were giving Aaron, Kyle and I, this whole ‘Alpha and Beta’ thing was definitely noticeable.
Even though the building hadn’t changed, I knew that it was inevitable that the student body had definitely shifted. For one, I was no longer the fat freak, and had so far had twelve people say “hi” to me (or a cliché like “I love your shoes, where did you get them?”).
I had replied simply, keeping my head low, and tried to avoid eye contact with the people who used to bully and gossip about me. I know that Kyle had announced that I was his newly beautiful sister, but not everyone from school would’ve been at the party. And, therefore, not everyone knows who I am yet.
“Hey, Beth!” I heard Aaron call from a little further up, making me shiver slightly from the sound of his voice. “You coming?”
I had stopped to take in the school, but right now, I couldn’t take my eyes off of my mate. “Yeah, hold up.”
When I reached him, he slung a casual arm around my shoulders. He used to always do little things like this – hold my hand, carry my books, have an arm around my shoulders – but now it had so much more meaning. For us, it was a small way that we could be around each other without raising suspicion, while for others it was just routine.
As we walked, Kyle on my other side, we passed a group of the ‘it’ boys (or boys of which had been popular last time I was here). They wolf whistled at me – no pun intended – which led to Kyle and Aaron baring their teeth, and the group cowering back into the building.
I didn’t even try to hide my laugh.
“Are they Weres?” I laughed quietly so only they could hear. “Because they acted like complete scaredy-cats!”
Bad joke, I know, but it got the two boys laughing. “Yeah, they are, but even they have enough sense to not mess with the pack’s She-Wolf.”
“She-Wolf?” I raised an eyebrow. “What is that? Like the pack’s bitch or something?”
“Why do you think so lowly of yourself?” Kyle smirked.
“Wait, I’m the She-Wolf?”
“Of course,” Kyle smiled. “All females who are related to the Alpha or Beta are automatically dubbed She-Wolves.”
“Or if you’re mated to an Alpha/Beta,” Aaron chimed in.
“Which I very much hope you’re not,” he said, looking at both Aaron and me intently. I could tell he was trying to hide a grin as he turned to his best friend and said, “As cool as it’d be to have you as a brother-in-mating, I’d have to kill you just because you’d be banging my sister.”
I immediately blushed. Despite the fact that Kyle was just joking (oh, the irony), the mere mention of someone “banging” me was embarrassing, no matter the circumstances.
“Look, dude-“
“Beth?” I heard a voice say. It was a sort of disbelieving voice that sounded both accusing and annoyed. “No way, it is you!”
I closed my eyes, not turning around. I didn’t want to face my past, and I sure as hell didn’t want to face her. But, I didn’t have much of a choice, because she ran over and span me around anyway.
And there she was. Ashlyn McKenzie. Former friend – well, companion, I guess. She’d always only really hung out with me because she had a massive crush on both my brother and my mate – not that he was my mate back then – so I never really felt that close to her.
She was standing before me in an outfit where the price tag was the largest amount of covering, in all her façade of glory. Her blonde hair was in a long braid, and a pair of red six-inch heels heightened her feet. Her blue eyes were gleaming with disbelief, while her lips were curled into a smirk that seemed natural on her face.
So, all in all, she hadn’t changed all that much. Except for the fact that she had four groupies tailing behind her. “I can’t believe it – you’re actually thin!”
Everyone was right – she was never a good friend. All those times that she reassured me that I wasn’t overweight or ugly were lies; stupid fakes that got her closer to my brother. I didn’t bother to reply, just turned back around to face Aaron and started walking.
She caught my arm. “Where do you think you’re going? Do you remember me?”
“Of course I remember you,” I snarled, shaking my arm from her manicured nails. The anger flushed through me, making me see everything in a red tint. It was overpowering, and I could feel that my canines wanted to extend.“You’re the bitch that pretended to like me, just to get in with my brother.”
“How dare you!” she screeched. I can see a cliché moment coming on. “I am Ashlyn McKenzie, daughter of-“
“Vice Principal McKenzie, blah blah blah,” I finished for her, waving a hand in dismissal. Why am I acting this way? I’m being possibly even more bitchy than what she is, yet these comments are stringing out of my mouth with no stop in sight. I could hear my inner wolf growling within me, obviously as angry with my former friend as I am. “But guess what, I don’t care.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” she glared at me. “Daddy is also the former Beta of the pack, which means that one day, I’ll be the Beta.”
So, Little Miss McKenzie is one of the pack?
“First off,” Kyle cut in, his tone sharp. “Your dad was banned of his position as Beta. Now, Aaron has taken his place. Second, as Alpha, I can over-ride any bloodlines. You will never be the Beta. And thirdly, you’re talking to She-Wolf Bethany Smith, who one day may even have the right to Alpha.”
“She has no right to Alpha,” Ashlyn laughed. “She probably doesn’t even know who is and isn’t in the pack!”
That’s true, but still. “You probably have no idea that you’ve got a huge zit on your forehead,” again with the string of comments! And she doesn’t even have a pimple!
“Where!” she screamed. She waved over on of her goons, who I recognised as either Lacey or Lucy. “Pop it, pop it!”
“You don’t have one,” Aaron laughed, obviously enjoying this whole thing. “But if you did, your screeching would of scared it off already.”
While she glared at us, we walked off and into the building. I turned back right before the automatic doors closed, to witness her brushing off her groupies and storming off.
The anger left me, and instead I was left with complete confusion and disappointment with myself. Aaron grabbed my hand, squeezing gently, and I could tell that he was confused as to why I felt so sad. “What’s wrong?”
“What happened to me back then?” I asked, turning so that my head was against his shoulder. I felt like crying, but I held it in. “I lost control of my anger, and my wolf went crazy-“
“It’s because of your blood,” Kyle said simply, while retrieving a large envelope from his bag. At my confused expression, he continued. “Because you’re a She-Wolf – and would become Alpha if I die or step down – you’re more wolf-like than most Weres. Your inner wolf hates to be challenged, so she might take over every now and then.”
“Stupid bloodlines…” I muttered under my breath, grabbing the envelope as he passed it to me. While Aaron and Kyle talked with people who walked up to them, I look over my schedule. It was almost the same as last year, only I had one senior English class after lunch. First period, though, I had Music & Composition.
I was one of the artsy girls, just I didn’t act like it. I played guitar and very basic piano, and I also sung – not that anyone had heard me other than my family (including Aaron) and the music teachers. I also was strong in English, but I never really got the knack for Maths & Science. Or sports, for that matter. But, my best quality is song writing.
But the worst thing about this whole thing is the fact that I didn’t have any classes with Aaron and Kyle until the Senior English class (as they are Seniors, they both have to go to at least one English class).
“What do you guys have first?” I asked them, hoping that they have something somewhat close to the music department. Kyle had pretty much all sports and visual arts classes (and also an additional teenage-parenting class for the last period), while Aaron had Maths, Science, English and Sport. I’ve got to admit, Aaron’s the hottest nerd I’ve ever met.
“Ceramics,” Kyle said, looking over my shoulder to see my class list.
“Science AP,” Aaron said, grinning. “Favourite class for the first period.”
“How can you stand it?” I said. “All you do is write prac reports on how fungi grows.”
“I’ll show you what really happens one day, because you obviously didn’t get taught the good stuff,” he smiled.
I just rolled my eyes. “Good luck with keeping me awake during the lesson.”
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So, for once it’s not a cliff hanger! Next chapter will be the rest of her school day, and then the chapter after that will be the modelling party!
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