The Night We Met

I breathe out a deep shaky sigh as I sit down in the chair at the back of the big classroom. My heart is beating hard against my chest and my eyes are darting to the students filling the room gradually, including Harper, my personal bully.

She looks so pretty and her confidence is incredible. Her hair is long and lustrous, flowing to her shoulders in an impressive manner. She is higher class, the kind that mingles with the Alpha. 

I’m an omega, a low-ranked nobody, and Harper never fails to remind me of that every damn day. I hate her, and she knows, but she certainly doesn’t give a sh*t.

This is my last class for today and then I can go home and finally get out of this hellhole. Today is also the last day of school, the next time that I would be in a classroom would be months from now. 

My anxiety is acting up and I don’t have my best friend with me today to defend me against sly insults from the other students. She’s the only one who makes going to this school worth it. She makes me forget that I come from nothing and treats me like royalty. I love her!

But sadly she had a doctor’s appointment today, so I’m alone. 

Beacon High is a prestigious private school that costs almost a fortune to attend. Almost everyone who goes here is loaded and has connections. Even the Alpha goes here, though I rarely see him; we have only one class together and he does not even know that I exist.

The population of omegas in this school is less than 1%, and I am a part of that population. My parents can’t afford the tuition but I was lucky enough to get a full scholarship. 

“Okay, class, settle down everybody,” Ms. Ross, our teacher, says with authority, causing everyone to give her their attention.

The class is now filled and everyone who takes this class is already here.  A few chairs scrape against the floor as students sit in their respective seats. The once chatter-filled room is now quiet as we all wait to hear what Ms. Ross has to say. 

Her class is only an hour and she is one of the teachers here that knows that I’m being bullied. She has tried to help me many times, but it only makes things worse, so I told her to back off.

“What the–” She says in disgust when she takes her marker to write on the whiteboard. The whiteboard has bold offensive language on it that makes my stomach turn. 

I didn’t pay much attention to it when I first entered the classroom, but now that everyone is staring at me, I can’t help but feel like throwing up.

Even Ms. Ross is now staring at me, but with a look of pity and sadness.

“Who did this?!” She snaps, and Harper snickers.

I adjust my hoodie, wishing that I would just disappear. I stare at the words on the whiteboard and a knot forms in my throat. 

The words are: OMEGAS ARE SLUTS.

Considering that I’m the only omega in this class, the person who wrote that should have just placed my name there.

“Slut…” I hear someone next to me say, and I try my best to ignore the person. 

“Ethan, I heard you. Get out right now!” Ms. Ross says loudly. Her tone lets everyone know that she is pissed. “We will not accept this behavior in our school. Not now, not ever!”

I hear the chair next to me scrape on the floor and I look at the person, it’s Ethan alright. He has a smirk on his face and doesn’t look sorry at all. 

“Whatever,” He mumbles as he walks towards the door.

“And walk yourself right to the principal’s office…” Our teacher tells him.

We watch him exit the classroom and then a few stares shoot my way. 

“Lara…I am so sorry,” Ms. Ross apologizes to me, and a tear escapes my eye. I make no attempt to wipe it as I nod once in response.

“I will make sure to get to the bottom of this, the person who did this hideous act would no doubt be punished,” She says to everyone as she erases the words.

I sink into my seat deeper as Ms. Ross then smoothly transitions to what she would be teaching us today. After an hour, everyone begins to leave and she looks at me, silently begging me to have a word with her, but I shake my head.

Talking about it won’t help. It never does; at least in my case.

She takes the hint and gives me a sad smile before joining the other students by leaving the classroom. I take my backpack from the floor next to my chair and I sling it over my shoulder as I head to the door.

Everyone has now left except Harper. She is fixing her hair using a small mirror in her hand by the door.

My mouth is dry as I approach the exit. And she doesn’t seem to care as she runs her fingers through her hair for the fifth time already. You have no idea how afraid of her I am.

“Excuse me,” I say politely and in a small voice when I reach the door. She is blocking me from leaving and no longer admiring her looks in the small mirror.

“So you do talk,” She chuckles, and I avoid looking her in the eyes.

“I-I just need to leave,” I say as I try to get out but she does not let me. Gosh, I hate her so freaking much! There is no doubt in my mind that she was the one behind what was written on the whiteboard.

“You’re not f*cking leaving until I say so,” She says harshly, and then lets out a laugh at my scared reaction. “You should be thankful that I’m even talking to you, you don’t deserve to be here. Go back to your trash people,”

“Okay,” I say softly as I stare at the ground, afraid that if I look at her that she would do something that I’d regret.

“Good girl!” She says in a cheery tone as she pinches my nose lightly. She laughs to herself and then turns around to leave. As she does, a piece of paper drops from her bag.

I sniffle as I finally lift my head, watching her walk away confidently. She is the devil.

I wipe the tears that have stained my cheeks and I pick up the paper that dropped from her bag. It’s a flyer about a birthday party; the Alpha’s birthday party. 

I chew on my lip as I contemplate whether I should take the flyer with me or not until I finally shove it into the pocket of my dark-green hoodie. There is no way I could ever go to such a party but a girl could dream, right?

***A Few Hours Later***

I can feel the cold air and the strong beating of my heart. My breathing is heavy and I don’t know what to do with my hands as I sit on the bed in my dark bedroom that is only lit by the dim light of the almost full moon coming from my open windows.

My best friend, Tessa, is sitting next to me with her laptop on her lap. It is midnight and she is spending the weekend at my place. 

“Are you sure that Ashton Martins would be there?” I ask her as I raise my finger to my mouth so I can chew on my fingernail. I do this when I am nervous, and right now, I am. 

Ashton Martins is the Alpha, one without a mate. I have had a massive crush on him for as long as I can remember. He is the son of the Lycan Alpha, Harvey Martins. He is strong, powerful, incredibly hot, and to die for!

He is the Alpha of our pack, the Blue River pack, and I have had a secret crush on him for ages. Only people really close to me, like Tessa, know this.

“When have I ever lied to you?” She asks me confidently as she closes the laptop. I do know that she’s not lying, the flyer that I shoved in my hoodie’s pocket proves that.

“Um, let me see. One, two, three…” I begin to count, but she stops me from going further, and I laugh. 

She just told me about the party that Ashton is having right now at his mansion a couple of blocks away. It’s his 18th birthday. 

“I know, I know, let’s forget about those times right now. But I am definitely not lying this time. Plus you know I never lie when it comes to Ashton Martins, I know you have wanted to do nasty things with that man for years now,” Tessa says as she wiggles her eyebrows, and my face gets instantly red from embarrassment.

Yeah, I wish. He is at the top of the social ladder and I’m the one at the very bottom.

“Tessa!” I playfully slap her, causing her to laugh. She is right though, who wouldn’t want to have those strong arms around them?

She stares at me for a few seconds and then her face gets serious.

“I didn’t want to tell you this before, but tonight is the night he’s finding his mate,” She says the words carefully and I nod slowly, taking in the information.

“It doesn’t matter though, there is no way I can go to that party,” I get off my bed and she watches me with concern on her face.

A few seconds of silence pass between us and then she speaks. “In fact, I think you can.” She strokes her hair and looks at me when she says this.

What does she mean by that? 

I scoff in response as I wait for her to elaborate.

“I was invited to the party, and I am entitled to a plus one,” She informs me as a smirk takes over her lips. “You are going to be my plus one!”

Oh, I almost forgot that Tessa and her family are higher on the social ladder. They are impressively wealthy. Of course, she would be invited.

“Really? You’re taking me to the party?!” I ask her excitingly, and she rolls her eyes playfully as she replies, “Yes!”

She walks toward me and then approaches my closet. She then gestures for me to come over to her so I can find something to wear and I do exactly that.

Tessa reaches into the closet and pulls out a dress. The dress she is holding in her hands was a gift from my mom last year, I have not worn it since I got it.

“Should I wear that?” I refer to the dress, and Tessa looks at it for a few seconds and then nods. She hands it to me, and the first thing that captures my attention when I hold it is the material. It is premium.

“I think it is too revealing,” I complain when I try it on, it fits perfectly.

“Well, I think you look great in it,” She compliments me, and I can’t help but smile.

“You do know it’s a party and not prom, right?” She comments. She walks away from me and stands in front of the full-length mirror as she fixes her long wavy hair. She is wearing tight denim jeans and a maroon-colored oversized sweater.

“And this is not a prom dress, stupid,” I defend my dress.

In my opinion, it seems like something someone very confident would wear. I think I am way too shy to pull it off, but I have a good feeling about tonight. 

“I know it’s not a prom dress, it’s just that you’re overthinking what to wear,” Tessa grabs her purse and walks toward my room window. She pops her head out for a few seconds and a cool wind blows in the room, causing me to shiver for a quick second. 

With the opened window, I catch a glimpse of the almost full moon.

“Why is your head out the window?” I ask her, and she takes her own time to reply.

I take my attention off her and walk toward the full-length mirror so I can comb out my hair. My hair is brown and long, it passes my shoulders a bit. When I am done with my hair, I reach for my shoes and wear them.

“Because we are going to be using the window to get out of the house,” She says, and I laugh as if she just told a joke.

She can’t be serious, can she?

“And why would we do that?” I fire another question at her, causing her to groan.

“Damn, you ask too many questions,” She whines, and I roll my eyes playfully. Of course, I would be asking questions if I was just told by my best friend that we are going to be using the window to exit my house instead of the front door.

“I’m just saying, we could just use the front door. My parents won’t have a problem with me going to a party even though it’s late,” I explain to her what she already knows.

My parents are strict but they know that I hardly go anywhere. I just stay in my room and read all day, except when Tessa drags me out to go with her somewhere. Now that school is closed, it gives me even more reason to stay at home all the time.

I only have one sibling and that is Zoe, my older sister. She is the exact opposite of me, a complete extrovert.

She has perfect hair, a hot body, and excellent grades. She is very popular and knows almost everyone. Even Ashton hangs out with her sometimes. 

She may be an omega on the inside, but she is literally top-tier on the outside. She can shift into her wolf easily unlike me who can not even shift, she goes to our school, is popular and has loads of friends, and is just great at everything. 

No one at school even knows if she is an omega.

I am a hundred percent sure that she is at that party right now, and because she is there, my parents would have no problem with me being there. Plus they like it when I go places instead of being stuck in my room.

“Fine, let’s do it the boring way,” Tessa replies to me as she sighs loudly.

The shoes that I am wearing go well with the dress, it is not too glamorous, yet nice. Tessa leads the way by opening my room door. I follow her and we head downstairs into the living room.

“Oh, you look nice,” My dad compliments me when he sees me.

My mom looks at me and smiles proudly. I am sure she loves that I am finally wearing the dress that she got me. “Wow, you look…just wow,” She says, and the both of us chuckle.

“Thanks,” I reply to them. “Um, Tessa and I are going to a party, we would be back before it’s too late,” I let them know.

“Is it the party that Zoe’s at?” My dad asks as he turns his attention to the football game he was watching before Tessa and I came downstairs.

“I believe so,” Tessa replies.

“Alright, love, be safe!” My mom says to us as we walk out of the house.

“Dips on driving!” Tessa exclaims and I hand her the keys that I took from the house before we stepped out.

“Okay, captain,” I reply to her, and she smirks.

The both of us get into the car and Tessa drives us to Ashton’s house, a very huge, luxurious mansion. I can already hear the music blaring loudly as Tessa parks the car in front of the huge house.

“Wow, it’s more alive than I thought,” I mumble as I stare out the window.

There are so many people, some are dancing and most are drinking tons of alcohol. This is not really my scene, but I would not be able to forgive myself if I miss the night that Ashton Martins found his mate!

“Sh*t, the party is bigger than I thought,” My best friend comments when both of us exit the car.

Now that I am actually at the party, I am beginning to have second thoughts. Maybe I shouldn’t have come. Instead of listening to my thoughts, I stick close to Tessa as both of us enter the huge people-filled house. 

Almost everyone is dancing and the music is so loud that I can feel it in my chest.

“Stay here, I am going to get us something to drink that does not have the devil’s pee in it,” Tessa excuses herself, and I laugh.

Alcohol is what we call the devil’s pee, we have been calling it that way from the day we tried it for the first time three years ago at our first party.

As I watch her walk away and try to pass through the sea of drunk teenagers, I awkwardly stand still. Gosh, the music is so loud. The lights are dim and instead of normal ones, they’re mostly blue and many other interesting colors.

“Oh, sh*t, sorry” Someone bumps into me and spills a drink on my dress. I gasp in disbelief as anger fills my senses.

“What the hell?” I lash out angrily and a few people stare at me. This can’t be happening! The very first time I choose to wear the dress that my mom got me, I get drenched by god knows what!

I try to save my dress by wiping out the drink that was spilled on it with some tissues that someone in the crowd hands me but it isn’t helping. Dang.

“Are you blind that you can not see where you’re–” I begin to say but when I finally stop paying so much attention to my dress, I notice the person that spilled the drink on me.

It’s Ashton freaking Martins, the Alpha! But he’s with my worse nightmare, Harper.

Holy sh*t…