Alpha Noah

The whispers. The obvious stares and the not so subtle glares.

Over and over again.

This was Emma’s life. This was the life Emma had grown used to. She was the new girl in a town that didn’t know her name but were already whispering their opinions about her. She hugged herself, trying to insulate herself from the loud whispers. It was her first day at Sunshine High School, nuzzled in the valley just east of the Whispering Pines Forest, a sprawling, woodland that stretched farther than the eye could see. Though in Emma’s grand opinion there was nothing sunny about the school. Not one sunny thing.

“Sunshine,” she scoffed under her breath. “Sunshine my ass.”

Some people had this magical ability to attract friends the moment they walked into a room. Emma was the opposite. She was a natural people repellent, just like in her last school and the last school before that. Give her a week, and she would have a hundred enemies, all with their own rumors and conspiracy theories about her and her family.

And it always started the same way. New town, new school, new stares.

She hated it here already.

When she told people her father was military, sometimes they acted like they were understanding. “It must be hard,” they’d say. “Always moving around.” And then turn around and spread gossip.

They did not get it. They did not understand her.

They didn’t see the cracks it caused in their family. The tension plus the silence and the goodbyes. Emma sometimes wished her dad would quit or just get fired. But he was too patriotic, too diligent, too stubborn. And because of that, she was stuck starting over. Again.

She missed her old friends. She missed the comfort of familiarity. But she knew from experience that distance rarely preserved friendships. Ava had been proof of that.

Ava and Emma had been best friends since kindergarten. Ava’s parents were bankers, so she never had to deal with the disturbance like Emma did. Ava simply came from money. Money that never seemed to finish. They had been inseparable for years. They spent time braiding each other’s hair, whispering secrets of boys they found handsome late into the night at sleepovers, dreaming of college in New York. But by the time high school rolled in, the friendship had started to wither. Fewer calls. No more camping. Then... silence.

That morning, Emma had dressed in her favorite black joggers and a new Star Wars T-shirt. People often mistook her for a gym freak because of her outfits, which was incredibly ironic considering she only went to the gym once a week at most.

It was the beginning of February. Snow blanketed the pavements with a thick layer of frosting, crunching under her boots as she made her way to school. Her family had moved on New Year’s Day. A fresh year with the same misery. She had started preparing to apply to colleges in London when her mother dropped the bomb at the kitchen table. Another life altering move.

Daniel, her younger brother, had lost it. He had a massive meltdown, refused to talk to anyone for a week, and only came downstairs to eat. Emma didn’t understand why he also extended the cold shoulder to her. They were in the same sinking ship, weren’t they?

Before, anytime things like this happened, she would argue with her parents. Cry or fight. Once, she’d run off to a friend’s house and refused to answer their calls. But nothing ever changed. The only constant was her mom delivering the bad news while her dad stayed silent.

And no, her mom didn’t work. She was a housewife. So when she tried to sympathize, claiming she “understood,” Emma wanted to scream. She didn’t understand. She never had.

Back then, her father used to sit by her bed and whisper apologies with promises. Now, he just nodded at her frustration and walked away.

Emma loved him.

She hated him.

She hated his job even more.

They packed in two hours. A routine they had perfected at this point and moved to a small town called Redfield, on the far edge of Minnesota. It was surrounded by thick forest and wide-open fields, with worn out barns and long stretches of dirt roads. It looked like it belonged on a vintage postcard.

The town square had a bakery that smelled like cinnamon, a library that doubled as a museum, and a clock tower that did not look like it had worked in years. Sunshine High rested on a small hill, its old brick walls crawling with ivy and its roof covered in patches of snow. The front lawn held a statue of the town’s founder, looking far too conceited for Emma’s taste.

The school itself looked like something out of a 1960s film roll. Long hallways lit by flickering fluorescent lights with the faint scent of chalk hanging in the air. Lockers lined the walls in red, some missing handles, others with scrawls announcing teenage lust or swear words that bordered on teen rebellion. The cafeteria sat at the far end of the hall, with its cracked tiles and rows of metal tables that had looked like they belonged to a prison cafeteria.

She had walked to school that morning because she didn’t know where the bus stop was or if they even had buses. She smiled politely at the neighbors watering their snow-covered lawns, not because she cared but because their stares were too intense. They looked at her like she was a strange animal in a zoo.

It was probably how they welcomed outsiders here.

Which was fine by her. She wasn’t planning on staying long anyway.

Emma didn’t expect much from Sunshine High. She had already accepted her role as the outcast. The loner. She would undoubtedly end up in the back-benchers’ club or the nerd table. Not that she minded. Emma was smart. Like, really smart. Back in her old school, she was preparing to represent them in a regional math competition before the move ruined everything.

She loved studying. It was the one thing she could control. Books didn’t move away. Algebra didn’t gossip about her.

Emma wasn’t so antisocial, though. She had had a boyfriend once. Bob. They kissed once at a Halloween party. It wasn’t serious. Especially since Bob had an eternal crush on Taylor, the prettiest girl Emma had ever seen in her life in her former school. Emma couldn’t blame him. Taylor was all smiles and sunshine with an I*******m model’s worthy body. She wore gym shorts too short for school and refusing to wear bras because they were uncomfortable and even went as far as saying it could give her breast cancer. The only thing that wasn’t perfect about Taylor was the fact that her dad was serving life for murder. In fact, it made her more desirable.

Emma had broken up with Bob before she even knew she was moving.

As she stepped onto the school grounds, she took in the enormous football field and the mini-clones of Taylors walking around. Platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, perfect bodies. Emma had a slim build. Her chest was... noticeable. Her hips? Not so much. She’d spent months doing squats, but her jeans still sat flat. Her usual outfits were T-shirts and joggers or jeans.

She walked slowly up the school steps, trying not to make eye contact with anyone but failing miserably. Conversations continued as she passed. Eyes narrowed. Whispers grew louder. But she was used to it.

At least, she told herself she was.

Inside, the school was a montage of echoing voices and the sharp smell of bleach. Her boots squeaked slightly on the polished floor as she moved through the front hall, scanning the walls covered with outdated posters about anti-bullying, drug addiction, prom fundraisers, and the dangers of vaping. There was even a glass case showcasing the school’s dusty trophies that were older than her grandparents.

She walked into the main office and stopped at the secretary’s desk. The woman behind it was painting her nails, her hair a confusing mess of fake blond highlights, dead split ends, and uneven curls. Emma couldn’t tell if her hair was meant to be blonde, brown, or silver.

After what felt like two minutes of awkward silence, the woman looked up, forcing a tight-lipped smile.

“Can I help you?” she asked

Emma opened her mouth to speak, but then,

The door behind the office swung open. A cold wind rushed in, carrying the scent of pine and something else.

A tall boy walked in, his eyes a piercing silver-gray.. His jaw was sharp, his skin pale against the contrast of his jet-black hair, and he wore a dark hoodie despite the school being warm.

The hallway seemed to quiet. The air felt thicker.

Heat crept up Emma's neck as she studied him. The way his dark jeans hugged his frame. The slight curl of his hair against the nape of his neck.

But he never looked at her. Not once.

"Mrs. Wilson sent me to deliver this note about Carmen Rodriguez," he said, his voice deep and as he handed a folded paper to the secretary.

“Oh, thanks Noah”

Emma stared, engrossed by the movement of his lips, the strong line of his jaw. Did everyone in this school look like they were sculpted by the gods? What…….

"Miss? Hello?" The secretary snapped her fingers.

Emma blinked, her fantasy shattering as she turned back to the irritated secretary. By the time she glanced over her shoulder again, he was gone, leaving behind only the faint scent of pine.