Chapter 2

KEIRA

I didn't hear the alarm.

I shot up like someone had splashed cold water on me. My sheets were all tangled around my legs, heart hammering in panic when my eyes landed on the cracked glass clock hanging on the wall.

"Crap, crap, crap" I hissed, jumping out of bed and nearly tripping on my own feet.

I had stayed up past midnight rearranging my torn notes and then working on the project. Not just mine- but Alia's too. She had begged me, like always, saying she was too tired and had early training for the Luna Trial preparation, and "Keira, you're so good at art and math, I just can't make mine look good enough." And I said yes, because I always did, and because I had no other option.

Now I was late.

I threw on the cleanest shirt I could find, grabbed the two folders with the projects inside- one wrapped in pink, the other in plain blue- and stuffed them into my bag. My hand still ached from solving, sketching and coloring all night. I barely slept for two hours. I didn't even get to brush my hair properly. It stayed in a messy bun with strands poking out every which way. I looked like hell. Puffy, acne-ridden face and clothes two sizes too big. Basically the school punching bag. And I didn't have time to fix it. Yay me.

I raced out of the estate and into the chilly morning air, muttering to myself the whole way. "Don't be late, don't be late," like that would help me fly or something.

The school gates were already in sight and thankfully open when I slowed down to catch my breath. I held my chest because my lungs felt like fire.

But just then I heard successive slams of a truck door being closed and then I heard a familiar laughter. 

"Shit. No, not again." A shiver of fear slithered its way down my spine as I quickened my steps, not daring to look back. I sensed a deja vu. 

"Slow down, Omega. We just want to talk." Dean said in a taunting voice.

I glanced back quickly. They were walking toward me from the side path, cutting across the little wooded trail by the school parking lot. Dean. Lena. And Ryker who was jogging towards me to catch up. Them again. At this point, the goddess might as well just come clean about how she loved making my life so miserable. 

My hands moved behind to push the folders deep inside my bag as I tried to step past Ryker but he blocked my path. "Ah- ah, don't even think about it." he growled before getting all up in front of me, discreetly nudging me back and looking around to make sure nobody was watching. It didn't matter how many times they bullied me. They always found a way of making it so scary. I backed to the corner, instinctively reducing myself under their taunting gazes. 

"Well, well," Dean smirked. "I guess we meet again. And I can't help it."

Lena giggled. "She looks like she slept in a ditch."

I didn't say anything. I backed away toward the wall, hugging my bag tighter to my chest.

Ryker tilted his head. "What you got here, huh?"

"N-nothing," I replied quickly, scared to death of what would happen if they vandalised my project like they'd done to my notes yesterday. "Just schoolwork."

Lena's eyes narrowed. "Yeah?" she glanced at the other two with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Let's see it then."

I backed away before twisting in an attempt to shield my bag. Foreboding stabbed my gut at the thought of what Beta Garrick would do if Alia's project wasn't submitted. He was going to kill me. "N-no."

Dean, however, was faster.

"Bitch!" He yanked the bag from me with a laugh and dumped everything out onto the sidewalk. 

"No, please don't do that!" I cried, falling to my knees, scrambling to grab the papers before they got dirty. 

But it was too late. Lena had picked the pink folder. 

"Aw, you did her homework again? She's not gonna pass on her own. Too bad she's gonna be our Luna. She'll make such a great Luna though, I mean, if she can get her maid to do all the hard work."

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't threaten them, or they would do worse. "Please, just give it back."

But Dean had already picked up the blue folder which was mine, holding it up like it was garbage. And then he tore it right down the middle.

"..." An overwhelming feeling of emptiness and pain seized me. I was speechless.

He ripped it again, and again, until the pieces fluttered to the ground. Lena dropped Alia's too while Ryker stomped on the folders, still looking around to make sure nobody was watching. 

I stared at the mess. All those hours and effort had just gone. "Why are you so evil!" I yelled, the tears flowing down my face. What did I do to deserve this?! What?!

"Why do you always cry?" Dean asked, laughing. "Seriously, you're a leaking faucet."

They walked away immediately, having spotted one of the school administrators. Not that anything would be done to punish them anyway.

Why did they hate me so much? What did I ever do to them? I knew a ton of other Omegas who weren't rag-dolled this way.

I was barely holding it together when I met Alia outside our class. The worried look on her face suggested she'd been looking for me. 

"Keira?" the light died out of her face when she saw me. "What happened?"

I tried to speak, but a sob came out instead. I looked away, sniffing as I wiped my face with my sleeve. 

"They took them." I cried. "Dean and his shit friends. They tore our projects apart."

She looked down at the crushed papers, and her mouth opened slightly. "Oh, no... I can't fail, Keira. You know that."

I sniffled. "I know, I... I didn't mean to let it happen. I tried to protect them."

"I believe you," she said softly.

I waited for her to say it was okay, and that I mattered more than a stupid grade. But instead, she knelt down and carefully picked up the least-damaged pieces from my project- my blue one. Mine. Then she stood and dusted them off. 

"I'll use this," she said. "It's still good. If I rewrite the cover and glue it together a bit, It'll pass."

"B-but that one's... mine." 

She nodded. "You're my best friend, Keira," she whispered, brushing dirt from my cheek like I was a child. "You won't let me fail, right?"

My lips parted. The words jammed in my throat like stones. 

She smiled gently and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You understand, don't you? You're always so strong. And sweet. I'm so lucky to have you."

I stared at the paper in her hands. Some of them were mine. 

And she just... took it. Yup... Because I meant nothing to her. And to nobody. She was just a little nicer than the rest. "I... I guess."

"Good. I knew you'd get it." She smiled wider and walked off, leaving me with the shredded pieces I couldn't salvage.

I sat there shocked, angry, sad to death. But the words never came because deep down I believed she was more deserving, wasn't she? She was strong, pretty, and chosen. And I was just... Keira. The anomaly, the Omega, the maid, the lowest of the lows. The weak girl with braces. 

I stayed outside for another long moment, holding back the emotions and trying to pull myself together until I heard another voice.

"You just let her take it?"

I whirled around quickly, fearing for a moment that it was Dean. But it was Kai, Alpha Prince Kai. He towered over my petite frame, hands in his pockets and eyebrows drawn together in a tight frown. I wiped my face again, hating how puffy and red my eyes felt. He was there yesterday when Dean and his crew were bullying me, but he was silent.

"Please go away. I don't want to hear anything from you."

"What?"

"Don't act like you care too." My voice shook with anger. "After what you did yesterday? You asked Dean and his shithead friends to attack me."

His face squeezed into a grimace, getting a lot more serious. "What? Keira, no. I didn't-"

"Don't lie to me." I sobbed. Was he really denying it? "You were standing at the end of the hallway. Or do you think I've gone crazy? You don't get to lecture me about Alia. You don't get to ask why I let people walk all over me when you're one of them!"

He stepped closer, his face tight with something- guilt? Regret? It was hard to tell, but Alpha or not, I wanted to push him away. Until he said.

"I swear to you," he said slowly, "I didn't tell them to hurt you. I don't even know what you're talking about."

I stared at him, searching his face. Was he lying? Or was I going crazy? I could swear I saw him. Leaning against the wall and walking away right after like he never gave a damn about me.

He snapped me out of my thoughts when he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was a small, wild daisy flower. White petals and a yellow center. "I found it by the trail," he said. "Thought it looked like you. Kind of soft. Kind of stubborn. Still growing, even in a place that doesn't want it to."

I stared at the flower in his outstretched hand. I'd had a crush on Kai since the first day I saw him. The way he carried himself. The way his voice sounded when he gave orders. His forest-green eyes and his dirty brown curls. But there was something strange about him. One moment he was doting on me, and the other times he was indifferent. Sometimes he acted like he hated me with every fibre of his being, like he'd done yesterday. 

And yet, here he was, giving me a flower and calling me stubborn in the sweetest way I could think of. I slowly reached out and took it. I felt a burst of sparks erupt when my finger brushed his. But I pushed the thought out of my head, having conditioned myself to not expect much. Soon, he'd turn against me, like the others.

"Thanks," I sniffled, taking the daisy.

He gave me a half-smile. "I'm sorry for whatever you went through yesterday. One day, it will be over. Soon, in fact. Trust me."

My brows came together. What did he mean by that? I returned his affectionate gaze, wishing deep inside my heart that he'd always be like this to me. 

I had no Idea I was on the verge of stumbling into a secret that would change my life forever.