Nerd's Badboy Alpha novel Chapter 9

I turn to follow the old woman out of the arch doorway she exited, but the wolf growls at me. Stupid wolf. I'm just going to go outside for a little and see how high I can float. Whoa, what if I float all the way out to space? That would be rad.

No, it wouldn't. I wouldn't have oxygen to breathe and it'd be pretty cold up there. Then how would I be able to get back? The burn upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere would probably kill me, so let's just eighty-six that idea. Plus the trip would take too long and I'd miss supper again, which would probably really piss off my uncle.

I hear voices in the hall, so I peek outside of the den and see my cousins Bethany and Stephanie.

They're not twins. Bethany is almost two years older, but not much more mature.

What are they doing home? It's too early. They have cheerleading and volleyball and other crap like that. What time is it, anyway?

"Oh my God, I still can't believe Alex Royce came over last night and said he and the nimrod are buds," says Stephanie, setting her backpack on the floor of her bedroom. "I've never even seen them together."

"Who knows what she gets up to after school?" Bethany plops herself on her sister's bed. "You know she hangs out in the woods sometimes with her weird friends, like that fake witch who can't do magic. Maybe one of her spells worked this time and Melody put it on Alex."

Stephanie laughs. "No way. I have that fake witch Lucy in my third-period class. She really has nothing special about her. She has no vibe, like a human, except her mom is like this powerful sorceress."

I am in the corner of Stephanie's room, because it's easiest to anchor myself in corners, so I don't bump-bump-bump on the ceiling like a balloon. I've never been to Stephanie's room before, not even when we were little. She'd never been nice to me.

"She's like, the omega of our pack, right?" Stephanie asks, checking her reflection in the cracked mirror. "I mean, she can't even shift. She's barely a wolf. Little kids can shift."

Bethany glares at her sister. "Hey, don't call her that. You don't know what happens to a wolf once they are officially declared an omega. Dad would never do that to Melody. She's a pain in the ass, but she's still blood."

"Well, what happens?" Stephanie belly-flops onto her own bed next to her sister. "I've never met one. We don't have omegas in our pack, do we? I mean, don't packs basically treat their omega as the toilet?"

Bethany sits up and folds her arms tightly over her chest. She looks annoyed at her sister. "Look, I know you hate Melody for some reason and yeah, I think she's annoying sometimes because she was basically born with a 'kick me' sign on her back, but I don't think she deserves to be labeled the omega. There are a lot more people in the pack more useless than she is."

Stephanie scoffs. "Like whom?"

"Trust me, there are just more deserving people. Ease off on Melody, will you? She's been having a really shitty time lately. And now she's probably going through her first bleeding. You remember how bad that was for you."

"Ugh, why are you such a sap? She broke all the windows and mirrors last night."

Bethany raises her eyebrows. "Then I'd say she has a little bit of power of her own, wouldn't you?"

"It was just so disappointing to have Alex Royce finally talk to me today at school and what does he do? Ask about Melody. 'Say hi to Melvin for me.' What the hell-"

Bethany picks up a pillow and hits her sister across the face. "You better stop it, Steph. Don't let Dad hear you."

"What do you think the old woman told Melody, though?"

Bethany sighs. "Well, the old woman told her parents they were going to die and they did, so... who knows."

I don't know how long I would have stayed there listening to the sisters, but I was more fascinated by the way they treated each other even though they were talking about me. Since they never really allowed me to play with them, I've never been exposed to this side of them.

The black and white wolf appears at Stephanie's open door, and I wait for the sisters to react, but they don't. I must be the only one who sees it. The wolf looks up at me and growl-barks before padding away again.

It must want me to follow it. We go back to the den, where I find another wolf, sitting on his haunches near the sofa where the girl lay, watching. This wolf is a few different shades of gray and has a white neck. It turns to face the black and white wolf and the two of them sniff each other, do wolfy getting-to-know-you stuff before lying down together on their stomachs to watch the girl on the couch.

I start to get a little dizzy, so I thought I should maybe lie down for a while. Maybe I can just float around. I close my eyes and relax.