The bell rang.

“Remember students, even though it’s the first day of school, you still have homework. Just finish the worksheet about what you know by Wednesday.”

Third period was over, and it was now lunch period. Remembering the map on the back of my class schedule, I managed to find the cafeteria just in time… to be near the end of the line.

As soon as I got closer, I saw a peek of the cafeteria. My jaw nearly hit the floor. 

The Talunia Academy Cafeteria was, to put it lightly, beautiful. The countertops were shining, the part of the kitchen I could see had an intricate system for the meals, and so on. In addition, there were better meals here than Middle school, complete with real vegetables. I thought, well, it is a prestigious academy, there’s a higher budget. I picked up a lunch tray and patiently waited in line. 

All of a sudden, I was pushed to the side.

“Move aside, tykes.”

As this wolf and her clique of two others cut in front of me, her curly blonde- no, tousled blonde hair, brushed past my face. As she kept bumping into everyone, a wolf with short green hair in front of me shouted, “Hey!”

The blonde wolf turned around, and I saw her vaguely irritated, yet amused face. The blonde mess of hair framed a relatively soft, yet tough face. Her teal-blue eyes narrowed at the green wolf. All of the little details, from the stud earrings to the combat boots, told me how this girl wasn’t one to simply mess around with. Although, she had a skirt with a trim and a tie with lace on it, which made me think of an aristocratic brat. And of course, she had a “mark”, an upside-down teal triangle. “Hey?” she mocked back.

The other two wolves with her were not alphas, thankfully, but they still had the attitude of authority.

The other wolf said, “You’re seriously shoving everyone just to get to the front of the line? Even elementary school kids are more polite than you!”

She laughed. “Oh, it’s you Jessica. Can’t believe I last saw you when I was in 8th. How’s it feel to finally look like the grass we stomp on?”

The green haired wolf, Jessica, turned a bright red and scooted back. I think she muttered something, but I didn’t hear it. The blonde wolf scoffed and walked away. 

When she was safely out of earshot, I tapped Jessica’s shoulder. “Hey, are you ok?”

She turned around. She had gray eyes with bright green pupils: a “beta” I think. Her short, choppy green hair matched her eyes and partially covered them. “Yeah, I’m ok.”

“You’re Jessica, right?”

“No, it’s Jess.  Nora used my deadname to bully me.”

“Deadname?”

“Yeah, I’m non-binary.”

“Oh, ok. Nora’s the blonde wolf, right?”

“Yup. We went to the same elementary and middle school, but she’s two years older than me. We used to be friends, but when I was in second and she was in fourth, she just started avoiding me. After it happened in middle school… after I came out she started using my deadname for bullying. I thought I last saw her in 6th grade, but nope!” They turned back and smiled. “Thanks for the support though.”

I smiled back. “No problem. I’m Kiara.”

“Us betas have to stick together, right?”

“Yeah…”

I didn’t know how to tell her that I probably wasn’t a “beta”.

“Anyways, let’s get some lunch before everyone behind us starts getting mad,” Jess said.

Luckily, the conversation had lasted just long enough for us to reach the front of the line.

After filling the lunch tray with food, I spotted Lydia and walked towards her. She was sitting alone for some reason. I walked over and plopped down next to her, with Jess following me.

“Hey Lydia,” I said.

Lydia looked over at the still standing Jess. “Met a beta?”

“Wait,” Jess interjected. “You’re friends with an alpha?”

“We’re roommates,” I said.

“What?!?”

Jess nearly dropped their lunch tray, but barely caught it. 

After placing the lunch tray on the table, they pulled me over. “I thought I said ‘us betas have to stick together’, but here you’re roommates with an alpha!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault. Blame the administration, not me.”

Jess squinted at me. “Alright, but I’m still not trusting that alpha roommate of yours.”

“Her name is Lydia.”

I sat back down for lunch. Between the long line and the argument, half of the period was over, so I had to eat fast.

… 

Last class for today: World History 1.

Sprinting from my previous class, which was on the other side of the school, I rushed in just a minute before

Lucky me, the last 3 seats left in the class were in the very back. 

For some reason, the class only had “beta”s this time. Everyone in the class was a “beta”, including the teacher when he walked in. Until class started, I felt a bit of dread, then it all rained down. 

“Good afternoon class! I’m Mr. Curro and this is history. Ever since those asinine alphas took over, we betas have been struggling for the spotlight. However, betas were important to history despite the alpha hierarchy."

As Mr. Curro continued talking, I could feel the hatred and misogyny seeping through every word.

I felt uncomfortable. My palms were sweaty, my tail was twitchy, it felt like my flight-or-fight response was going off.

Trembling, I raised my hand. “May I go to the restroom?”

Mr. Curro looked at me. “Miss…”

"Thompson,"

Mr. Curro sighed. "You may be excused Miss Thompson."

I rushed to the bathroom. After closing one (surprisingly clean) toilet lid, I sat down, trying to clear my head of misogyny.

… 

That night in the dorm rooms, I was looking up new tie-knots while Lydia was working on her homework (a survey about your current math level). I took a similar survey earlier, but her survey was for math 1, and Lydia specifically told me not to help her.

"Alright, I'm finished Kiara."

"That's good Lydia," I responded, as I was still focused on the tie-knot page on my phone.

"Didn't you tell me that you were going to change classes or something?"

I stopped and put my phone down. "Right. I hated my history class, so I'm changing to chemistry or something. I don't know."

"Uhhh, ok," Lydia responded as she slipped the math sheet into her messenger ba. "Why?"

"Mr. Curro was making me uncomfortable. He kept talking about alpha supremacy and how betas have been overshadowed for all time."

Lydia looked at me confused. "Weird … Mz. Auronos talked about how the reign of alphas led to success or something. Weren't the different classes supposed to have the same curriculum?"

"Exactly."

I wanted to tell Lydia, you know, Talunia seems to separate wolves and teach them different curriculums to abolish equity or something, but I couldn't bring myself to do it for some reason.

Eventually, I opened my mouth. "I should tell administra…"

“Cuz today is a fun-bun day! Yeah! Cuz today is a fun-bun day!”

My phone rang. Loudly. With a call from my Mom. With both of us covering our ears, I made a mental note to lower my ringtone volume.

Lydia nearly shouted, “Is your ringtone the frikin Beth Bonnie-Bun-Bun theme song?”

I shouted back, “Yeah, it’s my sister’s fault! I’ll get it!”

Funny enough, the voice from the call is Felicity.

“Sissy! I miss you already!”

“Felicity, it’s only been a day. Stop freaking out.”

"But sis…"

I sighed. "You don't need to worry. I'm fine. Felicity, you don't need to be so clingy. I thought you said you were going to be more mature. You're twelve, but you act like you're six."

I heard faint whimpering sounds over the line.

"Felicity, I'll let you turn on video this one time, ok? Just today..."

The whimpering stopped. "REALLY?"

I pulled my phone from my ear, closed the mic, and turned on speaker. Soon, the buffering screen was replaced with a close up of Felicity's eyebrow.

"Move back, I can't see you. I mean, I can, but only your eyebrow."

A few seconds later, I saw Felicity standing in front of Mom's makeup stand. I almost groaned. Ever since I told Felicity about Mom's phone password yesterday, she had been wanting to call me. 

"Does Mom know?" I asked skeptically.

"Nope!" she said a bit quieter than usual.

"A-anyway Felicity, have you been more responsible lately?"

Felicity smiled and nodded. "I've been doing your chores Sissy! Setting the table, taking out the trash, cleaning the hair and fur out of the sink drains..."

"Thats…  nice Felicity…" I grimaced at the fact that she was unclogging the drains when that wasn't even a chore. "You keep your promise, I keep mine." I held my backpack with the Beth-Bonnie-Bun-Bun keychain figure (the chain was long enough to move the figure on camera).

"Beth-Bonnie-Bun-Bun!" Felicity chirped before asking, "Do you have a roommate?"

"Yeah, I do." Turning the phone camera, I made sure Felicity saw Lydia, before introducing her. 

"Hey," Lydia said back.

Felicity kept rambling about how cool the dorm looked, but I told her that it was getting late, even though it was only 6:45.

"Already? Ok then, bye Sis!"

"Bye sis,"

Now that the call was over, Lydia asked me, "There's more of you?"

I was dumbfounded. "Yes? What do you mean?"

"I thought, I thought you were some anomaly wolf who never met an alpha and had a weird scent. But if there's more of you… "

She paused. We looked at each other for a few stunned seconds, contemplating the serious truth of the matter.

Then we both burst out laughing.

…