Alpha Girl (23 page)

‘And what if he is the monster that attacked you?’

‘I – I … I hadn’t thought of that,’ I said, taken aback. Suddenly, I regretted telling my folks about my discovery of another like me.

My mother and father pursed their lips.

‘Odds are, it was
him
who turned you. How many other monsters live in Halfway? That’s why it’s important for you to come to the city with me,’ said my mother.

‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘I want to stay here, with someone of my own kind.’

‘You know,’ began my mother, turning to my father. ‘When Rose first became … what she is … I did a lot of research into her illness. Do you know what I read?’

‘What?’ my father asked.

‘I read that the affliction can be reversed if the beast that turned Rose is killed.’

‘You mean if Rose defeats the Alpha, she’ll turn back to normal?’

I scoffed. ‘Mother, this isn’t some
fairytale
. Shit like that doesn’t work in
real life
.’

‘It’s worth a shot,’ said my father, ignoring me completely. ‘If it fixes her ailment-’

‘Have you gone completely mad?’ I said. ‘What a load of nonsense!
Killing the Alpha
. Honestly!’

‘There has to be a way to cure you somehow, Rose. This might be the answer.’

‘Not everything has a cure,’ I shot back.

‘Which is why we should do some more research-

‘Oh, great idea Mom. Let’s attend Werewolves-Anonymous. I’m sure they have support groups in the city every week for struggling Beta Werewolves-’

‘
Don’t. Say. That. Word
,’ my mother hissed.

‘Why not? I demanded. ‘It’s what I am! Mr. Stone has no problem admitting it!’

‘Is that his name? Stone?’

I bit my bottom lip. I’d already said too much.

‘Get the phone book,’ my mother ordered my father, who raced out of the room at once. Panic flared. Was Mr. Stone listed?

‘And what if it’s not him who turned me?’ I asked quickly. ‘Hm? Do we just go around killing innocent wolves just in case they’re the Alpha?’

My father returned with the phone book in his arms.

‘They’re not innocent, Rose. They’re monsters.’

‘And what am I?’ I demanded.

My parents looked at each other wearily.

‘You’re … different,’ said my father. ‘You’re special.’

‘You don’t go hurting people every full moon like these beasts,’ my mother said, opening the phonebook and flipping to ‘S’.

‘Yeah, only because you restrain me,’ I said. ‘I’m no different.’

They ignored me whilst they searched for the name ‘Stone’ in the white pages. I watched with bated breath, waiting for their discovery. What would they do if they found where he lived? Would they visit him?

‘Stan, Stein, Stu – wait … there’s no Stone.’

‘Let me see,’ my father demanded, pulling the phone book towards himself. He double-checked, but was disappointed.

‘He’s not listed,’ I said.

‘Well, that doesn’t matter. You know where he lives, don’t you? We can go there right now.’

I laughed, even though there was nothing funny about this situation. ‘Oh, please. What are you going to do when you get there?’ I asked.

It seemed they didn’t know the answer to this question.

‘But Rose … you know another …
thing
,’ she said, avoiding using the ‘W’ word. ‘Aren’t you curious as to whether it was
him
who turned you?’

‘No,’ I scowled.

‘But … didn’t you once say that you’d do anything to be cured?’ asked my father.

‘Not
murder
,’ I said, disbelievingly. ‘Besides, what if it wasn’t him? How can you be sure?’

My parents stared at each other, and I knew exactly what they were thinking; they were going to find out.

‘Great,’ I said, clapping my hands together. ‘When you figure it out, let me know. In the meantime, I’m running late for school.’

The ‘wet dog’ smell was always strongest after a full moon. I even had some girls at school howl or bark at me. I was able to ignore it. Despite the drama with my parents, I was happy.

So happy, in fact, that I could handle Sadie’s narcissist ramblings about which boy
obviously
fancied her.

‘I’ll be going to a party this weekend, so I expect him to be there,’ she said. Sadie was talking about an older man by the name of Douglas, who went to college. Apparently they’d met ‘online’, and had arranged a meeting at a mutual friend’s house party. I didn’t bother telling her how dangerous that might be. She wouldn’t listen to me anyway.

‘Are you going, Rose?’ Sadie asked me.

‘Me? No. Why would I go?’ I asked, absent minded. Mr. Stone had just walked across the schoolyard. I followed him with my eyes until he was out of sight.

Sadie shrugged. ‘Oh, maybe you weren’t invited. Whoops.’

I didn’t care about some stupid party that Sadie was going to; she’d only mentioned it to make me jealous. No doubt Estelle and Spider would be attending too. They always crashed the best parties.

‘So, Rose, are you feeling any better?’ asked Maria.

I nodded, snapping my attention back to the group of girls. ‘Oh, yeah. I’m fine.’

‘Please,’ Sadie rolled her eyes. ‘Everyone knows you weren’t sick. Aaron Ford saw you at the park on Helena Way yesterday.’

‘What? No … he must be mistaken,’ I said quickly. 

Sadie crossed her arms. ‘He lives right across the road from the park, Rose. He saw you get picked up by that pink haired stoner freak from the café.’

I licked my lips nervously, searching for an excuse.

‘Oh my god, Rose. Were you buying
weed
?’ Maria gasped.

‘No!’ I said quickly. ‘No, I don’t smoke.’

‘Can I borrow some for the party tomorrow night?’ Sadie asked eagerly.

‘I don’t … I’ve never-’

Thankfully, I was spared answering their questions as another teacher walked by at that moment. Sadie, Maria and I acted inconspicuous as she passed. 

When she had, my phone began to vibrate in my bag. I quickly dug it out of the front pocket and saw I had one new text message. It was from Mr. Stone, but of course, my phone labeled him as ‘S’.

Can I see you tomorrow?

I grinned at my phone, which did not go unnoticed.

‘Who is ‘S’?’ Sadie asked, leaning over my shoulder and reading the text message.

‘No one,’ I said quickly, snapping my phone shut.

‘Oooh, Rose has a boyfriend,’ Sadie teased.

Maria raised her eyebrows at me. ‘Do you, Rose?’

‘No,’ I lied. Why was everyone so damn nosey?

Sadie gasped. ‘That’s who you were skipping school to see! A boy!’

‘I was not,’ I said, feigning indifference.

‘Whose name begins with ‘S’?’ Sadie asked Maria, pursing her lips thoughtfully.

‘There’s Scott Thomas in the grade below,’ suggested Maria.

Sadie waved a hand. ‘No, no. He’s dating Elise Bran.’

‘Samuel Pike?’ said Maria

‘Ugh! That guy with a face like a pizza?’ Sadie pretended to gag.

‘It’s no one from school,’ I said through gritted teeth.

Sadie’s eyes widened. ‘An older man, perhaps?’

‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ I said. ‘It’s just a – a – family friend.’

‘Then why don’t you have their full name in your phone?’ asked Sadie.

‘What does it matter?’ I asked.

‘It matters because you’re finally acting like a human being,’ she said, bouncing up and down on her seat.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Sadie was lucky I was too damn happy about seeing Mr. Stone to give a rat’s ass what she said.

Suddenly, Sadie gasped dramatically.

‘What?’ I said, my eyes wide.

‘I know who it is!’ she said, brandishing her finger at me.

‘Who?’ I demanded.

‘It’s that guy! The one at the party!’

For a moment I feared she was talking about Mr. Stone, but then I realized who she meant was in fact …

‘Spider!’ Sadie clapped her hands over her mouth.

‘Spider?’ Maria repeated. ‘Who is that?’

I almost laughed, but figured it might be best to play it cool.

‘Spider is friends with that pink haired girl who picked Rose up from the park,’ said Sadie. She seemed to think she was piecing it all together. She couldn’t be more wrong. ‘You went to see him, didn’t you?’

I frowned. ‘Uh, yeah. You got me.’

‘So, Rose likes the bad boys, huh?’ Sadie teased, shoving me slightly. ‘I should have known.’

‘I’m sorry, but who is this guy?’ asked Maria, clearly out of the loop.

‘He’s this older guy with tattoos, and long black hair.’

‘Kind of like a goth?’ asked Maria.

The very thought of Spider made me shudder; appearances aside, the fact that he was a complete scumbag was enough to put me off. However, if it took attention away from my
real
interest, then I’d go along with it for Mr. Stone’s sake.

‘Good for you, Rose,’ said Sadie,
like I’d achieved some great feat. The way she patted my shoulder was extremely patronizing. ‘So have you two done it yet?’

‘Done what?’

‘Oh, Rose.’ She threw her head back and laughed. ‘Have you had sex with him yet?’

‘What? No! Of course not!’

‘Why not? Aren’t you ready?’

‘Sadie, leave her alone,’ said Maria.

‘I’m just curious,’ said Sadie, shrugging. ‘Besides, you don’t expect a twenty-five year old man to stick around if he’s not getting any, do you?’

As soon as I finished school I sent Mr. Stone a reply, accepting his invitation. We arranged for him to pick me up a block away from my house, so my parents wouldn’t spot him.

I wasn’t going to bother asking my parents for permission, but I would need an excuse if I ended up staying the night, (if Mr. Stone would let me).

Saturday – 27 days to go