Fighting Fate

Chapter 1 - The Beginning She was having that dream again. She was standing in a forest clearing, the paved path she was on coming to a crossroads. A wooden sign with a painted arrow pointed towards the middle path, still paved and faintly lit by the full moon. To her right, a dirt path disappearing between the trees. In the darkness, she heard a distant owl hoot, or perhaps it wasn't distant at all? To her left, rocky and dangerous, the path leads up towards a mountain, and she couldn't help but wonder what's beyond that mountain. A wolf howl drew her attention back towards the middle path. Instead of feeling scared, she felt calm, and safe. The wolf's howl was reminiscent of home, and she stepped forward, towards it. ~*~ She woke up abruptly, a thin layer of cold sweat causing her hair to stick to her face. She caught her breath, pulling her hair aside and looking at her clock, signalling 7:46. Her alarm clock was supposed to go off at 8. Sighing, she rubbed her eyes, waking up. Better use the extra time for a shower, she thought, and got out of her bed, stretching on her way to the bathroom. While brushing her teeth, clean after her morning shower, she looked at her own reflection, thinking of the dream. It was a recurring dream, but today was the first night she stepped foot towards one of the paths, and something about it scared her. She got dressed, trying to forget about the dream, as it was the first day of her senior year. She put on a striped top, a high waisted pair of jeans, and her favourite pink sneakers. She brushed her long caramel-brown hair, braiding it into a loose French braid, and pulled out a couple of strands to frame her face. She still had her summer freckles on her nose and cheeks, which she loved, that complemented her warm honey-brown eyes. Taking her pink backpack with her, she made her way to the kitchen, where her parents greeted her. “Ashlynn, baby, ready for your first day?” her mom beamed at her, pulling her for a hug. “Moooom” whined Ash, grinning and hugging her back “I’m not a baby anymore, I’m a senior now” “Nonsense, you’ll always be our baby girl” her father huffed, as if offended by her growing up. “Ashlynn sweety, I made you your favourite- Banana pancakes with Chocolate syrup” her mom proudly said, and the smell hit Ash at once, her mouth watering already. “All right, thanks mom!” she sat down, wasting no time in devouring the pile of pancakes before her. “Well, I’m off to work, do you need me to drive you to school?” her dad got up, and Ash shook her head. “No need, Steph and Wendy are picking me up” she said, mouth full. “Suit yourself, bye honey” he kissed the top of her head, then gave her mom a peck and left. “Stephanie is driving?” her mom asked. “Yeah, Kev bought a new car, so he gave her his, since Wendy can’t drive and all” Ash finished eating “They should be here any moment, bye mom, thanks for breakfast!” she gave her a quick hug and got out, right on time as an old-looking Volvo parked in their driveway. “Ash! Looking good, girl! How do you like my new ride?” Steph lowered her sunglasses dramatically. “Show-off” Wendy laughed at her, Ash joining her as she got in the back seat. Steph stuck her tongue out at her twin and backed up from the driveway. Stephanie and Wendy were non-identical twins, and close friends of Ash from childhood. Both sisters had dark blonde hair in big curls and blue eyes, but while Steph was taller and had smaller features, Wendy was shorter, and was wearing glasses. On their way they picked up Cara, Ash’s best and closest friend. They were born days apart, and their parents were good friends, so the two basically grew up as sisters. “Oooh, nice car Steph, I hope you don’t forget about us when you’re all miss popular” Cara said sarcastically, and the girls laughed while Steph rolled her eyes. “Speaking of, you’ve got a new haircut!” Ash said, admiring Cara’s new hairdo. “Do you like it?” she asked, somewhat worried. “I love it!” Ash exclaimed. She didn’t lie, the haircut looked good on Cara. Cara was a short and curvy girl, her eyes dark brown, and her hair once used to be black, but was now bubblegum pink and styled in a sharp straight bob. “You look like princess Bubblegum” Ash mentioned, and Cara smiled, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “Here’s your Marceline, then” Wendy giggled as they pulled into the school’s parking lot. Ash looked at where Wendy was pointing, and there was Dakota, a popular girl in their school that indeed resembled the vampire queen, dark skinned, her hair a long and wild mess of black. “Yeah right” she mumbled so only Ash could hear, rolling her eyes. Ash agreed, after all, Dakota was the Beta’s daughter, way above their rank. Unbeknown to Steph or Wendy, Cara and Ash were both Omegas, the most common but also lowest rank of were-kind. They had to keep their identity a secret from the humans, in fear of persecution. Both Cara and Ash’s parents joined their current pack as refugees, after their pack was destroyed from inner-pack wars, so the two weren’t very popular amongst their kind, but found friendship in humans like Wendy and Steph. “Nervous?” Cara asked Ash quietly as they stepped out of the car. “Always,” Ash answered, taking a deep breath. “You?” “You know it. C’mon, one last time. This time, next year, we’ll hopefully be far away” she said wistfully. “It couldn’t come fast enough” Ash grumbled, and they made their way to the school gates, returning to normal conversation, all throughout Ash could swear she felt eyes on her, but it wasn’t that out-of-the-ordinary.