Fated to the Sapphire Alpha

Chapter 2: Saying Hello to the locker

While Nat kept her eyes on me, I started moving my small legs to reach the damn locker. As I tried to get my books by pulling myself up on my toes, I replied to her, a bit annoyed at my current situation.

“Gossip away.”

In seconds, Nat began rambling about the biggest party of the year—at least to her. While I kept trying to reach each of the books I needed, pulling myself up again, I heard her say:

“Well, to follow it up, he moved out of his parents’ house…”

I hummed in response as she kept talking, which only prompted her to continue with even more excitement in her voice.

“They were all proud of him for doing that, and he moved into the pack—I mean, the family house that belongs to him now. He hasn’t had a single girl over, according to Mason!”

I let out a sigh as I listened to her while putting the remaining books in my bag. She looked at me for any reaction, so I had to fake enthusiasm, though nothing she was saying was the least bit interesting to me.

I already knew the guy she was talking about. He was known as the big shot of this high school.

He’d been the superstar playboy since junior high, and to make it even more disgusting—at least to me—he was the classic “catch” with his bright blue eyes and slick black hair.

His looks are what take any girl he wants to his bed. Every last girl he’s ever met that caught his attention.

Come to think of it, with his steroid-built body, who wouldn’t fall for a guy like him? He’s way too fit to be just eighteen, in my opinion.

With his tanned skin that makes him look like caramel candy to everyone else, including me, it’s hard to say no to him. But at least when I heard someone say no to him, he didn’t push the girl until she gave in—or so I’ve heard.

Thinking about all this, I have to admit, if he weren’t such an egotistical man-child, I might have been more generous with his attempts to be with a girl. Even if I could never be that girl, I might have given him a shot.

I shook my head, knowing that, in reality, he was so much worse than I could ever describe to anyone who asked about him. To me, he was a walking STD man-child. That’s what he was in my eyes, at least.

Hearing Nat talk about Mason, I remembered that he was best friends with Kyle.

Since childhood, they’d been inseparable. Mason Hamilton, with his curly blonde hair and emerald eyes, also had an impressive build.

I don’t know what they’re fed daily, but these guys are beasts. It made me think of how they could break me in half like a twig if they wanted to—with their bare hands alone.

That thought gave me a whole different perspective on “breaking me in half.” As I kept thinking, I wondered if it was wrong to imagine having my first time with a guy like that.

Then I asked myself: Two guys—could I take it?

Catching myself in these thoughts, I shook my head, causing my already broken glasses to fall from my face and hit the ground.

I heard the glasses crack and muttered, “Great, just my freaking luck.”

As I bent down to pick them up, I heard Nat sound a bit panicked.

“Oh, s**t! I’ll get my masking tape from my locker. Stay right here. I’ll link—I mean, I’ll be texting Sam to get here while I’m gone, alright? I’ll be back.”

I heard her running to her locker, and knowing the bell would ring soon, I tried to find my bag by touching my surroundings and looking for its fuzzy shape.

Thanks to past experiences, I’m no stranger to being blind in class without my glasses, but I hated depending on my lousy, blurry vision.

Spotting my bag, I grabbed it. I couldn’t see who was around me; all I could make out were blurry shapes moving. I wished I could distinguish who was who.

Then I heard Zara’s snarling voice, followed by someone—likely Zara—lifting me off the floor and pushing my small body, along with my bag, into my locker, fitting me in completely.

Once I was inside, she locked the door and banged on it for good measure, her voice dripping with pride as she spoke through the small slits that let air in.

“That will teach you to run away from your punishment, you heartworm.”

I sighed after hearing her, thinking about how fantastic it was to have another day ruined. I’d recover on my own from the bruises she’d caused me while I was at work, and I’d find an old jacket to cover the ones that would take longer to heal.

Now all I could do was wait for Natally or Samantha to come and get me. They were my only chances of getting out of here without getting into trouble.

While waiting for Zara to leave, I heard Mason’s voice.

“Zara, why are you in front of Mishi’s locker?”

He sounded genuinely confused to see Zara there. She must’ve frozen in place at seeing him, which was odd since they all got along to some extent.

I waited for her response. She sounded like she had a lump in her throat because all I could hear was her breathing.

Remembering my hearing aid, I turned it up a bit to hear better. I appreciated having single-sided deafness—it helped me focus on their conversation.

In my head, I joked about Zara’s current predicament: Let’s see how many brain cells it takes Zara to answer a simple question.

After what felt like forever, she finally replied, her voice shaky: “I don’t know why that human is so important, Mase. Am I missing something? All I see is that you’ve been looking stressed lately.”

The first thing that crossed my mind was the answer to my joke: Half a brain cell, and the other is a ‘cunt cell.’ Her words made me gag inside the locker. Was she really flirting with Mason?

It didn’t take long for Mason to respond, sounding annoyed.

“Zara, I can smell her. Where is she? If Kyle finds out you’ve been bullying her again, you’re going to get the ass-kicking of a lifetime, and I’ll make sure of it!”

I squinted my eyes, trying to process what he’d said. Smelled me? What did that mean? Before I could say anything, Zara hit the locker, stopping any words from coming out.

It was bad enough being stuck in this cramped space, but listening to those two talk was a surprise. As they kept speaking, I started analyzing the situation.

Neither of them was in any of my classes, as far as I knew. I never cared about who was popular, but if I valued my life—and wanted to avoid dying at the hands of a bully—I needed to know who could kill me and who couldn’t. Gossip was the best way to stay informed. I already knew Zara could kill me, and keeping tabs on the latest gossip helped me stay away from people like her.

My inner thoughts were interrupted when I heard Mason shouting at Zara.

“Seriously, Zara. He’ll do what he did last time if she gets hurt. He won’t have any mercy on you, even after that fling with you last month. Stop thinking you have a chance when we all know they need to be together—and it’s not you.”

Zara growled at his words and had a predictable, bitter comeback. I swear, I was going to gag listening to these two.

“You can think that all you want, but as far as I know, I haven’t seen her. And Kyle would never lay a finger on me. I am not a cheap piece of meat, and when you see him, tell him I wouldn’t mind another round. I miss him a lot, you know.”

I could hear Zara walk away. When she was far enough, I heard Mason sniffing the air.

I tilted my head, squinting, wondering what he was doing. It looked like he was a dog searching for something—or a crackhead looking for a fix.

Before I could call out, I heard Nat speak suddenly.

“What’s up?”

I must have been so entranced by Mason’s actions that I hadn’t heard anyone else approach. Mason quickly turned to ask her the same question he’d asked Zara, making me focus on him.

“Have you seen Mishi? I need to talk to her, and it’s important.”

I could see the fuzzy green of Nat’s hair shaking in response, and then Mason sighed and started walking away from my locker.

I yelled as I saw Nat about to leave too.

“Don’t leave me here, Nat! Get me out of here!”

Nat rushed over to unlock the locker, and after a few minutes, she got it open. She grabbed my shoulders to help me from almost falling.

“Thanks, Nat. That was a close call.”

Nat set me down and asked with concern while taking my glasses in her hands.

“What was that all about with Mason? What did you get yourself into this time?”

She shook her head and snickered, while I heard her rummaging for the masking tape.

I screamed internally: It was not my fault. Evil things were after me like moths to a flame!

Taking a deep breath, I started cleaning myself up as best I could. I decided to retake my bag to head to my first class, ignoring Nat’s question since I had no real answer as to why Mason was looking for me.

I made my way to my class, trying to stay under the radar to avoid any more trouble. Nat handed me the tape, and I patched up my glasses. She did a good job, but I finished the small sides left.

Putting my backpack on, I looked at Nat after putting the tape in my bag. She was staring at her cell, looking as if she’d just received the worst news.

I asked nervously as I walked ahead a bit, “Everything good?”

My words came out a bit choked, but she looked at me, clearly worried.

“Not really. I have to go back home again. It’s kind of important.”

She put her phone away and gave me one last sad look before saying, “Sorry.”

And just like that, she left me alone to go to class.

I wondered what that was all about. Nat had always walked me to my classes, even if she had something else to do.

That was one of the reasons why I stayed close to her and Samantha—they were the only ones I considered friends given how everyone else treated me.

Now alone and without a way to contact Samantha, I had to hurry to my class so I wouldn’t be late. I avoided getting tackled by anyone. I was the easiest target, and it could cost me dearly—possibly even my life.

As I walked to my class, I had trouble focusing. Mason’s conversation with Zara kept replaying in my mind: What did Mason want with me?

What did he mean by everything he said? And why was I having such trouble getting my head in the game and reaching my class?

Turning a corner, I bumped into someone. Before I could say anything, I felt a hard slap across my cheek. Looking up, I paled when I saw Amanda.

Like Zara, she was also a bully—a notorious “mean girl.” She was the head cheerleader with a penchant for anger at those she deemed beneath her.