The Omega's Top Choice

Difference Between Knowing And Really Knowing

"The gene testing will be quick and painless and although you have heard a bit through the news there is more information you must know. The gene testing is mandatory, and so are the pairings. I know it restricts our freedom of choice and the only ones that are exempt are people who are already married; the rest will be sent their pairing notices next week."

All my classmates were shuffling in their seats while I sat like a statue. This was not good. I glared a burning hole into our homeroom teacher's face, Mrs Anders, while she carried on with the announcement.

"You will not just be matched because of whether you are a stage 1,2 or 3, you will also be considered to match with people who are completely different to you. Birth Rates went down because of other reasons, such as families creating marriages to keep money within their name, Alpha marrying Alphas, interbred marriages and so on."

I snorted, Yeah, the Alpha community really screwed up when they thought that their high and mighty families were only good for each other. Only when they realised that babies weren't happening did they decide to have children outside of their marriages, that kicked off the slave Omega scandal as they were being bought and hidden in their mansions just to pop out kids. Alphas could be utter morons.

"So your pairing could be someone who is maybe 5 years older than you and is studying engineering while you could be planning to just leave school and have a full time job on the same street you live on. There will be no pairings of neighbours or friends of families. Pairings could be long distance for now till you both come to a decision within the time limit."

I surreptitiously looked around the classroom and everyone was looking as shocked as me. Long distance? How could this even work? This was like forced arranged marriages from the old days. Only this time it's being done by the government.

"The time limit is 2 years. This does not mean you cannot aim for university and have career plans but it does mean you have to take into consideration your partner's location too. Your parents cannot dispute any of this, they have been informed by the government today that they cannot be in control of the pairings in any way. The only way a pairing can be annulled is in special circumstances such as an unfortunate death, a pregnancy through someone else, financial, physical and mental a***e. During your two years here there will be monitoring of your pairings by the school, there will be extra staff sent through the government over the next week to help us all. Anyone that has the result of an Omega please see a member of staff immediately afterwards."

Ah s**t. I widened my eyes at my homeroom teacher as she aimed the last words in my direction. Yeah she knew I was an Omega. I had said I had the flu for the last two weeks but when I left the school in a hurry to get home, I looked like a tomato and was sweating puddles. She knew from then.

I did get the old man to tell her that I had a bad case of the flu but I guess he's as useless at lying as I am. I felt a prodding in my back and I turned to see my best friend Luelle looking at me with a questioning gaze. Yeah I'll have to tell her too. I don't want to. I just want to be good old Eleanor that likes badminton and maths and has a crush on Naver Hul, the boy that everyone has a crush on. Not that he knows I've been staring at him or salivating at the way he looks so cool laughing with his friends or playing football in the field outback.

I smiled at Luelle and hopefully it was enough to calm her down before she tortured me for the truth. I looked back to listen to the lesson that Mrs Anders was droning on about and that's when Naver walked in. God he was so handsome and so out of my league. I kind of liked having this crush. I knew it would never go anywhere and in a way it gave me the security of never having to act on it and make a fool of myself. I've heard plenty about him, how kind he is to girls and how he's liked by his friends and teachers. I wouldn't be surprised if he has Alpha traits. That was another reason why I have to talk to Anders at break. I don't want to be in heat and gather hormonal teenage boys in my wake as I run like the clappers back home so I do need to either move to home learning or have some kind of plan. I don't need a test to show that I'm an Omega. I'll just confess my traits and go from there.

~

"I was waiting for you" Mrs Anders sat back in her seat as I waited till the class went outside. She had speckled silver in her blonde hair that was tied up so tight that I wondered of she got a headache. I wrung my hands together and just blurted it out.

"I'm an Omega"

She had a look of pity in her eyes and gestured for me to sit across from her as she closed the classroom door. I understood the pity she displayed.

If it wasn't for a certain Omega then these traits would not have been found out. A girl 30 years ago went into heat and obviously not knowing what it was didn't call out for help due to shame to her condition and ended up getting attacked by passersby which were men and women of all different ages. She was young to be an Omega stage 1. Her pheromones were more heightened than the other stages of Omegas and could lure anyone in her heat.

After that there was a slow discovery of the traits in human society and how it would benefit us. At first Alphas were considered God's they had the strong pheromones that could envelope a whole room into an embroiling pile of violence. They also had their ruts once every year, it usually means its perfect mating season for them as their sperm count is at an almighty high Although they can still get their partners pregnant before that but just not as easy.

Betas were thought of to be a large part of the population and Omegas were treated like s**t because its the kind of thing that happens when one small part of the population can make folks go into a s****l frenzy. Also Omegas can put an Alpha into a rut.

Obviously that prejudice and hatred only led to another drop in the birthrates. Due to all the research scientists everywhere scrambling to find the reason why, they realised that omegas could have healthy children and raise them past 5 years old with no issue while all the other couples could not.

They started to experiment and realised where the best possibility of good births could happen and here we are in this predicament and Omegas that are now rare are considered in a higher status than they were before. The problem is that I'm only a kid and I'm not finished growing yet. I don't want to be tied down with kids yet or maybe ever.

"I'm glad you came to me, does your dad know?" Anders sat again across from me and I shook my head.

"The Old man hasn't been home for a month, he takes the benefits that he gets for me and goes and does what he wants. Haven't got a clue where he is"

She nodded as she had met my father before. He wasn't a bad man, more like a useless wastrel. The kind of guy that would neglect a kid but not know he's doing wrong. My mother died in childbirth and my grandma raised me in the countryside till she died. I had to move to the city which still had the charred remains of the past war. I was thirteen then. It was a shock at first but now I'm used to it and I have looked after myself in the last three years. I was just glad the government paid the rent.

"I have a proposal for you, take the test now, I'll call for it to be done here in the classroom and you will get your results instantly through the system. The government has built a new complex of apartments, shops and restaurants for Omegas with a high security detail. It's not far from here and you won't have to worry about expenses.``

The surprise must of shown on my face because she put her hand out to touch mine gently. "It is not safe for you dear. You need safety and stability till you figure out what you are going to do"

I pursed my lips tightly and nodded and I closed my eyes listening to her call on her phone to whoever that could bring the test in. Within two minutes there were two women that came in with a trolley. I tried not to look at the contents as needles really irked me and Anders pushed me into her seat gently.

I put my arm out and looked the other way as they withdrew blood and took swabs from my cheek and a hair sample. The huge laptop and a small device that the blood test was deposited in were connected and the other samples I could see were put into an envelope. Most likely to discover anything else to do with my genes. I didn't really want to think about it. I just wanted to get this over with and then go and cry on Luelle's shoulder.

The laptop buzzed as it calculated and I got closer to the screen, praying for any result but Omega, even though I knew that it wasn't likely, it couldn't hurt to try.

I could see numbers and equations that came up automatically then a flashing red sign that was undoubtedly Omega. Tears rushed to my eyes and the pressure of a hand on my shoulder was steadying me. Anders. She always was in my corner for the last three years trying to get the old man more involved in my education and tutoring me when I needed it in other subjects.

"The result is Omega, we have to wait another couple of minutes to see what stage." The woman's voice in the background sounded like it was underwater as my brain still went into shock as there is a difference between knowing and really knowing. There was a surreal element to finding out that you belonged to a rare part of the human race and that your pheromones could send the Alphas and Betas into a s****l frenzy.

"Ah...your a stage 1, we will have to make arrangements as soon as possible"

Anders tightened her grip on me as I felt like the floor was swaying towards me. How? That means I'm the worst of them! But I'm not in heat now so how could I be a stage 1? I was trying to catch the air in my lungs. Why can't I breathe? Arms held me around my midriff as I could feel the floor coming towards me and the thankful blackness enveloped me.

"She cannot live alone in that place if her father is not there"

"I know, she's agreed to move into the complex"

"She's not in heat now?"

"No, she's just had a two week heat, I think she's the lower end of the stage 1, still emits strong pheromones during her heat and her heats come on longer but she can still come out of it and live a life"

"We will see. We have to get permission from her father to do further tests, if we can conclude that she isn't going to be in heat continuously then she can maybe paired with an ideal candidate"

"The rules are that stage 1s get to choose, shouldn't she choose anyway?"

"It's always best to pair where we can for continuity to couples and security for the future. The aim is to get the birth rate up, so the pairings are a good way to do that. The stage 1s have leniency because of their constant heats and that its considered a handicap."

"OK I'm going to have to disagree with you here and I've already contacted the father last week to gain guardianship over Eleanor, if you want anything to do with her health you will have to go through me."

I heard the conversation between Anders and the woman who had been part of testing me and I nearly opened my eyes in shock at what Anders said. She really is going above and beyond here. Did she really contact the old man? Or is it a bluff? I'm grateful she said that but why did she say it? Everyone would be getting paired wouldn't she want me to be like everyone else?

"If that's the case and you disagree with further tests then she will have the leniency of a stage 1 but also the loneliness of probably not finding a long term partner as they would already be in the system paired up exceptfor the outliers and Alpha Dominants" The woman's tones were getting clipped and had an element of irritation to it.

"She would have a choice and she can always voluntarily go into the system and ask to be a candidate."

I groaned as I opened my eyes. I already had enough of listening to them and Anders rushed towards me to feel my brow. I furrowed my eyes at her and she made a shushing motion with her lips and for once I was obedient. I had no idea what Anders had under her hat for me but I wasn't arguing.

"Since she's my ward then I'm going to take her to the complex to show her around there. I'll get another teacher to fill in for me"

She said this not even turning around to the woman and I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Your ward?" She shook her head at me and made another shushing motion. OK then. I got up and was blushing at the faint I did. Can't keep doing that everytime I receive shocking news, have to get a handle on myself.