Born to be an Alpha

*ring* Where are you? *ring* You better come back home immediately. *ring* You have done enough for this family. Don’t make it worse. *ring* Emm mom is worried. Where are you? Emily looked at the texts coming one after another, she couldn’t help the sight that escaped her lips. She turned the phone off and adjusted herself in her seat. She had been sitting on this bus for about an hour and a half now, the city that she had called home for the 16 years of her life was too far away to be seen. Well, the city or anything else for that matter, the sun had set at this point and only darkness surrounded the highway, leaving only her own reflection to be seen in the window. 3 more hours to go. she told herself. Closing her eyes, she tried to take a short nap. For the past weeks, sleep had become something that her body seemed to have forgotten how to do. Her body needed rest but her mind was in overdrive. But for some reason the movement of the bus was smoothing her slowly to sleep. *Dream* Emily was running up a staircase. She wasn’t sure how long she had been running, but she was a mess. She couldn’t breath, her chest was in pain, big drops of sweat were falling from her eyebrows into her eyes making it hard to see anything, her clothes were drenched and sticking to her body like a second layer of skin, her mouth and lips were so dry, that every time her sweat got to her lips it stung. But she continued to run like a mad person, there was no other way, she needed to save “her”. She could finally see the very familiar white metallic door with the warning “Staff Only”. Ignoring it, she opened the door. Right away she was hit by the wind and the smell of the ocean. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, and immediately she saw “her”. At the edge of the rooftop stood the person that she was there to save. Surprised by the sound of the door, the girl turned, and their eyes met. Her beautiful amber and curly hair floated with the wind and tears escaped her honey eyes. The girl looked at her and gave her a small smile. Emily knew what was about to happen, she wanted to say something to the girl but no words came out of her mouth. She wanted to stop it but only tears came out. Without a word and still smiling, the girl jumped. Emily fell on her knees and screamed until her voice gave up on her once more. She had failed again. ** Emily woke up feeling that she was falling into her very uncomfortable seat. Taking small breaths, she tried to calm her mind and heart. These dreams had been constant for the past few days. Her stomach was flipping and the bus smell wasn’t helping. She looked at her watch, she had been napping for 2 hours. Giving up on the idea of going back to sleep, she decided to distract herself. Reaching for her backpack that was between her legs, she took her laptop out and decided to work for the last hour of the trip. Emily founded an online consulting firm two years ago, providing help to a couple of small businesses. At the age of 3, she was diagnosed with an IQ of 160, and for as long as she could remember, she had a passion for numbers and, thanks to her upbringing, she had been surrounded by highly influential individuals and quickly learned about the business world and its language. Green Howk. We have arrived at Green Howk. Startled by the announcement, Emily looked up from her laptop and back to check the time. She had gotten so focused on her work that the last hour had gone in a blink of an eye. Looking at the window, she couldn’t help but smile at the small elderly lady who was just a couple feet away from the bus nervously scamming every single passenger that got out of the bus. Gathering all her stuff in her backpack, she got up from her seat, took her second bag from the bag storage above her seat, and quickly got off the bus. Grandma! Rushing to the small woman, she threw her bags to the ground and hugged her tightly. My little Emily is so big now. Her grandma hugged her bak. You could feel her happiness in every single word. Emily chuckled at her grandma's comment. And my sweet grandma has become so much smaller in the last 6 years I have seen her. Letting go of her granddaughter's hug, she stared at her and softly punched her arm. I can see that you still have a smart mouth, making fun of your old grandma like that. She shook her head, pretending to be disappointed. Emily started to laugh, she always had great memories of her grandma. She remembers her grandma pushing her to misbehave, making her mom crazy, saying that was her revenge for all the trouble mom had given her and still does. Oh boy! Another Roxie! I don’t know if our small Green Howk can deal with two. Emily had only now paid attention to the man behind her grandma. He looked to be in his early forties, he was as tall as her, but then again, she had always been tall for her age. He had an amused expression while looking at her grandma. Shuch now! This city wouldn’t have half of its energy and beauty if I wasn’t walking around these streets grancing everyone with my exuberant and delightful existence. Emily and the man laugh. Emm, Acel. Acel, my granddaughter Emmily. He offered to help to pick you up and help with your luggage. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Your grandma is always talking about you. By the way, your bus is going. Don’t you need to get your bags? My bags are here. Emily pointed to the 2 bags that she had thrown on the ground to hug her grandma. Her grandma looked at the 2 bags and back to her granddaughter with a confused face. Sweetheart, I understood that you were coming to live with me. I got you transferred to the school and everything. I am. I brought with me only the things that I had bought with my own money. I’ll buy a couple more clothes in the next few days. Emliy looked at her bags and remembered throwing away the bag that had her laptop inside. S**t. She checked the things in her bag, and to her relief, everything was perfectly fine. Oh my! See Acle, my presence is so overwhelming that people forget everything just to hug me. Acle and Emily chuckled at her grandma's antics. Here, let me take your things and drive you both home. The drive home was quite a pleasing experience for Emily. It had been a long time since she had felt this warm and easy-going conversation with someone. She learnt that Acle owns a small coffee shop in the city center, close to the school that she would be attending, with his wife Alyssa. They are both 35 and high school sweethearts. He told her how he and his wife were never really good at school, so they just focused on working. Both had gone through a lot of different jobs in their 20’s, from working in construction sites to bartending, sometimes holding 2 jobs at a time, but all their work ended up paying off, 3 years ago, when they were able to save up enough money to open their small coffee house. Emily was amazed at all the work that they had put into their business and she made a mental note to try and get a look at their bookings and see if she could help them in any way, especially since his wife is 7 months pregnant, with a baby girl. Helping them make a bit more income would definitely make their lives easier. Well, Emily, it was a pleasure to finally meet you. And you have to come to my shop and meet my wife. I promise. Acle don’t you drive just yet. Emily keep an eye on him. I have some things for you to take with you. Roxy runs inside the house, leaving a very confused Emily in the road. What’s happening? Acle start laughing. Your Grandma has taken it upon herself to fatten every single person in this city. Emily gave Acle a crooked smile and got closer to him. This is giving me Hansel and Gretel vibes, should I be scared. Acle laugh. I said the same thing. That’s why I’m glad you are here. I can finally have an inside spy. Roxy comes from the house with two huge boxes above each other. Here you go honey, someone told me that your wife has been craving lasagna and lemon cakes, and I had some time on my hands. Roxy, you really didn't have to, but thank you. Roxy shrugged and waved at him while going back inside. Emily and Acle chuckled at her grandma’s attitude, and said goodbye to each other. Inside her grandma's house, Emily was immediately overwhelmed by all the smells of food and spices lingering in the air. Her grandma showed her around the house. The place was definitely much smaller than the apartment she had lived in all her life, but it was still quite big. One floor, three-bed house, with a huge back garden that her grandma was using to grow some vegetables and flowers. The decor of the house was simple, exactly what one would expect when thinking of a country house. Emily’s mom never brought her to grandma's house, the only time she had seen her grandma, she had come to them. Her mom never liked the simple life she had lived in this place, but to Emily this seemed the perfect place for her to restart. Although she had always been grateful for the opportunities that she got, living the life that her mom got for herself, she felt at home right now. Sweaty came and eat. I prepared a few things before I went to pick you up. You eat meat, right? On the small wooden table in the kitchen, two plates of bolognese and a plate of garlic bread were served, with a jar of fresh mint lemonade. I do. Thanks grandma, everything smells delicious. I made everything from scratch. Roxy takes a lot of pride in her cooking. No way… that’s amazing. How did you make the meat… grandma… did you… you know, had the cow? Emily gestured giving birth, with a shocked face. Roxy squinted her eyes at Emily. I see that the art of being actually funny has stopped with me. Emily gave a hurt look. Both started laughing. Eat now! The food is getting cold. While eating dinner, both of them made small talk, mostly about the city, and the school Emily would be attending. Although Green Howk is considered an upcoming city, it wasn’t like that when her grandma or even her mom were younger. About 25 years ago, three rich families moved in, and with them more people arrived. The town got new infrastructures and changed into a city, business started to appear all over town and because of it, more moved in looking for job opportunities. Even the high school that she would be attending didn't exist back in the day, the kids used to go to school in the next town. Even with the huge changes to the town, the surrounding forest was kept as intact as was possible, the only problem was that the three families that arrived at the beginning, ended up buying several hectares of the forest, being almost impossible for the people that used to live here to adventure themselves into the woods, like they once did, without entering private property by accident. Bringing some of the lemon cakes and some tea to the table, Roxy couldn't hold her curiosity anymore. Emm I got to ask, why are you here? I’m happy to have you here with me dear, and I do think it is better for you to live with me than to share a home with your brother, but I have to ask. What happened? It’s a complicated story, I… Emily lowered her head and started to play with the spoon in her cup, stirring her tea. I made a lot of bad decisions back in middle school. I had a plan to start new in high school, I really did. But it all came crumbling down about a month ago. I tried to ignore my past, pretending like it had never happened, but the consequences of my bad choices didn't share my way of thinking. I know I’m talking in code here, but… Ok, you see I... Emily looked into her grandma’s eyes. Let me tell you from the beginning.