Chapter 3 #2
“I looked over all the match results before they went out. While I was a little surprised, you have to remember that it’s not just our academy vying for the packs, but all omegas who are looking for a pack.
Meeting the packs isn’t required, so a given pack might have over a hundred omegas with that pack in their top spot and if they put even one of them before you, they’d match. ”
Basically, the system calculated scores based on where you ranked a pack.
So, if Kara put a pack third and they put her fourth, that would be a score of seven.
If another omega put that same pack second and they put her fifth, that would also be a seven and then the highest omega score would match to the pack.
“What about the Thomas pack? They said they were going to list me at the top of their selections and I... I must have forgotten to put them.” Kara sat up taller, scooting to the edge of her chair. She reminded me of a golden retriever begging for a treat.
We both knew she didn’t put them at all because I talked her out of it. There was a slight twinge of guilt in my stomach, but I shook it off. She deserved a pack that wanted an omega, not just one that was doing it for a gain or to tick off a box for their manager.
The dean looked over at me with a frown, and I squirmed in my seat under her stare. “I’m afraid that’s impossible. They matched with Kayla.”
“What?!” Kara and I both screeched at the same time.
I jumped to my feet, my heart thudding so hard that I wondered if I was about to have a heart attack. Looking back and forth between Kara and Ms. Monroe, I tried to find my words, but they were stuck in a lump in my throat.
Kara found her words, though. “You lied to me! You told me they were assholes, and I trusted you!”
“Kara, I swear to you, I opted out!” I tried to reach for her as she stood and headed for the door.
“You’re dead to me.” The door slammed shut behind her, my heart shattering at her words.
What the fuck had just happened?
I stared up at my ceiling through a small gap in my blankets so I could breathe, my phone lying on my chest. There were twenty missed calls from my mom and dads, and texts asking me to call them.
They’d undoubtedly heard about what had happened and wanted to rip me a new asshole for deceiving my sister.
Only I hadn’t deceived her.
I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was set to leave in two days, my sister hated me, and there was no backing out of going since I’d supposedly signed a contract when I submitted my online form.
There had to be a mistake because I was certain I checked the opt-out button and didn’t even pull up the pack names to select any.
Pushing the blankets off me, I jumped to my feet and grabbed a tote bag that was hanging on the back of my door.
I shoved my hidden stash of emergency chocolates and tiny bottles of liquor into it.
I was of legal drinking age, but alcohol was banned on campus.
No one wanted to deal with a bunch of drunk omegas making bad decisions.
It was nearly midnight, which was our curfew to be in our rooms, but luckily, Kara’s room was right across the hall from mine. I knocked softly before using a copy of her key to go in.
The room was dark besides the faint glow of a nightlight she had plugged in under her bed. I could see her in her bed, a million blankets and pillows piled around her and on top of her.
“Care Bear, I brought chocolate and rum,” I whispered, not sure if she was asleep.
“Go away,” she said through a whimper.
Setting the bag on her nightstand, I pulled back the blankets and slid into bed next to her. She scooted over, making more room for me, but turned to give me her back.
“I swear to you, I didn’t put them or any pack. You have to believe me.” My voice caught in my throat, and I cleared it. “I’m certain I opted out, and even if I hadn’t, I didn’t even open the search to select any packs. I don’t know how this could have happened.”
I turned toward her and put my hand on her arm, hoping she wouldn’t lash out at me more than she already had. It could have been a lot worse; she could have smacked me or gone to my room and trashed it. Not that Kara had a bone in her body that would allow her to be violent or vindictive.
But maybe I’d changed that and set off a spiral.
A whimper escaped and tears sprung to my eyes. I rarely let that side of being an omega come out, but I couldn’t help the pain it was causing me to see my sister hurting because she thought I wronged her.
“They picked you.” I could hardly hear her because her face was buried in a pillow she was hugging. “They picked you and you picked them.”
“I didn’t. I swear on everything.” I moved closer to her and nuzzled my face into her back. She didn’t shrug me off, which was a win. “Ms. Monroe called the Omega Match office and they told her that there wasn’t an error, but there has to be.”
She turned over, and even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew it was red and puffy from crying. “Call them or message them on social media.”
“I don’t have their numbers. I did message them, but the last time I checked, they hadn’t seen them. They probably get thousands of messages.”
“Did you try their manager or whoever that guy was? Maybe he can get the message to them.” She pushed the blankets off of our heads and leaned over me to grab the bag I’d put on her nightstand. “But even if it was a mistake, it’s not like it changes the fact I didn’t match.”
I turned on the small bedside lamp and we both squinted as our eyes adjusted to the soft light. “They probably just got our names mixed up... but that doesn’t explain how I got a match.” I took a small bottle of coconut rum from her and opened it. “Are you still mad at me?”
She moved a few pillows against the headboard and sat against them, bringing her tiny bottle of alcohol to her lips and drinking it in one gulp. “No. I believe you.”
Relief flooded my system, and I scooted next to her, putting my head on her shoulder. “The fine for backing out of a match is too much for me to not go... I can’t stick our parents with that burden.”
Kara dug in the bag and pulled out a package of peanut butter cups. “And if you start to throw around accusations about the matching system being broken or wrong, the government is going to rain hell.”
“Fuck, Kara. I can’t join a pack. I feel like this is being forced on me. Do you think it’s karma for saying they had shrimp dicks?”
One of the many reasons the alphas that ran our government didn’t take lightly to omegas and packs backing out of matches was because then it might create a domino effect.
If a pack matched with an omega who refused to go after already matching with them, that pack might become possessive anyway.
It had happened in the early days of the matching system, so now there were financial penalties great enough to prevent it from happening.
We both were lost in our thoughts as we had our fill of chocolate and booze. I eventually pulled out my phone and pulled up one of Brian’s active social media accounts. He mostly posted pictures of the team during games and some behind-the-scenes pictures during practices and interviews.
Me: Hi. This is Kayla Sterling, and I was trying to contact one of the guys, but they don’t seem to check their messages. Can you have them check?
The message was read almost immediately. Did this guy not sleep?
Brian: What is this regarding?
“Seriously?” I showed my sister, and she rolled her eyes.
Me: I matched with them, and I thought they were going to put my sister. Neither of us put them on ours.
Brian: Are you rejecting the match? Have you notified the Omega Match offices?
Me: They said there wasn’t an error, but there has to be because I didn’t list them or any pack, for that matter.
Brian: What are you suggesting?
“Careful,” Kara warned. “We don’t know this guy and he’s being pretty cagey.”
Me: I need to confirm the match with them because if there’s been a glitch of some kind, it needs to be remedied.
Brian: It wasn’t a glitch. I’ll see you on Monday.
Me: Can you please have one of them contact me? The match email doesn’t have their phone numbers because they’re ‘celebrities.’
The message stayed unread for a solid minute before I threw my phone on the bed in frustration. “This is bullshit. I’m just supposed to get on a plane on Monday with no contact information for them?”
“Maybe you should give it a shot.” Kara got off the bed and went to her dresser to pull out pajamas. “Are you staying here tonight?”
I nodded. “What do you mean, give it a shot?”
“Well, think about it. You go there, be your charming self, they send you back, and boom! You’re a hundred thousand dollars richer. You can start your business.” Kara threw a tank and pajama shorts at me. “Or you can fall madly in love with them, and I can live vicariously through you.”
“Did that alcohol go straight to your brain?” I got up, feeling slightly buzzed myself. “I can’t do that!”
“Why not? It’s the perfect opportunity for you to get your start-up costs and show just how fucked Omega Match is.” Kara rarely cussed, and I gasped. “My guess is they put the wrong name down, and when there wasn’t a match, they paid to have it happen.”
“Then you should go. Say you’re me.” I crawled back into bed, leaving my clothes in a heap on the floor. Kara immediately picked them up and folded them to put on her desk chair.
“We’re twenty-two years old, Kayla.” She sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed a scrunchie from her nightstand to tie her hair back. “They would know immediately, and who knows what the fines would be? Do you think our parents are going to want that?”
I sighed because she was right. “You aren’t mad?”
She lay down and flicked off the light, dousing us in darkness. “I was, but if no packs want me, then maybe I’m doing something wrong.”
“You aren’t.” I checked my phone one last time for a message from Brian. “I bet you anything, I get to their house, and they’ll realize they put the wrong name. We’ll be back to drinking contraband liquor and chocolate together in no time.”
“I’m sorry I told you that you were dead to me.” She whimpered and leaned in to hug me. “Maybe you’re onto something about not caring about this whole omega role business. It consumed me, and now look at what happened. It almost ripped us apart.”
“I’m sorry too. If you would have put them, maybe it would have been a match and-”
“It’s not your fault.” She pulled out of our hug and pulled the covers around us. “This is an opportunity for you.”
“Yeah.” I grabbed one of her Squishmallow pillows from the foot of the bed and hugged it. “I’ll be the best damn omega they’ve ever seen.”