Chapter III
My childhood room has never looked so bland.
I packed as much as I could to make my dorm room feel like home, but as I look around at all my space toys and equipment that won’t be coming with me, I slowly realize that I’m not bringing my personality with me to boarding school.
Everything that I was as a child will be left behind in this room as I step into a new chapter of my life.
Without these galaxy paintings on the wall, posters of my favorite astronomers, and my lamp shade shaped like a rocket, I’m going to change. I’ll be shaped into somebody else. What if I grow out of astronomy when I go? What if I lose my dreams of Comet XI?
Expression as blue as the sky, I sit on the edge of my bed, feeling homesick even though I haven’t left yet.
My eyes drift away from my telescope in the window and land on a polaroid photo of me and Knox on my nightstand. Reaching across, I pick it up and hold it in my lap, observing the memory with a heavy heart.
The picture is from when our parents took us to see the aurora borealis last year when we were thirteen.
He threw his arm over my shoulders for the picture, not realizing that he was freaking crushing me.
His mom had made a comment saying that most Alphas and Omegas share a kiss under the colorful light show for good luck, but we stuck our tongues out at the camera instead.
I’m not having my first kiss in front of my parents!
But I did give Knox a kiss on the cheek during that trip when they weren’t looking. I was mostly joking around, but I’ve never seen an Alpha blush so hard. It was really cute.
It’s been six weeks since I’ve seen him last, making this the longest stretch of time we’ve been away from each other and it has been torture every second, unsettling something deep within my soul. But sour jealousy seeps into my thoughts, shrouding my fond memories like an avalanche.
I think today was the last day of BOW camp. Knox is coming home soon.
I should be happy. I should be over the moon with excitement. But the idea of him coming back wearing a cool camp shirt, with Alpha astronomer friends, and a bunch of items from all the craft projects they probably got to do. It makes me irrationally bitter.
He deserves to have a fun time at space camp, but why did the world need to rip me away from him and leave me out of it? I wanted to have fun too. The only thing I did this summer was take a painting course with my mom. Omega bonding time as she calls it to prepare me for boarding school.
I understand the importance of Omega studies, but I’m just not ready to grow up yet.
Alphas go into rut and have a bunch of hormonal stuff too and yet they don’t have Alpha studies.
They just get to keep being a kid until they choose a field of study and grow up.
This was supposed to be my last summer of childhood astronomy fun, and I was robbed of it.
I don’t want Knox to come home and rub it in. I’m going to see him during holiday breaks anyway so it’s not the end of the world if I just…leave.
The hot tears that begin to rise like a flood say otherwise but I bite them back. Omegas sneak Alphas into their dorm rooms all the time. We can still coordinate hangout sessions. I’m sure of it.
“Arius?” my dad’s voice reaches my ears, his fatherly bond to me sends a wave of safety and love that dries my tears quickly.
Wiping my eyes, I set the photo aside and wave him in, noticing his pitiful expression. Lips pressed together in a stern line, he steps inside, sits beside me, and pulls me in for a comforting hug.
“You still have until the end of the week to move in, Arius,” he reminds me, squeezing me tightly as if he isn’t ready for me to flee the nest either. “We don’t need to go today.”
“I know,” I cry into his shoulder. “But I want to get it over with. The quicker I get used to it, the better.”
Dad sighs in a way that means he’s about to give me an important life lesson.
“I know your mom has been pushing you to make Omega friends even though you’ll miss all these Alphas you run around with here, but Arius, remember that friends are what will make you look forward to being there.
Friends are going to make sharing a dorm room fun.
Friends will make studying less stressful.
And they’ll make sitting at the dining hall a good time.
Embrace the opportunity, son. That’s how Mom met the Beckett family, you know. ”
I lift my head with a sniffle, facing my dad.
“Really? Mom met Knox’s mom at boarding school?”
“That’s right, and when Mrs. Beckett saw us at that block party when you were little, she lit up with joy at the chance to reconnect with your mom. You’re going to meet some of your closest friends like that too, Kiddo.”
“But… Knox is my closest friend. No one could ever know me like he does.”
My dad hesitates, looking uncertain about how to say whatever is on his mind.
“Well, son…your connection with Alphas will be a little different by the time you’re all grown up.”
“What do you mean?” I pout, and my dad tenses with discomfort before chuckling dryly.
“I just mean… For example, your mom and I. She has me as her Alpha mate, and other Omegas like Mrs. Beckett as friends. Do you understand?”
“Not really.”
My mom interrupts his lecture, calling out to us from the living room, “Arius! Are you almost ready?”
Dad pats my back and we stand.
“All I’m saying,” he concludes, “is that you might not want to be friends with Alphas in a couple of years, Arius. You might feel a little differently toward them, and you sure as hell won’t be able to have multiple Alphas as friends anymore, but that’s a whole other mess.”
He ushers me out the door with my bags, still being vague about what he’s insinuating. I can’t be friends with more than one Alpha? Why not? Is there some kind of friendship limit when you’re older? That doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t have time to question it.
We load up the car with all my bags and set out on the long journey ahead.
Mom wanted me to go to the same boarding school she went to as a kid, so she already knows her way around when we arrive.
The campus is intimidatingly huge with old brick buildings spread out around a massive, fresh green lawn.
Several other students are already moving in today too, taking tours and finding where all their classes will be. In the backseat, I take a deep breath.
It’s hard to visualize it, but this is home now for the next several years. I just need to remember my goal and hold onto it. Omega studies, post-Omega studies, and then Comet XI.
Mom walks fast to my dorm building, excited to revisit this place while Dad and I struggle to keep up, following the fast clicks of her heels.
“And there’s the main hall where assemblies and events are held,” she points to a grand building up ahead. “You should sign up for clubs early, Arius. There should be booths set up somewhere with all the opportunities.”
My dad points across the lawn at a herd of canopies, “Like those, Hun?”
“Oh, yes! That’s where you can pick a club to join. I did chess and ceramics back in my day.”
As we pass the tents, my eyes travel around the signs and advertisements. Most of them look like dreadful wastes of time, but I’m intrigued by only one tent. I almost don’t believe my eyes, squinting to read the sign better. Omega empowerment club.
Interesting.
Rebellious.
I thought the whole point of Omega studies was about whipping us into shape. Could it be more than that?
“All right, here we are!” my mom cheers, practically jogging up the steps of the dorm building.
My room is on the top floor and it’s about what I expected.
One side for me, one side for my roommate.
The sign on our door says her name is Becky.
I take it all in, mentally piecing together how I’ll arrange my things in here.
Dad gets choked up a bit but covers it by heading back to the car to grab my bags.
Mom ends up abandoning me too to go find the resident assistant of this floor while I continue to assess my dorm room.
Listening to the flurry of other students moving in early, I meander into the hall, checking everything out. The showers are close to me which is nice. I suppose, I can see myself waking up here every morning. Turning to my left, a few scents reach my nose. Wood shavings, ocean mist, and cast iron.
Alphas.
Shining with sweat, they come up the stairs carrying a heavy piece of furniture for whichever lucky Omega is going all out with the decorations.
I plaster myself to the wall so they can squeeze by.
Even if they weren’t carrying a shelf, I’d have to make way for those muscles alone. They just never stop growing, do they?
Both look at me. And I look at them.
“Hi,” I mumble shyly, tilting my neck respectfully.
“Hey,” the one at the back grins.
The Alpha up front pauses abruptly, making his friend clash with the shelf in their hands. I wince at how painful that looked.
“Pretty sure he was talking to me. Sup, Omega,” he nods his chin up.
The one in the back pushes the shelf in retaliation, making it lurch forward into the guy up front.
“I saw him first, asshole. He looked right at me.”
The two trade death glares for no reason. They can both say hi to me, it’s no big deal. But I think back to what my dad said about how I can’t have more than one Alpha friend. I’m guessing this is why. They get territorial as they get older, and they don’t share.
If Knox meets another Omega, or if I meet another Alpha over the next few years, he won’t want to be my friend anymore.