He didn’t remember falling asleep, but something wasn’t right.

He was still in the bed, and Penny was asleep with her back turned away from him, her body rising and falling as she inhaled and exhaled softly, her long, sandy-brown locks strewn across her shoulders, occasionally tickling his arm.

The door. The door was open slightly, he could see the light from the hall.

That’s when it hit him, there was a silhouetted figure inside the room.

“Miss me, Jack?” a familiar voice boomed.

He screamed, turning to Penny and started frantically pounding her back with his hands to try and wake her. He smacked her again and again, but her body didn’t budge, he only succeeded in throwing her hair everywhere as the imposter stooped down so that he could see her face lit by the pale green glow of the LED alarm clock.

Caitlin reached down and grabbed him firmly by the shoulder, an evil smile spreading wide across her freckled face.

“Jack! Jack, it’s me.”

He struck out at the hand holding his shoulder, which quickly released him.

He wasn’t screaming, but his mouth was open to, and he was making gasping, rasping noises as he was in complete disarray. He tried to look around but realised his vision was actually really blurry, and it wasn’t night-time at all. His eyelids flickered as crusty bits of sleep got caught in his lashes, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.

“You’re safe, you’re safe,” Penny said over and over, the strain in her voice very evident indeed.

He couldn’t really speak, his brain was slow to engage, he heard himself make a kind of murmured, creaky noise, and his eyes were beginning to adjust. Penny was right next to him, her hands raised above him as if she wanted to do something but didn’t know what would help, her right arm was tucked back against her chest and fingers were scrunched up. He realised he had hit her, and this was why she had drawn her arm in like that.

“Oh god, what do I do?” she said, her voice breaking up, “Shit shit shit.”

He felt her large body clamber right over him as she got out of bed from the far side and went and sat down by the bedside, still looking at him and figuring out what to do, pressing her head into her hands.

He fought to control his breathing and coughed a couple of times, trying to calm himself.

“I’m ok…” he croaked, holding his arms up to his head and resting his fingertips on his forehead. “Nightmare.”

There was a pause as he realised that Penny was crying.

Her fingers were clasped over her face, and he could see the wet trails of tears between them. She was shaking.

“It’s me isn’t it?” she rationalised, “It’s because I’m the same as the rest...”

“No no no,” he coughed, rolling himself onto his side, “Penny, it’s not you.”

She still continued to sob.

“I’m a monster,” she whispered, turning away from him and looking at the ground.

Jack slid the duvet off of his body and swept his legs over the side of the bed, dropping to the floor. He wanted to console her, to apologise for upsetting her. It wasn’t her fault, it wouldn’t ever be.

He was completely spaced, unlike last night, he was struggling to get up to speed, and his balance was a bit wobbly.

“You’re not, at all,” he said in a ragged little voice, blinking to get the fuzz from his eyesight.

“That’s what I feel like, Jack,” she continued, head down, “It scares me.”

“What are you scared of?” he asked, confused as to how she, the towering Alpha girl, could possibly be frightened of anything.

“Being a freak. Being so much bigger than another person. Hurting you…”

He swallowed, “You’re not a freak.”

She looked at him, even sat down with her shoulders slumped her face was still higher than his, her luminous green eyes shiny with tears.

“I’m literally a freak, Jack, I spent a lot of time in Hospital because of what GH-X2 did to my body.”

She sighed heavily and looked up to the sky.

“I wish I’d never been put on it.”

“And I wish I had, Penny, I wish every day that I was normal, you know, the same height as Alphas…” he shot back, not angrily, but to try and explain that it wasn’t as simple as that.

“It’s not normal though, is it? You’re normal, we’re all giants,” she insisted, “And I’m extra giant…”

She bit her lip.

“In a world of giants, being normal is abnormal,” he said sadly, sort-of agreeing with her on that, at least.

“I just want to be happy, you know,” she said, “I feel very alone, even though I’m… normal. I do understand you, Jack, it must feel like life grew away from you, but with me, I grew too fast, I grew away from my friends.

“I was close to death, and my reward for surviving was to be bullied for being too gangly, too freakish, and I was pushed away for not fitting in. I don’t get to talk to too many people, other than my folks, and they’re not the most worldly of people,” she half-smiled wistfully.

 “I’ve always been interested in the world before growth hormone, but looking into it, watching old movies and such, it reminds me that I’m not of that world, and won’t ever be. Going to museums and everything is so tiny, so fragile, I can’t ever experience what it’s like to drive an old motor car, ride a horse, go inside a church or a temple or any old building, for that matter, without crawling on my hands and knees.

“And to top it all off, I always wanted to be an actress, but at 12’ 7” with perhaps a couple inches more to grow, the only roles I’m going to get are lesbians or aliens or something, they can’t have me towering over the male lead…”

She paused, realising that she had spoken at length without really stopping for breath.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to unload on you, I just, seeing you like that really scared me… brought some stuff to the surface I guess.”

“Did I mention I don’t really get to talk to people much,” she laughed nervously, wiping her eyes with her fingers and sniffing.

Jack looked at her, a little overwhelmed to be honest. Despite her face being red and flushed from crying, she was still incredibly pretty, especially with her big eyes looking right at him intently.

He took two paces forward, and before he knew it, kissed her straight on the lips.

Penny pulled away in shock, and he began to realise what he’d done. She didn’t look disgusted, or angry, just surprised and confused.

“Oh ssssshit… I’m s-sorry,” he gasped, “I…” his voice trailed off. He felt so embarrassed, it was almost an involuntary reaction, like he’d daydreamed of it but in fact it had actually happened.

A wave of anxiety flushed over him, why the fuck had he done that?

She didn’t do anything for a moment, and he just stood there, he took a step back to show that he wasn’t going to do anything further.

“I didn’t mean it, I… I don’t know what came over me,” he said, half-truthfully.

She just looked back at him, almost blankly, before giving him a concerned smile.

“I feel so stupid, I dunno, but you’ve been so kind, and…”

She leaned forward and gave him a peck on the forehead, her warm lips spreading out slightly as they touched his skin, and before he knew it, they were gone.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said warmly, reaching out and touching him on the shoulder.

He felt like a prize idiot, her reaction was very sweet, but if anything it confirmed all of his friend-zone suspicions. She was probably too nice to say so, but he’d handed her a massive chunk of evidence over on a plate, and she’d just sort-of shrugged it off.

He felt a bit angry, a lot hopeless, a real tumult of shitty assumptions and hypotheses bubbling away. It was only made worse because he’d just witnessed Penny open up to him so much, as if she’d extended a hand of understanding and companionship and he’d just jumped into it headfirst like a lovesick fool.

“I just don’t want to hurt anyone, you know,” she said finally, mercifully carrying on as if the awkward kiss hadn’t happened. “And when you’re bigger than almost everyone, especially Betas, I don’t know… it just makes you feel useless, clumsy, a bit of an oaf.

“I know that you won’t appreciate me saying this, not after what you’ve been through, but I do often wish I was shorter, then I could fit in, and not stick out like a sore thumb. Even if I was a Beta, I could go and explore the old world, it’s only here in the West that growth hormone is widely used, there’s so much more to see.”

He could see her point of view, even if he could not agree that it was as bad as being too small.

“I’d trade with you in a heartbeat,” he admitted, “I would give anything to stand up for myself, to not have to rely on the kindness of others, to help you, to repay you, because as I am right now, I just can’t.”

“There’s nothing to repay, Jack,” she said, smiling at him, still holding his shoulder gently.

He felt guilt, again, at how he couldn’t handle his emotions, but he could also see that Penny struggled similarly with coping with life, from her own perspective, and maybe helping one another, whether by talking, or just being there, was as important a thing as he could have wished for.

He could feel her eyes wandering as she examined his face, and he remembered that he probably still looked like a bit of a mess.

“I should probably get myself cleaned up,” he suggested, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, let me just check if the coast is clear,” she said helpfully, scooching back to give him space and then standing up to go to the door.

Jack walked over to his clothes draped over the radiator, they felt nice and dry so at least he could put them on after a quick wash. He grabbed them and tucked them under his arm.

“My parents sound like they’re cooking breakfast downstairs,” Penny said, “So I’d say you’ve got a window.”

He followed her out of the door, and across the hall to the bathroom, struggling to keep pace with her long, pajama-clad legs. Entering the bathroom, she moved a little stepped stool next to the sink as if to guide him, and then went back to the doorway.

“Try not to take too long, but I’ll be right outside and I’ll let you know if the situation changes,” the lofty girl advised, stepping out and putting her hand on the door handle.

“I’ll knock when I’m done,” he said, “I’ll only be a minute.”

She nodded and closed the door, leaving him to contend with the Alpha-size bathroom.

First of all, he scaled the step stool, a fairly old-looking thing, possibly, like the staircase, a remnant of the cross-compatibility stages of growth hormone adoption. It was about 3-4 feet high so it enabled him to reach the taps and fill the sink with warm water, so he was able to set about washing the dried blood from his around his mouth using hand soap and examine his appearance. Fortunately, he wasn’t nearly as bruised as he felt, though the purple-ish discolouration might be visible if someone really, i.e. his mum, really looked at him closely.

He peeled off Penny’s makeshift outfit, and very quickly gave himself a body wash, conscious that at any moment she might open the door if her parents did something unexpected. It wasn’t exactly thorough, but it made him feel a lot better to check that everything was intact, if you know what I mean. He stepped off the stool and used a hand-towel to dry himself quickly, before dressing in his clothes and pushing the stool into the corner. It wasn’t exactly comfortable to have to go commando, but infinitely preferable to wearing nothing at all, or Alpha girl’s clothes.

He walked over to the door and gave a couple of quiet knocks, and watched as the enormous plane of panelled wood swung out towards him slowly, wary of bashing into him. High above, Penny’s face appeared around the door and looked down at him.

“All done?” she asked, to which he nodded.

They walked back over to her room, and she closed the door behind them and wedged the doorstop underneath for security. She sat down on the bed and he walked past her, spotting the video case from last night by the side of the bed. Penny glanced at the alarm clock and he turned to see that it read 9.57 AM.

“Delon told me last night he would aim to stop by and walk you home at 10.30,” she mentioned casually, turning to look at him, completely puncturing his mood out of nowhere.

She hadn’t ever mentioned that he would be staying for any length of time, so it was purely his assumption, but it still hit him in the gut. A part of him, no, almost all of him, had been looking forward to spending time with this girl so badly.

She could almost see his face fall, it was hard for him to not look crestfallen in that moment. He could see her expression soften as she recognised what he must have felt.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to stay…” she explained hesitantly, “I’ve just got a load of stuff to sort out with my parents today and I wasn’t expecting… company.

“I should have told you last night, I didn’t think,” she said apologetically, “Everything was a bit of a blur.”

He stayed strong, he didn’t want her to see that it got to him.

“No, it makes perfect sense, I don’t want to inconvenience you,” he said rationally.

“If I have time, I’ll try and swing by later on,” she said hopefully, though he couldn’t tell if she was just saying that to appease him, to make him feel better.

The bitter, more twisted parts of his psyche were busy scoffing at what she said, turning everything she uttered into a Machiavellian sub-plot to completely ruin any ideas of him being anything more than a little Beta buddy to this willowy, kind-natured Alpha girl. How he hated his brain, in this instant as much as any other. He had 30 minutes left with her, and he just had to cherish them, because they’d be gone as soon as he blinked.

“I’m sure Delon will be much better to talk to than me too,” she continued self-effacingly, shrugging slightly, “I’m sure he won’t just inundate you with his problems like I did!” she said, as if trying to force a laugh out of him. It didn’t really work, and he felt like a shithead for not playing along with her, but he just didn’t feel like it.

There was a bit of a pause, it felt awkward for both of them, he didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know what to do.

“I’ll, umm, be just a sec, I’ll put on something a bit more suitable,” she eventually said, standing up and going over to her wardrobe.

He watched her flick through some of the clothes hangers with a plastic click-clack sound, selecting a pair of jeans and grey t-shirt, before she left the room.

As soon as she left, and pulled the door to behind her, he thumped himself in the head roughly with his fist. He could feel the tears welling up, but he had to control himself. What the hell was working him up so much?

The juxtaposition of being given so much harmful attention by Caitlin, and feeling like he was in the friend-zone with Penny because she was so careful around him that he couldn’t even tell if she just being nice or if she actually liked him was seriously stretching his emotions thin.

He paced around, vowing to himself to get a handle on his overthinking, hyper-reactive brain, and to get himself home, figure out a way to get out of school for a few days, and not worry about anything Alpha-related for a while. Watch a few movies, get his head straight, refresh… reboot.

Penny came back in a short while later with her hair tied back into a kind of bun, she was obviously wearing the attire she had selected from her wardrobe, and if anything the slim jeans and t-shirt emphasised her long, slender proportions as much as anything he’d seen her wear before.

He could see that despite her relatively skinny physique, she had a surprisingly wiry build, perhaps due to the GH-X2, which made Alphas naturally very conducive to putting on muscle. It didn’t really change the way he viewed her, of course, as his feelings for her stemmed from something more than how physically attractive she was, but it was something that did not escape his attention.

Jack felt bad, he felt overemotional, upset, and quite frankly he felt like he was being an arse.

Penny didn’t deserve this, he had no right to expect her to swoon over him, to see him as some kind of miniature Romeo, he just… he just wanted her to look at him the way he looked at her, more than anything. Especially given what she said about their past, how she had been fond of him, and especially because she was by far the closest thing to an Alpha friend and confidant he had ever had, or dreamed of having.

All of this was just happening crazy fast… his head was reeling. It was probably a good thing that he was going to go home shortly, he could rely on Delon for support, as his oldest friend, and then go straight to bed and mope, over-analyse and slowly come to terms with things over an extended period of time, without completely alienating Penny and making her think he was a peculiar, creepy little guy.

She had asked him what he wanted to do about 10 seconds ago. He’d just sort-of gawped up at her without really saying anything, and the cute smile that was forming on her face suggested that she thought it was pretty funny.

“I’m sorry Penny… I’m just not myself,” he said suddenly, as if sparking back into life.

She looked down at him, her gentle expression suggested she understood. She took a couple of long strides and sat down on the bed, then beckoned for him to jump up and sit next to her.

He walked over and hauled himself up, resting his legs over the edge and taking in the sensation of sitting so close to her, nearly falling into the dent she made on the mattress, quietly marvelling at the length of her limbs compared to his own.

Without saying a word, she slipped an enormous hand over his, and gently sealed her fingers around it, and whilst it was as gentle as could be, he knew only too well the power that an Alpha could wield without trying.

He couldn’t tell if he was more scared or enthralled, but deep down he knew she wasn’t the kind of person to do anything sinister, so he kept his fear in check and looked up into her pretty face as she looked down at him.

Her expression was sad, but warm, as she gripped his hand so delicately. She didn’t say anything, but he knew what she meant, and he was grateful for it. He rested his head against her arm without really thinking about it, it just seemed right, and the pair of them sat there for a short while, simply happy to be in each other’s company.