The walk back home went slowly, he figured it was a fairly long ways to go anyway, but the energy spike he had had when alongside Penny had long since evaporated and he wasn’t walking with much purpose any more.

His best friend could sense it, the listlessness, and suggested they sit down for a bit. He had successfully been keeping Jack’s mind off everything by talking about other stuff, but when they reached a couple of benches and sat down he felt now was the time to ask.

“Are you able to tell me what happened?” he asked apprehensively.

A shudder went down Jack’s spine, and Delon sensed it.

“I dunno, I’d rather not get into it…” he replied.

Truthfully, Jack didn’t want to talk about it. It was too embarrassing for him, and whilst he knew that he probably should open up to Delon so that he realised the extent of what had gone on during the abduction, he also didn’t want to revisit the full extent of his powerlessness, and make it feel real, especially now he could almost pretend things were normal again. Almost.

Some of the more… sexual things were too embarrassing to mention, and they lingered in his mind’s eye for a few moments.

“Ok man, I’m not gonna push you, I mean… but, are you going to try and press charges?” Delon asked.

“I don’t know…” Jack said, looking straight ahead; a thousand-yard stare.

His mind snapped back to when Caitlin positioned herself on top of him. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and tried to refocus.

“I feel like I should, but it’ll get messy, and it’s not like we’ve got the money to take things further.

“And what would my parents think…” he trailed off, starting to well up, wiping his eyes on his arm.

“They’d be m-mortified, they believe keeping me as Beta was the best decision they ever m-made…”

Delon was listening, his face grave with concern, trying to support his friend as best as he could.

“I just, I… want it to go away, I just want to go home, and stay there, and wait long enough that this will go away…

“Then, I don’t have to talk about it, think about it, anything.”

His friend gave a solemn nod, and patted his back gingerly.

“Look, Jack, you’re a good guy, my best mate, I’m with you whatever you decide to do,” he said staunchly.

“And I’m sure Penny will do the same, and perhaps even Alex too. No-one else knows about this, and we’re not going to do anything unless you say so, ok?”

“Ok…” Jack sniffed, looking at Delon, “Ok.”

The gangly teen put his arm around Jack and gave him a bit of a squeeze, inadvertently triggering thoughts of his enormous captor once more.

“For now, let’s put this behind you, get you home, get you rested.”

Delon then changed tack.

“But before that…” he continued, a faint smile creeping onto his face, “I need to know what’s going on between you and this Penny girl.”

Jack felt a pang to his heart, like a jab from a sharp stick.

“Oh,” he said, taken aback, “I dunno, she’s like the only Alpha who’s ever talked to me and stuff,” he explained, trying to appear more unconcerned than he felt.

“I remember you asking about her on Friday, man, how long have you been ‘talking’?” he grinned.

“It’s not like that, Delon,” Jack said sadly, looking down at his shoes.

“Well, she’s tall… nice figure… clever… everything you’re not,” Delon teased.

Jack grew a bit exasperated, even though he knew this was only joshing to cheer him up. Delon didn’t really know what he had been through, and he couldn’t expect his friend to behave in a deathly serious manner if he himself chose to avoid talking about it.

“Shut up, dickhead,” he said, channelling this frustration into a mildly-amused retort.

“Opposites attract, dude,” the gangly teen insisted, “but, fair warning, I ain’t gonna let a girl come between our love,” he joked, rocking Jack’s shoulder back and forth slightly.

“Ah come on, man,” Jack said, smiling wanly and lifting his head up as Delon released him from their makeshift hug, “There’s no chance, I just… I just met her, you know. She rescued me, she… she friggin’ saved me.”

Delon’s grin faded slightly as he straightened up a bit.

“I know, man, I know, she cares about you, you can see it,” he said, “And don’t be so down on yourself either, you’re a good guy, remember that.”

“I guess…” Jack responded.

He sat there watching the world go by for a brief while, and Delon left him to his thoughts, putting his arms behind his head and enjoying the sunshine.

“By the way, I told your mum and dad we’ve been revising at mine,” he finally revealed.

“They’re gonna think we spent the whole time playing video games, but they’re not suspicious, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, thanks Delon,” Jack said, “That makes sense.”

“As for how you’re gonna bunk off school, I dunno, you look pretty spent, I’m sure you could say you’re coming down with something,” his friend added.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, “Could work, I don’t really pull sickies so might be an option, they’ll probably go for it.”

He turned to his friend, “Do I look like complete shit or something?”

Delon gurned a bit by curling his mouth into a grimace, tipping his head from side to side.

“That’s a yes.”

“You’ve looked better,” Delon said, “I’m not saying hedge backwards territory, but you look tired, you need a rest.”

He looked closer, inspecting Jack’s face, “Are those bruises?”

Jack’s face fell, “Are they noticeable?” he asked anxiously.

“Err… not really, but I wouldn’t let your mum look at you too close.”

“Shit,” Jack breathed, puffing his cheeks out.

“I just want to go to bed,” Jack sighed, “And stay there forever…”

Delon looked at him uncomfortably, Jack could tell he was a bit troubled about the bruises, but daren’t ask about them.

As he looked ahead, he also realised with a slow, gnawing sensation that he’d lost two pairs of glasses in a matter of days, and he didn’t have another spare pair. He’d either have to admit to his parents that he’d been incredibly careless, or borrow some money and sneak off into town to get another pair.

His bag, as well, which contained his phone and house keys, was still in his locker at school, so someone, i.e. Delon, would have to retrieve it for him tomorrow.

It was beginning to dawn on him, that even if he managed to stay off school for a few days, it wasn’t going to be easy to make things appear normal…

He put his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes, his friend hadn’t said anything for a while.

“I’m sorry for getting you caught up in all this, Delon, I really am,” Jack said eventually.

“I’m gonna need your help to get my bag from school and I need to get my glasses replaced as well…”

Delon turned to him and looked at him with a sympathetic expression, “Just don’t worry yourself, man, I figured your glasses had been broken or lost or something, I can maybe spot you some money but not right now…”

Delon had a part-time job that meant he usually had a bit spare, usually to spend on video games, or his girlfriend, Candace, whereas he himself hadn’t needed much cash to get by, until now.

“I appreciate it, Delon, I’ll see what my parents are like, though it might be better to say I left them in my bag and buy some time to figure out what to do.”

“Ok, that’s a plan. Where’s your bag then?” Delon asked.

“It’s in my locker, you remember the code? 7-23-12,” Jack told his friend, and waited as he got out his phone to make a note of it.

“Seven, twenty-three, aaaand twelve, ok, got it.

“So… assuming you’re not in tomorrow, I’ll try and bring your bag round after school,” he said, putting his phone back in his pocket.

“Trust me… I’m definitely not coming in tomorrow,” Jack said firmly, his voice wobbling slightly.

After a few more minutes discussing the way they could keep things on the lowdown for a day or so, Delon encouraged him to get to his feet, and they slowly continued on their way. He didn’t push for info about Caitlin or Penny, or anything more to do with the bigger conundrum Jack found himself in, instead turning the conversation towards sports and movies, distracting him and keeping his mind off things quite successfully.

Before long, he began to recognise familiar sleepy, tree-lined roads, and realised he was only a few minutes from home.

They’d both agreed that the best course of action was to start sowing the seeds that Jack was coming down with something, Jack’s mum would be the hardest to convince, but she held a soft spot for Delon so if he played his cards right and put in a top drawer performance, she’d go for it.

Jack got to the front door, and knocked on, his mum opened it after a short wait.

“Nice of you to show up, Mister!” she said, putting a hand on her hip, standing to one side so that the two boys could come inside.

“Thank you, Delon, at least one of you has their head screwed on,” she added, Delon smiled broadly.

“So I hear you haven’t got your keys and phone on you, or even your glasses, by the looks of it?” she berated Jack as he walked inside, clocking his lack of eyewear immediately.

“Left my bag at school,” he said weakly, avoiding eye contact.

She rolled her eyes and tutted, looking at Delon who did his best ‘what is he like’ look.

“Well, at least you’re safe, that’s the main thing,” she added finally, “I suppose you want feeding.”

“I’m not feeling too well, mum,” Jack complained in a small voice, to which she cocked an eyebrow and instinctively turned to Delon for confirmation.

Delon hit his marks to perfection.

“There’s a bit of a bug going round school, Mrs C, a couple of my mates had it last week,” he said sincerely.

“Oh right,” she replied, her eyes narrowing, “I didn’t hear anything from the school.”

“It’s not, like, an epidemic or anything, he’s only just started coming down with something so I just hope I don’t catch it either,” Delon explained.

“Hmmm. You sure you boys haven’t been drinking?”

Delon laughed. Jack was less amused, he knew his mum was referencing an incident where Delon had had to escort him home after a laughably small amount of booze had knocked him for six after getting served underage at a pub on the way home.

It was more embarrassing than anything, spending the night with his head in the toilet whilst his parents ‘helpfully’ suggested remedies and took maximum enjoyment from his teenage folly.

“I wish!” Delon exclaimed, “Honestly though, I’m getting shot of him now, before I get infected.” he added cheekily, amusing Jack’s mum no end.

“I’m sure you’re not a slovenly bum like my boy, though!” she said with zeal, causing Jack to groan.

“No m’am,” Delon agreed.

Jack’s dad suddenly walked past, holding a newspaper.

“Oh, nice of you to make it, Jack, it’s a bit early for you to be awake isn’t it?” he jested.

“I really have to go to bed,” Jack groaned, not really having to embellish his symptoms that much – he was honestly shattered.

“He’s ill, apparently,” Jack’s mum explained, “Bug going round.”

“Too much necking, eh?” his dad suggested, twitching his eyebrows.

Oh god, when would this end?

Delon laughed, ingratiating himself fully within the tried-and-tested family dynamic of heckling Jack, not that he needed any invitation usually.

“Did you get any revision done?” his dad asked.

Delon quickly stepped in.

“To be honest, we did get a fair bit done yesterday,” he lied, “But last night you started to feel a bit run down.”

“Poor little soldier,” Jack’s dad said, with the merest dollop of sympathy.

“I’ll be alright, I just need rest,” Jack said, motioning that he was going to head to his room with his weary arms.

“Ok ok, well get going then,” his mum said, turning back to Delon, “And thanks, Delon, for bringing him home, at least you’re not a hopeless scroat.”

The gangly teen beamed, “I try my best,” he said.

“Catch you soon, J,” he added, raising his arm as Jack slowly ambled off towards his bedroom, “Rest easy.”

Jack raised his arm feebly as a goodbye and pushed against the door, entering his own space for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

He closed the door behind him and went and sat on the bed. Curiously, his room now felt strangely claustrophobic, rather poky and restrictive. His bed seemed so tiny, like he was some kind of dwarf, living in a little house. Perhaps he had acclimatised to the Alpha environments he had been in recently more than he realised, and his sense of scale had skewed.

Taking off his shoes, he lifted his legs up and got under the covers fully-clothed, then turned onto his side and closed his eyes. Whilst tired, he wasn’t sleepy, his head was careening all over the place, unsure how to worry about Caitlin, Penny, going back to school, and everything else.

He still felt incredibly empty, almost sick to the stomach, and brought his knees and arms into his body to kinda hold himself in the foetal position.

Without having to stand on ceremony, talk to anyone or pretend things were ok, tears wormed their way out of his tightly scrunched eyelids and streamed down his face as he finally allowed himself to think about it all.

Abject humiliation was the thing at the forefront of his mind; he had never felt so vulnerable, weak and defenceless. He’d been either roughhoused or ignored for years by the Übermensch-like Alphas, but in fact he’d underestimated how effectively he could be neutralised if any of them truly trained their sights on him. It wasn’t just the physical mismatch, there was a psychological chasm between what he felt he could do to one of them, and what they all knew they could do to him. That self-confidence came so easily, so nonchalantly, that the only thing stopping him from being forced to endure misery after misery at the hands of unstoppable giants was that most of them barely cared that he existed.

And then Penny, the outlier. As tall as any Alpha he’d ever met, Caitlin excluded, but her demeanour was so different to the others. He began to wonder if something was in fact wrong with this gentle giantess, before tightening his fists until his knuckles went white, resolving to never again think something as heartless and idiotic. Something about that girl… affected him deeply. Maybe he wasn’t truly in love, but he felt an infatuation, a deep desire to be a part of her life. Perhaps it was selfish of him to think that way, to view her as some kind of solution to his plight. She wasn’t an angel sent to give him hope, or some kind of protector, she was just a teenager struggling to deal with life, exactly like him.

He felt a pang of guilt, terrified he was imbuing this burgeoning friendship with misplaced yearning and unrequited love that she simply could not return.

Turning his head and pressing it into the pillow to blot out the tears, he attempted to rid himself of the idea that Penny could truly feel the same way about him.