As Penny crouched down to rest on her knees next to him, Jack immediately felt himself welling up with powerful emotions he couldn’t control.

She’d barely settled herself for a second before he found himself stepping forward to her more extensive frame, almost tripping over her folded legs in his haste and wrapping his little arms either side of her torso, startling her with suddenness of his actions. He squeezed the bigger girl’s body as hard as he possibly could with his arms, knowing that even if he used all of his strength, she would barely notice the difference.

Long, gentle limbs wrapped around him in return, temporarily blanketing him from the world.

He melted into her, pressing his face against her chest as his eyes glistened with tears once more.

“It’s ok,” she whispered down, giving his body a gentle squeeze.

He felt so vulnerable and tiny in her arms; he was holding her to him as firmly as he physically could, hard enough that his muscles were trembling with the effort. It probably felt as fragile and delicate to her as her own compassionate, restrained hug was for him.

“It’s ok…” she repeated softly, unfurling her arms as he continued to cling to her for a few more moments before stepping back, wiping the moisture from his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said, embarrassed at his own sensitivity and how intense he had made the situation.

“Don’t be,” she replied with a warm smile, sitting back on her heels and putting her hands on her knees. He hadn’t fully taken stock of her appearance in the sudden onrush of emotion, but she was sporting an old-fashioned style summer dress which revealed a lot more of her body than the more unassuming outfits she had worn prior. She looked absolutely perfect; her long sandy-brown hair tucked over her shoulder and her willowy but surprisingly svelte arms exposed.

“So… um… how are you?” She asked nervously, a look of concern in her eyes, stooping her body a little to look down on him less.

“I’m holding together,” he said, his voice trembling slightly.

She noticed his glasses, reaching out and touching the side of his face ever so delicately with her large fingers to examine them.

“Wait… aren’t these…?” she began.

“Alex,” he explained, “She grabbed them from… you know... I think.”

“That’s… really nice of her,” Penny replied, looking surprised and perhaps a little impressed.

“I know… right?” he said, puffing out his cheeks then inhaling deeply, wanting more than anything to fall back into the towering girl’s arms once more to feel safe.

An idle daydream flashed into his mind of doing so, causing a rush of butterflies to fill his belly.

“Hey…” a familiar voice said, a voice belonging to Delon.

Jack rubbed his eyes embarrassedly before turning around, attempting to disguise the rawness of his mental state from his friend.

“Hey… Delon,” he coughed, clearing his throat, his eyes slightly red from the tears.

“You doing alright, man?” he asked, looking at Penny and giving her a concerned look.

“I’m fine, just been tough today is all…” he said quietly.

“Keep going, you’re doing fine,” Penny said, giving him a warm smile.

“Yeah, stay strong, dude,” Delon added reassuringly, “Nearly there now.”

“Thank you so much, guys,” Jack smiled, sniffing and laughing dorkily.

“New glasses already?” Delon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, um… Alex, actually, she managed to grab them and gave them to me,” Jack explained.

“Oh… wow,” Delon said, taken aback, “Alex eh? Mad.”

The three of them quickly agreed upon a plan of action for lunch; Delon would scope out a quiet area, Penny would accompany Jack there, and they would make sure that he was safe until lessons resumed.

Delon left swiftly, and Jack and Penny were alone in the library once more.

As Jack waited for a text from Delon, he spoke to Penny quietly before finally getting round to checking the notifications that had buzzed in his pocket the lesson before lunch.

Penelope Lévesque (friend request pending)

P: I hope you’re ok today

P: I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help, I’m in the library now

P: If you can come here at lunchtime I’m sure I can help you and Delon

P: Stay strong, I know you’ll be ok

P: Penny x

He started to well up again, looking from the screen up at Penny herself as she gazed off to one side thoughtfully.

Her profile was lit by a brilliant ray of sunshine that cut through from the window across the way, picking out her features against the dim library interior.

She turned back to him, the beam passing across her face causing her to squint slightly, and her expression softened as she saw the look in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she said, ducking out of the dazzling sunlight to see him better.

“…nothing,” he replied quietly, pressing the button on the side of his phone to turn off the screen.

“I’m sure you’re thinking about… her,” Penny ventured reluctantly, her eyes drifting downwards a bit before shooting back to meet his gaze sharply.

“I know you’re nervous, but we will protect you as best we can,” she explained quietly, a steely resolve underpinning the gentleness of her voice and mannerisms.

“Thank you, Penny,” Jack said, his face betraying how much it meant to him, how close to crying he really was.

She brought her long arms around him again, the lightly freckled skin and soft hairs so clearly visible at such a scale, and held him for a number of seconds as he allowed himself to sink into the beautiful feeling of security she gave him once more.

Before too long, Delon texted him with a location, and he and Penny carefully made their way through the school, the lofty girl shadowing him and keeping watch discreetly so as not to draw unnecessary attention to the pair of them.

Delon had found a secluded corner of the school grounds near some leafy trees, both Penny and Jack approached him quickly and sat down with their backs leant against the tree trunks. It was secluded and out of the way from where most of the students would go. Jack reached into his bag and brought out his Tupperware lunchbox, fishing out the yoghurt pot and stabbing at its contents with a small plastic spoon indifferently.

No-one really said anything for a while, Delon ate his food seemingly within a matter of seconds, as usual, and Penny didn’t appear to have brought anything to eat. Jack offered her some of his as he wasn’t especially hungry, but she shook her head, encouraging him to eat as much as he possibly could. It’s not like it would have been more than a few mouthfuls for her anyway.

His appetite was shot, butterflies constantly fluttering throughout his insides as thoughts about where he was, and who that meant he was in the vicinity of, kept rising to the surface.

A couple of times kids ran past near where they were, and Jack had to fight the urge to duck or scramble out of sight entirely, and Penny seemed to sense this, looking across at him knowingly, soothing him, intentionally or otherwise, with her warm smile.

“So, Penny,” said Delon, flipping his long-since-empty Tupperware box from hand to hand carelessly like a football, “How tall are you exactly?”

Jack felt a pang of something strange. Almost like… jealousy… like Delon asking this question to her was inappropriate, or untoward… when, of course, it really wasn’t.

“Oh… I’m twelve seven,” she replied, looking over at the gangly Beta, “Though I might have a few more inches to go,” she added, her expression hard to place.

“You’re still growing?” Delon asked, turning to look at her quizzically as he popped the box up in the air and caught it between his fingertips, spinning it round and placing it down on the ground between his legs.

“…Yeaaah,” she said in a drawn out way, brushing her arm gently and bringing it against her body, “Not loads, but not done yet, it seems.”

“Wow,” Delon said, looking over at Jack, who was beginning to feel uncomfortable, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he felt his best friend was being a little impolite, or if he was just being way too precious over Penny.

“I’m sure it’ll stop soon,” Jack said weakly, looking over at the girl to see if she was still inexpressive. She turned back to him and her eyes lit up a little.

“Perhaps,” she said, “Or maybe I’ll just keep growing forever,” she smiled, looking right at him with her eyes twinkling.

“I thought you didn’t want that?” Jack replied, confused, momentarily forgetting that Delon was right there. He felt bad as soon as he said it, realising too late how blunt he sounded.

“Oh… well, yeah… I guess not,” she said quietly, the glint fading from her eye as she drew her arms in close. His stomach lurched as he realised he had put his foot in it yet again, and closed his eyes in frustration.

Delon said nothing for a moment, perhaps sensing the awkwardness.

“Well it’s English this afternoon, just a double period of that with me and then you’re done,” he said eventually, punctuating the silence.

“Mmhmm,” murmured Jack, still trying to undo his last comment in his head, distant and very apprehensive about being outside.

“I can… walk you home if you want to stay after school…” offered Penny, “If Delon walks you to the library again we can wait until most people have gone.”

“That would work,” agreed Delon, looking to Jack for confirmation.

He paused, weighing up that it was probably a better option than trying to make it to the school bus, which usually ran late anyway - he did not want to be stood outside school waiting for any length of time.

“I guess… if that’s ok with you, Penny…?” Jack asked, looking over at her, afraid to catch her disappointed expression after his latest stupid comment.

A gentle smile signified that if he had upset her, it was only temporary, and this gave him a great sense of relief.

They spoke a little about school, and the teachers that they knew mutually despite the year’s difference, until it was approaching time to get back to class. Penny headed off first, giving Jack a little squeeze of the shoulder as she did so, and after a few minutes Delon escorted him through the throngs of giant schoolchildren and to the classroom, keeping watch vigilantly without looking too obvious about it.

They arrived in plenty of time, before all but a couple of the other students had arrived, and he got all of his stuff out on his desk and waited patiently. Delon turned around to check on him a couple of times, flashing him a supportive smile. All he had to do was see this through and get to the library, and then he could spend some more time in Penny’s company – a thought that filled him with such warm feelings.

The classroom soon filled up, and Jack caught a snapshot of familiar grey shorts and long, toned legs as Alex walked past his little desk and sat a short distance away at her own oversized one. He cautiously turned to look at her as she rooted into her bag and took out her things, she seemed a bit perturbed, puffing her cheeks out as if she was tired or run down. Her eyes snapped over to him, and Jack felt himself freeze, but her stare wasn’t harsh or unfriendly, she looked at him almost with weariness, like she was slightly upset, even.

She blinked at him subconsciously and went back to fetching her books, before focusing her attention on the front of the room as the teacher began the introduction to their latest assignment.

As the teacher spoke at length, Jack found himself propping himself up, first with one arm, and then both arms, as the strain of the day began to catch up with him. The teacher’s voice was pretty monotonous and he was finding it hard to pay attenti-

“NOOOOO!!!!”

The sound of 20 or more Alpha students braying with laughter immediately flooded his senses, his eyes darting around in panic only to be confronted with leering faces peering down at him, some even rising out of their chairs to get a glimpse of the hapless Beta.

He realised, by virtue of the slight drool trail in the corner of his lip, that it was he who had screamed out loud after falling asleep at his desk.

He caught a quick glimpse of Alex as his gaze met hers, and hers was one of the few faces not contorted in grotesque mirth at his sorry predicament. His face flushed red as he then saw the teacher, Mrs. Greenbaum, a petite (for an Alpha) middle-aged woman march towards him with an unimpressed expression plastered on her face.

“Crawford, care to contribute something?” she enunciated sharply, glaring way down at him, an eyebrow raised in disapproval.

He felt himself beginning to shrink in his chair and well up as a couple of the others called out; one of the lads towards the back contributing a slightly-too-loud “What a little pussy,” during an inopportune lull in other peoples’ chatter, drawing the ire of Mrs. Greenbaum, who immediately turned her attention to him instead. With the class’ focus drawn towards the Alpha outcrier, Jack felt his classmates’ attention leave him and then follow the teacher as she paced back towards the front of the room once more after berating the other boy.

“I hope for your sakes there are no further interruptions,” she said pointedly, glancing over at both of them in turn before continuing with the lesson.

Jack allowed his head to sink down onto the desk and tried to stem the wave of embarrassment. He just wanted the world to swallow him up then and there.

The rest of the double lesson passed without further embarrassment, though it became a fight to keep himself awake towards the end, the fear of drifting off jabbing sharply at his heart whenever he felt like he might close his eyes briefly and succumb to his exhaustion.

When class finished, Jack slowly packed his stuff away as many of the Alphas strolled past, some of whom still talking about his outburst with glee and gesticulating down at him. He tried to ignore them, but looked up in fright as he saw Mrs. Greenbaum standing not 4 yards away from him, her expression stoic, but not angry or domineering.

“What was that little outburst about, Jack?” she said calmly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she towered over his seated form.

“I don’t know…” he said, intimidated at having this adult woman loom over him. He was not used to one of the teachers paying him so much attention, at least not for having done something wrong.

“I’ve not been feeling well today,” he said, zipping up his bag and looking up at her, cradling it to his chest like a security blanket. He caught a glimpse of Alex’s tall form sidle past the teacher, her red hoodie catching his eye as she exited the room.

Mrs. Greenbaum looked down at him, pressing her lips together. He could tell she wasn’t buying the ‘I’m not well, Miss’ excuse, but she probably wasn’t especially concerned about the disruption such an insignificant student might stir up. She arguably felt it was her duty to follow things up, but whether it was pity, or indifference, she quickly lost whatever incentive she had to berate him further.

“Well let’s just try to keep interruptions to the class to a minimum in future… it’s not like you to want to be the centre of attention, I expect it from students like Collins,” she said, meaning the boy who had been caught shouting out, “But not from you – you’re usually quite the invisible man.”

Her words were matter-of-fact, but the truth behind them was quite the back-handed observation.

“I am sorry, Miss, it won’t happen again,” he said, looking up at her and trying to put on his most earnest expression.

She nodded at him sagely and then turned on her heel, going back to her desk to pack her own things. Jack rushed to his feet and walked briskly to the door, very grateful to find Delon waiting just outside for him.

“You ok, man?” he asked, starting to walk alongside his clearly agitated and jaded friend.

“Let’s just get to the library, please,” Jack replied sharply, his energy level rapidly becoming a concern.

Delon led the way, with Jack following close behind. The library wasn’t very far, only a couple of corners and a corridor, but it was busy, and he was still incredibly scared that he would be discovered with the end so very nearly in sight.

As they hugged the side of the wall and avoided some of the larger bodies, Jack happened to look up and see Hannah, the buxom blonde, walking in the opposite direction. He kept his head down and was relieved to see her curvy stride continue apace, but reminded himself to not be so lax in future. He was insignificant enough to not be spotted if he just kept his face out of sight, and avoided detection – easy enough at Beta size, with the Alphas’ attention usually fixated on a much higher plane.

As soon as he finished giving himself a telling-off, a colossal set of very toned legs ending in pink and white trainers strode purposefully past. His neck locked in place, forcing his head down. His breath caught in his throat as the temptation to verify it was exactly who he thought it was clawed at his brain. He kept his feet moving, focusing on Delon, putting the blinkers on, and distance between himself and the person he wanted to bump into least.

His heart pounding with fear, they made it to the library. Delon pressed the button to open the library doors and they passed through the Alpha-sized anti-theft gates, making their way to the corner of the library where Penny had agreed to meet them. He felt safer here; there was zero reason for Caitlin to venture inside, but the spectre of her haunted him.

He could only assume he’d passed within a couple of feet of her. It was more than enough to startle him half to death.