That had been too close for comfort. Way too close.

His heart was pounding. Why had Caitlin gone for this locker? This was Alex’s locker, right?

Why would she go into her friend’s locker?

Had he been left deliberately? But if so, it was locked, and Caitlin seemingly didn’t know the code…

As his heartrate slowed, it began to sink in that if Caitlin actually had opened the door, Jack had had no plan, no way of escape, nothing. He shuddered to think of how naïve he had been. Whilst he had been sat in the locker feeling comparatively safe, he should really have been considering his options in case the worst was to happen, because, if he had learned anything today… it was that fortune might not favour him at all.

He at least had his phone on him this time round, and seeing as he had been in contact with Delon, he knew someone trustworthy was aware of exactly where he was. It wasn’t much, but there was a little leverage there; he could have an ‘I’m being kidnapped’ message prepared to send, and even if she removed his phone from him as soon as she could, he could claim it or others had been sent. It was debatable whether it would make her reconsider her actions – as Delon had expressed, the usual channels of justice were unlikely to apply because of her standing within school and society, and her father’s wealth and influence - there was a chance, however, and it was just about all he had to fight with…

Taking his phone from his pocket with trembling hands, he checked the time, just to see how much longer he might have to wait.

4:15PM

Alex had been gone for a long time, which was concerning, but seeing as Caitlin had only just left the changing area, that might have been the trigger she was waiting for…

That was of course, assuming she was coming back. That her intention was actually to help him, not lock him in there for some malicious reason. The constant gnawing, agonising, infuriating uncertainty was beginning to weary him.

He quickly composed a very short message, and saved it to his notes on the phone.

Caitlin Reid has found me - being kidnapped – call police

He copied it and pasted it to his messenger app just to check it worked, and once satisfied it could be done fairly quickly, then deleted it from messenger so he didn’t send it to Delon by accident and give him a heart attack.

The exact wording was not only to alert Delon, or whoever, to his plight – it was also to try and make it look as damning and serious as possible if Caitlin grabbed his phone and read what he had put: her full name, the nature of the offence, and the immediate threat of police intervention.

Caitlin discovering him trapped in the locker would pretty much be a doomsday scenario though… with no-one around to intervene, and Alex’s subversion being revealed either as treachery towards Caitlin, or towards him… shit would hit the fan all round. In addition, seeing as he had already escaped from her house under suspicious circumstances, her immediate reaction was not likely to be restrained, or pleasant.

The dominant girl was more than capable of cruelty to get her way; she could easily punish him, torture him, force the truth from him and in turn train her sights on Penny or Delon, or even Alex. The idea that she’d break his spirit and not only would he suffer terribly, but the people who had tried to help and protect him would be put in harm’s way too, that was excruciating to think about. He could barely envisage having the strength to withstand her now; his experiences had left him humbled and frightened that she was capable of far more than she had already showed him if she really felt like injuring him, or delivering more ‘life lessons’ to the fragile Beta.

Penny… he thought. He was still so worried about her absence, what it meant and why.

How he wished she had been in school today… not only would none of this have happened, but at least he would have known she was ok…

He leant his head back against the cold metal interior of his locker ‘cell’ and tried to focus his thoughts, closing his eyes, lowering his heart rate. Think of Penny. Think of getting out of this place. Caitlin’s gone, it’s just a waiting game now…

His eyes had adjusted a bit after he had stopped looking out of the locker grille, so now he could see the contents of the locker much more clearly.

The hair accessories and deodorant can gave no clue as to the owner, they were generic and unlabelled. Not even a lurid shade of pink, or a big letter C or A. So far, so unremarkable.

Rummaging underneath himself, he pulled out the grey t-shirt he was half-sat on. It didn’t smell particularly of Caitlin’s perfume, and the listed size was a large number that could theoretically have been either girl, he just didn’t have a good enough idea of Alpha dimensions to even speculatively guess. There was no name tag or any way of differentiating it from any other musty old t-shirt left lying in a locker, not even a brand name or a pattern, so it was essentially a dead end.

As he inspected the shirt, he noticed something was positioned right in the back corner of the locker; an object he hadn’t noticed due to the massive t-shirt obscuring it before… an Alpha-size blue inhaler with the prescription sticker scraped off.

Alex didn’t strike him as the asthmatic type, in fact, he’d never really considered that Alphas, who generally seemed in such great shape, suffered from things as mundane and… human as that… but in truth, why shouldn’t they? She was sporty and he knew that athletes sometimes suffered from shortness of breath, an inhaler was not completely unprecedented.

Caitlin though… she was so colossal and powerful. She’d barely broken sweat when working out in her room and was so obviously, utterly dominant. Surely it couldn’t be hers…

He inspected the inhaler and, again, there was nothing to identify its owner. It could be either girl’s, or maybe it wasn’t even theirs… though it would be weird for it to have just been left there and forgotten about.

He put the blue plastic cylinder down next to his feet and sighed. His attention was drawn back to the hair clips, and the hair brush. His eyesight becoming more responsive to the dark by the minute, he noticed that there were a few strands of hair embedded deep down between the plastic bristles of the brush.

He picked the paddle-shaped brush up and looked at it closely, holding it closer to the dim light that came from the locker door.

The hairs were very shiny and dark… raven-coloured, in fact.

Footsteps began to approach, so he moved his head closer to the door to see who it was. His eyes took a few moments to adjust to the brightness, ruining his night vision, but he simply couldn’t afford to sit and wait.

Jack’s main concern was that it might be a janitor locking up, but the steps sounded more light-footed, most likely a girl wearing sports shoes. It was difficult to tell exactly, because the metal cube he was trapped inside did strange things to the sound, but with his ear pressed against the door it definitely sounded like that, though the rhythm was a bit uneven.

A slight cough was heard just before the person walked into the locker room.

He twisted his head to look through the vents, and from his vantage point he see the legs as they entered; clad in black sweatpants, quite shapely and adorned with white and red sneakers.

It was Alex.

A sense of relief began to wash over him… but it was to be very, very short-lived.

“I still don’t get why you locked it…” a familiar voice boomed, seemingly filling the locker.

A second set of slightly heavier footsteps, ones he’d not picked up on initially, signalled the arrival of the person he feared most. Two enormous pink and white sneakers strode purposefully in, stemming from a pair of powerfully-built legs.

“I dunno, Cait,” he heard Alex explain bluntly. Her voice sounded relatively calm, no sign of panic. Either she was holding it together… or this was the part where she betrayed him…

She would open the locker imminently, whatever her intentions, so he had to hide somehow, without making so much as a sound.

“What’s been up with you recently anyway? You’ve definitely not been your usual self,” he heard Caitlin ask Alex, as he panicked silently, trying not to kick over anything as he slid to the rear of the locker. The two girls’ voices echoed throughout the cramped space, Caitlin’s especially almost seemed to reverberate right through him.

“Just school stuff,” Alex said wearily, “It’s been tiring.”

“Hm,” Caitlin said thoughtfully, “Anything I can do to help? It’s not your sister again is it?”

Jack pushed himself flat to the back of the locker and pulled the big grey t-shirt over himself as best he could, huddling down and trying to conceal his body as if he was merely a bundle of fabric. It felt pointless, it wouldn’t take a moment for him to be found, but it all depended on Alex…

Wait, Alex had a sister?

“Nah, she’s not been too bad,” Alex replied, “It’s just the workload and other things, getting stressed and not thinking straight sometimes.”

He heard their shoes squeaking as they moved slightly. Down by the ground, those movements seemed magnified, shadows passing in front of the locker from their huge frames.

“Well feel free to just come over whenever, my parents don’t give a shit… we could go out, hit the town. Amber’s always up for anything and you and I can crash at her place, or mine…” Caitlin replied.

Again, it was so odd to hear these mundane, everyday problems. Caitlin was even being open and supportive. It seemed to reinforce to him that their experience of this world was not like his, he could never dream of experiencing a life that was so… free and limitless. Going out was an undertaking he simply couldn’t dream of doing, even if he wanted to, not just the underage part but the fact that being trampled underfoot by drunken Alphas would be his likely fate.

He heard Alex crouch down as her shoes groaned against the hard locker room floor, and then the sound of a bag being placed on the floor.

His phone was still silent in his pocket, and he could always claim that he’d just sent a message off to say he was being kidnapped. It was all he really had… a bluff, a hope and a prayer…

“Thanks, Cait, I‘ll think about it, but not tonight,” Alex said, her voice much louder at his level.

If Alex was betraying him, he was fucked every which way already, but deep in his gut, he felt something. It didn’t seem likely that she would go to all this trouble just to suddenly reveal him. He still had to brace himself for the worst, but hope that Alex was genuinely looking out for him, because if she was, he had to play his part too, and be completely still.

He felt the locker rattle as Alex methodically unlocked the door with the dial, and after a couple of rotations, swung it open.

He didn’t move a muscle as the light streamed in, hidden under the musty canopy of thick grey cotton, his other senses heightened to compensate for his lack of sight.

The Alpha girl’s hand reached in, he could hear and feel it moving around but it didn’t come for him, occasionally brushing against him but never reaching fully to the back, instead moving the hair accessories around a little before alighting on something.

“It’s here,” Alex said over her shoulder, speaking away from Jack.

He sensed her grasp an item and pick it up, presumably passing it to Caitlin.

“Oh thank god,” Caitlin announced with palpable relief, and the next thing he heard was a click, as if a button was depressed, and then a sharp intake of breath…

Fuck. She had been looking for the inhaler…

His brain struggled to take that in.

Caitlin was… asthmatic?

He heard the formidable girl slowly exhale a steady stream of air, though it was hard to make out by virtue of being quite far above his level. She stifled a cough, and he could hear her voice was a little dry and throaty.

“I needed that,” she said, after a slight pause.

“Yeah, sorry about that, Cait, I must’ve forgotten to leave the door unlocked,” Alex explained.

“It’s fine,” Caitlin replied, “Just… wait a sec.”

His heart stopped.

‘Wait a sec’ could mean anything. Grab my t-shirt. What’s that in your locker. Anything.

He heard the click and wheeze again as she took a second drag.

There was a pause, and with a slight exhale, she began to speak once more.

“My chest just felt a bit tight in training today, it’s been happening a bit more recently.”

“Are you worried?” Alex ventured.

“Not really,” she said, the strength in her voice returning, “As long as I can keep a handle on it, no one needs to know.”

“Hmm… well, I can just keep it in my locker for the moment…” Alex offered.

“… if that’s alright,” Caitlin replied, her voice softer, more vulnerable than he’d ever heard her before, “I don’t want coach or the other girls to know, that’s all.”

“What are you so worried about?” Alex replied, as he felt her arm reach in and place the inhaler back inside the locker, quite close to where he was huddled up, before retreating once more.

Caitlin sighed loudly.

“I don’t know…” she said, “I mean, it’ll cause a load of drama. Coach might sit me out of the next meet… I’m desperate to improve my times and I don’t want the other girls to see me as weak, or sense an advantage…”

“I’m not sure anyone can accuse you of being weak, Cait…” Alex said pointedly.

“No I know, but I can’t… I don’t want anyone to know, ok…”

“I’m not going to say anything.”

“I know you’re not, it’s just… coach has been on at me for ages about working out too hard, I know something like this will give him just the kind of excuse to rest me and give someone else a chance.”

Jack felt the locker door clang as it was swung to by Alex, reverberating the walls around him, but there was no spin of the dial this time round – she had not locked it.

“Isn’t your Dad paying him to be here, to tutor you specifically?”

“Well yeah, but he doesn’t care, he still gets paid either way and he’s getting bored of me not listening to him… if he finds out about this inhaler thing he’ll just tell my Dad and use it as an excuse… then my Dad will kick off at me for concealing it.”

“Yeah…”

“Anyway, they’re never gonna find out so none of this matters… what would I do without you, Allie?” he heard her say.

“Asphyxiate, probably.” Alex replied drily, standing to her feet with a slight squeak of heel on floor.

“Yeah yeah, you funny bitch,” Caitlin laughed, a sound that tore right through Jack’s heart.

It was only at the joke Alex had made, but all the same, her laughter was hard-wired to mock him.

“Hey…” he heard Alex complain light-heartedly as the two sets of shoes padded their way back out of the locker room, and down the hallway.

Jack did not move for a short while.

He was fairly certain the two girls were well gone, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At least with the locker door now open all he had to do was exit the changing rooms and get clear of school… but he was reluctant to move, as if moving made things too real and he couldn’t face that just yet.

It was with some effort that he eventually convinced himself to drag the t-shirt off of himself and look at his phone.

4:26PM

He really needed to get out of there fairly quickly, before parts of the school became closed off, but what had just taken place… well… he just needed a minute to process.

Point 1 – Caitlin was asthmatic, or at least required an inhaler sometimes.

Point 2 – Alex hadn’t ratted him out, and had, against all the odds, managed to protect him from Caitlin, and Hannah, without blowing her cover and under extreme pressure.

The former wasn’t particularly important in the grand scheme of things… at least not now, but the latter…

He felt himself well up a little, she must have only locked him in because she knew Caitlin might root around for the inhaler. It had probably been her only choice to hide him there, to give Hannah a convincing explanation for his disappearance; a rushed decision, but in the end… a good one. It seemed like her explanation for the locked door had also been accepted without question too… even if Caitlin knew something was up with Alex, it had been masked well and Caitlin clearly trusted her.

Whatever was shining on him today, it had largely depended upon Alex’s ability to think on her feet, and he was at a loss to express how much she had saved him… and not for the first time.

“Thank you,” he said quietly, under his breath.

“Thank you, Alex.”