Jack’s mother woke him up when she opened his bedroom door. There was light outside, at least, which meant that this wasn’t another disheartening early-morning wake-up call.

“Time to rise, sleepy-head,” she cooed, unusually affectionate for this time in the morning, then left him alone to get up.

He could see from the alarm clock that there was no great rush to arise just yet, so he allowed himself a few minutes to blink back the sleep from his eyes, and eventually plucked his phone from the charger to check it. He’d sent Delon a few messages shortly before going to bed, but, as per usual, his friend hadn’t even looked at them yet.

The ‘got to go to school’ nerves were right there, simmering away in his gut, but perhaps a bit more under control today. It was Friday, so if he could get through today, he would have the weekend to take stock of everything and hopefully speak to Penny some more.

A glass of OJ and an oaty breakfast bar later, he heard the familiar blip that signalled he’d received a message. Sure enough, Delon would meet him outside school and they’d head to the side entrance to avoid any front-of-school complications.

With a fleeting farewell to his Mum and a quick hug, as she was still very worked up over his Grandad’s condition, Jack headed out and waited at the bus stop for a few minutes, keeping himself to himself. When the bus arrived, he waited for the Alpha kids to board first and then swiftly navigated his way to the rear to sit next to the quiet boy from Tuesday and Wednesday. So far so good.

As he settled into the oversized seat, he spotted that the pig-tailed girl had turned to catch a glimpse of him. He stopped himself from looking back in her direction too obviously, but during the journey he repeatedly noticed her turning round to look his way. It was a little unnerving, but Jack was so focused today that he just had to trust he would avoid an incident. If he was to get through the school day and make it to the weekend, he just had to be smart and steer clear of anything that could possibly cause a problem, oversized brats in particular.

When the bus arrived at school and all the Alpha kids piled off, Jack held back slightly so that he didn’t get caught up in the chaos. When he jumped off the last step of the bus, he quickly checked to see where the girl was, then snuck away before she could notice him, right over to the tree where Delon was waiting.

Ordinarily, a bro hug would be in order, but it was action stations right now, and Delon knew the drill.

“Nice to see ya, dude, let’s go,” the lanky Beta ordered, putting an arm around Jack’s shoulder as if to shield him from the crowd, then led him across the road.

The side entrance was definitely quieter than the front one; mostly small groups or lone kids keeping to themselves rather than boisterous hordes of teens and pre-teens screaming and shouting. It was reasonably plain sailing for Jack and Delon to get straight to their classroom before the crowds rolled in, arriving at their desks with plenty of time to spare.

“Made it,” Delon whispered, quietly enough so only the two of them could hear, winking at his friend and giving him a small smile.

“Thanks, D,” Jack replied, giving him a light slap on the back, and headed over to his desk.

He got out his books, and began to compose himself. Today, he needed to stay in the zone. After slowing his heart rate back down to normal after the speed-run through the corridors, Jack looked up to see that Alex had entered the room.

She was wearing tight-fitting navy blue leggings that hugged her toned form and a baggy-ish grey t-shirt, with her jet-black hair tied back into a bun. At first she didn’t notice him, but when her eyes alighted on him, her expression changed a little, not really out of shock, more out of familiarity.

She sat down at the big Alpha desk to Jack’s left, and got her things from her bag. The classroom still wasn’t that busy, so she glanced down at him to instigate eye contact, as if to verify that he was ok.

“We need to talk,” Jack mouthed at her silently. She didn’t seem to follow, looking quizzically back at him and shrugging her shoulders slightly. He didn’t want to be seen talking to her - so he quickly tore a scrap of paper from his notebook and hurriedly scribbled a message down.

Balling the note up, he leant down as if he was reaching for something in his bag and tossed it as close to her leg as he could - it landed right next to her foot, and she surreptitiously picked it up and read the contents.

Angling her head slightly, so as not to draw too much attention, she locked eyes with him and slowly nodded, before placing a finger to her lips to signify that they needed to be discreet.

When class finished, Jack was deliberately quite slow packing his books away, allowing almost all of the students to filter out so he could try and speak to Alex covertly. The big girl got up from her chair, took a couple of strides as if she was walking past him, then crouched to tie her shoelace, giving him a short window of opportunity.

“Library,” he whispered loudly, “Morning break.”

“I’ll try,” she responded under her breath, finishing the knot before returning to her full height and stepping away.

Jack watched as her legging-clad legs, each taller than the waiting Delon, made short work of the distance to the door.

His friend was wearing a concerned expression.

“What was that?” he asked as they exited the room together.

“I’m going to talk to Alex,” Jack replied calmly, throwing his bag over his shoulder, “In the library, first break.”

“Wait… what? Are you sure that’s a good idea, at school I mean?” Delon cautioned.

“Probably not, but there’s stuff I need to ask,” he responded defensively, his determination showing through, “I’m not sure how else to go about it.”

“Alright alright, just be careful, ok?” the taller boy warned, “Keep your head down and let’s get you to class.”

The next lesson was a double-header which focused primarily on preparing the students for the forthcoming exams. In amongst everything else that was going on, it was a timely but unpleasant reminder that shit was hitting the fan as far as his future prospects were concerned.

The twin period dragged on for far too long before the bell rang out to signify morning break. Jack loitered close to the doorway until Delon appeared, they then made their way to the library post haste.

“You sure about this?” Delon clarified mid-conversation as they strolled to the far corner, looking around to make sure that no-one was listening in.

“Yep,” Jack replied curtly, beginning to feel a bit nervous now. This would be the first time he’d really been face to face with Alex for more than a moment. She was still quite an imposing character, ostensibly much more like Caitlin than Penny, plus her extensive history of picking on him in class meant this recent about-face still felt very fresh. It was hard to override years of hard-coded avoidance instincts.

“Do you want me to keep a look out?” Delon suggested.

“I think so…” Jack replied, unsure how best to go about it.

“Ok, I’ll go over near the librarian’s desk, that way I can see who comes in and out,” the taller boy explained. Jack understood the impulse – it was risky meeting Alex at school, just in case someone noticed them talking and gossip made its way round to Caitlin, Hannah, or another member of their clique.

As Delon walked to the spot he’d suggested, Jack noticed Alex stepping through the anti-theft gates. She strolled down the library looking this way and that - clearly searching for him. The Alpha noticed Delon by the librarian’s desk, who tipped his head in Jack’s direction, to which she turned and made her way over to him, stopping right in front of him.

“Ok, fire away, but I have to be quick,” she explained, looming over him like a giant tower.

“Yep… ok, that’s fine, just come round here,” he stuttered nervously. This was 12-foot-plus of intimidating popular girl after all. He gestured for her to follow him round the corner to the most secluded part of the library, then paused as she figured out she needed to kneel down to his level to hear him surreptitiously.

He double-checked that they were alone and no-one was listening in, then began.

“I… um, I wanted to thank you, for yesterday,” he explained, fighting the butterflies that ever so surely had crept up on him.

Her perfume was surprisingly strong. It reminded him of Caitlin, but it wasn’t exactly the same scent, just a similar aura.

“No problem,” she replied calmly, putting a hand on her knee, her statuesque face unencumbered courtesy of the bun pulling her raven-coloured hair back tightly.

“No really,” he continued, “I don’t know how to thank y-”

“Look, it’s fine…” she cut across him, evidently trying to hurry him along. “It was a close call, but it worked out.”

“I needed to ask you something important…” Jack paused, his voice cracking slightly, “This is going to sound stupid… but I need to know why you’re helping me.”

Her face shifted into an expression that was complex to describe; she looked a little pained at the inference of the question, but at the same time her it-girl façade held firm.

“I dunno, you were in trouble, I had to do something,” she replied bluntly with a half-shrug, as if that explained everything.

“But if Caitlin finds out-” he began to explain.

“She won’t,” Alex interjected, blinking a couple of times in quick succession, betraying what looked like nerves, “I’m on top of it.”

“But what if she does?” he laboured.

“I don’t know,” Alex said candidly, looking him straight in the eye, “And I don’t want to know.”

He dry swallowed.

“Uhuh… well, there’s things I need to ask you, about Caitlin, about this… situation,” he continued.

“Ok…” she said reluctantly, as if this was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

“I mean… there’s the inhaler, for example, and your friendship with Caitlin…” he trailed off.

She looked down at him, her expression hardening.

“I can’t really get into that, ok? I haven’t got much time as it is.”

“But if there’s anything that can be used to stop her…” Jack blurted out.

“Stop her?” she repeated incredulously, “I’m helping you as much as I can, but there are limits.”

“Limits?” he asked, feeling the conversation start to heat up.

“Yes. Limits, as to what I can and can’t do,” she explained, as if this was obvious.

“Like… what? You’re saying this is just gonna keep happening and I’m supposed to avoid Caitlin forever and there’s nothing anybody can do about it?” he protested, trying not to raise his voice, but unable to hide how exasperated he felt. Had she no idea what he was going through, had been through…? She’d even seen it for herself for goodness’ sake.

The Alpha took a quick breath and sighed, her façade slipping again to reveal the worried teenager behind the mask, then her brow furrowed in realisation.

“So, wait… you want me to blackmail her, is that it?” Alex said angrily. “If she finds out that it’s been me protecting you she’s going to lose her mind, and she’ll hurt you, and she’ll hurt me, and then where will we be?”

The big girl seemed to shiver as she mentioned this, a fact not lost on Jack.

“…you’re… that scared of her?” he said in quiet disbelief.

“I didn’t say that…” Alex retracted, but without enough conviction for it sound like a legitimate rebuttal.

“She’s my friend but… that comes with certain… pressures,” she conceded, trying to remain vague, but it was obvious that something was under the skin.

Jack looked on, dumbfounded. It was pretty surreal to see an Alpha girl like Alex act as seemingly kowtowed as this. She had become so edgy now; in fact, the entire conversation had taken a real turn.

“So there’s no chance we can report her then? Not to the school, or the police?” he asked hopelessly, feeling the determination and belief draining out of him.

“I don’t know how seriously they’d take it…” she countered, “I know that sounds like such bullshit, but the amount of crap Caitlin gets away with… it’s just… it’s like she’s untouchable.”

The giant girl paused, as if she was biting her tongue. She closed her eyes, clearly weighing up what to say next.

“She… enjoys tormenting anyone much smaller than her. Boys, girls, Alphas, Betas. It’s like this… power trip thing… and you know, I don’t mind a bit of teasing or whatever, and I didn’t think anything of it, pushing you little guys around, you seemed to take it, but when I saw you at Caitlin’s place…”

She averted her eyes for a moment, then returned her gaze back to him, like she was ashamed.

“I was really shocked, ok? I didn’t think she’d actually kidnap and humiliate someone in front of us.”

He felt a part of him well up as he recalled the exact moment she spoke of.

“It made me question everything. Everyone heard the rumours that went round a few years ago, but it all seemed so far-fetched… she told us that that kid’s family just wanted money in an out-of-court settlement, and the case just kind-of fell through… but then I just… I guess I wanted to hear what I wanted to hear.”

“I couldn’t stand idly by, and I know that makes me a hypocrite because I turned a blind eye to her bullying people before… myself bullying people before… but if that’s what it took to open my eyes, then, that’s what it took.”

Her shoulders had become really stiff and tense, he could see she was getting emotional too.

“I saw a side of Cait I couldn’t ignore, and I saw how helpless you were, so I told myself that if I could help you, I would, because it was the right thing to do.”

He was a bit stunned, but this was what he had sort-of expected, maybe more hoped for, deep down. This was why Alex was helping him… because she wasn’t a bad person… because she hadn’t backed away from what she’d witnessed.

“I don’t want to lose my friendship with her, she’s my closest friend, but I’m torn… we’ve been best friends for years, since we were seven or eight…”

She laughed at herself slightly.

“Why am I unloading all of this?” she rebuked herself, as if she was getting way off-topic.

“Because it’s important for me to know, I guess…” he said quietly.

“Urrrghhhhh…” she groaned under her breath, turning her head away and gritting her teeth, “Fucking hell, Alex…” she muttered to herself.

Jack stepped forward slightly, placing his hand on her oversized arm, noting the soft hairs on her skin. The frustrated girl stopped what she was doing immediately, turning to look at him.

“You’re doing the right thing. Please don’t let Caitlin win… you can’t…” he hesitated slightly, “…I can’t… cope,” he said sadly, shivering a little at having instigated contact with the towering Alpha girl.

“I’m trying,” she said quietly, flexing her fingers gently against her knee. “And Jack…”

He looked her square in the eye. “Yes?”

“I’m really sorry for all of this. I really am.”

He looked up at her, blinking in polite acknowledgement. It meant a lot to him that she was able to see him as more than just the little dork from class - the girl who had been so callous towards him for so long, finally changing her spots.

“And I do really have to go now,” she said with what felt like genuine reluctance, allowing him to remove his hand from her arm before she stood back up.

She looked all the way down at him; her face felt so far away, scrutinising him from above. It was as if the trip down to his level had made both of them forget just how tiny he was compared to her.

“I’ll see you in class, then,” she said awkwardly, shifting her weight.

“Yeah,” he replied, unsure of what to say back.

With an apologetic half-smile and a big whoosh of air, she turned on her heel and strode off.

He took a moment to consider what she had said, and after about 10 seconds, Delon rushed round the corner, seemingly relieved it was all over.

“Well?” he asked, leaning against the bookshelf, “What did she say?”

“It’s a bit complicated, she’s frightened of Caitlin too,” Jack said cheerlessly, “She tried to hide it, but she is… I’m just going to have to lay low, Alex isn’t in a position to do anything except try to keep me from harm’s way when the shit hits, but she’s too scared to go up against Caitlin.”

“That’s heavy…” Delon sighed, “But at least she’s on your side,” he added, trying to brighten the outlook.

“I guess,” Jack admitted. His friend was right, it was better that than nothing at all.