The bus pulled into the school lot. And Paul and Linda waited for the Alphas to leave first. Paul noticed the tweener boy from yesterday was waiting with a panicked look in his eyes, only to breath a big, giant sigh of relief when Alice walked past and ignored him. Paul was glad. Alice made her point and moved on.

The students were more subdued than the day before. Probably a combination of homework and no rumor of any confrontations helped. The atmosphere was much more relaxed.

As they headed to homeroom, Paul asked Linda if it was difficult for her to carry books or use paper and pens and pencils made for Alphas. Linda told him they were easier to get used to than the Beta things were. She figured out a way to use the pens and pencils that worked for her.

As they took their desks, Mrs Janeway had a couple of announcements to make. First was that she was looking for volunteers to stay after on Fridays to help clean the blackboards. Apparently the janitors don't think it's their job. So if interested, just see her at the end of the day.

Second, and more importantly, if any student sees any acts of violence being committed against another student, they are to report the incident immediately to the principal's office. 

Paul though that was an obvious reference to what happened on his bus yesterday. School officials would probably make a big deal about it for a few days, then put it on the back burner.

Homeroom ended, and as they headed towards first class, Paul spotted something. He asked Linda to head to class, saying he left something behind. Linda smiled and said no problem. 

Once Paul saw that she was on her way, he made his way to an unused classroom. Once there, his initial thoughts were confirmed. Up against the blackboard was Todd, with a frightened look on his face. The person in front of him was a freshman girl. An Alpha, and she was big for her age.

As Paul entered the room he could hear her speaking in a low voice. And he didn't care for what she was saying. She told Todd that he was such a “brave” tweener that she was going to make him her personal servant. He was going to do what she told him to do, and if he gave her any backtalk, she would give him this. She raised an open hand and mock slapped him.

Paul knew that this was the result of yesterday's confrontation. People sensed that Todd was weak, and now were bullying him. Alpha or not, Paul had enough.

He raised his voice, demanding that she leave Todd alone. This startled the girl. She released Todd and turned towards Paul. And then she laughed at him. 

She told him he didn't even come up to her waist, and that he should leave now before it's too late. 

Paul looked at her and said if he left, it was going to be with Todd. His voice was rising in anger. The girl stepped towards Paul, but he never moved. This surprised her. She thought for sure that would make him run. But he was still there, and he was serious.

Fuck it, thought the girl, there was no way he was going to talk to her like that. And with surprising speed, grabbed Paul and lifted him up like a ragdoll and brought him to her face. 

She told him that he should have left when he had the opportunity. He surprised her again by berating her, even with him dangling four feet off the ground. He was scared as hell, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of showing it.

By now a teacher had shown up. Apparently, Paul raising his voice caused a small crowd to form, and when a teacher walked by and saw the gathering, decided to see what was on. The teacher demanded in a loud voice that she release the boy in her hands. She did as she was told. The teacher, a lady, told the girl to come with her, now. The girl followed the teacher out of the room and to the principal’s office. 

Paul was visibly shaking, but knew he had to get to class, and made his way to the room. Todd was too stunned to move at first, but gathered his things and headed to his class. He had been crying during the encounter, so he quickly wiped his eyes and left.

Paul made it to class just before it started. His face was flushed. He saw Linda and tried to give her a big smile, but she sensed something was wrong. And after class she asked him what had happened. Paul tried to tell her nothing had happened, but she wasn't buying it. She asked him again, and he repeated his answer, only this time with a voice that told her not to push it.

So she quickly changed the subject. It wasn't until she was in the girls bathroom that she found out. The room was buzzing with talk about a little Beta boy standing up to an Alpha girl while trying to protect some pussy tweener loser.

Linda put two and two together and realized that they were talking about Paul and Todd. She was taken aback by their conversation. One girl said that if she had been there, Beta boy would be in the hospital. She said she couldn't believe that he felt that he had the right to interfere, and that someone needed to remind him of “his status”.

Linda quietly finished up and left, but inside she was seething with anger. Here were girls almost twice the size of Beta men talking about putting one in the hospital just for trying to protect another student. She just couldn't get over their callousness about the situation Todd and Paul found themselves in, like it was an Alpha's right to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and with no fear of consequence. She now understood why Paul didn’t want her to know. But it didn't make her feel any better.