James was very relaxed as the school day ended. The talk he had with Meg, as well as feelings that were stirring inside him towards her, brightened his mood. He thought Meg was a pretty girl, with a great personality to match. And he really enjoyed her company. Despite the obvious size difference between them, he felt that she treated him with respect, something Alphas rarely did towards Betas. 

But when James arrived home, he saw his parents at the kitchen table drinking coffee. His mom asked him about his day, and James cheerfully recounted his conversation with Meg. James looked at his father and asked him about his day.

Tom Adams replied that he had a good day, but his demeanor and tone told James that he wasn’t being truthful. The one thing James could always count on was his dad being straight with him, but in a way that conveyed optimism. This was totally different. James was unsure about whether he should press the issue or not, but decided against it.

James slept better than he had the previous couple of nights. Once his alarm went off and he woke up, he was surprised by the dream he had. His parents were in it, along with Meg. But unlike his previous dream in which Meg and her father were laughing at his father, this one involved a quiet family gathering. And this dream left him with the impression that he was romantic with Meg.

After showering and eating breakfast, James caught the bus and made his way to Meg to sit next to her. He had only known her for a short time, but he was finding himself feeling more and more comfortable being around her.

Once the bus arrived at school, he discovered that some of the Alphas were starting to assert themselves with respect to Betas. There were flyers posted on the walls which offered a “friendly” challenge. Freshman Alpha girls offered to “play” a game against the senior Beta men’s basketball team, even going so far as to offer to spot them 100 points. 

Seeing the flyers put both James and Meg in bad moods, and for different reasons. James had heard of this type of behavior of Alphas towards Betas. Meg was different. She was shy, and very respectful. But the flyers certainly could have painted her with the actions of other Alphas.

Meg was embarrassed. She tried to be different from other Alphas. She realized as she grew taller, she would grow stronger also, and was afraid of hurting people smaller than her. But the flyers were going to reinforce the growing distrust that was sweeping through society of Betas towards Alphas. She could only control her own actions.

Tom Adams drove his pickup truck into the parking lot of the mine. Compared to the vehicles the secretaries drove, his truck looked like it was scaled down for a toddler to drive around their yard. It made him feel more insignificant than he had been feeling.

Tom entered the office and saw that the secretaries had arrived. The women were standing around the large doorway. Tom navigated his way through the larger women, only coming up to the area around their midsections. He finally reached his desk at the back of the office.

But before he could get settled, one of the secretaries told him to get coffee for them. Tom remembered the experience from the day before, and mentioned the problems that he had encountered. The secretary told him that the world had changed, and that he better learn to adapt and function in it. She then dismissed him to get the coffee.

Feeling a mixture of humiliation and rage, Tom quietly left to go to the coffee area. He wanted to argue and stand up for himself, but the size of the secretaries made it impossible. He couldn’t do anything to them physically, but he also realized that he would never be able to defend himself if they got physical with him. And since he needed the job, he kept his anger to himself.

Tom was relieved when he reached the area. There was a normal sized table with two coffee makers, the larger cups for the secretaries, and a push cart with his name on it so that he could deliver not only the coffee, but handle the extremely large binders and papers that the Alphas used. He thought of Susan, the daughter of the plant CEO, and thought to himself that when he saw her again to thank her for her kindness.

Five minutes later, the secretaries were surprised that Tom arrived with the cart and the cups of coffee. He still had difficulty in reaching the tops of the desks, but he managed to place the coffee on each one, then took the cart back to his desk and awaited his next assignment. Seeing the look on the secretaries’ faces made him feel better. He knew that they thought he was inferior, and only gave him jobs that he would fail at to reinforce their superiority. But he managed the coffee, and he was happy with that.

Back at school, because of the flyers posted on the walls, the principal visited each classroom personally and reminded the Alphas that they were to treat the Betas.