Choice of The Alpha

1.5

After breakfast, I wanted to try out the pool. So, I went downstairs to put on my swimsuit. Swimming will be nice. It will help me to clear my head. When I was downstairs, I decided to check my phone to see if I had any messages. There was absolutely nothing. No messages, no notifications, nothing. It was as if all my friends just gave me up and decided to forget about me after only one day. It was depressing. I put my phone back on the table and headed out to the pool. I decided the best option would be to just jump in the deep end. I prepared myself for the cold that would normally hit from jumping into water. Instead, it was warm. Just the right temperature of warm too. I started swimming laps back and forth. This was the perfect size pool for that. Not too short and not too long either.

As I swam, my thoughts started forming together. This town and my mother had some sort of secret or something going on. The lady from last night mentioned if I knew about it. I have no idea what they meant or what could possibly be going on there. Now, there’s a side of town that doesn’t like strangers and is nothing like the rest of town. Any subject regarding that tends to be dropped quickly. Does that have something to do with this secret that I don’t know about? My thoughts just kept swirling and bringing me back to whatever secret that was being discussed. It’s a nice enough town, but something is clearly going on here. How am I going to figure it out?

As I started a lap heading in the direction of the house, I glanced up and paused. Standing on our back patio was a stranger. A very hot stranger. He was tall and muscular, he clearly worked out. He had sandy blond hair that was slightly curly. Just enough to cause shining waves. He was just standing there watching me swim. It looked like he was blushing. His cheeks got a little pink and he glanced away when he realized that I saw him there. He was holding a plate with something on it. I couldn’t tell what he had from this distance.

I walked toward the edge of the pool and got out. As I walked over to grab my swimsuit cover, I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw him slightly turned away and staring at the ground. It was cute how he was avoiding looking at me. As I started to put on my swimsuit cover, I realized exactly how much it didn’t cover up that well. Not much I can do about it now. I started walking toward the patio. He seemed to be blushing and a little awkward.

“Umm hi. I'm Chad, one of your neighbors. My mom and I came over to welcome you to the neighborhood. We brought brownies. They sent me out here to offer some to you.” He mumbled.

“Hi, I'm Lexi.”

“I know. Sorry, it’s just we don’t get very many new people around here, so when someone new moves in, the whole town knows about it pretty fast.”

“I guess that makes sense. It is a really small town.”

We sat at one of the tables on the patio and he pushed the plate of brownies over to me. They looked and smelled delicious. I wanted to take one but I also didn’t want to. I don’t like it when strangers watch me eat. Especially hot strangers. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful either though. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry too much. Chad reached out and grabbed a brownie for himself.

“Hope you don’t mind sharing. My mom only makes these for very special occasions and they are just too good to pass up.” As he started devouring his brownie I felt safe taking one myself.

“Oh wow! You aren’t joking, these are amazing.” I exclaimed after my first bite.

“Yeah. My mom made them as both a welcome to the neighborhood and also to say sorry for your loss. So she really put some extra into these.”

We sat there in silence eating the brownies. It wasn’t long before they were gone.

“Oops, maybe we should have saved some for my mom.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. My mom knows how I am with her brownies so we brought over two plates. The rest is inside, probably gone as well.” He chuckled at that.

“Good to know.”

We sat there awkwardly until my mom called us in.

“Hey hun. This is Katie. She was my best friend in high school. She came over to see how we are settling in and has offered to help me with the plans for the funeral and the gathering afterwards. So we are going to be working on a lot of plans. We thought it might be nice if you and Chad go out. He can give you a tour of the town. I know you saw some of it during your run this morning, but it might be nice to be shown the town by someone who knows the place.”

Chad and I looked at each other. I saw him blush and look away.

“I guess it wouldn’t be a bad thing to be shown more of the town. I mean we are living here now so I should probably get to know the place.” I responded quietly.

“Good, then it’s settled. Chad, make sure to show her all of the places you teens like to hang out. Im sure Lexi would like to meet some more kids your age.” Katie blurted out.

“Sure mom.” Chad replied and started walking toward the door.

I followed him out the door and then we just stood there on the porch.

“Sorry, I’m just not sure what to show you. Is there anything you’re curious about?” He asked.

“Well on my run this morning I saw a few places. I saw the coffee shop, the pizza place, the park, and that weird neighborhood that made me feel awkward.”

“Oh, yeah. We never go over there. It’s an unspoken agreement. They stay to their neghborhood and everyone else stays in theirs.”

“Isn’t that sort of weird? Especially for such a small town?” I asked.

“Not really. It’s just the way it’s always been.”

We started walking down the street. I noticed we were basically heading the same way I went on my run.

“OK, so, most of these houses here have kids our age. That house over there is where the twins Angela and Chleo live.” He pointed to this little white house across the street. It had a front porch with a swing just like my house. The trim was a light sky blue.

“Next to them, on the corner, is where Chris lives. He’s currently dating Angela and they go everywhere together. Across the street on the other corner is where Chleo’s boyfriend Grant lives.”

I followed along with the houses he was pointing out. I knew that I was never going to remember these names and information but I didn’t want to tell him that. I was afraid he would go back to silent and shy if I stopped him, but I really liked listening to him.

“Down the street to our left, that block is full of a bunch of young kids. They like playing basketball in the street and chasing eachother around with water guns. Be careful walking through that block in summer. They will get you with those water guns, they don’t care who you are.” He chuckled.

“Wait, so they run and play in the street? Isn’t that dangerous? They could get hit by a car, or someone could kidnap one of them!”

“I can tell that you haven’t really been in a small town, have you?” He asked.

“No, not really. I grew up in the twin cities in Minnesota.”

“That explains it. We have never had a kidnapping or anyone get hit by a car. Everyone knows everyone around here and most people don’t drive through town. We all know where the kids like to play so we avoid anything that may harm them.” He explained. “You said you saw the park, but did you really explore it or just run through it?”

“I really just ran through it. I saw the pond, the basketball court and the play set.” I replied.

“Then you didn’t get to see the hangout spot. Alright, well come on, I will show you.”

I followed him over to the park. Interested and confused as to what he could possibly be talking about. We walked into the park and towards a cluster of trees that took up about a quarter of the park. When we got to the trees, I saw a path leading into them. Chad headed onto the path. We wound our way through the trees and before long I started hearing some voices. They were very quiet so I couldn’t tell what they were saying or where exactly they were coming from. A couple minutes later we came upon what looked like a hedge of bushes. You couldn’t see through them and it didn’t seem like there was a way around.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Just wait, you will see.” Chad replied.

He turned left around the edge of the hedges. After a few steps he turned right into the hedges. As I stepped up to where he was, I saw the very small clearing between the bushes that he turned into. I followed him through the hedges. On the other side, I stepped out into a clearing. It was a perfectly circular clearing, ringed by hedges and trees beyond those. There was one apple tree set to the side that offered a decent amount of shade, and there were different colored flowers all over.

“Hey Chad! What are you doing here?” A voice called out.

“And who did you bring with you?” Another asked.

“Wait, isn’t that the new girl that just moved in?” Yet another asked.

“Hey guys. This is Lexi. She’s the one that just moved in. My mom wanted me to show her the town since she’s new. I figured you guys would be here so I figured everyone can get to know eachother.” Chad answered.

“Let me guess, your mom trying to set you up again?” A guy laughed.

“Come on now guys.” Chad blushed. “Lexi, this is Angela and Chris, and that’s Chleo and Grant.”

The two couples were sprawled out on a blanket under the apple tree. Angela and Chleo were absolutely gorgeous. They both had long, straight blond hair and blue eyes. Angela was leaning against Chris. Chris had brown hair that looked tussled. I assumed since they were dating that it got messed up from making out. Chris looked like he was probably a football player. He was built like one atleast. Angela looked so small and delicate compared to him. Chleo and Grant were a few feet away, and they were also cuddling. Grant was tall and lanky with a head full of blonde curls. Grant had his arm thrown around Chleo.

“Hi, I’m sorry if we are interupting or anything. Chad was just showing me around town.” I said shakily.

“No, of course not. This is where the teens in town hang out. Of course he wanted to show you this place. If you’re gonna live here you need to know where you can go to get away from the adults.” Angela laughed.

They invited us to come sit by them and Grant tossed a couple apples to Chad. He handed one to me and we sat down by the others.

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, no one knowing what to say to start the conversation. Finally Angela spoke up.

“So we have all heard a bit about you, but why don’t you tell us? Rumors are hardly ever true anyway. Is it true that you lived in the city? And that your mom ran away when she was in her teens?”

“Angela!!” Chloe exclaimed, “you can't just blurt out something like that! She doesn’t even know us. I'm sure she's having a hard enough time as it is without being pushed like that.” She turned to me and had a look of embarrassment on her face. “I am so sorry about her. She has no sense of boundaries whatsoever. Why don't you just tell us some things you like to do and we can tell you a bit about us too?”

“No, it’s really OK.” I said “yes, it’s true that I grew up in the city. As for my mom, I have no idea what happened. until the other day I didn’t even know that I had grandparents. my mom had always told me we have no family, so I never knew anything about them. I don’t know if she ran away as a kid because she avoids any subject of that time of her life." I went on to tell them more about me. I told them about my friends and the things we liked doing, and I told them about my love of running. "I went for a jog this morning, but it was really hard to get my normal run in. this town is so small. my mom recently told me about some trails in the woods that would help extend my jog but I haven’t been able to check them out yet." When I mentioned the woods they all glanced at eachother with wierd looks on their faces. I raised my eyebrows in question but they avoided looking at me and didn't comment. So I continued,, "So, what do you guys do for fun around here? It’s such a small town there can’t be that much to do.”

Chloe laughed at that point and Angela looked at her in horror.

“What?” Chloe said. “You can clearly tell she’s used to a big city. Just because we don’t have clubs she thinks there’s nothing to do. Sorry, but that’s kind of funny. We may live in a small town, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to do. We make our own excitement around here.”

“That doesn’t mean that you can laugh at her. She’s never spent any time in a town like ours, so she wouldn’t know.” Angela turns and looks at me. "Well, You clearly found our relaxation place. This is where we come in the heat of the day to relax and avoid the parents. But at night, we like to have bonfires in the woods. There’s this large clearing that has logs set up just right for seats and we have a bonfire and hang out. We tell stories, listen and dance to music, and just generally have fun. There’s a lot more to small town living than you might realize. You will figure it out before long.” She smiled at me with a glint of something hidden in her eyes.

“I look forward to learning about the town. It’s just a very big difference, so I’m not sure what to do here. I can tell that my grandparents must have hosted a lot of parties with the way their house is set up. It looks like they could host the entire town there.”

“Speaking of that," Chloe exclaimes, "I heard your mom was planning a party later after the funeral. We weren’t expecting a party like this, especially with the loss of her parents. But it seems like she is determined to turn it into a good thing. It will be a nice way for you to meet everyone else in town, and for your mom to get reacquainted with her old friends. When my mom heard that you guys were coming back to town, she told me all sorts of stories. I guess her and your mom used to be the best of friends and they got themselves into a lot of trouble.”

I leaned forward in anticipation. Hoping to hear about my mother’s past. Chloe doesn't add anymore information after that. So I eagerly asked about it.

“Really? I’ve never heard anything about her childhood. She avoids the subject altogether. What kind of things did they do?”

Angela chuckles and answers. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m pretty sure you will hear plenty at the party. The whole town has been buzzing. I have a feeling it’s going to turn into a bunch of storytelling from their glory days.”

I deflated a little when I realized I wasn't going to hear anymore right now. “Well, I look forward to learning more about my mother’s past. And who knows, maybe this party could be fun. I should probably head home soon. We still have a lot to do. But it was great to meet all of you. I hope to see you again soon.”

As I get up and say my goodbyes I realize that Chad got up with me. Apparently he planned on walking me home. He led the way through the hedges. And we started our walk home.

“I’m sorry about them,” Chad says. “Sometimes they can be a little pushy. But they’re really not bad at all. Once you get to know them, you will see that they are pretty cool.”

“Don’t worry Chad, I really didn’t mind at all. They remind me of my friends from back home. When you live in the city, There is no such thing as privacy. I really look forward to getting to know everyone. The move will be easier if I meet new friends. They seem pretty cool. So hopefully we will all be friends.”

He walked me up to the porch of my house. As we reached my front door, Chad stopped. He said that he had to escort me home or he would never hear the end of it from his mother. Chuckling, he turned and started to walk away. He turned back just long enough to say, “I hope to see you soon.”

As I entered my house, I thought maybe this town won’t be so bad after all.