Becoming Alpha

Chapter 1: The Move

Moving out of New York felt like one of the hardest things in my entire life - well, my life wasn't exactly that long yet; I was only seventeen years old. Still, I was moving away from everything I'd known and had been familiar. I was losing my friends, my home, and it felt really awful. My mom noticed my sour look and patted my hand for a moment before letting hers return to the steering wheel.

"Oh, sweetheart. Cheer up. I'm sure you're going to have fun and make new friends," my mom beamed at me, but I didn't look back at her. I was staring out of the window, trying to forget the fact that I was leaving everything behind. Some people craved an opportunity for a new start, but I didn't. I loved living in New York; I loved my friends, I loved the city, and now we were just... moving.

I had no idea what to say to her. 'God, wow, thanks for ruining my life?' That was what it felt like - it felt like she was deliberately ruining my life. I knew she wasn't, but the whole time she'd been packing she kept on mumbling. She had been on the phone for hours, and it had been really strange.

As I thought about it, I recalled how she had been acting the week before.

* * *

"How did he find out?" Mom shouted into the phone, her expression a mix of horror and concern. "He couldn't have found out! I never told anyone except you!" She sharply exhaled, pacing back and forth. I was hiding behind the door, listening in to her conversation. I didn't know who she was talking to but I knew it was serious; she seemed pretty upset. Frowning, she seemed like a stranger - not my bubbly, happy mother. Intrigued, I leaned in more.

"No, I didn't want him to find us," she murmured, pressing a hand to her forehead. "I don't want him near us." She was silent for a moment, and I was still curious as to what they were talking about. "I can't stay here. You know that, Lilian. Not now. Not when he knows. I have to go, but where do we go to? It seems like he follows us everywhere!" Mom rambled, hyperventilating.

I had seen her like this before. We had actually moved a lot when I was little, but we had settled in New York after I argued with her. I just didn't want to leave again - not when I had settled and finally made some new friends.

"Alamery? Are you crazy?" she cried out before quickly hushing herself. "That's insane," she whispered. The woman on the end of the phone, obviously called Lilian, seemed to have reasoned with my mother, because after a while her face sobered up. "Fine. But if something happens-"

She was cut off when the other woman started talking again in a rushed voice. Then, suddenly, the call was over. My eyes widened as I realised I needed to get out of there, fast. If she noticed me standing there, she'd cut off my head.

I darted to my room and locked myself in.

Two days later, she told me we were moving.

* * *

It was so weird. She sounded so worried and distressed. She really wanted to leave New York, claiming that her anxiety was actually excitement because of the new job. I tried to believe her - and eventually did, not wanting to worry too much about her conversation with 'Lilian'.

Anyway, she knew how much I loved the city. My best friend Jonah and I always went to Central Park together on Saturday mornings, and now that wasn't possible. I missed him already but I knew that he would probably move on and pick someone else as his best friend. I had other great friends in NY, such as Alice, Tira and Savannah, and they were all friends with him too. They'd forget about me, and I had a new number after all so they couldn't contact me. It was like Mom was leaving no traces behind, like she was hiding us...

I sighed as I watched the road flash by. The fact that we were moving was bad, but it got worse. We were moving to a small town called Alamery in the state of West Virginia.

'Small town'. I knew what that meant all right. We were going to live in one of those close-knit towns where everybody knew each other and where secrets spilled onto the streets. Oh, how nice.

We had been driving for around seven hours and I knew that we had to be arriving soon. I hated long drives. They made me sick and tired, and I knew I'd have to put on a smile when we arrived. Mom would probably insist. She hated seeing me in a sour mood.

She had found a job there at a local hospital, and according to her it was the reason why we were moving. She wanted to try something new and her boss knew she loved the countryside. I hated it. Well, he didn't know that, but still, it was only to try, so I hoped we would go back to New York. I didn't get my hopes up - I knew what my mom was like, and if she liked it, we were going to stay. I just didn't understand why we were going to live in a town which probably contained around a hundred citizens. It was just so dull and boring. I was used to my exciting city life, and this boring town life which Mom dreamed about did nothing for me.

I had turned seventeen a month ago, on the fourth of August. My birthday was always in the holidays and I was starting a new semester at Alamery High School. Great.

I just couldn't stand the way they acted in small towns. Like, everybody knew one another's s**t. I wouldn't be surprised if one of our new neighbours ended up checking out our garbage.

The sound of the car door opening made me blink and I turned to look at my mom who was getting out of the car. "We're here," she stated, throwing me a weird look when she saw my scowl.

I shrugged, unbuckling my seatbelt and knowing I couldn't avoid it. Besides, the car wasn't a great place to live. After I saw Mom give me a pointed look, I plastered a fake smile on my face, pretending that I was insanely happy. Though, when her frown deepened, I knew that I was definitely bad actress.

I opened the car door and got out. Unknowingly my eyes gazed at our neighbour's house, checking if they were already staring at the 'newcomers' from the windows. They weren't, which made me sigh in relief; I hated spies. I glanced at Mom to see her talking to a guy who was standing in front of our house. He looked fairly young - about thirty years old, with dirty blond hair and brown, friendly eyes. I sighed. My mom swooned for guys with blond hair.

Personally, I liked guys with dark hair and dark eyes. They just looked so... mysterious. Like, you could stare into their eyes and forget about the world around you, and you could get lost in them. I shook my head at myself. I wasn't going to look for a boyfriend, I was going to try and persuade my mom to get us out of there - or try to, at least.

Opening the trunk of our red Audi, I grabbed my black suitcase and left Mom to grab hers, or maybe the surf dude would, who was now obviously flirting with my mom. I groaned as I saw the way she smiled at him and talked animatedly about how the drive had been.

Well, the drive had been awful for me and probably for her as well, being stuck with her sulking daughter, but she kept a smile on her face in spite of everything.

"You need help with that?" a masculine voice spoke, making me look up at the guy in front of me, all smiley and friendly. He looked like an average American teenage boy with blond hair and brown eyes, a wide smile on his face - oh wait, his hair had a blue lock. That was pretty cool. I guessed he was a football player from his muscles and the fact that he was wearing an 'Alamery Eagles' football t-shirt. Typical.

"No thank you." I gave him a small smile in return and turned my back, rolling my eyes and walking up to the house.

"Hey, wait! I didn't catch your name," he called out, and I heard his footsteps. I sighed but didn't turn around.

"That's because I didn't give it." I chuckled to myself and started to carry the suitcase up the stairs. Damn, that thing was actually pretty heavy. I felt some of the weight being taken away from me, and I scowled at the pretty boy, who had a smug look on his face.

"I reckon you do need help." He smirked and I sighed, letting him carry that thing up the stairs. He hadn't been scared off by my attitude. Great.

"I'm Alex Benson." He smiled at me, and I rolled my eyes again, knowing that he wanted to hear my name. I noticed my mom glaring at me from the porch and I sighed. I had to act again.

"I'm Rosemary... Evans," I told him, "but everyone calls me Rose." I shrugged. Rose; Rosy; Mary; Rosemary. It was all the same.

"That's a pretty nam-"

"Look, I'm not looking for someone to flirt with, okay? So you can stop with the ridiculous flattery already," I snapped at him, raising my eyebrows when I saw how surprised he looked. It worked! Wow. This guy was really not used to girls talking back. Well, he's in for a change now.

He shrugged at me and gave me another small smile. "I was just giving you a compliment. You're new, and you could use a friend. I have to go now, but I'll see you at school," he said as if it were a promise. Suddenly he darted away and off the steps, leaving me on the porch with my suitcase.

"Honey, come meet Jay over here!" my mom called out to me as I stood there, rather shocked. Well, Alex wasn't that bad. I exhaled, shook my thoughts away, and walked over to Mom, and Jay... ugh. I managed a slight smile to cover my bored expression as he extended his hand for me to shake.

"Rose," I told him, not even bothering to say my full name because everyone shortened it anyway.

"Jay Greene." He briefly smiled at me before looking at my mom with... adoration.

I wanted to puke.

"It was, er, really nice to meet you, but I have to get my stuff out of the suitcase, y'know?" I said with a soft laugh, sounding nervous. "See ya." I sprinted off inside. God. I didn't want anything to do with him. It was bad enough we had moved, and now this guy was there too, trying to coax Mom into staying.

I didn't even bother to look at the new furniture Mom had picked out before we moved. Instead I went upstairs, wanting to go and sulk in my room, but I had to search for a few minutes. It turned out to be at the end of the hallway, to the right. I nudged the door open and pulled my suitcase after me as I ventured inside. There was a bed in the corner with a large window close by that had a view over the woods.

Ugh. The woods. Was I the only one that thought woods made you think about villages? It was always about woods. I was used to skyscrapers, concrete and steel, not sand, farmers and woods.

The rest of the room was kind of plain, with a closet and a drawer - simple, basic things. The floor was made out of maple-wood and the walls were a nice shade of red. I loved red; it was one of my favorite colours.

Well, at least my room wasn't bad.

After two hours I had unpacked my things and had eaten pizza with my mom. The room looked much cosier, with pictures and candles. I had a passion for candles but I had no idea why; they were just so cool and they smelled so nice. They gave the red on the walls a romantic touch.

I slumped down on the bed, knowing I had to go to school the next day. Was I ready? Probably not. Would I make new friends? I doubted it and sighed. It wasn't like I had a choice. I would have to endure it. This town sucked, and I was pretty sure that school was going to suck as well.

I fell asleep swiftly after my head hit the soft pillow on my bed. Dreaming of New York, Jonah and candles - but suddenly, noises outside made me frown in my sleep. My dream was interrupted and I awoke with a frown on my face, growling in frustration as I sat up. Was my mom snoring or something?

I opened my eyes, pushed my teddy bear and blankets aside, and got out of bed. My eyelids felt heavy as I glanced around the room, and I made my way over to the door and gently pushed it open, walking on my tip-toes. If my mom was snoring, I still didn't want to wake her up and make her grumpy. I scuttled over to the other side of the hallway, opened the door to her room and glanced inside. She was there - sleeping, not snoring.

Hmm...

What were those sounds then? 'Probably my wild imagination,' I thought with a sigh - but when I came back into my dark room, I heard a strangled, animalistic sound coming from outside, again. I instantly froze. The sound was terrifying and horrible. I raced over to my window, forced it open and popped my head out, staring at the woods.

I shivered at the cold but otherwise ignored it. Did it come from the woods? My eyes scanned the area, and I thought I saw... eyes.

I blinked and studied the scene again but there was nothing, only trees and bushes. Sighing, I went over to my bed and plopped down.

I had probably imagined it all. It had just been a dream...

right?