Chapter 1: Following the Leader (written on December 6th, 2014)
"Kate! Kate! Wait!" I heard a voice from behind me. My father and I turned around. It was Humphrey racing towards us with a big smile on his face. He probably was gonna tell us goodbye.
"What is it, Humphrey? I have to go. Alpha School doesn't wait."
"Here." He dropped a rock from his mouth.
"Heh, heh, heh. Very nice... gift! Umm... what is it?" I asked.
"It's a rock!" he answered, smiling wide and sitting down.
"And?"
"Not just any rock. It's the rock I tripped on when we were sight-seeing in the mountains!"
"...And...?" I wondered how long this was going to go on.
"I want you to have it!" My Dad and I looked at each other before I replied.
"You want me to have this rock? I'm... flattered."
"I knew you would be! It's supposed to represent our time together. So when you're sprinting laps or doing tree squats, you'll remember we're friends." I picked it up with my mouth.
"Oh, thank you. That's very kind of you."
"Now go tend to your Omega friends," said Dad.
"Right. Well, I'll see you in spring, Kate!" He ran off to his friends. I could still hear them wrestling in the distance.
When he was gone, I was going to drop this stone into the nearby stream, but I was stopped by Dad.
"What are you doing? That's your gift."
"Dad, I'm a Beta now. I don't have time to be thinking about friends."
"You know, Kate. Without friendships, you wouldn't be you. How do you think I married your mom?"
"She forced you to?"
"No... Although it may seem that way... it all started as a friendship."
"Boy, how did that go?" I asked.
"Great actually. Not a single Eastern bullied me during those days."
"What happened to the Easterns who tried?"
"Let's just say they aren't here to tell the tale."
"My..."
"What I'm saying is don't throw away your friendships. You're going to regret it. Like if I wasn't trying to be friends with Tony, who knows what would happen. Maybe our packs would be at war again."
"War?"
"You'll learn it in Alpha School. Speaking of which, we have to hurry. C'mon. We'll miss the opening ceremony. And please take Humphrey's gift with you. It's the least you can do with his parents being sick and all."
"You're right, sorry."
"It's okay. We all make mistakes." I got a better grip on the rock before we headed over to the big valley where our pack's important affairs were held.
At the Ceremonial Valley...
We sat in rows on the valley floor, looking up at a ledge jutting out of the hillside. A red wolf stood on top of it, clearing her throat. I sat next to Mom on my right. Another pup was on my left. He looked at me. His fur was blackish but his face was a light gray. Handsome in my terms.
"Hey. My name's Hutch," he whispered, bringing his right front paw up to my chest. That name sounded familiar. "I dream to become the greatest Alpha ever," he joked. We shook paws.
"May the best Beta win," I challenged. He was totally gonna lose. I wondered if he knew that I was the oldest daughter to the pack leader.
"Kate, pay attention," growled Mom. I didn't even realize the red wolf was talking.
"Pups, I know you're going to miss your families, but this is life. This is what it means to be a Western Alpha. It takes more than dignity, determination, and definitely natural talent to please us. It takes the right attitude! May I present our director for the Alpha school, the pack leader himself, Winston." The crowds around me cheered. Only the pups like me and Hutch stayed quiet. The red wolf shook paws with my Dad before he got up and spoke to us.
"This is the Alpha school to the Western Pack. And our everyday mantra is: 'Teaching is our cue.' Of our departments, there is mathematics, Wolfish, history, and, of course—we can never forget—physical education, and all are superb thanks to our high standards of education. It is essential that Betas who come out as Alphas know how to count to infinity, know the adult language, know what happened during the War of the Divide, and know especially how to hunt and gather food for our pack. It is our huge job to make sure the path that our next generation walks on is clear enough to see. We need to teach these pups or else no one will. I know you parents need to move on for the greater good of the West. It is your duty, and I respect that because I too have duties. Heck, I'm doing one of them right now." I was trying so hard not to laugh. It was pretty obvious that there was still lots of puppy in me.
Suddenly, a very cold gust of air flew through the valley. All of us started shivering, even Dad. Mom pushed me in close to her warm chest. I was now sitting in her left armpit. It didn't smell nice with the wind. "Whew. Winter's startin' already?" Dad commented. "Anyway, tomorrow when winter begins, our educators, advisors, and instructors will give the best of their ability like they'll do for each and every school day. We teach in the most informative and innovative type of way, making sure the material will stick in their heads after winter. We also teach them alternative ways of finding the same solution, so they'll be no excuse for not doing work. But why would you find an excuse? We create fun activities for our Betas at the same time as we keep it real for them, so we don't take it too far. Perhaps the most recent thing we've added would be the new department where the mentally disabled can be taught in peace. We have orders from the Constitutional Committee to not have another Tim on our paws."
"Who's Tim?" I asked Mom curiously looking up at her face.
"It's just someone that used to be in school with me and your father. That's all dear." For some reason, I got the strangest sensation that Mom wasn't telling me the whole truth.
Suddenly again, another gust of cold air rushed into us. It was getting colder really fast. Winston quickly wrapped up his speech and let the red wolf take the pups out to school.
"Do good, okay?" said Mom, hugging me tightly.
"Don't worry Eve. She'll do fine. I'll update you soon."
"Thank you, Winston."
"Wait, Dad, Mom? When will I see you again?"
"You'll see us tomorrow. We're teaching the physical education class," said Dad.
"Really?! Radical!"
"Sure is honey. Now go to the red wolf, Loretta. She's going to give your orientation."
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's where they show you around the place, telling you where you'll learn and stuff."
"Oh, okay." I walked over to the crowd of pups surrounding Loretta. As we went away to the Alpha school, we looked back and saw our parents waving goodbyes. From this point on, all of us were ranked Betas. What world awaited me in school? Would I make new friends? Alpha friends for once? I had hung out with Humphrey for so long that I didn't know what it was like to have Alpha friends. As I heard some thunder rumbling in the background, I wondered... Was I ready to take this giant leap forward?