Two

We Might Need a New Blender

"Uhh… Dad?"

Cloud glanced up from his iPad. "Yeah, son?"

"I'm trying to choose my classes and it keeps asking me if I'm an alpha, beta or omega. What the heck does that mean?" Sora wondered, furrowing his brow at his laptop.

"Fuck…" his dad grumbled, setting his tablet aside and rubbing his temples. "I totally forgot about a/b/o courses."

Sora put the footrest of the recliner down and gave his dad a curious look. "What are you talking about? You never mentioned this stuff when you home schooled me on the island."

"Because I hate the whole hierarchy, and I was hoping to protect you from it when you were growing up," Cloud told him, taking off his reading glasses and folding them into his pocket. "I always thought we'd have this conversation when you turned 16, but you never went through rut or heat, so I figured it could wait."

"So… you realize you're still making no sense, right?"

Cloud chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I know. And I'm sorry that I waited until now to tell you all of this, because I'm about to completely change your entire view on the world. I just wanted you to grow up without worrying about the universe's expectations of you. My parents were really adamant about me finding a mate from a young age, and I think that's why I fucked up with your mom so bad. I never should have been with her in the first place, but I was so desperate to find a mate and shut my parents up."

"Mate? Dad, what the heck are you talking about? Mom was your wife."

"Well yeah, but she was also my mate," Cloud pointed out, knowing that he was thoroughly confusing his son. "Right. I suck at this. Sora, everybody has …well, it's kind of like a second gender in a way. You're either alpha, beta or omega, and each one has different characteristics. Alphas are the top tier and omegas are the bottom. Betas fall somewhere in the middle."

Sora lifted an eyebrow. "The top tier of what? And who decides where someone falls?"

"Of the hierarchy, I guess. I dunno, it's just kind of an unspoken thing that everybody obeys. We're compelled to follow it. I'm pretty sure it's programmed into our brains from birth. And nobody decides, by the way. Everybody is born with their class, and you're stuck with it whether you like it or not."

The brunette wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. It sounded like something out of a storybook, but not real life. "So… what am I, then?"

"You're a beta, which I honestly think is for the best. You won't have to deal with any of the expectations of an alpha or omega. You get to decide what kind of career you want, and who you want to mate with, or if you even want to find a mate. You won't have the pressure of fitting into your role."

Sora had to admit, that did sound like the best of the options. "Well then what are you?"

"I'm an omega," Cloud told him, looking sheepish about it. "We pretty much exist to be housewives. At least that's how it was when I was growing up. Your generation is changing things quite a bit."

As funny as it was to picture his dad as a housewife, Sora found it hard to believe that his father could possibly be an omega. "But Dad, you're a famous marine biologist. That's not exactly screaming 'housewife' to me."

"That's because I defied my role when your mom left me. I wanted to finally be my own person. Why do you think you've never met your grandparents? They hate me for it."

"So was Mom an alpha?" Sora wondered, considering he knew next to nothing about her.

Cloud shook his head. "Nah, she was just a beta. That was another thing that pissed off my parents. They wanted me to find myself some big, strong alpha mate and instead I chose the cute beta girl from gym class."

"Wow. So you used to be really into Mom, then? What happened?"

"No, no. I used to be really good friends with your mom. We settled for each other because we were both being pressured to find mates, and in the end we ended up resenting each other for it. She fell in love with someone else, and I…"

Sora frowned. "You what?"

"I let her go. I moved to the island and decided to focus on my career. I had no idea she'd been pregnant until she showed up with you and left you here."

"I don't understand. How could she just leave me here like that? Didn't she want me?"

Cloud sighed. "She thought you'd be better off with me. Omegas are genetically predispositioned to care for children. At least, that's what she told me at the time. And I wanted you in my life so badly that I didn't ask questions. I just took you and never looked back, and I will never, ever regret that."

"I'm glad I grew up on the island with you, Dad. I just wish I knew her, that's all."

"I know, son. I can't blame you. But I honestly have no idea where she even is. She's changed her number since I knew her, and she's not on any kind of social media. Believe me, I've looked."

Sora stretched, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back. "It's cool, Dad. I've got the best parent in the world already."

"You might not be calling me that when you go to school next month…" Cloud mumbled, regretting not explaining something so important to him sooner. "I'm sorry for keeping this from you, Sora. In hindsight, I should have prepared you for what the world is actually like outside of the island. I guess I just got trapped in our little private bubble out there and forgot that we wouldn't be there forever."

"I'd have stayed there forever if you would've let me," Sora grinned, already missing their home on Destiny Island. "But I'm glad you got this new job. I know how excited you are to start."

"Well yeah! This new lab has technology I've never even dreamed of! It's going to take my research so much further than I ever imagined. And they have boats that can get me way farther out in the ocean to dive because I'll have a crew supporting me."

He loved how excited his dad got about his work. "Just be careful, okay? No getting eaten by sharks or anything."

"But sharks are so interesting!" Cloud objected, causing both of them to burst out in laughter.

"Dad… do you think I'll do okay at school? I mean, I was nervous enough before I found out about all this. Now there's this whole dynamic system that I've gotta worry about on top of it all. And since I'm pretty sure I'm probably the only person on the planet who didn't know about it, people are going to treat me like a freak."

Cloud wanted to believe that people wouldn't treat him any differently because he'd grown up on the island, but he knew that it was unlikely. Highschoolers had the tendency to be particularly cruel. Especially alphas towards betas. They liked to make betas feel useless because their dynamic wasn't as important as the others. "I won't lie to you and try to tell you it'll be okay, but I know you can handle it. Whatever anybody tells you, Sora, you are a strong, capable person. You deserve just as much as anybody else."

"Thanks, Dad. Now how do I go about choosing classes? Are there any specific course for betas?" he wondered, turning his attention back to his laptop and selecting 'beta' from the drop box.

"Nope. That's one of the awesome things about being a beta. You get to choose whatever you want. You can pick some alpha courses, omega courses, both or even neither. Arts and sports are available to everyone as well, though you'll be hard pressed to find many omegas playing contact sports. I was on the swim team, though. They would only let an alpha be captain, but I was his second in command. Honestly, I was the only thing that kept the team united. They kind of hated that guy."

"Dad, you're rambling," Sora pointed out, already scrolling through the course list for his grade. He'd tested into Honors Math and English, AP Biology and U.S. History, and Spanish 2. He was required to take some type of physical class, and some type of arts class, but the options were up to him. He also had to take something career related. Not knowing what he really wanted to do with his life yet, he opted to take Computer Science 1, which he figured would come in handy in a variety of jobs. He wasn't super athletic, so he decided to take Gym 1 and just get the basics out of the way. He also planned on joining the swim team like his dad did. Growing up on the island he'd learned to swim before he could even walk. He was the least interested in the arts, but he had to choose something, so he put himself in Pottery 1. He had absolutely no idea how to sculpt, but he'd built a lot of sandcastles in his day, so he figured it might come easier for him. When all was said and done, he still had one credit open to use for whatever he wanted. His first instinct was to just use it for a study hall, but then he saw a cooking class that caught his attention. Cooking could be fun to learn. His dad had already taught him a lot of basics, and he always enjoyed putting together new recipes.

With his schedule now full, he submitted the form and closed out of the window. On the homepage of the school's website, he saw a link to sign up for sports teams, so he put in an application for a spot on the swim team as well. Tryouts would be a week before school started, and if he had good enough times, he'd get a spot. He was actually kind of glad too, because it would give him a chance to meet some of the other students before school actually started. Maybe he would even make a friend.

"Can we go to the island house this weekend? I want to work on my lap times," Sora asked his dad, closing his laptop and setting it on the coffee table.

"You realize you can go out there whenever you want, right? I'm not going to make you take me along every time. You know where our boat is docked and you know how to sail it. Just don't wreck up the place, and don't sink my boat."

Sora's eyes widened and a grin crossed his face. "You'd seriously let me go by myself? That's so awesome, Dad!"

"You're almost an adult, Sora. I need to give you the room to succeed or fail on your own now. Just do me a favor and don't fail. Got it?"

"Can I go today?" he asked, already out of his chair and gathering up his stuff.

Cloud chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Fine, but be back by dark. And pick up some Chinese on your way home for dinner. I'll give you a 20."

"What're you gonna do all day?"

"Try to finish unpacking some of these boxes," he shrugged, glancing around at the moving boxes they were surrounded by. "If I trip over one more, I'm gonna go insane and start throwing things."

Sora smirked and nodded in agreement. "We may or may not need a new blender. I might've rage-kicked the shit out of it yesterday."

Cloud shot him a glare, but Sora was already heading for the door. He grabbed the keys to the boat off the hook and disappeared before his father could reprimand him. It was only a ten minute walk to the docks from their new house, and Sora was glad to be back in the fresh air.