Oh god – this chapter. I've been fighting with it for a week, and I even broke all my rules for fanfic and printed it out to edit in On Paper. I still don't think it turned out great. But hey, it's long, at least.

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Omegas are God's most precious children. But over 50% of teen runaways are omegas. Runaway omegas make up a disproportionate percentage of rape and murder victims. What can we do to protect our precious gems from the dangers of violence, drugs, abuse and prostitution?

In the modern era omegas are under all sorts of new pressures. Allowed to go to school, they see the lives of their beta and alpha counterparts, and naturally wonder why they aren't given the same freedoms of opportunity and choice. Some omegas rebel, refusing the guidance of their alphas, refusing their duty to their family, but others understand that they are the prizes of the world, and deserve honor and care. But how do we show the rebellious omegas the same wonderful truth?

What omegas need, more than anything, is unconditional love. At the omega prayer group of the Church of the Heavenly Pack, we share with our beloved omegas the gift of God's love. God's love is unconditional and undeniable. With its acceptance, omegas will soon learn to rejoice in the role god has chosen for them, to obey their alphas, and serve them well, so that their packs will be reunited in the Kingdom of God.

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"Jade."

Jade stopped, one hand still on the orange juice in the fridge. Her father was standing behind her. "What did you think of Gavin Marks?"

Jade stared at the orange juice, unmoving. "What do you want me to think of him?"

"He's young and handsome, isn't he?"

Jade nodded, still not turning around. It was true.

"He's the youngest CEO Holdings Corp has ever had, only twenty six. He's intelligent, aggressive, going places."

And you want to own him, just like you own me. But you actually have to pay for him.

Her father moved up behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to be happy, Jadelyn. I want you to be taken care of."

A stabbing pain cut through her chest. Jade's shoulders sagged. "I know, father."

"He's interested. He's made me an offer."

"Already?" her voice was weak.

"Marks knows that a long term partnership with West Group is in his interests, and he finds you... charming, surprisingly."

Jade considered stepping to the left and puking in the sink.

"We've ironed out the business agreement. It's quite… mutually beneficial. But he's requested a date with you on Sunday, to discuss the details of what he will require of you."

A date. None of the others had ever gone this far before. Gavin was serious, and so was her father, this time, not just showing her off like a prize pig. God. She had thought she'd get out of it somehow. She'd thought at least she'd have until she finished high school to show her father that she was worth more than a bride-price, that she was worth something as a person.

She had run out of time. Her plans had gone up in smoke, and she could do nothing.

Why? Why was she so weak here? She could be as tough as nails, her skin like tanned hide, her tongue sharper than her teeth, when it didn't matter. But when it mattered, when it was her life, she was helpless.

Her father's hand tightened on her shoulder. "I'm sure you will continue to be charming." His thumb brushed over a small scar on her chin, the one she had gotten when he had shoved her into a countertop, face first, followed by a blow to the kidneys, after she had made a snide remark to one of his partners.

Jade took a slow breath. Getting passed from one alpha to another like so much small change was not what she wanted from her life, but getting away from her father had to be an improvement. She couldn't have what she wanted, but she would take what she could get.

"Yes, sir," she said.

"I know you'll make a good impression."

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Tori slumped over her lunch, watching Jade and Beck at a different table, and feeling generally miserable. Jade hadn't glanced over once, but Beck kept casting her worried looks and then turning the same worried look to Jade and asking her something that she would snap back at, baring her teeth.

Tori felt vaguely jealous. She used to bare her teeth at me.

Cat was standing with her tray, looking from table to table with a confused and distressed pout on her face. Tori made a flicking gesture at her, encouraging her to sit with Jade. It wasn't as if Tori was going to be much fun. But Jade glanced up, spotted Cat, and then stood abruptly, casting what was left of her lunch into the trash and storming off.

Beck unfolded out of his seat and came over to Tori's table, collecting Cat along the way. Robbie and Andre piled in after them.

Tori tried to smile, but she wasn't feeling it today. She hadn't been feeling it for the past week. Cat was trying to plan an event for the weekend, filing the air with, excited chatter, and Tori couldn't bear it. It was like they didn't even care that she was miserable.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" asked Beck, looking concerned.

Oh god. The caring made it worse. Especially from Beck. She couldn't stop picturing him naked, pounding away, Jade's head thrown back, her ankles locked around his waist. It made her sick and aroused all at once.

Tori pushed herself up from the table. She forced a smile and a wave. "I've got a test this afternoon. I'm going to go study," she said and ran back into the school.

The hallways were empty. Tori thumped her head against her locker. It had been a week – one week of her new super plan to Not Be a Stupid Alpha. And so far it hadn't worked at all. Jade had come into school on Monday, completely heat free, smelling like nothing but herself, with none of those OMEGA! overtones that grabbed Tori's nose and dragged her around by her sinuses, and she was beautiful. Tori's gut had clenched tight, nearly making her double over, and she had fled.

It was the humiliation, she rationalized. Jade had made an idiot out of her (as had her own parents), and it was only normal that she wouldn't want to face her mocking comments and ironic eyerolls. But she did want to face her. She wanted it a little too much.

"Hormones!" she scolded them. "Calm down! She's not even in heat!"

But Tori's stupid alpha cared not.

She wasn't about to let the stupid alpha take control. So Tori had stayed away. She kept the rule about personal space – not just the three foot radius that Jade had specified – but far enough away that Jade's scent was the barest whiff. She tried not to look at her. She avoided eye-contact. Eventually her alpha was going to give up on this and get bored.

She hadn't counted on being miserable.

Tori ducked into the janitor's closet and sat on the floor.

It was supposed to be better like this. She was staying away, and Jade didn't seem to care. She didn't look at her, she didn't glare or sneer or smile. Tori had walked out of her universe and made herself invisible. And that was fine! She hadn't ever really had Jade as a friend to begin with, so it shouldn't be so painful to have lost her friendship.

But it was.

The door creaked open and Tori's head snapped up to see Robbie, sans puppet, sidle into the closet. Tori frowned, eyes narrowing. "What do you want?"

Robbie flinched at the unexpectedly harsh greeting. "I wanted to talk." He shifted awkwardly and threaded his fingers through his curly hair.

Tori grimaced, feeling guilty for snapping at him. "What about?"

"Um," Robbie looked like he might be trying to get up the nerve to confess to her Japanese-style. God. She didn't have the mental energy to deal with this.

"If you're trying to ask me out, I'm going to say no. Sorry." She warned him off. If he managed to get the words out, she would probably bite him. He was already infiltrating their closet with his smelly boy beta-blandness.

Robbie looked startled. "No, it's not that. I just wanted to say that..." He frowned. "It's not cool."

"What's not cool?"

"It's not cool how you're treating Jade."

Tori sat up straight, eyes wide. "What?" How she was treating Jade?

Robbie took a breath and twitched as if she was scaring the shit out of him - which... she might actually be doing. She tried to look a little less crazy and a little more anxious.

"Jade is... kind of mean. And abrasive. And angry. And violent. And short-tempered-"

"Get to the point, Robbie!"

Robbie looked at her. "Jade is... all those things. But they didn't seem to bother you before. You were kind of all over her, trying to be friends, even when she blew you off."

Tori ducked her head. 'All over her,' wonderful. Subtlety? Trina apparently had more of it than her. "I know."

"But when you found out she's an omega..."

Tori stared at him. He knew. He had to. She had wrecked his locker.

"…you stopped."

"I... stopped?"

"You stopped trying to be friends. You started treating her like... like toxic waste, or worse, like nothing. And Jade, well, she isn't exactly my friend. I don't think she exactly has friends. But she's a person. And you shouldn't treat people badly just because their kind makes you uncomfortable. Omegas are people too."

Tori stared at him. She felt frozen, limbs numb, heart an unbeating lead lump in her chest. "You think I'm treating her badly because she's an omega?"

"Aren't you? I think we would have known if it was something else. She came into school in heat and then left with Beck, and you started to flip out. And then when she came back it was like she was a pariah. You won't even sit with us if we're sitting with her. And you watch her with this kind of disgusted expression on your face."

"I do not!" Tori yelped, and then covered her face. "Oh god. I do." It wasn't disgust at Jade. It was at herself for being so stupid. "Is it really coming across like that? I'm so..."

"I can't really read Jade very well, because she's, you know, Jade. But Beck's been looking worried all week. I think she's upset."

Tori's fingers clenched in her hair. This was all going wrong. "I wasn't trying to hurt her."

Robbie patted her shoulder hesitantly. "I know it must have been kind of a shock. Jade is like the least omega omega I've ever come across. But just because she's different sexually, it's not a reason to treat her differently."

"I know." Tori whimpered. "I just... I freaked out. And, I did something stupid that I thought she'd be pissed about. So I just stayed out of her way."

"It's also making Cat pretty sad. I think she'd like it if you two made an effort to sit at the same table at least."

"I will!" Tori gripped his hands hard. "I'll fix it. I promise."

Robbie stared at her and then lurched forward. Tori dodged the attempted kiss quickly and dropped him as she stood. She forced a grin and waved at him. "Thanks for the heads up!" she said and darted out of the closet before he recovered.

Jeez. It was like the only person who hadn't kissed her or tried to kiss her in this school was Andre. She should really hang out with him more.

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Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Four days left before the date. Jade kicked the locker under hers with her steel-tipped boot. It dented.

"Jade?" Beck caught her attention. "Can we talk?"

"No!"

"Jade!" Beck grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the janitor's closet. Jade resisted, but he pulled her through and closed the door. Then he did nothing.

Jade glanced over at the wall where she had shoved Tori, grimaced, and then looked up at him. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking anxious and kind of stressed.

"What is it?" she snapped.

"What's up with you, Jade?"

"Nothing." There was plenty, but none of it was his business.

"Nothing to do with Tori?"

Jade stiffened. If he hadn't brought her here she wouldn't have thought about Tori in days. She wasn't in heat and Tori hadn't fallen all over her recently. Tori didn't matter now. Jade had other issues. "Why should it have anything to do with Tori? She's staying out of my way now, like she ought to be!"

Beck made one of his annoying sympathetic faces. "And you're sad."

"Not about her."

"Jade."

This was getting absurd. "Why do you think it's her! Just because she waltzes in here and everyone thinks she's a goddess, does that mean I have to? Do I have to give one flying fuck about her?" She shoved him. "Dammit Beck!"

"Hey!" Beck fended her off with waving hands. "You're the one who was like - no, not Tori, Tori's special, hands off!"

"I have bigger problems than Tori goddamn Vega!"

"But you won't tell me what they are!"

She looked up at him, at his sad awkward little face. He hadn't sounded sad. He sounded exasperated. He looked exasperated too, forehead wrinkled, jaw stuck out in stubbornness. Jade's lip curled. "You want to break up, don't you? That's what you were planning to tell me in here."

Beck stepped back, shocked, but he didn't deny it. "I... look, I just thought we should-"

"God, it doesn't even matter." Jade dug her fingernails into her palms. "Our deal was coming to an end anyway."

"What?"

Jade rolled her eyes. "This was always temporary. There was always a sell-by date on it. I might as well let you end it now. I'd just have to end it myself in a few weeks anyway, when I'm… taken out of school."

Beck's face went white. "You mean, your dad..."

"He's found someone."

"Jade." Beck went to hug her and she beat him off.

"Get off me!" She snarled at him. "You dump me and then want to comfort me. Just leave me alone."

"We're friends, Jade... Aren't we?"

God, friends! Everyone wanted to be friends! Friends were useless. All they did was pretend to care, but when it got hard for them they bailed! "NO." Jade growled. "I don't need you. I don't need anything. Just go. We're done, okay? We're done."

"I'm sorry, Jade," Beck said, and he slipped out of the janitor's closet.

Jade sank down against the wall, put her face in her hands, and didn't cry.

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"Jade!" Tori spotted the blackout figure storming through the parking lot, and ran to catch her. She wasn't responding to shouts, so she reached out and snagged her shoulder.

"God, Vega! Get off me!" Jade whirled, furiously, baring her teeth.

Tori jerked back, huffing and puffing to try to catch her breath, and shook her head, trying to get her to wait. "Just, hold on for a moment."

"I don't want to talk to you!"

"I wanted to apologize."

Jade did stop then. She wrinkled her nose.

Tori gulped. She shouldn't find that expression so adorable. Bad alpha.

"What have you done now, Vega?"

Huh? Tori paused, cocking her head. Hadn't she noticed? She opened her mouth. Jade's eyes narrowed. Tori forgot what she was going to say.

"Um," said Tori.

Jade rolled her eyes. "God, alpha, get off your knot and use the vocal chords god gave you."

Tori shook her head to clear it. "I, uh, I'm sorry for avoiding you this week. I've been treating you badly, and I didn't mean to, and I'm sorry."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, Vega? It's been a relief. If you want to stay away forever, that's fine with me. Not having to smell your-"

"I don't smell!" Tori snapped. She had done a lot of thinking after finding out that Jade was an omega, and this was a prime conclusion she had come to. "I wash a lot. I don't try to cultivate musk. And you're an omega, I shouldn't smell bad to you."

Jade put one hand on her hip and gave her a look of utter disdain. "I hate alphas. You smell like an alpha, therefore I hate the way you smell, okay? That's how it works."

Tori frowned. It sounded logical, in that way that didn't actually make any sense. "But you..." She had kissed her, in the janitor's closet.

"I was in heat." Jade's eyes cut like knives. "Don't worry about it, Vega. I'm not likely to molest you again. You made yourself very clear. You just want to be 'friends,' or at least you did, before you figured out what I was."

"I still want to be friends," Tori said, looking down. She really did. The past week had been miserable, keeping at a distance – so much of a distance that Robbie of all people had noticed. "Is that an option?"

Jade recoiled. "It was never an option, Vega. You're nothing to me. Get the hell out of my life."

She whirled and marched to her car.

Tori leaned back against a SUV and sighed. That had gone... poorly. At least she hadn't been stabbed with a pair of scissors. It could have been worse.

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Jade stabbed her fork into her lunch and growled at it. The scent hit her first. Her throat closed.

"Hey," Tori stood with her tray across the table, smiling with that irritatingly hopeful awkwardness.

Jade rolled her eyes. Fuck it. She had told Tori that they weren't going to be friends, but clearly the idiot alpha had selective deafness. "You may sit," she said. "We're not friends."

Tori clearly only registered the first half of the comment because she smiled like she was more thrilled by Jade's permission than she would be for a record deal.

However, her stupid smile was nothing in comparison to Cat's shriek of pleasure when she saw them sitting together, even if on exactly opposite sides of the table. She threw herself onto the bench and started jabbering excitedly.

"Party! I'm having a party on Saturday! No!" She furrowed her brow. "A movie night! That way you can come, Jade! You'll come, Jade, say you'll come!"

Jade glanced across the table, inadvertently meeting Tori's gaze. Tori offered one of her idiot grins. What was this? Goddamit, this was Tori trying to be friends again, and apparently that meant making eyes at her across the lunch table. Jade glared back. It might be a public service to inform Tori that the 'I want to be friends' menu of actions didn't include 'eye-fucking.'

"There had better be alcohol at this movie night, Cat," Jade snapped. She would need it, to not think about Sunday. "And I pick the movies."

"Yay!"

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It was kind of incredible, and terrifying, how much better Tori felt after Jade started looking at her again. She had hugged Robbie in thanks, who looked like he might pass out, and then smothered Rex in a sack before he could comment. And what was possibly even better, Beck had decided to go hang out with his other friends – a group of cool betas and second tier alphas, and she didn't have to watch him snuggling up to Jade.

The fact that she was super stoked about this gave her a bit of pause, but at the most basic level it made her alpha not want to punch anyone in the face, which was always a good thing.

Her alpha. Tori's dad had frowned when he heard her using that term. "It's hard to separate yourself from yourself," he said, "just like it's hard to separate your feelings from your feelings." And maybe he was right. Tori knew that what she was was an alpha, which meant inappropriate feelings about omegas, and the occasional urge to punch Beck Oliver in the face. But she wasn't just an alpha. And she very much wanted to punch Beck in the face anyway, for trying to make out with her while he was dating Jade. How could she separate the wanting to punch Beck from the wanting to punch Beck? How could she separate the way she felt about anything as an alpha from the way she felt as a whole? She knew what she should feel – what the idealized Tori, in her head, the one who was really a beta, and only liked boys, would feel. But trying to be who you thought you should be made figuring out who you were a bit more difficult.

"All right! All right!" Sikowitz held out the coconut shell. "A scene! We must do a scene! And who will play the parts? I need a big, tough, alpha male." He waved around a leather jacket. "Tori!" Tori jerked up in startlement and the jacket hit her in the head. She pulled it off her face, then held it up, frowning. Was Sikowitz casting against type, or not?

"A ditzy beauty-obsessed young beta."

"Oh me! Me!" squeaked Cat.

"Robbie!" Robbie got hit in the face by a blonde wig.

"And her tough-guy beta boyfriend... Beck!"

"Awesome," said Beck, making a face.

"And the good little omega who would never dare to annoy her father." Jade scowled and grabbed the pink skirt from his hand.

So, against type then.

"Ohhh," Cat sighed, left out of this one.

"Robbie and Beck! Over there! Be sweet! Be adoring!"

Beck eyed Robbie, who batted his eyelashes under the blonde wig.

"Tori and Jade, front and center!"

Tori shrugged into the leather jacket. Jade stomped onto the stage, looking particularly pissed off, and not in a half-amused sort of way. She looked the sort of angry where all sensible people would turn and run. Had Sikowitz's comment set her off?

"Now!" Sikowitz said. "You're in love, but you can't just come out and say it. You:" he pointed at Jade, "You're unsure because your beloved alpha has been completely chivalrous and hasn't made an attempt to knot you, so you think he doesn't want you. You:" he pointed to Tori. "You're unsure, because you don't want to just charge in using your alpha magnetism and sweep her off her feet. You want her to like you for you. And for a script… this electronics manual!" He passed out copies.

Tori felt herself start to flush. That wasn't true at all. Jade wasn't upset that Tori wasn't trying… but that ugly comment from the Janitor's closet surfaced in her memory. I put it right in your hand and you can't even take it. And she wasn't worried that being an alpha would make Jade fall all over herself. If anything it was the reverse!

Oh, wait. These were the roles. Shit.

Jade's lip had curled up into a slight sneer as she flipped open the electronics manual. If this was the insecure omega, it was a hugely pissed off one. Jade lifted her chin and batted her eyelashes in a megalomaniacal sort of way. "Oh no," she said flatly. "The digital soundboard 60-Vegas allows the recording and mixing of 1 – 8 different channels of audio."

Tori laughed at the absurdity of the line and looked down at her own 'script.' How were they supposed to express their roles with this sort of dialogue? And what did resisting her alpha magnetism look like? "Or, uh, one full length channel of audio in manual strength, babe." She took a step toward Jade and put her hand out as if to casually cup Jade's hip, and then hesitated. Three-foot radius! Three-foot radius!

Jade shot her a look, then reached out and grabbed Tori's hand, shoving it onto her hip, turning into Tori's body. "Relay selection mode?" Jade offered.

Tori blushed.

Sikowitz waved his hands. "Nonononono! This is all wrong! Jade? Why is the sweet omega pushing her alpha around? Tori? Why is the tough alpha turning red? Switch roles!"

Wait? What?

Jade stepped out of Tori's arm, then put her own across Tori's shoulders, drawing her to her. She was enveloped in her scent.

Jade cocked her head and offered an easy grin. "I've got 1-8 channels in random or sequence mode in a single switch, baby. Relay or input signal." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Tori laughed, and then suppressed it into a giggle. She shook her head, then reached out and ran her thumb over Jade's collar. "I thought the board was intended for use in displays," she said. It didn't sound quite omega enough.

Tori froze. She broke character. "Sikowitz."

"Mmm?" Sikowitz sucked on his straw and raised his eyebrows.

"I don't- I don't like this scene."

"Why not, Tori?"

Tori shut her eyes and then made a face. She wasn't totally sure why. She didn't like the way it felt, to try and force the 'omega'-style character. Jade was an omega, and she might very well feel insecure about something, but she couldn't play the part like Jade. Jade couldn't play the part like Jade. "I thought our choices before were fine. I think interpreting the alpha as a little shy and the omega as knowing what she wants is good."

"Oh really?" Sikowitz made a gesture for her to continue.

Tori remembered the bird scene. Sikowitz didn't care about the choices she made as long as she was confident in them. She had to be confident. "People aren't roles. People are people. I think it's old fashioned to always have to play alphas in one way and omegas in another way."

"Interesting," Sikowitz said. "Andre! Play an omega."

Andre shrugged and got on the stage. He stood quietly with his fingers laced together, feet together, eyes demurely lowered.

"Good job, good job, Andre." Sikowitz turned to the class. "That, my students, is what we call a stereotype. Have any of you met an omega that actually acts like that all the time."

Tori cast a hesitant glance at Jade, who was standing stiff and unmoving, face pale, teeth clenched. Tori had only seen her mother once, but it seemed like Andre was pulling off her character perfectly.

"And that, if I'm not mistaken, is what Tori is protesting against. Indeed, I agree, playing only a stereotype is boring. But what, my dear students, is an omega like?"

"No!" Tori yelled. "That's what I mean! You can't ask what an omega is like! There's no such thing as a generic omega!" Tori choked. She was yelling at a teacher. She shouldn't yell at a teacher!

But Sikowitz merely raised his eyebrows. "Do you really believe that your kind has no effect on who you are? That you can be anything?"

"Yes!" Tori snapped.

"And your kind does not affect the way you act, the choices you make?"

"It doesn't. Not necessarily!" It didn't for her mom. It didn't for Jade.

Sikowitz's mouth drew into a contemplative frown. "Even when you actively choose to not act like your kind? Influence is a subtle thing."

Tori choked. This wasn't about Jade. Jade was just standing there – like a robot in standby. This was about her. Was choosing to not act like an alpha just another way being an alpha shaped her? How could she know what she ought to be resisting if resisting itself was acting like an alpha? "I… I know," she managed. "But it's not just the stereotypes. It's the choices. We aren't doing anyone any favors by saying that all alphas are tough guys and omegas are scared little girls. It's like saying all alphas have to be businessmen and all omegas have to stay at home. People need to see that there can be other options. We don't always have to make the easy choice."

Tori looked over and saw Jade go white. Her hands clenched into fists, her breath quickened. And then she jumped off the stage and fled the room.

Oh god. What had Tori done now?

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Jade sat on a chair near the door of the black box, glaring at nothing. There was nothing to glare at. All the props and scenery had been taken away, leaving nothing but black walls and a few rows of chairs. It resembled her life.

The bell had rung a few minutes ago, but she wasn't getting up to go to another class. She couldn't bear it. It all seemed so pointless.

There was a small cough. Tori was hesitating in the doorway. She knocked tentatively on the doorframe. "Hey," she said. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Jade shot her a venomous glare.

"Sorry," Tori said and moved to back out.

"What the hell was that shit you were spouting!" Jade yelled, before she could go. She didn't want Tori there, but it was worse to be alone.

Tori froze. "You mean, about portraying omegas?"

"I hate it when people talk about omegas like they know shit."

Tori stepped carefully inside. "I know," she said, taking a seat one down from where Jade said. "I hate it too, about female alphas."

Jade snorted. "Most people think female alphas don't exist."

"Except for Danneel Harris."

"Most people are pretty sure they're both betas and are just doing it for a publicity stunt."

Tori laughed, then ducked her head.

Jade felt sick. Tori, trying so desperately to be her friend, had served as a distraction for the past few days. But then she had said it, the one thing that Jade didn't want to hear. It isn't the easy decision. There's nothing easy about this at all.

"I didn't mean to offend you. It's just, my mom talked to me about being an omega when I was younger. About representations, and how that affects how people treat you. She just wanted to work, but everyone thought she was loose because she didn't stay at home. And she had to date alphas, just to have someone looking out for her, because people would do awful things to omegas on their own."

"They still do," Jade said. She sighed. Tori's mother. God, she was jealous. What she would give for a life like that, making her own choices, making her own money. Even the fact that she ended up with an alpha didn't make it revolting. An alpha without expectations? One who treated her like a person?

It felt so weak to want it.

"I won't," Tori said.

Jade looked at her, startled, trying to remember what they had been talking about. "You, Vega? I think I could take you."

"I wouldn't try. I don't want to treat you like you're different… like it matters."

Jade sighed. Her life was so different from Tori's it felt like science fiction. "I'm not your mother."

"What? No! I know that!"

Tori's face was hilarious. Jade raised an eyebrow. Did she think Jade was accusing her of an Oedipus complex? That was just… Tori. "Not everyone has the same set of choices," she clarified. "You can't blame people for taking the easy one sometimes."

Tori frowned. "But… if you can fight, if you can make a difference, why not choose that?"

"Because of the risk!" Jade snapped at her. "If you play the docile omega you don't get jumped in the street. If you whore yourself out to the biggest baddest alpha, you have someone watching your back. Life is a role. And there are only so many available for omegas. Being the bitch has worked for high school, but I'm not going to be able to keep it up."

"I know it can be dangerous, but things are better now. I mean, it's not like you get sold to the highest bidder."

That's exactly what it's like.

"I hate you!" Jade hissed.

Tori jerked back. "Why this time?"

"You don't even get it. You don't get how lucky you are!"

Tori gaped. "Why am I lucky?"

"You were born lucky." Jade rolled her eyes. "Your family is insanely normal for the shit-show that is the usual alpha-omega stuff. The only thing you have that I wouldn't steal in a heartbeat is Trina. And if you didn't have her, I would hate you even more than I do already, so hang onto that hair shirt, okay?"

Tori chewed on her lip. "I... I'm a female alpha."

"So what?" Jade threw up her hands. "What is the big deal with that? You punch people sometimes and you want in my pants - so does everyone. You can lie. You just say, 'What? I'm a beta.' Get better at acting. That's what you want, isn't it? Maybe you wish you could find a closeted male omega and pretend to be a happy beta couple, and maybe you'll just get a nice beta boyfriend and adopt ten babies."

God. What a disgusting thought. But it burned more than it should. Tori wasn't anything. She was too pretty, and annoyingly goofy, and disgustingly nice, and she was an alpha. Jade hated alphas. But faced with Gavin, any refuge looked attractive. It was weak. She hated herself for even entertaining the idea. But she hated Tori more, for not offering (offering what? No business connections, no capital, just a middle-class family connection and a reasonably good singing voice? It was laughable.), hated her for only wanting to be her friend.

"Don't you dare tell me about making the 'easy choice.' You're planning on lying for the rest of your life, because it's easy. You're not going to make a play for me and get beaten up by every alpha who thinks you don't deserve me. You're not going to fight to be accepted as real, as human. No one's ever going to treat you like property. You've got it good. And as long as you keep your paws off me when I'm being tempting, you're fine. You got into a fight, you punched through someone's locker, and no one cares, because no one thinks your kind even exists. You can just lie. I don't have that luxury. So feel lucky, because you are."

Jade couldn't take wanting to smack her stupid face and kiss her at the same time anymore, so she stood and walked out.

TV*JW TV*JW TV*JW

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