Chapter 2 Opposing Twins

“Oops! Pfft.” A sticky drink splashed onto Alicia’s clothes, soaking the top and the bottom of her pale blonde hair. The one who intentionally bumped into and spilt the orange juice on Alicia was none other than her twin sister, the ‘meek’, ‘innocent’ and beautiful Darci. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!”

Alicia looked down at her white shirt, now ruined from the juice and returned her icy gaze to the girl who wrapped everyone around her little finger. Everybody in school, the pack, and at home adored her. She was lovable and beautiful and acted like a saint in front of everyone, but she was a snake in disguise. It must be pretty tiring to act so innocent all the time, Alicia mused.

“Seriously, don’t be angry with me, little sis!” Darci continued, her blue eyes twinkling in amusement, yet to others, she looked close to tears. “Here!” She pulled out a pack of tissues from her clutch bag and held them out for Alicia to take.

“Don’t waste your tissues on her, Darci. It was her fault for bumping into you! Look, she doesn’t look sorry at all!” Penelope, Darci’s friend and one of her many lackeys who surrounded Darci, raised her voice, attracting more attention to such a simple incident. “Watch where you’re going!”

Penelope prodded a finger into Alicia’s chest, the hit bruising due to the girl’s werewolf strength. Not wishing to deal with such idiocy and refusing to waste time anymore on this ridiculous drama, Alicia wordlessly turned away, not even acknowledging their presence. It was better not to engage with them, especially when Darci would somehow use her responses to her advantage, deeming Alicia to be the baddie here.

This, however, enraged the other she-wolves more, and they began their usual shouts of insults.

"Wolfless! Stinks as bad as a vampire!"

"She has no vampire teeth! Just as useless as a human!!! Can you imagine Beta's daughter being the only omega without a wolf? Alicia’s pollution! She’ll pollute our pack with her dirty blood! I doubt we will remain dominant among all other species after that!”

"BEGGAR! Get out of the pack! If you have any self-respect, you should break your bond with the pack on your own accord!"

Others joined in with the mean girls, their red eyes gleaming as they continued spitting insults at Alicia. Since the war 30 years ago, all other species, witches, human, vampire and anything that wasn’t a werewolf became the target of their hatred. Being without a wolf made Alicia more susceptible to their prevailing hostility.

Alicia walked past them indifferently, knowing full well the trigger of the species war 30 years ago, as it was a history that belonged to their werewolf pride and was still a required history course in their high school. The werewolves had been the target of a witch and vampire alliance, but in the end they had prevailed, even though they had suffered great losses.

They thought Alicia was different enough to make the werewolves feel that she was probably some other species mutated to remain in the pack. Whichever one she was, she would not be accepted by the werewolves, even if she was now no different from a normal human, no healing powers, no ability to shapeshift.

Humans, although they were an innocent party in that war, were weak enough for the stronger werewolves to feel that they would only drag the pack down, which is why Alicia is hated by the pack, but humans are not their ultimate enemy. This is the reason why the wolves treat Alicia like garbage but don't kill her.

Whatever.

It all became white noise as Alicia quickened her pace to get away from the cafeteria. Their words did sting, but she refused to show them how much they affected her. It wasn’t as though what they said wasn’t true.

But the fact is, what they say is true. Alicia didn’t have a wolf, making her entirely useless in a pack of werewolves; she wasn’t the prettiest, and she was indeed poor. Not a beggar, but poor. Unlike Darci, her clothes were not designer. They were barely even the latest trends among her peers. Alicia wore what she could afford, and the last time she spent on her clothes was two years ago. She might look awfully dressed in frayed clothing, but she was prideful in the fact that everything she wore, everything she owned, was from her own hard work, working multiple part-time jobs and not taking a penny from her parents.

Entering the school toilets, Alicia checked the empty stalls before cleaning herself up and pulled out her spare shirt from her bag. After years of being picked on, Alicia anticipated many situations and almost always carried a spare shirt, underwear, or anything they might try to use to humiliate the wolfless girl any more than she already was. Once changed into a new shirt, Alicia looked at the disgrace staring back at her in the mirror. She was almost identical to Darci, except for the colour of her hair and eyes.

Where Darci had dark brown hair and light blue eyes, Alicia’s hair was blonde, almost pale white to silver in some lights, and her eyes were soft blue-green, primarily green. They were sisters, their faces mirror images, yet Alicia was unfairly mistreated. Even before her 18th birthday, the special day when everything was meant to change, and she would finally get her wolf, Alicia was treated like an outcast. She wasn’t Darci; she didn’t look like her parents. Some even speculated she was adopted, but the birth certificate stated otherwise.

Still, Alicia’s parents treated her worse than a stranger living in their house. All of her complaints being treated unfairly, all the arguments lessened over time until eventually she gave up, realising her situation was never going to change. Her parents, those people weren’t going to change their behaviour towards her. So all she needed to do was work hard enough to save money and get out of this hellish home!

To make that dream a reality, Alicia requested additional hours from the restaurant owner to ensure she had sufficient savings. She was the first to accept any spare hours going.Yet, today, she promised her boyfriend, Tom, who happened to be the alpha's son and the alpha King's grandson, to attend his hockey game. Due to her part-time job, Alicia and Tom hadn't been able to spend much time together, but when she arrived at school today, Tom emphasized the significance of the game and expressed how important it was for him that Alicia be there.

Whilst thinking about Tom, any pain that had been dwelling inside of her chest, stopped. Amidst the challenges she had encountered, Tom was the only symbol of good fortune, and despite his position, he still treated her like a treasure. Despite how everybody treated her, including his siblings, he treated her like a princess.

She couldn’t miss this hockey game. It was important to Tom so it was important to her. However, as Alicia stared at her perfectly dressed self in the mirror, her phone began to ring and a sense of dread overcame her glancing at the name of the person calling her.