I had expected name-calling and whispers behind my back.

I had expected sneers and sniggers.

I had expected mean remarks and being frozen-out and friendless and miserable.

I had never, ever expected anything even close to this.

"Just one more stitch", the kind beta-doctor said to me as she did the last stich on my cheek. "You're gonna have a scar there."

I burst into tears.

"Oh, dear. Oh, honey, don't cry. Don't cry. It's gonna be a very, very small scar."

I wasn't crying about the scar, of course. In all honesty, I kind of liked scars. And this was a pretty cool one, going over the bridge of my nose horizontally out on my left cheek. I was crying because of the bullying.

I had been pushed and shoved. I had been lifted by my throat so many times, I thought of starting a career as a kinky pornstar. I had burn marks on my arm from three different cigarettes. I had lost a tousle of my hair in the back that I had cried over, even if I could cover it up easily. The lecturers had actively ignored my raised hand when I wanted to answer a question, or make my own. I had gone home and cried in frustration over how student after student had gotten one question wrong.

"What is the definition of the length of one leg?"

One alpha student had gotten it wrong, then another. Reluctantly, the lecturer had chosen taken the beta with their hand raised.

"No. Incorrect. No-one?"

It's from the anterior superior iliac spine of the pelvis to the lower tip of the medial malleolus!! I shouted inside as I reached my hand up.

"Disappointing."

He continued his lecture, and I lowered my hand.

I went to my room after the hospital, not taking care to close the door and threw myself on the bed, hid my face in my pillow and cried. At that point, I wondered what it felt like having a phone so you could actually call your parents. My student loan didn't allow me to buy one, and even if it did, my family would need one as well in order for me to call them.

I allowed myself fifteen minutes of crying before I looked up...

And stood dead still.

In my door opening was the guy who lived opposite me. The one who I had to thank for making me realise exactly how bad the university experience was going to be. I stood up square, shooting a million daggers from my eyes straight into his ugly soul. I humored myself by imagining his soul being pitch black as opposed to his colouring.

"Filth", he said.

"In the filth where I live, one of the families has an alpaca with the same hair colour as you."

I didn't know what made me say it. Was it because it was already all going to hell anyway, so I might as well? Or was this just the last drop that made the glass spill over? I could see surprise on his face, that was then exchanged for absolute venom. He took three steady steps towards me and pushed me down onto the floor, then straddled me, putting an arm over my throat.

"Remember what I said?"

I bit his hand.

I bit him so hard, I tore a piece of his skin off. I spit it in his face. It was enough for him to release his grip of me just so much that I could clamber out from beneath him. I ran to my window, opened it and jumped down without hesitation. Luckily, we were only on the second floor because God knows I would've jumped anyway.

There was something liberating about running away from a raging alpha. I still had my shoes on, but I kicked them off to feel the grass beneath my feet. In the madness of it all, I realised I had never felt grass beneath my feet in my life. There wasn't any grass where I came from. I released my hair in my speed, letting it tumble out behind me. I ran past a boy on a walk in the area, another omega, and he looked at me with interest.

"What are you running from?"

"Alpha!" I shouted back. "Wanna join?"

"Sure, why not?"

And he started running with me. We ran and ran, having no clue whether the Alpaca Alpha was running after us. In the end, we reached a small pond where we stopped and caught our breaths.

"There are..." the boy said, huffing and puffing. he wore jeans and a light autumn jacket, his hair was brown and split in an immaculate side part. He had some summer freckles still on him. "There are three things... Three things... That will still be hard no matter how much cardio you do. One... Running after the bus. Two. Going up stairs. Three. Running from alphas." I snorted. "Why was he chasing you?"

"I told him his hair looked like the hair of an alpaca in the dump where I'm from", I said matter-of-factly.

The boy gaped at me. "You. Did. What?"

"What, should I just stand there and take whatever shit he throws at me?"

"Well... Yes? What kind of an omega are you?"

"A terrible one." I sighed, sitting down. "Izuna, by the way."

The boy sat next to me. "Henry."

I reached my hand out. As opposed to the Alpaca Alpha, he took it and shook. It felt good. "Nice to meet you, Henry. What do you study?"

"Mathematics. You?"

"Medicine."

He shot up as if he'd been stung. "No way! It's you?"

I looked up at him quizzically. "So what if I am?"

"You're a star! You've been all over the newspapers! The entire university is talking about you! But nobody knew your name, or your appearance."

"I guess those in my class know know. You're the first from outside. Unless they've told their friends outside of med school behind my back. Which I bet they have."

"So... How is it?"

"Terrible. I know so much more than those idiots but the lecturers keep ignoring me."

"They will come round", he said, but he sounded like he absolutely didn't believe they would come round. I didn't either, so it was fine, really.

"Do you run a lot?" I asked him.

He beamed. "All the time! Or, four times a week. I don't want to risk any injuries. Wanna join? I go tomorrow morning."

"Sure!" I said.

The world had other plans however.

I saw Henry's face change, as if he saw something that was very, very wrong. His eyes widened, and I saw his mouth open as if wanting to scream something.

I turned back and saw a shadow loom over me.

"Izuna, watch out!!"

And everything became black.