Chapter Text
"Bet you can't throw it over the roof," the boy sneered, twisting Caitlyn's favourite soccer ball between his grubby fingers.
Caitlyn Kirraman scowled, arms crossed. "Give it back."
“Geeve eet buack.” The taller boy mocked, exaggerating Caitlyn’s crisp British accent while his friend snickered beside him. Caitlyn’s cheeks burned, but before she could retort, a blur of pink streaked past her shoulder, small fists swinging wildly.
Vi Lanes, who had been watching from the hopscotch grid she punched punched the taller boy square in the face. He yelped, dropping the ball. “She said GIVE IT BACK!” Vi shouted, her tiny frame trembling with outrage.
The boy started to whimper then cried loudly, clutching his stomach as if Vi's punch had ruptured something vital. His friend took one look at Vi, her scuffed knees, her wild-eyed glare and bolted, leaving the soccer ball forgotten in the dirt. Caitlyn scooped it up, clutching it to her chest like a treasure reclaimed. She stared at Vi, whose knuckles were already blooming red.
"You're amazing, thank you so much" Caitlyn blurted, her accent clipping the words sharp and bright.
Vi shrugged, rubbing her sore knuckles absently. "No problem, my names Violet but some people call me Vi for short," she muttered, glancing sideways at Caitlyn’s wide-eyed admiration like it was something unfamiliar.
“Well Violet, my name’s Caitlyn, you wanna play with me?” Caitlyn blurted out, clutching the ball tighter. The words came out half-statement, half-plea, like she’d been holding them in her throat all recess. Vi blinked, no one ever asked her to play. Kids usually avoided her since they thought she was scary. But Caitlyn’s eyes were huge and hopeful, like Vi had hung the moon instead of just punching a jerk.
Vi kicked at the dirt. “Sure, I guess.”
Thats how they became friends that day, it was pretty fun. They would do so many things together: skipping stones on large puddles after it rained, sharing lunches (Vi always stole Caitlyn’s strawberry candy), and playing pretend, their favourite, Caitlyn insisted Vi be the princess every time they would play though, which Vi pretended to hate but secretly loved. And Caitlyn would say that she was the prince and she was going to marry Vi when she saved her. Vi didn’t really understand what that meant but she liked Caitlyn’s smile when she said it, so she always agreed.
Then winter came. And her parents had lost their lives to a fatal car accident that month. Vi remembered the funeral, black coats and white lilies, Powder clinging to her hand so tight it hurt. She remembered Vander’s rough palm on her shoulder when they lowered the caskets into the ground, and how sad she felt.
She felt happy again once she went back to school, only because Caitlyn was there, waiting by their usual oak tree with two juice boxes and a grin. Vi didn’t tell her about the funeral, or the way her chest ached when she thought about her parents’ empty bedroom.
“My mother says that I’m going to be an alpha do you know what that is Violet?” Caitlyn asked, swinging her legs as they sat on the oak tree’s low-hanging branch it was the middle of recess and Caitlyn was sleepy so she didn’t feel like playing that day and only wanted to talk with the latter. Vi frowned, peeling the wrapper off Caitlyn’s stolen strawberry candy, she didn’t know why Caitlyn kept bringing these when she knew Vi would take them.
“Dunno,” Vi mumbled around the candy. “Sounds like a dinosaur.”
Caitlyn giggled, her legs kicking against the bark. "It's not a dinosaur, silly! It means I'll be big and strong and—" She paused, brow furrowing. "Actually, I don't really know. But mother says it's important." She leaned in conspiratorially, lowering her voice. "She says alphas are protectors and leaders, my mom also says that all the girls in my family are alphas and that means I’ll be one too. Do you wanna be one?"
Vi crunched the candy between her teeth, considering. "Dunno. Sounds like a lot of work." She glanced at Caitlyn’s bright, expectant face and shrugged. "Yeah it does. You could be a omega." Caitlyn beamed.
“What’s that?” Vi asked, licking strawberry sugar from her thumb.
Caitlyn’s nose scrunched as she swung her legs faster, kicking up flecks of bark from the oak branch. “Omegas are… softer, I think? Mom says they smell like sweet stuff, and they’re all cuddly.” She mimed hugging herself, nearly toppling sideways before Vi grabbed her sleeve. “And—” Caitlyn’s voice dropped to a whisper, “they get claimed by alphas. Like treasure!”
Vi snorted. “That sounds dumb.” But Caitlyn’s eyes had gone starry, like she’d just described the best game of make-believe ever. Vi flicked a piece of candy wrapper at her. “You’re weird.”
“You’re weirder,” Caitlyn shot back automatically, grinning. Then her expression faltered. “Anyway, Vi. Um.” She hesitated—uncharacteristically so, and suddenly found the laces of her snow boots fascinating. “My mom also says… alphas and omegas are supposed to find each other. Like destiny.” She peeked up through her lashes, cheeks pink. “So if I’m an alpha, and you’re kinda a an omega… that means we’re supposed to be together, right?”
Vi blinked. “Huh?”
Caitlyn didn’t answer Vi’s confusion—just scooted closer on the tree branch until their knees bumped. “It means we’re *meant* to be,” she declared, as if that explained everything. Vi frowned, picking at a splinter in the bark. Meant to be? Like… like the way her parents had been? The thought made her chest ache in a way she didn’t understand. Before she could ask, the recess bell rang, shrill and insistent, and Caitlyn grabbed her hand, tugging her off the branch with a grin. “Race you to the door!”
Vi didn’t think about Caitlyn’s words again until the moving van arrived two weeks later. Vander stood on the porch, his thick arms crossed as men in jumpsuits carried out boxes marked “KITCHEN” and “POWDER’S TOYS.” Vi’s stomach twisted. She hadn’t told Caitlyn yet. She hadn’t told anyone. Saying it out loud would make it real, and real things hurt. But when she saw Caitlyn waiting by their oak tree the next morning—her usual juice boxes clutched in her hands—Vi’s throat closed up.
“We’re moving,” Vi blurted, kicking a rock so hard it skittered across the pavement. “To Canada. My uncle got a job there.”
Caitlyn’s juice boxes hit the ground with a wet *thud*, strawberry liquid seeping into the dirt. Her mouth opened, closed, then opened again like a fish stranded on dry land. “What?” she finally managed, the word cracking in the middle.
Vi scuffed her shoe against the pavement, suddenly fascinated by a pebble. “Yeah. He says it’s ‘for the best.’” She mimicked her uncle’s deep voice poorly, but Caitlyn didn’t laugh like she usually would.
“But—” Caitlyn’s hands fluttered uselessly at her sides before clenching into fists. “You can’t just leave.”
Vi shrugged, her shoulders hunched as if trying to disappear into her oversized hoodie. "Gotta go where Vander says," she muttered, scuffing the toe of her sneaker against the pavement. The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating—until Caitlyn's small hands grabbed Vi's wrists with surprising ferocity.
"I’ll miss you," Caitlyn blurted, her voice cracking like thin ice underfoot. Her fingers tightened around Vi’s wrists, small but insistent. "Promise you won’t forget me?"
Vi blinked rapidly, the back of her throat burning. "Duh," she managed, kicking at the dirt. "You’re too weird to forget." The attempt at a joke fell flat, and Caitlyn’s grip only tightened—her nails digging crescent moons into Vi’s skin, as if she could anchor her there through sheer will.
The recess bell rang, shrill and final. Caitlyn didn’t move. "Well do you wanna play one last time inside before home time?" Caitlyn asked, her voice too was kinda shaky. Vi nodded wordlessly, letting Caitlyn drag her toward the classroom by the sleeve of her jacket, their footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.
And after that Vi had left for Canada never to see the midnight haired girl again.