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Constance watches with bated breath as X-wings and TIE fighters soar by onscreen. The scene is tense, rebel ships and their pilots falling one by one in their desperate fight to destroy the Death Star. Ricky, sitting on the couch beside her, is equally enthralled.
One of his many cats, Margarine, dozes away on her lap, belly up, completely oblivious to the world around him. He twitches in his sleep, letting out a soft mrrp as Constance runs her fingers through his long, orange fur. She’s careful not to wake him, lest she draw the ire of his tortoiseshell sister, Toast, who is currently perched on the back of the sofa, watching her like a hawk.
The ships descend toward the Death Star once again, this time with Luke Skywalker in the lead. Darth Vader in his personal ship follows close behind. Constance leans closer, eagerly anticipating what will happen next.
Just then, her phone buzzes.
She sneaks a glance at the screen. It was probably just her parents checking in on her…again. To her surprise, it’s Penny’s name that greets her instead. “hey constance,” the message reads. “can we talk”
Constance purses her lips. It must be important. Penny has never texted her before. She writes back,
sure
what’s up?
The indicator that Penny is typing appears and disappears several times. Finally, the reply comes:
oceans an omega
“What?”
Margarine flies off her lap with a yowl as she nearly launches herself out of her seat. The Death Star explodes in the background. Constance barely registers it, too busy staring at the words on her screen.
Noticing her shock, Ricky pauses the movie and waves to get her attention. “You O-K?” he signs.
Constance stutters, “Y-yeah- uh- One sec, sorry.”
She quickly dials Penny’s number and brings the phone up to her ear. The phone rings once before Penny answers. Constance starts talking immediately, “What happened?”
Penny’s reply comes, quiet and shaky. “I messed up.”
Constance is still yawning as she walks into class the next day and sits in her usual place.
The call with Penny had taken almost an hour, most of the time being taken up by trying to keep Penny coherent enough to actually explain what happened. Even then, it still didn't sound real.
It was hard to believe that Ocean of all people would wind up in a situation like that.
"Do you think it's true?" Ricky had asked.
Constance hadn't known how to answer. Neither of them knew Penny that well, but she didn't seem like the kind of person to make up something like that.
Her and Ricky's movie night had unfortunately been cut short by the whole thing. Neither of them had the energy to continue after the fact. Her return home hadn't been much better. She'd spent the better part of the night tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Her mind was still reeling with the information.
Could Penny have been mistaken?
Part of Constance hopes she was.
Ocean had build so much of her identity around being a "calm, rational beta." Suddenly presenting as an omega would likely shatter all that.
Constance is pulled out of her thoughts when Ocean comes stumbling through the door.
She looks exhausted, gripping her desk for support as she drops into her usual seat in front of the board. She slumps forward, curling in on herself like it hurts to be moving.
Constance opens her mouth to speak, but that's when the scent finally hits her.
Her sense of smell has always been weak for an omega, but as she breathes in, she nearly gags when the overpowering sweetness fills her lungs. She takes a moment to steady herself, realization upon her in an instant.
Penny was right, and Ocean is in heat.
And Constance can't be the only one who's noticed.
Cold realization settles on her as she glances around the room. Nearly all eyes are on Ocean. A few girls she recognizes to be omegas have varying expressions of disgust, while an alpha boy shifts uncomfortably in his seat.
The tension in the room is palpable. Not even the teacher's arrival is enough to break it.
Constance turns her attention back to the front of the room, to Ocean, who somehow looks even worse than a few seconds ago. She hopes, prays that Ocean will swallow her pride and stay home tomorrow for her own sake.
She doesn’t.
Tammy Edwards approaches them at lunch.
“Oh, Ocean! I heard about what happened,” she says.
Ocean instantly grows tense at her words, her hands clenching at her skirt.
Tammy doesn’t seem to notice. “I'm so happy to see you're embracing your God-given role.”
…What?
Tammy continues to ramble on. "So many omega girls just don't take things seriously. Like, putting all those chemicals in their bodies… It's literally an affront to God."
Why does she look at Constance when she says that?
“Anyway, I brought you some resources that should help you understand everything,” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a few folded pamphlets. “Here.”
Ocean doesn't move.
Tammy sighs and slides them across the table to the place Ocean has her eyes locked. "You don't have to worry about this stuff right now, of course. This is just to help you prepare for the future."
Constance finally speaks up, "Hey, um, Tammy? Could we maybe not talk about this right now?"
Tammy looks confused. “Why? I’m only trying to help.”
Constance shifts nervously, keeping her eyes locked on Ocean. "Well, I mean, it's just not a good time?"
Tammy takes another look at Ocean and then nods. "You're right. We can talk about this later, after you're feeling better."
She stands up, preparing to leave. "Oh, and Constance?"
"Yeah?"
“Tell her to be more careful in the future,” she says. “It would be just awful if she were to let someone take her purity so soon.”
“Right.”
Constance watches Tammy leave, making sure she's out of sight before picking up the pamphlets off the table.
Right away, she's greeted by the image of half a dozen smiling children surrounding a heavily pregnant woman cradling an infant in her arms. The words “Bearing the Fruit of a New Generation” are printed across the top in a curling font. She grimaces. If it was uncomfortable to her, she couldn't imagine how it was for Ocean.
Yikes.
She doesn't bother looking at the others, choosing to instead crumple them up and toss them in the nearest trash can.
She turns back to Ocean. She's still frozen in place. Constance reaches out to place her hand on her shoulder.
Ocean jumps at the sudden contact. Her gaze snaps to Constance, her eyes wide and terrified.
And then she's gone, sprinting out of the room as fast as her legs can carry her.
Constance doesn't see Ocean the rest of the day.
It's mainly because they don't have any more shared classes, but she knows Ocean isn't skipping thanks to a text from Misha to the choir's group chat reporting that Ocean "looks like shit yo."
As soon as the bell rings, she makes her way through the crowded hallways to Ocean's classroom, only to to find it empty, save for the teacher. According to her, Ocean had left several minutes before class let out. She had nearly forgotten to ask for a hall pass, too, apparently.
For once, she wishes her sense of smell was more acute. Then, she might be able to pick up Ocean's scent trail from beneath the vast mixture of smells left behind the collective student body.
Her phone buzzes in her pocket.
She pulls it out to find a new text from Penny.
bathroom
second floor
by choir room
She types out a quick thanks before setting off toward the stairwell. The crowd grows thinner and the sounds of slamming lockers fades away as she ascends to the second floor.
She soon finds Penny waiting a little ways from the top of the stairs, leaning against the wall opposite to the bathroom door. She looks nervous, awkwardly shifting her weight from foot to foot as she stares at the bundle of fabric in her arms.
"She's still there?" Constance asks, gesturing toward the door.
Penny nods, not looking up. "Yeah. She smells really scared, too." She hugs the cloth bundle closer. "I grabbed my hoodie. It's got my scent on it. Thought it might help or something, but…" She shakes her head. "Never mind, it's a bad idea. I should just stay away-"
Constance interrupts, "No, no, I think this will work, actually. I'll meet you downstairs after I talk to her, okay?"
Penny nods. "Okay."
She stands up to leave, but hesitates. "She'll be okay, won't she?" she asks.
Constance nods. "Yeah," she says. "Don't worry."
Penny turns away and shuffles back down the hall.
Constance steps up to the bathroom door. "You'll be okay, Ocean," she says.
She takes a deep breath, steeling herself, before pushing it open and stepping inside.