The Beta Female

One

The first thing I heard when I woke up was the sound of a curtain being pulled back. Light shined in the room and made me close me eyes harder. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the comforter tighter. I felt someone sit on the bed, making the mattress sink. A hand was placed on my back.

"Come on, Baleigh. Get up." Collin patted my back, his voice calm and gentle.

"But it's too early," I groaned. I put a pillow over my head to block out the sunlight.

"It's 9:15 in the morning on a Saturday. How is that early?" Collin started to tug on the comforter. I tried to hold on tight, but he was stronger than me. The blanket came flying off and my legs were exposed to the cold air. I tucked them close to my chest.

"It's cold!" I whined.

"My goodness! Can you just get up?" Collin sat up.

I turned my head and opened my eyes. His blonde, curly hair looked like gold in the sunlight. His arms were folded and he gave me a serious look. I could see his blue eyes looked even more blue than before. I couldn't help but melt at how handsome he was.

"Fine. I'll get up," I sighed. Collin gave me a bright smile. He started to walk away to the door.

"Um, what are you doing?" I asked.

Collin turned around. "Going to get some food. What else would you think I'd be doing?"

"You're supposed to help me up." I held out my hands like a 5-year-old wanting to be picked up by their mother. Collin rolled his eyes and came over to me. He picked me up bridal style. I laughed as he carried me to the door and placed me in front of it.

"There. You happy, princess?"

I gave him a curtsy. "Yes. Thank you, peasant."

Collin rolled his eyes. "I prefer, 'love of my life.'"

"I guess that could work." I stood on my toes and gave him quick kiss before I headed out the door. I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. Evelyn was already dressed with a white apron around her blue blouse and jeans. She flipped some pancakes on a pan. Dr. Stone sat in the dining room with Dad. The two of them sipped some coffee while they talked about sports. I never understood why guys like sports so much. It's just a bunch of dudes who play with rubber balls. What's so fun with that?

I saw Kiera and Nate sitting next to each other at the breakfast bar. Kiera held her and Nate's girl, Paisley, in her arms. I came by and gave Paisley a kiss on the top of her soft blonde hair.

"Mornin' Baleigh," Kiera said with a smile.

"Morning!" I gave her a smile in return. I walked past Evelyn as she placed some pancakes on a plate. A bag of chocolate chips laid on the counter by the stove. I quickly popped a few in my mouth before Evelyn could catch me.

"I saw that Baleigh!" Evelyn called. I tried not to laugh or spit out the melting chocolate chips from my mouth as I tried to make my escape.

I came up to Dad and gave him a peck on the top of his head. His hair had gained more grey hairs over the years, and some hair had fallen, leaving a small bald spot with little hairs sticking out.

"Hey sweetheart," Dad said. He gave me a pat on the shoulder. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good. But Collin had to wake me up."

Dad laughed. "I did the same with your mother. She said that one day she would pay me back from waking her up. But she never had the guts to get up early." I laughed. It sounded a lot like Mom.

Mom had died years ago when I was young. Many believed that Dad had killed her when they were out boating. However, Dr. Stone's father, David, had sabotaged the boat, killing Mom and leaving a man with his young daughter motherless. It was really hard for both of us. It was even harder when Dad was drugged. David had drugged Dad, hoping that the drugs would make Dad force Mom out. It worked, but only for a short time. For years, I had to deal with Dad's terrible behavior from the horrible drugs. After Collin and his friends fought off and killed David, everything had gone back to normal.