Metal

Chapter 01: Strangers

Puberty was often the time at which many children realized what a difference it made whether they were alphas, betas or omegas.

Before a certain age, types were just something parents told kids they had; not something that had an impact on their lives. Generally speaking, except for little differences in the way they felt at room temperature, kids from every type had a very similar childhood, even though adults tried to shape them to consider themselves different from each other.

That all changed when hormones started to kick in during puberty. Suddenly, alphas and omegas would start producing scents and become more sensitive to other people's scents. Alphas grew taller and stronger and omegas gained some curves in their bodies. Even betas were affected by hormones, depending on their biological sex (another thing that didn't make much difference for children).

With all those physical changes, behavioral changes also came along. Alphas, becoming very aware of the muscles they had acquired, would start thinking very highly of themselves and keep fighting with each other to see who was stronger. Omegas, on the other hand, tended to become more aware of the social image projected upon them and would try to avoid activities that would make them look like brutes. Betas usually felt really out of place because they were the only ones excluded from all that thing about scents, heats, and mates that the media said was the best thing ever.

Now, where was teenage Alfred in the middle of all this?

Nowhere, actually.

Alfred was an alpha, as blood tests could and had to prove at certain times. Still, everyone usually perceived him as a beta because he looked and acted nothing like a typical alpha.

With puberty he stretched a lot without gaining the muscles to make up for it, so he looked more like an awkward marionette than an iron giant.

In addition to his already lame look, he had had to start wearing glasses and braces from the age of thirteen, which wouldn't be so bad in a cool, confident alpha who could pull it off. However, mixed with his clumsy ways, all this only made him look even more like a huge nerd.

At sixteen, Alfred had no interest in sports and although sex seemed very, very interesting, getting it wasn't a priority in his life. His passions were comics, archeology, and documentaries about aliens. He founded an astronomy club early in high school and spent much of his free time doing cool stuff like building balloons to (hopefully) reach space or trying to get a telescope to watch certain space phenomena.

Everyone who saw Alfred walking happily with his books and comics, not paying the slightest attention to the omegas around him, though he was a beta. He didn't have a strong smell, a strong presence, neither a strong body. Also, coincidentally or not, he had surrounded himself with betas friends who, besides being way shorter, didn't seem that different from him, really.

But who cared about what other people thought? Alfred had more to do than to changing his personality just to suit what society expected of his type. He had other priorities, such as asking the principal to hold a club event on the school's roof.

April 12, 2016.

Alfred F. Jones, a junior, asked for permission to use the school's roof for a club event, arguing that it was the safest environment for a bunch of teenagers to be alone in the middle of the night. The principal agreed, probably knowing that a bunch of nerds looking at stars wouldn't do any serious damage to school propriety and Alfred was given permission to do the event on that same week and was told to get the roof key in the staff room.

No one other than the janitor, who went there once or twice a week, was supposed to be up there, but the principal recommended that Alfred checked the place a couple of times before the event to check if everything was okay, especially since sometimes 'a bunch of punks go there without permission and pick the goddamn lock'.