Page 10 of Wanted Beta

Well, actually, the plain black leather heels used to belong to MJ, and she has no clue I stole them when she bought a new pair a few months back. They’re a size too small, I guess, but somehow that makes it super easy to walk in them. Heels always feel precarious when I try them out at the mall, but these are fine, and I feel good when I wear them.

Maybe not sexy, exactly, but close enough.

My little black dress is probably still a bit prim and proper despite taking up the skirt a little and removing the sleeves, but it’s the best I can do on my limited budget.

Too bad none of my sisters are busty with wide hips.

Their shoes are the only thing I can consider stealing.

Waiting for my ride makes me a little impatient.

Carla’s the first of my friends to learn to drive, and it’s cool that she can borrow her mom’s car and all, but I really wish she wasn’t as slow and hesitant behind the wheel as my grandmother.

She’s always running behind schedule.

I guess at least we’ll be fashionably late to the party.

Whatever the hell that means.

It’s not like we’re in with the cool crowd, or anything like that.

I’m not sure why the new guy invited everyone from our grade to his place tonight. Maybe where he comes from that’s how parties are done. Sapphire Valley might be a Beta town, for the most part, but everyone here still plays by the same popularity rules that go everywhere else.

Cool kids hang with other cool kids.

Cheerleaders, basketball players and anyone else who’s considered above average attractive are the ones everyone wants to be, or date, or be friends with. A handful of less pretty and handsome people are in their orbit and included, but that’s about it.

The rest of us are ignored, if we’re lucky.

The unlucky ones are the kids that get picked on for being too weird or geeky or whatever.

Me and my girls are invisible, so it’s kind of exciting that we’re on our way to an actual party with all the cool kids and the geeks and everyone else.

Rourke Mariner has no idea what he’s done.

Just thinking about him makes my heart beat a little faster.

He has one of those lazy smiles that go so well with his dark, come-to-bed eyes.

He’s not what I expected from an Alpha, at all.

The guy doesn’t seem to care about sports.

He’s tall, and blond, and slim rather than muscular.

He can be kind of sarcastic and he speaks with a slow drawl.

It’s oddly hot how opinionated he is about the stuff our teachers discuss.

I never once thought a topic in class could be interesting before he showed up.

Now, I listen to his impassioned rants, and I’m shocked to admit that I might actually be learning something.

Of course, I’m well aware that the guy is seriously out of my league, but a girl can dream, and boy do I ever …

Carla arrives and slows to a jerky stop beside the sidewalk.

She pushes her glasses back and smiles at me with glossed-up hot-pink lips.

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