Page 14 of The Omega Archives: Part Three

I hesitated, looking around.

“Just scan your finger and they’ll give you your meal.”

I stared at her. “You don’t get to choose what you eat?”

“They’re making ideal omegas, Ella. That means for prime health and aesthetics. They once had an ice cream sundae bar and to say that there was a riot would be an understatement though. Basically, Christmas.”

“Wow.”

“You surprised?”

Sadly no.

“Missing being out in the real world to eat a burger and fries,” I said instead.

Lidya laughed as we collected our meals and walked back out into the sitting area. Both of our meals looked similar, though I noticed that I had an extra grain and veggies on my plate compared to her.

Glancing around the room for a spot to sit down, the loud chattering seemed to turn much more specific.

“Is that even an omega?”

“She looks skinny. Nothing to hold onto.”

“Probably won’t make it through her heat let alone an alpha rut.” A rumble of laughter spread through the group.

“She’s so old.” Another whispered, though honestly, it wasn’t soft enough to be a whisper.

“I know. Are they going to put her up on the courting market like that? Who’s going to want some saggy omega?”

“Maybe they plan to make her the new HeadMistress and finally replace Olverti before she kicks,” a male omega added into the conversation.

An uproar of laughter came from the table.

Wow, I got about a dozen insults in less than five minutes. I was pretty sure that had to be a record.

“Don’t listen to them, they just get overly jealous when a new omega comes in at courting age. They have the disillusion that any pack that would want you would stoop to that level for them,” Lidya advised. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t thought she had such a fire in her.

I thought it was all the hair.

“Lidya.” I nudged her as she kept close before we found two seats near the back. Sitting down, she started to undo her silverware and get settled.

She smiled up at me all light and sweet once more. Her general setting. “Yeah?”

“How old is everyone here?”

“Hm,” she thought for a moment. “The youngest right now is fourteen. The oldest is twenty-three, or no, four, I think.”

So I wasn't even the oldest. I wondered where the omega was who was twenty-four. I didn’t blame her so far if she had found somewhere else to hide during dinner.

I felt eyes on me as I ate. Students glanced back over their shoulders towards me. Even what looked like older betas who watched around the perimeter of the dining hall didn’t care to mask their looks of interest and confusion at me.

Even though I was hungry, it was hard to get anything down when I felt every move I made being calculated. After a decent amount of time, Lidya glanced at me with a sympathetic smile.

“Ready to head out?”

I nodded.

“It’ll be better once you’re used to everything,” said Lidya after we threw out our trash and headed back towards the entrance we came in. I’d have to take her word for it because right now, I had a feeling it was better to live in a fishbowl than wherever I was right now.

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