Chosen by Fate, Rejected by the Alpha

1044 Chapter 29- Zaley – Sleepover Part 1 (VOLUME 6)

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Zaley

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With Mom and Dad starting to leave for their meetings all around the world, Reagan, Rika and Talia were helping Zachary, Zander, Zayden and me prepare for our sleepover. I knew for a fact that Ivy and Olivia would be here for me, they were my aunts after all, they had to be here. Still, I was worried because I didn’t know if Breanna would be here for me. I didn’t know if she wanted to come to the party.

The day after Reagan said that we should have the party, I went to school with a mixture of excitement and nerves. I wanted to ask Breanna about the party right away, but I didn’t know how. And I didn’t even know why I was worried. She was my best friend. And she had been to the castle before. She was just there at Halloween, so she knew where I lived. And what I lived in.

A lot of people were scared by the castle because it was huge and scary looking to them. They thought that it was strange to live in a place that could practically fit the entire city in it. To me though, it was just home and not scary.

“Oh come on, Zaley!” Breanna turned to me and growled impressively for a Fae.

“Wh..what?” I turned to look at her in confusion. She looked annoyed and I didn’t know what I had done wrong.

“You are so totally distracted.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Come on. I know that something is the matter with you. You have barely looked at me today. And you keep stopping midsentence when you talk to me.” She looked suddenly scared as she seemed to realize what she thought was going on. “D..do you not want to be my friend anymore?”

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“Wh..what?” I almost screamed the word at her, and that would have been embarrassing. As it was, half of the people at our lunch table still turned to face me as if something were wrong. “No, that is not it at all.” I was shaking my head so hard that it hurt my neck. My white hair was flying all around my head and becoming tangled with itself.

“Then what happened? What is going on, Zaley? Tell me what is the matter with you.”

“Nothing is wrong, Bree.” I lowered my head in anxiety. I had made her think that I didn’t want to be her friend anymore because of my worrying. I was so stupid sometimes. “I..it’s just that I was told that I could have a sleepover, and I was wondering if you wanted to come. Then I was wondering if you would even want to come. I started to think that I was stupid for even wanting to ask you because I thought that you wouldn’t want to come. I’m sorry for making you worry. You don’t have to worry about-.”

“Of course, I want to come. Why wouldn’t I?” She smiled at me as she interrupted my rambling.

“Y..you do?” I was more shocked than I thought that I was going to be. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. Why did you think that I wouldn’t want to?” She laughed at me. “You’re my only friend at this school. I would definitely want to hang out at your house.”

“Yay!” I threw my arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Bree.”

“No worries, Lee.” She called me by the nickname that she had given me after we became friends. Our nicknames of Bree and Lee rhymed. “When is the party? And who else will be there? Just us, or people that I don’t really know yet?”

“Well, my aunts will be there.” I told her as I looked down the table at the two of them. They were always nice to me at school, but I was always the loner until Breanna came to the school.

“Ivy and Olivia are your aunts? I thought that they were your cousins.” She laughed as she thought about it. “Aren’t you older than them?”

“By a couple of months, yes.” I nodded at her. “It’s a long story.” I didn’t want to get into it all. I knew that I didn’t want to try to make someone understand it.

“No worries, Lee. The Fae have a lot of mixed up families like that as well, as you should know. You’re related to us as well.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

I told Bree that the party was this weekend, and what time to be there. She was excited and said she would tell her dad right away. I hoped that she would be allowed to come, I didn’t want to be without my best friend.

Zachary, Zander and Zayden invited two of their friends each, which would make for nine boys to the four girls that were going to be there. Even adding in our siblings that would be there, the boys had us by four. It didn’t matter though. They were going to be in their own place, away from the girls that were going to be there.

I was getting really excited for that night now. We all started to plan what we were going to have for food. And with Abigail and the other chefs in the castle, we were going to be able to have whatever we wanted. The boys were opting for pizza and piles of junk food and desserts. Bree, Ivy, and Olivia said that they wanted real food. We were going to be having something more like a tea party. There would be small sandwiches, scones, cookies, veggie trays, and of course some junk food as well. Just because we were girls didn’t mean that we didn’t like junk food. We just wanted to have other stuff as well.

Mom came to see me the day of the sleepover. It was after school, and my guests hadn’t arrived yet. She looked a little sad to be leaving us, but I knew that she had to go. She and Dad were busy right now. And it was all so that we would be safe in the future. I didn’t understand all that was going on, but I knew that it was important. And I knew that Mom and Dad didn’t want to be leaving like this. They were both sad to be going, I could feel it in the way that they were talking to me.

I think that this was something that I had always been able to sense in the past. I could usually tell what people were feeling when they talked to me. When the bullies at school didn’t like me, they felt like hate and pain. When Mom and Dad didn’t want to leave but they had to, it felt like tears and pain. When my brothers were excited about something, it felt like sugar fueled energy and excitement. When people were afraid of something, it felt like their hearts were pounding and everything around me was cold. I never really understood it all, not really, but I was learning to figure out what each emotion felt like.

And of course, I hadn’t told my parents about this yet. I didn’t know why I was able to know people’s feelings like this, but I didn’t want another reason for people to treat me differently. I just wanted to be seen as a normal person.

Right now, as I had already felt before, my Mom was feeling like tears and pain. What was strange was when someone was sad, I could taste the salty tears in my mouth. And when my brothers were excited, I could taste the sugary sweetness. It was so weird.

“Zaley, sweetheart.” Mom smiled at me as she sat on my bed. “Are you excited?” She was looking around the room that had been partially set up for the party tonight. Talia and Rika were going to help us with our nails, do our hair, give us facials, and all the other girly stuff that we wanted to do.

“Yes. I think it’s going to be so much fun. It’s my first real sleepover.”

“I know. And I am so sorry that I need to miss it.”

“It’s OK, Mommy. I know that you have work to do. And it’s important for us. We will be OK. You don’t need to be sad.”

“I know. Still, I feel bad that I won’t be here for this milestone of yours. If you need me though, if anything happens and you need me at all, just call me. I will rush back in an instant. I can always go back to the meeting another day. You are important to me, Zaley. You all are.”

“I know, Mommy.” I hugged her tightly as she leaned in next to me on the bed. “Thank you and I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.” She felt so sad at that moment, but there was also the feeling of love. Love was always hard to explain. It was more like warmth than anything else, but it had so many different feelings. I think it was because there were different kinds of love. The way that Mommy and Daddy loved us was warm, strong and gentle. It was like they wanted to take care of us, and there was a feeling that if someone hurt us, they would get really mad at those people. The way that Mommy and Daddy loved each other was not warm, it was hot. It felt like it could burn you if you touched it. And there were things about that feeling that I wasn’t able to understand. It felt like there was something hungry about it. Like someone wanted to eat something but I didn’t know what it was. Only like there was an emptiness that was only filled when Mommy and Daddy were around each other. Then there was the feeling of friendship. It was like love as well. It wasn’t as warm as the family love, but it was nice. And there was a happiness in that warmth. I liked the way that it felt, and I knew that I liked having a friend now. Bree always felt like friendship to me. Even before I understood what she truly wanted with me.

After Mommy was there to see me, hugging me and kissing me goodbye and telling me that she would see me in the morning, it was time for Daddy to come into the room. He looked and felt as sad as Mommy had. He felt like sadness and love, just like Mommy had, but Daddy’s was always a little different. Daddy always felt like there was a stronger feeling to it. And the way that Daddy always talked made me know that he never wanted to lose his kids. He loved us all so much, and he wanted to make sure that we were all safe no matter what. He felt that way about Mommy too. Daddy was a protector. A strong man that didn’t like seeing his family in danger. I always made sure to give Daddy extra hugs when he was feeling like this. I needed to make sure that he knew that I was right here for him.

“I love you, Zaley.” Daddy said as I squeezed him in my arms. Well, as much as I could wrap my small arms around him.

“I love you too, Daddy.”

When Mom and Dad were gone, that was when everyone started to show up for the party. It was time for us to start having fun and to do all the things that we had planned for the sleepover. Ivy and Olivia had been there already though, and I saw that Daddy was just as protective of his little sister and sister in-law as he was about his own kids. As I said, he was a protector, and he meant to protect all of us.

Breanna and the others were arriving now though. So, it was time to get the party started.