Page 20 of Conflicting Lyrics
The ride to the airport was a sad one, filled with more crying from Lisa than I’ve ever seen. She held me for a long time before finally letting me go through security.
To say I was nervous the whole flight there would be an understatement. I should be used to major changes in my life by now, seeing how the last three years have been filled with enough to last me a lifetime.
But as I grab my bags, load them onto the luggage cart, and push them towards the exit to catch a taxi, I feel almost… scared?
Maybe I’ve grown used to the comfort of the Omega center. My room, my nest, my workers, and the group meetings. I’ve only had less than a year of normalcy, since everything died down enough for me to even try to be a normal girl, and now I’m packing up and moving.
This time however, isn’t like the last. I’m not starting over new, running away from a toxic nightmare of a life and from the people who contributed to it.
I’m taking this much-needed next step in my life. One I’ve been excited about for a while now. I can’t let my fear of the unknown and big changes get in the way of all the new and exciting things that will come from attending Calling Wood.
It’s my chance to take back my life and make it what I’ve always wanted it to be. No one holding me back, no one keeping me down.
The world is in my hands, and I get to choose what to do with it.
I’ve chosen to come to Calling Wood for a life I have only ever dreamed about.
With a deep breath, I get in line for a taxi. One pulls up and helps me put my bags in the back.
Sliding in, I put my seat belt on and look forward.
“Where to?” the driver asks, glancing up to look at me through the rearview mirror.
“Calling Wood University, please.” I smile politely.
Nodding his head, he pulls away from the curb, and I settle back into my seat.
This giddy excitement fills me the longer we drive. My eyes bounce around as I stare out the window, trying to take in everything at once. From the buildings to the palm trees. At one point, we take a road that runs along the waterfront of the beach, and a wide smile lights up my face.
I’ve never seen the ocean before; all of this is something I’m seeing for the very first time. There was only one time in my life I’ve left Montana, and that was for a great aunt’s funeral back when I was ten.
I can count on one hand the amount of times I have even left the city I grew up in. All the times Ally would declare we were going on a spontaneous road trip, but never far enough that we couldn’t be back by dark.
As scary as it is starting over again, putting myself out there in a place where I know no one, that’s over a thousand miles away from the place I grew up, is where I am meant to be. I know that in the deepest depths of my soul.
As we pull up to the big iron gates with a sign next to it that says “Welcome To Calling Wood”, a settling comfort blankets my body and takes away some of that nervous energy from before.
“I can’t take you past here,” the driver informs me, parking the car.
“Oh, ah… okay.” I nod, quickly grabbing my wallet to pay. Once that's done, I get out, grab my purse to help the driver with my suitcases.
“Thank you!” I wave the man off as he gets back in his car.
Once the car is out of sight, I let out a heavy breath and stare down at all my things. “Now, how the hell am I gonna get all of this inside?” I mutter.
“That would be my job,” a male voice sounds from behind me.
I let out a very high-pitched squeal of surprise before spinning around wide-eyed to face a tall man standing behind me.
“You scared the shit out of me!” I close my eyes, hand on my racing heart, as I struggle to catch my breath.
“Sorry about that,” he chuckles. “Didn’t mean to frighten you. But I was expecting you.”
“You were?” I open my eyes, frowning at this stranger.
“Yes.” He nods. “Name’s Rick. I’m your Beta guard.”
“Oh.” I blink in surprise. “Rick, right. Okay. The email mentioned something about a Beta bodyguard.” I tilt my head to the side as I take him in. He wasn’t bad looking, in his mid-thirties by the look of it. Tall, cleanly cut brown hair, matching eyes that shine with mirth, the longer I stare. “What's the deal with needing a bodyguard?” I ask, crossing my arms as I raise a brow. “I know it’s meant for an Omega’s protection, but is it really that bad at this school to be needing one?”
