Studies show that students invested in their future are less likely to slip into depression.
Every 6 in 10 omegas are extremely likely to have at least one teen pregnancy, whether through a relationship or sexual assault.
Sario Holt groaned when someone poked him in the ribs with the sharp lead of a mechanical pencil. "Ouch," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing eyes he knew were likely bloodshot.
His group partner, Maya Matthews, sat next to him with crossed arms. "Dude, you fell asleep on the project. Are you not super rich?"
Sario frowned, unsure of the connection between his family's wealth and him falling asleep. "Um, yeah?"
"Then why aren't you sleeping?" Maya scowled. "You'd better not be out drinking underage, Sario Holt."
Sario waved her concern away with a limp hand. "I'm not drinking. My dad would legit murder me, not to mention my mom." He rubbed his eyes again. "I guess my high school insomnia is coming back. I couldn't sleep at all last night."
Maya raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you have a new crush."
Sario groaned again. "No, Maya."
As his best friend, Maya knew everything, including the fact that he had tried for three semesters to get with a girl in their physics class only to find out when they got naked that he was very much not attracted to girls. Maya had laughed her head off when he had sulkily admitted it to her, but now she was ever in search of a boy that met Sario's interests. She was more invested in Sario's love life than he was.
Sario scrubbed at his eyes again and tried to remember what they had been doing before he fell asleep. "What case did we decide to analyze?" Both he and Maya were pre-law students at Falville University, and the group assignment had been to pick a case from the last two years that they believed was a misjudgment and then present their evidence for that belief.
"Thompson vs. State of Arizona." Maya was the best project partner. Her memory was almost always perfect, and she had an infinite amount of patience for Sario's frequent mistakes.
"Ah, right." He smoothed the book page he had fallen asleep on. "Sorry about that. Let's continue."
They worked for hours, until it started getting dark outside. Maya called it off at that point since Sario was still sleepy enough to droop over the textbook, and they packed their stuff into overly heavy backpacks and went their separate ways.
Sario got into the car that was sent for him every day, surprised when he sat in the passenger seat and came face to face with Darius. "Hi?"
Darius smiled, reached out, and ruffled his hair. Okay, so he was still in a good mood from his wedding a few weeks ago. "Hey, kiddo. How was your day?" he asked as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
"Okay, I guess," Sario replied, trying to puzzle out why his older brother was picking him up from college. "I'm working on a misjudgment project with Maya."
"Is that why you were later than usual?"
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"Don't worry," Darius reassured him. "I didn't mind waiting. I have an errand out this side of town around now anyways, so it's fine." Ah, so that was why Darius was here: killing two birds with one stone (well, taking out two errands in one drive). He flicked the blinker on and turned left in the place the driver usually turned right.
As the buildings got darker-looking and closer together, Sario realized they were driving straight into the underworld sector of Falville. He gulped. "Um, Darius?" His voice came out in almost a squeak, which he was very unproud of. At least it didn't break.
Darius glanced over at him. "Yeah?"
"Don't tell me your errand is in the underworld."
Darius shrugged with a gleam in his annoyingly perfect blue eyes. "Okay, I won't tell you."
Sario rolled his eyes. "You would be the person with a contact down here."
"Mm." Darius said no more than that sound of neutral acknowledgment and took the next corner with the ease of a man who had done this a hundred times before.
Sario folded his arms and pouted in the passenger seat, frustrated with his ever-problematic older brother. They had an age gap — Darius was 26 while Sario was barely 20 — that made it difficult for them to ever be on the same page mentally or emotionally. To make matters worse, they did not even look like brothers. Darius was tall, blue-eyed, red-haired, and built like a linebacker even though he had never done a day of football in his life; Sario was almost a whole head shorter than Darius, brown-eyed, dark-haired, and the only muscles he had were the ones he had broken his back to earn in the gym and on the soccer field. It was neither of their faults that they had gotten the genes they had, but Sario could not help being bitter about the fact that Darius looked like the alpha he was while Sario looked so much like an undersized beta that he had become numb to people's surprise when he pulled out his ID to prove he was an alpha.
Darius reached over and pinched his cheek. "You're a little old to be sulking, Sario."
Sario scowled even harder and shifted more toward the window. "Leave me alone. I'm in a bad mood."
"Alright, Mister Bad Mood, but you're coming up with me. I don't want someone to try and kidnap you." Darius parked the car at what looked like an apartment building and got out. "Come on, let's go."
Sario got out and followed Darius up the unswept stairs, doing his best not to stomp like a spoiled toddler.
When they reached the seventh floor, Darius stepped out of the stairwell and knocked on a door.
There was the sound of a deadbolt sliding back a couple moments later, and the door opened wide enough to admit them and was instantly shut and locked behind them. The apartment's owner walked past them to an elaborate set-up of monitors, keyboards, and various other pieces of technology Sario did not know the names of. He grabbed a folder off the corner of the desk and handed it to Darius, the oversized hoodie sleeve hiding half of his hand. "Here. I did everything you asked, even the—" He glanced at Sario. "Who the fuck is this?"
Darius chuckled like the question amused him. "My younger brother Sario. He's with me just for today, Marlowe."
Marlowe. Darius' insanely good hacker that Sario had not been sure was an actual person. Marlowe eyed Sario with barely veiled distaste even though the man looked like he hadn't changed or gotten a haircut in ages. "Uh-huh," he replied, sounding nonplussed. "I see."
Sario raised an eyebrow. Marlowe was exactly the kind of person he loved to annoy. And he was here, so why not have a little fun? "Are you always this sour around people or am I getting special treatment?"
Marlowe's eyes flared. Yup, easy to rile up because he thought being prickly enough would keep people from intentionally testing his anger. "You're not special. Get your head out of your ass."
Sario snorted. "I'm an athlete, but I'm not quite that flexible. That'd be insane, man."
Marlowe's eyes narrowed. "I can see why Darius never introduced us before now," he replied icily. "You're an insufferable little bitch."
Sario could not stop his mouth from dropping open. The only time he had ever been called a bitch was when he bailed on sex, but it had been one nasty name among many. Here, it felt so personal and pre-meditated that Sario had the impulsive desire to strangle the hacker.
"That's enough," Darius interfered, saving Marlowe from what probably would have been the nastiest beating of his life. "Stop fighting like two alley cats. Sario, you're an alpha; act like one. And Marlowe, my god, man. I know you're a beta so you feel like you can get away antagonizing everyone, but please can it for now." He took a deep breath. "Thank you, Marlowe. I assume you detailed everything in the file?"
Marlowe nodded, still eyeing Sario like he really did want to go at it like alley cats. "Yes, of course. CanI accept a short-term contract from someone else or do you have another job for me?"
Darius waved his hand. "Go ahead. I'll let you know when I have something. Until then, happy hacking." He grabbed Sario's shoulder and steered him out of the apartment. Once they made it back in the car, Darius glared at him. "What the hell was that?"
"I'm bored and tired," Sario complained. "Can we just go home?"
"Yeah." Darius backed the car out while muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "spoiled bastard".
Sario ignored it but left his middle finger on the leather seat for Darius to see the whole drive home.