“Dr. Paige?”

“Yes?”

“How is the new experiment going?”

A smile spreads on my face. “It’s going perfect. The results are even better than I could expect.”

“I would expect nothing less, Dr. Paige.”

“You just loooove calling me that, don’t you?” I wink.

“Of course I do, my bestie is the first Beta ever to earn a doctorate! I have to show that off!” Martin pats my shoulder. “And now we don’t have to hide your ideas as mine!”

My company had indeed fired me when I was in the hospital. They said that I was replaceable and they needed someone right away, so I was kicked out. It was a blessing overall, as James was very willing to snatch me up. He even sent me to college, just like he had promised that day in the hospital.

The college board was skeptical at first, thinking that a Beta could never be smart enough to get a college degree, but when James threatened to take away his future donations, they changed their song real quick. There are a lot of benefits to having a powerful Alpha as your backer.

I took an entrance exam, and Martin had been right when he was bragging about me: I had enough knowledge to pass out of a Bachelor's degree. The administrators of the exam were left speechless when I aced the first exam they gave me to see what undergrad class I should be placed in. They gave me another, and again, I aced it. I think I took about five tests in total. The school decided to keep increasing the difficulty of the exams until they determined that an undergraduate program would be too easy for me. They didn’t know what to do with me, so James suggested just going straight for a PhD. Again, the school was on the fence about that, but James said that he would fully fund all of my research. That shut them right up and got me into one of the best Biochemistry programs in the country.

I decided to use my idea for a heat/rut suppressant for my project. I figured that if my scent could block receptors in the nose, that my hormones could possibly block a hormone cascade in the body. It was nice to formally test the hypothesis I informally tested the day Zach bit me.

Speaking of Zach, once he got out of jail, he found me. He wanted to apologize for the damage he did that day. I accepted, and surprisingly we became friends. He even volunteered to help me with my study, testing the suppressant and bringing other friends and family, including Jonny, to test it as well. Zach had made up with Jonny, and they actually started dating! Him, Jonny, and I got lunch at least once a week to keep in touch outside of the study. After Martin and James heard that Zach and Jonny and I were meeting up, they began joining us as well. We would try a new restaurant every week, which was very exciting after growing up eating the same thing everyday.

I worked part time in a lab with Martin so that I could pay for my part of housing, although James said he would have gladly covered my housing as part of earning my PhD. I didn’t feel right doing that. Plus, I really enjoyed the work. I would have loved to teach classes at the school, like other PhD students, but that was a step the school and society jut were not ready to take.

Growing up, I never thought that I would walk across a stage to get a degree higher than high school, but I did. I never thought that I would have a family in the stands supporting me, but Martin, Angie, Jonny, Zach, James, the participants in my study, and my coworkers were in the crowd. I even legally changed my last name to Paige, taking Martin and Angie’s last name. My parents hadn’t spoken to me since I left the house. I didn’t need them as my family and they don’t deserve having a doctor with their name.

I didn’t know it at the time, but there were also a lot of other Betas, young and old, in the crowd, cheering me on. I never thought I would be a role model, but a little Beta boy came up to me after the ceremony and told me that if I could become a doctor, he could too. I shed more than a few tears that night.

After finishing my degree, I was accepted full time at Morton’s Medication. I became the head of the lab that I had previously worked part time in, and it was like living in a dream. Martin left the lab, still working for Morton’s Medication, just in the sales department. He had the perfect combination of personality and scientific know-how, quickly rising through the ranks in his department. Luckily for us, his position allowed him to come check on my progress so he can relay it to potential buyers.

We have been working in our new positions for three years now. My subordinates have nothing but respect and admiration for me. We even hired more Betas, even if it is to just do the grunt work as they are earning their degrees. Though James has been given a lot of shit for his support of Betas, his businesses have been booming more than ever before.

“What can we say, Dr. Paige? You are someone worth bragging about!” James enters the lab area, smiling at us. James always says that he is the luckiest person in the world to have found us two. “You have literally changed the world: your ideas changed the world medically, and your presence changed the world socially.”

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without you two,” I smile at my best friends. “You changed my life in ways I could have never imagined. I cannot express my gratitude for believing in me.”

“You can start by setting aside your experiment for a bit and joining us in the breakroom?” James bats his eyes at me.

“Okay?”

“Yay!” Martin grabs my arm after I put away my supplies and washed my hands. “Let’s go!”

~~~~~~

“Surprise!”

“What?” I laugh.

“You have been working as head of the lab for three years now!” James says, pulling out a cake from the fridge. “We all wanted to celebrate with you.”

“We’re so proud to work with you Dr. Paige!” Theo, a Beta working in our lab, says, giving me a hug.

“Wow, I didn’t even realize that it was today!” Looking around, I see Jonny, Zach, and my team. I feel so much love looking at their smiling faces.