"You are always one choice away from an entirely different life."

There are moments in our lives that define who we become. Not a sports injury or shit like that, none of the things you would write about to get into college. Moments that alter the way we view life and the people around us are usually the ones we deem as unimportant. The brain is a weird organ. It controls us but at the same time it likes to punish us. We don't remember the positive comments people make but rather the negative ones.

Most of the time we don't know which events bring us to the point we are at now. A split second can change everything. I don't know which moments made me become who I am now. However I can remember the day I declared that I hated Zane De Luca.

8 years ago

It was my tenth birthday party. Callie, Jaden, and I were running around my backyard while my sister talked with her friends.

Isabel was mean to me. She wanted to be friends with the older wolves, Zane's friends. I didn't mind, we never ran with the same crowd anyways, but the teasing was getting annoying.

"Alessandra! Look what I can do!" Jaden yelled. He was doing a backflip that I had seen ten times already. He was so excited about learning a little trick.

"Look at Alessandra, looking ugly in that dress," Isabel said. Zane and his friends laughed at her remark.

"We are wearing the same dress Isabel," I told her. My mom kept dressing us in identical outfits even though we weren't identical twins.

"It looks better on me, I got the good looks from our parents unlike you," she responded.

She would always bring that up. I never fought her about it because deep inside I agreed with her. Isabel got our mom's facial structure and lips and our dad's green eyes. Her hair had streaks of gold in it too. My eyes were brown and my hair was black. The worst part was that Isabel and my brother had the same features, but I didn't. I stuck out and Isabel said I was adopted, even though there are pictures of both of us when we were born. I was learning to accept my features, my dad said it was the Italian in me.

"That's not true! Alessia's pretty!" Jaden said. I blushed, I could always count on him to stick up for me.

"Yeah! She's way prettier than you Isabel!" Callie said. I appreciated her for sticking up for me, but I didn't want them to be mean to my sister. She was just going through a phase of being in love with Zane.

"Shut up Candace Lillian! What type of name is that anyway? A grandma one!" Isabel yelled back. Her face was getting red and her eyes were so angry. I could barely understand her.

Callie's eyes teared up and her face fell. She was a strong girl but this was a sensitive subject. Candace was her mom's name and Lillian was her older sister's. Both of them died a day after Callie was born.

Callie started crying as she ran away. Jaden followed her while I stared at the person my sister had become. Mama said that people do weird things when they love someone. This wasn't Isabel's fault, it was Zane's. I hated him for stealing my sister.

I knew I hated him. I just never knew how much it would grow.

Can you imagine if I wrote a college application about that? To this day I remember that memory in vivid detail. I remember locking myself in my room the whole day. I remember the hate I held for Zane, but the question bounced in my mind.

Was I hating the wrong person?

"Alessandra! Come on, the game is starting!" Lilia shouted in excitement. The game she was referring to was one all of us had made up a couple of years ago. Basically, there is this giant floating circular platform placed in the lake. Everyone crowds a couple of feet around it as two people fight on the circle. It's not about punching and kicking, just about pushing. The goal is to get the other person in the water.

I grab my shirt from the bottom and pull it over my head, my shorts go next.

"Let's go blondie!" I tell Lilia before getting in the water. We swim over to the circle where everyone else is.

"Let's pick teams," Jaden says.

"Boys versus girls!" the girls yell.

"Fine," Hiro says.

"What are you saying man? They wiped the floor with us last time," Jaden exclaims. He was right, last year the girls won by a lot. We were way faster and had better balance than the guys even though most of them were stronger.

"Well it's time for some revenge isn't it?" Zane says. He had Isabel on his back but his face looked annoyed.

"As if! You guys are going down again!" Callie says.

"Then let's get started, shall we?"

The first people up are Jackie and Jaden. How ironic, my ex-boyfriend and the girl he cheated on me with. I'm on good terms with Jaden but Jackie loved getting me riled up. I know I should be rooting for Jackie, but I kind of want Jaden to chuck her into the lake.

"Go!" Hiro yells, and the game begins.

Jaden immediately goes for Jackie's foot which makes her slip, landing flat on her back. Her face twists in pain but then she smiles.

"Is that all you got pretty boy?" she says.

She gets back up and kicks Jaden's shins, throwing him off balance. He leans back, sprawling his arms out in an attempt to catch his balance. Just as I think he's going to fall, he plants his right foot forward and takes Jackie's wrist. He pulls her to him, pivots, and pushes her into the blue water of Lake Tahoe.

"Don't let your guard down Jacqueline!" he says with a smile. The boys hoot and holler, giving out words of encouragement to Jaden and trash-talking the girls. The rounds continue and the boys are doing better than they did last time. Before I know it, it's my turn.

"Ok, it's your turn, Alessandra. It's a tie, you have to beat Zane!" Lilia says. Zane? I hadn't even noticed that he was the only guy who hasn't gone yet.

"Knock her off, Zane!" Hiro and the boys yell. Zane is already standing on the platform. His abs are glistening in the sun and his hair is pushed back by the water. He has a smug look on his face like he knows he's going to win. I'm not going to let him. He won the other night in the forest, this one's for me.

I place my hands flat on the circle and push myself up. I stand on the platform with my feet mounted firmly. My toes wiggle from the nerves but I breathe in deeply to calm myself. He's an alpha so he has the advantage of being naturally better at everything than everyone else. That's a tricky obstacle to navigate, but if anyone can, it's me.

I watch as his eyes trail down my body. It feels like he's undressing me with his eyes and I don't know if I like it or not. His eyes flash gold then return to their normal color.

It looks like I have the advantage.