Chapter 1: Familiar Faces, New Challenges
Scott McCall packed his backpack for the third time that morning. He was starting school after two weeks off for Spring Break. The whole time he had to balance work at the veterinary office and training with Derek Hale. This past semester had been one roller coaster for Scott, first he was bitten by a mysterious wolf, the girl of his dreams enter and leaves his life without a trace, and the new alpha had been busting his ass lately with training. And the most important change in his life, Scott was now a werewolf. It wasn't just in books or movies anymore for him, he was now a creature that could hurt, or even kill anyone without a second thought. Being able to control it had taken a toll on him and parts of his life. Scott still thought about Allison, when Derek's uncle, Peter was revealed to be the Alpha, the one who had bitten Scott, her family got scared and moved. They had told Derek that they were going to keep an eye on Beacon Hills but were staying away for their daughter's safety. Scott had no idea where they went but he knew as long as Allison was safe he would be ok. It still killed him to think about her but it was time to move on, old wounds were healing.
He heard a horn honk from the front of his house. It must have been his best friend Stiles. Stiles Stilinski had been there for Scott through the entire werewolf ordeal. Grabbing his backpack he ran down the stairs to Stiles' beat up Jeep. "Hey," He sighed climbing into the car.
"Hey, ready for this?" Stiles asked turning the key in the ignition.
"You mean school without Allison? I don't know," He groaned. "Do you think she'll ever come back?"
"Honestly I doubt it, Scott. I know you loved her but I think her family did what was best." Stiles said hoping he wouldn't piss off his friend.
Scott slowly nodded, finally hearing Stiles, he had a habit of tuning him out if he didn't say anything he didn't want to hear. "How are you doing with the whole Lydia thing?"
Stiles always had a crush on Lydia Martin, the school's most popular girl on all accounts. Over the holiday she had gotten back together with her boyfriend Jackson Whittemore, so now the school's power couple was back on. "I'm fine, I kind of expected it." Stiles sighed gripping the wheel tighter.
It was a short ride to the school and before they knew it Stiles was pulling into his familiar parking spot. A couple spots over three girls were climbing out of a silver Honda civic. Michelle popped the trunk to pull her gym bag out of the mass of clothes she still hadn't taken out of her car. "Michelle, you ever going to clean your car?" Lynne asked slamming the passenger door.
"Sure, when cross country is over and I actually have a life." Michelle answered slinging the strap on her shoulder.
Taylor laughed fixing her blonde hair in a side braid. "You said the same thing earlier only it was 'during Spring break.'"
"I was busy!" Michelle defended shutting the trunk. "Do you guys need a ride home after school?"
"Well, not home, but can you give me a ride to the vet's office?" Lynne asked running her hands through her dark brown hair. "I need some extra cash and my mom told me they were hiring."
"Sure, what about you Tay?"
"I don't know yet, it depends on if I have to tutor anyone. Mrs. Shaw hasn't told me anything yet." Taylor explained walking with her friends up the sidewalk to the front door.
Scott and Stiles walked behind the girls, knowing exactly who they were. They had been in the same grade since kindergarten. Scott noticed something fall to the ground. It was a bracelet with an 'L' in one of the charms. "Hey, Lynne." He called causing the girl to turn around along with the two other girls with her.
"Hey, Scott, what's up?" She asked her dark hair blowing out of her face.
"You dropped this." He said holding the bracelet out to her.
"Thanks," She smiled. "That's why, the clasp broke. Hey you work at the veterinary office right?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Scott asked as Stiles walked up beside him.
"Well I was wondering if you could put in a good word for me. I need a job."
"All right, I can do that." Scott smirked.
"Thanks," Lynne smiled again as the girls turned to walk into the high school.
"And when he bounces back, he bounces back fast." Stiles chuckled putting his hands in his pockets.
"What?"
"Hate to break this to you, but Lynne does somehow resemble Allison."
"What? No she doesn't, they just have the same hair color."
"Uh huh," Stile sighed walking ahead of his friend.
"Wait, Stiles do you really think that?" Scott exclaimed running after his friend.
During first period Stiles was called down to the principal's office. Knocking on the door he noticed the back of a blonde head in one of the leather chairs in front of Principal Vaughn. "Oh, Mr. Stilinski, please come in, have a seat." He smiled directing Stiles to the other leather chair beside Taylor. "Stiles, you know Taylor Evers, right?"
"Uh yeah, we had Home Economics together last year." Stiles stuttered remembering Taylor had been the only one not to laugh at him when he almost caught a kitchen on fire.
"Yes, well due to some teacher's concerns we thought it would be best if you were in the tutoring program this year."
"What? But I..." Stiles stammered.
"I know you're a smart kid, Stiles, but I just thought maybe Taylor can help you concentrate. Its just precautionary, just in case your grades really slip."
Stiles nodded looking over at Taylor who gave him a small smile. When they were able to leave Stiles walked behind her. "Look, I know you don't want.." She sighed.
"No, its cool, I'll see you later." He mumbled walking back to his class.
Taylor frowned, this definitely wasn't going to be an easy semester. When she got back to her class Michelle gave her a weird look. When they had about ten minutes left in class their teacher told them to talk amongst themselves but not get too loud. "What was that about?" Michelle asked.
Taylor sighed putting her pen in her purse. "I got my next tutoring assignment."
"What's so bad about that?"
"It's Stiles, and he does not seem to happy about it."
"What? I thought Stiles was smart."
Taylor nodded her head. "He is, apparently he just has some small problems concentrating. If I can help him with that this will be easy."
Michelle nodded closing her textbook. They waited for the bell to ring before heading to their lockers. Lynne stood there waiting on them, their next period was gym. "So, I think someone has their eye on Scott McCall." Taylor smirked seeing Lynne blush slightly.
"What? Nah, he was too into that new girl." She sighed as they walked to the gymnasium.
"Yeah, but she moved and he probably is really tore up about it and needs a shoulder to cry on." Michelle laughed bumping into Lynne with her hip.
"One, I don't see Scott as a crying guy, and two if we do work together we will probably become just friends, nothing more."
"You don't know that for sure," Taylor smiled as they opened the door into the girls locker room.
Scott found Stiles at his locker, "Hey, can you give me a ride to work after school?"
"Uh, probably not, I have to meet my tutor for a session." Stiles muttered opening his locker door.
"What? Since when do you need a tutor?"
"Since Vaughn thought it would be a good idea for me. Apparently I have issues concentrating."
Scott raised his eyebrows. "It took him this long to figure that out?"
Stiles shot a glare Scott's way, "Ok, you can walk your werewolf ass to work." He said shutting his locker.
"Hey, wait, Stiles." Scott called running after his best friend for the second time that day.
During gym class Coach Simpson called Michelle into her office. "Hey, coach, you wanted to see me?" Michelle asked.
"Yes, I wanted to ask you about your training over break?" Simpson asked leaning on her desk.
"Oh, I ran every day, and I found a new trail the other day I'm gonna run on today after school."
"Ok, just don't push it too much, the last thing we need is for you to tear an ACL, understand?"
"Totally," Michelle nodded walking out the office to see her friends walking behind the bleachers. "What are you guys doing?"
"Avoiding dodgeball." Lynne whispered stepping behind the bleachers.
"Why? I love dodgeball."
"Last time I played I got hit in the face by the quarterback of the football team." Taylor snapped. "I had a circle imprint on my face the rest of the day."
Michelle laughed but heard Lynne gasp. "What is it?"
"Look at this." She said waving her hands to get her friends to come towards her.
Taylor and Michelle narrowed their eyes to see what their friend was looking at. "What are we supposed to be looking at?" Taylor asked.
"The floor's stained, like something was spilled here." Lynne said barely able to see the large dark place in the gym's wooden floor.
"Lynne, its probably just the floor rotting or something, come on we can't avoid class forever." Michelle sighed grabbing Taylor's arm.
"What if it's blood?" Lynne exclaimed.
"Its not blood, now come on."
After school Taylor sat at a round table in the school's library, she kept checking her watch. With every passing minute her thoughts that Stiles wasn't showing up became stronger. Finally he ran through the library doors. "Hey," He sighed trying to catch his breath. "Sorry, I had to do something."
"Have you taken Ateral?" Taylor asked.
Stiles looked around taking a seat beside her. "Maybe."
He smiled when he heard her laugh. "Ok, let me see your homework."
Lynne followed Scott through the front door to the vet's office. She heard Scott call for the vet in the back of the building. "Oh, Scott, you're actually on time." He chuckled. "Hello, who's this?"
"This is Lynne, she goes to my school." Scott explained. "She's here to interview for the new position."
He nodded his head. "Ok, come into my office, I just need to ask you a few questions."
Lynne sent Scott a small smile before following him to the small office. She took a seat on one of the black chairs. "So tell me about yourself." He said taking a seat at his desk.
"Um, I'm a junior, I'm an Honor student, I'm always on time. I'm really good with animals."
"Well that's a good thing to have when you're working at a veterinary office." He chuckled.
Lynne blushed. "So what job exactly am I applying for?"
He stood from his chair to walk around in front of her. "We're opening a dog grooming section here, I need someone to help out the main groomer, you'll be in charge of shampooing, drying, that sort of thing. Do you think you can handle it?"
"For sure, I'm your girl." Lynne smiled.
"All right, Sheila should be here in a little while, then you two will get started." He explained. "In the mean time you can go help Scott feed the animals."
"Ok, thank you so much." Lynne said standing up from her chair walking out of the office.
She found Scott dragging a big bag of cat food. Lynne chuckled. "Need a hand?"
"Maybe, you might have to feed the cats for me." He sighed.
"Why? You allergic?" She asked grabbing one side of the bag.
"Not exactly."
Leaves crunched under Michelle's feet as she ran through the woods. Somehow she had gotten off the dirt path and was now just free running in a part of the woods she had never been before. When her, Taylor, and Lynne were little they would venture off in the woods all the time. Exploring, building forts, but they always stayed close to one of their houses. This time she had no idea where she was, and it was freaking her out. Stopping she took out one of her ear buds. Looking around all she saw was trees. She put her Ipod on pause to be able to hear everything around her. A few crows cawed, some twigs snapping but other than that it was silent. "This is great." She whispered fixing her curly hair into a ponytail.
Walking a few feet she saw something black up ahead. Heading closer she saw it was a car, a very nice car parked in front of the remains of a huge house. She knew exactly where she was, this was the Hale property. A couple months ago she heard through the grapevine that Derek Hale was back, and soon after he was accused of killing people, there was a massive manhunt for weeks. He disappeared soon after. Then Sheriff Stilinski released a statement that due to lack of evidence Derek was off the hook to the attacks. No one had seen Derek return to town but apparently he snuck back sometime because Michelle heard the door squeak open. "What are you doing here?" A booming voice yelled at Michelle causing her to jump.
"Oh, I, um." She stuttered suddenly regretting leaving her pepper spray in her car. "I was running and I got lost."
She saw a tall man step through the front door of the house. Even though she had been told he was a killer she thought he was cute. Dark onyx hair perfectly spiked, a muscular build she could tell from under his black shirt. "Well you can see yourself off, don't come back." He growled, his mysterious eyes sending chills down Michelle's spine.
"Um, I have no idea where I am. Can you just tell me how to find my way back to the running trail?"
Derek shook his head. "You're a long way's away from the trail, by the time you find it it'll be pitch black."
"Then can you...?" She stopped mid sentence knowing going with him wasn't a good idea.
"I'll give you a ride, but after that you better not come back."
"You got it." Michelle coughed raising her hands walking to the black Camaro.
It was dead silent in the car. Michelle had never been good with awkward silences, they made her fidget. "So, um," She mumbled. "Nice car."
She looked at Derek, his jaw was tight, his eyes focused on the road. Knowing she probably wasn't going to get a response she shut up. "Where do you need to go?" He asked surprising her.
"Um, a couple miles away from the school. I parked my car there."
She saw him nod slightly before turning down a road leading up to the school. The rest of the ride was quiet. When Derek parked his car next to her Honda she silently unbuckled her seatbelt. "Thank you, you know, for the ride." She muttered giving him a small smile.
Earning no response she opened the door. As soon as she closed it the Camaro sped off leaving Michelle in the dust. Shaking her head she walked to her car, she didn't have any calls or texts from Taylor about a ride so she put the car into drive and headed home.
Stiles kept looking up from his textbook to Taylor. Her dark blonde hair was pushed back, her head leaned to one side. Maybe it was because they hadn't spent that much time together or he hadn't paid much attention but he thought she was beautiful. She definitely wasn't the shy girl he had class with the previous year. "So how are you doing with your problems?" She asked snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, I," He stuttered. "This sucks."
Taylor chuckled. "I know Algebra's not that fun..."
"No, its not that, it sucks that everyone seems to think I really need tutoring. I don't."
She sighed looking down at her notebook. "Then why did Coach Finstock say you would do well in tutoring?"
Stiles scoffed. "Look, its not that I don't get the work, its just if something doesn't catch my interest I just don't care about it."
"That's understandable, so why don't you just trick your brain into thinking your school work is something interesting?"
He shot her a weird look. "You can do that?"
Taylor smiled before showing Stiles some ways to create interest in homework. Back at the vet's office Lynne laughed at Scott who was trying to grab kittens out of their cage against their mother's wishes. "Come on, the vet needs to check them out." He said earning another swat from the mother cat.
"Here, let me help." Lynne smiled gently pushing him aside. "Hi, mom," She whispered reaching out to pet the mother's head, while she was distracted Lynne picked up one of the black kittens handing it to Scott. Three kittens later Lynne shut the cage door holding the last kitten in her hand. "See, that wasn't so hard." She mewed scratching the tiny kitten's head.
Scott chuckled slightly placing the kittens in a small cardboard box. "Yeah, yeah, you're handling cats from now on."
"Nope, I'm working in the grooming department, I was just told to help you with feeding. And you really needed my help. I've never seen someone so freaked out over cats before."
"I can't help they don't like me." Scott defended carrying the box into the examining room.
"Scott, that took longer than I expected," The vet chuckled grabbing the box from Scott's hands.
"Yeah, he had a little trouble with the mama cat." Lynne laughed crossing her arms. "How are your hands? She scratched you up a couple times."
"Oh, uh, they're fine." He mumbled holding out his hands. Lynne's eyes widened seeing no scratches or blood on Scott's hands, it looked like nothing had touched him.
"How did...?"
"Oh, look, Sheila's here." The vet coughed interrupting Lynne. "You can go ask if she needs any help."
"Um, ok, I'll see you guys later." Lynne muttered walking over to a red headed woman entering the building. "Hi, I'm Lynne, your new assistant."
"Oh, nice to meet you honey," Sheila smiled taking Lynne's hand. "Come on, I think we better get started."
Taylor sighed, looking at her phone she had been trying to reach Michelle for the past fifteen minutes. She needed a ride home after the tutoring session. "No answer?" Stiles asked snapping her out of her thoughts.
"No, she's probably out running." She sighed putting her phone back in her bag.
Stiles shut his textbooks. "I-I can give you a ride, if you like."
"Really?"
"Yeah, its no problem, I mean, I can help my tutor who's helping me." Stiles laughed scrunching his eyebrows hoping that sentence made sense.
Taylor smiled putting her notebook and textbooks in her backpack. "Ok, I'll take you up on that offer."
The two walked outside to Stiles' Jeep. She saw huge dents in the passenger side door. "What happened?"
Stiles head shot up. "Uh, you know, its just taken some abuse over the past couple months." He chuckled opening the drivers' side door.
Thinking nothing of it Taylor climbed into the Jeep. After telling him how to get to her house the car was silent. Stiles looked out his window. "So, uh, you and your friends, you guys have been friends for a long time."
"Yeah," She smiled. "About as long as you and Scott have."
Stiles chuckled. "Yeah, we've definitely been through it."
"Like what?"
Stiles eyes widened. "Oh, you know, just guy stuff." He mumbled hoping she would let the subject go.
Lynne grabbed her navy blue sweater on a hook in front of the office. She now smelled like a bunch of wet dogs, her hair was a mess, and she was pretty sure she sat in a puddle of water before leaving the grooming station. "Hey," Scott called. "How was your first day?"
She shot him an evil look, her hair falling in front of her face. "Does it look like it went well?"
Scott chuckled gently moving her hair to the side. "It'll get better."
"Not if Ms. Johnson brings her Great Dane in every week."
Scott shifted nervously. "Uh, do you want to walk home together?"
Finally he saw Lynne smile. "Yeah, I would like that."
The two walked home talking about school, work, but there was one subject Lynne was afraid to bring up; Scott's ex-girlfriend Allison. Lynne's house was close to the veterinary office, Scott walked her up to the front door. "So, tomorrow? Same time, same place?" Scott asked putting his hands in his pockets.
"Same building," Lynne smiled finding her house keys in her purse.
"Bye, Lynne."
"See ya." She said opening the front door. Inside she watched Scott walk down the sidewalk Lynne smiled to herself, thinking he did get cute over the years.
Stiles pulled the Jeep into Taylor's driveway. When he shut off the engine Taylor smiled at him. "Thank you, um, I know tutoring isn't the most fun thing in the world..."
"Don't worry about it, I actually liked our session, it wasn't what I thought it would be." Stiles smirked.
"Good, I'll see you tomorrow, don't be late."
"Yes ma'am." He laughed as she slammed the passenger door. He watched her walk up to the front door before starting the car again. After she was inside he put the Jeep into drive and headed to his house.
Taylor sighed throwing her bag onto her bed. Walking over to her desk she turned her MacBook on. Taking a seat she logged onto her ooVoo account, she noticed Lynne and Michelle were already signed in. Calling both of them they started their video conference. "Hey, how did you get home?" Michelle asked.
"Stiles gave me a ride." Taylor answered.
"Oh...ohh you and Mr. Stilinski," Lynne smirked wiggling her eyebrows.
"Shut up, this is purely professional."
"Oh come on, you can still like him, plus the Spring Carnival is coming up, maybe you two can go together."
"Sure, uh huh, so Michelle how was your run?"
"Uh, it was good, I'm kinda scared to tell you guys what happened though?"
"You were attacked by a bear?" Lynne exclaimed almost spilling her strawberry milkshake.
"Yes, yes I was, you two are video chatting with my ghost." Michelle laughed rubbing her forehead.
"Hey, its possible, just as long as your ghost is like Casper."
"Oh boy," Taylor sighed. "Tell us what happened."
Michelle looked down at her hands. "Well, I kind of got lost on this new trail and I ended up on the Hale property."
"Hale? As in the family that got barbecued in that fire years ago?" Taylor asked staring at her friend.
"Not in so many words, but yes." Michelle said. "Derek was there, he gave me a ride to my car but he's not the most talkative person."
"I thought he left town a couple months ago."
"I thought so too, but he's back and he's actually living in that house."
"Damn, talk about needing home improvements. That house was completely torched. How can he live there?" Lynne asked.
"I have no idea, but maybe I can find out." Michelle smirked thinking of some ways to get Derek to be a more social person.
That night Jackson Whittemore was practicing, even though lacrosse season was over he wanted to be in perfect condition. In frustration he threw his stick across the field. "What the hell?" He whispered after it was thrown back at him, in pieces. "Oh my God," He yelled trying to run away after seeing two red eyes staring at him from across the field but he wasn't fast enough.