An Errant Soccer, A Mistaken Itinerary, and Coach Finstock

The pack gathered around the tables in the courtyard on the first day of school after the summer break. Mason, Corey sat on one side of the bench while Liam and Theo sat on the opposite side. The four laughed and joked about their first day of school back as seniors. The discussed their respective summer breaks and the excitement that happened in Beacon Hills.

Mason smiled at his boyfriend and said, "I really enjoyed our trip to Brazil. Parintins for the festival in June was awesome. I just can't believe your parents let you go."

Corey smiled to Mason and said, "I can't believe you convinced your parents that we needed to go on a trip to another continent, unsupervised, and they agreed to it."

Mason leaned forward and kissed Corey on the tip of the nose and replied, "That's easy. Since my parents found out about the supernatural and how you are kick ass awesome, it was easy to convince them. My knight in shining armor."

Corey and Mason beamed at each other while Theo groaned, "It's nice that you two had a good time. We dealt with a twisted cult here. Isn't that right, Little Wolf?" Theo rubbed his hand vigorously on Liam's head, messing up the young wolf's locks.

Liam growled at the chimera and responded, "Yeah." He pulled away and fixed his hair quickly before he continued, "That and working the summer jobs with Deaton. We learned a lot about being a vet over the summer."

Nolan slowly walked towards the table. The young teen looked like hell, his eyes staring off into the distance, not really focused on anything. His skin was tanned deeply almost to the point where one could guess he cooked his organs. His hair was wild and shaggy but looked like it was freshly cleaned. His eyes were lined with dark rings from many nights of questionable sleep and his eyes were wide and harried from many days of questionable decisions. His white tank top, black basketball shorts and rainbows were clean but appeared sloppy compared to his normal attire. He slowly moved to the table and sat down next to Theo. The wolf and chimera caught a mixture of freshly healing wounds, burnt skin and hair, and the lingering odor of munitions. They even noticed the natural scent of the teen wasn't laced with the usual anxiety but a scent of calm enforced by a strength the boy hadn't possessed, at least until now.

Corey addressed the newcomer, "What's up Nolan? You missed class today. Ms. Greer called your name for attendance three times before moving on."

Nolan's head slowly turned towards the younger chimera and looked past him as he quietly mumbled, "Yeah. Attendance."

Corey and Mason watched Nolan's unblinking gaze as Liam asked, "Where have you been Nolan? Did you have a good summer?"

Nolan quietly responded, his gaze not shifting and the tone in his voice remained neutral, "huh. Good summer. Cruise. Huh."

Corey raised his hand and waved it in front of Nolan's face, which gained no reaction from the teen as Mason asked, "Are you alright Nolan? You seem different from the last time we saw you in Brazil."

Theo glanced at Nolan and then to Mason as he asked, "You met up with Nolan in Brazil?"

Mason nodded, "Yeah, he made it there for the festival. I heard the Pope was there this year."

Nolan's eyes lit up for a moment before he interrupted, "I shook his holiness' hand."

The four teens looked to the youngest and Liam remarked, "You didn't shake the pope's hand."

Nolan quietly spoke but with a little more force, "I have his autograph."

Liam listened to his heartbeat and heard that he was speaking the truth. The wolf stated, "I didn't know you were catholic."

Nolan made the sign of the cross after he said, "Things change. His holiness can change your life."

Almost on cue, the booming voice of Coach Finstock erupted behind Liam's side of the table, "Nolan's right. You should see him bowl a seven ten split."

All the teens but Nolan reached with a confusing "What?"

Finstock smiled his maniacal smile and slapped Nolan on the back which caused the teen to almost overdramatically flinch as he spoke to him in Portuguese. Finstock laughed loudly as he walked away from the table and Nolan clenched his fists and his arms began to shake. His knuckles turn white as his nails tore into his palms. Blood began to trickle out of the fresh wounds which caught the attention of Liam and Theo. Liam asked, "What's wrong Nolan? You're hurting yourself."

The four looked to the young teen as Nolan's eyes filled with a misplaced rage as the shaking increased. He mumbled, "Check the gauges? Check the gauges?!"

Theo raised an eyebrow as he dismissively replied, "What gauges?"

The rage in the young teen's eyes crested, his gaze still locked on the point in space beyond Corey, as his fist flew into the chimera's jaw, the intense force cracking the bone. Following the loud crunch, Theo fell backwards off the bench, his eyes rolling back into his head as the darkness of unconsciousness enveloped him.

Liam jumped off the bench and yelled, "What the hell Nolan?"

Mason looked concerned as he meekly asked, "Where are you at Nolan?"

Nolan nervously bit his lip as he mumbled, "Cruise. But finally back."

As Liam slowly helped Theo come back to the land of the living, Corey asked, "Back from where?"

Nolan's thoughts flooded to how he came back.

The moist air of the jungle was filled with the sounds of explosions and the ricochet of rounds pinging off the metal of the two ton jeep that tore through the primitive roads leading towards the port. The large canopy covered them from the sun as the vehicle kicked up mud and dirt high enough to throw it into the windshield of the maliciously pursuing police truck. Marta, dressed head to toe in dark green fatigues, leaned her head back and yelled, "Mr. Nolan, Sometime today. Bobby is going to run out of bullets."

Coach Finstock, in a full tuxedo, pulled his torso back into the cab of the jeep from the passenger side, holding an RPK, quickly reloading another belt, "I've got plenty of bullets if these assholes would stop trying to kill me. I've already had two unplanned surgeries, I'm not looking for a third."

Nolan stood up in the back of the jeep. The long flowing white lace wedding dress blew with the wind as they whipped around the corners of the winding road leading from the jungle to the side of the mountain. His veil flew from his head and bounced off the windshield of the pursuit vehicle as he raised the RPG and leveled the sight on the truck. The driver of the truck swerved and flew off the road as they negotiated a turn and Finstock leaned out the jeep and began to shoot at the two other trucks that continued to follow.

The jeep made it out from under the canopy and on to the winding dirt path that wrapped around the mountain. Nolan nervously yelled, "I don't know if I can shoot them. They are the police."

Marta yelled back, "Police here different. No arrest only death. Shoot them or they shoot you."

Nolan shook his head as he cleared his possible shot on the second vehicle, blossoms of flowers from the headdress that originally accompanied the veil flew from the teen's head towards the vehicles.

Finstock yelled, "Shoot or you run laps when we get home."

The slight push was all it took for the trigger to depress and the grenade flew through the air towards the trucks.

Nolan thought again, perhaps this isn't the best place to start this story.