Serenity was not a stranger to tragedy. No, she had seen plenty of it in her young life. It wasn't like she went and looked for it. She wasn't a daredevil or a bad person really. Tragedy just took a liking to her apparently. Maybe it was more her family and not her personally. Either way, things always seemed to go wrong around her. As she directed the movers where to put their furniture and belongings, she hoped and prayed that Beacon Hills would be different. But then a mover dropped one of her mother's vases and as hard as she tried to tell herself that it wasn't a sign, the thought never really left her head. Even as Eve ran up to her squealing and jumping around in excitement about their new house, her smile was more forced than she would have liked. Never the less, she scooped Eve up in her arms and held her close as she shouted at the movers. Eve chatted her ear off mindless or deciding to ignore her older sisters' gloomy mood. Soon enough, all of their belongings were sitting somewhere in the house to be put away later and Serenity cast one last look along the deserted street before she trudged determinately up the walk to their new house. For better or for worse, Beacon Hills was their new home and they were going to have to make the best of it.
Their new house had three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It was significantly smaller than their previous house but the change was understandable. A wide hallway went through the middle of the first level and one side opened up into the living room while the other side opened up into the kitchen. A set of stairs with a small bathroom underneath led up into the second story where the bedrooms and study were located. Carter's bedroom was the closest to the stairs with a large bathroom separating his room from Eve's. On the other side of the hall and across from Carter's room was the study where Serenity painted in her free time. Serenity's room was down the hall from that with its own master bathroom. Their backyard was spacious but not too large with a play set and a trampoline. Serenity wondered where Carter would be in the house but soon found him reclining in the arm chair that used to belong to their father, looking a little too relaxed for her liking. She frowned at him and Eve giggled. That was the tip off. "What did you do?" she questioned.
"Me? Nothing! I was just waiting for my beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous sister to walk in so that I could compliment her on her oh so amazing house hunting skills." he answered with an innocent smile.
She was not amused. "Was it a lamp, a window, or a bed?"
Carter's answering smile was wolfish.
"A lamp, but at least this time it was mine."
Eve giggled again and squirmed out of her sisters' arms and found her way into her brothers. Serenity tried to keep the smile off her face at seeing both of her younger siblings cuddled up in their fathers chair but it was useless. Her younger siblings always brought a smile to her face. She shook her head at him and decided to tackle the issue later, right now she had some boxes to unload. Carter must have noticed her glancing around because he lifted Eve gently from his lap as he stood up and deposited her where he had vacated before walking to stand beside her.
"Where do you want to start?" his question surprised her.
"Don't you want to go look around town? You have a week before school starts up."
He smiled down at her. "Nah, I have all the time in the world to explore. Besides, your puny little muscles couldn't even lift the box full of Eve's stuffed animals."
She mock scowled and punched him playfully in the arm but her smile soon broke through, as it always did around him.
"If you want to help you're going to have to ask Eve's permission. She was my little helper first."
Carter turned towards his favorite little sister and stood at attention as she scrutinized him.
She nodded seriously. "He'll do."
Eve squealed in surprised as Carter lifted her up over his shoulder.
"Your room first munchkin," he growled as he carried her up the stairs.
Serenity just smiled and silently prayed to whatever god was up there that her parents could see how well they were doing without them.
Carter's first day of school started off relatively uneventful. His alarm clock woke him up just like it was supposed to. He took a quick shower before getting ready for school ad as he was pulling on his shirt the smell of pancakes drifted up from downstairs. He sped up his morning process and was soon jogging down the stairs with his batman backpack slung over his shoulder (God help anybody who criticized it). Serenity was in the kitchen lifting the final batch of pancakes from the griddle. Eve was up and at school already since all day kindergarten started earlier than the high school. Carter smiled at his sister and snatched a plate of pancakes and the syrup before plopping down at the bar. After dousing the stack in an unhealthy amount of syrup he dug in with gusto. A glass of milk was set in front of him and he grinned with food still stuck in his teeth. Serenity lightly smacked the back of his head as she headed down the hallway.
"I've got to go talk to about the veterinarian job. Have a good day at school and don't forget to pick your sister up after school." she reminded him.
He saluted her and she rolled her eyes before making her way out the door but stopped halfway through the threshold.
"Oh and by the way, your new keys are sitting on the table by the door."
She exited the house, laughing at the look on Carter's face as he froze. His food all but forgotten, Carter rushed to the door, barely remembering to grab before mentioned keys, and made his way outside to behold his new baby. Besides his sisters' car, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She was a black 2009 Harley-Davidson 883 Iron. He slowly approached the bike like she was some wild animal and ran his fingers along the leather seat. His awe was disturbed by his ringing phone. He answered in a daze only to be jolted by his sisters mocking voice.
"Make sure you aren't late for school. Wouldn't want to have to take it away so soon." he was too mystified to try a comeback.
"How did you get this?" he almost whispered.
"I bought it for you before we left Boston and then had it shipped here."
The phone was silent on both sides for a few seconds.
"Take care of her alright." he smiled slowly. "Thank you."
The other line went dead and he grinned, throwing his fist in the air and whooping. He had a new bike! He ran inside to grab his bag and almost skipped but restrained himself, barely. He did however do a little dance as he sat on the Harley and got a good whiff of new leather and oil. After he got over his mini episode he started the engine. The ride to school was filled with him smiling like an idiot and occasionally humming to a song only he knew in his good mood. Soon enough though he was pulling into the Beacon Hills High School parking lot and finding a parking space. He parked beside a pale blue busted up looking jeep and couldn't help but think 'that things got to have some history'. As he slung his back pack over his shoulder he noticed he was getting a few looks directed his way. He ignored them and made his way up the steps to the front office. Just as he stepped in so did another girl with wavy chocolate brown hair and beautiful features. She smiled at him politely before making her way past him towards the secretary's desk. He followed close behind and waited as the secretary got off the phone. She scrutinized them.
"You two the new students?" both of them nodded.
The secretary nodded and began rummaging through papers on her rather messy desk before triumphantly pulling out two stacks of papers.
"For you Miss Argent," she handed one stack to the girl in front of him. "And for you Mister Olivander." he got a stack as well.
"Your schedule, locker number, and locker combination are on those papers along with some papers you and your parents need to fill out and then bring in tomorrow." they both nodded.
"After you find your locker just go to your first period class." again more nods.
She shooed them out the door and into the now empty hallway.
The girl turned to him and stuck out her hand, smiling. "I'm Allison Argent."
Carter shook her hand and smiled in return. "Carter Olivander. Where did you move from?"
She shrugged. "I honestly don't remember the town's name. My family moves a lot because of my dad's job and after a while you just stop noticing."
He nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully this time you'll stick around. This town needs a beautiful face like yours around."
Her heart rate sped up and she blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yes hopefully."
Before she could say anything more her phone started ringing. She quickly fished it out of her bag and glanced at it. She smiled at him apologetically.
"Sorry that's my mom. Gotta answer it. See you around?"
He flashed her a charming smile and watched her walk outside and sit on a bench and start rummaging through her bag. Deciding not to listen in on their conversation Carter glanced at the papers in his hand and found his locker and the combination. After getting that situation under control he made his way to first hour, English. When the teen walked through the door he almost stumbled in surprise. There was another werewolf in the room, a fairly new one at that. Another surprise awaited him when he stepped farther into the room and spotted Allison, who smiled at him. He sent a small smile her way before training his eyes on the teacher who looked annoyed.
"Well class, seems like we have ANOTHER new student joining us. Mr. Olivander, you can have a seat next to Mr. Stilinski."
Carter gripped his back pack tight and made his way to the vacated seat beside a pale teenager with honey eyes and brown hair who smelled strongly of new werewolf and drugs. The boy grinned at Carter and despite how he smelled Carter could see himself becoming friends with this guy.
"Hey, I'm Stiles. Nice backpack."
Yea, they were going to be great friends. "Thanks, I'm Carter. Nobody beats Batman."
Stiles raised his hand for a high five which Carter gladly accepted. Stiles then turned and gestured to the boy sitting beside him.
"This is my friend Scott. We've been friends since kindergarten."
So this was the new werewolf Carter thought. Out loud he said "Carter, nice to meet you."
Scott smiled and his brown eyes lit up as he did. Both of the friends were attractive and friendly. Not a bad start to the first day.
Carter was invited to sit with Scott and Stiles at their lunch table. He had almost every class with at least one of them except for his last period class, Advanced Math. He sat down beside Stiles and glanced around the lunch room. Scott was staring with love struck eyes at Allison and Stiles was doing the same to a girl named Lydia. Stiles had felt the need to tell Carter everything there was to know about the strawberry blonde. Carter now felt her could write her personal biography. Both girls were not paying any attention to the affection being bestowed upon them. Neither boy seemed to care.
"Why don't you guys just ask them out?" Carter questioned.
Both turned to look at him incredulously for several awkward minutes. Stiles was the first to speak.
"Lydia's got a boyfriend and she hasn't said a word to me since third grade."
Then Scott piped in, "Besides, it's Allison's first day. She doesn't even know me."
He shook his head. "Excuses, excuses. You got to do these things before it's too late. Not till you're walking down the aisle ready to graduate and you realize what a huge mistake you made."
Stiles mouth was hanging open almost touching the table but Scott looked like he was contemplating something. When he looked up his eyes were bright with new promise.
"Your right! It's a new year. I'm going to make first line, and get better grades, why not get a girlfriend while I'm at it?" Stiles started franticly waving his hands in Scott's face.
"Hello, can we please talk about something more important like maybe, I don't know, the dead body you found last night!"
"I also lost my inhaler." Stiles rolled his eyes. "Whatever dude. We will find it after practice."
Carter interrupted. "Wait a minute, you found a dead body?"
Stiles perked up at someone new showing interest in his information.
"Yea. My dad's the sheriff and last night he got a call about a dead body. My old buddy Scott and I decided to investigate."
"More like were forced." Scott interrupted.
Stiles went on like he hadn't heard him. "Then mister first line here got attacked by some wolf even though wolves haven't been in California in like 60 years but he insists so yea."
Stiles abruptly stopped talking and an awkward pause followed.
"So, are you ok?" this question came from Carter directed at Scott.
Said boy shrugged. "I feel good actually. Energized even."
Carter seemed to nod to himself before standing up, his chair scooting back with a clatter "Well boys, I've got to call my sister and check up on her. I'll see you later?" Stiles smiled "Sure, later."
With that said Carter headed down the hallway to an abandoned alcove and dialed his sisters' number.
