"See you tomorrow," Corey said to Liam as they exited the Beacon Hills High School. Lacrosse practice had just ended. It was already dark outside. Liam had changed out of his lacrosse uniform, but his t-shirt and shorts clung to him because of the sweat from practice.
Liam dug his hand through his draw-string bag, looking for his car keys when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Gabe, Nolan, and a group of other lacrosse players. Liam waved and smiled at them as he made his way over to his car, trying not to look like he was nervous of their presence. The whole group—but Nolan and Gabe especially—had been stalking Liam all day. They had watched his every move ever since the rumor got out that he was the beast that was at the car crash the night before. Liam was surprised that they found out about it so quickly. He did not mean to shift in front of a large crowd of people, however, he wanted to do whatever he could to save Brett and Lori. Turns out, when he got to them, it was already too late; they were dead, and he had just exposed the supernatural to the citizens of Beacon Hills.
Liam truly did not want to come to school today, but Scott practically dragged him out of bed. He did not have a choice. During lacrosse practice, Liam felt like he was safe; like he had made it through the whole day without any trouble. Now, he felt like he spoke too soon. Liam got to his car, and threw his bag into the passenger seat. As soon as he shut the door, someone rammed into his back and held him against his car. Liam wanted to growl at them, but knew it was not a good idea.
"What the Hell! Let go of me!" Liam yelled, struggling against whoever was pinning him against the car.
"Not gonna happen." The person pinning him against his car grabbed the back of his shirt collar and threw Liam onto his back. He lost his breath when his back hit the hard concrete of the parking lot. Making a circle around him were his teammates on the lacrosse team. Standing in the middle of the circle, closer to Liam, stood Nolan and Gabe. Liam figured he would get caught in this situation sooner or later. He just had to keep his anger level and heart rate low enough so that he would not shift in front of everyone. Knowing the group surrounding him, however, Liam knew they were going to try to make him do just that.
Liam did not get much chance to relax as Gabe reached down and picked him up by his shirt. He raised his fist and landed a blow straight to Liam's nose. Blood started running down his face and onto his shirt. Gabe did not stop punching Liam until his face was completely swollen and covered in bruises. Once he figured out that Liam would not give in that easily, he moved on to kicking him in the chest and abdomen. It did not take long before Liam was curled up on the ground wheezing. Gabe had stopped his assault for the moment. He looked down on Liam and chuckled.
"You're a stubborn one, aren't you? You know if you just showed us—showed everyone—who you really are, this could all end before it gets any worse," Gabe said. "Here, Nolan," he said as he reached behind him and held out his hand. Nolan looked between Liam and Gabe nervously a few times before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a switchblade. He handed the knife to Gabe, and he flicked it open.
Liam did not know how much longer he could take. He felt a growl forming deep in his chest. He was getting ready to lash out at his attackers when he heard someone shout.
"Hey, get away from him!"
Everyone in the crowd looked to see who it was. Liam could not see anything through the mass of people surrounding him. When the group remained unmoved, the newcomer spoke again.
"I said, get away from him. Don't make me say it again. Get lost."
As soon as the stranger finished his sentence, people in the group started screaming and running away. Soon, the only ones left standing were Nolan and Gabe. They both took a step back as the stranger walked up to them, anger in his step. Liam could now see the person's legs from his spot on the ground. He panned his eyes up to try and get a glimpse of the person's face. The first features he noticed were glowing yellow eyes and elongated fangs.
"Theo?" Liam wheezed out, followed by a coughing fit. Theo looked down at Liam and his angry expression changed to pity for a brief second before looking back at Gabe and Nolan with an even angrier expression.
"I thought I said to get lost. Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you one more chance to beat it before I beat you into a pulp," Theo said, now standing an arm's length away from Gabe and Nolan.
"I'm not afraid of you," Gabe said.
"You should be," Theo said and growled. Gabe instantly jabbed his knife in Theo's direction. Theo dodged. Theo landed a couple punches before Gabe tried swinging at him again with the knife.
Liam was watching them fight from his position on the ground. He was ashamed that he could not fight for himself and help Theo. He felt helpless. He wanted to warn Theo when he saw Nolan sneaking up behind him, but when he tried to speak, the only thing that came out of his mouth was blood. Nolan snuck up behind Theo and hit him across the back of his head with the end of a lacrosse stick. Theo was completely caught off guard. He was too busy concentrating on fighting Gabe that he did not notice Nolan behind him. He staggered forward from being hit with the lacrosse stick. The blow was not powerful enough to knock him out, but it did distract him. While he was distracted, Gabe took the opportunity to stab Theo in the gut with his switchblade. Liam felt like his heart stopped. Theo stood unmoving and hunched over for a good minute before he straightened himself back up again. He yanked the knife out of his abdomen and dropped it on the ground.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" he said with a smirk. Then, he roared at the two attackers as his eyes shined brightly. Now defenseless, Gabe and Nolan ran off, leaving Theo and Liam alone in the school parking lot. As soon as Nolan and Gabe were out of sight, Theo started walking towards Liam. He did not make it all the way to him before slumping onto the ground. Liam, who was starting to heal at this point, crawled over to him. He helped Theo roll onto his back and put pressure on the wound in his stomach. Theo groaned in pain when Liam pressed on it.
"It'll heal, you don't need to mess with it," Theo said.
"It won't heal if you bleed to death first," Liam said.
"Are you okay?" Theo asked out of the blue.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to you. Why'd you do that? Where did you come from, anyway? That was stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed. I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, sure you can take care of yourself. Then why are you covered in blood?"
"You're the one covered in blood, you idiot," Liam said. It was silent for a minute before Liam muttered, "Thanks."
Theo smiled at him. Liam was still leaning over him, pressing his hands on Theo's abdomen. Theo did not know if he was imagining it, but he thought Liam's face was slowly getting closer to his own. Liam licked his lips as a split on them started to heal. Theo's eyes were drawn to Liam's lips. He suddenly found himself feeling hot.
"I think my wound is all healed. Can you stand?"
"Yeah, I think so," Liam said. He slowly maneuvered himself off the concrete. When Liam successfully stood up, Theo tried to, as well. He pushed himself into a sitting position, but let out a pained gasp when the movement pulled on his injury.
"You okay?"
"I'm good. Help me up."
Liam reached down and gave Theo his hand as he pulled the chimera up to his feet. Theo swayed a bit, so Liam wrapped his arm around him, keeping him steady.
"I will find where those two kids live and personally break every single bone in their bodies," Theo said. Liam was concerned about the lack of sarcasm in his voice.
"Don't. They were just scared."
"They almost killed you!"
"But, they didn't. I'm fine."
Theo groaned. "You're so stubborn. Can I at least break one of their bones? They did hurt me too, after all."
"No! You are not breaking anyone's bones."
"Fine. If they hurt you again, though, I will break all of their bones and you can't stop me."
Liam just sighed as they continued to walk through the school parking lot, leaning on each other's shoulders for support. Liam could not believe that Theo would risk his own life just to protect him. The chimera really had changed since the first time Liam met him. Liam used to hate him. Now, he could not imagine what he would do without Theo.
The End