Chapter Two
First days of school have always been very pleasant and tranquil for Marina, she might even go as far as to say that exciting. The idea of beginning a new year was one she tried to think well of instead of falling in the typical "I don't want to be here" state of mind. Truth be told, Marina has never had a problem with learning, she actually enjoys it – it's just the studying part that sort of slows her down and exasperates her a little.
Needless to say, aside from the odd encounter with Lydia Martin during the morning, the rest of the day went well for Marina – and Scott, especially Scott. She got a chance to reconnect with a few classmates, the general question of how the summer went always the conversation starter. The shaggy haired boy, on the other hand, was constantly making googly eyes with the class' new student, Allison Argent, something neither Marina nor Stiles failed to take notice of – though, then again, Scott was not very subtle to begin with. It was the first time she saw him so into a girl, making his previous crushes seem like child's play, and Marina couldn't help but to think of it as absolutely adorable.
Once the last class had come to an end, Marina wished the guys good luck on their lacrosse practice and left to her dad's corner book shop, cleverly named Book at Me. It was a small but colorful and artsy place located near the heart of the town, pretty well known by everyone due to the amount of years it has been there. Most of the costumers nowadays were young adults looking for a place to quietly read and drink decently priced coffee, but Marina helped a few older people every now and then.
"I'm here," she announced, popping her head inside her dad's office at the back of the first floor. Harry looked up from the papers he was reading and smiled.
"How was your first day?"
Marina shrugged a little, "It was fine, no biggie. Uh, Gabriela told me Maggie isn't coming later because she's sick," she said, to which Harry nodded his head, having already been informed. "I can stay till closing time, if you want. It's not like I have any homework."
Harry sat back against his desk chair, looking a bit more tired than Marina was used to seeing. She knew it was a bit silly to worry about him, her dad could take care of himself incredibly well, but he was still her dad. Harry nodded his head lightly, a pleasant smile on his features.
"Thanks," he said and gestured outside. "Now get to work."
Marina snorted and mockingly saluted before stepping out of the office. During the day, Book at Me was usually lighted up by sunlight because of its many windows. Beautiful shadows were casted through the books and on each aisle, the smell of coffee always lingered about, and it was so quiet that the sound of the flipping papers every few minutes became the store's background music. A local artist had painted colorful swirls on the walls and took care of the decoration, giving it a very retro and faded vintage look that was pretty popular among the regular crowd.
The book shop had become like a second home for Marina. Growing up she spent the majority of her days after school there, either doing homework with Stiles, Scott, and her mother, or simply reading. She knew every scratch on each shelve, the areas where the wooded floor squeaked if you stepped on it, and how you have to tap the cashing machine on the side to open it. The hours there were magical and despite not doing much other than organizing books the majority of the time, it was memorable.
A torrent of rain began pouring later that night. The shop was empty and she was the only employee there save for her dad, who was still back in his office dealing with the shop's finances. She sat on the stool behind the front desk, leaning against the counter a little as she thought of something else she could possibly do to pass the last hour. Marina was usually back home by six in the evening, her shifts were solely after school and while the sun was out, so night hours were fairly new to her.
The sound of the door opening and the bells chiming made Marina look up from her chipped nails. It wasn't the fact that Stiles had rushed inside that surprised her, he was there with Scott regularly, but his heavy panting and frantic state. Marina quickly stood up from the stool, walking out from the area just as Stiles went past her with large strides.
"Stiles, what's wrong?" she asked, following him down the aisle. Stiles made an abrupt stop in the mythology section, his eyes scanning over each book rapidly. "Stiles…" Marina called a little softer once more, noticing the way his hands shook.
"I-I overheard my dad on the phone," he began explaining and Marina creased her eyebrows, watching as Stiles grabbed the newest edition of a book about ancient myths. "The reports from the – the fiber analysis,"
"Breathe…" Marina whispered, putting one hand on his shoulder. He shakily did as told, taking a deep breath before letting out and finally turning to look down at her, the seriousness in his otherwise lively eyes taking her aback.
"They found animal hairs on the body," he continued, his voice close to a whisper. "A wolf's, to be exact."
Marina's eyebrows rose, having not expected for this to be punchline. She was more surprised by how solemn Stiles was about all of this than the fact that the attack had been made by a wolf.
"Well," she began, crossing her arms over her chest. "Sometimes wolf do migrate," she shrugged one shoulder lightly. "It's not very common, but you know…it can happen."
"But…" Stiles had quickly interjected just to trail off, making Marina furrow her eyebrows again. He looked up at the ceiling, passing one hand over his buzz cut brown hair, as if trying to organize the dozens of things going through his mind.
The silence that fell between them was defining, making the sound of the air conditioner sharp and loud. The hairs in Marina's body rose involuntarily, though this was probably because of the way Stiles was acting. She hardly ever saw the guy looking or behaving like that and half of Marina was expecting a joke or a loud laugh to come out of him anytime soon. Her eyes traveled to the book in his hand, however, when nothing else was said, wondering why he barged into the store searching for something in that particular section after what he overheard.
"What about that?" she asked softly, lightly gesturing to it. Stiles looked down at the item as well, his mouth opening a little though no words came out. Knowing him, he was probably trying to come up with a half-assed excuse, it came as second nature to the boy, but Stiles knew Marina, too, very well, and he couldn't possibly expect her to believe whatever he was trying to come up with.
He pursed his lips together tightly, almost as if fighting with himself for the second time. Marina gasped lightly in disbelief and was about to speak once more, force the guy to tell her what was going on.
"You should have seen him at practice today, Mar!" he finally spoke, a certain amount of plea to his voice. "He caught every-single-ball and moved so freaking fast! He wasn't like that yesterday and you know Scott can barely power walk without losing air."
Marina gaped, her facial expression after Stiles' rambled words changing every few seconds as she properly processed everything; from what had apparently gone on at that day's practice, to the fact that Stiles was assuming Scott's bite had something…mythological or supernatural.
"So…you're saying that Scott…" she closed her eyes, licking her dry lips before opening them once more. "You're saying he is…"
"I'm not saying anything," Stiles quickly interrupted. "But I'm not…I'm not dismissing it either…"
"But, Stiles…" Marina's words faded. By the way he was looking at her, she knew that he, too, thought all of that to be impossible and yet for some reason it appeared to have been the first thing to come to his mind.
The two merely stared at each other, shoulders deflated, with expressions of utter confusion and bewilderment. Marina loosely hugged herself, that weird sensation she had felt in the woods bringing goosebumps onto her skin and making the odd situation much more believable than it should be. She found it difficult to wrap her head around Stiles' suggestion and while his plea would have otherwise fallen into deaf ears had it not been her, the way his jaw twitched showed that his jumpiness over the matter had far much more to do with the actual "situation" than his ADD.
"Look, I'll get to the bottom of this, okay?" he assured and lightly chuckled. "Maybe it's just my imagination, you know?"
Marina softly glared at him after a few seconds, keen on loosening up the tensed atmosphere. "Maybe," she agreed, smiling a little. "You do watch a lot of classic horror movies."
"Hey! There's no such thing as too much when it comes to a good horror movie!" Stiles said defensively, though the playful glint in his eyes assured Marina that for at least that moment he was back to his usual self.
Marina looked past Stiles when the taller figure of her dad appeared down the hall. The younger boy looked over his shoulder and gave Harry a nervous smile, for some reason unable to act normal.
"You're holding a book, that's a surprise," Harry smirked, causing for the smallest of blushes to appear on Stiles' cheeks. He laughed nervously, bringing one hand to the back of his neck.
"I-I have my reading seasons, Mr. M," he shrugged his shoulders. Harry raised both eyebrows, having always gotten kick out of putting Stiles on uncomfortable situations. Marina had given up in ceasing her dad's teasing years ago, really.
"Mythology?" Harry asked after looking at the book in the boy's hand. He shifted his gaze up to Stiles who was nodding his head, the corners of his lips lowering the tiniest of bit, before looking over at Marina who hadn't seem to notice. Harry chuckled a little and patted Stiles' shoulder, moving him forward, "Come on, you get a discount."
"What?" Stiles groaned, watching as the book was snatched from his hand. "I was hoping I could just…borrow the book!"
"This isn't a library, Stiles," Marina rolled her eyes, leaning against the front counter while Harry scanned the book.
"Yeah, I know, but like, I'm basically family!" he went on, moving his arms animatedly.
"Which is precisely why you get a discount," Harry grinned. "That will be fifteen dollars."
Stiles gasped, his mouth falling ajar. "Fifteen?! Come on!"
"Stiles!" Marina said exasperatedly, throwing her head back – the boy could really put off doing something for so long, even things that were so incredibly simple.
It seemed as though Scott hadn't noticed the way Stiles occasionally acted around him the following day, whether this was because the former was more interested in staring at Allison, Marina didn't know. During lunch the conversation, much to Stiles' relief and the girl's growing suspicion that he hadn't informed Scott about what he heard the night before, mostly centered around the fact that Scott had actually managed to ask Allison out on a date to Lydia's party that very same night.
"That's great, Scott," Marina smiled, settling her bottle of water down. If anything, Scott seemed even happier than his usual self. The more time she spent around him, the more she believed that Stiles was just imagining things. "I hope you kids have fun at the party."
"You aren't going?" Scott furrowed his eyebrows and Marina shook her head, proceeding to take a bite from her sandwich.
"I have other things to do," she said, to which Stiles scoffed.
"Oh, please," he rolled his eyes. "The most you do on a Friday night is watch reruns of Full House. This is Lydia Martin's party, Marina, open invitation."
Marina resisted the urge to let out a long sigh, the same old conversation about going to parties or staying in for the night surely about to pop up. The three of them were usually people who preferred a night elsewhere than going to a house party, but this time around Scott was going because of Allison (understandable), Stiles was adamant on attending because, well, it's in Lydia Martin's house (semi-understandable?), but Marina couldn't really think of a reason she would willingly go.
"And that's all fine and dandy, it really is, but you guys know I don't particularly like crowded places," she responded. This seemed to have put at ease any form of counterargument from the two boys, for Stiles closed his mouth and Scott's gaze softened a little.
It wasn't that Marina had a terrible time around crowds, she didn't get very anxious or felt claustrophobic like a lot of people, but after years of trying to put herself out there and experiencing how truly tiring it could be, as well as a bit humiliating if you didn't do it right, the thought of forcing herself to socialize around groups that were starkly different from her made Marina see a wild house party more of a hassle than a night of fun.
"So, I'll gladly watch Full House while you two enjoy the night elsewhere and occasionally send me pictures of what happens, telling me how much I'm missing out," she finished with a grin, simultaneously letting the guys know she wasn't mad at them. They both chuckled a little, soon changing the subject onto other matters.
Marina had originally thought of asking Stiles why he hadn't spoken to Scott about the more serious topic, but she never got a chance to do so during what remained of their lunch time because Scott was there and the classes she had afterwards weren't with them. All Marina could rely on was the thought that despite how he usually was, Stiles actually sort of knew what he was doing.
As she promised during homeroom that day, Marina went to the lacrosse field after school. She buried her hands inside the pockets of her jacket as she approached the bleachers, staring at the field. The team was just beginning to accommodate and the eccentric Coach Finstock stood near the bench, already scolding Greenberg.
"Marina!"
Said girl turned her gaze to the bleachers, surprise to see Allison waving one hand and beckoning her to sit down next to her – and Lydia Martin. Despite the friendly smile, Marina couldn't help but to wonder exactly why Allison was inviting her over when, at most, all they did was exchange a few glances during some of the classes they shared and maybe a word or two – though, well, she was kind of starting to date her best friend, so maybe Allison wanted to get acquainted with her, too. With this in mind, Marina smiled up at the brunette and went over to her.
"Hey," she greeted, sitting by her side.
"I didn't tell you earlier, but I really like your boots," Allison complimented, looking down at the white lace-up ankle boots she had chosen to wear that day. The fact that Allison took notice of them easily made Marina give her a stamp of approval.
"Thanks!" she smiled. "I have a pretty extensive collection," Marina admitted with a laugh. Allison seemed genuinely impressed by this but Lydia, apparently having actually paid attention to the two, lightly wrinkled her nose, her eyes remaining on the field.
"If only you had variety on the rest of your wardrobe as well, you mostly wear dark colors," she said, ticking her tongue before giving Marina a pointed look and returning her gaze to the players.
Marina had to give Lydia a double take, totally not expecting the words she said. She looked down at her attire for the day and to be honest, Marina didn't see anything wrong with it – a long sleeved dress, leggings, and boots, pretty simple. Allison patted the girl's knee, giving her a smile that silently told her to not take Lydia's comment to heart, it was, in the end, Lydia being Lydia, and after an entire life with her around, Marina couldn't have expected anything less from the strawberry blonde.
Taking in some air, Marina looked down at the players just in time to see Stiles slumping on the bench while Scott ran to the field with his helmet on. Coach Finstock gathered them around, getting everyone's attention except Scott's, who Marina noticed to have looked over at the bleachers seconds before Allison waved her hand in response, the smile on her features resembling that of the typical lovesick high school girl – how sweet.
After about a minute, the players went into their positions. Sports have never really been Marina's forte or area of interest, but when one of her best friends was auditioning to make first string in quite a violent sport, it was inevitable to feel nervous. The whistle blew, the game started, and not a minute had passed before Scott was on the ground because of Jackson Whittemore, making Marina and those around her wince.
What happened next, however, was something no one would ever forget.
From awkward bench warmer, Marina was witnessing a Scott McCall that was far more powerful and confident than she had ever seen. He was moving fast, almost unnoticeable, swiftly grabbing the ball and dashing to the other net. The awe shocking her body had a bitter after taste, causing her to swallow hard as the conversation she had with Stiles the night before played clearly in her mind. Two nights before Scott wouldn't have been able to make the jump he did without falling on his ass and shakily taking out his inhaler, two nights before Scott wouldn't have been able to run that fast, dodging everyone that came in his way with so much ease.
It wasn't until everyone was already on their feet and Scott had been called by Coach Finstock that Marina heard all the loud cheers. She looked up at Allison, who was smiling proudly at the boy she had a crush on, and then averted her gaze over to Stiles who was standing still and looking incredibly pale. Marina stood up and made her way down just as Finstock announced that Scott made it to the first string, causing the other players to erupt in loud cheers as well – everyone except Stiles.
"Stiles," Marina called, jogging over to him. He suddenly seemed to have remembered where he was and looked down at her – needless to say, they were both thinking the same thing.
"I-I have to go," Stiles stuttered and ran off before Marina could say anything else, leaving the girl standing on that same spot utterly confused. She bit her bottom lip, looking over at a celebrating Scott who couldn't stop smiling. The two made eye contact for a small moment and despite herself, Marina smiled lightly back at the boy, waving her hand a little, because even though she was incredibly weirded out by what was happening, she genuinely felt happy for his achievement.
Letting out a sigh, she looked back at the area Stiles had run off to, wondering whether he would be able to find an answer to everything.
Marina didn't stick around much later, not that interested in seeing the rest of the match to see who else made it. She had personally congratulated Scott when he had a spare moment, giving him two thumbs up and a wide grin before bidding Allison (and Lydia) goodbye. Marina found the ride back to her house one that she had gravely needed; it gave a chance for her endless thoughts and questions to come at bay, even if just for a several minutes.
By the time Marina hopped off the bicycle her nose was a little red due to the wind. She placed it against the railing and took out the keys to open the front door, realizing once she was inside the house that there was no one there.
"Hello?" Marina called anyway just to be sure. When no response came, she smiled a little, happy to have this rare moment of alone time and absolute quietness.
Marina went up to her room and took off her boots, wiggling her toes a little against the cold wooded floor. She massaged the back of her neck, considering for a moment to call Stiles and see what he was doing, whether he found anything. Marina quickly decided against this, if there was one thing the guy didn't like was being interrupted while he was in the middle of important work, especially if it was just to ask how said work was going.
For a lack of anything better to do, Marina grabbed her towel, tied her hair up in a high bun, and headed to the bathroom for a long warm bath – the day was perfect for it. She needed to relax, think, find a logical answer to the things that have been suddenly going on and really just let loose. The whole situation with Scott had left her mind absolutely perplexed; a part of it still couldn't find room to believe that was Stiles was suggesting was actually true.
Marina poured lavender scented soap to the tub as it finished filling. She turned the water off and got inside after stripping off her clothes, dropping them by the floor. Her cold skin welcomed the warm water with a big embrace and she let out a shaky breath, hugging her knees close to her chest and taking it all in. Marina has always liked chillier weather, but one of the best things about it was being able to go home to a warm bath or shower right after, she was already planning on making some hot chocolate later just for kicks.
Marina closed her eyes and leaned back, letting the scent enrich her nostrils and for the warmth of the water to properly loosen up her tensed muscles. There was something inexplicably serene about that moment, almost putting Marina in an automatic state of meditation. Her mind was no longer there, she could barely feel her body or the water around it, and her eyes rolled back. Marina would say she dozed off.
A twenty-something blonde woman rushed through the royal blue door with tears threatening to fall from her brown eyes and panting heavily. The strands framing her young face, the uniform she wore, and the glowing red lipstick showed that she had been once dressed neatly. The young woman ran up the stairs, skipping a few steps despite the obvious lack of air and unfazed or perhaps barely taking notice of the fact that a tear had already fallen from one eye.
She fully opened one of the doors that had been left ajar and a blood curling scream erupted from the bottom of her throat as she stumbled back. Her lips trembled, bigger and longer tears continued trailing down her cheeks, and she brought her hand up to her mouth just as the first sob made its way out. It was followed by more without a single pause and she was soon crying hysterically on the floor, watching the figure of her teenage brother dangling limp from the ceiling.
"No!" she cried loudly.
Marina woke up with a loud gasp, water splashing slightly about. She sat up, breathing heavily while an agonizing pain burned in her chest. There was a strong urge to cry throbbing in her throat but no tears welled up in her eyes. The image of the boy…how young he was, and then the young woman, crying, defeated, and absolutely crushed. Her pain had felt so real, almost as if it had been her who went through such a traumatizing event.
Yet, it had been nothing but a dream.
Marina tried to steady her shaky breathing. She cupped some water with both hands and rinsed her face, telling herself over and over again that it had not been real. Her eyes traveled to the opened door on their own, the house not feeling as empty as before. There was no one standing there, though, no steps echoing down the hall, no doors opening or being closed, just the sound of her quiet breathing and the water moving whenever she did.
The vibration of her phone on the toilet lid made Marina scream, startling the young girl to the other corner of the bathtub. She breathed in and out rapidly, placing one hand above her chest to calm down. Moving forward, Marina grasped the phone and saw that Stiles had texted her.
I need your help. You're going to the party.
The previous thoughts of staying in the night were thrown out the window, both because Stiles needed her help and because the last place Marina wanted to be in at the moment was her own house.
A/N:
Whoaaaa, you guys! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, from the reviews to following and favoriting the story, I'm genuinely touched by how welcoming y'all have been. Really, thank you! :)
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, I'm working on the next one and will hopefully have it up by next week.
If you're not already, feel free to follow the story's tumblr mariawritesthings.
See you all soon!
xx,
Maria.
