Chapter 1: Scotty From The Block
It was three days before Isaac saw Scott again, and all through that time, he would think about that one second that Scott's eyes had met his. That one second that everything around him had stopped. It had been beautiful, but Isaac didn't allow himself a second thought about that. There was no way in the universe that Scott would ever notice him, no way that Scott would… just no way.
"No way…" Isaac whispered to himself as he stuck his head into one of the rose bushes and began pulling out a few strands of weeds that had grown there. "Found something interesting?" a voice came from behind him that Isaac didn't recognize. He leaned back and turned around and fell back, stabbing his hand on a small rock. There was Scott, standing in front of him with tousled hair and a friendly smile on his face. He was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt, khaki shorts and flip-flops. Isaac stared at him and all he could say was a very quiet, "You."
Scott laughed and came closer to Isaac, crouching down in front of him. "Is that a fact?" he said and then his smile vanished, "Hey, you're bleeding." Isaac looked down and saw a cut on his hand from where the rock had torn his flesh. Suddenly Scott's hands were on Isaacs' and Isaac snatched his hand away from Scott. "I-I'm fine," he said quietly and looked down. Scott's eyebrows furrowed a little and he noticed that up close, this guy had thin lines running down the side of his neck, like someone had scratched him. "I'm… uh… I'm Scott," Scott said, trying to change the conversation and Isaac glanced at him. "Isaac," he said and Scott smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Isaac. I'm sorry that I surprised you," he said and Isaac looked up at him.
The look that Isaac gave him made Scott wonder if Isaac had ever been apologized to in his life. "It's a little warm to be wearing jeans and long sleeved… well anything, isn't it?" Scott said jokingly and Isaac automatically looked down. "Skin condition," he said and in the back of his mind, Scott knew he was lying. "Ah, okay," Scott said and then remembered why he was here. "My mum invited everyone from the block to a house warming party," Scott said and took out an envelope from his pocket. He motioned to hand it to Isaac, but Isaac quickly shook his head. "Knock on the door, give it to my dad," Isaac said and Scott gave him a confused look. "Please…" Isaac said, voice trembling a little and Scott realized that Isaac was holding back tears. "Alright, Isaac," Scott said and got up, but not before he touched Isaac's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
And Scott could feel bone where muscle should be.
Scott walked up to the front door and as he reached to knock on the door, he hesitated when he saw a folded up blanket at the corner of the porch. As the question was forming in his head, the door opened, making Scott jump a little. In front of him stood a man that was a little taller to Scott, but what had made Scott jump was the fact that the man was the most intimidating person he had ever seen before. He was thin, but had a full head of hair and Scott was pretty sure that he was a heck of a lot stronger than he looked. "Yes?" the man said, his voice friendly, but laced with venom and questions. Who are you, what do you want, was that you with my son, he's mine, he's dirt, what right do you have, who are you, boy, little boy, what do you want. Scott could practically hear the man's thought's.
"H-Hi, sir," Scott said and held out his hand to which the man took and shook. Scott flinched internally at the strength of this man and forced himself not to rub his hand when he let go. "I'm Scott McCall. I just moved into that house and my mum and I are inviting everyone from the block to a house warming party," Scott said and handed the envelope to the man. He took it, opened it and read it and after a minute's pondering, he looked up and smiled at Scott. "I'd be honoured to come," he said, "And you can call me Mr. Lahey, Scott." Scott nodded and before Mr. Lahey closed the door, Scott realized that he had only said he would come. "Uh, Mr. Lahey?" Scott said and Mr. Lahey stopped and opened the door a little. "Yes, Scott?" he said and Scott swallowed a little. There was something off about this man. "You said you would come, what about Isaac? He's your son rig-…" Scott said but didn't finish.
The look of fury at the mention of Isaac's name made Scott shut up then and there. "Boy you're new to this town," Mr. Lahey said and stepped out of his house and into the porch, "There's a lot you don't know about this town, alright? There's a lot you don't know about its people. You'd better not make enemies of the wrong people, you hear?" Mr. Lahey said and Scott stepped back. "Y-Yeah," Scott said, fear suddenly clutching at him, "I'm sorry Mr. Lahey." Mr. Lahey smiled what Scott thought was supposed to be a soothing smile, but it just made him look psychotic. "That's alright boy, now run along and tell your mama that I'll be coming for this get together, eh?" Mr. Lahey said and Scott nodded and turned to leave as fast as he could.
Isaac had been watching the exchange and when Scott turned to leave, he looked down, not meeting Scott's eye. "See you, Isaac," Scott said and walked off and didn't look back until he reached his own garden. But when Scott looked back, his heart fell and for some reason, his anger seared at what he saw.
Mr. Lahey punching Isaac straight across the face.
"Mum?" Scott said at the dinner table later that night. His mother, Melissa McCall was a new nurse at Beacon Hills Hospital and was the most intelligent person that Scott knew and whether he would ever admit it or not, she was the one that he would always relies on for a word from the wise. "Hmm?" she said, looking up from her pizza. Scott considered what he was about to say and Mrs. McCall rolled her eyes. "Easy way or hard way, the honest way's the best way, Scott," she said and Scott looked up at her and put down the slice of pizza he was holding.
"What if you knew someone and that someone was being abused by someone else?" Scott said and Mrs. McCall's lips grew thin as her eyebrows drew together. "Who are you talking about, Scott?" she asked, but Scott shook his head and Mrs. McCall knew that she wouldn't get it out of him, so she sighed and thought about it. "Well, how about talking to this someone's parents about the abuse?" she asked and Scott's eyes darkened a little and Mrs. McCall's eyes widened. "Scott who is it?" she asked but Scott shook his head again and looked down.
"Young man, this isn't some small thing like he stole my toys," Mrs. McCall said, hating how authoritarian she sounded, "This is abuse and the things I could tell you about the people that I've seen that have gone through it would make your hair stand. Now, please tell me who it is so I can help." Scott looked at his mother, searching her and he remembered some of the things his mother had told him about the mental institution she had worked in for a while. "I can't tell you who it is, mum," he said, "Because I'm not sure that abuse is even the word to use here." Mrs. McCall sighed and ran her hand through her long brunette hair. "Be careful, Scott," she said, knowing that her son wasn't going to give this up, whatever it was, "People can be worse than animals sometimes."
The next day, Scott pulled up on his bike a Beacon Hill's High with dinosaurs raging in his stomach. New school, new people, new teachers... new kid. He chained his bike to one of the bicycle rails and heaved a sigh before he trudged up the school stairs to the office.
As he waited for the secretary to give him his timetable, Scott was decidedly bored. The bland walls and the endless noise of students all meshed together and soon he found himself dreaming a little until he heard a shout from the corridor. "Hey Lahey!" came a voice and saw some jocks pass the office by. Lahey… Isaac? Scott thought to himself and got up curiously. He poked his head around the corner and was aghast by what he saw.
Isaac had been pinned to the lockers by one of the jocks and the rest of them had crowded around him. They were jeering at him, calling him ridiculous things and shoving, pushing, slapping him on the head and then one of them knocked Isaac to the ground and they laughed at him. But what was the worst thing was that no one tried to help Isaac; no one even looked at him.
"Don't," came a voice from beside Scott and Scott turned to see a guy looking at Isaac sadly and put a hand on Scott's shoulder and pushed him into the office. "C'mon," he said and smiled at secretary. "I'll take those, my lovely," he said and the secretary shook her head at the boy. "You think you're such a sweet talker, Stiles Stilinski," she said chidingly, but Scott could see that she liked the compliment nevertheless. The guy, Stiles, went over to Scott and handed him s timetable. "I'm Stiles," he said and held out his hand which Scott shook, "And you're Scott McCall." "Oh, yeah, sorry," Scott said and shook himself before standing up, "I'm Scott McCall." Stiles seemed to size Scott up before he bit his lip and smirked, "I'll show you around huh?" he said, but Scott merely nodded.
When they got out of the office, Scott immediately turned to where Isaac had been laying, but he wasn't there anymore. Stiles itched up his backpack and sighed, "C'mon, man," he said and Scott begrudgingly followed him. Stiles explained where everything was, the labs, the toilets, the best places to cut class, but Scott was only half listening to him. "Scott! Hey, Earth to Scott!" Stiles said and Scott's train of thought derailed and he looked up at Stiles. "Sorry, was thinking about something," Scott said and Stiles nodded his head.
"Stiles!" called a girl and she came trotting over and planted a kiss on Stiles' cheek. "Hey, Lydia," Stiles said and put an arm around the girl. She had strawberry blonde hair and intelligent eyes that currently seemed to be assessing Scott. "Who's your friend, Stiles?" she asked and Stiles introduced them. "Scott McCall, meet my long suffering girlfriend, Lydia Martin," he said and Lydia shook Scott's hand. "Hi," she said and Scott gave her a smile and a nod. "Scott saw Isaac this morning," Stiles explained and Lydia's smile fell a little.
"Oh," she said and Scott's interest was piqued. "You know Isaac?" he asked and Stiles and Lydia exchanged a look before they looked back, Stiles opening his mouth to say something, but after a few seconds, Lydia stepped in. "Everyone knows Isaac," she said and flipped her hair to the side, "Most of us have known each other since we were in diapers. Beacon Hills isn't as big as some people make it seem." "Then…" Scott said, getting more confused by the minute, "Why does no one help him when he's obviously having the life bullied out of him. Why doesn't anyone even look at him?" But just then, the bell rang, saving Stiles and Lydia from an explanation. "Oh, dude, we've got all the same classes," Stiles said, looking at Scott's timetable and grinned at him, "C'mon."
Isaac had seen Scott that morning and he had seen Stiles Stilinski push Scott back into the principal's office and all Isaac could think was, "Good." It was good that Stiles had got to Scott before anyone else had. It was good that Scott met Stiles before anyone else. Isaac knew that Stiles was a good person. He knew that because Stiles had tried to help Isaac once, but had failed to do so. Isaac knew that Stiles was a good person and maybe Scott would make good friends in Beacon Hills. Isaac thought all this as he washed blood from under his nose and looks at himself in the face. The punch that his father had given him had darkened his right eye a little and now that he had a bloody nose, he looked like a regular delinquent. Isaac threw the tissues that he used and took his backpack from where it stood in the corner. He had waited for the bell to ring to use the toilet, for fear of them finding him here and had been relieved to find the toilets mercifully empty.
Isaac jogged to class, easily ignoring the sting that was biting at his ribs from where one of them had kicked Isaac and when he got into the class; his heart skipped a few beat. Obviously Scott would be in this class of all classes. Obviously Scott would be sitting right next to the only empty seat in the classroom. Obviously this was going to happen because Isaac just never caught a break when it came to things like this. He saw Scott look up from his notebook and do a double take. He saw Scott's mouth open slightly before a smile replaced it. He saw that stupid idiotic boy smile so perfectly and Isaac knew he was gone.
"Today would be good, Isaac," Mr. Harris said and Isaac glanced at his teacher and hurried to his seat. From the back of the class Stiles slapped himself on the forehead and Lydia moved herself uncomfortably. "Stiles, Scott still doesn't know," Lydia said and Stiles looked over at her. "I know, I don't know what to do," he said just as Scott looked over at Isaac and said hi to him.
"Hello, Scott," Isaac said softly and took out his notebook. "You doing okay, Isaac?" Scott asked and Isaac glanced at him, nodded once and then nodded to the teacher, indicating that he wanted to listen. This was a lie of course. Scott didn't give up and leaned in closer to Isaac, a few students noticed this and suddenly there was the sound of clicks of phone keypads and nods in Scott's direction. "Isaac, are you okay? I mean really okay?" Scott asked with a concerned voice and Isaac looked at Scott; really looked at him.
Isaac was afraid of Scott's concern. He didn't understand why someone was asking these things. What did Scott want? Did he really mean what he was saying? Was he concerned? All these thoughts were zooming through Isaac's mind and then suddenly a voice rang out as clear as day in Isaac's mind. You're nothing. No one. Dirt. Worse that dirt. No one cares. No one loves you. No one ever will. You're not even worth that. No one will ever care about you. Tears began to form in Isaac's eyes and he gave Scott a quick nod before he practically buried his head in his notebook, writing furiously even thought the lesson had just started.
Throughout the lesson, Scott kept thinking of something, anything to say to Isaac to get him out of that notebook of his, but it was to no avail. So when the school bell rang and Scott was practically hauled out of the room by Stiles, he was decidedly ticked off. "What the hell, Stiles?" Scott said when Stiles had let go of him and Lydia had caught up with them. "Scott, there are some things about Isaac Lahey that we have to explain to you," Lydia said and Stiles motioned to the stairs, "Follow us," he said and Scott followed them to the roof of the school.
Up here, they had a three hundred and sixty degree view of the school grounds and the grounds filled a little with students enjoying their lunches in the sunshine. "So you got me up here," Scott said and turned to Stiles and Lydia, "What are these things I need to know?" Stiles sighed and sat down on the school ledge and Lydia stood next to him, arms folded around her stomach.
"Okay here goes," Stiles said and heaved a sigh before he began, "See, the Lahey's were a good family. White picket fence, won the apple pie of the year trophy and all that. They were a good family and everyone loved them all. But then when Isaac was seven, his mum died in an accident and Mr. Lahey lost it. He went a little… a lot depressed and well, no one knows when exactly, but he started hitting Isaac and Isaac's older brother. Then when his brother was old enough, he left home and joined the army and Isaac was left alone. It got better for a while, but then when Mr. Lahey got news one day that his son had been killed in action, he really lost it. He started drinking way more than anyone should be drinking and he beat Isaac more than ever. It's never stopped and now he does it for the heck of it, even if Isaac didn't do anything… which is the case most of the time."
Stiles looked at Scott who was looking down at the ground. "Why didn't anyone try to help?" Scott asked and looked at Stiles, but it was Lydia that answered. "People tried, Scott. A whole group of people tried, including my mother and Stiles' father. But Mr. Lahey has connections everywhere and his influence goes far. So even when we tried to help, help either never came, or horrible things were done to Isaac. That's why no one dares talk to him. It's not because of anything else but fear. Because Mr. Lahey has done things to others that have tried to help Isaac and believe me it has never been good. That's why so many people have grown to hate Isaac."
Scott turned away from them and walked slowly towards the side of the roof that overlooked the school field. Never in his life had he heard of something like this. Something so… horrible. His heart ached and a million words were raging in his head, Stiles and Lydia's words churning in his mind. Lydia looked at Stiles and he stood up and went over to Scott. He put a hand on Scott's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "You mean well, Scott. But you trying to help will only make things worse than they already are," Stiles said and there was something about the way that Stiles said that drove Scott to the edge of tears.
"Isaac…" Scott said and looked down a little and he felt like his breath was punch out of him. Isaac was beside the bleachers. Isaac was beside the bleachers on the ground. Isaac was beside the bleachers, on the ground and the jocks were beating him.
Scott flew down the stairs and ran through the corridors, passing people and paying no attention to Stiles' shouts for him to stop. Scott burst out of the school doors and bolted for the field. When he got there, he skidded to a stop when he saw Isaac lying there in a heap, still covering his head with his arms, body curled into a fetal position. "Isaac," Scott said, going down onto his knees and gently touching Isaac's shoulder. "I-…I'm sorry," Isaac whispered from behind his hands and Scott had to fight to keep his anger down. "Shh, Isaac don't," he said, but Isaac still didn't move. Scott looked at Stiles who was flushed and Stiles shook his head, but Scott set his jaw and looked back at Isaac's form.
"Hey, Isaac, you mind letting me see those eyes of yours?" Scott asked, slowly putting his hands on Isaac's forearms and very carefully opening them a little. Behind his arms, Isaac had tear tracks and dirt on his face. He has his eyes closed and his body was still tense, but Scott thanked his lucky stars that his mother had taught him how to treat people in shock. "Hey, Isaac, it's just me here, okay? Just Scott," Scott said softly, hands still gently opening Isaac's arms, "You remember me right? We met in the garden and I scared you?"
Isaac slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Scott. It was Scott, it really was. It wasn't his imagination, it wasn't a dream. He was in too much pain for this to be a dream. "S-Scott…?" Isaac whispered and Scott smiled at him. "Yeah, yeah, Isaac, it's me," he said and let go of Isaac's arms. "You sh-should go h-home," Isaac said hoarsely, but Scott ignored that. "Isaac, I'm going to ask you to move a little alright? Can you do that for me?" Scott asked and after a few seconds, Isaac nodded. "Alright, here," Scott said and lifted Isaac's head a little and Scott moved his legs under Isaac's head so that Isaac's head was resting on Scott's lap. Isaac tried not to cry anymore from the pain, but it did hurt to move, but he'd endured way worse than a little beat up like this.
"S-Scott, I'm fine," Isaac said as Stiles came over and handed Scott a pocket torch to which Scott didn't question. "You're fine when I say you're fine, alright?" Scott said and Isaac automatically answered, "Yes, sir." Scott stopped examining Isaac and looked at him, realizing that he probably shouldn't have said that. Isaac was still looking at him, but without emotion anymore, like he had wiped himself clean of everything. Scott slapped himself on the face internally and moved turned off the torch, satisfied that there wasn't a concussion and that Isaac's injuries were not as bad as he thought they would be. "Are you okay to go home by yourself?" Scott asked and Isaac quickly nodded his head.
Scott and Stiles helped Isaac to his feet and even though his whole body hurt, Isaac got his backpack and thanked Scott and Stiles for helping him before he walked away, his body still bent a little, obviously in pain. Scott and Stiles watched him walk away and Stiles looked at Scott and recognized that look on Scott's face.
As Isaac walked away from the Scott and Stiles, he surreptitiously held on to his rib that was hurting badly. He knew that Stiles would talk Scott out of whatever he saw in Scott's eyes. That want to help him. He knew that look well, and it had never ended positively.
"Please don't do this, Scott," Isaac said quietly the same time Scott said, "I'm going to stop this, one way or another."