Authors Note: If you're rereading this, then this chapter is pretty much like the original one, but thanks for rereading anyways! If you're not, then welcome to your first time reading chapter 2! I hope you all enjoy :)
My Body is a Cage – Chapter 2
The lush green wilderness surrounded the brunette on all sides. Panting heavily, the young girl's pressed her back against a nearby tree and listened to the sound of her own breathing. The forest seemed to never end, the overgrown greens seemed to continue spiraling in every direction. Khloe's light blue eyes scanned the forest. She was definitely lost, probably miles away from home.
Still out of breath, Khloe reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone, to check the pedometer app she had recently downloaded for keeping a good physique. She was only going to allow herself a few minutes to rest before she headed back in the direction she had come, hopefully being able to find her way back to the McCall house.
"Hey there," a husky male voice called out that made the young brunette jump and drop her phone.
"Oh my God," Khloe's chest heaved up and down as she eyed the man with wide eyes.
"What are you doing out here?" He asked as he tried to subtly slide a large knife back into the holder on his right side.
"I was running," Khloe panted, still a bit out of breath, and the man's sudden surprise didn't exactly calm her down.
"Running from what?" The middle-aged man asked as he eyed the girl with narrowed eyes.
"I never said I was running from anything," Khloe shot the man a confused look. Was everyone in Beacon Hills so…strange?
"So, you were just out here in the middle of the woods running for pleasure?"
Khloe shrugged and stood with her hands on her hips not changing her unimpressed expression. "I lost the trail; I'm not exactly used to these woods."
"So, you're new to Beacon Hills?" He asked he propped his right foot on top of the boulder in front of him and leaned forwards.
"Yeah, and actually if you don't mind-"
The man reached into his holder and pulled the knife back out, toying with the blade as if he was trying to come across as sinister. "What's your name?"
Khloe stared at the man as a feeling of distrust washed over her. "What's your name?"
The middle-aged man didn't look up from the blade as he answered the concerned girl's question. "Argent. Chris Argent."
Argent. That name, how the hell did she know that name? Well, the name only ended up bringing an even stronger feeling of distrust as she decided to come up with a fake name to give the man. "Genevieve White."
"Well Miss White, I think I should let you know that the exit to the main road isn't too far from here. Just continue walking west."
"Maybe I'm not looking for an exit."
"I think that you probably should be."
"Does my presence in the woods bother you Mr. Argent?" The young brunette asked condescendingly as she remained where she stood, hands on hips.
Argent shot the girl a light forced smile, "Call me Chris, Mr. Argent is my father."
"Alright then Chris, does me going out for an afternoon run interfere with you? I think these woods are big enough for the both of us."
The man's nostrils flared as he put the knife back in its place. "Of course they are Ms. White."
Khloe brought her forced smile back to her face, gave the middle-aged man a small wave, and headed back the way she had gone.
There was something about Argent she didn't like. Something was…off. But, she couldn't help but think she knew the man, but of course the only way would be through her father. The only thing that made Khloe want to rule that out as an option, was why would her father be around a suspicious character like Chris Argent? That was a question Khloe wasn't exactly sure she wanted to be answered. So knew she'd leave the Argents alone if they did as well.
"Khloe," Scott sighed annoyed. He'd been talking to Khloe solely for about ten minutes, and she hadn't responded once. It was like he was talking to a brick wall, though he'd probably get more of a response from a wall that his older cousin. "Okay Khloe, I'll just continue this conversation with myself."
The young brunette suddenly snapped back into reality. Her thoughts had wandered off to Chris Argent and how she could possibly know the shady man. "Sorry kid, it's been a long day."
"It's okay," Scott reassured his cousin. She did seem a little…off. He could only assume something had happened to her while he was at school that day, but she didn't seem too upset, so he decided not to press the subject. Then Scott remembered why he even began this whole conversation anyways. "So Khloe, I was wondering if you'd like to come to my lacrosse game tonight."
A sudden feeling that Khloe couldn't explain in any other way than sorrow washed over her. "Yeah, sure."
Scott eyed his cousin for a moment. He wasn't sure how big his older cousin was in to sports, and he wasn't sure how much she would even be into lacrosse. "Khloe, have you ever even seen a lacrosse game?" The dark haired teenager asked condescendingly.
"For your information, I have," The older cousin replied matter-of-factly. Just as the feeling was starting to vanish, it popped back up, but thankfully she was good at hiding it. "In fact, my boyfriend in high school was on the lacrosse team in Seattle, but he sucked. One time, he scored in the wrong net and I had to go around all week being the laughing stock of the school's girlfriend."
"So, whatever happened to him? I've never heard you talk about him before."
Khloe's face dropped and she let the feeling of sorrow finally show. "He…He cheated on me, but that was a couple years ago. It doesn't matter anymore."
Scott sensed the heartache on his older cousin as he reached out a held her hand. The brunette was obviously feeling a twinge of nostalgia as her bottom lip quivered. "Khloe, you really cared about him, didn't you?"
The older cousin kept her eyes on the table as the dark hair teenaged wrapped his arm around her. "Yeah, I actually loved him," Khloe took a quick glance into her cousin's dark chocolate eyes and then back to the table. "You know when you're a teenager, and you actually really do love someone, but everyone tells you that you're too young to know what love is because you're just kids, it was like that. I really loved him, I did. He was my everything, but he was just a kid that didn't know a thing about being in love."
Scott couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose the girl he loved the most to someone else. "Khlo…Khloe, I'm really-"
"Don't apologize Scott, you didn't make him go have sex with the little whore. Besides, I'm over it."
"You don't look like you're over it."
"Well I am," She snapped and as soon as she said it, she instantly regretted by the way Scott's dark chocolate eyes bore into her. "Scott, I'm sorry…You know, how about we go ahead and get to the school."
Khloe's light brown hair was being blown around in the crisp night air as the brightness radiating from the field lights lit her path to an empty bench behind Stiles, who was sitting on the player's bench. "Why aren't you out there Stiles?"
Stiles made a face as he eyed the team in the huddle. "Well, I could be out there."
"Then why aren't you?"
"Coach doesn't want me ruining all of the other player's confidence."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's why," Khloe scanned the field for her kid cousin, "Alright, super embarrassing, but which one is Scott?"
Stiles' eyes darted around the field until he pointed to one of the boys in the huddle standing in the middle of the field. "11 over there."
There was an awkward pause and then Khloe placed her hand on the teenager's shoulder, "Hey Stiles, I'm sorry about the other night."
"What other night?"
Khloe sighed, "You know the other night when I held a gun to your face."
"Oh, that other night. Hey, don't worry about it, no one got hurt. But, some people, that would be me, probably got a wrong impression on other people, which would be you."
Khloe held her hand out, "Here's to a fresh start."
"Yo Stiles!" A teenage voice called from the field as he began to walk over and grab water, "Nice girlfriend Stilinski, how much does she cost you an hour?"
"Shut up Jackson," Stiles rolled his eyes as he shooed the jock off.
But Khloe had a different reaction. She jumped up and eyed the muscular jock in front of her. "Excuse me kid?"
The dark blonde boy smirked and stepped closer, throwing his crushed Styrofoam cup on the ground. "Whoa, look sweetheart, I really don't want to fight; it wouldn't be a fair one."
Stiles must have sensed the anger that was building up inside the brunette because he jumped up and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Khloe, just ignore him, he's an ass."
"No Stiles, he's right," Khloe tilted her head to the side as she stepped toward the blue eyed boy. "It wouldn't be a fair fight," The young girl smirked as she punched the ignorant high schooler in the face as hard as he could.
"Oh, oh my God," Stiles was taken aback by the blow the dark blonde had received, but he couldn't help but smile a bit.
"What the fuck bitch?!" Jackson yelled as his hand flew to his face. By this time a crowd had gathered around, some anticipating the fight, but once they realized no more damage was going to be done, they sat back down.
"I'd go put some ice on that, you've got some nice cheekbones, don't want that nasty bruise to ruin them," Khloe smirked as she began to turn around.
"Um, excuse me, what the hell is wrong with you bitch?" A strawberry blonde high school girl asked as Khloe turned herself back around to face her.
"A lot," Khloe snapped as she hopped off of the bleachers, leaving the boy and Stiles behind. The brunette tried to push past Scott on the sidelines, but he shoved her back, inspecting.
"What the hell?" The dark haired boy was pissed.
"He was rude," Khloe shrugged and tried to walk off again but was stopped by her young cousin again.
"That doesn't give you the right to punch people in the face!"
"Look, it's over!" Khloe finally made it past him and began to walk into the dark forest.
"Where are you going?!" Scott called after her still beyond pissed at his older cousin.
"To the woods," She didn't even care that is was late, besides, she had dropped her phone earlier. Well, she wasn't really going to go out looking for her phone; she just needed an excuse for Scott's mom probably. So, the brunette made her way into the woods and began cooking up a list of mental punishments when she heard the noise of twigs snapping and the beams from flashlights.
Hunters.
Khloe flattened herself against the nearest tree; she'd already had an encounter with a mysterious figure that morning, and that was hard enough to explain herself, although she had honestly been taking her afternoon run.
Even though Khloe knew she had nothing to worry about, if they were hunters, which she was pretty certain they were, they'd interrogate the hell out of her for being in the woods this late. So, the brunette slowed her breathing when suddenly the sound of leaves rustling caused her heart to nearly explode.
Then all of sudden, someone came out of the darkness and grabbed Khloe, putting a hand over her mouth. "Be quiet," A familiar voice hissed.
Khloe couldn't see much since she was being dragged through the woods with a hand over her mouth by some stranger, so her first instinct was to bite his hand.
She had just started to open her mouth when the voice hissed, "Don't you even dare, I'm saving you."
The stranger tossed the brunette underneath a bush and got down low next to her, still covering her mouth. Even though it was dark, Khloe could make out some of her "rescuers" features and he started to seem even less and less like a stranger.
The man removed his strong hand off of her mouth and whispered, "Alright, they've gone the other way."
"Derek?"
The dark haired young man looked down at the brunette, "Yeah."
"Why the hell did you pull me further out into the woods than I already was?"
"Why the hell were you out further into the woods than you should have been?"
Khloe folded her arms across her chest. "I guess I could be asking you the same question."
Derek shrugged, "I was going for a walk."
"At 10:30 at night?"
He stared at her for a moment and scowled, "Why are you out here at 10:30 at night?"
"I dropped my phone earlier today,"
Derek looked down at the young girl, "How do you lose a phone in the forest?"
"Well I'm sorry we can't all be super attentive like you," Khloe scoffed at the young man.
Derek seemed to ignore her retort and said, "Maybe you should be more careful about coming into the woods, I'm not always going to be around to save your life."
Khloe laughed at the young man mockingly, "You saved my life? Sweetheart, I could have protected myself if anything bad were to happen.
"Yeah, I'm sure you could," Derek sneered.
"Do you have something against me or something?"
"No, it's just a young woman like you probably shouldn't be out here alone."
"I can take care of myself, thanks for your concern though," Khloe stood up and brushed the dirt off of her tight black jeans. "Are you going to make sure I get home okay?"
"No need to be sarcastic Khloe," Derek stood and started walking off, "I saw you at the game earlier. That was a pretty nasty bruise you left on that kid's cheek."
Khloe caught up to him and pulled a small twig out of her hair, "He deserved it-" Khloe stopped her sentence short.
"What?" Derek asked.
"Did you hear that?"
"Are you seriously going all cheesy horror movie did-you-just-hear-that on me?"
"No, I'm serious Derek," Khloe's eyes frantically darted around the dark wilderness.
"Maybe it was a wolf," Derek joked.
Khloe's face went rock solid and her shoulders tensed up, "Oh please God don't let it be a wolf."
Derek shot her a sideways glanced. "What? Scared of wolves?"
"I had a bad experience with a wolf when I was a kid, I've been terrified of them ever since," Khloe started to shake.
"Hey, calm down okay, it's not a wolf."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I was messing with you."
"But how do you know it isn't one?"
"Because there are no wolves in California," Derek said as if he knew something Khloe didn't.
Yeah, no wolves in California. Khloe thought to herself as she looked over at Derek.
The two continued to walk in silence until Khloe spoke up, "I know you're not a high schooler Derek."
"Oh really?" He asked as he continued walking through the woods.
"Yeah, I know you're Derek Hale and that your family was killed in that fire,"
Derek suddenly tensed up, "Yeah, a lot of people know that."
"So why'd you have Scott lie to me about you?"
"It was his idea, not mine. Why are you so concerned?"
Khloe stopped and looked at Derek coldly, "Because I'm not sure if I trust you or not, and if you hurt my cousin in any way, shape, or form, I will kill you."
Derek smirked at the brunette, "Yeah, I'd like to see that."
Swiftly, Khloe reached out to grab Derek's hand, but before her finger tips could even graze past the leather on the young man's dark jacket, Derek had her arm behind her back and shoved her into a tree. "Like I said," He whispered in her ear, "I'd like to see that."
Derek let the brunette go and she pushed past him and began walking further out in the woods, "You're going to wrong way," He called after her.
Khloe paused burning with anger, and turned around, "I knew that," She spat.
"Of course you did, you better stick with me."
"I don't want to stick with you."
"I'm doing this for you; I don't want to read about some innocent young woman going missing in the woods."
"What makes you think I'm innocent?"
Derek smirked. "You don't exactly look the type."
Khloe raised an eyebrow and shoved the young man on the ground, held his hands behind his back, and put hers legs on both sides of him. "You don't know anything about me."
Derek jerked around and pinned the young girl beneath him, "I'd have to say vice versa," Derek jumped off her and held out his hand to help Khloe up, but she refused.
"Move out of my way," She growled as she pushed past the dark haired man. Khloe kept walking away from Derek and eventually found the exit of the woods.
When she finally got back to the warm cute McCall house, she went straight up to her room, took a shower, and slid into bed.
There was definitely something about Derek Hale that she didn't like.
Authors Note: Like I said, this chapter was basically just like the original, but I hope everyone enjoyed it anyways! :)
- Victoria