A/N: OMG, HI! My first Author's Note! I hope you like this story! A few things have been changed, like the events of the first episode were sort of wrapped into one day. Just pretend, guys ;) It was my bad. Also, instead of the Betas running around like wolf-men, they too can change into full wolf, but only when the pull is really strong. Not always. I hope you guys like Ashley, let me know what scenes from the show you want included! It's very unlikely I'll include any dialogue direct from TW, but that's just how I roll ;) Leave reviews, favorite, all that good stuff! I LOVE YOU ALL, and you give me the inspiration to keep me going. Ignore any typos or grammatical errors, I have no Beta. :( All the characters and major plot points belong to MTV's Teen Wolf, of course. ENJOY!
Ashley was running behind. She had expected to wake up extra early for her first day at her new school. Instead, she slept straight through her phone's alarm and ended up being woken up by her father who was on his way to work. Ashley's father was a manager for a new medical clinic in town, while her mother was still a stay at home mom. Her dad shook her awake and Ashley's eyes popped open.
"What time is it?" She croaked, getting her strength back little by little.
"It's a quarter to eight. You've got about twenty five minutes before Mom needs to take you to school." Her dad straightened his tie and smoothed down his dark blonde hair, not that he actually had a lot of hair to smooth down.
"Crap!" Ashley threw herself out of bed and ignored her dad's startled expression. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"After what you went through I thought you could use the sleep."
"I told you, Brad." Ashley's mom poked her head into Ashley's room and sent her husband a knowing look.
"Jill-"
"No. No, you guys can argue later. I have to get ready." Ashley pushed her dad out the door with a huff. Her parents were getting on her nerves more and more lately, always finding something miniscule to bicker over. She wished she had a sibling to make it better, but her parents had decided one was more than enough.
After turning on her radio, Ashley threw her closet doors open and scrambled to find something that was on a hanger and not still in one of the many boxes down stairs. She settled on a pair of dark blue jeans and a plain purple shirt. She ran to her bathroom and locked herself in, showering off everything that had happened last night. She pushed the horrible thoughts from her mind, no way was she delving into that drama, not when she had six minutes to shower and change.
She didn't work well under pressure normally, but thankfully, she didn't have a huge beauty routine. After she was clean, she pulled a comb through her hair and swiped on some mascara. That was it. She took the stairs two by two and met her mom in the kitchen. She was buttering a bagel and pouring a cup of tea for Ashley, their usual school routine.
"Thanks." Ashley chewed loudly. Each bite was followed by a big gulp of piping hot tea. She grabbed her already packed bag from the breakfast bar and tossed it over her shoulder. "We need to go."
"I packed you lunch." Her mom chirped happily. Her black hair was twisted into a bun and she was wearing a skirt, blouse, and cardigan. Ashley was nothing like her peppy, carefree mother.
"Mom, I'm sixteen. I don't need you to make me lunch." She argued. Her mom was always trying to baby her, to make sure everything was perfect. Stay-at-home mom was a job she took too seriously in Ashley's opinion.
"Just take it." She handed the brown paper bag to Ashley who shoved it in her backpack.
They walked to the car in silence, Ashley's mind was still trying to catch up. She never slept in. Never. Not even during the summer or on the weekends. Maybe she deserved it after the trauma of last night… They climbed into the old Honda Civic.
"How are you, sweetie?"
"Mom, I'm fine." She noticed the tone in her mother's voice instantly, the concerned tone that said she was in for a long conversation.
"You went through so much. The sheriff said you were really lucky."
"Yes, I'm lucky that I ran into an animal that almost ate me."
"No one told you to sneak out." Her mom shot her a pointed look as they drove down the road. Ashley ignored her and stared out of her own window.
"I didn't sneak out. I just… I had to get out."
"I know." Her mom frowned. "I can ask your dad look into a few therapists and maybe we can get you a prescription-"
"I don't have anxiety and I don't need any meds!" Ashley sighed in frustration. She shook her head as they pulled to a stop in front of her new school. The overwhelming feeling started again and she could feel tingles in her fingers spread to her whole body. Crap. "I'm sorry, Mom. For yelling. I'm just, I'm fine. Honestly."
"Okay, Ash. If you say so." Her mom sighed and checked her hair.
Ashley looked up at the huge, almost grey brick building. Students mingled outside and all she could think was, for such a small town, there was no way that they needed a school this big. She sighed, this time out of fear. Okay, she could do this. She just had to go inside, find her schedule, and locker, and go to first period. It'd be fine. Totally fine.
"You might want to think about getting out of the car." Her mom mentioned and then kissed Ashley on the cheek.
Ashley pulled the door open, counting to one hundred in her head. The students looked pretty much like average teenagers, but that didn't make the situation any less intimidating. She crossed out of the parking lot, almost stumbling into a grey Porsche, but side stepped around it at the last minute. No way was she going to even breathe on a car that expensive. She pulled her old, black backpack higher on her shoulders and kept her head down as she moved around the groups of friends that were still outside. Her hair fell down like a drape to cover her face, the way she liked it when she was nervous.
She was stopped when she got inside by an eager looking man. "Hi, are you Ashley Booker?"
"Uh, yeah." She nodded, shocked at the instantaneous attention.
"I'm Mr. Allen, vice principal and your new tour guide."
Ashley chuckled nervously. "Oh, I don't think I need a tour guide."
"Please, come with me." He began walking and Ashley had no choice but to keep pace behind him. He led her into a large office area where he started talking to a secretary.
There were no students in the office, but that was to be expected since it wasn't exactly the first day anymore. Mr. Allen handed her a schedule and a massive amount of text books, and then took her down the hall to each and every class. It was more than embarrassing but Ashley couldn't stop the man. She couldn't even get a word in edgewise, he just kept droning on and on. Finally, they stopped in front of her new locker where he urged her to use it. She grimaced, though it was supposed to be a grin.
"Thanks, I think I've got it from here."
"Right, well Ms. Booker, have a wonderful first day! If you need anything, you know where the office is."
"Right." Ashley thanked him and then turned to her locker. Leaning against it for a moment to catch her breath. It was like the world hadn't stopped moving since she got to Beacon.
She opened the locker and deposited most of the books. She kept the economics one as that was her first class, but everything else she organized by period so she could grab her things and go after each class. There were kids laughing around her but she refused to look. Her stomach was queasy and threatening to return the bagel she had eaten for breakfast. Maybe being eaten would've been easier. Okay, no, crazy thinking, but god, did new social situations have to be so hard? She knew she was frowning and her blue eyes were probably deer-in-headlights wide, that was her typical scared face. She hated that she was an open book. She heard a bang next to her but refused to look up, she just kept working and organizing.
"Hey, you're Ashley, right?" Okay, that got her attention. She glanced up, looking at a tanned, semi-muscular guy with really, really floppy hair.
"Yeah… why?" She felt confused, she had no idea who this guy was. She hadn't even been in any classes yet.
"My friend Stiles told me about what happened and I just wanted to-"
Hold on. "Stiles? What?" She finally met Floppy Hair's eyes and noticed there was another person behind him. Short hair, brown eyes, hands awkwardly in his pockets, nervous energy… "You were the guy from last night." She realized.
"You could refer to me as, I don't know, your savior or knight in shining armor."
Ashley raised an eyebrow. "No."
"No? Wha-I- I totally saved you!" He argued, wild hand gestures and all. Yeah, he was definitely a pain in the ass.
"I was almost eaten. Eaten! And you threw a flashlight at it. Oh, and then you tried to steal my phone." Ashley felt her face flame as it always did when she was embarrassed, or upset, or angry, or any sort of heated emotion.
"I made him go away, didn't I? I thought you'd be more appreciative."
"There's that 'him' again." She pointed out.
Stiles spun around in frustration and kicked a trashcan. Ashley slammed her locker shut and pushed her hair behind her right ear. She wanted to curse or stomp her foot on his, but she kept herself composed.
"We just wanted to make sure you were okay." Stiles' friend interrupted. Ashley turned to him and flashed a barely-there smile.
"I'm fine." She zipped her bag up and pulled it onto her shoulders.
"Hey Scott!" A voice behind Ashley, high pitched and girly, called out.
"L-L-Lydia…" Stiles stuttered. He smoothed down his blazer like it was a tux and leaned awkwardly against the lockers. Boy, did he have it bad.
"Jackson and I just wanted to say good luck on making first line tonight. You're really good, might give Jackson a run for his money."
Lydia had light red hair and vibrant green eyes, her stance was cool, confident and she had no problem staring Scott right in the eyes. She sneered at Jackson before turning back to Scott. Ashley knew Lydia was the IT girl, but that wasn't concerning her because she also knew she had heard that name before.. Scott…
"You gonna admit what's really going on yet?" Jackson said. He was model-esque with sharp cheekbones and brown hair. He was angry, with narrowing eyes and a blunt tone. He was just the type of person that frightened Ashley.
Scott and Stiles were taking turns looking at each other before answering. Stiles spoke for Scott.
"Nothing's going on, he just… practiced a lot over the summer. With me. Nothing weird happened, not at all. Certainly nothing life changing." Scott smacked Stiles in the chest. "I'm gonna, uh, stop talking now."
Ashley bit down on her cheek to stop from smiling. What a dork. It was obvious he was hiding something but Ashley wasn't sure she wanted to know what.
"Whatever." Jackson pushed past Scott and Stiles with his shoulder.
"Yikes." Ashley mumbled accidentally. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but she was thinking about multiple things and her filter wasn't really working. Lydia, the pretty girl, turned to her with severe attitude.
"Who are you?"
"Uh, me? I'm Ashley, I'm new."
"Oh." She frowned, looking Ashley up and down. "The other one's much prettier. You do know what a hairdryer is, right?"
Ashley touched her wavy locks that were still a bit damp and blushed. She nervously nibbled on the inside of her lip as Lydia looked at Scott one last time.
"See you at practice later." She flashed a bright smile and strutted away.
Ashley let out a breath, she was more than relieved. She had a hard time dealing with new people, let alone people who seemed superior to her.
"Dude, did you see that? She totally looked at me, eye contact and all." Stiles raised a fist in the air and Ashley rolled her eyes. Boys. She didn't think he was that far out of Lydia's league, Lydia was beautiful, but Stiles wasn't bad. Not that his personality was glowing, but he didn't deserve to be totally brushed off either. Ashley hadn't seen Lydia look at him, not even a single glance in his direction. She felt sort of bad. Scott smirked at Stiles, a pity smirk.
"Oh. Scott." Ashley stated, blinking twice. "The friend you were looking for in the woods?" She asked Stiles. His nervous twitch started again as he rocked on the balls of his feet.
"Yeah. That was me." Scott answered. He was concentrating on something off in the distance but Ashley didn't care to look.
"Why were you roaming around the woods at night?"
"He lost his inhaler!" Stiles announced loudly. Ashley took a step back.
"I'm gonna go." She pointed to the direction she'd be walking to get to the econ room and side stepped the now whispering boys. They were so strange, to a point where it hurt to be around them. She had never met such paranoid people. It was like she was in one of the soap operas her grandmother always used to watch.
They didn't say goodbye, just let her walk off to her classroom. The people at Beacon Hills were not her cup of tea, and she had to survive basically another three years there. When she made it to the class, the bell rang, and she sat in the very last row near the door. It was harder for her to pay attention than she would've thought, her mind was working at full speed thinking about the woods and a certain wolf with glowing yellow eyes.
Ashley went about her day like normal until she got to Chemistry. She walked in slowly as she noticed Jackson looking angrily in the direction of the door. She knew it wasn't directed towards her, but that didn't make her feel better. The teacher up front called her name out. It was becoming more and more apparent throughout the day just how small of a town Beacon Hills was. Everyone knew who she was almost instantly just because she was a strange face.
"Yes, Mr. Harris?" She asked politely. Ashley was always polite, and so far none of her teachers had been that bad. Her econ teacher was a little strange, but he wasn't mean to her.
"Stop staring off into space and take a seat."
"Oh." She said, startled. Scratch what she just said. She took a seat near the back at an empty black table.
It was a good seat. She could see everyone but no one could see her. Unless they turned around in their seat, of course, but she doubted they would. She propped open a Chemistry book and yanked a blank notebook out of her bag. She hated science. Well, she liked it when it was about experiments and even biology, but the equation/math sort of science? No. That was her least favorite subject.
"Are you sure you should go tonight?"
"Yeah, Allison's gonna be there."
Ashley looked up at the two boys walking into class. Great. She had avoided the duo most of the day, she thought maybe they were in different grades. Stiles whipped his head towards her after Scott did one of those nod things. Ashley looked down at her paper like it was super interesting. They might've been the worst liars in the history of the world, and the last thing she needed was to get mixed up in any of it. Her guess was drugs, Stiles was too weird not be on any, and Scott… well she had heard some new reports on Scott throughout the day, namely how good he was at Lacrosse now.
Through her peripheral vision, she saw them taking their seats. They kept glancing back to her and whispering. An argument, Scott looked upset and Stiles was, well she didn't know what he was. He was doing hand gestures and she couldn't tell if he was angry or excited. She looked up fully to try and figure it out, but they both turned at the same time and then there was some awkward eye contact. She bit her lip and blushed, looking back down and scolding herself. She didn't care. What happened the other night was over and that was that. End of story.
When school was finally over, Ashley took out her cell and turned it on. Yes, she turned her phone off during the day like school policy stated, and yes, she was one of the only kids to do that, but she didn't need to get in trouble. Her phone beeped, alerting her to a few messages. One from her dad wishing her luck, one from her old friend Bethany asking how everything was going, and one was from her mom.
Movers just came. Can't pick you up, have any friends who can take you home?
Ashley groaned. Of course. Freaking of course. The one day her mother neglects her is the first day. Ashley called her mom.
"Ash, how was your day?" Her mother sounded breathless.
"Fine. But I need a ride."
Ashley heard a grunt and a groan. "I can't pick you up right now, kiddo. Movers just dumped everything in the living room and now I have to fix it." More grunting and a loud screech.
"Can't you come get me and then I can help?"
There was a crash of something that sounded like glass and her mother swore. "I'll get you soon then." She was not in a good mood, and Ashley could hear how occupied she was. Her mom would not be getting her soon.
Ashley groaned as her mom hung up and looked around. If only she could drive… She went out the doors and felt the light breeze on her face. There was nowhere for her to really go, she decided to explore. Nothing crazy like last night, nothing that would be life threatening, but she couldn't stay in one spot. Not when she was in the way of people trying to get to their cars and talk to their friends. She circled around the building twice, taking small steps and breaks. Looking at her phone, it had been an hour since she called her mom. She sighed again as she took another lap towards the gym and football field.
There was a practice going on. Lacrosse, she noted as she watched the players scrimmaging. Just then, the coach blew a whistle, and Ashley stepped closer to the field. Okay, so it was actually a field meant for lacrosse, not football. She watched as the guys lined up in two separate lines, facing one another. Then, they charged. She was still walking to the field when it happened. One player rammed another into the ground, hard. She heard a bang when the helmets hit and picked up her pace to a jog when she heard yelling. The coach leaned over the player who was still on the ground and another player went to help the one who had hit him. The coach, her econ teacher, glanced over and she realized how close she was.
"You. New girl, what are you doing out here?"
Ashley took a small step back, surprised. "Me?"
"No, the other new girl." He rolled his crazed eyes.
The injured player let out a frustrated grunt and the coach turned back to him.
"Is he okay?" She asked.
"He better be. We have a game Friday." The coach asked the player where it hurt and Ashley noticed it was Jackson.
"I, uh, I…"
"Spit it out." Mr. Finstock said, not looking away from the player.
Ashley hurried forward until she was looking down at a fuming Jackson. "I took first aid training this summer. I can help?" She was nervous, her voice was wavering. She really hated herself sometimes.
"It's a sprain." Mr. Finstock told her. "He just needs to go to the hospital."
"His shoulder might be dis-"
"It's a sprain." Mr. Finstock repeated. "Good hit, McCall." He called over to the other player which only made Jackson angrier.
The coach pulled Jackson up and then marched him to the bench. Ashley saw Lydia give him an ashamed look before going down to help him. Her attention was pulled back to the field when she noticed the other player hadn't moved yet. She took a deep breath for confidence and went over to help.
"Are you okay? I didn't see what happened, but it sounded bad…" Her voice drifted off as the helper turned around. Seriously.
"He's fine." Stiles defended in a harsh tone. The other boy still didn't turn, he just knelt down, breathing hard.
"Are you sure?" She leaned over to ask him.
"Fine." Scott growled.
"You should probably take him to the hospital." Ashley told Stiles who was holding onto Scott like his life depended on it.
"What? Why? He's fine, like we said."
"You said he lost his inhaler, he's not going to get better just sitting here." Ashley crossed her arms and stood up again.
"How do you know about the inhaler?" Stiles stood too, leaving Scott in the grass. He wasn't as jumpy as earlier, but maybe she just couldn't see his nervous ticks because he was dressed in lumpy lacrosse gear.
"You told me earlier. Do you even listen to what you tell people?"
Scott took off for the locker rooms then, running full speed, faster than she could've imagined.
"Nice, you made him run off. Great…"
"I'm sorry for trying to be helpful." Ashley stated.
They stared at each other for a moment, at an impasse, before Stiles came to his senses. "I have to check on him." He muttered and then ran after his friend.
Ashley stared at the now empty field and rolled her eyes at herself. She shouldn't have done anything, she was just scared that someone had been hurt. The coach was obviously only paying attention to his 'star' player that he had forgone caring about any injuries whatsoever. Her phone finally rang, her mom was calling which meant she was there. Ashley doubled back around the school until she found her mom. Thank goodness.
She was relieved when she and her mom got home, until she found a stranger in her house carrying a washer to the laundry room. One guy, lifting up a washing machine like that was normal. Her mother greeted him with a hello, but Ashley couldn't look away. He was tall, bulky, and…dark. He had black pants, a grey shirt, and a black leather jacket. Even his hair was black. After he deposited the machine, he came to the kitchen where Ashley was dropping off her book bag. He studied her, she could feel his eyes burning her wherever they looked. He was more than intense. She could practically feel her blood pressure rising.
"You must be Ashley." He said in a low, gravelly voice.
"Y-yeah that's me." She pulled at the ends of her hair, nervously. Great, now she had a nervous twitch.
"I'm Devon. I was in the neighborhood and your mom obviously needed some help."
"He was a lifesaver. The moving men just up and left while I was outside getting ready to pick you up, but Devon showed up a bit later."
"What a lucky coincidence." Ashley tried chuckling, but there was something off about the way this guy was looking at her.
"I'm just going to grab a few boxes and bring them to your room." Her mom pushed a piece of hair out of her face and grabbed a few small boxes, stacking them.
"N-no Mom, I can do that."
"Don't be silly, Ash." Her mom laughed and climbed the stairs slowly. Once she was out of earshot, Devon turned to Ashley.
"I heard about what happened last night. Sounded pretty crazy." He stepped forward and Ashley swallowed. "What did you see exactly? Your mom said you didn't tell the police anything specific."
"Oh, uh…" Ashley blinked, what should she say? His stare was making her lose all recollection of the previous night. "P-probably just a mountain lion." She wasn't sure why she didn't tell him that she didn't really know, that she had thought it was a wolf.
"You sure? I heard it was pretty big." He took another step. She wanted to whimper, but held her ground.
"P-positive." Holy crap, what was with the stuttering? She cursed herself and gave Devon a fake smile.
"Good." He took another step, closing the gap between them. "Anything else would've been crazy."
She had no idea why, but the normal words sounded like a threat. She heard her mom coming down the stairs and Devon went back to work. She stood near the kitchen table, shuffling nervously until he finished and left. As the door closed, she turned to her mother who was wearing a large grin.
"Why would you tell him about what happened to me last night?" She whispered harshly, afraid he could hear her for some insane reason.
"Don't be silly. I haven't told anyone." Her mother laughed.
Ashley found her reflection in a mirror that had yet to be hung. She looked as pale as she felt, her skin ran cold. Whoever Devon was, he was bad news, Ashley could feel it. Not to mention he had her mother's trust and knew where she lived… Okay, admittedly, now she might have anxiety ….