The drive was familiar, passing by roads he'd grown up seeing from the back seat of his parent's car. He looked up from the passenger side to see his friend, his best friend, the person he might even trust most in this world, if he trusted anyone.
"-when we get back." Danny said, finishing his sentence.
"Why can't you just tell me now?" Jackson asked, looking at his friend now.
Danny breathed out lightly as he clenched his jaw. It was odd, seeing Danny hold back like this. Usually he was so open to talking. He was kind of sensitive to other people's emotions and was one of the only people Jackson felt comfortable talking to about his parents. Of course, Danny was always hesitant to talk about his family's superstitions, but this seemed different.
Jackson huffed and said, "Fine, whatever." He looked back out the window as Danny pulled up in his driveway. The blinds in one of the windows rushed open to reveal a little old woman with a fearsome scowl on her face, and then just as quickly closed.
"Who was that?" Jackson asked.
Danny breathed out a shaky sigh, seeming to hold back some irritation. "My grandmother." The side door swung open followed by a barrage of verbal violence on the two.
"What the hell?" Jackson asked, looking up at Danny who unlocked the doors numbly. "I thought you said she was your grandma."
"She is."
"-ack here again!" The old woman's yell became unmuffled as the driver's door swung open softly.
"Hi grandma." He said patiently.
"Hi grandma? Hi grandma? I'm not your grandmother, and you're not my grandson. Get out of here, don't you ever come back- don't even think about coming back here-"
Jackson stared as he came out of the passenger side of the door. "Danny…" He said, looking up at him, unsure of what to do.
"Mom!" A woman yelled from inside the house. "Stop that! He's my son! Your grandson!" Danny's mother came from the side of the house.
"Not anymore, not now that he's become some kind of monster." The old woman said, turning with an impassible anger. "I won't let him near my family." She said, turning towards Danny. "I always knew you were cursed to live out some kind of twisted fate like this-"
"Mom!" Danny's mother said to his grandmother, rushing to her son's side. Danny stood there, holding back more anger than Jackson had ever seen him muster. He seemed to be fighting something within him. "Please stop this, it's not his fault and you know it! You've always said he was the sweetest boy you'd ever seen!" She said with tears in her eyes.
The old woman's lips quivered and her voice became hoarse, "No! No I never said that!" Tears streamed down her face. "I hate him! He's not one of us!"
"Oh my god, mom, please stop!" Danny's mom said, struggling to bring her mother's voice down as a neighbor walked out across the street. "Go back inside mom."
"Not if he's coming in! Didn't you see what he did to his room? What if he did-"
"Mom! Go back inside!"
Jackson hesitated at the open car door. Should they just leave? But the stubborn lady went back inside, huffing and stomping as she did so.
"I'm so sorry sweetie." Danny's mom said, turning to face her child, holding his face as she did so. "I promise we'll find a way to stop this. We'll fix this. There's bound to be someone who can help us. This won't be forever."
Danny didn't say anything. He didn't seem to care. Suddenly, as if realizing something, he looked his mother in the eyes and touched her hand. "Of course, mom." He said. She let her hand down and started to lead the two inside. Danny glanced at Jackson, his face tired and giving a weak smile. Jackson quickly shut the car door and went by his side as they walked in. They heard a huff from inside and a door slam shut.
Danny's mom turned towards the two boys. "I'm sorry Jackson, she's really very sweet… it's just that-what happened-" She glanced at her son, "It-it just took her by surprise. She'll calm down." His mom gulped as though she meant to convince herself as well as the two boys. Her eyes nervously drifted into the kitchen and she left them by themselves.
"Let's just go to my room for-I mean, the living room, for now." Danny said and walked away. Jackson followed and glanced around the house. It seemed pretty normal, despite this new unfamiliar tension. Sure, Jackson had seen a couple of heated arguments in this house, he used to be over all the time before he started dating Lydia. Now though, now it felt heavier, like something was really at risk here.
"What's going on?" Jackson asked as they sat on a cushioned chair next to Danny. "I thought you said your grandma spoiled you two."
Danny frowned, staring at the floor. "It's because of what happened. The bite. The were-the thing that bit us last night."
"Okay? She-" Jackson remembered the way he'd transformed in the locker room mirror. "So she-" He remembered her calling Danny a monster. "Oh."
Danny chuckled. "Yeah."
There was a bit of silence before Jackson said. "So, what did you want to tell me?"
Danny took a breath before turning towards Jackson. "What bit us last night. It wasn't- it wasn't normal. It was a-a-" Danny looked up at the ceiling and then back at Jackson. "It was a werewolf." Danny almost spat out the word. His shoulders trembled as he clenched his fists. "Now we're one of them too."
"A werewolf. A werewolf? Are you-" Jackson remembered his reflection. He couldn't find the words to contradict what he had seen. "Like a real werewolf? I thought…" Jackson's heart began to race and his world seemed to slow. "I thought they weren't real."
"Jackson." Danny said, putting a hand on his friend's arm. "Stay with me, that's not all."
"What? What else-"
"The one who bit us, he's probably going to come back for us. I don't know if you felt him last night, but I did. He's strong. And, I think when we get angry, we transform. My grandma-" Suddenly, he glanced to his side, but then urged his words forward, "she thinks we're going to start wanting to kill people and stuff. She said it's in our nature." He started to grow a faraway look. "And maybe we will."
"What? Danny, what the hell, why would we kill anyone?"
"Jackson, you haven't transformed yet. Not really. You don't know what it's like, what you become."
"I know you, and you wouldn't kill anyone."
"My family knows me too, and they're smart enough to know that I might."
Jackson stared at the man in front of him. Was this really the Danny he knew? "Danny… you would never kill someone." Jackson said, touching Danny's wrist. "You're the kindest person I know, and you've put up with a lot of my stubborn bullshit." He said.
Danny pulled away, "You don't know everything Jackson."
Jackson glared at Danny in disbelief. "The only thing I don't know is what's up with your superstitious family, but you've basically told me everything-"
"That's why you don't know everything. Jackson. My family? The whole superstitious thing? It's a whole part of me you've never known. You don't know me. No one knows me. Now I'm just some monster, a werewolf." Danny suddenly looked overwhelmed, failing to make eye contact as his chest rose and fell in big, panicked breaths. Jackson stared, not knowing what to do. Usually he was the one being calmed down. Danny looked up at Jackson, as if asking for help, but at Jackson's gaping face, he seemed to gain the control to calm himself down. "Sorry, I just…" Danny couldn't seem to find the words.
Jackson stammered, "No-I-well, I mean, yeah, this is weird, this is pretty weird. We're uhm, we're like werewolves. That's… fucked up." Jackson said, looking around the room nervously. He felt dread swim through his chest as he thought about his parents finding out.
Danny laughed with equal nervousness. "Yeah." Around the corner and down the hall, they could hear a door opening and slamming and then another door opening and slamming as Danny's grandmother moved through the house. "Maybe we should go for a walk."
"Yeah." Jackson said.
Xxx
Stiles snuck up to Scott's house nervously. None of the lights were on. Maybe that meant Scott's mom wasn't home yet. Maybe that was for the best. Stiles looked around quickly from the driver's seat and tried to shake Scott awake. He heard his friend moan, but he couldn't rouse him up.
Stiles sighed as he hopped out the jeep. He went to the porch this time and stood up on the railing that wrapped itself around the front of the house. He hoped the gutters wouldn't give way this time as he tried to pull himself up onto the roof of the porch. It was like getting up out of the side of the pool. Except the ground was slanted and didn't grip his clothes like concrete did. Instead, the grainy texture of the roof tiles let his arms slide sometimes, if he didn't get the right pressure on it. Lucky for Stiles, this wasn't his first time. Kicking at nothing as he struggled to get up, he finally made his way into Scott's wide open window. Making his way downstairs, he opened the front door.
Stiles sighed as he looked out at the car, his mouth slightly ajar as he squinted in the dark. He made his way over to his jeep and opened the passenger's side, making Scott fall out. "Wh-wh-" Stiles stammered as he reached out to catch Scott. Stiles looked at Scott, to see if he was okay, and then looked up, sighing. "Alright." He said to himself. Nervousness struggled against him as he tried to figure out the best way to carry Scott into the house. "God, you're heavy." He muttered to himself. He tried to shift Scott's weight to one side before he fumbled and fell. Immediately his hand went to catch Scott's head before they hit the ground. "Ow." Stiles groaned, sitting up. "What the hell happened to you?" Stiles asked his unconscious friend who was sprawled out on him. He tried not to worry, to think about why there was blood on his friend's hands and mouth, to think about why his friend was unconscious, why he found him in front of the convenience store like that. Who was that guy he'd seen? He looked familiar, like maybe he was from their school? Stiles glared at his tires distractedly before realizing he still needed to get Scott back into the house. Turning, he tried to pull Scott onto his back, piggyback style. Maybe this would work? He almost stumbled back on the ground as he tried to stand up, but quickly gained his balance and headed into the house. He didn't bother going up the stairs to Scott's room and let Scott slide off him and onto the couch.
"Jeez, Scott." Stiles said breathlessly. He stared at his friend and grimaced. Scott was alright, right? Stiles went into the kitchen and looked for something to wipe up the blood with. It went against his instincts, after being brought up in a police family, but he didn't care. "Well at least the blood doesn't seem to be yours." He said in relief. "... What the hell Scott, did you eat a raw steak?"
Stiles looked up at the sight of headlights coming through the dark house's windows. Quickly, he stood and walked to the front door as Scott's mom shut her car door. "Scott? Is that you? What are you doing in the dark?" Stiles put his hands together with an awkward nervousness as he tried to think of something clever. "Stiles?"
Giving up, he said, "Hi, Ms. McCall."
"Hey Stiles, what are you doing?" She said, stopping at the porch stairs.
"Just…" Stiles thudded his hands against themselves as he thought. "On my way home. I-me and Scott, we were hanging out. He just-" he gestured in the house with his thumb, "fell asleep on the couch. Practice was tough so, I just let him sleep."
"Oh, well, that was nice of you, but you probably should have woken him up and told him to go sleep in his bed." Melissa said with a smile as she stepped onto the front porch.
Stiles blocked the door as he said, "Well-I mean, he was really tired and I didn't want to wake him, and like he's fine-"
"Uh huh?" Melissa said suspiciously.
"Yeah, like totally, he's just, practice, you know, we had to run all these laps because people didn't show up-"
From inside the house, a voice called out saying, "Stiles?"
Stiles spun on his heels and grinned widely at Scott. "Hey! You're up!" He gestured with his arms, releasing his relief and excitement and then letting his hand rush up and over his closely cut hair as he laughed nervously. "You-" He almost yelled at Scott for scaring him, but instead laughed. "You okay?"
Melissa walked past Stiles into the house, "Goodnight Stiles."
"Goodnight, Ms. McCall." He called after her as she turned on the light, and then he turned back to Scott. "What happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?"
"You like, I- I found you in front of the convenience store. Unconscious Scott."
Scott looked at Stiles in disbelief. "What do you mean? I haven't left my house. I was in my room…" Scott's voice drifted off as he wondered how he ended up in the living room.
"I don't know Scott, but you… you had blood on your hands and like…" Stiles cringed before saying, "around your mouth." His head made a circle as he said it and his fingers waved around his own mouth.
"What?"
"Yeah man, it was… it was, kinda gross actually. What were you doing?"
"Sleeping… I thought."
"Wow, well then you've got some weird sleep-walking habits."
"Blood?"
"... Yeah." Stiles put his hands in his pockets. "Well, don't worry about it too much, I guess. We'll figure it out." Stiles said, putting a hand on Scott's shoulder, trying to give his obviously shocked friend some comfort. "You okay?"
"Not really. Blood?" Scott said, stepping closer as if he'd be able to hear better if he did, and maybe he'd really just misheard Stiles.
"I don't know what to tell you. Do you want me to stay?"
"No, no, it's okay." Scott said, looking down at the ground. "Hey, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, you're sure?"
"Yeah, yeah." Scott said, trying to play off his worry. "See ya at school."
"Okay." Stiles said nervously. The door closed and Stiles stared at it for a while. Eventually he turned back to his car and headed home.
Xxx
Alison sat at her desk and looked over her book. She sighed over homework being assigned on the first day of school. With boredom wafting off the book, she flipped through the pages to see if she was near the end of her reading assignment. She looked back at the syllabus in disbelief that there was so much to read on the first day. Maybe there was a mistake? She went to her phone to ask Lydia before remembering that Lydia wasn't in her class. Alison thought then of the boy who sat in front of her.
He was nice. Kind of cute too. Plus he seemed pretty good at lacrosse. She grinned remembering their conversation at the clinic. Maybe they'd become friends? She smiled back into her book distractedly and hoped that she'd get to talk to him at school tomorrow.
There was a knock on her door. "Alison?" Her father's voice called from behind it.
"Yeah dad?" She said, turning from her desk in her seat.
The door slipped open and he took a step in. "Hey Alison, how was your first day of school?"
"Fine, what's up?"
"Well, nothing, can't I ask how school was?"
Alison sighed, "Yeah, well, it was nice. People are really friendly here." She said, pulling her sleeves down to her palms.
"That's good." He said, nodding as he walked in the room. "Listen so, I don't know if you've been watching the news-"
"I havent."
"-well, there's been some animal attacks reported. I just wanted to tell you to be careful."
"Okay dad." She said, turning back to her desk.
"Don't stay out late okay?"
She looked back up at him, surprised. "Yeah, sure dad." She said, thinking about the party Lydia had asked her to go to, but she wasn't that interested in going anyway. Still, who knows. "I might go out on Friday though, is that okay?"
"Well, for now, I'd prefer you stay at home."
"It's not like I'll be hanging out in the woods. It's at a friend's place-"
"Alison. Please."
She looked at her dad as if he were strange. "But-"
"Look, one day this will make sense, but for now, can you just listen to me? Please?" He asked her.
Alison sighed and turned back to her homework. He was always like this. 'One day this will all make sense.' It was basically his catch phrase. Mom said it too sometimes. Her parents would say it whenever they'd say things that didn't make sense, and Alison wondered if they just said it to justify telling her "no" whenever they wanted to.
She heard the door quietly close behind her and she scoffed at her book. A bit of rebellion stirred up in her as she wondered if she should just go to the party anyway.
Xxx
Isaac walked into school wondering if people could tell that his jaw was slightly swollen. "I didn't even hit you that hard." His father had said to him on his way out. Isaac had noticed a hospital bill on the kitchen counter but didn't ask about it. He didn't look at his father's face, the bruised jaw from where he'd punched him. What if he looked in his eyes and suddenly all the rage burst out of his father again? He could already feel the walls of the icebox closing in on him as he walked through the hallway at school.
School. The place where he was safe for a little bit. With school back in session, his father would be coaching the swim team again. He wondered what his dad would say about his swollen jaw. Isaac grinned a little with pride at the thought of his father struggling to explain how it happened.
"Maybe you should join the swim team." He'd said this morning.
"I'm on the lacrosse team." Isaac quickly said, zipping up his bookbag.
"Yeah, but, wouldn't you rather be on the swim team? With me?" His father had said, leaning over the counter as if he were some predator preparing to pounce on him. At his son's silence he leaned back up. "It would be like when you were little, and I used to take you to the pool. Remember that? You were so cute and sweet, not like you are now." Isaac still didn't say anything. He struggled to hold back his trembling. He hated feeling this way. He hated feeling weak. Gripping his fist, he remembered the sensation of punching his father. He had felt strong. Powerful. Free. For an instant. "You listening to me?"
"Yeah."
"Make sure to come home on time okay? I'll be back early. I think you got a little confused the other day. I hope your time downstairs helped clear your head." He said cooly. "But just to make sure."
Isaac looked up at his father's eyes then, trying to read them before quickly glancing down. He heard the threat in his father's voice and saw the cocky smile that lay in Mr. Lahey's stern eyes, though he tried to hide it behind his tight lips.
Quietly, Isaac sat at his desk and waited for class to start. He glanced out the door as Alison passed by. He didn't know her, and neither really noticed each other. Isaac was about to look back down at his desk when Scott passed by with Stiles at his side. Instantly, Isaac sat up as he remembered last night. Well, the two seemed alright. His body relaxed in relief, but his mind stayed wound up, his thoughts drifting back to his teammates. Curiosity lingered in his mind and he wanted to get to know them better.
Xxx
After school, Jackson, Danny, and Isaac got an earful from coach who complained about them skipping practice yesterday. "What, did you get in a fight?" He yelled at Isaac.
"No, it was an accident." Isaac said in his practiced, nonchalant voice.
Jackson glanced at Isaac who was next to him and then back at coach. "I'm sorry, I had an emergency and Danny was helping me, that's why we skipped."
"An emergency? Are you okay?" Coach asked.
"Yeah, I just-" Jackson tried to think of any excuse, but his mind went blank as he suddenly remembered the fact that now he was a werewolf and his entire being was changed.
"We-" Danny tried to intervene but coach quickly interrupted.
"Did someone die?" The two boys immediately tried to respond before coach waved his hand, "Nevermind, don't tell me. Look, I know you two wouldn't skip practice on purpose, just get out on the field and be inspirational or something. And do 10 laps, I promised the team you three would do it when you came back."
They all headed out onto the field as the team warmed up for a scrimmage game. Alison and Lydia watched from the bleachers again. As the team started to gather, coach began to pump up his players letting them know that he'd be watching the game to figure out who was going to be on the starting line this season. To everyone's surprise, Scott was doing exceptionally well on the playing field. But, he wasn't the only one whose skills seemed to improve. Stiles stared in disbelief as Isaac, the guy he now recognized from last night's convenience store encounter, weaved his way past his teammates as well. Did everyone just get better? He made a mental note to talk to Isaac after practice. Stiles scoffed as Jackson outshined everyone, as usual. A couple times, Stiles could see Danny coming up to Jackson just as he'd be at his peak or start to get on edge with some of the other players. Stiles sat impatiently on the bench wondering why his skills weren't getting better too.
He looked over at Scott again and suddenly he didn't think of Scott as just getting better. Sure, Stiles had practiced with Scott over the summer but… well Scott was getting around defenders in ways Stiles didn't think were possible for him. And… did he just summersault his shot into a goal? Stiles thought about the bite Scott had mentioned, the way Scott had passed out so strangely the night before, and remembered joking earlier that Scott might be a werewolf and started to wonder if maybe Scott really was. Suddenly, his urgency to talk to Isaac became stronger.
Coach announced that Scott and Isaac had made the cut. Of course, Danny and Jackson had too, but that wasn't a surprise. Scott headed over to Stiles with the biggest grin, but he waved him off and told him he'd talk to him after practice. Scott thought it was weird but headed into the locker room. When Isaac started to walk past Stiles, he stopped him.
"Hey, what's your name? Isaac right?"
"Yeah, hey, how's Scott?"
Stiles narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. "Fine, he's fine-listen, don't worry about him, okay? He's just your teammate, and last night-"
"When he was painting?" Isaac said sarcastically, getting the sense that Stiles was telling him off.
Stiles pursed his lips and nodded in annoyance. "Yeah. You know what, nevermind. Just don't tell anyone, okay?" Stiles said and walked away.
Isaac looked after him in confusion and slight annoyance, but decided to ignore it. He sighed thinking he might not get to hang out with the two after all.
After doing some research, Stiles told Scott to come over and tried to explain his theory on Scott's sudden skills.
"A werewolf?"
"Yeah, I mean, your speed, your reflexes, people can't suddenly do that overnight." Stiles told him. "And there's the vision, the senses, don't think I haven't noticed you don't need your inhaler anymore." Scott seemed like he was about to interrupt before Stiles said, "The blood?"
"Th-that doesn't prove anything. You're talking about a werewolf. Those don't exist Stiles."
"Well, look, just, stay over tonight, okay?"
"What- why?"
"Tonight-it's the full moon."
Scott rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna turn into a werewolf-"
"You will-and even if you don't, who cares, it's not like you're doing anything tonight, right?"
Scott sighed. "No, but I'm not gonna have you watch me either."
"Just-" Stiles closed his eyes in frustration, "Just let me do this okay? I'm trying to help. You're cursed Scott. You know, and it's not like the moon is just gonna cause you to physically change. It just so happens to be when you're…" Stiles hesitated, remembering last night. "When your bloodlust will be at its peak."
Scott also thought of last night, remembering Stiles on his front porch telling him what he'd found on his hands and lips. "Bloodlust?"
"Yeah your…" Stiles avoided Scott's eyes. "Your urge to…"
"To what?" Scott asked, taking a step forward. He felt anger rising up in him. Stiles was wrong. He was wrong. There's no way he did that. He'd seen wrong, he-he was mistaken-he-
"Your urge to kill." Stiles looked up at Scott then and flinched back. Quickly he turned to the book on his desk and read out loud, "'Change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse-'"
"I'm didn't kill anyone!" Scott yelled, making Stiles jump out of his chair as Scott stepped forward. Stiles leaned back over the desk, tucking his elbows in and bringing his hands up as Scott got up in his face. Rage surged through him and he felt the urge to punch something, but as he looked into Stiles' eyes, something calmed him. It were as if Stiles had become an anchor to hold him steady in his stormy anger. He took a step back from his startled friend. "I-I'm sorry."
Stiles' shoulders hung in the air. He looked at Scott's face, but couldn't bring himself to look him in the eyes.
"I… I didn't kill anyone." Scott said quietly this time, taking another step back and turning away from him. Stiles made a quick nod, but didn't say anything, his tongue pressed against the corner of his lip. "You have to believe me. I don't know what you saw but-"
"Yeah." Stiles said, looking away, biting on his words. "I don't know what I saw either."
