The day passes by slowly enough. Beyond that initial sense of panic, her new friends haven't paid her much attention. The one with the buzz cut (she supposes she'll have to figure out which one is Scott McCall soon, or this could get annoying) had snuck a look over his shoulder, to which she had smiled blindly. Could've been because she was new meat coming later than usual in the school year or maybe his wolfy senses were kicking in, catching the slightest hint of something weird (IE her dear brother's scent, which would smell strongly of werewolf - if the Beta even knew what that would smell like). She kinda hopes his puppy-like friend is Scott; it would just be too coincidental for the new guy to physically look so much like a dog.
Alas, nothing more comes from the class. At the bell, she wanders to geometry, and then a public speaking course she's not looking forward too. Settling moodily into her seat in the middle of the rows of desks, Merry wonders if struggling with art wouldn't have been a better choice for her fine arts credit.
The teacher, with his slightly too long hair and scruffy face, is sort of cute looking. That's always a bonus. With a wide smile full of perfectly straight, white teeth, the man claps his hands together; his shoulders pull at the fabric of his vest (a vest, in this day and age!) in a wonderfully distracting way.
"Alright class, I'm Mr Donovan! We're gonna have a pretty easy day today; I won't make you step behind the podium just yet." He smacks the wooden stand behind him affectionately. "So just introduce yourself to your neighbor; baby steps and all that."
With a quiet smile of her own, because she can just see what kind of teacher Mr Donovan is, Meredith turns to the kid sitting on her left. She's surprised when she turns around to find a petite blonde glaring at him.
"Would you mind terribly moving? I'm just dying to know the new girl!" she says, voice syrupy sweet. The kid nods dumbly before gathering his crap and moving up a row.
It's not like people had been outright avoiding her, but they definitely weren't fighting over sitting next to her. The gesture would be flattering, if her new seatmate wasn't so obvious in her ulterior motives. But, smiling in satisfaction that her orders had been followed, the girl sits herself primly next to Merry.
"I'm Chelsea Cunningham; it's so nice to finally meet you!" she greets, hand stretched over the small space between desks. Now that she's face level, Meredith can see the smallest of gap between her pearly front teeth.
"Meredith Hale. Pleasure's all mine, I assure you." She's a little weirded out, but shakes the other girl's hand anyway. It wouldn't do to be intentionally rude to someone with obvious social power.
"My aunt brought you to english this morning. I meant to introduce myself after class, but," she giggles, eyes crinkling with the force of her cheer, "Lydia had an emergency."
Dark brows furrowed in confusion, Merry asks "Oh, is she alright?" It's common courtesy, if nothing else. An automatic reaction, almost.
Another giggle comes from between Chelsea's pouty pink lips. "Oh yeah, don't even worry about it! She's all good now." She opens her dark eyes wide, and Merry can see the slightest hint of deviousness in the darkly lined depths. "She can't wait to meet you, of course."
Meredith gives a noncommittal hum in lieu of response. She's sort of expected to be gawked at; the fire hadn't been too long ago, most definitely not far enough in the past for her generation to forget about the mass funeral. But she can't stop the flutter of hope rising in her chest; maybe these girls just honestly want to be her friends. Which, while imprudent in the long run, would be nice.
Chelsea grins again, all traces of deceptiveness gone. "Great! You can eat lunch with us. Now, where did you move from?"
XO
Lunch, as it turns out, is the next period. Her new friend guides her to the lunch room, and then through the food line. With Chelsea rushing her, Merry only grabs a lackluster-looking salad, carton of milk, and apple before the blonde is directing her with pointy elbows to a table in the middle of the room. There are already a few kids there, most noticeably too girls. One has long, reddish hair and is dressed (from what she can see above the table) impeccably. Her companion, with curly dark locks and the palest skin Meredith's seen this side of California, is mid-laugh when Chelsea interrupts them.
"Hey Lydia! Guess who I ran into." her voice is pitched oddly; quite obviously, Chelsea's trying to gain the redhead's approval. Which means she's the queen bee, and most certainly not someone Meredith wants to mess with.
"I'm Meredith Hale." She gives the duo a blinding smile, and reaches one slightly tanned hand out to them.
The redhead raises one neatly groomed eyebrow while her dark haired friend returns the smile, and shakes her hand. "I'm Allison Argent and this is Lydia Martin. Please excuse her complete lack of manners."
Merry's not even sure she heard the other girl's name correctly. Blood freezes in her veins, an icy trickle making its way through her whole body. Mechanically, she completes the handshake. Her voice sounds far away when she says "Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. Nice to meet you both."
There had never been proof that the Argents had been behind the destruction of her family. But it was general consensus that, as one of the best hunting families in America, and especially when they had a base so close to Beacon Hills, that they were the ones who had done the 'exterminating.' Now there was one in front of her and she should call Derek, she should let him know, right now. And oh God, what if this kid was already one of them? What age did they start training? Oh no, she probably blew the whole thing and now Argents are coming after them
"I think . . . I think I have to go. Sorry." Meredith mumbles, voice still far off.
The redhead - Lydia - gives the most lady-like snort Merry's ever had. "And where will you sit? Take a seat, new girl. Tell us where you're from, because I'm almost positive I've heard your name before."
Chelsea grins triumphantly from besides her, before taking the last two seats at the table.
See, Lydia's not queen bee of Beacon Hills High for nothing. Sure, having the hottest, most popular guy as a boyfriend and killer fashion taste helps her keep her spot. But she knows how to play high school politics. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer and all that jazz. And little Miss Hale, with her casually cool outfit and pretty, perpetually smiling face, well. She could be an issue.
Besides, Lydia had seen that vulnerability on the slightly taller girl's face (she was only 5'5 or so without those cute little boots, the redhead thinks absentmindedly). She can use that, get the new girl well under her fashionable heel before thoughts of being in charge start crowding her pretty head. Chelsea was starting to get a little too uppity, anyway.
"Did you grow up in Bayview?" she asks, interrupting Meredith's (rather boring) tale of life in the small town about five hours away.
"Ah, no, not- not really." her face flushes. "I uh, I'm from Beacon Hills, originally."
Lydia's grin grows. She knew the name had sounded familiar. Quickly searching her expansive memory, however, she can't - oh no. That's why she remembered the Hales. Wicked grin gone, she's just about to change the subject when Allison cuts in.
"That's so cool! Why'd you move away?" the brunette doesn't mean anything by the question, of course, but, still. Merry's anger is growing from a quiet little wisp to a full fledged forest fire.
"My family died."
A shocked look finds its way across the other three girls' faces. The rest of the table, mostly rowdy athletes, doesn't spare them so much as a speck of attention.
"Well that's depressing. New topic! Do you have plans after school?" It's the least Lydia can do, really, offer her companionship and cute boys to ogle, since she's the one who started the whole investigation.
With a quick shake of her head, Meredith digs into her salad. Chelsea tries chatting with the redhead, obviously not getting the hint that she is unwelcome at the popular table. Those two sufficiently distracted, Allison leans over the table to the other brunette.
"I'm sorry, I - I didn't know. I'm sorry."
Merry just nods her head and eats her food.
OX
After school plans with Lydia Martin, as it turned out, was watching the high school lacrosse team practice.
"It's not practice, Meredith; it's a scrimmage." Lydia had said, as if that was supposed to explain everything.
"Basically it's to see who's good enough for first line." Allison says, quirking a smile. She's trying hard to make the other new girl feel as comfortable as possible after that disastrous lunch.
Merry gives a distracted nod. If she focuses a little, she can see - yes! Scott McCall and his little friend (she silently curses her brother for not giving her a more thorough description of the new Beta; "kid, weird hair" wasn't much to go on!) are also on the field.
"That's my boyfriend, Jackson; he's captain of the highly successful lacrosse team. ." Lydia points out a tall guy with gelled hair.
Impractical for a sports game, Merry thinks. "Cute," she says instead.
The coach decides to blow his whistle, starting the game. It doesn't escape her notice that one of the boys she's supposed to be spying on (is that even the right term?) has taken a seat on the bench. It's the one with the short hair, from this morning. The kid has the decency to flush when Meredith catches him looking longingly in their direction. That means, of course, that the other one is in the game. There aren't any numbers for her to keep track of, unfortunately.
Eyes back on the field, she winces when one of the players is brutally knocked down by who she thinks is Lydia's boyfriend, judging by the satisfied smirk on the queen bee next to her. Her ears prick up a little when she hears Allison, who's on her other side, mutter under her breath.
"C'mon Scott. Get up, get up!"
Oh no. Meredith smothers a dark chuckle; this is just too funny; the hunter's daughter rooting for a newly turned werewolf. "Of course, life can't ever be easy."
"What?" Allison asks, tearing her eyes from the field.
"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." Merry shoots her what's supposed to be a comforting smile before turning back to the game. She's just in time to catch the beginning of the next match. If she's matching the bodies on the field with the brief glimpses in her head, Scott's going up against Jackson. Should be interesting, judging by the taller boy's aggressiveness on the field earlier.
She's not disappointed; the Beta seems to be adjusting to his new-found agility and grace well, if the way he dances around the other team is any indication. And oh, that back flip over the other players! Yes, she's found her werewolf.
Lydia's frown does not escape her notice, though. With the importance the girl seemed to place on the winning lacrosse team, Merry thinks she should appreciate having such talent on the team. Her boyfriend keeps his crown, and she keeps hers by extension. Although Meredith can see Lydia dropping anything keeping her from popularity; hot boyfriend included.
"You alright?" she asks, putting just enough interest behind her words to sound like she means it.
Turning bright eyes to the brunette, Lydia smiles wide. "Of course!" She moves to stand beside Allison, who she then links arms with. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, the redhead casually throws a question to the girl left behind her and her friend.
"So, Miss Hale, what're you doing tomorrow night?"
XO
surprise! so one of my essays got moved to being due monday, and here i am! it was literally painful to not write for almost a week, haha. there's so much i can't wait to write that this practically wrote itself. it's also, coincidentally, the longest chapter yet :D i'm hoping for future chapters to also be of this length (around two thousand words), but we'll see.
alright, well, that's it i think. lemme know if lydia or allison seem particularly not themselves, ie out of character. i'm super nervous about lydia; i wanted her to come off as a little manipulative, a little sincere, you know? and allison is clueless, as always. hmmm, chelsea is not going to be a huge part of the story; she's based off the girl we see lydia walking with in the very first episode. side note - i can't believe i'm not even done with the pilot and there's still another chapter on it left! amazing haha
right then! read, review, talk to me about season 3b (did you see the time traveling shot on the teen wolf twitter? :O) have you gotten snow yet? do you like snow? i just want to know everything about you guys haha!
(and since i've been negligent - disclaimer: teen wolf does not belong to me; meredith hale does, however.)
see you next time,
tor
