A/N: Y'all know what's about to happen.

Chapter Three: Speaking in Code

The bell had rung once more and sixth period had finally ended. Madeline struggled with her bag as she thought about the mountain of pointless work she'd already been given. It'd already been a hellish day and she'd only just narrowly avoided a detention for 'rudely talking back' in Chemistry. The teacher called on her several times at different points, knowing she couldn't answer.

Most of her lessons before today were taught from a laptop, of which she shared with four other girls after hers died. The information never stuck well, but maybe that was because there was typically a crisis or simply something better to do. Besides, she was always looking forward to being the first person to show up for training, which she was free to go to right after jotting down a page or two of schoolwork activities total.

Whenever Mister Harris called on her today, she would try to opt out of answering by pointing to someone who was actually raising their hand.

"Is there a reason you're choosing not to answer my extremely simple questions, Miss Hayes?"

She'd frowned. "Well, they're not really simple."

"'In order to extract isobutyric acid from a solution of diethyl ether, what should one wash the solution with?' It's not a hard question. In fact, according to your records, you should be able to answer that and every other question I've asked." He'd scrutinized her while smiling, which only gave Maddie the urge to punch him. "Unless you're confirming the lack of structure and the incongruous method in which you were taught basic facts in your home schooling."

She wasn't sure what 'incongruous' meant but she searched for it after class, which only made her want to punch him more. In the moment though, she was was merely irritated and made it clear. "I just don't find Chemistry all that interesting."

The man's smile dropped as the class laughed, just like they had in her first class of the day. He looked half stricken and half humiliated before he called her another 'genius' in the most sarcastic voice he probably could muster. It was like seeing one of those nerd stereotype characters from all those eighties movies Marie loved so much. Or, worse, Carrie White just after the pig's blood dropped on her head during prom. Looking back, Maddie hated that movie.

From what she could gather, Mister Harris (a name that she would never get used to calling someone who wasn't her watcher) was a thin, gangly man who seemed to hide behind his superb insults that he slung at her and the other students. Somehow, knowing that she could break him like a toothpick gave her some sort of solace. She'd honestly never missed online schoolwork so much in her life when compared side by side to high school - and she wasn't even finished the first day.

Now, it was nearly through and she was headed to... She stopped in her tracks as the warning bell rang. Which class was she headed to? Why are there so many bells? She quickly rummaged through her bag and pulled out the same piece of paper from earlier. It was crumpled now, after shoving it back in her bag during lunch, and she had to squint to read the writing.

Seventh Period→ Economics

She stared at it for a moment longer with a confused look on her face. Economics? That was a required class? How exactly would that come in handy?

I fight demons. I'm not going into stocks and bonds.

"Sure, okay..." she muttered, shoving the paper back in her bag and looking around as she started walking again.

As she swerved around other students, her thoughts wandered back to her strange lunch experience. Unfortunately no one had answered her phone call but she made sure the message she left was off putting enough to warrant a call back. Hopefully, yelling at Xander's voicemail about the mess she'd been thrown into was enough.

"Madeline!"

She paused and looked around, shocked at the sound of her name in the strange place. Odds were it would be for a different Madeline anyway - no one there knew her well enough to try and get her attention for any reason she could think of. That was when she spotted Allison waving her down. Maddie gave her a blank stare before the light bulb had flickered on in her head, reminding her of what the girl had said during lunch - at least the parts that weren't about hunters and giant wolves. She refrained from letting out a deep, frustrated sigh and walked over to Allison with a wave and a small, forced smile.

Allison returned the smile. "Hey! I was starting to think you were going to pass right by."

"Sorry," Maddie replied as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder, grimacing on how she didn't sound very sorry at all. It probably sounded unnatural, too. If only she were a better actress, but that was never a skill she or any other slayer learned. "I was spacing out, I guess. Happens sometimes."

"No, that's totally understandable," Allison waved it off, accepting the lie. "I'm sure you've got a lot on your plate, you know with it being your first day and all."

She didn't wait for Madeline to reply as she started walking and motioned for the other girl to follow. "C'mon! The last thing you want is for Coach to point out that you're late. Trust me."

Maddie nodded and began walking beside Allison, who continued talking as they quickly went down the hallway and around another corridor. Maddie nodded and smiled, only half paying attention. If there was anything she learned from growing up with essentially only other teenagers, it was to at least pretend you were listening. She hated it though; she felt so very...false. She couldn't remember how many times she'd attempted this with her own team and they saw right through her every time.

Of course, she knew that this instance wasn't about actually making friends. Sure, it would probably help, but it wasn't necessary or something that Maddie even wanted. She was protecting this girl, all the while not letting anyone know what she really was. She was sure that it was hard enough to play off that this was a normal town without a vampire slayer being thrown in the mix. If anything though, it was a great distraction from her actual life. "...and that's hard enough to deal with, you know?"

"Oh, yeah. Absolutely." You weren't listening, a voice in the back of Maddie's head chastised. She shook it off and followed Allison into the classroom that was already nearly full. She was starting to recognize faces from different classes and hoped that soon she'd remember names, too. She noticed Allison spot that boy from earlier that had clearly been hiding from her and hurry to the seat behind him. The other strange boy had tried to take the seat but was just barely beaten to it by Allison and took the seat beside her.

"Madeline, over here!" Allison pointed to the seat diagonal from her that happened to be next to the boy and in front of his pale friend with the short hair. She refrained from grumbling and swallowed her pride as she walked over and took the seat. Uncomfortably, she turned slightly to Allison and the two boys while Allison gestured to Maddie. "Guys, this is Madeline. Madeline, this is my boyfriend, Scott, and his friend, Stiles."

Her boyfriend? Maddie tried not to cringe. Then why was he running away earlier?

"Really, everyone can just call me Maddie. It's fine," she replied politely.

"We met actually," the boy behind her interjected. Stiles, right? That's a weird name. "Well, sort of. She made our English teacher nearly pop a blood vessel in record time."

He looked over at her and gestured with his pencil in hand. "Congratulations on that, by the way."

"Thanks...?" Maddie replied with a confused look. "But, wait, isn't that bad?"

"Nah." Stiles shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "In fact, you might want to try it on all the teachers around here. Extra points if you get Harris to quit."

The other two had already started up their own conversation, which from the looks on their faces was not going very well. She wanted to listen in just in case, but was stuck talking to this Stiles kid who was analyzing her like she'd done something wrong already.

"The Chemistry teacher?" Maddie sighed, thinking about the make up work Harris had given her. "I think he already doesn't like me."

"See? You're already halfway there. Good job." He gave the girl a thumbs up. She didn't really understand why he was congratulating her and thought about how to respond for much longer than a standard beat. Off of her blank stare, Stiles gave her his own strange look. "You reallydon't get sarcasm, do you?"

"Of course I do," came her remark. It wasn't the first time someone had told her that, which grated her nerves further. She turned around in her desk as the teacher slammed a book down.

"Let's settle down," Coach started, giving his class a scrutinized stare. The large man before her looked like a lunatic - wide, frantic eyes and jet black hair that stood on end. No one else seemed startled by this. "Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading."

As Maddie took out her textbook, others raised their hands.

"Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading." The large, slightly crazed-looking man walked around his desk. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Maddie. "You. Girl in black."

Her head snapped up and she gave him a wide-eyed stare. "Madeline."

"Yeah, whatever." He folded his arms and continued to glare at her. "Last night's reading, Madison. Summary. Go."

Maddie's mouth hung open for a second before she found her voice. "I didn't do the reading. I'm actually new...and it's Madeline."

"Pffft! Like I haven't heard that one before," Coach went on, suspicion seeping into his voice.

Maddie's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you talking about the reading or my name?"

"HEY!" he shouted and Maddie reared back her head at the sudden noise, looking at the crazy man by her desk in confusion. "No talking back in my classroom, got it?"

Maddie's mouth hung open for a second before she closed it and looked around, like she was missing something that her classmates understood somehow. They were giggling and snickering and her annoyance was through the roof. "But you approached me."

"ZIP IT!" he shouted. There was a short pause before he pointed at her again and said quietly but just as forcefully, "Zip. It."

"No, seriously, Coach. She's new. It's her first day," Scott spoke up, throwing Maddie a side glance. She mouthed a 'thank you' in which Scott simply nodded.

"Oh, come on!" Coach Finstock gave another incredulous look before heading back over to his desk, sifting through the papers on it. "I think I'd know if we had a new -"

He picked up a paper, squinting at it. Maddie sat there, all too aware that the entire class had their eyes on her and wishing Beacon Hills had a Hellmouth under the school that would swallow her up just about now.

"Madeline Hayes. Grade ten. Seventh period." Coach slammed the paper back down and looked over at the girl who was sinking down in her seat. "Keep up, Hayes. I'm watching you."

He gestured two fingers to his eyes then to her. He then turned his attention back to Scott. "Fine then! Since you're full of helpful information today, how about you, McCall!"

He glanced up at his teacher, with the same deer caught in the headlights look that Maddie had worn seconds ago. She could've sworn she felt a thin prickle of guilt needling her. "Wha..."

"The reading." Coach sat on his desk and looked down at Scott expectantly.

"...Last night's reading?" Scott asked, clearly stalling. Badly.

Coach shook his head slightly. "How 'bout, ah...the reading of the Gettysburg address?"

Scott face went from surprise to confusion in all of about five seconds. "What?"

"That's sarcasm," he deadpanned. "You familiar with the term 'sarcasm', McCall?"

"Very," Scott replied, looking back at Stiles. Maddie threw a side glance to the boy behind her, who looked very proud of himself.

Seems to be the theme of the day, Maddie thought with an eye roll as she faced forward again.

The school day had finally ended and a distinct feeling of freedom seemed to wash over Madeline. On the other hand, she hadn't managed to shake Allison off her trail. She seemed to be going on about Scott, who apparently seemed to be avoiding her for most of the day. Whatever had been wrong though seemed to clear up after class. Now, Allison wore a smile as they left the building and she continued on about something happening later that night.

Maddie felt slightly guilty. Allison was a genuinely nice person who honestly seemed to like her. And here was Madeline feigning interest and hardly listening. In fact, she knew the only reason she was even pretending to listen was simply due to her mission. She mentally shook off the feeling and continued her seemingly foolproof method of smiling and nodding.

"Oh, my dad's here!" Allison smiled and waved off in the other direction. Maddie turned and spotted an older man standing outside of an SUV - the man from the picture. She withheld a sigh as she continued to follow the younger Argent. "Dad, hi."

"Hey, sweetheart," he replied with a smile. His eyes then darted over to Madeline. "Who's your friend?"

Allison gestured to her. "This is Maddie. She's new."

"Madeline Hayes," Maddie added, her tone almost sounding professional. She smiled politely and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mister Argent."

He cautiously shook the girl's hand, examining her. "...New?"

Her smile widened and she nodded. "Just started today."

"Welcome to Beacon Hills. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do." He let go of her hand, stuffing both of his into his coat pockets.

Maddie looked back at the school, then to Allison, and back to her father. "It's been nice so far. Can't complain." She felt as if she was speaking in code to the man.

"Good. Allison," the old Argent continued, turning to his daughter, "We should get home. I'm sure your new friend has a lot of work to do."

Allison nodded briskly to her father and turned to Maddie. "See you tomorrow, then?"

Madeline gave a short nod to the girl. "Yep, see you tomorrow."

Allison waved as she got in the car and her father gave Maddie one last pointed glance before walking around the car to the driver's side. As they drove off, the slayer sighed heavily and kicked some dirt on the ground. Her stomach coiled as she thought of tomorrow - and even the day after that. How long did she need to be here? And exactly how long were the Argents going to leave their daughter in the dark about it?

The sun had set and Madeline had only managed to finish half of her homework. How did they expect kids to do this every day? she recalled thinking. Now, it was quarter past eight and she'd been roaming the streets of the small town with a leather messenger back at her side full of weapons. Miss Summers had told her to keep up her patrolling regiment and report any other odd activity. Alas, there seemed to be hardly any odd activity in the town. She'd been out for hours and not even one vampire seemed to rear its ugly head. There were no missing bodies from the cemetery according to the skittish boy who worked there. He seemed a bit perturbed at the question in general though and probably wouldn't have told her anyway.

At that point, she felt as if her only reasoning for being out was to avoid her mountain of work and the rancid smell of the motel room.

Her feet continued to lead her all around town and somehow managed to make it all the way back to the high school. It was one of the few places she had memorized the route to so it was really no surprise. She was about to head back though, as it seemed pointless to even patrol the area. Unfortunately, that was when things started picking up for her that night - and in probably the strangest way possible.

"AOWUUUUUUOOUUUU!"

That was the sound she heard over the loud speaker all around the school grounds. It was certainly enough to make her stop and look back at the school. "What the hell was that?" she muttered to herself. Whatever it was, it sounded human at least. Maybe someone was pulling a prank or ...

The sound that came next was the one that truly shook her at her core.

A howl. A howl like she heard in her nightmare. The type of howl she was trained to know. Suddenly she knew whatever was in that school certainly was not human.

She gripped her messenger bag and strode over in the direction of the school. As she tried to press in the door, it wouldn't budge. Taking a step back, she quickly gave the door a firm kick. She heard the lock break and the door - half off its hinge now - swung open. She took one last look around and entered the building. Her footsteps echoed in the empty halls as she walked slowly, listening for any other sounds. She took another measured step before hearing was sounded like a guttural roar. Her head snapped over to the direction of the sound and she started running toward it as fast as her feet would allow. Of course, it didn't last long as she neared another door that swung open.

Two boys ran in and swiftly closed the doors behind them, holding it tight. She stopped in her tracks as the boys heaved in breaths and turned toward her.

Before her stood the same strange boys from earlier that day, Scott and Stiles.

And now they were gawking at her.

In the empty halls of the school, all three voices echoed loudly, "What that hell are you doing here?!"