Or at least I was sleeping peacefully. Lydia woke me up screaming. She thrashed in her sleep and screamed again. I grabbed her by the shoulders at shook her.
"Lydia!" I yelled. "Lydia! Wake up!"
Lydia's eyes opened and she started sobbing. I went to her bathroom and got her some sleeping pills. I gave her some and she swallowed them down. Her mom wouldn't be home until tomorrow so I ran my hand over her hair and tried to soothe her. It didn't take long for the medicine to set in.
"Clara, what was that?" Lydia asked, groggy now.
"I don't know, Lydia, I don't know." I said, lying through my teeth.
She fell back asleep and I walked downstairs to get a drink. I was in the kitchen when I saw a shadow, I turned assuming it was Lydia but it wasn't. It was Derek.
"What are you doing?" I hissed in a whisper.
"I came to see how you were." Derek replied. "I'll assume they told you everything."
"Yeah, they did and I'm fine besides the constant worry that I'm going to be killed." I snapped.
"I just don't understand why he's after you." Derek whispered.
"Yeah, I'd like to know that too. How the hell did you even get in here?" I asked, throwing my hands up.
"Picked the lock; it was pretty easy." Derek stated.
He walked towards me and I took a step back, I backed up against the fridge as he got closer to me.
"Did he bite you?" Derek asked, inches away from my face.
"No, he scratched my face as you can see." I stated.
Derek looked puzzled for a minute.
"You don't have any scratches on your face." He said as more of a question than anything.
I rubbed my face and felt nothing but smooth skin.
"But, I- I did." I stuttered. "I had cuts from my cheek bone down to my collar bone."
Derek grabbed my phone out of my hand and typed something into it.
"This is my number, for emergencies." Derek said, handing my phone back to me.
"O-okay." I managed to get out.
Derek turned and left. I let out a deep breath and decided that five in the morning was a totally fine time to call Stiles. The phone rang and each time a ring ended, it felt like my heart was going to explode and the pain was almost unbearable.
"Hello?" Stiles answered, groggily.
I let out a huge breath of relief.
"Stiles?" I said, breathlessly.
"Clara? What time is it?" Stiles asked.
"Stiles, Derek was just here." I said.
"What?" He yelled into the phone.
I heard him fall out of bed with a loud thud.
"He was where?" Stiles asked.
"He broke into Lydia's house." I said.
"What? Why?" Stiles wanted to know.
"He wanted to know if I'd been bitten. Those scratches, they're gone." I said.
"Gone?" Stiles asked.
"Yes, like they were never even there." I replied.
"That… I don't… What?" Stiles struggled to find the words to say.
"I don't know either. I'm going back to my house but I highly doubt that Lydia will be at school tomorrow. I gave her some medicine and it knocked her on her ass, she was having a nightmare. She's fine though." I said.
"Oh, well, that's good. I'll see you at school in a few hours, okay?" Stiles said.
"Yeah, go back to sleep, dork." I smiled, hanging up.
I walked back across the street and went inside. I took a long, hot shower and then got dressed in a light blue lace dress; I pulled on a dark brown cardigan and a pair of matching boots. I grabbed the bag of balloons that I was going to put in Allison's locker and grabbed her present. I folded the jacket and placed it in the bottom of the lavender bag and then placed the pair of pearl drop earrings I'd bought her on top, I stuffed some white tissue inside and then went to eat breakfast. There was another note on the fridge, my mother saying that she wouldn't be home until I was in bed. I sighed and made some toast. I ate then finished getting ready.
I headed to school after checking on Lydia and making sure her mom was there. I opened Allison's locker only to find that there were already a few balloons inside due to Lydia. I smiled as I blew up a few more and shoved them inside. I placed my present next to Lydia's and shut the door.
I waited for almost twenty minutes and saw Allison open the door to her locker; she jumped back slightly and tried to shove the balloons back in her locker. I was about to go talk to her when Scott walked up to her instead. I decided I'd let them do their couple thing and go to class. I sat down and looked up to see Stiles staring at me with his mouth slightly open.
"What?" I asked.
"The cuts are gone." Stiles said.
"I'm honestly surprised you even remember that conversation." I smirked.
The teacher walked by and asked me if I'd like a copy of the day's notes for Lydia, I said yes and thanked him. The rest of the day went okay until my science class. I was walking to class when I saw Jackson looking awful in front of his locker. As much as I didn't want to, he was my cousin's boyfriend so I decided I'd check on him.
"Hey, Jackson. You okay?" I asked, walking towards him.
"I'm fine." He replied but not in his usual douchy tone, in a helpless kind of way.
"You don't have to lie to me." I whispered.
Jackson stood there for a minute just kind of looking at me.
"How's Lydia?" He finally asked.
"She's okay. She had a nightmare so I gave her some medicine and she's at home, asleep probably. You should stop by after school." I told him. "I'll see you in class."
I walked into class and sat down next to Danny.
"Just a friendly reminder, teacher parent conferences are next week. Students below a C average are required to attend. I won't name you because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment." Mr. Harris said, walking towards the front of the class then eyed Stiles. "Has anyone seen Scott McCall?"
Stiles looked up after a minute with a highlighter cap in his mouth then Jackson finally walked in. Harris walked over to him a whispered something to him then straightened back up and went to the front of the room.
"Everyone start reading chapter nine. Mr. Stilinski, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs, it's Chemistry not a coloring book." Harris said before sitting down.
Stiles blew the cap out of his mouth, up in the air and caught it. He started whispering to Danny. I laid my head down and then I quickly fell asleep. I heard something clatter but stayed asleep. It wasn't until someone was shaking me that I woke up.
"Clara, get up." Stiles said, shaking my shoulder.
I rose up, my heart pounding as I did.
"I think I need to go home." I said, standing up then slightly stumbling.
Stiles caught me under the elbow and I leaned against the table behind me.
"Hey, Clara, you okay? What's wrong?" Stiles asked, concern spreading over his face.
My chest pounded and I brought a hand up to it.
"Think you can take me to the office?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure, okay." Stiles said.
He led me towards the office, an arm around my waist to keep me from falling to the ground. He helped me sit down and then told the office what was wrong. They had my condition in their records and they called my mom and soon enough she was there. She thanked Stiles who refused to leave until she got there and then helped me out to the car. I got home and pulled off all my clothes, climbing into bed and was out instantly.
I woke up, feeling much better. I pulled on a tank-top and some soft shorts. I on occasion got awful chest pains due to my condition. I walked downstairs and was looking in the fridge when I heard the door open.
"I'm in here, Mom!" I yelled.
I turned around with a bottle of water to see not my mom but Derek standing in the entrance to my kitchen.
"Clara." Derek greeted me.
"Derek." I said, as more of a question than anything else.
I reached for my phone on the counter.
"Please don't call them." Derek said.
"Why shouldn't I?" I asked.
"Because they'll be annoying and I just want to talk." Derek said.
I let out a sigh and dropped my phone back on the counter.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Do you know anything about your birth father?" Derek demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied.
"Please just answer me." Derek said.
"No, I don't." I replied. "Why?"
I saw Derek's jaw tighten then he relaxed.
"Just seeing if it could be connected to anything." Derek mumbled.
"Why?" I replied
"Just try to be careful, okay?" Derek asked.
"Sure, now leave and quit breaking in to places I'm at." I said, pointing towards the door.
He nodded, his green eyes scanning over me for a moment then he was gone. I let out a sigh and leaned against the island and took a few drinks of water. I looked out the front windows to see Stiles' Jeep parked on the street. I slipped some flip-flops on and walked across the street. I got to Lydia's door just as Stiles was walking out.
"C-Clara." Stiles stammered, jumping back slightly.
"Hey there, Stiles. Why don't you come over?" I asked.
"Yeah, okay." Stiles said, following me across the street to my house.
I kicked off my shoes and locked the door behind him. I led him to my room and the flopped down on my floor.
"Hope you brought my homework with you." I teased.
"Actually, I did." Stiles said.
He pulled his backpack off and sat down next to me. He pulled out a few pieces of paper and handed them to me.
"I'm surprised. Thanks." I laughed.
"So, why'd you want me to come over?" He asked.
"Derek just stopped by." I replied, looking over my homework.
"What?" Stiles asked, his eye widening slightly.
"He wanted to know if I knew anything about my birth father." I said, setting the papers down.
"Why would he care about that? Why does he keep bothering you?" Stiles asked, more to himself rather than to me.
"I don't know. I wish he'd at least call me or knock before coming into my house uninvited. So, how was Lydia? I haven't been over yet." I said.
"She's on some pretty heavy medication; her mom gave it to her for her nerves." Stiles said.
"I'm sure she did." I rolled my eyes.
"She also flirted with me." Stiles said, quietly.
"Go on." I smiled at him, though I was kind of upset about it.
"She thought I was Jackson." He stated, letting out a sigh.
"I'm sorry." I said as sincerely as possible.
"It's fine." Stiles said.
There was a brief silence.
"So, are you going to do homework with me or are you going to ditch me?" I asked, nudging him.
"I guess I can help you out." Stiles joked.
"You help me?" I laughed.
We did most of our homework in the next hour. I heard a knock on my door. I looked up.
"Hey, mom! I hope it's not a problem that Stiles is here. He's helping with what I missed today." I said, smiling at her.
"It's totally fine, sweetheart. Thanks for helping her, Stiles." She smiled.
"N-not a problem." Stiles stammered.
"Well, I'm going out with my sister tonight after the parent-teacher conferences so I'll see you later. Clara, there is money for food on the island in the kitchen. Make sure Lydia gets something to eat too, please." My mother said.
"Sure thing, Mom." I smiled, waving bye as she left the room.
"I didn't know you and her were close." Stiles said.
"She's all I had until I moved here and I'm all she had." I said sort of quietly.
"I-I'm sorry." Stiles managed to get out; knowing he'd stepped into a dangerous territory.
"It's fine. After my Dad, well my step-dad died, all we had was one another for the rest of my freshman year of high school and most of the summer. It wasn't until we moved here that my mom was close with her sister or I was close with Lydia again." I said, smiling softly.
"What happened?" Stiles asked.
"We can talk about it another time, okay?" I sighed.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry." Stiles said.
"Why don't you tell me more about this werewolf stuff?" I asked.
"Well, okay." He said.
He then explained to me everything starting from him listening in to a radio call to this current moment. He told me that he'd been trying to find information to help keep Scott from hurting anyone when the full moon rose. He explained about the accident that happened with the bus after I ordered pizza. When he had finished, my doorbell rang and I answered to get the pizza. I pulled out a few slices, putting them on a plate and setting them to the side for me to walk over to Lydia in a little while. Stiles shoved a piece of pizza in his mouth while he explained more about werewolves. He got a call a few minutes after eating his fourth slice of pizza.
"Hey." He answered his phone with a small smile then I saw his eyes widen. "What? What happened? Is he okay?"
He began to shove things into his backpack and then hung up his phone.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.
"It's my Dad. He got hit by a car." Stiles explained. "I'm sorry to ditch you."
"Stiles, it's your Dad. I get it. Go." I smiled at him.
He handed me something as he pulled his backpack on.
"Why do you have Lydia's phone?" I asked.
"She took a video of the alpha, I need you to email it to me then delete it from her phone." Stiles explained.
"I can do that now hurry up and get to your Dad." I said.
He smiled at me then hurried out the door. I sat down, sent the video to myself then deleted it from Lydia's phone. I grabbed her pizza and walked it across the street. I walked through the door to see Lydia standing in her kitchen, grabbing a cup. I dropped her phone on the couch and walked her pizza to her.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked.
"Better. Whose car was that, that just left your house?" Lydia asked, pushing her hair back.
"Oh, it was Stiles. I got a problem at school and he brought my homework over to me." I said.
"What kind of problem?" Lydia asked, her eyes widening.
"Just a regular heart thing, no big deal." I smiled at her
"So, you had a boy over, alone at your house?" She smiled at me.
"Had a friend over." I corrected her. "If anything was going on than you'd be the first to know."
"Good." She winked at me.
"Make sure you get some rest before school tomorrow. I'm gonna go to bed." I smiled at her.
"Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow." She said as I walked out the door.
I walked up to my room and sat down. Today had been weird and I could only imagine that it would eventually get weirder.
