Ah, school. Hundreds of sweaty, hormonal teenagers who do their bests to not fall asleep during hours of lectures and learning. The first day was usually not that stressful, and quite easy going for most people. I wasn't most people. Whilst everyone was at their lockers, I was in the guidance counsellor's office with miss Morell.
"You know that I need to be in the same class in order to protect them." I pointed out.
"True, but your academic performances are… well there aren't any."
"Touche." I nodded. "But there's the Alpha pack and I need to make sure they're safe. Just give me one term to prove that I can keep up, that's all I need."
Morell tilted her head at me. "Okay. Two conditions: I still want you here every week and if you fail, you'll go back to Sophomore."
"Deal." I said, standing up and walking to the door. "Thank you, by the way."
"If you ever need help with your French, just let me know." I almost let out a scoff. French? Oh I had no problem with French. Know thy enemy. And their language. Not that the Argents were our enemies per say, but dad had insisted on me learning French so they couldn't talk behind my back. "Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes, madame Morell."
Morell smirked at me. "I must say that I prefer the original version. What was it again?" I knew that she hadn't forgotten, but the code gave me a sense of comfort, a sense of home. So I didn't mind saying it.
"We werian ðæge pro ðe canne nænig pro beorgan sîn âgnian"
We protect those who can not protect themselves.
I left Morell's office and went to my first class, but not after picking up my new books. I was lucky that Stiles had mentioned where he had to be, if not for that I would've been later and that was not a good first impression.
"Hey." I said as I passed Stiles and sat down at the table behind him.
"He- wh- Lora?" he turned around. "What the hell are you-"
"Had a little chat with Morell. Everything's fine." I said with a wink. He was caught off guard at first, but soon frowned at me.
"You look a bit pale, are you alright?" I shrugged and told him I felt fine. He opened his mouth to respond but his phone interrupted him. Along with all the other phones in class. Except mine. I watched as everyone looked at their screens in confusion. Then, without anyone noticing, a teacher walked into the room. She was pretty young, pretty good looking and… the one who'd sent all the texts, wasn't she?
"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." The whole class was looking at her now. "This is the last line of the first book we're going to read. It is also the last text that you'll receive in this class." she smiled. "Phones off, everyone."
Class was about halfway over when the principal walked in and whispered something to miss Blake, the teacher, who then called Scott over. They left the room and only the teacher came back. Weird…
"Hey, Lydia." Stiles whispered. Well, I say whispered, but he wasn't a very good whisperer.
"What?" Lydia hissed back.
"Is that from the accident?" Stiles pointed at a bandaid around Lydia's ankle. Lydia shook her head.
"No… Prada bit me."
"You dog?" Stiles frowned at her.
"No, my designer handbag." I quickly stifled a laugh. "Yes, my dog."
Stiles leaned forward. "Has it ever bitten you before?" Lydia just shook her head. "Okay, what if it's like the same thing as the deer? You know, how animals start acting weird before an earthquake or something?"
Lydia turned towards him, sceptical. "So? There's going to be an earthquake?"
"Or something!" I had no idea how Stiles managed to sound loud and hushed at the same time. "I don't- maybe it just means that something's coming. Something bad."
"It was a deer and a dog." Lydia said with a shrug. But she hadn't discarded Stiles' theory just yet. "What's that thing you say about three's? Once, twice…" As if on cue, a crow flew against the window, covering it with blood and falling down dead.
I let out a sigh. Good thing I stayed in this class. "Once is a chance, twice is a coincidence, and third time…" I watched as a flock of birds got closer to the school. "We've got a pattern."
Miss Blake had walked to the window, which she was staring out of with a worried expression on her face. An expression that multiple students matched as they too looked out of the window. Miss Blake turned around for a second, and just then another bird hit the glass behind her, this time putting a crack in it. A second afterwards, another bird hit the window.
"Everybody get down!" I yelled as the first window cracked and several birds flew into the room. Soon the students who hadn't immediately got down were being terrorised by birds flying into their hair and sometimes pecking at them. Mostly, the birds seemed to fly against the walls or ceiling. It was like they wanted to die. I suddenly got pulled down to the floor by Stiles, who then tried to protect me by leaning over me. My mind was still racing. If it didn't work, it wouldn't matter…
"árfæstnes " I whispered. Immediately the room fell still. And with the room I mean the birds. They'd all fallen down, dropped dead. Slowly everyone stood up, no one able to find words to speak. Not even me. (Shocker, right?) Stiles slowly got off me and pulled me up, steadying me when I swayed from left to right. There it was again. That nausea.
"You okay?" he asked. I blinked heavily until my vision turned clear again, and that's when I saw that there was a bit of blood trickling down the side of his head.
"Let me see that." I turned his head and stood on my toes to get a better look at it. Just a small wound. It wouldn't even scar. I took a tissue out of my bag and used it to wipe away the blood, ignoring both Stiles' attempts to talk to me and to make sure I didn't fall. (which, in hindsight, was a good thing he did because I would've fallen)
It didn't take long for the sheriff's department (including the sheriff himself) and the medics to get to the school, and soon the students with the worst injuries were being treated and one or two taken to the hospital.
"You two got an idea how those birds suddenly… y'know?" the sheriff asked me and Stiles.
"Can we do this later? I'm not feeling very good." I made sure to send a meaningful look to the sheriff. Yes, I could explain, but not here.
The sheriff nodded. "Alright." He then walked away to talk to miss Blake. Stiles and I were sitting on tables, opposite of each other. He pushed his foot against mine.
"Hey." he said. I looked up and his eyes met mine. He was worried. "Feeling better yet?" I shrugged.
"It's fading. But I don't understand. This is just… wrong." There's that word again. Wrong. Everything about this felt wrong. But there must be a reason why. Without knowing it, I'd started biting on my nails. I figured out when Stiles pulled away my hand from my mouth.
"We'll figure it out." he said. I don't know if he noticed, but he hadn't let go of my hand, which was calming, in a way. I slowly got off my table and moved to sit next to him. Closing my eyes, I rested my head on his shoulder.
~o~
After some more investigation from the sheriff's department, we were free to go. Because first period hadn't exactly gone as planned and some people were "upset", we were allowed to go home. And I thought we were going to, but then Stiles called Scott and he told him to get to the Hale house and then…
"Why didn't you tell me?" I glared at Derek, who sighed.
"It's my problem, not yours. I didn'-"
"My friend," I said, pointing at an unconscious Isaac who was laying on the table, "my problem." I lowered my arm. "What happened?"
Derek's betas, Isaac, Boyd and Erica, had been kidnapped by the Alpha pack. Only Derek had used the word "rival pack" which I didn't point out for Scott's sake. He'd done so well over the summer, he deserved some more peace. Anyway, somehow Isaac had escaped and ended up in the hospital. An Alpha had clawed him in the stomach, and the wound was only healed on the outside.
"Why call Scott, not me?" I asked.
"Isaac asked my mom to call me. He didn't want to bother you." I shook my head at Scott's answer. I knew Isaac meant well, but I was trained for this. Scott wasn't.
"Isaac will be fine." Derek assured me, a small smile on his face. "But Scott, what was that favour you needed?"
Scott sighed and looked at the ground. "Can you get me a tattoo?"
I snorted. "You tried to get a tattoo?" Stupid idea, it'd heal within minutes. Stiles nudged me in the side and I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, he can get you the tattoo."
~o~
So, with a little help from me and Stiles, Derek managed to get Scott's tattoo on. With a blowtorch. It wasn't a pretty scene, and I won't bother to describe it to you.
Anyway, what else could be added to a day of school? Something else that I… didn't really like. A party. A motherfucking party are you joking? And Stiles was not only dragging me there, but also Scott, who was obviously not in the mood either. Stiles was rambling about it as we walked down the street towards the house.
"Just one drink, alright?" he was gesturing wildly with his arms. "I know this girl, I went to nursery school with her, she promised me to introduce us to all of her friends."
"Then why exactly do I have to come?" I asked, looking at the hordes of teenagers who were walking towards the party.
"Come on, Lora, work with me here!" Stiles sighed. "You're his wingman. Woman. Anyway, just speak highly of him to some other girls, okay? They'll trust you! No Allison tonight." At least that was something I could get behind. Scott looked down at his phone, which he then stuffed into his pocket.
"Yeah, you're right." He and Stiles did some weird high five thing before they walked towards the front door, me following them. As soon as they stepped through the door, a girl called Stiles' name. When I walked inside I saw it was a blonde girl from around our age.
"Hi!" Stiles smiled. "There's the birthday gi-" My eyes widened as the girl kissed him on the mouth. Stiles frowned for half a second before pulling back. "Oh God, that's… really awkward, I…" I pushed myself past Scott and held out a hand towards the girl.
"Hi, I'm Lorraine. Stiles' girlfriend." The girl's eyes widened and she quickly stepped back.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" Her cheeks grew red. "I thought…" She took my hand and shook it. "I'm Heather, and also really, very sorry." I smiled at her and shrugged. She couldn't have known, really.
"That's fine. By the way, Scott has an excellent wine taste, perhaps he could help you pick a bottle?." I winked at her. She titled her head and eyed Scott from head to toe.
"Do you want to?" Scott nodded, eyes a bit wide. Heather took his hand and led him away. Scott turned his head and mouthed "thank you" before walking with her. I let out a laugh as I watched them walk off.
"Birthday girl?" I asked what I presumed was Heather's friend, who was standing next to her.
"You betcha." she said before walking away, which left just me and Stiles, who was smirking at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "What is it?" He shrugged, but was still smirking.
"Nothing, it's just that I never knew you thought of yourself as my girlfriend."
"Well if you don't want me," I looked aroun the room. "there's a ton of hot drunk guys in here and I…"
"No, no. That won't be necessary. I just- do you want to be my girlfriend?" I beamed at him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "W- okay."
"That's a yes, by the way."
The party turned out to be not horrible. The people were nice, and the beer was really very good. I was having a good time. I think. To be quite honest with you, it's a little bit fuzzy. Anyway: good times. Until…
"Heather's gone." Scott had showed up next to us out of nowhere.
"What do you mean gone?" Stiles hissed.
"I went upstairs for a bit and when I came back she was gone!"
"Okay, why were you going upstairs?" Stiles asked.
"Bet you ten bucks it was to get a condom." I clapped in delight as Scott's face gave away the answer. "Called it! You owe me ten bucks." Stiles shook his head at me.
"I didn't agree to the bet, Lora."
I rolled my eyes. "Rude."
Scott frowned at me for a second and then looked at Stiles, pointing at me. "Is she…"
"Drunk? Yep." Stiles nodded. "She had like five beers, I checked."
I tapped him on the shoulder. "I might've taken two shots when you went to pee." Stiles stared at me with wide eyes and an overall 'What-the-fuck-Lora-I-told-you-not-to-do-that' expression until Scott slapped his shoulder.
"Dude! Heather?"
Stiles nodded. "Right. She has to be somewhere." He looked down at his feet for a second, thinking. "Okay, we split. Scott, you check the yard, I'll go to the basement and top floor, Lora, you-" he froze. "How about you just wait here…" he looked around for a bit, walked a few steps and came back with a water bottle which he shoved into my hands. "Here, drink the whole thing, okay?" I nodded, let myself fall onto a couch and started drinking.
~o~
By the time they came back, I was only slightly tipsy… they took a long time to come back, alright? Anyway, they hadn't found Heather and both of them were freaking out.
"Should we call your dad?" Scott asked. We were sitting on the couch in the corner of the room.
Stiles scoffed. "Yeah, and how about we tell him that Lora and about half of the people here are drunk? You know, all these people who aren't eighteen!"
Scott nodded. "Fair point. So what do we do?"
"She might've hooked up with another guy, y'know. Maybe she and some friends went to steal a traffic sign. Maybe she's on the roof. People do weird things when they're drunk and horny." I winked at Stiles, who promptly shoved another water bottle into my hands and ordered me to drink the whole thing. I rolled my eyes once more and started drinking again.
"We might as well go home." Scott stood up from the couch. Stiles nodded and stood up too, after which he pulled me off the couch.
"Yeah, I want to get her to bed until she's sober enough to protest." I let out a laugh, which confused Stiles for a second until he turned a bright red. "Oh God, no, I didn't-" I laughed again, this time Scott joined me. Stiles closed his jaw and pulled me after him towards the front door.
~o~
Fucking headaches. Hated them. Lucky for me, a minute or two shifted was enough to filter out the alcohol and heal my liver. Now I didn't have an headache anymore because of the party, but I felt like Stiles was giving me a new one.
"I just think we have to do something, alright? What if we…" he kept on rambling as he paced back and forth through the room.
"Stiles." I interrupted him. "Remember this thing, it's called school? Yeah, we need to go there. If I fail just one of my classes, I get held back."
He stopped pacing, nodded, and grabbed his backpack. You'd think that'd be quite an achievement, getting Stiles to stop thinking about something, but his face was still folded into a frown. He was still thinking. As we walked down the stairs, he started rambling again. Since we were still walking, I chose to ignore it. But by the time we reached the car, he stopped and turned around.
"Okay, so I've got a pl-" I silenced him with a kiss on the lips, quickly pulling away before he could deepen it.
I grinned at how dazed he looked. "First school, then we can talk plans." I walked around the car, and when I got in Stiles was already sitting behind the wheel. I saw that he was thinking again and wanted to fucking scream.
Then, he turned to me. "You think you could… like, train me? Defence and stuff." I frowned a bit and then nodded.
"Yeah, I suppose I could… but I'm not giving you a gun."
He threw his hands in the air. "Oh come on! How am I supposed to fight supernatural creatures with supernatural claws with a baseball bat?"
"Simple," I smirked. "Get an aluminium one. Much better than wood."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "You sound like my dad."
"Just drive, Stillinski!" I said, laughing.
~o~
Oh come on, do I really need to tell you about school? Don't we all have (had) enough of that in our lives? It was the usual boring crap. Well… apart from two things. The first one being when Lydia and Allison had called for a group meetup, claiming they had something to find Boyd and Erica, Derek's other beta's.
Said 'something' was apparently a bruise they'd gotten from the girl who saved Isaac. Derek and I stared down at the girl's arms in disbelief. Seriously? A bruise?
"And how does this help me find Boyd and Erica?" Derek asked. He wasn't amused.
"It's the same on both sides, exactly the same." Scott said in attempt to get through to us. Inspecting them further, I did notice that they were the same.
"It's nothing." Derek looked Allison dead in the eye.
Lydia raised her eyebrows at Allison. "Pareidolia. Seeing patterns that aren't there." We stared at her in confusion. "It's a subset of Apophenia!"
I shook my head. "Yeah, don't know what that is either. But that…" I pointed at their bruises. "Is useless as it is now. It might be a symbol, but none that I know of. I suggest you either find out or come with something that's actually helpful." I glared at Allison.
"They are." Scott said. "Trying to help."
Derek raised his eyebrows at him. "These two?" he turned to Lydia. "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle. Tha-"
"Which she had no control over." I objected.
Derek turned to Allison. "And this one, who shot over thirty arrows into me and my pack."
"All right, okay, now come on." Stiles objected. "No one died, alright? There may have been a little maiming, but no one died."
"Actu-" Allison started.
"Actually, Boyd would've died hadn't it been for me or Allison's father, so that's not a valid point." I ignored Stiles 'come on!' gestures and turned to Allison. "And if you were going to say anything about your mother dying, I suggest you choose your next few words very carefully because I swear to God, I will ri-"
"-That's enough!" Scott said. "They just want to help." Derek shook his head.
"If they want to help, find something real." And with that, he left the room. An awkward silence fell.
"Well… that could've gone worse." Stiles commented.
Second thing that made that day somewhat interesting was what happened during Economics, when the sheriff showed up and asked me, Scott, and Stiles to get out off class for a while so he could ask us a few questions.
Turns out, no one had seen Heather since the party.
"We figured she hooked up with her friends." Stiles said.
The sheriff shook his head. "Well her friends say you three were the last ones who saw her. We're hoping that it's just a couple of bad decisions based on too much drinking, but if any of you remember anything else, call me, alright?" We nodded and were just about to walk back to class, when I suddenly felt dizzy again.
"Stiles…" I asked, supporting myself by leaning against the wall. "Last night, I didn't mention anything about my ears hurting or ringing, did I?
Stiles frowned. "No, no I don't think so… You okay?
I nodded. "Yeah, fine."
I lied. I wasn't fine. And something told me that Heather wasn't fine either.
A/N: Finally, a chapter that I didn't find to be a failure! Just kidding.
I don't know how many chapters this story will have, what I do know is that the next one will begin at the same point season 3B did.
As always, thank you all so much for reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
~Lilly
