The next day was the parent teacher meetings, but Skyler had no intention of going into school whatsoever. She slept on the sofa, curled up in the blankets with Rebecca and woke up in the late afternoon, feeling like she had been hit over the head with a hammer or was just really hungover. She realised that it was from all the crying she had done last night and felt herself flush red with embarrassment. Sky sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, before noticing that Rebecca was nowhere to be seen.
"Becca?" She called, standing up and stretching her limbs out.
"Kitchen," she heard the woman call, sticking her head out of the arch in from the kitchen wearing a soft smile.
Skyler padded into the kitchen, throwing herself down at the breakfast bar. Rebecca was wiping down the counters, humming along with some indie pop song on the radio. Skyler didn't even try to hold back her grin, it felt good to see someone act so carefree. She absentmindedly tapped her fingers on the counter, trying not to put too much pressure on her leg. Once the kitchen surfaces were sparkling clean Rebecca turned back to Skyler, leaning her elbows on the breakfast bar and resting her chin in her hands.
"So, someone stopped by to see you while you were asleep," Becca grinned mischievously, giving her a little wink. "They left this." She strode out into the hall, then hopped back in delightedly, holding a bouquet of white lilies, sitting prettily in a glass vase. Rebecca set them down on the counter, then went back to staring at Skyler like she knew a dirty little secret that Sky didn't. She picked them up and spun them around, pinching the attached card between her fingers, wondering whom had given her the flowers, whom she had mentioned to that white lilies were her favourite flowers. She opened the card, the glitter from the little pink heart on the card shedding all over her fingers. Her heart clenched.
I'm sorry. I miss you. Talk soon, hopefully. Stiles. XXX
Rebecca's smile dropped as Skyler's did the same. She felt like shit now, more than ever. She had brushed him off completely last night and after that he had still gone out and bought Sky her favourite flowers and come to check on her.
"When, uh, when was he here?" The girl asked, nostrils flaring and eyebrows knitted together.
"About an hour ago, he just dropped the flowers and sat with you for a while," Rebecca pushed off the counter, moving to stand next to Skyler and peering over her shoulder at the card. "He didn't want to wake you, but he wanted to make sure you were alright. And he did, and I'm saying this nicely, look like shit. He told me that Lydia wasn't in school today either."
"I should go and check on her," Skyler murmured, still turning the card over in fingers. "She was really fucked up last night."
"No, you're not."
Skyler looked up in surprise. Rebecca had never put her foot down before, or said 'no' to Sky, even when she was being a brat. She locked eyes with Becca for a minute, neither of them wavering for a second. The older woman even raised an eyebrow at Sky's determination.
"Whether or not you're going to tell me exactly what happened last night, I know it's a hell of a lot and it affected you strongly. You need to rest today, and so does Lydia, if what she went through was anything like what you went through last night." Rebecca turned back to the sink, filling a glass with water and then tipping it into the vase of lilies. "Anyway, Stiles was going to visit her after he left you."
"Was he?" Skyler brushed her hair back, voice growing cold. "Well, good for him."
"Okay," Rebecca laughed gently, shaking her head and letting her hair fall down around her shoulders. "What the hell is going on between you and Stiles? I mean, one week you guys won't leave each other's side, and now, you can't even look at each other. Seriously, what is going on?"
"It's nothing. We don't have to be permanently glued together, you know!" Skyler stood suddenly, the stool flying backwards and nearly tipping over. "It's none of your business."
"Don't do this. Don't push me away the second we hit a subject you're not a hundred percent comfortable with," Rebecca rounded the breakfast bar, and grabbed Skyler's upper arms. "Please don't push me away. We were getting closer, and please don't push me away now."
"Why do you care so much?" Skyler spat back, attempting to wriggle out of Rebecca's hold which was surprisingly tight for such a fragile looking woman.
"Because I care about you!"
Sky froze. Whatever Skyler had been expecting Becca to say, it had not been that. She stared disbelievingly at Rebecca, squinting. It was like she expected her father's girlfriend to suddenly laugh in her face and tell her that she was just joking and she couldn't care less about an awkward, cranky teenager that had been nothing but rude to her since they had met.
"You..."
"Care about you." Rebecca finished for her, shaking her slightly. "Yes, that was what I said. I care about you, whether or not you hate me."
"I don't hate you," Sky yelled suddenly, making Rebecca jump. "I don't. I just... I mean, you're my dad's girlfriend. And after my mom..." She trailed off, ducking her head
"I know that I don't have any right to talk about this, but I'm not trying to be your mom." Becca raised her hand and tucked her hair behind her ears. Sky leaned her head into Rebecca's hand, finding the touch oddly comforting. "My mom died when I was ten, you know. And my dad remarried when I was about fifteen. And I hated her, I really did, 'cause I thought she was trying to be my mom."
Skyler's head snapped up, boring into Rebecca's warm brown eyes. "I never knew that." Her voice was low, she felt like if she raised it even a decibel, that it would break the spell that had seemed to settle over the two of them.
"And I don't want to be that person to you. I don't want to be the woman that tries to replace your mom, because I know I can't. I swear, I love your father and I love you too, I just want what's best for both of you. It is so important to me, because I do not want you to see me as the enemy here. And you can tell me if I'm overstepping the line here, but I know that you and your father are getting on very well right now, and I don't want you to feel like you've been abandoned or that you don't have anyone. I just want to be someone you can trust, someone you can go to in times of need, someone you can talk to." Rebecca's impassioned speech came to an anti-climactic end, but the woman had to stop because she needed to take a breath.
Skyler had absolutely no idea what to say to that. She had never been good with expressing her feelings openly or having people dump their feelings on her so unceremoniously. She drew her eyebrows together and tore her gaze away from Rebecca, feeling too uncomfortable to keep staring at her. She heard a disappointed sigh, and knew that Becca thought that Sky didn't give a shit about anything she had just said. She felt Rebecca begin to pull back, loosening her grip on her arms, so Skyler did the first thing she thought of.
She pushed forward and wrapped her arms right around Rebecca. She felt the older woman waver for a second, not sure where Skyler was going with this, then slid her arms around the girl's shoulders and squeezed her as tight as possible without brushing any of her cuts or bruises. The two women stood in the kitchen for nearly five minutes, neither of them wanting to be the first to pull away. Skyler was vividly aware that she smelled of sweat and sleep, she hadn't even washed since they had returned from the video store. She was just about to pull back when Rebecca's phone rang, a high pitch trilling that caused them both to jump apart hastily.
"It's work, I should probably take this." Rebecca held up her phone, the screen of which was showing the name of the second hand bookshop where she worked. She smiled, almost sadly, and turned away.
"Becca, wait."Skyler lunged forward, grabbing Rebecca's arm. "I care about you, too."
Rebecca looked at her for a second, trying to hold back the grin from splitting across her face. She nodded her head, gently, just the once, then turned again and left the room.
Skyler breathed out a sigh, flopping down on one of the kitchen stools. That was more emotion than she had witnessed in the past month. She felt weird, but good too. She had finally sorted things out with Rebecca and it felt strangely liberating to have everything out in the open. Sky had felt over the last few weeks that things had been building to a boiling point between them, and it had just exploded.
Her finger's trailed over the petals of the lilies, the satin feeling tickling the pads of her fingers. She sincerely hoped that she hadn't drooled in her sleep when Stiles was over. She was already awkward enough around him without the added bonus of him seeing her with dribble hanging out of her mouth. It was odd how she could completely cut off communication with Stiles after finding out about the whole werewolf thing, and yet she still cared immeasurably about what he thought of her.
She knew that she wouldn't last much longer without talking to one of the three boys that she had sworn to stop talking to for her and her family's safety. That was bullshit, anyway. It was not for her own safety, and not even for the safety of her family. It was because she was scared, she was scared because if werewolves were real, what the hell else was? When she was a kid, her mother had told her stories about werewolves, vampires, fairies and dragons and any other manner of supernatural creature, and Skyler had loved every second. But when she had reached her tween years, about eleven, she realised that it was all make believe and only existed in the world of fantasy and fiction. It was the fact that she was know being told that they were real, or at least that werewolves were, that was throwing her. What she had believed for years was a lie, and know she didn't know what to think. But she did know one thing, she had to talk to Stiles, and she had to do it soon. If Sky though that she had it hard, finding out about the werewolf issue, but Stiles was dealing with it alone, and he was right in the middle of it. If anyone was going to get hurt, it was the boy she had come to care about so much. She needed to talk to him.
"Sorry about that."
Sky jumped in fright as Rebecca stepped back into the room. She was sliding her phone back into the pocket of her jeans.
"The shop needs me to cover for an hour or two, Eve has some family emergency," she breathed a frustrated sigh out through her nose. "I'm gonna head in for a bit, and then to the parent teacher conference. And seeing as I already know it's gonna be good news, we can go out to celebrate, if you'd like."
"Yeah," Sky nodded, happy at the prospect of going out for something nice to eat, even just clearing her head. "Yeah, that'd be really nice. There's a pretty cool Indian across the street from that place that sells the records."
"I was wondering..." Rebecca looked uneasy, like she wasn't sure how to broach the subject. "Did you want to come to work with me? I just... I mean, if you were uncomfortable staying in the house on your own after last night." She scrunched her face up in worry.
"I'm good, thanks," Sky awkwardly placed her hand on Rebecca's arm and squeezed it gently. "I'm gonna have a shower, maybe have a sandwich and watch some TV. I'll meet you at the school at half eight?"
"Alright," Becca grabbed her purse and backed out of the room, pulling a sweatshirt and hat from one of the chairs. "Call me if you need anything, and if you don't, I'll see you at half eight. Bye, sweetie."
"Bye, Becca."
The second Rebecca's Hummer had pulled out of earshot, the silence crashed over Skyler like a wave. It was so loud it began to hurt her ears. She couldn't decide whether to shower first or eat first. She stood in the middle of the kitchen, mulling over every tiny detail of her food vs shower debate in excruciating detail, anything to keep her mind off of the horrific quiet in the house and the memories of last night. Eventually she decided on shower, seeing as she was wearing nothing but her shorts from last night and a sleeveless Hakuna Matata shirt. And she was seriously freezing.
It felt good to step under the hot spray, music cranked up as loud as it could go. Her entire body was aching, and the cut on her leg throbbed painfully whenever the water trickled over it. After a few minutes, all of the crusted blood was washed off, and was swirling around the drain with her shampoo and conditioner. When she was finished, she stepped out of the shower, and wrapped herself in a fluffy towel, tying her hair up in a hand towel she had lying on the bathroom floor. She fell onto her bed, still unmade from the night before last.
Sky picked up her iPod from where it was hooked up to the speaker, and instead plugged her earphones in and slipped them into her ears. She flipped over onto her back as she scrolled through her songs, choosing the loudest, most noise-cancelling music she could find. It was times like these when she wished she had a ready-made angsty teen playlist. She locked the iPod, throwing it down beside her and closing her eyes.
It was dark when she arrived at the school parking lot. After her shower, she had spent the remainder of the day eating, watching Netflix and admiring the lilies from Stiles. She swung her car into an empty space near enough the front of the school. Skyler grabbed her tote bag from the passenger seat, and climbed out slowly, trying not to even brush her leg off of any solid object. When she had successfully exited her car, she stood for a minute, collecting herself. She smoothed her skirt, feeling annoyed that she had to wear something so impractical, but it was too painful to wear pants that could press on her bandaged leg.
She craned her neck, searching the parking lot for Rebecca. She finally spotted her auburn hair poking out from a group of people on the steps of the school. Sky hurried over, only just remembering to lock her car. Rebecca caught sight of her about half way across the parking lot. She smiled, and began to descend the steps, but before the two could meet, Skyler was intercepted by both of Allison's parents and Scott's mom, Melissa. They all looked very, very angry.
"Have you seen Allison today?!" The mother of the girl in question took an almost threatening step towards Skyler, making the blond teen jump backwards in shock. Allison's mom has always given her the creeps.
"Or Scott, had he called or texted or anything?" Melissa was much more caring, gentle.
"Why would Scott let anyone know of his plan to kidnap my daughter?!" Chris yelled, moving uncomfortably close to Sky. She felt very uneasy at the situation, it was like she was under fire for the supposed missing teens.
"How do we know skipping school wasn't your daughter's idea?" Melissa shot back, hands finding their way onto her hips.
"My daughter-" Chris started, his eyes wandering to a spot over Skyler's shoulder. "Is right there. Let's go."
The three of them strode away, moving like a hurricane of parental fury. Skyler looked over her shoulder, catching sight of a terrified looking Scott and Allison. She snorted in pity and amusement. She did not envy the shit storm that was coming their way.
"Hey," Rebecca called, coming to a halt beside Sky. "Well, none of the teachers had anything bad to say about you, except Mr Harris, but he's a dick."
Sky laughed loudly, the comment sounding so strangely foreign from Rebecca's mouth. "You say it like you know him."
"I went to school with him."
If Skyler had had any water in her mouth, she would've pulled off the most epic of spit takes. She started to giggle, and then laugh and then had to bury her head in her hands to stop the hysterics. She felt something grip her shoulder and looked up to see that Rebecca was holding onto her to stop herself toppling over. They laughed themselves stupid for a minute or two, then sobered up, still gasping and heaving.
"Seriously, they all love you, you little suck up." Rebecca grinned and slung an arm around Sky's shoulder, steering her towards their cars.
"So, time for some Indian?" Skyler asked, spinning her car keys on her finger, "'Cause I am the mood for some serious-"
Someone screamed. A high-pitched, terrified scream of someone in danger. Skyler's mind jumped immediately to the worst possible conclusion. It was the Alpha. She moved instinctively, pushing her body in front of Rebecca's.
"Rebecca, to the car. Get in and lock the doors." Sky could see the fear on Becca's face at the serious tone that she had adopted. She started to pull the woman to where her Impala was parked, dodging people that were running and screaming, ducking and weaving. They had just ran smack bang into the bonnet of Skyler's car when they heard the echoing scream.
"MOUNTAIN LION!"
Sky's head snapped around. For the first time in her life, she actually hoped she was trapped in a parking lot with a mountain lion, it was better than the alternative.
"Move! Move!"
She inwardly groaned at the familiar voice. Did the Sheriff really have to be here to witness this? He was about three cars over, herding people out of the the way, doing his Sheriff duty. He stepped back, pulling his gun, taking him right into the path of a reversing car. It was like everything went into slow motion. Everyone was moving at a snail's pace, cars were crawling along. She didn't want to get hurt, but she would never forgiver herself if the Sheriff got hurt, and Stiles would never forgiver her either. She shook off Rebecca's restraining hand and started to run.
It was like she had developed tunnel vision. Her eyes were only focused on the path to the Sheriff. She squirmed between two screaming girls, dodged a woman with a baby, and skirted around a man trying to hustle his family into a car. The world was returning to it's normal pace, and the car was starting to move faster towards the Sheriff. It was about a meter away from the Sheriff when Skyler crashed into him. She had enough force to knock him out of the way, but not enough to overbalance herself. She had no more than half a second to think before she felt a throbbing pain erupt across her side, starting and her hip and exploding outwards. Skyler fell, landing on her other, non-injured side, and hissed in pain as the large cut on her leg scraped along the dirty ground. Her head was the last thing to make contact with the floor. It cracked off the tarmac with a sickening sound that she didn't even have time to comprehend before her vision started to fade, and she slipped into unconsciousness as the sound of a gunshot rang out across the parking lot.