Holy crap! 100 reviews already? You guys are amazing! Truly awesome! So here's your reward, another chapter before I leave tomorrow! Here's hoping that there'll be internet at the cabin I'm staying in! I do not own anything in this chapter, besides Laci, everything else belongs to their rightful owners!
Chapter 14
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It was Sunday night, only a few nights after the incident with Derek and Scott in her room, and Laci was walking home from her dance class. Scott was working, or at least that was where he was a half hour ago. She couldn't remember what time he said he was getting out tonight for the life of her. It didn't matter, she was fine walking home on her own. She didn't feel like being stuck in a car with her brother, who had been trying to get her to tell him all weekend what she and Derek had been fighting about. She could have called Stiles, but she remembered him telling her that he was spending the night out with his dad tonight.
She froze when she heard a howl somewhere close by. She looked around to see that the streets were completely empty, not a soul in sight. That was strange. There was always at least a few loners around. She was pulled from her thoughts from the sound of her phone ringing. She searched through her sweater pocket and pulled her phone out. She checked the i.d. and rolled her eyes as she answered it. "Hey, Stiles. Bored of father and sonly bonding already?" she answered it with a smile as she continued walking down the side walk.
"Where are you, Laci? Right now."
A confused expression crossed her features as she stopped walking and looked around her to identify where she was. "Uh, I'm not far from the studio. I'm a block away if you go left. I'm close to, um, uh . . . oh, Nelson Street." she told him as she searched for a street sign. She cheered when she actually found one and was able to read it in the dark. Apparently Stiles was cheering too.
"I know where that is, and I'm not far from there. I'm coming to get you right now. Don't move. Something happened."
She opened her mouth to ask him what, but all she got was dial tone. He had hung up on her, that jerk! What could have possibly happened to get him so freaked out. Something werewolf related obviously, and that thought alone sent chills down her spine. Someone had to of died for Stiles to get that freaked out. Then again, this was Stiles. He could be freaking out over a failed math test score for all she knew. A few minutes went by, and she was now starting to get really bored just waiting where she was. She could be half way home already if she wasn't waiting for Stiles.
She took out her phone and went to text Allison to see what she was doing when something caught her eyes. Her eyes flickered to the side to see a black car just sitting there, watching her. She could see the silhouette of someone inside, telling her that she wasn't just paranoid about it. Someone was really watching her inside of that car. With another quick glance, she saw that she knew that car. It was Derek. She felt her heart tighten upon figuring out that it was him. She was still getting over their fight from the other night. He kept going back and forth with her, and she hated it.
She returned her eyes to her phone and scrolled past Allison's name to her brothers. She paused, not knowing if she really wanted to bother him just because Derek was close to her, watching her from afar. She jumped, dropping her phone, when she heard the engine of his car roar to life. She looked over to see that he had started his car and was slowly driving up to her. She didn't know what she would do if he offered her a ride home. She knew that she shouldn't accept it and tell him off, but she didn't know if she could actually do that. She crouched down to get her phone back from where she had dropped it.
"Laci!"
She looked up quickly, confused at the sound of her name being called out. She felt the breath that she had been holding leave when she saw Stiles blue jeep come out in front of Derek's black car, cutting him off from getting to her. She grabbed her phone and stood up straight as he pulled over right in front of her. "Thank god! Get in." he told her as he scrambled to reach over and open the passenger door for her. She spared one last look back at the black car before getting inside the jeep.
She wasn't even buckled in when he started the engine and took off down the street toward her house. She gasped in surprised at the speed and latched onto the seat as the jeep jolted forward. "Slow down, Stiles! You're going to kill the jeep if you keep going at this speed!" she shouted over to him. She studied him for a moment and saw that he was literally shaking in fear from what ever was bothering him. He slowed down though, thank god. "Thank you, now tell me what's going on?" she asked him as she let go of her seat.
Stiles took a deep breath as his eyes frantically shifted back and forth from the road in front of her to her. He was just relieved to see that she was okay. "The alpha made an appearance tonight. I knew that you would be walking home alone, and I just wanted to, you know, make sure that he didn't eat you or anything." Stiles told her. Laci rolled her eyes at hearing the end of that. Sometimes, Stiles just let his over active imagination get the better of him.
The news of an attack, and so close to where she was, was unsettling though. Her dance studio wasn't that far from the video store. Maybe a little over a block away. "I'm not sharing any new traits with my twin, if that's what you're asking me, Stiles." she told him as she rested her head against the window. She was tired of this alpha thing attacking random people just to get back at her brother for rejecting them. Just the idea of how he, or she, was just using who ever they could to get the point across. Just the idea of it made her think of Derek and how she was used by him.
Stiles surprised her by taking her hand in his own. She glanced over at him and gave him a weak smile, squeezing his hand to tell him thank you. She could always count of Stiles to be there when she needed him. Even when he didn't know what was going on. He was just that good of a friend. "On the bright side, no one was killed. Well, besides the guy who worked there, but Lydia and Jackson are fine. Minor bruising for Jackson, and a little bit of traumatic stress for Lydia, but other wise they're fine." he told her as they turned around the corner.
She snapped her head back over to him on a seconds notice. He had said that so calmly, like he was talking about math homework or something. "That's all? Really, Stiles, you never cease to amaze me." she told him with an eye roll. He, in turn, rolled his own eyes at her and returned his attention back to the road ahead of them. "Do you at least know if they're really alright? Like, how bad was Jackson's 'minor' bruising?" she asked him after a long moment of sitting in silence.
Stiles shifted in his seat uncomfortably beside her. He didn't really care to know how bad Jackson was. He didn't like the guy, at all. All he needed to know was if he was dead, bitten, or unharmed completely. He had cared more about Lydia if anyone. "Like I said before, minor bruising. As in like, little to none. It's Jackson, Lace. He's like that one jerkface loser in the horror movie that doesn't die." Stiles said with a bitter tone. Laci looked over at him and squeezed his hand again. She knew that Stiles liked Lydia a lot, which meant he absolutely hated her boyfriend, which happened to be Jackson. It didn't help that they didn't get along in the first place either though.
It wasn't long after that did they pull up to the McCall home. Laci looked over to see that all the lights were off, which meant that no one was home yet. Usually when one of them were home, and someone was still out, to their knowledge, they kept the living room light on to tell them that they were either caught or that someone was at least home. "Thanks for the ride, Stiles. I better get inside before Scott shows up. He'd kill me if he knew that I even attempted at walking home again." she told him as she got unbuckled from the seat and was getting ready to leave the jeep.
Stiles seemed to mentally debate something over in his head for a moment as she was getting out of the jeep. She made it all the way to the drive way on his side of the jeep before he actually decided on what he was going to do. "I could, uh, you know, pick you up after your classes. If you want, I mean." he stuttered out nervously. She paused in her step and turned back to look at him. She didn't really see him as the chauffeur type, but if it got Scott off her back about walking home, then she was all for it.
"Okay."
He was fully prepared to fight her on it and give her all the reasons as to why it would be a good idea for him to drive her home, but stammered for words when he realized that she had said okay instead of being stubborn for once. "Did you just say okay?" he asked her, his eyes wide with amazement. Never once has Laci ever just agreed to something. Even when she wanted to do it. She still had to be stubborn about it.
She just shook her head at her friend and smiled back at him. She knew that she was stubborn, it was one of the traits she did share with her brother. "Yes, Stiles, I said okay to you driving me home after class. Good night." she said back to him before she turned and started toward her front door. He watched as she paused at the door and turned back toward him. "You better not be late, and I expect an ice mocha with whipped cream!" she called out back to him with a laugh. He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck before waving to her good night. Once she was safely inside, he started on his way back home for the night.
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The next morning, Laci had woken up earlier then usual. She had to get to school before Allison did. She knew from Lydia that today was Allison's birthday and she also knew from the lack of panic from her brother, that Allison didn't want anyone to know. That made it her and Lydia's job to make sure that people did know. She hurried to get dress and pack the rest of her things. She gave a quick good morning to her mom before taking Scott's bike and driving off to the school.
Once there, she hurried off to find Allison's locker, which unfortunately for her, Allison had gotten moved when the whole jamming thing became too frustrating for her. She waited a few minutes for Lydia, but it was clear not long after that she was going to be a no-show. She huffed in annoyance before she went to find one of the janitors and convinced him to unlock the locker for her. She ended up telling him that she was Allison, and that she was new and forgot her locker combo. She lied and said that her usb for a school project was inside and she needed it for first period. He unhappily opened the locker for her and left her do what she wanted. Laci got to work on the inside of it with the balloons and her special touch, the birthday cup cake with the unlit striped candle on top of it. Once finished, and satisfied with herself, she shut the locker door and went on to get her own things from her real locker.
Laci had finished with little time to spare. She would have been done a good ten minutes ago if Lydia had even bothered to remember to show up today. Laci knew that she had seen the alpha and everything only the night before, but it hadn't actually attacked her. All she saw was it jump out of the movie store and run past her according to Stiles. "You, my dancing friend, are very odd." a voice said out from behind her. She rolled her eyes as an arm dropped around her shoulders as he fell in step with her. She looked up to see Stiles beside her as they continued on down the hall. "I mean, what normal person really wakes up early, willingly takes a bike instead of my awesome piece of junk jeep, to get to school early?" he said to her as they turned the corner.
Laci just shook her head and gave a little laugh. She looked up at Stiles and flashed him an innocent look. "Today's Allison's birthday and she doesn't want anyone to know, not even Scott. Lydia and I found out, ergo, we were both suppose to be here early to birthday-out her locker." she explained to him as the made a stop at her own locker. Stiles let her free from his embrace so she could punch in her combo.
She spared him a glance before she put in her locker combo and unlocked her locker. She pulled it open and reached inside to grab her first period stuff. "That's smart thinking. So how was it? Hanging out with Lydia, I mean." he asked her as he awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other. He was trying to not look weird with asking about his crush, but Laci could see right through him.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes at him as she put away her actual bag. She was good with just holding her notebooks and pencil. A bag was more trouble then it was worth carrying around anyways. "How do you think it went? She's Lydia, Stiles, she didn't show up like she said that she would, which left me with all the work." she told him as she check her things once more before shutting her locker door and turning toward him. "You really need to move on from this crush, Stiles. She might have her moments, but you can so do better." she told him as she looped her arm around his and led the way to their first class.
Stiles looked down at her with a strange expression, one of which she didn't see. He still couldn't believe that Laci still believed the lie he had made up about having a crush on Lydia all those years ago. He had been talking to one of the other guys on the lacrosse team about Laci and how amazing she was for doing something that he couldn't remember right now at the moment, and she had accidentally over heard them. He remembered lying and telling her that he was talking about Lydia, and from then on she had just always assumed that he was crushing on Lydia.
Course, he never made any move to tell her the truth. It wasn't like he would ever have an actual chance, not with him being Scott's best friend and all. Besides, every chance he did almost tell her, she would just be getting into a relationship with someone. It was like fate was against him or something. He glanced down at her and smiled at the sight of her talking about something. He knew that he should be listening to what ever it was she was saying, but he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked today. Not just clothes wise, cause she always looked cute in her dresses that she wore, but the little things too.
Like the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed about something she found to be hilarious, even if no one else thought it was. Or the way her eyes would light up when she talked about her dancing. Her smile always seem to take away his breath. She could brighten up any room with that smile of hers. She could stop any guy in their tracks when she just glanced their way. He had proved that true with all of his bruises over the year. He could never seem to not trip when he was around her. "Stiles? Hello, Stiles?" he snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name coming from her mouth. "You in there?" she asked him again as she waved her hand in front of his face.
He blinked twice before looking down at her. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck as he gave her a forced chuckle. "Yeah, sorry. I zoned out." he lied to her, flashing her an apologetic smile. She just laughed and rolled her eyes back at him. She motioned to the room that they had stopped in front of. It was their math class. He realized that she was trying to tell him that they were there. He stammered for words as he let her go. She just laughed as she shook her head and went inside. He followed in after her, his head lowered in defeat and embarrassment. They took their seats and class soon started.
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Laci was looking all around for Scott. She had skipped her study hall period. She couldn't find him anywhere though, Allison either for that matter. She figured when they weren't around for lunch, that they had just skipped, most likely for her birthday when Scott finally figured it out. She was counting on Stiles for a ride to dance. She had gotten a text from one of the other girls in her group telling her that class was starting early today. Miss Latruce would have to go home early, but she didn't to cut class short, so she was just starting it earlier. She would have to shower at school and then leave from there.
She had already made a trip home during lunch period, thanks to Stiles and his trusty blue jeep, and got her shower things to use at school, and dropped of Scott's bike that she had used this morning, before coming back to school. She skipped her last period class to take a shower in the girl's locker room. She changed into her tights and leotard after and slipped her dress on over before going out to Stiles car and putting her shower bag inside. Now she just had to, you know, actually find Stiles. She texted him to see where he was, but she got nothing back. Maybe he was in the locker room? She glanced over at the watch and figured that there wouldn't be anyone there. She could slip in to see if Stiles was there, and if he wasn't? No harm done.
She got there just as the last of the boys were leaving the locker room. She hesitated for a moment before heading on inside. It was lit up by a few lights since the boys had already come and go. She could hear someone hitting a locker, which meant that someone else was in here and not very happy with something. She just hoped, for once, that it was Scott having one of his moments. "Scott? Stiles?" she called out as she slowly stepped down the lines of lockers.
She shivered as a chill went down her spine. She felt like someone was watching her. She looked behind her to see that no one was there. This better not be some kind of joke, she thought to herself. She turned back around and froze where she stood. She felt her eyes widened as she saw red eyes in the stream ahead of her. "Laci?" she spun around at the sound of her and screamed as she jumped back.
