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Eleven minutes.
She had been staring at this goddamn box for eleven minutes. Oh, now twelve.
During the fifteen minute break that normally takes place after the first two classes, Faith decided to spend that time in her truck to panic over this stupid pregnancy test that she had yet to take. Her period never came and now she was pretty suspicious that it wasn't going to, making the chances of her being pregnant even greater. Nausea invaded her stomach once again. Anxiety or, God forbid, morning sickness? Who knew? Neither thought was comforting Faith in the slightest.
The girl was so enticed by the object in her hand that she had jumped when the bell rang to announce the end of the break. Her heart was beating madly in her chest as she held the box closer to her and looked around her to see if anyone was around or watching her. Of course they weren't. No one was even outside of the school.
Alright, Faith really needed to get a grip. If she just kept repeating to herself to play it cool and that everything was going to be just fine, hopefully she would believe it. She just had to remain calm. Shoving the box deep into her backpack, Faith got out of her truck and went back towards the school. The last thing she needed was to be late to her next class and face the wrath of none other than Coach Finstock.
Little did she know that Coach was going to be the least of her worries today.
A couple months may not have seemed like a long time, but a couple months might have been a couple years for him. Everything surrounding him as he trailed down the empty hallways of Beacon Hills High seemed so familiar yet so foreign. Posters announcing various activities and school events were plastered on the wall, some old, some new. It was way too quiet, minus the increasingly annoying ticking of the clock on the wall. If only he could just rip the damn thing off and throw it on the ground and smash it into bits and pieces.
No, he had a little more self control than that. At least it was something he was still trying to work on.
Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be back in Beacon Hills, let alone at this school. He still didn't know why he even agreed to come back here. A part of him hasn't healed from all the trauma that this town had brought on him just yet. Will he ever? And what in the hell had persuaded him into thinking this was a good idea? Either way, he was here now. And from the looks of it, he wasn't planning on leaving again any time soon. Unfortunately…
When he got closer to his class that he was already twenty minutes late for, the loud voice that could only belong to Coach Finstock only seemed to crescendo. The boy almost wanted to laugh. Some things never change, as it seems. It had only been two months so of course he didn't expected much to change. He did, though. He could feel it. Anyway, he started to become a little nervous as he placed his hand flat on the door. This was probably a huge mistake. He should not be here.
But there was no turning back now.
The second he pushed it open, the room got uncomfortably silent and all eyes fell on him. He kept his head down to avoid everyone's curious gaze, specifically Scott and Stiles's, who neither he had told about his sudden return. Only Coach seemed to have the most normal reaction upon his arrival, which was funny because he was never one to think of Coach as normal.
"Are my eyes deceiving me right now?" he cackled, "Isaac Lahey! And here I thought you were dead!"
Said boy shook his head as he kept his grip on his bag. "Nope. Still alive."
"I see that. Please tell me that you're coming to the lacrosse tryouts after school today. We need as much as we can get of players that don't suck. And yes, I am indiscreetly referring to you, Greenberg."
"Maybe," Isaac said, "I haven't really put too much thought into that yet. But we'll see how the day goes."
"Well, we'll be happy to have you," Coach told him, "In the meantime, find an empty seat and catch up with the lesson. Good to have you back, Lahey."
"Thanks," Isaac nodded, scanning around the room in search of an empty seat. The one he did find had a thousand thoughts and emotions swirling within him.
Faith had taken up the seat in front of the one that was now Isaac's. The two locked eyes with each other, his filled with an unexpected relief and hers with fear. Like she had just seen a ghost. The corner of Isaac's mouth itched as he wanted to smile at his old friend, even as he was unsure of what to make of her reaction to seeing him. He couldn't blame Faith for being shocked. With the way they had stopped talking to each other after she had dropped him off at Scott's house the next morning after spending the night together, the last thing she probably thought was that she would ever see him again. Isaac didn't think he would either.
That didn't mean that he didn't miss her during his time away in France. He did miss Faith. Very much. To the point where he was hoping that they could rekindle their long lost friendship once again if she wanted.
Remembering that he was still standing at the front of the classroom and that everyone was waiting for him to sit down, Isaac walked down in between the desks over to where Faith was. Her sapphire eyes had now drifted down to the notes on her desk as Isaac took the seat behind her. The sound of her heartbeat was so overwhelming that the beta feared that the poor girl was going to go into shock. Was Isaac's presence really that alarming? Surely he didn't look that much different than when he had left, the only physical changes being the lightest hint of facial hair. He still felt very much like the same person he was before, just with more baggage. What was Faith so afraid of about him?
During the rest of Coach's lesson, not once had Isaac's eyes left the back of Faith's head. Was he trying to read her mind or something? Each passing second was turning Faith into more of a nervous wreck and she couldn't stand it. She tried to focus on the lecture on the board but the only other thing she could think about was that fucking pregnancy test buried in the bottom of her backpack waiting for her. If Faith went through the next twenty-five minutes without upchucking all over her desk, it would be a miracle.
Class sped by too fast for Isaac while it couldn't end soon enough for Faith. While Isaac was hoping to catch up with Faith for a few minutes or at least say hi to her, the girl frantically grabbed all of her stuff and took off like the room was on fire. Isaac quickly did the same so he could follow after her before the hallways would start to cram up.
"Faith, wait-"
"Isaac?"
Damn it.
Hiding his disappointment, the beta turned around to see Scott and Stiles coming up to them with confused expressions. They both looked as beaten down as Isaac felt, indicating that neither of them had fully recovered from the Nogitsune fiasco and… Allison dying as well. No surprise there.
"Hey, Scott," Isaac greeted. He nodded curtly at the gangly boy next to the true alpha. "Stilinski."
"Always a pleasure being graced by your presence," Stiles said with that sarcastic tone that he could never seem to get rid of.
"What are you doing back?" Scott asked, ignoring his best friend's snarky comment, "Not that it's not good to see you. It's just Chris never said anything about you coming here with him."
"I wasn't going to at first," Isaac shrugged, "To tell you the truth, just being in this building isn't exactly making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But I didn't wanna stay in France alone either. Plus I figured Chris was going to need all the help he could get with finding his zombie sister."
That made Stiles snort. "Dude, I wish. Can you imagine? Zombies running around this place? At least I know I can take those suckers down like a pro."
"Life isn't exactly a video game, Stilinski," Isaac reminded him.
"Tell that to every single other were-thing we've ever met within the last year," Stiles retort with a flail of his arms.
"Yeah, and they can all still kick your ass."
"On second thought, you know, maybe you should take you and your scarf back to-"
"Alright, enough," Scott interrupted before Stiles could literally jump at Isaac. Not like Stiles could take him anyway. Scott looked back at Isaac, who kept staring off into the distance. "So you being back here… is it a permanent thing?"
Isaac sighed as he turned his attention back to the duo, both waiting patiently for his answer. "For the time being… it could be. I guess it honestly just depends on how everything plays out. And where else am I gonna go, you know?"
"I guess that's true…"
Seeing Isaac's attention divert from them once again, Scott and Stiles looked in the same direction as the beta, wondering what the hell he was so desperately searching for. It must have been really important to get Isaac so distracted like this. The best friends then exchanged looks and Scott only shrugged his shoulders. Stiles rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers loudly in front of Isaac's face to break him away from whatever was hypnotizing him.
"Yo," Stiles said once Isaac shook himself back to the present, "You alright?"
Now that was a tough question to find the answer to. Was Isaac alright? He pondered over the question for a moment and decided that no, he wasn't. Something was up with Faith and despite them not being the greatest of friends anymore, Isaac still cared a great deal for her. And he was going to get to the bottom of why she was running from him.
"Uh, there's something I gotta go take care of real quick," Isaac told Scott and Stiles, already walking away, "I'll see you guys at lunch or something."
"Wait, Isaac!" Scott called after him, "We still need to talk about…" But Isaac was already long gone.
All that came out of Stiles's mouth was sputters and gibberish. He waved his hand towards the way Isaac had left. "What the hell was that?"
"Your guess is just as good as mine," Scott exhaled.
Heels clicked along the tile floor towards the two boys. Anyone with ears exactly knew what that sound meant- Lydia Martin was on her way. Scott and Stiles turned around to see the strawberry blonde strutting towards them in hurried but stable steps. There was a slight frown on her face, which was never a good sign. Hardly anything that came from the banshee could be good. Lydia finally stopped when she got to Scott and Stiles and clutched her books close to her chest.
"We have a bit of a problem," she said.
"What, that Isaac's back in town?" Stiles guessed, "Yeah, we already know."
Apparently, Lydia didn't, judging from her widened eyes. "Isaac? I thought he was gone for good. Why is he here?"
"He said he came with Chris to help with finding Kate," Scott explained, "No one knew about it, it seems like. You would have thought that Chris would have at least said something to me…"
"Okay, we can dwell on Scarfy and getting our feelings hurt later," Stiles cut in, patting Scott's shoulder, "So what's going on? What kind of problem are we dealing with here?"
"I'm still not exactly sure," Lydia admitted, making Stiles groan in exasperation, "but Malia kept saying something in history class about a random girl smelling off. Something about two different scents."
"Dude, that's what I told you this morning!" Stiles said to Scott, "Remember how I said that Malia and I ran into Faith McGregor at the drugstore last night and Malia sniffed her out? And you have to admit that Faith has been acting pretty suspicious today."
"She has an anxiety disorder, doesn't she?" Scott questioned, "Maybe she's just nervous about a test she has to take. It doesn't mean that she's… something. Faith seems nice."
"Come on, Scott. Haven't we learned by now that we can't take anything with a grain of salt? It could be like Ms. Blake all over again."
"And let's not disregard the fact that it's impossible to have two scents," Lydia mentioned, "Especially someone human."
Damn… Scott had to admit that his friends did make some good points. Stiles and Lydia were the brains of the pack, after all. Any sort of information they had about anything had to be taken into consideration no matter how outrageous the accusations were. They all had gone through too much within the last year to not be cautious about anything out of the ordinary in Beacon Hills. But Faith McGregor? Seriously?
Granted, neither of them really knew too much about the girl, other than the fact that she had only moved here in the middle of freshman year. Then again, nobody really had gotten close to Faith either. Who knew what she was truly all about? She could be hiding something that needed to be kept an eye on. While Faith looked innocent enough, Scott knew better than to not believe that looks can be deceiving.
The true alpha nodded slowly to Stiles and Lydia, both waiting for his guidance. "We'll take a closer look at it. But we can't act on anything just yet. Not until we actually see that Faith could be a potential threat. There hasn't been any issues here within the past couple months, so we just have to wait it out a bit longer. Are we clear on that?"
Lydia nodded. "Yeah. Clear."
"Stiles?" Scott raised his eyebrows at his best friend, all too familiar with his nosy antics.
Stiles rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. "Fine."
The bell rang before they could discuss anything else. Everything would just have to wait until they all met up for lunch later. Scott was the first to walk away, not wanting to be late to class. Stiles looked down at Lydia with that same expression he always showed that he was still expecting the worst out of this new discovery. Mumbling underneath her breath, Lydia just grabbed ahold of Stiles's forearm and dragged him to their next class.
Why? Why, God, why?
Did He hate her? Did Faith commit some heinous crime that subjected her to this cruel, cruel punishment? What in the hell was Isaac Lahey doing here? He was supposed to be in France, for crying out loud! And unless the Eiffel Tower had magically been built outside of the school, Faith was pretty damn sure that this was not France nor anywhere else in Europe. If this were two months ago, she would have been leaping for joy at the fact that her old friend decided to stay home. Right now, she was highly considering buying Isaac a one-way plane ticket back to France so Faith wouldn't have to see his face again. His dumb and beautiful face…
As if Isaac could not have come back at a worse time. Especially if Faith really was with child. She could always just not tell Isaac anything like her original plan was. With the way he was staring her down and trying to chase after her before her band class though, it was highly unlikely that Faith was going to be able to escape him. How hard would it be to convince her dad to move to the other side of the country?
Faith was just glad that she was able to at least turn to her music for the next hour or so to kind of take her mind off of Isaac and the pregnancy test. Her hands needed to keep busy so her anxiety wouldn't act up and she wouldn't start scratching at herself. Music was the only vice that could calm her down right now, like it always does. Also, the newer music teacher, Ms. Olsen, was the absolute best. She was probably the only other person Faith had met that was just as appreciative of the arts as her. It helped that Faith was her favorite student, too. That always earned the girl some brownie points that could potentially get her into Juilliard next year.
For the duration of the class, Ms. Olsen was giving her students a brief history course on the famous composer Peter Tchaikovsky since they will be performing a couple of his pieces for an orchestra festival in March. Most of her classmates found the lesson boring. One or two students had even dozed off at one point. Faith, however, was all ears. She was the true definition of a band geek and could never get too tired of learning everything she needed to know about music history. Like all good things in life, class ended way too fast for her liking and the bell rang for lunch before Faith could blink.
Unlike the rest of her peers, Faith didn't pack up to leave. Instead, she went to her assigned cubby to grab her violin case.
"Staying behind again, Faith?" Danny Mahealani, one of the only people in school said girl was friendly with, asked with a smirk.
"You know it," the raven-haired girl smiled back, "I gotta keep myself ready and properly trained if I'm gonna make it to Juilliard. You could never be too prepared."
"Like you're not already going to get in," Danny teased playfully.
"One could only hope," Faith shrugged, "I'll see you tomorrow, Danny."
"See you."
Danny then walked out of the music room with everyone else, leaving Faith and Ms. Olsen to be the last ones in there, even though the young teacher was getting ready to leave for lunch as well. Faith couldn't even thinking about eating after everything that's been happening the past couple days. Not if she wanted a repeat of yesterday's lunch. So she went back to her spot and took her violin out of its case and set her music folder on her stand. As she was setting up, Faith felt a shadow standing above her. She looked up to see Ms. Olsen standing in front of her with an arched eyebrow.
"Hi," Faith drew out with a toothy grin.
"Your dad called me earlier this morning," Ms. Olsen told her student, not bothering to beat around the bush.
Figures. Faith let out a huff of air. "Nothing he does ceases to surprise me anymore."
"Don't be mad at him," Ms. Olsen said, "You know he means well. And I can't say that I disagree with him either. Meeting new people could do you some good."
"All it will do is get in the way of my future plans."
"If you're talking about Juilliard, I highly doubt it will. You only have a year and a half left here. Surely you wouldn't want to spend it all alone, would you?" Faith just stayed silent, absently plucking at the strings of her violin. Resting her elbows on the music stand, Ms. Olsen smiled. "You're a great kid, Faith. Don't hide yourself from the world. Embrace what's all around you."
Letting out a sigh, Faith looked up at her teacher. "Can I embrace it tomorrow?"
So much for getting through to her. You can't say that Ms. Olsen didn't try. She sighed. "Yeah, I suppose. Just make sure to leave the door open when you're done so it doesn't lock." She grabbed her bag from her desk. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Faith. Don't practice too hard."
"I'll try not to."
Even though they both knew that was a flat out lie.
Once she was for sure alone, Faith pulled out the music sheet for one of the songs she was considering auditioning for Juilliard with, "The Chairman's Waltz" from The Memoirs of Geisha. She selected the song on her phone and set it on her music stand so she could hear the accompaniment while she was playing. Bringing up her instrument, Faith tucked her violin between her chin and her shoulder and waited for her cue to come in. Her eyes had a mind of their own as they fluttered shut, forgetting that there was even a piece of paper that she was supposed to follow along too. As if Faith didn't already know this song by heart. Then she hovered her bow above her violin and began to chime into the music, releasing her own melodic sound.
While extremely gifted in all things relating to the arts, the violin was the one talent that was held near and dear to Faith's heart ever since her dad gifted her her first instrument as a child. There was just something about the smooth draw of her bow across the strings and the gorgeous sound dancing in her ears that was so comforting. Playing her violin was the one thing besides her family that made her feel safe. Nothing could touch her in her safe zone. No fear, no anxiety, no sadness. She never felt alone with her violin rested underneath her chin and a song in front of her. Music was Faith's truest friend, one that would never abandon her. Unlike others…
Her song was slowly coming to end so up until the last note, Faith played as if she was performing in front of a live audience. The final note echoed throughout the room before slowly fading into silence instead of the applause that normally came after performing. Faith lowered her violin onto the chair next to her and paused the music on her phone before the next song could play. Slipping the pencil out from behind her ear, she began to jot down notes on what parts sounded acceptable and which ones she needed a little more work on.
"Told you you're gonna be a shoe-in for Juilliard."
"Oh, God!" Faith gasped at the unanticipated voice.
As she swiftly shot up from her chair, her hip bumped into her music stand. Ungracefully, she was able to catch the stand and music sheets before they could fall on the floor and create a huge mess. Everything was put back into its place, making Faith take a deep breath to slow her racing heart down to its normal pace. She should have known that she couldn't avoid Isaac forever, the boy leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed in front of his broad chest.
Tell Faith why she had the urge to just choke Isaac out with that scarf around his neck when he was smiling at her like she was the most adorable thing that he had ever seen. Like a puppy.
"Last time I checked, my name was Isaac," he said cockily, "but God's a pretty good alternative."
"You scared the hell out of me," Faith told him, avoiding looking into his cerulean eyes.
"Sorry. I was just walking by when I heard the music. I figured either someone was either being put to sleep or you were practicing. Good thing it was the latter, huh?"
Was that meant to be a compliment? It sure didn't feel like it. "Right," was all Faith responded with.
Isaac looked around the room. "I don't think I've ever been in here before."
"Well, why would you?" Faith said, slightly wincing at how standoffish that had sounded, "You're not a music student."
"Right," Isaac echoed.
Now it was uncomfortable. Neither of them knew what to say after not seeing each other for two months. Obviously Isaac wasn't going to be the one to initiate the conversation judging from the way he was staring down at his shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world. So Faith cleared her throat.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I told you," Isaac said, "I heard you playing and I wanted to-"
"No, I mean here," Faith interrupted, "In Beacon Hills. You made it seem like you were done with this place for good."
"And I thought I was, too," Isaac admitted with a sigh, "But Chris, you know, Allison's dad, had to come back for some sort of… family business. He asked if I wanted to join him and, well." He shrugged his shoulders. "Here I am. I actually tried texting you to tell you I was coming back but for some reason my messages and calls never went through."
Crap. "Yeah… I got a new phone for Christmas so I had to change my number."
Her poor attempt at a lie startled the beta. "I wasn't exactly expecting a welcome parade in my honor, but I thought you would be a little more happy to see me."
"I'm sorry," Faith apologized sincerely, "I just… there's just a lot on my mind today. And I guess you being here just caught me off guard. It has nothing to do with you."
Okay, maybe a lot of it did had to do with Isaac. Everything did. But what he doesn't know won't kill him. Right?
"Anything you wanna talk about?" Isaac asked.
"No," Faith answered truthfully, "No, not really."
That was all Isaac was apparently going to get from his friend, if he could still call her that. Instead of pestering her about it like he really wanted to, he took this time to really study her.
Just like he had always thought, Faith was as beautiful as she had been. Even more so now, it seemed. Physically, not much had changed. Faith still had her long midnight hair piled on top of her head that she was always comfortable with. Her signature glasses still remained attached to her face, Isaac knowing how much she hated wearing contact lenses. She was dressed simply in a black and brown oversized flannel with jeans and Converse. Nothing about Faith should have struck Isaac as out of place when he had always known her to blend in with the crowd.
Something was different though. Something that almost sucked the air out of Isaac and probably would have caused him to become dizzy if he stood too close to Faith. He realized that it had to do with her scent. Before he had left for France, Isaac could pinpoint his friend's natural subtle scent from a hundred yards away. Whatever had happened to Faith within those two months he was gone changed her scent so drastically like a bomb had exploded on her.
While strong, the scent didn't make Isaac recoil in disgust. It only reeled him in as if he were a fish on a hook. Faith just smelled so… good. She might as well have been crafted out of sugar, she smelled so sweet. Underneath the candy-like smell was one that was fresh and clean. You know how when you just got done washing and drying your favorite blanket and you want nothing more than to rub your face all over it to embellish in its warmth? Well that's exactly the feeling Isaac got when he smelled Faith. He wanted nothing more than to run his nose along the base of her fair neck and breathe her in.
He must have been staring at Faith for too long because she took a small step back. "What?"
"Nothing," Isaac said, snapping out of his daze, "It's nothing." He ran his fingers through his curly hair and sighed. "Listen, Faith, I've been thinking-"
"Uh oh," Faith interrupted, "That's dangerous." She couldn't help the faint smile that broke out.
Seeing her smile made Isaac smile back, an instant reaction. "Yeah. Listen, I know that before I left we kinda drifted apart. That was my fault, and I'm sorry for that. But I never stopped thinking about you... I missed you, Faith. And that night in the preserve just made me miss you even more. Now that I'm back, I want us to start over. I want us to go back to being close and seeing each other all the time. I'll even sit and suffer through all those damn musicals if you want me to… just like we used to." Isaac's eyes were pleading, trying to hypnotize the music student. How unfair. "So what do you say, Faith? Can we please be friends again?"
Friends. God, Faith hated that word so much now. She just couldn't escape it. If Isaac had said all of this before he left, maybe she would have been pathetic enough to jump right back into his arms. Of course Faith missed Isaac, too. More than she was willing to admit. To have him in her life again would be an absolute dream.
But Faith couldn't. Not this time. It wouldn't be fair to put herself into that unrequited love dilemma again. She didn't blame Isaac one bit though. Her feelings for him were not his fault. It wasn't his fault that Faith couldn't get over him. Isaac could never know that she loved him. That's why she can't get close to him anymore… even though it was going to hurt. Bad.
"Look, Isaac," Faith sighed, closing her music folder, "I don't think it's a good idea for us to be hanging out anymore."
To say that Isaac was taken aback would have been putting it mildly. The poor boy looked like he had just been slapped in the face. "What? Why?"
"You were right," Faith continued, "We have drifted apart. And that's okay. You have your own thing going on and I have mine. I think it's best if we don't backtrack and try to recreate something that just isn't there anymore."
"I- I don't understand," Isaac stammered, refusing to come to terms with what was happening, "Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"
"It's not that, Isaac. I don't know what exactly you have been doing the past year, and a part of me isn't sure if I really want to. All I do know is that it clearly did a lot of emotional damage. Especially with Allison… I can't even begin to imagine what it is you're going through and I'm very sorry for that. But I think the best thing for you to do is to just keep healing and keep moving forward… without me. That's what we both need."
Isaac appeared to deflate like the world's saddest balloon. He frowned as he stared the floor down. "If that's what you really want."
"Um, I should… I should get going." Faith packed up her violin and her music folder. She slung her backpack over one shoulder. Before she left the room, she stopped in front of the beta, looking up at him with a tight smile. "Hopefully Beacon Hills is better to you this time around."
Doubtful. Isaac nodded anyway. "Thanks, Faith."
Just like that, she left. Exactly like he did with her.
Fuck. Talk about a huge blow to the ego. Out of all things, Isaac didn't expect rejection from someone he cared for deeply to hurt this bad. Almost just as bad as watching Allison die. Deep down, he blamed himself, even though Faith basically said he had no reason to. Isaac never wanted to tell her the truth and risk her safety. So he had to push her away unintentionally. 'What if's' ran through his mind on repeat. If he did tell Faith that he was one of those things that went bump in the night, would they be as good of friends as they once were? Would she be as understanding like he always thought she was? Or would Faith have written him off as insane and cut him out permanently? It was too late to wonder, and now Isaac was letting one of the most important things he ever had slip from his fingers.
She may not be so far away, but to Isaac, they might as well have been miles apart.
As for Faith, she was having her own doubts, also. A part of her had her doubting her decision to let Isaac go, already missing his warm smile and addictive touch. Her head and her heart were at battle, and her head was dominating. This was the right call. There was no going back. All Faith could do now was just pray that this pregnancy test would come out negative and she could put all of this behind her once and for all.
Easier said than done…
Why Isaac decided to swing by the lacrosse tryouts after school was just as big of a mystery to him as him being back at the school was to everyone else. Yet here he was, sitting on the bleachers next to Lydia with Kira and Malia in front of them and watching all the action go down. Coach was still pestering him to actually try out for the team again, but Isaac kept declining, not really in the mood to be on the field at the moment. Actually, he was kind of enjoying the entertainment provided by Scott and Stiles on the field taking down the fresh meat. It was almost enough to keep his mind off of Faith.
Wait, never mind. Her face just popped up in his brain again. Damn.
Needless to say that him being down in the dumps was affecting everyone around him. Enough to make Malia to bring her nose up out of her textbook and slam it shut with an annoyed huff.
"Alright, what is your deal?" she demanded, whipping her head around to face Isaac.
He raised an eyebrow. "My deal?"
"Yes," Malia pressed, "For the past half hour all I can smell is you reeking of depression. It's even stronger than Kira's nervousness."
"Hey!" Said kitsune pouted at the jab.
"Well, am I wrong?"
Kira spun the lacrosse stick in her hands and bowed her head in shame. "No… but she's right. I can smell it, too."
"I'm not depressed," Isaac told the girls, "I'm doing just fine."
"One day in and he's already having girl trouble."
Everyone then turned to face Lydia, who hadn't said anything the entire tryout. Her attention had been solely on her filing her already perfect nails. Isaac was about ready to laugh in her face.
"How the hell could you possibly have guessed that?" he asked incredulously.
"Please," Lydia scoffed, blowing on her nails, "Do you know who you're talking to here? I know everything there is to know about relationship drama. I'm just surprised it's happened to you this soon."
"Nothing is happening," Isaac told her. The banshee rolled her eyes. "Seriously! There's no relationship nor drama."
"Liar."
Isaac glared at Malia for her blunt comment. She wasn't even looking in his direction anymore, already turned back to her homework. You would think the werecoyote was working on a coloring book with the amount of multicolored highlighting she had going on. Must've picked up that habit from Stilinski.
"You can tell us," Kira offered encouragingly, "Obviously you really like the girl if she's got you all pent up."
"There's nothing to tell," Isaac said, "I don't like anyone. Everything is fine. End of story."
"It's okay to date again, you know," Lydia told him. The beta could already tell where this was headed with the far-off look in her eyes. The one where Lydia was trying not to get too choked up. Isaac didn't like that look one bit. "She'd want you to. You shouldn't let… what happened hold you back. You're allowed to move on."
Bringing up Allison was the final straw for Isaac. Yes, he was trying his damn hardest to move on from whatever he had with the late huntress. He was so sick of holding on to something that was no longer there. Come to think of it, was it ever really there in the first place? But they didn't understand that it's not as easy as it seems to just forget. And the last thing Isaac needed was for the girls to infiltrate on his love life. Or lack of.
Shaking his head, he grabbed his bag from by his feet. "You know what? I think I've had enough chick flick moments for the day. Tell Scott I'll meet him and Stiles at his house later."
The girls with the exception of Malia called after Isaac, trying to get him to come back. He just ignored them and kept walking towards the school building. When he roamed around the halls to get to his locker so he could grab a couple books for his homework (he was determined to get decent grades this year as part of his 'better Isaac' plan), he kept hearing a weird sniffling sound. Isaac should have went with his first judgement and dismissed the sound, but curiosity got the better of him. So he followed the sniffling until it got louder to the point where he realized that someone was crying.
Quiet but distinct sobs were coming from the girls restroom down the hall. Isaac debated with himself on whether he should barge in to ask whoever was in there if they were okay or if he should just continue walking. There was no need to make a decision because the crying started to subside and the sound of the sink turning on and off took its place.
What Isaac didn't expect to see was Faith emerging from the restroom, wiping at her blotchy face with the back of her hand. It was no secret that she was the culprit behind the crying. Despite Faith's wishes not to speak to him anymore, Isaac had to get to the bottom of what was wrong. With her head down, Faith began to walk towards the beta's way without realizing it, giving him the perfect opportunity to stop in front of her and block her path.
"Faith?"
"Oh," said girl croaked, refusing to look at her now former friend. "Hi, Isaac."
"Hey, what's the matter?" Isaac asked. He lightly gripped Faith's chin so she could look up at him with watery red eyes. "Why are you crying?"
"It's nothing," Faith told him weakly.
"Like hell, it's nothing. Did someone say something to you? Are you hurt?"
Faith swiped his hand away from her. "No, I'm fine, Isaac. Just, please… leave me alone."
She tried to walk away but Isaac wasn't having it. "Hold on. Faith-" Instead of grabbing her arm like he intended, he accidentally pulled on the strap of Faith's backpack and dropped it on the floor. Because her backpack was unzipped, a couple folders and a bunch of papers spilled out. "Shit, I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Faith mumbled, already crouching down to pick everything up.
"Let me help you," Isaac offered. He bent down as well.
"Just forget it, Isaac. I got it."
Everything was already gathered in Faith's arms when they both stood up. But something peculiar was still on the floor, catching Isaac's eye. He knew exactly what it was right away. What the hell was Faith doing with it though? Isaac's hand was trembling as he bent down again to pick up the object as he was afraid of what it would read. Time stood still as he brought the stick up to his face to get a closer look and what he saw had shaken up his world.
A pink plus sign.
Booming heartbeats overwhelmed Isaac's ears, but he couldn't tell if it was his or Faith's that was the loudest. When he looked back up at her, Faith's entire body was shaking like a leaf. Tears ran in waterfalls down her face and her bright blue eyes were so wide that Isaac was afraid that they would pop out of their sockets. None of that stopped him from asking the one question that would solidify just how real this was.
"You're pregnant?"
After standing there motionless for a few more long lasting moments, Faith finally stepped into gear. She snatched the pregnancy test of Isaac's hand and ran faster than she thought she was ever capable of. Isaac was quick to run after her throughout the school building.
"Wait!" he shouted after her, "Faith, wait!"
She just pumped her legs faster even as her lungs burned and vision blurred. Isaac continued to chase her out the front door and down the steps. To his surprise, Faith easily outran him. As soon as she reached the parking lot, she jumped into her truck and turned on the ignition, not even bothering to put on her seatbelt. Isaac just about reached Faith's truck when she stomped on the gas pedal and hightailed it out of the parking lot, almost hitting him in the process. He thought about chasing after the truck but it was already out of sight.
All Isaac could do was just stand in the middle, feeling more lost than ever before.
Fuck. That's all he kept repeating to himself. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Out of all things that could have occurred when he decided to return, this was on the bottom of the list. How could this be happening? Isaac was seventeen years old, for God's sake. He was far too young to be going through this. Then again, he was also old enough to know better and practice safe sex. But Faith was on the pill from what Isaac remembered the first time he slept with her. Did she lie? Or did she get off the pill before the last time and just didn't tell him?
No. It wasn't fair of him to point fingers. This was just as much of his responsibility as it was Faith's, if not more. Isaac should have been prepared, too. But he wasn't. And now he and Faith are facing the consequences.
A baby. Faith was having a baby. Isaac's baby.
That was the only thing that was on his mind from when he finally got out of the street all the way to where he was now, sitting on the edge of Scott's bed. While the true alpha and Stiles were discussing the endless possibilities of what the new freshman on the lacrosse team, Liam Dunbar, was supernaturally, Isaac just sat there, staring off into space and not contributing to the conversation.
"Dude, for the tenth time," Scott sighed, rolling his eyes as his best friend started to type in something on his computer, "I highly doubt there are such things as werecheetahs."
"Uh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Scotty," Stiles snorted, "Let's not forget about the fact that we had just found out that psycho killer Kate Argent rose back from the dead as a fucking werejaguar! Like, come on! Who knew those were real?"
"Still," Scott protested, "And who's to say that Liam even is something? Maybe he just so happens to be really good at lacrosse and we're overreacting."
"Well, I think you're under-reacting. As always." Stiles looked over his shoulder. "Isaac, back me up here."
The beta shrugged his shoulders absently. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever."
Pointing at Isaac, Stiles chuckled in victory. "See? He gets it."
"Okay, let's say on the off chance that Liam really is something," Scott said, "what are we supposed to do about it? We can't exactly just corner him and demand him to tell us what his aim is."
It was now the hyperactive boy's turn to be annoyed. "Scott, I love you. You're my best friend. But you really need to learn how to be a little more aggressive. Maybe there's a werewolf leadership course you can take on being an alpha."
"And you say I come up with bad ideas…"
"Because you do!" Stiles gestured to Isaac once again. "He can vouch for me. Right, Isaac? Tell him. What do you have to say about all of this?"
He didn't mean for what he did end up saying to come out like it did. It just spilled out of his mouth like word vomit. His dirty little secret was now out in the open. Everything had hit him like a ton of bricks. And there was no turning back.
"I think I'm going to be a dad."
Read, review, favorite, and follow! I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie