Holy cow, guys! We passed the 1,000 visitor mark on this story within the first hour of chapter 6 being posted!

Hope you enjoy this little installment, after this chapter you can bet that Emmalyn will start the slipper slope into the supernatural nature of Beacon Hills.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Teen Wolf, its characters, or any affiliated entities. I maintain artistic license of my original character(s).

"Hey Em...do you maybe want to hang out with us at lunch tomorrow?"

Emmalyn cringed inwardly. Lunch. It was almost a foreign concept at this point.

"I – I don't know, I usually study in the –"

"Library?" She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side. "Oh come on, I wasn't bugging you but I'm not blind. It'll be funnnn..."

Unlikely.

"I just...maybe some other time," she deflected, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear and clawing at the back of her neck.

"Emma?"

She looked back to him, her mistake. He looked down to her with the same pitiful look he'd spend their entire childhood perfecting.

"...Fine."

oOo

So there she was, analytically preparing herself for what was undoubtedly her worst decision since returning.

It's not too late, tell him something came up, anything.

"Em, over here!" Stiles flagged her down from across the lunchroom.

No, you can do this. You can't keep to the shadows forever.

Arming herself with what little assurance she had and made her way over. She'd spent the first half of the day and most of the night before mentally prepping herself, preselecting answers, and anticipating responses. Regardless of the years apart, she still knew Scott and Stiles. She knew what would distract them and how they'd react to most things. Emmalyn hoped her long sleeves and circle skirt were enough to detract from obvious physical changes, but even her thick knit sweater couldn't shield her from the reality she was walking into. There were four extra people at the table. Seeing her shocked expression, Stiles jumped up to break the ice.

"Oh, right! Well you've got Allison, Issac, Boyd...you remember Lydia, right?" Each person nodded in recognition as their name was called. She slid her bag off of her shoulder and sank slowly to the right of Stiles. There was a still silence across the group for a few long, unbearable moments that made anxiety creep up Emmalyn's spine.

"Well...hi. I'm Emmalyn."

Allison's face brightened across from her with a warm smile, "So how's your first month back at Beacon Hills been?"

"It was fine after everyone stopped asking questions. Allison shrunk away from her brashness and Emmalyn dug her fingernails into her palms. "Not that – no it's fine that you ask, it was just a little overwhelming all at once when I first got back."

"Oh, I totally get it. Me and my family only moved here last year, it was like being a class pet. Everyone was so crazy at first but it died down eventually."

Emmalyn nodded in silent agreement before the table fell into another silence.

"Well, I hope you're getting through the halls easier."

She craned her head to the left until her eyes fell on a familiar blonde and passed him a scrutinizing look. He tossed a crooked smile back and suddenly it hit her. Her first day back.

"Hey," a tenor called out to her, laying a firm hand on her shoulder, "you OK?"

He chuckled, reaching for his drink, "There you go, took long enough."

Feeling her cheeks tinge pink, she rushed for a rebuttal, "Right...sorry about that. M-my first day back was a little crazy."

He shrugged, "Don't worry, Beacon Hills was a weird place way before you got here."

Scott slapped him on the shoulder and muttered something to Issac with a stern look. It made Emmalyn uncomfortable.

"Um...is everything OK?" She asked meekly, reaching into her bag. Stiles' head whipped toward her with half a fork full of spaghetti hanging from his mouth.

"Yeah, why w-is that seriously all you're going to eat?" He gestured toward the tupperware Emmalyn had just pulled from her bag. She tugged her shoulders up defensively.

"Well yeah..."

"But...it's watermelon. And grapes. That's it?"

The hair on the back of her neck rose as her cheeks burned a bright shade of red. She could feel the passing glances of everyone around the table as her hands gripped the container tighter, eyes squeezed shut fighting the urge to run.

"Obviously, don't you know anything Stiles?" Emmalyn opened her eyes and glanced across the table to Lydia. "It's better to snack throughout the day instead of gorging yourself," she explained, pointing her fork at the mountain of food in front of him. He redirected his attention toward the strawberry blonde.

"You girls are weird."

It wasn't Lydia's response that confused her, it was how she lied to everyone. She knew better than anyone else why that was all she was eating, and yet she covered for her, deflected the attention from her in a way that would serve as camouflage for as long as she maintained it.

It was disorienting.

This was the girl who she dared to even call a close friend until she tossed her aside on a blindsided glory trip. The girl who, for all intents and purposes, was entirely to blame for everything that had happened to Emmalyn over the past two years. So that begged the question, why? Why had she been so quick to her side? Was it guilt? It had already been strange enough to see her socializing with this particular group, she'd always been horrendously selective and spent the bulk of her life purposefully ignoring Stiles. Emmalyn knew that she must have taken a serious fall from grace to end up here. All the same, Lydia seemed happy with that?

The rest of the lunch period passed without much more interaction on her part. She wasn't sure if it was her overwhelmingly obvious discomfort that kept her from being the subject of conversation or that she was the odd man out in a group that was clearly close knit, but either way she didn't mind. Watching as the bunch of teens carelessly joked with each other, she mindlessly popped pieces of the watery fruits in her mouth. Originally she'd hoped she wouldn't have to pull out the food she'd packed, but it had become painfully clear to her that her lack of food would have been conspicuous. Of course, she had planned ahead for this, being mindful to not only pack water based fruit but to use a large container. The size of the tupperware made her portioning less noticeable.

The entire situation was odd, it was strange to see how life just...went on. Emmalyn had felt like she was trapped for the past two years. Trapped in the same place, trapped in her own body, stagnating, withering away. Yet, here in front of her was the perfect example of how things were not always as you thought they would be. Everyone was moving through life full speed ahead and here she was trying to turn off the parking break. She felt confused, repressed, the air in her lungs felt like it was thinning.

"I have to get to the guidance office," she said jolting from her seat.

"Ms. Morrell? Why?" Suddenly the attention of the entire table was turned back to her. They were too curious.

"Just – just a check in, see how I'm adjusting, you know? I've got to get going."

The eyes of everyone in the group followed her as she hurried out of the lunchroom. It was a difficult place for them to be in. They knew Ms. Morrell was involved with the Alpha Pack but at the same time she was the guidance counselor, a teacher. There wasn't much they could do about it without reason, so they held back. Mostly.

"Lydia don't, we can't do anything about her until we know more," Allison warned her. They were already at a stark disadvantage to the Alphas. They needed to be strategic, calculating in every move they made.

"Oh please, I'm not going harass to Ms. Morrell, I've spent enough time in that office already," she insisted, running her hands down the front of her dress in an effort to straighten it out. "I just realized I left my Physics book in my last class."

Stiles eyed her distrustfully, "We have Chemistry this semester."

"Hm, cute. So now I'm the one you don't trust?"

"Oh come on, Stiles, she was reading a book on Thermodynamics in my car the other day," Allison insisted.

"Well," Lydia sighed, tossig her hair over her shoulders, "I'll see you guys next period. In Chemistry." She purposefully slowed her pronunciation of 'Chemistry' and glared at Stiles. He rolled his eyes in response.

It wasn't a lie, more of a half truth. She didn't have any intention of confronting Ms. Morrell, and she always had her Physics book in her purse. She was walking after Emmalyn.

oOo

She shouldn't have left as early as she did, or she could have at least ducked into a bathroom to wait out the time left before her scheduled session. Ms. Morrell was still in with her previous appointment and now Emmalyn was sitting out in the hallway exposed, vulnerable, and within perfect hearing range of the familiar click of wedge heels and determination. She held her knees up to her chest, rested her head on them, and asked herself,

Why.

Playing blissfully unaware, she keep her head down even when she heard someone land on the floor next to her. She wasn't prepared to deal with this right now. It worked for a few minutes, but she should have known the girl was a ticking time bomb.

"Well are you going to look up or am I going to talk to the other side of the hallway?"

Groaning, Emmalyn lifted her head, "What do you want, Lydia?"

She seemed shocked a her willingness to talk, so it took her a moment to respond, "Listen, I didn't mean to act like that the first day, and I'm not here to make some giant spectacle of you. I'm here to say I'm sorry. I don't expect you to trust me or to come over tonight to paint each others nails, but I owe you an apology at the very least. I did some terrible, terrible things to you, Emmalyn, and I know the situations are different but I've had some pretty crazy stuff happen to me over the last year that made me realize a lot. What happened to me has a lot to do with problems I created for myself, but I had people there for me...even if I didn't want them to be at first. Having them there helped me through a lot, and I know you didn't have that and I know that's my fault, but don't let the awful things I did keep you from letting them back in. All they've done for the last month is worry about you, don't let them sit on it, OK?"

"Why'd you do it?" Lydia looked back to Emmalyn with wide eyes. "We – we were friends, Lydia. Everything...everything was your idea."

Again, it took a moment for her to respond. It was something Lydia had spent a long time coming to terms with, "...I was jealous."

Emmalyn laughed, mocking her, "Right, Lydia Martin jealous of anything."

"It's not a joke. I did all that for you because I wanted to help. You were so happy, Emma, but then school started. I got to school and saw the way that everyone was looking at you and I was so satisfied, I thought to myself, 'I made that', but then it changed. I heard the things people were saying and really saw how everyone was looking at you when I realized that they weren't looking at me anymore. I had always been the 'it' girl, and just like that it was like I passed the baton and my time was over. It was the beginning of high school, my time should have just been beginning. I thought that if I gave you that, that meant I could take it away, so I did. I did whatever I had to to claw my way up to the top where I knew I belonged and it was great when I got there, but then I realized how shallow and superficial it all was. I couldn't stay myself if I wanted to stay on top, and when I realized that I'd rather be who I am with just one person who knows me than with a hundred who are just waiting for me to fall...you were gone."

"Well, be happy that you were right about one thing. You took it, you took everything." Emmalyn spat out her words like venom, rising from the floor as Ms. Morrell signaled that it was her time to come in, "Welcome to the bottom."

There you go! I'm really excited to get going on the next chapter, because really, who thinks that all of these people disappearing and turning up ritually sacrificed is normal?

You know the drill, drop me a review with praise, critique, or correction. Let me know what you liked and what you're excited to see come!