Chapter two: Gaps
You see, as many other teenagers, I wasn't a big fan of school. Oh my god Lorraine, what a big fucking surprise! Teenagers don't like school? I would've never guessed!
Anyway, the teachers, the drama, the work, it all just seemed a bit... pointless to me. Of course, there were a few subjects that I enjoyed: PE, biology, and one or two things of chemistry and history. But I think it's safe to say that I really don't like school. And yet, every time we moved to a new town dad forced me to go... except once.
"Are you sure that you want this?" dad asked one last time. At first he hadn't wanted me to go at all, and after a short argument he insisted on driving me to school, where we were now parked. I already had one hand on the door opener.
"Well now that you say it, maybe I'll- yes dad, I'm sure." I said, rolling my eyes and opening the car door. I stepped out of the car and swung my dark green backpack over my shoulder. Dad grabbed my wrist, about to ask a question. I turned around to face him. "Yes dad, I'm sure that I feel fine." I said before throwing the door shut and waving him off. I really didn't like school, but I hoped that going anyway would show dad that I was fine.
The principal was supposed to pick me up outside of the school entrance and then guide me to my first lesson, so I sat down on a bench and waited for him to do so... I'm sorry, did I mention the fact that on the parking lot there was one school bus that was torn apart and covered in blood?
Good thing me and dad came to this town, plus: finally, after all these weeks, something exciting happens, and it doesn't involve me getting killed. Yet, at least. I tried to figure out what happened to the bus, but only after a minute or two, the entrance door to the school swung open and the principal came up to me.
"Miss Hield?" he asked, looking at me and pointing one finger at me. I nodded and stood up from the bench. He walked towards me with a smile on his face. "Miss Hield, welcome to our school. If you could come with me." he said, trying to lead me to the entrance, but seeing my interest in the bus. "Oh, that. Wild animal attack, but I can assure you, it has been taken care of." he said, directing me to the entrance and through the halls, which all looked the same to me.
Greyish floor, white ceiling, blue lockers next to the walls everywhere... I had no idea how I was ever going to find my way around this place. The principal eventually stopped in front of a wooden door of one of the classrooms, on which he knocked. He didn't wait for an answer, but opened the door right away and walked into the room as I followed him. Looking at the tables and the atomic notes on the blackboard, this would be chemistry. Nice. The principal turned to the class.
"This is Lorraine Hield, she's new to our school and I trust that you will make her feel welcome." he said, looking at the sheepish faces of who I supposed were my new classmates. I soon noticed that the boy from the vet, Scott, was also there. He had been talking to the boy behind him when we got in, but was quick to turn around. He looked worried, and now that I'd come in the room, confused.
"Can I leave her with you, mister Harries?" the principal asked the teacher, who nodded.
"She can sit right there." he said, pointing at one of the two empty seats in the front.
Sitting alone during first period, first day? Some may find it depressing but it was a blessing to me. I sat down and took out my books whist the teacher continued with writing notes on the blackboard. Even though I sat in the front, I could still hear Scott and the boy behind him talking. And apparently the teacher could too, as he turned around with a rather annoyed look on his face.
"Stillinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might wanna pull those earphones out more often." he said, putting his hands on his hips.
The boy, Stillinski (Where did I hear that name?) looked shocked, or even offended. His mouth hung wide open and he put up his hands in the air, but he wasn't able to bring out a single word. Mister Harries wasn't done yet, though.
"And I think you and mister McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?" he asked, looking at the two. Stillinski let out a small scoff, looking lost.
"W- no." he said, his mouth still hanging open. Mister Harries smirked, pointing at him, and then the seat next to me. I internally groaned. Why? Why me?
Stillinski picked up his books and walked to the front, everything about him screaming reluctance.
"Tell me when the separation becomes too much." Harries said, ignoring Stillinski's fake laugh as he turned back to the blackboard.
I heard the sound of books falling down on the desk as the boy sat down next to me. From the corner of my eye I saw him staring at me, but I kept focused on my textbook, as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Oh joy, isomers! Something tapped lightly on my arm, causing me more that just annoyance. There were only a few options of things he could say and most of them involved social interaction later in the day. You might consider me rude, but after years of making friends only to leave months later has taught me that it's better to not make friends at all than get hurt.
"Lora?" he asked, sounding confused. I sighed and turned my head towards him. He had short, dark hair that was very, very short. He had dark brown eyes and a nose that was a bit… broad. But definitely not ugly, he was… okay. Didn't like the hair though. Or his apparent need for social interaction.
"Yes, that is my name, good job for hearing... it..." I said, trailing off as I realised that the principal hadn't introduced me as Lora at all, he had used my full name. Only people close to me called me Lora.
"You remember me?" he asked, sounding almost desperate. I frowned as I looked at his face, as it did seem familiar. Also, his name... oh I could've slapped myself in the face. This must be the sheriff's kid.
"Do I?" I asked, not quite sure how to act around him. The sheriff seemed to know me, so his kid must know me too. But from what? Stillinski looked disappointed, the small smile on his face falling.
"Should've known better, with you always moving." he mumbled, looking down his own books and turning away from me. My eyes widened.
"Oh crap, I really did meet you before did I?" I said, feeling the urge to groan grow. I should've expected this, moving back to a place I'd lived before.
"Stiles?" he tried, and it all clicked.
Actually, it didn't. I'd kept a list when I was younger, wrote down the name of every friend I'd made. It was a relatively short list, and I tried to keep it that way with a few exceptions. But now I knew his name, that didn't mean I actually knew him. So yeah, that was the only clicking that happened there. Sorry.
"Almost didn't recognize you." I said, trying my best to put on a fake smile. If he really had been my friend once, I could at least try and be kind to him. There would have to be a good reason for him to end up on the list. Maybe we could even become friends again. ...And probably move away a few weeks after, yes, great idea Lora. I mentally shook my head at the thought, drawing my attention back to Stiles I'd expected him to smile at my statement, but instead he looked disappointed.
"Nah, you still don't recognize me." he said, shaking his head. "Nice of you to pretend, though." he said, turning away from me to copy the notes from the blackboard. Wow I felt bad. I actually felt bad. He seemed like a nice guy and I think I just genuinely hurt him. Never would I have guessed that I would be the one to try and continue a conversation with someone today, but still I grabbed his arm and forced him to turn back towards me.
"Look Stiles, I'm s-"
"Hey, I think they've found something!" A girl that sat next to the window on our left yelled. It took less than five seconds for the entire class to jump up out of their seats and look at what was going on. Stiles jumped up too, so I followed him towards the window.
Outside there was a man on a stretcher being rolled to an ambulance by two medics. My first impression was that he was dead, but that theory was dismissed when he jolted upright, screaming. We all did a small jump back. I looked around to see that Scott and Stiles weren't standing at the window. Turning around I saw that they were standing in the back of the class. Stiles was trying to convince Scott of something. Scott seemed to distracted to hear it, instead he just said three small words. They were soft, but combined with lip reading there was no way of going around what Scott said, with a horrified expression on his face:
"I did that."
Ah great, of course, another one of these. We've spent most of our time on these, and it's always the same: new alpha, needs pack, goes out biting teenagers at random. And the solution is always the same: stop the alpha, gather some lone omegas and teach the new werewolves how to deal with it.
I looked at Scott from head to toe, scanning him. He might become a good werewolf. Sure he wasn't athletic, but he could train. He was very scared, but also not dumb. I hoped. Then, in the middle of what must've seemed like me checking him out, our eyes locked. His eyes were wide, he was terrified. Stiles looked at him, then followed his gaze towards me. His mouth fell open, and he took a deep breath to say something, when the bell rang.
Everyone, even the teacher, hurried up to pack their bags and get out of the room as quick as they could, wanting to see what was going on outside. Or just be first in line for lunch. Everyone was gone, except for us. We were still staring at each other, the two boys with their mouths slightly open and me smirking slightly. We remained that way for about half a minute, and when I'd concluded that they weren't going to talk, I did.
"So..." I said, pointing at the window behind me. "You did that?" Scott's mouth fell open further.
"W- I- No, of course not." he said, stumbling over his words. I didn't need to be able to hear his heartbeat to tell that he was lying. Either he did almost kill that person, or he was convinced he did.
"It's all right Scott, I think I know." I said, my smirk turning into a comforting smile. "I get it too." The two boys were now gaping at me, thinking that I was another werewolf.
"Really?" Scott asked, looking at Stiles in worry.
"Once a month, uncontrollable emotions, weird cravings and blood?" I asked, the smirk back again. They were now very confused, and it was evident on their faces. I let out a laugh. "I'm kidding. But I wasn't about the knowing part." "Scott, did you get bitten?"
If I was wrong on this, and he wasn't a werewolf as I thought he was, this would turn out to be a really awkward conversation. Dad always told me not to be too straight forward, but I liked to do things my way. Even if that had resulted in me being the weird kid after my first day at school once. Okay twice.
Scott hesitated, glancing at Stiles, who was just as clueless as he was.
"We can help." I said. "Me and my dad, it's what we do."
"Who are you?" Scott asked, frowning at me whilst backing up a bit towards the door. As if he could outrun me. Okay, if he was a werewolf, he could, but I'd still be able to keep up with Stiles.
"I'm a protector."
~o~
We were walking through the halls, break would still last for another thirty or so. Scott and Stiles had decided that in order to be sure if they could trust me, they would have to interrogate the shit out of me first.
"Who did you say you were?" Scott asked.
"Protectors, me and my dad. We protect those who can't protect themselves. Both natural and supernatural."
"And since when?" Stiles asked.
"Well, my family has done this for centuries, and I started my official training at age twelve."
"So did you know?" Stiles asked, making me frown. "Know when you were last here?" he clarified, seeming a bit... hurt. That if I'd known that I hadn't told him.
"No, I didn't. I w-" I cut off my own sentence. There was a sudden blank space in my mind, a gap. And I had no clue what to fill it with. "Doesn't matter, I didn't know back then. Right now Scott has no alpha to guide him, no pack, and..." I scanned him again. "Absolutely no clue what's going on, now do you?" I said with a sigh..
"But how do we know that we can trust you?" Scott asked, grabbing my arm to halt me. I turned towards him.
"Because I'm your best bet. And we can help you, just give us a chance to pr-"
"Oh my God! Lorraine!" a girl voice called out, and before I knew what was happening someone was hugging me. And it wasn't a gentle one either. It was a squeeze-the-air-out-of-your-lungs-until-you-nearly-faint-from-an-oxygen-deficit-hug™. After a few seconds I saw that that someone was a girl with strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and afsappearance that screamed that she was the queen bee of the school.
"I can't believe that you're back! We should totally have lunch together." she said, giving me a seemingly fake smile, which I returned.
"Yes, of course, we should. Now if you'd care to give me your name?" I asked, dropping my smile and stepping away from her. The fake smile on the girl's face was replaced with real disappointment. She looked truly hurt for a second, only to cover it up with the same fake smile from earlier.
"Of course, you must've forgotten. Moving, and all that." she said, extending a hand. "Lydia, Lydia Martin." I nodded and shook her hand. I inhaled sharply as an image flashed in my mind. It only lasted a second, so I couldn't see what it was. I opened my eyes and smiled, pretending nothing had happened.
"Right, I'm Lorraine." I said, something about her feeling familiar. I tilted my head, trying to remember as I looked at her, because her appearance was also familiar. "I'm sorry, I just... do you have a picture with the two of us or something? To, you know, jog my memory." Lydia's eyes widened for a moment, before she nodded.
"Of course." she said, again that fake smile on her face, now more forced than ever, as she took out her phone and scrolled through her pictures. It didn't take her long to show me a picture with two girls, both blonde, both the same green eyes, both equally tall.
"They always mistook us for sisters." Lydia said, genuine emotions seeping through. She was sounding almost nostalgic. "Of course, not any more." she said, taking the phone back. It was true, over the years Lydia's hair had grown more ginger, and my hair more light blonde. We both grew up, so the difference in our facial features stood out more. Eyes were still the same though.
"Hey babe." a guy with light brown hair said, putting an arm around Lydia's waist and kissing her on the cheek. Oh great, every jock from every teen film. Ever. Including the over the top good looks. "So, lunch?" he asked. Lydia looked at me, almost pleading. I really had no desire to go with her, or jock boy, but my curiosity got the better of me: why, after all those years, did she still have a picture of the two of them on her phone? That must mean something. So I gave one last warning glare to Scott and Stiles, and walked with Lydia and Jock boy, towards the cafeteria.
~o~
Lydia seemed to know what was best for me. Or she thought she did. After a broad explanation of why I shouldn't eat what food, I eventually had filled my tray with a bottle of water, an apple, a ham cheese sandwich and a small bag of crisps I managed to smuggle with me. As I walked after Lydia through the crowds of the cafeteria I saw that the table we were heading for was the one Scott and Stiles were at. Odd, I wouldn't expect them to be the popular ones. Oh who am I kidding, they aren't the popular ones. Lydia sat down next to Scott and directed me to sit opposite of her, next to Stiles.
"Figure what out?" Lydia asked, putting her purse down on the floor next to her as she sat down. Scott and Stiles looked at each other, Stiles letting out a weird scoff of surprise as Scott mumbled a bit before bringing out the words: "Oh, just... homework."
"Yeah." Stiles added, before turning to Scott and whispering: "Why is she sitting with us?" I rolled my eyes, leaned in and whispered: "You know, you whisper quite loudly. And it's probably because of miss soon to be popular right there." I said, nodding at a pretty girl with dark brown hair sitting down next to Scott.
"Hey, thanks for saving me a seat." she said, putting down Scott's bag that had been on the seat.
"Yeah, no problem." Scott said, looking at her with a dreamy smile. Poor boy, he was completely in love with her, wasn't he? I gave Stiles a knowing look before leaning back in my chair, starting my sandwich. Meanwhile jock boy sat down at the end of the table, and a few other people had sat down next to Stiles and the pretty girl. I guess I wouldn't have a chance to investigate my… past relationships here this lunch.
"So I heard that it was an animal attack." one guy with dark hair said. He looked like a sports guy, a nice one though. Probably gay.
"Who's he?" I whispered to Stiles, who proceeded to introduce me to everyone in a hushed voice. Nice jock was called Danny, the jock jock was called Jackson, the pretty girl Allison ("Two l's" Scott had added) and then there were just the appendixes of the group of who I apparently didn't need to know the name of. By the time he was done, we had moved on to another topic, Lydia wanting to talk about "something slightly more fun, please." before turning to Scott and Allison.
"Like where we are going Sunday night." she said, surprising the two of them. She frowned when she saw. "Wait, you did say that you were going out, right?" Allison quickly swallowed her drink and nodded.
"Uh, yeah, we... didn't know where to go yet." she said, looking at Scott and silently asking him for approval. It was clear that they hadn't expected Lydia to come with them. Lydia let out a small scoff. I leaned back in my chair even more as I observed the disaster unfolding in front of me.
"Well, if the five of us are hanging out, we ought to do something fun. I am not sitting at home watching lacrosse videos all night." Lydia said, throwing a judgemental look at Jackson, who didn't seem to care. Until he realised that he had to go out with Scott too. Well, not with Scott, but you know what I mean.
"H- hanging out?" Scott asked, looking at Lydia with a frown. "Like... the five of us? Hanging out?" Allison looked at him, her eyes wide, not knowing what to do either.
"Well, yeah. Sounds fun." she said. Next to me, on one side Stiles buried his face in his hands, not being able to look at this trainwreck of a conversation. On the other side of me Jackson let out a huge scoff.
"Yeah, well, you know what else sounds fun?" he asked, picking up a fork. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."
"Oh you won't have to do it yourself if you keep acting like that." I said, looking at him dead serious. Not even ten minutes in and I had plenty of reasons not to like him. He was bewildered for a moment, before he put down the fork.
"Doesn't matter. Who's number five anyway?" he asked, whilst I continued my meal. I stopped though when everyone at the table seemed to be staring at me.
"What?" I asked, swallowing a bite of my sandwich. Lydia looked at me with an all too meaningful glare. "Oh. Yeah no." I said, shaking my head. Half of the people at the table stared at me as if I were insane, the other half very confused. I started right back at them. "What?" I snapped. "I barely even know you." A few of them stopped staring, others kept glancing at me. With a huff I took my plate and stood up, walking to an empty table to have lunch there, alone. Being dragged along wasn't in my top ten list of activities.
~o~
The rest of the first day at school had gone as usual. Scott and Stiles were avoiding me, Lydia seemed to be staring at me but didn't approach me, and Jackson was too caught up in his hair to even notice I was there. I was walking through the hallway, towards the school entrance. Dad had phoned me that he would pick me up, and he wasn't a big fan of waiting. Turning around the corner, I saw Stiles talking with a stressed out Scott, who shortly after ran off.
"Hey, you didn't-" Stiles tried, extending his arm towards Scott, who just kept running. "Am I attractive to gay guy- oh forget it." he said, turning around, seeing me walking towards him. His eyes widened, but he didn't move. Maybe he was hoping that I didn't see him. Or that he would magically turn invisible like a chameleon. I gave him a small wave."Hey... Lora, I mean, Lorraine." he said, ready to walk away.
"Hold on." I said, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen from my bag and jotting something on it before handing it to him.
"What's that?" he asked, looking at it.
"My phone number." I said, making him look up from the paper, eyes wide. I let out a small laugh. "Not like that, it's for when you decide to trust me. Or when there's an emergency." I explained, closing my backpack again and swinging it over my shoulder. "See ya." I said, walking off and saying one last thing as I did so: "And yes Stiles, you're very attractive to gay guys."
~o~
I walked over the school grounds, towards the car park. I knew what was coming next and I was dreading it. You know, for a parent who trains their child to battle with all kinds of creatures, dad was a rather worried parent. This can be concluded by the conversation I have with him every time I come back from my first day at school.
"How did it go?" he asked, not even giving me a chance to fully open the door. I threw my bag in the car and sat down next to dad.
"Fine, I think I've found our beta. Or omega, or whatever he is." I said as dad started up the car. "I assume you've heard of the bus attack?" I asked, seeing dad nod from the corner of my eye. "Well, he thinks that he did that."
"Thinks?" dad asked, driving us out of the car park. I nodded.
"Didn't tell me how or why. Was too busy interrogating me." I said, looking out of the window.
"Did you tell them?" dad asked, less annoyed than usual. He wasn't too happy with me telling potential supernaturals that we were protectors. I had a theory why he wasn't acting like he usually does. Actually, it's not that hard to figure out.
"You're worried about me." I said. It wasn't a question, it wasn't an accusation, it was a statement. Or a fact, if you'd like. Dad let out a sigh, so I turned towards him.
"Deaton said that I could have years left to live, and I feel fine." I said, attempting to reassure him but failing. If anything, I had made things worse by bringing up the subject.
"Could, Lora, could. He also said that most didn't make it to that point." he said, turning his head towards me. Anger, frustration, despair, and more, all showing on his face. We neared a crossing in the road, with two children crossing it without noticing us. Acting on instinct, I grabbed for the hand brake, forcing our car to halt. With eyes wide in shock, dad and I sat panting in the car.
"We'll talk more when we're home." dad said, his voice stern as he took off the hand break and started the car again. The rest of our journey was spent in a tense silence.
~o~
As dad had promised, as soon as we got home we sat down at the dinner table with some drinks and started to put everything next to each other in order to figure out what was happening, what had happened, and what would happen next.
"So, Deaton is working on ways to... extend your life." dad said, taking a paper out of his pocket and jotting it down.
"There's nothing we can do about that then." I said, crossing my arms as I leaned back in my chair. Somehow I didn't feel stressed out about it. I was just… calm. "Also, Scott is the new wolf. I don't think he has an alpha there for him."
"Anyone else?" dad asked, pausing his writing to look up at me. I shrugged.
"Besides his friend? Don't think so. Full moon is Saturday, he won't be able to control it. Moon's too strong. Besides, if he killed someone last night, can't get much worse can it?" I said, stirring my coffee. There was a silence, so I looked up at dad, who was staring at me intently. "No." I said, shaking my head. "No way."
"Someone has to look after him. Stop him, if necessary." Dad said, not about to change his mind about it. To be fair, I was the best option here, but I really didn't want to. Stiles seemed okay, heck, even Lydia seemed to have more depth to her personality than she pretended to have. But something about Scott McCall threw me off. I didn't like him much.
"They don't even trust me dad." I said. "No way he's going to trust me when he goes all wolf." Dad sighed, then leaned towards me with a stern look on his face.
"Then get him to trust you. Find information, pretend to have a crush on him. If he has no control, he might just kill someone. So get to him, one way or the other. And do it before the moon rises this Saturday." his expression softened as he finished speaking, and he leaned back in his chair. "You always wanted a job of your own, this may be my final chance to give it to you."
I appreciated dad letting me have my own job, and I understand why he gave it to me. But one part of what he'd said got me thinking. Because there was really only one way now to get through to Scott before Saturday.
"Get to him, one way or the other."
"the other"
A/N: I hope that you all liked that chapter! I'll try to post once a week, every Saturday, but since I won't have much time tomorrow I uploaded this one early. :) I have the next few chapters almost ready, I still need to edit them and check the grammar and spelling, but for the next couple of weeks you can be sure of weekly uploads!
Thank you for reading and (hopefully) 'till next week!
~Lilly
