After school the next day, I drive myself to work, my head full of thoughts and ideas for the art project that we were assigned today. The theme for this terms project is called Identity and my fingers were itching to get started. I was thinking of how I could sit my friends and family down and paint their portraits, then link them all together like a giant visual mind map of my life when the car in front of me screeches to a halt. I quickly slam my foot on my brake, thankful that I was far enough away to not go crashing into the back of their car.

A brunette girl jumps out of the driver's seat and hurries out into the road ahead of us. Rain had started spitting down, but she didn't seem to care. Curiosity and concern got the better of me – instead of pulling out around her and carrying on, I tugged up my handbrake and jumped out of my car.

"Hey? Are you alright?" I call out to the girl, pulling the hood of my jacket over my head. "Need some help?" The rain was getting heavier by the second.
The girl looks up and although she seems around my age, I don't recognise the face. Tears and rain were streaking down her face as she crouched over a lump in the road.
"I don't know- I didn't- I didn't mean to- I just glanced down for a second to change a song on my ipod when- It just ran out from nowhere! I didn't mean to- Oh god-"
I realise what she is talking about when I get close enough to see that the lump in the road was actually a whimpering dog.
"What's your name?" I ask the shaking girl, whilst crouching down to see if the dog would let me stroke it. The dog growls and I pull my hand away swiftly. That'll be a no.
"A-Allison."
"Okay, Allison, don't worry. There is an Animal clinic literally just round that next left turn. Come on, help me try and pick him up."
She sniffles and wipes her brown hair out of her face.

Together we manage to get our hands underneath the dog (avoiding it's claws and bite) and place him in the back seat of Allison's car. It continues to whimper but I have to get to work and can't take the time to make sure that Allison gets it to the clinic in time.
"So seriously, it's the next left and the surgery will be right in front of you, got that?"
Allison nods, "Yes. Thank you so much!" She pulls me into a hug, which would have been nice were we both not soaked through from the rain.
"Alright, I hope you get there safe."

I run back to my car and follow Allison down the road until she turns off. My shoes were squeaking on the pedals from the rain and water was dripping off the ends my hair. Great. Thankfully, I had a towel in the boot of my car prepared for any beach trips that Jane and I went on over the summer and my work uniform to change into. It is not until I pull into a space at the shopping centre that I wonder if Allison had been the new girl that Jane wouldn't stop hammering on about. I push it all out of mind and hurry towards the entrance, looking forward to warmth and dryness.

…

I started working at Love Home at the start of summer when my parents nagged me to get a job because they couldn't keep buying me all the art supplies that I wanted and they didn't want me to waste my summer sleeping all the time. So I had walked round all the shops in the Beacon Hills Mall handing out my CV and luckily, my first interview turned into my first job. It's one of those home appliance shops that sells like everything you need and everything you didn't know you wanted. You know, the normal things like microwaves, cutlery, plates, clocks, and then the weird things like an alarm clock that has wheels and runs away when you try and turn it off, and a phone in the shape of a bird that squawks every time someone calls you. Not my dream job, but the people are nice and it pays for my paints during High School.

I took my towel, change of clothes and some eyeliner into the toilets and made myself look approachable again. My ginger hair is naturally wavy so I give it a quick scrunch with the towel and look at myself with pity. I just wasn't one of those girls with naturally gifted hair; I had a constant bed head look. And with the dark green of my work polo shirt I look like an advert for Christmas. I run my fingers under my eyes as if that would help get rid of faint purple bags and surveyed myself in the mirror. There has never been a time when I have thought that I looked extremely pretty, but I wouldn't describe myself as ugly either. I'm fine. Just fine, I guess. My eyes are a nice green colour and I hardly get any acne, but then again, my nose was a bit longer than average and I tower over my friends - not in a supermodel kind of way, but a sort of lanky, stretched way. I let out a heavy sigh, the woes of being a teenager. You never look good enough for anyone.

Taking my wet clothes and things back to my locker, I remember to remind myself that I am starting a shift at work and not going out to a party or something, so how I look really doesn't matter.

…

The hours passed with nothing of interest happening. When I glanced at the many, many clocks that hung on the shelves beside me, I saw the hands point to 9 o'clock, telling me that there was half an hour until we shut and I could go home and attempt to sleep.

A father and son were stood at the end of the clock section, so I walk over to approach them.
"Hi, do you need any help there? Can I help you find anything?" I ask cheerfully with a smile.
I find myself suddenly really happy to see Isaac Lahey's curly hair. Then I see his face. He glances up to look at me with a horrified expression. The bottom left side of his lip is purple and bruised. My heart catches in my throat. He looks as if he wants a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him.

Completely ignoring his father, I gasp quietly, "Isaac!" My sales assistant smile has been wiped off my face.
Suddenly, his father's body steps in between us. He smirks down at me, "If I remember rightly, you are paid to assist me in my shopping, not chat to my son."
"Y-yes sir," I manage to stutter out, trying to resist the urge to look away from his cold lined eyes and around him to see if Isaac is okay.
"Where are the Silver Acctim Day and Date clocks? I'd like to replace a broken one." Mr. Lahey asks, now with a warm smile on his face as if he hadn't just terrified me.
"Just over here, sir," I led him around to the other side of the aisle and passed him one in a box off the shelf. I made sure to avoid looking at Isaac, whose footsteps I could hear shuffling after us.
"Thank you. That'll be all."
"Well, let me know if you need anything else, sir." I nodded, faking a helpful smile and walked to the end of the aisle.

I stopped when I felt I was a safe distance away and pretended to be rearranging some mugs on a shelf whilst watching as Mr. Lahey pointed to the price tag and shake his head at Isaac as if it was his fault that he was going to have to spend $30 on a new clock.
The older man, box in hand, strides away towards the checkout while Isaac runs his hands through his hair. His eyes scan the aisle and land on me. I feel my face burning as I look up and give him a smile. For a second, he makes a move that looks like he is going to walk over to me. My heart pounds against my ribs.

"Isaac?" His dad calls, raising his eyebrows at his son. Isaac panics and jogs away to follow his father, tripping over his feet slightly as he does.

I try to catch Isaac's eye again before they leave, but his gaze is stuck to the floor.

It leaves a strange empty, aching feel in me once they are gone and it's all I can think about for the rest of the night. What happened to his lip? Maybe he was just embarrassed to be seen with his dad… I'm sure everything's fine.

I'll have to try and catch him at school tomorrow.

…

I pick Jane up as usual and take her to school. She asks me how work was and I reply that it was fine. For some reason, I don't feel like discussing Isaac with her. I hesitate more than once before speaking this morning and soon enough Jane looks at me and pouts, "Alright. What's up?"
"…I'm just tired."

I'm not lying. I got little to no sleep last night.

And it happened again.

The painting that I don't remember painting.

Only this time, it wasn't just Scott that was in it – so was another man, someone who I didn't recognise. Their faces were different: wolvish, darker, with bright yellow eyes. It was definitely Scott though; I could feel it in my gut. They were in the woods with a full moon watching over and Scott had an arrow through his arm, pinning him to a tree. The other man looked menacing and his face had been haunting me all morning. I had been chewing away at the thought of warning Scott. But these paintings weren't real, right? I mean, it wasn't Scott who the police found dead. So why would someone shoot him with an arrow?

"Sure. Tired." Jane agreed bluntly and looked out of the window in silence. She thinks I'm keeping something from her. But imagine the reply I would get if I said to her: Hey Jane, I keep painting Scott McCall getting injured but don't remember painting it. She would raise her eyebrows and ask me how much I'd had to drink lately.

We meet up with Summer and Sarah as usual and pass Lydia Martin in the corridor, as usual. She says hi to me, and I smile back. I hear Jane tut and she walks a bit faster.

Then I see him.

"Guys, I'll see you at break, okay?" I say to my friends before approaching Isaac, who has his head in his locker.

"…Hi." I almost choke out. Not really sure where I'm going with this.
He almost hits his head on the locker door as he whips his head around to look at me.
"Emily. Hi." Isaac winces through a purple lipped smile. It looks a little better today than it did last night.
"How are you doing? I was worried that…" I trail off. I was worried that what? He was hurt? He was obviously hurt Emily, don't be such an idiot.
"-I'm fine." He cuts me off in such a tone that takes me aback.
My eyes widen and I step back, "It's okay, you don't owe me an explanation, I was just seeing that you were okay, that's all."
Grabbing the strap of my bag, I turn to leave.

His hand whips out and grabs my arm lightly, "Wait. I- I'm sorry."
That's the Isaac that I know.
"You don't have to keep apologising."
He rubs his head with one hand and shyly smiles, "I know. I'm-"
"Sorry." I finish for him, grinning.
Isaac's warm hand drops from my arm and a lump appears in my throat.
"The clock fell on me and we just needed to replace it." Isaac assures me without blinking, "It was my fault. I'm too clumsy."
"Okay," I smile up at him, feeling a lot better now I knew it was something so trivial. His dad was probably quite a strict parent. I push Jane's voice saying, "His dad almost let some kid drown at a swim team party once," out of my head.

"Oh, also, Friday night?" The words leave my lips without having fully thought through what I wanted to say.
"Friday?" Isaac's big eyes blink at me, confused.
"Yeah, um, did you want to get started on that Chemistry project? Figured you'd want to. Oh- Because you said it was your worst subject- that's what I meant."
Why was I getting so flustered? Remind me to think before I speak next time.
Isaac's face shows surprise, "Y-Yeah, yeah, that'd be great."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Great."
There is a moment's pause and then the bell rings for class.
"So I'll take you to mine after school then on Friday?" I suggest in a hurry, partly because I didn't want to go back to Isaac's house and meet his dad again. I would be way too anxious if that happened.
"Y-Yeah."
"Okay, see you then!" I left him and hurried along to class, a smile stretching from ear to ear.

…

We sat in the cafeteria at lunch on our usual table. I was glancing around the room looking for Jane when my eyes fell on Stiles and Scott. They were arguing about something, which I noted was strange for them. Stiles's animated gestures were juxtaposing Scott's sullen, still stance. My thoughts flickered back to the painting… The full moon was this Friday, I had checked on my phone this morning… Maybe I should say something. Like, tell Stiles to invite Scott round for a movie night or something… Ugh how weird would that sound?!

A tray smashes down on the table in front of me causing me to nearly choke on my water.
"Woah, Jane!" Sarah cries, picking up the pineapple piece she had dropped in surprise.
"Guys. You'll never guess what." Jane interjected, a giant grin on her face. She pulls herself neatly onto the bench and gave us a knowing look. She placed her dark hands together and pouted those red lips of hers.
"What is it?" I inquired, assuming that it was going to be some trifling gossip about Lydia Martin or something.
"Party." She simply says, still giving us that look.
We all exchange glances, hoping that Jane will elaborate quickly.
"Party. This Friday. Literally, everybody is going. Even Lydia and Jackson. So we are in, yes?"
Summer nods, "Yeah sure, I'll tell Michael."
Sarah swallows a chunk of pineapple and confirms that she'll be there.

All eyes look to me. I knew that I had already told Isaac that we'd study that night. I felt bad cancelling on him but I honestly didn't know which one I would prefer to do… There was a nagging feeling reminding me about the painting with the full moon but quickly forced it away.
"I'll see." I decide to say.
Jane is astonished. "You'll see? You'll see? What is wrong with you! This is going to be the party of the year after Lydia Martin's birthday! There's going to be alcohol and boys, what is there to see about that?"
Her reply shocked me to the core. Never before has Jane been so… rude! If I didn't want to go before, I really don't want to go now, just to piss her off even more.
"Actually, I've just remembered, I already have plans." I state, picking up my water bottle and crumbling the tinfoil that had held my sandwich into a ball.
To make even more of a point, I stood up and stared Jane down, saying in a clear voice, "I'm hanging out with Isaac that night, so I don't think I'll be able to go to the party. What a shame."

And then I walked away.

A.N:

Hope you are enjoying this, I know it's kind of starting slow, but I can assure you that it's all going to go downhill pretty quickly soon with the full moon approaching! I'm going to keep trying to update chapters pretty quickly. Please follow and review!
Also I'm pretty sure these chapters are getting slowly longer... :')