A/N; Hey ya'll. It's been a couple weeks, but I've been a little busy with college and what not lol. So with that being said updates will be a little slower until I could get into the groove of things. But I hope you guys are still interested in this story. I would really like to hear some more thoughts on it. Anyways, onward!

CHAPTER FOUR:

to avoid or not to avoid

Teddy would be lying if she said that she felt any better in the morning. In fact, she felt ten times worse since the events that occurred the day before. Although Deaton's wolfsbane was enough to stop her eyes from glowing, like he said, it didn't completely get rid of her abilities.

At two in the morning, she had awoken to the sound of a newborn's cry. At first, she believed—and hoped—that she was only imagining things. That she was still dreaming. But once she heard the sound of the voice calming the child down, she immediately recognized it as Ms. Wilson, a brand new mother that lived a couple blocks from the Bryard household.

When Teddy had realized this, she immediately slammed her hands to cover her ear, tears falling down her cheeks as she tried to cry silently in fear that her mother would wake up. She ended up crying herself right back to sleep until her alarm went off for school.

Her mother had offered to drive her to the school on her way to work, and Teddy was thankful. She had not felt like dealing with Liliana just yet. She was already forced to deal with her mother not knowing the monster she was becoming.

So when Liliana had appeared at her table in the school's courtyard during her free period in order to figure out the 'gossip' on her and Stiles's studying the previous night, Teddy was more than frustrated about it, but she tried her best to hide it.

"So, nothing happened?"

"Nope."

"Not even a peck?"

"Nope."

"Not even a request to go out on a date that doesn't include your stupid science stuff."

"Not at all."

Liliana pouted her red painted lips in annoyance, causing Teddy to wince internally as she worked on homework due the next day.

"Please don't give me that look," Teddy begged.

Liliana regained her composure before blinking innocently. "What look?"

"That, 'I'm gonna punch that kid in the penis' look."

Liliana was very mom like when it came to certain things with Teddy, including if the Hispanic felt that someone did not see Teddy in the same light she did (which she described to be an adorable ball of mystery waiting to be solved), she had no issue in running up to them and telling them otherwise. This was another reason why Joshua's insults only went so far. He knew how testy Liliana was when it came to Teddy.

"Well, he deserves to be!" She exclaimed defensively. "I mean, I saw the way he looked when he said hi to you, and my observations are never wrong when it comes to a guy looking at a girl. Either he is a total jack ass that wants to string you along or you guys were interrupted before he could ask you out on a date."

Teddy snorted at the word 'interrupted', flashbacks of the previous night appearing in her mind. "Maybe it's neither Lily, maybe he just doesn't like me. And I definitely don't like him either. In any kind of way."

It was a sorta harsh thing to say, but between Liliana's continuous pestering and her frustration with Stiles from last night, she couldn't have put it any better. No matter how anyone had looked at it, if she hadn't decided to get close to Stiles then she would still be herself. Granted that she would have begun to have difficulties controlling her abilities after the sacrifices he and his friends made despite not getting involved with him, but who's to say she wouldn't have been able to suppress it over time? It was all thanks to Stiles and his 'open soul' being around her that things had started to go downhill for her. Which was exactly why she avoided him once again.

At least, that was what she was telling herself.

But deep down she knew that she shouldn't blame the entire thing on Stiles, or his friends for that matter. They were just trying to save their parents. They didn't know that doing so would have any effect on her. Hell, only one of the three knew she existed.

The reality was she couldn't run away from her truth forever. But she just wanted to prove her dad wrong…

"Well, well, well, is that Teddy talking about how she hates everyone again?"

And to make matters worse, Joshua decided to grace her with his presence.

"Oh Jesus," Liliana muttered as the tall blonde slid next to her, attempting to wrap his arm around her before she swatted it away. "You're like a parasite."

"Aww, don't say that babe." Joshua complained with a fake pout. "You didn't mind me being a parasite last night—"

"Okay first of all, disgusting," Teddy commented while returning to her homework.

"And secondly, don't call me babe." Liliana cut in with a flip of her hair. "You don't call me that unless we're a couple. Which we are not."

"Whatever you say, Lily." Joshua retorted with a smug look on his face. "Anyways, besides wanting to see your beautiful face, I also wanted to ask if you heard that there've been some coyote sightings recently around here. I would ask Teddy but you know, she hates everything that breaths so I didn't think she'd care."

"Up yours Joshua." Teddy snapped back calmly while giving him the middle finger.

"Seriously? Now we have coyotes in Beacon Hills along with the sudden appearance of wolves and random murders? Can this town get any weirder?" Liliana muttered before she took out her phone and began reapplying her lipstick using the camera as her mirror.

Teddy bit her lip at her best friend's comment. Liliana only knew the surface of just how weird their little town was.

—

There was one flaw in Teddy's plan to avoid Stiles and his friends all together. She had a good amount of classes with them.

Of course, she had not realized this until she entered into her World History class, only to see the whiskey eyed teen standing in the corner with Scott, along with a beautiful brunette that Teddy recognized to be Allison Argent. At first, the three teens had been so engrossed in something that was on Scott's phone that they barely even noticed the other people surrounding them. But once the class bell had sounded, and Allison left the two of them behind, she felt her body stiffen as Stiles looked up and met her gaze.

Now, it hadn't been the first time that they had seen each other since last night. In fact, this morning, while they were both walking to each other's respective cars, they stared at each other as they were doing currently. Stiles had dared to send a wave in her direction, which she simply ignored before joining her mother in the car.

This time Stiles, learning from his mistake, was the first one to break eye contact before heading to his seat beside Scott. Teddy watched him a little longer before biting her lip and making her way to her own seat, all the way in the back of the class.

As the class went on, Teddy tried to ignore Stiles, she really did. But how could she ignore him when he was continuously looking back in her direction?

Every few minutes or so she would feel his eyes burning into the side of her profile. Of course, she wouldn't return the look because then that would give him some sort of hint that she still wanted something to do with him. And she didn't. Not at all.

Didn't she?

Well, he did basically ruin her attempt at what she considered a normal life. But then again, before she knew his part in awakening her Erinyes gene when he was just her regular study partner, she didn't exactly mind his presence. They had similar interests and unlike most people that were greeted by her cold attitude, he still persisted in trying to get through to her. Besides, she noticed how happy her mom was that she was starting to reach out to someone other than Liliana. And even when finding out that she wasn't who he thought she was, he didn't run.

She sighed deeply as she absentmindedly wrote some notes down from Mr. Yukimura's lecture. Stiles wasn't a bad person, she knew that. But what if avoiding him was the only way she could stay herself for a little while longer?

"Alright class," Mr. Yukimura announced as he placed his copy of the class textbook on the pedestal. "I would like a volunteer to read this page aloud for the class. How about you Mr. Stilinski?"

At this, Teddy's head immediately snapped in Stiles's direction. As she expected, Stiles began to fidget around nervously, his fingers fumbling with the cover of his textbook.

"Um, is it okay if someone else goes?" Stiles mumbled.

Teddy knew she shouldn't, but she found herself doing it anyway. "I'll go Mr. Yukimura, it's fine."

Everyone's head snapped at the back of the class at this, putting Teddy at the center of attention, something she seriously hated. Even Mr. Yukimura was giving her a look of surprise.

"Wow, Ms. Bryard. You're not really one to participate in my class. And while I'm happy that you've finally decided to do so, I'm afraid I've already asked Stiles to read." Mr. Yukimura explained nicely before returning his attention back to Stiles. "So Stiles, please come up and read for the class."

Teddy cursed under her breath as she watched Stiles fidget around his seat a little more. Before he stood up, he glanced back at her with begging eyes and made his way towards the front of the class.

He clutched his hands around the textbook that laid before him, so hard that his pale knuckles began to turn white. He glanced upwards at the students in the class before licking his lips and beginning to read.

"Invalid Constitutional...Constitu...Const..."

Teddy watched as Stiles's eyes began to roll over, and she knew that he was beginning to have another panic attack. As gasps and whispers spread around the classroom at his actions, she felt herself rise out of her seat when it looked as if he was about to collapse to the floor but paused when she caught sight of Scott beating her to his aid.

"I think I'll take him to the nurse," Scott announced as he grabbed a hold of Stiles.

Mr. Yukimura did not protest as Scott lead a panicking Stiles out of the classroom. Teddy watched as the two boys exited the classroom, feeling her heart race. The panic attack looked a lot worse than the one he had when she tried to put her number on his phone.

"Alright," Mr. Yukimura announced as the tension lightened a little. "Let's just have silent reading for the rest of class."

Although Teddy's eyes cast downward to her textbook, she couldn't bring her mind to understand what she was reading.

About twenty minutes later the class bell had finally rung, signaling the end of the class. Teddy immediately burst out of her seat and slung her bag over her shoulders. She had a free period, so she figured she could maybe check on Stiles to see if everything was okay. Even though she was avoiding him, she wasn't so heartless that she wouldn't at least check up on him.

But as she made her way out of the classroom, her eyes caught sight of the spazzy teen's backpack still on the floor beside his desk.

"Oh, I think that's Stiles's."

Teddy's eyes shot up at the unfamiliar voice. Standing before her was the new girl that she noticed a couple of days ago, looking down at her with an aura that screamed sunshine and rainbows. Teddy was tempted to shield herself with the back of her hand from the brightness.

"Oh sorry," the girl continued even though Teddy had yet to say anything. "I was just gonna return Scott his bag too—I mean not because I like him or anything, I so don't—but yea anyways I saw Stiles's bag too and I was gonna get that to him too but then you grabbed it so—"

"Okay, okay, okay," Teddy whined as she pinched the bridge of her nose. And here she thought Liliana could talk anyone's ears off. "Who are you again?"

"Oh, right," she began apologetically as her wide smile slowly began to shrink at Teddy's harshness. "I'm Kira Yukimura. I just moved here three weeks ago. But I'm pretty quiet so nobody knows me. I don't really have any friends yet. I don't know why I'm still talking."

"Neither do I," Teddy replied as she leaned over to pick Stiles's bag off of the ground. "So your Mr. Yukimura's daughter?"

Kira nodded her head in response, careful to watch her talkative mouth.

Teddy took a deep breath. She honestly did not feel like walking with someone she didn't know. Especially one with such a different personality from her own. But unlike herself, it seemed like Kira wasn't a fan of not having someone to talk to. Teddy's pretty sure that she's one of the first people that the younger Yukimura spoke to since transferring to BHHS.

So, instead of walking away and leaving Kira to figure out how to find Scott on her own, Teddy decided to try and follow what her therapist said about meeting new people.

"Do you wanna...I dunno, come with me to find them, or something?" Teddy questioned with a lazy shrug.

Even though her tone was very much unwelcoming, which she really couldn't help, Kira's eyes brightened as the light returned to her face.

"Yea, sure!"

—

They were silent the entire time.

As soon as the two girls left the class, the attempt to speak to each other was thrown out the window. For Kira, it was because she believed that Teddy didn't really want to be bothered with what she wanted to talk about. For Teddy, it was because she truly didn't know how to talk to anyone other than Liliana and found herself grasping at straws on what to talk about.

So the result led into a silent hunt to find the two teenage boys.

They hadn't been in the nurse like Teddy expected them to be, so she figured they had probably gone to the boys' locker room in order to be secluded while Stiles calmed down.

While the two of them walked down the surprisingly dark hallway which led to the locker rooms, Kira finally managed to find the guts to speak.

"So you and Stiles are friends?" she questioned from behind Teddy.

"Not at all, just neighbors." Teddy quickly responded without a second thought.

"O-Oh," Kira replied. "It's just that, when he wasn't feeling well in the middle of class, you were the first one out of your seat to try and help him."

Teddy rolled her eyes, thankful that Kira was behind her and couldn't see the action. Why was it that people believed that being worried for someone meant that they had to have some kind of significant relationship? It was normal to want to see if someone is okay without having to be friends with them unless said someone was Joshua Daniels.

But before Teddy was about to explain this to Kira, a low, grumbling sound made her stop in her tracks, causing Kira to bump into her back.

"Hey is everything—"

"Shh!" Teddy commanded as pushed Kira back. "I think...wait, did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kira questioned with slight panic. "Teddy, what's going on? The locker room's right here let's just go."

Teddy didn't respond. All she did was look straight ahead down the rest of the hall before them. There was nothing there aside from a small staircase leading to the next level. Teddy frowned slightly before slowly beginning to relax the tension from her shoulders. She could have sworn she heard something. It sounded a lot like a growl—

"Grrr..."

Teddy immediately felt herself tense up once again as she whipped her hand out to protectively push Kira behind her.

"What the hell was that?" Kira whispered as she followed the direction of Teddy's eyes.

Appearing from behind the staircase was a large, gray colored coyote. At first, it was quiet and didn't seem to even notice them with its piercing blue eyes. But once it lifted its nose into the air and took a whiff, it immediately began to growl again. This time, at them.

"Shit," Teddy cursed. "Kira let's go!"

Before the vicious animal could even take one step, Kira and Teddy were already inside of the boys' locker room.

The two girls scattered around to find a decent place to hide, but there wasn't much either of them could do in such an open area. They finally decided to kneel behind a set of lockers, both of them huddled close together so that they wouldn't be so easily found.

The coyote was smart enough to follow them into the locker room, as they both heard the sound of the doors creaking open along with an angry growl. But the scariest part about the entire situation was that for some odd reason, they couldn't hear which direction the animal was heading towards. It was as if it was tip toeing purposefully as not to give the two girls an idea as to where it was coming from.

Teddy wasn't sure what she should do. As her heart pounded against her chest, clutching her hands into knuckles, she knew deep down that at some point they would have to face off against the animal if no one else came to save them. But she wasn't really much competition for coyote. At least, not the way she was currently. She swore she wouldn't give into her growing powers for any reason, but was that really the price of someone else's life?

She closed her eyes shut as she thought carefully. Her alternative option was to distract the coyote and give Kira enough time to run out and find help, but how long would she last before she was devoured? Well, it was better than giving in to becoming a monster.

"Kira, when I tell you to run, make sure you run and get help, okay?" Teddy whispered into the brunette's ear.

"What?! Teddy are you crazy?"

"Ready," Teddy began despite Kira's claims. "1...2...3!"

"Teddy wait—"

Against Kira's words, Teddy spun out from behind the lockers.

The coyote stood before her, looking a little surprised at Teddy's boldness. But it quickly recovered from its shock and bared its fangs, releasing a terrifying growl in her direction. It began to position itself in a way that made Teddy figure it was getting ready to pounce her. She hoped that with this Kira would have enough time to sneak out of the room safely. She took a deep breath before shutting her eyes closed.

If this was how she died, getting mauled by a feral coyote that somehow made its way into her high school, it was a lot more interesting than how she originally perceived her death, which was dying in her sleep.

But instead of feeling herself being ripped to shreds by sharp teeth, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, pulling her body towards them. Then there was a loud bang.

Teddy's eyes opened to see that the three rows of lockers had collapsed on each other like dominoes. The coyote was no longer in front of her. In fact, it seemed as if the animal had escaped the room altogether.

She felt herself breathe again realizing she had basically just escaped death, but that she was still alive.

"Jesus Christ that was close."

Realizing that she still had a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, Teddy immediately escaped from their grasp and turned to see who the person was. Much to her surprise, she was looking up at a very shaken Stiles Stilinski.

Teddy blinked a few times at him before remembering that Kira had also been in the locker room with her. She found herself glancing around the room until she found the cheerful girl huddled into Scott's arms, Scott glaring at the direction of the lockers with a menacing look. Teddy's head tilted ever so slightly as she watched the way he panted heavily, his muscles bulging out from underneath his dark colored shirt as if he had just finished lifting weights.

And then she realized, he must've pushed the lockers down.

A/N; And here was chapter four! Sorry, there wasn't much going on here except for a little Kira and Teddy interaction. But at least you all got to see how Teddy behaves when she's around someone she's not comfortable with. And you also get to see her powers starting to progress. Anyways, see ya'll next chapter! Please review + follow + favorite.