Ugh, High School. As if being a teenage werewolf wasn't bad enough she had to deal with the workings of high school. Okay, Mae really couldn't complain too much since her first day wasn't all that bad. The hyperactive spazz known as Stiles showed her to her first class and Mae found her way around pretty easily after that. It was almost like she had a sixth sense as to where her classrooms were. Mae simply explained it as this school being pretty much the same layout as any other high school. Yeah, even she knew that was a lame excuse but with everything else on her mind she really didn't want to deal with the ever present feeling like she'd been there before. Despite these efforts to not think about it she got distracted by it a few times in class and even got chewed out by one of her teachers for 'daydreaming'. If Mae was going to spend her time in class daydreaming, she wouldn't be wasting it on trying to figure out what was causing the nagging feeling inside her.
When the lunch bell rang Mae's hearing caught the sound of the spazz's voice mentioning her. She immediately headed for the other direction and ended up in the music room. Mae was not in the mood to deal with anyone and just wanted some space. After entering the room she closed the door behind her and sighed with a smile when she saw her cello case that she placed in the room earlier that day. The music teacher was out sick that day so Mae would have to make her case about being allowed to join band or orchestra tomorrow. There really wasn't enough time to practice anything so Mae made her way around the room.
With every step Mae took the nagging feeling inside grew. She ignored them as she walked over to the shelves of instruments. Mae had been able to play the cello since the moment she picked one up so she never tried to play anything else. She didn't see the need to. Mae's eyes move over the instruments there and she named off each one as she heard their sound in her head. Just because she never bothered to learn to play another instrument, that didn't mean she didn't appreciate them.
When Mae's eyes landed on the triangle she found herself smiling but didn't know why. Triangles had always been her favorite shape and she loved the little sound it made when played. Just another thing that's been like that for as long as she could remember. Mae was about to reach out to pick up the simple little instrument when the bell rang out indicating that lunch period was over. Had she really just wasted her entire lunch period? Apparently so. With a sigh she scooped her bag off the floor and headed to her next class.
—-
After school that's when things started to get really weird for Mae. As if the nagging feeling inside wasn't bad enough. Mae waited until the music room had cleared out before going back to get her cello and head home. That was her plan anyway; grab her cello, meet Ty outside, go home and practice like crazy to ensure she impresses the music teacher the next day. Plans have a way of changing themselves though. As soon as Mae entered the music room this time she felt the stronge urge to play. A song was on loop in her head that's she's known since the first time she picked up a cello. Where she heard it first was a mystery to her but it was her favorite. Not seeing the harm in taking a little time to practice there, since Ty would wait for her anyway, Mae carefully started to remove her most cherished item from its case.
Mae took a seat in the middle of the front row with her cello in hand and started to play. The music filled the room and her ears but before long another sound accompanied it. An annoying 'thump, thump, thump' sound of a dribbling basketball made Mae lose her place. She grumbled in frustration then started again but the sound continued to distract her. Mae did her best to drown out the sound with her music but it soon became that the only sound in her ears was the thump thump of that blasted ball being dribbled. Mae's eyes turned yellow as she glared at the door. As soon as her eyeswent back to normal she set her cello aside and left the room to follow the sound and give whoever was making it a piece of her mind.
The closer Mae got to the source of the sound, the louder it became. As she headed for the corner she called out, "Don't you people know that basketball is meant to be played in the gym?" As soon as Mae turned the corner the sound stopped and there was no one in sight. Mae turned around and did a double take as to what had just happened. She takes a few steps forward and feels the same nagging feeling again. "Weird." She said aloud and turned around to head back to the music room, not before looking over her shoulder a time or two again just in case.
Mae went back to her seat and resumed her practice, but the sound of the dribbling basketball filled her ears once again. Her annoyance level had reached and ultimate high so she gave up and packed up her cello to leave. In spite of every instinct telling her to stay. This was all too weird for her and knew if she went tracking whoever it was that was messing with her, that she might not be able to control herself. So, Mae put her cello away and headed out the back to meet Ty in the parking lot where he was probably already waiting.
—
Derek dealt with what he needed to with Scott earlier that day but at the end of the day he found himself outside of the school; watching as the kids piled out after the last bell rang. He couldn't get that glimpse of the girl out of his head. Derek knew it wasn't Paige, knew it couldn't be her. But the image of that girl leaning on the cello case was driving him nuts. He just had to see who it really was to put his mind at ease. The easiest way of course would be to ask Stiles who he had been talking to that morning but he wasn't about to ask Stiles something like that. Derek could easily imagine all the different ways that could go wrong or weird if he were to get Stiles involved. No, this was something he had to take care of himself.
He was starting to feel like a creeper sitting out in his car like that as he watched the students leave. Out of all the faces that emerged from the school, not one of them was who he was looking for. Derek could have just left it alone, but he didn't. Once the large group of kids were gone and only a few stragglers remained, Derek went inside.
Derek wandered the halls a bit when he heard something that made him stop dead in his tracks. It was a song that he hadn't heard in a very long time. Not since Paige played it in fact. It had to be a coincidence, yet it was something worth checking out. Derek headed for the music room even after the music had stopped but arrived too late. By the time he got to the room, whoever had been playing the music was gone. What was there was just as unnerving. It was a scent that was so very familiar to him and yet different at the same time. The room smelled like Paige but it also smelled like a wolf. This was something Derek couldn't ignore.
Derek followed the scent out of the room, through the halls, and outside where he caught sight of a girl putting a cello into a van and then getting inside. Once again he had only caught a glimpse of her and once again; it was Paige. Derek stood there with clenching fists as he watched the van drive off. If he didn't feel like he was going crazy before, he was sure as hell feeling it now.
(End Chapter 2)