Chapter 3 –
Lydia waited out in the car as she sent Jackson inside the movie rental store, so they could watch the Notebook again, despite his insistence that they watch something else. It wasn't that she didn't like other movies, or even that she liked the movie in question all that much, it was her way of showing Jackson who was in control of this relationship. There was almost nothing compared to the supreme satisfaction she got when she got her way.
Well…sex…definitely sex, but this was a close second.
She took the opportunity by herself to snap a few pictures of herself, another tactic of her's to keep Jackson in line, when she noticed the lights go out inside. She stared confusedly for a second, before a crashing sound came from inside, startling her.
She stepped out of the car and cautiously stepped towards the storefront. She wasn't going to go in or anything, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her.
She was halfway there, when a large creature jumped through one of the windows, startling her to the point she let out a great scream.
Once she got a hold of herself, she ran back to the car and dialed 9-1-1, before finally deciding that it was probably best if she went in to check on Jackson.
It was nearly two hours later, and she was still being questioned by the town Sheriff. When he finally asked her what she had scene, movement from the roof caught her attention. A quick glance up revealed Scott and Derek looking down from the roof. Their appearance meant that whatever that thing was, it had something to do with them, so she quickly came up with the excuse that it was a mountain lion. In the back of her mind, she planned to confront Scott on what happened tonight.
It was almost the end of another school week, and Lydia had yet to corner Scott and interrogate him. She figured it might have to do with his apparent dislike of her, but she couldn't understand why he felt that way. Sure, she could potentially chalk it up to the sudden dissolution of their friendship, but he was the one who started acting openly hostile towards her a few months later, not her. It had to be something more than that.
Figuring that continuing to pester him would only make the situation worse, she had kept her distance from him, but watched him at every opportunity. Something about her must've been distinct because Scott would usually stiffen after a while, before his eyes would lock with hers, which was usually followed by a scowl and an aversion of his eyes.
It was then to her complete shock, that Scott approached her willingly. He was obviously reluctant to do so, his gaze averted to her shoes, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as she raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"I need your help."
She fought to bite back the smirk that threatened to break her stoic disposition. Instead, she waved off-handedly, while the other messed with her hair.
"My help?"
He gave an aggravated huff. "Yes, I need your help. I need to learn how to control the shift."
She had to repress the urge to ask what he meant by 'the shift', as if it wasn't obvious.
"Why do you need my help? I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."
"Look", he said, as he rubbed his face, "I need to learn how to use my powers, and since Derek is busy tracking the Alpha, you're the only person I can turn to."
"The Alpha?"
"I'll explain everything, just…will you help me?"
She briefly considered blowing him off, he was the one who had an issue, but the second she looked at his face, she saw the need and desperation in his expression there, she gave him a stiff nod. The sheer earnestness of his expression reminded her of when they were friends, and how difficult it was to let it all go.
"Alright, meet me out by the Lacrosse field during free period," and before she could respond, he was already on his way.
Watching as Scott got taken to the ground again by Danny, she almost felt bad for him, but he had asked her to help him control his anger.
He had finally filled her in on everything that she asked him, on the Alpha, Derek, the hunters, and being a werewolf in general. He told her that he needed to find a way to keep his heart rate down and in check.
Honestly, he was doing a terrible job of it.
They had "borrowed" one of Coach's heart monitors, and asked Danny to help Scott with his defense, which had led to Dany repeatedly shouldering Scott to the ground, all the while, his heart rate continuing to go up.
It was like he wasn't even trying.
After nearly 20 minutes, she heard the heartbeat monitor going off, just as Scott fell to the ground as if in pain. Panicking, she dashed forward, though in truth, she had no idea how she would handle this.
"Is he alright?"
Danny stepped forward to help, but Lydia quickly deflected his help.
"He's fine. Thanks for your help Danny." He looked at her puzzled for a moment, offering a mumbled, "Whatever," before heading back off towards the school.
"Come on McCall, you need to calm down." He looked up sharply, a growl on his lips, his eyes glowing yellow, causing her to jump back slightly. "McCall," he seemed like he was unable to hear her. "Scott!" That finally seemed to snap him out of it, as his breathing evened out.
"Jesus McCall. I'm here trying to help and it's like you aren't even trying."
His face snapped up to her's again, his eyes flashing again. "Oh yeah, like you were really trying to help," he said, sarcasm and contempt dripping through his voice.
"Alright, I've had it McCall. What exactly is your problem with me?"
"Like you don't already know."
"What? Are you mad that I stopped being your friend?" she said in a slightly mocking tone, her anger and frustration making her forget she was supposed to be helping him.
"You really don't know do you?" His voice was no longer loud, but still as incredulous as it was previously, which gave her pause.
"The first lacrosse practice of Freshman year…"
-Flashback—
The tryouts for the lacrosse team were almost over, and Scott felt that he had done well. Everyone, including his mother, were convinced that he wouldn't even be on the team, but he was proving them all wrong. His asthma had only acted up a few times, nobody noticing when it did, which he took as a good sign. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Lydia, who was there to watch Jackson try out, as she called Coach Finstock over and told him something, before he blew his whistle to get the team's attention.
"Alright, everyone! Listen Up!" he called from the middle of the field, prompting all the potential players to run over to him as quick as their feet could carry them. "Despite terrible performances from most of you, I can see there is a small amount of talent among you." His looked at all the students around him, his smile a little unsettling to Scott and many of the others. "Because of this, I'm naming Jackson Whitmore the first ever Freshman captain."
This was met by a rousing applause by most of the other players, Scott himself providing a more subdued ovation. He wasn't Jackson's biggest fan at the moment.
The reason for his disdain towards him, was the previously mentioned strawberry-blonde, who was giving an over exaggerated clap from the bleachers. Ever since the start of the year, she replaced associating with him, to being seen on the arm of Jackson, leaving Scott a disappointed and lonely.
"Alright, enough!" Coach shouted, cutting off the celebration. "Here's everyone else who've already earned a spot on the team. He rattled off a list of names of people, but Scott realized that there was still one spot open. "There's only one spot left on first-line, so I want to see that following people again," giving another list of names, but to Scott's dismay, his name wasn't called.
Once Coach instructed the students he called to return to the field, Scott took the opportunity to approach him.
"Coach, what about me?"
When Coach whipped around to face him, his annoyed expression morphed to a more remorseful one, or…as remorseful as Coach could muster.
"I'm sorry McCall, it's come to my attention that you have a serious medical condition, so I can't in good conscience let you play," Scott's shoulder's slumped at that.
"But Coach, I did fine today, you saw that. Doesn't that mean…"
"I'm sorry McCall. I can't do it, but even though you can't play, you can still be a part of the team." With that Coach walked away, leaving behind a dejected Scott. He looked helplessly around the field, until his eyes settled once again on Lydia, which caused him to glare.
-Flashback End—
"I don't understand. What does any of that have to do with me?"
"Don't play dumb Lydia. I was enough of a nobody that few people at this school knew I had asthma, except for you. Coach just so happens to find out about it, right after you talk to Coach."
Lydia's eyes widened, finally remembering what Scott was referring to.
"Scott. You don't understand-"
"Understand what? That you sabotaged my chances of playing on the team." She opened her mouth to retort, but Scott kept going. "Was it all to make sure your boyfriend made team captain, or was it because of me?"
Lydia found herself in a position that she wasn't used to, she was speechless. The memory of that day was coming back to her. Yes, she had approached Coach that day, and yes, she had told him about Scott's asthma, but it wasn't because she wanted to hurt Scott. She opened her mouth to tell him as much, but Scott cut her off.
"Forget it. I asked you to help me control all this, so let's get this over with," and with that, he began walking back towards the school, forcing Lydia to follow shortly behind him.
"I thought Allison made me weak?"
"No," came Lydia's reply. She wanted to be more annoyed with him, but with recent revelations in mind, she figured it was best to try and be nice to him. "Remember, Derek doesn't like her family. Just because he said it, doesn't mean it's true."
"Okay, but what am I supposed to do when I lose control?"
"Just try to focus on her or think of her or something," she says exacerbated, "I think she brings you back, gives you control. Like she's you're anchor."
"Yeah," came Scott's somewhat hesitant reply.
Lydia stopped walking and turned to look at Scott, he had an unreadable expression on his face. He quickly averted his eyes from her direction, trying his best to look anywhere but at her. She pondered the cause of this strange behavior before her eyes widened at the conclusion she came to.
"You love her."
Scott's eyes widened at her words, his expression embarrassed, but he didn't refute her words. Lydia on the other hand felt a pang of…something in her chest. She couldn't place what it was, so she eventually chalked it up to Scott finding that with Allison, while she had yet to with Jackson.
"Look", she says, trying to make her voice sound as dismissive and uncaring as possible, "but we need to test this to see if it's actually true."
"Okay…" was Scott's reply, but by the insincere smile on her face, he figured he wouldn't like whatever it was.
Lydia still couldn't help but wonder how she found herself in these situations, as she followed Scott out of the Animal Clinic.
After they had tested whether Allison gave Scott control, which involved her keying some guys car and blaming it on Scott, which caused Scott to wonder if she was trying to help or got some sick enjoyment from these situations. Either way, Scott was successful at preventing his changes, so she chalked it up to a success.
Afterwards, Scott received a text from Derek, claiming that he had found the Alpha. Arranging to meet at the Animal Clinic, they discovered that Derek tied up Scott's boss Deaton, believing him to be the Alpha. Scott prevented Derek from killing him, shifting and telling Derek that he had a plan, which was news to Lydia.
He attempted a quick exit like their last visit there, but she managed to cut him off.
"You're seriously going off to the school to try and trap the Alpha there?"
"You don't need to follow me, you know. Derek and I can handle this."
"Really. Considering that Derek almost died a week ago, and before today, you couldn't even control your powers…yeah, you two are going to make it out of this just fine," she replied sarcastically.
Scott stopped in his tracks and turned to her with a smug smile on his face.
"Oh, my God. Are you actually worried about me?"
She scoffed before saying, "No, I just don't want all my work earlier today to be all for nothing."
In truth, she truly didn't want him to die. Despite how tense their relationship was at present, she had come to enjoy her time with him, their regular verbal sparring matches one of the highlights of her day, but she would never admit that to him.
"Sure…but I still don't understand why I would bring you along?"
"Another pair of eyes couldn't hurt, and I don't know if you've noticed but I'm kind of a genius," she then reached into her pocket and pulled out her car key, "plus, unless you're dead set on walking, I'm sure my car will get us there faster."
She stood there with a triumphant smirk as Scott contemplated her offer, before ultimately deciding that she was right, and headed towards her car. Despite her words of encouragement, she silently hoped that things would work out for the best tonight, as she pulled away from Clinic and began the drive to the High School.
If only she knew how bad their night was about to go.
AN –
Another Chapter in the books. Sorry if this one feels a lot like filler, but next chapter is going to cover the events of Night School, which will push the plot a bit further, along with a few changes from the show's events.
The flashback's in this chapter are my attempts at fleshing out Scott and Lydia's relationship prior to the events of the story. Lydia will reveal her side of the story in due time, but I felt that it would work better in the future instead of right now.
As always, thanks for reading!