HARSHER THAN THE BARK
A/N: Okay so this one is pretty short but I will be posting the next chapter very soon, like tomorrow or something. Thank you guys for all your reviews, it really keeps me motivated and I love to hear your comments so keep doing it!
Enjoy!
"I already told you I can't go out Lyds." Scarlett groaned, rubbing her already very red nose. "I'm giving myself the weekend to feel like shit."
"Well, if you're going to be miserable why not be miserable with your best friends?" Lydia asked over the phone.
"I'm not going out. Period." Scarlett said firmly, pulling her covers tighter around herself as she stared out of her bedroom window at the bright, glowing moon.
"Oh yes, you are."
Scarlett scoffed. "What're you gonna do? Come and drag me out of the house?" It was silent on the other end for a few moments before Scarlett's door burst open.
"That's exactly what we're gonna do." Lydia announced proudly, gliding into the room with Allison right behind her. Allison looked more apologetic. She obviously knew what breaking up with your first love did to you and she was still going through it. Lydia knew the pain too, but she seemed to move on a lot quicker and she wanted Allison and Scarlett to do the same. However, it had only been a week since Scarlett had tragically broken up with the love of her life and for a whole week at school she had to pretend like she was fine, that she was holding herself together. She did everything fairly normally, she was even elected cheer captain and as much as she had wanted that position since she was a freshman it just didn't make her excited at all because of how heartbroken she was. But, nonetheless, she had promised herself that she would take the weekend to mourn the end of her relationship with Derek and then she would try to go on with her life, being as normal as she could.
"Oh, honey," Lydia started sympathetically, taking in Scarlett's dreadful appearance of puffy eyes, a red nose and bed covered in tissues used to soak up her never ending tears. "You look even shittier than I imagined you would."
Scarlett narrowed her eyes at Lydia while Allison slapped her arm lightly. "Thanks for the support Lyds." Scarlett said sarcastically. "But I'd really just like to be left alone."
"No, you're coming with us. We need to talk to Scott and he's at a party so we're going to said party to find him." Lydia said, walking over to Scarlett and yanking the covers off of Scarlett's pyjama-clad body, much to her protest.
"A party is the very last place I want to be." Scarlett told them, her voice low and depressed.
"Too bad. We need answers about these stupid bruises." Lydia looked at her wrist that bore a violent, purple and reddish, bruise that was almost identical to the one Allison had on her wrist. These bruises had been caused by some random girl walking around school, desperate to find Scott. And so Allison had decided that Scott would maybe know what the bruise meant, if it was a symbol of some sort. "Now get in the shower." Lydia pushed Scarlett into the bathroom and closed the door, giving Scarlett no choice but to get in the shower.
When she reappeared ten minutes later, looking slightly better, after she had cleaned herself up, Lydia smiled and handed her an outfit she had already picked out for her. Scarlett gave her a look. She would have much rather stayed in her comfy pyjamas rather than dressing up when she felt so shitty. Lydia ignored the look and Scarlett rolled her eyes, dropping her towel and getting changed into the grey crop top, washed out white shorts and white converse. Scarlett supposed it could've been worse.
"So you really think Scott's gonna know what this is?" Lydia asked Allison when she was finished tracing the outline of her bruise with a pen.
"It wasn't like that girl just needed to find Scott. It was like she had to." Allison answered. "And these bruises are a pattern so, obviously they mean something."
"Well what if it's just a bruise?" Scarlett asked from the backseat, her arms folded across her chest as she stared out the window at the passing trees.
Allison looked in her rear-view mirror at Scarlett with a sympathetic look on her face. "Well then we pulled you out of bed for nothing and I'm very sorry."
"Well, I'm not." Lydia added in, earning a raised brow from Scarlett. "I'm not the kind of girl who is just gonna let her best friend mope around being depressed about breaking up with her boyfriend for a whole weekend." The determination in her voice was strong. "You know it's not good for your soul to be cooped up all day."
"I beg to differ." Allison started. "I don't think a little grievance is necessarily bad for your soul."
"See? Allison gets it." Scarlett pointed out.
"Whatever, I'm just trying to do what's best for you." Lydia countered.
"I know you are, Lyds." Scarlett smiled weakly.
When they pulled up outside the house that the party was being held in, Scarlett was reluctant to get out of the car but Allison reassured her that Scott would come out to speak to them. And she was right.
Scott walked out of the house, taking in the three girls and wondering why Scarlett was out of the house. When he had left he could still hear her sobbing her heart out but when he asked if she wanted him to say she insisted that she was fine. "This…isn't the talk we were gonna have, is it?" He asked doubtfully.
Allison shook her head sombrely. "I need to show you something." She said, pulling her sleeve up to reveal her bruise.
"What is that?" Scott asked.
"We were kinda hoping you could tell us." Lydia told him, stepping forward to place her bruised wrist next to Allison's.
Scott gave the bruises a strange look. "I'm sorry but I have no idea what it means." His tone was apologetic.
"Are you sure?" Allison pressed. "Because the girl that did this was looking for you. Desperately."
Scott raised a brow. "Why was she looking for me? Who was she?"
"We don't know." Lydia shrugged. "Some random chick who just showed up in school, looking for you and then bruising us before freaking out and running away."
Scarlett stepped forward, a theory popping into her head. "Wasn't Isaac asking about a girl?"
"You think it could've been her?" Scott queried.
Scarlett shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, she's clearly involved in all of this Alpha stuff if she was the one that saved Isaac…so there's every chance it could've been her. I mean, maybe it's a symbol to do with them."
"With who?" Allison asked.
"The Alpha pack." Scott answered solemnly.
"What?" Lydia gasped.
"We only found out the day school started. Them being in town has something to do with-" Scott stopped himself and looked at his sister sympathetically, he knew that even mentioning Derek hurt her but she just shrugged. "Derek being an Alpha. It's like they want to recruit him or something."
"Well let's just hope that's all they want." Scarlett added.
On Monday, Scott convinced Derek to come to school to look at Allison and Lydia's bruises to see if he knew anything about it. Knowing that Derek was going to be there, Scarlett opted to miss out on the early morning meeting. She couldn't be in the same room as him yet. She hadn't even seen him since the breakup and she didn't know how he would react to her or even how she, herself, would react to him. So instead she went to officially take on her new role as cheer captain to take her mind off of things.
Upon walking onto the field, Scarlett was greeted with claps and cheers and it actually made her smile, her first true smile, since what seemed like forever. She reminded herself that this was something she had always wanted and now it was finally happening.
"Thank you all," Scarlett bowed teasingly before standing up straight. "No, seriously, thank you guys for voting me in, it really is a huge honour."
"Oh don't act so surprised, Scar." Taylor said with a laugh. "You knew you were a shoe in for captain as soon as Brooke graduated."
Scarlett contemplated that. It had been true for a while but since her life became so wrapped up in supernatural things…and Derek, she hadn't been as committed to the squad. "Still, I know that I haven't been as dedicated but I promise that is going to change this year. I vow to be the best cheer captain that I can possibly be." The squad cheered again. "Before you all go I just want to remind you that try outs will be held tomorrow since they were cancelled last week. If any of you want to come along and help me decide who to put on the squad, feel free."
Classes dragged on. Scarlett did the work, as usual, but she wasn't really interested in any of it. Not even in the fun classes, like Economics with Coach. Today they were talking about risk and reward but Scarlett chose to zone out and doodle in her notebook. Something she never did.
During her free period she met up with Allison and Lydia in the library and read over her French speech that she had to learn, off by heart, to recite in front of the class next week. While she did that, Lydia drew in her notebook and Allison copied down notes from one of her classes. Everything was fairly quiet between the three friends until the twins that Lydia was gawking over showed up.
"I want one." Lydia sighed, gaining Scarlett and Allison's attention.
Scarlett just smiled but Allison turned to look at them and bit her lip, looking giddy. "Which one?" She asked.
"The straight one, obviously." Lydia answered.
"No way." Scarlett said in shock, looking over at the twins again. "You think one of them is gay?"
"Seriously?" Lydia asked incredulously. "Are you blind? Look." Scarlett looked over at them again and sure enough one of them was making flirty eyes at Danny.
"Huh." Scarlett hadn't seen it coming at all.
Lydia placed her coffee cup down and when she did, Allison took it, not noticing Lydia getting up to go and flirt with the straight twin.
"What if it's not a symbol, what if it's a logo?" Allison asked, looking up from the coffee cup only to see Scarlett point in the direction of Lydia to answer Allison's unasked question. Allison shook her head but smiled, turning back to Scarlett. "What do you think?" She asked, handing the coffee cup to her. Scarlett had to admit the logo kind of resembled the symbol the bruises made but only very, very slightly.
"Hm, maybe you should look up local business logos." Scarlett suggested.
"Good idea." Allison complimented, quickly typing in a search on her laptop. After a few minutes of browsing Allison stopped. "Scar look at this."
"Beacon Hills First National Bank." Scarlett read out the words on the screen. "That bank's been abandoned for years."
"Yeah and look at the logo for it. Look familiar?" Scarlett looked at the logo and her eyes widened.
"It's the same symbol."
After school, Scarlett went home, did her homework and watched TV. She kept checking her phone, expecting to see a message or a phone call or something but there was nothing. And why would there be? She had broken up with Derek. She had broken his heart and broken her own heart into a million little pieces in the process. There was no reason for him to contact her and she kept telling herself that it was better this way. That she had done the right thing and that she should use this time to focus on herself and become more independent. She also told herself that it wasn't the absolute end to her and Derek. It was just temporary and she hoped to God she was right. This split was just until they both found themselves and they knew what they were doing with their own lives before they got mixed up in each other's again. But still, her days had been boring and lonely without him. There was no more sneaking out late at night to see him or waiting for him to show up in her room to hold her while she slept and she missed those things, a lot.
"So these bruises that the crazy chick gave us ended up being the logo to a bank?" Lydia asked with disbelief as she exited Allison's car along with Allison and Scarlett. "What, was she trying to give us investment advice?"
"Not for this bank." Scarlett told her.
"Yeah, it's been abandoned for years." Allison added on.
"So why haven't either of you told Scott?" Lydia queried.
"Because, according to a certain someone, I need to find something real." Allison said bitterly.
Scarlett let out a short laugh. "Let me guess, Derek?" Allison nodded. "Sounds like something he would say."
Allison opened the boot of her car and Scarlett caught sight of a pair of red bolt cutters, making her raise a brow at Allison to which she mouthed 'I'll tell you later.'
"That reminds me I can't drive either of you home today, I have an errand to run after school." Allison told both of the girls, aiming it more at Lydia because her errand actually involved Scarlett.
"Okay so what's with the bolt cutters?" Scarlett asked as she made her way to Allison's car after school, alongside Allison.
"I'm breaking into the Beacon Hills First National Bank. Wanna be my backup?" Allison asked, cutting to the chase.
Scarlett sighed a sigh of relief. She had been waiting to be useful and to help out and to actually put her hunter training skills, that she had picked up in France, to the test. Of course, she wasn't sure if she would need to use them but at least they would come in handy if they found themselves in some sort of trouble. "I thought you'd never ask."
Allison grinned and they both got in the car, driving straight to the bank. When they got there Allison walked right up to the chains on the door and was about to cut them but Scarlett stopped her.
"Wait." She said. "Strategize, Allison. Do we have a plan?"
"Yeah, go in there and look around for something real." Allison said simply.
"Something real like what?" Scarlett asked.
"Anything."
"Okay and what if we run into one of the Alphas or, even worse, the whole pack?"
"Then we run like hell."
Scarlett shrugged. "Good enough." Allison cut the chains and pulled them off the handles of the doors while Scarlett pulled out a flashlight and turned it on since there was absolutely no light in the abandoned bank.
"Talk about trashy." Scarlett whispered as they walked in to the bank. The place was literally trashed with overturned desks and paper and random pieces of broken furniture everywhere. Not to mention it was freezing inside and it gave them both the creeps. They made their way around the corner to a hall that was lined with filing cabinets. It was eerily quiet as they walked along and then someone grabbed Allison out of the shadows, immediately putting Scarlett into fight mode. Scarlett had dropped the flashlight from being shoved so she could barely see what was happening but she heard Allison struggling with whoever grabbed her and as soon as Allison was pinned up against the wall, Scarlett's knife was at the throat of their attacker.
"Miss Morrell?" Allison breathed. Scarlett's brows furrowed but she removed the knife from its threatening position and backed up but as soon as she did Miss Morrell had her by the throat up next to Allison.
"Keep your mouths shut and listen." She whispered harshly. "You have about twenty seconds to get your asses hidden. Get in that storage closet and lock the door. When you hear the fighting start, that's when you come out."
"What fighting?" Allison asked frantically.
"You'll hear it. Now go!" Miss Morrell ran away after that, leaving the girls to run to the storage closet but not before Scarlett grabbed the flashlight again.
When they were in, they stood with their backs against the door, trying to catch their breaths. Allison tried to turn on the light but the switch was broken so Scarlett turned the flashlight on. Soon after, they heard noses outside the door and their eyes widened.
"Turn it off!" Allison barely whispered. Scarlett turned the flashlight off immediately and grabbed a bottle of ammonia she had spotted when they walked in. She poured it on the floor to mask their scents, just in case.
When the shadow outside of the door disappeared, Allison placed her jacket on the ammonia so that they could stand on it. Scarlett turned the flashlight back on and shone it around the room before landing it on the horrific sight of a dead body…Erica's dead body. Scarlett covered her mouth to prevent her scream from actually surfacing as she jumped back and knocked into Allison, trying to keep her breathing under control. Allison had the same reaction when she saw Erica's pale, lifeless body slumped over on the ground.
"Oh my God…" Scarlett said, still in shock from seeing one of her classmates dead. She may not have liked Erica very much but she was still just a teenage girl, like her, and she didn't deserve to die. Or be murdered like she clearly had been.
Both Scarlett and Allison kept as close to the door as possible, refusing to look at Erica's corpse.
"Do you hear that?" Allison asked.
"Sounds like fighting." Scarlett confirmed, yanking open the door and running towards the exit with Allison in tow before stopping abruptly. Her head snapped back towards the sound of the fighting when she heard a familiar shout. "Scotty?" Without another thought she bolted towards the sounds.
"Look out!" Allison yelled as they came to a halt at the entrance to the vault where Scott and Derek were fighting Boyd and some other girl in werewolf form.
Derek took one look at Scarlett and froze, forgetting where he was and ignoring his instinct for survival. Scarlett watched with frantic eyes as Boyd ran towards a very distracted Derek, a clawed hand raised in the air.
"Move you idiot!" Scarlett screamed, snapping Derek back to attention just in time to duck. She watched in horror as Boyd then went for Scott as Derek fought off the girl. Scott was thrown against a wall and Boyd immediately stabbed him with his claws, making Scarlett act on sheer impulse to save her brother. She bent down, prepared to break the seal of mountain ash but Derek looked over just as she did.
"No! Don't break the seal!" He shouted. Scarlett paused but when she saw the pain Scott was in she went against what Derek said and broke the seal and Allison shouted Boyd's name, gaining his attention and making him drop Scott as he ran to the door of the vault. Both Allison and Scarlett jumped back out of the way as the girl followed after Boyd.
Furious, Derek ran after them and wasted no time in slamming Scarlett against a wall, growling in her face. "Are you fucking crazy? What were you thinking?!" She had only ever seen him this angry once and it was when he arrived to the scene of the incident in New York and demanded Rosie tell him what happened.
"I was thinking that I had to do something so that my brother didn't die." She spat back at him, struggling herself out of his tight grip that was probably going to have bruised her arms.
"She saved our lives." Scott said, leaning against the wall in pain.
"And what do you think they're gonna do out there?" Derek asked Scott before turning on Scarlett again and shouting at her, again. "Do you have any idea what you just set free?"
"You wanna blame me?!" She screamed back at him. "For saving your life?"
"She's not the one turning teenagers into killers." Allison defended Scarlett.
"No, that's just the rest of your family." Derek spat at her, his tone bitter.
"I've made mistakes." Allison admitted. "But Gerard wasn't my fault."
"And what about your mother?" Derek asked.
Allison's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Tell her, Scott." Derek encouraged him bitterly.
When realisation set in for Scarlett she narrowed her eyes at Derek. He knew that Scott didn't want Allison to know that her mother tried to kill him. He didn't want her to remember her own mother like that and Scarlett couldn't believe Derek was going to tell Allison the truth just out of spite.
"What does he mean, Scott?" Allison asked again. "What does he mean?"
Scott looked away, not wanting to answer the question so Derek took the liberty of answering it himself.
"Your mother tried to kill Scott." Derek told her simply. "And when I went to save him, she attacked me and I acted in self-defence."
"You're lying." Allison said quietly. She looked at Scott for confirmation but he didn't say anything. "Please tell me it's not true, Scott." Scott shook his head, giving her the answer. Not wanting to let them see her cry, Allison turned and walked away.
Scarlett gave Derek a disbelieving look. This situation was all she needed to confirm that breaking up with him was the right thing to do. Granted her doing so is probably why he was so bitter but after telling Allison the truth like that, Scarlett knew that he wasn't the same.
"I can't believe you." She said before running after Allison to comfort her, leaving Derek to regret lashing out at her again. He knew that by doing that he was pushing them further apart, not getting closer to being back with her.