The remainder of the day seemed to ebb away as the morning sun filtered through my red blinds, casting the room in its familiar light pink haze. Roaming through the trailer almost mindlessly, I began preparing for another day of school.

I moved into the bathroom and looked at my reflection as a stranger stared back at me. Her blonde hair ratty and in obvious need of a shower, mascara lightly smudged underneath her blue eyes which carried a far off look. This girl looked like she had seen hell, and lived to tell the tale. Red eyes… in the back of my mind I saw the dark looming figure staring me down from across the yard. Its eyes ripping through the very fabric of my being as if it was butter; stripping me down to nothing as I stood before it.

Peeling my eyes away from the mirror I returned to my morning duties of showering, but every time those popped into my head the warmth of the water wasn't enough to chase away the chill I growing in the pit of my stomach. Come on. Pull yourself together. I roughly rubbed my hands over my eyes, forcing the memories from the night before far into the back of my mind. It was just a bear; a really big bear. And now it's gone.

Long after the hot water turned cold, I left the shower and was finally ready to face the outside world once again. Picking up my backpack from beside the door I stopped one last time. I am strong than my fear. I am a rock in the river- calm and unmoving taking a deep breath I reached out and twisted the door knob.

The morning air rushed through the open door, blowing long wisps of my hair out of my face. I closed my eyes enjoying the feeling of the cold air in my lungs, the smell of the morning dew clinging to the grass, and the birds singing quietly.

"Today is just another day, Belle. You'll make it through just like you did the day before, and the day before that." Opening my eyes I quickly moved out of the door frame and down the metal stairs. Turning quickly to lock the door behind me, I stopped; someone was watching me and it made all of the hairs on my body stand on end. Causally glancing over my shoulder as my hands worked the lock; I took a quick survey of the surrounding area and wasn't surprised to find it empty. That would be too normal, nothing is ever normal in this town. Not after last night. Feeling the lock slide into place, I packed my keys into my bag and moved through the remnants of my yard, skipping over a clustered piece of my fence.

The gravel crunched beneath my feet rhythmically as I moved through the trailer park at a brisk pace. Only the faint morning light from the sun illuminated, just barely, the rooftops of the other trailers and the path before me. The feeling of someone watching continued no matter how fast I walked, until finally I stopped walking all together; partially from being tired from the fast walking the other from being fed up with being followed.

"Perhaps instead of creeping in the shadows behind me, you could come out and say whatever it is you need to say- to my face." I spoke loud enough for my voice to carry down the lane. Nothing moved, and the birds had all but stopped singing. Slowly I tensed my muscles and once again cast a glance over my shoulder, and dreaded finding the lane still empty. Perhaps I'm over reacting.

"Quite a sixth sense you've got there." A man's voice chirped from in front of me. In a flurry of movement, I pivoted on my heel and swung my fist at the man. He easily avoided the clumsy punch and smiled playfully. "Easy there tiger." Upon closure inspection I realized it was man who had moved in across the way from my trailer. As he raised his hands up in defense, a slender figured moved out beside him; the woman.

Both were wearing matching Gucci workout attire, but instead of looking like they had just come from a run, they appeared more as if they'd just come from a picture shoot. I said nothing as I watched the couple for a moment, still uneasy about their sudden appearance the day before.

"Well?" I spoke after a moment of intense silence.

"Well what?" The woman's voice was bitter as she sized me up. I was clearly no threat in the look department for this woman, so why she felt threatened by me was a mystery.

"I assume you were following me for a reason, or is that normal behavior where you're from?" I snapped right back becoming irritated. The man laughed lightly.

"Oh, right, sorry about that." He ran his muscular fingers through his hair. "We just came to introduce ourselves to our new neighbor." He extended his hand outward. "Name's Knox." When I didn't shake his hand, but gripped my backpack strap tighter he lowered his hand and turned to the woman standing, or more like groping, his arm. "And this beautiful plum is Ruby." She didn't even look at me when he spoke her name, but rather cooed in his ear.

"Well," I glanced around the lane and then back to the couple "welcome to the neighborhood. Wish I could stay and chat, but I've got a bus to catch." I moved around them before they could protest. After placing a few hundred yards between them and myself I glanced one final time over my shoulder only to see a vacant lane stretching out behind me. I hate this town.

The bus ride to school was reminiscent of all the other days I had ridden the bus to school; loud, smell and generally pestering. Once more I mindlessly gazed out the window, but in my head I fought the urge to recall anything from the night before, hoping only to make myself forget everything. No one would believe me, they would call me crazy, well crazier at any rate, and blame it on some form of drug- cast it off as nothing more than an illusion. Regaining focus on the passing concrete outside the window, a thought occurred to me- I didn't do any of my homework. Oh, how fun this day is turning out. I glanced down at my dinky wrist watch. And its only 7.

Descending the metal stairs, the now risen sun washed over my dark clothing, bathing me in a warmth that chased away all other feelings. Stopping, I glanced upwards toward the sun, squinting my eyes and holding my hand to shield them from the strong golden rays, I smiled. Letting my hand fall down to my side, I closed my eyes feeling as content as a cat sitting in the sun. I ignored the whispers as other students watched me, their judging eyes making no difference on my behavior; nothing could change how I was feeling in that moment. Well almost nothing.

"What's up kitty-cat?" Stiles' voice reverberated through my ear, effectively ruining my calm peace.

"Don't." I responded, not even bothering to open my eyes and glare at him.

""Don't"? Don't what? Don't breathe? Don't leave?"

"Don't," I looked at him and ran a hand through my warm hair "call me kitty-cat." I slid around him and walked through the tangled masses of the student body gathered outside.

"Hey! Wait up!" Stiles lumbered through the other students, as graceful as a three year old. "Belle! Excuse me. Pardon me. Hey buddy why don't you try standing somewhere that isn't here." Ignoring his pleas I pushed forward, knowing that if I stopped to wait for him I would be forced to explain what had really happened the night before. Something I wasn't too keen on remembering.

Quickly I moved into the main hallway of the school building, weaving between the students, hoping to lose Stiles' tail. With practiced ease I pivoted and flowed between bodies, not even alerting them to my presence, but as I reached the end of the large group my path was quickly cut off by another boy. Glancing at his face, I saw that his placement was not by accident, but rather he knew he was blocking my exit- my escape. I looked into his brown eyes, as they searched mine; looking for something I had hidden away. Stopping in my tracks I quickly looked around for another exit and saw one to the far left, leading away from the boy and Stiles. Moving through another group of students with less grace this time, a strong hand wrapped itself around my arm, halting my progress.

"Let me go." I hissed through bared teeth as I whipped my head around to face whoever had stopped me. Stiles' light brown eyes looked at me with a calm resolve.

"Please, Belle. We just want to talk to you." Pausing for a moment I glanced once more down the hallway, knowing my freedom was just an out stretched hand length away and then back at Stiles. This awkward boy, who I had met only a day before, was now unexplainably the key to understanding everything that had happen in the past 24 hours.

"Fine." I ripped my arm out of his hand and glared at him as he led me to the other boy who had first blocked my path.

Upon closer inspection, I recognized his friend as Scott McCall, the rising star of the lacrosse team- plus the crooked jaw was kind of a dead giveaway. As a group we moved out of the main hall into one of the less crowded stairwells. Jamming my hands into my pockets I followed in silence, my eyes studying the back of both Stiles' and Scott's heads. Now it was a commonly excepted fact among the student body that weird things seemed to happen around these two. Maybe running into Stiles had brought this weirdness upon me as well. Worse gift ever.

"So." Scott spoke after a moment of awkward silence. Slowly I glance upward into his eyes.

"Last night you saw something." Stiles' blurted out, tactlessly blunt. Shifting my eyes toward him, I saw the flash of red eyes again, but pushed the memory back.

"No. I think you're mistaken." I looked over at Scott. "I didn't see anything."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. It was a drunk driver." Stiles scoffed, but I ignored him.

"No. It was a bear, but I scared it away. End of story."

"A bear?"

"Yes. A bear."

"Belle…" Scott's voice was soft, as if he wasn't sure what to say.

"Don't "Belle" me. I don't care what I saw last night. All I know is that I want to forget about the whole thing all together." I tugged on my backpack strap and went to move up the stairs.

"Even Derek?" My actions betrayed my thoughts as I stopped halfway up the stairs, torn between moving forward or turning back. They could tell me more about Derek…but at what cost? As much as I yearned to know more about Derek, I dreaded learning more about the thing with red eyes. Hesitantly I walked back down the stairs and stood as far away as I possibly could from the two boys. I wrapped my arms around my chest, firmly holding myself as I looked into their eyes.

"That thing…wasn't a bear." Scott began. "It was a werewolf."