A moment of silence gripped the air, stiffening it to an unbearable awkwardness. Neither party dared to move, or even speak, for fear of the other's reaction.
"Fuck you." I spoke finally, hanging my head down in disbelief.
"What?"
"I said "fuck you"." I snapped my head up, my words saturated with pent up anger. "What kind of a game is this for you, huh? Do you think I haven't been bullied my entire life by bullshit like this?" Balling up my fist, I unfolded my arms and moved to walk up the stairs.
"Wait! Belle-" Scott's hand gripped mine, but in disgust I ripped it away from him.
"Leave. Me. Alone." My skin began to burn as the anger welted up inside of me. Something in my voice seemed to relay the message clearly to Scott as he reluctantly took a step backwards, but his eyes showed that there was much more to be said. Nothing you have to say will interest me, McCall. I thought to myself as I whipped around and headed back up the stairs before either one of the boys came back to their senses.
By now the first bell had already rung and the hallways had long been deserted of students, only the stragglers and delinquents wondered the white corridors now; myself included. With my back pack strap crossing my chest, I gripped the cloth with sweating hands trying to soothe the racing emotions in my heart. They were just messing with you. Werewolves are NOT real. I had convinced myself that their ploy was nothing more than another attempt by the lacrosse team to ruffle my feathers as they tried every year; some sort of initiation I had been told by other students. And now Scott and Stiles are attempting to pull the wool over my eyes by taking advantage of the events of the past few days. Fucking assholes. I bit the inside of my cheek as I walked up to my locker, almost mindlessly turning the dial to the correct combination.
Opening the metal door to the cool air within, I finally took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. As my mind began to settle, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up; so caught up in my own anger I had been unaware of something else- I was being watched. Ever so slowly I turned my head to the side and casually glanced over my shoulder and sure enough found a lurking shadow standing down the hall. Although failing to act natural, as soon as I turned my head to catch a better glance at who or whatever was watching me, it blended back into the shadows making it impossible to tell what had been watching me. Turning back to my locker with renewed haste, I collected my books and slammed the door shut causing a loud echo to bounce off the metal walls.
After extensive apologizing to my first period teacher in front of the entire class, I took my seat by the window and zoned out of his lecture about the evolution of life, or something like that. No matter how hard I tried to forget what had just transpired moments before I couldn't shake the feeling that I was still being watched, and worse still, followed. Even after first period had ended and I moved through the rushing hallways of bodies, it always felt as if someone were only two steps behind me, but no matter how hard I tried to catch a glimpse of whoever it was, they were gone- vanished into shadow once more. Instead of eating lunch in the cafeteria, I had opted to help a favored teacher with one of his sophomore classes. For that period alone I felt comfortable enough to relax, but dreaded moving into my final class of the day, knowing that it meant leaving the security of this place. As the bell rang and the sophomores eagerly flooded into the hallways I tried my best to blend in with them, and the moment I moved through that open doorway, I could sense the presence following me once again, but something was different this time. The presences felt…lost, confused almost. Now's my chance.
I stopped moving with the foot flow and quickly turned around, my blonde hair whipping out at my sides as I looked behind me for the shadow that had been haunting my the entire day- and I caught him. Even though it was only for a moment, the minute our eyes meet I permanently burned an image of the boy's face in my mind, although I was certain I wouldn't have forgotten it either way. His skin was pale, almost translucent as it contrasted to his blue green eyes staring back into mine. Eyes that could burn a hole through your entire soul, eyes that had seen more trouble than they desired, and eyes that held an unfathomable sadness to them. The universe stopped and even the breath still caught in my lungs evaporated into nothingness as I felt those eyes staring through me as they searched for something still hidden to him.
"Excuse me." A voice broke the trance and a blur of brunette hair passed between the boy and myself, and the universe moved forward again. The boy had vanished into shadow once again, no doubt lurking around a corner, for I still felt his presence watching me. Who are you? Slowly my eyes scanned the passing faces, searching for him once again, but I came up empty handed. Shifting my shoulders uncomfortably, I too returned to the flow of the crowd but remain alert to the presence.
Taking my seat inside the classroom beside the window, I removed my backpack and set it down on the floor next to my desk. Leaning back in the hard plastic seat I glared out the window, a million thoughts running through my head each one leading down a different avenue of possibility. Why am I being followed? Who is following me? And better yet, why is this happening now? I softly bit the inside of my cheek again and my gazed shifted toward the open door leading into the hallway. The lockers beyond the door were blue, and seemed to be reflected onto the white floor, casting a strange blue hew throughout the narrow corridor. Mulling over the thoughts in my head for a moment longer, I grew impatient with my own inaction about the situation laid at my feet. Standing up slowly as to not draw attention to myself, I moved through the clustered students without disturbing anyone to my presence. Reaching the back of the room, I cast a glance over at the teacher's desk where he sat with his nose planted firmly within his book, not even paying the slightest attention to what was going on in the classroom. Turning the knob quietly I slid out the narrow opening of the door into the abandoned blue hallway.
As the door moved quietly back into the jam, I turned and looked down the hallway searching for the familiar shadow that had been following me all day. Unfortunately he seemed to have retreated further into the shadows beyond my sight of what was before me, but I could still sense him, watching. Taking a deep sigh, I pulled my hood up over my head and moved in the opposite direction of the boy, hoping he would be foolish enough to follow me. And here he comes. I smirked under the safety of my hood as I felt the boy's presence silently follow my footsteps. Careful not to scare the boy away I pretended to not notice him following me but instead moved down a small flight of stairs and take a right; as if I was going to the restroom.
Rounding the corner and disappearing out of sight, I quickly moved myself to lay flat against the wall of lockers. I slowed my breathing and forced my heart to remain quiet and calm as I waited just around the corner for the unsuspecting boy to follow me. Honing my hearing to the point it hurt, I listened and waited for the sounds of footfalls to echo off, well anything. For a moment nothing moved, nothing made a sound, until…there! Ever so faintly the lightest of footsteps descended down the stairs and everything then moved in a furry of cloth and blonde hair.
Snapping my arm out from around the corner, as a snake lunges out to grab its prey, I dug my finger nails into the fabric of the boy's shirt long before he had any idea what was happening. Using all of my weight and added momentum, and not to mention his complete shock, I slammed him into the nearest wall causing a loud bang to echo through the empty hallways. Still unable to comprehend what had exactly what happened the boy didn't move for a good long moment but stared blankly into my eyes.
"Who are you?" I clenched his shirt with both of my fist and applied all of my weight on him to keep him from moving. My voice seemed to have awakened him from his shock and he studied me for a long moment.
"There's definitely more to you than meets the eye." He avoided the question and instead grabbed my hands and rushed me. Taken by surprise as the boy practically lifted me off the ground and back me into the adjacent wall with my arms pinned up against the wall. "However you're not as strong as you think you are." My cheeks burned with embarrassment, knowing full well that what he said was right, as he'd just proven. Damn. Well this falls under the "bad idea" category.
"Okay, well, I guess you're right. Now please let me go." I'd become increasingly aware of our awkward situation, for if anyone was to walk down the hallway, well it would put us in a very precarious position.
"No, I don't think I will." Apparently he didn't seem to understand the situation the same way.
"I'll scream."
"You wouldn't." I opened my mouth and drew in a large gulp of air, fully prepared to unleash an ear splitting scream when the message finally went through. "Alright! Alright!" The boy whispered letting go of my wrists and placing a few feet between us.
"Now," I rubbed my wrist surprised at how strong his grip actually was "who are you?"
"No one of interest. You attacked me first anyway." was his defiant response, and he crossed his arms over his grey shirt. His biceps bulged as he did so and I had to keep from practically swooning Swoon later. This is serious. I scolded myself.
"You've been following me all day. And don't" I continued as he opened his mouth to protest "even try to deny it was you. I saw you last period as I left class and now after all of this." I waved my hand around the area indicated the events that had just taken place. The boy was silent for a moment as he uncrossed his arms and stuffed his hands into his pockets, leaning forward till he seemed to even been looming over me. Looking to his left, his eyes glazed over and I could tell that he was working something over inside his head. I took a step closer. "Look, whatever it is, I want you to tell me. What do you want with me?" Those last words sent a tingle down my spine as I haplessly glanced at his arms and face. He is handsome…No! I didn't mean like that! GOD woman, think straight. Lost in my own perverted thoughts I hadn't noticed the boy had also drawn closer to me as well.
"A mutual friend." He spoke finally, pulling me away from my own daydream. Looking up into his eyes I froze- our faces were only inches apart. Neither of us moved as the sexual tension began to build up and it took every ounce of my being to not lunge myself at the boy and kiss him.
"Uh, what," I took a step back and collected my thoughts again. "what friend? I don't really have a whole lot of friends. Like any." Before he could say anything else, something in the distance caught his attention.
"Isaac!" Scott's voice boomed through the amazingly still empty hallway, practically rattling the doors off the lockers. I peeled my eyes away from Isaac and up to Scott as he glared down at the boy, and then returned my glare to Isaac.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" I shouted and shoved Isaac's very solid body into the opposite wall. "You were working with Scott? Are you in on this whole "werewolf" thing too?" Slowly he nodded, but he almost seemed confused about the situation going on in front of him. Either that or he was surprised I'd managed to push him into the lockers. Again. I seethed silently, but was sure that it showed on my face as I gave Scott a glare that even made him recoil.
Balling my fist, I moved away from Isaac and began walking up the stairs toward Scott. He started taking steps backwards with both of his hands raised up in defense.
"Wait, Belle, I can explain-"His panic quickly turned into confusion as I moved right past him completely ignoring everything and anything he said. As I walked down the hallway I choked down the tears that were forming and forced myself to stand tall. Never let them see you cry.
Everything after that was kind of a blur of anger and sadness. I walked back into the classroom much to the surprise of everyone, for even after all of that time no one had noticed I had gone missing. All eyes watched me with hinted curiosity as I made my way to my seat and sat down with my hands folded neatly in my lap. Their interest only lasted for a few seconds longer as they quickly returned to their own conversations, brushing me off as nothing more than the "weird girl". Even as the bell rang, I didn't move for a long while, letting the remainder of my peers filter through the doors and into the hallway. As the classroom fell silent and the last of the stragglers talked among themselves as they slowly walked through the hallway in no clear rush to return home. Collecting my bag I too finally stood up from my seat and walked through the vacant desk, lost in the vast emptiness of my own mind. I didn't dare to form a thought about what had just happened and how everything seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Why did this have to happen during my senior year? My last year here in this god forsaken place and NOW shit decides to hit the fan. Slowly I moved down the steps, each step vibrating throughout my entire being and rocking my joints with an unrelenting force as everything weighed down upon my shoulders. Stopping in front of the double doors that would lead me out into the open air, I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair feeling the strands slither through my fingers. Pushing on the warm metal bar I walked out into the sunlight, the warmth having no effect over the dread as it had this morning. All the fight had been drained out of me today and all I wanted was to return home and take a long nap. Of course that is, after I finish the two days of homework I've been putting off.
I glanced around the open parking area searching for the late bus, or rather the bus for people who were either to slow or stupid to get to their own bus in time. Which, today looked like to only be me. I gazed down the road and felt my heart sink as I watched the two tail lights of the bus moving down the road with black exhaust smoke sputtered out of the tailpipe.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed and honestly just contemplated giving up and lying on the ground in front of the school in exhaust of the whole day. Everything is working against me, isn't it? I looked up at the sky as the sun sat dangerously low on the tree line in the distance threatening to cast me into shadow. "I guess I'm walking home."
Now, Beacon Hills High School is located right next to the Beacon Hills Wildlife Reservation and if you've lived in this town long enough you know that freaky stuff goes down in those woods on a daily basis; And it just gets weirder the darker it gets. Even the sheriff had warned people to avoid the woods if at all possible, especially at night. Hell not that long ago they found a woman's body torn in half by some psycho, or as many speculated, a very large animal.
Of course it wasn't always like this. It used to be pretty normal; in fact people usually went for jogs through the woods to get away from the run down sights of Beacon Hills. I was one of those people, but the really weird stuff started happening around the beginning of the school year so I thought it better to avoid unnecessarily going into the woods and just job around dreary Beacon Hills.
So there I was, walking through the woods, all of these wonderful thoughts about dead bodies and savage animals running rampant in my imagination. Reaching my hand into my bag I pulled out a worn hair band and pulled my hair back into a messy top bun, having become irritated with having to continuously push it out of my eyes. I wrapped my arms around myself and kept my eye on the horizon knowing the path way to the trailer park through the woods fairly easily. I used to jog to school during track season when I was a junior. Though it had been a while, the woods always felt familiar and almost welcoming, even now as the sky began to shine with the last rays of the late afternoon sun. I looked up at the blue sky through the multitude of branches and for the first time since the day began, felt all of the tension melt away. Stopping to enjoy the fleeting moment, when I opened my eyes again something in the distance caught my eye. A…chimney stack?