FOCUS
A point at which converging rays of light meet after being refracted or reflected'.
I frowned as the smell of fried food drifted up the stairs. I doubted mum had woken up early on the weekend. She had still been up gossiping with a friend on the phone when I had stumbled into the house, my head still spinning from last night's events. Turning into the kitchen I paused taking in the sight before me with narrowed eyes. My father, I had known he was home. Stiles had pointed out that his flashy work car had been on the drive when we had left for the hospital. He was busy turning rashers of bacon in one of the many pots warming over the hob. "This is a treat," I commented bluntly as I settle into a seat at the kitchen table.
He turned an annoyed expression crossed his youthful face as he bit back, "It is far too early for that." Clearly he didn't find my uninterested teen act as endearing as mum. His stormy eyes shifted around the room uncomfortably as he plated up three cooked breakfasts. It seemed he hadn't expected or wanted company this morning. "Make sure your brother eats his to," he added lightly as he placed one of the plates in front of me without sitting to eat his own.
Then I realised why he hadn't plated up a fourth breakfast, "you're going already?" I don't know if he heard the hurt undertone of my words. Even if he did he didn't stop walking toward the front door.
"Yeah and I might be out of state a bit longer this time," I didn't comment on the fact I'd seen his car loaded up with almost all his belongings or that I knew he was purposely leaving before Josh or Mum woke up. He lent forward to kiss me lightly on the forehead but I shifted backwards out of his reach. He looked upset by my actions but I couldn't find it in me to feel guilty. He studied my face closely before straightening up, "you look healthier without all the crap around your eyes," and with that he left. No heart felt goodbye or promise to be back soon. As I got ready that morning I applied more eyeliner than usual just to spite him. I pulled on a beanie before heading out to meet Lydia and Allison. I wasn't quite sure why I had bailed on Matt last minute and agreed to spend my time with them. Though I think it had something to do with the fact Matt would know I was upset the moment I picked him up and I just couldn't bring myself to admit that my dad leaving had upset me. Not yet.
I had followed Allison's directions and was surprised to find the pair parked up by the woods. Lydia looked just as confused as I was as she slid out of Allison's car. We shared a look before following after the brunette. It wasn't long before Lydia began to whine, "Allison - When you said you needed to stop for an errand before we went shopping - a five - mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting." As I watched Lydia struggling in her high heels I was glad I had chosen to wear my boots this morning. However as I tugged my flannel shirt closer to me I realised I should have worn a thicker jacket.
"Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you're okay with something. Jackson asked me to the winter formal," Lydia and I slowed behind Allison as her words sank in.
Lydia frowned clearly unsure how to react, "did he?"
I should have felt awkward as the girls exchanged words but I didn't, instead I was intrigued. Up until now Alison had shown no signs of challenging Lydia's outlandish behaviour, "just as friends but I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it first." She hadn't been at the lacrosse field on the day of the full moon but it wouldn't surprise me if Jackson had shared his suspicions about Scott and Lydia. He seemed the type.
Lydia let out the breath she had been holding, perhaps she was going to get away with this. "Sure," before adding a quick, "as long as it's just friends."
"Well, yeah, I mean," Allison turned to peer over her shoulder. Her body twisting to face Lydia as she crouched to drop the case she had been carry to the ground, "It's not like I would take him to the coach's office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything."
Lydia came to a complete stand still. Her mouth opened but no words escaped. I strode pass her letting out a light, "busted," in hindsight there was so much more I could have said. Lydia slammed her lips together and glared at me challenging me to say more. I didn't instead I just followed after Allison. As I approached our guide I realised she had a bow inside her case, of course the daughter of hunters knew how to fire a weapon. She pulled the arrow out and began to screw a peculiar top to it. As she did I reached into my camera bag and pulled the device out. I moved away from the pair in order to see them both through the camera view finder.
Allison quirked a brow at me but didn't question me actions as I sank to one knee. She smiled when she realised I was trying to get a better angle on the tree behind her. I know must people would find it odd but there was no way I could pass up a shot of the forest in this lighting. Lydia had finally regained her voice as she joined us in the clearing, "What does that do?" Her eyes focused on the black cylinder Allison had attached to her arrow.
Pulling the bow back to rest against her cheek Allison replied, "We're about to find out." I shifted my lens to focus on the archer and watched as her expression softened. Her eyes focused on a spot off in the distance as her breath slowed almost to the point where she was holding it. Just as she was about to take her next deep breath she realised the arrow. Sending the projectile through the morning air. The moment the arrow hit the bark of the tree it shattered and released a blinding flash.
"What the hell was that?" I questioned. I had shot to my feet the moment the flash had illuminated the clearing. The other girls looked just as shocked by the black boxes purpose as I was.
Allison pressed her lips together and replied honestly, "I don't know." While at least I could be hundred percent sure she wasn't a hunter or a hunter in training. Surely she would have had to of known all the family weapons by now if they were training her. I'm not sure why but I felt better knowing she was just as clueless as the rest of us.
"Well - that was fun! Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?" Lydia chimed from behind us. I know she was not happy about our detour into the woods but I thought she would at least question why her friend had such an intense weapon. With all her intelligence Lydia seemed to be doing her up most to ignore all the bizarre behaviour occurring in Beacon Hills. Before either of us could reply to the red heads snarky comment a twig snapped. My heart began to race and I bent my knees reading to turn and sprint. Being ambushed and attacked was become too much of a daily occurrence.
Allison didn't seem as keen to run as I was. Instead she thrust the bow and quiver into Lydia's arms, "hold this."
"What? Why?" replied the smaller girl her voice a couple pitches higher than normal. Good even if she was ignoring the supernatural events at least she still had the sense to be scared of noises in the woods.
Allison gave Lydia a bored look as she explained simply, "because I thought I heard something and"
"And?" I interrupted bluntly. I felt Allison turn to stare at me and I know for a fact she had noted my running stance. I couldn't help it in a bad situation my flight instinct was much stronger than my fight. As I stared back at Allison surprised to find her eyes gleaming with something I couldn't place as if she was waiting for me to try and stop her.
"And I want to find out what that something is," Lydia let out a light squeak in protest as the girl headed towards the noise. Had she never watched a horror movie! You don't walk toward to the noise. "Don't worry. It's probably nothing," She reassured Lydia who seemed to be trying hard to hide her fear. Before she left the clearing Allison turned the corners of her lips quirked upwards as she spoke, "beside if it is something dangerous you can shoot it."
I snorted at her blasé reply. Lydia narrowed her deer like eyes as she turned towards me. She obviously didn't find the comment as amusing as I did. "Don't look at me like that. I'm pretty sure she meant shot it with that," I nodded toward the bow in her arms, "not this," I quipped lightly lifting my camera up to place it back into its bag, just in case we had to run.
We stood in silence as the chilling breeze whistled through the clearing. Bird calls filled the air and another noise caught my attention. Was Lydia humming? I looked back the petite girl and was surprised to find she was already watching me. Her eyes curiously taking in every inch of my face before she made the noise again, "wants up with you?" I could feel my eyes widen at her accusation as my throat constricted. "Your eyes where red when you arrived and you seem a lot less," she paused to think of the right word, "rebarbative," I just stared back at her and shrugged stupidly. Honestly who uses word like that? I had absolutely no idea what that word meant. She groaned as if I was an idiot, "vexing, troublesome, annoying" the insults rolled of her tongue with easy. I couldn't help but wonder why she had invited me if those where the words she used to describe me. "Don't look so offended it is one of your most endearing quality. I was just pointing out that you aren't yourself this morning." I frowned to myself, was I actually close enough with this girl that she knew when I was upset or was she just that observant?
"Dad left this morning," the words had left my mouth before I could register what I was saying. I didn't want to tell Lydia this! I hadn't even planned on telling Matt yet but something about her made me feel at ease. Then I remember the rumour about her parents splitting up that had circled around the year group last term. From the expression on her face I could tell it was more than just a rumour.
"Man are useless," her words held such bitterness. Lydia got it. I wonder if she had also felt the horrid turning sensation in the pit of her stomach and the burning in her eyes. All of which seemed to occur in unison with unnecessary self-pitying question I would never dare speak out loud. Was dad leaving my fault? Should I have stopped him? Would he of stayed if I had asked? She didn't say anything else to me just placed a well-manicured hand on my arm softly.
As Allison re-entered the clearing I tugged my arm away from Lydia and pushed the topic to the back of my mind. I watched as the brunette began to pack away her bow and arrowing. Having plucked them from Lydia's arms the moment she had reached us. Allison didn't mention what had made the noise but from her soppy smile I doubted it was anything sinister. As she fussed with her weaponry I spotted a yellow rectangular object. With a frown I leaned into Lydia and whispered, "Is that a taser?" Lydia nodded back but neither of us questioned Allison about it as we followed her back to the cars.
Our trip the mall was relatively uneventful compared to our morning adventure into the woods. Lydia had led us round the shops. She had spent most of her time insulting our choices in clothes. I'd gotten to the point where I was purposefully picking out the darkest most distress looking outfits to show her just to watch her nose scrunch up in distaste. During our search for clothes Allison had stupidly mentioned not having a dress for the formal. "I'll buy you one," commented Lydia from the opposite rail. Allison looked taken aback by the suggestion. Lydia turned to me eyeing the excessively ripped jeans in my hands, "I might need to buy you one to, can't have you turning up looking like some rocky horror reject."
I laughed loudly at her comment before placing the trousers in my basket to annoy her more. "God you're such a cliché. Bet you've been dying to make one of use over since the start of school. Besides I'm not even going to the dance so save your money."
She turned to face me fully, "excuse me, you're not going to the dance?" Lydia looked horrified by the idea. "I'm sorry but you are my friend now which means you can't play the social outcast card. You're going to that dance" she explained coolly her hand coming up to point at me. Allison and I shared a look over the top of Lydia's head trying not to smile at her order.
Despite my protests I soon found myself agreeing to a second shopping trip, Lydia informed us that we needed a whole day to dress shop properly. She had also manged to talk me into attending the dance. Which would make Audrey happy she had been pestering me to attend as a photographer for weeks. I just wouldn't tell Lydia that part. As I left the mall I smiled softly to myself finding some comfort in the fact I had somehow manged to obtain two female friends without much effort. I had never had many girly friends, Audrey worried about school too much and Matt was well not a female.
As I drove home I passed Stiles frantic circling his jeep, which was steaming profusely from the open bonnet that was bumped up on the nearby curb. I pulled up alongside him and rolled my window down. I smirked out at him amused by his blatant frustration, "she giving you trouble? You should learn to handle her better." He turned sharping ignoring the car and settling his eyes on me as if I had been the one to sabotage his vehicle.
"Shut up," he paused and I could see the gears turning in his eyes, "you drive." I stared blankly back at him. Considering I was currently in the driver's seat of my mum's car I think it was pretty clear that I drove. He dived forward pulling the passenger door open and sliding into the seat. He lifted his hand and pointed down the round, "that way." Something about his tone suggested there wasn't time to mess around. Stiles continued to bark orders as I drove and I soon clocked the car in front that seemed to be one step ahead of us. We turned another corner and the car I had thought we were following had vanished. Rain hit the windscreen as our eyes scanned the road, "whoa stop." Stiles reached over and grabbed the steering wheel jolting the car to the side suddenly. My body was violently thrown into the car door. I hit the door with such force a bruise began to form on my hip.
"What the hell Stiles!" my eyes blazed as I turned to glare at the boy beside me. He had crashed the car! I was beyond furious with him as he scurried out the car to talk to the passenger in the other vehicle.
As I followed him I noticed who Stiles had crashed into. He had so done in on purpose. I didn't look up as Melissa McCall groan loudly at the sight of us, "Oh, are you kidding me? Stiles! Emma?" Instead I moved toward the cars inspecting the damaged bonnet. This was going to cost a fortune to fix. My mind began to formulate a lie I could tell my mum.
Stiles tried acting surprised by the nurse's arrival, "wow, this is - this is just crazy. What a coincidence, huh?" Melissa didn't look impressed as she let out a dry laugh. "I mean - I do not know what happened." He glanced over at me clearly hoping I would join in with his lie. I snarled back at him as I ran my handover the cracks. He grimaced at my expression before turning back to Melissa, "You guys just came out of nowhere."
"Came out of nowhere!" Melissa threw her hands up into the air before waving one behind her to point at her date's car, "we were parked on the side of the road, Stiles."
"How crazy is that? I mean, we should probably call the cops, you know, do like an accident report thing," Stiles gushed trying to keep the woman focused on him. Why Stiles had wanted to ruin her date I wasn't sure but clearly he was committed to the job.
"I don't think that's necessary," a new voiced joined the conversation and my blood froze. I turned to see who had spoken and found myself staring at a dark haired man. Stiles didn't need to tell me who he was. I could tell he was the alpha by the way the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. This was Peter Hale. His eyes shifted from Stiles to me and my heart stopped momentarily. His lips quirked upwards and I wondered if he could hear the affect he was having on me. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as he walked away, my mind barely able to process Stiles' ramblings about whiplash.
"Oh shut up Stiles," I slapped him hard the arm as Melissa began to circle the vehicles. "Look what you did to my car. No look what you did to my mum's car. I'm not paying to get this fixed!"
Stiles rubbed his neck sheepishly, "my bad."