I start to worry when Scott leaves us there by the bench. What if someone accidentally hurts him? He's too weak to focus. Or what if he doesn't make it because the music is too loud for him?

My worries are confirmed when right before he reaches the DJ, he collapses onto the ground. I instinctively take a step forward, and then gasp when some men from the station come over, picking him up.

I turn to Mason in panic, but we don't have time to speak because more men from the station come towards us and grab Malia and Liam.

"Let's go," they say roughly.

"Hey what are you doing?" I ask fiercely, stepping up to them.

"These are our friends," adds Mason bravely.

One of the men puts a hand on Mason's chest as a warning to back off. "Your friends are overly intoxicated. They need to be escorted out."

"Okay, I'll go with them."

"Me too," I say.

"That won't be necessary."

"I said they're my friends-

The man shoves Mason to the ground, and I don't help him yet because I angrily face the two men.

"Hey, you assholes! Don't-" He swings an arm at me and I duck. Feeling more confident, I knee him on the crotch. He momentarily lets go of Liam's arm and groans, but the second man comes to fight, too. I am not fast enough this time, and the second man comes up to shove me. I am pushed onto the ground just as Mason is being helped up by some guys from our lacrosse team. Upon hitting the grass, I feel the pain of it on my back, but it's not too bad. I start to stand up and one of the guys help me as well.

"You okay, man?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Nah, I'm good," I say, waving them off. "Thanks."

They nod and walk away while Mason and I search for the men and our friends, but it's no use. They're gone.

"What do we do? What do we do? Oh my god, oh my god," I panic, looking around me.

"Give me a second," Mason mumbles distractedly, staring at the stage. What is he planning? Is he going to ask him to just shut he music off?

"What're you going to do?" I say, knowing he's up to something.

"This." Mason suddenly leaves my side and dashes to the side of the stage.

"What?" I exclaim, but run after him anyways. The crowd of people jumping around makes it difficult to get through, but I finally make it to where Mason halted. When I arrive, he is already pulling at the cord. Oh. He's going to unplug the whole thing.

After a few tugs, Mason successfully makes the whole music stop, from the DJ's set to the huge speakers on either side of the stage. The DJ gapes at us.

"What the hell, man?"

As the DJ asks us this, the entire school here at the moment boos at the fact that there's no music anymore.

"Let's run," I pull at Mason's sleeve.

"Good idea." We rush out of that area to make sure nobody gets too angry at us. We run to the doors to the school, a place that's much farther from the stage full of annoyed people.

"That was really brave and stupid of you," I tell Mason with a wide grin, referring to his stunt of basically stopping the party.

He shrugs as if it's not a big deal, but he looks proud. "I have my moments."

It's a good thing we decided to run away here, because after only a minute of standing there, Scott, Liam, and Malia burst through the front doors. With Scott in the lead, I hurry towards him, asking if he's fine.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I guess so. Those policemen... they wanted to kill us."

"Whoa, what?" Mason joins in, very shocked.

"They literally poured gasoline on us," says Malia in irritation.

"But the music stopped, and I was able to think clearly again. Did you do that?"

I step to the side and point at Mason. "Thank him."

Scott smiled thankfully at my friend and pats him on the back. "Thanks, man."

Even though Mason doesn't understand much, like why the music would actually affect them, he stepped up and became a great help. It makes me guilty that he doesn't know the real reason to things.

Now that I've finished talking to my cousin, I wrap my arms around Liam. He's startled for a while, even moving back a bit, but eventually hugs back. Unfortunately, I realized how soaked they are from the gasoline, so I let go and make a face.

In unison, Liam and I say disgustedly, "Gasoline."

"We tied them up for the meantime and called the Sheriff's Department," a female's voice says. We all turn to look at her. She is a dark skinned woman with long, wavy hair, and is quite pretty. I notice she has these scars on her neck, though, but of course, it's rude to ask or even stare.

"Er, Riles, this is Braden," says Scott, motioning to the woman. She looks serious, but sends the smallest smile she can give. "She's a U.S. Marshall, so she knows... a lot."

Scott gives me a look and emphasizes those last two words. Is he hinting that she knows about his kind and more?

He then gestures to the man next to her. Now, I recognize him. It's Derek Hale. He's tall with black hair and a beard that suits him, and he seems like one of those men you don't want to mess with. But oddly enough, he has kind eyes.

"And this is Derek. Guys, this is my cousin, Riley Bales."

"Uh, hi," I say shortly.

"Um, Mason, why don't you head home now?" Scott suddenly suggests to the boy behind me.

He looks uncomfortable at the attention, but nods. "Oh, sure. You guys are all alright now, yeah?"

"Yeah. Thanks for all your help, really."

Still seeming slightly confused, he smiles anyways. "No problem. I'll see you soon, Liam. Riley."

"Yeah, see you," Liam finally speaks.

"Bye, Mason," I say as he shoves his hands into his pockets, walking away from the group.

"Now that he's gone," Derek says once Mason is far away. He stares at me as if he's analyzing me. "This is the girl you said could handle a bow?"

"Yes," says Scott defensively, coming to my side. "She's good. She's had practice with it as a sport, so maybe with a little training with Argent... you know."

Derek doesn't stop staring yet. "Hm. We'll see."

"I don't want her to have to go out every time, though. She doesn't have to be involved in everything, she's still a kid."

I appreciate Scott being protective, and I myself don't want to have to leave every night in the risk of dying or something, but the mood set right now was so serious and it's as if I wasn't there, so I try to lighten the mood. "Still here," I say jokingly.

"Sorry, Riles," Scott apologizes with a sheepish smile.

"So, uh, why did those guys want to kill you all?" I ask, still puzzled.

"They were working for the Benefactor," Braden answers. "And not just that. A friend of theirs ordered them specially how to kill them: by burning them alive."

"See, there's this deputy. Deputy Jordan Parrish," Scott begins to explain further for me.

"Jordan Parrish? As in, the one who took Violet away that night of the scrimmage?" I interrupt. Now that I think about it, the scrimmage seems so long ago.

"Yeah, him." Scott looks relieved that I am familiar with the guy. "A coworker of his, Haigh, attempted to burn him alive, too."

"Attempted?"

"He almost got away with it," says Derek. "He trapped him in a car and poured gasoline all over him and the car. He lit him up, but later that night, he came in the station full of ash, but unharmed, nevertheless."

If he wasn't killed on the spot, then he couldn't be a normal human being.

"So is he like you guys?"

"No."

I am more confused than ever.

"Then what is he?" Liam joins in.

"We don't know."

Wow.

"Argent might find something in the Bestiary to know what Parrish is, though," Scott adds.

"Now, what is a Bestiary?" I seem to be asking way too many questions tonight.

"A book full of supernatural creatures," Derek says. "Point is, this Haigh guy tried to kill Parrish for money, then told some of his friends to do the same to Scott, Malia and Liam.

I'm trying to take in all these information all at once, and it's difficult, to be honest. But right now, I'm still just feeling relieved that everyone's alright.

"That just goes to show that it doesn't matter whether they're professional killers or not. Beacon Hills is full of people wanting to kill for money," Scott begins solemnly. "We are not safe. That dead pool is online, and that's how everyone has ahold of it. We need to be more watchful now, no matter what."

→ → →

Luckily, I remember to text my parents numerous times to make them happy. I even text them when Scott drives me home on his motorcycle, and they tell me that there's some leftover food in the fridge from the Chinese takeout they ordered earlier. I make sure to eat when I get inside since all I did in the bonfire was drink a little.

The motorcycle engine shuts off. I take this as my cue to take Scott's helmet off, and he does the same. I swing my leg over to my right side and hop off, shaking my hair to fix it ups a bit even though I'm already home.

"Well, I gotta get back to school. The bonfire's still going on and I've got more things to do," Scott sighs.

I smile sympathetically at him. "I know you've got lots to do, and you can't really avoid it. But when you've got the time, just chill, okay?"

He chuckles, but sends me a grateful look at my concern for him. "Of course, Riley."

"Be careful too, okay?"

"Always am."

I step forward again towards him and give him a quick, one-armed hug. He hugs me back with one arm, too, while his other hand rests on his bike. We let go soon and I give him one last smile.

"Thanks for taking me back, couz," I say playfully. He grins at my words and shrugs as if it's no problem. "Bye, Scott."

"Goodbye, Riles."

Finally, I step backward and wait there for a while as he puts his helmet back on his head, kicks his motorbike's engine back to life, then speeds away back to Beacon Hills High School. I then silently make my way to my front porch, unlock the door, then step inside. My parents aren't in the living room and I don't see them in the kitchen from here, so I assume they're now upstairs.

"I'm home!" I announce loudly.

I lock my front door then place the keys on the side table. While making my way to the kitchen, I hear a door swing open from the second floor.

"Hey, how was the bonfire?" my dad yells from up there.

I chuckle, knowing that of course he would ask that.

"Fun," I say simply. That statement isn't exactly true; I only drank a bit and I didn't even dance. The mood was slightly gloomy and then tense, and after another near-death experience to not only Scott but also Liam and Malia, it became serious. I did enjoy seeing my friends out of school not on some adventure for a while, though. I also saw Lacey, and I didn't even get to join her.

"Fun?" I hear him repeat.

"It was alright. It was mostly just dancing, though." I'm sure he knows that there must've been alcohol there, but both he and I don't mention it.

"Well, that's nice, I guess." His voice gets fainter as I enter the kitchen, open the fridge, and search for food. "Did you lock the door?"

"Yep!"

"Good!" And then I hear the door shut close, so I get on with my eating.

About fifteen minutes later, I'm making my way up my stairs. I enter my room and toss my bag to the chair in front of my desk, then plop down on my bed to rest for a while. As if it is a routine, I whip out my phone and begin looking through my usual social media sites. I get in touch with a few people, try to be updated with the recent news, then get back up to shower.

I have just stepped back out of the shower, drying my hair with my towel when I hear the rumble of a motorcycle outside. I frown, curious. I'm used to the sound of Scott's bike when its engine is running, and it sounds just like that. He doesn't live next to me, though, and I don't think he or I forgot anything, so I have no clue as to why he's here. So, I walk over to my windows, open up the blinds, and peek out.

Sure enough, Scott's bike comes pulling up in front of my house- no, wait, it stops technically in front of Liam's house. I raise my eyebrows and continue to watch eagerly. There are two people on the vehicle, and one of them, the one on the back, gets off. The person reveals his face after taking the helmet off of his head. It's Liam.

When Scott said he needed to go back to finish some things, did he mean bringing Liam back, too? He basically just brought me back here then went back around to school to drop Liam off at his house, too? I thought even Scott would've thought to let Mason drive Liam back since they arrived together, and since he is the one he also brought me to the bonfire, it seems natural the he should only have to take me back. So, of course, I find it odd.

I step back from my window and plop down on my bed, grabbing my phone from my nightstand at the same time. I tap on my messages and text Scott and Liam.

To: Scott the Hot 🐺
Why are you back outside?
11:12

After sending that vague text in a rush, I send a message to the other boy.

To: Liam Dunbar
Scott drove u back too?
11:13

From: Liam Dunbar
Yep. He went off to finish some stuff
11:14

I get that second reply from him the same time that a new text arrives, and it's from Scott.

From: Scott the Hot 🐺
Brought Liam back. We were gonna go out again, but I decided he needs to rest.

I sigh. Scott is way too selfless, and it's like lately, he doesn't want to do even one thing for himself. I bet if he didn't eat lunch and there was only one sandwich left or something, he would give it away to someone who has eaten and is probably just still hungry. I know, it's an odd analogy, but that's what I think. Has he been like this the whole time he's become a werewolf? Every act he does is in order to save everyone, or simply for the good of others.

Yes, Scott is a good person. But he needs to do something for himself once in a while, or else he'll one day just be so exhausted of everything.