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CHAPTER TWO
"the calm before"
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"DID YOU KNOW that my son of a bitch cat scratched me this morning?" 

Lex didn't even hesitate, "sell it on the black market." 

If Connie heard her, she didn't let on. "It was just weird to me, because the last time Apollo scratched me was when I accidentally stepped on him after getting my wisdom teeth removed. Now this little shit attacks me for no reason as I'm minding my buiness and trying to get a glass of apple juice." 

Lex wasn't too concerned about her best friend's cat story, as she was too hyper focused on overthinking the events of their first class of the day. She had English, a class that she has always shared with Connie, but now she had to worry about what Scott would do when she showed up. Perhaps she was being overly anxious, but she couldn't exactly help it. Anxiety grew on Lex like mold on bread, and she was just praying that the boy would hold up his end of their deal. 

 Because if not... damn, she would look stupid. 

She pushed the door of the classroom open, her lips pursing as she scanned over the room. She noticed that a teacher was not yet present, and the first open spots she saw were next to Scott and his rather hyperactive best friend, Stiles.  

 Her eyes zeroed in on Allison Argent, her lips twitching downwards as she noticed her conversing with Scott. Despite the awkward smile on her face, Lex couldn't help feel her competitive nature surface as the girl began to pull put the seat. She practically ran forward, purposely shoving Stiles' desk over a few inches as she slid gracefully into the seat, an easygoing smile on her face as she grinned up at Allison. 

 "Hey, Al, thanks for pulling this seat out for me." She mused, her face glowing with innocence as she twirled a piece of her dark hair over her shoulder. "I love the new haircut by the way, it's super hot." 

 "Oh, thanks-" Allison looked as if she didn't know how to react at Lex's sudden appearance. She glanced over at Scott, who just sighed in slight exasperation, triggering Lex to turn in her spot to shoot him a look. 

 Catching on, he leaned forward in his seat. "Hey, Lex, I didn't know you had English first period." 

 "Act more excited than that, McCall." She teased, "we both know how much you love my company. Maybe I can help you get a better grade this year." 

 Scott actually smiled at that. "Are you good at English?" 

 "Oh, I'm good at a lot of things." 

 Allison, who was watching this exchange with a confused look on her pretty face, spoke up. "I'm sorry, I feel like I'm missing something here." 

 "You probably missed a lot, I'm sure going on a four-month long vacation to Italy tends to throw you a little out of the loop." 

 The Argent girl blanched, "It was France, actually." 

 "Well then," she gave a small wave, "au revoir." 

Lex knew full well that Allison could kick her ass if she really wanted to, but she would rather bite off her own finger than say it aloud. So she settled for holding eye-contact, her face rested into a challenging exhibition, before smiling triumphantly to herself when the girl turned to walk away. 

  "That was fun, we should do it more often." She said, turning to Scott and raising an eyebrow. "Do I have to enroll you into an acting class?"

 "I'm surprisingly good at acting," he shot back. Lex dished out a disbelieving look at that, turning to look over her shoulder. Allison wasn't looking at her just then, but she rose her eyes to meet Lex's a few moments later. Seizing the opportunity, she turned swiftly in her seat and leaned over to Scott. 

 "Can I kiss you?" 

 "Huh?" 

 She cut him off by leaning forward, resting a hand on the side of his face and pressing their lips together. It only lasted a few seconds, and when she pulled away she noticed the boy's face flushed bright red. She winced slightly to herself as she slid back into her seat, "sorry, I was trying to take advantage of the opportunities." 

 "Oh, it's-" he cleared his throat. "It's fine." 

 Apparently not everyone thought that way, as there was a loud and very exuberant "WHAT" that came from a few rows to her side, and seconds later, Stiles Stilinski came barreling towards them. The raven-haired boy pressed his hands onto his friend's desk, his eyes wide as he gestured between the two. "I'm sorry, what?" He demanded, pointing back and forth between the two of them. "What? What? What-" 

 "Stilinski, you're causing a scene." Lex tried to keep her voice as nonchalant as possible, "do you need me to call an ambulance?"

 Stiles ignored her, instead whirling on Scott. "When did this happen?" 

 Scott took a page out of Lex's book, and looked up at Stiles with an innocent expression on his face. "A few days ago." 

 "A few-!" 

His voice was cut off by a loud buzzing coming from his pocket, and Lex made a point to ignore her own vibrating phone as she gestured to Stiles, "are you gonna get that? It might be your anger managment therapist." 

 He squinted at her, gesturing to her pocket, "you gonna get that? It might be your hairdresser." 

 The two glared at each other for a moment, before reaching into their pockets at the same time and pulling out their devices.  

It was a text from an unknown number, one that Lex had to squint in order to read. "The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth, flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember if she accidentally signed up for some sort of 'quote of the day' service. Luckily, her questions were answered when the door of the classroom flung open, and a young woman walked in. She had a phone in her hands, reading the words that Lex had previous read off of her screen aloud. When she finished, she fixated the class with a small smile. "This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will recieve in this class. Phones off, everyone."

Lex huffed in annoyance, an act that Scott noticed with an amused smile. He lowered his voice, leaning closer to his whisper could be heard. "You were hoping to go on your phone all class?" 

 She shrugged, "sort of. English is useless anyway it's not like I'm gonna spend my entire life observing old books for a living."

There was a small tap at her desk, and Lex jumped when she realized that the new teacher was now staring down at her. She let an innocent smile grace her lips, tilting her head up to look at the woman. "Hello there, ma'am." 

 "Hi," she shot her a somewhat contemptuous smile back, gesturing to the phone that was still in her hand. "If you're unable to put your phone away, maybe it's for the best if I just take it." 

 Lex didn't even waver, leaning back slightly in her seat and raising an eyebrow. "What if I'm anticipating some important news?" 

 "What kind of news?"

 "A call," she leaned her chin into her palm, pursing her lips. "From my doctor. You don't want to risk my health, do you Miss..." She let her voice trail off, and the woman blinked - obviously already regretting her decision to take up a teaching position. 

 "Blake. And I am sure that you'll survive forty minutes. Phone away." 

 Lex hid her scowl as she leaned down to slip her phone into the front pocket of her bag. Honestly, she didn't give a shit about not using her phone during class - she never did anyway. She just liked challenging people, a part of her personality that came to the surface more often than she would care to admit. 

 Scott scoffed lightly, "really smooth, Rivera." 

 "Bite me, McCall." 

 Only a few more moments passed, before Miss. Blake rose her gaze towards the two again, although this time it wasn't directed at Lex. "Mr. McCall?" 

 Scott's head flew up, his eyes widening as if the woman had caught him in an incriminating act. Lex glanced over as she unpacked his binder, but he just shrugged in response, grabbing his bag and walking up to the front of the class. He disappeared out the door seconds later, and Lex sighed as she doodled small flowers on the side of her paper. 

 "Hey!" The soft voice of Stiles Stilinski cut into her conscious, and she glanced over; half expecting him to be talking to her. Instead, his gaze was directed at Connie, and he gestured to the small bandage around her forearm that became exposed when she shifted in her seat. "Connie, hey-" 

 She turned to glance at the boy, raising an expectant eyebrow. "What do you want?" 

 He pointed again to the bandage, "what happened to your wrist?" 

 Connie glanced down as if she had forgotten the bandage was there, shrugging slightly as she resumed her review. "Apollo scratched me." 

 "Your... your cat?"

The dark-skinned girl shot him an unimpressed look. "No, the Greek God of the fucking sun halted his chariot to come down and scratch me with his freshly manicured hands. Yes, Stiles, obviously my cat." 

 Lex snorted, bowing her head so that she didn't make her english teacher hate her anymore than she already did. Stiles pouted, huffing indignantly before turning to speak to Lydia Martin. As he did, Connie turned to make eye-conact with Lex, rolling her eyes and mouthing, "he's on crack" to her friend. 

The Rivera girl nodded, tapping her nails against the hard surface of her textbook. She was about to open it, before a loud thump coming from the window caught her attention, and she swiveled her head. She jumped when she saw what had happened, her heart skipping a beat at the crimson stain that painted the previously pristine window. 

 She slowly rose to her feet, walking over to the window to see what the hell had just hit the glass. The sight made her throat go dry and her ribs begin to ache from the current of nerves building under her skin. 

 It was bird. Crows, to be exact, and nearly a hundred of them. They were gathered outside of the window, flying directly towards them at an alarming rate. One hit the window, and Lex flinched, backing up so that she was behind the row of desks and turning to look at Connie. 

 Another hit the window with a bright splatter of blood, and then the glass completely shattered. All hell broke loose, birds flooding the classroom and causing kids to scream and duck to avoid being scratched by the talons. Lex yelped when the sharp edge of a claw raked across her cheek, stinging spreading throughout the skin as she ducked, grabbing her unopened textbook and smacking the bird down with it. 

 "Lexi!" She heard Connie shout, and turned around to grab her friend's arm, pulling her downward as chaos ensued around them. Another bird flew at them, so Lex hit it with her book, trying to ignore how she could feel the sticky blood dripping down the side of her face. 

 She rose her voice to be heard over the commotion, "what the fuck has global warming done to birds?" 

Then she dopped to her knees and held onto Connie tightly, closing her eyes and using her body to shield the other girl to the best of her abilities. Occasionally, she felt a small scratch at her back, but she did her best to not look up. 

 After what felt like hours, only silence remained from the tumultuous actions, and Lex nervously looked up. Around her, the aftermath of whatever-the-fuck-had-just-happened spanned, leaving ripped up papers and the occasional splatter of blood dirtying the air. Lex rose to her feet, clasping her shaking hand in Connie's and sharing a look with the girl. 

 She had no idea what the sweet hell just happened... but god-damn it, she knew that it was definitely not going to lead to anything good. 

 ***

"I'M FINE, I SWEAR."

Lex squirmed under the firm hand of the paramedic bandaging her cheek, shifting back and forth to try and get away. The man pulled away long enough to give her a stern look, "Miss, if you don't want it to get infected, then you should probably just give me a few more minutes." 

"No offense, Doc, but I could go this myself." She spat, scowling as he securely fastened the bandage to her tanned skin. "It doesn't really take five years of med school to learn how to put a bandaid on." 

 "Come on, Riv!" A condescending voice piped up, and Lex turned to shoot Stiles the best glare she could with a man trying to attach a large piece of bandage to her face. "Be a good sport! I thought your face was your prized possession!" 

"Hey, Stilinski! Wanna know what happens to a human being when they get a ruler shoved up their ass?"

"You're good to go!" The paramedic smiled at her, stepping away and allowing her room to hop off the desk that she was previously sitting on. "That should heal fine, you won't have a scar or anything." 

 "Great," she mused dryly, crossing her arms. "Anything else?" 

 "Yeah-" he glanced around, "are your parents here? You should probably let them know what happened." 

 Lex snorted. The probability of her parents showing up to the school were about one in a million. Her mom was currently in London for a meeting about her fashion-design company, and her dad was doing research for his upcoming trial. He wasn't on trial, he was the defense attorny on the case... although sometimes, Lex thought that even if he was the one on trial, she would still see him the same amount as she does currently.

She didn't say any of that, she just wordlessly walked out the door to speak to Connie. The girl herself seemed relatively unscathed from the whole ordeal, having made it out with no scratches on her pretty face. She immediately began walking, Lex having to practically jog to keep up with her long strides. Connie turned once they reached her locker, leaning against the medal with wide eyes. "Okay, what the holy fuck just happened?" 

 "I wish I could tell you," Lex huffed. "The fucking police are all stupid as hell, too." She raised her voice to a falsetto tone, "'no, ma'am, we have never seen any case of murder-birds before'-" She ropped her voice down to it's regular sound, "what a bunch of idiots. Stilinski's dad is the only one with three braincells on that force, and even he seemed confused." 

 "That can't be something that just... happens, right?" She shook her head, "you know that thing where animals act weird before an earthquake? Maybe it's that." 

 "Oh yeah, because before every earthquake a swarm of birds decide to collectively commit suicide." 

 Connie shot her friend a look, "it's a flock of birds, not swarm." 

 "God damn it, Constance, I don't need you to attack me for my intelligance, I just almost died because of a fucking crow!" 

Perhaps she was being slightly over-dramatic, but her heart was beating so intensely that she was having a difficult time breathing. She knew that Beacon Hills was known for it's mysterious aura - but that was mainly murders and people going missing... never weird bird attacks. Lex knew that murders should frighten her more, but the sheer unnatural act of what had happened made her skin crawl. She was used to scary, but this was a whole new level of 'what the fuck'. 

That only increased when she turned and a woman was staring at her. 

She actually jumped, pressing a hand to her chest, "Holy shit-" 

 "Are you Alexis Rivera?" The woman asked, glancing nervously over her shoulder. She was pretty, with dark skin and sharp features- although she seemed out of her element in baggy clothes and messy hair. Lex rose an eyebrow. 

 "Yeah, who's asking?" 

 "I was told you might know where Scott McCall is." The intensity of the woman's gaze was making Lex's heartbeat only increase further, and she furrowed her eyebrows. 

 "I don't know. He left class-" 

 The woman darted forward, grabbing onto Lex's wrist with enough force to make her wince, tugging her arm back slightly, "hey!"

 She leaned forward, "is he coming back?" 

 "Are you asking to be reported for assault?" Connie demanded, reaching forward to try and pull Lex's wrist away, only to grunt when her own was grabbed in response. 

 She held them there for a second more, before releasing her hold and turning to disappear down the hallway. Lex blanched, holding her aching wrist to her chest, "I'm sorry, do people start acting weird before an earthquake, too?" 

Before Connie could answer, another pair approached the two, and Lex groaned in exasperation. This time, it was Lydia Martin and Allison Argent - the former who was looking at them through concerned eyes. "Hey, what just happened?" 

 "Some bitch came up asking us where Scott was, and then grabbed my wrist and-" she glanced at the skin, exhaling sharply when she saw a bruise was already beginning to form on the skin. "Oh! And of course it left a bruise, as if my skin hadn't been damaged enough today!" 

 Allison groaned, running a hand over her face. "Oh my gosh, Lex, I am so sorry - she asked if we knew where Scott was and I thought that you-" 

 Lex cut her off, "why the hell would I know where Scott went? You're acting like I have him dog chipped or something." 

 Lydia snorted, an action she tried to cover as a cough as she tilted her head away from the group. Allison ignored her, "I mean, you two are dating now, right?" 

 "What?" Lex demanded, pausing for a moment, before remembering that her and Scott indeed were presumably dating. "Oh - I mean, yeah we are... but I don't stalk my boyfriends." 

"Hey," Connie's eyebrows were furrowed, her gaze pinned on Lex's wrist. "Let me see your wrist." 

 She obliged, holding her arm out and watching as Connie did the same. They had matching bruises on their arms from the incident beforehand, but that was the exact fact that made it so peculiar... they were matching. They lined up perfectly, forming an intricate pattern on the skin that looked as if it couldn't have been just a coincidence. 

 That was confusing enough, but the look that Lydia and Allison shared afterward was what made nerves creep back into Lex's stomach. 

 Her year was not off to a good start. 

A/N:

y'all allison with short hair is such a hot look, so you already know i had to have lex point it out sehierjd-

anyway, i hope you enjoyed the update! lmk your predictions for how lex will be introduced to the supernatural, i want to hear what you think!

thank you for reading, and lots of love!