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CHAPTER SIX
"like the wind"
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"RISE AND SHINE!" 

 Lex did not want to rise nor shine, but Allison seemed to have other ideas as she opened her curtains, flooding the room with light. Lex groaned, rolling over and burying her face into the pillow with a barely audible mumble of, "I don't want to!"

 "The sooner you face the real world, the better." Allison tugged the blankets off of Lex, grinning widely at her as she turned so that she was facing upwards. Allison was already dressed - looking wide awake as she gestured to her closet. "You can take anything you want from there, since all of your other clothes were covered with blood, and we can change those bandages when you're ready." 

 Lex lazily rose to her feet, her face and throat alike feeling dry from all of the crying she did the night prior. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and nearly grimaced. She took off all of her makeup last before she went to bed, and now she had no way to put it back on. Her discontentment only doubled as she peered into Allison's closet. 

 "Let me just point something out-" Lex said, sifting through the clothes. "I am supposed to go to school with no makeup, no backpack, looking like..." she squinted, "some sort of preppy zombie?" 

 "Just try to find something less preppy!" The Argent girl chasised, "and you look fine, don't worry about it!"

"Easy for you to say," she grumbled, grabbing the first black shirt she saw, pairing it with a red blouse and tossing the clothes onto the bed. She then shrugged off the navy hoodie she had slept in and began to slowly unravel her bandages. 

 The wounds were as prominent as they were the night before, only solidifying that the previous events did actually happen. They hurt just as much as well, and Lex gritted her teeth as she gently ran a finger over the punctures. 

 Allison winced, "oh, that doesn't look good. We can rebandage it downstairs." 

 Lex's eyes drifted back to the shirt she had chosen, and pursed her lips, turning back to Allison with a quizzical tone.  

"Hey, do you have anything long-sleeved?"

 ***

SCOTT WAS WAITING at the front of the school when the car pulled up. 

 Chris Argent - who nearly had a heart attack when Allison explained what happened - had driven them, and gave Lex strict instructions to keep a keen eye on her injuries. He said that she wouldn't deal with any supernatural side-effects, but they could get infected; which was almost worse. Lex thought he was joking, but was too freaked out to ask. 

 Now, she just smiled and thanked him as she exited the car. The autumn air was crisp, only further reminding Lex how stupid she must look right now, in her zipped up hoodie and black leggings, her hair loose around her shoulders and her face completely bare of makeup. She didn't think that she had ever gone to school wearing something like that, but she was too preoccupied to be self-conscious. 

 Her veins were buzzing with pent up energy, and she was thankful for the cross country training that was taking place first period. She had signed up the whole squad - much to their displeasure - with the promise that it would be good for them. It may be lacrosse off-season, but they still held practices; so why couldn't they?

 Scott was leaning against the railing, his fingers folded together; and he looked up as soon as the girls began walking down the stone path leading to the doors. Allison turned to Lex, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Are you good?" 

 She smiled, "I will be." 

 "Just come find me if you need anything." She said, before turning to walk up the stairs. When she passed Scott, she leaned in closer and whispered something that made him nod. And then she was gone, leaving Lex to fiddle with the strings of her hoodie as the boy approached her. 

 His lips quirked upwards, although he seemed awfully nervous, "hi." 

 "Hi." 

The boy shuffled back and forth on his feet, tapping his side awkwardly. "We found Boyd and Cora," he blurted out, offering Lex a small amount of consolation that allowed her shoulders to relax. "They're safe, they didn't kill anyone." 

 Tone brimming with false-positivity, Lex articulated a "great!" that made the boy grimace. 

 "Okay, yeah, we seriously have to talk." 

 They fell into step, Lex ducking under Scott's arm as he held the door open. The hallways were already crowded, so they walked close together and stuck to low voices. Lex noticed that people were already beginning to stare at her, and shoved her hands into her pockets, "Allison explained everything to me. Werewolves, hunters, Crackhead Derek, all of it." 

 "Okay, okay that's good," Scott seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than her as her ran a hand through his hair. "That's good, are you okay? Like, do you need me to explain anything else? Or-" 

 She cut him off, "I'm not going to freak out and burn down the school, McCall, I freaked to the max last night. It's just..." she clasped her lips together as she brushed a piece of hair from her face. "It's actually kind of good to know. At least now I can be sure that if something weird happens it's not the side effects of my anxiety medication, it's just a bunch of crazy werewolves."

 Scott grinned, visibly relaxing as he exhaled, "Good - I mean, not the anxiety thing - but I'm glad that you know, I don't like secrets..." his voice trailed off, and he winced, "speaking of secrets... I understand if you want to call it off. Call us off." 

 Lex shot him a look, "why the hell would I do that?"

"Well, because people who are close to me tend to sort of get dragged in to everything going on, and I don't want you to get hurt." 

 Lex's eyes seemed to glow at that, and she shook her head, putting her hands on either side of his face. "Scott, you've seen me with no makeup, messy hair, and in a hoodie. I wouldn't blame you for running away screaming." 

 He chuckled, "what are you implying?" 

 She leaned forward, pressing her lips to his to escape from onlooker's stares, but when she pulled away Scott was smiling. 

 She tilted her head to the side. "I'm not going anywhere." 

 ***

"RIV! HEY, RIV!"

Lex was in the process of tying her sneakers when Stiles barrelled over to her. The autumn air was cool, but her baby blue running jacket kept the chill from creeping up her arms. Her hair swished, returned to it's usual form of a neat ponytail, as she stood up and cocked an eyebrow at Stiles.

 The raven-haired boy was out of breath as he leaned over, his cheeks flushed red as if he had sprinted all the way to the starting point of the run. He held up a finger, putting a hand on his stomach as he heaved in his breaths. 

 Lex rolled her eyes, "if you have this much trouble catching your breath, I'm not sure cross country is the right choice for you."  

 "No, I-I'm fine." He exhaled slowly, following his breaths with his hands as he straightened his back. "I heard about what happened last night, and I just wanted to say that if you are secretly some sort of magical creature that can and will kill me on the next full moon, please let me know now." 

 "I can confidentally say that I am not," she crossed her arms, her raven-black hair caressing her cheek as she flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. "What about you, Stilinski? Do you have claws coming out of your ass too?" 

 "Nope, I am just here as the punching bag, and occasionally for emotional support." He held up two thumbs-up. "You are now enlisted to join me as the emotional support person, because you are statistically ninety percent scarier than I am, and people tend to listen to the scarier one." He glanced over to where Scott and Isaac were standing, "you know, for emotional support."

"I'll keep that in mind."  

 "Oh! One more thing-" he took a step closer, lowering his voice as he jutted his chin out to gesture over her shoulder. She followed his gaze until her eyes landed on the two new students in their year - identical twins, both of whom looked as if they could crush her with one hand. "Steer clear of those two." 

 She glanced at him, "werewolves?"  

 Stiles nodded, "yep, Alphas, which means that they are strong, and bloodthirsty, and definitely up to no good."

Lex nodded, stepping back and tapping Stiles' chest to gain his attention. "Do you know who else is strong, bloodthirsty, and is never up to anything good?" 

 He shot her a look, "you?" 

 "Me!" She gently punched his shoulder, "and you don't have to worry about me, Stilinski, I'll be fine."

"Rivera!" Coach Finstock's brash voice cut into the environment, clashing dramatically with the soft melody of the wind slipping through the trees. Lex turned around, cocking an eyebrow as the older man walked over, his whistle hanging from his neck as if he was going to coach a run. He beckoned her over, so Lex turned to shoot Stiles a coy salute, before spinning on her heel to saunter to where the man was standing. 

 "I see you've got a lot of cheerleaders here," he began, and immediately an irate edge shadowed over Lex's eyes. She thought he was about to make a jab at the team, but instead just nodded his head as he looked them over. "Those cheerleaders could become lacrosse players. We need some girls, and if these ones really are strong enough to throw people in the air, we could use them." 

 Lex's features softened, a small smile quirking at her lips as she crossed her arms. "I don't think so, Coach." She said, amusement glittering in her dark eyes. "I think my squad prefers cheering to playing. After all, it is a better workout." 

 "A better-" Coach repeated, an incredulous expression on his face. "Seriously?" 

 "Yeah," Lex spoke as if it were obvious, "we get thrown in the air, that's metal as hell. We can also do backflips. Can any of your dudes do a backflip?"

He stared at her for a moment, his beady eyes narrowing, before he shrugged. "Touche," he said, before bringing his whistle to his lips and blowing it; making Lex wince at the piercing noise. "Now get in line, Rivera! I wanna see what you got." 

 "Challenge accepted," Lex whirled, stretching her arms as she made her way to the front of the line. She nearly smiled, the adrenaline already beginning to build in her chest as she rotated her shoulders. Lex Rivera was known for many things, but despite all of the rumors circulating around her name, there was one fact known universally: the girl had an insane competitive streak. And she wanted to solidify that even if she was a cheerleader, she could outrun any boy on the lacrosse team. 

 Her eyes landed on Isaac Lahey, and she felt her heart thump. He looked positively livid, and judging by the expression on the twin Alpha's faces, she had a good guess as to why. 

 Okay... maybe not any boy. But any human boy for sure.

She heard Scott say Isaac's voice in a stern tone, and kept her gaze pinned on the brunet as he turned to look at her boyfriend-

Sorry, her not-boyfriend.

-With eyes that glowed bright yellow. 

 "It's them," he said, his voice as dark as his expression, before the whistle was blown and he took off. Lex jumped, taken aback by how quickly the twins began sprinting, Isaac close behind them. A trail of dust rose in their wake, and Lex cursed; taking off as well, pumping her arms and finding her breathing rhythm as smoothly as she could. 

 That was the trick for running: stay consistent. Sometimes, it hurts like hell... but Lex could speak from experience that keeping a steady pace and not stopping is the best way to run. But now, her heart was erratic from the potential werewolf-smackdown she was about to encounter, so she willed her legs to move faster. 

 The twins were already out of sight, and so was Isaac. Scott was moving quickly, moving through the crowd with fluidity that could only come from being a werewolf. He pulled to the top of the group, and Lex watched him intently until he rounded the turn and became another trail of dust that she was forced to echo. 

 Actually, fuck that. 

 She sucked in a deep breath, before exhaling deeply and willing her legs to move faster. She was shorter than most of the runners, so was able to maneuver around them with minimal effort. She progressed to the front of the line, where she fell into step with two people on her squad - a redhead named Anya and an Asian boy who went by Vin. 

"Hey, Cap," Vin mused with a lazy smile. He didn't seem at all deterred by the run; rather looking as if he was having the time of his life. "Ready to show those jocks who's boss?"

 "Shut up," Anya immediately retorted, her face already bright red, although she showed no sign of slowing down. "We're jocks too, moron. Just better and stronger." 

 "Well thanks for the observation, Red, I'll be sure to include that in my-"

 "Will you guys be quiet for a second?" Lex demanded, her legs burning along with her legs from her sprint. "Do you have any idea where this trail ends? Like, how far does it go?" 

 "It ends behind the lacrosse field" Anya gasped, brushing her hand over her bright hair. "I've run this trail a million times, it loops around down there-" she gestured vaguely to the forest. "And then curves back to the - hey, Lex!" 

 The Rivera girl only vaguely heard the rest of her cry, as she had darted to the side and jumped down into the forest. Twigs snapped as her sneakers trampled them, the branches on the trees glancing across her face and opening tiny, stinging cuts. She wasn't sure exactly what her plan was; all she knew was that she had to somehow prevent Isaac from instigating what could possibly be a deadly fight. She didn't know much about werewolves, but she saw firsthand how strong they were. Crackhead Derek punched through solid stone for Christ's sake - so Lex didn't want to discover the hard way what two Alpha's could do side-by-side. She was freaked out by all of her new knowledge, sure, but she had a clear enough head to know that she didn't want Scott to get hurt. 

 She was so preoccupied by her thoughts, that she almost ran into a body. 

 A human figure was in her vision, so she jumped, startled. Her foot caught on a bulging tree root that sent her sprawling to the ground, her arms catching her just before her nose would have smacked against the uneven terrain. She groaned, spitting into the dirt and sitting up to observe the dirt that was smudged into her jacket. 

 Then she looked up, and screamed.

 It was a body, not a human. A body that was tied to a tree by the neck, seeming as if a fake-jewel encrusted dog-collar had been used as a makeshift garrote wire. Additionally, blood was running down the corpses neck, courtesy of a gaping slash deep into the man's throat. His face wasn't familiar to Lex, but it was partially obscured by blood that had dried a deep crimson, a stark difference to the pale skin of the lifeless body. He seemed to have been hit in the head, an injury that surely would have been enough to induce death to begin with. 

 Lex put a hand over her mouth, shaking as she took a step back.

 She wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into... but she had a feeling that it had to do with the new world that had just opened a door in her mind.