BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE

CHAPTER SIX: GUIDED WALKS

STILES gestured to the school briefly letting his eyes look over River, "shouldn't you be taking her to get her schedule?" this time Scott looked to River gesturing to the school, "do you wanna go get it now? Once we're done Stiles can help you find your locker." the honey eyed boy raised his eyebrows his golden streaked eyes widening as he did so.

"I- I never agreed to that." he argued raising his hands to his chest in a conciliatory manner, "you did the second you said you didn't believe me." he grinned already beginning to lead the way into the school, "stupid wolves in stupid California." he grumbled resting his hands on the straps of his bag.

"I heard that." Scott called out River glancing back at the boy as he opened his mouth in disbelief a glare beginning to form against his face.

The two teens followed behind Scott as he led the girl of the two to the office Stiles merely tagging along so afterward he could show the teen her locker as Scott had stated he would. They entered the room after having traveled down the halls trying their best to locate the hardly visited room.

The woman at the grey desk looked up upon their arrival adjusting her glasses as he did so, "if it isn't Mr. McCall and Mr. Stilinski, gotten yourselves into trouble again have you?" the comedic of the two feigned a look of amusement immediately frowning, "hello Susan." he grumbled, she glared over the top of her glasses before switching her gaze to River.

"Poor girl, did they rope you into their trouble?" she furrowed her eyebrows shaking her head at the response, "they're just here to help me get my schedule and locker number." she replied, the woman clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth glancing from River to the computer a few times, "name?" she watched as the woman raised her fingers above the keyboard ready to type away at the keys.

"River." she spoke, the woman typed it in patiently waiting for her last name to follow, "Matthews." the woman quickly finished typing it in shifting her hand to the mouse beside the keyboard as she moved around the screen, "you're a sophomore, correct?" she nodded her head watching as the woman clicked something on the screen, seconds later, the printer behind her whirred to life a single sheet of paper sliding out from the bottom slot.

Writing formed by ink covering the white surface of the paper, the woman slid it across the counter to her watching as she picked it up looking over the words written on it, Scott set his hands on her shoulders silently turning her around to head for the door, she glanced back at the woman Stiles seemed to despise so wondering what was so bad about her.

The two boys led her through the halls as they'd been instructed to, stopping in front of a set of lockers, Stiles glanced over the girl's shoulder at her schedule catching the locker number at the top, silently- as if he knew he'd mess up if he spoke- he searched for the number stopping and slapping his hand against the cool metal when he found it, "and, here it is." he grinned, frowning, she sidled up beside him glancing from her paper to her lock as she put in the code.

The honey eyed boy briefly glanced down at her paper unable to keep himself from his curiosity, Scott gently smacked his shoulder causing his eyes to waver away from the sheet in her hands, "dude." he warned, Stiles cocked his head to the side giving Scott a look that said all he needed to without words, "I- I was just curious." he mumbled.

River smiled to herself when the lock keeping her locker closed popped open allowing her access to the space behind the small door, she didn't have any books to put inside yet, therefore, rendering the act of opening the locker at all pointless. She relocked it letting the door slam closed, both Scott and Stiles were staring at some group across the hall in utter fascination.

"Goodbye star-struck weirdos." she mumbled to herself, using this as her opportunity, she snuck away from them knowing that being near them would put her in the perfect position to be bullied, she could just tell they were taunted by other boys and girls alike, she didn't want that for herself even though she'd only be there for two weeks.

Walking down the halls she glanced from the sheet of paper to the small numbers screwed in beside each door searching for her first class, while it took her almost ten minutes to find the room she was more than happy to be on time as she stepped into the room the bell signaling they needed to start heading to their classes sounding off at the same time.

The teacher looked up from her desk as if she were surprised to see someone at all, "go on, take any seat you'd like, first come first serve." she gestured to the continuous rows of seats that lined the room, she picked a seat in the near back of the first row hoping that since she wasn't in the back nor the front that it wouldn't draw as much attention to her.

The students filed in a few flowing in easily while the next group of kids took a few more minutes to arrive, she didn't stir as they entered instead pulling out the book Gen had in the corner of her room, she cracked the cover of it open watching as the dust billowed off the top, she waved her hand through it trying to clear it from her breathing space as quickly as possible.

Letting out a sigh, she read over the very first page seeing a small dedication in the middle of the page, it wasn't printed, rather, written in ink, she read over it twice to make sure she wasn't imagining things, To my dear Genevieve, I hope with this you'll be able to remember all those monsters of yours that you've slain.

She furrowed her eyebrows trying to figure out what it meant, what did the person mean by "all those monsters of yours that you've slain"? Were they talking about something mental? Something physical? Or maybe financial? Maybe she'd been dealing with some problems and had finally managed to solve them, she couldn't be sure unless she asked Gen herself, and maybe it was the perfect push to get her sent back to the orphanage.

She pocketed the idea knowing it would be the perfect plan, she could already see it, showing Gen she had the book, that she'd read it, that she'd been snooping in her office, if that didn't get her sent back she didn't know what would.

The bell rang overhead causing her attention to shift away from the book. At the front of the classroom, the teacher stood and cleared her throat her eyes slowly looking out over the large number of students she had, "I'm Ms. Noraine, this year I'll be your English Two teacher." nobody responded the words having little to no effect on how they felt, River stifled a chuckle watching as the teacher turned her head to look at the brunette girl.

"May I ask what's so funny?" the teen could feel the weight of the entire classes eyes falling to her and suddenly she felt more out of place than she ever had, "nothing." she mumbled, the teacher nodded her head pointing to the board where she'd previously scribbled out some things with white chalk.

"In my class, you're going to need a textbook, which I will be providing you with before the end of class, a notebook, a pen or pencil, and an open-minded thought process." she glanced over at River as she said the last bit, this caused the girl to look down at her feet her cheeks flushing a deep red, she hated being the center of attention, it made her anxiety skyrocket and sometimes even happened to be the cause of her small outbursts.

The girl waited a few minutes before looking up at the clock, she watched it for the entirety of the class period- besides when she was called to the front to get her copy of the textbook they would each be receiving- when the bell finally did ring, she was the first one out trying her best not to trip as she rushed out past the single door warmer air slapping her in the face as she entered the hallway.

She glanced through the chaos surrounding her trying to find a familiar face, or somewhere she could hide for a few minutes, nothing.

She glanced at her schedule sighing when she saw she had Algebra 2, finally, something she was good at, math and sciences had always been her strongest points, mainly because they were based on theorems and algorithms that one could easily remember if they tried hard enough, reading and writing were mostly formulated on opinions, and while she was good at forming them she liked to keep them to herself.

She searched for the room number printed on her sheet of paper stress overtaking her when she was unable to find the room and the bell had just rung- signaling that they needed to head to their classes- a girl brushed up beside her with a boy and another girl in tow- she had that snake-like look, like she wasn't a very good person but pretended to be, it was off-putting.

The ginger-haired girl looked her up and down before gesturing to the paper in her hands, "are you lost?" River hesitantly nodded her head lowering the paper just slightly, "where are you trying to go?" she asked, the teen pointed to the class on her paper, "Algebra Two, I was going to ask the boys I was with but I can't find them." she sighed.

The boy of the three spoke up, "what boys?" the girl shook her head, "some lady's kid that the woman I'm staying with knows." she answered, the boy shook his head, "do you know their names?" she nodded her head furrowing her eyebrows slightly at his question, "Scott and Stiles, why? Do you know them?" the boy rolled his eyes, "you don't wanna hang out with those losers." he stated, Lydia snatched her paper from her hand looking over it for herself.

"You're with Allison and I." already walking off she glanced to the other girl- who's name she could only assume was Allison- she shrugged her shoulders waiting a few seconds for her to follow, River glanced back at the boy as he disappeared down the hall to his class.

She followed the girl up the stairs right on Allison's tail as they reached the top platform, "so River." the ginger-haired girl began, "how long have you been in Beacon Hills?" she rounded the corner disappearing from their sight for a brief second before they turned the corner as well, "not long, just around two days." the girl glanced back at her raising her eyebrows, "well, I'm Lydia."

She nodded her head knowing that neither of the two girls ahead of her could see it, "and..." Lydia paused stopping in front of a door, "we're here." she smiled gesturing to the door right behind her, "and right on time." she added.

Pulling the door open, the three girls filed in a few moments later more students wafting in behind them, Lydia chose a set of seats near the middle plopping down in the one she wanted, she watched as Allison plopped down beside her River hesitantly approaching the free seat, "it doesn't bite, if that's what you're worried about." Allison offered, with a small smile, the girl sat down behind her feeling just the slightest bit more comfortable now that she had more familiar faces she could identify with.

BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE

CHAPTER SIX: GUIDED WALKS