BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE

CHAPTER EIGHT: TORN NETS

STILES slammed his hand against the steering wheel, he was far more frustrated than he should've been, he sent Scott a glance, "we still have lacrosse tryouts after school." his friend's eyes widened with realization, in the rush to get River out of the school without anyone thinking the bathroom had been their fault, they'd failed to realize they had to return to the school later.

"Wait- lacrosse tryouts are today?" both of the boys furrowed their eyebrows casting her a look of disregard, of course, today of all days had to be tryouts, and right after one of her outbursts.

"Yeah, why?" Scott replied glancing into the backseat, "because I play." Stiles stomped on the brake ignoring that if he was stopped he needed to put the car in park, he turned in his seat, a hand resting on the wheel as he spoke, "you. You play lacrosse." he pursed his lips before giving a slight shake of his head, "yeah, I don't think so." Scott gently smacked his shoulder, even he knew his friend was coming off as rude.

She frowned, while she was used to the reaction, it never got any easier. Why were so many people against a girl playing lacrosse on a boys team- the only team the school had to offer?

"Do you have gear?" he asked ignoring the looks the honey eyed boy sent him, she nodded her head, "I just need a new net for my stick." Scott absently nodded his head as he thought about it, "Stiles, drive to her house." he shook his head waiting for the boy to give him a good reason, he let out a sigh and turned to face his stubborn friend, "we're going to go get her stick and gear, then I'm gonna help her fix the net." Stiles rolled his eyes before slowly easing onto the gas pedal.

"Once we get your stuff ready we'll head back to the school and get ready for tryouts, you have to talk to coach though." she nodded her head taking in everything she'd heard, she was nervous and annoyed.

Nervous over tryouts and annoyed over Stiles, it was as if the boy didn't know common decency.

They drove on in silence for the remainder of the trip as neither Stiles nor River had the dying urge to converse, Scott seemed to be stuck in the middle of whatever was going on between them, and he couldn't even figure out what was going on.

A few more minutes passed before they pulled into the driveway belonging to what River was supposed to call her home, to her, it was just another place to hide, a place to be forgotten, a place that didn't belong to her.

It wasn't her home.

Without waiting for either of the boys to speak, she prodded at Scotts shoulder waiting for him to let her out, he opened the door and moved out of her way quickly pulling the seat forward so she could exit the jeep. Climbing past the bulky seat she slipped out and made her way up the drive to the front door. Scanning the porch, she realized two things, one, Gen never collected the newspapers, and two, hiding the house key in the pot of a fake plant was in no way smart.

She wondered how Gen had avoided being robbed for so long, surely that would come to an end once people took a look at her porch. Although once inside, there wasn't much worth stealing, it was all things that seemed normal for such a house but displayed no real value, wine glasses stacked in a glass cabinet, an old grandfather clock, a few select bookcases around the house, and a few other things that even she knew belonged back in the 1970s.

River plucked the key up from its hiding spot wasting no time in slipping it into the lock and turning it till she heard a click. Pushing the door open, she left the key where it was and stepped inside her eyes roaming over the photos lining the walls. There were only a few, but they still caught her attention. In most of them, there was Gen and a girl maybe a year or two younger than herself, she had brown hair, and from the looks of the pictures green eyes.

She hadn't noticed another girl since she'd arrived, maybe she was on vacation, or maybe she was staying with someone else, or perhaps she was just another foster child Gen had cared for.

She wouldn't know until she asked.

Remembering the task at hand, she proceeded to make her way to the stairs quickly ascending them and entering her bedro- the bedroom she was being provided with.

Feeling as if she had more than enough time, she grabbed her bag and pulled a fresh pair of pants and a shirt out dropping the bag onto the bed before she began changing, hearing the sound of her door cracking open, she glanced over the top of her shirt- still pulling it over her head- there stood Stiles.

"STILES! WHAT THE HELL!" she yelped rushing to pull her shirt over her exposed skin, he shielded his eyes unaware of what he had walked into, "SORRY! I didn't know you were changing!" he replied tightly clutching his hand over his eyes. "Why the hell did you even come inside? You were supposed to wait out in the jeep!" he pulled his hand away giving her a look that screamed, "are you dumb."

"You were taking too long, Scott sent me inside to check on you, except now I really wish I hadn't." he grumbled, she rolled her eyes before picking up her other backpack which she'd set beside the bookcase, leaning against the wall sat her lacrosse stick and helmet, both of which she would have to replace soon, they'd suffered several years of abuse in the sport and she wasn't sure how much longer they would hold up.

Tossing him the stick she watched as his eyes widened and he reached out to catch it, "since you want to snoop, you can carry that." he narrowed his eyes and let a sigh escape his lips watching as she breezed past him out into the hallway, "come on." she spoke waiting for the boy as he slipped in front of her and made his way down the stairs.

"Next time you come in without asking we'll have a repeat of last night." he glanced over his shoulder his eyebrows raised as he took in the weight of her words before letting a smile creep onto his lips, "my Dad's the sheriff, in case you forgot. And if I get murdered, he'll figure it out."

The boy was annoying River, far more than she should've allowed him to do so. Ignoring him, she continued down the stairs the air feeling cooler as they stepped out onto the first floor, he didn't waste any time in going straight for the doors eager to return to his jeep and get away from River all at once.

Approaching the door, she could feel the slivers of warm sunshine dancing across her skin, it made her feel warm, as if she was lying in bed on a semi-cold morning. She stepped outside carefully closing the door behind her before she reached her hand up and twisted the key until she heard the familiar click that told her the door was locked, removing the key from the lock, she moved to slip it back into the potted plant where she'd first caught sight of it.

She gave the house a final glance before she sped down the drive and back towards the car where Scott stood just outside the passenger door waiting for the two teenagers to return, as she approached, he pulled the door open and gestured for her to climb inside. Stiles plopped down in the driver's seat casting a scowl in his friend's direction, Scott ignored him and pushed the seat back into position before climbing in after them watching as Stiles dropped Rivers stick over the side of the seat.

Before he could even slam the door closed, Stiles had put the car into reverse and begun to back out of the driveway of Gens house, "where are we going now?" the honey eyed boy questioned checking his rearview mirror as he pulled out onto the road, "my house." he stated, a dull ringing interrupted their meaningless conversation and both Stiles and River glanced in his direction curious as to who was trying to contact him.

He looked up at Stiles with wide eyes, "it's my mom." the boy set his lips in a single line turning his attention back to the road, he wanted no part of the scolding he knew was to come, taking a deep breath, Scott pressed the accept button and brought the device to his ear, "Hi, Mom." he chimed trying his best to sound as calm as possible.

"I got a call from the school, do you wanna explain what that's about?" he lowered the phone away from his mouth and covered the receiver, "the school called her and told her I missed classes." he whispered quickly bringing the phone back to his ear, "well... you see... um." he scrambled to find words catching Rivers gaze in the rearview mirror.

An idea came to mind.

"Actually, River couldn't handle all the people, and the noise, so I offered to take her somewhere quieter. So you see, we didn't purposely skip classes." she reached over the seat and gently thwapped him on the shoulder frowning as she did so, he listened as his mother let out a sigh from the other end, "fine, but you better not miss anything tomorrow, you understand me Scott?" he took a shallow inhale of air relief flooding through as his blood did.

"I understand." he replied, "good, I've got to go, I'll see you later tonight." he absently nodded his head- despite the fact that she couldn't see nor hear it- and ended the call before sliding the phone back into his pocket, "glad we got that out of the way-"

Stiles paused mid-sentence as his own phone began to ring, struggling to get it out while they drove he dropped it into his lap quickly reading the name as it flashed across the screen, "it's my Dad." he looked far more petrified than Scott had at the sight of his parent calling him, clicking the accept button, he switched the call to speaker waiting for the sound of his father's voice.

"Stiles Stilinski, what the hell do you think you're doing skipping school?" he slightly bowed his head letting out an imperceptible sigh, "nothing Dad, Melissa asked Scott to look after Gen's new resident, in case you hadn't noticed, I have a car, Scott doesn't." he paused waiting for his response, "so why'd you guys leave the school?"

The two passengers watched as Stiles' shoulders sagged, he was wishing his father didn't have to find out, "her resident- a girl our age named River- couldn't handle the noise and all the people, Scott suggested we take her somewhere quieter so now we're just driving out to the field to get ready for practice." he listened as his father muttered a curse beneath his breath before returning to the receiver, "we're going to talk about this when I get home, you understand me, Stiles?" his voice boomed throughout the car authority prodding at the edges.

"Yes sir." he sighed reluctant to hang up as he didn't want to come off as disrespectful, they remained silent for a few more seconds before his father hung up on his end as the car distilled into utter silence.

River looked down at her hands as they rested in her lap unsure how to clear the air, "so I guess I should be getting a call soon too?"

A few moments passed before Scott let out a chuckle and she felt the atmosphere relax, "maybe."

BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE

CHAPTER EIGHT: TORN NETS