CHAPTER ELEVEN » FEAR
"That's not dinner."

☽

"Leaving so soon?"

I cast my gaze to the side, pausing for a short moment before turning my head. Sunlight penetrated through the small slit in the curtain, bathing my room, and him, in a warm amber glow.

The white sheets that were wrapped around him shifted as he began to sit up properly. Teasingly, he raised his eyebrows, running a hand through his dishevelled brown hair so indifferently, it was if he couldn't care less – which, thinking about it, he probably couldn't.

"Gotta get to school," I responded nonchalantly, my fingers fiddling to do up the last few buttons of my shirt. "Some of us don't have the pleasure of staying in bed all day." A low chuckle left his lips as I reached down for my bag, lifting it over my shoulder. "By the way, you should probably get out of here by midday. Scott should be home by then."

Even though this wasn't a new thing for us, I much preferred sneaking out whilst he was still asleep to avoid any of the awkwardness the situation brought. Today just wasn't my day.

"See you soon then," he said, still watching me with a faint grin on his lips. It wasn't even a question anymore. We both knew it was guaranteed that, at some point, I'd be calling him up again looking for a quick fix.

"If you're lucky," I said casually, catching Theo's eye one last time before I left my bedroom, heading down the stairs and out the door, just like I'd done countless times before.

~

The shrill sound of Scott's whistle rang through my ears, the noise feeling as if it was bouncing around my skull. In response, I found myself wincing, feeling sensitive to the sound.

"Do you have to keep blowing on that thing?" I snapped at my brother, whose grin didn't even falter as he turned his attention to me.

"On what?"

"Did I fucking stutter?" I bit back impatiently, struggling to remove my helmet. "Stop with the whistle every five seconds, it's driving me mad."

"Sorry," he said, the apology hardly sounding sincere. "Back on the field, Bex."

"Damn, give me a break, I'm your freaking sister," I grumbled, getting ready to pull my helmet back on.

"Not on the lacrosse field you're not," he replied, his eyes briefly casting back over to the other players.

I rolled my eyes. "Bite me." I was met with three sharp whistles in response, and I huffed, gritting my teeth as Scott flashed me an innocent smile. "Asshole."

With a quick adjustment to my helmet, I ran back into middle of the field where a game was taking place, getting there just in time to stop a shot from heading in the direction of our goal.

"Nice, McCall!" I heard Coach shouting over from the sidelines. I grinned to myself, quickly meeting eyes with my brother, who raised his eyebrows in response, looking impressed. That should shut him up.

Within seconds, I took off running, dodging in and out of the opposing players. I spared a look over at where I needed to go to reach the goal, trying to figure out whether or not I'd make it.

"Bex!"

I glanced over at Liam, who seemed to have just arrived. He was holding his lacrosse stick up in the air, signalling for me to pass the ball. After a moments hesitation, I obliged, watching as he caught it with ease and began taking off down the field.

I started to follow with a slow jog, coming to a halt when another player rammed into him, the two of them falling to the ground with a heavy thud.

I winced at the sound, expecting the game to just continue, until low growls emitting from Liam stopped me in my tracks. "Oh, fuck."

I began to rush over, hearing Scott's stupid whistle breaking through the air again as he stopped the play. My brother reached Liam first, crouching down in front of him whilst I hung back slightly. He lifted his head, briefly exposing his glowing yellow eyes.

"Liam, your eyes," Scott whispered, causing Liam to quickly drop his head back down before anybody could see.

"McCall! What the hell was that?!" Coach's voice boomed out as he began to make his way through the line of players stood watching the scene. "That wasn't a foul. That's called winning."

Whispers broke out between the team, and I frowned momentarily, wondering if they'd seen Liam transforming until I glanced over, my eyes landing on a wolf, an actual wolf, prowling the field.

I inhaled deeply, a putrid smell of wet dog and fresh blood hitting me all of a sudden. I felt my body go rigid, my eyes casting down to the patch dark blood staining it's otherwise grey fur.

The grey wolf came to a stop a small distance away, baring it's drool covered, sharp teeth at all of us.

"Everyone get back," Scott ordered, as the team slowly began edging away. "Nolan," he prompted, and my eyes directed to a boy still stood where he was, his eyes transfixed on the wolf. He radiated fear, anxiety, but also, more interestingly, intrigue. Scott stepped forwards, gently reaching for the boy's arm. "Nolan? Hey, stay back man. What are you doing? You okay?"

Without a word Nolan stated to move away, his wide eyes still glued on the creature that Scott seemed to be in a stand off with. I cast a look over at Liam before turning my attention back to the wolf, which had began to stand down, letting out a whimper as it turned back to go the way it came.

I let out a shaky breath, noticing it seemed to be struggling as it limped back into the woods.

And I could feel it, I could feel it radiating from the animal so strongly.

Fear.  

~

"French?" Ms Monroe questioned with a frown, a judgmental look on her face. I'd already taken an instant dislike to her. "Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure," I said, leaning back in my seat. There was something about the woman that bothered me, and it was just the fact she seemed to be judging my subject choices. The only problem was that I just couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.

"Can you speak French?" She questioned, as if trying to catch me out.

I raised my eyebrows. "Oui."

Ms Monroe let out a light chuckle at my dry response before glancing down at the sheet of paper in front of her. "What about Spanish? How does that sound?"

"Not French," I responded, becoming more agitated by the second. I wanted to get out of there.

"Rebecca, as I said, I'm here to guide you," she started as I glanced away, disinterested by her speech. "Not push, not prod, guide." When I didn't respond, she leaned forwards, continuing. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you guys."

"Okay," I said, feeling a little unnerved by the woman. Getting out of there was seeming more and more appealing by the second. "And, uh, Spanish sounds great."

"Perfect," she said, clicking her pen  with a smile. She held my schedule out, and I began to take it until I realised how tight her grip was. "Like I said, I'm here for you guys. I know people in this school have seen a lot of things. So if you ever need to talk, you know where I am."

I swallowed thickly, taking the paper from her hand and quickly rising from my seat. The only word I could bother to muster was a lame "thanks."

As soon as the door swung shut behind me, I breathed out a sigh of relief, making my way down the corridor as fast as I could, where I knew Liam, Venus, Mason and Corey were waiting.

"Holy shit I hate that woman," I stated, once I locked eyes on them, completely cutting into their conversation without warning.

"She was..." Mason trailed off, trying to decide on his words. "Odd."

"She was creepy as hell," Venus affirmed, glancing over at me. "She basically chose all of my classes."

"She made me do Spanish," I said, glancing between all four of them. "I don't know a single fucking word of Spanish."

"Fantástico," Liam stated, the four of us fixing our attention on him, most of us giving unimpressed looks. "Oh, yeah, she made me take Spanish too."

"Oh, mierda," Venus said, a sarcastic tone in her voice, as Liam and I shared a puzzled look.

"What the hell does that mean?"

She grinned, shrugging her shoulders. "You'll find out."

~

"Hey," I greeted later that evening, eyeing both my mom, who was wielding a taser in her hands, and my brother with uncertainty as I stepped inside the hospital room.

"Hi, honey," Mom smiled sweetly, as if she'd forgotten what weapon she was holding in her hands.

"What's going on?" I asked unsurely, looking between them both for answers. Did I even want to know?

"Just making sure mom's fully equipped for when I'm gone," Scott said, his tone so casual it was as if he actually thought that it wasn't obvious mom had just used the weapon on him.

"Looks good," I said, eyeing the taser with a grin. "Can I try?"

"No," Scott immediately dismissed. Mom and I both exchanged a look, sharing a laugh as she placed the weapon back down on the table. "I better get going. I'm meeting Lydia in a bit."

"I can't believe you're really leaving," I found myself blurting before I could stop myself. It was true, I still hadn't quite wrapped my head around it; it was if the feeling hadn't truly sank in yet.

"My boy's all grown up," Mom stated, her eyes glassy with tears as Scott looked over, giving her a weak smile.

"You two gotta take care of each other, yeah?" he told us, causing my mom and I to share smiles. Of course we would.

"We always do."

Scott let out a sigh, moving towards us and opening his arms, pulling us both in for a warm hug — one that lasted a long time, but not long enough for me. 

"I love you both," he declared, placing a soft kiss on my forehead, and then my mother's. "I'll see you soon."

Mom and I watched in silence as Scott left, eventually looking over to one another once the door swung shut.

"Just you and me now kiddo," she stated, gently squeezing my arm. "We're gonna be just fine."

As we headed out of the empty room and back down the busy corridors, I started to think properly, knowing that my mom was right. Even without Scott, and even with the looming threat always hanging over Beacon Hills, we were going to be just fine.

"Is that Liam and Mason?"

I pulled away from my thoughts, my eyes following the direction my mom had indicated to. Sure enough, I recognised the two of them heading through the main doors. "Yeah," I said, watching them in confusion. "It is."

"Hey," Mom greeted the two of them, as they came to a stop in front of us, the grimaces on their faces hinting that this wasn't going to be good. There was a plastic bag in Mason's hand, which I eyed suspiciously. "Oh my gosh you brought me dinner? That's really nice."

"Mom...that's not dinner," I stated, sensing exactly what was in that bag. I looked up at the two boys, my eyes narrowed into a glare. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

My mom, who had become curious, opened the bag, peering inside briefly before moving away with a grimace. "That's definitely not dinner."

"We were hoping you could take a look at it for us," Liam said, also eyeing the bag with disgust, as if he wanted to be as far away from it as possible. Wuss.

"Oh, and I was hoping that someone was going to bring me dinner," Mom retorted, her eyes flitting between the two of them in disapproval. "Now is not the time for a rat autopsy. So get this–" she pushed the bag back into Mason's hands with a sarcastic smile "–and yourselves, out of here."

"We really nee–"

Mom let out a half hearted laugh, shaking her head. "No. Out."

The two of them nodded their heads, seeming fearful of my mom's tone. I couldn't help being slightly amused. "Okay, alright," Mason said, the two of them practically tripping over their own feet as they quickly turned to leave.

"Wait for me outside!" I called out to them, before turning back to face my mom. "I'll probably get take out when I get home, you want anything in particular?"

"I'll have anything. Just make sure you leave me some," she shook her head, tilting her head to the side. "Scratch that. Just get me the whole menu."

I chuckled at her joke, preparing to part ways when angry shouts from two men nearby caught my attention.

"Hey, back off!"

"Now that's called assault!"

My mom groaned exasperatedly, as if she'd been dealing with it all day, beginning to make her way towards them. "Can I get security over here!"

One of the men pointed his finger in the other's face, seeming incredibly frustrated. "Assault, yeah–"

"Sir, you need to calm down," Liam stated as he stepped in between the two of them. But one man, a dark haired guy, was already throwing a punch, which inevitably connected, hard, with Liam's face.

I found myself stepping forwards as Liam stumbled sway, clutching his nose. "Dude, what the fuck–"

I cut off, completely freezing on the spot as I heard the low growls coming from Liam. Before I could do anything to stop him, he'd already glanced up, fangs bearing and eyes blazing.

"Oh, shit."

❥

A/N

Smh Liam.

Anyways, hello I am back and ready to ruin lives with the final half of the book. (*coughs* Brett)

I wasn't exactly planning on having a chapter up so soon, but I've been up all night worrying because I get my gcse results tomorrow (well, technically today). So, as a result of my anxious state, a chapter has been birthed.

I've found that this half of the season has actually been quite good, and I've already began to form a decent plan for Rebecca's storyline, so I'm looking forward to exploring it.

Hopefully, I'll be able to update again soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed he chapter.

I'm going to cry myself to sleep now as I await my exam results (:

Thanks for reading! ☺️