Chapter Seven

"Dad?"

It was Monday morning, meaning I had school. I stood frozen outside the school bus. It looked like hell. There was blood everywhere in the school bus. There were deputies, doctors, photographers and more surrounding the bus. There was caution tape to keep students away who were surrounding the crime scene.

"Paige," I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked and saw my Dad standing there with a scowl on his face. "Paige, this is a crime scene. I need you to step behind the caution tape before you trample on any evidence."

"What happened?" I ignored his orders. Dad doesn't even look at me. "Dad, seriously, I'm not going to tell anyone. I promise."

Dad shakes his head. "I can't tell anyone anything yet. Not even you, Paige, so please, for the love of God step behind the caution tape."

"Madden!" It was the sound of the Sheriff's voice. I sighed.

"I've got to go," Dad said. "Stay behind that tape and don't get involved. Got that?"

I groaned. "Don't get involved."

"That's my girl," he kissed my forehead, which I immediately jumped away from because it's embarrassing. Especially when there are people watching.

"Dad!" I almost whined before walking towards the caution tape. I jumped over it, ignoring the stares from my peers as I walked towards the big blue double doors that entered the high school.

The doors then burst open, almost making me jump. Stiles and Scott stand there, their mouths widening at the crime scene. Stiles gave Scott a nervous look. "I think it did." Stiles told Scott and I frowned at them. What did they mean by that? And suddenly, Scott looked panicked.        

"What do you mean?" I questioned the boys, they both jumped as I was standing right beside them.

"God, Paige," Stiles mumbled, holding a hand over his heart. "Uh... Nothing. Don't worry about it. Hey, has your Dad said anything about this? Have they figured out who the victim was or..?"

I shake my head, shrugging. "I don't know. My Dad told me to not get involved." I rolled my eyes, but continued to rant. "But I'm guessing it's an animal attack or something by the looks of things, and considering Beacon Hills holds the records for the 'most animal attacks' it's looking like a 90% chance it was an animal attack."

Stiles nodded and we briefly made eye contact. I inhaled quietly, avoiding his eye contact. Scott placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder. "Dude, we have to find her."

"Find who?" But neither of them answered my question as they both quickly turned around and sprinted the opposite direction, letting the doors shut behind them.

I rolled my eyes again. Whatever. I pushed open the blue double doors and entered the hallways. They've literally disappeared. I remembered them being weird; not this weird.

I walked towards my locker, mentally preparing myself for next class. I have French. But, it's not too bad considering I have French class with Allison. It's been three weeks since I've been hanging out with Allison, and honestly, she makes me less lonely.

As I approached my locker, hands covered my eyes, blocking my vision. "Guess who." I instantly knew it was Allison and laughed.

"Allison Argent," I spoke in more of a duh tone. She pulled away, giggling as she opened her locker. I shoved all my books in my locker. "How was your weekend?"

Allison shrugged. "All right, I guess. Oh! I'm so excited, my Aunt Kate is coming in a few days." I almost cringed. If she's anything like her parents... "Don't worry, she's the cool Aunt everyone wishes they had."

"Okay," I laugh quietly. I closed my locker door and so did she. "Are you ready for French class?"

"Oui," she spoke in her best french accent, making me giggle. "That means yes, by the way,"

I rolled my eyes. "I know that."

"Really? Because last week you didn't know that." Allison teases me and I shake my head in denial. "You thought si was yes in French,"

I huffed. "Spanish and French are very much the same!"

"They're really not," Allison shakes her head. We rounded the corner, I was about to start another conversation until Scott bumped into Allison. Allison gasps and drops her books all over the ground. "Oh, my God!" Allison laughs once she realizes it was Scott. "You scared the hell out of me."

Scott looks at her with loving eyes, almost relieved to see that she was okay. Okay, this must be who Scott was talking about. The only question is... Why? "You're okay," he stated the obvious as Allison bends down and picks up her books, Scott helping her.

"Once my heart is beating again, yeah." Allison picks up her books and gathers them in her hands. "Why?"

"I'm just happy to see you," Scott probably spoke the truth on that one... But he's lying about something.

"Attention students," the loud speaker comes on. "I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. Scott and Allison both stand up, listening. "While the police work to determine what happened, classes will be processed as scheduled. Thank you."

I groaned along with the rest of the students.

Allison smiled at Scott. "Save us a seat at lunch?" Scott glanced my way, as if to realise that I'm finally here.

Scott quickly nods. "Yeah."

⇉

Lunch had quickly rolled around. I made my way to the cafeteria room, which is strange to me. Allison insisted I sit with her and her friends today, so I reluctantly agreed. Once I had gotten my food, I walked over to where Allison, Scott, Lydia, Jackson, Danny, and Stiles sat.

Stiles moved his bag for me that was on the seat next to him. I smiled slightly at him. "Thanks." I placed the tray on the table before sitting down. He just gives me a nod, before looking over curiously.

"So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal. Probably a cougar." Danny begins the conversation with the group. I picked at my food, suddenly not feeling very hungry.

"I heard Mountain Lion." Jackson spoke and I rolled my eyes.

"A cougar is a Mountain Lion." Lydia was quick to correct him and I glanced over at her. Since when did she ever correct her boyfriend? She then cocked her head as she noticed everyone staring at her. "Isn't it?"

Jackson scoffed. "Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyways."

"Jackson," I scowled but he ignored me.

"Actually, I just found out who it was." Stiles cuts us off. "Check it out." He brings out his phone. I lean close to Stiles, to try and get a better view. I could've sworn I've seen him blush when I came in close contact with him, but I ignored it and paid attention to the video.

"The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident," the reporter on the phone speaks as images of the incident showed up. "But confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical conditions."

"I know this guy," Scott announced, all heads turning towards him.

Allison cocked her head at Scott. "You do?"

"Yeah, when I sued to take the bus, back when I lived with my Dad." I was surprised. This is the first time I've ever heard about Scott's Dad. "He was the driver."

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Lydia asked, wavering her fork in the air casually. "Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?" Lydia looked at Allison, Scott, and even me. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

"Um, we were thinking of what we were going to do." Allison responded, gulping some of her food nervously. I could tell that Lydia had invited us. It was supposed to be a Scott and Allison thing. Not a Scott, me, Jackson, Allison, and Lydia thing.

"Well, I am not sitting home again and watching lacrosse videos," Lydia declared. "So, if the five of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun."

"Five?" I repeated, unsure, while Scott and Allison were having their own conversation. "Lydia, I don't—"

"I can find you someone on the lacrosse team," Lydia smirked, like she already had an idea in mind.

"I can't hang out," I responded, quickly and Lydia cocked her head, eager to know why. Danny, Jackson, and Stiles were watching us interact. "I—I have plans."

"You have plans?" Lydia jeered, wanting to get more out of me.

"Yep." I nodded, tucking some hair behind my ear. "I have plans."

"With who? We're your only friends." Lydia stabbed. I felt my heart twist in a funny way. Ouch, I guess the truth does hurt.              

"Me?" Stiles had spoken up, coming to my rescue. Though, it sounded more like a question, not a statement. Lydia flicked her eyes to Stiles for a split second, before going back to my eyes. "I mean, me. Yep. Us. We're hanging out... As friends. Because that's what friends do. Hang out."

I felt a sense of relief wash over me as Stiles said that. He just saved me from going out on a terrible triple date, and I owe him. "Yeah. Stiles and I are hanging out that night." I confirmed.

Lydia sent me a small frown. "Um, okay, you could've just said so." I did just say so, Lydia... Man, being friends with Lydia Martin is hard work. I sent Stiles a grateful smile. He gave me one back, a small one, but it was there.      

"Sounds fun." I tuned back into Allison and Scott's conversation.

"You know what else sounds fun?" Jackson asked. He grabs his fork from the table and holds it up. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."

Lydia tsks at Jackson and takes the fork from him. "How about bowling?" She looked directly at Jackson. "You love to bowl!"

"Yeah, with actual competition." Jackson rolled his eyes. 

Allison leant forward. "How do you know we're not actual competition?" She nods over at Scott. "You can bowl, right?"

"Sort of." Scott mumbled and I knew that was a lie. I threw a birthday party, once, when I was eight. I invited Scott and Stiles and a few other people that Mom forced me to invite. Can you guess what we did?

Bowling. Can you guess who lost? Scott.

He sucks at bowling. He's dragging himself into this mess. Jackson leant forward, smirking. "Is that a sort of, or is that a yes?"

Scott looked at Jackson right in the eye, accepting the challenging. "Yes, in fact. I'm a great bowler."