"Alright ladies. As you've heard, they're currently cleaning up the gymnasium at the moment so we cannot practice there. If you ask me, nobody bothered to ask us if we had training because this goddamn school doesn't care one bit about this sport."

There are murmurs of agreement, but the team stays quiet as we wait for our coach to continue her talk.

"Anyways," she says, "we're moving to the field for the meantime. The lacrosse team and the soccer team are both going to be there, so we're a little tight on space. Now, get moving."

Coach is the first to walk out the girls' locker room. The team follows suit, chattering all the way until we reach the field outside of the school. Unfortunately, it's a very hot day, and like my coach warned us, the field is a little crowded. These aren't even the complete teams since some students still have classes, like Scott, which is why he isn't practicing with Liam and the other lacrosse team members right now.

Immediately, my eyes search for Liam. He's holding his lacrosse stick in a stance, the tiny white balls laid out in front of him as he prepares to score. Before actually getting ready to shoot, he meets my eyes and waves enthusiastically.

"I'd always knew you guys had a thing for each other," Lacey says from my right as I wave back.

I drop my hand and look at her. "Really?"

"Really. I'm good with this stuff, so it isn't surprising that you guys ended up together," she replies confidently.

I laugh at her answer, and she merely grins back funnily. She, I, and the rest of the cheerleading team place our bags on the bleachers where I notice Mason and Brett sitting there, the latter still wearing his uniform. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why he is here, but since he's hanging out with Mason, then I guess it's fine.

The two of them wave at me as well. I don't have much time to speak to them anyways since I'm called to begin practice with everyone else.

"That dude next to Mason doesn't even go here, right?" Lacey asks me, sneaking a peek at Brett. Of course, Brett, who most probably hears our conversation, glances back at my blonde friend, making her squeal a little.

"Nope," I say with a chuckle. "He's Mason's friend."

"So that means he's your friend Lucky! He's hot."

"Oh, Lacey, when will you ever stop obsessing over boys?" I send her a disapproving look, but I know she can tell that I'm just joking.

Thirty minutes into our practice out here in the field, all we've done is jog, stretch, and basically warm up. Due to how high the temperature seems to be today, we're all exhausted and tired right away.

"Tumbling next, everyone," Coach shouts out. "Those who are just polishing, tumble on the ground. Those who need work, we've brought some mats here."

At once, the team separates into two as we choose where we want to work. I decide to head to the mats and work on a newly taught skill by my coach a few days ago, and of course, I can't get it overnight, so I'm determined to try it a lot today.

I choose to work on what is called a double twist. It's quiet self-explanatory; a "flip" where you have to twist twice in the air before landing. Unfortunately, every time I try it, I land incorrectly even with my coach's advice. I watch as Lacey attempts her own skill and it's quite inconsistent, but it's better than mine even after all these tries. I stop tumbling after doing it for so many times, feeling restless.

During this little break, I stand on the side with my hands on my hips, observing the other teams train. Before I know it, I'm just watching Liam.

He keeps looking back and forth at his goal and at Hayden, who so happens to be part of the soccer team. I don't know if they're sending each other mean looks or are just staring at each other, but either way, it makes me uncomfortable. Liam finally picks a ball up and shoots into the goal. I watch Hayden's reaction, and for some reason, she looks annoyed. She steps back behind her own row of soccer balls and kicks one into the goal, too. This time, she has a satisfied smirk on her face that she sends to Liam.

I can't help but frown slightly at the scene. It's almost as if they're competing with each other just now, and though it may just be rivalry, I can't help but have this weird feeling.

"Your boyfriend is staring back at that soccer girl," Lacey voices my thoughts.

I sigh face her as she walks over to stand next to me. "I know," I say, biting my lip.

"What's the deal?"

"I don't know. All I know is that they're practically enemies since the sixth grade or something."

"Oh. I'm sure they're just glaring at each other or something."

Although Lacey tries to reassure me, all I can do is glance unsurely at Liam and Hayden at the center of the field from time to time.

"Damn, it's getting hot," Lacey now says, fanning herself. Then, she stops and faces me with a huge grin, causing me to look away from Liam and at her instead.

"What?"

"Why don't we take off our shirts? You know, just train in a sports bra like we do in the gymnasium."

"Well..."

"It's not like people will judge us."

"Are you sure you just don't wanna attract attention from the boys?"

Lacey smiles sheepishly. "Maybe. But it really is hot! I don't care, I'm taking it off."

Without any warning, Lacey pulls her tank top over her head. I'm slightly taken aback by her confidence, but then again, it's Lacey.

Then, I face Brett and Mason who sit on the bleachers, a few steps above. When they see me staring at them questioningly, they each give me a thumbs up and mouth an excited "go," urging me to do the same as my teammate. I shrug and throw my shirt over my head as well.

"Well, well," Lacey teasingly says. "Looks like Mr. Dunbar has finally noticed that you're way more worth staring at than that soccer girl."

I laugh lightly and lock eyes with Liam. He too is a bit surprised by what I did, but soon, he smirks and nods at me appreciatively. This causes me to laugh again and shake my head, and from behind me, I hear Mason yell, "You go girl!"

Soon though, we're given a water break, coincidentally at the same time with the other two teams. Once I grab my water bottle, Liam is already making his way towards me.

"That was nice back there," he tells me, motioning to where I stood earlier.

"Her tumbling?" Lacey cuts in. "Or her removing her shirt and showing her awesome body?"

"Lacey," I laugh embarrassedly at my friend.

"Both," Liam replies with a broad grin. All I can do is grin back at him, but I'm sure my face has turned a beet red. When Liam has to head back, I face Lacey with a pointed look.

"What?" she says innocently. "I have to help my girl so that her guy can see how cool she is."

I smile gratefully at her with a laugh. "Well, thanks."

"You're welcome, Riley. Now, in return, hook me up with a hot guy."

"Back to work, girls!" Coach announces.

Whereas Lacey hurries back to her place, I look up at Mason and Brett. "Hey, Brett?"

Brett turns away from Mason and faces me questioningly. "Yeah?"

"What exactly are you doing here?"

"Trying to find more chimeras."

"Oh."

"But, I really don't know. Everyone at Devonford's pretty abnormal to me, so I'm checking this place out, too."

"All right." Mason claps his hands together. "What else is there to look for? There's heightened strength, smell, hearing, speed..."

"Uh, able to see in the dark."

"Glowing eyes," I add.

Brett points at me approvingly. "Eyes that reflect the light."

"Visible scorpion stingers protruding out of limbs?" Mason says next.

"Yeah, or three foot lizard tails. So, what's up with those two?" Brett then changes the subject. I tilt my head a little and notice that he's curiously watching Liam and Hayden.

"So I'm not the only one who noticed, then," I mumble.

"Don't worry, Riley," Mason says with a smile. "It was just the sixth grade."

"Wanna explain? Because the topic never really came up."

Mason doesn't reply and instead fishes his phone out of his pocket. He clicks it on and begins tapping and scrolling on it. "That was not the best year for Liam's anger management issues," he starts. "There was this fight in the hallways. Liam and this other guy. Hayden sort of accidentally walked into it."

Then, he motions for me to come closer, so I step up on the bench and lean towards him as he shows us his phone.

"And this is her yearbook photo." On his phone screen is a picture of a young Hayden, without a doubt; her name is at the bottom. That's not what catches my eye though. It's her face that was obviously bruised, and she even has a large bandage over her nose. Brett and I cringe a little in unison at that.

"Ah," he says. "Damn."

"That must've sucked for her," I comment.

Mason nods in agreement. "Yeah."

"What did she do to him?" Mason swipes on his phone again. This time, it displays a picture of a young boy, also bruised in the face, with the name Liam Dunbar below him, and we all burst out into laughter.

"Okay, you've got to tell me more, later," I say, still giggling slightly. "But I've got to get back to practice."

And so, I turn away from the two laughing boys, but Brett stops me. "Riley, wait."

He walks down the bleachers and heads over to stand next to me. I stare at him, puzzled. "Yes?"

"You know, I can give you advice on how to land that tumble you've been doing since practice began."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm a werewolf," Brett says with a smirk, "I know a little about all those tumbling you're doing."

I raise my eyebrows. "I assume that you just get your powers and go along with it."

"Partly true. But I do know that for that twist your doing, you're gonna have to remember that if you tumble off course, the whole thing goes wrong." To explain further, he steps much closer and moves me by the shoulders until I stand perfectly aligned to the mats I used. "You've got to stay in the line or else, like I said, the whole sequence will go wrong."

"That seems like pretty general advise to me."

Brett chuckles at my words. "Okay, okay. Now, as for that twist, you're gonna have to use your hips more. Like this." As if for emphasis, he puts his hands on my hips and gently turns me like I would do during an actual twist in the air.

I nod, slightly tense at his straightforwardness. "Uh, okay." Finally, Brett removes his hands from my hips. I cough awkwardly and step away. "I'll uh, go try that now."

I glance at the field and once again, my eyes meet Liam's. He simply stares at me momentarily until he tears his gaze away, picking up another ball with a determined face. He swings his lacrosse stick with so much force that it causes a loud whooshing sound and when the ball hits the goalie, it knocks him off of his feet. His seemingly angered face is replaced by shock at how he made his own teammate fall.

"Sorry!" he says loudly, running over to him to help him up.

Before I can ponder on his actions and get back to my tumbling, I see someone run out from the school building and out into the field. Some people notice him as well and watch as he breathlessly asks, "Does anyone here have asthma? Anyone got an inhaler?"

At once, my mind drifts to Scott. He's had asthma for a long time, and I don't even know if the fact that he's a werewolf has changed that. It turns out, I'm not the only one thinking of my cousin. In a matter of seconds, Liam sprints towards the guy from the field.

"Where is he?" he asks him instantly.

"Bio class," the guy responds, then together, they head back inside.

"Scott," I say quietly.

"He has asthma?" asks Mason.

"It should've gone away when he got bitten, Riley," Brett tells me but I shake my head.

"I'm still going to check on him." I am already backtracking as I answer, then without another word, I run back into the school building. The halls are a little full due to the fact that most classes have probably just ended, but I continue to weave through them and try to find the biology lab as fast as I can. It's no surprise that when I do reach that room, there's a crowd of people there. Liam is first to arrive, and he pushes against them, yelling, "I've got it! I've got the inhaler!"

Liam kneels down next to my cousin, who is sitting on the floor by the front desk, wheezing. My hands are clapped over my mouth, waiting for anything to happen. I've never seen Scott have an asthma attack until now, even when we were younger.

"Scott, come on," Liam urges, one hand on Scott's shoulder and the other placing the inhaler in his Alpha's hand. "Scott. Scott."

I don't know what Liam does to him, but it seems like Scott has finally snapped out of his trance. His eyes shoot open and he gasps for air as he clutches the inhaler, places it on his mouth, and puffs in the air. He breaths a sigh of relief and looks at Liam gratefully.

"Thanks," says Scott, still panting but is much better than a few seconds ago.

With Scott now okay, the students crowding by the door either walk into the room to head to their seats while the others just leave to head to their actual classes. I can now step inside the classroom where Liam is standing up next to the teacher, Ms. Ramsey.

"Scott," I call out, walking in. He looks up at me and attempts to send a reassuring smile.

"Hey-" I stop him by engulfing him in a quick hug. "Well, hello."

"Why didn't you bring your stupid inhaler," I hiss, moving away from him. All he can do is smile sheepishly at me again, shrugging.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize," I say, getting to my feet. "I shouldn't be mad. I'm fine as long as you are."

"Kids," Ms. Ramsey says, putting a hand on Liam and I's shoulders, "I'll handle this. I've got the school nurse coming for further check ups, so you two better head back to..." She glances at Liam in his muscle shirt, looking all sweaty, and then at me, just in my sports bra. "... to uh, whatever you were doing in the first place."

We are forced to walk back out into the hallway where most students have left already. For some reason, I feel a weird tension between Liam and I as he refuses to meet my eyes.

"Uh, Liam?"

"What?" he says irritatedly. He doesn't even bother to look back at me.

I frown and walk quicker. "What's gotten you so grumpy?"

"Don't act like you didn't know I saw you and Brett getting comfortable back there."

I scoff. "That's why you're so annoyed? Because he was helping me?"

"Yeah, right," says Liam, rolling his eyes. "You knew he wasn't just helping."

"Really?" I laugh humorlessly. "Well I'm sorry, but I think I get it now. It's just like how you weren't just helping Hayden back at Sinema."

Liam stops walking and spins on his feel to face me. "What are you even talking about?"

"When the lights went out and she had to go fix the generator, and you had that... that little moment together."

Realization comes over his face as if he remembers what happened, and then anger. "We didn't have a moment!"

"Then Brett and I didn't, either!" I say back with a huff. "And, isn't he like, gay?"

"I don't know! I think he's bi, it doesn't matter to me!"

A silence comes over us, and I can feel the eyes of the students nearby watching and judging every word and move we make.

"What are you all looking at?" Liam asks them. "We aren't talking to you." Luckily, they avert their gazes and go back to doing their own thing.

I fold my arms over my my chest. "You know what? I am going back to practice to get my skill that I've been working on."

"Yeah, so you can go back to Brett and all."

"Stop assuming there's something going on! You're one to talk, you know."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Liam asks, waving his arms madly.

"Whatever. Just go back to Hayden or something," I shoot back. If he's going to keep talking about how close he thinks Brett is to me- which he is not- then I'm going to do the same back to him with Hayden.

"There's nothing between me and her-"

"Nothing between Brett and I, either." Liam just scoffs at what I repeated, so I sigh. "I'll... I'll see you later."

This time, none of us says anything back to each other. Liam just stands there while I walk out of the building, heading back to the practice that I should not have left in the first place with a bad feeling in my gut and a lump in my throat.

A/N: Personally, I liked that little fight between Liam and Riley, so I apologize if you didn't want to see that scene with Hayden and Brett for them respectively that caused the whole thing✌🏼️ What are your thoughts on this chapter? Hehe please go vote and comment! Thank you 💖