25|senior scribe
Did you guys trust Theo at all to begin with? I watched Pretty Little Liars, so I wanted to believe he was the good guy, but he always gave me bad vibes!
——————————
✧*:・゚Stiles・゚:*✧
"Nothing from Scott or Kira," Malia told us as we got under cover. Some time while we were inside the hospital, it had started pouring rain. Thankfully, I had managed to get a park fairly close to the school, so we weren't too wet.
I checked my phone, not that it did much good since we still had no signal. "And nothing from Lydia either."
"And I still don't know if I passed."
"They're all going to be here. No one is missing Senior Scribe," Riley claimed, gripping her phone. "And Malia, you're going to pass. You studied so hard, it's going to pay off."
Isaac checked his phone, before looking around. "Maybe you guys should wait out here, and Malia and I will go see if they're inside?"
"Yeah, okay, good idea."
Malia hesitated for a moment, before nodding and following Isaac inside. Riley watched her sister go, biting her lip.
The past few years had been difficult, so I could understand why she was so against Scott's statement from earlier. The fact that things either had to get really good or really bad was daunting, especially in a town like Beacon Hills where it was more likely to sway one way than the other.
We stood together, watching as seniors began to filter into the library, huddled under their umbrellas. It almost felt strange. At certain points over our time since Scott was bitten, I wasn't sure if I'd ever make it to Senior Scribe. And now we were there.
When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked down to see Riley watching me, worry in her eyes. "Hey, what's going on with you?"
"Just anxious," I laughed. "But you should know that by now, since it's basically a constant state for me."
Her hand slid down my arm until she was holding my hand. "Why is this so important to you?"
"It's not."
Her eyes widened in doubt, brows raising. "Stiles."
I shook my head, squeezing her hand. "It's not. It's uh. . . I don't know. Maybe it is. I asked my dad the other day about his high school friends. Guess how many he still talks to? None. Not a single one. You know, these were his best friends and he just says he lost touch with them, you know. So I started thinking about things, like I always do."
"Neurotically," Riley clarified.
"Yeah. And so I'm thinking, what if. . . what if Scott's my best friend now you know, but he's not my best friend for life? And what if you're my girlfriend and love me now, but you decide that you've changed your mind later? How come when we graduate we're just expected to go our separate ways? If I've already found the best people in my life, why aren't I not trying to stay with them, you know?"
Riley smiled sadly, her free hand reaching up to rest on my cheek. "Stiles, if you think I'm going anywhere, then you don't know me as well as you think you do."
"But see, you say that now, but in a few years-"
"'In a few years' nothing," she said, cutting me off. "Stiles, you're not just my boyfriend, and Scott isn't just your friend. You? Me? Scott? Kira, Malia, Lydia, Liam and Isaac? We're a Pack. We're family."
Her words hit as soon as she said them. Riley was right. I knew for a fact that my dad never went searching for a body, or fought off a killer lizard with his friends.
At least, I think he didn't.
My friends and I, our friendship was different. It was more.
"We're a Pack," I repeated.
She nodded with a smile, moving her hand from my cheek to the back of my neck. Balancing on her toes, she kissed me gently, but I didn't let her go.
Grabbing her hips, I pulled her against me, kissing her back. Her touch was enough to make me forget my troubles, everything about her made my heart skip beats, just her smile threatening to make it stop.
When she pulled away, I opened my eyes to see her biting her lip, a small smile on her face. "I'm not going anywhere, you couldn't lose me even if you tried."
Before I got the chance to respond, Isaac and Malia had returned from searching the library. "No Scott or Kira. Lydia is waiting inside though," Isaac informed us.
"Where could they be?" Riley asked as she took a step away from me, much to my disappointment.
When I was about to respond, Malia held a hand up, telling me to be quiet. "Someone is coming."
Without another word, she turned around and slammed someone to the ground single-handedly.
Liam groaned as Malia removed her hand. We all looked down at him, confused as to why he had been running at us so fast. His breathing was heavy as he climbed to his feet, pointing towards the wide tunnel located near the parking lot.
"Scott's in trouble."
Shit.
We all followed Liam, running down to the tunnel. It was pouring rain still, making it slightly hard to run on the asphalt. Thankfully, we all made it in one piece.
Making our way down the stairs, we saw a creature with glowing blue claws buried in Scott's abdomen.
"No. Scott!" Riley called. She went to run over to him, but I grabbed her arm, getting her to stop. "Stiles, let me go," she hissed, turning to me with glowing eyes.
I shook my head, pointing over to our friend. "Look."
She did as I said, focusing enough to turn and see Scott grabbing his attacker's arm. Our Alpha's eyes glowed blood red as he broke the man's arm, before ripping the claws from his body and tossing them to the ground.
As the man crumpled to his knees, Scott stood tall, his face morphed into his werewolf form. "I don't know who you are or what you thought you were going to do, but I'll give you a choice. You can stay and I'll break something else. Or you can run."
The attacker looked over to us, black blood painting his face. I nodded once towards him, making the most logical suggestion, knowing Scott would keep his word. "I'd run."
The man got up, growling before running out into the rain.
Once he was gone, our Pack reformed, standing together in the shelter. Looking across, I noticed there was someone else here, who definitely wasn't apart of our pack.
The boy dressed in all black approached us with a smirk, "You don't recognise me, do you?"
Something seemed familiar about him, but I couldn't be sure.
"I guess I look a little different since the fourth grade."
I looked to Riley, who still seemed a bit unsure. I then turned to Scott, whose eyes were flickering in thought. His eyebrows then raised as a name fell from his lips, "Theo?"
The boy nodded with a smile, Malia asking if Scott knew him.
"They used to," Theo answered. "Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again. Couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, just couldn't believe it. Not just an Alpha, but a True Alpha."
"That's a great story man, really. But what do you want?" Isaac asked, eyeing the boy carefully.
"I came back to Beacon Hills. Back home with my family. Because I want to be a part of your pack."
Something wasn't right here.
♧♤♢♡
✧・゚:*Riley*:・゚✧
We didn't stay much longer to talk to Theo since we were already running late for Senior Scribe. Scott, Stiles and I hadn't seen Theo Raeken in years; I had barely recognised him. He had definitely gotten cute over the years.
"We haven't seen this kid in years," Stiles reminded Scott as we walked through the doors to the school. "You don't find that highly suspicious?"
I mean, he had a point kind of. But then again, Iris had come looking for the True Alpha and we trusted her. She was still in Beacon Hills, and still living in my house. Over the months, she and Charlotte thought they were being discreet, but I was well aware of the relationship they had started.
I was more than happy for my sister, and told her exactly that when she finally felt ready to tell me about her and Iris.
If we trusted Iris, maybe Theo deserved that same chance?
Scott shrugged, "I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me."
There was also that.
We all stopped when we noticed that Malia had stopped walking. The girl was looking at her phone, apparently having a signal again. She glanced up with a smile, taking a deep breath. "I'm in. I passed. I'm officially a senior."
I wrapped my arms around her with a grin, feeling her hug me back. Her shoulders were much less tense, the girl's stress melting away now that she finally knew she was getting to be a senior with us.
I let her go, taking a step back so everyone else could congratulate her also. This year was shaping up to be alright; besides the guy who had just tried to kill Scott, of course.
"Thank God," none other than Lydia Martin said as she weaved her way down the hallway to us all. "Where have you guys been? The whole senior class is here. Are we doing this or not?"
We all smiled at each other, before heading to the library. Scott had his hand on Kira's hip and I felt Stiles put his arm around my waist.
Lining up, we waited our turn in the library. Finally, Stiles had the marker handed to him. Taking a step towards the shelf which had been cleared of books, he wrote down his initials. After a moment of looking at it, he handed the marker to me.
I stepped forward, glancing over the past initials. There was a D.H. written nearby, that I liked to believe was left by Derek. There were a lot of initials here, but the thought that we ended up at the same shelf seemed special.
Spotting Stiles' freshly written S.S, I brought the marker to the shelf, but hesitated. Stiles seemed to notice this, stepping forward to speak softly to me. "You get to decide who you want to be. Only you."
Pursing my lips, I pressed the marker on the shelf, writing R.W.
My parents had raised me, not Peter. They were my family.
Smiling, I handed the marker to Lydia, who wrote hers before passing it on to Kira. Before the girl wrote anything, she asked if what we were doing was vandalism.
I mean, technically it was; but it was tradition.
When the marker went to Malia, the girl seemed to do the same as I did, probably having the same thoughts. Glancing over her shoulder, I saw her finally make her decision.
I couldn't help but smile when I saw she had written M.T.
She knew as well as I did, that just because he was our biological father, that didn't mean anything compared to what our parents had done for us.
After Isaac wrote his, the marker finally made its way to Scott. He wrote his initials, but didn't leave the shelf. After a moment, he began to write something else.
Moving closing for a moment, I saw he had written AA beneath his initials.
Allison Argent.
After passing the marker to the next student in line, Scott joined our small huddle. A sad smile was on Isaac's face at the sight of the girl's initials.
"She would have been here today with us," he said softly.
"She still is," Lydia replied, the side of her mouth twitching up into a smile.
♧♤♢♡
Stiles and I were at the Sheriff's station the next morning waiting to talk to his Dad. The boy was persistent that there was something up with Theo.
While I like to give the benefit of the doubt after how well trusting Iris went, Stiles had been right when he said something was off about Matt. Plus, if it helped him have peace of mind, then I'd rather talk to his Dad now than have Stiles do something he'd regret later.
"Are you definitely sure?" I asked as we walked to the office.
Stiles bit his lip with a shake of his head, before putting a hand on each of my arms to get me to stop for a moment. "Do you trust me?"
I couldn't help but let my mind fall back to the assassins and the fake Deadpool Stiles had made; but this was under completely different circumstances.
"Of course I trust you."
"Stiles, Riley, what are you doing here," The Sheriff asked as he opened his door and saw us waiting.
Stiles dropped his hands from me, "We need you to look into someone."
The man sighed, turning around and walking into his office.
Stiles grabbed my hand before following his Dad into his office. "Theo Raeken. I know his family left town around the time he was nine or ten, his older sister died in an accident when he was eight."
"Both of you, please go to school," the man insisted.
"Dad, this kid's a werewolf."
The Sheriff's eyes narrowed judgmentally. "Your best friend is a werewolf. You are dating a Sylph. I still don't know what Kira's supposed to be. When the flying monkeys come soaring through this station, you will have my undivided attention. Until then, just go to school."
I laughed a little at the Sheriff's claim. Plus, he remembered what I was, so that was nice. When Stiles gave me a look, I cleared my throat quickly, staring down at the floor.
Stiles let go of my hand to point at his dad, eyes scanning the man quizzically. "What did you do?"
Now, it was the Sheriff's turn to look confused. "What? What do you mean 'what did I do'?"
"There's something different about you," he stated, eyes travelling up and down.
"What are you talking about?"
Stiles stepped right up to his father, definitely invading his personal space. I was almost having deja vu to when Scott had sniffed the lacrosse team.
"What is it? What's different?"
The Sheriff had had it, pushing his son back a bit. "For the love of God, Stiles, just go to school."
Stiles rose his hand, "I will go if you promise to do a full background check of the Raekens."
"No. Riley, get him out of here, please."
"Yes, sir," I nodded, grabbing Stiles' hand and beginning to drag him towards the door.
Although Stiles wasn't supernatural, he still had a lot of strength. He managed to stand his ground somewhat. "Dad, promise me."
"You know what? Just because I'm the only law enforcement officer who knows anything about this, does not make it my responsibility to do something every time you have a minor suspicion."
Stiles stopped fighting me, the cogs in his head turning as he had an idea. "Except you're not the only one."
I let Stiles go, allowing him to gesture to a certain Deputy sitting outside of the Sheriff's office.
Sheriff Stilinski looked like he wanted to drag his son out of his station by his ear at this point. Shaking his head, he called the Deputy into his office.
Seconds later Deputy Jordan Parrish, species unknown, was joining us. "Yes, Sheriff?"
"I need you to run a full background check on a family, name Raeken. Stiles will show you how to spell it." The man then turned to his son and me, "As soon as the results are in, both of you better leave."
"Sure thing, Noah," I smiled, hoping that he was still okay with me calling him that.
His expression softened somewhat, before he focused on Stiles. "Straight to school."
Stiles nodded, before we followed the Deputy to his computer.
♧♤♢♡
✧*:・゚Stiles・゚:*✧
After Parrish completed the background check we went straight to school, just like my dad had asked. I wanted to do more digging, but I didn't want to lose my privileges with the station facilities.
"So, are you satisfied?" Riley asked as we walked up the steps to the school.
"There has to be something."
"There was," she nodded. "A speeding ticket, Stiles. That's literally all they had on the Raekens."
I turned slightly as we walked so that I could face her, "A speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad eight years ago."
"I'm gonna need you to elaborate, Stiles."
I threw my hands up with a sigh, stopping in front of her. "Who speeds?"
With raised brows, she jabbed a finger to my chest gently. "You. All the time."
"I was going for 'people trying to get away from something'."
"Okay. And how many tickets do you have?"
"None," I scoffed.
Her head fell to the side, brows narrowed in doubt. "Let me reword that. How many would you have if your dad hadn't gotten you out of them?"
I had to think for a moment, adding them quickly in my head.
"Seventeen."
Riley pursed her lips, eyes searching my face. "Stiles, are you sure about this?"
"Ri, you said you trusted me."
"And I do-"
"Great," I said quickly, cutting her off before she could change her mind. "Because, I have a plan. There are steps to the plan, and they need to be done right."
"What steps?" she sighed, giving in to helping me.
"We get the story. Verify the facts. You find the piece that doesn't fit and. . . and catch them in the act. That's how you do it. Please, Ri, I need you with me on this."
She chuckled as she smiled at me, "All right, Detective Stilinski, I'm with you until the end of the line. Let's do this."
My eyes flitted past her for a moment, noticing Theo arriving at school. Noticing that I was no longer looking at her, Riley turned. He saw us watching him, grinning widely and waving our way.
Neither of us waved back, turning to face each other instead. "Why are you so certain that something is off about him?" Riley asked me.
Pulling on my bag straps, I watched as the werewolf walked away. "Because I remember Theo from fourth grade. Okay? That's not Theo."
She nodded, thinking about my words. "Well, I guess we'd better figure out who he is then. Right now, though, I'm going to class. I'll see you later?"
Balancing on her toes, she pressed a kiss to my lips before waving and walking into the school. Knowing that she was at least entertaining my theory made me feel slightly less crazy.
I wasn't able to put my finger on it, but there was something off about him. And Riley and I were going to find out what it was.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top