And we're back
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As I passed between Scott and Stiles' seats I felt both of them look towards me, I managed to make it to the desk behind Stiles without looking at either of them.

Sitting my books down on the surface of the desk and grabbing a pen out of my bag I opened my book to prepare for the lesson. As I grabbed the first text for this semester, I tried to concentrate on it alone. Unfortunately, Stiles was making that impossible. He kept trying to peek over his shoulder at me, but he wasn't being very inconspicuous about it.

At all.

I managed to keep my cool and read the first page of the book. I had already read it over the summer, but I needed a distraction.

Just as I was starting on the second page Stiles finally decided to speak up. "Riley?"

"Hey, Stiles," I mumbled as I read my book.

"Riley, can you at least look at me? Please?"

Clenching my teeth, I anxiously looked up at him. His facial expression conveyed confusion and I didn't blame him. I probably would've been confused as well if he had left me unanswered for as long as I did to him.

"I have so many questions right now and I can't for the life of me pick where to start," he sighed, running a hand through his grown out hair. He must have stopped shaving it over break.

I liked it on him. He looked older; more mature. Swallowing my silence and biting the inside of my cheek, I responded to him for the first time in three months. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" he repeated, confused. "That's all you're going to say?"

Rubbing my neck, I avoided eye contact. "I don't know what else you want me to say."

He scoffed a little as hisl eyes widened. "Everything that happened that night, then the funeral, then you leave for three months and ignore Scott and I, and then you come back without even letting us know, and all you have to say is 'sorry'? We were so worried about you Riley, and you didn't even bother to let us know if you were okay. Hell, we were beginning to wonder if you were even alive."

"I understand," I replied quietly.

He began to shake his head slowly, his eyes searching my face. "No, Riley, I don't think you do. And I think that's what makes it all worse."

We sat there staring at each other for what felt like an eternity. His brown eyes were focused on me so intensely and I didn't know how to escape them.

As if answering my prayers, every phone in the classroom pinged with a text. It took a few more moments before he swivelled back around in his chair and pulled his phone out of his pocket. I grabbed my out of my bag and unlocked it to read the message that everyone had apparently received. The text was sent from an anonymous number.

'The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.'

This was a passage from the novel Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. I had read it over the summer in preparation for the class. Since it was the first book we were reading, it was the only one I got around to in between mourning my mother and practising how to control my powers. I wished she was there to teach me.

A woman walked into the classroom, her heels clicking on the floor as she read the passage aloud to all of us. She smiled as we all looked up at her, glad she had been able to grasp our attention. "This is the last line to the first book we are going to read." She was obviously our new English teacher. "It is also the last text you well receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."

We all did as were were told and switched our phones to silent, before putting them away.

♡♢♤♧

Within the first twenty minutes of the class, the principal had come in to collect Scott. From what I could hear Melissa needed him. Ms. Blake, our English teacher, followed him out of the room to speak with him. I wanted to practise my hearing but I was having trouble concentrating, because every time I looked up, Stiles was looking over his shoulder at me.

He wasn't continuously staring, but he would peek every now and then and it was distracting. I wanted to tell him to stop, but I didn't want to cause trouble on the first day back.

Two minutes later, Ms. Blake returned to begin teaching the class, starting by writing the name of the book and the author onto the blackboard.

I noticed Stiles hadn't looked over his shoulder at me for a while. Watching his focus, I saw him staring at Lydia's ankle. The strawberry blonde had a bandage wrapped around her ankle.

"Hey, Lydia," I heard Stiles say in a hushed tone. "What is that? Is that from the accident?"

She took a breath, looking up from her book, "No. Prada bit me."

"Your dog?" Stiles asked in confusion.

"No, my designer handbag," Lydia responded sarcastically. "Yes, my dog."

Stiles took a moment to compose himself after his pointless question. "Has it ever bitten you before?"

Lydia looked over and shook her head, noticing that I was also listening in on the conversation. Stiles either hadn't noticed or didn't want me to know that he had noticed.

"Okay," Stiles continued. "What if it's, like, the same thing as the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?"

The girl didn't look like she believed him. "Meaning what? There's gonna be an earthquake?"

"Or something. Maybe it means something's coming. Something bad."

"It was a deer and a dog," Lydia shrugged. "What's that thing you say about threes? Once, twice. . ."

And then a bird slammed into the classroom window, breaking its beak as its blood splattered onto the window.
The whole room fell silent as a few other students looked over to where the bird had made impact, others continuing on with the assignment. Ms. Blake even placed her chalk on the board ledge and walked over.

The cawing of multiple birds grew from a distance, becoming louder and louder with each passing second. And then the shadow starting to creep across the floor of the classroom. Birds. So many birds flying straight for our classroom, no signs of slowing down.

Ms. Blake looked terrified, blinking as she turned from the window to her students and back again. What the hell was going on?

When the first bird of the bunch crashed into the window everyone in the room gasped and jumped. Two birds, what were the chances?

But they didn't stop there. Bird after bird; they all flew directly into the pane glass windows of the classroom. And then one actually broke through the glass, shattering it as it flew into the classroom, stirring up a panic amongst the students.

When more windows began to smash and almost twenty birds were in the classroom with more on their way in, Ms. Blake screamed to everyone and signalled with her hands. "Get down, everyone!"

I heard her continue to scream to everyone to get down as we all panicked to find somewhere to hide from the crazy birds.

I felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie or something.

As I went to duck beneath my desk, I felt something grab onto my hair. Screaming and swatting with my hands, I felt one of the birds above me, its talons caught in my hair.

With the sound of a loud thump, my head jolted to the side slightly as the bird flew away. Turning around I saw Stiles standing behind me with a book held up. He had hit the bird with his book.

"Get down," he told me as he knelt down to protect me, using himself as a barrier between me and the birds.

I buried my face in his chest as the birds caused chaos around us. I covered my ears to try and block out the sounds of students screaming, feeling useless not knowing how to use my ability to stop the birds.

♡♢♤♧

The attack finally ended after about ten minutes with a majority of the birds dying and the rest flying back out of the room. The classroom was a complete wreck. There were tables scattered everywhere and black feathers blanketed every surface in the room.

Stiles slowly climbed to his feet and held his hand out. I didn't think twice before accepting it and allowing him to help me to my feet.

It had now been about twenty minutes since the birds left and the paramedics were finally beginning to arrive. I was sitting in the corner waiting for my sister to come and get me. After I told her what had happened, she said she would be here as soon as she could be. I tried to tell her not to worry, but she wasn't having it.

I looked up from my phone to see Stiles standing before me. He didn't have a scratch anywhere and he had already brushed all of the feathers off of himself.

"Are you doing okay?" He asked me in a voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know," I choked out. "I somehow thought things would be back to normal now, but apparently not."

He sighed, before shrugging. "It's Beacon Hills," he said simply.

"You're not wrong," I mumbled. "Thank you, Stiles."

He smiled, before his face looked concerned and he side-stepped around me. I spun on my heel to see he was headed towards Ms. Blake, who was sitting on a desk staring at nothing, scratches on her face and feathers in her hair. I wondered how the rest of us looked.

Stepping up beside Stiles, we both looked at her.
"Ms. Blake?" Stiles asked. "You okay?" When she didn't answer, he awkwardly tried to reach up and pull a feather from her hair. She flinched as he hand went near her, but he managed to get it anyway, letting it fall to the ground. "Sorry, just. . . That."

"Riley, oh my, god are you okay?" I heard someone ask. My sister was rushing into the classroom, making a beeline for Stiles and I.

She placed a hand on my face, turning it side to side and looking me up and down to make sure I was still in one piece. I grabbed her hand lightly, pulling it away from me.
"Char, I told you on the phone that I was fine. You really didn't have to come down here."

"Of course I did," she insisted. "I'm your sister."

"Well, thank you," I smiled.

Her phone buzzed and she quickly pulled it out to read. With a sigh, she replied and placed it back in her pocket. "My boss knows you go here and got word of the bird attack. He wants me to interview people and do a story."

"Your first story in Beacon Hills and it's only our first real day here. Congrats," I smiled.

She bit her lip. "If you don't want me to write about it, I wont."

"It's fine," I assured her. "If you don't someone else will. Have at it."

"I dropped you off though, do you have a way home?"

Stiles stepped forward, "I'll make sure she gets home safely."

"Thank you, Stiles," my sister said, before looking to me for confirmation.

I nodded and she headed towards Sheriff Stilinski to get his approval on interviewing the witnesses.

I walked over to Stiles, putting my shame of ignoring him aside. "I heard what you were saying to Lydia. You don't think this was a coincidence."

"I don't think I believe in coincidence anymore," He said, pulling his phone out and dialling. I stepped beside him so that I was able to hear and speak to whoever was on the other end also.

"We got a serious problem at school," Stiles said as soon as the person picked up their phone. "Ms. Blake's class-"

"Hey, can you tell me about it later?" The voice asked whilst cutting him off. Scott, of course.

"Ah, well, no," Stiles spluttered out. "Pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion."

"It's important, Scott," I added on, hoping to convince him.

There was silence for a moment before he replied, "Good to hear from you, Riley."

"You too, Scott."

I couldn't tell whether he was annoyed at me or not. He probably was, and I couldn't blame him for that.

"All right, then meet me at Derek's."

"Derek's house?" Stiles further questioned. "What? What the hell are you doing at-"

"Just meet us here, okay?" Scott asked, cutting him off again. He then hung up.

"So, I guess we're going to Derek's," I summarised.

Stiles put his phone in his pocket, giving me a confused look, "'We?'"

I was taken aback by how confused he was and how distasteful he made the word sound. He was still mad at me and I had no idea how to start to earn his forgiveness.

"Well, you did say you would get me home," I countered, but not in my usual sarcastic tone.

Grabbing his backpack off of the floor, Stiles began to walk out of the classroom, instructing me to follow him. Lucky for my ability, or I probably never would have heard what Stiles had said.

♡♢♤♧

The drive over to Derek's in Stiles' Jeep was silent. He was the one who said he wanted to talk to me, and yet now he was the one ignoring me. What was I supposed to do?

When we arrived Scott was getting Derek to help him with his tattoo. Scott had been kind enough to fill me in, telling me how he had attempted to get a tattoo but it had healed not long after. Hence the decision to see Derek.

We then told him about what had happened at the school after he had left. His facial expression when we told him what the birds did was just one of complete shock. I mean, it's not something you'd expect to happen in first period English obviously, but we also lived in Beacon Hills, so you have to just be ready at this point.

The Alpha had a tattoo of a triskele tattooed in black ink between his shoulder blades. Scott rightly assumed that Derek would know how to make his tattoo more permanent.

While they prepared the equipment I was standing beside a table. Not for fun or anything, but because someone was laying on it.
"Oh, Isaac, what have you been getting yourself into?" I half frowned.

I had missed him while I was away, but by the state of him I doubt I would've seen him much over break anyway. Derek had briefly mentioned something about an accident which had lead to him being taken to hospital and that's why Scott had left early.

I'm sure the doctors would've been majorly confused if they had seen their patient healing himself, after all.

Placing a hand on the side of his face, I grabbed a wet towel with the other and wiped his brow. The healing process must've been taking it out of him.

The whole time I was standing by his side I felt someone's gaze on me. I didn't have to turn around to figure out that it was Stiles.

"It's two bands, right?" I heard Derek ask. Realising that they were starting, I went and stood beside Scott's chair. After Scott nodded, Derek asked him what it meant.

Scott took a moment, looking unsure of how to answer. "I don't know. It's just something I trace with my fingers."
He demonstrated on the dusty table beside him, drawing a small circle and then a bigger one enclosing it.

The Alpha seemed unsure. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Do you know what the word "tattoo" means?" Scott questioned, still stating down at the circles.

Stiles, who had been standing beside me with his arms crossed, leaned forward. "To mark something." He gave a wink and a smile to the Alpha who was looking at him as if to ask why the hell he was still standing here.

"Well, that's in Tahitian," Scott corrected. "In Samoan, it means 'open wound.'"

I already knew where he was headed with the line of thought - Stiles and Derek probably knew as well - but no one interrupted him.

"I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one," he informed us. "I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward."

"For what?" Derek asked, sounding truly interested. It was nice to see how much he cared about Scott. It gave me a sense of hope knowing that he had so many people looking out for him.

"For not calling or texting Allison all summer."

So Scott ignored Allison all Summer and she isn't all pissed off with him. But when I do it, Stiles is all over the place with me?

That sounds about right.

Maybe it was the fact that Stiles had wanted me to contact him. I know for a fact that Allison didn't want Scott calling or texting her; she felt like she'd be better off.

Scott looked sad as he thought back. "Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants." We all listened to him speak, a soft sigh escaping as he recounted. "Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a. . . "

When Scott became lost for words, Stiles stepped up to help him. "Like an open wound."

His eagerness from before had faded as he stood and listened to his best friend's pain.

"Yeah."

Derek picked up a blowtorch, moving the conversation along. "The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt."

"Ah," Stiles squeaked. "That's great."

Scott ignored his friend, breathing in deeply. "Do it."

Stiles took a step back and gasped as Derek lit up the blowtorch, "That's a lot for me. So I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside."

The boy headed straight for the door, but he didn't get as far as he had planned as Derek grabbed onto his arm. "Nope. You can help Riley hold him down."

Stiles' eyes flicked to mine before he sighed at Derek and walked back over to Scott, placing his hands on each of the boy's shoulders. I awkwardly stood beside him and did the same. I could feel Stiles tensing up beside me as our hands touched.

Derek slowly brought the flame up to Scott's arm, before allowing it to meet his flesh. As Scott began to scream, Derek instructed Stiles and I to hold him. Scott continued to scream in pain, all the muscles in his arms tensing as he tried to keep himself from attacking Derek.

This wasn't going to be easy.