𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔

"𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 "

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╰┈˚ · ° .  SAM HAD NOT LISTENED TO ME.  He wanted to get back to his life as soon as possible. He didn't want to be a shifter, he didn't want anything to do with it. He didn't want to listen to the elder council or even some of my advice, he just wanted everything to get back to normal, back like it was before everything had happened. But nothing was the same now.

I was woken up by his heavy steps as he climbed down the stairs of our house. When I had asked where he was going, he didn't even look me in the eyes as he had answered that he was going to see Leah, and as I mentioned the council, he dropped the bomb. He just wanted to be normal again, he had declared before slamming the door behind him. I couldn't even fault him for that. Having his life completely changed wasn't easy, not for me, not for him. But the difference is that he had something to lose. But wanting or not, he was different now, and he could even be dangerous. To himself and others.

I passed the entire morning worrying about him, I didn't want him to get angry and shift in front of Leah. He could easily kill her or hurt her.

That Sunday morning kept going slowly. Too fucking slowly. I couldn't focus enough to train or even continue to read the grimoire of the various journals of the previous generation of witches. I just paced back and forth trying to call him and message him. But he never answered.

"So he is back?" I heard my mother say.

I turned around to look at her. She was more put together than usual. Allison Uley worked in the evening to early night, when her mental health allowed her to, so her mornings were usually spent in bed asleep. Maybe asleep or too mentally tired to get out of bed.

"He needed some time for himself. But he is back now. He is not going anywhere." I said taking a seat at the kitchen table

"And where is he now?"

"With Leah"

My mother hummed under her breath "I'm sorry for what I said. And I'm sorry that I have not been the best mother recently, but..."

"I know and It's fine." I said, not looking her in the eyes. It wasn't but I could understand her.

The front door slammed open and an angry looking Sam walked in.

"Sam!" I yelled after his retiring figure. I gave my mom one last look before I followed after my brother.

I knocked on his door, no answer came from him. "Sam, c'mon let me in."

The door opened for me. Sam was still slightly shaking from anger but his eyes were sad. Almost at the brink of tears "I'm fine, Tris. I'll just take a cold shower, maybe it will help."

"And maybe we can eat lunch all together after that. What do you guys think?" We both turned towards our mother, her smile hesitant but nonetheless honest. "I can go to the store now and cook something"

She was trying, but both Sam and I knew that it was not going to last this moment of sudden burst of somewhat happiness. Because her problem was that she did not want to get better. She wanted her alcoholic abusive husband back.

It wasn't something that happened a lot. Eating meals the three of us together. I wasn't naive enough to get my hopes up now, not like I had done plenty of other times before. But I could enjoy the moment until it lasted.

"Sure" I curled my lips in a rare soft smile.

"Yeah" Sam agreed too, but his eyebrows were slightly furrowed still deep in thought.

"Alright then, I'll go to the store now to buy some things. I'll see you both later." And with that, our mother was soon out of the front door.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked my brother

"It's nothing, Tris. I just had a fight with Leah." He didn't wait for me to say something else. He just walked past me with clean clothes in his hands and entered the bathroom.

══════ 🜂🜁🜃🜄 ══════

╰┈˚ · ° .  Monday morning came, Sam had still to say anything about the shapeshifting situation. The ride to school was hell. It was clear that there was tension between my brother and Leah so when the truck stopped in the parking lot, I bolted out of there as if the car was on fire.

The hallways were buzzing with whispers and rumors. Not only about Sam but about me too, apparently. My brother had been away from school for two entire weeks, no text or calls. The only thing they knew was that he had mono. And that was because of me. His growth spurt didn't pass unobserved by anyone either.

"You know, maybe I should get mono too if that are the results." Jared Cameron said, appearing next to me. His eyes trailing over to where my brother was as he walked down the hallway to his own locker. I snorted at his comment making him grin wider "Every time you found something I say amusing is like winning a prize. You are not the easiest person to make laughs."

"Maybe you are not that funny. Ever thought of that?" I couldn't help but reply with a smirk on my lips. I grabbed my things from the locker before closing behind me.

"You wound me, Trixy." Jared placed a hand on his heart, face scrunching up as if in pain.

"You are so dramatic. I think you should apply to the drama club, it would suit you."

"We have a drama club here?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows

"Probably not"

Jared laughed, eyes lightening with amusement "Are you coming to your shift later? It's been boring without you." He asked me with pleading eyes

"I'm sure it was." I chuckled.

"Yes, I miss all your brooding and rude comments and slaps at my head to make me shut up. And I had no one to cover me with Mrs. H." His grin widened at every thing he listed.

"Don't worry, I will double it to make up for my absence." I said, earning a silent but energetic 'yes' "I'll be there. Sam's all healed up now."

"Oh damn! Are you sure? I would mind getting mono, remember? Maybe I should spend some time with your brother." He said with a cheeky wink

"Goodbye, Cameron." I said back with a roll of my eyes as I walked away from the boy

"See you later, Uley!" He yelled after me.

══════ 🜂🜁🜃🜄 ══════

╰┈˚ · ° .  When the bell for lunch finally rang, and the classrooms began to empty, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. There was one thing that had been constantly on my mind since the beginning of the day. Getting my Zippo back.

When the last of the students emptied the English classroom, and Mr. Harrison was nowhere in sight, I quickly scrambled inside, closing the door behind me. I was not proud to say that it wasn't the first time that I had used paper clips to open a lock. Mostly it was to take back some of the items that had been confiscated by one of the teachers. My Zippo, my sketchbook, even various pens and pencils. I knew the drill by now.

Already having the paper clips in my hand, I proceed to straighten them before crouching behind the teacher desk. I inserted the now two straight wires inside the lock, when the door of the classroom opened.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here." That voice, that fucking annoying voice that was of the most annoying person ever. Paul fucking Lahote. "Maybe I should change your name to little thief."

I quickly straighten up, glaring at the boy who had chosen the worst moment to come and do what he does best. Annoying me.

"Can you close the door?" I snapped, my tone harsh but barely above a whisper.

His answer was a cocky smirk as with his hand he opened the door even more.

The glare that I sent him was burning like fire. I was sure that I was seconds away sending a ball of hot flames directly to his face. I clenched my jaw deciding that the best plan of action was to close the door myself and quickly return to my previous task. Which is exactly what I did.

"What are you trying to steal, little arsonist ?"

"My mental sanity that you choose to destroy with your presence in this room." I said to the boy who, with his infuriating smirk, that for sure worked to get all the girls he wanted, walked towards me, until he was resting with his hands on the desk gazing down as I continued to work on the lock.

"Do you even know what you are doing?" He asked

I glance up for a split second with a deadpan look "How do you think I get back all the things that they like to confiscate me?"

"I don't follow your every move, Uley. You are not that important." He replied, his brown eyes lightning with mirth.

"Then why the fuck are here for?" I asked in a monotonous voice before smirking when the lock clicked open.

"Maybe Mr. Harrison confiscated something from me that I was trying to get back?"

"So you were going to do exactly what I am doing? And you want to call me a thief?" I snorted as I finally opened the drawer revealing half a dozen confiscated items with a couple of phones.

As I made a move to take my zippo, Paul's was quicker, snatching the lighter in his hand.

"Give it back." I closed my eyes trying to calm my breath as I started to feel the precise tingles in my fingers. When I opened them again, once my powers were under control after a couple of seconds, he was smirking victoriously down at me. "Give it back."

"And why would I do that?" he leaned closer "This is probably the first time I see a spark of emotion in you other than when you stare like a lunatic at your lighter. It's actually really funny."

As he said that, I quickly morphed my face to a neutral expression. I rolled my eyes, kneeling once again on the floor. "Take what's yours so I can close the drawer again."

"Really? That's it?" He titled his head on the right. It was clear he was trying to make me angry. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of it. He scoffed when I raised an eyebrow at him, mentioning the drawer with my head, and when he didn't make a move to take anything, I closed it once again using the paper clips method.

"So you really just came here for me." I clicked my toing of the roof of my mouth. "I guess I am that important then."

His jaw clenched as I ticked off his anger. If he wanted to play, then I would too. The difference was that I knew how to mask my anger, it was written all over his face.

His glare was harsh, almost a snarl was forming on his lips. "I couldn't care less about you, little arsonist. But I care about my safety and that of the entire school. We wouldn't want you to start fires just because you lost the last screw that held your sanity together, now would we?"

"We both know that the chemical lab accident wasn't my fault, Lahote. I might like fire but I still have a higher IQ than you and all your jock squad combined, I know how to mix chemicals the right way. Your problem is that you care about what people say about you, so you let everyone think that it was my fault. But I think that what you can't understand is that I don't give a fuck. Call me thief, arsonist... at the end of the day you are still an immature asshole that can't take his own responsibilities."

His anger flared with each word I spoke, his muscles were tight, he was clenched so hard that it was a miracle that he wasn't breaking his teeth.

But what I didn't expect to happen was for him to put my zippo on the desk and move it towards me and without a word he walked out of the classroom.

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!

Not much happened in this chapter, but there is some Paul here.

I love their little interactions. They are so fun to write.

I really hope that you are liking this book so far!!

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on tuesday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾