Venom [Book 2]

Chapter 2

I sat on the bleachers of the lacrosse field looking out at the boys practicing, smiling as my brother got rammed into and fell to the ground, then retaliated by grabbing that person's ankle and making him face-plant.

    Typical Stiles.

    Someone came and sat next to me, clearing his throat awkwardly.

    Crap. I know that clearing throat sound and who it belongs to. Abort. Abort!

    But instead of listening to conscience, I turned my head to the left and saw Brett Talbot sitting there.

    Dang. Stiles wasn't kidding when he said everyone had a glow-up while I was gone.

    "What do you want, Brett?" I asked my ex.

"Oh, so you do remember my name. I was starting to think you'd forgotten when you ran off to Paris with Lahey—"

"Okay, you see? This is the reason we broke up. You jump to conclusions faster than I can blink." I stated angrily, "Not that it's any of your business, but Isaac and I broke up."

"Wait, what?"

"You want me to repeat it for you?" I asked sassily.

"Woah, no, thank you. I'm good." He held up his hands.

"Talbot! Get away from my sister, unless you want a lacrosse stick shoved up your—" Stiles noticed him talking to me.

"STILES!" I interrupted him loudly.

    Brett held back a laugh. "You going to your Senior Scribe?"

    "I'm going to keep Stiles and the other company. You going to yours at Devenforth Prep?"

    "Yeah," he nodded and stood up. "I should get back. Lori will be worried for me."

    "Tell your sister I say hi."

    He smiled at me. "I swear sometimes, I think she likes you better than me."

    "Can't blame her." I shrugged.

    "Now that is something we agree on. See you, Elizabeth."

    "See you, Brett." I said, looking back at the lacrosse players before packing up my stuff and following him down the bleachers.

    "You following me now?" He asked when we got off the field.

    "No. I'm going to see if Lydia is still here." I answered and we parted ways; he went to his car parked in the parking lot and I went into the school, walking through the empty school hallways.

    Lydia came here sometimes after school to use the drawing room, so I checked there first, but she wasn't there.

    I called her name as I walked down the darkened hallways, surprised when, I saw Malia sitting along on the floor, leaned up against her locker.

    "Malia, right?" I asked, making her look at me.

    "Yeah. You're Stiles's sister?"

    "I am"—I gestured to the empty spot on the floor next to her—"mind if I sit?"

    "I guess it would be nice to have someone to talk to." She said with a little smile, letting me sit next to her, my back against the locker.

    "How are you adapting to human life?" I asked her.

    "It's not easy, but I make it through alright. Except for math. I just want to burn that room."

    I smiled. "Same here. Math has never been my strong suit."