EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

TWENTY ONE

"Liam I swear to god it's fine, seriously," Katherine groaned, laying down on the bleachers while her best friend practiced whatever he was doing for lacrosse during their lunch break. "You don't have to keep asking me how it looks."

"But is it clean, though," Liam persisted, jogging up to where she was laying. "The technique, I mean; does it look clean."

"As a soapy ballerina."

"Katherine."

"Honestly, Liam, I don't even know what I'm looking at." She shifted so her weight was on her elbows and squinted in the sunlight as she looked up at him. "Scott tried to explain it to me once and he wound up breaking his stick out of frustration, Stiles didn't bother telling him there was no point because he wanted him to see it for himself. Do you really want to break yours too?"

"No," he muttered and joined the other two boys he was practicing with. She watched him with a small smirk, though it wavered slightly as he looked over at Hayden, who was practicing with the girls soccer team.

She was watching him too.

"You okay, Kat?"

She looked over at he sound of Mason's voice, and knew she couldn't even fake a smile to hide what she was feeling because he'd seen it. Brett was standing next to him, dressed in his prep school uniform, and had clearly seen it too.

"I will be," she shrugged, lifting her legs and raising her upper body so they could sit on either side of her, Mason getting her legs while she rested her head back on Brett's thigh and stared up at the sky, zoning out while she watched the breeze blow the clouds around above them.

"So I see you didn't take my advice, then?" Brett hummed, tapping his fingers on her forehead to get her attention.

Katherine looked up at him with a scrunched nose, eyes crossing to look at his hand that was now resting on the top of her head. "Not yet," she shrugged. "I just...I need time to figure out what I want to say to her."

"That's fair," Mason nodded, smiling sadly at her while patting her knee for comfort. She'd filled him in on everything that had happened at dinner when she'd gotten home two nights earlier over text, since he already knew her feelings. He'd listened and basically told her Brett was right, and she knew he had more to say to her but was keeping it to himself for whatever reason. He'd tell her when the time was right. "Now back to my previous question; have you noticed anyone weird at or, like, around school that fits the criteria I told you."

"I don't know, dude, everyone at Devonford seems pretty abnormal to me," Brett shrugged, absentmindedly braiding strands of Katherine's hair while he watched Liam out on the field. She watched as a small but attractive smirk briefly pulled at his lips. "He's jealous of me," he murmured, low enough that even she barely caught it.

She scoffed. "Yeah, because you know that."

"I do," he hummed, grinning down at her when she rolled her eyes. "I can smell it. He doesn't like me being this close to you."

"And you love it because it pisses him off."

"Absolutely."

"Okay, well, what else is there to look for?" Mason frowned, too lost in thought to even register their side conversation. "There's heightened strength—" he began counting out his list on his fingers "—smell, hearing, speed..."

"...Able to see in the dark," Brett added in, eyes not once straying from the field as he spoke.

"Glowing eyes," Mason added to his mental list.

"The facial hair," Katherine hummed causing Mason to snort. "What? It's true. You should've seen Scotty's beard on the full moon a couple years ago...his eyebrows too, they're kind of caveman-like...wait Brett, do you have caveman eyebrows too?"