hold me closer

19

"Well, doesn't that just happen sometimes?" I told him.

"Yeah, but only because we let it happen," he said. "You know, that's what I'm saying. 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?"

"Well, I thought that was the plan," Malia said. "The dream."

"The vision," he corrected. "And don't mock the vision."

"I like the vision," Malia said sincerely. "Especially if I'm part of it. So that's why you wanted everyone here tonight. Because you don't want to lose all your friends after senior year."

"And I hope they don't want to lose me, either," he said.

Malia stepped closer to him and kissed him. Once I saw the tongue action, I pulled them apart from each other saying, "I love the love, but seriously guys? This must be the hundredth time."

"Someone's coming," Malia alerted. "Someone fast."

I turned around. I pulled out my hidden dagger, the tackled them to the ground, holding the knife to their neck. I retracted the knife once I realized it was Liam.

"Oh, my God!" Stiles exclaimed. "You had that under your shirt?!"

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Scott's in trouble."

Malia and Liam caught a hint of their scent. We followed them around the school towards the courtyard that led to the stairs nearing the lacrosse field. We found them in the walkway. This tall man had stuck its claws into Scott. Beside them were Kira and an unfamiliar werewolf.

Advancing, I threw my dagger but stopped when it caught it, throwing it to the side. A few seconds later, Scott grabbed their wrist, standing up. He twisted their arm, breaking their bone, and he kneeled. Scott grabbed his chest, taking out its claws.

"I don't know who you are, or what you thought you were going to do, but I'll give you a choice," Scott said. "You can stay and I'll break something else... Or you can run."

"I'd run," said Stiles and it limped off.

"Are you okay?" I asked, coming closer. "Should I- "

"I'm fine," Scott assured and looked at Kira. "We're fine."

"You don't remember me, do you?" asked the unnamed boy with a smile. "I guess I look a little different since the fourth grade."

"Theo?"

"You know him?" Malia asked.

"They used to," he responded. "Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again. A couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, I just couldn't believe it. Not just an Alpha, but a True Alpha."

"What do you want?" Scott asked.

"I came back to Beacon Hills - back home with my family - because I want to be a part of your pack."

:::

"We haven't seen this kid in years," said Stiles as we walked inside the building. "You don't find that highly suspicious?"

"I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me," Scott told him.

I heard a phone buzz and I turned around. Malia held her phone up, reading it. She looked at us, then said, "I'm in! I passed. I'm officially a senior."

"I knew it," I said, hugging her after Stiles and Kira.

"Thank God." I looked down the hall and Lydia approached us. "Where have you guys been? The whole senior class is here! Are we doing this or not?"

I wrapped my arm around Lydia's shoulders as we walked towards the improved library. Over the break, they had upgraded it, adding a second floor to it. This library was much larger and had more areas to study and talk about things in secret.

All the seniors of this year stood in a line. The shelf had been cleared out for us to write our initials. Senior Scribe was something that the seniors would do. Alex had done the same last year.

I grabbed the marker from Lydia. I paused, seeing one initial as I.L in messy handwriting. I sighed, shaking my head. I wrote my initials, L.M, in a fancy font near Lydia's then gave the marker to Kira.

"This isn't vandalism, is it?" Kira asked.

"Not technically," I answered.

Kira wrote hers, then passed it to Malia. She had paused, too, thinking of what to put her last initial. In the end, she wrote a T standing for Tate. Malia gave it to Scott. He wrote his initials, then he had written another.

"She would have been with us," Stiles said.

"Yeah," he responded.

I gave a small smile, looking at our signed names. "She still is."