I N S T I N C T | Jackson Whittemore

26: inhaling poison

Inhaling Poison
Chapter Twenty Six

Annie rushed down the hallway, looking frantically around her for one of her best friends. When there was no sign of Scott, she began to give up, and made her way towards the front of the school when she ran into a body.

She looked up and saw Scott looking frantically down at her. "What are you doing?" they both asked at the same time.

Annie sighed, "Looking for you! What the hell are you doing?"

"This," Scott held up the lacrosse pads that were torn into legitimate shreds of clothing. "Danny has to explain to me what happened to these pads, before Coach will let me leave," Scott explained. "But you, you should be with Lydia! Derek will figure out she left the school any second, if he already doesn't know."

Annie shook her head, looking from the exit door, back to Scott and shaking her head. "Fine, fine, whatever. Just... hurry."

Scott nodded, and before the pair could walk away in opposite directions, Matt walked up and screamed their names, gaining the attention for a lengthy-span to snap a picture. He noticed from the night before, McCall's eyes had been glitching his camera software... but it was only McCall. He looked at the picture he took, the same result, a bright glare across Scott's eyes. Annie scrunched her eyebrows and walked past Matt into the parking lot, while Scott went the other way on his own mission, not thinking twice about his odd photo-snapping obsession.

* * *

Lydia watched in annoyance as total oddness broke out over her friends. Stiles and Allison frantically pushed her into Scott's house, while Jackson was soon to follow. They frantically peeked out of the blinds as Jackson fastened every lock on the door, and Stiles pulled up a chair, jamming the door.

He turned to see Lydia giving him the most annoyed/confused face ever, and decided he'd take it upon himself to lie for the safety of her own well-being, "Uh, there's been a few break-ins around the neighborhood..." Lydia looked unconvinced. "And a murder. Yeah, it was bad," Stiles nodded.

When all seemed to calm down, and a short-lived serenity etched over the four teenagers, a pounding on the door made them all jump out of their britches. Stiles looked at Allison with a stunned face, breathing hard as the four backed away from the door, frightened to no end. The pounding continued for another solid minute, until a clearly audible sigh seeped through the door, "Stiles, I can practically hear your heartbeat through the door!" Annie yelled, her back hurting from holding the heavy duffle bag full of weapons for so long.

Stiles was still in shock, standing there frozen and speechless. Jackson huffed, and muttered, "Jesus..." annoyingly, as he slipped past the idiot and removed the chair and locks so his girlfriend could come in.

Wait... he thought. Girlfriend?

He opened the door and pulled Annie into his embrace, completely forgetting about the fact that she hated him currently, and that his ex-girlfriend was standing mere feet away... not that he even cared. He was too transfixed upon his thoughts... girlfriend.

Annie couldn't help but hug Jackson back, her mind easing now that she knew he was safe. She finally let go, and gave him a look, saying exactly what she wanted to say. A look saying...

Yeah-I'm-back-and-hugging-you-because-I-love-you-even-though-I-haven't-told-you-yet-but-I'm-still-mad-at-you-so-back-the-hell-off-so-I-can-deal-with-this-before-the-drama-starts-and-we-can-talk-thanks.

Stiles replaced the chair beneath the door handle, blocking the entrance again. Annie sighed, looking outside and hating the fact it was late fall, and the sun disappeared so quickly. She placed the large duffle bag down and handed Allison a cross bow, taking out her own bow and satchel of arrows.