Unbroken ▹ Teen Wolf [02]

01; ephemeral sense of normalcy

To: Raebae
From: Stiles
Care to explain why there's a Porsche in my driveway????

To: Batman
From: Unknown
Care to explain why you're looking up deer-related vehicle collisions?

To: Raebae
How do you know that? & why do your messages say from Unknown?

To: Batman
Because I was going to prank you & I forgot to change my settings back. By the way, I'm behind you.

"Morning, Sunshine." Rachel grinned, leaning over Stiles' shoulder. She'd been hiding underneath his bed ever since he'd left it & the room over an hour ago to run downstairs for breakfast (which consisted of a lone, un-toasted bagel with nothing on it & nothing to drink— Rachel was disgusted).

Stiles jumped, letting out a girlish shriek & nearly falling out of his chair in the process. "What the hell? When did you even get here?"

"My flight landed around 2am. I wasn't tired, so I drove here." She shrugged, leaning on the computer desk. She was mildly tempted to question his sudden interest in deer collisions, but opted to set that aside for later— it was 7:30am, school was in an hour, and she had a hell of a lot to catch up on before she was ready to throw herself back into high school.

"Here? Of all places? Didn't you want to see your b—"

"I sincerely hope you're about to say brother, or you better start making funeral arrangements." Rachel grumbled, remembering how Jackson hadn't stopped pestering her with another B word. By the time she left for the airport yesterday, she was so close to killing him, the humour in the situation had long faded. "I was going to. But he's been ignoring my texts for the past month, and you-know-who has too. I stopped by Scott's but he was exercising. And reading. At the same time. I'm not even going to bother with Lydia & Allison moved— that left you as my last resort."

"Glad to see I rank high on your list of go-to people." Stiles remarked, returning his attention to the screen of his computer as he continued scrolling through an article.

"Have you even seen Derek & you-know-who?"

"You mean Isaac?" The teen questioned, clearly aware that was who she meant. "No."

"Not at all?"

"Not even once."

"Dammit." Rachel muttered, standing up & pacing slowly across the room. Teenagers didn't just disappear from the face of the Earth— even if the aforementioned teenager was a werewolf & (former) introvert. He was with Derek & Peter, and they were up to something; she knew it & now that she was back in Beacon Hills, her two elder relatives couldn't avoid her calls & texts or respond with only emojis.

"Have you tried, oh, I don't know, calling him? Sending a text? "Hey, how ya doing?" maybe "Sup, let's chat" or anything at all?" Stiles remarked sarcastically, his gaze never leaving the computer screen.

"Sup let's chat? What am I, a freaking booty call?" The reflector sounded appalled & she most definitely was. There was no way in hell she'd never text that to anyone, not even as a joke. She'd seen that sent to a certain blonde barista every damn time she stole Jackson's phone & it physically hurt her. "I kissed him & then I ditched him for 4 months. If anything, I'm a bitch."

"You could've texted.. Or maybe went to talk to him before jumping on a plane with Jackson & leaving the country."

"But he didn't text me." Rachel argued, trying to make herself feel less horrible— she'd been blocking out the regret while in London, but now that she was back, it was getting a bit harder not to let it hit her like a brick. "And he knew I was leaving. You & Scott drove me to the airport."