fall ↠ hale | 1

three

vallis alps - young

" time forever favours the young "

"So, Rose, is it? Please excuse my memory, it's slowly deteriorating," Principal Argent chuckled, sifting through some files on his desk. He placed them down and rested his elbows on the dark wood, steepling his fingers.
"It's fine," I said, quietly. It wasn't just the nerves dissolving my confidence. The principal seemed really nice, but something about him made me feel on-edge. There was something menacing behind his eyes.
"I must say, the school board was pretty averse to the idea of accepting you due to the lack of records from your old school. But your case interests me greatly, so I've decided to go against them and take you on,"
"Thank you so much,"
"Don't mention it, sweetheart. Now, in regards to your previous education, you'll have to sit some tests for us to determine which classes to place you in. Are you alright with exams?"
"I think so, yeah,"
"Wonderful! Well, all that's left is the tour then. Follow me," He said, standing and offering me his hand. He was friendly and harmless. I wanted to feel comfortable around the principal, but deep inside my brain, alarms bells were going off like crazy.

                                     •

I nervously entered the lunch hall, scanning the bustling room for a familiar face. My eyes landed on Scott, who saw me and waved me over. He was sat opposite a boy with buzzcut hair and a flannel on. He seemed incredibly familiar. It then dawned on me that he was the boy from the police station. He must also be Stiles, Sherrif Stilinski's son.
"Hey!" Scott said as I sat down, "Stiles, this is Rose. You know Stiles, right?"
"Yeah, your dad mentioned you,"
"All good things, I hope?" He said, lazily leaning back in his chair as I sat down next to Scott.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," I said quickly, lying through my teeth. They hadn't exactly been negative but I didn't want to tell him that his dad had been spilling his concerns about his son to me. It was none of my business.
"So what was with that seizure you had at the station?" He asked suddenly, catching me off guard.
"Stiles!" Scott said sternly.
"Shit, sorry. ADD. Sometimes I say stuff without thinking,"
"It's fine, don't worry. Honestly, I don't know. I guess I just have sensitive eardrums or something and couldn't handle the loud noise,"
"Yeah, sorry for setting the alarm off. It was a pretty desperate situation as you probably noticed,"
"What was up with that deputy? The one with the arrow in his leg?"
"Oh, uh, that guy?" Stiles said quickly. I could see the cogs in his brain working to formulate a believable lie. Whatever was happening that night, they didn't want me knowing.
"Bad eyesight!" Scott blurted, "He thought Stiles was someone else," Stiles gave him a look, as if to say seriously? That's the best you can come up with?
"Really? It looked like you knew him. And why did he have an arrow in his leg?"
"Nope, never seen him before in my life,"
"But the arrow. Who even has arrows nowadays?"
"He probably, uh...fell on a...a sharp stick! That's right, those woods can be ruthless, you know," I could tell that my curiosity wasn't welcome and I didn't want to lose the only friends I'd made so far so I dropped the subject.
"So, were you just tested?" Scott asked, clearly also eager to change the subject.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"How did you find them?"
"Pretty easy, actually. I knew a lot more than I was expecting to and I didn't need to skip any questions which was good. I think they were old finals papers,"
"Wait, for what grade?" Stiles asked, leaning forward.
"Sophomore,"
"Seriously? Sophomore finals are known for being ridiculously hard. It's why so many people get held back before junior year,"
"Oh. That's pretty good, right?"
"Are you kidding?" Scott interjected, "If you did as well as you think you did then that's amazing! You're at least half a year ahead of the rest of us!"
"I guess I went to a pretty good school then,"
"I think you probably went to the be-" Scott trailed off as something caught his eye at the other side of the cafeteria. I followed his gaze to where two girls had just entered. One had strawberry blonde hair and was wearing the nicest outfit I'd seen all day. The other had dark hair and porcelain skin. She reminded me of Snow White. I assumed she was the one Scott was looking at, because she was staring right back.
"Who's that?" I asked Stiles as Scott was still in his trance.
"Allison. She and Scott used to date. Used to. Not anymore. Definitely not. They are completely and totally broken up. Com-"
"I think I got it," I said, "Who's the other girl?"
"That's Lydia. She's...well, she's Lydia,"
"I see," I nodded, not really seeing at all.
"She used to date Jackson Whittemore. But they're broken up, too,"
"Oh, I know Jackson,"
"Really? Unlucky," He sucked in air through his teeth.
"I know. I met him this morning and he nearly hit me with his car,"
"Yep, definitely Jackson,"
"He seems like a great guy," I chuckled sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, the best. That is, if you like having zero self-esteem. If you want to feel like a worthless piece of crap, Jackson's your guy,"
"There's nothing I love more than feeling like a worthless piece of crap,"
"He plays lacrosse with us. Him and Scott are co-captains of the team,"
"I can't imagine he's easy to work with,"
"You guessed it. Trying to agree on something with him is like trying to get a screaming toddler to shut up. It just doesn't happen,"
"So what's lacrosse like?" I asked.
"Well, I'm, um, normally on the bench so you'd probably have better luck asking Scott once he comes back to Earth. Or - hey! You should come to practice after school today!"
"I'd love to, but I told Deaton I'd help out at the clinic after school,"
"Perfect! Scott's going after practice so I can give you both a ride!"
"Really? You'd do that?"
"Of course! You're basically part of the pack - I mean the, uh, the group! You're basically part of the group now so why not?"
"Then that would be great. Thank you so much,"
"Don't mention it," Just as he said that, Scott zoned back into the conversation and began to talk about school. I joined in but I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face. Stiles said I was part of their group now, I was accepted by someone and that was all I ever wanted.