Touched by the Fear

[13]

Hollis frowned at his words. She opened her mouth to respond, to argue again that she had done the homework but no words came out. With a sigh, she lowered her eyes to her notebook and kept quiet.

The sound of a mumble reached her ears but she couldn't make out the words. Apparently neither could Mr. Harris because he focused his attention on the person who spoke the incoherent sentence.

"Did you have something you wanted to add, Mr. Stilinski?"

Quickly, she looked towards Stiles and shook her head in a warning, urging him not to say anything.

"Actually, yeah." Stiles tapped his pen nervously against the desk and looked away from Hollis. "I just...I don't think you're being fair. To Hollis, I mean. Maybe she just doesn't understand this."

Bemused, Mr. Harris looked from Stiles to Hollis and back again. Just when he was about to respond, a student yelled, "Hey, look! They found something!"

Everyone's attention turned to Harley, who pointed towards the window.

"They found a body!" Harley said as everyone rushed from their seats and towards the window.

Although Hollis was curious, she took her time getting up from her desk to avoid the rush of students moving in one direction. She stood up when she noticed Stiles making his way towards the window and quickly blocked his path.

"Hey. Thanks for that. You really didn't have to," she said.

"I wanted to. I mean, he wasn't being fair. At all," Stiles told her with a look in Mr. Harris's direction.

"No, I know. But...I didn't want you to get in trouble, too."

Stiles shrugged but smiled at her.

"You need to see this," Scott said, showing up beside them.

The three of them moved towards the window, where an ambulance was parked outside by the woods. Two EMT's pushed a gurney with a body strapped to it. An uneasy feeling filled Hollis as she watched but she couldn't pull her eyes away from the sight. The murmur of whispers floated around, each person wondering who the victim was and what exactly happened.

They'll probably call this another animal attack, Hollis thought as her eyes trailed the gurney. When the body quickly shot up, everyone screamed and jumped back, including Hollis. She tried to steady her rapid heart, focusing on calming her breathing.

"This is good. He's not dead. He got up. A dead guy can't do that," Stiles said beside her, but whether he was talking to her or Scott she didn't know.

Hollis nodded either way, happy that whoever the victim was had survived.

"Earth to Hollis," Lydia said, waving a hand in front of her face. "What's going on with you today?"

"Sorry." Hollis ran a hand through her hand, giving her a small smile. "I'm still thinking about that poor guy who got attacked."