002 | WELCOME, ALLISON ARGENT
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THE SCHOOL BELLS rang loudly through the speakers while students made their way inside, catching up with their classmates. And now the Mitchell girl was just about ready to jump off a cliff.
Earlier, Stiles made a pit stop at Averi's place so she could get ready. And she sure as hell wasn't surprised to find Dave completely passed out on the couch, to find the living room a mess. Thankfully, she was able to get in and out without the man waking.
Averi hopped out of the jeep and onto the pavement, "Thanks for the ride, Stiles." She smiled at the boy, til the familiar face of her boyfriend appeared in her peripheral in the distance, "I'll be right back."
Stiles nodded, sending back a half-hearted smile. Although, once she was out of sight the boy couldn't help but roll his eyes. He wasn't exactly a big fan of the well-known Parker Kingston—who also happened to be the best friend of Jackson Whittemore.
"Hi." she gave the boy a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Why did Miles drop you off? Since when were you two even friends?" he asked, clearly agitated.
"It's Stiles." she corrected, "And I've known him basically my whole life, I needed a ride and he was nice enough to offer." she lied. If Parker knew that she slept over Stiles' house he'd blow it completely out of proportion. But by the way he scoffed at her in response, she already knew where this was going, "Can you please not make a scene our first day back at school?"
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You're the one who just decided to get in the car with some other guy instead texting me—your boyfriend—to give you a ride." he looked mad at her, it was only 8:00 in the damn morning and he was already pissed off by her.
His raising voice wasn't missed by a few others either. Fortunately, it was only one group of students standing beside them who heard—but she still needed to ease his temper before it would escalate. It was starting to feel like everything she did angered him
'Some other guy.' Averi repeated his words to describe Stiles in her head, something about them bothered her. He's not just some other guy.
"Jesus, Parker, it's not that big of a deal." the girl argued, she already wasn't the biggest morning person and now he was just getting her all irritated. "When you say it like that you make it sound like something happened—"
"Well, did something happen?-"
"No!" she shouted.
Fuck.
Her cheeks burned red as she noticed the stares from all her classmates, now being much more than just one small group. It was an accident, she didn't mean for it to be that loud.
"Look who's making a scene now." Parker scowled, finally lowering his tone he said, "People are gonna start thinking you're slutting around with some loser that's into you."
Averi immediately scoffed—almost bursting into a fit of laughter entirely at the idea that Stiles Stilinski was into her, "Stiles? Into me? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"Then you must be stupid if you can't notice the way he looks at you." the Kingston boy said, "I'll see you later at tryouts." he walked away to Jackson in the distance.
Averi fell silent, making her way back to Stiles—who was now accompanied by Scott. "Hey, boys." she wrapped her arms around their shoulders from behind, causing them to jump.
Stiles smiled, "Hi."
"Hi?" the McCall boy questioned, once again confused as to why she was with them. And he didn't miss the obnoxious 'I told you so' look he was getting from Stiles.
In all honesty, Scott didn't mind having his old best friend back— his sister back.
"Scotty here got bit by something last night." Stiles began explaining, turning to the injured boy, "Alright, let's see this thing."
Averi felt her stomach drop. Bit?
Scott lifted his shirt, revealing a big bandaid that'd been plastered on the side of his stomach—and a quick flash of the boy in her dream came back to her when he revealed his bite in the very same place...
What. The. Fuck.
"Ooh." Stiles touched the wound, which only made the dark-haired boy wince.
Scott readjusted his shirt before picking up his backpack, "It was too dark to see much. But I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."
"A wolf bit you?" Averi furrowed her brows as the three began walking, Scott hummed in response.
"No, not a chance." both his friends spoke in unison.
It's probably just some weird coincidence...that's all.
"I heard a wolf howling." The McCall boy claimed, so sure about what had happened to him.
Stiles simply shook his head, "No, you didn't."
"What do you mean 'no I didn't'? How do you know what I heard?" Scott scoffed.
"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay?" Stiles laughed, "Not in like sixty years."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. There are no wolves in California."
The dark-haired boy lowered his voice, "Okay, well if you don't believe me about the wolf then you're definitely not gonna believe me when I tell you I found the body."
Averi's mouth hung open, "What?!"
"Are you kidding me?" Stiles beamed, a wide grin plastered on his face.
"I wish." Scott sighed, "I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."
"That is freaking awesome." Stiles chuckled, "I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this since the birth of Ave—"
His head quickly turned away from the fawn-haired girl, "Since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey, Lydia..." he watched as she shrieked happily before going to hug Averi.
"Aves! I missed you so much!" Lydia almost shook the girl's body in their embrace.
"Hi, Lyds...I missed you too."
It was a surprise to the boys to see them as a pair, Lydia was the last person they'd think Averi would ever be friends with.
"We are going shopping this weekend—I have so much to tell you!" Lydia started dragging the girl away from the two boys, who was now mouthing a quick 'sorry' to them.
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English class, the class that only ever bores Averi to death. She usually enjoyed the general subject but school made that difficult. The only good thing was that she had it with her two favorite boys. The Mitchell girl took the seat behind Stiles, who was sitting at the desk next to Scott, leaving an empty one behind him.
"As you all know," Mr. Curtis spoke as he began writing on the board, "there indeed was a body found in the woods last night."
Scott turned to the two with a smirk plastered on his face, receiving another one back from both.
"And I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened." Mr. Curtis turned to face the students, "But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody, which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining this semester."
Averi read the messy letters on the board, 'Kafka's Metamorphosis'. It was at that moment she planted her head down on the desk and continued banging softly so no one would notice.
That was until the door opened revealing the vice principal of the school with a girl beside him, "Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."
The new girl took the empty seat behind Scott and next to Averi. Except the moment she sat down in the desk—another flashing image from last night's dream came back to her head.
Only this time it was of the red car that swerved past the boy, she could recall the sound of the loud honk. It left her ears ringing for a few seconds, even after the image went away.
"We'll begin Kafka's Metamorphosis, on page 133." the teacher spoke up, not even acknowledging the new student who had just entered.
Averi—who hadn't been paying much attention to the teacher at all—turned to the new girl who was now sitting next to her, "I really like your jacket." she complimented her.
"Thanks." the Argent girl smiled, "I like yours too! Where's it from?" she asked, starting to feel a bit more comfortable after being introduced so abruptly.
"That's actually a great question, this thing is like ancient." she answered jokingly, glancing down at the vintage-looking leather bomber jacket she was currently wearing, "I don't know, it's my dad's. My name's Averi by the way." sending a small shrug.
"Well, Averi, your dad has great fashion sense." Allison's comment making her giggle, "My dad would probably kill me if i took anything of his."
"Oh, no—mine would too. He hates when I steal any of his clothes but he's left me unsupervised so...he basically just gave me his whole closet." Averi said sarcastically.
"Unsupervised?" Allison repeated, "Is he on a business trip or something?"
"Or something."
And to what felt like an eternity of boring classes and introductions, school had finally been dismissed. The bells rang loudly once more and everyone crowded the halls as they made their way to their lockers.
Averi paused in her steps when she noticed the new girl looking clueless, something about her felt right. For some reason—it was like a gut feeling——this girl was meant to be her friend.
She rushed over to her with a smile, "Hey, Allison! How's your first day been going?'"
"Hi!" she smiled back, "I got lost a few times—but it went as good as any other first day can go."
Averi chuckled, "So basically it was terrible?" the Argent girl laughed, nodding her head. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. I can meet you early tomorrow to help show you around."
"Oh—you don't have to go out of your way to-"
"It's no big deal! I'll give you my number, let me know what time you'll get here." Averi took out a random pen and her notebook, ripping a small piece of paper out of it. She used the lockers as a surface to write before handing it to Allison.
"Thank you. Really." she said gratefully.
"Of course!"
Allison's attention seemed to change to someone in the distance but before Averi could look to see, Lydia had waltzed her way beside them.
"Hi, Ave." Lydia grinned, she then looked over at the new girl, "That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?"
"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco." Allison explained, clearly nervous by her behavior.
"And you are my new best friend." She turned to the fawn, "You hear that, Averi? She's our new best friend."
Although, Averi should've known better after her last friendship trio. She should've told the Argent girl to run while she still could.
Because three always finds a way to become two.
Their conversation was interrupted as two boys came from behind the light-haired girls, although one looked somewhat happier about it than the other.
"Hey." Parker wrapped his arms around Averi's waist, kissing her cheek, "Can we talk?"
There was no bother in asking as he had already pulled her away from the pair. Averi mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to Allison, knowing how awkward she must feel being left with Lydia and Jackson, she appreciated the small gesture.
Harley approached the two boys watching from across the hallway, "Can someone tell me how the new girl is here all of five minutes and she's already hanging out with Lydia's clique?"
"Because she's hot." the boy with a buzzcut sighed, "Beautiful people herd together." he and the girl had made conversation as Scott was admiring Allison from where he was standing.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I know I was being a dick this morning but—" Parker took Averi's hand in his, "you know how I get before tryouts."
She just nodded and stayed silent, she didn't really know what to tell him. There was always something, always some reason for why he'd decide to be an ass each day.
"She is hot, isn't she?" Scott dazed at the new girl, the other student that had been talking to Stiles left so it was just the two boys again.
Except Stiles was dazing at another girl until Scott spoke up, "Who?" his head snapped in the direction his best friend was looking at, "Lydia Martin? Yeah... She's so hot..." he covered up the very obvious fact his best friend could see right through.
He didn't even realize his attention turned back to the girl he was previously looking at as he answered, Averi Mitchell, who at the moment was kissing her boyfriend.
"You know what I think?" Scott came out of his daze, and Stiles hummed in response, "I think you're using Lydia Martin as a cover-up for the girl you've really liked this whole time."
"Wha-what?!" Stiles snapped his head around to Scott, "What girl? There's no other girl." and yet as he said that his focus went back to the girl who wasn't Lydia Martin.
Scott just patted the boy's shoulder as he noticed they were making their way to the field, "Let's go."
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Allison sat in between Averi and Lydia, whose attention was too focused on the field and her boyfriend, which didn't come as a surprise to anyone. The young Mitchell knew Lydia could do better than that jackass, and she knew it too but would never admit it. It was quite funny, how the two girls were close—how their boyfriends were close, yet Lydia and Parker disliked each other—as did Jackson and Averi.
The relaxing sound of the breeze came to a stop when Coach shouted, "McCall! You're on goal." he tossed the boy a lacrosse stick, the head being larger than the one he originally had.
Coach Finstock, to Averi—he felt like a living embodiment of a fever dream.
She picked at her nail polish nervously, at this point she was gonna have to repaint them. She knew well that Scott could not play in goal, he could barely even play the game of lacrosse itself.
Allison had her eyes glued to the dark-haired teen, even as he put on his helmet and stood nervously in front of the goal, "Who is that?"
"Him?" Lydia looked over to the boy she was referring to, "I'm not sure who he is."
"The one in goal?" Averi asked the brunette sitting next to her, she went on after receiving a nod, "That's Scott McCall. Why do you ask?"
"He's in our English class." she shook her head smiling, her eyes still focused on the boy.
Averi fought off the smirk that wanted to appear on her face, someone has a crush. She stared back at the field when the whistle blew loudly, it caught Scott off guard when his hands wrapped around his head.
Right when he collected himself, a player chucked a lacrosse ball. Which had hit him right at the center of his helmet, which caused him to fall straight on his back.
Averi cringed at the sight, feeling bad to watch her friend fall onto the ground. Stiles had also cringed, dropping his head down feeling the second-hand embarrassment for his best friend.
"Hey, way to catch with your face, McCall!" one of the players yelled out.
Averi just rolled her eyes at the comment, usually, she'd make a snarky comeback but there was no use since the person was out on the field.
Even when she wasn't friends with the two dorks, if she were to see someone bug them like Jackson or her boyfriend, she didn't hesitate to come to their defense.
Because even when they weren't talking to each other, she still cared for the two boys like her family, as they did with her. That was why the two were so open to letting the girl back in, they had an everlasting bond. She needed a break and they let her have that, even if it hurt them.
Averi watched as another player came running up, ball cradled in their net. The player shot the ball, expecting to hit the boy once again. Except this time, Scott caught it with ease.
Her eyes widened in disbelief, everyone was left shocked, even Scott himself was surprised. Stiles turned his head around, looking over to her as they both shared the same amazed expression. They put back their attention on the field, watching as Scott caught more and more balls.
Averi swore her jaw was on the floor. She was proud of him, but at the same time she had never been more confused. Could someone really get that good at a game they were once so awful at over the summer?
Scott had been growing more and more confident with each ball he caught, but that happy grin he had plastered on his face immediately dropped as he saw two boys shove through the line.
Parker Kingston, co-captain, and Jackson Whittemore, captain. 'Star Players' of the lacrosse team. Usually, it would be one player at a time, but Finstock loved the way the two players would team up and embarrass the goalie every year so he just let it be—he would even encourage it sometimes.
The two players passed the ball around, back and forth. Doing spins and taking turns on tricking Scott into thinking they'd shoot it.
Averi's leg was bouncing up and down like crazy, as for Stiles, he had begun biting on his nails, an anxious habit of his.
And finally, when they got Scott to be confused about how he didn't catch the ball he thought they'd already thrown, Jackson had it cradled in his net. He jumped up in the air and chucked it at the boy.
And yet, the dark-haired boy caught it effortlessly. Stiles jumped up cheering with amazement.
As did Lydia and Averi, causing their boyfriends to turn and give them a look. Averi hadn't even noticed Parker glaring, she was too busy hopping down the bleachers to go beside Stiles——laughing at how cheerful he was.
It'd probably been the strangest first day back to school Averi's ever had, except she was too happy for her friend to even think about that.
If only the fawn knew how much stranger it was going to get...
✍︎︎ author's note
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not me foreshadowing allison's death in s3
i'm gonna try to put in more foreshadowing in this book for things that happen later on in this series
averi's character development has me in a chokehold