C H A P T E R F I V E !
NOT a date
Mercy had been avoiding Scott and Stiles ever since she realized that Scott was a werewolf. She didn't quite know why, considering she was part wolf herself, but it just made her uneasy. One animal in school is a coincidence, but two? That's trouble.
She and Allison are currently walking between the two junctions that connect the main hallway when Allison smacks right into someone, dropping her books.
Mercy looks up in annoyance, only to be met with Scott and Stiles. "Seriously." she muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
Allison sighs in exasperation at her perceived clumsiness and laughs when she sees that it's Scott. "You scared the hell out of me!"
Scott can't help but sigh and smile in relief at the sight of Allison standing there, alive and well. "You're okay!"
He kneels at the same time as Allison, who assumes he's talking about the collision they just had, and helps her pick up her books and notepads as she nods and huffs another small laugh. "Once my heart starts beating again, yeah."
Scott smiles, before looking up at Mercy. "Hey." he greets, his grin widening. "Hi. I've got to go." Mercy says, speeding away quickly.
"Mercy, wait up!" Stiles called, chasing after the girl. "Why didn't you respond to any of my texts?"
Mercy pulls her phone from her jacket pocket, opening the messages application and shaking her head.
Stilinski: 13 new messages
She finally looks up and sees the look of relief on Stiles expression and makes a face. "What's up?" she asks, as she continues to walk.
"Can't I just be happy to see you?" he asks, running in front of her so that she is forced to stop walking.
Just then, the sound of Principal Thomas' voice is heard over the PA system, and Allison, Scott, Stiles, Mercy, and the other students pause to listen.
"Attention students," Thomas starts over the PA system. "This is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses..."
Mercy furrows a brow, while Allison and Scott stand back up, as Scott hands Allison the last book from the floor while the announcement continues.
"While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as usual."
The students in the hallway groan in unison out of disappointment that classes haven't been canceled. Allison, seemingly ignorant of what the principal is even talking about, simply smiles shyly at Scott before ruffling his hair affectionately with her right hand. "Save me a seat at lunch?"
Mercy, who is in the same predicament as her friend, having no idea what's going on, shrugs. "Gotta go." She speaks, turning to catch up with Allison.
"Yeah." Stiles nods.
"Sarge, wait up!" Mercy calls, as Allison turns around and holds her arm out. The girls link limbs, while Scott and Stiles watch them turn and head to class as they also slowly starts walking down the hall in a different direction toward their own.
When they get back to the junction between the two halls, they get distracted by the sound of Jackson groaning in annoyance and turn to see that it was Jackson's locker that Scott had punched in a fit of rage, and broke moments before they bumped into the girls.
Jackson, irritated, tries to get the locker to shut and is annoyed when he can't. He looks up and sees Scott watching him before immediately insulting him as usual.
"What are you looking at, ass wipe?"
***
Scott and Stiles are in chemistry class, where Stiles is seated at a two-person desk in the second row from the back, while Scott sits at the desk directly in front of him.
Mercy, however, is all the way in the back, her head down on the desk. Their teacher, Adrian Harris, is writing notes on the chalkboard at the front of the class while a beaker full of clear liquid bubbles in a stand, where it hangs over a Bunsen burner.
Scott and Stiles continue their discussion over what Scott could have possibly done the previous evening to cause all that carnage in low voices at the back of the classroom.
"Maybe it was my blood on the door..." Scott whispered. "Could have been animal blood." Stiles shrugged and gestures with the pencil in his right hand. "You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something?"
Scott shoots him a look, clearly appalled by this theory. "And did what?" he asks accusingly. Stiles shrugs again. "Ate it."
Scott is even more horrified by this statement. "Raw?"
Stiles scoffs and gives Scott a look before responding in a sarcastic tone of voice. "No, you stopped to bake it in a little Werewolf oven! I don't know, you're the one who can't remember anything."
Scott is still offended, and neither one of them has noticed that Mr. Harris has noticed their conversation and has turned to watch them talk with a stern look on his face and his hands on his hips. He finally speaks up in a snide voice to interrupt them.
"Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while." he sneers, causing Mercy to raise her head, and look at Scott and Stiles.
Stiles, slightly embarrassed, huffs out a laugh. "Uh..."
"I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?" Mr. Harris smirks.
Stiles scoffs in irritation. "No!"
Harris, not messing around, stares at Scott and gestures toward the empty seat beside Mercy, implying that this is where he wants Scott to move, before doing the same with Stiles and picking a seat in the front but at the opposite side from where he's currently sitting. Scott and Stiles sigh in annoyance and reluctantly pick up their books and papers before moving to their respective desks.
"Mr. Harris!" Mercy practically groaned, making her slap a hand over her mouth. Harris shakes his head, before turning to Stiles. "Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much."
Scott settles in at the desk with Mercy, who does not seem at all surprised by Scott and Stiles' shenanigans. She sighs when Scott smiles at her, letting her head fall against the table with a thud.
After a moment, Scott senses something off and turns back to find Jackson staring at him intently, clearly still trying to figure out Scott's secret.
Another classmate, Harley, looks over at the window and is distracted by what is going on outside. Suddenly, she stands to her feet and rushes over to the window to get a better look.
"Hey! I think they found something!"
The rest of the class, eager for a distraction, jump to their feet and run over to the windows to join her. Mercy stands up, getting jostled, before Scott grabs her shoulder, smiling, as he steady her.
Mercy smiles back, before turning towards the window. Outside in the parking lot, an ambulance is parked at a corner with their lights and sirens on, and two paramedics are quickly wheeling a stretcher with a middle-aged adult man on it towards the open doors in the back of the ambulance.
Scott, horrified and certain that the man is dead, looks over at Stiles, who has joined him and Mercy at their left side. "That's not a rabbit..." Scott whispers, so Mercy wouldn't hear him.
The paramedics are about to lift the stretcher into the back of the ambulance when suddenly, the man jumps into a seated position, grabs the shoulders of the paramedics on each side of him with his hands, and begins screaming in fear.
"AHHHHHH!"
The sudden movement and scream causes all the students watching inside to flinch, visibly startled. Scott, unable to watch any more of this, backs away from the windows until he's in the middle of the room. Stiles, seeing his distress, takes a final glance at Mercy before he comes over to try to comfort him.
"Okay. This is good. This is good. He got up, he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that." Stiles whispers.
Scott looks completely dismayed by the fact that they have confirmation that someone was seriously injured in whatever happened the previous evening.
"Stiles, I did that."
***
Mercy has just left the lunch line, when she almost bumps into Dallas, who is carrying her trays of food to one of the empty tables.
"Hey, Merce," The blonde smiles, throwing the milk that was on her tray into the garbage. "Hey, Dallas. We missed you at the game." Mercy said.
"I don't do team spirit." Dallas shrugs. "Plus I was out of town." she explained, taking a bite of the breadstick on her tray.
"For a day?" Mercy asked in suspicion. "Yeah." Dallas replies. "I was doing some searching."
"Okay, well, I was wondering..." Mercy started, only to be cut off.
"Mercy!" Lydia called out, waving her arms. Mercy looked past Dallas, to see Lydia, Scott, and Stiles seated at a table.
"Duty calls." Dallas nods, saluting Mercy as she walks past her. Mercy shakes off her friend's weird behavior, walking towards the table as she sets her tray down, and takes a seat.
"What's up guys?" Mercy asks. She's to the left of Scott and across from Stiles, who is sitting beside Lydia, looking like he's about to pee his pants. Mercy rolls her eyes at the sight.
Suddenly, more people start to sit down at their table. An unknown boy sits at the head of the table, while Danny takes a seat on Stiles' right. Scott turns to see that Allison is sitting down on his right and smiles before moving his backpack, so she can sit down.
"Thanks!" Allison smiles.
Harley sits down on Mercy's left, and Stiles chuckles at the sight of her, causing Harley to roll her eyes good-naturedly. After a moment, he rolls his eyes himself and looks at Scott, clearly annoyed that their Werewolf-related brainstorming session has been interrupted by all of these popular kids.
He turns the other way and accidentally makes eye contact with Danny, causing him to flick his head in greeting, only for Danny to roll his eyes as though Stiles is the most tedious thing he's had to deal with all day.
To make matters even more complicated for Scott and Stiles, Jackson approaches the table and stands next to the unknown kid, glaring at him intensely before ordering him away. "Get up."
The unknown student groans in annoyance. "How come you never ask Danny to get up?" he whines.
Danny, who is in the middle of eating a green apple, smirks at him. "Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot."
"I wasn't even staring at her! I was looking at Mercy!" he argued, making the brunette glare. "Go away!" Stiles says quickly, visibly annoyed by the comment.
This makes Allison smirk, which she quickly covers up. The other student gets up to move, and Jackson shoves him out of the way before taking his seat, causing Scott to scowl at Jackson's rude behavior. Before they can say anything to each other, Danny starts a conversation.
"So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar." He said aloud. "I heard mountain lion." Jackson countered.
Lydia, staring at her tray, speaks up in an annoyed tone of voice. "A cougar is a mountain lion."
Jackson and Danny stare at her blankly, surprised by this answer. Lydia, realizing she's dangerously close to revealing just how smart she actually is, tries to backtrack. "Isn't it?"
Mercy rolls her eyes as Jackson raises his eyebrow and scoffs. "Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's going to die anyway."
Stiles, who had started to look up the case on his phone, suddenly speaks up when he gets additional information. "Actually, I just found out who it is. Check it out."
Stiles pulls up a video on his phone and turns it, so the others can see it. It's from a news website, and a reporter can be heard narrating the story.
"The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Myers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition." The reporter reveals.
Scott gasps when he recognizes the name of the man identified as the victim. "Wait, I-I-I know this guy."
"You do?" Allison and Mercy say in unison. Allison is shocked, while Mercy grows suspicious.
"Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver." Scott replied.
Scott and Stiles share a pointed look before Lydia speaks up in a bored, annoyed tone of voice. "Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like..."
Lydia gasps when she gets an idea and turns to talk to Allison, talking over Scott, who is seated between them. "Oh, where are we going tomorrow night?"
Allison and Scott's brows furrow, making it clear they have no idea what she's talking about, so Lydia clarifies. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow, right?"
Allison raises her eyebrows and gulps nervously, realizing exactly what Lydia's about to do and trying to keep it casual in hopes of Lydia staying out of it. "Um, we were thinking of what we were going to do..." she stumbles before she turns to Allison look at Scott apologetically, knowing Lydia is about to invite herself and Jackson into their plans, and Stiles' eyes widen when he has the same realization. Predictably, Lydia does just that.
"Well, I am not sitting home again, watching lacrosse videos, so if the six of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun." Lydia smiles.
"The six of us?" Jackson asks in confusion. "Yeah." Lydia says sternly. "You, me, Scott, Allison, Mercy, and Stiles."
Stiles, and Scott who are both completely stunned at this turn of events, gapes helplessly. "H-H-Hanging out?" Stiles stutters. "Like, the six of us?" Scott joins in.
Scott turns to Allison, who has covered up her displeasure at their plans being crashed by drinking out of her water bottle. "Do you wanna hang out?"
Scott forces himself to spit out the rest of the sentence, clearly hating the idea, and Stiles, knowing this is about to be a disaster, covers his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from interjecting.
"Like, us... and them?"
Allison looks about as excited by this prospect as Scott is but clearly doesn't want to be rude to her new friend, either, so she replies in a wary voice. "Yeah! ... I guess... Sounds fun..."
Jackson's annoyed expression makes it clear that the only person excited about this double date is Lydia, and he sounds extremely irritated as he raises his fork in the air to emphasize his point.
"You know what else sounds fun?" Jackson mutters, rolling his eyes. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."
"Can I join?" Mercy asks, putting on a fake smile.
Lydia, annoyed by their rudeness, grabs the fork out of Jackson's hand, while Stiles, taking a drink from his water bottle, rolls his eyes and gesticulates wildly with his hand, not liking his friend being disparaged like that. Lydia ignores Jackson and continues planning their date like he hasn't spoken.
"How 'bout bowling? You love to bowl." Lydia says, turning to her boyfriend. Stiles shoves a french fry into his mouth and tries to get Scott's attention, shaking his head wildly as if to communicate that Scott needs to put the brakes on this plan as soon as possible.
Jackson scoffs in annoyance. "Yeah, with actual competition."
Allison, now offended on behalf of her and Scott, speaks up, trying to keep her tone of voice friendly. "How do you know we're not actual competition?"
She then turns to Scott, "You can bowl, right?"
Mercy tunes out the rest of the conversation, leaning over the table and snagging a fry from Stiles' plate.
He looks up, but doesn't seem to be bothered by it as she takes a bite.
Danny notices the sour expression on Stiles face, slaps him on the shoulder. "Cheer up, you've got a date tomorrow night."
Mercy and Stiles glare at him. "It's not a date."
AUTHORS NOTE:
I love Mercy. I don't really know what to put here I have no strong opinions but I did get a good grammar app for my writing. Votes and comments please.