I stood in gym class, watching as Allison and Scott raced each other up the rock-climbing wall. I knew it was gonna be my turn and I was practically terrified. And I knew I looked like it too. I was deathly afraid of heights. I didn't care how tall the wall was, if I was more than six feet off the ground, I couldn't do it. I literally could feel my hands sweating as I thought about how queasy I would feel being so high up in the air.
"You okay?" I heard Stiles ask me, the boy standing with his hands on his hips.
I shook my head as I breathed heavily, "Of course I'm not! You know how scared of heights I am." I whisper-yelled, hoping that Coach Finstock wouldn't hear. I knew he would just make a joke out of it to the entire class which would make me insanely embarrassed.
I saw Lydia walk up to me, concern but also slight amusement in her eyes, "Are you okay? You look you're about to pass out."
I threw my hands up in the air, "I'm fine!" The girl gave me a pointed look before I sighed. "Okay, no I'm not. I'm terrified. I can't do heights, Lydia, I can't. That wall is like twenty feet tall and I can't. You should've seen the time I went on one of the kiddie rollercoasters at the amusement park, I almost hurled in Scott's lap while riding in a dinosaur." Lydia chuckled as I rambled, grabbing my hands to calm me down.
"It's okay." She told me as Stiles rolled his eyes. "If you want, I'll go up there with you."
I shook my head rapidly, "I'm not going up there."
Lydia frowned, "Devin -"
"Lydia -"
I got interrupted when I heard Scott yelp. Lydia and I turned to the rock wall where Scott was hanging horizontally, a few inches from the ground. He then hit the safety mat abruptly before holding the back of his head. "McCall, I don't know why, but your pain gives me a special kind of joy." Coach Finstock laughed as he bent down to look at Scott. "All right, next two. Stilinski, Erica, let's go. The wall."
The entire class was laughing as my brother held his hand to his chest, breathing heavily. My eyes widened, "See! If Scott fell up there, what makes you think I'm not gonna?"
"Well actually, Allison sort of kicked him off." Stiles informed as he walked off to suit up in his harness.
"I don't care." I said as I waved my hand, earning a chuckle from Lydia.
"I never would've thought Devin McCall would be afraid of something as simple as a rock climbing wall." My girlfriend said, twirling her ponytail as she watched Stiles and Erica start to climb the wall.
My lips formed into a thin line, "Yeah, well, there's a lot you still don't know about me." The redhead rolled her eyes in response as Allison and Scott stood by our side. "Good job." I said sarcastically to my brother, holding out my fist. He rolled his eyes before he gently pushed my hand down.
We watched as Stiles had already came back down the wall, raising his hands in a celebratory manner. I chuckled as he unhooked himself from his harness. We looked back up at the wall again when he heard Erica whimper, causing my eyes to widen.
She was shaking in the middle of the wall as she stood on the plastic rocks. Coach Finstock stood under the messy-haired blonde, "Erica. Dizzy? Is it vertigo?"
"Vertigo's a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She's just freaking out." Lydia explained.
"Erica." Coach called.
"I'm fine." The girl croaked out as she whimpered.
"Coach, maybe it's not safe. You know she's epileptic." Allison reminded him.
Coach's eyes widened, "Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff? I have to get - Erica, y - you're fine. Just - Just kick off from the wall. There's a mat to catch you." The girl hesitantly kicked off of the wall, allowing the harness to slowly lower her. "Come on. See, you're fine. You're on the ground. You're all right. Let's go. Shake it off." He told her as she started to walk through a line of kids laughing at her, her face indicating that she was about to cry.
I felt bad for her. Kids were so mean. I mean, what about that is funny? I swear just once I wished kids like them would get punched in the face.
>
Last night when Allison went to lock up Scott at Isaac's house, they had a friendly visit from a supernatural creature. It was something none of us had seen before. I didn't really understand what it was but that was partly because Stiles seemed to have a hard time explaining it as he wasn't the one who saw it in person.
"So this thing, it was like a big lizard?" I asked Stiles as I walked alongside him in the hallway.
He nodded, "Yeah, I guess. Scott said he heard Allison screaming after she had already locked him up so he had to break out of the freezer. Said it was literally the size of a human but in... lizard form."
My eyes widened, "That's actually terrifying..."
"I know..."
"So, what's the plan? Just wait until it shows up again?"
Stiles shrugged, "Yeah basically. It probably won't until the next full moon."
I nodded, scratching the back of my neck where Peter's claw marks no longer were. "Yeah... speaking of the next full moon, I kinda have something to tell you guys. Something happened the night of the dance."
Stiles furrowed his brows, "What?"
I opened my mouth but I was interrupted when the sound of Jackson yelling filled our ears. I furrowed my brows as we rounded a corner, seeing Jackson scream as Lydia's back was pressed against a wall. Her eyes were closed and her lips were quivering. She was crying.
"You ruined it for me! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!" The boy shouted angrily.
I literally felt my blood boil as I ran up to them, pushing him away from Lydia. "What the fuck are you doing?" I asked through gritted teeth, stepping in between the two of them.
"This is none of your business, McCall." He told me, his jaw clenched in annoyance.
I stepped closer to him, poking him in the chest, "No, you see, you're screaming at my girlfriend in the middle of the hallway so now it is my business. Who the fuck do you think you are?"
Jackson scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "Please. Am I supposed to be scared of you?"
I chuckled bitterly, "You better walk away right now. Scott may let you walk all over him but I'm not Scott, I will kick your ass up and down this hallway." I threatened, clenching my fists as I refrained from punching him in the jaw. I was furious. Not only was I protective of Lydia but I hated that asshole and I wasn't gonna let him treat her like that. I didn't know what I did but Jackson looked like he was about shit his pants. His eyes went wide as he slowly picked up his backpack off the ground before silently walking away. I saw Stiles look at me in shock before he walked up to the two of us.
I exhaled slowly before I turned around, expecting Lydia to be there but she wasn't. I looked around in confusion, my eyes landing on Stiles, "Wh - where did Lydia go?"
He shook his head vigorously, "I don't know but I don't care, what the hell was that, why did you have silver eyes just now!? " He whisper-yelled.
I shook my head rapidly, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about - wait silver?" I asked as I stared at the boy in confusion.
Stiles looked at me with wide eyes, "Yeah, yeah, when you stood in front of Jackson, the light from the window shined onto your eyes. They were like a silver-gold color. What the hell happened the night of the dance?" The boy asked quickly, clearly panicking.
I shook my head, "Peter. I'll - I'll explain later, just let me find Lydia first." I told him before running off. I heard the bell ring, meaning that I was late for class.
I tried to listen out for her as I slowly walked throughout the halls. I heard hundreds of things. Chalk scraping on a chalkboard, someone chewing gum, students talking, footsteps, keys jingling. And somewhere through the madness, I heard someone crying.
I instantly knew who it was.
I felt my heart shatter as I listened to her sob. I followed the trail of her cries which lead me to the girls bathroom. "Lydia?" I called quietly, looking around to see if anyone else was here. I still heard her sniffling but she didn't respond.
I walked up to the only closed stall, knocking lightly, "Lydia. It's me." Only then did she stop sniffling. She still didn't say anything though. I sighed, glancing around. "Jackson's an asshole. I'm so sorry he yelled at you like that, you didn't deserve that. No one does." A few seconds passed before I heard the stall click and then she opened it. My eyebrows rose as I saw her step out of the stall, the redhead lightly dabbing her cheeks with a tissue. "Hey," I frowned as I opened my arms. She rested her head on my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist. "What was he talking about, why was he yelling at you?"
"I don't even know." She murmured, her voice shaky. "He started grabbing my shirt, asking me to show him something. I had no clue what he was talking about. He - he said that I was immune and that nothing happened to me. And then he said that I ruined something for him. He just seemed so angry but - I had no idea what he was even talking about." She cried.
I nodded as I rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. "Okay, I know, it's okay." Was all I said. But I knew what Jackson was talking about. I knew exactly what he was talking about.
Derek bit Jackson. And Peter bit Lydia.
But nothing happened to Jackson and nothing happened to Lydia. So Jackson must think that it's Lydia's fault that he didn't turn for whatever reason. But I didn't believe it. I didn't think Lydia was immune to the bite. No one's immune. Peter only stabbed me with his claws and now something was happening to me. He bit Lydia.
I wasn't a werewolf. I had silver eyes, apparently. Scott had yellow ones, before Derek was an Alpha he had blue ones. No werewolf had silver eyes.
Maybe we couldn't see it, but something was happening. Stiles said Peter told him that the bite either turns you or it kills you. That was probably the case in most scenarios, but something else was happening to Lydia and Jackson, just like something different happened to me.
>
I sat down at Vernon Boyd's lunch table next to Stiles, watching as Stiles nodded at the dark-skinned boy who was eating potato chips alone. "Boyd. You got the keys?" Stiles asked expectantly. Boyd held out the keys that were gonna allow us to get into the ice rink for our hang tonight. Boyd worked at the ice rink, so he had the ultimate hook up.
Stiles grinned as he tried to grab the keys, Boyd holding onto them with a straight face. "This isn't a favor. It's a transaction." Boyd reminded us.
I slapped Stiles' shoulder, urging him to give the boy the money he asked for. Stiles chuckled awkwardly, "Right, yeah. Absolutely." Stiles took out his wallet, pulling out a twenty dollar bill.
Boyd shook his head, "I said 50."
Stiles squinted, "Really, I - I remember 20. I don't know. I have a really good verbal memory. And I remember 20. I remember that distinct "twa" sound, "twa - enty.""
Boyd wasn't amused. I almost laughed at how done with Stiles he seemed. "I said fifty. With the "fa" sound. Hear the difference?" Boyd asked sarcastically.
Stiles squinted, "Uh -"
"If you can't, I can demonstrate some other words with the "fa" sound."
Stiles' eyes went wide as did mine, "Uh, no, n - no. I think I'm recalling it. Now. Maybe I just got it confused with - For - ty." Stiles said, putting another twenty on the table. Boyd then took another chip out of his bag before chewing on it slowly. causing me to glare at Stiles. "Come on, man, have you seen the piece of crap jeep that I drive?" Stiles groaned.
Boyd rose his eyebrows, "You seen the piece of crap bus that I take?"
Stiles sighed as I grabbed his wallet, putting another ten on the table. "Fifty." I said, sending the boy a small smile. Boyd smiled before giving us the keys, Stiles sent him a fake smile before taking them. "Thank you." We then walked over to the table where Scott was sitting. "Got 'em." I said, putting the keys on the table.
"Pick you up right after work tonight and we'll meet at the rink, cool?" Stiles offered.
I nodded, smiling when Lydia approached us. But she wasn't looking at us. It was almost like whole cafeteria went quiet when someone walked in. It was a girl. She was wearing a short black leather skirt with a black leather jacket, red high heels paired with red lipstick, and her blonde hair was perfectly curled.
Lydia leaned on our table, her eyes wide, "What - The holy hell - Is that?"
"It's Erica." I said in confusion.
It was like she had a makeover. She looked like a completely different person. She was confident. She even walked with purpose. She had her shoulders held high and a prideful smile on her face.
She then took a bite out of some random kid's apple before she looked at us smugly. She turned around and walked out of the building, leaving everyone watching after her. Scott and I immediately followed the girl, seeing her walking down the steps outside. She got into a Black Camaro.
Derek's Black Camaro.
He looked over at us through his dark sunglasses, a smirk on his face before he drove away.
"She's his other beta."