Chapter Thirteen: Formality
Chapter Song: The Thread of the Thing by Fay Wolf
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Furious Stiles and I ruin her date, Mom had quite literally dragged me home by the collar of my shirt. Although I knew I'd regret it later, I had lied and put the blame fully on me. I took responsibility, claiming Scott hadn't been involved and the plan was entirely my idea. If only mom knew the truth, then she'd understand.
"I can't even imagine what the hell was going through your mind to ruin something like this for me!" Mom yelled as we walked through the front door. The house was eerily quiet, I figured Scott had hauled ass to his room to escape mom's wrath. Scott could probably hear her down the street. I had lost count for how long she'd been yelling at me.
"Again, I'm sorry." I repeated for the umpteenth time as I bit the inside of my cheek.
"Why?" Mom groaned in frustration. "Hayley, what have I done to you for you to want to do this?"
"You wouldn't understand." I replied quietly, avoiding her harsh gaze.
"I wouldn't understand?" She cried out. "I don't get it! I just don't! Is it because you don't want a stranger in the house? Or do you not want someone to replace Rafael?" My eyes grew wide. Hearing the name of my adoptive father pass through moms lips was rare. So rare, in fact the name sounded foreign. I grew quiet. "Is it because you don't want to let anyone else in? Are you scared?"
My chest ached as I slowly nodded reluctantly. She really believed I was trying to destroy her chances of ever having a whole family again.
"You're scared?" Moms pained expression softened as did her tone. I gave another reluctant nod as I bit the inside of my lip, refraining from telling her the real reason why I did what I did. I was trying to save her life, not ruin it.
"I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." I quietly announced. I flashed mom a sympathetic smile before trotting up the stairs. My head pounded with thoughts of how much of a horrible daughter I was. And all I was trying to do was protect her. I wiped the tears out of my eyes as I gritted my teeth together, shoving the thoughts to the back of my mind. Passing Scott's room, I lightly knocked on his door.
"Hell has frozen over, you can come out now." I sarcastically laughed, opening the door to find Scott's room completely empty. The lamp was still on, the same way it had been when we left the house.
"Scott?" I called, walking in and concluding that he hadn't been here. I pulled out my phone, shooting Scott a quick message asking if everything with Jackson went okay.
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Bang. My eyes fluttered open at the sound of something crashing to the ground. Dazed, I sat up, finally realizing I wasn't in my room. I had fallen asleep on the couch. I reached over and flicked the lamp on, a faded warm light illuminating the room. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, looking around for the culprit of the loud noise.
"Scott?" I called as I stood from the couch, wondering if he had finally arrived home. I was met with a few moments of silence until another thump echoed through the quiet house. I craned my neck to peer into the next room, only to find the lights off in there as well. I padded through the living room, the wood floor creaking under my bare feet. "Scott, come on this isn't funny." I complained.
"—with breaking news of another body found in Beacon Hills." I jumped, whipping myself around to find the TV had turn on. The local news appeared on the screen, displaying a large headline that there had been another mountain lion attack in town. "The body of local high school student Hayley McCall was found this evening in the preserve by a pair of hikers." My breath hitched in my throat as I watched a picture of myself flash onto the screen of the TV as the reporter spoke. "Sheriff Noah Stilinski with the Beacon Hills Police Department has made a statement that the teenager is the sixth person to fall victim to these animal attacks. Local hunters have—"
"Unfortunate isn't it?" A voice sighed from behind me. I gasped, turning back around to find Peter Hale leaning against the walls as he examined his razor sharp claws. Every inch of my body froze in fear. A scream lodged itself in my throat. His eyes looked up to meet mine. "If only somebody would have listened to me." A creak from beside me caught my attention. I whipped my head to the side to find Derek slowly stalking towards me, his lips curled up into a devilish smirk showing off his descended canine teeth. His typical green eyes radiated blood red. Before I could react, Derek lunged at me. A scream ripped through my throat.
I gasped awake, shooting up in my bed as lines of sweat dripped down the side of my face. My hand clawed at my sweat soaked tank top and pressed against my chest, hoping to calm my franticly beating heart. My eyes darted around the dark bedroom to find myself alone, safe, and free of any werewolves. I closed my eyes, a loud sigh passing through my lips as I silently repeated to myself that it was just a dream.
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Surprisingly, despite the nightmares, I slept soundly. I groaned, rolling over in my bed to grab my phone off the nightstand to see if Scott had messaged me back with an update on Jackson. The only message to pop up on the screen was from Stiles, hopeful I survived mom's warpath last night. Kicking off the blanket, I padded my way into Scott's room while I rubbed my arms to keep myself warm.
"Morning asshole, I took the blame for you last night." I yawned, walking into Scott's room only to find it empty once more. I stopped short in my place, glancing over the room. The lamp was still on, his bed still made and untouched. My stomach wrenched, a bad feeling washing over me. It was going on over twelve hours now I hadn't seen Scott and he knew better than to go without checking in.
Something was wrong.
A quiet ringing noise took me out of the hundreds of bad scenarios I was playing through in my head. I rushed myself back into my room and grabbed my vibrating phone from the nightstand.
"Hello?" I answered, aggravated.
"Hayley, did I catch you at a bad time?" Dr. Deaton asked. I quietly sighed in defeat, wishing the voice I was hearing was Scott.
"No, no. What can I do for you?" I nervously laughed.
"I actually have something at the office for you. Would you mind coming in?"
"Sure." I silently cursed myself out for picking up the phone. "When would you like me in?"
"As soon as possible, please." He replied.
"Okay. I'll be in soon." I hung up and stifled a scream. I called Scott's phone once more only to be sent right to voicemail, which only frustrated me even more.
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"Derek, call me back. Now. I need to talk to you." I demanded into the phone as I slammed the car door shut behind me. I walked up the parking lot of the animal clinic, frustratingly hanging up the phone and wishing someone would call me back. The chimes of the clinics doors rang out as I entered the building.
"Hey Deaton." I called.
"In here, Hayley." He replied from one of the back rooms. I made my way into the back room only to stop dead in my tracks once I saw a shirtless Scott standing beside our boss.
"Oh my God, this is where you've been? I've been worried sick. I thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere." I cried. My eyes darted to the bloody bandage adhered to Scott's abdomen. "Scott, what happen?"
"Hunters. They ambushed us at the Hale house last night when I went to find Jackson." My eyes widened, my lips parting in shock as I looked back and forth between Deaton and Scott. "He knew." My brother added.
"What? But how?"
"Let's keep it at a simple, I just do." The vet grinned.
"Are you okay?"
"I got shot, but I'm okay now. Thanks to Deaton, actually." I looked to the doctor and whispered a gracious thank you.
"You knew this whole time?" I asked. Deaton chuckled and shook his head.
"Call it an inkling. Go home, kiddo. Make sure he rests up until he heals." Deaton ordered. After a few more gracious thank you's and Scott clothing himself, we walked out to the car.
"Can I borrow your phone?" He asked. His voice was hoarse, like he was in pain.
"Where's yours?" I reached into my pocket and tossed him the device.
"The Hale house, I guess." Scott mumbled, his thumb beginning to scroll. "Why'd you call Derek twenty minutes ago?"
"I was trying to see if he had you locked up in a kennel somewhere." I rolled my eyes as the two of us slid into the car. Scott shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
"Hale, he got captured last night. By the hunters. He let me have a head start run and walked out into their gunfire." Scott sheepishly admitted.
"What?" My voice was but a whisper. "He gave himself right over to the hunters?"
"Yeah. He told me to get down and he sacrificed himself." I cleared my throat.
"That doesn't sound like Derek." I disagreed, choking on a sarcastic laugh. "Kill himself to save you and Jackson? I don't think so."
"He's not dead. They want to know who the Alpha is, they're not going to kill him."
"Yeah, not until they get information out of him." I corrected.
"He wouldn't give up Peter that quickly." Scott disagreed. Of course he wouldn't, unless he was being tortured to the brink of death. Scott and I looked at each other before realizing the older beta was in grave danger.
"We need to find him." I said all too quickly.
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Walking out of class, I was ambushed and grabbed aside by Scott and Stiles. They began quickly ushering me down the hall.
"Hello to you too?" I rose a brow at the boys.
"We're making Jackson take Allison to the dance." Stiles informed.
"Oh God, that's nauseating." I cringed. "Why don't you just take her? Aren't you two okay now?" I asked my brother.
"I'm not allowed to go to the dace because of grades." He sighed. I barked a laugh.
"Finstock finally cracking down?"
"I'm still going." Scott firmly stated.
"And how do you plan on getting in, Peter Parker? With your spidey- powers?" I asked.
"I'll figure it out." Scott moaned. "You're going shopping with Allison later, right?"
"Yeah, what does that have—"
"Find out what she thinks about Jackson taking her and not me."
"Ugh God you're worse than a girl." I groaned. "You got it bad, brother."
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I soon found myself on a Macy's escalator with Lydia and Allison at my side as we began our hunt for formal dresses. The two girls were in the midst of bickering about the dance. Before we had packed ourselves into her Mazda, Allison had told me she had a plan to make Lydia go to the dance with Stiles. Of course, I laughed it off knowing Lydia would never agree. But, unfortunately for the strawberry blonde, it was the only way Allison would forgive her for kissing Scott.
"You're going to cancel on whatever dumb, 'roided up jock you said yes to and you're going to go with someone else." Allison ordered, excited to reveal the plan she concocted.
"Who?" Lydia pouted her lips and tilted her head like a confused puppy. We finally reached the top of the escalator. Immediately, my eyes landed on Stiles, who was standing by the fragrance department.
"Oh, don't worry. He's a great guy." I assured with a smile, putting my hands on Lydia's shoulder and turning her to look at Stiles. I watched the boy inhale the perfume he was smelling and suddenly fall into a coughing fit. Lydia's confused look vanished into disgust when she realized Stiles was the one she'd be taking to the dance. Her pouting lips dropped into a frown.
"Oh, don't frown Lydia! Someone can be falling in love with your smile!" Allison taunted the girl.
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While Stiles acted as Lydia's dress mule, I continued to sift through the dozens of racks of dresses. My eyes bulged at the price tags, wondering if I was willing to use three weeks pay on a dress I'd wear for five hours. Lydia tossed a racy red dress at me to add to the few I had picked out to try on. I glared at it with concern.
"You're trying all of these? Right now? Is this a 24 hour Macy's?" Stiles gaped.
"You better not put that back, McCall!" Lydia pointed a finger at me as her and Stiles disappeared into the dressing room. I looked over to Allison who was stifling a laugh.
"He's whipped." I smiled. She agreed with a nod as she continued to flick through rows of dresses. "What, no luck?"
"Nothing yet. I'll find something." She assured. I snatched two more dresses in my size before rushing into the dressing room myself. I slid the first dress on, cringing as I glared at my reflection in the mirror .
"I look like a blueberry." I muttered.
"Ew, absolutely not." Lydia rang from the dressing room beside me as she heard my comentary. The next few dresses were complete fails, as they either looked like I was ready to go to a strip club or something Lydia would automatically disapprove of. After realizing the racy dress Lydia wanted me to try on wouldn't go over my thighs no matter how hard I tried, I finally gave up and tossed it aside with the rest of the no pile. I looked up to the last dress hanging on the hook. It was of course, the most pricey. I grabbed the black lacy dress from the hook and slid it on, silently hoping it wouldn't fit for the sake of my wallet.
"Ah, damn." I whispered to myself as I adjudged the dress on my body. I blew a stray hair out of my face as I glared at my reflection. The dress was perfect. Three heavy knocks pounded on my dressing room door, causing me to jump.
"Come out and let me see or God help me I'll climb in there." Lydia threatened. Reluctantly, I unlocked the dressing room door and stepped out.
"Happy?" I asked sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest. Lydia's jaw dropped, her lips curling into a smile
"Holy crap, yes! You're buying that, you look hot!" Lydia squealed, twirling in her own dress.
"I don't get what all the fuss is over these dre...dresses." Stiles stumbled over, gawking at the sight of me. He let out a breath, muttering a muffled wow. I instantly avoided his gaze, uncomfortable with the amount of attention. I pulled the strapless dress up, adjusting it once more on my body as I felt more uncomfortable than ever.
"I'm gonna go back and change now." I awkwardly announced, pursing my lips.
"I'll just take that to the cash register." Lydia smirked.
"Uh, yeah. I'm gonna have to go with the blue dress. There's no way I can't afford this one." I shook my head. Lydia twisted me around and grabbed the tag sticking out of the back of the dress. Somehow the triple digits failed to phase her.
"I'll throw down a couple hundred. There's no way I'm letting my best friend go to our winter formal looking like a blown up blueberry. Especially if she insists on going stag." She simply shrugged.w
"But, Lydia..."
"No buts! Check out, now." She pushed me back into the dressing room without another word. I carefully shred of the expensive dress and clothed myself once more. As I excited my dressing room, I could hear Lydia groaning and unwillingly ask Stiles to help undo her zipper. I quietly chuckled, watching Stiles just about throw himself into the dressing room. I walked out back into the dress section, my eyes darting around in search for Allison. She had disappeared from her spot, only a man in a trench coat in her place. The man turned around, flashing a sadistic smile my way, The dress dropped from my grasps, the hanger hitting the floor with a clink. My breath hitched in my throat as Peter Hale glared at me, winking before he disappeared into the depth of the department store. I frantically looked around, deducting Allison was no where in sight. I whipped my phone out, quickly dialing the girls number. Anxiety pumped through my veins as the phone continued to ring.
"Hey, sorry! I had to go move my car! I'll be right back up." She informed before I had a chance to open my mouth. A sigh of relieve escaped my lungs.
"Okay. I'll...I'll be up here." I breathlessly replied, swallowing the large lump that had formed in my throat. My trembling hands ended the call as I began looking all over for Peter.