"You have got to be kidding me." Claire groaned as she walked briskly down the empty hall, glancing between her schedule and the door numbers, preventing herself from walking into the wrong class like she had previously done about five minutes ago. Finally finding the right classroom, she yanked the door open, gaining the attention of everyone in the room in the process . She smiled awkwardly, pushing her hair out of her face.
"Yes?" The teacher asked, crossing her arms.
"This is AP Biology right? I got lost and-" She started, only to be cut off.
"Take a seat Miss?" The woman paused, looking at her expectantly.
"Evans." She answered, giving her a small smile before scanning the room for an open seat. She recognized three of the people from last night, Lydia quickly glancing down at her book, while Scott just stared at her with an expression she couldn't quite place, Kira watching him in return. Behind him was pretty much the only open chair in the room, so she quickly made her way over and sat down.
"Now that we see Miss Evans is in the correct class, who else thinks they are in right class?" Everyone turned to see one guy in the back raise his hand confidently, the rest of the students following. "Good. Then you should all be prepared for the test tomorrow. Don't be so disappointed, the test is specifically to help you determine whether you should actually be in AP Biology, you have two weeks to drop. The test tomorrow should beat out the ones who shouldn't be here. And that could be any of you."
Claire rifled through her bag, searching frantically for her pen. Her fingers reached the bottom, touching something wet and sticky soaking the bottom and pulled out a completely busted pen, blue ink staining her fingertips.
"Perfect." She muttered, dropping in on her open notebook. She tore out the page and crumpled it around the pen, which was utterly destroyed. "First day, I break my only freaking pen." She turned to her left to ask her partner for an extra, but the array of piercings and black makeup paired with a "If you talk to me I'll stab you" look made her turn back around.
Claire chewed on her lip nervously before leaning forward and tapping Scott on the shoulder lightly. "Hey, do you have a-" She stopped when he turned around, pen in hand. "Pen." She grinned, taking it carefully.
"I can throw that away for you." He whispered, glancing down at the mess of paper and ink. Before she could object, he was gathering it up, careful not to stain his shirt.
"Thanks." She said as he crossed the room and tossed it into the trash. A smile tugged at her lips as he sat down in front of her, revealing the dimples that he had fallen in love with two years ago.
"No problem." Scott whispered, giving her a reassuring smile and turning back around. Lydia had watched the whole scene quietly, remembering a similar interaction sophomore year in English class. She glanced over at Kira, whose eyes flickered between Scott and Claire uncomfortably as they both smiled to theirselves, copying down the writing on the board.
Even when Scott took Kira's hand and gave it a light squeeze, Lydia couldn't help but feel that history would be repeating itself.
● ● ●
Claire opened her locker, eyes scanning the titles while she looked for the book needed in her next class, finally finding it after checking her schedule for the fifth time that morning and swapping out her books. After she shut and turned around she realized that almost everyone had their eyes on her, whispering as she started down the hall. She had no idea that the reason people were staring was because people genuinely thought she was, in fact, Allison Argent and was far from dead. It was a mixture of emotions, varying from shock, confusion, disbelief, and even pity.
"Dead girl walking." Someone muttered as she passed them, making her stop in her tracks.
"Excuse me?" She asked, pausing and turning around to face them. They scoffed at her and rolled their eyes before waking away, leaving her extremely confused. She shook her head and continued back down the hall, wanting to shrink into herself as she was followed by more stares.
Claire paused when she saw a girl breathing heavily as she stared down the row of lockers, a terrified expression on her face.
"There's nothing there, nothing there." She repeated to herself, her voice getting more frantic as she squeezed her eyes shut. "There's nothing there, there's nothing there."
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked in concern, touching her arm lightly and making the girl jump.
"Tracy? Tracy!" Lydia appeared next to her, eyes wide as the girl shook. She turned to Claire in shock. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know." She stuttered. "I walked over and she was freaking out."
"You alright?" Lydia asked softly, causing the girl to glance around her in fear and confusion. "Why don't we go outside? Hm?" Tracy nodded as the strawberry blonde wrapped an arm around her and led her down the hall. Claire turned her head, the locker itself catching her attention.
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she ran her fingers over the four long gashes in the metal door, looking almost as if it were clawed by an animal. She stared down the hall in shock at the shivering girl as Lydia walked her outside, confusion and curiosity plaguing her mind.
What the hell was up with this school?
● ● ●
"Can you get Dr.Evans, please?" Claire asked, tapping lightly on the counter. The woman typed something into her computer quickly before replying.
"I believe she is in surgery right now, but she should-" The nurse looked up at her and froze, eyes widened slightly. When she saw how uncomfortable Claire looked, Melissa realized that she had no idea who she was. "I'm so sorry, that was extremely rude. You just, look like someone I knew."
"I'm gonna take a guess and say Allison?" She asked, smiling awkwardly. "I've been getting it all day. Don't worry, you're one of the more polite ones."
"Well, I'm Melissa." She stuck her hand over the counter, the younger girl taking it with a smile.
"Claire."
"Your parents have fit in quite well, actually." Melissa said. Her mother was a surgeon, while her father was a coroner. "Making a lot of friends."
"I wish I could say the same." Claire sighed, rubbing her face before giving her a sad smile. "It's kinda hard to make friends when everyone sees you as someone else. She seemed like a really nice person, from what I hear."
"She was." Melissa smiled fondly at her. "Your mom should be finished in a few minutes, did you want me to take a message for her?"
"No, I'll just wait." She shook her head, holding up an inhaler. "I need pick up the money for a refill."
"My son used to have asthma, it uh, became kind of dormant a little bit ago." She shrugged, before looking at her curiously. "Maybe you know him? Scott McCall?"
"I met him last night, actually. We have a class or two together." She nodded, breaking into a grin. "Don't worry, he was perfectly polite."
"Oh my god, I am so sorry." Their conversation was interrupted by Gale Evans, who was rushing towards them, waving her wallet. "Eighty, right?" Claire just nodded, taking the bills from her hand.
"It was so nice to meet you." Claire beamed, smiling at Mrs.McCall. Her mother kissed her on the cheek before walking briskly down the hall.
"Ditto."
Later that night, Melissa McCall stopped at her house on her lunch-or dinner-break, heading up to Scott's room.
"Scott, we need to talk." She flicked on the light to find her son, well, making out with his girlfriend. They broke apart, Kira looking mortified while Scott looked terrified. "Kira, honey. I need to talk to Scott about something. He'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Um, yeah." Kira reached for her shirt and pulled it over her head before gathering the rest of her things. "Bye." After she left, Melissa sat down next to him on the bed, hands folded in her lap.
"So today, I met this really nice girl." She started, looking over at him. "Her name was Claire. Why didn't you tell me this morning when I asked about senior scribe?"
"Because, I wasn't sure if it had actually happened." Scott sighed, looking down. "But this morning in first period, she was there. And it felt like someone hit me in the chest with a hammer, like it was that day in sophomore year all over again."
"And the others?" She asked.
"Lydia is wary around her, like she's scared to talk to her or else she'll say something she'll regret. She was pretty shaken up last night. Stiles thinks its something supernatural, he doesn't completely trust her. Then again, he hasn't been trusting very many people lately." He looked up at her, a sad look in his eyes. "Malia didn't really know Allison, and Kira... I don't know how Kira feels."
"Are you okay?"
"Honestly? I have no idea." He breathed, shaking his head. "When I look at her, a part of me wants to cry, or hug her. Then the other part has to remind myself that she's not Allison."
"Sweetie, that poor girl has a lot that she's going through right now, and I think she could use some friends." Melissa wrapped an arm around her son, rubbing his arm comfortingly. "I know it's hard, but she could really use a someone like you."
"Like me?"
"You care about people Scott. And I am so proud of you." She whispered. "I know you'll do the right thing."
And he really hoped he would.
___________________________
Alright, so this is my first time having a fan fiction that actually corresponds with a season, so the updates will be slow, not just with school starting soon but also because I have to rewatch the episodes carefully and figure out where I can put Claire in.
I'm actually really excited for this, I love the concept, and it's a lot different than my Isaac fic, which you should check out by the way.
Vote, comment, tell me what y'all think.
Xx