SELENA POV
“What are you reading?” Allison says, putting her messenger bag on her desk.
Lifting the book up so she can read the cover, I see her eyebrows quirk in confusion. “In English it means Guardians of the Moon. My Gran gave it to me over the weekend; said that I would be interested in it.”
“Sounds interesting,” she smiles widely at me. “Maybe I could borrow it sometime?”
Nodding at her, I turn back to the book just as Mr. Clark, our Biology teacher, begins class. Compared to most of the teachers at this school, he so far has been one of the only ones to not verbally abuse each of his students throughout the day. It’s refreshing. “Today, we will be beginning our dissection project. Each of the tables has a frog and the required tools to complete the investigation. You will move to the table that has your name tag on it and find your partner. Don’t be afraid to ask questions; you may begin!”
Grabbing my bag, I stand up to walk through the aisles of tables to find my table. Eventually finding my name at a table close to the back, I sit on a stool and look over to see the nametag of my partner: Stiles Stilinski. I think the fates are with me today.
“Hey,” I look up to see Stiles putting his backpack down on the table and sitting on the stool next to me. “Looks like Clark is the only teacher I am going to like having this year.”
Smiling, I nod in agreement. So far, Harris has partnered me with all my other classmates that I clash with. I seriously think he just wants everyone in the class to be miserable. That would not surprise me at all. “Let’s just hope you know as much about Biology as you do about Batman.”
“Well I can tell you that you will be holding your breath on that one. I am one of the most squeamish people you will ever meet—so I apologize in advance if I faint.”
“I’ll just make sure you miss the dead frog when you fall,” I laugh, grabbing the directions for the dissection and looking them over. After discussing the steps, Stiles and I put our goggles and gloves on to begin.
Grabbing the scalpel, I make an incision on the stomach of the frog, grimacing dramatically when the overwhelming smell of dead frog and formaldehyde invade my senses.
“Oh god,” I hear Stiles next to me. “This is my worst nightmare. I will never sleep again. Oh god.”
“Let’s try to take your mind off of the dead frog carcass,” I say while using small tongs to tug lightly on the frog’s intestines. “What are you doing tonight? I was going to do some homework and wanted to see if you wanted to watch another movie or something.”
“Oh—well I—I’m actually going to be spending the night with my dad at home. He’s been so swamped with work and I haven’t been able to see him all that much.”
“Okay, well maybe another time,” I say, pulling what looked like the frog’s liver out of its body. “That is so disgusting.”
Instead of a reply, all I hear is a thump next to me. Looking over, I see Stiles lying on the floor, his head luckily resting against his backpack instead of the hard floor. “Uh—Mr. Clark,” I call out while taking my gloves off so I could check on Stiles. “Clean up in aisle four!”
----
After waking Stiles up, Mr. Clark has me walk him to the nurse’s office to make sure there was nothing truly wrong with him. I think physically he will be okay, but mentally—well that’s another story. I can just imagine him forever being paranoid of frogs. Reading my book, that I had managed to grab on my way out of class, I wait for Stiles to be checked out.
“The Guardians are foretold to bring balance to the Earth. Much like those who guard the other elements, Moon Guardians are able to---.”
“Ms. Grey,” the nurse calls out for me while leading a pale-faced Stiles out of the office. “Mr. Stilinski is all ready to go. Just make sure he stays away from any more dissections today and it’ll be alright.”
Saying thank you, I grab hold of Stiles’ arm and guide him from the office back towards the classroom.
“Ugh—I don’t want to go back in there,” he says, coming to a stop and leaning against the tiled wall of the hallway. Sliding down, he takes a seat—his legs stretched out across the white linoleum.
Taking a seat next to him, I criss-cross my legs and put my book in my lap. “What’s that?” he asks, reaching towards the book and grabbing it. His long fingers gingerly hold the book, stroking the old cover as he murmurs the title.
“It means Guardians of the Moon. I was telling Allison about it earlier,” I explain. “Gran gave it to me over the weekend, saying that it would interest me. So far it’s been really cool—kind of weird and full of myths, but it’s still interesting.”
“What kinds of things have you read so far?” he asks, his eyes roaming over my face. “Anything catch your eye?”
“Well, I really liked this one part about how these Guardians basically have powers that can do magic and stuff,” I laugh nervously, worried about Stiles thinking it was weird. “I know it’s kind of stupid, but—.”
“It’s not stupid,” he hands the book back to me, his hands softly brushing mine in the process. “It’s really cool actually.”
Smiling, I lean my head back against the wall. Shutting my eyes, Stiles and I sit in a comfortable silence. Usually, silences between friends feel awkward to me, but sitting here with Stiles like this doesn’t feel that way at all. I can hear his soft breaths and feel the tickle of his arm from where it is softly brushing mine. Just as I open my eyes again, the bell to signal the end of class rings. Getting up, Stiles and I make our way back into the Biology classroom to gather our books and get ready to leave for the day.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say, giving Stiles a small wave. Leaving the classroom I walk to my locker to grab everything I needed to go home for tonight. Twisting the lock, I open the locker door and take out my Chemistry book and my notebook. Just as I try to put them in my backpack, I feel a hard body shove me towards my own locker. Looking, I see two guys from the soccer team laughing as they walk away from me. Just breathe. They are just immature boys and you won’t ever see them again after high school.
After last week, I had still been getting some looks from others, but it was getting easier to ignore it. I could understand that I had looked gross from what had happened, but it seemed as if people still thought it was cool to put me down, even though they barely knew who I was.
Slamming my locker shut, I finally leave the hallways and go out towards my car. Getting inside, I shut the door and take a few deep breaths. Putting the car in reverse, I back out of my space, soon making my way out of the parking lot and away from school.
----
“I’m home!” I shout, dropping my bag onto the floor and walking into the living room. Taking a seat on the couch, I turn on the television, ready to relax for a little while before starting some of my homework. “Gran! Are you here?”
After no response, I assume that she is most likely at the store or visiting one of her friends. Having her out of the house was nice since she always seemed to be lingering. I think she just worries about me. I don’t blame her at all. She most likely is waiting for me to fall apart at some point, but to be honest, so am I. For the past few weeks I have felt alright—teetering on a sharp edge, just barely hanging on. I know that it will only take something small to push me off that edge. Let’s just hope I will be able to come back.
Feeling hungry, I order a pizza from the pizzeria around the corner. Luckily it wasn’t dark yet so making the short walk over there wouldn’t be too stressful. After the past few nights here, especially with the few incidents, Gran has not been keen on me going anywhere once the streetlights go on. I’m not really complaining—any way for me to stay away from another giant monster man sounds good to me.
Grabbing my phone and wallet, I walk to the door and put my hand on the silver knob. Before I can open the door, I hear Allison’s voice ring out in the hallway.
“Scott, I’m just going to be home all night,” she says, as I put my eye up to the eye hole to see what was going on. “Don’t worry--no late night adventures for me.”
As she turns, I see a large black object in her hand. Looking closer, I can tell that it is some type of bow. Why would Allison be telling Scott she was staying home while she is going somewhere with a crossbow?
Allison begins walking away down the hall, putting the bow inside her large duffel bag. Making a quick decision, I grab my car keys and open the door softly and then shutting it without making any noise. I make my way towards the stairs and run down, hoping to be able to catch Allison as she is leaving the parking lot in her car. As I get to the door on the bottom floor, I take a quick look to make sure Allison is in her own car before I make my way out and to my own. Getting inside, I wait until she has started driving out of the lot. Starting up my engine, I slowly follow behind, hoping to find out what she could possibly be doing with a bow in Beacon Hills.
It may seem kind of stalker-like, but I couldn’t help but wonder what she could be up to. I knew that she was into archery due to the décor I had seen in her apartment when I had gone over before school started, but that doesn’t really explain going out to use a bow at night when any place to go shooting would be closed.
I continue to follow Allison for a few blocks until she eventually parks her car in a spot near an empty bank. Allison gets out of her car and walks toward the front entrance of the bank, pulling out a pair of bolt cutters. She uses these to cut open a large lock on the front door before entering inside.
Now, following her was weird, but her breaking and entering an old abandoned bank takes the cake. What kind of thing was Allison really into? I didn’t exactly take her for a petty criminal.
Deciding that interfering would be a dumb idea, I reach to put my car into drive again when I see Scott and the super handsome guy from school walk up to the side of the bank and begin climbing up what looks like a ladder.
Okay, now this is just freaking odd. Not only is Allison partaking in a criminal act, but now so is Scott. What kinds of things to teenagers do in this town? I definitely don’t want to be a part of something like this. Hopefully they just liked to hang out in there and weren’t doing anything too crazy, like drugs or vandalizing. But neither of those would explain why Allison thought it necessary to bring a bow.
Pulling out my phone, I open the internet to search the name of the bank. Looking through the results, it looks like the bank has been closed for a long time after a huge break in a while back. Well at least they are stealing any money or something.
After about five minutes of looking through the search, I hear a loud howling noise coming from inside the bank. Looking towards the door, nothing comes out but the howl still echoes through my ears, causing a ringing sound. Not wanting to find out what that was, I put my car into drive and speed off, getting away from whatever was happening inside that bank.
---
SCOTT POV
“What were you thinking?” Derek shouts at Allison.
“That I had to do something,” Allison screams back, clearly angry with the situation.
Knowing that Allison made the right choice, I speak up. “She saved our lives.”
“Yeah, and what do you think they're going to do out there? Do you have any idea what we just set free?” Derek clenches his fists, rage coursing through him in waves at Allison letting Boyd and Cora out of the bank. It may not have been the best idea, but I am also glad that I didn’t have to die inside that bank vault.
“ You want to blame me? Well, I am not the one turning teenagers into killers,” Allison takes a step towards Derek.
“No. No, that's just the rest of your family.”
“I made mistakes,” Allison shakes her head. “Gerard is not my fault.”
“And what about your mother?” Derek counters, fed up with arguing with her.
“What do you mean?” Allison’s eyebrows cinch together.
“Tell her, Scott.”
Both Derek and Allison look at me; Derek with a look of annoyance and me still not having told Allison what happened, and Allison with watery eyes.
“What does he mean, Scott? What does he mean?” She urges, almost knowing what I am going to say.
Opening my mouth, nothing comes out. How am I supposed to tell her what happened? Tell her that her mother tried to kill me and that Derek only bit her to save me. That would tear her apart. Before I could decide on what to say, the sound of tires squealing on the pavement outside the bank screeches through my ears painfully.
There shouldn’t be cars outside the bank right now. The bank has been closed and no one ever uses this road anymore. Taking a quick look at Derek, we race outside to see the taillights of a car disappearing around a corner a few blocks down. Taking a deep breath, I freeze, recognizing a scent in the air. I hadn’t smelled that perfume much before but I knew only one person who smelled that exact scent of vanilla and a hint of an orange peel scent.
Selena.
What was she doing here?
[Finally done with Chaos Rising! I didn't get to proofread this, so I will later. Sorry for any mistakes. So thankfully my story is getting closer to my favorite things, so I'm getting excited! Let me know what you think and thanks for all the votes/reads! Almost to 10,000! Whoop!]