c h a p t e r f o u r t e e n
bitten
Stiles had went after Harper as soon as Harper had left the school, begging her to forgive him. He went as far as to drive his jeep alongside her as she walked home in the dark, but she pretended that he wasn't there. Once Harper got back to her house, she rushed up the driveway as he jumped out of his car, slamming the front door before he could even come inside.
"Oh dear." Her grandma stood in the doorway of the kitchen, drying her hands on a patterned tea towel with a frown on her face. "Have you and Stiles had a falling out?"
Rolling her eyes, Harper nodded. "You could call it that." She muttered, her back against the door as Stiles yelled her name from the other side, knocking.
The old woman in front of her sighed. "Darling, you can't go through life holding grudges. Whatever he said couldn't have been that bad." She spoke so softly that it got on Harper's nerves.
"Harper?" Stiles called. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You know that I'd never say anything like that to you in purpose. I was hurt and it was in the heat of the moment. Please answer the door."
"Go upstairs." Rose narrowed her eyes at her granddaughter. "I'll answer the door."
Nodding, Harper jogged up the stairs, sitting at the very top but out of the way so that they couldn't see her. She listened as her grandma opened the door.
"Sweetheart, you need to give her time. You know how Harper gets when somebody she loves hurts her. She really cares about you, so she won't be mad for long." Harper could hear her grandma tell him sweetly.
Stiles sighed loudly. "Please just tell her that I was wrong."
Harper left after that, going upstairs and slamming the door behind her. For some reason, no tears fell. Normally, due to how mentally and physically weak she was, she would be bawling into her pillow by now, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
It was as if Harper was empty from all emotions.
☹☻
It was cold in the cemetery, and nobody was around. It was a habit of Harper's that every time she was upset she would go and visit her parents grave.
She sat down on the dewy grass, her fingers skimming through the blades, occasionally plucking one out of the hard soil. Harper didn't say anything for the first ten minutes, she just sat there.
Eventually, her eyes flickered up to the familiar head stones placed right next to each other.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
MONICA KATE VERUM
1971 — 2008
LOVING MOTHER, DAUGHTER, AND WIFE
Harper's gaze moved towards her father's head stone, about to read from it when she heard a twig snap from behind her. Harper whirled around, her heartbeat calming down when she saw the familiar figure of Isaac Lahey stood there.
"Isaac." She breathed. "What are you doing here?"
Isaac shrugged, moving to sit down beside her. "I sort of work here for my dad sometimes. But I'm not here for that tonight."
He jerked his head towards the head stone beside her fathers, seeing a woman's name with "Lahey" after it. Harper immediately understood, frowning.
"Your mum?" She questioned softly and he nodded.
"Brother too," he sighed sadly, loosening the scarf wrapped around his neck.
Harper offered him a sad smile. "Everyone says it gets better one day."
"When is that day supposed to come?" Isaac chuckled bitterly.
Harper shrugged. "I don't know, but I intend to wait around for it. What about you?"
Isaac sighed, "I guess. Sometimes I don't know if it's worth it or not."
"In the end it will be, Lahey." Harper's eyes lowered to where her mother was buried. "My mum always said it would all turn out okay, and my mum is no liar."
"Maybe for you." Isaac was looking at his own mother's grave with teary eyes. "Sometimes it feels like I'm drowning and I can't come back up."
"I'm not religious, but maybe you are. My mum was, and she always said God has a plan for everybody, so everything will work out how it should in the final run." Harper softly calmed him.
Isaac ran a hand through his hair, glancing at her. "I'm not religious, either, but that was kind of nice to hear."
Harper smiled softer. "She'd be proud of you, Isaac. I don't know you too well, but you seem lovely."
Isaac opened his mouth to say something when her phone buzzed loudly in her pocket. She contemplated ignoring it, but thought of her parents.
Her mother had loved Stiles, and it was most likely him.
Harper bit her bottom lip, pulling her phone out of the back pocket of her grey jogging bottoms and opening it. She clicked on her text messages, seeing one from a random unknown number.
She squinted her eyes to read the bright screen in the dark.
Unknown: it's scott. come to the school. URGENT. stiles is hurt.
For a second, Harper wondered if it was Stiles using sick tactics to make her talk to him, but then she realised that despite what he said, he would never intentionally worry her.
"I have to go, Isaac." She blurted, standing up quickly. "I am so sorry."
Isaac shook his head, worried. "It's okay. Family emergency?"
"Friend emergency. I'll talk to you at school tomorrow. Bye!" Harper darted out of the cemetery as quickly as she could.
Luckily the school was pretty close by to the cemetery, so after ten minutes of running, she finally made it.
She arrived at the school car park, her heart pounding out of her chest as she panted rapidly.
Harper's mouth felt dry and her hands were clammy as she pulled out her phone to text that unknown number that was apparently Scott.
To Scott: im here. where are you guys?????
Shoving her phone back into her pocket, Harper started to jog towards the main entrance of the school, only stopping when she saw the familiar blue jeep. The hood of the jeep had caved in and it looked like things had been ripped from it. Harper prayed that Stiles was okay. He can't die without him knowing how she feels about him.
Harper almost didn't notice Derek and Jackson's cars parked nearby, but she didn't care as she rushed into the building, being careful to be quiet as it suddenly dawned on her that the Alpha was most likely inside. With no reply yet from Scott, Harper's only chance of finding them would be to look for them, which could take a long time.
Panic spread quickly while she walked down the main hallway, poking her head through doors as her hands shook by her sides. She considered calling for them, but that would only get her killed.
Before Harper even had the chance to go up the stairs to the left, she heard a loud growl from behind her, causing the petite girl's heart to skip a beat.
Harper forced her feet to turn around. Standing there on two legs, hunched over and panting, was the Alpha. Its head moved to sniff the air above it before it dropped onto all fours, growling again. Its bright red eyes bored into panicked brown ones as Harper took a step back, ready to run.
Her dainty hand grabbed the railing and she forced her shaking legs up them, a scream coming from her lips from the fright as she pushed herself to run. Harper got up the stairs and half way down the next hall before a heavy weight tackled her to the ground. There was no time for her to react before the Alpha grabbed her by the ankles, twisting her small body over so she was lying on her back.
"Scott! Stiles!" Harper screamed loudly, praying that one of them would come and help her. Scott should be able to hear her with his werewolf powers, she figured.
The Alpha stood over Harper, its teeth bared as it growled, drool dripping from its pointed fangs, over her trembling body. Its claws sunk into the ground beside her, and its nose visibly moved as it sniffed the air, as it sniffed her. Harper's heart was pounding out of her chest and she was sure if this thing was a more evolved version of Scott and Derek, it could hear it.
Harper bet it could even smell the sweat covering her palms, and hear her blood rushing around inside her body. She bet she reeked of anxiety. Harper bet it was feeding off of it. The Verum girl could tell it enjoyed the sense of power it got from having her pinned underneath it, so weak and so vulnerable. Like a dog with a new chew toy.
The teenage girl didn't want to be a chew toy. But with nobody to tell the big bad alpha off, there was nothing stopping it from biting her or scratching her or killing her. The tension was so thick as her chest heaved up and down, trying to control her heavy breathing. She almost wanted it to get it over and done with. She couldn't bear it anymore.
"Harper," it, or more like he, whispered against her ear, his head moving next to Harper's ear so she could feel his hot breath down her neck, causing Harper to push herself further into the ground beneath her.
Sharp pains from the rough floor scratching her back underneath her caused her to wince, but it was nothing like the pain the poor girl felt next. Harper had no time to comprehend that the Alpha knew her name before the worst pain she had ever felt in her entire life came to her shoulder where her shirt had risen.
A scream erupted from the back of her throat, Harper's back arching up as the Alpha sunk his teeth into her skin, hard enough for blood to start to pour. He growled slightly, his ears suddenly perking up, obviously hearing something, before darting off down the hallway.
Salty tears escaped Harper's eyes, travelling down her face as her shaky hands moved to go to her shoulder. Harper pulled her hand away when a stinging sensation occurred, only to see blood covered her entire hand. She knew she had to get up before it came back. Harper slowly sat up.
What was she supposed to do now? It scared Harper how she wasn't sobbing or having a meltdown when she probably should be. Her heart raced as she took off down the hallway in the opposite direction that the Alpha had gone in, laboured breaths coming from her lips as she struggled to run with her messed up shoulder.
Harper heard yelling from down the hall, her heart skipping yet another beat. She knew that they were all in there. Harper ran quicker than before, relief rushing over her as she fell against the door, slamming her fists against it as she yelled for her two best friends to open the door. Harper heard her name being yelled before the door swung open.
Scott pulled the frantic girl inside, slamming and locking the door behind her. Hands were on her body and she tugged her black shirt over her shoulder, glad that nobody could see the blood through the dark material.
Stiles' hands cupped her face, forcing Harper to look him in the eyes. As soon as his hazel eyes locked with her brown ones, she chocked back a sob and he sighed, grabbing her and wrapping her into one of the tightest hugs ever.
"What happened? Did you see Derek, Harper?" Allison asked urgently from beside her as she clung to Stiles' like a starfish on the side of a fish tank.
Harper sniffled. "Derek?"
She ignored the agonising pain in her shoulder as she forced herself away from the only boy that gave her comfort.
Harper turned around and saw Scott nodding at her from behind Allison, and Lydia and Jackson who were all looking at her cautiously.
She nodded, quickly catching on with what Scott was attempting to mouth at her. "Yeah." She swallowed. "But I got away. Thankfully."
Jackson's face hardened. "Call the cops." He snapped, mainly looking as Stiles.
"No." Stiles replied stubbornly, not even giving himself anytime to think things over.
Harper understood what Stiles was saying though. If she had one parent left then she would do everything in her power to protect them, even if that meant dying herself. If Noah turned up at the school then the Alpha could potentially freak out and kill him and then them.
The star athlete's entire body tensed as he spluttered, "what do you mean 'no?'".
Stiles blinked from beside Harper. "I mean no, you wanna hear it in Spanish?" He paused for a second before adding in a heavy Spanish accent, "noh."
In any other circumstance Harper probably would have laughed at Stiles, but unfortunately she had just been bitten by the Alpha himself and now her friends and her are trapped in a classroom being cornered by him.
"Look, Derek killed three people, okay?" Stiles attempted to reason with Jackson. "We don't know what he's armed with."
Harper nodded from beside him as Jackson flung his hands in the air. "Your dad is armed with the entire sheriff's department. Call him." He spat.
Lydia shook her head, taking her phone out. "I'm calling." She muttered, dialling the three numbers.
"Lydia," Harper sighed. "Please just listen, okay?"
Ignoring her, the strawberry blonde put the phone to her ear. "Yes, we're at Beacon Hills High School. We're trapped and we need you to... But..," A look of confusion crossed Lydia's face as she pulled the phone down from her ear to look at it.
"She hung up on me." Harper had never heard Lydia sound so scared in her life.
Jackson closed his eyes angrily and Allison shot her a look of disbelief. "The police hung up on you?" She repeated, annoyed.
"She said they got a tip warning them that there were gonna be prank calls about the break-in at the high school." Lydia panicked. Harper shared a look with Stiles. "She said if I called again that they're gonna trace it and have me arrested."
"Okay, then call again." Allison raised her voice slightly.
"No, they won't trace a cell." Stiles warned them. "And they'll send a car to your house before they send anyone here."
Allison frowned, "what the... What... What is this?" She put her face in her hands as if they knew the answers. "Why does Derek want to kill us? Why is he killing anyone?"
Lydia, Jackson and the brunette questioning them, all turned to face Scott, Stiles and Harper. They looked at them for the answers, frowns on their faces. Scott looked at his two other friends and Stiles rolled his head as Harper stared at the ground, waiting for one of the boys to lie.
"Why's everyone looking at me?" Scott finally broke the silence.
"Is he the one that sent her that text?" Lydia's voice wobbled.
"No." Scott snapped. "I mean, I don't know."
Harper frowned, realising that Allison, Lydia and Jackson were probably here because they got a text message, just like her. Thinking about the text message now, she realised that it was most likely the Alpha that had used a random phone to text her. He lured her into the school for the bite. But why did he want Allison too?
"Is he the one that called the police?" Allison asked.
Her questions were starting to annoy Harper, and clearly Scott too. "I don't know!" He yelled at her.
A look of hurt crossed Allison's face as she stared at him in both sadness and disblief, turning her face slightly. It looked like she was trying not to cry, biting the inside of her cheek to help.
"All right, why don't we ease back on the throttle here, yeah?" Stiles grabbed Scott's arm and her good shoulder, steering them away from the group. He whispered, "Okay, first off, throwing Derek under the bus, nicely done."
Scott stammered, "I didn't know what to say. I had to say something." He wore a panicked expression on his face as he looked in between the two of them. "And if he's dead then it doesn't matter, right?"
Harper's eyes widened. "Hold up." She hissed. "Derek's dead?"
The werewolf sighed. "I'll explain if we make it out of here alive." He paused. "Oh, God. I just totally bit her head off."
She rolled her eyes at his last comment. Of course he was worrying about raising his voice at Allison while we were being cornered into a classroom by an Alpha that probably wanted them dead.
"And she'll totally get over it." Stiles tried to calm him down, putting his hands on his shoulders. "Bigger issues at hand here, like how do we get out alive?"
Scott turned to face them, lowering his voice even more. "But we are alive!" He whispered. "It could have killed us already. It's like it's cornering us or something."
Harper kept quiet.
"So what, he wants to eat us all at the same time?" Stiles stared at him in disbelief.
He shook his head. "No! Derek said it wants revenge."
"Against who?" She mumbled.
Scott realised something. "Allison's family?" It came out more of a question than a statement.
"Maybe that's what the text was about." Stiles wondered out loud. Scott shot him a look. "Someone had to send it." Stiles cried in defence.
Jackson suddenly yelled. "Okay, assheads. New plan." He pointed his hand at the Stilinski boy. "Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?"
Everybody stared at each other, waiting for Stiles to speak. Stiles looked to Scott and Harper for help but she just looked away, feeling too sick to meet his eyes. It was like the walls were closing in as she bit her lip to stop herself from throwing up.
"He's right." Scott told Stiles from beside Harper, causing her to look up. "Tell him the truth if you have to, just call him."
Stiles almost looked hurt. "I'm not watching my dad get eaten alive." He spoke quietly.
Nobody said anything for a second and Stiles shook his head, sighing. Harper reached and grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
"Give me the phone!" Jackson yelled. Hands suddenly grabbed her away from him and pushed Harper backwards.
Jackson was quickly cut off by a fist to the face. Scott rushed to Stiles, pushing him back so he couldn't hurt the lacrosse captain again. Harper's eyes widened and she moved next to Stiles, checking his hand.
"Jackson!" Allison cried, moving towards him. She helped him as he cupped his injured nose. "Are you okay? Hey, are you okay?"
Lydia watched in shock, not knowing what to do or how to react to Stiles punching her boyfriend and then her best friend helping him. Harper turned to tell Stiles to calm down but he had already pulled out his phone, glaring at Jackson as he dialled his dads number.
"Dad, hey, it's me." Stiles held the phone to his ear. "And it's your voicemail. Look, I need you to call me back now. Like, right now."
A bang suddenly came from behind them, rattling the double doors and the chairs that they had stacked up after Harper had come in. Lydia ran away from the doors to grab Jackson's arm as everybody moved together, slowly backing away from the door.
"We're at the school, okay. We're at the school."
The banging continued as Stiles put the phone away and grabbed hold of Harper tightly as Lydia began to cry. Bolts and nails began to fall out of the hinges of the doors, the chairs sliding forward a small fraction with every harsh shove.
"The kitchen, the door out of the kitchen leads to the stairwell." Stiles muttered loud enough for everybody to hear.
"Which only goes up." Scott cried.
Harper turned around to see Allison buried in his shoulder.
"Up is better than here!" She gulped before they began to run as fast as their legs could possibly take them.
A loud growl came from behind them as Stiles slammed the door, not even trying to look back to spot the Alpha. The noise sent chills down her spine and caused the bite to ache even more. Stiles had his hands on her back the whole time, making sure she didn't fall backwards and kept running.
Harper heard metal crunching as they legged it around a corner, up some more stairs and onto the second floor of the high school. Scott led the way, attempting to open a classroom door. When it didn't budge, Lydia and Harper rushed towards Harris' classroom. Thankfully, he hadn't locked up.
Harper stumbled inside and Scott was the last one in, shutting the door behind him and putting a chair under the door handle. If the Alpha could get past all those tables and chairs, then Harper thought it could get past a stool.
Everyone remained silent, soft panting filling the room from every teenager. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and her eyes felt more tired as the seconds dragged on. Harper leaned against one of the lab tables slightly, so slightly that nobody noticed.
The sound of heavy feet thumping slowly down the tiled corridor distracted her from the pain. Distant growling echoed in Harper's ears and everybody held their breaths, Lydia whimpering. She slapped her hand across her mouth to stop her from making any sounds.
When they were all sure that the coast was clear, they relaxed slightly.
"Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?" Scott leaned forward to whisper.
He replied."Five. If someone squeezes on someone's lap."
Allison's face twisted into a look of disbelief. "Five?" She hissed. "I barely fit in the back."
Stiles shook his head. "It doesn't matter. There's six of us. And besides, there's no getting out without drawing attention."
Scott looked around the room, his eyes landing on another door behind Harris' desk. He patted Stiles shoulder quickly. "What about this?" Scott asked. "It leads to the roof. We can go down the fire escape to the parking lot in, like, seconds."
"That's a deadbolt." The hazel eyed boy replied quietly.
Harper didn't hear the rest of what they were saying since they were standing next to the door and she was with the others, concentrating on keeping awake. She clenched her eyes shut briefly, opening them when Scott announced loudly, "I'm getting the key."
"Are you serious?" Allison stood in front of him.
"Well, it's the best plan." Scott sighed. "Someone has to get the key if we want to get out of here."
The tall brunette shook her head. "You can't go out there unarmed."
Stiles moved next to Harper as Scott picked up Mr Harris' pointing stick, waving it around.
If there was a world record for the most hope lost in the quickest amount of time then it would probably go to Harper Verum.
"Well, it's better than nothing." Scott huffed, looking at their judgemental faces.
"There's gotta be something else." Stiles muttered.
"There is." Lydia spoke up. They all looked at her. She nodded her head towards a glass cabinet filled with chemicals and other solutions.
"What are we gonna do? Throw acid on him?" Stiles frowned at her, frustrated.
The strawberry blonde squinted at him. "No. Like a fire bomb." She made him looks stupid as she continued. "In there is everything you need to make a self-igniting Molotov cocktail."
"You genius." Harper grinned slightly, the hope slowly starting to return. Everybody else stared at her in confusion and shock, clearly not expecting her to know such complicated words.
"What?" She muttered. "I read it somewhere."
Stiles huffed. "We don't have a key for that either."
Jackson sighed, rolling his eyes before jabbing his elbow into the glass, shattering it.
Maybe they did have a chance of making it out alive.
— isaaclovesmexican
alisha
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I hate this chapter lmao
I want Harper's character to develop so she's more badass and strong in s3
I'm writing chapter 8 of the second season and she's already been through so much so she's gonna be really independent and confident in s3 and I'm excited !!
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