Chapter one: “…Scott is so interesting.”
“Hey Willow, time to come down for breakfast!” my older sister Kolora calls out to me from downstairs. I give myself one last look over to see if I was ready for the day; my green skirt, which starts off a lighter shade of green then fades into darker shade as it reaches down to my ankles, hugs my waist snugly; my upper half of my body is nicely fitted into a black knit, turtle neck blouse with no sleeves. After adjusting my vine like gold cuff, that wraps around my upper left arm a few times I took one last look into my vanity mirror; blue eyes stare right back at me. I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding in.
“Everything will be alright, everything will be okay,” I recite my daily mantra. Without it I will definitely go insane. I go downstairs to join my big sister and twin brother, Alexander-Alex- for breakfast; I take a seat next my twin.
“Good morning Alex! Morning Lora!” I chirp, I am really happy this morning. I love mornings in general; they are the start of new day and a possible fresh start for me, for anyone.
“Hey Will,” Alex replies, taking a moment from scarfing down his food. I roll my eyes at his action.
“Good morning Willow,” my sister says brightly, setting down my plate of breakfast. My plate of food is full of some of my favorites; granola and blueberries mixed in with original yogurt, grapes, and her famous chorizo and eggs. Yum!
“Wow this looks really good, Lora,” I say. Lora is one of the best cooks and bakers ever. Other than our mom though. I miss mom; I should visit her soon.
“It’s very good,” Alex says through his mouth full of food. He didn’t even bother to swallow before talking. Ew.
“Ew! Close your mouth you pig,” I joke. Picking up a grape from my plate, I throw it at him. Before the grape could reach him he quickly swallows his food and catches the grape in his mouth.
“Why thank you dear sister,” he says politely with a playful smirk on his face. I roll my eyes yet again. Lora re-enters the kitchen in her nurse uniform, ready for work I assume.
“Alex, Willow I am leaving for work,” assumption spot on, “I will come back late tonight so make dinner for yourselves. Remember one friend per person over if you want,” she announces, her voice one of authority.
“What if it is Scott and Stiles?” my brother replies back, already knowing the answer.
“Scott and Stiles are the only two exceptions.”
“I thought you weren’t going to do late shifts for another week,” I remember what she told us a few days ago. Is she going to spend time with mom?
“Bobby is going to take me out after my shift,” Lora says with a smile. Bobby has been her boyfriend for three years now; he also just so happens to be a teacher and lacrosse coach at our high school, Beacon Hills High.
“Ugh. Just don’t bring him over tonight. I don’t think I can make it through a day if I see you two making out again,” Alex says in a peevish voice.
“Speak for yourself. You weren’t the one to catch them on the washer machine,” I shiver at the memory.
“Okay the washer one was my fault, but the door was closed when Alex saw us. He could have knocked,” my sister says a blush gracing her face. Alex just shrugs, “Anyways I am leaving so have fun on your first day of sophomore year! Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do!” Lora rushes out the door and a few minutes later we hear a car leaving our driveway.
“That leaves us with many things to do actually,” my brother says with a thoughtful face, as if he is actually thinking of all the possibilities. I swat Alex on his arm.
To be honest I am excited for this upcoming year; I can tell things are going to change, maybe I will tell Scott how I feel about him. The mere thought of him makes butterflies erupt in my stomach. Before my brother could notice the blush coating my face- and most likely poke fun at me- I get up to put my empty plate in the dishwasher, grab my bag that is by the counter, and was about to head out the side door of the kitchen to outside when my brother stops me.
“What are you doing Will?” he questions with a raised eyebrow.
“I am going to walk to school,” I state matter-of-factly. I just want to feel connected with nature, literally and figuratively.
“No you’re not.”
“Yes I am.”
“No you’re not.”
“Yes I am.”
“I don’t think dad will like it if you walk to and from school,” Alex says with a smug look on his face, thinking that he won this round of our banter. It is true, though. Our dad doesn’t like it when we walk home alone; he thinks a supernatural creature will come out and attack us which I doubt. Talia- a close family friend of ours- said this place was well protected and we would be safe here.
“Yeah? Well I don’t think dad will like it if he found out you were throwing a party here Friday,” I say, knowing well that now Alex will back off. He just stares at me; I can see the wheels turning in his head.
He lets out a breath, “Fine, but I am taking you home after practice.” I nod, okay with this negotiation. I tell him bye and left the house, on my way to school.
Instead of staying on the sidewalk like I should I decide to take a short cut through the woods; I haven’t been through there in a while. I glide my hands through the tree trunks, branches, and flowers that are hanging, feeling the life flow through me; that’s part of my power. I am able to manipulate earthy things like flowers, vines, and trees as well as feel the life within them. I love my power… I just feel so connected.
Seeing a dead flower on the dirt ground I pick it up and hold it in my hands. Within seconds the flower becomes vivid in color and lively once more; this is another part of my power that I enjoy.
Dad says we are called Protectors of Nature and we are to protect those who need protecting. A lot of us are affinity wielders, trained as warriors or both. Dad has trained my sister, twin brother and I as warriors even though my mother was a little hesitant on the idea.
Although we protect others, right now we need slight protection ourselves. My family and I have been here in Beacon Hills since I was in the second grade when I was seven years old. Lora says we went into hiding because mom has information they want; I have no idea who they are but Lora has made it perfectly clear that they are dangerous people. I often wonder what kind of vital information mom could possibly hold.
I shake the thoughts out of my head and recite my mantra, “Everything will be alright, everything will be okay.” I stop to take a breather and realize I am in front of Beacon Hills High. I smile to myself thinking of my goal and resume walking to the entrance. This year I am going to make Scott notice me more than just his best friend’s little sister- yes my twin was born first- this year. I smile as I think of Scott; his chocolate curly hair, lovely smile and his adorable look he gets when he is confused. While I am walking I run into a wall of flesh. I look up to see Scott clutching his side, making a small hiss come out of his mouth. Oh no!
“Scott! I am so sorry I should have watching where I was going. Are you okay?” I ask worriedly.
“Willow… H-hi,” he says a little breathlessly as he notices that I am the one who ran into him.
“Are you okay?” I repeat myself, maybe he didn’t hear me. I smile for a good measure. He lets out a breath and seems to be even more breathless.
“Y-yeah, I am fine,” he says more out of breath. Does he need his inhaler? What’s wrong with him?
“Are you sure? Do you need your inhaler? You seem a little breathless this morning,” I say my voice full of worry.
“N-no, I… uh… ran here so I am a little… out of breath. I just need to catch it,” he smiles, reassuring me.
“Oh alright, thank goodness you aren’t hurt. That would be awful. Especially when you have a good chance at first line since my brother has practiced with you.” Scott gives me a goofy smile and I smile back at him.
“Thanks,” Scott says with a bright smile.
“Yeah, thanks for encouraging him and saying hi to me,” Stiles, Scott’s best friend, says sarcastically. I turn to Stiles smiling sheepishly.
“Sorry Stiles,” I say sheepishly, moving a strand of my crazy curly hair that fell in my face then smile.
“You’re forgiven,” Stiles says smiling, putting his focus on me, and completely forgetting his train of thought. This is also part of my power; dad says it is called ‘allure.’ It’s this super charisma that attracts people to Protectors of Nature, but I lower its effect to the lowest I can keep it, because if it was at its full capacity nobody will be able to focus on anything other than me and me only and do my bidding-if I asked them to. All Protectors of Nature have this ability; my brother enjoys this very much. He likes to use allure to pick up girls sometimes and gain attention. I feel a buzz go down slightly, a sign that my allure is dropping a bit, and Stiles blinks, breaking his attention.
“So where is Alex?” Stiles says regaining his original thought. Scott looks at me as well with a wonderstruck face; maybe I my allure isn’t lowered down enough.
“I didn’t take a ride with him today. I decided to walk today and take in the fresh woodsy area. It is really peaceful,” I explain with a smile on my face and adding a bit of allure into it, not wanting to go through with another ‘you should have taken a ride to school’ again, “He should be here soon, though.”
“Oh, alright,” Stiles says, smiling once again. Scott is still giving me this adorable goofy grin. I open my mouth to tell Scott if he is ready for practice today when the bell rang. As Stiles, Scott, and I walk to first period I search all around for my brother ending up with no results. Where is he?
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The three of us manage to find our first period class and we pick our seats. We are sitting by the window area; Scott in front of Stiles and me to Scott’s right. The bell rings and I begin to worry a bit. Alex isn’t the type to be late… unless something is wrong. Is something wrong?
Is mom okay?
I am brought out of my thoughts when I feel a tap on my elbow. Turning my head I see it was Scott that tapped me. He mouths ‘don’t worry’ and smiles that adorable smile of his. I smile and nod back at him, feeling mini butterflies flying all over my stomach. I face the front of the class, mentally repeating my mantra, “Everything will be alright, everything will be okay.”
Taking a deep breath I focus back on the class just in time to hear our teacher talking about a dead body. I heard about the body from my sister who was told by Sheriff Stilinski, Stiles’ dad. I can’t believe that anyone would want to murder someone especially here in Beacon Hills, the town of minimal-very minimal- crime. I hope the family of the dead body is going to be okay and get through this together; family is very important. Alex appearing in the doorway breaks me out of my sympathetic thoughts of the body’s family. Alex exchanges a few words with our teacher before grabbing a seat to the right of me.
I turn to him and whisper, “I don’t seem to understand how I, who left before you and walked to school, got here before you and you have a car-a really fast car.” I look at him in disbelief. There is no way that I could have gotten to school before him; he can get to school in five minutes flat. He just shrugs.
“I fell asleep at the kitchen table,” he replies scratching his chin, a sign that he is hiding something. I drop it when the classroom door opens to reveal our assistant principal and a pretty brunette with a nervous smile on her face.
“Class this is our school’s newest student Allison Argent. I hope you all will welcome her nicely,” he says before leaving the class. Allison scans the classroom for open seats and I wave her in our direction with a warm smile. She smiles and heads to the desk behind my brother. I glance at my brother and notice that he is staring at Allison with a smile on his face. Allison returns the smile to my brother, sitting down in the desk behind him. I smile at the both of them.
Turning to Allison I greet myself, “Hello there. I’m Willow Sutherland,” smiling at her, putting my hand in front of her to shake.
She smiles warmly and I see that her nervousness is gone, “Hi Willow. I am Allison. Thanks for letting me sit by you.” She seems genuinely grateful.
“No problem. We girls have got to stick together,” I say in a light tone, keeping my allure at bay; I don’t want to dazzle her by accident, though my brother seems to have other plans when he spins in his seat.
“Hi, I’m Sutherland, Alexander Sutherland,” he winks and smiles charmingly, throwing in allure with his already natural charm, making Allison turn around to face him.
“Hi Alexander I’m Allison,” she says, a slow smile creeping on her face.
“So I’ve heard,” Alex chuckles, “So I was thinking that maybe you and I can-”
“Mr. Sutherland I would greatly appreciate it if you would study the syllabus and not Ms. Argent,” our teacher says sounding very annoyed.
“But sir I bet anyone can argue that, like your syllabus, Ms. Allison Argent is a very interesting topic,” my brother argues smoothly. Some of the girls sigh at my brother’s comment and others glare at Allison for getting my brother’s attention. The teacher ‘hmph’ and turns back to the board to write on the dry erase board.
“We will pick up this conversation later Allison,” he winks and turns to face the front. I roll my eyes at the scene that has just been displayed.
I turn to Scott, “Sometimes I wonder how the two of us are even related.”
“Well you both are charming and attract people,” Scott’s words tumble out of his mouth before he clamps it shut.
“You think I am charming?” I smile at his compliment. It is no lie that I like Scott McCall. I have had a crush on him for what seems like forever.
He is kind, sweet, adorable, and quite charming himself. At times I think he likes me because he sometimes treats me differently but then my brain sometimes likes to disagree with me; such an internal battle. Sometimes it makes me want to face palm myself. I want to make a move but sometimes I get afraid that he will reject me. This year I am more confident and I am going to tell him how I feel….sooner or later.
“Y-yeah, I think you and your brother are charming, kind, beautiful, cute…” he drifts off with a blush, looking a little sheepish. Somehow I think he is referring more to me than my brother. I take this as an opportunity to drop a hint to Scott.
“Thanks. I think you are kind and cute too, Scott,” I say, feeling heat on my cheeks. We both smile at each other.
“Ms. Sutherland will you at least pay attention to the syllabus unlike your brother,” our teacher says to me shaking his head at me.
“Yes sir,” I say, blushing even more. I thought I would get off scot free-pun not intended- but my brother apparently had other plans.
“Correct me if I am wrong sir,” I hung my head, repeating ‘shut up’ many times, “But I think that my dear sister would rather pay more attention to Scott McCall than your syllabus.” My brother looks at me with a smug smile while Stiles lets out a rather loud laugh; Scott pulls his arm back and hits Stiles in the leg causing him to yelp. I glare at my brother and he laughs at me.
“It is only because Scott is so interesting,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. I realize what I had just said and feel my cheeks go ablaze, my brother and Stiles laughs even harder, the teacher rolls his eyes and mumbles something around the lines of ‘Why do I even bother anymore’, and poor Scott’s cheeks looks like a tomato while his jaw slightly drops open and he gives me a look that I am pretty sure says ‘Really?’. I almost groan out loud; my brother is so going to get it when we get home. I face forward and will my cheeks to return to a normal temperature.
This is going to be a long day.
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Okay so here is an edited version of Flowers and Fangs. I reread it and thought it could use a few touch ups here and there. So yeah… tell me what you think because I love to hear all of your comments. What do you think will happen next?
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