CHAPTER EIGHT
HEART MONITOR
✦✧✦✧✦
The day went as quickly as it had come. It was now time for the parent/teacher conferences at Beacon Hills High School and Scott and Allison still hadn't answered their phones since the morning light.
Both Stiles and Violet had figured that the two were probably together and cutting class—school—for the day.
After dismissing the thought of Scott from their mind for a little while, Team Viles decided to check through some police records from the Hale fire to look over some things. It was only when her phone rang that Violet was reminded of her brother, who was MIA.
Although it wasn't her brother calling, she was shocked to see her mother's caller ID showing up on her phone.
"Hey, Mom." Violet answered semi-nervously.
"Where are you?" Mama McCall asked, getting straight to the point. She was angry about something.
"At the Stilinski's. This isn't about parent conferences right, because—"
"This isn't about you. Where's your brother? He's supposed to be here because all of the family smarts went to you and he's almost failing most of his classes."
"Are you there right now? Stiles and I have been trying to get to him all day, but he won't answer the phone." Violet said just as frustratedly as her mother was.
"Yes I'm here. I've been trying his cell but he won't pick up."
"I haven't been home all day so I wouldn't know if he was there."
"Alright, I gotta go. Someone by the name of Mr. Harris is here."
"Good luck." Violet ended before hanging up. She huffed in frustration before tossing her phone back into her bag. "Scotty's gonna be left outside in the dog house tonight." She said, turning back to the papers that her best friend seemed to be deeply analyzing.
✦✧✦
Violet had been in her bedroom texting Stiles and studying later that night when she heard the front door open—and violently at that.
"I can't believe you! Skipping school, turning your phone off?! Vi and I were worried sick. She and Stiles spent the whole day looking for you, calling you, texting you! Lemme see your phone. 31 calls from Violet, 42 calls and voicemails from Stiles! You really decided to just go off the grid didn't you?" Melissa's muffled voice sounded from downstairs. "I can't believe you. Go to your room, we'll talk more tomorrow."
Scott's leaden footsteps trudged up the stairs, and there was a knock on Violet's door before it opened, "Hey, I'm not dead."
"Good to know." Replied Violet in a monotone voice as she flipped the page in her binder without even taking a glance at her brother. "I'll tell Stiles you actually decided to come home."
"His dad got hit by a car. There was an accident. I'm pretty sure he's okay, though."
"I know. Stiles texted me about it right after it happened. Some people know how to stay in touch with others."
"Vi, I told Allison we should skip today because it was her—"
"I don't care what it was, Scott," Violet said, finally looking up, "you couldn't have shot me a text? 'Hey, I'm skipping, cover for me at home.' That couldn't suffice? I know you got shit from Mom, so I'll go slightly easier on you. But I'm still mad."
"I thought you were concerned."
"I was. Now I'm just mad. Goodnight, Scott." Violet said, shutting the pages in her binder and putting her phone to charge. She got up, put the binder inside her backpack and went up to where Scott still stood at the doorway. "Goodnight, Scott." She repeated before softly shutting the door.
✦✧✦
Violet was out the door the next Monday before Scott even got the chance to ask if they were biking together. Stiles had already taken the initiative in asking if she needed a ride the night before and they left early, half on purpose, half just because.
Stiles decided he was giving Scott the silent treatment for not answering his phone, and also decided to throw in the factor that his dad got hurt, even though Scott was indirectly at fault.
Because of smarts and good grades, Violet was put into all honors classes, which also meant that some of the classes she took were with her brother and Stiles. Oddly enough, her homeroom got switched into Scott and Stiles' homeroom.
Scott walked into the classroom and took the seat behind Stiles while he and Violet were invigorated in their conversation, "episode four is definitely the better movie!" Violet exclaimed.
"No way! Definitely episode five, and it has a higher Rotten Tomatoes rating." Stiles argued.
"By one percent!" Violet said as she eyed her brother while he took his seat, "I rest my case." She finished, turning back to the front of the classroom.
"Hey." Scott said, breaking the silence, "I see you're still not talking to me." He told Stiles, who shot a glance at the younger McCall who was looking backwards again to see the hoedown. Scott sighed, "can you at least tell me if your dad's okay? I mean, it's just a bruise, right? Just some soft tissue damage?"
"Good job, Dr. McCall!" Violet fake congratulated her older brother, who shot her a look of annoyance. Stiles was still going strong in his silent treatment.
"You know I feel really bad about it, right?" Scott asked, hoping Stiles would turn around and say something. "What if I tell you I'm trying to sort this whole thing out and I went to Derek for help?"
"You went to—?" Violet didn't finish her sentence for a number of reasons. The main one was shock, the other was the fact that Stiles was turning his head to say something.
"If I was still talking to you, I would say you're an idiot for trusting him, but since I'm not talking to you..." Stiles said as the late bell rang.
"Who even are you? Brother who? He sounds nice. Asking Derek for help is idiotic, Scott." Violet asked before turning in her seat and beginning to do the work that was on her desk.
There was silence for an extended period of time. Violet could already tell Stiles was breaking without even looking a him, and when she looked over to Stiles, an expression of agonizing pain was spread across his face. "What did he say?" Stiles finally broke with a sigh.
Then Scott chuckled, knowing his best friend was back and proceeded on with what the sourwolf had said.
✦✧✦
At the end of the period, their conversation carried on. Violet trailing behind as per usual and Scott and Stiles mind melding their way through Scott's wolf-hood.
"So he wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry?" Stiles asked, holding the door open for the younger McCall, who tried to shuffle her way fast enough to keep up with her brother and best friend. Scott affirmed Stiles' suspicions and he came up with a conclusion, "alright, well correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you try to do that, you try to kill me—and not to mention your sister."
"I know," Scott whined, "that's what he means when he says he doesn't know if he can teach me. I have to be able to control the shift." Scott countered.
"Well, how's he gonna teach you to do that?" Violet piped up from behind. Scott muttered an, 'I don't know', and Violet and Stiles threw each other looks. They had a plan.
"When are you seeing Derek again?" Stiles inquired.
"He just told me not to talk about it. Just act normal and get through the day." The beta replied. Stiles proceeded to stop Scott to get more information.
"When?" He repeated.
"He's picking me up at the animal clinic after work." Scott answered.
"Awww. I ship it already." Violet giggled.
"Shut up." Scott grumbled.
"After work," Stiles pondered, "all right, well, that gives us till the end of the school day then."
"To do what?"
"To teach you ourselves." Violet finished.
✦✧✦
At lunch, Scott tried his hardest to hide from the girl of his dreams...except he chose to do it behind a history book. Violet couldn't help but sigh, "I think the book's making it more obvious. Since I'm pretty sure Allison would know Stiles and I wouldn't sit alone together." Violet contested.
"Besides, she's reading anyway." Stiles said, looking back at Allison and Lydia, then back to where Scott had been hiding.
Scott peered over his book and looked over at Stiles and Violet, "so, did you come up with a plan yet?" he asked anxiously.
"I think so..." Stiles said.
"Does that mean you don't hate me now?" Scott asked.
"No," Stiles relented, "but your crap has infiltrated my life so now I have to do something about it. That and your annoying little sister. Plus, I'm definitely a better Yoda than Derek."
"Okay, yeah, you teach me." Scott agreed.
"Yeah, I'll be your Yoda."
"Your Yoda, I will be." Violet said in a voice mimicking that of Yoda. Receiving a weird look from her brother and a near heart-eyes look from her best friend, Violet smiled at her actions.
"Yeah, I-I I get it." Scott said in an annoyed tone.
"Okay, you know what? I definitely still hate you." Stiles caved, picking up his books and snatching his history text book which was being used as a cover for Scott's face.
Appalled, Scott quickly stood up as Violet giggled and followed Stiles out of the lunch room, leaving Scott to fend for himself.
✦✧✦
Scott followed his friends to the lacrosse field where they would conduct experiments on him like a lab rat. This whole werewolf stuff was testing their limits and they wanted to see how far they could go with it. Stiles sat himself onto the bench and took a strapped contraption out his bag.
"Now...put this on." Stiles instructed as Violet took a seat on the bleachers behind the boys. Scott gave the strap a once-over before taking it from him.
"Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?" Scott asked with uncertainty.
"Yeah, I borrowed it." Stiles said.
"Correction: you made me steal it." Violet commented.
"Temporarily misappropriated. Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone when he jogs, and you're gonna wear it for the rest of the day." Stiles explained.
"Isn't that coaches phone?" Scott asked.
"That, I stole." The spastic boy admitted.
"Why?"
"Alright, well your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right? Stiles affirmed, to which Scott agreed. Even thought she was in on the plan, Violet had no idea what Stiles was actually going to do so she nodded her head in agreement along with her brother. "When you're playing lacrosse, when you're with Allison; whenever you get angry. Maybe learning to control it is tied to learning how to control your heart rate." Stiles finished.
"Smart." Violet mumbled.
"Like the Incredible Hulk." Scott connected.
"Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, yeah."
"No, I'm like the Incredible Hulk—"
"Would you just shut up and put the strap on?" Stiles pled.
"Strap on." Violet laughed to herself. Upon looking up, seeing her brother and best friend staring at her awkwardly. Clearing her throat, she said, "carry on."
Stiles proceeded to take some duct tape he'd taken from the Jeep and wrapped it around Scott's wrists, which he'd pinned to his back.
"I'm gonna stand here, I want you to stand over there." Stiles instructed.
"This isn't exactly how I wanted spend my free period." Scott said.
"Alright." Stiles brushed off, "Now remember, don't get angry. Vi, come over here, you can help."
"I'm starting to think this is a really bad idea." Scott informed his friends before getting a lacrosse ball launched at his stomach. The beta groaned in pain as his two friends were laughing at the situation.
"Lemme try." Violet requested. Stiles handed her the stick with the ball already inside, all that was left to do was launch. With all her might, Violet McCall threw a lacrosse ball at her brother, the ball hitting him square in the groin. Another groan of pain sounded from the taped up boy, but this time it wasn't something Stiles and Violet laughed at. They were trying to keep with their goal of keeping Scott focused on his heart rate.
They were trying to prevent him from getting mad.
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