CHAPTER ONE:
WOLF MOON, PART ONE
When Brooke woke up for the first day back to school, she felt exhausted. It didn't matter that she had slept eight hours the night before; both her mind and body felt completely weighed down. With a large sigh, Brooke threw the covers off her bed and began to get ready for the day.
Going through the motions of doing her hair and makeup and getting dressed, Brooke made her way to the kitchen in record time. Much like the previous morning, Brooke's dad was sitting at the kitchen island with a cup of coffee.
Only this morning, Brooke didn't greet her dad until she was in his line of vision. After the two quickly finished their coffees and small breakfasts, they made their way to their shared car. While most teens would probably rather die than share a car with their parents, Brooke didn't mind much. Her father was traveling for work most of the time, and when he was home and needed it Lydia or Jackson could drive her.
"I'll be back Thursday morning, okay?" Bryan Moore assured his daughter. He pulled out of the driveway of their ranch-style home and drove off towards the school.
"Yes, dad, I remember," Brooke said, responding to a text from Lydia. "And your flight leaves at noon, so your phone will be on airplane mode all afternoon and you won't be able to respond. Don't worry, dad. I'll be fine."
Bryan shook his head. "It's my job to worry about you, Brooke. You're all I have left."
This time it was Brooke's turn to shook her head. "No, no. We don't get sappy in the family, remember?"
Bryan chuckled at his daughter before nodding his head. He pulled into the parking lot of Beacon Hills High and turned to Brooke. "Alright, I'll see you Thursday. Stay safe!"
"Stay safe," she repeated to him. She got out of the car door and quickly joined Lydia by the girl's yellow bug. The two girls greeted each other before linking arms and heading towards the school.
Just as Lydia began to discuss her excitement for that week's episode of The Bachelor, a familiar scent caught Brooke's attention. She turned her head until she found the source of the smell. It was coming from the direction of two boys. She was pretty sure they were both sophomores, both of their names starting with an 'S'.
"—that is seriously the best thing that has happened to this town since the births of Lydia Martin and Brooke Moore," Brooke heard one of the boys say. Her concentration broke as she slightly narrowed her eyes at them.
The back of her mind heard that the boy kept talking, but she was too worried to pay attention to what he was saying. She made eye contact with the boy with the longer hair and she felt a jolt go through her body. There's no way he could be a--, Brooke's thoughts were interrupted by her best friend's voice.
"You okay?" Lydia asked, pulling her friend up the front steps of the building.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Brooke shook the thought from her head and quickly recovered. "Just not looking forward to the amount of homework Harris is sure to be giving us."
Lydia laughed and pulled away from her friend once they were safely indoors. The warning bell rang and Lydia made her way towards her first class. "See you at lunch?"
Brooke nodded her head and made her way to her first period English class. Once inside, she noticed the two boys from earlier sitting beside each other in the sea of desks. Brooke inhaled deeply, but couldn't smell anything like she had earlier.
Making her way to the back of the class room, she couldn't help but frown. Had she just been imagining it earlier? Maybe she wasn't, and the boys just simply weren't the source of the problem. Her mind was so captured in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the boy with the buzzed hair wave at her when she walked past.
"Rejected!" Scott laughed as Brooke Moore made her way past them.
"Shut up! She might hear you," Stiles shushed his friend, leaning across the aisle to smack him on the arm. Brooke did in fact hear them, but chose to ignore it.
The final warning bell rang, and the boy with the shaggy hair flinched. Brooke leaned forward to watch him closer. He was only two rows in front of her, an empty seat separating them.
"As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods last night," Mr. Bowen said as he wrote something on the chalkboard. The two boys exchanged a knowing look, which did not go unnoticed by Brooke.
Brooke took out her phone to text her dad, barely catching her teacher say that the police had a suspect in custody.
Did you hear about the body found in the preserve?
Brooke opened a new message, debating whether or not to text Derek. Her fingers floated above the keyboard for a moment, but she wasn't sure what to say so she just put her phone away with a sigh.
Ignoring what the teacher was saying about the syllabus, Brooke turned her attention out the window to her left. She saw a girl with dark curly hair sitting on a bench, cellphone pressed tightly between her ear and shoulder.
Brooke tried to focus her hearing on what the girl was saying, but only managed to hear her say, "Oh my God, I didn't actually forget a pen," before an administrative worker brought her inside. A few seconds later, the girl was being brought into the same classroom Brooke was in.
"Everyone, this is our new student, Allison Argent," Mr. Bowen introduced her. The last name rang familiar in Brooke's ears, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before. Allison quickly sat at the empty desk in front of Brooke, and the boy sitting in front of her turned around and gave her his pen.
No way, Brooke thought. This can't be happening.
Unfortunately, Brooke was soon pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her teacher talking. Surprisingly to her, the class ended quickly and the students made their way into the halls as the bell rang. Allison was one of the first people out of the room, and Brooke quickly snatched up her bag and caught up with the girl.
"Cute boots," Brooke complimented as she fell into step with Allison.
"Oh, thanks!" she said. "I'm Allison- "
"Argent," Brooke said interrupting her. "I know, we have English together. I'm Brooke. Brooke Moore." She extended her hand and Allison shook it with a smile.
"Where are you headed to next?" Brooke asked. Allison handed her schedule. "Algebra 2 with Mr. Fort. Ugh, he's so boring, but don't worry his tests are easy."
"Thanks," Allison laughed. "Do we have any other classes together?"
Brooked looked over Allison's schedule quickly. "Yup! World History, last period. I'll see you then?" Allison nodded and the girls went their separate ways.
Just as Brooke was walking into her "Lifetime Nutrition and Wellness" class, she felt her phone buzz. It was a text from her dad.
An e-mail was sent to all the parents this morning. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Brooke was thinking what her dad was thinking. She just really, really hoped they were wrong.
******
The school day passed slowly much to Brooke's chagrin. At the end of World History, Brooke joined Allison at her locker, sending a text to Lydia to join them.
"That jacket is absolutely killer," she heard a voice say. Brooke turned to see Lydia making her way towards them. "Where'd you get it?"
That's all it took for Brooke to decide that her and Lydia would become best friends with the girl. Soon enough, Jackson joined the three in the hallway, inviting Allison to the party he was throwing on Friday.
"I can't, it's family night this Friday," Allison denied the request. "Thanks for asking, though."
"Come on, everyone's going after the scrimmage," Brooke said. She genuinely wanted the brunette to come. She was tired of being Lydia and Jackson's third wheel.
"You mean like football?" Allison asked. The other three teens shook their heads.
"Football's a joke in Beacon Hills," Jackson said. "The sport here is lacrosse. We've won state championships for the past three years."
"Because of a certain team captain," Lydia said before giving Jackson a sickening kiss. Allison quickly averted her eyes.
"You'll get used to it," Brooke said, gesturing towards the two.
"Really?"
"No," Brooke admitted. Allison let out a laugh, and Lydia and Jackson split apart.
Somehow, Lydia had managed to convince Allison to watch the lacrosse practice, and Brooke found herself sitting between the two. Brooke didn't care much for the sport, but Lydia was her ride home.
Brooke let her eyes roam the field. Her eyes found themselves settling on the goalie, and she quickly realized it was one of the boys she had noticed earlier. Allison noticed him too, and asked Lydia and Brooke if they knew anything about him.
Just as they were finished answering, a ball flew from one of the players and proceeded to hit the poor kid in the head. Brooke let out a laugh, but quickly covered it with a fake cough when Allison elbowed her in the ribs. However, the kid soon redeemed himself and began to catch every ball thrown his way.
"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison said.
"Yeah," Lydia agreed absentmindedly. "Very good."
Brooke nodded in agreement with Lydia and leaned forward in her seat. She knew she was probably just overthinking, but the boy's reflexes were quick— too quick. After watching the rest of practice – and learning the boy's last name was McCall due to Coach Finstock's yelling—Brooke decided she was going to have to do something about the situation. She only wished her mother was still alive. She'd know what to do, Brooke thought.
******
Later that evening, after lacrosse practice had ended and Lydia had dropped her off at home, Brooke found herself at the kitchen island. She didn't have that much homework, but she figured she'd start it now to get it out of the way.
Her concentration, however, was soon broken by the sound of two voices coming from the reserve behind her house. Standing up from the stool she was sat at, Brooke made her way to the window above her kitchen sink. Sure enough, she could see too lanky bodies in the distance.
Sighing, she walked through the back door to go and remind the kids that this part of the reserve was closed to the public. Once she got closer, she realized that it was the McCall kid and his friend from earlier. Why did it seem like these two were everywhere?
"Hey, you can't be back here. It's private property," She called towards the two boys.
"Yes, we know," McCall's friend said exasperatedly, running his hand over his buzzed hair. When he looked up and saw Brooke Moore standing in front of him with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised, he froze.
Stiles Stilinski had been in love with Brooke Moore since the fourth grade. She had just joined them in school, having been homeschooled before that. He had fantasized about talking to her before, but never dreamed the first thing he said to her would be "Yeah, we know." His face turned red.
"If you know, then why are you still here?" Brooke asked.
"We just found out," McCall said, answering for his friend that still seemed frozen. "Derek Hale just told us."
"Derek Hale?" Brooked asked. She felt her heart beat quicken.
"Uh, yeah, you know him?"
"Duh," Brooked laughed. "Our families share this part of the preserve." She focused her attention back on Scott. "You're McCall, right?"
"Yeah, Scott McCall." He answered.
Brooke nodded your head. "And you are?" Brooke asked the boy beside him.
The sound of her voice broke Stiles out of his trance. Part of him was excited she was talking to him, while the other part of him was offended she didn't know his name.
"Uh, Stilinski. Stiles Stilinski. Stiles is a nickname!" Stiles quickly shouted back. "We've, uh, gone to school together since the fourth grade."
"Right," Brooke said slowly. She had no idea who he was. "Anyways, I'm gonna go." She quickly took off towards the direction of the Hale house. When she was a few yards away, she felt the unmoving presence of the two boys behind her.
Turning back around she told them, "Don't trespass again. These woods can be really dangerous if you don't know where you're going." With that, she turned and walked away. Scott could still smell the scent of her chamomile shampoo.
"Dude!" Stiles said. "I finally talked to her!"
"Yeah, because she was yelling at you to get off her land," Scott retorted. Stiles hit him on the back of the head.
"Shut up, wolf-boy," he joked, referring to his lycanthropy joke from earlier. Scott groaned.
Little did Stiles know at the time, that lycanthropy wasn't a joke. Later that night, Stiles sat in his room googling and researching everything he could on werewolves. His thoughts swarmed with ideas as he imagined his best friend as a blood thirsty monster.
Across town, Brooke Moore was burying a body.