Scott had been right, Chris and Kate Argent were indeed watching him from afar as he exited the Lacrosse field at a painfully slow pace, the hunters talking in hushed tones and exchanging theories explaining the young man's behavior. Allison saw the way they looked at her former boyfriend -- although she hated referring to him as such and very much hoped their story wasn't over yet -- and she had thought their visible distaste for him found its source in their recent breakup. She had tried sharing her doubts with Lydia but her friend had barely paid her any mind, too busy checking her phone every five second to even pretend to be listening to Allison's story. This had left Allison feeling quite lonely, as if she was left out from the group of people who had welcomed her in Beacon Hills. As if they all shared something they couldn't share with her, a secret that she was not meant to be aware of. Just like with her family.
Allison had about enough of being kept in the dark, so this evening, she made a decision. No more secrets. She would confront her family first, but she didn't want to do it too soon, or without having enough information to support her doubts. She sat closer to her aunt and her father, who suddenly stopped talking and looked at her with kind smiles, their expressions vastly different from a second earlier. Allison smiled back as convincingly as she could and they left the field, talking about everything but Scott and the game they had just watched. Allison would learn nothing from them with such a direct approach, at least this was clear. It was time to trick her own family, then.
But Allison was not a trickster, and despite her best efforts, she was asleep on her bed long before she could devise the perfect plan, the one that would confirm her suspicions and allow her to confront her father and her aunt in a manner so brilliant, they would not only tell her everything, but also congratulate her on her intelligence and craftiness.
But what Allison lacked in cunningness, she made up for in luck. In this instance, luck had assumed the form of a loud noise that stirred her out of her sleep, bringing her to open her eyes and suddenly sit up on her bed, wide awake. It was the middle of the night, the perfect time for mischief. Allison got up, pushing her hair out of her face and silently making her way to the corridor. She tiptoed down the stairs, following the sound of faint voices she recognized instantly.
Her aunt and her father were talking in hushed whispers somewhere to her right, in a tone too low for her to understand any of the words they used. What was clear was that they disagreed on something, since their discussion sounded quite heated. Allison pushed her back against a wall when she heard a door open, hoping to disappear inside the concrete to avoid being spotted. The voices were getting louder, now accompanied by footsteps that seemed to be headed towards the kitchen.
The young girl tentatively looked around the corner of the wall she was hiding behind, just in time to see Kate gazing somewhere in her direction. Allison felt her heart beat harder in her chest, the fear of being caught invading her and making a cold shiver run down her spine. The consequences she so dreaded never happened, though, and this left Allison in quite a state of relief. She let out a heavy sigh and made her way to the garage her aunt had just exited, curious to see what the adults had been up to so late at night. She was not disappointed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What does that do?" Lydia asked, clearly curious to learn about the small object Allison was holding. The two teens were in the woods, where Allison had led Lydia right after school had ended. At first, the strawberry-blonde girl had been quite reluctant, but seeing how insistent her friend was, she had complied to her strange request.
"We're about to find out," Allison answered without missing a beat, her tone full of confidence. She was expertly holding a bow, gently placing an arrow against the string and taking aim at a tree. She focused on her breathing, relaxed her shoulders and let the arrow she had found in her family garage the previous night fly.
Both girls took a step back when the arrow exploded against the tree, a bright light shining right at the moment of impact and a deafening noise making their ears ring. They stared at the tree, wide-eyed at the sight of a large burnt mark that darkened the bark.
"What the hell was that?" Lydia breathed, still quite shaken by the display of the exploding arrow.
"I don't know," Allison answered, equally taken aback.
"Well... that was fun! Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?" Lydia spat, this trip far away from the peaceful and relaxing walk she had envisioned. She had about enough of dangerous situations lately, and if she had to watch out for Allison exhibiting hazardous behaviors as well, she was about certain she would lose it in less than a week.
But Allison seemed set on putting herself in harm's way, so when she heard the sound of a twig being snapped in the distance, her first reflex was to hand Lydia her bow and take her taser out of her bag, ready to point it at whatever was following them.
"Hold this," she instructed a slowly panicking Lydia.
"What? Why?"
"Because I thought I heard something," Allison answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She made a small gesture for Lydia to understand she would better be silent and not give out their position, but the other girl did not feel like obeying.
"So what if you heard something?" Lydia replied, exasperated.
"So I want to find out what that something is. Don't worry. It's probably nothing," Allison tried to be reassuring, convinced Lydia was scared. The truth was, Lydia was indeed scared, but that was only because she knew what kind of creatures roamed the woods. Like Jamie's father, who sounded like a true nightmare to deal with. After hearing the boys' account of what had happened less than 24 hours prior, she hoped never to meet her in-law.
"Well, what if that nothing is something and that something is something dangerous?" she tried to warn Allison, the words coming out of her mouth too fast and making her sound much more panicked than she really was. Or maybe spending so much time with Stiles had made her more inclined to confuse people with long, overly complicated sentences.
"I'll shoot it," Allison deadpanned.
The taser-wielding teen was true to her word, because the second she laid eyes on the silhouette of a man following her, she squeezed the trigger and tazed her target. Her heart dropped in her chest when she realized who it was.
"Scott? Oh! Oh, God! Oh, God... I'm so, so, so sorry," Allison panicked, rushing at her former boyfriend's side. He was on the ground, groaning in pain and doing his best to look brave and strong despite his trembling arms.
"Oh, no, it's my fault. Totally my fault," Scott managed to say between gritted teeth, sincerity painted on his face.
Lydia watched them interact from afar, hiding the smile that was threatening to grace her lips and that could betray her amusement. These two were cute, she had to admit it. Seeing them together made her think of Jamie, and how he had looked when he had told her who his father was. But the thrill of being reunited with him had been stronger than whatever unfathomable feeling this revelation had made blossom in her chest. As far as she was concerned, Jamie's father was Henry Tate, and she had made her view on the matter clear. It had made Jamie look at her like Scott was looking at Allison, eyes shining with that unmistakable spark of adoration and gratefulness.
"What were you doing here anyway? Were you following us?" Allison asked Scott, the conversation going on while Lydia was reminiscing.
"Not at all. Your Dad told me that you run this trail sometimes, and I was hoping to catch you alone," Scott explained, not realizing how much of a creeper it made him sound. He was so focused on Allison, savoring each second spent in her company so much, that he didn't notice Lydia walking away from them, leaving them some space to mend their relationship. Scott didn't care about the Alpha anymore. It was time for a new cycle in his mind, that seemed caught in a loop alternating between worrying about Allison, then about the supernatural, then about Allison again. But in this moment, all that mattered was the girl standing right in front of him, and the fact that she was willing to give him a yet another second chance.