CHAPTER THREE:
SECOND CHANCE AT FIRST LINE, PART ONE
The rest of the weekend was a lot calmer than Friday night, and Brooke was grateful for the normality of it all. She went to the movies with Allison and Lydia, seeing the latest Rom-Com movie, and spent the rest of her time doing homework and training with her dad.
Brooke loved spending time with her dad, even if it was spent running through the reserve and him training her in self-defense. Despite being covered in sweat and completely exhausted, those times with her dad were her favorite.
Unfortunately, like all good things, the weekend came to an end. Bryan had left for Hawaii Sunday night and Brooke was forced to drink her coffee by herself Monday morning. She dreaded going to school, knowing the bubble she lived in all weekend was soon going to be popped.
Brooke parked her Honda Civic in the school's parking lot, and let out a groan before climbing out. She hadn't even been walking towards the school for thirty seconds before she heard her name being called.
"What do you want, Stilinski?" Brooke asked as the boy fell into step besides her.
"You never told me how you knew about Scott and Derek." Stiles was surprised at how confident his voice sounded. In reality, he was terrified to be talking to the blonde girl beside him. Not only did his six-year-long crush affect his ability to speak around her, but the fact that she knew about the supernatural both scared and intrigued him.
"I told you it was a long story," Brooke answered him.
"I've got time."
"That's nice, but I've got class." Brooke walked faster towards the building, hoping to lose Stiles. Unfortunately, the boy's legs were just as long as hers and he was able to keep up easily.
"Brooke, wait," Stiles said, reaching for her arm. She shook his hand off and quickly turned on him. She looked him directly in the eyes, only having to slightly tilt her chin up.
"Look, Stilinski. Just because your buddy is suddenly a werewolf doesn't mean you know everything about the supernatural. All you need to focus on is helping Scott, okay?" Brooke turned around quickly, hitting Stiles with her ponytail.
Brooke stalked off towards her classroom, and rolled her eyes when she remembered she shared the class with Stiles and Scott. Luckily, Allison was already in the room when she got there and the two girls quickly began talking, ignoring Scott and Stiles when they walked in the room.
The rest of the day went by similarly—Brooke talking with her friends and doing her best to avoid Stiles. At the end of the day she found herself on the lacrosse field, watching practice to make sure Scott didn't shift on the field. Brooke glanced around the field and saw Derek hiding under the bleachers. Quickly excusing herself to Lydia, Brooke joined Derek and he told her about what happened the past full moon.
"I can't believe you had to save him from hunters during his first full moon. Talk about shit luck."
Derek nodded his head in agreement. He looked over to the practice field and Brooke followed his gaze. The team was doing some sort of drill where they had to get the ball past Jackson and the goalie.
"Did you find anything else out? About Laura?" Brooke asked him, redirecting his attention away from the field.
"No," He shook his head. "Were you able to research anything in your mom's books?"
Brooke heaved a sigh. "Coronal dismemberment is often used by hunters, but I don't think they did this. The Argents just moved here, and I felt like something was wrong before they even got to Beacon Hills."
"It's possible they're after Laura's killer." He said. Brooke raised her eyebrows.
"You think they killed her knowing she was the alpha."
Derek nodded his head, but their attention got pulled back to the field as they heard the loud Clash! of two bodies running into each other. Jackson was lying on his back on the field, his team members surrounding him. Brooke looked around and found Stilinski leaning over Scott.
"He's shifting!" Brooke said, hitting Derek in the shoulder.
The two of them watched Stilinski drag Scott off the field and towards the locker room. Stilinski glanced up and raised his eyebrows at the sight of Derek and Brooke standing together, but was quickly distracted by his growling friend.
"Aren't you going to go help them?" Derek asked.
"Do I have to?" The look on Derek's face informed her that, yes, she did have to go and help them. While she knew it was her responsibility to watch after the new werewolf, she didn't exactly want to stop him from killing Stiles. The kid was annoying, and asked far too many questions.
When Brooke entered the school, she heard commotion coming from the boy's locker room. Walking into the doorway, she found Scott crouched on a bench and Stiles cowering against the wall.
"Oh, for Christ's sake," Brooke muttered. She grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall behind Stiles and pulled the pin, aiming the foam at Scott. Once the air had cleared, Brooke and Stiles saw Scott sitting on the bench, head in his hands.
"What happened?" Scott asked.
"You tried to kill me," Stiles told him, gasping loudly. Brooke set the fire extinguisher down. "I told you, your pulse rising is a trigger."
"But that's lacrosse!" Scott said. "It's a pretty violent game if you hadn't noticed."
Stiles sat on the ground in front of Scott. "Well it's going to be a lot more violent if you kill someone on the field. You can't play in the game Saturday."
"He's right," Brooke said, taking a step closer to the two boys. Scott looked up at the sound of her voice. His eyes widened at the site of Brooke Moore, once of the most popular girls in school, talking to him. He looked at Stiles with a confused look on his face.
"Oh, yeah. She knows." Stiles told his friend. "Probably more than she's willing to share."
Brooke rolled her eyes at the second half of Stiles' statement. She squatted in front of Scott. "Trust me, Scott. There's no way you'll be able to control your anger. You can't play on Saturday."
******
It appeared as if Scott had to play on Saturday.
Jackson had a separated shoulder from Scott running into him during practice, and the team was relying on Scott to bring them to victory. Brooke huffed angrily at the news when Lydia told her. Assuming she was angry about Jackson's shoulder, Lydia ranted about the injury and how she was going to try and convince Jackson to get cortisone shots before the game.
Brooke didn't really pay attention as Lydia talked through the phone, and instead sent a text to Derek. He told her that he had gone to Scott's house to warn him not to play, but when she heard that Derek had shoved him against a wall in the process, she knew Scott wasn't going to listen.
That's how Brooke found herself outside the Stilinski home on Wednesday night. She tapped her fingers against her leg anxiously after she rang the doorbell. Sheriff Stilinski opened the door and a look of surprise covered his face when he saw Brooke Moore on the other side.
"Hello," the sheriff greeted her. "Can I help you?"
"Is your son home?" Brooke asked him.
His eyes widened. "Are you sure you're at the right house?"
Brooke laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure. Stiles and I have Algebra together. He said I could borrow his notes," she lied effortlessly. They didn't even have a math class together.
Sheriff Stilinski nodded his head. "STILES!" he yelled, making Brooke flinch slightly. "Someone's at the door for you!"
Stiles ran down the stairs, expecting to see Scott waiting with his dad. He had to do a double take when he saw it was Brooke instead.
"Oh, uh, hey?" Stiles said, even though it came out like a question. Sheriff Stilinski looked between the two before turning back to the kitchen, leaving the two alone.
"Do you want to come inside?" Stiles asked.
Brooke shook her head. "No, that's okay." Stiles closed the door behind him and joined her on the front porch. The situation reminded him of the two standing on Brooke's front porch the week before. He blushed.
"Did you do it?" Brooke asked, gaining his attention.
"Do what?" Stiles asked. He blushed some more.
Brooke rolled her eyes. "Convince Scott not to play in the game Saturday. I know Derek went over to his house, but because of his over-dramatic ways I doubt Scott took him seriously."
"Why can't you talk to him about it?"
"He won't listen to me, Stilinski. We barely know each other." Brooke sighed. "You're his best friend, if he's going to listen to anyone it's going to be you."
"Well, maybe he'll be able to control his anger on the field," Stiles said, even though he knew he was wrong.
Brooke shook her head. "He's been a werewolf for a week and a half, Stilinski. There's no way he'll be able to control it. I'm assuming Scott told you about the hunters?"
Stiles nodded.
"Well, if Scott shifts on the field, the hunters will kill him," Brooke said. "They'll kill them, then Derek, then the rest of us."
"Wait, are you a werewolf too?" Stiles asked.
"What? No, of course not," Brooke said dismissively.
"Well then what are you?" Stiles blurted. He quickly realized how rude he sounded and placed his over his mouth, blushing even more.
Brooke bit her lip. "It's complicated."
"I get complicated. My entire life has been complicated since we came back to school," Stiles told her.
"You don't even know the half of it, Stilinski." Brooke almost laughed.
"Well then why don't you just tell me?" Stiles countered her. Brooke just shook her head and made her way back to her car.
"Convince Scott not to play in the game."
Stiles didn't get a chance to answer her. She climbed in her car and quickly drove away. Stiles watched as her taillights faded into the night. When Stiles opened the door, he found his father waiting for him with a smirk on his face.
Noah Stilinski gave Stiles a knowing look and said, "So, Brooke Moore?"
******
Brooke spent her Friday afternoon in the hospital.
She had gone with Lydia as moral support while Jackson got a cortisone shot. Brooke sat in the waiting room with Lydia by her side. The girls had been waiting for almost an hour, and Brooke couldn't help but be annoyed. There was no way it took an hour to give someone a shot.
Brooke had plugged her headphones into her phone and was listening to a Top 40's station when she felt an elbow dig into her side. Lydia was unclipping the blue tooth piece from her ear and gesturing to the lanky boy standing in front of them.
Brooke furrowed her brows as she stared up at Stiles. "I'm sorry, were you saying something?"
"If so, was it worth repeating?" Lydia continued.
"No, nope. I'm just gonna sit over here." Stilinski rambled. "You don't care." He turned the corner and sat in a chair, picking up a pamphlet on menstruation.
Brooke rolled her eyes and put her headphones back in her ears. She couldn't enjoy her music however, because she felt someone's eyes on the side of her face. Double checking that Lydia was back on the phone and not paying attention to her, Brooke took out her headphones again and turned towards Stiles.
"What?" She snapped, catching him already looking at her.
"Nothing!" Stiles said quickly.
"Why are you even here?" Brooke asked.
"I'm just waiting on Scott. He's visiting his mom—she's not sick or anything! She's a nurse here. So, I'm just sitting here waiting for him. Nothing else is going on."
"Sure," Brooke said. She lowered her voice. "And is Scott telling his mom that he's not playing in the game tomorrow?"
Before Stiles could answer, Jackson entered the waiting room. Brooke turned back around and she and Lydia stood up to join him.
"Well?" Brooke asked.
"He said not to make a habit out of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me," Jackson answered.
"You should get one right before the game too." Lydia added. "The pros do it all the time. Do you want to be a little high school amateur, or do you want to go pro?"
Jackson's disgruntled expression faded as Lydia leaned in to kiss him. Lydia pulled Jackson towards the exit, and Brooke followed them. She quickly turned back around, making eye contact with Stiles.
"For the love of God, Stilinski, please don't do anything stupid."