I glanced both ways in the hallway, making sure no one was around. Thankfully, it was empty, so I quickly opened my locker and stacked my folded clothes in there. I left a few in the bag under the bush outside my house, but I needed somewhere to keep them. Here seemed better than nowhere.
I shut my locker, and immediately my mind went fuzzy like I was drunk. I felt light-headed like I was going to pass out at any second. I had felt the same way when I changed back this morning. I guess it was just going to be a thing.
Grabbing a change of clothes, I headed down to the locker room to shower. I got to school an hour early purely so I could do this in private. I didn't need people asking questions.
My shower was quick, mostly because I was having a hard time staying on my feet. I had to keep grabbing the wall to balance myself. I'd get used to the shift, but for now I felt weak and tired. It was even hard to gather the energy to turn off the water.
I dried and dressed quickly, sticking my hair in a ponytail because I didn't feel like messing with it.
Finally, class started. Stiles greeted me as he came in. He was looking perkier than normal, and if I had energy, I would've asked why. I smiled lightly at him as he sat down next to me, giving me a weird look.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Why do you ask?" I said, trying to sound nonchalant. He glanced down at my feet with a small smile like he thought I was cute.
"You're wearing two different shoes."
I looked down at my feet to see one white van and one black and white converse. How did that even happen?
"I just woke up late," I covered. He accepted that answer, and I looked around the room. "Hey, where's Scott?" Stiles shrugged, and I frowned. Helpful.
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I walked home slowly, saving up my energies. Neither Scott nor Liam had shown up today, which worried me slightly. Especially after what happened on the roof, which, by the way, the police were all over.
As I walked past Scott's house, from inside I heard both Scott's and Stiles' voices, and then a third rapid heartbeat, sending out waves of panic and anger to me.
"Oh, no," I muttered. Please let that not be who I think it is. Please, please tell me Scott has not kept Liam hostage the entire day. There was a loud crash and I immediately climbed my way up to Scott's window.
Getting to the window was more of a pain then I remembered it being. It was harder than almost anything I'd ever done, and by the time I actually got up, I was breathless. I leaned against the wall for a bit before finding the strength to go inside.
Scott and Stiles groaned in pain as they stumbled out of the room. Stiles was holding his eye like he'd been punched, and there were pieces of a broken wooden chair scattered on the floor. And duct tape. But no Liam. Great. They were idiots.
"Get him!" Stiles screamed. Both boys ran out of sight screaming, then a third scream joined them. That was Liam's scream. I ran out just in time to see all of them fly down the stairs, groaning in pain.
I walked over to the edge of the stairwell, standing at the top and watching Stiles and Scott wrestle each other while Liam ran outside.
"I got him!" Stiles said as he grabbed onto Scott's leg. "I got him, I got him!" I watched them without moving, my hands on my hips and a frown on my face. It slowly perked up into a smile as the sight of my goofy boys.
"How do you morons manage to do anything?" I chuckled. Upon hearing my voice, they stopped fighting to glance around. Stiles' foot was pressed against Scott's cheek as he let go of Scott's leg, and Scott shoved Stiles' foot away.
"Your plan sucked, too," Scott grumbled to Stiles as they stared out the open door.
"Okay. I'm leaving." I walked down the stairs and stepped past them. Once I was on the porch, I turned around to give them disapproving looks. "Both of you? Idiots. See you tomorrow."
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I made sure my shoes matched today as I sat next to Kira and Lydia in chemistry. Lydia was staring at her laptop. There was some type of code on it that was way out of my reach. She was trying to figure it out, while I was just struggling to stay seated in the stool. The shift wasn't getting any easier, and it didn't help that I was only eating once a day.
I had already lost quite a few pounds, and I was sure it was due to the energy it took to change twice a day.
"Those are your math notes?" Kira asked, looking with confusion at Lydia's laptop. "No wonder Malia's failing."
"No, that's code," I muttered, my chin resting in my hand as I tried to keep my eyes from fluttering closed. When they opened again, both Lydia and Kira were staring at me.
"How do you know it's code?" Lydia asked. Maybe she hadn't been trying to figure out the code.
"My dad, he was a computer whiz," I replied.
"So can you figure it out?" Kira asked.
Even though I knew it was futile, I leaned over to glance at the laptop. I stared at it for a few seconds, letting them believe I was cracking it. "No." Lydia rolled her eyes as I leaned back over to my space.
"Maybe it's like the Enigma Code the Allies used," Kira suggested. "Remember my dad was a WWII buff? And my mom was, well, in it?"
Lydia shook her head, biting her lip at the screen. "No, I think this is a variation on something called the Vigenere Cipher."
"Do you know how to crack it?" I asked.
"With a key."
Suddenly, a set of keys dangled in front of my face as Lydia's mom, also the principal, held them out for her.
"That key?" I asked jokingly.
"Remember the rules," Natalie Martin said. "No more than six people allowed in the lake house. Stay out of the wine. And if anything gets broken, it's getting added to your credit card debt." Wow... Supportive.
"Fine," Lydia said. She made a grab for the keys, but Natalie pulled them out of the way.
"And lock up the basement. From all the scratch marks I found on the walls, it looked like a pack of wild animals got down there." Natalie placed the keys in Lydia's hand while she smiled awkwardly, and I held back a snigger. That wild animal would be Malia, who still couldn't control her shift on the full moon.
Kira smiled at me, sharing a mental joke as Natalie walked away. Lydia's phone rang, and she put it on speaker.
"Is Y/N with you?" Stiles asked.
"Right here," I mumbled, my words slurred a bit from exhaustion.
"Why haven't you been answering? I've been texting you all morning."
I frowned and pulled my hone out of my pocket. It had no service and no connection. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment as I said, "Sorry. The bill isn't paid..."
"Oh..." There was a silence of pity that everyone seemed to participate in, and it made me feel inferior. I hated it. "It's okay, just meet me and Scott by the buses, okay? All of you." Stiles hung up quickly and I gathered my things, keeping my eyes away from the two girls.
When we got there, Scott said, "Liam's turning. His bite is completely healed." I groaned in anger. Great, we just took another life. We gave him another, but that still doesn't make me feel any better about it.
As if she already knew what Scott was going to suggest, Malia frowned. "I'm not sharing my basement."
"Actually, it's my basement," Lydia countered in that authoritative 'it's my house, my rules' kind of tone. "And my mom noticed how you tore it up last time."
"Alright, she's still learning," Stiles said defensively. I frowned at him. Since when did he defend Malia?
"But we were gunna use the boathouse for Liam. It's got support beams. We can chain him to one of them," Scott said. Lydia didn't like the idea, judging by the look on her face.
"But how do we get him into the lake house if he doesn't trust us?" Kira asked.
"I say if it keeps him from murdering someone, we chloroform the little bastard and throw him into the lake," Stiles suggested. Malia shrugged like she thought it was a good idea, and the comaraderie between the pair were making me confused.
Ignoring that, I snapped, "We're not killing or kidnapping him!" Stiles and Malia frowned at me, but Stiles' was heavier. The longer I looked at the two, the more I could taste the sexual attraction between them. And the angrier I got.
"Then let's be smarter," Lydia said to ease the obvious tension between us. "We'll tell him there's a party and invite him."
"So, you're gunna ask out a freshman boy?" Stiles asked with disbelief.
Lydia scoffed, "No. I'm done with teenage boys."
"Then who does it?" Kira asked.
"I'll do it." Again, Stiles frowned at me, and the rest just looked like they were confused why I was offering. "Well, Scott and Stiles can't do it because he already kind of hates you guys, and he hasn't seen me with them yet. And if this is strictly to protect and help him, I'll do it. Unless you wanna do it?" I looked at Kira, but I already knew her answer.
"No way," Kira replied. I nodded and shrugged like 'there you go'.
"I don't like it," Stiles said immediately.
"Well, that doesn't really matter anymore," I snapped, and he pursed his lips at me. "The bell is about to ring. I'll catch you guys later." I quickly walked away from them, but it was mainly to get away from Stiles and Malia. Was I reading the situation right?
No, of course not. I was being paranoid. And my lack of sleep, energy, and sustenance wasn't helping.
I listened for Liam's voice, then waited at the top of the stairs for him to come out of the classroom. As soon as the bell rang, and he started walking out with his friend, I called his name. He glanced up at me with dopey eyes as I descended the stairs. Halfway down, my mind went fuzzy and I felt like I was walking with beer goggles on.
I looked down, but I couldn't see the step. There were three of them where one was supposed to be. I took the step anyway, hoping I'd be right. My vision went black as my foot hit the stair wrong. A scream came from my mouth as I plummeted to the floor.
The impact must've made my body snap back to normal because I could suddenly see again, I wasn't light-headed, and I was laying at Liam's feet. He quickly bent down, setting one hand on my shoulder.
"Woah, are you okay?" he asked. I gazed up at him, fighting the urge to hug him and rock him gently.
Blowing hair out of my face, I smiled. "Fine. Hey, um, do you want to go to a party tonight?" He looked confused at first, his eyebrows jumping up with surprise. Then a cute little smile spread on his face. He held out his hand, and I let him help me up, smiling at him. I just wanted one hug. Just to get it out of my system.
I obviously didn't do that.
"Yeah, that sounds great," Liam smiled.
"Great. Why don't you give me your number and..." It crossed my mind that my phone didn't work. "Actually, what's your address? I'll just pick you up." He wrote it down for me, and I thanked him. "See you tonight." I waved to his friend, who had stayed in the back away from the interaction, and walked away.
The first thing I did was walk straight into the bathroom and splash water on my face. What the hell was going on with me? I felt angry and on edge, and it seemed like I was getting weaker by the minute. I thought about asking my friends for help, but I could handle it. It would get easier. I was simply adjusting.
With a stern nod to my reflection, I walked back out to complete my school day.