Chapter 3
It was finally Friday, and that always got me up in a good mood. It also helped that I could smell pancakes being made downstairs. Quickly getting ready for school, I put on a pair of distressed jeans with a thick mustard-colored turtleneck sweater, tucked at the front of my jeans. Slipping into a pair of black wedge boots, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.
Mom must have gotten home this morning. She always made time to make breakfast if I was still in the house. These past few days she had been taking more night shifts which caused me not to see her very often but I had Stiles to entertain me. Even if a few times I have caught him researching werewolves. I wanted to make him stop, distract him, but nothing really helped. He would only jump back into his research soon after.
"Good morning, sweetheart," my mother called over to me as I entered the kitchen.
I hopped onto the bar seat, smiling over to her, "Morning, Mom!"
"I hope you don't mind pancakes for breakfast," she joked.
I laughed as I thanked her, taking the plate that she was offering to me. She pulled up a seat beside me as we ate our fill of the delicious meal she had made for us. I was about to get up and do the dishes when I heard the familiar jeep turning into my driveway.
"Stiles' here!" I exclaimed, "Can I leave you my plate, mom?"
She laughed, "When are you finally going to tell the poor boy?"
"MOM!" I exclaimed, turning a bit pink before saying my goodbyes and exiting my house.
Hopping into the passenger seat, quickly, I didn't have enough time to remove the blush on my face as Stiles looked over to me.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Widening my eyes, I just nodded, "Yeah. Mom is just being embarrassing early in the morning."
He laughed at that and began to pull out of my driveway soon after. Once I had regained my composure, I turned my attention to Stiles' car radio and turned it on. My favorite song began to come through as I glance at him. He smiled and glanced at me for a moment before singing along with the song. I giggled and joined him.
'You make me feel like I'm living a teenage, dream' we both sang at the top of our lungs.
I clapped as we sang as Stiles drummed his hands on the steering wheel. Yeah, we looked like idiots on the outside but really we were living it up. We didn't care as we just let loose. I noticed Stiles look over to me a few times but when it came to the part where Katy sings about skin-tight jeans, I noticed him look down to my own pair of jeans.
I smiled as I leaned a bit closer to him, almost starting to get over the gear shift as I sang, 'My, heart, stops. When you look at me. Just one touch. Now, baby, I believe. This is real. So take a chance!'
As I sang those lines, we had finally made it to the school parking lot. Stiles had a look in his eyes that caused me to stop singing altogether, allowing Katy to finish the last remaining verse of the song. Whatever I noticed in his eyes, made me want to close the gap between us but the radio host had to ruin the moment as it yelled out the intro to the current radio show. I coughed a bit as I returned to my seat. Stiles turned off his radio as he grew a bit red in the face. With a short clear of my throat, I began to get my things.
"We should head inside," I commented, "I need to go meet up with Lydia for the party later tonight."
"Yeah," Stiles agreed quicker than I thought he would, "I need to go find Scott."
We exited the car and went our separate ways. He went to look for Scott as I went to look for Lydia which was waiting patiently at our lockers for me.
"So tonight," she called out to me, "You need to be at my place before the party starts. Also, wear that red dress, you look great in it."
"I don't know if I can get there before the party, but I'll try," I replied getting into my locker, "I need to make sure my mom is not home or she would ask way too many questions about things."
"How is she?" she asked with a smile.
Lydia loves my mom. She has always been there for her whenever she needed another female opinion. To her, it was as if she had a second mother of her own. I love Lydia's mom as well, but she always seemed busy. I mean my own mother is normally MIA most of the time at the house, but when she is around, she is always there.
"She's doing just fine, really," I commented as I pulled out my English textbook, "How about your mom?"
She shrugged, "She's hanging in there, but not so well as it would seem."
The bell rang soon after she said that. I closed my locker as we said our goodbyes and heading to our classrooms. When I walked into the classroom, I see Stiles smiling over to me which caused me to blush a bit as I smiled back. I took my seat behind him like always and waited for the class to start.
It was once again after school, and I was following Lydia to Allison's locker so we can all go see the scrimmage. I noticed Stiles on his phone before he dashed to the lockers to change. Worried, I tried to follow him, but the hold that Lydia had on me stopped me from even trying to give chase. If it's important, I could always ask him later.
Like on the first day, we all sat on the bleachers, Lydia in between both Allison and I. We were talking about what we were planning to wear for the party later when I heard Stiles calling out to Scott. I excused myself from the girls for a moment as I came over to Stiles once Scott had ran off to the field for the scrimmage match.
"Something wrong?" I asked, "What's going on, Stiles..."
He sighed, "I didn't want to tell you but I overheard my dad on the phone earlier-"
"Again..." I sighed, "You need to stop listening in on your dad's calls, Stiles..."
"Listen to me! He got the results from the fiber analysis and they found out that there was animal hair on the body... wolf hair..."
"No..." I gasped, looking over to where Scott was getting into position for the game.
Everything was adding up to my assumptions, which only scared me. I don't want it to be true, but everything was leading to Scott being a werewolf. To make matters worse, he was going to the party with Allison.
I remembered the day I figured out that I had a crush on Stiles. My heart was racing from excitement and worry. One thing leads to the other and I ran out of the classroom back in middle school. My mom was able to cover it as an anxiety attack, which ended up being our usual cover-up story whenever I was on the brink of transformation.
Tonight might be the night I have to come out to Stiles about my largest secret if it comes down to it. I would rather it didn't but I knew it was bound to happen based on how things were looking. I was Stiles' first-hand guide to this world, but even I am still learning. From what I heard, everyone handles their change differently. We are going to need to find Scott's key before he kills anyone.
The whistle to start the game was much louder as Coach blew it very close to my ear before yelling at me, "Barnett!"
"Yes, coach?" I answered, covering my right ear as it continued to ring.
"You are one of my favorite students and my star track runner," he began in a calm tone before raising his voice at me, "But get off my field!"
"Yes, coach!" I exclaimed, making my way back to the bleachers.
I gave Stiles one more look before taking my seat next to Lydia. I gave them a quick excuse which they took before we watched the Scrimmage begin.
After the Scrimmage, Stiles dropped me at my place before heading back to his own place. I didn't see my mom's car in the driveway which meant she wasn't home. With a nod, I ran upstairs to get ready. I changed my hair from being pulled up as I let my hair down. Changing my makeup to red tones, I took out the red dress that Lydia had told her to wear.
It was an off the shoulder, long-sleeved, body con dress that clung to my body shape perfectly. The dress stopped a few inches over my knee and the back had an opening that revealed a bit of my lower back. Taking my black leather jacket with me, I pulled out a pair of black suede stiletto high heels and headed out of the room.
Just as I began to climb down the stairs I hear the door open to reveal my mother coming in with a few bags of groceries. I stopped moving in the hopes she wouldn't notice me but she looked up and stopped as well.
"Well you look like you are heading out to a party," she commented.
I finished descending the stairs as I replied, "You know Lydia. She always has a party planned. I'll be with Scott and Stiles so I'll be in good hands tonight."
"I'm not worried about you going out," she laughed, "I am worried for the poor sap that falls when they see you. You look amazing."
I was about to reply back when my phone stopped me. I expected it to be a text from Lydia but instead, it was from Stiles.
4:54 pm - Stiles: I need you to come over, like right now!
4:55 pm - Juliette: What's going on?
"Something wrong?" my mom asked, putting down the grocery bags on the counter.
I looked over at her. I wanted to tell her everything that has been happening but I didn't want to stress her out. I know how much of a handle she had to have on me and I saw it drains her. Once I had finally gotten control she began to look like she used to.
My phone pinged again but I just looked over to her and answered, "Yeah, Stiles wants me to come over before we head over to the party."
"Wouldn't it be better if you guys left from here since it's closer?" she asked.
"Yeah, but it would be closer for Scott, so we are just meeting halfway," I covered quickly.
She shrugged and began to take out the food from the paper bags, "Alright, you should go if that is Stiles blowing up your phone."
I laughed and walked over to her, giving her a quick kiss, "Thanks. I'll make sure to call if anything happens okay?"
"You better!" she laughed, "Now go on, have fun and be safe."
"Will do, mom!" I exclaimed as I got in my own car and began to drive over to Stiles' place.
It didn't take long to get to Stiles'. When I did, I parked outside his place seeing Mr. Stilinski walking out of the house in his uniform, meaning he was going back to work. I walked up the porch as I gave him a quick greeting and slipping through the door. I didn't give him any time to stop me as I dashed up the stairs as fast as I can.
"What's the situation!?" I exclaimed, barging into Stiles' room.
Stiles jumped out of his chair out of shock before composing himself, "You scared me! Warn someone when you are about to barge into their room!"
"Well, you told me to come over, like now!" I exclaimed, "So what happened?"
"I think we should tell Scott that he's a werewolf," he responded calmly.
"What?" I asked under my breath, "You can't do that... We don't even know if it's just something medical that the bite left behind."
"Come on, Juls," Stiles stood up from his desk chair, "All the evidence is leading to the same thing, and Scott need to know."
"Know what?" Scott came into the room as soon as Stiles ended his statement.
Stiles pulled Scott into his room before closing the door and turning over to Scott, "I have been looking at some things after what you said. Do you know why wolves howl? It's their way to signal to the rest of their pack."
"Wait a whole pack of wolves?" Scott asked, clearly amazed.
I had begun to pace around the room, not comfortable with all of this.
"No..." Stiles began glancing over to me, "A pack of werewolves..."
I crossed my arms around me, holding onto myself as tight as I can. I felt so exposed, more than the dress I was currently wearing was making me feel. This conversation was causing my breath to get thicker and my heart was pumping so fast.
"Are you seriously wasting my time with this?" Scott got up from the bed, "You know I have to go pick up Allison in an hour. Juliette, you don't seriously believe him do you?"
Before I could answer Stiles stopped Scott from heading to the door as he explained himself, "I saw you out there at the field. Okay... what you did wasn't just amazing, it was impossible."
Scott took a moment to look at Stiles before replying, "Yeah, I made a good shot..."
"No!" Stiles took Scott's backpack from his hands and tossed it on the bed, "That was an incredible shot! The way you moved, the speed, your reflexes? People can't become that good overnight. And there is the vision, the senses."
"Well Juliette has them as well," Scott pointed out, "Are you going to say that she's a werewolf as well?"
I stiffened at the accusation. I closed my eyes, trying to keep my control.
"Whatever, I can't do this now," Scott finally made up his mind, "Can we talk about this tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Stiles insisted, "Tonight's the full moon!"
"What?" I finally spoke up, "Is that true?"
"What are you trying to do, Stiles!" Scott ignored my outburst as he continued to drill Stiles, "I finally made first line, I am going out with a girl I can't believe wants to go out with me, my life seems to finally feel perfect! Why can't you just be happy for me?"
"You're cursed, Scott..." Stiles commented, "And it's not just the moon, it's also your blood lust. Your urge to kill..."
"Well I am starting to have the urge," Scott hissed.
That threat snapped me to attention toward the two as I began to smell Scott's wolf beginning to surface.
"Just listen to this," Stiles took a book into his hands and began to read from it, "Blood lust is increased by anger and the elevation of your heart rate. And I don't know what else can elevate your heart rate like Allison can do to you. You need to cancel this date."
"What are you doing..." Scott asked as Stiles went into his backpack and pulling out Scott's cell phone from within it, "Give it to me!"
I watched as Scott took ahold of Stiles' collar and pinned him to the wall. The sight angered me, as I went over to Scott and held onto his arm. He was strong, but I am as well.
"Don't you dare hurt him, Scott!" I yelled at him.
He pushed me out of the way as he hissed back at me, "Stay out of it!"
I fell on the floor as I yelped in pain from landing incorrectly on top of the fact that he had scratched me across my face. I held my face as I stayed on the floor. The sight of me in pain snapped Scott out of it, but it allowed Stiles to push Scott out of the way to rush over to me. Scott backed away from us as he apologized and dashed out of the room.
"Oh my god, Juliette!" Stiles exclaimed, "You're bleeding."
I looked down at my blood-covered hand. Stiles turned my face to look at him. The touch was soothing, but the look in his eyes caused my blood to go cold. A slight tingle ran through the fresh cuts, and I knew very well what just happened. I was healing before his eyes.
He backed away from me as he asked, "What are you?"
The fear in his voice caused me to flinch and back away from him out of fear of him hating me but I answered him, "I... I wanted to tell you when my mother told me, but I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone..."
"Juliette, you're avoiding the question," Stiles told me sternly.
I hung my head as I told him, "You're right about Scott... I knew the same day he showed us the bite... I... I was just afraid to say it was true..."
"Why?" he asked, "How would you have known?"
I took a deep breath before I turned up to look at him with my own golden hued eyes, "Because I am one as well... I'm a werewolf."