Chapter 7
My chest hurts. I feel like my lungs are on fire but I am not sure why. My entire body was cold but I couldn't figure out why that is. I was surrounded by darkness, but when the growl rumbled around me, my vision snapped into place.
Gasping for air, I sat up from my bed as I clutched my chest. My heart is beating so hard. My entire body was drenched in a cold sweat as I looked at every corner of my moonlit room. My eyes snapped to the sight of my curtains wide open to reveal the opened window.
Someone was here.
I quickly grabbed a hoodie from the chair by my door and dashed out of my room. My wolf was going crazy from the clear sight of my territory being invaded by someone. I needed to be with someone, anyone. When I entered my mother's room, I found her bed made.
She was at work.
Without a thought, I dashed out of the house and made a beeline to the only person that could calm me.
Stiles.
It didn't take long to get to his place due to my werewolf abilities, but when I noticed that Noah's car was in the driveway beside Stiles' I had to figure out how not to wake him up. I quietly made my way to the side of the house I knew Stiles' window was located. Glancing around me before I began to climb up to the window.
I was grateful for the fact that his window was under some of the porch roofs as I gave the glass pane a light tap. It took a few more taps to stir Stiles awake. When he looked over to his window, I could make out he was still in his sleepy daze as he called out to me.
"Juliette?" his voice whispered.
I offered an innocent smile as I replied with, "Can I come in?"
Stiles rubbed his eyes a bit as he crossed the room and to his window, I was sitting by. As soon as he opened and stepped to the side of his window, I climbed through the threshold. Once I planted my feet on his wood floors, I hugged him.
"Juliette?" Stiles' voice was more awake now as he hugged me back, "Are you okay? Did something happen?"
I nestled my face in the crook of his neck as I took in his smell, calming me so much. I nodded as a reply, but it was not enough for him as he guided me to his bed and sat together. I didn't let go of him as he rubbed my back, waiting for me to give him a verbal answer.
"Can I sleep here tonight?" I asked, my voice shaking at the memory of what had transpired in my room, "I don't want to be alone tonight."
Stiles tilted my face to look into my eyes. He didn't say anything after he took in whatever he was looking for, and he kissed my forehead. He got up and walked to the window to close it up once more. I followed him with my eyes as he climbed into his bed and held his covers up for me to climb in with him.
"Come on," he smiled, "I'll stay with you."
I wanted to cry in his arms, but I held back tears as I took off my hoodie and climbed into the spot he had offered me. I held onto him as he held me back. I fell asleep to his hand combing through my hair and the steady beat of his heartbeat right in my ear.
---
"- don't even want to know..." was the first thing I heard as I began to open my eyes.
The first thing I took in was the scent of Stiles and his warmth. That's when I noticed that I was clinging to his back as he continued to sleep, not to mention the fact that Mr. Stilinski had just noticed us. I grew red in the face as I detached myself from Stiles.
"Mr. Stilinski!" I whispered loudly, "It's not what it looks like."
"Juliette," Noah lifted his hand toward me, "It's too early for this. How about you wake him as it's a school morning."
I nodded as he left the room and out the house, to what I assume was work. I tried to calm myself down a bit as I combed my hand through my hair before I turned to find Stiles smiling like a goofball in his sleep. The sight of it made me giggle, but I held myself back as I leaned close to his ear.
"Stiles~" I cooed.
Stiles let out a questionable moan in response, clearly in between sleep and consciousness.
"Stiles, baby~" I cooed again, "It's time to wake up~ We have to go to school~"
His grin grew wider as he responded in his sleep, "Five minutes..."
I giggled at his comment as I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, "Okay, but I need to go to my place to get changed. Remember to pick me up."
"When have I forgotten about my baby girl..." he answered.
I covered my mouth at the pet name he had given me. I just climbed out of bed and placed my hoodie back on to hide the growing red tint on my cheeks. Before I rushed out of the house back to my own, I made sure to place an alarm on his phone to wake him up in time.
"Five minutes," I told him with a smile on my lips, "I'll see you later, hun~"
"Mhmm," he grinned again, "I'll see you later baby girl..."
The run over to my place was a welcomed wake-up call as I felt the cold air hit my face. I made it to my house to find it empty still. The remainder of what happened last night made me go through my daily routine quicker than I usually did them. I took a quick shower and changed into a simple pair of jeans and a tight long-sleeved red blouse. With one of the many jackets that Stiles tends to leave behind, I walked out of my room and waited for Stiles to drive over.
After a few minutes of channel surfing, I heard the familiar honk from Stiles' jeep. The butterflies in my stomach went wild at the thought of what happened in the morning. I tucked my hair behind my ear as I walked out the door. The smile on my face fell when I noticed that Scott was also tagging along. I recovered as I greeted the boys. Scott climbed out of the jeep to allow me access to the back.
"You left," Stiles looked back at me as I settled into my seat.
Scott closed his door as he arched his eyebrow at us but I ignored it as I answered me, "Yeah. I had to get home to get changed."
"You could have woken me up, I could have driven you this morning," he continued.
I smiled, "Thanks, but you were too cute to wake up."
The look from Scott and Stiles was priceless. Stiles' face was turning into different shades of red as he tried to remember what he might have done or said to me in the morning. As for Scoot, he kept looking between Stiles and I as he tried to put the missing pieces together.
With nothing else to talk about, Stiles drove us to school. Scott changed the subject to his dream he had last night. He explained the dream in detail. Stiles listened with his small commentary as I leaned forward to take in everything he was saying.
"So you killed her?" I finally spoke up as we walked through the doors to the school.
Scott shrugged as he looked over to me, "I don't know. I just woke up. And I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that before."
"Really?" Stiles asked, clearly shocked at the thought, "I have. Usually ends a little differently."
"How do they usually end like?" I asked, my eyebrow-raising a bit.
Stiles turned red at the reminder that I was there. Really it was all I really needed to know to know where this was going.
"Stiles!" I exclaimed as I lightly punched him on his shoulder.
My mind began to think about his grin he had in the morning and began to think what it really meant. It was my turn to go red as my imagination began to run wild.
"A, I meant I've never had a dream that felt real, and B, never give me that much detail about you in bed again," Scott spoke up.
"Noted," Stiles recovered before taking a deep breath and continuing, "Let me take a guess here..."
"No, I know, you think it has something to do with me going out with AIIison tomorrow. Like I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out," Scott answered.
"No, of course not," Stiles quickly answered but after a dramatic pause he quickly continued, "Yeah, that's totally it."
"Stiles!" I exclaimed as I gave him a look, but quickly tried to turn this conversation a bit positive, "Scott, come on. You are doing great so far. You don't even have a month of experience under your belt. It took me a long time to handle myself, so you are doing amazingly."
"Juliette's right," Stiles draped his arm around my shoulders, "You know, it's not like there's a Lycanthropy for Beginners class you can take."
"Yeah, not a class," Scott paused, "But maybe a teacher.
"Who, Derek? You forget the part where we got him tossed in jail?" I exclaimed, clearly shocked at the thought that he was thinking of going to Derek after what we did to him.
"Yeah, I know, but chasing her, dragging her to the back of the bus," he paused again and turned to look at me in the eyes, "It felt so real."
"How real?" I asked back.
Stiles let go of me to open a set of double doors to take us to the quad as Scott answered me, "Like it actually happened."
"I think it did," Stiles announced, pulling me and Scott to see the ruined and bloody bus before us.
My gasp was muffled behind my hands as I turned away from the sight. My mind was growing wild in worry that something had happened to her new friend. I knew that Scott was thinking the same thing as he dashed back inside the school. Sties and I followed right behind him as we tried to calm him down.
"She's probably fine," Stiles tries to reassure us both.
Scott was growing more and more frustrated by the passing second as he replied back, "She's not answering my texts, Stiles."
"It could just be a coincidence, all right?" I threw back.
I was trying to reassure myself but it wasn't helping either of us.
"A seriously amazing coincidence." he replied under his breath, "Just help me find her, okay?"
Stiles and I watched as Scott rushed back toward the lobby area. I pulled out my phone but Stiles stopped me. He looked me in the eyes and I could see and feel all of the worry behind them.
"Do you want to talk about what got you scared last night?" he asked.
My eyes widen before I looked away from him. He pulled me into his arms as he just held me. He always holds me when I was like this, even when we were younger. It became our thing even after so much happened to us growing up.
I let out a sigh as I finally replied, "I think someone was in my room last night..."
Stiles pulled away to look me full-on, clearly shocked at the response I gave me.
"How do you know that for sure?" he asked back.
"My window was wide open when I woke up..." I hugged myself, trying to hide the chill I felt throughout my body, "You know I never sleep with it open, even during the summer. Not to mention that my curtains were left wide open as well. My mom wasn't home, so I went your place."
"You know you are always welcome to stay with me," he pulled me back into his arms, "I know how much you hate being left alone."
The sound of the principal's voice through the school intercom broke the moment as they explained that classes were still in session. I let out a groan along with plenty of the other students around me. Stiles laughed at my response but he began to guide us to our homeroom.
---
I was seated beside Danny as I listened to the boys whisper about what really happened. Really I would join them in the conversation but like hell, I will be getting Mr. Harris' attention any time soon. The last time he called me out due to Stiles, I had detention for a week. Let's just say I keep my mouth shut around him and make myself scarce.
"Maybe it was my blood on the door," Scott whispered to Stiles.
"Could have been animal blood," Stiles offered, "You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something."
"And did what?" Scott asked back.
"Ate it," Stiles replied dryly.
"Raw?" Scott asked worried from the thought.
"No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven," Stiles replied sarcastically, making me snicker to myself, "I don't know, you're the one who can't remember anything."
"Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while," Mr. Harris spoke up as he glanced over to our direction, "I think you, Mr. McCall, and Miss Barnett would benefit from a little distance, yes?"
"What, but I didn't even talk!" I commented, shocked at the thought that he dragged me into this situation.
He glanced over to me as he replied back, "Maybe you would like to add detention as well, Miss Barnett."
"No..." I sighed.
He motioned for Scott to move to the open seat at the front, beside another girl. He motioned me to the furthest position from Stiles, which was the seat beside the door and Issac. With a huff, I took my seat beside my ex. When he looked over to him, I made sure to smile. I used to like Issac when we were in elementary school which was the reason behind me agreeing to date him even if my feelings have shifted to Stiles. He always offered me his cookies which caused Stiles to hate him in return.
Needless to say, I hadn't spoken or hung out with Issac since after the break-up.
Issac returned my smile with his own shy one. I would be lying if I didn't think I would have grown feelings for him if I wasn't head over heels for Stiles. Stiles' confidence has always pulled me toward him which only added to my growing crush on him. Thinking about him, I looked over to Stiles to find him glaring at me. I arched my eyebrow at him. Was he jealous of me sitting next to my ex, especially when I told him that I broke up with him because I like Stiles more?
"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much," Mr. Harris commented as he took his seat once more.
I glanced over to Stiles again when I made out the angry scoff he let out. I hung my head down a bit sad about his reaction. It didn't take long for my attention being pulled away from my worry when someone announced, "Hey, I think they found something."
Everyone got up from their seats and rushed over to the window. We all watched as a pair of paramedics were wheeling someone away. I took a hold of Stiles' arm from worry about what had happened with Scott and the victim.
"That's not a rabbit," Scott announced to us.
I yelled, along with many of the other girls in the classroom when the guy sprung up from his position. I hide my face into Stiles' shoulder as he pulled me closer to him. He pulled me a few steps away from the window as he rubbed my back.