Scarlett was sitting on Nate's bed with her history book open in front of her. Nate was downstairs grabbing snacks, "Nate sweetie..." Scarlett looked up to see his mom in the doorway.
"Hi Mrs. Wilson. Nate's downstairs." She replies.
"Thanks, doing homework?"
"Yeah, history."
"I'm sure I'll see your mother at the parent-teacher conference tomorrow night."
'Yes, she'll be there for Scott and me."
Nate then came up the stairs with a bowl of popcorn and two water bottles. "Hey mom, did you need something." He asks, walking through his door.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm working the night shift today, I had to fill in for Debby." Nate nods as he places the water bottles and popcorn beside me, "Behave you two." She smiles at the two of teens then heads off to work.
Nate sighs as he sits next to Scarlett. He closes her history book and moves it out of the way. "Hey! I need that." Scarlett exclaims.
"Take a break, we've been doing homework all night." He says.
"Well sorry that I actually want to do well in school." She rolls her eyes playfully.
"Ha ha. You can take a break babe. Let's watch a movie. We're almost done with the homework anyway." She sucked in a breath but nodded and put the rest of her school things on the floor. She sat back against his headboard and waited for him to pick out the movie.
As Nate came to sit beside her, The Other Guys popped up on TV. By the time the movie was done, Scarlett was half asleep and decided to send a quick text to her mom to let her know she'd be spending the night.
*_*_*_*_*_*
Scarlett sits beside Danny in Chemistry, Jackson who is sitting across from the two doesn't look so good. Last night Jackson and Lydia saw something at the video rental store. Neither of the teens would tell Scarlett what they saw. Lydia was so freaked out that she stayed home from school, making Scarlett incredibly worried about her best friend.
As soon as class starts, Scar notices that Scott isn't there. She looks towards Stiles who also seems to be wondering where Scott is. Scarlett quickly pulls out her phone to send her twin a quick text asking where he is.
Mr. Harris speaks up, "Just a friendly reminder, parent-teacher conferences are tonight. Students below a C average are required to attend. I won't name you since the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment. And has anyone seen Scott McCall?"
Mr. Harris looks in Scarlett's direction, "He left the house with me but I don't know where he is now."
Harris nods then continues speaking, "Everyone start reading chapter 9. And Mr. Stilinski, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It's chemistry. Not a coloring book."
Stiles slowly caps his highlighter then leans towards Danny, Scarlett glances up and listens in to their whispered conversation.
"Danny? Can I ask you a question?"
"No." Danny replies.
"I'm going to anyway. Did Lydia show up in your homeroom today?"
Danny sighs, "No"
"Can I ask you another question?"
"Answer is still no."
"Do people know what happened to her and Jackson last night?"
Danny looks upset now, "He wouldn't tell me."
"But you're his best friend." Danny just shrugs, trying to get back to the reading. "One more question."
"What?"
"Do you find me attractive?"
Before Danny could answer Stiles leans too far off his chair and falls to the floor. Everyone in the class turned to look at him. Danny and Scarlett glance at each other and shake their heads, finally going back to the reading.
*_*_*_*_*_*
Scarlett has her free period next, usually she spends this time with Lydia but since she wasn't at school, Scarlett decided to head to the library. Before she headed that way she stopped by her locker to put some books away. As she shut the door and turned around, she paused.
The hallway was empty but she thought she heard someone. She slowly turned around and frowned when she didn't see anything. When she turned back around, Derek Hale was in front of her.
Scarlett jumped in surprise. She put her hand against her chest, "God, don't do that." She takes a deep breath, "What are you doing here?" She glances around as she asks the question, afraid that someone will see them.
"You're friends with Jackson and Lydia, right?" Derek asks, ignoring the question.
"Uhh, yeah."
"Do you know what happened to them last night? Did they see anything?"
"They didn't tell me anything. Why? Was it the Alpha?"
Derek sighed, "Yes, I'm trying to figure out if they know anything that could help."
"Well, Jackson probably won't say anything. But I'm going to Lydia's after school. I can let you know if she tells me anything."
Derek nods in acknowledgment.
In the blink of an eye, Derek was gone and once again Scarlett was alone in the school hallway.
She continues on her way to the library without noticing a figure standing at the corner of the hall, watching the interaction between Derek and Scarlett.
*_*_*_*_*_*
At the end of the school day, Stiles and Scarlett head to Lydia's together. When the teens get to her house, Lydia's mom lets them in. "You know where her room is darling, you can head up."
"Thanks, Mrs. Martin." Scarlett smiled then started leading Stiles towards Lydia's room.
As they walked in Lydia was in bed with her eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"Hey, Lyds," Scar announces their presence as they made their way to her bed. "We wanted to make sure you were okay." Scar kneeled beside Lydia's bed as Stiles sat on the edge.
Scarlett smiled at Lydia watching as Lydia looked between her two classmates. "I feel faaantaastiiic" She slurred, the medicine clearly getting to her.
Scarlett bites her lip trying to hide a smile as she brushes her hair out of her face. Stiles glances at the prescription bottle on the nightstand then says, "Bet you can't say I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop five times really fast."
Lydia rises to the challenge as she begins to speak, "I saw Shusie... I shaw... I saw..."
She begins to trail off, her mood changing instantly. Scar immediately becomes worried and leans up to get a better look at her best friend, "What did you see?"
"I saw something."
"What was it?" Stiles then asks, also leaning closer.
"Something." Is the only word that comes out of Lydia's mouth.
"Was it a mountain lion?" Stiles prompts.
"Yeah. A mountain lion." She confirms.
"That's what you definitely saw. Or did the cops tell you it was a mountain lion?"
Lydia nods, "A mountain lion."
Scarlett glances at Stiles, both of them knowing that it wasn't a mountain lion.
Stiles reaches over and grabs Mr. Cuddles, a teddy bear Scar gave Lydia for her 8th birthday, "What's this?"
"A mountain lion."
Stiles and Scarlett both sigh in defeat as he places Mr. Cuddles back down.
Scarlett stands up from her spot on the floor, "I'll be right back." Stiles nods as she heads downstairs to get a glass of water and refill Lydia's.
When she walks back in, two glasses of water in hand, Stiles is standing up with Lydia's phone. He glances back at Scar then gulps, "You need to see this."
Scarlett places the glasses down then looks at the screen. Staring back at her is a perfectly captured image of a dark and monstrous silhouette standing on two feet with glowing red eyes.
Scarlett grabs the phone from Stiles' hand to get a better look. Before she can stop herself, she texts the video to herself. Once it's sent through she deletes it from Lydia's phone and places the phone back on the side table.
Scarlett grabs her own phone, texting it to Stiles, "I'll text it to you. Show Scott when you get the chance. I'm going to stay with her."
Stiles nods then heads out the door, leaving Scarlett with a sleeping Lydia.
*_*_*_*_*_*
Scarlett sits in Lydia's room working on her homework as Mrs. Martin pops her head in, "Is she still sleeping?"
"She woke up once to go to the bathroom but fell right back to sleep."
Mrs. Martin nods, worried about her daughter, "I'm heading to the parent-teacher conference, did you want to come with me? You could meet your mother there?"
Scarlett bites her lip and looks over towards Lydia. "If it's alright with you, could I stay the night?"
"Sure, but you don't need to stay by her side. She's going to be alright, Scarlett."
She gently smile at her, "I know. But she's my sister. I don't want her to be alone."
Mrs. Martin smiles back, "She's lucky to have you as a friend."
"I'm lucky to have her too." Mrs. Martin then walks out of the room. Scar quickly pulls out her phone to let her mom know that she's staying with Lydia for the night.
A few moments later a breeze blows her papers, she quickly places her hand over it to stop it from moving and looks up to see Derek.
Scarlett stands up and grabs Derek's wrist, dragging him out of the room, "How did you know I was here?"
"You weren't at your house. Did you find anything?"
Scarlett sighs, "She's been out of it all day. She keeps saying it was a mountain lion, but Stiles and I found this on her phone." She pulls out her phone and shows him the video, pausing on the Alpha.
He grabs the phone from her hand to study it more closely, he groans in frustration handing it back, "Was that it?"
"Yeah, judging by your reaction it doesn't help."
"Not even a little bit."
"I wish there was more I could do."
"Talk to her when she gets up. Maybe when she's not drugged up she'll be able to answer."
"Sorry Derek, but I'm not going to ask her a bunch of questions when it's clear she doesn't want to remember. She's terrified. If she wants to believe it was a mountain lion, then I'm going to let her believe that. You should leave before she wakes up."
Derek clenches his jaw but doesn't say anything else as he leaves her house, just as quickly as he arrived.
*_*_*_*_*_*
About 10 minutes later Lydia wakes up. She slowly blinks her eyes open then turns to look at Scar, "What are you doing here?"
"Your mom is letting me stay the night. I wanted to make sure you were alright."
She lazily smiles at her best friend, "I will be. Just a little spooked about last night."
Scar smiles back, "I don't blame you, I would be too. I'm just glad you weren't hurt."
"Yeah, me too. And thanks for staying, you didn't have too."
"No, but I wanted to," Scarlett stands as she continues to speak, "Let me grab us some food, we can watch chick-flicks and gossip." She heads out of the room to grab some popcorn and drinks.
When she gets back upstairs, Lydia has her movies laid out deciding on which one to watch. Finally, she reaches over and puts in Titanic, laying down beside Scarlett, who has started getting comfortable on the bed. By the end of the movie, the two girls are laying side by side under the blankets, sound asleep. Scarlett's arm carefully draped across Lydia's stomach, nothing but the sound of TV static in the room.