Gracie hadn't talked to Stiles or Scott since the game. When Monday came, her feelings were still hurt from the fact that they thought Derek killed their own sister, and she knew they felt sorry. Well, Stiles did, at least.
Now, she was sitting in Chemistry. Also known as hell to all students of Mr. Harris' Chemistry class. Gracie was twirling the pencil she was holding between her fingers.
"Mr. Stilinksi!" Mr. Harris called from the front of the room, his hands on his hips as he glared at his least favorite student, who was not-so-quietly whispering to Scott. "...if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while."
Stiles let out a scoff in response. Gracie winced, looking back at the boy with a buzz-cut sympathetically as everyone laughed. She should've been mad at him, but no one deserved to face Mr. Harris' bullying.
"I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?"
"No," Stiles whined, horrified. Mr. Harris pointed at two empty seats, one in the back and one in the front.
As Scott sat next a girl in the front of the class, Stiles begrudgingly grabbed his bag, textbook, and notes. He headed to the other empty seat in the row in front of him.
"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much," Mr. Harris quipped as Stiles sat down in his new seat, which was next to Gracie. The two looked at each other awkwardly and he gave her a small smile, while she just nodded at him.
"Hey, I think they found something," the girl sitting next to Scott shouted, rushing over to the window. Squeals from chairs scraping across the linoleum flooring echoed through the classroom as everyone got out of their seats and ran to the windows, following suit.
Standing on her tiptoes, Gracie's head peered over a girl's head as Scott and Stiles stood behind her, easily seeing above her. They watched as two paramedics pushed a gurney holding an injured man over to the waiting ambulance.
"That's not a rabbit," Scott murmured to Stiles.
All of a sudden, the injured man that was being dragged out shot up, screaming in pain. Everyone, especially Gracie, shrieked and jumped back from the windows, all shocked from the man's sudden screams.
No one really paid attention in class when Mr. Harris told them to get back to their seat and continued the lesson. When third period finally ended and lunch came, Gracie was sitting alone at her usual table. While she knew Stiles and Scott felt bad, she never expected them to sit with her when they both stood in front of her with this guilty look on both their faces.
"What did you do?" She asked bluntly.
"First off, we just wanted to say we're both really sorry about what we did," Scott said quickly as Stiles nodded in agreement. "Like really, really sorry."
"Sorry for what? Getting my brother arrested or digging up my sister's body from her resting place?" Gracie asked.
Scott and Stiles both exchanged glances, completely thrown off. "Both."
Gracie sighed as she put down her fork, letting out a breath. "Apology accepted. Now, what did you do?"
The two exchanged a loaded look before Scott confessed, explaining what happened in his dream with him and Allison. Or well now the bus driver according to Scott.
"But dreams aren't memories," Stiles told him, already sitting in one of the chairs beside Gracie.
"Then it wasn't a dream," Scott proclaimed, seated across from the two. "Something happened last night, and I can't remember what."
"What makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?"
"Because..." Scott's voice trailed off, lowering his voice as he looked around to make sure no one was listening. "...during the full moon he wasn't changed. He was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."
"You don't know that," Stiles argued.
"I don't not know it," Scott retorted. "I can't go out with Allison. I have to cancel."
"No, you're not cancelling, okay?" Stiles shook his head as he picked up the orange from his tray. "You can't just cancel your entire life. We'll figure it out."
Out of nowhere, Lydia Martin appeared next to Scott, setting her lunch tray down on the table, hearing the last few words of their conversation. "Figure what out?"
"Just, uh, homework," Scott lied as more people from Lydia's clique came over.
"Yeah," Stiles agreed, going along with it.
"Oh..." Lydia hummed as she sat down.
"Why is she sitting with us?" Stiles whispered to Scott as he leaned forward across the lunch table. The teen wolf shook his head, not having any idea.
Just then, Allison arrived and Scott moved his bag from the empty chair next to him so she could sit down.
"Thanks," the tall brunette grinned, setting down her tray. She grinned at her boyfriend and then greeted Gracie and Stiles.
While the Hale girl mumbled a "hey", Stiles nodded at Allison and then turned to Danny, Jackson's best friend, who was sitting on his other side, and grinned. Danny turned away, obviously not happy with his seating arrangement.
One guy they recognized from the lacrosse team sat in the seat meant for Jackson. As if on cue, Lydia's boyfriend strode up to the table with his usual amount of cockiness.
"Get up," demanded Jackson, shoving the boy's shoulder.
"How come you never ask Danny to get up?" The guy asked, not wanting to move.
"Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot," Danny butted in, sitting across from Lydia. By the time the guy left and Jackson sat down, Danny changed the subject. "So I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar."
"I heard mountain lion," Jackson disagreed, shaking his head.
Gracie shook her head, rolling her eyes. "A cougar is a mountain lion."
Everyone looked back at her, staring at the Hale girl.
She just shrugged at them. "What?"
"Who cares anyway?" Jackson asked harshly, not having any empathy for the injured man everyone was still talking about. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."
"Actually, I just found out who it is," Stiles spoke up with his phone in his hand. His dad had sent him a video detailing the attack and who the victim was. "Check it out."
He held out his phone so everyone could watch the report.
"The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack," the male reporter announced on the video as Sheriff Stilinski walked around the bus, looking for evidence. "Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition."
"I know this guy," Scott spoke up, his eyes widening as he recognized the photo of the victim that popped up on the phone screen.
"You do?" Allison asked curiously.
"Yeah, when I used to take the bus back when I lived with my dad," Scott realized. "He was the driver."
Gracie winced and shared a worried look with Stiles. It wasn't good that Scott not only had a dream where he mauled Allison on a bus and someone was actually injured but that he knew the victim, too. Could Scott have actually done this?
"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Lydia pleaded.
For once, Gracie agreed with her.
It was all anyone was talking about. Obviously, it wasn't that she didn't care if the guy was okay, but it she had heard all about this all day and then seeing him jump up was a lot to handle. Focusing on something else could put her mind at ease.
Everyone nodded, and suddenly an idea popped in the Lydia's head.
"Like, oh, where are we going tonight?" She suggested, grinning at Allison. The new girl looked at her confused. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tonight, right?"
"Uhm, we were thinking of what we were gonna do," Allison glanced at Scott for help.
"If the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun," Lydia insisted, ignoring the looks Jackson were giving her since this was probably the last thing he wanted to do.
"Hanging out?" Scott looked at Allison. "Like, all five of us? Do you wanna hang out? Like us and them?"
"Yeah, I guess," Allison shrugged. "Sounds fun."
"You know what else sounds fun?" Jackson sneered, leaning forward -- not too thrilled by the idea as he picked up his fork. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."
"Come on..." Lydia sighed, taking the fork from him. "How 'bout bowling? You love to bowl."
"Yeah, with actual competition," Jackson said, giving his girlfriend a pointed look.
"How do you know we're not actual competition?" Allison leaned forward to ask Jackson, twisting her lips. She looked at Scott. "You can bowl, right?"
"Sort of," Scott grimaced.
"Is it 'sort of,' or yes?" Jackson asked as he leaned forward again, resting on his forearms.
"Yes," Scott's tone harshened as he glared at Lydia's boyfriend. "In fact, I'm a great bowler."
"You're a terrible bowler," Stiles exclaimed, now walking down the stairs when school was over.
"I know!" Scott agreed, just as disappointed in himself. "I'm such an idiot."
"God, it was like watching a car wreck," Stiles kept going on dramatically. "I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. And then out of nowhere comes that phrase..."
"Hang out," Scott filled in.
"You don't hang out with hot girls, okay?" Stiles started rambling. "It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out."
Scott groaned. "How is this happening? I either killed a guy or I didn't."
"I don't think Danny likes me very much," Stiles said randomly, not paying attention to Scott.
"I ask Allison on a date, and now we're hanging out."
"Am I not attractive to gay guys?"
"I make first line, and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now-now I'm gonna be late for work," Scott realized, now heading outside to get his bike.
"Wait, Scott," Stiles called after him. "You didn't-am I attractive to gay guys? You didn't answer my question!"