Aphelion ⎯⎯⎯⎯ Stiles Stilinski

4.) Am I Paranoid, Or Is The New Girl Going To Kill Me?

@Xᴀɴ_Tʜɪᴘᴘʏ

1:05 ───⊙─────── 3:35

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playιng: [Yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ Nᴏʙᴏᴅʏ Tɪʟʟ Sᴏᴍᴇʙᴏᴅʏ Wᴀɴᴛs Yᴏᴜ Dᴇᴀᴅ] - [Sᴀɪɴᴛ Mᴏᴛᴇʟ]

     The English classroom was still mostly empty when Xan entered. There were only a few students at their desks, and she ignored them as she headed towards the wall of windows. Sitting in the seat next to Scott, she was well aware of Stiles behind her looking like she'd just grown a third eye. Sure, she didn't really socialize with the boys that often, but they had known each other for years, it wasn't so strange for her to sit with them. At least she hoped it wasn't that weird. Xan flashed him an awkward smile, before turning to face Scott completely, placing a concerned hand on his arm.

     "Hey Scotty, how've you been?" Xan said in a soft voice, trying not to draw too much attention. "Does the bite still hurt? I used an antibiotic and a pain relieving gel, but that's probably worn off by now, especially if you've cleaned it out again like I told you,"

     "Oh yeah, it's kind of sore, but honestly it doesn't hurt nearly as much as I expected it to, and I don't even have any bruises from the deer that nearly trampled me," the boy responded with a smile, Stiles looking between the two with wide eyes.

     "Wait, what deer? You only told me about the wolf last night? And maybe you should have your mom check that out. Without the adrenaline and pain killers from last night, you should feel worse today, not better," Xan's eyebrows knit together with concern, and she scanned Scott up and down, as if she could find answers written on his clothes.

     "Yeah, that's actually how I found the dead body, I got caught in a huge stampede of deer. I hit the dirt to protect myself, and lost my inhaler. I turned on my flashlight to look, and I found the body and a lifetime of trauma instead. I got bitten shortly after that."

     Eyes widening, Xan's mouth settled into a frown, "Well how many deer total would you say it was? And were they bucks? Or does?" she began to interrogate.

     "Oh-uhmmm, I guess about 20-30? And I think it was an even amount of them," Scott said, his face crumpled in confusion. He looked at Xan like she told him she thought that dolphins were aliens or something, and threw Stiles a questioning glance. Stiles could only shrug in response, he had no idea where she might've been going with this.

     "Why didn't you tell me that last night? That's way more relevant than the stupid howl! It's not the right season for deer to be gathering in groups that large. And usually California Mule deer wander in gender distinct familial groups: does and fauns in clusters of 5 or 6, and bucks in no more than threes. I would say the howl had been an attempt to flush out the deer. It's not unreasonable that some hunters might have a recording, but that still wouldn't make sense."

     "Well why not?" Stiles questioned. As Pippa turned to face him, the inquisitive look in her eye made his breath catch in his throat.

     "First of all, it still doesn't explain the size of the stampede, or why it was an integrated group- bucks and does. Second, if we can assume that wild wolves are still extinct in California, then why would the deer, who most likely haven't migrated anywhere close to a wolf in several generations, have such an extreme fear response to the howl?