Underneath it All [Teen Wolf] | Erica Reyes

Wolfsbane of My Existence

The week went by at a sluggish pace with hardly any news about the mountain lion attack, save for the bus driver dying. That put a damper on a few days of school but things went back to normal after the days passed. The curfew enforced by the police department was enforced then more than ever, to the teens' chagrin but they dealt with it and moved on with their lives as best as they could. Melanie, however, couldn't move on.

Between looking for more wolf facts and werewolf information she had an increase in intensity with lacrosse practice to deal with, Erica still being upset over Stiles's infatuation with Lydia, a new puppy to potty train, parents that seemed on constant edge with one another, that stupid picture that was still going in circulation and the fact that Isaac was hiding something from her. She hadn't expected him to tell her outright what was going on even while she had suspicions but she felt they were on their way to being friends so that had to count for something, right?

She waved at him in the halls and stopped to chat whenever she had a second. Half of their French classes were spent working on their project and the other half was spent talking about lacrosse or the goings on around school or a bit about their families. Hell, he even started waiting for her to leave the locker room so they could walk to the field together. So why didn't he trust her? Not that she was only into their tentative friendship for the trust to get information out of him but it was beginning to get frustrating.

Added atop of that frustration was that Scott and Stiles were still acting funny. They were having more whispered conversations in the middle of the school than normal. They lurked around corners and appeared jumpy. Scott even had a few outbursts in classes that he never had before, almost as if his patience was being tested or that something was bothering him. Melanie was sure, she was sure she knew why but the more she thought about it the more she knew she didn't have anyone to talk to about her suspicions that wouldn't think she was crazy. Erica already didn't want to hear about it and if she tried her parents? They would probably send her to get her head examined. No that she blamed them.

It did sound crazy. Werewolves running around beneath people's noses, attacking people in the middle of the night, causing mass hysteria and a curfew to come into effect and pt stress on everyone's heads. That was ridiculous. But then the idea of a werewolf being on the lacrosse team and helping them kick off their newest season. That was even more ridiculous but to Melanie there was no other logical explanation. And that was it, in a nutshell. None of this was logical. But maybe sometimes logic just couldn't be used in some instances in life and maybe this was one of them.

But that didn't mean that reason couldn't come into play. Just like there had to be a reason that the leather jacket wearing boy that Melanie had seen a few times before was slowly making his way through the hall. She had to blink rapidly to be sure that she wasn't seeing things but with each blink he didn't disappear. What in the world was he doing at school? In the middle of the day? Looking like death?

She ducked behind a wall nearby and watched as he slowly approached Jackson. His pale, gaunt skin looked worse beneath the fluorescent lights of the school. Not that did any favors for the rest of them but he looked worse.

She squinted, trying to read their lips but it was hard, especially with Jackson's natural body movements as he spoke. She could only imagine he was making fun of the leather-bound boy. He said something for him to walk away but Jackson grabbed onto him, only for the boy to slam him up against his locker. At first Melanie felt a swell of pride for someone was finally able to put him in his place but that was quickly replaced with sympathy for him. Even someone as evil as Jackson didn't deserve that shit.