North Starr

01

Melanie stirred her cereal absentmindedly and Derek said, "We gotta go, Mellie. Are you finished?"

She stared at her mostly empty bowl and nodded. "Yeah, I'm done."

"You're not gonna finish?"

"I'm not hungry."

"You're nervous. I get it."

"Derek, stop reading my chemosignals."

"Sorry, Mellie. I'm just worried about you."

"Well stop being worried about me. I'm fine." She put her bowl in the sink and grabbed her backpack. "Are you gonna drive me or make me walk?"

"With that attitude..." He smiled wryly. "Get in the car."

Melanie climbed into the passenger's seat and Derek drove her to school. He glanced at her with a small smile. "Have a good day. I'll see you later."

She waved as she stepped out and Derek drove off.

As she walked past a group of people, she heard Scott say, "No, man, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."

"Oh, god, that is freakin' awesome," Stiles replied. "I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since-" He noticed Melanie walking past, "-since the birth of Melanie Hale. When did she get back? Did you know she was back? Hey, Melanie! You look-" Melanie continued walking past him, "-like you're gonna ignore me..." He looked back at Scott with an irritated expression. "You're the cause of this, you know."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh."

"Draggin' me down to your nerd-depths. I've been Scarlet-nerded by you."

Melanie turned around and walked towards Scott and Stiles. "Hey, boys. So, Stiles. If you've been Scarlet-nerded by Scott, does that make me Hester?"

"What? No, um, y-you're not Hester. You're - you're you. Y-you're Melanie. Um, how are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you?"

"I-I'm really good." He turned to Scott with a grin, then back to Melanie. "It's really, really good to see you."

"It's good to see you two as well." She glanced back at the school. "I have to talk to the vice principal. I'll see you later."

She walked away and Stiles grinned. "She talked to us! Did you see that?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah, I saw it. Dude, you've got it bad."

"Yeah, I know."

---

Melanie walked into the school and to the front office where the vice principal was walking out of.

The vice principal smiled and said, "You're welcome to follow me if you'd like. I'm meeting up with another new student. You must be Melanie."

Melanie nodded. "Yeah."

They walked to the front of the school where a brunette girl was waiting.

The vice principal smiled and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. So you were saying San Francisco isn't where you grew up?"

"No, but we lived there for more than a year, which is unusual for my family."

The vice principal walked the girls through the halls and into an English classroom. "Class, these are our new students, Allison Argent and Melanie Hale. Please do your best to make them feel welcome."

"Thanks," Allison said.

Melanie glanced at Allison with a frown and muttered, "Oh, no."

"We'll begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis, on page 103," the teacher said.