Fire and Ice || M. Tate-Hale (1)

Chapter 6

Hayden was giggling. Liam kept passing notes to her about their teacher. Theo had caught a glimpse of the notes from Hayden's side, but made no move to indicate a reaction. He simply smiled lightly, which Hayden and Liam missed. He sighed then, his smile dropping. He didn't know why those two were hanging out with him, to be honest. I mean, Liam was partially understandable, the two had became friends and had helped each other on multiple occasions including the ghost rider invasion and suspicious humans.

But Hayden? Now that was the true mystery. While he didn't treat her the worst out of his Pack, he'd certainly treated her worse than Liam. It was a wonder she was still going. Hayden had willingly given herself to the ghost riders to save Liam, and in turn really never forgot the look on Liam's face and the feeling of cold leather wrapped around her wrist, pulling her toward the ghost riders, faceless, emotionless creatures who'd once been people.

Fingers were snapping in front of her face. "-Mero? Are you listening? Hello?" Hayden focused in with a start. "Hm?" The teacher was standing in front of her. "Did you enjoy your visit to La-La Land?" Hayden's cheeks darkened. Theo's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

The teacher turned to Theo. "Do you have something to add Mr. Trapps?" Liam stifled a snort. Travis Trapps was the name Theo had chosen to go to school with. Why? Lord knows. He'd failed his last senior year seeing as he was busy plotting Scott's death. "Yeah, why are you insinuating she's disabled? Is it because she's a person of color?" Heads whipped around. The teacher stuttered. "Excuse me? How dare you i-insinuate such a thing!" Theo smirked. "Well, Mr. Latts?" His face turned beet red. Hayden thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

"I think you should go to the office." Hayden and Liam's smiles dropped. Shit. "Shit." Said Liam, voicing her thoughts. Mr. Latts raised an eyebrow. "What was that?" Hayden got an idea. "He said shit." She gave Liam a pointed look. "Ah." Liam face lit up in recognition. He stood up behind the table. "Shit. This class is shit. And you're full of it." Hayden's mouth fell in a surprised "O". So did the teachers. There were scattered giggles and gasps in the classroom.

Hayden's eyebrows raised as Mr. Latts mouth fell open, then shut, then open again as his face turned purple, the red. Finally speaking he gasped out "Office. Now. All of you." Liam smirked. "My pleasure. Let's go Hay." He draped an arm over her shoulders as she rounded the table from collecting her book bag. Theo did likewise. "Good day sir." Eyes followed them as they strutted out of the room. The second the door swung shut behind them, they bursted into giggles and snorts.

Liam punched Theo in the shoulder jokingly as the trio broke apart. "Do you guys wanna get out of here?" Theo and Hayden traded glances. "Should I be concerned about this? About....you?" Liam laughed. "Ratatouille reference, I get it. But no, I'm just really bored and honestly I think my grades will be fine if I miss one day." Theo shrugged. "Guys I don't know, what if Scott finds out?" Theo and Liam smirked in unison. "Why do you care? I mean, it's not like he's your dad or something." Hayden's cheeks darkened.

"Yeah, you're right, Scotts actually present and cares about me." Hayden shrugged. "Let's go." Liam gaped at her. "That's dark." Theo sped walked to her. "Darker than you?" She called over her shoulder. Theo mocked gasped, grabbing his chest in a feigning way. "Ouch, I'm hurt!" Hayden rolled her eyes while shaking her head. Liam struggled behind them. "Wow, super speed and yet you can't catch up to us while we're walking." Theo laughed. "She's got you there Li."

Hayden stopped and so did Liam. "What did you call Liam?" "Why? You jealous?" Hayden's mouth fell open, and a hand went to her chest, not different from the way Theo's had just a few minutes ago. "Never! I wouldn't wanna get in the way of you and Li.'s relationship." Theo's grin dropped. Then his eyes narrowed. "Okay then, I'm sorry it's come to this." "Wha-" Hayden did not finish do to the fact of Theo scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Hayden giggled as he jogged down the hallway. "Guyssss!" Liam complained, having to catch up again. "It seems you need to open up your ayes." Theo pronounced it with an awful Irish accent. Hayden rolled her eyes. Men.

~~~

Theo dropped Hayden and held open the double doors for her. "Ladies first." He said, making a wide hand gesture. "Whatever. Cmon Liam!" Liam was practically out of breath when he reached them. Theo patted him on the back as he passed by. "Atta boy!"

~~~

Hayden had picked Liam and Theo up in her medium sized Honda. (They had both been waiting at Liam's house.) It wasn't much but it was big enough for 5 people. Liam sat in the front seat while Theo sprawled over the backseat and yawned. Both were asleep within minutes. Hayden glanced at them both in surprise. She checked her phone. It was only 4 pm, they had gotten out of 5th period.

Dang they must have night shift jobs or something.

Hayden turned the corner to Liam's house. He woke with a start, recognizing his home scent. He glanced back at Theo. "I'm really starting to reconsider this whole Pack thing, it's not really good for a sleep schedule when we get called to somebody's house for Pack meetings. Even poor Theo's stuck with it." With that, he leaned across the his seat and gave Hayden a peck on the lips. Then he grabbed his bag and walked to his house.

As soon as she was certain he was out of hearing range, she sighed. Liam had been distant lately. His touch had seemed calculated and tense, like he was always worried. He might never figure it out. She just wiped her feelings aside. It was then that she realized she had absolutely no idea where Theo lived.  Ah crap. I really don't wanna wake him up. But of course, she didn't have a choice.

She unbuckled herself and reached to the backseat. Halfway there she realized how peaceful he looked. Act now, apologize later. She drove him and opened her door as quietly as possible. Liam lived a little bit on the outside of town, so now it was around 5 pmish, beginning to get dark. She slipped in her house as quickly as possible and darted back out, slipping a blanket over Theo's steadily rising torso.

She cranked her car heat up and left the keys in Then she shut her door as quietly as she could muster and locked all of them. I'll come and get him in the morning. She walked silently into her house and went up to her room. That's probably gonna kill my car battery. But she realized she was also extremely tired, things had been very energy-taking lately. She fell asleep and dreamed for a while. Even when her sister arrived home from work and saw Hayden's truck on, she didn't wake her up. She herself knew how precious sleeping time was to the young beta.

~~~

Hayden woke up to a piercing scream around 7 a.m the next day. She sat up quickly, covering her ears as her window shattered. She rolled over on her side under her cover as the shards flew all over. She immediately grabbed for her phone, but it was already ringing. The caller ID read Scott. She tried to answer but the call ended abruptly. Then a text message notification popped up.

Pack meeting. Immediately. It's imperative that you hear what I have to tell you, I've been keeping it   a secret, but not anymore. Your lives could be in danger. Come to Deaton's, there's someone you need to meet.

A/N: why are the puppy Pack so tired? And who's was the mysterious scream? 👀