Stand By Me

33

Peyton was sitting on her bed with a book. Her fingers traced the letters.

A knock sounded on her door and Amy said, "Peyton."

"Yeah?"

"Stiles is downstairs. He refuses to leave without you."

"What's he doing here?"

"I have no idea, but if he honks that damn horn again, I'm going to call the station with a noise complaint."

Peyton got up from her bed. "I'll talk to him."

"Good. Honey, whatever you're going to investigate, be careful, okay?"

"I will."

Peyton nodded and put on her shoes. She made her way out to the Jeep.

When Stiles saw her, he said, "Finally!"

Peyton glared. "You woke my mom, you idiot."

"Sorry."

"Next time use your brain. Where are we going?"

"Be nice. We're going to the school."

"Then don't use that damn born to call me. Why is it always the school?"

"I don't know."

They reached the school and Peyton asked, "Where is she?"

Allison walked over to Lydia at the front of the building and said, "Over here."

"Lydia?" Peyton called. "Lydia!"

Lydia appeared and said, "It's the same thing. Same thing as the pool. I got into the car heading somewhere totally different, and ended up here. And you told me to call you if there's a dead body."

"You found a dead body?" Stiles asked.

Lydia shook her head. "Not yet."

""Not yet?" What do you mean "not yet"? Lydia, you're supposed to call after you find the dead body."

She glared at him. "Oh, not, I'm not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on."

"How are we supposed to find the dead body? You're always the one finding the dead body."

"Guys," Scott said loudly. "I found the dead body."

Peyton made her way over to him and noticed a deputy covered in blood lying on the Beacon Hills High School sign. "Oh, God," she mumbled.

In Jennifer's class the next morning, she talked to them about different writing tools. "Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes. All tools the writer uses to tell their story. Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

Lydia to see that she was drawing a tree; the exact same tree that she'd drawn when Stiles tried to get her to use automatic writing while they were looking for Deaton.

Lydia met Jennifer's eyes. "You and every guy I've dated."

Jennifer took a nervous step back. "Oh, um, well, that was an idiom, by the way. Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying "jump the gun" is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like "seeing the whole board.""

"Like chess," Stiles said.

Jennifer turned to him and nodded. "That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"

Stiles shook his head. "Uh, no. My father does."

"Now, when does an idiom become a cliché?"

The class remained silent. Scott turned to Peyton and Stiles. "I think I can get to Ethan. I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."