𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 𝙁𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 ◊ 𝘚. 𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘚𝘒𝘐

◊ 𝟏.𝟏𝟎 𝐂𝐎-𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍

༻இ༺

***

THE LEAVES CRUNCHED underneath my feet as Lydia and I followed Allison into the woods. Lydia was trailing slightly behind us since she wasn't wearing the proper footwear to trek through the woods with. Allison was carrying a big black bag, which held a compound bow that I saw her pack before we left the house.

"Allison, when you said you needed to stop for an errand before we went shopping... a five-mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting," Lydia said, slightly out of breath. Allison and I were keeping a quick pace as we went deeper into the woods.

I saw Allison smirk and shake her head at Lydia's words. "Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you're okay with something..." Allison paused, making me intrigued with the question she was going to ask.

"Jackson invited me to the winter formal." Her words made my mouth open in shock. You've got to be joking. Isn't that like the number one rule between best friends? You don't go after their ex?

"Did he?" Lydia said calmly, but I could hear the apprehension behind it.

Allison made a noise of confirmation. "Just as friends. But, I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it, first."

"Sure." Lydia answered hesitantly. "As long as it's just friends."

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's not like I would take him to the coach's office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything..." Allison throws a sideways glare at Lydia over her shoulder.

I glanced at Lydia to find her pressing her lips together. "About that..."

I heard about Scott kissing Lydia in the office from Percy the day after the full moon, and it made me cringe and feel remorse for both Stiles and Allison.

The rest of the walk in the woods was spent in awkward silence until Allison found a spot that she liked and put her stuff down on the forest floor.

Allison bent down, took out the shaft of an arrow, and began to twist on an arrow tip that I hadn't seen before. I knew that Chris had a slight affinity for using a bow and arrow, but I wouldn't have guessed that it would be passed on to Allison.

"What does that do?" Lydia asked Allison as I stood beside her, my hands in the pocket of my jacket. I was pretty bundled up, wearing a grey henley under a dark red flannel, some black cargo pants, my combat boots, a grey beanie on top of my head, black fingerless gloves, and a leather jacket.

"We're about to find out." Allison said before standing up and notching the arrow in the bow string. She pulled back the bowstring, took a second to aim, and let the arrow fly into a tree. Sparks emitted from the arrow tip once it was lodged into the trunk of the tree about ten feet from us.

I felt Lydia flinch slightly beside me. "What the hell was that?" She asked slowly.

"I don't know." Allison replied.

"Well, that was fun!" Lydia remarked sarcastically. She clasped her hands together as she slowly approached Allison. "Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?"

Before Allison could respond, we heard a branch snap in the distance. My hand slowly went into one of the pockets in my cargo pants. I grabbed the handle of my silver dagger and held on to it as I looked around the woods, straining my ears to hear anything else. I made my way to the girls and stood next to them tensely.

As another branch snapped, Allison handed Lydia the bow. "Hold this."

"What? Why?" Lydia asked as she held the bow.