Right Beside You | Stiles Stilinski | Two

39 - Give Me a Sign

The first thing I did was call Lydia. She was already on her way to the game, but after hearing the tremble in my voice, she floored it and showed up a minute later. Her car tore through the parking lot, and she parked in an illegal zone so she could make a mad dash to my side.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"For now." I swallowed thickly. Even I could hear the way my voice was shaking. "Jackson's playing tonight."

"But he can't be," Lydia said, shaking her head. "I thought you said Principal Argent had to tell him what to do now."

"Yeah, well he's in uniform standing on the field, so clearly someone must've told him to be there."

"Well, that...that doesn't have to be bad, right? Maybe Gerard just wants to keep up appearances. Maybe Jackson's just here to play the game."

I looked at her hopeful face. Lydia knew everything now, but she still didn't have a clue what was going on. She had lived through everything, but I knew we couldn't expect her to understand it just yet. I wished I could be as optimistic as she was in that moment, but I couldn't. Maybe it was because I was more experienced, or maybe it was because I felt for sure that it was my head on the chopping block.

"Just stay close to me," I said softly, heading back toward the field.

Lydia did as instructed, glued to my side as we walked back to our seats. Mom and Sheriff Stilinski were still sitting in the same place, but they weren't alone anymore. Mrs. McCall had taken a seat on the opposite side of the sheriff, looking around the crowd nervously.

"Hi, Mrs. McCall."

She looked up quickly, spotting me and smiling politely before she averted her eyes. I sat down, turning away from her without comment. We had enough problems on our hands at the moment. I wasn't about to push her into a confrontation.

But a few seconds later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find Mrs. McCall leaning forward in her seat.

"Um...hi, Scarlett."

"Hi."

"How...how is everything?" She glanced down the bench, checking to make sure that the sheriff and my mother were still deep in conversation about the rules of lacrosse. "I mean...that kind of everything?"

"Honestly? Everything is pretty terrible."

She nodded, picking at her nails. She didn't seem surprised by her answer, but it also didn't seem to be the only thing she was looking for.

"Look," she began uneasily, "I've been thinking about what you said the other day. About everything that's happening, and...you're right. I know Scott. So I don't know how I could help with...that...I don't even know how you've been handling it so long, but...if there's anything I can do, I figure I should probably try."

Mrs. McCall looked up at me, obviously terrified. I wasn't sure what she was more afraid of: the imminent death she could sense all around her, or the idea that I might be upset with her for taking so long to come around. Even though everything was still pretty terrible, I managed to give her a small smile. At least there were still a few people we had on our side.

"How much do you know?"

"Not much," she answered. "I—I know that I saw a...lizard person covered in scales, and that I heard you say werewolf, and that a couple of days ago, your principal broke into my house and threatened to kill me if Scott didn't give him what he wanted."

I nodded. I hadn't been informed of that particular development, but I also wasn't surprised.

"Okay. Well, if you want the basics: the werewolves are the good guys, the lizard person is number thirty-seven, and unless we tell the principal where to find Derek Hale, he's probably gonna kill a lot of people."