inhuman [2] // teen wolf

17. bus trip

Because Riley participated in the cross country, and since no one actually finished it, everyone was invited to the cross country meet which was five hours out of town. Everyone was cramped onto a hot bus with no air conditioning with Coach Finstock blowing his whistle every five minutes. So, naturally, everyone on the bus got a little crazy. 

Riley sat next to Stiles (much to her discomfort and dismay, since all she could think about was doing the dirty with him, courtesy of Olivia) instead of Isaac, since Boyd had stolen the seat next to him before Riley could blink. She really hated most werewolves. 

The whole bus was full of tension that half of the people on it had no idea about. Ethan was sitting next to Danny (who got too close for comfort, according to Riley), and Boyd and Isaac sat a few seats ahead on the opposite side. Stiles, Scott and her all sat at the back so they could watch the other werewolves cautiously. Scott was still hurt from when the twins slashed him, which was very strange since Boyd and Isaac were okay. Riley couldn't believe that Ethan was just sitting there as if nothing happened. For God's sake, one of his pack members killed Derek (in the midst of killing himself as well) and he did not even seem to care in the slightest. Honestly, the only thing Riley wanted to do was just stay in bed all day, but of course Coach made this meet up compulsory for all runners.

Scott sat next to the window with his head resting on it. He looked very weak and in pain. Riley felt bad for him; his 'alpha' (she wasn't really sure whether or not Derek was his Alpha) was killed, and he couldn't do anything to stop it. She knew he felt overly guilty about it, but it wasn't his fault; he couldn't do anything about it. Stiles sat next to him as he scrolled through his iPad, looking at new words for Scott as revision for the upcoming exams.

The two boys tested each other on the words while Riley sat back with her earphones in; she couldn't care less on what they were talking about. She was much smarter than the two boys next to her (to be honest, she was probably the smartest out of all her friends, beside Lydia), so she didn't think that she needed the revision.

Stiles, on the other hand, begged to differ.

He reached over and yanked her earphones out of her ears as she jumped in fright. Her heart pounded against her chest as she stared wide-eyed at Stiles, who just looked at her expectantly.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She snapped, as she breathed heavily to regulate her heart beat.

"See, this is why you need to revise with us. There are so many words to use other than swears. Your vocabulary is not very large." He sassed, and Riley glared at him from under her eyebrows. She stopped her music and rolled her eyes, peeking at the word on his screen. "Hey! No cheating." He yelled, as he angled the screen away from her and towards Scott, which also cheated off the screen. But of course, Stiles did not notice, as his attention was completely on Riley.

"So how come I'm not allowed to look but he is?" She asked rudely, pointing her painted fingernail in Scott's face, where he lazily swatted it away. Stiles looked from Riley to Scott, then covered the screen with his hands. By this time, Scott had already rested his head back onto the glass as he closed his eyes.

"I can't trust either of you." Stiles complained, And read out the word for Scott to define. When he didn't answer, Stiles nudged him a little and called his name. "You still with me?"

Scott snapped out of his sleep-like trance and looked at Stiles, frowning as he mindlessly covered his wound on his ribcage.

"Yeah. What's the word?" He asked, and Stiles looked down at his screen.

"Anachronism."

"Something that exists out of its normal time." Scott answered, his other hand on the seat in front of him.

"Can I have a go?" Riley asked, snatching the iPad out of Stiles' hand before an answer.

"I guess so." He muttered, letting go of the tablet and sighing loudly.

"Okay, next word: incongruous." Riley read, looking up at Scott expectantly.

"Can you use it in a sentence?" He asked, as if he lacked the concentration. He did seem out of it to Riley, but she thought that he must have been thinking about Derek.

"Um, sure. It's completely incongruous that we're sitting on a bus right now to some stupid cross-country meet after what just happened; incongruous." Riley explained, as Scott started to nod.

"Out of place, ridiculous; absurd." Scott answered, and Stiles gave him the thumbs up and looked at Riley.

"Nice sentence." He mumbled, and took the iPad back from her hands. She smiled contently to herself, then when she thought that her job was done, she returned to her music. She only stopped listening about a minute later, when they went over a bump and she heard Scott groan in pain. She whipped her earbuds out and stared at Scott worriedly, who had a permanent pained expression.

"You okay?" She asked, moments after Stiles had asked the same thing. Scott steadily breathed, his eyes still closed.

"We shouldn't have come. I knew it, we shouldn't have come." Stiles scolded, as if he was Scott's mother. Riley raised her eyebrows at him, and stared back with an expectant expression. "We shouldn't have!" He repeated, and Riley shrugged at him.

"We had to." Riley argued, and Scott agreed.

"There's safety in numbers." He nodded. Riley glanced at Isaac and Boyd, who were both sitting down quietly together. She hoped that they weren't scheming anything against Ethan; yeah, he was a complete asshole who was partly to blame for the murder of Derek, but he couldn't go against his pack. Riley knew how much it backfired on Isaac, just imagine what a pack of Alphas would do to him.

"Yeah, but there's also death in numbers, alright? It's called a massacre." Stiles shot back, and looked up the word on his iPad for synonyms. "Or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter--"

"Butchery? Jesus." Riley interrupted, pointing at the word on the screen. 

"Well, how about that." Stiles mumbled, glancing at Riley. Their stare session was interrupted when Scott let out a pained groan again, where Stiles cut the contact to look at him. Why was Riley still staring even after he looked away? "Scott, I'm telling Coach that--"

"No, no, no, no. I'm alright."

"You don't look alright." Riley chimed in (after she stopped staring at the back of Stiles' head).

"Let me see it." Stiles interjected, reaching for his shirt. Scott jerked back and covered his wound with his hand as he stared at Stiles.

"I'm okay." Scott said, but it was obvious that he was lying.

"Just let me see it, okay?" Stiles asked, even though it was more of a command than a question. Scott sighed hesitantly and nodded, before carefully pulling his shirt up and revealing two very deep and bloody cuts down the side of his body. "Oh, dude."

"I know it's bad, but it's only because they're from an Alpha. It'll take longer to heal." Scott explained, but Stiles frowned and pointed to Isaac and Boyd.

"Then how come Boyd and Isaac are fine?" Stiles asked, but Scott ignored him as his head found its way back to the glass. Stiles shook his head and sighed, and Riley nudged him and gave him a light smile. She didn't want both of them in a bad mood; that would be a very sucky five hours.

"I can't believe he's dead." Scott muttered, and looked out the window. "I can't believe that Derek's dead."