First Bite (Beacon Hills Chronicles Book 1)

1: Normalcy

 Playlist:

Little Talks ~ Of Monsters and Men

Comatose ~ Skillet

I kept thinking about the wolf howl I'd heard the night before as I drove Anna to school. California hadn't had wolves in about 60 years. But California did have werewolves. I wondered if a new pack had figured that Laura and Derek, or any Hale relative for that matter, wasn't going to return to Beacon Hills and decided to move in. That was the last thing I needed. The last thing anyone needed. But it wouldn't have surprised me. Especially since I'd heard through the grapevine at work yesterday that the Argents were back in town. I'd overheard a pair of nurses talking about one's new neighbors and the name Argent was dropped. I could only assume that she was now neighbors to the family that, allegedly, set fire to the Hale House. I was pretty sure that the Argents didn't know I knew about them.

"You okay, Trish?" Anna asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because you just passed the school."

"Ah, crap."

Anna started giggling as I turned the car around.

"Shut up." Which only caused Anna to laugh harder. I pulled in as a silver Porsche cut me off. I slammed on the breaks and honked.

"Butthead!" Anna called. What I muttered under my breath wasn't so nice. I pulled up in front of the school.

"Have a good day, Anna."

Anna leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek. "I hope I will." I couldn't help but chuckle. "I'll see you after school."

"Bye!"

Anna waved and I saw Scott McCall and his friend, I think he went by Stiles, were in front of the school talking. A redhead walked by them and Stiles turned and looked at her. Anna walked past the two a moment later and the two boys walked into the school.

~~~

"Hey, Trish," Melissa McCall, Scott's mom, greeted me at the nurses' station, where I was standing.

I gave her a smile. She was probably the closest friend I had since Laura. Her son was Anna's age. Scott was a good kid. His dad had walked out when he was about eightish. He had a severe case of asthma and almost everything seemed to set him off. I had to make him use his inhaler once, poor kid was about to turn blue but didn't want to use the inhaler because he knew how much it cost. And he was the most protective teenager I'd ever met. He looked out for his mom and I liked that about him. Oh, did I mention that I work at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital? No? Well, there you go. I just mentioned it. Seeing Peter covered in burns seemed to have made me want to go into the medical field instead of becoming a teacher like I originally planned.

"Hey, Melissa," I greeted.

A couple nurses nearby were talking about a body that had been found in the woods. Well, half a body. Which threw up a red flag for me. Body cut in half smelled like Hunter to me. And the only Hunters around here were the Argents. I wondered what the poor werewolf had done to deserve that.

"Hey, do you two have anything better to talk about than some poor girl who was murdered?" The two nurses at least had the grace to look ashamed. I picked up a chart. "I'm going to do my rounds."

~~~

I helped Anna do her hair for the party. She'd made friends at school, which made me happy; Anna was very shy. I knew Lydia Martin and her mother, Natalie, well. But I was very wary about her hanging out with an Argent. Anna chatted about her new friends. She gushed about how cute Stiles and how nice Scott was. I couldn't help but smile.