Normal | Scott McCall

10

"'Scuse me." Rita said, tapping the taller girl who was trying to unlock Rita's locker. The girl jumped and looked at her.

"Hi! I'm Kira- I'm new and I was just trying to get my locker open." Kira rambled.

"This is my locker." Rita said. Kira looked at the locker them back at the smaller girl.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- I was just two numbers off." Kira laughed. Rita gave her a small smiled and went to unlock her locker. She placed some books in but made sure to keep her thermos with her.

"What's your name?" Kira asked, opening her locker.

"Rita." Rita replied and spotted her brother. She rushed off to met up with him and Isaac.

"You were talking to the new girl?" Jude asked. Rita turned to see Kira looking at her schedule, intently.

"Not really." Rita mumbled. Isaac shook his head but put an arm around her regardless.

"You should make normal friends, Rita." Jude said.

"I do. I have Eleanor, Martha, Penny, Julia- I've got normal friends just not in school." Rita retorted, listing off her friends that she still hangs out with and calls.

"You should have school friends. You can't always hang out with my friends and I- it could be dangerous." Jude said. Rita stopped walking and narrowed her eyes at him while crossing her arms.

"Oh, so they're only your friends now? Okay, I see." Rita said, nodding. Isaac glanced at the two siblings, not knowing whether to interfere or not.

"What do you see?" Jude asked, crossing his arms.

"I see that you're treating me different because I'm not apart of the pack or whatever." Rita said after taking a sip of her tea. Her tea was the only thing keeping her going. She had seen things at the Animal Clinic that she didn't want to see and was on edge because of it. Deaton made a big mistake when he decided to recap all of the murders with vivid, detailed explanations and even pictures. She hadn't been able to sleep well since then and needless to say, she was not the happiest camper.

"Just stop hanging out with my friends. I'm not saying it because you're not apart of the pack but for your own safety." Jude said. The bell rang as Rita rolled her eyes at him for pulling the 'for your safety' card. She went to class, annoyed that her brother was telling her what to do.

"Hey, you okay?" Allison asked, sitting next to Rita who was sipping her tea angrily.

"You might want to sit somewhere else. You might be hazardous to me." Rita grumbled, knowing Jude could hear.

"Stop being mad." Jude said.

"Stop telling me what to do." Rita snapped back. She took her things and moved to the back corner of the room, glaring back at her brother.

"What got her panties in a twist?" Lydia asked, sitting next to Allison. Jude shrugged and sighed.

"Deaton filled her in on everything that was happening and showed her pictures of the bodies. She hasn't been sleeping much so she's been grumpy." Scott explained, setting his books down. They all looked him for an explanation as to why he knew this and his ears started getting red.

"I heard her telling Michelle on the phone this morning." Scott said.

"Were you spying on her?" Stiles asked, suspiciously. Scott shook his head hurriedly, his face becoming flushed. The new history teacher came in, getting the attention of all the students as he wrote his name on the board.

"My name is Mr. Yukimura and I'm your new history teacher." Mr. Yukimura said. He did a brief introduction and mentioned his daughter who was sitting behind Scott. Scott gave her a small smile and glanced at Rita who looked like she was trying really hard not to fall asleep.

-

"Is she actually sitting alone?" Isaac asked, incredulously. He couldn't believe how seriously Rita took what Jude said.

"She's gotten over it. She's just being petty. I know my sister." Jude said, brushing it off. They started talking about Stiles and how he also hasn't been getting too much sleep because of weird nightmares. Kira joined in the conversation at one point confusing the pack but when Rita saw that they had accepted Kira to their table she scoffed and got up.

"I'm going to the nurse to take a nap, Jude." Rita said as she passed by the table. The wolves heard her and watched her enter the school again. She walked down the halls quietly and made her way into the nurse's office.

"Hi, Rita. What can I help you with?" The nurse asked. Rita had come multiple times throughout the month to take naps.

"My head hurts." Rita said, pouting. The nurse already knew what she wanted and motioned to the bed.

"You haven't been able to get any sleep still?"

"No, I keep having nightmares- the other night I even had some sleep paralysis episodes. I'm so scared to even close my eyes sometimes." Rita said. The nurse looked at her in pity and surprise.

"Maybe you should go to the guidance counselor." The nurse suggested, watching Rita get comfortable.

"I have, she just said it would pass." Rita said and closed her eyes to try and fall asleep but she couldn't as much as she wanted to. She would drift off but would wake up out of fear of whatever she was going to dream of. The bell rang and Rita got up.

"Did you sleep at all?" The nurse asked. Rita shook her head and mumbled a thank you before heading to class.

-

"You're sleeping with your lights on? Are you okay? You haven't done that since you were younger." Mr. Singh asked.

"I'm fine. I just watched a scary movie." Rita smiled. Her father eyed her suspiciously but let her be. He closed the door as she laid down and stared at her ceiling. She drifted off but again, woke up frightened. Rita heard taps on her window and crawled near it. She hated that her house was just one floor because anything could happen, just like this. She peered over the windowsill and saw Scott. She opened the window quickly and pulled him in.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered, locking her door.

"I wanted to check on you. I know you've had a hard time sleeping and sometimes it help to have someone you trust in the same room while you sleep to make you feel better." Scott explained as she sat on her bed.

"I don't think anything could help unless you erase my memories or something." She said, fiddling with her sheets. Sadness and fear radiated off of her making Scott want to hug her, hell, kiss her, until she felt better.

"So what are you going to do to help me sleep?" Rita asked.

"I didn't think it through." Scott chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

"I used to get nightmares a lot when I was younger and Jude used to climb into bed with me to make me feel better and it would work. I wish he would do that now." Said Rita as she suddenly remembered the many times Jude comforted her.

"Then let's do that." Scott said. Rita's eyes widened and she avoided all eye contact with him.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Scott realized how straight forward he was and regretted it but ignored it for her sake.

"If you want." Scott said. Rita looked away but still scoot closer to the wall to make room for him on the bed. He went and they both laid down under the covers awkwardly.

"I'm sorry we left you at Deaton's that night and had to see all of that." Scott whispered as he stared at the ceiling.

"It's my fault. I should've just stayed home." Rita replied.

"Why'd you even go?" Scott asked, hoping he didn't sound rude.

"To make Jude less worried." Rita said, drifting off.

"You're a really good sister, Rita." Scott said and looked over to see that she fell asleep. He held her hand, hoping it would help her not have nightmares anymore.