Beacon Hills 1983

Chapter 9: Lucy meets Taylan

(Teen wolf)
30 October 1983, Thursday

Talia insisted Taylan walk me to school instead of letting me ride the bus with Lucy. She seemed a bit unsettled this morning. When I asked why I couldn't just walk myself she said, "We're stronger together Nes."
I can't understand why she was so nervous when she seemed fine yesterday...

"Here we are." Taylan smiles as we near the school. I notice that the bus arrived early, and people were spilling out of it. Lucy, among them.
I sigh as I prepare myself for the upcoming drama.
"WHERE were you yesterday? I waited all day for you to show up! But then you just didn't, and I had to sit alone at lunch and people were staring at me, and I didn't know what to do, and- Wow, who are you?"
Lucy stops her complaints when her eyes realise Taylan's existence. Her cheeks instantly turn bright red.
Taylan smirks, charmingly, acknowledging my friend's sudden attraction to him.
I roll my eyes at his annoyingly enormous ego.

"Lucy, meet my brother, Taylan. Taylan, Lucy." I introduce the two.
"Hi." My brother winks, startling a giggle from Lucy. I frown at the situation.
He holds his hand out and Lucy grabs it desperately. I've never seen her look so... Flirty.
My limbs act before I think, and I separate their hands. But not their eyes.

"Taylan, don't you have somewhere to be?" I ask, irritated.
"No. Nowhere at all, actually." He talks to me, but keeps his focus on Lucy.
I squeeze Lucy's hand, and pull her away while saying, "Well, we do have somewhere to be, so bye!"

"What was that about?" I ask Lucy, horrified.
"Woah, Nes, you didn't tell me you had a hot brother."
I gag. "Maybe that's because he's my brother."
"He's still hot." She blushes at the word 'hot'.
"Okay, this is becoming extremely weird, and awkward for me, so can we just talk about something else please?"
"Maybe you can explain why you abandoned me yesterday."

Phew! She snapped back to her normal self.

"My..." I struggle to find an excuse.
"My... umm... Goldfish died."

What a pathetic excuse!

Lucy's expression looks like I just told her I could turn invisible.
"Really? A goldfish? You had a goldfish?" She says in complete disbelief.
I nod back sadly. It's a good thing she can't hear my heartbeat...
"His name was... Bubble." And more lies fly out of my mouth. But Lucy obviously isn't buying it.
"Seriously Nes?" She narrows her eyes.
Now realising that this clearly isn't working, I give it up.
"Okay, fine. There was no Goldfish. But... I can't tell you the real reason. You just... have to trust me."
She stares long into my dark brown eyes. And to my surprise, doesn't argue, and decides to respect my privacy; which, in fact, is completely unlike her.
"Fine. Keep your secrets." She sighs as she collects her books. Although she whispered the next few words for her ears only, my werewolf senses allow me to hear her add on, "I've got secrets of my own anyway..."

As we walk to homeroom, Natalie Blossom hands out little orange cards shaped as pumpkins to almost everyone she makes eye contact with. Some people snicker and giggle at the attempt.
"Poor Natalie. Always trying to prove things to people." Lucy shakes her head sadly.
I glance over at Billy's gang, and spot care-free, annoying Jeffrey Martin leaning against one of his best mate's.
She thinks nobody notices, but I've seen her watching him play basketball and laugh with those jerk friends of his, stand behind him in the lunch line trying to sniff his cologne. She even tried to sit next to him during a test, knowing that he would try to cheat, so that he could "borrow" her answers.
And now she's nervously waiting for him to ask her for an orange pumpkin shaped invite to her party.

"Hey Nes! Halloween party at my place tomorrow." Natalie flashes me a big smile. "Hope you can make it." She adds on hopefully.
"I will." I return her smile and her eyes light up.
Meanwhile, Lucy frowns, confused at my words.
"You? Nesrin Hale? At a party?"
"Yeah." Only now I realise that my mother would never allow- Wait. My mother is not here.
"My mom's left for a business meeting with her sister." I smirk.
"Oh. I see." Lucy says, understanding.

▪  ▪  ▪

For the rest of the day, Natalie kept smiling at me, hopefully, as if to reassure herself.
She probably thinks nobody will come. I'm the only one who told her that I was definitely coming. She's counting on me.
"So what exactly do your parents do, again?" Lucy asks, sitting at our favourite lunch table.
"I've told you that my parents are divorced." I reply flatly.
"Oh. Right. Sorry." Says Lucy, with guilt.
"My mom works... for a secret security agency." I nearly forget what my mom drilled us to remember in case anybody ever asked us the damn question.
"Ooh... secretive." She pushes. But I know where to draw the line.
"Yeah. Secretive." I say plainly. "You haven't mentioned what your parents do either. In fact, I've been to your house so many times since you moved here, but I've never seen your mom..." I trail off, leaving her on the spot now.
Lucy stiffens, and begins to stutter. "Um... My-my mom is always working. She... travels a lot too. But... Um... My parents aren't divorced- you know that."
I heard Lucy's heart skip several beats, indicating lies. But considering my big secret, I'm not going to hold it against her.

Billy sits at the table at the end of the row, near the wall. Him and his friends smoke and joke, laughing at others. Bullying others. For just a moment, he catches me staring at him. But surprisingly, doesn't bring it to the attention of his fellow idiots. Instead, he narrows his eyes at me... with warning.
Is he still holding that stupid threat against me? Does he seriously think, after all these years, I'd sell him out for his... many... bad... deeds... ?
Unfortunately, I'm a better person than he is. So I choose to ignore his icy stare, and return to my friend. Suddenly, a girl with fiery strawberry-blond hair and pale blue eyes jumps into the open seat beside me.
"Natalie!" I shout with surprise.
"I'm so happy you're coming!" She claps her hands excitedly. "You know I've been planning this for weeks and weeks, but people obviously don't care, and they just hate me, and I'm just trying to be nice, and I just want people to start noticing me, because it feels like I'm so invisible and-"
"Woah, Natalie, calm down." I touch her shoulder. Lucy stares in horror, dropping her sandwich.
Natalie takes in a deep breath. Then let's it out.
"You're right, I shouldn't be stressing. People will come. They'll definitely come. I mean, I never throw parties. They'll be curious. They'll get to know me." She nods to herself.
Lucy shows me her wide eyes, swirls her finger at her temple, and mouths "Crazy".
I just sigh a smile in return and place my hand on Natalie's back.

As I return to my sandwich, Lucy decides to ask, "So Natalie, can anyone come to this party?"
Natalie looks up like a predator hearing the sound of its prey.
"Oh yes. Yes. Anybody. Your whole neighbourhood if you'd like."
Eyeing me, Lucy smirks, "That's great. Make sure to bring along that spicey brother of yours Nes."