The Other McCall

Chapter 8

It was the middle of the night. I was fast asleep. And of course the only thing that could possibly wake me up was the sound of my phone ringing loudly. Stiles had left a few hours ago after we had watched 2 of the Star Wars movies. "Hello?" I spoke into the phone, my voice groggy and lower than usual.

"Bella, it's Stiles. Something happened at the video store." My eyebrows were furrowed as I stayed in bed. "Lydia was there." I sat up quickly in bed, throwing on a jacket and shorts, not bothering to change into a different shirt.

"Ok. I'm on my way." I bit my lip as I ran down the stairs, borrowing mom's car. I would explain what happened to her later. As soon as I pulled into the video store parking lot, I saw the police cars and the ambulances. Lydia and Jackson were near one of the ambulances. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I was racing towards Jackson and Lydia. Stiles' father stopped me, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry Isabella. You can't go past the tape." I sighed but nodded. I understood. I looked around, seeing Stiles step out of his father's police car.

"Hey Bell - woah! Is that a dead body?!" Stiles yells, looking past me. All any of us could see was the limp arm that had fallen off the gurney. Stiles' father looked back at him, sighing, which made Stiles grin as he moved back into the car. I looked back towards the body, feeling sick to my stomach as I looked away. My eyes caught those of Derek and Scott as they backed away from the edge of the video store. I turned back to Stiles as he rolled the window down, looking up at me.

"Thanks for the call." I said, offering him a smile.

"Are you going to be ok?" He asked and I nodded.

"I'll be fine. Just knowing that Lydia is ok is enough. It could've been her on that gurney." I turned back towards the scene, shaking my head. This was the alpha. But why did he only kill the one guy? Why didn't he kill Jackson? What is his goal?

✧

Scott and I walked into the school the next day and upon seeing Allison, I smiled, skipping towards her as balloons floated out of her locker. "Happy birthday Allison." I smiled at her as she sighed, trying to stuff all the balloons back in her locker.

"Who told you?" She asked, but she knew as I sent her a look. "Lydia." We both said. Scott came up behind me and looked over my shoulder at Allison.

"Is today your birthday?" Scott asked her. She chuckled, shaking her head as she closed her locker.

"No, no. Uh, no. I mean, yes. Please don't tell anybody. I don't even know how Lydia found out." She looked at me and I just shrugged.

"I have no idea how Lydia found out." Scott looked between the two of us, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" Allison blushed, looking back at the two of us.

"Because I don't want people to know. Because..." She paused, looking around to make sure no one could hear her. "I'm 17."

"You're 17?" Scott and I asked at the same time, staring back at Allison. She was older than us.

"That's the reaction I'm trying to avoid." Allison sighed, shaking her head. I looked back at Scott, nudging him.

"Why? I mean, I - I totally get it. Uh, you had to repeat a year because of all the moving around, right?" Allison looked back at my brother, kind of surprised. She smiled, kissing him. "What was that for?" He asked, still blushing.

"For - literally being the first person to ever make the correct assumption. Everybody's always like, 'What - Did you get held back?' 'Did you ride the short bus?' Uh, 'Did you have a baby?'" I looked back at her, stunned.