Chaos Magic (Stiles Stilinski)

It Can't Be Him

I was up all night after Stiles called me, informing me they had found Lydia. She had stumbled upon a crime scene--which Stiles also filled me in on--in nothing. I was horrified for Lydia. 

Running lost through the woods completely nude sounds like a special kind of hell. 

I turned my phone off at some point during the night so I could try to get some sleep, but that was an awful idea.

The last time I had a somewhat good night's sleep was when I was drugged up in a hospital bed after Peter attacked me. I was exhausted and slept like I hadn't slept in days. 

Which I haven't. 

I woke up this morning with seven missed calls from Isaac and a combination of 20 unanswered text messages from Stiles and Scott.

Great.

I called Isaac but got no answer, so I left a voicemail: "Hey Isaac, I'm really sorry I missed all your calls. I couldn't fall asleep last night because Stiles and Scott were blowing up my phone with news about Lydia. So I turned it off. I'm sorry I missed your calls, but I'll see you at school. Bye."

I threw my phone to the end of the bed, slowly climbed out, and walked to the bathroom.

****

"I'm serious!" Scott exclaimed, "It's not like the last full moon. I don't feel the same."

I joined the boys in the locker room, mainly looking for Isaac. I still hadn't seen him this morning, and I was nervous. A ton of missed calls, and now no sign of him...this just doesn't feel right.

My leg bounced nervously up and down, "Taylor, can you stop shaking the bench, please? Focus." Scott tapped the side of his head, turning back to Stiles.

I stopped bouncing my leg and went to pick at my fingernails instead. "Does that include the urge to maim and kill people? Like Taylor and I?" Stiles asked as my phone buzzed, showing a text from Allison.

"I swear I don't have the urge to maim and kill you guys," Scott stressed. I read over the message from Allison, completely ignoring the boys. 

Apparently, Lydia wanted Allison AND me to walk her into school today. I exited the bench and left the locker room while the boys conversed.

I found Allison and Lydia waiting at the bottom of the steps, talking in low voices.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted them.

"Hey, Taylor. We've been waiting for you." Lydia smiled at me but still spoke in a snobby tone. She's still warming up to me. 

Or maybe she just hates me. 

It was hard trying to imagine Lydia and I as friends. We always ran in a different crowd. Lydia loved dressing up, makeup, jewelry, and fancy things.

I've only ever cared about getting good grades in school, so I've never tried to look nice. I never cared. It's not like I ever had anybody to impress. 

But Lydia could do both, and I envied her for that.

We walked towards the front doors, "So, you really don't remember anything?" Allison questioned.

Lydia barely glanced at Allison; she was too busy looking at the people who were looking at her, "They called it a fugue state. Which is basically a way of saying We have no idea why you can't remember running around the woods naked for two days. Personally, I don't care," she shrugged. "I lost nine pounds."

Allison and I stifled a laugh at how nonchalant Lydia was about running around naked for a day in the woods.

Allison stopped laughing as we all stopped before the doors, "Are you ready for this?"