Soldier ▶ L. Martin

chapter 1

S C O T T  M C C A L L

"Scott, honey! Can you do the dishes, please?" My mom pleaded, handing me a dirty plate. "Alright." I said, walking towards the sink.

"Hey Scott! What's going on here?" I heard Stiles question. "Um, we're just cleaning up the house because a relative of ours is going to live with us from now on." I answered.

I began finishing up the plates and bowls and started working on all the forks and spoons. "Oh, sweet! Who?" He asked. "My cousin, Luca. He's a year younger than us and I think you've met him before." I told him.

"Right, right. He was that really annoying one, who kept acting like a baby." He commented.

"Yup. That's the one." I confirmed, turning off the water faucet. "When's he coming—?" Just then the doorbell rang and my mom answered it.

I wonder if he changed because back then, Luca was a kind of chubby kid and had to wear these awful glasses and braces. It wasn't the prettiest picture. "Ha! Let's see if he's still the same kid when we were younger—GAH!"

We both stared in awe and shock as there was a tall and muscular-looking guy standing near the stairs. He wore a navy blue fitted, button-up shirt, khaki pants, and black and white laced converse. This can't be Luca, I thought.

"Yup. Definitely not the same." Stiles mumbled.

"Hey Scott!" Luca grinned and waved, revealing his deep, husky voice.

"H-Hey Luca! You've...changed." I stuttered. "Oh, yeah. After he turned fourteen, he went to a boot camp back in Colorado." My mom said.

"Seriously?!" Stiles exclaimed. "Well, I also did other sports." Luca added.

"Oh, my God!" He whispered in my ear in fear and walked up to him. "Welcome to Beacon Hills, buddy!" Stiles fake smiled, embracing him in a hug.

L U C A  M C C A L L

"Aw, Stiles! Yeah I remember you, man! You're the one who called me 'wimp'." I reminisced, giving him a playful glare. "Um, well..." He looked dumbfounded.

"Why don't you boys show him around, or at least take him somewhere here." Aunt Mel suggested, switching up the subject. "That's a great idea! Let's go, Scott!" Stiles pulled him to his side.

I laughed to myself as the skinny, pale boy took caution and patted his back. "Don't worry, Stiles. I'm not going to hurt you." I told him. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded his head in response. "So where are we headed?" I asked them.

"I was planning on getting a tattoo at this place near by." Scott suggested. I nodded my head in agreement. "Sounds good to me." I answered.

Stiles, then put his car on drive and made our way to the parlor. My cousin led the way and talked to the guy at the front counter. "Now, who's getting the tattoo?" The guy asked, looking at each of us. Scott rose his hand. "That's me." He said.

"What made you want a tattoo?" I asked my cousin, who was already taking a seat on the cushioned recliner. "I guess you can call it an award for not calling this girl during the summer." He answered.

"Was it serious?" I questioned. "She was the first girl that ever noticed me and yeah, we were pretty serious." He mumbled with a hint of sadness.

I nodded, understanding where he was coming from. "I was in a relationship with this girl and I'll admit; we were kind of serious too because we only had each other during the time." I shrugged. The two boys looked at me in surprise. "Really?" They said in unison.

I nodded my head in response. "What happened?" Scott tilted his head to the side in wonder. "When I was thirteen, I met this girl. She wasn't perfect and she knew that, which made her perfect in my eyes. One day, I felt as if I was head-over-heels for her, after a few dates in and, surprisingly, she felt the same way. A year later, she disappeared. No note. Nothing. It was like she never even existed." I explained. "I'm sorry, dude. What was her name?" Stiles questioned.

"Cora. Cora Hale." I said. Their breathing hitched a little and I gave them a quizzical look. "What?" I asked.

"N-Nothing. Nothing at all." They stammered over their words. "Okay..." I said slowly.

The man came up again with his work set up, ready to plaster a permanent marking on Scott. He explained what he wanted on his bicep and the guy, who's name I found out was "Rick", started poking him with the needle. From the corner of my eye, I see Stiles pacing back and forth nervously. "I tend to get a little squeamish though—"

He passed out.

"Stiles?" I looked at the unconscious boy and soon picked him back on his feet. "Thanks." He said. "There's an ice pack you can get in the back, will you?" Rick butted in. I went to the back and got the ice from the freezer. I lent it to Stiles and carefully sat him down.

Once the session was over, he paid Rick and we walked back to Stiles' jeep. "Oh, man." Scott winced, holding onto his bicep. "How you holding up?" I asked, concerned.

"Kinda burns." He muttered. "Yes, you just had your skin stabbed about one hundred-thousand times with a needle." Stiles said sarcastically.

He groaned, "yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this. Oh, God. No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this. Oh, I gotta take this thing off." Right when he was about to take it off, Stiles began to whine. 

"No, no, no, no, Scott. Oh, Scott, please stop."

It was a bit of silence when the two's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? What happened?" I questioned. "Ah, nothing! I'm just in real pain, that's all!" Scott lied. He was a terrible liar and I knew that for a fact.

Stiles drove his car out and headed for the road. Once we went into a stop light, another car stopped beside us. When Stiles saw who were in the car, he nudged to Scott and rolled down the window. "Hey!" He waved, but the driver stepped on it and steered away. "You know, they probably didn't see us." He mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "You sure about that? What did you guys even do?" I questioned. "Me? No. It's the girl Scott talked about earlier." Stiles informed.

Scott was about to say something, until we heard screaming. Our attention came to the girls, and it looked like something was stuck on their front window. The two, with no hesitation, ran out of the car and made a dash to the passengers. I quickly followed behind and panted. "Are they okay?"

The four of them looked at me—with the girls staring at me confused, and nodded. "The deer just came at them." Scott told me.

"Who...who are you?" The brown-haired girl asked. "Oh, I'm Luca McCall, Scott's little cousin." I smiled kindly.

"Little cousin?" The strawberry-haired girl's jaw dropped. "Yeah, is that a problem?" I rose an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head. "No, it's just that...you just seem...older." She said. I chuckled. "Eh, I just turned sixteen two months ago." I confessed.

The two girls scoffed. "How?!"

"With puberty." Stiles stated.

-

Nathan Niehaus portrays as Luca McCall