After calming down for a bit, he finally turned around and walked back in the direction of the school. Just as he reached the halfway point, it finally fell back within the range of his mind, and the river of thoughts rushed back to him like water from a bursting dam. The first thought he heard was surprisingly familiar.
That git's so damn annoying. If I wasn't afraid he was going to kill somebody, I wouldn't even be watching him right now.
Ahh, I guess we're still friends, then. That, or this guy has a saviour complex.
Slam!
Eli closed his locker after finally finishing his last class. It was time for him to get home and make preparations to hunt. He was going to find the supernatural creature that had put its hands on his mother.
Just then, slam! Another slamming sound came from the other side of the lockers.
What was that?
Peeping around the corner, he saw Scott pushed up against the lockers and an angry jock walking in the other direction. Scott getting bullied was definitely in character. He actually felt the lizard taking a couple of steps backwards in his head.
He should probably go see their game before he left.
Outside, on one of the benches overlooking the field, Eli took a seat behind a relatively big student so he could remain hidden. Forget the fact that they had English and chemistry together; he was avoiding them whenever he could find the chance.
That, of course, was not stopping Stiles. His eyes were like a friendly tick in every class they had together. Eli was just happy he understood to give him some space. That, or Eli would simply disappear into the crowd of kids at the end of each class before Stiles had the chance to say anything.
Thinking about it, his hands actually started to elongate, but he quickly remembered his mother, and everything went back to normal.
Not too long after Eli sat down, Scott seemed to come out from behind the benches, Stiles running frantically behind him. It seemed that Stiles had finally started to believe Scott might actually be a werewolf. Though somehow comforting, Scott, dumb as he was, completely ignored Stiles.
Yes, the good old days.
Eli's feeling of calmness only lasted a bit longer before, all of a sudden, he heard that agitating and grating voice. Looking down, he noticed the Agitant. She was with Lydia. He did not understand what Lydia found so interesting about her.
He huffed. A bee does not notice weeds; it only searches for the flowers with pollen.
He quickly turned his attention towards the field before he "lizarded" out.
The game finally started. In the first second, Scott got beaten down, and Eli nodded his head. Yep, he was feeling more human by the minute.
That didn't last long, though. Lydia seemed to have sat right in front of the guy he was sitting behind. That meant the "Agitant" was also right in front of him. Not only that, but Scott, yes, nerdy Scott, started skipping and jumping all over the field as if he were trying out for acrobatics.
Okay, okay, okay. That was fine.
No, never mind, because everything changed when he scored a goal and every single soul around Eli jumped up screaming. The most agitating of them was the Agitant.
Shing!
From inside his pocket, one of his talons burst through the fabric, stabbing the big guy in front of him in the leg. Somehow, the guy's body seemed to seize up as he fell forward, straight onto Allison.
Another scream, though that one had a more comforting tone. Eli's talons almost instantly disappeared at the soothing melody.
Unfortunately, now that the big guy was covering the Agitant, everybody was looking his way. And unlike everybody else who was more focused on the berried Agitant , including Scott, Stiles was smiling right at him.
Eli rolled his eyes. Whatever.
Unfortunately for Eli, being caught at Stiles's game was clear permission for Stiles to talk to him again.
Just then, an angry Scott grunted, lifting the big guy off the Agitant. Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for Eli, she had somehow crouched into the space between the seats, completely avoiding getting crushed by the big guy.
And then Scott and her started making googly eyes at each other.
Barf.
Yep, if he didn't leave now, he was going to "lizard" out. This time, though, he couldn't escape Stiles. A smiling face popped up in front of his own, a phone held to one ear.
"Hey, Miss Lorraine. Could Eli sleep over?"
The smile on Stiles's face got even wider. Check and mate.
Random Shifter 1: "😭 I swear that weird new guy just tried to take out the Argents' kid 😭😭😭"
Carrie: "What!!? Does he have a death wish?"
Henry, sitting at the dining table, spat out his water onto his brother Shawn right beside him.
"Heeyyy!"
"Henry! What are you doing?" his mother said in a reprimanding tone.
His father, on the other hand, chuckled. His brother, though, was not having it. Taking up a piece of the flesh on his plate, he jumped at Henry.
"Eat meat, you weirdo!"
"Wait, wait! Sorry! Stop!"
Henry ran from his younger brother to his own room and shut the door as his mother joined his father in laughter. His brother was banging on the door, but he did not have time for that.
Looking back at the group chat, he continued reading the messages. The shifter was describing the scene to them when Elias started typing.
Elias: "That sounds like a kanima. That's even more reason for you guys to stay away from him. Kanimas are creatures of vengeance. It's likely going to try and kill a bunch of people."
Kayleen: "Wait, do you think it trying to get rid of the Argent girl already exposed its targets?"
Elias: "That could be. There are quite a few shifters who have a bone to pick with the Argents. Whoever its master is must want them dead really badly."
Henry frowned, looking at the messages. Should he give them what information he had on Eli?
As his fingers moved towards the phone, Eli's voice ran through his head.
"I could stop your hunger."
No, he couldn't. Because even if it was a lie, he had already started having hope.
Apparently, the majority of the students' concern only went out to the new girl. The poor guy he might have accidentally paralysed was not important. Originally, Eli thought he might have to solve that problem later, but it seemed it was only temporary, as the guy got up pretty much fine after that.
Stiles then waited for Scott to end his googly-eye session before finally introducing Eli to that stupid Jeep they kept talking about.
Eli was actually not impressed. This pile of junk was not going to last another year, and even that might have been generous.
Scott, still smiling, went to the passenger side while Stiles went to the driver's side. Taking a rag out of his bag, Eli gently pulled on the door handle, taking care not to break anything, then slowly got into the vehicle, brushing off the seat as he went. Once he was inside, he used the rag to hold the door handle and pulled it shut.
The moment he got in, Stiles's eager voice came from the front of the vehicle.
"So, Eli, what do you think?"
Stiles looked at him with expectant eyes. Eli put on his best fake smile, his face twitching all the while as he muttered out, "It's really great."
Stiles seemed to accept that answer. After two failed tries at starting the vehicle, he finally managed it on the third, and then they were off.
For a guy really good at sarcasm, he seemed really oblivious when it was used on him. That, or he really just wanted to hear Eli say his Jeep was cool.
After the initial excitement from Stiles, things got a bit quieter. Eli supposed he might have ended their last meeting a bit strangely. Now that they had put so much effort into talking to him again, it was his turn to make conversation.
But what should he say? He wasn't really good at this socialising thing.
Maybe he could ask about Scott's "improvements." Doing all of that and still not using his inhaler? He already had an idea of what might have been the cause, but he also wanted to gain more information about the thing that bit Scott.
He was still hunting, after all.
"So, Scott, um, how come you haven't used your inhaler, especially after all that?"
Under his shades, his eyes lit up.
Ahh, damn. He finally started speaking, but why did he have to ask that? Should I tell him about the bite? About that thing?
With that thought, an image of the strange creature that had attacked Scott appeared in his head. Its eyes were red, and it was full of fur. Strangely, it felt familiar, as if the person's identity was right on the tip of Eli's tongue, but he was just unable to grasp it.
Just then, Scott finally said something.
"It was Sunday night. Stiles took me into the woods to look for a body. It scared it out of me. Haven't needed it since."
"Wait, what? You guys were looking for a body?"
Then Stiles jumped in.
"We weren't just looking for one. It was half of one, and Scott said he found it. Though I don't think I believe him. We went back and didn't see a thing. All we found was this guy."
"A dead guy?" Eli asked.
"No." Stiles almost snorted. "You remember that fire from…"
Wait, should I bring up anything from before the—
Eli immediately interrupted Stiles's thoughts.
"The Hale fire!"
"Ahh, yes, that one."
Stiles seemed to chuckle, but his eyes were watching Eli through his rear-view mirror.
"It was someone from that family. You know, Derek Hale."
Eli's glowing irises expanded to cover the whites of his eyes.
"No, I don't."
Almost imperceptibly, Eli whispered in the back, "But I will."
Scott looked up into the rear-view mirror, back at Eli. What was that unsettling feeling? What did he mean by that? His own eyes were inevitably drawn to the shades covering Eli's.
Why did he feel like they were looking directly through him?