Muted

"Hey, what's on your mind?" Scott asks.


I look up from my textbook. "I don't know, I just....feel different since last night."


He slides next to me and brushes my hair away from my eye. "What do you mean?"


"I mean, I'm rethinking my whole relationship with Derek. It's starting to feel so wrong and I need to stop before I dig a hole I can't jump out of."


"End it."


"What?"


"End it, Scar. I want you to be safe and you're not safe with him. You've been targeted only because you're close to him."


I take out my phone and he nods. I dial his number and put it to my ear. He picks up on the first ring. "Scarlett? What's up?"


"Derek, we're done. I can't be with you anymore. I'm a junior in high school. I need to focus on more than you. Goodbye, Derek." I hang up before he can answer. I just laugh. Scott is more confused than ever. "What's so funny?"


"I can't believe I just did that. I don't have to worry my whole day about if he's okay or not. I don't have to look over my shoulder anymore, scared of what could get me. I can actually be me without skipping school to see him. I feel like I can start this new school year off right."


He smiles. "Come on, we have school."


I change into a black pleated skirt, white V-neck and a black sweater. I curl up my hair and leave it down my back. I look into the mirror to make sure my hair looks okay. I make my eyes glow and sigh. I see Scott in the mirror. "Are you okay?"


"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay. Let's go."


At school, I follow Scott and Stiles onto the lacrosse field. Scott is worried that someone will replace him as team captain. "You got your grades up, like Coach told you to, right?" Stiles says.


"Yeah, but he never told me I was back on the team. He just told me to show up for tryouts today."


"Well, we have bigger things to worry about," I say.


"Did you tell Argent yet?" Stiles asks.


"I texted him but he didn't get back to me."


I stop walking and look at my brother. "You told him that his psychopath sister, Kate, is back from the dead over a text?"


"Didn't have the money to call France."


I look over at the field and see a really cute boy playing goalie. "What the hell are we doing here?" Stiles asks. "We have over one hundred seventeen million problems and worrying about our status on the lacrosse team isn't one of them."


I bite my lip and gesture to the boy. "It is now."


"Who the hell is that?"


I shrug. When he removes his helmet, I get to see all his features. He has cute brown hair and blue eyes. I hear him having the chance of being the first freshman captain. He glances toward me and stops walking. We exchange looks for over a minute.  After practice, coach calls me into his office. "Look, I know you're McCall's little sister..."


I clear my throat. "Twin."


"Whatever. But we have an upcoming game with Devenford Prep. They are an excellent school. I mean profoundly amazing. Which is why I need yo-"


"You need me to go to the school as an innocent girl, when I have very bad intentions to learn their game plan so you can 'one up' them."


He is shocked. "I couldn't have said it better."


"No."


I go to walk away but he says, "How about this? No info, no A in Eco."


I sigh. Coach always  threatens our grades. "How about this? No A in Eco, expect to have my father, who's an FBI agent, at your door for all your behind payments for your medical bill."


I go into the locker room. Now, the boys are use to seeing me. Scott and Stiles go up to the new kid, Liam. I wave to him and he gives me a warming smile. "Wanna explain what that was out there?" Stiles asks.


"What do you mean?"


"The little display, the little circus act."


"What circus act?"


"You caught every shot."


"I was in the goal."


"Yeah, but not a single shot got past you."


"Yeah, I was the goalie."


I look at Stiles. "He has a point, Stiles. He was playing his temporary part of the team."


"You're a freshman, right?" Scott asks.


"Yeah."


"You weren't here last semester," Stiles says.


"Transferred from Devenford Prep."


I gulp. Oh boy. "Transferred?"


"Yeah."


"You got kicked out, didn't you?" Scott asks.


"Transferred? Kicked out? What do you guys care? I came here to play lacrosse. Team needs a few good players, right?"


"No, we don't need any-"


"Actually, Stiles," I cut him off.


"We could use a few good players."


Stiles continues with his questioning. "Okay, how did you get so good? Have you always been this good? Or did it just happen overnight? Have you been out in the middle of the woods on a full moon-"


I clear my throat really loud. Liam sighs. "I learned from my stepfather, alright? He made team captain as a sophomore, like you. And, yeah, I'm just that good."


I follow Liam down the hall. "Hey, I'm sorry about that. Stiles takes up after his dad."


"What does his dad do?"


"Sheriff."


He nods. He stops at his class. "This is my class."


I nod and start to walk away. "Wait, what's your name again?"


"Scarlett McCall."


"Scott's your brother right? The captain of the team."


I nod. "Twin."


"Cool. I'll see you around?"


I nod. He shoots me a smile before going into his class. I smile and get to my math class. After that, Stiles has found out about an ax murderer. Me and Scott don't wanna get involved, which doesn't make Stiles very happy. I drive to the hospital to give my mom some dinner. While I'm waiting for her, I look over to see Liam lying in a bed, his ankle propped up and swollen. "Liam, what happened?"


"Just a lacrosse accident."


Scott. I sit in a chair next to his bed. We don't say anything for a while. "Is it broken?"


He shrugs. "The doctor said it'll definitely need an X-ray." I press my fingers on the joint and he hisses through his teeth. "Ow, dude!"


I laugh and cross my legs in the chair. "It feels broken. This is why I don't think you should play lacrosse."


"What makes you say that?"


"You're too..." I look him up and down. "Fragile."


He scoffs. "Did you not see me at practice? I'm the opposite of fragile. I'm... What's the opposite of fragile?"


I laugh again. "Durable, firm, strong, tough, unbreakable. The list goes on."


"Yeah, I'm all those things."


I gesture to his ankle. "Except that last one."


I finally get a laugh out of him. As we're talking more, I hear my mom screaming. I quickly stand up. "I'm so sorry but I really gotta go. I'll see you later."


I use the stairs and see a young boy, bloody, attacking her. Scott goes into full wolf form. He howl so that it echos down the hall. The boy looks up and he has several rows of teeth. Scott runs to tackle him and I go to my mom. "Are you okay?"


"I'm fine, I'm fine."


"Who is that?"


"Sean, a patient here." Sean throws Scott into the wall and runs for it. I help Scott back to his feet and we look at our mom. She sighs. "Go get that son of a bitch."


We run after him down the hall and to the roof. We see the boy holding Liam by the neck, close the edge. "Get back!"


"You don't need to do this," Scott says.


"Whatever it is, whatever you are, we can help you," I say.


"No you can't."


"Let us help you."


"Wendigos don't need help. We need food!"


Liam manages to twist out of the choke hold and faces Sean. Me and Scott leaps several feet in the air and lands near the edge of the roof. Sean throws Liam over the edge and turns to face Scott. Scott begins to wrestle with him. I run to help Liam. I try to pull him up but he starts to slipping from my hands. His sweat doesn't help a bit. "Scott, he's slipping! Scott, help!"


"A little busy."


For some reason, I can't pull him up on my own. My strength. Without any other option, I bite down on Liam's arm to keep him from falling. I feel strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me back. I pull Liam with me. I turn to see the boy with a hatchet in his back. A man with no mouth turns to us and places a 'shush' finger across where his mouth should be. Liam starts screaming and crying. I wipe blood from my mouth and look at Scott. Things just went down hill.

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