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Part 1 of The Delta Series
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2021-06-30
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2024-01-02
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16/?
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Delta¹ (INCOMPLETE) | s. mccall

Chapter 7: iii - beacon hills high

Chapter Text

���chapter two���

☆★☆chapter two☆★☆

☆★☆beacon hills high☆★☆

☆★☆ Beacon Hills, California. February 18, 2012. ☆★☆

☆★☆04x??☆★☆

☆★☆

 

“Excuse my french, but what the fuck ?”

Despite the fact that his tone was laced with confusion rather than aggression, her response to his language was instinctive, reaching out her hand and smacking the back of her brother’s head. The sound of his yelping was all she needed to know she made contact. “Watch your mouth,” she said in response to his scrutiny expression, “We’re in public, you can’t just drop a swear like that, there are children around.”

Completely ignoring her previous statement, or simply not giving a damn, Liam stared at her gobsmacked as he rubbed the back of his head. The questioning look in his baby blue eyes could only be caused by one thing, and the very thought of her encounter with the boy at the gas station sent her heart racing. She sent a withering glare to her younger brother as the memory of the boys’ chocolate pools sent a blush rushing towards her cheeks, “What?”

Her response was enough to stop him in his tracks and she stopped alongside him with an inward groan. He sassily placed one hand on his hips before wildly gesturing towards the hoodie she was wearing with his free hand, his voice laced with protective aggression, “The hell are you wearing?!”

“A clown costume, obviously. What do you think I’m wearing, dumbass?”

“It looks like you’re wearing some strange guy’s hoodie. The same strange guy you gave your shirt to?”

She rolled her eyes at her brother’s persistently, irking tone, “Cut me some slack, Ilee. The poor guy looked like he was gonna have a mental breakdown. He offered to wash my shirt and gave me his hoodie to wear instead, okay?”

“You gave him your coffee money. You never give anyone your coffee money.”

She closed her eyes and released a sigh through her nose. It looked like she wouldn’t be able to soothe over his suspicions as easily this time. She raised an unamused brow at him, completely disregarding his accusation as she silently judged him. “You know, I would take you seriously, but you have honey bun icing around your mouth.”

“Oh, shit where,” his voice was muffled by the hand he was frantically scrubbing his mouth with. It only took a few moments of him scrubbing to realize there was no sticky residue of honey bun frosting on his hand. His hands faltered mid motion after the realization hit him and his gaze snapped back towards his big sister, his eyes narrowing in accusation and suspicion as he did.

Rather than giving his looks a verbal response, she just smirked and started walking in the direction of Beacon Hills High School. It wouldn’t do to be late on the first day. She could hear her brother stumbling after her, crying out for her to ‘Wait!’ and ‘Slow Down!’ , but she continued walking away, knowing that he would catch up.

A sharp, cool breeze cut through the air, nipping at the borrowed hoodie as it sailed past her. She pulled it closer to herself, burrowing herself in its warmth. The soft material rubbed against her skin, the boy’s scent wafting through the air at the hoodies’ movement. Apple cinnamon and brown sugar drifted through her nose, the scent seemingly loosening what she thought were the permanent knots in her tense muscles.

Her brother was right, of course. She never gave her coffee money away before. Coffee was one of the only things that kept her going during the day and she hoarded it like it was gold, snapping at anyone who she thought was going to attempt to take it. Both the coffee and the money.

And yet, here she was, giving the money away to some stranger. Willingly.

She kept her cool and collected facade on, but she couldn’t help but feel the same confusion that her brother felt about the situation.

Her brother had finally caught up to her, panting as his brisk run came to a slow walk. His gaze pierced the side of his sister’s face, his blue eyes silently analyzing his sister’s collected look. She knew he could see it all, all of her little quirks and notions, all of the signs that pointed to something he couldn’t put his finger on. All of the things she knew she couldn’t hide from him. Not completely.

So, rather than continuing to harass her with his questions, he silently walked beside her, both of the Dunbar siblings taking in the view that was Beacon Hills.

The wind had died down significantly since they first left Grab and Dash, the once harsh wind had now settled down to a gentle breeze. The clear blue sky left no secrets to find, the clouds blown away by the harsh winds from earlier. The sun was well over the horizon, its warm rays coating the earth in a golden hue. The sound of cars drifted through the air from a few blocks over, the early morning travelers few and far between.

The scene that had been painted gave the impression that Beacon Hills was a normal, quiet place, even though that was far from the case. It made it appear normal, despite the fact that there was just a massacre at the hospital a few months prior, or that there were more animal attacks in that city than there were anywhere else in California. Or the fact that the population was rapidly dropping.

But, ignorance is bliss, after all.

The sound of cars running was quickly replaced by the sound of teenagers talking. The ginormous brick building that revealed itself after they turned the block sent a rod of dread straight through his stomach. Teens were scattered around the front of the building, all of them chatting aimlessly among themselves as they waited for the first bell to ring. Her brother groaned next to her, pulling her out of her thoughts and she met his sullen expression with a sympathetic look.  She clapped her hand against his shoulder and looked back at the building, or more specifically, every teenager's worst nightmare.

A high school.

“Welcome to hell.”

“I hate this place,” Liam grumbled. The chatter of the other students drifted through the air towards them though their words were too vague to decipher from their distance. The doors to the buses lined in front of the school opened, teens spewing out of them like blood from a wound. But it was the sight of one particular teenager that caught her attention, and she pointed him out to Liam with a smirk.

Her brother's face lit up in a grin and he waved down his friend's attention, "Mason!"

The boy in question perked up, his face breaking into a grin as he caught sight of his friend. He quickly broke away from the rushing crowd, bounding over to them and nearly knocked Liam off his feet when he hugged him. The two freshmen’s laughs mingled through the air as they finally were reunited after a year of separation. If any of the other students sent them odd looks, Lia’s sharp glare shot them down before they could be noticed.

The boys hadn’t seen each other in over a year, they deserved a happy reunion.

They broke away after a moment, youthful grins lighting up their faces and she cleared her throat. Their heads snapped back towards her and she couldn’t help the slight smirk that coated her lips, her head tilting innocently to the side. “What am I?” She questioned in fauxed annoyance, “Chopped liver?” 

Mason quickly detangled himself from Liam’s grasp and practically threw himself at Lia, sending her staggering under the weight of his affectionate assault. She faltered for a moment before slowly returning the hug, doing her best to mask her uncertainty and basking in the warmth Mason’s dark skin seemed to radiate.

She ignored the look that she knew he was sending Liam over her shoulder, silently asking why she was acting weird, and Liam would shrug in response, because neither of them knew.

She didn’t want them to know. 

The knowledge of what she could do, the knowledge of her monstrous secret, shot through her veins like poison. It took everything in her to keep from pulling away, from pushing Mason back to create some space, to make sure she didn’t actually hurt him, that she jerked in surprise when Mason pulled away and looked at them with barely contained excitement, almost like he didn’t notice she was acting odd.

“What are you guys doing here?! ” He cheered before his gaze caught sight of their backpacks and grew even more excited, “Why didn’t you tell me you were moving back?!”

“Well, we thought we’d make it a surprise,” she stated, clearly amused by the excitement the younger boy was displaying. His enthusiasm bled into his figure, making his eyes and his grin widened to the point it nearly hurt her to look at him. The crowd of students that shoved themselves through the school entrance now made themselves scarce, heading to their first class of the day before they made themselves late.

Though, seemingly after forever, Mason’s gaze landed on the hoodie she was wearing. His eyes widened, and She mentally swore.

“Lia-”

A piercing whistle cut through their conversation and they all winced, bringing their hands up to their ears in unison. It did little to muffle the god awful noise, and the voice that began shouting after the whistling had ended did little to soothe her now pounding headache.

“Hewitt! What the hell are you doing here?! Get your ass back to class!”

Ah, she thought, there's Coach.

After the rapid changes her life underwent in the past year, finding out that Coach Finstock hadn’t changed brought an odd sort of relief to her. His brown hair was still as wild as ever and his sports whistle resting on top of his gray t-shirt, his simple tennis shoes partially hidden by his red track pants. His trademark glare directed itself to Mason, prompting him to spit out his answer.

“I was gonna take Liam to get his schedule from the office,” Mason said quickly and Lia quietly sighed. Mason had never truly been a good liar, almost always stumbling over his words and gathering the faintest layer of sweat on his brow. But, either Coach wasn’t paying attention or he simply didn’t care, cause he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, “Then get going! Class is about to start!”

“Thanks Coach!”

“Yeah, get outta my sight,” the man grumbled as Mason pulled Liam away, the boys shouting a hurried ‘Bye Lia!’ over their shoulder as they ran. Lia only laughed good naturedly, sending them a soft wave to humor them, before turning back to the man in front of her.

“Let’s get this over with,” the man grumbled, not even sparing her a glance before marching towards the school. Her footsteps were swift and silent as she followed him and the sudden wind did well to mask any excess sound she made. Her school bag was the color of deep lilacs, and the strap digging somewhat painfully as it bounced against her hip.

Coach said nothing, leaving her to her own as they continued their walk. Very few students remained outside but the ones who did stop to stare as she passed, whispering and pointing at her the moment they thought she was out of earshot.

Of course, she had anticipated this. The student body was brutal, always so quick to judge and easy to anger and offend to the point where you couldn’t even state your own opinion without pissing someone off. She had known this was coming, anticipated the moment that would be her high school judgment day, but that didn’t make it any less  nerve racking .

Her insides seemed to knot themselves together with every passing second, getting tighter and tighter with every breath she took, but her face remained a mask of indifference, conditioned by years and years of practice to never reveal her emotions, no matter how overwhelming they got.

He threw the doors open with a dramatic bang , catching the attention of the few students that were still lingering in the hallway. Silence rang out, the students standing next to the blue colored lockers seemed to find nothing more interesting than the new girl.

Or, rather, what the new girl was wearing.

She started cursing herself the moment she realized what was going on. It was hard enough being the new girl, you were the social outcast, the bottom of the students body pyramid unless you were friends with someone who was higher up than you, and everyone would constantly be staring at you, trying to dissect you with their eyes as they tried to figure out where you would fit in their fucked up world, if you even made the cut.

But now it was gonna be worse, because she was wearing McCall’s hoodie, someone who was clearly very well known here.

Shit.

Coach said nothing, his stride never flattering as he continued and it was up to Lia to stay in pace with him so that she didn’t get left behind. It was like a tidal effect as they walked through the hall; the minute they passed a group of students, they would start whispering and gossiping to each other as though their lives depended on it.

Her face gave away nothing, her expression a perfectly sculpted mask that she spent years mastering it to the point of an art. It was her one skill that she used too often, one she wished that she never needed to use to begin with, but one that was helpful all the same. It helped hide the growing anxiety that was twisting her stomach into knots, or the tension that seemed to make her muscles one with her bones.

The only pleasant thing that she noticed was that three girls she passed didn't immediately start gossiping, which she was immensely grateful for. She didn’t have a lot of time to take in their appearances, the only thing she noticed was that one girl had red hair. 

The office was at the very end of the hallway, which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because fewer students would catch sight of her, and a curse because the same students who had already seen her seemed to be watching her every move to the point that all she could feel was someone's gaze piercing the back of her neck.

“Here,” Finstock grumbled, picking up a stack of papers off the top of the desk and slammed them into her hands. She nearly dropped her papers at the unnecessary force he used, but he was already talking before she could gather herself, “That’s your schedule, locker number and combination, study guides for the midterm exam and the study guide for the Biology quiz you have during fifth period.”

“What-?”

He was suddenly blowing into his whistle as hard as he could, glaring at a spot over her shoulder as he did so. Her shoulders came up instinctively to try and protect her vulnerable ears, though there wasn’t much that she could do while she had her hands full. Her previous headache returned with a roaring vengeance.

“Greenburg!” He shouted the minute he dropped his whistle, marching past her and back into the hall, “ Get to class! I don’t want to see your sorry face anymore than I have to!”

Those seemed to be the magic words, she thought, watching as all of the other students made themselves scarce and vanished from the halls. The once lively corridor now seemed dead, the life and energy that had filled it earlier seemed to dissipate along with students, leaving what once was an exuberant place now void and lifeless.

Well, almost lifeless.

The three girls she had taken note of earlier were still there, and now she had time to notice the differences between the girls. The girl with red hair wasn’t actually as tall as she thought she was, her white heeling giving her the extra boost she needed to seem only the barest bit shorter than her friends. Her outfit was a fine balance between slick and professional, with a nice blue dress shirt and a light gray skirt to go with it.

The girl closest to the red head was a brunette and Lia could tell right off the bat that she didn’t really care for her appearance. It isn’t to say she looked bad, far from it, her simple cream sweater, brown leggings, and tan heeled boots pulled forth her natural beauty, but Lia could tell from her attitude that she was confident enough in her appearance that she didn’t need validation from others.

The last girl’s hair color was somewhere between dark brown and black, nearly the same color as her eyes. Black seemed to be a dominant color in her outfit choices though, between her black ripped jeans, her black leather jacket, and her black combat boots, her only speck of color was from the red rose on her (surprise surprise) black shirt.

Though, despite what some might assume as a shady exterior, Lia could tell that there was something soft about her, something that the world hadn’t managed to break yet, and she secretly hoped it never would.

They gathered closely together as the silence began to press on them all and make the atmosphere the slightest bit more stifling. Their gazes seemed to be stuck on her and their eyes were either oddly blank or filled with an emotion she couldn’t decipher.

Small rocks of dread began to form in the bottom of her stomach.

Lia prided herself with her ability to read emotions, it was one of the only things she was good at in the world. She has seen almost every emotion before, happiness, sadness, envy, anger, jealousy, anxiety being a few of the more basic emotions, while loathing, terror, remorse, disgust, and serenity on the rare occasion, being some of the more rare ones she's come across.

Reading people and their emotions is the one thing Lia can take pride in, is one of the few things she can actually admit that she's good at.

And now, meeting three strangers, all who seem to be regarding her with an emotion she hasn’t read before… hasn’t encountered before… 

The rocks of dread soon began to give away to fear.

She put her things away in her locker as quickly as she could, but not so quickly that she would reveal her nervousness, and she kept glancing at the mirror that she placed on the inside of her locker door to see if they were still watching her.

They were.

Her mask of indifference slipped back into place as she closed her locker with a slight bang. The girl with the rose shirt jumped slightly, but the other two didn’t even flinch. She raised a brow at them, silently challenging them while simultaneously leaving no room for arguments as she said, “I think it's time we get to class, don’t we?”

She never gave them the chance to answer before she spun on her heel and vanished down the hall. A quiet sigh of relief slipped past her lips once she turned the corner, the feeling of their eyes finally off of her, but she couldn’t shake the dread that had settled in her stomach. The memory of how they looked at her replayed in her head before she shook it away, continuing her steady gait towards her first class.

She didn't know how, but something told her that her year at Beacon Hills was going to be anything but normal.

☆★☆

4011 words