I awoke from my vaguely restful slumber with a pounding head ache and a sick feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. Why did I feel this way? The bad taste in my mouth only seemed to get worse when I swallowed. What could possibly be wrong? Reelingmy
mind back to the previous night, I sighed and scrubbed a hand down my face to try and make some sense of it all. It didn't help. I just remembered the awkward conversation I'd had with Derek. That was the last thing I'd needed.

With a weary groan, I stood from under the warm confines of my duvet after shrugging it off my shoulders. I walked to the bathroom and washed my face, brushed my teeth. I headed back into my room before I headed into my room to search my drawers for appropriate
attire. After deciding on a pair of black jeans and a grey button up shirt. I slid my black Converse on and grabbed my fully charged phone from the nightstand next to my bed.

Before I headed downstairs for a quick bite to eat, I quickly read over the notes on my walls and pulled my curtains open. As I walked down the stairs, I made note of how silent the house was. Dad wasn't home then. Had he take a double shift at work then?
Probably... I plucked an apple from the fruit bowl on the island in the middle of the kitchen before I opened he front door and snatched my backpack from the bottom of the stairs. I hungthe bag over my left shoulde as I bit into the crunchy
apple and lockedthe door behind me.

I knew that today at school everyone would try to apologise for what they'd done but I really couldn't be bothered dealing with their endless amount of crap. Not now. Not yet. I shook my head as I fished into my pocket to get the keys for my Jeep.

As I drove to school, the roads were fairly quiet so it was a quick drive to my usual spot in the parking lot. Scott's motorcycle was there. Great... Just what I needed. I took a deep breath before I exited the jeep and locked it before I headed towards
the school doors. A hand clasped my shoulder and I was turned around you face Kira.

I glared at the beautiful black haired girland tried to pry myself from her grip. She gave me pleading eyes. I shrugged her hand off of me and walked down the hallway towards my locker. I saw the other pack members and Scott standing near my locker
as I approached it. I took s steadying breath before I reached past my former best friend and put the combination into the lock and pulled open the metal door. Scott closed his eyes before he worked up enough courage to finally look into mine. I glared
straight back at him and put up every single oneof my walls.

"Stiles listen. We need to talk -" I cut him off immediately as I shoved him out of the way to retrieve my English books for my first period class. "Stiles please!" He tried again. I shook my head and whirled around on him.

"You have no goddamn right! You all abandoned me and I know that the only reason any of you need me is because of something dangerous to you guys. You only need me because you have no fall guy anymore. I was always the person you turned to when
you needed help or research done and when I need you all, none of you are ever there. You guys left me behind but I never wanted to let you all fall into a bottomless abyss or to let any of you get killed. Didn't you guys ever wonder why I always
put my lifeon the line for you?" I spat, my rant drawing the attention of a few students walking to class.

Scott's shocked face was comical and I'd have laughed it it were any other situation. But not right now. I shoved past them all and tried not to focus on how painful it seemed to be when I saw Isaac's puppy dog eyes. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves
as I entered the class room. I took my usual seat and threw my books down on my desk before I pulled out my notebooks and pens for the lesson ahead. Scott slid into his usual seat behind me but I ignored him because of the whole 'you're not pack'
thing. He whispered my name.

I continued to ignore you until around half way through the period. I turned to face him and gave him an incredulous look. He gulped. When he finally spoke, I'd turned around and rose my hand to answer the teacher's question, I froze due to the shock.

"Claudia is alive." My heart stopped at those words. My hand fell just as the teacher turned to me and tears began to pool in my eyes. I took a shuddering breath and turned to face him again. The pity on his face was unmistakable. Was he kidding me? With
a small shuddering release of breath, I fisted my hands and gulped down air. It had suddenly become impossible to breathe. My chest and heart clenched. It felt like my chest was compacting in on itself and the pressure was crushing my lungs.

My heart felt like it was shattering all over again and I held my breath. I saw the concerned faces of the many pack members in the class. Lydia was concerned. Kira looked at me with pity. Isaac had the beginnings of tears in his eyes. Scott looked guilty.
I bit my bottom lip to stop its constant quivering and stared down at the desk, the small black stain on the left hand corner seeming far more interesting than it had merely moments ago.

With my vision swimming, I stood and made my way to the door. Unstesdily, I swayed as I tried to find my feet. Strong hands gripped my waist and led me to down the corridor towards the bathroom. I fought the grip off of me and stumbled through the door,
gripping the ceramic sink bowl as tightly as possible. My knuckle had long since gone white and I stated at the drain, hoping to god that I was imagining it. I hoped to God that this was some practical joke they were pulling. I shivered and found
myself panting hard enough for it to be classified as anasthma attack.

"Stiles..." The voice behind me seemed very distant, as though I was hearing it from under water. "Stiles..." The person tried again. Tears rolled down my cheeks in rivers. The force of the torrents of the salty dropplets was strong enough to rivala
tsunami. Relentlessly, the waterfall of tears cascaded down my cheeks, leaving nothing but a ghost of wetness and warmth in theirwake. "Stiles..." The voice demanded.

I managed to turn to look at Scott through the tears. This couldn't be real. This was just some practical joke and we'd laugh it off. But Scott didn't seem too happy or comedic at the current moment. It was true?

"Tell me you're kidding!" I demanded. "Tell me! Please!Tell me this is a joke! Tell me that you're only doing this to hurt me! She can't be. She just can't!" I bawled. Scott gulped. "Please... Please, Scott. Tell me the truth. Tell me this is some
sick revenge scheme or something. Please..." I cried as I sobbed on the floor, kneeling in a small puddle below one of the sinks. Scott knelt beside me. He pulled me close to his chest and I just cried and screamed into his chest. I fisted my hands
in his shirt and just cried. This couldn't be real. It had to be a sick twisted dream-turned-nightmare.

"Stiles I'm so sorry." Scott began softly. "We only found out when Talia reappeared. Derek's family didn't die in that fire." Scott explained quietly. I pulled myself back from Scott to state up into his eyes.

"They're alive?" I breathed in sheer disbelief. Scott nodded and rubbed his hand up and down my back to soothe me. I ptactically melted into the warmth that he had to be a dream... A huge bad, sick and twisted dream that I'd wake up
from any moment. Was I losing my mind again?

Scott took my face in his hands and looked straight into my eyes. It seemed to calm me more than anything else. I held my breath and tried to avert my gaze from his. I'dnever admit to anyone but I'd recently developed a crush on him. The 'former
best friend turnedcrush'topicwas something I wasn't too open to talking about.

Shakily, I stood. I turned on the faucet of the nearest sink and cupped my hands under the cool flow of water. Slowly, I brought my hands up to my lips and gulped in the cool liquid to try and calm myself.

This couldn't be real... Could it be?