From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski - Chapter 4: Chapter 4

The bell rang once more and sixth period finally, mercifully, ended. Madeline struggled with her bag as she thought about the mountain of pointless work she accumulated by the time the bell rang. The day was a hellish one and she only narrowly avoided a detention for 'rudely talking back' in Chemistry. The teacher called on her several times at different points, knowing she couldn't answer.
Most of her lessons before today were taught from a laptop, of which she shared with four other girls after hers died. The information never stuck well, but maybe that was because there was typically a crisis or simply something better to do. Besides, she was always looking forward to being the first person to show up for training, which she was free to go to right after jotting down a page or two of schoolwork activities total.
Whenever Mister Harris called on her today, she would try to opt out of answering by pointing to someone who was actually raising their hand.
"Is there a reason you're choosing not to answer my extremely simple questions, Miss Hayes?"
"Well, they're not really simple."
"'In order to extract isobutyric acid from a solution of diethyl ether, what should one wash the solution with?' It's not a hard question. In fact, according to your records, you should be able to answer that and every other question I've asked." He scrutinized her while smiling, which only gave Maddie the urge to punch him. "Unless you're confirming the lack of structure and the incongruous method in which you were taught basic facts in your home schooling."
"I just don't find Chemistry all that interesting."
The man's smile dropped as the class laughed, just like in her first class of the day. He looked half stricken and half humiliated before he called her another 'genius' in the most sarcastic voice he probably could muster. It was like one of those nerd stereotype characters from all those eighties movies Marie loved so much. Or, worse, Carrie White just after the pig's blood dropped on her head during prom. Looking back, Maddie hated that movie.
From what she could gather, Mister Harris (a name she would never get used to calling someone who wasn't her watcher) was a thin, gangly man who seemed to hide behind his wordy insults which he slung at her and the other students. Somehow, knowing that she could break him like a toothpick gave her some sort of solace.
She never missed online schoolwork so much in her life when compared side by side to high school - and she wasn't even finished the first day.
The whole thing was nearly through and she was headed to... She stopped in her tracks as the warning bell rang. Which class was she headed to? Why are there so many bells? She quickly rummaged through her bag and pulled out the same piece of paper from earlier. It was crumpled now, after shoving it back in her bag during lunch, and she had to squint to read the writing.
Seventh Period→  Economics
Economics? How exactly would that come in handy?
"Sure, okay..." She shoved the already crumpled paper back in her bag. As she swerved around other students, every step sent her back to her strange lunch experience. Unfortunately no one had answered her phone call but she made sure to leave a message off-putting enough to warrant a call back.
Hopefully, yelling at Xander's voicemail about the mess they threw her into was enough - even if it was a half truth and she would've taken any mission offered. Anything, even this, was better than staring at that bare twin mattress everyday.
"Madeline!"
She paused at the sound of her name and looked around. Odds were it would be for a different Madeline anyway - no one here knew her well enough to try and get her attention for any reason she could think of.
She spotted Allison waving her down. Maddie gave her a blank stare before the light bulb flickered on in her head, reminding her of what the girl said during lunch - at least the parts that weren't about hunters and giant wolves. She refrained from letting out a deep, frustrated sigh and walked over to Allison with a wave and a small, forced smile.
The girl in front of her returned the smile without a hint of the same discomfort. "Hey! I was starting to think you were going to pass right by."
"Sorry." Maddie adjusted the bag on her shoulder, grimacing at how she didn't sound very sorry at all. It probably sounded unnatural, too. If only she were a better actress, but that was never a skill she or any other slayer learned. "I was spacing out, I guess. Happens sometimes."
"No, that's totally understandable!" Allison waved it off, accepting the lie. "I'm sure you've got a lot on your plate, you know with it being your first day and all."
She didn't wait for Maddie to reply as she started walking and motioned for her to follow.
"C'mon! The last thing you want is for Coach to point out that you're late. Trust me."
Maddie met Allison's pace and tried to listen to her meandering chatter. She nodded and smiled, only half paying attention. If there was anything she learned from growing up with essentially only other teenagers, it was to at least pretend you were listening. She hated it though; it was all so very...false. She couldn't remember how many times she attempted this with her own team and they saw right through her every time.
Didn't matter. This instance wasn't about actually making friends. Sure, it would probably help, but it wasn't necessary or something that Maddie even wanted. She was protecting this girl, all the while not letting anyone know what she really was. It was probably hard enough to play off that this was a normal town without a vampire slayer being thrown in the mix. If anything though, it was a great distraction from her actual life.
"...and that's hard enough to deal with, you know?"
"Oh, yeah. Absolutely." She followed Allison into the classroom which was already nearly full. She recognized faces from different classes and hoped that soon she'd remember names, too.
Allison spotted that boy from earlier who was clearly hiding from her and hurried to the seat behind him. The other strange boy tried to take the seat but was just barely beaten to it by Allison and took the seat beside her.
"Over here." Allison pointed to the seat diagonal from her that happened to be next to the boy and in front of his pale friend with the short hair. Maddie took the seat uncomfortably, turning slightly to Allison and the two boys while Allison gestured to her. "Guys, this is Madeline. Madeline, this is my boyfriend, Scott, and his friend, Stiles."
Her boyfriend? Maddie tried not to cringe. Then why was he running away earlier?
"Really, everyone can just call me Maddie. It's fine."
"We met actually," the boy behind her said. Stiles, right? That's a weird name. He looked over at her and gestured with his pencil in hand. "Well, sort of. She made our English teacher nearly pop a blood vessel in record time. Congrats on that, by the way."
Maddie sent him a scrutinizing stare. "Isn't that bad?"
"Nah." Stiles leaned back in his seat. "In fact, you might want to try it on all the teachers around here. Extra points if you get Harris to quit."
The other two already started up their own conversation, which from the looks on their faces was not going very well. She wanted to listen in just in case, but was stuck talking to this Stiles  kid who was analyzing her like she'd done something wrong already.
"The Chemistry teacher?" Maddie grimaced over the ridiculous amount of make up work Harris gave her. "I think he already doesn't like me."
"See? You're already halfway there. Good job." He gave her a thumbs up. She didn't really understand why he was congratulating her and thought about how to respond for much longer than a standard beat. Off of her blank stare, Stiles gave her his own strange look. "You really don't get sarcasm, do you?"
"Of course I do," she bit back. It wasn't the first time someone told her that, which grated her nerves further. She turned around in her desk as the teacher slammed a book down.
"Let's settle down." The large man before her looked like a lunatic - wide, frantic eyes and jet black hair that stood on end. No one else seemed startled by this. "Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading."
As Maddie took out her book, others raised their hands.
"Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading." The slightly crazed teacher walked around his desk. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Maddie. "You. Girl in black."
Her head snapped up and she gave him a blank stare. "Madeline."
"Yeah, whatever." He folded his arms and continued to glare at her. "Last night's reading. Summary. Go."
Maddie's mouth hung open for a second before she found her voice. "I didn't do the reading. I'm actually new..."
"Pffft! Like I haven't heard that one before," Coach went on, suspicion seeping into his voice.
"No, seriously, Coach. It's her first day," Scott spoke up, throwing Maddie a side glance. She mouthed a 'thank you' in which Scott simply nodded.
"Oh, come on!" Coach Finstock gave another incredulous look before heading back over to his desk, sifting through the papers on it. "I think I'd know if we had a new -"
He picked up a paper, squinting at it. Maddie sat there, all too aware that the entire class' eyes swiveled around to her and wishing Beacon Hills had a Hellmouth under the school that would swallow her up just about now.
"Madeline Hayes. Grade ten. Seventh period." Coach slammed the paper back down and looked over at the girl who was sinking down in her seat. "Keep up, Hayes. I'm watching you."
Where's an apocalypse when you need one?
He gestured two fingers to his eyes then to her before turning his attention back to Scott. "Fine then! Since you're full of helpful information today, how about you, McCall!"
Scott glanced up at the teacher, with the same deer caught in the headlights look Maddie wore seconds ago. A thin prickle of guilt needled her.  "Wha..."
"The reading." Coach sat on his desk and looked down at Scott expectantly.
"...Last night's reading?"
"How 'bout, ah...the reading of the Gettysburg address?"
Scott face went from surprise to confusion in all of about five seconds. "What?"
"That's sarcasm. You familiar with the term 'sarcasm', McCall?"
"Very," Scott said, looking back at Stiles. Maddie threw a side glance to the boy behind her, who looked very proud of himself.
Seems to be the theme of the day, Maddie thought with an eye roll as she faced forward again and attempted to disappear.
☽ † ☾
The school day finally ended and a rush of freedom washed over Madeline. On the other hand, she wasn't able to shake Allison off her trail, who was still going on about Scott, who apparently seemed to be avoiding her for most of the day.
Whatever was wrong before, though, seemed to clear up after class.  Allison's smile was brighter than the freaking fluorescent lights as they left the building and she continued on about something happening later that night.
And here was Madeline feigning interest and hardly listening. In fact, the only reason she was even pretending to listen was due to her mission. She shook off another twinge of guilt and continued her seemingly foolproof method of smiling and nodding.
"Oh, my dad's here!" Allison  waved off in the other direction. Maddie turned and spotted an older man standing outside an SUV - the man from the picture.
"Hey, sweetheart," he said with a smile, which appeared as unnatural as it did in the family photo. His eyes then darted over to Madeline. "Who's your friend?"
"This is Maddie. She's new."
"Madeline Hayes," Maddie said, her tone almost sounding professional. She smiled politely and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mister Argent."
He cautiously shook her hand, scrutinizing her. "...New?"
"Just started today."
"Welcome to Beacon Hills. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do."
Maddie looked back at the school, then to Allison, and back to her father. "I mean, it's definitely a change. I hear this place has got some crazy stories."
In her defense, it wasn't a lie; absolutely every class started with a vague recap of a mountain lion attack in the school parking lot a few nights ago, ending with a town sheriff getting injured.
"Oh, I'm sure there's no more than anywhere else," he said but something turned cold in his expression, before turning to his daughter. "We should get home. I'm sure your new friend has a lot of work to do."
Allison turned to Maddie. "See you tomorrow, then?"
Madeline gave a short nod. "See you tomorrow."
Allison waved as she got in the car and her father gave Maddie one last pointed glance before walking around the car to the driver's side. As they drove off, the slayer sighed heavily and kicked some dirt on the ground. Her stomach coiled as she thought of tomorrow - and even the day after that. How long did she need to be here? And exactly how long were the Argents going to leave their daughter in the dark about it?
The sun set and Madeline only managed to finish half of her homework.
It was quarter past eight and she roamed the streets of the small town with a leather messenger back at her side full of weapons. Buffy told her to keep up her patrolling regimen and report any other odd activity.
But there was none. Like, actually no supernatural weirdness of any kind.
She strolled for hours and not even one vampire reared its ugly head. There were no missing bodies from the cemetery according to the skittish boy who worked there. He seemed a bit perturbed at the question in general though and probably wouldn't tell her anyway.
At this point, her only reasoning for being out was to avoid her mountain of work and the rancid smell of the motel room.
Her feet continued to lead her all around town and somehow managed to make it all the way back to the high school. It was one of the few places she memorized the route to so it was really no surprise. The parking lot was bare but for two cars, probably janitors, and there wasn't even an inkling of danger.
She was about to head back, as it seemed pointless to even patrol the area. Unfortunately, that was when things picked up for her - and in probably the strangest way possible.
"AOWUUUUUUOOUUUU!!!"
That was the sound she heard over the loud speaker all around the school grounds. It was certainly enough to make her stop and look back at the school. "What the hell?"
Whatever it was, it sounded human at least. Maybe someone was pulling a prank or...
The sound that came next reverberated in her bones and boomed in her ears so loud, she covered them.
A howl.
A howl like she heard in her nightmare, half growl and thundering. The type of howl she was trained to know.
She gripped her messenger bag and ran in the direction of the school.
When the door didn't budge, Maddie took a step back and kicked it in. The snap of the lock breaking met her and the door - half off its hinge now - swung open. She took one last look around at the barren parking lot and the trees beyond before entering the building.
Her footsteps echoed in the empty halls as she walked slowly, listening for any other sounds. She took another measured step before a guttural roar engulfed the building. Her head snapped over to the direction of the sound and she started running toward it as fast as her feet would allow.
Of course, it didn't last long when she neared another door as it swung open.
Two boys ran in and slammed the doors behind them, holding them tight. She stopped in her tracks as the boys heaved in breaths and turned toward her.
Before her stood the same strange boys from earlier that day, Scott and Stiles.
And now they were gawking at her.
In the empty halls of the school, all three voices echoed, "What that hell are you doing here?!"