I really regret taking advanced english.

On the last night of the summer, I was stuck in my room trying to finish my assigned summer reading. The thin pages of Romeo & Juliet crumpled under my stressed fingertips, each confusing word sending another wave of annoyance through my tired brain. I had about 100 pages to go, and about 12 hours before I had to walk through the front door of Beacon High. This was going to be a great last couple hours of summer.

The sun was slowly falling from it's peak as night time approached. Every couple pages, I looked out the window onto the front yard, looking to see if they were here yet. But they never were. Mom told me that they were going to be here around seven thirty, but it was already past eight.

A sigh escaped my lips, turning back to the confusing speech of the Shakespeare story. I didn't understand the praise that these novels reserved. I mean, obviously, the plot is classic, they have made several movies about the book. But how could anyone understand what the author is trying to get across? Every sentence made less sense.

That's when a light bulb went off in my head. Why the hell didn't I think of this before?

I jumped off my bed, and stumbled out of my room, gripping the book tightly in hand. Sliding on the hardwood floor, I made my way through my large house trying to find my dad. Each room was empty, absent dust hanging in the air. I always told my parents that this house was too big for us, but they always said the space was needed.

Well, now, after sixteen years of waiting, the space was finally needed.

I came to an unstable stop when I found my dad sitting in the living room. He was holding the television remote, and the tv overhead was skipping through channels. The flashes from the fast moving tv make my head spin, I had to blink twice to clear my head.

"Hey Dad," I said, "What you watchan?"

"Nothing at the moment," Dad replied as he turned to look at me. My dad and I looked nothing alike, I sometimes questioned if I was even related to him. My dad, known to everyone else as Co-Sheriff Peters, always wears a goofy grin, has bright blue eyes and a mop of blonde hair. He just beams waves of confidence twenty-four, and frankly, it was a bit annoying at times. "There's nothing on."

"Cool," I mumbled, looking down at the paperback book.

"What's up Brynny-Boo?" My dad asked, "Is something wrong?"

A cocky smirk came onto my face as I said, "Do you have Romeo & Juliet in your collection."

"Yeah, I have all the classic ones," Dad answered, nodding back towards the brown cabinets. My dad was a huge movie collector, so he had most of the classic stuff in those cabinets. If he tried to sell all of them, we would probably make a lot of money.

But there was no way in hell that Dad would try and sell his babies.

"Are any of them exactly like the book?" I asked, shaking the novel in hand.

Seeing my motives, Dad grinned, "Nope."

"Any that are close enough?" I asked.

"I would suggest the one from 1968."

"Thank--"

"Don't even think about it," A voice said, making me jump. I looked up to see that my mother was standing in all her glory on the other side of the living room, right next to the movie cabinets. "The school told you to read the book, so you are going to read the book."

"But Mom--"

"No, and that's final." Mom said, glaring at me with her strong brown eyes. I tightly crossed my arms over my chest as I watched her brows through the selves, and took out a DVD package. A groan escaped my lips, and the sound of my adolescent frustration made my mother lightly smile.

That's when the doorbell rang, and at that moment, all my frustration changed to curiosity.

My mother's eyes widened when she heard the sound of our doorbell, and the cocky smile that played across her lips vanished into smoke. She disappeared into the kitchen, the heels of her house clicking against the floor as she made her way towards the front door.

Dad immediately turned off the television, the normal goofy smile changing into a masculine frown. He walked past me, taking the other way towards the front door. I came out of my frozen stance once I heard the front door open, and the sound of chit-chatter coming from the doorway.

I turned quickly on my heel, and started towards the front door. Curiosity was flowing through my veins, questions bubbled up inside wanting to burst out. But my face continued to hold a serious expression, and I kept my arms tightly crossed over my chest.

When I came up to the doorway, I saw them. I didn't know what I expected to see from my uncle and his family, but it wasn't the smiling family that stood before me.

Mom told me two months ago that my uncle, aunt, and cousin were moving in. I had never met anyone on my mother's side of the family before, and the way she frowned deeply as she talked about them, I knew that she didn't like her family very much. I tried to ask her questions about my uncle, and the other members of her family, but she wouldn't break. The only thing she would tell me is that I would understand when they got here.

But the family of three was standing in front of me, and I didn't see anything wrong with them.

My uncle has light grey hair, brown hair, and he was a bit short. He has perfect white teeth like my father, and the leather jacket he was wearing made him look like a teenage wannabe. My aunt was wearing black yoga pants and a dark purple top. She has spiked red hair, and a smile that looked fake across her very pale skin.

Then my eyes landed on my cousin, who was rolling her suitcase back and forth awkwardly. I could see the resemblance between the two of us. The same long brown hair, brown eyes, lean figure. My cousin was pretty, and her shy stance would definitely attract some of the boys at my boring high school.

"You must be Brynn," A voice said, bringing me back to reality. I looked to see that I was standing beside my mother and father, facing family that I have never met before. I wasn't the type of person to get nervous, but the family of three was creepily intimidating. My uncle was smiling at me brightly, and he had his skinny hand out in front of him.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you Uncle Chris," I said, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you too," He responded, "You look so much like your mother."

"I get that a lot," I mumbled, getting some awkward laughs from the family around me.

I shook hands with my aunt, who commented on my eyes, telling me that they were a beautiful shade of hazel. The comment threw me off guard since I always thought that my eyes were just a boring shade of brown.

Then I turned to face my cousin, who was shaking my hand last. The awkwardness from before had faded, and now she was looking at me with the same bright smile that I saw on her father. I could already tell that I was going to like her, even though I didn't show it in my somewhat-bitchy stance and expression.

"Hi, I'm Allison."

"Brynn."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

~~~

I retired back to my bedroom after about two hours of a pretty boring reunion.

I closed my door soundlessly behind me before I flopped onto my bed. The gesture took some of the breath out of me, and made my swirling head pound for a second. I stared up at my ceiling which was a boring shade of white, and I let my thoughts travel.

Memories from the last two hour wandered through my head, alongside the questions that had been floating through my mind for the past two months. I was never much of an observer but tonight, I tried to remember every detail of the reunion. A smile came across my face when I thought about what Stiles would say to me. Stiles was really big on the world of crime, so I can imagine myself saying something sarcastic about me being the best super spy he's ever laid eyes on.

But after tonight, I knew I would never be a super spy since I saw my mother giving me a suspicious side-eye about five million times. She knew what I was trying to find, and from the look in her eye, it seemed like she was warning me not to try. I obviously wasn't going to listen to her, this family had too many secrets and I needed to know the answers to at least a few of them.

I realized that my parents were lying to me when I was about twelve years old. It all started when my mother and father took a trip to Colorado. I was told that it was an anniversary vacation, but when they returned a day early. My father said it was because he got called back for work when my mother said that they booked the wrong flight. That's when I released that half the thing my parents said to me were lies.

Most of them were little white lies, most of them being about their past. Whenever I asked about my mother and father's past, they always got super tense and overwhelmed with memories. I never wanted to push the subject, but I watched as they lied through their teeth, telling me fake short stories about their past. Eventually, I stopped asking, knowing that they would continue with the same dishonest pattern.

Tonight, I watched my parents to see if they ever got tense, but they never did. I could still see that hatred in my mother's eyes as she watched her brother. Her brown eyes would stare at him, trying to cut him with her sharp glare. My uncle never returned the hateful stare, but I could see suspicion in his eyes whenever he caught his sister's eyes.

Throughout the conversation, I tried to find something wrong with the family of three. But the only thing that put me on edge was the fact they owned a bunch of guns. The moving truck came yesterday, and most of the boxes were filled with high tech weapons. I knew that my uncle owned a company or something, but it still seemed weird.

Even though I learned nothing from the reunion, I liked getting to know Allison. She seemed super cool, and we were already bonding over our love for soap operas. I agreed to help her get through her first day of school, and I could see the relief that crossed over her face when I said I would help her. I helped her bring some of her boxes upstairs before she said that she was going to head to bed.

Tap

The noise made me shoot upright. The quick movement sent a wave of pain through my head, but I ignored it. I listened closely, waiting to see if the noise would come again.

Tap Tap Tap

A smile quickly came onto my face.

Tap Tap

I jumped off of my bed, and quickly walked over to the window. When I opened the squeaky windows, a cold breeze of air moved through my body. I shivered lightly since I was only wearing a tank-top and shorts. I watched as goosebumps appeared over my pale skin.

"Well you better get a jacket gorgeous because we're going out."

My cheeks turned pink and a smile came onto my face as I looked at my two best friends standing outside my window. Stiles was standing in front of me, wearing a jacket over his flannel shirt. He had a huge smile on his face, his brown eyes beaming. I was still getting used to his buzzed hair, but I was starting to find it super attractive.

Scott McCall was standing behind Stiles. He wasn't wearing a smile, and his brown eyes were filled with annoyance. His childlike shaggy brown hair was falling in front of his eyes, and he was wearing a red jacket over his pjs.

I had met both Scott and Stiles in the kindergarten, and ever since that day we just clicked. My world didn't matter if I didn't have my two favorite people in it. I needed them more than they knew, and I would never admit to anyone that to anyone. We have always been Scott, Stiles, and Brynn. And that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"Where are we going?" I asked, licking my lips.

"To the woods."

"To the woods?"

"Yup," Stiles said, beaming.

I turned to Scott, "Why are we going to the woods?"

"Just let him explain."

"My dad got a dispatch call," Stiles explained, "They are bringing in every officer from the Beacon Department. Even sta--"

"Get to the point," I interrupted.

"Fine. Two joggers found a body in the woods," Stiles said.

"No way, you've got to be shitting me."

"I'm not," Stiles said.

"So what are they looking for if they already found the dead body?" I asked.

"The other half."

~~~

A sigh escaped my lips as Stiles's blue Jeep came to a stop in front of dark woods. The bright headlights shined a light on a sign that read, Beacon Hills Preserve; No Entry After Dark. I read the sign about three times, each time a shiver went down my spine. I couldn't believe I agreed to this.

I jumped out of the backseat of the car, and blinked a couple times, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I could only see the trees that we're right in front of me, and the accents of leaves shining in the distant moonlight. Hard dirt squished under my feet as I moved my foot anxiously. The air was cold, and the leather jacket I decided to take was doing nothing to stop the cold wind.

"We're seriously doing this?" Scott asked, looking sideways at Stiles.

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town," Stiles said, trying on his flashlight and starting towards the entrance of the dark forest.

Scott let out a sigh, "I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow."

"Oh stop being a crybaby, you're probably gonna be on the bench," I said with a smirk on my face. Scott tried to playfully push me, but I gracefully missed his attack. He rolled his eyes at my smoothness, and my best friend's annoyance brought joy to my heart. We both started into the wood, a couple steps behind Stiles. The fallen leaves under our feet crumbled as we stomped through the empty woods.

"You don't know what it's like," Stiles said to me, "Sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort."

"Shut up, both of you," Scott mumbled, "I'm going to play this year. In fact, I'm making first line."

"Hey, that's the spirit."

"It's good to have dreams Scottie."

Stiles grinned at me, "Brynn's right. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one."

A laugh escaped my lips, enjoying the banter between the three of us. One of the things I liked about Stiles is that he never failed to make anyone smile. His sarcasm and jokes were always perfect, and I wished I could be as uplifting as he is. Stiles was the only person that could make me really happy.

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?" Scott asked.

Stiles stopped for a second, thinking about the question. "Huh! I didn't even think about that."

Stiles laughed lightly as Scott asked another question. "And, uh, what if whoever killed the body is still out here?"

"Also something I didn't think about."

"Did you think anything through?" I asked, staring him down.

Stiles turned to look at me, and said, "Brynn, when do I ever think anything through?"

"Never."

"Yup."

"Stiles Stilinski, I swear you are going to be the death of me." I mumbled.

Stiles chuckled as he started climbing up a steep hill of hard dirt and crumbling leaves. I started up after him, digging my fingernails into the ground.

"It's comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail," Scott mumbled as he started up the steep bump of land.

"I know."

We groaned and grunted as we stumbled up the hill, and when we got close to the top, I could hear Scott wheezing from behind me. Scott has struggled with asthma since we were little kids, and it seemed like he always had to use his inhaler. Back in the 7th grade, I thought that the inhaler had some drugs in it and was convinced that Scott was a druggie. The thought brought a goofy smile to my lips.

"Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?" Scott wheezed, and I could hear him shaking his inhaler.

When the three of us got to the stop of the hill, we all fell down on the ground.

My eyes widened as I saw many small lights in the distance.

In these huge woods, we somehow ran into the police.