8:32am
From: Unknown Number
To: Rachel
Are you still meeting me later?

Rachel looked down at her phone as soon as it lit up with the text and immediately rolled her eyes. It'd been eight months, and Rachel still hadn't changed Theo's contact name from Unknown Number. She hoped it would be enough to trick anyone who glanced down at her screen into thinking she'd been texted by mistake.

8:32am
To: Unknown Number
From: Rachel
Depends. Are you going to keep telling me bullshit, or help me find out the truth?

She locked her phone and tucked it back in her pocket, ignoring the buzz that followed seconds after. She knew what his response would be— it's just what I remember! It always was. His memory was wrong, and she had stacks upon stacks of evidence to prove it, yet he still had the audacity to try and convince her that she was the one with the incorrect memory; or, in his words, the manipulated memory. Sure.

Rachel's only concern at the moment was finding a familiar face among the crowds of students. Who knew so many people could come and go in such a short time? It seemed like just yesterday, she'd been a junior at Beacon Hills High School and knew nearly every face (albeit namelessly). Now, she was lucky if she even recognized a staff member at the school.

Luckily for her, she a superhuman sense of smell and hearing— unluckily for her, the scent of hormones overpowers almost everything inside a high school. Thankfully, she was outside, and the fresh air enabled her to find a somewhat familiar trail, and follow it until she stumbled upon the last person she wanted to see. It was better than Greenberg, she supposed— and she'd been meaning to talk to him, anyway.

"Hey, Liam!" Rachel jogged to catch up to him and his friend, a boy with brown skin and buzzed hair even shorter than Stiles' had been when they'd first met. She hadn't seen him before, but the two seemed close. "Hey."

"Uh, hey?" He sounded more confused than anything.

"Hey.." the boy beside him greeted, but turned towards his friend after a moment and mumbled, "you know her?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm Rachel. Hale. I'm a friend of Scott's." She smiled, genuinely. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything, I was just looking for someone I knew, even if we just met last night."

Liam glanced towards her for a split second as she mentioned them meeting last night, his gaze practically screaming at her to stop talking. She didn't get the memo.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I was actually just showing Liam this new book I bought." Liam's friend opened the book he'd been holding and showed her a few pages. There were various drawings and pictures of berserkers placed amongst blocks of text. "I got it from a rare book dealer in Germany. Cost me two hundred bucks, but it was totally worth it. Oh— sorry, I'm Mason."

"Nice to meet you, Mason." Rachel chuckled softly at his enthusiasm. She didn't know why anyone would be so enthused about berserkers, especially after what happened six months ago in Mexico, but hey; she wasn't going to judge someone interested in any sort of mythology. "You a fan of berserkers?"

"You know about these things?" Mason went from zero to a hundred in seconds.

Liam, however.. not so much. He was signalling in just about every way he could without screaming at her to stop talking.

"Yeah, a bit." Rachel shrugged.

"Would you mind telling me what you know?" He asked. "If you have any free periods today I could meet you in the library—"

"Hey, Mase, do you mind if I talk to Rachel alone for a few minutes?" Liam cut in before Rachel could answer, much to her appreciation. She did have a free period, but she was going to meet Theo on it. Frankly, she'd much rather have spent it discussing berserker mythology with Mason, but Theo had information she wanted— information she needed.

"Oh, yeah, sure! I'll see you after class?" Mason asked. Liam nodded, and he started off towards the school.

Once Mason was a decent distance away, Liam practically dragged Rachel over to a corner away from the other students. "What the hell?"

"What?"

"He doesn't know!"

"Doesn't know wh— OH!" Rachel's eyes widened when she realized, but her shock quickly turned to confusion. "Why doesn't he know?"

"I don't know how to tell him." The beta werewolf admitted, looking guilty yet worried at the same time. It'd been months since Mason had seen a berserker firsthand, but Liam still couldn't work up the courage to explain what it was— and what he was.

"With words." She deadpanned. "Or a demonstration. It's not like he'll disbelieve something he sees."

"I'm not worried about him not believing me." Liam grumbled, turning back towards the school. "I have class."

"Wait. Are you worried he'll be scared of you? 'Cause I know I just met him, but he doesn't seem like he scares ea—"

"Class." Liam repeated, before hurrying off and disappearing into the crowd of students.

—

"What are you doing here?"

Lydia was halfway down the hallway when she realized the blonde girl hastily moving things into and out of a locker was in fact Rachel Hale— if not for the black leather jacket, she wouldn't have given a second glance.

"Being late for my first class back." Rachel muttered, stuffing a large textbook into her worn purple backpack. "God, I hope the senior math teacher is more forgiving than the junior one."

"They're the same person." Lydia told her. "And I meant what are you doing here?"

"I'm a senior. I'm here to graduate." Rachel shut her locker and slung her backpack over her shoulder. I'm here because if I don't get some answers soon, I'm not going to be anywhere anymore. "I had enough credits to skip junior year."

Lydia wished she had supernatural hearing to monitor the girl's heart rate because she couldn't believe that Rachel - the girl incapable of so much as looking at algebra without throwing things - could accumulate enough credits to skip a grade and graduate early. "How?"

"When I went to London with Jackson, I got a bit ahead on school work in case anything came up— turns out, I can be really productive when I have nothing better to do. I still don't know algebra, but mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell."

The strawberry blonde didn't have the heart to tell her that was basic middle school knowledge. "So, what about Isaac?"

"What about him?" Rachel bit her lip, forcing a smile.

"Is he here too?"

"Nope." The chimera forced a smile and resisted the urge to bite directly through her lip. She was just about to commence lying her ass off about needing to attend a class she wasn't in, when she spotted Stiles heading down the hallway along with Scott. "I'll see you later."

Rachel hurried off after the two before Lydia could question her any further — she knew it'd be unavoidable later, but right now, there was no way in hell she was going to spill her guts to Lydia in the school hallway. She'd much rather listen to whatever absurdity Stiles chose to drone on about, or Scott's adventures in Advanced Placement. She'd seen him going into that classroom first thing that morning and had to do a double take.

"Hey!" She jogged to catch up with the duo. "Hey fellow seniors."

"Hey." Scott grinned. "I didn't know you were staying?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." Rachel smiled— she'd never felt more fake. She loved her friends, and she felt at home with them in Beacon Hills, but she was using them as an excuse.

"Where's Isaac?"

"Brazil." Her fake smile remained, perhaps for a little too long because Scott didn't say another word on the matter.

Stiles, however, hadn't been listening. Not to the topic, anyway— he was too focused on staring someone down across the schoolyard they'd exited into. "Can you text Cora and ask if she remembers a guy named Theo Raeken from fourth gra—"

"No." Rachel answered before he finished his sentence. She realized a second later that her answer had come out harsher than she'd intended, and quickly deflected with the first thing that came to mind. "The fire happened when she was in fourth grade."

"Oh. Shit— I forgot." Stiles stuttered, before mumbling a quiet, "sorry."

"It's okay." She brushed it off. Rachel hated herself for using that as an excuse, even if it was partially true.

"Have you ever heard the name Theo Raeken before?" Stiles questioned, now as interested in what she had to say as ever.

"No." Rachel answered cooly. She'd been working on her lying for months. "Is that the werewolf from last night?"

"Yeah." Scott answered. "Stiles thinks there's something off about him."

What did he do now? The chimera resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She told Theo she'd help him integrate into the life of a real werewolf if he helped her uncover more about her chimerism— so far, he wasn't doing very well, so she wasn't looking forward to holding up her end of the bargain just yet. Especially when it entailed lying to her best friends.

"What's off?"

"I remember Theo from the 4th grade." Stiles muttered, not-so-subtly glaring across the schoolyard. "That isn't Theo."

Rachel followed his gaze over to where Theo was nonchalantly going about his day. "What do you mean?"

"He looks like Theo." Scott shrugged. "I think my mom still has our class photo from fourth grade, if you want to compare."

Stiles huffed. "No. He looks like Theo, but he's not Theo. He's different."

"Aren't we all different?" Rachel raised a brow. "People change. Personalities change. Just look at Lydia— there's no way in hell she was walking around in designer heels with a Prada bag at age 10."

Both Scott and Stiles glanced back at Rachel, indicating without words that she was most definitely wrong about Lydia only recently growing to love designer accessories. Stiles was fairly certain even the strawberry blonde's crib had been designer.

"Alright. If you're that suspicious, why don't we just ask him about when he was bitten?" Rachel suggested, looking towards Stiles. "He was here for all of fourth grade, right? So he's clearly not a born wolf— my family would've known."

If Theo didn't have an answer prepared, then that was on him. She said she'd help, not vouch for him— she didn't trust him nearly enough to pretend-slash-admit that she knew him. Rachel trusted Theo about as much as she trusted the cop that pulled her over just after she crossed the border. She was fairly certain he wasn't going to shoot her, but God, he annoyed the hell out of her.

"That's was him you were staring at, right?" She looked back to where Theo had been previously. Stiles nodded. "Okay, cool, let's go find him & ask."

Rachel didn't need to tell Stiles twice. Apparently, he had an idea of where Theo was going, because he was a man on a mission walking through the halls to his predetermined destination. Rachel & Scott had both been expecting Stiles to ask them to find where he'd gone, but it quickly became clear he knew exactly where the teen wolf had gone.

"Seriously, the locker room?" Rachel groaned— how many times was she going to be dragged into the boys locker room? Why couldn't they have their interrogations in the janitor's closet or something?

"It was Scott's idea." Stiles shrugged, pushing the door open.

The everlasting stench of sweat smacked her in the face as soon as she stepped foot into the locker room. No matter how many dollar store air fresheners the janitor stuck in the corners, nothing helped her supernatural sense of smell— not even the overpowering cologne that ninety precent of the lacrosse team wore. Hell, that was almost as bad as the sweat.

"Next time we're meeting in the basement because I'm not coming in here again." Rachel scrunched up her nose in disgust, trying to breathe as little as possible— it was going decently, until she rounded a corner and spotted Theo sitting on a bench in front of a row of lockers. She'd been half expecting Stiles to be mistaken, but to her surprise, he'd been right. "Oh. Hi."

"Hey. Sorry, I know you were with Scott and Stiles last night but I didn't catch your name.." Theo trailed off, a convincing kind smile on his face.

"Rachel." She answered, reluctantly going along with the show he was putting on. "I'd ask yours, but I already know."

"So. How'd you get bitten?" Stiles asked bluntly— like father, like son, Rachel supposed. He was definitely a sheriff in the making; or, if anything, an interrogator.

Rachel raised a brow, now standing behind Scott and Stiles. Scott spoke up. "If it's a touchy subject, you don't have to—"

"No, don't worry, it's okay." Theo assured him before starting the perfectly rehearsed story. "I was skating in a neighbour's empty pool, trying to do a handplant. Nobody was home. I'm not that good of a skateboarder, but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time. I didn't even realize that it was night until the yard lights came on."

He paused, thinking for a moment— remembering. Remembering something that didn't happen.

"Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try, I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool and I realized something.. I never heard the board come back down. It came at me fast. I barely had a chance to turn around before it bit me. Right here." Theo patted his side in nearly the exact same spot as where Scott had been bitten. Convenient.

"It wasn't an accident. He wanted to turn you." Scott stated the obvious, as per the norm.

"Right." Stiles chimed in. "So, why aren't you a part of his pack then? Why didn't he come back for you?"

"Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead."

"How did you know that?" Rachel questioned, curious to see just how extensive his story was.

"I met another one of his pack a couple weeks later. He told me the alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own betas. They were twins." Those last three words were the icing on the cake; if Rachel didn't know he was lying through his teeth, she might've debated on believing him. He was a convincing storyteller. "Scott, Rachel, listen to my pulse. I'm telling the truth."

Both had been listening, and his heart didn't skip a beat. Lying to strangers was something that came easily to almost everyone, but the fact that Theo was able to do it so flawlessly in such a quiet space peaked her curiosity; even Peter Hale's lies were questionable in silence. Perhaps having a heart that wasn't his own helped.

"Right." Stiles spoke again, just as disbelieving as he had been moment prior. "Or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you're lying your ass off."

"Why would I lie?"

Why would he lie? Why wouldn't he just tell Scott the truth, tell him what he really was?

Why wouldn't Rachel?

Every time she doubted him, her subconscious asked her that same question. Why hadn't she told Scott what she really was? Why hadn't she told anyone? Theo only knew because he was the same— if not, she would've told him she was a reflector, like she told everyone. That is, if she told him anything at all. Would she have told him anything at all, if he weren't a chimera? Probably not. She only ever met him in the first place because they were the same.

"Because maybe you're not who you say you are." Stiles clapped back.

What, not who. Rachel thought. Like me.

"Okay." Theo turned to Scott, intent on proving he was indeed himself. "In fourth grade, you had an inhaler. I had one too. I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER, you were waiting for the principal. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, an IV of prednisone. You made it sound easy. Like everything would be okay."

Theo paused for a moment before continuing, "I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own. I swear I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too."

Rachel felt like an outsider listening to Theo talk about Scott in fourth grade, but what he said must've rang true because Scott looked convinced. Far more than Stiles, who still looked exactly as he had when Theo first began talking. Annoyed.

The bell signalling the end of their free period rang, echoing through the empty locker room and Theo sighed. "I better not be late for class. You're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on."

He gathered his bag and books and headed out of the locker room. As soon as he was out of sight, Stiles' gaze darted to Scott with the look he'd been dying for the teen wolf to finally meet, but Scott wasn't having it. "No. Don't give me that look. We have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes."

"Not this time." Stiles mumbled & Rachel elbowed him. "What? You're on his side?"

"I'm on nobody's side." She stated bluntly. "I don't know him. You two do."

"That's why I need your help to get Scott to see through this bullshit— you have an unbiased outsider's perspective." Stiles proclaimed, his declaration of her supposedly unbiased perspective being accompanied by an array of hand gestures as per the norm. "What did you think of that? He's lying, right?"

Well, clearly Stiles wasn't onto her bullshit.

"His pulse was steady." Rachel really didn't want to help Theo's case, but she also didn't want to hurt it either— not yet. If by some stroke of hell what he told her was true, he wasn't the only one with something to lose if their chimerism secret got out. She needed to know beyond a shred of doubt that he was lying before she could accept Stiles' semi-rightful suspicions, because if he wasn't.. she was going to need his help. "Other than that, I don't know."

"You don't think he's the least bit sketchy?"

"I guess he kinda looks like Aria's little brother Mike."

"Who?"

"Pretty Little Liars." Scott answered & Stiles rolled his eyes for the hundredth time in the past hour.

"Kira got you into it, didn't she?" Rachel grinned, clapping softly as he sheepishly nodded.

"Oh my god." Stiles grumbled. "There's something off about this guy, okay? I can feel it."

"Lydia's the psychic," Scott reminded him, "not you."

"She's not psychic, she's a banshee, " he corrected, pausing for a moment before getting an idea and turning to Rachel, "and so are you. You can turn into a banshee, can't you?"

"Nope." Rachel spoke as she hastily navigated her way to the locker room's exit.

Whatever Stiles said next was muffled by the sound of the door closing behind her.

—

UNEDITED.

oh, hello there. i bet you thought you'd seen the last of me. i'm still here, kicking and screaming and playing too much pubg mobile. solo vs 5 (solo + two duos) ft. a double grenade kill & last second grenade dodge by this season 6 ace, baby. i'm too proud of that carry, i'm sorry, i know no one cares. buuut my proud win motivated me to get back in this game and finish this chapter, so hey, it's something. i missed rachel. she's going to be different this season, and i'm excited to get into it.

i hope you're all doing well. thank you so much for still being here despite my annoyingly long absence, i love and appreciate you.