CHAPTER SEVEN:
A MOUNTAIN LION

SHE WAS ANGRY TO KNOW that she had gotten off work just as Scott's game was about to start. And like she had promised her mom, she made it. Though, she brought a distraction with her. She sat beside of her mom, opening her book and reading the Latin words that fell across the page. Melissa glanced towards her daughter with a small frown, knowing that even when Scott never played that she always watched the games.

"Hey, it's starting." Melissa told her.

"I know." Elaine answered, glancing towards the game before looking back down towards her book.

"Is everything alright?" Melissa questioned.

"Yep." Elaine smiled, popping the 'p'. "Hey, uh, I'm going to join Allison and Lydia if that's alright?"

"Yeah." Melissa nodded before watching as she got up and moved towards them. She offered the two females a small smile, as well as Allison's dad who she had met when staying over at the brunette's house. She watched as Lydia and Allison stood up, holding a sign for Jackson before sitting down once again.

"Which one is Scott again?" Allison's father questioned.

"Number 11." Both Lydia and Elaine answered, though Elaine said it with more anger in her voice than Lydia. "Otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught the ball," Lydia finished.

"I hope he's okay." Allison spoke, frowning.

"I hope we're okay." Lydia responded.

"He's perfectly fine." Elaine answered, looking down at her book whilst Lydia glanced at her with a sad frown before exchanging a look with Allison who was confused by the aggression in the usually nice teenager's voice.

"We need to win this." Lydia spoke, standing up and holding up her sign before grabbing Allison's attention, telling her to help. Elaine looked up just as her brother got the ball, jumping over a player, sliding by the others before throwing the ball in the goal. She clenched her jaw as everyone stood up cheering. When it started again, Scott got the ball, the other team deliberately giving it to him before he ran and shot the ball right through the goalies stick and into the goal, making the score tied. Once again, Scott caught the ball, stopping in the middle of the field and standing there for a few seconds. Elaine felt her heart rate suddenly spike in fear, afraid that what would happen in the locker room would happen out in the field. However, she seemed to let out a shaky breath when he got the winning goal.

When Lydia was ready, Elaine quickly said goodbye to her mom, giving her a kiss on the cheek before leaving with the strawberry blonde. They made it back and Elaine was quick to say goodnight before laying down, and closing her eyes, slowly falling asleep. Her dreams once again being haunted with the Latin phrase that she had dreamed about a few weeks prior.

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When school started back the next week, Elaine had managed to keep all contact from her brother and Stiles. She had heard about what had happened with the bus, and how there was blood and claw marks covering it. She couldn't help but feel nauseous at the thought that that was her brother who had done that. Which was why she seemed to be the only one in the school who wasn't curious about it, for she'd rather not think about it and instead focus on her studies.

She caught up with Allison, smiling gently at the female as the two started walking together. And Alison couldn't help but ask, "Hey, are you alright?"

"Fine, why?" Elaine answered, fixing her hold on her books.

"You just seemed upset at the game Saturday." Allison answered her.

Elaine gave her a sad smile. "Yeah, Scott and I are fighting right now."

"Why?" However, Elaine couldn't answer because suddenly Allison had slammed into someone. And guess who it was. Scott.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Elaine muttered to herself, watching as Scott asked if she was okay, helping to gather her books when suddenly the principal spoke on the intercoms saying, "Attention students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night on one of our buses." At this, Elaine met Scott's eyes, quickly tearing them away as she felt her heart rate spike in fear. "While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled. Thank you."

"Save me a seat at lunch?" Allison requested, ruffling the boys hair. He smiled.

"Yeah." Scott spoke. Allison smiled before walking by, Elaine doing the same without looking or speaking to her brother. She entered her chemistry class, taking her seat that had no one beside her. So of course, when Stiles and Scott started talking, they had gotten caught.

"Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while." Mr. Harris told the boy. "I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?"

"No." Stiles replied, earning the smallest of smiles from Elaine who then forced herself to push it away. Mr. Harris pointed towards the empty desk beside of Elaine, making the girl close her eyes and refrain from letting out a groan. "Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much."

Stiles lets out a scoff of a laugh before taking his seat beside of Elaine who sat there quietly, focusing on the science that Mr. Harris was writing on the board. That's when the girl beside Scott quickly stood up saying, "Hey, I think they found something!" Everyone was quick to run to the window, Elaine deciding to join them. She watched as a body was dragged out on a stretcher before the man shot up, letting out a scream earning screams of fright from the group.

"This is good, this is good." Stiles spoke as he and Scott stepped away from the students, though Elaine seemed to be the only one that could hear them. "He got up, he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that."

"Stiles. . ." Scott spoke. "I did that."

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When lunch came around, Elaine almost used her very colorful mouth to yell at Lydia upon noticing they were moving to the table in which Scott and Stiles were sitting. Luckily, Allison had taken the spot beside her brother along with Lydia, Jackson sat at the head after snapping at a boy to get up and Danny giving a remark about how he didn't check Lydia out like the boy did. Danny sat on one side of Stiles, leaving Elaine to sit on the other side. She was hoping Harley would take that seat, but upon the girl waiting for her, she sighed and reluctantly sat down. She avoided eyes contact with her brother and Stiles as she sat there, messing with her food.

When Stiles put an arm on the back of her chair, the girl slowly looked up and turned her attention towards him. Upon feeling her eyes on him, Stiles looked at her before realizing what he'd done and quickly removed his arm before mumbling, "Sorry, it's a habit."

"So I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack." Danny spoke up first. "Probably a cougar."

"I heard it was a mountain lion." Jackson responded.

"A cougar is a mountain lion." Lydia spoke, earning a weird look from Jackson to which she quickly covered up by asking, "Isn't it?" Elaine couldn't help but roll her eyes at this.

"Who cares?" Jackson questioned the girl. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Actually, I just found out who it is." Stiles spoke before showing the video to everyone on his phone.

"The Sheriff's Department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition." The reporter spoke.

"I know this guy." Scott spoke, Elaine also seemed to recognize him. She frowned slightly.

"You do?" Allison questioned.

"Yeah, when El and I used to take the bus back when we lived with my dad, he was the driver." Scott explained to them.

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Lydia questioned. "Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?" Allison and Scott looked at the woman to which she said, "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

"Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do." Allison answered her.

"Well, I am not sitting home again watching Lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun." Her eyes then caught those of Elaine's. "Laine, you can come too."

"I'd rather off myself, thanks, but no thanks. I'll see if I can work again tomorrow night." Elaine told the female, giving her a sarcastic smile. It was true, Jackson had come over and watched said videos, but Elaine didn't partake in that, instead she sat in the guest bed room she had been sleeping in, deciding to read her book that she was almost done with.

"Hanging out?" Scott questioned. "Like, the four of us?" He then turned towards Allison before saying, "Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun." Allison shrugged her shoulders.

"You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork." Jackson spoke, picking up the fork and earning an amused smile from Elaine whilst Lydia snatched the fork from his hand.

"How about bowling? You love to bowl." Lydia suggested.

"Yeah, with actual competition." Jackson scoffed.

"How do you know we're not actual competition?" Allison questioned, raising an eyebrow before turning to Scott. "You can bowl, right?"

"Sort of." Scott answered.

"Is it sort of, or yes?" Jackson asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at the boy.

"Yes." Scott nodded. "In fact, I'm a great bowler."

Elaine scoffed before getting up once she was finished, throwing away her food and walking out of the cafeteria.