Chapter Text
"Make some friends," Aubrey Douglas muttered mockingly to herself. "Sure, that will be easy. It's not like I'm a socially awkward mess or anything who transferred here in the middle of the year last year."
"Well with that attitude it will be impossible for you," her Aunt Genevieve replied while she pulled up to Beacon Hills High School.
It was Aubrey's sophomore year and it was safe to say that she was less than excited. She moved to Beacon Hills last year and per the request of her aunt, she was forced to finish her freshman year at the high school. Her aunt and uncle insisted it would be good for her to not be cooped up in their house all day doing online homeschooling. Aubrey had agreed to give Beacon Hills High a try mainly due to the fact that she didn't have the energy to argue with her new guardians – especially since they were practically begging her to ease back into the world again. She fought back for as long as she could, but eventually she became tired of the same conversation day in and day out; and she was almost certain that they were exhausted with her depressed, fluctuating emotional state. It wasn't entirely her fault though, the depression attached to Aubrey naturally following the death of her parents – it wasn't as if she could just flip a switch and everything would be alright in the world again. But at least she was willing to try.
That was last year though, now Aubrey's distaste for high school aligned more with the fact that she was a teenager with no friends in a place that drained her. She forced a smile for her aunt as she exited the car and made her way inside the school. Make some friends, Aubrey repeated in her head as she uncomfortably passed multiple friend groups who gathered in the halls. They all seemed so excited to be back, likely recounting their adventure filled summers with one another. Aubrey's lips pressed into a thin line as she came to the conclusion that this was going to be more difficult than she originally thought as most friend groups were definite by this point and they were probably not looking for any new members. However, if she looked on the brighter side maybe luck would finally be on her side this year, as the world did owe her after the shitty year and a half she endured.
Aubrey took a deep breath as she walked into her first class of the day, taking an open seat near the wall of windows. It took only a few minutes before the final bell rang out, a signal for other student's to finally enter the class or take their seats. She accidently slipped into old habits right away and ignored most everyone in the room – opting to focus most of her attention out the window.
"As most of you know there was a body found in the woods last night," the English teacher began rather darkly, drawing her attention towards the front of the room. "But be at ease, the police already have someone in custody."
~~~*~~~
The classroom door opened, lightly cutting off the teacher as the principal and a girl walked into the room. She was rather pretty, with slightly lighter brown hair compared to Aubrey's darker, almost black hair color. The principal introduced the girl as Allision Argent, who was obviously new to the school – something that brought back cringing memories for Aubrey and her first day. The principal had introduced her in a similar manner, but it felt more awkward since she transferred in the middle of the year. It seemed as if Allison could relate to the awkwardness of the situation because once the principal finished the introduction, she immediately rushed to take the only remaining seat in the class behind Stiles Stilinski and in front of his friend Scott McCall. From what Aubrey could tell, it seemed as if Scott had already been taken by the new girl with a small, bashful smile finding its way onto his face.
The end of school bell could not have come sooner. Since Aubrey's first class, she had been ready to be done with the school day – although she couldn't tell if it was her anxiety or habit pushing her to think that way and be relieved when she left her final class. In all honesty, the day went fairly well for her, and she had even worked up the nerve to introduce herself to Allison in their history class. Aubrey was one step closer in her promise of making friends and surviving the rest of her high school days.
As she walked through the halls, towards her locker, she noticed the familiar form of Allison – who was at her own locker a few down from Aubrey's. She shot the new girl a friendly smile which prompted Allison to cheerfully greet her.
Aubrey couldn't help but match the girl's energy as she skipped past her locker and met Allison at hers. "Hey Allison. How were the rest of your classes? Were you able to find everything okay?"
"They were alright," Allison shrugged, putting a book away. "Although, Mr. Harris seems like an ass. He already gave us an assignment."
"Yeah, he's a piece of work. I spoke with him last year by accident and it was awful – almost got detention for no reason," Aubrey laughed a little as she leaned on the lockers. However, before any more could be said between the two, a sickly-sweet voice interrupted the conversation.
"Killer jacket," Lydia Martin – the school's queen bee – complimented, grinning at Allison. "Where did you get it?"
Allison seemed startled for a brief second at the addition, glancing at Aubrey for a second before bringing her attention back to Lydia. "My mom was a buyer for a boutique in San Francisco."
"And you are now my new best friend," Lydia joked.
Aubrey's eyes grew a little in surprise at the interaction. It was crazy how Allison had been here for a day and Lydia Martin had already recruited her for the popular clique. Although it did make sense, since some of that clique had graduated last year. Aubrey's slight off-topic train of thought was cut off when Jackson Whittemore – Lydia's boyfriend and star lacrosse player – joined their little group, wrapping his arms around Lydia.
"Hey Jackson," his girlfriend giggled. "Meet my new friends" Lydia's gaze flicked between Allison and Aubrey.
Allison smiled slightly before she introduced herself, "Allison Argent."
Jackson and Lydia's attention then shifted to Aubrey, who followed Allison's lead. "Aubrey Douglas."
Jackson nodded before his eyebrows furrowed. "Weren't you here last year?"
Aubrey kept a smile on her face, "Yes, I transferred half way through the year."
He nodded before changing the topic. "Anyway, this weekend there's a party. Friday night. You both should come."
"I can't," Allison answered fairly quick, shifting next to Aubrey uncomfortably. "Family night."
Aubrey hesitated for a second, "I might be able to make it."
"You should. I mean, everyone is going after the scrimmage," Jackson said. Which led to Allison becoming curious about the school's odd choice of popular sport. During Jackson's explanation, Aubrey's eyes drifted to a pair of watchful eyes across the hallway. Scott McCall was watching the four of them, appearing as if he was actually apart of the conversation – hearing what they were saying. Before she dwelled on the odd concept too long, Lydia's voice cut in.
"Practice is in a few minutes. Come watch," the red-head almost demanded as she grabbed hold of Allison's arm, tugging her away from the lockers. Aubrey hesitated for a second – debating to follow after or not – but her decision was made quickly. "You too, Aubrey. I won't have friends that don't do social events," Lydia glanced over her shoulder at her.
"Uh, yeah, okay. I'll come," Aubrey flustered out, clearly stunned by the invite. She was not really expecting to be invited to hang out with them, but the world was full of surprises. Maybe the universe had listened to her pleas after all.
Aubrey trailed after the two as they all walked out of the school, towards the lacrosse field. When they made it to the benches, most of the team was already on the field for tryouts – which had to be the fastest those boys had moved all summer because it was a known fact that you shouldn't show up late to Coach's tryouts. If you did, it would decrease the already slim chance they had at making first line. The team did a quick huddle before breaking off to start the tryouts. When they did so, Aubrey noticed Scott take the position of goalie which struck her as weird because the few times she watched a lacrosse game last year she never recalled him playing, or if he did it wasn't good.
"Who is that," Allison asked as she pointed to the goal.
"I'm not sure who he is," Lydia replied with a shrug.
Aubrey smirked a little at Allison. "That's Scott McCall. Wasn't he the one who gave you a pen or something in English this morning?" Allison shot her friend a look, a small blush creeping on her cheeks.
~~~*~~~
"Okay, give me your phones," Lydia demanded after the team's tryouts had ended for the day. Aubrey pulled her phone at of her pocket before doing as the red-head said. Once Lydia had the phone, she typed in her number before doing the same to Allison's phone. "There, now we can make plans to hangout and go shopping. You both have strong potential to be absolutely gorgeous, but we seriously need to update your wardrobe."
Aubrey laughed lightly at that, bringing Lydia's attention to her. "Shame I didn't know you last year though, Aubrey, you could've been transformed sooner."
"Yeah, a shame," Aubrey smiled before saying bye to her two new friends. As she walked away, a new feeling fluttered in her chest – she was actually excited to see them tomorrow. Maybe this year would actually be better. She spotted her aunt's card in the parking lot as she got closer.
"Hey Aunt Gen," Aubrey greeted happily as she got into the vehicle. "You are never gonna believe it, but I actually made friends today."
"Oh, thank the lord," her aunt breathed out with a growing smile on her face, "Are you serious? This is fantastic, I told you it wouldn't be hard. Who are they?"
Aubrey rolled her eyes, but she still had a smile on as they drove away from the school. "This new girl, Allison Argent, and Lydia Martin – surprisingly enough."
"Martin? As in the red-haired girl that lives down the street from us?"
"The very one. Although, I'm pretty sure she only talked to me because of Allison. But I made friends with Allison all on my own." She was very proud of herself for branching out today, and she knew her aunt would be proud that she was actually making progress even if it was with small successes like making a friend or two. "Allison is a super sweet girl from San Franscisco who just moved here a few weeks ago."
"Argent, you say," Gen thought out loud with a hum, "I wonder if she is related to someone I know with the last name Argent?"
"Common name?"
"Possibly," Gen responded before they lapsed into silence, with the radio playing lightly in the background. Aubrey was content in just watching the trees fly past the car in thought. It was good to have this feeling again, it had been a while since she actually had friends she was looking forward to seeing. Which seemed like a ridiculous thought since she had had plenty of friends at her old school in Oregon, yet this felt different. It felt slightly better because she put herself out there which was more of an effort now that she had gone through what she had. None of her friends could truly understand the switch Aubrey made, going from her more outgoing self to a now quiet and reserved version of herself – one that deals with terrible emotional states, panic attacks, and a constant fear that the people around her will just disappear too.
Her spiraling thoughts were thrown off track as her aunt and uncle's house came into view. It was a very nice house that had a mix between a small mansion and a cute, cottage house. It was mostly stone with a simple walkway leading up to the grand front door, multiple balconies on the second floor, and tons of green ivy spreading all across the body of the house – giving it a fairytale feel. Aubrey didn't really understand why her new guardians had such a big house in the first place because it was just the two of them that lived there before Aubrey joined. To add insult to injury, both of them had long day jobs that kept them away from the house, but they seem to love it all and the more time she spent in the house it did become less huge and over the top.
"Be sure to be home for dinner, it should be around six thirty. Finn should be joining us if his shift doesn't go into overtime," Gen said as they both got out of the car. She was pretty familiar with Aubrey's new routine, in which she would go for a run in the neighboring woods on the trail. It was a new thing for her, but Aubrey had read so many articles about how it was a good way to help with grief and she thought she should at least give it a try.
"Okay, I'll see you then or probably before. I might just go on a short run today," Aubrey said as she made her way upstairs to her room. She changed into warmer leggings with a sweatshirt over her t-shirt because it was getting into the fall season which meant dropping temperatures. Something that caught her off guard last year because she really believed California was supposed to always be warm.
Aubrey was out the front door and heading towards her usual trail before Gen had really settled her things inside. She walked slowly at first while she put on her running playlist, but after a few minutes of warm up she began her run. Surprisingly, running had turned out to be very therapeutic and relaxing especially when it was in the calm woods of Beacon Hills. It was a very beautiful place to be and with hardly any animal activity it was extremely peaceful and quiet – sometimes the only noise she needed on a run. Not today though. Today was a day to get lost in loud music as she ran her post first day anxieties away. Although about twenty minutes into her run, she became filled with a different type of anxiety as she realized she had gone off her normal trail.
"Weird," she muttered to herself as she slowed down to a jog, taking out her earbuds. Her brow furrowed as she thought to herself, I could have sworn I was on the path. She slowed down further to a walking pace, taking in her surroundings. The remains of a burned down house were the only things in view to tell her that she had really drifted from the path she started on. In fact, Aubrey couldn't remember ever passing this house before although she did know of stories of an old house in the woods that burned down years ago with a family inside.
With a heavy sigh, Aubrey sat down on a nearby boulder and removed her sweatshirt – fumbling to remove her phone from the pocket. She paused the music that was still playing and aimed to look up directions out of the woods or at least directions back to the trail. Just as she got the no-bars alert on her phone a voice spoke from behind her.
"What are you doing here," the deep voice demanded. As she jumped to her feet, she knocked her sweatshirt to the ground, but she paid no mind to it as she whipper her head around to face the stranger who spoke. Before her was a young, handsome man who couldn't be more than twenty-one. But the sour face he wore outweighed his handsome features, and gave Aubrey an uneasy feeling like something was off about him.
"I, um, lost my way from the path," Aubrey answered. "I didn't mean to intrude. Do you know the way back?"
His brows sunk, deepening his frustrated look. "Go back that way. It's right next to a large clearing, then you take a right at the largest tree in the clearing." He pointed in the direction he had just come from, and without another word he moved past her towards the house. As he did so, she felt a strange sensation pass through her almost like a warning. Aubrey did not want to stick around any longer to really find out though, and immediately started walking in the direction he pointed her to.
Eventually, when she found the clearing and took a right at what she thought was the largest tree, she began her run once again. She picked up her speed as she went, trying to make up for lost time while also ensuring there was distance between her and that house. However, this caused her to almost run into two people who were walking in the woods. It took her a second, but as she passed by them, she recognized it was Scott and Stiles. She was too far gone by that point to actually stop and have a conversation so she just continued on her way. Yet, strangely enough she felt the odd tingling in her body as she passed them as well, but it wasn't as noticeable.
Aubrey didn't stop running until she was back on her front porch and out of those woods. She had continued at her high-speed for the remaining of her run after passing the two boys in the woods which led her to finish her run faster than normal. She didn't mean too, but at some point, she found the pace exhilarating and she couldn't seem to stop herself.
"Hey kiddo," Finn called out as Aubrey entered the kitchen. Her aunt and uncle were moving in sync with one another as dinner was cooking. "How was the first day of school?"
Aubrey shrugged, "Pretty average, but I did end up making some friends."
Finn grinned, "We told you it would all work out. If we had made a bet, like I wanted too, I so would've won."
"Yeah, yeah. Next time," Gen said with a roll of her eyes. "Dinner's ready." The three of them grabbed a plate of food before moving to the dining table to continue the conversation.
After they all settled in their seats and began their meal, Gen spoke up. "Aubrey said one of her new friends was an Argent. You wouldn't happen to know she is related to the same Argents we used to know, would you?"
The question was directed at her uncle, who just took a bite of his food. "It could be. The last time I, um, spoke to Wyatt I think he mentioned something about Chris Argent moving down here."
Her uncle glanced briefly at Aubrey, unsure if the mention of her father would spark any reaction. "I thought it could have been," Gen continued, bringing her attention to Aubrey now. "Your dad and Mr. Argent used to be old hunting buddies. Very skilled if I remember correctly. I had gone with them on a few hunts, but I could never grasp the concept though – those poor creatures. I just couldn't bring myself to do anything to them."
Aubrey listened to her aunt's anecdote, but subtly noticed the way Finn was staring at his wife. It was almost as if he didn't want Gen to talk about it. Questions briefly crossed Aubrey's mind, but she pushed them away in favor of the idea that Finn's look was just in regards to bringing up her dad. As silence took over the table, Aubrey opted to change topics. "So, any development of the murder case?"
"We took a suspect into custody, but Stilinski doesn't think he leads us anywhere closer to finding the real killer or the other half of the body."
Gen chimed in as she finished off her plate. "I just hope they find the bastard that did it. The poor girl was in her twenties; she had barely started her life."
"I know, but Stilinski isn't even sure if it was actually a murder. The theory now is that it could have been an animal attack, but without the other half it's hard to tell."
"And what do you think," Aubrey asked while pushing the remainder of her food around her almost empty plate.
"I think only a monster could have done something like that."