It Hurts Because It's Real

"It is not a triple date." Lydia said. Bella was driving her newly bought Matte Black Mercedes-Benz SUV, that her father had mysteriously sent her the money for. She didn't question it, though. "It is a group thing."

"Do they know it's a group thing?" Allison chirped from the backseat, making Bella smile. "Because I told you that I am not ready to get back out there."

"And I have a boyfriend, by the way." Bella said, glancing at her best friend that was sitting beside her. "So I'm like one-hundred-and-ten percent not okay with it being a triple date."

Lydia exhaled. "I can't believe that you two are still together."

"Oh, thanks." Bella said, but still smiled. She shook her head before putting her arm on the car door, resting her head on her hand and using her other hand to steer with.

"So, when you were in France, you didn't do any dating? For four months?" Lydia asked Allison.

Allison shrugged. "Did you? I mean after Ja--"

"Do not say his name." Lydia interrupted and Bella turned her head to look sadly at her best friend.

"Is he okay? I mean, did everything work out?" Bella asked, glancing between Lydia and the road.

"The doctors looked like total idiots when he turned up alive. But everyone got over it." Lydia said almost nonchalantly. "And yes, Derek taught him the Werewolf One-Oh-One. Like, how to not randomly kill people during a full moon."

Bella shook her head, smiling. "So, then, you talked to him?"

"Not since he left for London."

Allison leaned forward in her seat. "You mean since his dad moved him to London."

"Whatever. He left." Lydia said sharply. "And seriously, an American werewolf in London? Like that's not going to be a total disaster."

"So, you're.. totally over him?" Allison asked.

"Would I be going on a date if I wasn't?!" Lydia snapped. Bella gasped and turned her head to look at Lydia, whereas Allison just laughed. " ...Yes, it is a triple date."

"Lydia!"

"It's not an orgy!" Lydia replied back. "You'll live."

Bella shook her head but her mouth curved into a smile; she pressed her foot on the break to stop at a red light. She hadn't even noticed that another car had pulled up beside them until Allison cried out.

"Oh my god!" She shrieked. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I can't see him - I can't see him, not now!"

"What? Allison--" Bella went to say but she realised when she turned her head to the left. Stiles' Jeep was pulled up beside her, complete with Stiles and Scott bickering inside.

"Bella, go! Just go!" Allison squealed.

"It's a red light," Bella replied; she looked to Lydia for support, who just shrugged. Bella sighed, glancing at Stiles, who was still arguing with her brother. She looked back at the road and stepped on the accelerator, understanding how awkward that must have been for Allison. They sped off and Allison sighed in relief. "You alright?" Bella looked in her rear-view mirror at her friend, who nodded.

Allison glanced behind her at the Jeep. "Bella, stop. I need to go back and talk to him."

Bella sighed but nodded and skidded the car to a stop. All three of them looked behind at the Jeep.

"They stopped too." Allison said. "Why would they stop?"

"It's Scott and Stiles. Do you really want to try and apply logic to those two?" Lydia said and Bella would have giggled if it wasn't for the piercing sound of glass shattering. She covered her face with her arms, screaming louder than she ever thought possible. When all the glass had collapsed from her windscreen, she jumped out of the car, followed by her two friends.

Bella shook as she observed what had happened. A huge animal - a deer? - had jumped up onto the hood and rammed itself into the windscreen, completely wrecking her brand new car.

"Are you okay?!" Stiles yelled at her from a few metres away. When he reached her, he grabbed her face and made her look at him. "Are you hurt?!" He yelped fearfully. Bella just shook her head at him. She looked up to see her brother, he was watching her carefully.

"It came out of nowhere," Bella choked out, her voice shaking, like everything else.

"It's.. it's like it was crazy." Lydia quivered.

"Or it was scared." Scott said, moving closed to the animal. He pressed his fingers against the body. "Actually.. terrified."

Bella sighed before she ran her hands through her hair, groaning. "My car!" She whined. Bella knew that there were bigger things at stake, but she was in love with that car. She couldn't believe it had been wrecked a few days after she had bought it. "Mom and dad are going to kill me."

-

"Bella, seriously. Stop." Stiles interrupted his girlfriend's whimpering about her car. "Stop worrying. I swear, your dad will give you the money to fix it, alright?" He said just as he drove his Jeep into the school parking lot.

Bella groaned. "I hate talking to him, let alone asking him for money. Especially when he just unexpectedly gave me over a hundred thousand dollars to buy a car that I wasn't even aware he knew I wanted."

"Look, babe, a deer literally ran into your car, okay?" Stiles said, pulling the handbrake on. "I'm sure he'll understand." He chuckled slightly.

Bella almost laughed, instead she nodded and smiled at him. He nodded at her once before kissing her forehead and jumping out of the car. Bella grabbed her bag and opened her door.

"Oh, what are you doing?" Stiles said, coming round to her side of the car, holding his arms out.

"Um.. getting out of the car?" Bella said as she stepped onto the ground and shut the door behind her, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"You're supposed to wait for me to open your door! It's like, the rules of being boyfriend and girlfriend." Stiles exclaimed as they walked towards the school doors.

"Right, okay. Sorry." Bella beamed up at him. "Next time, I'll wait for you to open my door for me."

"Yeah, good, you do that, alright?" Stiles grinned. "Okay, gotta go, bye." Stiles leaned down to quickly touch their lips. "Love you." He said before he sped off down the hallway.

Bella shook her head and smiled. "Love you!" She called after him, grinning when she saw him give her a thumbs up through the crowd of people.

-

"Freshmen." Lydia gleamed. "Tonnes and tonnes of fresh - men."

"You mean fresh boys." Bella said, raising her eyebrows at her friend as she put books into her locker.

"Lydia, they're fourteen." Allison added.

Lydia shrugged. "Oh, some are more mature than others."

"You know, it's okay to be single." Allison exclaimed. "Focus on yourself for a while."

Lydia scoffed, turning to face her friend. "Allison, I love you." She said, "So if we need to do that thing where we pretend we're talking about me, but we're actually talking about you, it's totally fine!" Lydia said, making Bella smile to herself. "But, I don't want a boyfriend." Lydia told her friends, facing forward again and making Bella jump slightly when she smacked her hand against the lockers. "I.. want a distraction."

Bella glanced at her friends, then followed their gazes to see what they were looking at. As if on cue, two men - definitely not boys - sauntered into the hallway. They had light brown hair, incredibly strong facial features and impeccable muscles. And they both looked exactly the same.

"Brothers?"

"Twins."

-

Bella, Lydia and Allison walked into the classroom. There was only a few seats left, due to them being some of the last people to the class. Bella walked to the edge of the classroom, and sat down in the empty seat next to Stiles, adjacent to the window. She looked at Stiles and he smiled at her, she followed suit.

Bella looked forward to see Lydia sitting in the chair in front of her. She then searched for Allison, finding her taking the seat in front of Scott. Bella cringed slightly; she probably should have taken that seat. Stiles gave Scott a sarcastic thumbs up, proving that what had just happened between him and Allison was super awkward, making Bella cringe again.

The room suddenly erupted with the sound of message alerts from everyone's phones. Bella glanced around, and then looked down at her own phone that was resting on the desk. "The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds," A woman with dark curled hair, dark eyes and pale skin stepped into the classroom, reading out the text that everyone had received. "And the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky - " She paused. " - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." The woman finished the passageway, then explaining, "This is the last line of the first book we are going to read." She said and Bella felt slightly disheartened; she knew how the book was going to end before she had even read the first line. "This is also the last text you will receive in this classroom. Phones off everyone." The new teacher instructed as she smiled. Bella exhaled as she turned her phone off and put it at the edge of her desk.

After a few moments of taking down notes from the book, the woman's voice filled the air. "Mr McCall?" She said and Bella's head whipped up; she glanced in between her brother and the teacher. The woman beckoned Scott over with her finger and a sudden nervousness edged through Bella. Scott glanced at his sister and his best friend before he left, making it obvious that he had no idea what was going on either. Bella and Stiles looked at each other in confusion, but soon carried on with the work.

This time, Stiles' voice interrupted her work. "Hey, Bella," He whispered harshly. She looked up at him. He pointed down at her legs, referring to the bandage on her ankle. "Is that - is that from the accident?"

"No. Prada bit me." Bella said quietly and looked forward, nodding to her friend that was sitting in front of her.

"Lydia's dog?"

"No, her designer handbag." Bella said, her voice laced with sarcasm. Stiles' face hardened at her and he clenched his jaw. "Yeah, her dog."

"Has it ever bitten you before? Or anyone?" Stiles asked tiredly and Bella just looked at him, shaking her head. "Ok," he leaned forward in his seat. "What if it's like the same thing as the deer? You know, like how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?"

Bella sighed. "Meaning what? There's going to be an earthquake?"

"Or something." Stiles said. "I just - maybe it means something's coming. Something bad."

Bella exhaled, "It was a deer and a dog." She said, almost trying to convince Stiles and herself that it was nothing to worry about. "What's that thing you say about threes? Once, twice --"

She was interrupted by a bang against the window. But by the time Bella turned her head to see what had happened, there was only a blood-red smudge staining the glass.

Suddenly, tens of black crows were banging into the window, leaving markings of blood on the glass. Then, one broke through the glass. And another, and another, and another until there were at least twenty crows invading the classroom. Bella had no idea to think about what the hell was going on.

"Get down!"

Bella slid off of her chair and onto the floor, trying not to scream as she felt the birds flying past her head. Stiles was there in a few seconds, hovering over her and pulling her to him. She clinged to him and closed her eyes as tight as she could.

It felt like hours. But it did end. The crows had all either left, or dropped dead in the classroom. Stiles hesitantly stood up, resting his hand on Bella's back as she followed suit. She looked around, seeing Allison and Lydia at different edges of the classroom, seeming to be as completely overwhelmed as her and Stiles were.

Black feathers littered the classroom and other students were cowering in corners.

Bella took in a deep, shaky breath. She couldn't convince herself that this was nothing to worry about. Not anymore.

-

"We've got a serious problem at school. Miss Blake's class--" Stiles said urgently into the phone as Bella watched him. Stiles looked at Bella, sighing. "Yeah, she's alright, she's fine." He told Scott; Bella smiled for half a second. "Derek's house - what - what the hell are you doing --" Stiles spluttered and was apparently interrupted again. He sighed as he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the girl in front of him. "You ready?" He asked her and she nodded. Stiles put his arm over her shoulder and they walked out of the classroom.

-

"You got a tattoo?" Bella yelled at her brother, folding her arms over her chest. "When?!"

"Last night," Scott answered defiantly.

Bella slowly turned to look at Stiles who was scratching the back of his neck and avoiding her eyes. "You were there?"

Stiles sighed. "Yes, okay. I was gonna -- we were gonna tell you but, you know, you got attacked by a deer."

Bella rolled her eyes and turned back to her brother. "You know mom's gonna kill you if she finds out, right?" She asked him and when he nodded, she sighed. "What did you get, anyway?"

"Two bands, right?" Derek intercepted. Scott nodded.

"What does it mean?" Bella asked him.

"I don't know, uh," Scott said quietly. "It' just.. something I trace with my fingers." As he said this, he drew the pattern of two circles, a small one and a larger one surrounding it, in the dust.

"Why is this so important to you?"

Scott had a distant look in his eyes, like he was searching for something that wasn't there. "Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?"

"To mark something." Stiles said, proud of himself. Bella glared at him and he winked at her.

"That's in Tahitian." Scott uttered lowly, "In Samoan, it means.. open wound." He said and Bella looked at her brother sadly. Scott continued, "I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen, and I always wanted one. I just wanted to get it now to make it a kind of.. reward."

"For what?"

"For.. not calling or texting Allison all summer." Scott still hadn't looked up. "You know, when I really wanted to, when it was so hard not to. I'm just.. trying to give her the space she wants." Scott exhaled heavily. "And four months later it still hurts. It still feels like a... " He drifted off.

"Like an open wound."