𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟔

                                    

                                          
   WHEN ALLISON SHOOK ME AWAKE I NEARLY DIED and by nearly died I mean almost fell out of her bed and to my death. She scared the daylights out of me with her vigorous shaking and low whispering of my name and when I sat up the first thing I had realised was how it was still dark outside. It was bordering on midnight when my friend had told me Lydia had called us both separately in fear that she'd found another body. 
                          
She had guided us to a body but it was Scott that had found it and it turned out to be Deputy Tara. The six of us were shell-shocked to say the least and it had taken us a good five minutes to overcome out shock and phone the police. We'd acquired little sleep and so when it came to my alarm going off the next morning I almost threw my phone out of the window. 
                          
Unlike Allison though, I'd dragged my ass into school because I had nothing better to do. Scott was pretty surprised to see me and so was Lydia when I walked into our first period English class, taking a seat next to my best friend with a tired yawn. 
                          
"You're here before Stiles." Lydia said to me with an amused grin, "And before the bell rang, I'm impressed." 
                          
"Derek said if I skip another day he'll drag me here." I grumbled, "I'm not here willingly." 
                          
It was somewhat awkward when Miss. Blake walked in then and she approached our desks. Not only did she know Scott and I weren't human, I'd also walked in on her and Derek having sex. It was why I'd been avoiding her class for days on end when I actually attended school. 
                          
"Alex." She said to me with somewhat of an awkward smile, "Nice to see you back in my class .. no matter how tired you seem to be." 
                          
I nodded as I stifled a yawn, "Don't take it personally if I fall asleep. I'm really tired." 
                          
She nodded once but I could tell she was dying to ask me about Derek but she was too afraid to ask. She wanted me to initiate it with something like 'oh, Derek wanted me to..' or 'Derek wants to know..' and I didn't fancy it. I didn't know how much longer she was going to linger for but when her eyes flickered down to the faint scars on my neck she swallowed deeply and turned to leave just as the bell echoed around the room. 
                          
As she walked to the back of the classroom, Stiles came rushing in and he sat down in his seat in front of Lydia quickly. He turned to look at us but did a double take when he saw me sitting here. 
                          
"Hi." I waved tiredly, dropping my head on to my hand. 
                          
"Uh, hi." He replied but before he had the chance to say anything else, Miss. Blake's voice echoed across the class, silencing the room as she began our lesson.
                          
"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes, all tools the writer uses to tell their story." She said to us, stopping by our row of desks again between Lydia and I. She looked briefly down to my still empty desk before she glanced over at Lydia and smiled, "Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents." 
                          
I glanced over to see a rather detailed drawing of a tree covering the pages of Lydia's notepad and my friend looked up to her and smiled smugly, "You and every guy I've ever dated."
                          
Miss. Blake's face twisted as she tired to think of a way to respond before she stuttered, "Oh, um, well, that was an idiom, by the way." Were her words, "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture." She said, her eyes flickering between Scott, Stiles and I uncertainly before she swallowed, "They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying 'jump the gun' is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board.'"
                          
"Like chess." Stiles mumbled. 
                          
"That's right, Stiles." She said in elation, a bright smile on her face, "Do you play?"