002 ; public school

KELLY DIDN'T MISS the congested hallways of public school in the slightest. It had been four years since she'd last attended a real school, since she ran away.  She'd never felt like she could do it without getting caught and sent back to foster care. She'd never felt like she had a reason.

But now she had a reason. A good one. In fact, she had millions.

So she entered the crowded building, immediately being shoved lightly by some kids who looked to be freshmen. Kelly subconsciously rolled her eyes at the nauseating smell of Axe body spray that even without the werewolf senses, she was sure was hard to miss. One of them muttered an apology before chasing their friend back down the hallway, laughing. Kelly suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. There were so many people. The scents all clashed together and the voices seemed to fight for dominance in Kelly's ears despite the fact that not a single person was speaking to her.

Kelly sighed, heading straight for the office to get her schedule and locker information, just as she'd been told. The sea of students in the corridor had thinned slightly by the time she got to her baby blue locker. She slid the paper copy of her schedule into the front of her binder and put the things she didn't need into the locker.

Kelly had committed the first third of the dead pool to memory and planned to find the other two thirds that day. But for now, Kelly decided, the most important thing was to look like any other high school student.

She entered the math classroom. It was a wide room with teal tiles lining the walls and tall windows that reached all the way to the ceiling. The class had six rows of desks, each with a plastic chair attached. Kelly looked around at her new classmates before choosing her seat. A desk along the side of the class, somewhat removed from the centre of attention, but also not so far removed that she couldn't make connections. Kelly placed her books on the table and looked up at the chalkboard that was already covered in equations.

Fuck, Kelly thought. Math had not exactly been a priority of hers for the past few years — or ever. Luckily, she had always been a pretty quick learner, or at least when it came to survival she was. Math proved to be a different playing field entirely.

As she waited for the class to fill up, her eyes began to wander. Kelly noticed a girl slowly walk towards the doorway. The girl paused as her eyes fell on the chalkboard, then slowly, as to avoid suspicion, the girl walked back out. Kelly stifled a laugh, knowing exactly how the girl felt.

Kelly thought the girl had ditched class — gone home, left campus — when suddenly the same girl was being guided back into the classroom by a boy with dark hair and an upturned nose.

"I hate math. It's pointless!" the girl feigned, turning back to look at the boy.

"It's school!" the boy responded, sitting the girl down in the desk directly diagonal from Kelly. He took a seat behind her, right beside Kelly. "School's important. Math is essential."

He sounded like he was regurgitating the same information he'd heard from countless teachers throughout the years. In fact, Kelly was sure she'd heard those exact words from her seventh grade teacher.

"For what?" the girl leaned forward, clearly annoyed at him for dragging her back to class.

"Knowing how much to tip at restaurants," the boy winked.

Just then, a girl with long strawberry blonde hair and blushed cheeks turned around, glaring at the brunet boy. "And less important things like medicine, economics, engineering," she said sarcastically, looking pointedly at the boy.

"Tipping," the boy repeated.

The girl looked confused. It was only then that Kelly realized how pretty the girl was. Her light brown hair was pulled into a braid that reached past her shoulders and her eyes were a bright, russet brown. She wore a peach coloured sweater and monochromatic pattered pants. She was pretty. Really pretty.

As the girl was turning away she locked eyes with Kelly. The girl stared for a moment. Kelly smirked and looked back at the front of the classroom, tapping her pen on the side of her desk.

"Alright, volunteers to the board," the teacher said abruptly, turning away from the chalkboard. "Lydia, Diego, Malia."

The strawberry blonde girl stood up immediately as did another boy.

"Um, I didn't volunteer," the girl with the light brown braid stated. Kelly could smell her nervousness. So her name is Malia.

Malia turned around to look at the boy behind her who gave her a smile and two thumbs up. Malia glared at him and he retracted his hands immediately. Though Kelly was only half paying attention, she swore she heard a growl. Kelly furrowed her brow, suddenly very interested in the exchange. Kelly's eyes were trained on Malia as she walked up to the board begrudgingly. Subconsciously, Kelly's hearing honed in on her conversation at the chalkboard.

"Didn't you go over the notes I gave you?" the strawberry blonde, Lydia, asked in a hushed whisper when she saw Malia hovering the chalk cluelessly in front of the board.

"I didn't understand them," Malia said panickedly.

"X equals twenty five," Lydia offered. Malia's face flushed with relief as she quickly wrote down the answer. Wow, Kelly thought, that girl is quick. "And sweetheart," Lydia continued, "Put away the claws."

Kelly's eyes widened and she immediately pulled her eyes away from the two. Fuck. Slowly, Kelly casually looked back up at the two. Malia's hands were blocked from Kelly's view. Kelly racked her brain for any memory of the name Malia on the dead pool. She didn't recognize it. It must be in one of the other thirds. Werewolf?

Kelly slowed her breathing and flipped through her blank binder pages in an attempt to look disengaged. She knew that the town was full of supernaturals, but she never thought it would be this easy. Well, I don't actually know if she's on the list yet. I don't know how much the benefactor knows, Kelly reminded herself.

As the rest of the class dragged on, Kelly stole glances at the girl named Malia. There weren't any more supernatural hints, but Kelly found herself noticing some other purely human things. For one, to say that Malia struggled with math was an understatement. Another conclusion that Kelly had drawn was that the boy behind Malia was her boyfriend — or at least something of the sorts.

As the class dragged on, Kelly caught Malia looking back at her too. Kelly suddenly became worried that she wasn't disguising her scent well enough. But she knew she was. She always was. And even if she wasn't, it didn't seem like such bad thing to be exposed as a supernatural to other supernaturals. If anything, Kelly thought, making some supernatural friends could make things a whole lot simpler.

But that was Kelly's problem. She didn't understand what it meant to make a friend. She didn't account for all the attachment that came with it. She didn't plan for the emotional burden or the unwarranted care. She didn't account for anything more than some quick cash and a little fun. And that was where Kelly made her first mistake as an assassin.

☾

Three long classes later, it was lunch break. Kelly didn't waste time. She walked right up to the empty seat beside Malia. The girl looked at her with wide, russet eyes.

"Is this seat taken?" Kelly asked, placing her hand on the table.

"Oh, no. No, it's not," the Malia said, offering a smile. Kelly dropped her backpack at the feet of the chair before sitting down.

"I'm Kelly Wright, by the way," Kelly smiled.

"I'm Malia. Malia Tate." Malia extended a hand, the smile not leaving her face. Kelly laughed lightly at the formal gesture and shook the girl's hand. "Are you new here?" Malia asked quickly.

"Yep, I just moved to Beacon Hills," Kelly smiled. "Do you like it here?"

"Well, yeah. I'm sort of new here too. I've always— lived in the area, but this is my first year at Beacon Hills High School."

"It's kind of chaotic here, isn't it?" Kelly asked, looking around as kids fought over seats and yelled across the room at their friends.

Malia nodded, eye widening in agreement. "Oh, yeah. So many people. Everywhere."

Kelly smiled in response, "My thoughts exactly." Kelly looked up to see the girl named Lydia and the brunet boy from earlier across the cafeteria along with two others. "Hey, is that guy your boyfriend?" Kelly asked, motioning to the boy.

"Who, Stiles?" Malia asked. Kelly laughed lightly and shrugged. Malia smiled, realizing that the name meant nothing to Kelly. "Yeah, I guess so," Malia said. The group of four started walking towards the table which Kelly took as her cue to leave. She picked up her book bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"You could do better," Kelly stated with a wink before walking away. She wasn't sure she wanted to meet the whole crew just yet, so instead, she found her own table by a window. Not knowing what to do with herself, she reopened her binder and flipped through the looseleaf paper just as she had done before. Occasionally, she'd look up at Malia's table, memorizing the faces of her friends

"What's up with you?" Stiles asked as he placed his tray of food on the table and sat down beside Malia.

"Me?" Malia looked to the side. She hadn't even realized that she was staring at the dirty blonde who sat across the room, flipping through her binder pages. Malia's looked confused — an emotion that seemed to be a constant for her. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, you just seem a little dazed," Stiles shrugged, grabbing one of his fries and shoving it into his mouth.

"Oh," was all Malia said, and the conversation fell as another one started from Lydia talking about her new classes. But Malia couldn't help but feel even more confused the more she thought about Kelly. So she decided to drop the thought, like she usually did if Stiles didn't elaborate.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

( word count: 1800 )

I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER!! i have a few chapters prewritten but i just am not too confident in this one so i spent a long time going over it to try to fix it, and this is what we got lol.

i might need to go back and edit it again to make it flow better but regardless, i really hope you enjoyed. i love you all so much!! remember to take care of yourselves!

much love,
skye