02; Get Mad

Next morning, Henley let out a moan as she began to wake up. She wasn't sure of the time, mostly because she was too lazy to open her eyes and check, but she knew it was early morning, she could feel the rising sun shining on her face as it peeked in between her bedroom curtains.

To be honest, she felt like she had just closed her eyes minutes ago. If she had to guess, she would bet she only had a few hours of sleep since she snuck in her bedroom and crashed on the bed.

After her run-in with Isaac, she tried to search more for Lydia, but she couldn't get Isaac's words from her head. Next thing she knew, she was walking out of a liquor store with another bottle and was sitting on the hood of her car again drinking to forget.

Feeling eyes on her, she cracked an eye open and peeked through her hair that was mostly covering her face, to see her little brother, Logan, leaning against her bed staring at her.

A mournful look on his face as he quietly asked, "You're drunk again, aren't you?"

"Leave me alone." She groaned as she rolled over and tossed the comforter over her head. She smacked her lips, another groan escaping as she realized her mouth was as dry as a desert.

The younger boy was quiet for a minute. "We waited for you last night. Dad even came home early so we could all have dinner together."

"Good for him."

"But you never showed, so we had to eat without you."

"I was busy," she mumbled, trying to ignore the tone in his voice, the one that told her how disappointed he was that she never showed. The one that told her how much he needed her, but she couldn't be there for him. Like everyone else, he was better off without her.

"Drinking?" he questioned. When she didn't answer, he blew out a breath. "Are you going to school today?"

"I dunno," she said, her voice muffled by the comforter still over her head. Honestly, all she wanted was to be left alone to catch more sleep or either a big bottle, both sounded good to her.

"Dad thinks we should go back. He thinks it'll help distract us from everything," he said, repeating the words his father told him the night before during dinner.

The room was silent for a moment as he was in deep thought. "I think...I think I want to go back today," he quietly said, wondering what her reaction would be.

"That's great. Have a nice day," she said while yawning, hoping that meant he was going to leave the room now.

"But Dad already left," he stated. When she didn't say anything, he leaned closer to her covered figure in the bed. "Henny, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," she muttered.

He silently watched her, waiting for her to get up or at least move, but when nothing happened, he added, "Are you getting up, Henny?"

"God, Logan. Yes!" she snapped as she tossed the comforter aside. "All I wanted was a few freaking minutes, but could I get a few more minutes? Noooo," she complained as she dragged herself out of the bed and avoided looking at him.

She stomped over to her closet, grabbing the first pair of black skinny jeans and dark color cami top she saw, then turned to go to the bathroom to shower. She paused when she saw that Logan was still standing by her bed, looking even more depressed than before.

"Well go get dressed." She motioned toward the door.

When she saw him jump at her tone, then run out of the room, almost tripping on his feet in the rush, she felt like kicking her own ass. The poor boy was already going through enough mourning for his mother and now she was being a total bitch toward him. She didn't mean to be, she was just tired, cranky and if she was honest, still a little drunk.

She let out a long sigh as she walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer. She pulled out a pair of panties, then grabbed something a little extra; a bottle of clear liquor she had hidden in there recently. She turned up the bottle and took a big swallow, feeling the warm liquid slide down her dry throat.

Some might frown on early morning drinking, but she knew she would not be able to get through the day without it. It was the only way to keep her mind numb, to keep the memories away. She was longing for the day she didn't hear her mother crying out in pain as she was writhing in pain on the ground. Or when she could close her eyes and not see her take her very last breath.

Maybe one day she would stop needing a liquid crutch and that day would be when she stopped viewing herself as a complete failure. The day she could stop blaming herself for killing her mother and putting Lydia through all the pain she was going through. The day she could look at her father and little brother without feeling like she ruined their lives.

But today was not that day.

With that thought in mind, she turned the bottle up one more time.

•••

Minutes later, after a shower and a change of clothes, Henley was standing in the kitchen in front of the refrigerator. She opened the door and kept it open as she reached inside to grab a bottle of water. She was in the middle of drinking the whole bottle at once when she heard a set of footsteps coming into the room.

As she continued to drink from the bottle, she turned her head and saw Logan standing near the doorway, as if he was afraid to approach her. She lowered the bottle and silently watched him for a minute, hating that she had hurt his feelings earlier. She flashed him a small smile as she asked him if he was ready.

After he nodded his head, she shut the refrigerator door with her boot covered foot, then the two siblings began to walk toward the front door. She grabbed a set of spare keys from the hook by the door since Derek still had her car keys.

"Where's your car?" Logan questioned as the two walked out onto the porch and he saw an empty driveway.

"At the cliffs," Henley answered as she began to walk down the stairs.

"Why is it there?" He walked along behind her.

"'Cause that's where I parked it," she vaguely answered.

"You were drinking last night," he accused as he came to a stop.

"Yes, okay? I was at the cliff drinking last night, big deal." She turned around to face him and threw out her arms to get her point across.

"Are you still drunk now?" He tilted his head to the side to look at her closely. "Mom always said not to get in the car with a drunk person."

"Yeah, well, Mom isn't here anymore is she, so what the hell does she know?" Henley snapped without thinking.

For the second time this morning she wanted to kick her own ass when she saw his face fall before he turned and began to walk away from her. She blew out a sigh, silently cursing herself as she asked him where he was going.

"I'm going with Mrs. Allen," he said, referring to his best friend's mother and their next door neighbor.

"You don't have to do that," she argued. "I'll take you, Logan."

"I would rather you didn't," he said honestly before he turned to walk away.

Henley let out a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair, then turned to walk in the opposite direction. School or not, she still needed to get her car. She had only taken a few steps when she heard her brother call out her name. She turned to face him, wondering what he wanted.

"I miss Mommy too, Henny," he softly said. "But she wouldn't want us to act like this. She wouldn't want you to act this way," he added, sounding older than his seven years. "I just think, even if she's not here anymore, we should still try to make her happy."

Henley nodded her head at his words and felt tears fill her eyes. She knew he was right, but it was hard to do the right thing when she was the cause of so many bad things.

As she watched her brother walk away, a part of her wanted to go back inside and grab the bottle out of her dresser, but maybe Logan had the right idea. Maybe school could be a good distraction during the day, a more healthy alternative instead of drinking as soon as the sun came up.

Maybe with everything else going on and all the other rumors swirling around, she can get lost among the crowd and fly under the radar. If she could do one thing right, maybe her brother will stop looking at her like he was earlier, like he finally realized she was the big disappointment that she felt she was.

Maybe getting back to the life she once knew, if only for a moment, wouldn't be so bad.

•••

Or maybe she was just full of crap, she thought to herself minutes later as she sat behind the wheel of her car in the student parking lot. Why in the hell did she think this would be a good idea?

Her eyes scanned the front of the school, seeing all the different cliques, and felt like she didn't belong with any of them. Things were so different now, she could never just walk up to a group of friends and laugh while they talked about the latest gossip or trade fashion advice like they didn't have a care in the world.

She moved her hand from the steering wheel to the key in the ignition, a part of her wanting to crack the car and just leave, but before she could make a move, she heard a knocking on her window, causing her to jump and snap her head to the side to see Stiles and Scott standing by her door.

She let out a sigh, realizing it was too late to run away now, then turned toward the backseat to grab her bag while Stiles motioned for her to hurry up. If it was anyone else she would think there was some big emergency, but Stiles always acted this way, like everything was a matter of life and death.

"Hey, you're back," Scott said, flashing her a friendly smile.

"Yeah, I guess." Henley shrugged, then looked from one boy to the other. "So, what's going on? Any word on Lydia?"

"No. She's still missing," Scott answered.

"But something did happen last night," Stiles added.

"What?" Henley questioned with a concerned look on her face.

"I heard Dad on the phone this morning. There was a grave robbing last night," Stiles said.

"Wait, something happened at the cemetery last night?" she asked surprised. When she was there everything was fine, well somewhat, if you didn't count her chat with Isaac.

With her ex on her mind, she glanced around the parking lot looking for him. She assumed nothing happened to him or Stiles would have mentioned, but she still wanted to see with her own eyes that he was okay.

When she saw him ride into the parking lot on his bike, she felt her heart rate slow back down to normal.

When Stiles began to talk, telling them what he had overheard on the phone, something- which they assumed was Lydia- tore into a grave and stole a liver.

"She ate the liver?" Scott asked while Henley wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"No, I didn't say she ate it. I just said it was missing," Stiles corrected him. "And you know what? Even if she did, so what? It's the most nutritious part of the body," he added, trying to take up for Lydia just in case.

"I never ate anyone's liver," Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, right, 'cause when it comes to werewolves, you're a real model of self-control," His friend said sarcastically.

"Actually, Stiles, he's one of the few werewolves you know," Henley spoke up as she gestured over toward Scott. "You could learn from him."

"That's true." Stiles nodded his head and pointed a finger at her, then moved his finger to point at his friend next. "You are the test case for this, so we should be going over what happened to you."

"What do you mean?" Scott looked at Stiles, then over to the brunette beside him.

"He means what were you thinking when you were turned," Henley explained.

"Yeah, what were you drawn to?" Stiles added.

"Allison," Scott simply said.

"Okay, nothing else? Seriously?" Stiles asked, his tone showing how annoyed he was by the answer. He needed more of an answer than that, he needed to find Lydia, he needed to help her.

"Nothing else mattered," Scott explained, causing his friend to roll his eyes.

Stiles shook his head and glanced off to the side in thought. He let out a sigh, then jerked his head over toward Henley as a thought crossed his mind.

"Hey, what about you?" he questioned her.

"What about me?" Henley asked confused. "Last I checked, I'm not a werewolf."

"No, but you are a supernatural creature," Stiles pointed out. "Is there anything you are drawn too?"

"Fórsas are drawn to anything supernatural," Henley told him. "I tried to track her last night and I did feel drawn to the cemetery."

"Wait, you were there?" Scott asked.

"Did you see Lydia? Did you see anything?" Stiles added frantically.

"No, all of this must have happened after I left because I didn't see Lydia. I didn't see anything weird. Just..." her voice trailed off as she motioned toward Isaac over by the bike rack.

"According to the call Dad got there was a witness," Stiles said. He glanced over at his curly-haired teammate for a minute, then looked back at his friends. "I guess Isaac was that witness."

"But, that's good, right? I mean, you could talk to him," Scott suggested as he looked over at Henley.

She gave him a short shake of the head, a pained look on her face. "We're not talking too much lately."

"Wait, did you two break up?" Stiles asked in concern. He looked over at Scott for a moment, both surprised to hear this.

After what happened to her, the last thing she needed to do was pull away. In moments like this, she needed to be surrounded by the people who loved her the most and it was clear to see exactly how much Isaac loves her.

"Is that-Is that really a good idea? I mean...considering everything that, you know, happened?" Scott added, speaking their thoughts out loud.

"Shit happened," Henley simply stated with a shrug, trying to downplay it, even though her heart was breaking. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Well, you, uh, you seem to be handling it well," Scott lied, unsure what else to say.

It was clear to see that she wasn't handling things well, how could she? She witnessed her mother dying and now she wasn't with the person she cared about the most. He knew how powerful love could be, he didn't know if he could even go on if he didn't have Allison by his side.

"Well, hey, if you ever want to hang out, you can give me a call," Stiles offered as he made a phone gesture with his hand. "We can be single buddies. Watch chick flicks. Eat ice cream. I'm down," he added, hating the thought of her dealing with everything alone.

"And I'm good," she said back.

She saw them look at each other and could see the pity in the eyes before they both looked at her. She knew they felt sorry for her and they were seconds away from bringing up what happened that night and ask her how she really felt.

When she saw Stiles open his mouth, she quickly cut him off, telling them both that she needed to go, but asked them to keep her updated on Lydia. Without another word, she brushed past Scott and began to walk across the parking lot.

She stepped up onto the sidewalk, then walked past the bike rack where Isaac was still standing. She felt his eyes on her, but she kept looking straight ahead, willing herself not to even look at him. It hurt too much to look at him.

Up ahead she saw Jackson talking to a homeless looking man digging in the trash. She breathed out a chuckle and shook her head when she saw him hand the man money then yell out for security before he began to walk away.

She picked up the pace and fell into step with her friend. "I see you're spreading the charm, Jacks."

"Hey, Mercer." Jackson glanced over at the brunette beside him. "I didn't know you were coming back today."

"I didn't either, but here I am." Henley sighed.

"Actually, it's good that you're here." He came to a stop and turned to face her. "There's something I wanted to say to you-"

"Don't," she interrupted him. "Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch, but I can't handle any more 'I'm sorry's."

He let out a laugh and slipped off his sunglasses as he shot her a look. "I wasn't going to offer you condolences, I was going to invite you to a party."

"I like the sound of that." She grinned. "Keep talking."

"My house. Tonight. All you can drink."

"All you can drink? Those are my four favorite words." She laughed. "I'll be there."

"See you then, Mercer." He flashed her his trademark smirk, then slipped his sunglasses back on before he began to strut toward the school- like the big man on campus he was.

Henley watched him walk away for a minute, then tried to slyly glance over her shoulder to look at Isaac, but he caught her staring at him as he was watching her.

He went to take a step toward her, but she shook her head, then began to walk away from him, causing him to let out a loud sigh. As much as he loved her backside, he was really getting tired of always watching it walk away.

•••

As soon as Henley walked through the school doors, it was like everyone froze and turned to look at her. After her short stay in Eichen, she should be used to the stares, but strange enough, that she could handle, the looks she received now not so much.

She hated seeing all the pity stares and hearing the 'poor girl lost her mother' mumbles, but one thing her years of being popular taught her, was how to plaster on a fake smile and walk with your head held high.

She made her way down the hallway, trying to shut out all the whispers as she passed by her peers. She cut a corner, then came to a quick stop when she saw Allison digging in her locker. She knew she should check on her friend, she lost someone too- even if her aunt did end up being a psycho who held a gun on her and Scott- but she wasn't ready to talk about all of that, she couldn't handle it now.

She quickly turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. She glanced over her shoulder for a minute, thankful that Allison never saw her, then quickly jerked her head back when she felt herself slam into someone.

When she saw it was Matt, she mumbled out an apology and tried to brush past him, but he reached out to lightly grab her arm to stop her.

"Hey, Henley, I was hoping to run into you." Matt let out a chuckle. "Although not literally."

"Hey, Matt," she said politely, then pointed down the hall. "I should go-"

"I'm sorry about your mom," he cut her off.

She gave him a tight smile, not wanting to come off as rude. She knew he meant well, but this was the exact kind of situation she was trying to avoid.

"Thanks." She went to walk past him again, but like before he stopped her.

"As soon as I heard, I wanted to call or come by, but I also wanted to give you space," he said.

"I appreciate that."

"Hey, do you remember that time she took us out for pizza and we tried just about every topping on the menu?" Before she could say a word, he continued to reminisce, "I think it was what- fifth grade? Me, you and Isaac had that project to do and she told us if we got a good grade on it she would take us out and she did."

"I remember." Henley folded her arms across her chest.

"I think that was the first time you tried pineapple on your pizza and you loved it," Matt added, not realize how much his story was bothering her. She couldn't handle hearing about the happy times right now, it was too painful.

"Or what about the time your parents took us bowling for Isaac's birthday-"

"Yeah, I remember that too," she interrupted him before he could say anymore. She began to walk backward, trying to get away from him. "But, hey, look, I gotta go. I need to talk to my teachers about the work I missed."

"I can help you catch it," he offered as he took a step toward her like he was going to follow her.

She held up her hand to stop him. "It's fine, I got it. See you, Matt."

Without another word, she quickly turned around and began to walk away, hoping like hell he wouldn't follow her. He watched her for a minute, then went to take a step to catch up with her, not ready to give up.

Before he could move, he felt someone lay a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He turned his head to the side, seeing that it was Isaac who had stopped him.

"Hey, man," Matt said to his old friend as he stepped around to face him.

"You should let it go for now," Isaac said, ignoring his greeting as he nodded his head toward Henley's retreating form.

Matt blew out a chuckle. "Some things never change, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Isaac asked confused.

"You always protecting her and asking me to leave her alone."

"I'm not asking you to leave her alone, but I am telling you to give her space." Isaac folded his arms across his chest. He remembered how Matt was with her in the past, how at times he would come on too strong and make her uncomfortable.

"She's going through a lot right now and she's trying to work through it all the best she can, and she doesn't like everyone in her face. Just trust me."

"Right, because you always knew Meddy so well." Matt scoffed as he shot him a look to let him know how he really felt about his comment.

This was how it was growing up with them; Isaac was always giving him 'talks', telling him the best way to act around her and rubbing it in how much better he knew her than he did.

Isaac clenched his jaw and balled his fist down by his side. He always hated when Matt used his nickname for her, he could swear he always did it just to piss him off.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly released it and said as calmly as he could, "Her name's Henley, and yeah, I do know her best. So, like I said, leave her alone for now."

"I'm just trying to be her friend." Matt held up his hands in surrender.

"That's fine, but a real friend knows when to back off." Isaac kept his eyes on him for a moment to make sure he got the message.

After Matt give him a small nod, he turned to head down the hall after her. He wasn't completely convinced that Matt would listen, but he would have a talk with him again if needed- right now though, being there for her was more important.

Matt took a few steps, then held up his camera, focusing it on Henley. He saw Isaac catch up with her and grab her elbow to stop her. As she turned her head to look at Isaac he snapped a picture, then glanced at the screen. He enlarged the image of her face and stared at the look on her face as she looked up at Isaac.

The look on her face was a look he had always wished he would see aimed at him. Even as kids, she always looked at Isaac a certain way- a different way then she looked at him or anyone else.

But now that he was back in her life, he was hopeful that the two could become close, then maybe one day, he'll finally see that look aimed toward him while Isaac was the one on the outside looking in.

•••

After his talk with Matt, Isaac rushed down the hallway to grab Henley's arm, then before she could protest, he pulled her into an empty classroom and shut the door for privacy. As soon as she exited her car earlier, he could tell she was overwhelmed and seconds from losing it.

He wasn't at all surprised that she was back to school so soon. He knew how hard she was trying to keep from thinking about everything that happened. He knew she was hoping that school would be a distraction, but it was hard to ignore what happened when everyone was quick to remind her. But he had hoped getting her in an empty room would give her a chance to breathe and have a minute to herself.

"Well, you really weren't kidding about being my shadow, were you?" She shot him a look, remembering him telling her that the night before.

"Not at all." He reached into his book bag and pulled out a hoodie he had shoved in there earlier, then held it out to her.

When she shot him a confused look, he explained, "You look like you need to let out a good, long scream. So bury your face in it and let it go."

She flashed him a genuine smile, but it was gone as quick as it appeared. "I'm good, but if you had a bottle somewhere in that bag, I'll take that. I could always use a good, long swig."

"I have water," he offered as he dug out a water bottle from his bag, it had their school colors and name on it.

"I was hoping for something stronger," she complained as she took the bottle from him, her throat was dry after all.

"I figured, but I can't help you there, babe." He watched her turn up the water bottle and take a big swallow. He wouldn't be surprised if she had already started drinking for the day and was feeling dehydrated, which was mostly why he made sure to fill the bottle up earlier.

He leaned back against a desk, his eyes glancing over her and taking in her appearance. She looked tired and rundown, but he couldn't deny she still looked amazing in his eyes.

"Anything else I can help you with?"

"Yeah." She held the bottle back out to him, then waited until he took it back before she continued, "You could stop talking to me like that...using the caring boyfriend voice."

"I didn't realize I was using a certain tone."

"You are, so stop," she stated. "And you can also stop looking at me like that too."

Isaac flashed her that smirk she loved and folded his arms across his chest. He played dumb as he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Henley argued. The looks were the same he gave her while they were dating, the one that always made her feel safe, loved and wanted; three things she didn't want to feel at the moment.

She slipped her hands into her jacket pockets to keep herself from reaching out to him. "What happened to you being the pissed off ex?"

"I'm not feeling very pissed right now." He shrugged. "It comes and goes, so don't worry, it'll be back soon I'm sure. You're pretty good at pissing me off."

"That's actually not a bad thing," she pointed out. "All of this would be easier if you were mad at me."

"Don't start that," he warned as he pushed off of the desk to stand in front of her. "You don't get to do this, Henley. You don't get to dump me and then tell me how I should feel about you."

"I'm just trying to save you from wasting your time, Isaac. Look at my life...it's a mess!"

"I don't care-"

"I do!" she cut him off. "As much as I don't want to be in that world- the supernatural one, I'm not normal and I never will be, but you are. You need to stay far away from that and from me."

He looked at her for a minute, then shook his head. "And now the pissed off ex is back."

"Good. Keep him around," she stated, which pissed him off even more.

He rolled his eyes and blew out an annoyed breath, then turned to leave the room before he said something he would regret. He paused for a moment when he heard her speak his name, causing him to turn to face her.

For a moment, he saw her face fall and he could swear she was having second thoughts. He could almost swear he could read her thoughts and knew she regretted her actions. He thought for a moment she would rush across the room and throw herself in his arms, but then in a flash that look was gone and the wall was back up.

Henley pushed all her feelings aside, forgetting the things she wished she could say to him, and instead asked, "What happened at the cemetery last night?"

"What?" At first, he was confused about what she was talking about, then he realized she must have heard about the grave robbing last night. "It wasn't a big deal. Something broke into a grave and stole a liver."

He left out the part when he was pushed into a grave and Derek helped him out. He also left out Derek's offer for now.

"Was it Lydia?" she questioned.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I didn't get a good look at it before..."

"Before what?" she asked when he paused.

Realizing he almost slipped and told her everything, he shook his head. "Just before it got what it wanted, then left. It happened too fast."

"So nothing else happened?"

"Nope," he lied with a shake of his head. He didn't want to lie to her, but he couldn't talk to her about this, he knew what her answer would be. But this was his decision, his life.

Derek had a lot of good points the night before, with the bite he would be stronger, he would be properly trained and he would be able to protect her. Peter was just the beginning, once word got out that a young fórsa was in Beacon Hills, every creature would be after her, itching to take her extra energy for one reason or another.

Henley watched him closely for a minute, feeling like he was leaving out something, but what more could there be? Maybe she was just so worried about keeping him safe she was reading into things.

"You could have called me," she finally said after a moment of silence.

"There wasn't really anything you could do," Isaac pointed out, plus he knew she was already going through enough and didn't want to worry her more. Compared to some of the other things going on in her life, someone taking a liver was minor.

"Plus you have a habit of ignoring me lately, so why bother," he couldn't stop himself from adding.

"You can always call me for werewolf reasons or if you just need a friend," she told him. If he was ever in danger or need a safe place away from his dad, she was there for him. She just couldn't be what she wished she could be for him, she couldn't be his girlfriend.

"I hear you, but things like a grave robbery is more of a cop problem, not a Meddy problem."

"If it involves you, Isaac, it is my problem," she softly said. When he shook his head at her words, she asked him what the problem was with her comment.

"You shouldn't do that...use the girlfriend voice," he teased, copying her from before. "One might start to think you still care."

"Isaac-"

"We should get to class." He took a few steps back, then flashed her a grin. "I'm sure we'll be doing this again soon though."

"I take it you're not giving up the job of being my shadow anytime soon?"

"Nope," he simply said as he turned and walked over to the door.

She watched him walk out of the room as the bell began to ring. She shook her head and let out a small chuckle.

She shouldn't be surprised that he was being so stubborn and not giving up, he had always been that way. He would argue that she was the same way. It was one of the reasons the two bumped heads so much, they were basically the same, and she had a feeling that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

•••

A/N; I feel like this chapter took forever since it's kinda filler-ish. I always have problems with those, but I'm okay with it for the most part. We are getting close to Isaac being bit, he is debating it at the moment.

Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to lilnightmare17, RHatch89, xxxRena, C. B. Weasley, SquidaQdaloo, zattomiik and sarah0406 for reviewing.

Happy reading!
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