Chapter 6 Sienna's Pov
735 Words
For the first time in weeks, life felt… normal. No unexpected visits. No outbursts I couldn’t control. No Scott McCall, smirking at me from across the quad like he knew exactly how to push every single one of my buttons.
It was almost too quiet.
Classes rolled by with their usual rhythm—notes scribbled in my color-coded binders, coffee runs with Emma, squad practice in the evenings where we sweated out our stress and complained about professors. There was no prank waiting for me in my locker, no smug remark about my hair, no casual bump in the hallway followed by his infuriating: “Careful there, cheer queen.”
Scott McCall had disappeared.
And honestly? I didn’t know if I was relieved or… unsettled.
“Earth to Sienna.” Harper waved her hand in front of my face as we sprawled across the quad, sunlight spilling over our shoulders. She had a cup of iced coffee clutched like it was sacred, while Kayla scrolled through her phone with her usual dramatic sighs.
“I’m here,” I muttered, pulling my knees to my chest.
“Then why do you look like you’re watching paint dry?” Kayla pressed, eyebrow raised.
Because the paint I’d gotten used to watching was missing. Not that I’d ever admit it. Scott McCall’s absence wasn’t supposed to matter, but somehow it did.
“I’m fine. Just enjoying the peace and quiet,” I lied.
“Girl,” Harper cut in, still staring at her screen, “you’re lying. You miss him.”
I snapped my gaze to her. “Excuse me?”
She smirked without looking up. “Don’t act like you don’t. Ever since Mister Football stopped breathing in your direction, you’ve been… twitchy. Like a cat that lost its favorite scratching post.”
Kayla snorted so hard coffee nearly shot out her nose. “Oh my God, that’s accurate.”
I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “You’re both insane. Why would I miss someone whose sole mission is making me miserable?”
“Because you secretly like the attention,” Kayla sing-songed.
“I do not.”
Harper smirked knowingly. “Sure, Sienna. Keep telling yourself that.” She was right and I didn't like that.
But my friends weren’t the only ones noticing Scott’s sudden disappearance. Days turned into a week, and whispers started filling the air. In hallways. In lecture halls. At practice.
By the end of the week, campus was buzzing like a hive.
Whispers trailed behind me in the dining hall. People clustered in tight groups, hunched over their phones. Even during practice, half the squad seemed distracted, sneaking peeks at whatever was blowing up their feeds.
Finally, Kayla shoved her phone in my face between stretches.
“Have you seen this?”
I blinked at the headline blaring across her screen.
“Scott McCall Benched? Star Athlete Faces Career Crisis.”
My stomach dropped.
I snatched the phone before she could protest, scrolling through the article. Words like disciplinary review, unexpected leave, and future uncertain swam before my eyes.
“No way,” one of the girls on the squad whispered. “He’s like, the face of Northgate’s football program.”
“More like the face of every girl’s daydream,” another chimed in, sighing dramatically.
I forced out a laugh, but it came out brittle. I wasn’t supposed to care. I wasn’t supposed to feel anything. This was Scott McCall, the guy who lived to make my life a living hell.
So why did my chest feel like someone had shoved a fist straight through it?
Kayla leaned in, studying me closely. “You’re awfully quiet, cheer queen. Don’t tell me you’re worried about him.”
I dropped her phone back in her lap and stood, tugging at my practice hoodie.
“Nope. Not worried. Not even a little. Whatever’s happening with Scott McCall has nothing to do with me.”
But even as I said it, my mind replayed that last run-in with him—the way his eyes had narrowed when my wolf slipped through, like he knew exactly what I was hiding. And now? He was just… gone.
Almost like he’d vanished off the face of the earth.
And for the first time since I met him, I realized something I hated admitting, even to myself:
The world felt different without Scott McCall in it.
- Writer
