Catching Feelings

Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Broken Not Bent

[ Trinity ]

Trinity laid on the seat, her head resting against Isaacs shoulder. Boyd was in the seat beside them, lying comfortably to see the pair. "Stop," Isaac gently nudged her shoulder and she pulled away from him completely.

"I promised him I wouldn't leave and I did." A fresh wave of tears burned against the back of her eyelids but she blinked them away. "Now he's dead, Isaac. Derek's dead."

The bus ride was bumpy and hot, the small air conditioning system not enough to successfully circulate throughout the whole vehicle while they drove further and further away from Beacon Hills for the cross country meet. "It wasn't your fault. There's nothing we could've done."

Boyd looked back, his jaw clenching after he saw Ethan a few rows back. "You sure about that?"

Flashbacks of the night before kept resurfacing and each time she saw Derek's hand reach for help before he fell over the edge at the abandoned mall, her name falling from his lips before everything went silent.

A loud whistle pulled her from the reminders of Derek's death and her fists clenched tightly in her lap. Finstock walked down the aisle, directing stray students back to their seats. "McCall, not you too." He called out, not wanting to supervise two carsick teens.

"No, Coach. I'm good."

Trinity and Isaac looked back, the beta leaning close to her to whisper. "I smell blood."

"From where?"

Isaac shrugged, not being trained enough to pick apart when the scent was coming from.

From beside them, Boyd was coming apart the longer he stayed on the confining bus and the sudden traffic jam wasn't helping the situation. "Theres a jack-knifed tractor a few miles ahead," Isaac explained the sudden delay, his fingers pressing against the screen of his phone. "We could miss the meet."

Bright gold eyes faced them and they immediately adjusted to block anyone from seeing. "Mitchell," Finstock yelled when he saw the girl standing up. "Sit down."

"Sorry, Coach. Leg cramp, got to shake it out."

A sharp set of claws held onto the seat, a low growl coming from deep within his throat. "Get out of my way."

"What's the plan?"

He paused, seeming confused at her statement. "What?"

"I'm all for whatever you're about to do, just tell me the plan so I know how many people we have to kill when they see a werewolf fight on this bus."

Glowing eyes faded back to their normal brown ones filled with pain. "How are you doing this? Your boyfriend's dead. How are you so calm about it."

Trinity lifted her hand, showing them how hard she was shaking. "I'm not, I'm going out of my kind but I can't freak out like I want to because we're on a bus full of people who I won't be able to explain my breakdown to."

Boyd looked back at the alpha one last time before nodding.

It was quiet for five minutes before Stiles started talking to Finstock, trying to get the bus to pull over at a rest area but he wouldn't budge. "Stilinski, shut up and sit down."

They should've known Stiles wasn't going to stop until he got his way—which he did ten minutes later after a carsick Jared threw up his stomach contents on the floor.

"Jared, you're disgusting," Coach yelled while plugging his nose and begging the bus driver to pull over at the next rest stop.

Students rushed out the moment the doors opened, taking in large gasps of fresh air that didn't small like stomach acid. "Trinity, come help us with Scott. Allison and Lydia are going to fix him up."

"What? We didn't even ride with them."

"I know," Stiles allowed her to bare half the weight of Scott whose white shirt was stained with red and black blood. "They followed us and they're helping because Scotts not healing."

"That must've been the blood Isaac smelled earlier." They slowly lowered his body down to the ground in the small vacant bathroom, letting his body lean against the wall.

Allison rushed in and fell down in front of Scott, carefully pealing up his shirt. "Why didn't you tell someone sooner?"

Giving her a weak smile, Scott leaned his head against the cool tiles, a pleasant contrast against his hot skin. "Sorry."

"Why isn't he healing? He's recovered from worse than this."

Lydia looked over at the hunter, her green eyes wide. "It could be psychological. He isn't allowing himself to heal."

"Because of Derek," Stiles finished, giving Allison the thread and a needle to stitch up his friend. "He's not allowing himself to heal because Derek died."

"Can you guys finish this without me?" The blonde blurted, wiping her hands against her jeans.

Instant expressions of remorse and guilt were formed. "Trin—"

"I have to go."

She walked out of the bathroom, her head down as she tried to push the memories that were surfacing away. A firm hand locked around her arm and out of reflex she readied to throw a punch, but she stopped when she saw Boyd's worried eyes on her. "Is everything taken care of?" She nodded, gently pulling her arm from his grasp. "Good, because I'm pretty sure Isaac's about to kill Ethan."

Trinity looked past the beta, finally seeing the large crowd of students cheering at the fight. She pushed through them, seeing how ruthlessly he was driving his fist into Ethan's face, his mouth tinged red with the blood that was pooling out, but even in his position a teasing smirk was stuck on his face. "Isaac!"

"Isaac!"

Everybody froze, Scott came through, fully healed and a new shirt covered his back. The small girl pulled him from the crowd and was far away from Ethan as possible. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, I overheard Stiles talking about how Scott wouldn't let himself heal because of Derek dying." Isaac ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm himself down from the final effects of the adrenaline that was coursing through his body. "I saw him and I just couldn't control myself anymore."

He waited for her to scold him, waited for the harsh words reminding him of his recklessness but they never came. "Glad you did it before I did."