Samantha woke up earlier the next morning for school than usual.
She still didn't feel like a brand new person but she was starting to notice a small change happening.
Sure, there were some physical changes. Not much, but her skin was clearer and somehow her hair felt fuller.
She'd also noticed her nails seemed to be growing much faster than before.
But, the main thing she was noticing was how she felt inside.
Derek had told her that the more she learned and harnessed her abilities, the more she'd start to gain confidence and everything would get better.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt anywhere close to this energetic.
Making her way over to her desk, she pulled up a playlist on her computer to listen to music while she got ready that morning.
She held up the short white dress that fell in soft layers and a pair of sparkly gold flats.
The same dress she'd picked out after she'd been turned but didn't bother wearing it.
For the first time since the first week of school her freshman year, she put on some make up and used a curling iron to enhance the natural waves in her golden hair
Picking up her book bag she headed downstairs where her younger brother was already sitting at the kitchen island playing a game on his Nintendo DS.
Looks like she wasn't the only one to get an early start that day.
"Good morning." She said smiling at him.
Looking up at her his eyes widened.
"What?" She asked feeling self-conscious.
"You're dressed up... and you're wearing make-up." He observed.
"Should I change clothes?" She asked, nervously.
After a few minutes he shrugged, "I don't know. I don't know anything about girl clothes, ask mom." And turned his attention back to his game.
She rolled her eyes and let out a small laugh at his words.
"What's for breakfast?" He asked, not looking up from his game.
"I don't know, what do you want?" She asked, checking the time to make sure he wasn't going to miss the bus.
"Ice cream." He stated.
She opened her mouth to protest but then she smiled and pulled some bowls form the cabinet.
"Ice cream it is." She said as she got the container out of the freezer.
"Wait... are you serious?" He asked.
"Mm-hm." She hummed as she began to scoop the ice cream out into 3 bowls.
Not even saving his game, he shut the DS and got the chocolate syrup out of the refrigerator and sprinkles from the cabinet.
She let him put syrup and sprinkles on all 3 bowls of ice cream; as he finished the last one he said, "Austin is going to be jealous when I tell him what I had for breakfast! I have the coolest sister."
She laughed and smiled, she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt that good in the morning before school.
As they both started to eat, their mom came downstairs.
"Hey mom." Jacob said with his mouth full of ice cream.
"Morning." Samantha's mouth was partially fully when she spoke.
Sitting down at the kitchen island beside her son, she looked down at the bowl of ice cream in front of her.
"Ice cream... for breakfast?" Amanda questioned.
"You can't have a bad day if you start it with ice cream." Sam replied as she handed her mom a spoon.
Taking the spoon she shook her head and started to eat.
Then she looked up at her teenage daughter, "I don't think I've ever seen you this dressed up."
"Do I look okay?" She asked as she took hers and her brothers now empty bowls to the sink and ran some water in them.
"You look beautiful." Her mom said, with a small smile.
"Really?" She asked looking down at herself.
"Really." Amanda replied as her eyes lingered on her, she wondered what had gotten into her.
For as long as she could remember Samantha always wore jeans and baggy t-shirts or sweatshirts to school.
~()~
Taking her seat in chemistry, Sam looked around the room as the morning class started to fill up.
She smiled to herself, feeling like she was on top of the world.
Mr. Harris told them they'd all be working with their partners on a project.
Since no one ever sat by Samantha, she didn't have a lab partner and always worked on things by herself.
"Well, what do you know Miss Evans. It looks like Miss Argent's partner isn't here today, so you'll have a lab partner for the first time all year." He said nodding for Allison to move to Samantha's table.
Immediately Sam's heart started to race.
Derek had warned her to stay away from the Argents; they were werewolf hunters.
After he explained the directions and passed out the paper with their assignments, Allison looked to her and smiled as she said "Samantha, right?"
She nodded, her blue eyes wide.
"You look really nice today." Allison offered her classmate with a smile.
Knowing that she needed to try and act normal, Sam focused on steadying her heartbeat and breathing before forcing a smile and thanking her for the compliment.
Allison hadn't really talked to Sam before, but being in many of the same classes, she did see her often.
It was hard not to notice her when Mr. Harris went to extremes to shame her for being late so often in the mornings.
She had felt the second hand embarrassment for her on multiple occasions.
Allison always thought Sam seemed a little sad.
"You seem... different today." Allison went on to say.
Samantha's breathing grew labored; could Allison tell what she was just by looking at her?
Startled and scared by the thoughts she quickly said, "I have a bother and sick mother that depend on me."
Hoping Allison wouldn't tell her family what she was, if she knew how important she was to her family.
Allison's forehead lined with utter confusion. "I'm... sorry?"
She wasn't sure what else to say in response to her classmates oversharing.
Letting out a loud nervous laugh Sam shook her head, "I'm just off work tonight and in a good mood is all."
Allison nodded but kept looking at her strangely as they continued the work on their project.
Sam kept checking the time praying for the end of class so she could get far away from the werewolf hunter.
When the bell rang, she wanted to jump with joy, but the feeling was short lived when Allison said, "Why don't you come over after school so we can get this finished."
"To your house?" Sam knew Derek wouldn't like her walking into a house of werewolf hunters -and in truth, the idea scared the shit out of her.
"Yeah, we can order a pizza or something." Allison offered with a beaming smile.
Sam could easily see why everyone was so drawn to the brunette. She was beautiful, her smile as bright as the sun with genuine kindness to match.
When Allison had started at their school the year before, she was instantly inducted into the popular crowd and she hadn't heard anyone mutter a single bad thing about her.
That was until news about Kate Argent's crimes had made the recent news stories.
"Are your parents going to be there?" Sam questioned.
"Uh, yeah... why?" Allison asked her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. But tonight isn't good, I have to work." She quickly declined the offer.
"You just said you were off tonight." Allison reminded her with a frown not knowing why the girl didn't want to be around her.
When Sam couldn't think of anything else to say, Allison picked up her books and said, "I know what people are saying about my aunt being a serial killer, but the way she was is so different from the rest of my family."
Since news had broken out in the papers about her Aunt Kate being the one responsible for the Hale house fire and the deaths' of the people inside, everyone was whispering about Allison.
Even knowing what she was, Samantha immediately felt bad.
Being judged and ostracized for the actions of relatives was a feeling Sam knew all too well.
"No, that's not it at all. I just have to be home after school to fix dinner for my little brother, but I'll just drop off some money so he can order a pizza." Sam said, offering the girl a smile and hoping it made up for her earlier lie to get out of having to come over.
"Oh, okay. Great, I'll see you a little after school gets out then." Allison said, the smile returning to her lips as she headed from the classroom.
"I'm so dead..." Samantha said under her breath as she gathered her own belongings and followed her out.
~(Later that day, at lunch)~
Samantha had just made it through the lunch line when she spotted Allison who had also just paid for her lunch.
"Hey Samantha." She greeted with a radiant smile.
"Allison... hey." Sam said back, managing a smile but wished that she would just leave her alone.
"You wanna come sit with me and Lydia?" Allison offered.
Samantha's eyes widened, she had just been invited to sit at the same table with Lydia Martin for lunch, something she never thought would happen.
"Oh, I can't... I promised a friend I'd sit with them today." She lied, hoping it seemed believable.
"Oh okay, well maybe tomorrow." Allison's expression wavered again.
As nice as Sam was being to her, she also got the distinct feeling that her fellow classmate did not want to be around her.
"There you are, who's this?" Lydia questioned as she found Allison.
"This is Samantha Evans." Allison introduced her with a wave of the arm.
"Are you new?" Lydia asked her as he surveyed her clothes.
"Umm, no. I've lived here my whole life..." She said, trying not to seem insulted, but of course she knew Lydia wouldn't remember her.
"Hmm, I don't remember you. Killer shoes, they'd look better as heels though." Lydia said.
Samantha's mouth dropped open at the half-compliment.
"See you around." Allison parted just before following Lydia to their table.
It took her a few moments to recover from the interaction as she then looked around for a table to sit at.
She couldn't sit at her regular table alone because she'd just lied and said she had to sit with a friend.
Spotting a table with a guy sitting alone she took a deep breath and sat across the round table from him.
The events of the day were violently kicking her out of her comfort zone.
He was looking through pictures on his camera and it took him a few minutes to realize she was there.
"Oh... hey?" He greeted surprised to see her.
"Hi, I hope you don't mind me sitting here." She apologized hoping he wouldn't be a jerk and make her leave the table.
Allison kept looking at her from across the room and she didn't want to be caught in a second lie.
"No, it's fine." He said smiling as he took a bite of food.
She nodded and smiled as she looked back down to her tray.
After a few moments she noticed he was still staring at her.
She self-consciously rubbed her mouth and chin, hoping she hadn't had food on her face.
"I'm Matt."
"I'm Sam." She introduced herself to him.
"Are you new?" He asked as he took another bite of his food.
Her brows lowered, she had been getting that a lot lately.
"No, but you're not the first person to ask me that today." She said as she let out the breath she'd been holding.
The rest of lunch was filled with Matt trying to make conversation with her, and Samantha trying to get used to talking to people outside of her mom and brother, and be as least awkward as possible.
Towards the end of lunch she pulled out her phone.
"Texting someone?" He questioned.
"Uh, yeah. I was supposed to meet someone after school, but I have to work on a chemistry project with my new lab partner." She explained, but didn't go into detail as she texted Derek, knowing he wouldn't be happy about her missing a day of training.
"Your boyfriend?" Matt asked as he finished his bottle of water.
She let out a small laugh at the idea.
Thinking there was no way Derek would ever be interested in someone like her.
"No, just a friend." She responded, causing the teenage boy to smile widely at her.
~(After school)~
As she pulled to a stop outside of the large house she tried to calm her nerves, reminding herself that they'd have no reason to suspect that she was a werewolf.
She just needed to play it cool, get the homework done and get out of there as fast as possible.
"Hey! Come on in." Allison said cheerfully as she opened the front door after Sam texted to let her know she was there.
Slowly Samantha stepped over the threshold into the house and looked around.
She was the werewolf. She was a predator -but she couldn't shake the feeling of having walked right into the lion's den.
Just then hearing footsteps, Samantha looked over to see an older man walk into the room with them.
"Hello there." He greeted with a smile, but something about him sent chills up her spine.
The hair on the back her neck stood on end.
"Oh, um... Sam this is Gerard." Allison said motioning to her grandfather and then continued with "We're lab partners in school."
"It's nice to meet you." He said as he extended a hand.
"Thanks... you too." She managed to say, as she quickly wiped her sweaty hand on her dress before she shook his hand.
"That's quite the grip you've got there." He commented on the her strength.
All Sam could do was strain out a laugh and forcefully pull her hand from his grip when he held on a little longer than would be considered appropriate for a meet and greet handshake.
He told them he had some things to do and left.
"We can work in my room." Allison said once her grandfather was gone.
Sam hesitated before following her up the stairs.
She didn't want to take another step further into the house.
But if she were to make an excuse to flee, Allison would once again think she didn't want to be around her because of what her deceased Aunt Kate had been accused of.
And she just couldn't contribute to making her feel the same way tha so many people did with her after her dad's arrest.
It was close to three hours later that they finally finished their project.
"I'm so glad we got that done." Sam exclaimed as she stood up from the floor and stretched.
"Me too!" Allison agreed with a wide smile.
Sam smiled back at her, even though she knew she was from a long line of hunters... she'd still been nicer to her than most other people.
A part of her wished they could have been friends before all of this.
As she was led her back down the stairs, Sam said "I'd better head home. If I'm lucky there will still be some pizza left."
"You could stay for dinner, right mom?" Allison asked as she looked over at her mom who'd come to see who Allison was talking too.
Giving her a smile, Victoria said "Of course, I'm almost done cooking."
"That's really sweet offer, but I should really get home." She said, the idea of sitting down to dinner with a family full of werewolf hunters was the last thing she wanted to do.
And she had been hoping to get our of there early enough to still meet up with Derek for a little bit.
"Come on." Allison laughed as she grabbed her arm and pulled her into the dining room.
She was acting like they were friends now.
"I'm going to see if she needs help, have a seat." Allison dropped her off by the table and before she could protest, Allison was gone.
"Oh god." Sam breathed out closing her eyes and trying to remain calm.
It was one dinner.
All she needed to do was survive one dinner with the family.
And if Allison ever wanted to hang out again, Sam would make it a point to either meet in public somewhere or have the teenager over at her house instead.
"Sam, right?" Allison's father Chris asked as he walked into the room causing her to jump.
"I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized with a chuckle at her reaction.
"How... how do you know my name?" She asked, worried they must have found her out somehow.
Giving her a questioning look, he responded, "Allison told me you were coming over to work on a project for class..."
"Right..." She said nervously laughing as she mentally kicked herself.
He started to take a seat at the table and then paused to eye the nervous teenager who was staring wide-eyed down to the glossy table top and avoiding having to look at him again.
Once the food was brought in and everyone sat down at the table to eat Samantha kept having to hold her breath and calm down.
She was terrified she'd start to turn in front of them.
What if her heart-rate rose too high and her claws started to show?
"Is there a reason you're so nervous about being here, Sam?" Chris Argent asked, causing her heart to race even faster.
"Dad!" Allison snapped in disbelief at him and his utter lack of manners.
"Well? I'm curious, she looks like she can barely even keep the food down."
"She's shy." Allison defended her.
"I'm sorry." Sam apologized and then looked over to Allison's mom as she said, "The food is delicious."
"I'm sorry, isn't really an answer." Chris pushed, ever since they found out about Scott he'd been extra leery of Allison meeting new people.
Realizing she was going to need an explanation for her behavior she said, "I'm just not used to people being nice to me. No one at school really talks to me. I don't have many friends."
"Why is that?" Victoria asked her.
In her experience there was usually a reason when many people chose all at once not to be around someone.
Allison glanced over at her mom, wishing her parents would just be nice to Samantha.
Sam closed her eyes.
She was going to have to give them a good reason and hopefully also say something that would shut the entire conversation down.
Knowing it might also add a degree of shock factor that most people wouldn't know how to respond too.
Sam opted for the truth.
"Well, you guys haven't lived here too long so you probably didn't know, but..." She said as she paused to take a deep breath and then explained about her dad trying to kill her mother.
"Oh my god, that's horrible." Victoria said as she gave the girl an empathetic look.
Allison stared at her in shock, she'd had no idea what Samantha had been through.
Clearing his throat, Chris said "I'm sorry, I had no idea."
"It's okay, it's not really something I go around talking about." She said softly as she looked down to her plate of food, "A lot of people judged me for what my dad did and most everyone just tries to keep their distance."
Feeling the mood shift in the room, Sam was able to calm back down.
"So, thank you," She was able to smile and look as human as possible, "For letting me stay for dinner."
"Of course." Victoria said.
Chris nodded with a slight tilt of his glass in her direction before he took another drink.
After that she was able to eat the rest of her dinner and make conversation with them.
By the time she got home, it was dark outside.
When she got out of her car in the driveway, she got the feeling of someone watching her again.
Her eyes veered over to the left where there was a large patch of trees on the edge of the property.
The house blocked the porch light from illuminating the area.
Slowly she approached the area and walked into the tree line.
She saw movement. A shadow - for a split second before it was gone.
Like Derek had taught her she used her senses and crept into the darkness herself.
She managed to make a circle around the figure and come up behind them.
Just as she started to reach out for them, he spun around, easily catching her off guard and pinning her against a tree.
Despite all of her training -there was barely a scuffle before he'd bested her.
"Derek?" She coughed out his name.
Relief flooded her system to see him after being forced to spend the evening at Allison's.
She tried to move away from the tree but he didn't relent.
The arm he had across the front of her shoulders was solid was stone and she was trapped.
"What are you doing-" Sam started to ask him but he cut her off with a question of his own, "Why were you at the Argents' house?"
His tone was forceful and demanding.
Angry. He was mad at her.
Sam's eyes widened; her breathing was ragged from the struggle, but she stayed silent with their faces only inches apart.
"I told you what they are... what they do." He continued.
"You told me to act normal and Allison got assigned as my lab partner. I had to go to her house to work on our project." Sam said, feeling her cheeks darken and feeling like she'd been scolded she repeated, "You told me to act normal."
Slowly he let go of her, but said, "You put yourself in a lot of danger, walking into a house full of hunters like that."
Taking a deep breath of the cool night air she realized he had to have been following her, "Why did you spy on me?"
"I told you we're pack now." He said.
When he saw the look of disbelief she was giving him, he continued, "And I wanted to see what you had to do that was so important you missed a day of training."
"I'm sorry." She quickly apologized.
"Do you think they suspected anything?" He asked her.
She shook her head back and forth, still feeling the sting of his words and the tone he'd taken with her.
"I hope you're right." He said, as he looked back towards her house and then reminded her that she was supposed to meet him after work the next night.
~()~
A/N- Thank you for reading. Please comment and let me know your thoughts. ^__^