Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf
Scott drove his mother's car (as dented and saddening as the vehicle had been since he crashed it during the winter break and almost gave Melissa McCall a heart attack).
The school loomed over him, dark, foreboding, just as it had been the last few times he's been at school this late. Both times had been equally as stressful and horrifying – he hoped that this would be the last time he came here after hours. He wasn't a fortune-teller, but he could see no school dances in his future. Just the idea made him cringe.
But now wasn't time for that. Now was time for him to grin, and hold back giggles, because they were getting somewhere.
Hands shaking from amazement, he grabbed the keys from the door, pocketing them. Things were finally working out for them. Ever since he had bitten, it felt like the world was working against him. The only bright spots in his life had been Stiles – his best friend, the boy who had been there for as long as he could remember and never failed to offer support – and Ellie – the best girlfriend anyone could ever imagine: smart, sexy, a good kissing height, and totally badass with a bow and arrow.
Maybe the situation would only get better now. They'd find out what the creature was and stop it, he'd get through to Derek and stop him from making any more betas, he'd become friends with Boyd and Isaac, and Erica would stop trying to flirt with him. Ellie's family would accept him, Gerard would go back to the purgatory he dragged himself from, and he could sit down with his girlfriend and his mother and let them really meet each other. He would marry her in a few years, go to university, have lots of adorable babies and forget all about his werewolf problem.
Sighing contentedly at his happy thoughts, Scott almost skipped to the swimming pool. He could smell a trail of Stiles' scent (coconuts and curly fries), and the more musky, powerful stench of Derek leading to the room.
He entered, meeting the scene of Stiles and Derek both in one of the swimming pools, Stiles' arms wrapped around the alpha and he seemed to not be moving. Paralysed?
"Scott!" Stiles yelled, "Run!"
Scott turned, wondering why his friend was so panicked, and became face-to face with the reptilian monstrosity he'd met at Isaac's house.
"Not this guy again," he groaned, then lunged out of the way.
;;
Kanima. Three syllables, six letters – a pretty simple word.
Too bad it was synonymous with 'crazy-lizard-thing-with-homicidal-tendencies'. Apparently Ellie had missed a lot after dinner, and Scott had found Derek and Stiles in a compromising position in one of the school swimming pools.
After a fight with the creature (as Scott explained in a ridiculous amount of detail), Derek had announced that he was almost certain it was a Kanima – not that anyone really knew what that even meant. The alpha was apparently scarce with the details and only mentioned that it didn't know what or who it was. So, essentially, the person inside the Kanima wasn't aware of their supernatural status, which made them even more dangerous.
"Well, shit," Allison said blankly, staring straight ahead after the phone call ended. "I guess we can count out a normal semester, eh?"
Ellie sighed, groaning, and lying back on her bed. Her ceiling was covered with little, glow-in-the-dark stars that she'd spent hours gluing with her aunt Kate before she died. Looking up at them now only reminded her of how crap everything had turned out, and how she'd never get a normal school year when her boyfriend was a werewolf.
"This is so..." she sighed. "What's another word for terrible?"
"Awful," her cousin supplied. "Dreadful, appalling, heinous, vile, unspeakable..."
Ellie giggled. "Yeah, thanks, Miss Thesaurus. Why on earth do you know so many synonyms?"
"I read," Allison told her.
"No, seriously, did you look it up on your phone or something?"
"Hey! Do you not think I'm intellectual?" the taller girl demanded.
"No," Ellie smirked. "I think you're the girl who faked a yeast infection in the seventh grade to get out of writing an essay in class."
"That was a long time ago," Allison argued. "And you know that I'm no good at essays!"
"It was a book report on Goodnight Moon." Ellie sat up, grinning, and managed to catch the pillow thrown at her face.
"Shut up!" her cousin shouted, laughing.
They smiled at each other, and Ellie realised that, even with everything turning to shit around them, things would turn out okay. As long as they were united, the teenagers would win – they had to.
;
Isaac Lahey was back at school.
According to a very distraught-sounding Stiles on Allison's voicemail, Jackson had had a change of heart and decided to clear the kid's name – which would be fine if Isaac wasn't one of Derek's beta-minions.
Although, admittedly, he was much more tolerable than his counterpart, Erica, who still insisted on sending Scott lecherous smiles when she could.
One Google internet search revealed that the only Kanima known publicly was a were-jaguar from South America that went after murders. Ellie had never heard of a were-jaguar before, but they didn't seem awfully pleasant. In fact, they seemed about as appealing as a conversation with her grandfather was.
Ellie and Allison were permitted a late-entry to the school (for a reason neither of them knew), meaning they got out of economics (good – Ellie wasn't prepared to listen to Coach Finstock's abrasive voice after the sleepless night she'd had) but didn't get out of chemistry (unfortunately).
... which seemed to be a good thing.
"What?! Lydia?!" Ellie gasped, almost slamming her fingers in her locker form surprise. Next to her, her cousin stilled the tapping she was doing on her phone, giving her a worried look. "But, why?"
"Because Peter bit her, but she didn't turn." Stiles explained, sounding impatient. "Derek already 'tested' Jackson, so it's not him."
"But how can he even now if his stupid freaking test would work?" Ellie scoffed, "I thought he was just as uninformed as we are. Unless he's hiding a bestiary in his tighty-whities, I don't think he's qualified to be threatening a teenage girl with no proof."
"Yeah, well try telling the dick that," Stiles snapped. "Isaac and Erica are testing her today in chemistry – or so Jackson said. We can hardly trust anything that asswipe says." He paused, "And please don't talk about Derek's 'tighty-whities' again, like, ever. I don't want to be forced to imagine horrible images of him in his underwear."
"Don't pretend you wouldn't enjoy it."
Stiles spluttered on the other line, seeming to be lost for words. Well, she hadn't been expecting that reaction. Maybe he did have a thing for Derek?
"I- W- That's not what we're discussing!"
"Okay, Stiles," Ellie sighed. "I've got to get ready for class, missing two lessons is enough. I'll see you in chemistry. Oh, and Stiles?"
"Yeah?" he asked, sounding much more controlled.
She grinned devilishly. "You didn't deny it. Bye, Stiles!"
"W- no! Wait, Ell-"
She hung up on him, laughing, and gave Allison a smile. The other brunette made a face, muttering: "I'm not even going to ask."
;
When Ellie walked into chemistry it seemed more like she was walking into some western showdown. Scott and Stiles were in a very intense stare-off with Isaac and Erica across the room, both seeming to be communicating to each other through deadly glances. Rolling her eyes, Ellie shrugged at her cousin and slipped into the seat next to Lydia, who glanced up at her with narrowed eyes.
"I'm not talking to you," the strawberry blonde announced.
Ellie felt her face fall. "What, why?"
The girl next to her merely stared stubbornly forward, leaving Ellie to stew on possible reasons. Things she'd done to upset her friend were few and far between, so to have done something punishable by silence was more than a bit surprising. She thought for a few moments, squinting her eyes at the chalkboard at the front of the classroom, before it hit her.
They had barely spoken in two weeks. Since everything with her grandfather and the kanima had surfaced, she'd found it her to spare time for her best friend, no matter how much she wanted to. But Lydia didn't understand the enormity of what was happening, so, to her, Allison and Ellie had been ignoring her for no reason and spending all of their time with Scott and Stiles. Ellie felt horrible.
And while she'd been figuring out the kinks in the only normal friendship she had in the town, the werewolves (and Stiles) had realised she'd snagged the seat beside Lydia. Scott moved to the next desk, where Allison sat, and dropped into the stool, but Stiles didn't bother scanning the classroom. Instead, he noisily dragged a stool to the other side of the strawberry blonde, grinning widely at her. She gave him an uncomfortable frown before inching away from him.
"Einstein once said: 'Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe'." Harris said as walked through the classroom. Ellie made a face; he was her least favourite teacher. "I myself have encountered infinite stupidity." He stopped behind Stiles, whose eyes were wide like a deer in headlights. "So, to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one." He smirked, "Or, in Mr Stilinski's case, less than one."
A few people laughed, and Ellie saw Stiles' embarrassed expression.
Harris continued. "Erica, you take the first station. You'll start with..." He trailed off, seeming to notice the plethora of hands shooting into the air. "I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal little hands down. Start with Mr McCall. Alright, next two..."
Ellie's jaw clenched as the teacher said each pair, leaving her next to Lydia but moving Stiles to the back of the room.
They all started the experiment, and Lydia was finally speaking to Ellie. "So, are you and Scott still dating?"
"Why would you ask that?" Ellie said, blushing.
Lydia quirked an eyebrow. "You've been spending a lot of time together lately. You make it seem like you're just talking to Stiles, but something's still happening. I can tell."
"Maybe something is happening," the brunette shrugged. "But if anything is, my family can't find out." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully.
"Right, right," Lydia grinned. "Your secret's safe with me." They were silent for a few moments, before she continued. "And you never get jealous?"
"Not really," Ellie gave her a confused look. "Why would I?"
"Because of that thing going on over there," the strawberry blonde nodded to where Scott and Erica were sat. The other girl's hand was creeping up Ellie's boyfriend's leg. Jealousy pulled at her gut; a bile rose in her throat. "That requires some jealousy."
Ellie scowled down at the test tube in her hands. "I trust Scott."
A shrill ding rang through the class, and Harris called: "Switch!"
"Do me a favour, okay?" Ellie rushed, "Don't talk to Isaac or Erica."
"What, why?" Lydia demanded.
Ellie shook her head. "Please, just don't. They're into something bad."
"Like drugs?"
"Something like that." The brunette reluctantly stood, waiting for Scott to swoop in and take the available space.
It seemed to be going fine, until, a few switches later, Stiles and Scott were left together, Allison was all the way across the classroom, Lydia was with Isaac 'thinks-he's-so-cool-but-isn't-and-looks-like-a-poser-in-a-leather-jacket' Lahey and Ellie was next Erica.
The blonde was smirking obnoxiously, elbow on the table and chin resting on her hand.
"What are you going to try with Lydia?" Ellie demanded, glaring at the werewolf.
"Don't you think it's more important to ask 'what's she going to try with us'?" Erica retorted, "She almost tried to kill us all once; what's to stop her doing it again?"
"It's not Lydia," the brunette stated seriously. "She's not the kanima, okay? So you can retract the claws and start looking for the real freaking suspect."
"That's a matter of opinion," Erica smiled. "And you and Scott, huh? You sure had the lot of us fooled. You act like you're all over Stiles and yet your scent is all over Scott. It's almost cute. But, you know, I've always had this feeling like I'm a little psychic, and I just don't think you're going to last."
Ellie gave her the bitchiest smile she could muster, knowing she was very talented at looking like a cast member from Mean Girls. "That's a matter of opinion," she mimicked. "And, you know, I've always felt kind of dangerous. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I come from a family of werewolf hunters. One call from me and suddenly your secret's out and I get a new fur coat for my birthday."
Erica scowled.
"Do you honestly think sliding his hand up Scott's thigh is going to psych me out?" Ellie leaned forward.
"Would you prefer if it were your thigh?" the werewolf dropped a paw onto Ellie's leg, claws digging into her flesh. The hunter felt her shoulders tense, but steeled her expression. This butch didn't scare her. "Come on, Ellie. Two good-looking girls' cat-fighting in the middle of lab? It'll be hot."
"That's funny, I wasn't aware anything about you could be considered hot," Ellie mocked. Erica's hand tightened, little knives piercing the fabric of Ellie's jeans and drawing blood.
Harris' bell dinged. "Times up. If you've catalysed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal." The girls looked at the perfect crystal in their beaker. "Now, for the part of that last experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy, you can eat it."
Eat it? Ellie didn't want to touch anything Erica had scraped her claws over. She pushed the beaker to the other girl, who plucked the crystal out and examined it.
"Looks tasty," she remarked sarcastically. Ellie didn't acknowledge she'd even spoken.
"Lydia!" Scott yelled, standing up and drawing the attention of the rest of the class. Ellie raised her eyebrows.
Lydia turned to him, pausing before taking a bite out of the crystal. "What?"
Scott sat back down, face flushing. "Nothing," he muttered, though the tremor of worry in his voice was plain to hear.
Sighing, Lydia chomped down on the crystal.
Scott froze; Stiles froze.
Ellie wondered if she was missing something.
"What was that?" Ellie muttered.
Erica seemed to be in shock, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. "That was the test," she answered disbelievingly. "Lydia failed."
a/n I'm back! I'm so sorry this is a week late - I couldn't find the freaking DVD. I was sure it wasn't in the cupboard - I looked three times - btu apprently it was there the whole time and I was balmin my dad for nothing. But ssh, don't tell him that. I don't want him to know that he's right.
Thank you all so much for reading, anyway.
You may have noticed that I have deleted When it's Over and Arduous. This is because I just wasn't as into them anymore, and I didn't want to end up writing a story that wouldn't be as good as I'd want it to be.
However, I have uploaded a Pretty Little Liars story: All Fall Down.
It's about an OC (owb character) who's not very good with feelings (seriously, she doesn't know what she's feeling half the time and doesn't know what having a crush on someone is like) and was a part of Alison's posse. I can officially announce that it will be a Toby/OC fic (because I love how cute he is with Spencer and want to play with that) though it will be a slow burn. They'll be friends mainly at first.
Thanks for reading again! I love you all!
xxx