While I normally wouldn't be in the boys locker room, I was providing moral support for Scott, who was freaking out. Majorly.
"Did you apologize to Allison?" I asked.
"Yeah," Scott said.
"Is she giving you a second chance or--" Stiles began.
Scott cut him off. "Yeah."
"Yeah! All right. So everything's good."
"No."
"No?"
"Remember the hunters? Her dad is one of 'em."
"Her dad?" I repeated as realization dawned on me.
"Shot me--"
"Allison's father?" Stiles asked.
"With a crossbow."
"Allison's father--" I repeated.
"Yes! Her father. Oh, my God."
I snapped my fingers in Scott's face. "Snap back, Scott. You okay? Hey, all right? I couldn't hear the conversation, but he didn't recognize you, right?"
"No. N-no. I don't think so. He mentioned Eliana, but I couldn't tell if he knew the truth about her."
"Does she know about him? About both of you?" Stiles asked.
"Oh, yeah. I don't know. What if she does? This is gonna kill me, man."
I patted Scott's shoulder. "Just focus on lacrosse, Scott."
Stiles handed Scott his stick. "Okay, here, Scott. Take this. Take this and focus on lacrosse for now, okay? That's all you gotta do, yeah?"
"Lacrosse," Scott repeated.
After lacrosse practice, Lydia walked over to me, Scott and Stiles. "Why is there a rumor going around that you're not playing tomorrow?"
"'Cause I'm sort of not," Scott replied.
"I think you sort of are. Especially when you brutally injure my boyfriend by ramming into him."
"He brutally injured himself ramming into me."
"Jackson's gonna play tomorrow. But he's not gonna be at his peak, and I prefer my boyfriend at peak performance."
"Okay."
"I date the captain of the winning lacrosse team, and if they start off the season losing, I date the captain of the losing lacrosse team. I don't date losers."
"Lydia, calm down," I said.
Scott angered her further by saying, "Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone. In fact, it might even save someone."
"Fine!" Lydia exclaimed. "Don't play. We'll probably win anyway. Then we'll go out after, like we were planning, and I'll introduce Allison to all the hot players on the team. And Scott McCall can stay home, surfing the net for the next porn."
"Mr. McCall, you aren't even close to solving your next problem," the teacher said.
"Tell me about it," Scott muttered.
"Hey, come here," Stiles said, grabbing me and Scott by our shirts.
"What?"
I pushed Stiles away. "Dude. Seriously."
"Come here," Stiles repeated. "Sorry, Ella. Tell me what they're saying. Can you two hear 'em?"
I heard Sheriff Stilinski say something about a curfew.
"Curfew because of the body," Scott said.
Stiles groaned. "Unbelievable. My dad's out looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hangin' out, doing whatever he wants."
"I swear to God if you say Derek did it, I won't hesitate to hurt you."
Stiles frowned. "Sure, Ella."
"Well, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek," Scott said before turning to me. "Stop defending him. He killed that girl!"
"How do you know it was him?!"
Of course no one answers me. Why do I have friends who are such idiots? Just because some mysterious guy lives alone in the charred house in the middle of the woods doesn't mean he murdered someone. Yeah, it's weird, but he doesn't seem like a murderer.
"I can do something," Stiles said.
"Like what?" Scott asked.
"Find the other half of the body."
"Are you kidding?"
I looked at Stiles and back to Scott. "I don't think he is."
"That was rhetorical."
We made our way to the forest. Scott had gotten it into his head to go to Derek's and yell at him.
"Derek!" Scott cried. "Derek! Stay away from her! She doesn't know anything! And stay away from Eliana!"
Derek stepped onto his porch. "Yeah? What if she does? You think your little buddy Stiles can just Google werewolves and now you got all the answers, is that it? You don't get it yet, Scott, but I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen. You're out on the field. The aggression takes over. And you shift in front of everyone. Your mom, all your friends. And when they see you, everything falls apart. I would never hurt Eliana."
Since I didn't want to go home or participate in whatever my idiot friends had in mind, I chose to stay with Derek.
That night, Derek left to go somewhere alone, leaving me in the house.
I heard two distinct voices and groaned.
"Wait, something's different," Scott said.
"Different how?" Stiles asked.
"I don't know. Let's just get this over with."
After some time, Scott said, "This is taking way too long."
"Just keep going," Stiles said.
"What if he comes back? Far as I know, Ella hasn't left. I feel like she's hiding something."
"Then we grab her and get the hell out of here. She probably is. I say we try and find out."
I walked outside and frowned. "What are you two idiots up to?"
"Looking for a body," Stiles said.
"What if he catches us?" Scott asked.
"I have a plan for that."
"Which is?"
"You run one way. I run the other. One of us grabs Ella. Whoever he catches first, too bad."
"I hate that plan."
"Oh, stop, stop, stop."
"Hurry!"
"I'm trying. Did he have to tie the thing in, like, 900 knots?"
"I'll do it."
I sighed. "I'll help. It's better to keep an eye on you two, making sure either of you don't do anymore stupid things."
The three of us looked into the grave.
"What the hell is that?" Stiles asked.
"It's a wolf," Scott said.
"Yeah, I can see that. I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood."
"I told you something was different."
"This doesn't make sense."
I pursed my lips. "You guys gotta get out of here."
"Yeah," Stiles agreed. "Okay, help me cover this up. You too, Ella." He stopped.
"What's wrong?" Scott and I asked.
Stiles pointed to a plant. "You two see that flower?"
"What about it?" Scott wondered.
"I think it's wolfsbane."
"What's that?"
"Uh, haven't you ever seen the Wolf Man?"
"No."
"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains? The original, classic werewolf movie?"
"No! What?"
"You are so unprepared for this. Maybe you could take some tips from Ella. She seems to have a good handle on her werewolfness."
"Stiles," Scott and I called.
"Holy--"
"No," Scott said. "Oh, God."
Laura Hale was no longer a wolf, but instead, a girl.
The next day, we were back at the Hale house along with the police.
Derek was being loaded into a cop car and I followed my idiot friend into the cop car.
I was in the driver's seat and Stiles was in the passenger's seat.
Stiles looked at Derek. "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you." Derek glared at him. "Okay, maybe I am. Doesn't matter.We just wanna know something. The girl you killed, she was a werewolf. She was a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf, and I know Scott can't do that. Is that why you killed her? Also, why are you corrupting Ella with your lies?"
Derek frowned. "Why are you so worried about me when it's your friend who's the problem? When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do; just keep cheering him on? I can't stop him from playing, but you two can. And trust me--you want to. I didn't corrupt Ella. She has a mind of her own and I haven't had anything to do with what she chooses to believe. You'd be surprised what secrets you can uncover about those closest to you."
Derek shot me a small smile and a brooding glare at Stiles.
Suddenly, Stiles was yanked from the car. Sheriff glared at me and motioned for me to come out. I gulped, seeing my father. He works closely with the sheriff. This should be interesting.
"There. Stand," Sheriff demanded. "What the hell do you think you two are doing?"
I flicked my eyes to Stiles and he said, "We're just trying to help."
"Okay, well, how 'bout you help me understand how exactly you came across this."
"We were looking for Scott's inhaler and Eliana's bracelet."
"Which they dropped when?" My father asked.
"The other night."
Sheriff frowned. "The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body."
"Yes."
"The other night that you told me you were alone and Scott and Eliana were at home."
"Yes. No. Oh, crap."
"So you lied to me."
"That depends on how you define lying."
"Well, I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"
"Mm, reclining your body is a horizontal position?" Stiles made a lying down position with his hands.
"Get the hell out of here," the sheriff retorted.
"Absolutely."
My father gave me a look letting me know we'd talk later. Later. Sure, Dad.
I swatted the back of Stiles' head and he glared at me. "Ow!"
"Nice going, Stilinski," I said.
The three of us piled into Stiles' Jeep and the boys were talking.
"I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial," Scott said.
"Just keep looking," Stiles replied. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something, like maybe they bury you as a wolf. Or maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like something you have to learn."
"I'll put it on my to-do list, right underneath how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."
"Maybe it's different for girl werewolves."
"It's not. Pretty sure it's not. Wolfsbane is evil," I added.
"Okay! Stop it!" Scott yelled.
"Stop what?" Stiles asked.
"Stop saying "werewolves"! Stop enjoying this so much!"
"Are you okay? Ella, are you?"
"No! No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay. Ella?"
I couldn't breathe and I had no idea why. I felt like I was turning, which I shouldn't have been. "No, Stiles, Scott. I'm not okay!"
Stiles continued. "You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott, sooner or later. Ella's clearly done so."
"I can't," Scott said.
"Well, you're gonna have to."
"No! I can't breathe. Aah! Ah, pull over!"
"Stiles, do it!" I cried, struggling for control.
Scott grabbed Stiles' backpack as Stiles asked, "Why? What's happening?"
Scott pulled out the purple wolfsbane flower from the backpack and yelled, "You kept it?!"
"What was I supposed to do with it?"
"Stop the car!"
"Okay--Okay. We're good, you can--Scott? Ella? Scott? Ella?"
I ran through the woods and made my way to the jail.
Derek glared when he saw me on the outside of his cell. "What are you doing here?"
"Chill. I'm here to bail you out. It's my idiot friends that got you arrested. I can get you out. But, I'll do it for a price."
He sighed. "Name it."
"You tell me why you're oddly sweet on me."
"You know why, Eliana."
I tilted my head and my eyes widened, realizing why. "Are we... Mates?"
He nodded. "We are."
"Dude, I'm 16. You're in your 20s."
"I'll wait. Now, hold up your end of the bargain."
Before I could bail Derek out, he was released. That's the good thing about having a lot of money. You can bail out those who are innocent. Or not, when the intended bail was let go.
Derek gave me a small smile before darting off.
I made my way to the school, ready to yell at my friends. I got there shortly before the game started and pulled Scott and Stiles to the side. "What. The Hell. Were you two thinking?! Derek had nothing to do with that girl's death! You two just don't trust him because he lives in a burned down house in the woods alone and is a werewolf! Which, I might add, is a rather stupid reason!"
Stiles narrowed his eyes at me, obviously suspecting something. "Did you bail him out?"
"Unfortunately, no. But he was wrongly accused by you idiots."
"Ella!"
"No. You don't get to argue with me. Go play your game."
I decided I wasn't going to talk to them for awhile, as I was mad at them.
Mid-game, Scott lost control and ran off to the locker room. I followed Allison and after Scott had calmed down, they kissed.
Stiles appeared and saw the kissing.
"Hi, Stiles," Allison said, walking away.
"I kissed her," Scott told his friend excitedly.
Stiles nodded. "I saw."
"She kissed me."
"Saw that too. That's pretty good, huh?"
"I-I-I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."
"Yeah, heh. We'll talk later, then."
"What?"
I walked out of the shadows, crossing my arms. "Yeah, Stiles. Tell him what you found out."
Stiles frowned. "How do you know I found something?"
"Werewolf hearing. And you look like you know something."
"You're right. I did find something. The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found."
"And?" Scott and I asked.
"Well, I'll keep it simple. Medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Derek's human, not animal. Derek not killer. Derek let out of jail."
I smirked. "Told ya so."
"Shut up," Scott retorted. "Are you kidding?"
"No, and here's a bigger kick in the ass," Stiles said. "My dad and Ella's dad I.D.'d the dead girl. Both halves. Her name was Laura Hale."
"Hale?" Scott asked.
"Derek's sister."
"How'd Derek take it?"
Stiles frowned. "I don't think he knows yet."
Oh, Stiles, he knows. He's the one that buried her.