Paige sat in the backseat of the jeep with her head in her hands. She rubbed at her temple before opening her eyes to look between the two of them. "When I said fill me in. I thought it was going to be like... minimal. But this is a lot to take in all at once. And I'm without my snacks right now because you decided to give me two seconds to get out of my house."
"Well, it's not our fault you dipped today."
"I didn't dip."
"Oh, yeah?" Stiles parked the jeep and then turned to look at her, "What were you doing then?"
"Family stuff." Paige admits to him.
Scott grew concerned and instantly faced her, "Is something bad going on with your aunt?"
"No, nothing like that-"
"You better actually tell us everything." Stiles gave her a pointed finger with a frown on his face, "You're the one who's always sunshine and friendship. That means you know keeping this information from us isn't exactly in the best friend code."
"Fine. But can we just finish what we're doing here tonight then." Paige crawled out of the jeep behind Scott, "Which, by the way, is a terrible idea. Like beyond bad because I don't think I'm getting sleep tonight."
"Yeah, I know."
Stiles eyed Scott while walking around his jeep to meet with them, "But we're still gonna do it?"
Scott shrugged his shoulders with his hands tucked deep into the pockets of his jacket, "Can you think of something better?"
"Well, personally I'm a fan of ignoring a problem until eventually it just goes away."
"No, you're not." Paige informs him with a brow raised and her own hands in her pockets, "You're the exact opposite. You want to solve every problem, as long as that problem doesn't involve you personally. Hence why you want to know what's happening with me."
"You-" Stiles' face twisted up as he pointed at her but then let his arm drop to his side, "You're not allowed to be smart with me."
"I wasn't being anything."
"Just-" Scott interjects before an argument could ensue, "-make sure we can get inside." Stiles then pulled out bolt cutters from his trunk as Derek pulled up, "He's here."
"I still think this is a bad idea."
Scott shoved her slightly when Derek got out of his car, "Where's my boss?"
"He's in the back."
Stiles peered into the backseat, "Oh, well, he looks comfortable."
Scott just nodded his head and turned towards the school, making Paige and Stiles turn to follow him.
"Wait." Derek called out as they faced him, "Hey, what are you doing?"
"You said I was linked to the Alpha." Scott explains, "I'm gonna see if you're right."
Stiles turned back with Scott and leaned into him, "Okay, one question. What are you gonna do if the Alpha doesn't show up?"
"I don't know."
Paige looked between the two of them, "And what are you going to do if he does show up?"
"I don't know."
"Solid." Paige laughed nervously, "We always have such solid plans. I hate this. I like adventure but this isn't an epic tale, it's a horror movie and we are the dumb people that the crowd always yells at to turn back or to not go down there. Or to just run out the door instead of up the stairs. We're those kind of dumb."
"And we can't just leave Derek out here with your boss." Stiles murmurs in a hurry, "I don't exactly trust him."
"Paige can stay behind then."
Paige stood up straight with her eyes widening, "What? Wait? Why me?"
"Uh... Cause you're innocent and kind meaning if he kills you it would haunt him forever because of guilt." Stiles offers.
Scott shook his head, "No, because... she is a girl."
"I'm sorry, why is that your reason. I like Stiles' more than yours. Yours is just sexist."
"What?" Stiles asks in confusion.
"He's implying that I won't get killed by him because I'm-"
"Are you three just going to keep standing there and talking?"
Scott placed a hand on Paige's shoulder, "I wouldn't leave you here to watch if I thought you weren't going to be safe. Okay. Just... Text or scream."
"That's..." Paige watches as they rush towards the doors, "Soothing..."
Slowly, Paige turned around to see that Derek was leaning against his car and staring right at her. A nervous smile and chuckle came out of her before she approached. Approached extremely slow, like a wary snail. If snails could be wary.
"So..."
"Don't talk."
Paige shut her mouth and stared ahead while leaning against the jeep. Her eyes were on him as he looked off towards the school. She pressed her lips together and looked up before starting again anyway. "So, are those hunters still after you?"
Shutting his eyes, Derek released a sigh, "Yes."
"Like actively after you?" Paige words it differently while pointing at him, "Like they could be hiding in the trees with their guns pointed at us and I'd probably die in the crossfire because I'm near you after you? Or-"
"Stop talking."
Paige clicked her tongue on the top of her mouth and played with her hands, "I'm just saying that-"
Derek rolled his eyes and approached her which made her stop talking. He stared down at her for a moment before leaning against the spot beside her. "Speak one more time and I'll shut you up."
"Got it." Paige instantly said with the nod of her head before she covered her mouth with her hands and inches away from him a little bit. She gave him a nervous side glance before dropping her hands to her sides.
She went back to playing with her hands, even popping her knuckles cause she could. Paige glanced back at the school and then back in front of her and then up at Derek. She opened her mouth to speak again.
"What did I say?"
"Yeah, but it's awkward and quiet. I can just talk and you can just stand there like an angry puppy just so I can fill the silence." Paige informs him while tilting her neck to look up at him, "Well, you're obviously not a puppy. Scott is more of a puppy, I guess. After all, you're older than us and he's younger. You've been a werewolf longer and he just kind of started. I want to say if you were a dog, you'd be like... a husky or something and Scott's more like a golden retriever." Her mouth spread in an awkward toothy smile when he stared down at her with a scowl, "I can stop talking about dogs."
"Or stop talking in general."
"I physically can't stop talking. It's a nervous thing I do. Which I've mentioned to you before." Paige plays with her sweater sleeve now, messing with the fabric, "It would help if I wasn't so nervous around you cause you're scary. Plus, I don't really know you. You're practically a stranger. A stranger that I've seen shirtless on a couple of occasions and have pulled out of the line of fire as a crazy lady shot bullets at you and technically at me without knowing I was even there. Which makes me think of the hunters again and-"
Derek shut his eyes in exasperation before he turned and pressed his palm against her mouth. Holding her there as she just gaped with widened eyes at him. Once he was certain she was going to stop talking, he released her.
Paige let out the breath she had held inside of her. Having to cover her own mouth now just to keep her from babbling on next to him. But then she heard a shriveled howl through the loudspeakers.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Her hands dropped from her mouth as she burst out in laughter at the ridiculous sound that most definitely came out of Scott. It sounded like a dying cat being strangled by someone. It was just so beyond funny to her. Paige curled over, one hand on her stomach and the other over her mouth as she continued to laugh at Scott's poor attempt of a howl.
"I-" Paige tried to speak in the midst of her laughter while glancing at Derek, "I-I'm sorry. I just can't help it. That was so bad. It sounded like the last breath of a cat as it dramatically passes away. It was so incredibly bad."
Derek didn't stop her this time as he watched her laugh in silence. She just kept on laughing because it was ridiculous to her. She may be nervous but she wasn't actually afraid of him. She stated before that he was scary to her, but she wasn't afraid.
"I'm done." Paige says while wiping the tears that formed in her eyes from laughing, "I'm good. But you've got to at least admit to me that it was bad."
"It was bad."
She grinned deeply and felt a little happy that she actually got him to answer her on something. Paige went to say something to him again when an actual deep howl echoed loudly from the school. Her eyes widen and she steps around the jeep to look over at the school.
"Holy crap." Paige gasps, letting her arms fall to her sides, "Okay, that one was cooler."
"And stupid."
"Stupid?" She repeats back to him, "Why? That was the reason Scott came here anyway. He wanted to try to attract the Alpha since wolves howl when trying to call out to the pack. It's smart. It's really smart and you want to find the Alpha as much as Scott does. So wouldn't you be happy about it?"
"It was stupid." Derek says back to her but slower with a glare.
Paige huffs, "Was it though? Or are you just mad you didn't think of it? It's pretty brilliant. I mean, if it actually works. Plus... We didn't exactly think this through so if it does work and the Alpha does come I'm kinda worried that one of us will die. And I'm thinking it could be me because I feel like a girl or minority always dies first in a horror movie."
Derek just ignored her as Scott and Stiles head back over to them, "I'm gonna kill both of you." He snapped in irritation, "What the hell was that? What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"
"Sorry." Scott apologizes with a small proud smile on his face, "I didn't know it would be that loud."
"Yeah, it was loud." Stiles agrees in about as much joy as Scott, "And it was awesome!"
"The first one was crap though." Paige tells Scott, watching as he groans for her words, "What? It was. Sounded like a broken chew toy giving out it's last squeak. Like a broken fence that needs some oil. Or-"
"Shut up."
Paige turns her head over at him, "Hey, don't be such a sour wolf. I think those are accurate descriptions of the horrendous first attempt of Scott's howl. Right, Stiles?"
"You're kinda right."
"I'm not just kinda." She points a finger at him, "I am right."
Scott rolled his eyes but noticed that Derek's car was empty, "What'd you do with him?"
"What?" Derek shot him a confused look before checking himself, "I didn't do anything."
"Yeah, he really didn't." Paige says as she peers into the car, "How come we didn't even notice him sneaking out like that? Wouldn't he have made some sort of-"
Derek shoved Paige into Stiles and Scott as the Alpha impaled him through his back with it's claws. Lifting him high up into the air and causing blood to spew from his mouth.
"Oh, my-" Stiles snatched Paige and latched onto Scott as the three quickly ran away from the Alpha as it threw Derek into the brick wall of the school.
Paige ran into the school as Scott and Stiles shut the door behind them. She pressed her hand on her stomach before throwing up in the hall. She suddenly felt like her back was burning, like the time Jackson purposely missed the ball during practice and hit her back with the lacrosse stick as hard as he could. It was that feeling but almost pinching.
"Paige, are you okay?"
"I'm-" She stood up and wiped her mouth, "I'm okay."
Stiles gasped loudly, "Well, I'm not!"