c h a p t e r   e i g h t
werewolf in need 

The next day, Stiles picked Harper up before school as usual. Harper waved goodbye to her grandma, who was getting ready for work, and darted out the door, clutching her backpack. She jumped into the very familiar jeep, her smile dropping when she saw the anxious look on Stiles' face.

"Judging by the smile on your face I'm guessing Scott didn't tell you what happened last night, did he?" Stiles sighed as he backed off of the driveway and began their usual route to school.

Harper frowned. "No. What is it? Is he okay?"

"Scott's fine." Stiles explained. "But he found out a few things. Like, how the person that bit Scott was an Alpha, and the Alpha is hanging around Beacon Hills."

Her eyes widened. "If you said that to me a couple of months ago, I would have thought you were absolutely crazy. I hate that that sentence actually makes sense to me." She groaned, running a hand through her hair.

Stiles scoffed. "Yeah, well, our lives are very far from normal now. So... what happened on your date last night? You said you'd tell me."

The brunette sighed, twiddling some hair in between her fingers. "Harry Dallas is one of the biggest losers ever, is what I learned."

Stiles frowned. "What did he do?"

"He was just really rude and he was flirting with me the entire time. I mean, I know that it's meant to be a group date or whatever but when he touched my thigh I flipped."

Stiles' eyes widened and he gripped the steering wheel tighter. "He did that?" He grumbled.

Harper nodded. "I left without saying goodbye."

Stiles chuckled dryly. "You should have slapped him or something."

Harper rolled her eyes. "When have I ever hit anyone before? I would have gotten kicked out, too."

"You hit me once in middle school." Stiles raised his eyebrows.

"You stole my juice." Harper chuckled fondly at the memory. "And it wasn't even that hard."

"It left a bruise." Stiles chimed.

Harper cringed. "Sorry."

The boy with the buzzcut just shook his head and laughed. "Don't apologise. It was, like, four years ago."

"Still."

About eight minutes later he pulled up into the back of the school carpack and Harper climbed out, thanking him for the ride. He just shrugged it off as the bell rang.

"I'll see you in history."

☹☻

History rolled around and the class were now getting their exam papers back with their grades on them. Harper watched anxiously as students got their papers back, either grinning or sighing in disappointment. She had studied so hard for this test, she really hoped she did well.

Harper was sat next to Stiles when she heard him start whispering to Scott, "if Derek isn't the Alpha, if he's not the one who bit you, then who did?"

Honestly, she had been wondering the same thing.

Scott didn't say anything for a moment, his shoulders finally moving up to shrug. "I don't know." He whispered back, not turning around to face them both.

Stiles rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Did the Alpha kill the bus driver?" He asked.

"I don't know," the werewolf whispered back.

Stiles sighed loudly, thinking for a moment, before leaning forwards again and whispering, "does Allison's dad know about the-"

"I don't know!" Scott suddenly turned around to yell at him, cutting Stiles off.

Harper frowned as everybody turned around to face the two boys. "Jeez." Stiles awkwardly rubbed his neck before his exam paper was placed on the desk in front of him.

He held it up to show the brunette, showing her he got an A. Harper grinned back at him as Scott received his own paper. Even from here she could see the massive, red 'D-' scribbled onto the front. Her grin faltered.

Stiles leaned forwards. "Dude you need to study more."

Scott didn't say anything but slammed his test back down onto the table.

"He was joking, Scott. It's just one test, though. You'll make it up." Harper comforted him as the teacher planted her test on the table. She grinned, "hey, I got an A!"

Stiles smiled, "see. Harper and I study together and we get's A's. If you want you can study with us."

The shaggy haired brunette sighed, shaking his head. "I'm studying with Allison after school today." He told them.

Stiles looked surprised. "That's my boy." He smirked.

Harper mentally rolled her eyes at him.

"We're just studying."

"Uh-huh, no you're not."

"No, I'm not?" Scott repeated quietly, confused.

"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you." He claimed. "If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear to God I'll have you de-balled."

"Okay." Scott turned around quickly. "Just stop with the questions, man."

Stiles nodded. "Done. No more questions. No more talk about the Alpha or Derek." He paused for a moment. "Especially Derek, who still scares me."

Harper giggled a little at Stiles' confession before the bell rang. She quickly stood up, chucking all of her books into her bag.

"I have to quickly go and pick up some things from my maths class, but I'll meet you guys after, yeah?" She told them.

Scott nodded. "Okay."

Harper smiled and began to walk away. Just as she was half way out the door she heard them start talking again, or more like Scott start talking again.

"You always squander your opportunity with Harper-"

"Shut up!"

Harper's heart skipped a beat as she stepped foot out of the classroom, pretending not to have heard the last part of their conversation. She could feel her cheeks heat up and she felt extremely overwhelmed.

Stiles liked her?

☹☻

"How was last period with Mr Rellings?" Harper asked, laughing slightly at her best friend who just shook his head and glared at her.

"Awful. I need you to help me study algebra, like desperately. I have an exam tomorrow on it and I'm most probably going to fail if I don't get immediate help." Stiles stated dramatically, rolling his eyes.

Harper smiled. "We can go to your house and study, if you want. My grandma's working until eight tonight so I'm free." She offered sweetly.

Stiles' eyes widened. "Really? Oh my God, you're an absolute life saver, Harper Verum." He grabbed her into a hug, squeezing her tight enough for the air to escape her lungs for a second. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So much."

Harper simply laughed. "No need to thank me. Did you forget I barely passed my algebra test?"

Stiles huffed. "Yeah, but you still passed, which is better than I would do. " He exclaimed as he climbed into the jeep, throwing his backpack into the back seat. Harper sat in the other seat, doing the same with her bag.

Stiles began to drive out of the car park when a figure dressed all in black jumped in front of the jeep, holding his hand out for them to stop. Stiles panicked, his foot slamming immediately onto the breaks, causing the tires to screech.

"Oh my God," Harper held a hand on her heart, blinking as she recognised the figure as Derek Hale.

He was pale and sweaty, only standing for a few more seconds before collapsing on the ground. Her eyes widened and she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, rushing out to help. Car horns began to beep from behind the jeep as Scott rushed over.

"What the hell?" He hissed at Stiles, who climbed out the car after Scott.

Harper kneeled down on the road, Scott beside her. "What are you doing here?" Scott spoke lowly so that nobody else could hear.

"I was shot." Derek breathed, panting as he held his arm.

Stiles frowned. "Guys, he's not looking so good."

"Why aren't you healing?" Harper asked him, brushing the fallen hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ears.

Derek shook his head, wheezing slightly. "I can't." He mumbled. "It was a different kind of bullet."

Stiles' eyes widened. "A silver bullet?"

"No, you idiot." Derek finally looked up to glare at him. She was shocked out how much sicker he looked up close, red rimmed his eyes and he looked like a walking corpse.

Scott looked like he had realised something. "Wait. That's what she said when she meant you had forty eight hours." He told Derek.

The older werewolf panted, looking frantically at Harper's other best friend. "What? Who said forty eight hours?" He asked weakly.

"The one who shot you."

Derek's eyes suddenly flashed one of the brightest blues Harper had ever seen, his entire face flinching as he scrunched up, groaning and taking deep breaths to try and stop the pain. She frowned, actually worried for him.

More car horns sounded and Scott looked around worriedly before turning back to face Derek. "What are you doing?" He hissed. "Stop that!"

Derek glared, his eyes going blue again. "That's what I'm trying to tell you." He spat angrily. "I can't."

"Derek, get up."

The car horns wouldn't stop now, the annoying repeated noise drilling in Harper's brain as people began to stop and watch, wondering why on earth some twenty-something year old man had collapsed in Beacon Hills High's car park.

"Scott." She warned him as she saw Jackson and Allison get out of their separate cars. "You might want to hurry up."

Scott nodded, going behind Derek to lift him up. "Help me put him in your car." Scott instructed, guiding the werewolf to his feet.

He put Derek into the backseat, shutting the door and looking around anxiously. The pale and sick Derek looked at Scott helplessly, "I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used."

Scott frowned. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

Derek didn't skip a beat. "She's an Argent. She's with them."

"Why should I help you?"

Derek breathed heavily. "Because you need me."

Harper looked up, seeing Allison start to walk over. "Fine." He snapped quickly. "I'll try."

She climbed into the passenger seat as Scott backed away from the car. Stiles hopped into the drivers and turned to face Scott. "I hate you for this so much." He groaned before driving off.

— isaaclovesmexican
     alisha
♡☆

this chapter is so short that I'll post another one in a couple of hours