Ok quick a/n, but one fun fact about this book is that it took me AWHILE to sort of perfect this chapter bc I conflicted between what I wanted to do with Allison and Olivia in this one particular scene. I literally kept changing their conversations and it frustrated me SO MUCH.

You'll know once you see it hehe but enjoy!

Olivia's POV:

Once lunch began, Scott made sure to drag Allison, Stiles and I into the storage room at the boys' locker room. I shut the door behind us and sit on top of the desk.

"Derek's outside waiting for Lydia," Scott says as soon as I close the door.

"Waiting to kill her?" Allison hesitantly asks.

"If he thinks she's the Kanima, then yes." He responds.

"Especially from what happened at the pool."

"It's not her." Stiles glares but I roll my eyes.

"Stiles, as much as I don't want it to be her, she didn't pass the test. Nothing happened."

"It can't be her." He retorts.

"It doesn't matter because Derek thinks it's her," Allison says with annoyance as she takes a seat on the desk as well. "Either we can convince him that he's wrong or we've got to find a way to protect her."

"I don't think he's going to do anything here," Scott responds but she scoffs.

"What about after school?"

He doesn't say a word but Allison rolls her eyes.

"What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?" I add, adjusting my sweater to hide my hand better.

"By three o'clock?" Stiles raises his eyebrows.

"There could be something in the bestiary," Allison adds.

"Oh, you mean the nine hundred page book written in Archaic Latin that none of us could read? Good luck with that." Stiles sarcastically responds.

I glare. "I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas."

"Actually," Allison speaks up again. "I think I know someone who might be able to translate it."

"I can talk to Derek," Scott sighs, nervously wiping his hands on his pants. "maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove it's not her. But if anything happens, you guys let me handle it."

Allison frowns. "What does that mean?"

"The three of you can't heal like I do." He says then faces Allison. "I just don't want you getting hurt."

The scars that magically disappeared on my body are a different story, McCall.

Allison rolls her eyes and grabs her purse from the floor. She places it on the desk and pulls out a weapon of some sort, facing it to the ground.

It clicks open and she lifts the crossbow up for us to see, making my eyes widen.

"I can protect myself." She responds seriously, her expression never wavering.

Woah.

Scott doesn't say a word, almost as if he wants to say something but was hesitating to do so.

Allison places her crossbow down on the desk. "What? Did something else happen?"

He shakes his head. "No. Just please, let me handle it." He says then turns to open the door.

Before I knew it, Scott instantly turns to face us once more but catches the arrow just in time before it hits him.

Allison and I slowly turn, seeing Stiles hold the crossbow she had just put down.

"Sorry," He mumbles and gestures to the crossbow. "Sensitive trigger on that."

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

I quickly grab my last textbook from my locker but feel my phone buzz in my pocket. I pull it out as I shut my locker and read the name, seeing it was Allison.

Alli🏹

Where are u??? We're about to leave to Scott's soon
{3:05 p.m}

I was about to reply until I feel claws pressed against my back.

"Seems like you failed the test," Isaac whispers in my ear along with Erica who wore her infamous smirk.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I glare but he forces me to turn to face them. "I said I would look out for Lydia."

"She wasn't the only person we tested." Erica threateningly extends her claws as well. "I put the slime in your crystal when your partner wasn't looking."

My heart drops. "I'm not the Kanima, you idiots." I glare, picking up my pace to go to the front where Allison was waiting. "Now I'm really glad I didn't get the bite from Derek. Scott trusts me enough to know that I'm not that thing."

"Even if he's dating—"

I huff. "How many times do I have to say it? I don't like Allison! Can't you get that through your thick skulls?" I yell and try to keep walking. "Here's my answer about joining the pack, hell no."

Erica sighs. "Wrong answer."  She reaches for my wrist but I quickly jerk away, sprinting to the crowd of students in the hallway.

I push past through the people with Erica and Isaac trailing behind me, hoping the crowd would delay their time.

From a distance, Allison and Stiles were rushing Lydia and Jackson to keep walking to the Jeep which causes me to sprint faster.

I take a quick glance and see Erica and Isaac barely turn the corner.

"Shit," I mutter and quickly run to Allison's side.

She jumps and sees the frantic expression on my face. "What ha--"

"Let's just go. Please." I cut in, quickly hopping in the front seat but scoot to the middle. Allison sits beside me on the passenger's seat while Jackson and Lydia sat in the back.

Stiles turns on his ignition and pulls out from his parking spot, driving to the direction where Scott's house was.

"Erica and Isaac were following me," I whisper so only Allison would hear. "That's why I was taking so long."

"Did they hurt you?" She worriedly asks but I simply shake my head.

Stiles parks his car in front of Scott's house and we all quickly get out of the vehicle. Stiles urgently rushes Lydia to go inside as the rest of us trail behind him.

"If we're studying at Scott's then where's Scott?" Lydia remarks.

"Meeting us here, I think," Stiles responds as he pulls out his keys to unlock the door, him and Lydia stepping inside first. "I hope."

"Thanks for doing this," Allison whispers to Jackson as we follow behind.

"I needed to talk to her anyway." He mumbles and I shut the door behind us.

Stiles slightly pushes me away and quickly locks both the door handle and the top lock. He cautiously looks out the window and turns to face us, seeing the confused expression on Lydia's face.

"T-There's been a few break-ins in the neighborhood." He shrugs casually as everyone awkwardly shifts in their spots. He grabs the chair from nearby and places it under the door handle, holding it into place.

Lydia raises her eyebrows suspiciously and gestures to the chair.

"And a murder?" He adds, making me pinch the bridge of my nose. "It was bad."

Allison nudges Jackson and he rolls his eyes before facing Lydia. "Lydia follow me for a minute, I need to talk to you." He speaks up, dragging Lydia away to go upstairs.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," I spoke up, nervously tightening the straps to my bag. "and find some type of weapon to defend myself," I mutter and walk away from Allison and Stiles.

I place my bag on the stairs and walk down the hallway, luckily finding the door open which didn't make it hard to find.

I flick on the light switch and unwrap the torn sleeve from my hand. The marks Erica left on me were now visible but the dry blood made me grimace.

"Bitch," I mutter and walk over to the sink. I turn the handle, feeling the cool water on my hand but wince at the small sting.

Once the dry blood was cleaned off, it started to bleed slightly again and I open the bottom cabinet, seeing extra hand towels, gauze, medicines, and etc in a stack.

Hopefully, Scott's mom won't notice.

I grab the small washcloth and Vaseline then close the cabinet shut. I place the towel under the water again then shut off the water once more. I rub Vaseline on my hand then grab the rag beside it.

I wrap the cloth around my hand and cringe at how weird the wrap looked. I undid the knot and attempt to tie it around my hand once more.

"You okay?"

I look up and see Allison lean against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

"Yes," I mumble as I try to wrap the cloth around again.

"You sure?" She asks, walking up to me as I continued to struggle to wrap the towel with one hand. "I thought you said you didn't get hurt."

"I'm not a baby. It's just a scratch." I lie but she snatches the towel from me, seeing the claw indents on the back of my hand.

"Seriously?"

"I just said I'm fine." I scoff, snatching the cloth again from her hand. I wrap it around my hand once more but this time successfully tightened it.

"Did Erica do that to you?" She eyed my hand. "Again?"

"Good guess," I say, causing her to roll her eyes in annoyance. "want a medal?"

She sits up on the counter but winces as soon as she sits on top.

"What, did Scott get a little too handsy?" I joke but then see her cover her thigh with her hand. "Allison."

"It's nothing." She says but I move her hand away, seeing the familiar claw indents.

"Erica did this, didn't she?"

"Yeah but it's fine." She tries to stand but I hold her down.

"No, it's not," I say and grab the washcloth from under the sink. I place it under the water for a few seconds then turn off the nozzle. "It'll get infected if you just leave it like that."

She moves her leg to the side, exposing the wound more and I start to wipe the dry blood off. She lets out a breath as the towel hit the open wound.

"Probably should've warned you." I softly say, feeling my nerves kick in.

"It's okay." She gives a small smile. I grab the Vaseline jar and dip my hand inside, spreading some of it on her wounds.

She squirms as I do so. "O-Olivia."

My cheeks flush. "S-Sorry. You could've done it." I say, reaching over to grab the jar but she shakes her head.

"I think it should be enough." She says and I grab the towel from the side to give it to her. She wraps it around her leg and does a double knot to secure it.

I was about to walk away but then her question brings me to stop moving.

"Is it true Derek asked you to be a part of his pack?" Allison asks and I shut my eyes, knowing this conversation wasn't going to end well. "Be honest."

"No," I say, never turning to face her.

"Bullshit." She says and I hear her slide off the counter. "You're lying."

"Then why are you asking?" I ask, grabbing the vaseline and putting it back into the cabinet.

"Because I knew you wouldn't hide something like this from me...guess I was wrong."

I roll my eyes. "I don't have to tell you everything that goes on with my life."

"Yes, you do! Because then I can help you go through whatever happens to you." She says and she forcefully grabs my arm to spin me around to face her. "Why would you keep this from me?"

"Because Scott would treat me differently. He's barely starting to trust me." I lie and she rolls her eyes.

"From day one, you didn't give a damn whether Scott liked you or not. What's so different about it now?" She crosses her arms. "What's the real reason?"

"I don't want to talk about this with you. Not when Derek's sidekicks are making their way here." I say, trying to move past her but she pushes me, making my back hit the door.

"No, because this has gone on way too long. Now tell me the truth or else--"

"Or else what?" I challenge. "You're gonna kill me with your crossbow? Tell your little boyfriend how I'm keeping secrets? Have your family threaten my mom?"

"I'll tell your mom everything." She threatens and I clench my hand tightly.

"You wouldn't."

"I would if it means to find out why the hell is someone I care about a lot is lying to me?" I pinch the bridge of my nose as I felt my head begin to pound. "Just be honest with me, Olivia. I hated the feeling of hearing it from Erica that you might join their side instead of you telling me yourself. How can being a part of their pack benefit your life? I'm tired of--"

"Because I want to protect you, alright?" I blurt out, cutting her off from her sentence. "I don't know why but I just have this strong feeling to keep you safe. I hate the feeling of being useless to you guys so do you know how hard it is to say no to Derek? I'm tired of just getting hurt and threatened all the damn time instead of defending myself. I want something that can make me feel like I belong."

She grabs my hand. "You shouldn't feel obligated to protect me. You don't need something to label you as the hero."

I pull away. "But I want to be. All I want is my mom safe. I want to make sure you are safe because I'll go out of my fucking mind if something happens to you and I wasn't able to stop it." I emphasize, basically word vomiting whatever came to mind. "I know that you can protect yourself, but I can't stop worrying about you."

Allison fiddles with her sleeves. "Is that why Erica made it seem like you...have a crush on me?" She asks and looks up to meet my eyes. "Do you?"

My heart drops, causing me to tense up. Oh my god.

"That's ridiculous." I immediately scoff. "We're only—"

"Olivia," Allison cuts me off and leans against the wall. "please."

I lean forward against the sink in shame, not making eye contact with Allison as I feel her step closer to me.

"I..." I trail and feel her hand rub circles around my back which made the feeling even worse. "I-I should check on Lydia just in case--"

I try to stand up but she cups my cheek with her free hand, forcing me to look at her doe brown eyes which causes me to stop mid-sentence.

Her eyes were like staring into pools of chocolate that were sprinkled with tiny flecks of gold due to the light above our heads.

She leans further with our foreheads pressed together, her nose lightly bumping into mine. I could feel her breath on my lips as her eyes darted back and forth between my eyes and lips. What the hell is happening to me?

I shut my eyes. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say." I whisper, hesitating whether to close the small inches between us but the strong urge to close the distance was starting to overpower the hesitation.

"You don't have to." She whispers, her breath slightly shaky.

Frantic footsteps came running close, making her abruptly pull away from me, practically avoiding eye contact from me.

Stiles pokes his head in with a panic-filled expression.

"They're here," Stiles says, gesturing to the hallway. "I called Scott and he's on his way but who knows when they decide to come in."

Hearing Scott's name made me feel sick to my stomach. Oh my god, I almost kissed his girlfriend. And I was about to let it happen.

"We'll be there in a sec. She's..." Allison trails, turning to me for help.

I grab the vaseline. "Helping clean the marks Erica left," I say and Stiles nods.

"Okay hurry." He says before running off once more.