"Notorious," Stiles says to me as I sigh, not really wanting to study for this dumb vocabulary test on Monday.

The bus hits a bump as I flinch slightly. "Famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed."

Stiles swipes left on the tablet. "Okay Scott; Incongruous."

Scott holds onto his side, still in worse condition than what I was. "Can you use it in a sentence?"

"It's completely incongruous that we're on this bus right now," Stiles groans, looking around as his eyes set on Ethan.

Scott nods his head, now knowing the word. "Ridiculous. Out of place."

I take mental note of the word as Stiles turns back to Scott. "Darach. It's a noun..."

"Stiles," Scott sighs, not wanting to talk about the new information. Stiles and Lydia had found out that what we were going up against was something called a Darach, meaning dark oak. I only knew because Stiles kept me up all night talking about it and wouldn't shut up and let me sleep.

"Scott, we have to talk about it sometime," Stiles snaps back before pointing at me. "Corey and I even already talked about it-"

"More like you talked and I dozed off," I say with a little smile.

Stiles gives me a little glare before the bus hits another bump, causing Scott and I both to hiss in pain. Scott had more of a reason to be in pain, but something about my wound didn't seem right.

"You're both still hurt?" Stiles says, his eyes flicking between the two of us.

I try and shake it off. "Yeah, I mean, no. I'm fine. Just a little sore; that's all."

"I'm not healing," Scott says as he lifts his shirt up to reveal deep claw marks. "It's only because an alpha did it."

Stiles' eyes are wide, staring at the black blood. "Scott...you still should have healed by now."

"Yeah," I agree, amazed by the wound.

"I'm fine guys," Scott tries to tell us as he lowers his shirt, brushing it off. "Besides, I'm not the one who we should be worried about."

Stiles and Scott both look at me then, causing me to furrow my eyebrows. "What?"

"You know what," they both say at once. "Unlike Scott, you can't exactly heal the same way he can."

My mind flashes back for a moment at what had happened. "No, but I did have help."

"Let me see it," Stiles says, sounding like a concerned parent. I hesitate for a mere moment, but soon my fingers are tugging at the end of my blue T-Shirt, lifting it to where my chest was exposed. Their eyes show confusion as Stiles reaches up and runs his fingers along the spot, feeling smooth skin. I hiss in pain as he removes his hand, seeming desperately confused.

"I know you can't see anything," I fade out, shaking my head as I looked down at where my wound should be. "But it feels like it's still there; like it's still an open wound."

Scott and Stiles both share a look, making me grow nervous. I knew what they were thinking, and I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit. But for some reason my mind drifts back to how all of this even started...starting with a bandana and a surprise.

--------

2 days ago

"Corey, seriously what is this," Allison giggles as she takes a few more steps forwards, blind as a bat. My hand was clasped around her right one as I led her down the road and down the hill, trying to help her keep her balance. She made the mistake in wearing healed boots, but I didn't blame her. It's not like she knew she was going to be going a little off course.

After what had happened at school the previous day, I realized that Allison and I have never been on a real date. I wanted it to be special of course; nothing like a fancy dinner or anything like that, only because I knew Allison would hate me for doing something like that. I didn't want it to be super simple either, so I went in the middle. I started with where we first met; which happened to be the bridge.

"Can I take this thing off now?" Allison sighs as I stop walking, turning her to where she would see what I had arranged as soon as she took the bandana off.

I smile at myself and at her, knowing that she would love this. "Okay, you can take it off now."

Her hands are quickly reaching up and pulling the bandana off from around her head, fluffing her hair up as she did so, but I could tell that she didn't care. As soon as she could see everything, her eyes lit up like the fourth of July. Her jaw falls open slightly as her eyes searched the whole area, taking it all in.

Since I was going for the simple yet classy type of date, I had set up a table and chairs on the bank of the river, hung a few lights from the trees, and even put up road block signs on the road so no one would drive by and disturb us. Stiles had hooked me up with the supplies of course...he really was a good wingman.

"You did all of this?" she says, sounding completely astonished. I smile at her, glad to see that she liked it.

"Yeah--well, Stiles helped me with some of it too," I laugh, looking around at all of it again. The lights looked a lot better at night rather than during the day.

She turns to me and raises on the tip of her toes and kisses me, taking me off guard. Her hands trail down my neck as I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me. She pulls away from me briefly as a wide smile spreads across her face, full of joy. Her eyes trail away from mine as she looks behind me at the bridge, causing one of her eyebrows to raise.

"Why here?" she says innocently, looking back into my eyes.

I grin. "Well, this is where we first met after all."

"Technically we first met when you walked in on me wearing a bra," she laughs as my cheeks turn red. "But this is so amazing, Corey. I really am surprised by all of this."

"Well, we never have went out on an official date," I say as I start to lead her over to the table, pulling out her chair as she sat down across from me.

She places her elbows on the table as she rests her head in her hands, her eyes full of anticipation. "So what's the main course?"

I grin spreads on my face. "Stiles!"

Just then, both of our heads turn to see Stiles come walking out in the tux I had told him to wear (the one he had worn for a winter formal a long time ago) holding something behind his back. Allison laughs at this and at Stiles's "you owe me one" look on his face. Like I said, he really was the best wingman.

"Good evening," Stiles says, trying his best to act like an actual waiter. "The main course for this fine meal will be an all American favorite; pepperoni pizza."

Stiles pulls a box out from behind his back, pulling the top of the box up as the delicious smell wafts around our nostrils. Allison laughs as I do as well, more than glad to see her enjoying all of this. She needed something good in her life after what all has happened in the past and what's going to come. She deserved the world.

"Thank you waiter," Allison says, playing along with it. Stiles sets the large pizza box onto the table before he folds his hands behind his back, doing a lot better of a job than I thought he would have done.

He nods his head. "If you need anything else, just call. I'll be in the car."

After that, he turns and marches back up the hill and back to the jeep he had let me borrow to pick Allison up and bring her here. Allison clasps her hands together as she leans back in her chair, laughing her cute ass off. I didn't blame her; seeing Stiles in a tux was funny enough as it was.

She calms down for a moment as I point towards the box. "Pepperoni is your favorite, right?"

"All pizza is my favorite," she says as she's reaching into the box, pulling out the biggest piece. A long string of cheese forms as she tries to pull it away, having a hard time before finally breaking it with her free hand. I take a piece as well as we both eat away, savoring it all.

She starts to laugh again. "How in the world did you get Stiles to agree to all of this?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I told him that if he did this for me now I'd do it for him and Lydia in the future."

Allison almost falls out of her chair from laughter. "Mental note taken: if you want something from Stiles, offer him Lydia."

"That's how his mind functions," I say, pulling a pepperoni off before shoving it into my mouth. "I hope you like all this; I didn't want to be too fancy or too cheap-"

"Anything you would have done would have been amazing either way," she smiles. "All that matters is that I'm here with you."

I can feel my cheeks turn bright red, but it was a good thing that it was dark outside. "Wanna hear something funny? You see those lights over there-" I say as I point at one of the trees, Allison's eyes following. "Stiles fell off the ladder hanging those up."

Her nose wrinkles up from laughing so hard. "Was he okay?"

"Oh yeah," I lie. He had actually bruised and scraped his knees.

Allison is quiet for a moment as she stares at the lights, seeming to be in her own world. I could tell that she was thinking of something to herself, but I was in my own world as well. The longer I stared at her, the more I noticed little things about her. Like how she had a very faint freckle under her right eye and how plump her lips were, especially from the red lipstick she had on. Her eyes looked like the galaxy and I was lost in them.

"You know," she finally says, still staring at the lights. "When I was a kid, when we lived in Chicago, there was a place my mom took me to once called the Navy Pier. I was only nine at the time, so I didn't exactly appreciate it as much as I would today, but there was a ferris wheel I remember her taking me on. I was terrified to go to the top, but when we made it there...it was exhilarating. The view was absolutely gorgeous. The lights from up there were just little dots down below and you couldn't even make out the people. That's one of the best and only memories I have as a child, since we moved all of the time. But being miles high up in the sky made me realize something...sometimes you have to conquer your fear to make it to the top. In order to see what's been in front of you all along, you have to build your way up and face what had haunted your mind."

My head cocks to the side slightly. "What made you think of that?"

"The lights...and you," she says as she turns and faces me again. "Ever since we first met here, at this bridge, I knew that something was going to change in my life. I was terrified of change; I always have been. When I finally got to know you, Corey...you did change it, but for the good. Never in my life have I met someone as amazing and caring as you. You made me feel like the only girl in the world, and for that was why I was scared. I was terrified of losing you, so that's why I pushed you away. I didn't want to admit my feeling towards you and that's why I acted like that towards you when Gerard controlled the Kanima. Yeah, some of that was because I was upset about my mother, but most of it was from my own selfishness. I didn't want to drag you back into this craziness and get you hurt. I couldn't lose you."

She pauses for a moment to recollect herself, a small smile forming on her face again. "And even through all of that you still stayed, Corey. That's when I realized how much I needed you in my life. I guess you can say I conquered my demons and finally made it to the top of the ferris wheel."

I couldn't form any words in my mouth, but I didn't need to. I didn't need to say anything. Instead of saying meaningless words, I jump out of my seat and crash my lips to hers.

My skin feels like fire as she stands from her seat, her hands ruffling my hair. My hands cup her face before I sweep away everything on the table, including the pizza box and the candle that had been sitting there in the middle. I don't dare to let our lips part as I wrap my hands around her, lifting her so that she's sitting in front of me. My lips trail down to her neck as she gasps in my ear, her nails starting to dig into my back. I knew that this was leading to something more and I didn't have a problem, but in the back of my mind I screamed at myself to ask Allison if she was okay with this. However, I didn't get to ask when the sound of a stick breaking in the woods behind us causes me to pull away from her.

"What was that?" Allison says, her head peering around me into the woods. I turn and look then, trying to see through the darkness with little luck.

"Hello?" I shout, hoping that it was just an animal. "Stiles, I swear if that's you-"

"It's not Stiles," I hear someone say, causing both of our heads to snap towards the voice. That was when I saw Jade standing there at the top of the bridge, holding Stiles by the neck as he tried to get away.

"Jade!" I scream at her, pure panic in my voice. "W-What are you doing?"

Jade doesn't answer my question as she stares at Allison. "Bringing your girlfriend to the place we drowned...how poetic."

I bawl my hands into fists as Allison shouts. "Jade, listen, just put Stiles down-"

"No, you listen to me," Jade growls, her eyes turning red as canines extended. "Here's what's going to happen. I'll put Stiles down after you come with me Corey."

My head spins as I try to think, only coming up with one answer. "Okay! Just please put him down-"

"No way are you going with her," Allison says, but it sounded more of a plea for me to stay. "I'm not losing you again because of her."

Jade looks furious. "Figured you'd say that."

What happened next happened too fast. A figure comes running out of the woods, Kali, before she's landing a fist in the side of my head, knocking me to the ground. I hear Allison's shouts echo around me as I try to look up to see what was happening, but the last thing I see is Kali dragging Allison into the woods and Jade taking Stiles with her. I tried to get back up; to fight back, but I couldn't.

Darkness won.

-------

CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THEIR DATE AND THE ALMOST SEXY TIME YES. Probably one of my favorite chapters so far.

But yeah, I'm switching up what happened at that battle during this episode. Hoping to surprise you guys...that's always my goal after all. What do you think happened to Corey? How'd he get hurt?

Please comment and vote, especially if you like food.