𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 | 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝔂'𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻

𝘐'𝘮 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘎𝘶𝘺

"SO, YOU KILLED HER?" STILES questions sceptically. He, Charlotte, and Scott push open the double doors to the high school.

"I don't know," the werewolf replies anxiously. He wipes his palms on his jeans. "I just woke up. I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that."

Stiles glances at him and shrugs. "Really? I have," he confesses. "Although usually it ends a little differently." Charlotte gags.

"A, I mean I've never had a dream that felt that real," Scott corrects. "And B, never give me that much detail about you in bed again."

"I second that. Very, very strongly," the girl reiterates in a pleading tone.

"Noted."

Charlotte looks at the boys, specifically Scott. "All right," she begins. "So, I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and say-"

"No," the McCall quickly interrupts. "I know you guys think that it has something to do with me going out with Allison tomorrow, like, I'm going to lose control and rip her throat out."

"No, of course not!"

"Oh, definitely."

Scott's eyebrows raise pointedly at Stiles who sighs in defeat and points to the blonde beside him. "Fine. Yep. She's right," he agrees. Scott's expression quickly turns sullen. "Oh, come on! It's gonna go peachy. I reckon you're handling this pretty fucking well. It's not like there's a lycanthropy for beginners class you can take."

Charlotte purses her lips. It's not the best idea, but at least it's an idea. "Uh, well, actually there is someone," she corrects hesitantly.

"No, you're right," Scott confirms with a nod. "There might not be a class... But there might be a teacher."

Realisation flashes across Stiles' face. "Who, Derek?" he questions incredulously. Charlotte nods. Scott stares at him, then lets out an 'Ow' when the boy smacks him on the back of the head. "Are you forgetting we tossed him in jail?" Stiles points out loudly. Charlotte rolls her eyes and starts on her combination when they reach her locker.

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her, dragging her to the back of the bus... You guys, it felt so real."

Stiles scoffs. "Uh huh. Sure," he replies sarcastically. There's no way his best friend actually killed someone; let alone the new-found love of his life. "How real?"

"Like it actually happened."

Charlotte slams her locker door closed once grabbing her books, and they continue walking towards the backdoors to enter another building. But the second the doors swing open, they abruptly stop, utterly speechless at what is before them. In the parking lot is a school bus that is taped off, identifying a crime scene. The back of the vehicle has blood splattered across it like a canvas, and the exit door is almost completely ripped off of its hinges. An investigator is taking photos with a camera, and the trio can see one of the backseats has been completely ripped open, claw marks having been dragged across it.

Stiles turns to his friends in shock. "I think it might have..."

»»———-　　———-««

After first period, Stiles and Charlotte head to their lockers before their shared chemistry class with Scott. Throughout Spanish, neither of them had been able to stop quietly theorising about what had happened with the bus. Both of them had been warned by their teacher multiple times to shut up, or they'd be getting a detention. They'd received a detention for the weekend. Stiles shuffles the pile of textbooks in his arms, and glances to the girl walking beside him with a pen in her mouth. "So, Derek," he starts. She raises her eyebrows at him, refusing to lift her eyes off her open notebook. "Do you think it's the best idea for Scott to, you know, take the class with angry Yoda?"

Charlotte removes the pen and momentarily looks at him. "He's the best chance Scott has at properly controlling this hit. I get we have Google, and yes, you've done a brilliant job." The boy's lips lift into a proud smile at her statement. "But, it can only get us so far," she adds.

His smile drops. He carefully thinks over his words before replying, "All right, fine. So we tell Scott to go to Derek. Like I said earlier though, why would Derek even consider helping him?" His brow arches. "You know, after the whole handcuff situation?" Charlotte slows down as they near the classroom door. Taking notice of her silence, he answers his own question. "Unless there's something you haven't told me?"

She snorts. "Me?" Stiles nods. Her eyes squint. "Okay, so I might have subtly directed your dad into the right direction..."

Charlotte walks into the Sheriff's station with two takeaway cups of coffee and a paper bag in hand. She heads toward the room she needs to enter, however, she's quickly halted by a deputy. "Excuse me, miss, but you can't just walk into the Sheriff's office," he scolds.

She goes to start a passionate argument with the officer before said door opens and a voice speaks up. "I know this one. Charlotte, come on in."

She sends a smug, sweet smile to the deputy and follows Noah Stilinski into his office. Setting down the coffee and paper bag onto the wooden desk, the girl grins at him as he sits in his chair. "I brought you lunch!"

A smile immediately appears on Stilinski's face. "You, Charlotte Martin, know the way to my heart," he praises approvingly. He moves to open the bag, but he stops and narrows his eyes suspiciously. "Hang on... What do you want?"

Charlotte's eyes widen in disbelief. "Sheriff! Come on! Can't I just bring you food?"

He rolls his eyes. "No," he states simply.

She sighs. "Okay, so the guy you arrested yesterday?"

Stilinski unwraps his burger and takes a bite. His voice is muffled by the food as he answers, "Derek Hale?"

She hums. "He didn't do it."

The man's eyebrows raise up in question to her as he sets his lunch down, suddenly interested by the conversation. "Continue..."

"What do you actually have against him that proves he killed the girl?"

"The body."

Charlotte purses her lips. "My bad," she mutters. "Look, anyone could have buried the body there," she rephrases her words. "Just because it was found on the Hale's property doesn't mean he killed her!"

Noah takes another bite, swallow, and looks to her with his usual expression when his law enforcement hat is on. "Why are you kids so worried about this 'Derek'?" he asks genuinely. "Stiles and Scott call in the arrest for him, and you want to get him out?"

She grimaces. "Yeah, it's kinda hard to explain..."

The Sheriff scoffs. "You think?" Charlotte pulls out a chocolate bar from her backpack and makes a point to be dramatic as she drops it on the desk. With his eyes glued to her face the entire time, Noah slowly reaches across the desk to grab the confectionary. "Keep talking..."

"Sheriff, I know you. You know what you say, if they're guilty-"

"They'll slip up eventually..."

"Sheriff, why the fuck-" Charlotte shuts her eyes at her mistake. "-the hell would Derek bury half the girl's body? I mean, come on. What type of killer doesn't bury the whole body unless they want the other half to purposely be found?"

He unwraps the chocolate bar further. "Well, they're either really stupid and forgot about half or-"

She gestures her hands theatrically. "That's what I said!" she exclaims.

Noah sighs. "All right," he tells her. "Fine. Give me a few days. Like you said, well like I say, they always slip up. I'll tell the lab to push the case to a priority and we should get an identification on each half within a day or so." Charlotte beams and pulls another chocolate from her bag and hands it over. He looks up to her and returns the smile. "Now I don't know what the hell you kids are up to... But just leave the rest to me, okay?"

She nods. "Thanks, Sheriff," she thanks him appreciatively. It definitely helps being a close family friend of the Sheriff of Beacon County. "And don't worry about Sciles," she adds. He raises his eyebrows in confusion. "Scott and Stiles," she explains.

"Ah, of course. You're the daughter I never had." Sending him one last grin, she waves goodbye and leaves the man and his burger alone.

Stiles rolls his eyes at the story. "Right. You win," he concludes. "So that makes you the one to go talk to angry Yoda."

Charlotte hums. Then she remembers the other person involved in this. "But what about Scott?"

"Oh, he still has no idea about any of this."

"But he's gonna figure it out eventually..."

"You know Scott, he's too stubborn. I doubt the 'he wouldn't kill his sister' is enough to break through that."

Charlotte shrugs. He makes a good point. Their best friend might be one of the most stubborn people they both know. And the most idiotic. His brain works only when he wants it too. Now isn't one of those times. "And he goes to Derek when?"

"Also later today," Stiles responds. "But without realising that, hopefully, you were the one to convince Yoda to help him."

"Stop calling him Yoda! And I'm only doing this because I don't want to go to math."

As she starts walking again, he calls out after her figure. "Charlotte Martin, you're my new favourite person!"

She glances over her shoulder to reply, "I've always been your favourite!"

»»———-　　———-««

An hour later after their conversation, Charlotte Martin slowly pulls her car up in front of the once standing Hale house. Shutting the ignition off and opening her door, she cautiously steps out. She groans quietly when her Converse land straight into a puddle. She doesn't bother to lock the vehicle behind her. Aside from herself and Derek, there wouldn't be people around for miles. "Hey, Derek?" she yells. There's no response. So the girl decides to do the polite thing and knocks on the front door. She shouldn't have been surprised when it swings right open. But still, she doesn't walk inside. She waits patiently on the front porch until she hears a voice appear from behind her.

"I guess I should partly be thanking you. I heard you talking to Stilinski."

She spins around to see Derek standing beside to her car. Putting a hand over her heart she mutters, "Christ, you really come and go out of thin air." She sits on the bottom step, ignoring how the wood is rotting away and that it could give into her weight at any given second. "You're... welcome? And how the hell did you hear me- right, super hearing..."

Derek leans against the driver's door and crosses his arms over his chest. His eyes narrow as he scrutinises the teenage girl. "I take it you aren't coming to have a detailed conversation about my time in jail," he deduces.

She huffs a sigh and finally looks him in the eye. "Look, Derek, I know you have no reason to help me..." His brows raise in agreement. "But Scott really needs your help, even if he won't admit it."

The man scoffs. "I don't think I need to remind you that Scott was the one who called the cops on me." She goes to retort but he interjects before she can get any further, "So give me one reason why I should."

Taking a deep breath to try and gain confidence for what she's about to say, Charlotte subconsciously plays with the tie on her wrist. "I'm assuming you don't want to become a supernatural exhibit in Beacon Hills," she says boldly.

Although it's an empty threat, he seems to take it seriously. Derek stares at her. It's an incredibly awkward sixty seconds, but he finally replies to her statement. "All right." A small smile of achievement adorns her face.

»»———-　　———-««

She returns to the high school for the remainder of the day. After all, just because they have major problems in the supernatural side of their life, doesn't mean that the educational part of it stops for them. Jogging up the limestone staircase, Charlotte giggles as she hears the faint screaming of Coach somewhere on the property. She really downplays just how much she loves him. Then, a certain chocolate eye coloured girl distracts her. A message from Allison. Charlotte grins as she replies, You are alive! A few seconds later she receives, ???. "Shit, whoops," she mutters to herself.

New bestie

Sorry nevermind
What's up?

All good :)
Is everything alright with Scott?

He's just going through some stuff
  Nothing to worry about it <3

See you at lunch?

You bet

Charlotte closes the phone and pushes the cafeteria doors open to almost instantly find her best friends at their usual table. Stiles locks eyes with her and raises his brows. She subtly nods. He lets out a sigh of relief, and she catches Scott's reply to whatever the conversation is about. "Something happened last night, and I just can't remember what..."

She chucks her bag onto the floor and plops down onto the bench seat. "Well, that's what Derek's for," she reassures him, patting his shoulder with a smile. 

The boy flinches at her sudden arrival, but quickly reciprocates the smile. "Oh, hey, Charlie. Where were you in Chemistry?"

Her eyes widen slightly in alarm. She knew she should've' thought of an excuse during the drive back. Luckily, Stiles covers for her. "She had to go home," he quickly answers. "Something was wrong with Prada."

Scott takes a bit out of his sandwich and his brows furrow. "Your dog?" he questions.

She rolls her eyes. "No, Scott, my handbag was broken." He nods in understanding. Stiles and Charlotte share a look of disbelief. He's really living up to the dumb-dog stereotype right now. "No!" she exclaims loudly. Scott's head lifts up. "Of course it was my dog," she corrects.

"Oh..." Scott whispers to himself.

Continuing on their previous conversation, Stiles points out, "How do you know Derek even knows how to recover memories?"

Charlotte shrugs. She didn't tell him about Scott's dream as she wasn't exactly sure what to say. How does one bring up that their best friend had a vivid dream about murdering the love of their life, then in real life, they discover a crime scene that looks exactly like the one in their dreamscape? She frowns. It's a difficult conversation.

"During the full moon, Derek wasn't changed," Scott explains to them quietly. "He controlled it while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some innocent guy in a bus."

The girl holds a hand up. "Maybe."

Stiles vigorously nods. "Exactly. You don't know that."

"I don't not know it. I can't go out with Allison; I have to cancel."

Charlotte's eyes narrow judgementally at the boy. "Scott McCall. You are not cancelling on Allison." He gives her a look. "No, don't do that. You can't cancel your whole life because of this. Besides the obvious, I haven't seen you this happy in a long time."

Once Scott turns to him for an opinion, Stiles points to her. "What she said."

"And why is Scott McCall so happy?" The trio look up to see the other Martin sister appear behind Scott before setting her lunch tray down harshly onto their table.

Frazzled by the intrusion, Stiles looks up from his lunch frazzled and starts to nervously stammer. "Ha... Uhh..."

Charlotte takes a sip of water to stop herself from laughing. It's probably best to save him from any further embarrassment. "Just that he's doing really well in Chemistry this year, Lyds."

"Yeah," both boys chorus.

Lydia's momentarily distracted as she adjusts herself and her lunch tray, so Stiles leans forward to whisper to the pair, "Why is she sitting with us?"

Scott shrugs and Charlotte mumbles back, "I have no fucking clue." She's never sat with her sister at lunch. Not since before she was introduced to the boys. They look up when people start to sit down. A boy, who they aren't familiar with, sits at the head of the table, Allison next to Scott, not before sending a quick smile to Charlotte, and Danny plops down beside the blonde. She turns to give him a smile. "Danny Boy!"

"Hey, Charlie," he grins back.

However, Charlotte and Stiles both simultaneously groan when Jackson appears and stands next to the unknown kid. "Get up," he demands.

"How come you never ask Danny to get up?"

Danny smiles at Charlotte before turning to the boy to retort, "Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot."

"Oh, dang," Charlotte whispers, high fiving him. Jackson shoves the boy out of his seat, and she imagines daggers flying through the air and burying into each of his eyeballs. It's a beautifully gruesome sight. 

"I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack," Danny starts up. "Probably a cougar," he predicts.

"I heard mountain lion," Jackson says.

Lydia looks up from her food and rolls her eyes. "A cougar is a mountain lion." Jackson and Danny stare at her and she tries to backtrack. "Isn't it?"

Noticing her sister's tactics of trying to make herself look dumb against her idiotic asshole of a boyfriend, Charlotte backs her sister up. "No, you're right," she reassures the girl. "It is." Lydia sends a small smile her way.

Jackson scoffs. "Who cares. The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyways."

Charlotte is now picturing the knife sitting on her plate throwing itself into Jackson's forehead. It's an even more beautiful sight than the daggers. Stiles pulls a video up on his phone and turns the device toward the group. "Actually, I just found out who it is."

"The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but have confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Myers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition."

Scott gasps. "Wait, I know this guy!" he exclaims in realisation.

Charlotte swallows her grape. "You do?"

"Yeah, when I took the bus back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver." Scott, Stiles, and Charlotte share a look with each other.

Lydia clears her throat. "Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like...." She pauses and turns to Allison. "Oh! Where are we going tomorrow night?" Charlotte glances to Danny with an amused face. Allison and Scott share the same confusion. "You said you and Scott were hanging out?" Lydia reminds.

"Um... We were thinking of what we were gonna do..." Allison looks at Scott, silently apologising once she realises what Lydia's about to do. Charlotte places a hand to her forehead and sighs. And the trainwreck begins.

"Well, I'm not sitting home again watching lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we're doing something fun."

"Hanging out...? Like... The four of us?" Scott turns in his seat to face Allison. "Do you wanna hang out?" Stiles covers his mouth to stop himself from interjecting, and Danny knowing exactly what Charlotte is going to do does the same to her. "Like us... And them?"

Allison appears just as thrilled by the prospect as Scott is. She plasters on a smile as she replies, "Yeah! I guess... Sounds fun."

Adding Jackson's expression to the mix, Lydia is clearly the only one who is excited about the group date. The captain of the lacrosse team raises his fork in the air to emphasise his next words. "You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."

Charlotte widely grins. "That's the best fucking idea you've ever had, Whittew-" Danny once again covers her mouth and Jackson sends a hateful glare her way.

Lydia snatches the fork out of her boyfriend's hand and continues talking as if he had never spoken. "How about bowling?" she suggests lightly. "Jackson, you love to bowl."

With a fry in his mouth, Stiles shakes his head wildly as he tries to get Scott's attention. Charlotte makes a zip motion across her lips. "Yeah. I do," Jackson confirms. His eyes narrow. "But with actual competition."

"How do you know we're not actual competition?" At Allison's question, Charlotte's eyes flick to Stiles and she bites her lip to hide another grin. "You can bowl, right?"

Scott shrugs at her. "Sort of..."

"Is it-is it a 'sort of' or 'yes,' McCall?" Jackson mocks.

Lying straight through his teeth, Scott says, "Yes." Charlotte drags a hand over her face as her friend straightens himself and adds, "In fact, I'm a great bowler."

»»———-　　———-««

"Scott, you can't bowl to save your fucking life!" Charlotte cries out. The trio walk down the stairs to their lockers. Thankfully, it's only a half day. She grimaces at just the thought of the interaction five minutes ago. She had been right, it was a trainwreck.

Scott groans. "I know! I'm such an idiot."

"Hell yeah you are," Stiles agrees in annoyance. "God, it was like watching a car wreck."

She nods. "More like a burning, explosive car wreck."

"I mean, at first it turned into a whole group date thing, then out of nowhere comes that phrase..."

Scott rolls his eyes at both of his best friends and throws his head back as he internally berates himself. "Hang out."

Stiles continues to move his hands about dramatically. "You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out."

Charlotte's eyes widen. "You hang out with me!"

Stiles purses his lips and Scott grins as he watches the two. "Yeah, but you're different," he reasons.

She frowns. "So I'm not hot?"

Stiles stares at her, completely lost for words, until Scott saves him from potentially saying something damaging. "How is this happening? I either killed a guy or I didn't." But his friends are still distracted, and as a result, they completely ignore the boy's words. All three of them begin having a separate conversation with themselves.

"I don't think Danny likes me very much..."

"Wait, if I'm hot, shouldn't you both be dead?"

"I ask Allison on a date and now we're 'hanging out'..."

"Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

"Oh, my God... If you're not dead that means I'm not hot."

"I make first line and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now...." Scott pauses as he checks the time. "Now I'm gonna be later for work." He rushes away whilst the pair left call out after him.

"Wait, Scott! You didn't- am I attractive to gay guys?"

"Scott, do you think I'm hot?"

Charlotte and Stiles both sigh cohesively and mutter, "He didn't answer my question..."

»»———　　———-««

Charlotte Martin had received a call from her best friend at five o'clock in the afternoon. After finishing his shift at the animal clinic, Scott had essentially begged her to tag along with him to the Hale house. Apparently, he was finally going to ask Derek for help. Upon questioning him why he asked her instead of Stiles, Scott had unintentionally complimented her by saying, 'You can be really scary when you want to be.' She thinks it's hilarious that Scott believes, she, a human being, would be able to scare off Derek Hale, a fucking werewolf. But of course, Charlotte being Charlotte, also knows he's completely right. She can be really scary when she wants to be.

The pair weave through clumps of trees silently, and the house looms ahead in the distance. She had been right the other week. It looks just as haunting in the daylight as it does at night. Charlotte's eyes fill with concern when she spots Scott shift nervously out the corner of her eye. "It's okay, just breathe," she tells him comfortingly.

He follows her suggestion and inhales deeply. "I know you can hear me," he speaks quietly to Derek. He pauses for a few seconds and adds, "I need your help."

Charlotte just hopes that the man holds up his end of the bargain. The dark grey clouds that had been accumulating throughout the afternoon finally begin to release drops of rain. The pair of teenagers move undercover to the porch as they wait for some sort of answer. From the look on Scott's face, she can tell Derek still hasn't said anything.

But then the front door opens, and the dark-haired man joins them. His eyes bore into the younger werewolf, and he completely ignores the girl. It's an awkward silence. A really awkward silence. Scott sighs. "Okay I know I was part of you getting arrested-"

Charlotte tuts in disapproval. "No, no, you were the whole part," she corrects.

He winces. "Fine, I was why you got arrested." Derek raises a brow. "I also don't know what happened to your sister... But I think I did something last night; I had a dream about...." He hesitates, reluctant to inform the man exactly who it had been. "... someone, but someone else got hurt. And it turns out that part of the dream might have actually happened..."

Derek acknowledges the girl by moving his eyes onto her. She shrugs, and he finally speaks up, making it clear that he is aware to some point of what Scott is talking about. "You think you attacked the driver?"

"Did you see what I did last night?"

The Hale's expression remains the same as he honestly answers, "No."

"Can you at least tell me the truth? Am I gonna hurt someone?"

"Probably," Derek says.

Charlotte hums. "Definitely."

Scott swallows. "Could I kill someone?"

Derek nods. "Yes."

"Oh, absolutely."

Scott rolls his eyes at her. "Am I gonna kill someone?"

"Probably," Derek replies.

"Good chance," she adds. When Charlotte notices Scott's expression, she sighs and puts a hand on his shoulder for comfort. He shrugs it off and walks towards the end of the porch, his back turned to both Derek and his best friend.

She looks at Derek with wide eyes and he sighs. "Look. I can show you how to remember," he tells the boy. "I can show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon. But it's not gonna come for free."

"What do you want?"

"You'll find out..." Cryptic. How lovely. "But for now, I'm gonna give you what you want." Scott listens, however, he still doesn't turn back to the two. "Go back to the bus, Scott," Derek says. "Go inside. Feel it. Let your senses – your sight, smell, touch – let them remember for you."

Scott's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "That's it?" he questions incredulously. "Just-just go back?"

"Do you want to know what happened?"

He finally turns around to look Derek in the eye, then to Charlotte. She gives him a small smile. "I just want to know if I hurt him," he says.

"No you don't," Derek retorts. Scott's eyes widen and he goes to say something before the man adds, "You want to know if you'll hurt her."

They both turn to Charlotte when she begins to whisper to herself. "Yep, don't worry about the other two best friends in your life who secretly hide lightsabres in their pockets in case a rabid dog comes to attack them...."

Having forgotten that both males with her have enhanced hearing, Scott replies, "Light-what?"

Charlotte's head flips up and she gawks at him in disbelief. "Wow, we really need to force you to watch that."

»»———-　　———-««

They wait until dark before they drive back to the school. It was better that way: less chance of wandering eyes. Hopefully... Stiles parks the Jeep in front of the wire fence, and Scott quickly jumps out. When he realises his friends are following suit after him, he spins around. "Hey, no. Just me, you guys. Someone needs to keep watch."

Stiles and Charlotte immediately turn to each other and point as they exclaim,

"Dibs not me!"

Stiles pulls a face of bewilderment.  "How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?" He rushes past the girl and starts to climb up the fence before Scott pulls him down.

"Because I always beat you!" Charlotte counters loudly.

"Okay. Why's it starting to feel like you're Batman," he points at Scott, "I'm Robin, and you're the Joker?" he finishes, guesturing wildly at the girl accusingly.

She scoffs. "I'm the bad guy?"

"Duh! You always cheat! And I don't want to be Robin all of the time!"

"How could I possibly cheat?"

Scott rolls his eyes at their bickering. They have a job to do, after all. "Nobody's Batman, Robin or the Joker any of the time!" he yells over the top of them.

Stiles deflates in disappointment. "Not even some of the time?"

"Both of you, just stay here," the werewolf orders.

Charlotte sighs. "Your fault," she mutters to the boy with the buzzcut.

He sneers at her, but then mumbles, "Oh my God! Fine."

They return to the Jeep while watching Scott climb over the chain-link fence and quickly make his way over to the bus. Charlotte taps her foot anxiously on the floor of the car while Stiles drums his fingers on the wheel, both of them too nervous to be annoyed with each other's actions. Minutes pass, and she spots headlights flashing on the other side of the parking lot. Reaching over Stiles, Charlotte honks the horn multiple times. The boy beside her shrieks in shock, and she gestures to the lights edging closer toward them. Quickly, he turns the car's ignition on and Scott throws himself into the backseat.

"Go, go, go!"

Stiles slams his foot on the gas pedal and the car reverses down the road. He hits the brakes hard and the vehicle spins between the two roads as it turns around. A few hundred metres later, the boy begins the topic they need to address. "So did it work?" he asks Scott. "Did you remember?"

Scott turns in his seat and looks out the back windshield to the school. "Yeah. I was there last night. And the blood? A lot of it was actually mine."

Stiles' eyebrows raise. "So you did attack him?"

"No. I-I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine-" Scott pauses for a second before stating, "It was Derek." Charlotte quietly scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"What about the driver?" Stiles queries.

"I think I was actually trying to protect him."

Stiles glances sideways to the girl as he understands what she is thinking. "But why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

Scott shakes his head. "That's what I don't get."

Charlotte rolls her eyes again. "Because he obviously didn't do it!" she protests loudly.

Scott frowns in confusion at her outburst. "Who else could have done it?"

"Another werewolf. It can't just be you and Derek in the entire world. He quite obviously didn't bite you, and if neither of you attacked the driver, there has to be another one in Beacon Hills."

The McCall's eyes narrow as he lingers onto part of her explanation. "Hang on. What do you mean 'He quite obviously didn't bite me'?"

"Scott, have you learnt nothing from this crap? Come on. If Derek bit you, that would make you his Beta." The boy raises his eyebrows. She sighs. "Think of it like an Alpha's the leader and Betas are the followers."

"So?"

She almost groans in frustration. "That would mean Derek is your Alpha, and if Derek is your Alpha, why would he be hiding it? Why wouldn't he just tell you that he bit you?"

Scott rolls his eyes and raises his voice in irritation. "I don't know," he snaps back. "He hasn't been very forthcoming so far."

"Well you haven't exactly given him a reason to!"

Stiles looks back and forth between the two, almost like he's watching a tennis match. "Okay!" he yells, successfully interrupting their arguing. "Children, stop! Take a deep breath. Breathe." His friends glare at him and he sighs. "The good thing is that you didn't do it!" he points out to Scott. "Which means you aren't a killer, and it also means-"

"I can go out with Allison!" Scott beams with excitement.

Charlotte shakes her head incredulously. "Oh, for fuck's sake, Scott!"

"I was gonna say it means you won't kill us..."

The boy lifts his head to see the girl glowering at him, and Stiles mimicking her expression through the rear-view mirror. "Oh yeah," he agrees sheepishly. "That too."

𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 1. 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘧𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦.