the tell; ❛ WONDERLAND ❜
❝ don't act like you care ❞

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Alice Whittemore's ideal night was definitely not a movie night with her brother and best friend who were dating and the biggest fans of public display of attention you could ever meet.

But when Scott ditched her for werewolf lessons with Derek, Stiles was out with his dad and could not hang out with her and Audrey was not answering her calls or texts, she had no other choice but to let Lydia practically drag her out of the house and into her car.

What did make Alice feel better was Lydia's suggestion to call Isaac too. Even if it was clearly just an excuse to sneak off to Jackson's room once they came back from the movie store, she still appreciated it.

"Now, Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever, but it is also the best sports movie ever made." Jackson ranted as Lydia parked into the parking lot of the store.

She did not even look in his direction as she shared an unimpressed look with Alice through the rearview mirror and deadpanned, "No."

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper."

"No." This time it was Alice who answered with a blank expression. She ignored the amused chuckle that escaped Isaac's lips from his spot next to her and leaned between the driver's and the passenger seat to glare at her brother, "Last time we had a movie night we watched a dumb football movie so now we are watching something I want."

"I'm not watching another horror movie this month." Jackson glared right back at her.

Simultaneously, both Alice and Lydia raised a pointed eyebrow that made him huff and glare between the two. After growing tired of the tense glares the received from his sister and his girlfriend, he let out a defeated sigh and turned to the brunette with a clenched jaw, "Which one?"

"Halloween, obviously." Alice rolled her eyes and leaned back into her seat, watching Jackson roll his eyes too, and then get out of the car in clear annoyance.

-

Not even five minutes later, while Lydia was taking selfies in the front and Alice and Isaac were competing in Angry Birds (quite intensely, by the way), the lights in the store went out.

Isaac tapped Alice on the wrist, the action making her lose the game and snap her gaze from the phone to glare at him, "Stop being such a sore loser and let me play."

"The lights went out." He stated while narrowing his eyes at the dark store.

Alice rolled her eyes but when she followed his gaze and saw the barely flickering lights and the dimmed red light inside, she froze. She could not exactly explain it but, suddenly, she had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Call it the seventh sense or the feeling of getting watched when you walk in the street alone at night or whatever but it was freaking her out. It was probably just her being paranoid after all the shit she experienced during the last three weeks but she still handed Isaac's phone back to him and moved to put her hand on the car door.

"I'll go check if J is fine." She informed Lydia and Isaac, although her gaze was still set on the store, "Maybe he can't find the movie and that's what's taking him so long."

Isaac gave her a worried look and then hesitantly asked, "Are you sure?"

"What's the worst that could happen?" Alice rolled her eyes and then without waiting for a reply, left the car to walk towards the store.

What she did expect to happen was for the glass doors to break right in front of her when she reached them and for a huge beast to jump right out of them. She almost got whiplash from the way she was forcefully knocked to the ground by it. The bright red eyes stared at her for a split second and Alice was pretty sure that that was the moment she was going to die.

That was until he brushed right past her and went god knows where.

She did not move, however. She did not even hear the sound of Lydia's screams filling the parking lot or felt the warm touch of Isaac's hand on her arm when he finally reached her. Alice was still completely in shock, feeling as if her heart was going to jump from her body by the way it was rapidly beating in her chest.

-

Alice only really recovered a few moments after the ambulance and the police arrived and Jackson got out of the store. His eyes fell on her shaking body almost immediately and he did not hesitate to rush toward her. He pulled her away from Isaac's side into a warm and (what he hoped was) comforting hug.

She was only relieved that he was okay.

Her hand was locked with Lydia's the second the two sat down on the back of the ambulance truck.

"We're fine." Jackson argued with a police officer, "I already told you everything that happened. Just let me take the two of them home and you can question me as much as you want."

"Calm down ── "

"Calm down?" He cut the police officer off, "My sister and I have just been attacked by a fucking beast and my girlfriend and friend just watched it all happen so I don't think I should have to stay fucking calm. Why the hell can't we just go home? We're fine."

"I hear you, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard. They just want to make sure you don't have a concussion." Noah Stilinski chimed in, looking between the Whittemore siblings with a sympathetic look on his face.

Alice met the man before. Of course, she had. With the number of times, she had to pick up Jackson at the station when he got arrested and their parents were not in town and a couple of times that she was at his house hanging out with Stiles, she could easily say she liked the man. According to everything Stiles said about him, he seemed like the best parent figure anyone could have.

"What part of 'We're fine' are you having a problem grasping? Okay, I wanna go home." Jackson snapped, the loud volume of his voice making Alice's headache increase and making her visibly wince.

Noah must have caught that because when he looked back at Jackson, he didn't look that sympathetic anymore, "And I understand that. But I think your sister ── "

Jackson was completely in his face now, oblivious to the glare that Alice was sending him despite the pain in her head and neck, "No, you don't understand, which kind of blows my mind since it should be a pretty basic concept to grasp for a minimum wage rent-a-cop like you. Okay, now I wanna go home!"

"Jackson." Alice snapped, giving him a harsh glare, "Sit the fuck down and shut up. You're embarrassing all four of us."

At least he looked a little ashamed when he looked back at his sister. His shoulders slumped down as he took a seat next to a quiet Isaac in front of the ambulance.

"Whoa, is that a dead body?" The unnecessarily loud voice of Stiles Stilinski made Alice perk up and snap her head in the direction of it, seeing him standing next to one of the cars and staring at the body bag they just rolled out of the store with wide eyes.

She snapped her head in the direction of the body bag, shivers instantly running down her back as a hand went to her mouth.

"Everybody back up. Back up." Noah sighed as Stiles lowered himself back into the car, but not before giving Alice a worried look which she brushed off with a small nod.

Once the gathered crowd was gone and the cops were gone too, Alice told Jackson to drive Lydia off and that she had to talk to Stiles ── who was still waiting in his dad's car for her.

Her brother did not seem like the biggest fan of the idea but he did leave with a harsh glare directed Stiles' way. It also took a lot of convincing to get Isaac to leave but after he pulled Alice into a long hug, he did.

"You okay?" Stiles rushed towards her the second her best friend, brother, and hook-up buddy drove out of the parking lot.

She did not give him a verbal answer. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. He blinked in surprise but did not hesitate to hug the girl back. His shock grew when he felt the way she melted into the hug. She needed to be held by someone who did not treat her like she was a fragile porcelain doll who could break at any moment.

Alice gave him a sheepish smile when they pulled away from the hug. Involuntarily, her eyes flickered to Noah, who was staring at the two of them from across the parking lot. She turned back to Stiles, trying to stay oblivious to the nosy looks Noah was sending their way. Despite herself, Alice felt a small smile tug on her lips when Noah looked away once his son caught looking and the blush that crept up Stiles' neck amused her even more.

"I'm fine." She answered, giving him a small shrug, "I'm just in shock I guess. It looked right at me but it didn't do anything. It just stood there before running off." Her eyebrows furrowed, "You think it might be the Alpha? The one that bit Scott?"

Stiles ran a hand over his face and sighed, "Probably. But they only killed one person. Jackson was in there with it and he's clearly fine and it didn't do anything to you."

"Yeah...'' Alice trailed off, a little confused too, "he only killed the guy that worked here. Shouldn't he be some sort of crazy mass murderer slash predator?"

The buzz-cut boy stared at her thoughtfully for a few seconds before sighing again, "We will figure it out when we call Scott. Come on, I'll drive you home."

"You mean your dad will drive me home?" Alice retorted with a raised eyebrow, making him huff under his breath with a growing smile.

"Yeah, that works too."

-

Alice has not left her room since she came home last night.

Jackson came into her room before school to bring her a cup of coffee, sat on the bottom of her bed for a minute, and then left. She pretended to be asleep the entire time, of course. She would do anything to avoid talking about her feelings.

The fact that her entire body was hurting was not the only reason she stayed in her room the entire morning, pretending to be asleep. The second reason was the fact that her father came back from his business trip around three in the morning the night before and she did not plan on sitting between her parents the entire morning and pretending everything was fine. She did not feel like pretending her mother wasn't having an affair while both of her kids were under her roof and she sure as hell was not planning on pretending she and her father had a good father-daughter relationship because everyone in her house knew that was far from the truth.

Alice's plan of a somewhat peaceful morning and afternoon was interrupted by a soft knock on her bedroom door.

She kept her eyes closed as the doors opened but she did not expect to hear Stiles' hushed voice speaking, "Pst, Ali. Wake up."

Realizing it was not her parents, she did not hesitate to open her eyes and sit up. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you." He admitted almost sheepishly, "Isaac said he tried to get in here through the window but your dad caught him so he was not able to see you, Jackson has not spoken to anyone since last night and Danny and Audrey said that you haven't been responding to their texts and calls. So, I skipped class to check up on you. Your mom let me in."

Alice leaned against her headboard and raised an eyebrow with a small teasing smile, "You skipped school to check up on me?"

"Yeah." Stiles shrugged and moved to lean against the doorway, only to stumble slightly when he missed it, only making her amusement grow. He cleared his throat and crossed his hands over his chest, "I came to ask you if you're feeling okay. And then I'm gonna go check on Lydia just to see if she saw anything she was not supposed to see last night."

Alice immediately perked up at the mention of her best friend, "You are going to see Lydia? I'll come with."

Stiles blinked at the way she enthusiastically got out of the comfort of her bed and grabbed some clothes that were thrown on the chair in the corner of her room.

"Are you sure? Because if you have to rest, I think you should."

"I'm fine." She rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom in her room to change, closing the door behind her to signal that their conversation was over.

-

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" Arizona Whittemore's voice demanded the second that Alice and Stiles walked downstairs.

At first, Alice ignored her, wanting nothing more than just to brush past her like she did not exist. Kind of like she and her father acted toward her every single day.

"Do not walk away from me while I'm talking to you!"

Alice clenched her jaw and then turned towards her mother, who was staring at her with her eyes full of anger and her hand on her hip in the kitchen doorway. She gave her a sarcastic smile, "Sorry, 𝘮𝘰𝘮. I didn't realize you were actually talking to me. It's been a while since you did something like that."

Arizona narrowed her eyes into a glare, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"To Lydia's." Alice shot back instantly, crossing her arms over her chest to meet her challenging look with one of her own, "But don't act like you care. I'm not Jackson. You don't have to baby me like you did to him his entire life."

Arizona Whittemore was the picture-perfect wife and the mother of a flawless household. Her day went; work, eat, repeat. She was a doctor who was rarely home and when she was she did not pay attention to anyone but herself. And if she did pay attention to someone it was always Jackson. Not Alice.

That was the one thing she and her husband David had in common. They both viewed Jackson as the golden child. Probably because they were living in the nineteenth century in their messed up little heads, when people believed women were not capable of anything, and when men were being placed as soldiers or world leaders while women stayed at home.

"What's going on?" David Whittemore's gruff voice walking down the stairs interrupted the argument.

Alice took the chance of her mother getting distracted to snatch her jacket from the hanger in the hallway, "Everything is perfect. Have fun at the teacher-parent conference!"

-

The silence in the jeep was not uncomfortable although it was clear Stiles wanted to say something but chose to keep his mouth shut. Alice was grateful for that. He might be the type of person who could not usually read the room but, at least, he knew how to read her body language. And right now, her body language made it pretty obvious she did not want to talk about the conversation she had with her mother that he just witnessed.

Natalie Martin's face lit up into a grin the second she opened the doors and her eyes landed on Alice. So, after she introduced Stiles to her, she happily let them in and led them toward Lydia's bedroom.

She softly knocked on her daughter's door and then opened it with a warm smile, "Honey, Alice, and Stiles are here to see you."

"Alice." Lydia perked up at her name, now wearing a bright grin as she looked up from her nails.

Alice turned to give Natalie a questioning look and the woman cringed, "She took a little something to ease her nerves. You can ── you can go in."

"Thanks." Stiles said while the brunette gave her a thankful nod and a smile.

The duo watched the oldest Martin walk down the hall before turning back to Lydia, who was staring up at them expectantly in her dark blue pajamas that looked more like lingerie than anything else.

"What are you doing here?" She asked them with a raised eyebrow.

"We were just making sure you were okay." Stiles stated awkwardly, looking at Alice for help only to see she was too busy brushing her hair off her face and sitting down next to her best friend.

Lydia hummed in acknowledgment and then furrowed her eyebrows, "Why?"

Alice gave her a confused look, "Because you haven't been answering anyone's texts. And we were worried about you." She rubbed her hand with a worried look on her face, the strawberry blonde leaning into the touch with a small smile, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I feel fantastic." Lydia stated with a grin, leaning further into Alice and looking right into her eyes with an almost seductive look in her eyes.

Stiles snorted from behind the brunette, catching sight of the bottle of pills on Lydia's nightstand and grabbing it, "I bet you can't say; 'I saw Suzy sitting in a shoeshine shop' ten times fast."

Lydia gave him a challenging look and then started, "I saw Shuzy ── " she cut herself off with a pout, "I shaw . . . " She suddenly frowned deeply, "I saw."

"Lydia? What did you see?" Rory asked her gently.

"Something." Her best friend vaguely stated, staring at the floor in deep thought.

"Something like a mountain lion?" Stiles asked almost knowingly.

Lydia nodded, "A mountain lion."

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows, "Are you sure you saw a mountain lion, or are you just saying that because that's what the police told you?"

"A mountain lion."

Alice cringed and Stiles sighed before grabbing the stuffed giraffe that was sitting next to Lydia's bottle of pills, "What's this?"

She followed his gaze and blinked, "A mountain lion."

"Okay." Stiles deadpanned and put the giraffe back in its place, shaking his head when Lydia's head fell into Alice's lap, "You are so drunk."

The Whittemore sister looked up at him with pursed lips and tried to get up, only for Lydia to stop her by grabbing her wrist and shaking her head, "No. Stay." She cupped Alice's cheek with her hand, making both her and Stiles widen their eyes, "Stay. Please, Ali...."

Alice blinked as Lydia fell back onto the bed, her eyes falling shut. She was way too high from her meds.

She sighed and moved to stand up, only to remember that Lydia was taking selfies last night which meant there was a fifty percent chance that she accidentally took the picture of the Alpha. Ignoring Stiles' confused look, she hurried to pick up Lydia's phone and opened up the gallery. Her mouth fell open in shock as she found the video of the beast with the bright red eyes that have been tattooed inside of Alice's head forever.

"Shit." She breathed out, making Stiles look over her shoulder, his eyes widening at the video.

Alice moved quickly. She sent herself the video before she deleted it from Lydia's phone and put it back on the nightstand. She swallowed thickly and cleared her throat before getting back up.

"You okay?"

"Can everyone just stop asking me that?" She snapped, meeting his eyes and softening her gaze once she saw how taken aback he was by her outburst, "I'm fine."

-

Half an hour later, Alice and Stiles were in the latter's room, trying to get Scott to pick up his damn phone after he skipped the entire day of school to hang out with his girlfriend.

"Hey, it's me again." Stiles spoke into the phone, his annoyance quite obvious, "Look, we found something and we don't know what to do, okay? So, if you could turn your phone on right now, that'd be great. Or else I'll kill you. Do you understand me? I'm gonna kill you. And I'm too upset to come up with a witty description about how exactly I'm gonna kill you but Alice watches a lot of horror movies so I'm pretty sure she'll help. Okay? Ugh, goodbye."

He threw his phone on the bed and then jumped on it with a groan. Alice spun in his chair and stared at the floor in annoyance.

A knock on the door made both of them move their gaze towards it to see Noah staring between them with narrowed eyes, "I'm not even gonna ask what the two of you are doing I'm just gonna tell you I'll be home around nine, so no fooling around." He ignored the way their eyes widened and turned to his son, "Please tell me I'm gonna hear good news at this parent-teacher thing tonight."

Stiles pursed his lips awkwardly, "That depends on how you define 'good news'."

"I define it as you getting straight A's with no behavior issues."

Alice's snort was the only answer Noah needed to hear and it made Stiles cringe awkwardly, "You might want to rethink that definition."

"Enough said."

-

The parent-teacher conference was the first time in months that David and Arizona Whittemore were in a room together alone. So, the tension was pretty obvious when Professor Harris walked into the classroom but like he usually did, he ignored it.

"Jackson is a highly motivated student." He started immediately, "In fact, I'd describe him as 'unusually driven'."

"Yeah, we were hoping he might ease up on himself a little." David grinned, the proud glint in his voice obvious, "He's always been real hard on himself. It's just, you know, something we assumed was an effect of him being adopted."

Harris nodded, "I think I understand. He's never met his biological parents."

"Yeah, that's right. It's the need to please, the overachieving, the desire to make someone proud...someone he's never even met." David listed and Harris curiously tilted his head.

"Something certainly seems to have recalibrated his desire for achievement several notches higher. Not to be too blunt about it but he seems almost obsessed." He noted and then cleared his throat, "Alice, seems to have something quite similar going on. She is a high achiever but I do think she needs a little more guidance in her personal life."

Arizona crossed her arms across her chest almost in defense, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Hariss sighed, "Academically, she if perfect. She has a 4.5 GPA and she is one of the best students I have ever worked with. Outside of class, she does not seem to have a problem surrounding herself with people. She seeks attention and it makes me think it has something to do with her home situation."

David clenched his jaw and shook his head, "She doesn't have any home issues."

"She doesn't feel neglected compared to how much attention Jackson is given?" Harris could not help but ask, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I'd never put one of my children above the other." Arizona snapped with a cold glare, "And I don't need a teacher to tell me how to raise my kids."