CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
YOU LOOK AMAZING

ELAINE AND STILES WERE QUICK to run down the halls of the school stopping upon reaching the boys locker room where Scott was sitting with a towel covering his body.

"Dude, we have a problem." Stiles quickly informed.

"Trust me. I know."

"Put some damn clothes on, no one wants to see that." Elaine said, breathlessly. She really needed to get back in shape. Maybe she would take Allison up on her offer to run with her after school.

It wasn't until the next day where she got a call from Lydia, asking the girl if she wanted to go shopping with her and Allison. And of course, Elaine was quick to agree, needing a distraction from what she had witnessed at the hospital. The three girls were all in Allison's car, the dark hair girl claiming she needed to stop before they went, the two welcome to join her, and so they did. The three walked through the woods, a soft smile on Elaine's face, for the woods had always been her favorite place, even if scary things took place there during the night.

"Allison. . . when you said you needed to stop for an errand before we went shopping, a five-mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting." Lydia huffed.

"Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you're okay with something." Allison spoke, glancing towards Elaine who was walking right beside of her, Lydia a few spaces back from the two girls. "Jackson invited me to the winter formal."

"He did?" Elaine asked, raising an eyebrow.

Whilst at the same time, Lydia asked, "Did he?"

Allison nodded. "Uh-huh. Just as friends. But, I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it, first."

"Sure. As long as it's just friends."

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's not like I would take him to the coach's office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything." Elaine bit her lip as she looked down at the ground with wide eyes, trying to hide the snort of amusement that wanted to escape her throat.

"Uh, about that. . ." Lydia trailed off.

"This is why I love being single." Elaine breathed with a smile.

"What? No crush?" Allison questioned, cocking an eyebrow at the girl.

"Nope." Elaine quickly lied.

"Please, as if." Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Lydia." Elaine warned.

"What? The entire school knows you're in love with that. . . uh, what's his name?"

"Stiles." Elaine muttered.

"Oh my god, you like him!" Allison questioned, a wide smile on her face.

"Yeah, but he's in love with someone else. So, it's whatever." Elaine shrugged her shoulders, glancing towards Lydia before looking away with a soft sigh. However, Allison seemed to catch on, offering her friend a small squeeze on the shoulder. The trio stopped and Allison kneeled down to the ground, pulling out bows and arrows from her bag whilst taking one of the arrows and screwing something on top of it.

"What does that do?" Lydia quizzed.

"We're about to find out." That's when Allison stood up, knocking the arrow into the bow before aiming and pulling back the string before letting go. The arrow hit the tree, exploding into flames making Elaine's eyes widen. This wasn't good. Not one bit. Allison slowly lowered the bow, the three girl's still looking at the arrow.

"What the hell was that?" Lydia quizzed.

"I don't know." Allison mumbled.

"Well, that was fun! Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?" Lydia sarcastically spoke. That's when they all heard the sound of leaves crunching coming from the woods. The three girls looked towards the direction of the noise.

"Hold this." Allison instructed, handing Lydia her bow.

"What? Why?"

"Because I thought I heard something." Allison answered.

"So what if you heard something?"

"So, I want to find out what that something is." Allison said. "Don't worry―︎it's probably nothing."

"Well, what if that nothing is something, and that something is dangerous?" Lydia quickly asked.

Allison stopped in her tracks, not turning back towards the girl as she simply said, "Shoot it." With that, Allison walked off, leaving the girl's to stand there and exchange glances with one another. Lydia quickly handed Elaine the bow, dropping it in her hands.

"Take it."

"I don't want it!" Elaine quickly tried to give it back to the strawberry blonde.

"Well, neither do I!" Lydia hissed.

After a moment, Allison came back with a reassuring smile on her face. "Told you guys it was nothing." With that, Lydia was immediately the one to head back first whilst Elaine stood there for a minute, waiting for Allison to catch up.

"It was Scott, wasn't it?" Elaine sighed.

"Yeah. . ." The girl mumbled before grabbing her bow and walking with Elaine back to the car.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

Elaine sat on her bed, her door opened for once in her life. Her ankles were crossed as she read a new book she had bought whilst she went out with Lydia and Allison. She decided to give the book her mother had given her a break, wanting to know more about it, but not wanting to do that until the whole Alpha situation was under control. Elaine looked up upon noticing footsteps.

"Allison?" Elaine questioned, offering her friend a small smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I actually came here to talk to Scott." Allison told her, offering her an apologetic smile. However, Elaine only beamed a smile in response.

"He should be in his room." Elaine pointed the girl towards the direction of her brothers room. "Good luck, Ali."

Allison offered her a small smile. "Thanks." With that, the girl walked towards Scott room. After a few more minutes, Melissa appeared in Elaine's doorway, though the girl didn't look up to notice that her mom was dressed up.

"El, coming home late tonight, don't wait up."

"Kk." The girl hummed before focusing back on her book. After hearing her mother walk away, it was only a moment before Scott yelled her name.

"Elaine!"

"What!" The girl yelled back.

"Come here! Now!" Scott yelled. The girl let out a groan before placing her book on her bed and standing up, making her way towards Scott's room and standing beside her mother.

"What?" Elaine huffed.

"Mom's dressed up." Scott pointed. Elaine frowned before turning towards her mother, quickly entering Scott's room in order to look at the attire her mother was wearing.

"You're dressed up. Why are you dressed up?" Elaine pointed towards her. Both siblings examined their mother for a moment. Melissa looked between the two.

"What? What's wrong? Is it-is it my hair? Makeup?" Melissa quickly asked.

"No. No, nothing. You look beautiful." Scott quickly told her.

"You look amazing." Allison said with a smile.

"You look hot." Elaine spoke, earning a look from all three of them. "Why?"

"Thanks, El." Melissa sighed.

"Why do you look amazing?" Scott asked.

"Because, amazingly, I'm having dinner for once with a member of the male gender who's over the age of sixteen!" Melissa told them. Elaine's mouth fell open, and she quickly closed it as if to hide her shock.

"Who?" Both Elaine and Scott questioned, making Allison raise an amused eyebrow at the two.

"Uh, it's a medical rep that came into the hospital today. Yeah, we just kinda started talking, and the next thing I know, I'm saying yes to dinner, and I'm really hating myself for skipping the gym last week. . ."

"What medical rep?" Scott asked, exchanging looks with Elaine before they both looked back towards their mother. That's when a knock came on the front door.

"That medical rep. And, uh, I'm not-I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not done, I'm not ready, so if you could please just get the-get the door and talk with him, okay? Just, be nice." Their mother stuttered out.

"Let me get it." Elaine breathed, glancing between the two.

"No, I'll come with." He then turned to Allison. "Just one minute, okay?" The girl nodded her head before Scott followed Elaine down the steps. Just as Elaine was about to open the door, Scott quickly grabbed her wrist, stopping her from doing so. The girl frowned, giving him a questioning look. The person continued to ring the door bell, whilst their mother yelled at them to get the door.

"Scott?" Elaine frowned. After a moment, he let go of her wrist and Elaine opened the door and her breath seemed to hitch in her throat.

"Hey, what are you two doing? Aren't you going to invite him in?" Melissa questioned from the top of the stairs before disappearing again.

"Hello there." Peter smiled. Elaine quickly went to slam the door in his face, but Peter stopped with his hand, and almost immediately Scott pulled Elaine back so that he was standing in front of her. "Really? Slam the door in my face? Come on, Elaine―︎take a second to think that through."

"I'll tell her." Scott dared.

"That I used to be a catatonic invalid with burns covering half my face? Good luck with that." Peter said with amusement.

"Nope. This isn't happening." Elaine shook her head. "You better take your werewolf ass right off my porch before I do it myself."

"If you hurt her, if you even touch her―︎" Scott snarled.

"Scott, Elaine, if I may interrupt your listing of the top five most impotent-sounding threats for a moment, try and remember that I've been in a coma for six years. Don't you think I'd like to have dinner with a beautiful woman?" Peter asked.

"Not with my mother." Elaine hissed.

"Just half a second! Sorry!" Melissa called.

"Or, maybe you think that I've come up with an idea?" Peter continued, his gaze sorely on Scott. "Like, how it might be easier to convince you to be part of the pack if your mother is, too." He walked into the house, and the two immediately started backing up. "You need to understand how much more powerful we are together. You and me and Derek. Did you know that some of the most successful military operations during the second World War were the German U-boat attacks? Do you know what they called them? 'Wolf packs.' Did you know that? Or are you failing history as well?"

"I know the Germans lost the war." Scott told him.

"I think you'll find that most historians would argue that as a failure of leadership. And trust me, we don't have that problem here."

"I'm ready! I'm ready. Sorry again." Melissa then appeared beside Scott, offering Peter a small smile who then returned it. Peter held out a hand for her, and Melissa took it, about to walk out when Scott called out for her.

"Mom―︎" The two turned towards him.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

Elaine stepped up, offering her mother a gentle smile. "Have a good time." Melissa smiled before walking off, immediately Elaine and Scott exchanged looks.

"Want me to call Stiles?" Elaine mumbled.

"Yep." The boy nodded before closing the door.