【ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ　ｆｏｕｒ】

🀢 🀣 🀥

                   "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂             

                             𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗺𝗲"

🀢 🀣 🀥

Ariel was in History class sitting behind Danny. The teacher was handing back their tests, and although the popular teenager wasn't worried about her grade, she knew that she would have to be discreet when she received her test. The last thing she wanted, was for someone to find out about her grade.

The teacher placed the girl's test in front of her, face down. ariel gently picked up the edge of the paper to see an A+ at the top of my essay in bright red ink. A small smirk fell on her lips as she quickly shoved the test in his book.

"What did you get?" Danny asked, turning to look at the young girl.

"Uhh," Ariel began, her blue eyes skimming the room for an idea of what grade she should tell Danny. She paused noticing the girl next to her had her paper out. Carefully reading the grade at the corner of the paper, she grinned.

"D-minus," Ariel bit her lip, trying to look embarrassed by her low score, and cover her guilt for lying to her closest guy friend.

"Man, you need a tutor," Danny playfully told the petit brunette, not bothering to call her out on her lie. The boy had known for years that the Martin twins were intelligent girls, but kept their secret. He didn't question why they wanted to remain under the radar.

Ariel let out a happy sigh, believing that Danny had fallen for her lie, "Mhm," she nodded, playing with a ring on her finger. Unaware that the spastic teenager sitting to the left of her desk had been listening to her entire conversation.

Stiles leaned over his desk as he watched in awe as the beautiful girl in front of him, provided him an opportunity to set his ten-year plan into action, "I - I can tutor you." 

Ariel did not look up at first, debating whether it would be prudent to acknowledge the boy that her sister had warned her to ignore. Ariel knew that she should ignore Stiles, but she also thought it would be a good idea to have a tutor to explain her high scores.

Ignoring her sister's advice, Ariel turned to look at the boy, causing her messy fishtail braid to fall over her shoulder.

"You can?" She coyly asked, trying to act nonchalant, so people wouldn't believe that she was too interested in the spastic boy in front of her. Ariel knew it only took one rumor for Lydia to find out about the entire conversation.

"Yeah," Stiles blushed, distracted by her opaque blue-green shade that blended together around the gold flecks near her cornea.

Ariel gently bit her lip, before turning back to her seat. 

Stiles's excited expression fell into a crestfallen frown as he leaned back on his seat, thinking about how foolish he was to believe that Ariel Martin would ever want to spend time with him after school.

Ariel quickly scribbled her name on a sheet of paper from her bag before handing it over to Stiles. The brunette waited for the dazed boy to take her phone number from her fingers before turning back to Danny, who had been silently watching the interaction between the two.

Ariel watched as Danny smirked, looking over at Stiles who was in awe of the paper in his hand, "Poor Ariel has a crush," Danny smirked watching as his friend's cheeks turned pink.

Deciding to laugh it off, Ariel rolled her eyes, "As if."

🀢 🀣 🀥

The day had gone by quickly since Lydia, Allison, and Ariel were walking over to the library to hang out during their free period. Ariel was on her phone reading the text Stiles had just sent her a few seconds after they left class.

[𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜 : 𝙷𝚎𝚢, 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢. 𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚢 𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝. 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎.]

I can't help but smile, he is so sweet. I quickly respond before turning back to the conversation.

[𝙰𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚕 : 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍! 𝚜𝚢𝚕]

"Scott's coming over? Tonight?" Lydia asks Allison as we walk up the stairs.

"We're just studying together," Allison shrugged.

"'Just Studying' never ends with just studying. It's like - getting into a hot tub together - somebody eventually copes a feel," Lydia explains, causing her sweet sister to falter at her meaning. Ariel knew that her sister was more experienced than her when it came to boy, but her little knowledge of the subject made her fluster at the thought.

"Well, so what are you saying?" Allison questions, causing Ariel to turn at her sister, wanting to know the same. The brunette was interested in learning more.

"I'm just saying, you know, make sure he covers up," Lydia shrugged as she continued walking, leaving the other two girls baffled.

"Covers, what up?" Ariel cautiously asked.

Lydia looks between the two of her friend before rolling her eyes, "Hello, Saint Mary and Snow White! Do it with a condom."

Ariel internally freaks at her sister's bluntness as she watched her friend turn beet red, "Are you kidding? After one date?"

"Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste," Lydia shrugs, causing Ariel to subconsciously think about Stiles. The girl's mind guiltily imagined Stiles's own experience. The girl had told herself she didn't like him but wondered what she would do if Stiles made a move on her. Biting her rosy lip, she knew she wouldn't object.

"Well, I - I mean, how much is 'a little taste'?" Allison asks.

"Oh, god. You really like him, don't you?" Ariel smiled at her friend, breaking away from her thoughts.  

"Well, he's just different. When I first moved here, I had a plan. No boyfriends till college. I just move too much. But then I met him, and he was different. I - I don't know. Can't explain it," Allison shrugs her shoulders, looking down at her feet.

"I can. It's your blood flooding with phenylethylamine," Lydia and Ariel state in unison.

"What?" Allison looked confused.

"I'll tell you what to do. When is he coming over?" Lydia asks.

"After School," Allison replies.

"Hmm."

"I got a tutor," Ariel said aloud, not able to keep a secret from her sister. She told her twin everything and didn't want to lie to her. She would just take some facts away.

"Oh, is he cute?" Lydia smirked.

'Yes,'  Ariel thought to herself before she snapped back to reality. She rolled her eyes at her sister, giving Lydia a small nudge with her shoulder, "Lydia, it's just tutoring. We won't end up doing it."

"Doing it? Having sex, Ariel. And who knows, maybe you will?" Lydia shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

Ariel shook her head not wanting to think about it any further. The thought caused a funny feeling in her stomach which Ariel knew could not mean anything good. The less she thought of Stiles the better.

"Stiles. He offered to tutor me," Ariel murmured as they turned into the library.

"Ha, you're right. You both are just tutoring," Lydia glared at her sister, "Got it?"

🀢 🀣 🀥

"Thank you again for helping me study," Ariel told Stiles as she climbed into his car, "You are a lifesaver."

Stiles blushed, fumbling to put his keys in the ignition, "N-no problem."

The brunette tossed her book bag on the floor near her feet, while Stiles started up the jeep. As Ariel was putting on her seat belt she noticed a figure dressed in all black hurling itself towards Stiles's jeep. Ariel's eyes widened as she watched him hold his hand out.

Stiles slams on the brakes, his eyes as wide as saucers. Ariel let out a small scream as Stiles holds out his arm to stop the small girl from going through the window. Both teens slammed into their seat as the car stopped.

"Oh my god," Ariel huffed out, in an exasperated tone, as she tried to calm herself after watching Stiles almost hit a guy. Moving her hair out of her face she tried to lean out the window to see if the man was okay.

"You've got to be kidding me. This guy's everywhere," Stiles stated, annoyed, but not at all worried that he almost committed a felony. Ariel stopped looking out the window to look at Stiles in shock.

"What the hell?" Stiles began to yell as he got out the car. Ariel watched him walk to Scott with a pissed expression. 

Ariel watched as Scott and Stiles yell at each other; Stiles looked the most upset. The blaring of horns filled her ears, causing her to look out the window, once again, to see that Stiles had begun to hold up traffic.

Jackson and Allison had arrived at the scene, causing Ariel to climb out of the car. 

"I need you to find out what kind of bullet they used," Derek demanded.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Scott asked.

"'Cause she's an Argent. She's with them," The guy groaned out of pain, causing Ariel to think 'Why are they talking about Allison?'

"Why should I help you?" Scott questioned. 

"Because you need me," the guy replied.

"Fine. I'll try. Hey, get him out of here," Scott orders Stiles before he notices the brown-haired Martin.

"Ariel?" Scott looked between Stiles and Ariel confused causing the latter to nervously wave at him. She had no idea what was going on but knew it had something to do with the two boys in front of her.

Scott sent her a small smile hoping to calm the girl's nerves, knowing what was happening next, "You'll be fine," He assured.

"I hate you for this so much," Stiles sighed as he helped Derek into the car, praying that Ariel would still talk to him after this. Ariel quickly clambered into the back of the seat, realizing that they were in fact driving Derek Hale.

🀢 🀣 🀥

"Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there," Stiles sighed. Ariel's doe eyes widened as she noticed Derek was bleeding from his side. She had been so busy thinking about what Lydia would do to her if they ran into the bunch to notice the man was injured.

"Are you okay," she asked him, trying to look at his wound better. By the look of the wound and his reaction to the pain, the bruntette was guessing it was something like a gunshot wound, which made her wonder how he could have been shot.

Derek glared at Ariel, causing her to look back at the road taking his reaction as a 'no.'

Ariel noticed Stiles was getting more and more upset by the second as he kept sending Derek glares as he drove. He looked on his phone, reading a text Scott sent before he threw it on the floor, getting more aggravated.

With a small frown, Ariel leaner her head on the back of his seat, reaching her hand over the front to rub his arm, "Calm down," she whispered. The last thing she wanted, was for someone to do something they regret.

"H - how?" He whispered back.

Ariel bit her lip before grinning, "Just think about us."

Stiles nodded, taking in a deep breath before letting it out and turning to Derek, "We are almost there."

"Almost where?" Derek asked, looking at Stiles like he was the most annoying person in the world.

"Your house," Stiles answered as if it were obvious. Ariel pursed her lips looking between the two boys that seemed to know something she didn't. She needed answers.

"What?! No, you can't take me there!" Derek shouts.

"I can't take you to your own house?" Stiles asked.

"Not when I can't protect myself," Derek barked. Now it was Ariel's turn to become anxious as she looked over at the man sitting in front of her.

"What did you just say," she said turning to look at Derek better.

Stiles made a sharp turn, causing the girl to grip the center console before he parked the car and shot daggers at Derek, "Alright, what happens if Scott doesn't find your little magic bullet? Hmm? Are you dying?" Stiles bombarded.

"Not yet. I have a last resort," Derek replied.

"What do you mean? What last resort?" Ariel slowly asked as Derek revealed his wound.

"What is that,"  Ariel wrinkled her nose, having never seen or read about anything like that. It appeared to the brunette to be like an allergic reaction.

"Oh my god, what is that? Oh, is that contagious? You know what? You should probably just get out," Stiles sputtered. Ariel tried to ignore the sick feeling in her gut, making her believe that something bad was going to happen.

"Start the car. Now!" Derek ordered.

"Okay, Derek, you know what? I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look," Stiles scoffed before raising his voice, "Yeah! In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf ass out into the middle of the road and leave you for dead," Stiles added.

Derek looked tired as he glared at Stiles, "Start the car, or I'm gonna rip her throat out - with my teeth." My eyes widened as I gripped at my throat.

Stiles looked at Derek for a few seconds before turning back to the wheel and starting up the car.

Ariel only thought one thing, 'This is not normal.'

🀢 𝔞 🀥

It had been about an hour since the last time we contacted Scott, and everyone was visibly tired from driving around town. Nobody spoke as we just sat in the car awkwardly, praying something would happen soon.

Derek had begun to smell like Death, and the terrible feeling in my gut was beginning to make me feel sick. It felt like I was suffocated, and I wanted nothing more than to go to Stiles's house and study as we had planned.

I let out a deep breath as I heard Stiles's phone ring as we waited for Scott to answer.

I noticed that Derek was growing weaker as time began to pass. I leaned over the console to whisper to Derek, "Hey, you okay?" I asked him. He glared at me.

I couldn't bear to have Derek's death on my conscience but felt like the odds of him staying alive were becoming moe slim as time passed. Trying to think of something I could do to help subdue the pain, I looked down at the wound.

"You know, if you raise your arm above your heart, it will slow down the swelling," I try to offer.

Derek glowers at me, but I just look at him expectantly, waiting for him to respond. He just glares at me before he winces as another wave of pain hits him.

Begrudgingly, he raises his arm above his head. I smile as I notice his shoulders sag a bit in relief. 

Scott must have answered the phone because I hear Stiles begin to speak into the phone, "What am I supposed to do with him? - And, by the way, he's starting to smell - Like Death," Derek wears him an annoyed expression causing me to grin at the slightly amusing situation, "What about your boss? - You're not gonna believe where he's telling me to take you."

He was so cute when he was serious. It was like a different side of him that he only revealed when things were really bad. It made me feel safe.

Derek snatches the phone from Stiles, "Did you find it? - Look, if you don't then I'm dead, alright? - Then think about this. The alpha called you against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you wanna stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet."

Alpha? I think I may have just entered a cult.

🀢 🀣 🀥

"Does Northern blue monkshood mean anything to you?" Stiles asked Derek.

Ariel furrowed her eyebrows as she walked into the veterinary office, "Wolfsbane?"

"It's a rare kind of wolfsbane," Derek nodded his head at the girl, "He has to get me the bullet," Derek sighs.

Ariel begin to put things together as she eyed his wound, "That is what they shot you with, isn't it? And now you need it to reverse the effects. Homeopathic cure," she finished, laughing in awe. This would be the first time she have ever seen someone attempt to prove homeopathy 'since most studies have shown it is a pseudoscience,' Ariel mused to herself as she eyed his wound.

Stiles just watched the girl in awe, causing Ariel to immediately freeze, realizing what she just did. 'Now he would know for sure that I didn't need help studying,' Ariel mentally facepalmed.

Ariel sent him her best glare, trying to mimic her sister, "Tell anyone about this, and I will end you."

Stiles immediately sobered up and nodded his head before he turns to Derek, "What happens to you if you don't get the hemeopatholigical thingy?"

Ariel gave the pale boy a strange look as she watched him butcher the word homeopathy.

"I die," Derek told Stiles. 

"Okay. You know, that really doesn't look like anything echinacea, and a good night of sleep couldn't take care of," Stiles stated, causing Ariel to laugh at his comment. Only he managed to make her smile when she was scared.

"When the infection reaches my heart, it'll kill me," Derek sighed.

"Positivity just isn't in your vocabulary, is it?" Stiles jeered.

"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time - Last resort," Derek said as he leaned on the metal table.

"Which is?" Stiles asks.

Derek got out a bone cutter from one of the cabinets in the room, "You're gonna cut my arm off."

Ariel let out a nervous laugh, "Amputation?"

Stiles and Ariel look at each other before they turn back to Derek wearing the same doubtful expression, "Oh my god. What if you bleed to death?"

"It'll heal if it works," Derek grumbles as he ties a rubber band around his arm to stop the blood flow.

The small brunette shook her head, causing her waist length hair to fall over her shoulders, "There is no way you will heal in time, and we don't have the materials necessary to graft your skin."

"Ugh, look - I don't know if I can do this," Stiles sighed.

"Why not?"

"Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bones, and especially the blood," Stiles explained.

Derek was obviously dying by the second; the bullet wound had crimson red blood dripping from it and was surrounded by veins along his arm that were a black color, which spread up to his shoulder and down to his hand.

"You faint at the sight of blood?" Derek asked.

"No, but I might at the sight of a chopped off an arm!" Stiles exclaimed.

"You do it," Derek looked at the girl who had annoyed him up to this point.

Ariel pointed to herself, unable to form words. The girl was not the one to turn to when it came to surgery, due to her hands shaking when she was nervous.

Derek looked annoyed and turned back to Stiles, "Alright, fine. How about this, Stiles? Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your little girlfriend's head."

'We're just friends,' I thought to myself, tired of people thinking we were anything more.

"Okay, you know what, I'm so not buying your threats any-" Stiles began before Derek pulled him by the collar.

"Derek!" Ariel screamed, moving to help Stiles.

"Oh my god! Okay. Alright, bought, sold. Totally, I'll do it. I'll do it," Stiles stutters, causing Derek to push him away.

"Are you sure?" Ariel gently asked Stiles, "I can do it."

Stiles smiled at the opal-eyed girl, looking at her hands that were still slightly shaking at her sides, "I'm sure."

"What? What are you doing?" Stiles looks at Derek, who looked like he was going to fall.

"Holy God, what the hell is that?" Stiles cried in disgust as Ariel jumped back. She watched Derek puke in front of her, wincing in disgust.

"It's my body - trying to heal itself," Derek breathes. He was looked terrible. His skin was as pale as snow, and his eyes were sunken and dull.

"Well, it's not doing a very good job of it," Stiles retorted.

"Now. You gotta do it now!" Derek demanded as he looked at Stiles.

"Look. Honestly, I don't think I can," Stiles tells him.

Derek grabs Stiles by the neck, "Oh my god! Okay, okay!"

"Oh my god. Alright, here we go," Stiles sighs. Ariel winced as she squeezed her eyes shut, but before Stiles can cut Derek, she heard Scott.

"Stiles!"

"Scott?" Ariel called out, opening her eyes to see Stiles hunched over the table, in relief.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scott asked Stiles. Stiles just let go of the bone cutter, sighing out in relief, "Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares."

Ariel nodded her head, wiping away the single tear that had fallen down her cheek when she had closed her eyes shut, "And therapy."

"Did you get it?" Derek asked. His forehead was covered with a thin sheen of sweat, and he looked like he could pass out at any second.

Scott hands a small bullet to Derek, "What are you gonna do with it?" Stiles questions as he moved to stand next to me.

"I'm gonna - I'm gonna," Derek begins to sway as he looks at the bullet. He wheezes before dropping the bullet and falling to the floor.

"No, no, no, no, no," Scott runs over the where the bullet fell to grab it. Ariel watched as it rolled under the table, but before she could catch it, Derek began to sway causing her to rush over to Derek with Stiles while Scott tries to grab the bullet.

"Derek. Derek, come on, wake up. Scott, what the hell are we gonna do?" Stiles freaks, as he leans over Derek, trying to wake him up. I begin to lightly hit his arm to wake him up.

"I don't know! I can't reach it!" Scott screams as he reaches under the table for the bullet. Ariel took a deep breath, trying to ignore the craziness of the situation and remain calm.

"He's not waking up!" Stiles announced.

"Come on," Scott groans as he pushes himself further.

"I think he's dying. I think he's dead," Stiles told the two teens in the room, while Ariel shook her head, moving to check Derek's pulse.

Waiting a few seconds, the girl began to feel a soft thumping, "He is alive, but barely holding on." The feeling in her stomach begins to clench tight, making Ariel want to let out whatever was bubbling in her chest.

"Just hold on! Come on. Oh, I got it! I got it!" Scott shouts as he shows the two the bullet. Arie;'s jaw dropped as she looked at Scott's elongated nails, which were definelty not human.

"Please don't kill me for this," Stiles prays, drawing her attention back to Derek. Stiles punches him in the face before shaking his hand in pain, "Ugh! Ow! God!"

"You okay?" Ariel ask Stiles, moving closer to look at his hand, who nods backing away from Derek as he comes to.

"Give me - " Ariel heard Derek say before he reached over and snatched the bullet from Scott. Ariel backed away as the guys help Derek over to the metal table.

Derek bites the bullet opening the casing to release a blue powder which had to be the Wolfsbane. Derek grabbed the lighter and lighting it up before scooping up the sparkling dust and pressing it into his wound. Ariel gasped as a blue mist begins to emit from his wound.

Derek falls back onto the ground as he groans in pain, his finger digging into the bullet hole. His grunts filled the room as he arched his back in pain. Scott, Stiles, and Ariel watched in shock as the veins began to fade away until the wound disappeared, leaving nothing but clean skin.

"That - was - awesome! Yes!" Stiles exclaimed, making some odd fist-pumping motion.

"You good?" Scott asked Derek as the female brunette said, "Are you okay?"

"Well, except for the agonizing pain," Derek sarcastically replied.

"I'm guessing the ability to use Sarcasm is a good sign of health," Stiles smiled.

"Okay, we saved your life, which means you're gonna leave us alone, you got that? And if you don't, I'm gonna go back to Allison's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything," Scott threatened.

The Martin twin looked at Scott in confusion, "Mr. Argent?"

"You're gonna trust them? You think they can help you?" Derek questioned, ignoring Ariel's question.

"Well, why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you," Scott states.

Derek just looked at him in disbelief, "I can show you exactly how nice they are."

Scott raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

🀢 🀣 🀥

Stiles parked the car in front of The Martin household as the youngest Martin awkwardly played with the zipper of her bookbag in silence. She had been silent after the entire scene in the vet's office. She didn't know what she had seen and couldn't comment on any of it, knowing that the boys were obviously trying to keep a secret. 

Stiles broke the silence, "So..."

"So," Ariel said. She watched Stiles's dejected look before deciding to erase the past few hours from her memory. The brunette smiles grabbing her bag and opening the door, "Tutor me some other time?" She asked him, while he just nodded, playing with his fingers. It wouldn't be until after the Martin girl left that he understoof what she said.

Ariel giggled, "Awesome," she pressed a small kiss on his cheek, before hopping out the car, "I could really use help in science class," the girl playfully winked at the spastic boy before turning to her house.

She looked back to wave goodbye as before she entered her home. She wouldn't ask Stiles about what just happened if he wouldn't talk about her being smart. It seemed to be a fair deal to the girl who did not know how big a secret Stiles and Scott were hiding.

"Why were you together so late," Ariel heard Lydia hum as she closed the door. Ariel nearly fell as she spun to face her sister. Rolling her eyes, she dropped her book bag by the stairs.

The opal-eyed girl shrugged her shoulders, not in the mood to play her sister's games, "We lost track of time."