【 ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ　ｎｉｎｅ】

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"𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴

                  𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴"

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Ariel Martin was awoken in the morning by an earth-shattering shriek, by none other than her dear sister, Lydia. The brunette did not know that her sister was in fact having one of the worst mornings of her life as she looked on her phone screen at her, now, ex-boyfriend's texts. The few words managed to ruin her otherwise cheery mood.

The youngest Martin was soon swept up in the drama of the day however as her sister stormed into her bedroom, their family chihuahua Prada following close behind. The red-haired Martin was not one to be messed with and made it her goal to make Jackson's life hell. He would regret ever breaking up with her.

"Ariel, look at this," Lydia hysterically demanded, "What does that overly pompous frat boy think he is?"

Ariel's eyes widen as she read the text message in her head over and over, unable to believe the words on the screen, "He wha-"

Lydia scoffed, not giving her sister enough time to respond to the question, "Doesn't matter," the girl said, wiping away a few stray tears with a small flick of her finger, "I am going to go to school looking absolutely fabulous and show him that he made a mistake," Lydia proudly spoke, acting as her plan would work.

Ariel watched her sister move to the closet to plan their outfits with a frown. Underneath all of Lydia's wrathful words, there was a melancholy tone filled with pain and despair. They may have not been a couple of the year but the petit girl always thought they truly loved each other. Perhaps it was only one-sided.

Ariel went along with Lydia's plan, mostly out of pity, knowing that there was no arguing her sister out of her idea. After getting dressed and helping Lydia touch up her makeup, both girls walked into school with their heads held high. Their destination is the spot they knew Jackson would be at as he walked to his first-period class.

Just as expected, Jackson stood waving goodbye to his best friend Danny at the first-floor stairwell with a carefree grin on his face, his reaction the complete opposite of Lydia's.

Lydia turned over to the blond boy with a furious expression on her face, "Jackson! This little text? Not funny!"

Lydia yanked her phone out of her purse to shove it in the boy's arrogant face, as Ariel stood with her arms crossed near her sister,

"I wasn't trying to be funny." Jackson smiled. "I would have put a 'ha-ha' at the end of it. And, see, there's no 'ha-ha'."

"'Lydia, please give up my spare house key at your earliest convenience'," She read out aloud. "'As we are no longer dating'?"

"You didn't lose it, did you?" Jackson mockingly pouted.

Ariel stepped up to the boy with a sarcastic grin, "She probably threw it away by accident. After all, it was just another piece of junk you gave to her."

"Too bad," Jackson shrugged looking directly at the small girl. "In preparation for some big changes, I've decided to drop some of the dead weight in my life. And you're just about the deadest."

Ariel glowered at the boy as she considered her ability to get away with murder at that second.

Lydia's strong resolve wavered as she struggled to keep herself together, causing Ariel to cross her arms with Lydia's, tilting her head to the side Ariel scoffed, "Dumped by the co-captain of the lacrosse team."

Lydia laughed, "I wonder how many minutes it'll take me to get over that."

Jackson shrugged, smirking as he blew her a kiss and began to walk away. Ariel's arms moved to wrap themselves around Lydia as she continued to shout, "Wait, seconds, actually. Seconds!"

"He isn't worth it, Lyds," Ariel softly whispered, noticing Lydia struggle to keep her tears away.

It was true. Jackson may have been a good boyfriend to Lydia sometimes but for most of their relationship, he was always too self-involved to truly notice how Lydia felt. Lydia deserved someone who would realize her importance, not try to hide it to boost his own selfish need for attention.

Lydia shook her head as she wiped away the tears from under her eyes, careful not to ruin any of her makeup, "I really loved him."

Ariel smiled. "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Lydia nodded, moving to pull out a small tissue from her purse as she began to fix up her appearance using the reflection from a glass window nearby, "You are right. Jackson doesn't deserve to have the pleasure of knowing I was ever his," Lydia turned to her sister with a smirk, "Plus this means I can finally start exploring other guys."

"Exactly." Ariel laughed as she began to walk with Lydia to their first-period class, hoping that things would get better soon.

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Ariel Martin giggled as she sat in the green Honda owned by none other than Danny. The two friends hadn't been able to hang out together since she returned so she gladly accepted his invitation to get ice cream together after school.

"31 flavors?" Danny asked, as he slowly backed out of his parking spot in the school lot. Ever since the eighth grade when Lydia had first dated Jackson and introduced Ariel to Danny, they always hung out at Baskin Robbins together.

"Yes," the Martin bubbled, "I could really use a break right now."

Danny laughed in agreement knowing that the third wheelers had been collateral damage in the recent breakup. The boy did not know that Ariel had also been referring to the strange stuff going on with two of his own teammates.

Smirking, Danny turned his head to Ariel, "So, how is Stiles?"

Ariel groaned, dramatically leaning her head back on the car seat, "Nothing is going on between the two of us, I swear."

"But you want it to," Danny added.

"Yes," Ariel said before her eyes widened in surprise, "I meant that I wouldn't object to it," Ariel rushed as Danny enjoyed the younger girls flustered state, "I wouldn't hurt his feeling is all. Ugh, I hate you for this."

They were both interrupted by Danny's phone ringing, stopping at the red light, Danny picked up the phone, a grin spreading on his face as he turned to the brunette, "Change of plans."

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To say Ariel Martin was upset with Danny was an understatement. Ariel grumbled the entire ride over to Stile's house, trying her hardest to make Danny realize how angry she was, an attempt which would have gone unnoticed it hadn't been for the fact the boy knew her so well.

Once they arrived, Ariel didn't know how to react, awkwardly standing near Danny as he walked into Stile's bedroom with his backpack over his shoulder. She heard that Scott told Stiles the kiss was his fault but she still felt uncomfortable being in the same room as her crush after making out with his best friend. So instead of acknowledging the elephant in the room, the Martin girl decided to silently listen to Stiles explain his plans to Danny.

If only Ariel knew that Stiles was angrier with Scott than he ever was with her. In fact, Stiles had basically forgiven her a few seconds after he found out, unable to stay angry with the sweet girl. Ariel could have stabbed Stiles fifty times and he would thank her.

"You want me to do what?" Danny shouted, unable to believe that Stiles would make such a strange request. Ariel herself didn't know how to react either but assumed it had to do with the strange stuff the boys were connected to.

"Trace a text," Stiles replied reasonably as if he didn't just as the boy to commit a felony.

"I came here to do lab work," Danny shook his head, "That's what lab partners do."

Ariel glared at the boy knowing that Danny was being a bit hypocritical, since he also had ulterior motives.

Stiles groaned. "And we will, once you trace the text."

Ariel silently moved from her spot near Danny to sit on Stiles's bed, sending Derek a kind smile. "And what makes you think I know how?"

"I looked up your arrest report, so..." Stiles nervously grinned.

Danny blanched,. "I- I was thirteen." His eyes flickered around the room. "They dropped the charges. No, we're doing lab work."

Ariel sighed, as she began to distract herself by playing with her fingers, noticing that one nail had a slight chip in it.

"Who's he again?" Danny looked up at Derek obviously interested in more than his name.

Ariel was about to answer his question but Stiles beat her to it with a fast lie, "Um, my cousin... Miguel."

Furrowing her eyebrows, the girl tried to understand what the boys were doing and why they lied to Danny. She was about to speak up but was stopped by Stiles who sent her a look begging her not to say anything. Slightly nodding her head, she watched as he turned back to Danny, who was furiously typing away at his keyboard.

"Is that blood on his shirt?" Danny asked, after turning to look back at Derek once again.

Ariel's head quickly snapped over to Derek, her eyes searching for any signs of blood before stopping near his torso. A light gasp escaped her rosy lips as she tried to find any signs of a wound.

Stiles nervously laughed before saying, "Hey, Miguel. I thought I told you you could borrow one of my shirts."

Derek roughly shut the book he was reading, tossing it near Ariel before getting up to look in the dresser near Stiles's closet. Moving to open the first drawer Derek began to carelessly toss shirts on the ground as he looked for a shirt that would fit him. After finding a shirt he liked, Derek quickly moved to lift his top revealing his extremely well-defined torso and broad shoulder that would make any girl fall to her knees. Even Ariel had to admit her eyes were glues to his abs.

"Stiles?" Derek interrupted Danny and Ariel from staring. "This...no fit." He stretched the green shirt, showing it wouldn't fit him.

"Then try something else on," Stiles glared at him, his eyes subconsciously moving to Ariel, hoping she wasn't as swept away by Derek as Danny was.

Ariel tried to hold in a laugh as Derek wore an ugly striped tee which didn't fit him correctly, "That one looks pretty good, huh?"

Ariel smirked deciding to mess with Danny, "What do you think Danny?'

Danny's eyes snapped to Derek before he looked at the girl sitting behind him, "Huh?"

Ariel moved off the bed to stand between Stiles and Danny before pointing to Derek, "The shirt."

Danny sighed before working to say, "It's... It's not really his color."

Ariel lightly giggled as she watched Danny nearly fall out of his chair as Derek took off his shirt to look for a new one.

"You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny Boy?" Stiles teased, causing Martin's light laughter to grow as she struggled to stifle her laughs with her hands.

"You're a horrible person." Danny dead-panned to Stiles.

Stiles didn't hesitate to reply, "I know. It keeps me awake at night. "Anyway, about that text..."

Danny smirked turning to Ariel, "You deserve each other."

Ariel's laughter immediately stopped as did Stiles, as both quickly moved away from each other and rushed out a spew of objections, "I mean- Well-We aren't' dating."

"Stiles!" Derek suddenly yelled, making both of the nervous teens jump. "None of these fit." He seethed, throwing down yet another shirt.

"I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text," Danny said quickly, typing away on the keyboard

Ariel and Derek moved behind Danny and Stiles as Danny pulled up the results, "There." He pointed at the screen. "This text was sent from a computer. This one."

Ariel leaned forwards to see better, not aware of her influence on Stiles, who was caught up in a haze of her perfume and the slight hum coming from her throat as she read the name listed on the screen, "Registered to that account name?"

Text message located::filesystem catalog entry:

Account registered to:

Beacon Hills Hospital - Melissa McCall

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Ariel shocked both herself and Stiles when she volunteered to go along with him and Derek to the hospital to help. She felt that she was too close to the answer of what was going around in her town to waste an opportunity to get the final bits of evidence necessary to support her thesis. The idea that werewolves may be real and that her friend may be one.

Stiles was more than happy to have the girl tag along, hoping it would aid in his plan to get Martin to fall in love with him. He had tried to start a conversation with her, but every time he said something, Derek would glower at him to stop.

Now they were parked outside of the nursing home waiting for Stiles to get off the phone with Scott, "Hey, is there something on the back of it? There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something."

"No, no, the thing's flat. And no, it doesn't open." Scott told them on the speakerphone. "There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing. And where are you? You're supposed to be here. You're first line."

The pale girl quickly turned to look at Stiles with a frown painted on her lips, unable to believe he was missing his chance at first line to do this. She knew how important it was to Stiles and couldn't believe he was about to give it up. For some reason, Ariel wanted nothing more than to move over to Stiles's seat and hug him in hopes of lifting his spirits.

"Man, you're not gonna play if you're not here to start," Scott spoke up from the phone.

"I know," Stiles slammed the bottom of his hand against the wheel, frustrated about the entire ordeal. "Look, if you see my dad, can you tell him... Tell him I'll be there, I'll just be a little late, okay? All right, thanks."

Ariel subconsciously reached over to grab Stiles's hand, rubbing light circles on the palm to calm him down, as Derek said, "You're not gonna make it."

"I know," Stiles sighed, trying to hide his grin at the fact that Ariel was holding his hand.

"And you didn't tell him about his mom, either."

"We're not telling Scott anything until we find out the truth."

Derek sighed before turning to Stiles, "By the way, one more thing."

"Yeah." Stiles turned to face him.

Ariel watched in shock as Derek grabbed the back of Stiles' head, slamming it into the wheel. Ariel quickly turned to look at Derek in anger, "You could have seriously injured him!"

"What the hell, Derek?"

Stiles was swearing under his breath, holding his newly bruised nose to stop any nosebleeds.

Derek rolled his eyes, glaring at Stiles, "You know what that was for. Go. Go!"

Ariel scoffed, roughly exiting the car, before rushing over to Stiles, fretting as she began looking over his face for any cuts, "Are you okay?"

Stiles couldn't help but blush as the small girl stood on her tippy toes, carefully touching around his face to check for any bruising. A soft smile fell on his face as he gently pulled her hands down and began to pull her over to the entrance of the hospital, "I'm fine, don't worry."

They both walked in, Stiles leading Ariel around the hospital as he looked for Mrs. McCall, who didn't seem to be on call.

"Yeah, I said we can't find her," Stiles told Derek over the phone.

"Look, ask for Jennifer. She's been looking after my uncle."

They both turned to the next hall moving to check the wing was right before walking down. Stiles's pace slowed down as he tugged Ariel closer to him, watching the lights flicker in the scarily empty hallway.

Ariel paused as she looked around the hall, noticing the pristine environment was far too quiet to be normal. Stiles's slowly craned his head to Peter's room, his heart tightening at the sight of the empty bed before, gripping Ariel's hand tightly, "We need to go," he muttered.

Ariel's eyebrows furrowed, "Stiles, what is going on?"

"Yeah, well, he's not here either," Stiles announced on the phone as he quickly pulled Ariel away from the room.

"What?" Derek questioned in disbelief.

"He's not here. He's gone."

Ariel's raised her voice as she repeated herself, "What is going on?"

Stiles ignored her as he listened to Derek's rushed words over the phone, "Get out of there Stiles. Peter is the Alpha!"

Feeling a creeping chill down her spine, Ariel began to turn around at the same time that Stiles moved to pull them away, "Stiles?"

Ariel's pale eyes were frozen on the horrific figure in front of them, the picture of Peter with half his face burned into a disfiguring scar standing still as stone. His eyes fixed on the two teens.

Peter's face slowly moved into a sadistic grin, "You must be Stiles."

Stiles grabbed Ariel's hand tightly in his own, tugging her behind him as he tried to push her away towards the exit. Ariel, unable to comprehend the scene in front of her, stumbled behind Stiles with no resistance on her part. Working to try and help Stiles, Ariel turned around to find the nearest exit, only to find she was blocked by a young nurse with a kind grin on her face that did not reach her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Her tone was sharp. "Visiting hours are over."

The doe-eyed Martin gulped as she moved closer to Stiles, realizing they were cornered.

Stiles was unable to console the scared Martin girl gripping onto him as he himself was also putting the pieces together, "You..." He pointed at the nurse before turning to Peter. "And him." He groaned, "You're the one who... Oh, my... And he's..." He kept looking back and forth before crying out, "Oh, my God, we're gonna die. We're gonna die."

"What?" Ariel's eyes widened as her fears became reality. She knew that their chances of getting out safely were slim but as the words came out of Stiles's mouth the shaking girl began to realize how much she was going to miss out on. Her graduation. Her first job.

Ariel Martin was about to die without even telling the boy she liked about her true feelings.

'poetic,' the girl thought, before deciding that she would not die a coward. If she was going to die, then may as well die without any weight on her shoulders. Turning to Stiles, Ariel opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by a thud.

Looking to the side, the brunette watched as Derek stood over the nurse who laid, what she hoped was unconscious, on the floor. Turning back to Peter, who wasn't fazed, both Stiles and Ariel began to rethink their premature deaths.

"That's not nice." Peter sneered. "She's my nurse."

Derek huffed, rolling his eyes at his uncle's dramatics. "She's a psychotic bitch helping you kill people. Get out of the way."

Derek didn't need to tell Stiles or Ariel twice as both teens quickly fell to the group and began to crawl over to a safe hiding space.

Stiles stopped after they both made their way behind the reception desks, checking to make sure Ariel was behind him.

The Martin girl felt a rush of adrenaline shoot through her as he laid her head on the wall, trying to block out the fight between Peter and Derek. She knew that her hair was probably a mess from running away so fast and that her cheeks were most likely flushed but at the moment, all that seemed to matter to the brunette was Stiles Stilinksi whose face was only a few inches from hers.

"Are you okay," Stiles asked, his voice low and breathy.

Unable to concentrate on the words forming in her head, Ariel nodded her head with a small smile, "Yeah."

A loud crash was heard from behind them where the fight was still occurring causing Ariel's head to whip to the side before she turned back, "Stiles, what the hell is going o-"

"Screw it," Stiles muttered over Ariel, before moving his hand behind her head and crashing his lips on her own. A million thoughts were running through Ariel's head as Stiles slowly moved his lips against her own, causing the girl to move closer as she grabbed onto Stiles's wrist and deepened the kiss. The first kiss between the two was nothing like the second, this time Ariel knew that Stiles was kissing her. Not trying to stop her panic attack or shut her up.

And that feeling was beautiful.