So...this random idea popped into my head and wouldn't go away. Just a one shot for right now, but I have some ideas about turning it into a multi-chap. Enjoy!

I do not own Teen Wolf. If I did every single man on the show would have more screen time shirtless, and I'm talking so shirtless that it would put Jacob Black to shame. Just saying.

Garrison Myers was not well known in the small town of Beacon Hills. Even after he passed from the wounds inflicted upon him in that strange mountain lion attack, people knew nothing about him, except that he had been a bus driver for the high school. They didn't consider that he had been a family man, with a daughter who went to Beacon Hills High.

Isaac Lahey knew, though. Not as much as he wanted to or should have, in retrospect. But he knew of Jocelyn Myers, the cute and quirky red-head who always sat at the front of the bus, right behind her dad. On the rides to and from school they would laugh about things, make inside jokes, or just talk, not always about school. He remembered that she had a melodic laugh. He also remembered having the biggest crush on her at the beginning of his freshman year; it didn't last very long, though, because that was the year that his father started locking him in the freezer and suddenly nothing mattered except just surviving.

When sophomore year came around, Isaac got a bike. His father hadn't bought it for him, that was a ludicrous notion. No, he found it with some trash on a curb in his neighborhood, probably tossed out by one of those rich kids who got the newest model for a birthday or another gift-giving occasion. He took it home and fixed it up and rode that to school instead. It gave him time to think, time to reflect. And when Garrison Myers died and Jocelyn was suddenly a constant thought in his head again, it gave him time to regret.

Everyone else forgot. No condolences were given to the girl, no memorial erected in her father's memory. She remained ignored and unknown, not out of malice or purposeful exclusion, but simply out of indifference and teenage ignorance and selfishness. She had never spoken up before, never sat with others; her father had been her friend and now he was gone.

Things got worse when it was revealed that Myers had been a fire inspector and fired for fraud in the Hale arson case. But not worse in the sense that people judged Jocelyn; in fact, no one cared. But that didn't stop her from retreating even more into herself, as if she were waiting for the other shoe to not just drop, but slam down on her.

Isaac did, though. Care. But he never said anything, never approached Jocelyn. And why? Fear? Fear of judgment? Of repulsion? Of her anger? Or maybe just her sadness.

Cowardice. That was Isaac's gift to the world.

And the world moved on. Another bus driver was hired but Jocelyn no longer rode the bus. Instead, she waited for her mother to pick her up after school. Isaac had seen her there, on the curb outside the main entrance, waiting long after school had let out before her mother arrived in a beat up old car to take her home. From the lacrosse field Isaac could tell that there was no conversation between mother and child: Jocelyn merely got into the car and drove away. Her mother was a nurse or a doctor, judging by the scrubs she was always wearing, and some evenings she couldn't pick up Jocelyn. Those days the girl walked home, though recently Isaac had noticed a man picking her up sometimes. Something about him bothered Isaac; probably the fact that Jocelyn herself seemed bothered by him. And then Isaac would remind himself to stop being a creeper and refocus his attention on practice.

It was a rare afternoon when Coach Finstock declared that they had no practice; perhaps he was in a good mood. Nobody argued against a day off and hurried out of the locker room before the eccentric teacher could change his mind, as he was often wont to do. This is how Isaac found himself coming down the stairs and spotting Jocelyn sitting on the curb, waiting for her ride. Her knees were pulled up into her chest, her chin resting on them, and she had her headphones on, the music turned up, her eyes closed as she hummed along to the tune. Occasionally her hand swayed with the beat, slowly and gracefully cutting through the air, like she was trailing her fingers through water. It was the most peaceful Isaac had seen her in a long while.

She had always been a small girl, maybe reaching his chin. But in her worn leather jacket—her father's, no doubt— and her one-size-too-big jeans cinched tightly with a cloth belt, she seemed smaller. Her hair hung limply across her pale face, blown into her eyes every so often by a light breeze. At one point she opened her eyes and moved to brush some red strands away, which was when she noticed Isaac standing there looking down at her.

"Jesus!" She jumped to her feet lightning quick, her hand over her heart. "Oh my God, you scared me!"

Isaac winced and shrugged in what he hoped was an apologetic way. "Sorry." Then a long silence fell over the two, awkward enough that it had Isaac shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. Jocelyn wasn't putting her headphones back on, though, so there was that, even if it was just out of politeness.

Several minutes into the silence Jocelyn finally turned around to face him, an uncomfortable and forced smile on her face. "Did you want something?" She didn't say it rudely, but Isaac wouldn't have begrudged her any if she had; he was just standing there, rather creepily, not saying or doing anything. Except now she was expecting an answer from him and what he was giving her instead was a rather good impression of a goldfish.

"Uh…I was just wondering..." He trailed off and she raised her eyebrows expectantly. "…if you wanted a ride?"

What. The Hell.

It had been the first thing that came to mind but surely he hadn't said it out loud. Not him! Not Isaac Lahey, who didn't have a car, who hadn't actually spoken to Jocelyn Myers except maybe in class when he asked to borrow a pen or a piece of paper. No, no, no, nonono…

He wanted so much to rip the words from the air and shove them back down his throat along with his foot because obviously that was where it belonged.

Jocelyn's eyebrows went sky high as he went through his little mental meltdown. "You have a car?"

"Uh…" There was that goldfish impression again, and it seemed to have improved in the last ten seconds. God, Isaac wished he could just turn into a goldfish right now, just ZAP! and they'd have Goldfish Isaac flopping around on the pavement, gasping for air, anything to keep him from talking about anything, ever again.

"Uh…I have a…bike?"

There was a hint of amusement in her eyes, mixed in with incredulity, and she clicked her tongue a few times against her teeth as sort of a nervous habit. "And, uh," she said, tucking her headphones into her backpack. "How exactly is that going to work? Sit on the handlebars?"

Thankfully Isaac managed to keep his mouth shut this time, but he still found himself nodding.

The silence fell over them again, the awkwardness magnified tenfold by the simple act of them looking directly at each other. Jocelyn was the first to break it, shaking her head with a disbelieving sigh, and then checked her cell phone. Whatever answers she was hoping for the phone didn't provide, so she slid it into her bag and turned back to Isaac.

"Okay."

Which is how he found himself pedaling down an unfamiliar street, Jocelyn perched on his handlebars and leaning back against him ever so slightly for support. They looked ridiculous, he knew, but that didn't matter because he had just heard Jocelyn laugh.

It wasn't a big laugh and it sounded more embarrassed than anything to his ears, but then she laughed again and it was fuller, more exuberant. It made Isaac smile.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked when she laughed for a third time. They weren't speeding along, by any means, but with her slight frame she wasn't exactly weighing him down and they had picked up enough speed that her hair was fluttering a bit.

She gave him a half glance over her shoulder. "This is the craziest thing I have ever done," she admitted, and he didn't have to see her face to tell that she had a huge grin on it. Steadying himself he started pedaling a little harder and they picked up a bit more speed, eliciting a small gasp of excitement from Jocelyn, followed by another laugh.

Another fifteen minutes—and a particularly momentous ride down a hill that hadn't look quite as big as it turned out to be—and Isaac was pulling into Jocelyn's driveway. Her hair was mussed up as she hopped off the handlebars and no doubt her butt was sore but none of that seemed to matter because she had the biggest grin on her face as she turned to him.

"That was…" she laughed, unable to find the words. "That was awesome."

Isaac smiled, heart soaring. "I'm glad you had fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime."

Shyness suddenly overcame her, along with a light blush that crept up her neck and into her cheeks. She bit her lip and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I-I would like that. Very much."

Once again they fell into silence, but it wasn't nearly as awkward as before.

BEEEEEEP!

The horn of the car pulling into the driveway startled them both and they hurried to get out of the way. Isaac recognized the driver as the man who sometimes picked Jocelyn up and a frown formed on his face.

"Joss! What the hell!" The man slammed the car door, his face ugly with irritation. "I was waiting at the school for you!"

She folded her arms around her body, like she was protecting herself, and she seemed to lessen somehow, like he was taking away her stamina or courage. "Sorry, Henry. But you were almost an hour late!" she protested, her voice cracking.

"So you wait!" he barked back at her. "I get there when I get there. Jesus!" He scowled at her and walked towards the house, ignoring Isaac completely. The front door slammed behind him, following the car door's example, and Jocelyn winced.

The shy blush was now a full blown, bright red coloring that swept across Jocelyn's entire face as she ducked her head, ashamed of Henry's display. "Sorry 'bout that," she said to Isaac with a small voice. "I probably should have sent him a text or…" She trailed off and Isaac could have sworn he saw her eyes tearing. It makes his vision go red and his fists clench to see her so upset.

"Henry is my mom's boyfriend," Jocelyn offered as an explanation, like she was trying to diffuse the situation. "He works long hours and he doesn't sleep a lot and has kind of a short temper…" She shook her head at herself and then seemed to notice the look on Isaac's face. Smiling, she tried to shake it off. "It's okay. I'll apologize and it'll be fine." She laughed, but it wasn't the same. It held none of the joy he had heard during the bike ride. "I really should have waited for him."

She turned to go inside, only to stop when Isaac's hand shot out and took hers. She looked down at their hands in shock and then up at him, eyes wide. His hand dwarfed hers in comparison, but her hand seemed to fit perfectly in it, like they had been tailor made for each other's grasp. Her fingers were cold but slowly warming as he continued holding them and neither teen said anything for a moment.

Isaac made up excuses like that all the time. Excuses for why his dad yelled at him, hit him, even though he knew that every single one of those excuses was pure bullshit. He hated himself when he made those excuses, hated that he didn't stand up for himself or say something to someone about it. He didn't want that for Jocelyn.

Finally he let out a deep sigh and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "No," he told her. "You shouldn't have to wait. Someone should be there for you." He let his eyes linger on her then let go and hopped back on his bike, leaving her staring after him as he pedaled home.

That night his dad hit him again. Isaac didn't even know why.

The next day Isaac felt Jocelyn's eyes on him everywhere: every class, every moment in between. The scrutiny was unnerving.

She managed to catch him at his locker between classes. He couldn't very well hide the new black eye but he wouldn't meet her gaze. As the bell rang out the start of the next class, she sighed and placed a warm hand on his arm. "Someone should be there for you, Isaac." And with that she walked away, leaving him to stare after her.

That night he met Derek Hale in a graveyard and the man offered him the strength and power to protect himself from his father, the chance to never be put back in that freezer again. Isaac said he would think about it.

The next day he saw Henry pick Jocelyn up from school.

That night he said yes to Derek Hale.

What did you think? Please review and comment! :D