Derek Hale stood outside the apartment he shared with his sister. He'd been waiting there for her for an hour. This whole thing could have been avoided if she'd just given him a key! He let out a loud grunt of frustration and kicked a tree stump.

"Easy there, you might break something important," Derek whirled around to see Laura, hands in her coat pockets, looking on in derision. "I've kicked harder, I'll be fine" He protested, ignoring the throbbing in his toe.

"I meant the stump." She deadpanned, continuing to judge him. "I can feel you judging me with your eyes!" He grumped, pulling her into a hug and surreptitiously stealing the keys from her pocket. "Ah ah ah," She snatched the keys back from his outstretched hand. "You know why you can't a key,"

"No I don't." He did. It had happened about three years ago, Derek was twenty, just starting college, and oh-so foolish. He had fallen hard and fast, that was the way the Hales were, after all, for this beautiful girl. Her name was Kate, or so she said, and she was perfect. She had taken Derek in and showed him things he never knew existed, she had opened up a world of possibilities—until she slammed the door shut and left him out in the cold. They had been a few hours outside of L.A. Right by Beacon Hills, and Derek had stopped to get groceries. Kate had complained of a headache, so he told her to head to his house, and handed her the keys. When he got there a little over an hour later, he found out she had stolen everything. And the cherry on top was a month later when she'd tried to burn the place down to collect the insurance money. No one had been hurt, but still Derek hadn't been able to bring himself to return to school till this year.

Derek knew Laura didn't blame him, but she hadn't let him touch a key since.

She rolled her eyes, and shoved the door open. "You want coffee?" He slipped off his shoes and followed her to the kitchen. "That's okay." He pulled the pitcher of milk out of the fridge, and tipped it to take a swig. "Cup!" Laura shrieked at him swatting his hand with a dishtowel. He took his glass of milk and retreated to his room. Maybe he'd watch some 90's cartoon or something.

Xxxx

The next morning was hell. Derek woke up thirty minutes late, leaving barely enough time to grab breakfast, and was in the car before he realized he hadn't showered. It was too late now. He jumped on the freeway and hoped his teacher wouldn't notice he was late.

He noticed. And not only did he notice, but he also asked Derek to stay after class. "Mr. Hale, is it? I hope we aren't going to have problems with each other," Derek shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "I don't have a problem with you, sir. And I hope I don't do anything to cause any problems." Pr. Harris gave a tight smile. "Wonderful. I'll see you next week." Derek took the abrupt end to the conversation as a dismissal.

The afternoon was kind of hell, too. He was failing world religions, but that was no surprise. A bird had pooped on Laura's car, and the cafeteria was closed due to sewage leaks. He had to go an extra twenty minutes off campus to get food. The drive was nice, though. Lots of trees. And…more trees. He sighed an turned a particularly sharp corner. Maybe Laura will forgive me for the bird poop if I bring her a burger? Somehow he kind of doubted it. He pulled up to the café, and parked as far from any other car's as possible. The café was fairly packed, which, given Derek's picky taste, at least indicated what they served was popular. He ordered a club sandwich and a large coffee and began filling practice bubbles for the mid-term.

"Giant mutant turtles, but not like, Mutant Ninja Turtles, just mutant turtles." One of the guys at the table behind him was talking again. Loud and obnoxious. Just like his graphic t-shirt. And his friends. And the frustratingly cute red converse trainers with sharpie all over them. Derek turned back to his own work, intent on ignoring them. That is, until one of the kids spilled coffee all over the table (and apparently several very expensive computers). They all hopped around screaming, and trying to soak up the mess with napkins. That was about the point Derek decided to go do his work somewhere quieter. Like a machinery. Or a metronome factory.

He gathered up his books and food and pushed his chair back. Right into a girl. She was about his height, with a pink sweater on. But he didn't doubt she would destroy him. She turned around slowly, as if giving him a head start to run. Her eyes were narrowed, and very, very angry.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you—here, how about I buy you a coffee?" Derek offered. Her friends instantly jumped in. They began to talk at the same time, so it was rather jumbled, but Derek got the gist.

"It's okay!" Came from a slender brunette with Bambi eyes.

"Will you buy us coffee, too?" A shorter boy that Derek could only describe as 'Puppy-like' shouted.

"Don't bother, she doesn't drink coffee, and for that matter, neither should you—" The mouthy redhead stated.

"She's not available." Followed the other comments by a second or two. This came from the boy with the graphic tee. Derek eyebrows shot up. Had Converse really thought he was asking her out? Not that she wasn't pretty, but HELL no! He tried a softer approach talking to them, though.

"Um, no. Not what I meant. At all. Just to make up for it!" He explained, painfully aware of Converse's unwavering gaze on his face. "The bumping. Into her, I mean." Dear God, stop talking, Derek!

Slowly the group nodded their heads, glancing at each other for approval. "Thanks for the offer," A small Asian girl he hadn't noticed before spoke up. "But She really doesn't need more to drink. And I think we've seen enough coffee for today," She smiled, and just like that the conversation was over. Her group went back to what they were doing, talking and trying to rescue laptops. Derek stood stunned for a few moments before he gathered his wits enough to walk out of the store.

Xxxx

"How was the first day of school?" Laura asked from her spot on the couch, her feet up on the armchair. It was hell. "It was fine." He replied, looking at the Chinese food she had in her hands. "Where am I supposed to sit?" Laura was taking up both the couch and the armchair. She silently pointed at the floor.

Six hours and four episodes of Drop Dead Diva later, and Derek was finally reading to talk about it. He shifted her feet off his lap, and turned to face her. She began to whine, but quickly fell silent at the look on his face. She hopped up and disappeared into the kitchen, returning immediately with a carton of ice cream and two spoons. "Bowl." He reprimands, but she waves it away.

"Tell me everything."

He takes a deep breath, and everything rushes out. "I met someone, and—"

"Hang on, hang on. You met someone?! It's what, the first day of school?" Her eyes narrowed. "It isn't the teacher, is it?" He gagged, thinking of Mr. Harris. "Ah, no. Definitely not!"

"Good." He knew she was remembering Kate, who had been a substitute his first year of college. She seemed satisfied with this, and nestled further into the couch, waiting for him to continue.

"Okay, so I was at the café, you know the one on Hawthorne? And these kids behind me were being really loud, and—"

"Wait, when you say kids, you mean—"

"Yes, teenagers!" He huffed his annoyance. "Don't go all caveman on me! I'm still bigger than you!" She swatted him with a throw pillow.

"Laura, seriously?"

"Right, sorry. Go on."

"Anyway, they were really noisy, and clumsy, so I decided to leave, but I bumped into this girl, and she got really upset, so I offered to buy her coffee, and all of her friends started yelling at me and must have thought I was hitting on her, because her cute friend stood up and said that she was taken, and—"

"Wait, did you like the girl, or her friend?"

"The friend! The girl was okay, I guess, but never mind!"

"So, I apologized, and left. But I swear Converse was judging me the whole time." Laura blinked at him.

"You named her friend Converse?"

"I needed to use something, and as they didn't really seem in a hurry to give me their names, I picked that," he crossed his arms defensively. "What do I do?" Laura was too busy laughing to answer.

"Laura!" He whined. "I don't know anything about those kids, and we kind of got off to the wrong foot, I want to fix things!" Laura gave him a scrutinizing look. "You mean you want to see that friend again, and find out if—" he cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Just give me some advice!"

"Okay, go back to the café every day, and if you see 'Converse' or any of their friends, go over and apologize profusely, then ask your crush out,"

Derek rolled his eyes, "You make it sound so…"

"Easy?"

"I was going to say elementary school, but that works too."

She stuck her tongue out. "Bitch."

"Jerk."