Chapter 1: Friendly Faces

Song:

Back of the Car by RAC

The pressures of high school had never gotten to Amber Wilson. Being one of the most popular girls at Beacon Hill, high school was a breeze for Amber. Her and her best friend, Lydia Martin, practically ran the school. The two girls were both beautiful and incredibly intelligent, although Lydia preferred for her high level of knowledge a secret due to the stupidity of her boyfriend, Jackson Whittemore.

Lydia was at a constant power struggle with her best friend. Though the two were equally as pretty and smart, the student body's lack of knowledge of Lydia's brains held her back in social status. Amber was hot and smart and most importantly, she was single. Every weekend, Amber would be with a different guy. The guys of Beacon Hills found her irresistible, which posed as a problem for Lydia simply because she couldn't stand how much more attention her best friend got.

Jealousy was Lydia's secret, but little did she know that Amber had one too. A big one.

Not only was Amber adopted, but it seems that her birth parents must have been werewolves. When she was twelve years old, Amber discovered that she was a werewolf. She struggled to keep this horrendous secret from her parents, but with the help from a very kind neighboring family, Amber learned to control her shifts and urges to kill. Transformations became easier. The Hales helped her in ways which she never thought were possible. Within months she learned to hide the monster within. It wasn't until the Hale fire, which killed almost all the members of the Hale family, that she began to slip away.

The progress Amber had made with the help of the Hale family was lost. Amber had to learn to control her animalistic instincts all on her own, as a meek twelve year old. However, she managed to maintain the secret from her parents. They assumed the changes in their adopted daughter was just emotional issues, resulting in them withdrawing Amber from school for two years.

As a sixth grader, she was fourteen years old, two years older than the rest of the kids in her grade. Luckily, the new change in Amber's behavior paid off because it caught the attention of miss Lydia Martin. With Amber's new found confidence, the two became best friends, inseparable ever since.

Lydia insisted on giving Amber a ride to school on their first day of sophomore year. From the moment they stepped out of the car, all eyes were on them, the queen bees of Beacon Hills High School. They strutted down the sidewalk, toward the double-doored entrance to the school. Stiles Stilinski's eyes widened as he spotted the two. He's had a massive crush on Amber for as long as he could remember. Being neighbors, they used to be fairly close, but since Amber had become part of the popular crowd, people like Stiles Stilinski and Scott McCall became invisible.

"Hey Amber," he began as her and Lydia walked by, not even glancing in Stiles' direction. "You look... like you're gonna ignore me." Amber and Lydia continued inside, as Stiles continued to be nonexistent in the worlds of the two queen bees.

The bell rang. Amber's first class of the day was English 10, which she was already late for. She shuffled into the classroom just as the teacher began speaking.

"As you all know, there indeed a body found in the woods last night. I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened." The teacher turned from the whiteboard to face Amber, who was standing in the doorway. "Miss Wilson, is it?" Her mouth perked up in a sarcastic smile. "In case you were unaware, the bell is the signal of the start of class, not just an obnoxiously inconvenient buzzing noise." The class scoffed with laughter. "You can take a seat next to... Mr. Stilinski in the back," he pointed to one of the only vacant desks. Amber made her way to her new seat as the teacher continued, "I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody," he turned to face the class after completing "Kafka's metamorphosis" on the board, "which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining this semester."

Suddenly the student sitting near Amber began to twitch, like something was hearing his ears. In the distance, with her heightened hearing, she could hear a cell phone ringing. "Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it," the girl picked up her phone. There was a pause as her mother spoke on the other end. "Everything except a pen. Oh my God, I didn't actually forget a pen"..."Okay okay. I gotta go. Love you," Then she hung up. Amber looked out the window, spotting the girl who she must've been hearing.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The principal approached her. She stood and began walking with him inside. "So you were saying San Francisco is where you grew up?"

"No, but we lived there for more than a year, which is unusual in my family."

"Well hopefully Beacon Hills will be a last stop for a while." Footsteps got louder as the classroom door was opened by the principal, followed by the new girl whose conversation Scott and Amber were overhearing. "Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Allison made her way to the now only empty desk, which was directly behind Scott, looking down at the ground the entire time. Before Allison even finished sitting down, Scott was turned around awkwardly offering Allison a pen. She gave a confused look for a brief second before smiling and graciously accepting his kind offer. "Thanks," Allison grinned.

Students flooded the hallway. Amber quickly made her way to Lydia's locker, where they always met to chat about the latest gossip or make plans for the weekend. She was throwing another legendary Amber Wilson party

"Who is that?" Lydia referenced to Allison across the hall. A smile was on Lydia's face.

"Allison Argent. She's new. We're in the same English class," Amber informed her best friend. But before she could get another word in, Lydia was off across the hall talking to Allison.

"That jacket is absolutely killer," Lydia complimented, "Where'd you get it?" Amber crossed the hall, joining the two as Lydia gushed like the fashion guru she is.

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco," Allison told Lydia.

"And you are my new best friend," Lydia grinned, temporarily forgetting all about her best friend of six years standing right beside her.

"Eh em," Amber cleared her throat, getting Lydia's attention, "She means our new best friend."

Just then Jackson swiftly approached Lydia, wrapping his arm around her. "Hey," she greeted him with a smile as he pulled her in for a brief kiss.

Stiles and Scott were watching the interactions of the popular crowd from afar.

"Can someone tell me how New Girl is here all of five minutes, and she's already hanging out with Amber's clique?" a girl asked Stiles and Scott.

"Because she's hot," Stiles answered, glancing over her shoulder at Amber, "Beautiful people heard together."

"So, Allison, this weekend I'm throwing a party," Amber told Allison.

"A party?"

"Yeah. Friday night. You should come," Jackson leaned against the lockers with all his weight in his arm.

"Uh, I can't. It's family night this Friday. Thanks for asking," Allison politely declined the invitation.

"You sure? I mean everyone's going after the scrimmage," Jackson continued to convince their new friend to attend.

"You mean like football?" Allison asked.

"Football's a joke in Beacon. The sport here's lacrosse. We've won the state championship for the past three years." The pride and arrogance was visible on Jackson's face.

Lydia played with Jackson's hair, "Because of a certain team captain."

Amber glanced over at Scott across the hall. She knew he could hear them. She had picked up the pungent wolf scent earlier in English, but she wasn't sure if Scott even knew he was a werewolf. The scent was strong, like he was recently turned. Keeping an eye on him would be essential.

"Well we have practice in a few minutes. That is, if you don't have anywhere else—"

"Well I was going to—" Allison was interrupted by Lydia's persistence.

"Perfect... You're coming," Lydia insisted, tugging Allison towards the lacrosse field.

The three girls took their seats on the bleachers.

"McCall!" Coach Finstock yelled to Scott.

"Yeah?"

"You're in goal," Coach tossed Scott the goalie's lacrosse stick. Scott was a bit confused.

"I-I've never played."

"I know. Scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing," Coach gently hit Scott's shoulder, "Get 'em energized, fired up!"

"What about me?" Scott asked, slightly upset.

"Try not to take any in the face," he lightly slapped Scott's face before turning to the rest of the team, "Let's go! Come on!"

Amber sat anxiously on the bleachers with her friends, waiting to witness Scott's soon-to-come confidence boost when he discovers that his reflexes had immensely improved.

"Who is that?" Allison asked Lydia and Amber, eyeing Scott McCall in goal. It then occurred to Amber that she didn't even know who this new werewolf kid was.

"Him?" Lydia confirmed as her gaze shifted to Scott. "I'm not sure who he is. Amber?" she asked, wondering if Amber knew any more about him than she did.

"No clue. Why?"

"He's in my English class," Allison said, obviously unaware that Amber was in that class, too.

As the whistle sounded, Scott furiously grabbed his ears. His senses were sensitive, due to the newness of his new wolf self.

Players were lined up to take shots. One player took a shot on Scott, who was still seizing over his sensitive ears. The ball flew at him, hitting his cage, right over his cheek. The team roared in laughter, but Scott was more alert how.

The next player took a shot. Scott swiftly moved his stick, catching the ball. He looked up from his stick, smiling in disbelief. Amber smiled, too, as she watched from the bleachers. She knew this would happen. Scott was catching shot after shot with complete ease.

"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison observed. Lydia raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, very good."

Jackson then shoved to the front of the line, scowling harshly at Scott. But that didn't seem to phase him. Scott quickly swiveled, catching Jackson's shot. Stiles jumped up, yelling and flailing his arms for his friend. Even Lydia cheered for Scott.

"That is my friend!" Stiles yelled to the crowd, overly excited.

The sound of rain pouring against the roof echoed through the Wilson household. Neither of Amber's parents were home; they both usually worked extremely late. Loneliness was something Amber was used to. She spent nearly two years by herself, with no other socialization besides her parents and doctors.

When Amber heard a knock on her front door, she assumed it was Lydia, but when she opened the door to find Derek Hale standing on her front porch, she stunned.

"Derek?" She couldn't believe her eyes. It had been about six years since she's last seen Derek Hale. They were relatively close when they were younger for the brief time they knew each other. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" he asked. Amber nodded, opening the door widely as he entered. Derek roamed the halls, observing every family photo hung on the walls, glancing into every room. "Is this your room?" he asked as he stood in the doorway of Amber's bedroom.

"Yeah."

Derek slowly walked into the large bedroom. The walls were painted light grey, the bedding a black and white floral pattern, dresser, desk, and nightstand painted white. Overall, Amber's room was fairly bland.

There was an unsettling look on Derek's face.

"What is it?" Amber asked.

"Your room reeks of sex" Derek let out a short uncomfortable chuckle, as he turned to face her.

"I have sex, because... it makes me feel..."

"In control?" Derek raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. How'd you know that?" Amber had never told anyone that. To anyone else, it would make her seem like a sex fiend.

"I don't know. It's just something you would do," he smiled as he took a seat on the bed, "You always loved being in control, even when we were young." Amber sat beside Derek.

"Derek, why are you back in Beacon Hills? Does it have something to do with the new wolf in my grade?" The silence made the air in the room seem dense. Derek didn't know how to tell her that Laura died. His sister was a role model to Amber; she sincerely looked up to her as a kid.

"There's a new Alpha. That's who bit your friend," he informed Amber, "Laura... she came back to Beacon Hills. Hunters killed her, Ambs. They sliced her in half to lure me and the new Alpha." He was upset. Amber gently rubbed his back in efforts of comforting him. Derek put up a rough exterior but Amber knew that beneath that he was damaged. Except for his uncle Peter, who was in a coma, his entire family was dead.

Amber leaned back, lying down on her queen sized bed. "Lay with me," she softly called Derek. Doing as she said, he joined her, Amber immediately nuzzling her head in his shoulder. "I'm glad you're back." Amber dozed off to sleep in Derek's arms.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! A LOT is going to happen in the next few chapters ;) Please please please review! Your opinions mean so much to me! The next chapter should be posted within the next week (and for those of you who read We Can't Handle this, the next chapter will be posted next week!) Love you guys! Don't forget to follow :)

love, Izzy xx