Chapter 2
"Hailey!" Stiles yelled to get her attention from across the dinner table.
Hailey jumped at the sudden sound. "What is it? You don't need to shout."
"I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes. What's wrong with you?"
Hailey shrugged. "Nothing just tired. You know first day of school and all." She nodded to his plate. "You finished?"
He pushed the plate back, nodding. "Yeah I am. Great dinner sis," he started to get up from his chair. "I'm just gonna go and do some, um, studying-"
"Oh no you don't." Hailey grabbed his arm before he could get too far. "I cooked. You clean. I'm going to go study. Leave dad's plate in the oven, he knows it's there so don't even think about eating it!"
She made her way to her room, pulling her school bag out as she did so. AP Chemistry, AP English, AP Physics, what had she been thinking when she let her teachers talk her into all these advanced classes.
Flopping down on her bed, she looked around the room, trying to delay as long as possible in starting her homework. Her room was filled with pictures, pictures of her friends, her family, photo's taken by her mother at her gymnastics competitions.
Hailey walked over to one of the shots, taken just after she had won first place at junior nationals. Her mother was already sick by this competition, you could see that along with the happiness in her eyes from her daughters win, there was also a deep sadness and pain. Hailey's eyes started tearing up thinking about her mother. It was always the way though wasn't it. Moira Stilinski had been a good woman taken from her family and friends too soon. Hailey knew her father was still not over it either. Theirs had been a true love and something that would always inspire Hailey.
Wiping her eyes Hailey went back to her bed and started her homework.
6 hours later, at 1am and Hailey was still awake. She couldn't sleep; it felt like her skin was too tight for her body. She had heard her father come home hours before, he'd gone through his nightly routine of eating dinner, watching a game, showered and gone to bed, and Hailey was still awake.
She could even hear her brother in the next room talking in his sleep as usual. Knowing she was not going to get to sleep while she felt like this, she pulled on her running gear, making her way quietly out of her room and down the stairs, she stashed her keys in one of the pot plants at the front door before taking off at a gentle pace.
The music of Jessie J blasting away in her ears helped Hailey just tune out and really get into the rhythm of her run.
In fact, she was so caught up in her running that her body had gone on autopilot for her route. She stopped when she realized where she was. In the woods, at night, the night after Scott had been attacked by some animal.
"Great work Stilinski." She muttered to herself. Looking around at where she was, she worked out that if she kept going the way she had been she would get out of the woods quicker than if she went back the way she had come.
Hailey turned back to continue on her way but was brought up short by a figure in the path, which started her heart pounding. All she could make out was that the person in front of her was male and large.
He started walking towards her, hands in his pockets. "It's a little late for a run isn't it?" a deep voice asked with a trace of displeasure in his voice.
Hailey frowned and started walking to him as well. "Derek?"
He walked into the light of the nearly full moon, allowing Hailey to realize that it was him. "What are you doing out here this late?" was all he asked.
Hailey sighed, trying not to stare. He was just too good looking! The moon was his best light, she couldn't help but think. The light played off the lines of his face and highlighted his eyes.
"I couldn't sleep." Hailey responded. "What about you?"
They were now face to face with only a few inches between them. "You shouldn't be out this late. It's not safe." He was all he said.
Hailey couldn't hold back a shiver at his voice. "I run this path all the time." She told him, forcing herself to step away from him. Her restlessness from earlier was gone and now she was just tired and there was a part of her that didn't want to leave anymore.
"Doesn't mean you should." He replied. "You need to go home." His voice turned harsh.
Hailey was puzzled by the change. "Okay, then, I'll just get going." She moved around him and started running again.
Derek started after her letting her get far enough ahead that she wouldn't know that he followed her home. It wasn't safe out here at the moment, he told himself, that's why he followed her home.
When Hailey got home, she was so tired that she was asleep practically before her head hit the pillow. She fell into such a deep sleep that she didn't remember her dreams. All she could remember were green eyes.
The next day while she was getting some books out of her locker, Stiles came running up to her like the hounds of hell were on his ass.
"Hailey!" He crashed into her, knocking her books all over the floor.
"Jesus, Stiles, calm down." She knelt down to pick up her things.
"I heard dad on the phone. They heard back from the lab, they found animal hairs on the body from the woods!"
"Shocking, considering she was found in the woods!" Hailey snapped back, she was really not in the mood for her brother today. That's why she had walked to school rather than ride in the car with him. What happened last night was still playing on her mind, she couldn't get Derek out of her head.
"Hailey, they found wolf hairs on the body!" Stiles grabbed her arm to get her attention. "Wolf hairs."
"Stiles." She stopped what she was doing to talk to her brother seriously. "Stop, we were joking. What you're thinking, stop it."
Stiles eyes widened and he threw his arms out. "How do you know what I'm thinking!"
She just looked at him. "I'm your sister, I know."
"Well then, you know that we need to look into this. We can't ignore it. That bite has completely healed. Something is going on here!" He turned and started running down the hall.
"Where are you going?" she called after him.
"Research!" Was all he said back.
"Guess I'm walking home as well."
"Hailey, Scott's coming over, you need to hear this as well." Hailey yelled from his room to his sister, just as the doorbell rung.
"I'm guessing that's Scott." Hailey grumbled going to wait in her brother's room to hear whatever he had come up with.
"Get in. You gotta see this thing. I've been up all night reading-websites, books. All this information."
Scott looked at him strangely. "How much Adderall have you had today?"
"Too much." Hailey muttered as her brother responded.
"A lot. Doesn't matter. Okay, just listen."
"Oh, is this about the body? Did they find out who did it?"
"No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale."
"Derek Hale?" Hailey piped up. "Why would they talk to him?"
"Oh, the guy in the woods that we saw the other day." Scott realized.
"Yeah! Yes. But that's not it, okay?" Stiles was getting even more excited.
"What, then?" Scott was starting to lose his patience Hailey could tell.
"Remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore." Stiles was getting serious. "The wolf–the bite in the woods. I started doing all this reading. Do you even know why a wolf howls?"
"Should I?"
"It's a signal, okay? When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack.
So if you heard a wolf howling, that means others could have been nearby. Maybe even a whole pack of 'em."
"A pack of wolves?" All Hailey was thinking was that she ran in those woods all the time and she had never seen or heard anything to say that there were wolves there.
Stiles turned to his sister. His eyes determined. "No–Werewolves."
"Are you seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking up Allison in an hour."
"Scott, maybe you should listen to him." Hailey advised. "He's been working on this all night."
"I saw you on the field today, Scott. Okay, what you did wasn't just amazing, all right? It was impossible."
"Yeah, so I made a good shot." Scott defended.
"No, you made an incredible shot, I mean– The way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. Y'know, People can't just suddenly do that overnight. And there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think I don't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore."
"You don't need your inhaler?" Hailey asked surprised.
"Okay! Dude, I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Scott I think we need to talk about this now." Hailey told him firmly, trying to bring down the vibe in the room. "It's a full moon tomorrow night Scott."
"What are you trying to do?" Scott yelled. "I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?"
"I'm trying to help. You're cursed, Scott. You know, and it's not just the moon will cause you to physically change. It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak." Stiles went on vehemently.
"Bloodlust?" Scott was confused.
"Yeah, your urge to kill."
"I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles."
"Hey," Hailey put in. "He's just trying to help Scott, you need to listen to him."
"You gotta hear this." He picked up one of the books from his desk and began reading, 'The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse.' All right? I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You gotta cancel this date." He went over and took Scott's phone out of his bag. "I'm gonna call her right now."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm canceling the date."
Scott snapped "No, give it to me!"
He pushed Stiles back against the wall, raising his fist as if to his him. Stiles stared at him in shock, before Scott pulled away and pushed Stiles chair across the room in anger his breath coming in short gasps.
Hailey just stood where she was, shocked that at what was happening.
Scott turned back to Stiles. "I'm sorry. I–I gotta go get ready for that party. I'm sorry."
Hailey and Stiles just looked at each other as he rushed out of the room, before Stiles went over to pick up the chair Scott has pushed away.
"What is it?" She asked him when he just stared at the chair.
Stiles just looked at her and spun the chair around for Hailey to see.
There were 3 long scratches in the leather. "We need to go to that party." Was all she said.
The party was in full swing by the time Hailey arrived. Stiles was going to head to Scott's house and wait for him there. Hailey knew that after their, altercation earlier that it might be better if she tried to talk some sense into him at the party, and failing that he would wait for him at his house. Besides Stiles would stick out like a sore thumb at this party.
So Hailey had gotten a lift from one of her friends Danny to get to the party so Stiles could have the Jeep. And because she had gotten that lift from Danny, they were not early to arrive to say the least. But she looked good, that was one of the advantages of having a gay friend, the clothing advice.
"How did I talk you into getting me to wear this?" She grumbled as they made their way into the house.
Danny scoffed. "Please, Hailey, you look hot. All that gymnastics did that body good."
Hailey had to laugh at that. In fact since she had stopped doing gymnastics, her body had changed, a lot. She'd lost much of the muscle that she had had, and had filled out, but she was still quite toned. Its just now she had curves in all the right places as one of the guys on the lacrosse team told her once, right before he tried to grab her ass and she had been forced to knee him in the, well, jewels.
"I've just gotta go look for someone. I'll catch you later. Thanks for the ride!" She called back as she made her way through the house looking for Scott.
It was when she was outside that she spotted Derek standing on the other side of the pool staring at a couple dancing. Hailey looked over and saw that it was Scott he was looking at. Scott was also staring back, a confused look on his face. After a few seconds of the two staring at each other his gaze switched from Scott's to hers and Hailey couldn't help but gaze back at him. There was a part of her that was just drawn to him, she couldn't explain it but it was scaring her a little.
Their gazes where broken by a dog suddenly barking behind him. She watched as Derek simply turned around and started at the dog, which quickly backed down and ran away. Hailey's eyes widened at the encounter, her mind working at a million miles and hour as they connected the dots. Derek here, staring at Scott while Scott was freaking out and running away from Allison.
Hailey shook herself out of her thoughts and took off after Scott, who looked like he was in pain.
She caught up to Allison on the driveway, just in time to watch Scott drive away in his car.
Hailey went to reassure Allison. "Hey, he mentioned he wasn't feeling well earlier. I'm Hailey by the way. Stiles sister."
"Allison." A voice, from behind the two girls. "I'm a friend of Scott's. My names Derek. Can I give you a ride home?"
Allison nodded, Hailey could tell she was a little hurt by what had just happened.
Hailey stared at Derek. What was happening here? Derek wasn't a friend of Scott's, they didn't even know each other as far as Hailey knew. She watched as the two walked away, knowing something was going on.
"Are you coming?" Derek asked turning back to her.
"What?" She asked, startled.
"I'm taking you home as well." He gestured to a sleek black camaro.
"Yeah sure, thanks." Hailey walked over to the vehicle pushing the seat back once Allison settled in the back.
