06; You Remind Me

After practice was over and all the guys headed to the locker room to shower and change, Cassidy spoke to Allison for a few minutes before making her way toward the locker room to wait for Isaac.

She stood in the empty hallway with her arms folded across her chest and laid her head against the wall. She felt like if she had to wait any longer she would honestly fall asleep.

After running around in the woods with Scott and Stiles for most of the night, then being worried about Scott the rest of the night, she didn't get much sleep the night before.

As the seconds tick by she felt her eyes begin to close, she quickly snapped them open when she heard the door open. She straighten up and turned her head toward the door, hoping it was Isaac, but instead fought back a groan when she saw it was Jackson.

"Let me guess, waiting on your loser friends?" Jackson snapped when he saw her. He was still pissed about how good McCall was during practice and figured she was an easy target.

"No, waiting on Isaac." Cassidy answered without thinking, then silently cursed herself. She should have know better than to answer him, now he would have something smart to say and she was right.

"Oh, wow, moving on to the grave digger now." Jackson said, then added as he acted like he was in deep thought,"He does seem about your type. A loner loser."

Cassidy rolled her eyes and looked down at the floor, trying to ignore him and his comments. She could try to argue with him, tell him that Isaac seemed like a good guy and he should leave him alone, but it would do no good and she just didn't have to energy to fight with him again today.

But Jackson was in the mood to fight as he continued,"But looks like you have been dumped again."

"What?" Cassidy asked as her head snapped up and she looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah, Lahey already left." Jackson explained. "I guess he saw in you what I did a lot quicker and ran for the hills." He said, taunting her.

As much as she hated to admit it, his comment got to her as she felt tears fill her eyes. Without a word, she turned away from him and went to walk away, but before she could take a step, he threw his arm out, laying his hand on the wall near her head, stopping her from walking away.

"Aw where you going? We were just getting started." Jackson said sarcastically as he shot her a smug smile when he saw her watery eyes and knew he was getting to her.

Cassidy took a deep breath, refusing to let any tears fall from her eyes, she also refused to waste her breath talking to him. Instead she pushed against his arm, trying to push it aside so she could walk away, but Jackson was just as stubborn as her and refused to move his arm and let her leave.

He opened his mouth to taunt her again, but before he could say a word, the locker door opened again as Stiles and Scott walked out and witnessed the scene in front of them.

"What's going on?" Scott asked as he looked at Cassidy, he could tell she was close to losing it, but was trying to remain strong.

"Just having a little chat." Jackson answered with a shrug of his shoulders, like they were just two old friends catching up, but Scott and Stiles knew better than that.

Scott took a step toward them, surprising himself and Jackson, normally he wasn't brave enough to stand up to Jackson, but today he was, although he didn't know what had changed. Maybe he was on a high from kicking butt on the lacrosse field, he wasn't sure, but either way he could tell Cassidy wasn't comfortable talking to Jackson and he wanted to do whatever he could to help her.

"She doesn't look like she wants to talk to you, so I think you should let her go." Scott said, shooting Jackson a dirty look.

"Yeah, let her go." Stiles added as he took a step forward but stayed behind Scott. He wanted to help Cassidy, but he also didn't want to get his ass kicked today.

Jackson looked at the two boys and chuckled, he was almost impressed with them for standing up to him, key word being 'almost'.

He removed his hand from the wall and took a quick step toward the boys, causing Stiles to mumbled out a 'oh God' as he jumped back, almost tripping over his own two feet.

Jackson smirked at the boys and threw out his arms as he said,"She's all yours, but trust me when I say, she's not worth it."

Stiles clenched his jaw as he watched Jackson walk away, he hated when Jackson said things like that about her and he wished there was something he could do, he wished he could stand up to him and defend her honor, but he knew he could never go against Jackson and live to tell about it. The bigger boy would kill him in a second.

"You okay?" Scott asked her once the three friends were alone.

"Yeah, just typical Jackson stuff. I'm use to it." Cassidy answered as she turned her head and wiped at her eyes. She didn't want the boys to know how much Jackson's comments really affected her.

"You sure?" Stiles asked her, wishing he could just hold her and show her how amazing she was.

"Yeah, I'm fine guys, but thanks." Cassidy said, flashing them a fake smile. "Is Isaac still in there?" She asked them, she knew Jackson said he had left, but she also knew Jackson had a habit of lying to her.

"Why?" Stiles asked, hoping he didn't sound as jealous as he felt.

"We were going to meet up after practice and get started on our project." Cassidy answered.

Scott shook his head, then said,"No, he left earlier. He got a phone call then grabbed his stuff and bolted out of there."

"Oh, well, guess we'll meet up later then." Cassidy mumbled. Strangely she felt disappointed that he stood her up, she wasn't sure why though. It was probably because she had really wanted to get started on the project. That had to be the reason, right?

"Well now that you don't have any plans, you can hang out with us." Stiles pointed out happily.

"And what are you two up to?" Cassidy asked as she eyed the two boys, knowing them, they were probably about to do something they shouldn't.

"We're going back into the woods." Stiles answered with a grin.

"'Cause running around the woods looking for half a body once wasn't enough?" Cassidy asked sarcastically.

"Oh that's right, you haven't heard the latest because you just had to rush to your class this morning like a little nerd." Stiles shot back with a laugh.

"I'm not a nerd." Cassidy argued, then asked,"What's the latest news?"

"I found the body." Scott answered her.

"Really? Ew! I bet it was ew, right?" Cassidy asked as she wrinkled up her nose.

"Yes, it was very ew, I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life now." Scott answered with a shudder.

"You two are too soft." Stiles said, shaking his head in shame at his two friends.

"No you're just weird." Cassidy shot back, causing Scott to nod his head in agreement.

"Whatever, you two know you would have a dull life without me." Stiles argued back.

Scott and Cassidy looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders as he said,"Hm, I guess he's right."

"Yeah I guess so, I mean just think of all the trouble we would not get into if it wasn't for him." Cassidy said to Scott sarcastically.

"You two know I'm still standing here and can hear everything you say, right?" Stiles asked.

"Oh right, sorry, we didn't see you there, Stiles." Cassidy joked as she laughed along with Scott.

"Ha-ha, you two are so hilarious." Stiles said, rolling his eyes at them.

Scott chuckled for a few more seconds then looked at Cassidy as he asked,"So are you going with us or what?"

"I don't know, I should probably just go home and get started on my homework." Cassidy said. She would love to hang out with her friends, but she was always raised that school came before fun.

"Today was the first day, Cas, how much homework could you possible have?" Stiles asked with a laugh.

"Well not much, but-"

"Come with us then." Scott said, interrupting her.

"Oh, I know!" Stiles called out as an idea hit him. "We'll lift the camera ban and you can take pictures while we're in the woods." He added, hoping to tempt her into going.

After she got into photography a few years ago, she always had a camera with her, forcing the boys to take picture after picture after picture, until they forbid her to ever bring it around them again.

"Seriously? The ban is lifted?" Cassidy asked happily.

"Just for today and you can't take pictures of us, only trees, birds or whatever." Scott pointed out.

"That's right." Stiles agreed, then added,"We are not having a repeat of my thirteenth birthday, you took so many pictures of us, we couldn't see straight for a whole week."

Cassidy rolled her eyes, then said,"Whatever, it wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad? I got a tiny scar on my chin when I fell going down the stairs and slammed into the floor." Stiles argued as he pointed to his chin.

"A; that is not a scar." Cassidy said, taking a step toward him and looking at where he was pointing. She took a step back then added,"And b; you tripped because you're clumsy, not because I took a picture of you."

Stiles opened his mouth to argue back, but Scott spoke up before he could,"Okay you two that's enough. If we're going, then we need to go now, I got work later."

Scott didn't wait for either one of them to say anything as he turned and began to walk down the hallway, he couldn't help but laugh as they continued to argue as they followed along behind him. Sometimes they already argued like an old married couple, it made him wonder what would happen if they ever did date.

•••

Many minutes later, the three friends finally made their way back into the woods they were in the night before. While Cassidy happily took pictures and Stiles was glancing around hoping to find the body, Scott was just hoping to find his inhaler. His mom would kill him if he lost that.

Luckily though, he had not needed it once today, which was another weird thing he had noticed about himself. Stiles was still surprised about how well he did on the lacrosse field, which was what the two boys were talking about as they made their way further into the woods.

"I don't know what it was. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball." Scott explained as the other two followed along behind him.

Stiles was listening closely to what Scott was saying, while all Cassidy could think about was how happy she was that she had a pair of tennis shoes in her car to change into, there was no way she could have made this trip in the black high heels shoes she had worn to school today.

"And that's not the only weird thing. I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things." Scott continued, which even got Cassidy's attention.

"Smell things?" Cassidy asked at the same time Stiles asked,"Like what?"

"Like mint mojito gum in your pocket." Scott said to Stiles. He waited until Stiles looked into his pocket and pulled out a piece of gum, that was indeed mint mojito. Then Scott looked at Cassidy as he said,"And I can smell your shampoo. Vanilla scent, right?"

Before Cassidy could answer, Stiles leaned toward her and sniffed her hair. "Nice, you smell like a sugar cookie." He said to her.

"Stop sniffing me, Stiles." Cassidy called out as she pushed him away from her. Even if she did like him, she didn't want him smelling her.

"See, told you guys, I can smell things." Scott said with a smug smile, once he realized he was right about both things.

"That doesn't mean anything though." Cassidy said, then added,"Stiles almost always has gum in his pockets and you probably got a whiff of my hair earlier when I walked by you."

"But what about the lacrosse stuff?" Scott pointed out.

"You worked hard over the summer and got better." Cassidy argued.

"I don't know, maybe you're right, but I just feel different. I can't explain it." Scott said, running a hand over his hair.

"So this all started with a bite?" Stiles asked him.

"Yeah. What if it's like an infection, like my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?" Scott asked with a worried expression on his face.

"You know what? I actually think I've heard of this." Stiles said, then added,"It's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?" Scott asked as he and Cassidy looked at Stiles, waiting for him to explain and hoped it wasn't anything too bad.

"Yeah, I think it's called..." Stiles began to say, then paused for dramatic effect before adding,"Lycanthropy."

Cassidy couldn't help but chuckle once she realized what Stiles was doing, but poor Scott, he still haven't caught on yet to the joke as he asked,"What's that? Is it bad?"

"Oh, yeah, it's the worse, but it's only once a month." Cassidy answered, trying not to laugh. As Scott looked down at the ground, Stiles shot her a grin, then quickly looked away as Scott looked back up and asked,"Once a month?"

Stiles and Cassidy both nodded their heads as Stiles added,"On the night of the full moon."

Cassidy couldn't hold back her laughter any longer when Stiles added in a little howl before laughing along with her. As the two continued to laugh, Scott scoffed at them and began to walk away from them.

Cassidy intertwined her arm with Stiles and pulled him along as they began to walk behind Scott. Even though she knew he didn't like the joke they played on him, she couldn't help but say,"It's okay though Scott, I'm not nice to be around once a month either, although I don't think chocolate will help you the way it helps me."

"Hey, there could be something seriously wrong with me." Scott snapped as he shot them both a look.

"I know, you're a werewolf!" Stiles said sarcastically as he made a growling noise, causing Cassidy to laugh out loud again until Scott shot them another dirty look.

She laid her hand over her mouth, hoping to hide her smile from him. Although Stiles wasn't ready to let the joke drop yet. "Okay, obviously we're kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Friday's a full moon."

Scott, finally having enough, decided to ignore his comment as he kneeled down and began to look around for his inhaler once he made it to the place he was at the night before, although this time there was no body or inhaler lying around.

"I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler." Scott said out as he continued to look around.

"Maybe the killer moved the body." Stiles suggested as he began to help him look around.

As the two boys continued to look around, Cassidy tuned them out and began to snap a few pictures of the trees that were around them.

She zoomed in her camera when she saw a black bird sitting on a branch, she had just took a picture of it when it decided to fly away. She kept the camera on it, taking a few pictures as it flew across the bright blue sky.

Once the bird was out of sight, she continued to look out of the camera as she brought the camera back down toward the ground. She gasped in surprise and pulled her camera away from her face when she saw an unfamiliar man standing a few feet in front of her.

Stiles, hearing her gasp, turned around and quickly hit Scott on the arm, getting his attention as the three friends looked over at the dark haired man. He mainly looked at the two boys as he harshly asked,"What are you doing here?"

The three friends looked at each other, none of them brave enough to answer, as he continued,"This is private property."

"Uh, sorry man, we didn't know." Stiles said, speaking up first.

"Yeah, we were just looking for something..." Scott began to say, but before he could finish, the guy reached into his jacket pocket and tossed something over to Scott, he looked down in surprise when he saw it was his inhaler.

"You got what you came for, now leave." He said angrily.

"We-We really are sorry." Cassidy said, finally finding her voice.

Derek glanced over at the girl, really looking at her for the first time and lowered his eyebrows in confusion. She reminded him a lot of someone, but he knew it couldn't have been her. He took a step toward her, causing her to take a quick step back, then asked,"Who are you?"

"Cass-Cassidy Miles." She stuttered out nervously as he continued to stare at her, making her feel uncomfortable.

When he heard her last name, he suddenly knew why she looked so familiar to him; she was Parker's little sister. She looked a lot how Parker did at her age and he couldn't help but flashback to one of the last time he saw Parker.

They had skipped school to hang out in the woods, something they often did during their relationship. Sometimes he felt like that was a different lifetime ago, back when he could have fun, be carefree and in love.

Eight Years Ago

Parker giggled and kept looking behind her, trying to see where Derek was as she ran through the woods. Even at sixteen years old, they still loved to play hide and seek in the woods, just like they did when they were younger.

It was especially fun for Parker because even though Derek had an advantage to finding her, she was determined to trick him one day and finally win the game.

She slowed down to a walk and glanced behind her again. She didn't see him, but she knew he wasn't too far behind. She quickly hid behind a huge tree and tried to slow down her heart and breathing the way Derek and Laura had always showed her.

She knew as long as Derek couldn't hear her heart racing, she might have a chance at winning this time.

Only she wasn't as tricky as she thought, when Derek snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he called out,"Gotcha."

Parker jumped and squealed out as she turned around to face him. "Man, I really thought I was going to win this time. I left my coat a mile back and even backtracked a couple of times, hoping to throw you off."

"Well sorry to tell you, but it didn't work, I could still pick up your scent." Derek informed her.

"Mark my words, Derek, one of these days, I will trick you." Parker warned him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Or you could just stop making me chase you." Derek shot back.

"But the chase is the best part." Parker pointed out.

"Mark my words, Parks, one of these days, I'm going to catch you..." Derek said, copying her from earlier, then added seriously,"And when I do, I'm never letting you go."

Parker opened her mouth to argue with him, but before she could say a word, he pressed his lips against hers, shutting her up. She melted into his arms as he pulled her body closer to his.

It wasn't that she didn't care about him or wanted to be with him, because she did, all she wanted was to be with Derek Hale, but she knew her dad had a different plan for her life and until she turned eighteen, she had to do with he wanted.

After she turned eighteen, she would use her college fund that he had saved since she was a baby to start the life she wanted and that life started with being with Derek, but until that day happened, she didn't want to get attached to him just in case things didn't go according to plan. The last thing she wanted was to lose him, she didn't think she could handle that at all.

•••

In the end she was right to hold back, because a few weeks later the horrible Hale house fire happened and Derek left town. She kept in touch with Laura, but she never saw him again. Then a few years later, she too left town, broken hearted, to attend college and start the life her father had planned for her.

She wasn't happy, but she kept herself busy to keep herself from thinking about him or at least that was what Laura would tell him. Laura always hoped Derek would go after Parker, but happy or not, she had a life and he didn't want to mess that up, besides he wasn't the same guy now that he was eight years ago, he figured it was best to let her go.

Cassidy took another small step back as he continued to stare at her, she thought about just turning around and running away, but she could never leave Scott and Stiles behind.

A small gasp left her lips when Stiles appeared by her side and lightly grab her hand, letting her know he was there for her. He could tell she was starting to freak out and even though he wasn't strong enough to do much to protect her, he could at least try to comfort her, which seemed to work since she flashed him a grateful smile.

Derek finally came to and shook his head, pushing all thoughts about his past from his mind. He didn't want to be reminded of what could have been. He had more important things to take care of now and the first thing? Getting these teens off of his property.

"Stay off of my property." Derek snapped at them before turning around and walking away.

Once he was gone, the three teens released the breath they had been holding, none of them knew what the his problem was, but figured it was best to listen to him or at least that's what Cassidy and Scott thought, Stiles was too busy freaking out about who they just met.

"Dude, that was Derek Hale." Stiles pointed out as he looked at his two friends. He had always heard stories about the Hale family, but had never met any, since the fire happened that killed most of them. "You two don't remember? He's only a few years older than us." He added.

"Remember what?" Scott asked.

"His family. They all burned to death in a fire years ago." Stiles explained.

"Poor guy." Cassidy mumbled while deep in thought. She remembered years ago, she had come across her sister's diary and even though she knew she shouldn't have, she read a few pages and read about some guy named Derek that Parker was in love with. She wondered if this was the same Derek, they looked to be close in age.

"I wonder what he's doing back." Scott wondered out loud.

As Cassidy shrugged her shoulders, Stiles lifted up her arm to look at her watch, he swore when he saw how late it had got. "Damn it, I got to get home." Stiles called out as he dropped her arm and began to walk through the woods.

"But you're suppose to take me to work." Scott argued as he and Cassidy walked along behind him.

"I know but this took longer than I thought and I got to get home before my dad does." Stiles said, never once slowing down.

"Since when do you have a curfew?" Cassidy asked, confused. She knew his dad hardly ever gave him a time to be home, unless of course Stiles got into trouble, which he tend to do often.

"After our little adventure last night, he's not that happy with me." Stiles explained.

"Ah, that makes sense." Cassidy said with a laugh.

"But how am I going to get to work?" Scott asked out with a worried expression.

"Don't worry, Scotty, I'll take you on my way home." Cassidy offered as the three teens made their way out of the woods and over toward the two parked cars, Stiles' Jeep and Cassidy's SUV.

While Scott headed toward the car and sat down in the passenger seat, Cassidy walked over toward Stiles, who was opening the driver side door of his Jeep. She didn't know what had come over her, but she felt like maybe it was time. Time to finally make a move.

"Hey, um, Stiles?" Cassidy called out as she lightly touched his shoulder to stop him.

"Yeah?" Stiles asked as he turned around to face her.

"Thanks for earlier. I mean, that guy was kind of creepy but having you by my side helped." Cassidy said, reaching out to grab his hand, giving it a small squeeze.

"You, uh, you're welcome." Stiles said, suddenly finding it hard to breath as she took a step closer to him.

He knew this was it, this was his chance to make a move, to ask her out, let her know he liked her or something, but instead of saying anything, he just opened and closed his mouth a few times. He was having a hard time forming a word with her standing so close to him.

Cassidy watched him closely as he tried to talk, she bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling at how cute he looked. She was hopeful that the cause of his nervousness was because he liked her the way she liked him.

If that was true, here was his perfect chance to ask her out. She was putting herself out there, all he had to do was ask, instead her heart dropped when he finally stuttered out,"I-I gotta go."

Cassidy let go of his hand and took a step back as he quickly turned around, slamming into the car door, before opening the door and jumping into the driver's seat.

She couldn't help but feel disappointed as she watched him drive away. For a moment she had thought he liked her back, but guys didn't usually race away from the girls they liked and Stiles acted like he couldn't get away from her fast enough, which only meant one thing, he didn't feel the same.

She quickly looked behind her when Scott blew the horn and waved for her to come over. She took a deep breath and slowly released it before she turned around and headed toward her car with a fake smile on her face.

She wasn't going to lie, it hurt to know Stiles didn't feel the same, but it wasn't like it was the first time she had been hurt and she knew it wouldn't be the last. She was going to try not to let it get her down, she was going to get through the day with a smile on her face, then hopefully day by day the hurt will slowly go away and then if she was really lucky, one day her prince will come.

•••

A/N; Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to GothicChickxxxx, TeamBlaus4EVER, Cupcakelover56, Sam0728, Lauren, HiddenSmallTownGirl, weekendrusher, Persephone Price, Phoenix, DiaDeLosMuertos, xmalexfanx and Writteninthestars08 for reviewing.

Happy reading!
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