Chapter Seven
"Rejected"

"Get in, loser! We're going shopping!" Lydia called from her car. I laughed and clambered in next to Allison. I'd asked if Erica could come along too and they'd happily agreed. She was sat at the front with Lydia, laughing along. According to Allison, until recently last school year, Erica had been very shy and solitary and even now she was usually only comfortable with either Isaac, Boyd and Stiles. I was glad Erica was starting to feel more comfortable around us after I'd spoken to her, because, really, spending too much time with those guys was damaging. She hadn't said a word about it to anyone else, but she'd been totally supportive of me and in just the short space of this week she'd been to my house for dinner two times.
"Not that Mer needs any other clothes, Miss I've-got-a-closet-worthy-of-a-celebrity." Lydia continued.

Allison snorted. "Like you can talk!"

"Well, whatever, we're still in dire need of Halloween outfits. Danny's party is only in two weeks!" she squealed. We'd organised a shopping trip- well, Lydia had organised a shopping trip to find an outfit for a Halloween party Danny Mahealani was hosting. I was happily surprised to be invited but was now slightly panicking over what to wear.

"So, I came up with some ideas. Allison you can go as zombie cheerleader and Scott can go with you as zombie lacrosse player."

"No! Scott and I aren't going together!" Allison protested. Lydia rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Okay fine! Jackson and I will go as the zombies. But I was thinking of going as Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, and Meredith going as Artemis, Maiden Goddess of the Hunt." Lydia said with a pout.

"That sounds like a great idea!" I said. "But instead, I think Erica should be Aphrodite, if you're not going to do it. She has the right 'crazy take me now' kind of gleam in her eye." I said.

"Hey!" Erica cried, smiling. We all laughed.

"Ok, and actually maybe Allison should be Artemis, because of all her archery stuff. But Mer you should totally be Athena!" Lydia said, starting to get excited again. Allison and Erica nodded eagerly.

"Ok."

When we got to the shops, Lydia led us round.

"Ok, so. Erica you need something bright and sexy that's eye catching. And we can do your hair all hot. Allison you need something blue or silver with loads of silver hair accessories. And Mer, you need to look extra hot if you're going to score avec Derek." Lydia said, waggling her eyebrows. I just scowled while Erica and Allison laughed. "That's a great impression of him actually. Maybe couples really do start to look alike."

"We aren't a couple! At all! We haven't spoken for ages!" I said. Lydia didn't reply, but I knew she wouldn't let it drop that easily.

"So, anyway. Mer, you need something white and long that shows of your skinny as hell legs and arms, and gold accessories. I have the perfect idea for your hair!"


We left the mall with bag upon bag of clothes. It was dark by the time we left.

"Hey, Mer. Do you wanna come to Derek's tonight? Scott just texted to say we're all getting pizza." Allison asked.

"Um, yeah ok. My mum won't mind. I'd like that." She smiled at me.

They drove through Beacon Hills and through to the woods. They turned off down a small road that lead to a run down house. "Derek lives HERE?" I asked. We were parked outside a large house, completely grey and charred. There were pieces of the floor missing on the porch and the wall was patched up by boards. There was one light coming from a downstairs window and through the grime on the glass I could make out Isaac, Stiles and Boyd. Lydia nodded.

"Yeah. It's all burnt and stuff because his family were trapped in a fire here a few years ago. Don't worry, since Isaac and Peter moved back in Derek's done a bit of refurbishing. There are three all right bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom with actual running water downstairs and the living room and kitchen." she said. Oh, Derek's family were dead? All in one go? That's got to be hard.

"Peter?" I asked.

"Oh, right, yeah. Peter's Derek's uncle, he's away on...business right now." she told me as Allison and Erica got out the car.

"Total creep!" sang Allison, and the other girls giggled. They lead me to the front door which they pushed open easily, into a large dark entrance hall, where a flight of stairs led upstairs. Suddenly, a figure dropped from the top of the stairs, right in front of us. I gasped in shock. Derek stood in the hallway.

"Show off." Erica muttered. He just frowned.

"What's she doing here?!" he barked, nodding towards me. Stiles, Isaac and Boyd appeared in a doorway.

"Hi guys! We're-" he broke off when Derek turned to glare at him.

"Who invited her?" he asked. I just stood there like an idiot.

"I did", Allison said defiantly. "We all want her here. You're just being stubborn."

"This isn't an open meeting! We're here for a serious matter."

"Let it go" said Stiles. "She's already here now, we can't just make her leave. And we can discuss-" he looked at me apologetically -"whatever another time." Derek sighed.

"Fine whatever. Do what you want." he growled, then vanished back up the stairs. The whole room rolled their eyes.

"Where's Scott and Jackson?" Lydia asked.

"Getting pizza." Boyd said. They all migrated to the lounge.

"Sorry about him, he's just an being an ass." Allison whispered to me. I tried to shrug it off, as if it didn't bother me. Inside I was crying. I knew she saw that but she let it drop.

"What're you guys playing?" Lydia asked, squeezing onto the couch between Stiles and Isaac.

"COD" Stiles practically grunted. They had already started playing a video game. Lydia rolled her eyes and switched the TV off. He turned to her.

"Hey!" he shouted. "If you weren't a girl, I would so hit you right now!"

She snorted. "Yeah right! You couldn't take me."

"Oh really?! You're just saying that because you know I'm not going to hit you."

Boyd snorted. "She could take you."

"Hey! Mer, who do you think would own in a fight. Me or Lydia?" He gave me puppy dog eyes. I laughed and sat on a cushion.

"Sorry but I'm gonna have to go with the odds. Lydia would beat the crap out of you." I said.

"Who's Lydia going to beat the crap out of?" Jackson asked as he walked through the door.

"Stiles." Allison told him.

He grinned. "I would PAY to see that!" Everyone laughed.

"Where's Derek?" Scott asked, placing a bag of pizza boxes on the coffee table. "Pizzas here."

"He's sulking." Erica told him, glancing at me.

"Oh. Ok." He said, as if that one glance explained everything. I huffed, suddenly feeling like an outsider. Allison sensed it and put an arm around my shoulder, smiling reassuringly.

"Mer, don't worry. Who knows what goes through Derek's head. He's just being Derek," she said. I nodded, and we all tucked into the pizza. The group broke into conversations, banter flying actions the group.

"Lovers spat?" Jackson asked me. Lydia hit him in the chest.

"Jackson!" she hissed at him.

"Ha-ha." I said dryly.

"Ok, what shall we play?" asked Stiles.

"We are NOT playing video games" Lydia stated. He sighed.

"Well what do you wanna do?" Scott asked.

"Let's play charades!" Allison suggested. All the boys groaned.

"Yeah!" Lydia agreed eagerly.

"Fine. But then we get to play Modern Warfare, ok?" Stiles said.

"Deal." Lydia said. "Girls versus boys." We each wrote something someone could act out and shuffled them up. Nearing the end of the game, the girls were winning five- two. Scott was up next. He looked at his card then frowned quizzically. He got on the floor, hands curled into paws up by his face. He tutted his teeth.

"Bunny!" shouted Allison.

"Rabbit! Chipmunk! Cat! Dog!" cried Lydia.

"Wolf!" I joined in. "Werewolf!" I screamed.

"Time up." Jackson said, smirking.

"It was beaver!" Scott cried, frustrated.

"Werewolf?!" Stiles asked, turning to me.

I shrugged. "How the hell was I supposed to know what he was doing!"

"But werewolf? Seriously?!"

"Well how am I supposed to know what werewolves do?!" I asked. "Mr I'm an expert."

"I don't know, but they don't do THAT!"

"Oh, scared I'm going to find out about your secret identity? Stiles, werewolf man!" I said, laughing.

"Are you a werewolf, Stiles?" I realised the whole room was silent, and everyone was staring at me as if I'd just told them Hitler was my mum. My face fell. "What?" I asked them. They all shifted uncomfortably.

"You ARE a werewolf Stiles!" I cried.

"What are you doing?" Derek snapped from the doorway. I hadn't realised he was there, and we all turned to look at him, his face dark.

"Playing charades." Lydia told him, innocently.

"Did you tell her?!"

"No! Do you think we're idiots?!" Scott said.

"Um, tell me what guys?" I asked. "Is Stiles really a werewolf?" I asked jokingly. Allison shot me a 'shut up' look.

"Well, I personally think she has a right to know. She can't keep hanging around with us without knowing anything. She'll think we are keeping secrets from her." Lydia said.

"We are keeping secrets from her." Stiles pointed out. I stayed quiet. What were they talking about? I was officially scared.

"Are you guys in a gang?" I asked nervously.

"Why does everyone assume that?" Boyd asked.

"Well it's more likely than the truth." Stiles said.

"What is the truth?!" I snapped. "You can't just stand here in front of me discussing some big secret, and then expect me to wait for you to say something." They all turned to me, then back to Derek.

"Come on, Derek. I know you didn't want to get her involved in this, we underst-"Scott started, until Derek silenced him with a look.

"Fine. Tell her. You can all be responsible for the consequences. But just the essentials." he growled, then turned to me. "Don't ever tell anyone about this. If you do..." he trailed off threateningly. I nodded and he stormed back upstairs.

"Mer take a seat." Allison said. I did.

"Basically, last year, Scott got bitten by an animal. Turns out it was actually Derek's uncle, Peter. He's kind of a werewolf. At the next full moon, Scott turned," Stiles said, then paused gauging my reaction. I stayed silent, unsure whether this was some kind of joke. "He's um, kind of a werewolf. Anyway...long story short, Derek became the Alpha after he killed his uncle who went slightly cray-cray. He bit Jackson, Lydia, Isaac, Erica then Boyd. Lydia's immune and there was this big thing with Jackson, but apart from Allison, Lydia, you and me, everyone here is a werewolf. We're all part of Derek's pack. That's why last weekend we couldn't hang out with you- it was a full moon. Oh, and Peter kind of came back to life. But he's on our side now. I think." he finished, and I realised that this was all the explanation I was gonna get. I looked around the room, everyone's faces deadly serious. I had no idea what to say.

"Alpha?" I managed to choke out.

"Leader of the pack." Lydia supplied. I nodded, trying to take it all in.

"I need. I need...proof. For all I know, you guys are pulling a massive prank on the naive new girl." they nodded and Scott stepped forward. I watched as his face morphed, so it was half wolf- half human. His eyes flashed gold. Quickly, he turned back to his usual self, probably trying not to freak me out too much.

"We have advanced senses and strength, which is how I knew you'd been with Derek- I could smell his scent on you. It's how Erica's epilepsy got cured- we heal really quickly. It's why Derek and y-"

"-It's why Derek's such a jackass." Stiles broke in, sending Scott a warning look. I barely noticed it, trying to digest what they were saying.

"Can I please go home? I need to think..." I said. They all nodded.

"I'll take you." Stiles offered. I accepted and we climbed into his jeep after I'd said goodbye to everyone. Apart from Derek, who remained upstairs, even though he must have heard us leave. As we departed, I could have sworn I saw his figure in a darkened window upstairs. When I looked again, it was gone.


AN- So...MER KNOWS! ASDFGJKL. And what was Scott going to say before Stiles cut him off...? Thanks to all you guys who are reading this and to those who have favourited and followed this story! And to those who have taken the time to review, I LOVE YOU! Next chapter will be posted on friday! And it will feature the Halloween Party...and Derek's there. And another guy. Cue werewolf action and feels! ;D So until then...bye!