Thanks for all of the reviews! You guys are awesome! I do not own anything in this chapter, besides Maddie, everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Chapter 8

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Maddie was at her locker getting ready to leave school. She was dreading going home, especially today. Tonight was the parent-teacher conference, and she knew that she hadn't gotten a good grade in her math class. She had really tried, but she just didn't understand it at all. She was a little worried about her chemistry grade too, but not as much as she was about her grade in math. She just knew that she would be getting another punishment by the end of the night. She jumped a mile when someone tapped her shoulder. She spun around on her heels to find that it was just Stiles, who was holding his hands up in surrender. "Hey! Whoa, I didn't sneak up on you, Mads. Put the dukes away." he said out to her in rush as he took a step away from her.

She let the breath that she had been holding free from her mouth, lowering her arms as well as she leaned against the lockers. She wanted to tell him that she was just scared, but the words never made it up to her lips. "Sorry, Stiles. I'm just on edge today, I guess. The parent-teacher conference is tonight and I have to go." was what came out of her mouth instead. He gave her a puzzled look, not knowing what had put her on edge. He didn't know about her fear of having bad grades, he had just always thought it was because she was one of those weird kinds of kids who freaked over grades. If anything, he probably thought that she was upset over the latest cougar attack at the video store just the other night.

Stiles knew better, he knew that there was no cougar. He knew what it really was, and he was glad that Maddie didn't. He hated lying to her about Scott's werewolf secret, but he knew that it was only protecting her. "Oh, um, uh, yeah. Right." he said out nervously as he rubbed the back up his neck awkwardly. "So, um, big sixteenth birthday is coming up, Mads! You prepared for the big surprise Scott and me are gonna do for you?" he said to her with forced excitedness. He had just really wanted to change the subject. She shot him a look as she slammed her locker shut. He knew that she hated celebrating her birthday. Stiles groaned and rolled his eyes at her look. "Oh, come on, Mads. You can't seriously hate your birthday, especially not this year." he said out to her, trying to get her excited with him.

It clearly wasn't working, because she still wasn't smiling, let alone acting the least bit interested in what he had to say to her. He would never understand why she hated her birthday so much, and she knew that he never would. He didn't know the trouble she'd gone through every year just to get through her birthday alive. For some reason unknown to even her, her dad hated her birthday even more then she did. Stiles and Scott were both very strange about birthdays, though. They always made a bigger deal out of them then she would have ever imagine anyone else. "It's not different from any other year, Stiles." she told him as she pushed herself off of her locker and started walking down the hallway, Stiles following on behind her.

To Stiles, a birthday was a big thing, especially when said birthday was her's. He made it his job since she never made a big deal for it, to make the biggest deal about it for her. He had even gotten Scott to help him in past years. "Come on, Mads! It's your sixteenth birthday! You have to be a little excited. Scott and me? We're going to take you out for the fanciest dinner that you have ever seen before. You just have to find something pretty to wear, and we'll take care of all the rest." he told her as they turned the corner together. She was trying to speed up her pace, just wanting him to get the hint. This was Stiles though, he never got the hint. "We can even bring along that boyfriend of yours. What's his name again? Oh, right, Isaac! Yeah, we'll bring him too." he continued on.

Maddie suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She spun around fast on her heels, her confusion clear on her face. Where would Stiles get the idea that she and Isaac were together like that? They were just friends. Granted, they were closer then her and Stiles were in the short amount of time they've been hanging out, but they were still just two close friends as far as she knew. "Isaac and I are just friends, Stiles. Why would you think he was my . . . my boyfriend?" she asked him, stumbling slightly on the 'b' word. She found herself suddenly flustered at the idea of Isaac being her 'boyfriend'. It wasn't that long ago that they were talking about her ever wanting one. Not specifically him, but a boyfriend in general.

Stiles rolled his eyes at her, obviously not buying into it. He had seen her and Isaac sneak away during the last game. He hadn't been able to bring it up to her until now, though. From the sudden blush on her face, he knew that something had to have happened. "Well, the fact that I saw you two sneak off during the last game was a clue, and then now he's giving you rides home on his bike is another one." he listed off just a few of the things that he had noticed over the past couple of days, weeks if he counted the game. "Oh, and then there's the fact that I can't, you know, bring him up without you blushing." he told her before pausing, as if he was just realizing something. "You know what, Mads? I don't think I've ever seen you blush before." he continued on to point out to her with a knowing look in his eyes.

She just rolled her eyes at him, he didn't know how far off he was. He must have missed the fact that her dad had followed her down to the locker room before Isaac did. Not that she particularly minded that he had missed that, but still, she didn't want him thinking that she was sneaking around with Isaac, for that kind of reason anyway. "Look, Stiles, Isaac and I are just friends. I-I don't want a boyfriend, you know that. I've got to go now, Isaac's probably waiting for me outside." she said out to him, accidentally letting it slip that Isaac was taking her home again. She heard Stiles laughter behind her and paused for a moment, regretting letting that piece of information slip out. She straightened out, taking a deep breath, and kept going forward, though.

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Maddie was hurrying down to the locker room. Isaac had texted to tell her that he was just grabbing something from his locker down there really quick. She was just getting to the locker room door when it suddenly opened. She jumped back, surprised to see Derek, of all people, coming out. "Um, wh-what are you doing here?" she asked him as she looked around for any sign of other life around. "Here, as in the school, I mean. Ar-aren't you a little old for, um, for high school?" she asked him as she took another nervous step away from him. Just because he drove her home that night, and got her out of her dad's striking distance for a few minutes, didn't mean that she suddenly felt anymore safe around him then she did the first time that they had met.

Derek looked her over quickly. She looked a lot better then she had the other night, mostly because of all the make up she was wearing to cover it up no doubt. He took a step forward, causing her to take another step back. She found herself hitting the wall opposite of the locker room door and a wave of panic went through her entire body. "Don't look so scared of me, Maddie. I just had some stuff to clear up." he told her as if he was just picking something up or something just as innocent as that. If only she knew that he was just basically threatening Jackson and scaring him to death. He chuckled softly to himself, actually finding scaring Jackson to have been really amusing for him. He noticed something strange on her leg then. It was the way her pant leg was ripped. It wasn't done by her purposely, or else he knew that both of them would have been ripped, not just the right one. He could smell a different scent on it too. "Your jeans, who ripped them?" he asked her. He hadn't even meant to ask her, but it had just came out.

Maddie didn't like the vagueness he had just tried to give her with what he was doing here, but it wasn't like she had expected him to tell her just everything that he was doing. Her eyes widened at his question. She looked down at her leg and saw the tare in them. She cursed under her breath, knowing that it must have been made the last time that she had worn them and her dad had given her a punishment. "Sorry, um, I have no idea what you're talking about." she lied to him, not knowing that he would tell that she was lying the second her heart sped up. He didn't call her out on it, though. They just stood there in an awkward silence for a minute. "Right, so, um, I'm just going to go now. My friend's waiting for me." she told him as she motioned to the door leading to the outside. She could always just wait for Isaac by the bike rack. She took just barely a step away from him before he caught her wrist, pulling her to a stop. She hissed in pain at the action, her eyes looking back at him now frightened.

He felt like he needed to know for some reason. It was like he needed to know who was hurting this girl so he could hurt them back in return. He didn't know why he felt the need to protect this one girl, a girl who meant nothing to him, but he did. It was he felt responsible for her well being almost. She reminded him a lot of his sister when they were younger. She had always tried to pretend that she could handle what she was getting, but she never really was. She needed help, but she never got to realize that in time. "Is that guy from the gas station still bothering you?" he asked her.

Her eyes widened at the mention of her dad, and he knew that just by mentioning the man, that he had frightened her. That alone gave him the answer that he was looking for. The shake of her head had just confirmed it for him. She had hoped by giving him the answer, that he would let her go, but he hadn't moved to do so. He wasn't going to be letting her go, and his grip was starting to hurt her. "I'm not lying. Ju-just let me go." she told him, suddenly frightened of him now. His eyes widened when he saw something familiar in her eyes. His sister had given him the same look dozens of times before, and the look hit a nerve with him, causing his grip to tighten on accident.

"Maddie?"

Derek immediately let her go at the sound of the voice. Maddie backed up away from him as she held her sore wrist to her chest. She looked over then, thanking what ever god that was looking out for her just this once, to see that it was Isaac. He slowly edged his way over to her, keeping his nervous eyes on Derek. "Yo-you okay?" he asked down to her softly as he got to her side. She gave him a small nod as she moved behind him slightly, as if she thought that he would keep her safe. He felt his heart soar up high upon realizing that, but he felt instantly bad when he remembered that he didn't have a chance at protecting her against anyone.

The older man studied them both for a minute. This was the kid that he had seen in the window that night when he dropped her off. He could still feel the jealousy coming off of him now. He was still jealous of him, a man that he didn't even know. The thought alone make him chuckle. "You're the kid from the window." he said out, holding in his chuckle when he saw the boy burn up with a blush. He saw something that he wouldn't have expected to happen then. Maddie had grabbed a hold of the kid's hand, as if she was comforting him. "Are you two . . ." he trailed off as he motioned between them, obviously hinting at the two being an item. The two shared a quick nervous look before they both blushed and moved away from each other, their entwined hands dropped to their own sides.

Their eyes both avoided looking over at the other, giving Derek his answer. He chuckled to himself, knowing that he had just created an awkward moment for Maddie and the window kid. "Well, it seems like your boyfriend has everything under control from here, so I'm going to leave now." he said out to them, not even caring to hide his chuckle now as he saw them blushing even more. "See you around, Maddie." he said back to her with a smug little grin before walking off with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket. Isaac watched him for a minute before looking down at Maddie to see her still watching Derek's retreating form. He mentally panicked, once again thinking that even if she wasn't ready for dating, that she might be interested in this Derek guy.

When Derek was completely out of sight, she looked up at Isaac and gave him a small grateful little smile. She had been caught off guard by Derek, and Isaac had helped her out just like it seemed he was always doing lately. "Thanks, Isaac." she said up to him as she reached down and took a hold of his hand again. She liked feeling his hand wrapped around her's, it felt . . . right, somehow. It felt like when he was holding her hand, she could do or say anything to him and he wouldn't judge her. He was a safe place for her, and that was all that she ever wanted.

He looked down at her, his expression being one of amazement. It was like he was blown away by the fact that she had reached for his hand again. "N-no, um, no problem." he said out nervously to her as his cheeks darkened from his blush and a weak smile twitched up on his lips. He couldn't help but feel like all of his insides were exploding with happiness. "So, um, should we, you know, get, um, get going then?" he asked her when he realized that they weren't doing anything but just standing around. She just nodded her head and let him pull her along as they headed out towards the door that led outside. They both knew that they could just sneak around from there to get to the bike rack quicker. Neither seemed to realize that their hands were still entwined together. "So you were watching me that night?" she giggled as they walked down the hallway

He looked down at her and blushed like mad, not knowing what to say to that. He opened the door for her and let her go first. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully, something she never thought that she would ever do, and slipped past him. He chuckled and followed after her, blushing but thankful that she hadn't pressed further on the window comment. The two found his bike with no problem. As he unlocked it and got it set to go, the two were laughing about nothing and everything until they were ready to go. Once he was all set, she hopped on behind him like usual and then they were off to head home.