I was going to update this at the end of the week but I was too excited and already updated my other two stories so I figured that I might as well do this one as well.

Don't you worry, everyone, Cresswell is coming. (It's in this chapter).

Welcome to the second arc, everybody!

The Big Bad Wolf: Part One

"Thorne!"

That howl echoes in his ears, louder than his currently pounding heart. Thorne's legs move the fastest they have ever run in years. Well, he owes it all to having a purpose to run: he's currently being chased by Wolf. Thorne looks over his shoulder for a quick second to see how much of a distance he has from his current enemy. Wolf just glided over the fence that took Thorne five minutes to climb.

"Spades!" Thorne curses, continuing to run.

If his calculations are right, which they never are so he turns to his luck - if his impeccable luck is on his side then he should manage to outrun the big bad Wolf...or at least outsmart him.

-o-

"No, no, no!" Cress Darnel exclaims, slamming on her keyboard as her computer game shows the words 'game over' in big and bold letters.

Before hitting the restart button, Cress stretches her arms up, cracking her knuckles, elbows, and spine. If she wasn't wearing her headphones with loud music blasting in it, she would've winced at hearing the sound of her body cracking. Cress gets up, removes her headphones, and does some quick stretches and squats for her lower body. She takes a quick glance at the time and didn't realize how late in the afternoon it was.

If there's anything Cress has learned about sitting in front of a computer for endless hours on end playing games, it's that your body gets super stiff and you lose track of time easily.

Then Cress hears the loud banging on her door and jumps. The pounding on the door is constant and Cress is home alone, unsure of what to do. She immediately tiptoes out of her room, down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. For a moment, she thinks the knocking stops but when it starts again, she screams a little in addition to the jump. Cress' heart is racing as she covers her mouth, her arms shaking as sweat starts to form on her forehead.

"Please, open up!" The person knocking exclaims, a hint of desperation in his voice.

Cress grabs a frying pan from the cupboards and heads towards the front door where the pounding continues relentlessly. She takes a quick breath to calm her nerves, hoping that her inner badass ninja comes out to swiftly take care of this. In a second, Cress opens the door as she holds the frying pan high above her head. The person knocking swings the door open, causing Cress to fall back onto the staircase and drop the frying pan. The person quickly closes the door and locks it, closing the drapes of the neighboring windows. He takes a breath of relief as he turns around to face Cress.

"Thanks," he says.

Cress is speechless. Cress is in too much shock to say anything back. Cress' heart is racing for a whole new reason now.

The boy standing in her house right now is none other than her crush since pretty much forever: Carswell Thorne. The most dashing and suave boy she has ever seen is in her house right now.

"Hello, Cress," Thorne greets, barely peeking out the windows.

Her lungs suddenly have no air after learning that Carswell Thorne knows her name. As much as she wants to live in this fantasy, she does have one predominant question in her mind.

"So, what brought you here?" Cress asks, picking up the frying pan but not to hit him over the head. "Fate? Destiny?"

Thorne snorts a small laugh. "A wolf."

Cress tilts her head a little in confusion. Thorne looks back at her, knowing that he needs to provide some sort of explanation for her. To her surprise, though, Thorne never questioned the frying pan.

"Wolf, from school, was chasing me," Thorne says. "We're playing hide-and-seek."

Even Cress doesn't believe that. Cress barely knows Wolf but based on what she does know about him from school and rumors, she knows that he isn't the kind to play that game in his childhood, let alone play it now with Thorne.

"I will get you, Thorne!" Wolf howls from outside.

Thorne immediately grabs Cress' frying pan and holds it up just in case.

-o-

Wolf enters The Rampion, thinking that he might have run here but sees that Thorne is nowhere to be found. Now he feels defeated from being unable to catch Thorne. He feels as though he's off of his game since Thorne got away. And when entering the diner, he realizes why. Behind the counter, wearing the stupid astronaut suit as her uniform is Scarlet. He's known Scarlet since she first came to Commonwealth when she was seven and he's always known that she's worked at The Rampion, but something felt different about seeing her this time. In fact, ever since he saw her help the girl with scars on his face, he always finds himself drifting back to that moment whenever he can.

Wolf sits at the counter where Scarlet is and she immediately notices him.

"You look so gloomy," Scarlet states. Her voice naturally has this mocking tone to it even if she didn't mean it.

"No shit," Wolf replies. Unlike her voice, his own voice naturally sounds harsh.

"What happened? The Big Bad Wolf couldn't catch Little Red?"

Scarlet's smirking. That time she was mocking him.

Wolf shoots her a cold glare. "Do you actually care about my problems?"

"No, but sometimes venting your problems fills up my tip jar."

Scarlet jingles the small jar filled with a few coins. Wolf scowls at her but secretly respects her honesty and willing to help - like how she helped that new girl with the scars on her face from his pack. And there goes another reminder of that event.

"I don't want to burden you with my problems," Wolf tells her.

"How considerate of you," Scarlet says. "My tip jar could use a little burdening though."

She jingles the jar again as she turns around and picks up some plates of food to deliver to other customers. Wolf shifts his position on his bar stool and eyes that tip jar before pulling out his wallet and dropping a bill in there with the other coins. He forces himself not to look at Scarlet again as he walks out of the diner.

-o-

Cress tries her hardest to contain her excitement at the fact that the boy of her dreams is in her house, holding her frying pan, and now sitting on her couch. She doesn't care if it was Wolf that chased him here but she believes that it was all fate. Out of all the places to run and houses to demand help from, it ended up being her house.

Cress looks out the front window of her house, looking for Wolf on behalf of Thorne who nervously taps his fingers across the frying pan.

"I don't think Wolf is around anymore," Cress says, keeping all the curtains closed anyways.

"Wolf is never 'not around'," Thorne tells her. "We've both lived in Commonwealth long enough to know that he's just lurking somewhere ready to pounce on me and eat me alive."

Cress agrees. Even though she's only lived in Commonwealth for about four years, she knows about Wolf - well, just what she's heard about him and his Wolf Pack since she doesn't have the courage to interact with them - and if he doesn't catch his prey, he will not stop until he does.

"What are you going to do about it?" Cress asks.

Thorne shrugs. "I have no idea. He could be just outside my house or down the street and my parents don't really care about me so I don't have to go home. With that and my fear of The Big Bad Wolf, can I stay here for the night?"

Cress instantly freezes as those last seven words echo in her head. Carswell Thorne wants to spend the night at her house. First, he comes knocking on her door and now wants to spend the night at her house. These past thirty minutes have been the best thirty minutes of her entire life, mostly because she's been behind a screen for the majority of it all.

"Um, Cress?"

She instantly snaps out of the little fantasy she was enjoying and enters the reality she currently loves. This is all just too much for her to contain at the moment.

"I could stay here, right?" Thorne questions since she hasn't answered three of his questions. Make it four. "Your parents won't mind at all?"

"Dad's out of town," Cress replies as casual as she can but she still sounds awkwardly nervous. "He'll be back by the end of the week."

"Great."

Cress can't help but to admire how much fate is really in her favor. She even sees Thorne smiling with his ever-so-charming smile, but she knows that it's because he claimed a hiding spot for the night and not because of the one-sided romance she feels in her heart.

"So," Thorne says, finally putting down the frying pan he's been holding onto this whole time. "The day is still very young and since we can't leave due to a certain predator, what is there to do at the Darnel House?"

Cress hesitates since she isn't prepared to entertain guests at all. "I have some computer or video games if you're into that kind of stuff."

"Of course I'm into that stuff," Thorne replies excitedly. "I didn't think you were into that kind of stuff."

Cress can't help but to cross her arms. "I'll have you know that my closet gamer name is LittleCress."

Thorne laughs a little. It's a laugh that comes genuinely from the heart and isn't forced in any way. Cress can't help but grin a little at how cute his laugh is despite her wanting to be a little bit offended.

"Your username fits you well," Thorne comments, patting her on the top of her head. It emphasizes her petite frame in comparison to his since he's almost a full head taller than her. "Mine's CaptainThorne."

"Does it fit you?" She questions.

"Pull out a spaceship game and I'll show you."

Stay Tuned - Will Wolf still be chasing Thorne or does he have someone else in mind? And is Cress really home alone for the week?