Allison pressed the sweater to her body and took in her appearance in the mirror. With a head tilt, she turned towards Lydia who lounged on the bed and Hollis who sat beside her.

"What do you guys think?" Allison asked.

"Well, it's…" Hollis started.

"Pass," Lydia said without so much as a glance at it. She looked over at Hollis with a questionable look. "So, what you're saying is that you can't come out with us because you have a date with what's-his-name?"

"It's not a date," she explained. "He's just helping me with math. It's a study...thing."

Unconvinced, Lydia nodded. "Of course it is," she said cheerfully then looked towards Allison who held up a shirt. "Pasadena," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Pass."

"I have to find something to wear," Allison said under her breath, turning towards her closet. "So, where are you and Stiles going for your date?"

"Not you, too, Ali," Hollis said, running a hand through her hair. "Come on, you guys. It's not a date. If I didn't have to meet up with my dad for dinner, then Stiles and I would be hanging out with you, Scott and Jackson at the bowling alley. How is this any different?"

"Because it'll just be you and him," Lydia stated with a smile.

"And a pizzeria full of people," Hollis added, throwing a look at both her friends.

Allison smiled, a knowing look passing between her and Lydia.

"What?" Hollis asked with a sigh. She looked from Allison to Lydia, trying to will one of them to speak up.

"It's just that…." Allison started after a pause. "You two would be so cute together."

"Not perfect but cute...I suppose," Lydia agreed.

Crossing her arms, she shook her head at their comments. "Look," Hollis said slowly. "I just broke up with Carter like a week ago. I'm not even remotely ready for another relationship." She wound a strand of hair around her finger, keeping her attention on that and not the conversation at hand. "Besides, Stiles and I are just friends."

"Maybe." Allison stopped searching through her closet and looked over her shoulder. "But it's obvious that he likes you, Hollis. Come on, don't tell me you don't see the way he looks at you."

With a playful smile, Lydia nudged Hollis. "Just admit that you like him and we'll stop. I promise."

"You two are unbelievable," Hollis muttered.

Allison ignored Hollis rolling her eyes and held up another shirt.

"Paso doble," Lydia said, making a face.

"Seriously?" She asked, somewhat defeated in her search for clothes. She glanced at her closet once more and held up a dress. "What about this?"

"Pass, pass, pass on all of it." Lydia got up from the bed and marched over to the closet. She stared at the assortment of clothes and eyed them all with distaste. "God, Allison. Respect for your taste? Dwindling by the second."

With a frown, Allison looked towards Hollis with a pleading look. "A little help here, Hollis?"

Hollis crossed her arms and shook her head. "Hey, you're on your own here. You could've helped me out before but you decided to tease me. So…sorry," she said as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

The sound of hangers moving filled the room as Lydia searched the closet for something acceptable. "This," she said finally, yanking out a black shirt and handing it to Allison.

Allison glanced at it, throwing a grateful smile at Lydia and a playful glare at Hollis.

The door swung open then and the girls looked up as Mr. Argent walked in.

"Dad, hello?" Allison said, crossing her arms.

"Right. Sorry, completely forgot to knock," he said.

"Hi, Mr. Argent," Lydia said. She plopped down on the bed, striking a model-like pose.

Hollis nudged her, shaking her head.

"Dad? Need something?" Allison asked.

"Just wanted to tell you that you'll be staying in tonight," he said.

"What? I'm going out with my friends tonight," Allison argued.

"Not when some animal out there is attacking people," Mr. Argent said.

"Dad-"

"It's out of my hands. There's a curfew. No one's allowed out past ten P.M.." He threw a look around the room. "You girls should stay in, too. Until this animal is caught, it's not safe out there."

Allison pointed to his jacket, clearly not done. "You're going out."

"I'm over eighteen," he said with a sigh. "No more arguing." With one last look around the room, he left.

Lydia stood up and moved over to Allison. "Aren't we daddy's little girl?"

"Maybe it's not such a bad idea to stay in," Hollis started. "We could-"

"Sometimes. But not tonight," Allison interrupted. She went to the window and opened it, allowing for a cool breeze to enter the room. With a mischievous smile, she looked towards Hollis and Lydia before slipping out onto the roof.

With a look at each other, the girls went to the window and stared in awe as Allison launched herself off the roof and landed on the lawn with a perfect backflip.

"How did…" Hollis started.

"Eight years gymnastics, emphasis in uneven bars," Allison explained. "You two coming?"

"We'll take the stairs," Lydia answered. "You still need that ride?" She asked, turning towards Hollis.

"Yeah, thanks," she said.

[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]

"So, then x would equal seventeen," Stiles said as he scribbled on the paper that was already covered with different equations. He looked up to see that her mind was elsewhere. "Hollis?"

"Sorry." Hollis snapped out of her thoughts and briefly looked down at the solved problem. She moved the paper around so she could read it but what stared up at her was a bunch of letters and numbers that made no sense whatsoever. "This is hopeless. I told you I'm horrible at this."

Stiles shook his head at her words. "It's not hopeless. You just need to...Look." He turned the paper over and wrote down a simple equation. He waited until she saw the problem and continued. "You just need to get rid of this three that's being added to the x by subtracting it from itself. Do the same on the other side and then we have the answer. X equals five." He wrote it out slowly and looked up, watching her take in the problem. "You always need to get x alone. Get it?"

Hollis tilted her head. With narrowed eyes, she went over what he did in her head and nodded slowly. "Kind of, yeah."

"Ok, good." He wrote down another problem and flipped the paper so that it faced her. "Solve that the same way. But instead of subtracting, you just add it," Stiles explained, looking over at her. "You can do this, Hollis," he told her confidently.

With a sigh, she picked up her pencil and looked at the previous equation for guidance. "So... x equals nine?" Unsure, she looked over at him.

"Yeah!" He said with a grin. "Just remember that every time you solve one of these. Here's another one." Stiles wrote down yet another equation and handed it to her.

The problem that stared up at her was more complex than the previous two. She frowned at it, willing herself to focus. "Ok, wait…. Why is there a number in front of the x?" She asked in a panic as she looked up.

Stiles laughed but before he could reply, a waitress appeared by their table. "Can I get you a refill on those drinks?" She asked them.

"Sure, thanks," Hollis answered, handing her the empty glass.

"And another refill of curly fries," Stiles added with nod. "We'll probably be here a while," he joked with a look at Hollis.

Hollis threw a crumbled piece of paper at him. "Hey! I'm trying my best here," she said and laughed.

"I'll be right back." The waitress smiled at them before leaving to get their order.

"Do we seriously need another refill of fries?" Hollis asked.

"It's an unlimited refill, Hollis," he explained. "You can't have too much. It's not possible."

She rolled her eyes as she tapped her pencil on the table. "My dad won't have a reason to come here for dinner if I'm stuffed up on fries."

Stiles shrugged, happily taking a curly fry from their previous order and popping it in his mouth. "Who said they were for you?" He joked.

Narrowing her eyes, she glared at him before laughing softly.

The waitress returned with their order, placing down the drinks and a fresh order of curly fries on the table. "If you need anything else, let me know," she told them.

"Thanks." She reached for her soda and took a sip of the cold, sweet liquid then went back to the math problem. "So, I just…what do I do?" Hollis asked. She looked back to the old problems but they were simpler than the one she currently had to do.

Stiles cleared his throat, glancing down at the equation he wrote out. "Just, uhm…do the same thing as before. Subtract this number from both sides and…." He paused, watching as she slowly started to solve it. "Yeah, that's it."

Hollis stopped working and pushed the paper towards him, a look of uncertainty on her face.

Stiles looked at it and then back at her with a big smile. "You got it."

"Really?" She exclaimed with a laugh.

"Yep. One more and then we'll take a break, ok?" Stiles wrote yet another equation down and patiently waited for her to solve it. When he checked her work, his smile grew. "You did it. With a little more practice, you'll pass that quiz." He reached for the curly fries and pushed the plastic basket towards her. "I suppose you can have a few. You did solve that problem."

She eyed the fries with a smile and took one. Breaking it in half, she put half of it in her mouth and slowly chewed as she looked around. The TV that played in the corner of the room caught her attention and she gestured towards it. "Isn't that your dad?"

Stiles looked over his shoulder and nodded when he caught site of the news. "Yeah, yeah. They're trying to get people to stay inside until whatever's out there is caught." He turned back towards her and reached for the fries.

"Do you really think it's a mountain lion?" Hollis asked after a moment.

"Well, I…I guess. That's what they're saying."

"I know what they're saying but…." She paused and took a tentative sip of her drink. "Do you know if Laura Hale the first animal attack victim?"

"I think so, yeah. Why?" He asked.

"It's just that…" Hollis trailed off with a sigh. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her phone and the screen lit up with one touch. "I need to show you something," she said as she searched her phone. Finding what she was looking for, Hollis handed the phone to Stiles.

He lowered his eyes to the phone and they grew wide as he looked up at her. "Isn't this…?"

Hollis nodded. "Yeah." She leaned forward and moved the phone in his hand so that she could see the image. Sliding her finger across the screen, she moved onto the next picture. From where she sat, she could see the five distinct scratches in the paint. "The police said that it was just an accident caused by slippery roads or something like that," Hollis explained. "But they didn't even mention those scratches."

"Hollis," he said, looking from the picture to her. "What do you remember from that night?"

"Not much, to be honest," Hollis said and shrugged. "One minute we were driving and the next we just…crashed." She rested her head on her hand and turned her attention towards the window, which had turned into a translucent mirror. The interior of the pizza place was reflected in the glass as was her reflection but she could still see out into the night. Headlights passed by in a bright blur, illuminating the parking lot each time. Although she looked out the window, her attention was on the accident. It was permanently etched on her mind and, even though she could remember how she felt during the time, there were a lot of details missing. "The paramedics said my step-dad died instantly, my mom a few minutes later and…" Hollis blinked back the tears before she looked towards Stiles with a weak smile. "I was unconscious for the better part of it."

Frowning, Stiles moved his hand towards her and hesitated a moment before placing his hand on top of hers. "Sorry, Hollis, I shouldn't have asked that."

Hollis shook her head. "Don't be. I'm the one who brought it up," she told him. "I don't even know why I did. I guess I was just trying to find a reason for the crash. Something other than a slippery road, you know?"

"I get it, yeah," he answered. "You wanted answers." He looked down at the black screen of her phone, staying quiet as he did so. "Can you send me that picture? I'll, uh, I'll see if my dad knows anything about it. Maybe something that was left out of the report."

"Really?" Hollis asked, the surprise evident in her voice.

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

"That'd be great, thanks." She looked towards the entrance and a smile lit up her face. "My dad's here."

Stiles looked over his shoulder towards the man who walked in their direction. At the same time, they glanced down at the table where they realized their hands were still clasped. Quickly, they pulled away just as he stopped by the table.

"What's going on here?" Grant asked, nodding towards the notebooks that littered the table.

"Math," Hollis answered, wrinkling her nose. "Stiles is helping me," she said with a look his way.

"Yeah, we've just been studying," Stiles added, nodding. "But I should get going. You have dinner plans and…" he trailed off as he started to gather his stuff.

Grant turned towards him with a smile. "No, stay. You should join us."

Stiles glanced at Hollis before turning to her dad. "Uh, okay, if you're sure. Thanks," he said with a smile.

Grant slid into the seat beside Hollis, who quickly cleared the table of all notebooks, papers and pencils. "I don't know about you two but I'm starving," he said, reading for the menu.

[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]

"Dinner's on me," Grant said, taking the check from the waitress. "Put your money away," he said to Stiles as he pulled his card out of his wallet. He handed it to the waitress, who returned moments later with the receipt.

Once they gathered their stuff, the three made their way towards the exit. The cool night air felt nice, although a chill passed through each of them.

"Thanks again for dinner, Mr. Griffin," Stiles said.

"No problem," Grant said with a smile.

Hollis hugged her thin jacket closer to her body and moved a few strands of hair out of her face. "So, I'll see you at school tomorrow. Thanks for your help with Algebra."

"Yeah, yeah. Anytime," Stiles said. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Drive safely," Grant said to him before steering Hollis towards the parking lot and to their car. Once they were in the car, he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. "Stiles seems like a nice kid," he commented.

Hollis nodded, resting her head against the seat. "Yeah, he's a good friend."

"So, did I interrupt something before when I came in or…?" He asked, a smile playing on his lips.

Hollis tilted her head with a shrug. "What do you mean? We were just studying."

"Are you sure that's all it was?" He questioned, throwing a look her way. The smile he wore let her know exactly what was on his mind.

Hollis rolled her eyes and turned her attention towards the window. In the side view mirror, the pizza place diminished in size until it was no longer visible. She watched the trees and buildings go by in a dark blur, not knowing what exactly she was looking at.

"Hollis," Grant said with a laugh. "Come on, I'm not blind. I saw the handholding when I came in."

"I—" She turned towards him; annoyed by the smile he wore. "It was nothing. We're just friends," she said quickly.

Grant chuckled. "It didn't look like nothing," he continued.

"Ok, dad, please stop." She sighed and shook her head. "Can we talk about something else? Like, I don't know, the weather or the animal attacks or that Derek Hale is back in town. Did you know he was back?"

An almost panicked look appeared on is face; a look that Hollis missed. He cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the road. "I-I heard he was back, yeah. I'm surprised he returned," he said casually, throwing a look her way every few seconds.

Hollis nodded as she picked at the chipped nail polish. "I know right? After losing almost all of his family in that fire, I didn't think he'd come back. It's terrible about what happened."

"Yeah, it is," Grant said quietly with a nod.

She looked his way and raised an eyebrow. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm…fine. I just, I remember the fire when it happened. I was coming home for lunch when I saw the smoke. It wasn't until later that I heard what happened."

Hollis studied her dad with uncertainty. "You sure everything's ok?"

Grant sighed and turned to her with a small smile on his face. "I'm fine, Hollis. I knew his family so talking about this just brings up bad memories."

"Sorry, I didn't know that." She stayed quiet for the next couple minutes, keeping her gaze out the window. "Any idea who could have started the fire? I mean, did they have any enemies or was it just a freak accident?"

He remained quiet, almost as if he hadn't heard her. When Hollis was about to speak up and voice her question again, he spoke. "No. No one knows," he said. "But let's not talk about this right now, ok?"

With narrowed eyes, she studied him. She was curious about his past with the Hales but, as much as she wanted to push the subject further, she knew that it would be best to let it go…for now. The conversation took a more pleasant turn. As they drove home, they each spoke about their day. Pretty soon, the topic of the Hale fire was forgotten as the subject continued to shift from one thing to the next.