The red eyes still followed her. She'd been walking back to her dad's after walking home after a study session with Isaac. At first, she'd thought they'd just been brake lights, and she froze to look closer at them. When they blinked, she took off running. She sprinted around the corner and ran through the front door of her dad's place. She spun around to look out the window and she could see the red eyes watching her from the front garden.

"Bells?"

"Ah!" she squeaked as turned to look at her dad. "Dad," she breathed in relief.

"You ok sweetie?" he asked with a confused frown.

"Yeah," she nodded, looking back out the window to see the red eyes were gone.

"You've been staying here a lot lately," he smiled.

"Is that a problem?" she asked as she took off her jacket and hung it up, looking back out the window one last time.

"No! No, of course not," he smiled at her, walking forward and wrapping an arm around her shoulder to lead her to the kitchen. "You know I love having you here. It's just you've been here all weekend and I can't help but worry maybe you're avoiding your mom and Lydia because of what happened at the school."

"It's not because of what happened at the school," she reassured as she took a seat at the bench.

"Are you sure?"

"I've been hanging out with a friend. They live near here so it's easy."

"Is this friend a boy or a girl?"

"It's a boy," she rolled her eyes.

"Are you two dating?"

"No," she giggled. "We've been hanging out at the library. I'm helping him study. We're just friends."

"You like this kid, don't you?"

"A little," she mumbled as she took a sip of water. "Lydia doesn't approve."

"You can't follow what your sister says your whole life," he laughed. "I mean she hasn't got the best taste in boys. That Jackson, he's a piece of work."

"I like Jackson."

"I'm sure he's a good friend. But he's not a good boyfriend."

Bella nodded. "You might be right about that," she admitted. She was still bothered by the way Jackson had behaved towards Lydia that night at the school. "Anyway, I'm going to go to bed. Don't want to be late on the first day back," she said as she jumped up from the bench and headed upstairs. Before she went to bed, she took one last look out the window. No red eyes in sight.


"Hey," Allison greeted as she leaned against the locker next to Bella's.

"Hey," she smiled lightly.

"Weird day huh? Everyone's talking about what happened, but no one knows it was us the other night. It's stressing me out."

"You and me both," Bella agreed as she shut the locker. "You ready for the chem test?"

"Not at all," Allison snorted. "I wasn't exactly in the right headspace for studying this weekend."

"Studying is all I did. Isaac and I were at the library all weekend studying. We both better ace this."

"Ooo, Isaac," Allison shouldered Bella.

"Don't start. We're just friends," Bella laughed as they walked into the classroom. Her eyes immediately met Isaac's, he was already sitting down and the seat next to him was empty.

"Just friends huh?" Allison whispered teasingly before she skipped away and took a seat in the front.

Bella just rolled her eyes and walked over to the desk beside Isaac's and sat down. "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I think I'm ever going to be," he smiled nervously.

"I like your cardigan," Bella complimented as she looked at his grey sweater.

"You do?" he smiled as he looked down at it. "You can borrow it if you want," he offered before his eyes widened. "I didn't…. I only meant…"

"It's fine Isaac," Bella laughed. "If you fail you have to give it to me though. An incentive to do well."

"Mr McCall," Mr Harris' voice interrupted and they looked up. Scott was stopped in front of Allison's desk, he clearly wanted to talk to her. "Please take a seat. You have 45 minutes to complete the test. 25% of your grade can be earned right now simply by writing your name on the cover of the blue book. However, as happens every year, one of you will inexplicably fail to put your name on the cover and I'll be left yet again questioning my decision to ever become a teacher. So let's get the disappointment over with. Begin," he declared, clicking his buzzer.


"So how'd you go?" Bella asked as she and Isaac walked down the halls.

"I think I did well," He nodded his head enthusiastically. "I mean I should have, we spent 4 days studying."

"If you failed I think that would reflect more on me as a tutor," Bella laughed. "Harris is a quick marker, so I guess we'll see how we did by the end of the week."

"Tests still make me nervous though."

"Oh they make everyone nervous, and that's ok. You know your stuff, Isaac. All you needed to do was focus a bit more."

"Well if I get anything above a C+ I'll have my great teacher to thank," he joked.

"You should thank Mr Harris if you pass," Bella laughed.

"That's not what I meant," he scoffed. "I'm trying to say thank you."

"You're welcome," she smiled softly as she stopped walking in the hallway.

"Hey, Bella. Can we talk for a second?" Scott interrupted as he walked up to the pair.

"Seriously?" she scowled. After what happened the other night, she wasn't exactly keen on speaking to Scott. Lydia told her that he'd locked the others in the chemistry classroom and then Allison had broken up with him. Lydia was absolutely furious.

"It'll only be quick."

"Fine," Bella snapped. "I'll see you later Isaac," she farewelled her friend before walking into coach's office, Scott following after. "Is this about the other night?" Bella asked as she turned to face him as he shut the door. "You need someone to talk to? Because if I'm honest Scott, find someone else."

"I just needed to ask you something. Do you… do you know if Allison still likes me?" he asked, looking up at her like a wounded puppy.

Bella's angry facade dropped slightly. It was hard to be angry with someone who looked so helpless and sad. "Of course she does," Bella grumbled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but Scott, she feels betrayed. So just give her some space. Look, it's a high school romance. 99 times out of 100 they don't work out. I get that this was the first girl you've liked, but there will be others. Just don't smother Allison. She wanted to break up so you should respect that."

Scott looked up at her, there was something animalistic in his eyes. "Would you want me to give you space?"

Bella sucked in a breath, the room just got very uncomfortable. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"If you broke up with me," he said, taking a step towards her. "Would you want me to give you space?"

"I want you to give me space now," she warned. He was stepping closer and closer to her. "Scott…"

He then grabbed her around the waist and tugged her towards him, planting his lips aggressively onto hers.

"Ahh!" she protested against his mouth as she tried to shove him away. He kept kissing her, ignoring her complaints. As soon as she managed to pull her face away from him she snarled out, "get off me!"

He immediately released her and took a large step backwards.

"What the hell was that McCall!" she yelled as she bent down and grabbed her bag.

"I…"

"You stay the hell away from me!" she yelled at him as she stormed out of coach's office.


Bella was marching all over the school looking for Stiles. She didn't know the boy well, but she did consider the two of them somewhat friends, and he was also Scott's best friend. He always seemed respectful and she wanted to tell him what Scott had done. Maybe one of his own friends telling him off might knock some sense and decency into Scott.

She found him on the lacrosse field. And she also saw Danny lying on the ground.

"Oh my god, Danny!" Bella gasped. He had blood pouring from his nose.

"Where have you been?" Lydia asked.

"Looking for Stiles," Bella replied.

"Your lipstick," Jackson pointed out.

"What?" Bella asked.

"It's smudged," Lydia pointed out. "Oh my god who were you with!" she asked excitedly.

"I'll tell you later," Bella trailed off as she noticed Stiles staring at her, his mouth hanging open. "Stiles!" she yelled, storming forward and grabbing onto his arm, pulling him away from the group of boys.

"What's going on?" he asked grumpily.

"I want you to tell your friend to stay the hell away from me!" she hissed furiously.

"Wait… what?" he asked.

"Tell your little friend, Scott, to stay away from me."

"I'm sorry," Stiles shook his head. "It was my fault, I asked him to talk to you."

"Talk to me about what!" Bella yelled. "Because he certainly didn't do a lot of talking, all he did was grab me and kiss me!"

"Wait. He did what?" Stiles asked angrily.

"He kissed me. I didn't want him to kiss me. I tried to push him away and he wouldn't let go. So tell your friend he's disgusting and he's lucky I'm not going to your dad about this," she snapped, flinging her bag further up her shoulder before storming away.


Bella was walking down the school hallway two days later when she spotted Stiles and Scott standing near her locker. She immediately turned to leave.

"Wait, Bella, hold up," Stiles called out.

"I thought I told you to tell him to stay away from me."

"I did tell him," Stiles promised. "I told him. Word for word. Stay away from Bella," he confirmed.

"And yet here he is," Bella scowled angrily at the boy who was hiding behind Stiles.

"I just wanted to say sorry Bella," he muttered quietly. "I was having a really tough day and that wasn't me. I swear I'm not like that. I'm just... I'm really sorry," he said looking at the floor.

Bella's scowl relaxed slightly. She could tell he was being genuine. She still was furious though. This wasn't exactly something you forgive easily.

"You've got some nerve," Isaac interrupted as he stormed up to the trio. "Seriously, what are you doing McCall," he snapped before looking around the group. Bella saw it dawn on him, the realisation that he was yelling at the other two boys, two boys he'd rarely spoken to and his shyness kicked back in. "Come on Bella," he grabbed the inside of her elbow lightly and dragged her away. "You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah I am," she nodded. "He was apologising actually."

"Oh come on Bella, you can't forgive him. He kissed you against your will."

"I know," Bella nodded. "I mean he seemed genuinely sorry, but trust me, I am not interested in an apology.

"Jackson!" a shrill voice shouted down the corridor.

"Oh dear here comes trouble," Bella smiled as she watched Lydia and Jackson bicker down the other end of the corridor.

"He's a dick," Isaac declared. Bella laughed as she turned to look at him. "I'm sorry, I know he's your friend, but he's a dick."

"He can be," Bella agreed. "He has a difficult home life though."

This immediately made Isaac tense up. "Trust me, Bella, he's doing just fine."

"You don't really understand the situation Isaac," she smiled, but this only seemed to irritate him more.

"You know, brats who live in million dollar houses and drive Porsches to school don't get to complain about having a tough home life ok. It doesn't give him an excuse to treat other people like dirt. There are some people out there who are actually suffering and all you care about is that asshole."

"Wow, Isaac. Are you ok?" she grabbed at his hand, not understanding the reason behind his outburst.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he pulled out of her grasp and stormed away.

She went to follow after him when she turned to look at her sister and Jackson's argument only to see her sister now standing alone, looking on the verge of tears. Lydia quickly spun around and ran into the girl's bathroom.

Bella wanted to follow after Isaac and see what was wrong, but her sister took precedence. So she ran after her sister and into the girl's bathroom.

"Get out!" Lydia yelled, not looking up to see who it was.

"Lyds?"

"Oh," she looked up and wiped her tears. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell," she sniffled.

"What's wrong?"

"Jackson broke up with me," she cried.

"He what!"

"He called me dead weight," Lydia sobbed. "He said he was dropping all the dead weight in his life and he said I was the deadest," she cried as more tears fell.

"Oh my god," Bella breathed in shock. She'd noticed Jackson treating her sister progressively worse, but this was extreme and out of line. "I'm so sorry Lyd," she pulled her sister into a hug, allowing her to cry on her shoulder.


Guest: Yeah it definitely doesn't go very well for any of the inhabitants of Beacon Hills haha! More on the Peter front coming up though ;)