A/N: I don't own anything, except for the characters I've created. Please comment and let me know what you think.

Chapter Two

"You really aren't gonna tell me what that was all about between you and Mom?" Malcolm asked after a couple of minutes of driving. Candice heaved a silent sigh and glanced at her brother in the passenger seat before turning her gaze back onto the road.

"I told you," she said, flipping the lever for the blinker and slowing the car down to a stop at a red light. "We really were just talking about last night." Candice had watched enough police and detective shows to know that it was best when lying not to provide too many details.

The lights turned green and she made a right turn, the blinker turning off automatically. Neither of them said anything else before they pulled up at Beacon Hills Middle School moments later. Malcolm unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door.

"Have a good first day," Candice wished him as he climbed out. He threw his green backpack over his shoulder and poked his head inside the car.

"You'll pick me up later, yeah?" he asked.

Candice nodded. "I'll be here."

"All right," he said, smiling a little as he took a step back from the car and closed the door. She watched him for a little bit as he walked towards the school entrance. At one point, he turned around and saluted her before he went and met up with his friends with their baseball caps turned backward. She saw them high five and walk inside and started the car back up when the car behind her honked at her to get her to move along.

Candice arrived at her high school and parked her Mini Cooper in between a dark blue Toyota and a beat-up Jeep she recognized to be Stiles Stilinski's. She reached for her backpack where she had thrown it in the backseat before she ever left the driveway and pulled out her phone to check her messages. She had received a text from Luke but nothing from Reed saying that she had made it home all right last night, but it most likely wasn't anything to worry about. Reed could be rather forgetful sometimes and knowing her she probably even forgot to set her alarm clock after she'd snuck back inside last night and wasn't going to show up to school until just in time for the second period.

Candice had just clicked away the text from Luke when someone banged their hands on the windshield of her car, effectively startling her so that she almost dropped her phone in her lap. She glared at the person but he only smiled as he opened the car door for her. She grabbed her backpack and put her phone in the back pocket of her jeans as she got out. Luke closed the door and let her lock the car and put the keys away before he hooked an arm around her neck and placed a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"You scared me," she muttered, dismayed, and slapped his stomach. He caught her wrist and wrapped it around his waist and pulled her closer to his side as they walked across the parking lot towards the school.

"I know what I can do to make you feel better," he spoke softly into her hair, pulling her into a stop in the middle of the parking lot for everyone to see. He leaned down and kissed her, his free hand cupping her cheek to hold her there. When he pulled away a moment too soon he let his thumb brush over her bottom lip. "Feel better?"

Candice nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Good," he said, sounding awfully pleased with himself.

They continued heading towards the school building and had reached the sidewalk when they noticed Jackson Whittemore's silver Porsche pull into an empty parking space near the bicycle rack. Luke removed his arm from her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss before he started walking backward in the direction where Jackson had parked his car.

"I'll see you at lunch" he called to her before he turned around and jogged towards Jackson, who was saying something to Scott McCall.

"Yo, Jackson!" Luke shouted. "Let's go, bro."

She watched Jackson walk away from Scott and meet up with Luke and greet him with a bro handshake. Then she made her way towards the school entrance and spotted Scott a little up ahead heading there as well with Stiles Stilinski.

"No, not a chance," she heard Stiles tell Scott when she was only walking a few steps behind them.

"I heard a wolf howling," Scott argued. Candice frowned and wondered if they could be talking about their little adventure last night.

"No, you didn't," Stiles told him certainly.

"What do you mean, no, I didn't?" Scott asked him. "How do you know what I heard?"

"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like sixty years," Stiles explained to Scott as they stopped walking.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. There are no wolves in California," Stiles stressed and it was the last thing Candice heard before she was out of hearing range.

She entered the school hallway and glanced at her phone again to see if she had received any texts from Reed as she headed towards her first-period class. When half the day had gone by and it was time for lunch and Candice still hadn't heard anything from Reed, she couldn't help but begin to feel a little worried about her cousin. She thought of what she had overheard Scott and Stiles talk about earlier and worried something might have happened last night.

Candice entered the cafeteria and looked around for the two boys she knew Reed considered her friends and always sat with at lunch. She spotted them at their usual table and noted that the seat that would normally be occupied by Reed was empty. Candice was considering going over there to ask if they had heard anything from her since last night when someone hooked an arm through hers and steered her in the opposite direction.

"You're coming to the party on Friday, right?" Lydia Martin asked her, pursing her painted lips to enhance their fullness to any onlookers.

"I wouldn't miss it," Candice told her distractedly.

"Great! Have you met the new girl yet?" Lydia asked as they reached their usual table. Luke smiled up at her and pulled out an empty chair for her.

"Saved a seat for you, babe," he said, one side of his mouth curling up in a smirk, which brought attention to his adorable dimples. Candice returned the smile and sat down next to him and took his hand in hers under the table. She turned her attention back to Lydia who sat down in the seat across from her next to her boyfriend, Jackson.

"Not yet," Candice replied to Lydia's question.

She fought against rolling her eyes when Lydia swirled a piece of her strawberry blonde hair around her finger and gazed to the side thoughtfully. "I'm thinking of inviting her to the party, but I'm not sure if she'd be able to grasp the significance of going…"

Candice smiled to humor Lydia when she, in reality, couldn't care less about whether the new girl was going to Jackson's party or not. She decided to change the topic of conversation.

"So, what were you talking about before we came over?" she asked, switching her gaze between Jackson and Luke, raising an eyebrow when neither of them said anything for a moment and simply stared at each other. Luke exhaled through his nostrils, obviously annoyed with Jackson when the blonde athlete seemed utterly unbothered and bored as he continued eating from his lunch tray. Luke then reluctantly turned his attention back to Candice but she didn't care to hear whatever lie he would feed her and had already withdrawn her hand from his under the table.

"Lacrosse practice," he said with a forced shrug of indifference. Candice didn't have the energy to put in the effort to feign a smile and decided to ignore him for now and humored Lydia for the rest of their lunch hour.

After school was over for the day, Candice headed towards the lacrosse field to watch the beginning of Luke's practice before she had to leave to pick up Malcolm. She was standing by the side of the bleachers when she was joined by Lydia and a girl she didn't recognize but figured was the new girl.

"Candice, this is Allison Argent," Lydia introduced the pretty brunette.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Candice greeted her politely.

Allison smiled. "So, do you too have a boyfriend on the team?"

"Yeah, his name's Luke. He plays defense."

Candice smiled politely but didn't participate in the conversation from there. She completely zoned them out when Lydia eventually couldn't wait any longer to ask Allison if there was anyone that had caught her attention today in any of her classes. Candice looked for Luke instead and spotted him with Jackson talking something over with Coach Bobby Finstock.

"…and there was one guy," Allison was saying when Candice started to pay attention to the conversation again. "He was in my chemistry class and took the seat next to me. He kept hitting on me throughout the class."

"You know his name?" Lydia asked.

"The teacher called everyone's name off a list in the beginning of the class but I don't remember," Allison told her. "Wait," she said suddenly. "There he is now. He's coming over here."

Candice and Lydia looked to see who it was and Candice's heart sank when she saw it was Luke. He was grinning when he reached them and didn't pay any mind to Lydia or Allison as he wrapped his suntanned muscular arms around Candice's waist in a hug and lifted her feet off the ground. He attacked her neck with smooches and if it hadn't been for what Allison had just said she would have giggled and hugged him to her. He drew back a little to be able to gaze down at her and she saw on him that he was about to ask if she was still upset with him when Lydia spoke.

"Luke," the strawberry blonde greeted him. He gave her a nod to acknowledge her back but with little interest as he immediately afterward lowered his gaze down to Candice again. He opened his mouth to say something to her but Lydia spoke again. "You've met Allison, haven't you?" she said, wearing a smug smile that didn't match the innocence of her eyes.

Candice tensed up in Luke's arms. He still had his arms around the small of her waist and her hands were resting against his chest. She could feel the heat from his body through the fabric of his jersey. Luke's eyes widened the tiniest bit before he shifted his eyes nervously between Allison and his girlfriend. He smiled guiltily down at her and Candice managed to work up a smile.

"It's fine," she assured him even though it really wasn't. "You should go. Practice is starting." His smile had dropped and his eyes were apologetic when he leaned in and pressed a kiss on her lips before he took a step back. As he turned around to leave he glared at Lydia, who kept up the innocent act.

Candice could feel Allison's watching her as she followed Luke with her eyes as he returned to the field to join his teammates. She then tore her eyes away from his jersey number and shook her head at Lydia disapprovingly.

"I'm so sorry, Candice. I didn't know," Allison apologized but Candice smiled at her reassuringly because she couldn't have known.

"It's fine," she told the other girl before addressing them both. "Listen, I gotta go pick up my little brother," she said even though she could probably stay for another ten minutes if she had wanted to. She spotted Luke on the field, standing in line to shoot at the goal, and gave him one last glance before she turned around and walked towards the parking lot to get in her car.