A/N: I don't own anything except for the characters I've created.

Chapter Seven

"Wait." Derek stopped and turned around to look at her. "You need a ride somewhere?" she asked him, biting her lower lip, her hand propped on the open car door.

He raised an eyebrow but finally, he just nodded. "Sure."

Candice smiled timidly and got into the driver's seat and buckled her seatbelt as he made his way over. She was turning the key in the ignition when he reached the passenger side and got in.

"Where are you staying?" she asked as she backed out and headed for the parking lot exit.

"Start with taking a right here and then a few miles up the road there's a private road on the right, leading up to the property."

Candice glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and dared not to ask why he was giving her directions to the Hale house, which she knew had burned down years ago. He couldn't possibly be staying there. Could he? She had to restrain herself from asking because she knew she might not want to hear the answer.

She remembered the fire. It had been all over the local news and for a while, it was all anyone had seemed to talk about. She had been about eleven years old, and from what she could recall, there had been people trapped inside and only one had been able to escape. Derek and his older sister had been fortunate enough to not have been at home at the time of the fire but had suffered the loss of their loved ones.

Around five minutes later, Candice made the right turn and drove for another minute or two before they could see the Hale house up ahead. She spotted his car parked outside and felt relieved of the possibility that he could at least be sleeping out of the car and not in the ruins of his childhood home.

She slowed the car to a stop and put it in park before leaning forward in her seat to get a closer look through the windshield at what once had to have been an impressive three-story home. "Whoa."

She tore her eyes away from the house and glanced over at Derek who had his head slightly tilted as he looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Would you like to go inside? I could give you the grim tour of the place."

Candice stayed quiet for a moment before she gave a little hesitant nod of her head. They both stepped out of the car and started walking towards the house with Candice falling a few steps behind him. He opened the front door and waited patiently for her to climb the porch steps and warily come nearer. She touched the door frame and looked at her hand afterward to see that it was dirty with black soot. She sent Derek a glance over her shoulder and he nodded encouragingly for her to go on inside.

The old floorboards, carpeted with ash, creaked under the weight of her foot as she entered the foyer. The exterior of the house had been frightening to look at when she thought of all the people that had lost their lives, but getting to see the inside of the house was even more frightening and gut-wrenching. Some of the furniture had managed to survive the fire, like the couch in the living room, although stained with soot.

Derek commented on a few things as they advanced through the house. Like where they used to put the Christmas tree every year, and like how it had been necessary for the dinner table to seat at least twelve people because they would more often than not have friends and family visiting from out of town.

Despite the tragedy that had occurred where they were standing, Candice found herself smiling and enjoying hearing about the happy memories Derek felt like sharing.

"Is it safe?" Candice asked, eyeing the staircase with a wary look after Derek asked her if she wanted to see more of the house.

"Safe enough," he answered and climbed the first two steps before he outstretched a hand in her direction. She took it and with his big hand engulfing hers, his grip strong and confident, they walked upstairs.

"The master bedroom used to be in there," he said, gesturing to a door on the far left of the long hallway.

"And where were yours?"

"Right in there," he replied, gesturing to the door on the right. He released her hand and stayed where he was as Candice stepped forward and gently pushed the door open. She took a step inside and inhaled a sharp breath, not because the room wasn't in any better or worse shape than the rest of the house. But because the room clearly held evidence of him staying in what was left of his childhood home even after the dreadful fire that most of his family succumbed to. A mattress was in the middle of the room, and next to it was a few books and a chest with clothes spilling out of it.

"Derek, if you need somewhere to stay-"

"Don't worry," he interrupted her. "It's only temporary."

"But still..." She glanced around at their surroundings. "I could help you find something. My mom is a realtor, I could ask her-"

"You don't have to do that. I'm all right. I don't even know how long I'll be staying in Beacon Hills for."

A gust of wind blasted between them then, causing Candice to shiver, and she rubbed her arms, attempting to fend off the goosebumps.

"You're cold?" he asked her but didn't wait for her to answer before he shrugged off his leather jacket and draped it over her shoulders. "There's a broken window I've been meaning to fix."

Candice smiled because he was being sweet and pulled the jacket tighter around her. She swallowed and briefly lowered her eyes to the ground before raising them again and meeting his. "So, uh, you're going back to your life in New York? When do you think you're leaving?"

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, drawing her attention to his lips. "I don't know," he replied. "It depends I guess. I'm still trying to find out what happened with my sister, and my uncle is a coma patient at the hospital here so..."

"Your uncle? Was he... caught in the fire?" she asked him timidly.

Derek nodded. "The only one who got out."

"I'm really sorry, Derek, that that happened to you."

He gave her a sad smile. "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry about your cousin."

It was getting really late and Candice had told her mother she would be home soon. They went back downstairs, and he followed her outside to her car. She returned his jacket to him and thanked him for letting her borrow it. Out of the rear-view mirror, as she drove off, she saw him turn around and walk back towards the house. The thought of him being all alone in that house made her feel deeply sorry for him, and she was reminded of how lucky she was that she had her family waiting at home for her.

The rest of the week went by without a hitch, but come Friday there was a new rumor flying around the school regarding Scott McCall. Apparently, someone had seen him leave the coach's office that morning and overheard him muttering to himself about Scott being a fool if he misses Saturday's game.

To say Candice was annoyed was an understatement since she had spent every day since Monday trying to cool Luke down after Jackson got injured, and had finally managed to do it. After the rumor that Scott might not be playing for whatever reason, Luke started panicking all over again. No matter how Luke felt about Scott even he had to admit that the kid had some mad skills and the team would mostly be relying on him without Jackson being at the top of his game.

Either way, Candice was not amused. With so much else going on in her life at the moment, a high school lacrosse game felt pretty insignificant to her and there was no way around that.

Lydia had also expressed her low opinion on Scott because of how he was willing to risk the team losing for personal reasons. But regardless of how the game was going to plan out, she'd decided for them that they were all going out afterward.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Allison insisted as she and Candice were standing by the brunette's locker in the crowded hallway.

Candice wasn't convinced and made a sarcastic thumbs-up right as Lydia walked up to them, dragging Robbie McKay, one of the guys from the team, behind her.

"This is Allison," Lydia told him. Candice frowned, wondering what her friend was up to.

"Hi, nice to meet you," Robbie said.

"She's the new girl," Lydia went on. "She just moved here."

Candice was still confused but then she noticed Scott further down the hall, shooting daggers at Lydia, and was able to connect the dots.

"Oh, how do you like it?" Robbie asked Allison, unaware that he was a puppet and Lydia was the puppet master.

"I like it," Allison replied, seeming to be equally unaware or Lydia's hidden motive, which was to piss off Scott.

Candice excused herself from the conversation and left early for class, but met up with them later at lunch.

"Attention students," the principal said through the loudspeaker as Candice took a sip from her soda. "Everyone under the age of eighteen is to be in their home by nine-thirty p.m. effective immediately by order of the sheriff department. I repeat, everyone under the age of eighteen are to be in their home by nine-thirty p.m. effective immediately by order of the sheriff department. Thank you."

"Sorry guys," Candice said. "There's no way my parents are letting me go out after the game tomorrow if there's a curfew."

Lydia scowled. "Fine. What about you lot? Are you still in?"

Allison lifted a shoulder apologetically. "Sorry, Lydia. My parents are definitely not gonna go for it either."

Luke put an arm around the back of Candice's chair. "We're still on for tonight though, right?" he asked, brushing her hair off her shoulder and very softly pressing a kiss there.

Candice thought about it. "Yeah, I guess, but Mom is probably gonna make sure you leave in time to be home by nine-thirty."

"I can live with that," he said, removing his arm, and leaning a little over the table to continue his discussion about the stakes tomorrow with Jackson and Danny.

"Someone's popular," Lydia stated, studying her manicured hands, when Candice's phone buzzed for a third time on the table, announcing another text message.

Candice shot her an innocent smile and checked her phone.

"Derek?" Allison whispered discreetly, making sure no one, especially Luke, couldn't hear.

Candice nodded as she read the text.

"What did he write?" Allison asked curiously. "You're smiling."

She immediately relaxed her face. "Uh, it's nothing," she lied poorly.

"How does Luke feel about your... newfound friendship?"

Candice sent a quick reply and put her phone away. "I don't know what you mean."

"He's fine with it? I find that hard to believe. He's the guy that made a scene last week because you let another guy drive you home. You mean to tell me that it doesn't bother him that you've been texting with that same guy like every day this week?"

Candice tilted her head and bit her bottom lip. "He's not a fan," she replied honestly. "But we're texting about meaningless stuff," she defended. "You know, like how our day is going. It's strictly platonic so there's really nothing for him to be jealous of."

"Derek just want to be your friend?" Allison asked skeptically, breaking out into a wide grin. "How gullible can a person be?"

Candice didn't know what to say to that. "Whatever. Derek's a nice distraction right now. It gives me less time being stuck in my own head. I don't want to complicate things."

"Yeah, well, speaking of Derek," Allison said. "Scott totally warned me to stay away from him earlier in the hall."

"What? Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't say why I should stay away from him, just kind of implied that he was bad news."

Candice frowned. "Didn't Derek say they were friends?" Allison nodded and ate a French fry. "Well, then they probably just had an argument or something."

Allison pressed her lips together. "How much do you really know about this guy?"

"I..." Candice sighed. "I guess I don't know that much really. I know a bit of what he's been through. I know he's been nice to me, and I feel like I can talk to him."

"Just promise to be careful, okay?" Allison told her. "Look out for warning signs."

Candice huffed out a laugh. "I promise."

"Promise what?" Luke asked her, putting his arm around the back of her chair again.

"To be careful," she answered him truthfully. She'd thought for a split second that she ought to come up with a lie fast, but reminded herself she wasn't actually doing anything wrong. There was no reason to lie since Derek was just quickly becoming a friend.

Luke frowned, confused. "Of what?" Candice opened her mouth to answer but he spoke first. "Derek?"

"Scott McCall warned Allison to stay away from him for some reason."

"And what reason is that?"

"We don't know, hence why I promised to be careful."

Luke's hand cupped her shoulder. "Or, you know, you could just stay clear of him altogether?"

She scowled at him. "I'm not gonna do that."

"Why not?" he argued.

"He hasn't given me a reason to."

Luke pursed his lips and exhaled through his nose in frustration. "McCall's a friend of this guy?" Candice gave an uncertain nod because she didn't know where he was going with this. "Right. Then don't you think he knows what he's talking about if he warns people off him?"

Candice heaved her chest in a deep sigh. "Maybe."

Luke's eyebrows raised, probably in surprise because he hadn't expected her to agree with him. "So, you'll stop trying to be his friend then?" he asked, a smile flickering across his face.

"No." His smile disappeared, and he looked grumpy. "For all we know, Scott doesn't want Allison anywhere near Derek because he wants her all to himself."

"Fine," he hissed. "Be his friend then for all I care."