Aria was a tad bit frazzled after being caught by the janitor, so she avoided eye contract with the custodial staff all day. Well. Lydia wanted her to get frisky, so now she was about as frisky as one could be. The bell rings, cueing the end of the school day. She goes to her locker, grabbing out some of her homework. She then walks outside, completely forgetting to meet Stiles in the library. She sees Derek Hale outside instead, leaning against his black mustang as many high school girls giggled from afar.

"Really? Haven't you gotten tired of ripping my leggings?" Aria asks, walking up to him, "What do you want now? Are there a few babies you forgot to kick?"

Derek opens the passenger side door, "Get in."

"Yeah no, I've had quite enough of you throwing me to the ground. I'm still trying to get dirt out of my ears." Aria flushes when she realizes how sexual their context must sound to people who are listening.

Derek slams the passenger door, charging up to Aria, "We have to train today. So put aside your teenage drama, quit your pouting, and get in the damn car." He's only a breath away and her heart is speeding up and she hates herself for it.

Aria glances up at him through her eyelashes, "I have homework, and I'd actually like to keep my sanity."

Derek comes closer to her, almost close enough that their foreheads touch, "People are staring." He growls, his eyes flashing red for a moment.

"Was that supposed to scare me? Maybe they're staring because Boo Radley has finally emerged from his slumber." Aria offers as an explanation, "Or it looks like you're about to kidnap me, it's one or the other."

"Look, I texted your brother. Also, I found a gym for us to.. train in. So no hard forest floors if that's your main opposition to this."

"You and my brother are texting buddies?" Aria laughs, "Really? You think my main opposition is hard forest floors? You haven't been paying attention, have you? It's you. You're the main opposition." Aria taps his cheek, "Get your head in the game, Hale."

"It's a free opportunity to punch me in the face."

"Do you honestly think I'll ever get to that point?"

"Well no, but you could surprise me."

Aria looks at him, then looks away to see a little crowd of giggling teenage girls has formed. Probably swooning over Derek Hale. For some strange reason, it infuriates her, she glances up at him, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. "Fine." She sighs.

She walks over to the mustang, opening the passenger side and throwing her stuff into the backseat. "If you rip my jeans world war three won't be too far from the horizon, got it?" Aria says, pointing a stern finger at him.

He smiles and it's the first time she's ever seen him smile, "Got it. Get in."

They stand across from each other, Aria in spandex and a large t-shirt that Stiles happily gave Derek to give to her. Aria stood in a defensive position as Derek stood across from her.

The gym was empty, so obviously Derek really did have friends in high places. Or he kicked a few babies to get them into this gym, but hey, who cared? Derek was shirtless, and to be honest, Aria didn't mind the view. Plus Derek could probably hear her heartbeat speed up when he decided to rip off his shirt. So yeah, just some sexual tension, just a bit, not a lot. Okay a lot. Lots.

"So the Twins are in your Chemistry class, huh?" Derek asks, sparking up some small chat.

"Apparently. Fortunately for me, I have a little banshee distraction." Aria says, matching Derek's pace as he attempts to circle around her. They begin a little dance of him lunging and her dodging.

"You're getting better." He comments, a touch of surprise in his voice.

Aria shrugs, "I suppose nearly being killed brings out the best in me. Not once but twice. One of those times provided by you, thanks for that. I usually don't quite get the brush of death I strive for."

Derek suddenly tackles her, she lets out a soft yelp and he's on top of her, straddling her. Holding her wrists above her head, "You lost your focus." He offers as an explanation.

Aria growls at him, "Get off of me."

"Make me."

Aria rests her head against the mat, defeated, "You're like 200 pounds."

"You think the Alpha pack is going to weigh three pounds? Come on Aria, you're only going to survive if you try."

Aria locks her leg around one of his and tries to spin them around to no avail, "This is ridiculous." She pouts.

"You complain too much."

"You complain too much." She mocks. "My arms are beginning to cramp, do you mind?"

Derek shakes his head, "No, do you think someone in the Alpha pack is going to mind? This is the part where they bite you and you come crying to me about how much you don't want to be one of us."

"That was mean."

"It doesn't pay to be nice, babe."

Aria feels anger stream through her and she locks her leg around his again to efficiently flip them. She smiles at her victory but remembers what he said. "I won't come crying to you if I get bit. I'll go crying to Issac because unlike you, he actually cares about me." Aria says, holding his hands above his head as she straddles him.

"I care." Derek says quietly.

"Don't make me laugh." Aria scolds, then she gets serious, she starts to blink a lot, "Uh, if I was turned, do you actually think I'd be a true Alpha?"

The pause is long, it seems to last forever. Aria waits and she waits but he's looking anywhere but at her. Then he finally meets her eyes again.

"Yes."

Aria gets off of him, standing up, she starts to pace. "There's an entire pack of people after me, this won't help." She says frantically, feeling her anxiety start to build, "We don't stand a chance, do we? Oh my god, what were we thinking? Alphas? I can't even beat you - oh my god we are so doomed."

Derek gets up quickly, "Hey, hey, don't talk like that. Everything will be fine."

"Do you actually believe that?"

"No."

Aria takes in deep breaths, "Oh my god you do not tell someone with ANXIETY that you don't think there's a chance to save her. Oh my god, I AM GOING TO DIE AREN'T I?" She asks frantically. "Either they turn me or I die there's no way out - there's no option where I stay human and alive."

She feels herself shutting down so she sits down with her head between her knees taking slow shallow breaths.

"Please calm down." Derek says, sitting across from her, taking one of her hands in his, rubbing small reassuring circles over it, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Aria stands up abruptly, "No, we need to train harder then, don't we? The only way it happens is if we let it happen." Her confidence finally returning. "We can't stall, you can't let me have panic attacks, we have to get tougher, stronger. All of us, not just me."

They train harder and it leaves Aria sweaty and out of breath laying on the cold mats. He had delivered many kicks to her and she was certain that she was going to bruise. Along with the many tackles. Derek drops Aria off at home and she walks in, running upstairs to jump into the cold shower. She gets out of the shower, toweling herself off. She stands in front of the mirror, calmly brushing her teeth.

Then her eyes flash a bright vibrant red.

She gasps, dropping her toothbrush into the sink. It had to be a hallucination, there's no way. She steps closer to the mirror, propping open her eyelids. "No, you stay nice and green, please." She says to her eyes.

Aria goes downstairs after getting dressed in her pajamas. She sees Stiles sitting in the living room, eating pizza he had ordered.

"There's some on the counter." He calls over to her.

Aria walks into the kitchen, grabbing a slice of her veggie pizza and sitting down next to him.

"How'd it go?" Stiles asks, not drawing his eyes from the TV.

Aria shrugs, taking a bite into her pizza, "It went fine. Probably have internal bruising. Maybe broke a few ribs. It's okay, I'm a solider."

Stiles chuckles, "I'm surprised you actually went."

"He offered me the chance to punch him in the face."

"Did you?"

"No." Aria admits sheepishly, "Though when I do I want a parade in my honor." She jokes, returning her eyes to the TV as well as silence falls in the living room. "Dad working late?"

Stiles sighs, "As always. Figured since his favorite daughter came home he'd be around more to keep an eye on you. Did you catch up on your homework?"

"What homework?" Aria asks, chewing on her bite of pizza.

Stiles turns to look at her, confused, "The homework you ditched me at lunch to complete."

"Oh yeah, that. Went fine, totally fine." Aria says, her cheeks flushing. "Just some equations that needed balancing." She shrugs, "Didn't take me as long as I thought it would."

Stiles nods, obviously not believing her, "Right."

Silence falls again and Aria is thankful this is the one night where her older brother doesn't prod. Aria sits there, worrying about her red eyes. She finishes her pizza and rinses off her plate, checking her phone to see a text from her Dad.

Sorry I couldn't be around tonight, kid. Tomorrow I'm taking you and Stiles out for dinner.

Aria texts him back, Sounds great, pops. Save the town from danger! She climbs into her bed after pressing send, pulling the sheets up to her chin. She sighs, leaning over to turn off her lamp.

She dreams of red eyes.