"Chapters one through five of your chemistry text. There will be a test on Monday."
Alex watched her lanky chemistry teacher slither lazily between their tables. Barely a month had passed since school had started and this guy was seriously trying to shoot her weekends to hell.
The multitude of groans throughout the classroom echoed her sentiments. Her thoughts of murder on the other hand, were hard to hide behind her narrowed eyes.
"Oh man, this blows." Alex turned to Jake; his head buried deep within his crossed arms. He had been on her tail since they first met; following her around classes and eating with her at lunch. She had thought at one point that she might have been his only friend.
As the past couple years got rough for her, she refused to get close to anyone. Her parents had urged her to live life more fully but their attempts fell on empty ears. She was perfectly content with their companionship. Friends simply added more complications.
Jake had managed to clear a space in her heart though. He was an attractive young athlete that had zero confidence. His constant aloof attitude kept her the more mature of the two but he brought a new light to her life.
Just the other day she had caught him stealing one of the ball projectors from the gym storage room. She found him out on the lacrosse field trying to catch the fast pitches. Neither of them had known that the button would get stuck and the balls would keep flying.
She could still see the purple welts peeking out from under his shirt sleeves. Even at the expense of his embarrassment, he had let her laugh at his misfortune. She had felt horrible after and had tried to apologize but he simply shrugged off her words and told her that it was pretty funny. Everyone deserved a good laugh here and there.
"We can get some studying in together, if you want."
Jakes' head shot up, a grin plastered on his face. "Sweet! We could go down to the library after school today."
"Don't you have lacrosse practice?" And just like that, the light in his pupils died and his eyes narrowed to slits. She hadn't meant to bring up a sore topic but she wasn't sure why he was so irritated. As far as she knew, he was completely obsessed with his training. The few times they hung out during the week, involved her doing her homework in the bleachers while he practiced with his team below.
"Not today, thanks to Derek. I swear he only does it so he can spend time with his girlfriend."
Alex winced slightly and turned her attention back to packing her bag. Jake was too obsessed with his internal dialogue to notice the subtle change in her body posture.
The mysterious Derek Hale was an anomaly that still managed to plague her mind. As a warm bloodied female, she could acknowledge the obvious attraction of said bad boy but she didn't have to show it. It seemed that every girl in their school, new or old, tried to throw themselves at him behind every corner. Luckily he held some morals; he kept them all at a safe distance.
She had a hard time erasing the few times she had interacted with him.
After her first day of school, Jake had found her by her locker. He had been wondering about her day and asked if she had seen him practicing that morning. Her efforts to brush off any further attention from him had failed and she eventually gave in to his excited questions.
Leaning against her locker, she stated what she had remembered seeing of him that morning; conveniently leaving out the staring contest with the blue eyed devil.
"Make sure you practice more, Jones." Jake's excited commentary halted abruptly; his attention now on the man walking towards him.
Alex had craned her head around his large frame to get a look at the new intruder. The owner of the voice seemed to frustrate Jake further and her curiosity spiked even more. She should've ignored the jab and focused her attention on continuing their conversation.
The same boy from the pitch earlier smirked in their general direction. Dark jeans hung deliciously around his long legs, while an old black t- shirt showcased his biceps. Boy may have not been the right term to describe the developing man in front of them.
His relaxed posture and steady stride made Jake look weak in comparison. Alex could see why the females on the track had been trying to get his attention. He was the epitome of every girls fantasy. Tall, dark and handsome weren't strong enough to describe him. They certainly weren't enough to explain the excitement pooling low in her stomach.
"Yeah I practice everyday Derek."
He continued his walk towards the set of stairs, a smirk still present on his perfect face. His eyes had turned briefly to hers before he started to descend. "Hey new girl."
Alex growled slightly beneath her breath, "I have a name, jackass."
As if he heard her, he stopped his descent to turn towards them again. His trademark smirk aimed directly at Alex now. "What's your name?"
Alex in turn smirked back at him, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, "You haven't earned the right."
A small laugh erupted between his lips, "I guess I'll have to work harder at that then."
"Alex you in there? The bell rang, we can leave now." Jakes' hand waving frantically in front of her face brought her back to reality.
"Oh yeah, sorry. I must've dozed off." Grabbing her bag from the floor, she exited the lab with an oblivious Jake trailing behind her.
She knew he wasn't the biggest fan of Derek, so she tried to not bring up anything that might involve him but she couldn't deny the curiosity that brewed within her. She honestly wished she knew more about the cocky man that invaded her thoughts everyday.
"Look at him," Alex looked up from her chemistry notes to stare at the distracted boy across the table from her, "he thinks he's soooo good looking."
Alex sighed for what had to be the millionth time since they had sat down. She understood that Jake had an attention span of a baby monkey and hated balancing chemical equations but if she was trying to ignore the feelings Derek provoked in her, it was becoming more difficult with Jake.
"Jake, are you trying to tell me something?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well….you do spend an awful amount of time staring at Derek."
Jakes' attention suddenly shot away from the girls sitting with Derek, "That's just disturbing."
"What's poor Jakey complaining about now?" Heavy textbooks slammed violently upon their table, startling both occupants. The dark haired beauty plopped lazily in a chair before ripping her notebook open.
Alex laughed at the incredulous look upon Jakes' face. "I was insinuating that Jake might have feelings for your brother."
"Well that does explain a lot," laughed Laura.
"I don't know why I even hang out with you two." Jake complained as he grabbed the bag of M&Ms from Laura's hands.
Alex watched as her two friends argued loudly over the candy bag. She hadn't realized how much these two people had impacted her life. Life had to take a more realistic and serious tone with her when she was very young. There hadn't been any time for arguments over who wanted the candy more. There hadn't been time for her to sit on stone cold bleachers while she cheered on the barbaric acts of lacrosse.
She was slowly beginning to realize that all of it had been her fault. She had been trying for so long to seclude herself because she didn't want to have to explain to people what was wrong with her; why she was trying to spend more time by herself. She hadn't realized that her life was slowly losing its light
She watched as Laura failed miserably to lunge at Jake's arm. The young man of course continued to laugh uncontrollably as he used his long arms to keep the snack out of her reach.
Suddenly the bag was ripped from Jake's hand as Laura fell against him. Both teenagers directed their eyes above to the new imposter; Derek stared back them, his eyebrows raised high upon his forehead.
"You two are ridiculous." His large hands tore the bag open; pouring half its contents into his mouth.
"Derek, you suck." He smirked at his sister before he dropped his book bag and took the seat next to Alex.
She swallowed nervously when his cologne hit her. Actually, she wasn't exactly positive if that was cologne she was smelling. He smelled fresh, straight from a shower, with a hint of pine. How he managed to smell like the woods constantly befuddled her from day to day.
Reverting her eyes back to her chemistry textbook, she tried to concentrate on her notes.
He actually HAD been trying to study when the girls joined him at the table. Derek knew he hadn't given them an open invitation to sit with him but they seemed to believe that it was a given when he was in a room.
He'd be lying if he said that he didn't find any of them attractive. Daddy's money had worked well for all of the popular girls at Beacon Hills; high end clothes and makeup. Unfortunately all their wealth couldn't camouflage the spare tire they all had for a brain.
They would be so easy to use but too difficult to get rid of. He knew their type so well. They dressed to impress, laughed at all your stupid jokes, acted weak so you'd come to their rescue but they added no real substance to your life.
"Hey Derek, do you wanna come over and watch a movie with me later?" Derek cringed internally at Isabel's voice. She tried so hard to fake innocence but the hand she was slowly traveling up his thigh was proving otherwise. Her attraction to him was so strong he was having a hard time concentrating; he had already taken her hand off him once.
"Give me back my candy Jake!" Laura's voice rang loud and clear to him from across the library. She was trying so hard to get her snack back from Jones without using her extra abilities. Though she found it easy to blend in to the crowd, Derek had it harder. The constant scent of female arousal attacked him at every corner and he played a sport where he got to knock guys down to the ground everyday. His wolf half was hard to contain at times.
If their lack of tact or intelligence wasn't enough, he tried to remind himself of Kate whenever other girls came around. It seemed to work for a bit before he was back to trying to control himself. Their relationship was on the rocks lately and she was no longer a beacon of light for him at the end of the day.
She had stopped coming to his games but he didn't mind that as much anymore. Her weird fascination to spend time with him and his family all the time was becoming a concern. She didn't take him back to her apartment so much as she wanted to be at his house to observe his family and their activities.
"Aw, come on Derek. I'm going to be all by myself." Slamming his notebook closed, he stuffed it back into his bag. He could already smell her excitement; she thought he was taken her up on the offer.
"Leave me alone Isabel," seethed Derek. He left their table without any explanations for his abrupt mood change. Normally he'd blame it on the approaching full moon but that wouldn't be the complete truth. He was tired of being in a horrible relationship with an overbearing woman. He was tired of being surrounded by fake females that wanted nothing more than his body and his car.
Approaching his sisters' table, he watched how she interacted with her friends. Everything seemed so effortless, so real. She didn't have to tone down her eccentric attitude but rather they encouraged her to voice her opinion.
Jake was a great lacrosse player (though he'd never admit it out loud) but he took the training too seriously. It was good to see that he could be more carefree when he was with his sister.
Now the new girl was too confusing for him to comprehend. From what he had heard from his sister, her name was Alex and she was a really good student. She was the one that kept the other two on track; something incredibly difficult when his ADD sister was involved.
He kept his questions to a minimum with his sister. He didn't want her to realize just how much Alex intrigued him. Her scent was off from the other people at their school and he had yet to figure out why. If his sister was concerned by it, she hadn't showed any signs yet.
On the other hand, he could tell that she did find him attractive. With each step he took towards her, her heartbeat sped up considerably. That normally wouldn't have fazed him but it was her reaction that interested him. She was a beautiful girl that refused to let her emotions get the best of her. On the few occasions they had actually spoken, she hadn't tried to ask him out or proposition him.
Her refusal to act like the other girls at their high school was what attracted him to her. She kept herself bottled up; revealing nothing significant about herself. Laura and Jake didn't even know what her favorite color was.
Grabbing the candy away from his sister, he tried to use the sugar to distract him from the heat Alex's body was giving off. He could tell she was trying to ignore him again but her rapidly beating heart was hard for him to ignore.
She felt a pull towards him like he felt one for her.