Chapter 2

As soon as they arrived at school Scarlet leapt out of the jeep and strode inside the building. Stiles had been driving her crazy all morning about last night, how she had gotten home, and who she was dating. She had told him multiple times that she wasn't dating anyone and to drop it, but he wouldn't let it go.

The low heels on her boots clicked against the tiled floor as she made her way to her locker. She quickly pulled it open and stuck some of her notebooks in it. "Morning Scarlet," a sugary sweet voice called.

"Hey Lydia," Scarlet said as she turned to look at the red head. "Love your outfit."

"Thanks, yours is great too," she said with a smile. Scarlet had known Lydia long enough to know when she was being sincere and when she wasn't. They were friends, in the sense that Lydia liked to keep her friends close and her enemies closer. Scarlet was her biggest competition academically and she was completely aware of that fact. "So, tell me Scar, why was my boyfriend calling you last night? And the night before, and the night before that?"

"He had a question about the summer reading for A.P. English," Scarlet shot back.

"And why was he asking you and not me," Lydia asked with a pointed look.

"Because I knew Scarlet had already finished the book and that you hadn't, I ran into her at the coffee shop a few days ago and we talked about it," Jackson said as he joined them. "Thanks for your help by the way."

"No problem, anytime," she said with a pointed look before spinning on her heel and striding away. She could hear Lydia laying into Jackson, but she just kept walking. He deserved it for being such a jerk last night.

Stiles caught up with her between her last two classes, a look of excitement on his face. "Are you coming to lacrosse practice today," he asked.

"I wasn't planning on it, why?"

"Scott found the body last night, he also thinks that a wolf bit him, but we are going to find the body after practice. You want to come with us," Stiles asked.

"Sure, I don't have piano today, might as well."

"Great, see you later!"

"Now I know why I don't hang out with your twin," Jackson said from behind her. "He's a total spaz."

"He has ADHD Jackson, he can't help it," Scarlet snapped as she moved around him. "I have to get to class."

"We have to talk," Jackson said grabbing her arm. She yanked it away from him and glanced around.

"Careful Jackson, someone might see and then what would you tell Lydia?"

"I'll deal with it, its not like she's a total saint."

Scarlet rolled her eyes and moved away from him. "I don't want to be late for class."

"Come on, skip with me and lets go somewhere and talk."

"You don't want to talk to me Jackson. I'm not doing this anymore, we're done here," Scarlet informed him. She turned to walk away, but didn't get far before Jackson grabbed her arm and jerked her back toward him.

"Don't walk away from me! I'm the one that gets to decide when this is over and I say that this is going on for as long as I want it to."

"That's called rape Jackson, what do you think all the colleges will think when they find out you raped the Sheriff's daughter?"

"I'll tell all the guys," Jackson threatened. Scarlet knew him well enough to know that he would do it. The last thing she wanted was the entire school to know what had happened. She also didn't want all the guys to think that she was easy. Yes she had slept with Jackson, but he was the only guy she'd been with, when they started hanging out he wasn't with Lydia. They were on one of their breaks, and Scarlet had gotten caught in the crossfire. Jackson liked that he had basically molded her into the perfect girl for him, she knew exactly what he wanted.

"Jackson, please," Scarlet pleaded. "I don't want to do this anymore. If Lydia finds out, she will lose it. She'll tell everyone, people will never look at me the same. I don't want everyone to know my personal business."

"Then stop fighting with me about this, no one has to know, Lydia won't find out. Everything will be fine," Jackson said as he tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

Scarlet heaved a sigh and shook her head at him. "Do you care about me at all or are you just using me?"

Jackson stared at her for a moment before speaking again. "I care, I do, but you and I both know that this is about one thing and one thing only. Don't pretend like it isn't good between us."

"You're an ass," Scarlet snapped. She shoved him away from her and walked away from him.

"Careful Scarlet, what will Daddy think if he hears his little girl isn't as innocent as she pretends to be," Jackson called after her.

Scarlet didn't let him see that he had hit her exactly where it would hurt, she kept walking down the hallway until she reached the doors of the school. She slammed them open and strode out. She glanced around to make sure the coast was clear before she rushed across parking lot and down the nearest street. She strode angrily away from the school her thoughts racing. She had to figure out what to do about Jackson, there had to be a way to get him to back off.

Scarlet didn't look as she moved to cross the street. She gasped when she heard squealing brakes and a car stopped just short of her yet again. She stepped back onto the curve, a small smile creeping onto her face when she recognized the car. Derek rolled the window down and stared at her.

"Do you just enjoy dangerous situations or do you have a death wish I need to know about," he called.

"Neither, I was just distracted," Scarlet admitted.

"You want to talk about it," he asked. Derek hadn't stopped thinking about her since she had gotten out of the car last night. There was something about her, the way her scent lingered in his car long after she was gone that made him crave her presence.

"Why not," she said as she pulled open the passenger down and climbed in. Derek drove a short distance before putting the car in park. They were in the parking lot that overlooked the lake near the nature preserve. They both climbed out of the car and sat on the hood.

"So, how was your first day of school," Derek asked.

"It was ok, that guy I told you about, his girlfriend saw that he had called me a couple of times so she confronted me about it. We told her it was about an English assignment."

"She bought that? School hasn't even been in for a day," Derek pointed out.

"We're all in A.P. English, we had summer reading, which is what we told her. He caught up with me later, and we got in a fight. He told me that he gets to decide when we are done and that if I don't keep... hanging out with him that he'll tell all the guys at school about us."

"Which means his girlfriend will find out," Derek surmised.

"Not just her, everyone will know, including my twin and our best friend," Scarlet cried.

"You have a twin," Derek asked. Scarlet shot him an annoyed look. "Sorry, subject change, I didn't know you had a twin sister."

"Brother, I have a twin brother, he's older by ten minutes."

"And the best friend is a boy or a girl," Derek asked.

"A boy, and they don't know about Jackson. They'd freak out, they don't like him and rightfully so, he can be a complete jerk. Jackson even threatened to tell my dad, because I said I would accuse him of rape if he didn't leave me alone."

Scarlet heaved a sigh, she glanced briefly at Derek and wondered what she was doing. She couldn't believe she was sitting here unloading on a perfect stranger. "I should go, this isn't your concern. I'll handle it," she said quickly. She slid off the hood and started to move toward the car door.

Derek leaned across the car and grabbed her hand. Their eyes widened at the electricity that shot through them both. Scarlet gasped softly and looked up to meet his gaze. They were both wondering the same thing at that moment, if simply touching hands was like that what would a kiss be like? Scarlet pulled her hand from his grasp and took a step back.

"Just stay away from him for a few days, maybe you'll get lucky and he'll forget about you," Derek suggested. Scarlet simply nodded, knowing that plan would never work with Jackson he was as likely to forget about their arrangement as he was to forget that he was the lacrosse team captain. "You want me to drive you back to the school."

"Sure, I told my brother I would meet him for lacrosse practice," she said as she glanced down at her watch. "Which is almost over, we've got to go, he's going to freak."

Derek let out a chuckle at her evident panic, but quickly climbed into his car and drove her back to the school. Scarlet lingered for just a moment, briefly meeting his gaze.

"Uh, so I guess, I'll see you around," she finally said before pushing open the car door and climbing out. Derek simply nodded in response until she shut the door and began to walk across the parking lot.

"You'll see me sooner than you think," Derek murmured.