A/N: More Jackson and Esther in this chapter. Yay!

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, only Esther. Similar content and dialogue probably originated from the show

FIVE

The first thing I heard the next morning was my phone going off. Groaning, I picked it up off of the nightstand and clicked it on.

Be ready by 10 was all it said. I looked at the number. Jackson. I smiled a bit and turned to look at the clock. It read 9:30.

"Shit," I yelped.

Throwing off the covers I ran to my closet and picked out the first thing I could lay my hands on. I came up with a soft black cotton dress and a light denim shirt. Running into the bathroom, I quickly did my hair and threw on my clothes and some super basic makeup.

"Hi," I said to Aunt Mel as I ran into the kitchen.

"Morning sweetheart," she said, pecking me on the check. "How'd you sleep?"

"Oh, I slept fine. You?" I asked, grabbing the pot of coffee and filling up a travel mug.

"Me to. What are you doing?" she questioned.

"Hm?" I said, looking up from my coffee. "Oh! I'm going out with Jackson. He offered to give me a tour around town."

Raising an eyebrow at me, Aunt Mel turned back to making her breakfast.

"What?" I asked.

"It's just," she hesitated, "from what Scott and Stiles have told me, Jackson isn't really a good person."

I paused and thought about that, trying to come up with an answer that was reasonable.

"Okay, well, you work with his mom, right?"

She nodded.

"What does she say about her son?"

"She says that he is incredibly kind but has trouble with anger. She also told me that he has always had a hard time letting people in and that he is incredibly focused on pretty much everything that he does."

"Right, and what have Scott and Stiles said?"

An uncomfortable look came across her face. She looked down and was rubbing her wrist. My eyebrows went up.

"Mel?" I asked. How bad could it be?

She sighed. "They say a lot of things. That he's a total asshole and a completely self-centered jerk. That he's a total womanizer and that he thinks he's king of the world because he has nice hair and an expensive car. Stuff like that."

I let out a breath. It wasn't really as bad as I'd thought.

"I hope that both you and Scott realise that there are guys like that at every school, right?" I told her. "My school in France had them and I'm about ninety-nine-point-nine percent positive that every other high school in the world has guys like that. But the thing is, when it comes to Jackson, that's not what I saw."

"Well, what did you see?" Mel asked.

"I see someone who is kind and giving and sweet. I see someone who is passionate and loving and driven. I see a teenage boy who is trying to live life in the best possible way. And, yes, I get where Scott and Stiles may be coming from, but have they ever really gotten to know him? Probably not. Have I? Only the gentle, caring part of him. But, when I do see the not-so-great parts, I will make my decision on how I want my possible friendship with him to continue," I took a deep breath and closed my mouth.

Aunt Mel was smiling. It was the smile she wore when she was happy and proud, all teeth and smile lines etched into the corners of her mouth.

"You are so much like your mom."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"She was always the person who took no one's shit. She would always speak her mind and was always standing up for the people that she loved. She played the role of big sister very, very well," my aunt's smile had faded into something softer, like she was pulling out the memories of her sister.

"Well," I chocked, "I'm glad that I'm living up to her rep."

Mel nodded and pulled me into a hug. We stayed like that for a couple minutes, just being sad and happy at the same time. A knock on the door interrupted our aunt-and-niece moment. I pulled away, picked up my coffee, and went to answer the front door.

Jackson was standing on the porch with his hands in the pockets of his very nice jeans and a dark red tee shirt. His hands were shoved in the pocket of his jeans and he looked up when I opened the door.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said back.

"Uh, are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, just let me grab something. Can you wait a minute?" I asked.

He nodded and I turned back to run into the house, and then my room. Reaching down to the foot of my bed, I grabbed my purse and checked to make sure I had everything that I would need in it. I slipped into a pair of flats and walked back out to the front door. I halted when I got there. Aunt Mel was talking to Jackson and he seemed very uncomfortable.

"Okay," I grinned, sliding in next to my aunt. "I'm all good."

"Great," he stepped back just as footsteps rocket down the stairs.

"Hey, Mom," Scott's voice called.

Turning my head, I saw him running down the stairs with Stiles following behind him. When he saw Jackson at the door his face immediately turned dark.

"What are you doing here?" he almost growled.

"We," I jumped in, "are going out. Bye boys. Have a nice day."

Pushing Jackson outside I slammed the door shut before Scott or anyone else could say more. Walking down the driveway to his car, he said "Nice escape back there."

I smiled. "Thanks."

It was quiet for a while but it wasn't awkward. I looked out the window at the town passing by, and then back to the boy sitting next to me. He was keeping focused on the road, but I swore that I'd felt him looking at me. Well, I was probably just imagining things.

"So," I asked, "where are you taking me?"

"In all honesty, I'm not really sure." Jackson grinned. "I was just going to drive you around, show you Beacon Hills."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," I told him.

He grinned. "Then let's go."