#3

"Hey, Elie!" A girl with blond hair, emerald green eyes, and big smile on her face ran up to Anelie, who was rummaging through her locker. As she closed her locker door, the girl tripped over air and fell into Anelie's arms.

"Whoa…watch it, Hannah!"

"Thanks…so, are you going to Lydia's party?" asked Hannah, tucking strands of her delicate blond hair behind her ear.

"No, I'd rather stay home and listen to music I like and drink the drinks I like and hang around people that I actually like. It's Friday night, I should be enjoying myself! …Why? Are you going?"

"May be, I don't know. I heard from Stiles in English that him and Scott were going, so I kinda assumed you would too." When she heard the name Scott, it stung a little.

"I have no desire to watch Lydia make out with Jackson, drink overly sweet alcoholic beverage and listen to some lame pop songs especially on a Friday night…and…oh wait I got a text…" Anelie took her phone out and checked the message, which happened to be from one of the waitress at her part-time job asking if Anelie could take over her shift tomorrow. She wanted to attend Lydia's party. I guess everyone who is anyone is going. And even Stiles was planning to attend. With a sigh, she sent a quick reply, shoved the phone back into her pocket.

"I guess I won't be enjoying myself on Friday after all."

"So you're going to the party?"

"Nooo… silly, I have to work down at the diner!"

Anelie was kind of glad that she now had an official excuse to not go to the party, if Stiles or Scott asked. That is, if they asked. It seemed that Scott had fallen head over heels for Allison, the new girl, and apparently, going to the party with her was his number one priority at the moment. As for Stiles, he probably assumed that she would tag along. Well, not this time. Usually, if Stiles and Scott were going, Anelie would have followed them to the party, as Hannah had assumed. At the party, they'd drink, stand around the wall, bitching about random things and it wouldn't be too bad. The presence of the boys would have made even Lydia's party bearable. But not this time.

All through the week, both Stiles and Scott were being weird. Stiles being weird was nothing new, but he was holed up in his room, obsessively looking though books and websites. His floor was covered with books and papers he printed off. When she picked up a sheet of paper at random, it was a gothic image of what looked like a werewolf. She didn't ask and quietly left the room. And let Stiles be. As for Scott, he was like a different person. He was doing extremely well in lacrosse, and he was also doing quite well with Allison. To Anelie, it felt like Scott was slipping away. It wasn't jealousy. She was happy that he found someone. Unlike Lydia, Allison seemed nice and she seemed to be paying Scott the attention he deserves. The fact that he was busy with his own life made her a little sad. She felt like she wasn't part of his world anymore…and that she was being gently pushed away. She knew this would happen eventually when they started dating or went off to college. Stiles was her brother so she didn't worry about losing him but with Scott, it was different. She had to hold on a little stronger and it kind of depended on him holding on too.

When Anelie got home from school on Friday, she noticed Scott's bike and she assumed that the boys were getting ready for the party or something. As she walked through the front door, she ran into Scott, who seemed out of breath and confused. He had the same expression he had on the day after the incident in the woods, but more tense.

"Whoa, are you okay?"

"Yeah, um…sorry" with a mumbled apology, Scott hurried out the door without explaining anything. So she ran up the stairs and stormed into Stiles' room. Stiles was just picking up his chair.

"What just happened?"

"…I don't know"

"Did you guys have a fight or something?"

"Wha- noooo…"

"You pissed him off with this werewolf crap right?"

"…."

"Give him a break, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

"I'm serious, Stiles."

"Yeah, I know, I got it."

"…well anyways, I gotta go so don't forget to lock the door when you leave for Lydia's party."

"Ok...what? You're not going to the party?"

"No. I've got work."

"But it's Friday. You don't have a shift on Friday."

"No…but I picked one up as a favour."

"Oh…uh…..okay, it's for the best, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah…nothing, nothing! Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for work?" said Stiles as he pushed his sister gently out of the room and closed the door on her face. He didn't know whether to tell her about the whole werewolf situation or not. He was now pretty certain about Scott being a werewolf, I mean look at the chair, he thought, but he wasn't sure if he wanted his sister involved in all this. If Scott really turned to a wolf and went on rampage, which he was sure of, he wanted his sister far away from Scott. Scott had shoved him against the wall and nearly punched him in the face, and that has never happened before. It was probably the full moon. He hoped it was the full moon. He was a little shaken up by Scott's outburst but shrugged it off and got ready for the party.

On the other side of the door, Anelie didn't know how to react. It's for the best? What did he mean by that? That she'd be a third wheel? Get in the way of Scott and Allison? So if Scott starts dating her, and it seemed like it was going to happen, she has to stay away from them? Stiles would be hanging around Scott, who would be hanging around with Allison, who hangs around Lydia. And where would Anelie fit in? She didn't. I could, she thought, I mean I don't hate Lydia, I just don't get her, and Allison seems nice. But Jackson was a different story. Every time she saw him, she felt the urge to punch him in the face. Oh, god, it's happening. They are falling apart. She thought and she suddenly felt like she was having a panic attack. She couldn't breathe, she felt light-headed, and her fingers were numb. She kept repeating to herself that she was overacting, and that it's going to be okay. She repeated the phrase over and over as if in a prayer.

"Elie! Hey!Anelie!"

"…..….hmmm?"

"Order's up!"

"Oh…sorry" she quickly apologised and picked up the plates of food and hurried to the table. Just when she was about to return to the counter, someone called out and when she turned around, she saw Derek Hale sitting in the corner, and her heart missed a beat.

"Can I have a refill?" said Derek as he held up his cup.

"Um…Sure," She quickly grabbed the coffee pot and as she filled up his cup, she concentrated on pouring the coffee because her hand was slightly shaking, and wondered why the hell her heart was beating so fast.

"So you work here every Friday?" he asked casually, with a faint smile on his face. His attitude and demeanour was completely different from the other day and it caught her off guard. But something about his smile bothered Anelie. She knew that look. Because she often used similar smile at some of the more annoying customers at the diner; smiling with lips but not with her eyes. It was one of those I'm-being-polite-to-you-because-I-have-to-not-because-I-want-to smile.

"Um…no….uh….you need anything else?"

Derek gave her a quick smile again, and told her that he was fine so she turned around and walked off to tend to other customers. He sat quietly in the corner drinking coffee while Anelie tried very hard not to stare at him too much while she worked.

"So, who's the tall, dark mysterious stranger?" asked Sandy, nudging Anelie with her elbow.

"What?" pretending not to understand, Anelie played dumb and continued to clean the glasses.

"The guy in table 6." Sandy rolled her eyes and glanced at Derek.

"Um…it's Derek Hale." Anelie tried not to look in his direction.

"The name rings a bell…"

Anelie didn't want to gossip about the fire in the presence of Derek, so she shrugged and pretended to be busy and kept cleaning the glasses. She was relieved when Sandy was called away by the chef who was yelling that the order was up.

"Coming, coming! Sheeesh!" Sandy yelled back. Throwing her hands up, she hurried back towards the kitchen. After she left, Anelie glanced at Derek and she nearly dropped the glass, when she realised that he had been staring at her. She quickly turned away, which she immediately regretted. God, I feel so stupid. She was glad when strings of customers entered the diner, so she could stop pretending to be busy and actually be busy. The peak hour was approaching at the diner so the customers continued to roll in and soon, both Anelie and Sandy were running to and fro frantically, taking orders, carrying plates of food, drinks, and filling up the empty cups.

Hours later, when things finally quietened down and Anelie was clearing the tables, she glanced at the table 6, where an old man was now sipping his coffee. She had actually been really busy that she didn't even notice Derek leaving. She felt a little disappointed that he'd left without saying goodbye but then she felt stupid for thinking that. They were practically strangers. I mean, he doesn't even know my name! There was no reason for him to say goodbye to her and she felt silly for being so flustered in his presence. He probably thinks I'm stupid….God!? Why do I care what he thinks?

When her shift was over, Anelie grabbed her tips and was just about to leave when Sandy came up to her with a huge grin on her face, and handed her a piece of paper.

"What's this?" Anelie asked, staring down at the slightly crumpled piece of what looked like a receipt, and Sandy shrieked, "It's from Derek." At the mention of his name, Anelie's heart started fluttering again and she looked closely at the paper. On the bottom he'd scribbled a set of numbers…and it dawned on her that it was his phone number. In shock, she looked up at Sandy who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"What do I do?! What do I do?!"

"Call him! He was hot!"

"What? He's like….twenty something."

"So?"

"I'm sixteen"

"Who cares? He's HOT!"

"I DO! Why would he give me his number? I'm only sixteen!"

"May be he's into young girls."

"Gross! You make him sound like a perv!"

"Aw, come on! Even if he was, he's hot! Live a little!" Sandy winked at Anelie and slapped her back.

Not knowing what to do, she shoved the receipt into her pocket, got on her bike and headed home. The whole ride home, she was wondering why on earth Derek had given her his number. She was sure she wasn't his type so she kept wondering what his motive was. What did he want from me? When she got home, she walked into her room and just fell onto her bed. She took out the piece of paper and stared at it for a while. There was no message like 'call me' or anything. Just his phone number. Most girls would call him back, she thought. Sandy would definitely call. But then, what? She wanted someone to talk to but somehow she didn't want to tell the boys, so she grabbed her phone and flicked through contacts until she found Jessie's name but stopped herself from calling her when she remembered something about spending the night with her Dad or something. Not wanting to disturb her friend, she threw down the phone and Anelie screamed into her pillow out of frustration.

Sorry to cut off here and leave you hanging…but I thought it was getting too long. Thank you soooo much for the reviews, favourites, and follows! Much appreciate it! It's what keeps me going… BUT unfortunately, I won't be able to upload anything over the weekend due to school work, sorry! Gotta finish this over the weekend or I get into serious trouble.

Anyways, let me know what you think readers!

PS The diner Elie works at is called The Breakfast Club and if you want to get the idea as to what it looks like, check out my tumblr page! :)