#9

Elie got into her father's car, but before starting the car, she took a deep breath and called her brother again. Maybe she was over-reacting. This time, the call went straight to his voicemail. She was about to try Scott but she remembered that Derek had wrecked Scott's phone. She looked through her contact list and stared at Derek's number. She actually had a legitimate reason to call him now. She took another deep breath and pressed the 'call' button. Her heart was beating so fast but when the dial tone finally stopped and it also went to his voicemail, her heart sank. She was now convinced that something had happened down at the school, so she turned the ignition and sped out of the drive way.

As she drove along the dimly lit street, she tried not to think of what might be happening to the boys. She hoped that she WAS over-reacting and that they didn't answer the phone because they were simply fooling around. Maybe Stiles left his phone in his car, or the school office. Or maybe his battery is dead. And Derek's too.

When she realised that the chances of both of them leaving their phones in the car or the battery dying were slim, she slammed her foot down on the pedal. If she gets a ticket, she was going to make Stiles pay the fine. He promised he'd call! Elie was fuming at her brother when she noticed a strange sound coming from the hood. She remembered her dad saying something about the engine problem.

"No, no, no, no…please don't die on me! At least take me to school and then break down! PLEASE!" Elie yelled in desperation and slowed down a little. Ignoring Elie's pleas, the noise only got louder and when it started smoking, she had to stop. I don't have time for this! Elie thought as she got out and opened the hood. Coughing and staring at the smoking engine, she thought of calling her dad but decided not to. How was she going to explain about the boys being at school with Derek? And with the possibility of an alpha running around she didn't want her dad anywhere near school. So she got her phone out and scrolled through the contact list until she found the mechanic's number.

"Bobby? Thank God, you answered the phone! I'm stranded and I need to you to come out and fix my Dad's car….I know you don't do after-hours service but PLEASE, PLEASE! This is an emergency! I need to get to school, like, right now….Bobby, please! Next time you come to the diner, your meal and coffee will be on me, so please?...What? Okay, okay. A meal, coffee and a pie. I promise."

Elie quickly told Bobby her location and hung up. She thought of leaving the car and getting to school by foot, but she couldn't just leave her dad's car in the middle of the road. And walking around when an alpha might be lurking around didn't seem like a good idea. None of this is a good idea, she thought. She should have insisted on going with them, or stopped them from doing this. Bobby, please hurry up, she pleaded as she waited for the mechanic to arrive.

As she stood beside the smoking car on a dark empty road, she began to bite her nails. It was a habit that she had kicked, or at least she had thought she had, when her mother passed away. She had no idea when she started doing it, but whenever she was under stress, she would blank out and bite her nails. It got worse as her mother's health deteriorated and on the day she passed away, Elie sat in the hospital lobby, biting her nails until she was bleeding. She hadn't realised that she had bit through the skin until Melissa stopped her. Her dad had cried as he stroked and kissed her fingers, telling her that everything will be okay. After that, every time she bit into her nails she remembered the look on her dad's face when he saw her bloodied fingers, and eventually she found another way to deal with her stress. So when she realised she had been biting her nails again, she stopped and shoved her hands deep in her pockets.

After the agonizing twenty-minute wait Bobby finally arrived and after taking a quick look at the car he shook his head and said "She's gone, Elie. I'll have to take her back to the garage."

"Um…can you drop me off at school?"

"You're not going home?"

"Stiles is there…"

She tried calling Stiles again as she waited for Bobby, who was now getting ready to tow the car back to his garage. She cursed when the call went straight to voicemail. She tried Derek too just in case, but with no luck. When Bobby said he was ready, she quickly turned around and hopped into his truck. Every minute seemed like an hour and it seemed to take them forever to get to school, but as they got closer, Elie was relieved, if only for a brief moment, at the absence of sirens and the police cars. Or the howling.

As far as she could tell from the outside, the school looked empty. Bobby seemed concerned as he was aware of the murders around Beacon Hills.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off at your house?"

"Yup, the boys are here…look," said Elie as she pointed at Stiles' Jeep in the parking-lot.

She thanked Bobby and promised him his free meal, coffee, and a pie and got off. She watched him drive away and jogged towards the parking-lot.

In the empty parking-lot, she walked towards Stiles' Jeep and another car which she assumed was Derek's. When she got closer, she realised not only that the cars were empty, but also that the other car was in fact, Jackson's. Elie looked around, wondering what the hell Jackson was doing here, and where Derek was. Maybe the alpha turned up and Derek drove them away somewhere safe, Elie hoped. There was no one anywhere near the parking-lot as far as she could see, and she couldn't hear anything either. She walked around the Jeep not knowing what to do, when she noticed the claw marks on the hood. Her heart sank at the sight of them and her knee became weak.

Elie panicked as she was now convinced that something had happened to the boys and the alpha had turned up. She got her phone out to call for help but she dropped it, and it was then that she saw what looked like a splatter of blood on the concrete. Elie freaked out and with her shaking fingers, she quickly picked up her phone and called her dad. She didn't want him near alpha but if something had happened to Stiles and Scott, she had to call him for help. Elie cursed out loud when her dad's phone also went straight to voicemail. She didn't know what else to do so she left her dad a rambling message.

"Um, Daddy, it's Elie…I came to school to check up on the boys…..and Stiles' Jeep is all mangled and I don't know where the boys are and….I really really need you right now, so if you get this, please come to school."

May be he was in a meeting. What do I do? What do I do? Elie looked around in panic, and saw something near the front door of the main building. When she got closer, she realised that it was one of her dad's tools that Stiles must have taken to break into the school building. When she tried the handle, the door opened. She looked at the dark empty corridor and took a deep breath as she quietly entered the building. Elie slowly tiptoed through the hallway holding her phone in front of her a flash light, and tightly gripping the silver letter opener like a dagger in her other hand. She wished she had something better than a letter opener. Maybe an axe…but it had to be silver right? Cutting it with axe will probably make it angrier…but then again, poking it with a silver letter opener might have the similar effect. Stiles, Scott, Where the hell are you!?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she thought she heard footsteps. Elie stopped walking and held her breath, and she heard it again. Hoping that it was one of the boys, she tiptoed towards the echoing footsteps.

"Scott?" Elie called out when she realised who it was.

"Elie? What are you doing here?" asked Scott in a frantic whisper.

"Where's Stiles? He wasn't answering his ph-" Elie began to raise her voice and in panic, Scott put his hand over her mouth and shushed her.

"Sorry…I got worried." Elie whispered. For a moment, Scott looked as if he didn't know what to do but he told her to go up to the chemistry room where Stiles was hiding with Allison and others.

"What's Allison and them doing here?"

"I'll explain later, just run…wait! No! Stay with me." Scott changed his mind as he realised that leaving Elie alone when he wasn't exactly sure where the alpha was might put her in danger. He explained to Elie that he was looking for the janitor's keys so they could escape to the roof and then down the fire escape to the parking-lot.

"Um, okay…so Stiles is okay, right?"

"Yup. For now…what IS that?" Scott asked as he looked down at Elie's hand.

"Um…a silver letter opener."

"A letter opener? You were going to attack a werewolf with a letter opener?"

"Silver. It was the only silver I could think of. What IS that?"

"Um…a self-igniting Molotov cocktail Lydia cooked up…."

"Lydia? Really?"

Scott shushed her again, as he began to sniff the air. He walked towards the gym, and motioned Elie to follow him. She tiptoed behind him and followed him into the empty gym. The alpha was nowhere in sight but Scott seemed nervous. He turned around and told Elie to "stay close." She nodded and stood right behind him as he walked towards the bleachers, which had been pulled out. They walked under the bleachers and when Scott suddenly stopped, Elie walked into him. He was looking up at something so she also looked up and saw the janitor's bloodied and life-less body jammed into the metal frame of the bleachers like a broken marionette doll. She covered her mouth just in time to stop herself from screaming. She quickly looked away. Scott handed Elie the beaker, and climbed up to reach for the keys that were hanging from the janitor's belt. As he was reaching for the keys, Elie noticed that the bleachers were moving. She frantically whispered at Scott to hurry, who grabbed the keys and jumped down. He grabbed the beaker from Elie and they both ran out just in time as the bleachers completely closed up. Elie was still shocked at discovering the janitor's body, so she was staring at the bleachers and didn't notice the alpha until Scott had pushed her behind him.

The blurry figure Elie had seen few days ago on a phone was standing in the middle of the gym, in front of her, growling at them. Elie felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

"Elie, stay back and run for it okay?" Scott whispered at Elie without taking his eyes of the alpha. Elie whispered "okay" and looked towards the door. Will she be able to make it?

"Come and get me" said Scott, as the alpha charged toward him. As soon as the alpha was in range, Scott threw the beaker which broke on its head, but all it did was just shatter and drench the beast. In panic, Scott turned around and yelled "Run!" as he pushed Elie's towards the door. She began to run but stopped when she realised that Scott wasn't behind her. He had been dragged by his ankle and was thrown across the gym floor by the alpha, which was now on top of him.

"Elie! Run!" Scott kept yelling at her to get away but she couldn't move. Half out of fear and half out of concern for Scott. She couldn't just leave him like this, she thought as she tightened her grip on the letter opener. She regretted not thinking about the axe when choosing her weapon. Never mind it not being silver, an axe would have given her more confidence than this little piece of pointed silver.

The alpha kept its claws on top of Scott to hold him down, but it stared at Elie with its red glaring eyes. Scott continued to scream at her to get away, but instead she ran towards the alpha. She was not going to run away. I'm dead anyway if it catches me. As she charged towards the alpha, holding her pitiful weapon in front of her with both hands, it swung its arm around with a full force that it hit Elie in the face and knocked her to the bleachers. With a thud, she hit the bleachers and fell on the ground. She felt a sharp pain run through her body, and for a second she couldn't breathe as the impact of the hit and the fall knocked the wind out of her.

As she struggled to get back up, the alpha let out a loud and harrowing howl. She blocked her ears and when it finally stopped, she looked up and realised that the alpha had gone. She looked around but there was only Scott who was thrashing around the floor in pain. She had no idea what was going on, but she ran towards Scott. She stopped when he glared at Elie and warned her through his gritted his teeth.

"…..get…..away…..from me!"

"But, Scott!" I can't leave him like this….and the key! I have to get the key! Elie thought but she stopped when she saw his eyes glow and he almost growled as he continued to warn her.

"GET…..AWAY….NOW!"

Elie really didn't want to leave, but realising that there was nothing she can do to help him, she ran out of the gym, through the hallway and ran all the way to the chemistry room without turning around to see if anyone was following her. When she finally got to the chemistry room, she tried to open the door but it was jammed. She banged on the door, and yelled out for her brother.

"Stiles! It's me! Open up! Hurry!"

She heard frantic argument behind the door, and heard something heavy being dragged away and the door was opened just enough for her to slide into safety. As soon as she got through, she helped Stiles and others put the desk against the door.

"What are you doing here? You promised you'd stay home!" Stiles yelled at Elie after barricading the door.

"Well, you promised you'd call!" Elie snapped. When she turned around Stiles realised that there was blood on her face.

"You're bleeding!" Stiles grabbed Elie's arms and began to turn her this way and that to make sure she wasn't bleeding from anywhere else. When he was sure that she wasn't seriously hurt, he gently tucked her stray strands of hair behind her ears and looked into her face.

"What? Um…I…must have cut my lip when…eh…I slipped." She struggled out of his grip and wiped her lips with her sleeve.

"Did you see Scott?" Allison asked. Elie couldn't tell her about what happened at the gym so she bit her lip and shook her head. Allison seemed beside herself with worry but what could she tell her? That Scott was a werewolf and that he might go berserk and come after them?

Looking at Elie's pale face and the way she was trembling, Stiles knew she had seen more than she was telling. He hugged her shoulder and thanked God she was okay. Well, okay for now. Come on Scott, get the keys, thought Stiles.

Then they suddenly heard a click. Elie twitched in fear, and Stiles tightened his grip. Meanwhile Allison moved the barricade and tried the door, and freaked out when she realised that it had been locked. She frantically tried the handle, and screamed for Scott. She only stopped when Lydia yelled at her to stop.

"Do you hear that?"

It sounded like the police siren. They all rushed towards the window and saw several police cars pulling into the school parking-lot. Even Stiles, who did not want to involve his dad in this werewolf business looked relieved.

"Are you sure it was Derek?" asked the Sheriff.

"Yes, I saw him too" When Stiles answered, Elie raises her eyebrow at her brother. He shook his head slightly, as if to say 'not now.' She was puzzled. Was Derek the alpha? What the hell was going on?

"What about the janitor?"

"We're still looking"

"Did you check under the bleachers? Under them!"

"Yeah, Scott, we looked. We pulled them out just like you asked. There's nothing."

"I'm not making this up!"

"No, I believe you, I do."

"You don't. You have this look like you feel bad for me, like you wanna believe me but I know you don't"

"Listen, we're going to search this whole school and we'll find him. Okay? I promise. And Elie, you get checked by the EMTs"

"No, Dad, I'm fine, it's just a cut lip…"

"Well, get that cut checked out," the Sheriff insisted and as he was called away by another officer, he stopped the boys from walking off.

"Stay, Both of you. And you, princess, GO."

Elie wanted to stay with the boys and ask them about Derek, but she decided it could wait. She sighed and dragged her feet across the parking-lot towards the ambulance. Now that the fear was draining away, she began to feel pain everywhere. Her knee, shoulder, arm and face. She found Scott's boss sitting in the ambulance, getting his wounds treated by an EMT. She hung around not knowing what to do when the EMT turned around and told her to sit next to the vet. As she was getting her wound cleaned, the EMT asked her whether she had any other injuries.

"No. I just slipped."

The EMT continued to check out her arms, shoulders, and legs by poking around. Elie winced when he touched her shoulder. He told her what she had already suspected, that the injuries weren't serious, and all that she'll have are bruises and bumps. As her cut lip was being treated, the boys came over to the ambulance and they seemed shocked by the vet's presence. When he realised that the boys were staring at him, he smiled at Scott and thanked him for saving his life. Before they could say anything, the Sheriff walked over and dragged the boys away.

Elie sat in the back of ambulance feeling confused while the EMT put cleaned the cut and put ointment and dressed her wound. I thought Derek suspected Scott's boss of being the alpha…why is Derek being blamed for this? And what was Scott's boss doing here anyway? How did Scott manage to turn back? Would he have really tried to harm us? What did the alpha want? Why didn't it kill me? Where did it go? As these questions popped up one after another in Elie's head, she realised that she had been biting her nails again.

A/N: Nearly there, 5 more episodes to get through! I promise there will be some Derek/Elie before the end of S1. Anyways, as always, thank you for reading, following, and reviewing my story...you lovely people! I'm sorry I can't update more than once a week, but I promise to update every week at least once until I'm through with S1. As for S2, and S3...well, we'll see how it goes. ;)

xx