"How are you at empirical formulas?" Bella asked as she leaned on the locker next to Isaac's.

Not having seen her approach Isaac jumped. "What?" he stuttered.

"Empirical formulas. I'm trying to work out what we should do tonight."

"What are you doing?" Isaac laughed. "Preparing an entire lesson?"

"Yeah," Bella nodded.

"Oh wow you're serious," Isaac smiled as he turned to face her.

"Yeah absolutely. I said I'd help you. You're getting the entire Bella Martin tutoring experience," she smiled.

"I feel like I should be paying you," Isaac frowned as he pulled his books out of his locker and closed it.

"Nonsense," she shook her head as they began walking. "It's fun."

"Chemistry is fun?" he asked her with a scoff, only for her to nod enthusiastically. "Just so long as you're sure."

"I am," she nodded. "So… empirical formulas?"

"Could use some work," he sighed.

"Alright! I'm on it. See you at 5," she smiled as she walked off.

"What do you mean you're not home tonight?" Lydia interrogated.

"I told you, I'm helping my chemistry partner study."

"Isaac Lahey though? Really Bella?" Lydia rolled her eyes.

"He's nice," Bella shrugged.

"He's weird," Lydia scoffed.

"OK maybe a little," Bella laughed. "Anyway, I'm just going to stay at dad's tonight. Isaac lives opposite Jackson so it's probably just easier."

"Seriously? You're staying at dad's?" Lydia groaned. "God you've lost your mind," she said as she shut her locker and they started walking through the hall to get to Allison's.

"Oh come on Lydia. You've got to ease up on him one day."

"Why? You talk to him enough for the both of us," Lydia smirked.

"You're his daughter as well Lydia, it doesn't hurt to have a relationship with both parents."

"It does when he's your dad," she frowned. "Just let it go, please. I don't want to talk about dad."

"Ok, ok, fine, whatever," Bella grumbled grouchily as they approached Allison. "Hey."

"Hey, guys!" Allison smiled. "I have news."

"Ooo, spill!" Lydia smiled.

"Scott's coming over to study with me tonight. Exciting right?"

"Scott's coming over, tonight?" Lydia smirked.

"We're just studying together," Allison repeated, trying to downplay the significance of their date.

"Just studying never ends with just studying," Lydia mused. "It's like getting into a hot tub. Somebody eventually cops a feel," she smirked as she began walking up the stairs.

Allison was frozen in alarm before she followed Lydia. "So, what are you saying?"

"I'm just saying, you know, make sure he covers up," Lydia teased, only for Allison to look up at her in confusion. "Hello, Snow White, I'm talking about a condom.

"Are you kidding?" Allison chuckled. "After one date?"

"Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste."

"Oh my god! Lydia," Bella huffed as she followed. "You don't have to do anything Allison. Not if you don't want to."

"Well, I mean, how much is a little taste?" Allison asked them, looking around nervously.

"Oh, god. You really like him, don't you?" Lydia asked in shock.

"Well, he's just different," Allison tried to reason. "When I first moved here I had a plan, no boyfriends till college. I just move too much. But then I met him, and he was different. I don't know. I can't explain it."

"That. Is. So. Cute!" Bella cooed.

"I can explain it," Lydia shrugged. "It's your brain flooding with phenylethylamine," she explained, making Bella laugh.

"What?" Allison giggled confusedly.

"I'll tell you what to do," Lydia sighed. "When's he coming over?"

"Right after school," Allison answered, getting nervous again as the end of school bell rang.

"Ok, I'm going to leave you in the very capable hands of Lydia," Bella interrupted. "I've got to go beg Jackson for a lift tonight."

"Wait, but Jackson and I are hanging out tonight?" Lydia asked.

"Exactly. Which is why I've got to beg him to leave you for a bit to drive me over to dads. Let me know how the date goes," Bella smiled before running off.

"I can't believe you said yes to her," Lydia grumbled from the back seat of Jackson's car.

"It's not a big deal Lydia, I'll be gone for 20 minutes," Jackson sighed.

"And you let her sit in the front seat!" Lydia snapped.

"She called shot-gun. Those are the rules."

"Yeah Lydia, those are the rules, if you want the front you've got to call it. Why aren't the cars moving?" Bella grumbled as they sat in the school parking lot.

"I have no idea," Jackson huffed as he began honking the horn.

"I'm going to go see what's going on," Bella announced as she hopped out of the car and ran up to see it was Stiles Stilinski's Jeep holding everyone up. "Stiles?" she called out as she saw him leaning against the side of his car.

"Bella?" he stood up straight.

"Shouldn't you be in your car? You know… driving?"

"Yeah, yeah, I should," he laughed nervously as he looked at Scott who was standing next to him.

"Do you have car trouble or something?" she asked.

"Ummm… I'll be off in a minute. I promise."

Bella went to take another step forward when Jackson's voice called out, "Bella!" She turned around to see him looking pale. "Come back to the car please?" he asked.

"Ok?" she agreed confusedly as she looked back at Stiles who waved nervously before she walked over to Jackson.

"Do you know much about Derek Hale?" he asked her as he ushered her into the car.

"Derek Hale? Not really, why?"

"No reason," he muttered and she followed his eye line to see him looking at Scott McCall across the parking lot.

"Are we leaving any time soon?" Lydia groaned.

"Pull over here," Bella instructed Jackson later that night.

"What do you mean? Your dad is around the corner?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, I'm staying at dads tonight, but I'm helping a friend study tonight," she explained.

"Which friend?" Jackson asked nervously.

"Isaac Lahey. He lives opposite you."

Jackson's car screeched to a halt in front of Isaac's house. "What?"

"Isaac Lahey? This is his house," Bella pointed out.

"He told you to come over?"

"Yeah… we agreed on it. We're just studying, it's fine Jackson," Bella sighed as she got out.

"No, it's not," Jackson snapped as he got out and stormed up to Isaac's door.

"Jackson? Jackson? What the hell are you doing?" she asked as she ran after him.

"Lahey!" he yelled as he smashed on Isaac's front door. "Get out here Lahey!"

"Jackson! Jackson!" she yelled as she got in front of him and shoved him away from the door. "What the hell is your problem!"

The front door opened slowly and Isaac's wide-eyed face appeared. "What were you thinking Lahey?" Jackson hissed at the boy, trying to get around Bella to confront him. "Inviting her here, are you insane!"

"Jackson!" Bella growled as she shoved him. "Get out of here."

"No," Jackson refused, as he grabbed Bella's arms and gently moved her to the side. "You can't let her in there, Lahey," he said quietly. "You know that."

Isaac looked down before nodding ashamedly.

"Jackson. Go!" Bella snapped. Jackson took one last look at Isaac who nodded before he turned and walked back to his car.

"Isaac… I am so so sorry," Bella apologised.

"It's fine," he said quietly. "We don't have to study anymore if you don't want to."

"I do, I promise I do," she assured as she went to take a step into his house.

"Maybe Jackson was right," Isaac said as he stepped in her way. "We shouldn't study at mine."

"Wha… you don't want to study at yours?" she asked.

"My dad's not home, he gets a bit annoyed if I have people over without asking."

"You didn't tell your dad I was coming over?" she asked.

"I didn't tell anyone you were coming over," he said quietly.

"Why not?"

"I just didn't want to tell people THE Bella Martin was coming over to my house. I mean, who'd believe me?"

"If you don't want me to come to yours I'm happy for you to come over to study at my dad's? He won't mind and it's only around the corner. I was going to go there after anyway."

"Are you sure?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah, totally, come on," she waved at him. "I prepared all this material to go over."

"Are you going to sulk in the car or are you going to come in with me and pick your own movie?" Jackson asked Bella as they pulled up at the video store the next night.

"Well, I don't know Jackson. Are you going to yell at someone again?"

"What's she talking about?" Lydia asked.

Jackson ignored her and turned to face Bella who was sitting in the back seat. "The guy and I just don't get along alright?"

"You were an asshole to him," Bella growled as she refused to look at him.

"Who?" Lydia asked.

"Isaac Lahey," Bella told her.

"The weird kid you were studying with last night?" Lydia asked looking between Bella and Jackson.

"He's not weird. He's actually super nice."

"Can we just get some movies please and argue later?" Lydia asked.

"Fine," Bella snapped.

"Fine," Jackson agreed turning to look at his girlfriend. "Now, Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever, it is the best sports movie ever made."

"No," Lydia shut him down straight away.

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper," he tried to reason.

"No," Lydia denied again, making Bella smirk.

"Lydia, I swear to god, you're going to like it," Jackson tried to get her to agree.

"No."

"I am not watching The Notebook again!" Lydia didn't respond, she merely tilted her head to look at him. All he could do was scoff and get out of her car. "You're welcome," Lydia smirked as she turned to look at Bella in the back.

"You are the best sister ever, I truly mean that," Bella smiled before getting out to follow Jackson. "Enjoy your movie, Whitmore," she laughed at him as she walked in front of him to walk into the store. "You know, I think I'll watch a sports movie. Maybe I'll watch Hoosiers in my room."

"Oh please, as if you'll watch Hoosiers," Jackson moped.

"I think I will. It'll piss you off," she smiled as she walked into the store with him.

"I've already apologised, what more do you want me to do?"

"Have you apologised to Isaac?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "Oh, you can't be serious?"

"Do you want me to forgive you?"

Jackson rolled his eyes as he turned back to the shelf of DVDs. "Can somebody help me find The Notebook?" he yelled out. He and Bella turned to look around the store, not seeing anyone around. "Hello? Is anybody working here?"

"I can't see anyone," Bella noted.

"You've got to be kidding me," he sighed.

"Maybe they fell off the ladder?" Bella suggested as she pointed out the abandoned ladder that was standing below a broken light.

Jackson took a few steps forward to have a look before he froze.

"What is it?" Bella asked as she walked to stand next to him before noticing a pair of feet sticking out from one of the aisles. "Oh my god!" she gasped and grabbed onto Jackson's arm. They couldn't tell whether the person was dead or alive, but they clearly weren't moving. She and Jackson tentatively took a few steps forward to investigate. When they reached the aisle Jackson jolted violently before flinging his arm out to stop Bella from coming any closer.

In his flustered panic, he stumbled backwards into the ladder, knocking it over and yanking some power cables, short-circuiting the lights in the shop.

"Jackson!" Bella yelped as she leaned down to help him stand up.

"Don't look, don't look," he repeated as he took a step away from the aisle before freezing as they heard a low growl from behind them. Jackson slowly turned around to see what was behind them, while Bella was immobile, in too much fear to turn around.

Jackson quickly grabbed Bella's waist and violently threw themselves behind a shelf to hide from whatever creature was lurking in the store.

"Oh my god," Bella sobbed. "What is it?"

"Shh," Jackson held a hand over Bella's mouth. He slowly leant out to have a look before quickly flinging himself back, making Bella sob in terror. The shelf they were leaning against shook as the creature ran past it, knocking DVDs off the shelf and onto Bella and Jackson's heads. Bella let out a muffled scream from behind Jackson's hand.

All of a sudden the shelves began falling like dominos toward them. Jackson threw Bella out of the way to prevent her from getting crushed. Her head collided with the wood of a shelf opposite and she let out a groan as she felt a warm trickle down her forehead.

"Jackson?" she groggily, asked as she opened her eyes to see him half-buried under one of the shelves.

"Bells? Get out of here," he grunted.

Bella lifted her head up before groaning in pain and letting it fall back down.

They heard huffing as the creature approached them. Jackson panted wildly as the creature leant down to him.

"Jack!" Bella sobbed. Through her blurry eyes, Bella saw the creature leave Jackson and head toward her. She let out a squeal and buried her head in the carpet.

"No, no, no," Jackson panicked. "Hey! Hey!" he yelled at it, trying to catch its attention.

Bella felt her hair move to the side and felt the creature sniff her as she flinched away from it. The creature seemed to freeze as it grabbed her arm and turned her over. Bella refused to open her eyes. She didn't want to look at the creature that was going to kill her. She felt it run a sharp claw down her cheek before it took off running out of the store, smashing through a glass window.

"Bella? Bella! Are you ok?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah…" she replied shakily. "You?"

"I think so," he grunted.

"BELLA! JACKSON!" Lydia screeched as she ran into the store.

"Lydia!" Jackson yelled.

"Oh my god!" she screeched as she saw the two lying on the ground.

"Call 911!"

"Can you follow the light with your eyes?" the paramedic asked. "Miss, I need you to follow the light," they repeated, but Bella couldn't. Her body was shaking in shock at what had just occurred. She couldn't look up from the ground. Lydia and Jackson were across the parking lot in their own ambulance arguing with some cops about wanting to go home.

"Oh wow is that a dead body!" a familiar voice yelled out and Bella clamped her eyes shut, not wanting to see.

"Miss, please, I need you to work with me or we'll have to take you to the hospital for assessment."

"Please leave me alone," she whimpered.

"Bella?" Stiles called out.

"Stiles?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah it's me."

Bella stood up from the ambulance and stumbled and he leapt forward to balance her. She let out a choking sob as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Woah, woah, it's ok," he assured her as he hugged her back.

"Stiles! I told you to wait in the car!" the sheriff yelled.

"Sorry," Bella sniffled. "I don't want to get you in trouble."

"No, no it's ok," he stuttered as he finally hugged her back. "Although we should probably let the EMT look at you," he stuttered as the paramedic was clearly glaring at him.

"STILES!" the sheriff roared.

"Just a minute," he called back.

"Miss Martin, please," the EMT asked, as they ushered Bella back to the ambulance. "We're going to have to take you in."

"Are you sure you want to go into school sweetie?" Bella's mother asked as Bella ate her breakfast.

"Yes," she answered shortly.

"Lydia is staying home."

"I'm not Lydia."

"Bella, it's only been one day, you had a concussion, I'm not so sure you should be going to school."

"I want to go to school mom, just drop it!"

"Well, I'll drive you."

"Jackson's driving me," she responded as she grabbed her plate and loaded it in the dishwasher and headed for the door.

"Bella," her mom called out as she followed her. "I'm just not so sure you're dealing with this in a healthy way."

Bella snorted as she opened the front door. "Yeah, as opposed to Lydia who is up there drugged up to her eyeballs. I'll be fine mom. If I need to come home I'll call ok?"

"Sweetie," her mom called her back one more time. "What did you see in there? You can talk to me you know."

"No thanks," Bella refused as she walked out of the house, slamming the front door and headed straight for Jackson's car. When she sat down in the car she and Jackson made a silent agreement not to talk about the other night as they rode to school in silence.

Bella and Jackson hurried to Chemistry class after their joint therapy session. The session with Miss Morrell had been unsuccessful with neither one of them willing to talk about what had happened. As soon as they entered the classroom everyone looked up and stared at them. Bella hung her head low and stalked her way to her desk with Isaac.

"Hey Bella," he greeted softly.

"Hey," she muttered back before releasing her hair from her messy ponytail and using it as a shield between her and him.

"Bella," Mr Harris said quietly as he came up to speak to her. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Jackson. If you need to leave early for any reason, just let me know." Bella nodded and looked back down at her textbook.

"Everyone, start reading chapter nine," he instructed. "Mr Stilinksi, try putting the highlighter down in between paragraphs. It's chemistry, not a colouring book."

Bella turned behind to give him a quick smile before quickly looking back down at her book. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea coming in today.

"Bella?" Stiles called out as he came up to her locker.

"Hey," she muttered as she pulled books out of her locker.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she huffed. "Hey, thank you for being nice to me the other night. I was a mess and I really appreciate you helping me out."

"Yeah, of course, anytime. What happened? You know, just out of curiosity?" he asked.

Bella's hand shook and her breath became jagged. She did not want to talk about that.

"Hey, Bella? Are you ok?"

"Don't ask me about that Stiles. Just don't," she sobbed as she slammed her locker and ran away.

"How was school?" her mom asked as Bella came home that day.

Bella let out a loud sob. "I shouldn't have gone, mom. I shouldn't have gone," she cried, letting her mom pull her in for a hug.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" she asked as the doorbell rang.

Bella wiped her tears, "I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit. I might want to talk later."

"Ok, sweetie," her mom kissed her forehead before heading off to the door.

Bella made her way upstairs and had only just changed into her pyjamas when she heard a knock on her door. "Yeah?"

"Bella," her mom said as she opened the door. "There's a Stiles here to see you."

"Stiles?" Bella asked as she turned and saw the boy she'd snapped at earlier today standing in her doorway. "Oh… hey."

"I'll leave you two," her mom said before walking away.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked as she sat down on the end of her bed.

"I was just making sure you were okay," he muttered nervously. "I was worried about you today. How are you feeling?" he asked.

Bella let out an uneven breath and tapped the bed next to her, ushering him to sit beside her. "I'm not ok," she answered after a moment.

"I'm sorry I pressed you earlier today, you don't have to talk about it."

"I don't know what I saw," Bella said urgently.

"The police said it was a mountain lion," he said nervously.

"Yeah. That's what I saw," she muttered.

"You don't think it was?"

"I hit my head," she tried to reason. "It distorted things."

"That's ok," he smiled.

Bella sobbed and wrapped her arms around his elbow before resting her head on his shoulder. She felt his body jolt before he relaxed slightly.

"I don't think it was a mountain lion," she whispered and Stiles tensed.

"Why do you say that?"

"It… touched me."

"Touched you?" he asked alarmed.

"It moved my hair and sniffed me, and then it turned me over and it… it…"

"It what?"

"It ran its claw down my cheek," she breathed. "And then it just ran off. That's not mountain lion behaviour."

"No," he agreed. "It's not.

"But maybe it's just because I hit my head," she backtracked. "Maybe I dreamt it. And Lydia's having a post-traumatic stress breakdown so I can't even talk to her. She's all drugged up and out of it."

"Have you told anyone about what you saw?" he asked.

"No," she scoffed. "Who'd believe me?"

"Did Lydia see anything?" he asked quietly.

"I have no idea. She was out front when it happened," Bella said before she let out a sob.

"Hey, hey, you're ok," he reassured. "You're safe."

"I don't think I am."

xotinkerbella: I always hate how Isaac was written out like that! I have a plan to change that slightly. Jackson and Bella will definitely blossom further in friendship as he pulls away from everyone