Thank you to those who have followed and favorited this so far! I'm very excited for this new series and I hope you are to!

Compared to the newer addition cars that resided in the high school parking lot, the beat-up Honda Civic that had pulled up in front stuck out like a sore thumb. Seriously, how could any of these teenagers even afford all these luxury models? Were they made of money? It must've been nice to have rich parents. Or parents present in their lives, for that matter.

Cat couldn't really complain though. After all, Vivi was very eager to be able to pull herself away from her never-ending list of things to get done at the bakery so she could drop her baby sister off at school. It might as well have been like having an overly excited mother.

"Ah, Beacon Hills High," Cat drawled as if she were in an old Western film as she glared at the building, "Here we meet again. Unfortunately the place hasn't been bulldozed yet. What a shame."

"You are the most dramatic person I've ever met," Vivi rolled her eyes.

"I would like to think I'm the perfect amount of dramatic," Cat retorted.

"Sure, kid. If you say so." Vivi patted her sister's shoulder. "Come on, high school's not that bad." She thought it over. "At least not this one."

"Easy for you to say when you were the cool kid when you were in high school. Back in the dinosaur days."

"You know I'm only five years older than you."

"And your point being…"

Vivi sighed. "Can you do me a favor and just try to make friends? Make it a goal for yourself to start a conversation with someone you don't know today. In fact, practice on me right now."

Back straightened, Cat slapped the biggest smile on her pale face. "Oh my god, look at this sparkly new necklace Mommy and Daddy gave me since my other one was, like, a month old already. And I got a Mustang that totally goes with my nails that will break off in an hour. Isn't life, like, amazing? I love being me!" Cat tossed her hair over her should to really drive the acting home.

Let's just say that Vivi wasn't the slightest bit amused. "Go to class."

"Whatever," Cat said, dropping the act. She got out of the car and started walking.

"Bye, Catalina!" Vivi hollered out the car window, drawing attention from many other students, "Learn lots of things today! And no biting people!" That earned the middle finger from Cat.

The oldest Luca sister rolled her eyes and went to stick her keys back in the ignition when a male voice spoke.

"Okay, let's see this thing."

Instantly Vivi was able to pinpoint who that voice belonged to from a hundred feet away. It was none other than Stiles Stilinski, the sheriff's funny yet rambunctious son. He was standing next to who Vivi recognized as Scott McCall, Cat's coworker. She watched as Scott lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal the bloody gauze covering his stomach.

"Ooh!" Stiles whistled. And indeed, it did look pretty nasty.

"Yeah." Scott recoiled when Stiles reached out to touch the wound. "Whoa!" He pulled his shirt down and picked up his backpack. The boys then started to walk towards the school but Vivi could still hear them loud and clear. "It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."

"A wolf bit you?" Stiles said incredulously.

"Uh huh."

"No, not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling."

"No, you didn't."

"What do you mean, 'No, I didn't'? How do you know what I heard?"

"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like sixty years."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. There are no wolves in California."

"Alright, well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me about when I tell you I found the body."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, man, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."

Vivi had tuned everything else that was said after that out. A dead body? Nothing crazy like that ever really happens in this town. At least from what Vivi remembered. Normally, given her history with all things creepy and mysterious, she would choose to opt out of playing guessing games of 'who did it'. There were way too many times where her trying to be the hero backfired on her. God forbid that she was going to put herself through that mess again, no thank you.

Yet something about the boys' conversation still didn't make sense. What the hell was it that bit Scott that howled? Yes, it was true- there were no wolves that resides in California. Regular wolves, to be exact. But what if, just maybe, that it was actually a-

Nope. Vivi wasn't even going to go there. If what she was thinking even was a possibility, she would've saw that they would've made their presence known already. That sort of thing couldn't get past her, no matter how much Vivi wished she could avoid it. It was probably best to just leave this to the police and do what she had been telling herself to do for the past few years- stay the hell away from trouble.

A knock on her window made her slightly jump. What looked to be a teacher was glaring at her. "Ma'am, this isn't a parking spot. You need to move it along."

Vivi held her hand up apologetically and turned her car back on. She drove off, ready to keep her mind and hands busy with her work.

Stupid older sisters who thought they knew better. Who was Vivi to try to tell Cat how to live her life? Technically, she was her guardian so she did have a say in what Cat did but that didn't matter in this context.

She didn't know why Vivi always made such a fuss about her not having any friends. Cat was completely fine keeping to herself. Never did any of the other students approach her anyway, probably due to her dark clothes and even darker persona. It was simpler that way. No unnecessary drama, no small talk that Cat couldn't care less to take part in, and most importantly, no disappointment. Which was how Cat preferred it. So if she chose to be friendless throughout the rest of her high school career, well then Vivi needed to just accept it.

The girl in the background. That was how Cat perceived herself. That was how other people perceived her. And that was how it was going to stay.

"Damn, look at the ass Luca's packing in those jeans. For an emo freak, she sure does have a killer bod."

That unexpected and very offensive remark had Cat turning back to where she had heard the voice come from. More like who that voice belonged to.

Jackson Whittemore.

Where do you even begin with a guy like Jackson Whittemore? Cat had never so much had a conversation with him and she counted her blessings every day for that. Jackson was the biggest and most pretentious jerk known to man. He was also the captain of the lacrosse team, not that it excused the douchebaggery. And a comment like the one that he had just made proved that description to be accurate.

Cat clenched her fists.

"Hey! Asshole!"

She marched over to Jackson and his group of dumb jocks. They all looked quite confused when they saw her coming at them angrily. Even more so when she pushed at Jackson.

"Next time you wanna comment on a girl's body, I highly recommend you think twice unless you wanna wear your ass for a hat."

"Whoa, what the hell are you talking about, Luca?" Jackson asked, smoothing out his jacket.

"Don't play dumb," Cat scoffed, "I heard what you said about my 'killer bod', you creep."

"I don't know what kind of pot you're smoking," Jackson said, "but I never said anything about you."

"I literally just heard you!"

Danny Mahealani, Jackson's only friend with a brain, stepped in. "No, it's true. Jackson didn't say that."

"Yeah, so why don't you just run along and find yourself a satanic cult to join?" Jackson taunted.

Now Cat was the one who was confused. Jackson's friends might have been laughing right behind him, but they seemed pretty adamant about him not saying what Cat thought he said.

She could've sworn that he did. It was so loud and clear. Apparently not. How fucking embarrassing.

Not wanting to embarrass herself any further, Cat quickly turned on her heels and scurried to the school building. "What a freak," Cat had heard one of Jackson's buddies say, but she chose to not address it. She plugged her earphones in and turned her iPod on full volume in hopes to forget everything that had just happened.

English was the first class of the day. While the class itself was a bit of a drab, Cat didn't mind it too much. That was because it was one of the classes that she had shared with Scott, who was already seated when Cat walked in the room.

Scott had noticed her walk in and shot her his infamous friendly smile. She smiled back and even waved at him before taking her seat right behind Stiles. Cat had been partnered up with the guy for a history project back in November and she thought he wasn't too bad. Stiles was just as much of a nerd as Scott, if not more. A little peculiar, but Cat remembered him mentioning his ADHD once so she couldn't judge him too harshly. Stiles also greeted Cat with a nod of his head that she returned.

All of the students had been seated by the time the second bell rang and the teacher Mr. Warner walked in. Immediately he began writing on the whiteboard. 'Kafka's Metamorphosis'.

"As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods last night," he stated, "And I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened."

Well this was news to Cat. How intriguing. Probably one of the more interesting things to happen in Beacon Hills since… honestly, nothing.

"But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody," Mr. Warner continued, "which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining this semester."

Even though Cat should have been focusing on what the teacher was saying (let's face it, she never paid attention to anything her teachers said), she couldn't. Someone else kept talking over him and it was driving Cat crazy. She scoured around the classroom to spot the culprit. To her surprise, it was Scott.

What was even weirder was that Scott's mouth wasn't moving. At all.

"What the… how can I hear everything she's saying right now? She's all the way outside! I shouldn't be able to hear her!"

Curiosity took over Cat and she looked out the window to see who Scott was… talking about. It was a girl about their age, sitting on a bench and talking on her phone. Cat couldn't hear what the girl was saying, but Scott apparently could. How? No clue. And how the hell could Cat hear that Scott could hear the girl?

Great. Now Cat was confusing herself.

She watched as the principal greeted the girl and had her follow him into the school. Cat also paid close attention to Scott. His eyes were squinted in concentration as they went from staring outside to now the door to the classroom.

That door then opened as on cue. What do you know? It just so happened to be the principal and that same girl (who looked like a freaking Disney princess with her long flowing brown hair, fair skin, and big brown kind eyes) who stepped in.

"Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent," the principal introduced, "Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Allison took the empty seat behind Scott and before she could even get settled in, Cat's crush turned around and offered his pen to the new girl. Taken aback, Allison accepted the offer. "Thanks."

"We'll begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis on page 133," Mr. Warner said to the class and Scott turned around in his seat with the smile Cat had fallen for.

"Holy crap, she's beautiful."

Hearing that come from Scott made Cat's heart drop to the pit of her stomach. He may not have said it out loud, but according to Cat's ears, he might as well have shouted it from the rooftops. Judging by the smile that had graced Allison's face, she was liking what she was seeing too. And for the first time in her life, Cat hated herself.

She didn't have a shot in hell.

French was slightly better. Only slightly. Cat actually liked French. She surprisingly was able to pick up the language well. And while Cat was bummed that Scott wasn't in this class with her, right now she didn't mind not being in the same room as him if that meant she didn't have to hear him ogling over his new crush. Which, by the way, she still didn't know how the hell she was able to do that.

Allison was in French with Cat and the latter didn't know how to feel about it. It's not like she could hate the girl. She's never even spoken to her! She didn't want to judge a book by its cover. Its sweet angelic cover. Besides, Cat knew how it felt to be misunderstood. For the most part, she chose not to care.

She had to admit, there were times were she did.

Class ended soon enough and Cat was more than eager to gather her belongings and head off to her last class of the day. She had barely walked out of the room when she felt a tap on her shoulder that if she hadn't turned around she probably would've thought that she was hallucinating.

"Hey," Allison smiled, "It's Caterina, right?"

"Actually, it's Catalina," said girl corrected, thrown off by being approached for once.

"Oh." Allison's cheeks turned red. "Sorry about that. I'm still getting used to learning names around here. I've moved around so many times that none of them ever stick."

"It's no biggie," Cat said honestly, "If it helps, I go by Cat. It just rolls off the tongue better."

"Cat. I think I can remember that. I'm Allison." She stuck her hand out to Cat.

The girl almost deflected from the gesture, but Allison was actually taking the time to introduce herself to Cat. Not a lot of people have done that before. Cat shook her hand.

"Did you need help with something?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you knew where calculus with Mrs. Rickman was. I've noticed that you and I are in quite of a few classes together so I was hoping you would have this one with me too."

"I do," Cat nodded, "Did you, uh, wanna walk with me?"

Practically beaming, Allison said, "Yeah, that would be great. Thanks."

The girls walked in a silence that had become too uncomfortable for Cat. Guess it was time for her to engage in that meaningless small talk she always avoided. "So… where are you from?"

"San Francisco," Allison answered, "Or at least that's where we've moved from. Like I've said before, my family likes to move around a lot. We're usually not in the same place for more than a year."

"I see," Cat said.

"How about you? Did you grow up here?"

"Up until I was eleven. Then my parents and sister and I moved to Massachusetts, then my sister and I lived in Chicago for a bit, and now we ended up back here. So I've done my fair share of moving as well."

"You have a sister?" Allison asked, "That's cool! Are you two close?"

That wasn't hard for Cat to answer. "We are. She's basically like my mother. She did pretty much raise me and she doesn't let me forget it. It's a blessing and a curse."

"I wish I had a sibling sometimes," Allison said, "I mean, yeah, it's nice to be spoiled every once in a while when you're the only child. Or more often than not. But it gets lonely, you know? Especially when you're never in the same place for too long."

Well, Cat certainly knew a thing or two about being alone. But she wasn't going to say anything about it because she was fine with that… wasn't she?

The two girls stopped in front of room 74. "Here you have it," Cat announced, "Calculus with Mrs. Rickman. Aka, your personal hell."

That made Allison laugh. "I appreciate you coming with me. Since we have so many classes together, maybe we can meet up sometimes after school and be study buddies? It would be nice to actually make some friends while I'm here."

Did Cat hear her right? Friends? Allison wanted to be friends with her? Was she being punked right now? Cat didn't see Ashton Kutcher anywhere.

When she looked at the other girl's face, trying to get a good read on her, Cat realized that she was serious. Allison really did want to get to know her more. And Cat didn't know how to respond to this. She didn't even want friends! Or at least that's what she thought. Oh God, was she actually going to accept Allison's offer?

"Why isn't she saying anything? Did I say something to weird her out? Great, now she's looking at me like there's something wrong with me. This is not a good way to start my first day."

Alright, Cat needed to put the poor girl out of her misery. "Yeah. Being study buddies sounds… great."

The tension in Allison's shoulders visibly dropped and her smile almost blinded Cat with how bright it was. "Awesome! Well we should probably get inside. Thanks again, Cat."

Said girl only chuckled nervously as she watched her apparently new companion walk inside the classroom. As soon as Allison was out of view, Cat's expression revealed that she had no idea what was up with her today. First she begins hearing shit, and now she has a friend? What a way to ring in the new year.

The second bell rang. Not wanting to deal with being yelled at by the Wicked Witch of Beacon Hills High, Cat stuck her finger in her ear and wiggled it in hopes that the voices would go away as she took her seat.

One thing about Cat was this- when she makes a promise, she carries through with it. And when she told Scott that she would show up to watch him at lacrosse practice, she meant it. So here she was, making her way up to the lacrosse field with her hands shoved in the pockets of her black and white plaid hooded jacket.

Many other students were already seated at the stands ready to watch the exciting first day of practice take place. 'Exciting' was a word that Cat used very loosely. Don't get her wrong, she was one for watching people try to beat the shit out of each other down for entertainment, but she was never a fan of sports. They were honestly kind of boring to her. Plus she never understood how men loved to give girls shit about fangirling over their favorite actors, TV shows, or musicians and call them crazy when they literally do the same thing over sports. A lot of the times they're even worse. Talk about being hypocritical.

Anyway, there was Scott on the field, looking very adorable and very timid in his lacrosse gear as he talked to Coach Finstock, who was hands down Cat's favorite teacher. He patted Scott's cheek (it looked almost like a slap from Cat's angle) and walked away while clapping his hands together.

"Let's go! Come on!"

Scott spotted Cat standing off to the side and she offered him a somewhat encouraging thumbs up. He only nodded nervously before heading to his position at the goalpost.

"Cat!"

Said girl turned to see who was calling her name (odd) and saw Allison sitting on the other side of the stands. When Cat saw who was Allison was sitting with, she couldn't hold herself back from saying to no one in particular, "Aw, shit."

Out of all people, Allison just had to have become buddies with none other than Lydia Martin, didn't she? Who was Lydia, you ask? Well, once upon a time, Lydia and Cat used to actually be friends growing up. Best friends. Shocking, especially considering that the strawberry blonde was the popular girl while Cat was… so not popular.

They were inseparable way back then. That was up until Cat's family moved to Massachusetts when she was eleven. Then she and Vivi came back to Beacon Hills a couple years ago to find that Lydia had discovered makeup and boys while Cat was still struggling to figure out what kind of girl she was. So she did what any girl who was having an identity crisis did- swap out all of her conservative clothes for anything dark, get a septum piercing, and listen to music that had elders thinking she was worshipping Satan.

Needless to say, the two girls had outgrown each other. And they never had another encounter again.

Seems like that was about to change right now because Allison was waving Cat over to come join her and Lydia. Cat was tempted to just scurry on out of there but with that friendly smile, she just couldn't find it in her heart to say no. No wonder Scott was so enamored with her. Cat buckled up and sat on the other side of Allison.

"Hey, Allison," she greeted. She nodded at the other girl. "Lydia."

"Catalina," Lydia simply said without looking at her.

Allison didn't seem to notice the tension between her new friends. Her focus was cemented on Scott who looked like he was about to piss himself at any given moment. It would've been funny if he hadn't look so terrified.

"Who is that?" Allison finally asked.

"Him?" Lydia questioned, tilting her head to the side, "I'm not sure who he is." Cat could've rolled her eyes at how vain Lydia was. So typical. "Why?"

"He's in our English class," Allison answered.

"Scott." Allison and Lydia both looked at Cat. "His name's Scott McCall. I work with him at the local animal clinic."

The new girl pondered over the name with a smile. "Scott. That's a nice name." Cat did her best to not appear as deflated as she felt.

Meanwhile on the field, the referee blew his whistle loudly, making Scott groan and cover his ears. He was so distracted by the shrill sound that he didn't even notice the flying lacrosse ball darting towards his face. It hit him smack dab on the cage of his helmet and made him fall backwards.

Everybody else laughed while Cat winced. Only thirty seconds into this practice and this already wasn't looking pretty.

"Hey, way to catch with your face, McCall!"

"Come on, Scott, you got this," Cat said to herself, "Get up."

Call her crazy, but the raven-colored haired girl could've sworn that Scott looked at her way after she said that. There was no chance that he heard her. But he still got up and shook his shoulders to release the pressure.

The next lacrosse player in line ran towards Scott and then flung the ball from his net. Cat was anticipating the worst, but to her amazement, Scott caught the ball with his own stick. His eyes grew wide at the sight.

"I caught it. I actually caught it!"

Every other person watching this was just as surprised as he was. And it only grew more intense and impressive as the drill went on. Scott was catching each ball thrown at him as if it were child's play. Everyone from Stiles to Coach Finstock to the crowd cheered the boy on each and every time.

"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison pointed out.

"Yeah, really good," Lydia agreed.

Cat, on the other hand, wasn't as enthused as the other two girls. "A little too good." She became a little suspicious about how Scott, this once uncoordinated boy, turned into a pro so fast.

Scott reveled in his newfound skills until Jackson stepped out of line and cut to the front. That grin turned upside down immediately when Scott saw the captain huffing and puffing in anger. "Oh, no."

And 'oh, no,' was right.

It all seemed to move in slow motion. Jackson bolted down the field with a ball in the net of his stick. Cat's fists were clenched tightly as she watched, she was so nervous for Scott. She thought for sure Jackson was going to take the boy she liked down when the captain jumped up in the air and flung the ball at him.

To everyone's disbelief, Scott once again caught the ball. The crowd went wild at this as if Scott had won the team a game.

"That's my friend!" Stiles cheered.

Hell, even Lydia shot up from her seat to show off her approval for the new star athlete. Jackson wasn't too pleased at this and shot his girlfriend a glare. She shrugged, completely unbothered. And of course, Allison was grinning ear to ear, especially when Scott flung the ball behind his back to the other coach.

The only person who wasn't caught up in the thrill of it all was Cat. She was happy for Scott since he was now finally making a name for himself, but something just didn't seem right. It was impossible to get as good as Scott just performed in such amount of time. Yeah, he practiced all of winter break, but still.

"I can't believe I just did that."

Neither could Cat, Scott McCall.

She shook her head and wiggled her finger in her ear. These damn voices needed to go away already.

She didn't mean to end up here. Really, she didn't.

All Vivi was planning on doing was going out to the grocery store after discovering that she didn't have any maraschino cherries for one of her cakes. Her car had other ideas and ended up driving her over to the woods. You know, the same one that a dead body was found just the night before.

It was a dumb idea, Vivi knew it. She had no business investigating this when she swore to herself to not get involved. Curiosity really was a cruel bitch though and always went against Vivi's better judgment. And it wasn't like she was trying to earn some kind of reward for finding out who the woman's killer was. It was strictly out of Vivi's need to satisfy this itch in her brain that her sentimental side had been deprived of for years.

Sick? Yeah, Vivi knew. She really had to stop watching crime and sci-fi shows in her downtime.

The young woman was careful of where she walked within the woods. She was stepping over logs and tiptoeing through streams all while keeping a look out just in case she was being followed. If only she knew what it was she was exactly looking for…

"I don't know what it was," Vivi suddenly heard. She hid behind a tree to avoid being caught. When she peered behind it, she saw Scott and Stiles stepping through the small river of water. Why was it always these two? "It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing." Vivi continued to stay hidden as she followed the boys, now invested in their conversation. "I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things."

"Smell things?" Stiles asked, "Like what?"

"Like mint mojito gum in your pocket," Scott answered.

"I don't even have mint mojito…" Stiles voice trailed off when he pulled out a small stick of gum out of his jacket pocket. He looked just as bewildered as Vivi was when she tried to fit the pieces of this strange puzzle together. Stiles stuffed the gum back in his pocket and continued to follow Scott. "So all this started with a bite."

"What if it's like an infection," Scott wondered, "like, my body's filled with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?"

"You know what? I actually think I've heard of this," Stiles said, "It's a specific kind of infection."

The boys stopped walking, making Vivi halt as well. "Are you serious?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy."

Scott's eyes widened while Vivi just deadpanned. She knew Stiles was just fucking around with his best friend but unfortunately the poor boy didn't know that.

"What is that?" Scott asked, "Is that bad?"

"Oh, yeah, it's the worst," Stiles told him, "But only once a month."

"Once a month?"

"Mhm. On the night of the full moon." Stiles then proceeded to howl. Finally Scott had caught on and shoved his best friend before continuing to walk. Stiles laughed. "Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling."

"Hey, there could be something seriously wrong with me," Scott proclaimed.

"I know! You're a werewolf!" Stiles growled. Vivi would've groaned in annoyance if she wasn't supposed to stay quiet. Stiles laughed when he saw the same expression on Scott's face. "Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Friday's a full moon."

The two stopped once again in an open part within the woods. Scott bent down in front of a pile of leaves. "No, I-I could've sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler."

"Maybe the killer moved the body," Stiles suggested.

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler," Scott said, "Those things are, like, eighty bucks."

When Stiles looked up, his whiskey brown eyes grew wide at who was standing a good twenty feet away from them, as did Vivi. She stayed as still as she possibly could while holding her breath. Her emerald green eyes remained on the man who had just entered the scene.

He was a handsome man (most likely around the same age as Vivi), donning all black clothes including a leather jacket. His skin was so pale that it looked almost grey, making his own pair of green eyes look daunting. His hair was black and spiked up to perfection. At least he seemed like he took good care of himself. But that didn't make him any less scary in demeanor.

Stiles seemed to think so, too. He hit Scott's shoulder and the boy stood up when he saw who his best friend was looking at. The man walked over to them.

"What are you doing here?" he interrogated the boys, "Huh?" He stopped in front of them. "This is private property."

Then why was he wandering around here?

"Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know," Stiles said.

"Yeah, we're just looking for something," Scott told the man, "but, uh…" The man urged Scott to continue. "Forget it."

After reaching into his pocket, the man tossed what looked to be Scott's inhaler to its rightful owner and walked away without saying another word. Scott stared down at his inhaler as Stiles jaw dropped.

"Alright, come on, man, I gotta get to work," Scott said as he put his inhaler in his pocket.

But Stiles stopped him by hitting his chest. "Dude, that was Derek Hale. You remember, right? He's only a few years older than us."

Oh, boy, did Vivi remember Derek Hale.

"Remember what?" Scott asked.

"His family," Stiles explained, "They all burned to death in a fire, like, ten years ago."

"I wonder what he's doing back."

Yeah, so did Vivi. Which is why she went to follow after Derek and abandoned her investigation of what was going on with Scott McCall.

Back when she was still going to school in Beacon Hills, she actually knew Derek quite well. They weren't exactly in the same friend circle, but they did share a lot of the same classes growing up. So they ended up talking quite often and were friendly with each other. In fact, and Vivi never admitted it out loud, but she used have a bit of an infatuation with Derek when they got into high school. He was always flirting with a couple other girls and Vivi ended up moving away so she never acted on that crush.

She also remembered that fire. It happened when Derek and his older sister (Laura, Vivi thinks) were at school. They were in chemistry class when the principal called Derek into the hallway and regretfully shared the tragic news of his family perishing in a fire that engulfed the entire house. Derek was never the same after that. No one would be.

Eventually Vivi ended up losing the man after trying to follow him throughout the woods. What she did find though was the infamous Hale house. Or what was left of it. All there was now was a skeleton of the house, charred and rotted. Vivi could almost smell the ash that remained inside the place. It had her stomach churning in sympathy thinking about how horrible of a death burning alive was. What might have been worse was surviving and having to live with what happened to your family. How did Derek get by every day?

Vivi knew she shouldn't, but her feet betrayed her mind and she stepped closer and closer to the burned house. She dropped onto her knees when she was in front of the steps of the porch. One of her naturally shaky hands reached out to touch the scorched woods. As Vivi closed her eyes, she tried to concentrate on picking up any signals that could give her any details about anything that was happening in the town. All she felt was warmth that only began to expand all throughout her body. She couldn't see anything yet, but the heat was starting to make her uncomfortable the longer her hand stayed on the wood.

"Hey, you!" Vivi heard, but she didn't open your eyes. "What, are you looking for something too?"

"You could say that," Vivi mumbled.

"Well, I'm sure you heard me earlier, but this is private property," Derek stated, his footsteps coming closer, "You better leave right now."

"Just give me a minute," Vivi gritted out. Her body was now getting painfully hot and slick with sweat.

"That wasn't a suggestion," Derek grew impatient, "Get out of here."

"I'm not done yet-"

"I said get out!"

Derek grabbed the hand that was on the house to force Vivi up. As soon as his hand was on her wrist, however, Vivi let out a cry and her pupils turned white.

"Fire! Fire!"

There was so much panic and screaming. Young children were running around crying for their parents while the adults struggled to find a way out of the house. A woman who was tall, regal, and beautiful was trying to rally everyone to find safety.

But it was too late. The fire was growing stronger than any of them were. No one could escape.

One by one, the members of the house became victims to the flames. When they reached the woman, she let out a loud roar, displaying a sharp set of fangs. Her once brown eyes turned red as accepted her cruel fate.

The hand that was holding onto Vivi's wrist had let go and the young woman collapsed onto the ground. Her eyes went back to her normal color, but she refused to open them in fear of facing Derek. Said man just watched as Vivi tried to catch her breath, confusion taking over anger. Derek went to reach his hand out to Vivi but she flinched and held her own hand up.

"No, don't," she breathed out, shaking her head, "Don't touch me."

It took her a few moments, but Vivi was able to push herself up by using the stairs to help stabilize her. Her body was still trembling, a normal occurrence whenever she had an episode. Still refusing to make eye contact with Derek, she wiped the tears off her cheeks with her sleeve.

"I'm sorry for invading your space," Vivi said quietly, "I'll- I'll leave now… I'm sorry."

She carefully pushed past Derek to go back from where she came. She never looked back to see the man watch her leave with an unreadable look on his face.

Another successful shift at the animal clinic for the books.

Deaton had already gone home for the day, so now Scott and Cat were finishing up their closing tasks. First item on the list, flipping the OPEN sign to CLOSED, which Scott did before excusing himself to use the restroom. Cat, on the other hand, was sweeping over by the front desk. She swept all the dirt and debris to form a small pile when she realized that she had forgotten to grab a dustpan when she got the broom. Cursing to herself, she went to the supply closet, passing the restroom on her way.

The door to the restroom was left wide open, which was strange if Scott was in there to relieve himself. Cat was about to close the door to give Scott privacy until she saw him lifting his shirt up to reveal his abs and a large bandage with blood staining the center. Normally Cat would be dazed on the six pack her crush was sporting (fine, maybe she gazed on them just a tad), but it was really the bandage that caught her eye. Scott couldn't have gotten injured from lacrosse, so Cat was curious on what had happened and if he was okay.

What Scott revealed next was even stranger. He peeled off the bandage to get a closer look at what was underneath. And what was underneath? Nothing. Just smooth brown skin.

"The hell? How did a bite that big heal so fast?"

Cat had to agree with the 'thought'- whatever that was was pretty weird. She knocked on the door, making Scott jump and turn towards her.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Yeah." Scott lowered his shirt. "I had a bit of a scratch on my stomach. Looks like it's gone though."

"Wow," Cat said, trying to play along, "You must be some sort of superhero if you can heal that quickly."

Scott chuckled nervously. "Some sort of super power. That's gonna come in handy for lacrosse."

"No kidding. Hey, would you mind feeding the cats in the back? I just have to finish sweeping and mopping then we'll be done."

"Yeah, sure thing."

"Cool."

Cat wanted to say something but could really decipher what to say. So she nodded awkwardly and went to go to the supply closet like she originally planned to do.

She opened the closet door and huffed when she saw that someone had put the dustpan on the top shelf. It wasn't like Cat was short, standing at 5'5", but she definitely wasn't tall enough for this inconvenience. She stood on her toes to try to grab the dustpan, but she was still inches away when she stretched her fingers towards it. The tip of her tongue poked out as she stretched as much as possible with newfound determination.

It was still so far out of reach. But then suddenly, the dustpan slid off the top shelf and into Cat's hand. For the umpteenth time that day, Cat was weirded out. She didn't even graze the dustpan! How the hell did it just fall into her hands so perfectly?

Must've been a draft in the room or something. Yeah. That had to have been it.

Aggressive hissing and howling coming from the other room had Cat shaken out of her stupor. She ran out into the hallway just to see Scott darting out of the cat clinic and shutting the door behind him. He leaned against the door and let out a huge breath.

"What the hell was that?" Cat asked incredulously.

"I don't know," Scott said, "but just to be on the safe side, maybe you should be the one to feed the cats from now on."

A frantic knock on the door made the two teenagers jump, both of them already on edge from what they individually experienced. Thankfully the person knocking outside was Allison, but she was soaking wet from the rain and looked to be crying. Scott was quick to open the door.

"I didn't see it," Allison sobbed, "I took my eyes off the road for, like, two seconds to change the song on my iPod, and then this dog, it just came out of nowhere!"

"It's alright, it's alright," Scott assured her to try to calm her down, "Do you remember where it happened so I can send Animal Control to find it?"

"No! I mean, yes, I know where I hit it, but the dog is-"

"Where is it?" Scott asked.

"It's in my car," Allison cried.

"Okay, it's okay, Allison," Cat chimed in, "Come on, Scott, let's go take a look at it."

Allison led the two out in the pouring rain to the back of her car. She popped the trunk opened to reveal a white and gray fluffy dog. The dog immediately started barking at the teenagers, making all three of them jump back. Allison backed into Scott's arms like a scene in a rom-com.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern. Allison nodded, even though her face showed that she was clearly not.

"Poor girl's probably just scared," Cat told them.

"That makes two of us," Allison said.

"Let me see if I have any better luck," Scott offered.

He inched closer to the dog as it continued to bark. It wouldn't let up even as Scott down to eye level with it. Oh, God, this dog was totally going to bite Scott's face off.

Like everything else that happened today though, Cat didn't know what the hell he did, but Scott actually got the dog to stop growling. It suddenly began to whimper and even let the boy pet it. Allison looked at Cat, who just shrugged, unsure how to explain how Scott became the dog whisperer.

They brought the dog into the clinic and laid it on the table so Scott and Cat could get a better examination.

"I think her leg is broken," Scott told the girls, "Cat and I have seen the doctor do plenty of splints. We can do it ourselves and then give her a painkiller for now."

Allison only nodded. Her arms were wrapped around her body in attempt to keep herself warm from being out in the cold. Cat was about to be a nice person for once in her life (Vivi really would be so proud) and offer the other girl the spare jacket she kept in her backpack but Scott beat her to the punch.

"Yeah, I have a shirt in my bag," he said as he already started to unzip said bag.

"Oh, I don't want to trouble you," Allison insisted.

But Scott was already handing his shirt out to her. "Here."

Giving in, Allison took the shirt with a gracious smile and stepped out into the hallway to change. The girl didn't even realize how lucky she was to be given the opportunity that Cat would've killed for.

Ew, was Cat actually getting jealous over a boy? This was so not on brand for her.

She did notice Scott peering out of the door window as Allison stripped out of her wet t-shirt. Her back was facing towards them so it wasn't like she was exposing herself to them but that didn't stop Scott from staring. The little pervert.

Cat smacked his chest. "Dude!"

Scott scoffed. "What?" Even the dog was staring up at him like she was judging him. "I didn't see anything."

"Boys," Cat teased, scratching the dog's head, "They really are all disgusting." The dog whimpered and licked the girl's hand. "Why don't I leave you to put the splint on her leg and give you and your new lady friend some alone time?"

"You sure?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, it's no problem," Cat said, not fully believing herself, "I'll go feed the cats, which you've failed to do so. You're obviously more of a dog person anyway."

Playfully, Scott rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Cat. You really are the best."

"And don't you forget it." Cat patted his shoulder before sneaking out of the room to go to the cat clinic.

Like she thought, Cat was able to feed the felines with no issue. Even after they were all given food, she still didn't go back to the operating room where Scott and Allison were. She didn't think she could handle them flirting with each other right in front of her. Instead, her Cat was in a dark room surrounded by copious amounts of cats. That might as well be her destiny. She had the name for it, after all.

Maybe it was her fault for not telling Scott that she's had a crush on him for a couple months now. But come on. What did Cat expect? For him to actually like her back? It's not like she and Scott really talked much outside of work. And they've never really flirted either. That was most likely due to both of them being awkward as hell. Still, Cat knew that Scott didn't like her in that way. Why would he? For as dim witted as Scott was, even he knew that Cat wasn't a social butterfly nor the prettiest girl at Beacon Hills High. It would make sense for him to be drawn to the new girl who was already in with the cool crowd. That's the kind of girl he deserved to be with.

That didn't mean that Cat still couldn't be a part of Scott's life. According to Allison, the two girls were now friends. If things were to progress with Scott and her, Cat would be hanging around him a lot more. Was it ideal for her to be third wheeling her crush? Not exactly. But at least she could be around to see Scott happy and even earn herself the title of being his friend. That was what Cat cared about the most.

After about twenty more minutes of talking to herself and the cats, the raven-colored haired girl figured it was now safe to come out of hiding. Cat returned the tabby back into his cage and got up from the floor, wiping the fur off her jeans. She walked out just as Scott walked back in the clinic with the goofiest of grins.

"So," she drew out, "how did it go?"

"Good," Scott shrugged, "Great." He was practically bouncing on his heals. "I got a date to Lydia's party on Friday night."

"Really?" Cat forced out a smile. "Wow, good for you, Scott. You must be pretty stoked."

"Definitely," Scott said, "First I kicked ass during practice and now I've got a date with probably the most beautiful girl I've ever met." Well that stung right in the heart. Not that Scott would've even noticed. "Man, today was a great day for me." He walked back in the operating room, leaving Cat standing there, smile starting to fade away.

"Yeah, that makes one of us, Scott McCall."

Review, favorite, and follow! I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie