"Door."

"What?"

"Get the door," Bella mumbled against Isaac's lips as they stumbled into her room.

"Got it," he kicked her bedroom door closed.

They'd only just made it across to her bed when her door burst open.

"So you two are not even trying to be subtle anymore. You know mom is just downstairs right?" Lydia asked as she propped her hand on her hip.

"Geez Lydia!" Bella snapped as she leapt away from Isaac and straightened her top. "Ever heard of knocking first?"

"Oh please," she scoffed. "If Isaac had gotten you undressed between now and the time he slammed the door, you'd be thanking me for interrupting."

"Anything we can help you with Lydia?" Bella asked, desperate to get her sister out.

"Your phone's ringing," Lydia tossed Bella's phone to her. "You dropped it on the stairs on your way up. Be safe kids," she teasingly winked before she shut the door and left.

"I don't know what she's teasing about," Bella smirked. "She's been keeping herself well entertained since Jackson left town."

"Is that what I am?" Isaac smiled as he grabbed her waist and tapped his nose against hers. "Entertainment?"

"Well you're certainly not dull," Bella smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him again, only to be interrupted by the buzzing of her phone.

"Do you need to get that?"

Bella groaned as she looked down to check the caller ID. "Definitely not," she shook her head. 'Devil Man' was not someone she was readily taking calls from. No matter how many times he tried. She would see Peter when it was necessary, but apart from that, she wasn't super keen on one-on-one bonding time.

When he called for a third time in a row she scowled before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"There she is! My darling daughter," she could all but hear Peter smirk.

"What do you want?"

"Is Isaac with you?"

"Why would you assume that?" Bella asked as she smiled at Isaac.

"Well Isabella, he isn't here at the loft, so I'm hoping you two are together somewhere with supervision. Perhaps out in public? At a cafe?"

Bella scoffed. "We're at my place. With my mom and Lydia," she covered, it really wasn't worth hearing any wannabe dad comments.

"Can you ask him to come back, please? Derek got a lead on the alpha pack that he wants some help with."

"Fine," Bella replied before immediately hanging up before he could suggest they spend some more time together.

A pack of alphas had made their way to town now that Derek was a new alpha. And in order to make their presence known, they'd taken Boyd and Erica. This summer project of Derek, Peter and Isaac's was very hush-hush though. Bella had only been let in on the secret because she'd accidentally said 'tell me' when she asked Peter what he'd been up to with Isaac.

Whenever they hadn't been tracking down the alpha pack, Peter, with Derek and Isaac's supervision, had been helping Bella work on her siren powers. It felt like she was back in English class, he'd been telling her ways to structure her sentences that made her phrases sound more like requests or questions rather than commands. Anything too direct, and whichever man she was talking to had no self-control and would yield to her. This was never such a big deal in the past, but now that she was involved in the supernatural world, if she said the wrong thing to someone, it could have dire consequences. But it also had enormous benefits. Like that time in training when she asked Derek how old he was when he last wet the bed. That had provided Peter and Isaac with a large amount of taunting material.

"I'd really rather stay here," Isaac pecked Bella's lips.

"I'd really rather you stayed as well. But alas, it'd be good to help find Boyd and Erica."

"Yeah," he groaned. "I've got to go. I'll call you later though."

"Please do," Bella smiled as she walked him down the stairs. "I'm going on a triple date tonight with Lydia and Allison now that she's back from France."

"You're going on a date?" Isaac's face paled.

"Not a date date," Bella rolled her eyes as she grabbed his collar and leant up to kiss him quickly. "My date is Danny. And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm pretty taken with you," she smiled as she pulled back.

"Well now I'm definitely calling you later," he smiled widely.

"Alright. Good luck!"

"Bye," he waved as he headed down the driveway.

"It is not a double date. It is a group thing," Lydia denied as Allison continuously pushed for more details on the plans Lydia had made for them.

"Do they know it's a group thing?" Allison smirked. "Cause I told you that I'm not ready to get back out there."

"Well Danny knows it's a group thing," Bella defended her sister.

"You were in France and didn't do any dating for four months?" Lydia questioned in disbelief.

"Did you?" Allison pushed back. "I mean after…"

"Do not say his name," Lydia cut her off. She still wasn't ready to talk about Jackson and his abrupt departure from town.

"Is he okay? I mean, did everything work out?"

"Well, the doctors looked like total idiots when he turned up alive, but everyone got over it. And yes, Derek taught him the werewolf 101, like how not to randomly kill people during a full moon."

"So then you've talked to him?"

"Uh, not since he left for London," Lydia answered quietly.

"You mean since his dad moved him to London."

"Whatever, he left. And seriously, an American werewolf in London. Like that's not going to be a total disaster. Bella talks to him like once a week over FaceTime though, don't you?" Lydia cast a quick glance in the back seat towards her sister.

"Yeah, I do. The dude is not loving the weather. But the school he's going to is meant to have a really good lacrosse team so I think he'll settle in. And let's not lie, he's always been a bit pompous, so maybe this private school will suit him," she smirked.

"So you're totally over him?" Allison asked for clarification.

"Would I be going on a double date if I wasn't?" Lydia snapped. Allison could only laugh when Lydia had been called out on her lie. "Yes. It is a double date," she confessed. "It's not an orgy. We have Bella and Danny supervising. We'll live."

"But if you do want to know more about how Lydia spent summer," Bella leaned forward, eager to spill the beans. "Lydia has been practising the 'best way to get over someone, is to get under someone' method. Trust me, I know. I share a bedroom wall with her. I've had to play my music most nights this summer."

"Oh please!" Lydia's voice jumped an octave. "Bella's had Isaac in her room all through summer as well. Two can play this game."

"How's it been going with Peter?" Allison asked Bella. "You know, since…"

"I mean I've been ignoring that problem as much as I can if I'm honest," Bella confessed. "One time he tried to talk to me about it after a siren lesson and I thought, hey, good opportunity to practise, so I said to him don't speak to me for the rest of the day and it worked. So that took care of that. I just do my best to keep Isaac in the room with me and he usually says something weird to segway the conversation away from anything father-daughtery. Derek kind of wants to build a relationship between all of us, so really Isaac's the best cover. Last week, when Peter tried to talk to me, Isaac asked him what his favourite type of oatmeal was. Gave us enough awkward pause where I could get out of there pretty easily," Bella smiled.

"So you and Isaac huh?" Allison teased as she spun around to look at Bella as Lydia stopped at the stop light. "He's been into you for ages. Before the whole werewolf thing. And so have you. I'm so happy this has happened."

"Well he was meant to text me tonight but I haven't heard from him so I'm slightly worried. But I figured I'd give him a call after the date. Lydia's not as impressed with him though. Are you?"

"Look, I just pointed out that he used to give off creeper vibes. I mean he's a little cooler now, but still, I wouldn't say he rises to Bella Martin's level of cool. Anyway, he'll text you, the guy's obsessed so don't stress over it," Lydia reassured and Allison couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh shut up," Bella shoved the back of her sister's seat and Allison's laughter ceased.

"Oh my god!" Allison gasped.

"What? It wasn't that hard," Bella defended herself.

"No, it's not that," Allison shrunk into her seat. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I can't see him, not now."

"What?" Bella leaned forward so she could see what caught Allison's eye. "Oh, Stiles and Scott. Oh… Scott," she realised why Allison was so frantic. She was not ready to see her ex.

"Lydia go, just go," Allison pleaded.

"The light," Lydia smirked, it was still red.

"Hey!" a muffled voice called out. Stiles. He'd rolled down his window to shout across at them.

Bella started to wave back at him when Lydia pushed the accelerator and ran the red light in a desperate attempt to get away.

Allison let out a sigh of relief.

"You alright?" Lydia asked and Allison could only nod.

"Little dramatic. You know you're going to see him at school tomorrow right?" Bella pointed out.

"Good point," Allison agreed. "Lydia stop. We need to go back and talk to them."

Lydia merely huffed in acknowledgment as she hit the brakes. Allison and Lydia both turned around to look at Bella.

"Hi," Bella smiled widely.

"Not you," Lydia rolled her eyes. "Duck," she signalled with her hand.

"Oh, sorry," Bella leaned forward so she wasn't blocking the rear window view.

"They stopped too," Lydia noticed.

"Why would they stop?" Allison frowned.

"It's Stiles and Scott. You really want to apply logic to those two?"

"Maybe we should go back?" Allison suggested.

Bella saw it moments before they felt it. She saw the deer charging at the car with no intention of slowing down. She had time to scream and cover her face before impact. The deer continued charging and slammed straight through the windscreen, sending shards of glass all over them as they all screamed.

All three of them flew out of the car and stumbled onto the road.

Hands immediately grabbed at Bella's elbows as Stiles helped balance her.

He and Scott had leapt out of the Jeep and run to their aid.

"It came out of nowhere!" Lydia gasped.

"Are you hurt?" Stiles asked Bella who frantically shook her head. "Lydia?" he checked with her sister.

"It ran right into us," Lydia stuttered, unable to answer properly.

"Are you ok?" Scott asked Allison.

"I'm ok," she nodded.

"Well, I'm not ok!" Lydia cried. "I am totally freaking out! How the hell does it just run into us?"

"Your cheek," Stiles muttered.

"Hmm?" Bella asked.

"Your cheek, it's cut," Stiles reached up to touch her cheek bone and she flinched in pain. "The glass got you."

"I saw its eyes right before it hit us. It was like it… it was like it was crazy," Lydia sobbed.

"No," Scott denied as he stood over the dear. "No it was scared," he placed his hand against it. "No, actually. Terrified. Come on, we need to get you guys home. Stiles will drive you. We'll call a tow for the car."

"Scott," Stiles called the boy over. "What do you think? Does she need a doctor?" he asked, pointing to Bella's cheek.

"I'm not sure. I can call my mom, and get her to look at it just to be sure. I think it'd be a good idea," Scott frowned as he looked at the cut on Bella's face.

"I'll drive you to the hospital and then come back and get them while they wait for a tow," Stiles tried to usher Bella.

"No, it's okay," Bella shook her head. "I have someone I can call who'll jump at the chance to take me."

"Who?" Stiles asked and Bella merely grimaced for an answer. "Oh geez," Stiles groaned.

"Hey Peter," Bella said as he answered. "I need a favour."

"It's a school night," Peter broke the silence as he stood over Bella while Melissa applied skin glue to her cheek.

"Are you trying to parent?" Bella mocked him.

"I just… aren't kids meant to stay home on school nights?"

"They should, but they won't. Not teenagers," Melissa answered. "If home is where you want them, it's where they're not."

"How is she?" Peter asked Melissa awkwardly. Apparently, they'd gone on a date that did not result in a second, and in between, Melissa had been filled in about Peter's past.

"Well, no concussion, and it's not deep enough to need stitches. But you do need to avoid touching your cheek for 24 hours and try and keep it as dry as you can for a few days. It shouldn't scar though, so you're lucky, and you're good to go. But um…" Melissa went to say something but then changed her mind. "Try to go to bed, because he's right, you do have school tomorrow."

"Thanks," Bella smiled at the woman as she left the room.

"What were you doing out at this time of night anyway?" Peter asked and she merely looked over at him in irritation. "Ok consider me asking out of curiosity, not parental concern."

"We had a group date thing planned," Bella answered as she collected her things.

"A date? I thought you and Isaac were dating?"

"We are. My date was a friend, he's gay. It was more of a date for Lydia and Allison. Ready?"

"Yeah, come on," he held the door for her. "Do I need to be worried about you and Isaac?"

"Look," Bella paused as she stepped outside and turned to look at him. "I appreciate that you're trying. I do. But I don't particularly like you. You killed people. You scared me in the video store, I thought I was going to die. You terrorised me and my friends at the school. You knocked me out and put me in the hospital. You bit my sister! And I already have a mom and I have a dad. I was never looking for a relationship with my biological parents, no offence. I don't want you to try and parent me. You and I aren't there, and I have two parents for that. I'm not trying to hurt you, I just…"

"I get it," Peter nodded in acceptance. "I understand you have mixed feelings and I won't hold that against you. But I am here. And I'm here to stay. I'm not going to take off. I want to be in your life Isabella. Besides, if you didn't want to get to know me, why did you call me to come and help you tonight?" he challenged.

Bella honestly didn't have an answer to that. She wasn't quite sure why he was her first call, and she didn't want to dwell on it. "Just, please can you drop me home?"

"Yeah, of course," Peter agreed. As he walked around to the other side of the car, Bella checked her phone again. Still no text from Isaac.

"Freshmen. Tons and tons of fresh men," Lydia mused as she perved on the new students.

"You mean fresh boys," Allison corrected. "Lydia, they're 14."

"Meh, some are more mature than others," she dismissed.

"You know it's okay to be single. Focus on yourself for a little while, work on becoming a better person," Allison tried to reason and she retrieved her books from her locker.

"Allison, I love you. So if you need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend like we're not actually talking about you, it's totally fine."

"Calling it out kind of defeats the purpose Lyds," Bella rolled her eyes.

"Well I don't want a boyfriend," Lydia shrugged. "I want a distraction." Just as she said this, her eyes widened. She'd found her new hobby.

"Brothers?" Allison asked as she watched the pair of boys walk down the hall, carrying their motorbike helmets in their hands, looking ever so cool.

"Twins," Lydia smirked.

"Speaking of boys, have either of you seen Isaac this morning?" Bella asked.

"He still hasn't texted you?" Lydia frowned. That wasn't like him. Lydia had watched Bella over the summer. Whenever she'd text him, her phone would barely hit the table before it binged with a response.

"No," Bella sighed. "And he wasn't at his locker. I don't know, I'm kind of worried." She couldn't tell them that he was out yesterday helping Derek with a lead on the alpha pack, she'd promised to keep it a secret. Peter had reassured her on the way home that it was probably nothing and he likely just got held up, which quelled her worry for the night. But this morning she just felt off.

"Hey," Bella greeted Stiles as she walked into English class and took the seat in front of him.

"How's your…" he gestured to her cheek.

"Oh, not too bad," she smiled. "I just got it glued and all good!" she gave a thumbs up. "The most entertaining part was watching Melissa and Peter interact if I'm honest," Bella smiled. "That was awkward central."

Before either one could say anything else, everyone in the class phones buzzed with a text.

Bella grabbed at it quickly thinking it was Isaac. It was not. It was a quote from Heart of Darkness, one of the books they had assigned for class.

And in walked the new teacher, reading out the text as she waltzed into class. "This is the last line of the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off everyone."

Bella frowned as she considered this before she reluctantly switched her phone off. If Isaac texted, she wouldn't know, but there wasn't much she could do during class anyway.

The class was assigned a task so Miss Blake could gauge where their essay skills were when Scott was called out of class by a teacher's aide. This gave Stiles the opportunity to look around aimlessly without getting dirty looks from the teacher, and warnings about staying focussed. That was when he noticed the large plaster on Lydia's ankle.

"Hey, Lydia," Stiles whispered. Lydia turned her glare over to him, not happy about being distracted. "Is that from the accident?"

"Shh. I'm working," she dismissed.

"Bella, Bella," Stiles kicked the back of her chair lightly. He got sent a similar glare from her.

"What?"

"What happened to Lydia's ankle?" he asked her.

"Prada bit her.

"Your dog?"

"No, my designer handbag," Lydia dropped her arm onto the desk in annoyance. "Yes. My dog," she rolled her eyes.

"Has it ever bitten you before?"

"No," Lydia shook her head in embarrassment. She didn't know what she'd done to upset their dog this morning.

"Ok, what if it's, like, the same thing as the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?" Stiles suggested.

"Meaning what? There's going to be an earthquake?" Lydia asked.

"Or something. Maybe it means something's coming."

Bella then turned around to look at him. "You mean something like…" she moved her head around in circles, but he understood she meant supernatural.

"Yeah, something like that. Something like bad."

"Then I'm out," Bella smiled stiffly. "I promised myself, no drama this year. I want to stay out of it as much as I can and focus on school."

"Besides, it was just a deer and a dog," Lydia agreed. "What's that thing you say about threes? Once, twice…" BANG. A bird flew straight into the window.

"You know that thing I say about jinxes?" Bella snapped, flicking her pencil at Lydia as Miss Blake walked towards the window to investigate.

"Oh my god," Stiles gasped and Bella redirected her gaze to the windows. There were hundreds of birds flying straight at them.

"Get down! Everyone!" Miss Blake yelled as the birds broke their way into the classroom.

Bella immediately threw herself onto the ground and frantically crawled towards her sister and they grabbed at each other.

They had only just huddled together when Stiles came over the top of them, shielding them both with his body.

They stayed like that for the next 5 minutes as the birds frantically smacked themselves against the walls until they were all dead.

"Are you guys ok?" Stiles asked as they all stood up and looked around the carnage of the classroom.

"What in the hell was that!" Lydia gasped.

"I've warned you time and time again. You're a jinx Lydia."

"Isaac, you're freaking me out. Call me back. Please. I'm worried," Bella left another voicemail before frowning and hanging up as she saw a random woman in the hallway grabbing at Allison and Lydia's arms.

By the time she got there though, the woman had taken off.

"Are you guys ok? Who was that?" Bella asked Lydia, as Allison took off to follow her.

"What a psycho!" Lydia complained before gasping in pain. "Oh my god look!"

"Woah," Bella gasped as she looked at the giant bruise on Lydia's arm.

"Well, she bruised me," Lydia snapped when Allison walked back to them.

"Huh, me too," Allison frowned as she looked down.

"Come on, let's get you three girls out of here," Mr Argent said as he walked up to them. "School can wait another day."

"What did she want?" Bella asked Lydia as they gave the Argents some space.

"She wanted to know where Scott was," Lydia explained.

"Scott has a lady friend?" Bella gasped.

"I don't think it was like that," Lydia smirked.

"Well that would explain why Allison chased her down," Bella smirked as the Argent's started walking towards them.

"This one, it's perfect," Lydia held a paint swatch up against Allison's bedroom wall.

"Lydia, it's exactly the same colour as your room," Bella rolled her eyes.

"Exactly," Lydia smiled. "Perfect."

"I don't know. I'm still thinking maybe a shade of blue," Allison sighed as she held a different swatch next to Lydia's.

"I like the blue. It's much calmer than the pink," Bella gave her opinion.

"Pink is warmer, friendlier," Lydia retorted.

"It's a wall, not a person, why does it need to be friendly?"

"Well…"

"Guys, look," Allison cut off their argument.

"Woah," Bella gasped. Both of their bruises were symmetrical, from when the girl had grabbed at their arms earlier.

"They're a pattern," Allison gasped. "We have to tell someone. We have to tell Scott. I'll drive," Allison raced across the room to grab her keys. But when she noticed Bella hesitate she turned back to her. "Bells?"

"It's just… I have a party tonight."

"A party? I didn't hear about a party."

"It's for a girl from Devenford Prep," Bella explained.

"Ew," Lydia rolled her eyes.

"It's a girl named Heather's birthday. I don't really know her, but someone invited me, and Isaac hasn't texted me back, so you know I figured, whatever. May as well go. I don't want to sit around all night waiting for my boyfriend to text me back."

"Boyfriend?" Allison smiled widely.

"He's your boyfriend?" Lydia giggled.

"Well, I mean, we haven't spoken about it, but I guess so. I mean, yeah."

"Oh my god! Now this is exciting!" Lydia squeaked. "Ok, so you're going to go to this party you're going to have a great time and when Isaac sees you tomorrow at school he's going to be so jealous."

"I'm not trying to make him jealous," Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to make the point that my life doesn't stop because he's not hanging out with me tonight."

"Woo, you go girl!" Lydia cheered.