you make me nervous.

[ 1.05 ]

Scott stood in the living room of the burned-down Hale house with Derek across from him. He had dragged the boy from his house to "teach" him. Scott just grumbled, wishing he was in bed or studying. He was quickly getting tired of Derek's sudden visits.

"The best way to keep control around the Alpha is—" Derek was cut off by Scott's phone loudly ringing. He rolled his eyes as the boy pulled out his phone. "If that's Allison, I swear I'll break—"

"It's Willow. I have to get it," Scott told him, already answering it and putting the phone to his ear. "Will, now isn't a good time—"

"He – he's here." They could hear the fear in Willow's voice as she whispered in a shaky tone. "S - Scott—" She cut herself off as something clattered in the background and she whimpered.

Derek snatched the phone from Scott, having been listening in. "Willow, where are you?" The Alpha had found her, and for all they knew, she was helpless and alone.

Before Willow could reply, a loud crash sounded, as if something had been knocked over. It sounded as if the breath had been knocked from Willow, like she had been pushed across the room.

"Jackson!" Willow shouted.

"Jackson's with you?" Scott asked, crowding around the phone.

"Willow, you need to get out of there. Run. Get away from it," Derek ordered, panic creeping up on him.

But it didn't seem that Willow could hear them. The phone must not have been to her ear anymore. A few seconds passed before they heard another clattering sound.

They heard a low growl and Willow scream. The deep, animalistic breathing of the Alpha covered up the sound of Willow's whimpers.

"P - please, no," Willow whispered, sounding so helpless. "Please."

"No, no, no," Scott muttered, feeling a panic attack coming. He couldn't listen to Willow die.

The line was painfully silent for several moments, it only broken periodically by terrified whimpers. The silence was suddenly ended by the Alpha's heavy breathing, followed by the sound of glass breaking. The last thing they heard before the call cut off was Willow's chilling scream, which sent fear running through Derek's veins.

☽︎

Willow sat silently in the backseat of Lydia's car, listening as Jackson tried to convince Lydia to rent a movie that wasn't The Notebook. There was a small smile on her face that kept growing the more frustrated he got at Lydia's stubbornness.

"Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever. It is the best sports movie ever made," Jackson insisted as Lydia parked in front of the video rental store.

Lydia simply stared forward with an unimpressed look on her face. "No."

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper."

"No."

"Lydia, I swear to God you're gonna like it," Jackson told her.

"No," Lydia repeated, and Willow giggled.

"I am not watching The Notebook again."

He was going to watch The Notebook again. Willow followed Jackson into the store while Lydia stayed in the car.

"You can come over and watch Hoosiers with me and my dad this weekend," Willow offered. "But you're wrong. It's not the best sports movie ever made."

"Will, for the last time, Space Jam doesn't count," he said, chuckling.

"Actually, the correct answer is The Game Plan," she informed him, smiling. "Let's find The Notebook, and then I need John Tucker Must Die. Allison and I are gonna watch it with her aunt for her birthday tomorrow after school."

Willow was not looking forward to sitting in a living room with Kate Argent for two hours, but of course, the hunter had no idea the things that she knew. As far as the Argents knew, Willow was their favorite friend of Allison's who could do no wrong. They had her over for dinner any time her father was working late — they didn't like the idea of her home alone with the Alpha still out there.

"Can somebody help us find The Notebook?" Jackson called as they walked down the aisle.

"They seriously need more help," Willow said, looking around. The phones were ringing without being answered, and one of the lights had gone out. There was a ladder abandoned under it, the worker having given up halfway through switching the bulb out.

"Hello? Is anybody working here?" Jackson asked, getting no reply. He sighed and rolled his eyes at the lack of service. "You gotta be kidding me."

"I'm sure we can find it ourselves—"

Willow cut herself off when Jackson suddenly grabbed her wrist. His eyes were glued to a pair of feet sticking out at the end of an aisle.

"Stay behind me," he muttered.

Then he slowly walked over to the feet, Willow clutching the back of his shirt for comfort as she followed. As they rounded the corner of the shelf, Willow had to cover her mouth and muffle a horrified scream. The employee was dead, his throat slashed and covered in blood.

Jackson stumbled back in shock, knocking into the ladder. It fell over, hitting the lights, sending them into sporadic darkness as the lights flickered on and off. They heard a deep breathing that sounded more animalistic than human and they turned around. A pair of glowing red eyes shined through the darkness, watching them.

Grabbing Willow's shaking hand, Jackson pulled them behind a shelf to hide. He glanced around the corner but hid once more when the Alpha ran by. Willow fumbled around in her purse until she grabbed her phone.

Scott picked up after the second ring. "Will, now isn't a good time—"

"He – he's here," she whispered, her voice shaking. "S - Scott—" Willow cut herself off and whimpered as the shelf shook, knocking DVDs over.

"Willow, where are you?" It was Derek's voice that cut through the speaker, who must have been with Scott. He sounded quite worried.

Suddenly the shelves began toppling over like dominos. Jackson acted quickly, pushing Willow out of the way but he didn't get himself out of the way in time. The shelves fell on top of him, keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Jackson!" Willow shouted. She could hear the muffled sounds of Derek and Scott yelling on the other end but couldn't make out their words. Before she could crawl over to help him escape, the Alpha showed its face.

Willow was frozen in fear as the huge beast moved on top of Jackson. He couldn't turn his head to see what was running its claws over his neck. The Alpha seemed to be studying the scratches on his neck.

In an act of stupid bravery, Willow grabbed a stray DVD case and flung it at the Alpha, hitting it on its shoulder. It did just what she intended and got its attention off of Jackson. But now it was focused on her.

The Alpha growled lowly before lunging at Willow. She screamed and backed up against the wall, dropping her phone. She could hardly breathe as it drew closer, his hot breath washing over her face.

"P - please, no," she whimpered, her voice barely audible, clenching her eyes shut in fear — shutting them did nothing to stop the tears. "Please."

But no fatal strike ever came. Willow felt something warm press against her hand that was gripping the carpet. She hesitantly peeled her eyes open and saw that the Alpha was pressing his nose to her fingertips, his head bowed low. Through teary vision, she met the red eyes that would haunt her nightmares for weeks.

Then the Alpha turned and leapt over the fallen shelves, crashing through the window, causing her to scream. Willow then let out a shaky, relieved breath as she slumped against the wall. Finally, she crawled over to Jackson, who was glad to see her alive.

"W - what was that?" Jackson asked as Willow tried to lift the shelf off of him.

Willow glanced at the broken window that the Alpha had disappeared through. She could see a terrified Lydia slowly getting out of the car to come and find them, already dialing the police.

"It was a mountain lion."

☽︎

Willow sat in the back of the ambulance with the doors open, a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders as an EMT applied butterfly strips to a cut on her cheek. Lydia was sitting next to her, completely silent and traumatized. Meanwhile, Jackson was arguing with Sheriff Stilinski, who kept saying they couldn't leave yet.

"Why the hell can't I just go home?" Jackson asked. "I'm fine."

"I hear ya, but the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard. They just wanna make sure you don't have a concussion," Stilinski explained.

"What part of "I'm fine" are you having a problem grasping? Okay, I wanna go home," Jackson said, getting angrier.

"And I understand that," he replied calmly.

"No, you don't understand, which kind of blows my mind, since it should be a pretty basic concept to grasp for a minimum-wage rent-a-cop like you! Okay, now, I wanna go home!"

"Jack," Willow said softly. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "Please just let them check you over."

Jackson clenched his jaw, but before he could reply, Stiles was stumbling out of his father's police cruiser.

"Oh, whoa, is that a dead body?"

Willow had to turn away as they rolled the dead employee past. She had seen him once, and that was enough.

"Everybody back up. Back up," Stilinski said, trying to keep the reporters and nosy bystanders back.

To avoid seeing the body, Willow looked around. It felt like she was being watched, so she looked up toward the roof of the building. However, there was no one there, so she convinced herself she was just being paranoid.

Then someone pushed through the police barrier, rushing straight to Willow's side. The police officers let him considering it was her father.

Warren Worthington was still dressed in a pair of scrubs, having rushed there straight from the hospital as soon as he had gotten the call. As soon as she saw her dad, Willow got up from the ambulance and ran into his arms. He hugged her tightly, content to not let her go.

"Are you alright?" he asked, resting his chin on top of her head. "What happened?"

"A mountain lion got into the store," Willow lied, shutting her eyes. "And I'm alright. Just a few scrapes and bruises."

"Thank god," he sighed in relief. Warren eyed the dead body that easily could've been his daughter. Then he glanced at Jackson and Lydia. "What about you kids? You're alright?"

"We're fine, Dr. Worthington," Jackson said in a somewhat nicer tone than when he'd been speaking with Stiles' father. "We just want to go home and forget about this."

Warren nodded and glanced at Lydia's car, which had a broken window. "I can give you both a lift home. Let me speak with the EMTs to see when you're clear to leave."

As Warren left to speak with the medical staff, Jackson moved to Willow's side. He glanced around to make sure no one was around.

"Will," he said almost hesitantly. "Are — I mean, you got a better look at it. Are you sure it was a mountain lion?"

Willow felt horrible about lying to him — she hated lying period. But she had to for his safety.

"What else could it have been?"

☽︎

"No school."

"But—"

"No."

"Allison's birthday—"

"I'll drop her present by her house on the way to work."

Willow sighed and pushed the cut-up pancakes around on her plate. Her father had pushed back a surgery so that he could be with Willow the morning after the incident. He made her breakfast and was putting his foot down about Willow going to school. Though she didn't have a concussion, he was refusing to let her go.

Realistically, it was the best option. She hardly got any rest because each time she shut her eyes, she saw the Alpha's glowing red ones. Warren had fallen asleep in the overstuffed beanbag chair that was in Willow's bedroom, neither wanting her left alone.

But if she didn't go to school then she would be home alone, and her father really didn't have the type of job where he could take entire days off on a whim.

"Lydia isn't going to school either," Warren reminded her. "I want you to stay and rest and cuddle Scribbles. And if you need anything, text me or call Melissa McCall. She can reach me if I'm in the operating room."

"Okay," she mumbled, knowing there would be no school for the day. "Let me go grab Allison's gift. Be careful. It's a perfume I know Scott likes, and you don't want to break it."

Warren sat with her for another half hour, making sure she was comfortable and calm before having to leave for work. Despite the large house with a living room, library, and game room, Willow found herself back in her bedroom, as it was the most comforting place to be with string lights and fluffy blankets and stuffed animals. Scribbles followed as well, brushing up against her ankles before jumping onto her desk chair.

Before laying down, Willow stood in front of the mirror hanging on the back of her connected bathroom door. There were pictures of all her friends taped to the glass and a red lipstick print left behind by Lydia. She looked past the memories and focused on herself.

She looked tired, with light purple bruises under her eyes. The cut on her cheek still had the butterfly bandages on it, but it looked like it was beginning to scab over. She was wearing a pair of soft gray sweatpants that she may have stolen from Jackson, the waistband rolled up to fit better. There were a few scrapes and scratches along her arms, exposed by the white, cropped tank top she was wearing. Her father, who learned early on how to style little girls' hair, had put her hair into two tight French braids so she wouldn't have to worry about it.

Willow was a far cry from the usually so put-together version of herself that glided down the halls of Beacon Hills High. But as far as excuses go, being attacked by a murderous werewolf was a pretty good one.

Suddenly Scribbles let out a hiss, catching Willow's attention. She looked at her usually well-behaved cat with a frown to see him glaring at her window. Willow spun and let out a surprised yelp.

Derek Hale had one foot in her room, half inside of the house and half standing on the roof. Given the unexpected cat, he couldn't easily sneak in like he did Scott's room. Derek narrowed his eyes at the cat, who was still hissing and growling.

"I didn't know there was a cat," Derek said gruffly.

"What are you—? Ugh." Willow sighed before grabbing Scribbles. He wriggled in her hands, but Willow succeeded in putting him in the hallway, effectively shutting him out of her room. Then she turned back to Derek, who had now fully entered now that the cat was gone. "Considering Scribbles is the sweetest cat in the world, I'm assuming that's a reaction to you being a dog."

"I'm not a dog," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Right. Dogs come in through the door, not the window," she stated. "How — what are you even doing here?"

"I, um, I got your address from Scott," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "You live in a very big house. I almost climbed in like six other windows before finding your room."

Willow couldn't help but laugh. "Hence the 'ring the doorbell' custom. Seriously, what are you doing here?"

Derek's eyes scanned her room, taking in all the photos and knickknacks on the shelves. "I wanted to check on you after what happened last night."

"Oh," she said, nodding. "Right. Obviously, you'd want to know what I saw."

"Well, yes." Derek moved a little closer as he studied the cut on her cheek. "But I also do want to check on you. How are you?"

"Honestly?" she asked, taking in a shaky breath. "I'm terrified. My father had good intentions having me stay home today, but the thought of sitting here alone all day in this big empty house makes me feel like I can't breathe. Like it's gonna come in my window just like you did and kill me."

Derek hated how broken and scared she looked in that moment. He had hated how helpless he felt listening to her screams on the phone. He had hated how traumatized she was in that parking lot the night before and he couldn't go down there to reassure her that he was going to keep the Alpha away from her.

"Then let's get you out of the big empty house." Derek was offering it before his brain even processed it. Willow looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, and he knew he couldn't retract the offer. He nodded to the window. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" she asked, a small smile forming.

Derek narrowed his eyes playfully at the closed door. "Somewhere where there's not a cat."

☽︎

Willow wasn't sure where she expected Derek to take her, but his family's burned-down house wasn't it. Granted, she also couldn't picture him walking through a grocery store or sitting in a movie theater, so really, she shouldn't have been surprised.

Derek led her up the front porch and into the house. For a house made from wood, a surprising amount of the framework had survived the fire. The floorboard creaked under Willow's sneakers. A breeze swept through the living room, and she rubbed her bare arms.

Before Willow could even comment on the fact that she forgot to grab a sweater, Derek was holding out his leather jacket to her.

"Sorry. Can't exactly turn the heating on," he told her.

"Thanks," Willow said shyly as she took his jacket. She didn't know why she felt shy all of the sudden, but she did know that Derek's jacket was nice and warm. It smelled nice too, just like him. "So, what does a werewolf even do when not getting shot at or stalking teenage asthmatics?"

"He's not asthmatic anymore," Derek reminded her, smirking. "And I do quite literally everything else that humans do. I had Calvin's Diner for breakfast."

"Oh, their blueberry pie is delicious," Willow said, grinning. She couldn't quite picture Derek in the little diner owned by a couple in their eighties with neon decorations and bright yellow vinyl booths.

"We can get you some before I drop you back home."

"So, what were your plans before I crashed them?" she asked. As she did, she took a seat on the old couch, leaning her head on the back to look at him.

"Maybe work out," he said, shrugging. "Someone here thinks I'm fat."

Willow's jaw dropped as he grinned. "I did not call you fat. I called you heavy, and that's the truth. I'm barely over five feet tall — everything is heavy to me."

"You are almost comically small," he shot back. Comical wasn't quite the word Derek wanted to say. Willow was delicate, sweet, beautiful — but he couldn't go throwing those words around.

"I'm axing the short jokes before they even begin," she said, shaking her head. "And I brought my history textbook if you insist on getting rid of the last one percent of your body fat."

"You just called me fat again."

Derek dodged the pillow that she threw at him before doing just that. She did schoolwork as he started doing sit-ups. Though they didn't really speak, it was still comforting for Willow to know she wasn't alone.

And maybe she enjoyed it when Derek pulled his t-shirt off halfway through his workout. She peeked over her textbook as he dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups. When he swapped to one-armed ones, she had to bite down on her tongue to stop from making a fairly pathetic sound.

Willow had been too busy being traumatized by the existence of werewolves and Derek nearly dying to enjoy the last time he had been shirtless.

Suddenly Derek stopped, not moving a muscle as he looked toward the door, his ears trained on something in the distance. Before Willow even knew what was happening, he was grabbing her and her schoolwork, hiding her in the coat closet by the back door.

"Hunters. Don't make a sound," he whispered, slipping his hand over her mouth. Derek stayed close to her in the cramped closet, his hand on her waist as he looked down at her. He could see how scared she was, and it killed him to not be able to reassure her that everything would be fine.

But the fact was if Kate and the others found Willow with him, it wouldn't be fine. Kate could kill her just for knowing what he was.

"No one home," Willow heard a man say. Kate and two other hunters had entered the house.

"Oh, he's here. He's just not feeling particularly hospitable," Kate said.

"Maybe he's out burying a bone in the backyard," one of them joked. Derek clenched his jaw and rolled his eyes.

"Really? A dog joke? We're going there, and that's the best you got?" Kate asked, unimpressed. "If you wanna provoke him, say something like, "Too bad your sister 'bit it' before she had her first litter." Too bad she howled like a bitch when we cut her in half!"

Willow shook her head, but the damage had been done. With a ferocious howl, Derek left the closet and attacked the hunters. It only took him seconds to get rid of the two men, and Willow stayed hidden, hoping he'd get them both out safely.

Unfortunately, Derek didn't have as much luck with Kate. She struck him with an electrified baton which sent him to the ground, seizing in pain. Willow couldn't see it, but the sounds of Derek in pain made her skin crawl.

"This one grew up in all the right places. I don't know whether to kill it or lick it," Kate drawled, eying Derek's convulsing body.

A sick smile was on her lips as she watched him try and crawl away. He grabbed onto the couch that Willow had been on moments ago to try and pull himself to his feet. Kate simply sent another shock to his back, which knocked him back to the floor.

"Nine-hundred thousand volts," she said, eying the weapon as Derek backed into the corner. "You never were good with electricity, were you? Or fire? Which is why I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. And, well, maybe we can help each other out."

Derek eyed her carefully as she sat on the arm of the couch, looking down at him.

"Yes, your sister was severed into pieces and used as bait to try to catch you. Unpleasant, and frankly, a little too Texas chainsaw massacre for my taste, but quite true. Now, here's the part that might really kick you in your new balls — We didn't kill her. You think I'm lying?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Derek muttered angrily, shocks still running through him.

Kate sighed. "Sweetie, well, why don't you just listen to my heart and tell me if I am. Okay? We didn't kill your sister. Do you hear that? There's no blips or upticks. Just the steady beat of the cold, hard truth. Found bite marks on your sister's body, Derek. What do you think did that? A mountain lion?"

Kate shut off the electric weapon, showing him she didn't intend to use it again. "Why aren't we helping each other out? You might as well admit what you've been guessing all along, which is — The Alpha killed your sister. And all you have to do is tell us who he is, and we'll take care of it for you. Problem solved, everybody goes home happy."

But then Kate studied the guarded expression on Derek's face. "Unless... you don't know who he is either. Wow. Guess who just became totally useless?"

As soon as she turned her back to reach for the gun, Derek bolted. Bullets flew from the machine gun, narrowly missing him as he fled through the house, not even stopping as he grabbed Willow's arm, yanking her from the closet. He didn't stop as he dragged her through the woods, away from his house and away from Kate.

Kate cursed as Derek got away, knowing it'd be a while before he returned to the house now. They had missed their opportunity. She walked back into the living room to check on one of the hunters that Derek had knocked out.

As Kate passed the couch, a bright object caught her eye, sticking out of the cushions. She knelt down and carefully pulled it out, staring at it with a confused expression. What the hell was Derek doing with something like that?

A pink glitter gel pen.

☽︎

"Are you sure you're alright?" Willow asked.

With quite literally nowhere else to go, Derek and Willow were back at the Worthington Estate. She had told Derek he could hide there as long as he needed to until he was safe — though when her father arrived to take Willow to the parent-teacher meetings, he'd had to hide. It's not like there wasn't a surplus of rooms he could inhabit.

Derek had hardly said a word since the run-in with Kate. He now sat on the edge of Willow's bed while she sat against the headboard, her knees pulled against her chest.

"What did you see last night?" Derek asked, ignoring Willow's question about his well-being. He had let Willow try to forget about it long enough. But he needed to find the Alpha now more than ever. "Tell me exactly what happened with it."

Willow bit her lip nervously and nodded. She also grabbed the stuffed Care Bear — Champ Bear, a gift from Danny — to hold for comfort.

"Jackson and I went into the store. The lights were flickering — he was killed in the middle of changing them. We - we saw his feet sticking out from behind a shelf, and his throat wa - was ripped out," she said, clenching her eyes shut. "We only saw a glimpse of the Alpha before hiding. That's when I called Scott. It knocked the shelves over on us, and Jackson got trapped."

Willow frowned as she remembered how it had stood on top of Jackson. "It crawled on top of him and was going to kill him but then it stopped and looked at the back of his neck — there's like a scratch or something there."

Derek grew tense, knowing that the scratch had been from him when he couldn't control his shift after being shot. He had run into Jackson in the hallway and accidentally dug his claws in him. It seemed that scratch kept Jackson from being mauled to death.

"I threw a DVD at it."

Derek's eyes snapped to her. "You did what?" he asked, glaring. "That's the stupidest thing you could've done."

"I - I couldn't let him hurt Jackson," Willow said, her eyes watering. "Then it - it came at me. It was so... big and angry. I - I thought it was going to kill me when it backed me into the wall, but..."

"But what?" Derek asked, his eyebrows furrowed. "Leaving you alive makes no sense."

"It... pressed its nose to my hand," Willow recalled, meeting Derek's confused gaze. She was just as confused. "Like it wanted me to know it wasn't going to kill me. But that doesn't make any sense."

Derek's eyes were wide, and he moved closer to her. "It knows you. The Alpha knows you. Think, Willow. Who could it be?"

"I don't - I don't know," she said, shaking her head.

Derek grabbed her shoulders and stared intently at her. "There has to be someone!"

"So, the Alpha is someone I know. That only narrows it down to a few hundred people," Willow told him, trying to get him to see how ridiculous he was being. "Derek, Scott is one of my closest friends, and it took me weeks to find out about him being a werewolf. I still wouldn't have noticed if not for you being shot."

Derek groaned and let her go, rubbing his forehead.

"Look," she said, sighing. "We know who it's not. The Argents, Scott, you, Stiles, his father was in the car with him during the attack. Not Jackson or Lydia."

He narrowed his eyes suddenly and looked around the room. "What about your father?"

"Don't even go there," she denied, frowning. "I was with him the entire night when that bus driver was attacked. We were up until three in the morning watching all the Iron Man movies."

"You understand why I had to ask," he told her, his shoulders sagging.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't go around accusing any of your family members of being murderous psychopaths if they were still alive," Willow grumbled.

"Actually, my uncle is still alive," he told her. "But he's comatose and stays in an assisted living facility."

"Right. So not your uncle then," she mumbled. "I don't know if I'm more or less scared about the fact that it knows me."

"You can at least take comfort in the fact that they don't want you dead," Derek told her, his voice much gentler. "And even so, Scott and I will protect you."

Willow glanced at him before looking down at the stuffed animal in her lap. "Why you? Scott's my friend, but I'm nothing important to you. You should be focused on hiding from the Argents and defeating the Alpha."

"What happened to me being your new werewolf friend?" he asked, a small smile on his lips as he recalled the aftermath of being shot. "Werewolf friends protect human friends."

Willow's cheeks heated up the slightest bit at his words and she smiled. "Thanks."

"Besides," he said, eying the uniform hanging on the back of her closet door. "Stalking Scott at lacrosse games would be extra boring if you weren't there to do all those cartwheels on the sidelines."

"Careful," she said as he grinned. "Make fun of the head cheerleader, and I'll sick Scribbles on you."

Derek playfully glared at her. "You wouldn't."

Willow sneakily glanced at the closed bedroom door that she knew Scribbles was hiding behind. Then she bolted off the bed to try and open it. Of course, Derek was quicker. He caught her wrist and pulled her back on the bed, right up against his chest.

"Here I am, valiantly offering to protect you from the Alpha, and you're threatening to send your evil cat after me," he said, scoffing. "You've got everyone fooled thinking you're some sweet, innocent little thing."

"Scribbles is not evil," she said, giggling. "And neither am I — just like you're not actually a scary, murderous villain trying to ruin Scott's life."

Derek narrowed his eyes. "I am scary."

"Sure, okay."

"Say I'm scary."

"I can't do that. I'm a terrible liar, and so you'd see right through me."

"Humor me," Derek said, a smirk on his face.

It was then that Willow actually processed the fact that Derek was still holding her against his chest, her hands wrapped around his arm that was secured around her waist. He had nice eyes, she realized. Beautiful green eyes. And how could someone as beautiful as that be evil?

"You're not scary, Derek," she said softly, her cheeks heating up a bit. His eyes fell on them, wondering why they had changed color.

"Your heart sped up," he said, tilting his head. "A lie?"

"Not a lie, no," Willow admitted. Then she bit her lip, and Derek's eyes went from her cheeks to those unconsciously. "But you make me nervous."

Derek must have thought that she meant a bad kind of nervousness, as his hands were off her in an instant. "I'm sorry," he said, a frown fixed on his face. He seemed frustrated with himself.

Willow shook her head. "No, I - I didn't—"

She was cut off by a door opening from somewhere in the house. She looked at her own door, which was still closed.

"I'm home, Will!" Warren called from down the stairs.

Willow turned back to Derek only to see that he was gone, her window open and curtains swaying from the breeze. She sighed softly and looked down at her lap.

"I didn't mean a bad nervous."

☽︎

Technically, Willow didn't have to be at the parent-teacher meetings held at the high school. They were only mandatory for students with subpar grades or behavioral issues. But Willow took pride in her performance at school, and Warren took pride in Willow, so a night listening to teachers brag on her as a student would make their week.

The small Worthington family sat across from Coach Finstock, who was assigned to evaluate her — he evaluated all of the athletes in his classes.

"Dr. Worthington, as I'm sure you know, Willow is a freaking genius," Finstock said, looking at her transcript. "She and Lydia Martin are the only Sophomores taking AP classes, and those put her GPA over a 5.0 — didn't even know that was possible."

"Willow has always strived to be the best version of herself," Warren told him.

"Well, she should keep it up. While academically, she's tied with Martin, Willow has the extracurriculars that she doesn't, which push her over the edge. She's on track to be Valedictorian," he told them. Warren nudged Willow with his foot, both grinning at each other.

"Fastest runner on the track team and head cheerleader. Never had detention or unexcused absence. Seems to be friends with just about everyone in her grade — even that Stilinski kid for some reason. Willow is a model student. She also lacks that certain annoying quality that most teenagers have that makes me want to kill them and myself."

Warren gave him a concerned look. "Coach, you probably shouldn't mention wanting to kill students."

Finstock awkwardly cleared his throat. "Uh, right, right. So, in summary, your daughter is great, and you've got nothing to worry about. I'm sure she'll have her pick of colleges with scholarship offers to choose from."

Sure, her father could afford to send her to any college even without a scholarship but that didn't mean she wouldn't still take a full ride if it was offered.

As the meeting came to an end, Warren and Coach Finstock shook hands, with Warren wishing him good luck at the next lacrosse game. As they left the room, Warren rubbed Willow's shoulders while they headed to the parking lot.

"I'm so proud of you, Will," he told her. "And you've earned a shopping spree with Lydia and Allison. On me."

"Can't wait," Willow said, grinning. "I can go to school tomorrow, right?"

Warren sighed and studied her carefully. "Are you sure you're alright after what happened? Because you can take the whole week off if you need to—"

"Dad, I would feel safer at school with people around me — with Jackson and Scott and plenty of adults," she pointed out. Of course, she had felt safe with Derek all day aside from the brief run-in with Kate.

"We'll discuss it in the morning after another good night of sleep," he told her. "French toast and hash browns for breakfast or blueberry muffins and bacon?"

"French toast and hash browns," Willow said, smiling. It was rare that her father could cook her breakfast as he had to be at work early in the morning. Clearly, he had pushed back a few things to spend time with her after the incident.

"Willow!" At the sound of her name being called, she and her father turned to see Allison's parents approaching. It was Victoria who had called her name. "Willow, have you seen Allison? She wasn't at school today and she's not answering her phone."

"Oh, um, no," she said, shaking her head and frowning. "No, I wasn't at school today. Actually, she didn't ever respond to my Happy Birthday text either."

Chris sighed, having already forgotten that Willow was at the video store last night, too preoccupied with Allison's absence from school. "Of course, you stayed home. I'm sorry. We shouldn't have bothered you about this."

"No, it's fine. Let me try calling her," Willow offered. Maybe she was just ignoring her parents.

As Willow stepped to the side to call her friend, Warren smiled politely at the Argents. "You must be Chris and Victoria. I've heard a lot about you from Willow — she thinks very highly of you."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Chris said, shaking his hand. "We'll have to have you over for dinner with Willow one night."

"Looking forward to it," he said. Then he glanced at his daughter, who was speaking with someone on the phone. "Looks like Allison decided to pick up."

A moment later, Willow was back by their sides, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Did you reach her? Where is she?" Victoria asked in an urgent tone.

"She, um, she's in her car on the other side of the parking lot," Willow, nodding to the blue Mazda not too far away. She left out the bit about skipping school with Scott to celebrate her birthday alone. They had just returned from their outing.

Chris and Victoria booked it, and Willow was sure that Allison was a dead girl walking. Scott too, based on the angry look on Melissa's face when she spotted them as well.

"I'm so glad you're a good child," Warren murmured.

Willow rolled her eyes playfully as they started walking toward her father's car. "Allison and Scott are good children. She just doesn't like the attention that comes with her birthday."

"As opposed to you and Lyd, who throw parties that go down in Beacon Hills High history," Warren said, chuckling.

While the Worthington Estate remained fairly empty all year long with it only being Warren and Willow — and Scribbles — but when Willow's birthday came around, practically everyone found their way to the party.

Just as they reached the car, a scream sounded through the parking lot. Then another and another. People began running in all different directions, fleeing to their cars or rushing back into the school.

Willow heard a low growling noise and her first thought was that the Alpha had found them.

"Get in the car," Warren ordered, looking around the parking lot as he practically shoved Willow into the vehicle.

"You get in too!" Willow said, pulling him. But Warren didn't listen, only shut the car door before walking around to learn what was going on and see if anyone needed medical attention. "Dad!"

Suddenly, two gunshots rang throughout the parking lot. The screams ceased and all was silent. Slowly, Willow got out of the car. She held on tight to the back of her father's shirt as they inched closer and closer to Chris Argent, who had fired his gun. He was standing over something.

But it wasn't the Alpha.

It was a mountain lion.