𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 || 𝐢. 𝐥𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐲

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

"APRIL, HURRY UP," called Ashley to her niece, who was in her room, from the bottom of the stairs. "Scott will be here any minute."

Ever since the 'incident' at the pool after the lacrosse game the previous night, the McCall boy had been a little worried about leaving his friends alone, so he had offered to walk April to school. 

"Coming," the blonde girl yelled back to her aunt, looking at herself in the mirror quickly to make sure nothing was out of whack before grabbing her bag and going down the stairs to meet the woman.

Ashley had a cup of coffee at the ready to hand off to her niece who didn't even slow down. She just grabbed it as she was walking by. "What, no 'thank you, Ashley. You're the best aunt ever.'?"

"Thank you, Ashley. You're the best aunt ever," repeated April with a smile as she took a sip of her coffee. There was a knock at the door, and the blonde, who was already there, grasped the knob and swung it open. "Hi, Scott."

"Hey. Hello, Ms. Sommers," the werewolf greeted, poking his head inside the house to wave at the woman by the stairs. 

Ashley made her way over to stand next to her niece by the open door and stared back at the boy with a welcoming smile. "How many times do I have to tell you, Scott? It's Ashley."

"Sorry," he muttered, and she let out a chuckle.

"It's okay," she replied before turning to April, who was already stepping out the door so that they could leave. She grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face her. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

The blonde glanced between Scott and her aunt with a questioning look. "We really can't be late."

"It will only take a second. I'm sure Scott won't mind, right?" she asked the boy in the doorway, who shook his head quickly in response. April glared back at him with a betrayed expression. Ashley then closed the door and faced the younger girl. "You wanna tell me where you got those scratches on your neck?"

"Oh, um, I fell at the lacrosse game last night — on the bleachers. I hadn't even noticed that it had left a scratch," April answered, her hand flying to her neck. She could still feel Derek's hand wrapped around it.