Stuck Like Glue (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #2)

Chapter One: The Return

            “Come on, Chris, we’re gonna be late for our first day back,” one of my best friends, Isaac Lahey, called to me from where he stood, holding the front door open for me as I scuttled into the kitchen to grab a Luna bar. We were back in my fiancé, Derek Hale’s house, his real house, and things were…different. A month had passed since Derek had proposed, since the Argent’s, who are werewolf hunters, had blown up our house, and since…since Boyd Lewis had died. As my mind flashed back to that fateful night, I fought to blink back the familiar tears that welled in my eyes automatically. No, Chris. Focus…focus on what’s right in front of you. Focus on this. This is real. Not that.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m here, let’s go.” I buckled my seat belt in Isaac’s new silver Lexus as he burned rubber down the driveway, breaking speed limits to get us to school on time. It was April now, and I had end-of-semester exams coming up. Damn. I forgot to study that last chapter for chem.

“Any chance you studied chemistry last night, best friend?” I mentioned enthusiastically to Isaac, who rolled his eyes but proceeded to explain the entire chapter in great detail to me for the rest of the car ride. The minute we got to Beacon Hills High, I was slammed with the laughter, the conversation, the general hustle-and-bustle of high school. I hadn’t been at school all month; in fact, none of us had. There had been too much grief, too much loneliness, and our little family unit had just fallen apart. Erica Reyes, the fourth and only female member of the pack, had locked herself in her room, Isaac had taken refuge with Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski (my ex-best friends), and Derek and I had just tried to comfort each other as best we could. But nothing could replace the gaping hole in the pack where Boyd had been. And being together, all four of us, only served as a painful reminder of what used to be and what could never be. So I’d split my time evenly between Derek and my brothers, Michael and Kyle Laymen, trying to make up for lost time with them. I’d also repaired my relationship with my mother, Gina Laymen, although it had taken work. It hadn’t been easy, convincing her that Derek and I loved each other and wanted to get married when I graduated. In fact, Michael had even punched Derek like the overprotective older brother he loves to act like. But in the end, they’d accepted my relationship with Derek and now we even had dinner all together once a week. It was a nice routine – school, spend time with Derek, homework, dinner, and sleep beside Derek every night. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the memory of the happy family I’d once had with the pack. And I missed it more than anything.

            For whatever odd reason, Isaac and I had been mandated to return to school on a Wednesday, incidentally the Wednesday after my birthday on Saturday. We hadn’t had much of a celebration – my older sister Loni had flown in from Colorado where she attended college, my mom had made me a cake, I’d opened presents with my family and Derek, and then we’d all gone out to dinner in the evening. It had been simple, not overly exuberant, and just what I’d asked for, albeit a little tense considering the history between Loni and Derek. Neither Derek nor I were in the mood to have a big party, to smile and make mindless chit-chat with distant acquaintances, not so soon after Boyd’s death. So we’d kept it low-key, and now the only evidence that my birthday had passed was the fact that I was now seventeen. And so far, seventeen sucked just as much as sixteen had. Isaac and I sauntered into school five minutes before the bell rung, and I made a beeline for my locker on the second floor.

“Um, Chris, I’m gonna go say hi to Scott, is that cool?” Isaac asked me, already edging his body in the other direction, towards the science hallway where Scott and Stiles’ lockers were. I nodded, trying to respond with the appropriate amount of disinterest when I was really bubbling with anger on the inside. It had been about four months since Stiles had used me as bait to prevent Derek from attacking Lydia Martin, the girl of his dreams, and I’d consequently made the difficult decision to end my nine-year friendship with Scott and Stiles. Since then, I’d barely had any contact with the two of them and more of late it was starting to feel like Isaac would rather be friends with them than with me.