The Alexandra Chronicles ¤ Derek Hale

Chapter 22

"I'm telling you what, if that class hadn't ended any sooner I would have probably stabbed my eyes out with this pencil," Cassie said dramatically as we walked down the hallway, holding up her pencil in the air to punctuate her words.
I snorted in amusement at her and shook my head while Riley slung his arm over her shoulders with a grin. "But if you did that, how would I ever get to see those pretty blue eyes again?" He asked flirtatiously. Cassidy blushed deeply and I fake-gagged at their lovey-dovey nature. Riley just smirked at me and said, "Don't be bitter because you're single, Alex. We all know that could easily be changed by a certain Nick Dillon."
I groaned. "Don't even go there."
"Why not?" Riley asked. "Nick's a good guy."
"Yeah," Cassie told him, "but Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome's a great guy." She looked over at me. "What's the DL on you two, anyway? I've been seeing him around a lot lately, and always following you around." She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Is the Alex-train finally back on the tracks?"
"It's complicated," I said, because it was. What was I supposed to tell them? I'm totally attracted to Derek Hale and I have major feelings for him but I've kind of been in denial because of this stupid werewolf mate-bond thing and I don't want to be with him just because his wolf chose me or whatever, I want to be with him because it's my choice and -- Yeah, no. If I ever said anything like that, they'd probably laugh at me and ask what kind of drugs I used before school today.
Besides, my feelings for Derek would have to take a back-burner right now. There were more important things going on, like how Derek bit a sophomore named Erica and now she's all blonde-bombshell-with-legs-for-miles. I'd be lying if I said a part of me wasn't jealous that he changed her, especially because I'm pretty sure Erica probably has this insane fantasy in her head where the alpha falls for the beta and blah blah blah -- courtesy of all those cliche' werewolf romance novels. And even though I didn't want to be a werewolf, I couldn't help but wonder why Derek hadn't offered me the bite. Was I not good enough to be a part of his pack? If I was his mate, shouldn't that be something he wanted?
"What's so complicated about it?" Cassie said with a snort. "Boy likes girl, girl likes boy -- boy and girl get together. Seems like there is a severelack of complications there, Alex--"
"Alex!" Scott's voice rang out, merging with Cassidy's as they both said my name. She, Riley and I all turned to see my brother and Stiles running down the hall toward me, pushing their way past people and muttering an apology every now and then. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Scott came to a stop in front of us, and shortly after Stiles reached us as well, the latter of the two huffing and puffing for air. "We need to talk to you."
"About what?" I asked, glancing over at my friends and then back to him. "Scott, I made plans to hang out with Cass and Ri today, can't it wait a couple of hours --"
"It's important," he insisted, grabbing my arm and tugging me away. "Sorry!" He called out to Cassidy and Riley.
Cassidy looked annoyed while Riley just looked confused. I knew my best friend was only annoyed because she knew I was keeping secrets from her, and while she didn't want to pry I knew she was getting tired of waiting for me to just come out and tell her what was going on. I hated to keep secrets from her -- we were best friends, we usually tell each other everything -- but I was just trying to keep her away from all things supernatural. I wanted her to have a normal life because she deserved it... and was it so selfish of me to want Cassie to stay the same Cassie I grew up with? When I was with her, it was easy to forget about werewolves and hunters because she didn't even know they existed. When we were together, we were just two teenage best friends stressing over what they wanted to do after they graduated high school.
If wanting one part of my life to remain normal was a crime, sue me.
"Okay, what the hell's going on now?" I demanded, frustrated at the fact that I couldn't even hang out with my best friends anymore.
"We think Derek's going to give Boyd the bite," Scott said in a rush as he towed me along with him.
"So?" I pulled my arm away from him so I could walk between he and Stiles without feeling like my shoulder was going to be dislocated. "Derek's not forcing them into it, Scott. If they want him to do it, it's not our business."
Scott ignored me. "We're going to go to the ice-rink, see if he's there," he told me before turning to Stiles. "And if he's not at home, you call me, okay?" Stiles didn't respond and Scott frowned. "What?" He asked.
"Maybe Alex is right," Stiles suggested. "Maybe we should just let him do it. Boyd, you know, man?" He glanced at me. "You said Derek's giving them a choice, right?" I nodded.
Scott wasn't convinced. "We can't," he said.
"You gotta admit, Erica looks pretty good," Stiles told him. "You know, the word 'sensational' comes to mind." I turned my head away so they couldn't see me roll my eyes. I couldn't help the burning feeling I kept getting in my chest but I hated the fact that I was jealous. I've never been jealous of anyone before -- like Cassidy liked to say, why be jealous when you can be confident instead? But Derek was... Derek. And even though we weren't together, I guess part of me just liked to think of him as mine. Sort of like how he thought of me, I suppose. Maybe we should have that talk, after all...
"Yeah," Scott deadpanned. "How good do you think she's gonna look with a wolfsbane bullet in her head?"
He had a point there. "All right, fine," I said with a sigh as I pulled my keys out of my pocket. "We're with you. As always."
"And I gotta say," Stiles piped up with a cheesy smirk on his face, "this new-found heroism is making me very attracted to you."
I snorted in amusement as Scott grumbled, "Shut up."
"No, really," Stiles insisted. "Do you wanna just try making out for a sec? Just to see how it feels!" Scott scoffed and pushed him forward with a roll of his eyes.
"Stiles," I laughed. "I really honestly don't understand how your mind works sometimes."
"Yeah." He sighed. "Me, neither."