Lunar Clock

~Chapter 5: Only A Few Years Earlier~

DPOV

I didn't care what Andrew thought about me, everybody thought I was a friggin' monster, probably Chloe now too. No matter how human and nice I tried to act, I never got a break. Eyes never looked, they stared at me, people didn't talk to me, but through me. I was the big dumb scary animal that just hung off of Simon.

Things never changed...

Andrew went on a little more, trying to play parent about my emotions, but he wasn't fooling me. Maybe if I looked like Simon... instead of this giant monster, he could pull it off but no. NO, I pretty much freaked this guy out of his skin, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I was like a wolf, I could smell fear, and the fear that radiated off of him for me was a kind that only the truly terrified could obtain.

I lied, honestly I did care what Andrew thought about me. I think I cared a little too much, because I was really disappointed when his eyes never met mine, not even once through that whole heart to heart. I walked away, my shoulders squared against the morning chill.

ANDREW POV

I felt like a bad uncle, for what I had done to Derek. But ever since he came out of those woods when he went to go get Tori, and I saw that big profile and dark angry eyes, I lost all my comfort to be around him. I saw those changes, the monster that the Edison Group created coming out in his once frail and gentle features.

Derek looked down to me now, he was at least a foot taller, and to be honest I felt like the child, not him, and it was hard for me to think. He probably noticed my agitation, and mistook it for fear, when I finished my long speech about controlling his emotions, he did not lash out, or yell like I expected him or any normal teenager to do. No, he just turned on his heels, and shuffled away without a word, and to be honest, that was the most hurtful reaction of them all.

As I watched him go, I noticed that the Saunders girl walked up beside him, he did not budge, nor did he converse with her. He just kept on trudging, and she followed like a kitten. She apparently died her hair black, which did not help calm my imagination, for she was so small, and so delicate against this great big powerful werewolf. It was hard to imagine that only a few years earlier, Derek would have looked the same.

CPOV

Derek didn't talk, or even listen as I asked him about what was going on, he just wallowed back to his room, slammed the door in my face, and soon I heard the sound of his soft snoring.

Well, while Derek was having a little bit of a snooze-fest, I decided to try to investigate the rest of the house. Simon offered to help me, and Tori just walked away laughing, fine, if I find some awesome expensive treasure she is getting in on NONE of the rewards.

We made our way down the hall to the attic once more, I told him that I already searched there, but Simon insisted we look again, which I found awfully peculiar. As I passed Derek's room I heard him coughing and Derek manoeuvring himself over and over again on the mattress. He seemed restless as he slept; I hoped that Andrew's words didn't get to him too much.

"Chloe?" Simon asked as he noticed me staring at Derek's door too long when he pulled down the ladder. I jumped, being knocked back into my senses too abruptly.

"It's nothing!" I snapped instinctively. He nodded, but still looked over at Derek's door questionably.

We began looking around the attic, hitting pretty much the same spots as the last time as before, but I didn't want to point out the obvious and sound rude. Simon seemed to be trying to comfort me, he kept saying the sweetest things when I dazed off into space, and once even put his arm around me when I lost myself in an old letter from the long dead owner of this house to his wife while in the war.

"Don't worry about Derek; he can take care of himself." I looked up to him from the letter, and he gave me a bit of a grin. "He is a mentally strong person, no matter how ticked off he may look he won't pop his lid, so don't worry about him so much okay?" He tightened his grip slightly on my shoulder. I think it was for comfort, but to me it seemed like he was asking me to care less about Derek for some reason. Did I honestly come off like that? 'Cause I gotta tell you, Chloe Saunders soo does not strive to look, or get attention from Derek Souza okay? What's with everyone being so on edge lately?

I pulled Simon's arm off me, and stood up, looking down at him. I didn't really know what it was I was going to say, but his eyes showed me that my silence said a mouthful.

He stood up, so he could be above my eye level, and then asked me if I liked Derek. When I replied with a definite no; because you all know how much I defiantly like Derek's attitude and overall arrogance, he gave a little bit of a relived sigh. What the...?

Then he asked if we could move on to anywhere else I would like to search.

What was that all about?

Later on, after an eventless afternoon and nothing interesting found anywhere in the house that had anything to do with supernaturals, supper time finally arrived.

Andrew- decked out with a big apron, and a box of kd- called me out and asked me to go wake Derek for supper. When I knocked on the door for the second time, Derek finally came but only to tell me to stop knocking and leave him the _(Censored)_ alone.

No supper for him.

I wondered if Derek was ok, he never stayed in bed all day and skipped a meal before, except when he...OH NO was he?

I saw him still at the door even though I was walking away when I looked back.

"No I am not Chloe! Quit thinking I'm changing already!"

"Alright, alright!" damn that kid and his super hearing; he can even hear my thoughts now! I saw him scratch his arm as he turned to go back to bed, if he was changing, he was hiding it poorly.

"It's a normal itch IDIOT." He growled as he shut the door. Once again, damn that kid and his super hearing!

"Go away Chloe." He said with an annoyed tone from his bed.

Alright, you win this time wolf boy, but I will return and prove your changing, just wait!

"Chloe...!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"