Wonder

SHADY AARDVARK

Derek Hale.

Ariel didn't really know how she felt about him. He was hot, that was for sure. She was totally into that whole leather jacket, stubble, tattooed back package. But on the inside, she wasn't sure he was so attractive.

Sure, he'd had a bad life. His family had been burnt to the crisp when he was about 16- that's something no one ever should have had to go through. He lived in the shell of his old house, surrounded by the memories of his family who had died there.

That gave him kind of the right to be a little of an antisocial dick. Ariel was sure she would do the same if her family died. But Derek was a big antisocial dick. He was an enigma and she knew first hand how rude he could be. Hell, he'd just kissed her very violently, without even asking! Yet there was something about him that convinced her that he was more than an angry fur ball.

That didn't matter though, did it? He was dead. Maybe. Most likely. Even if she didn't like the guy, even if he had just kissed the hell out of her without any warning, she wouldn't wish death upon him. She also wouldn't wish him the legacy of being known as a fugitive.

Her brother apparently wasn't as empathetic as her.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Derek is your scapegoat?" Ariel hissed, smacking her brother up side the head. "You idiot!"

"Yeah, nicely done." Stiles whispered sarcastically. The three were huddled on the far side of the cafeteria, where the teenagers had holed up after the alpha had crashed through the ceiling. Lydia, Jackson and Allison were standing on the other side, staring angrily at the three. They weren't exactly happy with them, having furtively avoided their questions and told them the older guy who they sometimes hung out with was chasing them through the school.

"I didn't know what to say." Scott cried. "I had to say something."

"How about saying you don't know???" Ariel ran a hand through her hair angrily.

"If he's dead it doesn't really matter, right?" Scott moaned when he thought it through. "Except if he's not."

"Why do you care about that evil, evil man, Ariel?" Stiles frowned protectively. "He just attacked your face and it was profoundly disgusting."

"That doesn't mean we should pin murders on him! AGAIN!" Ariel whisper shouted.

"Oh my god, I totally just bit her head off." Scott ignored the two and looked mournfully over towards Allison, who he had snapped at earlier. Ariel rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might fall out of her head.

"And she'll totally get over it." Stiles sighed at his best friends total incapacity for anything but puppy love. "Bigger issues at hand here, like how do we get out of here alive?"

"If he wanted to kill us, he would have done it already." Ariel shook her head. "This is a game of cat and mouse to him. He wants something."

"It's like he's cornering us or something." Scott nodded.

"So what, he wants to eat us all at the same time?"

"No." Scott looked off thoughtfully at Stiles's question. "Derek said it wants revenge."

"Against who?" Ariel sighed. "Me? Because I kissed Derek?"

"I don't think so. He wouldn't hurt you. Allison family?"

"Maybe that's what the text was about." Stiles nodded. "Someone had to send it."

"Okay, assheads!" Jacksons strode forward, done with the threes evasiveness. "New plan. Stiles calls his useless dad and tells him to send someone with a gun and decent aim. Are we good with that?" Stiles bristled and Ariel put a comforting hand on his shoulder before glaring at Jackson.