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The fire alarm continued to ring even after Isaac had left with Derek. Stiles and I were now alone in the holding cells. Well, not completely alone.

The hunter was still on the ground, not responding to our attempts to wake him to see if he was okay. Or at least alive.

It's not that we cared - he had tried to kill Isaac, after all - but it was a matter of principle. We didn't want Isaac to be a murderer.

The alarm stopped all of a sudden, and seconds later Sheriff Stilinski stood in the doorway to the holding cells. He looked from the body on the ground to Stiles and I, and I did the same.

Stiles stumbled for words as he glanced around the room, before pointing to the man dressed as a Beacon Hills police officer. "Uh, he did it."

Sheriff Stilinski looked unimpressed to say the least.
"Both of you, to your own homes. Now." He sounded very official. Probably because some of his fellow officers were by his side.

Stiles nodded, acknowledging his father's request and grabbed onto my hand to lead me out of the station. On the way out I looked for any sign of Derek or Isaac, but found none.

I sighed, disheartened, as I climbed into the Jeep. Stiles started the engine without a peep and I figured he was ignoring me.

I couldn't stand this new found tension between us. If I knew things would end up this weird, I probably wouldn't have tried to become more than friends with him in the first place.

While we drove in silence I felt obligated to say something, to show gratitude for what he had done that night.

Clearing my throat, I looked over to him. "Thank you for what you did tonight; going out of your way to save Isaac and risking your life."

He didn't respond. He didn't even bother to glance in my direction. Was what happened the previous night really that bad? I mean, I felt awkward of course, but I'm not going to ignore him over it.

I sighed, "Well, just like Scott, he had no control. And I'm sure he really appreciated it."

Stiles' jaw clenched at my words, and he murmured beneath his breath, "I didn't do it for him."

This made me fall silent. At first I thought I may not have heard him right, but I know that I did.

How do you respond to something like that?

We continued in silence, like we had done every other time we'd been around each since the previous day. He had nearly kissed me. I had nearly kissed him. But if my mother hadn't interrupted, would he have gone through with it?

Would I have?

With all the feelings he had for Lydia, would he have kissed me because he liked me, or because Lydia still refused to acknowledge him?

The first question I had to ask myself, however; did I want to know? Maybe it was best to go back to who we were beforehand.

♡♢♤♧

The night had gone by slowly. It sucked, because I had been craving sleep. I mean, when did I not crave sleep? But I stood in gym class anyway, against my better judgement, exhausted out of my mind.

Plus, things were beginning to get even worse for all of us. First Isaac was turned, then there was this . . . this thing going around killing people.

Yep, that's right, there was some creepy thing with a tail going around slicing necks and ripping its claws into people.

And I had the nerve to think that werewolves would be the weirdest thing I would encounter that year.

Plus, I got a late night call from Allison, who told me that her dad had kidnapped her and put her through a 'how to escape capture' crash course. I swear, her family were completely insane. Sometimes they scared me more than the monsters in this town.

My thoughts were interrupted by Scott shouting as he fell from the rock climbing wall.

Today Coach had decided that we were to do rock climbing, which Scott didn't appear to be too great at. He stopped falling just before hitting the mat, the rope twanging as it reached its limit.

Laughter spread throughout the class, everyone enjoying seeing Scott mess up. I glanced up at Allison to see her smirking sneakily to herself, and I shook my head with a laugh. She and Scott were so cute together.

While everyone continued to laugh, Coach leaned down and sat beside Scott, whose rope had been loosened to allow him to lay on the mat.

"McCall," Coach began, "I don't know why, but your pain gives me a special kind of joy. Right?" He cackled hysterically, and then turned to the class. "All right, next two."

Coach stood up and assessed the class, choosing the next students to face the wall. "Stilinski, Erica, let's go. The wall."

Stiles nodded, and rushed over, while Erica just stood staring for a couple of moments.

Erica was a nice enough girl, but always secluded herself. She pushed her messy blonde locks to the side as she walked up besides Stiles.

Just before he began to climb, Stiles threw a glance over his shoulder, making direct eye contact with me. It felt like the longest three seconds of my life. His eyes looked so unsure, and that unsettled me even more, because if he looked like that then what was he thinking?

As they began to climb, Erica was grunting and sounded as if she was in considerable pain.

Stiles was already almost at the top of the wall, and Erica had barely left the mat.

"Do you think she's okay?" I asked Lydia, who I had decided to stand next to that class along with Allison. Standing with Scott meant standing with Stiles, and I didn't want to go through that awkwardness again.

Lydia scoffed, "I'm sure she's fine. She's just freaking out is all."
When I didn't reply, she turned to me and gave me a small reassuring smile.
"Riley, I'm sure she's okay. If she wasn't, she wouldn't be climbing."

Even though I wasn't totally convinced I smiled back anyway, appreciative of Lydia's attempt to calm me. After everything we'd been through together, and being friends with Allison, we had definitely grown closer.

Ever since she got back from being missing, she'd been completely polar opposite towards me, and I didn't mind it. Lydia was a decent person when you got to know her.

Besides, I couldn't blame her for Stiles having a crush on her. It's not like she could control who liked her. I was annoyed at myself for taking so long to realise that.

Stiles was propelling down the wall, and Erica was halfway. I focused my eyes on her to ensure I wasn't staring at him. She wasn't moving, but I could hear her whimpering softly to herself. She wasn't okay.

As Stiles celebrated finishing first, Erica began to hyperventilate, her knuckles going white as her grip on the wall tightened.

"Help, please . . ." she breathed out.

Everyone walked forward to surround the wall, Coach directly below the panicking girl.
"Erica. Dizzy? Is it vertigo?"

Coach didn't seem to know what he was talking about, so Lydia took it upon herself to help out. "Vertigo's a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She's just freaking out," she explained nonchalantly.

How did everyone think that this girl was dumb? Seriously, she didn't seem to hide her intellect all too well.

"Erica," Coach turned his attention back to Erica, who was still hyperventilating.

"I'm fine," She managed to say.

From beside me, Allison turned to our teacher. "Coach, maybe it's not safe. You know she's epileptic."

His eyes widened as he began to sputter in surprise. "Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff?"

"I'm pretty sure that would be on her school medical records. The ones you're supposed to check," I muttered.

"Erica, you're fine. Just kick off from the wall. There's a mat to catch you."

Students started to disperse as Coach pointed to the mat, making room for Erica if she decided to let go of the wall.

With a deep breath, she let go and allowed herself to be lowered to the ground.

"See, you're fine," Coach reassured her once she safely had both feet on the mat. "You're on the ground. You're all right. Let's go. Shake it off. You're fine."

The rest of the class laughed at the poor girl as she retreated from the gym, her head down as she walked at a fast pace.

"Really?" I sneered at the class as I followed her. "Erica!"

When she reached the door of the gym, she began to run, but I didn't run after her. She needed time alone; that I could understand.
Sometimes, you just need a couple minutes to catch your breath, and I wasn't going to take that away from her.

Allison caught me in the hallway anyway, telling me the exact same thing I was thinking. Just give her time.

Coach had dismissed everyone to go and get changed back into our normal clothes, so we headed to the locker rooms.

"I hope she's okay," I sighed.

Allison smiled sadly, "I know it's hard, but you have to stop worrying about everyone else all the time and focus on yourself."

At this I had to chuckle, "You don't even know the half of it."

Allison's brows knitted together, and I knew that she wasn't going to let that comment slide. "What's that mean?"

The half she knew involved werewolves and things with tails. The second, however, mainly consisted of Stiles and what happened between us.

I still hadn't told Allison or Lydia about my feelings for Stiles. It's not that I didn't trust them, it's just that I'm not the sort of person to divulge all of their deepest thoughts and feelings to their friends. I've never been that way. Not even with Scott and Stiles.

Allison didn't look as concerned as she usually did, however, which brought multiple things into question. There was no way she could know about Stiles. Unless . . .

My jaw tightened as I looked into my locker. "Scott told you, didn't he?"

Biting her lip, she avoided looking at me. That was answer enough, but she still had the decency to tell me herself. "Yes, but-"

"I'm going to kill him," I growled.

"Riley, it wasn't all him. I noticed something was going on with you, and I wouldn't leave him alone until he told me. Don't be mad at him. Please," Allison insisted, her eyes sincere.

I closed my locker and rested my head against the door. "What am I going to do?" I said in a whisper, closing my eyes as the cool metal calmed my previously racing heartbeat.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as Allison began to speak, "You either need to do something about it, or move on. It sounds harsh, I know, but it's just causing you pain."

Rolling my head to the side, I looked her in the eyes. "I already tried to do something about it."

This she didn't know, because Scott didn't know. "What happened?" Her brows were angled in thought, trying to puzzle it together before I had even opened my mouth.

But I didn't. Something else grabbed my attention. I rushed out of the locker room before Allison got her answer, arriving at the gym just in time to see Erica fall off the wall.

Thank heavens, Scott was prepared, catching her with ease and resting her on the ground.

Allison - who had caught up with me - and I ran up to them, instructing them to lay her on her side. Erica was having an epileptic attack, her body shaking violently as her eyes rolled in her head and her limbs went rigid.

"How'd you know?" Allison asked Scott quietly.

I knelt down beside her, before realizing that Stiles was right next to me. We acknowledged each other's presence, but it went no further than that.

Scott looked up at her, still holding Erica's hand. "I just felt it."

"Well, she's pretty damn lucky you did," I breathed out.

♡♢♤♧

My next periods were study periods, which I couldn't have been more thankful for. The less time having a teacher drone on and on the better.

The only downside to those study periods - well, it was a downside that day at least - was that I shared them with Allison.

Just as I was pulling out my chemistry book to finish the fifty different things that Mr. Harris had assigned us, Allison plopped down in the seat across from me.

"So, the conversation we were having in the locker room? We're finishing that. Right now," She grinned.

I laid my head down on the table, groaning. I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. "Do we really have to? I have enough trouble discussing it with myself."

"Yes, we do. And that's because you're biased against yourself," She said, closing my work books as I raised my head.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Sure it does," she claimed with a wave of her hand. "So, you and Stiles?"

What am I supposed to tell her? Do I tell her what we did? What did we do? We didn't kiss. We almost did, but did that really count as anything? It was late at night, and we were both tired.

Hell, he was probably more tired than I was and hallucinating that I was Lydia, or something like that.

"By the way," Allison started, her voice low and sounding as if she was ashamed. "I'm sorry about setting Lydia up with Stiles. I promise I had no idea. Scott only told me after the formal. I felt awful when he told me."

"It's fine. It's not your fault." I was going to kick Scott's werewolf ass.
Picking at my nails, I asked what I should've asked before in the locker room. "How much did Scott tell you?"

I doubt that he told her that he tried to kiss me the day of the full moon. The day he realized I liked Stiles and basically forced me to admit it to myself. Not that it was his fault or anything - the whole full moon thing - I forgave him for that a long time ago.

Telling Allison, however, was going to have its own repercussions. Ones both Scott and I would find unnecessary.

"I asked why you were acting so weird lately, and - after a lot of annoying him to tell me - he finally told me that you liked Stiles, and that you weren't exactly handling it all too well."

She examined my face for a reaction, but I was still on the fact that I was actually discussing this with someone. Let alone, that person being Allison.

"How are you handling it now? Any better?" Allison asked, clearly worried since I hadn't spoken in a while.

"Huh? Yeah. At least I told myself it was true. Acting on it, well, that's a whole other ball game," I sighed.

The rest of the students in study room were all in their little groups chatting away, so no one was focusing on us or the conversation that we were having. That had definitely left me feeling relieved.

Running a hand through her hair, Allison leaned forward a bit. "What were you about to tell me in the locker room then? What happened between you two?"

She wasn't going to let this go.
"Before I tell you anything, you have to promise not to tell Scott any of it. Today's revelations have shown that he has the tendency to not keep his big mouth shut when asked to."

She nodded quickly without hesitation, eager to hear what I have to say.

"Well," I finally looked up and into her eyes. She appeared to be enjoying the suspense of waiting for my answer. Maybe I should have just left her like that.
"We were in his Jeep talking-"

"Nothing new, get to the interesting part," Allison ordered excitedly.

"Maybe if you didn't cut me off, you would have heard the interesting part already," I scolded.

She mouthed an apology and I nodded.

"Anyway, as I was saying. We were in his Jeep talking, and the conversation got kinda intense. By the end of it, we . . . we . . . " Was I really about to say it out loud for the first time? I hadn't even spoken to Stiles about it yet.

"We nearly kissed," I finally whispered, still managing to keep my voice low so that we wouldn't be overheard, as if saying it quietly meant it didn't happen.

Allison's jaw dropped, her eyes widening. "No way. You?" she pointed to me, "And Stiles?"

I bit my lip hard, almost drawing blood, nodding slowly.

Then, her face had split into a wide grin, her eyes shining. "Oh my, God, you're blushing."

"No, I'm not," I said, covering my cheeks with my hands. "Shut up."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Allison laughed. "I think you guys would be really cute together."

"Tell that to him as he stares at Lydia," I muttered bitterly. I was nothing in comparison to her; I could never compete with the girl he's had a crush on since primary school.

With a smirk, Allison leaned back in her chair. "Well okay, if you insist."

I felt my cheeks heat up rather quickly, as I leaned across the table the amount she leaned back. "I was kidding. Don't tell him anything, I mean it. Things are awkward enough. We're barely talking."

"Don't worry, I won't," She claimed with a chuckle. "I'm just happy to finally know why you've been acting so strange."

"I'm sure you are," I groaned.

We sat silently for a few minutes, her eyes on the table and mine on hers. They were moving rapidly, showing how fast she was thinking, and how recent moments were finally beginning to make sense. The way I had been acting, why Stiles and I had been so weird with each other; all of it.

"So," She said slowly, her eyes no longer scanning. "Are you ever going to tell him how you feel?"

That was the question, wasn't it? The question I had been asking myself ever since that night. The question Scott had been asking me indirectly ever since Coach's office.

And now I had to decide whether or not that question actually had an answer. Whether it was worth answering in the first place.

"Honestly?" I think I was asking myself more than I was Allison, but she nodded anyway. "I have absolutely no idea. This isn't something I do on a daily basis, so I guess I need a bit longer to figure it all out. Even though he probably already knows he's not into me."

Allison took my hand in her own, "You can't make that decision for him, Riley. I know that if the roles were reversed right now, I would be wanting you to tell me to do something about it. Do you want me to tell you to do something?"

My breath hitched in my throat. If I said no, then I was throwing away the opportunity see where this lead. But if I said yes, I would most likely be setting myself up for heartbreak.

"Tell you what," Allison announced after I didn't answer. "Make your mind up tonight. Come with us to the ice rink."

Biting the inside of me cheek, I reviewed her offer. Going ice skating wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

With a sigh, I gave her a small smile, "What time?"

Allison grinned wildly, "Seven. Do you want me to pick you up earlier and we can hang out?"

"Sure," I answered. My eyebrows pulled together in confusion when something occurred to me, "Wait, seven? Won't the rink be closed?"

A sneaky look crossed Allison's face, "We found a way, don't worry. And if you are concerned, you can voice your thoughts to Stiles. It's his plan."

"Of course it is," I groaned.

Whenever something seemed like it was going to get us in any level of trouble, Stiles was always somewhere close by.

Not that I minded.