-DISCLAIMER-

I do NOT own Teen Wolf

Comment, vote, fan, and let me know what you're thinking!

----------

"Jackson's parents?" I asked back.

Allison peeked through the shelf, "His real parents."

That was right; Jackson was adopted. No one really knew anything about his real parents. That would definitely make that a bit more difficult.

"Yeah," Scott agreed. "Does anybody actually know what happened to them?"

I thought for a moment, before rolling my eyes and looking at them.
"There may be one person," I sighed.

Stiles nodded, "Lydia."

If we were gonna be friends now, there were some things that she couldn't be involved in. I didn't want her infiltrating every part of my life that involved Stiles.

Scott looked at us doubtfully, "What if she doesn't know anything?"

"Well, unfortunately, she's the only lead we have at the moment," I kicked at the ground, avoiding looking at any of them.

Thankfully, they were too busy trying to come up with ideas to take any notice.

"There's still one more option," Allison said. "Jackson doesn't have a restraining order against me, so I'll talk to him myself."

She put her book away, certain that she was going to proceed with her plan.

"Okay, what do I do?" Scott seemed to be frustrated by the fact that he wasn't the one facing Jackson.

"You have a make-up exam, remember?"

Scott turned to Stiles and I for back up, but we just nodded. Allison's idea was the best we had at that point. He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Scott," I sighed, "We all have a restraining order, remember. You're not the only one who will get in trouble."

"Promise me," I heard Allison say.

I was confused for a second, until I realized that she was only speaking to Scott. Stiles and I looked away from them, giving them a moment to themselves.

"If he does anything, you run the other way," the werewolf instructed.

"I can take care of myself."

Allison was not to be argued on that point, as we had learnt back in coach's office when she pulled out a damn crossbow.

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me."

I scoffed. Could he have been any cheesier? "Okay, tough guy," I muttered beneath my breath."

"Riley," Scott said, sounding exasperated.
I threw my hands up in faux defense, taking a step back.
He turned back to his girlfriend, "If he does anything. . ."

"Like?" Allison interrupted.

"Anything weird or bizarre. . . Anything-"

"Anything evil!" Stiles finished for him, shoving his head between two shelves to face Allison.

Allison put her hand on his face and pushed him right back where he came from. He stumbled, almost tripping me over as he attempted to regain his balance.

We grabbed onto the closest thing to steady ourselves, which happened to be each other. He looked down at me, eyes wide, before letting go and running and hand over his head.

I stared at my hand, picking at my fingernails. Why did he do this to me?

"So, it's sorted then," Allison confirmed. "I'll speak to Jackson. Alone. And then I'll let you guys know what he said, okay?"

"Okay," Stiles pointed to us each in turn, "Allison talks to Jackson, Scott takes his exam, Riley does whatever, and I'll see what Lydia knows."

How had I suddenly become a fourth wheel? Was that even possible.

"I'll tag along with you, Stiles." I said, trying not to get left behind. "Lydia doesn't really talk to you, remember?"

"Good point. Let's go."

♡♢♤♧

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone," Lydia told us, walking away quickly. We had found her leaving a class, and got right down to business asking her about Jackson's parents.

"Come on, anyone who ever says, 'I'm not supposed to tell anyone' is always dying to tell someone, so tell us!" Stiles insisted.

"'Cause that's sound logic," I chuckled. "Please, Lydia?"

Lydia cocked her head to the side, "Why do you guys wanna know?"

"I can't tell you that," Stiles replied.

"Then I'm not telling you," the strawberry blonde countered.

Taking some quick steps to stand beside the girl, I reached for her. "Lydia-"

Before I could speak, Stiles beat me to it. "But you are telling me that you could tell me something if you wanted to tell me?"

We all walked, trying to think through what Stiles had just said. Had it made much sense?
Probably not.

Lydia's eyebrows creased, "Was that a question?"

"It felt like a question," he mumbled.

"Well, tell me if this feels like an answer. No."
She picked up her pace as we slowed down, Stiles let out a grunt as he threw his hands up.

"Lydia, come on," I almost begged. "We're friends now, aren't we? Friends share things."

She threw a smirk over her shoulder, "not everything, sweetie. You mustn't have had very many friends before me."

There was no way she was going to tell us.

"Lydia!" Stiles shouted as we tried to catch back up to her, stepping up the stairs quickly.

"Lydia, get back here!" I shouted to my friend, getting past Stiles.

"Lydia, come on! Wait!"

I suddenly heard him shout, and quickly turned to see Erica shoving him against the wall.

"Hey, Erica," He said as she pressed her claws against his chest.

"Get off of him," I growled, taking a step towards her.

Erica sneered, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Reversing my step, I glared at Erica as she spoke to Stiles. Why couldn't we be left alone for like five minutes?

I just wanted to figure out who was controlling Jackson and then sleep for, like, a week.

I scanned the surrounding area, to make sure that no one was watching. Everyone in the hallway seemed to be minding their own business, not noticing that Erica had had Stiles pinned to a wall.

All except one.

Isaac. I could see him standing at the bottom of the stairs that Stiles and I had just ascended. When he saw me he smirked and began to walk away.

Looking back over to Stiles, I saw Erica put her claws away and take a step back. He smirked, happy with himself after being able to gain some form of leverage against the beta werewolf.

I figured that he had the situation under control for now - there was only so much that Erica could do now that Principal Argent had installed cameras - so I chased after Isaac.

Rushing down the stairs I turned the same corner he did and crashed into him, not knowing that he had waited there.

Since he was now a werewolf, we didn't topple to the ground like we would've before he got the bite. No, instead of we it was just me. Me and my clumsy self.

I had fallen backwards and hit the ground, yelping in shock. I felt the air rush from my lungs as a sharp pain ran through me. Not like broken bones pain, but enough to leave a bruise pain.

"Falling for me again, I see," Isaac smirked down at me. He offered a hand to help me up, but I slapped it away and climbed back onto my feet.

I felt the air around me warm up, and I wasn't sure whether it was because I was embarrassed and my face had gone red, or my anger at Isaac was somehow that strong.

Pushing my hair out of my face, I glared at him. "Why are you and Erica following us?"

Isaac smirked, eyebrows raised as he looked down a his hands, "You know why. We want to know who the Kanima is."
He began to walk away, forcing me to walk with him if we were to talk.

"Don't walk away from me," I scolded, annoyed at him. I walked faster, trying to keep up with his long strides.

He turned and stopped suddenly, causing me to almost crash into his chest again. It felt like walking into a wall. "What? Like you did to me? I'm too much of a gentleman to do such a thing."

His words hurt, stinging below the skin, causing me to stop walking and stare. "You gave me no choice, Isaac. And besides, if you really thought it was worth holding onto, you wouldn't have let me."

He looked just as shocked by my words as I had been by his. We stood staring at each, not knowing what to say.

His eyes were searching my face, so many emotions conflicting in his features. It looked like he couldn't decide whether to be angry, shocked, confused, or something completely different.

"Scott didn't tell you, did he?" The beta almost whispered. His words hung in the air for a minute before I could really take them in.

I shook my head lightly, trying to bring myself out of his stare and into reality. "What? Tell me what? Did you seriously trust Scott with what you refused to tell me for the whole time we were together?"

Isaac looked even more confused, before chuckling humorlessly and sighing. He took a step back, turned around and walked off.

I shook my head, hitching my bag up on my shoulder and running after him. I maneuvered around him so that I was in front of him and he was forced to stop and look at me.

This time I was the wall, and there was no way he was getting past.

"You may have let me walk away, but I'm not doing the same thing," I glared. "What were you talking about?"

He thought for a second and then smiled. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Who is the Kanima?"

"I can't believe I never realized how much of a tool you could be." Shaking my head in disappointment, I stepped around him, deciding to search for Scott. "If you wont tell me, I'll find out for myself."

Before I could take another step, he grabbed onto my arm. "Riley, if you don't know, it should stay that way. Please."

"Why? For once, actually tell me something true. Anything," I pleaded, wanting for him to tell me himself.

He looked away, letting his hand drop, "I can't."

And we were back to square one. I thought we were finally about to get somewhere, but he went back on defense.

"Why?" I questioned, bombarding him with more straight after. "Why did you always have to keep your guard up around me? Why couldn't yet let me into your life? Why do you continue to?"

"Because I love you too much to drag you into my shit storm of a life!" He shouted, instantly shutting me up.

The students in the hallway looked our way, whispering to each other, theorizing what was happening.

I took a step back, noticing that his claws were bared. He saw me staring, and then realized himself.

He took a couple of deeps breaths as they retracted, allowing his eyes to find mine. He waited quietly for a response, so did I.

I breathed out, "I wanted to be apart of your life, Isaac. All of it. Even the shittiest parts. It didn't matter to me, as long as we were together. But I guess it didn't mean that much to you."

Biting the inside of my cheek, I walked away, not wanting to deal with that at the moment or hear his response to my accusation. I knew why he had been following us, and that's all I had wanted.

Wasn't it?

I just couldn't believe Isaac had just blurted that out. He still loved me?

Before I knew it, I found myself around the corner from the boy's locker room. I knew I had wanted to find Scott but I didn't know why I lead myself there. Or how.

"You can't tell Derek, okay?" I heard a voice instruct from the hallway I was about to enter. "There's a lot more to this that you don't know about."

I took a quick peek, only to see Erica strutting down the hallway, Stiles right on her tail.

Metaphorically, of course. Erica hadn't grown some weird mutant werewolf tail.

That I knew of, at least

Stiles continued to speak, neither of them seeing me, "And just because you got the Alpha bite makeover doesn't give you a license to go around destroying people."

"Why not?" She asked, turning on him. He looked taken back by her suddenness. "That's all anybody ever used to do to me."

I couldn't help but feel bad for Erica.  She did used to get picked on a lot, and that really must've messed with her. But Stiles was right when he said that she shouldn't do the same thing others did to her.

"I used to have the worst crush in the world on you," She told him. And now I didn't feel as bad for her.
Seriously, Lydia was enough, but now Erica?
"Yeah, you, Stiles. And you never once even noticed me. Exactly how you're not noticing me right now."

He must have really been able to relate at that point, considering that that was his exact relationship with Lydia.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound and a lot of shouting. I rushed around the corner, to see Jackson half naked on top of Scott.

He obviously didn't abide by our restraining orders.

"Guys!" Stiles shouted, rushing forward and pulling Scott out from under Jackson, who was being held back by Erica.

I had ran around the corner at that point, holding a hand out towards each of them. "Stop it! My God, how old are you?"

Allison appeared out of the boy's locker room as a group of students lead by Harris entered the hallway.

"What the hell's going on?" He demanded.
Jackson continued to struggle against Erica and Harris walked up, copying my action. "Enough."

They all separated from each other and looked to Harris, just like everyone else in the hallway was doing.

"What do you idiots think you're doing? Jackson! Calm down!"

Jackson looked super pissed, but he remained quiet.

Harris turned to one of his least favorite students, "Mr. McCall, care to explain yourself?"

No reply.

"Stilinksi!" He shouted, hoping to get something out of the Sheriff's son.

Nope.

"Winters!"
I kept my head down. He really enjoyed picking on the three of us, didn't he?

Why not ask Erica or Allison? They were there two.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted the interrogation. "You dropped this."

Everyone turned to see Matt holding out Allison's tablet to Scott, waiting for him to take it.

Scott didn't get the chance before Harris snatched it out of his hand. "You and you. . ." He said, pointing to Scott and Jackson with the tablet.

But instead of completing the previous sentence, he took a moment to survey us all. "Actually, all of you. . . Detention. Three o'clock."

My mom wasn't going to like this. Not one bit.

♡♢♤♧

At exactly three o'clock, all seven of us entered the library.

Harris was standing in the center and we all took a seat, waiting for him to deal out our punishment.

Scott and Stiles sat on one side of a table, and I took the other. Allison, Matt and Jackson shared a table, while Erica surprising took the last seat on our table.

This was going to be a long afternoon.

As Jackson sat his bag down, he cleared his throat and looked over to Harris. "We can't be in detention together. I have a restraining order against these tools.

"All of these tools?" Harris tried to clarify.

With a sigh, Stiles raised his hand and pointed to me, Scott and himself. "No, just us tools."

"Fine," Harris replied all robot-like. I swear, it was like the man didn't have a soul. "You three, over there."

He gestured to the next table over, and we all glanced at each other, before grabbing our bags and moving.

Jackson held up a hand in question and confusion, not satisfied with Harris' solution. Thankfully, he didn't argue it any further, even when Scott glared at him.

"I'm gonna kill him," The wolf claimed.

"No, you're not," Stiles told him.

I shrugged as I sat down, "Sure he is. I'm willing to give him a hand if you are?"

Stiles gave me an unimpressed look as he sat down next to me, across from Scott. "If you wanna lend a hand, why not help find out who's controlling him so that Scott can help to save him?"

"Because, where's the fun in that?" I smirked.

"Yeah," Scott nodded, "You were right then and Riley's right now, let's kill him."

"Oh, no," Stiles groaned, pursing his lips together.

We sat silently, trying to think of ways to kill Jackson. Although, that might've just been me and Scott.

But that's when I heard it. A singled worded question lightly carried on a breeze.

'Kanima?'

I looked around quickly, trying to figure out who had said it. No one appeared to be talking, but I could have sworn I had heard it.

Could it have been some trick? Like I imagined it? Maybe.

"Did you guys hear that?" I whispered to the boys.

Both of them creased their eyebrows, concentrating to see if they could hear it now.

"Hear what?" Scott asked.

If Scott hadn't heard it, then there's no way I could've, right?
Unless he was concentrating on something else and not using his wolf-powered hearing.

"Never mind," I mumbled, scanning the room once more.

Stiles didn't even appear to be paying attention at that point, however. He was looking straight past Scott, over to Allison's table.

"Stiles, what's on your mind?"

He leaned in to whisper, "What if it's Matt?"

"Matt?" I chuckled. "As in that dude over there?"

"I mean, this whole thing comes back to the video, right?"
He had me there.

Scott dropped his head down onto his arms which were folded on the table. "Danny said that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing."

Scott also had a point.

"Exactly!" Stiles enthused quietly. "He's trying to throw suspicion off himself." 

"So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your Jeep?" Scott's face showed his doubt in Stiles' theory.

"Yes!"

"But why?" I questioned. "Why kill those people? I don't think any of them were murderers."

"Because. . ." He glanced over at Matt. "He's evil."

We all took a quick look, but not long enough to cause any suspicion.

Scott shook his head, turning back. "You just don't like him."

"The guy bugs me. I don't know what it is." He looked perplexed, sitting there trying to figure out just why he didn't like the guy.

I leaned back in my chair. "I have to side with Stiles on this one." I thought back to the interaction in the hallway. "He's really weird; I think there's something wrong there."

Stiles nodded slowly, "Just look at his face."
We all did as instructed, only to see Matt offering Jackson some potato chips.

Scott raised his eyebrows as he gave his attention back to Stiles. "Any other theories?"