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EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

CHAPTER TEN

i will survive, hey hey

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Meilani sat in the back of Noah's cop car while Stiles sat up front with his dad. The three had just gotten take out from the fast food place about a mile from the Stilinski's house. Stiles and Meilani needed a dinner break from doing their homework and Noah still had yet to make dinner. So he had generously offered to drive the three of them to get food.

"Did they forget my curly fries?" Noah asked his son who dug through the brow paper bag for his own food.

"You're not supposed to have any fries, especially the curly ones," Stiles scolded his father which brought Meilani to silently chuckle to herself. Stiles was constantly on his dad about his diet and weight because he didn't want his dad to suffer from a heart attack or anything worse. Noah would always argue back that he was a sheriff and that it was hard to eat healthy when you constantly had to be driving around or at the station.

Noah gave his son a pointed look. "I am carrying a lethal weapon. If I want curly fries, then I will have curly fries."

"If you think getting rid of contractions in your sentences makes your argument anymore legitimate, then you are wrong," Stiles retorted, laughing at his own joke.

Meilani and Noah gave Stiles blank expressions, clearly showcasing they weren't amused at all. Stiles merely shrugged and continued to shove fries in his mouth.

"Unit one, do you copy?"  the dispatcher over Noah's police radio asked. 

Stiles reached forward to answer but his hand got slapped away by Noah. He mumbled an apology as his dad grabbed the walkie talkie piece so he could respond. 

"Unit one, copy," Noah replied, releasing the button so the dispatcher could speak.

"Got a report of a possible 1-87."

Stiles and Meilani both froze in what they were doing; Meilani's burger half way to her mouth and Stiles' mouth full of curly fries. "A murder?!" they both exclaimed as Noah put the police cruiser into drive and sped off towards the address they were given from the dispatcher.

As they pulled up in front of a video store, Jackson and Lydia could be seen by an ambulance together. Lydia was sat on the back of it while Jackson stood beside her, both looking white as a sheet and horrified.

"Stay here," Noah ordered both of the teens, knowing fully well the two of them would immediately hop out and mess with the investigation. 

Stiles and Meilani groaned but listened and stayed put as Mr. Stilinski got out of the car. They both pressed themselves up to their windows so they could see what was happening. Noah made his way over to Lydia and Jackson where Jackson fought with the EMT about just wanting to go home. Thankfully they weren't too far so Stiles and Meilani could hear everything.

"I don't understand. Why can't I just go home?" Jackson snapped, glaring at the EMT and Noah. "I'm fine."

"I understand, but the EMT said you hit your head pretty hard in there. We just want to make sure you don't have a concussion," Noah said in a calm tone. He didn't want to make the situation worse because he could already tell Jackson was pissed.

Jackson laughed humorlessly. "What part of I'm fine do you not get? I'm fine. I just want to go home."

"Even though he hit his head, he's still an ass," Meilani commented which earned her a chuckle in response from Stiles.

"Yes, and I understand that bu- " 

"No you don't!" Jackson cut Noah off, getting in his face. This made Stiles and Meilani immediately forget about their dinner and rush out of the car. "I thought me wanting to go home would be a basic concept for a minimum wage, rent-a-cop like you. NOW I WANT TO GO HOME!"

Meilani shot her hand out as Stiles went to rush at Jackson and murder him on the spot. "Stiles, stop."

"NO! He can't talk to my dad like that," Stiles seethed, fighting against his girlfriend's grip on his arm. She just had to get werwolf strength.

"Kicking his ass in front of cops isn't exactly smart. It won't change anything anyway!"

Stiles glanced to the side and gasped when he saw two EMTs rolling out a gurney with a white sheet on top, a hand limply hanging off the side of the gurney. "Whoa! Is that a dead body?!"

The two teens and the crowd watched as the gurney was lifted into the back of the ambulance. Noah gave Meilani and Stiles a look that basically screamed "get back in the car or you're both going to get it". They both held their hands up and slowly retreated back into the car.

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After Mr. Stilinski dropped Meilani off at home, she rushed into the garage and grabbed her bike. Her mom had the car because of work and she knew Scott was probably in his room getting ready for bed so he wouldn't even notice she wasn't home yet. Peddling as fast as she could out of the garage, she raced over to Derek Hale's house where he was already waiting outside for her. He was leant against one of the pillars on his porch, sporting his usual black leather jacket and dark t-shirt.

"Were you expecting me? Can we read minds and I didn't know about it?" Meilani questioned, stepping off her bike and leaning it against the side of the porch before meeting Derek on the top step.

"I heard what happened at the video store and figured you'd come straight here," Derek responded, leaning off the pillar and leading the way inside. "Do you understand what I'm saying now?"

"I understand that he's killing people, but I don't understand why," Meilani stated, following Derek into his house and shutting the door behind her. "I mean this isn't standard practice, is it? We don't go out in the middle of the night killing people, do we?"

Derek shook his head as he stopped in front of the stairs that lead to the second floor. "No. We're predators. We're not killers."

"Then why is he a killer?"

"That's what we're going to find out," Derek answered before turning and walking up the steps.

"I have a life, you know!" Meilani called after him, following Derek up the stairs.

Derek chuckled, freezing in the middle of the stairs. "No you don't."

"Yes I do!" Meilani defended, throwing her hands in the air. "I have a boyfriend, a brother, a mom, friends! I go to school and go out. I do have a life, thank you very much. Just because the only thing you do with your life is be a sarcastic, jerk off that's always brooding doesn't mean other people can't have lives."

Derek stood on the step two above Meilani's and glared at her dangerously. However, this didn't stop Meilani from going on with her rant.

"I don't care what you say about him making me his pet or - "

"Making you part of his pack," Derek corrected.

Meilani scoffed and crossed her arms. "Whatever. I have homework to do. I have to go to a parent teacher conference with my twin and mom tomorrow. As usual, they're going to compare Scott to me and it's going to suck because he's just not as educationally advanced as I am. It takes him longer to grasp onto things and remember information."

Derek raised an eyebrow at Meilani as if he couldn't believe that she was actually favoring homework and studies over her potential death. "So you want to do homework? Or do you not want to die? You have less than a week until the full moon. If you don't kill with him, he kills you."

Meilani groaned and paced around a bit before stopping and turning back to Derek once her thoughts were all properly collected. "Seriously? Who made up these rules?"

"It's a right of passage into his pack," Derek explained, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. 

"Wanna know what else is a right of passage?" Meilani countered, pretending to wait a second for him to answer before continuing. "Graduating from high school and you don't have to kill anyone to do it. Why can't you just find him yourself? Why can't you just sniff him out when he's a human?"

"Because his human scent can be entirely different. It has to be you. You have a connection with him - a link - that you can't understand. If I can teach you to control your abilities, you can find him."

Meilani stared at Derek as his words sunk in. So, no matter what she had to help Derek because she was the only person that was useful in finding the one who bit her. She never saw Derek Hale so desperate before. Given she's only know him a short while, but in the time she has known him, he has never practically begged her to help him. 

"So if I help you, you can stop him?" Meilani whispered, deciding to just give in because this was a fight she was going to lose regardless.

"Not alone," Derek responded. "We're stronger in numbers. A pack makes an individual more powerful."

"How am I supposed to help if I have no idea what I'm doing?!" Meilani cried in frustration. How did he expect her to help if she didn't know the first thing about being a werewolf? She barely knew how to contain her strength when around anyone but Stiles. Yeah she was pretty strong before for a girl her size and age, but her strength now compared to that of the Hulk and it would freak a few people and raise a lot of questions she wouldn't know how to respond to.

"Because I'm gonna teach you," Derek strained for what seemed like the millionth time. "Do you remember what happened that first night you were shot in the arm? Right after you were hit?"

Meilani slowly nodded as flashes of memory from that night played across her mind. "Yeah, I changed back."

Derek stepped down a step so he was eye to eye with Meilani who was on the step below him. "Do you know why that was?"

Meilani just shrugged, not knowing where Derek was going with this.

Rolling his eyes, Derek grabbed Meilani's wrist and gripped as hard as he could, purposefully hurting her.

Letting out a cry of pain, she fell to her knees as she tried to pry her wrist out of Derek's hold. However, he was much stronger than she was so her tries were futile against his strong grip on her poor wrist.

"What are you doing?!" Meilani managed to yell.

"Oh, relax, it'll heal," Derek said, letting go of her wrist.

Meilani glared up at him from her position on the step. "It still hurt!"

"That's what you keeps human," Derek continued, completely ignoring Meilani's cries of protest that he had basically broken her wrist. "Pain."

Groaning, Meilani flexed her fingers and slowly moved her wrist in different directions as the hot pain slowly began to subside as her bones fixed themselves underneath her skin. She let out a sigh of relief once the pain was fully gone and she had mobility of her wrist back.

"Maybe you will survive," Derek commented, seeming quite impressed before he turned and made his way up the stairs. Leaving Meilani alone on the stairs.

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Meilani leaned against her locker as she watched Allison walk over to her locker. She had heard from a little birdie that it was her birthday and she wanted to do something nice for her. They were still on the brink of becoming friends and, plus, Allison was her twin's girlfriend. She felt obligated to be nice and be friends with the girl. It helped that Allison was totally awesome.

Allison put in her lock combination before opening the locker and jumping in surprise when the balloons flew in her face. She quickly grabbed them and shoved them back inside. 

Meilani took this as her cue to pop up beside Allison with a big grin. "Happy birthday!"

"How... How did you know about my birthday?" Allison questioned nervously.

"Lydia told me," Meilani replied, grinning brightly. "I really wanted to do something nice and this was the best thing I could come up on short notice. Lydia helped me set everything up in your locker."

"You really didn't have to do all of this," Allison said, looking back at her fully decorated locker. Balloons everywhere, streamers hanging from the top shelf of her locker and a card from both Meilani and Lydia.

Meilani shrugged and admired her and Lydia's work. "I know, but I wanted to and Lydia insisted on helping me decorate it."

Allison threw herself at Meilani and hugged her tight. "This is honestly the nicest thing someone has ever done for me. Thank you." She pulled away as Scott made his way over, hand behind his back. "Scott, hey."

"I heard it was your birthday, so I got you a little something," Scott stated, bringing his hand from behind his back to reveal a black, rectangular box.

"Guys, really, I don't want a big deal out of my birthday," Allison stated, taking the box from Scott's hand and placing it in her bag to open later. "I don't even know how you and Lydia found out."

Meilani and Scott exchanged a look. "Why wouldn't you want us to know?"

Allison bit her lip as she debated whether to tell the twins about why she never told anyone her real birthday. She honestly didn't even know how Lydia and Meilani could have found out about it. Unless they either asked her dad or found out from the front office. "I'm... seventeen."

"You're seventeen?" The twin asked in unison, clearly shocked.

"Yeah, that's the exact reaction I was trying to avoid."

Scott chuckled softly and shook his head. "Why? I mean, it's totally understandable. You move around a lot so you had to repeat a year right? It's not something to be ashamed of."

Allison stared at Scott before grabbing him by the front of his shirt and crashing their lips together. 

Meilani jokingly cried in protest and covered her eyes, which earned her a joking glare from Allison and Scott. "Do people not usually assume that?"

"No," Allison replied, shaking her head. "People usually think I just got held back or if I had a baby."

"That's what you get on your birthday?" Scott inquired, clearly shocked anyone could even ask such a thing, especially on someone's birthday.

"All day long," Allison sighed and looked between the twins. "Until today, of course. Thank you, guys. Honestly. Best birthday so far."

Meilani noticed the gears in her brother's head turning and she could tell by the look on his face that it was nothing good. "Scott, no. I can sense it's bad and you can't afford anything bad, not today. Mom will be here in just a few hours to talk about our grades."

Completely ignoring his twin, Scott grinned deviously at his girlfriend. "How about we get out of here? Skip class. You've never cut before, right? If you get caught, they'll go easy on you."

"What if you get caught?" Allison challenged, clearly against the idea. 

"It won't end well," Meilani warned, hoping she could get through Scott's head. He's never skipped before either but with how his grades are, they wouldn't go all that easy on him like they would with Allison who was an A student.

Scott turned his attention to his sister. "Must you be pessimistic on Allison's birthday? You can cover for me right?"

"Scott, really?"

"Don't make me pull the twin card on you," Scott threatened, his face completely serious.

Meilani sighed, knowing fully well when one of them brought out the twin card, they couldn't say no to whatever the other asked of them. It was a thing they had made up when they were younger and they both tended to get in trouble a lot, especially with Stiles. 

"Knew you'd come through, Mei. Now come on," Scott kissed his sister on the cheek before grabbing Allison's wrist and walking out of the school.

"Scott McCall, you're going to be the death of me."

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"Just as a reminder, tonight is parent/teacher conferences. If your grade is C and below, you are required to attend," the science teacher, Mr. Harris, began as he looked around the room. "I won't name any names because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment."

Meilani gulped as he stopped right in front of her and Stiles' lab desk. She knew Mr. Harris knew that Scott was missing from class and not for the reasons he should be. "Anyone know where Scott is?" He pointedly asked the couple in front of him.

Stiles slowly looked up from where he was randomly highlighting things, the cap of the highlighter in his mouth. Meilani pressed her lips together, not knowing what excuse to give to Mr. Harris. However, the sound of the door opening, saved the couple from having to answer him at all. 

Jackson walked into the room, his bag slung over one shoulder. Meilani was shocked he even came to school after what happened the night before.

Mr. Harris placed a hand on Jackson's back as he leaned closer so they could have a somewhat private conversation. It made no sense as the whole class was intently listening to them. "Jackson, if you need to leave early for any reason, you just give the word, okay?"

Jackson  just nodded and Mr. Harris pat him on the back before making his way back to the front of the room. "Everyone, begin reading chapter nine. Mr. Stilinski, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It's Chemistry, not a coloring book."

Stiles stopped in his highlighting - or coloring as Mr. Harris called it - and shot the cap into the air before catching it, capping his highlighter. He turned to Meilani who already had her head in the book. Mr. Harris was a teacher she tried to never cross if she could help it. He was a jerk and she had a tendency to tell off people who were jerks to her.

"Lani?"

"What?" Meilani whispered, glancing up from the book to look at Stiles.

"Where is Scott?" Stiles asked, leaning on his elbow so he could be closer in order to keep his voice lower.

Meilani glanced up to check if Mr. Harris was paying any attention to them, but he was thankfully talking to one of the students about what they were reading. "Snuck Allison out for her birthday. I tried fighting him but he brought out the twin card."

Stiles rolled his eyes at the response. "I hate that card." He glanced over to Jackson who looked like he could barely focus on the world around him. "Do you know anything else about Jackson?"

Meilani shook her head. "No, I haven't been able to find out anything else. I just know it was the guy who bit me. I haven't even seen Lydia since she showed up with the stuff to decorate Allison's locker. She was really out of it, too. She basically just came in with the decorations and kind of left me to do it on my own after a while. It was weird."

Stiles side glanced Danny who was at the table in front of him. He quickly turned in his seat which was directly behind his, and leaned forward to talk to him. "Danny," he whispered, trying to keep his balance as best he could while leaning dangerously forward on his stool. "Can I ask you a question?"

"No," was Danny's automatic response.

"Well, I'm going to anyway. Was Lydia in your homeroom this morning?"

Danny looked over his shoulder at Stiles. "No."

"Can I ask you another question?" Stiles asked, peering innocently up at Danny.

Danny sighed and turned in his seat to face Stiles. "What, Stiles?"

"Does anyone know what happened to Lydia or Jackson last night?"

Danny glanced over at Jackson who was still blankly staring at his textbook. A flash of pain and disappointment flashed across his face. "He... he wouldn't tell me."

"He's your best friend, though," Stiles said as if Danny didn't already know that. Meilani covered her face and groaned at Stiles' lack of social skills. "Okay, one last question."

"What?" Danny snapped, smacking his hands against his book.

"Do you find me attractive?"

Meilani's eyes widened at his question. "Stiles! What the hell?"

AUTHORS NOTE

I still can't believe I'm on Episode Five already, or that I'm on Chapter Ten of this book already. It feels like I just started this book yesterday and not in, like, July/August of last year. I'm sorry these chapters sometimes take me a while longer than my other stories. Sometimes the website I use doesn't work properly so I have to do chapters in parts on separate days. It's kind of annoying but today it worked pretty okay, thankfully, so I was able to do this in one shot.

ANYWAYS, I HOPE YOU GUYS ALL ENJOYED THIS. DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND VOTE SO I KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE THINKING OF THIS SO FAR! I LOVE HEARING YOUR OPINIONS AND WHAT YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN.

EDITED ON: SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2019