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EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED

CHAPTER EIGHT

YOU'RE THE ONE HE WANTS

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Stiles sped his car down the empty roads as the couple got closer to the school. "Are you even sure we should be trusting Derek? Unless you forgot, we put him in jail and he wants to kill you."

Meilani groaned and leaned her head against the head rest. Stiles had been rambling for the past ten minutes on why Meilani shouldn't be hopping the fence at school and trying to jog her memory. "Stiles, I told you he's trying to help me okay? He knows I'm scared because I don't know how to control the change yet." She left out the part about being worried about hurting Stiles. If he knew about that, he would just start to treat her differently and she wasn't letting that happen. Meilani wanted to be as normal as she could while also not still being normal.

Stiles pulled into the entrance of the lot, a few feet from the locked chain fence that was blocking them from getting into the back parking lot where the buses were. He turned to face Meilani in his seat. "Lani, Derek has never given you a reason to trust him. Why start now?"

"He's the only person I have that knows how to deal with this whole thing," Meilani responded.

Not having a rebuttal for Meilani's statement, the couple got out and made their way over to the fence. Stiles went to grab the chain links to start climbing but Meilani grabbed the back of his flannel and pulled him back. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Climbing a fence because my supernatural girlfriend is having issues?" Stiles questioned.

"No one of us has to stay back here and keep watch. What if someone comes?"

"Why am I always the guy who keeps watch?" Stiles complained, stomping his foot like a four year old child.

Meilani rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's childish antics. "There's only two of us, Stiles! If Scott was here then it would be a different story, but since there's only two of us, one of us has to play the watch dog. Considering I'm the one who needs to jog my memory, you get to play watch dog."

"Okay why is it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't wanna be Robin all the time!"

Meilani stared at Stiles like he grew a bunch of heads. Why was he being so dramatic? "No one's Batman and Robin any of the time."

"Not even some of the time?" Stiles asked, a look of a kicked puppy on his face.

"Just stay here!" Meilani ordered, slightly annoyed with Stiles for keeping her from figuring out what happened the night before.

"Oh my God!" Stiles groaned before storming off towards the Jeep.

Meilani mumbled incoherently to herself as she hopped over the fence. Thanks to her supernatural abilities, she was able to scale the fence without impaling herself like she would have before any of this happened. She made her way across to the lot and stopped a few feet from the bus that she had potentially attacked the guy in. 

Meilani closed her eyes and focused all her senses towards remembering what happened. Almost instantly, a memory flashed across her mind of her tossing and turning in her bed, the moon high above her just outside the window. Sweat dripped down her face and matting her hair to her cheeks, necks and forehead. Meilani continued to toss and turn until she suddenly sat up, fully transformed into her werewolf counterpart.

Her eyes shot open, breathing becoming ragged. She couldn't believe it, Derek was actually right. Her heightened senses were helping her to remember what happened the night before. Meilani was a little apprehensive to finally remembering what happened because it was scary to know she could turn into this monster that could potentially kill someone if she wasn't careful. 

Taking a deep breath, Meilani slowly made her way over to the bus. She placed a hand on the glass of the door and an image of Stiles screaming flashed across her mind. Meilani jumped back at the mental image, placing a hand on her chest. She glanced behind her and, thanks to her heightened sense of sight, Meilani was able to see Stiles from where she was. He was leant against the car as he played around on his phone, nervously chewing his lips as he glanced around every few seconds to make sure no one was coming. Seeing Stiles breathing made her calm down and focus her attention back on what she was supposed to be doing.

Meilani pushed the door to the bus open and forced herself to walk up the steps before she chickened out. She stood at the front of the bus, staring at the bent door at the back of the bus, the moon shining through the windows to Meilani's right. She slowly walked up the aisle and placed her hand on top of one of the seats. A flash of memory halted her in place. At first it started off as her tripping Stiles and pulling him back across the hallway before it flashed to what was really going on; her pulling the driver towards the back of the bus. She flinched as she heard in her mind's eye the screams of the bus driver as she pulled him towards the back of the bus to his doom. His face and uniform were a bloody mess.

Snapping out of the memory, Meilani gasped as her chest heaved from her heavy breathing. Memories continued to flash through her mind, making it seem as if it were happening in real time. She went to bend down to help the driver up as he reached a hand out to her but jumped back as a claw, her claw, slashed through the air. She pat herself as if it actually happened right then and there. She didn't realize how real these memories would feel until she started remembering them. 

A honk snapped Meilani out of her memory. It was the honk Stiles usually used when something was happening. She looked out the window just as a security guard was flashing his light across the lot, checking to make sure no one was breaking in. She rushed out of the bus and across the lot towards Stiles' Jeep. She hopped onto the roof of the red car parked in front of the fence and back flipped over the fence to the other side. She scrambled her way over to the Jeep and yelled at Stiles to back up as she flung the door open, getting into the passenger seat.

Stiles peeled out of the lot and sped off down the road. "Did you do it? Did you remember?"

"Yeah, I was there last night," Meilani answered, glancing behind her to make sure no one noticed and decided to chase the couple down for breaking and entering. "The blood? None of it was mine."

"So you did attack him?!" Stiles questioned, continuing to speed his car down the empty stretches of road ahead of them.

"No!" Meilani quickly defended herself, even though she knew Stiles wasn't judging her or anything if she actually had. It actually settled her nerves a bit knowing that it wasn't her fault the driver was in the hospital. "There were a pair of glowing eyes on the bus. It was Derek. I was trying to help the driver, not attack him."

"What about the driver?"

"He knows I was just trying to protect him."

Stiles' face screwed up in confusion, slowing down slightly since they both realized no one was chasing them. They were safe. For now. "Wait, why would Derek try and help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

"Ugh, that's what I don't get!" Meilani groaned, trying to rack her brain for why Derek would incriminate himself like that.

"It's gotta be a pack thing," Stiles voiced.

"What do you mean?"

"It's kind of like an initiation thing. You do the kill together," Stiles explained.

Meilani scoffed and shook her head. Initiation? What was this? A fraternity? If it was, could Meilani please send in her resignation and join another, non-supernatural one? "Yeah because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?"

"But you didn't do it! Which means you're not a killer. Which also means..." Stiles trailed off, letting Meilani fill in the blanks herself. 

"Which means I can still be normal! I don't have to worry about hurting you or Scott!" Meilani cheered, refraining from flying across the center console and attacking Stiles in a hug. 

Stiles chuckled and placed his hand on her knee. "Lani, I told you it would work itself out. I mean we do still need to worry about how you control the change but we can worry about that another time. We do have to worry about this double date tonight though."

"It can't be that bad, Stiles," Meilani said, trying to be optimistic about the whole thing. "It'll be a good chance to get to know Allison. If she's going to date Scott, I really want to be friends with her."

"Yeah but Jackson will be there. Isn't dealing with him at school and lacrosse enough?" Stiles groaned as he stopped in front of his house. He leaned against the head rest and turned his head to look at Meilani. "Do I have to go?"

Meilani crawled across the console and settled herself in Stiles' lap, his hands instantly going to her waist as if it were second nature. "I think I can convince you to come," she whispered to him, placing soft kisses down his neck.

"You know," Stiles breathed out, trying to control himself considering they were both in his Jeep right outside his house where his dad could walk out any second. "It's not nice to use sex against me."

"I don't hear you complaining," Meilani retorted, placing her lips on his.

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A few hours later, the three couples were at the local bowling alley. Meilani was stood with Scott over by the bowling balls trying to decide which balls they both wanted to use in the game. Stiles was sat down with Allison while Jackson and Lydia were flirting. Jackson and Lydia were by the lane so Jackson could teach Lydia how to bowl, which Meilani thought was an excuse for him to fondle her. There was nothing innocent about how he was teaching her and Meilani kept her eyes as far from the couple as she could. They were way too close for comfort.

"So are you nervous?" Meilani asked her brother as she tried to decide between two different sized balls. With her wolf strength it wouldn't matter which one she used because she could hold both with no problem, but she was trying to figure which one would look more realistic in her hands.

"Nervous? Me? Never," Scott responded, trying to sound nonchalant when he was far from it.

Meilani decided on the lighter ball just to be safe and turned to her twin. "Scott, you know it's okay to be nervous right? It's your first date with Allison. I was nervous on my first date with Stiles."

"Yeah but that's different. You knew everything about Stiles already because we've all been best friends since the age of three. With Allison, she's new to town and I know nothing about her, you know? I really like her though and I don't want to mess it up."

"Just be yourself okay? Everything will be fine. Twins honor," Meilani assured him, holding up her pinky finger for Scott to wrap his around it. It was a thing they had started when they were younger. It was something they did when one twin knew everything was going to be just fine. 

Scott smiled softly at Meilani and wrapped his pinky around hers. "Thanks, Mei. You're the best."

Allison walked over and stood in between the two twins. "Hey, are you guys ready?"

"Yeah we were just picking which balls we thought were best," Meilani said as they both held up the two balls they just picked.

"You guys bowled before right?"

The twins forced smiles onto their faces and nodded. They watched as Allison walked away before looking at each other. 

"This should be interesting."

"You're telling me," Meilani sighed and followed Scott over to where the others were.

Allison was the first person to go up and she got a strike. Everyone clapped and smiled as Allison walked back over to the group.

"Someone brought their A game," Lydia remarked with a laugh.

Allison playfully flipped her hair over her shoulder and winked. Scott grinned as he wrapped his arm around Allison's shoulder and hugged her for doing well on her first turn of the night.

Jackson was up next and he also got a strike. Lydia cheered and jumped out of her seat as she clapped enthusiastically for him. Meilani rolled her eyes. It was just bowling, it wasn't like Jackson won a Noble Peace Prize or something.

Jackson sat down and focused his attention on Meilani. "You're up, baby McCall."

Meilani glared daggers at Jackson as she stood up and made her way over to the ball stand to pick her ball up. Stiles was softly cheering Meilani on, even though they both knew Meilani was going to epically fail at this. She closed her eyes and prayed to whatever god was out there that she would hit at least just one pin. One would make her happy because it could be passed off as a bad roll. If she hit the gutter, then that would just prove she sucked.

"You got this, Lani!" Scott encouraged and Allison clapped along with him to encourage her.

Meilani smiled over her shoulder at the two before turning back and facing her nightmare. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the lane and rolled her ball. It went a few feet before rolling right into the gutter, along with her pride. She heard Jackson start to laugh at her demise and she glared at him again over her shoulder. 

Scott and Stiles looked like they wanted to throw him across the lane so he could crash into the pins. Allison chastised Jackson for laughing but he merely shrugged.

"I'm sorry. I just can't get the words 'i'm AMAZING at bowling' out of my head," Jackson said as he continued to laugh. Lydia half-heartedly slapped his chest even though tiny laughs escaped along with Jackson.

"It was only the first roll, guys. She just needs to warm up," Allison defended before turning to Meilani. "Go ahead, Meilani, take your other turn."

Meilani gratefully smiled at Allison. She really hoped that Scott wound up with Allison because she seemed to be such a genuine person and Meilani was starting to really like her. Grabbing her ball once it came back up the chute, she grabbed it and walked back over to the lane as she prayed to whatever god was out there again. She rolled the ball down the lane and it knocked over one ball. 

Allison clapped for her and smiled as Meilani walked over to the group, sitting down. She smiled back and leaned her head on Stiles' shoulder as she watched Scott take his turn. He didn't do too bad as he knocked down seven of his ten pins between his two turns. When the twins locked eyes, one questioning the other, the eldest merely shrugged as he didn't know how he was doing so well.

Stiles rubbed Meilani's arm as she sighed. He knew it was upsetting her that she was the only one not doing well and Jackson's constant taunting wasn't helping her ego either. He had opted not to play since he didn't have much money on him and because he wasn't the biggest fan of bowling. He came to hang out with Scott and Meilani. No one bat an eyelash when he had turned down the idea of him bowling tonight, which he was happy about. 

After their first game, everyone decided it was time to grab food from the food court before they would all head home and get ready for school tomorrow. As they ate, Meilani learned that Allison had actually snuck out of the house. Her dad was worried about the 'manic animal' running around town and he felt Allison should stick to the town's curfew that was set. The mention of said animal made Meilani flinch because it just reminded her of how Allison's dad attacked her and Derek in the woods. 

As they finished eating, Meilani noticed Jackson brooding by the pinball machine. She excused herself as she had already gotten her shoes back and walked over to him. Jackson barely passed her a glance as he continued to aggressively play the pinball machine to get his anger out. "Look, I know we both don't want to be around each other. However, we don't have to hate each other."

Jackson halted in his game as he finally looked up to Meilani. "I don't hate you, Meilani. I just don't believe you. You got everyone thinking everything is fine and normal, but I know something is off."

"Everything is normal," Meilani stressed, not showing any signs of weaknesses. She knew there was no way Jackson could ever figure out what was actually going on, but she also knew he was suspicious. He could tell something had changed with her and she was trying to stay as natural as possible.

"Don't think for a second that I won't find out about your dirty little secret," Jackson threatened, leaning closer to Meilani.

Meilani flinched back, not liking the close proximity of Jackson. "I have no secrets."

Jackson gave a look that basically said 'I know you're bullshitting me'. "Yeah you do. For some reason, however, you don't want him to find out about it," he said, looking over his shoulder to where Scott was standing with Stiles and Allison. The three of them were laughing about something Allison said. Both of her boys looked over at her and gave her odd looks since she was talking to Jackson alone.

Meilani frowned as she looked at Scott. It was scary how accurate Jackson was. There was no way she wanted Scott knowing she was some fury beast that liked to attack people and howl at full moons. She didn't know how he would react to it and that's what scared her the most - the unknown.

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After dropping Allison off, where Scott and her finally really kissed and were dating, Stiles dropped both McCalls off at their house. The two walked inside before locking the front door behind them. They could hear their mom walking around upstairs as she got ready for bed. Making their way into the kitchen, they both agreed they were still hungry and Scott offered to make them both sandwiches since it was too late to actually cook anything.

Meilani sat at the kitchen island as she watched Scott grab all the ingredients for their sandwiches. "So, you and Allison huh?"

Scott dropped his head to hide the blush that was spreading across his cheeks. "Maybe..."

"I'm happy for you, you know," Meilani said, reaching across the island and placing her hand on Scott's. He halted in his slicing of the tomato on the cutting board and glanced up at Meilani. "You really deserve it, Scott. You deserve to be happy."

"Is something bothering you?" Scott asked, placing his knife down. "You only get this mushy when you're hiding something or you're upset. Is it because of Jackson being an ass tonight?"

Meilani chewed her lip as she slowly retracted her hand from Scott's. She couldn't tell him the real reason she was upset, which was her having to lie to Scott for the first time ever in her life. Using Jackson as an excuse could work for now until she figured out what to do. "Yeah, he's just so obnoxious and I guess after a while it got to me. I'm okay though."

"You shouldn't let him get to you, Mei. He's just mad because you took over his spot on the team," Scott said, going back to slicing the tomato and placing the slices on both of the sandwiches. "You're way better than he could ever wish."

"Thanks, Scotty."

"I'm proud of you. You didn't let the guys scare you away from joining the team. You showed them that girls can do whatever guys can do and I really admire you for that," Scott complimented, sliding Meilani's sandwich across the island to her.

A scream was heard from upstairs, halting any response Meilani would have for Scott. They both glanced at each other before rushing off upstairs to her room. They burst inside to see Melissa holding up a bat as Stiles protected his face.

"Do you people even play baseball?!" Stiles yelled, gesturing to the bat in Melissa's hands.

"Can you tell your boyfriend to use the front door please?" Melissa asked, lowering the bat and tossing it to the side.

"Mom, we've been locking the front door. He can't come in that way," Scott reminded, laughing slightly.

"Do any of you care about the curfew set by the sheriff?" Melissa looked around at the three teens who looked like they really didn't. "I'm done parenting for tonight. See you all in the morning."

Meilani glanced to Stiles who was leaning back on Meilani's bed. "Why?"

Stiles glanced to Scott who was standing in the room with them. He was making it hard for Stiles to tell Meilani what he came to tell her because he would have to leave a lot out until Scott went to bed or they were left alone. "Um, well, I have information on the bus driver."

"The one that was attacked by that animal?" Scott asked. "I thought he was in critical condition."

"My dad just came back from the hospital. He died a few hours ago from his injuries."

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Once everyone in the house was asleep and Stiles left to go home before his dad worried, Meilani snuck out the window and rushed over to Derek's on her bike. She burst through the front door and looked around the dark, empty house. "Derek?! Derek, I know you're here. I know you killed him!"

" I didn't kill him. He died," Derek responded from somewhere in the house. Thanks to Meilani's heightened hearing she could hear him no matter where he was.

Meilani slowly started to move towards the stairs since it sounded like he was answering from up there. "Like your sister died?"

"My sister is missing. I came here looking for her."

"You found her!" Meilani replied, slowly moving up the stairs in case Derek sprung out. She would have time to prepare to attack.

"I found her in pieces. She was being used as bait to find me!"

"I think you killed them both. I'm gonna tell everyone, starting with the sheriff!" Meilani barked, feeling confident when she probably shouldn't be. Derek could probably rip her throat out with his teeth if he wanted.

As if to clarify her thoughts, Derek came out of nowhere and flung Meilani down the stairs. It barely hurt of course considering she had supernatural strength. Lifting her head up, Meilani transformed into her werewolf counterpart and the two began to fight. Meilani threw Derek through the wall next to them. He muttered a comment about her fighting style being cute before transforming himself and attacking. 

They fought throughout the house, both taking turns of having the upperhand. Meilani tried to hit Derek with an oar she found but he quickly dodged both swings before grabbing it and breaking it in half before chucking both pieces across the room. He threw Meilani over a table before hopping over it and grabbing her by the neck. Derek lifted Meilani up by the neck and slammed her into the floor, causing her to groan.

Meilani sprung up and went to attack when Derek's fist made contact with her ribs. She coughed as the wind was knocked out of her and she stumbled back onto the couch behind her.

"Are you done?" Derek asked, changing back into his usual human self.

"You did this to me! You ruined my life!" Meilani snapped, nursing her side as she tried to get her breathing back to normal.

"No I didn't! Did you not see what happened that night?!" Derek asked, crossing his arms.

Thinking back to her memory, she did notice how she missed something. There was another person there besides Meilani and the eyes she thought belonged to Derek. She slowly looked up at Derek and gasped the realization. "There's another."

"He's the one that bit you. He is what they call an Alpha. You and I, we're Betas. Alphas are the worst of our kind. They are the leader of whatever pack they have formed," Derek explained to a panting Meilani. "I'm trying to find him. I can't do that without you. You are part of his pack."

Meilani's head spun as everything starting to click into place. This was why Derek hadn't snapped her's or Stiles' necks yet. This was why Derek was even trying to help Meilani in the first place. This was why Derek seemed to be so frustrated all the time. It all made sense to her now and she didn't know if that unsettled her even more than she already was, or made her feel better.

"You're the one he's after."

EDITED ON AUGUST 29TH, 2019