"YOU KNOW, APRIL. You wouldn't have to fifth-wheel if you brought someone," Allison smirked, looking at her blonde friend that was lying on the bed. Lydia was seated in a chair in the corner, admiring her nails as they all got ready in the Argent girl's room.

"Oh, yeah?" the Sharpe girl laughed. There was no one that she actually wanted to bring. All of her friends were going to be there that night. Well, except for Danny, but she was pretty sure he didn't want to go on a date with her. "Like who?"

Lydia, who had said surprisingly little since she arrived, offered, "I heard that Greenberg is looking for a date to some party for his mom." That resulted in all three girls bursting out laughing. April almost fell out of the bed.

"Headed out?" a voice from the door asked, causing the laughter to fade out as they turned to see none other than Chris Argent standing in the doorway. Lydia and April glanced at each other nervously. The man had always freaked them out. April's reason was that he was a hunter trying to kill all of her friends, and he suspended her upside down from a tree. Of course, he had tried to hunt down Lydia, but the Martin girl didn't know that. She just thought he was weird.

"Studying," Allison answered, but her father gestured for him to come to talk to her anyway. She sighed and trudged over to him with a frown. "Just studying, Dad."

While the father and daughter conversed about something April bet wasn't good, she climbed off the bed and over to Lydia to see what she was doing. She crouched next to her friend who then began taking selfies of both of them. After a moment, Allison and Chris turned back to them, and the younger Argent smiled when April made a silly face at the camera.

Once the Argent man left, the blonde girl scrambled over to her brunette friend to find out what they were talking about because it seemed kind of intense. "What did he want?"

"He still thinks that Lydia is going to grow fangs and claws any moment now. He wants me to watch her. Oh, he also told me to keep an eye on you too," Allison explained.

"Me?" April exclaimed, and her eyebrows shot up. Why would Chris Argent, master hunter, want his daughter to keep an eye on her? "What did I do? Why would he think that? I thought he loved me."

The brunette sighed, running a hand through her hair. "He used to, and I'm pretty sure he still does. He just doesn't like that you hang out with Scott all the time. I think he's waiting for him to turn you into a werewolf."

"Well, he's not," April told her as if it wasn't already obvious.

"I know that, and you know that," Allison said, pointing to the blonde in front of her. "But you know my dad. He doesn't trust anyone, and he always thinks everyone's a werewolf. That's just how he is."

Lydia looked up from her phone. "Are we going or not?"

《❀》

Once they reached the building, Stiles unlocked the door of the ice rink and turned on the light as the rest of them stepped through with smiles. Everyone but the Stilinski boy ran to the edge to examine the rink, and April looked around and pulled her jacket closer around her shoulders. 

Allison and Scott went to one side, and Lydia and Stiles went to the other, leaving the blonde alone to put on her skates. Well, they weren't hers. Lydia had lent her one of her old pairs. 

After she laced up the skates, she turned her head to look at the werewolf and hunter smiling at each other. She watched them for a moment, marveling in their happiness. Despite everything with the Argents and werewolves, they still found a way to be together, like Romeo and Juliet.

She looked the other way to see Stiles hand Lydia a Reese's packet. She took it silently, and Stiles began talking. April couldn't hear them, but she could easily assume that the Sheriff's son was rambling about something that the Martin had no interest in. After a moment, the strawberry blonde stood up and carefully walked off, leaving Stiles looking defeated. If he could make that work, he was the real Romeo.

April slid down the bleachers and patted him on the shoulder. "A swing and a miss. Let's go, Romeo. " They got up and stepped on the ice. Stiles skated off to watch Lydia, and April turned to the couple at the doorway to the rink.

"April, will you please tell Scott that he's probably not gonna be as great as ice skating as he thinks he is?" Allison sighed when she saw the blonde skating toward them.

"I don't know, Ally. He's got those werewolf reflexes," April shrugged before turning to the McCall boy looking smugly at his girlfriend with a smirk. "Scott, I think that you should get out there and show her what you got."

Scott nodded and stepped out onto the cold, white surface. "See, it's no problem—ah," he cried out when he slipped and fell flat on his face. 

Allison laughed quietly as the Sharpe girl grinned mischievously, "This is gonna be so much fun."

She spent the next half an hour snickering as Scott ran into walls and fell on his face more times than she had seen him do so in his life. The Argent, who was less obvious about her amusement, tried her hardest to keep him from doing so, but her attempts failed. 

While that was happening on one side of the rink, Stiles was gaping at Lydia on the other side. She was gliding gracefully, doing jumps and tricks. The Stilinski boy's face held a look of awe because of how amazing at everything she was. 

Scott and Allison not-so-discretely snuck off to the photo booth for some alone time, leaving April with the lovestruck boy and the girl he was basically drooling over. She skated over to his frozen frame and poked him as hard as she could in the shoulder.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, taking his eyes off of Lydia to look at the blonde. "What was that for?"

"Dude, don't just stand there. Say something to her," the Sharpe girl ordered. She was honestly getting tired of just watching him worship that ground that Lydia Martin walked or skated on. He needed to take some action.

Stiles raised his eyebrows at her, "Okay, what should I say? 'Lydia, I've been in love with you for forever, and I think that you should forget about Jackson and look at me'?"

"Yeah," April nodded after a moment. "Exactly like that."

"No thanks. I'd rather not get laughed at today," the Stilinski told her before they both back to Lydia. 

Both of their eyebrows furrowed, however, when they saw her on her hands and knees, kneeling on the ice and staring at it. Glancing at Stiles, April called, "Lydia, are you okay?"

That was when she screamed.

《❀》

"April and I will go to the ice rink and see if he's there. And if he's not at home, you call me, got it?" Scott told April and Stiles. During lunch, they had noticed that a certain loner was not at his table. Normally, this wouldn't be unusual, but Vernon Boyd had sat at that exact table every day since freshman year. Never had it been vacant, which, with everything going on, was something to worry about. When neither of his friends said anything, he paused. "What?"

"Maybe we should let him. Boyd, you know, man? You said Derek's giving them a choice, right?" the sheriff's son explained his thought, resulting in both of his best friends looking at him like he was crazy.

Scott shook his head as they kept walking. That was definitely not an option. Almost any teenager that was offered the ability to be stronger and faster and hotter would take it in a heartbeat. It's not really much of a choice when you think about it. "We can't."

"You got to admit, Erica looks pretty good. You know, the word 'sensational' comes to mind." Stiles offered.

"Oh yeah," April nodded enthusiastically, showing her approval for his words as she thought back to when the blonde walked into the cafeteria the other day. "She looks really good, but that's not the point, Stiles."

Scott gave both of them a look before replying, "How do you think she's gonna look with a wolfsbane bullet in her head?"

"Oh, I did not think of that," the Sharpe muttered. 

Stiles looked defeated, but he continued, "All right, all I'm saying is maybe this one isn't totally your responsibility." He sort of had a point. Scott didn't really seem to grasp the fact that he didn't have to protect everyone, but that was an admirable trait, if anything.

"They all are," the McCall boy responded. "And you know this thing's gonna get out of control. That makes me responsible."

After a glance in each other's direction, April nodded as Stiles answered, "All right, we're with you. And I also got to say, this newfound heroism is making me very attracted to you."

"Shut up," Scott groaned as the blonde next to him snorted out a surprised and amused laugh.

"No, seriously," Stiles told him, grabbing his shoulder to stop him from walking any further, and April paused with them. "Do you want to just try making out for a sec?" With an unamused look, the werewolf pushed him in front of him, throwing a playfully annoyed glance the blonde's way. "Just to see how it feels."

April grinned. "I love that idea."

《❀》

When Scott and April got to the ice rink, they immediately noticed that Boyd was there, driving the Zamboni peacefully. As she looked around, the blonde had flashbacks to just the previous night where Lydia had freaked out randomly. They still hadn't found out why, though.

"Boyd!" Scott called to the boy who just stared back at him blankly. "We just want to talk. Hey, come on, Boyd, please. Did Derek tell you everything? And I don't just mean going out of control on full moons. I mean everything."

Hesitating, Boyd turned off the ice resurfacing machine and responded, "He told me about the hunters."

"And that's not enough for you to say no?" the blonde girl questioned with raised eyebrows. Man, some people were either really cocky or really stupid.

Scott nodded, agreeing with his friend while trying to convince the teenager behind the wheel. "Whatever you want, there's other ways to get it."

"I just want to not eat lunch alone every day," Boyd explained, which made April frown. She would have sat with him he he'd had asked, and she was sure Scott would too. They might be able to drag Stiles too.

Scott sighed, "If you're looking for friends, you can do a lot better than Derek." April nodded, but she tensed up when a voice came from their side.

"That really hurt, Scott," Derek said, and they all spun around to face him. Erica and Isaac were by his side, and April realized that she hadn't seen the Lahey boy since they broke him out of the jail. Now, he was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "I mean, if you're going to review me, at least take a consensus. Erica, how's life been for you since we met?"

"Hmm. In a word...transformative," the blonde replied before growling, causing April to flinch as Scott moved her behind him slightly, feeling a fight coming.

Derek then turned to the boy next to Erica with a nod. "Isaac?"

"Well, I'm a little bummed about being a fugitive," Isaac told them, not taking his eyes off of April, which made her both uncomfortable and determined to stare him down at the same time. "Other than that, I'm great."

"Okay, hold on. This isn't exactly a fair fight," the McCall boy pointed out, which caused April to look at him offended before realizing that she probably wouldn't be much help in this particular fight. She dropped her backpack that she had been carrying just in case she needed to defend herself or run.

Derek smirked, "Then go home, Scott."

"Am I just not here?" the Sharpe girl questioned, glancing around at the group of werewolves that was acting as if she was invisible. "Can you guys see me?"

"You too, April," the Hale man murmured, nodding at the girl.

With a small smile, April sent him a appreciative and somewhat threatening look. "Thank you. You may proceed."

The two betas that were standing by Derek began moving with mischievous grins. Their claws and fangs were out as they made their way over to the two. Scott punched the ground, and when he looked up, he was in full werewolf mode. "I meant fair for them." He let out a roar, and Isaac went flying across the rink.

While the McCall dealt with Erica, April backed up against the Zamboni and looked up at Boyd who seemed to be frozen in place. She turned back to the fight to see that Isaac had gotten back up, and Scott was now taking both of the betas and struggling. They almost ran into her, but she flew out of the way just in time.

She really wanted to help, so she was scanning her brain for anything she could do. Her eyes lit up when she remembered her bag that had been tossed aside when the fight started. She dove to where it was and opened it, frantically searching for anything she could use. She spotted a pencil and examined it before shrugging and standing up. 

They were all slipping and sliding across the cold ice, and as Scott was fighting Erica, Isaac was creeping up behind them. Before he could grab Scott from behind, April yelled, "Isaac!"

He spun around just in time for her to plunge the tip of the pencil into the front of him arm. He yelped in pain and wasted no time in pulling the utensil out of his flesh. He glanced between the piece of wood in his hand to the blonde girl that had just stabbed him. She was looking back at him in shock, half because he just pulled it out like it was nothing and half because she just jabbed a pencil into someone.

For a moment, Isaac looked like he didn't know what to do. He just stared at her until the two fighting werewolves rammed into him, and he got back to fighting, dropping the bloody pencil on the ground.

Scott slammed Erica into the Zamboni and kicked Isaac to the ground before punching him square in the nose. April winced and thought, not the face before condemning herself for thinking about that instead of the fact that her best friend might get seriously injured. The McCall then turned around and threw Erica to the ground, and both of Derek's new friends were too weak to get up. Boyd watched in shock and slight fear from the machine while the Alpha smiled smugly, which made April a bit nervous.

"Don't you get it?" Scott grunted angrily, "He's not doing this for you. He's just adding to his own power, okay? It's all about him. He makes you feel like he's giving you some kind of gift, when all he's done is turn you into a bunch of guard dogs."

He then slid both of the unconscious bodies over to Derek who nodded. "It's true. It is about power." He then began walking over to them with his claws out. His eyes glowed red, and Scott pushed April to the side again, protecting her from what was about to happen.

Derek transformed before hitting Scott in the head with his own. The blonde girl gasped as the man proceeded to slash and hit him. He wasn't going down without a fight though. He threw hi head back, hitting Derek and causing him to stumble back. Scott got ready to fight again, but it was no use. The Hale threw punch after punch until he was on the ground and spitting out blood.

April didn't know what to do. She desperately wanted to help, but she knew she didn't stand a chance against Derek. She practically screamed when the man jammed his foot into Scott's chest so that he couldn't breathe. The Sharpe girl was about to jump on his back when he stopped and just walked away as Scott groaned.

She flew to her friend's side and grabbed his hand, letting him know that she was there. She examined his injuries to make sure that he didn't need to go to a hospital. Everything looked like it was healing already, but it would probably take a few hours for him to fully recover.

Boyd jumped down from the Zamboni and looked after Derek, which resulted in Scott breathing out, "Don't. You don't want to be like them."

"You're right," Vernon told them, which surprised April a bit. That was not what she was expecting. He lifted up his shirt to reveal a bite in his torso, which made her eyes widen more. "I want to be like you."

Then, he walked off with Derek, Isaac, and Erica, leaving the two best friends alone. Scott groaned in both frustration and pain as he turned back into his human form. He laid there in silence for a moment with April still squeezing his hand in concern before he spoke up.

"Hey, April?" he muttered, and the blonde looked at him with a worried expression.

She responded with a voice that held concern. She wasn't sure if he needed something, like a hospital or medicine, and she still felt terrible about not helping. "Yes, Scott?"

"Nice work with that pencil."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

okay, so april is a badass, and isaac is back. we're beginning to get into the action a little bit, and i am really excited. i hope y'all are too. let me know what y'all think, and i'll see you next time.

- Lena