CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH?

"DAD, HEY, IT'S ME." STILES spoke, the phone to his ear before he let out a sigh. "And it's your voicemail. Look, I need you to call me back now. Like, right now. We're at the school. Dad, we're at the school." With that, the boy hung up. That's when the Alpha started to pound violently on the doors, trying to break through, but the chairs and desks were stopping him from doing so. Elaine moved from her spot kneeled in front of Jackson as she made her way over to Lydia, who was freaking out. She grabbed Lydia's arm, pulling her over towards the rest of the group and watching as she took a stand behind Jackson, holding onto her boyfriend's arm. The bolt's started unscrewing from the doors, making Elaine's eyes widen slightly.

"The kitchen. The door out of the kitchen leads to the stairwell." Stiles told the group.

"Which only goes up." Both McCall siblings stated.

"Up is better than here." Stiles replied. With that, the group were all quick to run through the door and out of the room. They all ran up two sets of stairs, entering through the double doors and running down the halls until they managed to find an unlocked classroom and quickly entered. Scott was quick to grab a chair, placing it under the door knob in hopes of keeping it from opening. They all stood there in silence, heavily breathing and trying to catch their breaths. They listened as the footsteps of the creature could be heard in the halls, making Lydia place a hand over her mouth in order to silence her heavy panting. They all watched the shadow figure of the alpha pass by, and let out breaths of relief when it didn't try to break into the classroom.

"Jackson, how many people can fit in your car?" Scott whispered to the male.

"Five, if someone squeezes on someone's lap." Jackson answered him.

"Five?" Allison asked with disbelief. "I barely fit in the back!"

"It doesn't matter. There's no getting out without drawing attention." Stiles told the group.

"What about this?" Scott walked over to the other door in the classroom that had a sign on it reading: "Rooftop Access". "This leads to the roof. We can do gown the fire escape to the parking lot in, like, seconds."

"That's a deadbolt." Elaine pointed out to her brother, making him huff in frustration. He then snapped his gaze up so that he was looking at both his sister and Stiles.

"The janitor has a key."

"You mean his body has it." Stiles corrected, making Elaine slap his arm, narrowing her eyes at the mention of the dead body.

"I can get it. I can find him by scent, by blood." Scott told the two. Elaine looked at him like he was crazy whilst Stiles decided to respond with sarcasm.

"Well, gee, that sounds like an incredibly terrible idea. What else you got?"

After a moment, Scott said, "I'm getting the key." He walked past the two, making Stiles and Elaine share a look with one another.

"Are you serious?" Allison whispered, standing in front of her boyfriend.

"Well, it's the best plan. Someone has to get the key if we wanna get out of here." Scott answered.

"You can't go out there unarmed." Allison stood her ground, worry clear on her face. Scott looked around before grabbing a pointer stick, making Elaine's eyebrow raise whilst Stiles' mouth fell open in disbelief. He looked at the group who were all looking at him like he was crazy.

"Well, it's better than nothing." He defended himself.

"There has to be another way." Elaine shook her head.

"There is." Lydia suddenly spoke up, making the group turn to her. She then nodded towards the cabinets filled with chemicals.

"What are we gonna do, throw acid on him?" Stiles sarcastically responded. However, Elaine was quick to catch onto what her best friend was thinking.

"Not exactly." Elaine shook her head, smiling at Lydia as the girl started to explain.

"No―︎like a fire bomb. In there is everything you need to make a self-igniting Molotov cocktail." Lydia told the group.

"Self-igniting. . . "

"Molotov cocktail." Lydia said, pronouncing every syllable. The group, minus Elaine who had a proud smile on her face, looked at the strawberry blonde with furrowed eyebrows. "What? I read it somewhere."

"We don't have a key for that either." Stiles pointed out. After a moment, Jackson sighed before slamming his elbow into the glass, allowing them to gain access. Elaine and Lydia quickly got all the ingredients needed, mixing things together―︎though Elaine was letting Lydia do most of the work, wanting to show the group that Lydia knew what she was doing.

"Jackson, hand me the sulfuric acid." Lydia requested. She finished mixing it up before handing it over to Scott after placing a top onto it. Elaine gave her friend a squeeze on the shoulder, making the girl glance at her with a small smile.

"No." Allison spoke, waving her hands. "You can't do this. You cannot go out there."

"We can't just sit here waiting for Stiles' dad to check his messages." Scott quickly defended.

"You could die. Don't you get that? He's killed three people." Allison told her boyfriend, her eyes starting to gloss over with tears in fear for him.

"And we're next." Scott told her. "Somebody has to do something." He moved away from the table, but Allison quickly followed him, taking a stand in front of him.

"Scott, just stop." Tears were now threatening to roll down her cheeks. "Do you remember―︎do you remember when you told me you knew whether or not I was lying? That I had a tell? Well, so do you. You're a horrible liar, and you've been lying all night. Just-just please, please don't go. Please don't leave us. Please."

Scott glanced over the group, his eyes hovering on Elaine for a moment, looking at her as if he was silently telling her that he would be fine, and he would be back as soon as possible. "Lock it behind me." Scott told her before going to walk away only for Allison to grab his arm and stop him. She kissed the boy before they both pulled away and he looked at her for a moment before walking out of the classroom, Elaine being the one to go up and lock the door behind him.

Elaine walked away from the door and over to a set of desk, whilst Allison was having a conversation with Jackson, with Lydia standing with them as well. Elaine however was standing there by herself, worry slowly increasing the longer that her brother was out there alone with the creature that wanted him in his pack. She couldn't believe that she just let him go out there. She didn't even offer to go with him. She didn't even put up a fight like Allison did. She sat there, biting hard on her lip with her hands clenched into fists. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she walked over to the windows that were covered in blinds.

Stiles glanced at the girl before moving away from his spot against the wall and walking up to her. She didn't look him in the eyes, just silently stood there, making the boy softly sigh. "Scott's going to be fine, Laney."

"I know." She answered.

"Then what's wrong?" He asked, glancing towards the other group, listening at how Lydia questioned Jackson about handing her the sulfuric acid before turning back to the girl.

"Nothing." Elaine answered him. "Minus the fact that my brother is currently out there with a creature that wants him dead, or in his pack. And there's also the fact that you both threw Derek under the bus, when you know damn well this wasn't him."

"What else were we supposed to say?" Stiles questioned. "The truth?"

"I know the truth hurts and all that shit, but you don't throw a dead man under the bus for committing a crime as lethal as murder." Elaine hissed, keeping her voice down. "He could be put away forever, Stiles."

"Why do you care so much about the outcome of him?"

"Because, I'm a caring person. And I don't like lying to people, nor do I like liars." She snapped. Stiles let out a sound of disbelief, opening his mouth to say something else only for the two to snap their heads towards the door upon hearing a loud howl. The two quickly walked back over to the group upon noticing Jackson fall to the floor in pain. Stiles was quick to slap Elaine's arm, nodding towards the back of Jackson's neck where claw marks were. Jackson let out a scream, making Elaine's eyebrows furrow.

"Jackson?" Elaine quickly asked, kneeling down beside the boy. Lydia and Allison were quick to bend down and pull the boy up, Elaine moving so that she was standing in front of him with worry on her features.

"I'm fine." Jackson muttered, pushing himself away from the two girls. Elaine quickly stepped out of the way before he could slam into her. He then turned towards the group who were all looking at him with worry. "Seriously, I'm okay."

"That didn't sound okay at all." Allison replied, frowning slightly.

"What's on the back of your neck?" Stiles asked, moving his hand closer to the boy only for Jackson to roughly slap his hand away. Jackson let out a breath, making Elaine frown slightly as she looked at the boy. She and Jackson didn't get along most of the time, but she still cared about him, and considered him an acquaintance of some sort.

"I said I'm fine!"

"It's been there for days. He won't tell me what happened." Lydia told them, looking at her boyfriend with crossed arms.

"As if you actually cared." Jackson hissed.

"All right, can we not argue for half a second here?" Stiles interjected.

"Where's Scott? He should be back by now." Allison quickly changed the subject. That's when the group heard a noise, making their heads snap towards the door. "Scott!" Allison quickly called the boys name, moving the chair away and going to open the door only for it to not budge. She then started slamming her fist repeatedly against the door. "Scott! Scott!"

"Where's he going?" Lydia frowned as Allison continued to call out for her boyfriend.

"Stop! Stop! Do you hear that?" Elaine quickly asked, grabbing hold of Allison's wrist.

"Listen." Lydia agreed, quickly understanding her best friend. There were police siren's outside, making the group immediately run over towards the windows, watching as the police started to pull up.

"Oh, thank god." Elaine breathed. Before the group all quickly managed to get out, Stiles, Elaine, and Scott all walking out with Stiles' dad. They explained to him how they were positive it was Derek―︎well, Stiles and Scott explained, Elaine stayed quiet―︎and how the janitor was dead and that they needed to find his body, however Noah Stilinski explained they already looked and found nothing. Once he walked away, Elaine shook her head.

"I hate both of you." She muttered. "I'm going home."

"But, I'm your ride!" Stiles called towards her. "Or. . . I was."

"I'm too upset right now, and I need to just calm down." She answered him.

"Wait, why is she mad at us?" Scott frowned.

"She's upset because we claimed that it was Derek who killed those people." Stiles answered, glancing towards Elaine's retreating figure.

"Man, I just got her talking to me again." Scott whined.

"She'll come through. She always does." Stiles assured him, patting him on the shoulder. He then decided to change the subject. "Well, we survived, dude. You know? We outlasted the Alpha. It's still good, right? Being alive?"

"When we were in the chemistry room, he walked right by us. You don't think that it heard us? You don't think it knew exactly where we were?" Scott quizzed.

"Well, then how come we're still alive?" Stiles asked, frowning slightly.

"It wants me in its pack. But, I think, first. . . I have to get rid of my old pack." Scott told him. Stiles gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean? What old pack?"

"Allison. . . Jackson. . . Lydia. . . Elaine. . . you."

"The Alpha doesn't wanna kill us." Stiles realized.

"It wants me to do it." Scott sighed. "And that's not even the worst part."

Stiles rose his eyebrows before exclaiming, "How in holy hell is that not the worst part, Scott?"

"Because when he made me shift. . . I wanted to do it. I wanted to kill you. All of you." That's when Scott narrowed his eyes before walking away, Stiles following behind him. Deaton sat there on the edge of an ambulance, getting checked over.

"There you are." Deaton spoke. He then glanced around before asking, "Where's Elaine?"

"Sh-she walked home." Scott answered. "How. . .? How did you. . .?"

"Get out? Not easily. And, from what they tell me, I'm alive because of you. I think I owe you a raise. Both of you." Deaton spoke, bringing Elaine into the conversation as well even though the girl wasn't there to hear the news.

"Guys, come on. Let's let the EMTs do their job. You can talk to him later." Stilinski told them, pulling the boys away from the man. With reluctance the two walked away, one chasing after Allison, and the other sticking with his father.