Chapter 9

"Fucking driver is alive!" The text she had sent to Peter read.

That thought made Scarlett's blood boil in her veins. She wanted him dead. He was just the beginning of her vengeance, but they didn't make it. Scott had rebelled against Peter, and now that piece of trash could really make it through.

Her phone buzzed with a new message.

"Do not lose your temper, moonlight. We've got plenty of time." She laughed angrily, wanting to throw her phone against the wall. Everything was going badly. At least Scott didn't seem to remember that he had briefly seen her the night before. She had to stay focused and not let Stiles and Scott doubt her. They needed Scott on their side.

"Here you are!" Lydia's loud voice made Scarlett jump.

"God…" she muttered through gritted teeth, fighting to keep her fangs from popping out.

Lydia giggled. "Jumpy, are we?" But Scarlett remained silent.

"Is everything okay?" Allison's concerned voice broke through, and Scarlett turned to the Argent girl, reminding herself that she couldn't kill her on the spot.

"Just shaken up," Scarlett replied, closing her locker.

"I bet," Allison said, touching her arm. "What happened is terrible." Scarlett nodded, forcing a little smile, as if she truly appreciated Allison's concern.

"That's why we must talk about happy things," Lydia declared, rolling her eyes. "Oh, Scarlett! Did you know that Allison is hanging out with Scott tomorrow night?"

"Yeah," Scarlett replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Stiles told me."

Allison giggled, making Scarlett frown. "What?"

"Nothing," Allison said with a big smile. "I've just noticed how much time you spend with Stiles."

"He's cute and nice," Scarlett answered shortly, feeling strange talking about Stiles. She had to understand how the bond worked; she didn't like it when she didn't understand herself.

"There are many on the team who want to date you two, but no," Lydia said as they were making their way to lunch. "You've got strange taste."

"There are plenty of guys on the team who want to date you two, but no," Lydia said as they walked to lunch. "You've got strange taste."

"I'm not trying to date Stiles," Scarlett blurted before she could stop herself. Why was she giving an explanation? Why did she care what they thought?

"Whatever you say," Lydia said, taking a breath. "Anyway, I want to get to know them better. We're eating with them today."

"With Scott and Stiles?" Allison asked, her frown deepening in surprise.

"Yeah, why not?" Lydia replied, walking ahead down a different path, leaving Scarlett and Allison behind.

"Great…" Scarlett muttered under her breath.

Choosing lunch was always traumatic for Scarlett. As a vampire, she fed only on blood, but she had to pretend to be a normal student. Eating human food was an unpleasant experience. Nothing tasted good to her; it was as if her mouth had forgotten flavor. Not even the smell was enticing. Nothing smelled so delicious as neck skin and the blood underneath.

"Why am I nervous?" Allison asked as they made their way to the table where Scott and Stiles were now seated. Scarlett noticed their eyes widen as they looked at Lydia, who was taking a seat next to Scott.

Scarlett looked at Stiles's face. He looked both shocked and pleased as he observed Lydia. She could feel his excitement and his blood flowing faster, which irritated her.

"With Lydia?" She said to Allison, "You're right to be nervous." Then she moved around the table so that she could take the place next to Stiles. The boy seemed surprised by the trail next to him, and when he looked up, his brown eyes grew large once again.

"Scarlett, hey," he said with a chuckle.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" She flashed a smile, showing her white teeth.

"No, of course not!" He was quick to answer, smiling at her as she sat down.

Scarlett looked around to notice that Danny had taken the seat on the other side of Stiles while Allison was in front of Scarlett, seated next to Scott. At the end of the table, there was a guy that Scarlett knew was on the team, but she had absolutely no idea what his name was. It did not matter, though, since the guy was fast gone as soon as Jackson arrived.

"Get up," he said nonchalantly.

"How come you never ask Danny to get up?" The guy protested, but Danny answered this time.

"Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." That seemed fair enough. As the guy left and Jackson sat down, Scarlett turned her eyes to look at the food in front of her, pocking the hamburger with her fork. She had to get a move to start eating, or all of them would have noticed. Scarlett was hungry… she really was. Since Derek had shown up in Beacon Hills, Scarlett could not kill her food. She would hunt, bite their neck, and glamour them so that they'd forget what had happened. That was a real jump back into memory lane; that's how Peter had started to train her. Thalia would have preferred for her to start drinking animal blood from the beginning, but Scarlett's hunting instinct did not like to drink pig blood bought from the butcher and kept it warm inside a thermos. Peter had come out with that solution. No one would have noticed; no one would have known. And that was how she had learned.

"So," Danny said, getting everyone's attention, "I've heard they're saying it's some type of animal attack," Scarlett took a sip of her water, hiding a little smirk, "Probably a cougar."

"I heard a mountain lion," Jackson said. Didn't he know they were the same thing?

"A cougar is a mountain lion," at Lydia's words, Scarlett could not help but widen her eyes in surprise; she thought Lydia was worse than Jackson. "Isn't it?" Scarlett observed the couple; she was doing it on porpoise. Lydia knew what she had said. Was she really up to be considered dumb to keep dating the douchebag sitting near her? That was almost depressing.

"Who cares?" Jackson answered his girlfriend. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's going to die anyway." Scarlett looked at the man, unimpressed. Could he be any more predictable?

"Actually, I found out who he is," Stiles said, making Scarlett look up to him from next to her. She had noticed he had been looking at his phone, but she didn't think he was already doing his research. "Check it out." He said, showing a video about the man on his phone. Scarlett decided to pretend to take a peak at the screen, but in fact, she was more focused on Stiles. He was smart; she was well aware, but she was wondering if that could become a problem in the future and what Peter would have asked of her if Stiles got too smart for their plan?

Why was she even asking herself that?

If Stiles became a problem, they would have to kill him. She knew; she was up to it if Peter asked her, like she had always done.

"I know this guy!" Scott exclaimed with wide eyes. Everyone turned their attention to him, and Scarlett was no different. The puppy knew Meyers?

"You do?" Allison asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I used to take the bus back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver, " he answered, sharing a look with Stiles.

That was good news. If Scott had already seen the man, that could have convinced him more that he was behind the attack. It would have been better if they hadn't linked the Alpha to Meyers yet.

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Lydia said, clearly tired of talking about the driver, "Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?" She asked, turning to Allison. The Argent girl was clearly not expecting that. Her expression was a mix of surprise and confusion. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?" Lydia asked again, not having any reaction from her friend.

"Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do," Allison said unsure.

"Well, I am not sitting home again watching lacrosse videos, so if the five of us are hanging out," Lydia said, this time taking Scarlett by surprise.

"Five?" She repeated as if she hadn't heard it right.

Lydia nodded her head, "You are coming, right?" She asked, "We are doing something fun." Scarlett seriously doubted it. "And I'll find you a date!" Lydia was too excited for that.

"That's a shame, Lydia," Scarlett said, earning a frown from the other girl, "I already have plans."

"You do?" Lydia asked.

Scarlett nodded her head, "Yeah, with Stiles." Stiles quickly turned to her with wide eyes and open mouth.

"What?" He said at the same time as Jackson.

"Yes," Scarlett said, looking at Stiles, hoping that he would understand that she was searching for a way out of that situation.

"You are hanging out with Stilinski?" Jackson said as if he did not believe her. She did not answer; her eyes were still on Stiles. His pulse had accelerated, his cheeks got a pink tint, and the rush of his blood again made him look so delicious.

"Yeah," Stiles said, nodding his head, "Yeah, Scarlett and I, we… are hanging out." Scarlett smiled at him, moving her hand to squeeze his bicep a little to let him know that she was thankful. That gesture made Stiles' blood rush faster, and she could feel his emotions; his shyness, his excitement, and a bit of confusion, but she could also sense his attraction. Scarlett knew that she could easily get that effect on humans, but she did not know why she felt her lips turn up into a genuine smile as she decided to let him go.

"So I'm sorry," she said, looking at Lydia again. "Maybe another time. But have fun, you four."

"The four of us?" Scott said with wide eyes, almost scared. Then he turned to Allison, "Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun," Allison answered, clearly trying to be nice, but it was clear that she had no intention of hanging out with Lydia and Jackson.

"You know what else sounds fun?" Jackson asked, "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork." Lydia was quick to take the fork from her boyfriend's hand, but Scarlett would have loved to see this newfound hobby of Jackson.

"How 'bout bowling? You love to bowl." Lydia insisted as Scarlett noticed Stiles moving his head in that usual way as he looked at Scott.

"Yeah," Jackson answered his girlfriend, observing the puppy with a mocking look, "With an actual competition."

But it was Allison, the one who answered the jackass, "How do you know we are not actual competition?" Scarlett forced herself not to roll her eyes at the interaction. If Allison wanted to go on a date with the puppy, why was she giving Jackson and Lydia all that attention?

Then Allison turned to Scott. "You can bowl, right?"

"Yeah, sort of..." The puppy seriously had to learn how to lie; she could see the truth all over his face.

Jackson leaned forward with an amused frown. "Sort of? Or yes?" he asked, which seemed to trigger the competitive side of the puppy, who glared at Jackson before speaking.

"Yes," he said, "In fact, I'm a great bowler." Scarlett did her best to hide a snort. She turned to Stiles, observing him as he hid his face behind one of his hands. Scarlett smiled at his reaction, and then she focused back on her hamburger.

The lunch break finally came to an end, bringing with it the embarrassment of the situation. Lydia wanted Scarlett to join them, but she said she needed to have a few words with Stiles. Jackson scoffed as Scarlett noticed again how Allison looked at her, alluding to something brewing between her and Stiles.

Scarlett's first reaction was to shake her head, but then again, she found herself thinking about why she felt the need to justify herself.

"Thank you, Stiles," she said, placing a hand on his forearm. His blood ran fast, and she could feel his excitement at her touch. Scarlett felt her lips turn up into a little grin, finding his reactions amusing, but then she let go. "I was thinking we could meet tonight."

Stiles' eyes widened, "Me and you?"

"And Scott," she replied, glancing at the puppy. "You wanted answers, right?"

"Yeah… right…" Stiles responded, embarrassment written all over his face. "Let's hang out... The three of us." Scarlett giggled again just before she touched his shoulder.

"Then we'll see," she said, standing up. Stiles's eyes widened as he watched her.

"We'll see what?" Scott let out a little chuckle.

Scarlett grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Text me the address," she said, flashing another smile at Stiles. "I'll see you both later." Then she turned to leave.

Now she had to keep the story straight, making sure everything flowed and made sense. She hoped that, over time, she would make them both realize what kind of monster the Argents were.

She walked out of the school, heading toward the parking lot where she had left her motorcycle. As she took the keys from her bag, she noticed a figure in the black car parked right next to her bike.

I should have seen this coming, she thought, keeping her pace. I have nothing to hide. She repeated to herself as a man stepped out of the car.

"It took you a long time to come talk to me," Scarlett said with a smirk, crossing her arms as she looked into the man's green eyes. "Derek."