teenagers [ teen wolf ]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"you know what derek, i'm gonna compromise with you," kate smiled, batting her eyelashes at derek. maddy felt sick, and she wasn't sure if it was because of everything she'd learned about kate and derek in the past twenty-four hours, the torture, or the fact that she hadn't eaten in almost three days. "i know i'm not going to get anywhere with you if i keep torturing your sister in front of you, i'll admit that plan was a bit of a bust. so how 'bout instead, you tell me who the alpha is, and i let maddison here go."

derek looked at his sister, taking in her appearance. she looked more than exhausted. the bags under her eyes a deep purple, and her ribs were so pronounced that it was scary.

"don't do it derek," she begged, shaking her head. her voice was hoarse, due to a mix of screaming and dehydration, and talking was actually painful. but still, she had no idea if kate would actually let her go if derek told her peter was the alpha, and she didn't want derek to give up peter just because of her. even if kate did let her go, derek would then be completely and utterly useless to her, and she would have no reason not to kill him. "i'm fine, really. just don't tell her. it isn't worth it."

"peter hale. peter hale is the alpha," derek said, looking at kate. "now let her go."

kate smiled, picking up the keys to the cuffs holding maddy to the wall.

"of course. i always keep my word."

"maddy, what do you think about this dress?" lydia asked, snapping maddy out of her trance. to say that her shopping trip with lydia and allison was awkward would be an understatement. every time she looked at the other brunette for too long, she couldn't help but flash back to her weekend with kate. "maddy? are you okay?"

"yeah. yeah, i'm fine, sorry. i just spaced out for a minute," she apologized, looking at the dress lydia was holding up. it was a very short red dress that in all honesty, did not go well with lydia's hair. "and as to the dress, it's a no from me."

she had already found her dress, and lydia hadn't bothered to hide her jealousy at the fact that maddy loved the first dress she tried on. it was an extremely simple black dress with long sleeves that stopped a few inches above her knees, and even allison told her it looked amazing.

"what about this one?" she asked, holding up a strapless silver dress. lydia's eyes sparkled as she looked at the dress, raising her eyebrows at maddy.

"maddy, if i had known you had such good taste in clothes, i would've become friends with you a lot sooner," lydia laughed, her voice filled with approval as she took the dress from maddy, sticking it on top of her already overwhelming pile of dresses.

"my friends back in new york always told me i was horrible at this type of stuff, so i'm glad you approve," she smiled, looking away from lydia and back to the rack of dresses. she held up another one, holding it up for lydia, who promptly added it to the pile after nodding in approval. "i actually don't think i've ever picked out my own dress for a school dance before. they always did it for me."

"well, your old friends don't seem like they have very good taste," lydia shrugged. maddy looked back at lydia, suddenly wondering how she ended up shopping for dresses and having a casual conversation with the girl. "come on, now you get to watch me try on all these dresses and tell me which ones make me look hottest. jackson needs to see what he's missing."

she resigned herself to the small couch outside the dressing rooms, folding her legs underneath her. she quickly realized lydia wasn't lying earlier, and that she actually did trust maddy's opinion on the different dresses, making the brunette smile to herself. she felt like it was the first time she had truly smiled in days.

"okay i'm back, sorry about that," allison said, slightly out of breath from running back through the store. "i have no idea what that was about, they weren't towing any cars."

maddy felt her body involuntarily stiffen as allison took a seat next to her. since both of them already had their dresses, they were now just judging lydia's choices, leaving the two girls with a lot of uncomfortable silences.

maddy had no idea what to say to allison. they had just gotten to a place where she thought they may have been able to be friends, and then barely two days later her psychotic aunt kidnaps and tortures her in front of allison. she didn't necessarily blame the other girl for not doing anything — she wasn't sure she would've acted any different if she was in allison's place — but it was hard to look at allison anymore without seeing kate.

kate, who still had derek. she couldn't even try and help him because before kate let her go, she had sedated her so she wouldn't know where they were or be able to find her way back. she felt guilty every time she thought about her brother, and how she was dress shopping for a high school dance and he was still being tortured, and that's if kate hadn't already killed him.

♛ ♛ ♛

maddy leaned against the hood of the camaro, twirling a piece of hair between her fingers. she and isaac had agreed to meet at the dance since he found out he had to leave early to help his dad with some stuff at the cemetery he owned. the place gave her the creeps, and how isaac worked there she would never understand.

she still hadn't heard from derek, and it felt wrong to be this dressed up when she wasn't even sure if her brother was alive. the dress she picked out with lydia and allison made her feel like she was in mourning, and she could barely walk in the four inch heels lydia had convinced her to buy. normally stumbling around and dancing with her friends was her favorite part of school dances, but right now, she didn't even know who those were.

"you look amazing," isaac said, smiling at maddy as he approached. the sight of the teenage boy instantly created butterflies in her stomach, something the brunette had only experienced with one of her past boyfriends.

two of the three relationships she'd managed to have in new york (derek tended to scare off any guy who came within a 10 foot radius of her) had been with guys she had kind of been expected to date. somehow she had fallen in with the popular crowd when she started high school — that had certainly changed when she came back to beacon hills — and throughout freshman year her friends were constantly trying to set her up with football players who, looking back, were complete assholes. the third and longest relationship she had promised herself she would never think about again.

"you don't look too bad yourself," she smiled, looking at his outfit. he had kept it simple, wearing a black button down shirt with a pair of black dress pants. "however, the two of us look like we should be going to a funeral rather than a school dance."

"well then, let's put the fun in funeral," he smirked, holding out his arm for maddy to take. maddy's smile grew as she did, deciding that for one night, she could forget about everything going on with peter and the hunters. and boy was that a mistake.