Battered And Bruised

"Hurry up!"

I groaned at the two voices that chimed the two words in sync. Sweeping my hair over one of my shoulders, I rushed over to the window and threw it open. Poking my head out of the window, I glared down at the two idiots that stood in my driveway.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I hissed at them and they shrugged innocently at me. "Why don't you just let yourself into my house like normal people?"

They smiled innocently up at me and I rolled my eyes. Padding down the stairs, I slung my bag over my shoulder, grabbed three granola bars and headed out the door.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked glaring at them before my glare lessened at their bashful grins. Sighing I took my usual place in between the two of them and handed them both a granola bar before opening mine.

As an arm slipped round my shoulder, I looked up at its owner. "How have you been little cousin of mine?"

Scoffing I pushed his arm away from me, before elbowing his side. "Scott I'm two months younger than you. Two months!"

"You're still younger though." He grinned and I rolled my eyes before looking at the other idiot that was walking with us.

Catching the look in his eye, I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't even try it, Stilinski."

He gave me an innocent look but said, "Good morning, love," in what he assumed was a perfect mock of my accent.

"I swear every time you try to do a British accent, it just gets worse."

"At least my British accent is better than Scott's."

Scott gaped at him and chased after Stiles who had decided to run into school as soon as we had reached the school car park. "My British accent is a heck of a lot better than yours!"

I grinned as the two of them began to mock wrestle by the stairs that led up to the school door before straightening up and looking back at me. Ushering me over to them, they waited until I had caught up before pushing open the school doors and walking through the corridor.

"Hey shortie?" Scott asked quietly as I didn't even bother to protest at his nickname for me. Honestly it wasn't as if he was particularly tall either. Rolling my eyes, I turned the dial and opened my locker.

"What's the matter?" I asked absentmindedly not looking up at his as I searched for my books.

"Why's Isaac Lahey looking at you?"

The moment those words had left his mouth; I glanced over to where he was looking. Meeting Isaac's eyes I gave him a small smiled which he returned before turning back to his locker.

Facing Scott again, I realised that I hasn't answered his question so I muttered a quiet, "I don't know."

These were those moments in life where you had to curse your own stupidity. This was one of those moments.

I had just finished watching what was possibly the scariest film ever made on my laptop. On my own may I add whilst my dad was working late.

In typical idiotic teenager fashion a group of friends had been going on a trip somewhere and their car had broken down beside an abandoned house. They had snuck into the house and read some stupid passage from an ancient book before one of the friends had managed to restart the car and they all left. But they didn't know that something was coming after them as they made their way home. Every death had begun in the same way. As it picked them off one by one it would knock on their window to signal who the next victim was. They, naively, opened the window and well that was that.

Shuddering as I remembered a particularly gruesome scene, I flipped on my light switch.

Tap.

Stiffening on instinct, I grabbed a wire hanger and clutched it threateningly in my hand. Silence followed and I relaxed. The film had probably gotten to me.

Tap.

I strode slowly towards my window and like the idiotic girl that got killed first I moved to open my window. Before stopping. What the hell was I doing?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Pause. Tap. Pause. Tap.

Recognising the pattern I threw the hanger down onto my bed before opening the window.
"Isaac?" I whispered quietly as I looked at a figure that sat hunched over in the tree, their face shrouded in darkness. "Isaac is that you?"

The figure moved forward and I gasped as my eyes scanned over his face. A split lip, four cuts, a bleeding eye and a gash on his forehead.

"Isaac what did he do to you?" I mumbled quietly as he refused to meet my eyes.

"I didn't know where else to go," he muttered.

Hearing his words I stepped aside so that he had room to come in. Hopping down from the tree and onto the small balcony, he came into my room. Slowly taking his chin in my hand, I turned his head from side to side to see the extent of the damage.

"Come on," I said softly, taking his arm and pulling him into my bathroom. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Sitting him down on the edge of the bath tub, I opened up the first aid kit. Moving towards him, I traced my fingertips gently across each cut, watching him closely to see his reaction.

"You haven't come to me in a while," I said softly as I cleaned each of his cuts. He winced and I stopped immediately, pulling my hand away from him. "Sorry."

"It's fine," he muttered quietly, watching me closely. "I'm used to it."

Letting out a breath at his words I continued treating his wounds, careful not to inflict even the slightest bit of pain on him. We remained in silence before he spoke quietly, breaking the silence.

"I thought I'd stop roping you into my business."

Looking up at him, I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I thought that I'd be able to handle it on my own." He swallowed thickly and I pulled back to place the first aid kit back. "It just- it hasn't ever been this bad before."

Keeping my back to him, I gripped the sink tightly and shoved down the urge to call Sheriff Stilinksi but I'd promised Isaac that I wouldn't. For all of his father's flaws Isaac couldn't stand to lose another parent.

Keeping my back to him, I relaxed my grip on the sink and uttered, "What ticked him off this time?"

"My chemistry grade. But it was my fault I shouldn't have-"

Rounding on him quickly, I covered his mouth with my hand to silence him before I spoke, my eyes peering into his. I made sure to emphasise my every words so he understood. "Don't. Don't even try to make excuses for that man. Isaac it is not your fault that he hits you. No matter how many times he tries to convince you that it is your fault, you need to remember that it isn't.

"He hits you because he's weak. He is a weak man and the only way for him to feel strong is for him to hit you. But that is wrong because no man, not even a weak man hits his child. Don't believe him when he tries to tear you down Isaac. Do you understand me?"

Stepping away from him I dropped my hand and waited for his response. He only nodded in reply and I turned to walk into my room when he spoke, his voice teasing as he tried to ease the atmosphere. "You forgot something."

I turned back to him slowly, knowing what he was talking about. Stepping over to him I kissed each of his cuts before stepping back again. "There."

He caught my wrist, "You missed one."

Leaning down, I sucked in a deep breath before pressing my lips against his split bottom lip and pulling back almost instantly as a blush rose up my cheeks. Turning on my heels I walked into my room as he followed after me and I cleared my throat. "You need to change your clothes. They're in the top draw-"

"On the left," he cut in softly, giving me a smile as he brushed past me. "I remember."

As I slipped into my bed, he remained watching me awkwardly. Honestly. Pulling on his arm, I pulled him down beside me as he settled down behind me.

"Isaac," I said quietly as my eyes drifted shut.

"Hmm," he hummed in response, an arm slipping round my waist to pull me back against him.

"I'm going to start tutoring you in Chemistry alright?"

As the lacrosse players filed out of the changing room, I straightened up, scanning the crowd for Isaac.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked as he and Stiles approached me.

Holding up my chemistry book to his gaze, I rolled my eyes. "Tutoring Isaac in Chemistry."

The two boys stiffened and shared a look between them making me raise an eyebrow when they looked back at me.

"Alright," I sighed, cocking my hip and levelling them a firm look that dared them to argue back. It was a look that I had been forced to use on them far too many times but they'd never been stupid enough to go against it. "What's going on now?"

"Isaac took the bite," Scott said lowering his voice as another group of lacrosse players filed out of the changing room.

"You're joking," I said firmly. "He wouldn't-"

"He took it," Stiles cut in as Isaac walked out of the changing room and smiled over at me.

Scott pressed a kiss to my forehead before murmuring in my ear that we'd have to 'think about something to do about it before it got out of hand.'

"What was that about?" Isaac asked as the two boys reluctantly left me alone. Stiles shot another look back at us before Scott rolled his eyes and tugged him away from us.

"That was an over protective cousin and an equally over protective friend." I muttered rolling my eyes and tugging on his arm to pull him into the library.

Finding an abandoned table I sat down on the chair as he took the seat beside me. "So what are we doing today?" He asked, earning a sharp look from the librarian. Rolling his eyes, he slung an arm over the back of my chair before leaning over the text book.

Minutes into the session, I glanced up at him before snapping my fingers in his face when I noticed that he was watching me rather than looking at the text book. "Isaac, come on focus on the work."

"It's not my fault if you're more interesting than this rubbish," he muttered and I looked away from him as a flush rose up my neck.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Isaac asked sharply, his gaze focused onto something behind my shoulder. Shutting my locker, I followed his gaze and stiffened when I saw his father.

Turning back to Isaac I saw his clenched fists before my eyes widened as I remembered that he had taken the bite. How was I supposed to calm him down?

Taking a hold of his hands, I watched as he unfurled his fists and linked our fingers together. Looking up at him from under my eyelashes I watched his jaw clench.

"Isaac," I said softly, catching his attention as one of my hands moved up to frame his face. Trailing my fingers across his jaw line, I watched him suck in a deep breath. "Look at me, focus solely on me and just ignore him. Pretend he's not here and just distract yourself."

He nodded slowly, his arms moving to my waist and my eyes widened when he tugged me fully against him. Burying his head into my neck, he let out a long hiss of breath before relaxing completely.

"Isaac?" I asked softly, my arms slipping round his torso as I spoke. "What are you doing?"

"Distracting myself," he mumbled against my shoulder, his arms tightening around me.

Meeting Scott's gaze, I nodded at him when I noticed how tense both him and Stiles appeared to be. They both were waiting for him to lose control as a result of the bite. They watched me apprehensively and I nodded again, silently telling them that I'd managed to calm him down.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I demanded as I stood beside Isaac at his locker and waited for him to acknowledge me.

Looking at me, he raised an eyebrow before turning back to his locker. Pursing my lip, I slammed his locker shut, startling him.

"I'm waiting for your answer Isaac."

"And I," he muttered as he lowered his voice, bringing his face closer to mine. "Am only just realising how hot you are when you get angry."

Narrowing my eyes at his movement I pushed him away from me. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what exactly?"

"Like an arrogant, egotistic little shit." I raised an eyebrow at him as he smirked down at me. "This isn't you."

"Yes it is."

I let out a derisive laugh. "You actually believe that's true, don't you?" He looked away from me and I stepped closer to him. Taking his chin in my hand, I forced him to look me in the eye. "This isn't you, no matter how hard you try to pretend it is you."

"Then what am I like?" He asked slowly.

"You are probably one of the kindest, sweetest people that I have ever met. You also happen to be fluent in sarcasm." A small smile tugged at his face and I grinned up at him.

He leaned down, catching my lips with his. I froze in surprise before he pulled me against him to press harder against my lips in the hope of eliciting a reaction from me. My hands trailed up his chest to rest on his shoulders before I pulled back.

"I forgot something," I murmured quietly.

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow knowingly at me. "And what is that?"

My eyes flickered over him. Watching him from the corner of my eye, I saw his smirk grow. "You also look really hot in a leather jacket."

"That is not what I was expecting," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "But it's good to know anyway."

"Really?" I stepped away from him, hiding a smirk. "What were you expecting?"

"I was expecting you to tell me that was the best kiss you've ever had."

"I was raised never to lie."

He raised an eyebrow at me before I turned to walk away. Looking at him, over my shoulder, I watched him as he began to jog after me. Running through the corridor I laughed as he chased after me. I knew that he could easily catch me if he wished to do so but as soon as I had turned to corner and saw Scott and Stile standing by their lockers, I hide behind them.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stiles asked as Scott gave me an amused look.

"Hiding, geez what does it look like Stilinski?"

As Isaac rounded the corner and his eyes landed on me, I peeped down behind Stiles.

"So he finally made his move then?" Scott muttered to himself.

Stiles obviously hearing his words, turned to look at him. "Maybe we should have words with him."

Oh God no, I tried to grasp their hands to stop them from approaching Isaac but they slipped out of my grip. Groaning into my hands, I watched them attempt to intimidate Isaac.