All That Glitters Is Silver

I sat on Allison’s bed, watching her put the finishing touches on her makeup. Her glittering silver dress looked lovely with her fair complexion. I smoothed down my black dress feeling plain and fat.

Allison had been nice enough to do my makeup but I sure as hell didn’t feel pretty. I had never felt worse about myself before. I was uncomfortable and sick and hadn’t been able to tell Scott about Derek because I’d been surrounded by Argents all day.

But, in less than thirty minutes (if everything went according to plan), I would see Scott and Stiles and be able to shake off Allison and Jackson.

The door bell rang and Allison looked over at her open door like it was the front door and Jackson would be standing right there, waiting. She hurriedly brushed some shimmery blush on her cheeks and stood up straight, casually viewing herself in the mirror.

“You look great, Alli.” I told her earnestly. She smiled back at me, looking nervous. Other than the fact that she was a little more jumpy than usual, she seemed to be taking the news from Kate impeccably well.

“You too, Cassie.” Allison helped me up. She had forced me into a pair of heels and I could already feel my feet swelling. Tonight was not going to be a fun night. I could already predict that much.

We stared at each other for a few minutes, unsure of what else to say. Now that Allison and I were finally on the same page, my mind was a complete blank.

Allison furrowed her thin, dark brows and I knew she was racking her brain to think of something. We hadn’t spoken about anything we’d learned. We didn’t know how.

I opened my mouth to ask her how she was taking the news but my brain grabbed hold of my vocal cords and spat out something I hadn’t been planning on telling Allison at all. “It’s Derek.” I confessed quietly, “Derek’s the father.”

Before she could respond, Chris knocked on the door, smiling lightly at us. “Why, don’t you two look beautiful.”

“Thanks, Uncle Chris.” I muttered, marching forward. He gave me a kiss on the forehead and looked at Allison behind me.

“What’s wrong, Allison?” He demanded. I peered over my shoulder to see that bewildered look on her face that I had seen last night. She shook her head and muttered, “N-Nothing. We should get going. Jackson’s waiting for us.”



The formal was in full swing by the time we arrived in Jackson’s tiny Porsche. Allison had to climb into the back seat while I got the front.

When we pulled into the packed parking lot, I spotted a familiar jeep not too far behind us. Jackson parked and pulled something out of his jacket: a metal flask. He sloshed it around before downing some, jerking his head back. His blue eyes paled in comparison to Derek’s when he looked over at me, offering me his flask.

I wrinkled my nose. Even if I wasn’t pregnant I wouldn’t have accepted it. “No thanks.” I muttered before getting out of the car as he offered it to Allison.

Stiles parked a few spots over from us. He jumped out of his jeep spastically and ran over to the other side to get out an impatient Lydia. This definitely wasn’t the formal she had envisioned weeks ago.

“Stiles!” I whispered harshly, “Stiles!”

Stiles looked around jerkily before his eyes laid on me. He raised his brows, letting me know he had my attention.

“Where’s Scott?” I asked, “We need to talk.”

“Scott isn’t allowed to come.” Stiles explained. This was a chance to spend time alone with Allison and dance with her. Scott was going to be here if he had to die ten thousand times to do it.

“Well, we need to talk, still. It’s about Derek.” My voice carried over the space between us. Stiles’ response was interrupted by Jackson and Allison climbing out of the car. Stiles and I looked away from each other abruptly and pretended we hadn’t spoken at all.

Wordlessly, we walked up to the jeep where Lydia and Jackson exchanged catty words. Then, we silently marched into the gym together.

I could already tell this was going to be a long night. Allison kept trying to catch my eye and dissect what I had revealed to her but with Jackson in tow there was no private time to do so.

In fact, Jackson hadn’t left us alone once an hour into the dance. When Allison had asked him to dance out of courtesy, he had barely looked her way to say no as he scooted closer to me.

Scott had circumnavigated his way into the dance like I’d thought. After a rather comical confrontation with Coach Finstock and Danny, he had met Allison on the dance floor.

I remained glued to my seat with Jackson never leaving my side. It was getting rather annoying but I didn’t say anything. I cleared my throat awkwardly when I saw Stiles. I wanted to get up and talk to him and Scott but I couldn’t shake Jackson and they were both busy themselves.

Just because I wanted to curl up in a ball and die, didn’t mean everyone else did. Jackson and I seemed to be the only ones not enjoying ourselves. The formal looked like fun. And maybe it would have been under different circumstances. Maybe if I hadn’t met Derek or lost my mother or knew about werewolves I could be blissfully unaware. I could be hooking up with Jackson tonight without a care in the world. I could be normal.

But, I did wasn’t.

“Do you wanna dance?” Jackson practically shouted over the music.

I wanted to say no but I didn’t want to ruin the night more than I already had for him. Allison had left us to be with her real date and Jackson was catching my pity party like some disease.

Jackson stood up, holding out his hand for me and I took it. He led us out to the dance floor as a slow song came on. Jackson’s hands clung to my lower back, making me entirely too self-conscious. His body pressed up against mine. He could certainly feel my baby bump but he didn’t comment on it.

Reluctantly, I placed my arms around his neck, keeping my eyes on the ground as obnoxious lights blinked dizzily around us.

We rocked back and forth for about thirty seconds before he lifted my chin up and forced me to look into his eyes. I could tell he was stressed about something but was trying to hide it.

“You know,” Jackson smiled lightly, “I’m not that bad of a date. You could at least pretend you’re having fun tonight.”

“You’re drunk.” I commented on his breath, “I’m not sure you would know if you were a good anything at the moment.”

Jackson gave me his infamous smirk, “I’m good at a lot of things.”

“It’s good to know intoxication doesn’t lessen your opinion of yourself.” I muttered.

Jackson tilted his chiseled face, scrutinizing me, “You’re different, Cass. You’re not the same girl I met a few weeks ago. She would have kept her opinions to herself instead of blatantly telling me she didn’t want to come to my lacrosse game.”

I shrugged, “People change, Captain Jackson.”

That struck something in him. Suddenly, Jackson looked distant and distracted. The song ended and he pulled away. “Let me grab us something to drink.”

He left me standing in the middle of the dance floor, completely perplexed at Jackson’s personality change.

Not wanting to get bumped into people as they danced around like epileptics, I swiftly exited the floor, almost ramming into Stiles in the process.

“Whoa,” Stiles grabbed me with both his hands, “Sorry, Cassie!”

I wasn’t sorry at all. I was relieved. “Stiles,” I breathed, “We need to talk. Now.”

He glanced at me with a worried expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Kate has Derek.”

Stiles scrunched up his face in disgust. “What? Kate and Derek? That’s weird.”

“What?” I shook me head, “No. Kate captured Derek and is torturing him for information on who the second Beta and Alpha are!

Kate and Derek. Together? In any other capacity but captor and prisoner was just preposterous.

But then I remembered the way Kate looked at Derek and rubbed her hands on him.

I shook my head as if to get rid of that disturbing thought. Kate and Derek would never date in a million years. She took her job too seriously. She would never be in the position I was in now.

“Oh,” Stiles’ mouth went round, “That makes so much more sense.” Then the thought really registered in his mind and his eyes almost popped out of his head. “Oh! Scott is the second Beta!”

“Exactly.” I nodded, “Where’s Scott?”

Stiles gave the room a quick once over. “I don’t see him.”

“We need to go find him.” I decided.

Stiles agreed, “Right,” He was about to take off when he remembered something, “I have to let Lydia know.”

“Where is she?” I questioned.

“On a search party for Jackson.” He said slightly defeated.

“Why?” I pondered, “Jackson just went to get us drinks.”

Stiles furrowed his brows, looking scattered as he searched the room for the red head. “I don’t see her anywhere.”

I sighed, brushing a hand through my fly aways, “Go find Lydia and I’ll talk to Jackson. As long as Scott’s in here, he’s safe from the hunter. We’ll meet back up once you find her.”

Stiles nodded and took off quickly. Shortly after, Jackson snagged his place. He held out a red cup for me. I snatched it, thanking him over the music that was starting to make my head pound.

We stood there, swaying lightly to the music, sipping on our drinks. I hadn’t realized I was so thirsty until now. I downed the drink in seconds. Quickly, I felt my body sway more and more. My eyes felt heavy.

“Are you okay?” Jackson asked. Something was off in his voice. He didn’t sound very surprised by my sudden exhaustion. “Here,” I felt him grab my arm and drag me through the crowd, “Let me take you home.”

I was too tired to fight back. Jackson basically carried me through the school and back to the parking lot. Halfway to the car, my legs gave out and Jackson picked me up.

“You’re a little heavier than I expected.” Jackson grunted as he walked.

“Yeah, well,” I huffed, my brain getting fuzzy, “I’m pregnant.”

He didn’t seem surprised by that, either. Something was definitely up but I didn’t have the energy to care. Maybe going home would be best. I wasn’t having fun and Stiles had everything under control. He would find Scott and tell him and I could sleep.

Sleep. The thought was almost orgasmic at the moment.

Jackson lightly pushed me into the passenger seat of his Porsche. Seconds later we took off.

My head lolled against the cold window. My eyes fluttered shut.

“Just close your eyes, Cass.” Jackson’s voice echoed in my ears, “When you wake up, everything will be okay.” It sounded more like he was talking to himself rather than me.

But, I was fading too fast to care about anything but blissful sleep. I felt intoxicated. And within seconds I dosed off.