#teen wolf s1

[strangerstilinski]

SELENOPHILES OF BEACON HILLS | Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinksi/Original Female Character

chapter two - - chapter three - - chapter four

fic summary; after an already traumatic evening involving the unfortunate discovery of a gruesome scene, amber is convinced to hike through the woods with her two best friends in search of the other half of a dead body. but it's not as if she could ever say no.. not when stiles looked at her like that.

chapter word count; 13,019

chapter warnings; smut

chapter notes; stiles, amber, and scott make a discovery at the hale house that leads to an arrest. despite his friends warnings against it, scott is desperate to play in the first game of the season. amber has a dream that only proves to amplify her feelings for her best friend.

masterlist

c h a p t e r   t h r e e

second chance at first line

Amber was lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling in confusion. The deep, rounded indent that resulted from a particularly aggressive evening of Scott and Stiles lobbing a lacrosse ball across her bedroom at one another, was mysteriously gone, the ceiling showing nothing but pristine, decidedly un-dented white paint.

"Hey," Stiles said softly, drawing her attention to where he was laying beside her, propped up on one elbow as he looked down at her, "Can I try something?"

She didn't give a verbal response but she nodded, unable to do much more than that when she was looking into the whiskey depths of his eyes.

Suddenly, he was leaning into her space. He inched closer, moving with a truly infuriating slowness, until his mouth hovered only a few inches from her own and she could feel the tip of his slightly upturned nose as it brushed lightly against hers. His eyes flicked back and forth between her own, the warm weight from his body as he leaned against her making her feel desperate, hungry for more of him, for whatever he was willing to give her.

She knew she'd take it without hesitation.

"Stiles?" She questioned quietly, after a second passed and his face was still hovering a breath away from her own.

But then his lips were on hers.

She reached up to where his shoulders and neck met, immediately wrapping her arms around him to tug him closer. His lips were so soft as they moved against her own and it was everything she thought kissing him would be, and more. Gentle and longing and achingly sweet. She felt as if she couldn't possibly get enough.

The kisses continued, remaining tender and soft for several minutes until, seemingly all of a sudden, he had trailed one of his large hands up her body to cup her breast and he squeezed softly, his fingertips digging into the thick mound of flesh. She gasped into his mouth at the salaciousness of the feeling, arching up from the mattress when he kneaded his hand around her. Stiles used her parted lips as an opportunity to lick into her open mouth, deepening the kiss.

She whined softly when their tongues collided, throwing one of her legs up to wrap around him and pulling, tugging him down against her. He landed between her legs and she made another needy noise into his mouth as his weight settled between her open thighs, warmth blooming in her very core.

Their kisses slowed, easing back into something less wet and desperate but still endlessly hungry. He kissed his way across her jaw, trailing slowly down to her throat. He licked and sucked, seemingly determined to cover every inch of her neck and collarbones with biting kisses from his mouth, all while he continued squeezing and pinching at her breasts to coax soft whimpers from her lips.

She sighed under the feeling of his lips on her skin, tightening her grip around the back of his neck as he worked.

When he began to kiss his way lower, she found it increasingly difficult to focus on anything that wasn't the feeling of his mouth on her body. She kept her hands at the back of his neck, holding onto him tightly as he continued the tender ministrations across her skin. Stiles traveled down further, peppering kisses across everything he passed along the way; her shirt, her chest, her ribs, her stomach-

When he reached her skirt, he slowly trailed his hands down her body as well, dragging them down until his large palms rested over her bare thighs, sliding them up and inching her skirt up her body in a painfully slow motion until her underwear were revealed and he could place a kiss on her there, as well.

She moaned unashamedly, hand moving up the back of his neck to scrape through the short, smooth hair at the back of his head as she tried to urge him closer.

He leaned back a fraction and she could see the smirk playing on his lips from where her head was propped up against the pillows.

"Wanna try this, too." Stiles told her quietly.

Her underwear were tugged down past her knees until he’d given himself enough space to lean forward and then his mouth was on her with nothing separating them. Deep, open-mouthed kisses were pressed against her clit, his tongue flicking out slow against the bud with each one, and she couldn't help but moan again. He continued to lick softly at the small bundle of nerves, never relenting. It was warm and soft and perfect. She could feel herself losing control at the constant stimulation, orgasm building steadily inside of her, winding tight in her cunt.

She looked down to watch the way Stiles' head moved between her thighs as he licked at her, the image alone nearly enough to send her over the edge. His eyes were closed and she desperately wished that they were open so she could look into them while he pleasured her – but just as soon as the thought had occurred, Stiles opened his eyes and looked straight into her own while continuing to roll his tongue around her clit, slow and soft but still somehow firm.

The closer she edged toward her orgasm, the more frequent her moans became, until she was simply whimpering and whining under the constant rhythm of his tongue.

He was working his mouth against her wetly, his soft hair beneath her fingertips, and then he dragged one of his hands from her thigh to push two fingers inside without preamble. He thrust them inside only to immediately hook his fingertips up toward the sensitive spot behind her her pelvis and suddenly she was coming. Hard.

She gasped herself awake, core clenching around nothing. Her breathing was heavy in the dim early morning light that filtered in through her bedroom window, the image of Stiles' face between her thighs burning in her brain.

She stared up at the ceiling while she struggled to catch her breath, her eyes catching on the small, lacrosse ball-sized crater in the drywall.

"Oh my god." She whispered into the empty room.

Amber stood at her locker between classes, eyes cast down the hallway where she could see Stiles' buzzed head in front of his own locker. She blindly switched out her books while she watched the boy of her affections fumble with a notebook that fell from the messy heap she knew lay inside. Said notebook bounced from hand to hand several times before Stiles managed to get a grip on it and shove it back into the chaos.

She watched him slam his locker shut just as she was doing the same and she jumped at the sight of the beautiful strawberry blonde already standing in the space where the tiny metal door had been.

"Jesus, Lydia." Amber breathed, clutching her books to her chest to calm her racing heart, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Two seconds? Why are you so jumpy?"

"I'm not, I just. I had this dream and now-" Amber glanced down to realize she'd grabbed the wrong notebook while she'd been distracted. She sighed and re-opened her locker, "Never mind. What's up?" Amber asked.

"I saw you at the party on Friday. I'm surprised you decided to make an appearance." Lydia said with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, yeah. I, uh, stayed for a bit but I kind of ducked out early."

"I also saw you dancing with a guy," Lydia said in a seemingly innocent tone, pretending to check her fingernail polish, but Amber knew better. There was nothing innocent about the glint shining behind the redhead's eyes. "He seemed decent enough from the back. Tall, at least. Maybe cute if he grows out that awful buzz cut."

From Lydia, the critique was practically gushing.

Amber closed her locker and turned to face her friend, "Lydia, I was dancing with Stiles."

Lydia blinked, her manicured hand still hovering in front of her face, "What does that mean?"

"Stiles? My friend Stiles? I was dancing with him." Amber clarified, feeling exasperated with the conversation.

"Who?" Lydia scrunched up her nose and Amber rolled her eyes.

"Thing One." She sighed, repeating the nickname she remembered the redhead had given Stiles and Scott the week before.

"Oh!" Lydia said in surprise before scowling at the brunette and dropping her hand down to her own hip, "Ugh. You're hooking up with Thing One?"

Lydia had begun to walk away, urging Amber to follow as they headed in the direction of their next class.

"What? No, we're not hooking up. We were just dancing."

Lydia hummed in a way that sounded like she didn't really believe her, "You don't have to lie to me if you're into him. I have eyes, you know." The redhead flipped her hair over her shoulder as they entered the French classroom, "And just because I think you could do way better doesn't mean I wouldn't be a good wing woman if you wanted to double with me and Jackson sometime."

Amber slid into the desk behind Lydia's with a small smile, "Thank you, Lyds. Really." She settled, deciding it didn't feel right to outright lie about her feelings for Stiles, but not willing to verbally admit them yet either.

Stiles checked his phone for messages. Again. Going as far as to restart it in hopes of seeing a new text finally come through. When the phone re-booted, though, there were still no new messages, and he flicked back to his inbox to reread the last text he'd received from Amber at ten-thirty that morning.

going to the library during lunch! don't wait up

He hadn't so much as caught a glimpse of her in the halls all day. She'd gotten a ride to school from her brother and Stiles hadn't even had a chance to talk to her in any of the classes they shared because she'd managed to slip into each and every one just as the final bell was ringing. He was left wondering whether something had happened. Whether she would be staying for their lacrosse practice or if she'd already left the school.

He made his way, already dressed, to the back of the locker room, passing teammates who were in the process of changing into their own padding and getting ready for the start of practice. He was nearly to his locker when he passed Scott standing shirtless in front of his own cubby with a dazed, sad look on his face.

Stopping short at the edge of the lockers he leaned toward his friend, speaking softly, "Did you apologize to Allison?"

"Yeah." Scott said, still gazing off into the distance.

"Is she giving you a second chance, or-"

"Yeah."

Stiles smiled with excitement, "Yeah? All right! So everything's good!" He moved to head in the direction of his own locker when he heard his best friend speak again.

"No."

"No?" He asked, confused.

"Remember.. The hunters-? Her dad's one of them." Scott explained.

"Her dad?"

"-Shot me." Scott finished.

Stiles' voice rose slightly when he spoke, "Allison's father?"

"With a crossbow." Scott clarified, his wide eyes still looking into the distance like he was experiencing the traumatic event all over again.

There was a moment of silence as Stiles processed the information. "Allison's father-"

"Yes! Her father!" Scott interrupted in a shout before taking a few shallow breaths, "Oh my god." Scott continued to breath heavily, chest heaving with each gasp.

"No, Scott." Stiles rushed forward to his friend and slapped him softly on the cheek with the lacrosse glove that covered his hand, "Snap back. Y'okay?" He pulled back to give Scott space again, "Hey, alright- He didn't recognize you, right?"

"No? No, no, no. I don't think so."

"Does she know about him?" Stiles asked quickly, trying to pull out all of the information he could.

Scott made a surprised noise, like the thought hadn't crossed his mind, "I don't know. What if she does?" He finally lifted his frightened gaze to look at his friend standing in front of him, "This is gonna kill me, man." Scott whined.

Coach Finstock's whistle blew loudly from the front of the locker room and Stiles interrupted him, "Okay, just focus on lacrosse. Okay?" Stiles grabbed Scott's padding and gear and shoved it into his friend's arms, "Here, Scott, take this. Take this and focus on lacrosse for now, okay? That's all you gotta do, yeah?"

"Lacrosse.." Scott whispered in a daze.

Stiles slapped his friend's arms to get the blood and adrenaline flowing, "Here. We. Go!" Stiles said before he rushed to get to practice, tripping over a changing bench as he went.

Amber felt immensely guilty for the way she'd avoided both of her best friends all day. She'd spent her lunch period with a granola bar, hiding out in the back of the library. After her dream on Saturday night, it was like her feelings for Stiles had increased tenfold. She couldn't look at him now without desperately wanting to wrap herself around him and kiss him until her lips hurt.

But, she knew she couldn't avoid her friends forever. So when the final bell for the day rang out, she packed up her homework into her backpack, pulled on her jacket, and determinedly headed out toward the bleachers at the lacrosse field.

Now that the week of tryouts was over, there were less students crowded onto the bleachers and she moved to take up residence in a large, empty area near the bottom of the metal seats. Practice hadn't started yet so she pulled out the novel they were annotating in English, along with her notebook, and began jotting things down as she read. She was halfway through filling up her notebook page when players started spilling out onto the field.

Amber waved when she caught sight of Scott and Stiles heading over to drop their bags and water bottles at the bench. Stiles looked surprised to see her for only half a a second before he raised his hand back, nudging Scott until he also returned her wave.

She watched as the boys both grabbed their helmets, pulling them on as they headed out onto the field to do drills. Amber tried to watch the drills as an objective spectator but found that she frequently had to fight the urge to check out Stiles' backside in the silky material of his athletic shorts.

The team started a new drill, one offensive player rushing the goal against two defense and shooting on goal. When it was Scott's turn as offense, he held the ball in the net at the end of his stick, jogging forward slowly and colliding with Jackson who was acting as defense. Jackson blocked Scott with his shoulder and they collided hard, sending Scott to the ground.

Amber winced.

"Hey, McCall!" Coach laughed, walking down the field to where Scott was getting back to his feet. He said something to the boy who was bent over his knees before they both stood upright and Scott headed back to the front of the line. "McCall's gonna do it again! McCall's gonna do it again!"

Amber dropped her books into a heap on the metal bench beside her, pulling her lower lip into her mouth nervously as she focussed her attention on her friend on the field. This time, when Scott moved toward the goal, he ran. When he reached his opponent, he checked Jackson hard and sent him to the ground. Jackson moaned in pain with a hand gripping at his shoulder but Amber's attention was quickly torn away when she saw Scott clutch at his helmet like he had during that first practice.

On her feet in an instant, she watched as Scott fell to his knees in pain.

"Scott?" She called out, already halfway onto the field when Stiles reached their friend's side to check on him. The other players were all huddling around Jackson, and the coach urged them all to give him space just as Amber was kneeling down beside Scott and Stiles. "Scott, are you okay?"

"I can't control it, guys. It's happening-" Scott said, sounding strained.

"Woah, what? Right here?" Stiles asked urgently, "Now?" His eyes met Amber's and they both looked at one another in worry, "Come on. Get up. Come on-" Stiles said, beginning to pull Scott to his feet.

Amber rushed to Scott's side and slid underneath his shoulder, pulling his arm to wrap tight around her. Stiles supported their friend's other side and they dragged him in the direction of the school. When they reached the abandoned boys locker room, the two released Scott in front of one of the changing benches.

"Get away from me!" Scott screamed as soon as he was free, his eyes glowing a bright gold through the bars of his helmet.

Amber scrambled back and bumped into Stiles, who brought his hand up to grasp at her bicep. Stiles pulled her backwards with him as they attempted to put distance between Scott and themselves. Amber's eyes refused to leave Scott as they shuffled back, not until she and Stiles moved to hide behind a row of lockers.

The moment they were out of sight, Scott leapt to the top of the lockers to get higher-ground above them and Amber let out a small scream at the loud crash of him landing atop the metal. When Scott turned to look at them, his eyes were still glowing bright and he had large, sharp fangs protruding from his mouth. He released a growl at his two friends and they both flinched.

Amber tugged at Stiles' arm this time, dragging him away from the row of lockers that Scott was perched on. They ran back in the direction of the locker room door and Scott chased close behind them, following as they weaved through the rows to escape. The two reached the doorway and Amber found herself tripping over her own feet at the threshold, landing on her hands and knees on the ground. She quickly flipped her body over to face her friends as she scrambled backwards, wide eyes going to where Stiles was standing beside her, the wall-mounted fire extinguisher under his arm for support.

Stiles caught her fear-filled eyes just before his own flicked down to the red metal under his arm and he seemed to get an idea. He fumbled to pull the extinguisher from the wall and Amber used that time to get back to her feet as Scott continued to head their way. Stiles' fingers clumsily worked to pull out the pin and he quickly turned to spray the gas in Scott's unsuspecting face. Amber glued herself to Stiles' back as the two backed out of the room, Stiles continuing to spray the white cloud into the doorway.

When they got into the hallway, Amber's shaking hand was fisted tightly onto the back of Stiles' shoulder pads and the two struggled to catch their breath. Stiles still had the fire extinguisher hugged in the cradle of his arms.

"Guys?" They heard Scott whisper after a minute.

Amber could feel her heart beating out of her chest as Stiles cautiously moved back into the doorway of the locker room, dragging her along with the grip she still had on his padding.

"What happened?" Scott asked, panting. He was sitting on one of the wooden benches, a light sheen of sweat covering his face.

Stiles looked back at Amber for a moment before dropping the fire extinguisher to the floor in a loud clang of metal against the tiles. He ripped off his lacrosse gloves and took a hold of Amber's hand in one of his, pulling her into the room while still shielding her body from Scott slightly with his own. "You tried to kill us." He assessed, angry. They moved to stand closer to where Scott was sitting and Stiles squatted down, pulling Amber along with him, "It's like we told you, before. It's the anger. It's your pulse rising-"

"It's a trigger." Amber finished, squeezing Stiles' fingers in her sweaty grip. She reached up her free hand to rest it on the bare skin of Scott's knee.

"But that's lacrosse," Scott said, "It's a pretty violent game, if you hadn't noticed."

"Well," Stiles said, "It's gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field."

"You can't play Saturday." Amber stated simply.

"You're gonna have to get out of the game." Stiles finished.

"But- I'm first line." Scott blinked, wide-eyed.

Stiles let out a breath, "Not anymore."

There was only one class period left until the end of the school day on Friday. She was on her way to her locker during the fifteen-minute afternoon break when Amber spotted Stiles' father entering the school through a side entrance looking like a man on a mission.

"Sheriff Stilinski!" She waved, catching his attention, "Hi."

The older man came to a stop in front of her and leveled her with the same disapproving look he always gave her when she insisted on calling him by his full title.

"You're in uniform, so-" She defended herself with a smile.

"I guess I am," The Sheriff conceded, lifting one of his large hands to give her bicep a pat, "It's good to see you, kiddo, but you should get to class."

"What are you doing at the school, anyway," She hedged, "Did Stiles get into trouble?"

"Not today." The Sheriff joked. "I'm not here as a parent. Just need to have a few words with your Principal as the Sheriff."

Just as he finished speaking, a deputy Amber vaguely recognized walked through the side entrance and came to join him.

"What about? Is it about the investigation? For the body in the woods?" She rambled off.

The Sheriff shook his head in exasperation, "Sometimes I think you and my son might be too alike for your own good. Now, get to class, will you?"

The man gave her a gentle push in the direction she'd initially been heading when she had spotted him. He and the deputy were both focused on something over her shoulder and when she turned fully, she found the Principal approaching, only a few feet away from them.

"Okay, okay-" She laughed when Sheriff Stilinski gave her one final push to leave before the adults converged. She gave him a wave over her shoulder as she finally made her way down the small set of stairs leading to the next hallway.

As she rounded the corner, she was shoved back against the wall and she yelped quietly in surprise before looking up to see the person who'd grabbed her.

"Stiles! What the hell?"

Scott was standing just across the hallway from them at his locker, but his focus was down the hall where Lydia and Allison were in conversation with a guy from the lacrosse team.

Stiles had his forearm pressed into the wall beside Amber’s head, peering around the corner to look at his father, the boy blissfully unaware of the way her heartbeat had picked up in her chest the moment he'd caged her in, or the way the intoxicating smell of him was wafting into her nose with every breath, or the way the heat of his body pressed against her own had her tensing and going pliant all at once.

Stiles returned his attention to where he had her crowded back against the wall, "Why's he here? What did he say?"

She licked her lips and took a breath before responding, "He wouldn't tell me anythi-"

"Scott!" Stiles stage-whispered to get their friend's attention, "Hey, c'mere-"

Scott looked back to his friends and moved forward to join the huddle, standing at Stiles' shoulder, "What?"

"Come here and tell me what they're saying." Stiles demanded, pointing down the hallway to the place where his father, the deputy, and the Principal were all engaged in a quiet conversation.

Scott squinted his eyes in concentration as he focused his enhanced hearing down the hallway. The silence lasted only a moment before Stiles interrupted it.

"Can you hear 'em?"

"Shh!" Scott hushed him, returning his attention to the adults, "There's a curfew because of the body."

"Unbelievable!" Stiles complained, "My dad's out there looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hangin' out, doin' whatever he wants."

"I still don't think he killed anybody-" Amber started, looking up at where Stiles' face still hovered temptingly close to her own.

"-And besides, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek." Scott interrupted her before Stiles got the chance.

Stiles got a hard, determined look behind his eyes, "I can do something."

"Like what?" Amber asked quietly, glancing between her two friends like she could read their minds and gain some understanding into their thoughts about Derek.

"Find the other half of the body." Stiles stated before his body was suddenly no longer pressed against hers, already rushing away from his friends and heading down the hallway.

"Are you kidding?" Scott called after him, "Is he kidding?" He repeated, turning back to where Amber was still leaning against the wall.

"Is he ever?" She sighed, patting Scott on the shoulder and walking a few yards down the hall to join where Lydia and a guy from the lacrosse team were talking with Allison, "Hey, guys. Hey, Ben." She greeted them.

"Hey, Amber. We were actually just going." Lydia said with a smile, abruptly pulling the boy by the arm and disappearing down the busy hallway.

"Okay.." Amber managed as they were leaving. She turned her attention to Allison and smiled, but didn't get a chance to speak before Scott joined them.

"So, Lydia's introducing you to everyone?" He said with a barely concealed grimace.

"Yeah! She's being so unbelievably nice to me." Allison smiled at them.

"I wonder why." Scott pouted, receiving an elbow to the gut from Amber and immediately plastering a smile on his face.

"Maybe she gets how bad being the new girl can suck." Allison guessed with a small laugh as her eyes bounced between the two friends.

"Where did you get that?" Scott asked anxiously, pointing to the jacket Allison had draped over her arms in front of her.

Amber tilted her head and studied the dark material of the coat, trying to remember if she'd seen Allison wear it before today, but she wasn't entirely sure.

"My jacket?" Allison asked, "It was in my locker. I assumed Amber put it in there from the party on Friday," She turned to Amber for confirmation and continued slowly, "Lydia has my combination, so-"

"Did you?" Scott interrupted, shooting Amber a sharp look.

"Um, yeah-" she said after a second, "Yeah, I, um. I grabbed it from Derek's car before when he dropped me off, but I totally forgot about it until today." She laughed quietly in an attempt to mask the lie, unable to tell if Scott knew she was bluffing, but almost positive that Allison hadn't caught it.

"Right, Derek!" Allison said at the reminder, "He's your friend?" She asked Scott.

"He's not my friend." Scott scowled and Amber shot him a wide-eyed, questioning look. "How much did you talk to him when he drove you home?" He asked, attention remaining solely on Allison.

"Mmm, not much at all.." Allison said slowly, confusion in her eyes as she looked between Scott and Amber.

"Scott-" Amber started.

"What did you say?" He interrupted.

Allison shot Amber an awkward smile, turning her body to leave, "I- I gotta get to class, I gotta-"

"Allison-" Scott pleaded.

"No.. I really gotta go." Allison said before she jogged away and disappeared down the hall.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Amber demanded once they were alone, "Why would you tell her that Derek's not your friend?"

"Because he's not." Scott glared.

"Well, obviously I know that!" She shoved at his shoulder, "What do you think Allison is thinking now? About getting a ride home with him? Or the fact that I told her it was okay?"

"I- I don't know. I didn't-"

"No shit!" She hissed, "Just- Use your head, Scott." She said in finality before she left him standing alone and turned to chase after Allison. When she finally spotted her, Allison was headed into the girl's restroom. Amber trailed in after her and found her standing at the sinks, fixing her hair with a far-off look in her eyes. "Allison, hey. I just wanted to explain-"

"You don't need to explain, Amber." She said softly, eyes going to the other girl over her shoulder.,"I get it, now."

"You get it?" Amber stopped short, eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, I mean-" Allison laughed quietly, "It's pretty obvious."

"What," Amber paused, "What's obvious?"

"You, hooking up with Derek." Allison said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, turning around to face her friend.

Amber's eyes went wide, "Me? Hooking-"

"How old is he, exactly?" Allison interrupted.

"Um, like, twenty-one? I'm pretty sure? He was behind my brother in school, so-"

"Okay," Allison sighed, nodding to herself, "I still think he's too old for you but.. It's not as big of a gap as I was imagining, at least. And I mean, he's good-looking, but- I'm confused. I actually thought that you and Stiles-"

"It's complicated." Amber struggled to find a lie that didn't sound like a lie, "Me, Derek, Stiles. It- It's complicated."

"I'm sorry." Allison said suddenly, "If Scott didn't already know- It seems like he didn't. I'm sorry if he figures it out because of me."

"Hey, don't be sorry, Alli." Amber said softly, "I- Derek and I aren't- He's too old for me anyway, right? It wouldn't have lasted, so it's probably better if I end things now, before it can get messy."

"Yeah," Allison said, looking incredibly relieved, "That's probably best." She paused, "So, did you and Derek ever-" She wiggled her eyebrows in suggestion.

"No!" Amber said a little too quickly, "No, um. I wouldn't do that. At least, not with him."

Allison seemed to relax even further before a mischievous smile took over her face, "What about with Stiles?"

Amber felt herself blush, unable to do anything to stop it. "We should probably get to class. Break is almost over." She refused to answer the question, but if the look on Allison's face was anything to go by, her lack of answer had been an answer in itself.

Scott dropped his bicycle to the ground and stormed up to the stoop of the old Hale house angrily, hoping for a confrontation.

"Derek! Derek!" He screamed, throwing his school bag to the ground and sparing a quick glance to the fresh pile of dirt at the side of the house before taking a deep breath. Scott watched angrily as Derek made his way around what was once a large, covered porch, "Stay away from them! Stay away from Amber-" Scott called out before continuing louder, "And stay away from Allison. She doesn't know anything!"

"Yeah?" Derek asked cooly, "And what if Allison does?" He casually leapt the couple of feet from the porch before landing on the ground below, "You think Amber and your little buddy Stiles can just Google 'werewolves' and now you've got all the answers, is that it?" He scoffed, "You don't get it yet, Scott, but I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen; You're out on the field, the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone-" Derek moved to grab Scott's lacrosse stick from where he'd abandoned his backpack in a heap on the ground. Derek extended his claws and ripped through the netting as he continued, "Your mom, all your friends.. When they see you, everything falls apart."

Derek tossed the lacrosse stick up into the air and Scott rushed to catch it. When Scott had the ruined stick in his hands and looked up again, Derek was gone.

Scott huffed angrily and took a deep breath to calm himself, once again eyeing the pile of newly sowed soil to the side of the house where it appeared something had been freshly buried. He took one more deep breath, trying to use his new, stronger senses as he sniffed.

He smelled blood.

"I would kill for a milkshake right now." Amber murmured quietly to herself, pulling her feet up underneath her to sit cross-crossed. She got herself comfortable in the passenger seat of the Jeep where they were still parked in the school parking lot.

Stiles tossed his backpack over the seats and into the mess in the back. He climbed up into the vehicle, twisting the key in the ignition determinedly a couple of times before the engine gave in, finally turning over and starting.

Amber became distracted in the way she tended to do when Stiles was driving. She watched the soothing and repetitive motions as the boy shifted between gears, his left knee raising slightly each time his foot let up on the clutch, his large hand wrapped around the ball at the end of the gear shift. She hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings until she realized they'd come to a stop, Stiles shifting the Jeep into park.

"Wha-"

But he was already climbing out of the vehicle, leaning in through the open window as he interrupted her, "D'you want fries or anything or just a milkshake?" He asked.

"Um.." She said dumbly, finally looking out the windshield to see they were parked in front of the diner downtown. Stiles raised his eyebrows expectantly, awaiting her answer. "Just a shake?"

Her answer came out sounding more like a question than anything else, but Stiles nodded with a smile before he darted away and slipped into the restaurant. Amber listened to the little bell jingle over the entrance before the door closed behind him.

She remained, baffled, sitting in the car, watching through the front window as Stiles moseyed up to the register and began talking to the nice waitress behind the counter.

Five minutes later the boy re-emerged, a large styrofoam cup in one hand and the other clutching a tall paper cup. He held a small brown takeout bag between his teeth and when he got to the vehicle, he leaned his head through the open window and allowed the bag to drop into the seat. When he climbed back into the car, he held the styrofoam cup out toward her.

"You got me a milkshake." She stated, taking the cup from his outstretched hand in a daze.

"Is that not what you wanted?" He asked the question slowly, as if waiting for the punchline to a joke he'd been left out of.

"No, it- It's exactly what I wanted," She said quietly, pausing to sip from her straw.

When the sweetness of the vanilla hit her tongue she realized Stiles hadn't even asked her what flavor she wanted, but he'd managed to get her favorite anyway. Her quiet plea for the treat at the school hadn't been an actual request — She hadn't even realized Stiles had heard her. But nonetheless, he'd immediately driven them in the direction of the diner with the best milkshakes in town. Amber's eyes trailed to the greasy takeout bag on the seat between them, and the fluttering in her chest picked up that much more, because she knew — She knew that the curly fries at this particular diner didn't compare to the ones from the place near the Sheriff Station, and yet here they sat.

Overwhelmed with feeling, she took another sip from her drink in an attempt to stall just a little bit longer, "Thank you," She settled on, the words feeling heavy on her tongue.

With a large smile plastered on her face that she hoped hid the warmth on her cheeks, Amber reached toward the paper bag. She fumbled around Stiles' fingers where they were already digging around inside and she stole one of the large, springy fries from inside. Stiles grinned at her before eating a handful of fries of his own.

They began going back and forth, debating the merits within their ever-growing stack of werewolf research. They talked over which articles and forums were garbage versus the ones they thought might contain some truth.

"What did Scott have to do this afternoon, anyway?" Stiles asked eventually, chewing at the straw from his drink.

Amber had gotten slightly distracted as she watched him reposition the straw with his tongue before he bit down on it again. Her brain was fuzzy with thoughts of his mouth but even through the static, she registered that Stiles had said something, "Huh?"

"Scott ran outta the school as soon as the bell rang. He and his bike were gone by the time I met you in the parking lot. Thought he might've said something to you-"

"Oh, no." She blinked, "Last I saw him, he was giving Allison the third degree about Derek. It was a disaster."

Stiles nodded, still gnawing at the plastic between his teeth, "Derek warned him off playing in the game tomorrow."

"So did we, remember?" She took another sip from the bottom of her milkshake, "Scott wasn't exactly receptive."

"Yeah, well. Derek was a little more persuasive, and a lot more threatening." There was a bitterness in his tone at the thought of Derek Hale cornering their friend.

"Okay, so did Scott talk to Finstock about sitting out of the game?"

"Yeah," Stiles said, to which Amber perked up, before he continued, "He wasn't real receptive either. With Jackson's shoulder all fucked up, I think Coach is scrambling."

Amber slumped in her seat, digging her fingernail into the styrofoam of her cup and carving little crescent-shaped indents into the material, "So, what? We just go to the game and hope for the best?"

Stiles shrugged, chewing more aggressively at his straw, "We could go back to my house and dig through the research a little more. Maybe we'll find something that'll help him control it."

"Sounds good to me." Amber felt relief at the thought of doing something useful.

Stiles collected their garbage and ran it to the trash can outside the diner. As soon as he was back in the vehicle, he leaned over the backseat to dig through his backpack, dry swallowing his ADHD medication in preparation.

Just as the two were pulling back onto the road, Stiles' phone buzzed in his pocket. The boy squirmed in his seat and pulled it out, glancing at the screen as he handed it over, "It's Scott."

Amber looked at the ominous message, trying to decipher its meaning.

Found something, u & Amber come over ASAP

"What? What's it say?" Stiles finally asked.

"It just says he 'found something' and wants us to come over asap." She was still frowning at the phone in her hands, "As long as he didn't find another dead body, I'm golden."

"Right, let's go, then." Stiles laughed, taking the next turn to head in the direction of Scott's house.

Stiles grabbed ahold of Amber's wrist and was dragging her up the stairs behind him as they raced toward Scott's bedroom. She struggled to keep her feet underneath her as she fought to match his stride on her shorter legs. When they finally reached the bedroom door, Stiles threw it open roughly and they found Scott sitting on his bed, messing with the laces on his lacrosse stick. Stiles pulled the girl along with him until they stood in front of their friend expectantly.

"What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it?" Stiles asked in a rush, he and Amber both breathing heavily, "And yes, I've had a lot of Adderall, so-"

"It doesn't matter, where were you?" Amber interrupted him, focussing her attention on Scott.

"I found something at Derek Hale's." He answered.

"Are you kidding? What?" Stiles asked excitedly.

Scott shrugged, "There's something buried there. I could smell blood."

"No-" Amber whined, drawing out the word and looking at Stiles in despair.

"That's awesome!" Stiles said before catching Amber's eye. He released his grip on her wrist to pat her reassuringly on the head, fingers tangling slightly in her hair, "I mean, that's terrible," Stiles returned his attention to Scott, "Whose blood?"

"I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder. And then you both help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing. Because there's no way I'm not playing that game."

Amber couldn't help but roll her eyes, watching as Scott stood and tossed his lacrosse stick to land in the middle of his bed.

Scott was certain that he would recognize the scent of the blood he'd smelled at the Hale house if he were to smell it again, so the three of them piled into the Jeep and raced to the hospital where the bottom half of the body was being stored.

They split up once they were inside so that Scott could make his way to the morgue, while Stiles and Amber waited for him in the main admissions and E.R. At the sight of Lydia sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting area, Stiles watched as Amber immediately abandoned him to go sit beside her redheaded friend.

While Lydia had never been outright mean to Stiles, she tended to just ignore his existence entirely. He wasn't sure that it made him feel much better than if she actually did bully him verbally in the way Jackson tended to do.

Amber and Lydia had always been close, even as far back as kindergarten, but when the two had been split into separate classes in the third grade, they'd drifted slowly apart until they only shared a casual friendship. Coincidentally, that had been the same year Amber was assigned a desk directly between Stiles and Scott, and the three had been best friends ever since.

Stiles was eternally grateful for the sequence of events that had woven her so deeply into his life.

It appeared that Lydia was on a call, but the moment she finished her conversation, Stiles watched her turn to Amber with a smile and the two began talking. He slumped into a seat around the corner and turned so he could scowl as he watched the soft smiles Amber gave to the girl who had never even given him the time of day.

"Hey, Amber," Stiles muttered to himself, "Sure wish you would stop letting Lydia infect you with her insidious mind warp that makes you forget that I exist." He watched Amber throw her head back in laughter at something Lydia said and he scrunched his nose in distaste, picking up a large pamphlet on the table next to him and pretending to read it as he continued to grumble under his breath, "Y'know, because I think we have this kind of connection. Unspoken, of course. And maybe, if you weren't constantly being brainwashed by a beautiful, strawberry blonde she-devil, I might even stand a chance."

He turned forward in his seat to continue sulking, angrily gripping the paper in his hands, eyes unfocused as he glared unseeingly at the page in front of him.

"I know you like research, but if you had any questions, y'know you could've just asked." Amber's voice came from above him with a laugh a few minutes later.

He flinched aggressively. He hadn't even noticed her get up, but when he looked around the room, Lydia was gone.

Amber moved to sit down in the chair beside him, her chest pressing against his arm as she peered at the pamphlet he was holding. It wasn't until he flipped to the cover that he realized what it was actually for — It was a large booklet detailing the menstrual cycle.

"Ha." He choked out, fighting and losing to the urge to look down at the place where her breasts were pushed together against his arm.

The pamphlet was suddenly ripped from his grasp and he jumped again, his attention pulled from the place where he had, regretfully, been ogling his friend. "Holy god!" Stiles breathed, heart beating loudly in his chest.

Scott stood above them and tossed the booklet back onto the table, "The scent was the same."

"You're sure?" Amber asked, leaning away from Stiles slightly and sitting back into her own chair.

"Yes." Scott assured them.

Amber stood and pulled Stiles up with her so the three could continue the conversation closely, heads ducked together.

"So he did bury the other half on his property?" Stiles questioned, lifting a hand to squeeze Amber's shoulder. Although he was looking at Scott, he could practically feel her frowning at the turn of events.

"Now we have proof he killed the girl." Scott nodded.

"I say we use it." Stiles said, already headed down the hallway to leave the hospital.

"What?" He heard Amber squeak from behind him. She grabbed his shoulder as she rushed to catch up with him.

"How?" Scott asked.

"Tell me something first," Stiles sighed, turning to face Scott and reaching out to rest a hand across Amber's shoulder blades, "Are you doing this because you want to stop Derek, or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't?"

"There are bite marks on the legs, guys. Bite marks."

"Then we're gonna need a shovel." Stiles said.

When Amber sighed underneath his hand, Stiles felt it. He rubbed her back as the three turned and headed back toward the parking lot.

They were going to take Derek Hale down, and then he'd never get anywhere near Amber again.

"Can I just ask, how do we know Derek buried the body?" Amber whispered, squinting in the dark toward the burned ruins of the Hale house as they waited for Derek to emerge, And not someone framing him for-"

"Because, he's the only other werewolf we know who's running around and-" Stiles started quietly, turning to glare at her in the dark cab of the Jeep.

"Shh!" Scott scolded them.

Just as quickly as Scott had hushed them, Derek emerged from the house and strutted over to the Camaro that was parked out front. Stiles waited a moment after the car was out of sight and down the driveway before he pulled his own vehicle up closer to the house and parked.

The three stepped out into the cold night air and Amber shivered. She hadn't even worn a jacket to school, due to the lack of lacrosse practice the day before the big game, she'd known this morning that she wouldn't need to sit outside for an hour that afternoon, but now, protected from the chill by only a thin long sleeved v-neck and jeans, she was overtaken with goosebumps. "Fuck, it's cold."

The boys were pulling shovels from the back of the vehicle while she rubbed at her arms. Scott tossed her the only flashlight, and Stiles climbed back into the car and leaned over to dig around in the backseat. When he re-emerged, he held a dark flannel shirt and tossed it to her before slamming the door shut and claiming one of the two shovels for himself.

Amber thanked him and pulled his shirt on in a rush, sighing gratefully when it immediately cut down on the cold air seeping into her skin. She clicked on the flashlight as they followed Scott around the side of the house.

"Wait, something's different." Scott said as they reached the far side.

"Different, how?" Amber asked, her warm breath puffing out in a cloud.

"I don't know," Scott said, looking around them. He eyed the soot-covered siding of the house for a minute before shaking himself, "Let's just get this over with."

Amber held the flashlight steady as her friends dug a large crater in the fresh-looking soil at the treeline. She chewed at her lip anxiously the deeper they dug, eyeing the dark forest around them nervously like she was just waiting for something to jump out.

"This is taking way too long." Scott complained after roughly twenty minutes of digging.

"Just keep going." Stiles demanded, wiping sweat from his forehead with his shirtsleeve and huffing as he threw another large scoop of dirt out of the hole and into a pile off to the side.

"Keep going, but faster." Amber said, eyes flicking back to the still-dark driveway before returning to where her friends were standing knee-deep in the ground.

"What if he comes back?" Scott asked, also breathing heavily from the manual labor.

"I have a plan for that." Stiles said, shoveling another heap of dirt from the ground at his feet.

"Which is?" Scott asked.

"You run one way. Me and Amber run the other. Whichever he catches first, too bad."

Amber snorted a laugh, her hand shaking the flashlight for a moment before she steadied it to shine on her friends again.

"I hate that plan." Scott complained, shoving his shovel back into the earth with a loud thunk.

"Ooh, stop, stop, stop-" Stiles pushed Scott back before they both dropped to squat down and began to brush the dirt around with their hands.

Amber took one slow step forward to get a better look at what they'd uncovered, but it was just a burlap sack tied shut with a long length of rope.

"Hurry up-" Scott urged, watching as Stiles' fingers worked at the rope.

"I'm trying-" Stiles huffed, "Did he have to tie the thing in, like, nine hundred knots?"

"I'll do it." Scott reached over and began to undo the knots quickly.

Amber's stomach turned painfully with nerves the more they worked at the rope. When it finally fell away, the boys pulled open the bag and all three of them screamed loudly at what they saw inside.

"What the hell is that!" Stiles yelled.

It was a dead wolf. Its fur was dark and soft-looking, but its eyes were murky and glazed over with death.

"It's.. A wolf." Amber stated.

"Yeah, we can see that," Stiles said sarcastically, turning to Scott, "I thought you said you smelled blood — As in, human blood."

"I told you guys something was different!"

"Okay, so Derek buried an actual wolf in his yard," Amber said, still breathing heavily with adrenaline as she waved the flashlight around, "That's not exactly a crime, is it?"

"This doesn't make sense." Stiles said in confusion.

"We gotta get out of here." Scott announced, both boys climbing from the hole.

"Yeah, okay, help me cover this up." Stiles began to brush a small pile of dirt into the hole with his hands.

Amber sighed in relief, returning the flashlight to shine in the crater they'd dug so that the boys could see as they filled the hole back up. She watched Stiles pause, looking past where she was standing on the opposite side of the grave, his eyes catching on something behind her.

"Oh, god. What?" She asked, turning around to shine the light behind her but not finding any immediate danger.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked.

"You see that flower?" Stiles questioned, pointing to a shin-high flower a few inches behind where Amber stood.

"What about it?" She asked, shining the light on it and prodding it gently with the tip of her shoe.

"I think it's wolfsbane." Stiles said quietly, standing up and brushing his hands off on his jeans. He walked around to stand beside Amber and knelt down to look at it closer.

"What's that?" Scott asked with furrowed brows.

Stiled sighed, "Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?"

"No."

"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains? The original, classic werewolf movie?"

"No! What?"

"Not even Dracula?" Amber followed up, "C'mon you have to have seen Dracula. He literally holds up the flower at the end of the movie and-"

"You guys have watched way more of these movies than me, okay?" Scott interrupted.

"You are so unprepared for this." Stiles sighed in disappointment.

Amber watched as Stiles returned his attention to the flower at her feet and tilted his head cutely before pulling the plant up from the ground to reveal a rope tied around the base. He continued to tug gently at the rope and followed its trail as it swirled around the hole they'd dug several times before tapering off where it wrapped around the burlap sack.

Scott suddenly stood from where he was still kneeling at the base of the crater they'd dug, "Guys-"

Amber and Stiles both came to stand beside him and turned their attention back to the grave. Where the dead wolf had laid before, there was now a wide-eyed corpse of a young woman.

"Oh my god!" Amber gasped, flinching back and bumping into Stiles. He reached up to steady her, hands on her shoulders as her back pressed tighter against his chest, the wolfsbane flower tickling at her cheek where it was still clutched between his thumb and forefinger but she hardly noticed it as her mind repeated the same realization over and over.

The top half of the woman from the preserve was buried at the burnt shell of the Hale house.

The next morning, Stiles and Scott forced Amber out of bed at the crack of dawn to drag her back out to the burned house in the preserve.

Hoping to be better prepared for the weather, she had pulled on a dark hoodie underneath the same flannel she'd worn home the night before. It wasn't as cold in the light of day, but she didn't dare risk it.

Apparently, Stiles had already called into the station, reported the body, and implicated Derek over the phone to the deputy who had answered. He and Scott were all too eager to see the older boy arrested.

"Okay, I was up, like, all night and I have a theory-" Amber said quickly as they all tumbled back into of the Jeep, "And I really think we at least mention it to your dad-"

"If this 'theory' is that Derek Hale is somehow innocent in any way-" Stiles interrupted her.

"It's just-"

"No! No, oh my god. No." Stiles stammered, looking between Amber and Scott with wild eyes, "I don't know what has got you so hell-bent on Derek being innocent! I don't know if it's that he's, like, tall and sculpted, and looks like a Greek God-"

"Sounds like you're more hung up on his looks than I am." She muttered petulantly under her breath. Scott snorted a quiet laugh in amusement but Stiles barreled on as if she hadn't spoken.

"-Or if it's just a feeling you're convinced he's giving off, but whatever it is, you're wrong, okay?"

"If you let me just-"

"No."

"It- My gut is telling me-"

Stiles interrupted her again, "Amber, listen to me. You smart, beautiful, ridiculous pain in the ass-" He cut himself off, turning to face her fully in the still-parked vehicle and bringing his face close to hers, "Your instincts suck, okay? They suck. Because they're telling you Derek is a good guy when he is actually a- a dangerous murderer. Who murdered someone. And then buried the body in his own yard."

"I feel like you just complimented, but also insulted me." Amber questioned with a frown after his rant was over.

"That's because he did." Scott chimed in.

She sighed, scrunching her face up in frustration, watching Stiles shake his head before he started the Jeep and backed out of her driveway. He draped his arm over her knee to reach the gear lever and she nudged it occasionally as she mindlessly picked at the long sleeves of the flannel she wore.

"What about Derek's sister though?" Amber looked between the two boys, "Derek said she came into town before he did.. I mean, what if they're both werewolves? What if she's the one killing people and my instincts are right and Derek hasn't done anything wrong?"

"Or," Stiles deadpanned, "Maybe Derek's a liar. And he lied to you about his sister and he murdered someone before burying their body outside of his childhood home. Y'know, because he's a dangerous lying murderer."

Amber sighed in frustration but didn't respond.

When they pulled up to the Hale house, Stiles parked at the edge of the driveway near the treeline, hidden behind the police cruisers already at the scene. There were deputies laying crime scene tape around the area where the body was buried to the side of the house.

The three teens tumbled out of their vehicle and watched as Sheriff Stilinski and a deputy split off to enter the burnt shell of a house to search for Derek.

Amber huddled close to Scott where he was leaning back against the headlights of the Jeep. They watched for movement through the shadowy windows while Stiles did the same from the passenger side door, closest to the house.

When a deputy finally emerged with Derek's hands cuffed behind his back, Amber shrunk back from the glare he aimed at the trio. The officers guided Derek into the back of a police vehicle and Amber watched in distress as Stiles rushed forward to climb into the passenger seat as soon as the coast was clear.

She made a move to follow him but Scott grabbed ahold of the flannel she was wearing, pulling her back to stand beside him. She pouted with another longing glance to where Stiles was sitting inside the car, already conversing with Derek, and Scott shook his head at her.

Only a minute or two passed before Amber saw Sheriff Stilinski rounding the side of the house and heading for the cruiser. She abandoned Scott and made a beeline to where he was pulling Stiles out of the car with a tight grip on his arm.

"There. Stand." The Sheriff released his son, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just trying to help." Stiles insisted, taking a small step back to stand next to Amber.

"Okay, well, how 'bout you help me understand exactly how you guys came across this?" His dad demanded, looking between the two teens.

"We were looking for Scott's inhaler." Stiles explained, waving his hand around as he spoke. Amber shook her head at him with wide eyes but Stiles kept his focus on his father.

"Which he dropped when?" The Sheriff followed up, eyebrows raised.

"The other night." Stiles stated simply.

"-The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body."

"Yes." Stiles sighed, sounding exasperated.

Amber wanted to reach over and cover his mouth with her hands to keep him from continuing to dig himself deeper. It was like she was watching a trainwreck in slow motion.

"The night you told me you were alone and that Scott and Amber were both at home." The Sheriff said slowly.

"Yes! ..No! Oh, crap-" Stiles said with a grimace, finally realizing his mistake. Amber wrapped a hand around his forearm and gave it a squeeze.

"So you lied to me." The Sheriff's words continued to come out as statements rather than questions. The look of disappointment on his face had Amber withering under his gaze, but Stiles remained strong.

"That depends on how you define lying."

"Well," His father started, "I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"

Stiles hesitated for only a moment, "Reclining your body.. In a horizontal position?"

"Get the hell out of here." The Sheriff demanded.

"Absolutely-"

"Yes, sir."

Stiles and Amber spoke at the same time, scrambling to get back to where the Jeep was parked. Scott was still standing at the front and moved to open the passenger side door when he saw them heading back, "What the hell were you doing?"

Amber sighed as she passed through the open door, sliding into the center seat so that Scott could climb in behind her.

"I was trying to get information out of him!" Stiles explained, climbing into the driver's seat and starting the engine.

"Okay, well, did you?" Scott asked.

"Not really," Stiles began the drive down the long, winding dirt path that led to the house, making his way back out to the main trail for the preserve, "But listen, I have a book in the back. One of you grab it and see if it says anything about the rope and the wolfsbane we found last night."

Scott's arms were longer, so he reached behind Amber's back and dug around until he found the Stiles' backpack. He moved it into the front seat and settled it onto the floor between his legs, digging around inside until he found the book Stiles was referring to. Amber pulled one side of it onto her lap as Scott flipped it open and they began to skim the pages. They flipped past several sections on completely unrelated material and flicked more slowly through the ones on werewolf lore.

"Can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial-" Scott said in frustration, pushing the book fully into Amber's lap.

"Just keep looking," Stiles insisted, glancing at the girl beside him to ensure she was doing just that, "Maybe it's a ritual or something. Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf. Or maybe it's a special skill y'know? Like, something you have to learn."

"The ritual thing makes sense but I'm not seeing anything in here about it.." Amber said, finger tracing along the words on the page to keep her place in the bumpy car.

"I'll put lessening that on my to-do list." Scott scoffed at Stiles, "Right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."

Amber's head suddenly snapped up, eyes wild, "I think I might've printed something off about born-werewolves that could shift fully into a wolf-"

"Or maybe it's different for girl werewolves-" Stiles pondered.

"Okay! Stop it!" Scott shouted at his friends.

"Stop what?" Stiles asked for the both of them, looking at Scott in confusion.

"Both of you just stop saying 'werewolves'! Stop enjoying this so much!" Scott was breathing heavily and Amber slammed the book closed and shoved it between her back and the seat.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asked softly, putting a hand on Scott's arm.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked, his eyes flicking to the pair beside him before going back to the road.

"No!" Scott said, shoving Amber's hand off of his arm and clenching his jaw, "No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

Amber's face pinched and she awkwardly put her hand back in her lap, feeling like she'd been scolded.

"Y'know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott." Stiles said.

"I can't-" Scott panted, breaths appearing to come harder.

"Well you're gonna have to-"

"-No! I can't breathe!" Scott yelled, gasping for air.

"I- Are you having an asthma attack?" Amber worried, turning  toward him in her seat.

He continued to take in choppy breaths, reaching toward the backpack on the floor. He unzipped the pocket further and opened it to reveal the rope and wolfsbane from the night before.

"Oh, shit-" Amber swore, quickly pulling the backpack away from Scott and into her lap. She jostled Stiles in her haste and the Jeep swerved along the road.

"Pull over!" Scott yelled.

"Why!" Stiles shouted back, righting the steering wheel, "What's happening?"

"You kept it?!" Amber scolded loudly, re-zipping the bag to cut off the floral scent.

"What was I supposed to do with it!" Stiles defended.

"Stop the car!" Scott growled, no longer sounding like he was having an asthma attack but instead beginning to sound as if he were shifting. When Amber looked back at him, his eyes were glowing bright gold.

"Okay!" Stiles stopped sharply to park in the middle of the dirt road. The doors on either side of the Jeep were thrown open and Stiles ripped the backpack from Amber's lap and ran from the vehicle.

She watched Stiles run a short distance before simply launching the backpack as far as he could throw it.

"Okay, we're good. You can-" Stiles turned back to the Jeep and cut himself off, "Scott?"

Amber turned to see that Scott wasn't standing to the side of the vehicle like she'd thought. He was gone.

"Scott?" She called out once before looking back to Stiles with worry.

He began to climb into the car but she immediately reached out to stop him.

"What?" He questioned.

"Stiles, you need the backpack with all of your schoolwork in it. Just take out the rope and wolfsbane."

"Oh, yeah. That- uh, that would've been a good idea." He sighed, looking back toward where he'd thrown the bag before sulking over to follow her advice. When he returned to the vehicle, he threw the bag into the backseat once again and settled behind the wheel. "What the hell do we do now?"

"I- we gotta look for him, right?"

They began to drive the winding road through the preserve again, eyeing the treeline for their friend. When they got out to the main road without spotting him, Stiles pulled out his phone and called into the Sheriff Station on speakerphone.

"Stiles, you know you can't call the dispatch line when I'm on duty-" The deputy said upon answering, likely recognizing his number calling in.

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls-" Stiles said loudly into the receiver.

"Odd how?" The deputy sighed.

Stiles looked at Amber with wide eyes, unsure what to say, and she shrugged. I don't know, She mouthed silently.

"Uh. Like, an odd person or- Or a dog-like individual roaming the streets-"

"I'm hanging up on you now." The deputy responded before the line went dead.

"No! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wai-"

"She's gone, Stiles." Amber sighed, "'A dog-like individual', really?"

"Well, I don't know! What was I supposed to say? 'Any tips about a werewolf?'"

"I don't think it would've gone any worse if you had!"

Later that evening, Jason dropped his sister off at the high school for the game on his way into the fire station. "Hey," He called out when she went to climb out of the truck, "Wish Scott good luck for me. Stiles too-" He rushed to add as an afterthought.

Amber laughed, "I will! Love you."

She waited for her brother's response before slamming the door shut with a wave. Once he pulled away, she gnawed on her lower lip in thought for a moment. She knew she should head out to the field to get a spot on the bleachers, but she needed to check on Scott before the game started.

Decision made, she entered the school and crept into the boys locker room, looking around cautiously. She sighed in relief when she saw that everyone was already changed into their uniforms, moving more confidently as she wound her way through the rows looking for Scott or Stiles.

She stumbled upon Stiles at his locker first and she couldn't help her grin at seeing him in his game-day uniform. "Lookin' good." She said softly over his shoulder, laughing when the boy jumped and spun around to face her.

"Jesus," He gasped, "What are you doing in here?" Stiles looked around behind her like the thought they were about to get in trouble.

"I wanted to check on Scott." She defended.

"Yeah, alright, me too-" Stiles grabbed his duffle bag from his locker before slamming it closed, wrapping an arm around her back and guiding her toward Scott.

When they reached him, Scott was sitting on the changing bench. Their friend looked up and sighed when he spotted the two of them, "You guys gonna convince me not to play?"

Amber sighed and shook her head, knowing there was nothing Stiles or herself could say at this point to change his mind.

"I just hope you know what you're doing." Stiles said.

"If I don't play, I lose first line. And Allison." Scott grabbed his arm pads and began pulling them on.

"You honestly think she's that shallow?" Amber questioned.

"Yeah, Allison's not going anywhere-" Stiles assured him, "And it's one game.. That you really don't need to play."

"I want to play!" Scott whined, "I wanna be on the team. I wanna go out with Allison. I want a semi-freaking normal life. D'you get that?"

"Of course we do." Amber moved to sit on the bench beside Scott.

"We get it," Stiles said, dropping his duffle from his shoulder and straddling the bench to sandwich Amber between him and Scott, "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry-"

Amber nodded in agreement.

"I got it." Scott sighed.

"-Or stressed."

"I got it." Scott said again.

"Don't think about Allison being in the stands. Or that her father's trying to kill you-"

Amber turned her head sharply to glare at Stiles but he kept going, unfazed.

"-Or that Derek's trying to kill you. Or the girl he killed. Or that you might kill someone.. If a hunter doesn't kill you first-" He was cut off by Amber's hand reaching up to cover his mouth. Stiles made a questioning noise, eyes flicking to Scott who had tensed up, wide-eyed over the course of his rambling. Stiles' eyebrows rose in realization and he frowned sheepishly, pulling Amber's hand gently from his mouth. "I'm sorry. I'll stop."

Amber rose from the bench and rested a hand softly on the side of each boy's neck, unable to reach their shoulders through all of the padding. "Good luck." She smiled at both of them nervously, taking a deep breath and patting their cheeks before turning and leaving the locker room to head out to the field.

The crowd for the first game of the season was huge. The stands were packed and Amber hesitated, looking for a free spot. She caught sight of Scott's mom waving her over and quickly climbed up to sit beside the woman.

"Thank god," Amber laughed as she plopped down onto the cold metal bench, "I wasted too much time talking to the boys that when I got out here I thought I might have to stand on the sidelines the whole game."

"Big crowd, huh?" Ms. McCall smiled, "Is Scott nervous?"

"Uh, yeah. He definitely is," Amber said, "But he'll be fine. He's got this." Amber said the words more to herself, praying that speaking them into existence would somehow make them true.

The players were spilling out onto the field and Amber watched Scott head onto the pitch while Stiles settled into the player's bench. Stiles' dad spotted his son and bent to talk to him for a moment before looking up to search for an open space to sit in the same way that Amber had a few minutes before.

She raised a hand and waved to the man, scooting closer to Ms. McCall and pointing to the spot next to her. He nodded and climbed through the crowd to reach them, sighing gratefully when he sat down beside the girl.

"Hey, Sher-" She cut herself off at the man's eyebrow raise, "Mr. Stilinski." She settled with a smile.

"Hi, kiddo." He smiled, softly, leaning past her to exchange pleasantries with Scott's mom for a moment before turning back to face the pitch. "You think Stiles'll get onto the field?"

"Oh, um, Maybe." Amber smiled.

She hoped desperately that Stiles would get a chance to play this season. He'd warmed the bench during every game their a Freshman year, and she knew that his dad wanted to see him play as badly as she did. But more than that, though Stiles would never say anything, she knew how much her friend hated that his dad came to watch every single game on the off chance he might get thrown in for a few minutes.

"Is your brother down at the fire station for the night?" Sheriff Stilinski asked her.

"Yeah, he's just getting in, so. Probably won't be off until, maybe, midnight tomorrow?" She thought back to the hand-written schedule that was hanging on their refrigerator, "I think he's doing a thirty."

The Sheriff let out a breath, "And I thought I worked long hours." He watched Amber shrug before continuing, "Come home with Stiles and I, we'll order in pizza or something and hunker down for the night."

"Oh," Amber started, not used to receiving an invitation from Stiles' dad instead of her friend, himself, even after all these years. She smiled, "Yeah, I- That sounds great. Thank you."

The field filled up with both team's players and the game started. Amber kept her eyes glued to Scott as they began playing, and it didn't take long for her to notice that the ball was being thrown to every Beacon Hills player except for him. Scott raced around the field, open for a pass, but his teammates avoided him like the plague the entire game.

In the final quarter, a player from the opposing team dropped the ball and Scott made a run for it. Amber narrowed her eyes as she watched Jackson slam into him and send him to the ground.

"Hey!" Amber called out.

Ms. McCall was covering her own mouth with her hands in surprise.

Jackson quickly scooped up the ball himself and ran down the field, sending it past the other team's goalie to score a point.

The crowd cheered as the scoreboard changed to display the new score, 3 - 5, but Amber still frowned. She turned her head at the sound of Lydia screaming for her boyfriend and spotted her and Allison holding up a homemade sign.

We Luv U Jackson

Amber grimaced and she noticed Stiles peering behind him and doing the same when he spotted the girls. Stiles and Amber both returned their attention to Scott, but he'd clearly seen the sign as well. Amber dropped a hand between her knees and crossed her cold fingers, praying that Scott could hold it together.

The players reset after the goal, and they spread out to stand in their positions on the field again. Amber kept her eyes on the little number 11 on Scott's jersey, swallowing hard when she saw a player from the other team slowly back away from him like he was afraid.

"Oh, god." She whispered.

There was only a minute and a half left of the game, surely Scott could keep himself in check for that long.. She hoped.

The whistle blew and a Beacon Hills player won the initial scuffle with the other team to get possession of the ball. Scott raced down the field and when he was blocked by a wall of players, he launched himself inhumanly high into the air, jumping over their bodies to catch the ball in his net. Amber watched wide-eyed as her friend continued downfield, weaving through players expertly and sending the ball into the goal the moment he was close enough for a shot.

Amber and Ms. McCall both cheered loudly, turning to smile at one another in excitement for only a moment while the players reset again.

"McCall! Pass to McCall!" She heard Coach Finstock screaming at the team over the cheers.

There was one minute left and the scoreboard changed again, 4 - 5.

She kept her fingers crossed as she watched the other team get the ball straight away. The player turned to face Scott and froze for a moment before tossing the ball to his opponent. Amber huffed in surprise at the ball now cradled in Scott's net. He raced down the field once more and threw the ball straight into the goalie's waiting stick, but it tore through the netting and went into the goal behind him.

Coach Finstock and Stiles both raced to the sidelines, where the referee was unsure whether to call the shot a goal or not.

"The ball is in the net!" Coach yelled, grabbing the ref's whistle and blowing it himself to signal the goal.

Forty seconds remaining and the score was tied. 5 - 5

Amber's heart was beating violently in her chest with adrenaline, eyes wide as she watched the final seconds of the game. Scott got possession of the ball almost immediately and he raced toward the other team's goal before pausing, looking at the players surrounding him with slow, ominous-looking turns of his head.

"Oh, no." Amber whispered, glancing at the scoreboard to see there were only ten seconds left, "Oh god. Scott, don't lose control now-"

With two seconds left on the clock, Scott shook his head and sent the ball flying into the back of the goal.

Everyone in the crowd jumped to their feet, cheering loudly and already beginning to disperse from the bleachers. Amber climbed her way down with Stiles' dad, his hand wrapped around her bicep to catch her in case she took a wrong step.

Just as they stepped onto the grass, the Sheriff's cell phone began to ring and he stepped away from the chaos to take the call as Amber rushed over to where Stiles was standing on the sidelines to throw her arms around his neck.

"That was crazy! He actually did it!" She laughed.

Stiles reached up to wrap his arms around her back, "Thought he was gonna lose control for a minute there-"

"Oh my god, at the end! I was shaking." She finally loosened her grip and pulled back to look at her friend's smiling face. Her eyes moved from his and traced slowly over the tiny constellation of moles along his cheek. Her gaze dropped to his mouth for only a second before she released him completely and took a small step back.

Stiles looked utterly stunned and Amber took a deep breath before turning away from him to search the field for Scott. Her eyes raked over the many faces, but she didn't see their friend.

"Where did Scott go?"

"Huh?" Stiles asked, shaking his head and reaching up to rub at the back of his neck.

"I don't see Scott anywhere. D'you think he's okay?"

"I don't-" Stiles paused when he saw his dad approaching them with a frown on his face, "Dad, what's wrong?"

The man sighed as he stopped to stand in front of them, "I gotta get down to the station. We're releasing Derek Hale-"

"What!" Stiles squeaked, "No! Why?

"Medical examiner finished the autopsy on the top half of the body and determined the cause of death was the bite marks.. An animal attack."

"But-" Stiles paused, looking at Amber for the first time since his dad had come over. She shrugged and took his hand as he realized he couldn't say anything to deter his father.

"This case has been a mess. But, at least now we know who the victim was, and the cause of death-"

"What?" Amber interrupted when she processed his words.

"We do? Who was it?" Stiles questioned.

The Sheriff sighed again, tucking his phone into his pocket, "She's been ID'd as Laura Hale, Derek's older sister."

"Oh my god." Amber's hand went up to cover her mouth.

"The poor kid," The Sheriff shook his head, "Listen, I really gotta get down to the station. I'm sorry I won't be home for dinner."

"That's alright, don't worry about it, dad." Stiles assured him, squeezing Amber's hand in his own as his mind continued to race.

"You kids still order a pizza or something, all right? I don't like the thought of either of you going home to an empty house on a Saturday night." Sheriff Stilinski gave his son a pat on the shoulder before turning and taking off in the direction of the parking lot.

"Oh my god." Amber repeated quietly.

"We gotta tell Scott." Stiles announced, pulling her along by her hand and jogging toward the school.

The lights in the boys locker room were still out when they got there and Stiles continued to drag her through dark the aisles as they neared the back of the room. He stopped short and pulled her back to hide behind a locker when they neared the showers.

She went to question him but Stiles brought his free hand up to cover her mouth, shaking his head. He jerked his head in the direction of the showers and she peered around him to find Allison and Scott standing in the shower cubicle, kissing. Amber moved back behind the locker to stand beside Stiles, and it was only then that she realized they were still holding hands.

"I- I gotta get back to my dad." They heard Allison say quietly. There was a loud smack of one final kiss before Allison's footsteps began to approach where they were lurking.

"Hi, Stiles," Allison laughed, rounding the corner and spotting Amber beside him. Her eyes flicked down in the dark to where they were joined with a smile, "Hi, Amber."

"Hey." They both responded quietly.

The moment Allison was out of the locker room, Stiles released Amber's hand and the two stepped out from behind the lockers to stand in front of Scott.

"I kissed her." Scott said, a dopey grin on his face.

"We saw." Amber told him.

"She kissed me." Scott's smile continued to grow.

"Yeah, we saw that too." Stiles laughed at the look on their friend's face, "It's pretty good, huh?"

"I-I-I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back." Scott told them, "Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

Amber and Stiles looked at each other for a moment and grimaced.

"Yeah.." Stiles huffed out a pained laugh, pulling Amber a step back in the direction of the exit, "We'll talk later then."

"What?" Scott asked nervously, taking a step forward to match their step back. His eyes bounced between them as he waited for an answer.

"The medical examiner. Um, they looked at the other half of the body we found." Amber said quietly.

"And-?" Scott urged.

"Well, we'll keep it simple," Stiles explained, "Medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Derek's human, not animal. Derek not killer. Derek let out of jail."

"Are you kidding?" Scott asked his friends with wide eyes.

"No," Stiles answered him, "And here's an even bigger kick in the ass. My dad ID'd the dead girl — both halves. Her name was Laura Hale."

"Hale?" Scott repeated, voice raising.

"Yeah," Amber whispered, "Derek's sister."

#selenophiles #stiles #stilesfic #dylan obrien fanfic #stiles stilinski x oc #stiles stilinski #stiles stilinksi fanfiction #stiles smut #teen wolf #teen wolf fic #dylan o’brien fanfiction #teen wolf fanfiction #stiles stilinski smut #stiles stilinski fluff #teen wolf season one #teen wolf s1 #1x02 #*

[snaplight-anxiety]

season one scott stiles allison my beloveds,,

#little doodles from my sketchbook lol #teen wolf #allison argent #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #snaplight’s art #sketches #teen wolf fanart #doodles #teen wolf s1 #teen wolf season 1

[energonbunny]

I've started to rewatch Teen Wolf (because I hate myself) and I was reminded of how Peter called Scott to him during the bus thing to try and get Scott to kill that bus driver, but it's initially presented as him dreaming about he and Allison on the bus before he attacks her and...

I'm just really curious if Peter could feel how horny Scott was. Like I can't stop imagining Peter just trying to get his new puppy to play nice while also finally getting revenge and then all of a sudden Scott is just super horny and Peter is just "???? God this kid is a freak what the fuck" lmao

#peter hale #scott mccall #teen wolf #teen wolf s1

[nerdy-stilinski]

want you all to know that I am having a TERRIBLE day and when I texted my best friend about it her suggestion was “watch teen wolf. like, season 1, no scary emotions teen wolf. baby derek”

so I am restarting my teen wolf rewatch cheers thank u for being so smart julia

#you know what always fixes a no good very bad day? #teen wolf s1 #just really hits the spot #it’s perfect #i just want baby derek pretending to be scary #i adore him #and omg buzzcut stiles #anyways I’m doing bad #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #derek hale #tyler hoechlin #dylan o'brien

[elvencantation]

take me back to the start 🐺

#stiles #stiles stilinski #scott mccall #teen wolf #tw #my reels #closet cosplay #stiles cosplay #i guess #stiles and scott #scott and stiles #teen wolf s1

[gifpercabeth]

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS — 1.07 TEEN WOLF — 3.14 requested by @stydinskl

#percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #pjoedit #percabeth #percabethedit #percy x annabeth #percy jackson #annabeth chase #ours #twedit #teen wolf #stydia #stydiaedit #s1 #1x07 #parallels #other: teen wolf #request

[kennyomegasweave]

1. Stiles left Beacon Hills to never return and left his jeep.

2. Derek saved his jeep and fixed everything. Stiles's dad flat out says Derek saved it after Stiles left and tried to fix it up. Stiles had it held together with duck tape but Derek put everything into fixing it, but it wasn't able to run perfectly.

3. In the 15 years since Stiles left to never return, it ended up in the junkyard because Derek couldn't fix it like he wanted to, but he wouldn't abandon it.

4. Eli, Derek's kid, would routinely steal it to piss Derek off.

5. After Derek died. Stiles's dad gave Eli the keys to the jeep and told him Derek had "complicated feelings about the Jeep" but it should definitely be Eli's.

So like Derek was in love with Stiles huh? Like he saved Stiles's jeep, when Stiles himself abandoned it. He tried to make it run smoothly and when he couldn't he kept it under a tarp at the junkyard to not be driven but not to be scrapped either. And then his son would regularly steal it solely to piss Derek off. Derek himself said it was just to make him mad. And then when Derek died, Sheriff Stilinski gave the keys to Eli and said he should have it and that Derek had "complicated feelings about the jeep" but it was Eli's. Derek was definitely in love with Stiles and I just.

#teen wolf #sterek #spoilers #back on the sterek train again #like real talk #I shipped it in s1 #but after that I didn't really because the show backed away HEAVILY from that #and I was like oh okay I think it maybe could have happened but planned changed #and I was okay with that #I had fic #though I gave that up because most sterek fic was so wildly OOC for stiles and hated scott #and nah son nah #but like it was still kinda there but not really #so I kinda treated it like a crackship #I boarded the sciles train because those two are soulmates #and then tyler h left the show and that was it for sterek #but somehow #somehow #with this movie they managed to bring me back #like i was jokingly the whole time saying stiles and derek were divorced and eli was their kid #but like #in canon #like derek had to have been in love with stiles right #the whole fucking jeep storyline in this movie #like #holy shit #I will NEVER stop crying #dear lord #regular clyde

[ahhrenata]

thinking about steddie time travel fix-its and s1 steve.

#the pen sketch came from teen wolf #I watched it the other day #his hair was so versatile lol #some of the time travel fics I’ve read don’t usually go back to s1… but I wanted to try out the look #Eddie I just imagine with shorter hair 🤔 #I’ll color these eventually #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie fanart #stranger things art #stranger things au #s1 steddie

[audhd-nightwing]

how the scene should’ve gone

derek: i will rip your throat out. with my teeth.

stiles: …that’s kinda hot, dude.

derek: *confused silence*

stiles: anyway. to deaton’s i guess.

(stiles literally does not care that he said that bc derek is hot that’s just a fact of life. and derek is sitting there like ‘what just happened’)

alternatively

derek: i will rip your throat out. with my teeth.

stiles: woah, kinky.

derek: *glares*

stiles: okay, okay, jeez. you have no sense of humor, dude.

derek: maybe you’re just not funny.

stiles:

#teen wolf #stiles stilinski #derek hale #yk that scene #iconic #sterek #i guess #not really but like #pre slash or whatever #i love their dynamic in s1 #teen wolf stiles #how it should have gone

[strangerstilinski]

SELENOPHILES OF BEACON HILLS | Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinksi/Original Female Character

chapter seven

fic summary; after an already traumatic evening involving the unfortunate discovery of a gruesome scene, amber is convinced to hike through the woods with her two best friends in search of the other half of a dead body. but it's not as if she could ever say no.. not when stiles looked at her like that.

chapter word count; 9,136

chapter notes; stiles is furious with his best friend and deals with his anger using questionable methods. he and amber work to help scott with his control.

masterlist

c h a p t e r   s e v e n

heart monitor

Stiles sat at his desk in English class on Wednesday morning with rage and anxiety building up inside of him. He chewed angrily on the pen cap between his teeth, watching the door as he waited to see which of his best friends would walk through first.

He absently hoped that it wouldn't be Scott.

Stiles had made a promise to Amber. He had promised that he wouldn't let her get hurt again, but within twenty-four hours of him making that promise, the girl had literally thrown herself in front of a moving car to save his dad and- He had a hard time being angry at her for that.

Scott, however, Stiles found very easy to place the blame on.

Because it was Scott who should've been there to save his dad in the first place. It should've never been up to Amber — with her delicate wrists, and her soft edges, and her heart too big for her body. Scott practically had super powers, for crying out loud. It should've been him throwing himself into danger.

Stiles was furious that Scott hadn't protected their best friend when she'd needed him.

Unfortunately, a few minutes before the final bell, it was Scott who entered the classroom first. Stiles narrowed his eyes at his friend, averting his gaze as Scott made his way to the seat beside Amber's still painfully empty desk. Stiles ignored his friend the same way he had when Scott had attempted to talk to him at his locker earlier that morning.

He resolutely remained facing forward, flipping through the book on his desk with pursed lips as he ignored the boy to his right.

Scott dropped into his seat with a huff and leaned back into the aisle, "Still not talking to me?" Scott asked him weakly.

Stiles refused to acknowledge him and Scott sighed.

"Okay.. Can you at least tell me if Amber's okay?" Scott followed up when he received no response to his first question, "I didn't get a chance to talk to her last night before she left. I-I mean it's just a bruise, right? Some soft tissue damage?" Scott paused and Stiles clenched his jaw tight as he continued weakly, "It- It's nothin' that big?"

Stiles couldn't help but roll his eyes and shake his head slightly in frustration, keeping his eyes downcast, hyper-focussing on the restless tapping of his pen against the surface of his desk.

"Where is she? She's usually here before us." Scott questioned after a moment.

There was a hint of worry to his voice and Stiles thought, good. Scott deserved that. He deserved to feel that cold pit of concern filling his gut for the way he'd let their best friend down.

"You know I feel really bad about it, right? I mean, she's my best friend, too," Scott whispered, blowing out another heavy breath and tapping his hands anxiously on the top of his desk, "Okay.. What if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out and.. That I went to Derek for help?"

Stiles tipped his head in his friend's direction slightly and scrunched his face in annoyance before letting out a sigh, "If I was talking to you, I'd say that you're an idiot for trusting him, even if I think Amber'll be thrilled," He mumbled, "-But, I'm obviously not talking to you." Stiles finished, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth and turning to face forward again.

The final bell for the start of class rang out loudly and Amber hurriedly stepped through the doorway to the classroom only a moment later, smiling in apology at Mr. Anderson as she snuck past his desk to find her seat. She lowered herself gingerly into the desk in front of Stiles and he watched with a furrow in his brow when he saw her wince as she sat down.

She shuffled through her things and flipped her notebook open before glancing back at both boys with a smile, "Hey."

Scott smiled in relief, "Hey, where've you been?" He asked her.

"I had a doctor's appointment.." She said in confusion, "I texted you. And Stiles knew-" The girl turned slightly on her seat to face Stiles and give him a questioning look.

Stiles shrugged silently and Scott cut back in, "My phone's broken. But, you're okay? Clean bill of health and all that?"

"Yeah, all good," She told them both, "I have a massive bruise practically on my left asscheek, but other than that I'm good to go." She tapped her pencil against her desk a couple times in thought, "So, I know Derek's going to try to help you figure out all the," She looked around them before whispering, "Wolfy stuff."

"How did you know that already?" Scott asked her in confusion, "He only cornered me last night."

She shrugged and Stiles watched her turn her head to look down at her notebook in avoidance, "I have my sources."

"-And who are they?" Scott pressed.

Stiles was curious too. He leaned forward in his seat, crossing his arms over the top of his desk and letting his face hover just a few inches behind her head. Despite how much the thought of her alone with Derek Hale terrified him, he couldn't help the way the fruity scent of her shampoo sent an excited flutter through his chest when he inhaled and the smell hit his nose.

"It doesn't matter," Amber sighed in annoyance and turned around to face Stiles, their faces closer than she had been expecting, and He got the chance to watch tantalizingly close as her pink lips parted in surprise for a moment before she recovered enough to voice the question she'd turned around to ask him in the first place, "Has he told you anything yet?"

"Stiles isn't speaking to me on account of you getting hit by a car-" Scott cut in, "Which, for the record, I feel terrible about."

"Scott, I'm fine." Amber assured the boy before focussing her attention on Stiles again. She reached up to grab him gently by the jaw, her fingers pressing into his cheeks and her face enticingly close to his as she spoke to him quietly, "Would you stop being so cute and protective and just ask Scott the questions we all know you're dying to ask him-"

She smiled and used her grip on his face to turn his head until he was forced to face Scott across the aisle. Stiles flushed at her comment about finding him cute and sighed woefully when she finally dropped her hand, causing him to focus solely on Scott, "What did he say?" He finally caved.

The three teens didn't get a chance to continue the conversation before Mr. Anderson was rising from his desk and starting his lecture.

The bell signaling the end of first period rang out and Amber collected her books into a stack quickly, pulling them into her arms as she stood and turned to face her friends, Stiles stepping up behind her and urging her down the aisle between desks with a hand on her back.

When they reached the front of the room, Amber turned to Scott as they walked, "So? What did Derek say?"

"He told me that in order to gain control, I need to tap into primal instincts from my animal side and get angry. Then, he thinks I'll be able to control the shift." Scott told them quietly.

"Wh- He wants you to tap into your animal side and get angry?" Stiles repeated incredulously as the three exited the classroom.

"Yeah." Scott told his friends simply as they began to walk down the hallway together.

Amber's eyebrows drew together, also confused by Derek's advice, "That.. Well.. that seems like a terrible idea."

"Yeah, no kidding," Stiles said, "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone. And that someone is usually either me or Amber."

She nodded in agreement and Scott sighed.

"I know-" He exclaimed in agreement, "That's what he means when he says he doesn't know if he can teach me," He finished dejectedly, "I have to be able to control it."

"Well, how's he gonna teach you to do that?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know," Scott told them, "I don't think he does either."

"I'm sure he'll figure something out, Scott." Amber told him, reaching up to pat him on the back as they wove their way through the groups of students chatting in the hallway.

Stiles threw his head back in exasperation at his friends before turning to look at Scott over Amber's head, "When are you seeing him again?" He questioned.

"He told me not to talk about it. Just.. Act normal and get through the day."

Stiles threw his arm out across both of their chests as a barrier to stop Amber and Scott in their path, "When?" Stiles pressed.

Scott turned to face them both, "He's picking me up at the animal clinic after work."

"After work. Alright," Stiles repeated, nodding and dropping an arm heavily around Amber's shoulders, "That gives us 'til the end of the school day, then."

"Huh?" Amber said in confusion, turning her head to look up at Stiles where his face was close to hers.

"To do what?" Scott questioned, his eyes bouncing between his best friends in confusion.

"To teach you ourselves." Stiles said determinedly. He shrugged before leaving Scott alone and pulling Amber down the hallway, leading her in the direction of their lockers before the start of second period.

"Right, teaching him ourselves.. Uh, how exactly are we going to do that?" She questioned, readjusting her books into the arm on the opposite side of Stiles so that she could grip at the back of his plaid shirt as they walked, "I mean, forgive me for saying it but, Derek is kind of the expert here. Not us."

"Derek doesn't know what he's doing either," Stiles scoffed, "He said so himself."

"Okay, well. If Derek, who has the same-" She glanced around them at the horde of students before continuing quietly, "'Condition' as Scott.. If he doesn't know how to teach him, then how the hell are we going to?"

"Simple. We're just gonna have to figure it out before Derek does." He told her, dropping his arm from her shoulders as they reached her locker, "Just think about it. Brainstorm! We'll catch up in Chem and then talk it all out at lunch."

And just like that he was gone, heading toward his own locker with a determined bounce in his step. She watched him go with a disbelieving shake of her head.

Apparently, she had some brainstorming to do over the next two hours.

During the morning break between classes, Amber scoured the halls for Lydia. Aside from a few meaningless text messages that Lydia had finally begun to respond to late the night before, Amber hadn't gotten a chance to check on her friend since their quick but memorable meeting the previous afternoon.

She hadn't made a stop to drop things off at her locker yet and she nearly pummeled a student passing by with her Algebra II textbook when she finally spotted her friend.

"Lydia!" Amber called, sighing in relief when the girl's strawberry blonde head turned slowly toward her and came to a stop to wait for her. "Hey! Hi. How are you feeling today?" She greeted when she finally reached where Lydia was standing along the wall.

"Better," Lydia told her simply, "My mom told me you stopped by yesterday, but if I'm being honest, I don't really remember it."

Amber nervously shuffled her books around in her arms at the reminder of Lydia's state when she'd last seen her, "Yeah, I- Yeah you were pretty out of it."

Lydia shrugged, "Thank you for coming, anyway. I- I'm glad you were there. Even if I don't remember it."

Amber shrugged guiltily as her mind replayed the way she'd frozen at Lydia's advances instead of pulling away, "Of course, Lyds."

Lydia had this look on her face, as if she wanted to say something of importance, but after a moment she flipped her hair over her shoulder and took a step back instead, "Anyway, I better get going." She said dismissively "Text me later?"

"Always do," Amber smiled sadly, fingering at the corner of her textbook as she watched Lydia turn and walk down the hallway.

Eventually, she would tell Lydia what had happened. She had to. It was bound to eat her alive if she kept it to herself for too long.

Amber was sitting in the chair beside Scott at lunch, trying desperately to eat her salad in peace. Her friend kept nervously readjusting the textbook that he was utilizing as a makeshift wall to shield himself from Allison across the cafeteria. He hunched down over the table in hiding before peeking over the top of the book and then quickly ducking down again.

Scott gripped the corners of the textbook and slid himself closer to the girl beside him, knocking into her with his elbow as he did so. Amber's forkful of chicken and greens dropped back to her plate when the utensil slipped from her grasp as she was jostled.

"Scott. You've gotta be kidding me." She scolded him with a sigh, pushing his World History textbook back a few inches to the right and away from her tray.

She looked across the table to see if Stiles had seen the interaction but his focus was on reading back something that he'd scrawled messily in the notebook in front of him.

She settled back to start eating again while Scott's knee bounced agitatingly against hers. His head remained ducked down behind his book and he used both it and Stiles' body sitting across from him as a shield to avoid Allison's eyeline.

"Scott, seriously, why are you so worked up?" Amber asked after swallowing a bite of food, setting her fork down and reaching to wrap her fingers around Scott's knee to slow the restless movements against her.

"Derek told me I need to stay away from Allison if I want him to teach me," Scott repeated, "So, I can't let her see me."

"I think the book's making it more obvious," Stiles finally told him, looking up from his notes and reaching across the table to pull the book down a few inches only for Scott to quickly hike it back into an upright position, "Besides, she's reading anyway." Stiles pointed out, gesturing behind himself to where Allison was sitting alone, engrossed in a leatherbound book.

Scott peeked around his textbook, but didn't lower it, his eyes bouncing back and forth between where Amber was eating and where Stiles was jotting something down in the notebook in front of him.

Amber sighed under Scott's continued attention after a few moments and took a sip from her water to wash down her food before caving, "What is it, Scott?"

"Did you guys come up with a plan yet?" He finally asked.

"I don't really think-" Amber started, only to be cut off by Stiles.

"I think so." He contradicted as he took a large bite from his apple.

She intended to talk him out of the terrible idea he'd already mentioned to her, but she was momentarily distracted when she caught sight of the juice from his apple, the way it had coated his lips in a delicious looking shine that she suddenly found herself wanting to taste. Her own lips parted involuntarily and her arm lowered distractedly to rest in her salad as she watched him start to chew the large bite in his mouth.

She jolted when Scott forcefully knocked his knee against hers before he spoke to Stiles, "Does this mean you don't hate me now?"

"No," Stiles answered through his mouthful of fruit, "But your crap has infiltrated our lives. So, now we have to do something about it. Plus, Amber and I are definitely both a better Yoda than Derek." He said, nodding at the girl, oblivious to the way she was blushing in embarrassment and wiping salad dressing away from her arm with a napkin.

"Okay, yeah. You guys teach me." Scott agreed quickly with a nod.

"Sure, yeah. We'll try." Amber said after a second.

"Yeah, I'll be your Yoda." Stiles told Scott.

"Yeah, you'll... Be my Yoda." Scott repeated reluctantly.

"Your Yoda, I will be." Stiles spoke the words in what was quite possibly the worst imitation of Yoda that had ever been attempted, voice high and garbled. He laughed at himself and Amber snorted around a sip of water in amusement, causing the boy to grin at her across the table, "I said it backwards-" He began to explain to Scott.

"Yeah, yeah I-I know." Scott said quickly, cutting him off before Stiles could supply any more Star Wars commentary.

"Alright, you know what? I definitely still hate you-" Stiles narrowed his eyes, collecting his things from the table and pulling his backpack over his shoulder, "Uh huh.. Yeah. Hate."

He grabbed Amber's tray of unfinished salad, and she made a small noise of protest that he ignored. She reached out for her food in vain as Stiles dumped it in the garbage can at the end of the table before he grabbed ahold of her still outstretched hand and pulled her from of her seat to lead her out of the cafeteria.

The commotion had drawn attention to their table and Allison was now looking up from her book, watching the trio as Scott raced to keep up with them.

"Scott-" Amber heard Allison call out quietly as they rounded the corner into the hallway.

Amber watched over her shoulder with a frown as Scott dashed into the nearest boy's restroom to hide from the other girl while Stiles pulled Amber in the opposite direction.

During their free period later that afternoon, the three of them all wandered out onto the lacrosse field for Stiles' brilliant idea. Amber shivered as she jogged to keep up with the boy's longer strides as they approached the field.

"Okay-" Stiles started as he swung the large duffle bag of lacrosse gear he was carrying over his shoulder onto the bench, "Now," He paused to dig around in the bag, eventually pulling out a long black velcro strap with a small electric monitor in the center and holding it out to Scott, "Put this on."

Scott squinted at the device, "Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?"

"It is." Amber confirmed, nodding at him to put it on.

"Yeah, we borrowed it." Stiles announced.

"Well.. Stole it." She corrected with a wince.

"Temporarily misappropriated," Stiles amended, sending a small glare at the girl, "Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs. You're gonna wear it for the rest of the day."

Amber guiltily pulled Coach Finstock's phone from her pocket where she'd stashed it a few minutes earlier after sneaking it off the corner of his desk while he wasn't looking.

"Isn't that Coach's phone?" Scott pointed out, looking at the device in her hand.

"That, we stole." Stiles admitted, reaching up to pat Amber on the back in commiseration.

"Why?" Scott questioned, looking between them.

"Alright, well, your heart rate goes up when you 'go wolf', right?" Stiles asked, "When you're playing lacrosse, when you're with Allison, whenever you get angry-"

"So, theoretically, we're thinking maybe learning to control your heart rate will help you learn to control all the other stuff." Amber interrupted.

"Like the Incredible Hulk?" Scott asked with a grin.

Stiles shrugged, "Kinda like the Incredible Hulk, yeah."

"No," Scott corrected, "I'm like the Incredible Hulk."

"Well, you're both losers." Amber stated in mumbled agreement with a shrug.

Stiles glared at them both before directing his annoyance at Scott, "Will you shut up and put the thing on?"

Scott did as he was told and hiked up his shirt to wrap the device around his chest tightly and tie it off. When he tugged his shirt back down, Stiles grinned, pulling the duct tape out of his bag and rising to stand behind Scott.

"Hold his hands together while I tape." Stiles told Amber.

The girl sighed and came to stand behind Scott as well, grabbing his forearms and holding them close together while Stiles wound the tape back and forth over Scott's wrists until they were bound together behind his back.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free period." Scott turned his head to the side to look back at them over his shoulder.

"For the record, me either." Amber released his arms gently and spun him around until he was facing where Stiles was already preparing a few yards away, "Good luck." She whispered to Scott with a sympathetic frown before dashing off to stand beside Stiles.

"What does that mean?" Scott called after her worriedly.

"Alright, y'ready?" Stiles asked Scott with a grin, "Remember, don't get angry."

"I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea." Scott said quietly.

Amber pulled up the heart rate monitoring app on Coach's phone and sat down in the grass beside Stiles' feet, carefully avoiding her bruised side as she dropped onto her butt in he middle of the field. She watched as Stiles picked up his lacrosse stick and rolled it around in his hands for a moment before he scooped up a ball and quickly threw it across the field, the object pelting Scott straight in the stomach.

He keeled over in pain groaned, his heart rate making a small jump up to 115 on the monitor in Amber's lap. Stiles leaned over to read the number and laughed in gratification, picking up and throwing another lacrosse ball, this one smacking Scott in the jaw.

"Okay. That one.. Kinda hurt." Scott announced, gritting his teeth.

Amber watched him attempt to shake it off and return to an upright position as he waited for Stiles to aim another shot.

"Quiet," Stiles waved him off in annoyance, "Remember. You're supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, alright?"

"Just stay calm." Amber reminded Scott helpfully.

Stiles launched another ball, but this one drifted to the left and soared through the air past Scott's shoulder to land in the grass behind him.

"Stay calm.." Scott repeated, bouncing on his toes, "I'm staying calm. I'm staying totally calm. Like there's no balls flying at my face-"

His words were cut off when Stiles' next throw smacked him in the face again with a loud thwack and Amber winced, glancing down at the monitor screen to see that the number remained the same.

Stiles threw several more direct hits at Scott's face, stomach, legs, and neck during the next fifteen minutes, pelting him with one right after another, and Amber eventually sighed, getting to her feet with the hopes of giving Scott a small break.

"Can I try a couple?" She asked Stiles innocently.

"Oh, yeah, sure," He told her immediately, handing over his lacrosse stick, "Here."

She held the unfamiliar object in her hands and scooped up a ball into the tiny net at the end taking a moment before squinting her face in concentration and swinging the stick forward, sending the ball soaring several feet to Scott's left. He took in a breath of relief and she slowly went to scoop up another ball, biting her lower lip and narrowing her eyes. When she swung forward and released the ball again, this one flew high over Scott's head and landed behind the bleachers.

"Okay, this is painful." Stiles announced, stepping up behind her.

"I'm actually finding it pretty painless-" Scott defended.

Stiles stepped into her space and draped himself over her back, gently avoiding putting pressure against her bruised hip as he wrapped himself around her. His warm hands went over the tops of hers and Stiles adjusted them on the stick until he had them where he wanted them. She pulled in an shaky breath and remained very still as he leaned over her shoulder to peek down over her chest toward the ground. He knocked her feet further apart with his own, knee slipping between her thighs for a moment as he adjusted and spread her legs, nudging softly until he was satisfied with her stance.

"Okay, so-" He started, huffing out a warm breath onto the back of her neck and causing her to twitch with a silent gasp in his arms, "We're just gonna-" Stiles raised their arms and pulled her body flush against his chest. He leaned the both of them back a few inches before throwing their arms forward, following through with the swing until the stick was almost on the ground as Stiles leaned over her body.

She watched the ball with wide eyes as it soared quickly through the air and hit Scott directly in his groin.

"Ah! Son of a bitch!" Scott yelled out, bending over in pain.

Stiles laughed joyfully as they stood upright again and he released Amber from his embrace, "Y'know, her aim is definitely improving." He called out to Scott.

"Sorry!" She yelled in apology, quickly handing the stick back to Stiles and plopping back down on the ground. She grabbed Coach's phone and it beeped loudly in warning as Scott's heart rate rose to 130.

"Ah, ah, ah-" Stiles tutted, scooping up another ball as he looked at the screen over Amber's shoulder, "Don't get angry."

"I'm not getting angry." Scott agreed.

Stiles threw another quick shot and it smacked roughly into the meat of Scott's thigh. He threw one ball after another for a long minute, hitting Scott with nearly every one. Amber worriedly watched Scott struggle more and more as the hits continued without him being given a moment to recover.

"Stop," Scott pleaded after receiving yet another ball to the face, "Just, can we just-" He was interrupted when Stiles hit him in the gut with his next throw and Scott dropped to his knees.

"Stiles." Amber scolded, "Give him a sec-"

The phone in her hands started beeping rapidly again in warning and she looked down at it with wide eyes, watching as Scott's heart rate rose slowly but steadily over 160. She scrambled to her feet and Stiles pulled her at wrist to look at the phone in her hands nervously. Scott's heart rate rose another few beats and she glanced up to see him groaning with his face in the grass.

"Scott?" She called out to him warily.

He groaned loudly in response and ripped through the tight layers of duct tape around his wrists, freeing his arms from behind his back. He reached forward to dig his fingers into the ground, his whole body rising and falling with his deep breaths and his hands tightening as he clawed at the field.

The beeping on the monitor slowed by a fraction and as soon as she heard it, Amber was darting forward before Stiles could stop her, his hand reaching out and only managing to brush his fingertips against her arm as she ran to kneel in front of Scott. She reached out a tentative hand and brushed her fingers softly through Scott's hair as he took a deep breath and rolled onto his side weakly, looking distinctly human.

"Hey, you did good." She told him softly, carding his hair out of his face gently.

"Scott?" Stiles asked as he squatted down beside them. He pulled Amber's hand away from their friend's hair before enclosing it safely in his own, "You started to change."

"Are you okay?" Amber asked.

"It was the anger," Scott told them, still breathing heavily on the ground, "But it was more than that.. It was like the angrier I got, the stronger I felt." He admitted.

"So it is anger then," Stiles clarified, "Derek was right."

"You say that like it's such a surprise." Amber mumbled quietly with a roll of her eyes, squeezing Stiles' hand roughly in her own.

"I can't be around Allison." Scott said sadly, shaking his head.

"What, just because she makes you happy?" Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head again, "No. Because she makes me weak."

"Oh, that is such bullshit-" Amber laughed at him. They both looked at her in surprise and she continued, "No, I'm serious. What kind of-"

"We should head inside so we have enough time to put all this stuff back before the bell," Stiles diverted the conversation, "C'mon."

He reached down to grab Scott's hands and Amber leaned in to help him pull their friend to his feet. Amber left her hand pressed into Scott's side for a moment once he was standing, until she was sure he was okay and only after she deemed he was alright did she let it fall back to her side.

Scott went to sit on the bench to recover for a minute while Amber and Stiles rushed around the field to collect all of the balls that had been thrown at him over the last half hour. Once all of Stiles' lacrosse gear was tucked back in his large duffle bag, the three headed back toward the school.

When they reached the locker room, Stiles poked his head inside before giving the all clear and pulling Amber into the room behind Scott and himself.

"I thought the locker room was empty?" She hissed as they passed a few guys who were finishing up at their lockers, applying deodorant, pulling on shirts, and tying their shoes.

"I never implied that it was empty," Stiles defended, "I was checking to see if anyone was outright naked. Which.. They don't seem to be."

One boy raised his eyebrows suggestively at her while he tugged his shirt down over his chest and she tucked herself closer to her friends self consciously as they made their way further toward the back of the room.

"Guys, seriously. What am I going to do about Allison?" Scott asked miserably as they turned a corner into a row of lockers.

"Alright. You stay away from her for a few days. You can do that." Stiles said easily as they reached his cubicle and stuck his lacrosse stick inside.

"But is it a few days, or forever?" Scott asked, looking between them with a frown.

"It's not forever, Scott." Amber assured him, leaning against a locker.

Stiles leaned against the locker beside her and lifted an elbow to rest on her shoulder as he spoke with his hands, "Y'know, this whole 'women make you weak' thing is a little too Spartan warrior for me." He said, thinking back to their conversation on the lacrosse field.

Amber smiled at his words for only a second before turning her attention to Scott, "I'm sure it's just a part of the learning process. Like, all your focus needs to be in one place when you're first starting out, kinda thing."

Scott sighed and turned away from them, "Yeah, but.. You've seen Derek. I mean, the guy's totally alone," Amber frowned at his words but he continued on, "What if I can, like, never be around her again."

"Scott, Derek's whole family was killed off by a family of werewolf hunters. I don't exactly think being alone was his first choice." She said delicately, a sad feeling in her chest.

Stiles steered the conversation back around to their friend, "Look, even if you can't see her again.. If you're not dead, that could be a good thing."

"I'd rather be dead." Scott grumbled melodramatically.

Amber sighed with a roll of her eyes and Stiles dropped his arm from her shoulder in mirrored exasperation, "You're not gonna end up like Derek," He promised with a sigh of his own, "All right? We'll figure it out."

"'Kay." Scott nodded sadly.

Stepping forward, Amber placed a hand on Scott's shoulder and turned his body back to face them, "Let's get out of here?" She asked her friends, nodding toward the front of the locker room.

Scott pulled his backpack over his shoulder with a nod, "Something smells terrible in here, anyway."

"Really?" Stiles laughed, placing a protective arm around Amber's shoulders and using his body as a wall between her and the showers as they passed, "In a boy's locker room?"

Amber snorted, tipping her head against the crook of Stiles' shoulder as they walked, "Yeah, huh. That doesn't make any sense at all." She said sarcastically.

"No, it- It's like something's rotting. Or dying." Scott told them with a scrunch of his nose.

"All I smell is sweat, feet, and way too much cologne," Amber told them, lifting her head to look at Scott and flicking him lightly on his nose, "It's that super-sniffer. You can probably smell a dead mouse or something."

"That.. Actually makes sense." Scott sighed as they pushed out of the locker room.

"Yeah, probably a little guy leftover from the infestation Greenberg caused with all that food in his locker." Stiles elaborated as the three made their way down the hall.

"Why does it seem like it's always Greenberg?" Amber asked.

Both boys shrugged before reciting in sync, "When in doubt, blame Greenberg."

Amber was the first of her friends to get to their last period Economics class with Coach Finstock, their teacher's phone now tucked away in the pocket of a sweatshirt she'd snatched from Scott's locker during the fifteen minute afternoon break. She pulled out her books with one hand, spreading them out on her desk while her other hand reached into her pocket to grip at the cellphone in an attempt to ground her nerves. Her anxiety at the thought of getting caught returning it at the end of the day had pushed her several levels beyond antsy.

Finstock had a pile of textbooks in his hands and he dropped them down onto the top of his desk dramatically to emit a loud bang. She flinched aggressively at the sound and looked up toward the front of the room, catching sight of Stiles and Scott as they entered the classroom.

"Let's go," Coach Finstock impatiently urged the group of students filing in at the final bell, "Sit, sit, sit, sit," He watched them all continue to slowly find their desks with barely concealed annoyance, "We got a lot to cover today. Let's go! Quicker."

Stiles automatically went to sit in his usual seat in front of Amber, but Scott looked at him with wide eyes when he saw the empty desk that would be open for Allison behind himself, "Stiles! Sit behind me, dude-" Scott pleaded in a whisper.

Amber watched as Stiles immediately spun around and attempted to place his backpack into the vacant seat across the aisle from her, but Allison stepped up to the desk with a shy smile and he immediately retreated.

"Ha. Hi-" He laughed awkwardly as he stepped back to allow Allison to sit. He flopped down into his normal seat with a shrug directed at Scott and Amber leaned forward to pat Stiles on the shoulder.

"You tried." She whispered reassuringly.

"Hey," They heard Allison say softly to Scott, "I haven't seen you all day."

"I, yeah. I've been.. Super busy." Scott told her unconvincingly.

"When are you gonna get your phone fixed? I feel like I'm totally disconnected from you." Allison murmured as she finally let her books drop down onto her desk.

"Uh, soon. Real soon." He supplied, nodding his head.

"I, uh- I changed lab partners, by the way." Allison smiled shyly.

"Oh?" Scott questioned, "To who?"

"To you, dummy." Allison grinned.

Amber leaned forward in her seat to bring her mouth to Stiles' ear, "She-? Is she even in our Chemistry lab?" Amber whispered in confusion.

Stiles turned his head to the side, "She wasn't." He mumbled back.

"-This way I have an excuse to bring you home and study," Allison was telling Scott, pausing nervously at his reaction, "You don't mind, do you?"

As Scott tried to reassure the girl behind him, Amber reached into her pocket and stealthily pulled out Coach's cellphone.

"I need you to hold onto this or I'm actually gonna have a nervous breakdown-" She said quietly, reaching forward to pawn it off on Stiles at the side of his desk, "Please."

He took the phone from her wordlessly and slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans as Coach grabbed one of the textbooks on the desk and slammed it back down against the others loudly.

"Let's settle down," Coach Finstock told the class, "Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading," A few hands around the room went up and Coach sighed, "Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading," He paced back and forth in front of the chalkboard for a moment as he looked at them all, eyes narrowed in search, "How about, uh.. McCall."

Amber watched Scott's attention snap up to the teacher in surprise, "Uh. What?" He asked quietly.

Coach came around to the front of his desk and sat on the edge, crossing his arms over his chest and grinning expectantly at Scott, "The reading."

"Last night's reading?" Scott clarified nervously.

"How about, uh, the reading of the Gettysburg Address?" Coach asked with a shrug as some of their classmates laughed.

"What?" Scott asked in confusion.

"That was sarcasm. Are you familiar with the term 'sarcasm', McCall?" Coach asked blankly.

"Very." Scott told him truthfully, casting a look back at his two annoyingly sarcastic best friends. Stiles shrugged at Scott in pride and leaned back in his seat, shoulders pressing against Amber's desk behind him.

"Um," Amber interrupted quietly, hoping to save her friend from further embarrassment. She raised her hand up a few inches to get Coach Finstock's attention, "I could summarize the read-"

"Zip it, Callisto." Coach said dismissively with a flick of his hand. She shrank back into her seat as he focussed his attention on Scott again, "Did you do the reading or not?"

"Uh," Scott flipped through a few pages in his textbook before sighing, "I think I forgot."

"Nice work, McCall. It's not like you're not averaging a 'D' in this class." Coach told him loudly.

Amber bit down on her lip in frustration as she watched Coach move closer and stand in front of Scott's desk, "C'mon, buddy. You know I can't keep you on the team if you have a 'D'." He told Scott quietly, "How about you summarize, uh, the previous night's reading."

Stiles pulled Coach's cell phone out of his pocket and held it up where Amber could see the monitor reading off to the far side of his desk, blocking it from their teacher's view with his arm. The numbers crept up slowly until Scott's heart rate was over one hundred and she looked over at her friend worriedly as Coach continued to badger him.

"No? How about, uh, the night before that?" He asked, working himself up the more he picked on Scott, "How about you summarize anything you've read in your entire life?"

The number on the monitor jumped up to 134.

"I-I, uh-"

"Coach, I think-" Amber tried to cut in, but their teacher barreled on at Scott's nervously stuttered answer.

"No?" He asked loudly, "A blog? How about, uh.. How about, uh, the back of a cereal box?"

Amber gripped Stiles' shoulder anxiously as the number crept up again. Scott's heart rate had reached 145 beats per minute.

"No?" Coach said again, "How about the 'adults only' warning from your favorite website you visit every night? Anything?"

Amber took a nervous breath and watched Scott shake his head angrily. Her eyes drifted back and forth between her friend and the steadily rising numbers as they continued to creep up on the tiny screen in Stiles' hand.

"Thank you, McCall!" Finstock moved back to the front of the classroom and slammed his hand down on his desk loudly a couple of times in emphasis, "Thank. You. McCall! Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I had for your generation." Coach said loudly.

Stiles raised a hand to run anxiously over his short hair and Amber gripped tighter at his shirt sleeve as Scott's heart rate reached 160.

"Next practice, you can start with suicide runs-" Coach started, sitting back on his desk again.

Amber watched with a bated breath as the numbers on the monitor slowly began to drop back down, even as Coach continued his rant.

"-Unless that's too much reading." The teacher said sarcastically.

She and Stiles both looked over at their friend in confusion, their eyes catching on the place where Allison had reached forward to grip Scott's hand in her own. Amber heaved a deep sigh of relief and dropped to lay down across her desk, her forehead resting against the back of Stiles' shoulder.

"All right," Coach turned back to the chalkboard as if he hadn't just lost his cool at a student in front of the entire class, "Everybody else, settle down."

Stiles turned his head to look at the girl behind him and she leaned up onto her elbows to smile at him with a shrug, her eyes drifting back to Scott as she watched him visibly relax again.

After class let out, Amber walked down the hall crammed tightly between Scott and Stiles' shoulders.

"It's her." Stiles told Scott over Amber's head as they walked.

Scott looked around them in confusion at the sudden statement, "What do you mean?"

Amber rolled her eyes, "It's Allison." She clarified.

"Remember what you told us about the night of the full moon?" Stiles asked, "You were thinking about her, right? About protecting her."

"Okay-?" Scott asked slowly, still confusedly looking between his friends as they walked.

"Remember the night of the first lacrosse game? You said you could hear her voice from out on the field." Stiles told him.

"Yeah," Scott agreed, "I did."

"That's what brought you back." Amber explained.

"Yeah, you scored. And then after the game in the locker room, you didn't kill her," Stiles continued, "At least, not like how you were trying to kill us," Scott gave him a sharp look at the reminder and Stiles sighed, "She brings you back, is what we're saying."

Amber handed Stiles her backpack without a word so she could take off the borrowed sweatshirt that was beginning to make her body overly warm. She'd removed her sweater before putting it on earlier, so she was left feeling instantly cooler in her tank top once she was freed from the confines of the hoodie and she sighed in relief.

"No, no, no. But that's not always true-" Scott interjected while she undressed, turning his body toward them both as they moved down the hallway, "Because literally every time I'm kissing her or.. Or touching her-"

"No, that's not the same." Amber told him firmly, reaching out to retrieve her bookbag from Stiles and pulling it over her bare shoulders as she continued, "When you're doing that, you're just another hormonal teenager thinkin' about sex. Y'know?" She clarified.

After a moment of silence, she glanced up at the boys on either side of her and found them both with a dazed, distracted look in their eyes. Scott had a small smile on his face as he focused on nothing in particular down the hallway, and Stiles' eyes were caught somewhere between Amber's chest and the floor, clouded with the same distant fog, both of them lost in their own heads while their steps slowed in their delirium.

"Oh my god-" She complained slowly with her head thrown back, "You're both thinking about sex right now, aren't you?"

"Pff, yeah," Scott laughed unashamedly before apologizing, "Sorry."

Stiles blushed high on his cheeks and reached up to rub at the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Sorry." He repeated sheepishly.

"Whatever. That's fine," She dismissed with a shake of her head, "What Stiles and I are trying to say is that back in the classroom, when she was holding your hand, that was different."

Stiles finally seemed to recover and he looked at Scott on the other side of her, "I don't think she makes you weak," Stiles told him, "I-I think she actually gives you control. She's kinda like an anchor."

"Oh! An anchor! That's good." Amber nodded in approval of the term as the three stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"You mean because I love her." Scott said immediately before his eyes widened in shock.

"Exactly." Stiles agreed.

"Did I just say that?" Scott asked his friends after a moment of silence.

"You did." Amber said with a grin.

"Yes, you just said that." Stiles said with a roll of his eyes.

"I love her." Scott repeated in a daze.

"That's great. Now, moving on-" Stiles urged.

"No, no, no." Scott interrupted, "I think I'm totally in love with her."

"That's great, Scott." Amber told him.

"Yeah. It's beautiful," Stiles said sarcastically, "Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please? Because you obviously can't be around her all the time."

"Yeah, yeah-" Scott shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Sorry. So, what should I do?" He asked them.

"I don't know.. Yet." Stiles said, rubbing his face in thought.

Amber pulled idly at her backpack straps and watched as Stiles spun in a slow circle, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked around them. When he came to face his friends again, his mouth hung open while he stared at the ceiling, jaw slack and seemingly deep in thought.

"Uh-oh." Amber laughed at the look on his face.

"No. You're getting an idea aren't you?" Scott asked nervously.

"Yeah." Stiles told them, eyes still clouded in thought.

"Is this idea gonna get him into trouble?" Amber questioned.

"Maybe." Stiles told her honestly.

"Is this idea gonna cause me physical pain?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, definitely," Stiles said easily, grabbing Amber by the strap of her backpack and pulling her toward the end of the hall, "Come on."

He led them outside to the side lot where all of the Seniors parked their cars and she looked around them in confusion. There were only a few upperclassmen loitering outside the building, one was just climbing out of his truck to go and join where the others were huddled.

"What are we doing?" She asked Stiles as they came to a stop on the sidewalk beside the truck that had only just become unoccupied.

"You'll see, hold on," He watched as the Senior reached his group of friends and waited until the older boy was engaged in conversation before Stiles spun around to face Amber and Scott, "Okay, stand right there. You have your keys?" He asked Scott.

Scott nodded and pulled them out of his pocket.

"Perfect," Stiles told him, reaching for Scott's hand and adjusting the keys in his grip until Scott was left holding his house key on display up in the air, "Hold 'em up like so-" Stiles stepped back and looked at the keys with a nod before directing his attention toward Amber, "Okay. Now, you. Go stand over there," He pointed to the patch of grass only a few feet away and she stepped to the side slowly in confusion. Once she'd followed his direction, he turned to Scott again and patted him on the shoulder, "Now, whatever happens, just think about Allison. Try and find her voice like you did at the game. Got it?"

Scott nodded and Stiles adjusted his backpack on his shoulder nervously.

"Okay," Stiles said quietly, grabbing Scott's wrist and lifting his hand up a few more inches, "Just.. Hold it right there."

Amber watched Stiles look around nervously before making his way over to the parked truck and flipping through his own keys for a moment. When he reached the front of the vehicle, Stiles stuck his arm out and scraped a key along the length of the truck quickly. It left behind a large, wavy scratch in his wake and Amber's jaw dropped in shock.

Stiles took several large steps back away from the truck before yelling, "Hey, hey, hey! Dude!" Stiles pointed accusingly at Scott, "What do you think you're doing to that truck, bro!"

Her eyes were wide as she watched the group of Senior boys turn around in surprise, all of them immediately on alert.

"What the hell!" One of them yelled angrily as he stalked toward where Scott was still standing with his key held up in an obvious display.

Scott rushed to put his keys back in his pocket, shaking his head in denial, but before he could say anything, the older boy had swung his fist and landed a hard punch across Scott's cheek.

"Oh my god-" Stiles muttered sympathetically as Amber gasped and reached her hands up to cover her mouth with a wince.

Scott recovered with an angry look on his face and rammed into the Senior in a side tackle. The older boy sent a knee up into Scott's face and there was a sickening crunch as it made contact with his nose. Before Scott had a chance to recover from the blow, the other two upperclassmen had joined in on the fight and the three of them ascended all at once with punches and kicks off their own.

"Oh, god." Amber said quietly as she watched the scene, her hands twitching with the aching need to do something to help him.

"Stay calm. Stay calm.." She heard Stiles mumbling from a few feet away as he looked down at the phone he apparently hadn't yet returned to Coach, watching their friend's heart rate.

Scott was receiving kicks to his stomach, back, and face from the older boys and he curled up into a ball to block what he could, but the hits didn't slow.

"Oh!" Stiles exclaimed with a wince when one of the boys leaned over and punched Scott several times in the side of his head, "That's not okay-"

Amber looked at Stiles in wide-eyed disbelief, furious that he'd thought for even a moment that this was a good idea. After another long series of kicks aimed at Scott's face, she couldn't take it anymore. She pursed her lips, looking between Scott and Stiles as she tried to determine whether she'd have enough time to get to her friend before Stiles could pull her back. When she watched Scott wrap his arms tighter around his head in a weak attempt to shield himself, she cracked, taking off in a run toward the group.

"Amber, wait-" Stiles called out a moment too late.

"Hey. Guys, c'mon." Amber pleaded as she reached the scuffle, reaching her arms into the center of the group of boys in an attempt to put distance between them all, "Seriously, that's enough." She squeezed herself in between them but one of the boys reached their arm back and gave her a rough shove to the chest, sending her stumbling back a few feet and flighting to catch her balance.

"Stop!" Mr. Harris' voice suddenly cut in directly behind her, "Stop it right now!"

Just as quickly as their teacher had made his presence known, the older boys all dispersed and ran out of sight and Amber quickly dropped down to her knees to check on Scott. He was breathing heavily as he recovered and there was a stream of blood coming from his nose. She reached out to check whether or not it was still actively bleeding, fingers pressing gently against his face, when Mr. Harris spoke loudly again from beside them.

"What do you three idiots think you're doing?" He asked in annoyance as he looked between the teens still in his presence. They all shrunk back under his attention and he shook his head, "All of you. Detention. My room, now." The teacher ordered before storming back inside the building.

Amber helped Scott to his feet as Stiles ran up to them, gripping onto his backpack strap casually, and Amber's mind was clouded with anger and frustration as the three made their way to the Chemistry classroom.

When they entered the room, Scott grabbed a tissue as he passed by the table of hall passes at the front of the class. After a second of hesitation, Amber grabbed the whole box and followed the boys over to a lab station in the middle of the room. She squeezed herself between the two boys at the table, dropping down onto her stool with an angry sigh and shoving the box of tissues in Scott's direction.

Stiles looked up at the sound of her huff but shrunk back immediately at the glare she directed at him as she pulled out a notebook to start on her homework.

Fifteen slow minutes passed before Scott raised his hand slowly to draw Mr. Harris' attention, "Excuse me, sir? I know it's detention and all that but, uh, I'm supposed to be at work and.. I don't wanna get fired."

The teacher looked up at the three of them with an expression of unimpressed indifference before he blinked once and returned to whatever he'd been working on before the interruption.

"I can't believe you did that." Amber whispered to Stiles bitterly, dropping her pencil down onto her notebook page with a huff.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" He returned quietly, "I didn't mean for you to get wrapped up in-"

She turned her head to give him a sharp look, "You know that's not what I mean."

He sighed and nodded minutely, focussing intently on the pencil in his hands.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes as Amber watched the seconds tick by on the clock hanging on the wall agitatedly. Her elbows were bumped lightly by the boys on either side of her as they both fidgeted in the crowded space at the table that was really only meant for two. She bounced her leg restlessly on the lower peg of her stool and watched the way Stiles twiddled the wooden pencil pinched between his fingers while seemingly deep in thought.

Scott leaned forward on the table and turned toward them, peeking around Amber's seat to look over at Stiles, "You knew I would heal?" He questioned.

Stiles kept his attention focused on his pencil and thumped the eraser down onto his notebook, "Yep."

"So.. You did that to help me learn?" Scott asked gently.

"Yep."

"-But partially to punish me." Scott stated.

"Psh, yeah. Well that one's obvious." Stiles let his pencil fall from his fingers completely and laid his hands flat against the tabletop, tapping his fingers restlessly as he flicked his gaze over to meet Amber's.

"Dude.." Scott started slowly, "You're my best friend, and I can't have you being angry with me."

Amber looked between her two best friends sadly, feeling slightly at fault even though she knew how ridiculous the notion was. She reached her pinky out to brush against Stiles' own long fingers in a supportive nudge, hooking it between his middle and ring finger.

He looked down at their fingers for a long moment, tightening his hand into a fist to lock her pinky in his grip before he responded quietly, "I'm not angry anymore," He admitted to Scott, pausing to take a breath, "It's just.. Look, you have something. Okay? Whether you want it or not, you can do things that nobody else can do. So, that means you don't have a choice anymore. It means you have to do something."

Amber smiled softly at Stiles' words and turned her head to watch Scott nod slowly.

"I know," Scott said, "And I will."

Amber pouted with emotion as she looked between the two boys, "I am so stupidly proud of both of you right now." She whispered honestly with a small laugh.

"All right. The three of you. Out of here." Mr. Harris suddenly said from across the room. He was watching the group with a look of confusion and mild interest, eyebrows raised above his glasses. Amber blinked at his expression and wondered briefly how much of their hushed conversation he had heard.

"Thank you." Scott told the teacher politely as the three quickly collected their books and rushed out of the classroom.

#stiles #selenophiles #stiles stilinski x oc #stiles stilinksi fanfiction #stilesfic #dylan o’brien #dylan obrien fanfic #teen wolf season one #teen wolf fanfiction #teen wolf rewrite #teen wolf #teen wolf fic #1x06 #teen wolf s1 #scott mccall #*

[toastybugguy]

go easy on him Stiles, he might be in love with you !!!!!

#s1 sciles my beloveds #airlift Scott outta there before he explodes ‼️‼️ #teen wolf #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #sciles #scott x stiles #teen wolf fanart #fanart #toastytag

[bi-mccall]

SCOTT MCCALL

TEEN WOLF (2011–2017) 1.01 “Wolf Moon”

#uggh my heart #this is where it all starts #my favorite character #teen wolf #teenwolfedit #s1 #1.01 #scott mccall #my gifs #teendramasource #teendramaedit #dailyflicks #dailyfilmsource #dailytelevision #dailytvedit #dailytvsource #cinemapix #cinematv #userstream #filmtv #filmtvdaily #photopeablr #teenwolfgifs #tuserlexi #teen wolf rewatch

[spikeface]

Based on (x).

#teen wolf #scott mccall #twedit #ok so yeah this edit was sparked by how poorly melissa was explored in s5 #and in general how they dropped her as anything but an occasional prop to tell scott to get back out there after 2x10 #but i hope it's not taken as bashing because that's truly not how i mean it #i feel like both scott and melissa don't know how to talk to each other #not because they don't love each other or want the best for each other #but s1 melissa already starts out not knowing scott's life very well #she's interested and trying to support him and make time for him #but is swamped with work and overwhelmed with being a single parent #and would also desperately like her own life if it's possible #scott is already working to support them and agonizes over costing them anything - money time attention #they start the series already without an equilibrium and it only gets worse as scott becomes a werewolf #i think melissa also has a survivor's mentality of soldiering on #and so that's also the advice scott is getting #even when what they both really need is time to rest and connect #and it just made me so sad that scott's flashback was about being hospitalized #but his mother was there and he was being care for #whereas now #he's back at the hospital #alone #desperately in need of care

[amazingmaeve]

TEEN WOLF 1.01

#scottmccalledit #scott mccall #tyler posey #jackson whittemore #teen wolf #teenwolfedit #s1 #1.01 #my gifs #queue me up scotty #*gifs #*gifset #* #teenwolfgifs #dailymalesource #dailymenedit #dailymengifs #dailypoc #pocdaily #pocsource #photopeablr #bblecher #dailyfilmsource #dailyfilmandtv #dailyflicks #dailytvsource #dailytvedit #dailytelevision #dailytvfilmgifs #dailytvgifs

[bisexualisaaclahey]

best thing about scackson (to me at least) is that scott wasn't jackson's gay awakening, he was the guy that jackson realizes he had a crush on years later after being out and proud like

jackson, 2011: *one of the only people to notice things had changed with scott mccall*

jackson, 2011: *pursuing a homoerotic rivalry with scott mccall*

jackson, 2011: *generally obsessing over scott mccall*

jackson, waking up in a cold sweat years later: oh my god i was in love with scott mccall

#scott mccall #jackson whittemore #scackson #teen wolf #mtv teen wolf #teen wolf season 1 #this isnt canon. like to be clear! well its canon to me idk about jeff davis #also confession i dont ship them T-T i think this dynamic is just funny #lydia was watching all of this from the sidelines btw. like halfway through s1 she was like ..my boyfriend is in love with scott mccall #jackson s6: im bi btw learned that about myself in london #lydia: you learned that in LONDON? i learned that about you in the halls of beacon hills high school

[rapidhighway]

I touch my sketchbook for the first time in weeks only to bring you more teen wolf brainrot

#i only accept s1 haircuts as canon thanks #i can appreciate the amount of flannel #the supernaturalisms of this show #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #scott mccall #art #fanart #doodle #traditonal art #sketchbook