HALE HOUSE
Several mornings later, Scottie was leaning against the Jeep, parked at the edge of the Hale property, as she watched Danica get marched out of the house in handcuffs by one of the Beacon County Sheriff's Department's deputies. Danica looked over at Scottie with a scowl that caused Scottie to look down at the ground with an expression of mixed guilt and shame as Danica was pushed into the back of a deputy's cruiser.
A moment later, Scottie noticed Stiles walking from out of the woods toward the cruiser, which was unattended now that the rest of the deputies were checking out the crime scene itself. Scottie's mouth gaped open in shock when she realized what Stiles is about to do, just as Stiles looked back at Scottie. Scottie immediately tried to get Stiles to stop by mouthing her response at her.
Scottie muttered, "No!"
Stiles ignored her and darted toward the passenger door to the cruiser and opened it so she could talk to Danica, causing Scottie to groan in exasperation.
"Oh, God..."
Scottie turned away from them, unable to watch but not wanting to draw more attention to what Stiles was doing.
Meanwhile, Stiles sat in the passenger seat and turned around so she could face Danica and speak to her through the caged window between the backseat and the front seats of the cruiser.
"Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you," Stiles said. Danica's head was tilted down, but her eyes moved up to look at Stiles through her eyelashes with a scowl that immediately terrified Stiles. "...Okay, maybe I am. Doesn't matter. I just wanna know something." She shifted nervously in her seat. "The guy you killed? He was a Werewolf." Danica continued to scowl blankly and silently at Stiles, who kept talking. "He was a different kind, wasn't he? I mean, he could turn himself into an actual wolf, and I know Scottie can't do that. Is that why you killed him?"
Danica finally lifted her head to speak, but her tone of voice was understandably irritable due to the current situation. "Why are you so worried about me, when it's your friend who's the problem?" She jerked her head toward where Scottie was standing for emphasis, and Stiles moved back away from Danica a little. "When she shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh? Just keep cheering her on?" Stiles gulped in anxiety, knowing that Danica wasn't exactly wrong. "I can't stop her from playing, but you can..." She leaned forward so her face and Stiles' were only inches apart as she lowered her voice to a whisper. "And trust me -- you want to."
Before Stiles had a chance to process, the passenger door opened, and a hand yanked Stiles out of the car.
Sheriff Stilinski grabbed her by the right arm and dragged her daughter away from the car, with Stiles groaning the whole way. "Ow. Ow. Ow."
The sheriff finally stopped and let go of Stiles before standing in front of her so they could have a talk. "There. Stand."
Stiles exhaled loudly and finally met her mother's eyes as the sheriff prepared to scold her in an exasperated tone of voice.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sheriff Stilinski asked.
Stiles scoffed as though she thought her mother should be thankful for what she did. "I'm just trying to help!"
"Okay, well, how 'bout you help me understand exactly how you came upon this?"
Stiles, realizing she was in trouble, started to evasively talk herself out of it. "...We were looking for Scottie's inhaler..."
Sheriff Stilinski asked impatiently, "Which he dropped when?"
Stiles said hesitantly, "The other night..."
"The other night... when you were out here, looking for the first half of the body?"
Stiles nodded. "Yes."
"The night that you told me you were alone and Scottie was at home?"
"Yes." She cringed when she realized she just outed herself and Scottie and tried to backtrack. "...No." The sheriff her a hard look, and Stiles realized she'd been caught and sighed. "Oh, crap..."
Sheriff Stilinski, sounding exhausted and out of patience, stared at Stiles intensely. "So, you lied to me."
Stiles spoke in a hesitant tone. "That depends on how you define "lying...""
"Well, I define it as "not telling the truth." How do you define it?"
"Um... "reclining your body in a horizontal position?"" She gestured with her hands to emphasize her point, and the sheriff, annoyed and irritated, finally dismissed her.
"Get the hell out of here."
Eager to get out of the tense conversation, Stiles wasted no time doing exactly as she was told. "Absolutely."
ROAD
Stiles and Scottie sped out of the woods in the Jeep. Inside the vehicle, Stiles was driving while Scottie sat in the passenger seat, trying to research on her phone. After a moment, she impatiently spoke up. "I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial."
"Just keep looking," Stiles told her. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something? Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf." She thought about it for a moment, biting on her tongue as she did so, before she offered another theory. "Or, maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like, something you have to learn?"
Scottie, overwhelmed by all this Werewolf business, rolled her eyes and sighed before muttering under her breath, "I'll put it on my "To Do" list, right underneath "figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight.""
Stiles was too distracted by her own mental hypothesizing to hear Scottie and kept talking as though Scottie hadn't spoken. "Maybe it's different for girl Werewolves..."
Scottie, who had been growing increasingly irritable throughout their conversation, finally lost her patience entirely and snapped at Stiles. "Okay, stop it!"
Stiles frowned. "Stop what?"
Scottie's tone turned irritable. "Stop saying "Werewolves!" Stop enjoying this so much!"
"Are you okay?"
Scottie answered in a dark tone, "No!" She doubled over a bit in her seat, as though she was in pain. "No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."
Stiles got an idea of what this could possibly be about and looked at her with concern, not immediately noticing the sheen of sweat that had begun to coat the skin on Scottie's face as she seemed to start to hyperventilate. "You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scottie. Sooner or later."
Scottie doubled over more and began panting hard as she groaned. "I can't."
"Well, you're gonna have to."
"No! I can't breathe..." Stiles looked alarmed as Scottie groaned loudly in a voice that had the dark undercurrent of a Werewolf voice along with it. "AHH!" Scottie thumped her hand against the roof of the Jeep and could no longer take it as she yelled again.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...!" Stiles, alarmed, swerved her car out of shock, which only caused Scottie more pain.
"AHH! Pull over!"
"Why? What's happening?"
Scottie instinctively opened the backpack between them and was horrified to see that the wolfsbane plant and the rope with the flowers attached to it was inside. She looked at Stiles incredulously. "You kept it?"
Stiles was starting to become exasperated, too, and yelled in response. "What was I supposed to do with it?"
Scottie, becoming more sick due to her proximity to the wolfsbane, groaned loudly again, as though she was about to transform, before she shouted, "Stop the car!" She looked at Stiles, who turned to look back at her and was horrified to see Scottie's eyes turn bright gold. Stiles' eyes widened as she immediately slammed on the brakes.
"Okay!"
As soon as the car was in park, Stiles grabbed her backpack and threw herself out of the Jeep, running toward the edge of the woods and tossing the bag as far as she could throw it to get as much distance away from Scottie as possible. Once it was out of eyesight, Stiles threw her head back and sighed deeply before turning back toward the Jeep.
"Okay, we're good, you can-" Stiles cut herself off as she looked up at the Jeep and was horrified when she saw that the vehicle was completely empty. "Scottie?"
When Stiles walked closer to the Jeep, she saw the passenger door was wide open like the driver's door, indicating that Scottie had fully shifted and had run off in broad daylight. Fearful of the possible things Scottie could do while not in her right mind, Stiles plaintively called out for Scottie one last time.
"Scottie?
Panicked, Stiles was speeding down the road through the woods as she called the police on speaker phone and began a conversation with a very impatient dispatcher who seemed very used to Stiles calling him.
"Stiles, you know you can't call the dispatch line when I'm on duty."
"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls...?"
"Odd how?"
"Uh, like, an odd person, or..." She struggled to come up with an example that didn't sound like she was trying to find out if anyone had seen a Werewolf running through Beacon Hills. "A dog-like individual roaming the streets...?"
The dispatcher, out of patience, put an end to their conversation. "I'm hanging up on you now."
Stiles, panicked and desperate to find Scottie before she hurt somebody, tried to get him to reconsider. "No! Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait!"
"Goodbye."
The dispatcher hung up, and Stiles angrily turned off her phone before throwing it onto the passenger seat, where Scottie had left a stack of Stiles' research sitting there. The phone landed on a photo of a huge, wolf-man-like creature with red eyes, similar to the wolf who bit Scottie, holding a young, unconscious woman in his arms.
ARGENT HOUSE - NIGHT
Alec was sitting at his desk, where a box full of his belongings was sitting beside her. He started to unpack the box and put framed pictures on the top of the desk. Scottie was on the roof of the garage, in full-Werewolf-mode.
When she saw him through the window, she slid down the side so she could get a closer look. Through the window, she could see Alec smiling as he looked at some of the photos he'd found. She continued to crawl closer and closer to the window when suddenly, Alec got up and closed his curtains. Without a light behind the window, Scottie could see herself in the glass and was horrified by the sight of her Werewolf face and jumped down off of the roof to run away, only to run directly into the SUV pulling into the driveway, which screeched to a loud halt. Scottie flew up and onto the windshield before sliding off and landing in a heap on the other side of the vehicle.
The driver's door opens, and Chrissy Argent gets out quickly, horrified by the sight of Scottie laying on the ground in front of her before quickly rushing over to help her.
"Oh, my God..." Alec, who'd heard the common, said as he came outside to see what happened just as Argent grabbed Scottie by the elbow to try to flip her over. "Mom?"
When Alec saw Argent crouched in front of Scottie, who grimaced in pain and flopped onto her back, and whose Werewolf face was fortunately gone, his mind automatically assumed he purposely hurt Scottie and rushed over to see what was going on.
"What the hell are you doing?" Alec demanded.
Argent, realizing how this looked, stammered anxiously as she tried to explain, and Alec crouches down to place a comforting hand on Scottie's arm. "S-she came out of nowhere, Alec."
Alec looks at his mother with an incredulous expression. "Are you trying to kill her?"
Scottie, knowing what she knew about Argent's secret night job, looked at Argent in fear, but Argent, oblivious to Scottie's knowledge of her Hunter business, denied it. "No, no, of course not! She just - she just ran out into the driveway."
Scottie, not wanting to draw attention to herself or why she was there, immediately started to try to change the subject in an apologetic tone of voice. "I'm sorry. It's my fault, I'm sorry."
Alec looked at her with concern and put his hand to her face, brushing back her hair with his fingers. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Y-yeah, I'm fine. I swear. Sorry, I hit your car. I was just coming to say "hi.""
Argent, unsure of what was really going on and clearly concerned about her son's feelings for Scottie, looked at the young woman with a slightly suspicious expression. "You sure you're okay?"
Argent reached out a hand, and she and Scottie gripped the other's forearm so Argent can help her to her feet, with Alec putting his hand on Scottie's back to support her.
"Yeah. Yeah, completely." Once Scottie was standing, she tried to get herself out of the now-awkward conversation. "Uhhh, I should go." Alec once again reaches up with his right hand and brushed Scottie's bangs away from her face. "I've got a lacrosse game to get to."
Alec let his hand drop, and Argent, looking back and forth between Alec and Scottie and seeing the obvious romantic tension between them, got a conflicted look on her face. However, Scottie's attention was completely on Alec.
"You're still coming, right?" Scottie asked.
Alec laughed and looks at her with a smile. "Of course I'm coming."
Argent, wanting to keep an eye on the target of his son's affections, jumped into their conversation as a distraction and invited herself. "We both are."
Scottie looked at Argent in surprise as Argent smiled somewhat fakely and affectionately patted Scottie on the arm.
BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL - GIRLS LOCKER ROOM
Scottie was in her lacrosse uniform and was hanging up her bookbag in her locker when her superhuman senses started flaring again, allowing her to hear the various noises in the locker room with complete clarity, including the sound of Jaxon and another player whispering to each other, though their words were still difficult to make out over the other sounds, such as the locker doors slamming shut and equipment thumping against each other. Scottie turned to look at them to try to eavesdrop.
"...McCall..." Jaxon whispered.
"...only defense..." the other lacrosse player whispered.
"...not McCall..."
Jaxon looked over to see Scottie looking at them, and Scottie, feeling caught, looked back at her bookbag and tried to keep their conversation out of her mind. She reluctantly grabbed her pads and sat on the bench to put on her shin guards, looking back over at Jaxon and the others talking, only to be distracted by the sight of Stiles, who smiled when they made eye contact, happy to see that Scottie managed to control herself enough not to do anything crazy while she was transformed.
"You gonna try to convince me not to play?" Scottie asked.
Stiles sighed, but didn't look upset. "I just hope you know what you're doing..."
"If I don't play, I lose first line and Alec."
Stiles became exasperated, and replied in a loud tone of voice, "Alec's not going anywhere... and it's one game that you really don't need to play."
Scottie, once again losing her patience, replied even louder, "I wanna play!" Stiles looked at her as though to say, 'Really?' as Scott continued. "I wanna be on the team. I wanna go out with Alec. I want a semi-freaking normal life! Do you get that?"
Stiles retorted defensively, "I get it!"
Scottie, embarrassed by how dramatic she just was, looked down at the floor, and Stiles sighed before sitting down next to her on the bench, her knees facing the opposite direction from Scottie's as she said, "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay?"
Stiles considered her own words for a moment before adding onto them. "...Or get too angry..."
Scottie nods and replied in a quiet voice, "I got it."
"...Or stressed..."
"Yeah, I got it."
"...Don't think about Alec being in the stands..." Scottie looked up slightly as she began to actually think about Alec being in the stands, against Stiles' instructions, "...or that her mother's trying to kill you... or that Danica's trying to kill you... or the guy she killed... or that you might kill someone..." Scottie looked at her with an offended expression, but Stiles was on a roll and didn't immediately notice, "...if a Hunter doesn't kill you first-" She finally saw the hurt and angry look on Scottie's face and instantly ended that train of thought. "I'm sorry. I'll stop."
Stiles and Scottie were both silent for a beat before Stiles spoke up in an awkward tone of voice. "Good luck...?"
LACROSSE FIELD
The bleachers were full of spectators excited for the Beacon Hills Cyclones' first real game of the season, and both teams were milling around on their respective sidelines as the referee got in position on the field.
Scottie and Stiles were walking over to their team's bench when Michael, who had just arrived, headed up into the Beacon Hills High School side of the bleachers and waved at Scottie when he saw her. Meanwhile, Argent and Alec, the latter of whom is holding a box of popcorn, took their own seats in the bleachers as well.
Scottie and Stiles joined the rest of the team on the sidelines when Lyndon, dressed in a warm coat and a beanie, approached Scottie and called out her name.
"Scottie!" He grabbed her by the front of her jersey to pull him closer to him. Stiles watched with an angry expression as she backed away from them. Lyndon got in Scottie's face as he spoke to her. "I just want you to remember one thing for tonight."
Uncomfortable by Lyndon's close proximity and aggressive tone of voice, Scottie looked down at his hand, which was still gripping her jersey, and responded nervously, "Uh... w-winning isn't everything?"
Lyndon chuckled sarcastically before letting go of her jersey and smoothing out the wrinkles, straightening her shirt sleeves before answering her. "Nobody likes a loser." He patronizingly patted her on the shoulder before walking away and joining Alec and Argent in the stands.
Further down the field, Coach walked down and sat on the bench between Stiles and Jaxon, ignoring the former in favor of giving her undivided attention to the latter as she asked, "How's the shoulder?"
Jaxon nodded and shrugged nonchalantly. "It's fine."
"You feel any pain?"
Jaxon shook her head, but it was clear she was lying, at least a little. "No."
"What if I gave it a big ol' punch?"
Coach made a punching motion, missing actual contact with Jaxon's right shoulder by an inch or two, which caused Jaxon to flinch reflexively. Would you - would you feel any pain then?"
Jaxon covered up her slight annoyance and looked back at the field, nodding again. "...Maybe."
Coach turned to face Jaxon and gave her a final pep talk. "Listen, just go out there. Just give it your best. If you feel any pain, just-"
Jaxon narrowed her eyes at Coach, knowing that Coach cared more about winning the game than her personal comfort and subtly called her out on it. "Just... keep playing?"
Coach smiled proudly, glad that Jaxon got her point. "That's my girl!"
The referee's whistle blew, and the teams stood and began to cheer excitedly from their respective sides of the field. The starting players made their way to the center of the field and took their positions, with Scottie sighing as she crouched into a defensive stance and muttered under her breath, "Please let this be okay. Please."
On the bench, Stiles was watching Scottie on the field and anxiously chewing on her glove when Sheriff Stilinski, still in her Sheriff's uniform, came up behind her and tapped her affectionately on the shoulders and back.
"Hey, kid," the sheriff greeted.
Stiles turned her head back to look at her mother as she tried to hide the anxiety she was feeling about Scottie playing in the game. "Hey."
"So, you think you'll see any action tonight?"
Stiles, not taking her eyes off Scottie, shrugged and responded, "Action? Maybe."
Sheriff Stilinski didn't comprehend the double meaning behind Stiles' words, that there could very well be a lot of action if Scottie lost control and attacked someone on the field in front of everyone.
On the field, the referee had set the ball down on the grass between Jaxon and one of the players on the other team before ordering them into position. "Down!"
Jaxon and the other player crouched down with their lacrosse sticks net-down, both of them preparing to be the first one to scoop up the ball and make a play. Several feet behind Jaxon, Scottie closed her eyes and once again prayed under her breath. "Please!"
The referee gave the final warning before the game began. "Set!"
A moment later, the ref blew her whistle, and the players set off into the first play of the game, with Jaxon easily scooping up the ball and making her way down the field, with Scottie and the rest of the starting teammates following her to back her up. Scottie ran down the field and held up her stick to indicate to Jaxon that she was open for a pass, but instead, she passed to player #26.
Meanwhile, on the bench, Stiles continued to anxiously gnaw on her lacrosse glove as she watched the game progress, groaning when Scottie was clearly purposely ignored by her teammates.
"Mmm, come on!" Stiles said.
#26, once again ignoring Scottie, tried to pass to another player who was better guarded than Scottie, who was wide open; the player missed the catch, and a member of the opposing team caught it instead and ran the opposite direction down the field, leaving a frustrated Scottie holding her arms out as though to say, "Are you kidding me?"
Beacon Hills managed to get the ball again, with #20 catching the ball and passing it back to Jaxon. However, Jaxon got side-tackled hard, causing the ball to fall out of the net on her lacrosse stick. Scottie's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the ball had fallen onto the grass nearby, and she realized she had a chance to grab it and actually participate in the game. However, Jaxon saw the ball and saw Scottie looking at it, anticipating her next move and rushed towards the ball herself just as Scottie lunged to do the same, not wanting Scottie to get any glory.
Just as Scottie was about to reach the ball, Jaxon caught up with her and shoved her aside hard so that she was able to regain possession of the ball once again. Scottie hit the ground with enough force that she rolled several times across the field, and Michael gasped and narrowed his eyes in shock, anger and sympathy. Scottie looked furious as she watched Jaxon launch the ball into the net, scoring the first goal of the game.
The crowd in the bleachers started to stand and cheer, while Stiles watched apprehensively, afraid that the unfair treatment towards Scottie would cause her to inadvertently shift on the field. Coach, however, was thrilled by the fact that they scored the first goal of the game and screamed from the sidelines, "That's it, Jaxon! Get fired up! Fired up!"
Scottie tried to catch up with the others and, finding the effort futile, stopped and sighed deeply. In the stands, Michael was the only one still seated, and he quickly put together that Scottie was being shunned on purpose and had to force himself to stand and reluctantly clap his hands to look supportive towards the rest of the team, making it clear that he was unhappy with how his daughter was being treated.
Jaxon high-fived one of her fellow teammates when she caught Scottie's eye from down field and smirked, leaving Scottie looking crestfallen. On the bench, Stiles saw the exchange and sighed deeply and dramatically before muttering under her breath, "No..."
Lyndon was excitedly cheering in the bleachers, and Alec was smiling and trying to keep up with the game as well. Lyndon turned to Alec and bumped his shoulder as he tried to hype up his friend. He picked up a sign he made and had Alec help him hold it up. The sign read, "WE LUV U JAXON" in black and red letters.
Alec and Lydia cheered simultaneously, "WOOOOOO!"
Scottie saw Alec cheering Jaxon on from the field and immediately got jealous, which didn't escape Stiles' notice. Stiles grimaced and muttered under her breath again, "Brutal."
Scottie was staring at Alec with a look that seemed both betrayed and hurt, and Stiles immediately got a bad feeling, especially when she saw Scottie grit her teeth and run back onto the field.
"Oh, this is not gonna be good..." Stiles added.
In the middle of the field, Jaxon, Dani, #6, and several other players were huddled together to whisper to each other, and their discussion was heard in media res.
"Only to me," Jaxon said.
Dani scoffed, not understanding the point of this petty behavior. "But what if he's open?"
Jaxon gave Dani a hard look as Scottie eavesdropped on their conversation. "Who's the captain? You, or me?"
Dani, wanting Jaxon to see sense, pleaded with her best friend. "Jaxon, come on. I just wanna win."
"We will win."
Dani continued to argue. "But-"
Jaxon cut her off. "What did I say?" She got into Dani's face to emphasize her point. "Huh? What. Did. I. Say?"
Dani, realizing Jaxon wasn't going to budge and that they were wasting time, finally conceded to Jaxon's demands and sighed. "Don't pass to McCall."
Jaxon thumped Dani hard in the shoulder with her gloved hand before they scattered to their various positions on the field. Scottie was still standing several yards away from where they were huddled together, distracted by what she just heard. After a moment, Scottie's eyes flashed gold, and she straightened her helmet with a determined expression before running to get into position.
After the break, Scottie was crouched in position with her head down, a low growling noise coming out of her mouth, where her fangs seemed to be extended. The referee frowned in concern and confusion as she looked over to Scottie and asked, "You okay, kid?"
Scottie, unable to talk out of fear of further transforming, simply nodded. Jaxon caught their brief conversation and watched Scottie curiously for a long moment, especially when the referee, who had walked to the center of the field, turned back to give Scottie one last confused look. A player from the other team, #43, looked at Scottie warily from behind her, disturbed by the low growling sound that continued to come from Scottie's throat to the point where she backed up several paces to put some space between them.
On the sidelines, Stiles continued to anxiously twist her fingers as she watched Scottie with intensity and said, "Ohhhhh..."
Stiles wrung her hands even more before anxiously rubbing her neck, becoming more unsure of her plan to allow Scottie to play by the moment and wondering if maybe Danica might have been right to keep Scottie off the field.
In the stands, Lyndon, Alec and Argent, along with the rest of the players in the stands, were watching the field with intense expressions.
Argent leaned over to whisper into Alec's ear, "Which one is Scottie again?"
Before Alec could answer, Lyndon spoke up for him, though he didn't take his eyes off the field or Scottie. "#11-- otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball this entire game."
Alec, whose hand was covered up by the sleeve of his jacket, clenched his fist around it as he anxiously watched his crush on the field. "I hope she's okay."
Lyndon corrected Alec, clearly more concerned with the team's performance at large. "I hope we're okay."
The score was 3-5, with the other team ahead by two points. There was only one minute and twenty-nine seconds left in the fourth quarter.
"We need to win this," Lyndon added as he once again grabbed the sign he made cheering on Jaxon, which they had taken a break from holding up, and went to return to raising it in the air, standing, unlike everyone else in the stands who was seated. "Alec -- a little help, here?"
Alec looked at Lyndon with an expression that almost looked irritated before he reluctantly stood and held up his half of the sign with his left hand while Lyndon did the same with his right, though Alec's heart wasn't in it when it came to cheering Jaxon on.
On the field, Scottie looked over once again at Alec, and even though it was obvious to everyone else that Alec was only holding the sign to be nice, Scottie's eyes flashed gold again for a brief second before she clenched her jaw and returned her attention to the game.
One of the other Beacon Hills players was in the standoff with one of the members of the opposing team, and the referee once again called the play. "Down! Set!"
The players got into position, and when the referee blew the whistle, the two came to a stalemate, with neither one able to push past the other to grab the ball. The force of having two lacrosse sticks with pressure from opposing sides caused the ball to fly haphazardly into the air, and Scottie, finally seeing an opportunity to be active in the game, leapt high into the air, breezing right over the heads of two players, one from each team, before landing lightly on her feet and ran as fast as possible towards the goal.
She deftly dodged the three players from the opposing team who tried to tackle her, keeping hold of the ball the entire time.
In the stands, Michael, seeing that Scottie had an opportunity to score a goal with little to no assistance, stood and began jumping up and down excitedly.
"Yes!!!" Michael cried.
Scottie continued to duck, weave, and spin around the other players at a speed that was quick for a human but not obviously supernatural. In the stands, Alec's eyes widen when he saw her prepare to shoot her shot, and the crowd went wild when Scottie easily threw the ball into the goal.
Michael jumped up and down even more excitedly as he cheered his daughter on. "YEAH!!!!!"
Behind him, Alec jumped to his feet at the same time as the person sitting on the opposite side of Lyndon, causing him to be jostled roughly as the two jumped up and down excitedly, seemingly annoyed by Scottie taking attention from Jaxon despite being the one to encourage Scottie to perform well in the first place.
On the bench, Stiles leapt to her feet and began wildly pumping her arms as she shouted loudly, "Yes! That's what I-" She dramatically turned to face her fellow teammates on either side to solicit high-fives, which she didn't get, but she remained ecstatic as she cheered on her best friend's performance. "What? WHAT?"
Several other players playfully patted Scottie's shoulders in congratulations for her goal, and as they got into position, Coach, eager to let Scottie continue to play at this level and win them the game, started shouting at the other players to make her intentions heard. "McCall! Pass. To. McCall!"
On the field, Jaxon was furious and clenched her jaw tightly, making it obvious that she was unhappy with the attention being on Scottie and plotted to once again tip the scales back in her favor.
The referee stepped up to the two players in the standoff for possession of the ball. "Set!"
She blew her whistle, and the two players were in a stalemate once again for a moment before the opposing team snatches it, with player #43 running toward the opposing team's goal.
Unfortunately for #43, she got right into Scottie's line of sight and was horrified when she saw Scottie, whose eyes were blazing gold and whose fangs were out as she growled menacingly under her breath. Scared, the player weakly tossed the ball, which Scottie caught easily, causing the team to cheer as she ran toward the Beacon Hills team's goal.
Stiles, still on the bench, continued to gnaw on the finger of one of her gloves when Coach, dumbfounded by this turn of events, sat next to Stiles with a confused expression to talk to her, though neither took their eyes off the game.
Coach asked incredulously, "...Did the opposing team just deliberately pass us the ball?"
Stiles removed the fingertip of her glove from her mouth and nodded eagerly. "Yes, I believe so, Coach."
Scottie rushed down the field, ducking to avoid the blows from the opposing players and deftly zig-zagged out of their way. Back on the sidelines, Coach smiled wryly, though Stiles was still extremely anxious about how Scottie seemed to be walking a very fine line in terms of controlling her lycanthropy.
"Interesting..."
Scottie took her shot, throwing the ball so hard that it busted right through the net of an opposing player's lacrosse stick net and hit the goal. The score was now 5-5 with thirty-nine seconds to spare in the final quarter. In the stands, everyone was standing and cheering with their arms in the air, and even Argent couldn't help but be impressed, especially when she saw how excited Alec was.
On the sidelines, Coach was pumping her arm in satisfaction as she cheered loudly, "Goal! YES! YES! There you go!"
Lower in the bleachers, Michael was awestruck by this miraculous shot and breathlessly cried out, "What?"
Suddenly, Scottie looked panicked as she stood in the middle of the field, barely concealing the fact that her eyes were blazing gold and her fangs were still extended, seemingly struggling to reign in her Werewolf side.
Meanwhile, Coach continued to clap and cheer, oblivious to Scottie's current condition. "There you go, McCall!"
The coach from the opposing team came over and lightly smacked Coach Finstock's shoulder with the back of her hand to get her attention, making it clear that she didn't think this last goal should count.
Coach Finstock, exasperated, scoffed and argued against her. "What? The ball's in the net."
Behind her, Stiles echoed Coach Finstock's sentiment. "Ball's in the net!"
"That's the goal of the game -- is get the goal in the net!"
"We got it!"
"We got it!" Coach blew her whistle to indicate they had agreed that the goal was fair. Scottie, still panicking, got into position on the middle of the field as the referee once again set up the standoff between Jaxon and a player from the opposing team to determine who got possession of the ball.
"Down!" the referee said.
As Jaxon and the other player locked eyes, the opposing player couldn't help but question her on Scottie's behavior.
"Hey, what the hell's up with your teammate, missy?" the opposing player asked. "What's she on?"
Jaxon frowned, clearly unhappy about Scottie's excellent performance despite her best efforts to keep her from having an active role in the game. "I don't know..." she considered her words and muttered a clarifying word under her breath, "yet."
The referee frowned, obviously listening to their conversation, before getting the game back underway as she said, "Set!"
Jaxon and the opposing player crouched down to stand off for possession of the ball, which ended with the latter winning and running down the field. However, she accidentally dropped the ball, which Scottie scooped up before running the other way. But her vision turned red as the transformation into her Werewolf self took over, forcing Scottie to use the limited control she still had to try to keep herself away from the other players. As a result, she froze in place, unsure of what to do next as she growled under her breath at a volume that seemed to be steadily increasing.
Stiles, who had been closely watching Scottie the entire game, stood to get a better look as she realized what was going on and started to mutter under her breath, "No, no... Scottie, no, no!"
The clock showed that there were seventeen more seconds left in the game, and the opposing players were surrounding Scottie in an attempt to regain possession of the ball.
In the stands, Michael had his hands clasped in front of his chin as he murmured encouragement under his breath. "Come on, come on, come on..."
Behind him, Alec was also staring at Scottie intensely as he quietly cheered her on. "You can do it, Scottie. You can do it, Scottie."
Alec's murmured encouragement caused Argent to literally side-eye him, uncomfortable with Alec's infatuation with Scottie and also seemingly suspicious of the young woman for reasons even Argent couldn't seem to identify.
Scottie's sensitive superhuman sense of hearing allowed her to pick up on Alec's words, which echoed in her ears.
Alec's voice echoed, "You can do it, Scottie..." His voice seemed to bring Scottie back to herself enough to realize that there were only seven seconds left in the game and counting, forcing her to act before she ran out of time.
The goalie for the opposing team seemed terrified by the sight of Scottie staring at her with her intense gold eyes, and just as two other players from the other team started rushing toward Scottie from each side, Scottie twisted at the waist and put all of her strength into tossing the ball toward the goal, which flew with such force that the goalie dodged it rather than trying to catch it.
The referee blew her whistle just as the buzzer sounded that the game had timed-out, leading all of the supporters of the Beacon Hills Cyclones to leap to their feet and cheer ecstatically, thrilled to see the final score was 6:5 with Beacon Hills winning the game.
Stiles jumped up with her arms raised in the air. "Yes! Ha!" She lowered her arms and sighed in relief that the game managed to end in a win without Scottie hurting or killing anyone due to changing. "Oh, my God!"
Scottie was still standing in the middle of the field, seemingly dumbstruck by the fact that she just won the game, having scored half of the total amount of points made by the team. However, she was finally brought back to reality when she suddenly dropped her stick on the ground and removed her right glove to find that, despite her eyes and teeth returning to normal, her fingernails were extending into claws, indicating that she was losing control again. Not wanting to expose her secret to the crowd, she ran toward the school just as the audience members started running onto the field to congratulate and console the players on the Beacon Hills and opposing teams.
Alec, excited to congratulate Scottie on a job well done, ran toward where he had seen her standing and was confused to find that she had vanished in the crowd. He looked around in an effort to find her, and his smile dimmed slightly in confusion when he saw her running quickly toward the school. Argent, having just made it to the sidelines, stopped and watched with interest as Scottie ran away, continuing to do so as Alec rushed after Scottie to see what was going on, a suspicious and curious expression forming on her face.
Stiles was still seated on the bench, albeit by herself, as she continued to relax now that the danger of Scottie turning and exposing herself as a Werewolf had seemingly passed, at least to her knowledge. However, behind her in the now-abandoned bleachers, Sheriff Stilinski was on the phone with someone, and she put a finger to her unoccupied ear so she could hear them better.
"Uh-huh," Sheriff Stilinski said.
Stiles let out a deep sigh of relief when she saw the concerned expression on her mom's face and called out to her. "Mom, what's wrong?"
Sheriff Stilinski, still on the phone, held up her index finger of her free hand to indicate that she needed to hold on so she could listen to whomever was on the other end of the line.
GIRLS LOCKER ROOM
The school was completely dark inside as Scottie staggered into the girls locker room, grunting and groaning from the effort it was taking to reign in her Werewolf side as she scrabbled to take off her helmet while stumbling her way toward the showers.
Alec walked into the locker room when Scottie's helmet skittered across the floor into his line of sight, causing him to frown in confusion. He took off the purple beanie he'd been wearing as he walked toward it, his head tilted in puzzlement.
Scottie continued to pant and groan as she stumbled further into the locker room to where the showers were located, though she was forced to stop in front of one of the sinks to try to compose herself. This effort ultimately failed, with Scottie losing control and groaning loudly as she reared her right fist back and punched the mirror in front of her; causing the mirror to shatter into pieces. A large chunk of the mirrored glass fell to the ground, catching the reflection of Scottie's mouth, fangs completely on display.
Alec, on the opposite end of the locker room, heard the glass shattering and frowned before calling out for his crush. "Scottie?" He took several more paces through the room, passing a row of lockers as he walked. "Scottie, are you here?"
He continued to walk through the dark locker room, looking around to try to figure out where Scottie could have gone and why she couldn't respond to him. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the broken glass on the floor, looking up to see that it was from the mirror that was obviously punched by someone. Unbeknownst to Alec, Scottie was behind him on top of one of the vents below the ceiling, watching him silently in full Werewolf form with her blazing red vision.
Alec was slightly startled by the sound of rustling overhead and looked around to try to find the source of the noise. He looks up somewhat, but Scottie has moved to a junction in the vents so that she was out of sight. He turned to look behind him, completely confused as to what happened to Scottie, and, starting to get nervous now, moved so that his back was pressed against the end of a row of lockers in hopes of concealing his presence to any possible malevolent threats in the room. He heard a noise behind him and licked his lips nervously before calling out for Scottie again.
"Scott?" Alec called as he looked around the corner of the end locker, but didn't see anything except the overhead fans spinning, causing the only source of light, the half-moon outside, to flicker around the blades. He slowly walked towards the showers and tried calling out for her again. "...Scottie?"
As he turned the corner to the showers, he found Scottie leaning against the tile wall with her elbows and forearms raised so that she was bracing herself on either side of her head. He was relieved when he saw that she wasn't some predator, but was still confused as to what was going on.
"Hey, are you okay?" Alec asked as he walked toward her and put his arm on her shoulder. "Scottie?"
Scottie's head jerked around, surprised by the physical contact, but her face was completely human. Alec looked at her with concern, but couldn't help but chuckle as a result of the fear he felt that now seemed unnecessary.
"You scared me. Are you all right?"
Scottie turned to face him and paused for a brief moment before looking up at him with a sheepish expression. "Yeah... Sorry, I-I... just got kind of lightheaded for a sec."
"Maybe it's the adrenaline?" His concerned frown turned into a small, impressed smile. "You were pretty amazing out there."
Scottie smiled back at him weakly. "I'm sorry for acting really weird today."
Alec shrugged nonchalantly. "It's okay. I can handle weird." He smiled and looked at Scottie through his eyelashes, causing Scottie to huff an anxious laugh in response.
"To be totally honest, you, uh.... make me kind of nervous."
Alec seemed surprised by the admission on Scottie's part. "I do?"
Scottie chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Kind of, like, really nervous." Alec laughed good-naturedly. "I just... I... wanna make sure I get my second chance."
Alec looked at Scottie with an expression that seems to indicate the answer to her hesitation was obvious as he replied in a soft voice, "You already have it."
Scottie smiled widely, and Alec shrugged again, smiling back and speaking in a more playful and slightly suggestive tone, "I'm just waiting for you to take it."
Alec smirked playfully before turning and walking a few steps away into the light from the window-fan. Scottie, now more confident and in control, followed him as she said, "Well... maybe I need to learn to take more chances..."
Scottie continued to walk toward Alec until they were only a few inches away from each other, and Alec played along with Scottie's seductive flirting, looking at her face again.
"Maybe you do..." Alec told her.
They stared at each other intensely for a long moment before Scottie leaned forward, closing her eyes as their faces moved closer. Their noses brushed up against each other for another pause before Scottie kissed Alec. Alec returned the kiss, and they broke apart slightly when Stiles ran into the shower, her arms and legs flailing about wildly, not realizing what she was interrupting until she got into the shower room. She immediately got a guilty look on her face when she realized she just crashed Scottie's first real romantic moment with Alec and ducked out of the shower room to give them some privacy.
After a moment, Stiles' curiosity got the better of her, and she silently ducked back in to see Alec and Scottie making out again, with Alec gripping Scottie's arm to pull her closer. When they finally broke apart again, they kept their foreheads pressed together as Alec chuckled happily. He shifted so their noses were now pressed together as well before looking Scottie in the eyes with some nervousness.
"I, um..." Alec finally forced himself to take a step back away from Scottie, who was smiling widely. "...Gotta get back to my mom."
He gave Scottie one last peck on the lips before turning to leave, causing Stiles to frantically try to act like she wasn't just watching them make out and failed miserably. Alec took it in stride, though, and politely greeted her before he walked past her to return to the field to leave with his mom.
"Hi, Stiles," Alec said.
Stiles awkwardly returned the sentiment as he passed her. "Hey. Yeah."
Once Alec was gone, Stiles rolled her eyes and waited until he was out of earshot while Scottie, dazed in the afterglow of her romantic interlude with Alec, walked over to her with the cheesiest grin on her face and said, "I kissed him."
Stiles, finding Scottie's dopey demeanor tedious, nodded patronizingly. "I saw."
Scottie was unbothered by Stiles' lack of excitement for her. "He kissed me."
Stiles made a face but continued to humor her. "Saw that, too. That's pretty good, huh?"
Even without her kiss with Alec and reassurance that he was still interested in her, Scottie had a much more positive outlook on her future. "I-I-I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this? Maybe it's not that bad?"
Stiles, seeing how truly happy and at peace Scottie was, decided she didn't want to spoil her mood and tried to beg off. "Yeah..." She chuckled nervously. "Heh... we'll talk later, then..." She patted Scottie on the shoulder affectionately and turned to leave, but Scottie, still able to read Stiles perfectly in spite of her many current distractions, grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to turn around to tell her what was going on, her smile dimming.
"What?"
Stiles sighed, not wanting to spoil Scottie's positive attitude but also knowing that this information was important and needed to be shared, sighed before ultimately confessing what she learned. "The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found..."
Scottie raised her eyebrows, not sure where Stiles was going with this. "...And?"
"Well, I'll keep it simple. Medical examiner determines killer of guy to be animal, not human. Danica's human, not animal. Danica? Not killer. Danica? Let out of jail."
Scottie gaped at Stiles in shock, appalled by the news. "Are you kidding?"
Stiles grimaced. "No, and here's a bigger kick in the ass -- my mom ID'd the dead guy. Both halves. His name was Louis Hale."
Scottie's jaw dropped even more when she put the pieces together. "Hale?"
Stiles huffed an anxious laugh before grimacing again. "Danica's brother."
Scottie and Stiles stared at each other in shock and confusion as to what this all meant.
LACROSSE FIELD
Scottie's glove was still laying on the field from where she dropped it after she found her claws extending as she lost control over her transformation. Jaxon, still desperate to figure out what was going on with Scottie, saw it and picked it up. She examined it for a moment before noticing how worn the fingertips of the glove were, causing her to look closer and see that the very tips of the fingers had holes sliced into them. Jaxon didn't know what to make of the information, but held onto the glove as part of her investigation into what was making Scottie so athletically gifted.
After a moment, she sensed something and turned around to find Danica standing on the field behind her in her black leather jacket, her hands in her pockets as she stared at Jaxon. They stared at each other for a long moment before Danica finally turned and walked away.