𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 | 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝔂'𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵 𝘔𝘤𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘸
LYDIA MARTIN'S EYES SNAP OPEN the second the scream pierces through the serenity of the house. She throws the covers off her body and races into her sister's bedroom to find Charlotte sitting up in her bed with her hands covering her face. Lydia pauses in the doorway as she tries to think of what to do. With their mother out for the weekend, she's unsure. It was normally her that comforted the girl in her night struggles.
She slowly walks over and takes a seat next to her twin. "Lottie?" she softly questions. Lydia gently pulls her hands off her face and reveals the girl's puffy eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh, darling."
A sob moves through her body as Charlotte allows Lydia to place her head into her lap and begins to thread her fingers through the blonde hair. "I-I saw him again," she quietly says.
Lydia's lips dip into a concerned frown. Charlotte hadn't talked to anyone about what had happened to her that night. All Lydia knew was that a man had attacked her, the same man from the lacrosse field. "It's over though, okay? He's not here. It was just a nightmare."
"But I was lying there, a-and I saw him... kill you in front of me," she protests. Hiccups interrupt her sentence every few words.
"But I'm okay," Lydia says gently. "I'm here. Okay? I'm here with you right now."
Charlotte doesn't bother wiping her tears away as she sits back up. "You weren't okay though." Lydia's own eyes well up. "You were hurt and I couldn't do anything to help you."
Lydia reaches over and brushes the girl's tears away before grabbing onto her hand. "I'm okay, Lottie. Mom's okay, and you're okay." Charlotte hesitantly nods her head, but her eyes continue to flick around her bedroom with paranoia. "Hey, there's no one in here," she speaks up more firmly this time. "Just me and you."
Her eyes stop in the corner of her room. The shadows stare back at her. "But I swear I saw someone," she whispers.
»»———- ———-««
"Did you say they kidnapped you?"
"Yeah."
Charlotte's brows pinch together in confusion as she glances to the girl walking beside her. Dressed in their gym clothes, they head to Coach's class for the day. "But he's your dad," she points out slowly. "So, if we're talking legality here, it's not technically kidnapping." Allison sighs. "And you saw something when you were with Scott yesterday? It had a tail?"
The brunette nods. "Yeah, it was this giant, creepy reptile looking thing."
Charlotte's lips purse at the description. "So, Jackson?" she deadpans.
Allison's eyes roll as she smiles, and she pushes the double doors open, letting her friend walk in first as they join Stiles and Scott near the rest of the class. As usual, they're all waiting for Coach, who once again is late. Most likely, he's writing a list of pros and cons for his job, deciding whether he should or shouldn't quit: the pros being that he can yell at people all day, and the cons being that he actually has to suffer through the things that make him yell all day in the first place.
The Martin grins as soon as she lays eyes inside the gymnasium. "Look! We get to rock climb," she gushes to Allison.
Stiles' brows raise at their equal excitement. "What are you both smiling about?"
Charlotte shrugs. "Oh, Allison was kidnapped," she answers simply.
Scott's eyes widen at her statement and he turns to his girlfriend in alarm. "What?"
"Let me rephrase that, not kidnapped. Well, kidnapped by her dad."
The werewolf shakes his head in confusion as he glances between the two girls. "What?"
Allison sighs. "He called it a 'training exercise.' Timed me how long it took to get out of my hands tied together with rope."
"And?" Stiles questions.
"Two and a half hours."
The boy with the buzzcut snorts and an amused smirk appears on his face. "It took you two and a half hours to get out of rope?" Stiles laughs. "Allison, that's the most pathetic thing I've ever heard."
She scoffs. "I'd love to see you try," she retorts quickly.
Scott and Charlotte chuckle at the two until Coach walks in. His whistle sounds like an alarm. "Listen up, you morons! Just 'cause I'm late doesn't mean you get to slack off for the next-" he looks at his watch, "- thirty agonising minutes. Two of you are going to start at the wall. You have a minute to get up to the top. Don't make me disappointed." The group remains silent and he waves his hands about dramatically. "That means two of you volunteer! Fine. Argent and... McCall."
As the two walk off, Stiles turns to Charlotte and he frowns. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah," she quickly answers. "Why?"
He briefly looks at the dark bags under her eyes, then gives her a small smile. "I just wanted to ask, you know, with everything going on."
"I'm fine, don't worry." She tries to keep a smile plastered on the exterior. Internally, her body is screaming for more coffee after once again getting little to no sleep.
"You know you can talk to me about anything, yeah?"
She nods. "Yeah, I know." But can and want have always been two very different words. "Are you okay?"
Stiles smiles. She's always been good at worrying about everyone else before herself. "I'm okay, Lottie," he replies softly. "Thanks for asking." She smiles in return.
Both of them loudly cheer when Allison pushes Scott off the rock wall. The boy plummets onto the mat below and Coach sits down next to him with a large grin. "Oh, McCall... I don't know why but your pain gives me a special kind of joy. Right?" He chuckles to himself. "Okay, next! Stilinski and Martin!"
Charlotte's dull eyes instantly light up. "Oh, dude, you are going down."
Stiles mockingly laughs at her. "Uh huh," he sarcastically agrees. "Sure."
"Martin?"
She spins back around. "Yes, Coach?"
The man's eyes flick to Stiles, then back to her. He grins. "Kick his ass."
"Will do, Coach."
After getting their harnesses fitted, Charlotte places a foot on the wall and begins to climb up. She's a little slower than Stiles is, and the boy glances down to her and rolls his eyes. "Seriously? You realise I've done this about a hundred times before."
She narrows her eyes at him. "I know." Once she finally catches up to him and the pair are level, the girl leans over to her left and swipes her foot underneath his. Stiles' eyes widen in horror, and just like Scott, he drops down to the ground. Hearing laughter below, Charlotte reaches the top with a satisfied smile and descends back down.
Coach quickly moves over to her and barks a laugh as he claps her on the back. "Now that was incredible!" he exclaims. He sounds like a proud father.
Locking eyes with Allison, Charlotte grins as they high five. "Hope you don't mind that I copied your flawless movements..."
Allison giggles and the girls watch Stiles stomp over to them. "No problem at all," she dismisses.
Charlotte Martin thinks that Stiles Stilinski currently looks like Jackson Whittemore. "What the fuck was that?" he snaps.
"I pushed you off."
"I know!" he screeches. "Why?"
A beatific smile adorns Scott's face as he jogs over to the group and he pats Stiles on the shoulder. "Because it was hilarious," he answers.
"Do I need to remind you that exactly the same thing happened to you a few minutes ago?" Scott's smile promptly drops at his friend's words. Stiles hums. "Yeah, not so funny now, is it?"
Charlotte shakes her head. "No, it was hilarious," she corrects with a giggle.
"Erica and... Greenberg!"
The four teenagers watch as the next pair walk over to the wall. As the blonde-haired girl grabs the harness from Coach, Charlotte realises that Erica looks incredibly anxious. "Do you think she'll be okay?" she whispers in concern to Allison.
The brunette nods. "Yeah, she'll be fine," she reassures her friend.
But when Erica is only a metre above the ground, she begins to hyperventilate. Charlotte rushes over to the mat, Coach close behind her, seemingly just as worried. "Erica? Can you get down on your own?" the man calls out. Bobby Finstock gestures his favourite student over to him and mutters, "Dizzy? Is it vertigo?"
She frowns. "Coach, do you even know what vertigo is?" His lips purse. "She's having a panic attack," she adds quickly. "Erica? Do you want me to come up?"
Through her erratic breathing, Erica manages to look down to her friend and gets out, "I'm okay." Her words do little to comfort them.
Allison is quick to join them, worriedly telling their teacher, "Coach, maybe it's not safe. You know she's epileptic."
Charlotte's eyes widen. How had she forgotten something so simple? Maybe she's just been a shit friend in general lately. "Coach, we need to get her down," she states firmly. "Now."
"Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff?" he exclaims incredulously. "Erica, you're fine! Just kick off from the wall, there's a mat to catch you."
It takes a few moments, but Erica finally follows his instructions and slowly descends down onto the mat. But when she's safely on the ground, the class begins to laugh at her and whisper snide remarks. That's enough for the teary eyed girl to run out of the gymnasium. Charlotte softly sighs. "I'm gonna go check if she's okay." She doesn't wait for Coach to tell her that it's okay.
Running into the hallway, she frantically looks around to see where Erica could disappeared to. She wishes she had Scott's enhanced hearing. But when Charlotte moves past the bathroom, she skids to a stop once hearing the quiet sobs from behind the door.
She cautiously walks inside to find Erica sitting on the tiles and hysterically crying. Charlotte sighs and crouches down in front of her. "Hey, Kiki," she says. "It's Lottie. Are you okay?" She mentally curses herself for asking that. Obviously she isn't okay. "Do you want some water? It'll help."
With bloodshot eyes, Erica looks up to see her friend watching her with concern. She gratefully grabs the water bottle from her and takes a long sip. They sit in silence for two minutes. "Why are you here?" Erica eventually rasps out. "And don't say you felt sorry for me."
"I know what it's like to have a panic attack," Charlotte answers. She softly smiles at the girl. "Sometimes it helps when you don't have to handle them on your own."
The girl quickly wipes the tears off her rosy cheeks, and her lips slowly lift into a small smile. "Thank you," she whispers.
Charlotte tentatively places a hand on her knee. When Erica doesn't flinch or move away, she keeps it there. "Hey, I've known you for years. It's what you used to do for me." As they walk side by side to the girl's locker, Charlotte takes a moment to think something through then asks her question. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something after school? I don't know, go get ice-cream or something?"
Erica smiles once more and she nods as she opens the locker door. "Yeah, that sounds good," she responds quietly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte spots her best friends. She places a hand on Erica's arm and smiles back. "I'll text you?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Charles."
She gives the girl a hug before running off to catch up with Scott and Stiles. Just as she barges into the locker room, Coach stands before her. He holds a hand up to her and she abruptly stops with a grimace. "Oh, hey, Coach..."
"Martin." He nods. "Very impressed. All right, go ahead with whatever you're planning..."
She grins. "Thanks, Coach." Turning around to Scott and Stiles who are on a bench behind her, she drops down beside them.
The latter lifts his head at her sudden arrival. "Hey, is Erica okay?" he asks with worry.
"I think so. I hope so. Oh, has Derek said anything to you since the other day?" she questions the werewolf.
Scott sighs and continues to tie his shoelaces. "No. Nothing! I have no idea where Isaac is either."
She sighs. "Great. Just fabulous."
Coach's loud voice sounds through the locker room and all the boys, plus Charlotte, turn their attention to him. It's as if he was just listening to their conversation. "Listen up! Anybody sees Isaac Lahey, you immediately tell the principal."
Charlotte grimaces. Yeah. That's not happening.
"Get a teacher, or you call me. Except for you, Greenberg, don't call me for anything. I'm not kidding, don't call me. You shouldn't even have my number."
Stiles looks at Scott pointedly. "Sounds like he's Derek's problem now."
As they walk past Jackson at his locker, she hesitates and motions for her friends to walk on. "Go, I'll catch up to you." They look at her in confusion but nod nonetheless. She quietly groans as she turns around, already regretting what she's about to do. "Jackson?"
The teenager turns around and sure enough, the scowl is already on his face. "What?" he snaps.
She sighs. "I just wanted to thank you for saving Lydia."
"Someone needed to do it."
Charlotte rolls her eyes. "I know you still love her, even if you won't admit it out loud or to yourself. And she does too, Jackson. But don't treat her like shit; she doesn't deserve it." Without looking back to see his surprised face, she walks out the room, strongly questioning why she had willingly exchanged words with him in the first place.
»»———- ———-««
It's ten minutes after she gets home that Charlotte receives the countless messages from her friends and numerous missed calls from Scott. "What?" On the other end of the phone, Scott winces at her loud shriek and pulls the device away from his ear. Stiles and Allison watch on with amusement. Her heart beats quickly as she asks, "Is she okay?"
"Yeah, I think so. An ambulance came to get her, she's at the hospital now."
The girl frowns and collapses onto her bed. "How did you even know she was having a seizure?"
"I don't know," Scott replies slowly. "It was weird. I kinda just felt it?"
She hums. "I didn't realise werewolves had telepathic powers too."
"I can't explain it!"
"You can't explain why werewolves have telepathic powers, or how you knew Erica had fallen off the rock wall?"
There's a loud laugh in the background of the call. Stiles. "J-just- ugh! Never mind," Scott mutters in frustration. "I just wanted to tell you that she's okay. I know you guys are friends."
"Thanks, Scott," she says appreciatively. "See you tomorrow." Hanging up the phone call, she sighs loudly and opens her text chain with Erica Reyes. She sends the girl a message asking if she wanted a personal ice-cream delivery. Because ice-cream always makes everyone feel better, no matter the situation.
»»———- ———-««
The following day, after having brought over a tub of chocolate ice-cream to her friend and watching a season of Friends together, Charlotte sits in biology beside her sister as they watch a film. Bored out of her mind, she forces herself to grab her pen and take notes. "So, by creating an immunity, your body is primed to fight off the infection. From meningitis to rabies, from an animal bite... Meaning the subject is now immune." Her eyes narrow a fraction at the screen, and she gently runs her fingers over the scar forming on her neck. She turns her head to the side to glance at Lydia, then looks back to the television.
When the bell rings, Lydia gathers her books and her eyes flick down to the notebook on her sister's desk. "Nice drawing," she praises with a small smile.
"Drawing?" Charlotte questions in confusion. "What? I wasn't-" The girl looks down at the paper, and instead of the notes she thought she was taking is a detailed sketch of a lizard. She frowns as she traces over the picture. "But I was taking notes," she mumbles.
As they walk out of the class, she decides to push the incident to the side and come back to it later. Both the Martins successfully get halfway down the hall before they're interrupted by Jackson harshly grabbing onto Lydia's hand, forcing her to be dragged around the corner. Charlotte glares daggers into his skull as Lydia yelps out, "What the hell are you doing?" She rips her wrist out of his bruising grip.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He pauses and points to the blonde-haired girl. "No! What the fuck is wrong with both of you?"
Charlotte scoffs. "Excuse me?"
"Show it to me," he demands to Lydia.
"Jackson, show you what?" she asks, genuinely confused by his behaviour.
He tries to grab hold of Lydia's wrist once again, but Charlotte slaps his hand away. "Show it to me!" he orders. "Come on!"
The older twin shakes her head at him. "Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Nothing happened to you," he whispers. "It's like... It's like both of you are somehow immune." Lydia looks to her sister in shock, startled by his sudden anger. "It's..." He points to both of the healing wounds on their necks. "It's both of you! Whatever is it, blood, saliva, whatever soul killing substance is running through your veins, you did this to me. You ruined it for me!" The vein in his neck bulges as he seethes, "You ruined everything."
Charlotte rolls her eyes, trying to remain somewhat calm on the outside despite her racing thoughts and rapidly beating heart. "Okay, fuck off, Jackson. Seriously."
But what if he's right to some extent? It would make sense, after all; why they hadn't turned into werewolves yet, or why they hadn't reacted to the bite the same way that Scott had.
The minute her ex-boyfriend storms off, Lydia lets the few tears fall. Her sister grabs onto her hand comfortingly and squeezes it. "Why don't we get out of here, hey?"
"Please," the girl whispers. Charlotte leads Lydia into the bathroom and grabs a handful of paper towels, then wetting them before dabbing them under the strawberry blonde's eyes to wipe the smeared mascara away. "What did he mean by immune?" she quietly questions. "What are we immune to?"
Charlotte's hand falters in the air. She softly sighs. "Lyds, why don't we go for coffee this afternoon? We need to talk."
Lydia slowly nods. "Okay? What's wrong?"
"I mean-" Charlotte suddenly spins around and her eyebrows furrowing. "Do you feel like someone's watching us?" she whispers.
"I thought it was just me..." Lydia's eyes widen when she spots the bathroom door slowly closing. "No, someone was in here," she hurries out.
The girls forget about the plan to rid one of their faces of ruined makeup and race out into the corridor with the hopes to find who had been with them. But when she finds nothing, Charlotte sighs again. "Maybe we're just being paranoid?" she suggests.
Going to nod in agreement, Lydia's hand grasps back onto her sister's when she sees a male figure quickly making their way up a stairwell, his back turned away from them. "Wait, who's that?"
"I don't know, but I want to find out why the fuck he was in the bathroom watching us."
The siblings follow the man through sets of doors and multiple walkways until Lydia grabs onto her sister's arm, stopping her in place. Charlotte follows her line of sight and lays eyes on him again. He stands on the opposite side of the entrance hall to them, intensely staring at a trophy cabinet.
Once he walks out of the building without noticing his onlookers, the twins share a look and run over to the cabinet. They both quickly scan where he had roughly been looking at, studying each trophy and their engravings until Charlotte's eyes stop on one. "Lydia?" she speaks up. She feels like she's about to have a panic attack.
Lydia follows the girl's pointed finger, and a shaky breath leaves her lips. "Holy shit," she murmurs.
This particular trophy reads, Peter Hale.
"Lydia, run!" she screams. The second Stiles finds where she is focused on, his heart drops to his feet and he takes off after her as she races toward her sister. Charlotte doesn't think she's ever been this scared before. "No, no, no, no, no..." she mutters to herself.
They can only watch helplessly as someone approaches the vulnerable girl, and just as the pair reach her, Lydia collapses to the ground like a rag doll.
"What, Stiles? Can you call a cab?"
His voice raises a little louder. "Charlotte, move."
She rolls her eyes and points to her phone. "Can you please call a cab? Or your dad to come get us?"
"Peter- wait, don't!"
The confusion in her eyes quickly changes into something of pain. As soon as whatever has entered her neck leaves, she immediately clutches the skin. Charlotte removes a hand and the fear returns at how her palm is painted a deep crimson. Her lips part as she breathes out, "Stiles?"
She breathes heavily as the flashbacks finally come to an end. A single tear trails down her cheek. Shaken to her core, she slowly turns to Lydia who appears to have just gone through the same thing as herself.
"T-that..."
Charlotte nods once. She looks at the trophy again and the name repeats itself inside her mind. "I know," she mutters.
Lydia thickly swallows. "Can we go get ice-cream instead of staying here for lunch?"
"Yeah, fuck school."
And this time, she doesn't mean it for a class or two. This time, Charlotte Martin doesn't give a shit about school. Not when they've just discovered the man she thought was murdered a few weeks ago is back from the dead.
»»———- ———-««
She's having an internal battle with herself. One side is telling her that she has to wait for Scott's approval to talk to Lydia about any of this. But after what she and Lydia had seen not so long ago, she hadn't had the chance to ask him. The conversation around informing the other Martin of the supernatural had been brought up numerous times before. However, every one of those times, Scott, Stiles, and Allison had all instantly said no.
Shovelling spoonfuls of gelato into her mouth, Charlotte contemplates what to do next. This reminded her of a not even a month ago when Allison was also in the unknown.
At the same time, the other side is telling her that all of this is so much bigger than just Scott. This is no longer just helping him figure out his werewolf side. The fraternal twins had been bitten by a supernatural creature and somehow managed to come out of it not only alive but remaining human. Charlotte had a feeling that on some level Lydia already probably had an idea of what was happening in the shadows around her.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
Charlotte sighs and takes a sip of the black coffee. "Dee, I think if I'm going to explain all this, we have to start at the beginning," she says slowly.
Setting her own cup of ice-cream down on the table, Lydia folds her arms over her chest and nods. "Okay."
Lydia Martin had listened silently for five minutes whilst her sister recounted the events of the last month to her. She didn't interrupt once, nor say a word until Charlotte finally finished.
"Hold on, you're telling me that Scott's a werewolf?" When her sister nods, Lydia realises just how serious she is. Her eyes widen. "You're telling me that Scott's a werewolf?"
"Yeah. Trust me, it's real. He'll prove it later."
She arches a brow. "He knows you're telling me?"
Charlotte grimaces. This was not going to go down well later on. "No," she replies.
"Does that mean he wouldn't want you telling me?"
"Yeah."
Lydia gnaws on her lip and stares at the girl who refuses to make eye contact. "Does Stiles know?"
"He was with us the night Scott was bitten." Charlotte pauses. "Well, before we lost Scott, who then was bitten."
"Does Allison know?"
"She only recently found out; a few days before we were in hospital."
"And her family hunts werewolves?" Lydia scrunches her nose up. "Isn't that relationship just a recipe for disaster?"
Charlotte nods and throws her hands in the air. "Thank you! That's exactly what I've been saying."
"Does Jackson know?"
Now they're walking within poisoned territory. Jackson Whittemore still remains a sore subject to Lydia. Which makes Charlotte even more reluctant to touch on this. "Jackson found out about Scott on his own," she begins. Her brows furrow. "I think he wants to become one. Well, I know he's tried multiple times."
"And none of you wanted to tell me?" Lydia continues to stare at her sister, trying to pick apart her internal thoughts. The volume of her voice drops a few levels, and she leans forward on the table to ask, "Why did you lie to me?"
"I wanted to, I really did. I think I was worrying too much about what Scott wanted, keeping his wolf stuff a secret. I was too concerned about him and not about how everything had been affecting my sister- still is affecting my sister." Lydia frowns. Charlotte softly sighs. "But this isn't just about Scott anymore. All of us have been involved in this supernatural shit one way or another."
"And what happened that night at the dance? That guy... Peter. Was he one too?"
Charlotte takes a deep breath. She hadn't revisited what had happened that night apart from in nightmares and flashbacks. "Yeah," she answers. "Derek Hale's uncle."
"Derek, as in the guy who tried to kill us all at school?"
She puts her head in her hands and groans. "Oh, my God, this sounds fucking terrible right now. Derek never tried to kill us. It was Peter, Peter Hale. To put it simply, Peter was the Alpha of the pack and Scott was his Beta. Derek... I don't know, maybe he was a lone wolf."
Lydia frowns in confusion and takes small sips of her coffee as she collects her thoughts together. "So why say that Derek did?"
"Scott panicked in the heat of the moment. Peter was the one who killed all those people." Charlotte reaches across the table and takes her sister's hand. "Lydia, he was the one we saw at the video store."
"The big, ugly monster?"
"Night time alter ego."
"Uh huh... And he bit us because he wanted us to be part of his pack?"
Charlotte nods. "Yeah. I mean I don't know why else he would. I think he just wanted power. The more wolves that are in a pack, the stronger the pack becomes, the individuals and the Alpha. He couldn't have known the bite wouldn't affect us."
Lydia's emerald eyes shine with tears. "So we were just the collateral damage?" she whispers.
"I think so. But he's gone, Lyds. Derek killed him." And as Charlotte says those words aloud, she's finding it harder and harder to believe them anymore.
"Then who the fuck did we just see?" Lydia exclaims in fear. A few heads turn their way, but neither take any notice. "Charles, it was so weird. The minute I saw his name, it all came back. I relived it."
"I have no idea what happened," she honestly confesses. "But we both had a flashback. I also don't know how you connected them, his name and the attack." Charlotte frowns. She's been doing that a lot today. "You didn't even know who Peter was up until a few minutes ago. You know, you're taking this remarkably well."
Lydia cracks a small smile. "I mean, all it really took was seeing a giant, rabid, supernatural dog. Either you were slipping me hallucinogenics in my food, or I really was seeing a monster."
"Imagine if it was all as simple as taking drugs." Charlotte sighs and leans her chin into her palm. "Jeez, we should really film a reality show. Would be millionaires by now." They both break into laughter.
After ten minutes of delving into the smaller details and finishing their gelato, Charlotte returns to her place in the driver's seat and turns the key to the engine. She turns to her sister. "Are you sure you want to go back? We can take the rest of the day off, Mom won't care."
Lydia stares at her. "Yes she will."
"Okay, so we use the sick excuse."
"We both got sick together? At the exact same time?"
"It was incredibly contagious."
The girls giggle and Charlotte begins the drive towards the high school for the second half of their day. Lydia leans her head against the window. "So what do we do now?"
"Well, I guess I go tell everyone that you know."
She nods. "So that's what Jackson was talking about earlier. How we're immune?"
"Yeah." Charlotte's brows furrow. "That was really weird. God, I'm glad you guys are broken up."
"Charlotte, thanks for telling me. Really."
When the car pulls to a stop, she gently smiles. "Hey, we're sisters. We're gonna figure out whatever's wrong with us together, okay?"
"I love you."
Engulfed into an embrace, Charlotte squeezes her back just as tight. "I love you too, Lyds."
"Forever?"
"Yeah. Forever."
»»———- ———-««
After reluctantly leaving her twin, Charlotte walks into the cafeteria on a study period. She quickly spots her two best friends on a table, and she nervously plays with her fingers are she sits down. Even though they don't know what had just occurred, she's still anxious about their future reaction.
"Charlie!" Stiles smiles. "Hey! Where were you at lunch?"
"With Lydia, we went out for ice cream," she replies.
"Oh. Well, we were going to get the ice rink keys from Boyd for after school today."
Charlotte grins and she waves to her friend seated across the room. Boyd smiles and waves back. She claps her hands together and jumps back up. "All right, Stilinski, let's go!"
Stiles mimics her smile and follows behind her as they head towards the teenage boy who has isolated himself considerably from his surrounding peers. Stiles slides onto the bench and nods. "Boyd," he greets.
"Hey, dude."
Vernon Boyd smiles again. "Hey, Charlie."
Stiles' eyes dart to each in confusion and he points between them. "Sorry, you know each other?" he questions.
Charlotte nods. "Yeah, we've been friends for ages."
The pair of friends share another smile, but Boyd's abruptly drops when Stiles speaks up again. "Got the keys?"
There's a faint jingle, then Boyd holds up the keychain with the silver object they need attached. Stiles grins and goes to snatch them out of the boy's hand, only for the owner to tighten his grip onto them. Charlotte leans her chin in her hands as she watches the scene unfold. "This isn't a favour," Boyd points out. "It's a transaction."
"Right! Yeah. Of course," he agrees. Stiles pulls a twenty dollar note out of his pocket and lays it on the table.
Boyd studies it for a few seconds, then his eyes drift back up to the Stilinski. "I said fifty."
"Really? 'Cause I remember twenty... I have a really good verbal memory. Don't I, Charles?"
She scoffs. "Don't involve me in this!" She gestures between them. "This is between you two. I'm just the audience."
Stiles rolls his eyes. "Okay, well, I do. And I remember twenty. I remember that incredibly distinct 'twuh' sound, 'twuh-enty.'"
"I said fifty," Boyd corrects impatiently. "With a 'fuh' sound. Hear the difference?"
Stiles spins back to his best friend, and she innocently smiles at him. "Stiles, he asked you a question," she points out.
The boy clears his throat. "Uh..."
"If you can't, I can demonstrate some other words with the 'fuh' sound."
Charlotte bites the inside of her cheek, trying not to laugh as Stiles nervously begins to ramble in agreement. "Oh, no. N-no! I think I'm recalling it now. Yep, I think I just got confused with 'fuh'orty." Boyd narrows his eyes as the boy places a forty dollar note on the table. He picks up a Dorito chip and slowly crunches it, remaining eye contact with the Stilinski. Charlotte giggles. "Come on, man! Have you seen the piece of crap Jeep that I drive?"
She gasps. "Don't insult Roscoe like that!" Stiles winces.
Boyd stares at him. "Have you seen the piece of crap bus I take?"
Charlotte finally slams her hands on the table. "Okay, this was incredibly humorous for the first few minutes, but now it's just ridiculous." She takes out a one-hundred dollar bill and hands it to Boyd who brightly beams as if he's being given a pot of gold. "See?" she directs to Stiles with raised brows. "Not hard."
Vernon Boyd quickly hands the girl the needed keys for the ice rink, his smile still remaining. "You know, I would've given them to you for free," he says.
She keeps eye contact with him for a few further seconds then shakes her head. "Don't care, I still would've paid you." Boyd's grin somehow widens. Charlotte grabs Stiles by his backpack and drags him beside her whilst Boyd glares at him as they leave the table. "Seriously?" she hisses in annoyance. "Stiles, you have a fifty in your pocket!"
He scoffs. "How do you know that?"
"Do you?"
"... Maybe. Scott, we got 'em!"
Dropping back down on the bench beside Scott, Charlotte rolls her eyes. "I got them," she corrects. "Stiles here thought we were bargaining."
The hazel-eyed boy drops his head down onto the table. "If you had given me five more minutes, I could have won him over!"
"You?" Charlotte snorts. "If you had spent five more minutes with him, we wouldn't even have the keys!"
"Dude! You are so impatient-"
When he trails off, her eyebrows raise pointedly. "Um, hello?" She waves a hand in front of his eyes. "I'm still here?"
"Yeah... So is she," Stiles mutters.
Charlotte sighs when she notices both of the boys are staring off at something behind her. "Oh, my God, what is it now?" But when she turns around, her eyes widen as Erica walks into the cafeteria. "Holy shit."
"What happened to her?"
"Scott, she got hot," Stiles responds in awe.
"She was already hot," the girl quickly corrects.
For a moment, the boys tear their eyes off Erica to look at her. "You think she's hot?" Stiles questions.
She hums. "So?"
They shrug and return gawking at the girl in the distance. Charlotte smiles when she sees a mop of strawberry blonde hair sit beside her. "What the fuck is that?" Lydia asks in disbelief.
"It's Erica."
They watch the blonde-haired girl take a bite of someone's apple and wipe some smudged red lipstick away as she smiles directly at their table. Charlotte's eyes widen even further when Erica winks at her. The girl twirls a blonde curl around her a finger and she confidently walks out of the room.
Whilst Charlotte Martin is too busy staring at the spot her friend had been standing in a few seconds prior, Scott and Stiles realise that something's not right. They roll their eyes at their best friend's shock and take off running after Erica.
Lydia waves a hand in front of her sister's face and sighs. "Earth to Charlotte?"
She quickly shakes her head. "Right! Sorry."
A smile slowly makes its way onto Lydia's face. "You have a crush," she points out in realisation.
Charlotte's eyes widen. "What? No!" she exclaims defensively. "I do not."
"Oh, come on. Yes you do."
"I don't! I definitely don't."
Lydia hums. "Sure."
"She's hot, that's all." When her sister squeals, Charlotte rolls her eyes. "Shut up."
»»———- ———-««
All throughout the remaining classes for the day, Charlotte hadn't been able to stop thinking about how her friends would react when she would tell them Lydia knows. Seated in the back of the Jeep, she anxiously creates shapes with the black hair tie on her wrist.
"So I'll pick you up after work tonight and we'll all meet at the rink, cool?"
Scott nods at Stiles' words and he glances back to the girl. "You and Lydia gonna meet us there?"
Her eyes close. "I told her," she blurts out.
Stiles slams on the breaks and the car skids to a stop in the middle of the road. "You told her?" he shrieks in alarm. "Lydia?"
Charlotte hesitantly nods. "Yeah."
Scott's eyes narrow as he turns to fully face his friend. "You told Lydia? About everything? You didn't even ask me!"
Taken aback by his comment, she stares at him. Charlotte finally scoffs. "Yeah, I did. And no, I didn't. And you know what?" Her voice raises in frustration at his self-centredness. "This isn't just the Scott McCall show. It's not all about you. You might be the main character, but Lydia and I were bitten as well. Just because we didn't turn into wolves, doesn't mean that it didn't happen."
Scott's eyes widen. "But-"
"Shut up." Now, Stiles' eyes widen. "Stiles is just as involved in this as you are." Said teenager frowns and looks down. "The only difference is that you're the one that actually has superpowers. Lydia's been involved in all of this almost as long as we all have, she just didn't know about it. Scott, she was going to find out eventually, and it was only fair that it came from me. I couldn't keep lying to her face."
"I-"
Stiles places a hand over Scott's mouth, silently telling him to shut up.
Charlotte sighs and as she unclips her seatbelt and grabs her bag. "So, no. I didn't ask you because I don't need to. And if you have a problem with her knowing, deal with it." She opens her door and slams it shut.
Watching the girl walk in the opposite direction that the car was going, she doesn't stop when Stiles calls out, "Are you really going to walk home? It'll take half an hour!"
"Don't care!"
"Are we going to see you later tonight?"
"Maybe!"
She's far too petty to turn back around. And Scott McCall is wondering if she had been right all along. Maybe they should have told Lydia.
𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘐 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘺𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.
𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 (𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘴) 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨.