TONIGHT, Stiles repeated to himself. He was going to tell Sierra tonight, after the lacrosse game. Nothing supernatural should interfere with his plans since all they were doing was getting the bestiary, so now was better than later. Plus, his mind was going crazy with the possibility of Isaac coming back at anytime to carry Sierra off in his arms.
Now, he didn't really have a plan for what he was going to say, but was hoping that when the right moment came, everything would just fall into place. However, it wasn't that easy.
You'd think that having a werewolf for a best friend, almost being killed by an Alpha (three times to be exact) and trying to find a crazy homicidal lizard would surely tell Stiles that his ideas would always change, but he held onto hope that his plan would work. Just once, he prayed.
"You look like you're going to be sick," a voice broke his train of thought and he flickered his whiskey eyes off the road momentarily to see Sierra staring at him in concern from the passenger seat. "Are you okay?" she asked, lowering her feet from where they had been up in the dash.
They were on their way to the high school for the game and she was showing school spirit by wearing Stiles' maroon hoodie with his last name plastered on the back, right above the number twenty-four. It was actually one of her favorite outfits, since she had stolen the item of clothing from him a couple of months ago.
Stiles didn't mind though. He had other lacrosse shirts and was actually wearing his jacket as he drove. The sophomore loved the idea of her wearing his number; it was kind of thing couples usually did and made that tiny spark of hope ignite just a bit more. "I'm fine," Stiles replied to her with a small smile. In reality, he was having a huge mental breakdown, but it's not like he could just blurt out his problem to Sierra. His anxiety was through the roof despite the fact that he was lightly tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to stay calm. He thanked the heavens that Scott wasn't in the jeep to notice his chemo signals going haywire.
Sierra didn't buy it and raised her eyebrows expectantly, wanting a true answer. She wondered if he sometimes forgot how well she knew him and that she had a natural instinct to notice when he was lying, more recently than ever. Stile wouldn't admit it but it kind of scared him how observant the girl really was.
Nonetheless, she never pieced together that he was nervous because of her. She just figured it was about the plan. "Look, nothing is going to go wrong tonight," she stated optimistically and firmly. "All we have to do is get the keys from Allison, then get the book from the school. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy."
A soft chuckle escaped Stiles' mouth at her childish saying but having her say nothing was going to go wrong helped him relax. He then turned into the school parking lot and quickly parked the jeep, ending their conversation as she helped him carry his lacrosse bag to the bench. Sierra had taken the seat next to him, though it was supposed to be for players only.
However, Coach Finstock barely noticed- even as the game started. "I'm surprised he hasn't kicked me out yet," she whispered to Stiles as they watched another one of his teammates get knocked to the grass by a very tall number forty-two from the opposing team.
"I think he's more worried about our whole team making a trip to the emergency room," he replied wittily as the Coach demanded to the referees if that player was even a teenager.
If he was, Sierra believed he either did drugs or that he ate a lot of pasta and corn.
"Who or what is that genetic experiment?" Finstock questioned the two, plopping onto the bench next to Stiles. The two teenagers looked at him, surprised he still hadn't fully noticed the light brunette.
"Uh, that would be Eddie Abramovitz, Coach," Stiles recovered, exchanging glances with Sierra.
"They call him the Abomination," the girl added, realizing that he probably didn't care that she wasn't sitting on the bleachers with the rest of the crowd.
The adult grumbled under his breath, "Oh, that's cute." His spastic eyes landed on Sierra finally and he narrowed his gaze. "You're lucky you are one of my favorite students," he said with a finger pointed at her. "If it were Greenburg, I'd have him run-which he isn't doing right now!" he raised his voice and turned back to the game. "If you're going to play, run!"
Sierra bit her lip to hide her amusement and bounced her knee from the chilly night air. "Are you still cold?" Stiles asked worriedly. She had three layers on, but to her it felt like she was only wearing a T-shirt. She tore her gaze away from Scott and Jackson on the field to give him an assuring grin.
"A little," she admitted but shrugged. "I'll be fine though." Stiles frowned, not agreeing.
"Here, this might help." He slipped his hands over hers, rubbing them together before he brought them up to his mouth and blew over them to create warmth and friction. "I might need to buy you some hand warmers," Stiles joked, placing her hands back on her jeans.
However, Sierra had lost the feeling once he let go and simply intertwined their fingers once more, giving him a smile when he looked over. He was shocked, but happy. They scooted closer together, both too shyly in love to say anything more.
Unfortunately, their moment ended as Sierra made eye-contact with her archery friend. "She has the keys," Sierra said lowly so Coach wouldn't hear. Stiles looked over where her locked eyes were staring and nodded. Carefully, they both stood up and quickly left the bench- Sierra tripping over Greenburg's lacrosse bag as they did so. "How is it that even his stuff is annoying?" she mumbled and Stiles laughed.
They acted like they were leaving the game, and had no trouble grabbing the keys from where Allison held them out from the bleachers. The pair rushed out away from the field, heading across the parking lot. Sierra stopped walking at the sight of her friend's car parked, with the girl sitting inside it. "No, no," Stiles complained, knowing Sierra wanted to go over and check on her. "Si, we don't have time."
Sierra pursed her lips, knowing he was right. But, Lydia was crying and the humanity mixed with the goodness of the light brunette's heart won in the end. "You go get the bestiary," she instructed Stiles. "I need to make sure she's okay."
He didn't like the idea of separating; the last time he did she almost died. His brown eyes showed pain and reluctance as she looked up and she gave a half-smile. "I'll be fine," she assured, squeezing his hand for good measure.
A sigh escaped his mouth because he knew she wasn't going to change her mind. "If anything happens, Sierra Page..." he started off seriously.
"I'll call you," she finished with a nod.
Hesitant to leave, Stiles leaned down and gently kissed her cheek. "I'll be back in ten minutes," he told her. "If I'm not back, go get Scott, okay? Then after the game, I need to talk to you."
"What about?"
"It's not something I can say in two seconds," he responded vaguely and took a step back from her to head inside. "Remember ten minutes." Sierra nodded again and he headed towards the school while she walked over to Lydia's car.
Knocking on the window, she offered her friend a kind smile. Lydia hurriedly wiped her tears away, smudging her mascara as she tried to hide that she was crying. "Come on, Lyd," Sierra begged as Lydia locked the car. "You shouldn't care if people see you cry."
"Why?" the strawberry-blonde asked quietly with a sniffle.
"Because all it shows is what a beautiful and strong human you are. You don't need to hide that," Sierra replied honestly and her face brightened when Lydia rolled down her window. The dirty-blonde leaned forward, resting her arms on the car door. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"
Lydia slightly shook her head with a hiccup. "You're going to think I'm crazy."
Sierra sighed, "I seriously doubt it. If you could trust me on anything and knew what I know, you would think pigs could fly. Come on, tell me what's bugging you."
Lydia didn't respond for a minute or two, not knowing where to start because she was shocked that she had someone that would listen. "I just don't know what's going on," she finally stated, frustrated. She wasn't crying anymore but a few tears lingered on her red cheeks as she sniffled. "Ever since the winter formal, I've been having nightmares...but they're not always at night."
Concerned, Sierra tilted her head to the right as she questioned the girl further. "You mean you've been having them during school?"
"And they're terrifying," Lydia shared, her fingers slightly shaking because it seemed like everywhere she went, that man followed her with his red eyes.
To show her she wasn't alone, Sierra revealed something not even Stiles knew. "Shockingly, I understand what you're going through." Curiously, Lydia flickered her green eyes up to her friend.
Releasing a breath, Sierra then gulped as flashes of her nightmares seemed to fly by in her memory. "They always feel so real," she divulged slowly, and her blue irises locked in on the gear shift while she remembered. "Like it's actually happening, or like the person in the dream is truly beside me."
"Exactly," Lydia agreed softly surprised she finally found someone she could relate and talk to. "It's not just that, Sierra. I thought it was just Jackson breaking up with me, but it's not. I feel different, mentally."
Sierra seemed to snap out of her deep trance and blinked before forcing another smile on her lips. "I'm always here to talk if you need me. I just want you to remember that it's okay not to be okay every once and a while," she stated sincerely.
Gracious to have a friend like Sierra, Lydia nodded. "Thank you; I really needed that."
"I think I needed that too," she replied truthfully and the two girls shared a brief hug with a car door between them before Sierra saw that it had been way longer than ten minutes. Stiles should've been back by now. Nervously glancing towards the school, she turned to Lydia. "I hate to ruin this moment but I just remembered Stiles needed my help for something."
With a wave of her manicured hand, Lydia dismissed her. "Then why are you still here?"
"Will you be okay?"
"I'll be fine," Lydia said, more to assure herself. "I think I'm just going to go home for the night."
Sierra smiled at her friend and waved goodbye. Then, after making sure no one followed her, she sprinted into the school in hopes of finding Stiles.
*^*^*^*^
She first checked the principal's office, since Gerard was in charge now. Sierra still thought about how that exactly happened, because their old principal wasn't that bad. However, knowing about the Argents, made her shiver in what she believed they did to monitor their daughter twenty-four seven.
A sigh escaped her mouth once she saw the office keys hanging from the doorknob and saw no one when she stepped inside. "Where is he?" she mumbled to herself, trying to not think about how she was all by herself in a dark school. It gave her too many memories about Peter trapping and almost killing them.
The flashlight on her phone was her only source of light as she aimlessly searched the halls for Stiles. Her wandering eventually led her to the pools; the only place she hadn't checked. She walked in slowly, her blue eyes scanning over the area. Her gaze fell on a familiar red tracksuit holding up a sour alpha in the middle of the bright clear water, bickering obnoxiously about Derek being paralyzed in eight feet of water.
"Stiles?" she called out worriedly, picking up her pace as she headed in their direction.
The sophomore losing feeling in his arms whipped his head around, slightly squinting from the water in his eyes. "Sierra?" He realized, his jaw dropping as Derek then spotted the very thing they were trying to get away from. "Go!" He yelled, seeing it creep closer on its claws. "Get out of here now!"
A loud hiss caused the girl to freeze and she turned around on her heel with a frightened expression to see the giant lizard from the mechanic's garage tilting its head at her.
Instead of screaming like she wanted to do, Sierra took off in a sprint along the pool side. It obviously didn't like that and shrilled a cry, starting to go after her.
Sierra made a choice that second, because she understood that it was most likely faster. The creature swiped at the air to paralyze her, and Stiles shouted in protest but luckily, she had already dived into the water.
Coughing and sputtering from accidentally swallowing some aqua, Sierra thanked God that her hair was already in a ponytail and that she only had to wipe her eyes to stop the burning she got from the chlorine. She ferociously paddled and kicked her way over to Stiles and Derek, who was completely annoyed at the fact that he was only alive because of the pale boy. Knowing her best friend must be tired, Sierra quickly hoisted Derek's right arm over her shoulder in order to assist Stiles in holding him up.
Though he was happy to have a little less of the sour wolf weighing him down, Stiles couldn't hide his frustration that Sierra didn't get away. "I don't remember saying, 'Come in the water is great,'" he sarcastically spat some water out of his mouth.
Sierra rolled her eyes. "That's funny," she started with exactly as much sass. "That doesn't sound like, 'Thanks for helping me not drown' by saving the alpha- who seems to be without his new posy for the first time in forever."
"Actually, Erica is unconscious by the wall," Stiles revealed and Sierra turned her head to see that he was right. The female beta lay motionless against the tile, though out of harm's way.
"Well that's just great."
"Shut up," Derek snapped, interrupting their small argument. His eyes were locked on the creature as it walked back and forth, watching them eerily. "Look."
All three saw it dip its claw into the pool, but it screeched hideously as soon as it touched and scrambled away from the edge. "Did you see that?" Stiles asked, even though he knew they did. "I don't think it can swim."
About an hour and a half later, the struggle to hold up Derek was growing. Sierra continuously had to go under and pop back up in order to breathe and Stiles had lost all feeling in his arm. "We need to do something," Sierra coughed out and neither of them replied until they saw her eyes land on Stiles' cell phone, that had fallen out of his pocket when he was running. Hers was farther away from when she dropped it.
"No, I am not getting it," Stiles disagreed sharply before she could say anything and Derek agreed.
"If either one of you let go, I'm dead."
"Considering what a jerk you are, I wouldn't mind seeing that happen," Sierra commented wittily. "Stiles, I'll go get it, okay?"
"That thing is still out there," Stiles argued, only caring for her safety.
"Trust me," she replied seriously. "I can do it; we've been holding him up for almost two hours- we have to do something."
Derek spoke up arrogantly, "You can't fight that thing, Sierra. When the paralysis wears off, you two are going to be the ones needing protection from me. That's why you aren't going to let go."
"Well I think it's time that the tables turn," Sierra told the alpha, annoyed at his attitude. "Stiles, I'm going. End of discussion."
"Wait, just-" She didn't give time for Stiles to sputter out a protest and dropped Derek from her arm.
"Sierr-" Derek shouted, his words getting interrupted by water flooding his mouth.
Swimming as fast as she could, she reached the edge of the pool within seconds. However, Stiles hadn't been prepared on her letting go and hadn't noticed how much weight she had actually been holding. Derek sunk to the bottom of the pool, his eyes slowly starting to close. He couldn't breathe and Stiles wasn't doing much better, trapped beneath him. A cry of frustration left Sierra's lips at the sound of Scott's voicemail; she was seriously getting tired of him not answering when they needed him.
A hiss from the creature startled her and she accidentally dropped his phone into the water. As she watched it sink, her eyes that resembled the ocean caught sight of Stiles on the pool floor, struggling to lift Derek back up. She groaned and dove beneath the water with a splash, swimming to them swiftly.
They each grabbed one of his arms and looped their others around the alpha's waist, luckily having enough strength to bring all three of them to the surface. "Y-you better have gotten it," Derek spat and she scowled.
"It's not my fault Scott doesn't know how to press answer!" she retorted angrily, beginning to lose sight of why she was holding the grumpy alpha up in the first place. Her chest burned from her exercise but her eyes glared daggers into the back of the werewolf's head as she held onto his torso. A screech left the creature again as Sierra struggled to help hold Derek. "Stiles, I can't stay up much longer."
"We need something to hold on to," he replied with a cough, looking around the pool until he found one of the diving platforms. Sierra quickly caught onto his idea and with all of their might, they swam over to the other end. Stiles reached up to grab the handle, but because his fingers were wet, they slipped.
The two teenagers fell deeper into the water, the werewolf's weight and their exhaustion dragging them down. Suddenly, something pulled on the hood of Sierra's sweatshirt and the next thing she knew she was coughing so hard her throat went dry as she tried to breathe normally again. Stiles sputtered from beside her as Scott let out a huge growl at the giant lizard, which caused it to leap towards him.
With one flick of its tail, Scott was sent flying into a mirror and the glass fell in shards all around him. While he picked up a sharp piece to help defend himself, it crept closer, hissing like a snake. However, something about seeing its reflection caused it to jump onto the wall and scurry out of the top window, disappearing for the night. Derek, Stiles, and Sierra were all breathing heavily while Scott sighed with relief that everyone was okay.
Twenty minutes later, Scott with his best friends shivering in their wet clothes huddled around a laptop with the bestiary on a flash drive. "How are we supposed to know what this thing is?" Scott exclaimed in frustration as he scrolled through the many pages that seemed to be in a difficult foreign language.
"It's called a kanima," Derek spoke up from behind them and they turned to see him standing there with Erica right by his side, looking perfectly dry and okay.
On the other end, Sierra was shivering and could actually see her breath as she exhaled. She was completely exhausted and just wanted to go home and change into warm clothes so she could sleep. Annoyed, Sierra scoffed in disbelief. "Are you saying you knew the whole freaking time?" she questioned piercingly with her teeth slightly chattering.
Derek shook his head. "No; only when it was confused by its own reflection."
"It doesn't know what it is," Scott caught on.
"Or who," the alpha added with a serious look on his face.
"Considering you know what it is, what else you got?" Stiles asked in order to retain more information.
"Just stories," Derek answered vaguely. "Rumors." He told them that it was a shape-shifter, but it wasn't completely like them.
He struggled to find the right word to describe the creature. "It's like..."
"An abomination?" Sierra commented without realizing it. Every one faced her as Derek nodded slowly, agreeing with the statement. Erica and him go to leave but Scott's voice stopped them, suggesting that they work together.
Derek couldn't believe that the beta trusted the Argents and the two argued briefly while Erica watched how Stiles wrapped his arm around Sierra, pulling her close and pressing his lips to her forehead.
Sierra leaned into him, absorbing the little warmth he had. Adverting her eyes back to her alpha, it still didn't hide the pang Erica felt in her heart from seeing them act like that, together. "While we're here arguing about who is on what side," Scott was saying loudly, "there is something scarier, stronger, and faster than any of us. It's killing people and we still don't know anything about it!"
Derek's face hardened into a glare with his eyes narrowed. "I know one thing," he said firmly. "When I find it? I'm going to kill it."
^*^*^*^
"What on earth happened to you two?" Jemma demanded, standing up as soon as she laid eyes on the two teenagers who were causing little puddles to pool around their feet while they stood in the Page living room.
"They won the game tonight and Scott thought it would be funny to push us into the pool," Sierra lied swiftly. Stiles and herself had talked on the ride home to get their story straight. "My phone had been in his lacrosse bag and his was in his pocket when we fell in. That's why we didn't answer your calls."
Jemma rushed off and came back with two towels in her hands, quickly handing them to her sister and Stiles. "Oh I wasn't planning on staying," Stiles stuttered out awkwardly but Jemma frowned.
"Nonsense. Any longer you stay in those clothes you'll get sick," she informed him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know for a fact that some of your clothes are here, so go take a warm shower in the guest bedroom and put you laundry in the hamper when you're done. I'll wash your clothes tonight and give them back tomorrow."
Stiles gave Jemma a grateful smile as he playfully saluted her. "Yes m'am." Sierra laughed at his actions and watched as he headed up the steps two at a time.
"I want you to shower too," Jemma added, now facing her sibling. "And when you're done, I'll give you guys some tea."
"I would hug you, but then you'd get wet," Sierra said with a grin, which caused her older sister to laugh.
"Sierra!" Stiles called loudly from upstairs. "Are my sweatpants in your closet or dresser?"
She walked over to the bottom of the steps and lifted her head to yell back. "Dresser in the third drawer!" She thought for a second before informing him, "Your Star Wars T-shirt should be in there too!"
Jemma tried to hide her amusement by biting back her laughter with her hand as Sierra heard the shuffling of a drawer opening and closing. "Got it!" Stiles shouted and walked out of her room towards the guest bathroom, ready to change out of his red tracksuit.
"You two are quite the pair," Jemma chuckled, shaking her head as she headed back to the living room. "Go shower, Si!"
Soon, the two teenagers were clean in new clothes as they sat on the couch, cuddled up to each other under a blanket. "How am I still cold?" Sierra asked aloud to no one in particular, curling her body into a ball with her head on Stiles' chest.
"I'm just praying you guys don't get sick," Jemma commented, carrying two hot mugs in her hands. They each accepted one happily, quickly taking sips. Noticing their confused expressions, Jemma explained, "We were out of tea but I found some apple cider that I heated up."
"Thank you," Stiles expressed happily, already feeling better- though he still had to explain to his father later on why he needed a new cell phone. Having your phone sink while you are almost killed by a scary lizard wasn't likely to be included in the warranty.
"Since you guys won, that means you're going to the finals, right?" Jemma asked curiously from the recliner, draping a fuzzy blanket over her legs.
Stiles nodded, "It's pretty exciting but since we won last year, I think we can do it again."
Jemma smiled politely, "That's good to hear." Noticing it almost being midnight, she stood up and stretched her legs even though she had just sat down. "Since it's late, Stiles, and a Friday, just stay the night tonight. I already told your dad that you were here anyways."
"Thank you," Stiles repeated, honestly feeling too drained to even raise to his feet.
"I'll see you guys in the morning," Jemma yawned and childishly pat her sister on the head before she headed upstairs for bed.
It was really quiet for the next few beats as the pair simply drank their cider to warm themselves up. Sierra felt herself growing tired and fought to keep her eyes open. A small yawn escaped her lips and Stiles chuckled. "We should go to bed too," he told her. "We've had a long day, string bean."
"But I remember you said you wanted to talk," Sierra mumbled sleepily, holding her mug with one hand as she rubbed her face. Stiles tensed, suddenly remembering his plans.
"Not tonight," he told her softly, taking her cup with his left hand as he stood up. "I'll go put these in the sink, then we can sleep."
Sierra laid her head against the cushion of the couch comfortably. "M'kay," she whispered tiredly and Stiles smiled at her before he walked to the kitchen. When he returned, she had accidentally dozed off, too tuckered out to stay awake any longer. He bit back a grin and in one fluid motion, had her scooped into his arms with the blanket still wrapped around her body.
Cautiously, Stiles walked up the steps to Sierra's bedroom, kicking the door open lightly with his foot. Though it was dark, the light from the hallway provided enough for him to see where her bed was, which allowed him to carefully lay her underneath her covers so she wouldn't get cold. Sierra slightly stirred as she adjusted to her pillows instead of his chest and buried herself in a cocoon of warmth. "I love you, Stiles," she mumbled so quietly that he almost didn't hear it.
His whiskey eyes widened and he felt his heart leap for joy from inside his ribcage. What was this amazing girl doing to him? Leaning forward, he kissed her temple tenderly. He whispered underneath his breath, "I love you too, Sierra."
Heading towards the guest room, all Stiles could do was think to himself. Tomorrow, he promised mentally. I'll tell her tomorrow.
-----
Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!! Xx