Paige sat in the locker room with Stiles sitting across from her. She was humming a joyful tune while sipping coffee. Her eyes flicker up to Stiles to notice that he was staring at her.
"What?" She barely takes the straw from her mouth, letting the plastic press against the side of her lip, "Is there something on my face?"
"Is that even considered coffee?"
Pulling the cup away from her face, Paige stares at the liquid in the cup. It was practically white at this point, filled full with creamer and whip cream. "It's a beverage."
"Of pure liquid sugar."
A chuckle came from her before she chugs the rest of it down. Paige got up from the bench inside the locker room, "No. This had milk and coffee inside of it."
"That's disgusting."
"It's delicious." She countered. Paige walked with him out onto the field, not even bothering to go out and play. She dropped down on the bench, "Why are you judging me with my sugar? I'm not the one popping Adderall's like they're candy."
"Fine." Stiles whispers with a squint her way. "I don't judge your weird shit. You don't judge mine."
"It's a deal." Paige spits in her hand extending it out to him. She watches as he stares as her saliva trails down her palm before daintily grabbing her thumb and shaking. "Oh, you big bitch baby."
"Alliteration for an insult." Stiles scrunches his nose up and gives her a little sneer. "Cute."
"I know." Paige tilted her head to the side with a smile, snug and cocky, "Classic me."
All Stiles did was roll his eyes, not believing that he had known this girl since they were children. "You're weird."
"I do my best to be." Paige threw her hair over her shoulder, kicking her legs out in a childish manner, "At least I didn't accuse my friend of something as ridiculous as lycanthropy."
"Right!" Stiles shot up as if he just remembered something because of Paige. He searched the field just in time to see Scott coming on, "Scott! Scott, wait up!"
Paige scrambled to stand up, feeling the wave of sugar hit her body, "Wait, do you know something new?"
Scott did not seem to be in the mood to stop, he just wanted to plow through his day, "Stiles... Paige, I'm playing the first elimination, man. Can't it wait?"
"Just hold on, okay?" Stiles struggled to keep Scott with him, so Paige skipped around so he wouldn't go past her, "I overheard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis came back from the lab in L.A. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods!"
"Stiles, I gotta go." Scott dodged around Paige before she could grab a hold of him, running out onto the field.
"Wait, no! Scott! You're not gonna believe what the animal was!" Stiles kept yelling but threw his hands up in the air. His eyes shifted over to where Paige was standing, "It was a wolf..."
Paige's usual smile fades, her attention moving back over to Scott. She exhales slowly and reaches out for Stiles, "We're not that important to first elimination, right?"
"Uh... No."
"Stay here." Paige instructs him, "I'll meet you at your place. Cover for me if the Coach asks for me."
"Why?" Stiles watches as Paige takes off, "P-Paige!"
Paige was fully prepared to get yelled at by her Aunt if she found out she skipped practice but it wasn't like she was skipping school. She felt like taking Scott's bike just so she was able to get to Stiles' faster, but he'd probably lose his mind. By lose his mind, she means get incredibly pissed.
She kept on running down the street, it wasn't as if this was something new. Paige just needed to use Stiles' computer since she didn't have one. She wanted to read up on as much of lycanthropy as she could. Maybe that would help her in some way. Her running halted entirely when she saw the same black camaro go driving right past her. She stares at the car for a few moments before taking off again.
Paige found the spare key with ease and went running up the stairs to Stiles' room. She tripped over all of his things, slamming right down into the ground. "God... Stiles-" She pulled herself up using his chair, "How are you such a slob?"
She adjusted herself in the seat while typing away. Looking up from her reading, Stiles walked into his room, "Paige, rub your eyes."
"Huh?" Paige shut them, feeling just how dry they had gotten, "Oh-" Rubbing her eyes as much as she could, feeling them water now, "Thanks." A slow blink helped adjust her vision, but she winced away at his face, "What's up with you?"
"Uh... So, my theory... doesn't feel much like a theory anymore."
Paige spun the chair so she was facing Stiles as he sat on his bed, "What happened? Did Scott like change or something? Right on the field?"
"Not exactly."
"That's not really an answer." Paige brought her hands back up to her eyes, wiping at them again. "So, I did a lot of reading. There's like... twenty tabs open on your computer right now. I also dug through your shit, since you already had books on this kind of nerd crap. Also, some tabs have newspaper articles as well."
"You-" Stiles got up from the bed quickly, turning Paige in the chair so they were both facing the computer, "You are a freak of nature sometimes, Paige, you know that?"
"A freak in a good way." Paige hums without missing a beat, she got up from his seat and pushed him into it, "Do your reading, I'm gonna text Scott to get him over here."
Paige ended up walking down the stairs into the kitchen in search for something to snack on. She pulled open the fridge and didn't see anything that appealed to her. So, she dug through the cabinets to find some other kind of snack. She cheered at the sight of a few rice krispie treats, unwrapping one she noticed that Scott came walking in.
"Hi, Scotty-"
Scott halted in his steps, facing Paige with a rather amused look once he noticed the snack, "Stealing from Stiles again?"
"It's not stealing. I'm a guest in this home, snacks are basically free gain." Paige stuffed her face with the rice krispie treat before following Scott up to Stiles' room. Practically revealing that she knew if Stiles saw her with one of his snacks he'd murder her.
"Perfect, you're here." Stiles eyed Paige suspiciously since she had disappeared somewhere in his house, "You gotta see this thing. So, Paige searched all this stuff up and got us both reading. Websites, books. All this information."
Scott looked down at the ground to see papers everywhere along with books, "How much Adderall and sugar have you two had today?"
"A lot." Paige and Stiles answer at the same time, making the two stare at each other in unison as well, "Doesn't matter. Okay, just listen."
"Oh, is this about the body?" Scott says as though he had an epiphany, "Did they find out who did it?"
"No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale."
Scott nodded his head in understanding, "Oh, the guy in the woods that we saw the other day."
"Yeah!" Paige snapped her fingers together as if she was praising Scott, "Yes. But that's not it, okay?"
Furrowing his brows together, Scott looked between his friends, "What, then?"
"Remember the joke from the other day?" Stiles asks a little calmly, "Not a joke anymore. The wolf- the bite in the woods. We started doing all this reading-"
Paige cuts Stiles off completely, who gave her a dirty look, "Do you know why a wolf howls?"
Scott only looked a little confused and concerned, "Should I?"
"It's basically a signal." Paige explains, feeling as though she was bouncing a little from the excitement of everything. It was exhilarating, "When a wolf is alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you really did hear a wolf howling, then that means others could have been close. Maybe a whole pack."
"A whole pack of wolves?"
"No." Stiles states, "Werewolves."
Scott looked betrayed at his friends for pulling something like this on him again, "Are you seriously wasting my time with this? Paige, I thought you didn't follow Stiles with this stuff? You guys both know I'm picking up Allison in an hour."
Stiles breathed out heavily through his nose, "Scott, I saw you on the field today. Okay, what you did wasn't just amazing, all right? It was impossible."
"Yeah, so I made a good shot."
"No-" Stiles raised his hands up to emphasize what he was talking about, "You made an incredible shot, I mean- The way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. Y'know, people can't just suddenly do that overnight. And there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think I don't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore."
"He's right." Paige points out, finally realizing what Stiles was talking about, "I haven't seen you use it since that night you got bitten."
"Okay!" Scott explains just wanting to get away from his two friends practically verbally attacking him, "Dude, I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?!" Paige exclaims as she runs around to close Stiles' door, pressing her back against it. "No!"
"She's right." Stiles states, "The full moon's tonight. Don't you get it?"
Scott shook his head, not believing that his friends were ruining such good things for him, "What are you trying to do? I just made first line. I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?"
"But we're not trying to ruin anything for you." Paige furrowed her brows as she walked away from the door. Feeling just how bad they were making Scott feel, "We just want to help."
"You're cursed, Scott." Stiles tells him rather bluntly, earning a look of disbelief from Paige, "You know, and it's not just the moon that will cause you to physically change. It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak."
"Bloodlust?"
"Yeah, your urge to kill."
Scott sent a glare over to his friend, "I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles."
"Stiles, I don't think you're actually helping right now." Paige was suddenly wary, her eyes focused on Scott. She could practically sense the anger building up in him.
"No, Paige-" Stiles searches around for a certain text of research, "You gotta hear this. 'The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse'. All right? I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You gotta cancel this date. I'm gonna call her right now."
Scott takes a moment to realize what Stiles was doing, "What are you doing?"
"I'm cancelling the date."
"No!" Scott grabbed hold of Stiles, knocking over his chair in the process as he slammed Stiles into the wall. "Give it to me!"
Paige covered her mouth in shock before yelling out, "Scott!"
Scott blinked and stepped back from Stiles, his head swivelling to look at Paige, "I'm sorry. I-I gotta go get ready for that party." Paige stepped away from him when he walked towards her, "I'm sorry."
Paige released a low shaky breath, "Stiles..."
"I know... I pushed a little to-"
"No-" Paige picked his chair back up from the ground and spun it so the back was facing him, "Are those claw marks?"
"Yeah..." Stiles lifted his head as his eyes connected with Paige's, "Wanna be my date to this party tonight?"
Paige would prefer to have her own headphones in so she could listen to her own music because whatever was currently playing she did not enjoy one bit. Her hair was braided in the front like a crown to keep the hair from falling on her face. She also did not even bother changing her clothes, it was not as if she came to impress anyone. Or she was ever trying to impress anyone. If she was going to dress to impress, she'd dress to impress herself.
"That's just distasteful."
"What is?" Paige tilts her head to the side in confusion at Stiles' sudden outburst. She followed his gaze to see Lydia and Jackson making out against a post. Paige just gagged, covering her mouth, "Oh, why did you show me that?"
"That's just not right."
"What? Them making out or you making my eyes burn by looking." She rubbed at her eyes heavily and shivered. When she opened them again she blinked because she saw Derek Hale. Paige tilted her head to the side and followed where his eyes were, to see that he was staring right at Scott and Allison.
"I mean, Lydia could do better, right?" Stiles brought her attention back to him, "Jackson is a jerk, she-"
"They love each other." Paige interrupts him, stepping out in front of him so she was in his view instead of the couple kissing.
"Love?"
Paige just nodded her head, "Yeah, she cares about him and he cares about her."
"How do you even know that?"
"I just know, okay?" Paige jolted when she was pushed into Stiles, turning around she saw Scott stumbling through the crowd, "Scott?"
Stiles reached out for him but he pulled away, "Yo, Scott, are you good?" He groaned and leaned towards Paige so only he heard him, "I'll go check on him, you find Allison."
"Why am I on girl duty?"
"Because you're a girl."
"But I want to check on Scott-"
"Paige!"
She jumped and turned to where she last saw Allison, "I got it. I got it. I have the vagina so I have to deal with the girl."
Allison noticed Paige approaching her, "You're Scott's friend, right? Is he okay?"
"Uh-" Paige was not the best liar at some points, mainly because thinking of something on the spot in a situation like this was not something she was good at, "Not sure. Stiles is checking on him."
"Well, he-" Allison looked over Paige's shoulder to see Scott go stumbling through the crowd, "There-"
Paige grabbed onto Stiles' arm, "What's going on?"
"I don't know. But I think I could guess."
She went running right out of the house just as Scott drove his mother's car away. Paige grabbed her hair and tugged at both ends, "I am going to need like fifty sugar cookies after this."
"Just hurry up to the jeep."
"You better be getting me those cookies." Paige gave him a pointed look and poked at his shoulder while following behind him. Momentarily looking off to see Allison was talking to Derek, even following him to his car.
Stiles swatted her hands away from him, "It won't be fifty cookies."
"Fine. A milkshake from Jack in the Box."
"Deal."
Paige cheered while hopping into the passenger seat. Once at Scott's house, both teens went rushing up the stairs to his room. Paige went to open it but the door was locked, "Scott, it's us. It's Paige and Stiles."
"Let us in, Scott. We can help."
"No!" Scott yelled from the other side, his voice partially muffled by the door, "Listen, you gotta find Allison."
"She's fine, all right?" Paige tells him from the other side, feeling her anxiety rise whenever she hears Scott breathe from the other end, "I saw her get a ride from the party. She's totally fine, all right?"
"No-" He cried from the other end, "I think I know who it is."
Stiles sent a concerned expression over to Paige as they continued to try and get in, "Just let us in. We can try-"
"It's Derek." Scott's declaration made the two stop for a moment, "Derek Hale is the werewolf. He's the one that bit me. He's the one that killed the girl in the woods."
Paige felt something deep in her gut just plummet, "Scott... Derek's the one who drove Allison from the party."
Stiles waited for a moment but nothing came from the other end, so he pushed the door open just to see the window open, "Scott!"
"We-" Paige grabbed onto his shirt and fell back in her franticness, "We need to go to Allison's house. We-We need-"
"I'm going. I'm going!"
Paige and Stiles basically rambled the entire way to the Argent house, trying to figure out what they were even going to say. Especially if they didn't want to sound absolutely insane.
"You're going to talk."
"No, you are."
"I don't want to talk."
Stiles stuck his fist out, "Loser talks."
"Bet." Paige stuck her fist out, matching his, "1, 2, 3-" She laughed and stuck her tongue out towards him, "Ha! You always choose paper."
Stiles grumbled to himself as they walked up to the door, he flinched when a woman opened up. "Hi, Mrs. Argent. Um- You have no idea who we are. We're friends of your daughter. Uh- Look, this is gonna sound kind of crazy, um- Really crazy, actually. You know what? Crazy doesn't even describe-"
"Allison!" Mrs. Argent turns into the house and calls, "It's for you."
Paige furrowed her brows when Allison appeared at the top of the steps, "Uh, hi..."
"What's up?"
Stiles and Paige look at one another at the same time, before turning back to Allison, "Uh, well..."
"We wanted to apologize for Scott." Paige chimes in, a little nervous as she connected her hands, "He said he'll talk to you tomorrow."
"That's why you came?"
"Yep." Paige gave her a large smile, "He just really wanted you to know that he's sorry. I can tell he really likes you and that you are important to him. So... Yeah..."
Allison bit her bottom lip with a small smile on her face, "Okay, thank you for the heads up. See you at school?"
"Totally..."