.WHEN FEARS ARE REALIZED.
— season one - episode two —

     GINNY WAS ALONE, lightly humming to herself on the bleachers, when she heard a faint voice calling out to her. For the time being, she was consumed in her notebook — peacefully drawing a kitten — and felt it unnecessary to turn her head to face the noise until it got closer.

     Stiles continued running to Ginny, panting as he did so, with the purpose of telling her about Allison and her family. As he neared her, yelling out her name, he saw her slowly place her pencil down on her notebook before turning to face him as he arrived. He held a hand on the edge of the benches and faced her, catching his breath, as she looked at him.

     "Yes?" Ginny smiled, holding a hand over her eyes when the sun beamed directly into them.

     "Give me... a second..." He gasped, walking over to where the sun was hitting her to block it before talking. "Allison's—" His eyes turned to her drawing. "What is that? A tree?"

     Ginny frowned as she looked down at her drawing. "A kitten."

     "That is not a kitten," He chuckled.

     Glaring at him, she closed the notebook and shrugged. "Well, art is subjective. And it's a kitten to me."

     "It's not a—"

     "Why were you calling my name?" She furrowed her brows. "What happened with Allison?"

     "Oh," He chuckled and clasped his hands together. "So, get this, her Dad's a hunter." She was quiet for a moment as she tilted her head, Stiles quirked a brow at her. "Hunter? Do you," Realizing why she wasn't understanding, he facepalmed before clearing his throat. "Ask me what they hunt."

     Her eyes widened and her mouth fell agape. "No..."

     "Yes!" Stiles nodded enthusiastically, glad she understood the gravity of the situation. "And now, he's—"

      Coach Finstock blew his whistle as he looked at his players. "Let's go! One-on-ones from up top."

     "I have to go—"

     "But I have more questions!" Ginny groaned, watching him run over to the line-up. Her eyes darted over to Coach Finstock, who was so distracted in instructing Jackson to take a long stick that she took the opportunity to quickly run behind Stiles. As he joined the line-up, she hid behind him and asked. "How did—?"

     He jumped up in surprise — unaware she had been following him — and frantically guided her to the back of the line. "Ginny, you can't be here—"

     "I need answers!" She urged. "You can't leave me on a cliffhanger, please."

     His eyes turned to Coach, then back to hers. "You get three questions, then you have to go back, okay?"

     "Okay," She grinned. "So, how did he find out?"

     "Allison's father shot him—"

     "What?!"

     "Okay—" Stiles' head snapped to Coach, who luckily hadn't heard the screech, as he placed his gloved hand over Ginny's lips. He shot an awkward smile to the players in front of him, who stared at them with confusion before turning back to her. "Ginny."

     "Sorry," Her muffled voice said. Slowly, he removed his hand away. "He's the one that shot Scott?"

     "Yes."

     Her face fell at the thought of her friend — the first real friend she made after her and Lydia's falling out — possibly trying to kill her brother. "Does Allison know?"

     "I don't know," He shrugged. "What I know is what Scott knows and that's..."

     "Limited." Ginny sighed. "Okay, last question—"

     "McCall!" Coach shouted, watching Scott fail to pass Jackson with a speed similar to a snail. As he walked over to talk to him, he saw someone in the back of the line with arms held up in the air as if they were guilty. Instantly, he knew and groaned, covering his face with his hand. "Ginny, go to the stands!"

     "Yes, Coach!" Ginny shouted back, making a bee-line to the bleachers without delay. As she took a seat, she watched as Coach hovered over a crouching Scott — whatever it was he was saying, it did not look good from where she sat. "Come on, Scott..."

     "McCall's gonna do it again!" Coach mocked, waving a hand as Scott ran back to the front of the line. "McCall's gonna do it again!"

     Ginny watched with nervous eyes as Scott charged forward the second the whistle blew — tackling Jackson to the ground. Jackson groaned in pain, holding his arm, while Scott rushed a few feet away from him with his hands on his head before he fell to his knees. Ginny, along with the other spectators on the bleachers, came to stand — worried about what happened — while the players rushed over to Jackson, and Stiles ran over to Scott.

     "Crap," Ginny sighed as she watched Stiles and Scott rush over to the entrance to the locker room. She quickly packed her things — making sure she had everything before hopping off of the bleachers. 

     She was only a few feet away from the lacrosse team in the field when a tall man with dark hair blocked her path. 

     "Excuse me."

     "I'd give them a minute." He warned, blocking her path when she tried to swerve around him. "It's not going to be pretty, Ginny."

     She furrowed her brows. "How do you know my— oh, my God." Her eyes widened. She remembered the day she and Stiles drove all night to get Scott; when they finally got him, he talked about how Derek looked, that he was the one who drove Allison to her house, had warned him of hunters, and was likely the one who murdered the girl in the woods. "Y-You're Derek Hale?" When he didn't answer, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Are you stalking us?"

     "Protecting," He corrected. "You guys have no clue what you're doing."

     "We can figure it out — without you, I bet."

     "I'm sure." He rolled his eyes, moving his body to the side so she could pass. As Ginny began to walk away, he spoke. "He can't play Friday."

     She turned around. "He can, and he will. He's been wanting this since he joined the team."

     "A lot of people could get hurt," He reminded, taking one step closer to her as he lowered his voice. "And I think you know that, too."

     "I don't know anything." Ginny shrugged. "Last week my brother was an asthmatic who couldn't do half the stuff he's doing now. I think that's pretty great."

     "It is," He nodded. "Until he loses his temper, hurts someone, and suddenly everyone knows his secret."

     "Ginny!" Stiles yelled, running as fast as he could to catch up to her and Derek.

     "I'm only trying to help him." It was the last thing Derek said before he walked away, and Ginny's eyes followed him, seeing the truth of his words with a heavy heart. It was Scott's dream to play in first line.

     But, what if someone got hurt? What if they found out his secret and hunters appeared in their home?

     "Are you okay?" Stiles asked once he finally reached her, panting pretty heavily to catch his breath. Ginny moved her eyes to Stiles, catching the glare he sent Derek's back. "Did he hurt you?"

     Before she could answer, he frantically looked at her arms and face for any sign of injury, moving her arms and face around for a better look. Ginny laughed when his hand accidentally brushed against her waist, tickling her. "Stiles—"

     He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, searching them for any hint of worry or fear — the intensity of his gaze made her blush and ended her fit of laughter. "Did he hurt you?"

     "No," She shook her head. "He was just talking to me... I think he wants to help Scott."

     Stiles scoffed, beginning to walk toward the locker room again. "I doubt that."

     "I'm serious, Stiles." She followed after him. "W-What happens if Scott is out there and he does way worse than just huffing and puffing to the ground?"

     "I know," Stiles sighed, stopping in his steps. She walked in front of him and furrowed her brows.

     "What's wrong?"

     "I think... he actually tried to kill me in there," Stiles said, speaking in complete disbelief as if the words coming out of his mouth had been lies planted by someone else to say, but it wasn't.

     His best friend tried to kill him when he walked in to help — and he couldn't shake off the feeling that Scott might've actually done it if Stiles hadn't found the fire extinguisher fast enough to snap him out of his daze.

     Ginny's face dropped. "What?"

     It was now Ginny's turn to frantically search him for any sign of injuries. His eyes focused on the grass below his shoes as he spoke, rethinking the events that occurred in the locker room."It was like he was possessed or something... like something had taken over."

     "Do you have any bruises under that gear?"

     "Other than the usual ones I get from being clumsy?" He joked — but at the sight of Ginny's worried face, he softened his gaze. "No, I'm okay, Ginny. Promise."

     "Are you sure—?"

     "McCall!" Coach Finstock yelled again, blowing into his whistle as she raised her hands in surrender. "What did I say about the stands?"

☃︎

     It was a tiring day for Ginny, to say the least. Once she got home, she worked on her homework and decided, with nothing better to do on a Tuesday afternoon, she would take a nap.

     Unbeknownst to her, her decision had quickly placed Stiles in a frenzied panic. He had been on a video chat call with Scott — informing him of what he missed during the lacrosse practice since Scott left after the Jackson incident — when he noticed a mysterious figure behind Scott.

     Without warning, the call dropped once Scott turned around. It didn't help to ease his worries when he called the McCall siblings and neither succeeded in answering their phones. So, with a spare key to their house, he drove over quickly, left his car in park, and burst inside.

     He ran up the stairs, past Scott's room until he saw him awake — pacing around his room — and backtracked into his room. "Dude!" Scott jumped in surprise and turned to face him. "Why do you not answer your phone calls?!"

     "You were calling me?" Scott asked, walking over to his phone before his eyes widened at the realization it was, indeed, dead. "Oh, my God — what if Allison was calling me?!"

     "I thought you were dead!" Stiles reminded. "We have bigger issues at hand here; who was the person on the call?!"

     "What call?"

     "The..." Stiles ran a hand through his face. "Dude, you can't seriously be this clueless." Scott tilted his head. "The video call!"

     "Oh! It was Derek."

     "Derek?!"

     "Stop yelling!" Ginny shouted, throwing a pillow into Scott's room. The pillow landed on Stiles' back before falling on Scott's floor — all eyes went to her. Her hair was a mess, frizzy with a part of her hair defying gravity, and her eyes were squinting, not ready to adjust to the light.

     "Why didn't you answer your phone?" Stiles asked.

     "Because," She picked up her pillow and began to hit him with every word. "I. Was. Asleep!"

     "I was worried sick about you guys!" He grabbed the pillow from her hands. "Stop hitting me!"

     "No!" Ginny rushed over to grab one of Scott's pillows as the latter waited for his phone to turn on.

     "You guys don't think she was calling me, was she? Oh, my God — how many calls did I miss?" Scott questioned, turning in time to get hit by a pillow straight to the face by his sister. He glared at her. "Thanks."

     "You're welcome." She nodded, then turned to Stiles. "Why did you think we were in danger?"

     "Derek was here."

     Her eyes widened. "Derek was here?!"

     "Yes!"

     "Why didn't you tell me?!"

     "Well, I tried to," He hit her with the pillow. "But someone didn't answer their phone!"

     "Don't put this on me," She hit him with the pillow. "I was napping!" Their attention turned to Scott, who had his back turned to them as he stressfully stared at his phone.

     "Do you think Allison—" 

     At the same time, Stiles and Ginny hit him with the pillow. 

     "Ow—!"

     "Why didn't you tell me Derek was here?!" Ginny scoffed. "I could've died! Isn't he, like, possibly a murderer?! You guys were warning me not to talk to him!"

     Stiles hit Scott with the pillow. "Your sister was in the other room!"

     "He just showed up and left! I didn't think anything more of it!"

     "He showed up out of the shadows, Scott!"

     "He probably just got in through the window or—"

     "Is that supposed to make it better?!"

+

     Other than learning there was a curfew to be instituted by the Sheriff at school by Scott's super-hearing and Stiles' curiosity, nothing interesting had happened in Ginny's day. As she stood in the kitchen, stirring her cup of hot chocolate while plopping three marshmallows, Stiles barged into the house.

     "Let's go!" He urged, rushing up the stairs.

     "Wha—Stiles?!" She scoffed, unsure of what was happening as she rushed up the stairs with her cup in hand.

     "What did you find?" Stiles asked as he entered Scott's room with Ginny behind him. "How did you find it? Where did you find it? And yes, I've had a lot of Adderall, so..."

     "Oh," Ginny scoffed, facing Stiles. "He didn't tell you?"

     "Tell me what?"

     "He went to Derek's house, alone, to talk to him."

     "You did what—?!"

     Scott stood up from his bed. "I found something there!"

     "Are you kidding? What?"

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

     "That's awesome."

     "Less enthusiasm, Stiles," Ginny coughed.

     "I mean, that's terrible." He shook his head. "Whose blood?"

      "I don't know." Scott sighed, putting an arm on Stiles' shoulder. "But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder. And then you help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing." His eyes flickered between the two. "Both of you."

     "Oh, yeah," Ginny rolled her eyes and took a sip of her hot chocolate. "No hard task at all. All we have to do is learn how to stop you from changing or else a lot of people get hurt and die." She shrugged with a chuckle. "How hard can it be, right?"

     "Ginny," Scott placed his other hand on her shoulder. "Please. I can't not play this game — Mom's coming, Allison's coming... if I don't play, I'm letting them, and myself, down."

     She and Stiles squinted at him, the latter said. "How long did you practice that in the mirror?"

     "However long it took for Ginny to make her hot chocolate."

     "Fine," Ginny sighed after taking another sip. "I'm in."

☃︎

     Ginny, Stiles, and Scott walked into Beacon Hills Hospital — the very one where Ginny and Scott's mom worked — with the plan to sneak Scott into the morgue to get the scent of the body half the police found, to see if it matched the scent he found near the Hale house.

     Simple enough, right?

     "There," Ginny whispered, pointing to a sign that showed an arrow leading toward the morgue.

     "Okay," Scott nodded, slowly walking toward the door — looking around to see if anyone would spot him walking in.

     "Good luck, I guess," Stiles shrugged as he and Ginny began to back away from Scott. They watched as Scott nodded back at them before opening the door and walking through it, disappearing from their sight. Once he was gone, they looked at each other and sighed, walking together. "Do you think he'll make it there undetected?"

     "Five bucks says he doesn't," Ginny chuckled as she leaned against the front desk with Stiles.

     "You're on," He smirked, reaching into his back pocket to find his wallet before putting the five-dollar bill on the table at the same time she did. As he went to put his wallet back, his eyes caught onto something before he faced her again. "So, any weird diner stories?"

     "Ooh," Ginny grinned. "So, I was working last night and—"

     "Before or after my Dad and I were there?" She gave him a look, making him raise his hands in surrender. "Sorry, continue."

     "And, there was this one customer — oh, my God."

     "What?"

     "He was so annoying!"

     "Wait, w-was..." He straightened his posture, folding his arms in front of his chest as he lowered his voice. "Was he bothering you? Do Scott and I have to... you know?"

     Ginny leaned against the front desk and quirked a brow at him, failing to hide a smile or a blush at Stiles' behavior. "What's 'you know'?"

     Stiles sighed. "You know... you know." Ginny shook her head, acting clueless. "Fight."

     She chuckled. "Wait, I think you'll want to hear the rest first."

     "Okay," He nodded, leaning against the front desk again as he looked at her while she told her story.

     "So, I serve him a lemonade, right? And this guy, can't stop bugging me." Stiles paled at her words before facepalming. "I mean, first, he complains about how many ice cubes are in his drink, then he asks me for a little special umbrella for his drink because his father got one and—"

     "I know you have extras back there!" He scoffed. "I mean, come on — I-I should be allowed one too!"

     She squinted at him. "Was it really necessary to call Maeve?"

     "Yes, it was." He shook his head. "It's unjust—"

     "Unlawful, even — considering the fact the Sheriff was involved."

     Stiles gaped at her words. "He wasn't even on my side!"

     "Shh!" One of the nurses said as he looked at the two teenagers. "Don't yell — and take a seat in one of the chairs behind you."

     "Sorry," Ginny apologized, grabbing the two bills on the table before turning around — she froze at the sight of Lydia as Stiles started to walk to his seat. Her eyes flickered over to Stiles before she approached him and whispered. "W-Why aren't you, like, freaking out right now?"

     Stiles scratched the back of his neck. Before he could respond, Scott rushed out of the morgue. "What?"

     "Guys," Scott whispered, turning their attention to him. "The scent was the same."

     "Dammit," Ginny sighed in defeat as she passed Stiles the money.

     Stiles, smiling as he pocketed the cash, turned to Scott with a quirked brow. "You're sure?"

     "Yes."

     "So he did bury the other half of the body on his property."

     Scott nodded. "Which means we have proof he killed the girl."

     "I say we use it," Stiles said before walking away.

     Ginny and Scott shared a similar look of confusion before asking. "How?"

     "Tell me something first," Stiles said as his eyes landed on Scott. "Are you doing this because you want to stop Derek or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't?"

     "There were bite marks on the legs, Stiles."

     "Ouch," Ginny scrunched her nose.

     "Bite marks."

     "Okay," Stiles sighed. "Then we're gonna need a shovel."

☃︎

     "Are we sure about this?" Ginny asked as she exited Stiles' car while holding a shovel. As her brother exited the car, she gave the two a look. "It looks really creepy here."

     Stiles furrowed his brows. "We were here a few days ago."

     "Not here," Ginny shook her head. "We didn't come anywhere near this creepy house."

     "Wait," Scott said as he took the shovel from Ginny's hand. "Something's different."

     "Different how?" Stiles asked.

     "I don't know." Scott led Ginny and Stiles toward the area where he smelled the scent before stopping. "Let's just get this over with. Ginny, stay on guard."

     "That won't be hard," Ginny muttered as she grabbed the flashlight Stiles passed to her, shining it around the trees while Scott and Stiles began to shovel.

     They were a few inches into the ground when Scott began to worry. "This is taking way too long."

     "Well," Ginny shrugged. "You're shoveling about six inches into the Earth for a body — so, yeah... it'll probably take some time."

     Scott scoffed, taking a moment to stop shoveling to look at her with a hand on his hip. "Do you want to shovel—?"

     "Just keep going," Stiles exhaled as he continued to shovel.

     "What if he comes back?" Scott asked as he resumed their work.

     "Then we get the hell out of here."

     "What if he catches us?"

     "I have a plan for that."

     "Which is?"

     "You run one way, Ginny and I run the other. Whoever he catches first, too bad."

     Ginny sarcastically commented. "That's an excellent plan, Stiles."

     "Thanks, Gin."

     "I hate that plan." Scott shook his head, "You might as well have Ginny drive the car."

     Ginny smiled. "Can I—"

     "No." They spoke in unison.

     Once his shovel hit something, Stiles held a hand out to stop Scott from shoveling anymore. "All right. Stop, stop, stop! Ginny, we need the light."

     "What's down there?" Ginny asked as she walked closer to them, shining the light above them as Scott and Stiles' hands brushed the dirt away from the cloth covered in rope. When they found the ends, Stiles began to untie it.

    "Hurry," Scott urged.

     "I'm trying." Stiles sighed. "Did he have to tie the thing in like 900 knots?"

     "I'll do it," Scott said as he joined Stiles in unwrapping the item.

     Ginny nervously looked around — worried they'd get caught if they stayed another minute, she spoke with urgency, "Guys."

     "We got it," Scott spoke, unwrapping the item before he, Ginny, and Stiles jumped back in fear. "Whoa!"

     "Oh, my God." Ginny began to pace as she stared at the upper-half body of a wolf in front of them. "Oh, my God."

     "What the hell is that?!" Stiles screamed.

     "It's a wolf," Scott answered.

     Ginny turned to her brother. "No shit, Sherlock!"

     "He asked!"

     "I thought you said you smelled blood?" Stiles panted. "As in human blood?"

     Scott shrugged. "I told you something was different."

     "This doesn't make sense," Stiles shook his head.

     "None of this makes sense," Ginny reminded as she stood up — refusing to look at the wolf anymore; she turned around and stared into the woods. "Scott's a werewolf, and there are hunters..."

     "Guys," Scott sighed. "We gotta get out of here."

     "Yeah," Stiles nodded. "Okay, help me cover this up."

     Ginny heard them shuffle behind her for a few moments before they abruptly stopped. "What's wrong?" Scott asked.

     "Do you see that flower?" Stiles asked, making Ginny turn her head.

     "What is it?" Ginny asked.

     "I think it's wolfsbane."

     "No way..."

     "What's that?" She heard Scott ask.

     As Ginny scoffed, turning her head back to face the woods, Stiles huffed. "Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?"

     "He fell asleep in the first five minutes," Ginny sighed before rolling her eyes. "Typical."

     "Seriously?" Ginny could hear the sense of betrayal in his voice. "So, you don't know Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains? None of the original werewolf movies?"

     Scott sighed. "What's your point, Stiles?"

     "You are so unprepared for this."

     Ginny chuckled, then saw from her peripheral vision that Stiles had rushed over to grab the flower. It was attached to a rope, and as he pulled it, he walked circles around the grave for the wolf.

     When he finished, hugging the flower and rope in his arms, Ginny heard Scott gasp. "Guys..."

     Ginny reluctantly turned to face what he was looking at and screamed.

     It was the wolf — only, it wasn't a wolf anymore. Instead, the upper half of a woman's body. Her piercing eyes stared up at the group.

     Scott grabbed his shaking sister, hugging her to shield her away from the scene as Stiles walked over and jumped back at the sight.

☃︎

     Ginny was quiet — eerily quiet — on the car ride home. She didn't say much to either of the boys as they hypothesized different ways to tell Stiles' Dad to check out the Hale House to find the woman's body to pin Derek down for the crime.

     She was too lost in her thoughts — lost in the idea that something like that could happen to her. It wasn't a pretty thought, nor was it one she wanted to stay up thinking about, but it plagued her mind as she stared up at her ceiling in the darkness.

     She didn't want to end up lost in the woods somewhere, dying and alone with no one to find her corpse except three teenagers who didn't know anything about her. If she died, she wanted to be with someone who knew her — someone who would tell her everything would be okay, someone she could tell to take care of Scott, her mother, and Stiles.

     Stiles.

     As much as she hated thinking about it — feeling awfully pathetic about it, too — she'd want him to be there to hold her hand. She wanted him to be the one to tell her everything was going to be okay.

     But it was a stupid thought — why would he hold her hand? And if he did, would she use her last dying words to finally tell him how she felt? How he managed to be there for her every time she needed someone, and that it was impossible not to like him? Impossible not to like his stupid jokes, his smile, his unwavering kindness, that he learned how to play guitar to teach her, that he always played guitar for her so she could sing Christmas songs on Holidays with their families, that he was always there the second she needed him.

     There was a lot Ginny liked about Stiles, but she knew there had to be a lot Stiles liked about Lydia — and she knew that would stop him from holding her hand, from being the one to tell her everything would be okay. She would probably roam around the woods, alone, and die without anyone knowing until someone stumbled upon her by accident and reported it to the police.

     All she knew was if she had to go down, she wanted to go down fighting. She didn't want to be an easy target — she wanted to live.

     "Ginny?" Scott asked from her doorframe — his voice startled her and made her jump under the covers before her head snapped to him. The hallway light was turned on behind him — it cast a shadow over his face that she eventually saw was worried as her eyes adjusted to the light.

     She got comfortable under the covers again and sighed. "Yeah?"

     "Are you okay?"

     "...no."

     He rubbed his eyes as he walked over to her bed before laying down beside her above the covers. "Is this about the—?"

     "Yeah," She blinked her eyes, trying to rid her brain of the image of the woman staring up at her. The woman's eyes looked terrified — all Ginny could think of was what could have been her last thoughts. Her last words? Was she calling out for help, or fighting her attacker?

     "You know that's not gonna happen to you, right?" Scott whispered, almost as if he could read her worried thoughts.

     She turned her head to him, ignoring the tears building in her eyes, and quietly said. "What if it does?"

     "It's not—"

     Her voice cracked. "W-What if I end up in the woods, alone, and no one finds me?"

     "Hey, hey," He said as he reached out and grabbed her into a hug. She rested her head on his neck and softly cried. The tears slid down his skin and melted into her pillow. He whispered. "Nothing is gonna happen to you, okay? I promise." He tightened his grip on his little sister, thinking of a way to make her laugh away her thoughts. "And I'll find you. I'll grab one of your stinky socks, and hunt down the scent."

     Ginny sadly chuckled and shook her head. "My socks aren't stinky."

     Scott shrugged. "If that's what you say." Ginny pulled away from the hug, wiping the tears from her face as Scott pulled a fake face of disgust. "I hope you didn't put snot on me."

     Ginny rolled her eyes, lightly pushing him with her hand as she chuckled. "Shut up."

     As her chuckles faded, Scott softly asked. "Do you feel a little better?"

     "Yeah." Ginny took a deep inhale. "It was just... a lot, I think. And her eyes—"

     "Yeah," Scott cringed. "That was... horror movie level scary."

     Ginny chuckled. "Yeah, it was." She sighed. "...were you scared when you found her in the woods?"

     "Terrified," Scott shook his head. "I rolled down a hill 'cause I wanted to get away from her, and then I saw something..." He paused, looking over to see how scared Ginny was getting again, he stopped himself from getting too much into detail — perhaps it wasn't the best time to tell her how scary Derek looked at night. "And then I got bit, and now we're here."

     "Mm," She hummed before asking. "Were you awake the whole time just now or—?"

     "I couldn't go to bed," He shook his head. "Too many thoughts running around in my head about Allison, the game... I came in to check if you were awake, too, and I'm glad I did."

     Ginny nodded, adding softly. "I'm glad, too." She yawned, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth before she lightly nudged Scott. "Are you okay?"

     Scott smiled. "Yeah."

     "You can go back to your room if you want," She yawned again, feeling the tiredness catch up to her. "I think I'm gonna pass out soon."

     Scott chuckled before shaking his head, staring at her ceiling. "I think I'll hang out around here for a bit, at least until you fall asleep."

     Ginny nodded, sitting up a bit to adjust her pillow before she laid back down. "Good night, then."

     "Good night."

☃︎

     Knowing Scott and Stiles wanted to visit the Hale House to question Derek while he was taken into custody by the authorities, Ginny decided it was better if she simply asked Maeve if there were any shifts that needed to be covered — luckily, there were.

     Her shift would have gone normally if it hadn't been for her phone buzzing every five minutes. Deciding she had enough, Ginny told Maeve she had a phone call to take care of before picking up the phone.

     "Stiles," Ginny sighed as she rushed out of the diner with her cell phone to her ear. "I'm at work, what happened?"

     "Scott's missing."

     Ginny leaned against the wall of the diner as she shook her head, looking at the diner's parking lot — half-expecting Stiles to show up. "What do you mean he's missing?"

     "He ran out of my car, full-wolfy, because I had the wolfsbane in my car from yesterday."

     She furrowed her brows. "Why'd you keep it?"

     "What was I supposed to do with it?!"

     "Ow," Ginny frowned, switching the ear she placed the phone on. "Well, where is the wolfsbane now?"

     "In the woods, along with the bag that I kept it in — I threw it when I realized he was changing, but he ran away when I had my back turned.

     "Well..." Ginny shrugged. "I-I don't think he'll cause any harm, maybe he'll just run around and chase his tail until he's bored."

     "He has a tail?"

     "No, but—" Her eyes widened as she thought it over. "Oh, my God. What if he does?"

     "Even if he did, it doesn't matter — don't you think he'll get, like... blood-thirsty?"

     Ginny chuckled. "This is Scott we're talking about, he chases his own nonexistent tail on a regular day." She tilted her head. "Or, maybe he went to see Allison?"

     "Huh... good point."

     "Can I go back to work now?"

     "Do you want to bet on it?"

     "Stiles," She rolled her eyes with a smile before seeing a family of eight get out of their car in front of her. "...Put me down for ten bucks."

     "You're on."

☃︎

     "Best seats in the house!" Melissa McCall grinned as she and Ginny walked into their row on the bleachers to sit down.

     "Mom," Ginny shook her head with a chuckle. "You always say that."

     "Well," Melissa shrugged as she looked around. "They're the best because we're here, right?"

     Ginny smiled as her mother passed her a KitKat bar. "Right."

     Melissa looked around the field. "I wonder if they're — oh! Look! There they are!" She waved at the two, and upon noticing they hadn't seen her gesture, she lightly nudged her daughter. "Wave with me, Winnie."

     Ginny did as she was told — and immediately felt her face redden as she saw Stiles look over before he nudged Scott to look at the two. She quickly averted her gaze and turned to her mom. "I-I'll be right back."

     "Okay, Sweetie," She nodded, watching her daughter walk a few steps away before shouting out. "Bring back some popcorn!"

     Ginny gave her a thumbs-up before running over to where Scott and Stiles were. As she approached them, she watched Lydia grab Scott by the front of his lacrosse jersey and Stiles scoffed at the action before walking away.

     "I just want you to remember one thing for tonight." Lydia sneered.

     "Uh," Scott looked down at how close they were before looking back at her eyes — confused. "Winning isn't everything?"

     Lydia chuckled, patting his shoulder as she said. "Nobody likes a loser." As she started to walk away, her eyes landed on Ginny. "Case in point."

     "Thanks." Ginny flashed her a smile and waved before walking over to Stiles with Scott behind him.

     Scott shook his head as he sat down next to Stiles on the bench. "What do you see in her?"

     Stiles furrowed his brows as his eyes flickered between Ginny and Scott. "W-What?"

     "Lydia," Ginny clarified as she sat down next to Scott. "She's so... mean." As Stiles continued to stammer, Ginny looked around the field. "Where's the popcorn machine?"

     "There," Scott answered, pointing toward the end of the field where the machine and the man operating it stood.

     "Thanks," She stood up and sent the two a smile. "Good luck with the game."

     Scott smiled nervously back as she walked away. "Thanks."

     As she neared the machine and the vendor, Ginny began to fidget with her fingers and started muttering to herself. "Two popcorn bags... Hi, can I get two popcorn bags? Two popcorn bags—" She stopped muttering once she stood in front of the machine. She cleared her throat. "Hello."

     "Hi," The man began to put more popcorn to cook. "How many?"

     "Two," She smiled. "Two popcorn bags..."

     "That'll be three dollars."

     As Ginny reached into her pocket to pull out some cash from her jeans, she heard Stiles yell from behind her. "Ginny!"

     She turned her head and watched as he rushed over to stand beside her before handing the vendor a five-dollar bill. She furrowed her brows. "What happened?"

     He panted. "You won... the bet..."

     She eyed the two dollars the vendor handed Stiles. "...Was that part of it?"

     "No," Stiles shook his head, handing her a ten-dollar bill. "But I figured I'd pay you now since you were right, he was with Allison."

     She grinned. "I knew it."

     "But," He took a moment to catch his breath. "I-I wanted to talk to you..."

     Her heartbeat quicked at the words — as much as she wanted to rationalize the situation, and the fact that there was no way he'd say the words she desperately hoped he would, she couldn't help but think over what Allison said the first day they met.

     Was it possible she had been blind to his interest in her the whole time?

     "I know I've been acting a little weird lately — at the hospital, even now..."

     She had been thinking about the hospital — and the fact that Stiles hadn't made any type of effort to talk to Lydia although she was there, sitting alone in the waiting room with them. He didn't even seem like his usual self around Lydia that day — he'd often get fluttered, nervous, and stutter words out simply by her presence.

     "It's just—"

     "Two popcorn bags," The vendor cleared his throat, flickering his eyes between the two — failing to hide that he had been listening intensely to their conversation while the popcorn was popping by flicking his eyes between the two — as he held out the bags of popcorn in front of them.

     "Thank you," Ginny smiled, grabbing the bags before she turned her attention back to Stiles. "Y-You were saying?"

     "Right, I, um..." He released a nervous chuckle. "I, uh... just — I wanted to say..." He slowly moved his head to the right — and when his eyes caught something, he froze. Ginny, anxiously waiting for his response, followed his eyes to see what it was that caught his attention.

     It was Lydia. She was talking to Scott, again.

     Ginny's face fell as Stiles cleared his throat — the noise made her turn to him. Although she wasn't the best at lying or faking emotions, she tried her best to give him a small smile. "I... I know you don't have the best history with Lydia — a-and I know she can be... mean, a lot of the time—"

     "Mean is an understatement," She muttered, looking down at the popcorn bags in her hands.

     "So, I'll try to tone down talking about her as much? I feel like it might bother you, and I don't—"

     "It doesn't bother me," Ginny lightly laughed as she shook her head, faking a smile on her lips. "W-What? I'm, like, so cool with it. I know you like her, Stiles. You shouldn't have to hide your feelings from me just because I'm not friends with her anymore. It's completely, totally, okay. More than okay." She smiled, then turned her eyes to her mother. "I, um, gotta go, the game's gonna start soon and my Mom really wanted this popcorn."

     "Y-Yeah, okay..." Stiles nodded with pursed lips, feeling a wave of regret wash over him as she waved and started to walk away.

     "Good luck," She said before turning around, feeling her flushed face burn with embarrassment. Of course, Ginny thought. What was I expecting?

     "There's my baby!" Melissa grinned as Ginny approached her, handing her a popcorn bag. Noticing her fallen face, Melissa frowned. "What's wrong?"

     "Nothing," Ginny chuckled, taking a seat as she grabbed a few kernels from the bag to plop in her mouth.

     Melissa's eyes turned to Stiles, who was jogging up to Scott before the two had a small conversation. She lowered her volume. "Was it Stiles?"

     "Yeah," Ginny whispered, shaking her head as Coach Finstock blew his whistle, huddling his players over to have a pep talk. "He said he didn't want to talk about Lydia with me as much because he thinks it bothers me."

     "Mm," Melissa exhaled as she wrapped an arm around her daughter. "I'm sorry, Winnie."

     "It's okay," Ginny shrugged. "I just have to get over it and—"

     "I heard someone needed KitKats," Noah Stilinski grinned as he passed Ginny a bag full of the chocolates she adored.

     "Thank you!" Ginny smiled, hopping out of her seat to give the man a hug as Melissa quirked a brow at him.

     "Who told you she needed KitKats?"

     He shrugged. "When doesn't she?" He chuckled as he took a seat next to Melissa, rubbing his hands together in the cold. "So, Scott's first line, huh?"

     "Yeah," Melissa smiled proudly as the teams on the field started to get into their positions. "Oh!" She chuckled, turning to Ginny. "Which one's Allison?"

     "Allison?"

     "Scott's girlfriend."

     "Scott has a girlfriend?"

     "I can't see her," Ginny sighed, looking around the bleachers before the whistle blew — alerting the players and spectators that the game had begun. Their attention turned to the field, watching as the players in red and white began to run — red, Scott's team, had the ball but weren't passing it to him even though he was open.

     Melissa furrowed her brows. "Why aren't they passing to him?"

     "I don't know..." Ginny said with a frown that was replaced with a smile when she saw Scott rush toward the ball that was dropped on the ground. Her smile instantly dropped when Jackson, seeing Scott was about to grab the ball, tossed him to the side to grab it himself. As Jackson ran with it and scored the team a point, Ginny shouted. "He's on your team, Jackass!"

     Her words, however, were drowned out by the cheers of others on the bleachers — her eyes turned to Stiles, who was laughing on the bench, having heard her words, before her eyes turned to her mother and the Sheriff. "Did you see that?"

     "Yeah," They sighed, shaking their head before begrudgingly standing up to clap for the point won.

     Ginny rolled her eyes at the cheers — and in the middle of doing so, her eyes caught sight of Allison and Lydia holding up a sign that said "WE LUV U JACKSON." She scrunched her nose at the spelling. "Ew."

     "What?" Melissa furrowed her brows, following Ginny's eyes to see Lydia and a girl she didn't know holding up the sign.

     Ginny turned her eyes to her Mom — and at seeing her mother's eyes already on them, she said. "Allison's the girl standing next to Lydia."

     "Oh," She pursed her lips, turning her eyes to Scott — who was breathing heavily as he stared at the sign. "Well—"

     "She's a nice girl, Mom," Ginny nodded. "And, surprisingly, Lydia is acting really nice to her, too. I bet Lydia is making her hold the sign to bother Scott."

     Melissa furrowed her brows again. "Why would Lydia want to bother Scott?"

     She shrugged as the referee blew his whistle again. "She really wants to win." They watched as the ball was thrown into the air — and before they could blink, they saw Scott miraculously jump over a player to grab it and run as fast as he could, narrowly avoiding the enemy team trying to tackle him down before he scored the ball in.

     Melissa, Ginny, and Noah cheered as they, along with the crowd, stood up in unison to celebrate. Ginny's eyes turned down to look at Stiles, who was smiling as he turned to look at her. "Yes!" He looked around at the other people near him. "That's what I'm talking about!"

      Ginny chuckled before cupping her hands around her mouth. "Let's go, Scott!"

     In the next two rounds, Ginny felt more excited about lacrosse than she ever had since Scott and Stiles tried out in Freshman year. Scott managed to score two more points for his team, tying the match. And in one of those rounds, the enemy team had thrown the ball to him.

     "I'm so never missing one of these again," Ginny chuckled as she clapped.

     Noah turned to her with furrowed brows. "Again? You missed one?"

     "It was the one you missed, too," Melissa reminded with a chuckle as she grabbed more popcorn. "You both had the flu."

     The sound of the referee's whistle turned their attention to the field once more. It was the last round, only sixteen seconds left on the timer when Scott grabbed the ball and stood in place, head moving between the enemy team players standing on each side — staring if he'd shoot the ball from where he stood or if he'd go further. If it was the latter, they were more than ready to tackle him down.

     For anyone who wasn't Stiles or Ginny, they thought Scott was contemplating what to do. For Ginny and Stiles, they looked over at Scott — worried — knowing he was most likely fighting his wolf side from coming out, that is, if it hadn't already come out.

     "Oh, God," Ginny whispered, flicking her eyes between the timer and Scott before her eyes turned to Stiles, who slowly stood up and looked over at Ginny with anxious eyes.

     "Come on, come on, come on," Melissa whispered to herself, holding her hands together and against her lips as she stared at Scott.

     It was the last five seconds. The crowd watched as Scott brought his lacrosse stick back, preparing to throw it, while the enemy team rushed to tackle him — but they didn't make it in time. He swung his stick and made the goal before the timer ended.

     Ginny jumped out of her seat with a smile on her face. "Yes!" The crowd erupted in cheers before they all rushed down to the field. As Melissa and Noah started talking, Ginny rushed over to Stiles with a grin — maneuvering her way through the other people rushing past her. "He did it—!"

     "Yes!" Stiles laughed — the adrenaline coursing through him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her, lifting her a few feet up the air as he cheered. "Oh, my God! He did it!"

     "H-He did!" Ginny stammered, feeling the blood rushing to her face as he set her back on the ground. Oblivious to her blush, Stiles grinned at her before looking out to the crowd. Given their close proximity, Ginny could practically hear her heart beating in her ears as her eyes examined the details on his face; she admired his side profile, watching how his brows furrowed and his brown eyes bounced around the people in the crowd.

     "Where's Scott?"

     "Uh..." She quickly looked away once his eyes met hers. She squinted her eyes, looking through the crowd. "I-I'm not sure—"

     "That was amazing," Melissa grinned, walking up to the two as Noah, walking behind her, slowed his pace to answer a phone call.

     Ginny nodded. As she was about to speak, Stiles turned to his father with a worried look, sensing from the way he answered something happened. "Dad," He asked. "What's wrong?"

     Noah held a finger to Stiles, signaling he couldn't talk at the moment while Stiles and Ginny shared a similar anxious look.

☃︎

     Ginny sighed as she walked down the school's hallway with Stiles — they were both on their way to the locker room to tell Scott what they had just found out through the Sheriff's phone call. Ginny turned her head to Stiles. "How sure are you that he's at the locker room?"

     He grinned. "Enough to bet ten dollars on it?"

     Ginny chuckled as she shook her head. "No."

     "No," He furrowed his brows. "What are you, chicken?"

     "I'm not a gambler." She shrugged and he scoffed. "What?"

     "You are such a gambler, Ginny. You've probably spent hundreds of dollars on the claw machines at the bowling alley."

     "Hey," She pointed a finger at him. "Those plushies are worth it."

     "You barely even win one most days!"

     She scoffed at him. "Well, you know what, maybe I would've won one if you helped."

     He shook his head. "I'm not lucky on those—"

     "You are so lucky!" She nudged him before she turned her eyes behind them with a sigh. "Do you think your Dad's mad?"

     "That we listened to his phone call or the fact that you lied to him?" Stiles asked, recalling how his Dad had dragged him and Ginny to the side while Melissa was on a work phone call to inform them that Derek Hale was let go and that he knew Scott was with them on that rainy night when they told him he wasn't. Ginny shot him a look, making him raise his hands in surrender. "Hey, he'll get over it. Plus, he's mad at me 'cause he thinks I tricked you into twisting the truth — his words, not mine."

     Ginny chuckled. "Well, technically, I didn't lie." She smiled as his eyes met hers. "Your words, not mine." As Stiles was about to say something more, Ginny placed a finger to her lips. From the doorframe, they could see Scott and Allison close together. Ginny squinted at them, unsure what they were doing, until it clicked. "Oh, ew." She scrunched her nose and backed away from the door as Stiles shot her a look.

     "What?"

     "They're kissing."

     "They're—" Stiles quickly turned back to the door — wanting to confirm his friend's victory until his eyes landed on Scott and Allison looking back at him. He waved. "Hi..."

     Allison chuckled, turning to Scott. "I gotta get back to my Dad." She gave him another kiss before walking past Ginny and Stiles. She waved at them. "Hi, Stiles. Hi, Ginny."

     "Hey," Stiles waved as Ginny cleared her throat and waved at her.

     "Hello," Ginny said, watching Allison walk away before she rushed inside the room and Scott slowly walked over to them with a smile.

     "I kissed her," He said with a grin.

     Stiles nodded. "We saw."

     "She kissed me."

     "We saw that too." Ginny nodded.

     "It's pretty good, huh?" Stiles teased as Scott exhaled.

     "I-I don't know how," He said, thinking about his time out in the field. "But I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

     Ginny cringed at his words as Stiles released a breathy chuckle."Yeah. We'll talk later then."

     Scott's face fell at the sight of Ginny's, making him grab Stiles by the jersey to prevent him from walking away. "What?"

     Stiles sighed. "The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found."

     "And?" Scott asked, flicking his eyes to see Ginny fold her arms in front of her chest as she kept her eyes to the ground, nervous.

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

     Scott scoffed. "Are you kidding?"

     Ginny quietly said. "No."

     "And here's the bigger kick in the ass," Stiles sighed. "My Dad ID'd the dead girl, both halves. Her name was Laura Hale."

     Scott's face fell. "Hale?"

     Ginny nodded, trying to ignore the goosebumps on her arms. "Derek's sister."

     The three shared a worried look as if the gravity of the situation had just fallen on their minds. There was a killer, unidentified, who was roaming around Beacon Hills, and they had just pissed off the one person who could potentially help them.

❀✿❀

let me know how you guys feel about the spacing at the start of each paragraph 🫣 do we like it? do we not?

also, i posted a question on my profile regarding this book so please check it out 🫶 thank you 🫶

BUT—AGONY, PAIN, SUFFERINGGGGG STILES JUST WANTED TO TELL GINNY HE DOESN'T LIKE TALKING ABOUT LYDIA CAUSE OF THEIR HISTORY 🥲

ginny walking back to the bleachers to see her mom after thinking stiles was gonna confess:

i hope y'all liked this chapter! 👹❤️ i've been writing for this book behind the scenes and scheming for the past 3 days — call me a five star michelin chef the way i'm cooking fr 😭😭