chapter forty six
a threat

It was freezing when they had gotten out of the jeep. Stiles had given Harper a short kiss before rushing off to the changing rooms where Harper began to guide Rose towards the lacrosse field. The icy air bit at their cheeks as they walked in the dark, their only source of light coming from the lamp posts dotted around the school car park.

"You might need to fill me in on what's going on." Rose warned Harper with a chuckle, "I've never seen a lacrosse game before in my entire life."

Harper smiled, using her good arm to wrap it around her grandma's shoulders, "apologies in advance if my commentating is pretty bad, I've been watching it for the past two years and I still don't know the correct terminology for it."

Rose just laughed again as they made it to the field. The green area was lit up by the beaming lights surrounding it, and the bleachers were already half full with eager supporters of the Beacon Hills' lacrosse team.

Harper spotted Melissa and Noah sat together on one of the benches at the front and decided to go and sit with them. Melissa quickly stood up when she saw the two females approaching, a soft smile on her tan face.

"Harper, Rose." Scott's mum greeted them, giving them both a short hug, "are you excited to watch your first lacrosse game?"

Rose nodded, "I am. Will Scott be playing? Stiles said he won't be playing because he's not very good."

Noah just sighed.

"He's the captain, grandma." Harper reminded the old lady, "and Stiles is good, he just gets a little nervous and he doesn't have a very high self esteem, trust me."

Sheriff Stilinski smiled fondly at the teenage girl when Harper looked away, knowing instantly that Stiles was extremely lucky to have her. Of course Noah Stilinski had liked Harper since they met when she was only ten years old, but she just continued to make him even more proud of his son for loving someone like her.

Harper spotted Stiles and Scott enter the lacrosse field all geared up in their maroon unifrom and smiled slightly. Stiles always looked so handsome in his jersey. They sat on the bench and began to talk. She nudged her grandma and pointed at the two mentioned boys.

Rose gasped, "oh, look at them!" She cooed, "they look so grown up! I remember when they were only ten, bless them. Aren't they both handsome boys?"

Melissa chuckled as Harper groaned, realising her grandma was now going to go on with a speech about how Stiles and Scott were now men and how much they had grown.

"Oh, no. Why is my son running out to the field?" Harper's head shot up at Noah's words, her eyes widening when she saw Stiles by the goal in his helmet and with his lacrosse stick firmly grasped.

"Because he's on the team?" Melissa replied, amused.

"He is," Noah blinked, "he's on the team. He's- he's on the field." He stood up before yelling, "my son is on the field!"

Harper stood up, grinning proudly as she high fived Sheriff Stilinski, "hell yeah he is!"

The brunette sat down as a certain strawberry blonde began to walk up the steps of the bleachers, smiling sweetly at Harper as she sat down. Harper smiled back, patting Lydia's hand.

The referee suddenly blew the whistle on the field, and Harper's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion when she saw that Scott was still sat down on the bench. She frowned even further when she saw how anxious he looked, his face contorted into one of misery and desperation.

She stared at the back of his head and thought hard.

What am I gonna do?

Scott's voice invaded her thoughts, but she wasn't getting anything else out of his mind other than that one question. Harper excused herself before rushing down the steps, sitting down next to Scott and putting her hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump.

"What's going on?" She hissed, "why aren't you playing?"

Scott groaned, "I'm not allowed to play because of my grades, but that's not important. Gerard has control of the Kanima now, and he's threatening to kill somebody if I don't bring Derek to him in the last thirty seconds of the game."

Harper's eyes widened, "what? Do you even know where Derek is?"

Her gaze drifted over to Stiles as Scott shook his head, sighing loudly again as his leg bounced anxiously. The boy with the buzz cut had distanced himself from the other players, so when the ball dropped into the net of his lacrosse stick, he was more than overwhelmed.

He grinned, his hazel eyes looking up to find Harper, to make sure that she was watching him. Just as their eyes met, another lacrosse player came out of nowhere, tackling Stiles to the floor and landing right on top of him. The entire crowed winced as he went down, including Harper.

Scott noticed the worried look on her face and grabbed her hand. "He'll be fine, Harper." Scott soothed her wild thoughts, "I won't let Jackson hurt Stiles, I promise."

Harper gulped, but nodded anyway, squeezing his hand back before moving it to bite at her nails anxiously. She shoved her hand back into her lap when she realised what she was doing, looking back at her boyfriend with squinted eyes.

Stiles was mumbling something to himself as he scrambled to pick up the ball lying in the middle of the field. It took him about five whole seconds, and when he was finally successful, two players of the opposite team rammed into him again, sending him back down.

The crowd oohed once more and Scott winced, his head falling into his hands. Harper's heart ached for the boy on the field, knowing exactly how nervous he must be feeling. She played with her necklace as Stiles adjusted to catch a ball flying towards him, her face dropping when it hit him in the face and people began to boo.

She clenched her fists angrily, "Scott, you need to do something."

Scott nodded quickly, standing up. Coach Finstock suddenly came out of nowhere, pulling him back down and forcing him onto the bench.

"Sit down, McCall." He warned.

"But, Coach, we're dying out there." Scott pleaded desperately.

Coach scoffed, "oh, I'm aware of that." He slammed his hand down on Scott's shoulder, "now sit."

Isaac rushed over, sitting down on the other side of Harper, his helmet and gloves in his hands. He started to put his gloves on as if the two other teenagers weren't there, Scott staring at him in shock.

"You came to help." Scott gaped.

"I came to win." Isaac corrected Scott with a smirk, looking over at Gerard who was staring back at him from by the side of the bleachers.

Scott and Harper followed his gaze, Harper shooting the old man a middle finger.

"Harper!" Scott hissed, his larger hand quickly clamping over hers and pushing it down. Isaac chuckled, shaking his head.

"You got a plan yet?" Isaac asked as he put his second glove on.

"No," Scott huffed, "right now it's pretty much just keep Jackson from killing anyone."

Harper scoffed, "it would be easier if you were actually playing." She muttered under her breath, "stupid Coach."

Isaac thought for a second, "okay, so we have to make it so Coach has no choice but to play you."

"How?" Harper questioned, staring at the blue eyed boy intently. "He already has three substitues. Scott would go forth."

Isaac and Scott shared looks with wide eyes, causing Harper to frown.

"Uh, bloody hell. I'm not in the mood for this. Can somebody just tell me the plan instead of sharing mysterious glances with each other?" Harper complained, becoming fustrated.

"I'm gonna take out the team." Isaac rolled his eyes.

Scott looked at him worriedly, "can you do it without putting anyone in the hospital?"

Isaac exhaled deeply before putting on his helmet. "I can try."

The werewolf ran out onto the field, sending Jackson one of the biggest smirks Harper had ever seen before the game started. One by one, Isaac began to take out his own teammates, causing a very angry Coach to put his substitues in.

"Lahey," Coach yelled, pointing his finger, "seriously, what the hell is your problem?"

The whistle blew as Isaac sent him a shrug before running back into place. Harper chuckled, realising that Isaac wasn't so bad after all.

Suddenly, Jackson tackled Isaac to the ground, a loud crunch sounding throughout the air as Isaac fell to the ground, the crowd oohing. Harper winced as Scott jumped up, worriedly looking at Isaac. Jackson sent them a smirk, Harper instantly knowing that Gerard had caught onto what they were doing.

He was fighting back.

Scott rushed over to Isaac and Harper let out a loud sigh, thankful she had been able to keep herself from connecting to him. Coach walked over, shoving a helmet into Scott's hands. Upon realising that Scott had gotten his way, Harper rushed back up to her grandma and Lydia.

"Sorry about that," Harper smiled at them all nervously as the game jumped back into action.

Scott and Stiles were sent down pretty quickly, but got back up, rushing around with the ball. The game was quick and Harper didn't know where the ball was half of the time, but she kept her eyes on on her two boys and Jackson, making sure he went nowhere near them.

At some point, Harper noticed that Scott wasn't on the field anymore and neither was Gerard. Coach began to yell for him, but the werewolf was nowhere to be seen. Harper quickly searched for Stiles, her heartbeat calming down a little upon seeing him away from the other players, and alive.

The ball rolled over towards his feet and he stared down at it with wide eyes. Harper sat on the edge of her seat as Stiles looked around for a few seconds before scooping the ball up in his net and running towards the goal. She played with her hands anxiously, praying for the best.

Everyone was chasing after him as he screamed, stopping in front of the goal and looking behind him. Harper knew that he was terrified of messing up the shot, so he was frozen.

"Stilinski!" Coach screamed, "shoot it! Shoot the ball! Shoot it you idiot!"

Harper quickly stood up, cupping her hands together around her mouth and yelling, "you can do it, Stiles!"

That was all he needed. Harper's voice. Her reassurance and belief in him.

Stiles raised his lacrosse stick before hurling it forwards, the ball going straight into the back of the net of the goal. The crowd erupted into cheers, but Harper was the loudest and proudest of them all. She stood up and began to jump and up and down with Lydia.

"I scored a goal!" Stiles yelled blissfully, raising his hands in the air as he looked over at Harper, "I scored a goal!"

Stiles scored another goal soon after, and Harper jumped up again, tears of happiness in her eyes as she cheered for him along with everyone else. Words could not describe how happy and proud she was of her boyfriend for doing what he had always dreamed of doing.

The hazel eyed boy scored another goal, and then another one, and then another one. Harper was standing up for every single one, her throat raw from cheering him on. Every single time the ball went in the goal, Stiles would immediately turn to grin at his girlfriend, no matter how many lacrosse players were surrounding him to congratulate him.

Just the look on her face and the way her eyes stared proudly back at him was enough to make him want to score a hundred more goals.

The final buzz sounded throughout the field, causing everyone to jump up and cheer. The game was over and Beacon Hills had won- all thanks to Stiles Stilinski. Harper forgot all about Gerard's promise, until the lights to the pitch turned off and everybody began to scream.

Harper was shoved away from her grandma quickly, causing her to panic. Rose was in barely any condition to come out in the freezing cold anyway, but she had insisted that she wanted to see Scott and Stiles play before she passed away.

"Grandma!" Harper screamed, "Grandma!"

Harper squinted her eyes when she saw somebody lying in the middle of the field, her heart dropping when she saw the lacrosse uniform. She felt bile rise in her throat and her heart stop, her brown eyes filling with tears.

"Stiles!" She chocked, staggering forwards, pushing the people surrounding the body away to get in front.

She was filled with a sick amount of relief when she realised that it wasn't her boyfriend but Jackson Whittemore herself. Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and she froze for a second, stunned into silence. A feeling spread through her body that she couldn't describe before she slowly began to walk backwards, her eyes only leaving Jackson's dead body when she was out of the circle.

"Stiles! Grandma!" She called again, worriedly.

Rose appeared by Harper's side when the lights switched on, her face completely worried. "Did- did you see that boy on the field? Are you friends with him?" Rose stressed.

"Have you seen Stiles?" Harper questioned her worriedly, ignoring her previous questions, "oh my god, grandma. I can't find him."

"Hey, hey, hey." Rose grabbed her good arm, "he's probably just freaked out and ran off somewhere. Go ask Noah, I'll wait here."

Harper nodded, swallowing thickly and biting her lip as she rushed over to Noah. As soon as she appeared in front of him he grabbed her arm like her grandma had done moments before.

"Have you seen Stiles?!" They both questioned at the same time, eyes wide and frantic.

"Oh my God." Harper cried, "Stiles is gone!"

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two more chapters left! i worked so hard on this book I can't believe it.