i. a strange world
pilot.

THE DARK LANDSCAPE of the Beacon Hills Preserves sent a chill down Daisy's spine. As soon as Stile's powder blue Jeep rolled to a stop, the boys jumped out of the front seats, giving her enough room to climb out from the back. Her tennis shoes crunched on the dead leaves that blanketed the ground as she hopped from the vehicle.

"We're seriously doing this?" Scott questioned from where he came to stand beside Daisy.

Stiles pulled a flashlight from his jacket pocket and clicked the button, forcing a bright beam to illuminate the darkness around them. "You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town," he quipped, starting through the towering evergreens that spread out in all directions.

Daisy hugged herself as a cold breeze swirled across the preserve. Her cotton hoodie did little to keep her warm, forcing her to huddle close to Scott's side. Aside from his body heat, she stayed near him out of fear that Stiles leave her out there if something happened. It wouldn't have been the first time he left Daisy behind.

After all, Stiles did abandon her inside a corn maze when they were twelve. And that didn't include a late night romp through the woods to find half of a dead body.

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow," Scott said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his red jacket.

Daisy nodded in agreement with his statement. "And I need to study. You know Mr. Harris will skin us alive if we don't pass his next test."

Stiles scoffed as he trudged on into preserve. "Right, 'cause sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort," he quipped to the McCall boy, before he glanced back to the Fulton girl. "And you need to loosen up.

Daisy rolled her eyes, while Scott defended his reason for waiting to head home.

"No, because I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm making first line."

"Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one," Stiles exclaimed, hopping over a fallen tree in his path.

Daisy produced a fake pout and voiced, "awe, is that how you excuse yourself for being on the team?" She smirked when Stiles glared her way.

For the next few minutes, the three friends weaved through the moonlit forest in silence. Those last months of winter meant there were few bugs left alive to annoy them, but they had to be wary of the various other animals that lurked somewhere in the darkness.

If Daisy could forget why they were out there, she could almost enjoy the sense of peace that fell over her only in the middle of the preserve. But that meant forgetting that they were on the lookout for half of a dead body.

"Just out of curiosity," Scott questioned as he stumbled over a dip in the ground, "which half of the body are we looking for?"

Stiles paused mid-step, releasing a sharp huff, before he continued forward. "Huh, I didn't even think about that."

Daisy's eyes widened and her stomach flipped. "Are you serious? What if the murderer's still out here? We could be walking into a full on slasher flick," she hissed, scanning the shadowed area around them.

Of course Stiles would neglect to inform them that he didn't know if the police caught who, or what, killed the person, let alone what part of the severed body they were even looking for.

"Also something I didn't think about," Stiles said, swinging the flashlight in his hand.

Scott shook his head. "It's – comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail."

Stiles grinned and climbed the hill that appeared before them. "I know."

Daisy hung back with Scott, growing worried when he started to wheeze halfway up the incline. His shaggy, brown hair fell into his eyes as he pulled out his inhaler and set it between his lips. Scott sucked in the medicated spray, trying to catch his breath.

"Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?" Scott coughed out to their oblivious, pocketing his inhaler.

Daisy set a hand on his arm and helped him climb the rest of the way up the hill. "Just leave him be," she muttered low enough for only the McCall boy to hear. "Maybe he'll calm down when he realizes this idea was completely stupid."

Before Scott could reply, they heard Stiles shout and watched him take off in a sprint ahead of them.

"Wait, come on!"

"Stiles, wait up!" Scott called after him, pulling Daisy with him. "Stiles!"

"Stiles, stop!" Daisy shouted and ran with Scott after the Stilinski boy.

They hurried between a grove of trees and skidded to a halt when they spotted Stiles. He trampled through the foliage, tripping over his own feet and crashing to the ground. Daisy and Scott rushed to his side, dropping down beside him when they noticed what captured his attention.

A line of police officers moved forward with flashlights in their grasp. They swept the bright beams side-to-side, searching for what Daisy figured was the missing half of the body.

Daisy pressed herself against the damp ground, cringing as the coldness began to seep through her jeans. She would be lucky if she didn't end up with mud stains. Movement caught her attention, forcing her to snap to the left. Daisy cursed under her breath when Stiles shot up and sprinted forward. She hoped that he tried to at least miss the officers, even though his plan failed spectacularly.

Before Scott yanked her up from the ground and yanked her behind the nearest tree, Daisy watched Stiles slip and fall into the officers' direct line of sight.

"Hold it right there!"

Daisy overheard one of the men shouted, having spotted Stiles amongst the darkened forest. She peeked around Scott to where every flashlight beam shifted to his fallen form.

"Hang on. Hang on. This little delinquent belongs to me."

Daisy froze when the familiar voice registered in her mind. She knew it anywhere. After all, she heard it every time she visited Stile's home. They should've realized he was out there. Stiles's father was the sheriff, and the sheriff would've been front and center in a search operation.

Daisy squeezed further into Scott's chest, hoping that Stiles's father wouldn't see them. If he did, she knew her mother would find out about their late night adventure before she even made it home. Lindsay Fulton never ceased to warn her about staying out of trouble, especially when said trouble involved her best friends.

It was safe to say Daisy never listened.

"Dad, how're you doing?" Stiles questioned, slightly breathless as he climbed to his feet.

Sheriff Stilinski sighed. "So, do you – uh – listen in to all of my phone calls?"

"No," Stiles retorted a little too fast. He huffed and added, "not the boring ones."

Stiles scoffed, while he tried to steady his breathing. "Who? Scott and Daisy? Sc – Scott's home. He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for first day back at school tomorrow. And Daisy said she needed to study, or something boring like that. It's just me. In the woods. Alone."

Daisy rolled her eyes at Stiles's horrible excuse. His father would never believe his son wandered out into the preserve by himself. At night. He was smarter than that.

"Scott? Daisy? You out here?" Sheriff Stilinski shouted and lifted his flashlight to scan the trees.

Scott wrapped his arms around Daisy, pulling her closer to him when the light almost clipped her side. They stilled, watching the bright beam flick across the ground and away from them.

"Scott? Daisy?" When neither of the teenagers replied, Sheriff Stilinski dropped his flashlight and directed his attention back to his son. "Well, young man, I'm gonna walk you back to your car, and you and I are gonna have a conversation about something called 'invasion of privacy.'"

Daisy and Scott failed to move as Stiles, Sheriff Stilinski, and the rest of the officers started off through the forest, leaving them behind in the quiet of the night.

A relieved breath escaped Daisy. She no longer had to worry about getting in trouble with her friend's father, or even her mother. But that brought up another issue altogether as her gaze swept over the woods. They were now stranded in the middle of the preserve without a way to get home.

Daisy snapped to Scott, who wore an equally worried expression on his face. "Now what're we gonna do?"

Scott took in the area around them, before he turned back to his friend with a shrug. "I don't know." His chest rose and fell faster, forcing him to pull out his inhaler and breathe in the medicated mist.

Thunder rumbled overhead and caused Daisy to jump. Her jade eyes lifted to the darkened sky, watching as it only grew darker with each passing second. She flinched when cold droplets stung her cheeks. Just what they needed. She really should've checked the weather before she left her house.

Another boom shook the ground beneath Daisy's feet. She thought it was just more thunder, but her heart nearly stopped at the sight of a dozen deer, stampeding through the trees in their direction. Daisy screamed, diving out of the way as the frantic deer almost trampled her into the ground. She scrambled over to a tree, pressing her back against the bark to escape the animals' jagged hooves.

Time dragged on for an eternity as the deer trampled through the forest, disappearing into the darkened foliage with the only trace of their existence being the hoofprints in the mud. Daisy breathed hard, uncurling from where she sought refuge beside the tree. Her heart thumped in her chest and her hands trembled. She swallowed hard, struggling to stand on her shaky legs. Daisy scanned the area and hoped to see Scott, but she could not find him anywhere.

"Scott," Daisy called out as she searched for the moppy haired boy. "Scott!" She quickened her steps, looking for any sign of her best friend. Her tennis shoe clad feet stopped at the edge of a small hill and lowered her stare to the slight valley. She almost turned around, but she stopped when something shifted atop the ground. Daisy watched them clamber up to their feet, shaking off their muddy red jacket. "Scott!" she shouted, waving her arms above her head.

Scott whirled around, sighing heavily when he spotted her on the hill. "Daisy!"

Daisy did not waste a second and started down the slope in his direction. Her feet skidded on the dampening earth, but she remained upright long enough to almost slam into Scott. Her chest heaved as she stopped next to him. Her eyes were wide, as were his. "What – what the hell was that?" she breathed out in pants.

Scott shook his head, ignoring the way his hair began to plaster to his cheeks in the rain. His lips parted to speak, but he never got the chance.

A growl ripped through the silence of the forest, forcing Daisy's blood to run cold. She snapped to where the sound rumbled between the trees until a massive, dark form barreled toward them. Daisy tried to scream, but the startled noise caught in her throat when something slammed into her side. She lost her footing, falling hard onto the ground with a thud. Her shoulder smacked a solid object, causing her to groan as pain radiated down her back.

Daisy huffed, pushing away from what she discovered to be a tree root, and turned to find Scott. She didn't have to call for him, seeing as he already ran toward her. Scott grabbed ahold of her arms and yanked her up beside him. Daisy tried to protest, but his gripped tightened and pulled her through the preserve in a sprint.

They hurried out of the dense collection of trees, coming to a stop when they stood on a two-lane road. Water began to pool on the asphalt, glimmering in the faint moonlight peeking between the clouds overhead. Daisy shoved at the loose strands of hair that fell from her bun and stuck to her forehead in the rain. She wanted to sigh in relief, but the bright beams of a car speeding toward her and Scott stole her moment of peace.

Neither teenagers moved as the dark SUV swerved, sliding on the wet road to avoid them. Daisy's heart almost burst, staring after the vehicle that nearly flattened them to death. Her attention shifted to Scott when his hand fell from her arm. She looked to him and frowned as he grabbed the hem of his jacket. Her brows creased at his action until she spotted a bloody bitemark on his tanned skin.

Daisy went to ask him what happened, but she froze at a howl tearing through the air behind them.

__________

Dozens of her classmates covered the front lawn of Beacon Hills High School by the time Daisy arrived the next morning. Not a surprise, considering it was close to eight on the first day back from winter break.

Once she got home from the harrowing trip into the preserve, Daisy wanted to forget the entire thing even happened. That she let her friends talk her into going out in search of a dead body. That Stiles left her and Scott alone in the woods. That she almost got trampled by a herd of deer, torn to shreds by a large animal, or hit by a speeding car. She wanted to forget it all.

Over the years, Daisy and her friends got themselves into a lot of trouble. Stupid trouble, but trouble nonetheless. And if her mother found out what they had gotten themselves into, she wouldn't see anything but the inside of her bedroom for a month.

The woman in question pulled her car close to the sidewalk in front of the school, insisting on driving her daughter to her first day back after two weeks off. Lindsay Fulton shifted the vehicle into park, glancing to where Daisy rested in the passenger seat.

Daisy tried to avoid her mother's gaze all morning, worried that she'd figure out about her and her friends' trip into the preserve just by looking at her. It also didn't help that her shoulder developed a large bruise from where she fell onto it because of the stampede of deer. Daisy just hoped she didn't wince when she slipped on her backpack. That would definitely catch her mother's attention. The nurse in her wouldn't be able to let something like that go.

With a short breath, Daisy grabbed the floral printed bag from the floorboard and reached for the door handle to step out of the car. Before she could, her mother's voice made her pause. 

"You're just gonna get out without saying goodbye?" Lindsay questioned her daughter with an expectant stare.

Daisy turned to where her mother sat behind the wheel. Her blonde, pixie-cut styled hair shone in the morning light, reminding her just how much they looked alike. The same dark eyes, the same golden tones of their hair. It often made her wonder what she got from her father. A man who died when she was a little older than a newborn.

The thought faded as Daisy said, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

Lindsay's expression fell. "I told you not to stay up watching tv."

Daisy produced a fake grimace, even though watching tv had been the farthest thing from her mind. Might as well let her mother think that it was. "There was Bermuda Triangle documentary on, and I didn't want to miss it."

Lindsay sighed. "Next time, record it. Now, you're gonna be tired all day."

Daisy pressed her lips together and popped the door open to end the conversation. She didn't want to argue with her mother so early in the morning. "I'm gonna stay late today for lacrosse practice, and then probably hangout with Scott and Stiles after."

Lindsay watched her daughter climb out of the car and voiced, "okay. Text me when you leave school."

Daisy nodded, leaning down to see her mother's face through the open door. Her hair lifted in the cold, January wind as it swirled over the high school campus. "Okay. Bye."

"Bye. Love you."

"Love you more," Daisy replied and shoved the door closed. She started down the sidewalk as her mother drove off.

With a long exhale, Daisy slipped her backpack onto her jean jacket covered shoulders. The strap brushed against her right shoulder, causing her to wince as a shock of pain rippled up her neck. She ignored it, for the most part, and continued toward the entrance of the school.

Daisy jumped when a hand fell onto her uninjured shoulder. She yelped, whirling around to come face-to-face with its owner. Her fear morphed into anger at the sight of her best friend. "Daminit, Stiles!" she yelled, shoving at the boy as he laughed.

Stiles slapped his thigh and doubled over into near hysterics. "You should have seen your face!"

Daisy huffed and kicked off the concrete, heading to where Scott chained his bike to the bike rack. "Why am I friends with you?"

Stiles practically skipped alongside her as they neared their third counterpart. "Because without me, your only friend would be Scott." When they grew closer to the shaggy haired boy, he called out, "okay, let's see this thing."

Daisy rolled her eyes. By thing, Stiles meant the nasty bite Scott got the night before. It looked beyond disgusting, at least from what she remembered. She can't imagine anyone would want to look at the jagged, bloody teeth marks. But Stiles was a special breed.

Scott sighed at the request, but lifted the hem of his long-sleeved shirt. He pulled it up to reveal a large, white gauze bandage tapped to his side. The middle held a small blood stain, having linked through from the wound.

"Ooh!" Stiles exclaimed.

"Yeah – whoa!" Scott jumped back when the Stilinski boy reached toward the bandage. He dropped his shirt and said, "it was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."

Stiles lowered his arm as his expression turned skeptical. "A wolf bit you?" he questioned.

Scott nodded. "Uh huh."

Stiles shook his head and the three of them started for the school's entrance. "No. Not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling," Scott argued, before he looked to Daisy. "You heard it, too. It was a wolf."

Daisy shrugged. "That's what it sounded like." The howl did sound a lot like a wolf. Granted she had never heard a wolf howl before, but it certainly didn't sound like a dog.

Stiles scoffed. "No, it wasn't."

Scott's brows scrunched. "What do you mean, 'no, it wasn't?' How do you know what we heard?" he asked, gesturing from himself to Daisy.

"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like – sixty years." Stiles smacked the Fulton girl on the arm. "You should not this, Day. You're the one always reading."

Daisy's eyes narrowed as she batted his arm away. "I do know that, but I know what I heard. And it sounded like a wolf."

Scott held out his arm, bringing them all to a stop right below the front steps of the school. Their classmates migrated around them and entered the building without a second look. "Alright, well, if you don't believe us about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me when I tell you I found the body."

Daisy froze at his statement. He found the body? When did he do that? Maybe it had been when the deer separated them.

Stiles's eyes went round. "You – are you kidding me?"

"What?" Daisy snapped toward the McCall boy. "You didn't tell me that."

Scott gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry." He then shifted his gaze back to Stiles. "And no, man, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."

Stiles acted as though Christmas came again. "Oh, God. That's freakin' awesome. I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since," he paused when a perky head of curled, light red hair captured his attention, "since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey, Lydia," he voiced to the girl as she strode past him without an ounce of acknowledgement. "You look – like you're gonna ignore me."

Lydia Martin maintained her quick stride and climbed the front steps with her stare aimed straight-ahead.

Daisy's lips pursed at her friend's failed attempt to gain the most popular girl in school's eye. "Yeah, I don't think so," she commented and started for the entrance.

Stiles scoffed as he and Scott followed behind her. "You two are the cause of this, you know?"

Scott simply hummed in response.

"Draggin' me down to your nerd depths," Stiles continued. "I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet-nerded by the both of you."

Daisy's brows creased and glanced back at the spastic boy. "You do realize you just Scarlet-nerded yourself by referencing a nineteenth century novel, right?"

Stiles scowled, while Daisy smiled and turned back to pull open the front door of the school.

__________

As the day dragged on and her teachers lectured about subjects she didn't car for, Daisy found herself more than a little bored. The only remotely interesting thing that happened had been the presence of a new student. A new girl by the name of Allison Argent. Other than that, it was an incredibly dull day of school.

Daisy stood before her open locker after the last bell, shoving the textbooks she needed for homework into her backpack. She would leave everything in there until after lacrosse practice, but she didn't want to travel back into the school when it concluded later.

Movement to Daisy's left captured her attention. She looked to the side, watching as the new girl popped the locker a door down from hers open.

Allison began to fill the bag that hung at her side. When she finished, her gaze lifted and connected with the blonde's across from her. "Hey. You're in my English class, right?" she questioned, slipping the strap of her bag onto her shoulder.

Daisy met her stare and nodded. "Uh, yeah. I am. I'm Daisy," she said, offering the curly haired brunette a light smile.

"Allison. Although, you probably already know that." Allison laughed and adjusted the bag on her hip.

Before Daisy could respond, the petite form of Lydia Martin appeared with a strand of her light red, or as Stiles called it strawberry blonde, hair around her finger. "That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?" she asked Allison with her sole attention on the new girl.

Daisy diverted her gaze back to her locker, double checking which books she could leave inside the school for another day. She also couldn't help but overhear the conversation that transpired without her.

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco," Allison replied to the Martin girl.

Lydia smiled brightly and pointed in her direction. "And you are my new best friend."

Right then, Jackson Whittemore approached Lydia and pressed his lips against hers. They kissed for a long moment and then pulled away.

Lydia grinned up at her boyfriend, before she looked back to Allison. "So, this weekend, there's a party."

"A party?" Allison inquired, even though she appeared less than interested in the topic.

"Yeah," Jackson spoke as he wrapped his arm around Lydia's waist. "Friday night. You should come."

Allison's eyes flicked between the couple, pressing her lips together. "Uh, I can't. It's family night this Friday. Thanks for asking."

Daisy resisted the urge to smirk. She could spot a fake smile anywhere, especially when it had to do with Beacon Hills High's self-proclaimed "it" couple. It was about time someone shot them down.

"You sure?" Jackson questioned, despite the fact that he didn't seem to care in the slightest. "Everyone's going after the scrimmage."

"You mean like football."

Daisy could have laughed. Allison was on a roll, even if she didn't know it.

Jackson scoffed. "Football's a joke in Beacon. The sport here is lacrosse. We've won the state championship for the past three years."

Lydia smiled, lifting a hand to run through the boy's perfectly styled hair. "Because of a certain team captain."

Jackson looked as though he wanted to roll his eyes, but he restrained himself and kept his attention on Allison. "Well, we have practice in a few minutes. That is, if you don't have anywhere else..."

"Well, I was going to..."

"Perfect," Lydia cut off the girl's excuse. "You're coming."

Allison's eyes widened at the forward declaration. Her gaze shifted from Lydia, seeming to search for something that could help her escape the couple. When she spotted the blonde still at her locker, her expression slacked. "Daisy. Why don't you come with us?"

Daisy snapped toward the new girl, freezing as three sets of eyes were aimed in her direction. She immediately started to shake her head. "Oh, no. I couldn't..."

"You should come," Lydia spoke, contradicting the strained look on her face. "You're always sitting by yourself, anyways. And that outfit is adorable." She gestured to Daisy, before she reached out and grasped both girls' hands.

Daisy's dumfounded expression remained as she met Allison's stare. The new girl sent her an apologetic look, while the two of them were dragged through the halls and toward the lacrosse field.

__________

A chill rippled down Daisy's spine, forcing her to wrap her arms tightly around her torso. She realized too late that she should have worn something thicker than a jean jacket. While she ran hot on a normal day, the January weather was unforgiving in Northern California. And even less so when she had to sit on metal bleachers for hours.

Daisy followed Allison and Lydia up onto the frozen seats, which were partially filled by others who came to watch the lacrosse boys' first practice of the season. The team was already on the field, waiting for Coach Finstock to give them instructions. Daisy dropped onto the bench beside Allison and Lydia and looked for any sign of her friends.

Scott stood on the sidelines, being handed a set of pads and a lacrosse stick with a large net on the end. Daisy cringed at the sight, knowing full well what those pieces of equipment meant. Coach Finstock wanted to put him in the position of goalie. A position Scott couldn't play to save his life.

"Who's that?"

Daisy looked to Allison when she voiced the question. She followed her gaze to where Scott jogged down the field to stand between the goal. "The one in the goal?" she asked.

Allison nodded.

"Him?" Lydia voiced with her lips pursed, not entirely interested in the turn in conversation. "I'm not sure who he is. Why?"

Allison shrugged. "He's in my English class."

Daisy went to respond, but her words evaporated when the first person in line at the goal through the ball toward Scott. It slammed into his facemask, knocking him off balance and causing him to fall onto his back. Daisy winced at the harsh impact. And the boys wondered why she hated the sport.

Scott quickly stumbled onto his feet and faced the line of lacrosse players. The next person stepped forward, raising the long stick in their hands. They launched the small, palm-sized ball toward Scott. Daisy braced herself for her friend's inevitable failure, but to her surprise, Scott's stick shot out and caught the ball in the net.

He caught ball. Scott actually caught the ball.

Daisy gaped toward the field as more players stepped up and more balls were snatched out of the air by Scott. She had never seen him play like that before. Not once since he and Stiles joined the team in their freshman year.

"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison said with her eyes glued to the McCall boy.

Lydia hummed in agreement. "Very good."

Daisy smiled, watching Scott catch ball after ball. She didn't know what came over him, but she was just glad he wasn't getting pummeled. But her expression soon fell when Jackson shoved his way to the front of the line. So much for Scott's lucky streak.

Daisy resisted the urge to shield her eyes as Jackson ran for Scott. He skidded to halt right before the goal, sending his ball speeding toward the boy's face. Before it could hit him square in the face, Scott leap out of the way and somehow managed to snatch ahold of the ball in his net.

It took Daisy several moments to fully process what happened. Stiles jumped up from his spot on the bench, shouting for their best friend. Lydia did the same, clapping loud enough for the entire team to hear her on the field.

Once she pushed through her shock, Daisy beamed and yelled in support of Scott's stunning display as goalie. Maybe he had a shot at first-line, after all.

<September 1, 2020>

Here is the first chapter of the Blossom rewrite. I hope to get to the rest of the chapters soon, but this rewrite is probably going to take me a while to get through.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.