DEDICATED TO THE MAIN BAE KRYSTA BECAUSE SCEA IS ALL THAT MATTERS!?!?!

Chapter Five ✧Goats On Bubble Wrap✧

"I was skating in my neighbors empty pool trying to do a hand plant." Theo said, launching himself into the story of how he got bit. Theo, Stiles, Scott, and I stood in the middle of an empty boys locker room, a place I would never care to be again. "Nobody was home. I'm not that good of a skateboarder but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time. I didn't even realize it was night until the yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool and I realized something." 

Theo paused, taking a small breath as he looked around at us. I couldn't tell if he was doing it for dramatic effect, or just to make sure we were all still paying attention to him. 

"I never heard the board come back down." Theo told us. A vivid picture was almost instantly painted in my head. I saw Theo in the empty pool, the alpha standing at the top, probably feasting on Theo with his red eyes. "It came at me fast. I barely had a chance to turn around before it bit me. Right here." 

Theo pointed to his torso, indicating where his journey as a creature of the night had really started. I almost felt bad for him, but then I saw Stiles glaring at Theo and I remembered I still was supposed to not like him. 

"It wasn't an accident." Scott told the other werewolf. "He wanted to turn you." 

Leaning against the lockers next to me, Stiles crossed his arms in an unimpressed gesture. "Right. So, why aren't you a part of his pack then? Why didn't he come back for you." 

Theo turned his head to look at me and Stiles. "Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead." 

"How'd you know that?" I asked softly, my tone about a thousand times friendlier then Stiles'. Theo must've appreciated the attempt at a kind action, because he gave me a light smile. 

"I met another one of his pack a couple weeks later. He told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own betas." Theo explained, his attention turning back to Scott. "They were twins." 

I let out a sigh, glancing back and forth between Scott and Stiles to see they were wearing the same expression as I was. That part of the story hadn't come as too big of a surprise, especially since we were pretty sure we knew who those twins were. But still, my two senior friends didn't look incredibly sold on trusting the new guy. 

"Scott, listen to my pulse." Theo told the true alpha. "I'm telling you the truth." 

"Right. Or you just know how to steady your heart rate while your lying your ass off." Stiles suggested, pushing himself off of the locker so he could step closer to Theo. 

Scott cocked his head at his best friend, showing that he was not nearly as weary of Theo Raeken as Stiles was. Scott then looked beyond Stiles and to me. I locked eyes with the werewolf and shrugged my shoulders, we both knew that once Stiles had gotten his suspicions up about someone, there was no going back. 

"Why would I lie?" Theo questioned, letting out a short, confused laugh. 

"Because maybe you're not who you say you are." Stiles retorted swiftly. 

"Okay." Theo looked down, loosing himself in his own mind for a second as he tried thinking of a way to prove himself. Apparently, he found a way because he was looking back up at the true alpha in front of him. "Scott, in fourth grade you had an inhaler. I had one too. I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER, you were waiting for the principle. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, and an IV of prednisone. You made it sound easy, like everything would be okay." 

I glanced over at Scott who had his eyes trained on the other werewolf. I could tell by the soft look in his brown eyes that he was warming up to Theo, unlike Stiles who was standing next to me and rubbing his eyes in disbelief. 

"I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody know that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own." Theo continued, his eyes still locked on Scott's. "I swear, I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too." 

I tried not to show it, especially not with Stiles letting out an unhappy huff from next to me, but I found myself believing Theo's words. He just sounded so convincing, so honest. Then again, we've dealt with plenty of enemies that had seemed so kind and innocent in the beginning. My dad, for example, was the epitome of a good guy gone bad. Like milk that had sat in the fridge for too long and gone sour. 

But, in all honesty, I'd never had milk hit me until I was inert, forced to lie crying on the floor until my brother came for me. 

The bell rang out through the hallway, telling kids to get moving to there next class. 

"I better get going. You're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on." Theo explained, giving Scott a shy smile. Theo then turned, ready to walk out of the locker room, and shot me the same smile. 

Once Theo left, Stiles began shouldering his back pack as Scott approached us. The true alpha raised his eyebrows at his best friend, shooting him an impressed smile to make his feelings toward Theo evident. 

"No." Stiles shook his head firmly. "Do not give me that look." 

"We have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes." Scott pressed, looking down at me for a second to motion I can go first. 

I began walking towards the locker room exit, talking to Stiles over my shoulder as I did so. "If you guys hadn't given Isaac the benefit of the doubt I probably wouldn't even be here right now." 

"Not this time, alright? I'm right." Stiles declared, giving both me and Scott a pointed look. "There's something off about him. I can feel it. 

"Lydia's the psychic, not you." Scott reminded the paler senior as he followed me out of the locker room. 

"Lydia's not a psychic, she's a banshee! Okay? There's a difference!" Stiles yelled after us, but Scott and and I just shook our heads at him. 

+++++++

I honestly should've known better then to help Stiles break in to the administration office at the end of the day. Though, in my defense, he had done most of the breaking into. I had just stood guard and tried to look as innocent as possible. 

Eventually, Stiles exploded out of the administration office. The older boy immediately put his hand on my back, pushing me away in an attempt to make a quick escape but all he really succeeded in doing was make us both almost trip over each other. Repeatedly. 

"I don't like being your accomplice." I decided, looking over my shoulder for what had to be the fifteenth time. I couldn't help it, I was half expecting some decrepit secretary lady to be shouting after us. 

"Well, you're the only one who I was going to be able to talk into helping me." Stiles reminded me. I tried to not be offended by the fact that he'd just practically called me a pushover. "Anyways, at least I found something." 

I looked up to Stiles in shock. We normally weren't so lucky when it came to unmasking anything that could really help us. "What is it." 

"Proof that Theo Raeken is a shady little bastard." Stiles declared in a low voice. I looked up to him only to see he had a mad scientist look in his eye. He enjoyed being right a little too much. 

Stiles barged into the library, guiding me along with him. Moving almost too fast for my much shorter legs, we eventually found Kira, Malia, and Scott sitting together at an empty table. Stiles let go of me so he could wave a paper at the trio as we approached them. 

Scott raised his eyebrows at us, looking almost amused. "So, you found something?" 

"Another signature." Stiles confirmed proudly. Stiles placed two papers on the table, the one that he'd taken from the administration office and one that was a ticket he'd gotten as a result as running a background check on the Raeken's. "This is Theo's dads signature on a speeding ticket eight years ago." Stiles then pointed out a different signature, causing me to lean in to see what he was doing. "Now this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills high school just a few days ago." 

"How did you get his transfer form?" Kira questioned, shooting Stiles a confused look. 

 "Did you break into administration?" Scott asked, his voice not in a librarian-approved whisper like Kira's was. 

"No, I did not break into the administration office." Stiles denied firmly. Under the gaze of our three friends, I felt my cheeks burn and I quickly tried to hide my face discreetly with my hand. Stiles cringed slightly, looking sheepishly down to me as our friends eyes continued to burn into him. "We broke into the administration office." 

"I just stood guard." I corrected Stiles quietly. "But I feel like that's actually not too much better." 

"Stiles, you can not turn my little Char into a hardened criminal." Scott scolded his friend before shooting my a sideways grin. His dimpled smile managed to make me feel slightly better about myself. 

"Can we just focus on the signatures, please?" Stiles pleaded out in frustration. He pointed back down to the two papers in front of him. "They're different." 

"They're sort of different." Malia agreed with a small nod of her head. 

"They're completely different. You can see it right?" Stiles turned to ask me. I looked over his shoulder at the papers, before looking back up at him and shrugging my shoulders. That only made the older boy huff loudly. "Come on, look! The garlands don't even match, the undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look, look at this! Perfect example of the criminal tremor." 

I gave Stiles a confused look, wondering if I was the only one completely lost in Stiles' statement. His accusations consisted of things I hadn't even known existed. Heck, I still don't even know if they actually exist. 

"So, now Theo is Theo but his parents aren't his parents?" Kira attempted to clarify, but she only managed to make the situation seem even more far fetched then it already was. 

"Someone's not someone." Stiles told the kitsune in a very serious tone. "And when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble." 

"But no one's done anything wrong." Scott pointed out. Apparently he was able to keep up with Stiles and his hectic sentences.

"Yet." Stiles proclaimed. "If Theo's parents are both psychotic killers, then obviously we should not trust him, right?" 

I opened my mouth, about to point out that I'd had an abusive father but I'd turned out pretty alright, but I quickly bit my tongue. I was almost positive I was far from being alright anymore. 

"My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf." Malia stated. 

Stiles stared at Malia for a moment, the rest of us staring back at him. He was apparently beginning to crack, frustrated with everyone's lack to realize how much of a 'shady bastard' Theo is. 

"Okay. It's fine." Stiles sighed, angrily itching at his forehead. "You know what? I'll just figure this out myself. Right? I don't need you, or you, or you." 

Stiles pointed to his three fellow seniors before turning on his heels, grabbing my arm as he did. He began marching away, dragging me along with him before shouting over his shoulder. "I don't need anyone!"

Once we were out of earshot range of the others, I raised my eyebrows at Stiles. "Excuse me, Mr. I-Don't-Need-Anyone? You realized you took me with you, right." 

"Hey, don't sass me, you miniature Isaac Lahey." Stiles mumbled as he stormed down a hallway. He apparently felt my gaze still on him becuase he let out a long sigh, finally looking over to me. "Okay, maybe I need you. You're my exception, alright? Now let's go follow that lying lunatic." 

"Follow that lying lunatic." I repeated in a murmur to myself, rethinking Stiles plan. . As much as I loved the spaz, his plans tended to have some room for improvement. 

"Yes, that is what I said." Stiles confirmed. He widdened his arms at me and shook his  head to the side, apparently not sure why I had suddenly stopped walking. 

"Well, if we are going to do that, do you think you could make an exception? I asked, giving Stiles a falsley sweet smile. The boy gave me an uncertain look, not entirely sure what I was getting at. "How exactly do you plan on following around a werewolf without being totally obvious, Stiles? I mean, have you met the two of us? We're about as stealthy as a goat walking on bubble wrap." 

"So you're saying we need another werewolf's help." Stiles sighed, a frown tugging at the edges of his lips. I gave him a weak smile and nodded my head. "Well, that's too bad, because I just very pointedly stormed out on Scott and I am so not going back in there." 

"Scott isn't the only the werewolf we know." I reminded him. Stiles narrowed his eyes at me, causing me to giggle as I nodded my head down the hall. Stiles followed my gaze, only to be greeted by the sight of Liam standing at the other end of the hall, waving at us. 

Stiles groaned, looking over at me. Obviously, he wasn't all that thrilled with my plan, but he eventually nodded his head. "Fine, whatever. Go get, Liam. Tell him he's been recruited for a very dire mission." 

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to respond to Stiles as I carefully made my way down the hallway. A small smile on my face, which was probably the result of me helping Stiles with a plan. It felt good to be useful, even if it wasn't in an entirely big way, 

"Char, hey." Liam greeted, closing his locker only to lean up against it. He gave me a lopsided grin, making it seem like he was beyond thrilled to see me after hours of being apart (and by hours, I mean an hour at most). 

"Do you have plans for tonight?" I asked quickly. Liam cocked an eyebrow towards me, his grin slowly turning into a smirk. "I'm asking because Stiles and I need you." 

"Wait a second. You and Stiles need me?" Liam's smile washed off his face in an instant. Now, all his expression harbored was complete and utter confusion. 

"It's a long story." I laughed. "But I will be glad to explain it to you in the Jeep." 

Liam furrowed his eyebrows, pretending like he was actually pondering over my question. "I supposed we've had weirder dates." 

I shook my head, smiling at Liam becuase, in all honesty, he made me completely happy. I reached out and grabbed his hand, tugging on it lightly. "I'm taking that as a yes, Dunbar." 

With that, me and Liam quickly hurried out to Stiles' jeep. Once we were comfortably situated on the back seat, Stiles turned and handed Liam the two papers with Theo's dads signature. Liam looked at the papers, then over to me, shooting me a amused look as Stiles explained to him his plan. 

When Stiles was finally finished, Liam looked down at the paper like he was trying to decipher them. "What's a criminal tremor?" 

Stiles quickly snatched the papers out of the younger boys hands. "It doesn't matter." 

Without giving me and Liam any time to ask any more questions, Stiles whipped out of his parking spot at an alarming rate. I squeezed on to Liams hand tightly, feeling slightly reassured by the fact that if Stiles' maniac driving got us in an accident, at least Liam would be there with me. 

-----------------

THE CURRENT EPISODE OF TEEN WOLF IS KILLING ME OH MY GOD I LOVE IT WHOOPS.

But yes I love how much Charlotte is grown. She's gone from being terrified and outspoken to happy (though lowkey worried about her powers) and brave enough to tell Stiles that they need a werewolf. Also, this isn't the most Larlotte Chapter but I need you guys to remember that Charlotte isn't just a love interest, she's a loved part of the McCall pack. 

Question - What is your favorite development that Charlotte's character has had?