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Chapter Three.

      When Sage got to school later on the following week, the first thing she noticed was the police cars lined up around the back where the bus compound was located. She assumed that it was just a petty vandalism, some teenagers thinking they could get away with tagging the school, but when she noticed that Sheriff Stilinski had arrived on scene she understood something more was going on. Her interest had peaked, and because one of her worst qualities was prying, the only thing that she wanted to be doing was figuring out what the hell happened. The blonde walked to the back with cautious steps, her white converse taking the impact of the pavement. She hadn't originally anticipated to see something so grotesque and brutal, but what she got was exactly that. Naturally, she reacted the way any normal person would, her eyes widening in surprise.

        Sage was absolutely startled when she saw the caution tape and blood. The door to the back of the school bus had been completely ripped off, thrown carelessly to the side like it didn't matter where it ended up. Although she had seen worse things than this in her lifetime, watching her parents burn being one of them, she felt her breakfast churn in her stomach. Other kids were hanging around the crime scene, pointing and gasping as they watched the investigators surround the perimeter of the bus. Most of them had never seen something happen during school, much less in the actual town of Beacon Hills. 

        The teenage girl looked over instinctively when she heard the large doors that led outside burst open, meeting eyes with the first person who walked through them. Stiles Stilinski had only glanced at her for a second before turning to Scott, who looked as though he just saw a ghost with how much blood quickly drained from his face. It didn't take long to put the pieces together, Sage muttering a string of profanities under her breath. The two obviously knew something about what happened, and considering she was assigned as their babysitter, she was the one who had to figure out what exactly they did. Stiles realized that she was jogging her way over to them after a few seconds, his eyes rolling slightly in exasperation. He knew that in, approximately, five seconds, they would be getting an earful from the blonde.

        "What the hell did you do?" she hissed the moment she caught up with the two, diverting her attention back to the accident. Scott didn't even deny the accusations, only kept the wounded puppy look on his face as he swallowed hard. The teen wolf only shook his head once, slowly backing up to reenter the school and direct his attention anywhere that wasn't the accident in the compound.

        Scott found that his dream from last night might not have been a dream at all, and he was spluttering out a revelation that would have gotten him in prison if the police had heard. "I think I killed Allison." 

        "Dude!" Stiles exclaimed, wrapping his arm around his best friend's shoulder. He looked around with cautious eyes, making sure that no one around them was able to hear what he just revealed. The last thing that they needed was another accusation thrown their way by their entire student body. "You don't just randomly say that to someone!" 

        Sage had stopped in her place while they continued down the hallway, the two completely oblivious that the blonde's face had now gone blank at Scott's admission. Scott was too busy going on a rampage trying to both call and text Allison, all while Stiles finally realized they were missing a short, but all too terrifying girl in between them. He looked back and saw Sage was still standing a couple feet away, eyes shot straight ahead as if she were in a complete trance. Stiles knew that she was just trying to gather the information but it looked like someone had pressed a button or turned the 'off' switch.

        "Scott," Stiles said, hitting his best friend on the shoulder to grab his attention. 

        "What? Did you find Allison?" he asked, eyes darting all around the crowed hallway, trying to find one particular person in a sea of people. He was having no luck though, and his heart was beginning to race even faster at the thought of his dream actually being a reality. He couldn't bear the thought of killing Allison. It was all too real last night for it to have not been a dream, something that was now clawing at him from the inside-out. 

        "No, but I'm pretty sure we broke Sage." 

        When Scott glanced at Stiles in confusion, the boy jerked his head back to Sage. The blonde was just now regaining consciousness into the real world, hot their heels. Scott turned as well, and was surprised when there was an abrupt sting on his head as she hit him. 

        "You can't just go around killing people, Scott!" Sage snarled under her breath, making sure that no one was able to hear her going on a rampage. Stiles snorted while Scott just moaned, already wishing that Sage would return back to where ever the hell she used to be. Instead of snarking the girl, the distressed teen went back to his search for a curly-haired, brunette. His search involved leaving his two friends behind to stand in the hallway, mouths wide with astonishment that he left them.

        Sage grabbed a hold of Stiles' arm, putting him along with her. The teenager continued to whine as Sage tugged him through the hallway, her hand holding a tight grip on his arm. She knew if she let go he would more than likely try to escape, and she would need someone to kill if Scott truly did manage to maim his girlfriend. Were they even dating yet? That would be a real downer if he ate his date before they actually ever had one. 

        Somewhere along the way, Sage lost sight of the werewolf, and she stopped hastily, making Stiles crash right into her back due to his lack of paying attention. The boy's instincts made his hands shoot out to grab a hold of her waist, steadying the two of them before they could fall forward.

        "Get some, Stilinski!" A kid hollered as he passed by the couple. The lacrosse stick that was poking out of his bag told Sage that he was on the team with the boys. Sage rolled her eyes at the meathead, and turned to look down the hallway. She hadn't bothered to look back at Stiles; she could already picture his face burning bright red, and she didn't need it confirmed. 

        When Sage looked around the corner, she saw Scott and a surprising healthy and not wolf chew, Allison. She let out a breath of relief and leaned against the wall, looking over at Stiles who had taken his turn to glance at the couple before replicating her reaction. They didn't sign up for this.

        "Attention, students. This is your principal." Sage glanced over to the boy next to her, and they shared a questionable look. "I know you're all wondering about the incident that happened last night to one of our buses but while the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled." 

        Groans were shared throughout the hallway, and Sage couldn't help but join in. She said a goodbye to Stiles, who was heading to Harris' class while she was on the other side of the school, still having to get her own books for the same teacher. She already knew she was going to end up late, no doubt about it. Just when she started walking, she saw Jackson messing around with the locker Scott managed to destroy on his hunt for Allison. She couldn't help but let a laugh fall from her mouth, amused that of all the lockers, it had to be the one person who hated Scott the most. Her laughter caught Jackson's attention, though, and he glared over at her. 

        "What are you laughing at, Connelly?" he asked, trying to adjust the locker so it would somehow stay on. Sage didn't bother replying, too busy laughing her ass off as she passed by him, slapping his shoulder as she went on her way. 

        ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ ☒ 

        "Mister Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while. I think you and Mister McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?" Harris called out, making everyone in the class look up from their notebooks. Sage was one of them, her eyes shooting up from her notes to glance over at Stiles from across the room. They had all been previously attempting to listen to the lifelong lectures of Harris, something that made her want to blow her brains out in general. She wasn't surprised the two boys found their downtime in speaking to one another.  

        "No," Stiles disagreed, clearly upset about the thought of moving away.

        Harris didn't care about Stiles' pain though, gesturing for Scott to take a seat next to Sage while Stiles was put completely opposite of him. "Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much for you."

        It was only a few seconds when another voice broke through the air. "Hey, I think they found something!" 

        Everyone practically stumbled out of their seats, Sage managing to squeeze in between Stiles and Jackson before the other teenagers trampled her with their eager bodies. From the open window outside, an ambulance was stationed near the trees where two paramedics were rolling out a gurney with a body on it. 

        "That's not a rabbit," Scott mumbled to the two of them, even though Sage didn't understand why.

        It must have been what they were conversing about when Harris decided to go dick-mode and separate them. No doubt, Sage was plenty aware that whatever happened on that bus last night had something to do with werewolves. A human couldn't inflict that much damage on another human unless they were irreparably insane. The whole class jumped when the man on the gurney shot forward, screaming at the top of his lungs while clawing at the paramedics' shoulders. Sage even found herself startled, jumping back a few feet as she collided into Jackson's arm. Stiles muttered under his breath before walking over to Scott, now making it his turn to grab a hold of Sage. 

        "Hey, this is good. This is good. He got up. He's not dead. Dead guys can't do that, right?" 

        "Stiles, I did that," Scott choked out, looking between Sage and Stiles with horror reflecting in his eyes.

      ―――――――――――

        Sage sat down at an empty table, picking at the school food that didn't look remotely edible to consume. The only thing that she figured was safe was the apple that she picked at the end of the cafeteria line. She barely had time to look up from the red fruit when two more trays were slammed onto the table, immediately indulging in a conversation. Her eyebrows raised in surprise, glancing in between the two brunette boys. Since when did they decide that they wanted to sit with her? She was almost one hundred percent position that their table was three tables over. 

        "But it wasn't a dream! Something happened last night and I can't remember what," Scott explained in desperation, denying to something Stiles must have said before reaching the table. 

        "What makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?" Stiles asked, shooting his eyebrow up as he stole the food that was left sitting on Sage's tray. 

        "He doesn't," Sage mused, biting into her apple. It was true. Out of the duo, Sage was definitely the brains of the operation. Derek was the one who always managed to get himself into a shit situation, leaving Sage to figure out how to keep him alive. It became a normal thing for her to tell him when he was being a dickhead, and that he was going to get himself killed one day. 

       Ignoring Sage's comment, Scott began to speak again. "Because, during the full moon, he wasn't changed. He was in totally control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy." 

        "You don't know that," Sage and Stiles simultaneously retorted. They glanced at each other, Sage with a grin while Stiles gave her the signature glare that was growing to be a constant contortion. 

        "I don't not know it!" Scott disagreed. "I can't go out with Allison. I have to cancel." 

        Sage leaned forward, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're not cancelling, Scott. You can't just cancel your entire life. I can always help you, if you need me." 

        "Yeah, we'll figure it out," Stiles added. 

        "Figure what out?" The three of them looked to see that Lydia was taking a place in front of Sage, more people in her little crew of irrelevancy coming up behind her. Sage narrowed her eyes on the strawberry blonde, feeling completely irritated that she thought she could just barge in on their conversation and sit at the table as though they were actually friends. Hell, she'd had enough surprise when Stiles and Scott decided to sit with her.

        "Uh, just uh, homework," Scott mumbled, while Stiles huffed in agreement. Sage looked to see him trying his best to keep his cool, although his unrequited love was oh-so obvious to everyone but Lydia. 

        When more people decided to sit down at the table, Sage felt even more uncomfortable. Danny had taken the open seat beside Stiles and Allison sat next to Scott, all while another boy she had never seen before in her life sat on the end. The nameless boy, he looks like a Brody, stared at Sage with provocative eyes, making her squirm in her seat, half of her body practically on Stiles. She strictly refused the idea of Brody ever getting anywhere near her.

        "Get up." Jackson was standing in front of Brody, tray in hand while waiting for the shaggy-haired boy get out of the chair. Sage narrowed in on Jackson and noticed him looking at her as well, their eyes connecting for a moment before she turned back to her apple. The awkward tension between the two could probably be detected from a mile away.

        "How come you never ask Danny to get up?" the teenage boy asked, exasperated he had to move. Brody was practically whining like a baby at this point, and Sage wanted to slam his head into his artificial food just to get him to shut up. She didn't see why any of them sat down in the first place, or why they even felt the compelling urge to.

        "Because, I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot," Danny retorted, making Sage's grim frown turn up. The blonde leaned back in her chair, high-fiving him from behind Stiles for the verbal slap to the face. Rather than waiting for him to leave, Jackson simply pushed Brody out of his chair and occupied the spot. Sage almost laughed at the irony of sitting at the same table with Jackson and Lydia. She'd gone from hating them to sharing toxic items that were meant to be school food. 

        "So, I hear they say it's some type of animal attack," Danny explained to everyone at the table, sparking up a conversation. "Probably a cougar." 

        "I heard mountain lion," Jackson reiterated to his best friend, lounging back in his chair.

        "A cougar is a mountain lion," Lydia and Sage corrected in unison, attracting stares from the rest of the table. Sage let out an aggravated sigh while Lydia looked completely caught on her words.

        "Isn't it?" Lydia added. 

        Jackson snorted, playing around with his fork without actually daring to ingest any of the food that was on the tray. "Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's going to die anyway." 

        "Way to be considerate, asshole," Sage spat sarcastically, glaring at him. 

        "I found out who it was." Stiles interrupted the feud between the pair. "Check it out." 

        Sage looked over, leaning on Stiles' as she watched the video play. Garrison Myers was his name, and apparently he survived, although that was obvious from the scene in Harris' class. More clips of the accident were shown, replicating everything that Sage, Scott, and Stiles had seen from this morning. 

        "I know this guy," Scott proclaimed, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion as he continued to watch the video. The guy's face was instantly familiar the moment that he saw it, which led him to dig into the archive of his brain to try and figure out how in the hell he remembered the man. 

        "You do?" Allison asked, speaking up for the first time since she sat down. 

        "Yeah, when I used to take the bus when I lived with my dad. He was the driver." Sage pursed her lips, and took out her phone, sending a quick text message to Derek asking if he knew anything about what happened today. She remembered waking up last night to see that he was gone, and she couldn't help but feel suspicious about where the hell he had been. If he was involved. 

        "Can we talk about something lightly more fun, please? Like, oh! Where we're going tomorrow night," Lydia announced, turning towards Allison and Scott. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?" 

        "Um, we were thinking of what we wanted to do," Allison replied, obviously taken off guard at the question. Stiles looked at Scott in panic, the two obviously concerned about the possibility that Scott would rip apart the two girls. 

        "Well, I'm not sitting at home again watching lacrosse videos. So, if the four of us are hanging out, we're doing something fun." 

        "Hanging out, like the four of us?" Scott asked. Sage closed her eyes, throwing her head back. She really didn't want to see this train wreck happen. "Do you want us to hang out? Like us and them?" 

        "Yeah. I guess it sounds fun." Allison's voice told otherwise, though.

        "You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork," Jackson said, holding up the fork to signal his seriousness about it. Sage bit down the urge she had to tell him to do it, knowing it would be all the more reason for him to tell Lydia about their kiss and her bitch fit to Sage about the 'girl code'. Jackson Whittemore would still be an ass even if there was a piece of silverware sticking out of his face.

        "We should go bowling. You love to bowl! Sage, you can even come with us!" Lydia directed the last part at Sage, who looked completely taken off guard at the invite. The idea of being stuck somewhere with Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore, as well as a homicidal werewolf that had the possibility of accidentally murdering them all in the process, definitely didn't sound like something was going to jump to be a part of. 

        "I can't. I have plans," Sage lied smoothly, putting down the core of the apple. 

        Jackson turned to her with an amusement look. It was clear that he didn't believe her lie, capable of thinking of enough reasons on his own as to why Sage wouldn't want to be a part of their bowling idea. "What plans?" 

        "Stiles and I are hanging out," Sage explained, giving Jackson a sarcastic smile in return. The answer had flooded from her mouth without warning, whether it be because the vicinity of the boy next to her had triggered the reasoning or just because he was one of the few left available to use as a cover, she wasn't sure. All that she knew was that she was, now, spending her night with Stiles Stilinski.

        Stiles looked up from his fries with wide eyes. "We are?" 

        "We are," Sage repeated, knocking her knee with Stiles' thigh so that he wouldn't blow it. 

         Thankfully, he quickly caught on to the excuse she had made and began to nod towards Lydia, wrapping an arm around the blonde with a lack of confidence. "We are." 

        No one commented on Stiles' poor acting though, rather they just continued their conversation about bowling. Sage could see the whole date going down the hill already, and was relieved she dodged that bullet. Now, she just had to figure out what herself and Stiles would be doing tomorrow. 

―――――――――――

        "You're a terrible bowler!" Stiles spluttered out to Scott as they walked down the stairs, trying to get to their next class. It was true. Scott was an absolute disaster when it came to bowling, and now that was going to show when he went on the date. With his luck, the ball would end up flying back and murdering Allison in the process. It wouldn't be the first time the damn thing has gone the wrong way for him.

        "I know! I'm such an idiot," Scott cried out, running his hands over his face.

        He didn't want to mess up this date, if it could even be considered a date anymore. 

        "God, it was like watching a car wreck. First, it turned into the whole group date thing and then out of nowhere comes that phrase, which I got too, by the way—"

        "Hanging out!"Scott was baffled. He didn't want to hang out with  Allison. He didn't want to be just a friend that she thought she could casually spend time with whenever she was bored. He wanted to be more to her, and he would never be able to get that if he had Lydia and Jackson tailing their every move.

        "You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death, and my death is coming as soon as yours if Sage was serious about what she said. Once it's hanging out, I might as well be her gay best friend. Me, you, and Danny can start hanging out," Stiles said in exasperation to Scott. 

        "I don't know what's happening! I either killed a guy or I didn't." Scott was full on stressing about the whole thing, his nerves getting the best of him.

        Stiles completely ignored his best friend, going off into his own little world. "I don't think Danny likes me very much." 

        "I ask Allison on a date and now we're hanging out!" 

        Once again, Stiles was oblivious to Scott's problems. "Am I not attractive to gay guys?" 

        "I make first line and now the team captain wants to destroy me," Scott complained, then looked down at his phone to check the time. "Now I'm going to be late for work!" 

        "Wait, Scott! You didn't— am I attractive to gay gu—" he wasn't even able to finish his question because Scott was now out of sight. "You didn't answer my question." 

―――――――――――

        Sage stayed quiet as she sat in the backseat of Stiles' jeep. When she got to the Hale house, Derek filled her in that Scott had stopped by to ask about what happened on the bus. She was also alerted that Scott was intending on going back to see if he could remember anything. Sage had no choice but to follow along, knowing that Scott's sidekick would be ever-so-present as well. Stiles and Scott got out of the car at the same time once reaching the back of the school where the bus compound was located. Sage quietly tagged along, standing next to the two as they began to bicker. 

        "No. Just me. Someone needs to be the look-out," Scott explained to Stiles, moving closer to the gate. 

        "Sage can be the look-out," Stiles opted, pointing towards the blonde who just wrapped herself tighter in her hoodie. It was freezing, and she just wanted to go back into the jeep. Actually, she just wanted to go to sleep. She was exhausted from the long day at school. All anyone was talking about was the accident, and she was growing tired of it by third period. 

        "Just be the look-out, Stiles!" Scott whispered harshly under his breath. He was still worrying over the date tomorrow night, and Stiles wasn't helping. 

        "Okay, why is it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time!" Stiles complained. 

        "Nobody's Batman and Robin any of the time," Scott disagreed, wondering what the hell Stiles was rambling on about. Sage shifted the weight on her feet, about to just walk back to the jeep and leave them here to argue. 

        "Not even some of the time?" Stiles asked. Sage groaned, and ran her hands through her messy hair that had lost its waves as the day progressed. 

        "Just stay with me, Stiles," Sage said, grabbing a hold of his wrist. 

       The boy huffed out, rolling his eyes. "Oh, my god." 

        Stiles made use of Sage's hold on his wrist, practically dragging her to his jeep where she sat in the passenger's seat, tugging on her hoodie sleeves so they fully cover her hands. It was quiet for a few seconds before Stiles turned his body to her, catching her attention. 

        "What was the whole thing about the night of the party?" Stiles interrogated, tapping his fingers on the steeling wheel. 

        Sage sucked in a deep breath, looking out the windshield to make sure no one was coming, like they were supposed to be doing. "It was nothing, Stiles." 

        "Really? Because Scott told me that Allison's dad managed to shoot an arrow right in his arm. I told him to show me where, and he pointed in the exact same spot that you were screaming about." 

        "Can't you just drop it? It's not like it concerns you in the slightest," Sage snapped at him. She felt bad for pushing him away but she didn't need him worrying about her, or obsessing over the idea that she was different. She saw how he reacted when he found out Scott was a werewolf, she couldn't imagine how he would be when he found out she wasn't human either. 

        "It concerns me when you're screaming at the top of your lungs about an injury that isn't even bleeding, Sage. I know you may find this hard to believe but I actually car—" Sage's eyes went wide and she was leaning over Stiles' body to repeatedly honk the car horn, attracting Scott's attention. Stiles was disoriented after having been interrupted, looking to see what caused the horn to blare. One of the guards was patrolling the compound, the flashlight being the first thing that Sage noticed. Scott came running from the bus, hopping on top of a car before expertly flipping from it, over the gate, and to the ground. 

        "Come on, Scott. I really don't feel like getting arrested today!" Sage impatiently broke out, making this her chance to climb to the back of the car.

        Scott flung open the jeep door a few seconds after, and Stiles backed out as quickly as possible. "Did it work? Did you remember?" 

        "Yeah, I was there last night. There was blood but a lot of it was mine," Scott said to the couple. 

        "So you did attack him?" Sage asked. 

        "No, I saw glowing eyes on the bus but they weren't mine. It was Derek." 

        Sage felt her eyes widen. There was always the possibility that he did it, but Sage didn't want to admit it to herself. It made sense though, especially since Derek hadn't been at the house last night. She just chose not to believe it; Derek hadn't done something like this is almost four years. 

        "What about the driver?" Stiles questioned, breaking Sage from her thoughts.  

        "I think I was actually trying to protect him." 

        "Wait, what? Why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?" 

        "That's what I don't get!" Scott cried, holding onto the roof of the car. He couldn't figure out Derek's motives and that made the whole situation all the more frustrating. 

        "Alright, it could be a pack thing." 

        "Uh, that's incorrect—" Sage tried to interrupt.

        "Like a...like an initiation thing."

        Sage scoffed and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the back of Stilinski's head. If he was going to keep ignoring her, she was perfectly fine with not helping him. He went to speak again, completely ignoring Sage's eyes boring a hole into his back. 

        "You two have to kill together." 

        Sage bit down on her tongue. 

        "Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience," Scott retorted, clearly not agreeing with Stiles. 

        "Yeah, but you didn't do it, which means you're not a killer; and it also means that—" 

        "I can go out with Allison!" Scott was overjoyed, while Sage was just radiating anger towards Stiles. 

        "I was going to say you won't kill me and Sage." 

        "Oh, yeah. That, too."

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