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THIRTY TWO. 

        Wednesday had rolled around, and Sage was still recuperating from the long week she had before. After the rave on Friday night, things seemed to settle down. She had to explain to Matt why she vanished all of a sudden, vaguely saying she got a call from her friend who needed her. She couldn't exactly say her best friend's mother attempted to kill her. Technically, Victoria was trying to kill Scott but that didn't really give her much of a choice on whether or not she wanted to suffocate with her friend because of the acquired abilities running through her veins. 

When she woke up Saturday morning in her own bed, she wasn't the least bit surprised to see that Stiles was asleep, curled up in a ball. She was surprised to see that Scott had taken the floor, his whole body spread out, looking much better than he did the night before. When she glanced at her phone, she had a few thousand text messages from Allison, and one simple text from Lydia, which leads her into why she was sitting in the girl's car. 

        'My birthday party is Wednesday & I refuse to invite you to it if you wear dull colors.' 

        Thankfully, Lydia had gone shopping before she picked up Sage. If the strawberry blonde had taken her to Macy's, she probably would have been pushed down the escalators because Sage absolutely detested shopping. There was something about it that disgusted her, whether it be the idea of trying on clothes for hours or just being with Lydia while she shopped for hours. She loved the girl, but Lydia didn't know when to stop. They were on their way to Allison's house right now, taking the huge haul of bags out of the backseat to see what dresses the three of them should wear. Sage was dreading it. She already had her monthly dress up during the rave, she really didn't want to do it again. 

        "I swear, if you sigh one more time I'm going to duct tape your face," Lydia threatened as they pulled into Allison's driveway. Sage felt her stomach twist, mostly because she was afraid she would run into Victoria. She didn't want to see the woman ever again, not since she tried to kill one of her best friends. "Why can't you just be happy for once? It's my birthday, Sage. This is the first time in my seventeen years of existence that I'm actually celebrating with you instead of hating you." 

        "I am happy, Lydia, and I'm pretty sure I've said happy birthday enough times today to you that if a had a nickle for every time I said it, I would be as rich as you," Sage argued. She was happy that it was Lydia's birthday, she was just worried that something would happen at the party tonight. Of course, something happened every night in Beacon Hills, but normally when some kind of party or get-together was planned, bad things happened. She was also concerned that no one would show up to Lydia's party after she went crazy and walked in the woods naked, screamed occasionally in class, and wrote the words 'help me' backwards on the chalkboard. 

        Lydia frowned and got out of the car, grabbing a hold of two of the four bags, motioning for Sage to grab the other two. "You're not happy. Seriously, you've been killing my mood ever since you got into my car. What's wrong? Are you and Stilinski fighting? Allison said you haven't been feeling good lately—" 

        "Lydia, honestly," Sage stopped her to put her hands on her shoulders, the two shopping bags hanging off her wrists. "I'm perfectly fine. I just want to go inside, hang out with two of my best friends, and get forced into a dress that I know I'm going to hate wearing." 

        "Oh! I have such a good choice for you!" Lydia chimed, knocking on the door as she spoke. Mr. Argent, Chris, opened the door, and gave both girls a small smile that didn't meet his eyes. "Hey, Mr. Argent! Is Allison in her room?" 

        Chris nodded, his eyes looking past Lydia to stare at Sage. "Yeah, you girls have fun." He opened the door a bit more so Lydia could skip in, literally, starting to walk up the stairs. Sage went to follow after her perky, vibrant haired, friend when a hand grabbed her arm, stopping her. She glanced down to see Chris had grabbed her, and looked back up with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry for what my wife did to you." 

        Sage couldn't believe the audacity that he had to talk to her, lowering her voice so Lydia didn't hear. "Yeah? Then, why didn't you stop her?" 

        She walked up the stairs, catching up with Lydia who was just now barging into Allison's room, holding her two bags up for the girl to see. Allison was sitting at her desk, but when she heard her door swing into her wall she jumped up in surprise. Sage gave Allison a sad look but didn't say anything, rather giving Lydia the chance to hound Allison now about it being her birthday. "Clear your schedule! This could take a while." 

        "A very long while with very short dresses," Sage input, moving over to Allison's bed where she, not only, flung the bags but her body. Lydia scowled at Sage's comment but Allison grinned and laughed, moving to stand next to her bed. 

        Raising an eyebrow at all the bags, the brunette asked, "How many outfits do you plan on wearing tonight?" 

        "It's my birthday party!" Lydia exclaimed, making Sage snort. She dug through the bag, picking out an article of clothing each time it was necessary. "I'm thinking host dress, evening dress,  then after hours casual." The blonde had to brush off one of the dresses, she was pretty sure it was the evening dress, off her face when Lydia flung them everywhere. 

        "She also didn't mention that we're forced to endure hours of trying to find the perfect dress that matches our skin tone. Yeah, you got out of that one, lucky bitch," Sage said, glaring at Lydia as she sat up to stretch her limbs. Lydia rolled her eyes at Sage's childish comment but chose not to reply, continuing to dig through the piles of dresses sitting in the four bags.

        Allison's eyes met Sage's, then turned to Lydia. "I noticed you didn't send out any invites." 

        "It's the biggest party of the year, Allison. Everyone knows," Lydia said as she set another dress on Sage. The blonde frowned, knowing Allison was having the same concerns as she was about people actually voluntarily showing up to Lydia Martin's birthday party. 

        "I was just wondering if, maybe this year, things, you know, might be different."

        Lydia didn't bat an eyelash as she continued to look through the dresses, sometimes holding particular colors up to Sage's skin, then others up to Allison's. Half of the colors given to Sage where either light pink or white. The one thing she was grateful for is that it didn't look like Lydia had picked out any red dresses, a horrible reminder of formal. Humming at Allison, she asked, "Why would anything be different?" 

        "She's trying to say things have been off lately. Things, relationships, people, you know, like Jackson?" Sage added, hoping that bringing up the name would blow up in her face. She knew things were still off between Jackson and Lydia. Ever since the day at Scott's house when he dragged her upstairs, there was so much tension between the two and having Jackson turn into the Kanima didn't help their case. 

        Lydia's eyes narrowed when the name was brought up. "What do you two care about Jackson?" Allison laughed, raising her hands up like the question was just stupid and she wasn't even sure why it was asked. Sage didn't know how she was supposed to reply to that question, chewing at her lips while she played around with one the dresses on her lap. 

        "Do you know if he's coming tonight?" Allison asked, trying to get information out of Lydia. They needed to know where Jackson was at all points in time because of the possibility that the teenager would brutally murder someone. Sage just wished things would have gone a little more smoothly. 

        "Everyone's coming," Lydia spat, growing irritated that her friends didn't believe that people were going to show up to her party. Holding up a dress that was at the bottom of the bag, she showed it to Allison. "Look, it's American Rag. I love it! For me, not you all." Then she proceeded to dig through the Macy's dresses until she picked up another. "This is Material Girl. That's for you, Allison." 

        Allison smiled, and went to grab it when a knock on her door caused all three girls to turn their heads. Immediately, Sage's face fell and she glared at Victoria, who was leaning on the wall. She figured it wouldn't be long before she ran into the woman, and sadly enough, that time was now. The redheaded mother didn't even spare the blonde a glance as her eyes stayed on her daughter. Lydia was the only one that seemed pleased to see Victoria, holding up a short, blue dress that Sage faintly remembers Lydia saying would look good on her. "Mrs. Argent! What do you think?" 

        "It's lovely," Victoria complimented, giving a smile towards the teenage girl. "Allison, can I grab you for a moment to talk? Just the two of us?" Urgency and desperation slipped through her lips, making Sage's eyes narrow. What the hell was so important that she needed to talk to Allison right now? Was she going to tell her that she tried to kill her daughter's best friend and boyfriend? 

        Allison shook her head, tightening her grip on the dress Lydia handed her. "Can we do it later?"

        "Actually, to be honest, sooner would be better." 

        Lydia quickly put herself into the conversation, "The party's at ten!" Then rummaged through the bag once again until she pulled out a white dress, grinning at it like she just one a prize. Shoving it in Sage's face, she motioned for the blonde to look at it. Sage was surprised, considering Lydia would rarely let her wear a dress that didn't have at least a minimal amount of color. "You, wear this." 

        "Oh, so you will be around before then?" Victoria asked, making Sage divert her attention away from the dress to the mother. She was rubbing at her shoulder, and the blonde wondered if Derek managed to bruise it or something while he was fighting her off. 

        Allison shrugged. "I think so." 

        "You think so?" 

        "I don't know," Allison admitted, getting annoyed that her mom wouldn't leave her alone. Sage looked to Lydia, watching as the girl mumbled about belts and appropriate shoes for the party. Allison didn't give her mother any time to reply, whipping her head back towards Lydia and Sage. "You really think this works?" 

        "I think it's pretty," Sage complimented, not much into fashion. Lydia grabbed one of the necklaces off Allison's little table, holding it up to the girl's neck and dress. The redhead hummed, like she was trying to decide whether or not she enjoyed the way the necklace looked with the dress. 

        Nodding her head, she grinned. "This necklace should work. I like that." 

        "Really?" Allison questioned, looking down at her dress and the chain to try and decide if she agreed with her friends. Both Sage and Lydia nodded, although the blonde wasn't exactly sure what she was agreeing to. "Is Sage wearing the white dress?" 

        "Apparently," Sage mumbled as she crawled off the bed. She barely glanced towards Victoria who had a sullen look on her face as her eyes flickered around the room. Sage shook it off and held the white dress to her body, realizing it made her look tanner. It had thick straps, and the back of it was cut out in an intricate design, but overall, she wasn't disgusted by it. She could have been forced into a pink dress. "I like it. But," she looked towards Lydia. "Can I wear my white converse?" 

        "Absolutely not." 

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        "I thought Lydia said no converse?" 

        Sage looked up from tying her white converse, raising her eyebrows at Allison. She was already in the white dress, it being 9:50 with the party staring in only ten minutes. They decided to arrive early just to make sure Lydia wasn't going out of her mind. She wasn't pleased because she hadn't seen her boyfriend all day, being stuck in Allison's room trying on dresses and curling hair and the whole nine yards. Lydia had an infatuation with eye shadow, forcing it onto Sage's eyes against her will. This all happened right before Lydia had to leave to get her house set up. With those precious minutes it took Lydia, Sage was able to exchange the wedges Lydia tried to get her to wear into her white converse. 

        "She did, but when do I ever listen to what she says?" 

        Allison curled her lip in agreement. "Very true. Are you ready for this?" 

        "No, are you?" Sage asked, turning to look over at Allison in question, her eyebrows quirked.

        Allison turned to her and gave her a dumbfounded look like the question was absolutely preposterous to even ask. "Not at all." 

        "Awesome, well, let's get drunk and party with some boys," she cheered, only for Allison to scowl at her. Sage coughed and adjusted her dress, giving Allison a cheeky grin. "For Lydia, of course, and the only boy will be Stiles. Good enough?" A group of teenagers ran past the two girls, screaming and cheering about a party. "See, Allison. They know how to party." 

        "Oh, my god," Allison mumbled before they walked up the driveway. Sage grinned and moved to look at her phone, noticing a text message from Stiles saying himself and Scott were five minutes away. When they got to the door, ringing the door bell, Lydia swung the door open and Sage realized she was wearing the host dress she said she would be wearing earlier that day. Clearly, she was being serious about the three dress scenario. 

        Lydia's eyes went from Allison to Sage in inspection, pleased up until she got to Sage's shoes. Shaking her head, she let out a series of protests. "Nu uh, no way. You're not stepping foot in this house with those shoes on." 

        "You can't uninvite me, Lydia. Besides, me wearing the dress is as good as you're going to get," Sage said, walking through the door followed by Allison. The blonde took a glass of the punch that was on the tray, downing it all at once. She could taste the alcohol, and nodded her head in relief. "Happy birthday, Lyd." 

        "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Go out back," Lydia mumbled. 

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        It was past five minutes and Sage was growing bored of drinking punch. Together, her and Allison had drank about twelve glasses and she still hadn't felt the alcohol kick in. Finally, she turned to see that Scott and Stiles were emerging from the back door, and cried out in relief, grabbing hold of Allison's arm to drag her over to the boys. So far, they were the only people she knew at the party, although there wasn't a wide selection to choose from. Scott hit Stiles in the chest, noticing the girls coming over. When Stiles' head turned, he was surprised to see his girlfriend in a dress. Actually, the more that he thought about the idea, he wasn't. He figured Lydia would have roped her into one. 

        "Hey," he greeted, looking her up and down as he tried to adjust to seeing her in tight clothes. It was becoming something he enjoyed, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You look nice." 

        "I feel like a Barbie," Sage mumbled, pressing a kiss to his lips. It didn't get to intense with Scott and Allison standing next to them, and she pulled away a second later to glance between the two. "Jackson isn't here." 

        Stiles snorted, looking around the area. "Yeah, no one's here." 

        "Maybe it's just early," Scott opted, trying to lighten the mood. Everyone already knew this would happen. Normally, Lydia's parties are already on the verge of being signaled off to the police, but not this one. This one was a sad excuse of a Lydia Martin party. 

        "Or no one is coming because Lydia's turned into the town whack job," Stiles remarked, making Sage send a glare his way. She glanced over at Lydia who was spinning around as she twirled a bit of punch.

        Allison sighed, and glanced in between them. "We have to do something because we've completely ignored her these past two weeks." 

        Sage, although she agreed with Allison, couldn't help but add, "She completely ignored Stiles and Scott for the past ten years, and hated me for six of them. But we still need to do something guys. She wouldn't be the town whack job if it wasn't for us." 

        "We don't owe her a party," Scott protested, shaking his head as he looked between Allison and Sage. When both girls stared at him for a while, he sighed. "I guess I can use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse team here." 

        "I've got the people from detention, and some of the sisters and girlfriends of the lacrosse players, I'll text them," Sage told the others, nodding as she pulled her phone out to start the mas text messages. Before she did, she turned to Stiles and grinned. "And I'm pretty sure Stiles knows some people." 

        His eye furred before he realized who she meant, and his lips twitched into a smirk. "Oh, I know some people who can get this thing going. I mean really going." When Allison asked who, the couple only shared secret smiles as they remembered back to the night at The Jungle when they made a few new friends. "I met them the other night, let's just say they know how to party." 

        And from there, a night full of chaos was born. 

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        "Are you going to apologize to Allison, or what?" 

        Stiles, Sage, and Scott were all standing near the pool. Well, Sage was leaning on Stiles and Scott was sitting down. She was still drinking Lydia's punch despite the taste officially starting to make her sick. She wasn't going to be rude and tell Lydia that she didn't want anymore because the strawberry blonde was literally forced glasses into her hand every time she finished her last. Scott was staring at Allison, making Sage glance up from her punch to scrunch up her nose. The not-so-couple, couple got into a fight during the rave, which Sage found crazy considering she never once saw the brunette girl. She had come with the rest of the Argent's after telling them about Jackson being the Kanima. 

        "Why should I apologize?" Scott questioned, furring his eyebrows. Sage scoffed and ran her hands through her hair. It was no longer straight, more of a mixture between wavy and frizzy. Stiles didn't seem happy with Scott's answer either, giving a loud snort. 

        "Because you're the guy," Stiles deadpanned. "It's, like, what we do."

        Sage waved her hand in front of her boyfriend's face to emphasize that his words were true. "Stiles has a very valid point." 

        "But I didn't do anything wrong," Scott said, his face contorting in confusion.

        "Well, you should definitely just apologize. You see, anytime a guy thinks he hasn't done something wrong? It means he's definitely done something wrong," Stiles explained, nodding his head. He  picked up on this as soon as he started dating Sage. Although most of their fights involve who's right or wrong, he's always the one that ends up apologizing. 

        "I'm not apologizing." 

        Sage rolled her eyes, taking Stiles' punch from his hand and drinking the rest of it, still not having full felt the effects of the alcohol in the punch flood her system. "Is that the full moon talking, Fido?" 

        "Probably," he agreed, not even upset about how she called him Fido. He turned to look between the two of them and frowned. "Why do you two care anyway? You guys are fighting twenty four seven." 

        "Okay, another valid point, but Scott, something's got to go right here. I mean, we're getting our asses royally kicked if you haven't noticed. People are dying, I got my dad fired, you're going to be held back in school, Sage is getting injured every waking moment, and if I have to watch us lose either of our girlfriends to a stalker like Matt, I'm going to stab myself in the face."

        Scott's posture changed and he sat up, his eyes more focused on what was happening behind Stiles. "Don't stab yourself in the face." 

        "Why not?" 

        Sage turned around to see what Scott was focused on, and her grip on Stiles' hand got tighter. "Because Jackson's here." The boy had just walked through the door, standing in the center as he glanced around the room until his eyes met with Lydia, who walked over and handed him a glass of punch. Sage sighed before rubbing her eyes, the makeup smearing on her fingertips.

        "Awesome." 

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        Sage had excused herself from Stiles a few minutes ago, moving to find the bathroom. Lydia's punch was starting to make her sick to her stomach, and she was seriously about to throw up everywhere, which wouldn't exactly be pretty. Not to mention, she was getting hot flashes every few seconds where she would start burning up, having to get away from the crowd to cool herself off. As she walked up the stairs, her vision blurry, she nearly stumbled on the last step was capable of getting into the hallway that led to the bathroom. As she walked towards the door, opening it, her eyes widened when she saw it was a couple kissing on the bed. 

        "Oops," she muttered, snickering slightly as she shut the door. Well, her plan to get drunk definitely worked. Right when she got to the correct door, she moved to throw it open when someone grabbed her from behind, kissing at her neck. "Stiles, I need to go to the bathroom." Stiles only flipped her around, immediately moving his mouth onto her's. She frowned, realizing that this person didn't have the same height as Stiles, much less the same lips. 

        She pulled away from the person, shoving their chest to try and get them as far away from her as possible. When she was capable of seeing properly, her whole body froze up when she saw who was in front of her. A lump formed in her throat, and she shook her head furiously as she backed up, trying to distance herself from the familiar face. "No, no, no." 

        "Oh, come on, Sage," he muttered, starting to walk closer to her with each foot step leading the blonde further down the hallway. "You know you enjoyed the kiss. I know it was much better than the one that guy downstairs gives you. What's his name again? Stiles? I thought you liked someone with a bit more... oh, I don't know... everything?" 

        "What are you doing here?" Sage spat out, flinching when her back hit a door. Her hands curled around the handle, utterly horrified when she came to find that it wouldn't open no matter how hard she pushed or turned. She was trapped, just like she had been with Jackson in the locker room. Only this time, the person in front of her was much, much worse than a Kanima. "I said, what are you doing here, Aiden?" 

        "I came here for you," He hummed, moving a piece of blonde hair from her face. "When exactly are you going to tell your new boyfriend that I exist? That I'm your first love. Your first kiss, your first date... your first heartbreak." 

        "This isn't real," Sage whispered, shaking her head as she tried to push him away from her again. "You're not really here. You can't be here. I told you I never wanted to see you again! Get away from me!"  Sage closed her eyes, giving Aiden one last shove before her eyes opened, and she realized it wasn't him she was pushing and hitting, it was Scott. The boy stared at her in shock, and she stared at the werewolf in shock. 

        "Sage?" He asked. 

        She felt the tears trickle down her face as she stared at her friend. Croaking out, she asked, "Scott? What's going on? Wh- What...I just... he was..." Her voice trailed off, and she quickly wiped her tears away. Clearing her throat, she walked over to Scott. "What happened? What's going on with us?" 

        "Something's happening with Lydia," Scott answered, not giving her a chance to ask what he meant before they were jogging down the stairs, barely giving Sage a chance to recover from who she just saw. He had been a part of her past she refused to let back in, someone she prayed she would never see again for the very simple reason that he wasn't a good guy. He had done monstrous things, and she'd seen things when she was with him she will never forget. 

       Scott looked no better than her as he shoved through other drunk teenagers in an attempt to find Lydia, calling out her name and asking if anyone has seen her. When everyone said no, he let out a strangled cry while the blonde stayed silent beside him. That is only until she saw Stiles leaning against one of the pillars and left Scott to run over to her boyfriend. She hadn't been the only one drinking the punch, she knew Stiles had drank almost as much as her. Grabbing a hold of his shoulders, she ignored him cringing away from her. "Stiles!" 

        His head whipped around, and she saw tears prickling in his eyes. "Sage?" Before she could explain to him what happened, he wrapped his arms tightly around her body, and Sage felt a lump forming in her throat once again as she leaned her mouth on Stiles' shoulder. He breathed into her neck, and she noticed him trying to regain his control over his emotions before whispering to her, "What the hell is going on?" 

        "Lydia put something in the punch, everyone is going crazy," She replied, before pulling away from him. He nodded and wiped his eyes with his sleeves, grabbing a hold of her hand and they walked around the house, trying to find any signs of the strawberry blonde. Coming up empty handed, they were forced to return to Scott, who didn't look like he was having any such luck. 

        "Hey, I can't find her, and dude, anyone who drank that crap? They're freaking out," Stiles explained, nodding his head towards the party. People were jumping from the roof into the pool, others were throwing themselves into the pool, someone was even trying to ride a bike in it. 

        Scott nodded. "I can see that." 

        "What are we going to do?" Sage asked. "Lydia's not her—" 

        The words were cut short when someone started to scream that they couldn't swim. All heads turned towards the person screaming, just in time to see Matt Daehler being thrown into the pool despite his protests. No one was moving, the three teenagers staring in shock as they realized what was happening right before their eyes. Matt was then tugged out of the pool by none other than Jackson himself, the two standing there as the whole crowd watched. 

        "What are you all looking at?" Matt snarled in anger, his whole body dripping wet. He turned around, his eyes meeting the three and he glared before moving past them, his shoulder connected with Sage's, who got pushed into Stiles. It wasn't two seconds later that the sound of police sirens rang through the air, and everyone was in a frenzy to get away before they were caught. 

        That included Sage, Scott, and Stiles, although they were all fleeing from the scene for a completely different reason. As soon as they got outside, running down the driveway to find Matt before he left, they were brought the biggest table turning of all when they saw Matt standing there, the Kanima wrapped at his feet. Sage shook her head in disbelief, and did nothing but stare. 

        Then he was just gone. 

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     n.e.