─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after moonee zhao-mccall had dumped her belongings at her home, her best friend's dad drove her to the school so she could see her brothers. she was now stood behind the boys' locker room door. the girl next elevated her hand and she knocked on the door twice.

"what?" a voice beckoned from inside.

"are you boys decent?" she asked, a slight trace of a french accent in her voice.

there was silence.

"yeah, come in."

she pushed the door open and stepped into the repulsive smelling room. "salut!" moonee greeted, "bonjour, my boys!"

the girl sauntered deeper into the changing room and ran into her brother's arms.

"hey, moon!" scott mccall grinned as he embraced her tightly, partially hoisting her off her feet, "you're finally back."

"hey, bug." stiles stilinski gave her a cheery smile as she clasped her arms around him straight after.

"i didn't see you this morning at home." scott pointed out.

"i came back yesterday and stayed at franchie's - since her house is closer to the airport." moonee revealed, "maybe if you two answered your texts, you would have known."

"we would have known?" stiles mocked her words in an exaggerated french accent, "what's going on there?"

"paris changed me - i'm a changed woman." moonee shrugged.

"you were there for about a few weeks." scott reminded her.

"and i would have been longer, if it wasn't for stupid school." she told him.

"so, how's issac?" scott asked his sister.

"he's doing better. we had croissants and hot chocolate every morning - it was heaven." moonee sighed, "he asked me to give you a postcard, but i left it at fran's."

"a postcard." stiles gasped in a sarcastic manner, "how thoughtful."

"you're just upset you didn't get one."

stiles rolled his eyes at her remark, "we have important business to do, moonee, if you don't mind."

"i just got back." moonee whined, childishly.

"and we'll celebrate when we get home. dad bought egg rolls yesterday and they're leftovers." scott told her.

"he's still here?" moonee asked.

"yeah. he has things to do, and didn't want to go till he saw you." scott explained.

"that's nice." moonee nodded, "it sucks how we reunite in this rancid locker room."

"we didn't know you were arriving today." stiles admitted.

"i'm starting to feel like you guys just have my number blocked or something." moonee groaned as she slumped into the metal bench.

"that sounds like something we would do." stiles nodded as he tousled her lengthy, dark brown hair. "scott, cmon." stiles tapped the other mccall's shoulder and made gestures to one of the other boys.

"right."

moonee watched as her brothers strolled over to a freshman boy who was taking out items from his locker.

"hey, liam... you want to explain what that was out there?" stiles interrogated.

"what do you mean?" the new boy, liam dunbar, quizzed.

"that little display." stiles described, "your little circus act."

"what circus act?" the freshman questioned in confusion.

moonee snickered at his bewilderment from afar. she was seated comfortably on the bench, observing the trio communicate in amusement.

"you caught every shot..." stiles clarified, his suspicions high.

"i was in goal." liam clarified.

"yeah, but nothing, not a single shot got past you!" stiles exclaimed.

"yeah, i was the goalie. you guys played this game before?" liam chuckled to himself.

"you're a freshman, right?" scott finally spoke up.

"yeah..."

"but you weren't here last semester." stiles continued, "moon claims she's never seen you before."

"moon?" liam's face scrunched up in confusion.

"no, i didn't claim that." moonee scowled while she got to her feet and shuffled over to them, "don't lie on my name, stilinski."

stiles put his hands on the girl's shoulder, "moon. she's a freshman too." stiles introduced her.

"nice to meet you." liam smiled at her.

moonee nodded in response and shrugged stiles' hands off her shoulder.

"i transferred from devenford prep." liam shrugged.

"you transferred?" scott frowned as he carefully paid attention to the new boy's raising heartbeat.

"yeah..."

"no... you got kicked out, didn't you?" scott guessed.

liam looked shocked and offended, "all right, look- kicked out or transferred, what do you guys care? i came here to play lacrosse. the team could use a few good players, right?"

"yeah-"

"no." stiles slapped his hand over moonee's mouth, "no, we don't need any more good players-"

"actually, we could sort of use a couple..." scott drifted off.

"okay- ow!" stiles quickly removed his hand from her mouth, "you bit me?" he turned to scott, "she bit me!"

scott shrugged, this had happened more than once and he accepted there was nothing he could do about it. the tanned brunette peered to the side to see moonee grinning in accomplishment.

"mccalls." stiles muttered in disappointment at the sibling duo, before turning to liam. "so, how'd you get this good? have you always been this good? or did it suddenly happen just once over night? have you ever been out in the middle of the woods during the night of a full-"

"stiles!" scott interrupted him from going any further and exposing the supernatural secret.

"hmm."

"look, i learned from my stepfather, all right? he made team captain when he was a sophomore," liam turned to scott, "just like you."

scott grinned at him.

"and yeah..." liam resumed as he grabbed his gym bag, "i guess i'm just that good." he walked away with a smirk on his face.

"he wasn't lying that time." scott hummed with a smile.

"a bit arrogant, isn't he?" moonee crossed her arms.

"that's rich coming from you." stiles scoffed.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

school had finally ended and moonee was having a good day. no, moonee was having a great day. she had been complimented on her accent and new style numerous times that day and it made her content.

with her water bottle in hand and spare whistle dangling from her neck, moonee mccall jogged over to the bleachers. she made her way up to malia tate and kira yukimura who had been sitting in silence.

"hey girls." moonee smiled at the two. she had already seen and greeted them previously at lunch.

"hi."

"you have happieness radiating off you, that's new." malia raised her eyebrows.

"just in a good mood, lia." moonee smiled at her.

"but kira... what's wrong with you?" malia turned her gaze to the other girl.

"me? nothing." kira denied as she clutched onto a lacrosse stick.

"you reek of anxiety, and it's distracting." malia told her, "what's going on?"

"scott and i sort of had this thing happen... but it wasn't much of a thing... and i'm starting to think it never was anything at all." kira admitted to the two girls.

"what do you want it to be?"

"more." kira sighed.

"my brother's clueless. you can't give him subtle hints." moonee advised, "you have to tell him straight up."

kira glanced over to her, a sad expression on her face.

"trust me, he likes you. i can tell because he always has that stupid smile on his face with you." moonee said without expression.

"thanks, moon." kira acknowledged as she slowly formed a smile, "that was nice of you to say."

"unusually nice." malia murmured.

moonee decided to ignore malia's remark and watch as stiles aimed for the goal. he took some time to prep before swinging his stick. the small but heavy lacrosse ball landed right inside the goalie's stick.

"stilinski, you suck!" moonee exclaimed with a smile.

"pintsize mccall!" coach bobby finstock yelled at her.

"yes, coach?"

"you took the words right out of my mouth." he nodded proudly, "get down here."

moonee laughed and began climbing down the bleachers, "coach."

"you, do you want to try out?" the coach quizzed.

"i'm good thanks, i prefer beung on this side of the pitch." moonee explained, "it's more enjoyable then running around and getting sweaty."

"it was a yes or no question."

"oh well."

"go make yourself useful, mini mccall." he shooed her away.

the girl rolled her eyes, regretting her agreement to being assistant coach. she moved over to the equipment and began sorting it out. every once in a while, she would look up and see liam making every goal while scott and stiles horribly missed.

"hustle!" coach announced after shooting practice had ended.

the team gathered around the man, waiting for his instructions.

"baby mccall." coach called to her, making her look up, "hand older mccall and stilinski, the long sticks! they're covering goal for two-on-ones."

"yes, coach." moonee nodded while she launched the two sticks at the boys with a friendly grin.

the two best friends were first up moonee's sort-of friend garrett. the only reason they were close was because of his girlfriend - violet.

garrett charged over to the duo, but scott violently knocked the ball out of his stick, forcing him to the ground at the same time.

"that's my boys!" coach cheered for them, "those two are like sons to me." he stated proudly.

"really?" moonee scoffed.

"get back to work, little mccall."

they had knocked down two people before it was liam's turn to take them on. the whistle blew and liam ran. he swiftly dogged stiles and then managed to do the same to scott. once he was past them, he tossed the ball into the goal.

"that was luck!" malia was now on her feet, and she wasn't satisfied, "do-over!"

"sweetheart, there are no do-overs- this is a practice." coach told her, condescendingly.

"ten bucks on scott and stiles!" malia bet.

"i'll take that action." coach promptly agreed.

"betting on your students, are you coach?" moonee teased.

"quiet." he dismissed her, "hey! get back in there, liam!"

the whistle blew and liam dunbar charged for the junior boys. once again, he moved past stiles but this time, scott undertook him and flipped him onto his back.

the boy crumpled to the solid, grass floor, a loud crack coming from his leg. moonee winced as she watched the boy scream out in pain. scott and stiles quickly pulled him up and volunteered to take him to the nurse.

"moon, let's go. come on!" scott ordered as they moved past her.

"get up!"

⎯ ❃ neens speaks!

also while you guys are here, please check out my outerbanks book :)

i've been planning this book for ages!! i hope you guys enjoyed the chapter - i was so worried about posting it xo