𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 | 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝔂'𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻

𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘦

CHARLOTTE GROANS AS SOON AS she hears the knock on her door. "Go away," she yells, her voice half muffled by her pillow.

"Lottie?"

"I said, go away!"

Despite her avid protests, the door opens. She doesn't remove her head off her pillow until the bed dips beside her. Huffing a sigh, Charlotte pushes the sheets off her head and glares at whoever is with her. Lydia frowns in concern. "Hey, are you okay?"

"No," she retorts.

Her sister gives her a sympathetic smile. "Did you tell Scott?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't go well?"

Charlotte pushes blonde strands of hair out of her eyes as she sits up. "It went horribly," she mutters. "He's pissed because I didn't ask him first."

"Do you still want to go out tonight?" Lydia questions gently. "'Cause we can stay here and watch movies instead."

Weighing all the options up inside her head, she realises that dealing with it now would be easier than later on when she's had more time to overthink everything. "No, let's go," Charlotte answers with another sigh. "Just get it over with. It might go better if you're there anyways."

"Still want to go to Allison's beforehand?"

She sends the girl a small smile. "Yeah, is that okay?"

Lydia quickly nods. "Obviously." She pauses. "Wait, does she know that I know?"

"No, do you want to tell her together?"

"Please," the strawberry blonde begs. "I don't even know what I would say... I know your boyfriend's a werewolf and that your family wants to kill him?"

Charlotte grimaces at her choice of words. "Okay, it's definitely better if we do it together."

»»———-　　———-««

The Martin sisters anxiously stand on Allison's front porch. A few minutes after their knocks, the door is answered. As she was expecting her friend and not Christopher Argent, Charlotte's smile drops. "Girls, come on in," he gestures them politely.

Lydia glances at her sister who sends her a subtle nod, and she plasters on a polite smile. "Mr Argent! So good to see you."

So Charlotte had mentioned that the Argents had the tendency to hunt werewolves, but she might have forgotten to tell her sister that their best friend's parents had recently wanted to kill them.

Chris smiles. "Allison's upstairs in her room. Good luck with the study."

"Thanks," Charlotte replies. Her own smile, however, is forced. She grabs onto Lydia's hand, and they quickly walk up the stairs and into Allison's room, the door open and waiting for them. "Fucking hell, that was stressful," she mumbles.

The brunette looks up from her textbook on her desk and she immediately grins. "Hey!" But once she registers Charlotte's words, she grimaces. "Oh, God, did he say something?"

"No, just after the, you know, wanting to kill us stuff, there's a bit of anxiety around your family."

Allison's eyes widen and she hurriedly turns to Lydia. "She means-"

"I know."

"W-what?"

Lydia rolls her eyes and jumps onto the bed. She crosses her legs and repeats, "I know. And I seriously can't imagine how you would've talked your way out of that."

Lips parted in shock, Allison spins around to her other friend. "She knows?" she questions, her voice a squeak.

Charlotte nods. " I told her this afternoon."

The girl sighs, her shoulders heaving as if she had been carrying the weight of the world on them. In a way, she had. "Oh, thank God!"

"Wait, what?" Charlotte's eyebrows furrow together, confused by her friend's reaction. "You're not angry that I told her?"

Allison joins the siblings on her bed and shakes her head with a small smile. "I thought it would make things harder, to be honest. But right now, I think I'm more relieved than anything." She looks back to Lydia guiltily. "I'm so sorry. It's all been so sudden and overwhelming, and I hated having to lie to you-"

Lydia smiles and gently interrupts her. "It's okay. Charles told me everything." Then the smile falls in the speed of light as she whips back around to her sister. "Wait, what did you mean when you said her family wanted to kill us?"

Charlotte purses her lips. "Yeah, about that..."

»»———-　　———-««

Once Lydia had been informed that the Argents had wanted to kill her as of last week, the trio had fled the house within a matter of minutes. Charlotte couldn't blame her sister, though. Aside from Allison, she isn't the biggest fan of the family... And when they finally get into the car to go to the ice rink, she anxiously plays with her hair tie as she images all the possible scenarios on how to deal with Scott. Allison turns around to the girl in the backseat and gives her a comfortingly smile. "Hey, it'll be okay," she speaks up softly. "He'll understand."

Lydia nods and locks eyes with her sister in the rear-view mirror. "Don't worry about it," she adds. "And if it's too stressful, just focus on skating."

Charlotte sighs through her nose. "Yeah... I mean, at least Stiles didn't look too bothered by it."

As they pull up outside the rink, she receives another small smile from Allison.  "He can't stay angry forever," the girl points out. "You guys are like siblings."

Charlotte gives her friend wide, pleading eyes as they walk to the entrance. "Make sure he trips for me?"

Allison grins. "Will do," she confirms eagerly.

Seeing the Jeep pull up next to them, the blonde-haired girl takes a deep breath as the pair exit the car and walk over. Allison sends Charlotte one last look before heading over to Scott and greeting him with a peck. Charlotte sighs and smiles at her sister. "Come on, let's go."

Looping their arms together, they join Stiles who is unlocking the doors with Boyd's keys. "Charlie!" he greets excitedly. Hey, Lydia!"

"Hey," his best friend responds with a smile. "Ready?"

"Fuck yeah, I'm gonna show you guys how good I am at this."

Lydia raises a brow at him. "Really?" As he opens the door, she whispers to the girl beside her, "He does know we did this for years as kids, right?"

Charlotte nods. "Oh, he knows, but I don't think he realises how good you are."

Stiles stares after the strawberry blonde when she breaks away from them to catch up with the couple already inside. They both stand in silence for half a minute before he gains to courage to say something. "Hey, I'm sorry about before." Stiles clears his throat. "To be honest, I think you did the right thing. And you're right, it's not all about Scott."

Charlotte looks to him in surprise. "You don't care?"

"No! Of course not. Just give him some time to get rid of the shock." He smiles. "Come on, let's just try to forget about everything for a few hours."

"Yeah. That sounds good."

»»———-　　———-««

"Could it be any colder in here?" Lydia mutters as she ties up the laces of her skates.

"Could I be wearing any more clothes?" Charlotte deadpans.

Stiles rolls his eyes with a chuckle. "Of course you had to say that."

Lydia sighs. "Saw it coming the minute I said it," she scolds herself. Charlotte grins at them and goes back to tying up the laces on her own skates. Stiles unzips his backpack to pull an orange scarf out for Lydia. The girl looks at it in amusement. "I'm wearing blue," she points out. "Orange and blue? Not a good combination."

"But it's the colours of the Mets!" the boy exclaims.

When Lydia looks at him silently saying 'Fashion over comfort,' Charlotte reaches into her own bag and discreetly hands Stiles a chocolate bar. He stares at it in confusion, but as soon as he realises her plan, he snatches the confectionary with a grin and holds it out to the love of his life.

Lydia raises her brows at the chocolate and nods in satisfaction, unwrapping it and taking a bite. Quickly braiding her hair back, Charlotte gnaws on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing when Stiles begins to rant about his non-existent relationship with her sister. "Okay, um, maybe orange and blue is not the best, right... But, uh, sometimes, there's other things you wouldn't think would be a good combination-"

"Like peanut butter and jelly!"

He gestures toward his best friend thankfully. "Yes! Exactly, Charles. But they end up turning out to be a perfect combination." He turns back to Lydia. "You know? Like, two people together... who nobody ever thought would be together ever..."

Lydia meets his eyes and she nods with a small smile. "No, I can see that."

His lips part in surprise. "You can?"

"Yeah, you can?" Charlotte asks in disbelief.

She looks back to Scott and Allison who are seated a few wrongs down from them. Charlotte's eyes widen as she realises exactly what her sister is talking about. "Yeah. They're cute together."

The blonde pats Stiles' shoulder as he looks down to his shoes in defeat. "Yeah, right. Them," he grumbles quietly.

"Cute," Lydia repeats.

"Cute. Adorable."

Charlotte sighs. "An adorably, disgustingly cute relationship that has so much potential yet is most likely doomed?" She feels pairs of eyes staring at her. "What?" she questions the pair.

"Mm. You're not wrong," Lydia agrees.

Stiles turns his head to look at the strawberry blonde and his eyes narrow at her. "It's gonna take some time getting used to the fact you know about all this shit."

Leaving Stiles to continue subtly trying to hint to Lydia about his feelings, Charlotte takes the guards off her skates and carefully steps onto the ice. It's been a while. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Scott and Allison join her. The girl locks eyes with the brunette and raises an eyebrow at her. Allison gives her the smallest of smiles and nods. She clears her throat and lays a hand on Scott's arm. "Since you've never skated before, maybe I should give you a few pointers?"

"Allison, not that this is news to you or anything... but you remember the werewolf thing? Super speed, strength, and reflexes?" Charlotte snickers and he whips around to her, almost losing his balance in the process. "What?"

"Nothing, sorry," she dismisses.

He rolls his eyes. Allison looks at him with an amused smile spreading onto her lips, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "So, a little ice skating should be no problem?"

"Yeah!" The girls lock eyes and the Argent places a hand over her mouth as they observe Scott confidently step onto the frozen surface. He casually shrugs with a smile and takes another step forward. "See? It's no proble-"

As soon as he trips over his feet and lands face first onto the ice, Charlotte breaks into uncontrollable laughter. She skates over to the Allison and high fives her. Apparently skating really is like riding a bike. Muscle memory: you never completely forget it. "Thanks for not stopping that," she praises her friend. "I desperately needed to see it."

Allison giggles as Scott struggles tremendously to get to his feet once again. Neither one of them move to help him. "No, I think I needed it too," she admits.

With a proud grin on his face, Scott turns around to them wobbling as he manages to stand up. "I'm okay! I can do this-"

Stiles' incredibly loud laughter bounces off the walls when the werewolf falls over once again. "Oh, my God! Scott, you know you can't skate for shit?" he yells to his friend with a snort. His lips purse when the boy looks at him with a scowl, and he skates back over to Lydia on the other side of the rink.

"You okay?" Allison asks, going over to him.

"Yeah, I think I need some help..."

"You think?"

Turning to Charlotte with narrowed eyes, Scott doesn't last long before he breaks into a grin. The girl breathes out a large sigh as the crushing weight of anxiety lifts off her shoulders. "Okay, that's it," he announces. "I can't do it anymore." Scott wobbles occasionally and willingly stops when Allison places her hands on his shoulders. Rolling her eyes, Charlotte skates to him and pulls him into a hug. "You were right."

Scoffing, she pulls away and shoves him. Scott frantically grips onto his girlfriend's hands to keep himself upright. "Of course I was," she exclaims in offence. "Look at her!" The three turn to see an incredibly impressed Stiles stare at Lydia Martin with hearts for eyes as she spins around like a dancer on the ice. Charlotte smiles. "We can talk about this later. Enjoy your date, and for my sake, please fall over many more times."

"Fuck you!"

"Absolutely not!"

Five minutes of bliss pass of skating in silence. She had let her hair down a little while ago. Figuratively and literally. Ice skating had been something both the Martin twins had loved as younger children. They had vigorous schedules to train multiple times a week, but once they got closer to being good enough to compete, they stopped. It wasn't any fun anymore. And what was the point in doing something they didn't enjoy? It was a waste of everyone's time.

And Charlotte regrets not picking up her skates for years. Because it turns out when you don't have mountains of pressure riding on you, that love returns just as strong as it once was.

"Hey, Lottie! I'm getting the hang of it!"

The girl widely grins and gives Scott a thumbs up. "That's it! Keep going forwards!" He looks over his shoulder to her with a smile and she encouragingly nods him onwards. "Yep! Just a little further!" Allison joins her in giggling.

Unfortunately for Scott, he notices their laughter a little too late, and when he turns back to face the front, he smacks face first into the glass barrier. Charlotte bends over her knees as she struggles to breath. This is better than a comedy movie.

She continues to giggle to herself as Allison comforts him, and when she turns around, she finds Stiles heading over to the werewolf and his multiple injuries. She frowns at the absence of her sister. The copper locks of hair are found on the other side of the rink. Lydia crouches down on the ice, staring at something either on it or below it. With that familiar pit of dread building within her stomach, Charlotte quickly makes her way over to the girl. "Lyds, you okay?"

Her sister looks up at her with wide eyes and a violet flower petal delicately held between her fingers. "What is this?"

Charlotte's brows pinch together in confusion. "I'm ninety-nine percent sure it's wolfsbane," she replies, gently taking the petal into her own hand. "Yeah, that's definitely wolfsbane."

"What's it doing here?"

That's exactly what she wants to know. "I have no idea..." When Lydia tugs on her arm, Charlotte looks to what she is staring at in alarm. Her eyes narrow at the trail of striking purple petals leading down the length of the rink. "Am I dreaming?"

When the girls finally come to the end of the path, they stare incredulously at the full-grown plant of wolfsbane growing out of the ice. "What the hell?" Lydia mutters. "This is literally impossible."

Charlotte rubs her forehead, trying to prevent the headache that's bound to appear soon. She descends onto her knees, frowning as she studies the plant. How the hell is it growing out of the ice? She spares a quick glance to her twin, and that same pit of dread grows. Lydia frantically wipes the frost of the ice away to reveal what lays beneath it. "What are you doing?"

"I thought I saw something," Lydia answers hesitantly.

With both of them now brushing away at the ice, the process is sped up considerably. Then suddenly, they both abruptly stop at what is revealed under the rink. The man's eyes snap open and Charlotte jumps away in horror as she instantly recognises him. She'd recognise him anywhere. When Lydia lets out an ear-piercing scream, Charlotte knows her sister sees him too. She's not imagining it.

This was the second time today they had seen Peter Hale.

She can't move. It's as if the blood in her body has frozen solid like the ice. She can't breathe. She can only clutch onto her sobbing sister as Stiles drops beside them, trying his best to pull them off the rink. It's like she's watching herself in another perspective. It all feels slower, but that's impossible because real life can't be edited into slow motion. Charlotte barely takes notice as Allison wraps her arms around her body and helps her walk off the rink. Lydia appears to be a little more in control. She's here. She manages to rapidly explain to their friends what they'd just seen, and she's almost glad Charlotte isn't watching to see their expressions of disbelief.

Allison squeezes the blonde-haired girl's fingers. "You saw Peter?" she gently asks. Charlotte slowly nods in response, still trying to comprehend what they had seen. She doesn't bother to wipe her tears away. Only more would reappear. Allison looks to Stiles and Scott, and softly clears her throat as she focuses back on the siblings. "Guys, we didn't see anything."

Charlotte finally falls back into her own body. Her eyes snap up to meet Allison's. Another tear falls. "But we saw him!" she protests. Her throat closes up halfway.

"We aren't making it up," Lydia adds firmly.

Allison nods and she glances to Scott. "No, I believe you," she tells them reassuringly. "I do. Something has to explain it."

»»———-　　———-««

Charlotte Martin had another sleepless night. She's losing count of how many of those she's had this month. Too many. She sips her coffee, although she almost spits it out at what Scott tells her next. "Wait, Kiki's a werewolf?" she whispers loudly in disbelief.

Scott's brows furrow. "Who?"

"Erica," she states.

"Oh! Right." The boy grimaces. "Yeah."

The information finally sinks in, similar to how it did when she learnt about Scott. "Erica's a werewolf?"

"Yeah."

She grins. "That's so cool," she murmurs.

"Not cool!" Scott corrects in exasperation.

Charlotte turns to Stiles, who to her disappointment only shrugs. "Why not cool?" she questions as they follow Scott down the corridor.

"Derek can't keep turning random people!"

She rolls her eyes and pulls the McCall to a stop. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked there isn't, and has never been, a Beacon Hills werewolf policy."

Stiles grins, but he clears his throat as he tries to remain serious. "She's right, dude," he tells Scott. "You said he's giving them a choice. So, let's just let it happen."

"Are you kidding me?"

Charlotte shakes her head when Scott storms off in the other direction. "God, he's really been pissing me off lately," she says.

Stiles nods in agreement. "Amen, sister." Her giggles are drowned out by the bell ringing overhead. Stiles' jaw drops as he spins the girl around to where he had just been looking. "Oh. Oh! New wolfie, five o'clock."

Following his line of sight, she pulls his hand down with wide eyes as they watch Erica walk to her locker, countless pairs of eyes glued to her. "I'll meet you later," she tells him monotonously. Weaving through the crowds of teenagers trying to get ready for the first class of the day, Charlotte smiles at how confidently her friend is carrying herself. She's happy the girl finally feels happy in her own skin, even if being a werewolf meant so. "Hey!"

Erica turns around, her honey hair flipping over her shoulder whilst doing so. A smile instantly appears on her lips when she sees who is standing before her. "Charlie, hey," she greets.

Charlotte's eyes briefly drag down her body and she notices the stark change in difference of Erica's clothing. It's obvious she's in Derek's pack; the leather jacket is a dead giveaway. But she's not complaining at all. Erica's smile widens at how her friend's cheeks tinge a faint pink. Charlotte's eyes avert to her charm bracelet as she fiddles with the silver arrow. "You look nice," she compliments quietly.

Erica lets out a light laugh and Charlotte looks up to notice the corridor is now empty with just the two of them left over. "Thanks, you look-you look nice, too."

They stand in a slightly awkward silence for a few moments. Charlotte clears her throat. "Um, so Scott told me, you know, how you're a wolf now."

Her eyes instantly narrow, like a defensive mechanism, as she stares at her friend. "Are you here to tell me off?" Erica asks in annoyance. "Because if Scott sent you here to ask about Derek-"

"No!" Charlotte quickly reassures. "No, what? No, of course not. No. I just wanted to come over and ask if you wanted to go have coffee this afternoon? Properly? Like, actually go out instead of at home? Not that the other day wasn't nice, 'cause it was, and I honestly don't care where we have coffee, or if we even coffee because-"

A giggle slips past Erica's candyfloss coloured lips. Charlotte smiles and stops her rambling. "That sounds good," the girl answers bashfully. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and frowns. "I hope the wolf stuff doesn't change anything between us?"

"Of course not. Hey, if it's what you want, I'm happy for you. You deserve to feel good about yourself. If this is what helps with that, who fucking cares?"

Erica shuts her locker door and the girls begin the reasonable walk to their shared history class. "I just-This makes me feel powerful. I don't have to worry about the seizures or all the stuff that made me feel shit about myself." Charlotte grabs onto one of her hands, then drops it in embarrassment. Erica's lips curl into a small smile and she picks it back up.

Charlotte doesn't hide her smile this time as she looks at her. "Keeks, you've always been powerful. Shit, you're one of the strongest people I know. But if it takes this to get you to realise that for yourself... I'm just- I guess I'm just proud of you."

Tears glaze over her eyes and Erica gently smiles at her. "Thank you," she whispers.

But when her hand is dropped and the smile quickly disappears, Charlotte frowns at the girl's abrupt change in behaviour. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asks. It doesn't take long for her question to be answered.

"Two's not enough for Derek."

Charlotte's eyes roll as soon as she hears his voice. She raises her brows in a pointed manner at Scott. "Are you kidding me? Seriously?"

However, Erica doesn't seem to be annoyed like her friend. A smirk appears and she slowly walks closer to the boy until she stands directly before him. "I know he needs at least three," Scott adds. He keeps eye contact with her the entire time. "So who's next?"

"Why does there have to be a 'next' when we've already got you?"

Charlotte snorts. She coughs when the pair turn to her. "Sorry, it's just, Scott would rather throw himself off the Empire State Building than join Derek's pack."

Scott McCall tries exceptionally hard to stop his smile from appearing. His eyes harden as he turns back to Erica. "Who's next?"

"You know, Scott, I never knew what I looked like during a seizure until someone took a video of me once and put it online..."

"I don't care."

Charlotte's eyes widen in surprise at his comment, but before she can scold him, Erica beats her to it. "It happened during class. I started seizing in my desk and everyone was saying how they should put something in my mouth, until some genius reads the card on my key ring which tells him not to 'cause it could break my teeth."

Scott locks eyes with his best friend as he awkwardly listens. He softly sighs. "Erica..."

"Do you know what happens next? I piss myself. And they start laughing." Erica saunters toward him until he's backed up against the row of lockers behind them. Charlotte wonders whether she should leave or not. "You know, the only good thing about seizures was that I never remembered them. Of course until one day when some brilliant jerk off had to go and put cameras in everybody's phone." Erica brushes her tears off her cheek and wraps her arms around Scott's neck. "But look at me now, Scott."

The two werewolves turn their heads to look down the corridor and Charlotte's eyes widen slightly at what they've been distracted by. "Oh shit," she mutters to herself. Allison watches them for a few further seconds before turning around and disappearing out of sight. 

"That's right. You only have eyes for her." Erica smiles. "Good thing I have someone else." Charlotte's cheeks flush again as the girl removes her arms from Scott and turns around to wink at her. "I'll see you after school, Lottie."

They watch her walk away until she's no longer visible. Charlotte spins around to Scott with a glare so strong he wonders for a second if she's mistaken him for Jackson. "Scott! Seriously?" she snaps angrily. "Are you that insensitive?"

"I didn't mean to offend her!" he exclaims back.

She rolls her eyes and drags him down the hall to attend history. "And you did a wonderful job at doing so," she retorts.

»»———-　　———-««

Sitting down on a table opposite from Allison in the cafeteria, Charlotte bites into her apple. "Are you okay?" she asks her friend.

The girl gives her a clearly forced smile. "Yeah, fine."

Charlotte frowns. Before she can touch on the matter any further, Scott drops down onto the table behind Allison. The couple sit back to back as they begin a conversation. "I know how it looked, but she came up to me," the werewolf quickly states.

"I'm not jealous."

Scott smiles. "You're not?"

"Oh, my God!" Charlotte exclaims. "Both of you turn around and talk to each other, it's like watching a forbidden romance." She clicks her tongue. "Ah, wait. It is."

Allison rolls her eyes at her friend, a small smile adorning her face. It falls as she finally realises why Erica had been acting so strangely.  "Erica's with Derek now, isn't she? Like Isaac."

"Wait, you didn't know?" Charlotte questions in confusion. When the girl slowly shakes her head, her eyes widen in surprise. She'd had figured that Allison would be the first person Scott would tell upon finding it out. "Interesting..."

The blonde-haired girl hisses in pain when a bag drops onto her foot, and Stiles sheepishly smiles as he sits beside her. "Sorry..." He frowns in confusion once noticing Scott not on the same table as them. "Why don't you guys just sit together and talk?"

"That's what I said!" Charlotte speaks up loudly.

Allison sighs. "Scott, you can't get caught in the middle of this. Don't you feel what's happening? My grandfather coming here, Derek turning Erica and Isaac... It's like battle lines are being drawn."

Charlotte nods in agreement as she bites into her sandwich. "Real life Hunger Games," she comments. Stiles chuckles and coughs to cover it up when Scott turns around to glare at both of them. "Right, sorry, grumpy puppy. Keep going."

Allison shakes her head with a smile. Now it's Scott's turn to sigh. "I know."

"There's always crossfire."

"She's not wrong," Stiles agrees grimly.

"So what am I supposed to do?" the boy queries cluelessly.

Charlotte tilts her head to the side. "Nothing?" she suggests.

Scott sighs again. "No, Charles, I can't just do nothing." She pouts in disappointment. "I can't pretend to be normal, I'm not normal."

"We don't want you to be normal, Scott," Allison says. "We want you to stay alive."

Charlotte nods. "She's definitely not wrong about that." When Allison walks off, Scott joins them on their table, and Stiles eyes dramatically widen as he stares in front of them. The blonde clicks her fingers in front of his face. He doesn't blink an eye. "Hey, Sherlock. Watcha thinking?"

"Do you see that?"

His friends share a look. "It's an empty table," Scott answers in confusion.

"Yeah, but whose empty table?"

Charlotte chuckles. "Last time I checked, we didn't reserve them."

"Boyd," Scott says in realisation. All three teenagers lock eyes and scramble to get their things together. A minute later, they rush out the cafeteria. "I'm going to go to the ice rink, see if he's there. And if he's not at home, you call me, got it?" Charlotte and Stiles roll their eyes. Scott stops before the stairwell and turns back to them. "What?"

"Scott, let's just let it happen."

"What?" he repeats in disbelief.

"Boyd," Stiles states. "Let's just let it go."

"What?"

Stiles narrows his eyes and leans closer to the boy. "You're meant to have supernatural hearing... You said Derek's giving them a choice."

"Exactly," Charlotte agrees. "Scotty, I've never seen Erica so happy with herself before. Look, dude, if they know what they're getting themselves into and they still want to do it, there isn't really much you can do."

"We can't," Scott protests.

"We? No, no," she counters. "I'm not part of this 'we.'"

Stiles nods at her. "She's right..." Scott's eyes widen. "You gotta admit Erica looks pretty good. You know, the word 'sensational' comes to mind..."

"Yeah, she's hot."

Stiles' eyebrows raise in amusement as he looks to her. "We are so talking about this later."

"There isn't anything to talk about!"

"Uh huh."

Scott's eyes flick between them. "How good do you think she's gonna look with a wolfsbane bullet in her head?" he suggests.

Charlotte closes her eyes as she tries to erase the picture out of her mind. "Scott, the chance of that happening is about the same as one of us getting in a car accident. Okay? We all wake up with the risk of dying."

Stiles points to her when the werewolf looks at him. "All we're trying to say is that maybe this one isn't totally your responsibility."

"No!" she objects. "Nuh uh. I'm saying this isn't your responsibility at all!"

"They all are," Scott tells them with a frown. "And you both know this thing's gonna get out of control." Stiles and Charlotte glance at each other as they acknowledge that he's partially right. "When that happens, it makes me responsible."

"How? Because you could have done something to prevent it?" When Scott nods his head, she groans in frustration. "Fucking hell."

"Fine," Stiles gives in. "I'm with you. And I also gotta say, this newfound heroism is making me very attracted to you..."

"Shut up," Scott tells him exasperatedly.

Charlotte grins as she looks between her best friends. "No, please keep going."

"I'm serious, do you wanna just try making out for a sec?" When Scott shoves him to the side, she breaks into laughter. Stiles widely grins. "Just to see how it feels?" he calls out as Scott walks off. "C'mon!"

»»———-　　———-««

Charlotte frowns at her phone. After staring at the message displayed on the screen for another minute, she closes the device and leans her head back into the seat.

Keeks
Hey, I'm so sorry, I can't make this arvo
Something came up :(

"Stupid Scott and his stupid plans to save the stupid fucking world," she mutters to herself. Starting the relatively short drive home, she increases the volume to the radio and hums along to the unfamiliar the song. When she turns onto the main road, Charlotte winds down her window. With her hair blowing in the wind, she allows a smile to stretch upon her lips. Driving makes her feel free.

However, the volume is quickly turned down when her eyes squint as she notices a shape in the middle of the road. As she rapidly approaches it, she makes it out to be a human. Realising that they aren't going to move and with not enough time to slow the car to a stop, Charlotte's body goes into fight or flight. Panic and adrenaline surges through her as she jerks the wheel to the side. Having little control, she somehow manages to straighten the vehicle back into the centre of the road, and when safe to do so, she pulls to a complete stop.

The girl jumps out the car and looks behind her with her arms raised in the air. "What the fuck?" Heart beating erratically, Charlotte takes notice that the man is no longer there. She leans against the driver's door and slumps down onto the gravel. She places her head into her hands as she tries to breathe deeply. "God, I'm going insane," she whispers to herself.

When she drove past them, she saw his face for a split-second. But a split-second was all she needed. Charlotte could have sworn she almost hit Peter Hale.

"Great, if only Derek wasn't hiding in his bat cave..."

𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.