𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 | 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓽𝔂'𝓼 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵

LEAVING AN UNCONSCIOUS ERICA WITH Derek was exceptionally hard. Charlotte had been so reluctant that Scott had to physically carry her out of the train station. Now opening her front door, she braces herself for the bombardment of questions that are going to be fired at her. However, when all that greets her is silence, Charlotte frowns and cautiously steps inside. She quickly checks her phone for the time. It reads seven-fifteen. Normally her mom is home this late. It doesn't take long before she spots Lydia in the dining room, staring at the wall. The blonde-haired girl's brows draw together in concern and she takes the chair opposite to her. "Hey, Dee, you okay?"

Lydia's eyes snap over to her sister. "When did you get home?" she quietly questions.

"Just now." Charlotte gives her a small smile. "Did everything go all right with this extremely mysterious and creepy guy?"

She plasters on an obviously fake smile and of course her twin sees straight through it. "Yeah, just thinking about stuff," Lydia responds nonchalantly. "Don't imagine I'll be seeing him again."

"Told you he's weird." But as soon as Lydia walks away, Charlotte's smile drops into a frown. If she wants to, her sister would talk to her. There isn't any point pushing it.

A key turns in the door and Natalie Martin narrows her eyes as she walks inside, placing the shopping bags on the kitchen counter. She turns around and raises her eyebrows expectantly at her daughter. "What time did you get here?"

Charlotte goes to pick the fruit off the floor that had spilled out of the bags and innocently smiles at her mother who is standing before her with her hands on her hips. "Around four-thirty," she answers. "After the library. Why are you home so late?"

"No, no, don't turn this around on me. You're grounded. That means straight home after school, you don't 'volunteer' to clean up."

"Yeah, so about that. You grounded me on Friday, last week. It's Monday. And you said until the end of the week, which was technically yesterday."

Natalie stares at the girl who is now sitting on the top of the counter and her shoulders sag as she sighs in defeat. "I give up," she declares. Charlotte bites back her triumphant grin. "As long as you keep up with school, which means no more skipping or detentions-"

"Absolutely."

"And no more illegal activities. The amount of times I've been to see Sheriff Stilinski at the station this month alone is unacceptable. Next time, your car's gone. No, next time I'll be suggesting you get charged."

Charlotte's eyes widen as she watches a knife get taken out from the cupboard, then begin to chop up the meat for their dinner. "Understood," she responds quickly.

"And I'll make sure to send Mr Harris an email explaining that he needs to stay with his students during detention."

The teenager scrunches her nose up. "It was kinda nice not having him yell at us for an hour though." She freezes as she realises her mistake. Her mother scowls at her. It resembles Jackson's from earlier in the day. "Shit."

»»———-　　———-««

"There's got to be some way to get tickets, right?"

Stiles nods at Scott as they get out of the Jeep. "Well, I mean, it's a secret show. There's only one way and it's a secret," he points out ominously.

Charlotte swings her backpack onto her shoulder and grimaces at the thought of the party. "Why the fuck would someone want to go to a rave? It sounds like hell."

"Hey! Do any of you know why no one's getting suspended for the other day?"

At the familiar (sadly) voice that joins the conversation abruptly, Stiles and Charlotte share a look of equal irritation at Matt's presence. "Forget about it," the latter tells him. "No one got hurt."

Matt's eyes widen. "I got a concussion!"

She kisses her teeth. "Well, no one got seriously hurt," she corrects.

"I was in the ER for six hours!"

"Do you want to know the truth, Matt?" Stiles doesn't wait for the boy to respond. "Your little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now, okay?" Charlotte grins widely as Stiles emphasises his point by hovering his hand a few centimetres above the ground.

Scott sighs and decides to be the bigger person of the three. "Are you okay?" he asks Matt.

"Yeah. I'm fine now." Charlotte rolls her eyes. Matt looks between the trio as he questions, "So you didn't get any tickets last night?"

The girl raises a brow as she looks to the werewolf. "Wait, Scotty didn't you say last night was the only chance to get them?"

Matt nods at her words and shrugs as he turns to walk away. "Uh, yeah. They were," he confirms. "But I managed to find two online, you should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's going."

"Not me," Charlotte mutters.

As soon as Matt's out of earshot, Stiles makes his feelings clear. "I really don't like him," he says, annoyance lacing every word. He glances to Scott as they begin walking up the stairs to the high school. "Hey, are you sure about this?

"Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job. So what do you think he's going to do this time?"

Stiles sighs. "Be there to make sure it happens..."

Charlotte yawns loudly and nods knowingly. "Let me guess, you're going to drag me along with you?" Scott beams at her and she rolls her eyes. "Do I even have a choice?"

"Nope."

"Why though?" she complains. "What could I possibly do to help?"

Scott's smile widens. "Would it help if I said you might get the chance to hurt Jackson again?"

Charlotte Martin is suddenly deadly serious as she questions, "Physically or psychologically?"

Stiles shrugs. "To be honest, there's a good chance of both of those happening."

As she bids the boys goodbye to let them go to lacrosse practice and turns around to walk to her locker, the door to the locker room flies back open behind her. "Martin!" Coach calls out after her. She freezes. "Team meeting! Get in here!"

Joining her best friends once again, they raise their eyebrows at her questioningly and she shakes her head in response. "No idea," she mutters.

"Can anyone tell me where the hell Jackson is and why the hell he missed morning practice?"

Stiles narrows his eyes as he hisses to Scott, "I thought we told you to keep an eye on him!"

"Stilinski! Jackson?"

He purses his lips. "Sorry, Coach. Haven't seen him since the last time I saw him," he answers. Charlotte's lips twitch.

Coach folds his arms. "Oh, and when was that?"

"The last time I saw him... Was definitely the time I saw him last." At his evasive reply, Scott and Charlotte turn to look at their best friend in amusement. Stiles nods. "Yeah."

Coach nods his head and points to the teenager sitting in front of the trio. "Again, Danny, tell Jackson no missing practise this close to the championships, okay?"

"Sure, Coach."

"That goes for all of you! Except you, Martin, but I shouldn't have to keeping dragging you to these meetings. Check the damn calendar."

Charlotte's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "But Coach, we don't have a calendar," she points out slowly.

However, he's already tuned out the rest of them as he walks back into his office. "I should be coaching college," the man grumbles to himself.

"Definitely should be!" When he pumps a fist in the air at her confirmation, Charlotte grins. The office door slams shut and she takes a seat on the bench next to Scott. "So can I be the one to voice what everyone's thinking and say that Jackson's probably out searching for his next target?"

Stiles quickly nods in agreement. "She's right." His head snaps back to Scott. "Dude, what happened to keeping an eye on him?"

"I can't watch him twenty-four-seven!" Scott protests.

Danny finishes tying his laces and looks behind to the trio, continuing the conversation from before Charlotte had walked in. "Sorry, but I only got two myself," he tells the McCall.

Stiles blinks rapidly. "Wha- do you even have a date yet?"

Danny scoffs, offence flashing across his face from the question. "I'm working on it!"

"I'll go with you," Charlotte suddenly says. Danny arches a brow. Scott and Stiles make a show of turning to stare at her. "Friends, obviously," she clarifies. "Plus, it'll be the perfect time to play match maker!"

Danny smiles and throws his duffle bag over his shoulder. "Thanks, Charlie. I'll text you later."

As he walks off, she returns her attention to her friends who are still staring at her with wide eyes. Stiles shakes his head in disbelief. "You've been protesting all week how you don't want to go to this thing! And you willingly offer to go with him?"

"Come on! We aren't going to be looking for Whittewhore the whole time, so I'm gonna be the good friend I am and help him find some eye candy."

Scott rolls his eyes with a grin and Stiles calls out after Danny, "Come on! How about you just sell us the tickets for a good pri-"

"How do you two losers even survive?"

Charlotte shrugs as she watches Isaac pull the back of her best friends' jerseys. "I question myself that every day," she agrees.

Stiles loudly scoffs and Scott sighs. "What are we supposed to do?" the werewolf asks. "Lottie's got a way in now. No one's even selling tickets!"

Charlotte frowns in thought and looks around the room to see two players making conversation over their own tickets. A mischievous grin appears onto her lips. Scott groans when he glances at her. "Oh no, I know that look..."

She places a hand on Isaac's shoulder. "Feel like getting your hands dirty?"

He follows her eyes and smiles, roughly patting Stiles chest. "Wait here, boys," he says.

"What is he g-"

"Ow. Oh my- Yup, that's excessive... Oh God, that's gonna bruise," Stiles mutters.

Scott glances to Charlotte as they watch Isaac throw one of the players into the lockers, then punching the other one in the eye. "Do you just enjoy watching people being beaten up?"

She cracks a smile. "Occasionally."

Once a locker crashes to the ground, Isaac walks away from the scene and hands both Scott and Stiles each a ticket. "Enjoy the show." He looks to Charlotte and nods his head over to the side before walking out the room.

"I'll catch you both at lunch," she tells them with a smile. Following after Isaac, she crosses her arms and leans against the wall of the hallway, staring at him expectantly. "What?"

He sighs and rubs the back of his neck, his eyes nervously diverting away from her. "I know Erica's talked to you, but I just wanted to apologise for the other day," he starts softly.

She nods, understanding that what she and Erica had talked about had most likely been passed onto Isaac and Boyd. "Have you told Lydia that?" she counters. "'Cause everyone's apologising to me. No one's said a thing to her."

Isaac swallows and his eyes shine with tears forming within them. "Look, I'm really, really sorry, okay?"

Charlotte gives him a small smile. "Apology accepted. Plus, I did really enjoy hitting you with a frying pan." He laughs. "No, seriously, it was super fun." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a chocolate bar. She purses her lips together as she studies it. "This is a step forward in the right direction." Isaac smiles, the anxiety easing away as he realises that she's not going to react in the way he had dreaded she would. "Look, you're all forgiven because now I understand what really happened. Not Derek though, he's still an assfuck."

The curly-haired boy shrugs in agreement. "Can't argue with that."

"But it might take me a little time to fully move on."

Isaac quickly nods. "No, of course, I completely get it. And I'll get the others to come with me and we'll talk to Lydia."

Charlotte smiles. "Thank you. Just know it's gonna take her a lot more time than me. She barely knows you guys, to her you're just a bunch of strangers that tried, well, sort of attempted to kill us. Boyd's off the hook though, he didn't do anything." She scoffs incredulously when another chocolate bar is handed to her. "Okay, stop bribing me, it's only partially working."

Isaac grins as she snatches it and walks away. "Love you," he yells. She holds the bar of confectionary up in the air and he chuckles.

»»———-　　———-««

Seated across from Marin Morrell, Charlotte pointedly avoids the counsellor's eye contact as she fiddles with the charm bracelet fastened around her wrist. Clearing her throat softly, the adult gives the girl a small smile when their eyes meet. "So, how are you doing, Charlotte?"

She nods. "I'm doing all right," she says. "A bit better."

Lies. But if Morrell can see through her façade, she doesn't bring it up. "That's good to hear." She opens a drawer in her desk whilst saying, "I had a think about our session from last week." Charlotte raises a brow curiously as the folder full of drawings she had given to the woman is set on the desk. "It sounds like you're experiencing dissociative episodes. Dissociation can be a natural response to trauma, you can't control it happening."

The blonde-haired girl nods her head slightly. "Yeah, I know what it is."

Marin smiles. "Of course you do. A good example to use is it's like having an out of body experience. But Charlotte, memory loss can also be an effect from too much stress, insomnia, your depr-"

"I get it," she interrupts, a hint of impatience in her voice. "Just... How do I fix it?"

"You mean how to stop them? Do you want them to stop happening?"

Charlotte raises her eyebrows at the woman pointedly. "Would I be talking to you about them if I didn't?" She quickly shuts her mouth after hearing how it sounded. "Sorry."

Morrell quietly chuckles. "Don't apologise. Like I said, you can't control them from happening. But the first step is that you're coming here to talk about them. Maybe try to think about your triggers. What's happened since your trauma that is different?" The girl frowns as her eyes narrow slightly. "If we try to single them out, maybe you can understand better why they are happening."

None of this makes sense. She didn't have any connection to a lizard or a snake until the Kanima. Yet she was drawing them before she had actually come face to face with the creature. It's almost like Charlotte had predicted the Kanima would come into their lives. It wouldn't surprise her whatsoever if all of this had supernatural as its root cause. After all, the drawings had only started to occur after getting bitten by an Alpha werewolf. As she leaves the counsellor's office, she comes to the conclusion that she needs to do something more. Something other than just talking to her therapist. Charlotte needs to talk to Alan Deaton.

The folder of art is returned to her backpack and the girl only gets a further few steps before colliding straight into Scott and Stiles. The Stilinski's eyes widen instantly at the sight of her and grabs onto her arm. "There you are! Emergency meeting," he states hurriedly.

She glares at him as he drags her along, Scott ahead and leading them out the building and to the parking lot. "Nice to see you both, I'm doing fabulous," she greets her friends sarcastically. "Thanks for asking. How are you?"

Scott's response is to sigh and place his head into his hands as he leans on the door of the Jeep. Stiles rolls his eyes so dramatically that Charlotte thinks that they might detach out of the sockets. "Oh, come on!" he exclaims exasperatedly. "You still aren't on that, are you?"

Her eyes flick between the two boys in confusion. "On what?" she questions.

Scott groans. "I said I love you to Allison and she replied, 'You too.'"

Charlotte folds her arms over her hoodie and shakes her head at Scott, not understanding the severity he's making the event out to be. "I thought you had already confessed your undying love to one another."

Stiles raises his brows and nods. "Oh, they have," he confirms.

"Yeah! We have! It's just, I was saying goodbye to her, you know?" The words fly out of Scott's mouth as he rambles to his friends. "And she didn't say it back! Does she not love me anymore?" His face drops in horror. "Oh God, what if she doesn't love me anymore?"

The girl suppresses the amused smile that wants to adorn her face purely because Scott is so distraught. "She's probably just stressed," she reassures him gently. "And if anyone in the world knows how much she loves you..." She gestures to herself and Stiles. "It's us."

Hope shines in Scott's eyes and he spins to his other friend who immediately pulls a face. "Yes. Yes, it's fine," Stiles agrees. "You're fine. Not the end of the world. Moving on, emergency meeting."

Charlotte clears her throat before they get into conversation. "Uh, can we hold that for a sec? I need to tell you guys some-"

Stiles holds a hand up and slips into the driver's seat. "Sorry, Charles, it'll have to wait." She looks at him in disbelief, shaking her head a few times to make sure he had definitely said that to her. "We need to go to Deaton, ask him what to do. Surely he's got something that can make it easier to capture Jackson."

Her frown deepens and she digs her heels into the ground, refusing to jump into the backseat of the Jeep. "No," she says firmly. The boys look to her with wide eyes. "I'm not doing the whole kidnapping thing again. We've done it before, didn't go well. Actually, it ended terribly. For all of us."

Scott chuckles. "We're not kidnapping him. We just need to find a way to stop him from murdering someone tonight."

She clicks her tongue. "Ah. And do you want to enlighten me on the possible ways we can do that?"

As the backdoor slams shut, Stiles starts up the engine and looks back to her. "That's why we're going to Deaton."

»»———-　　———-««

"Ketamine?"

Picking up the bottle of medication from the examination table, Charlotte looks up to Scott and Stiles who hold confused expressions. "It's a type of anaesthetic," she answers. "Basically, it stops the brain from picking up any pain signals. Vets use it on horses." She frowns at the measurement on the bottle. "But this is strong, like, a dangerously large dose."

The boys nod and Deaton smiles. "Exactly. Like you said, what we've got here is a much higher dosage than what we would use on one of the dogs here. If one of you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time," he explains.

Stiles stares at the vial of liquid and mutters, "What I'm hearing in that sentence is the 'should...'"

Deaton opens a cabinet behind him and takes out a glass jar filled to the brim with a fine, black powder. "This is what you use to create the barrier," he says.

Charlotte looks around the room and narrows her eyes at the man. She asks the question she'd been wondering for a very long time. "What are you? Sorry, I have to ask."

"I'm a veterinarian," he replies simply.

Her eyes widen. "For super dogs..."

"Stiles, this part is for you. Only for you."

The boy with the buzzcut points to the girl standing beside him. "Why can't she do it?" he asks. "It just sounds like a lot of pressure. Can we maybe find... I don't know, a slightly less pressure filled task for me?"

Charlotte takes a step closer to the jar of black powder. Her brows draw together in curiosity. "It's mountain ash," she says, looking up to Deaton.

"Yes, it is," he confirms in surprise.

Scott stares at her in bewilderment. "How the hell did you know that?"

She points to the large, black print stuck onto the glass. "The symbol, it's from the Ogham alphabet," she informs them.

Stiles blinks. "I'm sorry, the what?"

She cracks a smile and points back to the symbol on the jar. "It represents the rowan tree, also called mountain ash."

Deaton nods at her. "What's in that jar is from a mountain ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural. This office is lined with ash wood, making it difficult for someone like Scott to cause me any trouble."

Charlotte's eyes narrow once again as she studies the veterinarian. "Are you a witch?" she asks him sceptically.

Stiles bites back a smile at her question. "Okay, so what? I just spread this around the whole building, and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?"

"Yes, they'll be trapped."

The blonde holds up a hand. "Hold on. Why does this sound a lot like you want to trap a supernatural creature, who is hell bent on murdering his target, inside a sold-out club filled with humans." Her eyes move between the three males. "Am I right?"

When Scott nods, she sighs in frustration. "It'll work," the werewolf attempts to reassure her. "Doesn't sound too hard."

"Think of it like gunpowder," Deaton says to Stiles. "It's just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles."

"If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up to that." Charlotte snorts as Stiles looks over to Deaton with a very unimpressed expression.

The man chuckles. "Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind, and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish."

"Force of will..."

Deaton nods firmly. "If-if this is going to work Stiles, you have to believe it."

Stiles takes a deep breath and eyes the jar unconvincingly. The boys take the two bottles to assist them against Jackson and turn to leave, however, Stiles pauses when realising Charlotte hasn't made a move. "Hey, you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'll meet you outside in a minute," she replies with a small smile.

Once the bell on the front door jingles signifying that it has closed, Deaton turns to the girl with a smile. That smile makes her feel like he's opened his arms, silently asking her to spill all of her troubles onto him. It's comforting. "Everything all right?"

She hesitates for a few moments before saying, "I think something's wrong with me." She tilts her head. "Well, more wrong than usual."

He frowns, briefly glancing back at her as he returns syringes into their rightful drawers. "What do you mean?" he questions curiously.

"I'm drawing stuff and seeing shit." Charlotte loudly groans and begins to pace around the room as she tries to find the right words to explain her situation. "God, this is impossible to explain. I've talked to my counsellor about it, I imagine she thinks I'm going crazy."

"Seeing things?" Deaton repeats.

She nods. "Yeah, Peter Hale."

The veterinarian freezes in his place and turns back around to the girl with panic etched onto his face. "You're seeing Peter Hale?"

Her heart thuds faster. Charlotte nods once again, more than a little disturbed at how alarmed he appears by her confession. "Yeah. Both Lydia and I are. I mean, I'm ninety percent sure they're all hallucinations. But the drawing thing is freaking me out." Deaton waves a hand for her to expand. "I'm finding pages not even knowing I did them. My psych, Ms Morrell, she called it dissociation. But I don't know, I-I just feel like there's something else."

Deaton slowly nods as he processes the information. "When did you notice the drawings start?"

"Well I was in class, I think it was actually a few days before Stiles and I saw the mechanic get murdered, and Lydia mentioned something about my art, and the whole time I thought I was writing notes. Turns out I was drawing a lizard." The man's eyes widen. "Yeah, I've kinda connected the whole reptile theme to the Kanima, but that just makes it even more confusing 'cause they were before I even saw the thing."

Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, Deaton is both deadly serious and concerned as he says, "Charlotte, how does it sound if we make a time to talk for next week? You can fill me in on everything."

She sighs in relief and collapses into one of the nearby chairs. "That sounds great. Actually, it's the best news I've heard in a while. I can-"

"Charlie! Come on, we have to go!"

Her head snaps over to the doorway leading to the front of the clinic where Stiles has entered briefly to yell out to her. She gives the vet an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I'll call you tomorrow if that's okay?"

The corners of his lips upturn, although the frown still remains. "Of course. Good luck with tonight."

Running out to the Jeep, Charlotte jumps into the backseat and the pair in front turn around. "What were you doing?" Scott questions in confusion.

Her brows furrow. "You didn't listen?"

He shakes his head with a small smile. "Of course not."

But there's too many other things that overtake the importance of a bunch of hallucinations, so she makes up an excuse. "I was talking about volunteering on weekends," she tells them. Scott frowns at the uptick of her heartbeat but doesn't touch on the matter any further. Perhaps she'd be more open if they were alone.

Stiles shrugs and starts the engine. "All right, people. Magic fairy dust to be spread, and giant lizard to be put to sleep!"

»»———-　　———-««

Staring at herself in the bathroom mirror, Charlotte turns to the side and smooths out the wrinkles on the long-sleeved mesh shirt, smiling slightly as she notices the neon bralette underneath glowing in the room's warm lighting. As she threads the large gold hoops through her ears, the anxiety finally begins to hit her. Not only is Jackson going to be at this thing, but so would people. Lots and lots of people. Anxiety doesn't like people. However, even if it would only be for a few minutes, she's going to try and have some fun. Hell, she deserves it after everything lately.

The girl returns to her room and walks over to the window to shut the curtains for the night, but her eyes widen at what she spots outside and she double takes. Bright rubies glow vibrantly in the dark near the shed in the back garden and Charlotte's breathing becomes short and laboured. She leaps back from the window and pushes herself up against the wall out of sight.

She rakes a hand through her curled hair and holds a deep breath before slowly releasing it. Deciding that the window won't be visited again for the rest of the night, she hurriedly grabs her boots and tugs them on, then running out of the room with her heart hammering against her ribcage. Yelling out a quick goodbye to both Lydia and her mother, Charlotte unlocks her car and types the location of the rave into her GPS.

She leans her head on her steering wheel and heavily sighs. But as she looks back up to reverse out of the driveway, Charlotte lets out a shrill scream as a shadowed figure jumps in front of the car.  Firmly pressing on the accelerator, the wheels squeal as the vehicle rapidly reverses and veers around to drive forward onto the road. Daring to glance back in the rear-view mirror, she breathes heavily as she spots the same pair of red eyes watching her.

Peter.

It takes her a further ten minutes to reach the warehouse district, and she instantly spots Stiles' Jeep parked outside the building where people flock inside. The boys crowd around the boot of the car and she takes a final look at herself in the mirror. "Pull yourself together," she scolds herself in a whisper. Plastering on a smile to convince her best friends that nothing is wrong, she whistles to announce her arrive as she approaches them.

Stiles spins around with a grin. "Lottie! Hey, you made it!" he greets excitedly.

"Sure did." The Stilinski looks her up and down and gives her a thumbs up in approval. She laughs. It's a genuine one.

Scott's eyes linger on her a little longer with worry after hearing the words meant for herself in her car. "You okay?" he questions softly.

Charlotte nods. "Yeah, of course," she replies with a small smile. She jerks her head to the warehouse beside them. "Just really want to get this over with."

With a groan, the door slams closed and Stiles turns to them holding a large, black plastic bag. "Amen. This plan is starting to really suck."

She raises her eyebrows at the bag. "Uh, what's in there?"

"Magic fairy dust," he answers dully. "Can one of you grab the other please?"

Scott and Charlotte look to each other and the werewolf sighs. "Dude, we can't," he hesitantly tells Stiles. "Deaton said you have to do it alone."

"Why can't you do it?" Stiles exclaims in frustration.

The girl shrugs. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on this idiot," she reasons, ruffling Scott's hair to his dislike.

Stiles looks up to the sky as he shakes his head. "This plan officially sucks," he mutters to himself.

Charlotte's eyes light up as she spots her date for the evening. "Oh, hey, there's Danny! See you guys later, good luck, Stiles!"

"What happened to watching me?" Scott calls out after her.

She spins around on her heels and throws her hands up in the air as she smiles at them while she walks away. "Gotta be a wing woman first!"

Finally united with her friend, Charlotte and Danny converse on how it's been far too long since they hung out together outside of school. And they both agree that the incident at Jungle doesn't count. The boy's eyes drag down her body and her outfit, and a large smile spreads across his lips. "We're gonna have the best time."

She grins and loops their arms together. "Danny, you're with me. Of course we are." Handing the two tickets to the bouncer, the pair are let inside the building and once they push through the curtain separating them from the main area Charlotte winces at the cacophony of sounds presented to her all at once. There's the loud bass reverberating out of the speakers, glass shattering somewhere, hordes of people singing along to whatever song is being played, and Danny's hum of approval. Naturally, it doesn't take her long to find the bar. She nudges her friend and nods over in the direction, her eyes narrowing a fraction as the array of colourful lights momentarily blind her. "Drinks?"

"Did you bring your ID?" he counters.

She rolls her eyes and pulls the card out of her purse. "I don't go anywhere without it." Danny's grin somehow widens and he leads her into the centre of the rave as they try to reach the bar. Five minutes later, Charlotte throws the shot of tequila back and she sighs happily at the rush of warmth flowing through her body. "Okay, bud. Let's find you someone to dance with."

Scanning her eyes around the crowd, her eyes widen when they land on two familiar people enter. Danny follows her line of sight and raises his brows with a sly smile on his face. "Which one?" he questions playfully.

"What?" When she realises he's talking about what she's looking at, her eyes widen. "No, nothing."

Danny rolls his eyes at her. "Charles, who cares if you like girls?"

"I don't like girls!" she exclaims defensively. Her eyes drift back over to the shelves of alcohol and waves her hand at the bartender once more. Another shot is placed before her, and Danny watches her with amusement as she immediately tosses it back. Charlotte clears her throat. "Okay, maybe it's just a small crush... But it's nothing serious! It's like when you look at Beyoncé and wow. You know? But I wo-"

Danny smiles knowingly and gently pushes her in the direction of the dance floor. "Go," he tells her.

"Are you sure?" she questions with a frown. "Because then I'll be abandoning our goal for tonight..."

"I'll be great," he reassures her with another smile. Danny points to the side and Charlotte hums when she spots a guy casting not so subtle looks over to them.

"Have fun for me?"

He grins. "Always. Charlie?" She spins back around. "If you feel it's right, fuck what everyone else might think. You have all the time in the world to figure out whatever you feel."

Charlotte's lips lift into a smile as she feels her eyes burn with unshed tears. "Thanks, Danny," she tells him gratefully. He nods in return and she turns back to pushing past sweaty teenagers to reach the other side of the room.

"What do you want me to do? Okay, I can-I can fix it. Please. Please, Scott, just tell me."

"Just stay out of the way."

"Scott!"

"Stay out of the way!"

Narrowing her eyes, Charlotte watches Scott storm away from his girlfriend with anger and betrayal on his face. Sighing, she walks over and grabs one of the brunette's hands. "Hey, what happened?" Allison takes one look at her best friend and a tear drops down her cheek. "Hey, Alli, what's wrong?" she questions in concern.

"My dad and Gerard," Allison whispers. "They know everything! About the last two murders, they know there's two killers... I had to tell them it's Jackson!"

Charlotte nods. "Okay."

The girl stares back at her. "Okay?" she repeats in confusion. "W-what? I told them and they're coming here tonight! They're gonna trap him, and I said I'-"

Squeezing Allison's hands, Charlotte smiles at her. "It's okay. Look, as terrifying I find your whole family, I think we need all the help we can to corner Jackson. We have a plan but if it fails, which it has a slightly high chance of doing so, it's good to know there's a backup."

Allison shakes her head in disbelief, unable to understand her calm and unbothered demeanour. It's a stark difference to Scott's reaction. "You're not mad?" she asks quietly.

"Of course I'm not mad," Charlotte replies. "But what are you doing here anyways? I thought you weren't coming?" Allison looks over her shoulder to Matt who waves at them with an awkward smile. Her jaw drops as she locks eyes with the brunette. Her voice drops to a whisper as she hisses, "You came with Matt?"

Allison almost laughs at the horror on her friend's face. "He asked me and I don't know what happened, I just said yes! And Scott said that it would be good to be seen with other people because my mom basically knows about us..."

Charlotte gags. "Just don't kiss him," she begs. "Kiss me instead. God, kiss Stiles. Anyone but Matt."

Allison giggles and the blonde-haired girl instantly smiles at the sound. Then she clears her throat and tries to be serious for a second. "Charles, whatever you've got planned, just be careful okay?"

"Always am."

𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 🤧