c h a p t e r t h r e e
big bad wolf

Yet another lacrosse practice was currently taking place on the field after school, and Stiles had forced Harper to go. Not that she would say no to him if he simply asked anyway. Over the weekend she had a lot of time to think about her current situation to do with Stiles Stilinski.

So apparently she might like him a little bit, which scares her. Harper always said that falling for your best friend is so clichè and only ever happens in the movies and the One Direction fanfiction that she used to read like two years ago. She thought when that stupid crush she had on him three years ago left that it was gone for good, but clearly, her heart wasn't done.

And her heart wanted what it wanted, so who was she to stop it?

Harper hadn't really spoken to Stiles or even Scott all weekend, she had another sleepover with Allison, this time without anybody inturrupting. Harper met her dad.

She wish that she'd been close with her dad before he died, but he was always way to engrossed at his work as a doctor at a mental hospital to really bother with her. She still loved him and missed him dearly, however.

Allison is pissed at Scott. More angry than she is upset, which is kind of understandable. He did leave without an explanation, stranding her at a party with kids she didn't know and no ride home. And then he didn't text or call her all weekend. What an idiot.

Stiles was actually on the field today, standing at the back of the line of boys waiting to take a shot at the goal. Harper sat down at the back of the bleachers, a notebook on her lap as she scribbled down notes for her history test coming up, watching her boys at the same time.

Coach Finstock blew a whistle loudly, "Let's go! One-on-one's from up top. Jackson, take a long stick, today. Attaboy."

The green eyed boy nodded, dropping his lacrosse stick only to pick up an even longer one. The whistle blew again and Jackson quickly jogged over to stand a few meters away from the goal. She guessed he was in defence, but with Scott's new werewolf abilities this shouldn't really be a problem.

Harper was wrong.

Nobody could get past Jackson, he threw them to the ground without a second thought, blocking every lacrosse player from shooting the ball into the net. And then it was Scott's turn.

The brunette hoped he would be different, that he would beat Jackson, but unfortuantly hope wasn't on her side this time.

Scott ran up to Jackson, or more like a quickly paced jog, but was tackled as soon as he went to lift his stick. He landed on the ground and Harper winced. Thankfully Scott got back up quickly as coach approached him, chuckling.

"My grandmother can move faster than that and she's dead!" He laughed loud enough for even Harper to hear at the back of the bleachers. Stiles and the petite girl shared a look of worry as coach continued. "You think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"

He was taunting him, making fun of him. Scott tensed up, not liking being made fun of in front of the other lacrosse players and everyone on the stands. What if he turned in front of everybody? That wouldn't be good. Not good at all.

Scott muttered something to Coach Finstock who then raised his voice. "Then do it again." He ordered. He patted Scott on the back as he jogged over to the front of the line. "McCall's gonna do it again! McCall's gonna do it again!" He yelled for everybody to hear.

This time, when Coach blew the whistle, Scott took off into a quick run, much quicker than before. And before Jackson could even move to tackle Scott, Scott had already taken him out, moving into him as hard as he could with his shoulder, sending the star lacrosse player to the ground with a loud grunt and a thump.

Jackson was rolling on the ground holding his shoulder, but Harper didn't care as she rushed onto the field where Scott had topled over onto his knees, panting heavily. Stiles made it just before her, his hands on his shoulders as he called his name in concern.

"Are you okay? What's happening?" Harper asked, moving her hands to his arms.

Scott panted, and it sounded like he had something in his mouth when he spoke. His fangs. "I can't control it. It's happening," he seethed.

"What? Right here? Now?" Stiles looked alarmed, looking around to see if anybody had noticed Scott. Luckily everybody was paying attention to Jackson. "Come on. Get up. Go!"

Stiles and Harper both quickly jogged with Scott off of the field and towards the school building. Stiles lead them all to the boys locker room, Scott falling through the door in the way in.

"Scott, you okay?" Stiles asked urgently, moving down beside me to help him.

Scott's head suddenly snapped up in their direction. His fangs had grown in and his usually warm brown eyes sparkled a golden, yellow colour.

"Get away from me!" He yelled so deeply and fiercely that Stiles fell backwards, taking Harper with him.

He reached behind him and grabbed Harper's arm, dragging her away from Scott as quickly as he could. He hid them behind a locker, trying not to cry. Suddenly a bang rattled from above them.

Scott was on top of the lockers.

The werewolf growled at them as Stiles tugged Harper left and right, doing everything in his power to keep them away from a very angry Scott. He cornered them like they were his prey.

Harper's heart pounded in her chest as Scott jumped over some lockers, landing on the ones that they were leaning against. She shrieked and Stiles fell against the wall, his back brushing against the bright red fire extinguisher next to the door.

"Use that!" Harper yelled.

Stiles frantically turned around, letting go of her to yank it off of the wall. The lanky teen struggled to grab a hold on of it properly, only getting a good grasp as Scott jumped off of the lockers right in front of them.

He didn't hesitate before releasing the carbon dioxide, the gas immediately filling the air around the werewolf. Scott moved frantically, keeping his head down low and his arms in the head as he tried to avoid it.

Stiles didn't stop until he had pulled Harper out of the room, the two teenagers falling against the wall as they panted, trying to recover from whatever the hell just happened.

"Harper? Stiles?" Scott's quiet voice come from inside the locker room, causing Harper to turn and peer her head around the door. "What happened?"

Scott was sat on one of the benches, sweat drenching his face and his hair, his facial expression looking about as puzzled as Harper felt. How could he not remember just trying to kill Stiles and her? Did this always happen with werewolves?

Stiles sighed, dropping the metal fire extinguisher to the ground and ripping his gloves off. "You tried to kill Harper and I." He said simply. "It's like I told you before." He bent to sit down on the ground as she stood behind him. "It's the anger. It's your pulse rising. It's a trigger,"

"But that's lacrosse." Scott protested with a frown. "It's a pretty violent game, if you haven't noticed."

"Well, it's going to be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone of the field." Harper claimed and Stiles nodded along in agreement.

"You can't play Saturday. You're gonna have to get out of the game." Stiles told him regretfully, although they all knew that it was for the best.

Scott shook his head, "but I'm first line." He croaked.

"Not anymore."

☹☻

The ride home, Stiles had told her what Scott had told him in the locker room before the lacrosse game today. Apparently, Allison's dad, Chris Argent, wasn't as innocent as he seemed.

He was a hunter.

A werewolf hunter, to be exact. The news shocked Harper and left her wondering if Allison knew, too. Was she also a hunter? Is she using Scott to get close to him before she can turn him into yet another rug for their families collection?

When Harper finally got home from school about half an hour later, her grandma was laying on the couch, so motionless that she almost looked lifess.

Harper couldn't help the panic that filled her as she quickly shook her awake. Rose's eyes slowly fluttered open and a small smile crossed her face before she began to cough, each one rattling her fragile body.

"Grandma." The younger girl frowned worriedly. "Why didn't you tell me that you were sick this morning?"

"This morning I felt fine." She dismissed her granddaughters concerns with a wave of the hand. "In fact, I'm starting to feel better now. Just a little cough, that's all."

Swallowing her doubt, Harper nodded. "Okay. Well, do you want me to make dinner tonight?"

"I'm not hungry, sweet pea." Her grandma tried to smile at her, but her top lip just quivered and she gave up.

Her boney hand gently patted Harper's and the brunette stood up, faking a sweet smile at her grandma.

"I've gotta go. I'm late for a Skype call with Scott and Stiles." Harper's voice shook slightly, but thankfully Rose didn't notice.

She laughed, a high pitched wheeze escaping her throat and causing her to cough more. Rose closed her eyes, waving her hand for Harper to leave.

Reluctantly, the teenage girl left the room, wiping her sweaty hands against each other. It pained her to see her grandma so vulnerable. Rose was the only family she had left that lived in Beacon Hills, or America, even. The rest of her family all lived back in England.

Stop thinking like that. She's not dying, you idiot. It's literally just a cough.

Harper gave herself a minute to contain herself as she stepped in the room. After taking a deep breath, she jogged up the stairs and into her bedroom. She drew the curtains shut and flicked on her fairy lights, the entire room warm with the faint lights.

She switched the light on her desk on so that Stiles and Scott would actually be able to see her when they called. Harper opened her laptop, leaning on her hand. Just as she finished typing in her password, her laptop started to alert her.

Group call: Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski

Harper answered it, her bad mood leaving as soon as she saw Stiles pop up on the screen, a bright green toy gun in his hand, a grin on his face as he 'shot' at the screen. It made fake gunshot noises and lit up.

Harper laughed, leaning back and holding her hand to her heart, pretending to be shot. The pair laughed at each other, but Scott didn't look pleased.

"What'd you find out?" He asked as Stiles put the gun away, straightening up.

"Lydia said that Jackson's got a seperated shoulder." Harper replied. "She said he's really hurt."

Scott looked slightly shocked, his face falling even more. "Because of me?"

"Because he's a tool." Stiles inputed and Harper scoffed.

"But is he gonna play?" Scott sounded worried, which confused Harper.

All of their high school life Jackson had been out to get him, and he's worried that Jackson can't play? Sometimes Scott is too nice to be true.

Stiles' screen glitched a little as he moved slightly. "Oh, they don't know yet. Now they're just counting on you for Saturday."

Scott sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head slightly. She can only imagine how much stress the new teen wolf is feeling. Not only is he a werewolf, but his girlfriends' dad is a hunter, he can't play Saturday because he can't control his shifting, but he has to play because he injured one of the only other good players, and Derek Hale keeps turning up in wierd places.

Harper's heart stopped when she looked up at Scott's screen and saw a dark figure behind him, just standing there- not moving, not saying anything. Stiles leaned forwards, squinting his eyes. He had seen it, too.

"What?" Scott looked at them in confusion.

Stiles began typing as Harper gulped, all of their screens glitching.

Stiles: It looks like

Before Stiles could finish all of their screens froze and Harper cursed quietly, panic flooding through her. Stiles didn't get to finish his text, and now Scott is going to die. Stiles and Harper didn't want to say it in case the figure behind him caught Scott off guard, but maybe now that would have been a better choice.

The screen finally came back, and by now Stiles text was on the screen.

Stiles: Someone's behind you

Scott looked alarmed, "what?" He whispered, his hand moving to his mouse.

The entire screen went black, leaving Harper stunned into silence. She pulled out her phone as fast as she could and quickly texted the group chat that she was in with Stiles and Scott.

Harper: wtf just happened??????

Stiles: idk

Stiles: scott? you there buddy??

After about a minute of sitting there anxiously biting at her nails and staring at the screen of her mobile phone, she clicked off of the app and tried calling Scott's number. There was no reply, not even when she tried the second or third time. She called Stiles who picked up after literally two seconds.

"Has he called you?" She asked him urgently.

Stiles sighed, "no. Who do you think it was?"

"I don't care," Harper frowned. "I just want to know if he's okay. With all this werewolf crap going on it's making me think the worse. I'm already as stressed as it is."

"Why are you stressed?" Stiles worried.

She bit her lip. "Doesn't matter. It's nothing. I'm gonna call Scott again." She hung up without a goodbye.

Harper hated opening up about her issues with her family. All she got were sympathetic words and sad looks, and it doesn't help, it just made her feel weak. Talking about it also made it feel more real. She had only spoken about her grandad since he died once and her parents a handful of times.

This time when she called Scott he answered. "It was Derek." Was the first thing he said. "He told me I can't play in the game on Saturday. He threatened me."

Harper sighed, "then I guess you can't play."

"What?" Scott breathed in disbelief. "You're meant to support me. Tell me not to listen to him and to go out there and live my life as a normal teenage boy."

"Hate to tell you this, but you're not exactly a normal teenage boy anymore, Scott. You're a werewolf, and when a far more experienced werewolf tells you not to do something, you probably shouldn't do it."

"What will coach say?" He stressed.

Harper scoffed loudly, "you're worried about what coach will say? You're a freaking werewolf, Scott McCall! Derek Hale keeps turning up out of nowhere and telling you creepy stuff. But, out of our massive list of problems, Coach Finstock is at the top?"

"He is pretty scary." Scott joked quietly and Harper chuckled, shaking her head. "I need to go. Stiles keeps texting me. I'll talk to you soon."

"Of course. Goodnight, McCall."

"Night, Verum."

...

Fourth period had just finished and Harper had never been so thankful to hear the deafening ring of that lunch bell. All morning she had been worried about her grandma, who was still lying on the couch as sick as a dog at home. Lunch meant that she could finally call her and make sure she was okay.

Walking out of her German class, she switched on her phone, her head down as she scrolled through her contacts, looking for her grandma's name. Just as she was about to tap it, she walked straight into someone, the loose grip she had on her phone causing it to fall to the ground.

"I'm sorry," a familiar voice came. Noah Stilinski. "Oh, Harper. Is your phone okay?"

Harper sent him a large smile as she bent down, picking up her luckily undamaged phone.

"Luckily, yes." She dusted the screen off. "What are you doing here anyway? Is Stiles in trouble again?"

"This time it's not Stiles." Sheriff sighed, rubbing his temples. "But I can't tell you why. It's top secret."

"I'm sure it is." Harper smiled. "Anyways, have a nice day, Noah."

He smiled fondly at her, "you too, Harper."

She walked down the steps, about to turn the corner when a pair of hands yanked her arm, pulling her against the wall. Harper's eyes were wide, her heartbeat slowing down when she realised it was just her two idiotic best friends.

"Did my dad tell you why they're here?" Stiles gestured towards Sheriff Stilinski, who was now talking with the principal and another police officer that Harper didn't recognise.

She shook my head. "Nope."

"Tell me what they're saying." He turned to Scott. Scott began to concentrate on the sheriff. "Can you hear them?" Stiles nudged the werewolf.

"Shh," Scott hushed him, turning his head back towards the adults. After a moment he turned back to the two teenagers. "Curfew because of the body."

Stiles groaned, "unbelievable." He rolled his hazel eyes. "My dad's out looking for a rabid animal while the jerkoff who actually killed the girl is just hanging out, doing whatever he wants."

"Well you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek." Scott reasoned.

Stiles didn't hesiate before saying, "I can do something."

"Like what?" The brunette girl asked curiously. What on earth could he do that won't expose werewolves?

"Like find the other half of the body." Stiles spoke more quietly this time.

He began to walk away and Scott gave Harper a look of disbelief. "Is he kidding?" He groaned. "Stiles is going to be the fricking death of me."

She smiled softly. "At least let him try. He's only trying to help his dad out."

Scott just rolled his eyes before looking across the hallway. She followed where he was looking, sighing when she saw Lydia introducing Allison to some guy on the lacrosse team. Harper knew exactly what she was doing by the smirk on her face.

Shaking her head, she watched as Scott began to walk over.

Oh Lydia.

"Harper," a voice called her over.

The brunette smiled, leaving her spot to go and stand next to one of her friends- Erica Reyes. Erica was truly beautiful, inside and out, but her extreme lack of confidence and epilepsy put her down.

Once she had a massive seizure in class which included people recording it as she wet herself. Harper had been the only one to help her afterwards, which was why Harper was one of Erica's only friends.

"Hey, Erica." Harper reached forwards to feel the material of her oversized jumper. "This is cute."

Erica smiled shyly, "thank you, Harper. You're so nice to me."

"Yeah, well, you deserve more love, Erica." Harper gently told her. "I actually have to call my grandma now, but we should definitely have a sleepover soon."

Erica beamed back at her only friend, nodding. "Of course. See you, Harps."

"Bye, Erica!"

☹☻

After the death of her parents and then her grandfather, Harper had been given free counselling sessions from the school. She didn't go often, she never even had appointments, she would just turn up and see if Morrell had room for her.

Luckily, last period she did. Harper used the "time out pass" she had been given because of her PTSD to go to Morrell's office. She had a lot on her mind and just felt like talking to someone who wouldn't sugarcoat things.

Harper gently tapped on the door and waited for an invitation to enter the room.

"Come in." A woman chirped from behind the door.

The brunette walked inside, forcing a smile at Ms Morrell. Ms Morrell smiled back, gesturing towards the seat in front of her desk. Harper sat down.

"Maybe we should start making our meetings more official, Harper. We could do every Tuesday, if you want. You have a free period during fifth period." Morrell suggested.

Harper nodded. "Yeah, if that's convenient for you then it is for me."

Morrell sent her a smile before typing something into the computer on her desk. Once she had finished she turned to face Harper, giving her her full attention.

"Now, what brings you here today? Something on your mind that you would like to talk about?" The woman asked.

Harper sighed. "I don't really know why I'm here, to be honest. I felt drawn here."

Morrell nodded again. "Is your anxiety getting bad again?"

Harper thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "It's okay right now. I haven't had to take my medication for a while, which is good."

"How is your grandma?" Morrell asked. "I believe I will be seeing her for the parent/teacher conference soon."

Harper's face fell. "She's sick."

Morrell frowned. "How so?"

"Bad cough." The teenager replied. "But it scares me every time she's sick. Like, she has a cough now, but what's next? Some life threatening disease, probably."

Morrell pursed her lips together. "Would you say that you automatically think the worst in these kind of situations? Because of your history."

Harper swallowed thickly. "I guess. Do you think I'm overreacting?"

"I can't say." Her councillor replied. "But I do think it's to do with a mixture of your PTSD, your granddad, and you being human."

"Me being human?" She repeated, not quite understanding what that had to do with things.

Ms Morrell nodded. "Any sane person would care when someone they love is sick. I'm sure there are many people in your life that would care greatly if you were sick, too."

Harper's thoughts immediately drifted to a certain hazel eyed boy.

"Yeah."

— isaaclovesmexican
alisha
♡☆

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