c h a p t e r   t w e n t y t h r e e
no control

"Lydia!" The short brunette whined. "I cut my leg!"

Lydia poked her head into the bathroom while trying to put her earrings on at the same time. She looked at Harper's bare legs as she sat on the bathtub, a razor in her hand. Just under her knee was a red line, blood coming from it.

"Quick, stick some tissue on it. You won't be able to see it in the gym, don't worry." The strawberry blonde tossed a roll of toilet paper at her.

Harper caught it, quickly ripping off some and sticking it to her leg. The blood immediately soaked it up and made it stick there. She began to do the rest of her legs until she was fully bare. The brunette quickly moved into her bedroom where Lydia was putting her dress on.

Harper had just done her makeup, shaved and was about to put her dress on and then do her hair. The girl stood in her bra and her underwear in front of her long mirror, pulling the dress over her head. Lydia did the zip up without her even having to ask.

"Thanks." Harper grinned at her, moving to sit in the chair in front of her desk. "I'll curl the ends of your hair if you do mine in curls."

"All the way?" Lydia asked. Harper heard the beep of the curling iron.

"All the way."

...

After Harper had finished Lydia's hair, they both slipped on their shoes- which Lydia had been so kind as to pay for. The short girls stood a few inches higher, but Harper knew it would barely make a difference when she stood next to Stiles anyway- he was just so tall.

"Wait, Lyds." Harper gently grabbed Lydia's wrist when Lydia moved to leave the bedroom.

Lydia turned around worriedly. "What is it?" She smoothed out her dress. "Is it my hair? Is the headband too much with the belt and the purse?"

Harper chuckled, shaking her head. "No," she moved to her drawers, pulling out 'Ruby Roo', a bright red  lipstick from MAC. "Nude lips with a nude dress is just a little bit too much, you know? This would suit you."

Lydia grabbed it from her hands, taking off the cap and twisting it up half way. She held it next to her lips and looked in Harper's mirror.

"You think?" She asked. "Would it suit me?"

Harper nodded, taking it back from the strawberry blonde. She rubbed the nude lipstick off of her lips and carefully began to apply the Mac one. Lydia watched her best friend thankfully.

"You'd be good at that." Lydia smacked her lips together once Harper was done.

Harper raised her eyebrows as she placed the lipstick back in its rightful place. "Good at what?" She chuckled. "Applying lipstick?"

"Being a makeup artist." She replied, rolling her eyes. "You're really good at it."

The brunette's heart swelled at the compliment from Lydia. Lydia didn't give out too many compliments, and when she did it was always 'exceptional' or 'okay, I guess', never a 'really good'.

"Thanks." Harper blushed, but it was unseen under her foundation. "But I want to be more than a makeup artist. I want to do something really special."

Lydia didn't turn around as she began to walk out of the room. "Be the CEO of your own makeup buisness, then. Please, don't waste what you have."

Harper smiled, thinking about it. The CEO of her own buisness. How cool did that sound? Maybe that was aiming a little too high, though.

"Harper!" Lydia yelled from the bottom of the stairs. "Miles is here!"

She rolled her eyes, chuckling a little as she began to make her way down the stairs, being careful not to trip in her heels. When she looked up she was surprised to see how good Stiles really looked. Stiles always looked good anyway, but put the boy in a suit and... wow.

His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open as she walked down the last step. "Wow." Was all he managed to get out, freezing completely.

If he thought she looked good in the changing rooms...

He was blown away right now.

"Wow!" A voice came from the kitchen doorway. "You look so handsome, Stiles." Rose complimented, squeezing his cheek a little as he blushed.

"I agree." Harper mumbled, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up a little to give him a peck on the lips.

Stiles blushed deeper, scratching the back of his neck. "Y-You too." He stammered. "Wait, no, not handsome- like really, really pretty. Beautiful even. Gorgeous."

Harper grinned. "You beautiful human." She squeezed his hand.

The doorbell rang and Lydia opened it, revealing her date. Harper inwardly groaned. It was Harry, the guy from the lacrosse team that Lydia made her go on the triple date with.

"You look hot." He told Lydia, leaning down to kiss her.

Lydia scoffed, placing a hand on his chest and pushing him backwards. "I know." She ruffled her hair before coming to stand next to Harper. "Rose, you're on picture duty."

Rose accepted Lydia's phone. "Okay, group photo first. Smile!" She chirped, taking some pictures of all four of them.

Stiles made sure to not look as awkward as possible, wrapping his arms around Harper and making it look as natural as possible. Inwardly, both teenagers were crying.

"Okay, one of Harper and Lydia now." Rose instructed as the boys moved off to the side.

Lydia, being taller than Harper, wrapped her arm around Harper's shoulder, smiling for the picture. Harper grinned too, nailing it. Being best friends with Lydia Martin meant that she had learned how to take good pictures.

Rose took a couple of pictures of Lydia and Harry before she moved onto Stiles and Harper. They took really cheesy pictures and cute pictures, on Rose's phone, Stiles' phone and Harper's phone.

Stiles accepted his phone back from Harper's grandma, looking down at the pictures and smiling fondly. He quickly set his favourite one- the one where he and Harper were just looking at each other with so much admiration that it made his heart swell - as the background of his phone.

"Off we go then." Harper grabbed Stiles' hand, lifting it up to her lips and pressing a kiss there.

Tonight was going to be so good.

...

Stiles climbed out of the jeep, or more like fell out of it, as soon as he pulled up in the parking lot at school. He quickly scrambled around the vehicle and onto Harper's side, opening the door for her. It squeaked wide open, causing Harper to giggle.

She accepted Stiles' hand as he helped her out of the high car with her heels on. They intertwined fingers as Lydia and Harry walked over, Lydia smoothing out her dress for the hundreth time that night. Harper knew she wanted to make Jackson jealous tonight.

Jackson and Allison then walked over, both looking like they'd rather be dead than at this dance. Harper couldn't help but have a good feeling about tonight though.

"Jackson." Lydia forced a smile.

Harper turned away, feeling Stiles tap on her shoulder. "Look." He pointed up onto the roof of the school building where Scott was, stalking around in his suit.

"What is he doing?" Harper groaned, letting out a small laugh. "How did he even get up there?"

Stiles chuckled. "He's a werewolf, duh."

"Who's a werewolf?" Allison quickly snapped, her eyes wide and she looked frantic. Like she knew something...

Harper and Stiles both froze. "Um, Edward from Twilight." Stiles lied quickly.

"He's the vampire..." Lydia raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms across her chest.

The short girl laughed, fake slapping Stiles' arm. "Ha! See, I told you Edward was the vampire and not the werewolf..." Her acting skills finally came in handy as she grabbed Stiles' arm, dragging him towards the school without another word. "Did you see the look on Allison's face?" She hissed.

Stiles patted her arm gently. "Don't worry about it tonight, Harps. Tonight is a no-supernatural night. Just me, you, and a bunch of sweaty high school kids."

"Great." Harper sighed.

...

Upbeat music played throughout the gym, multi-coloured lights casting all over the large room as teenagers danced everywhere. Harper was surprised at how well the school had decorated the place. It actually looked really good.

As the live music played, Harper and Stiles stood around in a group with Lydia, Harry and some other people- a few from the lacrosse team, and a couple of Harper's class-friends. Class-friends meaning people she would only ever hang out with at school.

Harper smiled as Stiles came over with a cup of coke for her, taking a sip of his own. She would have thanked him but the music was so loud. She turned her head towards the stage, her eyes falling on Peter Hale himself.

"Harper!" Stiles hissed, pulling her arm away from the group of people. "Your eyes just flashed purple!"

The British girl blinked quickly, turning back to where she thought she had saw Peter. Nobody was there. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. Great.

Harper winced. "Sorry!" She yelled over the music.

Stiles just sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Do you wanna dance?" He yelled after a few moments, pointing his thumb in the direction of the dance floor.

Harper thought about it for a second before nodding. A distraction is just what she needed to stop her from thinking about Peter Hale for a few minutes.

The teenage boy wrapped his arms around her waist, fist bumping the air as he lead her to the dance floor. Harper giggled at his excitement, her heart skipping a beat as they began to dance just like they had at Jackson's party the night that they found out Scott was a werewolf.

"McCall!" Finstock suddenly yelled from across the hall, causing both Harper and Stiles to look at each other with a knowing look. "I see you! Come here, buddy."

"McCall!"

Harper watched as Scott quickly rushed down the bleachers, Coach Finstock yelling at teenagers to move out of the way as he pushed his way through the crowd, trying to get to Scott.

Scott had been banned from the dance because his grades were low. Apparently it was either no dance or no lacrosse, so of course Coach had picked no dance.

"Get out of my way! McCall! It's a small gym, buddy. I'm gonna find you." Coach Finstock yelled as Scott suddenly pushed past Stiles and Harper, sending them both a wink which they laughed at.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Scott quickly grabbed Danny, wrapping his arms around his neck and forcing him up onto the dance floor. Danny looked utterly confused and violated but wrapped his arms around Scott's waist loosely anyway.

"McCall! You're not supposed to..." Coach froze when he saw the position that Scott was in, frowning. "What the hell are you..."

The entire gym went silent. Even the band stopped playing to see what was going on. Because to anybody that didn't know what was going on, it looked like Coach was yelling at Scott and Danny for dancing together.

"What the hell are you doing?" Coach sounded defeated.

"Yes, Coach?" Scott frowned, moving closer to Danny.

Harper snorted as everybody glared at Coach Finstock, who held his hands up in defence, chuckling nervously.

"Okay... Hold on, you... I was just saying he's not supposed to... I mean, I wasn't saying he shouldn't..." He began making hand actions. "You guys don't think... You don't... I... I was... Just dance, everybody! Just dance! It's a dance! It's a party!" He began to laugh.

Harper giggled, turning back to her boyfriend as a slow song began to play. Stiles ducked his head into Harper's neck and Harper had her arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He had his hands placed firmly on her waist.

All of a sudden, it was like something clicked in Harper. She felt an urge. The urge to take Lydia somewhere. The lacrosse field. She had no idea why, but she needed to do it. Stiles noticed how she was looking around and pulled away.

"You okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Stiles... I have to go." She pulled away completely from him.

Stiles frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"

"To the bathroom." She quickly said and Stiles sighed in relief. "With Lydia."

"With Lydia?" He frowned.

"It's a girl thing. Never go to the bathroom alone." She leaned up to peck his cheek. "I'll be back, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded.

Harper moved across the hall, finding Lydia walking around aimlessly. "Harper, have you seen Jackson?" She asked worriedly. "I can't find him anywhere."

Harper nodded. "I saw him on the lacrosse field."

...

"Where is he?" Lydia mumbled, rubbing her arms to warm herself up as Harper took her into the middle of the field. "I thought you said he was here?"

Harper suddenly began to blink rapidly, her body falling to the ground in front of Lydia for the second time in the past week. Lydia screeched, bending down to help her best friend when the lights started to light up- one by one.

A figure began to come out from behind the trees, their face blinded by the lights. "Jackson!" Lydia shrieked. "You need to help! Harper... she just... she..."

"Harper! Lydia!" Lydia heard Stiles scream. "Harper!"

Lydia whirled around, tears in her eyes as Stiles ran towards them as fast as he could. When Lydia turned around she was met with a man that certainly was not Jackson Whittemore.

"Don't worry." He grabbed Lydia's arm. "Harper's going to be just fine."

And then suddenly he opened his mouth, massive fangs on display as he roared. Lydia didn't even have time to scream before everything went black.

next chapter is the last! honestly, I'm really stuck on book two, so that might be published in a very long time.
the last chapter will be published tomorrow, which is also my first day of school rip

..