FINN SHOT UP OUT OF BED, HIS eyes completely widened, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his temple. Another damn nightmare.

The same one he had a week ago, on the plus side, he wasn't screaming this time. He rubbed at his eyelids, knowing he wasn't going to fall back asleep, he decided to go over his portfolio again.

He grabbed the file off his desk, switching the room light on and curling up under his covers. Opening the binder and looking through the photos he chose to show Claire.

Hoping she'd like them and he'd get to be in the club. He took a lot of photos while he and Eddie made the long drive to Beacon Hills.

Looking through the pictures made him think of old memories, memories he wished weren't just that, memories.

The box of everything from his past was still taped up on the floor of his closet, he hadn't dared open it. He knew he couldn't avoid it.

But for now, he'll avoid it like the plague. Eddie would probably lecture him if he knew all the thoughts that were flowing through his mind.

The last thing he needed was Eddie being on his case and being a worry wart. A quick mental note, never say worry wart ever again.

Speaking of his older brother he heard his footsteps in the hallway. Finn didn't have time to hurry and shut off his light.

And as he predicted, Eddie slowly opened the door. Their eyes met, although there was a hint of exhaustion behind Eddie's stare.

The older brother came further into the room, speaking groggily, "What are you doing up this late?"

Maybe I should've risked it and turned my light off. Finn shrugged in response, Eddie didn't buy it as usual.

Finn sighed, "I couldn't sleep, so I'm just looking at my portfolio." He technically didn't lie, if he went back to sleep, he'd most likely awake from a night terror.

Eddie shook his head and came to sit next to him, putting his pictures on his bedside table, beckoning for Finn to scoot over.

Which he did, Eddie knew how to make Finn feel better, the younger teen didn't know how he did it.

Maybe it was an older brother thing. "I get that the move has been hard, and I know being the new kid can be rough. But just know I've got your back."

Finn smiled, "I know. I've got your back too." Eddie returned Finn's smile with one of his own.

He put his hand on Finn's shoulder, "Anyway, get some sleep, you've got school in like six hours."

Finn agreed and watched as Eddie left the room, turning the light off and closing the door. He slid further down in his blanket, hugging it close.

Like he was some scared five year old waiting for the monster hiding under his bed to come out and swallow him whole.

With a shaky breath, Finn closed his eyes, anxiously counting sheep as sleep would soon take hold. It was now seven thirty in the morning.

Finn would only admit he got at least four hours of sleep, or was it three? When Eddie came in and got him up.

He took a spoonful of his cereal and crunched on the sugary grains, nothing like a bowl of future diabetes to fuel his body. While Eddie sipped on his coffee.

The younger boy shifted in his seat, glancing up towards his brother, fighting with himself on how to broach the question without sounding like a nervous wreck.

Eddie felt his brother's eyes watching him, he met Finn's gaze and spoke; "What's on your mind? Because you've been glancing up at me for over five minutes."

Finn blinked rapidly, hoping his dark eye bags weren't too visible, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"I'm worried about a friend." He said, fiddling with the edge of his jacket underneath the table.

Eddie set down his mug, crossing his arms and leaning against the countertop. "I'm assuming I know this friend?" He asked.

"Yeah, Liam. He's been acting strange." Finn answered.

Eddie gave an all knowing smile, watching Finn roll his eyes and shake his head. "This Liam kid seems to be living rent free in your mind. You talk to him and about him all the time."

But to tone down the wholehearted teasing, he nodded his head understandingly, "He's a nice kid, and I'm sure he's okay."

Finn looked puzzled, "You think so?"

Eddie chuckled, "Yeah bub, aren't you supposed to hang out with him tonight?"

"Yep, I'm heading out after school. We're supposed to hang out with his friend Mason too." Finn stated.

"Alright, just be safe and be home at a reasonable hour." Eddie said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I will, don't worry. Thanks Eddie." Finn finished his breakfast, grabbed his bag, and the two headed out the door to get Finn to school.

Once Finn was dropped off he headed to his locker, stuffing his bag inside, grabbing his books and heading to first period. He sat down and listened to his teacher's lecture.
——————————————————

As Liam finished first period, he headed to the gym to work out, Mason of course joined him. Liam was bench pressing stupid amounts of weight while Mason was talking.

Garrett supposedly lived in a housing development but that particular housing development is still in development.

As in, there are no houses there. Mason pointed out that Liam's been acting weird as well and, from the amount of weights he's trying, looks like he's on steroids.

Mason asked if Liam was worried about the lacrosse game tonight, since the scrimmage is against Liam's old school Devenford Prep. Liam assured him he was fine, it was just a scrimmage.

He finished his workout and walked into the locker room to find his lacrosse stick missing. He began looking around for it, and as he rounded the corner, Derek showed up, "Who the hell was that guy?" He thought.

He proceeded to break it in half and threw the pieces to Liam. Liam immediately responded with glowing eyes and a growl.

Derek, showing annoyance, just grabs Liam by the throat and shoves him against a row of lockers. Scott arrived and his voice cut through Liam's haze of anger, immediately calming him.

"You're right. He is angry." Derek let Liam go, while Scott handed him back his lacrosse stick. Apparently Derek broke someone else's equipment for fun.

The bell rings out and Scott told Liam to get to class. If Derek compared the two Liam was definitely a more attentive beta than Scott ever was, because he walks off without comment, leaving Scott and Derek behind.

Derek grins at Scott like a proud dad telling him that he's going to be good at this. Scott however feels completely unprepared and wants a training manual.

"I'll tell you one thing. That anger he's got? It'll make him strong." He said.

Scott added, "And dangerous."

Derek agreed with him, "Very." This was new for Scott, Derek was still being weirdly supportive. He told Scott that, since all their names are on the dead pool, they should be focusing on that.

Scott said that Lydia's working on getting the second cipher key. Speaking of Lydia, she was sat at an easel in the empty Art classroom with Malia, trying to draw.

It's not working like when she drew the Nemeton; she could barely put pen to paper. Whereas Malia wanted to know if someone was coming to take her head off and Lydia told her to stop hovering.

Lydia finally looks ready to draw something when Malia interrupts her again, asking if they could use help from another banshee, something like Meredith from Eichen House.

But in Economics class, it was the perfect, public place for Stiles to look through graphic crime scene photos.

Finn looked over at the older teen, glancing at the photos, all he could think was 'holy shit'. Scott has a weird friend, Finn couldn't really complain, he was weird too.

Coach, who was wielding a shabby lacrosse stick as an example of economic disparity, saw the photos. "Stilinski, if I could grade you on how profoundly you disturb me, you'd be an A-plus student."

Finn chuckled at that, then turned back to his work. Coach starts to walk away and Stiles seizes the lacrosse stick, comparing the bottom of it to the markings on Carrie Hudson's stab wounds.

As soon as class was over Stiles rushed out to find Scott, once he found him, along with Kira, they looked for a hidden knife in the school's lacrosse sticks.

Scott pointed out that most players use their own gear and Kira thought that instead of trying to find the weapon, they should be finding a way to get the game canceled.

Scott disagreed, "The game is the best way to catch him red-handed."

"But what if he's red-handed because his hands are covered in the blood of the person he just stabbed to death? Which, by the way, could be either of you guys."

Scott is worried Liam might be on one of the other coded lists. They don't know how the list is made or if it's regularly updated.

He isn't scared of playing tonight and neither is Kira. "Well, I'm terrified and I'm not even on the list. Guys, these are professional killers. It's their profession."

"One of them has a thermo-cut wire that cuts heads off. Who knows what else they have?" Stiles exclaimed.
——————————————————

In the meantime, Finn quickly grabbed his portfolio and ran to the photography club, hoping he wasn't about to waste Claire's time.

Once he got to the room, he spotted Claire and made his way over to her. They locked eyes and she smiled brightly at him, waving him over to her, he held up his folder, giving it to her.

"Here ya go." She gladly took it, while he stood there watching as she flipped through each photo with a neutral expression on her face.

"These are awesome Finn!" Finn shyly smiled, it was a relief, he definitely wasn't going to admit he stayed up late obsessing over if his work represented him the best.

Claire closed the folder, handing it back to Finn, "I'd like to give you a trial run. You can borrow one of my cameras, and take pictures of tonight's lacrosse scrimmage. Think you can handle that?"

Finn bobbed his head, "Yeah, I can. One of my friends is actually on the team. This'll be the first time I watch him play."

She perked up, "Oh really? Which position does he play?"

"That I don't know, I'm not into sports. But his name is Liam Dunbar."

"Oh! That's the kid who recently transferred here from Denford Prep!" Claire snapped her finger as she came to that conclusion.

"Denford Prep? Is that some fancy private school?" Finn asked.

Claire waved her hand imitating a so-so, "Well kind of, it is a school where a lot of rich kids go to. And I heard that Liam was actually kicked out, I don't know why, but that's what I heard."

Finn tilted his head up, with an 'oh' expression, "We can't judge as we have no idea if it's true."

"And that is the kind of energy this club needs. No picking sides, or causing chaos, I think we're going to get along just fine, Finn."

The two smiled at each other, Claire handed him the camera and its equipment, heading out of the club room.

While walking through the hallway and all the way outside of school, there was a crowd of people. The Devenford Prep lacrosse team must've just arrived in their bus.

Liam strided out through the crowd to meet them and Mason chased him, worried Liam is going to do something stupid.

Instead, Finn watches as Liam goes up to a tall haired blond kid, holding out his hand to shake.

But he laughed in Liam's face, Finn didn't know who he was, but he already didn't like him. "I paid for it." He heard Liam say.

"Yeah, you're gonna pay for it. We're going to break you in half out there and it's going to be all your fault."

Finn turned to see Scott and Stiles watching from a distance, to see that Liam is clenching his fist and drawing blood.

He races over and pulls Liam aside. Stiles plays Welcome Wagon, telling the prep students they're excited for the scrimmage tonight but they should all keep it clean on the field.

Finn quickly apologizes to Claire who tells him to go check on his friend, and follows Scott and Stiles as they drag Liam into the locker room and hold him under the shower until Liam calms down and stops roaring.

Finn was confused, what the heck just happened, Liam's were glowing a bright yellow, but then he thought back to that night Scott and Stiles kidnapped them.

That lunatic that tried to kill them was a monster, he saw Scott bite Liam, who was magically healed by the time they escaped.

He remembered helping Liam as he held his arm close to his chest. He was in loads of pain, he also remembered what Scott said to Liam,

"Liam, what happened to you... what I did to you, which I had to do in order to save you.. it's going to change you."

He walked closer to the three, there was no point in hiding and eavesdropping. Listening as Scott called Liam on his white lie: Liam told them that he smashed a teacher's car.

Much to his dismay glancing at Finn. The teacher also happened to be Liam's coach, who benched him for a whole season after Liam got one too many red cards.

After Liam was expelled, he was sent to a psychologist for evaluation. "What did they call it?" Scott questioned.

Liam sighed in defeat, "Intermittent explosive disorder."

"IED? You're literally an IED? That's great. That's great. You gave super powers to a walking time bomb." Stiles said, rubbing his hand against his forehead.

Liam had some antipsychotic medication but he doesn't want to take it because it makes him too tired to play lacrosse.

Scott thinks Liam should bail out of the game and tell Coach his leg's still sore. "No! No! I can do this, especially if you're there." He shouted.

Scott then told Liam that they think Demarco's killer might be on their lacrosse team. Liam didn't know Demarco by name and required some extra explanation,

Finn included he'd probably be in the loop soon. Liam doesn't know who ordered the keg but he does know who paid for it...

Finn spoke up, "Although I don't know his name, or heard the conversation. He had blond hair, about Liam's height, and was talking to a red haired girl around your guy's age."

"Great, so that could be any kid in all of Beacon Hills. He was talking to Lydia." Stiles replied.

"Can I ask you something, everytime I'm around you two. Weird supernatural shit has happened."

He pointed towards Stiles and Scott, then to Liam, "Your eyes were just glowing and you let out that wild roar. So... what are you? A vampire? A demon?"

Liam shortly smiled, "Werewolf, actually."

"Sweet! Are either of you a werewolf?" Finn whipped his head to Scott and Stiles.

Scott and Stiles looked at each other, Scott's eyes then glowed a bright red, Finn was completely fascinated, "What does red mean?"

Scott's eyes shifted back to their normal color, "Red means alpha, and yellow means beta." Finn noted that he'd do more research about this stuff.

"Cool, but if you both ever kidnap us again just know I'll deck you." Scott chuckled at that.

"You won't let me live that down anytime soon will you?"

Finn shook his head, "Nah, I'll take it with me to my grave." Liam laughed and started getting up.

All four of them needed to get ready for their respective activities. Finn left the locker room to go find Claire at the fields.

He made his way to the track, standing beside her, he greeted her with a hello and apologized again for leaving.

"You're good Finn, I get it. You needed to help your friend." She told him.

On the sidelines by the bench, Liam was getting psyched up to take Brett on. Mason, on the other hand, was getting psyched up at the sight of Brett's abs.

Liam scowled, "He wants to destroy me."

Mason kind of nodded along, "I think you could definitely take him. And then give him to me." The game was about to start.

Scott needed to come up with an excuse, and fast he asked to bench Liam because his leg is still hurting.

Coach brushes him off. "As captain, I'm suggesting Liam sit out the game." He told the older man.

"And as President of the United States, I'm vetoing that suggestion." Coach retaliated.

"What if he gets hurt?" Coach didn't answer him, and the game started, and Devonford Prep scored against the goalie.

Scott told Kira to keep an eye on Garrett; as something was off about him, he was going to watch out for Liam.

While Stiles was just going to focus on playing lacrosse. Finn cheered his friend on and began snapping photos, he got a couple of good shots, Claire was fairly impressed.

Scott faced off against Brett and asked him to hold off on Liam's payback for one night. Brett, laughed in Scott's face. Brett gets the ball and shoulder-charges Liam on his way to score a second goal.

Liam became frustrated, he threw off his helmet and gloves, ready to fight. But Scott and Stiles restrained him. Scott told Stiles to go while he kept Liam in check and that's what the other teen did.

Stiles faced off against a random student from Devenford Prep and asked him what kind of steroids he's on, since Devenford Student seems to have an unusual amount of facial hair for a teenager.

His snarky comments distracted the Devenford Student, enough for Stiles to get the ball and pass it to Kira.

Kira ran as fast as lightning towards the goal, and ignored Coach's calls for her to pass the ball. She scored Beacon Hills first goal and ran up to Scott, super proud of herself.

Finn made sure to keep getting photos, he did have to say sports were a little exciting. But Coach called her off the field and benched her.

Saying that she should've listened to him and passed the ball even though she had an open shot. This is a scrimmage; it's about teamwork.

After colliding with Brett, Liam got up, he turned to Scott and told him that Brett was the one who hit him, showing a broken arm.

Scott then told Liam to close his eyes and twisted Liam's arm back into place so it can heal. And although it was painful for a minute, it soon started to feel better.

Scott felt a cold feeling, and saw Garrett sheath his lacrosse knife and quickly turned to Liam, asking if he'd been cut anywhere.

Liam's fine. Which meant Garrett missed or... he didn't miss and there's more than one Beta on the field.

Concerned that he's the one Garrett's after, Liam talked to Coach and got himself benched for the rest of the game.

Scott is concerned they're missing something and he gets his answer when Stiles comes up with a message from Lydia about the dead pool.

"Am I on it?" Liam asked, noting that Finn had joined them for a minute, occasionally lifting the camera up to his eye, pretending to be taking pictures.

"No. But someone else is." Stiles replied.

Finn had no idea how to process any of this stuff. It was like he was living in a thriller film, "This is all really crazy." Liam nodded his head heavily agreeing.
——————————————————

But in the locker room, Brett crawled around the locker room while Violet told him about the wolfsbane-laced blade used on him.

It won't kill him but her thermo-cut bolo necklace will. She tells Brett that he's worth a lot of money and wraps her thermo-cut wire around his neck, pulling tight.

Scott ran to the locker room and found the first aid officer unconscious. That was all part of Violet's plan. She jumps out of the shadows and wraps her thermo-cut wire around Scott's neck.

"He said we shouldn't try but now I've got you. I've got an Alpha." Scott pulled the thermo-cut wire away from his neck, his eyes glowing red.

He knocks Violet out. Just as Stiles arrived to see the situation. "I think you better call your dad." He told his friend, watching as he pulled out his phone to call the Sheriff.

The scrimmage ended, Beacon Hills lost, it was an eventful night. But Finn had a little fun, the adrenaline rush was something else, he and Liam walked through the field to the locker room.

Mostly in silence, tired from all that went on, Finn was happy to be in the loop, now there weren't any secrets.

He hated those, "I'm uh, I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me you're a werewolf." He told Liam.

Liam smiled, "I am too, and I'm sorry if I was acting weird. And the whole not hanging out with you at the party."

Finn shook his head, replying back with, "It's okay, I'm gonna assume you were dealing with a lot more than attending some party."

Liam chuckled, that was true, he was dealing with a grand deal of stuff more important than a party full of drunk sweaty teens.

"Hopefully, this whole thing ends soon." Finn gave a nod of agreement and they continued on.
——————————————————
The End of Chapter 5