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chapter one:

⤵︎ ⤹
⤷ WOLF MOON ⤶
01 x 01

❝ I'M SORRY, DO I KNOW YOU ?? ❞

❝ NO BUT, UH . . . I KNOW YOU. ❞

❏❐❑

THE MORNING after Cordelia's near brush with death was a tough one. For starters, she'd walked down the creaky fabricated stairs only to find the man himself sitting at the table in his usual seat, drinking a cup of strongly brewed coffee with a newspaper in hand. The smell immediately filled the girls' nostrils, and she recoiled back slightly, tempted to just go back upstairs and lock herself away forever. However, she bumped into a hard surface, making the young brunette turn around swiftly.

"Woah, what's wrong?" Her older brother questioned with his hands out and placed firmly on her shoulders.

Cordelia peered back and moved to hug the taller boy. With her face pressed into his chest, the careful thump of his heartbeat reassured her ever so slightly. She spoke with a muffled voice, but Adrian was able to decipher what she had muttered. And slowly, anger bubbled up in his stomach. What his their mum thinking? The man had nearly gotten Cordelia killed just yesterday, and now he was already settling back into their lives!? What was she thinking?

The older brother pushed his sister back slightly to face him. "Go back to your room and lock the door, okay? Don't come out until I knock on the door. I'm going to go talk to them." He instructed in a soft tone, voice wavering with anger. Though not directed to her. To him. To his mother. And to anyone who thought it'd be a good idea to let him back in the house.

Cordelia sniffled lightly but nodded, agreeing to her brothers conditions. She ran back up the stairs, and he could hear the door close slighlty and the lock click. Adrian let out a breath of annoyance. He just hoped Cordelia would listen.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

THE COOL winter morning sun filtered in through the white lace of the curtains softly while Strawberry Swing by Coldplay played in the background from her radio. They were one of her favourite bands, so it was no wonder they were constantly on repeat.

Today was a relaxing morning for the girl. It was the first day back, and while that usually brought nerves, for some reason, today she felt none at all. But hey, the brunette certainly wasn't complaining.

The sound of her mother's voice resonated from downstairs, telling her to come down for breakfast. This, along with dinner, was one of Cordelia's least favourite times of the day as she was forced to sit at the table with her Richard and her mother. Oh, the joy.

Peering in the mirror, Cordelia sighed as she met her gaze in the reflection. The teen had used makeup to conceal the dark bags underneath her eyes. It was another sleep of nightmares. Another memory of that day. Of drowning. Of nearly dying.

Crystal had convinced her daughter to go to therapy, claiming that she was "traumatised" from the incident. Though Cordelia supposed she was right. That day had affected the brunette's growth more than she cared to admit. Daily, it plagued her brain and consumed her thoughts. And after dark, it turned into night terrors that she'd sometimes have to scream into her pillow to awaken from, not wanting to disturb her mother. It was a painful way to live, but it was she'd known from the age of nine up until now. Sixteen.

Slowly, Cordelia adjusted the picture of she and Lydia at her birthday party just last year that was peeking from between the mirror with cautious hands. She smiled at the memory. It had been an all too fun night, though the young woman wished that she too could let loose and have a swim in the pool. Instead, she'd just hovered around with a drink permanently stuck in her tanned hand with her then boyfriend, Andrew Whitlock.

He was a nice guy with great hair but it just hadn't worked out and so the pair decided to stay as friends. She often saw him around school, and he'd give her a reassuring nod or polite wave.

Though it seemed that, once again, Cordelia had gotten wrapped up in her thoughts as the sound of a glass being set down in front of her broke the teen out of her thoughts. She watched as the clear liquid sloshed around the tall glass, the condensation slowly working its way upwards.

Tentatively, the Madden girl took a sip, aware of both adults' eyes practically piercing her skull. Cordelia peered up through her lashes, shifting uncomfortably in the wooden chair. The soft cushion below not doing much to ease the discomfort that she was inevitably feeling.

Feeling the need to say something, thought of what to say before the words left her cherry scented lip gloss covered lips. "I'm supposed to be showing the new girl around today." She muttered while mindlessly stirring her bowl of cereal around. The spoon hit the side of the bowl more than once, creating an irritating noise, but neither of them chose to bring it up.

Crystal smiled. "That's nice, what's her name?" She asked with genuine interest while Richard continued to drink from his coffee while simultaneously reading the newspaper. It was a rather gripping story as half of a young woman's body had been found by a jogger in the woods. Yes, half a dead body.

"Allison." Cordelia replied. "She and her family apparently move around a ton, so don't go expecting me to immediately be her friend. I know what you're like." The teenager added while noticing the knowing look on her mother's face.

Crystal ignored her daughters words but continued on with the conversation anyway. "I know. I know." She began before a thought made its way into her head. "How's Lydia doing? Are you seeing her today?"

The brunette paused, having just taken the first bite of her food. She swallowed heavily before mustering up a response. "No, she's driving herself today. I have to be in later to show Allison around the school, remember?"

An uncomfortable silence settled and was only broken by the turning of pages, early birds chirping, and coffee pot brewing. These kinds of situations always made the brunette uneasy. Apprehensively, the brunette pushed her bowl to the side and stood up, grabbing the bag that was hung up on the side of her chair.

As both Crystal and Richard's eyes glanced up to her, she shuffled backwards slightly, edging even closer to the door. "Uh . . . I'm going to start heading there. It's already getting on."

Richard raised a brow. "I thought you didn't have to be in until later today." He challenged, still holding that dreaded mug of what she was sure held more than just coffee.

A nervous laugh escaped from her lips while she wracked her brain in what to say. "Yeah, I know I just, I don't want to leave her waiting, you know?"

Richard nodded silently as he watched as Cordelia almost tripped over her feet while rushing out the door and into her car.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

IN ORDER to ease her rushing thoughts, Cordy turned on the radio. They were bound to play a song she liked. Some Britney Spears? Maybe some Coldplay if she was lucky enough. However, as her luck would have it, the man on the radio just seemed to be talking about last nights events.

The brunette almost crashed her car into a nearby tree at the quick pace she reached to turn off the radio. No music today, it seemed.

Cordelia distracted herself from the glaring red traffic light as she reached for her phone, and a hint of a smile appeared on her features as a message from Lydia came through. She'd sent a photo of her outfit along with the words, "What do you think ?? < 3". Though Cordelia knew that the strawberry blonde didn't really need her confirmation, she sent a simple thumbs up emoji with a heart and took a quick picture of hers to show her friend. While the brunette waited for the message to send, she noticed a car pull up next to her. She peered up slightly, barely giving the blue jeep a second glance.

That was until he said something. He brunette looked to him and frowned.

However, not wanting to be rude, she gave the boy a small smile and leaned forward and lowered the window to her right. "What?"

The pale teen fumbled slightly. "Uh . . . I said, "You know you shouldn't really be texting while driving." You could . . . crash." He trailed off, each word becoming quieter and quieter as he faltered under the pretty girls' stare.

Okay, now she was confused. She first gestured to the empty road around them, then to the red light. "I'm not . . . driving."

"Right. I get that." He laughed nervously as he leaned his arm on the side of his window but missed entirely and fell forward. A pained yelp left his lips, but the boy managed to recover surprisingly quickly.

Taking the teens' pained inconvenience as a chance to speak, she asked him the question that had been floating around in her mind ever since this strange encounter began. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Another awkward laugh. "No, but uh . . . I know you."

What?

Taking note of her surprise and no doubt shock, he quickly corrected herself. "Uhm, I mean, I've heard of your brother. Lacrosse legend. I kind of look up to him. You know . . . After my dad, of course."

Oh.

Relief settled its way onto her face at that. So he was a lacrosse fan. "So, you play?" She questioned curiously.

The mystery boy deflated at her assumption. He wished. "No." He sighed. "But I'm hoping to get on first line some day. For now, I'm kinda just stuck on the bench."

Cordelia couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. She knew the feeling of desperately wanting something but not being able to obtain it. Before another word could be said, the light finally turned green.

Peering from the green light to the boy, she offered a small smile. "Look, maybe I'll see you around, okay?"

The boy nodded and waved awkwardly. "Stiles." He added quickly once he saw her beginning to drive away.

Cordelia nodded. "I would tell you mine, but I have a feeling you already know it." The brunette replied.

The mystery boy, now identified as Stiles, nodded.

Stiles sat there for a moment as he watched the girl drive away. Man, he couldn't wait to tell Scott about this.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

CORDELIA STEPPED out of her designated parking spot, slamming the car door shut. After her small encounter with Stiles, she'd driven around for a bit to kill some time.

And so now she was at the school where she spotted a pretty chesnut haired girl sitting from afar. Clearly, she was on the phone with someone. Not wanting to interrupt the conversation, Cordelia fished out the compact mirror she had in her pocket and took a glance at her reflection. Feeling satisfied, she was about to put it away before she saw something in the mirror that startled the teen.

A pair of bright blood red eyes glaring at her. It looked like they belonged to some kind of hunched over beast. Cordelia immediately turned around, only to see that there was nothing there. Frowning slightly, the young woman turned around once more and snapped the mirror closed when she saw that it was just her reflection staring back at her. She rubbed her eyes slightly, wracking it up to lack of sleep.

Once Cordelia opened her eyes again, standing in front of her was the pretty girl from afar. The woman jumped back and put a hand over her chest in order to calm her racing heart.

The girl laughed slightly before apologising and offering up a small, regretful smile. "I'm sorry . . . I didn't mean to scare you, I just, you're Cordelia Madden, right?"

The startled brunette nodded before verbally responding. "Yes, I am." She then held out a hand for the girl to shake. "You must be Allison then?"

Allison nodded. "Yep. That's me!" She replied rather enthusiastically.

Cordelia admired the blue ━━ eyed girls' enthusiasm. "Nice to meet you." She greeted. The pair then began to walk towards the school, falling in line with one another. "So, what brings you to good old Beacon Hills?"

Allison blushed slightly before shaking her head in admission, her brown curls falling in front of her face slightly. "Uh, me and my family move around a ton as you may already know."

Cordelia nodded, having indeed already known this information.

"So, I hear San Fransisco isn't where you're originally from?" She posed.

"No, but we lived there for more than a year, which is unusual in my family." Allison replied with hesitancy in her tone.

"You're a travelling kind of family, huh? You must be pretty close then."

The teen chuckled while nodding. "Yeah, we are pretty close. It's nice."

For a fleeting moment, Cordelia found herself feeling jealous of the chesnut haired girl. For having the kind of family she dreamed of. For having the kind of family she had until Richard came into the picture.

Pushing down the feeling of envy, Cordelia stopped outside a classroom. "Okay, so, this is our stop. But I must warn you, this is where the fun ends." She teased with a wide, teeth bearing smile.

Allison laughed heartily at the brunette's antics. She could already tell they were going to be good friends.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

THE CLASS went by pretty slowly. Too slow for Cordy's liking. She found herself switching between drumming the end of her pencil against the paper of her notepad, glancing at the clock as if it would make the minute band move any faster, and dodging the curious stares that Stiles and some random boy were giving her throughout the entire hour.

As soon as the bell had rung, the brunette packed up her stuff and dragged Allison away from the staring duo, nor giving the shaggy haired one a chance to speak to the girl like Cordelia assumed he wanted to. Like handing her a pen wasn't enough?

"Okay, so, this is your locker. I got it next to mine so we can meet here every morning until you find your way around this place. It can kinda be a maze if you don't know where you're going."

The nearly seventeen year old girl beamed at the kindness of the brunette who she'd dare to call a friend. She didn't know what she'd done to deserve this, but the Argent would remain forever grateful for Cordelia Madden.

"Thank you. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you, to be honest."

Cordelia merely waved it off with a dismissive gesture. This was the least she could do. Perhaps she was wrong before. Maybe she could be Allison's friend.

Noticing that the chesnut haired girls attention was no longer on her, she followed where her eyes had travelled only to land on the same shaggy haired man from their English class who had offered Allison a pen. It was a bit creepy how he knew that, mind you, but Cordelia couldn't be bothered to stray on the thought.

Allison sent him a smile while the boy waved back. Cordelia was sure that she was about to say something but failed too as an all too familiar voice came from behind them.

"That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?"

Allison looked stunned at the sudden appearance of the girl but replied nonetheless. "My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."

Jackpot.

Lydia beamed. "And you are our new best friend." She grinned while gesturing to Cordelia, who had been listening silently.

Allison glanced between the two. "Oh, so you two know each other?" She questioned politely.

"Only since the beginning of high school." The strawberry blonde enthused. "She was too gorgeous not to be my friend." The teen added with a smile sent towards the brunette. In turn, Cordelia smiled and gave a confirming nod.

And once again, before Allison can say anything more, another figure approached them. This time, it was a guy, and from the way he'd grabbed Lydia's waist and kissed her, Allison assumed that they were together.

The Argent looks away shyly as she tries not to stare at the pair positively making out in the hall.

Were they always like this?

Cordelia groaned and threw her head back in annoyance and disgust. She then turned to Allison with a sorrowful gaze. "I'm sorry about them. They apparently don't know the meaning of subtlety or privacy." Thr brunette spoke the last few words of her mini rant a little more loudly so the couple would get the idea and hopefully break apart.

Meanwhile, across the hall, Harley, a girl from their class, who was also watching the scene go down in front of them, looked to Scott and Stiles incredulously, though Scott was too busy listening to Allison, Cordelia, Lydia, and Jackson's conversation to hear her.

"Can someone tell me how New Girl is here all of five minutes, and she's already hanging out with Lydia and Cordelia's clique?" She asked, shocked.

Though Harley was obviously being facetious, Stiles replied with a genuine answer, not noticing her obvious tone.

"Because she's hot." He replied without hesitation.

The teen girl gave him a look, but Stiles still didn't get it and merely shrugged his jacket clad shoulders before finishing his thought. "Beautiful people herd together." He added with an unwavering stare at the strawberry blonde while Allison and Cordelia were talking to each other and were laughing at what the other had said.

"So," Lydia began, finally stepping away from her boyfriend to face the two girls. "This weekend, there's a party."

Confused, Allison questioned. "A party?"

Jackson nodded. "Yeah, Friday night. You should come." He invited with a small, barely noticeable smug smirk.

Allison appeared slightly bashful when she replied. "Uh, I can't. It's family night this Friday. Thanks for asking."

Lydia, Jackson, and even Cordelia looked disappointed by this response.

"You sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage." The teenager added in one last attempt to convince the girl.

Allison's brows furrowed. "You mean like football?"

Jackson scoffed, thinking that this was a mere joke to fuel his ego. Surely she didn't just say that?

"Football's a joke in Beacon. The sport here is lacrosse. We've won the state championship for the past three years."

Lydia beamed once more as she looked at Jackson with a loving expression as she ruffled his tousseld light blonde hair.

"Because of a certain team captain . . ." She drawled teasingly.

The lacrosse player smirked smugly at the compliment.

"Well, we have practice in a few minutes. That is, if you don't have anywhere else ━━"

Allison cut the man off in an attempt to talk her way out of it, only to be interrupted herself by Lydia, who had seemingly made the decision for her.

"━━ Well, I was going to ━━" She began but was interrupted by her new, overly enthusiastic friend.

"━━ Perfect! You're coming."
Lydia grabbed both Allison and Cordelia by the hands and dragged them to the lacrosse field, with Allison giving Scott one last look before she left.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

CORDELIA NEVER paid much mind to lacrosse or the practice of it ever since her brother had left the school. Yet she couldn't tear her eyes away from the boy who had been staring at her newfound friend all day. He'd been put in goal, looking rather nervous as he was hunched over slightly. The sight made the brunette remember what she'd seen in her mirror just over an hour before. But it couldn't have been real. It just couldn't have.

Though, as usual, for what seemed like the millionth time that day already, a loud noise, this time it being the coaches whistle, broke the young woman out of her deep thoughts. She felt Allison nudge her side softly and practically had concern written all over her face.

Cordelia appreciated her new friends concern but shook it off as nothing before turning her gaze back to the game where the shaggy haired boy from English looked more nervous than ever.

"Who is that?" Allison questioned as she jerked her head in Scott's direction.

"Him?" Lydia motioned to Scott in the goal. "I'm not sure who he is. Why?" The strawberry blonde asked accusingly.

Allison smiled softly. "He's in my English class."

The trio watched as the player at the front of the line launched the ball towards Scott and the goal. Only for it to hit him straight in the face, knocking him to the ground from the force of it.

Cordelia and Allison winced at the sound it made while Lydia appeared unbothered, smug even.

While the rest of the team and even the coach were laughing at him and his epic fail, the Mcall boy slowly got up, more determined than before.

"Hey, way to catch with your face, McCall!" Jackson taunted coyly as his comment only made the laughs even louder.

The next player in line marched forward and tossed the ball towards him, and Scott caught it easily, to the point where he himself was visibly stunned that he was able to do so.

The sentiment was shared by all the rest of the teammates and even Lydia, who had a small confused frown on her face. Cordelia didn't watch these practices often despite her friend's repeated insistence that she did, but from the shocked looks and wide eyes from everyone else, the brunette could tell that this didn't happen often.

From afar, the teen could hear Stiles supportive cheers for his friend. Seemingly also surprised but mainly proud. Maybe he would make it first line this year, after all. Maybe this year would be the year that everything changes.

Shot after shot was caught by the teen as everyone watched on in awe. This was sure spread around the school like wildfire by the time lunch hit.

By now, even Lydia seemed impressed by the sudden talent that Scott seemed to be showing out on the field.

Allison smiled widely. "He seems like he's pretty good." She commented.

Cordelia peered to the girl as she formed a response in her head. For once, Lydia wasn't putting on her mean ━━ girl act or pretending to be someone she wasn't when she replied to Allison's statement.

"Yeah . . . very good."

Scott's repeated his successful attempts at catching each ball thrown his way until Jackson stepped in front of the next player with a hard gaze. Angrily, he slammed his hand into the boy yo push him backwards so he could take his place.

Scott watched on as the teen ran forward with as much speed as he could and threw the small white ball his way. Dread filled the boys stomach as he saw it get closer and closer until, eventually, it landed in his net. He'd caught Jackson's shot.

Jackson's.

Both Stiles and Lydia stood to their feet to cheer Scott on, much to his surprise.

Allison and Cordelia joined them as they, too, clapped and cheered for the unlikely sportsman.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

"SO WHAT happened exactly?" Cordelia questioned as she excitedly peered at Allison's face from her computer screen.

The rest of the school day had been rather dull. Word had indeed spread of Scott McCall's lucky break in lacrosse practice earlier that morning. The brunette didn't believe that, though. I mean, clearly, the boy must have practised a hell of a lot to get that good over the break. How else would he have improved so significantly?

"Well, I ended up taking the dog to the vets office nearby. And you know who works there?" Allison trailed off in an attempt to get the girl to answer.

"Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing Scott works there?" Cordelia questioned as she looked up from the matte nail polish she was painting her nails with.

"Mhm! He fixed the dogs leg right up, gave me some of his clothes, and then asked me to Lydia's party this Friday!" Allison gushed with a smile so wide that it must have been hurting the blushed apples of her cheeks.

The brunette smiled back. She was happy for her friend, truly she was, but the brunette couldn't help but feel somewhat weary. She'd never even seen this boy before, and all of a sudden, he was making it in lacrosse and asking Allison to be his date for the party? It seemed a bit strange.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Argent." The Madden daughter teased with a knowing glance and a pointed finger which was holding the small lidded brush. She then went back to working on her nails.

Allison merely frowned. What was Cordelia talking about? "What do you mean?"

The teen heaved a sigh before looking deep into the screen and Allison's blue eyes. "I'm just saying, how do you know that he's not a . . . I don't know, a murder?"

The chesnut haired girl scoffed but found her friends worry adorable. "He's not like that. He seems sweet."

"You say that now, but don't come running to me when you find a dead body in his closet or something." Cordelia countered immediately after in a mocking tone.

Allison giggled at the accusation. "Or maybe I'll be the one in the closet?" She taunted with raised eyebrows that made the sixteen year old snigger at the preposturous thought.

Cordelia and Allison had chatted for a little while more before the question she'd been anticipating left the older girls mouth. "So, who are you going to the party with?"

Cordelia stopped in her steps. She'd been going through her clothes and deciding what to wear on the night, which prompted Allison to ask.

The screeching sound of hangers being pushed left right and centre halted instantly as she lowered her hands and turned around. "Uh . . . I'm going with my ex." She muttered, drastically lowering her tone at the last few words.

Allison furrowed her brows and leaned forward. "What did you say?" Thinking that she misheard the girl. After all, who would ever do that?

"My ex. Andrew." The brunette muttered once more but with a little more conviction present in her tone this time round.

The blue - eyed girl looked positively reeling. "What? Why?" She asked, puzzled.

Cordelia shrugged. Truthfully, she didn't really know why. I mean, he'd asked to go as friends and she agreed just like that. The brunette hadn't put much thought into her decision. "I'm not really sure why. I didn't want to go with anyone else." She reasoned while cringing at the multiple rounds of different guys who'd attempted to ask her out. Thankfully, Lydia had always appeared just at the right moment and made a faux excuse to get her friend out of the awkward situation. "We agreed to go as friends."

Allison rolled her eyes. "Sure. As long as it's just as friends, right?"

Cordelia knew what the girl was hinting at but chose to brush it off, not feeling the need to explain herself tonight. She decided to go with Andrew for a fun time, not for anything else.

"Alright, you know what, I don't have time for your ridicule." Cordelia remarked playfully as she walked over to the computer and ended the call before saying her goodbyes.

The two would see each other the next day at school, and Allison would pick Cordelia up to school and back so she could help the girl with her outfit.

The brunette went back to her closet and closed the doors. However, as she did so, an uneasy feeling crept upon her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and goosebumps arose on the tanned skin of her arms. Cordelia turned around slowly and gasped at the sight that stood before her. For this time, it wasn't just a pair of red eyes. No. This time, she could see what they belonged to. The teen could physically feel the breath escape her lungs much like it had all those years ago when death had felt so near.

Stood in front of her window, barely being covered by the sheer white lacy curtains that fronted it, was a large black monster staring right back at her. Its sharp and pointy white teeth bearing outwards. The heavy breath of the animal fogged up the glass, and the teen watched as the beast lifted a clawed hand and drew a spiral in the mist. She furrowed her brows and took a startled step back.

Okay, now she knew she wasn't going crazy. Whatever this thing was, it was real. And whatever it was, wanted her. And she would never know why.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

THIS MORNING wasn't as smooth sailing as the one before. For instance, Cordelia had woken up late, so she didn't get time to do the simple makeup look she always went for. Then, she'd slipped in the shower, which had resulted in a nasty green bruise on her thigh. After that, she found out that Richard had eaten the last of her typical breakfast, so the brunette had just decided to go hungry, not having time to do anything else. Finally, the incident that had occurred last night was on a constant loop in her mind and plagued her nightmares.

So, all in all, Cordelia Madden was not having a good day so far. At least, that was until Allison showed up. The brunette didn't waste a second as she rushed out of the door and into the car before instructing the girl to drive. Allison didn't hesitate.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

MUCH LIKE her morning. The rest of Cordelia's day was unpleasant. She was late to one lesson while the others had been boring as ever. At lunch, she hadn't said much, instead just choosing to focus on her food while Allison, Jackson, Lydia, and Danny were talking around her. She occasionally looked up only to be met with a familiar pair of hazel brown eyes. However, all the teen could see where the blood-red ones glaring into her soul, making her flinch backwards before staring back at the food on her lunch tray.

It had become so frequent that even Scott and Stiles had noticed it. Anyone who was anyone noticed that Cordelia Madden wasn't herself today, but everybody had those days, right? Though, with the knowledge that Stiles had, practically everything piqued his interest now. What with supposed werewolves running around biting people? Who's to say that she wasn't somehow involved?

"Is she acting weird to you?" Scott had questioned as he curiously gazed at the brunette, watching as she pushed the food around on her plate with disinterest, clearly not paying much attention to the conversation happening around her.

This time, it was Stiles who spared a not so discreet glance at the aforementioned teenager. "Yeah, I noticed that, too. But she's probably just having one of those days. You know?"

Disgusted, Scott realised the deeper meaning behind his friends words. "Ew! Gross, Stiles."

The boy just shrugged as he shoved some curly fries into his mouth, choosing not to mention anything lf the sort right now. He'd explain it all later before the party. Hopefully, it'd all go according to plan.

◤━━━━━━━━━━━◥

SPOILER ALERT, it didn't go to plan at all. Shocker.

Scott had just gotten mad when Stiles had suggested ( more like demanded ) that he cancel his date with Allison. No way!

He'd only gotten even more frustrated when the boy had brought up werewolves. I mean, how ridiculous was that!?

Anyway, he digresses. Right now, he was waiting outside of Allison's house after being sent a message from her saying that she may or may  not be still deciding on what to wear.

From below, he could see two silhouettes moving across the room.

"How about this?" Allison questioned  while holding a top up to her chest, showing how it would look on.

Cordelia turned her head to the side while making a face. Allison took that as a no.

She turned around and grabbed something else off of a hanger and presented it to the girl. "This?"

The Madden girl hesitated. "Too sparkly."

The chesnut haired girl was puzzled but put it away and pulled out another top. After all excuses Cordelia had listed; "too pink," "too not pink," "too conservative," and the great "What are you a nun?" The brunette finally decided on a navy black coloured blaze with a white shirt underneath, which she deemed appropriate for the party.

And so, Cordelia took her leave while giving a knowing glance to tur girl. As she made her way down the stairs, the girl was just about to leave but was stopped as Mr. Argent's voice sounded from behind her.

"You will be careful, won't you?" He warned with a deep voice. Cordelia turned around.

"I sure will, Mr. Argent." She replied wearily.

The man gave her a confirming nod. However, she couldn't help but think that he knew something. Something that she didn't. And it was more than enough to unsettle the girl. Cordelia held his gaze until he went back into the kitchen, unaware that their little conversation had been unintentionally heard by the beta just outside the house.

Shaking off the odd interaction, the sixteen year old pulled open the door and closed it shut before hurrying down the porch steps with rapid movements so fast that she barely even heard her name being called out through the winter air.

"Hey, Cordelia!" The voice repeated. Said girl stopped and directed her attention to the car outside the house. Inside the drivers seat was, of course, Scott.

"Do you need something as I'm kinda in a hurry." Cordelia complained, just wanting to get to Lydia's house already as Andrew was meeting her there.

"Yeah, uh, do you want a ride? It's not safe to walk around this late at night." He asked with kindness in his tone and genuine intentions.

"Uhm . . . no, it's okay." She replied. Hesitant but adamant in her decision.

The McCall boys eyes widened. She wanted to walk to the party alone? By herself? Especially with what Stiles had told him ( not like he believed it, of course ).

"Are you sure?" He asked again, knowing that it was probably not a good idea. "I don't mind; really."

The young woman brushed him off dismissively. "It's fine. I could use a walk anyway. To clear my mind and such."

Scott looked hesitant but knew that he couldn't do anything to convince her otherwise. "Okay, only if you're sure."

Cordelia nodded. "I'm sure." Then, she began to walk off, leaving a confused and worried newly turned werewolf in the dead of night.

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SO, MAYBE Cordelia was beginning to regret her rather admittedly stupid decision to take a short cut through the woods alone. But the walk definitely did clear her mind, so that was a plus.

The cold air was really beginning to get to her, but it wasn't her first terrible decision of the night to wear a thin jacket and most certainly wouldn't be her last.

The girl continued her trek through the preserve, beginning to hear the sound of music blaring through some large speakers Lydia had gotten. Relief started to replace the seemingly permanent dread in her stomach. Though good things never last. And Cordelia Madden found that out the hard way.

On come the terrifying feeling of being watched. The girl didn't know if the goosebumps she was ascertaining were from the cold or due to pure fear. But she ran like hell and didn't stop until she'd managed to crash into someone, sending his red solo cup to the ground with a clatter. Thankfully, the party was way too full of people that nobody had seen the embarrassing encounter.

Cordelia pulled herself back together and stared up into the eyes of the boy she'd practically fell into, only to be semi happy that it was only Stiles.
Said boy looked down to her in concern.

"Oh woah, are you okay?" He inquired carefully noticing the unshed tears in her cool blue eyes.

The brunette nodded and dragged a hand over her face, being careful not to smudge her mascara while doing so. "I'm fine. I just need a drink." She denied while lightly pushing past the boy to the alcohol table. He watched on as she poured three different types of alcohol in one cup and dipped her head back to drink the no doubt strong liquid all in one go, most likely burning her throat.

What the hell?

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THE YOUNG woman hadn't seen Lydia or Allison not once throughout the entire time she'd been at the party which was kind of a joke as she was the one who'd desperately tried to convince Allison to tag along only for her to drop everything and say yes to a boy she barely even knew.

How ridiculous was that?

Nevertheless, she wasn't going to let all that stop her from having a great time. Andrew had left a while back with a random blonde girl, Hannah she thinks her name was? Cordelia didn't know. Everything stopped making sense around six drinks in with how strong she was making them. If the teen could forget everything that had happened over the past couple days with strong alcoholic beverages and loud music then she would certainly do so.

Yet you can only have so much of a good thing as soon enough, the adrenaline was wearing off and the memories of the encounter in the woods had come rushing back at an inevitable speed making the brunette wince and throw her cup to the side. Had the music always been this loud?

Jesus.

And now, not even Cordelia could mistake the flashing red lights for two beady scarlet eyes glaring at her once more. She staggered back only to be met with a firm chest, hands wrapping around the thin jacket around her cold and shaking figure.

The taller teen grabbed the intoxicated teen and took her to his car, it seemed as though his plan woukd have to wait for a little while. He just hoped that Scott could not lost control in the short amount of time he was gone.

The blue door of the jeep was thrown open as Stiles carefully placed the girl inside, placing a spare jacket he had tossed in the back over her form for warmth. He then closed the door and rushed to the front and pulled out his keys, quickly putting them in and turned them, hearing the familiar rumble of the engine echo through the cold winter air.

Since he didn't know where the girl lived, he'd take her back to his house and leave a note for his dad so he could call Cordelia's mother later on so she wouldn't worry.

The drive wasn't a long one and soon enough he pulled up outside of his house. Stiles disengaged the engine and got out of the jeep as stealthily as he could in order not to wake the now sleeping girl. Getting her in was the easy part but actually trying to carry her upstairs wasn't going to be easy.

Sighing to himself, the pale boy with a buzz cut readied himself for this trying task. He pulled the brunette up into his side so one arm was slung over his shoulder while the other was hanging limply by her waist. The teen then practically dragged her along with him as he walked to his house and up the few steps before once more reaching for his keys and opened the door.

Now came the difficult part.

It took Stiles a while but he eventually managed to get the girl up the stairs and in his bed. He was just writing the note for his dad, pen in one hand and cap in-between his lips, when he heard the brunette mumble something underneath her breath which was muffled due to the close proximity between her face and the pillow. Chalking up it up to mere drunken talk, Stiles continued the note, carefully thinking on what to say. He then capped the pen and threw it back in one of the drawers by his desk. But then he heard it again.

The boy moved closer to his bed and sat on the edge where she wasn't occupying and tried to get the girl to repeat what she'd just said. After all, it was probably nothing.

"I saw it." Were the words that left her lipgloss covered lips.

Stiles' brows drew together in uncertainty. What was she talking about? "What?" 

"I saw it." Cordelia repeated once more, a little louder this time.

Confused, the boy chose to ask the much needed question. "Saw what?"

"The monster . . ." The brunette replied drunkenly with eyes blown wide and flushed cheeks.

"What did it look like?" Stiles asked desperately. He didn't know what she was talking about but with all that was going on recently it was bound to be important. And if Cordelia Madden said she saw something, she saw something.

Though with no reply, he noticed that the girl was beginning to succumb to deep depths of sleep once more. But she couldn't. Not yet at least. He needed the information from her.

"Cordelia! Come on talk to me, please. What did it look like?" He all but pleaded in a desperate yell.

Cordelia's eyes opened again at his loud tone. "It was . . . huge, and black. With ━━ with bright red glowing eyes and claws. He keeps following me." She revealed through short stutters and barely coherent rambles.

Stiles' eyes widened. What the hell was going on!? His best friend was a werewolf and Cordelia Madden had officially lost her mind because of a stalking black monster. He had to get back to that party.

He was about to announce his departure but he noticed that the aspiring actress had already fallen back asleep.

The human boy sat there for a moment, mulling over everything that he'd just been told by the girl now sleeping in his bed. It was all crazy. But he knew one thing for sure.

There was something seriously wrong going on with Cordelia Madden, and Stiles Stillinski would be the one to figure it out.

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ODI SPEAKS ! ━━━━ OKAY, SO I've never written a Mostly orignal chapter this long before and I definitely wasn't expecting it to get to around 7k words but here you go lmao.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter as I really enjoyed writing it ! Each chapter for season one will go through each episode but only really show the parts where Cordelia has significance or scenes where Lydia and Allison are in. Some chapters may have numerous episodes in and some may have just one. Only time will tell.

Finally, credits to the amazing coquettish for this beautiful cover !!

As well as the super talented superpink24

Sorry I couldn't tag you guys but hopefully you see it eventually !!

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©️coast_by_coast