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CHAPTER TWENTY; 20

Jackson Whittemore exited his expensive car acting like he was on top of the world. With a scarf that perceived him to be an even bigger asshole than his face alone already gave, and sunglasses that blocked the clouded sun, he took in a deep breath of air as he marveled that he was now starting the beginning to an extraordinary rest of the year. The teenage boy had been gifted with the bite of a werewolf by Derek Hale, and the only thing that ran through his mind right now was the fact that he could do anything he wanted, whenever he wanted. He was no longer being held down by humanity, everything he ever wanted now running through his veins. Nothing was excluding him from the same strengths as Scott McCall now. Nothing was depriving him of the ability to shove in the teenage boy's face that he, now, could be placed on the same standards.

Just as he began walking towards school, a man that looked as if he were homeless decided to push a snarky comment Jackson's way. "Nice car."

Jackson turned around, eyebrows raised high. Picking his wallet out of his pocket, he pulled a dollar bill from the leather. "Here's a dollar. Go find another parking lot to dine in. Security!" He whipped his head around, moving towards the school. Just as he was crossing to go up the steps, a body rammed him into the wall. "Hey! What the hell!"

"Oh, shut it." The blonde that was stationed in front of him hissed. Jackson narrowed his eyes on her, moving to push her off him. Sage only shoved him harder, hands digging into the jacket he decided to wear. "Where the hell have you been all weekend? Did your jackass factor go up after formal? Lydia's literally roaming around the woods completely naked, and you're what? Buying new clothes?" She picked up his scarf to emphasize her point.

"It doesn't matter where I was," Jackson avoided, turning his head to see that Stiles and Scott were staring at them. Smirking a bit, he looked down at the short, blonde girl. "Your boyfriend seems worried about the position we're in. Want to give him a show?"

Sage looked over, her hold on Jackson loosening as she let out a sigh. "I don't think your ego is far enough up your ass yet, Whittemore."

With that, Sage walked away, going over to the two boys that started to whistle as if they were innocent, looking in all directions to play off that they saw nothing between what happened between her and Jackson. She rolled her eyes, grabbing the teenagers by their upper arms, dragging them into the school without a single word of the event. Despite Scott being a werewolf, he still whined while Stiles just protested, wincing and cringing every time she added a bit more pressure.

"Sage. Sage. Sage. We're not your rag dolls!" Stiles exclaimed. Sage looked in between the two before breathing out. She was extremely sleep deprived, having been out all night trying to look for Lydia. When they got to the Hale house last night, they found nothing that would help them find Lydia. At this point, Sage was worried about the temperature drop that was going to be occurring tonight.

Releasing the boys, Sage ran a hand through her hair. "I never liked dolls anyways."

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Harris' class was always the downfall of Sage's day. On this particular day, she was sitting across from some girl named Barbara who was constantly chewing on her pencils like she was a beaver. Another bad thing about her seat was she had a clear view of Jackson, who was a table in front of her, and she wasn't close enough to Stiles and Scott to speak to them. Harris was handing out pop quizzes, her own landing in front of her face as she tried to remember what the hell they were even learning about, when the hell she learned it, and how in the hell she was supposed to get a good grade on this when she was running around with werewolves and hunters. At least Harris won't be disappointed, seeing as he's used to her lack of knowledge about anything involving his teaching.

It's no wonder why he hated her.

"This is a pop quiz, Mister Stilinski," Harris announced abruptly, making all heads shoot over to the victim of the teacher's hatred. He, along with Scott, looked at each other as if they were two deer caught in a head light, which only made Sage sigh and lay her head in her hands. "If I hear your voice again, I may be tempted to give you detention for the rest of your high school career."

Sage lifted her head up when she heard Stiles dig an even deeper hole for himself. "Can you do that?"

"There it is again: your voice! Triggering the only impulse I've had to strike a student repeatedly and violently. I'll see you at three for detention," Harris ordered. Sage bit down on her cheek, looking over to see that Barbara was cackling in her sweater while Jackson and Danny were restraining themselves from dying of laughter. Scott glanced back at his best friend, but his head quickly turned back when Harris called him out. "You too, Mister McCall?"

"No, sir," Scott denied, shaking his head. The last thing that he needed was another reason for his mother to decide she wanted to murder him and place him six feet underground in the Beacon Hills cemetery.

Sage returned back to her pop quiz, the topic of Stiles' inability to keep quiet slowly dying to a close, when she heard hushed whispers coming from the table in front of her. Glancing up, she was shocked when she saw that Jackson's nose was bleeding black, his eyes meeting her's, completely terrified. Frowning, Sage looked over at Harris to see that he was grading tests. She nodded her head over at Jackson, and he stood up, going over to Harris. The two spoke quietly before Jackson started towards the door, but not before staring at her. Once he left, Sage waited about two minutes before sticking her hand up.

"Mister Harris?"

His head slowly raised, and he stared at her, unamused. "What can I help you with, Miss Connelly?"

"Can I go to the nurse? I'm starting to feel lightheaded and my doctor told me to go-" Sage was cut off, the whole class staring back at her. Okay, so maybe using the 'animal attack' at formal was a bad idea. Stiles and Scott turned around, giving her a look that screamed 'what-the-hell-are-you doing'.

"Take the pass."

Sage shot out of her seat, grabbing the hall pass that Jackson had forgotten. It didn't take her long to get to the boy's bathroom, barging in without caring whether or not there was any other guy in there. To her surprise, there was another guy present. They just weren't a student at Beacon Hills. Derek had grabbed Jackson just as she walked in, shoving him over to the sink. Both of them looked over at her, Derek's face not content when he saw her while Jackson let out a breath in relief.

"What the hell did you do?" Sage questioned, moving closer to them as she grabbed a hold of Jackson's face, tilting it so she could better see the liquid that was draining out of his nose. Derek rolled his eyes from beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her a distance away from Jackson. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"How are you feeling, Jackson?" Derek asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the teenage boy. "You're looking a little pale."

"Never better," Jackson spat out, refusing to let the man know that he was feeling anything but fine, when the reality was that his head was beginning to pound and he was having difficulty with his vision. He glanced over at Sage, blinking to see that she was confused at the scenario she just walked into, and knew that she was the only one he would be able to rely on- however, he also didn't know how well the blonde would take it if she found out what he chose to do.

It didn't seem to take as long as he expected either, because the blonde was gazing in between the two in front of her for a few seconds before her face fell slack. Then, the outrage came and she narrowed her eyes over at Derek, of which the man rudely avoided eye contact with her. "You didn't."

"I did what he asked," Derek stated, crossing his arms over his chest, the fact that Sage was growing outraged not his biggest concern at the moment. He had been handling the spitfire's stubbornness for the longest of times, which meant that he could very easily get through to her about all of the good opportunities he was given by turning one of her friends into a werewolf.

"By turning him?" Sage hissed, her jaw tightening as she felt all of her anger fall into her words. "That's what I felt on Friday! It wasn't Lydia, it was him! Oh, my god. I can't- I hate you. I really, truly hate you. Both of you. What the hell were you thinking!"

Sage glared at the two idiots, noticing how Jackson's lips were quirking up at how pissed she was getting. When she saw his slight amusement, she didn't waste a second before hitting him in the shoulder with her fist, making his smile drop immediately and turn into a scowl. The two of them spent a few minutes glaring at each other, all while Derek was just thankful she stopped her spluttering, the blonde having taken a series of deep breaths so she could calm herself down before she murdered him for biting Jackson and Jackson for wanting to be bitten in the very first place.

Finding herself able to speak without fearing that she would explode, the girl turned to look at Jackson. "Okay, tell me what's going on before I kill you."

"Nothing, I'm fine." Jackson lied through his teeth, wanting to keep the secret of the black blood to himself. Sage didn't seem to agree with his statement, though, and raised her eyebrows, giving him an annoyed look as he tried to pull off the fact that he wasn't leaking black fluids. Hell, he wanted her to help him before and, now, he was acting like he controlled the entire world just because he felt as though he had something to prove around Derek.

"If something's wrong, I need to know. You're with me now," Derek explained, his voice rough as he felt himself growing more annoyed that Jackson was refusing help. Sage closed her eyes, rubbing her hands on her face to try and evaluate this entire situation instead of going into like Derek with just brute words because, not only did she have to deal with a missing Lydia that may-or-may-not be eating livers, she also had to deal with a complete asshole turning into a werewolf.

The worst part of it all? She had no choice but to help them. It wasn't in her nature to just leave either one of the teenagers to their own problems. Jackson needed help, Lydia needed help as well, and neither of them were acting on the acceptance of it.

"With you?" Jackson asked, letting out a laugh. "Me with you? What am I? Your little pet? I mean, just because you gave me 'the bite' doesn't mean I'm in your little wolf pack. I'm sorry, but you don't honestly show outstanding leadership qualities."

Derek grinned at the boy's words. "Is that so?"

"Look, I've got my own agenda. Which doesn't involve running around the woods howling at night at moon with you and McCall. Okay? So, why don't you just back-" Sage cut Jackson off by walking forward, grabbing his chin so he could see the black liquid was now coming out of his ear. He huffed in disbelief when he saw it while Sage just pulled her hand away, stepping back until she hit Derek's chest. "What is it? What's happening?"

"Your body's fighting the bite," Derek clarified.

"Why?"

Derek grabbed a hold of Sage, tugging her back as he slowly moved away from Jackson. "I don't know."

"What does it mean?" Jackson demanded, turning to see that Derek had Sage behind his back, making it impossible for her to get to him, much less speak with him. His ears were now flooding with the liquid, it traveling down his neck and beginning to pour out of his nose once again. "What does it mean?"

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Walking, or should she say tripping, through the woods was not on Sage's 'To-Do' list, and she definitely didn't feel like tripping through the woods with a werewolf that just so happened to have conflict with another werewolf, now Alpha, that she was living under the same roof as. Also, another two problems came into play here, them being she kissed the werewolf a few weeks ago, and she had some sort of relationship-type thing going on with that werewolf's best friend. Clearly, Sage was having a grand old time with Scott McCall as they headed towards the funeral for a homicidal bitch that burned up her entire family as a past time. Not to mention the person that killed the homicidal bitch was her best friend's uncle that also happened to be homicidal.

Beacon Hills, California, everyone. They should really put her detailed description of how terribly screwed up her life is in a pamphlet or brochure. That'd definitely attract some tourists. Meanwhile, Scott was doing his best to get through the forest without walking too fast to the point where Sage was left alone in the woods, trying not to die. The healed boots she was sporting definitely didn't agree with large holes and sticks sprawled all along the ground. She had to keep reminding herself she was doing this for her friend, as well as to make sure there were no more blood-thirsty Argent's coming to kill her friends.

"Scott, I do not have a supernatural ability that enhances my speed, okay? And I can't walk on all fours either, so slow down!" Sage hissed, jogging forward a bit so she could grab his shoulder to jerk him back. The werewolf turned around like he just noticed she was actually there, his eyes widening as he stared down at her.

"Oh."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, oh."

"Shouldn't Stiles be here by now? Have you talked to him?" Scott asked, changing the subject as he pulled a tree branch up so she could walk without it slamming into her face. Sage frowned, shaking her head. Stiles had detention but it should have already ended; Harris was an evil human being, though, which meant he probably expanded the amount of hours Stiles had of detention.

"He should be, but Harris probably killed him or made him memorize the periodic table," Sage replied. Stiles may be smart but he definitely didn't ace his periodic table, much like the rest of the class. The only person that knew anything about Chemistry was Lydia Martin, and right now, the girl was somewhere taking a hike in the woods, completely naked.

"What's going on with you two?"

Sage turned to him, cocking an eyebrow. "I'll answer that when you tell me what's going on with you and Allison."

"Why aren't you giving him a chance? I mean, he clearly likes you," Scott questioned, straying off the topic of himself and his problems with Allison much like she did the same with Stiles. The teenage boy barely had time to explain to Scott the story of his relationship with Sage, only giving brief exerts from their fights to their kisses; as well as Stiles sort of-kind of, asking Sage out right before Derek slashed Peter's throat. Scott honestly wanted to know what was going on in that blonde head of her's.

"It's complicated, Scott."

"Are you afraid of him hurting you?" Scott asked, raising his eyebrows as he jumped across a small stream. Sage hesitated on the other side, and Scott stopped when he noticed she wasn't beside him anymore. Her hands were curled up inside of her leather jacket, and he could hear her heart thumping in her chest. Squinting his eyes, he watched as her whole posture changed. "You are, you're afraid of him hurting you."

"It's not just that. I'm afraid of hurting him. Scott, I don't even know what I am. The only person who seemed to know that was Peter, and Peter's dead. How long will it be until my abilities backfire and I'm the one hurting everyone? I won't be able to live with myself if I do anything to hurt any one of you," she admitted, biting down on her lip and tugging at it, one of her nervous habits that she developed upon growing of age.

"You won't hurt us, Sage, and I won't let anything hurt you. I promise."

Sage cracked a sad smile before jumping over the stream, catching her balance right when she thought she was going to fall back into the water. They were just reaching the end of the treeline, and she could already see the graveyard and the long line of paparazzi being held back by the deputies of Beacon Hills. Sage knew that it was a big story, the Hale House Fire finally being solved after so long. If she were to have been there at Allison's side, no doubt things would be said about how she was siding with the people that were related to the woman who killed her family.

"Go behind the statue," Sage said, pointing towards one that was big enough to hide them both. Scott nodded and the two of them ran towards it, crouching down so that no one would see them, especially Sheriff Stilinski or the Argent's. The last thing they needed was for Allison's mom, Victoria to stab them with her heel. Upon the crowd of cameras and flip notebooks, a young teenager stood out, making Sage scowl. "What the hell is Matt Daehler doing here?"

"Who?" Scott asked, turning to look at her. His eyes kept going back to Allison, who was being wrapped in her parents' arms as they tried to guard her from the flashing lights.

"Matt Daehler. He's this creepy kid that always takes pictures of everyone. My first week in school he went all homicidal stalker and followed me around. I'm pretty sure he was getting paid to take pictures of me for the newspaper considering no one really knew what I looked like after the fire. We were partners in a few classes,too," Sage explained. She wasn't really that surprised to see Matt at the funeral. He seemed to lurk around places that reeked of death. For a good two months, he was always staring at her like he wanted to speak but he never did. She, later, found out by some girl that sat a row in front of her on the bleachers at lacrosse practice that he was taking pictures of her.

"Why is he here?"

Sage shrugged. "I don't know. I choose not to associate myself with him unless completely necessary."

The two watched as he bent down, going under the barrier that was supposed to keep everyone away from Allison and her family. Sadly, it was doing a suckish job. Matt started taking pictures of Allison, more or less, until Sage saw a figure looming over the boy. Her eyebrows raised as she watched Matt get his camera confiscated from an older man in a tie. The two seemed to bicker for a few seconds before the older man took a chip from Matt's camera out, completely breaking it apart. With a defeated look, the teenage stalker walked away.

The man must have been Allison's grandfather because her parents seemed too familiar with him for him to just be an old friend. There was an awkward exchange between Chris and the old man, but Sage was too far away to hear anything while Scott seemed to lean further into the statue they were hiding behind. This was another moment that Sage wished she had a werewolf's heightened abilities.

When a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist, Sage nearly fell onto the ground and out of the crouch she placed herself in. Before she could even manage letting out a screech, one hand that belonged to the arm of what was around reached up to her mouth to keep her quiet. Both herself and Scott whipped their heads around to see that Stiles was grinning at them, his fingertips falling on the bare skin that was exposed on the blonde's hips. "Yo."

"I hate you," Sage hissed under her breath, managing to control her heartbeat. Stiles rolled his eyes at her before looking over the statue to see what the two had been staring at before he arrived.

When he came upon the face of a stranger, his eyes furred in confusion. "Who the hell is that?"

As if they heard the question being asked, all four heads shot over to the trio hiding. Immediately, Scott leaned back, his back hitting Sage's chest as she fell from her crouch at the impact and onto her butt. Stiles' leg ended up being caught under her, and the two struggled to untangle while Scott looked back, completely unfazed by what just happened or the two teenagers having problems behind him.

Scott sighed. "It's definitely an Argent."

When Stiles and Sage finally freed themselves from each other, Stiles narrowing his eyes on her while she just scowled in his direction. They may have feelings for each other, but they were also both completely stubborn when it comes to things like this. Distancing themselves, Stiles spoke, "Hey, you know maybe they're just here for the funeral. What if they're the non-hunting side of the family? There could be non-hunting Argent's. It's possible, right?"

"I know what they are. They're reinforcements."

Sage went to speak but was surprised when someone grabbed a hold on the back of her jacket, not only lifting her up but Stiles as well. Scott got the hint to turn around, his eyes widening as he slowly raised to see that Sheriff Stilinski had a tight grip on his two friends. Although he quickly released his grab on Sage, he held tightly onto his son as he glared. "The three of you are unbelievable. Now, pick up my tie."

Stiles picked up a black tie that Sage hadn't even noticed he had in his possession. "I know. I'm sorry. I know I'm supposed to ask."

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Sage never pictured herself sitting in the back of a police cruiser, squished between two guys that had a good five inches on her in height, one of them being the Sheriff's son. Now, she's been in the back of a cop car before, many times actually due to Derek's idiotic behavior, but she didn't think it would be because apparently 'Stiles was corrupting her' and 'She's being brainwashed by him', although she couldn't exactly disagree. When in doubt, blame Stiles. The only bad thing was that she was inevitably screwed right now because two problems were still wavering around Beacon Hills. One, there was now another Argent in town that looked like he would slice apart Scott and Derek without a second thought, and that was a bad thing for everyone; and two, Lydia was still running around the woods, completely naked as the temperature dropped.

She really needed to get out of this damn car.

Shifting around uncomfortably, she gave Stiles a look when she felt his hand get caught right where her butt was. His face flustered, and he quickly moved his hand. She saw the sly smile on his face while Scott started to snicker from beside her. Opening her mouth to snap at them, not in the mood for either of their hormonal jokes because quite frankly she was tired, her feet hurt, and she just wanted to sleep so long people would think she went into a coma, she was cut off as Sheriff's police scanner went off.

"Four-one-five Adam!"

Sage's ears perked up and she leaned forward as she waited for Sheriff to reply. "I didn't copy that, did you say, "Four one five Adam?""

The blonde, having no idea whatsoever what the numbers meant, turned to look at Stiles with raised eyebrows. It was then that he wasted no time telling her that it was a disturbance in a car, Scott having let out a sigh when he heard it. All of them had an idea of what happened, the only thing that was stopping them of being fully convinced of it had to do with the fact that they couldn't immediately write Lydia off for that crime.

"Yeah, we got a heart attack victim. DOA, but on the way to the hospital, something hit 'em."

"Wh- hit...hit the ambulance?" Sheriff asked in disbelief.

"Copy that. I'm standing in front of it right now. Something got in the back. There's blood everywhere, and I mean everywhere."

"Alright, what's your twenty?" Sheriff was busy talking to the deputy on the other line while Stiles seemed to gravitate towards his father, more importantly the conversation. Scott and Sage just stared as he seemed to grow more spastic with his movements, especially when his dad asked for the location.

"I'm at five post. There's blood everywhere, I've never seen anything-"

The conversation was cut sort when Stiles grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her out of the cruiser while Scott exited from the other side. All three of them quickly rushed towards the woods that were directly behind the car, stumbling through the mud and twigs that stood in the way of their goal to get to the crime. Despite Sage's feet protesting every time she moved, she was able to manage a pace that matched Stiles', and that was good enough for her considering they happened to be the only ones with the pace of a normal human.

By the time they reached the scene of the accident, it was dark and Sage was reconsidering the friendship she had with Scott and Stiles. If this was what her life was going to be like from now on, she was going to fly solo for a while, or at least sit solo. She was dying, it was official. Maybe it would benefit her if she tried out for the track team because she might have been a small girl but any physical activity that lasted for more than five minutes had her on the verge of a stroke. No, she wasn't exaggerating.

Throwing herself to the ground, barely caring when Scott and Stiles both gave her a hushed "Shut up," she glanced past the huge rock to see the ambulance that was spoken about over the scanner, and honestly, she had seen worse. A lot worse. Shaking her head, trying to clear herself from the images that were threatening to reappear, she turned to look over at Scott while they marveled the accident.

"What the hell is Lydia doing?" Stiles asked, frowning at the scene. He glanced over Sage to make sure she was okay. He knew that she was having difficulties in the shoes she was wearing, and he knew she would be handling the terrain a lot better than him had he not worn converse.

Scott shook his head, completely baffled. "I don't know."

"What kept you from doing that? Was it Allison?"

"I hope so."

Sage frowned, fumbling around with her fingers as she looked around the forest for any sign of Lydia. There wasn't much she could do besides worry her ass off, and that was a completely terrible feeling. The only thing that was keeping her sane was the fact that she didn't have any injuries, meaning Lydia wasn't hurt. It just didn't mean Lydia wasn't hurting someone, for all they knew, Lydia was the one that made the mess ahead of them.

"Do you need to get closer?" Stiles inquired.

Scott's head tilted, and Sage watched as he seemed to search for a scent that would tie to the accident. Stiles had seemed to wrap around her's by instinct, and the two didn't bother saying anything as they intertwined their fingers together. Scott turned toward them, shaking his head, "No, I got it."

When Scott started to leave, Sage quickly leaned over to grab his shoulder, making him halt in the grass. She chewed on her lip before telling him what she couldn't hold in any longer. "Just find her, okay? Please, just..." Sage's eyes trailed back towards the ambulance. "... just find her."

"I will," Scott answered, no hesitancy in his voice. Sage cracked a smile before letting him go, watching as he ran in the deep forest, leaving her there to fall back in defeat.

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It didn't take long for Sheriff to find Stiles and Sage hiding, and let it be known he wasn't exactly happy with them. Sage thought that he was going to blow up on them, but he didn't say anything, just led them up the hill where they were directed to stand next to him in silence. They were held on a short leash, watching as havoc happened around them from police cars coming and going to investigators looking at the broken and bloody ambulance stationed right next to them. As soon as Sage got on the gravel trail, her heeled boots were kicked off and thrown to the side.

Now she was just standing next to Stiles, now a few inches shorter, spinning around at her waist, waiting for any sign of Scott. She was more than surprised when her eyes caught sight of fiery colored hair emerging from the woods.

"Oh, my god. Lydia?" Sage called, shouting her friend's name so that she could hear from the distance away.

Everyone shot their head over to where Sage was looking, and Sage watched as Lydia's eyes started to lift, proving it was, in fact, her- and she was, in fact, naked. The blonde didn't waste any seconds as she jogged over to her friend, managing to pull off her leather jacket in the time being, using her body to block all of the stares. Lydia was trembling, her hands not even able to properly grasp the jacket as Sage carefully pulled her arms through the holes, zipping it up until it covered her body. Lydia being shorter than Sage, it went down to her mid thigh, seeing as it was big on Sage too.

"Thank you," Lydia muttered, looking up at Sage with tears in her eyes. Sage let out a breathy laugh before pulling the girl into her arms. Immediately, Lydia wrapped her arms around Sage's waist, the two girls embracing as everyone stared at them. "Everyone is staring."

"That's because you just showed up naked, I don't have shoes on, and I'm pretty sure my bra is see through in this shirt," Sage muttered into Lydia's shoulder. She felt a ripple of laughter coming from Lydia before the strawberry blonde pulled away. As they walked over to Stiles and the Sheriff who were standing there dumb founded, Sage found her hands picking the leaves and twigs from Lydia's tangled hair.

Sage couldn't help but feel like this was her way of repaying Lydia for sticking with her that night in the school. She didn't have many friends, all of that being because the trust issues she had towards everyone, but she knew that she could trust Lydia. After everything the two girls had been through together in the short amount of months, she trusted the strawberry blonde- and, you know what they say, the worst enemies make the best friends. She just never expected for her friends to be a girl that walked out of the forest naked, a hunter with vengeful parents, two werewolves that hated each other at the moment, a newly bitten jackass, and a boy that was a little bit more that her friend.

Welcome to Beacon Hills, enjoy your stay.

She's definitely making a brochure.

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For anyone asking, Sage and Stiles are NOT dating yet!