Hey guys; I can't remember the last time I posted a story on here, so I'm a bit rusty! Let me know what you think of the first chapter, please? There are going to be a lot of plot twists and turns here, so hopefully you stick around to see them! If you want/need character references, they'll be on my profile under the story's title. Enjoy!

I sat down at the wooden desk, tucking my satchel underneath at my feet. I stole a quick glance at the room around me. Everyone was laughing and talking, and I sighed softly. I missed my friends from home already. The boy next to me was trying to balance a book on his buzz cut head, and when it fell and hit the dark shaggy haired guy in front of him, it elicited a slap to the forehead. The curly haired brunette he was holding hands with laughed, and I giggled softly.

The buzz cut-haired boy turned to look at me. "Hey!" he said brightly, picking the book up off the floor and sticking his other hand out for me to shake. I took it, giving it a firm shake. "You new?" he asked.

"Yeah, just moved here from Georgia." I replied, noticing how obvious my Southern accent was in comparison to his Californian one. He grinned at the sound of my voice.

"Nice accent, I'm Stiles. Native born Californian and your number one expert on all things Beacon Hills." he beamed proudly at his title, and the guy in front of him snorted.

"I'm Scott, and if you listen to Stiles, I might have to hit you too. No offense or anything." he said, putting his hands up in some sort of defeat. His girlfriend rolled her eyes and I laughed.

"Don't listen to anything either of them says. I'm Allison, it's nice to meet you." the pretty brunette said, smiling at me and nudging Scott's arm teasingly.

"I'm Melody; it's great to meet y'all." I said softly, hating my accent for the first time in my life. I sounded so different than these Californian people. I looked down at my tan leather cowgirl boots, judging the way they were worn from a year's worth of farm work. Allison's black leather boots were shiny and new, and I decided that I needed to go clothes shopping just as soon as I could find a ride to the mall.

Class was starting so we all turned to the board, and I sat through my first class at Beacon Hills High School in confusion. I was so far behind, unsure of what the teacher was explaining to us. The principal had offered to walk me to each of my classes and introduce me, explaining to the teachers that I was new, but I had rejected the offer, preferring to blend in and not stick out any more than I already knew I would.

All I knew was that I was in Biology 2, and that Stiles was snoring softly beside me. Maybe I could ask him or Scott for help with my homework. Neither of them seemed all that brilliant, but some help was better than none, right?

I clutched my brown paper bag lunch to me and stood in the doorway of the cafeteria, unsure of where to sit. I was about to pull a classic Mean Girls and subject myself to an embarrassing bathroom lunch when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, you're sitting with us!" I heard Stiles' voice and turned to see his bright smile. I smiled back, and let myself be pulled towards a rectangular lunch table that seated Scott, Allison, and a few of their other friends. "Guys, this is Melody. She's from Georgia. Lemme introduce the crew." Stiles took it upon himself to introduce every member of the group to me.

Obviously I knew Allison and Scott, who smiled and said hi. Next to them were an angry looking guy with dirty blonde hair, and his redheaded girlfriend. They were Jackson and Lydia, and the redhead gave me a once over before smiling genuinely.

"I like the boots, they're cute. Durango, right?" Lydia asked, and I nodded, accepting the compliment with a thank you. She returned to talking softly to Jackson, and I sat down next to Stiles. I hadn't packed a great lunch, and watching him wave his cheeseburger around in front of me wasn't helping my hunger.

"Calm your burger," I laughed, touching his arm just enough to push his burger out of my face and back into his personal space bubble. He chuckled.

"Sorry. So what inspired you to move to the crazy town that is Beacon Hills? How do you end up all the way out here in California from Georgia?" he asked, chewing his food more calmly now that I'd pointed it out.

I sighed, realizing that I wasn't going to be able to avoid this subject forever. "My mom and I moved out here because my aunt lives one town over, in Riverview. When my dad died, we couldn't keep the farm running ourselves, so we sold it to the neighbors and left our Southern life behind." I explained, hiding my face behind my bright red hair.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry. I know the feeling; I lost my mom when I was a kid." he said softly, understanding and sympathy playing over his face.

I responded in the same manner. "I'm sorry too, it's a horrible feeling. At least I had all those years with my dad," I let my sentence trail off, not knowing what I would have done my whole life without my dad by my side.

"It's alright. I've gotten used to living without my mom. It's just me and my dad, back at the house." Stiles smiled and nudged my shoulder, reassuring me that he was fine when he saw my concerned face. I smiled back, ignoring the warm feeling on my skin from where his shoulder had touched mine.

The rest of lunch flashed by. Stiles and Scott spent a good portion of the meal talking in what I swear was code, and everyone else carried their own conversations while somewhat paying attention to what Scott and Stiles we saying. I let the feeling that something was off about this group of teens slide. I was new; who was I to reject friendship?

My last three classes went by uneventfully. Allison was in my last period, and she made polite conversation, even inviting me over that night to hang out with her and the group since her father was out of town. I thanked her, but didn't really expect to take her up on the offer. I kept to myself lately, especially around guys. It sounds terribly egotistical to say this, but I had a lot of guy friends back in Georgia, and it generally made the other girls jealous. They called me things like skank and slut, when really all I wanted was a group of friends that didn't cause drama. I was worried that if I became too close with any of the guys in this group, I'd elicit the same reactions from the girls at this school, and with a budding friendship forming between Allison and I, I didn't think I should sabotage it.

I just wasn't the same girl after losing my dad. Back in Georgia, I would have jumped at the chance to make a crap load of guy friends and given Allison and Lydia the finger. Now, I was just grateful this girl was talking to me.

When I got home, I threw my backpack on the table and walked down the hall to my half unpacked room. I glanced in, took one look at the mess of boxes on the floor, and kept going past, entering my mom's room.

"Hey sweetheart, how was your first day?" I heard my mom's voice from the closet, and saw her strawberry blonde haired head poke out from the doorway. I laughed softly. My mom was a tiny woman, maybe 5'3, although even at that height she was taller than me. My dad had been the huge one, at a towering 6'1. She was small and pretty, and always in a cheery mood, even throughout the mourning after my dad's death. She believed in celebrating his life and the good times, and not letting go of his spirit in our lives. I had tried to take on her attitude, but my dad had been the parent I'd gone to more for advice, and I just couldn't see the bright side with him gone. Not that my mom was a bad parent, she was just bad at advice and played the housewife role better than the parental one.

"It wasn't so bad, I made some friends. They invited me to hangout tonight, but I don't know." I said, wishing I hadn't mentioned the plans at all as soon as I watched my mom's face light up.

"Oh Melody, you have to go! You'll have fun and it'll be good to get out of the house. Don't worry about your homework; you're new and no one expects you to be caught up just yet anyways." I shook my head. This is what I meant when I said my mom wasn't as good at the parental role.

"I guess, mom. I'll think about it." I left her room and grabbed my laptop off my mattress, heading into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. I flipped it open, found the wifi password in my phone, typed it in, and logged onto Facebook.

I had four notifications, and two friend requests. I checked the requests first, accepting ones from Stiles Stilinski and Allison Argent. Then I checked the notifications, and saw that my best friend from Georgia had written on my wall (in addition to three useless game notifications, of course).

I read it aloud to myself, imagining his voice and laughing softly. "Melody! We miss you already. Don't go all Hollywood on us, kay? Ethan says what's up, and Dylan would too but he's out trying to fix his damn tractor, again. We're gonna Skype at some point soon. 3"

I could just hear the twang of his voice as I read the words, mimicking his accent with my own. Carter and I had been friends since we were kids, and Ethan and Dylan had joined our group not too much later in life. Out of all my guy friends, those three were the best I had, but Carter had a special place in my heart. I grinned and then watched a messenger screen pop up as I was about to reply.

Stiles Stilinski: HEY HEY

I shook my head and typed back.

Melody Carr: hey Stiles, what's up?
Stiles Stilinski: not much, with Scott. you comin to Allison's later? it's supposed to be fun!
Melody Carr: mm .. maybe. I was thinking about actually doing my homework, since I'm ridiculously behind
Stiles Stilinski: come on, we're watching a scary movie and I can't watch it all by myself! I might get scared O.O

I actually laughed out loud.

Melody Carr: lolol alright, you tempted me. can someone pick me up? I don't have a car & I REALLY don't want to be dropped off.
Stiles Stilinski: sure, gimme your address and I'll come grab you in my jeep
Melody Carr: 471 Seaport Terrace .. its a dead end, and ours is the blue house. you can't miss it, it's got a huge U-Haul pod in the driveway
Stiles Stilinski: gotcha, I'll see you at 7!
Melody Carr: okay lol, see you then

I shut my laptop, and figured I'd reply to Carter later. I needed to take a shower and figure out what I was going to wear. I liked Stiles; he made me feel accepted into the group of friends, so I might as well go to Allison's in a good mood and smelling acceptable

By 6:55 I was pleased with my outfit. Dark wash skinny jeans, my tan cowgirl boots, and a soft red plaid flannel with the sleeves rolled halfway. I was most comfortable in my farm clothes, but jazzing them up with some nicer jeans didn't hurt.

I heard the engine in the Jeep before I saw it. It was a familiar sound and I grabbed my satchel, which had been dumped of all school items and filled with purse type things. "BYE MOM!" I shouted, letting her know I was leaving and shutting the front door. I jogged down the porch steps, avoiding the pile of cardboard boxes my mom had left outside.

"Hi!" I said, climbing into the passenger's seat of Stiles' light blue Jeep with a bright smile. I looked into the back, expecting to see Scott, but found we were alone. "No Scott?" I asked.

"Hey Melody." he said softly, his voice taking on a shy tone that I hadn't heard before. I smirked, realizing it was because we were alone. I inched closer to the middle of the Jeep and leaned on the armrest. "Nope, no Scott. I dropped him off at Allison's before I picked you up, that way he could help her get ready and stuff." his voice was much quieter than usual.

"Oh, well that's cool. So, scary movies freak you out?" I giggled, for some unknown reason. I hadn't acted this way since my dad died. Maybe it was the way Stiles made me feel comfortable around everyone in this new group of friends. He glanced my way, taking a turn safely before looking at me again.

"Maybe a little. Why, they don't bother you at all?" he asked, turning onto a road with big, beautiful houses that made my new house look like a piece of shit.

"Not one bit. I'm a country girl, and we gotta be prepared for the worst; vampires, werewolves and blood can't scare me." I laughed, hearing the twang in every word I said. Dylan chuckled to himself, and I sat in confusion at his hidden inside joke.

Everyone gave me a warm welcome as we walked into Allison's large, white house. Scott high-fived me as I passed him when I entered the living room, and I felt accepted already. I eyed the room's seating arrangement, determining where would be least awkward to sit. Jackson and Lydia had taken over the love seat and Scott and Allison were curled up on the couch with a blanket. I eyed the recliner, diving for it just as Stiles realized what was happening.

"No no no!" he groaned as I sat firmly in my place, sticking my tongue out at him. I felt pretty, and I felt confident. I knew my dad wouldn't want me to sink into a pit of despair; he'd want me to be out having fun. I took on my mom's positive attitude for the night and decided to enjoy myself.

"Yes!" I laughed, patting the ground in front of the recliner with my foot and catching the pillow that Scott was tossing to me. Stiles rolled his eyes and sat down in front of my chair, taking the pillow grudgingly. We were watching some werewolf movie, and everyone seemed to find this a hilarious joke. I shrugged and settled into the recliner as Allison hit play and the movie began.

I felt Stiles lean his head against the recliner, and I moved my leg out of the way, but the side of his face was still pressed against my leg slightly. I didn't know what to do, so I kept my leg perfectly still, my mind focused on everything but the TV screen in front of my face. I couldn't understand the pull to be flirty that I felt around Stiles. I brushed the feeling aside, chalking it up to my new found confidence of the night.

Halfway through the movie the lights in the room had been dimmed to completely off, Scott and Allison were nowhere to be found, and no one wanted to know what was occurring on the love seat between Jackson and Lydia. I was bored with the movie, and I nudged Stiles' shoulder.

"Hey you," I whispered. "I thought this was supposed to be a scary movie." he turned to look at me, and I leaned over in the chair to hear him better.

"It is, we're just not fazed by werewolves." he said offhand. "Besides, some of us are more concerned with getting it on." Stiles made a face at the love seat, where we could hear kissing sounds.

I snort laughed, and jumped off the chair via the armrest. "Come on, let's go outside." I said, pulling on Stiles' arm. There was that warm feeling on my skin again, as his touched mine. I couldn't fathom what was going on. He nodded, stood up, and led the way to the front porch.

I looked at the moon. It was almost full, and I smiled. Full moon in the month of October meant harvesting time in Georgia. Carter, Ethan and Dylan would be baling hay and shucking corn for the next week, and somehow I wished I would be too.

"Whatcha smiling at?" I heard Stiles' voice close to my ear, and I turned to find him standing right behind me.

"The full moon. It means harvest time back home." I said softly, biting my lip at the closeness of his face to mine.

"Oh, yeah, I guess the full moon can be nice sometimes." He said, a distant look in his eyes that I couldn't understand. It vanished in an instant and his eyes were back on mine. "Like right now, for instance. Your eyes look beautiful in its light." He whispered, inching his face closer to mine.

I only had a moment to bite my lip again before he closed the gap between our faces, and his lips were warm and soft on my own. They moved with mine, slow and delicate, a kiss filled with feeling. As he pulled away, I could feel his warm breath on my face, and the butterflies in the pit of my stomach screamed for his lips to come back. I flickered my eyes open, looking first at the beauty marks on his face, and then finally meeting his eyes.

"I, uh ..." I couldn't finish my sentence. Stiles' cheeks were flushed pink, and I got the feeling he hadn't done that in a while. I resorted to just smiling, and his expression matched my own.

"So I guess you felt it too?" he finally asked, as we looked back at the moon, unable to meet each other's' eyes for fear of turning an embarrassing color pink. All I could do was nod. I hadn't felt butterflies for anyone since Carter. When he had turned me down, telling me I was his best friend and he couldn't ruin it, I'd promised myself no more heartbreak, just tough country girl. "Well, I have to say, I'm glad." Stiles smiled down at me, his long fingers folding between my short feminine ones.

"Me too," I whispered back, wondering just how this boy had gotten through to me like no one else ever had, in just one day. Just as I swear he was about to kiss me again, the moment was viciously ruined by a car pulling into the driveway haphazardly. Stiles dropped my hand instantly, and a look of complete fear overwhelmed his face for only a moment before he calmly but quickly pushed me inside.

"Hey Jackson, you guys need to LEAVE." he said in a hushed tone, and I watched the couple spring off the love seat, running out the back sliding doors faster than I thought humanly possible. Before I could even wonder how they'd heard him, Allison was already halfway down the stairs without Scott, gesturing for Stiles to follow the other two. He nodded, gave me a brief goodbye, and jogged out the back door all before Allison's father burst into the foyer.

"Hi dad, you're home early!" Allison smiled brightly, bouncing down the rest of the stairs to stand beside me. I assumed the panic was because no one was supposed to be there, so I wondered why it was okay that I was still standing in this family's home without a clue what was going on. "This is Melody. She's new at school, we were studying. Came down to get some snacks. How was your night?" she asked, one sentence following another in a rapid spew of words.

"It's nice to meet you, Melody. Where are you from?" he asked, ignoring her question about his night. I cowered a little, slightly afraid of this tall, stately looking man. He was wearing a brown leather jacket, and his mouth smiled, but his eyes didn't.

"I'm from Georgia, sir. It's nice to meet y'all too." I said softly, following Allison as she gestured to the kitchen.

"Not too late, Allison. Half hour more, tops." we heard her father's footsteps following us down the hall, but they stopped when he reached the living room, and Allison froze, eyes lighting up in fear. "Why is the TV on?" he asked, a hint of edge in his voice.

"We started to watch a movie, earlier. Just left it on, I guess." Allison covered quickly, glancing at me and then back at the door.

"I think you should take Melody home, now. Just getting a bit late on a school night, don't you think?" he asked, and Allison grabbed her keys off the kitchen table, and nodded towards the door. I started to open my mouth to say goodbye to her father, but she pushed my back and shut the door behind us.

Once we were safely in Allison's car, I turned to look at her, armed with questions. "So, I assume you weren't really supposed to have anyone over?" I asked, and she glanced my way.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. My dad's just sort of a ... hard ass. Don't worry about it." she said, and I took it that was the end of the conversation. We sat in silence until she pulled up in front of my house. "I'll see you in school." She gave me a strained smile, and then drove off.

I stood in my driveway, looking up at the huge moon, wondering how my night had gone from amazing to what the fuck in a matter of minutes. Kicking a rock at the U-Haul pod on my way in, I stopped to look around. I had the weirdest feeling that someone was watching me. Brushing it off, I went inside, curled up on my mattress, and fell asleep dreaming of werewolves, cute boys, and the glowing eyes I swore I saw in the darkness behind my house.

Thanks for reading! Please review (: