I told myself I wouldn't do it, yet here I am; starting a new story. The inspiration for this came from a Teen Wolf imagine on Tumblr, which said "imagine being Stiles' sister" and I was like "okay" and here we are. Hope you'll like it.
I own nothing except for my own characters.
Ella Stilinski - Lily Collins
Part One - Hell is empty
"From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered,-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother"
William Shakespeare, Henry V
Elżbieta 'Ella' Stilinski remained in her car for a moment longer after having turned off the engine and watched the building that stood in front of her.
It had been almost four years since she last had stepped a foot on these grounds. Thank baby Jesus that high school was over.
Not that those four years had been very hard on her – and university was definitely doing its own to run her down – but the memory of her teenage-self always made her cringe. She had giggled far too much and been way too boy-crazy.
Well, some might still call her boy-crazy considering the boyfriends she had gone through the later years. She knew, in any case, that her brother wouldn't hesitate to do so. But now, Ella thought, she had definitely found someone she could fall in love with.
Or maybe. A definitely maybe.
Rapid knocks on her window made her jump out of her own little world and a bright smile spread on her peach colored lips as she saw her father standing outside, grinning back at her.
He quickly stepped back, when Ella reached for the door and caught his daughter with a small groan, when she threw herself into his arms.
"Dad!" Ella exclaimed as she attempted to hug the life out of the sheriff and he laughed as he squeezed back.
"Hi, sweetheart." her father greeted and stepped back to properly look at her. Her dark soft hair fell in waves over her shoulders and it had grown visibly longer since he had last seen her.
Ella's hazel eyes shone with joy and a slight blush grazed her high cheekbones. She looked healthy he reported happily to himself and pulled her in for another hug.
"How was the drive here?" he asked when he pulled away and noticed how she lightly shook her legs to loosen the joints, smoothing her hands over her jeans-clad thighs at the same time.
It had only taken her about four hours to get from San Francisco to Beacon Hills. But prior days of studying had already made her feel like she soon would become chronically hunched over and the hours spent in her old SEAT Ibiza had not helped at all.
"It was fine. Not looking forward to going back, but it's worth it to see Stiles' dumb face, when he finds out I'm here." Ella told as she reached for her leather jacket inside the car and turned around in time to see her father shake his head at her.
She pulled the jacket over her maroon crop top; the color chosen specifically for this day. She secretly hoped that her color coordination would embarrass Stiles as it matched the color of the Beacon Hills Lacrosse Team's shirts.
Ella loved her little brother more than anything in the world, but she also loved when she had an opportunity to one up him. Especially since it was rarely done. He was like a freaking fly on the wall. He saw everything, heard everything, noticed everything.
"You haven't told him anything, have you?" she questioned her father with narrowed eyes and he shook his head once more. "Good. So where is he?"
"In the locker rooms, getting ready for the game." the sheriff informed her as she locked her car and they moved towards the building that had held her imprisoned for four year.
Okay, so maybe she was over-dramatizing, but she wasn't an English major for nothing. Shakespeare was her bitch.
"I can't believe he's still on the team."
Not that Ella thought him so bad that he should be kicked off, but at this point she wasn't sure why he still bothered. He more or less hated it.
Of course, his best friend, Scott, was on the team, so her brother stayed put as well. He would probably walk through fire for Scott McCall.
"You know he would only quit if Scott did. And now that he's co-captain I don't see that happening." her father replied and held the door open for her, but Ella had paused in shock.
"Scott is co-captain? Scott McCall? Our Scott? When the hell did that happen?" Ella asked in disbelieve, making wide gestures with her hands.
Not that she didn't believe in Scott, but as far as she knew he wasn't much better at lacrosse than her brother. He tried harder, yes, but he was also asthmatic and couldn't run very far without having an attack.
"Beats me. Suddenly his asthma was gone and he was one of the best players on the team."
"Well, that doesn't sound strange at all." Ella said with her thick eyebrows gathered in thought, but she couldn't think of any reasonable explanation for the sudden improvement of his health and lacrosse skills.
Maybe it was luck or maybe he had trained the asthma away. She had read about people doing that. And she was absolutely certain Scott would never touch performance enhancing drugs. He probably hardly knew such things existed.
"I'll go find us some seats outside and you can try to surprise your brother." her father then told her as they reached the hall that lead to the locker rooms.
Ella grinned as her father shook his head once more and disappeared around a corner. She hadn't seen her family since the Christmas break over three months ago, so it was good to be home and with them once more. Even just for a couple of days.
Noise and the stench of sweat reached her as she neared the locker room and she paused outside the room for a moment, bending around the doorway to make sure that Stiles had his back turned on her.
It wasn't difficult to recognize him with his buzz cut and the number '24' printed in a large font on the back of his lacrosse shirt.
She figured that none of the boys were in the midst of changing considering the door was open.
Ella couldn't keep a wide smile from her lips as she stepped inside the room and silently closed in on her brother, who was talking to Scott.
Several of the boys caught sight of her as she nearly bumped into them and looked as if they were about to speak up about her presence, but her glare kept them silent.
Her gaze met Scott's as she came to stand behind her brother, but he barely showed any recognition that she was there and Ella winked at him.
She was a little stunned over his physical transformation and he had certainly grown since she had seen him a little over three months ago.
He still looked like his adorable self, though, with a dark mop of hair on his head and his crooked jaw. But he seemed to have grown into himself somehow and Ella had to admit that he looked good.
In a completely non-creepy 'you look nice' kind of way, she noted to herself. He was like her little brother, after all.
"Hey, sis." Stiles spoke with a mischievous grin as he turned around to face her, interrupting her thoughts and preventing Ella from putting her hands over his eyes.
"How the fu-" Ella exclaimed with her arms lifted in defeat, but didn't get to finish as her brother pulled her into a hug that squeezed the air out of her.
It only took her a couple of seconds to return the hug and she laughed as he almost managed to lift her off her feet. He was about five inches taller than her, but still a little too scrawny to carry her weight.
Stiles' cognac brown eyes were warm and filled with mirth as he pulled back and stared down at her. But there was also something off about him. Like how he had looked worried for a brief moment at the sight of her before hiding it behind a smile.
"How did you know?" Ella questioned with her eyes narrowed at him, unable to keep an exasperated smile off her own lips. Just because he was annoying, it didn't mean she hadn't missed him.
"Dad started cleaning the house, including your room, last night, everyone standing behind me became suspiciously silent, Scott's face when he saw you, and I could smell your perfume as soon as you got close enough. Plus it's my birthday and you've never missed it before." Stiles listed with a smug look in his eyes and counted the signs with his long fingers.
"Fine, Sherlock Holmes. You win. You couldn't just let me surprise you?" Ella sighed and rolled her eyes at him before sharing a look with Scott over Stiles' shoulder.
She was, as always, impressed by his ability to be around her brother 24/7 and not wanting to punch him at least every once in a while. Stiles' arm would usually be numb from her punching him every time they spent a considerable amount of time together.
"Sure. If you would actually try."
"You're incorrigible."
"I think the word you're looking for is 'awesome'." Stiles replied cheekily and Ella rolled her eyes at him, pulling her brother into another hug.
She muttered a "happy birthday" into his ear and then pushed him away to greet Scott, who was watching them silently.
The teenager shot her a smile as he bend down to hug her and Ella studied him intently as she pulled back, noticing the same worried look in his dark eyes that she had seen in Stiles'. She didn't know the source of his concern, but squeezed his arm in comfort anyway.
"You've been working out." Ella remarked with a lifted eyebrow and heard Stiles groan behind her in what sounded like disgust. "Oh, relax. I'm not hitting on him. Scott is like my little brother, even though it kinda looks like he actually ate the old Scott."
"Yeah." Scott laughed nervously and glanced at Stiles, who was stood behind her. "Puberty, I guess."
"I heard you made co-captain. Congrats."
"Thanks."
"How is your mom?" Ella then asked and noticed how he started shifting on his feet.
Do they spend so much time together that Stiles' ADHD is rubbing off on him?
"Good. She's good." Scott told with a wavering smile and then stiffened when something behind Ella caught his attention. "Uhm… I'm just gonna put on my shoes."
Ella watched him go with a frown and then turned back to look her brother, who suddenly looked just as distracted as his best friend had.
Stiles didn't seem to notice her staring as he took a few deep breaths and Ella became afraid that he was about to have a minor panic attack. He had been prone to those ever since their mother died and it was equally frightening every time.
"Stiles." she spoke in a soft voice and her brother immediately turned his watchful eyes to her. "Are you okay?"
She thought that maybe it was last week's events that were getting to them all. She had read online about the hostage situation at the sheriff's department, freaked out and almost left in the middle of class to go home.
Her father, however, had convinced her to wait a week for Stiles' birthday and she had unwillingly done so.
So many crazy things seemed to be happening in Beacon Hills and Ella didn't like at all how her father and brother somehow managed to get caught up in all of it.
Like the incident at the school, where some psycho had trapped Stiles and his friends late at night.
Or the fact that the arsonist, who had torched the Hale house and killed most of the family, turned out to be Kate Argent, the aunt of Stiles and Scott's new friend, Allison.
And latest, the tragedy at the sheriff's department that had claimed the life of some of her father's colleagues.
Her father, of course, was the sheriff and was bound to be in the middle of it. And her brother had always been too curious for his own good. But now her heart was always beating a bit faster every time she checked the news from Beacon Hills.
And she had had a little too many restless nights with strange and sometimes horrifying dreams about strange creatures, ripping of throats and eyes glowing in the dark.
"Yeah. Just nervous about the game." Stiles lied as he rubbed his hand over his hair, but Ella decided not to push him.
Her brother was good at lying – a little too good at times – but she had always managed to see through it. Almost always managed.
"Why? Don't you just sit on the bench?" Ella teased with a light nudge at his shoulder.
"Thanks for reminding me." Stiles replied in a sarcastic tone that made him sound much more like himself and Ella smiled in relief.
"You're welcome. So are we going out or ordering in tonight?" she asked with her eyes trained on Stiles' hands as they fidgeted with the net on his lacrosse stick.
He looked confused by her question and Ella frowned again. Her brother did have trouble concentrating, but it usually wasn't this bad.
"Haven't decided yet. Probably in." he said as he caught on and then turned his head to look at Melissa McCall, who had just entered; looking both slightly uncomfortable and out of place between the teenage boys.
"Melissa!" Ella called out and relief crossed the woman's features as she found someone she knew.
"Your father said that you were coming today." the nurse said with a smile and gently squeezed Ella's hand in greeting. "How are-"
She didn't get to finish her question as a new and loud voice suddenly filled the room. Ella turned to see Coach Finstock stood at the doorway to his office with a microphone, belonging to a megaphone in his one hand, which he spoke into.
She had never met the man, but Stiles had complained enough about him to make him easily recognizable.
Mostly because he for some reason was dressed in a leather jacket that looked like something from Top Gun and his speech sounded vaguely familiar.
"Good morning. In less than an hour aircraft from here will be joining others from around the world and you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind." the coach spoke passionately and Ella shared a startled look with Melissa.
"What?"
"Mankind… that word should have a new meaning for all of us today." Finstock continued before pausing as if he was actually thinking about that 'new meaning'.
"What the hell is he talking about?" Melissa asked Stiles after tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention and Ella waited impatiently for an explanation as well.
"He does this every year." Stiles explained with a sigh and Ella bit into her plump lower lip in an attempt not to laugh, when she suddenly remembered where she had heard the speech before.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." her brother confirmed and his team mates cheered loudly at Finstock's words.
"Wait, is that…?" Melissa questioned when she recognized the wording as well and Stiles let out another sigh.
"Yeah... It's the speech from Independence Day. It's his favorite movie."
Melissa made an agreeing sound at Stiles' words and seemed to fight off a laugh as well.
"He should have gone with the Saint Crispin's Day Speech instead. 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers' sounds much more dramatic." Ella noted in a low voice and now it was Stiles' turn to hide a smile.
"I don't think Coach knows a lot of Shakespeare. 'To be or not to be' probably covers it." Stiles commented dryly and Ella's giggle was drowned by cheers as Finstock finished his speech.
"Well spoken, Coach." an elderly man then said as he appeared behind Finstock with an amused smile on his lips. "I might have chosen something with a little more historical value, but there is no denying your passion."
Ella's amusement vanished as she noticed how Stiles' body stiffened while Melissa inhaled sharply and took a step back. Something about this man had them both on edge.
He didn't look particularly threatening to her considering he was probably in his late sixties and there was a humorous gleam in his eyes.
But a serpent hiding underneath an innocent flower rarely shows its ugly head.
Ella's eyes found Scott by one of the benches and the shock over the old man's appearance was clear on his face.
"And while I haven't been here long there is no denying my pride in having a winning team for this school. I know you'll all be brilliant tonight even with only one co-captain leading you." the man continued with what could almost be considered a smug smile.
Scott looked just as surprised as Ella felt, when he announced that Scott would sit out the game with a look at the boy.
She quickly decided that she didn't like this man at all. Beside her Stiles clenched his right hand into a tight fist.
"Now, I'm your principal, but I am also a fan, so don't think I'll be content to watch you merely beat this team." the man, and apparently principal, told and his eyes seemed to darken as his voice rose in intensity. "Get out there and murder them."
"What the hell?" Ella breathed in shock and the playful look in her brother's eyes had completely vanished as he stared down at her. He looked afraid and Ella felt her own stomach churn.
"Let's go find your father in the seats." Melissa spoke into her ear to be heard over the noise the players were making and Ella was tempted to ignore her and stay with her brother.
She didn't understand what was going on, but something the principal said had definitely spooked him. Hell, she was spooked as well and she had no idea why.
Melissa all but dragged Ella out the room with a hand around her wrist and she felt Scott's eyes on them as they passed him.
They made it to the field a minute later, but Ella couldn't shake the unsettling feeling in her stomach as she sat down beside Melissa on one of the bleachers.
She had half a mind to ask Melissa and her father what was going, but didn't think she would get a satisfying answer.
Ella was distracted from her thoughts, when a girl with red hair sat down beside her and it took her a moment to recognize Lydia Martin, all grown up.
She was at least one foot taller than when Ella had last seen her. Lydia's lips were colored pink with lip gloss and black eyeliner was drawn around her green eyes, making them stand out from the rest of her features.
She was wearing a long white knitted cardigan and Ella was surprised to see her in jeans as she clearly remembered Lydia as a skirt/dress girl. She didn't recall seeing her in anything else as a kid.
"Hi, Lydia." Ella spoke and did her best to sound cheerful. The girl looked startled that Ella knew her name and Lydia studied her for a long moment without seeming to recognize her.
"Do I know you?" she questioned with a frown and Ella remembered Stiles telling her that the redhead wasn't exactly the sweet little girl Ella used to know any longer.
"I'm Ella. I used to be your sitter, when you were seven." Ella tried reminding her and a smile tugged at the corner of Lydia's mouth, when she remembered the older girl.
Ella had only been thirteen at the time, but it had been easy tasks like picking Lydia up from school and spending a couple of hours with the girl until her mother returned home from work.
Lydia's parents had been in the middle of their divorce and Natalie Martin had struggled with keeping everything together.
Enter Ella, who by chance had found Lydia wandering around at the edge of the woods one day after school, brought her home and received a job offer to watch the younger girl a couple of times a week for a few dollars.
"You're Stiles' older sister." Lydia stated as her eyes glanced over the older girl, probably trying to determine if she was a dorky as her younger brother.
And your future sister-in-law if Stiles' ten year plan holds, Ella added in her mind. She had known about her brother's major crush on Lydia from the very first day Stiles came home from school, looking particularly cross-eyed.
Ella hadn't really seen Lydia since her sitter duties ended after a year's time, but Stiles' descriptions had kept an image of the girl alive in her head. Strawberry blonde, 5'3 and green eyes. And she was definitely beautiful.
"Yeah. Sadly I can't run from that." Ella replied with a shrug and was happy to see Lydia smile. She seemed nervous and slightly distracted. "How are you? It's been years since I last saw you."
"I'm good." was all Lydia said and then looked away as if she expected their conversation to end at that.
"How's school?" Ella asked instead, determined to catch up with the girl. She recalled how a seven-year-old Lydia had easily solved mathematical equations that Ella still wouldn't be able to do to this day.
"Fine." Lydia replied with a shrug and didn't seem to want to continue, but Ella wasn't willing to give up so easily.
"Are you taking the PSATs soon?" she questioned, knowing that Lydia could easily get a perfect score now if she wanted to.
"I took them last year."
"Of course you did." Ella said with a proud smile because she couldn't help but still feel some affection for the girl. Lydia Martin was by far the smartest person she knew, and probably would ever know.
Ella looked away, when she noticed Lydia looking slightly flustered. She remembered then how Stiles had once complained about the girl hiding her genius from their classmates just to be popular, and was suddenly worried she had made Lydia uncomfortable.
She almost asked how Lydia was doing after her attack at the winter formal dance and her subsequent disappearance, but Ella doubted that she wanted to talk about that either.
And she was also pretty sure that Stiles had told her everything there was to know about it over the phone.
Like how he saw Lydia Martin completely naked and then tripped over his own feet, Ella recalled with a scrunch up of her nose. They really did share too much.
"Are you planning to finish high school early then?" Ella decided to ask instead and Lydia shook her head in response.
"I have started looking at different universities, though." Lydia then offered as a way to continue their conversation and Ella smiled encouragingly. "You study at Stanford, right?"
Ella wasn't sure how Lydia knew that about her. Unless Stiles for some reason had wasted an opportunity talking to the red-head by rambling about his older sister.
Or maybe she had just found out on her own. It probably wasn't that hard to fit the pieces of Ella's absence and the fact had Stiles had a shirt that said 'Stanford University' together. He had been a dork enough to wear it to school during his freshmen year.
"I do. Major in English alongside the teaching programs. I want to be an English teacher."
"Are you taking your master's afterwards?" Lydia asked with what sounded like real interest and Ella was happy that she was starting to loosen up a bit.
"I have to at some point to keep my teaching license. But right now, no more school for me." Ella told and shook her head before pausing in thought. "Which I guess doesn't make any sense at all."
Lydia pressed her lips together to hide a laugh and Ella let out one of her own. She then looked down at the field to find her brother staring at them in bewilderment and waved at him.
"Have you thought about what you want to major in?" Ella asked the redhead as she turned her attention back to her and found the girl genuinely smiling at her.
"Double major in math and biology. Or chemistry. I'm still undecided." Lydia told and her eyes seemed to brighten a little as she talked. Ella had a feeling that Lydia had never really had this conversation before with anyone.
"Good thing there's more than two years to graduation then." Ella said with a teasing smile and then frowned when the realization hit her that her little brother was actually turning 17 today. "I feel old now."
"You know, you're not allowed to say that until you're over forty." Melissa muttered from beside her.
"It's just weird how it feels like only a couple of years ago that I watched Lydia do my homework."
"You watched who do what?" her father questioned loudly with raised eyebrows and Ella's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Lydia for help. But the girl only smiled back in amusement.
"It's not like I paid her. Lydia wanted to. I told her it was wrong and unethical, but she just wouldn't stop nagging me, so I had to let her do it. Think of it this way, dad. I helped cultivate a genius." Ella explained quickly and let out a nervous laugh at the end.
Her father couldn't exactly punish her for it and Lydia had in all seriousness nagged her, but she still felt like a child caught with her hands in the cookie jar.
"The only A you ever got in math?"
"Technically… that was Lydia's first A. Good work, by the way, Lydia."
Lydia smiled at the recognition and then bit her lower lip as to not laugh at how Ella was digging herself further into a hole.
"Didn't your mother give you ten bucks as a reward?" the sheriff asked and Ella felt her guilt multiply by a hundred. He couldn't just bring her mother up like that. It wasn't fair.
"Yes and I bought Lydia a lot of ice cream with the money." Ella argued with a pointed finger and looked at Lydia, who finally decided to help by nodding.
"Actually mom found out a couple of months later, when I got a D on my next test. I guess Stiles gets his detective skills from her." she then added with a smile and her father looked as if he might throw something after her. "Don't worry. The sarcasm is all you."
"You wanna switch?" her father asked Melissa casually as he motioned between Ella, Stiles and Scott, but the nurse shook her head vehemently.
Ella glared playfully after her father, but he was suddenly distracted by something on the lacrosse field.
"Oh no, why is my son running on the field?"
"Because he's on the team?" Melissa suggested and the sheriff looked at her and then his daughter with surprise, blinking as if making sure he was seeing it right.
Ella was smiling widely down at her brother, who awkwardly waved at her.
"He is. He's on the team, he's on the field." her father was muttering and Ella watched in slight horror as he stood, threw a fist in the air and yelled, "my son is on the field!"
"Dear god." Ella muttered in shame and hid her face in her hands as the people around them stared at her father. She generally loved to embarrass Stiles, but when it was her father doing it she was usually hit by embarrassment as well.
A couple of minutes later the game began and Ella was cringing harder than she ever had before as her brother was a royal fuck-up on the field. There was a reason why he always sat on the bench.
Stiles managed to catch the ball a few times, only to either drop it or get tackled hard to the ground.
"He's just warming up." Melissa tried to reason, but Ella just sent her a helpless look. People were starting to boo at him and the rest of the team.
"He's probably just a little nervous. Plenty of time for them to turn it around." Lydia said without believing a word of it and the sheriff hid his face in his hands.
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." Ella muttered to herself as she watched her brother getting thrown to the ground once more and flinched at the impact.
"Why are you quoting Shakespeare?" Lydia asked quietly without taking her eyes off the field and sighed heavily when the other team scored again.
"I'm not sure. Calms me down, I guess."
The game continued in the same embarrassing manner and Ella was certain that Stiles would be covered in bruises when they got home, despite all the protection gear.
But then a new player entered the field and Ella watched in confusion as the Beacon Hills player started tackling his teammates.
"Who is that and what the hell is he doing?"
"Isaac Lahey and I have no idea." Lydia replied with a winch as another player flew through the air and was substituted by one from the bench.
"Lahey? That's Isaac Lahey?"
"You know him?"
"I dated his brother, Camden, in high school. He was my first." Ella told absentmindedly as her eyes followed Isaac around the field.
She hoped that he would leave Stiles out of whatever he was doing. She remembered Isaac as a kid, grinning at her with mischief shining from his blue eyes. He had definitely changed a lot; becoming both taller and broader.
Ella and Camden had started dating just before his graduation and while she was finishing her junior year. She wasn't really in love with him, when they had sex about a month into their relationship. Not that she didn't care about him. She did, a lot.
But Ella hadn't needed it to be something special with lit candles and all sorts of romance. He was (very) hot with his dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and broad shoulders, she was curious and they were comfortable with each other.
The first time had been awkward and it was neither really painful nor pleasurable for her. Second time was slightly better, third time good and the fourth time she had called out his name; leading them to almost getting caught.
Their relationship had ended after six months, when Camden left Beacon Hills to join the US military. Two years later Ella learned that he had died in combat. She had gotten drunk and cried her eyes out.
On her next weekend home from Stanford she had gone by Camden's old house to visit his father and brother, but Mr. Lahey had told her to go to hell with her sympathies and home-baked snickerdoodles.
Ella didn't notice the others staring at her until Lydia nudged her in the side with an elbow and motioned with her eyes towards the adults on the other side of Ella.
Melissa looked as if she wanted to laugh, while her father wore a horrified expression on his face. Ella's eyes widened as she realized what she had accidentally revealed.
"Kiss. He was my first kiss." Ella tried to elaborate, but knew she had failed when her father shook his head and waved off her explanation.
They both knew it was a lie, but this was not something her father had ever needed to know.
Her embarrassment was forgotten, when it suddenly was Isaac who hit the ground hard and she noticed Lydia stiffen beside her as the Beacon Hills player, who had caused the fall, took off his helmet.
Ella was almost certain she saw the blonde guy smile.
Melissa suddenly stood up and pushed past Ella and Lydia to get down to the field, running towards her son as Isaac was carried away from the game.
Apparently Scott was once again allowed to play. Melissa looked a lot more nervous when she returned to her seat and didn't answer Ella's questioning gaze.
There was fifteen minutes left of the game, but the team wasn't doing much better with Scott on the field.
Ten minutes left and Ella saw Scott run off the field. She looked at Melissa in confusion, but the woman seemed fully engrossed with the game.
Five minutes left and the ball landed in front of Stiles' feet.
As all the other players were at the other end of the field, there was no one standing between Stiles and the goal except for the keeper.
Ella sucked in air as Stiles started running towards the goal and then suddenly stopped, looking around frantically as if he didn't know what to do.
"What the hell is he doing?" Ella whispered horrified and watched as the other players ran fast towards her brother.
Coach Finstock was yelling at him to throw the ball towards the goal, but it wasn't until Lydia screamed "shoot" that Stiles snapped out of it.
Ella jumped to her feet along with her father as the ball made it past the keeper. Somehow her brother had actually managed to score and Ella laughed in disbelieve as she hugged father, squeezing Melissa between them.
When Stiles managed to even the score with two minutes left, everyone started cheering wildly and Ella jumped up and down, unable to stay seated. Her heart was beating fast and her voice got stuck in her throat as pride welled up in her chest.
Stiles' third goal brought the team in the lead with less than a minute left and Ella couldn't help but pull Lydia into a tight hug.
The girl wore a bright smile and they both turned to look at the field again, where they found Stiles staring at them with an obvious grin on his face. Or staring at Lydia more likely.
Ella glanced up at the clock to see how much time was left of the game and was surprised to see a lonely player stand at the other end of the field without taking part in his teammates' joy. It looked like the blonde, who had tackled Isaac.
Then the whistled sounded and the game was over.
But the cheering didn't last long as all of the lights suddenly turned off and Ella looked around in confusion, instinctively grabbing Melissa's hand. She was not fond of the dark.
Someone screamed and everyone started panicking. Melissa kept her from falling over, when she was pushed by someone from behind, who was trying to escape some invisible danger.
Her father grabbed her shoulder, when Melissa left to find Scott in the chaos and they managed to get down from the bleachers without falling.
A body lay in the middle of the field and most of the players had gathered around it, keeping it from Ella's view. Suddenly the lights were back on and Lydia started screaming "Jackson" as she ran past Ella and towards the body.
Ella felt cold dread seep into her bones as she moved closer as well and saw Melissa giving the boy – Jackson, she guessed – CPR.
She started to panic, when she took a turn around herself and couldn't find Stiles anywhere. Ella grabbed her father's arm tightly as he came to stand beside her, looking just as shaken.
"Dad, where's Stiles?" Ella asked with a trembling voice, but he didn't seem to hear her as his eyes searched the field; looking for his son.
"Where's Stiles, my son?" she heard him mutter and he stepped away from her to move to the middle of the circle standing around the body.
"Stiles!" Ella called out desperately in the hopes that he was just hiding behind some of his teammates. But he didn't appear and she barely noticed Scott grabbing her arm as she stumbled slightly. "Stiles!"
"Where the hell is my son?!"
Thoughts?
