Disclaimer; I do not own Teen Wolf. Just Lily, Teddy and Joshua!
A/N; I'm so excited guys! I hope you all enjoy this book. You could find the cast list here (take out spaces) wattpad 451823885-puzzle-»-teen-wolf-s-s-cast
CHAPTER ONE;
it all started with a pair
Heavy. That was the only word that Teddy could use to describe how the weight on her back felt.
Now, any other normal fifteen year old would have immediately begun to panic and flail about in fear of the unfamiliar presence, and rightfully so. However, this wasn't the first time that Teddy was awoken by someone almost crushing her under their weight. And she was pretty sure that it wouldn't be the last.
"Wakey, wakey Teddy! It's time for school!" A feminine voice shouted above her.
"Ugh," Was all Teddy could muster in response before she rolled onto her back to meet the girl's face.
Currently sitting on her pelvis and blocking her view of her room's mint green walls was a tan skin colored girl, with beautiful long brown locks cascading down her glowing cheeks, smiling down at Teddy with pearly white teeth. She wore a cherry colored sundress, accessorized with multiple gold necklaces and a pair of shades on the top of her head. Teddy raised a brow.
"Lil, don't you look a little...overdressed?" Teddy muttered, too tired to even attempt to push her best friend off of her.
"My dear, dear Teddy," Liliana tsked before bopping Teddy on the nose in a very parent like manner. "There's no such thing as overdressed. Now get up! We're going to be late!"
With that, Liliana retreated off of the bed allowing Teddy to finally breathe normally again. Teddy was unmoving for a few seconds, not in the mood for yet another school year. But then she decided to suck it up before blowing a stray brown curl out of her face and hopping out of her bed.
"Remind me why my mother gave you a key to our house again." She said as she made her way to her closet.
"Because if she didn't I wouldn't be here to wake you up every morning, duh."
Teddy rolled her eyes. "Right, thank you, I'm so grateful."
After a short few minutes, Teddy threw something together and made her way to the bathroom to freshen up and change while Liliana took her exit out of the room. It wasn't long before Teddy's teeth were freshly brushed and she was looking at herself in the mirror all dressed to go in an oversized plaid shirt with a white inside top, and a pair of skinny jeans and worn white converse. Unlike Liliana, Teddy didn't really own any makeup or a flat iron and therefore had nothing but her natural biracial skin tone and frizzy honey colored curls to work with. And it's not as if this bothered Teddy, in fact, she could have cared less about how she looked to other people whether she wore makeup or not.
After double checking that she had gotten all of the crust out of her eyes, Teddy made her way up the stairs to meet Liliana who was in the kitchen, just finishing up preparing what Teddy believed to be just a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich. However, Teddy's eyes caught sight of a freshly cut cucumber next to the peanut butter and jelly's respective jars. Her stomach did a flip as she realized that Liliana decided to put her own spin on the basic everyday snack.
"Um, Lil, you really didn't have to—"
"Well of course I did! You're mom's working a double at the diner today so I have to make sure you eat your breakfast too." She announced as she began to pour some orange juice into a glass.
Teddy frowned as she neared the kitchen counter that had the soggy looking sandwich on a small plate. Despite Liliana's matchless looks, she couldn't even make a bowl of cereal without causing it to taste like sweaty socks because of her constant need to add something to make it 'zesty'. And even though Teddy explained to her on many different occasions that cooking was not her forte, that did not stop the little Latina from attempting to prepare a dish every now and then.
"Honestly, I'd rather starve. And you're right we're gonna be late so let's just skip breakfast. I'll just get extra curly fries at lunch today." Teddy explained as she retrieved her backpack from the living room and made her way to the front door.
Though Teddy was already out of sight, Liliana picked up the sandwich that was spilling over with peanut butter and jelly covered cucumbers, taking a modest bite of it. She hummed to herself in approval.
"Suit yourself Teddy-kins."
After that, the two girls made their way out the door, Liliana leading the way in her really high neutral colored wedges, her head held high with Teddy trailing behind her with her bag slung over her shoulders in a less graceful manner. Sure enough, waiting for them on the side of the street was Liliana's black range rover that she got for her birthday a few months ago. The shiny black paint job reflected the morning sun in Teddy's eyes, making her squint them in response. The rims were custom. Not picked out by Liliana, of course. She had no idea about cars. It was actually Teddy's own suggestion.
"I'm honestly surprised you still haven't got one scratch on it." Teddy complemented dryly as Liliana fished for her keys inside of her large Chanel purse.
"Oh shut it Bryard, can't you just be thankful that I will go out of my way to pick you up almost every morning?"
"You live less than five minutes away."
"Jesus Teddy, let me be right about something, will you? Now, where did I put those keys..."
Teddy chuckled from behind her friend's back. But then, the sound of a door opening in the distance interrupted her enjoyment. When she looked in the direction of where the sound came from, she realized that it was her neighbor's door opening.
Out of the doorway came a tall, lanky guy, wearing a purple striped zip up hoodie and a pair of khaki green pants. He looked a little distressed as he pinched the bridge of his nose before looking back up to head towards his vehicle. But before he did so, his head snapped in Teddy's direction, his gaze meeting her own as if he felt that she had caught sight of him.
To her surprise, he sent her a small, awkward wave with an equally awkward smirk on his lips. Teddy, confused yet amused at his gesture, sent a similar wave back. With that, he continued on his way.
"Oh. My. God. Did you just say hi to Stiles Stilinski?"
Liliana's voice caused Teddy to come back to attention. "Huh? Well yea, but more like waved I guess. Why?"
"Why?" Liliana asked as the both of them continued to her car. "Because he's one of the sexiest juniors in our entire school. Well besides Scott McCall of course. But anyways all of the girls in our grade wants to get with him."
"So?"
"Oh my dear, dear Teddy-kins." Liliana cooed as they both hopped into the car and she started the ignition. "You lived next to this guy for as long as I remember and you guys never acknowledge each other. Don't you think him saying hi now is some kind of hint to something?"
Teddy rolled her eyes as she rested her head against the window. On the contrary, it wasn't the first time she had spoke to Stiles before. In fact, she was somewhat of an acquaintance of his at one point long before Liliana came into her life. But after certain changes in her personal life she didn't really make an effort to speak to him, and after a while neither did he. It didn't help that they were separated by a year either. In fact, she realized, it was the first time in a while that they had both said hi to each other in a very long time. Usually, even if they exited their respective homes at the same time, neither of them made an effort to greet each other. Today was just a rare occasion for the both of them.
But instead of explaining all of that to her friend, she just replied with a simple, "Not really."
Liliana took her friend's hesitation in answering as uncertainty. "Well, I think so. I mean, what's the harm in entertaining him? You literally take all junior classes except for P.E. so I'm sure that you see him in some of your classes. You should do it for all your sophomore peers in Beacon Hills High that can't reach him."
"I only have one peer in Beacon Hills High and as much as I love you Lil, I'm not gonna tail a guy for you. Plus I'm sure you could get him if you wanted to."
"Oh of course I can," Liliana replied without missing a beat. "But my goal for this year is to find you a decent guy that hasn't been my sloppy seconds. That's just best friend rule number one."
Teddy once again rolled her eyes but this time with a smirk on her face. They reached the school five minutes later, after which they exited out of the car and made their way into the school.
As soon as the doors opened to reveal Liliana's presence, all eyes landed in her direction just as they did every single day. Some in envy. Some in lust. Some in awe. Her appearance never seemed to disappoint the BHHS student body from its freshmen all the way to seniors. Her confidence was blinding and her beauty was just as striking. One would dare to say she was beginning to take the title of Queen Bee from its previous owner, Lydia Martin.
So Teddy understood why it puzzled people as to why someone as beautiful and popular as Liliana would hang out with someone as unsociable and dryly sarcastic as herself. They were like night and day, oil and water, it was weird that they could get along as well as they did. But what people didn't know about Liliana was that she appreciated honesty. And Teddy was the only girl who had shown her any since freshmen year. Maybe that's why Teddy stuck around her as well, Liliana was the only girl able to take her brutal opinions.
"Is that the famous Liliana Ramos?"
Teddy felt herself being nudged out of the way as a tall blonde male squeezed between her and Liliana in order to wrap his arm around the latter's shoulders. Spotting the blonde hair, usual preppy Vineyard Vines sweater, and khaki pants, Teddy immediately recognized who the voice belonged to.
"Joshua!" Liliana complained before elbowing him off of her. "Would you quit it? You basically trampled over Teddy and you're ruining my hair."
As if just realizing that Teddy was a human being, Joshua looked back at the pint sized female with a heartless smirk. "Oh hey there Bryard, didn't see you there."
"Noted," Teddy muttered. "It's always a pleasure to be greeted by your death like aura, Daniels."
"Still quite the charmer I see. I'm pretty sure I saw that flannel in the thrift shop the other day."
"I'm pretty sure I saw the remainder of your brain in the pig's head we dissected a couple days ago in Chemistry."
"Alright, alright you two! Jesus!" Liliana exclaimed stopping both Teddy and Joshua from progressing any farther. "Joshua we literally have Math in three minutes you could attempt to flirt with me all you want in there. And Teddy, get your cute little tush to Chemistry before Mr. Walker takes back considering you his favorite student. I'll meet you after class."
Teddy gave a lazy salute in Liliana's direction. "Sure mom I'll see you later."
"Don't get sassy with me!" Liliana retorted with a smile before Joshua resumed his position with his hand around her shoulders, giving Teddy one last look of annoyance before they went on their way.
All Teddy did in response was snort before making her own way to class. Joshua was the Class A jackass of the sophomore class. He took joy in sleeping around with girls from freshmen all the way to seniors, and he had the personality of the devil's spawn. It never ceased to puzzle Teddy how Liliana was able to even breathe the same air as him. But seeing as Joshua was related to Jackson Whittemore, the school's heart throb before he disappeared, Teddy guessed Liliana was fated to be in his social circle.
Teddy shrugged to herself before heading to class.
—
"And so that's why, class, we're going to be doing a project in which you will all be paired off to solve a murder case. Each group will be given a bag which contains pieces of a skull that you will have to put back together and answer some questions about. How did they die, how old were they, and what gender they were. Before I give you the materials, however, each group will have to do some research on how to identify information about someone with just their skeletal remains. In a second I'll announce the pairs."
Teddy sighed deeply as she tapped the tip of her pen against her notebook. Although Chemistry was her favorite subject and the substitute teacher Mr. Walker (since their old one, Mr. Harris, was murdered) without a doubt considered her an angel for some reason, she was not a morning person and therefore she hated any class that she had the first period. That and she was in desperate need for some curly fries from the cafeteria as she hadn't had any breakfast.
She unconsciously began to play with her curls, letting her eyes wander around the classroom. She caught some kids whispering about who they wanted to be their partners. Some were couples hoping they would be together, some were friends, and some were even hoping that they had her, the "smartest" kid in the class as their partner. The funny thing about it was that she was sure there were other kids smarter than her in the class, but because she was the only sophomore, to them that made her a genius.
As she continued to observe the room of juniors, as she usually did in all of her classes when she was trying to pass time, she spotted an unfamiliar face on the opposite back corner of the room from her. It was a girl of Asian descent, with tan skin and long dark hair. She wore a black off shoulder long sleeve top and a black skirt and looked absolutely petrified at the fact that she would be paired off with someone. She reminded Teddy of how a freshman looked on their first day of high school.
"—iles, Ms. Bryard."
At the sound of her name, Teddy took her attention off of the girl and flicked her eyes in Mr. Walker's direction. He (as well as the rest of the class) was looking back at her with a clipboard in his hand.
"I-I'm sorry," She stuttered as she ran her hand through her hair sheepishly. "What did you say?"
Mr. Walker chuckled softly at her dazed expression. "Well, well Ms. Bryard I thought you would be a good pair with this student considering you'd teach him a couple things or two about responsibility and exceptional work. Don't let me rethink my decision. You'll be paired with Mr. Stilinski."
It took all of Teddy's self-restraint not to let a 'huh?', leave her mouth. Stilinski? As in Stiles Stilinski? Was he even in this class?
Against her better judgment she decided to scan the room for her estranged neighbor, and sure enough, after a few seconds, she caught a pair of familiar brown eyes looking right back in her direction. Stiles looked just as puzzled and uncomfortable as she was. Though they really had no issue with each other, it was still weird to suddenly be partnered and forced to communicate after such a long time of no communication.
Before the awkward stare down could get any worse, the bell had rung signaling the end of class.
"I want this research done by Friday! See you all tomorrow!" Mr. Harris announced.
As Teddy got up out of her seat, the due date rang in her ears. One of the so called 'nerd habits' (as Liliana called it) that she had was that although it was only Monday she liked getting homework out of the way so that she didn't have to worry about it later. And it wouldn't get done any faster if she didn't at least make an attempt to work together with Stiles.
Biting her lip, she swung her bag over her shoulders and followed after his direction. Because of his long strides far outmatching her small ones, she wasn't able to reach him until he came to a sudden stop in front of his locker.
As she neared closer to him, she noticed that he had taken off the purple striped sweater she spotted him in this morning and was now just wearing the plain white t-shirt he had worn underneath. As his fingers made his way to fiddle with the lock on his locker, Teddy couldn't help but notice the subtle definition in his arms that hadn't been there the last time she took a good look at him, which was probably when he was around twelve.
She bit the inside of her cheek before she began to near him. She wasn't too talkative. In fact, the one person that's heard her talk the most besides her mother was Liliana. She usually only spoke when she had an answer in class, or when she had a smart remark to make. But it wasn't like her to approach someone head on. She was classified as socially awkward.
But it was too late to back down. She was already at his side.
"Hey, Stiles," The words finally came out of her mouth, his name sounding weird coming from her lips.
Stiles paused at putting his Chemistry book back in his locker and seemed just as surprised as he was that she actually approached him. Not only that, but she managed to attempt and start a conversation with him. As he looked down at her, Teddy realized that his eyes were not a mere plain brown, but more of a whiskey color really.
"Is there something on my face?" Teddy questioned in amusement seeing that he was still staring at her.
Realizing that he was being kind of weird, Stiles snapped out of it. "Um, no, no, not at all. It's just, um, you-I didn't expect you, Teddy."
"Yea, I know. I wasn't expecting it myself if that makes sense." Teddy thought to herself with furrowed brows. It didn't make sense. "Anyways, so this project thing. I figured it's best if we get this research over with sooner than later."
"O-Oh yea totally." Stiles agreed. "Maybe we should exchange numbers to let each other know when we're free?"
"Don't we live next to each other anyways?" Teddy questioned as she leaned her side against the lockers.
Red tinging his cheeks in embarrassment, Stiles immediately regretted his suggestion. "Or not. Yea, it would be weird to give each other's numbers right?"
Teddy couldn't help herself. She thought she had social issues but it seemed that even though he was a lot more popular than her Stiles wasn't so great at socializing himself. She held out her hand in his direction.
"Give me your phone Stiles. It's weird but it isn't that weird."
"R-Right!" Stiles responded with a sheepish chuckle as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Let me just type in my password and…"
His words slowly trailed off as his thumb hovered over the keyboard to type in his numerical password. At first, Teddy believed that he had frozen because he had probably forgotten what his password was. But after a few moments, she noticed that his fingers began to tremble uncontrollably, slowly losing his grip on his phone.
"Stiles?" She said softly.
But there was no response. Instead, he continued to stare at his phone with wide eyes, his skin paling as if he was about to be sick. She looked around to see that no one paid them any attention, and therefore meant no one was noticing Stiles's premature panic attack. She looked back at the shaking teen and slowly brought her hands to cover his own.
"Hey," She whispered. "Stiles you're okay. I don't want you to freak out in the middle of the hallway and have everyone think you're crazy, so snap out of it okay. Just look at me."
It took some time, but sure enough, Stiles's hands slowly began to get back to normal, his skin regaining the little color that it had. He slowly picked his head up to meet Teddy's concerned eyes, sweat beading down his forehead.
"You with me?" Teddy asked.
Stiles took a few shaky breaths before licking his drying lips, giving her a nod. "Yea...t-thanks? I guess?"
Teddy smiled as she took her hands off of his. "No problem."
—
It was around ten at night, and Teddy was home alone for a little while until her mother came back from work at midnight. So considering the slightly eventful day she had, she decided to take a soothing bath before heading to sleep.
As she rested her head on the edge of the tub and looked up at the ceiling, her body submerged in bubbles and warm bath water, she tried to focus on the sound of her breath in order to calm her racing mind. But considering that she had been doing it for the past half hour, she was debating on giving up trying.
When Stiles froze like that in front of her, she felt as if she was staring in a mirror. The only reason she knew how to handle him so quickly was that she herself had recently begun to suffer from panic attacks for the past few weeks. The episodes began a little after the sacrifice like murders that had put Beacon Hills on high alert had come to a stop.
Luckily for her though, they always happened at home, and usually, her mom was right there to calm her down just as she did with Stiles in the hallway. Her mom claimed that along with the previous murder spree it was probably due to the stress of balancing all junior classes, and Teddy wished she could believe that it was the actual reason as well. But for some reason, deep down she had a bad feeling…
She sunk herself a little lower into the water so that only her nose and everything above it wasn't submerged. No, she had to stop thinking like that.
She promised herself she'd never be like him.