Jessica McCall rummaged through her closet in search of the perfect outfit to wear for the first day of her sophomore year. She desperately wanted to make a good impression, determined to make this year a good one.
It was a part of the resolution, both her and her twin brother, Scott made. His was to make first line on the school's lacrosse team and hers was to make friends with people that weren't her brother and her brother's best friend, Stiles Stilinski.
Jessica finally pulled out a pink dress with white spots dotting the fabric, a belt was attached around the middle and she accessorized with a short denim jacket and black boots. Setting the outfit onto her desk, she sighed contently hands on her hips before hearing a loud noise.
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion realizing the noise came from outside. Who would be here at this time of night?
Jessica exited her bedroom and looked down the hall, only to meet the eyes of her brother coming out of his own room, bat in hand. He put a finger to his lips and she nodded, following after him as they silently made their way down the stairs. The thoughts of a predator breaking into their house was on both of their minds as they walked outside and looked around the porch for any sign of life.
Scott walked up to the railing but the minute he did a body dropped, hanging from the roof. Three yells of alarm echoed throughout the night, Scott brandishing the bat in his hands as he yelled.
Jessica felt an overwhelming sense of annoyance the minute she recognized the boy hanging from the roof, so did her brother. 'Stilinski!' 'Stiles, what the hell are you doing?!' the McCall twins shout at the honey, brown eyed boy hanging from their roof.
'You weren't answering your phone! Why do you have a bat?' Stiles asked in confusion, changing the direction of the conversation, seeing the bat in his best friend's hands.
'We thought you were a predator!' Scott yells in his defense, lowering the bat to his side.
Stiles stares at him disbelief 'A pre...' He laughs mid-sentence before continuing 'Look, I know it's late, but you've got to hear this. My dad left twenty minutes ago, dispatch call. They're bringing every officer of the Beacon department, and even the state police.'
'For what?' Both twins asked in unison and Stiles stared at them before getting down from the roof.
'You know it really creeps me out when you two do that but anyway two joggers found a body in the woods' Jessica looked at him exasperated, wondering what he was getting at and if he would get there quick. She wanted to get a good night sleep so she wouldn't look like a zombie on the first day of school.
'A dead body?' Scott asked and Jessica raised one eyebrow in disbelief, he didn't just ask that did he?
'No a body of water, yes dumbass a dead body' Stiles exclaimed, climbing over the rail, landing next to Jessica and in front of Scott.
'You mean like murder?'
'Nobody knows yet just that It was a girl, probably in her twenties...' He shrugged but Scott interrupted.
'Hold on, if they found the body, then what are they looking for?' Stiles grinned at that and Jess shook her head, knowing that smile all too well.
'That's the best part... They only found a half.' He nodded at Scott surprised expression 'We're going.'
'Whoa hold on! You want us to go into the woods I'm the middle of the night to find half of a dead body?!' Jess questioned in disbelief.
'What wrong Jess? Scared?' Stiles teased and she glared at him. If there was one thing Jessica McCall was not and that was scared.
'Just let me grab my jacket' she spoke, walking back into the house and up the stairs. Jess quickly grabbed a hoodie, her phone and an extra inhaler just in case Scott's ran out (it wouldn't be the first time).
'Lets go' she said, hopping into the backseat of Stiles' blue jeep.
The three of them sat in silence as Stiles drove towards the woods, only stopping when they reached a chained gate. Two signs hang together on the chains, the larger one reading 'Beacon Hills preserve' and the smaller one read 'No entry after dark'. The three of them piled out of the jeep, Stiles turning on the flashlights as he did.
'Are we seriously doing this?' Scott asked pulling up his hood, protecting his head from the cool night air.
Jessica grinned, climbing over the chain with the help on Stiles 'come on Scott, your the one who's always bitching nothing happens in this town'
'I was trying to get a good night sleep before practice tomorrow...' Scott groans following after his sister and best friend.
'Right, because, sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort' Stiles says sarcastically, walking ahead of the McCall siblings.
'No, because... I'm playing this year. In fact I'm playing first line...' Scott speaks up confidently.
'Hey, that's a spirit. Everyone should have a dream. Even a pathetically unrealistic one.' Stiles laughs.
Jessica hits his arm 'Don't be mean'.
'Just out of curiosity, which part of the body are we looking for?' Scott asks from behind.
'Huh... I didn't even think about that.' Stiles says pausing mid-step before continuing to walk, Scott on his left and Jessica on his right.
'What if the one who killed the body is still out here?' Jess asked, the thought hitting her as they walked.
'Also something I didn't think about!' Stiles says as they emerge from some trees and begin the ascent up a small hill.
'It's comforting to know that you planned this up with you usual attention to details' Scott panted, his asthma getting the better of him.
'I know' Stiles says continuing. Jessica stopped looking concerned at her brother who leaned against a tree pulling out his inhaler, panting for breath.
'Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one who holds the flashlight, huh?' He calls, puffing a few breaths of air into his lungs before catching up quickly.
Reaching the top of the hill, the trio immediately fall to the ground, catching sight of several officers in front of them. The sounds of dogs barking being the only noise echoing through the trees.
'Hey come on' Stiles encourages, jumping up and beginning to run.
'Stiles!' 'Wait up!' The twins yell, Jessica stumbling to her feet chasing after him, Scott following after a puff later.
They both run after him, only a few paces behind him. Jessica could have easily caught up but would rather stay by her brother's side just in case. She did not want to experience another asthma attack.
'Stiles!' Scott yells and Stiles slows down just a bit before the sounds of a dog barking make him jump and fall to the floor. Scott and Jessica quickly hide behind separate trees, trying to not move an inch as it begins to rain down on them.
'Hang on, hang on..' A familiar voice rings out throughout the night interrupting the officer. Sheriff Stilinski walks up to his son 'This little delinquent belongs to me'.
'Dad, how you're doing?' Stiles says, acting nonchalant. Like it was complete normal for him to be wandering around the woods at night.
'So you're listening all my phone calls?' The sheriff sighs.
'No!' Stiles yells in his defense before shrugging 'not the boring ones'.
Sheriff nods like he didn't expect anything less. 'So where are your usual partners in crime?' He asks looking around the woods for a sign of Jessica and Scott.
'Who Scott and Jess? They're at home. They said they need their beauty sleep for the first day of school tomorrow. There's just me... In the woods... Alone...' Stiles pants, trying to catch his breath from the cold rain and the shock of the dog barking so close to his face moments before.
'Right' he says disbelieving 'Scott! Jess! You out there?!' The sheriff yells, shining his flashlight out into the woods, in search for the McCall twins.
Both Jessica and Scott hid behind their trees, not moving, knowing that if the sheriff found them their mom would kill both of them and that was after the sheriff had finished dealing with them.
'Well young man, I'm gonna walk you back to your car, and you and I, we're gonna have a discussion about something called invasion of privacy.' He says, taking his son by the back of his neck, dragging him out of the woods. The rest of the police force had already left as soon as the rain began to fall.
Jessica sighs, brushing several wet strands of her hair out of her face 'I'm going to kill him' she states.
Scott nods 'I'll help'.
They both begin the track out of the woods, thunder crashing above them. Jessica moves closer to her brother at the sounds of a wolf howling, freaking her out.
They both pull up their hoods to avoid the rain. Smoke blowing out of their mouths with every breath due to the cold. Several animal sounds freak them out as it was dark and they were now alone in the woods at night.
Scott stops at the sound of a noise. 'What is it?' Jessica asked but Scott shrugged, pulling out his inhaler.
Before he could take a puff a herd of deer jump out at the twins. Jess squeals jumping to the side as her brother falls to the ground, the herd jumping over the top of him. Fortunately none of them touch him.
'What the hell?' They both breathe out, getting to their feet after the herd goes deeper into the forest.
'You alright?' Scott asks his sister and after she nods 'help me find my inhaler'.
The McCall siblings pull out their phones and use the screen light, kneeling to the ground in search of Scott's inhaler. They move leaves and sticks but can't seem to find it anywhere.
'AH!' Jessica hears Scott cry out in alarm and she snaps her head around just in time to see her brother tumbling down a hill.
'Scott!' She yells, rushing forward but stops dead in her tracks, the sight of half a girl's body freezing her in place.
Taking a few steps backwards, Jess stumbles to the ground and begins to scramble away from the body only to freeze hearing Scott howl in pain.
'Scott!' She calls, moving to her feet, her concern for her brother overwhelming her fear. She looks over the edge but she couldn't see her brother anywhere in the darkness. Yet she could hear the sounds of growling over her brother's yells.
'Scott!' Jessica calls again to no answer. She just manages to hear her brother's running footsteps and she quickly runs after him, hoping to catch him at the edge of the woods.
The sounds of growling rings in her ears and she looked behind her, only to see glowing red eyes in the trees behind her. Fear setting in she doubles her speed, knowing that it was the same thing that had attacked her brother and rushes away, bursting through some bushes at the end of the woods and onto a road.
'Scott!' She screams once she sees her brother emerge out onto the road a car swerving just in time to miss him.
She runs up to him 'are you okay?!' She yells, checking her brother over, protective instincts kicking in.
He shrugs her off 'I'm fine'. Scott's next action contradict his words however as he winces in pain, pulling up his hoodie, revealing a large animal bite on the side of his stomach. Before either of them can say anything, they hear a wolf howl into the night.
'Jessica!' Jess jolted awake up at the sound of her mom's voice and she lets out a groan remembering last night events. She had hoped it was all just some seriously messed up dream but noticing the first aid kit on her bedside table was proof that it wasn't.
She had cleaned up Scott's bite to the best of her abilities the minute they got home (after she sent a rather threatening message to Stiles). It sure was handy being a nurse's daughter.
Jessica let out another groan of irritation before climbing out of her bed and into the shower for a quick wash before school. Brushing and blow drying her hair, she left it in its natural wavy state before putting on the outfit she choose last night. She added a pair of silver earrings and a long silver necklace. She put on some mascara and eyeliner, using concealer to cover up the dark circles under her eyes from walking through the woods most of the night.
Jess headed downstairs after pulling her bag from the back of her door, kissing her mom's cheek goodbye she headed for the front door. 'Scott, hurry up!' She called and after hearing the sounds of her brother stumbling down the stairs she went outside, grabbing her bike. She was saving up for a car by babysitting a few of the neighbor kids a couple nights a week.
Pulling out onto the street. Her brother quickly grabbed his own bike following after her, his lacrosse stick attached to his bag. 'How's the bite?' She called over to him as they rode to school, on separate sides of the road and each on a pathway.
'Fine, I guess' he replies, shrugging as they turn into the parking lot of the school.
The twins pull up to the bike racks and both of them jump off. Taking off her helmet, Jessica flipped her head upside down, hanging her hair out like dead Mary and she ran a hand through it before flipping her head back, to get rid of her helmet hair. Rearranging her dress, she looked up as a familiar Porsche drove up next to Scott.
The driver door opened and hit Scott in the side. Jessica immediately glared at the gelled head of hair climbing out of the sports car. Jackson Whittemore, captain of the lacrosse team and all around jackass.
'Dude, watch the paint job' he warned Scott glaring and Jessica walked forwards to give him a piece of her mind but Scott stopped her. Her movement caught Jackson's eye and he stared at her, looking her up and down before one of his friends called his name and he left, glaring at the McCall twins.
They both made their way towards the school and as soon as Jessica spots Stiles she goes over and punches his arm hard. 'Ow!' Stiles cried, grabbing his arm in pain, 'what the hell was that for?!' He demanded rubbing it.
'You know what that was for Stilinski. If you ever leave me in the woods, at night, during a thunderstorm, I will personally hunt you down' she threatens, glaring at him.
'My god your scary when your angry!' he exclaims before looking at Scott 'Okay let's see this thing' He says, expression turning into an eager one. Scott lifted up his shirt revealing the large bandage on the side of his stomach, covering the bite.
'Whoa' Stiles says in admiration and he goes to touch it but Scott flinches, pulling down his shirt.
'It was too dark to see very much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf' He explain his theory to Stiles as they began to walk towards the school.
'A wolf bit you? No, not a chance' Stiles denies automatically, disproving Scott's theory straight up.
'I heard a wolf howling' Scott protests.
'No you didn't!'
'Yes we did' Jess chimes in on the other side of Stiles.
'No you didn't' Stiles argues turning on her as well.
'What do you mean we didn't, how do you know what we heard?' Scott asks his best friend, confused.
'Because California doesn't have wolves not in like sixty years' he explains, standing in front of the twins.
'Really?' They both ask in surprise and Stiles gives them the same look he always does every time they speak in unison.
'Yes, really. Look, there are no wolves in California', he assures.
'Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe when I tell you I found the body', Scott says and Stiles' face lights up in excitement.
'Are you kidding me?'
'I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month' Jessica complains and Stiles holds back a laugh.
'That is freaking awesome! I mean, seriously, it's the best thing that ever happened in this town, since... the birth of Lydia Martin' They all turn as a pretty girl with strawberry blonde hair passes. 'Hey, Lydia You look...' She walks right past him 'like you're gonna ignore me!' He sighs, watching her enter the building with a wistful expression.
'You're the cause of this, you know?' He accuses, turning around on his best friends.
'Uh-huh' Scott replies with a smile.
'Dragging me down your nerd depth!' The school bell rings and the three turn to walk into the building.
'Uh-huh' they both nod.
'I'm a nerd by association. I'm Scarlett nerded by you' Stiles accuses and both Jessica and Scott laugh as they make their way towards English.
Jessica takes a seat in front of Stiles, next to Scott facing the front as their English teacher writes on the board before talking to the class 'As you all know, there was a body found in the woods last night'. The trio glance at each other with small smiles on their faces.
The whole class looks increasingly more bored as the words continue to leave the teacher's mouth. Some of the girls were filing their nails down and some boys were tapping their fingers against the desk.
'And I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios for what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody' the twins looks at Stiles, whom shrugs not knowing anything about a suspect.
'Which means, you can give your all attention to the program on your desk for this semester' everyone groans as they pull out their programs.
Jessica watches in confusion as Scott flinches at something. She raises an eyebrow at him as he looks around confused before she rolls her eyes at her weird brother and his strange behaviors, looking down at the paper in her hands.
A few minutes later, there's a knock on the door. The vice principal enters, a girl with long curly brown hair entering behind him. 'Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do the best to make her feel welcome', Allison smiles before making her way to the empty seat behind Scott.
Jessica hears 'thanks' from an unfamiliar voice and she turns to see Scott smiling at the new girl, handing over a pen. Jess furrowed her eyebrows, not having heard the girl ask for a pen. She couldn't ask Stiles if he did either as the teacher began talking at that moment.
The school bell rings signalling the end of the day and Jessica makes her way to her locker, putting her books away. She was going to head straight for the lacrosse field to watch both Stiles and Scott try out afterwards.
She closes her locker and leans against it, looking around at the students. Jess spotted a couple of girls from her classes nearby and her resolution began pounding in her ears.
She bit her lip, taking a step forward before her nerves got the better of her. Tightening her grip on her bag, she headed straight for the field.
Jessica took a seat on the bleachers only to be joined by Allison and Lydia a moment later. She looked around seeing plenty of empty seats so it puzzled her on why they decided to sit right next to her.
Allison smiled at her warmly though so Jessica smiled back politely while Lydia completely ignored her. Jessica watched as Scott had stuff thrown at him by coach Finstock. They conversed before Scott made his way over to the goal.
'Who is that?' She hears Allison ask in reference to her brother.
'Him? I have no idea, why?' Lydia replies and Jessica rolls her eyes in annoyance because of course Lydia Martin would not know who her brother is.
'He's in my English class' Allison shrugs.
'His name is Scott McCall and he's my twin brother' Jess speaks up turning the two girls attention to her. 'Fraternal of course' she adds as an afterthought.
'Oh' Lydia says before 'and what do they call you?'
'Jessica' she replies and Lydia nods, though it looked like she didn't actually care.
'I'm Allison' Allison says smiling, politely holding out her hand.
Jessica shakes her hand in greeting 'I know' Allison blushes. Coach blows the whistle before anymore words can be exchanged.
Jessica watched in confusion as Scott grips his head as if the noise was actually hurting him and before he knew it a ball was hurled at his face, knocking him backwards.
The team laughs along with some of the students in the stands whilst Jessica winces in sympathy and Stiles shakes his head sadly. Scott gets up thankfully and readies himself for the next shot.
The next team member runs to the left before hurling the ball towards the goal. Scott catches it in the lacrosse stick's net and everyone looks at him in stunned surprise.
'Yeah!' Stiles shouts after getting over his shock.
'Come on Scott!' Jess claps in encouragement, smiling proudly.
The next player runs up and Scott catches that as well, causing several students to cheer. Scott catches shot after shot with ease, 'He seems like he's pretty good' Jess hears Allison comment impressed.
'Very good' Lydia agrees.
'Go Scott!' Jessica cheers, proud of her brother.
The field goes quiet however the minute Jackson steps forward. 'Oh god' both Jessica and Scott mutter, because even though he was a major jackass there was a reason why Jackson was the captain of the lacrosse team.
Jessica bites her lip nervous as Jackson runs up to the goal. He jumps mid-air, hurling the ball straight for the goal. Scott moves to the left and catches the ball with ease. The crowd immediately begins cheering and Stiles jumps up in the air shouting 'that's my friend!'
'Woo! Way to go Scott!' Jess yells, standing up and clapping for her brother. Lydia joins her while Allison just grins from her seat. Jackson looks over and glares at his girlfriend, Lydia only shrugging.
Scott hurls the ball over to the ref, whom only just catches it, more people to cheer on the field as Scott smiles.
Jessica manages to avoid splashing in the water as she walks along the rocks in a stream. The trio were back in the woods in effort to search for Scott's missing inhaler now that it was light out.
'I don't know what it was! It was like... I had all the time in the world to catch the ball! And that's not the only weird thing. I hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear, I smell things...' Scott continues to ramble on about what was happening to him.
'You smell things? Like what?' Stiles smiled.
'Like the mint gum in your pocket' He says and Stiles looks at him in confusion before checking his pockets.
'I don't have any mint gum in my...' And sure enough he finds a mint gum in his pocket and Scott shrugs, continuing to walk forward.
'So all of that started with the bite?' Jess questioned, stepping over an overgrown tree root.
'What if it's like an infection? Like... my body is full of adrenaline before a shock or something...' 'You know what, I actually think I heard of this. It's a specific kind of infection' Stiles nods seriously and the other two turn to stare at him confused.
'You have?' They both ask in unison making Stiles sigh exasperated.
'1, it still freaks me out and 2, I think it's called 'lycanthropy' he smiles, proud of his joke. Jessica only rolls her eyes and shoves him lightly.
'What is that? Is that bad?' Scott asked oblivious, making them stare at him in disbelief.
'Oh, yeah, it's the worst! But only once a month' Stiles explained, continuing with his joke.
'Once a month?'
'Uh-huh. On the night of the full moon' Jessica adds and her and Stiles look at each other before howling together. Scott rolls his eyes, catching onto the joke and shoves Stiles back, making them laugh harder.
'You're the one who heard a wolf!' Stiles cries out in his defense.
'It's not funny, there could be something seriously wrong with me!'
'I know! You're a werewolf!' he imitates growling and Jessica laughs while Scott glares at the two of them and angrily. 'Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find it's because Friday is a full moon'.
Scott looked at the ground in confusion 'I could have swear it was there. I saw the body, the deer running... I dropped my inhaler'. Jess nods as well as she looks around her in search for the body. Why? Because Stiles was a nut-job and wanted to have nightmares.
'Maybe the killer moved the body' Stiles assumed, shrugging.
'If he did it I hope he didn't take my inhaler, this thing costs like eighty bucks...' The twins look around for the inhaler while Stiles looks up and spots a man in a leather jacket, walking towards them.
'Scott, Jess' he warns and they both stand up in alarm watching as he comes closer, and boy he did not look happy.
'What are you doing here? Huh? This is private propriety!' He says, sounding really pissed off.
'Sorry, man, we didn't know' Stiles apologizes immediately.
'Yeah we were just... looking for something..., um forget it...' Scott shrugs, only to have the guy throw something at him before stalking away. Scott looks down to see that it was his inhaler.
'Okay come on I have to go to work.' Scott says, not sounding bothered at all but Stiles' hand stops him.
'Dude, that was Derek Hale! You remember, right? He's just a few years older than us'.
'Remember what?'
'His family. They all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago', Jessica explained.
'What is he doing back?' Scott wondered.
'Don't know... Come on.' He says before walking away. Jessica grabs Scott's arm and drags him away as he had gotten lost in his thoughts again.