Thank you all so much for favoriting/following the story! I'd like to thank Tarafina and the guest reviewers for reviewing my story and giving me some advice. I'd love some more feedback and criticism. This is my first story, so everything is pretty new to me. So feel free to critique to you little heart's content! I'm always open to new ideas or suggestions. Also, I'm still trying to perfect all the canon characters' personalities, so if you have any advice for that, go ahead and review. Thanks again!
Hope you don't all hate me now that I switched to third person. I just felt sort of awkward writing in first person. I feel like my writing is way better when I write in the person. Sorry if you prefer first person :/
Hey guys, shocker: I don't own Teen Wolf.
Carolina pulled her jacket closer to her body, rolling her eyes. She was now seriously regretting letting Allison drag her along to watch lacrosse practice. Even though they'd only been outside for a couple minutes, she was already sufficiently cold. The varsity jacket she'd thrown on that morning was not providing nearly enough warmth, even with her sweatshirt layered underneath. Carolina felt a shiver run from her head to her toes, and she rubbed her hands together in an attempt to get a little warmth, as she, Allison, and Lydia filed into the bleachers. They'd been talking about their first day outfits and Carolina, not having much knowledge on the topic, decided to just occasionally nod or smile when one of them became particularly animated. When they finally plopped down onto the cold metal, the subject was changed to something she actually sort of knew.
"Who is that?" Allison nonchalantly glanced in the direction of a player, trying to act as if she didn't really care.
"Him? I'm not sure who he is. Why?" Lydia followed Allison's gaze towards the boy, who Carolina realized was Scott, the puppy-like boy Harley had introduced her to just minutes ago.
"He's in my English class," Allison stated, keeping her eyes on Scott. She sounded indifferent, but Carolina figured she was still curious, judging by how the two had been making googly eyes at each other in English.
"That's Scott. I met him a little while ago. But then again, so did you, sort of. He seemed pretty star struck in English," The brunette teased, nudging Allison with her shoulder and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Allison scoffed, slapping her arm.
"Shut up."
"Wow, stellar comeback. You've just verified the fact that you're totally into him." Carolina smirked, and Allison glared at her playfully before turning her attention back to the field. Her silence only made Carolina more certain that the girl had already found someone to pursue. Before Allison could retort, the whistle sounded, signifying the start of practice. The players lined up, with Scott in goal. Carolina watched as the first guy in line ran up to the goal and nailed Scott straight in the head, making him fall back into the goal. She winced, glancing over to Allison who had a similarly pained expression.
"Maybe he just needs to wake up a little," Carolina suggested, with a hopeful grin.
Sure enough, the next shot landed right in the back of his lacrosse stick. She clapped gleefully, happy he hadn't taken another hit in front of Allison, but slowed to a stop when she was met with silence. Everyone was stock still, shocked that he had made the save. Scott stared at the ball with equal confusion, and she saw him straighten up and get his confidence back. They all watched as Scott continued to make save after save, and soon the quiet bewilderment turned into excited cheering.
"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison offered, smiling.
"Very good," Lydia smiled slyly, and Carolina could see the gears turning in her head. Suddenly, Jackson pushed his way to the front of the line, sneering at Scott while he waited for the assistant coach to toss him the ball. As soon as the ball was thrown, Jackson sprinted forward, barreling toward the goal. When he shot, she held my breath, but Scott quickly caught it. With reflexes like that, she wondered why he wasn't the captain. Carolina jumped up and cheered with everyone else, awed by the fact that he'd managed to save the ball. Lydia was staring gloatingly at Jackson, as if silently warning him to step up his game.
They sat through the rest of practice, occasionally cheering on Scott or Jackson when one of them scored or saved. Once lacrosse was over, she, Allison, and Lydia made our way back into the school to wait for Jackson. Allison was catching a ride from Lydia, who wanted to congratulate her boyfriend for who knew what. Carolina was waiting for her father to get back to her, so she tagged along, not having anything better to do. She had her junior license, but her car had broken down a couple days ago. So her poor dad had to drive her everywhere. Not that she had many places to be driven. Just to and from school and work, which was at the hospital, where she'd just started volunteering. Carolina's beloved pickup truck was in the auto shop for an unforeseeable amount of time, so she was forced to depend on the her old man for transportation. She didn't mind too much. She loved spending time with my dad. The only problem was that he was always late. He never checked his phone consistently, so she was often left waiting for hours at different places. As much as she loved to be the last person to leave after her shift, she also couldn't wait to get her truck back.
Allison couldn't stop raving about Scott's unexpected talent, and Carolina smirked. Judging from the looks they'd been periodically giving each other throughout the practice, they were both already smitten with each other. They talked about the best plays while waiting for Jackson to get out of the locker. After taking longer getting ready than most girls do, Jackson emerged from the locker room with his hair impeccably styled, a charming grin gracing his face. Ugh. She wouldn't have minded the hair, but the cheesy grin was a bit too much. And not two seconds after he arrived, Lydia pounced on him, and they got locked into disgustingly intense PDA. Carolina shook her head, trying to focus on the conversation she was having with Allison. They were ranting about the massive chemistry assignment Mr. Harris had made due in a week, the bastard. Once Lydia and Jackson were done sucking each other's faces off, the group headed outside, where the couple engaged in yet another make out session before parting ways. Allison gave Carolina a wave as she slipped into the passenger seat of the car, while Lydia merely flipped her hair and flounced over to her car. Carolina sat on the front steps of the school, watching as Lydia's VW beetle and Jackson's Porche peeled out of the lot.
Grabbing her phone, she quickly checked her messages to find that her dad still hadn't answered her request to get picked up. Carolina sighed and shoved her earbuds in. After around a half hour of waiting for a reply, she impatiently caved and made the decision to try and walk home. She wasn't positive of the way back to her house, as she'd only moved to Beacon Hills a week and a half ago, but she figured if she got lost, she'd either be able to wander her way home, or could ask someone for directions. It wasn't the best idea, but she often made stupid, impulsive decisions without thinking them all the way through. Especially if she was in a particularly impatient mood. Instead of planning, she preferred to just act and play it as she went. And anyway, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Her father had made her take kickboxing lessons when she was younger, and she still took the occasional class, so she was well versed in the art of self defense, and anyway, Beacon Hills seemed like a quiet, boring town. Carolina stood up and stretched before starting across the parking lot. The school was already empty, with the exception of maybe a couple teachers. There was no way she would be able to cop a ride home, and if her dad wasn't going to answer, she was just going to have to take charge.
Making a left straight away, Carolina more or less knew the way back. At least, that was what she thought, until she made a wrong turn. She turned back and attempted to retrace her steps, only to make more wrong turns. She found herself wandering down a fairly empty street. It was narrow and winding, and there were thick woods on each side. No houses in sight, no signs of civilization. Wonderful. So much for asking directions. Carolina sighed, continuing down the street. There was bound to be some sort of life at the end of the road. Or maybe she'd get lucky and come across a runner or biker. The music blasted in her ears, and she hop-skipped down the road, humming along to 'Dani California.' She was actually enjoying herself. She had been on a couple runs since she moved to Beacon Hills, but she hadn't been aware that there was so much woodland. She made a mental note to look up some forest trails when she got home, when a large hand gripped her shoulder, scaring her half to death. Whirling around, she shoved her fist into her attacker's face and swiped their feet out from under them. There was a loud thump as the person hit the dirt beside the pavement.
Carolina pulled her earbuds out got down to face to the person, only to find herself face to face with... Stiles? The boy was lying flat on his back, air knocked out of him. He brought a hand up to his jaw, and he groaned, bewildered by the hit.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Carolina dropped her backpack and forced his hand away so she could inspect the damage.
"Is it a bad time? Listen, if you wanted to be left alone, you could've just told me," He wheezed, out of breath from the fall, "I just wanted to get your attention. You were pretty unresponsive."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I was listening to music," She winced, seeing a bright red mark on his jaw. That was definitely going to bruise.
Another voice spoke, "Where'd you learn to hit like that?" Carolina looked past Stiles to see Scott standing a few feet away, a shocked expression etched on his face.
"My, uh, my dad. Well, not directly. He makes me take kickboxing classes. I guess he sort of wanted me to be able to protect myself."
"Well, tell him he has nothing to worry about," Stiles muttered. He rubbed his jaw and sat up, "If I'd known you could be so aggressive, I would have left you alone."
"Watch it, Stiles, or I'll punch you again. What did you want, anyway?"
Stiles looked at her, slightly alarmed, "No, no. No need to do any more punching. Please don't." Carolina held out her hand, in a gestured of goodwill. Stiles took it graciously, and she pulled him up into a standing position.
"We saw you were walking, and just wanted to know if you needed a ride or something," Scott piped up.
"Yeah, why are you guys even here in the first place?" Carolina wondered. It was a small side road, and she was certain she hadn't passed any cars or people, which meant they had to have come out of the forest. Or dropped out of the sky. Either or. The two of them shifted on their feet, and exchanged guilty glances, hesitant to speak. Yup, they were definitely up to something.
"I, uh, dropped my inhaler yesterday, so we were looking for it," Scott straightened up a little, pleased with his fine storytelling.
"Can I ask why you were in the woods yesterday?"
"Nope," Stiles said, popping the p.
Carolina rolled her eyes. They were definitely hiding something, but she decided she'd have to try and get it out of them another time. For now, she just really wanted to get home.
"Okay, I'll take you up on your offer, if it's not too much trouble. As long as you two promise you're not crazy ax murderers or anything," She joked weakly, picking her bag back up.
Stiles burst out into slightly maniacal laughter, "Hah, where'd you get that idea? Nah, nope. No murdering here. Murders in Beacon Hills? Nonsense. Utter, complete codswallop. Murdering. What a joke. I would never. My dad's the sheriff, so nope, nothing sketchy her-"
Stiles was cut off as Scott punched him firmly in the arm.
"Ow, what the-?" Scott widened his eyes, giving his friend a warning look before walking past him and down the road. Stiles muttered something under his breath and rubbed his arm, close behind Scott. Carolina narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but followed them to where a banged up blue Jeep was parked around a bend.
"Nice truck," She nodded in approval. Stiles eyed the girl suspiciously, as if he couldn't tell if she was joking or not. She held her hands up in surrender.
"No joke. I love beat up cars. Gives them character."
Stiles grinned, "Tell that to Scott."
Scott merely rolled his eyes and jumped into the Jeep, allowing Carolina to sit in front, the gentleman he was. She climbed into the truck with ease, now grateful for her height and practical style. She situated herself in the seat and placed her backpack on her lap while waiting for Stiles to awkwardly clamber into the car.
"So, where to, m'lady?" Stiles keyed the ignition and the Jeep roared to life.
"Ummm... Hold on." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through it. Stiles let out a laugh.
"You don't know your own address?"
"Hey, give me a break! I only moved here a week ago!" Carolina exclaimed defensively. She finally came across the right note. "Here it is... 19 Maple Avenue."
Scott's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Oh, that's just a couple blocks from me." He thought for a moment.
"That's why! I thought you looked familiar - you ran by my house a couple times."
Carolina ran a hand through her hair. That was always one thing she hated about running. She always felt like people who saw her were judging her, or that she looked like a complete idiot while doing so.
"That's cool. You'll have to tell me which one is your house." So I can make sure to never run past it again.
"How about we just take you home first, Scotty?" Stiles turned around to face his friend.
Scott gave a thumbs up and Stiles sped down the street.
"So, were you trying to walk home?" Scott asked, raising his eyebrows. Carolina nodded, and he chuckled. "You were going in the complete opposite direction of our neighborhood."
She sighed. Of course she was.
"Lucky that your knights in shining armor were there, huh?" Stiles grinned at her. Carolina glared at him and gave him a hard punch to the arm. He cowered away. "Ow, that hu - is it beat on Stiles day or something?"
"No, but we can make that a regular thing if you infer that I'm a helpless little girl again."
"Nope, no, that's definitely okay."
Carolina smiled sweetly and turned on the radio. "Good."
Looking for a classic rock station, she stopped turning the dial when she heard the starting notes of 'Carry On Wayward Sun.' She started bobbing her head along to the song, mouthing the words. Stiles drummed on his steering wheel and looked over to her, "You like Kansas?"
Carolina nodded, still mouthing the words, and playing air guitar when the solo came. He shook his head and smirked, "You are certainly a different girl"
She gave him a pointed look and stopped strumming in midair. "What, like girls can't enjoy kickboxing and classic rock?"
He spluttered for a moment, and she patted his arm, "I'm joking, joking. I was raised by my dad, so I'm pretty much into whatever he pushed on me. That also includes Marvel and DC comics, so just be forewarned, I am a sucker for Spiderman and/or Batman comics." Carolina grinned, watching Stiles geek out a little.
"Batman is the best superhero ever! I keep trying to convince Scott, but he's set on the Hulk." He shot a glare over his shoulder to where Scott was lounging in the back seat. Scott rolled his eyes and sat up.
"Oh, please. Batman doesn't even have real superpowers, he gets it all from his gadgets. The Hulk would crush him," Scott argued.
Carolina faced Scott, shaking her head, "That's not the point. Batman took what he had, all this wealth, and turned it into something amazing. He could've just sat around and felt sorry for himself, but no, he did something. And he would totally kick the Hulk's butt. As would Spiderman."
Stiles nodded in agreement, while Scott merely stuck his tongue out, agreeing to disagree. I thought for a moment, before adding, "Besides, Batman has better villains. I mean, c'mon, you can't beat the Joker and Catwoman."
"And let's not forget the Scarecrow," Stiles mentioned, humming along to the last notes of the song. "Y'know what? I like you. You're pretty cool."
"Wow, that's definitely one of the lamer compliments I've received." Carolina rolled her eyes.
"Hey, be happy I deemed you cool - it takes a lot to land in my cool book."
"Your cool book?"
"Yup. It's my little mental book that lists the names of all the people I think are pretty okay. Scott, Harley, Danny, etc... and now you."
"You just made that up right now," Carolina said, unimpressed.
"No I didn't!"
After a little pause in the conversation, Stiles spoke up again, "So, no mom in the picture?"
He winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Agh, sorry. Wow, that was really inconsiderate. Sorry. You don't have to answer that. Sorry."
"You want to say sorry one more time?" Carolina chuckled, "No, it's okay. Yeah, my mom left when I was really little, like, baby young. I never really knew her. So it's not really a sensitive subject, it's more of a fact." She shrugged. "Anyway, my sister pretty much raised me along with my dad, so she was sorta like my mom and sibling mixed in one." She smiled, grabbing her necklace, caught up in old memories of when Isabela used to try and boss her around.
Stiles nodded. "Wow, the amount of single parents in Beacon Hills is growing at an alarming rate."
Carolina looked up at him, glancing back at Scott. "Come again?"
Scott chuckled, "I live with my mom, and Stiles here lives with his dad." He patted Stiles on the chest.
"Alright, enough of the heart to heart, can we just enjoy the artistic talent of The Rolling Stones?" She grinned, while Stiles bobbed his head to the music and she turned it up a little. Soon, the entire car was rocking out to 'Paint it Black,' and they were at Scott's before the song was over. She jumped out of the car so Scott could climb out.
"It was a pleasure to ride with you." Carolina gave Scott a salute, which he returned with an adorable smile that was reminiscent of a puppy. He jogged up the path to his house and gave a wave before disappearing inside. She climbed back into the Jeep, where Stiles was still rocking out to the music.
"Okay, let's go." She buckled back up, and he pulled away from Scott's house. Stiles turned down the radio and angled himself towards her slightly.
"So, Carolina, what brings you to the unbelievably ordinary town of Beacon Hills?"
"Oh, uh, my dad wanted to move here for his work." A complete lie. But after Allison had asked her, Carolina knew that she'd be getting that question a lot, so she went with a fairly plausible option.
"Oh, cool, what does he do? CIA? Witness protection?" Stiles glanced at her quickly before flicking them back to the road.
"Nah, nothing cool like that, I wish. He's an author. He likes to write chapter books for kids - y'know, stuff similar to the Magic Tree House and Cam Jansen?" Carolina thought for a moment, "He's working on a new book right now. That's why I was walking. When he gets an idea, he's completely in the zone, so he turns off his phone. He's probably had a stroke of genius. It wouldn't be a problem if my car wasn't in the shop."
Stiles nodded in understanding, and she continued, "There's also the fact that he's almost always late. To everything. Honestly, I'm shocked that I managed to make it to school on time today. But you just wait, I'll be late the rest of the week."
Stiles considered this for a moment, before clearing his throat. "Well, uh, do you want a ride? I could drive you, if you want."
She shook her head, "No I couldn't ask you to do that. Besides, you hardly even know me. What if I end up being the most annoying person you've ever met?"
"I highly doubt that someone who likes classic rock and Marvel comics could be as annoying as you're saying. And I'm even willing to forget the fact that you socked me in the face. Anyway, it's not like it's out of the way."
"Yeah, I'm really, really sorry about that. But hey, you can say that you got in a fight with a bear or something. Unless you want it known that you got beaten up by a girl who's at least three or so inches shorter than you."
"Hey, that girl had a killer right hook." Stiles shook his head, "Nah, I think I'll just go with lacrosse injury on this one."
Carolina looked at Stiles in surprise. "You play lacrosse? I didn't see you during practice."
"Yeah, well, that'd be because Coach has me eternally glued to the bench," He didn't sound bitter, more resigned than anything.
"Hey, I bet you're the best benchwarmer on the team. I bet you keep the bench company like a pro." She raised her eyebrows and chuckled. Stiles joined her after a little, and once it died down, he searched for another topic of conversation.
"So, you mentioned you have a sister. Where is she, if it's just you and your dad." God. Of all the things for him to pick up from what she said, it had to be that.
"Why do you care?" It came out much more hostile than Carolina had intended. Perhaps a normal person would've just said it was a sensitive topic, or made something up, but her being the impulsive, awkward person she was, had to go straight to aggressiveness.
"Oh, sorry, never mind, you can just disregard that question. Sorry." The look on poor Stiles' face resembled that of a mixture between a kicked puppy and a deer in headlights. She sighed and gripped her necklace.
"No, I'm sorry, it's just a sore topic right now, you know? I don't really want to talk about it, that's all." Stiles nodded and turned back to the road. What she had said wasn't strictly true. She actually did want to talk about it, but she preferred not to be reduced to a blubbering mess in front of people she'd only just met. Nope, she'd like to save it for her stuffed animals. Or her guidance counselor. Either or.
The rest of the ride was spent in awkward quietness, with the radio playing in the background. Carolina rested her head on her hand, and Stiles just drove on, done with asking questions, probably afraid he'd hit another forbidden topic. Even though Scott had been right, her house was only a few blocks away from his, it still felt like a lifetime before they pulled up to the curb beside her house. Her dad's Volkswagen was parked in the driveway, which meant she'd been right, he was probably enraptured with his work. Stiles put the Jeep into park, and she jumped out, pulling on her backpack.
"Thanks for the ride. You really don't have to give me one tomorrow."
"Okay, but just letting you know, I live to give people rides. I'm sort of like a taxi. Y'know, I should start charging Scott for rides. I'd probably make a fortune." Carolina cracked a smile, and headed up the steps to her house, turning back to wave to Stiles.
"See you tomorrow, Whitney," He returned the wave, and skidded away from her house. Carolina found the door to be unlocked, and she was greeted with the familiar smell of pizza. She went to the kitchen to find two slices waiting for her on a plate. At least her dad had remembered to get hre pizza. Albeit horrible pizza, but it was still food. In the short time she'd spent in California, she'd learned that the pizza here was nowhere near as good as it was in New York. She only wished she'd appreciated it a little more before they moved. Carolina grabbed the plate and made her way up the stairs. Sticking her head into her father's room, she saw him hunched over the computer, typing away furiously.
"I'm home." She announced, and he looked up, giving her a smile and small wave before returning to his work.
"Pizza's on the table."
"Got it." Carolina skipped over to her room, which held only her bed and a small end table. The rest of her belongings still lay in various boxes stacked precariously on top of each other. She'd managed to locate her clothing with relative ease, so most of her shirts and such were packed into the closet, but that was the extent of her organization. Even with the numerous boxes littering the room, it was still cleaner than it usually was back when she lived in New York. She plopped onto her bed, grabbed her English book from her backpack, and started on the Kafka reading that Mr. Freeman had assigned. As she read, she devoured my pizza. Carolina hadn't realized just how hungry she was before. She hadn't eaten since fifth period, when she'd sat with Harley and her friends, Scott and Stiles not included. As she was finishing up her second piece, her dad poked his head into her room.
"Hey sweetie, sorry I didn't say much before, I had a chapter that I simply had to finish," He pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled at her. Carolina returned the smile, and got up to hug him.
"It's fine, I know you're busy with work. Got those deadlines to meet, right?" She didn't mention the ride home. He'd get them later, when he turned his phone back on, and she didn't want to worry him. He had enough on his plate as it was.
"You got it." He ruffled her hair, and she wrinkled her nose, flattening the hair back into place. He turned to go back to his room, but stopped, remembering something. "How did you get home today?"
"Oh, I just got a ride with some friends." Carolina shrugged her shoulders. So much for not bringing it up. "No big deal."
He grinned, teasing her lightle, "Wow, aren't you just the regular social butterfly. One day in school and you already have friends to drive you places."
Carolina rolled her eyes, scoffing, "You know as well as I do that I'm not exactly skilled in conversing with people. But yeah, I met some nice people today."
"Good, I'm glad." He made to leave again before smirking coyly. "Any cute boys?"
A certain lanky boy's face flashed in her mind, but she merely shook her head and rolled her eyes once more. "Okay Dad, you're pushing it."
"Got it, got it, I'm leaving, don't worry." He held his hands up in surrender and backed out of her room, closing the door as he went.
After Carolina finished with the Kafka, she decided to just screw it and go to bed. She'd gotten home fairly late, despite the ride home. Making sure that her alarm clock was set for tomorrow morning, she got ready for bed quickly, taking a quick shower, and fell asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow. The events of the day had completely exhausted her. Little did she know, there was much, much more to come.
Okay, this chapter was a little longer than expected. I'm not sure if they're all going to be this long, but I sure can try to maintain this length. It'd really help me if you guys maybe tell me if you'd like longer or shorter chapters, so I can better the story! So far, I'm thinking I'll probably divide each episode into two or three chapters, depending on the time frame of the episode, so tell me what you think. Also, sorry if it's moving a little slow, I just have to get all the basic stuff down before the excitement starts. But don't worry, she'll be fully aware of the supernatural world in a few chapters, and you'll find out more about her sister in the future as well, so stick around for that.
Not sure how much Carolina x Stiles moments there'll be in the next couple chapters, but I'm going to try to stick them in whenever I can. And I know that the first few chapters are very similar to most other Stiles/OC stories, but there's only so much you can do with the same information. But I'm working on making it unique! It'll definitely get interesting after I get the basic stuff out of the way. I also created a polyvore account so I could put together Carolina's oufits - links are in my profile. So yeah. If you read all of that, kudos to you. Thanks so much for following/favoriting, and feel free to review!
~Erin