Hey guys! Wow, crazy episodes, right?! I can't even with this whole demon!Stiles thing. It's really taking a toll on my heart. Once again, apologies for taking forever to update! Graduate school takes up time, apparently.

Thank you all so much for the favorites, alerts, and reviews! Y'all are the best!

Hope y'all enjoy it!

Chapter 4: Like a Bad Teen Movie


"So no lights?" Stiles asked.

"No lights," Scott replied.

"No ghosts?" Stiles added.

"No ghosts," Scott said.

"You mean to tell me we went an entire weekend without supernatural or paranormal stuff?"

"If you exclude the training Allison is making us do, the research we did on witches, or the entirety of Saturday afternoon where you used my werewolf senses to search for your neighbor's lost dog-"

"Okay, but you have to admit that finding that little girl's wiener dog gave you a warm fuzzy feeling."

Scott paused for a moment. "Yea. Yea it did," he said with a grin.

"You're welcome," Stiles said, patting Scott's shoulder. They took their time getting their stuff from their lockers, wanting to avoid the purgatory that was class. However, they could not avoid the call of the warning bell, and with a nod turned opposite directions for their separate classes. Stiles shouldered his backpack a little higher, rubbing his tired eyes with one hand. The nightmares had been particularly bad this weekend, and his exhaustion was beginning to really take its toll. He slipped into the history room just as the final bell rang, sighing in relief. He slapped Jamie's offered hand in a high five, her bright smile serving to lift his spirits slightly.

"Take your seat, please," an unfamiliar voice rang out. Stiles turned to see a man in his mid-fifties with dark hair and eyes staring right at him.

"Oh uh, sorry," he said, sliding into his seat behind Jamie. The silence was so heavy that Stiles felt like it was pressing in on him from all sides. When the man spoke again, it seemed like a thunderclap compared to the volume before.

"My name is Dr. Nott," he said, his voice deep and gravelly. "It seems your previous professor needed to take a sudden leave of absence. In essence, I shall be your professor for the foreseeable future."

A lowly whispered "shit" echoed from the back of the classroom. Dr. Nott's eyes snapped up, sharp gaze emanating a glare so chilling it made everyone in the room visibly uncomfortable.

"Mr….?" he asked in a thinly veiled menacing tone.

"Uh, Greenburg?" Greenburg said, suddenly questioning his own identity.

"Mr. Greenburg. Do you have any sentiments you wish to share with your classmates?" he continued.

"No," Greenburg said quickly, shaking his head emphatically.

"That's what I thought," he said. "Now, as a man with a Ph. D. in World History and Culture, I am always interested in local lore and history. And as such, you shall be completing a two page paper and brief presentation on something relevant in Beacon Hills' history. You will have a partner, and I will be assigning both your partner and your topic." With that, the class collectively groaned. As fascinating as history was, they were getting to the point that other classes were beginning to take priority. A slightly sadistic grin graced Dr. Nott's face. "Well, I was going to have this due Friday, but since you seem to have so much work to do that this is a burden, we'll get it over with and have it due Wednesday."

If Dr. Nott was looking for an emotional response, he sure got one. Groans and exclamations filled the room, the students adamantly opposed to the change. However, the grin stayed on his face as he turned to grab a piece of paper off his desk. Stiles let his head hit his desk with a dull thunk. He didn't know how these partners were assigned, and he had very little desire to work with most of the people in the class.

"Alright, Mr. Winger will be with Miss Abbott. Your topic is the founding of Beacon Hills," Dr. Nott read off the sheet of paper, his tone returning to the duller tone from before. "Mr. Wayne will be with Mr. Banner, your topic being…" Stiles stopped listening, instead trying to take inventory of who was in the class. Was this actually going to work in his favor? "Mr. Stilinski, you will be working with Mr. Greenburg -" Stiles let his head fall down again. "No, excuse me. Mr. Stilinski, you will be working with Miss Grant. Your topic is the O'Henry house."

Stiles' head snapped up as Jamie reached back to bump fists. Was this real life? Stuff like this only happened on TV and in movies. He tried to push his excitement down - after all, Jamie was quite a step up from Greenburg. Multiple steps up. Floors up.

The class seemed to drag on, Dr. Nott taking his sweet time slowly making his way through Chapter One. Stiles thought he was going to die before the class ended. But eventually, after eons had passed, the bell rang and Stiles was free of the dreadful droning of the new teacher.

"Tomorrow, be prepared for a quiz over Chapter One," Dr. Nott said as the students gathered their supplies and attempted to escape the room.

"Close call there, almost ending up with Greenburg," Jamie said, turning to Stiles and giving him a grin.

"I think I've had a true brush with academic death today," Stiles agreed.

"So you wanna get started on this tonight? Maybe get some sources and stuff?" she asked.

"Sounds good to me. I get out of practice at 4:30, do you still have practice after us?"

"Oh no, we've got a game today here," she answered. "4 o'clock. Shall we exchange numbers so we can meet up?" she asked, pulling out her phone.

"Yea, yea that's a good idea," he replied, pulling out his phone and opening up a fresh contact. Once she filled in her number and saved it, he entered his info into hers. He tried to keep his breathing under control, after all, they were just exchanging numbers for a project. A super casual project. Casual. Yes.

"If you're bored after practice, you should come check out the game," she added, tossing her backpack on and following him out into the hallway.

"Depends, are you gonna win?" Stiles asked, pausing outside the room.

"But of course," she replied, waving and turning to head to her locker. Stiles returned the wave, spinning to go to his own locker and narrowly avoiding running into a random freshman. He couldn't keep the small grin off his face and he walked through the hallways, stopping at his locker to switch out some books. After slamming the locker closed, he was met with Scott's face right next to him, effectively causing him to yelp and his heart to jump into his throat.

"Holy shit don't do that," Stiles said, resting his forehead against the cool metal of the lockers.

"Had to do something to wipe that grin off your face," Scott said with a mischievous look.

Stiles looked at him with a shocked gaze. "What have I done to you? You used to be such a nice boy," he said, wondering where he went wrong. He turned to head to their English class.

"I'm just getting a little more puckish in my old age," Scott said, pushing off the lockers and catching up with him.

"Ah yes, it's been sixteen long years since the time of your birth. I'm surprised your old bones don't crumble as you walk," Stiles retorted, knocking Scott's shoulder so he ran into the door frame of the English room.

"Mr. Stilinski," Mrs. Merle growled with a heavy warning in her tone. Stiles held his breath to keep himself from growling back at the old woman in a way that would make Scott proud. Or disappointed. One or the other.

"Sorry," he said instead, grinding his teeth and sliding into his seat.

"Man, she's really got it out for you," Scott whispered, plopping down next to him.

"Don't I know it. I swear, one of these days she's gonna yell at me for breathing wrong," Stiles murmured back, eying the elderly lady. As if she heard him, her eyes snapped to his, giving him a cold glare. Stiles shut his mouth, dropping his eyes and sliding down in his desk to attempt to hide from her. After a prompt from the teacher, they opened their books up to page 129 - 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.

Immediately Stiles' blood ran cold. He had heard of this story before, referenced in movies or comics, but he hadn't read it yet. Mrs. Merle called on someone to begin reading, and Stiles attempted to keep up.

"I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?"

Stiles gulped. How on earth was the Darkness in his heart responding to something as useless as a story in English class?

"-and thus rid myself of the eye forever."

Scott looked over at Stiles, mouthing the words "You ok?" Stiles took a deep breath and nodded. After all, it was just a story about a man haunted by a dark idea until he killed a man and heard his beating heart ringing in his ears until he went crazy. Nothing problematic at all.

"Would a madman have been so wise as this?"

When did they switch readers?

"-because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him-"

Oh, cool. Death's black shadow. Excellent imagery.

"But the beating grew louder, louder!"

Stiles could feel his own pulse, his blood rushing with every beat of his heart. Could he always hear his blood moving like that? Feel it?

"-and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises."

Oh. The police were in on it now. That's cool. Stiles' chest tightened, and suddenly in his mind's eye it was his dad in this murderer's house. This guy who killed another man just because he didn't like his glass eye.

"Yet the sound increased."

"But the noise steadily increased."

"But anything was better than this agony!"

"I felt that I must scream or die!"

By now, Stiles' heart was racing. The Darkness was pulling at him. He glanced at Scott - was it not affecting him too? If anything, Scott looked bored staring at the textbook. Meanwhile, Stiles was using every fiber of his being not to melt into a puddle of panic.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

He pulled the device out, the screen reading that he had one new text message. The distraction was welcome, serving to shake off some of the weight on his heart. He opened it to find it was from Jamie - "Free home cooked meal if we work at my house tonight :)".

The buzzing in his ears stopped. His heart rate slowed. The Darkness retreated back into its dismal cave. Here was something so incredibly nice and normal that it was able to pull him back. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he concentrated on the text message instead of the awful story.

"Free food? I'm in!" he replied.

"Mr. Stilinski!" Mrs. Merle disrupted his distraction. Stiles' eyes shot up to meet hers. A menacing grin graced her features. "Could you tell me one of the reasons Poe kept this story so short, as compared to his others?"

Stiles faltered for a moment, searching his bullshit tank for an answer. "Um, probably to keep the focus on the main guy's decent into crazy," he said, pulling an answer out of his ass. Mrs. Merle eyed him before giving him a begrudging nod.

"Miss Perez, what does the beating of the heart signify…" she moved on to her next victim. Stiles let out another breath, slouching down further in his seat. He looked over to find Scott staring at him.

"You sure you ok?" he whispered while the teacher was busy writing something on the board.

"Yea just…had an episode, I guess," he whispered back, shaking his head as if to clear the cobwebs. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and opened and closed his fingers into fists to calm the shaking. His phone buzzed again, but since the teacher's eyes were continuously wandering around the room, he chose to leave it in his pocket.

"You're heart was going crazy," Scott said.

"Yea, I know. It's cool. I'm cool," Stiles assured him out of the corner of his mouth.

Scott stared at him for a moment, but then dropped his eyes back to his book. He knew Stiles was struggling - after all, he was struggling too. And if Stiles wanted to power through some things on his own, then more power to him.

Stiles was able to make it through the rest of English without another 'episode', but he still welcomed the bell for lunch with open arms. Contrary to his usual classroom routine, he attempted to take good notes and pay attention during English. This was not because he was suddenly a model student, but because he wanted to avoid having to look at anything involving the Tell-Tale Heart for the rest of his life. If he studied for the test now, then he wouldn't have to study for it later. Or ever.

"So you gonna tell me what that was all about during class or are you gonna keep up that strong and silent thing?" Scott asked as they sat down with their lunches.

Stiles shrugged, "I dunno, just something about that story wigged me out or something," he mumbled, stuffing some tator tots into his mouth.

Scott nodded in understanding, choosing to drop the subject once again. "Hey, did you ever get that book from Jamie?" he asked, changing the topic of conversation. Stiles paused.

"Nope, completely forgot," he said, fishing his phone out of his pocket as another thought occurred to him. Sure enough, there was an unread text message waiting for him. It was from Jamie, giving him her address and asking what time he wanted to meet. "But I can get it from her tonight," he said, half thinking as he responded to her message.

"Tonight?" Scott asked with a wide grin and a twinkle in his eye. "What's happening tonight?"

"Something's happening tonight?" Allison asked as she and Isaac sat down at the table as well. Stiles' eyes flitted between the three of them as he stuttered for a response.

"Um, no nothing special," he responded in a suspiciously innocent tone of voice.

"If nothing is happening tonight then how are you getting the book from Jamie tonight?" Scott asked, giving his best friend a pointed look.

"We just got paired together on a history project due Wednesday and we're working on it at her place tonight, not a big deal," Stiles said in a rushed manner, dropping his eyes down to his plate to avoid the way too satisfied looks he was getting from Scott, Allison, and Isaac.

"'Not a big deal'?" Scott said. "Dude, you've been flirting - badly - with this girl for like, a million years now."

"Okay it's been like a week, tops," Stiles said, getting flustered. "And that's not important. The important thing is she has that book with the same symbol that was in the Hale house, so maybe we can finally start getting some answers on why Laura is stuck there and why Alana was drawn to us here."

"Maybe that's a little important." Isaac agreed quietly. Allison gave him a look that clearly said, 'shut up'.

"Well she said there's a bunch of books, right? So you'll have to hang out so we can see all of them," Allison said.

"Or! Or we could also just check Amazon," Stiles pointed out. Not that he wouldn't mind hanging out with Jamie - that would totally be fine - but these guys were stretching for it now. And since when was Allison so invested in who he was hanging out with.

"Buzzkill," Allison murmured.

"Jamie's cool, yes," Stiles began. Allison' eyes brightened. "But you know what's cooler? Not being haunted by murder victims," he finished. Allison's expression fell again; she even pouted a little bit. Stiles could tell that she was just searching for her sense of normalcy, but he wasn't lying with his concern about Laura and Alana. These ghosts showing up were very close to becoming a pattern, and not a good one.

But having an excuse to hang out with Jamie didn't hurt either.

"Have you heard anything from Derek?" Isaac asked. "About their friends?"

"Not really," Scott said. "He texted me yesterday, said his friends had moved. He's gonna try and track them down, but he'll be gone longer than anticipated. We're supposed to let him know if we see Laura again."

"I've been looking through the bestiary to see if there's anything in there," Allison offered. "Thus far, no luck."

"Gotta step your game up," Scott said with a half-smile.

"Well there's thousands of entries in there, it takes a little bit of time," Allison said as an excuse. "I don't have super werewolf senses. Just normal person senses."

"Subpar," Stiles said, shaking his head in faux disappointment. Allison made a face at him, as if they were still in grade school and that was an acceptable response. Which it was.

The rest of the day passed in a bit of a haze. Stiles took to writing a to do list and going over it as the day progressed. Forgetting to ask Jamie about the book had shaken him up a little bit - he had never been this forgetful before. But between the nightmares in his head and the Darkness in his heart, he was beginning to feel like he was slowly losing his mind. By the time he reached the last class before lacrosse, he was hitting empty on the energy tank. Coach Finstock was rambling on at the front of the class, but the words weren't reaching anywhere near Stiles. He laid his head in his hand, giving in to close his eyes for a moment. Only for a moment, he thought to himself.

When he opened his eyes again, the classroom was empty and dark. The moon was high in the sky outside. Stiles jumped out of the desk, looking around for any sight of another living soul. But he was alone. He rummaged through his pockets for his phone, but stopped when he saw the chalkboard. Concentric circles laced the entire board, so close together that the longer Stiles stared at it, it seemed to move. He slowly walked towards it, reaching out to the circle in the center. It was completely filled white with chalk. Was it filled in before? He couldn't remember. As soon as soon as his fingers brushed the chalkboard, his heart gave a painful thump in his chest. He pulled away, but the pain lingered. Is this what a heart attack felt like?

"STILINSKI!" Coach Finstock's voice rang out at a painful volume and Stiles snapped out of his reverie. "Is my lecture not riveting enough for you?"

"Oh um, sorry Coach," Stiles said, shaking his head and putting a hand up to his chest. The pain was gone now, luckily.

"Yea, well you're gonna be more sorry when you're running extra laps after practice," Coach retorted as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "I'll see you on the field."

"Got it, Coach," Stiles said with a groan. He stuffed his notebook into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder before following the rest of the crowd out of the classroom.

"Got your power nap in?" Scott asked, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Ha, yea. I swear, I wish I could get back on the naps I refused as a kid," he replied, hiking his backpack up higher and pushing the door open to the locker room. "Is it Christmas break yet?" he asked, tossing his stuff in a locker and starting to change clothes.

"I wish, bro," Scott said with a sad smile.

Lacrosse practice was uneventful, even if Coach Finstock seemed to be in a worse mood than usual. Stiles was able to run through the drills and his extra wind sprints without too much struggle (meaning he wasn't completely asphyxiated by the end of them), especially when Scott got in trouble to run them with him. A true act of friendship. And of course, Finstock saw right through it and made them run extra.

"Alright! I'm tired of your faces! Leave me alone!" Finstock yelled, banishing the boys with a wave of his hand. Instead of walking off, Stiles collapsed on the ground, laying on his back to try and catch his breath. Finstock gave him an odd look before heaving a heavy sigh a stalking off the field. Scott, who was much less winded, sank to the grass next to his exhausted best friend.

"It's times like this that I regret getting into sports," Stiles said as his breathing slowed.

"Just think of how good you'll look for Lydia's pool party after Homecoming," Scott said, unsympathetically smacking Stiles on the stomach, causing a pitiful groan to emit from his friend.

"Hell, if Coach keeps running me like that, I'll be faster than you one of these days," Stiles responded with a smirk.

"You'll never be faster than me, buddy," Scott said with a fake sad look.

"I will be when I suddenly electrocute you," he replied, sitting up and shoving Scott's shoulder. The motion had little to no effect on Scott's position, but the emotion was conveyed perfectly. In the moment of silence, a soft cheer was heard from across the parking lot.

"Soccer game's still on. Wanna go?" Scott asked, offering a hand to help Stiles up.

"Sure, might as well," he replied, accepting the help and allowing himself to be heaved into a standing position. The boys gathered their things from the locker room, pausing to at least change out of their sweaty clothes, before heading over to the nice turf field that was only allowed to be used on game days. The clock showed that the second half had just begun, and Beacon Hills was losing 1-0. Scott and Stiles made their way into the stands, finding some seats with some space around them. Stiles watched as the other team shot, but the goalie blocked it, the ball bouncing off to the side. A small brunette girl in the Beacon Hills maroon sprinted after it, barely beating the other girl in pale blue and rocketing the ball up the field. The girl that got it quickly controlled it before passing it off to Jamie in the middle of the field. She turned -

-and got completely body slammed by an oak tree of a girl.

"Holy shit," Stiles muttered as Jamie hit the ground hard. He had to keep himself from standing up to go see if she was alright. The ref's whistle blew, and the other girl turned with a look of outrage. Stiles didn't know much about soccer, but he was pretty sure that was a foul. Luckily Jamie got up after a moment, taking her time and rubbing the side of her head. The ref seemed to ask if she was okay, to which she nodded and waved him off. Stiles breathed a soft sigh of relief. Jamie lined up for the free kick, backing up a few steps before running and launching the ball into the air. Another girl, her friend Bri, hit the ball with her head, allowing it to sail into the back of the net. A cheer went through the crowd, excited that the score was now tied. After the dust settled, Jamie subbed out, taking a seat on the bench while the trainer came to look at her head.

"You should just ask her out," Scott said shortly, catching Stiles completely off guard.

"Wh-what? Who?" he asked. As if there was an exorbitant amount of options.

"'Who?' Are you kidding me?" Scott asked incredulously. "Jamie, you dumbass."

"Jamie? Nah man, I don't think-"

"Shut up. Don't think," Scott interrupted.

"Ah yes, not thinking is definitely my best plan of option in life," Stiles responded sarcastically.

"I'm not saying you have to get married or anything. Just like, hang out."

"I don't really know her all that well-"

"That's why you ask her to hang out, duh."

"Since when were you so wise, huh?"

"I've always been wise. And, as your best friend, I always have your best interests at heart. Besides, it's not like I can judge you for anything, I was head over heels for Allison like the minute I saw her."

"Yea, that did escalate pretty quickly."

"Exactly. 'Cause I wasn't thinking. And even if we're not together anymore, it was still awesome," Scott said pointedly, leaning his back against the bleachers. Stiles let out a breath, his leg bouncing up and down with excess energy.

"I dunno, bro," he said after a moment.

"Hey, that's cool. Just thought I'd put my two cents in. Think about it," Scott said, clapping a hand on Stiles' back and letting the conversation drop. Stiles had that look on his face like his mind was whirring at a mile a minute, but Scott didn't feel bad about bringing it up at all. To Scott, Stiles had this bad habit where he worried about everyone except for himself. And the kid had been through a lot lately, they all had. So maybe, just maybe, he deserved to take a break and hang out with a cute girl. In Scott's opinion at least.

They spent the rest of the game making amicable conversation, idly watching the players move on the field. Soccer was new to them, so it was tough for them to pay attention most of the time. Jamie finally subbed back in with about fifteen minutes left in the game and did her best to get another goal for the team, but it ended with the score still tied one to one. After the final whistle, the team met with the coach for a few minutes as the stands emptied. Stiles and Scott loitered for a few minutes, waiting until the huddle broke up and Jamie wandered in their direction on her way to the parking lot.

"Hey, friends!" she greeted, stopping at the foot of the bleachers as she spotted the two of them.

"Hey!" Scott and Stiles said at the same time, raising a hand each in greeting.

"Did you rehearse that?" she asked as they stood and gathered their things.

"Absolutely. We've been practicing this whole time," Stiles responded, carefully stepping down the bleachers until he was on the solid ground. A second later, Scott jumped down next to him.

"Well it paid off. You were spot on in unison," she replied, turning with them and beginning the trek to the cars.

"See Scott? Told you she'd be impressed," Stiles said jokingly. Scott grinned and rolled his eyes. So help him Stiles was lucky he was cute, cause the poor guy's game left something to be desired. "I stand corrected," he said, holding his hands up in defeat.

"How was your practice?" Jamie asked, hiding a small chuckle. In response, Scott laughed and Stiles let out a long groan. "That great huh? Needed a cigarette after?"

"Coach was a little angry with me, so I got to do some awesome punishment running," Stiles explained.

"And I tried to join him in it for friendship solidarity, which only made him more angry," Scott added.

"So then we had to run more," Stiles continued.

"And then a little more after that. Cause he didn't like how hard Stiles was breathing," said Scott.

"Cause that made perfect sense," Stiles muttered darkly.

"So long story short, we had to run a lot," Scott finished.

"Aw, poor little ones," Jamie said, trying to smother her laugh and be sympathetic. "But hey, you survived, right?"

"Maybe. I may be a ghost right now. I'm not completely sure," Stiles said, looking to the sky with an inquisitive expression on his face. Jamie narrowed her eyes, brandishing her first finger and poking him solidly on the shoulder. Stiles startled, turning to her. "What was that for?"

"Checking to see if you were a ghost," she said, shrugging as if it were a completely normal way to check and see if someone was still alive or haunting them.

"Well that answers that question then," Stiles said as they got to the parking lot.

"I'll see you guys later, my mom wants me home pretty quick," Scott said, looking at his phone.

"Later," Stiles said.

"Bye Scott," Jamie added, waving to him before turning to Stiles. "Alright, so I gotta shower real quick before you head over. That okay?"

"Yea, I've gotta run home and get cleaned up too. Text me when you're finished, and I'll come over," he replied, loading his stuff into his Jeep.

"Perfection," she replied, tossing her bag into the back of her car.

"Do I need to bring anything?" he asked, pausing before getting in.

She paused for a moment, biting her lip in thought. "Um, just your laptop, I guess? We've got plenty of crafts and such at the house," she said.

Stiles flashed her a thumbs up. "Sounds good. I'll see you in a little bit then," he said with a wave, trying with every fiber of his being not to be awkward.

"See you soon!" she replied cheerily, slipping into the driver's side of her car. Stiles nodded, closing the door to his Jeep and kicking up the ignition. The drive to his house was quick, and he was surprised to find the lights in the house on when he arrived. It was unusual for his dad to be home before seven. He bounded up the front steps, unlocking the front door and slipped inside.

"Stiles?" his father's voice drifted through the house from the office.

"Yea dad?" he called back, slipping off his shoes and throwing his disgustingly sweaty lacrosse clothes across the hall into the washing machine. Well, near the washing machine. Okay, in the laundry room.

"How was school?" he asked, the classic parental invite into conversation.

"Uh, not awful I suppose," Stiles responded, crossing the house and leaning against the door frame of his father's home office. "How was work?"

"About the same," his father replied with a sigh. Papers were strewn across his desk, and he had his reading glasses perched at the end of his nose.

"Trying to crack a big case?" Stiles asked, trying to read the papers from the doorway.

"No, I've gotta testify in an assault case tomorrow," Sheriff Stilinski said with a sigh. "I'm just reviewing the affidavit so that I don't trip up during the trial."

"You'll do great, Dad," Stiles said, taking a few steps to him and clapping him on the shoulder. The sheriff gave his son a tired smile.

"Thanks, kiddo," he said. "You in for the night?" he asked as Stiles turned to the door.

"Actually, I've gotta go to a friend's house and work on a project due Wednesday," Stiles said, pausing in the doorway again and turning back to his father. Sheriff looked at him for a long moment, his eyes narrowed as if he were trying to read the fine print.

"Is this a real project for school or a 'project' between you and Scott?" he asked after the pause.

"An actual project for school," Stiles said, as if he was also surprised to be telling the truth. His dad looked at him for another few seconds before shrugging and turning back to his paperwork.

"Okay, don't have too much fun. Be home by eleven please," he said.

"Will do, daddy-o," Stiles said, turning and bounding up the stairs before his dad could give him a weird look for saying daddy-o. He stepped into his room, casually stripping as he walked across to the bathroom. His shower was quick, even if he did make sure to soap himself up twice (just in case his smell was worse than expected). He got out, toweled off and stopped in front of the bathroom mirror. His hair was standing up at all sorts of odd angles, and the shadows under his eyes were a little darker than he thought they would be. Combined, he looked like a sleep deprived psycho.

"The poster boy of perfect health," he muttered to himself, going into his room and grabbing clothes out of his closet. He threw some jeans on and a t-shirt, pulling out one of his signature plaid flannels to go on over it. His phone buzzed on his bed, alerting him that he had a message from Jamie.

"Ready when you are," it read. Stiles suddenly had a bit of nervousness bloom in his stomach.

"It's just a project, Stilinski. Nothing crazy. Don't get crazy," he said to himself, grabbing his laptop and putting it in his backpack before heading back downstairs and out to his car. He looked up the directions to Jamie's house - it was relatively close, fifteen minutes away according to the GPS on his phone. He texted her a quick "on my way" before pulling out onto the street and making his way over there.

Twelve minutes later (don't tell the sheriff), Stiles pulled up in front of a large red brick house. Lights shone through the windows in the fading evening light, and he could make out a couple shadows of people milling about in one of the front rooms. Stiles took a deep breath, trying to quell his unnecessary nervousness before grabbing his backpack and heading up to the front door. He paused for another moment to gather himself, then reached forward and rang the doorbell.


Uh oh! Time to socialize! Whaaaaaaaaat!

I'm sorry this wasn't the most exciting of chapters. It'll get a little crazier next chapter. At least I planned it that way!

milliontinystars: Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad you noticed that, it was one of my main goals to slowly introduce Jamie, as opposed to throwing her in there from the get go. Like you said, nothing wrong with that, I just felt it wouldn't fit with this story! :D

Undeniable Weirdness: Ah, I have already discussed with you at length the joys your reviews brought me! I hope this chapter was up to your standards, even though there wasn't much of the creepy factor for this one.

Charisma26: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you think it's different, I've been trying really hard to make it so! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter :)

Ruan-san: Thank you for the review! I really appreciate your kind words, and I'm glad the flow is satisfactory thus far! I'm trying to build it slowly - don't worry, it'll be fluffier in the future, just not quite yet :D hope you liked this chapter!

LionHeartMisfit: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate all your kind words and words of encouragement :D I really hope you liked this addition to it!

Eternalxflowers: Your review is much appreciated :D Thank you so much for taking the time to leave one! Hope you liked the new chapter :D

As always, if you wouldn't mind taking a moment to review, I'd really appreciate it! Hope y'all enjoyed it!

Shout out to ahiddenbanshee, the best beta in the whole wide world! If you like The Walking Dead, Sherlock, or The Hobbit, you should definitely check her out!

-XM