Chapter 3

Bowling in Hell

Penelope and Scott exit the school, hand in hand and laughing.

"Where are you taking me?" Penelope whispered breathlessly.

"Somewhere we can be alone," Scott replies, dragging her towards the school buses.

"But we are alone," she smiled when he backed up against the bus door, pulling her against him.

"Somewhere we can be more alone," he grins, opening the door and looking back at her, "Come on."

He holds her hand, sitting in one of the seats, and she sits in the one across from him. Penelope stretches her legs out, watching him. He's looking at her in a way she's never seen before, almost hungrily. She blushes, ducking her head under his watchful gaze. Scott pushes himself up, walking over to her seat, caging her in with his arms. When he neared her, she looked up to meet him, her breath hitching in her throat. "Scott?" He was inches from her face, his breath ghosting over her lips.

"Penelope," he groaned, before ducking his head and capturing her mouth with hers. The kiss started soft and sweet, before Scott took control, seeming set on claiming her. His hands toyed at the edges of her blouse, and although this was all new to her and her head felt incredibly light and fuzzy, Penelope had no intention of stopping him. He lowered his mouth, pressing kisses along her jaw, and down the column of her throat, a moan escaping her lips.

Scott pulled back, breathing heavily. "Scotty? What's wrong?" she asked him, concerned.

"Get away."

"Scott… are you changing?" she tried, suddenly feeling the smallest pang of fear. "Scott," she said again when he turned away completely, standing up from her seat.

"Get away from me," he grunted. Penelope took one step back as Scott turned, showing her what she already knew was happening. His eyes glowed bright amber yellow, his canines extended, sideburns bushy.

Knowing that she needed to leave, she turned to run, making her way down the aisle. She heard the fast steps of Scott's feet as he ran down the aisle after her, and she felt one of his clawed hands wrap around her ankle, throwing her off balance. She hit the ground hard, being pulled back, trying to grab onto the poles of the seats to stop him.

"Stop!" she sobbed, as her fingers kept painfully slipping from the bars. His claws dug into her ankles, drawing blood, but her heart was beating so fast that she barely noticed the pain. She tried kicking out to release his hold on her but nothing worked. Her face slammed into the seats and the floor as they went, and she could feel her lip swell and her cheek burn as it slammed down into the ground.

She felt him stop, and she turned, looking up at the man who had attacked her. The man she had known most of her life, who she had come to love. When he made like he was rearing back to attack her again, she kicked out one more time, her foot finding purchase on the center of his chest. Scott was thrown back, giving her a moment to clamber down the aisle. Glancing back at him, another strangled cry left her lips when he ripped a whole seat from the bus and flung it towards her like it weighed nothing. Slamming her hands against the bus door, Penelope tried desperately to open it, squeezing her bloodied fingers through the small opening and attempting to pry it open. She saw him prowling over the seats, stalking her.

His hand wrapped around her mouth, muffling her cries, before slamming her head against the transparent door.

Black spots marred her vision as she awoke with a gasp, still unsure of where she was. Her arms scrambled to find purchase as she screamed from her nightmare. Her body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, her hair plastered to her forehead. Once she realized that it was just a dream, and that she was in bed, she leaned back on her elbows, trying to collect herself and her still racing heart and mind.

Getting out of bed to take a shower is how she finally noticed the blood. Penelope realizes she must've scratched herself in her sleep, registering the blood under her fingernails with disbelief. She wanted nothing more than for her mom to come bursting through the door to comfort her, but she knew that the woman was at work. And this would be hard enough to explain, and would only worry her mother, and result in her over protectiveness. So maybe it was for the best that she was gone.

She analyzed the scratch marks along her arms and legs, and even three long ones that she had left across her neck. She looked absolutely insane, and was starting to feel like it too. Scott had never done anything to hurt her before, so why was she dreaming of this now?

Having to shower and clean herself up so thoroughly made her late to school, leaving her rushing through the halls to get to her locker, her arms full of books. Penelope pats her pocket, remembering that she never even texted Stiles that she wouldn't need a ride this morning, and grumbles when she notices that her phone isn't there. "This is just not my day."

She hears a loud yell and a banging noise when she nears her locker, looking up to see Scott standing in front of one, with the door hanging off its hinges.

"They're gonna make you pay for that, you know?" she smirked, starting to open her locker next to his.

"Nelly?" His eyes are wide with shock, and he pulls her into a hug, making her drop all of her books, a few hitting her feet.

"Ouch, my toes, what's wrong? What's up? Did something happen?" she pushed at his chest, worried at his sudden weird behavior.

"I'm just happy to see you," he grins, a far away look in his eyes as he bends down with her to help her pick up her books.

"No, Scott, don't even try it, we know each other better than that, what happened?" she presses again.

"Attention students," they hear over the intercom, "...I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred to one of our buses last night. While the police work to determine what happened... classes will proceed as scheduled. Thank you."

"What'd they do? Vandalize it?" she questions.

He ignores her second question. "You're right, I had a dream last night. A nightmare, actually. And something happened. I think we should find Stiles and talk about it with him. I told him a little bit this morning, but right now," Scott is cut off by the warning bell, "we've gotta get to class."

Mr. Harris's class was probably her least favorite, and not because she disliked chemistry, but because of the sheer amount she disliked Mr. Harris. He didn't have a problem with Penelope, but he had such an issue with Scott and Stiles and made sure to do something about it every possible time he could. Like today.

"Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper you might want to pull the earphones out once in a while. I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance. Yes?" their teacher asks, quirking his eyebrow.

"No," Stiles immediately says.

Penelope turns her head as the seat beside her is pulled, and Scott sits next to her thankfully, giving her a knowing look that Mr. Harris hadn't succeeded. She turned to Stiles and poked out her tongue, who gaped when he noticed that the two of them had gotten to sit together.

"Hey, I think they found something!" another girl from their class shouts, running over to the window, the rest of the class following. Penelope slowly follows, feeling a pile of dread arise in the pit of her stomach when she sees the bloodied school bus for the first time. Her hand goes over her mouth when they wheel out a man on a stretcher.

"That's not a rabbit," Scott says beside her, although she barely registers it as the man shoots up, and Penelope's hand shoots out, grabbing Scott's next to hers. Her hand goes to her neck and rubs the scratches there nervously, feeling a dull ache. So maybe it had happened, but just not to her. But did that mean that it was Scott that did it? Or was it all just a huge coincidence? Penelope felt sick to her stomach.

She meets them at their lunch table, already there with their trays. She sits down next to Stiles and across from Scott with her lunch box, pulling out her sandwich. "Okay, tell me about the dream, spill," she says before taking a bite.

"In the dream, I was on the bus last night, and I think I killed someone," Scott says, not meeting her eyes.

Penelope feels her throat form around her food, swallowing hard. "Wh-who was it? In the dream, was it the man that was outside earlier?"

"No, it was…" Scott starts but trails off like he doesn't want to say, "it was Allison."

"Wait, that's not wh-" Stiles groans and stops talking, bending over the table. Scott has him fixed with a hard look. She eyes the boy curiously, wondering what they're up to.

"Did anything else happen?" Penelope asks Scott.

"What do you mean?"

"Like before the killing part, did anything else happen?" she pushes, feeling her hands start to shake, not understanding how any of this could be the same for the two of them, albeit with the difference of who was being killed apparently.

"Nelly, hey, what's up with you?" Stiles asks, taking in her shaking form, and the way she kept tugging on her sleeves and turtleneck like she was trying to cover something.

After a beat of silence, she replies, "I had the same dream. Except, in mine Scott killed me." Penelope glanced back and forth at the two of them, trying to gauge their reactions. Scott's mouth hung open, and Stiles gave Scott a knowing look like 'I told you so'.

She lets out a shaky breath and finally rolls up her sleeves, revealing the long scratches covering her arms. "I did this to myself last night. When I woke up my sheets were covered in blood. They're all over my legs and neck, too."

Stiles takes her wrist in his hand, examining her arm. "Did you clean these before coming to school?"
"Of course, mom," Penelope says softly, the slightest tone of sarcasm in her voice. She sends him a gentle smile, sensing how concerned he was. "I'm fine, they don't even hurt, I just want to know why I'm having Scott's dream, and what exactly happened on that bus last night," she sighed.

"How are you so sure Derek has all the answers?" Stiles asks Scott, referencing something they must've talked about without her.

"Because on the full moon he wasn't changed. He was in total control. And I'm running around in the night attacking some totally innocent guy," Scott whispers to them, leaning in.

"You don't know if it was actually you, Scotty," Penelope tried to reason.

"I don't not know it," then he sighs, "I can't go out with," his eyes catch Penelope's, "Allison, I have to cancel."

Stiles stops him, "No, you don't. You can't cancel your entire life. We'll figure this out."

Lydia sits down next to Scott, causing Stiles to spontaneously combust. "Figure what out?"

"Just homework," Scott answers, and by the time Penelope has taken another bite of her sandwich to quell her nerves, Allison, Danny, another lacrosse player, and one of Lydia's friends had all joined them. She felt very claustrophobic.

"Why are they sitting with us?" she whispers to Scott and Stiles, the former gives her an apologetic shrug.

Jackson saunters over, glaring at the boy sitting at the head of the table. "Get up," he says to the boy.

"How come you never ask Danny to get up?

"Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot," Danny smirks, and Lydia grins at him before smiling at Jackson when he sits down with them.

The guy grunts in annoyance, picking up his tray and leaving.

"So they're saying it's an animal attack. Probably a cougar," Danny continues, talking about the man in the school bus.

"I heard mountain lion," Jackson said, a tone of seniority in his voice at having gotten the last word.

"A cougar is a mountain lion," if looks could kill the whole table would be dead, until Lydia realized her mistake and fixed a smile on her face, "Isn't it?"

Jackson stiffens and scoffs, "Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Actually, I just found out who he is," the others turn to Stiles to see him looking at his phone, "Check this out."

The group watched on Stiles' phone as the news anchor discussed the victim and who he was, when it ended Scott pipes up, "I know that guy. I used to take the bus back when I lived at my Dad's place. He was the driver."

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like where we're going tomorrow night?" Lydia asks, looking at Scott and Allison who turn to look at her in return. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow, right?"

"We were thinking of…" Allison turns to Scott, "What were we going to do?"

"We hadn't decided."

"Well, I'm not sitting at home watching lacrosse videos again. If the five of us are hanging out let's pick something fun," Lydia said.

"Hanging out? The five of us? Wait, five?" Scott asks, surprised.

"Me, Jackson, you, Allison, and Penny," Lydia grins proudly, pulling on Penelope's sweater sleeve across the table.

"Oh, that's okay, I don't want to intrude on your date, I don't really want to be the, erm, fifth wheel," she said, feeling rather awkward.

"Okay, fine, Stiles, you come too, then you won't be alone, good?" Lydia plans, looking between the two of them. They gape at each other, Stiles speaking first. "No, no, we're not, the two of us, we're just-"

"Yeah they're not together like that," Scott speaks harshly, causing the group to send him odd looks.

"Stiles, let's just go, it sounds like it could be fun," then she leaned in and whispered, "plus we can keep an eye on Scott." When she leaned back, Scott was still glaring at the two of them before looking back to Allison.

"You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork?" Jackson says dramatically, picking up his fork from his tray.

"Oh, come on, Jackson," she pries the fork from him. "How about bowling? You love to bowl!"

"Yeah, but with actual competition," he scoffs.

"How do you know we're not competition?" Allison asks him, then turns to Scott. "You can bowl, right?"

"Sort of-"

"Sort of? Or yes?" Jackson pushes, glaring at him.

Scott, now glaring back, says, "Yes. In fact... I'm a great bowler."

Penelope knew that she and Stiles rolled their eyes at the same time.

"You're a terrible bowler!" Stiles yelled.

"I know! I'm such an idiot," Scott groaned.

"I'm actually pretty good at bowling so at least one of us won't suck. And at least Stiles didn't lie, too," Penelope laughs, standing in between the two of them.

"Oh yeah, little miss birthday bowler, I forgot," Stiles ruffled her hair, "but seriously dude, it was like watching a car wreck. First it turns into a group date and me and Nels are dragged into it-"

"Don't remind me," Scott growled under his breath.

"Hey, what's your deal?" he stops the werewolf, to which Scott quickly shrugs him off. "Fine, then out of nowhere comes that phrase."

"Hang out," Scott says.

"What's wrong with hanging out?" Penelope asks.

"You don't hang out with a hot girl. It's death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out," Stiles tells him.

"So what does that make me exactly?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You, well you're Nelly, that's different, don't confuse us," Stiles stutters out, Scott looking at the girl like he wanted to say something else.

"How is this happening? I either nearly killed a bus driver. Or I didn't."

"I don't think Danny likes me," Stiles interjects randomly.

"I ask Allison on a date. But now we're hanging out."

"Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

"Stiles what the hell are you talking about?" she slaps his arm.

"I made first line. But the team captain wants to destroy me. And now? Now I'm going to be late for work," Scott checks his watch, rushing down the hall.

"Nelly, am I attractive to gay guys?" he turns to her when Scott leaves.

"Shouldn't you be asking a gay guy that?" she asks him, following him to his Jeep so he could take her home.

"Okay fine, am I attractive to girls then?"

She stops, eyeing him in the sunlight where he stopped. Her eyes traveled up the lean lines of his body, then along his jaw, across the scattering of moles on his face, and to his upturned nose.

Penelope breaks herself out of her reverie, punching him on the shoulder lightly, "Yeah, Stiles. You know you're handsome, now take me home, pretty boy."

He laughs and wraps an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tight, directing them down the hall.

Breaking into school in the middle of night was something Penelope Alcot never thought she'd be doing. But as the three of them walked up to the gates, she wasn't all that frightened.

"Just me and Penelope, someone needs to keep watch," Scott stops Stiles from coming with them any further.

"How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?" Stiles whined as Scott stopped him from scaling the fence.

"Because there's only three of us!"

"Wait, why do I have to go?" she cocks her head, "You didn't mention that."

"I told Derek about your dream, and he said both of us should go," Scott tells her.

"Why do I feel like you guys are Batman and Catwoman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all of the time!" Stiles says, wanting to go in with them.

"Stiles, do you really want to go on the bus where a guy was attacked and nearly murdered? Because I don't really want to, so6 if you could take my spot I'd give it to you," Penelope tells him.

"Yes, actually."

"Dumb question, of course you do," she sighs.

"Look, no one's Batman, Catwoman or Robin any of the time," Scott says.

"Not even some of the time?" Stiles tries.

"Just. Stay. Here," Scott tells him, holding out his hands for Penelope to step up and begin climbing over the fence. As soon as she's over, he quickly scales it.

She sees the bus looming in front of them, seeming much bigger than before. Feeling a hand in the middle of her back, she sees Scott nod at her supportively, gulping nervously himself. He stops to compose himself, clearly remembering something, "Scott, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay, let's go," he nods, walking them towards the bus. When they reach the doors, her mind flashes back to the images of her struggling desperately to force the door open, screaming and crying through the glass.

"Penelope?" she hears, snapping her out of it, she feels wetness on her cheeks and quickly wipes at her face.

"I'm okay, it was just so vivid," she said softly. He places his hand on the door and gasps, "Yeah, it is." He pushes open the door, grabbing her hand in his, gripping it tightly before walking them onto the bus.

He walks down the aisle in front of her, breathing heavily. She feels her head start to ache, accompanied by a constant ringing in her ears. She ducked, suddenly having a flashback to when the seat was thrown at her, seeing that Scott apparently had the same. The ringing gets louder and louder in her ears until it finally stops. Actually everything stops, there's only dead silence until there's a whisper,

"Join me."

Scott and Penelope gasp at the same time, and she looks up to see him clutching his chest like he's just been stabbed. Then they hear Stiles honking his horn, signaling that they needed to leave, and fast. Scott and Penelope run to the gate, and he gets there first, him holding out his hands for her like the first time. Scott makes it to the ground before she even does, pushing her into the backseat of the Jeep.

"Go! Go! Go1 Go!" Scott shouts at Stiles as he reverses.

"So? Did it work?" Stiles asks them as he drives.

"I was there last night. And the blood-a lot of it was mine," Scott tells them.

"So you did attack him?" Stiles asks.

"No. I saw glowing eyes on the bus. But they weren't mine. It was Derek," Scott said.

"I heard something. I think it was whoever was there. He said 'Join me', and I'm gonna be honest, it didn't sound a lot like Derek," Penelope told them.

"Wait, you heard him? Did you see anything?" Scott turns to her, worried, ignoring that she said she thought it wasn't Derek.

"No, not anything that wasn't already in the dream," she told him.

"What about the driver?" Stiles asks him.

"I think I was actually trying to protect him from Derek," Scott says.

"Wait-what? Why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the Driver?"

"That's what I don't get-" Scott starts but Penelope cuts him off, "I really don't think it's him, guys."

Stiles thinks for a moment, "Hold on. It's got to be a pack thing."

"What do you mean?" Scott eyes him.

"Like an initiation. You do the kill together," he says matter-of-factly.

"Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience," Scott grits out.

"But you didn't do it. Which means you're not a killer. And it also means-"

"I can go out with, N-Allison," Scott said, and Penelope felt her heart clench, looking out the back window of the Jeep. Of course he would be worried about going out with Allison after something like this. But then she realized that she was being just as silly.

"Nallison? What? Whatever, I was going to say it means you won't kill me and Nelly," Stiles scoffed.

"Of course, that too," he smiled.

Penelope sat on Allison's bed next to Lydia as the two girls went through the brunette's closet. Penelope had just chosen to wear a pair of dark wash jeans, and an olive green long sleeve shirt with a grey hoodie thrown over the top, covering all the marks on her arms, but leaving the one on her neck visible since it was just too hot to keep wearing turtlenecks.

"Hmm. This," Lydia finally decides, "Penny, what do you think?" she asks the blonde girl, snapping her out of her haze.

"Well I think all of Allison's clothes are cute," Penelope smiles sheepishly, not wanting to take sides.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, missy, your closet comes next," the strawberry blonde warned, causing the blonde's eyes to widen, and Allison to giggle.

Allison sends her a wink, taking the shirt from Lydia as her dad walks into the room. "Dad, hello?" she blinks at him, confused.

Mr. Argent pulls on his jacket, smiling at the three girls before stopping, "Right, uh, I-I completely forgot to knock."

Lydia flops down onto the bed besides Penelope, curling her legs up and placing a hand on her hip, "Hi, Mr. Argent."

"Hi. Mr. Argent, I'm Penelope, I go to school with Allison," Penelope introduced herself quickly, feeling rude since she hadn't ever spoken to the man before. Allison's mother had let the girls in, so she had only ever seen the man from a distance at the lacrosse game.

"Hey, ladies. Nice to meet you, Penelope," he says, then Allison quickly cuts him off, "Dad, do you need something?"

"I wanted to tell you that you'll be staying in tonight," he said sternly, zipping up his jacket. Penelope averted her eyes, feeling bad at intruding on this parenting moment.

Allison crosses her arms across her chest, and Lydia gives Penelope a look from besides her on the bed. "What? I'm going out with my friends tonight."

Allison's dad stands his ground, "Not when some animal out there is attacking people."

Allison protests but her dad stops her, "It's out of my hands. There's a curfew. No one's allowed out past nine thirty P.M." Allison throws the shirt she was holding onto her bed behind her two friends, upset. "Hey, no more arguing."

He leaves and the girls stand from the bed, congregating around where the man was just standing. "I guess there goes bowling," Penelope sighs, actually having started to look forward to it.

"Someone's daddy's little girl," Lydia smirks, looking to where Mr. Argent had left to.

"Sometimes, but not tonight," Allison responded, chewing on her fingernail, then she turned to Penelope, "and we're going bowling," she whispered.

Allison pulls a beanie over her head before opening her window, stepping out onto the roof. Lydia quirks her eyebrow at her before turning to Penelope. "What's she doing?" Then both girls followed the brunette to the window, "What are you doing?" Lydia asks her.

"Allison!" Penelope whisper-shouts when the girl flips off the roof, landing on the ground, "Oh my god, you gave me a heart attack, you're insane."

"Eight years gymnastics!" Allison grinned up at them. "You guys coming?"

"You know, I think your parents might be less suspicious if me and Lydia leave out the front door," Penelope answers, and Lydia nods, "Yeah, stairs work for me."

"This is not how I want to spend my night," Stiles groans, picking out a bowling ball next to Penelope. Jackson and Lydia are already seated while Scott and Allison stand further away, also picking out balls.

"I thought you'd be thrilled since Lydia's here," she rolled her eyes, walking around the display.

"On a date with Jackson, but you're right, it's progress," he sighed and nodded diligently, and Penelope shook her head, shoving her bowling ball into his chest and walking back to their seats, "You're hopeless."

"What? Nelly? What'd I say?" he called and she ignored him.

Lydia shot gutter after gutter shot, Jackson helping her. Allison turned out to be really good, and Jackson was too but that was no surprise. Penelope bowled a couple rounds, getting a strike the first one and a spare the second. Stiles turns out to not be so good, avoiding the gutter but barely knocking over one of the balls on the outside edge of the formation. He hangs his head, sitting next to her.

"Want me to help you next time?" she whispers to him as Scott goes to take his turn, knowing that he wanted to impress Lydia.

"Really? Yeah, actually, train me, Obi-Wan, impart upon me your wisdom," he grinned, holding out his hand for a high five which she reciprocated.

"You can do it, Scott," she hears Allison say. Scott looks at the two of them, smiling nervously, and both Stiles and Penelope hold up thumbs-up in support. He nods hesitantly and walks to the lane. Gutter shot. Jackson laughs and Penelope shoots him a nasty glare.

"Jackson?" Allison asks.

"Hey, no one laughed at Lydia, we're all just here to have fun, not win a trophy," Penelope says to him, causing their eyes to snap to her and his mouth to shut instantly, until Jackson starts to chuckle again, causing Allison to sigh.

"Jackson? Mind shutting up?"

Jackson clutches his stomach, "Sorry, I'm just flashing back to the words 'I'm a great bowler'."

"Maybe he needs a little warm-up," Allison defended him.

"Maybe he needs the kiddie bumpers," Jackson quipped, this time Lydia laughing with him as well.

"Yeah this was a great idea," Nelly groans quietly to Stiles so that only he can hear, and he pats her shoulder. "We could just ditch?" he muses.

"I rode here with Lydia, and you drove Scott here, so you can't exactly abandon him," she pouts.

"We could just sit in the parking lot!" he pleads, not wanting to ever come in the first place.

"Ju-just aim for the middle," she ignores Stiles and says to Scott, and Allison nods, holding out her arm like she's motioning down the lane.

"How about you aim for anything except for the gutter?" Jackson pipes in again.

"Let him concentrate," Allison insisted.

Scott misses again, but by a much smaller margin this time. "Hey, that was better!" Penelope says excitedly, clapping, then realizes Jackson is laughing again.

"It was, and we're only just getting started," Allison agrees.

When Scott goes back up to the lane, she can tell he's overthinking. His brunette date stands, going beside him. She can't hear what they're saying but eventually Allison returns, and Scott stands still for a moment longer, glancing back at her, before his eyes snap over to Stiles and Penelope, watching the blonde girl for a moment longer, making the breath catch in her throat. He looks forward, lines up the shot and bowls, knocking down all the pins.

Penelope laughs along with Allison, clapping, "Woohoo, Scotty!"

He grins, spinning around to look at her, before looking back at Allison quickly, joining her in their seat.

"What did you say to him?" Lydia wonders, asking Scott's date.

"I just gave him something to think about," she smiles, and when she says that Scott smiles too, looking at Penelope again. The whole thing was making her feel weird, wondering now what exactly Allison had said and why Scott was looking at her like that.

Stiles was up to bowl next, and he turned to whisper to Nelly before standing, "You still gonna help me?"

"Of course, Stiles, I can't let them beat us, come on," she grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She stood behind Stiles, "Okay this might be hard cause I'm shorter than you so bare with me."

Penelope tucked her body in behind his, blushing slightly, and pulled his right arm back with hers, "Okay, now when you swing, you want to lead with your left leg, and swing your right leg back." She slowly walked him through the motions, positioning his body.

"Hold on a second," she heard from behind them, not paying that much attention.

"Okay, so the right leg leads?" Stiles asks, making her laugh.

"No, no, left leg leads," she walked him through it again, before hearing Scott behind them.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Huh? Nelly's helping me win. You scared we're gonna beat you now?" he laughs, the three of them standing in a circle together.

Scott's face was unreadable. "Even Jackson and Lydia didn't touch that much," he scoffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Penelope crossed her arms, feeling like there was an accusation behind his tone.

"Scott, dude, let's not do this here," Stiles sighs, and Scott just shakes his head and leaves. Stiles grunts and bowls, the ball landing in the gutter almost immediately, and rakes a hand through his short hair.

"Sorry, let's just sit down."

"Do you know something I don't? I feel like you two are keeping me out of the loop on something," she frowns, feeling more than ever like she was on the outside looking in.

"No," he says quickly.

"Okay, well from how fast you answered, now I know you're hiding something. Scott never acts like that to me. Did I do something wrong?" she asks, her face starting to heat and her throat starting to tighten.

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. I'll tell you anything you want to know, but let's just get through this first, okay? Don't cry," he whispers before they sit back down, her refusing to meet Scott's eyes.

Scott continues to hit strike after strike, although his mood seems greatly downtrodden since before. But Allison seems to be having a good time. And the more Stiles and Penelope talked amongst themselves, and bowled together, the more fun she ended up having. It started feeling more like she was hanging out with her friends and not on some weird forced triple date that wasn't even a triple date since she and Stiles weren't dating.

"That is seriously amazing! Uh, Jackson, how many strikes is that?" Allison asks the mean boy.

"It's six. In a row," the boy ground it, causing Allison and Penelope to laugh, her finally looking at Scott who was already looking right at her.

"Something just clicked I guess," Scott smiled.

"Maybe it's natural talent," Allison mused, causing Stiles to snort, covering it with a cough while Penelope slapped his arm. Scott glared at him.

"I could use a little natural talent, you mind helping me out this time, Scott?" Lydia flirted obviously, standing in front of Scott and Allison. Penelope gaped, looking between the three of them and then at Stiles who had an incredulous look on his face.

"Uh, no you're good, go for it," Scott stutters awkwardly, feeling the tension.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Lydia huffed, walking to the lane.

"Hey, I'll help," Jackson stood, but Lydia stopped him, "How bout I just try this on my own?" she says before promptly bowling a strike.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it," Lydia says as she sits down.

"Lydia, you're secretly a pro aren't you?" Penelope smiles at her friend, getting a wink in return.

"That was kind of perfect form," Allison agrees.

"Was it?"

Allison leans in, motioning to Penelope to do the same, "Maybe you should stop pretending to suck just for his benefit."

Penelope blushes, her face going crimson as she chokes on her own spit, garnering weird looks from Scott and Stiles, which Lydia notices instantly, smirking at the blonde.

"Trust me, I do plenty of sucking just for his benefit," Lydia tells them.

The group split up, Scott, Stiles, and her going to the arcade. Penelope decided to take up Stiles on his offer later to fill her in on whatever she had missed, but until then she figured Scott was still her best friend and didn't plan on ignoring him. She didn't have enough self control for that.

Scott goes to talk to Jackson, leaving her and Stiles, "Okay, do I get to know what's going on yet?" she asks him, pulling her hoodie closer around her as she feels the AC kick on.

"I'm only telling you this because I think he should've told you in the first place. But he doesn't want you to know, and I'd prefer to not be wolf food, so you can't tell him you know, alright?" Stiles tells her as he leads her to a bench in the corner of the arcade.

"Now you're scaring me, nothing could be this bad, just spit it out."

"Alright fine, when Scott had the dream about the bus, he told me the version of events a little differently than he told you. Your dreams were the same. He was attacking you, not Allison. But he was terrified that you wouldn't want to be near him anymore, especially when he saw the scratches," Stiles releases in one long breath, forcing her to listen a mile a minute.

"Stiles, I did those to myself, it's not like he actually attacked me! I can't believe he'd ever think I'd be scared of him. But then what was up with him earlier?" she asked, her hand going to her neck when she talked about her marks.

"You'd have to ask him about that, I've kinda lost my Scott expertise a bit lately. The boy is evolving," he bumps her shoulder with his. They get up to turn in their bowling shoes, leaving together, her telling Lydia that she was going to get a ride home with Stiles instead.

"Stiles, don't wake up his mom!" She whispered as he dropped through the window, not hearing anything for a second until she heard Stiles and a woman screaming.

"What am I doing? God do either of you even play baseball?" she hears, before seeing Scott walk up beside her. "Oh, hey, Stiles just broke in through your window," she says awkwardly.

"Oh, wanna use the front door?" he points, grinning. "Yes, please," she nods, walking up the stairs with him.

"What happened?" Scott asks, turning on the light in his room.

"Can you please tell your friend to use the front door? Like Nelly?" Ms. McCall smiles briefly at the girl, "Hey, hon."

"But we lock the front door, he wouldn't be able to get in," Scott said dumbly.

"I think that's her point," Penelope laughed.

"Exactly. And, by the way, do any of you care that there's a police enforced curfew?" his mom asks them.

Scott and Stiles both say no, while Penelope says, "A little."

"No, and a little? Well, you know what, that's about enough parenting for me for one night, so goodnight. Oh and Nelly, your mom was coming in when I was leaving and wanted me to tell you she said she loves you," Ms. McCall tells her.

"Thank you, goodnight Ms. McCall," she says, wondering when she'd see her mom next, and the boys told her goodnight as well.

Penelope sits on the bed next to Stiles, Scott grabbing his desk chair, she knew the news already and braced herself for Scott's reaction, seeing how serious Stiles' face was.

"My Dad left for the hospital fifteen minutes ago. The bus driver. They said he succumbed to his wounds," he told their friend.

"Succumbed?" he asked.

"It means he died, Scott," she told him gently, "he's gone."