"So you're telling me he ran off from the party, left you there without saying a word, his random friend had to drive you home and you're giving him another chance?" Bella asked Allison as they walked into school.

"He said he was really sorry. I believe him," Allison shrugged.

"Allison he left you at a party alone," Lydia groaned.

"I know. But second chances aren't a bad thing, right? He said he was sick and it won't happen again," Allison defended.

"But you're so out of his league," Lydia said shaking her head.

"Lydia," Allison sighed.

"Ok, one chance. Give him one more chance, but if he stands you up…" Bella said motioning to her neck. "No third chance."

"Agreed no third chance," Allison nodded.

"Well Jackson's got a separated shoulder after your little boyfriend hit him at training yesterday," Lydia said sourly.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"How is Jackson?" Bella asked.

"He might not be cleared to play the game on Saturday."

"He'll still play," Bella laughed.

"Well of course," Lydia smiled. "It's Jackson. Let's do something Saturday night. All of us. After the game. Invite Scott and the dorky kid that always sits with him if you want," Lydia said to Allison.

"Are you sure?" Allison asked nervously.

"Absolutely. It'll give Jackson and Scott a chance to warm up to each other."

Bella snorted, "yeah like that's going to happen."

"Well, between you, me, Allison, Jackson, Chad, Scott and the dorky kid, I'm sure we can keep it civil," Lydia smirked.

"Chad?" Allison asked confused. "Who's Chad?"

"A guy on the lacrosse team. Lydia's trying to set us up."

"I thought you only just broke up with Adam?"

"She did," Lydia answered. "But she's Bella Martin. Bella Martin doesn't stay single for long."


"Do you know how much longer Jackson will be? I have homework," Bella groaned. She'd driven Lydia and Jackson to the hospital so Jackson could get a cortisone shot in his shoulder to ease the pain.

"You've already done your homework," Lydia dismissed as she scrolled through her phone.

"Yeah, but I didn't exactly plan on spending my Friday night waiting for you two at the hospital."

"Fine. Fine," Lydia snapped. "I'll go ask how much longer it'll be," she said, standing up and walking to the room they'd taken Jackson in.

Bella let out a breath as she let her head fall back against the wall. Even though she and Lydia weren't related by blood, she loved her more than anything, but after spending a full day with her sometimes she just needed a break.

Bella and Lydia both tried their hardest to downplay their own intelligence in order to amplify their perceived 'hotness' within the school cohort, but Lydia took it a step further and keeping up with it could be exhausting at times. Lydia always pushed Bella to be in a relationship with someone, even when they both had no real connection to each other. And whenever she was single she was constantly bombarded with disingenuous guys who just wanted to be seen with her, not get to know her. She desperately needed some time to herself.

"Oh my god," Bella heard a guy stutter and she opened her eyes to see a boy standing beside her with a big grin. "Hey, Bella," he said happily as she looked up at him. Bella shot him a false smile, she was not in a good enough mood to be talking to people she barely knew. "So I don't know if you remember me. I sit behind you in…."

"Yes, I know who you are Stiles," Bella interrupted. "I thought we had this conversation at my party the other day."

"Yes… we uh, we did. I just thought… I mean why would you notice me?"

"Is there something you needed Stiles?" Bella asked to end his rambling.

"Well see I know you broke up with Adam and I know you don't really know me…"

"Bella!" Lydia called out as she and Jackson made their way towards her. "All done."

"Oh thank god," Bella sighed as she stood up from her seat. She turned and smiled at Stiles, "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Nothing, nothing important. Not worth repeating. I'm just going to sit around here," Stiles said, throwing himself back into a chair.

"Ok," Bella smiled before looking back at her sister and her boyfriend. "Did he do it?" she asked.

"Well he said not to make a habit of it but one cortisone shot won't kill me," Jackson shrugged as he rubbed his shoulder.

"I told him he should get one before the game," Lydia said. "It'll help him make it through."

"Do you think it'll help?" Bella asked Jackson.

"It's worth a go. I need to play well this season if I want to keep the scouts interested. Let's just get out of here ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's go," Bella nodded picking up her back and walking off. "Bye Stiles," she called back.

"Bye," he shakily replied.


"Hey," Bella greeted Allison as she sat down beside her at the lacrosse game.

"Hey! How are you?" she smiled. "This is my dad."

"Hi Mr Argent. I'm Bella, it's nice to meet you," Bella smiled.

"Nice to meet you Bella, I'm Chris," he said holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Where's Lydia?" Allison asked.

"Warming up Jackson," Bella smirked. "She made a sign we have to help her hold."

"A sign?" Allison laughed.

Lydia arrived shortly after and the game began. Everyone watched as Jackson barged his way past Scott, knocking him off his feet to pick up the ball. He ran towards the goal and scored making everyone cheer.

"Woo, go Whitmore!" Bella called out.

"Help me with the sign, help me with the sign," Lydia asked and Bella and Allison nodded as they grabbed edges of Lydia's 'We Luv u Jackson' sign.


"How are we losing?" Bella groaned.

"Which one is Scott again?" Mr Argent asked them.

"Number 11. Otherwise known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball this entire game," Lydia sneered.

"It's not like anyone's passed it to him, Lydia. I mean come on, they're deliberately keeping it away from him," Bella sighed.

"I hope he's ok," Allison said nervously.

"I hope we're ok," Lydia emphasised. She did not want to be dating the captain of the losing team. Currently, they were two points down. "We need to win this," she said grabbing her side of the new sign that read 'Jackson is #1!'. Bella grabbed the middle of the sign to hold it up, but the side closest to Allison flopped down. "Allison? Little help here?" Lydia asked.

Allison scratched her face in irritation before grabbing the sign and holding it in the air. She didn't want to support Jackson when he was deliberately keeping Scott out of the game. At the next whistle, Bella looked over to see Scott leap over the shoulder of his opponent and snatch the ball out of the air.

"Oh my god!" Bella gasped excitedly as she lowered the sign. "Allison look! Look!"

"Oh my god," Allison laughed as they watched Scott dodge his way through everyone and shoot the ball straight into the goals.

"Yes!" Bella cheered as both she and Allison leapt up in excitement. Bella looked down to see her sister still seated with a glare on her face. "Come on," Bella encouraged and Lydia sulkily stood up and clapped.

They all watched the next play in excitement. One of the players on the opposing team had possession of the ball and Scott stood in front of him and the boy just passed the ball straight to Scott.

"Did the other team just pass us the ball?" Bella laughed.

"Looks like it," Mr Argent nodded his head. Scott then shot for goal and sent the ball sailing through the goalie's stick, breaking the netting.

"Yeah Scott!" Allison cheered.

There was less than a minute left on the clock now and the game was tied. The whistle went and the ball was passed to Scott who found himself in a difficult position with only 10 seconds left on the clock.

"You can do it, Scott," Allison whispered. Scott shot the ball and it sailed through for a goal just a second before the final buzzer went off. Beacon Hills had won. The crowd went wild cheering and ran onto the pitch.

Bella was laughing as she and Allison ran on the pitch together to find Scott, but she stopped when she saw her chemistry lab partner sitting on the bench doing homework. She frowned and walked over and took a seat next to him.

"You're not seriously doing homework at a lacrosse game are you?" she asked and he jumped in the air. "Sorry," she apologised, not meaning to have scared him.

"It's ok. I'm failing, I can't keep up, I need to get this work done," he explained.

"Yeah I know," Bella nodded. "We're lab partners, I see your grades when Harris hands the papers back."

"I see yours as well," he sighed. "I wish I had your grades."

"I can help you if you want?" she offered.

"What?"

"Yeah, we've sat next to each other all year, I'm happy to help you."

"No that's ok," he refused. "I couldn't pay you."

"Oh my god, Isaac I don't want money!" Bella laughed. "Look we got off to kind of an awkward start when we started high school but I want to help you, ok?"

"You're sure?" Isaac confirmed.

"100%," Bella nodded.

"Thank you," he smiled.

"Great!" Bella smiled, standing up as she saw Lydia making her way over. "We'll work out a time next week in class ok? I got to go, see you later," she waved, leaving Isaac and making her way over to Lydia.

"Oh my god is he still bothering you?" Lydia asked.

"He was never bothering me," Bella rolled her eyes.

"Yeah like him asking you out in the parking lot with his little bike at the start of high school wasn't him bothering you," Lydia snorted. "You know you're lucky you've got me looking out for you. Like I told him…"

"No engine, no date," Bella mockingly finished.

"Well, you don't get to date a Martin girl unless your mode of transportation has an engine on it," Lydia shrugged defending herself.

"Yes, I know," Bella rolled her eyes. "But it has made sitting next to him in Chemistry very awkward."

"You can deal with awkward," Lydia rolled her eyes. "Besides you could have just sat with Jackson and then this wouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah like Harris would let us choose our lab partners," Bella laughed. "Speaking of, are we still all going out for dinner?" Bella asked.

"Nope," Lydia popped. "I'm going home. Jackson's not happy Scott won the game for the team. He's in a mood. You are still going out for dinner with Chad though so get excited!"