Hey everyone! I hope you guys have been enjoying this story so far! It may seem a little slow in Stiles and Natalie's relationship but don't you worry! It's only going to get better throughout the story, it's all part of the plan. My idea is for them to get through the awkwardbeginning stages of going from best friends to boyfriend and girlfriend before you really start to see them mature and grow together.
I'll shut up now. Please enjoy!
Ten minutes after Stiles broke the mountain ash barrier so Derek could find Scott and Anabelle, the alpha returned with both of them in his arms and close to death. He had taken Delilah's car to get to Deaton and instructed all of the worry-stricken teenagers to go home. While everyone knew the two leaders would be okay, it didn't relieve the tension from their shoulders.
Now Natalie was in her backyard, sitting on the porch swing. It was late and pretty chilly, but that was fine with her. She wasn't going to be able to sleep anyway, even though her body was aching for her bed. But she did manage to grab a couple of stay awake pills from her dad's medicine cabinet while her mom was sleeping. She didn't know where Kurt was, which made snatching the pills easier for her. For a deputy, Natalie would have thought her dad would find a better hiding spot for her pills.
Well… former deputy now.
Remembering that made the redhead shake her head in guilt before popping the pills into her mouth and dry-swallowing them down. Natalie knew she needed to stop. The pills weren't doing enough to keep up with her chaotic lifestyle. The only other option there was to keep her alert was to actually do hardcore drugs. Even Natalie wasn't that crazy. So she was actually choosing the safer option. But it still was a problem.
That was the first sign of recovery, right? Admitting that you have a problem? It was a start.
"Mind if I join you?"
Natalie looked up to see Zach standing on the porch. She patted the empty spot next to her on the swing, inviting him over.
"What are you doing up?" Natalie asked him.
"My online friends left our game of Halo and I was bored," Zach said as he sat next to her.
"And here I thought you actually wanted to spend some time with your big sister," Natalie joked.
Zach rolled his eyes. "What about you? I thought you'd knock out after catching the kanima."
"We didn't even catch him. It's so annoying. And besides, you know I can't sleep."
"You can't, or you choose not to?"
Furrowing her eyebrows, Natalie glared at her younger brother. "Hey, don't go judging my lifestyle choices. And that reminds me."
"Ah!" Zach rubbed his now bruising arm from his sister's punch, "What was that for?!"
"You know what that was for," Natalie scolded, "I told you not to tell Dad about the pills."
"I'm not sorry. Dad needed to know what was going on with you."
"There's nothing going on with me!"
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"
Well, shit. Since when did dorky Zach Henderson, thirteen year old video game fanatic, actually make logical sense? It was weird. Natalie didn't like it. Mostly because maybe, just maybe… he might actually be right.
And judging by the sudden silence coming from his sister, Zach knew he was right too. "You think you're sick again, don't you?"
"I don't know," Natalie sighed, "But what I do know is that I don't have time to be sick right now. I'm co-captain of the baseball team, I have a mischievous boyfriend who really sucks at plans, a werewolf best friend, and to top that all off, I feel like I got sucked into some god awful sci-fi movie. Being sick is the least of my problems."
"But Mom and Dad-"
"Have more important issues to worry about right now. And I swear to god if you say one more thing to them about this, I will get you and make it look like an accident."
Gulping, Zach nodded his head. "You're a very scary person sometimes."
"You can thank Derek for that. Hopefully he'll lighten up more now that he's close to getting himself a girlfriend."
"Derek Hale? The one that could kill puppies with just one look? That Derek Hale?"
"That's the one."
"Huh. Who has the actual tolerance to deal with his grumpy ass?"
"Someone who unfortunately has no choice," Natalie said as she remembered giving Derek the papers she had printed out on werewolf mating.
The youngest Henderson let out a yawn and stood up. "Well, since I'm not a vampire, I'm gonna call it a night. Maybe you should actually try getting some sleep too. It might do you some good."
Natalie waved her hand at him. "I don't know when you started growing up, but it's a little weird. I'm not sure if I like it."
"What are you talking about?" Zach scoffed as he walked backwards, "I've always been mature. I'm cool, calm, collect- whoa!"
His older sister couldn't hold back her laugh when he fell backwards after slipping on one of Rocky's chew toys. "Yeah, you're doing great, Mr. Cool."
"I hate you," Zach grumbled before getting up and going back inside the house.
Of course, Natalie decided to stay outside for just a tad bit longer so she could think about that conversation. That was the first time she had been close to spilling what she thought might be happening with her. And Zach may have been right about her needing to tell her parents. But hell, Natalie had just gotten her dad fired from his job. Did she really want to add on to his stress if she really was sick? She couldn't do that to her parents. Not now.
And Stiles… Natalie knew he was still suspicious about her lack of sleep. He didn't know anything about the pills and she never talked about her headaches, but she could tell that he was worried about her too. If Natalie told Stiles what was going on… she didn't even want to think about his reaction. He had too much on his plate too. She didn't want to add onto that.
All she could do is hope that it was nothing serious and move on.
Why did she agree to do this? Nothing good ever came from shopping with Lydia. They would always get there right when the mall opened so they could beat the crowd and get the best deals. Shopping was like a sport to Lydia as baseball was with Natalie. It was way more torturous.
Being there with Lydia was the least Natalie could do since she hadn't exactly been there for her friend lately. Plus it was Lydia's birthday. Her party was that night but Natalie told her that she would help her pick out her outfit (or 'outfits') for the evening.
A horrible decision on her part, to be honest.
"Lydia, we've been here for two hours and you still haven't bought anything," Natalie complained, holding on to the pile of clothes her friend had given her, "How many more options do you need?"
"Oh, I've already picked out my dresses," Lydia said as she searched through the racks.
"You've al-" Natalie stuttered, "Then why the hell do I have the entire store in my hands right now?!"
"Because, silly-" the strawberry blonde held up two dresses, both of them pink, "these are all for you."
Natalie's eyes widened. "Oh, no."
"Oh, yes."
"But I already picked out my outfit for tonight! I just showed it to you this morning!"
"You mean that dress that made you look like Wednesday Addams?" Lydia said, "It's cute, but everything you own is so… dark. Your whole wardrobe looks like you shop at Hot Topic."
"I do shop at Hot Topic," Natalie deadpanned.
"And that's your problem. You need a little more color in your life."
"Can that color please be something other than pink?"
"Just try them on and then we can go. Maybe."
There was no way she was getting out of this. So Natalie just groaned and stomped over to the fitting rooms.
Each dress got worse and worse as the redhead tried them on. Maybe other girls would be fine with wearing stuff that was on the skimpy side, but Natalie thought she looked like a hooker. This could not have been appropriate for a sixteen year old. Lydia, however, didn't seem to agree.
"See? That one is so cute!" Lydia clapped her hands together as Natalie stepped out of her fitting room wearing a skintight pink leopard dress.
"I look like I belong in a strip club," Natalie said. She gestured at her very pronounced cleavage. "Like, what the hell is this? Boobs should not be able to do this!"
"Oh, stop it, you look hot! I'm sure Stiles would appreciate it."
"I'm not trying to give Stiles a wet daydream at your party, Lydia."
"Why not?"
Furrowing her eyebrows, Natalie pointed at her friend. "You have issues." She walked back into her room. It only took her two minutes to change into the last dress, which was an olive green bodycon dress that was off the shoulder and long-sleeve. It was not only the best one she had tried so far, but it was also the most comfortable. After taking one last look in the mirror, Natalie stepped back out and spread her arms. "Ta-da!"
"I don't remember picking that one out," Lydia said, tilting her head.
"Yeah, because I snuck it in without you noticing," Natalie told her. The strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes. "What?"
"Out of every single dress I picked out, that's what your gonna choose?"
"Come on! It's stylish, it's not black, I can breathe in it. And the best part is is that I can do this-" Natalie started doing the Carlton.
"Okay, fine," Lydia laughed, "You can wear the dress. Just don't do that at the party tonight."
"No promises!"
After the longest three hours of her life, Natalie and Lydia finally left the mall. Natalie dropped her off at Allison's house so she could get an actual girly girl's opinion instead of her own sassy commentary. For once in her life, the redhead decided to needed to be around more testosterone so she headed over to Stiles's house so they could hang out for a bit before she had to go get ready for the party.
Like for Scott's house, she had a key made for her boyfriend's. Noah didn't think it was as weird as Melissa did. There were even times Stiles would come home and find his dad and Natalie sitting the couch and yelling at the baseball game on the TV. It was more weird for him than anything. Also a little offensive since clearly Natalie was his dad's favorite out of the trio. That's including his own son.
Natalie unlocked the Stilinski's door and walked in. She said her hellos to Noah before jogging up the stairs. Stiles's door was already wide open so she just marched right in and flopped face down on his bed. A very dramatic groan muffled against the sheets, making Stiles laugh at her.
"So how was girls day?" he asked teasingly.
"Sometimes I think life would be easier if I was a dude," Natalie grumbled.
"Yeah, I definitely love hearing my girlfriend tell me that," Stiles said sarcastically.
"You just have it so easy," his girlfriend said as she sat up, "All you have to do is just roll out of bed and poof! You're done."
"But at least girls have makeup and stuff. If we're ugly, then we're fucked."
"Good point. I feel better now." Natalie got up to join Stiles at his desk. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You're going over the 2006 yearbook again?"
Stiles looked up at her. "Did you know our dads went to the warehouse with the police after we left that night?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. They think Harris is a suspect."
"Because everyone who was murdered was in his class?"
"But they weren't," Stiles said as he flipped through the yearbook. He pointed to a random girl. "Recognize her?"
"Isn't that the club promoter from the rave?" Natalie asked, squinting her eyes.
"Kara Simmons. She was found dead after the rave. She's the only one who was 24 that wasn't in Harris's class."
"Interesting." The redhead grabbed the other desk chair so she could get a closer look at the yearbook as well. "And none of this still explains why the kanima killed Isaac's dad too…"
As they were nose deep into this mystery, Noah passed by the room. "Hey guys, whatcha doing?"
"Homework," the young couple answered in unison, not bothering to look up.
Nodding his head, Noah began to walk away. Until he took in his son and his son girlfriend's words and he popped his head back in. "It's spring break. What do you two think you're doing?"
"Oh, we're just satisfying our own curiosity," Stiles said.
"We brought in Harris this morning for questioning," Noah said as he reached over to close the yearbook. He thought over his words and corrected himself, "They brought him in."
"And what happened?" Natalie asked, drawing her knees in.
"They're working on a warrant to arrest him for the murders."
"For all of them?" Stiles asked.
"Enough of them."
"With what proof?"
"You remember the couple at the trailer?" Noah asked the two, "The tracks nearby match Harris's car."
This answer did not seem to satisfy Stiles. "W- That's not enough." He opened the yearbook just for his dad to close it again.
"The same car was also seen outside the hospital where the pregnant wife was killed. It's got some bumper sticker on it, a quote from Einstein."
"What was the quote?" Natalie asked.
"Something about imagination and knowledge."
Both of the teenagers' faces fell. "Imagination is more important than knowledge," Natalie quoted, "We saw that same car parked outside the rave."
"That means you're both witnesses," Noah told them, "You're gonna have to give statement."
"Lovely," Natalie grumbled. She snatched the yearbook off the desk.
"But what about the concert promoter, Kara?" Stiles questioned, "She wasn't in Harris's class, right? I mean, what does Mr. Lahey have to do with this?"
"It doesn't matter," the former sheriff said, "The tire tracks put Harris at the site of three murders. That's damning evidence."
"No, that's not enough."
"I-I thought you hated this guy."
"I don't hate him, alright? He hates me."
Natalie raised her hand. "I hate him."
The Stilinski's rolled their eyes. "You know, if he'd kill them all then yeah, lock the psycho up. But there's something missing. There's gotta be something missing."
"Hey. Hey." Noah placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "You guys don't have to solve this for us. Your dad wouldn't want you getting involved either, Natalie."
"No, we have to do something," Stiles said softly, hanging his head in guilt.
As the father and son talked amongst each other, Natalie came across a page in the yearbook that made her stomach flip. Call her Nancy Drew because she just became one step closer to cracking this case.
"I think I found something. Look at the swim team."
Noah and Stiles shot their heads at Natalie as she stood up and laid the yearbook in front of them. She pointed at the larger photo with the swim team smiling at the camera. Each of the victims were in the photo. Then they spotted the one person who they were struggling to figure out how to place him in this mystery.
"Dad, the coach," Stiles said, "It's Isaac's dad."
The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of another party guest. Lydia opened the door with one hand as the other held up a tray of glasses of punch. She didn't even open the door fully before the loud sound of party blowouts filled her ears, making her wince at the noise. Standing there were Stiles and Natalie with the blowouts in their hands and stupid smiles on their faces. There looked to be a large present floating behind them.
"Happy birthday!" the couple cheered together.
Lydia didn't say anything. She just stared at the two in confusion and fake amusement.
"Uh, guys?" a voice popped out from behind the box, "A little help?"
After handing Natalie his blowout, Stiles grabbed one end of the box as Zach shifted his way to the other end. Both girls watched from secondhand embarrassment as the boys struggled to get the box through the door.
"No, Zach, you gotta actually hold up the box."
"Dude, I'm trying! You're the one that needs to pivot the other way!"
"What the hell do you think I'm doing?"
"Not your hardest, that's for sure!"
Getting bored, Lydia rolled her eyes and strutted away. "Don't forget to try the punch!"
"Will do!" Natalie called after her friend. Then Stiles and Zach fell onto the ground, making the redhead facepalm. Two people stepped around the boys as they made weirded out faces at them. "I don't know them!"
Once Stiles and Zach finally got up and got the present situation fixed, they dropped it off at the table where the rest of the gifts were and went to go find Scott. They found him leaning against the counter in Lydia's kitchen, looking around the area for who Natalie assumed Jackson. Scott also seemed to be stressing out over the full moon, like always. He seemed to be controlling himself just fine, but it was still early in the night. You can't be too hopeful just yet.
"Have you seen Jackson anywhere?" Stiles asked as he, Scott, Natalie, and Zach walked through the hallways.
"No," Scott said, "Seen Allison?"
"No, but we should probably tell her what we found," Stiles said.
"I'm still kind of not sure what we found."
"We figured it has something to do with the water," Natalie told him, "Considering all of the victims were part of the swim team and the kanima seems to have a fear of water."
"So whoever's controlling the kanima really hates the swim team?" Scott questioned.
"Hated," Natalie emphasized, "Specifically the 2006 swim team."
"So it could be another teacher," Stiles added, "Maybe like a student back then. I mean, who are we missing though? Who haven't we thought of?"
"Dun, dun, duuuuhhhh!"
The trio looked back at Zach and the thirteen year old immediately hung his head in shame.
"I just wanted to be a part of the conversation," he said weakly.
Allison let up with the four of them out by the pool in Lydia's backyard. She smiled awkwardly at Scott. Seems to be trouble in paradise. While it was expected, that didn't make it less uncomfortable. "Uh, Jackson's not here."
"Yeah, no one's here," Stiles stated, scanning the empty area.
"Maybe it's just early," Natalie tried to be optimistic, "Nobody likes being early."
"Or maybe nobody's coming because Lydia's turned into the town whack job," Stiles said, making Natalie elbow him in the ribs.
"Well, we have to do something," Allison told them, "because we've completely ignored her for the past two weeks."
"She's completely ignored Zach his entire life," Scott gestured to the youngest Henderson.
"I'd like to think of it as me being not on her radar yet," Zach spoke up. He pointed to the older teenagers. "But just wait until fall. Once I get into high school, it's over for all of you."
Patting his shoulder, Scott smiled sarcastically. "Sure thing, dude. Either way, we don't owe her a party."
"What about the chance to get back to normal?" Allison said.
"Normal?"
"She wouldn't be the town whack job if it wasn't for us." The huntress looked at Natalie with pleading eyes. "Come on, Natalie. You're the 'Party Queen of Beacon Hills'. And you're one of Lydia's best friends. Surely you can get this thing going."
Natalie looked over at her popular friend and sighed in sadness when Lydia's face fell. She knew no one was coming. It may be a first in Lydia Martin's history. And Allison was right- they were to blame for it. First her and Stiles's dads and now one of her oldest friends. Natalie screwed over so many people within these past couple of weeks.
She needed to make things right. Now.
With a newfound determination, Natalie clapped her hands together. "Alrighty, boys. We gotta get this ball rolling. Get whoever you can over here, stat. We got a party to save."
"I guess I could use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse team here," Scott said.
"Yeah, I also know some people who can get this thing going," Stiles said, "Like really going."
"Who?" Allison asked.
"I met them the other night," Stiles told her, "Let's just say they know how to party."
"Great," Natalie beamed as she whipped out her phone, "And I am going to call the baseball team, a DJ, and my mechanical bull guy."
With raised eyebrows, Allison asked, "You have a mechanical bull guy?"
"Yep." Natalie waved her phone. "And I've got him on speed dial."
"What do I do?" Zach asked.
"You-" his older sister pointed her finger at him, "stay right here and don't touch anything. Okay, boys. Break!"
The trio dispersed as Allison stood there and watched Lydia across from the pool. Zach slung his arm around Allison's shoulders, which was a little bit difficult since he was a few inches shorter, and smiled up at her.
"So… what are you doing after this?" He then winked at her. Allison rolled her eyes and pushed his face back. "Ay!"
It didn't take long for the party to finally liven up. Almost the entire school showed up. Hell, even the drag queens from the gay club the trio went to were there!
And Natalie could tell Lydia was so relieved that people were actually coming. She might have rolled her eyes at the mechanical bull, but when she smiled at the other redhead, she knew she was grateful. That was Natalie's real achievement of the night.
Looks like the Party Queen of Beacon Hills has outdone herself once again.
"Let's get this party started!" Natalie hollered from the DJ's booth, raising her glass of punch in the air. The partygoers cheered alongside her, lifting their own drinks. "And happy birthday, Lydia Martin!"
Everybody started dancing as the DJ played the first song of the night. Natalie jumped off from the booth and danced with her classmates, most she knew, others she did not. But that didn't matter. She was having the time of her life. For just one night, Natalie was able to forget everything that was going on in her mess of a life. And she didn't even have a headache, which was rare nowadays. Allison was right- this was her once chance of things going back to normal.
And Stiles loved watching his girlfriend having fun. It brought a huge smile on his face to watch her dance, laugh, and just go fucking crazy. Natalie deserved it. She really did. In Stiles's eyes, she was the most incredible person ever. He would give anything to make her smile like that every second of every day.
"Did I ever tell you how much I love that girl, Scott?" he sighed dreamily.
"You have," Scott laughed, "Five times in the past two minutes to be exact."
Deciding to take a break from the dancing, Natalie excused herself and made her way through the crowd.
"You're the man, Natalie!" some random guy called out.
"I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be a compliment, so thank you!" Natalie shouted back. She headed towards Scott and Stiles. "Well, boys, did we do good or did we do good?"
"You, my queen, are extraordinary," Stiles said, bowing down dramatically.
"Why thank you, good sir," Natalie bowed back, "But every queen has to have her king." She and Stiles clinked their glasses together.
"So if you're the king and queen," Scott pointed out, "then what does that make me?"
"Oh, easy," Stiles said, "you're our guard dog."
The teen wolf rolled his eyes. "Of course it does."
"Hey, it could be worse," Natalie told him, "You could be the court jester."
"And who's that?"
Instead of verbally answering, Natalie pointed to the dancing crowd. Zach was jumping and waving his arms around like he was being electrocuted. He accidentally slapped a girl in the face, which earned him a slap in return. The trio cringed.
"Yeah, that's gonna leave a mark," Natalie sucked in a breath. She took in her best friend's pouting face. "What's up with you, wolf boy?"
"He's down in the dumps over Allison, nothing new," Stiles told her. He turned to Scott. "So are you gonna apologize to her or what?"
"Why should I apologize?" Scott asked.
"Because you're the guy," Stiles said, "It's, like, what we do."
"But I didn't do anything wrong."
Shaking her head, Natalie laughed. "See, that right there is where you're wrong. Any time a guy thing he hasn't done anything wrong, he usually has. Take it from a professional girl."
"I'm not apologizing," Scott insisted.
"Is that the full moon talking, buddy?" Stiles asked.
"Probably. Why do you guys care, anyway?"
"Because, Scotty," Natalie said, "we need at least one thing going right here."
"I mean, we're getting our asses royally kicked, if you haven't noticed," Stiles added, "People are dying. Nat and I got our dads fired. You're gonna be held back in school. Zach's in love with a nut job. And if on top of all that, I gotta watch you lose Allison to a stalker like Matt, I'm gonna stab myself in the face."
Scott shot up from his seat. "Don't stab yourself in the face."
"Why not?"
"Because Jackson's here."
The three best friends looked across the yard to see said boy step outside. His face became blank, making them become very suspicious and terrified.
"Talk about a party pooper," Natalie said, "Hey, I'm gonna go use the bathroom. I'll be right back." She kissed Stiles on the cheek before heading inside the house.
She decided to use Lydia's bathroom in hopes that no one was using it. Luckily for her, it was vacant. So she went in and did her business. When she finished up, Natalie washed her hands and looked at her reflection in the mirror.
The redhead messed around with her hair, making sure it was nice and curly and fluffed. She lightly swiped her fingers underneath her eyes to get rid of any makeup that had been smudged throughout the night. After smoothing down her dress, Natalie decided she looked decent enough so it was time to go back to the party.
But she stopped in her tracks when she stepped into the hallway and heard two familiar voices coming from Lydia's bedroom.
"18,000! This is just ridiculous!"
"How the hell are we supposed to pay for all of this?"
Curiosity took over Natalie as she slowly walked towards the bedroom. She was taken aback when she saw her parents sitting on the bed, looking stressed as they looked through the envelopes laid out in front of them.
"I don't understand what we did to deserve this," Terri sighed in frustration.
"First we have to deal with a sick child and now we're the ones suffering the consequences," Kurt said angrily, slamming an envelope down.
"And what for? That kid is nothing but a menace," Terri spat, "Always causing trouble with Scott and that Stilinski kid."
Kurt shook his head. "We should have just pulled the plug on her when we had the chance."
Hearing her parents' harsh words knocked all of the wind out of Natalie. The room started spinning and her head began pounding out of nowhere. She was struggling to breathe. She needed to get the hell out of there.
So she ran out of Lydia's bedroom, slammed the door shut, and found herself back in the bathroom. Natalie gripped onto the sink as she tried to catch her breath. But she let out a small scream when she saw a bald and almost skeleton-looking version of herself in the mirror.
"Oh, the truth hurts, doesn't it, Natalie?" the reflection taunted, shaking her head.
"Stop," Natalie gritted out.
"I'm sorry, am I bothering you? Well how do you think everyone else feels whenever you're around? You act like everything's all rainbows and butterflies when you know the real truth. You're just a burden to all of your friends and family… and especially Stiles."
"No, I'm not!"
"God, you are so in denial," the reflection laughed maniacally, "How much longer do you think you can keep hiding it from everyone? Just admit it already, Natalie. All you're doing is just killing yourself even more. But maybe that's not such a bad thing now. Maybe it's time you just die already!"
With a scream, Natalie drew back her elbow and punched the mirror. Glass shattered all over her hand and into the sink. It seemed to have snapped her back into reality because when she looked into what was left on the mirror, her normal self was staring back at her. Partygoers heard the loud noise and were peering into the bathroom in confusion. But Natalie paid no attention to them. She was just concentrating on regulating her breathing again.
"Nat?"
She whipped her head to see Scott standing in the doorway and sweating profusely. His eyes widened when he saw Natalie's bleeding hand and the broken mirror.
"Here, sit down," Scott told her, closing the toilet seat so the redhead could sit, "They should have a first aid kit here somewhere."
"Check underneath the sink," Natalie said. She rubbed her forehead as Scott pulled the kit out. He took an alcohol wipe and started cleaning off the blood. "Ah!"
"Sorry," Scott apologized, "Are you okay?"
"I… I don't know," Natalie shook her head, "One minute everything's normal then suddenly I think I'm fucking Rocky Balboa."
"At least you took the W," Scott joked.
"Yeah, but now I gotta pay for a new mirror." Natalie looked down at the punch that was still in her hand. "Man, I don't know what Lydia put in this but this shit is strong."
She went to take another drink but Scott grabbed it before she could. "Don't drink it. I think it might be laced with something because the same thing happened to me, too."
"It did?"
"Yeah. I've been trying to look for Lydia but I couldn't find her anywhere."
"Wait… where's Stiles? He's been drinking the punch too."
They both looked at each other. After quickly bandaging Natalie's hand, the best friends ran downstairs and back outside. They found Stiles leaning against the brick pillar next to the hot tub, looking drunk and out of it. He must have hallucinated too. Scott went to go grab some water as Natalie ran straight to Stiles.
"Stiles, babe?" Natalie said as she kneeled next to him. But he didn't respond, his eyes were closed and head lulled forward. She patted his cheeks. "Come on, Stiles, you gotta wake up."
"Here, Nat," Scott said, handing her the bottle of water, "Stiles, look at us."
"You gotta drink this, Stiles," Natalie told her boyfriend, "Drink the water."
"Something's happening and we need you to sober up right now," Scott said, "Come on, Stiles."
A random girl walked up to them. "What do you two think you are doing?" she asked them, "You want to sober him up fast, that's not the way to do it."
"You can do better?" Scott asked, he and Natalie looking suspicious.
"I can do best, boy," the girl laughed. She grabbed Stiles and dunked his head into the hot tub. That seemed to do the trick because when she pulled him back out, his eyes were wide open. "Whoo! How do you feel?"
"Like I might have to revisit my policy on hitting a girl," Stiles said sarcastically.
"He's sober," the girl smiled, proud of herself. Then she walked away.
"I like her," Natalie said. She turned her attention to Stiles. "Are you okay, babe?"
"Yeah, I think so," Stiles said, "Although, I don't know what the hell just happened."
"We think it might have something to do with the punch," Scott told him, "Natalie and I had hallucinations after drinking it, too. Lydia definitely put something in it and we need to figure out what it was."
"Here, help me up," Stiles said. Scott and Natalie grabbed his hands and pulled him up. "Okay, let's split up so we can find her."
"You guys go ahead," Natalie told them, "I gotta go find Zach and make sure he didn't drink any."
The trio separated, Scott going inside the house, Stiles out in the front yard, and Natalie staying in the backyard. She pushed past the delusional teenagers. Everybody was tripping balls. There was even a guy making out with a tree, which was just kind of sad. But Natalie stayed laser focused so she could find her brother.
That was until someone grabbed her arm.
"Whoa, hey, Natalie," Matt said. Oh crap, not now. "Have you seen where Allison went?"
"No, I haven't," Natalie said as politely but hurriedly as possible, "Look, I'm not trying to be rude but I really don't have time to talk-"
Matt's grip on her forearm got tighter all of a sudden. And now Natalie was scared.
"Why is everyone trying to run away from me tonight?" he chuckled darkly, "Just give me a couple minutes."
"Get the hell off of me."
Natalie yanked her arm out of Matt's grasp. She slapped him in the face and took off running as the boy just stood there, dazed and confused.
She called out for her brother throughout the people that were still dancing. Or being electrocuted, she couldn't tell. To her relief, she found Zach stand next to the punch bowl. He ladled some punch into an empty glass and went to take a sip.
"Zach!" Natalie ran up to him. "You haven't had any of that, right?"
"No, but everyone keeps telling me it's so good," Zach said, "And boy, let me tell you, I've been working up a sweat on that dance floor!" He went to take a drink but Natalie knocked the glass out of his hand. "Hey!"
"Trust me, it's not as good as people say," Natalie said, "Have you seen Lydia?"
"The last time I saw her she was heading out front. That was about twenty minutes ago."
"Shit." Natalie nudged her brother. "Come on, let's go." They ran until they found the teen wolf exiting out of the house. "Scott!"
"Nat! Did you see her?" Scott asked her.
"No. We think she left."
Stiles then met up with them. "Hey, I can't find her. And, dude, anyone who drank that crap, they're freaking out."
They took in the scene around them. It was practically a jungle. People were slurring their words, tripping over their feet, and doing things they would for sure be embarrassed of if they were sober. Some were even jumping in the pool fully clothed. Whatever was in that punch was way more intense than any sort of alcohol they could think of.
"I can see that," Scott said.
"What the hell are we gonna do?" Natalie asked.
"I don't know, but we gotta-"
"I can't swim!"
When they looked back at the pool, Matt was being dragged by a few guys who had clearly drank the punch. This couldn't end well.
"No, no, no, no, stop, guys!" he yelled, "I can't swim! I can't swim!"
But they ending up tossing him in the pool anyway. All the trio and Zach could do was watch helplessly as Matt thrashed around in the water, trying to stay above. He kept screaming out that he couldn't swim but water kept splashing in his face. If it wasn't for Jackson pulling him out of the pool, Matt would have surely drowned.
Once he was out of the pool, the entire backyard went quiet. They had all just watched Matt almost die and no one knew how to react.
"What are you looking at?" he sneered.
No one said anything. He then walked away, but not before stopping and glaring at the trio, who continued to stare at him. But this time they were staring at him like he had grown another head. Natalie held onto Stiles's arm as Matt's eyes lingered on her just a second too long for her liking.
Police sirens suddenly wailed in the air.
"The cops are here! Party's over!"
Everyone scattered around, running like chickens with their heads cut off. Scott had his best friends go to the jeep while he continued to search for Lydia. After a while and being bumped into by so many screaming teenagers, he decided to call it quits and ran to the front of the house where the police have already arrived. He halted when he saw something that made his crooked jaw drop and his eyes wide.
Standing across the street was Matt, who was still soaked from head to toe. He was seething with anger. But that wasn't the part that shocked him- it was the kanima crouched next to him, its tail curled around his legs. Then they both disappeared into thin air. It was him.
Matt controlled the kanima.
I hope you guys enjoyed it! You finally get a little sense of what's going on with Natalie but it'll still be a couple more chapters until you know for sure so please be patient, my lovelies!
PLEASE leave a review, favorite, and follow! I always appreciate your guys' kind words and hearing that you guys like the story. Also please go check out the other two stories in my Teen Wolf Saga, Scars and No One Else and review those as well! Thank you so much for all of your love! I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie