~ CHAPTER ONE ~
OUTSIDE MCCALL HOUSE
Sixteen-year-old, Scott McCall rushes out of his house, hastily grabbing his bike off the ground only for his brow to furrow in confusion at sight across the road. The familiar house that hurt to look at when growing up had a Sold across the For Sale sign.
He had briefly seen the For Sale sign months ago, but there was now a new car parked in the driveway. Did he somehow miss moving trucks and the new neighbors moving in over the weekend?
A vehicle drives past, shaking him out of his thoughts. Scott puts on his helmet and gets on his bike. Following his routine, he pats down the pockets of his grey hoodie to check his inhaler was on him.
He groans, irritated, remembering he had lost it last night in the reserve because his best friend, Stiles just had to find the dead body...half the body. Scott shudders from the memory of the previous night after Stiles left him alone in the woods narrowly escaping a wolf attack.
Scott winces and places his hand over his abdomen of where he was bitten and hopes it doesn't bleed through the gauze he put on; the last thing he needs to do is stress out his mother.
Scott begins to pedal his bike away from his home missing the chance to see the new neighbor.
Bonnie Bennett steps out of the house; looking around the neighborhood. It was fascinating that everything looked the same since she left Beacon Hills when she was 10 years old. Bonnie's green eyes instinctively look to the house across the road, wondering if the McCall family still lived there. Bonnie still felt shaken at being back in Beacon Hills in the same house. Strangely she wanted to attribute it to the luck of her Grams working behind the scenes of giving Bonnie and her dad the fate of their old home was for sale.
Bonnie looks up to the morning sky. Today she wasn't going to cry, or at least try not to. It has been almost 2 months after her Grams passed away after helping Elena and the Salvatore brothers open the tomb to help Damon get Katherine. She shuts her eyes, willing the anger to not flare up at the thought of Katherine Petrova and all the trouble she brought. Bonnie hoped she would never meet the vampire because she knew she would not hesitate to kill her. And that is what scares Bonnie.
"Are you sure you're okay to get to school? I do not mind going with you." a voice speaks out, shaking Bonnie out of her thoughts.
Bonnie turns around her long dark brown wavy hair swinging over her shoulder with the motion. She smiles at the tall African-American man leaning against the front door's frame, "I'll be okay," she says assuringly, "I'll text you the moment I park my car there."
Rudy Hopkins looked at his daughter, unsure, and Bonnie knows he still worries about her. While they lost Grams, weirdly, it forced them to become closer, something she didn't think would happen. She knew her father was still uncomfortable hearing about magic and that Bonnie wanted to continue learning it, but he was trying. For the first time in a long time, Bonnie had a little hope that their once detached relationship may become better.
"You have that work meeting to answer. You even said at dinner that you were glad you were able to consult whatever company you're consulting for over the phone for the next few weeks."
"I want to make sure we're settled. That you're okay."
Bonnie steps forward, standing on her tip-toes to press a kiss against his cheek, "We're going to be okay," she pulls back, "Now I'm going to be late and I hopefully do not get lost along the way."
"That does not ease my worries," he mutters, only to shake his head, hearing his daughter laugh out loud while making her way to her car. Rudy watches Bonnie get in and drive off, and waves goodbye.
Rudy looks to the sky, whispering to his deceased mother-in-law, "Keep an eye on her please, Shelia, when I can't."
BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
Scott locks his bike and looks up at the school, mentally preparing himself for another semester of his sophomore year. Something hits his back, causing him to look back and see it's a car door belonging to a silver Porsche. Scott already regrets this moment and looks to the brand name dressed average-height white boy stepping out of the car. Jackson Whitmore. The stereotypical physical look of a popular jock in high.
"Dude! Watch the paint job," Jackson yells at Scott glaring at him through his sunglasses.
And the stereotypical jerk personality included.
Scott looks at who looks at Jackson, offended by the situation and the fact he was being blamed for Jackson's rough parking in the parking lot.
"Yo, Jackson! Let's go, bro!" they hear a male voice yell out.
Scott turns to see a tall, tanned Danny waving to Jackson to hurry up.
Scott turns back to Jackson who smirks knowing that medium-height classmate wants to respond back to his previous statement. Jackson locks his car and confidently makes his way over to his group of friends.
Scotts exhales beat and makes his way to school. Jackson was not going to ruin his first day back. Scott smirks and nods hello to the skinny pale-skinned boy. Stiles is already buzzing in anticipation at the bottom of the stairs that led to the entrance of their school, Beacon Hills high. Stiles's expectation was not seeing Scott but more focused on the wound he got the night before.
"Okay, let's see this thing," Stiles immediately asks.
Scott lifts up his shirt to show the bite wound he received.
Stiles winces at the sight of the small amount of blood visible on the gauze that Scott taped over his bite wound.
"Ooh!"
"Yeah!" Scott says with a grin, only to flinch in pain when Stiles pokes the white bandage.
"Whoa!" Stiles says, watching his brown-eyed friend immediately pull his shirt down, and they turn to walk up the stairs into Beacon Hills High.
"It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf," Scott explains.
Stiles pauses, looking at Scott in disbelief, "A wolf bit you?"
Scott pauses in his walk, turning to look at Stiles, "Uh-huh," he says with a nod of his head.
Stiles throws a look of doubt at Scott shaking his head, "No, not a chance."
"I heard a wolf howling," Scott states, only to glare at his best friend, who was still shaking his head, dismissing his experience.
"No, you didn't," Stiles says in certainty and resumes his walk up the stairs in front of Scott.
Scott wasn't stupid; he knew what he heard. "What do you mean "No, I didn't?" How do you know what I heard?"
"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in, like sixty years."
"Really?" Scott says, surprised as they stop at the staircase. Stiles looks at Scott seriously because he wasn't kidding.
"Yes, really. There are no wolves in California."
Scott's eyebrows furrow, giving up trying to convince Stiles of a wolf being there and inform him of his other discovery.
"All right. Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me when I tell you I found the body."
Stiles's exasperated expression instantly shifts to a gleeful expression, "You– are you kidding me?"
"No man, I wish," Scott admits, "I'm gonna have nightmares for a month."
Ignoring the distraught look on his best friend's face, "Oh god, that is freakin' awesome. I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since-"
Scott smirks knowingly when Stiles loses his train of thought when sounds of heels tapped a rhythm against the ground and the boys watch the skinny, petite, long strawberry-blonde hair girl in her usual floral-designed dress walk past them, "-since the birth of Lydia Martin. Hey, Lydia! You look–"
Scott tries not to laugh at his best friend when the popular green-eyed girl continues her walk towards the school's entry, oblivious that Stiles is talking to her.
"-Like you're gonna ignore me…." Stiles finishes sullenly and looks to his best friend, irritated, "You're the cause of this, you know."
"Uh-huh," Scott says, unbothered by the comment stifling his laugh while listening to Stiles continue his rant as they walk up the steps.
"Draggin' me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet nerded by you."
Scott chuckles to Stiles commentary as their homeroom teacher, a.k.a their lacrosse coach, reads out the news announcement for today. Suddenly his senses feel heightened; everyone and everything is louder, putting him on alert.
Stiles sees Scott open and close his fist, looking anxious, "You okay?" he asks in a low concerned voice for Scott to hear.
Scott nods, wincing from the loud footsteps echoing in his ears; he looks around, thinking they are behind him. Scott looks back to the front of the classroom, not before mouthing to Stiles that he is okay. Scott closes his fist tightly and closes his eyes to breathe in and out briefly to help focus until suddenly he recognizes the footsteps are heading towards their homeroom classroom.
"I hope you understand, Miss. Bennett. It would be irresponsible of us to place you in the middle of 11th grade when you have a high number of absences in your last high school."
Scott swears his world stops when he hears their school's principal say, Miss. Bennett.
Ignoring Stiles's worried looks, Scott narrows his eyebrows, deepening his concentration to listen into the conversation.
Bonnie nods, looking down at her timetable, then at principal Thomas following him down the hallway of Beacon Hills high.
Bonnie understands. She does, honestly. That fall semester back at Mystic Falls has her wondering how she even made it through the semester. Her grades had been slipping, followed by many absences at school. Even when the abscesses lessened, it didn't mean she was mentally there learning anything.
Then again, how does one handle finding out about the jokes of being a witch to be accurate, to finding out about vampires existing because Damon Salvatore angrily bites into your neck, bringing you to the near brink of death because your ancestor betrayed him? On top of that trauma, your best friend knew of vampires because she's dating Stefan Salvatore, another vampire. Then you get kidnapped by another vampire (Why Ben?) and become responsible for your Gram's death because you wanted to save Stefan. Not Damon. He could've rotted in that tomb for all she cared.
So yes, keeping up with school was the last thing on her mind. Maybe repeating the rest of this sophomore would be a refresher for her, and to complete it with no life-endangering matters.
"I understand. I'm just glad you were able to accept my transfer during this semester," Bonnie says.
The older suited white man pushes up his glasses, "How could I not? Even if you didn't stay in this town long, I remember your Grams, always helping out my mom when I couldn't. Besides, despite the absences, your grades are not horrible, so I have no doubt that you will settle in fine to finish off this sophomore year," principal Thomas says optimistically, stopping in front of the door to Bonnie's new homeroom class.
Stiles follows Scott's concentrated gaze at the closed classroom door. Stiles had attempted to get Scott's attention, but it resulted in Coach Finstock snapping at him. Scott didn't even react to that!
A knock on the door causes everyone to look at the interruption.
The door opens, and Stiles's light brown eyes widen, "No fucking way," he whispers, immediately looking to Scott, who is following every move of Bonnie Bennett.
Principal Thomas enters the classroom with Bonnie following behind. She nods and prepares herself mentally to face this class of new people that are undoubtedly staring at her already.
Bonnie looks at her homeroom teacher. A middle-aged slightly tanned white man with black hair styled unruly and was in no doubt the sports coach for this school dressed in grey track pants a red shirt with the school's logo paired with athletic shoes.
"This is your homeroom teacher, Coach Finstock," principal Thomas says to Bonnie, who says hello to her new teacher.
"Welcome to Beacon Hills," the man says gruffly with a smile.
"I hope he doesn't teach history," she thinks, only to be shaken out of her thoughts when principal Thomas voices out to the class.
"Good morning, everyone. This is our new student, Bonnie Bennett. Please make her feel welcome" he turns to Bonnie, mouthing, "Good luck," then leaves the classroom.
Coach Finstock looks at Bonnie, "Our only empty seats in this class are over behind Stilinski, apologies," he says, pointing to the empty seat near the back.
Bonnie's eyes widened, recognizing the surname. Bonnie nods stiffly and makes her way to her seat. She averts her eyes to the ground so she wouldn't be tempted to meet the white boy's brown eyes that were already studying her. Sitting down, she releases a nervous breath seeing the back of Stilinski. Stiles Stilinski. She can't help but smile a little internally that Stiles' curiosity hadn't changed, already sensing his urge to turn around and look at her.
As homeroom resumes with their teacher talking, everyone's attention is to the front of the room. Bonnie feels eyes on her and turns to see a familiar face sitting across Stiles.
'It can't be him,' she thinks recognizing his uneven jaw and her eyes wander up the olive-skinned boy to his curly dark brown hair.
'How was it that he got more handsome over the years?' she thinks only to shake her head when she catches herself of such a thought.
"McCall! You can talk to the new girl after class!"
Scott feels his face heat up quickly, turning his head back to the front of the class.
Bonnie looks up to the ceiling, unsure if she wants to laugh or cry because, of course, the universe would make her repeat 10th grade with her two childhood friends that she stopped talking to after moving to Mystic Falls.
Flashback…
"Hi, Bonnie!"
Bonnie Bennett, aged 6, looks up from her book to find her neighbor staring at her with a toothy grin. Scott McCall, 5 years old. Lives across the road from her new house. After her mom left, she moved to Beacon Hills with her dad and Grams. Nobody was telling her why except abruptly moving her to this new town. Scott McCall lived with his mom and dad. His mom was a nurse and seemed like a lovely lady when she introduced herself and Scott. Her Grams and her briefly met Mr. McCall, but he seems to always be on a business trip; I guess Scott and herself had that in common with her father throwing himself into work and leaving her with her Grams.
Standing beside him was a skinny white boy just a tad shorter than Scott, looking a little too hyperactive for Bonnie.
'Great,' she thought, knowing she couldn't be rude at school.
Bonnie was quiet when Scott introduced himself, and she wasn't planning on conversing with him. The boy talked a lot. Grams warmed up to him quickly, but Bonnie knew it was no point in becoming friends with him. Who knew when something would happen? Her father would decide and suddenly tell her they were leaving Beacon Hills.
"Can she hear us?" the white boy asks.
Bonnie raises an eyebrow at him to indicate that she can indeed hear him.
"Yes. Bonnie likes watching people before speaking to them," Scott explains before taking a seat across from Bonnie. Scott's friend sits down next to him and sticks his hand towards her.
"Hi, Bonnie. My name is Mieczyslaw, but you can call me Stiles."
Bonnie at first is thrown off by the mouth fullness of a name but she looks at Stiles's hand and then looks at Scott, pulling his lunch out of a brown paper bag. Stiles moves his hand back with attention now to see what Scott's lunch was.
"Why are you sitting here?" she asks, looking briefly at Stiles then back at Scott to answer the question.
"This was the only table that had someone I liked sitting at," Scott answers honestly.
Bonnie sighs slowly. The boy talks a lot, but he is also candid in his words. She bites her bottom lip, stopping herself from making a snappy remark to the boy's truthfulness.
She decides to return the favor and asks honestly, "Did my Grams tell you that we moved here because my mom left us? Is that why you're sitting here? Because you feel sorry for me."
Scott and Stiles look at her, surprised, and Bonnie realizes that Scott doesn't know why she moved here. Throughout the weeks of meeting her, Scott genuinely liked being around her. Bonnie was stumped because she barely said anything to him; she thought her silent treatment around him would scare him away. He enjoyed hearing Grams talk about the Bennett family being witches while cooking their dinner.
"I didn't know," Scott says
"Sorry," Stiles says at the same time.
Bonnie looks between the two and smiles a little when they both stumble on their apologies and promise not to disturb her while reading.
Bonnie closes her book and looks at the boys seated across from her. Bonnie really hoped she wouldn't regret this and stuck her hand out. One towards Scott and the other towards Stiles.
"Hi, Scott and Stiles. My name is Bonnie Bennett. It's nice to meet you both."
The boys smiled widely and shook her hands, sealing the beginning of their friendship.
End flashback…
Scott opens his locker while subtly looking across to Bonnie, opening hers across from their lockers as they get ready for their first period.
Stiles immediately rests on the closed locker door beside Scott, "Why is she back?" he asks abruptly, looking briefly over at Bonnie then at Scott.
Scott wonders if Stiles does realize he too was just bombarded by the return of Bonnie, "I don't know," he answers.
"Is she back for good or for a hot minute and just gonna drop us again?"
"Stiles…"
Stiles looks at him, readily defending his words, "What? That's what she did. The moment out of here, she forgot about us."
Scott is about to reply in Bonnie's defense when Lydia and Jackson approach her.
"I wonder if they remember Bonnie?" Stiles wonders only to answer his own question, "Highly doubt Lydia would forget the girl that never cared what family Lydia came from and would always argue with her."
"Bonnie was protecting us from Lydia, Jackson, and their group bullying us," Scott quickly answers and tunes out Stiles to put his newly discovered heightened hearing on the conversation.
"And ladies and gentlemen, McCall's full-blown crush on Bonnie Bennett has made a comeback." Scott ignores Stiles' comment only to frown when he overhears Bonnie's words to Lydia's snide comment about coming back.
"Look, Lydia, I'm sure underneath this exterior you're actually a better person than what you show to this school, but I have put up with too much shit to actually want to have the energy to deal with you and this mean girl act."
Scott's eyes widen to Bonnie's words and hear the stuttering shock of breath from Lydia. He schools a neutral expression knowing he would have been the only one to have heard it and continues watching Bonnie who closes her locker.
"Something happened," Scott mutters.
"Obviously because no one rejects a hand from Lydia Martin," Stiles overstates, looking at Jackson, who was attempting to calm down a pissed-off Lydia. Stiles's eyes narrow in curiosity, seeing Jackson look over to Bonnie with a look. For a second, Stiles swore it was a look of concern, but Scott's voice pulls Stiles from further analyzing his thoughts.
"That's why she's back. Something happened for her to come back here," Scott states and explains, "She said she put up with too much that she didn't have the energy to deal with Lydia."
Stiles looks from Scott to Bonnie, who is now walking away. Still confused, Stiles looks back at Scott in realization, "Wait, hold up. You could hear that?!" he exclaims in a whisper.
Scott immediately started shushing his friend seeing other students look at the duo. Closing his locker, they begin to make their way to their first class.
"You're not screwing with me?" he asks, avoiding bumping into students in their walk down the hallway.
Scott shakes his head.
"Maybe you think you heard..."
Suddenly Stiles' voice is tuned out, and Scott is overwhelmed by Bonnie's scent infiltrating his nose. He couldn't explain how he knew it was her, but it was all he could focus on and tuning out Stiles in the process.
Stiles looks to his friend, who has gone quiet, "Hey, buddy, you doing okay?"
"Bonnie," he whispers. Stiles shakes his head, looking into their classroom, and lo and behold, Bonnie Bennet was in their next class. Stiles looks over at his friend's laser-focused eyes on their ex-best friend.
"At least the rest of this school year might be interesting," Stiles mutters, grabbing Scott's jacket and dragging him into the class to be seated away from Bonnie.
BEACON HILLS HIGH SCHOOL - LACROSSE FIELDS
Bonnie looked across the empty lacrosse fields, kind of wishing she was brave enough to go sit on the grassy area, but she wasn't going to push her luck for her first day, so the bleacher seats were where she was currently sitting.
"I knew you would be hiding."
Bonnie rolls her eyes to the familiar voice because, of course, he wouldn't avoid her. She looks up to see the smug look on Jackson Whitmore's face that said he was right. Bonnie wanted to wipe that smug expression off that sharp jaw-lined face because he was wrong. She already had her lunch packed and looked like a nice chilly day to eat outside. She was not hiding from Scott and Stiles, who were undoubtedly in the cafeteria - she saw them enter it.
"What are you doing here? Lydia might actually commit murder if she sees you talking to me," Bonnie states annoyed.
Jackson shrugs his shoulder, "She doesn't own me. I do what I want," he said, sitting down beside Bonnie.
Bonnie snorts to Jackson's never-changing self-absorbed attitude and passes half of her sandwich. She was glad that bleachers had a cover to hide them because Lydia wasn't the only one that would have a heart attack at the sight of them. Her friendship with Jackson happened after she left Beacon Hills and coincidentally, but she knew it would still hurt them if she explained that to Scott and Stiles.
Flashback...
WHITMORE COLLEGE
Sheila Bennett looked up to see Bonnie showing restlessness which was a rarity when she brought the 11-year-old girl with her on the weekends for the classes she had in the morning and tutoring classes she held for her students in the afternoon. Bonnie always brought something with her to pass the time; her homework, a book, or her gaming console...Nintendo DS 3D if she remembers correctly.
"How about a walk. Grab something to eat."
Bonnie smiles, immediately sitting up nodding her head, and Sheila chuckles at her enthusiasm. She stands up, grabs her purse, and walks around the table to hold Bonnie's already waiting hand. They walk out of the office down the hallway passing the other teacher's offices. There weren't many teachers around on the weekend, which was why Sheila paused at the opened door.
Bonnie follows Grams into the unknown office, not before reading, 'Dr. Wesley Maxfield' on the door and stops behind her Grams. Bonnie sees an average professional-looking young white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man sitting behind the desk. Two people sit across, one on the right with a similar physical appearance but looked to be around her age. The person seated on the left had broad shoulders underneath the sweatshirt, but he looked familiar. The man turns his head hearing them enter the office, and Bonnie's eyes widen, seeing the man stand up from his seat to greet her Grams.
"Sheila Bennett, it's lovely to see you."
"David Whitmore, you are a little far from home, aren't you?"
Bonnie's brows burrow, 'What was Jackson's dad doing here?" she thinks.
The man laughs, thinking the old woman was being funny, but she wasn't. Sheila minded her business, but it didn't mean she wasn't aware of her surroundings, especially with the Whitmore family's involvement in the Augustine Society. David was the lawyer who handled the Augustine Society's finances, typically away from Whitmore College. Sheila looks over to the young, ambitious doctor, Wes Maxfield, and a member of the Augustine Society.
"What you are planning better not end badly," Sheila says warningly
Dr. Wes Maxfield speaks up from his seat, "Actually, I would like to ask you some questions about-"
David cuts Wes off as his voice gathers Shiela's attention, "None of those talk. Sheila, you know the college is under my family's name, and I'm just doing my usual check-ins, checking my boxes. Besides, all of this is because I wanted to check in on my dear nephew."
Bonnie looks shyly behind her Grams to see a tall, blue-eyed, blonde-haired white boy looking between his uncle and her Grams following their interaction. The boy's eyes glance from them to settle on Bonnie. He waves shyly at her, causing Bonnie's face to heat up, embarrassed at the attention from the boy, and smile back shyly in response.
Sheila looks over to the 13 years old Aaron Whitmore, currently under the legal guardian of Wes Maxfield after the horrific deaths of his parents when he was six years old.
"Hello, Aaron."
"Hi, Ms. Bennett," the boy responds back and looks over at Bonnie.
Sheila places her hand on Bonnie's back, bringing her to stand beside her, "Aaron, this is my granddaughter Bonnie Bennett."
"Hi, Bonnie," he says with a smile that makes Bonnie feel all gooey inside.
Opening her mouth to respond back but is disrupted by another boy's exclamation.
"Bennett, what you doing here?!"
Bonnie feels dread at the familiar voice and turns around only to groan out loud in irritation at the sight of 11-year-old, Jackson Whitmore standing at the door wearing that ludicrous air of cockiness. Sheila bites her bottom lip to stifle her laughs at her granddaughter's instant reaction at seeing Jackson, who was staring confused about seeing her here.
Aaron looks surprised at the sudden change of Bonnie frowning at the sight of his cousin. Yeah, he couldn't stand Jackson most of the time, but he was the only cousin left in his family.
"Why don't the kids all catch up, and we can continue our discussion," Wes suggests.
Sheila snorts at the idea, "Not a chance. Bonnie and I had plans to get lunch," she turns, facing her back to David to look at both Aaron and Jackson, "You're both most welcome to join us."
"Can we?" Aaron immediately asks, looking to his guardian and uncle. The men nod.
"Whatever," Jackson mutters, causing Bonnie to glare at him, but that seemed to tempt him more into the idea of riling up Bonnie Bennett, "I will be happy to catch up."
Since that day, it became a ritual of catching up when they were brought to Whitemore college during some of the weekends of their school holidays when David was planning to come to Virginia, Jackson would tag along. By their 3rd lunch catchup to kill the boredom around the adults, Sheila was okay with letting Bonnie go grab lunch with them on her own.
While Jackson can seem cocky, he does not want to betray Sheila's trust because he had felt he would regret it. He couldn't explain it, but he just knew she was a woman not to be messed with. He could also account for the trust from Ms. Bennett was because of his cousin, Aaron, who was foolishly lovesick for Bonnie Bennett. In his older cousin's eyes, she could do no wrong, making Jackson want to gag at the goofy shy smiles they sent to each other.
Other than that, Jackson and Bonnie actually got along without the spotlight on Jackson to keep the facade on; he allowed himself to drop the mask when he was around Bonnie and Aaron. He was still an asshole at times, but Bonnie would call him out on it, and too many times that Jackson told her he swore her voice followed him back home.
Home.
Jackson never spoke about Beacon Hills because there was nothing to talk about, but he knew Bonnie was curious about the wellbeing of Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. Deep down, the truth of it all; he feared that the moment he spoke about them, it would change the dynamic of the trio's friendship, and Bonnie would care more about asking about McCall and Stillinski than just being around him.
But alas, it only lasted a year; then time passes, and the ability to meet up grows lesser, and everyone gets busier. That doesn't mean they forgot the moments spent together and technology was a great way to keep in contact between the three.
End of flashback...
"Still packing your lunch even when you know lunch will be provided. You know we have these things called the cafeteria, and you must have passed it in the tour."
Not phased by Jackson's attitude, Bonnie pulls the sandwich back. "Oh, I see you're still a jackass."
"I wasn't saying no," he chastises her and accepts the sandwich when Bonnie gives it to him again.
Bonnie looks out to the field, but she feels him looking over to her briefly, wanting to say something but looking uncomfortable taking a bite of another of the sandwich.
"Spit whatever you wanna ask out, Whitmore."
Jackson smirks, a little glad that they were able to sink back into the snarkiness of their friendship. While Lydia loved him, Bonnie didn't hold back what she wanted to say to him. It wasn't with ill intentions; he learned later on when they met up continuously that was just how she could deal with him, straight up the truth between them. He respected and was glad he could be himself. Almost all of himself.
"I heard about your Grams."
Bonnie stares at the field, "Your dad?" she guesses.
Jackson nods, "Yeah, and Aaron called me up worrying about you."
Bonnie chuckles, "He called me a couple of days after it happened."
In the beat of the silence, she speaks up, "I was there when it...happened. I was the one that found her."
Jackson looks over at her, worried, "That's fucked up, B."
Bonnie laughs tearfully because it genuinely was. Her life felt fucked up.
"You know Aaron still got it bad for you?"
She rolls her eyes knowingly to Jackson, wanting to change the subject and to his statement, "Then he doesn't know the real me."
Jackson hums in agreement. His cousin really did put her on a pedestal, then asks, "Why didn't you tell me you were moving back?"
"Truthfully?"
"When has it not been."
Bonnie smirks, "I completely forgot, and when I did remember, I was moving boxes into the truck and wondering if anyone remembered me and how I should act around them."
"You seemed fine telling off my girlfriend."
Bonnie groans, "Look, she started it, and I was not in the mood to deal with her on my first day. I swore the way you spoke about Lydia to me made me think she changed, and I wouldn't have to deal with her catty attitude aimed at me. Can you tell her to back off?"
Jackson rubs the crumbs off his hands, "I am not getting involved."
"Coward," she snipes angrily at him, causing him to chuckle, not at all offended by her words. Straight up, truth.
They both hear the bells indicating the end of lunch.
"I gotta go get ready for practice. You gonna stay to watch?"
"Is it still lacrosse in this town?"
"Because football is still a joke in Beacon. State championships for the past 3 years," Jackson states proudly.
Bonnie shakes her head, "While I would really love to watch, we both know I'm lying."
Jackson chuckles, "Your boys are on the team," he says, hoping to convince her.
Bonnie knew who he was referring to and was surprised by it. Sports was the last thing on their minds growing up, and Stiles was all about Star Wars, while Scott was all about gaming.
"They both suck," Jackson states, causing Bonnie to shove his shoulder for the insult, "Get out of here, meanie. I do not want to deal with your girlfriend if she sees us."
"Call me if you wanna chat, yeah?" Jackson says and turns to leave, knowing he doesn't have to wait for her answer. It's in her court now if she wants to reach out.
"Jackson," she calls out, causing him to turn around.
"Thank you," Bonnie states, grateful for him and their friendship.
Jackson mocks salute her, "Anytime, Bennett."
BEACON HILLS PRESERVE
"Bro, you didn't even need your inhaler today. Are you sure we even need to find it? What was that at practice?" Stiles asks Scott as they cross the creek in an attempt to locate the top half of the body Scott had stumbled upon along with his inhaler that should be closed by the body.
Scott tries to piece together what took place at lacrosse practice in catching all the balls as the goalie, "I-I don't know what it was. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball."
"And you're hearing things at a distance you shouldn't be hearing," Stiles reminds him, stepping over a log following Scott.
"Yeah! And I can smell things."
Stiles makes a face, "Smell things? Like what?"
"Bonnie and then her on Jackson"
"Gross, dude," Stiles says with a look of disgust at the description.
Scott breathes out through his nose, trying to make sense of it, "Like he was close to Bonnie, and her scent was on him. It didn't make sense."
"Makes sense for the attack on Jackson," he mumbles.
"I heard that," Scott says.
"And it was not a bad thing. Nice to see Jackson knocked off his horse. What else can you smell?"
"I can smell the mint mojito gum in your pocket."
Now Stiles stops and looks at Scott like he was crazy, "I don't even have any mint mojito-" he starts checking the inner breast pocket of his blazer and is surprised to find a single piece of folded-up mint mojito gum.
Scott raises his arms expression 'I told you so' and continues looking for his inhaler while Stiles stares at the gum.
Placing is quickly back in his blazer, he catches up to Scott, asking, "So all this started with the bite?"
Scott nods worriedly, his mind flickering to the worse case scenarios, "What if it's like an infection? Like, my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?"
Stiles bites back the urge to smirk and tries to look as serious as possible for Scott, "You know what? I actually think I've heard of this- it's a specific kind of infection."
"Are you serious?" he questions, scared.
Stiles nods quickly, "Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy."
Scott's innocent nature believes Stiles as his eyes widen to the complexity of the word, "What's that? Is that bad?"
"Oh, yeah, it's the worst. But only once a month."
"Once a month?" Scott questions, confused.
"Mm-hmm. On the night of the full moon..." Stiles trails off, followed by a fake-howl to leave his lips.
Scott realizes he had been played and shoves his best friend away, but that doesn't stop the snicker from Stiles amused by his friend's naivety.
"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling!" he says in his defense.
Scott feels frustrated by Stiles's joking manner, "Hey, there could be something seriously wrong with me!"
"I know! You're a Werewolf! Rawr!"
Scott huffs, unimpressed, turning away, but Stiles grabs his shoulder, stopping him, "Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But, if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's cause Friday's a full moon."
Before remarking back, Scott realizes they are in the spot he had found the body, but there was nothing, "No, I-I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running, and I dropped my inhaler..."
"Maybe the killer moved the body?"
Scott internally bemoans, "If they did, I hope they left my inhaler. Those things are, like, eighty bucks."
How would he explain to his mom that he lost his inhaler without revealing he snuck out here with Stiles?
"What are you doing here?"
Scott and Stiles still to the male voice turning to see a black short-haired, white man in his early 20's wearing black jeans, black t-shirt with a black leather jacket the man. The stranger sees the visibly panicking expressions on the teen boys' faces of being caught by him. Scott notes the stranger's black combat boots and is surprised he didn't hear it stomping along the grounds.
The man's voice gets scruffier, annoyed they didn't answer him the first time, "Huh? This is private property."
"Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know," Stiles speaks up but notes that the man's attention is on Scott.
Scott continues the answer, "Yeah, we were just looking for something, but..." he trails off only to lose his nerve when the man glares at him "...Uh, forget it."
The man exhales and tosses Scott's inhaler towards the kid who catches it. He says no words to the duo and turns around, heading back the way he came not before sending one last look at Scott.
Scott sighs once the man is out of sight, "Um...All right, come on, I gotta get to work."
Stiles grabs Scott's arm, stopping him from walking, "Dude, that was Derek Hale!" he blurts out.
He stares blankly at Stiles, which may have been the wrong expression because Stiles looks back at him in shock; releasing his hold on Scott, he turns to face him ultimately.
"You remember, right? He's only like a few years older than us."
"Remember what?"
"His family. They all burned to death in a fire, like ten years ago."
Scott looks over briefly to where Derek once stood, "I wonder what he's doing back..."
Stiles scoffs at everything that is happening. Everything changes within a day. Bonnie's return and now Derek's. His best friend could be a werewolf. No, really, he might need to research that one.
"Come on," Stiles says, turning away to make their way out with Scott following behind.
BEACON HILLS ANIMAL CLINIC - LATE AFTERNOON
Bonnie looks up to the veterinarian sign and then walks through the entrance door.
Finding the place empty, she calls out cautiously, "Uncle Alan."
"Bonnie!" she hears his deep voice and sees the tall bald-headed black man exit the room and stand behind the front desk. Dr. Alan Deaton who is also known as Deaton opens the small door motioning for her to come thru and into the room.
Bonnie notes the man wearing his white lab coat worn over his business attire and the opened files on the table she assumes are the animal patients, "Busy night?" she asks.
Deaton shakes his head, "Quiet and a good time to catch up on work," he explains, taking the x-ray photos off the lightbox and back in the files.
Dr. Alan Deaton was a family friend of her Grams and a past Druid. While living in Beacon Hills, her Grams had introduced him as a family friend, and when her dad wasn't around, he was over as Bonnie would find her Grams sharing information about witches and spells. They always looked like they were in a meeting, so whenever Scott and Stiles were over, she told them not to disturb her Grams and Deaton. That didn't stop them because her Grams loved answering their questions. As a child, Bonnie didn't think much of Deaton until he spoke of her lack of interest in her family's history.
Little Bonnie at that time told him she didn't believe the stories her Grams spun about witches and magic, especially after her 2nd glass motioning her head to the glass of alcohol on the table. Deaton didn't reprimand her or look disappointed like Grams did at times, and he simply accepted her answer. An adult told her that it was okay to feel what she felt for the first time. Maybe that was when she took to calling him Uncle Alan.
Deaton closes the files, switches off the lightbox, and then turns his attention to Bonnie.
"Now, how are you settling back in Beacon Hills?" he asks.
"Yeah, it's good. Not much has changed, but I guess it's like that with small towns."
Deaton nods in agreement, "And how is your dad?"
"Good. Dad went back to his usual self and threw himself back to work. I think he has a work trip in a couple of weeks."
Bonnie sees the disappointed looks from Deaton and says assuredly, "It's fine. I'm glad he is himself again, and we're both happy that it's not a long trip when he returns home now. He's being more open about me wanting to continue practicing my magic."
"And you? Your emotions are tied to your magic."
Bonnie shrugs her shoulders, feeling shy of the question, "I'm dealing with it. It's weird being here without Grams. She made this place feel like home, and I don't know if it's okay being back here," she says thinking of seeing Scott and Stiles. Deaton watches Bonnie bite her bottom lip tightly to hold back her tears.
"Hey, hey," Deaton says, pulling her into a hug immediately, "I'm glad you're here, Bonnie,"
"It was my fault," Bonnie reveals tearfully into his shirt.
"Bonnie, you don't know-"
"I do. I wanted to help my friends, and I strong-armed Grams into helping me. I said I would continue the spell without her" Bonnie looks at Deaton and confesses, "I did that because I knew. I knew she wouldn't leave me to do spell-alone. I got my Grams killed, and I'm scared of who I am now. These powers scare me. I wish I never got this power."
Deaton stays silent, lost on how to comfort the young girl, only to look up to see Scott entering the room.
"Scott, you're here."
Bonnie quickly wipes away her tears with her back to Scott.
"I should get home, still have some unpacking to do," she says quickly.
Deaton nods in understanding and places his hand on her shoulder, "I'm here to talk about anything," he finishes looking at Bonnie for her to understand if she wants to talk more about her magic.
Bonnie nods, a little thankful that she does have someone to talk to. She says goodbye to Deaton and turns around, readying to quickly pass Scott.
"Bye," she mumbles, passing Scott, but he grabs her wrists, stopping her with the need to know but stops when he hears a sharp intake of breath. The visions come and pass quickly, not giving her enough time to process them, but she sees Scott's glowing gold eyes and fangs.
He feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up from Bonnie's touch. His senses heighten immediately, and she breathes out, looking at Scott bewildered. He lets go of Bonnie while internally scolding himself for grabbing her like that.
"What are you?" Bonnie whispers, but he hears her.
"Why are you pretending to not know me?" he asks, pushing down the urge to touch her again. Feel the dizzying warmth from her.
Bonnie shakes herself off the stupor and steps back, "It's for the best. Trust me, you don't want me in your life. It'll be safer. Safer that way," she says and leaves the animal clinic.
Scott stares at the exit Bonnie left until Deaton's voice shakes him out of the moment, "Don't take it to heart. She's grieving, and her grandmother died 2 months ago- Heart attack."
Scott simply nods, not wanting to give away that he knew Deaton was lying about the cause of death. All the stories that Grams spoke of the Bennett family being witches when they were kids were true, and now Bonnie was one.
Which was firstly the most incredible thing he had ever heard, and secondly did not want her to be ashamed of it. Scott decided there with certainty that he would be there for Bonnie no matter how she pushed him away.
BEACON HILL PRESERVE - NIGHT
Bonnie looks around the unfamiliar surroundings, confused about how she got here. Something bumps her feet causing her to look down and gasp at the sight of the deer. She steps back instantly, then frowns at the strange symbol drawn on the dead animal. Bonnie crouches down to inspect it further.
A spiral.
"What does it mean?" she wonders.
"You have to help her," a feminine voice echoes in the woods.
Bonnie stands up quickly, turning around in the direction of the voice but finds no one but more trees. She turns around and screams when Emily Bennett appears.
"Help her," Emily declares.
Bonnie shakes her immediately, "Nope," she states, not wanting to deal with this all over again, and begins to run away from the dead deer and her ancestor.
"Ahhh!" she screams when she trips in her run, landing on the ground. Suddenly Bonnie hears a beastly growl and looks up to see a giant black wolf with red eyes staring menacingly at her. Bonnie takes a slow intake of breath in and out, careful about her next move. Slowly she moves to stand up, but the snap of the stick under the weight of her foot causes the beast to run at speed Bonnie knew she could not outrun.
"HELP HER!" is the last thing Bonnie hears before shutting her eyes, awaiting the pain to be inflicted.
BEACON HILL PRESERVE - MORNING
Bonnie opens her eyes, suddenly taking in a large air intake into her body, and then slowly breathes out. She stares up at the sky only to remember that she wasn't supposed to be here.
The girl immediately sits up, gathering her bearings, "You have got to be kidding me? Not this again," she mutters, looking around in hopes of seeing a road close by.
Bonnie stands up, looking down to see herself still wearing her pajamas, then looks up to the sky, "What now, Emily? Who is she?!" she yells.
Silence falls, and Bonnie sighs defeated. Pulling her bed robe closer together, she shivers from the cold morning winds. Bonnie was glad to have already experienced these wake up in the woods before she learned a spell for directions because her sense of direction was hopeless.
Bonnie closes her eyes to ground herself. Feel her magic buzz within her and not be overwhelmed by her emotions. With her eyes still closed, Bonnie whispered the words, "Ventos terra deduc me domum," letting the words dance with the winds.
She smiles, sensing the pick-up of the winds circling around her, causing her to open her eyes and watch the floating leaves fly forward.
"Straight ahead it is," she says, allowing the winds to guide her, unaware that she was being watched.
Derek steps out from where he hid from the strange girl's view and watches her, curious about who she was and why she looked familiar.
She was a witch; that much he knew. Derek didn't know of any witches growing up, but he knew how dangerous they could become, especially to werewolves. Derek grunts, annoyed that he now had another suspect to add for sister's murder and had to make sure that she was nowhere near the newly bitten, Scott McCall.
AN: Hello! I am terribly sorry for getting this new story up for those who follow me on Tumblr. I was actually stuck on the title for it, lol.
So this fanfic was inspired by a gifset theme I had done years ago on my Tumblr: If Bonnie Bennett was in Teen Wolf, and then it was just gifsets of Bonnie in different episodes.
Then I created a fanvid of Scott x Bonnie with the idea of them being childhood friends. Well, all of that has come together to create this! (Links are in profile)
I have planned to follow the Teen wolf seasons adapting it to having Bonnie in the story. Keep in mind the last season I've watched of Teen Wolf is Season 5; I think the first 4 or 5 episodes, then I got lazy and just dropped off. So I would base it on the seasons I've watched mixed with dramas from the Vampire Diaries (because apparently, I can't help myself).
The timeline...that took me forever to try and figure out what to do about that. I shifted the S1 TVD timeline to start in 2010 and after Sheila Bennett's death (so she passes on 12th Dec 2010...instead of 2009) to around the start of S1 of Teen Wolf in 2011.
Yes, I shifted Mystic Fall's character's ages to add another year. So Bonnie is listed as born in 1993, but for this story, she was born in 1994. Elena, Caroline, Tyler were born in 1993, etc... Hope that made sense.
Allison will still appear as the new girl but plan for her appearance later. I did change Jackson's surname to match with Whitmore college [to connect]; it was by accident until I realized down the track of the story that I had been spelling Jackson's surname wrong the whole time, lol.
Comment, fav, or any questions to clarify, go right ahead.
Apologies for any grammatical errors, but I do hope you enjoyed this chapter so far :D
