#1

Lacrosse stick, check.

Goggles, check.

Mouth guard, check.

Shoes, check.

Books, check.

Binders and papers, check.

Pencil case, check.

Wallet, check.

The stereo was blaring and Anelie was singing along to Kurt Cobain as she got ready for school. She shoved everything into the black Hershel backpack, threw the lacrosse stick on top and she was done. Wondering what to do with the last hours of school holiday, her eyes drifted around her room and she caught her own reflection on the mirror. She looked critically at her body up and down. To her dismay, her body seemed to continue developing curves. In her pre-teen years, when some of her classmates were beginning to brag about changing from training bra into a bra, Anelie was happy wearing a training bra or sports bra. In fact, when she first noticed the change, she had bandaged her chest as she didn't know how to talk to her dad about these girl-things. Besides she didn't want Stiles or Scott to find out about it. She thought that they would stop treating her as one-of-the-boys. It was only when Melissa noticed the bandage and took young Amelie on a secret trip to the mall that she started wearing a bra. She didn't want to wear them at first, but it was way easier to put on than the bandage and for the first few days, she avoided wearing a white shirt because she was afraid of the boys finding out about it. Thankfully, they never did, or if they did, they didn't make a big deal out of it. She continued to be one-of-the-boys.

She hated the way her body was developing curves; as her body continued to change, she was constantly reminded that she was a girl. For her, it meant that she wasn't one of them – the boys were her best friends and it scared her. She frowned at her cleavage and was just about to put on her oversized football t-shirt when Stiles suddenly stormed into her room.

"Elie! Get ready! There's a dead girl in the woods!"

"Jeeeezus, Stiles! Knock! I've told you million times! Knock before you barge in!"

Anelie screamed as she quickly pulled the t-shirt over her head and covered herself up. She had only been wearing her underwear but to her relief, Stiles didn't seem to notice. His eyes were shining bright from excitement as he rambled on about a dead girl.

"Wha- wait…what? A dead girl?"

"Yup. It gets better…they've only found half of her."

"…half?"

"So, we're going to find the other half. Me, you, and Scott. So get ready."

"A dead girl"

"Yup"

"In the woods"

"Yup. Chop, chop! Put your clothes on!" Stiles was starting to lose his patience.

"Gross!"

"Neat, huh?"

"What? No!"

"So you're not coming?"

"…..just give me five seconds."

The news of a dead girl, a half of a dead girl, did not excite Anelie but she didn't like being left out and it seemed like this was going to be big and the boys would be talking about it for days, even weeks so she hurriedly pulled up her jeans, grabbed her jacket and sneakers and ran after Stiles and got into his Jeep.

"Are we seriously doing this?" Like Anelie, Scott didn't share Stiles' enthusiasm in this late night corpse-hunting.

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town." Stiles shot back as he led them into the woods. As Anelie followed the boys into Beacon Hills Preserve, she felt uneasy. The darkness seemed more menacing than usual.

"And uh, what if whoever killed her is still out there?" Scott's question, which Stiles just brushed off, made her more uneasy. She couldn't figure out what, but something felt wrong…she didn't want to say anything to the boys because she didn't want them to think that she was scared – like a girl, a girly girl. So she ignored the feeling, tried to shake it off and followed the boys further into the woods. As they climbed up a hill, Scott seemed out of breath.

"Are you okay?" Anelie asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Scott smiled, took out an inhaler from his pocket and began shaking it when Stiles suddenly dropped on his stomach. Scott and Anelie quickly followed and lay flat. Anelie elbowed Stiles and frantically whispered 'Flash light! Flash light!' They could see multiple flash lights scanning the woods few meters ahead and heard the dogs barking. Shit! They are going to find us! Anelie was about to tell Stiles to stay put, when he suddenly jumped up and ran.

"STILES!" In panic, Scott and Anelie followed Stiles but just when they were about to catch up with him, they heard a dog bark close by and saw a flash light shine directly into Stiles' face so they stopped running and they both hid behind a tree. The uneasy feeling returned as Anelie held her breath, she felt drops of cold water on her face. Scott was pulling his hood up. Great, it's raining. She was groaning inside when she heard a familiar voice that came as a relief.

"Hang on, hang on...this little delinquent belongs to me."

It was her dad. She knew he wouldn't be too happy to see them in the woods, but she felt safe when she heard his voice.

"Dad, how are you doing?"

"So do you listen into all my phone calls?"

"Noooo….not the boring ones."

"Where's your usual partners in crime?"

"Scott and Elie? They're home. Scott said he wanted to get a good night sleep for the first day back in school tomorrow…and Elie was watching a movie. It's just me, in the woods, alone."

Since Stiles had lied to protect her, she could have pretended not to be there, but she couldn't. She didn't want to stay in the woods anymore. So when her dad called her name out, she got out of her hiding place. Meekly smiling, she ran towards Stiles and her dad, and it seemed like Scott was going to pretend that he wasn't there so she repeated what Stiles had said.

"Just me, dad. Me and Stiles" and Anelie hugged her brother's arm and gave her dad the biggest smile. The Sheriff sighed and he grabbed Stiles' collar to drag him back to his car.

"Well young man, I'm going to walk you back to your car. You too, princess." Anelie hated being called that but she let it slide since she didn't want to upset her dad further. As she followed her father and brother who were discussing something about the invasion of privacy, she kept looking back, hoping that Scott would turn up or at least follow them from distance. She strained her ears for his footsteps but there was only the eerie silence.

"We can't leave him in the woods!" Anelie cried out as Stiles turned the ignition.

"Well, he's not answering his phone!" Stiles frustratingly answered. The uneasiness she felt was growing even though she was safe in Stiles' car.

"We have to go back…"

"Back where? He could be anywhere!" Stiles seemed puzzled at her concern and continued to reason with her. "Besides, we've always played in the area and nothing ever happened."

"Yeah, well, that was before a girl turned up dead with a half of her body missing."

Anelie slumped into the seat and crossed her arms. She knew Beacon Hills Preserve was safe. Well, it had been up to this point anyway. But the nervousness she felt in the woods tonight was bugging her and she didn't like feeling scared so she was starting to get angry. Out of frustration, she punched her brother in the arm, who yelled out in pain and was nonplussed by his agitated twin sister. She remembered someone telling her how twins are connected emotionally so they can feel what the other was feeling, a special connection or something. Special connection, my ass! Anelie muttered under her breath and she ignored Stiles who kept asking what was wrong with her. She didn't know why or what she was scared of. Scott's house wasn't too far, it wasn't like he couldn't walk home or anything, and usually she didn't worry about ditching Scott…in fact, she would have just laughed at his misfortune, knowing that Scott would be annoyed, but it was no big deal. It wasn't like they were little kids, or Beacon Hills was a dangerous place with criminals creeping around the dark – and that's when she remembered what Scott had said earlier.

And uh, what if whoever killed her is still out there?

"What if the killer's out there?" Anelie asked and Stiles suddenly hit the break.

"Well, we can't go back…the police are crawling all over the place." Anelie's nervousness seemed to have rubbed off on Stiles as he began to look concerned and flailing his arms. Beep beeeeep beep beeeep!They both jumped at the sound of Stiles' phone buzzing. He looked at his phone and the look of relief came over his face, and he showed the text to his sister.

[You guys ditched me! ] It was from Scott.

[Sorry dude, but at least you didn't get in trouble! You're home sleeping remember?]

"Are we picking him up?" Anelie asked as her brother put his phone down and started driving.

"Nah, he said he can just jog home. We're nearly home anyway."

"Oh…okay."

Anelie still felt a little uneasy, but knowing that Scott was okay and his phone was working, and he was probably jogging along the main road was somewhat comforting. She wondered why she was feeling this way and it nagged at her even when she got home and was in her bed, so she texted Scott again. Just to make sure that he was really okay. She lay awake in her bed holding on to her phone and when the text finally came from Scott, the uneasiness she had felt during the night lifted.

[I'm home. The sheriff didn't catch me. Though something's happened in the woods. Will tell you guys everything tomorrow. Good night.]

She was too tired to wonder what 'something' was and as she was drifting off to sleep, she thought she heard howling from afar.

Well, here's the first chapter! I know it's real slow paced but be patient with me! I would love to hear from the readers so please drop me a line. I'm still looking for those who are interested in joining the storyline as Elie's friends (or having your OC join) so if you are interested, send me a message!