[ start of formality part two ]

and very public winter formal proposal, the pair had realised that they hadn't a thing to wear, and they needed to find something quickly.

After devouring their Panda Express meal, the two laughed and smiled, hand in hand as they entered the last shop Lydia would ever be caught dead in. Johnson's Thrift.

The way the pair saw it, they would only going to be using the outfits for a night or two, and so they didn't want to spend a unbelievable amount of money on dresses and tuxes. That and neither of them had much money on them.

Messing around in the shop, trying on weird outfits and laughing with Scott made Eleanor realise how lucky she was to have Scott as her best friend. Yes, sometimes he could be undeniably insane and stupid, and sometimes he didn't think before he did something, but he was always there for her. He was always her friend.

An hour or so later, the pair walked out with two bags. One containing a gorgeous white dress that they had never expected to find with such a low price, and another with Scott's tuxedo that he continued to worry and fret about.

"I don't think it's going to work." Scott complained, his eyes looking between the bag in his hand and Eleanor.

Eleanor just shook her head. "Scott, it will. And your mom and I will help you with it when we get back, okay?"

Scott sighed, but nodded slowly, smiling at her in a small thanks of appreciation. With that, they continued throughout the mall, stopping to buy one another milkshakes before heading back to the McCall household together.

As soon as they got in, both of them rushed upstairs and into Scott's bedroom. They had realised on the drive home that they had thirty minutes to get ready. Both were extremely stressed.

But as soon as Melissa walked into the room, everything fell into place for she always had a plan. Eleanor was going to get ready in her room, use some of her make up while the older McCall curled her hair; whilst Scott would jump in the shower, try his tux on and style his hair. She was adamant it would work.

And it did, for the most part. Eleanor was finished with five minutes to spare, the only thing left to do was put her dress on. Scott, however, was having a mental breakdown due to the duct tape in his tux.

"It's not going to work, is it?" He stressed, his eyes wide and alarmed as Eleanor leant against the doorframe whilst his mother walked forward with her sewing needle, inspecting.

"Alright, alright don't panic. Pants off now."

Scott immediately moved his hands to his black pants, but stopped and looked up at Eleanor in the doorway in hesitation. All the Hale did was roll her eyes and move further into the room, toward his desk.

"I've seen you in your underwear countless of times S, get to it."

With that, they were off and into the hands of an awaiting Melissa. Scott huffed, unamused as he sat down on the edge of his bed, watching closely as his mother stitched the pair of pants.

"So." She started, her eyes not leaving the material between her fingertips. "Where are the other two?"

"Jaden is going with some girl in his English class." Eleanor replied nonchalantly, and Melissa raised her eyebrow at the girl, looking up to where she stood in the door frame.

"And Stiles?"

Her smile faltered and Eleanor moved into the room and beside Melissa as she joined the both on the edge of the bed. "Stiles is going with Lydia."

"Lydia?" Melissa sounded confused as she turned to her son, the pair sharing a look as Scott shrugged his shoulders.

"So why are you two going together?"

Eleanor raised an eyebrow and looked at Scott who answered. "Well neither of us had dates."

"You hadn't asked anybody else? And nobody else asked you?"

Eleanor answered first, her eyes planted firmly on the carpet as she spoke softly. "Well, no. A few people asked me, but I turned them down because - uh - because,"

"Because you were hoping Stiles would ask you?" Melissa finished, her eyes softening as Eleanor smiled bitterly and nodded her head.

"And there are no other girls beside Allison."

Melissa's mouth gaped open in awe at Scott's sudden words and she smiled giddily. "Do you really feel that way?"

At the look on his mothers face, Scott groaned and stood up from the bed, distancing himself from the two girls smiling like idiots beside one another. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Can you just please keep sewing?"

Melissa shook her head. "Oh, no no no. You have time for at least one question. Come here. Do you really feel that way?"

"I can't help it!" Scott admitted, wallowing in his self pity as he sunk back down on to the bed. "I mean - every time I look her I get this, this hollow feeling in my chest, like - it's like someone took a shovel and literally dug a hole in me. It's the worst feeling I've ever had in my life, and I didn't - I didn't know anyone could actually ever feel this bad."

His eyes shifted between his mother who was smiling widely with pride, and Eleanor who was completely avoiding eye contact and fiddling with the bed sheets between her fingertips. She had felt that way about Stiles for a very long time now.

"I know." Melissa sighed sympathetically. "Eventually everyone does. It goes away."

"I don't want it to."

"Have you told her how you feel?"

Scott shrugged, turning away from the girls. "She knows."

Melissa stared ahead at her son in horror. "Oh, she knows? C'mon, she knows? Listen dumbass, I'm going to let you in on a secret that most guys don't even have a clue about, right? You ready? Women love words."

"Huh?"

Eleanor sighed, looking up to meet Scott's confused expression to reply for Melissa. "You need to tell her how you feel, Scott, say it. Say it again. Say it differently. Learn how to say it better. Learn how to sing it. You know? Just right it in a poem or a letter attached to flowers, carve it in a tree, in a sidewalk with cement, tattoo it."

Eleanor was speaking straight from the experience, and the two beside her could tell. Her bottom lip was trembling slightly. Her previous boyfriend had never done any such thing, had never really appreciated her or shown her how he really felt. And it was what Eleanor had always hoped Stiles would one day do.

Instead of questioning the sadness in her tone, Scott grinned foolishly. "Really?"

Melissa rolled her eyes at her son. "No not really. Just - just tell her the truth. Tell her anything and everything you want."

"Everything?" Eleanor narrowed her eyes and shook her head behind Melissa at Scott's intrigued tone.

"But when you do - I'd keep that buttoned. There you go." The mother handed Scott's suit pants back to him and turned to Eleanor on the other side of her. "And you need to get yourself in that gorgeous dress and show Stiles what he's missing."

...

and Eleanor arrived through the back entrance to the gym ten minutes later than planned. After Eleanor and Scott were dressed and ready to go, Melissa insisted that she take several photos of the best friends, her eyes filling with proud tears.

The hall was set up, admittedly, quite beautifully. Eleanor entered first from the back door, hiding Scott behind her as they discreetly approached the bleachers on the side of the gym, watching over all the couples dancing and enjoying themselves.

Eleanor's eyes almost immediately found Stiles and Lydia, sat at one of the various tables dotting the gym, and fought the urge to smile. They didn't look like they were having a good time with one another at all.

She felt Scott nudge her arm slightly, nodding to the couple. "You should go over there. Dance with him."

Giving him a pointed look, she shook her head as he groaned. He crossed his arms over his chest and pulled Eleanor closer to him by whisking an arm around her shoulders.

"You will dance with my best friend if it is the last thing I ever do, alright? Now go get your man."

Eleanor rolled her eyes at Scott's words but reluctantly stood from her seat beside him, taking the several steps down the bleachers and onto the gym floor. She smiled and waved at many of her peers, thanking them for the compliments she was seemingly showered with, and headed toward the buzz cut boy meters away from her.

With a deep breath, she approached him and tapped his shoulder, catching his attention. He swivelled in his stance but nearly lost balance once he caught sight of the girl in front of him. Dressed in a beautiful white dress that complimented her figure, and those big brown eyes that he adored so much, his mouth fell agape.

"You - you look beautiful. Like, really gorgeous. Unbelievably, totally-"

Eleanor giggled. "Thank you. You didn't clean up too bad, you know. You look handsome."

Stiles blushed and shrugged his shoulders, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment for his red cheeks. He opened his mouth to thank her for the comment but on a split second decision, she cut him off.

"Will you dance with me?"

There was a silence, and Eleanor was worried that she had ruined it all by being too forward and awkward, when he nodded. She let out a breath of relief as he grinned. "Thought you'd never ask."

Taking one another's hands, they made their way into the dance floor. With Eleanor's back facing him, Stiles found Scott on the bleachers and gave him a reassuring thumbs up. Scott just shook his head at the oblivious pair and watched them from afar, completely elated that they were finally getting somewhere with one another.

The slow song allowed the pair the chance to talk about several things, and so as Eleanor wrapped her arms around his neck, and Stiles gripped Eleanor's hips comfortably, they maintained eye contact and smiled brightly.

"Sorry for stealing you away, I hope Lyds doesn't mind."

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips in confusion, turning back to look at Lydia who had begun to chat softly to Jaden and his date. "Why would Lydia be bothered?"

"You know." The young Hale mumbled, looking down. "Cause she's your date and all."

Stiles just smiled and shook his head, confusing Eleanor. "She's not my date, Nora. I turned her down."

If Eleanor had been drinking, her beverage would be all over the gym floor by the statement. Her eyes widened considerably and subconsciously, she pulled the boy closer to her and she raised her eyebrows at him.

"What? How come?"

The Stilinski boy bit his lip, his eyes melting into hers. "I have my eye on someone else."

Eleanor grinned, her eyes twinkling under the lights that the winter formal committee had hung, her finger tracing small shapes upon the skin on Stiles neck. It made his hair stand on end.

"Oh yeah?" She questioned, her voice coming as a whisper. "And who's that?"

Stiles just smiled, his heart racing a mile a minute. Their faces were inches apart, and his hot breath fanned over her face, causing a ripple of goosebumps to travel across her body and up her arms. Both staring, wide eyed at one another.

And then, as just a low breathless comment. "You."

The pair were oblivious to the world around them. They had forgotten all about their peers and were focusing solely on each other, their eyes never looking away as they began to lean closer. It came naturally to the both of them, as if they had done this several times before.

With their lips inches from touching, the pair closed their eyes and leant in, and then. "Scott McCall! You're not supposed to-"

Eleanor fell forward and laughed into Stiles' shoulder, sighing and giggling as she opened her eyes and turned to look left, where she found her best friend dancing with Danny. She continued laughing as Coach stalled his words, realising exactly how they had made him seem homophobic.

Eleanor heard a low chuckle fall from Stiles' lips and into her ear as he shook his head at Scott, and the goosebumps returned. She felt completely comfortable, but the effect he had on her made her heart beat out of her chest and her pulse race and her fingertips tingle.

"Of course, it had to be Scott that ruined that."

The pair chuckled, and Eleanor lifted her head off of his shoulder and back to look at him. Slowly, and with no distractions, Stiles pulled Eleanor right into his chest and ever so softly, their lips grazed each other's. Tenderly, Eleanor's hands slipped upward and into his short hair as Stiles let out a small and incoherent gasp.

"Get in there Stilinski!"

Mid kiss Eleanor started to laugh, her cheek leaning on Stiles' as he did the same. She hid her face in his neck as Stiles turned to other way, to see Jaden, Scott and a few members of the lacrosse team whistling and clapping. Eleanor slowly turned in the direction of the noise, her cheeks a rosy red as the boys laughed.

Trying to ignore the smirks and looks they were receiving from everybody around them, Stiles' hand fell onto the small of Eleanor's back as they made their way to the side of the gym where the boys were gathered. Immediately, Eleanor was grabbed from Stiles' grasp by Scott, who grinned widely and pulled her in for a side hug.

She just shook her head, allowing Jaden to do the same before looking down at the table beside them. A familiar bag had been left unattended, and Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows as she turned back to her friends congratulating Stiles on 'finally making a move'.

She picked up the bag and held it to the boys. "Have any of you seen Lydia?"

"Uh, yeah, I saw her a second ago. I think she went to find Jackson." Jaden recalled, taking a sip from the red solo cup in his hands.

"Okay, I think I might go and find her," She informed, sending Stiles a beaming smile as she walked past the boys, stopping at Scott. "And you, go and get your moment with Allison."

With that, she stalked off and out into the fresh night air, holding Lydia's bag on her shoulder as she searched. For a second, she admired the moon in the jet black sky, smiling slightly as she bathed herself in the light it produced. But with the loud chatter surrounding her, it reminded her what the task at hand was.

Eleanor wandered the premises of the high school, smiling at her peers as they gave her waves and grins, and it wasn't until then that the girl had realised how popular she had become. Popular. Lydia, right. The Hale continued on her way and chose to stop a few people, asking if they had seen her strawberry blonde friend, until one replied that they could vaguely remember seeing her walk in the direction of the lacrosse pitch.

Sighing at the obviously stoned teenager, Eleanor continued on toward the pitch, hearing the faint sound of Lydia's voice, which absentmindedly made her quicken her pace. Eleanor sighed in relief upon finding Lydia in the middle of the grass, and jogged up to meet her.

She jumped upon the Hale's arrival. "Oh god, what are you doing here?"

"You left your bag in the gym," Eleanor smiled, handing the accessory back to her friend. "And I was wondering where you were."

"I'm trying to find Jackson. I can't see him anywhere."

Eleanor pouted and surveyed her surroundings, jumping as several of the big blinding lights turned on in canon. Temporarily, the werewolf shielded her eyes and looked away, as Lydia copied her actions, shying away from the strobes.

After seemingly every single one of them had ignited their light, Eleanor looked up and saw the faint silhouette of a man coming from the forest. She deemed it odd, and thought about the idea of it being Jackson. Lydia seemed to do the same thing.

However the redhead was certain, and took off toward the shadow coming closer, a tight lipped smile across her face as she questioned. "Jackson?"

But as soon as the name fell from her lips, the mystery man stepped into the light and Eleanor's heart just about stopped beating. Her vicious uncle stood with a devilling grin, and before Eleanor could understand what the hell was happening, he was running menacingly toward Lydia.

Eleanor took off toward her friend too, her eyes desperate and her hands shaking as she realised that Peter would certainly get to the strawberry blonde before she did. Nevertheless, she continued to race forward, hoping by some miracle that Lydia could get away from the man Eleanor hated to call her uncle.

Reality struck when Lydia screamed and Peter's fangs sunk into her neck, causing her to go limp in his clawed hands. Defeated, Eleanor fell to her knees, her hands shaking furiously as she tried to put pressure on Lydia's neck, ruining her dress completely as it stained with a mix of mud, grass and blood.

And then she heard his voice. "Eleanor? Nora? Oh my god! Lydia?"

The caring boy gasped at the sight, and although he had seen Peter lurking above them, began to run toward the two girls. Eleanor shook her head, her eyes pleading and her tears streaming down her cheeks as she silently begged Stiles to run. He didn't listen. He ignored the vile man towering over the girls and fell to his knees next to his best friend.

He pulled Eleanor closer immediately, looking down at Lydia who was unconscious and bleeding. The trembling girl, with her hands to Lydia's neck, looked up at Peter with a snarl. "You're some sick freak if you're attempting to kill a teenage girl."

Peter just grinned. "Of course not. Just tell me how to find Derek."

"What?" Both Stiles and Eleanor were dumbfounded by Peters reply, their mouths open in confusion. Why the hell would they know where Derek was and why did Peter need him?

"Tell me how to find your brother." He seethed at Eleanor, but he turned to Stiles for an answer.

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows, looking between Eleanor and her uncle as he stuttered. "Why would I know?"

"Because you're the clever one, aren't you? And because deception has a particularly acrid scent. Tell me the truth."

And with no warning whatsoever, he plucked Eleanor from Stiles' grip, his canines on full display. "Or I will rip my sweet niece apart."

"Wouldn't be the first one." The Hale mumbled to herself, but her eyes were planted firmly on Stiles who's lip trembled at the sight of her in danger.

"Look - Look, I don't know, okay?" The Aderall enthused boy started, while Peter's grip on Eleanor's arm tightened. "I - I swear to god, I have no idea."

Peter shook his head and licked his lips, pushing Eleanor's hair from her neck as he leant closer to her breakable skin, demanding. "Tell me!"

The young girl pushed and pulled, fighting to get out of Peter's death grip. It was no use, and every time she moved, he would only grip tighter.