the one where lydia spikes the punch

[ S2 0.5 ]

sipped on what must have been her seventh glass of the peculiar tasting punch as she leant against a pillar next to her three best friends, listening to their conversation as he eyes wandered the back garden.

"Are you going to apologise to Allison or what?"

At the mention of the Argent, Eleanor only turned her nose up and looked away. She was not in the mood to give Scott a pep talk on someone who has been undeniably rude to her lately.

"Why should I apologise?" Scott questioned, confused as he too took a sip of his punch.

"Because you're the guy - it's like, the right thing to do."

Eleanor scoffed, shaking her head at Stiles pathetic excuse. "Just because Scott's a guy, it doesn't mean he automatically has to apologise."

"I haven't done anything wrong." McCall pointed out, smiling at Eleanor's statement as Jaden shook his head.

"Then you should definitely apologise. See, anytime a guy thinks he hasn't done anything wrong, it means he probably has."

Eleanor rolled her eyes at Jaden's seemingly plausible knowledge and brung her cup to her lips, taking a sip from the peach flavoured beverage as the boys continued to talk nonsense.

"I'm not apologising."

"Is that the full moon talking, buddy?" Stiles questioned, his eyebrows raised at Scott's unlikely behaviour.

"Probably. Why do you care anyway?"

"Because," The hyperactive boy sighed, leaning closer as he elaborated. "Something's gotta go right here. I mean, we're getting our asses royally kicked here, if you haven't noticed. People are dying, I got my dad fired, Derek's being a dick to his brother and sister, you're gonna be held back in school, Lydia's turning into a nutjob. And if on top of all of that, I gotta watch you loose Allison, then I might just stab myself in the face."

"Don't stab yourself in the face." Scott stated monotonously as he stood up from his seat, looking past the pool.

"Why?"

"Because Jackson's here."

Eleanor groaned voluntarily and turned to look in the direction of where the boy would be standing, presumably with Lydia. However, as she did so, her body froze and her cup dropped to the floor at the sight in front of her.

The music seemed to have died down, creating a quiet and unrealistic scene as the familiar wave of brown hair caught Eleanor's eye. Laura, her sister, standing meters away.

"What do you mean 'why am I covered in dirt'? I was buried, okay?" The girl shouted at a boy Eleanor recognised to be in Junior year.

Eleanor's sister then turned to look at her. Her eyes were dark and dangerous and she swayed slightly, back and forth on her feet as her hair stuck to her back. The young twins' eyes watered at the sight. What the hell was going on?

"It's you. It's all your fault. You never even tried looking for me, never tried to find me, never even cared." The words stung the young girl, especially coming from a sister she wish she still had, and hit her like a slap in the face.

Eleanor winced at the words and turned her head, unable to look at her older sister any longer, confused and miserable as an immense amount of guilt pounded in her head. And then she saw Derek.

"I didn't want to take care of you on my own. How the hell was I supposed to live with a selfish little child, an annoying bitch who kept ruining my life, who keeps ruining my life! You killed Laura, Elle. You never found her before it was too late, you let her die and rot. It was all you."

Eyes watery and tears running down her cheeks, Eleanor ran from the side of the pool and into the house in a confused and frantic mess, her mind haywire with emotion. Everything that had just happened played in her mind like a broken record, over and over again.

She continued throughout the house, weary and upset, only to bump into Matt. The same Matt she had argued with a day beforehand about taking photos of her and stalking her. The events unfolding kept Eleanor questioning what was going on and why everything was happening so fast.

"Eleanor-"

"I don't want to talk Matt."

"Please?" He pleaded, his eyes full of hope and guilt as Eleanor sighed, contemplating.

She felt obliged to at least listen to an explanation of some sort, and so she nodded, giving in almost immediately as the boy gave a tight lipped smile.

"Okay, well uh - I know I took some photos of you that I shouldn't have, and I should've told you about them. But is it really that bad - that I think you're gorgeous - and I think you should be the subject of a perfect photograph?"

Eleanor shook her head as she ran a hand through her hair. "Matt, some of the photos you took - I uh, don't even know how you took them."

"Telephoto lens," He stammered almost immediately, confronted by a disturbed look from Eleanor as he shook his head, elaborating, "I mean, c'mon Eleanor, photographers call them candids."

Her mouth gaped open in disbelief. "Well police officers call it stalking."

Matt's face contorted into one of fury and rage suddenly, taking Eleanor by surprise as he took a step toward her, his eyes narrowing and his breathing heavier than before.

"Stalking? What - so now I'm a stalker? That - that's it? You - you think my bedroom is wallpapered with photos of you? Like I'm the type of guy to say 'if I can't have you, no one can'? Well you know what? Get over yourself, because there's another pretty girl walking through the room every five minutes."

Eleanor scoffed at the words coming from his mouth, her eyes still slightly watery. "Well then, all you need to wait is another three."

With that, she turned to remove herself from the situation, wanting nothing more than to get away from the strange boy as he shouted after her. "That's it! Go and run to Stiles."

And then miraculously, she bumped into Stiles. It was then that she had some idea of what was going on.

"Eleanor, what's wrong with you?"

She sighed in relief, grabbing a hold of his hands to comfort herself. "Oh thank god, it's you. I'm having these weird hallucinations and I-"

"No," Stiles scoffed, pulling his hands from hers. "What the hell is wrong with you? Scott told me that you liked me. We're friends, nothing more, and thinking we're something else is absolutely pathetic. You're not stupid enough to believe that I'm over Lydia, right? You can't compete with her. I love her, not you."

The air around her seemed to have disappeared and suddenly, Eleanor felt as if she couldn't breathe at all, like her lungs had stopped working completely. The waterworks from her eyes had started once again and she hugged herself as she frantically turned every which way, hopelessly looking for a way out.

Then suddenly, she was back beside the pool, her head in the hands of Stiles who was repeatedly trying to talk her back into reality. Her eyes immediately widened and she flinched at his cold, wet hands that had previously been in the pool.

Her eyes wandered to people around her and she sighed in relief, but her pupils were still wide with alarm as she asked, "What the hell is going on?"

[ S2 0.5 ]