♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐

CHAPTER FIFTEEN; 15

Scott was the one to bring the lacrosse team to state, and because of that, all of the praise was landed on him. People were screaming in his face about the victory, relieved that there was finally another player that knew how to play the sport that didn't have the last name Whittemore; Danny was accepting his apology, the boy having a bright heart that was rare in people these days; Allison was talking to him after the high school incident. Everything seemed as if it were good for once in his life since he was bitten. That is, of course, as long as you subtract a missing Stiles, Sage, and Derek— a small part of Scott believed they were all eaten by the Alpha — and the fact that Jackson Whittemore now wanted to become part canine, things were good.

Scott sighed and rubbed his eyes, starting to lift his deodorant up when the lights flickered off in the empty locker room. Immediately, out of the pure instinct that he had knowing darkness never meant security, his back arched in alertness. The werewolf's head whipped around, hair flying into his eyes when he heard a small bang as a lacrosse ball rolled on the floor, stopping when it hit one of the lockers.

Cautiously, Scott took light footsteps over to where the showers were, his exhale getting caught in his throat as he realized there was anxiety building up in his chest at the very idea of something being there and jumping out at him. When the werewolf saw a familiar shaped figure standing in the darkness across from him, he was able to release the breath he was holding. Unlike the possibility of it being an actual murderer, it was only an alledged one.

"Where have you been? Do you have any idea what's been going on?" Scott shouted in Derek's face, his rage getting the better of him as he realized he had a lot of irritation towards the man for disappearing on him.

Derek didn't reply, his hands shoved deep into his pockets as his gaze moved past Scott's eyes to something hidden behind him. The attention behind directed around his shoulder was enough to turn him around, his body turning stiff when he saw a familiar blonde being held tightly in a man's arms. Sage looked absolutely horrific, like she'd just walked a mile after being hit by a car. Her blonde hair was tangled and frizzy, clothes torn in certain areas while dark liquid stained the hoodie Scott realized belonged to Stiles.

Peter glanced down at the lacrosse stick he was holding in one arm, his lips curling in thought. "I never understood lacrosse."

Sage didn't even bother moving, just tried to keep her stinging eyes on Scott instead of on the man behind him, knowing very well that if she even took a second glance at Derek then that betrayal would never be forgotten. The teenage girl had also been strictly warned by Peter that if she spoke he would, not so kindly, rip out her throat while Scott watched. Any thought of the man once caring about the blonde was discentagrated, and she was left exposed to everything.

Scott swallowed the lump in his throat, realizing that all of the pieces in the playing field were beginning to fit together, and knew immediately why Peter Hale had become so important. "It's you."

"When I was in school we used to play basketball. There's a real sport," Peter explained, grinning as he looked down at the lacrosse stick. Sage was tempted to spit out that basketball got old in Beacon Hills when Luke tried out for lacrosse and stunned everyone into loving the sport, but she bit back the words. "Still, I read somewhere the lacrosse comes from Native American tribes and they played it to resolve conflict, if I read that right. I have a little conflict of my own, Scott, but I need your help to do it."

With no warning, Sage was shoved forward by Peter's careless hand, tripping her way into Scott while trying not to lose her balance and fall to the floor. His hands shot out hastily, gripping her waist as he held her to his chest, the two of them backing up and away from Peter. It was an instinctive nature to protect the girl that he has known his whole life, especially when Sage flinched as she saw the Alpha's piercing glare on her.

"I'm not helping you kill people," Scott deadpanned, tightening his hold on Sage.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Well I don't want to kill all of them. Just the responsible ones; that doesn't have to include—"

He looked over at Derek for confirmation, to which the man opened his mouth. "Allison."

Scott turned around, completely taken back when he heard Derek speak about Allison. Sage squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the simple thought that Derek was siding with the person that tried to kill him just an hour ago. The boy next to her might have had the slightest hint of hidden faith in the boy, but she knew that Peter was always able to manipulate the younger Hale— all that the alpha had to do was mention the fact that they had the same blood running through their veins.

Scott seemed to be stuck right in the middle of two werewolves capable to ripping himself and the blonde to shreds in a matter of seconds, and yet he still found himself tempting Derek with a plea of question. "You're taking his side? Are you forgetting the part where he killed your sister? Or the part where he almost killed Sage?"

"It was a mistake," Derek disagreed, his eyes never once meeting Sage considering he knew that the moment he saw her green irises, the thoughts that were circulating in his head would be diminished when he realized that she would always be more of a family to him that Peter.

"What?" Scott exclaimed, baffled as he practically stumbled on the single world, completely astonished that the werewolf was honestly defending the same person that nearly killed his best friend and actually did kill his sister.

Derek didn't even flinch. "It happens."

Sage leaned forward, taking a deep breath. All of the wounds inflicted from Derek had healed on her body, but the wounds she acquired herself from being thrown to the ground, shoved around by Peter on the way here, and most of the all the stinging in her right ankle which must have been from one of the boys at the game tonight, were what actually got to her.

Peter caught her eye and frowned deeply when he realized that Scott wasn't going to agree to anything as long as the blonde was glued to his side. Questioning where he was going to stick her without a fear of her passing out, his ears perked up when he heard the small chatter of a boy fumbling with his keys outside.

"Sage, please leave," Peter announced, the politeness in his words never meeting the look on his face as his eyes narrowed on her face. "This involves you no further."

Sage took the chance of her getting ripped apart, finally speaking for the first time since she arrived. "I'm not leaving him here alone with you two. No way in hell. You can shove the please up your ass and walk on out of here. Threaten me all you want, I'm not leaving Scott."

Peter's eyebrows raised. "Leave or he won't be the only one I kill. I believe you've made a few friends in this town, maybe even something more with a few others."

Sage stared for a few seconds, keeping a steady glare on Peter's face when finally she broke. The idea of risking everyone elses' lives wasn't something that she was ready to do, and she knew that if Scott were put in the same position, he would leave as well. The teenage girl reluctantly tore herself from Scott's grip, giving him a hard look of warning. Instead of walking through Peter's path, she walked over to Derek, grabbing a hold of his upper arm before she left.

"Just remember that if you hurt him, you hurt me. I don't play nice when someone tries to hurt my friends either, Derek. You of all people should know that," she threatened, bumping into his shoulder as she whipped open the door, walking out towards the parking lot.

Among the parking lot were crimson signs and fake lacrosse sticks from the game. The blonde was forced to kick her way through, and just as she did, she noticed that there was one other car present, one that was too striking to not belong to a Whittemore. She walked as quickly as she could with a small limp, making her way to the empty passenger's side of the car. Jackson was just sitting, his head on the steering wheel, completely oblivious that she was even there.

Grabbing a hold of the car door, she pulled on it and sat down in the overly expensive car, adjusting her body until she was comfortable enough that she felt like she wasn't going to break. Then, Sage sat there for a few seconds, jaw still tightly clenched as she tried to get her emotions concealed long enough to figure out how to start a conversation with the boy next to her.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Jackson asked without raising his head.

Sage snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, staring out the windshield, trying to imagine what they were talking about back inside. "I should be considering you were a total dick and broke up with Lydia over a fucking text, threatened Scott, and made a move on Allison even though you and I both know you don't even like her. Really, I should probably be trying to strangle you instead of just explaining why I want to."

Jackson sat up for the first time, looking at her with raised eyebrows. "So, why aren't you?"

"Because you might be a complete asshole, and I may hate your presence more than I enjoy it, but you don't really have any friends. Aside from Danny, which I still don't understand," Sage pressed, looking down at her nails to try and occupy her attention on something else.

She could feel his eyes on her, most likely taking in her appearance. Any normal person would believe that someone more happened to her, and even more people would have opted on taking her to the hospital — again — to make sure she didn't have any broken bones or a concussion. However, Jackson wasn't normal and that meant that the first words were the only, and most inconsiderate, thing that crossed through his miniscule brain size.

"Did someone run you over?" Jackson questioned, a straight line on his lips as his eyes scanned her from the bottom up. "Because, if they did, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't bleed all over the leather."

Sage looked over at him with tired eyes, not finding much humor in his question despite the fact of knowing that he was just messing around. "Almost got killed because of who I'm supposed to be."

Jackson went to reply even though he didn't even know what to say back, but Sage's hand flew out in such a swift action that his eyes went wide. The blonde grabbed a hold of his arm in a single, hast movement, her muscles constricting as a deep exhale fell through her lungs when she felt a hot flash of pain rush through her body. The teenage boy leaned towards her, alarmed, watching as her eyes started to gaze off as though she weren't even aware of reality.

He only began to hiss out when her nails started to puncture his skin, trying to pry her fingers off all while calling out her name. "Sage, what's going on? Sage! Is this a seizure? A panic attack? Sage, what in the hell is wrong?"

All of a sudden her grip loosened, and Sage turned her head to look over at the exit where Peter was leaving, casually wiping his hand off. That was when the blonde's hand shot up to her neck, noticing that warm liquid was sticking to her skin. It wasn't difficult to put two-and-two together that the alpha left with someone else's blood on his hands, but she wasn't experienced enough to know who.

Looking at Jackson, not sure how she was supposed to explain this, she whisked open the door, slamming it shut and leaning in through the window. "Go home, Jackson. I'll explain everything tomorrow. Just..." she glanced over again to see Derek dispersing. "... just go home."

She jogged towards Derek after leaving Jackson there with a dumbfounded look on his face, trying to catch him before he disappeared. The werewolf must have heard her shoes pounding on the cement because his head tilted to look over, eyes glancing between the car backing out of the parking lot to the blonde running towards him. He didn't have a chance to speak when Sage rammed his body into the side of the school.

The first thing that came out of his mouth was Scott's health status. "We didn't hur—"

"I don't care!" Sage hissed, pushing him harder. Her eyesight was starting to grow hazy but she focused her attention more on the man in front of her. "Why are you trusting him? I don't care what he says about it all being an accident! I don't care, Derek. Why do you?"

Derek clenched his jaw, getting angrier the more she yelled at him. "Because he knows what happened to your family! He knows what you are, Sage. He knows!"

Sage looked at him, pursing her lips as she tried to hold herself together. She'd seen everything that Scott did when Peter clawed at his neck. She saw the memories that Peter shared, and she also saw the faces of the people she lost forever. She relived the memory of watching the house burn to the ground with her family inside, the smoke filling their lungs and ash coating their face like a second skin. Luke's blonde hair turning a dark black, her father's inability to move any further as he collapsed to the ground. Her entire familys' screams as they endured every ounce of pain the Hale family felt.

She experienced everything over again, and now Scott knew everything too. "They died protecting everyone else. They— oh, my god."

Sage collapsed, her knees giving out from under her as everything suddenly made sense. Derek caught her before she fell, both of them tumbling to the confetti-infested ground. Everything hit her at once— how this was the first real time she cried over the death of her family, how she spent six years not even acknowledging the realization that her family died with a purpose. Of course, there was the time at the hospital with Stiles but that was mostly her fear of losing Derek, not her discovery that her blood sacrificed their lives for the Hales, only to have all but Peter die.

It was all for nothing.

"We need to go, Sage. We've got to go."

Sage nodded her head, allowing him to help lift her up off the ground. Just like that, she chose Derek over everyone else. Just like that, she realized that the only person who would understand the suffering inside of her heart would be the only person alive today that had to witness the atrocity that was a house burning with everyone they loved trapped inside. Just like that, she chose the best friend that she has betrayed, and that has betrayed her, because it was always going to be the two of them in the end.

Always.

♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐ ♐

Sage tripped on a fallen tree branch, hissing out when she almost crashed into Lydia who was having the same troubles. The strawberry blonde and herself had been called by Allison to go shopping for the winter formal that was coming up, and despite the fact that the blonde had absolutely no enthusiasm about putting on a shit-ton of makeup and a dress, she agreed. However, she was still surprised when she heard that it was actually Lydia's plan to invite her, considering they had only spoken to each other when she was having a breakdown over her boyfriend.

And, hypothetically speaking, that wasn't necessarily a bonding moment. To make matters worse, Sage couldn't help but think in the back of her mind that she had kissed both of their boyfriends. Well, technically, their ex-boyfriends, but the actual idea was still implied that she wasn't the best friend to have at the very moment even though both cases weren't necessarily all on her part.

"Allison, when you said we were going on an errand before shopping, a hike in the wood? Not what I was expecting," Lydia announced with a deep exhale, speaking freely what Sage was thinking as well as she trudged along the forest floor.

The strawberry-blonde almost stepped into a hole five seconds later, and Sage quickly grabbed a hold of her arm to pull her away before she broke her ankle. The two of them shared a look that clearly said Allison was losing her mind before continuing to move. Sage normally wouldn't protest to creepy walks in the woods, seeing as she lived with a werewolf, but there was a unsettling feeling she got when she glanced towards the big bag Allison was holding, resembling to a case that a bow and arrow would be in.

And Sage really, really hoped there was a pretty dress Allison needed to return to Macy's because the color washed out her complexion, not a weapon that could kill Scott, Derek, and quite possibly, herself.

"Not that I'm complaining about cardio or anything, but what exactly are we doing out here?" the blonde asked, looking around the forest. The last thing she wanted to happen was for Peter to come out and chomp Allison and Lydia's heads off.

Instead of answering Sage, Allison completely blew the girl off and stopped so that she could face Lydia. "Before I forget, Lydia, I need to ask you something. Jackson asked me to the winter formal."

"Did he?" Lydia inquired, her voice raising an octave.

Sage pursed her lips, wondering where Allison was going with all of this. She didn't see a single part of this conversation ending well considering she knew from a literal eye-contant-experience just how torn up the teenage girl was about her break up with Jackson. Lydia's hand wrapped around her wrist, and Sage glanced over to see that the girl's eyes were just as deceiving as her voice, hurt washing in them.

Allison nodded, barely aware of how agonizing it was for her friend to hear that she was going to be going to formal with the lacrosse player. "Just as friends, but I wanted to make sure that you're okay with it first."

"Sure!" Lydia feigned enthusiasm, but the nails digging into Sage's skin told a different story. "As long as it's just friends."

Allison let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I mean it's not like I'd take him into the Coach's office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything."

Sage cringed, realizing Allison found out about the whole thing. Lydia noticed her hesitation and gaped. She mouthed a simple, "Did you?" to which Sage nodded. Lydia pursed her lips before looking back to Allison. Sage didn't understand why Allison had to put Lydia on blast when she didn't do anything wrong. Technically, Sage didn't mean to do anything either. She still blames Jackson.

The trio continued to walk in silence, tension in the air as Sage tried to figure out Allison's motives. She had been so deep in thought that she just barely missed ramming into Allison. Lydia was quick to grab her arm, pulling her back before she touched the brunette. Sage felt like if they had collided, Allison would have stuck the arrow she was getting out of the bag into her face.

Repeatedly.

Guess it's not a dress.