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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN; 17

"Show him what he's missing."

Melissa moved away from her ear, going to give Scott a big hug. Sage was wearing the red dress that Lydia picked out. She imagined that there were going to be worse dresses than hers at the formal though, especially since half of the girls in the sophomore class were less than modest. Her normally wavy hair was fully curled, the hair that had grown out in the past few months was now just past her shoulders. Melissa had pulled a large majority of her hair on the left over to the right, and added a small braid. Sage just wished her parents could see her. Or even Derek for that matter.

Scott saw her face slowly dropping and quickly walked over, grabbing hold of her hand, giving a tight squeeze. She looked over at him and gave a small smile, shrugging away her thoughts. "Don't do anything stupid tonight. Okay, Sage?"

"Like what?" Sage asked.

The boy scoffed. "Anything you do on a regular basis."

Sage rolled her eyes, and grabbed a hold of his bicep to keep herself steady as she bent down to put on her heels. "I'm not that destructive, you know? But if anything does happen tonight, don't expect me to stay dancing."

"Sage—"

"No, Scott," Sage muttered, making sure to keep her voice down so Melissa didn't hear them. "If something ends up happening tonight, whether it be because of Peter or Kate, I'm not going to sit around waiting for someone to die. I've lost too many people and I'm not letting any of you get hurt tonight. Not Allison, not Jackson, not Lydia, not Stiles, not Derek, and not you. So just accept that and move on."

"I was going to say you look beautiful," Scott reiterated. Sage gave him a irritated look, knowing that she was being conscious of tonight, before sighing and nodding, leaning forward to press a kiss on his cheek. It was a simple gesture to symbolize how much they had been through, everything that they experienced in the past few months. Melissa appeared from behind him a few seconds later with a camera in her hands.

"Let me be a mom," Melissa demanded, moving her finger so that they would stand next to each other. Sage smiled while Scott gave a groan, most likely experiencing this his whole life. It felt nice to do this, to have horrible pictures before a formal, and to have your mother curl your hair. She just wished that it was her mother, she just wanted more memories. "Okay, you two can go. Have fun, and stay safe."

They got to the school to see that it was infested with glitter and glowing lights. Sage curled her lips in disgust, already hating the idea of walking inside. Scott stopped beside her, a mirrored imagine of her face on his. Teenagers were walking inside of the gym, but all Sage could think about was how she almost died in this school and now she would be celebrating. Or dying again.

"I'll see you inside," Scott waved goodbye to her, jogging into the shadows, leaving her to stand alone in the parking lot. She took a deep breath before walking towards the gym, praying she didn't fall on her face. She didn't get very far considering a car almost hit her, stopping extremely close to her side.

"Hey asshole, watch where you're going!" Sage snarled, glaring at Jackson through the window. He didn't even bother looking at her, instead he downed a flask of alcohol. She clenched her jaw before looking in the passenger's seat to see that Allison was looking down at her lap. Deciding to be the bigger person, Sage walked over to her car door, motioning for her to roll down the window.

"Look Sage, I'm so sorry about—"

Sage grinned. "Don't worry about it. Besides, as long as you get your Prince Charming."

"Scott? He's not coming, he's on probation," Allison disagreed, shaking her head. Sage pursed her lips before leaning into Jackson's car, pulling up the sun visor so she could get a glimpse of who was on the roof finding a way to get in. Allison's face broke out into a smile, and she looked at Sage for confirmation. Sage only nodded, pushing herself back to see that Jackson was coming around the side of the car.

"Well don't you clean up nice, Whittemore," Sage complimented, staring at him up and down.

He smirked at her, walking until their bodies were almost touching. She could smell the alcohol on his breath already, reminding her that even if he looked good, he was still an ass. His eyes trailed down, giving him an open view of her chest. "Yeah, you do too, Connelly."

Sage stepped back, moving away so that Jackson could open the door for Allison. A sound of tires squeaking caused her head to whip around, seeing a familiar powder blue jeep being parked. Stiles jumped out of his seat, rushing to get to Lydia's side in order to open the door. He had yet to notice her, too busy focusing his attention on the strawberry blonde. Lydia had been the one to catch her eye first, letting out a relieved exhale seeing that Sage wore what she was supposed to.

"Oh, thank god. I thought you were going to wear converse."

Sage felt a smile form on her lips. "Believe me, I tried."

Stiles' head jerked around when he heard her voice, and Sage watched as his eyes got as wide as saucers, mouth opening but not speaking. She gave a half smile, moving forward to walk with Jackson and Allison. Stiles looked handsome in his suit, and Lydia looked incredibly beautiful in the dress she chose, but it didn't seem like the two were talking to each other. Stiles glanced over at Lydia for a second to see that she was trying to speak to Jackson, and took that as his chance to compliment the blonde.

"You look gorgeous," Stiles admired. Sage caught that instead of looking at her boobs like Jackson did, Stiles' eyes stayed on her's, never leaving until he realized Lydia was standing alone. Sage understood that he needed to leave because after all, she wasn't his date. "Uh— I better go."

"Yeah, of course. Thank you for the compliment. You look handsome, Stiles," Sage replied, waving goodbye to him before the conversation got any worse. She was almost at the entrance of the gym when she felt a surge of confidence. Turning around, she cupped her hands over her mouth. "Hey, Stilinski!"

His head turned, as did Lydia's. While the strawberry blonde wore a knowing smile, Stiles looked absolutely confused. From the other side of the parking lot, Stiles shouted back. "Yeah?"

"Save me a dance!"

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About an hour into the dance, Sage managed to get a few dances in with Danny. The two of them were sitting down at one of the lit tables, drinking punch that had gotten spiked a few minutes ago. Even from where she was sitting, she had a clear view of Jackson and Allison as well as Lydia and Stiles. So far, neither of the couples had gotten onto the dance floor yet. It seemed like they were permanently glued to their seats. Taking a gulp of the alcoholic beverage, she prayed she would be drunk so she didn't have to remember this nightmare.

"Shouldn't you slow down, Sage?" Danny asked, generally concerned at the rate she was downing her drink. Sage pulled the cup from her lips, setting it down on the table. She just quirked her eyebrows his way, jerking her head in the direction of the couple a few tables away. Danny rolled his eyes. "You and Stilinski really need to stop going back and forth from liking each other to being just friends."

"It's not like that," Sage disagreed. She felt like all anyone was talking about today was her relationship with Stiles. She was getting tired of them bringing it up because it was just a reminder of how inevitably broken their relationship was. "No one gets it."

"Everyone already knows you two kissed, they're just wondering why you're not together. Quite frankly, I think you two are so alike it's freaky at times. You and I both know that Lydia loves Jackson, even if they're not together right now. I say you stop avoiding your feelings and just admit you both like each other more than 'friends'." Danny air quoted the word friends. "So, stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your ass over to him. You're bringing the mood down."

Sage scowled because she knew he was right. "I hate that you're always right. One day, I'm going to be the one giving you relationship advice."

"No, one day you're going to be the one scaring my crush away," Danny corrected. She laughed because it was completely true. If anyone ever hurt Danny, she would have their body in a blender before they could even plea their case. He, along with Lydia, was the only one that seemed to avoid the supernatural aspect of her life. She couldn't be more grateful to have someone like him. "Why are you still here?"

"Becau—"

"Danny, Danny, dance with me!" Scott appeared, grabbing a hold of Danny's hand. Sage heard Coach shouting Scott's name from a distance away, and realized what he was going to do. Her lip curled up and she went into a fit of giggles but she wasn't sure if that was the alcohol taking effect in her system or not.

"What? No!" Danny protested.

"McCall!"

"Dance with me!" Scott shouted, grabbing Danny's arms and pulling him up out of the seat. Sage watched as Scott wrapped his arms around Danny's neck, forcing the lacrosse player to put his own hands of Scott's waist. She was having a field day watching them, and it only got progressively better when Coach saw them.

"McCall, you're not aloud to— what the hell are you—" the entire room went silent as they watched the encounter, it perceiving to be the worst possible scenario that the coach could have placed himself in. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Yes, Coach?" Scott asked, adjusting his hands around Danny's neck.

Coach stared for a few seconds before he caught onto what Scott was doing. "Okay, hold— whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. You— I was just saying he was not supposed to... I wasn't saying that he shouldn't— you guys don't think... I was just— dance everybody! Just dance! It's a dance!"

Sage laughed and stood up from her seat, cringing when she felt her head start pounding. They had to have put something strong into the punch. A slow song came on, and she scoffed in disgust, throwing her heels off, leaving them on the table. She was already clumsy in heels, being drunk and clumsy in heels would only end badly for her body. She stumbled through the pile of teenagers, her vision getting blurry as she started to overheat in the gym.

She bumped into a couple, muttering a small apology without looking back. If only she knew that the couple was Stiles and Lydia. They looked up from dancing, turning to see who bumped into them but all of the colors blurred together so they weren't able to catch the culprit. Lydia pulled away from Stiles, feeling extremely guilty all of a sudden for dancing with Stiles when she knew Sage liked him.

"I'm going to go get some air," Lydia mumbled towards Stiles. He looked down at her, seeing straight through the act she was pulling.

"You mean you're going to find Jackson," Stiles fixed, a lump forming in his throat when he realized that the date he didn't want to be his date was ditching him for her ex-boyfriend. "Okay."

Lydia smiled lightly. "And you need to find Sage."

Stiles nodded and the two walked off the dance floor, going in opposite ways. Stiles spent a good five minutes trying to find Sage in the crowd, even asking Danny who finally told him she went into the hallway. He rushed out of the gym, look through both halls before noticing a silhouette of a girl that he'd seen too many times not to recognize. Walking over to her, he wondered why she was in the part of the hallway that was abandoned. Only a few feet away, a group of girls were chatting and drinking.

"Sage?"

She looked up, and he saw that her makeup was smearing on her face. Letting out a scoff, Sage put her back against one of the lockers. "You finally get tired of dancing with Lydia? You— you know what? Why do I even try? I mean, it's obvious I'm not good enough. I'm just this girl, this orphan, who thought of a split... a split second that she was worth loving someone. I don't have — what do I even have?"

Stiles noticed her words were slurring together, and he stepped forward. "Are you drunk? Seriously, Sage?"

"No," she pointed a finger at him. "You can't do that. You can't judge me. You don't get to judge me, or even help me for that matter. You know why? Because we're not dating, Stiles. We— we're just friends."

"You didn't have a problem with me going with Lydia to the dance at the mall, Sage. Don't put all of the blame on me," Stiles snapped. He didn't want to yell at her, especially when she was in a drunken state, but his anger towards Lydia for leaving him and his anger towards Sage for being so oblivious pushed him over the edge.

"Because it's all my fault!" Sage spat sarcastically. "You could have said no, Stiles! You could have fought harder!" She saw the group of girls going back into the gym, leaving the two pretty much alone aside from the thumping of the music inside.

Stiles furred his eyebrows. "This isn't about me taking Lydia to the dance anymore, is it?"

"What? Of course it is," Sage denied.

"No, I don't think it is. I think you're jealous and upset because it's Lydia in general. Oh, my god, Sage! Do you not understand how much I like you? Or even how much hell you've put me through in these past few months? You kissed my best friend! You kissed him— and, you kissed Jackson. Do you not know how terrible that feels? You know what? No. This," he motioned between them. "Whatever we had, it's officially done. I'm not going to take shit when I'm trying so hard to tell you that I care about you."

Sage nodded her head, feeling her tears fall down on her face as she clacked her tongue. "So that's it?"

"That's it," Stiles agreed.

Sage backed away from him. "Alright. Then, we're done here."

She turned around, running her hands through her hair as she wiped her tears as best as she could. No doubt, she looked like a clown but she couldn't give two shits at this point. The fight sobered her up better than sleep ever would, and she hadn't even comprehended what happened until she stopped in the middle of the hallway to marvel. Slowly turning around, she noticed that Stiles was still standing in the same place he was before.

And she realized that she didn't want to be done.

Walking back the way she came, her bare feet hitting the ground caused Stiles' to lift his head. As soon as she was able to reach him, she grabbed the back of his neck and crushed her lips onto his. And he wasted no time kissing her back, both hands tangling in her hair like he'd always done before. This kiss was different than the other two. The first one had been to shut Stiles up while the second had been for fun. This kiss was for confirmation.

Despite not wanting to, Stiles pulled away from her to see a figure coming towards them. Sage turned around, surprised when she saw Jackson coming towards them, looking more sober than he did leaving. "Hey Jackson, are you alright? Where have you been?"

"Did Lydia find you?" Stiles wondered as well. Sage felt something screech in her ears when the name Lydia was mentioned. She chose to ignore it, staring at Jackson, waiting for him to answer either one of them. He looked like he just killed someone and was trying to confess, breathing heavily and trying to form a proper sentence. "What? What's wrong?"

"I—I was out behind the school and I— was out..." Jackson stumbled over his words. Sage frowned, her biggest concern at the moment was where exactly Lydia was since she wasn't with them or Jackson. Taking a deep breath of air, she glanced over to see Stiles' eyes were in slits as he glared at Jackson.

"Stiles, I'm going to find Lydia. Figure out what he did," Sage ordered, moving past him. She didn't even bother with shoes, she'd rather take the chances of stepping on a beer bottle then wear heels. She figured her best bet was going out to the field considering Jackson had taken the way in from the parking lot and clearly she wasn't there.

Pushing open the door, she jogged outside, looking for any signs of a strawberry blonde. "Lydia! Lydia, are you out here? Lydia!'

"Why don't you yell a bit louder, Sage?" Lydia asked, letting out a snort. Sage huffed in relief, and let out a breathy laugh. The two of them probably looked like complete idiots standing in the center of the field. "What happened to your makeup?"

"Long story," Sage muttered, going to take Lydia inside when the field lights started to blind them. Sage used her hand as a visor, looking to see who had turned them on. To her surprise, a man slowly started to appear in a familiar trench coat. Lydia called out, thinking it was Jackson, but Sage knew exactly who it was. "Lydia, I want you to start running."

"What? Why? What's going on? Jackson!" Lydia shouted, but the name got caught in her throat when she saw it wasn't her ex boyfriend. Peter was advancing towards them, and Sage grabbed a hold of Lydia's arm, tugging her away from the Alpha.

"Lydia, you need to run. Now."

"Sage! Lydia! Run!" Stiles screamed as he ran towards them. Peter smiled, his mouth opening to show his canines. Sage felt her words get caught in her throat, literally, because Peter had grabbed a hold of her neck, raising her up in the air as he grabbed Lydia with his free hand. The girl didn't have a chance to scream before Peter bit into her skin.

"No!" Sage choked out. Peter looked over at her, giving a sadistic grin. Then he hastily dropped her to the ground, and she knew what his motive was, because he had two. He knew that she would acquire Lydia's wound, and he wanted to see what would happen if someone was bit. Sage left the burning pain as soon as she fell on the ground. Unlike Lydia, she was conscious and felt the entire thing. The burning, the agony.

Peter crouched down over Sage and Lydia's body just as Stiles slid to the grass, moving towards the girls. Peter clearly disapproved, moving even closer to their bodies. "Don't kill her, please."

"Her ability is such a beautiful thing, isn't it? To be able to link yourself to a group of individuals, to experience their pain, to die with them. Do you know what the word 'Altor' means, Stiles?" Peter asked, trailing one of his claws along the side of Sage's face while her vision started to blur.

"Please don't hurt her," Stiles begged.

Peter growled. "Answer...the...question."

"Altor? I—it means to foster, right? To raise someone's child?" Stiles asked, faintly remembering seeing the word when he was going through all of his research on werewolves. He didn't see how any of this was relevant, especially since he could still Lydia and Sage were about to die.