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CHAPTER TWENTY ONE; 21

Sage hated math.

She would have been fine with any other subject, but not math. Math was the epitome of torture. Even worse, her teacher decided to give a whole packet dedicated to something they all had yet to learn. She didn't want to bother Lydia by asking for help, especially after she just got back from her hike in the woods, so she opted for the only other person that might know it aside from Lydia. Which is why she was sitting on Stiles Stilinski's bed whining about how much she hated their math teacher, Ms. Cartwright.

"Sage, you're on your last problem. Just finish it and we can watch a movie," Stiles complained, having finished his own work about fifteen minutes ago. Now he was just staring at Sage who was refusing to pick her pen up to circle the letter 'C'. When Sage just buried her head deeper into his comforter, he took it upon himself to mark the answer himself. "You're so lazy."

Sage's head shot up and she stared at him baffled. "I walked through the forest for three and a half hours last night in boots that were bigger than Jackson's ego. Don't you dare call me lazy, Stilinski. I can take your ass down."

"Oh really?" Stiles asked, raising his eyebrows. He saw her fighting a smile, and he knew he was wearing a shit grin right now. Right when he thought she was going to give up, she rolled over so she was sitting on top of him, grabbing his hands so that they were above his head. Sage expected for Stiles to grow red, but he didn't. The grin was still on his face, and he was staring at her with a strange look in his eyes.

Having her in front of him, hair falling down like a curtain in front of her eyes, he realized just how badly he was falling for this girl. How everything she did drew him in closer, like a magnet. When she came back to Beacon Hills, he never imagined that she would be the one to break him from his infatuation with Lydia. He noticed something in her though, something that was holding her back. Sure, they'd kissed at formal, and maybe a few times after that, but they were never brought up again.

"Can I ask you something?" Stiles softly asked, his playful banter ending when he realized it was now or never. Sage nodded, letting go of his arms so he could sit up. He took a deep breath, and started to ask the question that has been on his mind for the past few months. "Will you—"

He was cut off when he saw something show up on Sage's face. She noticed just as quickly as he did, her hand shooting up to her cheek where she could feel a scratch appearing. With furred eyebrows, Sage shot out of Stiles' bed, running towards a mirror. By the time she got there, she could see the scratch already fading; soon enough there was no trace of it ever being present. Turning to look at Stiles who now stood behind her, his eyes wide with worry.

"Stiles, it wasn't anyone I know."

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The next day at school, Sage was extremely wary. After last night, she wasn't sure what was going to happen. Not only was Lydia coming back to school, but Jackson's body was still fighting the bite, and there was apparently a new person in the 'pack' that just raised the chances of her going through immense pain every time they got hurt. If more people were going to be joining in on the party, she really needed to reconsider staying friends with Derek.

Speaking of Derek, she had yet to talk to him. After they had to leave the Hale house, not that Sage wanted to stay any longer, he bought her an apartment that he refused to stay at. There were only periodic moments when he would visit, and most of the time that was either to make sure she was still breathing, ask for a favor, take a shower, or eat all of her food. He told her where he was staying, in an abandoned train warehouse that looked less sanitary to sleep in than the burned remains of a roofless house. She knew why he was doing it though. Derek never liked having nice things, he never thought he should have to honor of sleeping in a nice bed or having a sturdy ceiling. He would get her nice things that she didn't need, buy her new jackets and apartments but never anything for himself.

That was another thing other people didn't know about Derek; he was selfless. He just didn't show it as often. It's what originally made her think that Scott is exactly the person Derek used to be. Even when she was eleven and still learning how to be a girl, she would always admire Derek, and Laura. She always thought it would be the three of them against the world. But things change.

People die.

Shoving her hands in the leather jacket Lydia gave back to her, she walked along side her two friends, zoning out of the conversation while they talked about meaningless things like clothing. Her ears only decided to work when Allison asked Lydia a question that Sage never wondered until now. "So you really don't remember anything?"

"They call it a fugue state," Lydia explained although her mood seemed less than pleased as she told them. Sage already heard Lydia's rant because she was there when the doctors told Lydia the news, not leaving Lydia's side until it was absolutely necessary. "Which is basically a way of saying, "We have no idea why you can't remember running through the woods naked for two days.'" Sage and Allison abruptly stopped in their place when Lydia turned to stand in front of them, blocking the entrance to the school. "But, personally, I don't care. I lost nine pounds!"

Sage snorted, running her hands through her hair as she adjusted in her white converse. Lydia hadn't even acknowledged her choice of outfit today, which is a surprise considering she was the one that bought the death boots that caused Sage intense amounts of pain. "Yeah, me too. Next time you get lost in the woods, you're staying there. I'm pretty sure all of my toes are broken from running around in those shoes."

"Beauty is pain, my dear Sage," Lydia replied, while Allison stood silent beside the two. Sage pulled one of her hands out of her pockets to give Lydia a thumbs up.

"I'll be ugly then. I go through enough pain on a daily basis."

Allison's head whipped towards Sage, wondering if Sage even realized she almost just outed her secret to Lydia. Rushing to change the subject before Lydia thought through Sage's words too deeply, she asked, "Are you sure you're reading for this?"

"Please," Lydia started with a smirk. "It's not like my aunt's a serial killer that murdered my friend's family."

After throwing the retort at the two, Sage and Allison stood there watching as she burst through the school doors. Sage noticed that Allison's face dropped, and she had to admit herself that the jab hurt more than Lydia probably intended. It was Lydia, though. There was no doubt in Sage's mind Lydia did that to feel better about herself. The strawberry blonde had a filter, but she didn't filter her words well enough. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, trying to recover from being so shocked at Lydia's shot, Sage grabbed a hold of Allison and the two followed Lydia through the doors.

The two girls didn't get very far as they were once again held back by Lydia, who seemed glued to the floor. Sage went to protest, but her eyes widened when she saw why Lydia wasn't moving. The entire hallway was filled with gaping teenagers, all with looks of hesitancy in their eyes. Sage didn't blame them, the three girls were definitely a riot. She wasn't surprised that some people were staring at Allison with looks that screamed fear, people were staring at Lydia like they were waiting for her to break down, while they all looked to Sage like she was a walking time bomb.

Good. They should know not to mess with her.

Allison, being the only one able to come up with a coherent sentence at the moment, leaned in towards Lydia. "Maybe it's the nine pounds."

As if the words regenerated Lydia back to life, the teenager whipped her head back, barely missing Sage's mouth, and stalked off in heels that looked like they could kill. Sage and Allison glanced over at each other before following Lydia. Sage made sure to bump shoulders with one of the seniors staring with a smug smile. She really didn't have the tolerance to deal with teenage boys today.

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When Sage got onto the lacrosse field, she was immediately gripped by two pairs of hands. Rather than screaming, her arm just flung out to hit the person to her right, resulting in a low groan that sounded all too familiar to her. Glancing over, she glowered at the two boys, Stiles having fallen to the ground after she hit him square in the chest while Scott was trying to pick him up. "How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?"

"Noted," Stiles choked out when he was finally able to stand. What made the situation even more humorous was that he was heavily padded in his lacrosse uniform, which was supposed to block out hits. Although with the funds Beacon Hills puts into lacrosse, she highly doubted their equipment was in good condition. "We've got to tell you something."

Scott spoke up before Sage could ask what he meant. "Stiles said you got a cut but it wasn't from any of us, right?" She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned on the side of the bleachers. "There's another werewolf on the team. I could feel him when I was in the locker room."

"Do you know who it is?" Sage asked, trying to keep her heartbeat steady. She still hadn't told the boys about Jackson being bitten, mostly because she made a promise to Derek not to, and if Jackson was the one who Scott was sensing, she was screwed. The only thing that was leading her to believe it wasn't Jackson they were speaking of is that she would have known if Jackson was the one who got cut. "I mean, I would have known if it was any of us. Clearly, I'm connected to them though."

Stiles and Scott started to walk over to the bench, both of them plopping down while Sage stood standing in front of them. Coach stared at her as he walked by, but didn't say anything, just shook his head and returned back to watching his players. Stiles decided to ask, "How did you even know?"

"It was kind of like a scent, but I couldn't tell who it was," Scott described. Sage knew the feeling. Whenever she would get a scratch or anything in the beginning, she could never figure out who it was, but after she started to get more infliction's from her friends, whether it be a paper cut or a sprained ankle, she was able to identify them better. She knew when Allison cut her palm on one of her arrows, she knew when Jackson hurt his ankle, but she didn't know who got cut in the face.

And it was annoying her not knowing.

"What if you can get him one on one? Would that help?" Stiles asked, pulling up his elbow padding. Sage turned around to see what they were staring at, but it was just a bunch of players throwing balls into the net, no real tactic happening at the moment.

"Okay, I think I've got an idea."

Sage whined. "Stiles, all of your ideas either corrupt my mental health or physically cause one of us pain. Stiles, don't you dare run away from m- Stiles!" Sage watched as he ran away from her, letting out a small huff as she plopped down on the bench. Scott let out a laugh when he saw her reaction, only for her to give him a glare.

Only a few seconds later, Stiles came sprinting back, sliding down next to Sage. "Okay, I told Coach you're switching with Danny for the day."

"But I hate playing goal," Scott protested.

Stiles turned to look at him. "Remember when I said I had an idea? This is the idea."

"Oh," Scott grinned, nodding his head. Sage groaned, throwing her hands over her face as she weighed all of the possible things that could go wrong. More than a majority of them involved Scott tearing his whole team apart just trying to find the alpha. To make matters worse, Scott asked, "What's the idea?"

Sage choked out, standing up to get away from them. Before she left, she turned to the two. "I seriously don't understand how you two survived without me sometimes."

Just as she was heading towards the top of the bleachers, she rammed into a body. It wouldn't have hurt as bad if the person wasn't heavily padded with shoulder pads and the whole nine yards. Refraining herself from clutching her boobs in pain, she looked to see who she ran into, or better yet, who ran into her. Almost immediately, her face dropped at the sight of Matt Daehler, not pleased about how many times he has weaseled himself into her life ever since she came back to town. More so, how many times since they returned back from winter break.

"Uh, he— hey. I'm sorry about that," Matt stuttered. Sage shrugged it off, sending him a fake smile. He still had a creepy vibe going for him, and she wasn't exactly comfortable having him in such a close vicinity. "Hey, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, uh, go—" Matt was cut off by Coach's loud whistle buzzing through the air.

"You should probably get going," Sage said, turning towards the players that were already starting to line up. Matt turned to the field as well before sighing and waving his hand, jogging out onto the grass with the rest of the players. In the meantime, Sage started climbing up the bleachers, avoiding a few other students that were sitting down as well. When Coach threw the first ball in one of the player's nets, Sage was shocked to see that Scott was leaving his post at the goal, rushing forward to throw the player on their back. "Once again, Stiles fails to create a plan that doesn't injure someone."

"McCall! Usually the goalie stays somewhere within the vicinity of the actual goal," Coach explained. His back was turned towards Sage so she couldn't see his face, only him pointing towards the goal as an example of how terrible Scott was at being a goalie. Just like before, when Matt was up to make a shot, Scott broke from his position and managed to flip Matt on his back.

Sage probably should have felt worse than she did.

"McCall!" Coach exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "The position's goal keeper, not goal abandoner."

Scott went back, but Sage knew it wasn't over. "Sorry Coach."

Another guy down, the next person to go up was Danny, and Sage really didn't want to see Danny get crushed by a werewolf. Leaning forward in her seat, she watched as Scott ran out again, colliding with Danny. The only good thing was Scott held a tight grip on the other lacrosse player rather than slinging him around. They met on the ground with Scott shoving his nose in Danny's personal space.

"McCall! You go out of that goal one more time and you'll be doing suicide runs until you die. It'll be the first ever suicide run that ever ends in a suicide. You got it?" Coach shouted. Sage looked to see who was next in line, and her panic started to set in when she saw it was Jackson. He turned to her, and she started to rapidly shake her head, trying to tell him not to go up. That was only going to end badly for everyone.

"Hey, Coach, my shoulder's hurting. I think I'm going to sit this one out," Jackson lied, walking over to sit down on the benches. He avoided Scott's eyes, keeping his attention on Sage who seemed to be freaking out on the bleachers. Stiles was no better as he stood behind Isaac Lahey, a player who just so happened to be breathing heavily, chest heaving from exhaling so much air.

Sage diverted from Jackson to the next player up. She didn't recognize the lacrosse number, making it even more difficult for her to know who they were. Over time she had come to memorize as many faces and numbers, but this one didn't stick out to her. The player began running towards Scott, who wasted no time meeting his pace. As soon as they fumbled to the ground, Sage knew that the boy was the werewolf. Everyone went quiet as the two crouched down, looking ready to fight. Sage nearly expected them to when lacrosse practice was interrupted by the sound of a radio going off.

Sheriff Stilinski was walking out on the field with two deputies behind him, looking bad ass in their sunglasses and badges. Sage was concerned more about why they even showed up at the school. Coach seemed to understand practice was over, calling for everyone to scatter, and they did. Scott and Stiles found each other, and Sage had to go down the bleachers in order to meet them.

"What's going on?" Sage asked when she appeared at Stiles' side. "Why's Stiles' dad here?"

Scott, being the werewolf, opened his mouth. "His dad's dead. They think he was murdered."

The boy was lead away by Sheriff, and Sage pursed her lips. "Are they saying he's a suspect?"

"I'm not sure. Why?" Scott wondered, looking down at her.

"Because they can lock him in a holding cell for twenty four hours," Stiles said, realizing where Sage was going with her theory. Sage nodded and pulled her jacket closer to her, watching the two boys.

"You mean, like, over night?"

Stiles nodded and Sage clacked her tongue. "During the full moon."

"How good are these holding cells at holding people?"

"People? Good. Werewolves? Probably not that good," Stiles deadpanned.

Scott took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving the new werewolf. "Stiles, do you remember how I said I don't have the urge to maim and kill?"

"Yeah."

"He does."

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When Sage walked out of school, not being able to wait for Stiles or Scott seeing as they landed themselves in the principal's office, she was surprised when she saw a familiar Camaro parked outside. Derek was staring at her through the open window, his classic, black sunglasses shielding his eyes as she knew he was most likely giving her a look. She knew that Derek was the only one capable of turning Isaac — she found out his name from Stiles — and it infuriated her even more knowing he was just going around biting teenagers.

Jogging over to him, she didn't bother getting in the car, just leaning in through the open window. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Waiting for Scott."

"You know that's not what I meant, Derek. First Jackson, now Isaac? Why are you just going around biting people like it's not causing serious problems?" Sage barked with a cold laugh. Ever since they came back to Beacon Hills, their relationship seemed to hit a bump in the road. They were fighting more than anything, and it seemed like the secrets just kept piling on top of one another.

Derek turned to look past her where Scott was just emerging from the school. He didn't even bother replying to Sage, just leaning down so that Scott could see him. "Get in!"

"Are you serious? You did that, that's your fault," Scott said, pointing towards the cruiser leaving, one that held Isaac in the back seat.

Derek hesitated, looking between Sage and Scott. "I know that. Now get in the car, Scott, and help me."