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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥

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Meilani reluctantly followed Stiles and Scott down the block towards the house that held the party there were invited to. It was one of Stiles' old friends from nursery school and he thought it was a good idea to get the three into normal teen activity and out of wolf drama. Something that Meilani needed to focus on because of everything that kept piling up. They should be with Derek trying to figure out what they could do about the pack of Alphas. 

"What?"

Meilani's head snapped up to see Stiles giving her a look that said he knew she was lost in her own head.

"What do you mean what?"

"I mean what, and you know what," Stiles huffed and stopped outside of the house where the party was, the music thumping softly inside. "The look you were giving."

"I didn't give a look," Meilani defended, crossing her arms. 

"There was a distinct look, Lani. The look that says that the las thing you feel like doing right now is going to a party."

Scott raised a shoulder in a half shrug. "It is a little weird going to another high school's party, Stiles. Meilani and I don't even know anyone and you haven't even really spoken to this girl much so how well do you even know her?"

Stiles groaned and threw his head back, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just one drink, alright? You'll both be fine. She promised to introduce Scott to all of her friends. So tonight, no Allison. Tonight, Scott is moving on and I get to have one normal night with my girlfriend!"

As if Allison had known the trio were talking about her, Meilani's phone buzzed in her back pocket and she took it out to see a missed call from Allison. Before Meilani could text Allison back to see if she was okay, Stiles took Meilani's phone from her hand and stuffed it into his back pocket.

"You're right," Scott breathed, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he tried to hype himself up. "Moving on from Allison."

"Onward and upward!" Stiles encouraged.

"Yeah, let's do this."

"That's what I'm talking about. No look me," Stiles said and the two boys high fived, bringing their hands fully around and high fiving by their waists next.

Meilani rolled her eyes at the boys' antics and followed them towards the front door of the house while Scott rambled to Stiles about his breath. They stepped inside the opened front door and a pretty girl with brown curly hair and a strapless, floral top and skinny jeans greeted them with a drink in hand. Her eyes seemed to brighten up at the sight of Stiles and Meilani had the sudden urge to drag Stiles next to her and away from the greedy eyes of the girl before her.

"Stiles! So glad that you made it."

"Me too," Stiles replied with a small smile and pulled away from the hug the girl had brought him into.

Meilani stepped forward and slid her hand into Stiles with a tight smile towards the girl. "Hi, Stiles' girlfriend, Meilani. That's my twin, Scott."

The birthday girl who Meilani didn't even care to know the name of seemed to shrink back at the intense stare from Meilani. "Right... well... enjoy the party. I'm going to get some more wine from downstairs."

Stiles chuckled as the girl turned and rushed away from the trio before they could say anything else. He turned to Meilani with an amused grin along with Scott who now stood next to Stiles. "You were jealous."

"Was not."

"Oh, you so were," Stiles beamed and leant down to place a soft kiss on Meilani's lips. "It was cute."

Meilani rolled her eyes as both Scott and Stiles laughed and punched them both in the shoulder, earning yelps from them both. "Bug off, assholes."

"I'm going to go get us drinks. Wait here," Stiles informed the twins and rushed off towards the kitchen to grab them some drinks. 

"You sure you want him to be by himself," Scott mused, nudging Meilani with a grin. He grunted when Meilani merely punched his shoulder again. "Geez, Mei, you don't have use your werewolf strength."

Meilani smiled innocently at her twin, pulling her phone out of her back pocket that buzzed twice with two texts from Allison. She furrowed her eyebrows when Scott's phone buzzed next with a text from Allison as well. All three texts asking where they were because she needed to talk to them. Meilani had quickly texted Allison the address of the party, wanting to be anywhere but inside the house anyway. 

Allison wasn't far from the neighborhood and arrived before Stiles had even come back with the drinks for the trio. The twins had both stepped outside to see both Allison and Lydia stood together outside.

"This... isn't the talk we were gonna have, is it?" Scott asked.

Allison shook her head and pulled her sleeve up her arm to reveal an odd looking marking on her wrist. It almost looked like she was grabbed by something, but it wasn't a handprint so Meilani didn't know what to make of it. 

They needed Derek.

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The next morning, Derek had met Meilani, Allison, Lydia and the boys at the school in an empty classroom at the back of the building. It took a lot of convincing from Meilani, but she finally got Derek to meet them for at least an hour and take a look at the bruised patterns on Allison and Lydia's arms that matched up together when they placed next to each other. It had put a damper on the party and Meilani and the boys had left not too long after Scott and Meilani spoke to the girls. Something that Meilani didn't mind too much because she hadn't been in the party mood in the first place. She had only gone to make her boyfriend happy and let him have at least one normal night with her. Plus, the birthday girl had gone rogue anyway so there wasn't much of a point to staying there anyway.

Clearly, Meilani could never have a normal night because werewolf drama always seemed to pop up wherever she was. Go figure. 

"I don't see anything," Derek said, glancing between Allison and Lydia's arm that were held up next to each other. "How is a bruise gonna tell me where Boyd and Erica are?"

"It's the same on both sides," Scott argued. "Exactly the same."

"It's nothing."

"Pareidolia," Lydia said, dropping her arm back to her side. "Seeing patterns that aren't there." She huffed when the room all gave her odd looks about what she was talking about. "It's a subset of Apophenia."

Meilani decided to ignore Lydia's random fact of the day and turned back to Derek with a pleading look. "Come on, Der, they're trying to help."

"These two," Derek remarked and pointed at Lydia. "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle. Thank you." Then he turned to Allison with a harsh glare. "And this one who shot thirty arrows into me and my pack."

"Okay, alright now, come on. No one died, alright? Look, there may have been a little maiming, a little mangling, but no death. That's what I call an important distinction," Stiles chimed in, trying to settle the situation before it got worse.

Allison pushed her tongue into her cheek, placing her hands on her hips as she matched Derek's harsh glare. "My mother died."

Derek crossed his arms and seemed indifferent to the whole thing in typical Derek fashion. "Your family's little honor code killed your mother. Not me."

"That girl is looking for Meilani. I'm here to help her, not you."

"You wanna help?" Derek challenged and stepped closer to the huntress. "Find something real."

Meilani sighed when Derek went to walk out of the classroom and rushed after him, grabbing his arm before he could walk out and spun him around. "Derek, just give her a chance. They're on our side now."

"Well then maybe you should tell her what her mother was actually trying to do that night," Derek snapped and stormed out of the room.

Why couldn't things ever just be simple?

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"Okay, what would a pack of Alphas want with Erica and Boyd?" Stiles asked as he, Meilani and Scott made their way across the campus towards their next class. Meilani was just glad it had stopped raining outside because she didn't feel like sitting through her next classes soaked to the bone and freezing.

"I'm not sure it's them they want."

"What, like Derek? Like they're recruiting?" Scott questioned.

Meilani opened her mouth to respond, but felt an odd feeling wash over her as the new twin boys walked past her together. They had dressed the same in the same leather jacket and black jeans with their brown hair cut short and their brown eyes dark with mischief. 

"Babe!" Stiles yelled, finally getting Meilani's attention after she had been momentarily distracted. "You coming?"

Meilani furrowed her eyebrows as she slowly glanced back over her shoulder to see the twins now gone and decided to shake it off for now. School was her safe haven and she'd lie like to focus on school right now then more possible wolf drama.

The trio had sat down in their class with Coach Finstock for their Introduction to Business class. An elective that Meilani and Stiles had convinced Scott to take with them to fill up his schedule and have one less elective to take their final year. 

Coach slammed the textbook down onto the desk and circled said desk to lean against the front. "The stock market is based on two principles. What are they?"

Scott was the first person to raise his hand and Meilani and Stiles both flashed him proud smiles. He had finally stepped up his game and joined Stiles and Meilani on all of their study sessions and preparations for the new school year. With all the werewolf stuff going on, Scott wanted the normalcy as well since he was now in the middle of it all as well. Plus, Scott actually passing in school would be one less thing for Melissa to worry about now that she had to deal with Meilani's werewolf drama. Something that clearly tired the poor nurse out, but the woman never complained.

"Yes, McCall, you can go to the bathroom," Coach waved Scott off, not expecting him to have the answer. "Anybody else?"

"No, Coach, I know the answer."

Coach burst out into laughter at Scott's response, but slowly died off when Scott just stared at him innocently. "Oh... you're serious."

"Yes, sir. Risk and reward."

"Wow!" Coach exclaimed and his own proud smile took over his face. "Who are you and what have you done with the lesser McCall? Don't answer that. I like you better." He turned to Meilani and clasped a hand over her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Meilani, I don't know what you did to your brother, but keep it. I like him!"

Meilani laughed and held a thumb up to Finstock. "Anything for you, Coach."

"That's my girl," Coach said and dropped his hand from her shoulder, backing back up towards the front of the class. "Anyone have a quarter?"

"I got one, Coach!" Stiles answered and fumbled for a quarter in his pocket, a shiny square foil falling out of his front pocket as he did so.

Meilani's face fell in horror when she realized it was a condom and the whole room turned to look at her and Stiles, her face burning a bright red in embarrassment. She quickly lowered herself in her seat and wished a hole would open up beneath her and swallow her whole. Right now would have been a good time for her to not be in a cute cream sweater, leggings and brown leather boots. The one day she decided to put effort into her outfit and Stiles decides to wear the same jeans from the party the night before. She honestly didn't even know he had kept the condom in his pocket. 

Meilani was originally supposed to stay the night at Stiles', but had gone home with Scott instead after the whole Allison and Lydia situation. She needed to go home and try to phone Derek for hours until she finally just dialed Isaac who answered immediately, giving the phone over to Derek. Isaac was definitely Meilani's knew favorite person.

"Stilinski, I think you, uh..." Coach trailed off and picked the condom off the floor, placing it down on the Stiles' desk. His eyes trailed over to Meilani who continued to slide further and further down in her seat between Stiles and Scott. "Congrats, McCall."

Meilani squeezed her eyes shut and tried to ignore the snickers that Scott tried to hide along with the amused grin on his face. She was seriously going to kill Stiles later.

"Put the quarter in the mug, win the reward," Coach announced, picking up his COACH RULES! mug off his desk and placing it on the floor. He backed up to put some distance between himself and the mug, bouncing the quarter off the floor and into the mug. "Huh? Huh? That's how you do it!"

Danny, who was sat in front of Meilani, jumped when Coach flicked the quarter over to him and into his hands.

"Okay. Danny. Risk, reward."

Danny inspected the quarter in his hand and raised an eyebrow at Coach. "What's the reward?"

"You don't have to take the pop quiz tomorrow," Coach offered.

"Uh... Coach, it's not a pop quiz if you tell us about it."

"Danny, I expected more from you at this point. Really," Coach said disappointedly and placed the quarter down on Meilani's desk next. "Meilani. Risk, reward. The risk: if you don't put the quarter in the mug, you have to take the pop - " He broke off when he turned to glance at Danny and shook his head. "The quiz and - and you have to write an essay. Risk, more work. Reward, no work at all. Or you can choose not to play."

Meilani slowly raised herself back up to sit properly in her chair, tucking a piece of curly hair behind her ear and fiddled with the quarter. "Isn't this just chance?"

"No. You know your abilities, your coordination, your focus, past experience - all factors affecting the outcome. So what's it gonna be, Meilani? More work, no work, or choose not to play?"

Meilani twisted the quarter back and forth in between her thumb and pointer finger. She could make it into the mug no problem with her wolf abilities. They'd be able to aid her into sinking the quarter right into the mug. However, that wouldn't be fair to anyone if she did that and Meilani wasn't necessarily one to sweat a quiz or test. So, deciding to play fair like she should, Meilani handed the quarter back to Coach Finstock.

"No play. Okay, who's next?" Coach asked the class and Stiles drummed his hands against his textbook, pushing himself out of his seat. "Stilinski! Love a gambling man! Meilani, you can learn a thing or two from your boyfriend here."

Stiles jogged over to the spot Coach Finstock had previously stood in while Coach stood behind the mug to watch Stiles do his thing. However, before Stiles could bounce the quarter, Noah and a deputy stepped into the room.

"Stiles."

"Yeah, Coach, I got it," Stiles replied, too focused on the quarter and mug that he hadn't realized it was his father who had called his name and not Coach.

"Stiles," Noah said again, earning his son's attention once again. "I need to speak to you outside."

Scott glanced to Meilani who leant back in her seat and focused her hearing on the conversation outside between the father and son. The birthday girl, Heather, had gone missing from the party as Meilani knew. Stiles was apparently the last one to see her which Meilani wanted to assume was in the kitchen before Stiles had walked back out with the three red solo cups of alcohol for Scott and Meilani. Noah had known there was alcohol involved at the party, but didn't seem to mind since instead he needed to focus on Heather being missing.

"Yes!" Danny exclaimed, snapping Meilani's focus back onto the classroom. He was stood where Stiles had been and the quarter clattered to the bottom of the mug. 

"Reward!" Coach exclaimed and gave Danny two thumbs up for doing well. "Who's next? Oh... Greenberg, put your hand down. We all know you don't have a chance, pal."

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"So, you think they kidnapped Heather to turn her?" Meilani asked, jogging to keep up with Scott and Stiles as the trio made their way down the hall after Coach's class.

After speaking to Noah, Stiles had come back into the classroom and couldn't talk about Heather until the class ended ten minutes later. He had a sneaking suspicion that the the alpha pack had been the ones to take her and wanted to use her against Meilani. A girl that Meilani didn't know or care about in the first place.

"Derek says it's easier to turn teenagers," Stiles reminded.

"Yeah, but what would a pack of Alphas need a Beta for?"

Stiles huffed and gripped the straps of his backpack tighter causing his knuckles to turn white. "Meilani, I don't know or care, okay? Heather's mom was best friends with my mom before she died. We used to take frickin' bubble baths together when we were three. She's like a sister to me and I have to find her. You can be jealous all you want, but I have a duty to protect the poor girl."

Meilani frowned at Stiles' rant and felt a bit of guilt for being jealous in the first place. It was feeling that Meilani never really felt because she knew that Stiles loved her and only her since they met in the sandbox in kindergarten. Something inside her just snapped and she chalked it up to everything going on and the fact that it became more and more clear that she could