"you treat them as if they have a heart like yours, but not everyone can be as soft and as tender as you. You don't see the person they are, you see the person they have the potential to be. You give and give, till they have taken everything out of you and leave you empty."

Scott

We had physics with Coach Finstock, but no one really paid attention to what he was talking about.

In a few hours the winter ball is going to start, everyone was happy about it. Of course, I was looking forward to it, too, we only had the last few days our hands full with the Alpha Pack.

The last few days we also had a lot to do with Taryna, Masilya and Freddie. Isaac and I knew what they were. And Taryna knew what we were.

We didn't really talk much about her, only I knew she was a witch and her mother was murdered in the Hale House fire.

As we talked about Taryna, I've often caught myself staring at her lately.

Like right now, she was sitting in the back of the room, and was on her phone.

She didn't like physics, maybe because she didn't understood it herself. However, she is good at chemistry and biology, isn't that the same?

"McCall!" Coach Finstock called after me.

Not again...

I looked at him expectantly, turning to face him, before Taryna saw me staring at her.

I really have to stop doing that ...

"Sit down next to Topaz, you two will be partners for the rest of the lesson," he told us, pointing to the seat next to Taryna with a pen.

I looked at him in surprise, since when do we make partner works in here?

"If it works for you, then it should happen in the next few seconds,  McCall," he added.

I nodded, packed my things and sat next to Taryna.

"Hi," I admitted shyly.

Come on, Scott, you and your friends fought against Peter as an alpha and Jackson as a kanima, and you're still way to shy to talk to a girl?

She gave me a tired smile and gave me a hey back.

"Not sleeping well in the last few days?" I asked her, trying to improve the mood, after all, neither of us understood physics.

"Yeah, we celebrated Freddie's birthday yesterday, you don't want to know how Freddie reacts to coffee, it's bad, she kept me awake when I finally fell asleep, I had a nightmare ... it felt so real", Taryna told me and looked at me briefly, until she blushed a bit and looked away.

I smiled at her a little, I couldn't really comment on that. After all, many weird things happen in this city right now.

"Don't worry, we don't really need physics in our life," Taryna told me, grinning as she saw me trying.

If you can call it a try ...

☆ an hour before ☆
☆ the winter ball☆

Taryna

"so if something's gonna happen-," Masilya's father and my father started talking at the same time again.

"We will call you, promise," we finished their sentences again.

Masilya sighed and I just rolled my eyes. They couldn't wait down stairs, no...

Masilya's mom and three of our aunts helped us, with just about everything. In between we nibbled something away with excitement.

Our family called us "Thieves of the Night", because we like to go to the kitchen in the middle of the night and eat everything away.

Almost every time, I ask myself how it can be, that none of them woke up and noticed us. We are very loud, the worst thing is, when we talk about stupid jokes.

Then nobody can stop us from laughing ...

"Taryna, stop eating, you'll destroy your make up," my aunt warned me and took my cookie out of my hand.

I gave her my puppy-look, after a few minutes she gave in and only gave me "one".

Half an hour later, we looked like princesses. Actually, I didn't like that term in a sentence where I came in, but I looked really pretty.

Wow, that sounds so arrogant ..

Whatever.

I'm beautiful.

At least, I'm beautiful right now.

"Your dates are already here!", My dad screamed from below.

"They'll be right there," Masilya's mum shouted back, then turned back to finish off Masilya's hair.

"Ok, remember, always smile on pictures, don't overeat before singing, Taryna and ..." my aunt started until another one broke her off.

"Have fun", they smiled at us all four dreamily and made pictures of us, in pairs and individually.

After telling them, we really need to go, we walked cautiously down the stairs, grinning because we both felt like one of us was going to fall down at any moment.

Believe me, we would laugh at each other, then help the other one.

What Freddie looks like right now ...

"Oh my-" "holy-", Scott and Stiles started, as well as our fathers, but couldn't finish their sentences.

Why does everyone look at us like our prom is already around the corner?

"Hey," I greeted Scott and gave him a short hug, after all, my dad was standing next to me.

Not that he has anything against it, only it is embarrassing for me.

Don't ask, I'm weird.

It was nothing more than a winter ball, but for my family it's like a wedding.

Of course, the pictures weren't missing as a "reminder", it meant something like, in a few years we'll finish you all, because how ugly you looked back then.

Sad, but a true story.

"We're leaving," I said finally, after a thousand pictures, and pulled Scott out.

"I'm sorry, I got panic, there were too many people there, for me," I apologized to him embarrassed.

"It's alright, but you have a wonderful family and you look gorgeous," Scott smiled, giving me some compliments and then held the door open for me.

Inwardly, I felt like I was dying, thanks to him.

I thanked him and got in his car. Scott jogged to the other side and then climbed in.

Stiles and Masilya have already left, so that Isaac and Freddie won't stand around in the parking lot alone.

"No way," I said unconvinced stunned.

"Believe me, it was Stiles' fault, he wanted to find the other half of the body, in the middle of the night, and now I'm a werewolf, thanks to him," Scott told me, about his transformation, grinning.

I could stare at his grin for hours, I would still like it.

We continued to tell events that happened within the supernatural, which sounded so exciting. In the background, we turned on the radio, in case a good song would run.

When we arrived, Scott helped me out because it was hard for me to walk around in a long dress with high heels without falling down. [A/N: unfortunately I have experiences in that...]

Although I didn't need any further assistance, Scott held my hand further, you can imagine how I felt, right?

Overjoyed, we both ran over to the others who were mentally waiting for us.

Arriving in the sports hall, we couldn't recognize it. Couple of students have decorated the hall further and it looked wonderful.

Better than two years ago.

Only now did I realize how close the performance was. I was after the two singers with Willow, a classmate I've known for years.

Before I got a panic attack, I calmed myself down quickly and distracted myself, as Scott asked me if I would like to dance with him.

What a question ...

He could just have pulled me onto the dance floor and I wouldn't mind.

But of course he was way too cute, which I thought was sweet.

"It'll be fine, at least you can sing," Scott cheered me up with a smile and continued to dance.

It was a slow song, and because I danced with him slowly, I forget how breathing worked sometimes.

But I had enough breathing problems, so I don't need new ones.

I nodded smiling and tried to focus on this dance with Scott, that's about it.

Because many dared to dance now, it was getting tighter, so we had to dance closer together.

Only when we really had fun dancing, coach Finstock interrupted us, because I should go to Willow, who is already standing next to the stage.

Scott wished me luck and then I lost him in the crowd.

Willow just gave me a fake smile and handed me a microphone.

On the stage, I took a couple of breaths in and out before the tune of Santa Baby started.

I started my verse, I always got the best of it because it didn't confuse me so quickly.

As our music teacher has told us, we should be innocent because it fits in better with this song and, frankly, it's true.

It was exhausting with Willow, she tried to look better and pushed me back deliberately so everyone could see her better.

I, on the other hand, didn't try to show it, after all the hall is full of people.

Can I slap her?

Like really hard?

With a chair?

I could also curse her or kill her directly.

Just saying ...

When it was finally over, it felt like I was standing there, for hours. I was glad when it was over.

I didn't even try to find my friends, I just had to get out of here. I couldn't stand it in here and then near Willow.

No, thanks, but no.

Outside, I let my eyes closed for a couple of minutes and took a deep breath in and out a few times.

Well, maybe I'm a witch, but we can lose control quickly, as wolves do.

Maybe we won't transform, but we use words that we think are right at the moment, but later on we realize how bad it was.

"Taryna?" Scott called my name thoughtfully and came out to me.

I wiped away the few tears that lay on my cheek and turned questioningly to him.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to leave you there alone," I apologized to him, feeling that lump in my throat because, as always, I tried to hide my feelings.

"I can feel your mourning, so what happened? Was it Aiden?" Scott asked worriedly, then stopped beside me and carefully took my hand.

I glanced at our hands for a moment, looked at him again with emotion.

"No, it's Willow, I don't know why, but I feel like she's trying to make me look bad, even though she suggested our music teacher to sing with me," I tried to explain, though my explanations were always complicated.

And again, I felt the tears come back.

But before the tears started to flow down my cheek, Scott gently brushed them off with his thumb and smiled encouragingly.

That's one of the reasons why I love him over everything, he didn't ask any more questions or assumed I would say something, so I could be the center of the attention.

Don't ask, I have experiences ...

"You owe me a slow dance", he tried to improve the mood and looked me deep in the eyes.

I let a light laugh out of my mouth, but then nodded.

After all, I had to go in the middle of the dance earlier.

Scott released my hand, pulled out his phone, and played a slow song.

[A thousand years - Christina Perri]

I bit my lip, grinning, trying not to laugh.

"Do you remember? Fifth grade?" Scott asked, grinning and carefully placing his phone on the floor.

Oh no, Scott could remember that ...

I started to laugh as I remembered what he meant by that.

"Of course," I answered his question and put my hands on his shoulders first, as Scott came to me and put his hands on my waist.

"Stiles and you quarreled in our music lesson, whether you could sing or not, you didn't want to realize it, that you could sing" Scott started grinning, danced to the music.

"You were so sweet and you played the judge, when you heard us discussing.", I continued, laughing again, slowly putting my arms around his neck.

"I always was a fan of your voice and you from the beginning," Scott whispered to me as we danced close together.

I could melt away ...

He didn't really say that, did he?

Ok, fangirl later, enjoy the moment for now.

I looked at him dreamily, it was quiet for a few seconds because we both didn't dare to take the first step.

You know what? A girl can take the first step, too, whatever.

I leaned forward a bit and went slightly to the top because I'm small in size, and kissed him.

Oh my god, I did it!

A small step for love, but a big step for a Taryna!

Fortunately, Scott returned the kiss and pulled me closer. It was wonderful, but we had to break the kiss because we both needed air.

Scott wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Isaac.

"Hey, Freddie and I want to go to the diner and eat something there, do you want to go?", Isaac asked us briskly and grinned happily, as did Freddie.

What the hell happened to them?

I hope they didn't take anything ...

Maybe they just had a lot of fun ...

Of course, as if they would take something...

I looked questioningly at Scott, who looked at me as well. I was hungry, without excuses.

Although I was always hungry.

In the next moment we sat in the diner with Freddie and Isaac, we had a lot of fun and got to know each other more, although right now some bad things are happening in the city.

Who needs a winter ball, when you can dance outside in the dark night with your crush and then eat with him and two of your close friends in a diner?

What Masilya is doing right now ...

However, after Isaac brought Freddie home, Scott brought me home a few minutes later.

It was now midnight and that meant, I am 17 years old now.

Oh my god, I'm getting old!

We both stopped in front of my door and smiled happily at each other. I told him that we have to be quieter, because "everyone" should be asleep now.

Except for my dad, of course. He stood in front of the window and stared at us.

"Your dad is watching us," Scott whispered to me, so easily intimidated.

Why did he have to check on me everytime?

Why couldn't he sleep like a normal father and look tomorrow if I'm still alive?

"Forget him, he only does it to know that you brought me home safely, which you did," I tried to whisper him some courage.

Scott nodded, smiling, pretending my dad wasn't there.

He looked at his watch and probably noticed that it was midnight.

"Now I can say it, Happy Birthday, Taryna.", Scott congratulated me with a grin and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

He didn't forget it ...

I'm just dying over here, holy macaroni ...

I whispered a "thank you" and sat on the step outside, what Scott also did after me.

It took a while for us to realize that it was already two o'clock in the morning. Softly we said goodbye to each other and I gave him a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

Only when he was completely gone and I couldn't see him, I went happily, but also tired inside and found my dad asleep on the couch.

He couldn't wait any longer.

I didn't try to laugh loudly, but I also found it cute. Carefully, I put a blanket on top of him and happily danced all the way up to my room.

No one could destroy my happiness right now ...

●            ●             ●             ●           ●

Manu Bennett as Taryna's father

Scarlett Leithold as Willow Richie