"WAKE UP," ASHLEY SAID as she poked her sleeping niece repeatedly. The blonde girl responded with a groan, rolling over away from her aunt that was trying to wake her up. Suddenly, the sweet smell of coffee reached her nose. "You like that?" April nodded. "Well, come and get it."

April finally sat up and reached her arm out for the mug, but Ashley retracted the hand holding the mug so that it was just out of reach. The Sharpe girl moaned, "Oh, you suck."

"I wouldn't say that to the person that's holding your coffee," the woman scolded playfully. April sighed, acting like she was giving up, but then, she lunged for the cup. It did not go as planned, however, because Ashley stepped away just in time, and April went tumbling onto the floor. "Nice try. If you get ready fast enough, it might still be warm when you get downstairs."

"I hate you," the teenage girl called to her aunt, her voice muffled by the carpet of her bedroom floor. She finally got up from her surprisingly comfortable spot on the floor and began getting ready.

Once she was done, she basically stumbled down the stairs toward the bitter smell of the hot coffee waiting for her. She sat down at the counter as her aunt made breakfast. The woman asked, "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Nothing, at the moment," the teenage girl answered, "But I think Scott and Stiles are going to look for Lydia again after school, so I might go with them." 

"God, I hate the thought of her being out there all night with no clothes. Us strawberry-blondes have to stick together," Ashley sighed, waiting for the light on the waffle maker to go on.

April nodded before flashing the brightest smile she could manage back at her. "I know. You should really rethink making me go to school. I could be out there, helping the search party find her so she doesn't freeze to death out there."

 "Nice try," said the older woman as she handed her niece a waffle, "But if I let you help out with the search party, then Sheriff Stilinski is going to know that I let you skip, and I might go to jail. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"I guess not," April shrugged, smirking playfully.

They continued eating their breakfast with light conversation about school and friends, and when they were done, the younger girl grabbed her bag, said goodbye to her aunt, and started on her walk to school. She didn't walk every day. Sometimes Ashley or Stiles would drive her, but it was a nice day. She couldn't help but keep an eye out for Lydia, though.

On her way to school, she passed the graveyard. Usually, this didn't catch her attention, but that day, there were police cars, and Sheriff Stilinski was interviewing what looked to be a man and his son. This caused her to slow down. She recognized the boy, for he went to her school. What was strange was the dark bruise that surrounded his eye. 

"Hey, Mr. Stilinski," she called to her friend's father in hopes of getting an explanation, or, at least, an update on the Lydia situation. "How are you doing on this fine morning?"

All three of the males and a couple of the deputies turned to look at her, and she suddenly felt exposed. Noah replied, "It's been a long twelve hours. I'll tell you that, April. Now, get to school, and try to keep my son out of trouble for one day. I have enough to deal with right now."

"I'll try, Sheriff, but no promises," she smiled, but inside she was groaning. That did not answer any of her questions. She resumed her walk as she thought about everything that had happened since last night that was weird. Where was Lydia? Why did she disappear? Why did she go to the Hale house? What happened at the graveyard? Why did that boy have a black eye? Was he linked to Lydia somehow?

God, she hated that damn town.

《❀》

"She ate the liver?" Scott asked as they walked toward the school. April always loved the perfectly normal conversations they had, not to mention pretty loudly in public. There was no way that she was the only person who noticed the weird stares they get as they walk around.

"No, I didn't say she ate it," Stiles corrected quickly, as if it were any better. "I just said it was missing. And you know what? Even if she did, so what?" 

April furrowed her eyebrows at him. "What do you mean, 'so what'? She ate a liver. You know what Lydia will do when she finds out? She might actually carve her tongue out." She said the last part slowly in order to emphasize it. 

"But it's the most nutritious part of the body," Stiles countered, acting like that would change the fact that Lydia ate the liver of a dead body that she robbed from a grave. April was getting ahead of herself. They didn't even know if it was Lydia who took it.

"Why do you know that?" the blonde girl moaned. She knew that Stiles was smart, but sometimes, his random facts freaked her out a bit. "Actually, I don't even want to know."

Scott looked at both of them with a weird look and muttered, "I never ate anyone's liver."

"Yeah, right, 'cause when it comes to the werewolves, you're a real model of self-control," the Stilinski commented sarcastically. They began walking up the stairs, but he stopped them abruptly, stepping in front of his two friends and looking at Scott. "Actually, wait, hold on. You're the test case for this, so we should be going over what happened to you."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked, and April was a little confused herself. Scott never went running naked into the woods, at least that she knew of. Then again, there were millions of things that the two don't think are important enough to share with her.

Stiles sighed, looking at them like they were idiots, which he did on a pretty much minutely basis,."I mean, like what was going through your mind when you were turning, you know? What were you drawn to?"

"Allison."

"OKay, nothing else?" the other boy pleaded. There was no way he hadn't been expecting that answer. April was. Maybe he was just hopeful for something else. "Seriously?"

"Lay off, Scott. He's in love," the Sharpe girl teased in a silly voice, smiling and patting her werewolf friend on the back. She loved the way he talked about Allison, like there was nothing else of consequence in the entire world.

Scott shrugged, "Nothing else mattered. But, no, that's good though, right? 'Cause the night that Lyda was bit, she was with you." If it wasn't already obvious, Stiles had been in love with Lydia Martin for as long as April had known him, which was a long time. It was both creepy and sweet how much he knew and cared about her.

Stiles groaned, looking down at the ground. "Yeah, but she was looking for Jackson."

《❀》

"Let's go! I have an announcement," Coach Finstock called while Stiles, Scott, and April were talking in the boys' locker room. They were discussing what to do after school, and Scott had mentioned that Kate Argent's funeral was that day. While funeral crashing was not something April really wanted to do, the curiosity of figuring out who 'the others' were triumphed that. "Gather round. Quicker! Danny, put a shirt on."

"Don't you dare, Danny," the blonde girl ordered playfully, revealing herself to Coach and throwing the boy a smirk. He smiled back, but still pulled the cloth over his head. They had been friends since middle school, and April was actually the first person he came out to.

Coach looked at her in astonishment, groaning out, "Sharpe, how many times have I told you that you can't be in here?"

"Forklift papaya," she answered simply. She did this all the time. Whenever he told her to get out, she just said some random words so that he'd get confused and move on. It wasn't that she really wanted to be in the boys' locker room. It was that Scott and Stiles had lacrosse practice all the time, and she really needed to talk to them every chance she got, especially when it came to their friends eating livers or new possible hunters coming to town.

"What?" Coach replied, but he gave up soon after. "Listen up. Police are asking for help on a missing child advisory. It's a sick girl, roaming around, totally naked." Some guy in the back wolf whistled, and April flipped him off. "Now, it's supposed to get below 40 degrees tonight. I don't know about you, but the last time it was that cold, and I was running around naked, I lost a testicle to exposure."

"Did not need to know that," the Sharpe muttered to herself. She heard a sound from behind her, and she turned her head to see the boy from the graveyard pulling off his shirt. She couldn't help but flick her gaze down to admire at his abs for a fraction of a second, but when she looked back up, she locked eyes with him. She flushed and looked down at the ground in embarrassment before turning back to the Coach.

Coach held up a sheet and a pen as he continued, "Now, I don't want the same thing to happen to some innocent girl. So police are organizing search parties for tonight. Sign up, find the missing girl, you an automatic 'A' in my classes." 

The entire team cheered and went to sign up, April right behind them, but when she got a glare from the coach, she spun on one heel and made her way to where Stiles, Scott, and Jackson were standing. 

"If Lydia wants to take a naked hike in the woods, why should I care?" the Whittemore boy asked. Sometimes April forgot how much of an asshole he is, but it was times like these that reminded her.

"Because, we have a pretty good idea that she might be..." Scott explained, "You know, turning."

Jackson looked as if he had no idea what he was talking about. He furrowed his eyebrows as if the three people in front of him were crazy. "Turning?"

"Yeah. Turning."

"Into..." the dickhead trailed off. He motioned for them to finish his sentence, and April was now the confused one. Jackson had figured out about Scott last year. Why was he acting so clueless? Maybe he was as dumb as he looks.

Scott looked back and forth between Stiles and April. They were all unsure of what to say next. "A unicorn," Stiles answered sarcastically, and April snickered from her place beside him. "What do you think, dumbass?"

Jackson rolled his eyes, replying, "Well, I think that if Lydia's turning, she's not the one that's gonna need help." The search parties. They hadn't thought of that.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked, clueless. 

"Oh, God, you've got it all backwards, McCall. When I was with Lydia, you should have seen the scratch marks she left on me. What do you think she's gonna do with a set of real claws?" he told them. He chuckled before pushing past them and making his way outside.

April put her face in her hands and groaned, "What is with people and oversharing today? There are some things that I don't want to know."

《❀》

"This is really weird. Just letting you know," April commented as her and Scott peaked out from behind a statue in the graveyard so that they could see the funeral of the one and only Kate Argent. Scott shushed her so that he could hear what was happening. 

An old man stepped out from the crowd and grabbed a kid's camera that was taking pictures of the family. He examined it and said something that April couldn't hear because she didn't have superhearing. The boy said something back, and the man took the memory card from out of the camera and crushed it. He dropped the pieces on the ground and handed back the equipment. The boy walked away, and the man continued with two men that looked like bodyguards by his side.

April turned to Scott and asked, "Who is that?"

"I—I don't know," he responded as the man hugged Allison's father. He then proceeded to kiss Victoria Argent on the cheek. What was happening? He looked to Allison, and that's Stiles fell into place behind Scott.

The man asked Allison something, and she nodded slightly. "Who the hell is that?" Stiles quizzed, and April shrugged in reply. The entire funeral group looked their way, and the three teenagers jumped back behind the statue. 

"He's definitely an Argent," Scott pointed out, for all of the heads were in sync when they turned. Once they knew the coast was clear, they poked their heads out again. The new Argent continued speaking before sitting down. 

Allison looked their way, and Scott and April waved at her in an attempt to make her more comfortable. She flashed them a small smile before looking down at the ground. 

"Hey, you know, maybe they're just here for the funeral," said Stiles, taking a break from his normal pessimistic attitude to try and comfort his friend. "I mean, what if they're the non-hunting side of the family? There can be non-hunting Argents. That's possible, right?" The chances of that were extremely slim.

Scott sighed, "I know what they are. They're reinforcements." Suddenly, the two boys were yanked up, and the blonde gasped. She let out a sigh of both relief and fear when she saw it was the Sheriff that pulled them up. 

"April, get up," he ordered, and she followed them quickly, getting up to her feet so fast she stumbled. "The three of you. Unbelievable. Pick up my tie."

"Got it. Sorry. I know. I'm supposed to ask." Stiles nodded, leaning down to grab the tie. 

Five minutes, later, they were all crammed in the back of the police car. Scott was pressing buttons, and April was hitting his hands away, knowing that that couldn't be a good idea. 

"4-1-5 Adam," an officer announced on the police radio. 

Mr. Stilinski looked confused. The Sharpe wasn't sure if it was because he didn't hear it or if this doesn't happen a lot. "I didn't copy that. Did you say 4-1-5 Adam?" 

The younger Stilinski looked to his friends and whispered, "Disturbance in a car."

"They were taking a heart attack victim. D.O.A.," the man on the radio explained, "But on the way to the hospital, something hit 'em." That was definitely unusual. 

"What, hit the ambulance?" the sheriff questioned. It's not everyday that something hits the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Was it the same thing that took the liver. Maybe they were trying to get the heart of the victim. Is it Lydia? Aprils mind flooded with questions.

The three in the back of the car leaned forward to listen as the officer on the other end confirmed, "Copy that. I'm standing in front of it right now. Something got in the back. There's blood everywhere. And I mean everywhere."

"All right, unit four, what's your 20?"

"Five and post," he answered his boss, "I swear, I've never seen anything like this."

"All right, take it easy, I'm on my way," the Stilinski told him. April wondered if he was going to take them with him. Though the chances were slim, she was hopeful. Stiles and Scott didn't give her a chance to see what the dad decided because they were already pulling her out of the car. 

And they began running.

《❀》

They cut through the woods, and April breathed heavily as they stopped when they saw the lights of the ambulance. "I am not a runner, you guys," she stammered out. She could barely talk. 

"Shhh! Stop breathing so loud," Scott turned to her quickly as if the people by the ambulance 50 yards away could hear them. She rolled her eyes and put her hands over her head.

"You know what, Scott?" Stiles said, also having trouble breathing. Neither of them were very athletic. "I don't people with werewolf strength and speed should be able to shush those of us who are less athletically inclined."

"Yeah, Scott."

The McCall kid groaned, glaring at his two best friends. "Can you two please shut up and move?" They followed him to a spot behind a long so that they could see more clearly. They crouched down and tried to see what was going on. There were police everywhere, examining the scene.

"What the hell is Lydia doing?" Stiles asked, and April shrugged. She was going to point out that they weren't sure that it was Lydia, but who else could it be? 

Scott, after a moment of silence, replied, "I don't know." There was a man in the ambulance, and his shirt was soaked with blood which was also all over the walls, the doors, and the road. 

"What kept you from doing that?" the blonde asked her werewolf friend. He hadn't done anything like that when he was transitioning. The only thing different was that he was in love with someone, and Lydia was recently heartbroken. "Was it Allison?"

"I hope so," he answered, and that was all he said. He was staring intently at the scene, and April could tell that he was a little freaked out. 

Stiles did not have very much patience. "Do you need to get closer?"

Scott snapped out of his trance and began sniffing the air around them to see if he could track where she went. After a moment, he said, "No, I got it." They took one last look at the dead man and were about to go when Stiles grabbed Scott's collar and pulled him back down.

"Just...I just need you to find her," the human boy sighed. "All right? Please, just...Just find her." April's heart broke when she heard the desperation in his voice. 

"I will," Scott nodded, and he took off, leaving April and Stiles alone together. They decided that they would head up to the ambulance because the sheriff would be there any minute.

They walked in silence for a moment before the Sharpe girl spoke up. "You really love her, don't you?"

"'Love' is going really far," he responded, but when she gave him a look, he finished, "But, yeah, I love her. Is that so crazy? That I've had, like, three and a half conversations with her in my entire life, and I love her?"

"It's not crazy. In fact, it's actually really sweet," April told him, smiling, and she was telling the truth. She wished she had someone that would feel that way about her. 

"So, what about you?" Stiles quizzed curiously, smoothly switching the conversation to her. She had never dated anyone. Well, she had gone out on dates, but none of them ever stuck. "You got anyone on the horizon? Anyone I need to beat up or hug or whatever?"

The blonde shrugged with a small smile on her face at the thought of Stiles punching someone, "Nope. And as if you could beat anyone up."

"Hey, I could...Well, maybe not, but I would be a fantastic wingman if you ever needed me. I might be too attractive that they ditch you for me, though," he pointed out. 

"I don't doubt that for a second," April laughed out, "I'll keep it in mind."

They reached the ambulance just as Stiles' dad's car pulled up. He stepped out and pulled his son over for a lecture, and April was pretty sure she was next. She was saved, however, when Stiles spotted something in the woods. The thing stepped out, and everyone gasped.

"Lydia?"

She was shivering and staring at the ground, but when Stiles called her name a few more times, she looked up at them with scared eyes. "Well..." she yelled back, "Is anyone gonna get me a coat?"

Stiles attempted to grab his dad's jacket but ended up fainting right there. The sheriff pulled off his coat, and April ran up to grab it. She jogged over to where Lydia was standing and wrapped her up in it. 

"It's okay. You're safe now."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

second chapter! i am so excited for the action to start. gerard is here, and we also met isaac in this chapter. they are going to have so much chemistry, and i am so ready. remember, voting and commenting is always appreciated. see y'all next time.

- LENA