Chapter 4

Penny awoke with a sharp gasp. Her breathing was heavy and she brought the heel of her hand to her forehead as she tried to calm herself down. She wasn't sure what had woken her up, but as she slowly became more aware of her surroundings, she realized that it hadn't been a noise or a dream that was the cause. As her breathing evened out and the sleep wore off, she was left with a strange feeling. It wasn't like the odd ones she had been getting whenever Laura was around or whenever she hung out with Lydia. It was like something had happened, only she wasn't aware what.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw that Bruce was looking up at her from where he was laying at the foot of her bed. He whimpered softly and as illogical as it was, Penny wondered if he had felt the change in atmosphere as well. It wasn't necessarily the same feeling as when something bad had happened; it wasn't a warning. It did however feel like something big had happened—something important. She leaned forward and ran her hand over Bruce's fur, hoping to put him at ease and the attempt seemed to work when he shifted slightly before closing his eyes.

Looking at the clock on her bedside table, she sighed when she saw that it was past midnight. She had barely been asleep for an hour and exhaustion was not something she needed on the first day of classes. She knew that she would be on the receiving end of a disapproving look from Lydia if there were bags under her eyes. Deciding what she needed was a glass of water to settle down before going back to sleep, Penny pushed aside her covers and stumbled out of bed. As she made her way out of her room and down the stairs, she stopped when she reached the bottom step and heard her mother's voice.

"I miss you, Ted," she said, the exhaustion clearly evident in her voice and Penny sighed softly at the amount of stress she knew her mother was under.

"I should only be a couple more weeks, a month at the most. Believe me, love, I would rather be with you and Nel right now. I know how hard it is for you to be going through all of this without me there," she heard her father's voice and she carefully peeked around the wall to see that her mother had her laptop open and with her back to her, Penny could see her father's face on the screen.

"You need to be where you are right now," Sylvia replied in an understanding tone and Penny sunk down against the wall until she was sitting on the steps. "But just know that we're missing you and can't wait for you to get here."

"I love you, Syl," Ted said softly and Penny smiled to herself at the sentiment.

"I love you, too," Sylvia responded and sensing what seemed to be the end of the conversation, Penny stood up to make her way back to her room, deciding that she would rather let her parents have this moment than interrupt them by getting a glass of water. But before she could get too far, she stopped as the conversation continued.

"How is everything else?" her father asked and Penny's brow furrowed at the question. What was 'everything else?' Her mother sighed loudly, clearly exasperated over something.

"Derek Hale's back," she explained and Penny tensed at the name. So Derek was related to Laura. But why was him being in Beacon Hills so significant and how could her mother already know? And why would her father care?

"So this means Laura—" Ted started only to be cut off.

"Yeah," Sylvia sighed softly, her voice so quiet that Penny almost didn't hear her. Penny chanced peeking around the wall one more time for a brief moment and saw that her mother's head was now in her hands. "It happened tonight. She was close, Ted. She was so close."

"Was she too close?" he retorted and Sylvia let out another sigh. "The Argents are back as well."

"They didn't do this," she dismissed him and she heard her father let out a humorless laugh.

"Well this is a first. You defending the Argents," he pointed out and Penny only felt her confusion growing. Who were the Argents? It was something she had been trying to figure out ever since the day she had first met Laura when her mother and grandfather had been arguing over something the Argents either did or didn't do.

"Believe me, they've done a lot of bad, but not this. No, this was someone else," Sylvia muttered.

"Who?" Ted asked and there was a long moment of silence and Penny spared another glance around the wall and saw that her mother was shaking her head at something.

"I don't know. I think Dad does, but if he is then he's keeping quiet about it. I do know that Derek won't just leave this alone. He's here to stay," she finally explained and Penny was almost certain she could detect a hint of melancholy in her mother's voice.

"You need to help him, love. Fuck the balance," Ted encouraged and Sylvia let out a tired laugh. Soon, she could hear her father's laughter as well and it took a few moments for it to die down.

"If only it were that easy," she replied wistfully, amusement still evident in her tone.

"I'll let you go now. I know you've got to take Nel to school in the morning and I know you could do with all the rest you can get," he said and as the couple said their goodbyes, Penny made a desperate attempt to scramble up the stairs as quietly as she could so as not to be caught eavesdropping.

She quietly shut her bedroom door behind her and made her way back to bed. Bruce's head perked up as she came in before settling back down upon seeing the teenage girl. With so many thoughts and questions buzzing through her mind, Penny moved down to the end of her bed so that her head was placed right next to Bruce's. Bruce looked at her before shifting slightly so that he was closer to her, causing a small smile to form on her face.

"What's going on, Bruce?" she murmured as she scratched behind his ears, making his tail wag happily at the sensation. "What aren't they telling me?"

Bruce whimpered at her question and sensing her distress, he leaned forward and licked her face, making her laugh softly. Looking at her clock, she saw that it was nearing one in the morning and she rolled her eyes. With her parents' conversation still repeating in her head, she knew that sleep wouldn't be finding her anytime soon. Even as she rested her head back on her pillow and pulled her covers back up to her chin, she realized that the feeling that had woken her up was still present, giving her yet another thing to think over.

Deciding to suspend disbelief for the sake of hypothesizing, she would almost say that this is what a spider must feel like as it sat in the center of a web. The web was calm and still until something got caught in it, causing the silken strands to vibrate and alerting the spider of the disturbance. If there was some sort of web that existed in life, then that night there had been some strange disturbance in it, sending vibrations throughout the web and alerting those who were aware of its existence that something had happened. A rock had been thrown into a calm pool of water and what Penny was feeling were the resulting ripples as they hit her.

But as much as Penny loved learning about the supernatural and watching science fiction, she knew better than to believe in some "web" of life or ripples hitting those who were sensitive to them. This wasn't Doctor Who and she wasn't a Time Lord. She was a teenage girl who was just nervous about her first day of school and thinking way too hard about what was probably some boring issue her parents didn't want to trouble her with.

However, if she knew that at the exact moment she had woken up, Scott McCall was being bitten by an Alpha then maybe she wouldn't be so quick to dismiss her theories as being too outlandish for reality.

"Do I look okay? Maybe I shouldn't have worn a dress," Penny asked worriedly as she looked down at her burgundy skater dress that had been paired with black tights and a simple black blazer. As she continued to smooth out imaginary wrinkles, her mother gave her a reassuring look from the driver's seat of the car.

"Honey, you look beautiful," she told her and Penny nervously pulled down the sun visor before beginning to play with her hair, pulling it behind her ears and then letting it fall forward again. It fell in soft waves past her shoulders and Penny quickly pulled it up once more, piling it into a bun at the top of her head.

"Maybe I should have worn my hair up instead," she continued to fret before giving up and deciding to wear it down as she had originally intended. She then sighed heavily and threw her head back against the headrest before looking out the window at her new high school, which was bustling with activity on the first day.

"I thought Lydia came over the other day to help you pick out what you were going to wear?" Sylvia asked knowingly and Penny glanced at her before shutting the sun visor.

"She did," Penny affirmed, the anxiety clearly penetrating her features as she tried to calm down and prepare herself for a brand new school and a brand new school year.

"Then stop worrying about how you look. I'm sure Lydia wouldn't steer you wrong and you're all anyone is going to be able to look at," her mother comforted, reaching over to squeeze Penny's hand.

"They're all going to be looking at me because I'm new and have never been to a real school before," Penny countered with a roll of her eyes as her insecurities found their way to the surface. She bit her lip as she anxiously looked outside the window again.

"No, they're going to be looking at you because you're new and that's exciting. All the girls are going to love your fashion sense and how sweet you are and all the boys are going to be asking you out. You've already made some new friends, so if you get nervous just remember that you've got them. You'll do wonderfully," Sylvia told her and Penny looked at her, her expression almost shy as she continued to chew on her bottom lip.

"Do you really think so?" she asked and Sylvia smiled softly as she lovingly pushed Penny's hair behind her ear.

"I know so," she assured her and Penny smiled widely.

"Sorry about all this. I'm just really nervous," she apologized, shaking her head slightly as she attempted to keep from getting flustered at the prospect of getting out of the car.

"Good nervous or bad nervous?" her mother asked and Penny's brow furrowed as she thought it over.

"Good nervous, I think," she slowly answered with a nod and she gave her mother one more smile before looking at the window. "I see Scott and Stiles. I'm gonna go before I end up standing alone outside the school trying to pretend that I know what I'm doing."

"Good luck, sweetheart," Sylvia said and as Penny looked back at her to tell her thank you, she was slightly surprised to see a camera lens being pointed at her instead of her mother's face.

"Mom, stop!" Penny cried, attempting to push the camera away with a laugh but was too late as she heard the shutter release going off.

"We need to keep these memories," Sylvia explained, looking down at the screen with a sentimental smile at the image. "One more for your dad."

Penny gave her a long look before rolling her eyes and smiling widely for the camera, knowing that her dad would love pictures of her on her first day. Once the picture was taken, Penny leaned over in her seat to give her mother a hug before grabbing her books and getting out of the car with a deep breath. She then waved goodbye over her shoulder, only to see that her mother was taking another picture.

Looking back ahead of her, she hurried when she saw the two teenage boys beginning to walk towards the school. As she reached them, she paused for a moment as she realized she was getting another one of those feelings. Although she was growing so used to them with the amount of time spent around Lydia and Laura, she was surprised by its sudden appearance.

"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like 60 years," Stiles scoffed as Penny returned back to the moment and her face scrunched up in confusion at the conversation she was about to interrupt.

"Why are we talking about wolves?" Penny asked as she moved her head forward between the two and Stiles practically jumped in the air at her sudden appearance.

"Jesus, don't do that!" he cried, clutching a hand to his heart and Penny laughed as she tilted her head to the side.

"You're too young for a heart attack, Stiles. Sudden frights are good. They keep you on your toes," she assured him and Stiles shook his head in disagreement while Scott laughed at the shock still present on his best friend's face. "So, why are we talking about wolves?"

"Because Scott thinks he was attacked by a wolf last night and I'm trying to tell him that he's wrong because there are no wolves in California," Stiles explained once he had recovered from his sudden scare.

"You were attacked?" Penny asked Scott concernedly with a worried frown and before he could reply she looked to Stiles with a slightly accusatory expression. "Was this when you were out looking for that dead body?"

"Yes, but he's fine. We're both fine. Nothing happened," Stiles spluttered, hurrying to assure her that he wasn't to blame for any harm that had befallen Scott the previous night. She continued to look at him with slightly narrowed eyes before eventually shrugging her shoulders.

"Something happened," Scott corrected Stiles eagerly and both he and Penny looked at him with a curious expression. "Since you don't believe me about the wolf, then you definitely won't believe me when I tell you I found the body."

Stiles's reaction was instantaneous as he twitched excitedly and reached out to grab Scott's shoulder. "Are you kidding me?"

"No, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month," Scott replied, not nearly as excited as his friend at having found a dead body in the woods.

"You really found the body?" Penny asked with wide eyes and Scott nodded. Penny bit her lip before blurting out the question she was unable to keep in. "What did it look like?"

"Dead, obviously," Stiles scoffed and Penny punched his shoulder at his sarcastic retort, ignoring his pained yelp as she looked back to Scott.

"I don't know, brown hair, mid-20s? It was dark and since it was only the top half-" Scott answered only to be cut off.

"Wait, top half?" Penny interrupted with surprise. "What do you mean, top half?"

"Yeah, the police only found the bottom half. We were out trying to find the top half," Stiles explained and Penny's brow furrowed as she thought everything over. "Something wrong?"

"No, just a weird feeling," Penny shrugged off any concerns she had and they continued on with the conversation.

"God, this is freaking awesome," Stiles laughed excitedly. "I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since the birth of Lydia Martin."

Penny grew confused at the sudden change in topic until she looked behind her and realized that Lydia was walking towards the school's entrance. She couldn't help the slightly pitying look that fell over her face at Stiles's clear sense of desperation when it came to Lydia. It was a split second decision, but she decided she would do what she could to at least make Lydia realize that Stiles existed.

"Hey, Lydia!" he called out to her with a large smile. "You look—like you're going to ignore me."

Penny winced at the cold reception Stiles received to his greeting. She was about to offer him some form of condolence but before she could begin, she felt someone grab onto her arm and pull her away from the pair. She looked to see that Lydia had come back towards them in order to bring Penny inside with her. She didn't look all that pleased, which made Penny smile in amusement.

"Stiles, a little suffering's good for the soul!" she called out to him as she continued to be dragged up the front steps and he stared after her with wide eyes. He then turned to Scott, a small smile growing on his face.

"Did she just quote Star Trek to me?" Penny heard him ask with a disbelieving laugh and she quickly sent him a Vulcan salute over her shoulder, making him laugh again in pleasant surprise. She then saw him turn back to Scott before Lydia had dragged her fully through the school's front entrance.

"Stop that!" Lydia exclaimed from beside her as she slapped down Penny's hand, which was still forming the traditional Vulcan salute. She continued to pull her after her down the hallway until they stopped at Lydia's locker.

"Being nerdy is in now, Lydia," Penny attempted to explain, amused at her friend's aversion to anything that she perceived as having the potential to mar her carefully crafted image. "Marvel movies make millions and remember how big The Dark Knight was? Superhero movies are huge and everyone enjoys them."

"Shh!" Lydia shushed her as she put her hand over Penny's mouth, effectively putting an end to Penny's argument. The brunette raised an eyebrow at the action, laughing slightly. Lydia then took a moment to look over Penny's outfit before smiling brightly. "You're biggest redeeming quality is your sense of style. You wore those killer ankle boots and I'm loving the necklace."

Penny glanced down at the golden multi-strand necklace she was wearing and before she could say thanks as Lydia dropped her hand, she was interrupted when a pair of arms wrapped around Lydia's waist from behind. Lydia giggled when Jackson pressed a kiss to the side of her neck and Penny shifted uncomfortably as the two shared a small moment.

"Good morning, ladies," the lacrosse captain grinned. "How are things going so far?"

"They're going wonderfully," Lydia beamed as she turned around in Jackson's arms to return his embrace. "I was just reminding Penny that she's under my wing as the new girl and was just about to let her know that if her fashion sense stays like this then she'll have all those lacrosse players lining up around the corner for her number."

"Oh believe me, all you've got to do is wear a short dress that's cut low to the party on Friday and you won't have a problem," Jackson winked and thankfully Lydia distracted him with a kiss and he was unable to see the distaste on her face at the suggestion. Sure, the dresses she wore sometimes wound up on the short side, but never out of a desire to have the lacrosse team chasing her around like a piece of meat. Maybe this was all just part of the learning curve when it came to high school.

"Um, I'm gonna go to the office now so I can grab my schedule and my locker number before I end up being late to class," Penny began to excuse herself and Lydia broke apart from her heated kiss with Jackson to grab her hand.

"Hey, you've got this, okay?" she assured Penny, clearly able to sense the hint of anxiety she was still feeling about her first day. "People have seen us together this morning and know we're friends, you're so sweet it's almost disarming, and you're not going to have any problems."

"Thanks," Penny told her gratefully and Lydia nodded. "I'll see you guys later."

The couple waved goodbye to her as she left them to continue their make-out session and she made her way through the hallways until she finally reached the office. Gripping onto the notebook in her hands tightly to ease her nerves, Penny entered the administration office and walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me?" Penny asked softly, gaining the attention of the older woman who was sitting at the desk. The woman gave her a friendly smile as she rolled her chair over to where Penny was standing.

"How can I help you?" the woman asked kindly.

"My name's Penny Cole and I'm a new student. My mom registered me a few weeks ago and I was just told to stop by the front office to get my schedule and locker number," she explained and the elderly woman nodded as she began to type something into the computer in front of her.

"Hm, Penelope Cole?" the woman asked, reading her name off the monitor and Penny sighed heavily as she knew this was going to be the first time of many that she would spend correcting people in this school about her name.

"I prefer Penny," she corrected her and the woman nodded as she printed off Penny's class and locker information.

"Well, Penny. Here's your schedule, and I've printed off a map for you so you know where to find your classes and here's your locker number," the woman told her and Penny thanked her before turning around to leave the office. It was only when she was almost out of the office that she realized there was another girl sitting there waiting. She looked to be Penny's age, with long brown hair and pretty features. However, Penny recognized the fear that was marring her face as it had also been present on her own face as she had prepared to leave the house.

Sensing someone's gaze on her, the girl looked at Penny and Penny sent her what she hoped was a reassuring smile along with a thumbs up. The other girl smiled at the gesture before returning it with a thumbs up of her own and Penny was relieved to see some of the fear drop off the girl's face. Looking down at her watch and seeing the time, Penny sent her a wave goodbye and one last smile before hurrying off to class.

When she got to her first class, English, and saw that both Scott and Stiles were already sitting in two desks near each other, Penny felt like maybe her first day really wouldn't be so bad. Stiles waved to her, gesturing to the empty seat behind him and Penny made her way to it just as the teacher—Mr. Jenkins according to her schedule—began to gather the class's attention as he wrote on the board.

"As you all know, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night," Mr. Jenkins started and Penny rolled her eyes at his condescending tone. She could only hope that this wasn't an indication for how the rest of the year would go with him as her teacher.

"I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened but I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody," he continued and Penny's eyes widened in surprise at the information. Clearly Scott and Stiles weren't convinced of this either as Scott looked back at Stiles only for the other boy to gesture that he hadn't heard anything of the sort. "Which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining the semester."

The class let out a collective groan at the prospect of spending the period looking over the syllabus and class policies. However, Penny took this moment to lean forward in her seat so that she close enough to whisper in Stiles's ear without being caught.

"Wouldn't they need to find the rest of the body before beginning to look for a suspect?" she whispered softly and she wasn't sure what happened but Stiles suddenly sat up straight in his seat. She supposed she had just scared him yet again by being so close without his knowing about it. When he didn't reply, she whispered in his ear one more time. "Stiles?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah, yes. They'd try and find the body so they could ID the victim before looking for a suspect," he confirmed quietly as he looked over his shoulder at her. However, not expecting him to turn and with her still being so close to his ear, their faces ended up being only no more than an inch apart. Penny quickly moved back in her seat and Stiles turned followed her by turning back to the front, but not before Penny could see his face begin to flush bright red.

"But they haven't, right?" she asked, pushing through the slightly awkward moment the two had just shared and moving forward again to whisper in his ear. "Scott's the only one who's found it."

"Um, yeah, there's been nothing on my dad's radio," he whispered, his spine stiffening once again her closeness but his gaze remaining fixed on the front of the room to avoid a repeat of what had just happened.

"Mr. Stilinski, was it too much for me to hope that a miracle had occurred over the summer and that you would become a model student this year?" Mr. Jenkins asked and she wasn't sure whether or not Stiles was aware of the rhetorical nature of the question, but when he opened his mouth to say something, she quickly pinched him to keep him quiet. And while this kept him from answering Mr. Jenkins's question, Stiles's pained expression only served to draw attention to herself.

"And what was your name again?" he asked her and Penny slouched back in her seat as the class looked back at her.

"Penny Cole," she answered nervously and he nodded with a weary sigh.

"Well, Miss Cole, I'll chalk this up to it being your first day but I would suggest rethinking your seat assignment if this is going to be a continual occurrence," he told her and Penny nodded.

"Sorry. It won't happen again," she assured him and she felt like she could breathe again when he looked back down at the syllabus and continued to read off the course expectations in a monotonous voice.

However, not even a full minute later, he was interrupted again when the door opened to reveal a faculty member and—to Penny's pleasant surprise—the girl she had seen waiting patiently in the office. She sent her a small wave, which the girl returned with a wide smile upon seeing a familiar face, even if the two had yet to speak.

"Class this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome," the man introduced Allison to the class, but it was like time froze because she felt like she didn't hear anything after Allison's last name: Argent. Everything she had overheard her family mention about the Argents, all the time she had spent wondering who they were, and now for a teenage girl with that last name show up in her English class, she felt like the world was playing some sort of joke on her.

She debated on whether or not to lean forward and let Stiles know what she was thinking but after being caught once by Mr. Jenkins on her first day, she knew being caught a second time would do nothing to help her make a smooth transition. So, pushing her thoughts about what Allison had to do with her parents to the back of her mind, she looked over at the girl who was now sitting diagonally in front of her and sent her an encouraging smile, which was quickly returned. She then saw Scott turn around and give Allison a pen wordlessly, which Allison took with a smile and her thanks. Penny took in this interaction knowingly, clearly seeing that puppy love look on Scott's face along with the way Allison smiled to herself as she looked down at the pen.

The rest of the period dragged by as Mr. Jenkins continued to prattle on about Kafka. And surprisingly for Penny, this was pretty much how her first day continued. She had a couple more classes with Scott and Stiles, some with Lydia and another few with Allison, where she was finally able to introduce herself. But as the final bell rang and all of the other students rushed out of the room, Penny remained sitting down in her desk, realizing with a small smile that she had made it through her first full day of high school.

It was later as she stood at her locker, making sure she took home all the right books that she was interrupted from recounting how satisfactory her first day was when she was suddenly being pulled down the hallway by Lydia, leaving her barely enough time to close her locker.

"I really wish you would stop doing that," Penny sighed, only for Lydia to scold her.

"We need to get to practice!" she exclaimed as she continued to make her way down the hallway, Penny in tow. But they both came to a sudden stop as Lydia caught sight of Allison who was standing by her locker and Penny followed the girl's gaze to see that she was smiling at Scott who stood just a little further down the hall.

"That jacket is absolutely killer," Lydia told Allison, capturing the girl's attention from the smitten teenage boy. "Where'd you get it?"

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco," the girl answered after a pause, taken aback by Lydia's sudden appearance. Penny knew that this answer would please Lydia and she was proven correct when her friend's face broke out in a grin.

"And you just became my new best friend," she replied and Penny playfully nudged her side in mock offense.

"Allison, this is my friend Lydia. Lydia, this is your new best friend, Allison," Penny introduced the two but before the introductions could get any further, Jackson popped up, wrapping his arms around Lydia just as he had done that morning. As Lydia then took the opportunity to introduce Jackson to Allison, Penny looked down the hallway to see that Scott was still staring at Allison and that Stiles was by his side.

"So, this weekend there's a party," Lydia informed her, crossing her arms and looking at Allison expectantly and Allison seemed to shrink back just a bit into the lockers.

"A party?" Allison asked and Penny could hear the hesitation in her voice.

"Yeah, Friday night," Jackson said with a shrug. "You should come."

"Oh, I can't. It's family night this Friday," Allison answered apologetically and Penny had to bite back a smile at Allison's excuse. She could easily tell that it was 100% untrue. She knew that sometimes Lydia could come off as a little too much to handle and if she hadn't already known Lydia then she probably would have come up with an excuse to miss the party as well. "Thanks for asking."

"You sure?" Jackson asked, unable to believe that someone would turn down an invitation to what she knew he considered one of the biggest events of the school year. When Allison nodded, Penny decided to step in and keep Allison from feeling too pressured.

"Well, if you change your mind, I'd love to see you there," Penny smiled reassuringly at her and she could see that gratefulness in Allison's eyes at her contribution. "Otherwise, have fun at family night."

"Yeah, but everyone's going after the scrimmage," Jackson continued disbelievingly, seemingly ignoring Penny's attempt to put an end to the subject.

"You mean like football?" Allison asked and it took everything Penny had to keep from laughing at the offended look on Jackson's face.

"Football's a joke," he scoffed. "The sport here's lacrosse. We've won the State Championship for the past three years."

"All because of a certain team captain," Lydia added as she reached up a hand to play with Jackson's hair.

"And also, you know, the rest of the team," Penny corrected, making Allison laugh and Lydia roll her eyes. Jackson sent her a displeased look before continuing.

"We have practice in a few minutes. That is if you don't have anywhere else you need to be."

"Well, I was going to—" Allison began only to be cut off by Lydia.

"Perfect! You're coming," she told her, grabbing Allison's arm and pulling her after her and Penny sighed happily at the fact that she finally allowed to follow after Lydia at a normal pace instead of being yanked along.

"Put away that book," Lydia ordered Penny, who simply rolled her eyes and continued to read from her chemistry book. "You need to be socializing, not doing homework."

"Yeah, but the more I get finished now, the less I have to do at home, which means the more time I have to go see my grandpa," Penny explained without raising her eyes from the textbook and she knew that she had won at the long pause Lydia took before replying.

"Okay, I'll go ahead and make an exception. Just know that this sort of behavior won't always be tolerated," Lydia told her and Penny smiled into her book as she continued to read about nomenclatures.

"Why are you trying to spend so much time with your grandpa?" Allison asked from Lydia's other side and Penny stopped her reading to look over at the other girl.

"My grandpa's been diagnosed with terminal cancer so, you know, I'm just trying to make sure I'm there for him and my mom. It's why we moved to Beacon Hills," Penny answered, hoping her answer came off nonchalant and that they would be able to breeze through the subject. However, she knew that wouldn't be the case as a sympathetic look fell over Allison's face.

"I'm so sorry, Penny," she told her and Penny shrugged, almost at a loss for words as she always was when this subject came up.

"Thanks," she replied awkwardly, not knowing what else she could say. Thankfully she was saved when Lydia pointed to a lacrosse player who was talking to Jackson.

"Penny, that's Marshall Curtis. He's gorgeous and he's who I'm going to set you up with at the party," Lydia told her and as much as Penny hated this topic, she knew that Lydia had been able to sense her discomfort and brought up Marshall Curtis for that exact reason.

"I don't know," Penny replied as she looked over the admittedly handsome boy. He had that that whole classically handsome look going for him with his clean-cut dark hair and blue eyes. She couldn't help but think when he smiled it must be like looking into the sun. But Penny was still doubtful about whether or not she wanted to be set up with him considering she had yet to even speak to him. "What's he into?"

"Hot girls," Lydia replied facetiously and Penny rolled her eyes. "Which is perfect since you're into hot guys. You'll have so much in common!"

"Fine, do your worst. But if he turns out to be some idiot or just another asshole then you can't blame me for what happens," Penny sighed as she went back to reading her book, but not before she saw Scott being forced into goal.

"Who is that?" she head Allison ask and Penny looked back up to see that she was referring to Scott.

"Him? I'm not sure who he is," Lydia replied thoughtfully, trying to remember if he happened to be anyone of importance. "Why?"

"He's in my English class," Allison told her shyly.

"His name's Scott McCall," Penny answered encouragingly as she looked over at Allison, knowing exactly why she wanted to know. "He's a really nice guy. You should get to know him."

Allison smiled back at Penny, happy with the information. The whistle was then blown, signaling the start of practice and Penny winced when the first player took his shot and it hit Scott's helmet so hard that he fell over into the net. Her face then scrunched up in embarrassment for her friend when the rest of the team and the coach began to laugh at him. As the next player began to take his turn, Penny sent out a silent prayer that Scott would be able to recover and impress Allison.

And it seemed her prayer was answered when Scott easily caught the shot with his lacrosse stick. She could see the way he looked down at the ball in disbelief and then the way the rest of the team looked at him in the exact same manner. Then it happened again, and again, and again. He was catching shot after shot and the crowd slowly began to cheer every time he did.

"He seems like he's pretty good," Allison commented with another one of her smitten smiles as the three watched what was happening on the field.

"Yeah, very good," Lydia agreed incredulously and her brow furrowing in curiosity, Penny put down her textbook and began to climb down the bleachers, waving off Lydia's calls asking where she was going. Once she reached the ground, she then made her way over to where Stiles was sitting on the bench, cheering every time Scott blocked a shot.

"He wasn't this good the other day," Penny said as she sat down next to him and he jumped in fright at her sudden appearance.

"Stop scaring me!" he shouted as he grabbed tightly onto the front of his lacrosse pads in an attempt to slow his racing heart. Penny rolled her eyes at his cry and nudged him with her shoulder and nodded to Scott.

"I said that he wasn't this good the other day," she repeated, trying to draw his attention back to her observation.

"Oh, yeah. He's never been this good. I don't know what happened," Stiles agreed as he turned back to the game and before she could pursue the subject, she saw Jackson leave the line to make his way towards the front. It seemed like the entire crowd held their breath as they watched him run towards the goal with the ball before taking a powerful shot. However, just with every shot before, Scott caught it effortlessly. Stiles jumped up excitedly, flailing his arms around as he shouted to the crowd, "That is my friend!"

She then turned around in surprise as she heard Lydia screaming from the stands. She couldn't help but laugh in disbelief at her friend's sudden change in opinion concerning Scott McCall. But if anything, this could only bode well for Allison, who was grinning widely as she clapped. If Scott had managed to perform a miracle and had become a lacrosse savant overnight, then Allison would certainly have Lydia's blessing. Penny then pulled Stiles back down to sit back down next to her as practice continued.

"So, when do you think you're gonna get your shot on the field?" Penny asked him and he scoffed and shook his head.

"I've learned how to play my part as a benchwarmer and I've learned it very well. I'm sure it's something I'll get to practice again this season," Stiles replied in a self-deprecating tone and Penny couldn't help but frown slightly at his answer.

"Don't do that," Penny said and he looked up at her curiously.

"Do what?"

"Put yourself down. I bet the time is going to come when you're named to first line this season and when it does you're going to be amazing," she told him seriously and the way he smiled at her encouraging words let her know that she had helped boost his confidence, even if only a little.

"You really think so?" he asked and she nodded, absolutely sure of herself.

"I know so and I promise I'll be at that game with a sign cheering you on," she grinned proudly and he laughed.

"Promise?"

"Promise," she agreed and before he could thank her, they were interrupted by the sharp blow of a whistle. The pair looked up to see that Coach Finstock had his eyes fixed on them angrily.

"Hey! You! Um, kid on the bench!" he shouted, dropping this whistle from his mouth and approaching them, snapping his fingers as he tried to recall Stiles's name.

"Stilinski," Penny offered hesitantly.

"Stilinski, I know you're 16 and that it's difficult for you to keep your raging hormones under control, which is why no girls allowed on my bench!" he shouted, gesturing to Penny and she looked taken aback. "No distractions allowed and definitely no flirting allowed!"

"Flirting? There was no flirting. Absolutely zero flirting here. This is a flirt-free zone," Stiles stammered in embarrassment, motioning his arms around the space between the two. As his cheeks beginning to turn red, Penny grinned at his discomfort.

"No flirting!" Penny shouted as she stood up and slapped him on the shoulder before turning to Finstock while an overly exaggerated look of exasperation on her face. "Sorry, Coach. I've been trying to get him to stop but you know teenage boys. Keep this one on a tight leash."

Penny then turned to Stiles with a playful wink before making her way back up the bleachers, ignoring the way he shouted her name after her in annoyance. She continued to laugh as she made her way back towards Lydia and Allison. Allison seemed to have an amused look at the scene that had played out for the crowd and the team to witness. Lydia, on the other hand, looked perturbed.

"What was that?" Lydia screeched once she reached them and Penny had the sudden urge to shove her fingers in her ear at the high-pitched question.

"What was what?" she replied confusedly and Lydia rolled her eyes at her question.

"Flirting?" she asked incredulously. "You were flirting with one of the lacrosse players?"

"What? No, we weren't flirting. That was my friend, Stiles," Penny quickly corrected her and she heard Allison poorly attempt to hide her laugh with a cough at Penny's wide eyes and hurried denial.

"As proud as I am of your ability to go flirt with a player, I'm appalled that you would choose one sitting on the bench!" Lydia scolded with a disappointed shake of her head.

"We weren't flirting!" Penny denied again loudly.

"How am I supposed to set you up with Marshall Curtis if you're flirting with second stringers?" Lydia asked before a thoughtful look fell over her face and Penny could almost see the idea forming in her head. "Although, if he sees you flirting with the lesser crowd, then maybe he'll get insecure and think his lacrosse status isn't enough to impress you."

Lydia then gave her a long look, seemingly appraising her.

"I'm gonna pretend that this was your intention all along and that you actually know what you're doing," Lydia said and the look she gave Penny told her that she had no option other than to agree with her. So, with a sigh, Penny nodded with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. She then looked down at her watch and seeing that it was now four, she began to gather up her things.

"My mom's waiting to pick me up. I'll see you guys later," she told her new friends as she waved goodbye to them and she began to walk down the bleachers before stopping halfway and turning back to face the two. "Oh, Lydia. Just for the record, his lacrosse status doesn't impress me."

She swore she saw the corners of Lydia's lips turn up slightly but her smile was gone almost as quickly as it appeared only to be replaced with an annoyed look.

"How am I supposed to teach you properly when you're such a bad student?" she asked with a shake of her head and Penny grinned as she began to make her way down the bleachers once again.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," Penny shouted over her shoulder with a laugh.

I really like this one and I'm so happy that I'm finally getting into the show. I know it can be dull to read just a word for word transcript of the episodes, so I hope I added enough in to keep it interesting. I also added in a little more about Penny's family, but I promise I won't drag out that mystery for too long because I know how much I hate that. And everyone's reviews were so wonderful! I love that you guys are so curious and have so many questions! So, thanks to winchesterxgirl, prettyargents, heroherondaletotherescue, cat-afterlife, and Jayjay329 for your great reviews! They made me so happy! Let me know what you guys think about this one and hopefully I'll be able to get the next one up soon!