"Our greatest joy and our greatest pain come in our relationships with others."

♰ ♰ ♰

Allison shifts in the bed next to me, and I feel her get out of the bed. I slowly sit up and rub my eyes.

"What's going on? You ok?" I ask sleepily, we spent the night gossiping and discussing her and Scott's relationship, and how mine and Stiles' date went.

She turns her head towards me but continues listening outside her bedroom door. She gives a slow nod.

"I heard something." She whispers, before staring me in the eyes, I get the message immediately and slowly get out of Allison's bed as not to make any noise.

Luckily Mr. and Mrs. Argent welcomed me with open arms as Allison's friend and didn't mind me staying over so much. There was only so much of Lydia and Jackson I could handle listening to.

We quietly go out onto the stairs together, looking over the banister. I see Allison's dad, dressed and getting his shoes on.

"What's going on?" Allison asks, and her dad snaps his head up to us, before giving an apologetic look that we could make out in the darkness.

"Your aunt Kate just texted. I'm heading out to pick her out."

"But it's 2 in the morning. Is everything okay?" Allison asks worriedly, I stand closer to her for reassurance. "Yeah, yeah. She's just having a little car trouble."

"Not serious, is it?" I ask, quietly as not to wake Mrs. Argent, Allison's dad gives me a reassuring smile.

"No, just a flat tire. Go - go back to bed, girls." We nodded and went back to Allison's room together, before hitting the mattress and falling straight back asleep.

A few hours later, we are getting ready for the day ahead, and Allison heads out into the hallway to go to the bathroom.

I jump as I hear a scream, then another one, and quickly head to the adjacent room, seeing Allison in the arms of who I could only assume was her Aunt Kate.

I stand by the doorway so as not to intrude with a smile on my face, remembering how happy I was to see my Aunt when Lydia's mom took me in.

"I don't see you for a year, and you turn into a fricken' runway model?" Kate gasps, and I laugh along with Allison who bashfully pushes her away, Kate turns at the sound and smiles at me, "And look at you! You must be the Isabel Martin - Allison's best friend!" She says before pulling me in for a hug, which I reciprocate. "Oh! Hate you both." She cries out, making us both laugh.

"We haven't even showered yet." I answer in-between laughs, and Kate looks between us before shaking her head.

"Sweetie, you girls are knockouts. In fact, I hope you both have the boys knocking each other's teeth out for your attention." She compliments, suggestively raising her eyebrows. Allison has a smile reach her eyes.

"I kind of have one." She says, chewing on her lip to try and stop the huge smile on her face.

"You kind of have one?" Kate questions going to Allison and putting her hands on her shoulder, "Well, you should kind of have a million." She whispers and Allison laughs. "How about you Sweetie?" She turns to me with a smirk, "Any boys ripping each other to shreds?" She jokes, putting her hand out in a claw and swiping it at me jokingly.

"I kinda have one." I copy Allison with a laugh and sit next to Allison on Kate's bed. Kate gasps at me and shakes her head in disapproval.

"Honey, I don't believe that!" She says laughing.

"Need some help unpacking?" Allison offers, starting to unzip one of the black duffle bags on the bed.

Kate reaches out and grasps Allison's wrist, stopping it before it could move the zipper any further. Allison looks up in shock and I watch the interaction silently. Kate quickly pulls her hand back, releasing Allison's.

"No, not that one." She pauses, "See? You turn out beautiful, and I end up with this kung-fu death grip. Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to be so rough." Allison gives her a smile in return.

"No worries." She shrugs, but I can tell she was still shocked from the exchange and place a hand on her arm, she gives a smile. She looks back to Kate, "Hey, is everything okay with your car?" Kate carries on unpacking from her suitcase.

"Uh, yeah. I just needed a jumpstart, that's all." Allison and I turn to each other with a confused look on our faces.

"A jumpstart?" She questions.

♰ ♰ ♰

"Scott's coming over? Tonight?" Lydia asks as we stand at the bottom of the school stairwell, with Allison. She nods along, holding her books to her chest.

"We're just studying together." She says, and Lydia turns to look at her with a suggestive look.

"'Just studying' never ends with just studying. It's like - getting into a hot tub - Somebody eventually cops a feel." Lydia explains, and I scrunch my face at her before letting out a small laugh.

"Wow Lyd, TMI." I giggle, and she turns to me before flipping her hair and shrugging.

"Well, so what are you saying?" Allison questions, looking between the two of us and I almost feel sorry for her. She is so innocent.

"I'm just saying, you know, make sure he covers up." Lydia says simply. Allison still looks just as confused. "Hello, snow-white!"

I shake my head, "What she is trying to say is use a condom." I explain and Allison looks shocked.

"Are you kidding? After one date?" She gasps, looking between the two of us.

"Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste." Lydia suggests, and when I see Allison's eyes look at me for an explanation I just shrug.

"Well, I - I mean, how much is "a little taste"?" She asks while looking around to make sure no one is listening.

"Oh, God." Lydia exclaims and I lightly nudge her.

"You really like him, don't you?" I question quietly, a smile on my lips.

"Well - He's just different. When I first moved here, I had a plan - no boyfriends till college. I just move too much. But - Then I met him, and - He was different. I - I don't know. Can't explain it." Lydia listens before turning her head to Allison.

"I can. It's your brain flooding with phenylethylamine" She answers simply.

"What?" Allison questions, looking at Lydia like wasn't speaking English.

"Phenylethylamine is an organic compound," I begin to explain, Lydia turns to me with a proud smile. "It's found in chocolate and stuff too, it's thought to produce positive effects on mood." Allison listens closely to my explanation before blushing.

"We'll tell you what to do." Lydia offers, "When's he coming over?"

"Right after school." Allison answers, grateful for the help. Lydia thinks for a second before hooking my arm and following Allison through the hallway, she looks at me from the side.

"You know what that means?" I furrow my brows at her and she understands I mean to continue, "Allison is with Scott, which means you are here for movie night!" She squeals and I shake my head and laugh along with her.

♰ ♰ ♰

I'm sitting in the back of Jackson's Porsche, watching the free entertainment in front of me

"Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever. It is the best sports movie ever made!" Jackson exclaims, getting fed up with the back and forth.

"No." Lydia says simply, but I know that Jackson won't let it go.

"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper." He tries to compromise, and I sit back looking out the window.

"No."

"Lydia, I swear to God you're gonna like it!"

"No."

"I am not watching The Notebook again!"

Before I know it, Jackson and I are in the movie store sweeping through the aisles for the movie Lydia requested. The shrill ringing of a phone is all we hear.

"Can somebody help me find The Notebook? Hello?" Jackson shouts, and I find myself creeped out by the silence and flickering lights.

I reached out for Jackson's arm and he pauses, looks at me before continuing, positioning himself ahead of me as I clutched his arm.

"Is anybody working here? You gotta be kidding me." He sighs.

We carry on forward, Jackson checking in the aisles until he is pulled back by my feet no longer moving.

He looks down at me confused, but all I can focus on is the feet I see sprawled out in front of the end of one of the DVD stands, it looks as though he fell off of the ladder nearby.

Jackson's eyes follow mine and I hear his breath get caught in his throat. We move forward together, but as we turn the aisle all we see is a man with his throat slashed open.

I gasp and pull back on Jackson's arm, not brave enough to say a word, but he seems frozen on the spot. I feel as though I would throw up at the sight and quickly look away, letting go of Jackson's arm and stumbling backward.

I trip on the ladder, which in turn knocks the lights out, causing the whole store's lights to flicker. Jackson quickly turns, and grabs my arms, helping me up from the floor just as we hear a deep guttural growl.

Jackson gulps, breathing heavily as he looks down the aisle behind me. I freeze before slowly turning my head and instantly regret it as I see a large sort of monster, blood-red eyes on four legs, watching us, ready to pounce.

Jackson quickly pulls me down on the floor behind one of the movie racks, making sure I wasn't closest to the aisle. We sat there for a second, heavily breathing, not believing what was going on.

What was that thing? Was that the mountain lion? It had to be a trick of the light.

The buzzing of the electricity is all I hear, and for a moment I thought we had imagined the whole thing. Jackson seems to think the same as he bravely looks down the aisle, before quickly shooting back behind the shelves.

He turns to me and I knew at that moment that this was really happening. We were going to die. He holds my hand comfortingly as a tear falls down my cheek.

I can hear the monster moving around, as it knocks down shelving units and makes DVD cases hit the floor. I try to look around for an escape but the whole place is open, I wouldn't stand a chance running.

I hear a bang, and clattering and before we can make a move we realise the monster has knocked the shelf units down creating a domino effect, and ours was next. Jackson's reflexes are better than mine as he plays lacrosse, and he makes a jump to try and get from under the shelf. I try to scramble out but it hasn't worked, and the hard wooden shelf hits me on the head.

It causes me to smack my chin on the carpet floor, and the burning sensation tells me I have burnt it from the friction. The bottom half of Jackson's body is trapped and I can hear him struggle. Through my blurry vision, I can see I am trapped fully under the shelving unit.

"Isabel" I hear Jackson groan before it all seems to fade out to nothing but a shrill buzzing in my ears and darkness takes over.

♰ ♰ ♰

"Mm. Did they forget my curly fries?" Sheriff Stilinski asks incredulously, eating his burger.

"You're not supposed to eat fries, especially the curly ones." Stiles chastises.

"Well, I'm carrying a lethal weapon. If I want the curly fries, I will have the curly fries." The Sheriff demands jokingly.

"If you think getting rid of contractions in all your sentences makes your argument any more legitimate, you are wrong." Stiles says, as his father gives him a look. Stiles chuckles, taking a sip of his drink. He jumps as the dispatch radio sounds to life.

"Unit One, do you copy." Stiles immediately reaches for the radio, only to have his hand slapped by his father.

The sheriff clears his throat at his son in disbelief and Stiles looks at him apologetically.

"Sorry." Stiles says.

"Unit one, copy." Sheriff responds to the radio. Stiles returns to his previous task of shovelling fries into his mouth.

"Got a report of a possible 187." Stiles' head snaps back to his father, fries falling out of his mouth.

"A murder?" He gasps. His father ignores him and immediately heads to the scene, the DVD rental store.

As they pull up on the scene Sheriff steps out, looking over to the ambulance crew. He looks over to his fellow officers, before remembering he has to deal with his son too.

"Stay here." He demands to les, who has already seen Jackson and Lydia sitting in the back of the ambulance. "Paul, let's get this area locked up."

"Oh, no way." Stiles gasps, watching Jackson argue with an EMT. What were the chances?

"What the hell is going on? Where is Isabel? Why haven't they brought her out yet?!" Lydia exclaims, eyes glossy with tears. Jackson paces back and forth.

Sheriff Stilinski takes a breath as he realises the Martin girl's cousin is still in the store and checks back to his patrol car to watch Stiles slowly getting out, having heard already.

"They're gonna bring her out any second they just have to make sure she's stable." He offers the scared girl, who looks up at him from the ambulance with tears in her eyes. "Hey, the EMT says you hit your head pretty hard." He says to Jackson.

"I'm fine." Jackson scoffs, agitated, staring at the store waiting for any sign of Isabel.

"They just wanna make sure you don't have a concussion." The Sheriff offers, but this just angers the teen more. Stiles begins pacing.

"What part of "I'm fine" are you having a problem grasp-" Jackson begins to rant before he's cut off by Lydia gasping and running over to the EMTs bringing out her auburn-haired cousin on a gurney.

"Isabel!" She cries out, grabbing a hold of the girl's hand, following the EMTs they bring her to the back of the ambulance.

Lydia checks over her, scratches and blood on her face and body. She is unconscious, with an oxygen mask covering her face. Lydia's eyes water as she sees what has happened to her cousin, ignoring what she saw smash through the glass.

"Oh my god, Izzy." Stiles lets out, moving forward toward the ambulance.

Lydia allows him space, as she watches the buzz-cut-haired boy take in the girl's appearance. She watches the care behind his eyes and realises. Jackson watches the girl and feels the guilt seep through.

"Oh, whoa, is that a dead body?" Someone in the crowd shouts, getting everyone's attention.

The Sheriff shakes his head before ordering all of the gasping passer-by's to move away from the area. Stiles returns his attention to the unconscious girl, gripping her hand tightly.

"Everybody back up. Back up."

Stiles' hand remains holding Isabel's limp one. His thumb brushed over her cut knuckles.