"Scott said he got bit last night."

Matilda turns her head to look at Stiles who stands at her front door, watching as she zips up her little brother Theo's jacket.

"Bit?"

"Yeah, bit. He didn't tell me what it was."

"How did Scott get bitten?" Simon asks with a smirk as he walks into the front hall, pulling his jacket on.

"Uh..." Stiles scratches the back of his head.

"Don't even try to lie, Stiles. He knows." Matilda laughs before turning to her dad. "The boys are all ready. Wesley just needs to remember his lacrosse stick because he has tryouts at lunch. Harry's lunch is in the fridge. He said he would grab it but we both know he'll forget."

"Thank you, Tillie. I will sort them out." He kisses the top of his daughter's head, handing her her school bag. "Have a good day."

Matilda says bye to her family before following Stiles out to his Jeep. The drive is quiet. So are the streets. Meaning they get there in just under 5 minutes. Matilda and Stiles meet up with Scott at the front of the school.

"Okay. Let's see this thing." Stiles rubs his hands together in excitement while Matilda takes Scott's bag so he can lift his shirt.

He shows the pair the nasty looking bite that's covered in bandages from Scott's poor attempt to fix it up. When Stiles reaches forward to poke the bandage, Matilda slaps his hand away. Scott sends her a thankful look before dropping his shirt, taking his bag back before following Matilda to the front doors of the school.

"It was too dark to see much but I think it was a wolf."

Stiles shakes his head with a laugh, "A wolf bit you?"

Scott hums. Stiles sends him a look, "Not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling." Scott says, looking at Matilda to back him up. She just shrugs. She wasn't there and she doesn't know the migration patterns of wolves like Stiles so she doesn't think she'll be of much use.

"No you didn't."

"What do you mean 'no you didn't'? How do you know what I heard?"

"Because California doesn't have wolves. Not in like sixty years."

Scott stops at the bottom of the stairs along with Stiles. Matilda climbs a few steps before stopping as well, turning to look at them annoyed. They still have 5 minutes to get to English class. She has 2 minutes to get to the office to meet the principal.

"Really?" Scott says.

"Yes, really. There are no wolves in California."

"All right. Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me when I tell you I found the body."

Stiles changes from frustrated to thrilled in seconds. "You— are you kidding me?"

"No, man, I wish. I'm going to have nightmares for a month."

Matilda sighs as Stiles grins. He's always been a little weird and she's always been fine with that but she wishes he would be a bit less excited about his best friend's traumatising experience.

"Oh, god, that is freakin' awesome. I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since—" Lydia Martin walks past Stiles as he speaks, completely ignoring the boy's existence. "Since the birth of Lydia Martin."

He tries to call out to her again but if she hears him, she doesn't show it. She struts up the stairs, grinning when she sees Matilda. "Hey, Mat! How was your break?"

"It was good! How about you?"

"Just amazing. I'll see you at lacrosse tryouts later, right?"

"Of course."

Lydia smiles one more time before walking away. Matilda turns back to look at Stiles who is basically frothing at the mouth. "I hate that you are friends with her and I'm not. Stupid Jackson, helping you be friends with all the popular people."

Matilda rolls her eyes. "Would you calm down? I've offered to introduce you but you always run away before I'm able to."

Stiles disregards her words, turning to Scott. "This is your fault."

"How is this my fault?" He throws his hands up.

"You're dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet-nerded by you."

Matilda just sighs, "Let's go. We're going to be late."

———

"Her name is Allison Argent. She and her family just moved here from San Francisco."

Matilda nods as she follows the vice principal out of the school, towards the girl who sits on a bench near the doors. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Allison stands up, waving her hand to tell him not to worry.

He motions to Matilda who stands beside him, "This is Matilda Ridley. She'll be showing you around today after homeroom."

Matilda shakes Allison's hand, smiling in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

It's common for her to be the friendly face for student's first days at Beacon Hill High School. Though there are rarely new students, Matilda has always been good at making them feel comfortable.

"So you said you didn't grow up in San Francisco?" The vice principal asks as he opens the front door, motioning for the girls to walk in.

"No. But we lived there for more than a year, which is unusual for my family."

"Well, hopefully Beacon Hills will be your last stop for a while."

The vice principal leads the girls into their English class. "Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

As the English teacher starts speaking again, Matilda leads Allison to empty seats that she got Scott and Stiles to save. She sits in front of Stiles, motioning to the empty seat beside her with an encouraging smile. Allison nods in thanks before sitting down.

———

"Do you know who he is?" Matilda looks to where her new found friend, Allison points. She turns to see Scott practically staring. The blonde sighs.

"Is he being creepy? I can get him to stop."

Allison shakes her head with a smile, "No. It's kinda cute."

Matilda tries not to visibly react, instead answering her original question. "That's Scott McCall. The one with the buzz cut beside him is Stiles Stilinski. They've been my best friends for as long as I can remember. I can introduce you if you'd like?"

"Yeah." Allison nods, "That would be nice."

Just as Matilda goes to lead them over, Lydia appears in front of them. "That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?"

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."

"And you are my new best friend."

Matilda chuckles as the girls continue to talk. Just then, Jackson comes up to them, sliding his arm around Lydia's waist. "Hey."

"Hey, Jackson." Lydia greets him. Matilda just smiles at him when he meets her eye.

Matilda and Jackson have always been friends. Their mothers were best friends when they were babies meaning they grew up together. Jackson eventually gained a 'bully' reputation at school but he never turned on Matilda. She doesn't deserve that and he knows that. Jackson may be a dick but Matilda turns him back into a kid. He'd never knowingly hurt her. Not after everything they've gone through together.

When Jackson got more popular, he brought Matilda along with him. A lot of people thought it to be out of character for him but deep down, he knows that Matilda was his first friend. The one who was friends with him before looks or popularity or lacrosse. His parents still call her Tillie and her dad doesn't ever bust his parties.

"So this weekend, there's a party." Lydia starts.

"A party?" Allison asks.

Jackson nods, "Yeah. Friday night. You should come.

"Uh, I can't." Allison looks at the floor, "It's family night this Friday. Thanks for asking."

"You sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage. Even Tillie."

Matilda's head shoots up at the mention of her name, "Woah, I did not agree to that."

Jackson sends her a look while Lydia loops her arm through Matilda's. "Pleaseeee."

She sighs, "I'll think about it."

Jackson nods, content with that answer. He then turns back to Allison who looks confused. "Scrimmage? You mean like football?"

He laughs, "Football's a joke in Beacon. The sport here is lacrosse. We've won the state championship for the past three years."

"Because of a certain team captain..." Lydia ruffles Jackson's hair. He smiles smugly at the compliment.

"Well, we have practice in a few minutes. That is, if you don't have anywhere else—"

Allison goes to politely decline but Lydia cuts her off, "Perfect! You're coming."

She disconnects from Matilda's side, grabbing Allison's hand to lead her to the field. Matilda follows behind them, Jackson falling into step with her. "Did the stick work for Wes?"

Matilda nods, "Yeah. He says thanks, by the way. I've been meaning to go and get him a new one, just haven't found the time."

"He's 12, Matilda. He can go get his own stick."

"But he won't." Matilda responds. "Then I'll have to listen to him complain that he didn't have a stick that he likes for tryouts. Then I have a headache. You see the never ending circle?"

He rolls his eyes, "Has Wesley convinced Harry to try lacrosse yet?"

She shakes her head, "I think Harry would rather listen to my dad's tree story a billion times before ever trying lacrosse."

"Oh I remember the tree story." He says, "I couldn't tell you the plot or anything but I do remember hearing it."

"I think that was the point." She laughs, "A story so boring that we would rather sleep than hear the end of it."

"Doesn't he just start counting at one point?"

"Yes!" Matilda grins, "Age rings or something."

"I never made it past 20." He sighs. The pair walk into the locker room. Matilda has gotten very good at looking at the floor and not walking into anything. She'd rather not be traumatised at such a young age. Whoever she's walking with— usually Scott, Stiles, Jackson or Danny— are used to helping guide her around objects or people.

"Me neither. Harry made it to like 200 one time."

"But that's Harry."

Matilda nods with a laugh. Jackson heads over to his locker while Matilda walks into Coach Finstock's office, the one place safe from the team. Coach usually doesn't like having students in his office but he lets Matilda in because she organises it and overall makes his life much simpler.

"Hi, Coach."

Finstock looks up when she walks in, nodding in greeting. Matilda looks through all of his files, looking for the one she needs while Coach continuously mumbles things about plays he wants to try or just daily mantras. "It's going to be a good season. It's going to be a great season. Right Ridley?"

"Yeah, Coach. It'll be great." She replies flatly, finally finding the file she needs.

"It's time to start the great season, Matt. Let's go!" He picks up her school bag from where she put it on the floor before strutting out of the room. Matilda just sighs before following him. Sometimes she thinks she's imagining him because some of the stuff he does makes her believe he isn't real.

Matilda picks up one of the extra sticks from the door before going out onto the field. Some of the team are already out there but most slowly filter on from the locker room. Jackson leads the pack, stopping next to Matilda. He takes the stick from her to fix the net she was struggling with.

"Who's 14?"

Matilda doesn't look up from the stick she's watching Jackson fix. She hates getting him to do it for her because it builds his ego so she's trying to learn. "The list is the top sheet in your folder. But 14 is Isaac Lahey."

"He's better than I remember."

"This is his first year."

"Oh." Coach mutters, "Why do you know everyone on the team by number?"

"'Cause you don't?"

Finstock just hums. Matilda glances up to see Coach calling Isaac over. The boy jogs over, asking if everything is alright. Coach only nods, "Forgot your face. Needed to visualise it."

Isaac looks at him, confused, but only nods and goes to walk away. "Wait!"

Matilda calls him over, motioning to something on his helmet. He just sends her a confused look while closing the small distance between them. "Your helmet's unclipped."

She reaches up to fix it, having to stand on her tiptoes to reach. He is unnaturally tall. In the midst of clasping his helmet, she meets his eyes. They're blue, like hers. She doesn't think she's ever actually had a conversation with Isaac. They've never really crossed paths. She wouldn't be surprised if he had no idea who she is. Sure, she hangs out with popular people— like Lydia and Jackson— but she, herself, isn't well known.

Matilda knows everyone but no one spares her a second glance. She thinks she likes it this way. It's peaceful.

"All good." She nods.

Isaac smiles and her heart stops. "Thank you."

As he jogs off, Matilda turns back to Jackson who has now fixed her stick. He looks at her with a smirk, "What was that?"

"What was what?" She mumbles, taking her stick back.

"You gave him the eyes."

She looks up, meeting his gaze, "The eyes?"

"The eyes." He responds, "The 'I have these striking baby blue eyes and pretty smile that'll make any poor soul fall in love with me'. I created that look, Matilda."

She scoffs, watching as Lydia and Allison sit on the bleachers. "I didn't give him the eyes."

"You definitely did." He crosses his arms, "And, hey, that's not a bad thing! In fact, it's a great thing."

"... How?"

"I can finally set you up with someone."

Matilda shakes her head, turning her head to look at Coach who is mentally on a different planet. "Coach, do you want me to get Danny to go in goal?"

He's quiet for a second, tapping his chin before shaking his head strongly. "No. We're going to do something else today. I'll sort it out."

Matilda nods. She doesn't really want to know what he's planning. She turns back to look at Jackson. "No setting me up with lacrosse players."

He's silent for a second, "... I think he does cross country too-"

"No!"

"Fine."

———