The darkness within

Chapter 2

It had been a few minutes since they entered. The school's basketball court had been transformed into a huge dance floor, flooded with thousands of teens dancing, chatting, and drinking. Of course, there were supervising teachers but they wouldn't dare mix with the crowd. After all, partying teenagers are a red flag for clothes. They tried their best to keep things under control, but there was only so much they could do.

Stiles scanned the court for Scott; he should have been there by now. He wasn't allowed to come because of his low grades; it was either the formal or the lacrosse team. But he would go anyway. Stiles even helped him come up with an entry plan. They knew the teachers, and most importantly Coach Finstock, would be on the lookout for him so they needed to be very careful. If Scott got caught, the consequences would be huge.

Apart from a werewolf, his homie was sickly in love with Allison. It drove Stiles crazy; Allison this, Allison that. Scott wouldn't stop talking about her, so Stiles felt like he was dating her too. Helping Scott sneak inside the school was one of the many things he did 'for the sake of their friendship', but since it came with the bonus of taking Lydia to the dance, he made sure it was perfect. Scott had 'kindly' convinced Jackson to take Allison to the dance the day before (Scott had slammed him against a locker and threatened him in the changing room, glowing eyes and all – Stiles still doesn't know he pulled that off), so she was safe from the other werewolves that were after him and could hurt her. Her parents were werewolf hunters, but Scott didn't have to worry too much about them; they operated secretly from their daughter and most likely wouldn't risk exposing him in front of her. It was a war, and Scott wanted to keep his lover safe and sound.

After some time, Stiles finally spotted his best friend sitting on the stands, looking towards Allison and Jackson who were chatting. It was more of an uneasy and restless stare than a gaze, Stiles could tell he was nervous and excited to be with her.

Allison, however, wasn't having as much of a good time as she had hoped. As it turned out, Jackson wasn't actually a formal party kind of guy. They just stood in awkward silence near the buffet, watching everyone dance to the hype music. Jackson pulled out a silver flask of his suit's inner pocket, twisted the cap off, and took a generous sip of whatever was in there. Then, he offered it to Allison. The strong smell of alcohol hit her nose like a train wreck; you needn't be a werewolf to smell how strong the content was.

- I'm good, thanks, she politely refused.

- You want to do tonight sober? He asked her in disbelief.

- I wouldn't mind forgetting some of it, she admitted to him.

Jackson took another sip of – what was in there, vodka? – and replied "I wouldn't mind forgetting all of it."

- Do you know if Scott's coming? She asked Jackson hopeful for a good answer.

- I know he's not allowed to – you know, academic probation, he replied almost as if he wished Scott was welcome with open arms on a red carpet and paparazzi all over. He then returned to staring at the dancing crowd, sipping alcohol like there was no tomorrow.

A few moments passed, and Allison made a second attempt to break the ice between them.

- Do you wanna dance? She asked.

- Do I have to? Jackson replied with the most bored tone ever. He'd rather be anywhere else other than there.

- Not the response I was expecting, but... No, I guess not...

Allison was a bit devastated. She was stuck in a high school dance with an uninterested "date" and her other friends nowhere to be found, and the only person who could save her from tonight was on "academic probation"; whatever the hell that was.