gray area | [teen wolf]

01: familiar beginnings

For being such an inspiration and becoming a part of my life over the last few months, I dedicate the first chapter of my first ever attempt at FanFiction to Em. I never would've found the courage to post anything I've written without your constant feedback and encouragement. The feelings and messages you can convey with your words is something that I can only imagine being able to do. Not only am I a huge fan of yours, but I'm lucky to call you my friend, as well. Your fearlessness and determination inspired me to give this whole writing thing a try, and I'm forever thankful for you. :-)

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Music blared from Sutton's speakers as she stood on her bed and hung up posters onto her side of the dorm room wall before her roommate arrived. She had just begun settling into her new home at Berkeley, almost 400 miles from her home in Los Angeles. She knew no one on the campus, and that suited her just fine. She was not dependent on others, and if she had it her way, she would have been living in a single bedroom dorm. While being alone was Sutton's mantra, her father insisted on her trying to "make some friends" and forced her into opting for random roommate selection. She stepped down off of her bed to reach inside her box full of things waiting to be hung on her wall and pulled out a small picture frame. She bit the inside of her lip as she looked down at the photograph that held an image of her once happy family. The photo held a memory that felt so distant, Sutton felt like it didn't even belong to her. Her memories of the following days were hazy, but that exact moment that the photo depicted was crystal clear. Time was almost frozen to only a day before death ripped apart her family and held onto their lives and preserved it for the rest of time. In that image, her mother was beautiful, carefree, and so alive. Kate's arms were wrapped around her son, Noah, as a 15-year-old Sutton clung onto his arm, and their father, James, behind her, all smiling their biggest, truly happy smiles. She remembers everyone being so happy, so filled with love and joy to simply be with one another. They were in Newport Beach, her and her mother's favorite city in California, sitting on a pier that suspended over the ocean. Noah had just graduated high school and it was the day before he was to move into his dorm at Berkeley where he received a lacrosse scholarship. Sutton shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she blankly stared at the image. How could this have been only three years ago, she thought to herself. It felt like an entire lifetime ago that she lost her mother to a deadly car accident that also took the life of her older brother.

The harsh reality of being in her dorm room, a dorm room where her brother was supposed to have lived three years ago, suddenly set in. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt for living the life her brother never got to experience; for taking his dream and making it her own. She swallowed hard as she closed her eyes and clutched the frame a little tighter before placing it back in the bottom of the box, tucking it away, along with her memories. She sifted through the remaining posters until she found the one she wanted. As she held on to the glossy paper, she walked to her speaker to choose a new song before stepping back up on to her bed to continue decorating. She was just finishing hanging up her Nirvana poster when she heard the jingle of keys and watched as the door opened.

A tall brunette girl stood in the doorframe with bags in her hands, and smiled excitedly at Sutton as she spoke. "Hi! You must be Sutton!" The girl walked into the room and dropped her two bags on the bed on the side of the room that was still barren and looked back up to the blonde girl who was barely even noticing her presence. "I'm Allison Argent," she added.

Sutton turned around and gave a small weak smile. "Hey, yeah I'm Sutton," she merely said before turning back around to hang more posters next to her bed.

Allison exhaled through her smile as she spoke again. "I have to go get the rest of my things, um, I'll be right back," the curly haired brunette lingered for only a second before she was back out the door. Sutton sighed at the thought of the girl coming back as she was already aching for solitude. Her eyes fell down to the box at the foot of her bed- the box that held the photo of her happy family- and as if the memories of Noah and her mother had somehow convinced her, Sutton stepped down off of her bed, quickly paused her music and hurriedly opened the door. She no longer had the option of avoiding everyone like she did in high school. She had a roommate, one who, so far, seemed friendly enough, and one she had to quite literally share a room with for the next year. That small interaction seemed to be enough for something inside of Sutton to click. Maybe this year would be different, she had decided for herself. She had shut herself out from the world for years, and being around people could actually be good for her. "Allison, wait up!" The blonde jogged down the hall to catch up and as she slowed to a walk, she pulled her hair into a quick ponytail. "I figured you might need some help," she grinned. Allison's eyes lit up and she grinned widely.