Noel first enters the episode at school. He walks into class with Scott, and when Scott sees Allison, Noel says "Come on, you're sitting with me today." When Scott ignores him and goes to Allison, Noel rolls his eyes and goes to sit down. Scott eventually does sit beside him and Stiles, and Noel says nothing to him. Noel has no problem taking the test Harris hands out.
When Scott runs out, Harris yells "Mr. McCall!" Stiles follows after his best friend, to which Harris yells "Mr. Stilinski!" Noel gets up to run after them too, but Harris says "If the next words out of my mouth are 'Mr. Whittemore', you'll all be in detention for the rest of the semester!" Noel's mouth opens in shock before he pouts and sits back down.
—
Later in the scene with the Argents, when one of the men says "What about Derek?" Kate says "He's smarter than that, he won't be out tonight. There's cops everywhere. And if he does go out, I know exactly where he'll be." She means he'll be with Noel, or Noel will seek him out and Derek will have nowhere to go from there.
Mrs. Argent comes in then, and says her whole line about killing Derek if they find him, the first part being changed to "If you know where he'll be, be there before he is. Be there so you can kill him..." etc.
—
At lunch, Noel is eating with Allison and they're laughing about something that happened off camera. They appear to be getting along well, and are obviously becoming close friends. When Jackson comes over, he says "Noel, would you mind leaving us alone for a minute, please?"
"We're in the middle of a conversation," Noel protests, but when Jackson shoots him a glare, Noel gets up and leaves obediently. Allison looks annoyed at Jackson's actions but doesn't protest to them or mention it. The scene continues normally.
At lacrosse practice, Noel sits to Scott's right while Stiles sits to his left. When coach reads off the names of the boys that temporarily get to play first line, the name "Taylor" is replaced with "Whittemore". Coach reads it and Noel's heart stops, looking up in shock as Stiles smiles at him. Coach squints at his paper and says with a laugh "Oh, that must be a mistake. Jackson's already first line. Let me just erase that.."
Noel jumps up and says "What's the number, coach?" Coach reads the number, and says "55.. That's not Jackson's number.."
"That's mine, coach! Noel Whittemore, remember?" Noel says, and Jackson looks from Noel to coach and sets his jaw in mild anger.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Noel Whittemore, that's the one. And then there's.." and that's where we get our "Bilinski" lines.
When coach announces they're switching to co-captains, Noel's smile fades. Jackson asks Coach
"What?" and Coach says "What do you mean what?"
"First you put the team's scrawniest most incompetent players on first line, and now you switch to co-captains?!"
"Jackson, this takes nothing away from you," Coach says and continues his teamwork speech. As they all go out to the field, Noel laughs with Stiles and high fives him when he rejoices over being first line.
Noel walks ahead of them after that, so he's not around when Stiles asks Scott to see if he can smell attraction to him on Lydia.
—
During the scene between Jackson and Allison in the sports shop, when Allison asks Jackson what he's doing there, Jackson thinks for a second before smiling. He wants her to have a good image of him, so he says "I came to buy a new lacrosse stick. For Noel. He made first string, and I wanna treat him a little to celebrate."
"I thought you hated Noel," Allison says, and Jackson lies, saying "No, of course not! All that stuff we do, the arguing and all that, just comes with the bond. We're cousins, so you know how it is. Hell, we're practically brothers! I really.." He hesitates for a beat before saying like it pains him "I love the kid, I do."
Allison doesn't seem too convinced, but smiles and nods anyway. Then Jackson shows that he also has the helmet for Danny, which sparks his and Allison's brief conversation about Scott.
—
Before the scene of Scott attacking Allison and Jackson in the car, we finally come back to Noel, sitting on the front steps of the Hale house. He's got his hands over his mouth, and he is again wearing Derek's jacket. He presumably hasn't taken it off much since he got it.
He looks around the dark empty property and says "Derek.. If you're here, if you're even alive.. I really need to see you. I know it's not safe for me to be out here, especially when it's a full moon and I'm by myself, but.."
Suddenly, Noel hears the trees and foliage rustle in front of him. He looks out into the treeline, saying "Derek? Is that you?"
He doesn't get a response, there's just more rustling. Noel stands up and walks to the trees, saying "Derek, please come out here.. Let me see your face, let me see that you're alive."
He again gets no response and this time the leaves don't rustle. He steps in even closer and says one more "Derek...?" before Laura finally steps out. She's covered in mud and dirt, and she walks in a way reminiscent of a contortionist. Her neck snaps to one side and Noel runs into the Hale house. He looks back and sees Laura, standing there, staring at him. Her eyes turn red as Noel's turn yellow, and he runs up the stairs and goes into a random room. He goes and curls up in the corner, looking around and realizing it's been lived in recently. There are sheets on the charred mattress and a wardrobe with clothes inside, all belonging to Derek. Noel squints to get a better look in the dark before a growl makes him snap his head up. Laura is standing in the doorway, now looking hostile instead of motherly as usual. She walks over to Noel and kneels in front of him, putting a hand under his chin and tilting her head as she looks over his face.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Noel asks and presses as far back into the wall as he can go. Laura smiles devilishly and says "Running out of time.. So little time.." she violently twists his head to the side and whispers in his ear "Find him and tell me."
"Find who?! What the hell do you want!!" Noel yells through tears, and suddenly Laura is gone. She's replaced by a silhouette standing in the doorway of the room Noel is in. He can't tell who it is in the slightest- he can't even see if it's a man or a woman, and neither can we. Very slowly the figure walks into the room, and Noel says hopefully "Derek?" The moonlight slowly reveals that it's Kate Argent. She smiles and says "What are you doing here screaming in the middle of the night all alone, sweetie? Don't you know it's a full moon?"
The scene cuts out on a shot of Noel, panting in the corner, still in shock and afraid.
—
After Derek successfully stops Scott and gets him under control, we go back to Kate and Noel at the Hale house. She has him sitting in the same room as she shocked Derek in in 1x05, sitting down on the same green couch.
"Sweetie, why won't you just tell me your name?" she asks soothingly and runs a hand through his hair. Noel jerks away from her and looks at the doorway, thinking of a plan of action to escape. She smiles and tilts her head saying "He's dead, you know. Nothing you can do about it."
Noel doesn't listen to her, still looking at the door frame. Kate smirks and scoots closer to him on the couch, putting a hand on his shoulder and saying into his ear "You know.. You're quite a handsome young man. I can see what Derek sees in you."
"Derek doesn't see anything in me," Noel growls out and turns to face away from Kate. Kate raises an eyebrow and says "What, you don't want me to whisper to you like that?"
"No, I don't. It's non-consensual, highly illegal, and not to mention creepy in general. I'm the same age as your niece."
"You know my niece?" Kate asks, and Noel's eyes widen. He stands up and says "I really do have to get home, my aunt's probably wondering where I am."
Kate laughs and says "Oh, hun..." We hear a gun cock and Noel turns to see Kate now standing and aiming her gun at him. "Don't run off so soon," she says with a smirk, and the scene cuts to Stiles in his jeep driving around looking for Scott.
—
Later, when Kate and Chris are in the car, Chris asks "So what did you do with him?"
Kate smiles at her brother, saying "Why's that any of your concern?"
"Because he's human, and quite possibly the only effective bait we have to catch Derek," Chris says, and Kate laughs a bit. "Oh, and turn him into bait I did.."
The scene cuts briefly to an image of Noel stumbling away from the Hale house, cradling his arm to his body. There is blood on his hand and face. He looks back at the house for a second before running again down the trail toward town. The camera zooms slowly from where Noel stood to the door of the Hale house, up the stairs and into Derek's room. Inside we zoom in to see Derek's bed, where one of Derek's white t-shirts lays with a spiral drawn in Noel's blood on it. We cut back to Kate and Chris in the car, and then they discuss Stiles as they do in canon.
—
Noel is not seen or mentioned again in the episode.