Being the mayor of small town Beacon Hills was usually an easy job. A fundraiser here, a construction there, sometimes the job even called for a brief public speaking. It was a demanding schedule but still easy, then the body was found in the woods and suddenly it was becoming too much for Mayor Ratliff.

"Sheriff, please tell me this was an accident."

She said as soon as Sheriff Stilinski stepped into her office. Bodies dropping in the woods had no room for pleasantries in her opinion.

"I'm not sure yet Madam Mayor."

"Not sure yet?" She repeated. "You've had the body for two weeks now and I know Beacon doesn't have any other bodies that need investigating."

Noah ignored her tone of voice, instead placing the case folders for Jane Doe and Spencer Dooley on her desk.

"The bottom half of the body has been with us for two weeks and it has been examined. But since we haven't found the second half yet Rollins can't determine for sure what the cause of death is."

"What about Spencer Dooley's case?"

A sombre look passed over Noah's face. "Rollins is still working on him. I just came from Dr. Deaton to ask him if these cases could be caused by an animal. He said it was possible either way until he could get more information."

"What do you think?"

"To be honest with you I have no idea." Noah confessed, "Some parts of these cases point to animal attack and some could be human. I just can't make sense of it."

Ratliff looked at the folders in front of her making sure to turn the crime scene photos face down. She read all that Sheriff Stilinski wrote in his notes, a mental tally going on in her head for animal attack and homicide. It bothered her that it could really go either way, but what bothered her more was that neither of these options would be acceptable to the public. Either both cases were animal attacks and she was a stupid mayor who refused to close down the highly dangerous preserve, or they were homicides and she was an ineffective mayor who wasn't able to catch a killer. Neither option sounded good to her or her re-election campaign in a few months.

"You've kept these cases out of public knowledge, right?"

"Jane Doe was public knowledge before we could stop it but Dooley's been kept out of the papers, yes."

Ratliff nodded, "Good. As far as everyone is concerned, both cases are unrelated accidents. No one's filed a missing person, right? So no need to investigate Jane Doe further, let alone make it public. As for Dooley, just say he tripped or cut himself or had a heart attack. Anything but a crime."

Silence greeted Mayor Ratliff's statement.

"Madame Mayor," Noah began, "Are you - are you telling me to cover-up these two murders?"

Ratliff stood up and shushed Noah at the mention of murder. She practically ran to the door, looked outside and made sure no one had overheard. Satisfied that no one had, she turned back to Noah with her most politician smile.

"Murder is a very strong word Sheriff Stilinski. You said it yourself, we can't prove Jane Doe's death wasn't an accident and no one's really asking about Dooley's death. This is just best for everyone. No panic, no stress, no extra hours for the police force..."

"No bad publicity for you." Noah finished having figured out what the mayor was trying to say.

"Or the sheriff's department."

That addition did nothing to soothe Noah. "There are two dead bodies in the morgue and you want me to just ignore that? What if there really is a killer out there? We have a responsibility to the town to let them know something dangerous is out there!"

Ratliff pursed her lips. Why couldn't Stilinski understand? She wasn't a monster, she felt bad for the dead people but killing her career along with them was not going to help anyone. She crossed her arms and tapped her right index finger against her left elbow.

"Okay, you can continue investigating this. But only you, Sheriff. I want this handled delicately." She said, "And post a 9:30 pm curfew all around town and say it was because of a wild animal in the woods. Will that work for you?"

It wasn't even close to what Noah wanted but he knew it was the most he was going to get from Mayor Ratliff. He'll just keep the patrols tighter and make sure everyone in the department was on the lookout for a killer.

OoOoO

Scott McCall experienced terror right down to his bones. His palms were sweaty, his knees felt weak, and his heart was making a wonderful imitation of a dragon boat drummer. He took a deep breath and tried once again to best his mortal enemy.

Algebra.

He wasn't a smart man and he's never really been an overachiever in any class, but he and Algebra just had a special hatred between them.

It didn't help that Mr. Delaney called him to answer the problem on the board with the most intimidating girl in the school solving next to him.

"Why's there a rumour going around that your friend's not playing on Saturday?" Lydia Martin asked him while they were solving the equation on the board. Well, she was solving the equation, he had no idea what he was doing.

Scott took a moment to wonder how on earth everyone knew about Stiles' decision not to play. Then he dismissed that thought knowing it was pointless trying to figure it out.

"Cause he's sort of not."

"I think he sort of is." Lydia said, "And you better make sure of it considering what you owe Jackson."

"What?"

"Don't you know?" Lydia asked, "The only reason you get to play on Saturday is because he got Danny to give you the goal while he plays on the field." Lydia gave a sort of giggle and smirked at him, "I mean, did you really think you could keep up with all those other players running around the field? What, with your asthma and inexperience and all. I'm pretty sure you'd be safer in goal."

She turned back to her equation, "And if Danny decides he wants to play goal again, well I just don't think there'll be much room for you on the team."

"Why do you even care?" He asked, "Before we made first line, you didn't even know our names."

She shrugged, "True, but you're not nobodies anymore. You're first line now thanks to whatever it is you and, Bobinsky? are on."

Scott tensed and said through gritted teeth, "We're not on anything."

Lydia didn't even bother to acknowledge his denial. "I'm sure you heard about Jackson's accident, he's fine and he'll be playing on Saturday. But he won't be playing at his peak. So I need your friend, with whatever freak juice he's taking to pick up the slack and win the game for us. Because if you start off the season losing, then I end up dating the captain of the losing lacrosse team. I don't date losers."

"I already tried talking to him. He won't change his mind."

"Get him to change his mind then. Because if he's out, then so are you. And since you're not nearly as good as your best friend, it'll probably help us win faster without you. Then we'll go out afterwards like we were planning and I'll introduce Allison to all the hot players on the team. And Scott McCall can stay at home surfing the net for porn with his spastic friend as company."

With that last promise, Lydia finished her equation and sashayed back into her seat leaving a troubled Scott on the board.

OoOoO

As soon as Algebra finished, Scott immediately set to work looking for Stiles. He had to convince him to play or at least tell him why he suddenly can't play their first game. Lydia's threat really shook him especially since everything she said was true. Despite his improvement in lacrosse and in controlling his asthma, he knew he still had a long way to go before running alongside the other players for hours.

That's why he spent most of the summer at the tennis court playing with the ball shooter while he practiced saving goals. It took him quite a while to figure out how to work the thing, luckily the janitor did and he agreed to help him so long as he didn't invite other teenagers. Scott knew that he would do better in goal than out on the field chasing after the ball, and after a while, he actually enjoyed playing goal. It was something about the role of protector instead of aggressor that appealed to him.

Now, thanks to whatever it was that was going on with Stiles, he was in danger of losing the chance to play the game he loved most.

He was literally pulled away from his depressing thoughts when Stiles grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him into an empty hallway.

"I have to play on Saturday."

"You have to play on Saturday."

They said at practically the same time.

"What?"

"What?"

Both boys frowned in confusion.

"Are you serious?"

"Are you serious?"

Having enough of the parrot game, Scott pressed his hand against Stiles' mouth. When they first did the parrot game when they were six it was kind of funny, now it was just plain annoying.

"You're playing on Saturday?"

Unable to answer, Stiles just nodded.

"What changed your mind? I thought you were serious about not playing."

Stiles slapped Scott's hand away from his mouth so he could talk.

"I talked to Coach. He said if I missed this game, he'd put us both back on the bench."

Scott's eyes widened in shock, he didn't expect this at all.

"Lydia said if I didn't get you to play, she and Jackson would make sure I don't get to play and she'd introduce Allison to all the hot players on the team."

Stiles frowned, it was times like these that he couldn't believe how different this Lydia was from the Lydia he grew up with. The Lydia he fell in love with wouldn't have stooped down to this level of blackmail. He knew this was Jackson's influence. Of course, he knew Lydia wasn't the same sweet eight year old girl with the ponytail who kissed him on the cheek for sharing his snack with her, and he also knew she could be pretty mean when she was crossed, but somehow Jackson just brought out the worst in her and he didn't like it.

"Guess I really have no choice but to play then." All Stiles had to do now was tell his broody werewolf mentor about his change of plans and get the man to agree to help him.

"Wait." Stiles said suddenly, thinking back to the other part of Scott's confession. "Why would Lydia and Jackson care if I played or not? I thought for sure Jackson would be celebrating that I wasn't gonna play."

"Oh umm," Scott mumbled and looked at the wall behind Stiles, "Lydia said something about not wanting to umm date the captain of the losing lacrosse team. So she uhh wanted to make sure other good players are there to play. And that umm includes you."

Scott looked really uncomfortable but Stiles just chalked it up to him still being uncomfortable with his newfound lacrosse talent.

"Right well, I figured out a way for me to play so I guess we're good." Stiles said.

"Why didn't you want to play again?"

"Umm school. Aggression." Stiles said counting them down on his fingers. "First game jitters. Getting busted by my dad for using steroids. It varies depending on who you ask."

Scott frowned, he opened his mouth to ask him what he meant but Stiles cut him off.

"So I'll tell you about my plan after school. Meet me at my house okay?"

Then before Scott could say anything more, Stiles patted his shoulder and ran off to his locker. Scott just stared after his best friend and once again wondered what the hell was going on with him.

OoOoO

For the rest of the weekday, Stiles avoided everyone except for Derek. The older werewolf was not pleased when Stiles told him he would be forced to play but when Stiles told him how guilty he felt for getting his best friend hurt for something that was Stiles' fault, Derek surprised him.

OoOoO

"Get up." Derek said, "We have three days to improve your control or find your anchor. We have work to do."

Derek walked out the house and into what used to be the Hale's front yard, Stiles followed him soon after. Derek broke off an extra large branch from a tree, drove it into the ground and began to drag it creating a huge circle in the front yard.

"Get inside the circle."

Stiles complied.

"We're speeding up your lessons on control. Now we'll focus on you remaining in control despite what's happening around you." He said, "Whoever manages to push the other one outside the circle first, wins. And remember, you can't shift."

Stiles gulped, "Okay, well, you can't shift too, right? Derek? Derek?"

Derek stepped into the circle and damn it if Stiles wasn't terrified.

"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

OoOoO

Thus began Stiles' highly exhausting routine that strained even his new werewolf stamina. He woke up at the crack of dawn to train with Derek, went to school, had lacrosse practice, more training with Derek, then homework, family time, and meditation at home.

His dad found it weird but Stiles told him he was just trying to get a head start on his college applications. That earned him a big proud smile from his dad and a giant blackhole settling in his stomach. His dad was proud of something he wasn't even doing, when for the past couple of days school has been the absolute last thing on his mind.

Stiles was pretty sure that if this kept going, his guilt was going to kill him long before the Alpha or the hunters did.

At school he did try to keep the classroom werewolf-free just so his grades won't slip and it made him feel less guilty for lying to his dad. He also avoided Scott as much as he could because he kept trying to use those damn puppy eyes to get Stiles to tell him everything and damn it if it wasn't Stiles' weakness. He stayed away from Allison because he really didn't want to give her any reason to suspect he was a werewolf regardless of how little she seemed to know about it. And of course he steered clear of the school's power couple not wanting to be interrogated or harassed by either. He couldn't even sit with Erica at lunch because she was usually at the nurse's office where she volunteered. He did however manage to tell her about the change of plans and persuade her to watch the game.

So that left him to hangout in the school library hiding the sandwich in his bag and taking small bites out of it when the librarian wasn't looking. Stiles was hiding out in the library again staring at his notebook trying to work on his essay. But all he could think about was the game happening in a few hours and how he still had no anchor and no proper control. So he abandoned his Econ paper and wrote down back-up plans upon back-up plans for the game.

Saturday's Plan to Stay Alive Sane Human

A. Pray to God that I could stay in control for the whole game

B. Try to find an anchor in time for the game

C. Get Derek to use the dog whistle again

D. Try Erica's song thing

E. Go to the game but fake an injury ASAP

F. Fake a doctor's note

G. All of the above

Beside each plan, he wrote out pros and cons hoping that it could help him decide which one had the greatest chance of success. The anchor and the song seemed like his best bet except he didn't have an anchor and maintaining a single calm mindset with adrenaline pumping hot in his veins on his first couple of weeks as a werewolf is a lot easier said than done. Asking Derek for help sounds really good, it worked before so in theory it should work again. Only, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to hear the dog whistle amidst all the noise at the game.

Faking an injury seemed particularly inviting, it would be a great way to get out of the game without having anyone question him. It was even easier to do knowing that he could heal in an instant without having to pay for hospital treatment. He could easily break his arm or ankle moments before the game, wrap it in a bandage and just keep on pretending. The more he thought about it, the more that he liked this plan. He could even fake the injury while playing when he feels himself start to change.

He could still play without shifting and hurting anyone else.

Giddy with joy, Stiles let out a bark of laughter ignoring the librarian's angry glares, for the first time in a week he actually had hope.