#Danny has found a new way to be a Chao Cryptid.

[lolottes]

And everyone is in a different romantic relationship.

Has different studies as well as odd jobs.

But the whole town, when they meet them, just says, oh boy, he has a busy life, this guy, he's everywhere, damn it. Everyone talks to them like if it was the same person without being offended by his forgetting because given how he does no posse it is normal that he is tired dead on his feet. Just to make the confusion worse.

And when the Danny's meet for the first time and start laughing about their life like it's normal as they relate to things getting more and more screwed up by accident

Or that there's some other difference in their experience like one says Dani's introduction is like in canon, one says how his Dani melted, the other says it happened later another says his Dani never came back and has no idea if she faded offscreen or not at all, another asks who is Dani, vlad ever did that or none of the clones were steady? the last is sold for having succeeded in saving all the clones.

Batfam looks at each other during all this, not knowing what to say, for certain Danny it is the happiest they have been since the member who took him had met him...

Imagine if one came here just to explore. Nothing has gone wrong in his timeline, he is now a very balanced mentally adult (maybe not physically) immortal Danny. He's the only one who feels bad. He escaped all that! Damn, he was so lucky. Bonus point if it's the one brought by Bruce himself and whispers to him THE question: Can we adopt ourselves?

Bruce: I have a number called to be sure, but I think so.

And why limit yourself to gotam: Let's put another Danny with Constantine because of an invocation that ended in adoption. why not one with the speeders that we meet because of temporal misdeeds.

Not to mention who have been hiding himself in absurd places to isolate himself but who was not empty of people at DC like Mars or under the ocean

After dinner with each batfam to bring a Danny, we have a meeting where each leaguer brings his Danny as well. Batman and his Danny look at each other between dismay, fatigue and OMG we HAVE to do something fast it might get worse! Like he might have Danny's with some bad guys (or just mix up some random civilians)

a configuration so rich in potential chaos

dp x dc prompt #15

danny escapes from his dimension to gotham after a reveal gone wrong. and an explosion at the nasty burger. and because he couldn’t deal with his parents talking about phantom. and gets dragged by cujo through a portal in the ghost zone. and runs away after being forced to seriously defend himself and hurt his parents.

five different versions of danny somehow find their way to the same gotham and befriend one of the bats. everyone is too busy trying to coax their new friend home to realize everyone else has the same kid from different dimensions with them.

[dragoknitter]

Catch these fuckin’

Danny Phantom One-Shot Recs

I’m gonna plug my own one-shot in here first, then go in reverse through my history. This list is probably gonna have more fics, so buckle up. There’s (surprisingly) only one crossover, and I’ve also put the GothMoth fics into a section by themselves. Because they’re special.

Coincidentally by Dragoknitter - Miles and Tucker are cousins, and Tucker basically says, “Y’all need a support system, lemme hook you up.”

Is This Just A Thing that Girls Do? by newdog14 - Middle school girls are terrifying, and this is definitely something I might’ve done if given the right motivation.

Pushing Buttons (Until They Break) by ObsidianCreates - Danny’s parents aren’t the best at feelings, and press on way too many sore spots. But! There’s a sequel and they make up for it!

Day Three: Cryptid by JadeNoRyuu - Astraphobic Danny + supernatural thunderstorm + helpful senior student = a fun little story that is just *Pacha 🖐👌Meme*

The Green Gremlin by NikaylaSarae - Some top-notch character building for Dash, although this author mostly writes for Sanders Sides

Parental Woes by DarkNymfa - Very nice premise! Clockwork and Pandora are awesome, but don’t really Get human stuff. Danny is embarrassed.

Of Tweets and Twats by DarkNymfa - Twitter convos discussing Amity Park, featuring people from Amity Park!

Flickering Yellow and Green by dragonrayy - Danny gets hit with something by Technus that messes up his eyes, so he goes to a ghost optometrist.

Grabbing Smoke by thatgirl_youknowtheone - Lovely characterization for Kitty! Also has Jewish Sam!

Growing Pains by ayjayar - Ghost puberty! Ghost puberty! But not for Danny

What Can Be Found by ajility - Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. Or, in this case, a dream ship in the Ghost Zone.

Facing Facts by ajility - I get the feeling this author just likes writing Danny in denial about his parents’ neglect…

The Things We Hold Dear by Alana_Kitty - Nice little story about Danny fixing Ember’s guitar!

Bang Babies got nothin’ on the Ghost Kid by anthrop - Look. I loved Static Shock as a kid and seeing him completely overwhelmed by Danny’s OP ass is wonderful.

Core by GhostWriterGirl1 - F in the chat for Danny. Boi gets messed up by a solar flare. The author added in the reasoning behind the headcanon too, so that’s neat!

Shots Fired by RedGhost1010 - This is definitely NOT what you should do in the event of a school shooting, but who cares about that when you’re immortal?

Lightning Scars and Listening Ears by GoingDeceased - A little angsty, but hey! Danny finally has some adults on his side!

Electricity by lexosaurus - Danny has PTSD, and peer pressure is a bitch

GothMoth Fics

Spooky Sin Scholar - Danny is a polyglot and teaches classmates to swear in Ghost.

The Fright In Halloween - Danny is a little shit, but what else is new?

Mimicry - Mostly just shitting on radical Christianity’s policy of “unnatural things must be eradicated, we must send them back to Hell where they belong”, at least that’s my takeaway

Fashion Flame War - Uniforms are only convenient for schools, and are a crime against expression of self. Casper High can never do things the easy way, though.

In My Veins Flows Chaos, But I Could Do Without It Being This Obvious - *plops ectoplasm into Danny’s hands* He glows!

Nip Trips Nips - Ah, ghost nip. And implied Val/Ellie! (Ellie is my preferred name for her because Dani and Danny is just so confusing)

Ecto Upgrade Start - Ghost puberty, for Danny this time!

Gala Glamour - Richness and pettiness are a given combination, after all, why shouldn’t Vlad use his ridiculous wealth for the entertainment of teenagers?

Poised To Go Splat - Don’t drink glow sticks, kids. Or let your insane ghost-hunting parents make an anti-ecto fog machine for the school dance.

What Qualifies As A Few Too Many Words? One - Ah, the unfortunate circumstance of a ghost needing Danny’s help, luckily (or unluckily) the ghost doesn’t speak English.

Would You Like Some Bullets With That, Sir? - Vlad is insanely rich. People don’t like him. Failed assassinations are just annoying when you’re immortal.

Phabulous Phashion - Danny should not be allowed to shop for clothes by himself.

Little Nibblers - Accidental ghost edible consumption, and baby fangs.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

fuck I still haven't done the rewrite of the Mutant Town AU that I specifically came off hiatus to write, like the Plant Witch Sam and Pharaoh Tucker posts were written to prep this au and I just got wildly distracted so uhhhh

yeah the concept is in the link but the gist is that the people and town becoming mutated by constant ectoplasmic contamination, we all know and love this concept right but I'm gonna expand on it

this is a direct result of the portal being opened, but they aren't getting infected from the portal, the issue is that creating a permanent opening into the ghost zone has weakened the veil between their worlds and Amity Park and the Ghost Zone sort of slip in and out of each other constantly

and because ectoplasm responds strongly to emotions (poltergeists being made from atmospheric emotions for example) it all tends to converge very heavily at the school full of hormonal teenagers

so Casper High becomes its own god damn cryptid, the teachers get so jaded about opening the door to a classroom and finding just a whole ass ghost zone on the other side that they just put a sign on the door telling kids to go to a different room, lockers swap contents with other lockers so kids have started putting their names on the inside so they know who's stuff they've just found

this also means the kids get super affected, like super affected, literally, they all get ghost powers, some are just physical mutations, some are just super abilities, or a general increase in natural ability, like a member of the track team getting super speed

it takes a while for Danny and co. to figure this out, Sam and Tucker should have been warning signs as they've spent the most time around ghosts and the ghost zone, but that's why the Witch Sam and Pharaoh Tucker posts are important

they have powers, but they thought they came exclusively from outside sources, they had no idea that their abilities were also strengthened and influenced by being highly contaminated by ectoplasm, which is why when one day Mikey sneezes and green acid shoots out of his nose and melts his desk, everyone is a little bit startled

the teachers have long since started using ghost detectors after the time Paulina spent a whole week overshadowed by Kitty, so Mikey gets a check over and other than the usual atmospheric reading Lancer gets nothing especially strong from him

there have been concerns about the gradually increasing ectoplasmic content in the air messing with ghost detector results, the devices have to be recalibrated constantly, so Lancer asks the one and only son of the local ghost hunters in the room if he has some other way to check

Danny's parents make him keep a few protective items in his schoolbag, so he tries some gear on him to see if anything comes flying out, but nothing does, Danny isn't too surprised seeing as he couldn't sense a ghost in the room anyway, but it definitely makes things a little concerning

even if it were a repeat of the Spectra incident and he wasn't being overshadowed, the Fenton's tech would have still gotten rid of whatever was causing this if it were an external influence

Mikey is sent home for the day and his parents are told to keep an eye on him

and then the next week, Star drops a pen off her desk and a strand of her hair whips out to grab it, she's also checked for ghost influence and sent home

a few weeks after that it happens again, a kid on the basketball team makes a leap to the net and stays in the air, they have to call in the cheerleaders to climb on top of each other to reach him and pull him down

Danny has been trying to figure out what's happening from the first moment with Mikey, and his parents have also been getting calls from worried parents who want to know if they can fix whatever's happening to their kids

over the next couple of months, every kid in the school has some kind of ability or mutation, Dash heals whoever he touches, which he discovers after punching Nathan in the face and curing his acne, Paulina turns invisible, which freaks her out at first until she realises it's great for eavesdropping, Wes can conjure fire (because I desperately needed him to have a polarising ability to Danny), Kwan becomes empathic and can feel and influence people's emotions

Valerie also had an early mutation that she didn't know about, when Technus gave her a new suit, her body pretty much just absorbed it as a part of her, Technus had not intended this to happen, and was pretty peeved about it, Valerie found out that she had stolen control over the suit when Technus had a big rant about it during a fight, and she put the pieces together once other kids started developing abilities

this whole thing causes a ton of chaos as kids are struggling to control what they can do, so Danny has to step in and help them out, he often has to run off to change into Phantom in order to protect everyone from an ability that's gone haywire, he ends up pretty much running ghost power training courses after school to help them control themselves

he's also gotten stuck in situations where he's had to step in and help someone without having the time to change forms, meaning he has to make up a cover story about having developed his own powers way before everyone else since he's been living on top of a portal for years, he only tells people about his ice powers

Jazz has always had a tendency to be able to reign in her emotions and keep a cool head, (the only ones who can really push her buttons are Danny and sometimes her parents, at school around other kids who look up to her she's often very in control) meaning she doesn't draw ectoplasm to herself all that much, and though Danny uses the excuse of having lived on top of a ghost portal to explain why he's already so familiar with using his power, it's actually not even remotely true, because the Fentons use specialised air purifiers to keep the atmospheric ectoplasm at a manageable level, the Fenton house ironically has the least atmospheric contamination compared to the rest of the town, that's how Maddie and Jack have had limited mutation to themselves (though they aren't wholly free, they've mostly just gotten physically stronger and tougher)

so even though Jazz develops her power a little earlier than everyone else's, it's not that far ahead, and she actually doesn't even realise she already has one until half the school has developed theirs

Jazz has the power to slow time in a little bubble around herself, she'd been using it without realising while studying, having gotten through hours of work in half that time, she always thought it was just her losing track of time or she was just getting faster at reading, she also spends a lot of time counselling other students and trying to help them sort out their problems, and they'd often comment that they felt like they'd been talking for so much longer than they had, again she just chalked it up to losing track of time

a lot of students had wondered why Danny developed a power early and Jazz hadn't, until someone walked in on Jazz helping a girl through a panic attack in the bathroom, and found them both talking extremely fast, a lot of her friends realised in hindsight that she'd been doing that unwittingly for quite a while, nobody had noticed because she always talked to people privately, so nobody outside her little time bubble had seen it happen

Sam and Tucker come clean about their abilities too, but they also don't give the full rundown, still keeping some things close to the chest to avoid standing out from everyone else

then there's the teachers

adults typically have a better time regulating emotions than teenagers, meaning much like Jazz they aren't drawing as much ectoplasm toward themselves, but this doesn't exempt them from developing something after a while, especially with the heightened stress of managing a school full of volatile super kids

Mr Lancer discovers that he can create shields, after an incident where he jumps in front of some students to protect them from another power gone awry

Tetslaff ends up with a sonic ability, able to project her voice like a megaphone (yes this is a Coach Boomer from Sky High reference don't @ me), Principal Ishiyama develops a physical mutation, growing to twice her size, she likes that she can tower over the students while delivering speeches, but she doesn't like having to stoop through doors all the time, she has the one to her office resized, along with her chair and desk

so as you can imagine, the town ends up erupting into chaos, a lot of kids very much misuse their abilities, Danny does his best as Phantom to teach people to be responsible, but sometimes he has to resort to literally kicking their asses to get them to straighten up

but for the most part, a ton of kids were already looking up to him, and are generally pretty happy to follow his example, especially the more popular kids, it's generally considered not very cool to get your ass kicked by Phantom, so weirdly enough a lot of kids get peer pressured into not causing any real damage or injury with their powers

this doesn't mean they don't absolutely misuse them, they're just more subtle about it

until a ghost shows up, a lot of the kids are more than happy to let loose to protect themselves and their friends, and Phantom for the most part is happy to let them, with some supervision of course, he still has to make sure nobody gets too hurt (including the ghosts)

the entire debacle makes Danny's life simultaneously a whole lot easier AND so much more fucking stressful

[onespoongirl]

Let Sleeping Wolves Lie | Chapter 4

Pairing: Stiles/oc/Lydia (polyamory)

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Read on ff.net or AO3

Summary: Beth has just moved across the Atlantic to be closer to her father, who lives in Beacon Hills, but she arrives just in time for a dead body in the woods and something monstrous prowling the school hallways. American teen sitcoms really didn't prepare her for this.

Word count: 6583

Chapter Index

Chapter 4: Strange Bethfellows

Waking up was nothing short of a harrowing experience. Looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, Beth opened her mouth and let out a confused groan. It wasn't until she turned her head and saw the slumbering Lydia next to her that she recognised where she was.

There was a weird kind of silence over the house, a kind of quiet after the storm so to speak. The only sound was an occasional sigh from the sleeping Lydia.

Beth felt uncharacteristically well, even though she'd woken up way earlier than necessary on a weekend. There was a bitter, disgusting taste in her mouth and her right foot felt sore as if she had twisted it sometime the night before but other than that, there was a suspicious lack of head-splitting pain.

With a smile, she moved to get out of bed and her optimism faltered; the second she moved from her prone position, nausea shot down from her head to her stomach, like lightning from a discount Zeus. She put a hand up to her mouth as if to physically hold back on the sick that were churning in her stomach.

"Do not throw up on my bed," said a voice, and Beth looked around until the room spun. Lydia was propped up on her bed, head tousled from sleep and a crease on her cheek where she had laid on a fold. It was rare to see Lydia not carefully made up from top to bottom. Seeing her friend like this helped Beth remember that under the snarky exterior and designer clothes, Lydia was a human who got creases on her face just like everyone else.

"Wasn't I supposed to take the guest bedroom?" Beth said after she was sure she wouldn't be sick on Lydia's floor. She warily leaned back against the headboard and folded her hands across her uneasy stomach.

"You were," came the clipped response. "You staggered in here after the last guest had gone home. I'm not actually sure if you fell asleep or passed out. Jackson wanted to drag you outside and leave you in a bush." Lydia stretched her arms above her head and shook her head so her red locks danced around her. She looked entirely too lively this early in the morning and after a party no less. "I tried to wake you but you were already totally gone."

Beth closed her eyes and groaned. The fact that Jackson had been there to witness Drunk Beth climb into bed with his girlfriend was beyond embarrassing. "Well, I'm glad you were there to save my arse from getting hypothermia," she mumbled.

Lydia patted her on the hand. "What makes you think I had anything to do with it? You have Danny to thank for that." She swung her legs over the bed and showed the first sign that she wasn't as unaffected as she looked. Her legs were a bit wobbly as she walked to the vanity and sat down.

Beth groaned louder and hid under a blanket. "Danny was here too? Well, isn't that profoundly mortifying. Wait," she said, and ripped the blanket away so she could fix Lydia with a horrified look, "where's Jackson? God, I didn't spoon him, did I? Lydia, tell me I didn't spoon him."

Lydia looked at Beth in the mirror, while she brushed her hair. She smiled haughtily. "As much as I like watching you writhe in embarrassment, you did not. He went home with Danny after you rudely took his spot. He looked pissed, too, so you better come up with a damn good apology."

"I was unseemly drunk, I'm not sure I can be entirely accountable for my actions."

Lydia put the brush down and turned around in the chair so she could look at Beth properly. "Spoken like a true alcoholic," she said with a sugary voice.

"Alright, I'll buy him a card or something. D'you think they sell ‘sorry I climbed into your girlfriend's bed' at the grocer's?"

"After you moved to Beacon Hills I can imagine they'll see an increase in apology cards sales." Beth stuck out her tongue at Lydia, who grimaced in return. "Have anyone ever told you that you literally sleep like the dead? For a moment I thought you'd stopped breathing."

"You are not the first to tell me that. My mum called 999 once when I was 5 because she thought I'd stopped breathing." Beth balanced on the edge of the bed while she fumbled around after her phone, which she found in the pocket of her discarded jeans. The sight of the cracked screen reminded her of the incident on the road, and she looked up at Lydia. She hadn't told anyone about what happened and she could already hear Lydia's voice admonishing her for being scared of what was probably a deer. Maybe it was better to wait until she really was accosted by some kind of cryptid before telling her friend.

Her phone was again courting death by flat battery, but Beth saw the text from Allison before it went out. "Allison says she got home safely last night. Nice of her to check in."

"Yeah, what happened to her and Scott last night? I saw them out by the pool but then …"

"She left me a voicemail that was pretty cryptic, but apparently something happened with Scott and she got a ride home from Stiles."

"Who?"

"And who leaves voicemails in 2011, honestly? Just send a text like a normal person." Beth began the job of shimmying on her trousers from the day before. "I'm famished. Do you want breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure. And since you've enjoyed so much of my hospitality," Lydia said and looked pointedly at the bed, "I think it's only fair that you get to make it."

"Lydia! First, I have to play photographer all night for you, and now you order me to cook breakfast. What am I, a glorified butler?"

Lydia paused in the doorway and smiled innocently. "Glorified?" she said

Beth went downstairs to the kitchen, limping a bit with every second step she took. She stopped dead in her tracks when she rounded the corner to the big open kitchen. It was an absolute disaster zone. The kitchen drain had been clogged with some unknown substance and the kitchen counter was littered with empty bottles and red plastic cups. The smell of alcohol that lingered all over the house was concentrated in the kitchen, where the floor was sticky from spilt drinks.

Very slowly, like someone who knew they had to help clean up, but really didn't want to, Beth started collecting empty bottles and putting them by the white, futuristic looking bin. She pointedly ignored whatever was going on with the sink.

It didn't take long before Lydia descended the stairs, wrapped in a silk dressing gown and with hair still wet from the shower. She scrunched her nose as she overlooked the chaos in the kitchen.

"I really regret staying the night. I know the last one helps clean but goddamn, this is going to take a week, it is!" Beth said from where she was crouched by the fridge. Somehow, a drunk partygoer had managed to wedge an empty bottle of Malibu in the little gap between the fridge and the counter, and Beth was trying to wriggle it out without breaking it. The contents of it were spilt all around the fridge, making everything smell like sickly sweet coconut.

"Yes, well. I'll go buy some breakfast. I don't think this kitchen is suitable to prepare anything right now." Lydia shot the sink a dismayed look, which Beth didn't think was quite appropriate for the level of grossness currently clogging up the sink. Injury

"Yeah, I think you just might be right. Just being in here is a health hazard. I've gotten hepatitis A to Z just from just standing here," Beth said and got up from a crouched position. She carefully navigated through the kitchen, trying to avoid stepping in the goo as much as possible.

While Lydia got ready to leave, Beth took a tour of the house to assess the damage. The kitchen was definitely the worst part, although someone had puked in the bushes next to the pool and she found some discarded male underwear behind a couch, which she promptly shoved as far down the bin as it could get.

Lydia still hadn't returned so Beth went to take a shower in the guest bathroom. After a bit hunting around, she found some fluffy white towels in one of the cupboards. The fresh feeling after the shower didn't last long though, as she had to put on her old clothes from the night before that smelled slightly of sweat and rum.

Lydia returned not long after with bagels and coffee. When they had eaten breakfast out on the terrace - the only place that didn't stink of alcohol - operation clean up commenced, with much whining from Beth. It didn't take a week but it did take them four hours of combined work to make the house presentable again. It wasn't exactly clear if Mrs Martin knew the exact extent of the party or not.

"What do you think happened to the girl in the woods?" Beth asked as she lounged on the couch. She was waiting for her father to come pick her up. "It's quite the way to start the new school year."

Lydia, who sat in an armchair and looked as exhausted as Beth felt – another sign that she wasn't as robotic as some might think – looked up from her phone. "You sound like I had anything to do with it."

"No, no, not like that. But has anything like this ever happened before?" Beth wriggled a bit so she could see Lydia from her prone position. She frowned when she saw Lydia turning her attention back to her phone.

"It probably has, given that this isn't exactly a new town," Lydia said. Her thumbs flew over the screen as she texted like her life depended on it.

Beth waited a moment before sighing and sitting up. "Someone told me that they found animal hairs on the body. What do you think it was?" Silence. Her features scrunched up into an annoyed grimace. "Me personally, I think it was Sasquatch who'd done it." Narrowing her eyes, she waited for Lydia to react. "Maybe he had help from his boyfriend the Mothman. What do you reckon their children would be called? Sasman? Mothsquatch?"

"You think I'm not listening to you, but I am."

"It doesn't sound like it."

Lydia lowered the phone a fraction of an inch. "Maybe that's because I simply. Don't. Care." She shot Beth an annoyed look before she returned to her phone.

Beth huffed indignantly and crossed her arms in front of her. Maybe Lydia didn't care about this, but she did, and the least Lydia could do was humour her a bit. "Oh, sorry. Maybe you'd care more if she'd been wearing the wrong colours or if she was killed by a-a wayward Louis Vuitton."

With an icy look, Lydia put down her phone. "Louis Vuitton. Really, Beth? You can do better than that."

"I think it got my point across well enough. You don't care about anything if it doesn't involve flaunting you status that, by the way, no one's going to care about in five years."

For a split second, there was an unidentifiable emotion in Lydia's eyes before they hardened to stone. "At least people will remember me for something. Why exactly is it you insist on that camera? Is there an actual reason or is it just because you know that is literally the only way people will find you interesting? Let's face it; I think we both know the answer." Her smile was all hard edges.

That hit a nerve. Beth's eyes prickled with unshed tears and her throat constricted painfully. Without another word, she got up and snatched her things from where they had been dropped on the coffee table. Lydia said nothing, having returned to typing on her phone. Stalking out of the room, Beth tried her hardest to keep from crying until she was out of the house. The moment the front door had slammed with more force than necessary, hot tears streamed down her face.

A few minutes later, she was perched on the curb in front of Lydia's house. Rubbed her eyes forcefully, she tried willing the tears to go away before Jaime showed up. She didn't feel like explaining what had happened to anyone.

Just as that thought had ended Jaime's car rounded the corner. With a groan, Beth got up and blinked furiously to get rid of the remaining tears.

"What happened?" Jaime asked her, as she closed the door behind her. He didn't start the car but sat and watched her expectantly. "Have you been crying?"

"Allergies," Beth said miserably and started crying again.

Jaime looked alarmed and grabbed her shoulder. "Beth, did something happen at the party?"

The quivering in his voice made Beth look up. She was used to him being, not indifferent, but passive, or solid or thoughtful. Now he just looked scared.

"Wha- oh god, no. Nothing happened at the party. I just had a row with Lydia is all. Honestly." She placed a hand on top of his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"You know you can talk to me about anything," Jaime said. There was still a hint of panic in his eyes.

"I know that," Beth said and shot him a kindly smile. "But really, I‘m fine."

Jaime shot her a concerned look, but he still started the car and began the drive home. Beth chatted along, trying to convince Jaime that there was nothing wrong. There was, of course, but nothing she really felt like discussing with her father.

When Beth got home, she haphazardly threw her stuff in her room, before she found Chloe and told her everything about the fight. It felt good getting it out there, and Chloe was a good listener, knowing exactly when to curse angrily at Lydia.

After dinner, she sat down in front of her computer, idly munching on some salted almonds, and waited for the computer to finish downloading the photos she'd taken of the party.

After a couple of minutes, the computer dinged, and Beth began the arduous task of sifting through all the photos she had taken and find out which one of them were suitable for eternalisation on the internet.

"Beth, what are you even doing?" she mumbled, as she looked at a particularly bad one. The camera had been crooked when she took it, so the drunk guy in the picture looked like he was standing nearly horizontal. The camera hadn't had time to focus properly so his outline was blurred enough that identification was impossible. "Away to the shame box with you," she sang, and with a couple of clicks, she saved it to a password-protected folder called "sin bin.”

A couple after that one made Beth squeal with laughter. She filled her lungs to shout after Chloe, but let it out in a huff when she saw the closed door. There was no way Chloe would hear her.

With a sigh, Beth got up and almost fell over her own feet in the hurry to get to the door. "CHLOE!" she yelled as soon as it was open. The responding crash as something fell to the floor from Chloe's room made Beth wince.

"God, what is it?" Chloe emerged from her room, looking frazzled at Beth, "is something wrong?"

"Oh, uh- I found your new profile picture for Facebook," Beth said with a sheepish grin.

"Are you kidding me? I thought a bear had crawled through your window and attacked you or something." She massaged her heart and scowled at Beth.

"Are there even bears in California?"

"How the hell should I know? And that's not the point. So you almost gave me a heart attack over a profile picture? I'm glad to hear my life means so much to you." Chloe flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned around to head back to her room.

"Not just any picture. Seriously, if you use this I-I swear, people will be all over you. You'd need to beat them off with a stick."

"Ew! Is that really how it goes? But alright, show me, then. Is this from the party?"

"It is indeed," Beth said and returned to her computer.

"Is there any of Felix Gamble? He's the creep that I told you about, the one who called me a whore when I said I didn't want to date him. I want some good blackmail on him when he inevitably tri-oh, my god." Chloe stopped dead when she saw the screen. "Beth, delete it."

"Aw, what? It's hilarious! I'm not going to delete it!"

"Beth! I will frickin' kill you," Chloe screeched, and dove for the computer. In the foreground of the photo was a lacrosse player striking a Captain Morgan pose, but it was the background that was really interesting. Chloe stood behind him with her arms stretched over her head, eyes and mouth wide open like a discount The Scream. It looked like she had been acting out a pretty dramatic looking story, but the camera had only caught that one, unfortunate snapshot.

Beth tried to wrestle Chloe away from the computer, but the older girl had height and strength on her side. She pinned Beth to the office chair and sat on her.

"That's not fair!" Beth squealed and tried to bat Chloe's hands away from the computer. The weight of Chloe was not unsubstantial, but it wasn't enough to make Beth panic. Her overworked muscles stung when she pushed against Chloe's back.

"What is going on in here? Jesus, are you fighting?" came Louie's voice from the doorway. Both Beth and Chloe stopped and looked at him for about 2 seconds before they resumed their fight.

"No worries Dad-I just … got it!" Chloe yelled triumphantly as the computer swooshed, indicating that the photo had been deleted.

"Uh, Okay," Louie said, and shook his head. "Um, Chloe, I think you're suffocating Beth."

"Gerroff!" Beth grunted as she tried to shove Chloe off her lap.

With a long-suffering sigh, Chloe got up and put her hands on her hips. "Next time I won't let you off so easy."

Beth dramatically gulped in air, as if someone had tried to drown her. "You nearly killed me, you did. I think I have a broken rib. Louie, she broke my rib!"

Louie snorted. "Please keep me out of this. I just wanted to make sure you didn't break the furniture."

"Your concern warms my heart."

"I am a saint, I know," Louie said with a smile and retreated from the door.

Chloe snorted and went to drag a spare chair over to the desk. "I think I'd better stay here and keep you in your place, in case you got any more unfortunate pictures."

"Maybe we'll find an embarrassing one of Felix Gamble," Beth said and scooted her chair closer to the computer.

They spent the next five minutes alternating between laughing and cringing at the often mortifying moments caught on film. Beth stopped when they got to a photo of two people she recognised. She furrowed her brow in confusion. "That's weird." On the photo Allison and Scott were facing forward, both wearing a dopey smile. Or Allison was, anyway, but Scott's face was obscured by two big lens flares.

Chloe leaned forward to get a better look. "Uh, that's unfortunate. Looks like the dude's got laser beams coming out of his face. You think he's about to kill Sarah Connor?"

"I don't think the Terminator had laser eyes," Beth said and zoomed in on Scott's face. Even with a lens hood, there was the possibility of flares, especially at night, but it seemed a little extreme, and none of the others was affected.

"Do you know who it is?"

"It's Scott McCall."

"Oh, so that must be Allison. She just started a week ago, right? Damn girl, she moves fast. She already snatched the best lacrosse player."

"Did you know that if you say ‘Scott McCall is the best lacrosse player' three times in the bathroom mirror, Jackson will come up from the shower drain and beat you to death with a lacrosse stick?"

Chloe laughed and shook her head. "No, but I want to see that horror movie."

Beth moved to the next picture and paused with her hand hovering over the keyboard. She had totally forgotten Derek Hale, but that wasn't what made her pause: his face, like Scott's, was hidden behind two big lens flares.

"Uh, is it your camera, maybe?" Chloe pushed Beth's hand away and zoomed in on his face. "I don't recognise him. Do you know who it is?"

Beth paused and looked at Chloe. She was a rotten liar but still, she didn't want to worry Chloe unduly. "No, he was just standing in the corner sort of … staring."

"Creepy. He probably wasn't invited because he's the kind of person to stand in the corner and stare." With a flourish, Chloe clicked on the next photo. "Ah, that's better. No flares of any kind."

Beth breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was actually scared my camera was broken."

It was just past ten when they finished going through the rest of the photos. Beth yawned and stretched her arms over her head. "I think I'm heading to bed."

Chloe sent her an incredulous look. "It's Saturday. What are you, 90?"

"I'm tired is what I am. I spent most of the day helping Lydia clean up after all you hooligans."

"I would've walked home if it meant I could get out of cleaning an entire house. Why didn't you try to sneak out the window or something?"

"Because I'm not a horrible friend. But I mean it, get out." Beth weakly pushed Chloe towards the door.

"Alright, I'm going. Goodnight, Grandma'," Chloe said and waved before she disappeared out of the door.

When Beth finally slid under the covers, she was off to a lovely, dreamless slumber in less than a minute.

When Beth arrived at school the next Monday she found Allison by her locker. The girl had a forlorn look in her eye as she gathered her books.

"Good morning," Beth said cheerfully, as she went to her locker and punched in the combination.

"Hey," came the unenthusiastic answer.

Beth frowned and leaned towards Allison's locker. "Are you all right? You sound a bit glum. Bad case of the Mondays, eh?" She jumped when Allison slammed her locker closed.

"I don't get boys," Allison said hotly, "I mean, Scott and I were having fun. We were dancing and suddenly he just runs off." She huffed a lock of hair out of her face and crossed her arms.

"Oh, right! That. Um, he didn't say what was wrong?" Beth moved closer, fiddling a bit with her a wayward curl.

"No!" Allison huffed and thrust out her jaw. "He told me that he'd be right back, but then he just took off in his car. I'm sorry for just leaving without saying goodbye, by the way. I tried to find you but- "

Beth waved her apology away. "Yeah, no, that's fine. I don't think I'd want to stay there either. So, he just abandoned you? What a dick move. Lucky that Stiles was there to drive you home."

One of confusion replaced Allison’s frustrated look. "Stiles? I-What do you mean? He didn't drive me home. He came by later, though, which was really weird."

"Huh? You said that one of Scott's friend drove you home didn't you?" Beth tried to remember if she had seen Scott with anyone else, but by the looks of it, he only really hung out with Stiles.

"Yeah, his name is Derek."

Beth's mouth fell open and her spine straightened as if she had just gotten a face full of ice water. Derek Hale had driven Allison home. Derek Hale the sour looking, serial killer-esque creep who was frightening enough to almost send her running through the dark forest, had driven Allison home. Had been alone with her in a car.

"Beth, are you-"

"Why would you ever go with him? Allison, that is really dangerous!" Beth's raised voice made some students shoot them weird looks. Beth ignored them.

Allison crossed and uncrossed her arms. "He's a friend of Scott's, so I didn't think it would be that big of a problem. Honestly, he was a lot more normal than you are right now," she said, with a bit of bite in her tone.

Beth, who had been gearing up for a proper tirade, paused and deflated a bit. Allison hadn't had the same weird experiences with Derek, so of course, she wasn't as wary of him. "You said that he was Scott's friend?" That was just as strange as Derek showing up at a high school party at all; a week ago, Scott hadn't even known Derek, though he could have become friends with him since then. Beth doubted it, though, as it didn't seem like Derek was someone who made friends easily. His death stare and brooding appearance must be a pretty big spanner in the works when it came to that.

"Yes," Allison said exasperatedly, "and I'm totally fine. Really." She uncrossed her arms and gestured to herself. "Not gotten eaten by a bear."

It's not the bear I'm scared of, Beth though, but decided against arguing further. She took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders to relieve some tension. "Alright, then. Just be careful, yeah?"

Allison smiled but it looked slightly strained. "I promise, mom." She said with a fair bit of annoyance in her voice.

Beth remembered that her parents were both overprotective and scary as hell, and Allison probably didn't need her friends start too, so she changed the subject. "Have you talked to Scott at all?"

Allison sighed and shook her head. "No. I kind of ignored his texts. This is more of a face to face deal; don't you think?"

Beth's eyes widened when she saw the object of their conversation walk through the doors and head for his locker. He locked eyes with Beth and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Uh, yeah, Scott's face is right there if you want to give it a go," Beth said and returned to her locker.

Allison froze but she didn't turn around. "Is he coming over here?" she asked in a panicked voice.

"Uh," Beth said and stole a look at the boy. He was facing his locker but hadn't made a move to open it. His head was bowed and he rested his forehead against the steel door. There was no doubt he knew he was in the doghouse. "He's not … he's doing, uh- something with the locker."

Allison, who looked flustered, schooled her face into a stony look. "Let's go," she said and grabbed Beth by the arm, who barely had time to close her locker before Allison dragged her down the hall. Her high heels clicked against the floor and she had a determined look. Beth felt positively bumbling beside her.

It only lasted until they rounded the corner. As soon as Scott was out of sight, Allison deflated and leaned against the wall.

Beth gave her shoulder a little squeeze.

Allison buried her face in her hands. "Do you think I should give him a second chance?" Her voice came out muffled.

Beth leaned against the wall next to her. "I am a terrible judge of character, so you really shouldn't ask me. What I can say is that you two seemed pretty happy when I saw you at the party."

Allison removed her hands and looked at Beth. "I just don't know …"

"Hey, who says you have to decide now? Let him suffer a bit. He deserves it." Beth lightly bumped Allison's shoulder with her own.

Allison smiled sincerely for the first time. "That's true."

The first bell rang, making them both jump. They hurried to class talking idly about anything not related to Scott or Derek or the party.

When Allison came through the door she stopped dead, and Beth crashed into her. She turned around with a harried look. "Switch places with me, please."

Beth looked over Allison's shoulder. Scott was sitting upright in his chair, his big, brown eyes trained on them.

"Um, okay. But then you'll just be in front of him. I reckon it's easier to ignore him …"

"Oh, thank you so much." Allison turned around again and squared her shoulders. She waltzed to Beth's seat and sat down primly, where she studiously ignored Scott, who was trying to talk to her.

When Beth passed him, she narrowed her eyes at him. The look of pure dejection she got in return made her waver, just a bit.

She had barely sat down in the seat before Stiles was leaning out of his chair towards her. The last bell hadn't rung yet, so he didn't really need to whisper like he did. "Are you angry at Scott too?" he asked, and threw his out his arm to keep himself from falling to the floor. Beth, who had leaned out from her chair, too, almost caught it in the face.

"Solidarity," she said, after dodging his flailing limb, "and I'm not happy with you either. You just left too."

Stiles had the grace to look embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his head and looked around the room. "Uh, yeah. Something came up, uh-"

"Does that something have something to do with Scott?" Beth asked and raised a brow. She had leaned out further, to avoid Scott hearing them talking about him. "What the hell happened?"

"N-no, why should it? I don't know what happened," he said, shaking his head vigorously.

Beth sent him a deadpanned look. "How stupid do you think I am? I have questions for you and-" she gestured wildly at Scott, who seemed to have resigned himself to mope at the back of Allison's head.

"There are no questions! We-uh, we just …" Stiles trailed off and shot a desperate look at Scott's back.

"Wow, who wouldn't believe you with a reply like that," Beth said dryly.

Stiles stared at her with wide eyes and opened his mouth though no sound came out. In that moment the last bell rang and with a sigh of relief he sat back in his chair and got suspiciously engrossed in his notes.

Beth made a sound of frustration but leaned back as well. Leaning her head on her hands, she tried to pay attention as the teacher droned on about Kafka.

At lunch, Beth had done her utmost to forget about Stiles and Scott. When she walked through the door, she remembered her row with Lydia the other day, when she saw the girl in question sitting by the centre table, already with a tray of cheap cafeteria food in front of her. When Beth sat down with her equally as stodgy lunch, Lydia regarded her with a cold stare, before she demonstratively turned around and started a conversation with some lacrosse player. Beth felt a stab of hurt before it was replaced by anger and she turned around to somewhat aggressively talk to Danny.

"So, who are you playing on Saturday?" Beth asked, as she forcefully stabbed a tough piece of chicken with her fork.

"Westerberg High. They're from the next county over. Um, Beth, are you okay? I think it's already dead." Danny looked pointedly at the now shredded chicken.

Beth, too, looked down at her lunch tray. "Double tap," she offered and started eating what was left of her lunch.

"Did something happen between you and Lydia? She didn't seem that mad when you fell asleep in her bed. Which is, by the way, one of the funniest things I've ever seen, so thank you for that."

Beth groaned and hid her face in her hands. "What's funny for you is utterly mortifying for me, so thanks for bringing it up, mate. And that's not it, anyway. It doesn't matter."

Danny leaned forward and shook his head. "Aw, c'mon. You're never anything else than cheerful. Sometimes it borders on the psychotic."

"Did you somehow work psychotic into a compliment?"

"I didn't fully intend it as a compliment, but-"

"-And you've only known me for two weeks, like. And-and, do you really want to know? I mean really? Are you sure you want to be privy to all my girly teenage angst?”

Danny threw up his hands in defeat. "You know what, I stand corrected. Just forget it."

She spent the rest of the lunch chatting with Danny and shooting the occasional angry glare at Lydia.

Allison approached the subject as they were walking to History. "So, I know why I'm angry at Scott. Why are you angry at Lydia?"

Beth sniffed in what she hoped was a haughty way. "It's so stupid, really. I mean, Lydia is stupid, and I'm totally in the right."

"Naturally," Allison said with a small smile.

"We just fought over … just some stuff. But she kept ignoring me today and it just pisses me off." Beth said and threw down her book on the desk with a loud thud.

Allison sat down at her own desk with a little more composure than Beth. She turned around in her seat so she was facing Beth, and rested her chin on her hand. "So how are you going to fix this? It's too early in the school year for this kind of drama."

Beth, who had hidden her face in her arms, peeked at Allison through her curls. "I'm just going to ignore it like any sane, non-confrontational person would do. I reckon she'll forget it in a couple of days."

Allison made a face. "Wow, that sounds really healthy … although I can't say I wouldn't do the same."

Beth straightened up and looked at Allison properly. "It works, it does. I've yet to lose a single friend from something as stupid as a row."

Allison looked sceptical. "Are you saying you've never fallen out with a friend? I don't believe that."

"Believe it, mate. I'm a friend for life. Why, have you left a slew of abandoned friendships?" Beth froze when she remembered Allison's travel history. There was probably a lot of lost friendships on that path. "Ah, right."

"There's the Beth we know and love," Allison said with a laugh.

Beth merely gave her two thumbs up and a meek smile. Fortunately, the bell rung and Mr Westover saved her from further embarrassing herself.

"Did you know that leeks are the national symbol of Wales?" Beth asked as she looked around the produce section for the aforementioned vegetable. It was after school and Beth and Louie were shopping for tonight's supper.

Louie stood nearby, digging around in a crate of mangos for the best one. "No, I did not. That's a weird national symbol, isn't it?" He thoughtfully studied a mango before he deemed it unsatisfactory and put it back in the crate. "Choose something normal like eagles or freedom like the rest of us."

"Okay, so it's because- ah, here they are –according to legend, Saint David- that's the patron saint of Wales, you know."

"Oh right, him. I love that guy. He's my favourite saint out of all of them." Louie found the perfect mango and moved on to scoop some potatoes into a plastic bag.

"So Saint David ordered his men to wear leeks on their helmet, to distinguish themselves from British invaders. Have you seen the swedes?" Beth glanced at the assorted vegetables like it was their fault she couldn't find her quarry.

"They're in Sweden where they belong."

"Hardy har har. You know, I'm inclined to agree with Chloe: you're not funny and you should probably stop before someone gets hurt." Beth said and smiled cheekily at him.

Louie grabbed a couple of swedes from where they were wedged between the wall and a crate of artichokes. "My humour is amazing, it's just that you need a more developed brain to fully comprehend it. Science. You'll understand when you get older," he said and tried to ruffle Beth's hair, which she quickly dodged.

"Since you're not technically my parent can I swear at you?" She asked innocently.

"No, because if you do then I will tell someone who is definitely your parent, and you'll get grounded." They moved on to the butcher section, where Louie ordered some lamb.

"Maybe I'm just acting up. Isn't that what teenagers are supposed to do?" Beth checked her shopping list for any ingredient they might have missed. "I'm being mean to my dad's new husband. And- and also, I just had to change schools and my mum is marrying some new bloke. I think I'm entitled to a little rebelliousness." She leaned against the trolley in a nonchalant way. It looked less nonchalant when it started to roll away from under her and nearly flattened a kid who walked past with a carton of milk.

After she was done profusely apologising to the kid and his mother, who glared daggers at her the entire time, Beth turned around to look at a snickering Louie. "Thanks for the help, mate. Now I might rebel for real."

Louie got his snickering under control as they moved towards the registers. "Speaking of, what do you think of this new bloke?" He said it in a weird nasal way, which Beth suspected was his British accent.

"Anthony? Uh, he's fine. Not really much to say about him," Beth said and shrugged. The movement looked weird with the way she was slung over the trolley's handlebar. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably at the thought of that whole mess.

"Your mom seems really happy. Wait, hold up." Louie disappeared down an aisle and came back a minute later with some laundry detergent.

"You talked with my mum?"

"I talk with Jaime who talks with your mom. Even more now after you moved here." Louie sighed when he saw the massive line in front of the two open registers.

"Yeah, they just got this new swanky flat. He's a banker, and I don't mean like just a normal bloke working at the tills, I mean a real and true capitalist one percenter. But a Welsh one percenter, which is not as impressive as an American one."

Louie mock gasped and covered his mouth with his hand. "You're lucky you made it out before Mr Fat Cat got his fat cat claws in you."

Beth snorted. "You make him sound like a moustache twirling villain in a kid's film. He's pretty normal. Just boring." He was normal and he made Anna happy, and that was what was most important, Beth kept telling herself.

"Urgh, boring? That's even worse!" Louie said and gave Beth's shoulder a friendly squeeze. "But, and I think I can speak for Chloe too, we're really happy that you're here. But only if you make us delicious dinner, so no pressure."

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