True Nature

“A lacrosse game?” Ambrosia’s mother asked, crossing her arms. “No, really … tell us.”

“Mom. Why would I lie about this? I told you days ago.”

“Yes, but we thought you were kidding. You’ve never really been into sports. Participating or watching.”

“I’m going to call you when it’s almost over so you can order the pizzas.”

“Wait, wait, wait … is this for a boy?”

“Oh my God, mom!” Ambrosia shook her head and grabbed her purse, waving to her. “Bye!”

“Who is he?” She called, chuckling. “Come on! You can tell me!” She teased, all the way until Ambrosia slammed the front door and cut off her mocking.

True, sports were never really her number one hobby but she didn’t hate them. She had seen games, mostly football (soccer) when she was in Europe. Romania had some really odd sport called oină that she had tried, and failed, to understand. Her father had, jokingly, taken her to watch sumo wrestlers once in their time in Tokyo and she had ended up reading manga the whole time. Sports just typically confused her and she knew lacrosse probably wouldn’t be any different but she wanted to support her friends and she was sure Kira or Lydia could explain the rules since it seemed as though lacrosse was the main sport at Beacon Hills High.

That was only made more apparent by the crowd assembled at the field by the time she pulled into the lot, surprising considering that this was only just a scrimmage as Scott had explained. The bleachers were nearly full for both teams, the away team being from a nearby school that Ambrosia had learned from Kira was Beacon Hills’ rival from just a couple towns over. It was a little difficult to find her friends in the crowd until Kira stood up to wave her arms emphatically at her. They were relatively close to the bench where the boys were already standing and preparing for the game. She caught Stiles’ eyes and waved at him, to which he returned … kind of.

It was more an awkward arm motion than anything else.

“Hey! You’re even sporting the Beacon Hills maroon!” Kira said, grinning. “You already fit in.” Kira was also in maroon though she was actually wearing a Beacon Hills sweatshirt due to the chillier air that crisp fall evening and it looked as though it belonged to the boy currently smiling up at her on the field.

“So, what are the rules to this game?” She asked, looking to Kira who was still locked in on Scott and Lydia who hadn’t even looked up from her phone.

“Oh, well, they try to get the ball in the goal.” Kira explained, biting her lip.

Ambrosia laughed. “You don’t really know either, do you?”

“Not really. I think Scott tried to explain it to me once but the main gist is that they have to get the ball in the goal using those sticks.”

“Fair enough.” Once the game started, Ambrosia spotted Stiles still on the bench. “Why isn’t Stiles in the game?”

“He doesn’t really play. Unless they’re desperate. Like every other player gets injured kind of desperate.” Lydia answered, finally putting her phone away with her eyes drifting towards the field where the twin of Danny’s ex-boyfriend was playing. She couldn’t tell the two apart but apparently one was straight and he and Lydia were … something.

At the beginning of the second half of the game, Ambrosia was getting a little fed up that Stiles hadn’t been put in the game yet. Beacon Hills was winning by a small margin and even if Stiles was a sucky player, she strongly believed that every player should be put in even if for only a small amount of time. And, every other player on the team had been put in except for him. So, she did something perhaps a little brash and silly but she couldn’t stop once she was standing.

“Put in Stilinski!” She shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Both Kira and Lydia looked up at her, stunned, just like the rest of the crowd. “Who is that?” She heard someone ask, an older man in a policeman’s uniform who was sitting not far from where she stood.

“New girl.” Lydia answered, looking back to the field where the coach, even more surprisingly, was putting him in.

Stiles was looking in disbelief at the coach then up to where she was still standing. She simply shrugged at him and then started cheering, wiping the dumbfounded look off his face before he ran out to the field. There were talks, as she sat down to watch Stiles play, about why the coach decided to put him in. It was rare, despite the fact he had been playing lacrosse a long time, and even his father (the cop she learned from Kira who was actually the sheriff) was in shock. Unfortunately, she soon realized why he was rarely put in – he took a big hit within minutes and was promptly taken back out.

She couldn’t help but feel responsible.

Once the game was over, the three girls waited in the parking lot for the boys to finish showering and changing to follow Ambrosia back to her house. Beacon Hills had won by only one point, thanks to Scott McCall, whom she learned was actually the captain. Which Kira had told her very proudly as they waited for everyone to trickle out of the bleachers. She had even met both Scott’s mom, who had come straight from work it seemed in her scrubs telling her that she was a nurse, and then Stiles’ dad. They were both nice, though the sheriff (true to his nature) had lots of questions as to why she had insisted his son be put in the game. She didn’t have that great of an answer but he didn’t seem to care all that much once she explained they were friends.

“I could definitely use some pizza after that.” Scott said, effectively cutting off the conversation she had been having with Kira about living in New York since they had that in common. Lydia had run off the second one of the twins appeared out of the locker room but she was still within sight. Ambrosia would have to ask her how she could tell the two apart to know she wasn't kissing the one who preferred boys.

“I called my mom, it should be there when we get back.” Ambrosia said. “Should we wrangle Lydia?”

Stiles groaned. “Oh no – the twins. She’s probably inviting Aiden right now.”

“Is that bad?” She asked, the three in front of her not really giving an answer which led her to believe that, yes, that was probably bad. He didn’t seem completely terrible from far away though the more she looked at the two the more she could see that Ethan had a friendlier disposition than his brother. “Well I will just tell her that he’s not invited.”

“No!” They all said, loudly. “It’s okay … I’ll go and get her.” Scott said.

“Well okay then.” She looked and finally saw that Stiles had a rather large bruise on his cheekbone and she didn’t even know how he had gotten it. Wasn’t that the point of a helmet, after all? “Hey, you okay?” She stepped towards him to get a closer look.

“What? Oh … yeah. I’ve had worse.” There was something behind his words, but she didn’t press it further.

“I’ll get you some ice for that.” She promised, gently touching the bruise and making him wince ever so slightly. “Sorry … for …”

“Yeah, why did you do that?” He was smiling so she knew he wasn’t mad. “Didn’t they warn you that I suck?”

She laughed and nodded. “I thought they were exaggerating.”

“Oh they weren’t.”

"I can see that now. Maybe you should try a different sport? You know, one with less contact? Like ... baseball." She teased.

Stiles raised his eyebrow at her before shaking it off. She tried not to read him too much but it seemed there was some kind of tie to baseball with Stiles. He didn't elaborate on it, though. "Lacrosse is the only sport I've ever really played. I'd probably be even worse at a new one."

"That's possible?" They both laughed.

"Harsh, but probably true."

Scott and Kira came back with only Lydia in tow. “All right, let’s go.” Scott said, rubbing his hands together. "I'm starving."

"Follow me."