I was finishing some trig homework when Stiles, Scott, and Liam emerged from the school. Liam was taller than he used to be and seemed a lot more muscular. Scott had this puppy dog enthusiasm that intrigued me, and he seemed like a really genuine guy. But Stiles was interesting. I had been so worried when I knocked him over this morning, having seen his annoyed look right before I ran into him, and afraid he was going to make me regret one of my first mistakes on the first day of my senior year. But I didn't regret running into him. His eyes found me by the fountain and he smiled easily at me. He was quite charming, which seemed to somewhat surprise his friends so I assumed this was a new thing. But his cute moles and slightly awkward sarcasm was endearing. We decided to meet at his house after practice.
"I can give you my address…" Stiles was saying. This was problematic. I didn't like showing up to places that I didn't know alone. I didn't like knocking on doors not knowing for sure who was behind them. I had been led into one too many traps to do any of that. Stiles seemed to sense my panic. "Or you can follow us over after practice." No one but Stiles had seemed to sense my discomfort or realize how relieved I was now. I agreed to wait in the bleachers. Stiles made teasing conversation with me as we walked over to the bleachers, being very chivalrous by carrying my books, seemingly by habit. I thanked him as he handed them back to me.
"No problem," he responded and gave me a cheesy grin. He drummed his fingers on the side of his bag as he stared at me for a few moments too long. I felt like blushing at the attention, but smiled instead. Stiles seemed to realize he was staring and turned quickly to catch up with his friends. I started to walk up the bleachers and covertly listened in on their conversation.
"Since when are we studying today?" Scott asked Stiles. Why would they say they were studying if they weren't?
"Since Liam's hot tutor transferred to our school," Stiles responded. In my surprise, I missed the next step on the bleachers and fell with a yelp. So, that's why. I popped back up to find all three boys staring at me, Stiles with mild concern.
"I'm okay!" I called out and turned around in embarrassment. I quickly stepped up a few more steps to get them out of my hearing range. When I sat down, I caught Scott staring up at me with narrowed eyes, as if he was trying to figure something out. I smiled cautiously at him and he returned the gesture hesitantly before turning back to practice.
As I watched practice I realized why Scott had given me a suspicious look. It was because he knew how to recognize when someone could hear something they shouldn't be able to. It was because his eyes were open to the possibility that I could have heard Stiles' comment. I remember Liam being excellent at lacrosse, but not this good. And Scott was the captain so I expected for him to be strong and fast, but not this strong and fast. It was almost supernatural.
I sighed. It was just my luck that on my first day in my new town, trying to get away from any past trouble and just survive senior year, I would make friends with these type of people. The type of people that you would expect a guy like Stiles, who I was already beginning to take interest in, and who apparently was taking an interest in me, to be friends with. The type of people who were werewolves.