In all honesty, it wasn't actually his fault he had been expelled. His stupid lab partner was the one that had handed him the wrong chemical. Sure, Stiles hadn't been measuring everything properly, but that was how he baked and his cookies always came out damn fine. Yeah, it was stupid and deep down he knew it was wrong but he couldn't take the entirety of the blame.
The school didn't seem to agree. "One too many misdemeanours," they said.
And that's how he ended up on the steps of Hale Academy, a pompous boarding school that required him to live in residence, in the middle of the first semester. It was the closest school they could find that would take him, and it was only an hour's drive so he could still see his dad on weekends.
His dad left him alone on the steps of the school, with his small suitcase and sad smile. He had insisted on walking Stiles all the way into the school, but Stiles had protested, going on about how he was old enough to do it himself and how his dad really needed to be off to work soon. The sheriff had promised to come by and visit him as soon as he could, but from what they both knew of his schedule it probably wouldn't be for a while.
Stiles watched the cop car drive off the grounds and gave it ten seconds just in case he decided to turn back before he took off to look around.
He was expecting a Hogwarts-style building, but nope. It was bit more modern that expected, almost as if there had been renovations done recently. High fences surrounded the grounds of the school but ended at the edge of the forest out back.
That's where he headed to first, discarding his bags at the edge. He looked around. He was alone. Before he could make it more than a few meters into the forest, a strong hand gripped his shoulder.
"You must be the young Mister Stilinski." Stiles came face to face with what he assumed was the groundskeeper. Who else would be wandering the grounds looking for wayward students?
Stiles shook off his hold. The man held his hand out. Stiles eyed it warily, but took it eventually, gave it a quick shake, and dropped it.
"I'm your headmaster, Stiles. It isn't often I meet students in the forest, but, this will do." The man leaned against a tree and motioned for Stiles to sit on a stump adjacent.
The headmaster introduced himself as Peter Hale. He had crazy eyes that kept sweeping over Stiles and he kept his hands in his pockets, feigning a relaxed stance. He explained what was expected of Stiles: no entering the forest they were currently sitting in under any circumstances, curfew was 10 PM, and Stiles was expected to attend all his classes. The usual, blah blah blah. Stiles nodded, not really absorbing anything. His mind kept wandering to what was in that forest.
Peter, though he preferred Headmaster Hale, led Stiles back to the school with a tight grip on his shoulder.
"You got very lucky, Mister Stilinski. We recently had an opening in one of the boys' dorms. You'll be rooming with Mister McCall."
The three boxes of stuff Stiles brought were already there and sat on the bare side of the room. The other side was jam packed with stuff spilling onto Stiles' side. Not much gave away what kind of person his roommate was. Judging by the sticks that were leaning in the corner of the room, he played lacrosse.
"You'll be expected to attend the remaining classes on your schedule today," Peter said. Stiles nodded and flicked his eyes to the door. Peter smiled and walked around the room, eyeing the other boy's things. The man couldn't take a hint and leave. "He's sure a messy one."
Stiles nodded again and raised his eyebrows in annoyance. They stared at each other for a few minutes, then Peter left him alone. Stiles closed the door behind him and let out the breath he had been holding.
His uniform along with his schedule were folded neatly on his double bed. His dress pants were a bit uncomfortable, and how did anyone expect him to wear a tie all day?
He put on his uniform,, grabbed his back pack and schedule. He scanned it over on his way out the door.
Chemistry, c'mon. He groaned. Of course his first class at his new school would be the one that got him expelled from his last school.
The chemistry teacher introduced himself as Mr Harris. He had a no-nonsense attitude about him and dismissed Stiles by pointing to the one empty seat in the room.
The seat was in the far back, where big-eyed boy with unruly hair sat. Stiles shuffled through the rows of desks and sat in the empty seat next to him.
"I'm Issac." He smiled shyly at Stiles and turned away and put his eyes back on his notebook.
"Stiles." He returned the smile. A loud cough from Mr Harris got both of their attention and Stiles had to stifle a laugh at the look on Isaac's face before turning back to the front.
It was too late for him to join any sports or clubs. The only thing he would have joined would have been the lacrosse team, but they seemed to already have their roster filled with a bunch of superstar players who were all painfully good-looking.
He opted instead to stick with something he was actually good at and took up refuge in the library. He hid out there until closing time, he charmed the librarian, and on evenings when he was lucky she would leave him the keys and let him lock up when he was done.
Most days Isaac would join him. They became quick friends, and for once Stiles didn't feel like he was the one putting the majority of the effort into making the friendship work. It was Isaac who would text him to meet up or who would start conversations, usually starting it with a funny story at his own expense.
They sat together in the back of the library, their thighs pushed together from both of them squeezing in on the same sideof the table. They were mostly quiet, except for the few times Stiles just couldn't hold in a laugh or Isaac did that cute almost-snort.
They were cramming for a mid term and with Stiles transferring in late he was behind. Not struggling, but just missing some notes. Isaac lent Stiles his notes he was missing, and walked him through the lessons that were a bit unclear.
9:30 rolled around on Sunday night, both boys tired from spending the majority of the day cramming. At closing time Stiles had minor freak-out. He didn't think he was anywhere near ready. Isaac reassured him that he was going to be fine, but it was hard to believe that coming from a Chemistry wiz.
"We could go back to my room and study? Scott won't be there so it will be quiet," Stiles offered. Isaac smiled and nodded; he scooped both his and Stiles' books and led the way out of the library.
They sat with their backs against Stiles' bed and their books sprawled around them on the floor.
Sometime before their seventh game of tic tac toe along the margin of his Stile's notes they had given up their pathetic attempt at studying. Stiles groaned and threw his head back against his bed, watching Isaac pretend to carry on.
"I've read the same paragraph 4 times, I think I'm done." Isaac said as he slammed his text book shut. Stiles chuckled. Scott still wasn't back from wherever he always was and it was nearing midnight. Isaac stretched out and threw is arms up. They landed on the bed behind Stiles head.
"I- I'm really glad you transferred here." Isaac looked down at his lap, smiling a bit to himself. "Shitty circumstances and all, but I'm glad." He turned his smile on full force and locked eyes with Stiles. Stiles was momentarily stunned. He had never realized how attractive Isaac was. His large eyes were flecked with green, his smile revealed white, perfectly straight teeth. Isaac had discarded his tie and had the top few buttons undone. He filled out his uniform, but not in an obnoxious way. His great personality didn't hurt either.
Isaac leaned over. His eyes flickered down to Stiles' lips then back up. He took hold of Stiles face with one hand brought it to his; he pushed their lips together softly.
He pulled away after a bit, smiling. Stiles went to speak but was cut off by Isaac's lips on his again. This time he pushed hard against him and shifted Stiles so they were facing each other. Stiles clutched at Isaac's shoulders, while Isaac's hands rested on his hips.
Isaac pulled away. Stiles was breathing heavy but he didn't care because the other teen's breathing matched his. Isaac stood up, and offered Stiles a hand and pulled him up too. He kept his hand on Stiles' hip and pulled him close.
"Is that okay?" Isaac asked. Stiles nodded and their lips met again briefly before Isaac released him.
Isaac licked his lips, tasting the other boy. Mint from the gum he had been chewing all evening, and something else he couldn't place.
Isaac cleaned up his textbooks and notes, but took his time doing it. He lingered around the room, running his hands over Stiles' stuff: his comforter, and some of his jackets he had hanging on the back of the door. He smiled at Stiles again and ducked out the door.
Stiles threw himself onto the bed. He didn't want a little kissing to affect him so much, but he couldn't wipe the smile off his face or get the butterflies out of his stomach.
The door to the room creaked open slowly, startling Stiles. He rolled over to see Scott just standing in the middle of the room, not moving.
"Did you spray something in here?" Scott moved around the room, not touching anything.
"Nope, just been studying."
Scott wrinkled his nose and sniffed at the air like a dog.
"It smells sweet, like cotton candy, kind of." Scott paused. "And something else."
Stiles asked what but Scott just shook his head. He crawled into bed a bit after that, but Stiles could see the light from his cell phone's screen and hear the clicking of him texting for a while.
The great thing about Isaac was, there were no awkward we-kissed-and-now-it's-weird feelings between them. He was beaming when he met Stiles on the way to class and bumped his shoulder playfully.
The mid-term went good. Well, as good as a test can go. Stiles only had a minor freak-out at the beginning, but he aced the bonus question which was pretty awesome.
Isaac and Stiles didn't have their next class together, so they parted ways after Chemistry.
His roommate, Scott, came and went as he pleased. Sometimes he would say a quick "hi," before dashing out of the room again. Once in a while they would actually get the chance to talk, but that wasn't often. They didn't share any classes so the only other time Stiles saw Scott was in the cafeteria during lunch. Usually Stiles would just run in grab some food and head back the library or to his room to eat but today he decided to switch up his routine.
Scott sat with a bunch of the other lacrosse players and their friends. They were what you would consider the beautiful people of the school: they all had super shiny hair and laughed loudly at each other's jokes.
Stiles looked them over as he passed. Scott sat next to a blond guy with a model's jawline. Next to him was a tanned boy with dark hair. A gorgeous strawberry blond girl sat across from them, who was more involved with her cell phone than the conversation happening around her. Beside her was a surly-looking guy, who looked like a senior, and next to him was a blonde with boobs that seemed to defy gravity. He was momentarily taken back by the lot of them.
He found himself seated a few tables away, with his back to them.
"Mind if I sit here?" Isaac stood sheepishly across from him at the empty cafeteria table. He looked like he belonged at the beautiful people table, rather than with Stiles.
Stiles looked up from the textbook on his lap. He shrugged, mid-bite. "Yeah, but you'll have to fight off all the other people wanting to sit with me."
Isaac laughed and put his tray down. Conversation with him was easy: they spent most of the time making fun of Mr. Harris and trying to figure out what, exactly was up his ass.
He noticed Isaac kept glancing over Stiles' shoulder, and when Stiles turned to see what he was constantly checking out, he was met with the glare of the surly dark-haired senior.
Stiles didn't want to look weak by looking away, but the look he was getting started off as curiosity then quickly turned to mix of disdain and anger.
The blond beside the senior whispered something in his ear, which got him to break the eye contact. Stiles turned back around to face Isaac, pleased with himself. Isaac had a nervous look on his face and just picked at the rest of his lunch.
They made eye contact again when Isaac started chuckling. Stiles looked around to see what he was looking at, but Isaac kept is gaze on him.
"What's is it? Is there someth—" Stiles was cut off by Isaac rubbing his thumb against his lower lip. He felt his face heat up at the touch.
He heard him before he saw him, the screeching of a chair against the cafeteria floor and heavy feet coming toward their table. He turned to see the big guy, the older one, stalking towards them. He wrapped his hand around the back of Isaac's neck and pulled to make him stand up.
"Enough," he spat, almost too quiet for Stiles' ears to pick up.
"Derek—" Isaac started, but Derek pressed hard against his neck and pushed him towards the doors. Isaac stalked off without a look back to the table. Derek followed after; he nodded to Scott, who came to the table with a sheepish smile at Stiles and grabbed Isaac's stuff.
Stiles reached out before Scott could get away. "What just happened?"
Scott took a breath and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Stiles. It's nothing." With that he was gone, along with the majority of the people that had been sitting at the table with them earlier.
After that little stunt in the cafeteria, the other students seemed to avoid Stiles even more. Before, it was mostly people staying out of his way, but now it was totally different. Almost as if he has a meter-wide space around him that no one would enter.
Cool, so he was officially a pariah and he had no real explanations as to why. Seemingly, all because of some big stupid senior. No one would talk to him, let alone make eye contact.
He didn't see Isaac for the rest of the day, or any of the other kids that hung around him and Derek. He had texted Isaac a few times, but got no response. So, he did the only thing he could. He went to the library, figuring if Isaac came looking for him he would know to come here first.
And eventually he did.
"I'm sorry about what happened today, Stiles." Isaac stood at the end of his table, clutching a couple textbooks in his arms. "Can I sit for a while?"
"Isn't Derek going to swoop in and drag you out of here? It's probably not a very good idea for you to be seen with me." Stiles forced out a laugh, trying to make light of the situation.
Isaac gave him that wounded puppy look that he did so well and sat down anyways.
"Dude, you okay? You seem really tense." Stiles asked. Isaac didn't answer. He just stared at his cell phone on the table; it was placed ominously between them. He ran his hand through his hair and leaned back in his chair a bit.
"I don't think it's a good idea for us to hang out for a while," Isaac forced out. He wouldn't look up and meet Stiles' eyes. If he did, he would see Stiles sitting there, his mouth agape and his pen lying discarded where he dropped it.
Stiles was speechless for pretty much the first time since ever; this wasn't how things usually worked out. At least, it wasn't how he thought things would work out. He didn't transfer to this school with a plan in mind that he would become really good friends with a good-looking boy, and didn't plan on said good-looking boy kissing him and making Stiles realize that he had more than friendly feelings for him.
He had just wanted to sail through the rest of high school moderately unscathed. But now he had this guy telling Stiles how he didn't want him anymore, despite the fact that it was Isaac who had made the first move, who had kissed him. And, well, now that Stiles had Isaac, he didn't want to lose him.
"It's for the best." Before Stiles could respond, Isaac was already gone.
Stiles left the library alone at closing. He had spent the rest of the evening just thinking; he couldn't bring himself to study anymore. As usual, the hallways were empty as he walked to the dorms.
The familiar sound of heavy footsteps shook him from his slow walk. He looked around but couldn't tell where the noise was coming from. Suddenly he was flush against a wall, his breath knocked out of him from the impact.
It was, Derek, the one who had single-handedly ruined the one good thing that had happened to Stiles since he came to this school. They stared at each other without saying anything, Stiles still leaning against the wall and Derek opposite him with his arms crossed across his chest.
"Did you need something? Or can I go to my room?" Maybe Stiles shouldn't have been giving Derek attitude, but with the day he had been through, he was feeling particularly brave. He didn't get an answer so he started to walk away. Derek grabbed him and pushed him back against the wall.
"I don't know what you told him." Stiles looked down at the floor, the fight going out of his voice.
"I just cleared things up for him. He's not supposed to be alone with you. He didn't know that before, but now he does." Derek stated.
"What makes you think you get to decide that? If he wants to be my friend, let him be. You can't control people like that." Stiles couldn't meet Derek's gaze, but he did manage to find his voice.
"Let's not make this worse than it is." Derek had his hand on Stiles' shoulder. He squeezed it lightly in what Stiles assumed was supposed to be a comforting gesture but it felt more threatening. And then he smiled, which put Stiles more on edge. Stiles shook his hand off. He walked down the hallway, away from Derek, but stopped at the end.
"What's your problem?" he asked, without turning around.
"You're my problem."
Well, shit.