There was something special about the boy in Derek Hale's chemistry class. Besides his obvious ADHD and witty personality, there was something about him that Derek couldn't put a finger on, and it drove him crazy. Sure, Derek found Stiles attractive, intriguing even. He had known he was gay for almost a year, but he had never really felt attracted to anyone before. It was only the first day and he had Stiles all figured out, or so he thought. He sat right behind him; he was excellent at chemistry so he preferred to pay attention to Stiles rather than the class. He counted the small moles on the back of his neck, (there were 6), he knew that he was constantly tapping a pen, a pencil, or his foot, and that he would stick out his tongue and lick his bottom lip subconsciously whenever he was concentrating. He especially liked Stiles' hair; it was slightly similar to his own but it had its own uniqueness to it. He got particularly lost in it, finding himself trying to count each and every one of his hairs...
"Mr. Hale, can you give me the answer please?" He suddenly snapped out of his trance, looking around and seeing everyone in the class staring at him. After all, he WAS the odd one out. It was his first day at a new school, and he was a sophomore taking mostly junior lever classes. He saw three different conversion problems on the board, so he cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry, which one?" A few of the other students laughed quietly, others whispered to each other. The teacher, Mr. Kempt rolled his eyes. "Well Mr. Hale, why don't we go for all three?" Derek shrugged and stood up, quickly walking up to the board. He uncapped a marker and jotted down the three answers in a matter of seconds while the class sat, dumbfounded. He stepped back, looking humble, and put the cap back on the marker. Mr. Kempt was visibly shocked as he stammered, "That's-that's right. All three... All three are correct!"
Derek winced as a sudden realization hit him. Now he would be pegged as the freaky braniac dude, and nobody would want to be his friend. But what kind of teacher makes students go up to the board and do work on the first day, anyway? He lowered his head and trudged back to his seat, slumping down. Stiles turned around to him while Mr. Kempt started to drone on about famous chemists, and his heart jumped a bit. "Dude, that was awesome! How do you do it?" Derek just shrugged. He really didn't know, it had just been something that had always come to him naturally. He was trying to think of something to say in reply, but Stiles turned back around, and the bell rang. Derek quickly gathered his books, letting the paper with his schedule rest on top. He had lunch next, and he was definitely hungry.
As he was leaving the room, the schedule was snatched off the top of the pile from over his shoulder, and he turned around to see Stiles scanning it. "Wow we have like, 4 classes together! Chemistry, Calculous, and Biology..." Derek nodded and cleared his throat, but Stiles ignored it. "AND LUNCH! Awesome! Alright, let's go, I'm gonna introduce you to some awesome people!" Derek started to protest, but Stiles grabbed his arm and practically dragged him all the way to the cafeteria.
"Ok, so that was pretty sudden and slightly violent, but I'll make it up to you by paying for your lunch!" Derek shook his head. "Stiles, you don't have to-" but he was interrupted. "Up, up, up, up! I'm not having any of that, I'm buying you lunch and you'll like it!" He smiled then laughed, and Derek sighed, nodding. "Fine, fine." He made sure not to get very much food though. The whole time, his heart was racing, his palms were sweating, but he managed to remain fairly calm and stoic on the surface. He almost dropped his tray at one point because of his slippery hands, but Stiles didn't notice. After he had payed for both of their lunches, he guided Derek over to a table where about 3 other people sat. Derek recognized one of them, and he recalled that her name was Lydia. She seemed like a normal, ditzy teenage girl at first, but they were both taking AP English together.
She seemed to recognize him too, smiling invitingly. "You're Derek right? You're like the really smart sophomore taking all junior level classes?" Derek nodded, grimacing. Already, he was being labeled. Stiles scoffed. "Lydia, this is lunch, you can save your brainy talk for later!" Lydia glared at him but said nothing, turning her attention to her salad and filing her nails. Derek sat down, not needing to introduce himself to the other two anymore. Not that they would have heard him; they were practically inhaling each other's faces. Stiles cleared his throat. "Scott, Allison, introduce yourselves..." They looked up, slightly breathless, smiling awkwardly. "I'm Scott, and this is Allison." Derek awkwardly raised his hand slightly, giving a small wave but ultimately looking stupid. He frowned and quickly put his hand down.
"So Derek, you're in all junior level classes, but you're still a sophomore... Shouldn't you have skipped a grade or something?" Derek shook his head. "I'm taking sophomore level history, I've never been good with history... Plus I never really cared about what grade I was in. My family moves around a lot, so I never really make friends." Allison frowned sympathetically. "Why do you move around so much?" Derek opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. He too frowned. "I...I actually don't know." Lydia raised an eyebrow. "So you've been moving around for your whole life, and you don't know why?" Derek could hear the disbelief in her voice. "It sounds ridiculous, I know."
Stiles clasped Derek's shoulder firmly. "Well, maybe this time you'll stick around?" Derek sighed, muttering, "I hope so..." Derek stared down at his tray, empty of the small amount of food that Stiles had bought. He stood up and Stiles asked, "Hey, where are you going?" Derek was hoping he wouldn't ask. "To the library... I wanna see if they have any good books I haven't read yet." Stiles raised an eyebrow. "You sure you don't wanna sit with us? We don't bite! Well, Allison and Scott, maybe..." They both shot him an annoyed glare then went back to feeding each other grapes. Derek chuckled. "Sorry, maybe another time?" Stiles nodded, looking almost... disappointed? Derek crossed the cafeteria and placed his tray where it belonged but was suddenly grabbed from behind.
He jumped, turning around to see Stiles. "Jesus Stiles! What is it?" Stiles rocked back and forth on his feet, looking around for a second. "I was wondering if I could have your number? Lydia mentioned you were taking AP English, and she's not willing to tutor me. I was wondering if... maybe you could?" Derek smiled. "Sure, but it's only the first day of school. I wouldn't know what to tutor you in... And how would you even know that you need tutoring?" Stiles froze, eyes slightly widened. "Uh, um, I-" he stuttered. Derek felt the tension in his chest start to fade. He didn't know why, but for some reason Stiles was just about as nervous as himself. "Hold out your hand." Stiles blinked, not seeming to understand. "What?" Derek chuckled. "Hold out your hand, so I can write my number?"
Stiles pointed at him and smiled. "Ah, right, smart guy!" Derek grabbed a pen from his pocket and wrote his cell number on Stiles' hand. He capped the pen and put it back into his pocket, saying, "Well, I'm gonna go now. Talk to you later, I guess?" Stiles nodded, trying to find something to say. "Bye!" Derek laughed as he turned away. Stiles wasn't very discreet about anything, and the fact that he was so nervous gave Derek so much hope. As he exited the cafeteria, he looked back at Stiles, who was shoving his hand in the face of everyone at the table. He could tell by his lip movements that he was saying, "I got his number! Oh my god!"