Chapter One
Slamming his locker shut, Scott turned around seeing Stiles coming towards him. He no doubt had something inane to ramble on about, but whatever momentary delay Scott could get before having to face chemistry he would take. Chemistry. Scott grimaced even thinking about the god forsaken class, honestly it was a daily struggle to just put one foot in front of the other to get there. He nodded slowly in Stiles' direction, but his mind started to drift to what awaited him in chemistry. If he was being honest with himself, his problem lay less with the class itself, and more with his teacher Mr. Harris, who had given him detention on more than one occasion. He was a pale, greasy haired man, who had a tendency to favor anyone who wasn't Scott Mccall or Stiles Stilinski. Scott would admit that he wasn't the most bookish student, but he had definitely resolved to make a change this year.
Only two weeks into his junior year and he had long ago started studying for the SAT's. Online summer classes had given him the long overdue boost he had needed, and from here on out, it didn't look like much was standing in the way of his newfound study habits.
Stiles wildly waving his hand in front of his eyes finally snapped Scott out of his reverie. "Dammit Scott! Have you even been listening to a word I said?" Scott shrugged his shoulders guiltily, the corner of his mouth curling into an apologetic smile.
Stiles huffed out a sigh, and rolled his eyes in exasperation. Having the attention span of a high functioning goldfish, Stiles was able to get over his annoyance quickly and continue. "As I was saying he apparently moved from New York or something, I don't even know. Nobody knows much about him, he just sort of showed up I mean who moves in the middle of junior y -"
"-Stiles slow down. Who are you talking about?" Scott's eyebrows knitted in confusion as the five minute bell echoed through the hall. In the distance Scott could see Mr. Harris opening his door and welcoming the first few students inside eagerly. He glanced down the hallway as his eyes seemed to shoot daggers at the usual tardy students, including Scott. "Stiles man I got to go just tell me during lunch ok?"
Scott couldn't be bothered to wait for an answer as he zoomed down the hallway. Scott ducked his head, but he could feel Mr. Harris glaring daggers into his back as he hurried to his seat. He glanced up from his lab table in the back right hand corner of the room. He had particularly enjoyed sitting in the back, which allowed him to text Stiles during the other boy's free period. That, along with sitting alone, was one of the only two perks of first period chemistry class with Mr. Harris.
The first period's bell rang with an air, sentencing them all to forty seven minutes of mind numbing boredom.
"Ok class take out your books and turn to page four hundred and ninety two."
Upon realizing he had forgotten his textbook in his locker, Scott mentally kicked himself for his idleness. Crap. Mr. Harris seemed to notice Scott's mistake and was about to reprimand him when there was a faint knock at the door. Mr. Harris abruptly turned his attention away from Scott and stiffly walked toward the door as the class started whispering. Scott let out a sigh of relief, turning his attention to the front of the room, which was now occupied by a boy Scott had never seen before talking to Mr. Harris.
"Who is he?" said a blond girl name Erica two rows in front of Scott.
"I don't know but he looks pretty cute," responded her lab partner.
Mr. Harris handed what Scott could only assume was his schedule back to the boy, and gestured for him to find a seat. His blue eyes scanned the classroom for a fleeting second, before he quickly averted his gaze. Still staring at the new boy, Scott vaguely recalled Stiles saying something about this kid. His eyes roamed over the boy's curly golden brown hair, high cheekbones, and what were probably the bluest eyes he had seen, ever. He was at least a head taller than Scott, but looked rather thin and reedy with his too big sweat shirt and slightly hunched posture.
Scott's drifting mind was reeled in by Mr. Harris's sharp voice. "Class we have a new student. This is Isaac Lahey." Scott silently let the name roll off his tongue. Lahey. "He just transferred here from New York State," He turned to Isaac then. "We have a pretty full class, which is why I was a little surprised they put you in this one. You'll have to sit next to Scott," Mr. Harris said, almost as if he was apologizing to Isaac in advance.
Isaac just nodded, looking up to steal a glance at Scott, but again averted his eyes just as quickly as he had earlier. Mr. Harris handed him a textbook as Isaac rushed to the back of the room, unceremoniously dropping his textbook on the table as soon as possible. Scott frowned slightly at how frantically Isaac had looked away. Did I do something wrong already? Scott thought to himself. He had almost looked…scared? Scott shook the thought away as Isaac took a seat next to him. That was stupid, what could he have to be scared about? Either way, Scott barely knew this kid, and couldn't simply ask him about it.
Pushing away any thoughts of Isaac's life that were definitely not his business, Scott offered the other boy a warm smile. Isaac hesitated for a minute, as if unsure how to respond to unwarranted friendliness, before responding with a simple upturning of his lips. Mr. Harris, who hadn't even paused the lesson long enough for Isaac to take a seat, was now explaining the lab. Isaac's hands were fumbling with his book bag in a rush to grab his notebook and pencil. Scott's attention was pulled away from Mr. Harris when he heard Isaac swear softly under his breath, "Dammit. How did I forget a pencil. I could have sworn..." The words were barely audible, only enough so Scott could hear.
Without hesitating or thinking, Scott closed the small space between them and presented the boy with his pencil, smoothly grabbing another for himself out of his bag. Isaac tried to shake him off but Scott waved his hands. "I've got others," he said nonchalantly. Isaac stared at the pencil in his hands, as if not quite believing its existence.
"Thanks," Isaac said softly, looking up at Scott briefly, and giving him a small nod and tight-lipped smile. Scott simply waved him off again with a smile and turned back to the board.
While Mr. Harris droned on about the proper way of handling corrosive acids and how to balance equations, Scott stole what he hoped were subtle glances in Isaac's direction. He watched as Isaac bent over his notebook, his brow furrowed in concentration, and his pencil hastily scrawling notes onto paper. Looking over again, Scott, a well-seasoned failure in chemistry could recognize the signs of somebody struggling in the subject when he saw it. He decided it probably wasn't his place to say anything about it though. He attempted to turn back to his own notes, but knew he was well past the point of even trying to concentrate. After a few minutes he again turned to his lab partner, only to see Isaac already looking at him. This time it was Scott who was the one to frantically turn away, taking a sudden interest in the organization of his notes. Isaac did the same, scrambling to attempt to pay attention, his cheeks flaring with color. Scott firmly resolved to keep his eyes in front of him for the remainder of the lecture.
Mr. Harris must have finished the procedure because the rest of the class sprung into action. Scott and Isaac were the only two left sitting after a few more minutes. Isaac's head turned left and right unsure of how to proceed. He looked at Scott in obvious questioning, and Scott realized he needed to take the lead here. "Ok Isaac since it's your first day why don't you just watch and take some notes."
"Ok, sure," Isaac agreed easily, clearly glad to be relieved of lab work. Scott smiled again, somewhat awkwardly. Truthfully, he felt kind of bad for Isaac. Not that he was an authority on the matter, but he assumed it must be hard to be the new kid. Scott joined his other partners, and began to mix chemicals and catalyze reactions as Isaac took notes. Scott watched as Isaac ran a hand through his hair in frustration, his pencil hovering over a blank sheet of notes, obviously unsure of what to write.
"Dude you okay?" Scott asked with large brown eyes. Isaac blinked, taken aback at Scott's apparent genuine concern.
"Yeah. It's nothing I'm fine," Isaac replied curtly, and then quickly scribbled something about mass and bubbles forming, in what Scott presumed was an effort to deter him. Scott didn't turn away from him for several seconds, he was a little thrown at Isaac's sudden defensiveness. Well what did you expect? He asked himself, you've been pestering the poor guy all class. At the same time, Scott couldn't help but feel confused. It was in his nature to help people, and that included the seemingly shy, soft-spoken new boy who was obviously struggling. To him, it seemed like the obvious course of action, but Isaac apparently hadn't thought so. Scott went back to stirring the beakers, waiting for the reaction to begin. Isaac was still bent over his notebook, trying to get notes down with a sense of frantic desperation. Scott didn't quite understand his anxiety. Even if he did poorly on the first lab, what was the worst that could happen? It was just one grade, Scott thought to himself.
Once the lab was over the four made it back to their seats and silently began reading the next textbook chapter with the remainder of the class. "Um," Scott began seeming uncharacteristically shy. "I sort of left my textbook in my locker, do you think we could share?" Nodding quickly, but still not looking at Scott, Isaac responded, "Yeah. Yeah, sure," sliding his textbook across the table so Scott could see.
"Thanks man you're the best," Scott earnestly, scooting his chair a little closer to Isaac, but stopped upon noticing Isaac visibly tense at his proximity. Scott frowned again, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something's not right, it's definitely not me, a small voice in his head told him. Nonetheless, he brushed it away again, simply telling himself to give him some space.
They read together for the next few minutes, but Scott was merely staring at words that may as well have been hieroglyphs. All he could concentrate on was Isaac's confused look as he tried to make sense of the words on the page, and most of all how every time Scott moved to flip the page, or leaned a little closer to read the next page, Isaac would tense like he had before, and go rigid for a few seconds. Scott had no idea what to make of it. It was as if it was second nature for Isaac, his rigidness to Scott suddenly moving closer to him came so quickly it seemed like instinct. Scott tried to stop thinking about it, he tried telling himself he was reading into things too much, but he couldn't shake that nagging sensation in his gut telling him otherwise.
After what seemed like a century, the bell finally rang, jarring Scott from his thoughts. He looked at Isaac who was shoving his books into his bag wordlessly, and Scott began to do the same. After their desk was clear, Scott turned to his new lab partner, feeling like he should say something, but not sure what. Try "bye" you idiot, he told himself, but the words just wouldn't come out. Before he could say anything, Isaac reached across to Scott, and handed back his pencil. They locked eyes for what could have been a second but what felt like a year. Scott couldn't bring himself to tear his gaze from Isaac's impossibly blue orbs. Finally, Scott tore his gaze away upon realized Isaac was still holding the pencil out to him. He opened his mouth to tell him to keep it, but Isaac had already put it on the table and was rushing out the door.