"If you guys could stop sucking face for two minutes to listen to me that would be great," I complained. Scott and Kira were adorable and everything but after everything with Malia, deciding to go out on her own for a while and, you know breaking my heart, I wasn't too patient with excessive PDA. Scott smirked at me but Kira gave me an apologetic smile and disentangled herself from my best friend.
"I'll see you guys later," she said, walking into school.
"Dude, are you okay?" Scott asked me. Sometimes I still saw that worry in his face that I had seen so much of after finally separating from the nogitsune. But right now all it did was annoy me in my bad mood.
"I'm fine," I said shortly.
"Well, good because we have a quiz in Chemistry that your really can't mess up," Lydia said as she joined us. I rolled my eyes with an exaggerated groan.
"He's having a bad day," Scott told her patronizingly. Just then, I caught sight of a flash of a blonde careening towards me just before the girl collided with my chest and sent us both flying backwards.
"A really bad day," Lydia observed from above us. A blonde head popped up from my chest and I caught sight of the girl who'd knocked me over. Her hair was white blonde and wavy, chopped just below her chin in a fashionable bob. She had huge green eyes and freckles scattered across her tan face, a small nose, and full lips. She also looked horrified.
"I am so sorry!" she squeaked and then scrambled to get off of me. She accidentally elbowed me in the gut as she was getting up and I let out an 'oof.' "Sorry, gosh, I'm so sorry!" she repeated.
"It's really okay, I'm fine," I laughed, standing up. she hesitated in front of me, obviously feeling awkward. She was wearing black converse, jean cut-offs that showed off her long tan legs, and a worn, dark blue t-shirt that read 'If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic.' After a second, she reached out and straightened the collar of my flannel and brushed some dirt off my shoulders.
"Sorry again!" she said as she hurried off. I watched her go, still reeling.
"Spaz," Lydia stated, and though it looked as if the blonde should be out of hearing range she heard and flinched but kept going until she was inside. "Normally you're the one who trips and makes a fool of themselves, Stiles."
"You all right, buddy?" Scott asked again at my silence. I turned back from where the girl had disappeared.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I repeated but this time not as forcefully. "Have you ever seen her before?" I asked gesturing to the school.
"No, she must be a transfer," Scott said with a shrug.
"I'm going to fail algebra," Liam said as he trudged next to me.
"Sorry, little buddy, I'd teach you but I'm pretty sure I blocked the entirety of that class from my mind. You could always ask Lydia to tutor you," I suggested as we headed to our last periods.
"Um, no thanks. She's scary and king of a—" the same blonde girl came around the corner in front of us and stopped herself just in time from crashing into me again. But then she overcorrected, with too much of her weight backwards, and almost fell on her butt. I reached out and grabbed the straps of her black backpack to keep her from falling and pulled her upright. Mimicking her earlier behavior, I straightened the white lab coat she was wearing and brushed off her shoulders with a smirk. Her wide eyes told me she was embarrassed but her nervous chuckle told me she got the joke.
"Thanks, she said. "I guess I should watch where I'm go—"
"Blake?" Liam interrupted from next to me. The girl looked over at him and her eyes got even wider.
"Oh, hey Liam," she said, obviously confused. "I didn't know you transferred here." Liam nodded, obviously surprised to see her as well. At his silence, her embarrassment increased and she nervously tucked her short hair behind an ear with multiple piercings. "How's math going? You should be in algebra right?" she asked him. Again, Liam just nodded at her. I cleared my throat.
"I'm Stiles," I said, holding my hand out to her. She shook it, her small cold hand almost enveloped by mine and her black nail polish contrasting against my pale skin. "A friend of Liam, here," I continued, clapping Liam on the back roughly to get him out of whatever trance he was in. "Who has apparently forgotten how to talk to pretty girls." I stopped. Did I just say that? She gave me a look that said she wasn't sure either and Liam looked like he was on the same page. Since when did I call girls pretty to their face? Since when was I confident enough to flirt with random girls in the hallway?
"Um," Liam said, saving me, "Sorry. Stiles this is Blake. She was my math tutor before I transferred here. Blake this is….Stiles."
"Nice to meet you," Blake said, giving me a nod.
"Back at you doctor." At her look of confusion I gestured to her lab coat.
"Oh! I forgot to take this off in Biology!" she exclaimed.
"Mr. James?" Liam asked and she nodded. "I can take it back. My next class is beside his." She quickly shrugged off the coat and handed it to him.
"Thank you so much! I don't think I'll have time to take it back and still find my next class," she said with relief.
"What do you have?" I questioned.
"Er, government with Mr….Finnstock?" she said, not reading from a schedule but trying to pronounce the name correctly.
"Me, too! I'll walk you there!" As I said this the one minute warning bell rang and Liam began to inch away. I pulled him back by the backpack. "But first, Liam has something he wants to ask you," I prompted, motioning for Liam to go ahead.
"Oh, uh," Liam started, "could you maybe start tutoring me again?" She gave him a small smile.
"Sure. Find me after school and we can work something out," she said reassuringly. Liam breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, B. I'll see you guys later!" Liam yelled as he ran to make it to his class. I gestured for Blake to follow me.
"So you're a transfer?" I asked and she nodded. "What made you switch schools?"
"Oh, um, just wanted a change of scenery?" she said it like a question, tucking her hair back behind her ear. I nodded without questioning her further, though I knew it wasn't the whole story. The bell rang just as we were approaching the classroom. I cringed and turned back to her.
"Just a warning, Coach is a little intense," I said before opening the door.
"STILINSKI!" Coach screamed as he caught sight of me. Blake jumped behind me. "DO YOU NOT HAVE THE BRAIN CAPACITY TO ARRIVE TO MY CLASS ON TIME?!"
"Sorry, Coach, I was just showing our new student how to get here," I said, stepping aside to reveal Blake who was hiding behind me with wide scared eyes. Coach then visibly relaxed. Which was weird because I've never seen him do that before. And then when he spoke to her the whole class stopped talking and listened. Because no one had ever witnessed this before. This being Coach acting…gentle.
"Well, hi there," Coach said, his voice, for once, at a normal volume. "What's your name?" The whole class gaped at him.
"Blake. Blake Everett," the blonde said softly.
"Why don't you take a seat next to Stilinski okay? Hopefully he won't corrupt you too much," Coach said with a joking smile which Blake returned hesitantly. I was flabbergasted.
"Coach—" I started.
"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN STILINSKI!" Coach screamed at me. I hurriedly grabbed Blake's arm and led her to the back of the classroom. Once there, I quickly pulled my hand away when I realized that I had manhandled her all the way there, my hand sitting gently on her shoulder.
"Sorry," I mumbled and gestured to her desk next to mine. Lydia sat behind me and Scott in front. Lydia leaned forward as Coach started his lecture. Blake was taking a notebook and pen out to take notes and everyone else lay their head down to nap.
"Where'd you find her?" Lydia asked, loud enough for Blake to hear, she glanced over at us and I smiled at her.
"Coming out of biology," I said, leaving out the part about her almost falling again and the forgotten lab coat. Lydia frowned.
"Don't you have AP Chemistry with me?" Lydia asked her. I almost flinched at her callous tone. Blake nodded.
"Biology is my elective," she said softly. Lydia harrumphed and sat back in her seat. I rolled my eyes for Blake and she gave me a small smile before turning back to the lesson.
The bell rang and Blake started packing her bag. Lydia waited for her impatiently and was scowling when Blake straightened up. Blake looked mildly alarmed at the abrupt appearance of the redhead at her desk. Lydia opened her mouth but I jumped out of my desk before she could say something mean.
"Blake, this is my friend Lydia," I said quickly.
"Hi, nice to m—"
"You saw me this morning when you attacked Stiles in front of the school," Lydia interrupted. Blake flushed slightly.
"Oh, um…" she started.
"And this is my other, slightly more subtle, friend Scott," I said, shoving Scott into her field of vision.
"Hi, it's great to meet you," Scott said easily. "And don't worry about this morning, Stiles enjoyed it," he teased.
"Definitely," I said and winked at Blake. She smiled back at us.
"Well, thanks for showing me around Stiles. I have to go to my locker before I find Liam," Blake said, putting on her backpack.
"We'll meet you outside the school by the fountain in ten minutes," I suggested.
"Oh, okay," she agreed. "It was nice to meet you guys." She smiled at Scott and Lydia, who was scowling, and left the room.
"Weird," Lydia said and strutted out of the room ahead of us. I turned to Scott who was giving me a weird look.
"What?" I asked.
"You were flirting with her. Since when do you flirt?" Scott asked incredulously. I shrugged self-consciously.
"She's cute," I said defensively. Scott smiled and clapped a hand on my shoulder.
"Dude, I don't know if you know this but you have become a stud. Who knows what happened but changes have been made since freshmen year," Scott teased.
"Do you find it attractive? Because I really think we should give our relationship a chance, Scott," I said and Scott rolled his eyes and began to walk out of the classroom. "Come on, Scott just make out with me!" I yelled after him.
Blake was sitting by the fountain when Liam, Scott, and I finished changing. She was doing some sort of very confusing looking homework.
"Hey, guys," she said easily. "Liam, when do you want to get together?"
"Is today after practice okay? I have a quiz tomorrow," Liam asked. Blake nodded. "I can meet you at your apartment?" Liam suggested.
"Oh, um, I just moved and the new place is a mess. I haven't had time to paint or unpack," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"You guys can come to my place," I blurted. "Scott and I were going to study anyway and that way you don't have to drive all the way out to Liam's house." Blake glanced at Liam, who shrugged.
"That would be great," she said.
"Great!" I repeated. "I can give you my address…" she looked slightly panicked at this so I continued, "or you can follow us over after practice."
"I'll just do some homework until you guys are done, if that's okay. I haven't really been here long enough to find my way around," she said shyly. I grabbed her stack of books sitting next to her.
"That's fine; tons of people wait in the bleachers anyways. Lacrosse is a huge thing here," I explained as we started our way to the field.
"I've seen Liam play before. He's really good but I don't know that much about the sport," she admitted as Scott and Liam walked a little ahead of us to catch up with Danny.
"To be honest, I don't either. I'm really horrible at it," I said, grimacing as I realized that I had just invited a girl to watch as I failed epically at practice. But Blake just laughed. I handed her books back to her as we reached the bottom of the bleachers.
"Thanks," she said with a smile.
"No problem," I replied, grinning at her. She was even prettier outside, where the sun made her blonde hair glow and her tan seemed warm to the touch. I quickly turned and caught up to Scott and Liam before I started drooling.
"Since when are we studying today?" Scott asked with a smirk.
"Since Liam's hot tutor transferred to our school," I replied. There was a yelp from behind us and I turned in time to see a blonde head disappear behind a row of bleachers. Blake popped back up after a second and saw us looking at her.
"I'm okay!" she called and waved off my concerned look, continuing to climb the bleachers a few rows before sitting down. I smiled and turned back to the guys. Scott was watching her, frowning, but I ignored him.
"So," I said to Liam expectantly. "Spill your guts."
"She was my tutor, Stiles. We didn't have long heartfelt discussions between geometry questions," he replied, rolling his eyes.
"All I'm looking for is general information, kiddo," I prompted and he scowled at the nickname. "Come on!" I begged.
"Fine," he complied, rolling his eyes at me again. "She's been emancipated for as long as I've known her but I don't know why. My parents do but they wouldn't tell me. She's super smart, like insanely smart, and she was dating this soccer player when I transferred but he was a dick. Really, that's all I know." I glanced back up to where Blake was doing her homework, her long legs stretched out in front of her.
"STILINSKI!"