A/N: back with another chapter! please review! :)
About three days after Stiles had personally met Lydia, he experienced the most stressful day of his entire life.
All hell broke loose.
The schedule as well as housing assignments for the classic was released. Normally, everything would have been fine.
Except this year, the usual school that Beacon Hills dorms with had to pull out of the camp because they didn't have enough funds.
"You can't be serious, Coach!" one boy yelled in the back. Other boys yelled in support as they looked up to their coach.
"I have absolutely no say in this! There is nothing I can do. Now you all stop being babies and suck it up! It's only a few days, they won't kill you...hopefully."
Scott arrived in the locker room eating half a PB&J sandwich. He was somewhat surprised by the scene of his angry teammates yelling and shouting at Coach Finstock, but thought nothing of it. He noticed that Stiles was sitting on a bench in the back of all the chaos and walked slowly to join him. As Scott sat down, he gave the other half of his sandwich to Stiles.
"What's going on?" Scott asked curiously, noticing that Kira and Isaac were amongst their other raged teammates.
"Coach, there is no way I can room with the twins. Come on, please!" They heard Isaac yelling in the midst of everything else.
Scott turned to Stiles with confusion and worry after hearing Isaac.
"The schedule and rooming assignments for the classic came out today. Obviously, they're more concerned about the rooming assignments," Stiles said nonchalantly. "We're in room 544."
"Stiles…" Scott trailed off, knowing that his best friend left the most important part out of that sentence. "Who are we rooming with?"
Stiles sighed deeply before turning to look at Scott with calm composure.
"Brett Talbot and Garrett Dye."
Scott's jaw dropped as he stood up from the bench and clenched his fists.
"WE'RE ROOMING WITH DEVENFORD PREP?" He exclaimed loudly. No one else heard him as they were all arguing and fighting with Coach.
"Yeah."
Scott was amazed that Stiles was not freaking out as much as everyone else was. He watched his best friend eat his sandwich in peace, staring at the locker in front of him.
"Stiles, how are you not upset about this? This is insane! There are going to be so many casualties as a result of this. I don't think I could even try to be civil with Brett. Or Garrett! He left our team, he-"
In that moment, Scott realized that Stiles must have known about this arrangement ahead of time. The fact that he was so calm and cool about it all told it all. Stiles would not have been okay about this if it was the first time he was hearing it.
"Okay, how did you find out about it before the team did?" Scott asked him seriously.
Stiles was silent as he finished the sandwich and got up from the bench. He slowly started to get ready for practice, putting on his gear and double checking his stick.
"Stiles!" Scott exclaimed.
Stiles groaned and shut his locker as he turned to face his teammates in frustration.
"Hey!" He shouted. No one heard him. "HEY! LISTEN UP."
The entire room went silent and everyone turned to look at Stiles in awe and shock. No one has ever heard him shout or yell like that before.
"Look, I know that we're all pretty upset by this news, okay? No one wants to spend extra time with the Devenford kids if we don't have to. But Washington High School dropped out, so we have no choice," Stiles explained. "Now, as co-captain, I am telling you all to gear up and get your asses out on that field because we are going to work like hell to destroy Devenford this year. We're going to give them something to be worried about at the classic."
The entire team looked to co-captain Stilinski in a new light. They immediately scrambled to their respective lockers and quickly put on their gear for practice. Coach Finstock nodded his head at Stiles with approval.
"Way to go, Stilinski." He muttered as he exited the locker room.
Scott stood his ground, watching Stiles as he tied his shoe and checked his stick and fixed his hair.
"Scott."
"Stiles."
"Scott, you should put on your gear."
"Stiles, you should tell me how you knew about the room assignments."
Stiles and Scott glared each other down for about a minute until they were the only ones left in the locker room. Stiles eventually caved in.
"Fine, I'll tell you as you get ready for practice. Win-win." Scott agreed as they walked over to his locker. Scott got his gear out and looked at Stiles expectantly.
"Well?" Stiles rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Lydia Martin was here a couple days ago." He stated, allowing room for Scott's confused expression.
"Here…?" Stiles nodded.
"Yeah, she was here, at Beacon Hills High, in our hallways. I ran into her right before 5th period on Tuesday. Well, I didn't run into her, I kind of approached her, but you know-"
"Okay...moving on…?" Scott chuckled, fixing up his stick. He noticed that this entire conversation was making his friend nervous.
"So, she needed to talk to Coach and she didn't know how to get to his office. I offered to take her there, even though I ended up being super late for physics," He continued. "She said she was here to talk to him about dorm assignments. At first, I didn't really understand why she would be here to talk about that. Then, at the end of the day, after I called the camp officials as Coach, it hit me and I put two and two together." Scott nodded in understanding.
"Washington was dropping out and that meant we had to dorm with another school...that makes sense," He said. "Why didn't you just tell me about the whole Lydia encounter? Why didn't you tell any of us?"
Stiles shrugged as Scott shut his locker.
"I don't know, I thought it would have been weird. Especially with all that happened between her and Allison at Rocky's. Everyone can tell that Ally is still super embarrassed about that," Stiles replied. "Plus, there's something interesting and special about her that I just didn't want to share yet."
Scott rolled his eyes.
"Please do not tell me you want to bang her."
Stiles chuckled and shook his head as they left the locker room.
"Nah, man. I mean she definitely is hot, but no, that's not it," Stiles told him. "She knew my name."
Scott raised an eyebrow at him.
"Seriously? That's what makes her interesting to you? She knew your name?"
Stiles laughed and shook his head with a small smile.
"It sounds crazy, yeah, but she knew my name even though I never told her or met her in my entire life," Stiles defended. "I never even mentioned it. I never introduced myself."
That caused Scott to actually think and the two boys were completely silent as they ran out onto the field.
Stiles was drying his hair as Scott and Isaac got dressed next to him. He slipped on his flannel shirt and grabbed his duffel bag. He waited for his friends to finish cleaning up before walking out the door.
"Well, I heard that some of the guys are thoroughly impressed with your new attitude in leading this team, Stiles." Isaac commented as their walked to their cars.
Stiles smirked and shook his head.
"I don't know. I guess I'm just determined to beat Devenford this year." He said.
"STILINSKI!" They heard Coach yell behind them. Scott and Isaac turned around briefly before continuing to walk through the parking lot. Stiles stopped in his tracks and half smiled at Coach.
"Yeah, Coach?"
"I liked that guy that was yelling in the locker room today. I hope I get to see him more often," Coach said with a smirk. "Anyways, I was hoping you could do me a favor. I can tell that you are taking your leadership of this team seriously."
Stiles simply nodded. He readjusted his bag on his shoulder.
"You know Liam Dunbar." Coach started. Stiles nodded hesitantly. "I can tell that he's been having a bit of a hard time with the team and his classmates at school. I want you to do something about it."
Stiles opened his mouth to protest, but Coach cut him off.
"I already took the liberty of making his new found best friend the manager of the team."
Stiles tilted his head to the right in confusion.
"I didn't know that the lacrosse team was looking for a manager."
"It wasn't." Coach told him. "Look, this must be really hard for Liam. Having to leave his friends, his team, and coming here to his former rivals and playing with them. He's really good, Stilinski. We need him on our side. Get him on our side."
Stiles sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"I'll try, Coach."
Coach smiled before stepping away.
"Thanks, Stilinski."
The following Monday during lunch, instead of sitting with his usual friends, Stiles walked passed them and sat next to the new sophomore that was on his lacrosse team.
"Hey Liam."
Liam looked up to see the unexpected lunch table intruder. He was more than surprised to see that it was one of his co-captains.
"Stilinski? Did you need something?"
Stiles laughed.
"Nah, I just wanted to sit here and get to know you," Stiles told him. He turned to the African American kid that was sitting next to Liam across the table from him. "You're Mason, right? The new manager of the lacrosse team?"
Yeah, Stiles did his research.
"Oh my God, yeah, I'm Mason. And let me tell you, it's an honor to be speaking with you right now, like seriously, you're like a legend around these halls, you're so-"
"Mason." Liam said, his jaw clenched.
Stiles smiled slightly before digging into his lunch.
"So, Liam-"
"Stiles, I know what you're trying to do, and while I appreciate it very much, I would just rather you leave me and my friend to eat alone in peace," Liam said bluntly. "You're a good captain for the team, and that's all I really want you to be for me. My lacrosse captain."
Stiles didn't even look the slightest phased. He simply leaned in closer to the sophomore.
"As much as I would like to take you up on your offer, I simply do not agree," He told him in the same tone. "Liam, the team is family. In order for it to function properly, you need to be cooperative, you need to be friends with us. Let us in. Let me in."
Liam stared at Stiles for a long time, not breaking eye contact.
"Let me know when you're ready to break down your walls."
Stiles slipped him a small piece of paper. It had a phone number written on it.
He stood up from the table and walked to his friends.
Liam stared at the paper before grabbing it and placing it carefully in his pocket.
Stiles sat alone in a booth at Rocky's at 7pm that night. He was reading The Medea and sipping on his favorite strawberry and chocolate milkshake.
He stayed there an hour longer than he usually does. He was hoping to have another run in with the well-known cheer captain of Devenford Prep's squad.
At 7:10pm, she walked through the door, heading straight for the order counter. She placed her order with Rocky and looked around the diner for a bit. She spotted Stiles instantly.
She sat down in the booth seat across from him and smiled gently.
"Hey. Nice to see you here...by yourself…" She said softly.
Stiles finally looked up and placed his book down. He grinned.
"Hi," He replied. "Yeah, I usually come here to study and do homework. With or without friends."
Lydia nodded.
"I get that. This is a nice place to just sit and do something."
Stiles stared at her with intriguing and wondering eyes. What was her story?
"You know, if you ever want to, you could come here and study with me," He suggested. "I usually come here right after lacrosse practice."
Lydia blushed and smiled at the offer.
"I'll think about it."
"Lydia, your order is ready." Rocky called, breaking up the conversation between the two of them.
Lydia got up reluctantly and took in a deep breath.
"Well, I got to go. My mom's waiting for this food." She giggled. Stiles nodded in understanding.
"Sure. I'll see you around."
Lydia paused for a second before turning around and grabbing the bag from Rocky. She exited the diner and left in her car.
Stiles waited a few minutes before gathering his things and getting up from his booth. Rocky gave him a knowing look as he left the diner.
Stiles wasn't denying it. He wasn't denying that he was waiting for her.