Chapter 2

The congested sound of numerous voices filled the classroom, making it hard to concentrate...not that Rose was focused on school anyway. Her current task was to try and get the tormenting images from her all too vivid dream out of her head. Her brother, Derek, once told her the more she tried to block out a memory, the more it would eat at her. This proved difficult, because while she didn't want to remember the nightmare, her conscious was forcing her to relive it. The sight of Stiles, bloody and mutilated, was replaying in her head. Each time she closed her eyes and saw it, the rush of fear found its way back into the pit of her stomach and she had to snap her eyes back open to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. She repeated this process many times, determined that eventually when she closed her eyes, the memory would no affect her. So far, she had no luck. The thought of losing someone so dear to her was enough to drive her insane. However, after years of seeing her brother come home bloody and beaten from God knows what, she wasn't sure she was in good mental health anyways. But there was a difference between them. Derek's wounds would heal...Stiles's wouldn't.

She almost felt a need to be protective over him, even though she was only human herself. She had been around the bend too many times seeing the ones she loved hurt. Could she prevent that with Stiles?

Rose was so lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the soft tug on her hand.

"Hey," The familiar voice said. "You okay?"

Looking up into those deep brown eyes that filled her thoughts, she felt a sense of reassessment that gave her the courage to say, "Yeah, I'm fine."

The gentle squeeze of the warm hand that embraced hers made Rose's heart relax slightly. She always wondered how Stiles could give her such a feeling of comfort when it seemed all she could do was worry about things.

The rest of class went on for an eternity. Stiles's hand never left hers as he slung his arm to the side of his desk and Rose's stretched forward to hold it. She decided that as long as she knew Stiles was here and he was all right, she wasn't going to dwell on false occurrences. It didn't happen and it's not going to happen, she told herself over and over till she was convinced of it. And when she closed her eyes again, the anxiety was gone.