I'm sorry for making you wait.

Chapter 3

Preview: Stiles' view of things, starting on the welcoming prank

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Welcome to High School!

Stiles was awoken by the sound of the wind, weak sunlight making the way into his room. He got out of bed and looked at the clock on his bedside table.

He fell back on his bed, groaning: "Seriously?" He woke up three hours before his actual wake up time!

Ok, 40 minutes, but that was a lot!

And when he couldn't fall asleep, he got out and did some research …

Nothing good comes out when Stiles has extra time to spend, trust him.

Within those 'hours', he had breakfast, showered, got dressed and came up with the best welcome prank. Whoever's this Derek better watch out. And being Stiles, he never does things alone.

Scott, his best friend and the most wonderful friend in the world, was always up early, something about lacrosse. Both were on the team, but they weren't – how should he put it … – any good at all. Honestly, the only reason he joined was because Scott was there and Lydia Martin, the prettiest, smartest, funniest, most beautiful girl he has ever seen comes to lacrosse practices often. Did he mention she was also the most unreachable girl?

For one, she had a boyfriend. As for the second argument, Stiles. He wasn't muscular, wasn't handsome, his hair wasn't *p*e*r*f*e*c*t, his body and characteristics had many flaws. Why would a girl so ideal be wasting her time with a more-human-looking Frankenstein?

Yeah, the point made.

So, dragging Scott to four more years of pranking and trouble-making, he did some research of where Wicklear's classroom was so they could set up.

Unlike other people who took prank wars as a joke, Stiles was very serious about them. (Now imagine him telling you this in a suit to look all business-like, so his point stood ... and he looked hot, in his opinion.)

He was physically and mentally unable to understand how some thought they were 'just for fun'. If you didn't have the right opponent, everything would be pointless, your life would be pointless. So he searched high and low to find someone who was as serious about them as him and he had found him right when hope was fading.

Derek Wicklear.

The guy dedicated his last two years into perfecting the art of pranking and if Stiles didn't think that he could handle his pranks, then he wouldn't be thinking about him at all. Somehow, he simply knew that Derek wasn't just an opponent, he was a rival, ready to fight like a true warrior.

Starting high school was awful. Anybody who ever told you being a freshman wasn't difficult or wouldn't be that difficult, THEY WERE LYING TO YOU! It was all bad looks, judging, not fitting in, standing out – not in a good way – and worst of all, bullying! Everybody who is older than you will make fun of you, even nerds! Nerds and geeks, so that said a lot about how strong (or rather weak) they thought you were. And he knew all of that before even stepping inside of a high school.

Stiles could not wait to pull this prank off so he would be tagged as the badass he was, not a pussycat. His first seven years of primary school were awful, but in eighth grade, he decided to step up a notch and stop being weak. From playing around with everybody's lives he got into pranking and let him tell you, it was the best decision he could've made.

Scott was happy to join him, best friends since birth and all ... Well, Scott's birth. Stiles was a month older. (Yes, not that much, but you wouldn't believe how much of a difference those 34 days were.)

Speaking of which, he had to pick him up. Surely, he could find him on his favorite abandoned field practicing lacrosse like the good boy he was.

Driving while nature surrounded him was always one of Stiles' getaways. It did miracles whenever he was upset, just him and his baby on the road.

It wasn't always like that, though. At the beginning, she was just a black flag, a reminder of his deceased mother. But later, she turned into more - the last connection he had with her and he had to be stupid to let go of someone so precious.

Pulling his shit together and forgetting about sadness completely, Stiles parked his jeep on the side of the road. He yelled out to Scott so he'd know he had arrived.

"Scotty, old friend! Haven't seen you in ages!"

Scott looked at Stiles bewildered as if he'd fallen from another planet, making his way toward him.

"We saw each other yesterday! Let me rephrase that, we saw each other less than 9 hours ago!"

"Like I said, ages!" Stiles remained purposely oblivious of the point Scott was trying to make.

At that, Scott just rolled his eyes, already used to Stiles' ridiculous logic. He went into the car, putting his stuff in the back as Stiles started driving.

"So tell me, why exactly are we going to school so early?"

"We have to introduce ourselves," was the only answer Scott could get as if it were that simple.

"No shit, Sherlock! I know you well enough to tell just by looking at you what you're planning. What I meant was, what kind?"

Stiles wiggled his eyebrows and had this smirk on like he was planning to murder and Scott wasn't 100% sure that he didn't have that in mind, no matter being best friends.

"The dangerous kind," voice low and raspy before Stiles burst into honest laughing. "Relax, I ain't gonna kill anyone! ... hopefully ... "

"That makes me feel a whole lot better, knowing that you don't intend to send us to prison on purpose! No, but seriously, what's up? You haven't told me what's up. The only thing that you have said is that you plan to continue, but nothing else," Scott said almost pouting and judgemental.

Stiles could practically hear the unspoken sentence: 'I thought you trusted me.' Now you try to be secretive after that while your best friend gives you the puppy look with his cute brown eyes ... "Fine."

"We have a prank war ahead of us. I've picked out a candidate, we just need to check his compatibility," Stiles admitted. "But I can do that by myself, so while I'm setting it up, why don't you install a recorder under the bench beside the school? I hear there are a lot of interesting talks happening around it."

Yet, somehow, in an unexplainable way, out of all that, Scott got: "I want to stalk Lydia Martin."

So, the rest of the way was Scott talking and Stiles objecting that "No, Scott, I don't think she'll notice me ... Yes, Scott, I do know her boyfriend is a rich snob and for some alien reason, she loves him ... No, Scott, I won't get in trouble with them ... Yes, Scott, I will forget about her and help you find a girlfriend instead ... No, Scott, I'm not just saying that, I do mean it ... No, Scott, I won't go behind your back and do the exact opposite of what we had just agreed on ... " etcetera, etcetera.

Sometimes, Stiles wasn't able to understand why his best friend acted more like a mother than a father. Either way, he was always like a parent toward him, unfortunately. And we all know being stuck in a car with a parent is the absolutely worst thing that could ever happen because they tend to make the most annoying questions to which you must give answers to or they'll ask even more.

"We're here!" Stiles screamed enthusiastically. 'Finally,' was silently added in his mind.

He parked his car and ran inside. As he had expected, it was already full, but no Derek around to be found. He waited until Scott caught up with him and then they went to their lockers, which were next to each other, naturally. Stiles gave him the equipment and sent him on his way, but for himself, he took the thing he created.

Long, thin, square white water balloons, filled with a color of his liking. He had done so many at once that he didn't even remember which color was inside of each. Every single one of them was a surprise! But they were his favorites because they weren't visible, but they were effective as hell. They had about one liter of paint inside of them and all you had to do was set them on a spiky thingie that disguise its sharpness until you pressed a button and then the liquid came crashing down upon whoever was unlucky enough to stand beneath.

Today, that would be Mr. Wicklear.

It was quite easy to set up, actually. He glued the spiky thingie on the door frame so it wouldn't fall off, then chose a balloon and glued that as well, but on the wall above the door. He was careful that the balloon could touch the spikes once they appeared, or else it wouldn't work.

And that is exactly what he did in Derek's classroom (he may or may not have borrowed his schedule from the principal's office ... In his defense, he gave it back, so it's not stealing ... Also, nothing personal, Mrs. Revelly).

Stiles did get quite the looks while he was setting everything up. Only one guy didn't mind being an idiot in his classmates' eyes, so he asked and quoting: who the fuck was he, and more importantly, what for the Love of God was he doing in their classroom.

And kids, do not say something so funny to someone who is balancing himself on a chair. Luckily, Stiles' clumsiness gave him enough experience in acrobatics, so he didn't fall off. He did, however, fall to the ground, laughing. While he was calming down, Scott came and they (mostly Scott, since Stiles was barely able to breathe) decided that Stiles was in no shape to climb a chair, so Scott set up while Stiles explained.

"Come, my children. Story time has come upon us."

Do not ask why they sat down and listened, just go with it.

"I, your hero, have always been a clever being. And the guy behind me would have no other choice but become (at least a bit) clever if he wanted to keep up with me and be my friend. Now, I'm sure you know an acquaintance of ours, Derek Wicklear?"

... Ignoring the scared faces and surprised ones ...

"He is in this class and as soon as he comes inside, we are going to be at war with him, thus the prank and all the preparations and such. Any questions?" Stiles asked like the good teacher he was, but Scott butted in. "No? Good, 'cause he's here."

They hadn't noticed when the others had hidden, but when they turned around, nobody was in the 5-foot radius of them.

Stiles' enthusiasm was getting stronger by the jiffy and the waiting was killing him! Then he saw a dark figure coming closer to the door and as he held the button to the ST (spiky thingie), he forgot to breathe, the time had stopped and everything stood still. It was fate, waiting to be fulfilled. He heard Scott's whisper: "Time to write history."

As the door started opening, he clicked the button and it came to life, his dream became reality.

Sort of.

It did let him mouth open, so that did count. However, he did not expect Wicklear to be dry as a desert. And when he saw the look on Derek's face, he wanted to laugh. And when he asked who was at fault, Stiles only managed to say: "That, good sir would be me," before he did burst into laughter. And a funny thing about Sciles (yes, Stiles named their friendship, deal with it!), when Stiles laughs, Scott laughs. It's how the Universe works, people!

But boy, oh boy, Derek didn't find the look on his own face funny at all. Man, why didn't Stiles declare a prank war on Wicklear a long time ago? He couldn't remember the last time he laughed so hard in his entire life!

They somehow managed to survive 5 minutes without dying out of laughter, and as soon as he and Scott stumbled out of the now his favorite classroom barely containing themselves not to cackle.

But do not ask Stiles what he had said during their conversation nor what was said to him. He did not remember a thing! He was so focused to stay serious to at least some degree that his brain wasn't able to comprehend any information that his ears had collected. That and he had the memory of a goldfish.

It was truly hard to ask, but what must be done, must be done. "Scott, what happened in there?"

"You're kidding, right?"

Shaking his head, Stiles was dead serious.

"Well, he survived the prank with excellence and expertise. Then we were laughing so hard that, and I swear this is not a joke, I could see steam coming out of his beat red head. He was pissed! Also, we ignored him and thought about his family positions ... Then you called him the family pet and now we're here."

Stiles grabbed his head as it all came back to him.

"Funny." He said the one word that served as a trigger for their laughter. Who put the prank up was the next question that followed by a serious death glare, traveling from one to the other.

He asked again, this time practically each word being a new sentence. "Who put the prank up?" Stiles stepped forward and took credit for his work. "That, good sir, would be me. Name's Stilinski, but call me Stiles," he said and bowed. And he discovered a new hobby.

Annoying Derek Wicklear. He should join a club, he's pretty damn good at that.

"Oh, cute. Some papa and mama's boy thinks he knows how to prank."

Wicklear really shouldn't give him such openings. It's as if he wanted to be made fun of. "Sorry. Didn't picture you as a mama's boy. What do you think, Scott?"

That would be a perfect way to include your partner in crime if he said so himself, thank you very much.

"No, definitely not. How about that cute little obedient brother?"

New facebook status, #ProudOfMyBFF, hell yeah, that was the perfect opening, Scottie boy.

"Nah, he ain't cute, neither is little the term I'd use, not to mention the obedient part. Maybe a nephew kinda guy?" Stiles chatted as another opportunity to make Derek angrier appeared. Ignoring him.

Scott shrugged. "Nah ... Just doesn't ... Feel right, ya know," he said and Stiles could not agree more. With the corner of his eye, he saw Wicklear hitting his foot on the ground as he and Scott blabbered louder and louder.

They were apparently better than Stiles had thought because they made Derek growl! And he growled loud! And all it took was a minute of rambling!

"Listen to me, little brats," Derek began spitting out the words. "I don't care about your names, don't care what you are. What I do care about is your wannabe pranking. I'm the top dog here, not you. So, take this as a warning. Next time you decide to play a trick on me, you will live a long and painful death."

'Come on! What did I say about giving us such openings, Wicklear?! Don't make it so easy to make fun of you, damn it!' Stiles thought to himself as he looked at Scott to fulfill his part, serious again until he got the point and they started laughing again.

"That's what he was! I can't believe we didn't think of it!" Scott spoke of it like it was the most obvious thing. Again, #ProudOfMyBFF!

Stiles just needed to add the cherry on top. "He's the family pet! Ugh, finally figured it out!" Stiles said and let out a groan before resting his arm on Scott's shoulder before walking away and asking him what happened.

Was it too late to go back and apologize?

"We called him a dog, didn't we? Ha ha, we are gonna die! Yaaay! Well, he called himself a dog, we just used a ward with more meanings. Swill, we are gonna die!" Stiles was not looking forward to Wicklear's come back prank ...

Scott just stood there, looking sad for Stiles. Last time he checked, they were together in this! This probably wasn't the best time to brainstorm and make a list named 'The worst thing(s) that could happen', yet somehow that's what Stiles did.

1. Death
2. Torture
3. Injury
4. Send him to a hospital for life
5. Fear&suspense until he loses it
6. (this one was most likely to come true) All of the above!

Nope, not helping. "Stiles, breathe!"

Oh, he forgot to breathe. That happened sometimes, ignore him. He was too busy worrying about his life to care about what Scott was saying. However, he did manage to get back once he had a glance on the clock. One thing he's scared of more than Derek's plans.

Being late to literature class.

That teacher is nasty, nasty he tells ya! He's heard rumors. They speak of a monster, one that can turn you into stone with just a glare, body mimic so sharp it cuts all skin, eyes so deep and soulless, you lose your own soul inside, and mouth so big it can eat you alive!

Of course, he knew that wasn't true ... Those were just fairytales ... Lies ... Probably ... Look, he wasn't going to risk it!

They entered the deafening classroom. There were only three seats available. They sat down and because the classroom was so quiet, they weren't sure if they were allowed to talk, so to be on the safe side, they didn't.

That's when Stiles remembered that he asked Scott to set up the microphone on the bench which was perfectly visible from the windows in here.

He took a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote down 'Take ur headphones out' and passed it on to Scott. In return, he got a thumbs up before he did as Stiles said. He took them out of his backpack and started listening, carefully setting them so they weren't visible.

There was a person (a pretty girl, FYI) sitting on the bench outside, talking over the phone. Scott seemed too interested in what was happening outside to notice that the bell rang. If Stiles hadn't notified him, he could have died.

Not even 5 minutes into the lesson, the same girl entered. According to her words, she was new to this city, she and her family just moved here. But that wasn't the interesting thing. She sat down on the desk behind Scott's, and as soon as she did, he turned around and gave her his pen.

'That son of a bitch!'

Especially since after class, they found themselves talking in Stiles' hearing zone and he overheard – not eavesdropped – her asking him how did he know she needed a pen. But that's still not the interesting part. After Scott's stupid answer, Lydia Martin – yes, you read it right, Lydia Martin – talked to them. It was just so she could drag Alison away, but she greeted him!

Compared to that, the rest of his day was just a silent, black and white film. Class, lacrosse audition, home, movies, pizza and coca cola, finding out he had to see the school counselor every day ... Oh, did he mention his father was so kind as to arrange a meeting with Ms. Morrell, their school's counselor, on a daily basis? Yeah, that just made his day!

The only good part after that was falling asleep and dreaming of Lydia ... Sooner or later, she'll realize that her sorry-excuse-of-a boyfriend is the world's biggest jerk and when she does, Stiles will be there and she will look at the scrawny mess and see a real man behind it. Until then, he always had her in his dreams ...

Author's blabber:

Wow, this took longer to write than expected. Thank God I was sick and had to stay home for a few days so I could write this. I actually intended to write a much shorter chapter (1500 words, 2000 tops), but then this happened... Also, I am finally getting feedbacks! Something I did not know, writing how many words a chapter has is creepy. Also, 4000 words is too much. Good to know, guys! I am so happy you finally started speaking about this story! I feel so guilty that I made you wait for so long. I did try to update faster but school's a pain and driving me insane with studies! I barely survived the last month, 3 exams a day... Not that much, but I didn't study from the beginning so I had to learn stuff in a few days what we took in 4 months... I admit, not my best ideas. Right now, it's calmer and I've caught up, so hopefully, you won't have to wait 2 months for a new chapter.