Chapter4:

Best friend

Five times. Scott had tried calling Laura Hale five times. But her phone was not in service. The teen threw his phone on bed and followed its trajectory burying his face into the pillow.

A year had passed since he met Laura Hale. He tried to forget, he tried to erase her face from his memory. Yet here he was. Desperate to reach her. He didn't even know why. Maybe it was because he overheard his parents mentioning her family name or because of the fact that they moved to Beacon Hills a week ago. Or maybe because of both.

Scott glared at the tiny paper with Laura's phone number before putting it into his pocket. He stood up, grabbed his bag and walked down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Wow! He is dressed, he is washed and he is not yawning. Mr. Argent, am I right to assume that you will be accompanying me to school today?"

Scott frowned at his grinning sister before sitting beside her. He started gobbling up his pancakes with marble syrup so he didn't have to answer to her since he had nothing witty to say.

"Are you feeling alright now?" she asked him with much more concerned voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her giving her a smile.

He spent the first few days of new school locked in his bedroom pretending sickness or hiding in the empty storage his family owned on the day of a fullmoon. Nothing unusual for him.

"You sure? You can stay at home another day or two if you want."

Scott met his father's gaze and shook his head.

"Dad, I'm great. Really," he assured him and turned to his sister.

"So, any advice about the school? Have you become popular yet?" he raised an eyebrow observing Allison's confused reaction.

"What? Popular? I? No. When have I ever been popular?"

Scott sighed, raised his fist and gently hit his sister's shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Allie. You have always been popular. You are pretty, you are funny and you are smart. You are like a magnet for guys. Sadly, most of them are jerks. Your only fault is your weirdo of a brother."

The girl chuckled and returned the gesture hitting him not once but twice, the second time with a little more strength in the punch.

"Funny as always, Scotty. But you and dad don't need to worry. I've decided not to date anyone until graduation," she declared which made Scott's day.

Not that he ever tried to ruin his sister's relationships, but he did his best to scare away the douchebags. Fortunately, Allison was smart enough not to date the bad guys whom other girls loved so much.

Yet it didn't matter who Allison's boyfriend was, the guy was never good enough for her, at least not in Scott's eyes. Not that he told her that. He accepted some of her boyfriends and kept his mouth shut knowing that there is a limit in how much he can interfere with his sister's love life.

And now she told him she decided to stay single for almost three years! That was awesome! He couldn't be happier. And in a little it different way than their father.

Yet Scott's good mood didn't last long. Soon he was sending killing stares at the school building after he and his sister got out of the car.

"You nervous?"

Scott could feel another of his sister's worried looks but he didn't turn to face it.

"I've attended a dozen of schools up until now. So what do you think?"

"That you are nervous."

"Of course I am nervous!"

They looked at each other and then laughed together before Allison grabbed her brother's arm and guided him inside.

Being the new guy always sucked but at least Scott had his sister. And this school was supposed to be different. Chris promised his children they wouln't move to another town until they graduate. It proved to be difficult for them to get good grades when they were constantly changing schools. Allison even had to repeat a year. Scott somehow managed to keep his grades on satisfactory level, but he struggled too. But it wasn't only about the grades, not for them. And especially not for Scott. He hoped to get rid off of the whole 'weird new kid' status and actually find some friends. Easier said than done. His resolve had quickly faded away after he spotted the ginger beauty walking to them his shyness kicking in.

"Allison!" the girl greeted his sister and immediately turned her head toward him giving him a suspicious look.

"Hi Lydia," Allison smiled and tightened her grip on Scott's arm.

She had this feeling he would try to run away. He wasn't good with new people, and he was certainly not good with girls.

"Scott, this is Lydia. I told you about her. Lydia, this is my brother, Scott," she introduced them carefully observing her brother.

"Hi," he said sheepishly feeling a bit uneasy as Lydia kept staring at him.

"You don't look much alike," she noted in the end.

"Uh, yeah. We get that pretty often," Allison agreed not really feeling like talking about the adoption.

She was always trying to avoid that subject not wanting her little brother to feel uncomfortable. But he did feel like that. Lydia's presence was enough. She didn't seem like a girl who was easy to get along with.

Even though his sister didn't want to let him go Scott managed to wiggle his hand out of her grip and with a lame excuse that he needed to find his locker left them. He shouldn't have pushed his sister and her new friend away, he knew that. And yet he did that. He chickened out after only one unpleasant glare. How the hell did he plan to make friends?

After headbutting into some random locker he stayed in place silently cursing his cowardness.

"Who the hell are you?"

Scott stopped pressing his forehead on the tiny locker door and turned his head to face rather ordinary-looking boy with buzzed haircut, brown eyes and somehow vicious smile. A strange odor hit his nose yet he didn't pay that any mind. He rather didn't think about how many things he could smell. It made him sick. He opened his mouth to say something but the boy spoke first.

"Man, how do you know Lydia Martin and that new hot chick?"

Scott was taken aback by that. Hot chick? He could feel his pulse raising.

"That 'new hot chick' is my sister," he said a little bit coldly yet the boy didn't seem to notice that.

"Oh, really? You don't look much alike," his grin widened and before Scott knew it, the boy's hand was resting on his shoulder.

"Congratulation! You've just become my new best friend! I'm Stiles, by the way. And you?" the boy winked at him and waited for Scott to process his words.

The teen was completely lost. The sudden anger that he felt after Stiles called his sister 'hot chick' completely disappeared and now his mind was occupied by this mysterious teenager and his decision to make him his best friend.

"Scott. W-wait. What...what happened with your previous best friend?"

He asked after failing to understand Stiles reasons and deciding to just roll with everything. Something was telling him that this boy would be too much of a pain to reason with and that he should just nod to everything that he had to say and make an escape as soon as possible.

"The previous one? Well, you know. Friends come and go and the best friends tend to mysteriously vanish," he sounded a little bit wounded.

Scott immediately realized that he shouldn't probably pry as Stiles seemed to have some bad experience. He thought about running away from the boy the same way as he ran away from Lydia, but that proved to be impossible.

Stiles refused to let go of his new best friend the whole day. Anywhere Scott went, Stiles followed, constantly chatting. At first, Scott thought it was annoying. But then he found himself replying to Stiles even laughing with him. He wasn't nervous. He was actually quite relaxed in his company. And he enjoyed being around Stiles. He showed him around the school, helped him find his locker and the classrooms where his classes was to be. The boy was little bit too much active but they seemed to be on the same wavelength.

That evening as Scott was lying on his bed thinking about his first day at school he came to conclusion he would be really thrilled to be Stiles friend. Yet there was something about him that seemed to be off. Scott thought about it the whole day but he couldn't figure it out. Stiles' behavior was a little bit strange, that was true, but this was different. Even though the boy was pretty honest it almost seem as if he was hiding something.

Not really wanting to overthink things and poke his nose into what wasn't his business, Scott grabbed his phone and not knowing what to do with himself he dialed Laura Hale's number once more that day.

He didn't expect her to answer. He had bad luck reaching her up until now anyway. So it took him by a surprise when the call was connected.

"Who is it?" came the electronic voice from a device.

Scott froze on place. That voice didn't belong to Laura. It didn't belong to a woman at all. He canceled the call freaked out by the man that picked it up. Only then he remembered Laura mentioning that she had a brother. That voice must have been his.

"Scott! Your friend is here!"

Scott almost jumped after he heard his mother yelling. And then he froze once more after the meaning of her words hit him. His friend? She couln't mean...

He ran down the stairs and saw Stiles standing in the hall.

"Hey!" the boy greeted him with a grin.

"What are you doing here? I...I didn't tell you where I was living," Scott frowned at him confused how the hell did the teen get there.

"Nah, you didn't. I found it out."

"But how?"

"In the school files."

Scott stared at his 'friend' trying to wrap his mind around it.

"I thought students don't have access to the information in them," he spoke after a little while.

"No they don't," Stiles confirmed him confusing him even more.

"Then how..."

"Come on, Scotty. I broke into the principal's office, okay? Now forget about the files. I have to show you something. Tell your mom you are gonna be late for dinner."

Stiles didn't give him another choice but to obey him. He literally forced him inside his old jeep. Scott didn't really protest. He was a bit reluctant, but he was prepared to have some fun with his new self-proclaimed friend. That was until he parked in front of a forest.

"Stiles, what are we doing here?" he looked at the boy pretty confused.

It seemed he would have to get used to being confused if he wanted to be friends with Stiles.

"You know about that body that was found a few days ago, right?"

Scott nodded hesitantly afraid of where was Stiles going with that. He knew that only half of the body was found and neither police or his father and other hunters had any luck finding the other half. Officially it was listed as an animal attack, but Argents were determined that it was werewolf-related.

"We are going to find the other half!" Stiles announced which didn't make Scott happy at all.

If it was a werewolf responsible for the attack then there was a possibility that the culprit was still hiding in the forest. The last thing Scott wanted was running into a werewolf.

"Are you crazy? What if the killer is still in the forest?" he tried to persuade him to drop it, but Stiles didn't like that idea.

"Relax. It was an animal attack. Probably a mountain lion or something. You scared of a little kitty?" he teased him, grabbed some bottle and a flashlight and headed into the forest.

Scott could turn around and walk back home, but instead of that he just cursed and followed the boy. Stiles seemed to be pleased by his choice. He opened the bottle and that strange odor that was coming from Stiles earlier hit Scott's nose again. But this time it was stranger. Scott's eyes widened as he finally realized what was it.

"That's an ...alcohol," he frowned at the boy who took a sip.

"Yeah. Want a drink?" he offered him but Scott pushed his hand with the bottle away.

"You drank that before the school this morning, didn't you?"

Stiles paused glancing at Scott and then making a face.

"Man, was that that obvious? I hope no one else noticed," he indirectly admitted but didn't seem to be that bothered about it.

"You are drinking often," Scott deduced after seeing his expression and Stiles' silence only confirmed it.

They walked for about few minutes before stopping near big tree stump. Stiles sat himself on it and offered the bottle to Scott again. The teen hesitated but after seeing the other boy's expression he took the bottle and drank.

"Yeah, I do drink a lot," Stiles admitted after a long pause.

"Guess I got that from my dad. After my mom died he drunk himself until he got fired from his job," he confined to Scott after taking the bottle back from him.

"I..I'm sorry to hear that," Scott sat beside him feeling bad for the boy.

"You know, my mom died too," he decided to share some of his secrets with Stiles after he did the same with him.

"What are you talking about? I just met your mom. She seemed to be pretty lively and kind of intimidating," Stiles made a face remembering the glare that Victoria Argent gave him.

"I was talking about my biological mom. I was adopted. My real mom died. She was killed. Right in front of me," he finished and grabbed the bottle once more but now on his own.

"Wow. Seems you had it pretty rough too, huh?" Stiles commented chuckling a little.

"I had my parents. And my sister. I don't know what would have become of me if not for Allison."

Stiles studied his face reading his hidden emotions like if it was nothing. He didn't say anything about it. He just looked at his feet with a sad smile.

"It must be nice to have a sibling. I would want one too. Not a sister though. But... brother... yeah. Having a brother would be awesome."

Both of them completely forgot about the body. And Scott also about the culprit. That was until he heard something like growling. He jumped to his feet and looked around widely.

"What has gotten into you all of sudden?" Stiles frowned at him trying to take another sip but the teen pulled him to his feet looking pretty freaked out.

"We have to get out of here. Now!" Scott grinned his teeth and pulled Stiles toward the way they came from but it was too late.

An howl sounded behind them and they both turned. Stiles was expecting to see a wolf or a mountain lion. Scott was prepared for a humanoid with claws and fangs. But what they saw was neither of that. There rising from the darkness of the forest was a monster with shining red eyes.

Scott's instinct was screaming at him to run away. And he almost listened to it. But he stopped himself from moving right after making the first step backwards. Running away meant leaving Stiles here. He would abandoned him. Leaving him to die. He only knew him for a few hours, the boy was just his new classmate who dragged him into the forest for God knows what reason to find a dead body. But he also called him a friend. More than that. He called him his best friend! No one ever did that before. And Scott wasn't going to let his best friend be torn into pieces by some freaking monster! His mind made up, Scott made a step forward stepping in front of Stiles, his eyes glowing gold. And for the first time in his life he let the rage to take over him.