See Chapter 1 for warnings
Stiles Stella Stilinski (Or Finding Out Who You Really Are)
10
For the rest of the week I'm extra careful. I go to the library at lunch, I do my best to focus in class, no one talks to me but that's expected and it means I can't upset anyone, all my homework is done and in as soon as possible, at home I stick to my room as much as I can and I force Stiles front and centre as I lock up Stella.
At practice I'm not allowed to join in and I'll be sitting the game out this Saturday, Coach is furious and I redouble my efforts to be part of the team by volunteering to fetch and carry, I do some of his paperwork for him, and I'm not kicked off the team. The team members that were caught by dad last weekend are given a long talk about random drugs tests and scholarships drying up if they test positive, how these are the moments for them to earn their tickets out of this town and to the colleges they want to get into.
And I make sure not to be alone with those boys just in case they decide to pull a Trent on me.
Surprisingly Danny is being un-nice to some of the guys and has said that it's their faults and they have no one to blame but themselves, they grumble and take it and look more upset at that than Coach's speech.
I've taken some time out, which I'd normally use to exercise, and I've done research on our opponents for Saturday, making some notes I bring them to Coach and this practice is tailored to help the guys win tomorrow, if we can adapt ourselves we can take advantage of their weaknesses and build a defence to withstand their strengths.
It's weird that Coach and I confer and then the guys are running around the field and practicing what I'm telling them to do, most of them are even being respectful to me, I'm so not used to that. I'm also the only person Danny's being friendly to, he's not happy with the others and it shows, only I don't know why.
Going home afterwards I eat with dad and then escape to my room, it's harder and harder to keep Stella down each day, it's like the pressure inside of me is getting the point where I go 'bang' and an exploding Stiles is not a good thing at all.
I'm in the middle of my biology homework when the front door bell rings, it must be someone for dad, no one is going to come over for me, not since Scott left me for Allison, so I ignore it and go back to work.
The soft knock on my door makes me look up to see dad standing there looking confused, "You have three visitors, they want to know if you want to go see a movie."
I have three visitors?
Do I know three people that would turn up at my house and want to spend time with me?
No, no I don't know those people, but sheer curiosity has me going downstairs to find Isaac, Erika and Boyd standing in the hallway. "Hey Brucie," Erika purrs at me, "Wanna go sit in the dark and watch some moving pictures? I hear they have sound and colour these days..." If anything she's over doing the predatory thing though I notice she's wearing a t-shirt with the head of a feline on it, so I'm assuming she's being more Catwoman today than normal.
"Really Selena," I play along because I can and watching Isaac look confused is amusing, "That's your best offer? What happened to running over rooftops and fighting crime dynamically?"
"It's supposed to rain later and I just did my hair," she deadpans back and my mouth twitches nearly curling up into a smile.
"And we can't have the rain ruining your hair," I agree with her and wish I could have hair that flows like that, I bet it feels amazing, there are so many accessorizes I could use on it too.
"No we can't," she stalks forward, "So you up for a movie? There's nothing new on, but we thought you might want to come out and play, after all too much work makes Jack a dull boy," she pouts and if I didn't know her better I'd be taken in by her flirty ways, instead she just scares me, I still remember being hit in the head with one of my own car parts.
"Um, I have homework to do," and I do want to get out of the house and technically we're all Pack so I should be safe with them, but last time I went out it caused trouble for everyone and I'm not going to do that again.
"You can take a break for an evening Stiles," Dad's leaning against a wall watching me, "Just make sure you're back by eleven, you have a game tomorrow and don't get into trouble," he pulls out his wallet and offers me some money, "Have fun and call me if you need anything, anything at all okay?"
"Yes sir," I fall back on politeness and stare at the money he's just given to me, he's never done that before, ever, and I don't understand why he's encouraging me to go out, but I play along, "I need to save my work and grab a jacket." Fleeing up the stairs I hurriedly shut down the laptop and snag my hoodie and a jacket. Bounding down the stairs I wince as I pull at my bruises and then I drag my sneakers on and follow the three werewolves out the door.
Boyd's driving a car I've never seen before and I clamber into the back with Isaac, of course Erika is up front, not that I'm fighting her for the privilege she'd neuter me in seconds. Pulling away from the curb Boyd heads towards town and I ask, "So where are we really going?" Perhaps Derek had them pick me up so I could help with some kind of research for them, I'm good with Google and I'm proud of putting together so much about werewolves and then the Argents so we could pin Peter's murders on Kate because she's a psycho killer who burns down peoples' homes for giggles and stuff.
"To the movies," Isaac eyes me up like I'm weird, "Derek said we had to do things together because we're a Pack, now that the latest monster is dead we've got time to chill out."
So we really are going to the movies, and the thing that Peter came to me to get the Bestiary for is dead, that's one less thing to worry about, dad won't be accidently running into that thing ever. "Okay," I sit back and try to hang onto fantasy Stiles of the few words and non-flailing, it won't last long but maybe I can duck into the toilets when I need to flail, though hiding the talking will be difficult as I'll be surrounded by werewolves with super wolfy hearing.
I get taken to the old movie theatre that does reruns of classics and today it's running WALL-E and The Reader and that last one is kinda depressing, plus it's a hoot to see Derek Hale sitting in the old movie theatre, with a giant popcorn bucket preparing to see a kids animation about a little robot who's all alone and then… Huh, maybe this could be good for him, get him in touch with his inner WALL-E or something.
For some reason the three Beta wolves sit in front and I sit between Derek and Peter, who's creeping and being himself, which is wrong when we're watching this movie. The giant bucket of popcorn is plopped in my lap and then the movie is on and I sit there and watch a little lonely robot find that tiny fragile plant, and fall in love with EVE.
By the end I'm sniffing to myself and Peter hands me a tissue to wipe my eyes with and then blow my nose, both sides of me love this movie, and Stella would be all gushy by now, but I'm Stiles so I can man up and pretend I just have something in my eye, like a tree branch.
No one says anything and I get taken home by the three Betas and I let myself into the house, where dad is diligently working on some case files, I don't try and crane my neck to see what they are, "That was quick," he says and glances at the clock.
"Yeah, we went to the old movie theatre and saw WALL-E," I stand there and scuff my foot trying not to be a problem for him. I'm not sure if taking me to the movies makes me a genuine Pack member or the convenient human tag along, and Peter said they need me for human touch, but no one hugged me. I'm just confused about the whole evening.
"Oh, well it's nice that you're going out with friends," he hesitates, "You shouldn't be cooped up in here all the time Stiles."
But when I went to the party and then bowling he was upset, or has he decided I'm allowed out, or... My head is going to start hurting if I keep thinking about this.
"Okay," I answer him and then point to the stairs, "I'm going to go read and then go to sleep, I still have a game tomorrow."
"Okay son, sleep well, and I might be able to get some time off to come see the game," he says.
"Oh, I'm not playing," I point out and then mentally kick myself, he's not really coming to see me, he's probably coming to see Scott who'll get to play as I'll be benched.
"I still want to be there," and I stare down at my feet and nod as I wrap my arms around my middle, it's hard to know he'll be there and he won't be cheering me on, though maybe that's a good thing, I'd only fall over my feet and make a fool of myself which would make dad look foolish too.
"Night," I don't wait for his answer and I flee up the stairs to my room.
I really do have some reading and I settle on my bed trying not to jostle my bruises as I catch up with my English reading assignment, it's the normal boring ones with little happening except so called character growth and development, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to pad out an essay on this piece of shit, nothing exciting occurs throughout the whole book, how the hell did the author get paid for this?
Dad comes up to bed and I wait for him to shut his door, then I wait another thirty minutes. Only then do I get ready for bed and I slip my new PJ top on, I need something to help centre me and I should be able to get away with this paired with some sweatpants, that's masculine enough, though I'm aware of the dual feminine nature of the top and its perfect to help me fall asleep.
A/N: Sorry for any and all mistakes, I've tried to catch those I could, but I'm only human.