Sarah had to make a comment upon walking into the conversation that Stiles and Scott were having about Scott's abilities and how their father had been hurt at the conference. "I'm glad you two are talking again. The whole universe felt out of whack this weekend."
"Ok, but correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone." Stiles stated, still talking about Scott's trying to hone in on his primal instincts. "And that someone's usually Sarah or me."
"I know." Scott began. "That's what he means when he says that he doesn't know if he can teach me. I have to be able to control it."
"Well, how is he going to teach you to do that?" Sarah was curious. Scott only shrugged.
"I don't know. I don't think he does, either."
"Ok, when are you seeing him again?" Stiles asked.
"He's picking me up from work."
"After work? Ok, well, that gives me until the end of the school day, then." Sarah cackled.
"I love not having work on Mondays!"
"When do you work?" Stiles asked incredulously.
"I worked all weekend, Stiles." Sarah reminded her brother. "If I'm not with you guys, then you can guess that I'm at work. Or with Derek." She muttered the last part and was grateful that the boys had moved on and were too busy conversing to hear her. Stiles would have been livid if he found out that his big sister was on friendly terms with the werewolf. "Wait, so you have to stay away from Allison?" That got Sarah's attention back from the fear of being friends with Derek. She laughed at Scott. "Good luck with that one, kid." She teased before paying for her lunch.
"Look, your crap has infiltrated my life, so now I have to do something about it." Stiles reasoned.
"Wait, why can't you hang out with Allison?" Sarah wondered, going back to the previous subject.
"Apparently she's a distraction."
"No, she's not." Sarah told the boys. "She's Scott's anchor." They looked confused. "Derek thinks that pain is everyone's anchor because that's a factor. Pain can make anyone focus on something. Pain has been Derek's only anchor because he thinks that that's all he has now. But Scott, pain has only been a factor for you." They still looked confused. "What calms you down? Where did you go that time you changed and scratched me? What eases your nerves?"
"Allison."
"Bingo! We have a winner!" Sarah exclaimed. She groaned. "Derek needs to work on his social skills." Stiles laughed.
"And you don't?"
"Hey, I never said that." Sarah defended herself. "But my form of logic isn't making anyone a recluse."
"Nope. Just yourself." Stiles teased. His sister rolled her eyes before leaving the table. "Wait, is she actually leaving to go and talk to Derek. What the hell?" But Sarah was only leaving to go outside where it was quieter so she could make a phone call.
"Who the hell is this?"
"I'm a little bit depressed to know that our friendship still hasn't consisted of you having my number on speed dial." Sarah greeted the growling werewolf. "I need you to think about what you're telling Scott. He's not you. His anchor is something completely different. Don't tell him who to hang out with and what's distracting him. Let him figure that out for himself. Sure, maybe he'll attack someone, but that someone will be you and I know that you can defend yourself." There was a pause.
"How did you get my number?" Sarah hesitated.
"So I may have infiltrated your police record to get it, so what? I needed it."
"Are you saying that you hacked into a governmental system for my number?"
"Well, you didn't exactly pull a Carly Rae Jepsen."
"What?"
"I was trying to be funny. You know the song? 'Hey, I just met you. And this is crazy, but here's my number. So call me, maybe?'." There was silence. "Well, I thought I was being funny. You're just being a sourwolf."
"Yeah, you need to stop calling me that."
"And you need to stop telling Scott what you think is a distraction for him. Let him work on that himself. I, for one, firmly believe that Allison is his anchor. That's what's going to make him calm. You are the masochist in this equation and your solution is pain. But that's not what's going to work for Scott. It's only going to egg him on."
"Sarah, if he focuses on just that-."
"But that's not what he's going to focus on, Derek!" Sarah protested. "After a while, he's going to expect it. His body will grow accustomed to it. And he'll harden and grow cold like-."
"Like me." Sarah paused.
"Yeah. Like you." She hesitated. "You weren't always like this, Derek." Her voice was soft now. She looked across the way to see two familiar figures, one being tied and having lacrosse balls thrown his way. "Oh, God, what is Stiles doing now? Derek, I think my brother's trying to be Yoda, I've got to go." She hung up quickly before rushing to see what was going on. Stiles quickly explained to his sister what he was doing all the while continuing his plan. Sarah knew what was really up, though. She didn't blame her little brother. She did have to admit, while Allison could be Scott's anchor, he also did get pretty distracted while with her.
"Want a go?"
"Yes, please little brother. Let's see how high we can get his heart rate." She winked at her brother before focusing in on her muscle memory and getting into position before using the lacrosse stick, taking the ball and aiming for Scott. She got him right in the gut before laughing at his expression and taking another turn. She and her brother high-fived each other and alternated while cheering each other on. They didn't notice a peeping-Tom named Jackson behind the bleachers watching the boys with a mixture of confusion and amusement and the young woman in astonishment. He always knew the two boys were weird and that Sarah was kind of nutty just by association. But he'd forgotten that she used to be fun and had the capability to genuinely laugh.
But when the phone began beeping, signaling the dangerous increase of Scott's heart rate, they stopped what they were doing and took things seriously. Scott was groaning on the field, but Sarah could see that her friend was trying to control himself. He broke through the tape and remained in a crouched position. Stiles and Sarah saw that his heart rate was decreasing and when he stood up, he seemed perfectly fine.
"The angrier I felt, the stronger I was."
"So Derek was right, it is the anger."
"And I can't be with Allison."
"Why? Because she makes you happy?" Sarah asked.
"No, it's because she makes me weak."
"What are you reading?" Jackson had come out of nowhere and it startled Sarah.
"Just stuff for my Mythology class." Sarah answered awkwardly.
"Hitting the books for midterms?"
"No. This is just for fun." Jackson chuckled.
"Yeah, you probably don't need to study, do you?" He took the liberty of sitting next to her, puzzling her deeply.
"Aren't you supposed to be in chemistry right now?"
"Yeah, I just don't like sitting through it." Jackson answered. "Besides, shouldn't you be grading my papers?"
"Harris told me to spend my time studying for midterms." Jackson laughed.
"I see that's working well in his favor." Sarah wasn't sure what to make of this conversation. There was an awkward pause.
"Look, do you need something? Because odds are, I'm not going to give it to you. Unless you're here to apologize for acting like a dick. And even then, I'm not going to give you any forgiveness."
"I actually, uh, wanted to talk. I realized that I've been a jerk to you. And to Scott, as well as Stiles. And I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm being serious." Sarah's eyes went wide and she looked away to focus on something else.
"I believe that you're being serious, I'm just not sure that you're being sincere." Sarah responded. "Besides, you're three years too late."
"Do you know what it's like to be the best player on a team?" Jackson huffed. "Hm? To be the star? To have every single person at the game chanting your name. And then some kid just comes along and everyone starts looking at him instead of you. Do you know what that's like?" Sarah swallowed as memories began crowding her brain; her thinking space.
"I do, Jackson." She whispered. "It feels like something's been stolen from you. And then you feel like you'd do anything in the world to get it back. But you know what, Jackson? There's no 'I' in 'team'."
"Yeah, but there is a 'me'." There was a pause before Jackson laughed. "That-that was a joke." He chuckled again. "Wow, you must really hate me." Sarah looked at him before answering. She took in his haggard, sickly appearance and as Jackson scratched his head, she noticed the claw marks that Derek had given him. They didn't look so good.
"I don't hate you, Jackson. Not at all." Sarah told him, her motherly attributes overcoming her. Her answer seemed to take Jackson by surprise.
"Are you sure? I mean, I'm not a bad guy. I mean…I make stupid mistakes. A lot of them. But I'm not bad."
"I don't hate anyone, Jackson." Sarah responded. She shrugged. "I can't. Least of all, you." She got up when the bell rang and joined her brother and Scott to find them talking about how Allison kept Scott calm. She rolled her eyes. "Doesn't anybody listen to me?" She practically exploded. "Or should I keep my mouth shut and let you guys figure everything out on your own?" The boys looked at her in concern. "One day, I'm going to tell you something when it needs to be said, you will totally disregard it and it will be too late!" Some people were staring. "Oh, and now people stare when I shout!"
"Sarah, what-?" Scott began.
"I already told you that Allison was your anchor." Sarah explained. "God! I'm going to rip my hair out!" She yanked on her brown curls in anxiety.
"But what about when I'm kissing her or touching her?"
"That's different. Did you not pay attention in biology?" Sarah wondered. "That's just you being another hormonal teenager thinking about sex. That's natural." Stiles and Sarah both looked at Scott's glazed over happy expression. "He's thinking about sex right now, isn't he?" The young woman was getting frustrated.
"He's thinking about sex." Stiles answered quickly.
"Sorry." Scott apologized cutely.
"Back in the classroom, she gave you control. She's like your-."
"She's your anchor." Sarah interrupted, aggravated at having to repeat herself.
"You mean, because I love her." Sarah nodded nonchalantly but Scott's eyes went wide. "Did I just say that?"
"Wait, you mean you didn't know that before?"
"I love her!"
"That's great." Stiles agreed. "Now moving on. We need to-."
"No, I think I'm totally in love with her."
"And that's beautiful. Now before you go and write a sonnet, can we figure this out please?" Stiles begged.
"You're not going to get through to him." Sarah deadpanned. She smacked her friend to get him out of his daze and then she looked at her brother. "Continue, please."
"Thank you, dear sister." Sarah nodded. "Look, you can't be around her all the time."
"Right." Scott agreed. "So what do I do?"
"I don't know." Stiles admitted. "Yet."
"C'mon, kid brother. Let's put our heads together." Sarah pulled her brother down to her level and they made an identical face that still made Scott squirm with anticipation.
"Oh, no. I just saw the lightbulb go off. Is this going to get me in trouble?"
"Most likely." Stiles admitted.
"Is this going to cause me physical pain?"
"Yeah, most definitely." Sarah responded. "Let's go." And they headed toward the parking lot. "Look, whatever happens, try to find Allison's voice like you did at the game." Scott nodded and Stiles took out his keys and scratched them against some guy's car. The owner of the black truck looked at Scott in anger and the boys he was with begun beating him up. Sarah cringed a few times, but it was overcome by the anger that Scott and Stiles hadn't listened to her in the first place. She secretly hoped that Stiles would pretend to intervene, and actually get hit. Maybe that would knock enough sense into him so as to listen to his older sister. She was actually surprised when Dr. Harris broke up the fight and Scott's heart rate was relatively normal.
"What do you idiots think you're doing?" That landed them in detention. "I expected more from you, Miss Stilinski." Sarah only shrugged.
"That's the problem with expectations, Dr. Harris. You always end up disappointed." The chemistry teacher looked aghast that Sarah had sassed him. Her companions did as well. But she'd had enough of everyone today.
"Excuse me, sir." Dr. Harris looked up as Scott began talking. "I know it's detention and all, but I'm supposed to be at work. And I don't want to get fired." Dr. Harris gave a small smile before looking back down at his work. Scott sighed. "You knew I would heal."
"Yup." Stiles admitted.
"And you did that to help me learn but partly to punish me."
"Well, yeah. Duh." Sarah added.
"Dude, you're my best friend and I can't have you being angry with me." Scott said. Sarah suddenly felt like an awkward third wheel. "Same with you, Sarah. I really need you to help me through this."
"There we go." Sarah whispered with a small smile.
"I'm not angry anymore." Stiles said. "Look, you have something, Scott. Whether you want it or not, you can do things that nobody else can do." Sarah nodded.
"That means that you don't have a choice anymore." She added gently. "It means you have to do something."
"I know. And I will."
"All right, you three, get out of here." The boys headed out as quickly as possible but Sarah lingered behind. "Can I help you, Miss Stilinski?"
"You seemed to help the boys pretty well." Sarah quipped.
"They just need a firm hand." Sarah's heart sank.
"Yeah." She breathed out. "I'm not doing a very good job of that, am I?"
"Sarah, that's not your job." Dr. Harris told her. "Your job is to be the eldest sister. To both of them. You don't need to be the parent."
"I expect too much of myself." She admitted. Dr. Harris smirked.
"And what's the problem with that? Something about ending up disappointed?" Sarah grinned.
"And people wonder why I chose to aide for you this year." The chemistry teacher smiled. "See you tomorrow, Dr. Harris." She exited the classroom, hair bouncing behind her.
All right! Today is my birthday, so what better way to celebrate than with an update? I expect marvelous reviews and wonderful messages, because that would be a fabulous gift from my dear readers, who have put up with my inconsistent updates. :) I love you all!