3: "You look green."
I glanced up from my homework and saw Nick standing there. I had no clue how long he had been watching me, or why he was calling me a random color with a snarky grin pasted on his face like it was supposed to be an insult.
"Um...okay," I shrugged, going back to my homework.
Nick grabbed the paper I was using to write down my math answers and tore it up. He laughed in my face and waited for me to jump up and tackle him, something I would've normally done.
I just stared at him. The smile faded from his face and he asked me angrily, "Why aren't you fighting me?"
"I don't want to," I mumbled, reaching into my backpack for another piece of paper.
Nick grabbed the pencil out of my hand and snapped it into three pieces. He tossed it back into my face and waited for me to yell at him. Instead, I got up and tried to walk past him, saying dully, "Guess I'm done for the day."
"Come on, Stiles! Do something!" Nick smacked me upside the head.
I glanced back at him but I still didn't feel the need to respond to his taunts. He followed me into the kitchen and reached up like he planned to hit me again, but he froze when he realized Peter and Derek were sitting at the table.
They must've been in deep conversation, because Peter had to blink a few times to realize we were even there. Derek perked up instantly, glaring at Nick like he knew exactly what was going on. I wandered past them to get to the fridge as Nick tattled on me, "I have to practice for wrestling and Stiles won't help me!"
"We've been through this a million times, Nicky. If you ask one of the guys to help you practice and they don't want to, there's nothing you can do about it," Peter argued.
"It's not like he's doing anything important! He's just sitting in his room drawing pictures of werewolves!" Nick countered.
I took out the milk and turned around to face the group just as Peter glanced at me and asked curiously, "You were drawing werewolves, Stiles? I thought you said you had some math homework to do."
"I thought I was doing math," I shrugged.
"You were not, you liar! I took the paper you were writing on and it had werewolves drawn on it!" Nick argued.
I looked at Derek. He had a weird expression on his face like he believed Nick. It made me angry for some reason and I countered back at Nick, "I wasn't drawing anything! I was doing my math homework!"
"You're such a liar, Stilinski! I don't believe anything that comes out of your mouth because it's all bullshit!" Nick yelled.
We were both startled when Derek stood up very loudly. He looked deliberately at Nick and stated like it was an order, "Get the hell off Stiles' back, go to the living room and watch some goddamn TV!"
Surprisingly, Nick turned around and walked off like he was doing exactly what Derek said. I scoffed and mentioned sarcastically, "If I knew it were that easy to shut him up, I would've said something myself."
"You could have if you wanted to," Derek replied thickly.
I gave him a confused look, but he was turned away from me, and I almost felt like he were deliberately avoiding my gaze. Again, I felt a surge of spontaneous anger for Derek and I blurted, "I'm moving out!"
"What?" Peter stood up to face me.
Derek was forced to turn around and look my way. As soon as our eyes met, I felt this overwhelming need to be close to him. At the same time, something was holding me back, like I was in a tug-of-war between two unseen and equally strong forces.
"I'm moving out! I hate it, here! I'm going to look for another place," I said quickly.
"Stiles, you can't just move out! This is a halfway house! You're basically on probation!" Peter argued with me.
I barely heard what Peter said because I was so focused on Derek. He looked like he wanted so badly to tell me something. The pushing and pulling I was feeling was threatening to break me, so I rushed for the back door and stated over my shoulder, "Then I'll pitch a tent in the backyard!"
I stormed my way outside to gather my supplies, but I only made it halfway into the yard before I unceremoniously stepped on a rake and the handle came up to smack me right in the face.
"Ow!" I yelled, falling flat on my ass.
"You okay?" I heard Derek ask as he reached around behind me to help me up.
Something about feeling him touching me made my insides want to explode. I refused to let Derek see how insanely I reacted every time I got near him, so I jerked away and practically shrieked, "I'm fine!"
I managed to step on the rake again, but this time, the handle stopped before it hit me in the face. I had to blink a few times to realize that time hadn't stopped, but Derek had grabbed the handle before it collided with me.
"Awesome reflexes," I mentioned.
"Are you always this clumsy?" Derek asked brashly.
He almost sounded like he thought I was deliberately trying to hurt myself. I scoffed and argued, "What are you talking about? I'm not clumsy!"
I tried to walk away from him and almost ran into one of the patio chairs. I quickly rebounded and headed for the shed, calling over my shoulder, "Tell your dad I'll be outside tonight!"
"Are you really doing this?" I heard Derek say from right behind me.
He startled me so bad, I almost shit my pants. I whirled around to face him and realized he was only a foot away. I chuckled awkwardly and replied, "I said I was, and I meant it."
Derek ground his teeth like he wanted so badly to argue with me, but he finally relented and asked, "Do you need some help? I'm pretty good at this kind of stuff."
"Yeah, you used to camp out with Peter, right?" I pointed out.
He gave me a curious look. I added quickly, "What? Am I wrong?"
"No, you just...never mind," Derek bypassed me to get into the shed.
:-:
Derek said he was good at this stuff. He was obviously being polite, because he was a damn master.
He grabbed a bunch of shit out of the garage that didn't even look like it went together. Some of it even looked like it wasn't part of a tent setup at all. Derek just kept working with everything we had, handing pieces off to me and instructing me on where to put them. By the time nightfall came, he had practically built me a bio-dome next to the shed.
I started bringing out my stuff while Derek played with some old Christmas lights to give me a customized view. Justin noticed I was up to something and followed me outside, asking nervously, "Are you staying out here, tonight?"
"I plan to stay out here every night, Justin," I told him.
"But I don't wanna be alone!" he argued.
I stopped and turned to face him. His eyes were watering and his lip was trembling like he was about to burst into tears. I sighed heavily and told him, "You have got to get over this, Justin! You're in high school! It's time you stayed in your own room, by yourself!"
Justin sucked in his tears and replied quietly, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
I could tell he was still really upset, so I added, "It's not the end of the world. I'll be right outside if you need anything."
"Okay," he mumbled, making his way slowly back into the house.
"It was a good thing you did, talking to him like that," Derek said.
"Yeah, I know," I replied, still feeling guilty.
I turned around to face Derek and he asked me like he already knew the answer, "Are you feeling guilty because you had to tell him to sleep alone, or are you feeling guilty because you don't want to sleep alone?"
"Maybe a little bit of both," I shrugged.
Derek frowned and again, I felt like he wanted so badly to say something to me. I walked past him to my tent and mentioned over my shoulder, "Maybe I should invite Justin to stay the night with me for fun. You can stay sometime too, if you want."
He didn't answer me so I turned around to face him, but Derek had disappeared.
"I meant like a sleepover," I mumbled to myself, getting the strong impression that Derek had misinterpreted my words.
Oddly, I wasn't disturbed by the idea of making it into more than a sleepover. It was becoming more and more clear to me that Derek Hale was quickly turning into someone I could sexually objectify in almost every way and without provocation. It wasn't like me to be so attracted to someone and yet so repelled by them at the same time. I was always the type who dared to show it when I liked someone, but Derek was continually one step ahead of me, to the point where I was doing ridiculous things like inviting him to sleep in a tent with me in the backyard just to get his attention.
He probably thought I was a complete dork. Yet, I felt like he would be coming back.