Chapter 17

Stiles had her head in the toilet bowl. It's all she had been doing for the past week or so. The worst part was that it was the second last day of her final exams, a few days before Prom, and as if being pregnant and stressed wasn't enough, but having severe morning sickness that was near impossible to hide was even worse. If she wasn't vomiting, she was close to it. She was around 7.5 weeks along now. She couldn't wait for the first trimester to be over, when the nausea usually subsided. Luckily, everyone had been distracted enough not to notice. The Sheriff was picking up a lot of shifts so he could start adding to Stiles' college fund, and her friends were also busy undertaking their exams. She was just another nervous teen struggling to get through her last academic week of school.

Thankfully, her nausea settled by the time she was ready to go to school. She had a two-hour chemistry and two hour biology exams that day. She didn't make much effort to get dressed up for school, and she was feeling a lot hotter (temperature wise) lately, so she wore shorts and a Star Wars t-shirt and stuck her hair in a ponytail. When she got to the school, her friends couldn't help but notice her appearance. She looked thinner, her eyes sunken, and she wouldn't stop yawning.

"Wow," Lydia remarked. "You look…"

"I look like shit," she snapped. She wasn't in the mood for the fashion police.

"Up late studying?" Scott said.

"Yep," she lied. She was doing a lot of that lately, and was getting good at it.

They went in for their chemistry exam, had a one-hour lunch break, and then finished the day off with the biology exam. They had one test left tomorrow, English, and then they were done. Stiles was pretty confident she would do well on that exam, so she and Scott played Xbox. She realized she hadn't said anything for a while until Scott spoke.

"Stiles?" he asked. She turned to him, her head half in a cloud.

"Yeah? Sorry."

Scott stared at her, concerned.

"Are you okay? You've seemed so different ever since those Omegas attacked you," he said. Stiles felt like she was going to cry. It was easy to hide what was going on with her when nobody seemed to care, but she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. She needed a friend, not just Deaton, yet she wanted to wait until after graduation before she told anyone. She needed those last few weeks of normalcy before shit metaphorically hit the fan.

"Ask me after graduation," she replied. "I'll tell you then."

Scott was obviously confused, but he simply nodded. He trusted Stiles.

Later that night, after Scott had gone home and the Sheriff was back from work, they sat at the kitchen table, eating dinner. Well, her Dad was eating, Stiles was just picking at her spaghetti and imagining what it was going to be like to throw it up in the morning.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" he asked, noticing Stiles' lack of appetite. She sighed.

"Nothing, Dad."

"I'm not a complete idiot," he joked.

"Are you sure?" she laughed. They left it at that. Stiles felt somewhat relieved that people were noticing and caring about her, though she wanted them to just leave it alone. One thing at a time.

Stiles half-heartedly studied for her English exam after dinner, until she heard a knock at her window, followed by the sight of Derek Hale climbing through it. He'd been visiting her every now and then, though only at night, and only when it was convenient for him. He had her wrapped around his finger, and she loved it.

"Exams today?" he asked.

"Chemistry and biology. English final tomorrow."

"Nervous?"

She wanted to say no, as she actually felt confident about that test, but she said yes so she had an excuse for acting jittery. She closed her textbook and walked over to him, pushing him onto his back on the bed. She climbed atop and straddled him. No matter how tired or sick she felt, she always wanted him. Ever since the second the second time they had sex, Derek had insisted they use condoms. She had agreed solely because he would find it suspicious if she didn't want to use them. It didn't feel as good with them, but it kept Derek at bay, and that felt better than anything did. She'd also been keeping her bra on during sex, her breasts were so tender and it hurt too much not to wear one. Afterwards, Derek would normally leave almost straightaway, but this time he lay with her, gently massaging her body until she drifted into a deep and peaceful sleep. It was only after she was out that he left.

…

Finals exams were over. They had defeated high school. They had a free day Friday, and then Saturday night, it was Prom. The pack, excluding Liam, went to Lydia's house to get ready, and their parents popped by to take photos of them as a group. Lydia did Stiles' makeup and put her in a beautiful dark-purple silk dress with matching dark lipstick. She thought her Dad was going to cry when he saw her.

"You look like your Mom," his voice croaked.

"Thanks, Dad." She hugged him.

Everyone had thrown in some money and they hired a limousine to chaperone them. Lydia ended up going with one of the boys on the lacrosse team, Kira and Scott went together, and Malia and Stiles went by themselves.

Despite being tired and constantly nauseous and alone, Stiles had a great time. This would be the second last time her classmates would be together as a collective whole. It was graduation in a week, and then that was it. She tried her best to push the pregnancy out of her mind for just one night, and enjoyed herself. She mainly danced with Malia, as they were both alone, but Kira allowed her have a slow dance with Scott. It was nice that, even if only for a short time, they were normal teenagers. Lydia and her date, the lacrosse guy, were named Prom King and Queen.

It was an after-Prom tradition to go home with your date, but seeing as Malia and Stiles didn't have one, they walked home together. Her Dad was in bed by the time she got home so she went straight up to her room. She was exhausted.

She wasn't surprised to see Derek waiting in her room when she opened the door. He looked at her, startled by her appearance. It wasn't very often that Stiles wore a dress, let alone makeup and heels. She looked beautiful. After recovering from the surprise, he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close to him.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "How was Prom?"

"Good, actually."

She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, breathing him in. She could have stayed like that forever. Eventually, he let her go, she took off her dress, and they climbed into bed. She was much too tired to do anything sexually so they just lay there silently until she fell asleep. He was gone in the morning, as usual.

…

Now that school was over, Stiles only had a week to wait until the graduation ceremony and the after-party at Lydia's house, and it was a horrible week. Somehow, her morning sickness got worse and grew into an all-day sickness. She couldn't keep anything down, including water, and that drained her already weakened body. She spent most of the week in her room, playing Xbox and throwing up.

The graduation ceremony was uneventful. Stiles spent most of it trying to keep her stomach in check. It was June 6, and summer had arrived. Now she could add excessive sweating to her list of pregnancy symptoms. The best part of the day was when Stiles name was called and she walked onto the podium, shook the principal's hand, and received her diploma. She spotted her father's face in the crowd. There were tears streaming down his cheeks, and his face was full of pride.

After the ceremony ended, everyone headed over to Lydia's house for the party. Stiles poured herself a glass of juice and pretended it had vodka in it. It didn't take long for everyone to get extremely drunk and the party was in full swing. She enjoyed herself, and spent most of the time talking to everyone, knowing that she might not see a lot of them for a while. Everyone was heading his or her own way. When the party ended, Stiles elected to drive Scott, Malia, and Kira home. As they couldn't get drunk, they were sober, and in high spirits. They had successfully survived all their hardships and graduated high school.

"So," Scott said as they drove along. "Are you going to tell us what's been up with you?"

"What?" Stiles scoffed. She didn't feel like talking about it. "There's nothing wrong."

"You said to ask after graduation, so I'm asking," he said.

"We know something's wrong," Kira added.

"Yeah you're tired all the time and you smell gross," Malia chimed in.

"Thanks," Stiles frowned.

"We're your friends, Stiles, you can tell us anything," Scott reminded her. Stiles thought about it. She was aching to tell someone about her situation and she had put it off for a while now. She was 9 weeks pregnant and she wouldn't be able to hide it for much longer.

"Fine," she gave in. Kira and Malia, who were sitting in the back seat, leaned forward so they could hear her better. "There is something I've been hiding from you all. Only Deaton knows."

Scott was confused. "Deaton?"

"What is it?" Malia demanded, growing impatient. Stiles didn't know what to say to ease them into it, so she figured she would just get straight to it.

"I'm pregnant," she said.

"What? Did you say you're pregnant?"

"Yes. I'm 9 weeks."

"9 weeks!" Scott exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner? How long have you known?"

"I wanted to wait until graduation was over. My Dad doesn't know."

"What are you going to do?" Kira asked.

"I'm keeping it."

There was silence for a moment as they absorbed the news.

"Who is the father?" Scott asked eventually.

Before she could say anything, she saw lights in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a car approaching them at top speed. The last thing she heard was Scott shout her name before the car slammed into the side of the Jeep.