Happy Juneteenth!

"There was a time, I met a girl of a different kind

We ruled the world,

Thought I'll never lose her out of sight

We were so young

I think of her now and then

I still hear the songs, reminding me of a friend"

Don't You Worry Child by Swedish House Mafia

Having friends was a strange development. Isaac wasn't new, but Scott and Stiles? Even sometimes Lydia? Nothing could be weirder in my book. As the last two months of school passed, I found myself tutoring Scott in his three failing subjects, teaching Stiles about kitsune and werewolves, and training Isaac how to fight. Lydia occasionally sat next to me in class and bantered with me at lunch. I stayed away from Allison as much as I could at first, still peeved with her actions against Isaac and the rest of us, but by the end of the year, even we were on decent terms, verging on good. I had more than one friend. And it felt nice. A little weird, but nice. They had even been added to my collection of pictures in my room.

Sadly, Erica and Boyd were still gone, but I hoped they had found what they were looking for.

The day after school let out for the summer, Isaac went with Derek and Peter for whatever reason and I went with Scott and Stiles to the lacrosse field.

"So you really think she's gonna come back to you?" Stiles asked his best friend as we climbed out of his Jeep which Stiles had parked in the middle of the lacrosse field. Allison had left with her dad for France. She and Scott had officially broken up, but Scott had told her he'd wait for her, which I sufficiently rolled my eyes at when I learned that news. He could do so much better than someone who had repeatedly doubted and turned on him, no matter his feelings towards her and my semi-budding friendship with her.

"Yeah, I know she is," Scott answered. Someday his optimism might bite him in the ass. But it was endearing. The two opened the back and pulled out lacrosse gear. "What about you and Lydia?" Oh, now that was an even funnier case than Scott and Allison.

I snorted, leaning on the side of the Jeep. "You and Lydia?" I questioned. "She'd bite your head off three seconds into you holding her hand." Scott chuckled but he turned it into a cough, eyes darting to Stiles.

Stiles glared at both of us. "My ten-year plan for making Lydia fall in love with me may have to stretch to fifteen, but the plan is definitely still in motion."

We started going around the Jeep in the direction of the goal. "Why don't you just ask her out?" Scott asked.

I gently hit Scott on the arm. "Bad idea for him. I'd film it. And post it on YouTube. Stiles would become YouTube famous due to his stuttering and sweat-filled proposal. They'd probably make him into a meme, too."

Scott let himself laugh that time. "If he even got that far without fainting."

"I hate you both." Stiles pointed at the goal with his lacrosse stick. "Why don't you just get into the goal and help me make team captain like you promised there, big guy." He then turned to me. "And you, stop enjoying my pain so much." Stiles set his stuff down while Scott got in the goal, and I hopped onto the hood of the jeep. "Seriously? On my Jeep?"

I quirked up an eyebrow. "It's not like I'm doing any damage to it that hasn't already been done."

Scott stood in the goal and turned to us with an amused smile. "Hey, you know what I just realized? I'm right back where I started."

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked, readying his lacrosse stick.

"I mean no lacrosse, no popularity, no girlfriend. Nothing."

"Hey!" I exclaimed, raising my hands. "You've got me. That's new. I guarantee I'm loads better than some crappy popular table, and I won't nag you like a girlfriend."

Stiles looked at me with a smirk. "No, you'll just talk our ear off. And Scott, you've got me, too."

"I had you before," Scott said.

"Yeah, and you've still got me." Scott laughed at him. "Okay? It's a life fulfilled."

I shook my head and chuckled. "Just what everyone needs: an adorable puppy that's a literal angel and his runt of a brother that likes running into walls." I could feel Scott's awkward, bashful blush from where I sat, and Stiles glared at me even harder.

Stiles twitched and spun his lacrosse stick in his hands. "I hate you. I really do."

I leaned forward and brought my hand up and stage-whispered, "Except you don't."

Stiles grumbled and picked up a ball with the netting of the lacrosse stick, turning back to face the goal and his best friend. "Now remember, no wolf powers."

Scott nodded. "Got it."

"No, I mean it," Stiles continued. "No super-fast reflexes, no super eyesight, no hearing-none of that crap, okay?"

"Okay." Even I could tell Scott was lying. He was totally going to use his wolf powers. "Come on." He hit the sides of the goal with his lacrosse stick and got into a ready position.

Stiles held up his own as if he was going to throw the ball, but he hesitated. "You promise?"

"Oh, my god, Stiles, just throw the ball!" I yelled.

Stiles huffed and Scott bent his knees. I could see his eyes light up the beta gold, and I grinned as Stiles took the shot. Scott caught it swiftly.

"I said no wolf powers!"

The next night, Lydia gussied me up for a date. With a simple black skirt, a blue and purple floral blouse, and my only pair of decent heels, Lydia also attempted to curl my hair, but it wasn't cooperating with her. At the most, the tight curls she was attempted only became mildly wavy, if anything happened at all.

When she finally turned off her curling iron with a frustrated huff, she said, "I hate your hair. What's the point if you can't style it however you want?"

"Uh, maybe embracing the hair you're given?" I offered, looking at her through the mirror.

She didn't look pleased with my response. "I still hate it. The curls didn't even last five minutes."

I shrugged. "The wonders of Asian hair. My mothers hair is the same way. It's too thick. Although, it does get a little wavy after I shower if I don't brush it." I did meet human relatives on my mother's side one time that had curly hair, or curly by European standards, but I was cursed with my mother's unreasonably thick, straight hair. Not even a drop of my white dad's curly blond genes.

"Whatever," she muttered, running her fingers through my hair. "Is he picking you up or something?"

"Oh, right, you were never filled in on the wonders that is my family," I realized, turning around in my desk chair to face her as she took a seat on the edge of my bed. "If my mother sees Isaac, she'll drown him, so I'm meeting him at the restaurant. I'd rather not have her killing him before our first official date."

"Why does she hate him?"

"He's a werewolf. Touchy subject in my family. She used to love him. Often made jokes about how we'd get married right outta high school." She was the first one to even suggest or hint at me liking Isaac. I often blamed her for getting the ball rolling in my mind. But sometimes being lovey-dovey with Isaac was awkward.

Lydia gritted her teeth. "Sheesh. So she doesn't know about you and him going on a date then?"

I shook my head. "Absolutely not." The time on my alarm clock caught my eye and I hopped out of my chair. "Shit, I better get going before I'm late."

Lydia handed me my purse. "Have fun. Be safe. Stab him if he does anything a gentleman wouldn't do."

I nodded. "Gladly. Have a good night." I half waved and hurried from my bedroom, rushing down the stairs, not even saying goodbye to my parents who sat on the couch watching TV. Lydia could let herself out. Climbing into my car, I drove to the Italian restaurant Isaac and I had agreed to meet at.

Sitting on a bench just outside the front door was Isaac dressed as nicely as he could in a plain button-down and black jeans. When he heard me walking over from the parking lot, he picked his head up and grinned, standing as he put his hands behind his back. "I can't remember the last time I saw you wearing those heels," he joked.

"Yeah, well, don't expect them very often. I'm tempted to break the heels to have an excuse not to wear them."

Isaac laughed which brought a smile to my face. He then brought his hands out from where they hid, and he held out a red hibiscus. "For you."

I happily took it. "I'd sure hope so, koishii. Do you make a habit of giving other girls flowers?"

He bent down towards me. "Of course not." He placed a simple kiss on my cheek then held out his arm. "Let's eat. I'm starving."

Lacing my arm through his, I replied, "You're always hungry."

Five weeks later, I sat on the floor of Scott's room with him on a late Sunday morning, books and notebook paper scattered around. I had barely said anything since I arrived, other than ordering Scott around with his summer school work. He could tell something was bothering me, even the new All Time Low album quietly playing in the background couldn't calm me down, but he kept his questions to himself until the lead of my mechanical pencil broke and I growled at it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Scott asked slowly, not wanting me to tear his head off for pressing about my personal problems. "Is my essay that bad?" His attempt to lighten the mood didn't work.

I looked up at him and forced myself to relax lest all my hard work at learning to conceal my aura come undone. Peter had been right: I've only successfully figured out how to hide it when calm. Yet that wasn't the thing bothering me. I opened my mouth to speak. Whether I had planned to give Scott an actual answer or a smart-ass remark remained to be seen since I promptly closed my mouth. I still wasn't particularly good at sharing.

Scott hesitantly reached over and set his hand on my outstretched calf that rested in front of him. "What is it?" he prodded. "I'm not gonna be able to focus with you thinking so loud." There were certain times when Scott's sass could match mine and Stiles', and it never ceased to surprise me.

I set down the pencil on the paper in my lap. Might as well, I thought. What's he going to do? Tell people? It's Scott freaking McCall. He's the nicest person ever. "It's Isaac," I revealed, glancing at my discarded phone a few feet away. "He's hiding something and has missed two dates since the start of summer. That's out of four and not including the ones he gave prior notice of canceling."

Scott grimaced and groaned, pinching his nose. "Now I feel terrible for bringing it up. I'm sorry."

I gave him a small smile and picked up the pencil. "It's not your fault. We were supposed to meet last night, and I still haven't gotten a call or text from him. Sorry for letting it affect my mood."

"I'd be more concerned if it wasn't affecting you. Is he with Derek?" Scott asked.

"He better be; otherwise, I'll neuter him."

Scott winced, already sensing the amount of pain I wanted to inflict on Isaac. I could never carry out the threat though, and I knew Scott knew that. "Well, if you want someone to talk to him, I'd offer my services, but I'm sure Stiles would have an incredibly creative plan for torturing him. Stiles doesn't like him anyway."

I chuckled quietly, getting back to editing Scott's essay that I held in my hand. I could already hear Stiles in my head threatening to turn Isaac into a fur coat and giving it to me as a present for my next birthday. "Thanks, Scotty, but I think I can handle a werewolf on my own."

"I know." My hand stilled above the paper. That hadn't been the answer I expected. My eyes drifted up to meet his. "You don't have to."

Slowly nodding, a grateful smile graced my face. "Thank you."

If there was one person I could count on without any doubts plaguing my mind, it was Scott McCall.

I rubbed my head and hair with a towel as I walked back to my room after a shower. I had about an hour before I had to meet Stiles. For whatever reason I had agreed to help him start putting together his own bestiary - the first few entries being werewolves, kanimas, and kitsune - including their habits, abilities, different kinds, possible evolutions, and cures, in the case of the kanima, instead of simply how to take them down. Lydia had, apparently, been translating more passages of the bestiary for him, too, which he wanted to run by me.

And I thought, Why not? since it got me out of the house. I also liked hanging out with him, too.

Days had passed, still without any word from Isaac, since I had last visited Scott. What worry I had for Isaac's wellbeing had solely become anger, and I had given up trying to get ahold of him.

As I entered my room I spotted the boy who was currently the sole focus of my displeasure. A small growl emanated from the back of my throat, and I slammed my door closed behind me. Glaring, I turned back to Isaac who looked up from his spot sitting on the end of my bed. He was covered in dirt and a few twigs and leaves like he had been rolling around the forest floor. And I definitely wasn't sure how I felt about being half nude in front of him while angry.

"Where the hell have you been?" I demanded to know.

Isaac stood up with a soft, pleading expression. "Sara, I'm sorry. Please-"

"Forgive you?" I interrupted, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "We had a date, which you missed again, and I called and texted. For a brief moment, I was worried, but it's not the first time it's happened this summer. And as I can see, you're perfectly fine. So get out."

"Sara, please." He took a step towards me in an effort to take my hand, but I pulled away, bringing my hand up to the towel wrapped around me so it wouldn't fall off.

"Don't touch me. I don't want to hear excuses."

"I was with Derek," he tried to explain.

I shook my head. "No shit. Doesn't mean I'm not angry."

With his shoulders slumped and a long face, Isaac said, "You have every right to be. I've been a terrible friend and terrible boyfriend, and you don't deserve that." That was the first time he said boyfriend. He noticed my expression shift. "Or not boyfriend, whatever you'd like. But regardless, you do deserve an explanation, so please, hear me out." I didn't say anything, simply waving my hand to let him go ahead. He quickly pulled something out of his pocket and held it out with one hand while he ruffled his hair with the other one. A destroyed cellphone. "Derek crushed it after your like third call and wouldn't let me leave. We were on the other side of the preserve for days. We just got back."

He's lying, I thought to myself. Why's he lying?

He said an oddly specific number after saying 'like' and tends to be fibbing, nervous, or stressed when he plays with his hair. Isaac was definitely lying. I knew him better than anyone. But I couldn't bring myself to call him out on it.

I could've gone without an 'explanation.'

"Okay," I forced out.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Okay?" He's lying and he didn't think I'd believe him? That's a terrible way to go about telling lies.

I nodded slowly. "Okay. I'm still mad at you." And I will continue to be mad until you willingly cough up whatever the hell you're hiding.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" he asked with sad eyes.

"Be there," I said simply.

Isaac nodded a few times. "I will. Even if I have to stand up to Derek, no matter how much he scares me." That did make me smile. The idea of Isaac standing up to his alpha just seemed silly. "And I'll start today. You have my undivided attention for the next few days. If Derek wants me, he'll have to drag me out of here." My smile fell. "What?"

"I'd love to, but I'm meeting Stiles in an hour. Then I'm helping Scott with his school-work tomorrow and hanging out with Lydia on Friday."

"What, why?" Isaac asked.

I narrowed my eyes and put a hand on my waist. "I'm sorry you can't monopolize my time anymore, but I have more friends besides you now."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"No, of course not." I turned around and walked over to my closet. "You're just asking why I'm choosing to go out and do things with people that aren't you." I started rifling through my shirts to figure out what to wear. "This may come as a shocker, but because you won't drop everything to make time to spend with me, I definitely won't do it for you."

Isaac came up behind me, setting a hand on my lower back. "I'm sorry."

Facing him, I shoved the towel used for my hair into his arms, effectively pushing him farther back as well. "I heard. Try proving it."

The moment I returned home after helping Stiles for a few hours, I walked into my room to find Isaac exactly where I had left him sitting in my desk chair. At least he had taken a shower and changed his clothes. He set down the picture frame he was holding and picked up a rose that was resting on my desk.

I closed my door as I entered, not wanting my parents to walk up the stairs and see Isaac in my room. He stood up and held the flower out to me with a small smile. "They didn't have either of your favorites, so I made sure to get red," he said.

Gingerly taking the rose, I tossed my bag to the side. "Buying my affection won't work, but thank you."

"I know. It's not intended to. I just thought you'd like it." He held out his hand. "Come to the preserve with me?"

Staring at his hand, I thought of my options. Go with Isaac and attempt to move past his glaringly obvious lying and secrets in favor of his sweet and caring side, or let myself stew with my knowledge and continue being angry? To be fair, I could technically do both. My fox especially didn't like the idea of letting it go. Most kitsune are quick to anger, and I'm no different. We also had a rigid sense of right and wrong, and anyone who broke it automatically found themselves on our shit list. But I'm also part human. I'm not a full-blooded kitsune. My human side wanted to forgive and forget.

Something in between was the way to go, placing my hand in his. I wouldn't forget though. I couldn't. Even if I wanted to.

Driving my car into Beacon Hills Preserve, I drove to the cliffs that over-looked the town and parked. Turning off my car, I looked to Isaac. "Okay, why here?" I asked.

"Thought it might be fun to look up at the stars like we used to do." He smiled and climbed out of the car.

I huffed as he shut the door then followed him out. He was trying incredibly hard. If I was being honest, I appreciated the effort and sentimentality. He leaned against the hood of my car and patted the spot next to him, so I sat down.

The lights of the town paired with the starry sky were far more beautiful than a sunrise. I let myself relax by Isaac's side and laid down on the hood, staring up at the sky. "Do you still remember the constellations?" I asked.

Isaac laid down next to me, using his arm as a pillow. "Some of them. Virgo, Orion, Hercules, and the Big Dipper are pretty much it."

"Well, since you're a big bad werewolf now, you should probably make it a priority to remember Lupus, the wolf. And probably Canis Major and Canis Minor, the big dog and little dog."

He laughed quietly. "Is there a fox constellation or are dogs the only special animal?"

"There is," I told him. "Vulpecula, but it's small and faint."

"Where is it?"

"It's by Hercules. Looks like a zig-zag."

"They kinda all look like zig-zags," he pointed out, looking over at me with a playful smirk.

I nudged him with my elbow. "Okay, smart-ass."

It felt nice to joke around with him again. Isaac had, for whatever reason, been so distant lately, and I couldn't understand why, but moments like these reminded me of exactly why I had liked him in the first place. I only hoped that Isaac came clean before I had to force it out of him or before someone else spilled the beans.

Koishii - Darling, dear, a term of endearment