Chapter 2 - Library Services - Stiles
"Moon phases? Shape shifters? Lycanthropy? Werewolves? Anything?! Hell, I'll even take a book on freaking fairies at this point! Why are there absolutely no books in this library about the supernatural?"
Under normal circumstances, I would have just looked up "werewolves" on the library computer catalog. Unfortunately, since I was obviously in an extreme moment of crisis, every single computer was occupied by some stupid person doing some stupid homework assigned by some stupid teacher. Which was stupid. It occurred to me that if I spent a little more time at the library I might have a general idea of where I was supposed to be looking for this stuff, but I canned that thought almost immediately. I had important things to do—bodies to find, lacrosse to practice, video games to play, magical online kingdoms to save—and those all involved not being at the library. So for the moment, I was stuck walking up and down every damn row waiting for something to catch my eye.
I thought I saw the word "wolf" once or twice, but I honestly might have been hallucinating out of pure, misguided hope. I stretched my arms to the side, running my hands over the books and cursing under my breath as my eyes scanned title after useless title. But even after half an hour of searching, I'd still come up with nothing.
"Seriously? It's a small town library. How many books could there really be?" I grumbled, glaring at the top shelf, where a book displaying a large red bird I'd hoped might be a phoenix turned out to be an encyclopedia on tropical birds. I was literally two seconds away from completely giving up—I'd just do online research, or stare at one of the computer hogs until they felt so uncomfortable that they had to leave—when a voice from the end of the aisle interrupted my thoughts.
"Can I help you?"
My head jerked painfully to the side, and I barely managed to suppress a shriek of surprise that probably wouldn't have been appreciated in a library. But by the next instant, I didn't have to worry about being too loud, because I was dumbstruck and horrified. There at the end of the row, two or three books clutched in her arms, was Sadie Bennet. Sadie Bennet, the pretty brunette girl with the confident walk and the bright smile who was not just friends with but actually living with Lydia Martin. But now it wasn't just a matter of her waving to me, oh no. There had definitely been words coming out of her mouth, and I was like ninety percent sure those words had been directed at me. She'd just asked me a question. There was a pretty girl talking to me in a library and I was fairly positive that I was awake. I was also still pressed awkwardly against the bookshelf, I realized, staring at her in awed silence, which seemed to be making her uncomfortable. I hastily cleared my throat, jumping back from the bookshelf and shoving my browsing hands in my pockets.
"W-What? O-oh, no, no, nah, I'm—I'm good," I tried to assure her casually. I winced, mentally kicking myself repeatedly for stuttering horribly over the terrible excuse for a sentence. I bounced nervously on my feet, trying to remain outwardly calm as her chocolate-y brown eyes looked me over from head to toe. One of her eyebrows raised slightly in confusion at my embarrassingly skittish behavior.
"O-kay," she dismissed skeptically. She shook her head slightly and spun on the heel of her boot, walking back down the aisle and out of sight once more. I hissed and stomped slightly in frustration, raising my hand to my head and looking up to the ceiling in despair.
"Great. Open your mouth and prove what a socially inept dweeb you are on the first shot. Way to go, Stiles. Way to go."
I turned back to the shelf, ready to continue my search for magic-y werewolf books, before the weight of Sadie's question actually hit me. "Can I help you" was generally an employee line. Which meant she worked here. Which meant she had at least some basic knowledge of the library. At least, miles more than I did. And even if she didn't, hey, she probably had access to some special computer or the power to kick someone off for like two seconds so I could use the catalog. And it gave me the perfect opportunity to talk to her again. Of course, that also meant it was another opportunity to completely botch my sentences and make me look like some creepy, stammering idiot, but at the moment I was trying to not think about that too hard.
Giving the parrot book one last glare for good measure, I sprinted out of the aisle, tripping over myself as I chased after the brunette.
"W-Wait!" I called after her. She paused midstride, hair swishing around her shoulders as she turned around to face me with raised eyebrows. I stumbled up to her, taking a deep breath as I tried to figure out exactly how to indicate what I was looking for without coming off as a total freak. "Okay yeah—um—could you just like, point me in the direction of the—uh—mythology section? Fantasy research or something?" I winced. Yeah. Totally coming off as a completely suspicious freak.
But then another miracle occurred. Instead of looking totally weirded out the way most pretty, popular girls would have, Sadie's face broke into another one of those dazzling smiles. My mouth hung open slightly in awe and confusion as she perked up slightly.
"Yeah, sure," she conceded, tossing her head to the side. She brushed past me with a wave of her hand, indicating that I should follow her. That was an order that I had absolutely no trouble following, and after a single moment of stunned confusion I trailed after her. She led the way to the next row of books, stopping on the exact opposite side of where I had just been looking. Of course. Nearly half a freaking hour of searching and I'd finally gotten help when I was one row away from victory. "Looking for anything in particular?" Her question caught me off guard, and I jumped slightly again. I threw her a sideways glance as her fingers trailed across the books on the shelves. I'd been expecting just a quick, "Here you go!" "Oh thanks!" But it hadn't actually occurred to me that she might stick around, and actually do her job to help me find what I was looking for.
"Oh, nah, n-not really," I stammered, cursing in my head as I scrambled for an answer. "You know, mostly like…werewolves or something." I flinched as the word actually came out of my mouth. It was the first time I'd said it out loud since I started seriously considering the possibility that my best friend could be a werewolf. But if it sounded weird to my company, she didn't show it. She nodded dutifully, almost instantly grabbing a book off the shelf and thrusting it in my direction. I stared down at it, surprised by the quick retrieval, before a slight flick of her wrist prompted me to take it. I scrambled to accept it, flipping it over in my hands to see the picture of a bright full moon on the front cover. The title was etched in with silver writing, indicating that it was full of all sorts of mythical creatures affected by the moon, with a focus on werewolves. I raised my eyebrows slightly, flipping open to the table of contents to see if anything looked particularly helpful.
"So…" The feminine voice broke me out of my thoughts again, and I looked up in bewilderment as I realized Sadie was speaking to me again. She kept her eyes trained on the shelf, searching for any more books that she deemed helpful, but she was definitely talking to me. The moon book was forgotten in my hands as I looked up at her, taking a moment to look her over outside of the school setting and away from Lydia.
She was a lot taller than her friend was, almost as tall as me. Her brown hair just reached past her shoulders, brushing the knitting of the form fitting black sweater she was wearing over her blue tank top. I glanced at the dog tags around her neck, then decided they were entirely too close to her admittedly ample chest to inspect for too long. I wasn't feeling up to testing my resolve, and I didn't want her to get the wrong idea if she decided to glance my way. Instead, I averted my eyes down her long legs, clad in skinny jeans that were neatly tucked into knee-high leather boots that strained slightly as she reached up for a higher book.
"What are the books for?" Sadie asked.
"Hm?" It took me a second to respond with actual words. I'd forgotten she was speaking at all, actually, then got a little flustered as I tried to pretend I hadn't totally been checking her out. And that was all before I actually had to think of an answer. "O-Oh, just an essay," I invented wildly. Her brown eyes darted in my direction, paired with a disbelieving smirk.
"You're writing an essay on werewolves? What classes are you taking?" she giggled. But for once, it didn't sound like she was laughing at me, but the idea that I could be lucky enough to write a paper like that. Which of course, I wasn't. I was much, much less lucky. Nevertheless, I chuckled nervously, closing the book in my hands and drumming my thumbs on the cover.
"Oh! Oh, it's for…English," I lied. My eyes darted frantically around as I tried to think of an excuse. What had I been doing in English? Okay. What was I supposed to be doing in English? Some summer book I hadn't really liked. Meta… Metamorphosis! Ha ha! Yes! "Yeah, you know," I sighed, trying to grin convincingly. "Cause my class just finished Metamorphosis so I'm writing a paper on other kinds of transformations." She seemed to consider that, grabbing two more books off the shelf before handing them to me with a smile.
"Oh, that's really interesting," she praised. Score. I grinned widely, scoffing as I tucked the books under my arm and mentally celebrated the convincing lie. "Cause I'm pretty sure I'm in your English class." The party in my head immediately screeched to a halt, and I looked up at her with wide eyes. Shit. Of course she was in my English class. She sat behind Allison. The only reason she didn't immediately jump to mind as the best thing about my English class was because she sat a row behind me, and it was hard to look at her too often. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Right," I sighed as the smile fell from my face. "Because you're Allison's friend. Damnit." I hadn't meant to say the last profanity out loud, and I stomped slightly. Of course, I wasn't able to do anything right. But she didn't seem to mind. Better yet, she didn't question it. Instead, she giggled again, keeping that victorious smirk on her face before she held out a hand.
"Sadie Bennet," she introduced. My eyebrows shot up, and my eyes flicked continuously between her large eyes, her grin and her extended extremity. It was all just a little much to process. I mean, I'd freaked out when she'd so much as smiled at me on the first day of school. But now a conversation? An introduction? A handshake? I hadn't so much as gotten a glance from any of the so-called popular girls since I was about twelve, unless I was doing something ridiculously stupid that made them crinkle their noses at me. But Sadie's nose was distinctly not crinkled. She actually looked pleasantly expectant. Why was she expectant again?
I looked down at her hand, my brain suddenly catching up to reality. I shifted the books in my arms, my hand shooting out to accept hers in a shake. I was momentarily thrown again. She had relatively delicate looking hands, but she had one of those surprisingly strong handshakes, like someone who's been trained to make a demanding, good impression. Not that she really needed to prove herself to me at the moment. I was still trying to comprehend that this was reality.
"R-Right," I stammered, trying to grip slightly tighter in an attempt to seem more confident. "You're—uh—you're living with Lydia, right?" I asked, as if that was something that I wasn't one hundred and ten percent sure about. She nodded slightly, hopefully used to the fact that people knew that much information about her and not totally freaking out about the fact I knew exactly where she lived. But when she didn't protest, I released a relieved smile. Good. So that wasn't weird. As for the fact that I totally already knew her name, well… It was probably more polite to not remind her that she'd been introduced to the class on the first day of school. Nobody wanted to think about the first day of school, least of all me and the new girl. Unless I was thinking about how she'd waved at me, or how Lydia had looked in that plaid skirt, or Scott kicking ass on the lacrosse field, or how Lydia looked in that really short plaid skirt…
Sadie had that expectant look on again, and I realized that I still hadn't completed the introduction.
"Oh! Sorry!" I apologized, eyes wide. "Stiles Stilinski!" I repeated the name in my head. I'd said that right, right? I hadn't introduced myself wrong, right? Hadn't accidentally given my freakazoid real name? Hadn't slipped into a James Bond impression? Nope, Stiles Stilinski. I was fairly certain that I'd actually been able to pull that off without screwing up.
She nodded slightly, and her dark eyelashes knitted together as she narrowed her eyes at me. They darted over my face, scrutinizing me, and I let out another mental string of curse words as I felt my cheeks heat up. Why oh why was I cursed with pale skin? It was a freaking nightmare. But Sadie didn't seem to mind, or she just hadn't noticed. She looked almost like she was trying to remember something for a moment, until she finally gave up and looked down.
I followed her gaze, stomach clenching when I realized I was still holding her hand. My mouth opened slightly as I contemplated the prolonged contact, stuck staring at her soft hand in mine. Then she cleared her throat, pulling her hand away and turning back to the bookshelves. I grimaced, my hand suddenly cold and probably sweating from nerves. I quickly tried to wipe my hands on my jeans, turning my shoulders slightly so I could attempt to do it discreetly.
"Well, Stiles," she went on, and my brain pretty much stalled as I tried to process the fact that she was actually saying my name. "Whatever you need these books for, I've found that the older they are, the better. Otherwise the mythology gets tainted by stuff like Twilight or Vampire Diaries." I let out an honest chuckle at her words, trying not to stare as she reached for the top shelf, her back arching slightly. Lucky for me, that combined with the step stool she was standing on put me at about eye-level with the seat of her pants. Damn.
Thankfully, Sadie offered a distraction by dropping an old, heavy book into my hands. I flipped it over gently, afraid that being too rough might cause the flaky red binding to peel right off. There were gold letters emblazoned on the front, faded but still legible. "The History of Lycanthropy." I glanced up at Sadie curiously as she kicked the step stool away. She hadn't even batted an eye before grabbing the books, which meant that she presumably had at least a basic knowledge of the supernatural. Which was unexpected and pretty damn impressive for someone of her social stature and striking physique. I flipped through a few pages of the book before looking back to find she was watching me.
"You know what lycanthropy is?" I dared to ask. Sadie simply shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder again with a knowing smirk. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the bookshelf casually, looking very pleased by my stunned silence. She looked between the book and my face again before biting her lower lip. I groaned internally. Really, there's nothing worse for concentration levels than attractive people biting their lips. I'm pretty sure that's not a personal weakness either. It's like, a law of the universe.
"Anything else?" she asked. As predicted, I had completely zoned out, and her question made me jump about a foot in the air. I winced, rubbing the back of my head and staring intently down at the books in my hands.
"Ah, no—yeah this is good." She giggled again, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on the cover of the lycanthropy book. More important things to worry about. Werewolves. Lacrosse. Life and death.
"I'll check you out," I heard her say, and my head snapped up so quickly I was surprised it didn't fall right off. But instead of intently looking over my body the way my mind had concluded she would be, she was brushing past me, headed for the center of the library again. I spluttered, my brain trying to catch up once more.
"Huh?" That was all I managed to get out at first, ready to run a hand down my face. Then I remembered that my hands were full of heavy books. "Oh! The books! Yes, the books need to be checked out. Right." I didn't seem to be able to stop the stream of nervous chuckles escaping from my mouth as I followed her out of the aisle. When I finally did clamp my mouth shut, I glared down at the offending books for all I was worth. Stupid freaking subconscious and books and pretty people…
"Stiles?" My head snapped up as Sadie called me, terrified that I might have started grumbling out loud.
"Hm?" I stepped up to the counter as she walked behind the desk, looking as though she was thinking really hard about something.
"You don't drive a blue Jeep, do you?" For a moment, it honestly felt like the entire world paused. Why the holy hell would Sadie know what kind of car I drove? She and Lydia always seemed to be at school before I could even drag myself out of bed, and they were gone just a few minutes after the bell rang. Even on the days they stayed for lacrosse, I always seemed to take so long in the locker room that they vanished before I could get to the parking lot. I knew Lydia's car like the back of my hand, and could pick it out in an instant, so I knew that I almost never passed them on the road for her to spot me. I freaked out for a moment…but no. Don't jump to conclusions.
"Um…uh, yeah actually. That's mine. Why?" I let out a sigh of relief as I managed to get the sentence out without stuttering.
"Oh, nothing," she replied, waving my lingering fears out of the air. I grinned, drumming my hands on my stack of books. Sadie walked over, pursing her lips and reaching out to take the books from me. She leaned in close, slowly dragging the books out of my hands and towards her chest with a smirk.
"Shit. Too close to my face. Chest leaning too far forward. Shit. Don't look. It's a trap. Whatever you do, do not look." I essentially felt my whole brain short circuiting, one thought flashing repeatedly behind my eyes like a giant warning siren. "Girl!"
"It's just that I saw you drive by the house about fifty times this summer," she revealed, smirk still plastered across her face. "Didn't recognize you when you weren't trying to look casual behind the steering wheel."
Busted.
I half-gasped as a response, which of course choked me and forced me to sprawl into a coughing fit. Because the moment really wasn't quite demeaning enough until I was literally choking on air. That seemed to be the appropriate response though, because Sadie grinned, backing away and flouncing over to the computer so she could check the books out. She plopped gracefully down in her chair as I tried to wipe the pained tears from my eyes.
"So, you've got a thing for Lydia?" she asked, causing my heart to drop straight down into my stomach, where it splashed violently into the stomach acid and made me feel just a tad nauseous.
"Wh-What?!" I choked out, not completely successful in my attempt to make it sound like I was laughing at the absurdity of the statement. "N-No! Why would you think something crazy like that?" Sadie cocked an eyebrow, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"Besides the fact that you basically staked out our house over the summer?" she mused. "Probably that your first response to me was 'you live in Lydia's house' and not 'you're new.'" I opened my mouth to protest, but couldn't think of a good enough excuse. I grimaced, tossing my head slightly in agreement. I clamped my mouth shut, staring down at the grain of the counter and preparing myself for the onslaught of uncomfortable questions and accusations that would follow.
The last thing I needed was for the popular new girl to know I was pretty much obsessed with her best friend. On top of that, she knew I'd been watching the house over the summer. I could practically feel the insults rolling off her in anticipation. Why would she like a weirdo like you?
"There's a party tonight." I slowly lifted my head in surprise, prying one of my eyes open slightly so I could look at her.
"What?" She pushed the stack of books towards me, staring down at them as she took a deep breath.
"There's a party at our house tonight," she repeated. "Everyone's invited. Think you're coming?" I pushed my surprise aside, letting out a long-suffering sigh and dragging the books toward me so I could tuck them under my arm.
"Eh, I know, but 'everyone's invited' usually means 'everyone but nobodies,' so probably not." I kept my eyes down on the floor, drumming my fingers against the spines of the books and waiting. All I had to do was listen to the half-hearted "oh that's too bad bye" and then I could duck out of the library and pretend this entire awkward encounter hadn't happened. But Sadie, apparently, had other plans.
"You should." I looked up quickly in surprise. She looked almost concerned, eyebrows knitted together like she honestly couldn't understand why I thought I couldn't go. "I mean, you're friends with Scott, right? And he's taking Allison, so…" She let the sentence hang in the air, seemingly unsure of how to finish. I just stared at her. Was she…? No. No, that was not what was happening. I wasn't being invited to the cool kids' party. Was I? Because I wasn't exactly sure I could handle that much excitement on top of the fact that my best friend was a freaking werewolf. "Come on," she sighed with a teasing smile. "Don't pretend you're not dying to be invited to Lydia's. Consider this your formal invitation."
And there it was. Formal invitation. "Yeah Stiles Stilinski, not only do you exist, not only are you capable of waving and speaking in intelligent sentences, I'm going to completely ignore the fact that you basically stalked me and my best friend over the summer and that you waltzed in here looking to research werewolves for whatever weird hobbies you have in your spare time, and I'm going to invite you to come hang out with me and all the other people you wish you were cool enough to hang out with at my house with good music and alcohol." I opened and closed my mouth. All of it was too good to be true. Like, literally, so good that I was almost more comfortable thinking it was a joke or a trap.
But Sadie Bennet didn't look like she was trying to trap me. She actually looked sincere, a small smile tugging at her lips as she propped her elbows on the counter and leaned forward in earnest. I breathed deeply through my nose as she blinked at me. She was actually inviting me. Sadie Bennet inviting me to Lydia Martin's house to hang out with the popular kids. Of course, there were more important things going on. My best friend was a freaking werewolf, and it was the night of his first full moon. Then again, Scott was going with Allison, as Sadie had pointed out. I had to try and stop him. He couldn't go to a party of drunk teenagers and then lose control over whatever wolfy powers he had. It'd be a massacre. But it was always better to have a back up plan, right? What if Scott decided to go anyway? Wouldn't it be better to keep an eye on him?
"Uh, sure." The answer was out in the air before I'd mentally decided that I was going to accept. But there it was. I was going to a party. I felt my face brightening as Sadie perked up at the affirmative answer. "Yeah, no, I'll uh…I'll see you there. Thanks, Sadie." Her small smile widened, and suddenly I was staring down that dazzling grin she'd given me on the first day of school.
"Anytime," she chirped. Actually chirped. Like some sort of cartoon princess or something. I nodded slowly, still trying to see past the blinding smile. Finally I just lifted a hand and backed away, deciding it would probably be best to get out of there before I made an ass of myself again. But she called me back. "Oh, and Stiles?"
"Yeah?" I asked, spinning back on my heel and attempting to lean casually against the door.
"Let me know if there's an impending werewolf problem, yeah? I'm pretty sure the full moon's tonight." I felt all of the color drain from my face, and it actually took me a considerable amount of time before I realized she was teasing me.
"Aha!" I laughed, though it came out so high, I wasn't completely sure I'd actually made any noise. "Funny, yeah!"
"Shh!" An old lady in an armchair by the door twisted in her seat to hiss at me, glaring through glasses that looked about an inch thick.
"Right!" I squeaked, shaking my head violently. "N-No. Sh! Sorry. Bye!" Before I could manage to screw up another simple social interaction with a female, I pushed the door open and rushed outside. I nearly tripped over myself as I ran, flailing as I tried to keep my balance and my hold on the books. I patted my pockets. Keys. I needed keys. When I finally found them, I forced myself to take a deep breath.
Okay. So that was awkward, but for the most part, it'd been a successful trip out. I'd gotten a lot more helpful reading material than I had expected, properly been introduced to the best friend of Lydia freaking Martin, and managed to hold up a fairly decent conversation. At least, I figured it was decent. She'd smiled and laughed a lot, and no matter how weird I'd been, she'd still invited me over to her house. I tried not to get too excited about it, though. The party was a back up plan. I had to try and help Scott first, and then if he didn't believe me, I'd go to the party. If he did, I'd just tell Sadie that I couldn't find her, but I had a nice time. That is, if she ever tried talking to me again, and there was a distinct possibility that she wouldn't. But then…
As I climbed into my Jeep, I let myself think over another possibility. Sadie was friends with Allison. Allison was interested in Scott. And Scott was my best friend. So, if Scott and Allison hit it off, there was a distinct possibility that I'd be seeing a lot more of Sadie Bennet.
But that was only if Scott's thing with Allison worked out. Which it certainly wouldn't if he accidentally ripped her throat out on the dance floor. Which I why I needed to get back to my house and do some reading.
I shook my head. There were more important things to worry about right now, even if it was pretty much a miracle how long I'd been talking to Sadie for.
Who would've guessed? Beacon Hills Public Library: Employing attractive women to give you an excuse to talk to them since whenever the hell this place opened.
Maybe I should visit the library more often.
A/N: Hey guys! So I've been dutifully working on this instead of my homework for the last couple days. It ended up being a hell of a lot longer than I intended, but I have a feeling that you guys won't mind too much.
I got mixed reviews about the narration of the last chapter. Some people prefer first person, some prefer third. I wanted to toy around with Stiles in the first person, because I feel like it gives me more of a chance to do rambling internal monologues. Also, I thought it fit, since the only two characters in this scene were Sadie and Stiles, and you've already heard Sadie's point of view. Maybe reread it now that you know what's happening in Stiles's mind?
Anyway, let me know what you think. And don't forget to send in your questions about what's going to happen in season 2! I've gotten a lot of requests for one shots, but no future-plot questions. Thanks!
-Brittney
