On Monday morning, Melissa McCall informed her son that he would be showing Hazel and Juniper around school. Scott tried to protest, but his mother was having none of it.
"These girls have no one. You know what that's like," she scolded, and his only response was to hang his head like the puppy he was.
Scott tried his best to get to school early, so he could inform his pack about his forced duty. But there was a mishap with his homework where he was halfway to school before realizing he'd left it on his desk and had to turn around. So he ended up arriving at Beacon Hills High with only 10 minutes before class began. He was supposed to meet the girls at the office, so he parked his bike as quickly as he could before racing inside.
He skidded to a stop in front of the office, trying his best to compose himself before he entered. When he did walk in, Hazel and Juniper were sitting in chairs across from the reception desk. Juniper was flicking through her phone while Hazel stared at her thumbs.
"I'm here! Sorry I'm late. I forgot my homework and had to turn around and it's been too crazy of a day for just 8 AM." Now Scott was the one babbling. It was possible that he'd been spending too much time with Stiles.
Hazel jolted out of her seat, while Juniper languidly stood up. They were certainly very different individuals, Scott noticed, but they seemed to get along well enough. It was nice that they both had someone to rely on in such a new environment.
"Here are their schedules, Scott," said Ms Lynden, the school secretary, as she held out a stack of papers, "It's so nice of you to help these girls out."
"Thanks," Scott replied, grabbing the papers. He turned toward his temporary charges. "Okay, we should probably get going. Lots to see, not a lot of time."
Hazel nodded almost frantically. Juniper snapped her gum. The two girls picked up their bags from the ground before following Scott into the hall. He quickly glanced at their schedules before handing them to their respective owners.
"It looks like you have most of the same classes, so that makes this a lot easier," Scott offered as he set off, "And my friends and I are in a lot of those classes too."
He couldn't think of anything to say, and neither girl seemed keen to speak, so they walked in silence for a minute. Eventually they reached a bank of lockers, and Scott gestured at two. "These are your lockers. Your combos should be on your schedules, I think. You won't really need these until later, I just figured this was the best way to start off the tour." He was babbling again. Great.
"Okay, so your first class is Comparative Governments with Mr. Yukimura," he explained as he led them down the hall, "Stiles and I are in that class with you, along with some of our friends. I think you'll like it. Mr Yukimura's really nice."
"You have to say that. You're dating his daughter." Liam and Mason joined them from an adjacent hallway, the Beta blinking his blue eyes at the two girls. Mason chuckled at his friend's reaction, nudging him to break him out of his trance.
"Hazel, Juniper, meet Liam Dunbar and Mason Hewitt. Liam, Mason, these are my neighbors, Hazel and Juniper Emerson." The four exchanged greetings, Liam blushing as Juniper offered him a slow smirk. Scott coughed, giving the younger boys a pointed look. Quietly sniggering, Mason grabbed his friend's arm and tugged him away, calling a goodbye over his shoulder.
"He was cute," Juniper commented. She punctuated her statement with another gum snap as the group continued walking.
"He has a girlfriend," Scott replied, "They're pretty serious."
Juniper shrugged, and Scott felt a mild concern. He was pretty sure Hayden wouldn't appreciate a new girl hitting on her boyfriend. But that was a problem for another time, he supposed.
He brought the tour to a stop when they reached Mr Yukimura's classroom.
"This is your first class. Like I said, Mr Yukimura's nice, but he's a stickler about tardiness. If you get to class on time, you'll probably be on his good side," the Alpha explained before he opened the door. As before, Hazel nodded and Juniper snapped her gum.
They traipsed inside, interrupting the beginning of Mr Yukimura's lecture. Scott quickly explained the situation to the teacher before he made his way to his assigned seat.
"It appears we have two new students," Mr Yukimura announced shortly, "Girls, would you like to introduce yourselves?" There was a telltale thunk from behind Scott.
"Really, Dad?" Kira muttered.
"I'm Juniper Emerson. Just moved here from San Luis Opibso. My mom died and now I live with my aunt and uncle." Once again, she ended with a gum snap. Scott was really starting to hate that sound.
The students stared at Juniper, confused and surprised by her nonchalance. Their expressions quickly became bored as Hazel stepped forward.
"H-hello. I'm Hazel. Emerson. I'm from - Des Plaines. That's in - Illinois. Um...I live with Juniper and - her aunt and uncle - and..."
Mr Yukimura cut her off, and Scott could hear her emit a small sigh of relief.
"Thank you, girls," Mr Yukimura said. "You can take your seats now. Hazel, you can take the empty seat in front of Mr Stilinski," Stiles gestured wildly, almost toppling his desk. "And Juniper, you can sit..." he scanned the classroom, looking for another seat, "next to Mr. Raeken."
Juniper looked up from inspecting her nails, making eye contact with Theo. His response was to shoot her a dazzling smile. A small gasp came from the direction of the windows. Lydia, sitting to the right of Stiles, rolled her eyes.
The girls made their way to their new seats. Hazel gave Stiles a shy smile as she sat down and pulled out some supplies. Juniper chose to flick her hair as she sat down, effectively blocking Theo's gaze. He responded by muttering something that Juniper was unable to hear, but she didn't really care. She had other things to think about.
"That boy next to you..." Hazel whispered when Juniper approached her after class.
"Yeah, he was cute. So?" Juniper couldn't seem more disinterested if she tried.
Hazel opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it shut when Scott and Stiles joined them. Well, she actually let out a squeak and tried to hide behind her new sister, which didn't work out all that well.
"Who was cute? Me? I bet you're talking about my hot bod, aren't you?" Stiles joked, grinning at them. Hazel buried her face into Juniper's back, and the taller girl internally groaned. Stiles and Hazel were so disgustingly adorable, and they barely even knew each other.
"We were actually talking about the guy behind me," Juniper replied, "But I really don't care about some high school pretty boy. I'm more interested in knowing about my next class."
Scott snapped to attention. "Oh, yeah. Um..." he looked down at their class schedules, which he'd forgotten to give back to them. Smooth move, McCall. "You both have English with Mr Diaz. I have it too, actually."
Scott waved goodbye to Stiles, Juniper snapped a new piece of gum, and Hazel awkwardly wiggled her fingers in Stiles' general direction. The three headed down the hall, stopping at a classroom around the corner.
"Here it is. We have this class with my friend Lydia and my girlfriend Kira. I think you'll like them."
"You don't know anything about us," Juniper replied, "You have no idea who we'd like."
"Well...I mean, yes, I don't really know you. But everyone likes Kira and Lydia."
Juniper snorted. "Whatever you say, McCall."
Hazel and Juniper actually didn't meet Lydia and Kira, or any of Scott's friends that were supposedly in their classes, until lunch rolled around. Their guide offered up excuses for his friends' absences, but neither girl really believed him.
"You're kind of a crap liar, McCall," Juniper commented as he led them to the cafeteria. Scott awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. If only you knew, he thought.
"Thank you...for showing us around, I mean." Scott looked at Hazel in surprise. He hadn't actually heard her voluntarily speak to anyone besides Juniper all day. She'd introduced herself in their classes, and she'd answered questions when called on, but that had been it.
"Oh. No problem! I mean, I'm always happy to help people out."
"What would really help us out is if you'd show us where to put our stuff," Juniper said, "I'm starving."
"Oh, yeah. Well, my friends and I usually sit outside. You're more than welcome to join us, of course."
"No shit, Scooby. We haven't exactly had the chance to make other friends."
Scott rubbed his neck again. "Oh. Yeah." He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he just headed towards the pack's usual table.
"So, will your 'friends' actually be joining us? I'm starting to think you made them up."
"Juniper, that's not very nice," Hazel whispered to her adoptive sister.
Scott was saved from answering the taller girl's question by the trio's arrival at the lunch table. Thankfully, the rest of the pack was actually there, and they welcomed their Alpha with smiles.
"He wasn't lying. You should apologize," Hazel muttered. Juniper glared in return.
"Hazel, Juniper, these are my friends. That's Kira, you've already met Stiles, Lydia," Hazel blushed, "Hayden, Liam, Mason, and Malia. Everyone, these are the girls that I was telling you about."
The pack said their hellos, except for Malia, who was extremely busy digging in to her chicken drumsticks.
Juniper nodded at everyone and sat next to Malia, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Hazel looked lost, since there was no seat next to Juniper, and Scott was at the end of the bench next to Kira. She was saved by Stiles, who hastily pulled his bag off the seat and tossed it on the ground.
"Here, you can sit next to me. I totally wasn't saving this seat for you or anything. I just happened to put my stuff there. No big deal." Stiles was blabbering. Hazel was endeared. She sat down next to the fidgeting boy, tucking a lock of hair behind her left ear and smiling shyly.
"Fo, 'oo ahe 'oo guyve agen?" Malia asked around a mouthful of chicken.
"Malia, don't talk with your mouth full," Lydia demanded.
"Fawy."
The strawberry-blonde sighed and returned to the book she'd been reading. Hazel glanced at the cover and was unable to understand the title, which read Liber de Bestiis.
Malia, having now swallowed her food, asked her question again. "So, who are you guys again?"
"They're Scott's neighbors," Kira answered, "They just moved to town. Scott's showing them around."
"Why? Are they sup-"
"Super-lost? Yeah, totally! Scott was probably not the best choice for a tour guide. He has a terrible sense of direction!" Stiles butted in, glaring at Malia as he did so. Hazel and Juniper looked at each other, confusion in their eyes. The shorter girl was content to just shrug the weirdness off. The taller one was not.
"You guys are kind of weird. Did you know that?" Juniper asked.
Liam and Mason snorted, but neither said anything. Hayden looked at Liam fondly before looking back at her phone. She had been furiously typing away since the two new girls had sat down. Hazel nudged her sister, shaking her head slightly, before opening her backpack and pulling out a tupperware container. She pulled off the lid, revealing that the container was full of cucumbers.
Lydia sniffed the air, and pursed her lips. "Is that..."
"It's cucumber salad," Juniper said as she pulled out her own lunch, "She has some obsession with it."
"I do not!" Hazel protested. All eyes turned to her at the sound of her raised voice, and her blush returned.
"Yeah, I'll believe that when you stop eating it every day."
The conversation was interrupted by a heavy sigh from Lydia, who was frowning at her phone.
"What's up, Lyds?" Stiles asked, tearing his eyes away from staring at Hazel.
"Mom saw the girls with Scott earlier. She wants to see them in her office, and apparently I'm her messenger now."
Juniper frowned as well. "Who the hell is your mom?"
"Natalie Martin. She's the guidance counselor, as well as about a million other things," Stiles explained, his nose wrinkling just a bit.
Lydia stood up, gathering her things. Hazel and Juniper looked at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Well? Are you coming?"
Hazel nodded quickly, snapping the lid back on her lunch and tossing it into her bag. Juniper rolled her own eyes, moving at a more languid pace.
"It was nice meeting you all," Hazel said as she joined Lydia. Juniper only added a shrug before the strawberry-blonde led them away.
As the trio left, Stiles watched them walk away. Scott and Liam started laughing, and Stiles turned around to glare at them.
"What?"
"Dude, you have it so bad!" Scott said. Liam nodded, unable to speak through his laughter. Stiles frowned and pulled out a textbook, causing Hayden to snort.
"Shut up! Like you two are ones to talk!" Stiles' cry might have been more effective if it hadn't been so much like a squawking bird. As it was, it just served to send the rest of the table into hysterics. He rolled his eyes and dove into studying, wondering why these were the people that he called his friends. He blamed Scott and his stupid puppy eyes.
A/N: Okay, wow, this took forever. But it's done! Hope you enjoyed, please review, and we'll see you next time!