Keep Your Head High - Chapter 19

~A Teen Wolf fan-fiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn~

After taking a few days off of school and staying holed up in her room, Teagan finally decided maybe it was time to get back to school and around people.

Although she quickly regretted that decision as soon as she arrived when she saw the looks people were giving her, it was just like the first day of school all over again when people gave her pity looks cause of her mom's death.

She kept her head down and somehow made it through the first half of the day. When lunch time came, instead of going to the cafeteria like she normally would, she instead went to the quiet library, thankful that there were only a handful of people in the room.

She made her way towards the back and sat down at a table. She sat her cellphone down on the table then pulled out a notebook and math book from her book bag and sat them on the table as well.

For the next several minutes, she worked on getting caught up on the work she had missed while she was out. After writing down an answer in the notebook she glanced over at her cellphone with a sigh.

Ever since the attack at the movie store she had not spoken to Avery which was the longest the two girls had ever went without talking; that included the time Avery accidentally lost her favorite Barbie doll at age six and Teagan swore to never speak to her again. That vow only last a day and a half before Avery showed up with a new doll and the two girls quickly made up.

She reached out a hand towards her phone, keeping it just barely over the phone as she debated on at least sending her a text then quickly changed her mind and pulled her hand back. It wasn't like Avery was going out of her way to contact her either.
'Probably too busy with her werewolf boyfriend.' She thought to herself with a frown. She still couldn't believe that Avery was dating a werewolf, of course she also couldn't believe that werewolves even existed. She was still trying to wrap her mind around that one.

She looked back over at her math book but couldn't even concentrate enough to solve the next problem. She stared at the same problem for close to ten minutes until she heard someone walking towards her.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing in here with all these nerds?" Jackson asked, as he sat down in the chair across from her and ignored all the looks everyone was giving him. He knew none of them were brave enough to say anything to him.

"I figured I would get caught up before the parent/teacher conference." Teagan said, as she glanced back down at her book.

"Why?" Jackson asked, confused.

"So dad won't freak out about my grades and ground me from seeing you." Teagan pointed out.

"Good reason. Although if he did I would still sneak into your room at night." Jackson said with a grin, as he leaned forward to press his lips against hers for a gentle kiss.

After the kiss he sat back down in the chair, "I just thought you were still avoiding Avery or something."

"Nope. I just got work to do." Teagan said, as she looked down to avoid his eyes.

He could always tell when she was lying with one look.

"Hey babe, look at me." Jackson said softly, as he laid a hand on top of hers. He waited until she looked at him then asked, "What is going on with you two?"

"Nothing." Teagan mumbled, as she looked back down.

Jackson leaned forward and placed his other hand under her chin, forcing her to look up at him again as he said, "Yeah that's what she said too but I'm not buying it. You two have never gone this long without talking."

"We've both just been busy." Teagan said with a shrug, trying to play it off.

"I'm not buying that either." Jackson said, "You have not been the same since the attack."

"Well excuse me for having a near death experience." Teagan said angrily, as she quickly stood up from the table and began to gather her books, needing to get away and fast. She should have known coming back today was a huge mistake.

"Hey, hey, stop." Jackson said, as he jumped up and raced around the table to stop her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him, for a moment he thought she was going to pull away from him but instead she melted into his arms, resting her face against his chest.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling herself relax when she got a whiff of his cologne.

He kissed the top of her head then said quietly for only her to hear, "You know that's not what I meant. It's understandable that you're freaked out. I'm just worried about you babe and I wish you would open up to me. I'm right here Teagan, let me be here for you, ok?"

She nodded her head as a few tears fell down her face from his speech. She didn't mean to push him away; she just knew she couldn't tell him what was going on. He would either think she was crazy or worse, she feared she would put him in danger.

She clenched the fabric of his shirt as it become harder to breath at the thought of something happening to him. She closed her eyes and saw the dead employee from the movie store in her mind, but instead of it being him with a slashed throat, it was Jackson.

When he heard her gasping for breath, he pushed her back a little so he could look at her and became concerned when he saw her red blotchy face, but what concerned him the most was her gasping.

"Hey, Teagan, babe, look at me." Jackson said, as he rested his hands on either side of her face and bent his knees so he was face to face with her. He saw her gasp again as she tried to take a deep breath, but no matter how many times she tried, she couldn't catch her breath

By now the other few students inside the library were watching what was taking place but none made a move to do anything. It's not that they didn't want to help, but they were all too scared to approach Jackson, all but one student.

As she continued to gasp, Isaac quickly stood up from his table and raced across the room to get to her. As he reached her side, her knees gave out and the two boys sank down to the floor with her.

Isaac didn't even think twice as he laid a hand on the side of her face and turned her to face him. He ignored the dirty look Jackson was shooting him as he grabbed one of her hands and laid it on his chest.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jackson asked angrily.

Isaac ignored him as he looked at Teagan, all he cared about right now was getting her to breath normally again. Jackson could kick his ass later if that made him feel better but for right now; he was going to help her because that is what friends do.

"Teagan, hey, concentrate on my heartbeat, ok? Can you feel it beating?" Isaac asked her. He waited for her to nod her head then cooed, "Good, just close your eyes and concentrate."

Both boys saw her close her eyes and waited on bated breath until they saw her finally take a deep breath. The two breathed out a sigh of relief at seeing her breath normally again. Jackson hugged her tightly against him and kissed the side of her head a couple times. He looked over her head at Isaac and didn't like the look that was on his face as he watched his girlfriend continue to breath.

"What the hell just happened?" Jackson snapped at Isaac, wanting to know what had happened to her.

"She was having a panic attack." Isaac answered as he continued to watch her slow rhythmic breaths.

"How did you know that?" Jackson asked.

"It's not her first one." Isaac answered vaguely as he reached forward to push the damp hair from her forehead then quickly pulled his hand away when Jackson shot him another dirty look and hugged her closer to him.

Jackson didn't like the idea that anyone, especially Lahey, knew more about his girl then he did. He was supposed to be the one that was there for her; the one to protect her but he was failing her.

He wasn't there to save her the night of the attack and he wasn't there for her now, but he was going to be there for her from now on. He wasn't going to let her push him away and he definitely wasn't going to let someone like Lahey take her from him; she was his girl and would always be his girl.

~()~

Avery had been only showing up for the last half of the school day since the attack. She had a morning class with Teagan and didn't really want to see her.

Every time she got around Jackson he kept asking what was going on with her and Teagan.

It had been easier to just avoid all of them and pick up her homework close to the end of the day. Plus, everyone stared at her when she walked by; word about the video store attack had traveled fast.

The only good thing that had come out of the attack was that she and Derek were closer than ever. But it also made her sad because she wanted to call Teagan and talk about how she felt about him, but they hadn't spoken since the night of the attack.

Avery was sitting on her bed opening the box her new laptop computer was in when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in…" she said confused as to who it was.

"Hey." Stiles said as he walked into the room.

"Stiles?" She said surprised to see him.

He looked around her still destroyed room.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah… my room is always like this." She lied shrugging it off.

He looked over to the side window that had cardboard and duct tape over it, and then to her desk where her old lap top was with the screen broken off from the rest of the computer.

"There's broken glass on the floor." He observed out loud as he saw the busted lamp on the floor.

"I like to walk on the wild side." She said looking back down to her computer box.

"On broken glass?" He asked, knowing something must have happened.

"Better than hot coals in my opinion." She said as she pulled the computer from the box.

"What happened?" He asked her.

"I just freaked out a little bit, but it was days ago. I'm better now." She said.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"You've not been in school, I just wanted to check on you." He said as he looked in the bathroom and saw the broken mirror pieces all over the tile floor.

"That's sweet; you're the only one who has." She admitted.

He sat down on the bed with her and watched as she pulled the protective plastic covering off the computer.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, his eyes full of concern.

"I'm doing okay, just haven't felt like going to school much." She said, not going into detail.

"I'll be back Monday of next week though." She said as she stood and crossed her room.

He watched her as she sat her new computer down on her desk and gathered a pile of clothes out of her computer chair and dropped them on the foot of her bed.

Stiles stared at the pile of men's clothing before looking back over where she was sitting at her desk, setting up her computer.

"You've got a lot of Derek's clothes." Stiles finally said.

Avery looked over at him.

"He's been staying here." She admitted.

"Derek… he's been living with you?" tiles asked surprised.

"It's not safe for him to go home." Avery answered with a nod.

"And your dad is fine with it?" He asked, wide eyed.

"My dad doesn't really ever come up stairs, he's been sleeping in the downstairs guest bedroom since my mom died." She said as she paused and shook her head.

"I'm sorry." Stiles said.

She nodded, "Anyways, he spends so much time at work or dealing with work related issues that he doesn't even really notice. But Derek mostly uses the window anyway."

Stiles looked to another window in her room by a tree with the latch undone.

"You look shocked." She said when he stayed quiet.

"It's just… I don't know how you stand to be around him all the time. He doesn't talk much, except for threats." He said as he glanced back to the pile of clothes.

"He acts different with me." Avery said.

Stiles nodded and looked around her room.

"So how long is he going to stay with you?" he asked.

Sighing she turned her chair and looked at him.

"Stiles, I know you don't like to think about me and Derek together; so why do you keep asking me about him?" she asked with a half-smile.

"I really don't know." He admitted.

Avery was quiet as she watched him.

"When's he supposed to come back?" Stiles asked.

"Seriously?" she asked with a small laugh.

Jumping up off her bed he ran a hand over his hair and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what else to talk about. I'm in shock that I'm not only in your house, but in your bedroom."

"You were just on my bed too." She pointed out.

His eyes widened at her statement.

"But I think he'll be home soon." She answered his earlier question.

"Maybe I should go then." Stiles said, looking back to the broken glass on the floor.

"Why? Are you scared of Derek?" She asked with a smile.

"No, of course not." Stiles lied trying to shrug it off.

She raised her eyebrows at him.

Stiles shook his head back and forth, "Yeah, he scares me."

"Guess I shouldn't tell him you were on my bed then, huh?" She joked with a laugh.

Before he could answer she said, "Has Teagan been at school?"

He nodded.

"How does she seem? Is she doing okay?" Avery asked.

"She has the same sad look you do, like you both lost your best friends." Stiles said as he looked back at Derek's clothes.

"Do you want me to throw a blanket over his clothes or something?" Avery asked.

"No, I'm okay." Stiles said looking back at her.

"Does she seem like she's holding up pretty well, considering all she's been through?" Avery asked.

"I think so, but I don't really know her. Why haven't you talked to her?" He asked.

"I'm giving her some space to deal with everything. She's so freaked out and she feels like I lied to her, she doesn't want to be around me right now." Avery said.

"Maybe you should text her?" Stiles offered with a shrug.

"Maybe…" Avery said as she looked at her phone.

Her bedroom door opened and Derek walked in.

"Hey." She said smiling.

He looked at her and then back to Stiles who nervously waved and said, "What's up?"

Derek raised his eyebrows at him as he crossed the room and leaned against the wall looking at him.

"Okay, not in a very social mood…" Stiles mumbled

Derek didn't say a word but kept his heavy gaze on him.

"I just came to see if she was okay." He admitted.

"It's my house you don't have to explain anything to him." She said giving Derek a disapproving look.

"I should just go… now that I know you're okay… I'm just gonna go." He said as he pointed to the door.

"I'll see you at school…" Stiles said as he started out the door of her room.

"Thank you, for coming to check on me. It was sweet of you." Avery said offering him a friendly smile.

Stiles smiled back at her, before he headed out into the hallway.

A/N- I hope you all liked the update; we're still having a lot of fun working on this story together. ^_^

Ahh! Did you all see the preview for the new episode of Teen Wolf? I am so nervous/excited for it! Monday night cannot get here soon enough, lol.

We both make sets to go along with this story on our polyvore accounts, the links are posted on our profiles.

If you're still reading the story, please take a few moments to leave a review and let us know. We appreciate the support, and it means a lot to us to know there is still interest in the story.