Shifted

27 - Warm-up

This was it. Scott's first official lacrosse game, and he was a bundle of nerves. His heart was racing and his hands felt clammy as he thought of everything that could go wrong during the game. What if his asthma flared up? What if he tripped and embarrassed himself in front of the whole school, his mom, and Allison? Oh God, what if he threw up?

He closed his locker door and leaned against it, the cool metal soothing his nerves. Taking advantage of the hubbub in the locker room, he discreetly took a few puffs from his inhaler. Being on the first line was far more challenging than he had anticipated. A few months ago, as a benchwarmer, he and Stiles got away with being lazy. A task that never strained his lungs like this.

Scott's new exercise routine and extra practices with Jackson had helped, but he knew he still had a long way to go before keeping up with the rest of the team. At least now, he could endure an entire hour of Coach's punishing practice session without wheezing for breath.

With his lungs calmed, Scott placed the inhaler back in his locker.

SLAM!

The locker door slammed shut, barely missing his fingers. He looked up and found the team captain leaning on the locker next to his.

"Jackson, what the hell?!"

"Have you found out what's up with Stilinski, yet?" Jackson asked, but he wasn't even looking at Scott. He was glancing over his shoulder, where Coach was talking to the Medic about Stiles' condition.

"I told you," Scott said, trying to remain patient, "I didn't find anything. I don't think he's taking anything, Jackson."

Jackson scoffed, "Yeah, right. No one gets that good overnight. You owe me, so you better have something better than..."

Interrupting Jackson, Scott pulled him aside, away from prying ears.

"What else do you want from me?" he said with frustration. "I followed him into the woods, practically called him a horrible friend, and even asked a nurse about the symptoms of drug use! If Stiles was taking something, I would know by now! And if not me, then either his dad or my mom definitely would. It's their job to notice things like that, and neither of them would have let him get away with it!"

But Jackson remained unconvinced, convinced that Stiles could only have improved so rapidly with the help of something illicit. He was determined to find out what it was and get the little snot taken off the team before he upstaged Jackson any further.

"I know he's on something, McCall, and you better find out what it is, or you're not gonna like the consequences," Jackson threatened before smirking and leaving Scott looking nothing short of miserable, leaning his head back against the locker.

OoOoO

Beacon Hills' eager lacrosse fans started trickling into the stands an hour before the game was set to start, desperate to secure good seats for themselves. They wielded colorful posters, flaglets, and noise makers to cheer on their team. Some even bellowed chants as they called out to their favorite players warming up on the field. The two sets of bleachers left empty by the Beacon Hills fans, soon became filled when the opposing team arrived with their army of fans and the crowd cheers became deafening.

Down on the bench, Stiles watched the seats fill up and once again felt cheated that -

a furious shake of his head and the thought was pushed out of the boy's head before it could fully form. Now was not the time to be having doubts. Not when the game was minutes away and Melissa promised to vouch for him if he changed his mind.

He had to be strong. Firm.

He was still looking out at the stands when he saw something that chased away the dark thoughts swirling around his head. Coming from the parking lot was his old babysitter, Tara, wearing a BHHS t-shirt and holding the hands of her younger siblings, Tris and Tiana. Tiana was waving a giant foam finger with his jersey number on it, and Tris did the same with a small, colorful poster that the twins clearly made themselves saying: GO STILES! GO!