midnight ||| stiles stilinski

chapter three: High School Officially Sucks

"I woke up way too early for this crap," Vinny mumbled under her breath as she and Scott arrived at school. Already she wanted to turn back around and crawl into bed. 

"You okay?" Scott asked her, putting his hand on her arm. Vinny stared at it and he moved it away quickly. "Sorry," he winced. "Habit."

"It's fine," Vinny muttered. She didn't know how to act around this boy, who acted like so much like her dad, a five year old one moment, a grown man the next. Suddenly, she was missing her parents so much she couldn't move. It was like a gaping hole had opened in her chest and everything was falling into it and she couldn't breath and just like that she was there again watching the car skid right in front of them watching watching and--

"Woah, hey, Vinny." It was Scott, looking at her with big concerned eyes. His hand was on her arm again, steadying her. "I know my mom said you should start school today, but you don't look great. Do you need another day to recover?"

Yes, Vinny tried to say. Yes, I need so much longer to process and recover. Yes, take me home. She opened her mouth to speak and-- "No, no, I'm fine. Just a little tired." She stepped away from Scott, began walking towards the front doors. 

"Okay," Scott said, catching up to her. "Just... even though found out I have a cousin just a few days ago, I'm happy to help if you need."

"Thanks, Scott, but I'm good. Really." Vinny forced a smile, but Scott didn't look convinced. Luckily, a blur of flannel and flailing limbs ran right past her and slammed into Scott. 

"Scotty! Good morning! I have some exciting things to show you for this weekend and--"

"Stiles, Stiles, chill, dude. Not now, okay?" Scott shoved Stiles away, a big smile on his face. "Let me introduce you to Vinny, my cousin." Stiles turned to face Vinny, sticking out his hand then pulling it back.

"Is a handshake too weird? Sorry if it is. Hi, I'm Stiles. Nice to meet you."

"Hi Stiles," Vinny replied, a little overwhelmed. "How much coffee did you have this morning?"

"Actually, none. Just a liter of Mountain Dew. Annnnnnnd I pulled an all-nighter so my meds are a little messed up. Sorry?"

"An all nighter, Stiles? Really?"

"Yeah, I've got a foolproof plan for tonight, one you're not gonna believe."

"What's this weekend?" Vinny asked curiously.

Stiles opened and closed his mouth, looking between Scott and Vinny guiltily. "Ah, well, um, you see, it's..." He squinted his eyes and looked at Vinny. "We're having a... movie night?"

Something did not seem right to Vinny, so she kept pressing. "Oh really? What movie?"

"Yeah, um..." Stiles just stared at her. 

"Hey, Stiles, don't you have class you gotta get to?" Scott suddenly interjected, looking a little panicked. 

"Oh, yeah, class. Gotta go, bye!" Stiles began walking away, then spun around and walked the other direction. "Actually it's this way! Bye again!"

Vinny watched him go, smiling when he ran into a trash can and almost fell over. 

"Come on, Vinny, we should get to class too," Scott said, biting his lip nervously. "I'll show you where we're going."

******O******O******O******

Beacon Hills High was so similar to her old high school that Vinny thought she might die of boredom. The people were the same, the teachers were the same, the classes were the same, all of it. A few teachers took a moment to introduce her to the class, but other than that she just faded into the background. She tried to stick by Scott, a strategy that usually worked-- until he got sent to the principal.