thin white lies

Chapter 5

"I'm not sure," Stiles admitted. He slowed down, motioning for Theo to do the same, as they came across Scott's abandoned backpack, sitting in the middle of the hallway. Theo and Stiles blinked at each other for all of a second before Stiles was pulling out his phone and calling Scott. He put the phone up to his ear, waiting for Scott to answer. On top of the ringing coming from Stiles' phone, Theo soon realized that he could hear another phone going off somewhere down the hall. He headed towards the second phone, Stiles racing to catch up with him once he realized that Theo had started walking again. His quest led him and Stiles to the locker room, where they found Scott's shirt and jacket discarded on the floor. A little ways past the clothes, Theo could see that one of the showers had been turned on. A few more steps revealed Scott, huddled against the shower wall and letting the water cascade down over him.

"I can't... Guys, I..."

"What's happening? Are you changing?" Stiles asked, rushing to Scott's side.

"No, I can't... I can't breathe."

The anxiety immediately and totally left Theo's body when he realized that Scott wasn't about to go on a murder spree in the middle of the school day, but it was replaced with another kind of urgency when the reality of the situation set in. He quickly pulled out his inhaler, handing it over to Scott.

"Use this," Theo instructed.

"Really?"

"Just do it, dude, come on!"

Scott's hand reached out and grabbed the inhaler, shaking it up before taking a hit. He gasped, breath finally returning to his lungs. He was silent for a moment longer before looking incredulously at Theo.

"I was having an asthma attack?"

"No," Stiles answered. "You were having a panic attack. But thinking you were having an asthma attack stopped the panic attack."

"How did you know to do that?" Scott asked, looking between Stiles and Theo.

"I used to get them after my mom died," Stiles said.

"I got them, too, after Tara. The asthma attack thing was how Stiles helped me get out of them."

"Not fun, huh?"

Scott sighed, standing up straighter and finally leaving the support of the wall. "I looked at her and it was like someone hit me in the ribs with a hammer."

"Yeah, it's called heartbreak. There's like two billion songs written about it."

"I can't stop thinking about her."

"Well, you could think about this: her dad's a werewolf hunter. You're a werewolf. It was bound to become an issue."

Theo elbowed Stiles in the ribs. "Not funny, dude."

"Yeah, okay, that wasn't helpful," Stiles admitted. "But yeah, you got dumped. And it's supposed to suck."

"No, that's not it. It was like I could feel everything in the room, everyone else's emotions..."

"It's gotta be the full moon," Stiles said. Theo didn't even have any satisfaction in knowing that he had been right earlier.

"We're gonna have to lock you up in your room later, like we planned. That way the Alpha—"

"—who is your boss!—" Stiles cut in.

"—can't get to you either," Theo finished, glaring at Stiles.

"He's not the Alpha," Scott growled at Stiles. "But I think we need to do more than lock me in my room."

"What? Why?"