Maybe I Was Wrong (Teen Wolf: Stiles Stilinski)

Chapter 20

I stride through the school hallways, determined to find that little shit who thinks it's okay to keep ignoring my cousin. Then I finally see a familiar face, but it's not the one I hoped for.

"Stiles! Have you seen Scott?" I ask.

"No. I'm not talking to him," Stiles answers curtly.

"Why not?" I ask, even though I have a feeling I already know.

"Because he was too busy worrying about his Allison to care about his best friend's dad getting hit by a car," he almost snarls, glaring at the floor.

"Weird thing is, now he's not caring about Allison at all! He's been avoiding her," I tell him. "That's why I was looking for him."

"Why is he such an idiot," Stiles mutters, and I chuckle in agreement.

"I'm gonna go find him and ask what the hell is going on with him. See you," I walk off, but a hand grabs my arm.

"Wait," he says. I turn around and look at him, raising my eyebrows slightly.

"My dad told me what happened. You helped him, right?"

"Kind of, yeah. Look, I'm sorry I couldn't stop him from getting hit-"

"No! I-I mean, you were there, you tried to help him because you- You helped him even when you thought you could die, or when you could've easily stayed with your family. So thank you," he finishes quietly, a warm but careful look in his eyes.

"Well- don't thank me. You would've done the same thing, if... you know," I say.

"I don't know if I would have. I'm not as brave as you are," his words grow more silent until they're reduced to an almost-whisper.

"Bullshit," I whisper, and we're staring at each other and that's when I realise he still has a hold on my arm.

"There you are!" Scott's voice sounds next to us and Stiles lets me go immediately.

"Okay, first of all, why are you ignoring Allison?" I ask him.

"Uh, because she's distracting me and I need to stay away from her," he answers.

"Well, at least give her some reasonable excuse," I say.

"Yeah, sure, sure. Hey Stiles!" Scott changes the subject, but Stiles doesn't react to him.

"Still not talking to me? Okay, can you at least tell me if your dad's okay? It's just a bruise, right? Some soft tissue damage? Nothing that big... You know I feel really bad about it, right? Okay. What if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out, and... that I went to Derek for help?"

"If I was talking to you, I'd say that you're an idiot for trusting him. But obviously I'm not talking to you," Stiles answers.

I lightly snort and there's a moment of stubborn silence, before Stiles gives in.

"What did he say?" he asks Scott.

"To stay away from Allison. Also, he wants me to tap into my animal side and get angry."

"All right, well, correct me if I'm wrong, but every time you do that, you try to kill someone, and that someone's usually me," Stiles says.

"I know. That's what he means when he says he doesn't know if he can teach me. I have to be able to control it," Scott says.

"Yeah, I thought we had that realisation a long time ago," I say.

"But how's he gonna teach you to do that?" Stiles asks Scott.