The Hunter McCall

Chapter 34: Saving Malia

"You didn't have to do that." Scott laughs, scratching the back of his neck. 

"It only took me a couple of hours." She says.

"I'm pretty sure Lizzie knows about-- Couple of hours?" He exclaims, a little surprised. 

"I swear I printed it out." Her face turned red at my mention, but she seemed to ignore it. 

"Kira." Her father says, appearing behind her. "You forgot all that research you did for that boy you like." Kira looks mortified and Scott looks embarrassed. She takes the papers and gives them to Scott. I giggle as he sits down, mouth wide open.

"Shut up." He says.

"Sorry." I say, trying to suppress my smile. 

"Alright everyone, lets get started." Mr. Yukimura says. "We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read aloud for us?" I see Scott looking over the stack of papers and Kira watching him closely. 

"Mr. Stilinski, how about you." The smile is erased from my face as Stiles' name is called. 

"Oh, maybe someone else could." Stiles says sheepishly.

"I could." I suggest, raising my hand. 

"Everyone participates in my class, Mr. Stilinski." Mr. Yukimura says, ignoring me. 

"Ok." Stiles breathes out, walking to the podium. As he looks at the book, he starts to mutter something to himself. I get nervous and lean forward. 

"What's wrong?" Scott asks, probably noticing the change in my mood. I keep looking at Stiles and Scott gets the point. 

I see Stiles grab the podium, his knuckles turning white. His breathing quickens and he looks around the room. 

I stand up, unable to watch my friend in pain. "Stiles? You ok?" I ask, walking over to him slowly.

When he doesn't answer, Scott stands up to as I get to Stiles. "We should take him to the nurse's office." Scott says, as I wrap Stiles' arm around my neck. Before Mr. Yukimura could reply, we race out of the room. 

We run to the bathroom and Stiles fumbles in. "Stiles, look at me man. Is this a panic attack?" Scott asks as we watch him helplessly. 

Stiles grabs the sink and looks at himself. "This is a dream. It's a dream. This is just a dream." He repeats, breathing erratically. 

"Stiles, no it's not. This is real." I say, putting a hand on his back. He pushes me off and I stumble into Scott. 

"What do you do Stiles? How do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?"Scott asks, steadying me. 

"Count your fingers." I whisper before turning Stiles towards me forcefully. "Count with me, ok?" I hold out a finger. "One." I say, as he looks at my finger. "It won't work unless you count." I growl. I grab him head and pull him towards my finger. "Count!" I scream. 

"One." He says. I put up another finger. "Two." His voice cracks and I want to hug him, but he has to calm down. I restrain myself as I put up another finger. "Three." He looks down and groans. 

"Keep going." Scott says, as he helps Stiles focus on my hands. 

"Four." Stiles says, looking at my fingers.

"Five." We say together. 

"Six. Seven." Stiles keeps counting until we get to ten.

"Ten." I nod as Scott keeps Stiles from collapsing. "Ten, Stiles. This is real. It's not a dream." Scott finally lets Stiles sink to the ground.