𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑─𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐫

62.

When we finally got to school Liam was glued to my side. He could tell something was bothering me and wasn't going to leave until he found out what.

"Liam," I mumbled, pulling my tired eyes towards him.

"Yeah?" he said eagerly.

"Stop starring at me."

Liam let out a defeated sigh, leaning up against his locker, "Sydney please tell me what's bothering you."

I opened my mouth and closed it several times, not really sure how to causally bring up our missing best friend, "I just had long night stressing about a math test." I lied, thinking of the only reasonable answer.

"That's it?' he asked skeptically.

"Yeah that's-" I trailed off when I saw Lydia walking down the hall towards her locker, if anyone was going to remember Stiles it was her.

"Liam, I gotta go. I'll see you at lunch." I mumbled, slamming my locker and taking off down the hall towards the strawberry blonde, the last bit of hope I had.

I could hear Liam call after me in protest, but I didn't listen, "Lydia!" I called, causing the older girl to look up from her locker.

"Hey Syd." She smiled, closing the metal door and looking at me, "Everything okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah I'm fine." I paused, not knowing how to phrase my next question, " I was just wondering if you have seen Stiles yet this morning I need-"

"Stiles?" she asked, a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, Stiles." I almost whispered, afraid of what her next response was going to be.

"I don't know who that is, is he someone in your grade?" she admitted, her eyes locked on my worried ones.

I could feel the tears starting to well in my eyes and Lydia noticed them too, "Syd, are you okay?"

"Yeah. " I lied, quickly wiping the tears away, "I'm fine." Before she could say anything else, I rushed towards the girl's washroom, pushing the door open with all my force, causing it to slam against the wall.

As I entered the poorly lit room I was thankful no one else was in there. Classes were about to start and no one wanted to be late. I placed my hands on either side of the sink and leaned forward, starring at my reflection which looked nothing like me. My eyes were so swollen I was surprised I could even see, and I was so pale, I wasn't sure I had ever been so drained.

I wanted to punch something, anything. All my emotions were flowing through my body at 100 miles and hour. Those things, they had taken one of my best friends and erased him, erased everything he had spent his whole life building, and now I was the only one who could help.

Suddenly the door swung open and I turned my head to see the last person I wanted to see right now, Sophia. We hadn't spoken since the night she yelled at me for trying to save her and Hayden's lives. To say we weren't really friends anymore would be appropriate.

Without saying a word I bent over and grabbed my bag from the ground, pushing past her to get the hell out of that room.

"Sydney wait!" her voice echoed in the empty room.

I paused, not bothering to turn around and look at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

I clenched my fists at my side and then unclenched them, trying to figure out the best way to approach this, "I'm fine Sophia."

"You don't look-"

"I'm fine!" I spat, now turning to face her, "I'm fine, no thanks to you. My best friend who was supposed to be there for me."

Sophia rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "I've tried to be there for you but you're always too busy 'saving Beacon Hills'." she mocked.

I shook my head in disbelief that she was really saying this to me right now, "sorry that I can't go to the mall every Saturday and get mani pedis after school. Sorry that I've been trying to protect you from all of this for so long. I'm sorry Sophia, that I have tried to be the best friend I could be while the world fell apart around me, I'm so sorry you had to deal with such a bad life." My blood was boiling at this point and I was afraid that I was going to do or say something I would regret.

She stared at me, her arms folded over her chest which rose and fell quickly. I waited for her to say something and when she didn't I turned and left.

I all but ran down the hall and out of the doors, there was no way I was staying at school today. I took a deep breath of the fresh air and let myself breath. I sat down on one of the benches and thought about what I could do to make everyone remember Stiles.

And then it hit me, I knew where I had to go.

---

I stood in front of the familiar front door, taking a deep breath before I raised my hand to knock. I expected Sheriff to be at the station but I figured I should at least knock first. When no one answered the door I reached up and grabbed the spare key that rested above the door, I almost had the key in the lock when the door swung open.

I almost fell over at the sight. Claudia Stilinski was standing in front of me. The woman who I had watched slowly die when I was only 6. I went to her funeral for God's sake!

"Can I help you?" she asked, smiling at me sweetly.

"I-" I cut myself off, not knowing what to say to her, was she even real? "I was just going to ask if you had any sugar." I blurted, instantly smacking myself mentally.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" she asked skeptically.

"Free period." I lied.

She starred at me for a moment before smiling, "You're Sydney right?"

My heart dropped as I nodded, "You remember me?"

She let out a laugh, "How could I forget you. You and your brother are all my husband can talk about."

"What?" I asked in shocked.

"When a bunch of kids show up at every crime scene it gets people talking. He says you kids help him with a lot of the cases." she replied.

Of course she wouldn't know me from when I was a kid. If Stiles didn't exist then she never would have met us.

"You know what, don't worry about the sugar, I don't need it." and then I was gone, not even giving her a chance to reply.

My heart was pounding against my chest as I made the walk back home. It was one thing that Stiles had gone missing but a whole other thing that his dead mother was back.

When I finally reached my house I went straight to my bedroom and got into bed. I stayed in that bed until late that night when Scott finally came home.

There was a knock at my door, "Come in." I called quietly.

When it opened I had expected it to be Scott, but it was Liam.

"Hey." he said, sitting down beside me, "You weren't at lunch."

I nodded slowly, "I left."

He laid back so he was beside me, his arms instantly wrapping around me, "I know you don't want to talk about it right now but when you do, I'm here"

I felt tears leaking from my eyes as I nodded, breathing in the smell of his clothes and I buried my face deeper into his chest, "I'm scared."

"I know. But we'll figure it out, we always do."