In This Together ▷ Stilinski

Chapter 42. Outfoxing the Fox

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“You know what, I don’t know how you guys do it. You’re all so strong. You’re fearless. Hell, you even manage to keep your grades up.” Sheriff Stilinski said to Allison and I while we waited for the elevator to arrive at our designation.

Allison shook her head from side to side, “I am failing Econ.” 

“I’m barely averaging a C in Physics. And my Econ grade has tanked too” I added. 

That class has been irrelevant to me since I had that awful dream. When I was hallucinating Harris and Isaac kissed me. The day that Stiles had a panic attack and I had to think of ways to calm him down because simply being with me wasn’t enough this time. And Econ… well who gives a shit about Econ? 

“Is that Coach’s class?” he asked us. 

I nodded slowly. I forgot that he was well-squinted with Coach Finstock. Every single conference night ended up with him in Coach’s office so he could hear what he had to say about Stiles’s ADHD tendencies.

“Well, I’ll have a talk with him.” he assured us. 

I could feel that something was off— something felt wrong. It wasn’t for me though, it was for Allison. I turned my head to watch her, to see if she was having issues breathing or something. I saw the tears welling up behind her eyes. I saw her look up to the light to try and keep them from falling. I saw the way that her bottom lip was trembling. I knew the signs of a breakdown— I’ve had enough to know.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked her softly. Sheriff Stilinski picked up on the uneasiness and he hit the emergency stop button.

Allison shook her head from side to side, “I’m not fearless. I’m ter—I’m terrified. I’m always, I’m always terrified. I… I act like I know what I’m doing, but I don’t. I don’t know if Isaac is dying right now. I don’t know if I made a mistake with Scott. I don’t know what my dad is thinking. I don’t know if we should trust Derek. I don’t know… I don’t know— I don’t know anything.” she sobbed before I wrapped my arms around her. 

“It’s okay.” I said quietly. 

I am so out of my element. I don’t know how to calm anyone down, other than Stiles. I’m usually the one that needs to be calmed down. I’m usually the one that starts to sob like a lunatic in a confined space because I can’t handle the reality that is crashing down around me.

Allison was shaking against me, and I didn’t know what to say or do that could possibly help her. Is this how it feels whenever I break down around people? I render them helpless as they just sit there and watch me fall apart, not knowing how to stop me.

“You’re going to be okay. Everyone is going to be okay,” I said quickly.

Everyone except you, my subconscious hummed in amusement. I wanted to lock her away in a box somewhere but I’m pretty sure if I tried I would be on a one-way trip back to Eichan House. 

Allison pulled back and wiped at her eyes, “I’m sorry. I usually don’t do that.” 

“Hey, it’s fine. Take it from me, the Queen of Breakdowns, when I say that wasn’t even bad.” I assured her. 

Sheriff Stilinski nodded, “It’s fine, it really is.”

As soon as he went to reach for the button to start the elevator back up his phone started to buzz in his pocket. I glanced over his shoulder to see that it was an update from a Digital Life System. The screen said that it detected motion in the bedroom…