Forever and Always (Sciles)

118: Exposed

Stiles POV

A week has gone by since Ben and I managed to free everyone from the cocoons. Scott is still a little shaken by it, but it is completely understandable, and I'm doing my best to help him through it. It has also been a week since I proposed to Scott. Just as I thought, all of our friends and family were happy for us. Dad certainly was surprised when he got back from Atlantia and I told him about Scott and I, but once I explained to him everything that has happened in the past few days and how we don't plan on getting married for at least three or even four years, Dad was fine with it and said that he was proud of us both as well as happy.

However, on a more worrying note, the whole town has been acting differently since the whole djinn incident, which is understandable. It just means that everyone is giving Ben and myself strange looks now, and some people are even afraid to go near us. I'm not surprised that the whole town managed to find out about us. Sometimes I wonder if it would be worth it to erase their minds, just so they won't be scared of us anymore. Fear can make people do crazy things, after all. I would rather not have someone start trying to attack me or something because they are afraid of what I am and want to get rid of me.

I'm just glad that it is only Ben and I that have been thrown under the bus. It's obviously not good that Ben has been exposed along with me, but at least my dad, Scott, Lydia, Kara and the rest of the pack are all still safe and unknown to the town. However, I think some people at my dad's work are starting to get suspicious, wondering if Dad is either like me or has been trying to hide what I really am ever since we moved to this town. I don't think Dad appreciates his co-workers being suspicious of him, which makes me feel a little guilty because I know I caused that.

Still, I obviously don't regret revealing myself to the town to save them along with my friends. It was a risk worth taking. I can handle the weird and sometimes scared looks that people give me these days. Those people still have no idea who I am or what I have been through, which is fine by me. I just don't want all of this to actually become a serious problem where a lot of people start hunting us. As I said though, at least not all of the pack have been revealed to the town, so the damage is somewhat minimized. Speaking of the pack, they've always been there to support Ben and I and back us up, telling people to stop staring, especially at school, which is nice. I'd obviously do the same for them.

Ben and Lydia continue to hang out more and more, and their excuse is always 'study', but I don't believe it, even if Lydia and Ben themselves do somehow believe their own statement. Ben doesn't even really go to school here, so he doesn't need to study, and he would definitely not be able to help the smartest person in school to study. Sure, he's curious about what school is like and what we learn here compared to Atlantia, but I'm not blind. He's obviously got feelings for Lydia, and I can totally understand that. I did have a crush on her for over several years of my life, after all. She is a beautiful person, inside and out. I think Ben would be good for her, and I think Lydia would be good for Ben. They are alike in a lot of subtle ways. I hope that one day that the two of them will sort out their feelings and do something about them. I'm not going to say anything to them, though. I want them to figure it out on their own. However, if another Samantha comes into the picture, then yeah, maybe I will say something to my oblivious friends before something bad happens.

As I walk into school with Kara on this particular Monday morning, I pause for a moment as several students stop talking and turn to look at me, some of them with nervous expressions while others stare at me suspiciously. Ugh, I swear there will always be something that this whole school will use as a reason to give me judgemental glares. First, it was the whole Moselle and Scott scandal. Now, it's the fact that I'm a merman. I suck in a slightly shaky breath, feeling uncomfortable under the gazes of the students.