Holding Out for a Hero ▸ Stiles Stilinski (2)

viii. A CRIMSON CURSE

"You'll pass me for the term if I climb faster than Greenburg?" I asked, slightly confused.

He smirked. "I like seeing him lose."

I tilted my head to the side before shrugging. "Okay."

What? He was pretty much telling me I wouldn't have to do gym for the rest of the term. I just had to kick ass on this wall and I'd have a nice A. Let's pray Greenburg was a slow climber.

After we had been properly strapped in, we were allowed to start climbing. I wasn't really afraid of heights but my lack of athleticism was probably going to bite me in the ass. My hands gripped a purple rock and I looked over to the left to see where Greenburg was. He wasn't next to me like he had been a few seconds ago. Resting my body against the wall, I looked down. Greenburg was barely up halfway, just relaxing there.

"You're gonna let me win?" I asked. This was more confusing then Finstock's deal. Then again, he did hate him. Okay, so it was more confusing than the giant lizard.

"No," he called up, a smug smile on his face. "I just have a nice view."

I cocked my head to the side, before following his line of vision. His eyes were staring directly at my ass, completely unabashed by the fact. I rolled my eyes, before giving him a sickly sweet smile.

"Too bad you have to see it through all those stars," I told him.

He furrowed his brow. "What stars?"

"The ones you'll be seeing once I knock you off this wall," I said in a saccharine voice.

Without another word, I moved my right leg down and stomped down on his hand. He pulled his hand out from under my sneaker in pain and ultimately lost his balance on the wall. He fell backwards, the rope catching him right before he hit ground.

The class burst into a raucous laughter as he hit the mat. All the while I scampered to the top and kicked off. When my feet touched the ground, I unbelted myself from the death trap wall and grinned. I looked down at Greenburg with a pout that could have given Lydia a run for her money.

"Oops."

I skipped back into line and made my way to a chuckling Stiles. He put his arm around my waist and hugged me from the side.

"Nice job Bradley," he grinned.

I laughed. "I try," I said pushing a back a few hairs that had fallen out of my ponytail.

"I don't really blame him though," he mused. "You look cute in those shorts."

I rolled my eyes and smacked him on the arm. "Pervert."

"It was a compliment!" Stiles said, rubbing his arm like it actually hurt. I rolled my eyes again.

"Uh, Stilinski! Erica!" Finstock called out. "You're up!"

My boyfriend gave me on last smile before awkwardly jogging to the wall. Trailing behind him was Erica Reyes. She was a quiet blonde girl who I was pretty sure was in my chemistry class. She didn't really tend to talk to anyone, kind of like Isaac. She had a look of despair on her face as if this was the most difficult and strenuous thing in the world. I didn't blame her.

Not even a minute passed and Stiles was already kicking off down to the mat. He beamed and pumped both fists in the air, looking adorably nerdy in his horribly mismatched clothes. Erica, however, was still up on the wall, and it didn't look like she was going anywhere anytime soon. My smile fell into a frown as her body began quivering and cries soon followed. And it was then that I remembered that Erica had been epileptic from the time we started going to school together and that she was prone to seizures. Crap.