Touched by the Fear

[23]

"...Kinda crazy. The whole body was burned," Stiles rambled, filling Hollis in on the kid whose burnt body was found in the woods last night. He looked towards her, noticing the far away look in her eyes and stopped talking. "You ok?" He asked, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

She snapped out of her jumbled thoughts, a sheepish smile tugging at her lips. "Yeah, sorry. I'm just thinking." A sigh escaped her lips, as her dad's lie occupied her mind. Turning, Hollis looked out the window of the blue Jeep. The school stood before her, quiet and not yet full of students. A few cars were scattered in the parking lot, mostly belonging to faculty members. Cars trickled in every now and then and it wouldn't be long before the lot was packed. Lost in her thoughts, she felt Stiles' gaze on her. Hollis glanced over at him, knowing that he was waiting for her to talk. "I overheard a conversation between my dad and a couple people last night. They wanted him to help them. To give them information on someone, something, they wanted to stop. Apparently, he helped them before but he didn't seem too happy about it. Mentioned that he betrayed his friends for them. I don't know. It seemed kind of off."

Stiles nodded slowly, absorbing what she had just said. "Did you ask your dad about it?"

"Yeah," she said, a frown inching onto her face. "He told me they had car trouble."

"Well, maybe –"

"They didn't, Stiles," Hollis interrupted. She wished that had been the truth, that she hadn't witnessed her dad lie but she did. And it hurt. "It was around one in the morning. It's not just that my dad lied but how easy it was for him, you know? Kinda wonder what else he lied about."

"Maybe it's not what it seems," Stiles suggested quickly. "I'm just saying, don't think your dad's a liar based on one lie he told."

Hollis nodded, knowing there was some truth to his words. It was one lie. Perhaps there had been a reason for him not telling her the full story. Once again, she decided to go with the benefit of the doubt. The conversation still reeled around in her mind, making her wonder what information they had wanted and who they had been after but she let those thoughts die down. She smiled softly before she voiced her next question. "So, how did it go with Scott last night?"

"He was still acting weird, like a jerk. But I yelled at him for, you know, acting like a jerk. And for what he said to you."

"Thanks," Hollis said. "Did you find out why he was like that? I mean, it's not Scott at all. At least, I hope it's not."

Stiles shrugged. He looked unsure of what to say to that and stayed quiet for a moment. "I don't know. I mean, it could be because he was upset over the breakup but...that doesn't make sense, does it? Maybe he's just going through a lot and, I don't know, acted out. But I think he'll be better today," he said. "I talked some sense into him," he added with a smile.

"I hope so," she said.

They sat in the car for another few minutes, changing topics of conversation and listening to music. Before they knew it, the parking lot was packed and students filtered out of their cars towards the building.

"Guess we should go, too," Hollis said, sighing. She didn't want to, though and the reluctance showed on her face.

"Yeah, I guess," Stiles said but he didn't make a move to get out either.

"At this rate, we'll sit here all day," she said with a laugh.

"I think I can live with that," he said.

"So, let's do it," she suggested. "Just skip the whole day and hangout."

"That's tempting. Really, really tempting but..." Stiles said.