17 // Chapter Seventeen
Panic on the Rise
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Clara watched through the mirror as Lydia curled another strand of her hair. Lydia had somehow convinced Clara that getting ready for winter formal was something that they needed to do together so here she was now, sitting in Lydia Martin's house while Lydia herself did Clara's hair. A winter formal wasn't exactly on Clara's to-do list but maybe a formal could take away all the stress and worry.
"So...who's your date?" Lydia asked as she ran a brush through another strand of hair she just curled.
"Um, I don't have a date actually." Clara said as she fumbled with her fingers, "I was planning on going alone."
Lydia cocked her head to the side, "Clara Lennon not having a date to the dance. How the hell did that happen?"
"My oh-so-secretive boyfriend that you and Allison were hinting at is not in high school and is...out of town." She trailed off, not wanting to hint at her boyfriend being the wanted fugitive Derek Hale and that he was captured by evil annoying hunters.
"Well then it's his lost." Lydia smiled before clenching her jaw, "Allison is going with Jackson."
Clara looked at Lydia through the mirror thoughtfully, "Did you really like him or was it all about the popularity?"
It took Lydia to think for a moment, completely silent. Of course the popularity of Jackson pushed Lydia up the social scale of high school but inside of that twisted and toxic relationship that they shared, their was a connection, "I loved him." Lydia shrugged while her voice was only merely a bit louder than a whisper, "I still do but it's to late now. I'm going with Stiles."
"Stiles." Clara rose her eyebrows, "Do you even like him?"
"He's just a last resort but maybe he won't be that bad." Lydia tried to reassure herself. Clara felt bad for Stiles in a way; his crush only going out with him because she's desperate and still in love with someone else.
"Stiles is Stiles, a hyperactive spaz. Just don't let him get to close to the punch."
While the two girls began to laugh, Lydia's mother called from downstairs, "Girls! Stiles is here to pick you up."
The two girls sat up and walked downstairs, Lydia in front of Clara. As they descended down the wooden stairs, Clara finally caught of a view of Stiles. He was in a tucked in white shirt with a black-and-white striped tie and a suit. She had to admit, he cleaned up pretty nice.
Stiles finally turned around to face the girls once they reached the finally step of the stairs and his eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets, "Wow, you two look..."
"Amazing. We know." Lydia retorted as Clara let out a chuckle.
"You guys ready to go?" Stiles asked them.
Clara nodded, wearing her classic smirk, "Let's rock this bitch."
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Stiles stumbled out of his jeep as he made his way over to the other side of the car, adjusting his collar. He opened the door to the back and the passenger's seat, letting Lydia and Clara get out. Once the two girls were out, Lydia began to brush off her dress since it was all wrinkled from being crammed up in Stiles' jeep.
Clara nervously glanced around, watching all the other couples walk into the school. To say she was high strung about this dance was an understatement. All the anxiety about Peter and Derek was clouding her. Never in her life has Clara Lennon been nervous about a dance yet she was now.
Suddenly and probably not at the best time, Jackson walked up with Allison next to him. Lydia saw and her face lit up, a smile stretching her lips, "Jackson. You look handsome."
"Obviously." Jackson then narrowed his eyes at both Lydia and Clara, "It's Hugo Boss."
With that, Jackson walked away with Allison on his arm. Lydia took a deep angry breath as she began on a rant, "I don't care. I don't want compliments. I will not fall prey to society's desire to turn girls into emotional, insecure neurotics who pull up their dresses at the first flattering remark."
All Clara did was nod, "Preach."
"Well I think you look beautiful." Stiles complimented sweetly. Clara smiled at him and pulled her black cardigan closer to her, realizing that his infatuation for Lydia was deeper than she thought.
Lydia looked at him, a genuine smile plastered on her lips, "Really?"
Stiles then whipped around, both arms out for the girls to take. Clara giggled as both her and Lydia wrap their arms on either side of Stiles and began to walk towards the entrance of the school. Never has Clara thought that Stiles would be walking in with two girls to the winter formal.
The school went really out this year and did a pretty damn good job. Different colored and silk strimmers hanged from the ceiling along with a live band, blue lights slowly flashing around the room and a bunch of white tables where couples could sit at. Clara spotted Jackson with Allison and Danny near the punch bowl, probably a spiked punch bowl but same thing. Her eyes shifted around, glancing at all the other girls around and noticed that a majority of them were wearing colored short dresses, not white ones like hers. Again, for once in her life Clara felt a tad bit insecure.
She sniffed out Scott and spotted him hiding near one of the bleachers. Not very subtle since Coach Finstoke was right across the room from the bleachers and could easily spot him. The three sat at an empty table since Lydia was in a mood and Clara didn't necessarily feel like dancing at the moment. What Clara really hoped for was for Lydia to see what a great guy Stiles was and date him but that was most likely not going to happen.
But once Stiles saw Allison started to awkwardly dance with Jackson merely feet away from their table, he figure he might as well ask Lydia, "You wanna dance."
"Pass." Lydia remarked as Clara watched from across the table, feeling like this was a scene from a movie that was going to go terribly wrong.
But finally after many, many years of waiting, Stiles Stilinski was taking a stand. He stood up with a frustrated look on his face, "You know what? Let me try that again. Lydia - get off your cute little ass and dance with me now."
Clara rose her eyebrows, slightly surprised at his behavior but Lydia didn't think anything of it, "Interesting tactic. I'm gonna stick with no."
"Lydia, get up - okay? You're gonna dance with me. I don't care that you made out with my best friend for some weird power thing, I don't-" Stiles paused for a moment, exhaling as he began to rant once more; Lydia and Clara looking at him intently, "Lydia, I've had a crush on you since the third grade. And I know that somewhere inside that cold, lifeless exterior there's an actual human soul. And I'm also pretty sure that I'm the only one who knows how smart you really are. Uh - huh. And that once you're done pretending to be a nitwit - you'll eventually go off and write some insane mathematical theorem that wins you the Nobel Prize."
Clara smiled widely, feeling the urge to say some witty comment about his speech or to stand up and cheer for her friend. Stiles Stilinski actually grew a pair and told his crush how he felt. This night must be full of wonders.
Lydia blushed and smiled before looking down."Fields Medal."
Stiles blinked, "What?"
Her smile grew as she stood up and walked in front of Stiles, "Nobel doesn't have a prize for mathematics. The Fields Medal's the one I'll be winning."
The finally happy strawberry blonde then grabbed his hand and led Stiles towards the dance floor. Stiles, on the other hand, was trying to keep his cool. Clara chuckled and quietly clapped, feeling an unknown burst of happiness explode in her stomach.
Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad after all.
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When about fifteen minutes passed and Stiles walked over to the table by himself, Clara guessed that something had gone wrong. He grumbled to himself before plopping down in his seat, staring down at the ground.
Clara looked around the room in confusion, "Where's Lydia?"
"She went to go look for Jackson." Stiles sadly muttered, briefly meeting his eyes before returning to the floor.
"I'm sorry." Clara paused, "I know how much you liked her."
He shrugged, "It's alright."
Clara really didn't want to see Stiles like this at all so adding humor seemed to be the best choice in the situation, "If we live, remind me to download this song."
Stiles smiled slightly but it soon returned to a frown. Clara's shoulders slumped down before she huffed, "Come on, Stiles. Don't let one person run this night."
Stiles still stayed silent but met her eyes.
Wanting Stiles to get off his ass, Clara stood up and walked right in front of him, looking down at Stiles, "Dance with me."
"What?"
"You heard me. Dance with me! I want at least one dance while we're at this lame ass dance and my boyfriend is off somewhere being tortured so you will have to sub-do."
Stiles chuckling, knowing that Clara was joking, "I'll take that as a compliment."
Finally, Stiles took her hand and Clara led them to the dance floor. Clara loosely wrapped her arms around his neck while he gently placed his hands on her hips. The two swayed to the music, gradually getting comforting with dancing with each other.
"Again, I'm sorry about Lydia." Clara mumbled while looking up at him.
Stiles sighed, shaking his head, "It's okay."
For the next few seconds, it was silent between the two until Stiles spoke up, "So...Derek's your boyfriend."
Clara bit her lip to stop herself from smiling before nodding, "Yeah."
"I do not approve but I'm restraining myself from ranting." Stiles said, shifting his jaw around as he glared at the wall.
All Clara did was burst out laughing.
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"Did she tell you where she was going?"
"No! All she said was that she was going to go and look for Jackson."
Clara walked beside Stiles as they walked out to the hallway, Stiles having his cell phone glued to his ear. It had been maybe twenty minutes later and Lydia has not return from her hunt for Jackson. Considering that their was a aging and murderous Alpha lurking around, Lydia being out by herself was not a good idea.
But once they turned their heads to the right and saw a disoriented Jackson walking towards them, their worry did not decreased, "Jackson? What happened? What's wrong?"
But Stiles' concern for Lydia, not Jackson, and his frustration mixed into his actions as he angrily pestered Jackson, "Where the hell have you been? Did Lydia ever find you?" Stiles then noticed the ashamed and almost regretfully expression on his face, "What? What's wrong?"
" I - I was out behind the school, and I - I was - out -" Jackson fumbled with his words, choking up now and then. His face was filled with hopelessness and Clara knew he did something wrong.
Stiles angrily narrowed his eyes at the lacrosse player, "What happened? Jackson. What did you do?"
"I-I-I told the hunters about Scott." Jackson stuttered.
Stiles and Clara's eyes both grew wide. "You did what?" Clara growled.
"I didn't tell them about you, only-only Scott. They said they wouldn't hurt him, or hurt you." Jackson's voice became weaker and suddenly his eyes lost all of its emotions, only guilt. But Clara didn't have time to deal with Jackson and his dumbass, only Scott.
Clara looked at Stiles, "Find Lydia and I'll find Scott. We have tog et them the hell out of here."
With one approving nod, Clara ran past Jackson and spirited down the hallway. But because of her annoying high hells, it was more than difficult to run, "I knew I should have brought my werewolf chasing shoes!"
After doing a lot of sniffing and trying to find where Scott was, his scent lead Clara outside of the school, somewhere near the school.
"Scott! Scott!" She yelled, desperate to find him.
But that's when she heard someone jump onto a car and the screeching of cars. Clara ran over to where the headlights were flashing and saw in between two buses, was Scott standing on top of two cars. Once he turned his head to look at her, Clara saw that he was in full wolf form; and both Argents were both there to see it. Allison was staring at him shock while Chris was looking at him in anger.
"Run!" Clara screamed at Scott, realizing there was no happy ending to this night.
Scott listened, jumping onto the bus before running off into the depths of the woods.
And Clara was running right behind him.
Chapter seventeen is done and only two more chapters to go until this book is finished! I cannot tell y'all how thankful I am to have so many views and to have so many supportive fans.
Thank you all so much!!
P.S The gif is Clara's dress
~ ~ ~ ~ Monrox (Katie)