SIERRA STOOD BEFORE the double doors at Beacon Hills High with her nerves and anxiety through the roof. She straightened her dress and jacket, a habit to stall actually walking inside. A hand intertwined through her own and she glanced to her right to see Scott and Stiles standing there with proud smiles. This was Scott's first time seeing her since she got hurt, since he had been too caught up in werewolf drama to visit her in the hospital. He gave her a hug, as a thank you and as a supportive gesture. "I never got to thank you," Scott said after they pulled away. "You saved my life, Sierra, by pushing me out of the way."
"I couldn't let my best friend get hurt," she replied softly. Stiles had given her another pep talk this morning in the jeep about talking again, and she was taking it slowly, step by step. "I'm really glad you're okay, Scott. I mean it."
"I know you do," he replied with a grin. "And don't worry about what everyone in here thinks, alright? If I need to, I'll punch anyone who looks at you funny or makes a snide comment."
Stiles smiled as he saw her let out a chuckle, happy she was using her voice. "I appreciate it, but I'm fine," she told them both, her blue eyes flickering over to the boy holding her hand. Ever since they made up, he had been more affectionate with her. She didn't know what had changed but she certainly wasn't complaining.
Scott smirked to himself; it was only a matter of time before he pushed them together or Stiles finally would man up and do it himself. So far, it seemed like they were making a steady progress.
"Do you want us to go in with you?" Stiles asked her, his voice laced with concern. He was proud of her actually making it this far, but she surely deserved one more day at home.
Sierra shook her head, a soft smile on her lips. "I'll be fine, plus don't you guys have lacrosse practice right now, or at least a meeting or something?"
Stiles' eyes widened; he had completely forgot about it. Scott, however, knew and patted his best friend on the shoulder with a chuckle. "She's right, dude," he said. "We've gotta go." He gave Sierra another hug, seeing as he really hadn't seen much of her at all lately and he missed her. Stiles pouted but agreed only after he kissed the girl on the cheek for good luck. She promised she'd talk to them later yet Scott had to physically drag the pale boy away from her by his shirt collar.
Once they were out of sight, Sierra glanced around and happily spotted Allison and Lydia about to walk in the building themselves. It seemed as Lydia felt the same way she did, more or so because she had spent the last two days running around the woods naked without any remembrance of it, and Allison was trying to help her. "Hey, guys," she greeted quietly and they both smiled at her. "How ya feeling, Lyd?"
"I'm okay," Lydia stated confidently. "I was telling Allison that even though I don't remember what happened, I lost nine pounds. How are you doing?"
As it had turned into a habit, Sierra's fingers grazed her scars before she nodded her head. "I'm going to be fine." All three were slightly nervous to be back at school, I mean they had been the gossip for the past week or so, but they all straightened their backs. There was no way they would let people who don't know what they've been through judge them. Those students weren't worth it. "Are you guys ready for this?"
"Please," Lydia scoffed and flicked her strawberry-blonde hair over her shoulder. "At least my aunt's not a serial killer." As she swung open the double doors and walked in, Allison and Sierra exchanged shocked looks. Sierra gave the Argent a comforting grin and then they followed Lydia in together with locked arms. It seemed like everyone just stopped and stared at the girls, not caring how obvious they were being.
"Don't you guys have classes to get to?" Sierra snapped in frustration and then winced at how raspy and choppy her voice sounded. The hallway snapped out of it and the students continued walking and talking like nothing had happened. The trio all lifted their chins, trying to display confidence before they all started to daringly walk past the lockers, only looking forward to see where they were going, not back to see where they had been.
*^*^*^*
Right before chemistry, Stiles came running towards Sierra who was calmly getting her textbook from her locker. Seeing his bewildered expression, she looked at him curiously. "What's wrong, Sti?"
"There's another werewolf," he revealed lowly so no one else could hear. "It's Isaac-"
"Wait," Sierra interrupted with wide eyes. "Isaac Lahey? I sit near him in history, we always group up to do projects and stuff. Since when is he a werewolf?"
"First off, I don't like that you know him," Stiles announced honestly. "And apparently his father was murdered last night and he's a suspect. The problem is that tonight ..."
"It's a full moon," Sierra finished his thought and he nodded to confirm. "Where's Scott?"
Stiles shrugged, "Right this minute I don't know, but he said we can talk about it more in class." Wanting a change of topic, he reached his hand over and rubbed her arm. "How ya feeling, string bean?"
"I'm fine," Sierra replied again, slightly getting aggravated about how many people have asked her that since this morning. He raised his eyebrows knowingly and she sighed. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. It's just, can't people ask anything other than how I'm doing? Yes, I was in the hospital. Yes, I was hurt but I'm obviously fine. Otherwise why in the hell would I be here?"
He lowered his hand so he could grasp hers and looked into her blue eyes. "I know you're frustrated, Sierra, but I'm only asking because I lo-care about you." He quickly tried to cover his mistake with a cough and started to stutter. "I c-care about you a lot."
"I care about you too," she responded, her lips turned up into a smile. She squeezed his hand and used her other to shut her locker door. "Come on, we should get to class."
As Mr. Harris stood facing the board, Scott took the opportunity to ask his best friends their opinion on why Derek would choose Isaac to be a werewolf. Luckily, all three were sitting at the same table today, as the lesson had an experiment that required three people. Stiles remembered that Peter had told him that if the bite doesn't change you, it would kill you. Maybe there was a better chance at survival for teenagers. Sierra brought up that it was possible the sheriff couldn't hold Isaac because he was a minor, unless they had solid evidence. The boy with a buzz-cut confirmed her theory, adding that if there was a witness his dad could hold him too.
With a sweet smile, Sierra turned towards Danny and asked him politely on where Jackson was. He replied that the teenager was in the principal's office, talking to Mr. Stilinski because he lived right across the street from the Lahey's. "Witness," she mumbled to the boys before Scott said they need to get to the principal's office.
"Everyone please turn to page seventy-three," Mr. Harris announced, still writing in the dusty chalk. He immediately turned around after a paper ball slammed into the back of his head and glared harshly at his students. "Who in the hell did that?" he demanded, narrowing his hawk eyes.
Stiles quickly pointed to Scott, who then put the blame on Sierra, who had no trouble jointing her thumb at Stiles.
"I hate you guys so much," Sierra grumbled five minutes later as she sat between them, outside the principal's office. Scott leaned in closer to the door, listening to the sheriff question Jackson on why he never told anyone about Mr. Lahey abusing Isaac.
The three waited patiently but as Mr. Stilinski came out with his deputies, Stiles quickly grabbed a magazine to hide his face, though his father already had seen him. "Hey, Sierra," the adult greeted her with a smile and nodded towards the teen wolf. "Scott." He glanced at his son and simply rolled his eyes before he walked away.
Sierra bit back a grin as Stiles slowly lowered the paper and looked at her. "Hello, students," a gruff voice stopped him from saying anything. They lifted their heads and their eyes all simultaneously widened. Gerard Argent, Allison's grandfather, stood in front of them as the new principal.
"Scott McCall," Gerard stated a minute later with three files open. Scott kept his gaze towards the floor, trying not to let his pulse rise from his nerves. Sierra sat next to him with her bag in her lap, and Stiles occupied the last seat, anxiously bouncing his knee. The older man sat across from them, behind a desk with a computer and random papers. "Academically not the most accomplished," he concluded, seeing the sophomore's grades, "but I see that you have become quite the star athlete." He moved his dark eyes over to Sierra, who squirmed uncomfortably. She didn't like him at all and the way he was looking at her, with a balding hair of white and a creepy smirk, sent chills down her spine. Noticing her uneasiness, Stiles sneakily grasped her hand to help. "Ms. Page, your grades are superb and I see you are quite involved with the student body as well with track and other clubs." Sierra let out a breath of relief as he moved on to Stiles. "Wonderful grades but next to no extracurricular activities. Might I suggest lacrosse?"
"He's been on the lacrosse team since freshmen year," Sierra defended but Gerard focused back on the boy to her right.
"McCall," he repeated, trying to remember where he's heard that name before. "Wait, you're the Scott that was dating my granddaughter." Scott stuttered out a lie that they were broken up, and nervously blabbered how it was a hard break-up once the man asked why he was so nervous. A well-experienced werewolf hunter was sitting in front of the teen, of course Scott was freaking out. He didn't know if Gerard knew he was a werewolf, if he did, he hid it well. The principal moved on from the subject of Allison and turned to how he didn't want to be seen as the bad guy.
Stiles quietly scoffed but didn't make a snide comment thanks to Sierra squeezing his hand. "However, this being my first day, I need to side with my teachers," he informed them. "Unfortunately, that means two of you will have to stay behind and have detention."
Gerard looked at Stiles and Scott moved his eyes over to Sierra. They both glanced up at the silence from where Stiles was fiddling with Sierra's fingers to keep him calm. Their jaws dropped in disbelief that Scott was forcing them to stay and sent him hard glares all the way up to when they left his office.
*^*^*^*
For some reason, Mr. Harris allowed Sierra to leave detention after an hour, but forced Stiles to stay. Considering he was her ride home and she wouldn't leave him even if she could, she took the keys to the jeep that he passed to her as she left and waited inside for him. However, the chemistry teacher was determined to make Stilinski understand discipline and didn't end detention until it was practically almost dark. Luckily Jemma was working late, so Sierra wouldn't be questioned but her main focus was on helping with the whole Isaac situation. She answered her phone once Allison called, and Stiles joined her in the driver's seat a couple minutes later. "We're still at the school," Sierra informed the young Argent as Stiles buckled his seatbelt and started the jeep.
"Well, we need to do something right now," Allison replied urgently while pacing around her bedroom and began to explain how Gerard and her father were continuously asking her about Lydia and how she got bit by Peter. Then, a stranger dressed as a deputy left the Argent household, leading Stiles to conclude he was going to the station for Isaac. Allison continued about how the guy was carrying a box with a carving on it and she shuffled through a couple of books on her desk before she sent the pair a picture. Sierra pulled up the photo of a purple flower on her cellphone, recognizing it as wolfsbane. "What does that mean?"
"It means they're going to kill him."
On the way to the police station, they called the brunette back and asked if she slowed down the man. Allison said she did, but kept it hidden that she might've shot him in the leg with her bow and arrows. Scott was still at Isaac's and had a plan to save the new beta because he was innocent, however it wasn't a very good one. The trio disconnected, leaving Stiles and Sierra in silence while he drove. He leaned forward in his seat, nervously glancing at the full moon. Sensing his fear of what could happen tonight, Sierra laced their fingers together and let them rest in her lap.
Derek joined them a couple of minutes later to help with everything but didn't say anything until after the boy with a buzz-cut parked in front of the station and explained to the alpha that they had to get past the front desk in order to get the keys to Isaac's cell. Stiles unfortunately didn't know how to get past the strict police secretary, as when him and Sierra were younger, she'd be the one to bust them when they wanted to look around the building. "I'll distract her," Derek replied easily and went to get out of the vehicle.
Stiles grabbed his arm to stop his action, saying he wasn't going to go in there. Derek gave him a warning look, making the sophomore retract his hand immediately. Though the adult was exonerated, Sierra reminded him he was still a person of interest. Stiles scoffed when he said he was innocent. "You? Yeah, okay," Stiles stated sarcastically. "What's your plan?"
"To distract her," Derek repeated slowly, confused on why the boy wasn't understanding.
"How?" Stiles asked. "By punching her in the face?" He scrunched his nose and gritted his teeth and Sierra held back a chuckle while Derek just stared at him, unamused.
"By talking to her."
Stiles didn't give up and then demanded to see a sample of what he was going to say. He didn't know why Derek just continued to look at him, but Sierra understood. Derek Hale was very attractive with his scruffy jawline and his black hair spiked up. He had this whole macho mean look thanks to his white T-shirt underneath a dark leather jacket and could flirt with the front desk lady if he could simply smile. "Dead silence," Stiles stated with pursed lips once he realized the werewolf wasn't going to say anything. "That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?"
"I have a feeling he's thinking about punching you in the face," Sierra commented from the back seat, seeing Derek's glare towards him. Eventually, Stiles agreed to send Derek in and he watched with Sierra as he walked into the police station. They followed behind quietly and Stiles peeked his head around the front door, immediately rolling his eyes at the sight of Brenda falling for Derek's little charm act. While Derek flirted, Sierra and Stiles slowly snuck past the desk and made it safely inside the backroom. Stiles punched numbers into a keypad on the wall but once he removed the cover, the keys to the cells weren't there. "Oh no," Sierra mumbled, realizing that the guy that Argent sent must already be here.
"Let's just look around, okay?" Stiles suggested and grabbed her hand to keep her close to him in case anything happened. The pair walked up and down the halls, trying to find Isaac or anyone else. They turned the corner and almost bumped into a man dressed in a deputy's uniform. Stiles stuttered to say that they were looking for his father but their cover was blown once they saw blood dripping from his leg, where Allison had shot him with an arrow.
The stranger didn't waste time and punched Stiles in the head, which caused him to fall back on the tile with a harsh thud. He then grabbed Sierra, covering her mouth to hide her shouts of protest of seeing the boy she was falling for passed out with his arm covering his face. As much as she fought and kicked, the man had a tight grip while he dragged her down the hallway. Her arm flew up in attempt to grab ahold of the walls and luckily instead accidentally pulled the fire alarm. A siren belted out across the police station and red lights began to flash brightly. Weirdly, the man let the dirty-blonde go once they entered the cell block and faced where Isaac was supposed to be locked in.
It was only a second before a body collided into the guy while Sierra scrambled away to hide behind another desk. Isaac Lahey angrily pushed the hit-man into the wall, his face completely contorted to long ears and sharp fangs. His gold eyes narrowed and shone in outrage as he blocked every punch that came his way. Isaac snapped the guy's wrist that was holding the wolfsbane meant to kill him and knocked the fake cop unconscious. He fell limp on the ground but Isaac growled as he turned to see Derek at the door, after the older werewolf broke the needle with his foot.
The new beta flicked his gaze to the girl on the floor with a snarl, seeing her watching him with fear in her blue eyes while she tried to get farther away. Before he could even take a step forward, Derek shifted his own from brown to red and let out a huge howl. Isaac fell at the sound, cowering in fear while he covered his body with his arms. A second later, the brunette slowly and shakily lifted his head, his normal chestnut eyes staring up at Derek.
Trying to let her heartbeat decelerate, Sierra took a deep breath and asked how Derek changed Isaac back. Derek looked over his shoulder to see her against the wall, still on the ground and simply told her the fact. "I'm the alpha."
Stiles then rushed in, his whiskey eyes darting around in a panic. Once he saw Sierra, he visibly calmed down but nonetheless quickly kneeled down by her side. He placed his palm against her cheek and searched her face and arms repeatedly for any sign of injury. "Stiles, I'm fine," she assured with a small chuckle from his worry. His eyebrows were furrowed and she could tell he didn't believe her. I mean, she had literally just been released from the hospital a day ago. To convince him she was okay, she leaned her head up and pressed her lips right between his eyes. He momentarily froze at the gesture, stunned, but as she pulled away he decided to not overthink it. Stiles wrapped his arm around her shoulder, putting his hand on the back of her head against her long hair to hold her.
"I'm sorry I couldn't have helped you," he whispered as she buried her head in his chest, her hands locked around his torso.
"It wasn't your fault," she replied. "He punched you before you could even say anything."
Someone cleared their throat and the two teenagers turn to see Sheriff Stilinski and his real deputies looking at them in confusion. The older man continuously looked between them and the unconscious guy on the other side of the room, wondering what in the absolute hell happened. Sierra and Stiles also noticed Derek and Isaac had abandoned the room, nowhere within sight. Stiles pointed to the guy for the blame of why Isaac was no longer in his cell, "Uh, he did it."
*^*^*^*
"Do you know what I hate?" Sierra asked from in between Stiles and Scott, while Allison stood beside him the next Monday. "Gym," she answered her own question and with a grumble crossed her arms over her chest. "Like, why? Just why?"
Stiles laughed at her distaste, though he completely agreed with her. To calm down her angry mumbling, he kissed her hair and she leaned into him while Scott and Allison exchanged amused looks as he rubbed her arm for comfort.
The two weren't supposed to be seen together at school now that Gerard was the principal, but having the same gym class made it a little more acceptable. Coach Finstock called the teen wolf and the hunter's daughter for their turn on the rock wall, leaving their friends to watch as the secret couple bantered the whole time they climbed.
Sierra looked around her classmates' faces to see a girl she sometimes talked to, looking terrified at the tall frame that she would eventually have to climb. Abandoning Stiles for a second, Sierra walked over to Erica, who was dressed in a thick grey sweatshirt and black sweatpants compared to Sierra sporting a simple Beta Club T-shirt and dark shorts. "Hey, girlie," the dirty-blonde greeted kindly.
Erica was in some of her classes but was really shy. She often used her blonde hair as a cover to hide behind but Sierra had slowly gotten to know her from this school year. Sierra knew she suffered from epilepsy but she was sweet and enjoyed having a friend to talk to. "H-hey," Erica replied anxiously, keeping her gaze on the wall where Scott and Allison were almost at the top.
Noticing her fear, Sierra placed her hand on the sophomore's shoulder. "I know it looks scary, but just know that it's alright to be afraid. I'm terrified of heights and gym class in general." Erica cracked a small grin at her comment but let her finish. "I'll be cheering you on, okay? And at any point you feel unsafe, just call my name or Coach's and we'll help you get down."
Before Erica could say anything, the rest of their gym glass burst into laughter. The two girls looked to see what happened. Allison was smirking from the top of the rock wall proudly but Scott was a couple of inches from the ground, trying to calm his heart rate. She had knocked his balance and he swore he thought he was going to die. Finstock knelt beside the teen wolf and told him that his pain brought him a certain special kind of joy. Then, the kid-like adult stood up with his clipboard. "Stilinski! Page!" he shouted. "To the wall!"
"Wish me luck," Sierra smiled at her friend before she walked over to the mat. Stiles grinned happily at the sight of her, ecstatic that they were teamed up together.
"Am I going to beat you in yet again another assignment?" he teased as he put on his harness.
Sierra laughed but shook her head while attaching her clip to the rope. "Yeah, no way. You are going down, Stilinski."
"We'll see about that, Page."
The two childishly counted down from three and they both immediately started to climb. Sierra refused to look at him or towards the floor, knowing he would try to intimidate her or cause a distraction. "I'm not going to lie," Stiles started as he grabbed ahold of a purple rock and hoisted his body higher, "You've improved but you're not going to win." She was a little bit ahead and let out a small scoff. Stiles' grin widened at the sound and he glanced up to where she was. "Come on, Si," he pushed, knowing how to get under her skin. "You know I'm going to beat you."
"Stiles, if you don't shut up I'm going to do to you what Allison did to Scott," she threatened, not bothered too much to even look at him. "And last time I checked, I'm winning right now." Stiles chuckled and sped up his movements slightly to catch up to her. He couldn't lie and say he didn't let his brown eyes fall on her body as she climbed, loving every second of it.
"Maybe I'm waiting for a moment to come in front," he retorted, still staring at her, "and I have a pretty good view right now." A smile threatened to overtake Sierra's mouth but she harshly bit down on her lip and forced herself to move faster instead of saying anything. She was almost to the top but when she reached to tag the small bell, her blue eyes landed on a familiar smirk.
Stiles grinned again as she rolled them from annoyance. "I win, string bean," he stated proudly and leaned forward, careful to avoid falling down. "Maybe next year."
Sierra looked at him, unamused before an idea formed. She smiled innocently, leaning closer to him as well. Right as their noses brushed against one another's and Stiles could feel his heart stop, the dirty-blonde kicked the pale boy's left foot, causing him to lose his balance. Just like Scott, Stiles fell from the rock wall, the only thing saving him being his secure black harness. He was on his back, staring up at the colorful rocks as Sierra triumphantly made her way down. The whole class started to laugh, the most noticeable chuckle being the man who was supposed to discourage this kind of activity. "You bring me as much joy as McCall," Finstock told him in a grin.
Being the good person she was, Sierra did help Stiles stand up and he just gaped at her. "What the hell was that for?" he asked demandingly.
Sierra simply shrugged and smiled at him proudly, "I told you if you didn't shut up, you'd end up like Scott. Maybe next year you should take my warning more seriously." She cheekily winked and walked away back to Erica, leaving him speechless as he stared after her.
It was now Erica's turn to climb and she was growing more anxious with every passing second. "Remember what I said," Sierra reminded her. "Just take your time." Stiles rejoined the girl that was messing with his heart while Erica slowly walked over to the rock wall. The blonde glanced back to her friend, and Sierra encouragingly gave her a thumbs up. By the time her partner was finished, she was only halfway up with deep breaths and shaking arms. Her eyes accidentally flickered down to the ground, and tears threatened to spill down her face. Her breathing quickly became more rapid and Sierra, who had been watching the whole time, hurriedly rushed back to the mat and looked up worriedly.
Everyone started to crowd as Coach Finstock disrespectfully asked if it was vertigo. Sierra couldn't believe how ill-mannered and uncivil her teacher was and smartly replied that vertigo was a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. "We need to get her down," she told him sternly like he was the student. "You know she's epileptic."
However, Finstock had no idea and widened his eyes. "Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?" he demanded and refocused back on his student.
"Erica," Sierra called out soothingly. "Just kick off from the wall, okay? There's a mat down here to catch you and I'm right here." Stiles stared at Sierra, amazed at how calm she remained and how Erica took a deep breath from hearing her friend and listened to her instructions. The blonde slowly let go of the wall and soon had descended safely to the gym floor.
Coach then insincerely told her to just shake it off as she unhooked from the harness but Sierra stepped forward to Erica's side. Their classmates started to chuckle about how a sixteen year-old couldn't climb a wall yet they shut up once Sierra glared harshly. "Knock it off," she stated loudly with her eyes narrowed and helped Erica go to the locker room to change back into her school clothes.
While in the locker room, Sierra gave her a comforting hug before she changed out of her shorts. The other girls soon piled inside a couple minutes later and it was so busy that at first, Sierra didn't notice that Erica had left. However once she did, the dirty-blonde raced to put on the plaid shirt she stole from Stiles and shoved the rest of her stuff in her bag before she left to go find her.
In the boys' locker room, Coach called everyone's attention and told them that if they saw Isaac to contact the police or himself. "Except for you, Greenburg," he added, glaring at the lacrosse player. "Don't call me for anything. I'm not kidding, don't call me. You shouldn't even have my number."
Scott applied more deodorant that was on the shelf while Stiles took off his weird T-shirt and threw a light grey hoodie over his head, all the while getting annoyed at the werewolf for wanting to cancel the plans they had scheduled for tonight. It was a surprise for Sierra, Allison, and Lydia, to allow them to have one night of normal teenage fun. However, the night with Isaac in the police station, Allison and Scott had seen a disgusting scaly creature they had never seen before. On top of that, there was all the stuff happening with Gerard and Derek, so it was kind of obvious why Scott was hesitant to follow through with their idea. "No," Stiles disagreed immediately, adjusting his shirt while Scott closed his locker. "You're not backing out. You know why? You and Allison are obviously having quite a good time together but do you know who else wants to have a good time? Stiles. Stiles wants to have a good time. Look, you know how I feel about Sierra, alright? I think that maybe if I actually had some time to hang out with her I could tell her how I feel."
"I thought you were scared?"
"Of course I am, you idiot," Stiles retorted but then looked at his best friend seriously. "I need to know if I have a chance with her and the only way to do that is to see if there's a chance she might like me back."
Scott was barely listening, his hands starting to shake for no reason and he quickly left the room with Stiles on his heels. Sierra who had been looking around for Erica widened her eyes in fear at the sight of the blonde on the rock wall with no harness, a seizure taking over her body. She sprinted over just as Erica lost her grip and fell backwards towards the gym floor. Out of nowhere, Scott appeared and caught the girl just before she landed. Erica uncontrollably shook, struggling to breathe. "Put her on her side!" Sierra instructed immediately and Scott obliged, hold on to Erica tightly. The dirty-blonde looked at her best friend. "How did you know?"
"I just felt it."