Season Five
Tessa sat cross-legged on the hood of Stiles' Jeep while Scott sat a short distance in front of her. Stiles had a map open that was covering part of her knee. It was of the San Francisco Bay Area. "All right, so I found some cool two bedroom apartments in the Mission District, but they're pretty expensive. A couple in Haight and Ashbury. Also expensive."
"What about Berkeley?" Scott wondered.
"Two bedroom?" Tessa asked.
Stiles nodded. "Yeah. But of course, you're going to MIT or Cornell, Tess, so..."
"There's always UC Berkeley."
Scott frowned. "Don't a lot of students live around Berkeley?"
Stiles shot his hand into the air. "Well, yeah, we could try Nob Hill. But, the Jeep would probably burn through a lot of clutches."
"You're bringing the Jeep?" Scott questioned.
Stiles glanced to the blonde in disbelief before turning back to his friend. "Did you ask that? Did you really just ask that? You know the plan, okay? No one gets left behind. That's the plan. Lydia's not gonna have a problem getting into Stanford. Kira's thinking USF. Malia's, uh, gonna you know, she'll figure something out, okay? And Tessa's gonna study architecture in one of the three previously mentioned schools. The plan's perfect."
Scott let out a sigh. "Or we could also wait until we actually get into college and then figure out where to live."
Tessa shot him a look. "Don't ruin the vision."
Stiles took her hand. "Yeah. Don't ruin the vision. You, Tessa and me always wanted to go to college together. We can check out East Bay. Haven't looked at Oakland yet, you know."
Scott turned around to look at something and Tessa frowned. "Are you okay, Scott? Is the full moon causing you to feel something?"
He shook his head and gave her a small smile. "No. Just thinking."
"About what?"
"Senior year."
Stiles threw his hand into the air once again. "Senior year, come on, that's, that's... That's nothing. That's going to be easy."
Scott sat up. "It's more like something Deaton told me once. You ever hear of regression to the mean?"
Stiles shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
Tessa nodded. "To basically sum it up, we're in a gray area. Things are good, but not the best they could be."
Scott glanced to Stiles. "Like Tessa touched upon, it was his way of saying that life can't ever be all bad or all good. You know, eventually things have to come back to the middle. So, think about the last few months. Things have been good, right? But not amazing."
Stiles sighed. "Yeah, but no one's tried to kill us in six months either."
Tessa shot her friend a look. "And we're going to keep it that way."
Scott nodded at her words. "Right. We've been pretty much in the middle for awhile. Which means at some point, the scale has to tip one way or the other. Things are gonna get really good again..."
"Or really bad," Stiles said as a loud crack of thunder sounded. "Think it's been long enough?"
"Yes!" Liam cried from the tree he'd been chained to.
"I wonder who pissed off my grandfather this time," Tessa muttered with a frown.
Scott glanced at her. "It's just rain."
"You lucky werewolf. Someone angered Zeus. Maybe it was you idiots."
"Hey!" Stiles protested. "None of us did anything. Maybe it was you."
"Me? I try not to anger the gods. Even though they seem to have it out for us demigods, but whatever."
"Maybe you mentally cursed him."
"Menta -- I'm not even gonna say anything. And don't tell me I just did."
Scott rolled his eyes and said, "Liam's still there. I'd call that progress."
Stiles frowned at the beta. "Hey. Trying to have an adult conversation over here."
Liam rolled his eyes. "All right, you're two years older than me. And I'm fine. She's a year-and-a-half older, two school years older. Just let me go."
He rattled his chains trying to free himself. Tess walked towards him and noticed blood in his clenched fists and saw his nails shifting back. She frowned at him before turning back to her cousin and friend. "I see no sign of shifting."
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "It's not that we don't trust you. It's that I don't trust you."
"But after that last full moon-" Scott began.
"It was one slip-up," Liam answered, cutting him off.
Stiles scoffed. "Slip-up? A dozen calls to the Sheriff's Department about a monstrous "dog-boy" running around the streets of Beacon Hills naked. That's a slip-up?"
Tessa frowned at Liam and asked, "Why were you running through the streets naked?"
He sighed and shrugged. "It was really hot out that night, okay? Let me go."
"You sure you're okay?" Scott questioned.
Liam gave him a nod. "It won't happen again."
"You're in complete and total control?"
"Yeah. Complete and total control," he replied as his eyes flicked to Tessa.
Scott unchained him and they climbed into the Jeep. Scott took the passenger's seat, Stiles was driving, and Liam and Tessa sat in back. "Is it a party?" Liam wondered.
Tessa shook her head. "No, it's not a party."
"When does it start?"
"Midnight."
Liam frowned, looking confused. "Then what's at midnight?"
"Your bedtime," Stiles replied.
"Why aren't the girls going?"
Tessa glanced at him. "They are going. I'm going with the girls."
Stiles dropped her off at Lydia's.
Mrs. Martin opened the door and smiled at her. "Lydia is upstairs."
Tessa climbed the stairs to Lydia's room and knocked on the door. Lydia opened it and smiled before frowning at her. "Your camp shirt and jeans? Tessa, come on. Dress up a little."
"It's practical and comfortable," Tessa retorted.
Lydia rolled her eyes and handed Tessa a black sweater. "That adds a little something. We need to get Malia."
Tessa attempted to text Scott that they'd be at the school soon, but the message didn't go through. She glanced up. "Lydia, do you have service?"
Lydia looked at her phone and shook her head. "No, I don't."
"Huh. Weird."
They climbed into Lydia's car and Tessa climbed into the passenger's seat.
Malia hopped in the back when they picked her up and asked, "So what is this senior thing?"
Lydia shot the werecoyote a smirk. "That's what you are going to find out."
They arrived at the school and it was still raining. They rushed to find cover and Stiles ran up to Malia and pulled her into a hug. Tessa smiled at the two.
Malia let out a loud sigh. "I'm still not even sure I passed junior year."
Tessa met her eyes. "You, Lydia and I studied really hard. I'm sure you passed."
She looked at the ground. "I don't want to do this unless I'm actually a senior."
Lydia placed a gentle hand on Malia's shoulder. "You'll pass. We all know you will."
Malia scrunched her face and frowned at Stiles. "You smell terrible."
He shot her a look. "Why is that?"
"It's like, well..."
"Anxiety. You should know exactly what that is. Especially since it's basically a constant state of anxiety for me." He started searching for Scott and Kira. "Where are they?"
"Why's this thing so important to you?"
"It's not. It's uh... I don't know. Maybe it is." He met their eyes. "I asked my dad the other day about his high school friends. Guess how many he still talks to. None. Not a single one. You know, these were his best friends and he just says he lost touch with them, you know? So, I started thinking about these things like I always do."
"Obsessively," Malia teased.
He nodded. "Yeah. And so I'm thinking, what if... What if Scott's my best friend now, you know, but he's not my best friend for life?"
She stepped closer to Stiles. "Sometimes that happens."
"Only because we let it happen!" He sighed and asked, "How come when we graduate we're just expected to go our separate ways? If I've already found the best people in my life, why aren't I not trying to stay with them, you know?"
"Isn't that the plan? The dream? The vision?"
Stiles frowned at her. "Don't mock the vision."
"I love the vision, especially since I'm part of it. I get why you wanted everyone here. You want to stay close with your friends. Friends are hard to make, but you've made it easier."
He smiled at her words.
A figure ran towards them and Malia knocked the person to the ground. Tessa pushed her back as soon as she realized it was Liam.
"What is it? How did you find us?" Tessa demanded.
He shook his head. "That doesn't matter! Scott's in trouble!"
Liam took them to Scott and they noticed a large werewolf dig his claws into Scott's stomach. Tessa pulled out her dagger and rushed to join the fight. She pushed the giant werewolf away from Scott so he had a moment to recover.
Scott broke the creature's arm and the claws fell on the ground. He narrowed his eyes at the creature. "I don't know who you are or what you thought you were going to do, but I'll give you a choice. You can stay and I'll break something. Or you can run."
"I'd run," Stiles replied.
Tessa smirked. "From the two of us."
The creature looked between them and darted away. Scott shifted back and they rejoined the others. Scott shot Tessa a look. "That was really stupid, running in like that."
"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome." The sight of another figure caught her attention.
The boy smiled at Scott. "You don't remember me, do you?" He moved closer to them, and Stiles stepped in front of Tessa and Liam, more Tessa, and Scott stepped in front of Kira. The boy chuckled. "I guess I look a little different since third grade."
"Theo?" Scott asked hesitantly.
Liam frowned. "You know him?"
Theo nodded. "They used to. Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again. Couple of months ago, I heard of an alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, just couldn't believe it. Not an alpha, but a True Alpha."
Scott asked in a strangely hesitant tone, "What do you want?"
"I came back to Beacon Hills. Back home with my family. Because I want to be a part of your pack."
Tessa stepped out from behind Stiles, shooting him a look, and smiled. "Welcome back to Beacon Hills, Theo."
Theo returned the blonde's smile. "Thanks, Tessa."
The teens, excluding Theo, walked into the school. Liam had gone home. Stiles frowned at Scott. "We haven't seen this kid in years. You don't find that highly suspicious?"
Scott chuckled softly. "I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me."
"What about the fact that I saved your life?" Tessa protested with a teasing pout.
Scott shot her a look. "I could've handled it."
"Uh-huh."
Malia ran over to them as she waved a paper in the air. "I'm in! I passed! I'm officially a senior!"
Tessa smiled. "Told you you could do it."
Heels clicked down the hallway, growing louder and louder. Lydia let out a frustrated sigh. "Thank God. Where have you guys been?! The whole senior class is here. Are we doing this or not?"
"Oh, we're so doing this."
Stiles nodded. "Let's do this."
They made their way to the library and to a set of bookshelves where students had gathered.
The kid next to Tessa handed her the Sharpie and she stared at the bookshelf and smiled. She'd waited for this for as long as she could imagine. She wrote her initials. 'TM'. Stiles grabbed the Sharpie from her hand and wrote his initials next to hers. 'SS'. Tessa noticed Derek's and smiled. To think that her name would forever be immortalized on a bookshelf with such alumni pleased her greatly.
Lydia wrote her name under Tessa's. Kira, Malia and Scott wrote their own initials. Scott paused and wrote another set of initials. 'AA'. Allison Argent. He offered the marker to the kid next to him. Tessa glanced at Scott. "I imagine she's proud of us."
He nodded and smiled. "I hope so."
"I'm sure she is. We're still fighting to protect the town."
"We protect those who cannot protect themselves," the cousins said in sync.
Stiles glanced at them and said, "She would have been here with us."
Lydia smiled. "She still is."
Tessa nodded. "She'll always be with us in a way."
The demigoddess stared at the shelf of names. Senior Scribe was something everyone had talked about and now that it was here and over, she felt like it should've been more. It was great for a moment, but she was more excited about what was to come.