Friendship

Scott was panicking. In his defense, I was as well. Not that I knew all that much about the ins and outs of werewolf life, but that seemed like a pretty unlikely coincidence. Plus, Allison was becoming one of my really good friends, and I was going to be very irritated if Scott had killed her. Scott was almost running through the school, Stiles and I trailing helplessly behind him.

"She's probably fine," Stiles reasoned, looking at Scott.

"She's not answering my texts, Stiles," Scott moaned.

"Mine either," I added, brow creased as I stared at my phone screen.

"It could just be a coincidence right? A seriously amazing coincidence"

"Will you two just help me find her, okay?" He snapped, causing me to pause in my step, glaring at the boy. Stiles glanced over at me, seeing the angry flush on my face, but I just shook my head.

"Do you see her?" he asked, his breathing ragged as he spun in circles.

"Nope" Stiles and I replied in unison.

He was full fledged panicking, and Stiles and I watched helplessly as he slammed into a locker, his breathing as unsteady as his heartbeat. He slammed his fist into the locker, letting out a groan as he broke the door. I gasped, leaving Stiles' side to run towards him but he was already backing away, back into the hallway. Rounding the corner my eyes caught Allison's and I gave a little wave, releasing a small sigh of relief. Scott ran right into her, making her drop his books.

While I was glad that Allison was okay, that didn't solve the problem of whose blood coated the bus, and whether or not Scott was at fault. Stiles could see the thoughts swirling in my brain and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me towards chemistry with Harris.

I settled into my seat beside him and Scott was in front of us right as the bell rang.

"Maybe it was my blood on the door."

"Could have been animal blood." Stiles reasoned, but I shook my head.

"That would have to be a large animal. Did you see how much blood was in that bus?" I said, causing Stiles to glare at me.

"Not helpful Cassie." He grumbled. "Maybe you caught a rabbit or something," he continued.

"And did what?"

"Ate it?" I proposed, a small smirk on my face.

"Raw?" Scott looked horrified

"No, you stopped to bake it in your werewolf oven! I don't know, you're the one who can't remember anything!"

"Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might wanna pull the headphones out every once in a while. I think you, Miss Lightwood and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?" Harris prompted, causing me to groan dramatically.

"No," Stiles whined.

Harris simply pointed and the three of us scattered, leaving me next to Jackson a few rows ahead. He was suppressing a laugh, and I didn't hesitate to smack him across the arm.

"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much." He added, and a pout spread across my lips. Harris was such an asshole.

Jackson was glaring at Scott for some reason, and a flutter of worry crossed my mind that he might have figured it out. I didn't want Jackson anywhere near the supernatural. He was already a liability, and if the Alpha bit him there would be so much trouble on our hands.

Suddenly, the girl next to Scott stood, running towards the window.

"Hey, I think they found something!" She called, causing the rest of the class to rush towards the windows.

They were wheeling a stretcher towards an open ambulance, and it looked like a man.

"Not a rabbit" I mumbled, just as the man sat up and screamed. We all jumped back, my hand latching onto Stiles' arm. "Oh my god."

"Okay..." Stiles said as we backed away from the window. "This is good, this is good. He got up, he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that."

"Guys," Scott said, his face slack with horror, "I did that."

There was no consoling Scott for the rest of the period, he didn't want to talk to us or about it. I could tell his little savior "good person" complex was really struggling with this. I gave up pretty quickly, just working quietly on the chem homework. I had enough of my plate, and I refused to let my grades drop because of the supernatural.

Class ended soon after, and as I was packing up to leave, Harris stopped me. "Miss Lightwood? A word please." I froze, worry rushing through my head as I tried to figure out what was wrong.

"You're not in trouble Cassandra, though I would prefer if you would refrain from speaking to Mr. McCall and Mr. Stilinski during class. I simply had a proposition for you." I nodded, waiting for him to continue. "You have one of the highest grades in this class, and you're academically and personally fit to be an outstanding tutor. Would you be interested in tutoring another chem student, for extra credit and service hours?" I nodded, though I wondered if I should add something else to my plate. Harris looked pleased, a face I wasn't used to seeing on the man. "I thought so. Isaac Lahey. You can go about contacting him however you wish. Just turn in your hours to me at the end of the semester. You're free to go now."

I nodded once more, scooping up my things and leaving the room. It wasn't ideal, but my grades could use the boost and I needed a sense of normalcy right now. I exhaled slowly, making my way towards my locker and shoving stuff inside. I kind of knew Isaac, just in passing. He was pretty quiet and kept to himself, but he was on the lacrosse team. I just needed to find time to talk to him.

I made my way to the lunch room, spotting Scott and Stiles walking with their trays as I caught up with them. I didn't want anything to do with the school sanctioned mush they were carrying, so I snagged the apple of Stiles' tray as we walked. I had caught them mid conversation, or argument, and wasn't exactly sure where it was going.

"Dreams aren't memories" Stiles stated as I fell into step with the pair.

"Dude! Something happened last night, and I can't remember what!" Scott groaned as the three of us reached our table. I settled in beside Stiles, my eyes distractedly scanning the cafeteria for Lydia or Jackson. I hadn't spoken to either of them in a few days, and figured that I needed to hang out with them soon. Plus, I missed them both.

"What makes you so sure that Derek has all the answers?" Stiles asked.

"Well he is a werewolf, and has been for his entire life," I said, shrugging my shoulders as I took a bite of the apple.

"Well, that, and because during the full moon he wasn't changed. He was in total control. While I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."

"You don't know that, '' Stiles countered.

"I don't not know that." Scott muttered. "I can't go out with Allison. I have to cancel."

"No, absolutely not! You're not cancelling on her!" I interrupted, annoyance on my face.

"Cassie's right. You can't just cancel your entire life," Stiles added, making me nod in agreement.

"We'll figure it out, together, like always." I said, my voice trailing off as Lydia approached our table, setting her tray down. Stiles and Scott looked shocked, and a small grin flickered across my face.

"Figure what out?" She asked, sliding into the seat next to Scott and across from me.

Scott and Stiles mumbled some half assed answer, as more people joined our table. I giggled at the uncomfort on the boys faces as Stiles leaned over to me, whispering, "Why is she sitting with us?"

I shrugged, taking another bit of my apple as Danny slid in on the other side of Stiles and Allison next to Scott. A guy, someone on the lacrosse team, slid into the seat at the end, between me and Lydia. I could have laughed, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

"Get up." Jackson said, a mixture of anger and boredom on his face as he stood over the boy.

"How come you never ask Danny to get up?" he whined, and I actually laughed.

"Because I don't stare at his girlfriend, or best friends, coin slot." Danny stated, and I reached behind Stiles to high five him.

The guy got up with a huff, going to sit beside Danny at the end. "So, I hear they're saying it's some kind of animal attack. Probably a cougar?" Danny started.

"I hear mountain lion." Jackson said, and I opened my mouth to correct him, but Lydia beat me to it.

"A cougar is a mountain lion." There was a heartbeat of silence as a smile slid across my face. There was a reason Lydia was at the top of our class, and I was just barely behind her. "Isn't it?" she added, the dumb, glazed look I hated so much sliding back across her face.

"Who cares? The guy's probably just some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway." Jackson sneered, and I slapped him in the arm.

"Don't be an insensitive ass," I chided.

"Actually I just found out who it is." Stiles interrupted. "Check it out." He slid his phone to the middle of the table and we crowded around to watch the news clip.

It confirmed the victim, but I didn't recognize him. I slid back in my seat, but Scott sat forward.

"Wait, I know this guy!" He said.

"You do?" Allison and I asked in unison.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver." There was a moment of silence before Lydia spoke.

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?" She asked, raising a brow at the look of confusion on Scott and Allison's faces. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

"Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do." Allison mumbled.

"Well, I am not sitting at home again watching lacrosse videos, so if the five of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun." Lydia stated, glaring at Jackson.

"The five of us?" I asked, my gut telling me that the fifth person was me, while Scott turned to Allison, repeating the words 'hanging out' in a questioning tone. They spoke quietly, as Lydia turned to me.

"Yes, the five of us. I'll bring you a date, Andie, but you really need to get out more. You can't back out of this, sorry."

I felt Stiles tense up beside me, and I exhaled slowly. "Great, sounds fun." I mumbled.

"You know what else sounds fun? Stabbing myself in the face with this fork," Jackson muttered, and Lydia grabbed the fork from his grasp.

"How about bowling? You love to bowl!" She proposed.

"Yeah, with actual competition." Jackson argued.

"How do you know we're not actual competition?" Allsion asked, but both Stiles' and I's faces dropped. "You can bowl, right?" She asked, turning to Scott.

"Sort of," Scott mumbled.

"Is it sort of or yes?" Jackson asked, leaning forward.

"Yes. In fact, I'm a great bowler."

"Perfect then. It's a date." Lydia stated, grabbing her tray as she stood, everyone following her lead. "I'll pick you up at 5 Andie, and we will head to Allisons."

I nodded silently, giving her a smile as I headed out, with Scott and Stiles right beside me. As soon as we were out of earshot, Stiles spoke. Well, whisper yelled.

"You're a terrible bowler."

"I know!"

"God it was like watching a car wreck" Stiles grumbled as we walked down the stairs. "I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. And then, out of nowhere, comes that phrase-"

"Hang out." Scott said.

"You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death."

I paused in my step. "But you guys hang out with me..?" I said, head tilted slightly.

"Yeah, and?" Stiles said, turning back to look at me. Scott froze, his eyes darting between us like he was waiting to see who exploded.

I chose my next words carefully. I'm not sure why the words stung so much, maybe it was my own insecurities, or being friends with Lydia my whole life, but I atleast thought I was pretty.

"Good to know you don't think I'm hot Stiles." I spat, turning on my heel to walk away.

"Cassie! You're different!" He called, but those words didn't make me feel any better. I kept walking, jaw clenched tightly as I tried to keep the tears from spilling.

"You fucked up," I heard Scott mutter, shaking his head.

I turned the corner, making a beeline for the bathroom. I slammed the door shut behind me as the tears spilled down my cheeks, furiously wiping them as I walked towards the mirror.

"Stupid Stiles and his stupid ass mouth" I muttered, digging through my backpack for my makeup bag. My eyes were puffy and red as I looked back up at myself in the mirror, makeup smudged and runny. I cursed again, starting to wipe it off the old makeup and try to fix it.

I couldn't let what Stiles said get to me. I had a reputation to upkeep. It took a few minutes but I had toned down the puffy redness of my eyes, and looked presentable once more.

I left the bathroom, automatically straightening my back and raising my chin. I had no desire to seek out Scott or Stiles, but I did figure I should try to find Isaac Lahey. Practice should be starting soon. I made my way to the locker room, leaning outside the door. I had only been waiting for a few minutes before Isaac came out, jersey on and stick in hand. His eyes were down and his head was dropped, meaning he didn't even notice me.

"Isaac?" I prompted, pushing myself off the wall. He stumbled in surprise, dropping his stick in the process. We both bent over to pick it up, causing us to slam our heads into one another, hard. I groaned, stepping back as my hand went up to my temple, rubbing it.

"Oh no, I am so sorry!" he mumbled, and I laughed weakly, shaking my head.

"My fault, you got a thick skull," I joked, looking up at him. I never had been this close to him, and I definitely never realized how pretty his eyes were. "I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to talk. Oh, shit, I didn't even introduce myself. Cassandra, or Cassie, or literally any other nickname I'm not picky." I said.

"Yeah, I uh, know who you are." He mumbled, and I felt my cheeks flush a dark scarlet.

"Right, uh, sorry. Anyways, Harris told me you needed a chem tutor, and I'm decent, and if you wanted to I'd be happy to tutor you. We can work around your practice schedule, of course, before or after school, or at night, your place or mine, whatever is cool." I realized I was talking fast and rambling, and I sighed. Looking up at him, I could see the surprise on his face.

"Uh, yeah. That would be great." He said finally, after a few moments of silence.

"Great! Just uh, text me and let me know," I said, giving him a smile.

I had turned to walk away, but his soft voice stopped me. "Uh, Cassandra? I don't have your number..." he said, with discomfort on his face.

"Right, right, sorry." I said, digging through my bag for a pen. "Arm?" I asked once I found one, looking back up at him. He gave me a confused look but extended his arm to me anyway. I quickly scrawled my number across his wrist in black ink, giving him a small grin.

He stood frozen as I pulled away, a dumbstruck look on his face. "You should go. Finstock will have your ass running suicides if you're late," I prompted softly, and he nodded, giving me a small smile.

"I'll text you." he said softly as he brushed past me, heading for the field. I nodded, still in the same spot. Something about Isaac Lahey intrigued me, and I'd be lying if I said I was waiting for the text so I could see him again.