Parent - Teacher Meeting

The next day was Allison's birthday, and even though she hadn't told us directly, I slipped out of the Stilinski house early to go fill her locker with balloons and presents. I knew Lydia would probably still be a mess from the night before, and I refused to let her get stressed out or forget Allison's birthday, so I went ahead and did it alone. I left a note for Stiles on the counter explaining before I slipped out and walked the few blocks home to change, shower, and grab my stuff to head to school.

It was the night of parent teacher conferences and the school was pretty empty, so I took my time filling up the locker before I headed to the library. I didn't have much work, thankfully I was pretty on top of my work, so I didn't really have to stress. After finishing up some chem that was due in a few days, I repacked my backpack and headed to class, sliding into the lab bench beside Stiles.

"Where's Scott?" I asked, only to be met with a shrug. I sighed, nodding slightly as I sat back in my seat.

"Reminder, parent teacher conferences are tonight. Students below a C average are required to attend." Harris said, his eyes scanning the room. "I won't shame you, because the shame and self-disgust should be more than enough punishment." I bit back a laugh at the dramatics of it, hiding my smile as I made eye contact with Stiles.

"Has anyone seen Scott McCall?" He asked, looking directly at me and Stiles. Stiles was looking at his book, a highlighter cap in his mouth as I shook my head.

"No sir, sorry," I said softly, my eyes flickering to the door as it opened, revealing a tired and pale looking Jackson.

He looked as bad as I felt, but I knew I needed to keep up appearances. Mr. Harris walked up to him, leaning over and resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Jackson. If you need to leave early for any reason, you let me know." He paused, leaning back to look at me. "You as well Miss Lightwood."

The two of us nodded, my lips pursed together.

"Everyone, start reading Chapter Nine." He said, making his way back to the front of the room. I settled in my chair, flipping through my book until I found the right page. "Oh, and Mr. Stilinski, try putting the highlighter down between paragraphs. It's chemistry, not a coloring book."

Stiles gave him a glare as I stifled a giggle, spitting the cap out of his mouth. He then glanced at me before leaning forward to talk to Danny.

"Hey Danny, can I ask you a question?"

"No."

"Well, I'm going to anyway. Um, did Lydia show up in your homeroom today?"

"No."

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Answer's still no." Danny deadpanned, and I laughed softly, shaking my head.

"Do you find me attractive?" Stiles asked, and this time I snorted, attempting to cover it with a laugh.

Stiles leaned forward a bit too far and went toppling off the chair and everyone turned to stare, with Harris glaring at him.

Class finished pretty quickly, and Jackson slipped out and away before I would talk to him. I groaned, pausing to lean against the wall as I watched people pass, trying to collect myself before the bell rang. Suddenly there was someone leaning against the wall next to me, and I could feel the concern radiating off them.

"I have to say, considering you went through the same thing as Jackson last night, you look a hell of a lot better."

I looked up to meet the pretty blue eyes of one Isaac Layhey, and I smiled weakly.

"What can I say? I always present a calm and collected front." I joked, but it sounded flat and forced coming out of my lips.

"Are you okay though? Genuinely?" He asked, looking me up and down as if he was checking for bruises.

"Yeah. Ankles a bit bruised, but I was more shaken up than anything else." I admitted, running a hand along my neck.

The warning bell rang and we both glanced up at the clock, a frown coming over my face.

"I gotta go. But, uhm, I'm glad you're okay Cassandra." He said, giving me a smile as he disappeared into the crowds of teenagers.

I felt my cheeks flush scarlet at the sound of my name coming out of his mouth, my full name nevertheless. Shaking my head I went to find Stiles, knowing we both had a free period.

He was on the phone and didn't hear me coming, so I paused to listen.

"Finally! Have you been getting any of my texts?" Stiles said.

"Yeah, like all nine million of them," Scott replied, his voice soft through the phone speaker.

"Do you have any idea what's going on? Lydia is totally MIA, Jackson looks like he's got a time bomb inserted into his face, another random guy is dead, Cassie is faking that she's not falling apart and you aren't even here to help me!" I froze slightly at Stiles' words, but he was kind of right.

"Okay, listen, I'll deal with it later." Scott said.

"No, no, not later!" The line clicked and went dead, and Stiles muttered a string of curse words under his breath.

"You know, if you're so worried about Lydia, we can always go and check on her." I said, making Stiles jump at the sound of my voice.

"Really?" He asked, and I nodded. He looked relieved, and for a moment I almost forgot that he was in love with Lydia. I smiled softly, sliding past him.

"We're taking the viper though." I called, hearing his footsteps pounding after me.

"But I wanna drive," he whined, and I shrugged.

"Don't care. My car or you won't get in her house." I said in a singsong tone, walking out the doors of the school and towards my car.

"You're annoying," he muttered, sliding into the passenger seat. I gave him a cheeky grin, shaking my head as I turned on the car.

"Whatever," I mumbled, making my way towards her house. "You need to be polite, especially to Miss Martin. And not weird, please." I said as I parked the car, giving him a pointed look.

He nodded, and I unbuckled my seatbelt and went to get out of the car. I quietly knocked on the door, waiting for a few moments before the grand wooden door was opened to reveal Mrs. Martin.

"Andie, oh good I was going to call and check up on you! I know that you made sure Jackson and Lydia got home and everything, but after last night, I wanted to make sure you were doing okay," she said, pulling me into a tight hug.

"I'm fine Mrs. Martin. I was just coming by to check on Lydia, of, and uh, this is Stiles, one of my best friends. I'm staying with him and his father until all this craziness is cleared up." I said, gently pulling away to gesture to Stiles.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Martin," Stiles said softly, giving the woman a genuine smile.

"Well it's very kind of you both to come and check on her. She's up in her room, but I will say that she took a little something to ease her nerves. But you two can go on up," she said, and I nodded before leading the way up.

I gently knocked on the door, pushing it open. "Hey Lyd. Stiles and I are here to check up on you." I said gently, looking at the glassy eyed girl laying on the bed.

"What the hell is a Stiles?" she mumbled, and I stifled a giggle at the wounded look on Stiles' face. "What are you doing here?" Lydia asked, and I gestured to Stiles to take the lead.

"I - I mean - we were just checking to make sure you were okay." He said, going to sit on the edge of the bed. I stayed near the door, leaning against the frame. "Because we were worried about you. How are you feeling?"

"I feel ... Fantastic," she cooed, sitting up and running a hand down his arm. My hand went to cover my mouth, sucking in a breath to keep my composure.

Stiles' eyes landed on the pill bottles and he went to grab one, reading the label. "Oh, wow, I bet you can't say 'I saw Suzy sitting in a shoe shine shop' ten times fast," he murmured, raising a brow.

"I shaw shuzzy. Uh, I shaw." she kind of froze as Stiles reached to put the pills down. "I saw.."

I slowly walked over, exhaling softly as I went to kneel in front of her. "What did you see Lydia?" I prompted gently.

"Something..."

"Something like... a mountain lion?" Stiles asked. We both had the same idea. Lydia needed to believe that she saw the wild animal, and nothing more.

"A mountain lion," Lydia repeated. I exhaled slowly, looking at Stiles.

"You're sure?" I asked. "Or are you just saying that because that's what the police told us?"

"A mountain lion," Lydia repeated again, and after she did, Stiles reached to grab the stuffed giraffe off of her bedside table.

"What's this?" he asked, holding it up

"A mountain lion," Lydia said for the third time.

"Okay, well, this was unhelpful." I muttered, pulling myself off the floor.

She flopped forward into Stiles Lap and he looked at me, eyes wide. I gave him a wink as I straightened my clothes, while he just looked frantically between me and Lydia.

He looked really uncomfortable so I gestured towards the door and he carefully slid her off of him. "Well, we're gonna go and uh, let you get back to the post traumatic stress thing."

As we were getting to go, I saw the phone buzzing on the table. "Lyd, can I get that?" she didn't answer, already slumped across the bed, so I carefully unlocked her phone, only to freeze up as I watched the video of the alpha play across the screen.

"Holy shit." Stiles mumbled.

"I'm gonna, I'm gonna text it to myself and delete it off her phone." I said, trying to type my contact in while my hands shook. I finished my task and carefully set it back down on the bedside table.

I was more shaken up then I would care to admit, and I think Stiles could tell. We left quickly, me calling a quick goodbye to Mrs. Martin as we headed back to the car. The car ride was silent all the way back to Stiles's house. I was sitting on his bed, absentmindedly fiddling with my fingers as he tried to call Scott, again. "Look, Cass and I found something, and I don't know what to do, okay? So if you could turn your phone on right now, that'd be great., or else, I'll kill you. Do you understand me? I will have Cassie kill you. And I'm too upset to come up with a witty description of how she's gonna do that."

He threw the phone on the bed. "Still nothing?" I asked. Stiles shook his head, and I sighed. "I think Allison ditched before first too. They're pretty off doing whatever the fuck teenager couples do." I said with a shrug.

Stiles let out another groan just as a knock sounded on the door. "Please tell me I'm going to hear good news about this parent teacher thing tonight." Sheriff Stilinski asked, and I gave him a bright smile.

"Nothing but glowing reviews from my end" I said in a sing-song tone, earring me a glare from Stiles.

"Depends on how you define good news" Stiles mumbled.

"I define it as you getting straight A's with no behavioral issues."

"You might wanna rethink that definition."

The sheriff sighed, looking over at me. "I'm so thankful for you, the daughter I wish I had. Also, Melissa will be meeting me there to talk with your teachers." He nodded, and I gave him a thankful smile.

"I'll be there too, but I'm not sure if I have to sit in on any. But thank you Noah." I said. He nodded, before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Stiles looked frustrated, upset. "Stiles, you know you're ten times smarter than me, right. And that your dad is proud of you just as much, well, probably more than he is of me."

He nodded. "It's falling to the back burner. With Scott and the alpha-" He started, before trailing off. I nodded, understanding completely.

"I know. We have a lot more going on than the average sophomore." I said, going over to wrap an arm around his shoulder.

"It would help if Scott could actually answer his phone," he muttered.

I sighed slowly, pursuing my lips. "He's in love."

"I know. Well' I guess he is. It's just.."

"Frustrating." I finished.

-----☾-----

We had a couple hours until parent teacher conferences, so I decided to take a quick nap while Stiles worked on homework. I was exhausted, and I needed to sleep. Plus, I had the time and nothing better to do, so I just closed my eyes and curled up in his bed.

He woke me up when it was time to go, making our way towards the school in his Jeep. I absently sent a text to Isaac, wishing him good luck at the conferences. He replied back that he was worried, but at least chem had to be a bit better because of me. I felt my smile widen slightly.

My conferences went smoothly. Harris had glowing reviews about my grades and my tutoring. My english teacher, Mrs. Calla noted my leadership in Student Government and Finstock cracked a bunch of jokes but overall had all nice things.

Melisaa stopped me outside after mine, looking at me carefully. "Do you know where Scott is?" She asked, scanning my face.

"Where, exactly? No. I know he skipped. I think with Allison. Stiles and I couldn't get a hold of him all day." I explained, rubbing the back on my neck.

"Alright sweetheart. Well, I'm a bit frustrated with him, but you, of course, were an angel as usual." She said, pulling me into a hug. I smiled, hugging her back as she left to take Scotts conference. I kept my eyes out for Isaac, but didn't see him all night.

Once both the Sheriff and Melissa were done, we headed out into the parking lot. I was planning on staying with the Stilinskis, mainly because I knew Scott was in trouble. I saw Scott slowly walking towards the parents with Allison, and we all froze.

Suddenly a scream echoed and people started running. I stayed close to the sheriff, my hand wrapping around the nice on my pocket as he pulled out his gun. People were frantic, and when the growl echoed I felt my hair stand up. There's no way this was the Alpha, right?

The sheriff caught a glimpse of the animal and took off, me right behind him. I saw the car pulling out and lunged forward, pushing him out of the way, knowing any impact from it would heal a lot quicker for me.

I groaned as I hit the concrete, the sheriff dropping down to help me up. "I'm okay, I'm okay." I mumbled, struggling to my feet as gunshots rang out.

A mountain lion lay dead in the street, Argent holding his handheld. I sighed, turning away and towards the car. I was not excited for the stern talking to I knew was coming from both Stiles and his dad.

"Cassandra, what were you thinking?" he asked as soon as I was in the passenger seat.

"That I didn't want you to get hit by a car." I mumbled, watching him turn on the car and

start driving.

"You could have been seriously injured!" He corrected, frustration evident on his face.

"I'm fine. Just a bit scared and bruised. Plus, I'm not gonna apologize."

The sheriff huffed but didn't argue, and Stiles had stayed silent the entire ride. He didn't speak until we were home, up in his room. Instead of the scolding I was expecting for putting myself in harm's way, he pulled me into a careful hug.

"Thank you for keeping my dad safe," he mumbled into my hair. I nodded, burying my face in his chest.

"Always Stiles, you know that."