Brother || Teen Wolf

Chapter 20 - Little Talks and Parking Lots

"Mr. Tate, you're late. Again," the History teacher stated. He looked at the young man sternly, assessing his appearance. He looked well-rested, his hair wasn't in a complete mess, for a change, and he was smartly dressed -- not what a teacher expected from someone who overslept and rushed to class. The teen visibly didn't care enough about school to bother showing up on time. "Nice of you to spare some of your valuable time for your education."

"Sorry," the teen answered with an apologetic smile. "I would say it won't happen again, but..."

"You'd be in for quite a lecture if your grades weren't half as good," the teacher conceded. He handed a paper to his student, one marked with an 'A'.

Jamie took it gladly and sat next to Lydia, who was doing her best to conceal her smile. Jamie looked at her and saw she had gotten an 'A+'. That explained her smug look. "Show-off", he mouthed to her silently. The strawberry-blonde girl rolled her eyes and directed her attention back to the board. "Jealous," Jamie heard her whisper in response. She hadn't taken the high road, for once. 

Jamie chuckled and actually tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. Needless to say, he failed quite spectacularly. The patterns on his wooden desk suddenly appeared fascinating, taking all his attention away from the teacher.

His mind full of plant-related thoughts, Jamie came to wonder about Wolfsbane. He had kept a piece of the Wolfsbane rope they had found while uncovering the second half of Laura Hale's body. He was curious to see how it could be used and he suspected other plants could also affect supernaturals in a way they didn't affect regular humans. Maybe he could ask Derek about it.

Knowing full well he couldn't learn anything about supernatural plants while stuck in a classroom, Jamie decided to think about something else. He kept himself busy by looking at his classmates.

Stiles was scribbling absentmindedly on his notebook, regularly checking the time. He looked almost as bored as Jamie, but he wasn't bored enough to notice Harley stealing glances at him. Jamie wiggled his eyebrows at her, to which she turned red and looked at her notes intently. 

Jamie squinted his eyes in an attempt to see Stiles' test score. It was a rivalry the two of them had, they used to always try to outsmart the other. It had started in fifth grade and although they didn't really care who got the best grade anymore, it had become something like a tradition. This time, it was a tie.

Next, Jamie's eyes found Scott, who was taking notes frantically. Surprisingly enough, he had written even more than Lydia. That was unusual to say the least, maybe another side effect of lycanthropy? Jamie shook his head, that made no sense at all. He felt Stiles looking at him interrogatively. Jamie gestured at Scott, hoping his spastic friend had an explanation for Scott's sudden interest in History.

"He got a D-," Stiles whispered -- or tried to whisper, for that boy was incapable of speaking quietly. Jamie made a face in understanding. Not finding the time to study, that was a more plausible side effect of lycanthropy than a fascination for History.

That mystery solved, Allison was Jamie's next target. He had barely laid eyes on the girl that she turned to look back at him, a smile on her face. Not knowing what else to do, Jamie smiled back awkwardly and gave up on observing Allison. That girl obviously had a sixth sense telling her when people were looking at her. 

Jamie turned in his seat when he felt something hit his head lightly. Frowning, he noticed a small piece of crumpled paper on his desk. The culprit had her lips in a thin line, she looked focused on the lecture but something gave her away. A corner of the paper she was writing on was missing, torn away and thrown at an unsuspecting, innocent teenager. Shaking his head in disbelief, Jamie observed his girlfriend.

Her hair was in an elegant braid, red as ever -- she wasn't fooling anyone with that 'strawberry-blonde' nonsense, especially not him. Her hazel eyes were bright with intelligence and wittiness, two things Jamie adored about her. That and the way she raised her eyebrows at him when he made a weird remark, how her smile spoke for her when silence fell, how she would use ridiculously complicated words only her knew... The list went on and on. And the fact that she was absolutely gorgeous also helped.

Jamie would have continued staring if Lydia hadn't caught him. She smiled innocently at him, making a blush appear on his cheeks. He looked away sheepishly, holding in a smile. He heard her chuckle and go back to taking notes. Jamie looked down at his own book and noticed it was still blank. To appease his conscience, he wrote the date and the title of the day's lesson, but that was it. Not that he wouldn't have been willing to write anything else, but the bell had just rung.

Stiles was the first one of their gang to spring to his feet, rushing out of the room like his life depended on it. Scott quickly followed, but not before taking Allison's hand in his. They all met up in the corridor, Lydia resting her head on Jamie's shoulder and breathing in his familiar smell. 

Scott saw her and got curious. Did his friend smell good? As discreetly as he could, Scott inhaled right next to his blue-eyed friend, earning himself a dubious look.

"Did you just smell me?" Jamie whispered to him. Scott was wise enough not to answer.

Jamie smelled of wood and unsurprisingly, coffee. Scott also detected printer ink, but it was faint -- no, that was Stiles' scent. It made sense, Stiles spent the majority of his free time printing away pages and pages of documents. 

His little 'scent-catching' session over, Scott brought his attention to the conversation at hand. Allison was asking him something. Feeling like a deer caught in headlights, Scott slowly nodded.

"I was asking if you wanted to study at my place today," the girl chuckled.

"Oh!" Scott exclaimed, his eyes getting a bit wider, "Of course, yeah, text me the time!"

Allison smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, nodding in agreement. She and Lydia left to talk alone, apparently Allison had requested Lydia's opinion about something -- or that was what she had told Jamie. Left alone, the three boys all sighed at the same time.

"So, now you're 'studying' with Allison, huh?" Jamie told Scott, the meaning behind his words made clear by his not-at-all-subtle use of air quotes.

"No, we're studying, not 'studying'! I mean, actually studying!" Scott exclaimed, alarmed. He didn't want his friends to meddle in his relationship with Allison. Of course, he knew they would meddle anyway -- it was in their nature.

"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you, you're not" Stiles huffed.

"Stiles, that's so sad!" Jamie seemed genuinely concerned, he didn't want Stiles to feel lonely. "Hey, why don't you go talk to Harley? She'd be willing to study with you, Stiles, I guarantee it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really! Now go talk to her while I explain a thing or two to Scott!" Jamie exclaimed, making grand gestures with his arms that got his friend moving. When he looked back at Scott, his gaze was full of mischief. "So, 'studying,' you said..."

At this moment, Scott wished he could disappear. But that was not a perk of lycanthropy and as it turned out, his friend actually had a decent perspective to offer. When they parted ways, Scott was full of confidence. 

Jamie decided to go look for Stiles, hoping he would find him with Harley. When he did find him, Stiles wasn't alone, but he wasn't with Harley either. He was with Derek.

"Huh... Interesting," Jamie said to no one in particular. Was Stiles attracted to Derek? That would certainly explain why he was so obsessed with knowing if he was attractive to gay guys.

"What's interesting?" a voice asked, making him jump in surprise. It was Lydia. The girl looked in the same direction as him just in time to see Derek crumble to the floor, numb. "Oh God, he doesn't look good!"

The two of them rushed to help, joining Stiles under the gaze of several confused students. Together, they helped Derek to his feet and into Stiles' Jeep. They were quick to drive away, Stiles and Lydia in the front and Jamie at the back, supporting Derek's weight as best as he could. The older werewolf was coughing and bleeding on the Jeep's backseats, and worst of all, his eyes were glowing blue. When Lydia noticed, she tried very hard not to freak out.

"Guys... What the hell is going on?"