Tether ⌲ Stiles Stilinski [2]

seventeen

The next day I was on my way to meet up with Lydia in art class when I ran into a wandering Kira. She held two extra backpacks in her hands, carrying them each at her sides. Her wide eyes scanned the hallways eagerly.

"Kira?" I approached her, eyeing the bags.

"Oh, Eleanor!" she smiled. "Hey! Have you seen Scott or Stiles by any chance?"

I frowned and shook my head. "No, I thought they'd be on their way to economics right now. Weren't you just in history with them? Why do you have their stuff?"

She looked down and lifted each abandoned backpack up. "Oh, yeah. My dad asked Stiles to speak in front of the class for participation marks but I think he got really nervous, he looked like he was going to be sick. So Scott offered to take him to the nurse's office. I thought I'd bring their bags to them since they left them behind, but I just checked with the nurse and they're not there."

"Oh god," I mumbled under my breath. Immediately, panic rose in my chest. I didn't think anything had changed with Stiles' condition which meant he still failed to see letters or numbers as they truly were on a written page. The thought of him being forced to stand in front of everyone to put that to the test made me sick. I didn't think fast enough to conceal my worry, as the stress became extremely obvious on my face. Even the new girl could read me like an open book.

"Something's wrong, isn't it?" Kira's eyes pooled with concern, mirroring my own.

I liked Kira so I didn't want to lie, but I couldn't exactly tell her the full truth either. I shook my head. "They'll be fine, they just might not have wanted to go to the nurse after all. I know where they might be instead. Come on, I'll help you find them."

I reached out and grabbed the black backpack I knew to be Stiles' out of her hands. If Stiles had gone into a panic attack, he wouldn't have stayed anywhere other students could see him. I wondered if Scott would have taken him to the boy's bathroom on the far side of the school where there was less foot traffic. Or, perhaps he would've led him to the locker room. Lydia had used it as a hookup spot with Aiden for a reason. Unless there was a practice going on it was usually left empty. Fortunately, both the bathroom and the locker room were in the same direction. I beckoned Kira to follow me.

"I promise my dad meant well," Kira's expression was full of guilt. "He's just been trying really hard to assert dominance over the other students, you know? He's afraid people won't take him seriously as a replacement teacher here. It's not like anyone knows him."

"It's not your dad's fault," I shrugged it off, trying to ease her concern. "Really, it's not like he knew Stiles would have trouble with it. It'll be okay."

She bit her lip. "Yeah. It's just hard. I know everyone knows I'm his daughter because he brings it up, like, every class. But it can be a bit much and I'm not that intense, I swear. I wouldn't want Scott to think, er, any of you guys to think I was, well... weird."

I chuckled. "Trust me, I know what you mean. My mom was a substitute teacher here briefly. And my grandfather was even the principal last year. That was when my family was still new to town too."

"Really?" Kira's eyebrows shot up.

"Really. So don't worry too much about it. Stiles will be okay." I tried not to grin too deviously as I leaned in closer. "And I can assure you that Scott does not think you're weird. He said you seemed nice."

"He did?"

I pretended not to notice the blush flaming across her cheeks. "He did."

"Speaking of Scott, I actually gave him a little research I did earlier. I printed out some stuff on Bardo, I thought it might help."