The Awakening ²|Isaac Lahey

27. Tickets

After their practice, Veronica asked Danny if he had any extra tickets, Danny was going to say something when Coach Finstock slammed open the door.

"Can anybody tell me where the hell Jackson is and why he missed morning practice?"

Stiles looked at Mattheo in disbelief. "I thought I told you to keep an eye on him."

Finstock heard Stiles, and then targeted him,"Stilinski! Jackson?"

"Sorry, coach, I haven't seen him since the last time I saw him." Stiles said which made a crinkle appear between Veronica's eyebrows.

"Oh. And when was that?" Finstock asked.

"Last time I saw him? Was definitely the time I saw him last." He said awkwardly. Scott turned to look at him as Mattheo got very confused and Veronica banged her head loudly against the lockers.

"Again. Danny, tell Jackson no missing practice this close to the championships, okay?"

"Sure coach."

Coach stood up and looked around. "That goes for all of you. I should be coaching college."

"Sorry, but I only got two myself." Danny said.

Veronica gave him a soft smile. "It's okay." She said to him.

"What- do you even have a date yet?"

"Do you?" Veronica said looking at him.

"I'm working on it." Danny said.

"Okay okay. Hear me out." Stiles said. Veronica rolled her eyes and mumbled to herself in Spanish and turned away from him. "You give us the tickets, and you devote your life to abstinence and just-"

He was cut off by Isaac Lahey grabbing he and Scott's jerseys. "How do you two losers even survive?"

"I've been wondering that exact same thing lately." Veronica said quietly with a soft laugh. She had cut herself and stopped. It was embarrassing how giddy she got around Isaac. He had let go of both of the boys and put his arms on Veronica's shoulder.

"What are we supposed to do?" Scott said. "No one's even selling."

Veronica pointed at someone giving somebody a ticket with a soft smile to her boyfriend. Isaac moved forward and patted Stiles's chest. "Wait here, boys."

"God he's ho- oh!" Veronica watched Isaac beat up the kid in shock just to get the tickets. "He's so hot. It's not fair."

"Yep. That's excessive." Stiles had said. "That'll bruise. Wow.. okay."

Isaac came back with four tickets for the whole group, and grabbed Veronica's hand as he turned around. "enjoy the show." He said as the two walked off.

Veronica turned around to look at the boys while mouthing,"So hot!" She turned around with a bright big smile.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she noticed this was not the way to homeroom class.

"I think that you could use a break." Isaac said, leading out of the doors and onto the Lacrosse field.

"I feel like now is the perfect time to tell you, I'm not very good at lacrosse."

Isaac laughed. And she loved that laugh. He turned to her with a smile once they were in the middle of the field. "When was the last time you helped yourself."

Veronica let out a breathy laugh. "What?" She asked like it was the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard.

"Honestly." Isaac said to her.

She went to answer. But she couldn't. "I quit my jobs.."

"That helped you?"

She was silent before shaking her head. "I don't need help." Veronica said to him, Isaac gave her a look."So what? I think too much sometimes. I can't breathe sometimes. I can barely sleep. And I am scared. That's normal things for a teenager to feel without throwing into the mix murders, and dead parents. And psychotic family members and everything supernatural. It's normal."

"None of that is your fault. So why should he feel guilty about it?" He asked her.

"I don't." Veronica said. "Why should I? All of that I could blame on a single person." She said. "If you want the truth... I'm terrified. Of-of Jackson. Of the Kanima. Of the person controlling him. I'm scared of you. I'm scared to let you in.. I'm scared of all of this. Okay? I'm... I'm scared."

Isaac grabbed her hand. "it's okay to be scared.."

Veronica shook her head. "I never wanted any of this.. I want to be normal.." She looked up at him,"I've never known what it's like to be normal. I'll never know." Isaac wiped his thumb under her eyes, that's when Veronica realized she was crying silently. Isaac's hands both slid to cup her jaw.

"You saved Derek and Stiles at that pool." Isaac said. "You couldn't have done that if you were normal."

"The amount of magic I used then drained me." Veronica said, stubbornly.

"You figured out it was Jackson." He added.

Veronica shook her head. "It made sense. He was there, and Lydia came out alone." Veronica said.

"You've helped me."

"No you helped me, remember? When Gerard stabbed me." Veronica said.

Isaac let out a laugh at her stubborness. He kissed the top of her nose. She had every urge to fall and drop on her knees and just cry as hard as she could. She deserved it. But she just couldn't. It didn't matter how she felt or the urges she had. Not when Jackson was walking around being forced to murder people. She has to be the protector of Beacon Hills now. This was her job.

She pushed it down. Again. She breathed. She closed her eyes and let Isaac wipe away her tears. She could not lose control. She looked up at him. She gave him a smile. It was tired, but it was a smile,"I'm okay." She said in quiet voice. She was okay.

Isaac looked around the field and back at Veronica with a wicked smile. "We are skipping school today." Veronica went to object but Isaac put his finger against her lips. "Not up for negotiation." He said with a smile.

Veronica gave a curt nod and Isaac removed his finger. "Do that again and I will literally bite your finger off." She said to him.

"Sure you will." Isaac said arrogantly as he walked away. Veronica didn't follow him so he went back and pulled here by her hand. "So, where did you park?"

Veronica smiled. Now this. This was a real smile. Veronica hadn't felt grateful to have a person beside her for a very long time. And she was very happy that it was Isaac.