Barely Breathing | Book Three/Season Three A

4

chapter 4

the devil is a woman with claws

"Alara, time for school." I hear Stiles' dad say in a low voice. I squint my eyes, trying to keep out as much light as possible. Above me stands Noah Stilinski in full uniform with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Oh, good morning Mr. Stilinski." I mumble as I sit up and see Stiles and Scott sleeping. Stiles is sprawled out on the floor and Scott is in the desk chair, papers and books surrounding both of them.

"What were ya'll doing so late last night?" He asks, stepping back as I sit up and kick my legs over the side of the bed. I notice that I'm wearing Stiles' t-shirt and boxers, and so does Noah. I look down shyly and hear him laugh.

"Not me. Just them. You know how they get fixated on stuff. I don't even know what it is this time, I just tag along." I joke, laughing slightly.

Noah lets out a soft laugh before loudly saying, "Boys!"

Stiles and Scott jump up, papers still sticking to Stiles' face. I giggle, causing Stiles to look over at me, still dazed from his deep sleep.

"I have to get to work. You three, get to school." Noah says, pointing to us before exiting the room.

"Ten hours and nothing." Stiles complains, standing up and kicking a stack of papers.

"We're gonna find something." Scott reassures him, nodding his head once.

"Finding something doesn't make Erica any less dead. Or Boyd any less about-to-be-dead." Stiles continues to speak as he picks papers up off of his floor.

He stops briefly to place a quick kiss on my cheek before continuing his clean up.

"Well, we still have time." Scott continues to be optimistic. Apparently, Stiles isn't feeling positive today.

"Is this whole, like, remain optimistic in the face of complete and utter disaster thing a part of the be a better Scott Mccall program?" Stiles asks sarcastically.

"Uh, not if it doesn't work."

"No, Scott, it works." I assure him, rising to my feet and walking over to Stiles before wrapping my arms around his torso from behind and popping my head around his shoulder. "Stiles is just an extreme pessimist today."

Stiles takes in a deep breath and squeezes one hand over both of mine before something on the ground catches his attention.

I release my hold on him, knowing he's wanting to pick up the paper that he's staring at.

"Dad! Dad!" He shouts, leaving the paper and running out of the room.

Scott picks it up and I watch as realization washes over his face before he turns the paper to me.

On it is a picture of his dad arresting the man that broke into Beacon Hills First National bank.

-

I watch as Stiles jogs over to my side of the Jeep and opens the door for me, and I guess also Scott.

I jump down and he intertwines our fingers before pecking my lips.

"All right, so we meet at Derek's at 5:00 to go over the plan and then we don't get started until dark." Scott tells us as we start our walk to the school.

"Kay, what do we do 'till then?" Stiles questions.

"Well, right now we've got English." I answer, trying to remind the two boys that we're still teenagers with teenager things we have to do.