Castle [STILES STILINSKI]

SIXTEEN

"Your love thawed out what was scared and cold."
Like A Virgin; Madonna
-/-

"Nah, I thought this was gym class."

Stiles sighed in frustration at the girl sitting in Morrell's office, giving them a snarky comeback. "Sweetheart," Lydia said sweetly, "We're not in the mood for funny. Do you know where Ms. Morrell is?"

The girl, Danielle, shrugged her shoulders. "If I did, I wouldn't be waiting here for 20 minutes," she spat back, "Now, you three, back out the door and wait your turn."

"We're not here for a session," Sabrina told her. Danielle rolled her eyes. "Well I am. And I've got some serious issues to work on..."

Lydia's glare looked like she was about to pounce on the girl, but Stiles put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you're Danielle, right? Heathers best friend."

"I was Heather's best friend," she spat in response, "We've been working on that issue three times a week..."

Lydia's eyebrows suddenly drew together, her eyes flitting from Stiles to Danielle. "Hold on, did you say Ms. Morrell was 20 minutes late?"

Danielle nodded her head, shrugging, "And I don't know why either. She's always on time." Sabrina and Stiles looked at Lydia, awaiting her response.

"I was seeing her at the beginning of the semester, and she was never late," the strawberry blonde agreed. Sabrina bit her lip. "Then she's not late." Stiles nodded.

"She's missing."

Lydia let out a little breath. "What if we're not the only ones who think she knows something?" she realized, her eyes wide. Stiles pressed his lips into a thin line before saying, "Then I want to know what she knows."

He shrugged off his backpack and knelt beside the desk, yanking open one of the drawers. Stiles started to rummage through it. Danielle leaned forward, saying, "Those files are private!"

Lydia bit her lip, conflicted, before she nodded too. "Yeah, she's... She's kinda right." Stiles held one up, not looking at them. "This one's yours."

Lydia's scowl disappeared and she tilted her head. "Let me see that." The two ginger haired girls leaned over the manila folder, flipping through Lydia's file. Danielle leaned forward a little in her seat to look over their shoulders.

Sabrina suddenly slapped a hand on the paper, capturing Stiles' attention as well as Lydia's. "That's your drawing," she said, frowning down at the notebook paper. Lydia glanced at her, deadpanning, "Yeah. It's a tree."

"A good one too," Danielle commented. Lydia gave her a small, flattered smile. "Thank you."

"No, but it's the same one," Sabrina continued, her fingers pointing at the tree. Stiles frowned, leaning over her shoulder to see the drawing. "Same as what?" Lydia asked, staring at her friend.

"The same exact one I see you drawing all the time," the redhead responded, rolling her eyes. She held up her wrist, where there was a small ink smudge. "You drew it on my wrist in Calculus."

Lydia pursed her lips. "I like drawing trees," she defended, shrugging. Sabrina sighed in frustration, closing her eyes. "No, it's- Let me see your bag," she said, already starting to pull the bag off of Lydia's shoulder.