bittersweet → stiles stilinski

six

six

warnings: none? mentions of rejection I guess. I don't even think it's worth putting in the warnings but oh well.

★

Stiles

I was sitting on one of the chairs in the school gymnasium that had temporarily been transformed for the Winter Formal - and then Valerie Thomas sat down in the chair next to me.

"Don't you hate me?" I asked, too confused about her choice of seat to stop myself.

She nodded. "Oh, I very much do."

"Why are you talking to me then?"

"Because," she said, "even though I absolutely despise your company, I'm too intrigued to resist asking. How in the world did Stiles Stilinski convince Lydia Martin to go to the Winter Formal with him? Depending on the answer you might actually win some of my respect."

I sighed. "I didn't. Allison made her go with me to make up for the fact that she made out with Scott."

Valerie snorted. "Wow. She's going with you as a punishment? I'm losing respect for you, not gaining any."

"You're losing respect for me?" I asked, turning towards her. "I didn't think you had any to begin with."

"No. You're right, I didn't. It's just going into the negative numbers now." She smirked before taking a sip of her punch.

"So..." she started, breaking the awkward silence that had followed. "Where is she now?"

I sighed again, looking down at my hands. "Looking for the person she was meant to go with." I didn't have to say who it was, Valerie knew. Heck, I knew that even if it seemed differently, Lydia and Jackson had real, deep feelings for each other.

"Figures," she said.

The silence returned.

"Do you have a date?" I asked before I could stop myself. I thought she was going to respond with some witty comeback, but she just shook her head.

"No. I don't. Why are you asking?"

"Well..." I looked over at her. She was wearing a short black dress with bell-sleeves. Her hair was curled and she was wearing dark red lipstick, purple eyeshadow that matched the purple in her hair, and winged eyeliner. Her heels were tall enough so that she'd probably be taller than me if she stood up, which was weird to imagine. I'd never seen her this dressed up before. "This doesn't really seem like your scene," I said.

She nodded. "Yeah, you're right about that."

"So why are you here then? I mean, if you don't have a date."

She shrugged. "I don't know. My dad thought it would be a good idea. I guess I hoped the music would be good. But unsurprisingly, it sucks," she said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. The gesture made me furrow my brows in thought.

Now, Valerie and I may not be very good friends, (or friends at all), but I've known her for long enough to be able to tell when she was lying - and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear was her tell.

I had no idea why she was lying, or what of what she said that was a lie. I could call her out on it, but as I said, we weren't friends. It's none of my business if she lied or not, so I just decided to let it go.

"McCall! I see you!"

Coach's screams snapped me out of my thoughts, and they seemed to catch Valerie's attention as well. "Come here, buddy. Come here. McCall! Get out of my way! McCall!"

Scott runs past us, Coach still hot on his tail, screaming at him.

Then Coach seems to struggle to get past a couple of dancing students, and Scott took his chance and stopped at the table Danny's sitting at. Scott urgently tries to tell him something, but Danny doesn't seem to understand what he wants. Finally, Scott just gives up and drags him up to the dance floor. Placing Danny's hands on his waist and putting his arms around his neck.

"Is McCall really pretending that Danny is his date?" asked Valerie, a bit stunned. I lost her respect but it seemed like Scott was gaining it.

"It would seem so, yeah," I said, smiling. I loved Scott, but he wasn't always the smartest person, so I was proud to see him find a way out of this.

"Mccall! You're not supposed to–What the hell are you do–What the hell are you doing?"

We didn't seem to be the only one who were watching them anymore. The chaos had drawn nearly everyone's attention. They had all stopped dancing in favor of seeing what was going on.

Scott tightened his grip on Danny, furrowing his brows in confusion, (faking it this time). "Yes, coach?"

Realizing what it looks like to everyone watching, Coach starts to shake his arms in dismissal. "Okay, ho, ho, ho, ha, ha. Hold on, you– I was just saying he's not supposed to– I mean, I wasn't saying that he shouldn't– You guys don't think." Coach starts making frantic noises. Trying to convince everyone that he's not against the couple. "You don't– I– I was– Just dance, everybody. Just dance! Dance! It's a party!" And he walked off. Scott immediately thanked Danny and went off to find Allison. When he did, she took his hand smiling, and they went up to the dance floor and started slow dancing.

"I didn't know McCall had it in him," said Valerie, still stunned.

"Me neither," I admitted.

We sat there together in silence until the slow song ended, and a more upbeat one followed.

Valerie seemed to mumble something under her breath, before sighing and standing up. "Okay," she said, "I know both of us don't like each other, but we're also both having a crappy time. So can we just make the best out of it, put this rivalry aside for one night and just dance?" she asked, reaching her hand out for me to take.

I was stunned, to say the least. If someone told me yesterday that Valerie Thomas would ask me to dance at the Winter Formal, I would've thought they were insane. But sitting here in the moment - I wanted to dance with her. The past few minutes had been the only ones since the beginning of 5th grade where Valerie hadn't looked at me like I killed her grandma, and it was... nice.

I opened my mouth and closed it again, still unsure of how to say yes, when my eyes narrowed on something behind her back. It was Jackson. I could see him walking out of the hall, but something was off. I couldn't describe what, but I had a really bad feeling. Then I saw Lydia walking out as well, following him.

I stood up. "Uh, yes- I would love to dance, but there's just something I need to take care of first. I won't be gone long, er- just wait here."

Valerie sighed, but nodded and sat down again. I shoot her a quick apologetic smile before sprinting off towards the exit.

When I reached the door, I looked over my shoulder at Valerie one last time. She was sitting on the chair, drinking her punch, looking to be in a way worse mood than before. I felt a small pang in my chest - knowing it was my fault.

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