chapter thirty eight
she's with me

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

WHENEVER STILES Stilinski put his mind to something, he didn't stop until it was solved. And his mind was now wrapped up in all things Theo Raeken. For the rest of the night during Senior Scribe, Stiles would take any opportunity to pull Odessa Stone aside to talk to her about how weird Theo's sudden appearance was. And she agreed every time. Not because she wanted him to believe she agreed to leave her alone, but because she actually believed and agreed with him.

The morning after Senior Scribe was a long one due to the lack of sleep Odessa had gotten. They all had gotten home around 2 a.m., and alarms for schools went off around 7. Five hours of sleep. Not a good night's rest but also not a bad one.

Odessa hadn't told anyone but if she had to be honest, a good night's sleep was hard to come by the past couple of months. Whether it was a nightmare that woke her or her mind simply not wanting to rest. Sleep was just hard to come by for her.

The reason she hadn't brought it up to anyone? There really wasn't one. Everyone has had sleeping problems one time in their lives. Odessa didn't see the big deal or problem with dealing with things herself. Though she didn't really know how to deal with sleeping problems. She guessed the only way to deal with them is to sleep when she could or truly felt tired.

And that brought her to the present, where she was lagging behind a hyperactive Stiles, who was trying to explain his conversation with his Dad he had before school. Now that Odessa had a car, there was no real reason for Stiles to pick her up in the mornings. She missed it, of course, but now that he was her boyfriend she didn't have to use a carpool as a way to hang out with him anymore, they could just hang out whenever they wanted.

Along with her lagged pace was the hot August air around her that was seemingly sucking the life out of her. She guessed low rise jeans and a white tank top wasn't enough for her to beat the heat. Odessa also didn't understand why Stiles was wearing a sweatshirt in the California heat. Maybe he was just used to the weather. She still couldn't believe it, though.

All in all, it really wasn't Odessa's day.

"So," the blonde sighed deeply as she tried to keep up with her boyfriend's pace as they walked up the stairs to school, "let me get this straight. You ran a background check and all you found was a speeding ticket?"

"Speeding ticket signed by Theo's Dad eight years ago," Stiles clarified.

"Which means what?"

The Stilinski stopped his walking to face his girlfriend, "who speeds," at her confused face at his question, he answered for her, "people trying to get away from something."

Feeling sweat start to build on her forehead and the back of her neck, Odessa started to pull her hair back into a ponytail as she asked her next question, "okay, how many tickets do you have?"

"None."

Odessa gave her boyfriend a deadpan as she finished tying her hair up, not impressed with his answer, "how many would you have if your Dad didn't get you out of them?"

"Seventeen," the boy answered after a moment of thought.

The Stone sighed heavily, wanting to get her point across without making it seem she was against him, because she wasn't, "listen, lovie," she missed the uptick of his lips at the nickname she started using recently, "I understand you're worried because that's who you are. But do you actually have a plan...?"

Stiles firmed his stance as her question trailed off, "yes, I have a plan. There are steps to doing this right. Okay. We get the story. Verify the facts. You find the piece that doesn't fit and... and catch him in the act. That's how you do it."

Both teens turned their attention to a car door shutting ahead of them. Odessa watched with an unbothered, but straight face as Theo tugged his book bag over his shoulder and waved at the pair, a smile adorned on his face.

Completely ignoring his greeting, the blonde turned back to her boyfriend with an unimpressed expression, "his smile annoys me if that makes you feel any better."

Stiles chuckled at her statement, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to keep her to his side as they continued their walk to school, "yeah, I remember Theo from the fourth grade. That's not Theo," as his statement hung in the air, the boy couldn't help but glance at his girlfriend, who almost looked as though she wasn't listening to him anymore, "you okay?"

Odessa hummed in acknowledgment, giving him a close lipped smile, "yeah, just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Well, I hope your brain is awake right now, pretty girl, 'cause we got first period together!"

"Oh, joy."

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

How is it only the first day of school and Odessa already had homework given out in three of her classes? She thought senior year was supposed to be the easiest grade in high school. No more standardized tests or crazy assignments. The first day of school was already proving her wrong.

As the bell rang overhead as a five minute warning to get to class, Odessa started to replace her textbooks she had already used for ones she needed for her next classes. What was supposed to be a 30 second stop before going to class turned longer, however, when someone walked up to the locker next to hers.

"Hi."

Odessa Stone slowly closed her locker to face a smiling Theo Raeken. Oh, how she wanted to knock that smile off of his face so badly, "hello," she greeted back dryly, bringing her textbooks to her chest. Though she wasn't showing it, she was incredibly confused as to why he was talking to her in the first place.

"I couldn't help but notice your absence in AP Bio today," Theo recalled confidently, raising his brows.

Odessa scoffed a chuckle, still not understanding the point of his visit, "uh, yeah, I'm not in that class—or any AP classes. I'm just not cut out for it."

"I'm shocked," Theo shook his head in surprise, but Odessa wasn't impressed with his act, "I just thought a girl like you would be in all AP classes, you seem really smart."

Now he made a mistake, "Theo, are you insinuating that I'm not smart because I'm not taking AP classes?"

"N-No, I—"

"Because I think you are," the Stone then dropped her mockingly friendly smile, "listen, I don't know what you just tried to do there, but I'm seriously not in the mood."

Theo's innocently nice resolve didn't crumble under her harsh gaze or words, "I just wanted to see if you wanted a study partner for the year."

"I already have one," Odessa didn't hesitate to make clear. Glancing over Theo's shoulder, she couldn't help but smirk when seeing someone in particular watching them from down the hallway, "and, uh, he doesn't look too happy at the moment. Wonder why..."

At her mocking tone, Theo turned around to see Stiles Stilinski glaring daggers at him from down the hall. The hazel eyed boy had watched the whole interaction. And though he couldn't hear due to his lack of supernatural senses, he could see his girlfriend's attitude toward Theo from a mile away. It only made him admire her more, if that was even possible. As Odessa smiled sarcastically at Theo before walking away from him, Stiles couldn't help but think one thing.

He was proud to call Odessa his girl.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Odessa had a love—hate (mostly hate) relationship with the boy's locker room. Mostly hate due to the pungent odor the locker room had constantly. As in, the smell of teenage boy and sweat never goes away. Why was she in the boy's locker room in the first place, you may ask? Because Stiles wanted to use their free period to track down Theo and get some answers from him and dragged her and Scott along with him.

So there she was. In between Scott, who was standing in front of Theo, and Stiles, who was leaning against the lockers behind him with an unimpressed expression as they all listened to Theo's story. The blonde could tell Theo was apologetic of his actions earlier in the day, and she decided that if he did apologize, she would accept it. She couldn't speak for her boyfriend, though.

"I was skating in a neighbor's empty pool, trying to do a hand plant. Nobody was home. I'm not that good of a skateboarder, but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time. I didn't even realize that it was night until the yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool and I realized something. I never heard the board come back down. It came at me fast. I barely had a chance to turn around before it bit me. Right here," Theo motioned toward his abdomen as he recited his story.

"It wasn't an accident," Scott stated knowingly, "he wanted to turn you."

Stiles broke his silence from his spot against the lockers, his arms crossed, "right. So why aren't you part of his pack then? Why didn't he come back for you?"

"Because by the time of my first full Moon, he was dead."

"How did you know that," Odessa asked, shifting her stance as her feet started to grow tired.

"I met another one of his pack a couple weeks later," Theo recalled, speaking directly to the blonde, "he told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own Betas. They were twins."

Ethan and Aiden.

The three friends exchanged knowing glances, that also could be depicted as shock. They didn't expect to hear that, whether Theo was lying or not.

Observing their reactions, Theo shrugged, "Scott, listen to my pulse. I'm telling the truth."

"Right. Or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you're lying your ass off," Stiles suggested as he stepped closer, coming to Odessa's side, their arms brushing together slightly.

The girl in the room couldn't help but observe the reactions of the two boys in front of her. Scott gave his best friend almost a warning look, silently telling Stiles to give Theo a chance. And Theo just looked offended, maybe even a bit sad.

"Why would I lie?"

The Stilinski looked down at Theo's question, "because maybe you're not who you say you are."

"Okay," the Raeken plainly responded before turning back to Scott, "in the fourth grade you had an inhaler, I had one too. I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER. You were waiting for the Principal. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, an IV of prednisone. You made it sound easy. Like everything would be okay. I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own. I swear I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too."

At the silence in the room, Odessa couldn't help but break it with a slow sarcastic round of applause. She had no sympathy whatsoever, especially not today.

"That... was great," she smiled before turning to her boyfriend, "wasn't that great, babe," she put an emphasis on the nickname for a reason. She then looked back to Theo, who was watching her carefully, not understanding what she was doing, "everyone has a sob story. I have one of my own. But that doesn't make you trustworthy. Take it from me, I was in the dog house for weeks with this one," she nodded to Stiles. As the bell rang above them, she had one more thing to say before leaving the room, "a couple words about fourth grade mean nothing. It could mean something to Scott because he's soft. But I'm not," she took a step closer to Theo with unwavering eye contact, "you forget I'm also a werewolf. I have claws, too. Don't make me use them."

With that, Odessa Stone left the boy's locker room, leaving not one, not two, but three shocked boys in her wake. Shocked and a bit scared.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

As the rest of the school day went on, Odessa finally took a step back and surveyed her attitude. She wasn't normally someone to have an attitude with people and when she did, it was usually in defense of herself or her friends. But the way she acted with Theo in the locker room? She had never acted that way with anyone, ever. Those thoughts circling around her head kept her quiet for the remainder of the day leading up to a study session with her friends in the library.

The Stone was thankful that Scott didn't bring up her change of character when they reunited in the library, seeing as they didn't have many classes together this year. If she were being honest, she wanted to put what happened in the locker room behind her.

Though, while looking down at her homework, it was hard to think of anything but what happened.

The sound of paper being slammed on the table caught her attention as she looked up to see her boyfriend, who was waiting for reactions at what he found.

"So you found something," Scott leaned forward in his seat.

Stiles nodded urgently, "another signature," he pointed to the first paper, "this is Theo's Dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago. And this is his Dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago," he tapped on the second piece of paper.

"How did you get his transfer form," Kira asked with furrowed brows.

The McCall tilted his head in question at his best friend, "you didn't break into the Administration Office?"

"No, I did not break into the Administration Office," catching the unimpressed eye of his girlfriend, Stiles confessed, "okay, I might have broken into the Administration Office. Can we just focus on the signatures, please? They're different."

The four sitting teens looked closer at the two papers. Odessa could see a clear difference because signatures don't just change overtime, but she opted on staying silent due to her possibly being ignored.

"They're sort of different," Malia offered with a shrug.

"They're completely different. Come on. Look," the Stilinski stressed as he pointed out the differences, "the garlands don't match, the undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look, look at this. Perfect example of the Criminal Tremor."

"So now, Theo is Theo, but his parents aren't his parents?"

"Someone's not someone," Stiles nodded at Kira's question, ignoring the skepticism in her tone, "and when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble."

Odessa gave her boyfriend a slow nod at his words as Scott pointed out, "but no one's done anything wrong."

"Yet," the Stilinski exclaimed as quietly as he could in the library, "if Theo's parents are both psychotic killers then obviously, we should not trust him, right?"

"My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf."

Odessa nodded after Malia, "yeah and I was practically raised by killers in a facility."

Stiles' eye physically twitched at their words, "okay," he trailed, rubbing his forehead in agitation, "it's fine. You know what? I'll figure this out myself. Right," he picked up the papers and pointed to everyone in front of him, "I don't need you or you or you or you. I don't need anyone!"

As Odessa only rolled her eyes and went back to her homework, she looked up to see her friends looking at her in shock. They thought she would've been more upset about her boyfriend saying he didn't need her, but she knew better. Giving them a knowing smile, the blonde held up her hand and counted down from 3.

3

2

1

Loud footsteps could be heard coming toward them once again before they heard Stiles Stilinski retract his statement with panic in his tone, "I do need you, babe. Get your stuff, let's go."

Not giving him a verbal response, Odessa sent her friends a small bow and followed her boyfriend out of the library once her stuff was packed. She never had doubts when it came to him.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Did Odessa think she would be spending her Monday night following Theo through the woods with Stiles and Liam? No. Did she mind? Surprisingly, no.

If she were being honest, she was tagging along for selfish reasons along with wanting to help her boyfriend prove his theory. She wanted to know why Theo made her so wound up all of a sudden just with his presence. This was definitely something to do with her Ember powers. The blonde just wished she had someone to tell her about her abilities that wasn't the internet.

Odessa also came because she wanted to spend some quality time with Liam, something she wanted to do more of.

As the three watched Theo take a package out of his trunk from their spot in the bushes, Stiles muttered, "I told you he was up to something."

"We just spent three hours watching this dude play video games in his bedroom," Liam recalled in annoyance at what they were doing before going to the woods, "he better be out here covering up a mass murder."

Odessa only shrugged, "let's find out, shall we?"

With the Stone leading, she made sure her footsteps were inaudible as she used her werewolf senses to keep Theo's scent in her grasp, though she didn't need it. Due to the heavy rain from the night before, the mud on the ground gave away his footsteps with muddy shoe prints giving his movements.

"What," she heard Stiles ask behind her, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn around, "what's wrong?"

Odessa walked back to the boys as Liam answered, "I forgot, I was supposed to meet Mason at the school gym."

The older teens exchanged quick glances before the boy of the two shrugged, "okay, why didn't you just tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"Anything."

"I can't just tell him anything?"

"Why not?"

"Because I haven't," Liam shoved his hands in his pockets, "I haven't told him everything."

Odessa furrowed her brow, breaking her silence, "still? Liam, we said it was okay."

"Yeah, I know, but it's not that easy," Liam stressed, not meeting their eyes, "it's a lot to accept."

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the excuse, "he watched my Dad blow up a Berserker with a land mine. I think the groundwork's been pretty thoroughly laid for acceptance. Scott and I have been through this. Okay? More than once," the boy glanced at his girlfriend for a moment, "it's always been better when they know."

His words brought the blonde back to her first few weeks at Beacon Hills when she, Stiles and Scott were talking about telling the former boy's Dad about the supernatural. It was the first time Odessa and Stiles really bonded—the first time she was really there for him.

"But what if he freaks out," Liam called out to the older teens that started walking again. He quickly followed after them, "what if he doesn't want to talk to me? What if he tries to stab me with something silver? Or what if—"

Odessa stopped in her tracks once again at the loud thud that sounded from behind her. She glanced at her boyfriend, who matched her bewildered expression, and turned around only to see empty woods, no Liam in sight. The couple looked down a couple feet away from them to see Liam standing a couple feet below them, now covered in dirt.

"What the hell are you doing," Stiles hissed, trying to keep his voice down. When Liam only gave him a shrug in response, he sighed, "I... there he is."

At her boyfriend's whisper, Odessa turned her head to the side, seeing Theo starting to walk somewhere ahead of them. The pair quickly left Liam to get out of the hole to hide behind a nearby tree. When Liam joined them, Stiles told him to catch his scent as they watched Theo stand on a bridge, staring at the water below.

"Get anything?"

Liam shrugged at Stiles' question, "soap. It's nice. It smells good."

"Not his soap, his emotional state," the older boy reiterated, "chemo signals, remember?"

"He's sad," Odessa observed, keeping her eyes on the boy in front of her, using her Ember side, "remorseful—he's grieving."

Stiles furrowed his brow in thought at her words, "grieving," as he watched Theo throw a flower over the bridge, his eyes widened, "oh, my God," he grabbed Liam's shoulders, "go! We have to go. Odie, come on."

"What? Why?"

"Go! Right now," the hazel eyed boy evaded the Beta's questions and started speed walking, making sure his girlfriend was with him, "just go," as the three started to walk back to the Jeep, Stiles explained his reaction, "that's the bridge where they found his sister. The one who got lost and died from exposure. He's leaving a flower for her."

Odessa winced, "ooh, lovie, you messed up big time."

"I know!"

Before the three could continue on their way, seeing a person above them stopped them from going any further. From his stance in the tree, Theo jumped down successfully and stood up straight, smiling at the teens in front of him.

"What are you guys doing," Theo asked walking toward, causing Liam to let out a low growl, "whoa. Why do I get the feeling this kid's tougher than he looks?"

Stiles put his hand on Liam's shoulder in assurance, "only when we let him off his leash."

"Stiles," the Raeken scoffed with a smile, "we were in Little League together. Why are you so suspicious of me?"

Why should Little League mean anything in this situation, Odessa thought, but chose to stay silent, wanting her boyfriend to fight his own battles.

After a moment, Stiles dug in his pocket, "because of these," he passed the folded papers to Theo and explained himself, "one's a speeding ticket signed by your Dad eight years ago. The other one's a signature on a transfer form to Beacon High. They're different."

"Huh," Theo hummed, observing the papers, "yeah, they do look a little different."

"No, they're totally different. Signed by two different people."

Theo let out a chuckle, "so my Dad's not my Dad? Like he's an imposter?"

"Yeah, something like that," Liam interjected with a nod.

Odessa could tell through this conversation that Theo was beginning to actually sound and look pretty offended, "who do you think I am?"

"We don't know yet."

"Want me to give you a DNA sample or something?"

"No. I don't have anything from the fourth grade to match it to."

Even Odessa couldn't help but sigh at her boyfriend's words. That made him sound a bit obsessive. She knew he wasn't and she couldn't help but wonder how the conversation got turned on Stiles in the first place.

Theo bowed his head, disappointment in his tone, "you know, Stiles, I came back here for Scott... but I also came back for you. Someone like you. Someone who's willing to walk into the woods in the middle of the night to protect his friends. I don't have anyone like that, but Scott does. You all do. I know I'm in the right place. I'm meant to be here. I'm meant to be part of this pack."

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Even though Odessa thought most of Theo's words were complete bull, she couldn't help but agree with his words about Stiles. He was by far one of the best people she had ever met and it was true when Theo said about Stiles being practically the most loyal person to his friends. That was what kept thinking about on her way back to the Jeep.

As Stiles' Jeep came into view, another vehicle with another person next to the car caught the three off guard. Odessa sighed at the sight of Scott waiting for them. She knew this wasn't going to be good.

"Find anything," as soon as the question left the McCall's mouth, Odessa didn't like his tone. It was like he already knew the answer.

Stiles shook his head before going over to his Jeep, "nope."

At the silence, Liam took it upon himself to break it, trying to defuse the tension, "I fell in a hole."

Odessa chuckled at his words and ruffled his hair before moving toward the Jeep where her boyfriend presided in the driver's seat. She ignored Scott's presence when he walked up next to her while he asked, "it was the bridge where his sister died, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was," Stiles answered shortly, putting his key in the ignition, "very embarrassing. So we are gonna leave now," the engine sputtered as the boy tried to start his car with no avail, "son of a... Liam, do me a favor, get in the car and turn the ignition when I say."

Odessa let her boyfriend pass her on his way to the front hood of his Jeep to try and restart the engine. Once the hood was popped and secured, Stiles got to work, ignoring everyone around him.

"Stiles."

"Be with you in a minute."

Odessa's chest started to grow heavy with anxiety as her eyes moved from Scott to Stiles nervously. Once Liam was told to try the engine and it failed again, Scott tried again.

"Stiles."

"Yes," the Stilinski lifted his head from the hood, "okay, we followed him out here. What do you want me to say? That I'm a stalker, huh? That I'm crazy, totally paranoid? None of this is new information."

Before Odessa could counter his words, Scott beat her to it, "now you're gonna try to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Stiles stopped his work to defend himself, "I give people the benefit of the doubt. I've given a lot of benefit to a lot of people."

The Alpha couldn't help but purse his lips, ignoring the blonde's warning look from next to him, "like Derek? Kira? Liam? Odie?"

"Okay, don't bring Odie into this," Stiles stopped his work at his girlfriend's name even though the girl in question was in front of him, "she's my girlfriend, for God's sake. And I was right about Peter. Try it again," the engine sputtered but didn't start, only agitating Stiles further, "you know, I bet you still think that there's something about him that can be saved."

"Maybe."

Stiles exhaled at his best friend's answer before yelling to Liam, "try it again," the engine sputtered but didn't start once again.

Not paying any mind to his growing anger, Scott calmly asked, "why can't you trust anyone?"

"Because you trust everyone!"

Odessa couldn't help but flinch at the volume of her boyfriend's voice as he punched the hood of the car. She felt her nose burn with incoming tears. She had never seen him so angry. And she wasn't scared—she was sad. Sad for him.

Swallowing thickly, the Stone broke her silence, "are you okay?"

At the sound of her voice, Stiles faltered, even with the pain he felt, "I'm fine, babe."

"Let me see it."

At Scott's words, Odessa instantly put her foot down. She was done being silent for the night, "no. Scott, you've done enough," she stepped in front of Scott to face Stiles completely, "let me see, please," her voice was gentle and welcoming, compelling Stiles to give her his hand. Grasping his one hand in her two, the blonde took his pain, inhaling sharply at the sensation. When she was done, she didn't pull away, only holding his hand tighter.

As soon as he squeezed her hand back, the Jeep sputtered to a start, it's headlights shining brightly, casting a spotlight on their conjoined hands.

At that moment, Odessa didn't care about the last 10 minutes or the firm eyes of Scott watching them. It was just him and her.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

this chapter was long only because of all the monologues theo had omfg
also there is a reason for odie acting
like a lil bit of a bitch in this chapter
and that will be explained later in the
season. hope u guys enjoyed !!
pls comment & vote <3