┌────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┐

└────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┘

Tara ended up getting detention for how late she was to Chem, thanks Jackson. She got a lecture on time management and was publicly embarrassed. She never did see Jackson come back in, but she wasn't as shocked as she should've been. She was still mentally deciding if she should tell the rest about their little conversation but.. it felt private. Their own little trauma talk. It wasn't that important anyway.

She was now in Economics class, she had gotten there earlier than anyone else. It was her favorite class since Coach taught it, that being said it was most students least favorite class for that specific reason. The rest of the students walked in as the final bell rung. Scott going to sit next to Tara and Stiles going to sit behind her.

"Stiles, sit behind me." Scott whisper-yelled to Stiles who hadn't sat down yet, as he saw Allison go for the seat. Stiles put on foot on the chair but Allison made it before Stiles could fully take the seat. Stiles gave her an awkward smile before sitting in his original seat, shooting Scott an apologetic look.

"Hey." Allison said to Scott who took a breath before looking at her. "I haven't seen you all day."

"Uh, yeah. I've been, uh, super busy." Scott stuttered over himself, Tara pretended not to eavesdrop.

"When are you gonna get your phone fixed? I feel like I'm totally disconnected from you." Allison said with her polite smile. Tara hated that smile.

"Uh, soon. Real soon." Scott answered trying to keep his answers short but not rude.

"I change lab partners, by the way." Allison informed Scott.

"Oh, to who?" Scott asked.

"To you, dummy." Allison teased confused.

"Me?" Scott asked confused making Tara cringe. "I mean, are you sure." 

"Yeah." Allison said now as confused as Scott. "This way I have an excuse to bring you home and study."

"Oh." Scott said trying to hide his fear.

"You don't mind, do you?" Allison asked hesitant.

"I just- I don't want to bring your grade down." Scott lied, it honestly was a good lie. Scott's grade isn't that great in Chem. Tara had tried multiple times to help him but it was a lost cause.

"Well, I mean, maybe I can bring your grade up." Allison suggested making Tara focus more intently on her desk and Stiles roll his eyes. "Come to my place tonight. 8:30."

"Tonight?" Scott asked surprised.

"8:30." Allison confirmed.

Before the conversation could continue and Scott could embarrass himself further, Coach slammed a book down on his desk getting everyone's attention. "Let's settle down. Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading."

"Greenburg, put your hand down we already know you did the reading." Coach said in a disgusted tone. "How about uh.."

Tara tried to avoid Coaches eyes because she didn't do the reading, because she never does the reading. Vivian does and tells her about it at Chem, but Tara missed most of Chem. She could also see some people around her avoiding Coach as well including... "McCall."

Tara glanced over at Scott who was still in his own little world when his name was called. "What?"

"The reading." Coach reminded Scott.

"Last night's reading?" Scott clarified in a way that made Tara know he didn't get a chance to read.

"How about, uh, the reading of The Gettysburg Address." Coach said, Tara could feel the impending insults that Coach gave out and really made Tara debate why someone let him teach children.

"What?" Scott asked confused and not seeing where the conversation was going.

"That's sarcasm." Coach said looking at Scott as if he was an idiot. "You familiar with the term 'sarcasm' McCall?"

"Very." Scott said looking back at Stiles who was supporting a proud smile, making Tara huff out a quiet laugh.

"Did you do the reading or not?" Coach asked fed up of the little game.

"Um... I-I think I forgot." Scott said opening and then closing his book.

"Nice work, McCall. It's not like you're not averaging a 'D' in this class. Come on buddy." Coach said walking closer to Scott's desk. "You know I can't you on the team if you have a 'D'."

Scott nodded looking embarrassed and a little scared as Coach continued. "How about you summarize, uh, the previous nights reading."

"No." Scott said quietly shaking his head and Tara didn't need the phone to know Scott's heart rate was going up.

"How about the, uh, night before that?" Coach said again trying to give Scott something but getting silence. "How about you summarize anything you've ever read... in your entire life."

Coach was right at Scott's desk and leaning into his space, his voice raising. Tara didn't know how to fix or solve this and just had to watch the train wreck.

"I--I, uh." Scott stuttered looking around the room and starting to panic.

"No? A blog?" Coach asked again getting silence. "How about, uh, how about, uh, the back of a cereal box."

Coach was getting louder and louder and was now pacing along the classroom. Starting to publicly humiliate poor Scott.

"I heard the cereal makes you dumber." Tara interjected, she had heard it from her aunt's girlfriend. She wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar. Luckily they were both in New York so, as her parents say, they couldn't rub off on her. They say the same thing about her gay grandpa.

"What?" Coach asked stopping and starting at Tara, bewildered. He was still seething but at least he was off of Scott. "Tara, you and I are going to have a talk in my office soon. But right now Mr. McCall still has to answer my question."

"How about adults only warning from your favorite website you visit every night?" Coach added back in Scott's face. "Anything?"

"Thank you, McCall, thank you." Coach said not meaning a word, pounding a hand on his desk. "Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. Just blew it up for everybody. Thanks. Next practice you can start with suicide runs. Unless that's too much reading."

Tara looked over at Scott, worried as always. When she saw him he looked normal, no wolfy parts in sight. Scott then looked slightly behind him and Tara followed his eyes and saw that Allison was laying on her desk while her hand was holding Scott's underneath.

Tara swallowed, her mouth suddenly very dry.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

"Tell me!" Vivian whisper yelled to Sydney, who was desperately trying to get away from her. "Who did Derek want you to stay away from."

"No one. Drop it." Sydney said trying to make her voice cold but not being able to keep the nervousness out of it.

"Stop lying to me." Vivian said have to speed walk to keep up with the werewolf. Before Vivian could interrogate more Scott, Stiles, and Tara busted through the doors in front of them.

"Scott, I've never been more happy to see you." Sydney said finally being able to avoid Vivian's insistent questioning.

"It's her." Stiles said to the tow just joining the conversation.

"Explain please." Vivian said walking next to Stiles with Tara on the other side and Scott and Sydney behind them.

"Remember what Scott told us about the night of the full moon?" Stiles asked getting a few slow nods. He turned to Scott. "You were thinking about her. Right? About protecting her."

"Okay." Scott said starting to understand.

"Remember the night of the first lacrosse game?" Stiles asked again. "You said you could hear her voice out on the field."

"Yeah, I did." Scott said agreeing. Sydney thought back, she had also wanted to protect Vivian. She also wanted to protect Stiles, Lydia, Mikayla, the list goes on. Scott had that one person who helped him. Sydney hadn't found one of those yet.

"Well, so that's what brought you back so you could score." Stiles explained getting a hesitant nod from Scott. "And then after the game in the locker room, you didn't kill her. At least not like you were trying to kill us."

"She brings him back." Vivian said understanding, with a small look at the quiet Tara.

"No, no, no, but it's not always true, because literally every time I'm kissing her or-or touching her.." Scott explained exasperated.

"No, that's not the same. When you're doing that, you're just another hormonal teenager thinking about sex, you know?" Stiles said again to him, the women all not wanting to be in the conversation.

"That's my sign to leave-" Vivian said trying to walk away only for Stiles to grab her arm and pull her back to his side.

"Nope, you're the only one who is understanding." Stiles said his hand lingering on her wrist.

"You're thinking about sex right now." Sydney accused pointing at Scott.

"Yeah, sorry." Scott said with a dopey smile.

"That's fine, look, back in the classroom when she was holding her hand, that was different, okay?" Stiles explained for what seemed like the 10th time. "I don't think she makes you weak. I-I think she actually gives you control."

"She's kinda like an anchor." Tara said talking for the first time in the conversation.

"You mean because I love her." Scott asked with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Exactly." Stiles said all of them stopping in the middle of the hallway at this realization.

"Did I just say that?" Scott asked with wide eyes staring at Tara.

"Yes, you just said that." Tara said with a small, forced smile. Scott then looked away and his lips slowly turned up into a smile.

"I love her." Scott said confirming it to himself.

"That's great. Now, moving on..." Vivian said trying to change the subject.

"No, no, no, no, really. I think I'm totally in love with her." Scott said his smile getting wider.

"And that's beautiful. Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please?" Stiles said, not being able to tell if Scott was actually listening. "Because you obviously can't be around her all the time."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry." Scott said, his face getting serious again. "So, what do I do?"

Vivian sighs and Stiles rubs his hand over his face, both taking a moment to think. "We don't know."

"Yet." Stiles added. Sydney sighed in frustration, at least Scott knew the exact person who helped him control himself. She also got the feeling that he was hiding something but she wrote that off. Why would he hide something.

Stiles started to sway and spun slowly for a minute before looking back at the 4. He had this look in his eye, one that they all recognized.

"Oh no. You're getting an idea aren't you." Tara said with justifiable worry in her voice, and maybe a little excitement.

"Yeah." Stiles said nodding with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Is this idea gonna get me in trouble?" Scott asked getting Stiles eyes to solely focus on him.

"Maybe." Stiles answered.

"Is this idea gonna cause any of us physical pain?" Sydney asked next, getting an immediate nod from Stiles.

"Yeah, definitely." Stiles said walking away.

"Let's follow the man." Vivian said doing as she said with Tara by her side. Scott and Sydney looked at each other with slight fear before doing as the other two.

"Come on."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

"What are we doing?" Vivian asked now in the parking lot with Stiles and the rest. Stiles still not having explained what the plan was.

"You'll see, hold on." Stiles said as they approached a car. He then stopped Scott and stepped in front of him. The others standing to the side.

"Okay. Stand right there. Do you have your keys?" Stiles asked, Scott pulled out his keys and Stiles positioned them in Scott's hand to where the key was pointed to the sky and it clicked in Vivians head.

"He's insane." Vivian mumbled to herself getting a confused look from Sydney.

"What's he going to do?" Tara asked only giving Vivian a quick look before looking back at Stiles and Scott.

"You'll see." Vivian said giving her a nervous glance before adding. "Might want to give me your hand."

"You know whatever happens just think about Allison. Try and find her voice like you did at the game." Stiles instructed looking over his shoulder. "Got it?"

"Yeah." Scott said still blissfully unaware about what was about to go down.

"Good, now you three walk on this side of me." Stiles said, as the three did as told he pulled out his own keys. They all walked past a nice pickup and as nonchalantly as possible Stiles keyed the car.

It all clicked for Scott when Stiles and the rest stood on the sidewalk a couple feet in front of him and Stiles yelled. "Woah man, what do you think you're doing to that truck, bro?"

"I wonder how much that'll cost." Vivian yelled getting the attention of the owner of the truck and his friends.

"What the hell?" He said walking over to Scott with an enraged look. Scott panicked and put his keys back and just shook his head frantically. That's didn't convince that man because punched Scott. It took Scott a second but then he tried to tackle the guy.

He failed and was thrown to the ground and then dragged back onto the cement parking lot. Tara had to look away as they circled him and started punching. Stiles winced as each punch landed before he remembered to check Scott's heart rate.

It was slowly going up, and the guys showed no sign of stopping. The four were all anxiously waiting and hoping his heart rate would go down.

"Stay calm Scott, come on. Stay calm." Stiles said anxiously to himself.

"Think about her." Sydney said even quieter. Tara was starting to have enough.

"That's enough Stiles. Get a teacher or something." Tara said glaring at Stiles. "It's not going back down."

"Have faith Tare." Stiles said glancing back down at Scott's heart rate. It had started to go down slightly, making the little hope Stiles have start to go back up.

"You aren't the one who's being beat up." Tara said more to herself than anything. Scott's heart rate was fully back to normal when Mr. Harris showed up.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Mr. Harris said loudly, scaring the crowd around Scott away. He also gave Scott a disappointed look making Scott look over at Stiles.

Stiles was just smiling while holding up the phone that showed his plan succeeded.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

That little stunt got them all thrown in detention for the evening. At least Scott got a tissue to clean up his bloody nose. The one extremely annoying thing was that Sydney didn't get detention until she insisted that she was involved. Vivian found that very unfair.

"Excuse me, sir." Scott said in his most polite tone. He was next to Stiles and the table behind them was filled by Vivian and Tara. Sydney sat alone at the very front table. "Uh, I know it's detention and all, but, uh, I'm supposed to be at work, and I don't want to get fired."

Mr. Harris gave Scott a small smile before looking down and completely ignoring him. Vivian sighed and went back to her homework. They were all being forced to do their homework but Vivian seemed to be the only one actually doing it. Tara was doodling tiny drawings on the side of her notebook and Sydney was just zoned out.

"You knew I would heal." Scott whispered to Stiles who was playing with his pencil.

"Yep." Stiles confirmed.

"So you did that to help me learn?" Scott asked with a hint of accusation in his tone.

"Yep." Stiles repeated.

"But partially to punish me." Scott said getting to the actual point.

"That was a fringe benefit." Vivian answered for Stiles not looking up from her notebook.

"You guys are my best friends. I can't have you being angry at me." Scott said looking so disappointed in himself.

"I'm not angry anymore." Stiles said still keeping his eyes focused on his pencil. Scott then looked over at Vivian with those stupid puppy dogs eyes.

"You know I've never been able to be mad at you and your stupid puppy dog eyes for more than 48 hours." Vivian said a teasing tone in her voice before she went back to serious. Scott then looked at Tara who was already looking at him with a soft look.

"I was never really mad." She said with a sad smile before continuing with a deep breath. "But, you have something Scott. Like it or not."

"Whether you want it or not, you can do things nobody else can." Vivian said next leaning forward slightly.

"So that means you don't have a choice anymore. It means you have to do something." Stiles said finishing the speech.

"I know." Scott said looking them all in the eyes. "And I will."

They stared at each other for a minute. The three who knew were distantly wondering how Sydney was feeling. It's been a while since any of them have been able to know what's going on inside her head. It's frustrating but they aren't really her friends anymore so why should they care. Yet they all did. Especially Stiles, who has definitely noticed the change in Sydney.

"All right, all of you go." Mr. Harris said much to the were's relief.

They all rushed out as fast as they could.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Sydney and Scott walked into the vet office, expecting to find either an angry Derek or a disappointed Deaton. They found something worse.

Derek was holding Deaton, who was bound to a chair, in the air by his shirt. Scott and Sydney rushed over as Derek dropped him.

"Scott, Sydney. Leave now." Deaton commanded straining to look back at the two teens.

"Stop! Stop!" Scott yelled holding Derek's hand back after he punched Deaton, knocking him out.

"What's wrong with you?!" Sydney asked next with wide eyes.

"Look, when he's conscious, he can keep himself from healing. But unconscious he can't." Derek explained, his voice laced with venom.

"Are you out of your mind? What are you talking about?" Scott asked loudly, just as panicked as Sydney who was hovering behind Deaton.

"You want to know what the spiral means?" Derek asked not calming down for second, most of his anger on Scott. "It's our sign for a vendetta, for revenge. It means he won't stop until he's satisfied."

"You think he's the Alpha?" Sydney asked extremely confused and scared.

"We're about to find out." Derek said with a stone face. He then extracts his claws and tries to get to Deaton but Scott stops him. Grabbing his clawed hand with one of his own. Scott then growls at him and throws his hand away. Derek backs away shocked.

Scott then looks at his claws and slowly goes back to normal. His eyes the last thing as he glares at Derek.

"Hit him again, and then you'll see me get angry."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Scott was cleaning the cut on Deatons face while Sydney untied his hands. Derek was pacing in the background. Only a few more minutes and he stormed over to Scott.

"Do you have a plan?" Derek asked with a stern look, ignoring Sydney.

"Give me one hour." Scott said still dabbing Deatons face.

"Then?" Derek asked expectantly.

"Met us in the school parking lot."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

The whole gang was piled in Stiles jeep, driving into the school parking lot. Stiles haphazardly pulled into a parking space and they all climbed out meeting at the back of the jeep.

"This is a terrible idea." Vivian said standing next to Stiles.

"I know." Scott responded with Sydney and Tara on his side.

"But, we're still gonna do it?" Stiles asked perplexed that Scott came up with a bad idea for once.

"Do you have something better?" Scott asked just as scared.

"Well personally I'm a fan of ignoring a problem until it goes away." Stiles said making Vivian laugh slightly.

"That should be the Stilinski family motto." She said giving a quick glance at Sydney.

"Just make sure we can get in." Scott said, already done with the sarcastic duo. Stiles sighed and opened his trunk, digging through it while Derek pulled up.

"He's here." Sydney said as Derek parked. They all walked up to Derek's car while he got up looking at them skeptically.

"Where's my boss?" Scott asked alerting Tara of what happened while they were seperated.

"He has Deaton?" Tara asked trying to look through the windows.

"He's in the back." Derek said ignoring Tara.

"Oh, well he looks comfortable." Stiles said looking at Deaton whose mouth was duct taped and his hands bound again.

"Great bedside manners." Vivian commented also seeing the state Scott's boss was in. Tara just glared at him, not a good glare but a glare.

Scott got their attention and they all walked away, leaving Derek next to his car. "Hey. Wait."

"You said I was linked with the Alpha." Scott said matter of factly before looking back at the school, taking a deep breath, showing some vulnerability. "I'm gonna see if you're right."

They all walked into the school, only Scott and Stiles with flashlights since they were leading the group. They made it to the main office and walked in without any trouble.

"Okay, one question." Stiles said still reluctantly following along with the plan. "What are you gonna do if the alpha doesn't show up?"

"I still don't know the plan for if he does." Tara said with her arms crossed worried etched in her entire being.

"I don't know." Scott said standing on one side of the counter with Sydney, while the other three were searching for the intercom.

"I don't know why we all had to come." Sydney mumbled to herself, and.. she was right. This is a lot of people for one simple task. But they're best friends. They do the dangerous dumb shit together.

"You know this plan just gets' greater the more we discuss it." Vivian sarcastically said as she ducked under the desk.

"All right, you said that a wolf howls to signal his position to the rest of the pack, right?" Scott said restating the whole point of the plan.

"Right, but if you bring him here, does that make you part of his pack?" Stiles asked getting surprised when Vivian pops back up with the intercom.

"Let's hope not." She said plugging it in. Tara then took it and placed it on the top desk and pushed it towards Scott as Stiles turned up the volume.

"Aye men." She said, her permanent worry for Scott rising.

"All you." Sydney said backing away from the mic, glad that she doesn't have to be the one to do it. Scott's been good at this wolf stuff so far, he'll do fine at this.

Scott took a deep breath and leaned toward the mic. He took a minute before he tried his first howl that sounded more like a cat then anything else. Vivian had to hide her smile while Tara and Stiles looked down in embarrassment. Sydney was just looking at him with plain judgment.

"That was a howl right?" Scott asked nervous and embarrassed.

"I mean, technically." Sydney said, judgement seeping into her voice.

"Well, what did it sound like to you guys?" Scott asked, self conscious.

"Like a cat being choked to death, Scott." Stiles said bluntly with Tara nodding.

"What do I do?" Scott asked panicked. "How am I supposed to do this."

"Hey, hey." Stiles said walking back around with the rest, crowding around Scott. "Listen to me. You're calling the alpha. All right? Be a man. Be a werewolf, not a teen wolf."

"Be a werewolf." Tara repeated for him, so close he could smell her perfume that had to be almost gone from the day they'd endured, he could also smell a hint of something else- someone else. Jackson.

"Werewolf." Scott said his voice taking a new gruff tone. They all backed away from him, but close enough to be back in an instant.

The next howl was a real one. It shook the school. Proud of their accomplishment they all walked back out to the cars with a pissed Derek waiting for them.

"I'm going to kill all of you. What the hell was that?" Derek asked his tone back to the way it was at the clinic. "What are you trying to do, attract the entire state to the school?"

"Sorry." Scott said but they all couldn't keep the dobey smiles off of their faces. Well everyone except Sydney, who was as stone faced as Derek always was. "I didn't know it would be that loud."

"Yeah, it was loud." Stiles said impressed with a sing songy voice for his next sentence. "And it was awesome."

"Shut up." Derek said with a glare getting a scoff from Vivian.

"Don't be such a sourwolf." Stiles said his smile fading.

"Sourwolf is a great way to describe him." Tara said turning to Stiles.

"What'd you do to him?" Scott asked, seeming to finally remember about his boss.

"What?" Derek asked confused but not losing the angry tone. They all looked at the back of Derek's car to find Deaton missing and the car door opened. "I didn't do anything."

Out of nowhere Derek starts throwing up blood and is lifted up. Behind him stood the enormous alpha. They all froze in shock before running back to the school. Tara behind dragged by Vivian, to make sure Tara wouldn't go back for Derek.

They made it to the door and shut them before holding the pushing door shut. Vivian was at the far end next to Stiles, leaning heavily against him. Tara on Stiles other side with Scott next to her, she was holding onto his arm while he also held the second door shut. Finally Sydney was on the other far side leaning her head against the door. They were all taking deep breaths, still in shock.

"We're screwed."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

┌────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┐

└────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┘