Lesson #1: Don't get your hopes up

So here's the thing. I'm a loser. I mean, in my dads eyes, I'm amazing. To Scott, I'm a fantastic best friend. But to anyone else, I'm nobody. I keep my head down; I don't get bullied. I never raise my hand; I don't get called on in class. If I don't put myself out there, people leave me be. That's the way I liked it. At least, until I realized how beautiful Lydia Martin was. In elementary school, she was the girl every boy chased. When we made it to high school, she became the most popular girl in our grade, and eventually in school. She walked around like she was royalty. I had liked her for as long as I could remember. I thought she was so beautiful, but I knew she would never notice me. I sort of gave up on that idea, that she would ever look my way.

Except, I came up with a plan. A plan to get her to like me, or at least talk to me. I wanted to ask her to the dance, since it was our senior year. First, I had to work my way up the social ladder. Impossible, right? Maybe not. If I could get someone who was already cool to help me out, maybe I'd have a chance. Who better than Lydia Martin's best friend?

I tried explaining this to Scott. We were sitting at Lunch, alone at our usual table. We didn't have many other friends. Sometimes, Scott's friend Liam would sit with us, but he was only a freshman, so he had other friends his own age. Today, it was only the two of us. "You don't want to hear my plan?" I asked, a little offended. I told him I had the best plan in the world, and his stupid response? I don't care. What the hell kind of best friend was he?

"No, Stiles, I don't. If you tell me your plan, I'm going to have to tell you why it's stupid. Your feelings will get hurt and then I'll have to apologize and help you so you don't hate me. So no, I don't care about your plan. Do it, or don't. I don't want to be a part of it." He kept eating his food, as if we weren't in the middle of an argument.

"Seriously?" I grumbled, leaning forward so nobody else could hear me. "Dude, it's a good plan. I'm finally going to get Lydia Martin to like me!" I whisper yelled, hoping to grab his attention. Still, he was unfazed. He took another bite of his sandwich, his eyes staring at me with a bored expression. "I promise I won't get mad if you tell me it's stupid. I just have to tell someone."

Scott swallowed his food, sighed heavily, and then sat his sandwich down and folding his arms on the table in front of him. "Fine, Stiles. Tell me what your plan is this time." Despite the lack of enthusiasm in his voice, I went ahead with my spiel. If I didn't tell someone about it, I was going to explode. It was the smartest plan I had ever concocted.

"Okay, so, you know how Derek Hale is Lydia's best friend?" I started, waiting for Scott to show some kind of indication he was following. He nodded, so I went on. "Well, I'm sort of a genius when it comes to calculus, and I've been asking around about Derek. It turns out he's failing. He can't play football if he fails any of his classes, so I'm going to offer to help him get his grade up. In return, he's going to help me get Lydia." I finished telling him and waited excitedly for his answer. He didn't move, but he kept staring at me. I couldn't read his expression. "So, what do you think?" I demanded, trying to keep myself contained.

Scott shrugged and went back to eating his sandwich. "I think you're going to get your ass kicked," Scott mumbled through his mouthful of turkey.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Scott, why would I-"

"Stilinski!" a voice yelled, making me nearly jump out of my seat. I didn't even have time to turn around before a hand grabbed the back of my shirt, dragging me out of my seat. I managed to turn my head enough to see that it was none other than Derek Hale dragging my ass out of the lunch room. Everyone was staring, some pointing and laughing. Derek's grip on my shirt was not loosening and I had no idea where he was taking me. I couldn't fight it either, because he was stronger than me. He played football and he wrestled, so there was no getting away. When we finally stopped moving, we were in the boy's locker room. Derek let go of the back of my shirt before grabbing the front instead, slamming me against the lockers, his face inches from mine. "I heard you've been asking about me," he said, his voice intensely low.

Shit. I was in for it now. He was going to kill me. "D-Derek, listen-" I tried, but he gave me another shove, which shut me up.

"Why have you been asking about me?" he demanded. I couldn't tell if he was angry, or not.

I swallowed hard, trying to keep my composure. I hadn't planned on enacting my plan until next week, but at this point, it was now or never. "Okay, so here's the thing," I managed to say, my voice only trembling a little. Okay, maybe a lot, but Derek was scary. "I want to get this girl to like me, but she'd never look at me. I was going to see if you'd help me." I was pretty sure my words were jumbled together and came out at about a hundred miles per hour, but Derek seemed to have understood me, because he laughed. "I'm sorry!"

He let go of my shirt, taking a step back with that stupid grin still on his face. "A girl, huh?" he questioned, shaking his head. "Alright, say I can help you. Why should I?"

This could only go two ways. I guess I just hoped it was in my favor. "Well, I can help you too. With your grades, I mean. So you can still play football." I hoped he saw this as a good offer, rather than just me basically calling him stupid. I didn't think he was stupid, but he wasn't good at calculus. Not everyone was. That didn't make him stupid. I just wanted him to see it that way. "If not, that's fine. Can we just forget about this conversation?" I continued, getting ahead of myself. I hadn't even let him answer before doubting the geniousness of my plan.

"So you help me with my math and I help you get a girlfriend?" Derek asked, as if didn't believe me. What else could he take away from this conversation? I nodded, because I didn't trust myself to talk anymore. Derek kept staring at me, thinking about my proposition. "Who's the girl?"

This is where I was either going to get my ass kicked, or maybe he'd be all for it. There was no telling. I took a deep breath. "Uh, Lydia?"

"Dude," Derek said almost immediately, and I could tell he did not approve. I could tell he wanted to say more, but he stopped himself and took a deep breath before continuing. "I feel like my part is more difficult here. Lydia doesn't date just anyone, Stiles. You know that." I frowned, staring at my feet. He was saying I wasn't good enough for Lydia. It was true, but I didn't like hearing it from other people. It only made the reality that I was such a loser hurt even more. "If we can pull this off, you're going to owe me a lot more than a couple of tutoring sessions."

I felt my heart nearly explode. He just agreed to help me, right? I wasn't just hearing things? I couldn't help the smile on my face, as much as I tried to get rid of it. "Anything you want, Derek. I swear, I'll do anything if you'll help me!" Maybe I was being a little dramatic, but it was the truth. I had been chasing this girl since I was fifteen and I was not about to let anything stand in my way when I had a clear way in.

Derek rubbed the back of his neck, giving me an unreadable look. He wasn't happy about this, but I knew he had to give in. He needed to get his grades up and I was the only person willing to help him. "Fine, Stilinski, I'll do it. But it's going to take a while before you can even attempt asking her out. We've got a lot of work to do. I'm going to have to basically teach you how to be cool."

"I can do it," I promised, giving him a wide smile. He did not return it in the slightest. "Thank you so much, Derek!"

He rolled his eyes, stepping closer to me again, which wiped the grin right off my face. "Since this is going to take awhile, we need to start right away. Meet me after school. My house." Derek Hale was inviting me over to his house? I had never even imagined what it would be like to go to a popular guy's house, so this felt like some kind of dream. All I could do was nod in response. He stood there a few seconds longer, his eyes searching mine, before he stepped away. "Okay, Stilinski. See you later, then."

"See you," I mumbled, watching him walk away while I caught my breath. I briefly wondered if he had that effect on other people too, or if it was just me.

+++

At 3:30 exactly, I pulled into Derek's gravel driveway, my heart beating out of my chest. My hands were sweating and I was working really hard to control my breathing. I wasn't exactly sure what was causing my nerves, but I figured it had something to do with the fact that I had never been this close to getting Lydia before. I had a plan set in stone, and the best help I could possibly get. My dreams were within reach, and it felt so exhilarating.

Derek had pulled into the driveway a few seconds before me, so I couldn't sit in my car to calm my nerves without him seeing me and thinking I was weird. When I saw him get out of his car, I did the same, meeting him on the porch. "My parents aren't home, but I didn't think you'd mind," he said nonchalantly, unlocking the door with his key. A few seconds later, I heard another car door slam and turned to see Cora Hale getting out of Derek's backseat. For a second, I forgot the two were related. "Ignore her," he whispered, leaning over to talk to me. His breath made me shiver.

"Derek, mom said to order pizza and she'll pay you back," Cora stated as she shoved her way past us and into the house. She didn't even glance at me, probably because her eyes were glued to her phone. "Also, I don't care what you two idiots are going to be doing, just keep it down. I have to study."

"Cora, shut it," Derek hissed, shoving her shoulder as we filed into the house. I wasn't sure what she meant, but it seemed like there was a double meaning behind her words. Derek looked annoyed at his sister, but I stayed out of it. I was here to listen to whatever Derek had to say, and not get involved with his sibling rivalry. "Stiles, come on. Upstairs." I followed him up the stairs and into his room, which was nothing like I had imagined. Well, I had never imagined it, but if I had, it wouldn't be this. It was a lot cleaner than I would have thought. He didn't have sports posters, or dirty clothes all over the floor. It was simple and it smelled nice, oddly.

"So, what do we do first?" I wondered, awkwardly standing in the middle of his room as he shut his door and went to flop down on his bed.

Derek watched me for a moment, his intense stare making me shift uncomfortably. Finally, he smiled, sitting up in his bed to sit with his legs crossed. "First, we talk about our game plan for getting you the girl. The thing is, you can't go from nobody to somebody in one night, so we have to take this slow."

"Okay," I agreed, nodding slowly as I waited for him to say something else. Again, he was just watching me. He was starting to freak me out a little. "So where do we even start?" I had no idea what to do, but that was why Derek was here. Except he wasn't helping much right now. He was just making me uncomfortable with his wandering eyes. "Do you think I'll be able to ask her out in a couple of weeks?"

Derek laughed loudly, shaking his head. "You're hilarious, dude," he answered, still cracking himself up. I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. He was the Lydia expert here. "No way you'll be ready to ask her out that soon. Lesson number one: don't get your hopes up."

I groaned, wishing I could slam my head into a wall. "So there are lessons?" I asked, sitting down in Derek's desk chair. His eyes followed me the whole way. "How many lessons are we talking? And what, one a day? One a week?"

He laughed, but not in a good way. It was in that sort of way that meant I was in for a long ride. "Oh, Stiles. We're gonna be spending a lot of time together." He got up off his bed, walking closer to me. I was very confused for a moment, but then he placed his hands on the back of the chair and spun me around to face his desk. "We're going to be here all night, so get comfortable." And that was how, five hours later, we ended up with a very long list of all the things I needed to do in order to get myself a girlfriend. On top of that, we spent two hours on calculus. I didn't even get home until midnight and Derek had already informed me I was to come over tomorrow to get started on Lesson number two. Getting Lydia was important to me, but I was beginning to wonder if this was even worth it.