07: Conference

"I swear to God, Scott, what kind of stupid must you be to go and face Derek yourself?!" hisses Sky the next morning in class. Scott ignores her and she grunts in frustration as she leans back in her chair next to Stiles.

Stiles decides to lean forward, "Well, if Derek isn't the Alpha, if he's not the one who bit you, then who did? " he asks Scott.

Scott shakes his head as he continues to face forward, "I don't know. But he wants us for something."

Stiles squints, "Did the Alpha kill the bus driver?"

"I don't know," sighs Scott.

Stiles leans as close as he can to ask more questions, "Does Allison's dad know about the Alpha?"

"I don't know!" snaps Scott, Stiles leans back. "Jeez."

Their test papers land on the desks in front of them as the teacher passes by. Sky takes a look at her score and smiles to herself. She feels a light punch to her shoulder and looks over to see Stiles silently cheering for her, seeing how much she was improving.

They peer curiously over at Scott's test score and cringe, "Dude, you need to study more," Stiles points out. Sky smacks his arm.

"That was a joke," She says, glaring at Stiles. "Scott, it's one test. You're gonna make it up. Do you want help studying?" she asks.

Scott smiles in thanks but shakes his head, "No. I'm studying with Allison after school today."

Stiles perks up, "That's my boy," he praises.

Sky rolls her eyes, "Don't be gross."

"We're just studying," Scott points out.

Stiles looks at him pointedly, "Uh, no, you're not."

Scott's face turns confused, "I'm not?"

"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you. If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear to God I'll have you de-balled," Stiles exclaims quietly.

Sky puts her head in her hands, "Please, shut up," she groans.

Stiles turns his attention to her smirks, "Hey, it's not like you're not 'studying' tonight with your new girlfriend either," He says with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Sky smiles sarcastically at him, "Do you think I'm pulling these good grades out of my ass, Stiles?"

"Okay," Scott shakes his head. "Just stop with the questions, man," he tells Stiles.

Stiles presses his lips together, "Done. No more questions. No more talk about the Alpha or Derek. Especially Derek - who still scares me," he points out. The twins roll their eyes in sync.

***

Lydia walks in between Allison and Ariel as they make their way down the hallway together between classes, Allison keeping them up to date about her studying with Scott.

Lydia had instantly perked up at the information, "Scott's coming over? Tonight?"

"We're just studying together," assures Allison.

Lydia tuts, ""Just studying" never ends with just studying. It's like — Getting into a hot tub — Somebody eventually cops a feel." she tells her.

Ariel rolls her eyes at her sister, "Don't listen to her. Me and Sky just study together."

"Yeah, that was before you became a couple," Lydia points out.

"We still didn't start going at it overnight."

Allison looks at Lydia in question, "Well, so what are you saying?"

"I'm just saying, you know, make sure he covers up," At the blank stares she was getting she sighs. "Hello, snow white! Do it with him with a condom," Lydia says with a smirk.

"Oh, god," mutters Ariel.

Allison looks incredulous, "Are you kidding? After one date?" she asks.

Lydia purses her lips, saying, "Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste."

Allison hesitates, "Well, I mean, how much is a little taste?" she questions.

Both the Martin girl's jaws almost drop,  "Oh, God. You really like him, don't you?" asks Lydia.

Allison blushes, looking away, "Well — He's just different. When I first moved here, I had a plan. No boyfriends till college. I just move too much. But, then I met him, and he was different. I don't know. Can't explain it."

Ariel smiles at her whilst Lydia raises her brows, "I can. It's your brain flooding with phenylethylamine."

"What?"

"Ignore her."

Lydia smiles mischievously, "I'll tell you what to do. What time's he coming over?"

Ariel rolls her eyes, "Allison, you don't have to do anything," she reassures.

Allison nods in thanks, but Lydia looks at her with a smirk, "Ari, I'm finding it difficult to believe you'll be able to keep your hands yourself after all the pining you've done," she tells her.

Ariel frowns, ignoring the flash of embarrassment she feels, "I'm perfectly capable of restraint unlike you, Lydia," she glances at Allison who was obviously listening. "And you didn't have to expose me like that," she mutters quietly.

***

Sky ushers her girlfriend into her bedroom shortly after school ends. She figured with her brother out at Allisons she could spend time studying herself.

Ariel smiles as she walks into the room, "Chase any rabbits today, McCall?" she asks.

Sky narrows her eyes at her, "Remember when I asked you to be my girlfriend? Yeah, I take that back."

Ariel raises her hands in surrender, grinning, "Sorry, sorry," She grabs Sky's hand and pulls her over so they can sit on the bed. "What do you want to start with?"

Sky groans as she flops face down into the covers, muffling her voice.

Ariel cocks her head to the side, "What?"

Sky lifts her head up, "I've changed my mind. Please don't put me through that agony," she begs.

Ariel hums, "Well, what score did you get on your test today?"

"B," mumbles Sky.

A mock sigh comes from Ariels lips, "Well, as much I enjoy torturing you, I guess we could put on a movie or something."

Sky perks up, "Really?"

"On one condition."

"At this point, I'd stick my face in a blender."

Ariel scrunches her nose up, leaning forward to peck her on the cheek, "I enjoy your face as it is. No, you can go and get us some snacks while I choose a movie and make myself comfortable."

Sky gets up fast, cheeks red, "On it, princess."

***

Sky fidgets for the umpteenth time as they lay side by side, watching the Hunger Games on Sky's laptop.

Ariel sighs, lifting her head up from her girlfriends shoulder, "What is it?" she asks.

Sky stares at the screen, "Nothing."

"Your nose just grew, Pinocchio."

Sky sighs as she fidgets again, "I just can't get comfortable," she mumbles.

Thinking for a moment, Ariel sits up, "Okay, move up," she orders, making Sky move to the edge of the bed so she could shuffle into the middle.

She lies down and holds her arm out, "Get in here."

Sky hesitates, but crawls closer and curls herself into Ariel's arms, half pressed onto her with her head tucked under her chin. She wiggles about until she settles comfortably and the arm around her tightens, "Good?" Ariel asks.

Sky nods, nestling closer,  "Never tell anyone about this," she mutters quietly.

Ariel chuckles, "It'll be our secret, McCall."

It doesn't take long for Sky's eyes to drift shut as she listens to the sound of Ariel's heartbeat with the movie playing in the background.

An hour later, Ariel's phone ringing makes her jump awake as the girl moves to answer it. The conversation is short but Sky becomes increasingly alert as her face scrunches up in worry.

"I'm on my way," Ariel says into the phone before she hangs up and starts to move.

"What's wrong?" asks Sky.

Ariel looks at her as she slips her shoes on, "There was an attack at the video store. Lydia was there, I gotta go."

***

"If we help him, we'll be able to stop the Alpha," Scott tells Sky as he recalls what Derek had told him after the Alpha had attacked again last night.

"Because were stronger in packs?" Sky clarifies.

Scott nods, "Yeah, he also said pain makes you human."

"Right, I'll be sure to punch myself in the face next time I lose my temper."

Looking ahead, Sky smiles slightly as she spots two familiar figures down the hall. She nudges her brother.

"Hey, Scotty, there's our girlfriends," She gestures down the hallway to where Allison was shoving balloons back into her locker and Ariel was watching her struggle. "Go say happy birthday or whatever."

"Birthday?" Scott mumbles, confused as they walk towards them.

Not wanting to watch them stare into each others eyes, Sky quickly walks up to her girlfriend, grabs her hand and starts to pull her down the hallway.

Ariel lets herself be pulled along, "What are you doing?" she asks in amusement.

"Getting us away from that nasty case of love-sickness," replies Sky as they come to a stop. "No need to thank me for my heroics, but I do take payment in the form of kissing."

Ariel rolls her eyes, but pulls her in by the collar of her jacket. She pulls away after a moment and wipes the lip gloss she leaves behind off the corner of Sky's mouth.

Grabbing her waist, she turns her towards the door of their next class, "Come on, lets go fill that empty head of yours."

"Rude," Sky mumbles.

***

"Hey, honey," greets her mom as they approach each other at the entrance to the school, "Where's your brother?" she asks.

Sky pauses and looks at her nervously, "He had to go and, uh, rescue a puppy from a tree," she blurts out.

Her mom sighs at the excuse, "Lets head in, he can meet us inside," Sky nods, following silently.

The only reason she was there in the first place was to meet up with Ariel afterwards, but she had ended up trying to cover for Scott who had texted her saying he skipped school to hang out with Allison.

Sky stands outside the classroom whilst her Mom goes in, wincing at the look of annoyance on her face. Scott was in huge trouble for not showing. She peers through the window in the door and tunes into her advanced hearing, listening in to what the teacher was saying about them.

"How about we get started?'" says Mr Harris after a few moments of waiting. "Let's start with Scott."

Melissa nods.

"Lately, Scott's mind has been somewhere else, as has his body. Personally, I think it may have something to do with his home situation."

"Oh, well, personally, I'm not sure what you mean by home situation," replies Melissa, slightly offended.

"Uh, specifically the lack of an authority figure," says Mr Harris.

"Yeah, well, I'm the authority figure, so --"

"Sorry. Allow me to clarify. I mean the lack of a male authority figure," Mr Harris corrects. Sky frowns.

"What?" she mutters.

"Oh. Well, trust me, we're much better off without him in the picture," replies Melissa and Sky nods in agreement.

"Well, does Scott feel the same way? And Sky?" he asks. Sky clenches her jaw.

Her heart cracks at the doubt that creeps into her Mom's voice, "Yes. I think so. I hope so."

"Now onto Skylar," Harris moves on with a cough. "It seems Sky's attitude to her work has shifted slightly this year," he tells her. 'Where before she had been completely uninterested in succeeding in her education, it seems now she has found the motivation to keep her grades up instead of only taking part when she risks a failing grade. Has she received tutoring recently? Perhaps from her girlfriend?" he asks.

Sky raises her eyebrows in surprise. So teachers do keep up with gossip.

"Girlfriend?" Melissa asks in surprise. She knew Scott had one, but not Sky. Sky grimaces. She had forgotten to tell her Mom about that.

"Ah, yes," Mr Harris replies in a tone that suggests he's completely uninterested. "She has become quite close with Ariel Martin, who seems to be a good influence on her, being a top ranking student herself. I suspect she's been tutoring her and I hope that effort continues."

"Okay, I'll make sure it does," Melissa replies.

Eventually, Sky sees them getting up and shaking hands so she rushes a few steps away to make sure it looks like she wasn't eavesdropping as her Mom comes out.

"Everything alright, Mom?" she asks, looking up innocently.

Melissa smiles slightly at her, "You seem to be doing really well. Scott on the other hand --" she shakes her head as she sighs.

"Do you want me to kick his ass?"

Her mom chuckles, "No, I'll do that. But I do want to know why you never mentioned a new girlfriend."

Sky smiles sheepishly, "I guess I forgot."

"Yeah, well, don't get as distracted as your brothers getting."

Sky scoffs, "Of course not. Scott got all the stupid when we were born."

Melissa frowns as they stop outside the front entrance, "Well, I'm going to call your brother," she glances over Sky's shoulder. "And there's a pretty girl trying to be subtle with her staring at you. Is that her?"

Sky snorts as she looks over to Ariel who was standing with her parents, "Yeah, that's her."

"Go say hi while I call Scott," her mom kisses her forehead and walks away.

Sky strolls towards her girlfriend who was already making her way towards her, Ariel giving her a quick kiss when they meet before tucking her face into Sky's neck.

Sky wraps her arms around her, "Feeling clingy today?" she asks.

"Just let me miss you, McCall," came Ariels muffled reply.

Sky squeezes her slightly, "So, how did --"

The sounds of screaming cuts her off and she quickly pulls Ariel behind her protectively.

They look over the car park to see people rushing in all directions. Sky catches a glimpse of Mr. Argent stalking around with his gun out, looking for something.

Everything seems to blur at that moment. One minute, Sky was in front of Ariel and the next she was rushing forward, pushing the Sheriff out of the way of a moving car. She was standing not too far from him, as Scott, who must of just arrived, got Allison off the road.

Unfortunately, she didn't manage to get herself out of the way on time as the car hit her instead,  forcing her to hit the ground painfully.

A loud shot rang out as Chris Argent shot something down. It was a mountain lion.

"Sky!" Ariel calls, running over as the Sheriff crouches down to help her.

"Hey, Sky, don't move. Are you okay?" he asks, scanning her over.

Sky groans, sitting up. She could feel her broken wrist healing, "Oh, I'm just peachy, Sheriff. Could bench press a cow right now," she reassures with a barely concealed wince.

"You shouldn't of done that, kid, I would of been fine," he halfheartedly scolds. "But thank you. Get yourself checked out," he orders.

Sky winks at him as she stands up, "Anything for you, Papa Stilinski."

He nods with a troubled frown before walking away to check on other civilians.

A hand suddenly hits her on the arm and Sky flinches, "Ouch," she mutters. "Why are you abusing me when I just got hit by a car?"

Ariel puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes, "What happened to not trying to give me a heart attack, Skylar?"

Sky winces, "Oh, you just full-named me. I'm sorry."

Ariel sighs in frustration, scanning her features and seeing to deem her fine before grabbing Sky by the cheeks and abruptly pulling her in for a long kiss. A few seconds later, she pulls back, ignoring Sky's shocked face and looking behind her, "I gotta find my parents. See you tomorrow," she says, giving her a warning look before walking away.

Sky stands there, confused and flustered at the same time, "Right," she mumbles. Shaking her head, she turns to go find her mother.