03: Stress

By the time Scott had ventured back through his bedroom window in the early hours of the morning, Sky had long since sent Ariel home despite her protests and spent the rest of the time pacing nervously in her brother's bedroom.

Unfortunately, everything had seemed to have gone wrong for Scott as soon as he had started to have fun at the party with Allison, leading him to ditching her and getting caught up with Derek Hale - a werewolf himself - in the woods. One thing led to another, and now they have Hunters to deal with as well as their awful transformations into violent supernatural beings. The Hunters seemed to have a rather lovely time shooting Scott with an arrow and Sky had a rather unpleasant time cleaning the blood off her brother in his bathroom afterwards.

What a time to be alive. But Sky supposed it couldn't really get any worse.

***

It got worse.

The next day, before practice, Sky had spent way too much of her time trying to calm Scott down after he had spotted the man who had shot him this morning.

It had to be Allison's dad, didn't it?

Now, she walks up to the lacrosse field just in time for her still sensitive ears to be blessed with the sound of their Coach's shouting -- insults in most cases.

He ushers them into their positions, "Let's go! One-on-one from up top! Jackson! Take a long stick today. Atta boy. That's how you do it! Greenberg, take a lap. Let's go. Faster, Greenberg! Let's go."

The stress of recent events were evidently getting to Scott, causing his focus to waver and his anger to be thinly restrained. Sky winces when Jackson ploughs into him, painfully knocking him to the ground. "You sure you still wanna be first line, McCall?" she hears him say.

Sky walks over to them and not-so-subtly shoves Jackson away to help Scott up just in time for Coach to get close enough to shout at him, "My grandmother can move faster than that. And she's dead. You think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"

Sky took deep breaths as Scott's pounding heartbeat thundered in her ears and she tried to not let it affect her. She wasn't sure if it was due to her improved sight, but she could see underneath his helmet that his eyes were glowing a faint yellow, unable to stop herself from looking in awe for a second as she hadn't actually witnessed the sight of his eyes yet. They were the same. That thought, as bad as it felt, also brought her relief.

"Yes, Coach," Scott managed to grit out from where he was hunched over.

The Coach cupped his ear, "I can't hear you."

"Yes, Coach!" Scott barks out.

Coach stands up straight, pleased, "Then do it again. McCall's gonna do it again! McCall's gonna do it again! Let's go!"

Unable to do anything, Sky could only watch Scott's new temper get the best of him as he uses his werewolf strength and collides with Jackson, sending him sprawling onto the ground with a heavy thud, a few players rushing to his aid.

Using this distraction - because screw Jackson -  Stiles and Sky rush over to Scott, whose breath was coming out in noticeable pants. They each put an arm around his shoulder, trying to block any view of him with their bodies as they made their way inside as quickly as possible, rushing into the locker room and slamming the door shut behind them.

Scott lurches forward. "Scott? Scott, you okay?" asks Stiles.

Scott clutches his head in pain as fur starts to cover his hands, "I can't control it. It's happening." he moans out.

Sky mutters curses under her breath, because of course her brother would play an adrenaline-pumping, anger-inducing sport right after becoming a werewolf. And of course, she would have to be there for him. As he would be the one to get so frustrated he turned in the middle of the damn field.

"Scott, you okay?"

"Does he look okay?"

"Get away from me," Growls out Scott, making the other two back up slightly. Instinctively, Sky takes a step in front of Stiles.

Animalistic rage consumes Scott as he fully transforms, creeping towards them in a predatory stance as Sky and Stiles tries to gain distance between them.

Stiles scrambles for any weapon-like object he could possibly get his hands on to protect himself with, but Sky feels her instincts kick in as she looks at her brother steadily. Before she knew it, she was flashing her eyes at him and releasing a firm, low warning growl, making him back up slightly and giving Stiles the opportunity to spray him with a fire extinguisher he had picked up, forcing Scott to cool off.

Scott bends over, breathing harshly, "What happened?" he asks, looking up at them once he pried off his helmet.

Straightening up, Stiles stands gaping between the two.

Sky sends Scott a sarcastic thumbs up, "Once again, Scotty boy, we saved your stupid ass."

Scott sighs, holding his head in his hands as he sits on the bench.

Stiles nods, "You tried to kill me," he deadpans. "It's like I told you before. It's the anger. It's your pulse rising. It's a trigger."

Scott looks at them, "But that's lacrosse. It's a pretty violent game if you hadn't noticed," he points out.

"No, you hadn't noticed," retorts Sky.

"Well, it's gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field. You can't play Saturday. You're gonna have to get out of the game," Stiles tells him.

"I'm first line," Scott argues.

Sky gives him a look of disbelief, "Is lacrosse seriously more important to you that you'd risk killing people?"

Stiles nods in agreement, "Not anymore," He twists round and points to Sky. "And that includes you, Sky, we can't have you killing anyone either."

"Oh, what a shame."

***

The exclamation of his name made Scott sit up straight in his bed, listening to the footsteps of his sister heading towards him before she barges into his room with a scowl on her face. He stares at her with wide eyes.

"I can't believe you, of all people, would betray me like this."

"...What?"

Sky scoffs, "My own twin," she mutters.

She walks over to him and smacks the back of his head.

"You ate the last slice of my pizza!" she accuses.

Scott rubs the back of his head before stopping and pulling her, making her fall onto the bed. He narrows his eyes at her, "I had to. You ate my lunch!" he retorts.

"That's in the past!" She shoves him back before launching at him.

Their mom comes walking into the room, "Hey!" she calls.

Sky releases Scott from her choke hold and smiles, "Hey, mom."

Melissa rolls her eyes, "Late shift again for me, but I'm taking Saturday off to see your first game," she tells them.

Sky's face drops and they both sit up.

Scott looks at her in panic, "Mom, you can't-- " he begins.

Taking the reason for his panic as their money problems, their Mom points a stern finger at them, "Oh, no, I can and I will. Come on, one shift isn't gonna break us," She pauses in thought, then amends. "Completely."

She looks between them with narrowed eyes, "Hey, what's wrong with your eyes? Both of you. You look like you haven't slept in days."

"Maybe we haven't slept in days," Blurts out Sky. "You should know the stress of a teenager in high school, Mom!"

Melissa looks at her sceptically, "Just stress? Nothin' else?"

Scott shuffles awkwardly, "Homework," he adds.

"I mean, it's not like you're on drugs or anything, right?"

Sky mock gasps, "I would never!"

Scott, however, frowns, "Right now?" he asks.

Sky elbows him, "Dude," she hisses.

Their mom looks taken aback, "Right now? I'm sorry, what do you mean right now? Have you ever taken drugs?"

"Have you?" Scott retorts.

Melissa pauses, unable to answer as her mouth opens and closes but no words escape.

Sky blinks, "Hang on a second -- "

Her mom cuts her off with a warning look, "Get some sleep you two," she tells them before spinning and leaving the room.

***

"I can't believe creepy Derek Hale snuck into your room to threaten you," remarks Sky as she and Scott walk towards the Coach's office.

Scott rolls his eyes, "Thanks for your help with that by the way. I'm surprised the sound of your snoring didn't scare him off."

"I don't snore."

Scott laughs, "Right."

"Anyway, lets look on the bright side."

Scott snorts, "You? The bright side?"

Sky narrows her eyes in warning, "Yes," A smirk takes over her face. "I'm so proud of you for putting Jackson in hospital!"

"It was just a sprain."

"Still!"

Scott chuckles as he knocks on the door in front of them before stepping inside. Coach looks up from his desk and a frown takes over his features. Sky watches in morbid amusement as Scott proceeds to fumble out some half-assed excuse, somehow getting out that they can't play in tomorrow's game. Obviously leaving out the part where Derek had threatened him to.

Unable to quite grasp the fact of what Scott was telling him, Coaches frown deepens, "What do you mean you can't play tomorrow night?"

"I mean - We can't play the game tomorrow night," Scott repeats.

"You can't wait to play the game tonight?" Coach corrects.

A sigh escapes Sky's mouth, "No, coach, We can't play the game tomorrow night."

"I'm not following."

"We're having personal issues."

He looks between them, "Is it a girl? Or a boy, Sky?" he wonders uselessly.

"No," they state together.

Coach focuses on Scott, "Is it a guy, Scott? You know, our goalie Danny is gay."

Sky can't help but snort,  "No Coach, we both like girls."

Coach ignores her, "You don't think Danny's a good-lookin' guy?" he continues.

Scott fidgets as he starts to get uncomfortable, "I think he's good looking. I - but I - I like girls. And that's not it, anyway! I - I -"  He stutters. Sky felt like her lip was going to bleed from how hard she was biting it to keep herself from bursting out in laughter, especially as Coach continues on.

"What, is it drugs? Are you doing meth? Because I had a brother that was addicted to meth. You should have seen what it did to his teeth - They were all cracked and rotted. It was - it was disgusting."

Scott stares at him with wide eyes, "What happened to him?"

"He got veneers. Is that what this is about? Are you afraid of getting hurt, Male McCall?" Coach asks.

"I'm having some issues dealing with aggression," Scott tries to explain.

"Well, here's the good news. That's why you play lacrosse. Problem solved."

Sky catches Scott's eye and gives him a sly wink before confidently turning to the man, "And I'm having some serious lady problems if you know what I mean, Coach," She lies.

Coach cringes visibly, "Okay, okay, I don't wanna hear anything about your lady problems, sit this one out," He sighs.

Sky turns and flashes Scott a smug smirk before walking out.

***

Sky was walking down the hallway when she spotted her brother speaking to Allison. She started making her way toward them but stops as she catches the end of their conversation.

"--And we're all going out afterwards. You, me, Lydia, Ariel, Jackson," The new girl was saying. Sky quickly spins around and starts walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh, hey, Sky!" calls Allison, making Sky still and curse beneath her breath. She turns around and plasters on a fake smile as she walks back up to them.

"You can come too," Allison smiles toward her and Sky bites her tongue. "And tell Stiles to come. Uh, save me a seat at lunch. I gotta go," She waves and walks away.

Three seconds pass before Sky releases a loud groan, turning to Scott, "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Yeah. God," he mumbles before elbowing her as Lydia storms up to them,  Ariel not far behind her.

Lydia narrows her eyes at them, standing in front of them with her hands on her hips, "Why is there a rumour going around that you two are not playing tomorrow?"

Sky squints her eyes and takes a half step in front of her brother. He's taken enough crap today.

"Hm, I think you'll find that's because we're not."

Lydia looks at them for a moment before stepping forward into their personal space, "I think you sort of are. Especially when you," She pushes a finger into Scott's chest. "Brutally injure my boyfriend by ramming into him."

Sky scoffs, pushing her hand away from Scott, "Your boyfriend shouldn't have messed with my brother."

Scott shakes his head, "He brutally injured himself ramming into me," It was mostly true. Jackson had charged as hard as he could into Scott. It wasn't his fault he had wolf powers.

Lydia rolls her eyes, "Jackson's gonna play tomorrow. But he's not gonna be at his peak, and I prefer my boyfriend at peak performance."

Sky snorts, "Okay."

Lydia ignores her and carries on, "I date the captain of the winning lacrosse team, and if they start off the season losing, I date the captain of the losing lacrosse team. I don't date losers."

"Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone. In fact, it might even save someone," says Scott. Sky looks up and sees Ariel frowning at her in worry. She shakes her head minutely.

Lydia huffs in frustration, waving her hands in the air for a moment, "Fine! Don't play. We'll probably win anyway. Then we'll go out after like we were planning and I'll introduce Allison to all the hot players on the team. And Scott McCall can stay home, surfing the net for porn."

The tense moment gets broken as Sky barks out a laugh. She stops when Lydia is still standing there, looking at her unamused, "Well, what are you still standing here for? Don't you have to fix your eyebrows?"

Lydia gasps silently, lifting a hand to her forehead before she spins away and storms off towards the bathroom.

Ariel's eyes trail after her sister until she's out of sight before she looks back at Sky, "I can't believe you just said that to her," she mutters. "I'm going to have to help her deal with her crisis now. Thanks, McCall." She can't hide the ghost of a smile as she turns to leave and Sky catches it.

"You're welcome, princess!"