Chapter Text
The silent walk to the car had prepared him for the fact that he was in trouble, and to he wasn’t the slightest bit surprised when his daughter snapped at him once they were inside the car, both working on putting on their seatbelts.
`I swear, ´ Allison hissed angrily while putting on her seatbelt, just from the way his daughter was putting on her seatbelt spoke of just how upset she was with him, `if Stiles doesn’t want to talk to me ever again, because of you, then I’m never going to talk to you ever again. ´
Chris knows his daughter is making an empty threat, one she’s made numerous times before, often right after he and Victoria have informed her of yet another move, but it still strikes an uneasy cord in him since he does believe there is an action in his part that might cause his daughter to cut him out of her life.
` The way you cut someone else out of yours. ´ a voice from the past hisses inside his head.
`I’m sorry. ´ the words fall easily from his lips, one of the greater wrongs of his life making every apology in some small way genuine, still, Chris is sorry over his reaction when faced with Allison’s new friend who had one too many similarities with his daughter to not spark uneasy thoughts inside his mind.
`I never meant to upset your new friend, Allison. ´ and that was the truth, although Chris may have been unnerved by the friend his daughter had made, a friend who made him think things that sparked a peculiar feeling of hope and want inside of him, he’d never meant to offend or upset the girl that had clearly made Allison day brighter; the smile she’d worn when Chris had found her on the steps of her new school, hadn’t been seen in days and he’d hate for it to be lost because of some foolish thought inside of his head that made him act strangely.
`Well, you did. ´ his daughter, the one he’d been allowed to keep, snaps at him while crossing her arms over her chest, then turning to glare out the window as they start the drive back to their new home.
`I’m sorry. ´ Chris repeats, struggling not think back to the details of the girl who shared the birthday with his daughter, and who even while small and delicate looking held in her gaze something familiar and strong that made him think of Victoria.
`I’m really sorry, Allison. ´
`It’s not me you should be apologizing too. ´ Allison grumbles from where she sits, she looks as unhappy as she’d appeared as they left for Beacon Hills, and nothing he or his wife could say helped to ease her anger and it was only the distraction of moving into the new house that had pushed back the anger Allison had felt over the move.
`You’re not wrong there, ´ Chris says agreeingly, and he does agree with his daughter who continues to speak with an air of clearly not wanting to hear anything he had to say.
`Stiles, she was, she was really cool from the start. Alright, maybe showing me thumbs-up when I walked into the classroom and being introduced as the new kid wasn’t what people would call cool, but it made me feel a bit less – I don’t know…´
`Alone? ´ Chris ventured a guess, remembering briefly all the times he’d been in Allison’s shoes as a child and how often he’d felt alone even while having siblings to share the burden of being the new kid with him.
Turning around to look at him, anger faded from her eyes as she gives him a short nod of agreement before speaking again, ` Yeah. Less alone. ´
`She showed me around the school, gave me the Stilinski tour. which she didn’t have to do since none of the teachers told her to do it. She just did it, because she’s wanted too. ´ if Chris hadn’t already felt awful about the misunderstanding between him and the girl who made him think of a child long ago abandoned, then he sure would’ve begun to feel bad about upsetting the peculiar girl who’d made Allison’s first-day at Beacon Hills High School a little bit less stressful and lonely.
`Stiles even told me which teachers are cool, and which aren’t. ´ Chris is glad that Stiles had prepared his daughter for teachers that might not be fair or balanced, the sort you had to look out for while navigating through high school.
`I’m glad she was there for you. ´ Chris dares to say now that his daughter doesn’t glare daggers at him, and Chris would be eternally grateful that Stiles had been willing to help his daughter find her way at yet another new school.
` Stiles even introduced me to all of her friends, and telling them to look after me, which she obviously didn’t have to do. ´ with how his daughter had struggled to make friends at a few of her previous schools, Chris couldn’t put into words just how grateful and he was that someone had offered to help his daughter when he couldn’t, but above all else he was glad that this person had also offered Allison her friendship but also seemed willing to share her own friends with his daughter.
`I’m glad Stiles took you under her wing, Allison. ´ Chris says without thinking, and he’s glad someone had stepped-up to help his daughter settle in at Beacon Hills High School, but there was no denying that the girl he’d seen with Allison had left him feeling uneasy and sparking thoughts inside his head that he really didn’t dare to explore.
`Well, she did, but who knows if she’ll still want…´ Allison starts, with each word her voice begins to display just how upset she still was over the first-impression he’d made on Stiles, but then her phone chimes and her attention was switched from being angry at him to checking her phone.
The smile that soon erupts on Allison’s face settles the new rise of nerves within him, but what does make him feel a whole lot less like he’s going to have to deal with a furious daughter for the rest of the day are the words Allison directs at him.
`So, it seems I’m still going to be talking to you. ´
`Oh? ´ Chris can’t help but respond and sneak a glance at Allison’s phone, seeing a picture with Stiles and the girls he’d seen with her and Allison, all smiling up at the him and his daughter, the words “The Girl Squad Misses Their Newest Member!” making him smile too.
`Yeah. ´ Allison answers just as another message announces its arrival.
`Stiles tells me not to be too hard on you. ´ Allison informs him soon enough, chuckling slightly as she continues, `Apparently her dad hasn’t exactly made the best impression on people either. ´
`Well, that’s good, at least for me then. ´ Chris can’t help but say, and he is grateful to know that he didn’t destroy the blooming friendship between his daughter and this girl who made him think of the child was too sick to keep. Although he’d never forgotten about the daughter that his wife had been absolutely disgusted by due to her birth defect, a child his father and sister insisted would never survive or fit in their life the way Allison would and had, Chris could admit he hadn’t thought about the daughter Victoria refused to acknowledge ever existed for a good while now.
`Real good. ´ Allison says before another chime causes her to laugh loudly and merrily.
~*~
Doing her absolute best to try and breathe out all of the negative energy that Mr. Argent had managed to spark inside of her, trying as hard as she might to focus on her breathing instead of on the thoughts that worked against her, Stiles began to make her way to where her friends had gone too whole she remained with Allison to keep her company while Allison was stuck waiting for her dad to pick her up which had felt like the right thing to do at the time; Stiles had just wanted to make sure Allison didn’t feel like she was eager to leave her and to introduce herself to Allison’s dad, since her own dad always insisted on meeting her and Isaac’s new friends which hadn’t happened in years but still, and Stiles had hoped that if Allison’s dad meat her that Allison could start hanging out with her and the others after school.
Stiles willed herself to just walk-off some of the anger that Allison’s dad had planted inside of her by judging her on the shape and size of her body, like her body would define the person she was which wasn’t anything new since it was nothing new; not since she’d crossed the boarder of being but a child and becoming a preteen, being judged for the shape of her body became something Stiles couldn’t help but notice, especially since she couldn’t go a single-year without teachers or other people making the mistake of thinking she was years younger than what she was just because she was smaller than her classmates or back when she was competing the other kids raising their bows in search of victory.
Stiles didn’t care much for being seen as different or as someone less simply on the basis of her physical appearance, there was nothing more infuriating than having people believe they knew her capabilities simply based on the shape of her body; she would be forever grateful that her parents hadn’t treated her like some delicate flower, instead choosing to teacher her to not let her body hold her back, and to at least try to do the things her little heart desired.
`It’s better to try and fail, than never to try at all, Little Spark. ´ her parents had always said to her when she wanted to try something new while also worrying about making a fool of herself while trying something new, and whenever Stiles did fall flat on her face her parents would always repeat those words before reminding her how proud they were of her for just trying to something; although Stiles hadn’t entirely understood how her parents could be proud of her for trying and failing, she’d still appreciated the love and support her parents offered her, more so once she saw what being raised by a parent that didn’t offer you such love and support did to you.
Watching Isaac struggle with accepting the Stilinski-way-of-life during his first-year as a member of her family, and she could easily admit that she’d found it difficult to watch helplessly whenever Isaac suffered through a panic attack which for the first-year was triggered from the smallest of things; it had taken a lot of love and support, counselling and time for Isaac to settle down and come around to the way of the Stilinski-life.
The first-year of Isaac being her foster-brother, which eventually turned into Isaac becoming her forever brother, hadn’t been an easy one since it used to freak Stiles the hell out whenever Isaac had a panic attack, and there had been a lot of panic attacks back in the day before Isaac began to feel safe. Stiles had felt really sad and upset over the fact that Mr. Lahey who was Isaac's biological father hadn’t been nice to him, but Stiles had never been angry with Isaac for all the extra time and attention he needed; her parents had sat her three-year old butt down and her dad had gently explained to her that her foster-brother had been through a lot, since her dad had sat her three-year old but down and explained to her as gently as possible that her foster-brother had been through a lot in his young-life because Mr. Lahey hadn’t been a good daddy to Isaac, and although her dad had been gentle with her Stiles understood that Isaac was a very scared boy who needed her to be gentle and supportive, but she’d also understood she needed to give her foster-brother the room he needed to get comfortable with them, just like their foster kittens and puppies did when they came to stay with them.
Stiles is so deep in her thoughts, that had switched from Mr. Argent to Isaac, that she doesn’t notice or realize she’d reached arrived at her destination and she’s genuinely startled out of her thoughts by Erica’s who was suddenly there to ask her, `Oh no, what happened? ´
Blinking up at the bleachers where Erica and a few others had gathered to watch the Lacrosse try-outs and listen to the colourful insults of coach Finstock, and as Stiles climbs up to where her friends sat Stiles answers Erica’s question with a simple, `Nothing. ´
Of course, her friends who know here possibly far too well, weren’t buying her answer the slightest.
`What did she do? ´ Erica asks, the jump to conclusions confirming Stiles’ suspicion that her childhood friend wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to possible share a little bit more of Stiles with other-people, it didn’t matter how often Stiles told Erica that she was the closest thing to a sister she had or how they spent nearly every weekend together, her best friend still felt oddly insecure whenever Stiles found another person to take under her wing.
`Allison didn’t do anything, ´Stiles sighs, feeling more annoyed with herself at the moment than anything else, since perhaps like Erica she too had jumped to conclusions when it came to Mr. Argent; perhaps, if Harris and a few other teachers hadn’t talked down at her because of the way she looked, maybe she wouldn’t have been so quick to judge Allison’s dad, since now that she was thinking about it there was every chance the man was just startled by the similarities between her and Allison.
`You don’t have to protect her. ´ Erica is quick to say while making room for Stiles to sit between her and Lydia, `you don’t owe her anything. ´
Stiles doesn’t miss the way Lydia rolls her eyes at Erica’s behaviour, the brilliant strawberry blond whi’d gotten along with Allison smashingly had experienced and still experienced Erica’s reluctance to accept new people into her and Stiles’ friendship.
`Allison didn’t do anything, Erica, ´ Stiles responds firmly enough that it should tell her best friend to accept that Allison wasn’t the reason for her sudden mood-shift, and as she settled down between her two friends glancing briefly in the direction of her brother who was determined to earn a spot on the Lacrosse team, and not only that he had no desires to get stuck on the bench; Isaac wanted to be on the Lacrosse team, to be good enough to be allowed to play instead of sitting on the bench, and most of all he wanted to make their dad proud, not that their dad wasn’t already proud of Isaac because like Stiles he was very proud of Isaac.
Running her hand over her face in frustration, feeling uncertain on how to exactly proceed with the issue of Allison’s father. Stiles wasn’t only starting to doubt whether or not Mr. Argent had judged her based on the shape and size of her body, it was the quick way Erica had made the wrong assumption when she’d arrived at the bleachers that sparked further doubt into her mind, and considering she’d been already a little bit sensitive about being judged by her shape and size by her teachers that day it was possible she’d leaped to the wrong conclusion; maybe Mr. Argent had just been surprised by the fact that Allison had found another person in Beacon Hills who was interested in archery, and that said person also shared Allison’s birthday while also looking a bit like his own daughter did.
`It’s just, her dad…´ Stiles starts carefully, prepared to have Lydia be the one to help her sort out the thoughts inside her head, but before she can really say much Erica was already jumping in already furious on the behalf of her childhood friend.
`What did he do? ´ Erica growls, wrapping and arm around Stiles arm before moving closer, making it clear once more that there was no such thing as a personal bubble between the two of them. Stiles was pretty grateful that Lydia wasn’t as clingy of a friend as Erica, since that might’ve made the delicate friendship between Erica and Lydia to breakdown completely; Lydia and Erica hadn’t exactly reach the point of friendship where they could withstand anything together since their relationship, a relationship which Stiles had in some small way forced to form between them, but Stiles had hope that one day Lydia and Erica would be genuine friends since they were both awesome int heir own ways.
`Erica, it’s really nothing. ´ Stiles insists while reaching out to place one of her hands on the arm wrapped around her own arm, looking up at the hard-angry lines on the beautiful face of her overprotective friend, then again, Stiles was also overprotective of Erica so who exactly was Stiles to judge Erica?
` I – I’m sure – I’m sure I’m just overreacting, or something. ´ Stiles tells her friends, feeling Lydia’s eyes on her which if Jackson noticed would probably upset him since he was surely trying to impress his girlfriend.
Stiles was really starting to think she’d overreacted to the way Mr. Argent had looked at her, the way he’d spoken to her, maybe she was wrong about the tone of Mr. Argent’s voice?
`I’m sure you’re not. ´ Erica insists while holding on to her a little bit tighter, and Stiles isn’t frankly all that surprised that Erica refused to think that she might be wrong when Erica wanted her to be right, thankfully Lydia wasn’t like Erica and would always be quick to not blindly think that Stiles was as innocent like a baby goat.
`What happened, Stiles? ´ Lydia asks her while looking at her like she was some science experiment, which always made Stiles feel incredibly uneasy since it felt like the pretty strawberry blond could see all her secrets.
`I honestly don’t know, ´ and Stiles really doesn’t know what went wrong, but she’s genuinely worried she’d been overly defensive after dealing with shitty teachers and jerks all day.
`We, Allison and I, we were just talking, ´ Erica made a peculiar sound at this but Stiles ignored it, Erica would settle down soon and accept Allison into their lives the way she’d done with Jackson and Danny as well as Lydia, ` and he came up to us, which is fine since we didn’t notice he’d arrived, ´ Stiles explains and Lydia gives her a small nod and encouraging her to go on with a faint smile.
`I honestly don’t know what happened. ´ Stiles goes on to say, while thinking back to the reaction Allison’s dad had when it came to her. Stiles could’ve sworn that the once genuinely friendly smile that Allison’s dad had been wearing had been replaced by a fake-one, something that seemed to happen almost as soon as Mr. Argent had looked at her which also when he went strangely pale, then again, maybe Stiles just imagined all of that.
The idea that Allison’s dad might think she wasn’t good enough to be friends with his daughter made her feel uneasy.
`Now that I think about it, Allison was a bit excited, ´ Stiles doesn’t miss the fond smile that reaches Lydia’s eyes then, and Stiles was glad to see that Allison wouldn’t have to work too hard to become friends with Lydia, since Allison would have to chip her way through the layers of ice that surrounded Erica’s cautious heart.
` I’m not even sure she introduced me properly to her dad. ´ Stiles goes on to say after giving it some thought, and she was pretty sure that Allison’s hadn’t introduced her the way her own dad would expect of her and Isaac, then again, her dad could be a bit old-fashioned at times.
`She was a bit too excited to tell her dad about, you know, the whole sharing a birthday thing, ´Stiles explains while winching little at the loudness of coach Finstock’s whistle which rang offensively loudly, and soon enough the peculiar man was barking orders at the bunch of breathless boys causing her to wonder if Finstock’s plan was to wear the guys down to the point where they’d started dropping like flies, and then make a team from the ones still standing; Jackson and Isaac had been training all summer and they were both stubborn enough to refuse to drop, Boyd hadn’t been dumb enough to push himself to the point where he would’ve been breathless while Scott was visibly struggling to catch his breath.
`Well, Allison did find you too sharing a birthday cool, not sure why. ´Lydia hums, recalling no doubt the moment that piece of information came into the light.
`I think it’s unfortunate that you two share a birthday, ´ Erica says with a huff, ` what if she throws a birthday party on the same day Stiles does? Like, she can’t just expect people to pick between Stiles and her, can she? ´ Erica goes on to say while moving a little bit closer to Stiles, to the point there would be no airflow between their bodies, ` Not that I’d ever pick her over you Stiles. ´
Stiles doesn’t doubt for a second that Erica would pick her.
`We could always have a birthday party together, ´ Stiles says after some thought, although she doubts Allison’s idea of a good birthday party was a sleepover full of movies and games, `or I could have mine the following weekend or something, it’s really not a big thing. It’s just a date and a day, and nothing more. ´
`We can deal with their birthdays when the day arrives, Erica. ´ Lydia sighs from where she sits, glancing over to the field to watch Jackson throw the ball past the goalkeeper, and Stiles can’t help but find it ridiculous how pleased Jackson looked when Lydia applauded his success.
`Exactly. ´ Stiles agrees, before giving Isaac the thumbs up as he glances over to where she sits, she can tell Isaac is really nervous about missing the goal or for the goalkeeper catching the ball, then she yells a few words of encouragements to her anxious brother.
`You’ve got this, Isaac! Just imagined it’s Theo Raeken hiding behind Danny, and he’s just called me an ugly dwarf! ´ the short and determined nod from her brother convinces her that Isaac was going to do just fine.
`The cheerleader try-outs are tomorrow, Stilinski. ´ coach Finstock yells in her direction but Stiles ignores the man, instead going back to talk about Allison’s dad.