CHAPTER THREE:
pack mentality

"I'm so confused, why are you acting weird Stiles?" Miles leaned into the boy's door frame as he frowned at the sight of the messy room. Piles of paper lined along the floor and Stiles looked stressed.

"I'm not acting weird, what makes you think that?" Mikes huffed slightly "maybe because you're like running around half the time and being weird!".

He walked inside the boys room picking a piece of paper off the ground "I heard you all night printing whatever the heck this is! Could barely sleep with you running back and forth for hours on end".

Stiles pulled the paper out of Miles hands "it's just homework, I forgot to do it so I was rushing last minute to get it done. Then I must've fallen asleep because I don't even think I finished it".

Miles rolled his eyes "you're an idiot" he turned at the sound of the door opening "and you're an even more idiot for having Scott come over to help you before school, I swear you two are inseparable".

Stiles laughed weakly "what can I say, homework is a two person job" Miles huffed "you've murdered poor innocent trees for your so called homework, if that's what it even is for, you two dorks can hitch a ride to school, I'm stealing the jeep!".

He ran off ignoring Stiles shouts of protest as he chuckled and ran outside towards the jeep.

—

Miles wasn't surprised when word got out about some guy being attacked last night. He sat in class ignoring the shushed whispers between students as he looked outside the windows. He watched the way the police walked around and saw the looks they gave each other. Whatever happened it clearly wasn't good.

The PA system beeped and Miles couldn't help but chuckle when he heard the principal's voice.

"Attention students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as usual, thank you again for your time".

Miles laughed to himself when he saw the look of disappointment on half of the class's faces. Someone could be murdered here and classes would still go on like nothing happening. He frowned deeply when he heard Stiles talking to Scott in a terrible whisper.

"Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while or take after your brother and sit alone".

Miles sunk into his seat in embarrassment as he heard Stiles scoff in annoyance. "I think you and Mr.McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?".

Stiles shakes his head "no!" Mikes covers his mouth to stop himself from laughing as Scott stands up and awkwardly walks towards the front of the class. He could hear the loud protest of Stiles behind him.

"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much" Miles covered his laugh with a cough when Mr.Harris looked at him. Then before the man could say anything Harley stood up and pointed outside.

"Hey! I think they found something!" Miles's eyes widened when the entire class burst up and ran towards the window. His desk nearly tumbled over by how many people kept bumping into it.

He would've stood up and looked himself, but he could barely see past all the kids that blocked the view. Instead he sighed as he looked at his desk like it was the coolest thing he's ever seen.

When the bell went off he was thankful, he practically ran towards the cafeteria as he let out a heavy breath. "You alright?" he turned at the sight of Erica and nodded "yeah, just with everything going on with the whole bus thing, people are acting crazy".

He walked toward the lunch line as Erica chuckled "tell me about it, my parents were gonna keep me at home today because of it, had to practically lie and say I had an important test I couldn't miss".

He smiled "my dad would still make me come here if it meant I was out of his way, no way he'd let me stay home because of some guy getting attacked by an animal, if that's even what happened".

"Well according to the news it is, although kinda weird that it's happening now all of a sudden". He nodded as he held tightly onto his tray of food "I can understand Homicide or attempted murder, but animal attacks? That's the lamest thing that could happen here, animals are easily caught compared to people".

He sat down at the table and then he gasped slightly "holy shit, Lydia Martin is sitting with my idiot of a brother and so is half of the popular kids, glad I didn't sit there today. That'd end not very pleasant".

He took a bite out of his apple as Erica looked at the table "wonder what it's like being popular". He looked at her "it's lame, I'd rather be a loner than popular. They're jerks half the time since half the school worships them. The second high school is over, they'll be nobody and it'll piss them off".

Erica frowned in disbelief "I think it would be nice being popular. No one would make fun of you and you could be considered cool or something".

Miles laughed "If that's your dream go for it, just be sure to save me a seat at the cool kids table even if the table is full of jocks and cheerleaders, I'll blend in the best I can by wearing sunglasses".

Erica chuckled "sunglasses? You think if we sat at the cool kids table that would be considered blending in?". He nodded as he took another bite out of his apple "nothing says I'm cool like sunglasses and a leather jacket, I mean you've seen what Jackson wears half the time. I would just need to somehow afford a flashy sports car and ditch lame clothes all together".

"All this talk about being popular is kinda funny, I honestly don't think I'd ever get that far, not when I'm the school's laughing stock half the time". Miles shrugged "we can make our own popular kid group, could be us and Issac maybe even Boyd. I know you guys hang out a lot, they're pretty cool".

Erica smiled "they'd laugh if you told them that, they don't really think they're cool half the time". He chuckled "I mean they're both pretty awesome, Issac helped me pass English and Boyd lets me sneak into the ice rink every few weeks and honestly I don't get how they're not popular".

He tapped his fingers on the table "hey you know, I sorta was thinking if we all hang out tonight? Us four could be a pretty undefeated group. Jackson and Lydia would wish they were in our group".

Erica smiled "I mean my parents might be a little hesitant since the whole animal attack, but I'll tell Issac and Boyd, where would we go?".

"I didn't think of that, but if they're on board we could go anywhere really that's the fun part" he took the last bite of his apple as Erica nodded.

"Yeah I'll ask them, if not tonight then maybe some other time we can all hang out, I'll even bring sunglasses and a leather jacket". Miles laughed as he looked at Erica "I'll be sure to bring mine too".

His gaze shifted towards Stiles, the boy freaking out as he looked at Lydia who sat beside him. "Gosh my brother is gonna faint if she even looks at him, I don't get what he sees in her". He set his eaten apple onto his tray as Erica shrugged "beats me, maybe it's because she's really pretty".

"I think you're more pretty" he stood up when the bell went off "hey just message the plans for tonight, maybe I'll even figure out where we could go".

—

"Is this a scheme? I just so happened to mention hanging out with Erica and my friends tonight and you're trying to tag along so you can eyestalk Lydia! That's insane Stiles, just take yourself there".

Stiles gasped "you think I'll just go alone! That's depressing and she wouldn't even notice me if I was sitting at a table by myself. I mean it's bowling, and Scott will be there so I can be a wingman".

Miles rolled his eyes "you two need to make out already or something, you're more together than him and his own girlfriend, but seriously if I take you with me don't make it weird. It's just gonna be a little group and we don't care about Lydia!".

Stiles sighed "fine! But that doesn't mean I won't look her way every once in a while, I'll even drive". Miles huffed "gosh you're annoying, you're buying me a drink too while you're at it, if I'm gonna endure two hours of you stalking Lydia I'll need it".

Stiles smiled "it'll be fun!".

Stiles wasn't having fun whatsoever, his back was facing the opposite direction of where Lydia was sitting, which meant he couldn't even see her without nearly breaking his neck. He also sucked at bowling which was embarrassing seeing Miles was good.

Miles sat beside Stiles sipping a soda as Erica took her turn to bowl. Boyd and Issac sat across from him both awkwardly watching Erica play. "Hey so you two hang with Erica often right? Because she mentioned you guys are like best friends".

Boyd chuckled "yeah, we're all pretty close. I guess the perks of being a loser means you get to hang out with other losers. No way we'd ever be considered cool or even semi popular". Miles smiled "well us losers are cool within ourselves, I mean you work at an ice rink, and Isaac has really soft looking hair".

Issacs face reddened as Mile laughed "I mean I need to know what conditioner and shampoo you use, my hair is a mess every time I wake up". Isaac smiled weakly "just the normal brand, nothing fancy".

He sounded so unsure of himself as he spoke, Miles could sense it "you ever bowl before? You haven't really taken your turns much, Boyd's been doing them for you". Issac shrugged as Boyd stood up to approach the lane for his turn.

Stiles sighed deeply "this is boring, I'm gonna accidentally bump into Scott at the snack stand". He walked off and Miles looked at Isaac "I just don't feel like bowling is all, only came here to see everyone".

Miles tapped his hands on the table "I think you'd make a good bowler, even if you haven't done much you seem the type who gets strikes". Isaac smiled "I don't know, the last time I bowled was years ago, I sucked and had to use bumpers".

Miles grabbed his cup tightly "I still need the bumpers honestly, but somehow tonight's been full of strikes and decent rolls". Issac looked at the screen "you're in the lead, so I'd say you're a professional at this type of stuff. I don't really consider myself good at anything, so that's why I don't do it much".

"I think you're good at a lot of things. You just doubt yourself is all, I mean you work at a cemetery that's pretty wicked. And you're good at it right?". Isaac nodded as he rubbed at his face with his hands.

Erica sat down beside Miles "Boyd's in the lead now, he got like two strikes in a row". Miles turned and gasped "no way! He beat me by ten points". Everyone laughed as Miles stood up and ran towards the lane.

He paused as he grabbed the bowl, he felt darkness all of a sudden. As he pressed the ball against his chest and looked at the snack stand where Stiles was, he saw a flash of red orbs that glowed brightly.

He ignored the feeling he felt and took his turn, he missed every single pin and the feeling only got worse as he sat back down with everyone.

—
authors notes:
wow! Another update that isn't at 6AM! That's insane, and not to mention that I spent a good 4 hours writing this, I took my time so it wasn't half assed and honestly writing for teen wolf is way more fun then tvd right now. Anyways enjoy!