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“Why don’t you just talk to him?” Scott asked.
“That is a terrible idea,” Stiles said, shaking his head.
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
Stiles sighed. “We do not have time for that conversation. We’re late for chem.”
“Since when do you care about being on time for Harris’ class?” Scott asked.
Stiles just shrugged and walked into the chemistry room. He didn’t care about being on time to chemistry, he just wanted the conversation to be over.
Stiles had thought that getting over Lydia Martin would be the end of his ridiculous crushes, but apparently he had worse luck than he’d initially thought. He wasn’t exactly sure when or how it had started, but now Stiles was crushing on Derek Hale, possibly the one person who was just as out of his league as Lydia was.
Stiles wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing that they only had one class together. However it was definitely a bad thing that it was chemistry. Stiles had enough trouble sitting through Harris’ class the year before without getting distracted, now he had the added bonus of Derek sitting three tables ahead of him right in Stiles’ line of sight thanks to Harris’ seating plan.
Harris was droning on at the front of the class and Stiles leaned across to whisper to Scott.
“What would I even say to him anyway?” Stiles glanced at Derek, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring at the ceiling, obviously not paying attention to Harris. “We don’t have anything in common.”
“You don’t know that,” Scott said. “You might have tons in common, which you could find out if you just talk to him.”
“He probably doesn’t even like guys,” Stiles muttered.
“Something else you’d find out for sure if you’d talk to him.”
“You’re starting to sound like a broken record,” Stiles complained, a little too loudly.
“Mr Stilinski!” Harris snapped. “Something you’d like to share?”
A wave of snickering went through the class.
“No,” Stiles said.
“Maybe staying after school will help you learn how to keep your mouth shut,” Harris said.
Stiles slumped down in his seat and bit his tongue to stop himself from arguing.
Harris turned his back on the class and started writing on the board.
Three tables up from Stiles, Derek leaned over to whisper in his friends’ ear. Unfortunately for him Harris was still on high alert.
“Mr Hale it looks like you will be joining Mr Stilinski in detention.”
Derek twisted in his seat and looked back at Stiles. Stiles slumped further down in his chair, cheeks turning red.
This was just great.
*
The chemistry room was empty except for Harris when Stiles returned at the end of the day.
“Take a seat Mr Stilinski.”
Stiles made his way to the back of the room and sat in his usual place.
Derek showed up a few minutes later, and Harris told him to take a seat as well. Instead of sitting in his assigned place, Derek walked to the back of the room and sat in Scott’s usual seat next to Stiles.
Harris didn’t object to the breach of the seating arrangement.
“For the next hour the two of you will be silent,” Harris said. “Every word that leaves your mouth will be another detention. Do you understand?”
Both Stiles and Derek nodded.
“The two of you are free to work on your own homework,” Harris continued. “Although Stilinski, I suggest you focus on your chemistry, God knows you need the practice.”
Stiles scowled and pulled his books out of his backpack. He opened his economics textbook just to spite Harris.
Harris sat down at his own desk and started to mark a stack of tests.
Out of the corner of his eye Stiles saw Derek slide a folded piece of paper across to him. Stiles covered the paper with his hand so Harris wouldn’t see it. His heart was beating in his chest faster than usual because holy shit Derek is passing notes. Slowly Stiles unfolded it and read the note Derek had written.
He said that we couldn’t talk. He didn’t say we couldn’t write.
Stiles bit his lip to stop from laughing. He grabbed his pen and jotted down a reply.
In fact I think he was actively encouraging us to write.
Stiles made sure that Harris wasn’t looking before passing the note back.
The two boys were careful to avoid detection by Harris as they passed the note back and forth between them.
I’ve never gotten a detention before.
Really?? I get detentions all the time, especially from Harris.
Probably because you never stop talking.
I’m not talking now.
Only because Harris would have you in detention until you graduate.
Touché. What are you doing here anyway? Harris wasn’t on your case until you decided you had to talk too.
It took Derek a couple of minutes to reply, even though Harris wasn’t looking at them.
I just thought of something to tell Boyd. I wasn’t really thinking about Harris.
The sound of Harris’ phone ringing made the two teenage boys jump.
Harris answered the phone with an unimpressed grunt, and his expression grew more and more annoyed as the person on the other end of the line spoke. Finally he hung up and slammed his cell down on the desk with unnecessary force.
“I need to step out for a moment,” Harris said. “The two of you are to stay quiet while I’m gone. If I hear so much as a sneeze from either of you you’ll both be in here every afternoon for the rest of the semester.”
Derek and Stiles nodded dutifully. Harris gave them both a pointed look before standing and leaving the room. He closed the door behind him.
“So what was so important that you had to tell Boyd right away?” Stiles asked, picking up where their written conversation had left off.
Derek shrugged. He didn’t look at Stiles.
“Come on man,” Stiles said. “Harris can’t hear us, you can talk.”
Derek still didn’t say anything. He just turned back to his homework, opening up a fresh page.
Stiles slumped back in his seat. Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe Derek didn’t want to actually talk to him at all. Passing notes was probably just a way to break the boredom during detention.
Harris walked back into the room. He looked more pissed off than he had when he’d left.
“I have to cut this detention short,” Harris said through clenched teeth. “But I expect both of you to show up tomorrow afternoon to make up the remaining time.”
Harris quickly packed up his things without another word.
Stiles and Derek were a little shocked, but they started to pack up their things as well. Derek grabbed the note they had been passing back and forth and slipped it between the pages of one of his notebooks.
Stiles packed up his things first and got out of the room as fast as he could. However he’d barely made a few feet down the corridor before Derek caught up with him and grabbed him by the arm.
“What?” Stiles asked. He sounded a little angrier than he’d meant to, but he was a little embarrassed about Derek not wanting to talk to him.
Once again Derek didn’t say anything, but he pushed a note into Stiles hand. Derek let go of Stiles and walked away in the opposite direction Stiles was heading.
Stiles opened up the note and his mouth dropped open.
I didn’t really have anything to say to Boyd. I spoke up so I’d get put in detention with you. I thought it might give us a chance to talk, then Harris pulled the ‘no talking’ bullshit. When he left the room I choked and couldn’t tell you the truth.
Stiles looked up and spotted Derek rounding the corner at the end of the hall. He folded the note back up then sprinted after Derek.
Stiles caught up with Derek just outside the building. He grabbed the sleeve of Derek’s jacket and forced the other boy to stop walking.
“Do you want to hang out sometime?” Stiles asked, a little out of breath.
A small, shy smile lit up Derek’s face. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”