Work Text:
The next day, Stiles went in to school a few minutes early to set up an appointment with the guidance counselor. Thankfully, Marin Morrell was long gone.
"You're lucky. Mr. Matias had a cancellation and can see you at the beginning of third period. Otherwise, it has to be early next week," the secretary said. "Will you miss anything if you don't go to class?"
Stiles shook his head. "Nah. That's actually a study hall." There had been no classes Stiles was interested in during that period, so he generally did his homework there or went to the Library.
"Okay," she replied, scribbling Stiles' name into the appointment book. She scribbled on another piece of paper. "Here's your hall pass."
"Thanks!" Stiles said cheerfully.
Scott sat next to Stiles in their shared morning classes but ignored him. Either the Argents hadn't left yet or Scott didn't realize, since he wasn't berating Stiles. Stiles sighed to himself, he knew that was coming.
As second period ended, Stiles waved his hall pass at Scott. "Got a meeting with Mr. Matias. Dad asked me to check on some things."
As he hoped, mentioning his father implied this wasn't something Stiles was doing on his own. And since Scott was also annoyed with the Sheriff, he wouldn't be asking questions. Stiles waved vaguely as he made his way to the office.
"So, Mr. Stilinski, what can I do for you today?" Mr. Matias asked as Stiles settled into the guest chair.
"I'd like to arrange to graduate this year," Stiles said. "I know I need to pick up an English credit in the Spring, which I can do online through the community college. I should have all the rest of the graduation requirements met with this year's courses."
"Okay, let's see," Mr. Matias nodded. He brought up Stiles' records on his computer and looked carefully at the screen. "Seems like you are correct. You'll need your parent or guardian to sign off on that."
"I'll be eighteen in two months," Stiles replied.
"It's just simpler if your parent or guardian signs off," Mr. Matias replied with a shrug. "There would be a few more hoops to go through if you do it on your own."
"Okay, just checking," Stiles replied. He knew his dad wouldn't object, but at this point he was used to doing things on his own. Huh. This is what it was like to let the adults do their job.
"You'll be responsible to get the community college to get us an official transcript for the English course once grades are issued," Mr. Matias went on. "I'll add a note to your file that you plan to do that. You'll be provisionally on the graduation list, similar to any senior who needs to finish up courses. I'm changing your status to senior so that you get the commencement notices."
Stiles hadn't thought about the graduation ceremony, but he'd have plenty of time to make up his mind about that. Another chance to talk something over with his dad. And Peter.
"Okay, thank you," Stiles nodded.
Mr. Matias handed Stiles a packet, adding an extra form to it. "This is the graduation packet. I've included the form you need to have your parent or guardian sign. Get that back in the next week or so. Any other forms have the deadlines listed on the forms."
Stiles riffled through the packet, looking at the different papers. "Okay, I'll take a look through this and let you know if I have any questions."
"Good enough," Mr. Matias nodded. "Anything else?"
Stiles shook his head. "Nope. Not today."
"Do you need a pass to go back to class?"
Stiles waved the pass he got earlier. "It's just a study hall, I'm all set."
"Have a good day, then!" Mr. Matias offered cheerfully.
Well, that was simple. Stiles was glad that there weren't a lot of questions at this point. Stiles went back to the study hall but signed right back out to go to the LIbrary.
Peter and Derek showed up for dinner that night. Derek had two bags of groceries and Stiles dug into them to see what they had brought.
"We need to talk to the rest of Scott's pack," Peter said. "A couple of them have approached Derek and asked questions."
"What did you tell them?" Stiles asked as he spread the food out on the kitchen counter.
"That there is an Alpha that would be willing to consider taking them into their Pack or helping them to find a new pack," Derek replied. "There are a couple that I don't trust, but more because I don't know them. I don't have anything specific why they shouldn't join our Pack."
"Sometimes, an instinct is a good place to start," Peter nodded. "We'll work through that."
Stiles looked at the steaks that had been in one bag and said, "I guess we're cooking on the grill tonight."
"It's venison from Camparelli's butcher shop," Peter said. Camparelli's was known to carry game meat options to go with the usual variety found in a butcher shop. They were pricey, which is why Stiles didn't shop there often, but had excellent meats. Venison was leaner than most beef, so these would be excellent steaks.
"Brought lots of things for salads and sides," Derek admitted.
Remembering his conversation with Peter about his dad, he didn't quibble about the steaks.
"Dad should be home in a bit but we have time to put together a potato casserole to go with the steaks," Stiles said.
"What can we do to help?" Peter asked.
Stiles put Peter and Derek to work, peeling and chopping vegetables for dinner. They all worked together easily.
John waved hello and said, "I'm a mess, I need a shower before dinner."
"Not a problem," Stiles replied. "Venison steaks on the grill tonight, and we won't put them on until you're ready. Everything else is flexible. Take your time."
John's face lit up at that. "Excellent!"
The conversation over dinner focused on John's not-quite-bad day. Mrs. Hemple's cat had gotten out and she needed help luring it back into the house. Although that wasn't what she told the dispatcher - she had reported a strange man lurking outside her house. John had gone to check on it, annoyed when she finally admitted that Trickster had gotten out. John ended up chasing the cat throughout the yard.
Peter snickered. "Now that you're officially part of the Pack, felines won't exactly hate you but they will try to avoid you."
"Really?" Stiles asked, surprised.
"There are always exceptions to that, but you have to find a special cat to get along with 'wolves," Peter replied.
"Have to keep that in mind," John nodded. "It's good to know."
"I put in to graduate early today," Stiles announced. "There's a form dad needs to sign but the only big thing I need to do is take one more English class. I can do that online at the local community college."
John nodded. "With everything going on, it's probably a good idea."
"I'll leave the form on your desk," Stiles said.
John nodded.
"Thanks," Stiles nodded.
"I guess I'm glad you didn't just forge my signature again," John laughed.