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“You really don’t have to do this, you know,” muttered Isaac as he slouched out of the car.
“Of course I do,” Derek replied, locking the Camaro and following Isaac up to the front of Beckon Hills High School. “Who else is going to?”
“Everyone’s looking,” Isaac complained. “People’s moms are looking at you.” He made a face. The idea that people were looking at Derek like he was a dilf or something was not one that Isaac wanted to be having.
“Well, maybe next time we won’t both have to go.”
“I don’t see how this can possibly be my fault. My grades would be fine if it weren’t for the werewolf crap.”
“You signed up for it. I gave you full disclosure.”
“Whatever.”
Derek sighed.
“Let’s just find out what the deal is and I’m sure we can get it sorted out. You’re a smart kid and I did high school. I can help you.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“Yeah, you are,” he said, ramming a shoulder against Isaac and nearly knocking him off balance.
Isaac smiled a little at that. It meant good will and caring in Derek language and he appreciated the message.
They entered the school and Derek allowed Isaac to lead him towards his homeroom teacher’s classroom. They passed clusters of parents, some with their children, most of whom looked ready to kill if it meant they didn’t have to face their teachers.
“Derek?” asked a voice.
Derek recognized the scent and tone at once and turned to face Sheriff Stilinski.
“Sir,” he said. He was trying his best to stay on good terms with Stiles’s father given that the kid was in his pack and all.
“What are you doing here?” the Sheriff asked.
Isaac tried to shuffle away, but Derek put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“Parent-teacher conference.”
Sheriff Stilinski raised his eyebrows.
“I’m Isaac’s legal guardian now. Someone’s gotta help him make it through physics.”
The Sheriff nodded, recalling that one of his deputies had helped Derek with all the paperwork to adopt Isaac after his father had died and both he and Derek had been cleared of the various murder charges.
“How are you doing, Isaac? You guys are living just outside of town, right?”
Isaac nodded, glowering at the floor.
“Be polite,” Derek muttered, giving Isaac’s shoulder a stern sort of squeeze.
“Yes, sir,” Isaac said, still not looking at the Sheriff.
“How are you liking it out there?”
Isaac glanced quickly at Derek, who gave a slight shrug to indicate that he should answer the question how he saw fit.
“I like it a lot,” Isaac said, looking up at last. “It’s really nice.”
Derek didn’t let it show on his face, but he felt something alarmingly like happiness at the honesty in Isaac’s voice. After a few months, the large house that he’d bought for the pack was really starting to feel like a home, especially for him and Isaac, who were the only full-time residents while Peter was off finding himself or whatever he was up to these days.
“That’s good.” The Sheriff smiled at the two of them. “Well, don’t let me keep you; don’t want to be late.”
Isaac returned the smile and Derek gave the Sheriff a polite nod before they headed down the hall again. When they reached Isaac’s teacher’s room, they found themselves face to face with Chris Argent as he left the room.
“Derek,” he said, looking wary and surprised. “What are you doing here?”
Derek let out a small sound of annoyance.
“Parent-teacher conference,” he said again.
“Oh.”
“Isaac Lahey and, um, Derek Hale?” called the teacher’s voice from inside the room.
“Excuse us,” Derek said, forcing himself to be polite as he made to pass Argent.
“Hey,” he said, catching Derek’s arm.
He jerked away automatically and took a protective half step in front of Isaac.
“Down boy,” Argent said, smiling faintly. “I just wanted to thank you again for your help with all that trouble this summer. Couldn’t have handled it without you.”
Derek nodded. It was quite true. Neither Derek’s pack, nor the remaining hunters could have dealt with the alpha pack or Gerard on their own and the whole ordeal had ended with a tentative peace between the two groups. Derek doubted Argent was aware of exactly how much time his daughter spent at the house; he certainly couldn’t know that Allison was, in fact, a member of the pack, but he supposed it was nice that they weren’t trying to kill each other anymore.
Argent returned the nodded and went off down the hall while Derek and Isaac went into the classroom.
Isaac’s homeroom teacher this year taught American lit. Her room was decorated with posters of famous authors and quotes and had, in Derek’s opinion, a highly excessive number of potted plants. She had pulled three chairs into a small cluster in front of her desk, which she was seated behind. She smiled at Isaac and Derek as they entered and sat down in two of the chairs, though her eyes looked a little nervous when they fell on Derek. It was still a common reaction after all the “accused murderer Derek Hale” business in the spring.
“So,” she began, shuffling through a pile of file folders. “You must be Derek Hale.”
“Yes.”
“You’re Isaac’s—?” Her voice trailed off uncertainly.
“Legal guardian,” Derek provided.
She nodded.
“Right. I’m Amy Jefferson, Isaac’s homeroom and English teacher.”
Derek winced slightly and both Isaac and his teacher frowned at him. Derek quickly shoved aside the emotions that had a flashed through him at the sound of his little cousin’s name.
“So, what do we need to talk about?” he asked.
“Well,” Jefferson said, “I know things must be pretty rough for you guys right now, but Isaac’s doing remarkably well. It looks like he’s having a little trouble with physics, but I feel confidant that he’ll be able to pull his grade up before the semester is out.”
Derek nodded, wondering what exactly one was supposed to do at a parent-teacher conference.
“Is there anything that you wanted to talk about?” she asked.
Derek glanced at Isaac, who shrugged.
“Not really,” he said. “If you don’t think there’s anything to worry about then I’m not worried.”
“Anything you’d like to talk about, Isaac?”
Isaac shook his head at once.
“Alright, well, how about you step out into the hall for a minute and your—.” She stopped herself quickly. “Mr. Hale and I can talk.”
“Okay,” Isaac said, getting to his feet and heading for the door.
Derek caught his eye when he glanced back, silently telling him that it would be fine. Isaac nodded almost imperceptibly and went into the hall, closing the door behind him.
“So,” said Jefferson again. “How is Isaac doing?”
Derek stared at her, a little thrown off by her almost painful earnestness.
“I know it must have been so hard for him these past months, losing his father and moving into a new home. How would you say he’s coping?”
Had Derek been the kind of person to laugh, he would have; moving into a new place had been the least of Isaac’s worries lately.
“He’s doing well,” Derek said truthfully.
“Do you two communicate?”
“I thought we were here to talk about his physics grade.”
“Well, a student’s home life can have a huge impact on their academic performance,” she explained.
“It’s fine,” Derek insisted. “I don’t have any problems with him.”
“You’re awfully young to be in a parental role, aren’t you?” she asked, which Derek thought was a bit rude.
“I had a big family,” he said. “I helped take care of my younger siblings and cousins.”
She nodded, apparently oblivious to the painful memories stirring in his mind.
“Well, I guess we’re done here, then. Unless there’s anything else?”
“No,” said Derek quickly.
“Alright.” She smiled at him as Derek nearly leapt to his feet.
“It was a pleasure meeting you,” she said.
“Yeah, you too,” Derek replied, almost out the door.
Isaac was waiting for him in the hall.
“Well?” he asked, falling into stride next to Derek as he headed back towards the parking lot.
“We’re getting your physics grade up. I never want to do that again.”
***
Derek woke up early on his first day of school. He’d been waiting for this day for years. Years and years and years.
“Derek, it’s five a.m., buddy,” muttered Ian, squinting at his alarm clock as his son bounced into the master bedroom.
“Yeah, I know. I’ve gotta get ready.”
“Go back to bed,” said his mother sleepily.
“But I’ve gotta be ready for school,” Derek insisted.
“I know. But not right now. Go back to your room,” she told him.
Derek sighed, but went back to his room to sit on his bed and wait.
It was a long wait.
Derek had, in fact, been waiting to go to school for almost as long as he could remember. It was pack rules that they couldn’t go off to school until they turned eight. Before then, they were home schooled, learning to read and write as well as to control their abilities. Derek was still young enough that he fully shift, but he was now old enough to know not to do it outside of a pack setting. And that meant he was ready to go to school.
Derek checked the Velcro on his light-up sneakers again and grabbed his backpack. He went through its contents for the thousandth time, making sure that he had all his notebooks and pencils and pens and erasers and was a hundred and ten percent ready to go.
It was still too early.
Derek was not a fan of waiting, but he did his best and, after what felt like forever, lo and behold, he heard movement in the rest of the house. Derek shot out the door of his room and flew down the stairs to the kitchen.
It was still empty, but he scrambled around, getting himself cereal and not spilling that much, all things considered. By the time his mother came down stairs, he was halfway through the bowl. He grinned up at her, milk dribbling out of the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, Derek,” she muttered, shaking her head fondly. She grabbed a napkin and cleaned him up before starting to make breakfast for everyone else.
The rest of the Hale family trailed downstairs to join them in the kitchen. Derek’s aunt Rose and her two children, Steven, who was now three, and Amy, who was seven, appeared first. Rose popped Steven in his highchair and joined in making breakfast, freeing Samantha to start working on packing lunches.
“I wanna go to school,” whined Amy. It had been her mantra since she’d found out that Derek was joining Beckon Hills Elementary.
“You’re not old enough, sweetie,” said her mother with remarkable patience. “Next year.”
Amy pouted, but was placated with a dish of applesauce, her current favorite.
Ian, dressed in his usual carpenter’s jeans and flannel came downstairs next. He was holding the youngest Hale child, Gabby, who was grabbing as his russet beard and giggling. She was still a few months shy of her first birthday and, like her older brother Arthur and cousin Steven, had been born fully human. Ian kissed his wife and deposited Gabby in another highchair before joining Rose in making breakfast for the family.
Laura and Arthur, thirteen and ten respectively, entered the kitchen next, mumbling sleepy “thank you”s for breakfast. They had both been in school long enough that the novelty had worn off for them and they were just regretting the loss of free time and sleep.
Peter was the last on the scene as usual. He was still in his pajamas when he came downstairs with Carolina, Derek’s four-year-old sister, in tow.
“Excited for your first day, Derek?” Peter asked, sitting down next to his nephew at the large table.
“Yup,” said Derek happily. He was done with his cereal now and was intently watching his mother pack his new Power Rangers lunch box.
“Here you go,” said his mother, setting the lunch box down in front of him.
“Thanks, mom,” he chirped happily.
Ian glanced at his watch.
“Alright, gang, hurry up. We need to leave pretty soon so I’ll have time to get Derek to his classroom before work.”
Ten minutes later, Laura, Arthur, and Derek were loaded into Ian’s truck and on their way into town. The Beckon Hills middle and elementary schools were within a few blocks of each other so Ian parked at the elementary school and Laura headed to her middle school on foot.
“Have a good day,” he father called after her.
“Thanks, Dad!”
Arthur was already trying to make an escape as his father turned back to his sons.
“Dad,” Arthur moaned. “I can find my room on my own.”
“I know you can,” Ian replied, smiling. “Don’t want to embarrass you.”
He ruffled Arthur’s hair, causing him to wince away.
“Have a good day,” he called again.
“Thanks,” Arthur said as he trotted off.
Ian and Derek followed at a distance.
“Ready?” he asked, looking down at his son as they reached the front doors.
Derek gave him a nervous glance, but nodded.
They entered the school together, Derek staring wide-eyed around at all the other children. He couldn’t help feeling a little overwhelmed, excited as he was, and he was secretly very glad to have his father with him.
“Here we are,” said Ian when they reached the right classroom.
They went inside, Derek trying to ignore how his new classmates all seemed to know each other. Having been born into a pack, he’d never really had to make friends before and he was starting to realize how daunting a task it might be. He watched the other children catching up after the summer and finding their new desks while his father talked to his teacher. After a minute, Ian turned to Derek, kneeling down to speak to him.
“You’re all set,” he said.
Derek nodded.
“You gonna be okay, buddy?”
“Yeah.”
“Just remember everything we taught you, okay?”
“I know.”
“Good.” He ruffled Derek’s hair. “Have a good day.”
“You too, Dad.”
“Thanks.”
Ian straightened up, nodded to Derek’s teacher, and headed out, leaving Derek standing alone.
Not a minute later, a boy walked straight up to Derek and started talking to him. Derek started at the boy, completely thrown.
“Hi. I’m Alan. I was new last year. You’re new this year.”
“Yes,” Derek agreed.
“Did you just move here? I moved here from Oregon.”
“No, I grew up here, but I was home schooled.”
Alan nodded.
“What’s your name?”
“Derek Hale.”
Alan frowned for a moment.
“I think you sit next to me. Come on.”
Slightly baffled, Derek allowed Alan to tug him by the wrist over to their desks.
“Yup,” he confirmed, pointing at the brightly colored nametag taped to the desk. “Looks like we’re going to be friends.”