Chapter Text
Theo Raeken had never really been an all-or-nothing kind of guy. He liked to plan and he enjoyed being two steps ahead of the competition. It settled whatever anxiety clung to his stomach whenever a situation appeared on his horizon.
And they graced his horizon quite often.
Especially when Mr Harris looked at him like he’d poured battery acid into his morning cereal. That shrewd face was a surefire answer to an everyday question of Theo's. How hard will it be for him to resist the urge to rip someone's throat out? The answer today? Hard. Very Hard. The school year had just started, and he already wanted to rip his chemistry teacher's throat out.
Theo wasn’t actually half bad at Chemistry. He thought the subject to be quite enjoyable. It was Harris that made it almost intolerable. It was clear that Harris hated kids -- Teenagers? Despised them. Yet he still taught at Beacon Hills High School. He was a dick. No one in his classes had ever gotten above a C-. At least to Theo's knowledge, and Theo thought he was pretty knowledgeable.
Unless he was going up against their Nazi of a Science teacher, then all of Theo's well-laid plans go up in bright red flames. The day he could graduate and get as far away from Beacons Hill was a day Theo Raeken would thoroughly enjoy.
This wasn’t enjoyable. Harris was acting like his whole year had been ruined just because there were students in his classroom. So by extension, Theo's year had been ruined as well.
All because there was a body found at school. In one of the school buses anyway. Theo could hear the cops talking. Another ‘Animal attack’. Just like the one they found before the term started.
Animal attack his ass. You’d think with the amount of supposed 'animal attacks' over the years the cops would get the hint.
You’d also think with Harris's track record he would tell his students to shut up.
Having to listen to the weird mumblings between Scott Mccall and Stiles Stilinski was another reason he wanted to rip someone’s throat out. Or roll his eyes so deeply inside his own head that they never came back.
McCall was a werewolf. A freshly turned one, and he wasn’t subtle about it. At all. He and Stilinski had been talking about some sort of rabbit dream and his Lycanphropy since the class started.
“Ate it, Raw?”
“No. You stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven.” Classic Stiles. “I don’t know, you're the one who can’t remember anything.”
“Mr Stilinski, If that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once and a while.”
Classic Mr Harris. Finally.
“I think you and Mr McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?” Thank god.
“No.” Stiles let out disheartened. Visually deflating. They should have shut up. Theo thought, rolling his eyes.
“Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much.” Harris continued as both the boys got out of their seats—Stiles scoffed as he moved to a table that was way too close to Theo.
Theo went back to the work he’d previously abandoned to listen in…
“Hey, I think they found something.” A girl at the front of the class suddenly spoke. Standing up towards the windows. Everyone else quickly followed much to Harris’s chagrin.
Theo rose from his seat, slowly following the crowd of his fellow students to the window. Only just being able to see an ambulance and the EMT’s rushing someone to it.
“It’s not a rabbit” He hears Scott say.
The man on the stretcher suddenly jumps up screaming. It can be heard from the classroom, no enhanced hearing required. Most of the students jump back in fright, a girl in front of Theo almost headbutting him.
“This is good, this is good. He got up he’s not dead.” Stiles rushed out to Scott, again not subtle to Theo's exasperation. “Dead guys can’t do that.” Complete exasperation.
“Stiles… I did that.” There goes the rest of Theo’s year.
Lunch probably couldn’t be called Theo’s most entertaining part of the day. He mostly read his textbooks or whatever book Theo’s foster mother Pamula recommended to him the week before. Sometimes he exchanged small chatter with the ever stoic Vernon Boyd, who sat at the other end of the table—eating whatever food was being served by the lunch ladies that day.
Other times when Theo was really bored he’d listen to other people's conversations--but those were mostly boring too.
Today was such a day. As from across the cafeteria Theo spied Scott and Stiles. In their ever unsubtly rapid conversation. Being approached by Lydia Martin and her cohorts. Watching McCall and Stilinski-Stilinksi especially- Flail trying not to embarrass themselves. Theo turned his ear to listen.
“Why is she sitting with us? ”
“Thanks.” Theo could hear the smile on the new girl's face. Along with Stiles chuckling.
“Get up .”
“How come you never ask Danny to get up ?”
“Because I don’t stare at his girlfriend's coin slot.” Theo snorted at that. Danny was a good guy. Funny, and not as nearly as persistent as some went to when avoiding Theo.
“So, I hear they’re saying it’s some kind of animal attack.” Danny moved on quickly. “Probably a Couger.”
“I heard Mountain Lion .” Jackson interrupted.
“A Cougar is a Mountain Lion.” Lydia corrected “Isn’t it?” Before correcting herself. Theo knew the girl was smart. Dumbing herself down for someone like Jackson Whittmore was just sad. “Who cares?”
“The guys probably some homeless tweaker who’s gonna die anyway.” He was probably right. From what Theo had seen this morning. That guy wasn’t gonna make it.
“Actually, I just found out who it is. Check this out .” Stiles broke in suddenly.
‘T he Sheriff’s Department won’t speculate on details of the incident but confirm the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition. ’ Well, how about that.
“I know that guy.” Scott stuttered. “You do?” The new girl questioned. “Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver.”
“Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?” Lydia quickly changed the subject.”Like…Oh, where are we going tomorrow night?” Oh great.
“You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?” Oh, this was getting worse.
“Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do .”
“Well, I am not sitting home again watching lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun.” Please, no one suggest the movies. Theo would claw his eyes out.
“Hanging out?” Scott sounded confused. “Like the four of us?” Theo wouldn’t even bother looking anymore. “Do you want to hang out, like us and them?”
“Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun.” This was getting so much worse. But he couldn’t stop listening to what was an ongoing trainwreck.
“You know what else sounds fun?” Jackson spoke up. “Stabbing myself in the face with this fork.” Please do so.
Lydia gasped. “ How about bowling? You love to bowl .”
“Yeah with actual competition.” Jackson retorted. Theo could smell the arrogance from across the room.
“How do you know we’re not actual competition?” New girl chimed up. “You can bowl, right?”
“Sort of,” Scott answered awkwardly.
“Is that sort of or yes?” Jackson smugly asked.
“Yes.” And “In fact, I’m a great bowler.” Trainwreck.
Theo stopped listening and winced. That was not ending well. McCall was so screwed.
“You good?”
Theo will never admit to jumping, and even if he did. It was small. Vernon Boyd was examining him, an eyebrow raised suspiciously.
“Fine?” Was that a question? Boyd's eyebrow raised again. Further up his forehead.
Theo came up with something quickly. “I’m working tonight. Pam’s worried… about the animal attacks, you know.” Not a lie. “And when she gets freaked out, I get freaked out, you know how it is.” Sort of not a lie.
“Okay.”
“You know you can still use my discount. If you want, no one else will.” This was getting awkward.
“I’m working tonight.”
“I didn’t just mean tonight, Boyd.” Why did it always get awkward?
“I Know. See you tomorrow Raeken.” Boyd stood from his chair, shouldering his bag. Before looking at him with a sly smile. “Probably.”
“Nice,” Theo said dejected as he watched Boyd exit the cafeteria.
Theo was standing behind the counter inside Beacon Hills Movie Theatre. The place was as dead, as usual. Save for the old couple that came in to watch a rerun of The Wizard of Oz. Theo had been working for four hours at that point. He was beyond bored and wanted his shift to end.
Normally after a shift, he would walk home. But what he had said to Boyd earlier had been true. Mostly. His foster mother was a little freaked out about him walking home at night, at the moment at least. He didn’t have a car. Yet. It’s why he was working, one of the only reasons Pam let him start working when he did. He was fourteen and freshly back in Beacon Hill. As well as freshly in Pamula Davy's custody.
But with a lot of convincing she helped him land a job. Not like there was anyone else applying anyway. The old man who owned the place was happy to have him around as long as Theo manned the cash register and cleaned the toilets. The old man liked watching the movies he had, more than he liked getting people into the Cinema to watch them.
But Theo still got paid so he wasn’t gonna complain. Out loud.
The sound of a car pulling up outside drew Theo's attention to the door, before looking at the clock above it.
9:00
His shift was over.
The door was pushed open and in walked an older woman. Short greyed hair spoofed up by awful-smelling hair gel. Worn boots clacking on the ground, paint-stained mom jeans and a sweater that was his.
“Hey, Pam.”
“Hey Theo, you ready to go?” There were bags under her eyes, she looked like she’d just woken up from a nap. Which she probably had.
The car ride back was mostly quiet. Theo spent most of his time looking out the window. Watching the woods outlining the winding road. No one else was on the road except for the two of them.
“You know you didn't have to pick me up,” Theo uttered. “I could have walked.”
Pam acknowledged him briefly with a side-eye that said he was an idiot. “Yeah, I did.” She sighed. “The Sheriffs issued a curfew, and I didn’t want you walking home alone.”
Theo raised an eyebrow in her direction. “I could have figured out another way home.”
“Not to mention, you changed your shift just to pick me up.” He continued.
She waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “Eh, I needed a change, it’s fine.”
“Working graveyard at the hospitals fine?” Theo rebutted. “You hate staying up late. You go to bed at eight.”
“Yeah well. I wasn’t letting you get mauled by a mountain lion. So.” She took a breath. “We’ll keep doing this until Sheriff Stilinski finds this thing. Okay.”
She glared at him - another look saying, you're not getting out of this stay silent. “Okay.” She kept glaring. “Okay! Eyes back on the road Crazy Lady.”
A smug smile rose on her face. Theo sighed in defeat, a small grin on his face as he looked back out the window.