stiles flung open the door to an empty classroom as scott carried teddy inside.
the older brother set his sister on a desk near the front and began cradling her shoulders.
eventually, teddy's breaths evened out.
"teddy?"
scott questioned, his voice full of concern.
she nodded.
"what happened?"
he asked her softly.
"yeah, i found you crying in the corner of the bathroom."
lydia said slowly.
"good job, too."
stiles added.
"i-uh."
teddy gulped back tears, and lydia grabbed her hand.
"it's okay now."
she said, her green eyes full of sympathy and concern.
teddy took a deep breath.
"i know this sounds crazy but—"
she tried to steady her shaking hand so lydia wouldn't notice.
"but— i, i was invisible."
all three juniors remained silent.
"teddy,"
scott said calmly.
"what do you mean, invisible?"
"no-no one could see me. you and stiles couldn't see me in the corridor when i was right there. neither could liam or mason."
teddy's hands finally stopped trembling, but her lips still quivered as she spoke.
"but, teddy."
scott said, sounding pained.
"you weren't there."
"i was!"
teddy raised her voice, tears threatening to spill again.
"teddy."
lydia said.
"you better get to class."
teddy nodded, letting go of the strawberry blonde girls hand and climbing off the table.
"yeah. class."
teddy said he goodbyes to her brother and his friends.
still considerably shaken, teddy headed to class.
><
scott sighed as he turned to face stiles and lydia.
"what do you reckon that was about?"
stiles asked, scratching the back of his head.
"well, it was obviously supernatural."
lydia stated, but scott shook his head.
"i don't know if it was."
stiles and lydia looked at their friend quizzically.
"teddy has bad anxiety."
he explained.
"and paranoia. maybe— maybe being around liam and mason for the day made her feel out of the ordinary, as she'd normally so alone, so, perhaps, being alone again got to her, or triggered something in her brain."
stiles shook his head vigorously.
"no. noh. this is most definitely supernatural. of course being invisible is supernatural, you grow claws and fangs!"
scott wasn't convinced, and looked to lydia for her opinion.
"this is definitely supernatural."
lydia said seriously.
"maybe it's not."
scott persisted.
"teddy's gone through phases like this before—"
"no."
lydia said suddenly.
"i know this is supernatural."
"how?"
stiles asked, scratching the back of his head and resting his elbow on the desktop.
"because—"
lydia explained.
"i've been through this."
when neither scott nor stiles looked convinced, lydia sighed.
"when i because a banshee, i would go through phases thinking i was crazy. i would see things no one else could see, i would turn up places that i'd never been to. and i definitely felt invisible."
the trio remained silent.
after a moment, stiles nodded.
"i agree with lydia."
scott scoffed, but didn't expand.
"i still don't know. maybe we should ask malia?"
lydia nodded firmly, and stiles agreed.
"malia."
><
after leaving her brother and his friends, teddy reluctantly walked to class.
the only reason she went was the thought of seeing liam in maths, and hoping, this time, he would see her.
before she went in, teddy took a long, steady breath.
slowly, she brought up one hand to her face and let out a sigh of relief.
she was actually there.
she hoped.
with caution, teddy pushed open the classroom door and walked in.
instantly, the teacher was all up in teddy's face, not even giving her time to see if liam was in the class.
"miss mccall,"
she said sternly.
"where have you been?"
teddy felt the blood drain from her face as she scoured her brain for an answer.
she couldn't tell the truth, so teddy went with nothing.
she just stood there, feeling her cheeks get hot.
"first reading in my lesson, then skipping detention, of all things, and now skipping class! i'm thoroughly disappointed, teddy."
teddy felt the entire class watching her.
"i'll see you after school."
the teacher finished, walking through the silence to her desk.
teddy's eyes remained fixated on the floor.
"take a seat."
teddy's maths teacher said, calmer now.
teddy's gaze never lifted off the floor as she shuffled between the rows of desks before slumping down in her chair, thoroughly embarrassed.
teddy barely looked up from her work all lesson; she worked at a slower pace so she'd only finish on time.
her mind kept wandering, but teddy had time for that, as long as she worked.
teddy had soon figured out that liam was in fact in that lesson.
she wondered what he thought of her— what with her brother and the whole werewolf thing, and then the events of this morning.
teddy didn't look in his direction once, or even avert her eyes from the paper on her desk— until the last ten minutes of the lesson.
a yell came from the opposite side of the classroom.
"miss!"
"liam!"
the teacher scolded the boy.
"don't call out like that!"
liam looked down in mock embarrassment.
"sorry, miss."
he said, but he didn't sound sorry.
after that, the teacher decided to go through the answers.
"right."
she said, pacing the length of the classroom.
"does anyone have the answer to number one?"
"eighty-three!"
liam yelled, even though that was quite obviously wrong.
"mr dunbar!"
the teacher yelled again.
"sorry, miss wight."
he said sheepishly, putting his head down, but really, he was grinning like crazy.
the next time liam interrupted was just before the bell rang.
this time, he threw a well aimed piece of paper at the back of miss wights head.
teddy couldn't help but snicker as she turned around, outraged.
"liam dunbar!"
she yelled, her voice nasally and brittle.
"that is the third time this lesson! detention!"
liam smirked as he exited the classroom, and, still trying to hide her smile, teddy laughed.
liam waited outside the classroom for her.
"what was that about?"
she asked, watching liam lick his top lip.
"figured you could use some company in detention."
he smirked.
"you're not mad at me?"
"why would i be mad?"
liam looked puzzled.
"because of— uh, my brother, you know?"
teddy lowered her voice.
"no. i'm not."
liam hesitated.
"i'm not."
"good."
teddy smiled, and the topic wasn't brought up again until lunch.
><
"i'm not sharing my basement."
malia said blatantly as teddy walked into the conversation, giving scott a small wave.
"where are your friends?"
scott asked teddy over lydia's matter-of-fact correction.
"physics catch up."
she mouthed quietly, but scott picked it up.
"all right, she's still learning."
stiles cut through their quiet conversation.
scott spoke up.
"we're going to use the boat house for liam. it has support beams; we can chain him to them."
"wait, seriously?"
teddy asked.
"how?"
"yeah."
kira said, moving closer to teddy.
"how do we get him out to the lake house if he doesn't trust us?"
"i'd say, if it keeps him from murdering someone, we should chloroform the little bastard and throw him in the lake."
stiles said seriously, and teddy felt her face turn white with fear.
"i'm in."
malia said, raising her hand.
just as teddy began to worry for liam's life— quite literally— scott butted in.
"we're not killing or kidnapping him."
he said definitely.
teddy could've sworn malia sighed.
everyone was blank for a moment, fresh out of non-violent ideas.
finally, lydia spoke up.
"then let's be smarter. we tell him there's a party and invite him."
stiles seemed confused.
"so, you're gonna ask out a freshman?"
lydia cocked her head.
"no. i'm done with teenage boys. but—"
lydia looked towards teddy, and the freshman backed away slightly in fear.
"teddy here has a slight connection with him."
teddy blushed vigorously.
"no. no chance."
all of the juniors surrounding her turned to look at teddy.
scott looked doubtful at first, but then he smiled.
"come on. he's in your year."
malia added.
"it's not like it's real."
stiles said.
teddy shook her head.
"no. i'll feel bad—"
she tried in desperation, but it wasn't working.
staring down teddy, stiles smirked and malia nodded.
kira looked at teddy encouragingly.
lydia smiled.
"you can do it, teddy".
she said, flicking her strawberry blonde hair out of her face.
"because who better to ask out a cute blonde freshman than the girl who has a crush on him?"