Control • Stiles Stilinski [2]

[24] Strategy

"Who will fix me now?
Dive in when I'm down?
Save me from myself, don't let me drown."

Drown - Bring Me The Horizon
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Allison, Scott, Stiles and Isabel stand in the back corner of Mr. Yukimura's classroom, huddled around Stiles' tablet. A map on the tablet shows a pinned location.

"Here's where we found the den. It's right in the middle of the hiking trails." Stiles points to the location.

"Well, that could narrow it down. Coyotes travel in fixed trails. But, I think you're right about her not going back to the den. Coyotes don't like wolves," Allison says, shooting a pointed look at Scott. "and they're really smart - if they don't want to be heard, they actually walk on their toes." Allison tells the three, disbelief covering their faces.

"Coyotes tip-toe?" Stiles asks the huntress incredulously.

"They tip-toe." Allison confirms with a sigh.

Stiles looks down at Isabel, cringing at the thought. Isabel stifles a laugh that threatened to escape. The bell rings, signalling the start of next period.

"I gotta go, but send me the pinned location." Allison tells Stiles, pulling the red-head girl beside him in for a hug before she leaves.

"Okay." Stiles nods, moving over with Isabel to their seats.

"All right, everyone, let's get started! We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read aloud for us?" Mr Yukimura addresses the class. "Mr. Stilinski? How about you?" He asks.

Stiles raises his head at the teachers words, pausing for a moment before stumbling over his words anxiously, "Oh, maybe someone else could...?"

Isabel watches the interaction before raising her hand and interrupting. "I can do it, Mr Yukimura." She offers, Stiles turns at her voice and gives the girl a grateful look.

"Thank you, Miss Martin, but everyone participates in my class." Mr. Yukimura remarks. Stiles' face drops at his words. "Mr. Stilinski." Mr Yukimura instructs again.

"Okay..." Stiles sighs.

He unwillingly gets up from his desk and makes his way to the front of the room. He stands at the podium and looks down at the book with a heavy breath. He gulps as the words become blurred, squeezing his eyes shut and gripping at the podium tightly in a desperate attempt to keep calm.

Isabel takes a deep breath as her eyes meet Scott's across the room, swallowing hard as she feels his panic building inside her body, anxiety bubbling in her veins.

Stiles re-opens his eyes, the words no longer blurred - instead they begin to fall off the page completely. He slowly raises his head as the panic fully sets in, his vision becoming blurred as the familiar feeling of a panic attack builds. His hands tremble against the wooden podium, clammy hands gripping the sides to keep himself from crumbling to the ground.