Ember

First Day of School

A/N: grndelwald and Cindersoul's comments on Ao3 got me hyped so I churned out a new chapter asap. Be like them lol.

The pacing of the story is kind of divided by days so far, and it might continue like this for a bit before any time skips happen, especially since I'm taking the time to establish certain bonds and connections before jumping into plot-heavy stuff.

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September 9th, 2009

Stiles' first day of school - and everyone else's third day - starts fine enough. He showers - checking once again where a bite scar was supposed to be and finding nothing -, puts on some jeans and a green t-shirt and, just to annoy Caroline, shrugs on a gray shirt before going down for breakfast. Caroline is already on the table, munching on a bagel and apparently pouting.

"Why the long face?" He asks while grabbing a seat and bagel for himself, already reaching for the plate of eggs.

"I told her no coffee," Aunt Liz says as she walks in from the kitchen, two teacups in her hands, "have tea instead, it's supposed to be good for you."

"You don't even like coffee if it's not in a venti cup and loaded with more calories than I eat in a day," Stiles points out as he accepts the teacup, it smells like apple so he doesn't mind trying it, "since when do we have tea though?"

"It's the principle of it," his cousin whines but doesn't reject the tea either, taking a sip and looking pleasantly surprised, "is this like, spiced apple?"

"Since I got it from a friend last night," Aunt Liz replies as she sits down with her own cup of tea and half-eaten bagel, "and I figured, with you here, we may as well start eating more healthy," she shrugs, "it's supposed to be apple crumble."

Stiles takes a sip of his own, savoring the fruity and nutty taste with an earthy aftertaste, it's definitely got apple, almond, and cinnamon but he can't tell anything else apart, "I can see it."

"I probably won't have time for breakfast too often, and you two have lunch at school, so I'll see you for dinner most days," Aunt Liz explains in between bites, "barring any emergencies, at least. Ready for school?" she asks him.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he shrugs.

His aunt finishes her tea and bagel in a hurry before dropping a kiss on each of their heads and hurrying off to work. It takes Caroline less than a minute to drop the smile and look at him.

"Now that you're living here, she makes time for meals, huh?" she comments in an annoyed – and slightly hurt – tone.

"I didn't ask to be here," he points out, "just enjoy the benefits, I guess."

She sighs, "Fair enough, I'd hate to get dragged to another state last minute so I suppose I have to be lenient."

"Thank you, your majesty," he jokes, and she makes a point of looking down her nose at him and nodding imperiously before they descend into chuckles over their silliness.

Stiles tries not to miss his jeep too much from the passenger seat of Caroline's 2006 Dodge Charger, which they climbed into once done with their breakfast. It's a pretty sweet car, he'll give it that, but Roscoe has an emotional component that money just can't buy, built on memories of riding on it with his mom and handing her tools to fix it, then fixing it up himself years later once he got his driver's license. The ride to the school is short, less than ten minutes, and the building is a lot noisier with everyone milling about outside. it takes them a while to find Bonnie in the crowd, but Stiles is rewarded with another hug when they finally walk up to her, followed by Caroline who looks ready to pout about her own lackluster reception once again, at least before Bonnie rolls her eyes and gives her a hug as well.