Return of the Hale || Stiles Stilinski

22

A few weeks later, Neriah sat beside Scott on the hood of Stiles' Jeep that was parked at a lookout that showed the glowing lights of Beacon Hills under the full moon.

Over the last few months, Derek had left to go start a new life out of Beacon Hills, promising to call his cousin and check up on her. But that didn't help the ache Neriah felt for the way she missed having him around. Derek was her cousin but also felt like an older brother to her. And now she was once again without her blood family. Malia was still living in Beacon Hills, but the younger sister had been in Summer School, so they had barely spoken.

Neriah left for two weeks, visiting her friends in Paris with Lydia where they spent more money on coffee and pastries than ever. The pair had even met two boys one night at a club, but Neriah hadn't seen Lorenzo again after that night. Yet she kept thinking of him from time to time.

Then after Paris, the Banshee went back to Beacon Hills while the Hybrid traveled to Australia, spending a few weeks in the big cities since she just needed more time away from Beacon Hills. Plus, she wanted to travel before getting ready to go to college where she'll spend the next few years after High School.

"All right, so I found some cool three bedrooms in the Mission District, but they're pretty expensive," Stiles informed them, looking down at a few papers while leaning against his Jeep near Neriah. "A couple in Haight and Ashbury. Also expensive."

"What about Berkeley?" Scott asked, looking at him. "Don't a lot of students live around there?"

"Yeah, yeah, we could try Nob Hill," Stiles hummed. "But the Jeep would probably burn through a lot of clutches."

"You're taking the Jeep?" Neriah raised a brow with an amused smile.

"You know the plan, okay. No one gets left behind. That's the plan," Stiles firmly said. "Lydia's not gonna have a problem getting into Standford. Kira's thinking USF. Malia's, uh, gonna, you know, she'll figure something out, okay. The plan's perfect."

"Stiles," Neriah gently said, knowing he was still upset since the first time they talked about college a week ago. "I'm still hoping to get into Harvard...Which is on the other side of the country."

Stiles looked away from her, chewing on the end of his pen. "Yeah, I know—But why can't you apply to Stanford like Lydia? That school is close to all of us and it's perfect! There's barely a difference!"

"Harvard is the best law school in the country and attending there increases my chances of various types of employment after graduation," she reminded him with a pointed look.

"Or," Scott cut in to stop Stiles from starting another argument, "we could also wait until we actually get into college and then figure out our plan and where to live."

"I had a vision, dude. Okay?" Stiles groaned. "And it is a beautiful vision. Don't ruin the vision." He sighed, looking back down at the papers as Neriah and Scott shared an amused look. "Okay, we can check out the East Bay. Haven't looked at Oakland yet, you know."

Scott stayed quiet, looking up at the moon, clouds rumbling with thunder as Neriah laid back against the windshield, thinking about her future after High School...if she even survives.

"You two all right?" Stiles asked, noticing them staring at the moon. "You starting to feel it?"

"I haven't felt the full moon for years," Neriah snorted.

"I was just thinking," Scott admitted.

"About what?" Neriah asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

"Senior year."

"Senior year?" Stiles smiled. "Come on, that's—that's nothing. That's going to be easy."