𝟏𝟎. ❙𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐬

❛ 𝑮𝑯𝑶𝑺𝑻𝑭𝑨𝑪𝑬 ❜

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•☆.⭒✻❙ 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐁𝐄 ❙✻⭒.☆•

❝ 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞? ❞

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𝑹𝑨𝑺𝑷𝑩𝑬𝑹𝑹𝒀 𝑩𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑻

𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆

❛ that's when i saw her ❜

𝑀𝐴𝑇𝐻 𝑊𝐴𝑆 𝑁𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅 𝐽𝑂𝐿𝐸𝑁𝐸'𝑆 speciality. She was far more creative and strategic with her intelligence, not critical. Jolene could outrun a werewolf, outsmart it even, and survive without a scratch or even be out of breath. If it came down to it, Jolene would most likely be the last person alive on Earth after an apocalypse. But if you ask her to find the area under a curve, she'll cry.

Nothing about math, science, or any formulaic situation makes sense to Jolene. It's all repetitive and the same thing each time, but still, Jolene can't seem to figure it out. She's far better at adapting to a situation wherein she has no hints or clues as to what she's supposed to be doing. This stemmed from never knowing if her father, Mick, would come home with a black eye, great news, or come home at all. Jolene found comfort in the uncertain, but she has been known to Lydia as one of the most worrisome and paranoid people that has ever existed.

The only good thing about this math class was that Stiles was in it and Lydia sat close enough that Jolene could copy off of her. Stiles had sat directly in front of her in this class since the beginning of the year and Jolene derived much joy from looking at the back of his head. Jolene would derive any happiness by being around Stiles, it was impossible for her not to, but math likes to throw a rock in those gears.

Jolene had a pencil holding her hair up and out of her face, despite some of the shorter strands of hair falling loose, making her appear as though she hadn't done her hair in days. That low bun on her head was close to falling out, but it was the least of her concerns.

The only way that Jolene could get through this class was her dedicated and meticulous colour-coded system. Her blue pen was for anything she understood completely and didn't have to work on. That pen usually sat behind her ear where it wasn't in her way since she never understands anything in math. The orange pen was for things she was working on, which was held in her free hand, tapping it against her paper. Jolene wasn't completely hopeless in math, but there was still not many times she used this colour. The purple pen was her best friend in this class; it represented everything she didn't understand and had no hope that it would go anywhere. This was the one pen she was constantly using.

Scott was currently up at the board solving the problem, one that Jolene was completely lost with. She was trying to keep up with the mental torture of math when she felt someone nudge her foot with theirs. Jolene looked over at Lydia, who leaned forward a bit to whisper, "Have you heard the rumour that Scott's not playing tomorrow?"

"Now I have."

"Well, can you find out if it's true?" Lydia hoped, using her curiosity to as well aid her helpless friend in her journey to so much as have a conversation with the guy she likes.

Jolene did not catch on. "How am I supposed to do that?"

Lydia motioned with her head to Stiles, who for some reason had a green highlighter cap between his teeth. He was flying through the math problems they had like it was nothing while Jolene loathed every mathematician's very existence. Speaking of whom, she glanced back at Lydia and shook her head, dreading the idea of talking to Stiles and having to be normal.

It seemed that any time Jolene and Stiles had to stress about Scott potentially killing someone in his werewolf form, the two were able to talk with ease, as if they had been friends for years. But on occasion, they would suddenly remember who exactly they were spending time with and would freeze up. They had no idea how to act around each other as soon as they became aware that it was someone they so deeply cared for. And still, they Stiles and Jolene barely knew each other.

Lydia motioned to her friend once more, urging her to go ahead, but Jolene reaffirmed her anxiety, but signalling no with her hands, desperate to not speak to Stiles since she could not control her inability to be a functioning person around him. Lydia kicked her leg lightly, trying to get her to take a leap of faith--or more a small stumble of faith, in reality. Jolene rolled her eyes, giving in. She quite literally had to take a deep breath in preparation. She had to make sure not to get lost in his gorgeous brown eyes as soon as he looked at her. Jolene leaned forward and tapped Stiles on the shoulder, he turning around and putting his arm on the edge of the chair, giving her his full attention. "Do you know if Scott's playing in the game tomorrow?"

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows with confusion considering he was well aware that Jolene knew Scott wasn't playing. She was present when they decided upon it. Jolene's eyes glanced to the side, indicating towards Lydia. She was lucky Stiles was able to catch on to what she meant. This was purely performative, so he played along, "Um, no he's not. He's having some issues with aggression. He just doesn't want to accidentally hurt someone again."

"It's just that Shithead McGee is playing tomorrow..." Stiles smiled at the nickname for Jackson, he finding Jolene effortless. "But he's not really at peak performance, so everyone's kinda counting on Scott."

"He knows that. He does feel bad."

"Well, what about you? Can't you take Scott's place?" Jolene wondered. "You're good at lacrosse, right? I mean, you're on the team."

Stiles raised his eyebrows, genuinely considering whether or not he should tell the truth. It wouldn't make him look good, but he didn't want to lie to her. Stiles did care more about appearances and Jolene actually thinking he was somewhat cool, so he nodded his head while still being hesitant, "No, yeah. Yeah, I'm great- I'm great at lacrosse. Mhm. Yup. Super good and like, you know?"

This was when Lydia chimed into the conversation since it was causing her physical pain to watch these two try to have a conversation with each other. She knew that Jolene was simply struggling to talk to the guy she likes and apparently, from her perspective, Stiles is just painfully awkward. Besides, she never disengaged in the conversation and Stiles never once acknowledged that she was listening. She took note of it.

"You know, Stiles, you should totally come with us after the game tomorrow. Us, Jackson, Allison, and Scott are all gonna go out whether he's playing or not and we need even numbers. You can be Jo's date."

"Don't call me Jo." Jolene's head snapped towards her best friend, the glare she had sending shivers down Lydia's spine. She didn't even realise that Lydia had just asked out Stiles for her, she was more focused on the nickname. No one ever knew why Jolene hated being called Jo so much, but everyone learned decently quickly not to do so.

Stiles had noticed this interaction and his heart was already beating faster than the speed of light. His cheeks had turned rosy and he had no idea what to do with his hands. Lydia noticed this as well. She did move back to the nickname, "You're way too uptight about that, but that's not what's important. You, Stiles, are joining us whether you like it or not."

Lydia turned right back to her work. Jolene put her hands over her face and rubbed it in frustration, not wanting to have to deal with the fact that she now had to go on a date with Stiles. She was completely unable to physically manifest her embarrassment, but Stiles seemed far more collected despite him being close to a heart attack of joy. "I guess I'll see you after school tomorrow."

Jolene mouthed, "I'm so sorry."

Stiles sent her a reassuring smile, showing that it was okay before he turned back around to face the front. That smile when he turned did not fade. It grew and his heart only swooned. Stiles had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from revealing too much of his joy. Jolene defaulted to putting his hand over her mouth. She tried to make it look subtle, but Lydia could still see the smile poking out. Lydia wished that Jolene could muster up the confidence she had to ask out Stiles, to talk to him, to be in the same room as him and not faint. Jolene wished she could do so as well, but she knew for a fact that Stiles had feelings for Lydia. Not her.

•☆.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☆•

Jolene was forced to go to the hospital with Lydia to check up on jackson. His shoulder had been separated after that rough practice, and even though Jolene didn't want to go because she doesn't care about Jackson, she was still in the waiting room with Lydia. She was more there for Lydia than Jackson.

Jolene seemed to be incapable of sitting properly since one leg was over the arm of the chair and she was focused on drawing on her knee through her ripped jeans. All it was was some scrappy, strange birds while Lydia listened to music next to her. She wasn't paying all that much attention to Jolene.

Jolene had her pen cap between her teeth, completely unaware that Stiles was at the front desk freaking out since he was in such close proximity to the girl he had dreamt about for years. Not to mention the fact it wasn't in a school setting or when Scott was trying to kill them.

Stiles was leaning against the front desk and continuously looking back at Jolene, conflicted on whether he should talk to her or not. He wanted to, he couldn't resist it, but his heart was about to beat out of his chest. Going against his gut, Stiles walked over to the brunette girl and leaned his hand against the wall. "Hey, Jo."

"Jo?" Jolene's head shot up as she took the cap out of her mouth, even Lydia heard it. That nickname was practically the trigger to the atomic bomb known as Jolene's temper. She has always hated that nickname for undisclosed reasons Lydia was never aware of, so the ginger was quite intrigued to hear Stiles say it. She subtly listened in as Stiles got nervous once more, "Oh. I'm, uh- I'm so sorry. I can not- I shouldn't have, like...I can just call you-"

"Stiles, it's fine. Did you need something?" Jolene cut him off, feeling bad that he was rambling. And too, she didn't feel that deepening horrific feeling she got when people called her that nickname. Stiles calling her that was tolerable, which said a lot for Jolene.

"Um...Yeah, why are you here exactly?" Stiles wondered.

"Jackson and his dumb face decided to get hurt and dumb Lydia dragged me to this dumb hospital to see if dumb Jackson is dumb okay."

"I wonder if you think Jackson's dumb." Stiles spoke sarcastically, something he was unable to control. Jolene smiled, Stiles' signature sarcasm being one of the things she admired about him the most. She motioned for him to sit down in the seat next to her. She moved her leg so that her knee was still resting against the arm of the chair so Stiles could sit down. He did and Lydia was still listening to this conversation, heavily invested in their painfully awkward conversations.

Stiles glanced down to her leg since he noticed something off. "Why is there a bird playing drums on your knee?"

"To match the bird playing guitar on my thigh." Jolene hiked up her jeans a little to show through the rip, the drawing of a bird playing guitar with some crazy hair. Stiles let out a small laugh, it being very well done, but unique.

"I like the mohawk." He complimented.

"Right?!" Jolene exclaimed excitedly as she moved her jeans back to where they were so she could continue her work. Stiles watched for a moment, admiring. Lydia could see this clear as day. She let out a breath since it was painful how clear it was that there was something between Jolene and Stiles. The girls were always of the belief that Stiles had feelings for Lydia, which was incredibly unfortunate for Jolene and the ginger girl always felt sympathy, but this was different.

The way that Stiles was looking at Jolene was something unfamiliar, unheard of. Romeo and Juliet, John and Yoko, Cleopatra and Mark Antony, they couldn't compare to the endearment shown in Stiles' eyes.

"Do you always draw on your skin instead of paper?" Stiles wondered, curious as to why she hadn't brought a sketchbook. She always seemed to have one at school.

"Well, sometimes I don't have paper around, so I use my arms or legs. I get too many ideas for drawings and if I keep them swarmed in my brain, I'll get a headache. So, I draw literally everywhere I can."

Without hesitation, Stiles rolled up his flannel sleeve, wanting to protect her skin from the damage the ink could cause. He had no idea how long she had been doing this, but it couldn't have been good for her. Stiles could take a hit, he'd sacrifice everything for her. His arm was nothing. Stiles wrapped his arm around her leg, putting his hand on her knee and lessing his forearm rest against her thigh. Jolene looked up at the boy with a confused expression, but he only smiled. Jolene reciprocated it, understanding and overjoyed by what was happening, so she went along with it, "What do you want me to draw?"

"Anything that comes to mind." Jolene averted her gaze a moment, trying to come up with anything she could. She didn't want to mess up, she wanted to impress Stiles, so she'd figured she'd do something simple. Jolene went straight to it, focusing right on her work. Stiles watched her, intrigued by how she bit the inside of her cheek when she was concentrating. He had no idea what she was drawing and he honestly didn't care, Stiles was just happy to be near her in a somewhat normal setting.

Jolene was drawing a snowglobe with the Hollywoodland sign from when it first went up; she always liked that more. It didn't mean anything or held some kind of significance, all it was was something Jolene could draw without messing up. Truthfully, she couldn't think of anything else to draw, she was still anxious.

The two teenagers were beginning to ease into comfortability, feeling peace around each other. Although, the atmosphere wouldn't be quaint for long since Jackson walked into the waiting room. Lydia immediately stood up and walked over to her boyfriend, who Jolene felt the need to taunt. "Hey, shithead. You didn't die. What a shame."

"Screw off, Jo." Jackson hissed.

"Don't call me, Jo, assface or I'll separate your shoulder again." Jackson rolled his eyes, assuming her threats were empty. They usually were, but not when it came to him. If it wasn't a felony, Jolene hated Jackson enough that she would hurt him, especially if he took it too far.

Stiles was intrigued by the motive of the insult, which made him feel guilty for something he had done beforehand. "Sorry I called you Jo earlier."

"It's fine when you do it."

"Why is it fine when I do it?" Jolene froze a moment before glancing up at Stiles, who had an expectant look on his face. Jolene had to force herself to close in on her artwork, not having the capability to look him in the eye and lie. "I, um...I don't know. It just doesn't bug me as much. Probably 'cause I don't know you as well."

Stiles nodded his head, showing he understood. It did make his heart flutter knowing that he seemed to have some sort of special privileges, even if it seemingly was due to apathy.

Lydia looked back at Jolene, catching her attention, "Jolene, we're heading out. Would you mind driving?"

"What, so you and Jackson can make out in the backseat? I'd rather stab my eye out, you're both disgusting." Jolene turned it down, not fond of Jackson and Lydia being a couple in the first place, she didn't want to encourage it. Stiles too had a reason to talk to Jolene that he needed Lydia and Jackson absent for, so he reaffirmed her point, "And Jolene and I have a project to work on."

"We do?" Jolene looked back at Stiles, not aware that he was lying to get them out of here. Stiles scratched his jaw so he could subtly cover his lips and mouth the word werewolf. Jolene caught on to what he meant, since what else would it, and turned back to Lydia. "We do."

"Alright." Lydia shrugged her shoulders. "Then I'll see you tomorrow."

Lydia, with Jackson's hand in hers, headed out. They had no reason to stay there and Jolene was supposed to go with them, but she was one of the few people in Beacon Hills aware of the supernatural, she needed to hear about this. As soon as her best friend and her boyfriend were gone, Jolene leaned in closer to Stiles eagerly and whispered, "What's going on with Scott?"

"He smelt blood at Derek Hale's house." Stiles began.

"Figures."

"And he wanted to come here to smell the half of the body they found in the woods to see if it's the same."

"Is it the same?" Jolene leaned around Stiles to look at Scott, who she had seen walk up. Stiles turned around and immediately got to his feat, eager to know what his friend had found. Jolene stayed where she was, but was still attentive. Scott was sent rushed and curious looks, urging him to get on with it, which he did, "Yeah, it was the same."

"You're sure?" Stiles asked, to which Scott nodded his head. "So he did bury the other half of the body on his property."

"It's proof he killed the girl. Stiles, call your dad. I want to laugh as I watch him get arrested." Jolene expressed, already thrilled at this idea. She wanted to see Derek suffer, all because he's a werewolf. Although, has attacked her before.

"No, I think we need to use it." Stiles suggested, but did get sidetracked quickly, "And what's your deal with Derek? Why do you hate him so much?"

"He's annoying." Jolene insulted vaguely.

"That's not a good enough reason."

"It absolutely is." Stiles and Scott were not as well versed in the supernatural world as Jolene. She had already had death defying experiences with the Hale family in particular, she had her generational hatred towards werewolves, and she and Mick went through the horrible experience of her trying to figure out how to control her powers. Jolene had been through all this once before, if Derek Hale was involved in something horrible such as murder, she wasn't all that shocked.

❝ 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫. ❞

:𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐

❘ ❙ ❚ ❚ ❙ ❘