𝟏𝟔. ❙𝟑 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭

❛ 𝑮𝑯𝑶𝑺𝑻𝑭𝑨𝑪𝑬 ❜

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•☆.⭒✻❙ 𝟑 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒, 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐓 ❙✻⭒.☆•

❝ 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐤. ❞

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𝑮𝑳𝑶𝑹𝒀 𝑫𝑨𝒀𝑺

𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

❛ back in school, she could turn all the boy's heads ❜

𝐽𝑂𝐿𝐸𝑁𝐸 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐿𝑌𝐷𝐼𝐴 𝑊𝐸𝑅𝐸 at the Argent house, helping Allison find something to wear for the date. Lydia had already tried to get Jolene to dress nicely, but that never seemed to work. Her hair was just as messy as it usually is, too sporting her baggy jeans that just about dragged on the ground, almost fully covering her converse and her black, long sleeve lace top that showed her stomach, but came up high on her chest. It wasn't even a bad outfit, but Lydia wanted designer.

Jolene was sitting in her spinning desk chair, turning back and forth while Lydia sat on her bed. Allison was looking through her closet, trying to find the perfect outfit. She pulled out a brown and black tie-dyed top and turned to show the girls. Jolene scrunched her nose, not a fan, Lydia agreed. "Mmm, pass."

Allison turned back around, rolling her eyes as she did so. She started rifling through her clothes again before she found a gold, red, green, and blue paisley patterned, almost hippie-esque to dress. Lydia furrowed her eyebrows, but even Jolene could see how bad this was. She was the one to send her a patronising glare, "You should already know that's ugly."

Allison sighed and scratched the back of her head as she turned back to the closet. Lydia stood up, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to find something. Lydia forced her way by, shoving Allison to the side. The black-haired girl looked back at Jolene, who had an amused smile on her face since she was no longer the fashion victim of Lydia Martin.

One by one, Lydia looked through the different articles of clothing she had hanging up in her closet, but was passing on every single one of them. Allison crossed her arms in front of her chest, not exactly amused anymore when the ginger turned to her. "God, Allison, respect for your taste is...dwindling by the second."

Lydia smiled fakely at Allison before moving back to her bed and going on her phone. Since she wasn't looking, Jolene was able to mouth to Allison, "Sparkles." Allison furrowed her eyebrows before slowly turning back to her closet. Jolene has been best friends with Lydia long enough to know what she likes and what it takes to get her to shut up, and sparkles work every time.

Allison grabbed a short-sleeved black top that was covered in sequins and turned back to Lydia, who finally looked up, smiling as soon as she saw it. "Absolutely stunning."

Lydia motioned to the floor length mirror, indicating for her to go see what she'd look like in it. Allison did as she was instructed, holding the shirt up to her chest. She did glance over to Jolene and mouthed a thanks, only earning a small nod from Jolene. She knows her best friend means well, most of the time, but Lydia tends to push her own thinking onto other people quite a bit. It only ever worked for Jolene since most of the time, she can't think for herself.

As Allison was debating on wearing this shirt, her father, Mr. Argent walked right in the door, holding a green jacket in his hands. Allison smiled at him and greeted him quite pointedly, trying to indicate that he just barged in. "Dad. Hello."

Argent was oblivious to the fact that he had invaded the girl's space a little, but they were lucky that Jolene was there without her filter. "Knock much?"

Argent's expression turned quite sheepish as he looked to his daughter, who lowered her head a little, indicating that Jolene was blunt, but accurate. "Right. I'm sorry, I completely forgot to knock."

"Did you need something?" Allison wondered.

As Argent put on his jacket, he expressed, "I wanted to tell you that you'll be staying in tonight."

Lydia and Jolene shared a tired look since both of them constantly defy their parents, slightly. Lydia's parents aren't exactly the most strict since they're usually focused on fighting with each other and not what she was doing, so she could get away with quite a lot. Jolene practically had no rules. She didn't listen to Bowie, who tried to discipline her, and her father was always too busy being drunk or passed out on the couch. Besides, she had done enough for Mick that he owes her quite a lot.

"What? I'm going out with my friends tonight." Allison protested, but her father was not budging. "Not when some animal is out there attacking people."

Allison was appalled by his sudden change and was going to try to argue, but Argent was quick to cut her off, getting defensive, "Hey, hey. It's out of my hands. There's a curfew. No one's allowed out past nine-thirty."

Allison sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, Argent only smiling apologetically at the girls before turning and walking out the door, closing it on his way out. Lydia stood from Allison's bed as Jolene scoffed, "Why can't all dads just be normal and not be so uptight?"

"Where's your dad right now?" Lydia asked, trying to make a point. Jolene only shrugged her shoulders. "How the hell should I know? Home, probably."

As the girls were talking, Allison had walked over to her vanity and put on her purple hat and grabbed her clothes. She walked over to the curtains and parted them, opening the window as well. This caught her friend's attention. They watched as she climbed out of it and onto the roof, Allison suddenly walking right to the edge and leaping off, doing a front flip and landing lightly on her feet with only a small stumble.

"Holy shit, that was hot." Jolene blurted out as Lydia seemed absolutely horrified. The two girls looked down at Allison, who had a confident smile on her face and elaborated, "Eight years gymnastics. You guys coming?"

Jolene moved to climb right out the window, but Lydia was quick to grab her bicep and stop her. "We'll take the stairs."

Jolene threw her hands up in disbelief, disappointed that she wouldn't be able to do the same thing Allison just did. Lydia dragged her out of Allison's room as she complained, "You never let me have any fun!"

•☆.⭒✻════◅∘≼↜.◦◦.↝≽∘▻════✻⭒.☆•

Jackson had picked up the girls and driven them to the bowling alley where they met Stiles and Scott. Jolene and Stiles were terrified to say the least, everyone else had already gotten used to each other, but Scott was quite nervous to show off his non-existent bowling skills. While everyone else was getting the lane ready, Jolene and Stiles had gone over to the counter to get everyone food. They were just waiting for it, making light conversation. Jolene felt it necessary to make Stiles aware of her tendencies. "Just so you know, I can get pretty competitive, especially against Jackson. So, don't judge me too much for the things I might say."

"I wouldn't judge you for anything you say to Jackson. He deserves hell." Stiles expressed, leaning his back against the wall next to the food counter. Jolene lightly nudged his arm and smiled, "You get it."

"Besides, I'll be pretty focused on Scott playing embarrassingly horrible." Stiles joked, but there was some seriousness behind his tone, quite scared to see his friend inevitably embarrass himself in front of the girl he likes. Jolene was a little confused by the sentiment, so she questioned, "I thought Scott was good at bowling?"

Stiles widened his eyes and shook his head just as he turned a little, leaning his side against the wall instead so he could give Jolene his full attention. She let out a breath. "Oh, god. I mean, it'll cancel out 'cause Lydia is really good at bowling, but Jackson's here, so she'll act like she's not."

"Why would she do that?"

"She seems to think her life would end if Jackson wasn't around. Kinda puts a stop in my plans to kill that pompous prick." Jolene meant no harm with anything she was saying about Lydia. She genuinely hated how much Lydia's self worth revolves around how much other people like her. Jolene loves Lydia like a sister, always has and always will, but she despises how horrible Jackson makes her feel about herself, how much she'll change just to make him happy. Jolene believed Lydia didn't need a boyfriend in the first place. She'd honestly be better off on her own, but Lydia likes to not listen to Jolene.

The food was ready and handed to Jolene and Stiles. Together, they brought it over to the lane they were in and set it down on the small table they had so everyone could grab some whenever they wanted. The two of them sat down next to each other, Jolene sitting kind of sideways so she could see the lane better, but this was when Stiles saw the bandage wrapped around one of her hands. It was from digging her nails into her skin, so she covered the cuts so they wouldn't hurt during bowling. Stiles furrowed his eyebrows, a little concerned for her. Lydia was doing her turn, so while everyone else was distracted, Stiles signalled to her hurt hand by gently letting his fingertips touch her palm, catching her attention. He sent her a concerned look, but she just whispered, "I'm fine."

Stiles clearly didn't believe her, but he dropped it, not wanting to pry since she visibly didn't want to talk about it. All of Jolene's habits are a little destructive, but they have yet to break her. To be fair, she grew up seeing that the ideal coping mechanism was drinking herself half blind, so she didn't have much to go off of.

They turned back to the bowling, seeing that Jackson had come up behind Lydia to help her, but when they actually threw the ball, it went straight into the gutter. For their second time, Jackson helped her again, this time knocking over three pins. She fake-pouted to earn some sympathy from Jackson as they walked back to the group. Lydia complained, "I'm so bad at this."

"Yeah. Awful." Jolene snarked, sending her friend a knowing look. Lydia retorted with a scolding expression, trying to get her friend to be quiet. Mick used to take the girls bowling all the time and Lydia would win constantly. Jolene hated that she was undermining herself just to impress a boy. Jolene believed that if a girl wanted her whole life to revolve around boys, but still supported other women, then she could go ahead and do that, but Lydia has not been the best friend since she started dating Jackson. She ditches Jolene all the time to hang out with him, she judges her a lot more for liking Stiles, and has been an overall bad friend. Jolene just missed Lydia.

It was Jolene's turn anyway. She got up from her spot and went to grab a ball. It hurt her hand a little to hold something so heavy, but at least it was protected. Jolene wished she didn't have these destructive nervous habits, but it comes naturally. Jolene stepped up to the lane and debated using her powers to stick it to Jackson, but this was the same morals she had for sports. Jolene would never use her abilities to control the ball or learn what other people would do. She wanted to be good at what she does because she herself is talented. Scott seems to think differently when it comes to sports.

Jolene threw the ball, bowling a strike, which only made Jackson roll his eyes. She turned around and bowed to everyone, earning small laughs from her girl friends. As she walked back, she flipped off Jackson and put her hand right in his face. He shoved it away and scoffed, "You got lucky."

"Sore loser." Jolene hid under a cough as she sat down right next to Stiles again, who nudged her arm lightly to congratulate her. Jolene sent him a small smile as Jackson stood up to take his turn. Lydia was focused on her boyfriend taking his turn, but she did look over at notice that Stiles was whispering something in Jolene's ear. She saw the two of them smiling, like they were scheming something. Lydia really couldn't tell what was going on between Jolene and Stiles, but she had noticed that they were slightly closer and even more comfortable around each other. They both seemed so naturally open, they were an inseparable pair that was unaware until they were put together. Lydia honestly thought they were adorable, and she missed Jolene's smile. With all the stress from Mick or judgement from Bowie in addition to being stressed at school and having to deal with idiotic men all the time, Jolene seems to never smile anymore. She's blunt, sarcastic, hostile, and her mind is always busy. Now, with Stiles there, Jolene was happy. Lydia loved seeing that.

Jackson's ball had gone straight into the gutter, even though it looked like it was going to be a strike. Lydia had to hide her smile for Jackson's sake; it wasn't from him failing, but because Jolene was holding Stiles' arm as the two of them laughed together.

"You're up, McCall." Jackson let out a breath, his first turn being rough, but the second not so bad. He was a little frustrated, but figured Scott would do worse. He probably would.

Scott stood up with a sigh, but Allison sent him a small smile to encourage him. "You can do it, Scott."

"Yeah, don't fuck up." Scott looked back at Jolene with a slight scolding glare, who only returned an innocent smile. Scott turned back, letting out a breath, picking up a bowling ball to make his first shot. His nerves really got to him, so he tripped a little as he made his throw. The ball rolled into the gutter almost immediately. Jackson bursted out laughing hysterically as Allison shot him a glare, irritably scolding, "Jackson? Mind shutting up?"

Jackson tried to stop laughing, but could only get so far as to speak slightly. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm just flashing back to the words 'I'm a great bowler'."

Jackson continued laughing, which earned an eye roll from Jolene, who was still holding Stiles' arm. She was fidgeting with the end of Stiles' sleeve. Jolene can never seem to sit still and she's very touchy when she's comfortable around someone, holding their arm, leaning on their shoulder, and so on. Stiles was doing everything in his power to keep acting like a regular person with her so close to him.

"Maybe he just needs a little warm-up." Allison suggested, trying to help Scott feel better about all this. Jackson scoffed, "Yeah, maybe he just needs the kiddy bumpers."

"Just aim for the middle." Allison smiled at her boyfriend, but Jackson continued to snide, "How about you aim for anything except for the gutter?"

"Jackson, your ego does not fit the size of your dick." Jolene randomly spoke up, bluntly expressing her hatred towards him. Lydia sent her best friend a scolding look, almost disgusted by what she had just said, but Jolene brushed her off. "Oh, please. Lydia, you of all people know I'm right."

Lydia rolled her eyes at her friend, not entertained at all as Scott self-consciously made his way up to make the next shot. Unfortunately, it didn't go any differently. It did stay in the middle of the lane for most of the way, but near the end, rolled into the gutter again. Jackson, not shockingly, dissolved into laughter. "Great job, McCall! Man, you are a pro."

Scott returned to his seat next to Allison, quite defeated. Allison was being pretty supportive, trying to give him different encouragement to make him feel better. As everyone else was taking their turns, Jolene's phone went off in her pocket. She took it out of her pocket and just read it to herself, Stiles noticing that she had let go of his arm. It was from her father:

Jolene, this is Roger from the garage. Your dad's passed out on my couch. I found him wandering alone and he was pretty drunk. He's gonna sleep here for the night. He told me you didn't bring your key with you to get into the house, so I wanted to make sure you had a place to stay.

Jolene felt her heart sink. Just yesterday, Mick had gone grocery shopping and not had a single drink. She genuinely had hope that things might change, that Mick might become a better person, but once again, he proved that his daughter was more of an adult. Jolene responded and told her father's old co-worker that she had a place to go, even though she didn't yet. Jolene didn't bring her key with her since Mick was home when she left. Normally, Jolene would stay with Lydia, but she knew her friend was staying over at Jackson's. Now, Jolene had no idea where she'd go.

Jolene felt her heart starting to beat faster and her breathing quickening. She could practically predict the panic attack. Jolene very swiftly got to her feet, putting her phone in her back pocket and leaving the group. Only Stiles noticed that she left since she was the one hanging onto his arm. Everyone else was focused on bowling. Stiles didn't hesitate to stand up and follow her out, worried about what was going on.

Stiles hurried to catch up with her, hurrying outside, where he saw her stop, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. "Jo?"

Stiles walked in front of her where he saw tears in her eyes and one of the most painful, heartbroken expressions he had seen. Stiles gently cupped her jaw with his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. Jolene's hands rested on his, never wanting him to leave.

"You want to get out of here?" Stiles asked, assuming she didn't really want to talk about it. Jolene nodded her head as she took her hands away from Stiles, he doing the same. Stiles held his arm out for her to take, something she seemed to do a lot. Jolene sniffled before holding Stiles' arm while her other wiped away some of her tears. Stiles brought her to his Jeep, hoping that Scott could get home okay and that everyone would leave her alone. He had no clue what was going on with her, what text she got that made her panic, but he wanted to be there for her. Stiles wasn't sure where to take her or what to do, so they just drove to his house.

Stiles didn't know what she needed, what she was dealing with, how he could help, but Stiles just knew that he wanted to be there for her. He had no idea that his presence was enough to soothe her heart.

The two teenagers sat on Stiles' floor with their backs against the wall. Stiles sat there with his arm around her, holding her close as she cried into his neck. Jolene was beyond exhausted, sick of everything she had to deal with because her father had his own issues that somehow became her responsibility. She told Stiles about how she couldn't go home because Mick was passed out on someone's couch and she had no way of getting inside, she told him about how fed up she was. Jolene could barely take it anymore, but still, she loved Mick and was thankful to have him...but she was so deeply exhausted.

Jolene was hugging his arm and leaning her head against his shoulder. That same arm was tracing small shapes on her thigh. They were sitting in silence, enjoying each other's company. Jolene was the most vulnerable she had ever been, but too the most comfortable.

Stiles broke their comfortable silence by asking, "Where are you staying tonight?"

"I don't know. I'll probably just call Danny or something." Jolene shrugged her shoulders, not quite sure what she'd do especially since it was late. They had been talking for hours, it was nearing close to midnight. Stiles noticed this and let out a breath. "He's probably asleep, Jo. Just stay here."

Jolene sat up a little and looked over at Stiles. He matched her gaze before his eyes flickered to her cheek. He gently put his fingertip to her cheek, getting rid of a small eyelash. Jolene's heart stopped beating for a moment before she was able to actually speak. "I don't want to bug you."

"We've been sitting here for like two hours and you haven't bugged me yet. You never would. Plus, do you really want to have to go over all the shit that's happened with someone else or do you want to just go to sleep tonight and not have to worry about taking care of someone else other than yourself?"

Jolene's eyes never left his. He had such a kind expression, a sweet demeanour. Jolene was still holding his arm, to which his free hand rested on one of hers. He wanted her to stay, not because Stiles has feelings for her, but because he wanted her to relax, not have to be an adult for once in her life.

Jolene just simply nodded her head, indicating that she would stay. Her eyes averted finally, feeling like somewhat of a burden. Stiles was quick to get to his feet and walk over to his closet. "Here, I'll get you something to sleep in. And there's an extra toothbrush in the bathroom down the hall you can have. And I washed my sheets when I got home today, so you're all good."

"Wait, I'm not gonna take your bed." Jolene protested as she stood up from her spot on the ground. Stiles turned around with a pair of his sweatpants and a shirt. He let out a small laugh, like he was in disbelief that she genuinely felt like such a burden. "I'm not gonna make you sleep on the couch."

"You're not making me do anything. I'm fine, Stiles."

"You're not fine and my dad is still up working. I don't want him to keep you up." Stiles expressed as he put the change of clothes on his bed.

"But you're fine with him keeping you up?"

"Yeah, I want to snoop on the cases anyway." Jolene let out a small laugh and wiped her eyes again, they were red from the crying. Stiles stepped towards her and took her hands in his, seeing the expression on her face that returned clearly indicating that she wasn't happy taking up so much space. Stiles reassured, "Jo, I want you to be happy. Please just let me help you."

Jolene let out a breath, still feeling guilty for this, but it was hard to deny it when Stiles was being so sweet. Jolene pulled his hands near her waist, having him hug her. Her arms went around his neck as Stiles pulled her closer.

It wasn't as if Jolene's home was unsafe or she hated Mick for everything that was happening, she was just angry. Jolene was angry at her mother for abandoning she and Mick, mad at the world for dealing her and her father such horrible cards. Jolene would look at someone like Allison--the girl who had pretty hair, a perfect smile, clear skin, a boyfriend, two supportive girl friends, a caring family--and would feel nothing but jealousy. Jolene hated that feeling, but what was she supposed to feel besides that when Jolene couldn't so much as walk through the front door of her house without being terrified that her father was dead?

❝ 𝐰𝐡𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐲... ❞

:𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐

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