Hello followers, if I could ask a favor, I don't have a beta reader, so if anyone wants to add any small comments on what you liked or didn't like in reviews that would be fantastic. ie. An especially funny line, or an 'Aw!' moment you liked, or anything that made you go 'Huh?' as I can sometimes be a bit too subtle in my writing, leaving readers going, 'WTF?' I don't expect anyone to spend a bunch of time on a critique, just anything that especially struck you while you were reading. Thanks!
And good news, I've caught up to where I have a few chapters that are pretty much already written, so the next few should come fairly quickly. Yay! Of course, I also figured I'd be finished this fic before season 3 started. *sigh* I also figured I'd be done in 10 chapters. *sigh*
Oh shoot! I just realized that all the pretty triple *** I was using to indicate passage of time disappear when I save the document. Grrr. I'm surprised anyone has managed to keep reading. Now going back and replacing them with some HTML line that is apparently allowed in every chapter that has a break in time. *sigh again*
"I know why you haven't been eating with us." Stiles said.
Jamie looked up with wide eyes. Was it that obvious she was hurt by the way he'd acted after running into Lydia and Jackson? And was he really going to take the bull by the horns and confront her on it?
Stiles continued. "You challenged my ability to gross you out and now you're afraid to see what I do to win that challenge."
Ok, so he wasn't really taking the bull by the horns. Jamie giggled with relief. "I did not!"
Stiles raised the pitch of his voice and stuck one hip out. "My buddy Ryan is way grosser than you."
Jamie laughed. "I don't sound like that; or stand like that."
He raised his pitch even higher. "Yes you do."
Stiles unscrewed the lid of his coke. What was he planning? He took a big chug and swallowed while blowing out through his nose at the same time. It all happened so quick. The coke squirting out both his nostrils, she and Allison shrieking, the moment of triumph on Stiles face that quickly turned to a grimace. "OW! That stings. Shit!"
Scott lay flat on his back laughing. "Dude, that was hardcore."
The time I accidentally did that with milk didn't hurt so much." Stiles rubbed his nose to take away the last of the tingling. Then he brightened. "If you think that was hardcore, wait until you see what I can do with a cold pizza pocket."
"No!" Jamie shouted.
Scott shrugged. "I'd kind of like to see it." Allison slapped him on the chest.
Stiles waved the pizza pocket at Jamie. "Poor...innocent...pizza pocket."
"Ok, ok, you win. You're the king of gross, the grossest of gross. Just please leave that innocent pizza pocket alone."
Stiles bit into the pizza pocket in triumph. He even kept his mouth closed while he was chewing.
The tree by the parking lot quickly became their new spot for lunch. Being the Girl Scout that she was, Jamie brought a picnic blanket after a few days. At the end of lunch, instead of giving it back to Jamie, they stored it in Stiles' jeep, as a promise to do it again tomorrow. Away from the prying eyes and judgement of the rest of the cafeteria, the four of them let their hair down, so to speak. Stiles, of course, led the way. And it turned out even Allison, who struck Jamie as the epitome of restraint, could do a hilarious Kristen Stewart imitation and laughed so hard at Scott's joke one day that coke came out her nose. Stiles wanted to form a band called the Coke Snorters but the rest of them veto'd the idea. They'd probably end up at the school counsellor's office with "The Dangers of Drugs" brochures being forced upon them. That and the minor detail that none of them could sing or play an instrument.
Jamie hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time. After the weirdness of what she was now calling "The Meadow Incident" things between her and Stiles were back to normal. Well, almost normal. He'd taken to calling her "buddy" and punching her in the shoulder when she teased him. It was exactly what she wanted, but it somehow felt bittersweet. Yes, she knew she couldn't have a relationship with Stiles, but he didn't have to make it so damned clear that she'd been friend-zoned.
A week passed and the next Friday Jamie and Stiles were sitting under the tree again. Allison and Scott had quickly scarfed down their lunches before heading to the library for some vague homework assignment they couldn't explain very well. Were they secretly getting back together? Jamie hoped so. They were so cute together - looking at each other with such longing when they thought no one was watching. She asked Stiles why the two of them broke up but his answer was as vague as the ex-couple's current homework project.
A loud bang startled Jamie and had her instinctively reaching for her dagger before she noticed Stiles' laughter. He was holding a popped lunch bag.
"Hulk smash," he grunted.
She relaxed a little but felt pretty stupid for her over reaction. "Oh please, the Hulk is the worst Avenger ever."
Stiles clutched his heart in mock distress. "How dare you! The Hulk is the best Avenger."
"No way, Iron Man is cooler."
"You're just saying that because you like Robert Downey Jr."
"Well, duh. And why did they cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark rather than Bruce Banner?" She paused before answering her own question. "Because Iron Man is awesome!"
"Iron Man is nothing without his suit."
"Which he built himself because he's a frickin' genius. As opposed to the non-jolly green giant who's so stupid he speaks in monosyllables and beats up his friends."
"First," Stiles held up one finger, "Iron Man and Captain America destroyed so many trees in their epic battle that Greenpeace organized a protest against them." He held up a second finger. "Second, the Hulk punching Thor was one of the funniest parts of the movie. And third, Iron Man can't do Hulk Noogies."
Trying to think up a counter argument to Stiles' first two points, Jamie automatically asked, "What's a Hulk Noogie?" Stupid, stupid.
Immediately, she had an arm wrapped around her head, and Stiles was scrubbing the top of her head with his knuckles, saying, "Hulk mad. Hulk noogie."
She would have thought it was funny...
if there weren't more butterflies fluttering in her stomach than currently lived in their biology class,
if those butterflies didn't remind her of everything she couldn't have in this life she was born into,
if she wasn't painfully aware that Stiles wasn't experiencing those same butterflies.
Jamie escaped from Stiles' hold and pushed him away, only having to go a little bit ninja to do it. "Stop it!"
Stiles stepped back, looking surprised, and maybe a little hurt.
Her butterflies turned to guilt. It wasn't Stiles fault that he expected her to laugh it off like Scott would have. He was treating her like any other friend. Too bad the friend thing was bugging her right now. She smoothed down her hair and tried to make light of it. "Hey, I spent 10 whole seconds on this hair this morning. Don't mess with the Do."
Stiles didn't look like he was buying it, but she was saved by her ringing phone. Only one person had her phone number. "I gotta take this." She walked away from Stiles and answered the phone. "Hey, Mom."
"Hi Jamie, how's school today?"
"Fine..." Olivia never called to just chat.
"I've got to go to Atlanta today." Jamie could hear rustling in the background and knew Olivia was throwing clothes in a suitcase as she talked to her. "I should be back on Sunday."
Jamie felt a twang of homesickness for the home she'd never really had. "OK," she said quietly.
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Sorry to spring this on you last minute. But you can hang out with your new friends this weekend. Skip your training sessions."
"I suppose." She didn't tell Olivia she had no intention of inviting anyone to their house - even if she did put away the weird stuff and lock the basement door. At least she had the lacrosse game tonight. The rest of the weekend would go slowly.
"What's going on, Jamie?"
She tried to sound perky. "Nothing, I'm great."
She could hear the sigh through the phone. "Spit it out."
Geez, her Mom might be physically absent a lot of the time, but even on the phone she was way too perceptive. "How did you take it when you found out what Dad did?" She glanced up, and noted that she'd walked about 50 feet away from Stiles. She lowered her voice anyway. "When you found out about werewolves?"
Olivia gasped. "There's a boy! I bet it's that lab partner you told me about. The one on the lacrosse team with the dislocated shoulder. I could tell by your tone of voice when you talked about him."
Holy Hell. Jamie started speed walking even further away from Stiles, squeezing the phone to ear. This was why Olivia was so good at her job, and why teenage girls should never tell their moms anything. "There is nothing going on with any boy, especially Stiles," she whispered.
"That's right, Stiles, the one with the funny name. Why is there nothing going on especially with him? And where are my hiking socks?"
"Because he's made it clear that he only wants to be friends. And check the dryer."
"If he wants to be friends then he likes your personality, and you're beautiful so obviously looks isn't a problem. Oh, I found my socks. Thanks!" She heard the dryer door slam.
Jamie sighed. "You're my mom, you have to think I'm beautiful."
"I'm an unbiased observer, you're gorgeous, and I think you should ask him out."
"NO!" She shouted. "He doesn't like me that way, and even if he did that would be a terrible idea. In the circles you travel, you don't have to keep secrets any more. You don't understand what it's like. My life, trying to fit in as a normal high school student, is all about secrets!"
The phone went quiet and Jamie knew Olivia had finally stopped packing. "I'm sorry, honey. I wish your dad were here to talk to you about this. I went from being a teenage girl who's biggest problem was being able to afford the prom dress I wanted, to being saved from a strange animal by a mysterious boy who was really good with weapons. From the time I met your Dad, I never didn't know about werewolves. So he never had to keep secrets from me. But your dad dated other girls before me. None of them knew about werewolves."
"And none of those relationships lasted. Surprise, surprise."
"Hey, kid, I like to think your dad and I fell in love because we were perfect for each other, and not just because I was the only girl who knew his secrets!"
Jamie thought of her parents' love for each other. "I know, I'm just cynical about my life today."
Olivia laughed. "You're a teenager. It's par for the course. But my point is that no one expects you to give up your life for this calling. You're supposed to have friends and date and get married and..." she laughed again. "...create the next generation of Silvers."
"Fantastic. When the time comes for me to start popping out babies I'll find a good male specimen for a one night stand. Any requests? Tall? Athletic? Doctor?"
"As your mother, I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear the words, 'one night stand' come out of your mouth." She paused. "I know I said I wanted you to be my eyes at the high school but you shouldn't have to be involved at your age. And if you're not involved you won't have any secrets to keep. Well, not unless people ask what your mom does for a living."
"Mom, no, I'm the only one that can do it. The two high school kids that disappeared just before we got here, Boyd and Erica, how will we figure out what happened to them without me?"
"If they were taken by older werewolves, it doesn't matter if you're keeping an eye out at school. Besides, you deserve a normal life, where your biggest worry is how to afford a prom dress."
"I'm not worried about prom at all. Because no one will be asking me."
"Jamie, you're my daughter and I love you but...you can be abrupt at ti-"
"That's not it!"
"And argumentative."
"I am not!"
"And you have a bit of a temper."
"ARRRRGH!"
"And that sometimes scares people off."
"So I'm screwed?"
"No, because you're also tough, independent, funny and smart as Hell. The right guy is going to fall head or heels for you. But first you have to let him in."
"That's not what's happening here."
"Maybe not, but promise me you'll think about it"
"Fine," Jamie grumbled. "I'll think about it."
"Great! Oh, I need to get going. I'll call you tomorrow. Maybe you'll have boy news for me."
Jamie shook her head. Olivia Silver: the eternal optimist. Guess she had to be to keep doing what she did. "I love you."
"Love you, too," her mom responded before hanging up. They ended every phone call like that, because you never knew which phone call might be your last.
The school bell rang. Great. Jamie spun on her heels to find Stiles standing a few feet away. "Geez, don't sneak up on people like that!" she snapped, wondering how much he'd overheard.
"Sorry, the bell was about to ring and you left your backpack with me." He held it out.
More guilt. Maybe her mom had a point about her scaring people off. She hesitated, wanting to apologize but not sure how to explain her bad mood without revealing too much.
"Uh, don't you have a Calculus test right now?" Stiles asked.
"Oh, crap!" she snatched her backpack from Stiles and took off across the front lawn, shouting a quick thanks over her shoulder. Apologies would have to wait.
That day after school, Jamie and Allison sat in the bleachers, cheering on the lacrosse team. They had their own spot, directly behind the bench where Finstock insisted Jamie sit in case there were any more injuries. Luckily, the game had been clean. Lydia sat a few rows back with some other girls. Jamie got the impression that Lydia was pissed off at Allison for hanging out with her. She felt a bad about that…but only a little.
"Wow, Stiles played great tonight!" Jamie said.
"He did," Allison agreed. "Jackson needs a few more injuries so Stiles gets more game time." She grinned. "Not that I'd wish that on him."
Jamie grinned back. "No, of course not. We wouldn't wish that on such a nice co-captain."
"You should tell him."
Jamie snorted. Oh, very ladylike. "Tell Jackson I hope he gets injured more often?"
Allison shook her long dark hair. "No, tell Stiles how well he played."
"He doesn't need me from that. His three goals will give him that message."
Allison shrugged. "For some reason you don't see Stiles the way the rest of us do, which is fantastic. But he's got a few self-esteem issues. He could use it spelled out for him."
If Allison was right and Stiles had some issues with self-esteem, her snapping at him whenever she was upset couldn't help. Jamie looked down at the field. The team was heading to the locker room, all except for Stiles who was still talking to Coach Finstock. She felt suddenly shy. "He's busy right now."
"Catch him in the locker room later."
She flushed red at the thought of complimenting him…naked. "Why don't I take my camera phone while I'm at it? Any particular photos you want? Scott was looking good tonight."
Now it was Allison's turn to blush. At least it wasn't just Jamie who got flustered at the thought of the boys in the locker room. "Ok, so give him a few minutes to get dressed. With his ADHD, Stiles gets distracted and is always the last one out anyway."
Jamie settled back on the cold bleacher. Maybe she would. She needed to apologize to him anyway. She heard a rumble in the distance. Storm coming. That wouldn't be a fun bike ride home. It might even be time to ask Stiles for a lift home.