Writer's Note:
Dudes, I apologise for the long break but I had to be an adult these holidays and work. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to have chapters out weekly like I did before, but I'll do my best to not drag them out for too long.
Please keep patient with me, and enjoy the chapter...
Chapter Twelve:
The school day went by pretty slowly. After Stiles and Stormy celebrated their high of figuring out the connection between the murders, they hit a physical low in their first class because they were both beyond exhausted. The two had only caught a few hours sleep and then they burnt so much energy researching throughout the night and early morning. Stiles instantly fell asleep and was drooling on his desk within the first five minutes of first period. And Stormy, who wasn't sleeping well these days anyway, and was used to working long nights managed to stay conscious but she wasn't focused at the lesson at hand at all. She was slouched over her desk, head laying on her folded arms as she stared out the classroom window.
Stormy was thinking about the people that Osiris had killed just because her family had saved them, and it angered her deep within. But she wasn't only angry, she was also sad. These people that the Winchesters saved had a second chance at life because of them, and now their lives have been ripped away from them in the most violent way. Stormy was just imagining what their families were going through after losing them. They lost someone because of some psychopathic animal out for revenge, who had put their loved ones in so much pain and mutilated their bodies so viciously before they killed them.
This lead to Stormy thinking about how she lost Sam. Then about Dean and how thankful she was that she still had him. But she couldn't be with him and it saddened her even more. She missed him so much, but it was for the best. Dean deserved to be happy with Lisa and Ben, and Stormy would just ruin it for him. She didn't fit in that picture.
Stormy had completely zoned out for the whole class. Stiles was completely unconscious and hadn't moved a muscle since he fell asleep. Scott was paying attention to the lesson and didn't bother waking his friend up since the teacher didn't seem to care anyway. He'll just give Stiles his notes afterwards. Fortunately for them, they had a substitute for their English class who was very lenient. The school still hadn't found a permanent teacher to replace Mrs Green after her death.
Suddenly, a rock song tore loudly through the classroom making Stormy snap out of her thoughts and Stiles raised his head from his desk, blinking his eyes in confusion. Stormy sat up as she realised that her pocket was vibrating and that the familiar song was emanating from her. Instantly, her heart stammered against her chest as her ears registered the ringtone because it was assigned for only one person on her contact list.
"Whose phone is that?", the teacher questioned, looking over his students for the source.
Stormy didn't even register the teachers question as her shaky hand pulled the phone from her jeans pocket. She stared at the name on her screen in awe as the song continued to play out. The substitute's eyes finally landed on Stormy who was just staring at her phone, not even bothering to silence it. He looked down at the assigned seat chart on his desk for her name, since he wasn't familiar with everyone yet.
"Miss Halcyon, would you please put that away", he ordered making the young girl snap out of her trance.
Stormy apologised and declined the call. She slammed her phone against her desk a little too harshly, trying to erase the call she had just gotten from her mind as the teacher continued on explaining something on the board. Sixty seconds later, she was still staring at her desk in a daze when her phone vibrated against her desk and the same rock song played out once again. She was so out of it before that she hadn't even put it on silent.
"Miss Halcyon!", the teacher reprimanded in irritation.
"S-Sorry...", she stuttered as she grabbed her phone and stood up, having the sudden impulse to get the call over with. She knew he wouldn't stop calling until she answered. "May I use the bathroom?", she asked, gaining curious looks from Scott and Stiles. The usual reason the boys ran out of class was due to something supernatural and they wondered if it was the same case with Stormy.
"You mean, may you answer your phone?", the teacher corrected, folding his arms across his chest as he gave her a look. Stormy rolled her eyes and nodded her head. "Fine, make it quick", he told her as she quickly left the room and strode down the empty hall.
Stormy quickly regretted her decision of dealing with this phone call now as she leaned back on a row of lockers, looking down at the name printed across her screen. She inhaled a deep breath and before she could argue herself out of it, she answered the call and raised the phone to her ear.
"Hello...", she forced her voice to be strong as she stood up straighter.
"Stormy...", a deep raspy voice replied through the line, sounding exhausted. Just hearing his voice made a pang of hurt strike her heart.
"Dean...", she greeted, forcing nonchalant, "How'd you get this number?"
Her brother scoffed, "Is that really how you want to start this conversation, sis?", he asked calmly, even though Stormy could sense the underlying fury in his voice.
"I don't think there's any easier way to start it", she dropped her head, her tough act slightly diminishing.
All it took was the voice of Dean Winchester to make her crumble. No matter how close she was to her brother and how much they got along, she still respected him and feared his authority. Dean kind of took on the protective older brother role when she was growing up and it turned more into a fatherly role when her father died. John didn't put in much effort in raising her when she joined the family since she was seven at the time and could take care of herself. Also because he was too focused on getting revenge on the thing that killed his wife, so he put that job on his sons. He wasn't the cause of what Stormy had grown into today, Dean and Sam were. Well, mainly Dean who was twenty-two at the time their half-sister joined the family, while Sam was eighteen and a year later had left to Stanford anyway so Stormy didn't get much time with him at the beginning.
"Well, there's an easy way to end it. Tell me where you are", Dean hissed out forcefully, clearly trying to subdue his anger.
Stormy inhaled a deep breath and willed herself to be strong, "I can't tell you".
"And why the hell not?!", he finally snapped, his voice piercing loudly through the speaker against her ear.
"I don't want you to find me", was her simple response.
"You don't get to make that choice, Stormy! And you sure as hell don't get to walk out on this family", he seethed. His voice had broke a little at the end, like it was difficult for him to say the word 'family'. And why wouldn't it difficult since now his blood family consisted of two people instead of five.
"I'm sorry, Dean...", her strong act broke again. Hearing the hurt in her brother's voice was hard, especially since she knew she caused it and she guiltily leaned back on the lockers with a sigh.
Stormy hadn't spoken to Dean since she left him at Lisa's that night. She had only spoken to Bobby a couple of times on the phone who kept ordering her to call her brother but she kept putting it off, and the longer she put it off, the harder it seemed to do. She knew that her brother was angry and worried about her disappearing on him, and that she had earned one hell of a lecture. Bobby probably got tired of her procrastinating and took matters into his own hands and had given Dean her new number.
"Apology not accepted", he huffed and Stormy could practically see the shrug Dean just did and the don't-give-a-rats-ass expression on his face. "You think I'm gonna just sit around and wait for my baby sister to call me and let me know she's still alive after practically abandoning me? And not just me, you ditched Bobby too! And then you steal one of his cars and a heap of his stuff?", he yelled in disbelief. "He is like a father to us Stormy, at least have a little more respect!", he scolded, absolutely furious.
Dean hated when anyone mistreated Bobby because we owed the old man so much. He stood by us through all the ugly supernatural crap, even though he really didn't have to. He had stuck his neck out for the Winchesters too many times for him to be treated in that way.
"I know... it was wrong. I'm sorry...", Stormy began to apologise but her brother quickly cut her off.
"No damn it!", he yelled. "I don't want to hear another apology, it doesn't mean jack! You knew exactly what you were doing when you left!"
Stormy didn't know what to say to him because he was right. A silence fell between them as Dean awaited his sisters reply but she gave up, "What do you want me to say, Dean?", she asked, her voice soft.
Dean let out a heavy breath, his anger diminishing slightly from the guilt and hurt he could hear in his sisters voice. He forced himself not to yell as he responded calmly, "I want you to tell me where you are so I can come get you, and I'll pretend this whole thing never happened. There's no way I'm leaving you out there on your own, when every supernatural creature with a set of balls wants to gain the hefty title of killing a Winchester".
That was Dean's biggest fear, that he couldn't be there if something crept out from the dark and attacked his little sister. Every supernatural creature feared and hated the Winchesters and they would always have a target on their heads because of it. Stormy understood why Dean worried about her being on her own, she was more vulnerable by herself but she just couldn't go back with him and live with Lisa and Ben like everything was okay.
After a few seconds of silence, Stormy finally spoke up with a firm voice that left no room for persuasion, "No".
"What?", Dean asked in bewilderment.
"I said no, Dean", she repeated strongly, her voice not shaky in the slightest. She was sure of what she wanted, and needed.
Dean growled, "Stormy Winchester, tell me where the hell you ran off to or so help me I'll..."
'BEEP'
Stormy dropped the phone from her ear and looked down at the screen in shock to see if she really did just hang up on her brother. She stood there, staring at her phone in awe until it automatically locked itself. The screen went black and she let out a shaky breath as she unconsciously slid down the lockers and sank to the floor. Still grasping the phone tightly, she raised it and began thudding the metal device against her forehead repeatedly.
"He's going to kill you... Dean is going to kill you...", she muttered to herself anxiously.
She was so screwed.
When Stormy returned to class, Stiles was asleep again and the teacher was sitting at his desk as the rest of the class scribbled silently in their books. She looked up at the board, noticing a bunch of new questions written there for the book they were reading, but actually doing the work was the last thing on her mind. There was no way her brain cells could concentrate and focus right now after the conversation she just had with her brother. So she silently returned to her desk and laid her arms and head on the table once again. Staring up at the clock hanging above the board, she calculated how much longer she had to sit there until class was over.
After seventeen minutes of impatiently looking back and forth between the clock and the window, the school bell finally tore loudly through the class. Stormy lifted her head from her desk at the same time that Stiles jolted awake in his seat. His hair was a dishevelled mess and a line of wet drool had trailed down his left cheek.
"W-What is it, what's happening? Is that the fire bell?", he questioned at the speed of lightening as he blinked furiously and looked around the classroom for an answer, which just earned him some giggles from his classmates.
"No, that's just the recess bell, Mr Stilinski. You probably heard the fire bell in your sleep", the teacher smirked, folding his hairy arms over his bulging belly.
"Oh, sorry Mister...", he paused, not remembering his name, "M-Mister Substitute...", he mumbled as he got up from his seat and quickly began throwing all his things into his bag, seeing how half the class had already left.
The teacher frowned, "It's Mr Corelli", he corrected.
"I knew that", Stiles swiftly replied as he threw his bag over his shoulder and followed Scott and Stormy out the door.
Scott chuckled with a shake of his head, "I'm surprised he didn't give you a detention", he scoffed just as Allison and Lydia joined their walk down the hallway.
"Why, what did Stiles do?", Allison asked curiously as Scott slopped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close.
"Nothing", Stiles said with a shake of his head, rubbing the drool off his cheek with the sleeve of his orange flannel.
"He fell asleep in class", Scott turned to Allison and Lydia.
"Who fell asleep in class?", Isaac asked as he joined the group, earning a frustrated groan from Stiles. He just wanted a subject change, something that wasn't about him.
"Stiles", Allison answered.
Scott turned to Stiles, "You actually starting mumbling in your sleep. Mr Corelli had to stop mid-sentence and wait for you to finish before he could continue talking", he chuckled, earning some laughs from the girls.
"I did?", Stiles grimaced.
"I tried to pick up what you were saying but all I got were the words 'carrot' and 'rabbit'", he said confused.
Stiles face went red, "I was dreaming about an Easter egg hunt", he mumbled the explanation under his breath but everyone heard and the group fell into laughter as they entered through the cafeteria doors.
Stormy followed the group, falling slightly behind because she wasn't really in the mood for company after speaking with her brother. But mainly because she just didn't feel a part of them. She hadn't even actually met the two girls Allison and Lydia yet, she had only spoken to Isaac once and she wasn't really on Scott's good side.
The group walked towards a large table in the back corner of the cafeteria, they dropped their bags and began chatting away. A few of them pulled out some snacks they had packed, but none of them bothered with the long cafeteria line. They usually would wait a couple of minutes for the line to lesson before they attacked it. Stiles nodded his head in agreement to something Lydia was saying before his eyes fell over the table and noticed someone was missing. He turned around, seeing Stormy's retreading back going back towards the cafeteria doors about to leave. He quickly called her over and when she turned around, he tapped the empty space beside him. She had a reluctant expression on her face but Stiles just gave her a forceful look before the hunter sighed and walked towards them. Stormy sat silently beside Stiles as the group continued on with their conversation, oblivious of the non-verbal interaction that just occurred between the two.
Lydia was the first to speak up to the new addition to the group, "You must be Stormy Winchester, the girl all the wolves hate", she smirked slightly and Stormy couldn't tell if Lydia was impressed or threatened by that fact.
"Lydia!", Allison whisper-yelled in warning, elbowing her strawberry blonde friend.
"What? It's true", she replied simply without a care as she flicked her long hair out of the way. And Stormy had to admit she liked the no-bullshitting style of the well manicured teen.
"Sorry, don't mind her. I'm Allison", she gave Stormy a friendly smile from across the table, her dimples emerging slightly from her cheeks.
"You're Christopher Argent's daughter", Stormy stated rather than questioned, gaining a nod from the dark haired girl, "So I'm not the only hunter sitting among wolves right now".
This earned a wider smile from Allison, then she paused in thought, "Well, I actually met Scott before I even knew who my family really were".
Stormy scoffed and muttered under her breath, "Yeah, it'll be a real shocker to find out you come from a family of psychopathic werewolf hunters".
"Dude...", it was Stiles turn now to nudge his friend for being rude.
"What? Have you met Gerard Argent? The old man is a sadist", Stormy said in defence, earning a frown from Allison.
"It still isn't a nice thing to say", Stiles whispered back to Stormy like a father telling off their child for being rude.
"Well, nice isn't really one of my main attributes, moles", Stormy whispered back harshly.
"Moles... really?", Stiles groaned in return, aware the hunters obvious sour mood. What was with her?
"Ahem...", Lydia cleared her throat loudly, putting a stop between Stiles and Stormy's whispered argument. When they both had her attention, she leaned a little forward towards the hunter, "I hear that we need your help to deal with this new problem in Beacon Hills. Why is that?"
Stormy was about to open her mouth to vocalise a more of a harsh rather than a nice reply, but Stiles beat her to it, straightening up excitedly in his seat.
"Because, this pack isn't here for Scott's true alpha status or his pack...", Stiles let the sentence go unfinished.
"What do you mean?", Isaac asked confused, leaning forward. What reason would there to be for a werewolf pack to enter Beacon Hills other than to rid it of the rarity of a true alpha?
"This morning, Stormy and I found out why Osiris killed all those people...", Stiles began but then paused in thought, "Well, more like butchered them... or mauled... Actually, I think the best word to use in this scenario is probably 'dismembered' since they were all in pieces and..."
"Stiles...", grumbled Scott eagerly, "What did you find? And why didn't you tell me sooner?", he asked in shock and confusion since his friend could never hold in any new exciting information he found out, ever. That's why Scott always received phones calls in the middle of the night from his ADHD ridden friend.
"I was going to. I couldn't wait to tell you actually. But then you were late to first period and I was really tired, and then... I was asleep", Stiles eye twitched at his excuse.
Lydia was getting impatient as she asked loudly, "Stiles, what did you find out?", she forced the boys to get back to the point.
Stiles turned to Stormy, silently asking her if she wanted to explain it all but she shook her head. So Stiles started in on all the research they did. "Well, Osiris is a man on a mission...", he began and told his friends about the connection between the murders using a lot of hand gestures and gruesome details.
After he finished, the group began to discuss everything they found out and what to do about it. Stormy was silent for the whole ordeal. The young Winchester was feeling really out of place. She wasn't used to being around her own age group. Yes, she went to a lot of new schools over the years and was surrounded with other teenagers but she started a new strategy a few years back to keep her from getting hurt. Before she would make friends and build strong relationships with people but then she'd have to leave town when her family was done with a hunt. After getting hurt time and time again, she decided to stop bothering with making any friends with every new school she attended to avoid the pain of having to leave them. That was her strategy and even though it was rough being alone sometimes, it worked because it was so easy to just leave when she had to. She wouldn't miss anyone and no one missed her. She always had her father and brothers and she convinced herself that they were all she needed. But now her dad and Sam were gone, and Dean was with his new family. There was no reason for her to leave Beacon Hills anytime soon, but she just couldn't stop her instinct to keep to herself.
Stiles shoved a packet of pretzels in Stormy's face, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Want some?", he wiggled the packet around, his mouth full of the salty snack. It seemed that his little nap in class helped refresh him a little since he was bouncing his knee up and down energetically and wasn't on the verge of falling asleep again. Stormy shook her head, earning a frown from Stiles as he dropped the packet of pretzels. "All you have in your system is caffeine, Stormy. You should eat something".
"And all you have is Adderall and Red Bull, so finish your pretzels and worry about yourself", Stormy snapped in return.
Stiles eyebrows knit together in worry, rather than be offended with Stormy being short with him. He vaguely remembered seeing a look of panic on the hunters face when her phone rang in class, but he was half asleep so he wasn't so sure. But seeing her now, he noticed her whole demeanour had changed ever since then. She wasn't in this mood this morning.
"You okay?", he asked carefully, not wanting to intensify her sour mood.
Stormy was about to nod and say that she was fine when she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled the device from her jeans and frowned when she saw that it was her brother again. He wasn't going to quit, and right now she wasn't up for the fight.
"Stormy?", Stiles nudged her slightly.
Her eyes snapped back up at the boy and hadn't noticed that she had completely zoned out, staring at her phone. "Y-Yeah, sorry... I'm fine, Stiles", she shook her head as she quickly switched off her phone and shoved it back into her pocket. She instinctively stood up from her seat, gaining the rest of the packs attention who were still discussing the new information Stiles had just told them.
"Where you going?", Stiles asked her.
"I gotta go... do something", she answered in haste, not bothering with a proper lie or waiting for a reply as she made a beeline towards exit.
Stormy didn't know what she was doing, or where she was going. All she knew was that she needed some timeout because Dean's angry phone call had put her on edge. She hated fighting with her brother. And he would keep fighting with her and not stop until he figured out where she was. But she wasn't worried that he would find her because all Winchester knew well enough about how to disappear and cover their tracks. Rather, she was upset because she hurt her brother. And it took a lot to hurt Dean Winchester.
Stormy shook her head, trying to rid the dark cloud hovering over her. She hadn't realised that she had unconsciously walked through the school halls and out the building. Outside was a little chillier and only a few students were sitting on picnic tables with a single teacher roaming around on duty. Wanting some privacy, she walked towards the back of the gym building which was at the end of school grounds and out of sight of everyone.
Her sneakers screeched against the pavement as she came to stop, seeing a couple seniors leaning back against the gym's brick wall. She was about to retreat when one of them sighted her and spoke up.
"Hey, new girl!", a boy with short dirty blonde hair called, "You have a light?", he asked hopefully, clutching a packet of cigarettes in his hand.
Stormy turned to them reluctantly and nodded, "Ah, sure...", she mumbled and turned her messenger bag to her front so she can retrieve her trusty lighter. It was the same lighter she used to salt and burn corpses or the weird objects that spirits are attached to that prevent them from leaving.
"Great!", the blonde grinned as Stormy dug through her bag and turned back to his friends happily before he faced her again, "These jackasses always steal my lighters and I never see them again", he grumbled, pointing an accusing thumb back towards his friends.
"It wasn't me, it was Andy!", one of his friends with messy long jet black hair whined.
The third boy, Andy who was scrawnier than the two and had a head full of orange curls, nudged his elbow into his friend hard, "Quit the bullshit, Leo! It was you who lost it at the party last night, remember?", he argued.
"I lost it? You had it last!", Leo argued back elbowing Andy in return.
"No, I didn't!", replied an irritated Andy.
Joey shook his head at his friends banter, like he's heard it all before, "I don't care, just both of you shut-up", he grumbled, already pulling a cigarette from his packet and placing it between his lips as he saw Stormy finally pull out her lighter hidden deep within her bag.
"Here...", Stormy handed it to Joey, a small smile playing on her lips at the arguing friends. The lighter was a bronze flick Zippo that her dad had given her with a protection symbol etched on the front. He had given it to her as a symbol of moving up a rank as a hunter when she was twelve, when she lit up her first corpse. Sounds pretty dark, but it was a big step for a kid to have the stomach to dig up and desecrated a grave.
"Thanks", the blonde haired boy said, accepting the lighter from Stormy. He flicked it open and quickly lit up the cigarette hanging from his lips before he turned and threw it and his packet of smokes backwards at his friends. Turning back to the hunter he gave her an appreciative smile, "I'm Joey...", he pointed towards the black haired boy, "That's Leo...", then he pointed towards the boy with the orange curls, "... and the carrot-top is Andy. You're the new girl, right? What's your name?"
"Stormy", she replied, waiting for the boys to return her lighter so she could leave and find somewhere to sort out her thoughts. She didn't know how she was going to sort things out with Dean. She couldn't keep ignoring his calls forever. "Can I get my lighter back?", she asked.
Joey nodded and motioned his hand out to his friend for the lighter. Andy finished lightening up his smoke and slapped the lighter into Joey's open palm.
"Thanks Stormy", Andy looked up giving her a grin.
"Yeah, thanks Stormy", Leo said with a nod of his head as he blew out a thick puff of smoke.
Stormy gave them a nod and turned to Joey who offered her an opened packet of cigarettes instead of her Zippo lighter.
"Care for a smoke, madam?", he asked.
Stormy stared at the packet and without really thinking it through, she nodded her head and grabbed a cigarette. She had a bit of history with the cancerous stick. It was after Dean was killed by hellhounds after his one year demon deal was up when he saved Sam. She was fourteen at the time and grieving intensely and got messed up with the wrong crowd in the town they were currently at, totally ignoring her strategy of not making friends. They weren't really friends anyway, more of a way to forget about what she had lost. They got her into the habit of smoking and she got addicted to the stuff pretty quick because it was such a good stress reliever and at the time it was exactly what she needed.
Sam was not himself, he was filled with guilt and anger and Stormy was just always on edge because she didn't know how to grieve the most important person in the world to her. Dean was her rock and the only one constant she had after her mother was killed, and a part of her felt betrayed at his decision to trade his life for Sam's. She loved Sam immensely and would never chose between the two but Dean was always there for her. When Sam went Stanford and when Dad left for months on end, he was always there. It was just Dean and Stormy for a while and she never imagined life without him, then she was living it.
Both Sam and Stormy were hurting and weren't dealing with it healthily. Sam turned to the demon-ass Ruby for a distraction and Stormy felt so alone. This caused a lot of heated fights between the two. Sam was gone a lot of the time doing who knows what and Stormy didn't know what to do. Two months after they lost Dean and after Stormy tried so hard to get Sam away from Ruby, they had a massive fight and very harsh words were said that they both didn't mean. Stormy stormed out and ended up at Bobby's and stayed there while her brother did things she couldn't even imagine.
It was rough time then, and Stormy fought through it using nicotine to relieve her stress. She was pretty good at covering it up, Sam wasn't around and she only had to hide it from Bobby. But then after four months of Dean being gone, he was suddenly back and Stormy couldn't even put into words how happy she was.
Things seemed to get better and weeks after, she was caught in the act when she walked out on Dean after they had a massive fight. Which was caused by Dean finding out about what Sam was doing with Ruby and he was beyond furious. And when he found out that his sister knew about it the whole time and never told him, he was even angrier. That was what caused the fight and he chased after his sister to find her inhaling poisonous tobacco into her lungs. He gave her one hell of a lecture, tore through all her stuff and got rid of all her cigarettes and confiscated her lighters for good measure. She knew it wasn't healthy and she feared an angry Dean Winchester, so she didn't fight it. It was hard for the first few months to stop cold turkey but she fought through it and hadn't had a cigarette since.
That was nearly a year and a half ago and as the cigarette lay between her fingers, her body yearned for it and she didn't bother to fight it.
Joey stepped forward, flicked the lighter open and leaned in as Stormy placed the butt between her lips. His thumb swiped the wheel, sent the wick alight and ignited the tip of her cigarette.
"Thanks", Stormy mumbled before she inhaled the heavy substance into her lungs, and let it sit there for a second before she breathed it out. It caused her to cough a little, puffs of dark smoke escaping her mouth and nostrils with every exhale. Her body wasn't used to it anymore. That is why it felt so much stronger than she remembered but a part of her loved it all the same.
"You okay?", Joey asked concerned, even though he was grinning from her reaction.
"Yeah... just haven't had one in a while", Stormy replied, clearing her throat and inhaling another puff of nicotine. And this time, even though it still felt heavy it seemed to do the trick and her muscles began to relax a bit.
"You should probably take it slow then", Joey handed her the lighter and leaned back against the brick wall.
Stormy placed the lighter in her pocket instead of her bag and stared at the three boys. The two, Leo and Andy were sitting cross legged on the concrete floor, cigarettes hanging loosely from their lips as they versed each other on a game on their phones. The blonde, Joey slid down the wall and sat down on the concrete floor beside his friends with his legs stretched out in front of him. He leaned back against the wall as he smoked and looked up at the cloudy sky like he had no worry in the world.
They all looked so carefree and relaxed and she didn't notice that she was just standing there without moving for a few seconds as she studied them.
"Come, sit down. You don't need an invitation", Joey called her over, nudging his head to the spot beside him.
Stormy didn't understand why but she complied and joined the three strangers she had just met hiding behind the school gym. They were out of sight of teachers and everyone else, complete privacy. And that was kind of what she was looking for when she walked away from Scott and his pack. These boys didn't expect anything out of her, they weren't judging her every move, nor did they care if she was there or not.
"So, Stormy... what brought you to lil ole' Beacon Hills?", Joey asked.
"Just needed a change", she answered, settling back against the brick wall beside him.
"And you chose Beacon Hills?", he scoffed with a shake of his head, "There's way less shittier places to go for that".
Stormy just shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to continue with the subject. Yes, she needed a change but she reason she chose Beacon Hills is because she needed a hunt.
Joey frowned at the girls lack of response, giving her a side glance before leaning his head back to look at the sky scattered with clouds again. "You seem like you have a lot on your mind today", he stated.
Stormy lifted her brow in confusion as she turned to this stranger who spoke as if he knew her, "Today? What do you mean 'today'?"
"Well, most days you march around the place like you can flip it over with your finger if you wanted to, but today... not so much", he answered, his eyes never leaving the sky.
"Have you been watching me?", Stormy asked, her voice going a little tight.
Joey grinned, dropping his head to face her, "This is a small school and us seniors tend to notice attractive new juniors. We don't get much newbies around here in this boring little town".
Stormy's frown deepened, "I don't know if I should be creeped out by that supposed compliment... or if I should puncture this cigarette into your thigh", she held up the cigarette in the air for emphasis.
Joey let out a throaty laugh and put his hands up to show he meant no harm, the cigarette hanging loosely from his lips, "Wow, easy there. It was just a statement of appraisal and appreciation about your physical self. No harm done", he mumbled from the cigarette still between his lips, giving her a charming grin.
Stormy's lips turned upwards into a smile, aware of the fact that this guy wasn't so bad looking himself. Actually, he was really good looking. His natural blonde hair was almost golden coloured, styled in a sort of really short faux hawk. He had soft eyes that looked bronze in colour, a slightly crooked nose like it's been broken before and sharply shaped lips that had a light scar that went through the left side of his upper-lip. His jaw was square shaped and covered with growing specks of hair, making him look older than he was.
"Fine, I won't burn a hole through your leg just yet", she replied, a small smile still playing on her lips.
"Good", he chuckled, "So what is bothering you?"
"Nothing", Stormy shrugged the question off.
"I believe it's much more than nothing since you just invited the big-bad tobacco stick back into your life", he scoffed, nodding his head towards the cigarette between Stormy's lips.
"Well, I believe it's none of your business", Stormy snapped coldly as she exhaled a cloud of smoke, now regretting the decision of joining his company.
"Hey, you don't need to get defensive. If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to talk about", Joey lifted his hands up in defence.
"I don't", Stormy confirmed with a grumble, finishing her smoke and putting it out on the ground beside her before discarding it with a flick of her wrist.
"Fair enough. How about you let me take you out and we can talk about whatever you want?", he asked, turning his body to face the young hunter with an adorable smile on his face.
"Ah...", Stormy stuttered, not expecting the conversation to go in that direction at all.
It's been a long time since she's been asked out by a boy and the first thing her mind went to was her brothers. Dean was actually more protective over his sister about boys, than he was with his sister about the supernatural. He'd let her fight a werewolf on her own and trust her to have his back when undergoing a heavy shootout. But if he even gets the whiff that his sister is engaging with the opposite gender, he'd totally turn into big-brother-mode. And Sam was the same. He was always the easier brother to deal with, the more lenient one. But when it came to boys, he was just like Dean except her was gentler when he said no, where Dean was just straight out hostile. Just the thought of Sam made her frown and any minute feelings of actually accepting Joey's offer diminished.
"T-That sounds really nice... but... it's just not a good time for me", Stormy began to explain and Joey began to nod his head like he understood that she was blowing him off and wasn't interested in him. But she wasn't saying no because of him, so she tried to explain herself, "It's not you... I just wouldn't be the best company right now".
Joey nodded again, this time understanding as the sound of the bell filled their ears. Pulling out a pen from his bag, he grabbed her hand and pulled open her fingers before he began doodling something onto her opened palm. He released her and Stormy held up her hand to read seven digits neatly written in thick black ink.
"Call me if you ever change your mind, Stormy", he smiled as he said her name, like he enjoyed the way it sounded. Then he began to pick himself up, throwing his army printed messenger bag over one shoulder.
Stormy did the same, readying herself for her next class. "Thanks for the smoke", she said as a way of saying goodbye.
"And thank you for the lighter", he grinned before he walked over to his friends whose eyes were still glued to their phones, oblivious to the world around them. He groaned and kicked at their legs, "Get up shitheads, we have to get to class".
"One sec, Joe... I'm about to beat this losers ass", Leo said his shoulders tense as his fingers quickly tapped against his phone screen.
"We'll see...", Andy muttered, his eyebrows knitted together in frustration.
Joey groaned and rolled his eyes as he began to yell impatiently at his friends.
Stormy laughed at the scene before she walked out from behind the brick building and began to make her way towards her next class feeling just a little bit better.
Writer's Note:
So there it was guys, it was a little longer than most chapters so I hope it didn't feel like it dragged on for too long. I know that not much happened but I really thought it was time Dean and Stormy talked, and time that Stormy met some teenagers outside Scott and his pack.
Also, I do not encourage smoking at all. Don't do it kids! But I just thought the filthy habit fit in well with Stormy's character. If you disagree let me know, would like to know your thoughts. Also let me know what you thought of Joey and his friends.
Anyway, I'm excited to get into the next chapter where Osiris and Scott's pack finally meet!
Let me know what you guys think, your reviews keep me going!
Rose x.