Author: The Wayward Angel
Story: Skeleton in the Closet
Word Count: 473
Chapter: 5/?
Pairings: None
Spoilers: None
Trigger Warnings: eating disorders, self-harm, homophobia, angst, low self-esteem
Summary: Everyone has secrets, closets full of skeletons. It doesn't matter if you're a jock, or a cheerleader, or a nerd…in the end it's all the same. Everyone is made of the same atoms and molecules and when you peel off the skin and muscle we all look the same inside. Everyone has something to hide. Everyone. *Highschool AU*
Disclaimer: Not even close

Unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine. Please feel free to point out any grammatical or spelling errors.

Skeleton in the Closet
Chapter Five – Jo Harvell

Jo Harvell is the head cheerleader for the Heaven's Angels Cheer Squad. She is perfect, according to her peers, and gorgeous. Every girl totally wants to be her, and every guy wants inside her. Jo is down to Earth though, and doesn't let the attention go to her head. She's nice, funny, sarcastic, and athletic. She's smart and pretty and everyone adores her.

She lost her dad a few years ago, and everyone knows that it still makes her sad to think about him, so they never bring it up. It's one of the few things she and Dean Winchester talk about. Their dads had been friends when they were kids. Contrary to popular belief, she and Dean aren't dating, even though everyone thinks they should.

Jo hates social expectations. She does, she always has. Because of them, Jo has to hide part of her personality. She has to pretend to be something that she's not. Her skeleton in the closet.

Jo is a boy.

Well, not according to her birth record but she…he can feel it down in his bones. And yeah, he likes girl things too, but deep down he knows that his birth record has to be wrong because he just doesn't fit in this skin.

He never corrects people that call him a her though, because he knows they would think he was weird. They wouldn't understand. And he hates that. He's pretty sure his mom knows, because his mom has always been awesome to him, but his friends…they would hate him and he doesn't think he could handle it.

So he dresses in his girl clothes for school and curls his hair and applies lip gloss even though it doesn't feel right. And when he's alone he allows himself to wear flannel shirts and jeans and combat boots and go hunting. He refers to himself as a boy in his head. And pretends that at school on Monday he'll correct the teacher that says she or his friend that calls him a her.

But he won't.

Jo won't.

Because she has to pretend she's a girl. Because she doesn't love herself enough to say otherwise.