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alias-b · 4 years

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sins of my youth. 013

Billy Hargrove x OC! Evie Fenny~ Also posted to my AO3

Summary: It was common knowledge that Billy Hargrove hated Hawkins. Hated Cherry Lane. Even loathed the strange girl next door. Evie Fenny wasn’t too fond of the chaotic Cali transfer either. An awful high school tradition sparks a chain of events that changes everything, ultimately bringing two frayed souls together.

Hey all!! Evie attends a party to get back into the swing of being a messy teen and the night doesn't go as expected. Billy opens up about his past in California with a story Evie finds all too familiar. TW: Slight sexual refs, teens drinking/smoking, talk of past s*icide/death, and addiction. TAG LIST OPEN. Always open to chatting about the fic, thanks!!

Chapter 13: Almost Paradise

“Are you sure about this?” Heather spoke over Evie’s shoulder.

“We always hit the mid-winter break parties. Why wouldn’t we, Heath?” Evie applied her favorite shade of cherry in the mirror. Makeup still only covered so much that next night. But, with the swelling down, she hoped it wasn't that bad.

“Figured you’d be hanging with Billy.”

“We haven’t done anything...much. His dad is grinding him to stay in. He'll...also be at the party I'm sure.”

"That why you put on the new bra?"

"It's not new..." Evie fixed her sleeve to hide the black strap. Blushed a whole garden of strawberries. "Like I said...haven't done anything."

“Haven’t had the chance, hm.” Heather plopped down and stole some mirror space. Relenting as she applied a lustrous pink shade to her lips that matched the scrunchie holding her curls high. “I know you’re hopelessly into him. All the eye fucking over the movie last night. If you hadn’t have passed out on the couch-”

“Would...you be mad?” Evie looked up.

“I’m just coming around to him again. If you trust him, I will.” Heather smiled. “I just have to be the bitchy best friend. Make him sweat it out for my own enjoyment. Cute how he tucked you in last night through, looked like he might not leave you.”

Evie lowered a brush doused in gold glitter from her eye.

“I am sorry...about the whole-”

“You don’t have to be sorry about him, Bowers is the one that should be sorry.” Heather frowned. “I’m not mad you didn’t tell me. Honest. I get it. I can’t imagine what I would have done.”

“You wouldn’t be in that situation because you’re smarter than me.”

“No, I’ve made poor boy choices too. We both know that.” Heather beamed. “Can I borrow your earrings? The little cherries you made.”

“Sure, keep them. You get more mileage out of them than I do. I can make more.”

Heather squealed and went to steal them. Evie thought it funny, her friend would rather wear her craft projects than the baby diamonds in silver and gold her parents were always buying.

“Hey, I… My mom’s been lying to me. About my dad.” Evie admitted. “He’s trying to call and give her money, I think. I don’t know if he asks about me. Where he is. I’m just… I don’t know what to do with it all, Heath.” Her voice broke and leveled out. Slowly the brush came up again. “You ever feel like you remember things differently? Like maybe we never see things as they are, we just see things as we are?”

Heather turned to see, still putting the earrings in.

“I’m sure Mona’s trying to protect you. She’s always been so much.” She pressed her lips and tilted Evie’s face to check her work as she always did. “Covered it nicely. How’s your head?”

“No pounding anymore. Not getting dizzy, I think I barely avoided a concussion.” A beat. “I just wonder what exactly she’s protecting me from. It’s eating me.”

Felt like too appropriate an expression.

“We’ll figure it out, but you put way too much pressure on yourself like you’re alone, Eves, and you’re not.” Heather pulled Evie in to hug her. “You have me and Steve. Friends at school.”

Blue hopped up on the desk to meow loudly, both girls broke to giggle.

“Yes, you too, cutie.” Heather scratched the kitten’s chin. “And Billy, I guess. Whatever.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what we’re doing. But, I don’t mind it so I guess I’ll chase that.” Evie thumbed Heather’s lipstick at the corner. “You’re set.”

“You, too. Let’s head out.” Heather winked and stood up.

Blue trailed after them so Evie filled her dish. Grabbed a prized jacket she used to be too afraid to wear for how loud it was. Red leather and fringe. Bitchin'. A signature piece of clothing. Undoubtedly Evangeline. Fredrick didn't like it so it was packed away with all her sharp edges.

Heather beamed as her friend donned it. Completed Evie's look with a black skirt and graphic shirt tucked in. Vaguely mesh pattern tights and her warm boots. Gold hoops gleaming and her little music note necklace. Plucked piece of juicy fruit and a hard pit for good measure. Curls bounced, almost obscene.

“Think Brock and his shitheads will crash?” Heather waited for the door to be locked before they got into her car.

“I’m not worried about Brock after what happened with Fredrick.” Evie stared at the empty place in the Hargrove driveway where Billy’s Camaro usually sat. No doubt he was already there raging. Evie got annoyed with the flame in her stomach that flickered at the thought of running into him there with all the dancing they’d been doing. Every little maybe and almost. Syllables rolling off tongues to tangle.

Loch Nora rangers were undoubtedly the best.

Evie still liked parties. Liked the stimulation. The noise. That beautiful overlapping noise to wash her world out. The drunk idiot teens wandering to dance or do dumb shit. All technicolor. Even liked them better than what Fredrick would take her too. Annoying how Fredrick had become this constant life point of comparison. Physically out and still here to set the scales.

Time for some liquor.

She peered around and realized Steve never came to them anymore. Heather even asked him and he just declines too politely. Three drinks sank into her stomach so Evie went out back to where some meathead with no shirt was pouring. Moved through sprightly bodies to get another cup. Smoke and sweat in the cool night air.

“Fenny, you hear Tannen got a DUI?” Nameless meathead poured.

“No, shit?” She took her plastic cup back. Black and gold glitter nails clicking the artificial red.

“Swear to god! His dad’s basically paying everyone to make it disappear.” The guy chuckled. “Lucky, the idiot didn’t crash into anyone.”

“Yeah, he’s a mess.” Evie tipped her cup in thanks and watched teens bop around the covered pool to booming music. Rich house on a hill, no one was calling the cops. Cold and slush weren't stopping the festivities, it only made them turn up the noise and heat. Her outfit combated the lingering winter well enough. Perks of being a bigger gal. Thick skin to combat the weather and assholes. “Thanks.”

“Plenty more to go around.”

Evie caught a bunch of metalheads thrashing around a huge trampoline. Jumping from the lowest part of the roof to it and climbing all over. Billy among them spitting beer and cackling. A hungry wolf against the bright moon. Readied to toss his head back and-

“Evangeline!” He howled and she rolled her eyes below, drinking. Cup lifted to acknowledge them. Billy flashed his teeth, glowed there at her. Still among his following.

"You clean up well, Fenny!" One boy cooed so Billy shoved him into one of the many seat cushions that had been stolen to line the perch.

"Why not join us? Stay awhile." Billy crouched at the edge. Admired Evie glittering and that outfit. Tassels constantly in motion, she looked like a song leaping off unworthy pages. They echoed the calls and she laughed outright, went back inside to a chorus of whines wanting her to stay and indulge them in their debauchery.

“They out of the hard stuff already?” Heather approached and offered a tiny joint to Evie that she caved and puffed. “Tammy’s asking. I’m switching to water.”

“Beer only it looks like. It’s raining boys out there though.”

“Oh, maybe I’ll catch myself one.” Heather winked and wandered outside with the smoke.

Evie got squished in between her and Tammy moments later. Talking school and beauty and graduation getting closer. Across the way, Billy had a whole room entertained with his California stories. Evie lingered to see his eyes flicker over to her.

The strange radar he had when she was around. Always on high. He smiled bright and animated his tale, kept them all hooked and laughing because he was just too badass. Too good. A firework in this boring town. Perched on the table with a smoke in hand.

Spinning tales around the way he spun her under confetti.

And they kept peering at each other. Billy got more persistent as Evie made it a point not to look. To stay reeled into Tammy gushing about the car she was almost saved up for. This baby pink bug she dreamed about. Robin joined them and Tammy blushed as they shared a freshly rolled joint. Heather and Evie shared knowing looks.

Billy decided he wanted attention from Evangeline and left the stories behind to cross toward her. Evie felt sparks when he plucked up her hand, nodding aside. One tug and smoldering eyes. She didn't move and played a pout.

“I’m having an important discussion with the girls about the principal's clearly fake mustache, Hargrove.” She lifted her eyes, biting her lip as if that might curve her intoxication. Curled a smirk he matched.

"Thrilling. Something tells me it ain't getting mileage." Billy didn’t take his eyes from Evie. “Ladies?”

“We just finished actually, Evie was about to get herself another drink. You look like just the soul brave enough to help with that.” Tammy, oblivious but a wingman to the end, cut in so Billy pulled Evie up.

Heather flashed a guilty smile as they went off because Evie was aimlessly bickering. They didn’t go out back for a drink. Billy climbed the steps with her hand. Slowly Evie adjusted to lace their fingers. They moved over bodies and went down the hallways into a vacant TV room with beaten couches and thick screens.

“What are you doing?” Evie dropped her arms as Billy bit his tongue with intent eyes and crossed into her space for a kiss. Tasting of some green apple schnapps the boys outside had downed with all the hard stuff.

“Just something I thought about for a while.” He cupped her face for another and Evie felt dizzy for the first time after her drinks. Billy and his lips. Tasting her. Pulling her back into a couch with him.

“You mean like a day?” Evie had giggled. Breaking the kiss to see his pupils spread.

“Hey, it was a long, long day.” Came a shrug, eyes on her pretty tights that were sending him. “I can only say so much over the phone.” Hands worked under the skirt. Melted Evie down while she came in for more of him.

Straddling Billy’s hard thigh, she combed his hair back and ravished him in turn. What could she say? She liked to kiss him. Liked his mouth and his palms and his heat against her. Scorching. Billy adjusted, taking her hips to press his leg up into her.

Evie rocked unconsciously. Gave him a little moan. Let him untuck her shirt. She came out and felt his hand on her bra. Fingers sunk under the fabric while they locked eyes. Rolled her nipple until another moan lulled. Evie still pulling at his hair, lips opening.

“No bad kisses yet, hm?” The hum hitched as Evie pressed into him. Kissed him deeper. Not worried she might squish him with the shameless, signature way he touched her.

“Let’s try a few more.” Evie about whimpered into his tongue. Brow furrowing. Breath quicker. Something ready to churn in her belly.

Billy gripped her hips to encourage her on. Shifted down the line of her jaw. Silken mouth trailing to release warm sighs. Evie had her hands pressed against his grey tee. Skimming under the leather jacket to feel the hard lines. Miles of him to trace and explore. Shifting, one hand came to his left shoulder. Finger pressed and Billy gave a jerk, breath catching as he pulled back to hiss.

Evie narrowed and yanked away the moment he looked in pain. Avoiding her eyes as if he wasn’t just trying to turn them over and finish this.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Billy leaned back in for a kiss she barely responded to. Thoughts racing. “It’s nothing.” He cupped the back of her head. Lips all over Evie’s neck. Fingers slipped to push his jacket aside and Billy grasped her wrist. “Evie, it’s nothing.”

“You’re hurt.” She frowned. Billy gripped her arm still, searching. He opened his mouth to speak and the door burst open, giggles sounding at the same time Evie threw herself out of Billy’s lap. Practically to the other side of the couch. Shamefully tucking her shirt back in.

“Oooh, this one’s taken,” Tommy backed up and processed who was in there again with Carol under his arm, “Billy and Fenny? No fucking way, you two. Ha!” He cackled and Billy gave an agitated breath.

“We’re busy, shut the door, man.”

“No shit, you’re busy. I’m shocked. I thought Fen wasn’t speaking to you ever again after-”

“Hagen, we’re talking.” Evie slid her eyes to Carol who’d gotten dead silent. Eyes bright and full of hate. Piles and piles. A tremendous build of fire and loathing directed at Evie for existing in the same space.

“Talk away. Have fun, kids!” Tommy only found it funny. Jeering in his annoying way before Carol shoved off him and stomped out. “Hey Carol, what’s your problem?” He smacked the door shut following his upset girlfriend down the hall.

“Shit, asshole.” Billy rubbed his shoulder. “Where were we?” The purr made Evie turn her head, thoughts elsewhere. Billy crawled to kiss her again and Evie stood. “Hey, where’re you going?”

“I just, I feel weird now.” Evie stumbled around the coffee table. Cheeks bright and rosy. Not sparing him a glance because Carol’s eyes gnawed her. Created an incessant buzzing around her brain. Billy jolted to follow but she was out the door. Looking around for Carol and Tommy’s loudmouth. Boots hurried down the steps after Tommy, still trying to coax his girl back to the festivities.

“Carol, hey,” Evie pushed beyond Tommy once Carol was out a sliding door, “Hey, can we just talk?”

“You are such a fucking loser, you know that?” Carol spun on her heel to direct some teenage rage in Evie’s direction. A few outside by the kegs noticed the tiff, pausing to see.

A crack.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Evie dropped her shoulders. Billy slipped out and stepped up behind Tommy, pausing at the standoff. Carol staggered. Clearly intoxicated. Cracking a huge, watery smile. Reckless. She stepped toward Evie so a burst came. “Why! I'm not mean to you! I've never been mean to you! I only talk back and I still feel guilty, but you're so... Why?”

"You're nice to me?" She made it sound unreal and laughable.

"Yeah, actually! I don't understand it, I've tried to be kind to you." Evie felt a tear slip down and stayed level. "No one deserves to be treated the way I see you treat others. So, why?"

“Because!” Carol shot back, welling too. “You’re so fucking kind and...playing innocent...and you're good! And I..." She stopped with another deafening crack. So loud, it rang. Carol really stopped to reflect and hated what she saw looking back at her. But, Evie was here looking too so the hate rerouted.

"Good?" Evie breathed and so much ugly spread in her veins like a disease.

"And...And you get all this attention! Acting like you don’t know! And just look at you! Do you really think you’d get that attention if these boys didn’t feel sorry for you?” Carol stumbled and pointed a finger in Evie’s face, furious and shaking. Too close.

Evie got silent. Dropped everything she felt.

“You’re the one I feel sorry for.”

Carol buzzed with rage and reeled back to slap her so hard, the force sent her into Tommy.

"Girl fight!" Came some yelps.

“What the hell, Carol?” He caught Evie on pure instinct, not understanding either. Billy charged forward and Carol kept pushing as Evie found her footing.

A chorus of shocked gasps and awe came from the drunk teens near the pool. The music blared.

“Hit me back, you bitch! Yeah? Do it like you did to Tannen. Think you’re any better than me!” Carol was near sobbing. Eyes crinkling with tears as she shoved before Tommy got in front of her. Looped an arm around her waist.

“That’s enough, Care, c’mon.” He and Billy separated the girls, but Evie wasn’t trying to hit back. Just stared with huge eyes and a palm against her hot cheek.

"Hey. Hey, you okay?" Billy stood in front of her now, tugging. Evie wasn't budging. Enthralled. Stuck. Sinking. Not good. "Let's go. She's wasted."

“Evie!” Heather was racing across the grass to help. “Carol, back off her.” She planted her feet between them and Carol sneered, struggling against her boyfriend.

“Ooh, Princess Heather to the rescue. Admit it, you just like being the pretty friend.” More hissing channeled out.

“Just, shut up!”

“How about you tell Fenny why Tannen even tried to chase her skirts that night? Yeah?” Carol broke free and tackled Heather into the grass. "Tell her what a shit friend you are, baby!"

“Another girl fight!” Teens howled across the way. Billy and Tommy shoved in to pull the clawing women apart as they rolled around and pulled at hair.

Evie heard herself shouting to stop, barely audible over the crowds that closed in on them to cheer and chant.

“Tell her, sweet pea? Tell her that her dear B-F-F set her up with some animal. I was at that party, I heard you, bitch!” Carol skidded as Tommy pulled her off. Billy had Heather by the arm, trying to yank her up from the grass. She began to sniffle. “Perfect Heather. Little priss who can do no wrong. Perfect body. Perfect life. The teen dream. Tossing bones to us lowly folk when you're done.”

Carol laughed and cried all at once. Even the crowd slowed to watch her. Evie felt a coldness spread at the display.

“Oh yeah, Heather, you’re a real carpenter’s dream!” Carol mocked relentlessly. “Flat as a board and needs a screw! Go on and tell Fenny what a great friend you are. You brushed Tannen aside and pawned that puppy off on someone easier.”

“I didn’t know he was like that yet, okay! It was stupid.” Heather admitted, tears falling. Evie froze at that, didn’t move toward her.

“Heath, what’s she talking about?” Evie hated how wounded she sounded.

“I just thought maybe he’d cheer you up, we all were drinking and, Tannen, he...he was nice at the time. So I thought. I just...you know-”

“Just, what?” Evie leveled out. Billy let Heather go once he brought her up from the grass so she came to Evie. Crowds all but hushed.

“Can...Can we not talk about it here?” Heather tucked her hair aside, sounding too small.

“No, I love an audience! Talk.” Evie’s spine went rigid.

“I just...nudged Tannen your way. You just broke up with that guy over the summer and your dad left. Tannen was, I don’t know, it was stupid. He was nice and...and good looking. I thought he’d make you feel better. I didn’t know he was like that yet. I just was trying to hook my friend up.”

"Please, you alluded to owing him a favor after. He ate that up. You talked up a desperate animal in need of a hot beef injection. You said Fenny could barely thread a needle these days." Carol bellowed. More shock. More awe.

"I was super drunk!" Heather covered her eyes to rub them

“So, you told him to try fucking me! Told him I was desperate for it!” Evie’s voice rose and Heather quelled with shame.

“You were so sad...I thought he’d give you a good night.” The tone trailed off.

“I’m fat, but I can get laid on my own, thanks. I don’t need your fucking help, how little do you think of me?” Evie’s curls shook around with the same fervor. Heather just held herself and stared at the grass. “Do I really seem that pathetic to you?”

“No, it’s not that at all-”

“It feels like that,” Evie stepped back, “keep me around because I make you look like the Queen Bee and toss some asshole with a reputation my way out of pity if I cease to function.”

“Evie, it’s not like that!” Heather wept and got her hand shoved off when she tried to touch her friend. Evie wiggled through the crowd because it split for her fury.

“Get off me,” she went around the house, “get away from me, Heather! I don't need you!"

Heather stopped on the lawn and just stood there to see Evie follow the street lamps off.

Carol watched them go, sagging into Tommy who was definitely too drunk for this.

“Jesus, what’d you do?” He pulled her in another direction. Back to the house. Away from the excitement resuming. “Shouldn’t start that shit.” They got back inside so he led his girlfriend into an empty bathroom. “You okay?”

“I am now. Bitches. I just...I can’t fucking…” Carol sniffled and cleared her throat. "I don't know why I hate her, okay, I just do! She just gets...everything."

“This is about your mom getting back with that asshole.”

“It’s not about that!” Her defense went up. “I’m just tired of Fenny acting like she can get everything she wants. Throwing herself at Billy, fuck. Wondered why he all but dropped everyone else. I thought he and Vicki had something. Gotta be kidding me.” Carol crossed her arms to lean back into the counter as Tommy washed his face with cold water, nauseous.

“I don’t even think Fenny’s gonna go for him when she’s already got a thing with…” He perked. Lips sealing. Carol noticed.

“Thing with who?”

“Nothing, I just...I saw something...and I’m drunk. I’m fucking drunk, Care.” He got his shirt tugged.

“Tommy.” She sucked her cheeks in and he knew he’d be caving. “What did you see?”

“Evie’s been seeing Bowers, I saw her leaving his place all roughed up. Not the first time, I live a street away. Saw them in his driveway shouting at each other once. It was so dark. They kissed and she...well, her head dropped down for a bit. Thought I was having a nightmare there. I tried to forget it and just act like... I didn't believe it was her until I saw her on that bus. I'm drunk, fuck...” Tommy blurted in one breath. Carol’s lips opened.

“No fucking way.”

“Listen, I could be wrong-”

“We can’t let them get away with that. I mean, he’s a teacher. What if he really hurt-”

“You’re not doing it to save, Fenny, you’re doing it to make her life worse. Just...forget I said anything. I’m fucked up. Shit. I fucked up. I fucked up so bad.” Tommy rubbed his eyes. Let them dart. Carol slid her gaze away and crossed her fingers behind her back.

“Fine. Whatever you say, T. We'll forget it.” Another pull brought him in for a kiss. Tommy caressed her arms and felt Carol trying to make herself small. “Can I stay at your place tonight? I can’t go home to Jason on our couch again. I just...I can’t. I can't do it, Tommy.”

She trembled so he tucked her under his chin.

“You know you don’t have to ask, babe.”

*** ** **

Evie was down the hill still stomping under barely lit streets. Teens ranging to music still in the distance. Forgetting her. Intent, she marched over frozen sidewalks covered in slush. The tip of her nose and ears grew chilled pink. Heather had shouted after but stopped the pursuit at the end of the lawn. Ruefully, Evie wouldn’t weep, she already cried enough this damn week.

She just wanted to be better. Higher. Then all of it.

The unmistakable rev of Billy’s Camaro rolled up behind her.

“Evie, don’t make me come out to steal you. Just get in.” The window came down. “You can’t walk home in that skirt with the snow. We don’t have to talk about it.”

She paused to hear him. Eyes on the wind sweeping frosted shrubbery about across the perfectly trimmed lawns. Rich people. Cozy in their homes burning bags of money on nights like this.

“Are you going to be all the same to me, Billy? Tell me right now, I swear to god. Pretty face trying to get its way with words that are just...empty. You gonna get mad if I don’t put out and try to grab at me like Tannen? Why are you bothering with me?” Evie sniffled, hands out and dropping as he watched her. Brow furrowed. “You saw them looking at us funny.”

“Evie.” He reasoned. “Where am I right now? Am I back there shotgunning free liquor or am I freezing my balls off coming after you? Again.”

“You’re here with me. But, how do I know this isn’t some weird game for you with a prize at the end. Kids like us, we don’t go together. Are you trying to win a prize so you can move to the next? Can’t blame me for thinking it.” She approached the car. Still guarding herself. “I can’t let that go.”

“I like you, Evie, and I can tell you that a hundred times. But, it means nothing if you won’t let me.” Billy leaned over to click the door open. “You don’t let anyone like you.” He waited as she didn’t move, hands gripping the wheel before he sighed. “Didn’t notice the other kids, if you really care. I’m the Keg King.”

A cold breath puffed out her nose, almost amused.

“I was enjoying the view.” Billy drew those glittery blues to her expression.

“What makes this a view?”

“You.” A shrug pulled along with her heartstrings. “Get in, let’s go somewhere.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere you like. Just as we planned, remember?” Billy winked at her and Evie’s walls lowered. She looked back at the house party echoing and got in to buckle herself.

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Relax.” He sped off. “Barely anything and I even drank water. You proud?” He fiddled with the radio. “Wasn’t feeling it tonight.”

“Looked like a party on the roof.”

“Well, I still gotta impress the following.” Billy gestured to the glovebox. “Put a tape in, will you?”

“You and your hair metal...and...oh?” Evie skimmed the selection while they whirled away from Loch Nora. “What is this? Fleetwood Mac. I’m so impressed.”

“Ugh, that must be Max’s, she keeps leaving her tapes in my car. Throw it out.”

“Wow. Apologize to Stevie.” Evie gasped and mocked. Cupped her hands over the sacred tape. “He didn’t mean that.” Billy peered over to crack a laugh at her jabbing. “Alright, alright. Can’t go wrong with a little Queen.”

“Fair enough.” Billy let her slip the tape in and mess with the volume so they could still hear each other. “You really mad at Heather?”

Evie went flat.

“Yes and I’ll stay mad at least until school starts back up.” She crossed her arms, relaxing as the heat picked up. Too good just as Carol said.

“Where am I taking you?” Billy turned down another road, flying beyond the trees and Evie stared at his profile. Intent on the road for once.

“You opposed to a little more cold?”

“I have blankets in back. Might have to get cozy.” He slid those eyes over and Evie sucked her cheeks in.

“Take a left up here. I know a secret spot.”

** ** **

“You didn’t say anything about hiking through a dark forest,” Billy whined with his arms full of blankets. "If Michael Myers reams my ass-"

"Maybe I'm a Thing like the movie and I'm taking you somewhere to assimilate." Evie teased ahead of him.

"I actually like the sound of that, Angel. Proceed. Assimilate with me all night long." Suggestive.

She just laughed, loathing him.

“It’s not far. I'll protect you, Billy. You hear the water and ice cracking? Chicken.” Evie flicked a flashlight they snagged from his car after parking in the thrush. “Just up there. C’mon. I promise it’s worth it.” She hurried up, leaving him behind to watch her silhouette in starlight

“Someday, I’m gonna stop chasing this girl,” Billy uttered under his breath, hurrying to follow because that was the biggest lie he'd ever told himself. “The whole ‘no murder’ deal stands.”

“Naturally.” Evie giggled and stepped over a log. “Here.”

They walked along the train tracks going both directions. Came upon the cliffs where the bridge was laid out. Billy looked out at the frozen water yards below. At the moon and stars bathing the space in an ethereal glow. Frozen water framing the rocks. Looked like a castle full of magic.

“Down here.” She went to the edge and climbed down under the steel and wood tracks. Into the space that was suspended over the great fall.

“This is your spot?”

“You'll see why.” Evie reached for his wrist so he didn’t trip. Snagged the blankets from him. “Prettier with all the icicles. Look.” Billy did. Admired the iridescent, dewy glimmer. “And now we wait.”

“Wait?” He came to Evie, lighting a cigarette. “For what?”

“You’ll see, I said.” She settled a blanket around her shoulders and gave him one. Playfully covering his shoulders.

“Wait to freeze to death.” Billy had grumbled as Evie paced farther, stepping over boards and balancing on steel beams.

He saw the moonlight stream through the tracks into her curls. Admired her when she peered back to press a genuine smile. His cigarette dropped. Cherry glowing all the way down. Air whistled.

"Tell me more about yourself, Billy Hargrove." Evie cocked her head at a dewy spiderweb. "Favorite fruit? Favorite insect? Are you fonder of chocolates or-?"

"You think I'm interesting." He decided.

"I think you're here with me." Evie curled around a steel post to see him.

"Tangerines," Billy replied after a beat, "and favorite bug? Do scarab beetles count? Just think they look cool as shit."

"Naturally. Good choice, I suppose." She sized him up and tapped her chin when Billy gestured across the way. Neither moving. "Pineapple and luna moths."

"Luna moths?"

"Yeah," Evie hummed to herself and hid away behind the beam, "I always thought they looked like they were fluttering straight out of our dreams. Don't you?"

Billy took one step. Really watched her shift in ethereal lights. Luminous and bathed utterly.

"Evangeline." He mused as she teetered across a board and came to the edge. Eyes on the water far below. "Why a singer?"

"Hm?" She faced away from him. Seemingly in a dream herself. Billy imagined moths glowing around her pretty hair. Fluttering to follow her into the dark. He wished she'd extend a hand to him so he could join. Follow her right into it.

"Why do you want to be a singer?"

"Always liked it. Growing up, I just felt right, I guess. The most like me. This girl I wanted to be and she's on a stage under too many lights. Singing her heart out to miles of crowds. Touching them all in a way. Connecting." Evie trailed her fingers over chains that hung down, clicked them together like wind chimes. Billy edged up after her. Not getting too close. Wondered about what was ticking in Evie's soul.

"Nice to be heard when you put music out into the world," Billy observed and she seemed to like that. Curls bouncing softer with her voice. Evie unfurled for him there and she was breathtaking.

“I wanna write music that lifts people so high, they’ll have to look down to see heaven." Evie gasped gently, heart-soaring while she came to the other edge on the opposite side. Almost leaning too far.

"Yeah?" He felt her tug tender cords in his soul. Didn't take his eyes away.

"I want to write something that makes others understand they’re not alone. Not small. You know? One great song before I...” Evie trailed off with a sober sort of melodic call beckoning and looked far below to the great fall that was one stumble away. One step. Fingers opened. Her arms lifted enough to drop the blanket behind her and feel the wind. “You think I can write a song powerful enough to help me fly over this bridge, Billy?”

One hand lifted higher, lips open and unable to stop. Unable to look away from the edge. Steady as can be, Billy slid his palm against her. Skin awakening. Reminded her that she was here. That he was with her. That they weren't alone and the song was alive. Fingers laced and Evie seemed to reel back to him, brown eyes glinting to see his face there. Freckles all glowy. Curls spun of gold shifting just right.

"You're beautiful." She observed there.

Billy surely would have followed her to the edge, but he didn't want her to go. Stay.

"You're strange." He'd found this sentiment before and it sounded all the more lovely tonight. Billy gently pulled her from the edge. “Come here, Angel, warm me up.”

Billy draped himself in the other blanket again. Shifted her under it as if it were a cape. A shroud that would keep them both from harm's way. From the edge.

“Okay, Dracula, easy.” She stumbled into him. The diamond lines of Billy’s chest cut into her. “Wait, you feel that?” She watched his earring shift while he looked around. “The vibration.”

“Yeah, I do.” He muttered suggestively.

“Not that kind. Just listen. Feel it.” Evie stepped out, almost giddy as she plucked her blanket up and felt around. Billy welcomed it in his chest. The smooth vibrations generating from above. “Get ready.”

“Ready?” He laughed, coming toward her again. Billy stepped into her space as Evie reached back to curl her fingers into his leather jacket. Head tilted up toward the tracks.

“Lie down with me.” She began to tug and Billy felt this drunkenness take him over at Evie and her smile brightening. They reclined together wrapped in blankets and Billy realized it as the horns called over Evie’s wild laughter.

“You’re full of surprises, Fenny.”

“It helps to scream it out, whatever you want. Just let it go with the train.” She kept snickering as the bridge really began to shake. Billy watched her face. Alight and wild. Red lips against the moonlight pooling to spill over her and illuminate the glitter in her makeup.

“You’re beautiful.” He said then. Unsure if she really heard him over the howl of the oncoming cars.

Billy laughed with her. The roar of a train began to charge above. Blaring horns and steel wheels cranking fast. Her nose crinkled as the windswept their hair. Lips opening to scream with it. Billy couldn’t help joining her. Both of them calling out against the rumbling that never seemed to end.

Icicles fell around the edges and reminded Billy of confetti. Falling so slow and sweet to decorate the space. Shattering colors. That night he first danced with her and kissed her long and hard. Spinning round and round.

Evie pulled herself up and climbed higher into the beams. Head tossed back to give a call like a siren.

“Fuck you!” She saw Billy stand and peered at him. “Keep yelling! Anything you want at anyone! Really let ‘em have it!”

“You first!”

“You left mom and me, you selfish fucking prick!” She raged up into the air for her father that wasn’t around. Hair whirling up into the gust of wind. The train took her syllables with it. Shouting back. "You can't just make people and then abandon them! They'll think they did something wrong forever!" Billy felt his chest tighten. Joined her. Heart bursting.

“Why didn’t you just let me fucking save you! Why wasn't I enough!” He didn’t yell for Neil who beat him senseless. Perched upon steel Evie saw Billy tense. Burst again. “I hate you!” He cried that. Evie's fingers pressed harder into steel. Lost in him. Billy heaved for fresher air. Having never faced it all.

The train ended as they stared at each other. Both breathing into the frozen air. Heaving to gasp.

Evie slipped down and tossed her arms around Billy’s shoulders. Kissed him back into cold steel as if she was trying to comfort him. Kiss him all better. Luna moths landing delicately on their bodies to open and close their lovely wings.

"Why'd you do that?" Billy asked of her for the first time. Evie beamed at the turn in the phrase.

"Because at that time, you weren't going to." She brought him back in. Wanting more. Cupping his face. “Feel any better?” Evie drew out, leaving him to look fluttered. Unsure, Billy swept in so he didn’t have to reply yet. Miles of kisses hot like the cherry of his smoke he let tumble below.

“Felt good.” He murmured, pulling her into him. “If anything.”

“You can’t tell anyone about this place. It’s my secret. Our secret.” She pecked his lips and Billy drew out because they both were too cold to continue. The heat in her belly wasn’t enough.

He tilted his forehead against hers, lulled forth when her weight shifted back and the loss. The loss of her ached Billy down to his marrow. This almost paradise they constructed together.

Curls fell into his face before he lifted to glimpse Evie once more. Wondered how she’d look swaying with lush moonbeams in her hair always. Pretty goddess draped in starlight. Painted in pearly shimmers.

Enough to take his breath, Billy gasped for it back and gave this distant chuckle. Nodded to promise he wouldn't tell a soul. Evie caught him wincing as her hand moved over his shoulder again so she left him completely.

“Sorry.”

“It’s nothing.” He turned to go, eyes elsewhere. Anywhere else they could dart. Not on her. “Let’s just head back.” Billy felt like he was in a dream. Spinning and dizzy all the way back to the car. He realized as the locks clicked that Evie had been speaking.

“Are you alright?” She swallowed and Billy looked at the car keys in his hand. Little scorpion keychain glinting. “Were you talking to your mom back there?”

“Yeah. I just…” Billy shook his head and turned the engine on. “I don’t know where it came from.”

“I thought it’d be Neil.”

“I guess I can’t even stomach dreaming of him.” He replied. “I know it’s not a dream if he’s there. Even if he’s getting his. You know?”

“Yeah. I, uh… Do you…?” Evie squirmed in her seat, worried he’d close up on her as he stared at the road and drove at a steady speed for once.

“Do I, what?”

“Hate her?”

“No.” He skidded at a red light, almost sounded defensive. Shoulders fell. Knuckles went white on the wheel. “Sometimes.” Evie felt her cheeks burn and tried to sound even, it still came out as an airy whisper.

“What happened to her, Billy?”

“She just died.” He sighed to calm his own tone from sounding hot. “She died when I was fourteen.” Finally, he corrected himself. “She killed herself.”

“I’m sorry.” Evie tried not to stare at him. Fear it made him uncomfortable quelled, but she couldn’t look away. Billy closed his eyes at the next red light to breathe, opened them.

“It happens.” He said. “People wake up one morning and decide they don’t want to wake up ever again...and they act on it. And they succeed.” It felt like he started to drive slower the closer they got to Cherry. “Doesn’t matter who they leave behind.”

Evie carefully extended her hand over to touch his in his lap. Because it does fucking matter and it always will. The fingers on the wheel flexed and Billy didn’t tear away.

“She had a lot of problems. Like my dad. Maybe they tried to fix each other once. I don’t know.” Billy continued. Too tender about it all. “They divorced when I was nine. All the back in forth. The visitations. Courtrooms making me choose and I just...I wanted her. I wanted it to stop too. I know she was messed up, but she tried to get better… You believe me, don’t you?”

His blue eyes glistened. Jaw tensing. Billy pulled up between their houses and neither moved as he cut the engine.

“Yes, I believe you.” Evie found the syllables around her tongue.

“You believe people can get better, Evie?”

She almost welled with him. It struck her heart with lightning.

“I really hope so.” She had to or she was lost just as well. Evie sniffled and tried to be stone again when all the emotion came into her voice to cloud it.

“She never hit me though. Dad drank and beat the shit out of her. Made her drug habits worse and worse. Liked when she was some coked-out zombie. Pills and needles, it just… Fuck, Evie, she just kept falling back. They fought for custody the whole time and I really thought she was getting better. Dad acted like a fucking hero, rescuing me from an evil druggie.”

“You’re worth getting better for.” Evie felt Billy slip from her hand so he could clear his throat and rub his eyes.

“I found her, you know?” He shuddered and stared at his open palms in his lap. Saw red on them. “It was her weekend and I took the bus home from school like I always did. We were going to go to the boardwalk.”

His head tipped back and he gave this grim smile. They never made it to that boardwalk, Evie realized.

“The smell of that house, I’ll never… Just rotten...and I couldn’t even see her face at first because of all the flies.” It was Billy who reached out aimlessly for Evie’s wrist. Something to stay rooted, she figured. “My mom was beautiful and she always smelled like oranges. Like the big orchard she worked at. But, the fucking house just smelled like shit and piss and vomit and rust when I came in. Like death. I found her in the bathtub all bloated and ugly and the water was already brown. She sat in there alone decaying and no one...”

Billy kept rubbing his eyes again until they were too swollen to cry. Evie had his hand in both of hers, clamped tight to keep him alert. Unwavering.

“I didn’t know what to do so I called for help. I couldn’t lift her out, I wasn’t strong enough and I kept screaming... Then, I tried my dad three times, and...fuck, I ended up calling Susan. They’d started dating a couple of months before and I didn’t like her. Or her kid. But, she was too nice and gave me a number to call if I needed her after they’d gotten serious. I don’t know why I kept it in my backpack. She came when they were loading my mom up. Kept trying to hold me and I wouldn’t let her until I was too weak to fight it.”

“She does care about you. She’s scared, too.”

“My dad cleans up his act well from time to time. Plays the perfect father and boyfriend, she fell for it. In too deep now with no way out. He'll bleed her dry, too. My dad, he likes it when people don’t have a way out. Mom found a way though, spite him.” Billy dropped his head back again, chest sinking before he looked at Evie. Quivered there. “I just get...so mad.”

“I know.” She sank into the seat a little to watch him.

“She left a note that said sorry. That she loved me. Left this for me, too.” Billy fingered his pendant. “Wasn’t enough. Sometimes, I walk into my own house now and that smell… I can’t escape it. I’m always in that house. In that room with the flies covering everything.”

That shook Evie. They weren’t perfect kids, but they didn’t deserve to be trapped in that house. In that room. Where trauma was fed on a loop. A haunted house where they were the ghosts doomed and trapped to wander. To relive what killed them from the first.

“I tried so fucking hard to make her better, I took care of her and I wasn’t there. I let my dad drive her to-”

“Billy, it’s not your fault.” Evie had his hand pressed against her chest at that. “It’s not.” Both painfully sober, they just looked at each other. Leveled out. “I’m sure she tried so hard for you. Some people, they just… Addiction is…”

Evie felt this ice swell up her stomach. Addiction is a harsh cycle. It never really ends, you work at it and fight it, but it’s always there in the back of your memories urging. Once you start, you’re always an addict. Recovering or not. You can’t stop.

You can’t stop.

“Getting help is so hard when you’re sick.” Was all Evie could manage. Unable to portray how profoundly she understood. “Your job was to be a kid.”

“All I wanted was to go back to California and now, I’m not sure if I ever can. Just knowing she won’t be there again. Sometimes when I’m here, I just pretend she’s alive and still picking oranges on long, hot days.” Billy swallowed. “My dad just...shut down for the first time when he showed up to get me from Susan’s. I asked him if he was gonna hug me. Susan had for a long time. And he just tensed and told me not to be soft. That I can’t act like a pussy and mom was just too fucking sick to get better. But, I knew she had a chance. I knew it was enough. I...” Billy’s voice cut over. He tried to gasp for some clear air so Evie pulled him over the seats into her arms.

“You’re enough.” She said. Plain and simple. So easily.

Billy vibrated in response.

"Sometimes I think you navigate the world like something bad is coming for you and you're waiting for it, Evie," he muffled into her, "and I don't want you to go, too."

"I won't go." Evie held steady, eyes flickering beyond him at dead space. "Promise."

Hands came up like he might shove her off before Billy shattered. Melted into her heat. The soft slopes of flesh. Arms went under his so she could hold him close. Billy hitched a sob and stopped anything else that dared creep up his throat. Fingers wrung into her clothing. Evie let him squeeze her tight. Within inches of breath. Make her a balmy slice of paradise he could sink into.

Billy closed his eyes. Face pressing into the line of her collar. Inhaling perfume and lotion. Flames bubbling up from her skin.

“Come to bed with me,” Evie’s lips touched his ear, “nothing funny. I just don’t want you to sleep alone tonight.” Billy felt himself relent, only nodded into her hair.

They snuck out under street lamps and went into the Fenny house. Cleaned up without words to dress down for bed. Blue wiggled in with them atop the pillows and Billy faced away.

Evie wished she had something better to say, but she just told him goodnight. Gently murmured it against his spine as she tucked in behind him.

“Evie.” Billy shifted after a long beat. Turned over to face her there. Barely awake at that point, her eyes cracked.

“Hm?”

“Thanks.” Billy moved again on his back because it always seemed to get her nuzzling into his side. “What I told you. Don’t tell anyone else. Please.” Arm stretching so Evie could take her place and mumble something he didn’t catch, a nod followed. Nose pressing to the cotton tee he left on, Evie slipped away first. Left Billy to his thoughts as he watched the dim lights pull between the blinds and curtains to make patterns along her ceiling.

He knew he was consumed and he wasn’t sorry. Not one bit. Evie tumbled deeper into her dreams. Not stirring as fingers played with her curls. Petting them softly. Billy mulled over it all and he just wasn’t ashamed and he couldn’t figure out how to make her see it. But, he was willing to keep trying. Evie was worth trying for, too. Plain and simple. Sighing out, Billy let himself begin to slip too.

“Anyone…” He couldn’t help uttering, almost melodic. Lashes fluttering. “...who knows what love is…”

Billy peered down at Evie’s face, peaceful and relaxed against his chest. Cheek pressing hot through the fabric as his fingertips ran a barely-there line down the silky skin.

The rest of the lyrics never came. Tangled into his heartstrings where they made a cozy home.

Billy immersed himself in burning amber, closed his eyes to follow Evie into absolute darkness. Almost paradise.

~~~~~~~

Thanks guys for being so lovely! This is probs my fav chapter to date. Leave words in my ask or replies if you have them! Love to hear from you all xoxo

TAGGED:: @80sbxtch @nottherightseason @orxhidshavana @alagalaska @alongcamedolly @kellyk-chan @10blurredsmoke10 @stanley--barber @charmed-asylum @unmistakablyunknown

#billy hargrove #Billy hargrove x oc #Billy Hargrove imagine #billy hargrove fanfiction #stranger things fanfiction #Billy x Angel #mine #writing #somy #angel fenny

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evermoire · 3 years

Text

like a rainbow with all of the colors | pack.

“lydia... lydia, no! lydi—-”

cora’s cry abruptly cut off when lydia pounced on her. the couch cushions sank beneath their combined weight, cora leaning almost completely onto mason as lydia straddled her hips, makeup brush in hand. scott snickered, snapping a photo, catching the rare sight of cora’s flushed cheeks as she and lydia laughed, the wolf doing a poor halfhearted job of dodging lydia’s makeup brush. “mason, hold her down,” lydia demanded, the seriousness off the command lost to the way she giggled.

cora’s laughter rang louder, hands loosely gripping lydia’s wrists to keep her at bay, back arching and eyes crinkling. “no! absolutely not, je refuse!”

lydia’s arms went limp as she dissolved into another round of breathless laughter, body curling forward. “i hate you,” she gasped through her giggles, lifting her wrist to wipe tears from her eyes. “you had one french lesson with ally, and this is what you do with it?” and when cora nodded, the two laughed even harder. “cora, you promised! you said i could do your makeup for thanksgiving!”

“you are such a liar!”

“...let me do it anyway!”

arms full of dinner precursors, derek paused to watch the two. they seemed... lighter. though they still hadn’t solved things with the wolf, the cops or kate, november had proven to be calm, in comparison. lydia’s seventeenth birthday came and went without a hitch, and mason’s birthday celebrations were being mixed into today’s events, his presents stashed away in the summer kitchen for later. as november trickled by without a single problem, everyone relaxed in a way derek didn’t think they were capable of.

cora hadn’t been much of a cheerful kid, but she laughed so openly now. it was something that was so natural and rare and unforgettable all at once.

“girls,” scott’s mom called as she headed back in the house, noam stilinski in tow with grocery bags, “no playing on the couch. rosie, go tell jude to take her medicine before she grabs another banana nut muffin. and tell her if i see her with another cupcake before dinner, she’s not seeing another cupcake until she’s my age.”

“cosigned!” david whittemore called from where he and hershel were chatting in the ‘nice’ living room.

“yes, ma’am,” cora and lydia chorused, cheeks red and wet with errant tears as lydia dropped a lipsticked kiss onto cora’s forehead and allowed the wolf to shove her off. the redhead giggled as cora failed to remove the lipstick stain and the two began to childishly, playfully stick their tongues out at each other, before giggling again.

liam sat down on the arm of the couch, splitting a muffin that ariadne had given him and offering a half to mason. days spent at the greene farm were more common than not nowadays. it had taken no serious amount of thought to decide that packsgiving ( as evie and bailey earnestly dubbed it ) should be held here. and though parents hadn’t been required to come along, it had only felt natural that their families spend this time with them. the pack had free range of the place, so most of the day could be spent to themselves, whether outside or in the barn, while the adults were content to stay in the main house and enjoy time together. liam had been worried that his parents would find it strange that he’d made such a varied group of friends, when he’d always struggled to make one friend before, but they’d been overjoyed. since then, all of the pack parents had gotten along swell, despite not knowing the nature of how their kids all became friends. he’d never known that community parenting was actually a thing until all of the pack parents started doing it and doing it well.

last liam heard, the adults had a very active group chat. he tried not to think about it.

his nose crinkled as he swallowed a bite. “isn’t jude teaching doctor deaton how to cyberbully the sheriff?”

“maggie told her to stop,” kira provided as she made her way down the stairs, a small smile fitted on her face. “the last thing we need is, and i quote, ‘all of the important adults in town to start kinkshaming the sheriff into resignation.’”

liam blinked. “why would we not want that?”

kira held up her hands innocently. “maggie’s words, not mine. though i think she’s more opposed to the kinkshaming than the resigning.” she made her way to the table, where derek was dutifully setting up bowls and baskets of deviled eggs — stuffed eggs, hershel had corrected when cole had called them that, flabbergasted at the idea of giving the devil credit for his wife’s delicious cooking — and various breads and snacks, and lowered her voice. “allison, bailey and i checked all of the wards around the property. they’re standing strong and i don’t feel anything bad anywhere near us. oh, and danny's still caught up in that thing with his dad, but he did check to make sure no one was trying to track any cars or phones or anything like that, and he’s running interference to make sure no one does. and noah put up an anti-scrying spell this morning. we’re all good.”

derek met her gaze and nodded, smiling at her. for whatever reason, kira was taking security more seriously than he was today, which was truly a feat. he had to imagine it had a lot to do with all of the precious and oblivious parties on the farm today. “thank you. have glenn, isaac and evie check the wards and the spell again in about two hours. did you get a chance to call your parents?”

kira shook her head, helping him spread out the food. “not yet. time difference; they’re not even up yet. i was going to call them around dinner time.” she shrugged a bit. “it’s a little weird being without them.”

his smile grew a little sad but understanding. “i know. do you think you want to go out to visit them for christmas?”

kira blinked, not having expected the question. “i... haven’t thought about it. i don’t know if glenn and i have the money for th... no,” she said, seeing the look in derek’s eyes. “no. i’m not asking you to send me to korea, derek.”

“you didn’t ask,” he pointed out. “and you don’t have to say anything now. you have a month. if you change your mind between now and then, just let me know. ...what?”

“you’re very sweet,” kira teased, eyes shining as she grinned up at him. “your love language is giving people things and acts of service. i think that’s amazing.”

he smiled sarcastically at her. “go away.”

with that dismissal, kira giggled and left to find her brother and tell him about the upcoming shift change. smile returning, derek chuckled and soaked in the joy that flooded the atmosphere. laughter from several members of the pack, jeremy’s excited shrieks as he won another round of mario kart against damaris and daryl ( whose defense was that he’d never played before, jeremy clearly had an unfair advantage, okay ) and some others, t-dog helping groom the horses, nana showing natalie and andrew her recipe for sweet potato pie, and so many other noises derek had never expected to hear at once.

it’d been quite al ong time since he’d been in a lively place for the holiday. and, thinking back on it, his pack hadn’t been quite this big before. but they were filled to the brim now, full of elders and teens and children, witches and kumiho, emissaries, even hunters, his living sisters and cousins and nephew. this was a pack he’d never dreamed of having, but he loved them all so fully, it swallowed him whole and he happily allowed it.

#gen. : ❛ pack !#evt. : ❛ pack events !#par. : ❛ pack paras !#tit. : ❛ like a rainbow with all of the colors !#scn. : ❛ packsgiving !

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onebourbon-oneshot-onetear · 3 years

Text

Aquatica

Chapter 4- The Enemy Below

I do not own D.C Comics, and I only own my OC and my versions of the plots.

BEEP BEEP BEEP I rolled over and slapped my hand on my alarm clock. I opened my eyes and looked at the numbers flashing on the screen, 9:15 pm. While most people are going to bed at this time, I was getting up to run around the rooftops of Gotham.

Doing my nightly patrols was actually pretty fun. It gave me a chance to exercise and use my powers in a less stressful situation than I would while with the Justice League. Usually when I work with the League, it's always an Earth-ending-life-and-death situation. That's not always the best time to test new stuff out with my powers. While patrolling Gotham, there wasn't a real sense of urgency. Most of the crimes that I stopped at night was robberies and small acts of vandalism by rowdy teens, no big deal.

I groaned and rolled out of bed. Usually I fall asleep in the early afternoon, but due to a flood in India that I had to help Superman with, I had only gotten about three hours of sleep. I went and turned on my coffee machine and headed to the bathroom to go take a shower and get changed into my leggings, leotard and jacket. I dried my hair and pulled it up into a half ponytail. I walked into the kitchen, poured myself some coffee and grabbed some leftover food from my fridge. I wolfed it all down, tied up my black combat boots, and climbed out of my fire escape onto my building's rooftop.

Since my building was in the middle of Gotham, I could see practically everything that went on. Usually I looked for the flashing lights of police cars in order to find a crime that I could help with. So far they have seemed grateful for my help, and nobody has had any problems with me helping them catch their criminals.

Tonight I didn't see any police lights, so I decided to go along the rooftops and find the criminals myself. Most of the time while jumping or flying from building to building I would catch a robbery happening in an alley. It was pretty easy from there to freeze the robber to the ground until the police got there. I could usually catch about twenty robbers a night, and a dozen more than that on the weekends. Yeah, that's how bad the crime in Gotham was. You would think people would learn not to do such stupid things, especially when Batman and I were out. Then again if these guys were smart they wouldn't be robbers.

I patrolled for a couple of hours catching about fifteen robbers, when a jet hovered above the building I was next to. I recognized it as the League's jet and I flew up to meet it. Inside was John, Diana, and Superman, and from the looks on their faces, I knew something was wrong. "What's up guys?" I asked.

"Evie, we need your help." Superman urgently said. "We have a sunken military submarine with officers trapped on it and we need to get them out." My eyes widened and I wasted no time hopping in the jet and strapping myself in.

"Do we have any idea what caused the sub to sink?" I asked.

"No, not yet." Diana said. I have only seen her a couple times since she joined the League, and I still wasn't a fan of hers. She had never been mean to me at all, so I really didn't have any reason to dislike her. As childish as it sounds, I just wasn't a fan of her personality. She thought men were beneath her, at least from the way I had heard her talk about the beliefs of Themyscara, the land she was from. Apparently the Amazon warriors thought men were not to be trusted and they were weak. Considering how Diana had never met a man up until about a month ago, I didn't think it was right for her to be so judgmental about them. But either way, I decided to act professional around her and be nice. Well as nice as I can be.

We had already left the city and were heading to the location where the sub was when Superman turned towards me and handed me something. "Here, I haven't given you a com link yet. This is one you can keep with you at all times, that way if you need something you won't have to find your own way up to the Watch Tower." I took the earpiece and stuck it in my ear. It was small and discreet so I could get away with wearing it all the time.

"Thanks." I said to him. He turned back around and started pressing more buttons on the jet. I felt the nose of the jet pitch forward and I assumed we were going to land. I wasn't expecting the whole jet to go underwater. I jumped in my seat as the jet crashed into the water and started diving down.

Superman must have sensed my uneasiness because he turned back around and looked at me. "You didn't know this thing could go underwater?"

I looked out the window at the dark water and looked back at him. "No, no clue." I weakly said. Superman just chuckled, but he grew serious when a beeping started going off on the monitor up front.

"I've locked on to their distress beacon. We're getting close." Diana said.

Superman had gotten up and looked out the front window. "We're not the only ones." He said pointing out a ship that was facing us underwater. It appeared to be a submarine, but it was sleeker and didn't look like anything our military used. We flew under it and we saw that their submarine dwarfed our ship. "We've got company." Superman said sitting back down and getting buckled back into his seat. We came back up over their ship, and they shot two missiles at us.

"Not for long." Green Lantern said, steering us out of the way of the two missiles. We rocked to the side as we dodged the missiles, and when we righted ourselves we flew past the submarine and over a rock structure that had different canyons carved through it. If we weren't being shot at I would have loved to stay and look at the view.

The sub followed us and kept shooting missiles at us, which we continued to dodge and block. Up ahead of us were two arches made of rock.

"G.L go through there! They won't be able to fit through." I told him. Their sub was way too big to get through both arches. G.L went through both arches and I turned around to see if the other sub did too. They hit the first arch and got stuck.

"Lost 'em." Green Lantern smugly said, before two more subs came up from the bottom of the sea floor and stopped in front of us. I just rolled my eyes. You never say stuff like that, it's only an invitation for more crap to come our way.

"You were saying?" Superman asked sarcastically. Green Lantern continued to dodge the missile attacks, but Superman had had enough. He stood up and opened a compartment on the ceiling of the jet. He took out a mask to wear underwater and handed me one. "Those sailors won't have a prayer if we keep playing cat and mouse, come on." I took my staff off my belt and put it on my seat so I didn't lose while fighting and it sunk so I couldn't find it ever again. Besides, I would have all the water I would need out there.

We left the jet just before a missile hit it. Lantern put a bubble over us and we went over to the subs to find a way to take them out. Now instead of missiles being shot, they were now individual beams. I was going through the water faster than I had ever gone before. I quickly zipped over to a sub and completely froze their guns, leaving them defenseless. I looked over and watched Superman punch the other subs guns so hard that the metal completely crumpled. Green Lantern went underneath and tore a hole straight through with his ring.

Superman and Wonder Woman each took a sub and pushed them together making the windows to the subs explode, while Lantern tore off the nose of one of them. I floated back through the water to make sure that no other guns were intact. The two subs were completely dysfunctional and they both sunk to the bottom. Once they hit each other the force created an explosion.

I looked back at the sub and failed to notice that a small army had come together in front of us until someone told us to halt. I looked over and saw two more submarines, two men on what looked like underwater jet skis, and another man who held a trident and wore gold plated armor with dark green pants and accents on it. One look at them and I knew who they were.

"Those are Atlantians…" I whispered to myself. The man in the gold must be Aquaman, king of Atlantis. He may not be on dry land all the time but I definitely knew who he was. Seeing as I'm a girl who can control water, it was absolutely awing to meet the man who can practically control the seven seas, and talk to sea creatures. Talk about meeting a role model. I wanted to swim right up to him and ask a million different questions about different ways I could use my powers, but judging by the glare he was giving us he wasn't too happy to see us.

"Man, that glare can compete with Bats' glare." I said.

"You've violated the sovereign borders of Atlantis. Leave at once or you will be destroyed." Aquaman said pointing his trident at us. Oookay, guess I'm not getting those questions answered.

Superman was in the front of the group so he spoke for us. "We apologize for the intrusion." He said, putting his hands up in surrender. "We were responding to a call for help."

Aquaman looked over to the sub, which was now sitting on a bunch of rocks. "They should've stayed on the surface where they belong."

"Please. The men on board, they'll drown." Diana pleaded with him. Aquaman raised an eyebrow, and thought for a second.

"Take the crew. But the vessel stays." He commanded.

"No way. That's a nuclear sub." Green Lantern said. I looked back at him like he was crazy, which I'm pretty sure he is. He pushed past Superman and made his way closer to Aquaman. I noticed that all of the guards had now tensed up and had a hand on their weapons.

"G.L, not now." I quietly said to him, but he brushed me off.

"If you think we're just going to walk away and leave it…"

"What makes you think you have a choice?" Aquaman interrupted. He did have a point, we were at an unfair advantage, seeing as the Atlantians were in a completely natural environment down here, and the only one of us who was feeling mostly comfortable underwater this deep was me. And I know that I probably wouldn't be able to stand up to a whole Atlantian army.

G.L's eyes glowed bright green and he went to go swim forward even more, but thankfully Superman stopped him. "He's right. Time's running out." He looked over at me. "Aquatica, do you think you can make an air bubble to get the crew out of the sub?" At first I forgot that he was talking to me since he used my hero name, but I guess since we were in front of people we didn't know he just wanted to be safe.

I remembered the question and I didn't even have to think about whether I could do it. "Sure, no problem." I shrugged. I swam over to the sub and separated the oxygen molecules from the hydrogen ones in order to form a huge bubble where the outside was made of water, but inside was made of air. I looked over at Aquaman and I was happy to see he looked impressed. I didn't get to think about it too long because soon enough the crew was put in my bubble and we were getting ready to leave.

"That's the last one." Superman called up to me. I closed off the small tunnel I made from the hole in the sub to the main part of my bubble, and started moving it up to the surface slowly. I couldn't go too fast for risk that I, or anyone else inside the bubble, would get the bends. That wouldn't be fun to deal with.

I broke the surface and saw that we were in the middle of a bad storm. Thunder and lightning were everywhere, the waves were choppy, and it was pouring down rain. The rain didn't bother me, in fact it made me stronger. The part that worried me was the thunder and lightning. The last thing I needed was to risk these people getting electrocuted. "Hey G.L, think you can take over here?" I asked him. I explained what I was worried about and he agreed with me. He put everyone in a giant green bubble and I went over and hopped in the jet.

Superman decided to stay outside and speak with Aquaman so it was just Diana and I in the jet. We sat in comfortable silence and I drew some pictures on the condensation that had formed on the windows. Childish, I know but hey, I didn't have anything else to do.

Green Lantern took the crew of the sub to the hospital in Metropolis while Superman, Diana, and I went back to the watchtower. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee. Since I didn't have much sleep last night I needed some help staying awake now. I walked back to the main floor with my mug in my hands. J'onn, Diana, and Flash were standing in a huddle talking, while Superman was on the phone. Judging by the way he was standing and the tone of his voice I assumed it was someone important on the other line, and that someone wasn't happy.

I walked over to the group just as Diana said "Aquaman's no madman. He's a king. He only wants to preserve and protect his own kind."

"So, who's gonna protect us from him?" G.L asked.

"I don't know, I kinda like the guy." I said.

"How can you say that?" G.L turned to me and asked. "He has one of our nuclear submarines!"

I fully turned towards Lantern. "He just wants to protect himself and his people. I can totally understand what he is thinking. Everybody up here on land doesn't think twice about polluting the water and going wherever they want, not caring about whose area they are invading. As someone who deals with water quite often, I can completely understand why Aquaman doesn't like us. It infuriates me every time I see garbage floating in the ocean, or dead sea animals killed because of plastic and toxins. That is his home, imagine how he feels." I said. "Do I agree with him keeping nuclear subs? No. But I can understand where he's coming from." I said taking a sip of my coffee. Apparently he didn't like my answer very much, and G.L stormed off, fuming.

I watched his retreating form and shook my head. "That guy needs to loosen up a bit." I said. I downed the last of my coffee and went back to the kitchen to clean my mug. I didn't have anything else planned for the day, so I figured I would go downstairs to my pool.

Did I not mention that the Watchtower has a pool? Cause it does! It's more of a giant diving well, you know, one of the really deep ones. It's awesome because I can sit in it and recharge my powers, or I can work on new things with my powers. It's also my hiding place. I can make an air bubble and hide down there for hours without anyone finding me. It's worked so far, so hopefully nobody will catch on to what I'm doing.

I went down to the pool and just floated on my back, listening to the water lap against the edges. I could feel the water repowering me and it woke me up a little more than the coffee did. J'onn said he thinks he understands why being in water helps me rejuvenate so much. Apparently there is more water in my system than that of a normal humans. Normal people are made of about 60 percent of water. I'm made up of 80 percent. It's not a problem, in fact it actually helps me when I'm sick or hurt. Instead of using medicine for minor stuff like scrapes or colds I can just sit in water for an hour and the symptoms are gone. The only downfall of being made up of this much water is I am more sensitive to the heat. Being outside on a hot summer day isn't life threating, but being in extreme heat for a long period of time can deplete my powers completely, or worse, kill me.

I was laying in the pool when I got called up through my earpiece. "Evie, you may want to come up here." J'onn said.

I sighed, hoping I was going to get a little more peace and quiet. "Sure thing J'onn, be right up." I pulled myself out of the pool, evaporated all the water off of me and headed upstairs. Not surprisingly, Green Lantern was ranting about something again.

"I knew we couldn't trust that fish man. The sub's been stripped and the plutonium is gone."

"And you think Aquaman's responsible?" Diana asked him.

"Who else princess?" G.L asked her sarcastically. "We've got to go back to Atlantis and get some straight answers."

I looked over to Superman. "If it's Aquaman you want, he's not in Atlantis." He said. I saw the news was on and the usual anchorman was reporting from what looked like the World Assembly building.

"According to eyewitness accounts Aquaman then forced his way past the guards and into a closed session of the World Assembly." The reporter said. "But as to why he's here or what he wants, we'll have to wait for further developments."

"Well that's one way to make yourself heard." I said, crossing my arms. "Maybe this is a good thing, it sounds like he wants to talk things over."

"Or he wants to kill us all." Green Lantern mumbled. Diana looked like she was about to retort and I rolled my eyes and walked over to look down at Earth. I didn't need to hear any more arguing from those two. The Earth looked so peaceful from up here, I wish we could get some of that peace here. I continued to stare at it and J'onn walked over to me, apparently now wanting to hear the arguments as well.

"How are you doing, Evie?" He asked me.

"I'm fine J'onn, how are you? Are you getting used to Earth's habits yet?"

"Some customs are strange, as is everything else. It is a lot to get used to." He said.

I chuckled, "I'm sure you'll be fine J'onn. If you have any questions or you just want to talk, you can just ask. I'd be happy to help."

"That is very kind of you Evie, thank you." He turned away from me and spoke to the rest of the group. "I believe we should go down and try to talk to Aquaman. Make sure he does not get into any trouble."

"You're right. Who knows what could happen." Superman said. Diana went to go get the jet ready to go while J'onn made sure everything in the Tower was secure. We were at the World Assembly building within minutes, and there was a horde of reporters outside.

"You guys go in and talk some sense into Aquaman, I'll stay out here and cover crowd control." I told them. They nodded and flew inside. I stayed outside and looked at all the people waiting to hear news from inside the meeting. A few minutes later the reporters swarmed the door just as Aquaman walked out. I made my way over to him to make sure none of the reporters got too close. In his bad mood, I'm sure Aquaman didn't need any cameras in his face.

The reporters had surrounded him and were asking him dozens of questions. He just glared at them and pushed past them. I was about five feet away from him when I called out to him. "Aquaman, wait!" I said. He ignored me and kept walking towards the street. I followed him and was quickly gaining ground when I heard a high pitched noise. I had just enough time to see something heading straight at us before it exploded. I was thrown back a couple feet and hit the concrete wall lining the sidewalk. I couldn't hear anything except a high pitched ringing in my ears and I saw double vision. I tried sitting up but I had the wind knocked out of me from the impact of the blast.

I looked up to see what the damage was, when I saw Aquaman laying on the ground struggling to get up. I sat up straight and a sharp pain shot through my ribs. Great, they're probably cracked or broken. I groaned and was able to stand on my feet, albeit I was a little wobbly. J'onn rushed over to me. "Evie, are you hurt?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

I took a deep breath. "I'm fine, just a little banged up." I saw Superman pick up Aquaman, with Diana's help, and flew away. "How is he?" I asked.

J'onn looked grim. "It is hard to say, he was closer to the blast than you were. His injuries will be much more serious." I took a step and the pain in my ribs flared up again. Sensing this, J'onn said "Perhaps you should go to the hospital as well."

I kept walking. "I'm fine, honestly." From the look he was giving me I knew J'onn didn't believe a word I was saying. I sighed, "Fine, have it your way." I said. J'onn walked over, picked me up and flew me to the hospital they others had taken Aquaman to.

Soon enough I had a nurse checking my vitals and bandaging my ribs up. "These are just bruised sweetie, but make sure you don't overwork yourself for a couple days." She said to me. She was a cute old thing, old enough to be a grandmother but not so old that she you had to worry about her not properly doing her job.

"I'll do my best, but unless the criminals stop working for a few days, it'll be pretty unlikely." I said. She had just finished with the bandages when she lifted my shirt back down and patted my knee in a grandmotherly fashion.

"Well then, those bad guys won't know what hit 'em." She said. I smiled and put my jacket back on.

"Can you tell me where they took Aquaman?" I asked her. I should probably regroup with everyone in case crazier rocket launching people show up.

"He's in a special ward. Take the elevator to the top floor, you can't miss it."

I nodded. "Thank you." I got off the bed and was halfway over to the elevator when she stopped me.

"Here," she handed me a water bottle. "Drink this, you don't want to get dehydrated." I took the bottle and thanked her again. I followed her instructions and when I got off the elevator Diana, John, Superman and J'onn were waiting and watching the doctor work on Aquaman.

"How's he doing?" I asked. Everyone looked over at me and Superman was the first to walk over to me.

"How are you doing? You were pretty close to that explosion." He said.

I shrugged. "Just a couple bruised ribs, and some scrapes. Nothing I can't handle." I said. Just as I finished the door to the operating room opened and the doctor walked out.

"How bad is it?" Diana asked him.

The doctor took off his surgical mask and put his hand to his chin. "Hard to tell. His physiology is not like ours. It's unlike anything I've ever seen." Poor man, he looked so flustered. Superman stepped up.

"But can you help him?" He asked.

"I don't know." He said. I looked past him and saw a movement in the shadows. My muscles tensed and I thought it was going to be whoever shot the rocket at us, but it turns out it was just Bats.

"Then maybe I can." He said, finally stepping out of the shadows. "Get him on a gurney, I'm going to need a water tank." At first the doctor didn't know what to think, but seeing the look from Batman he was receiving, he was practically sprinting into the O.R.

They pushed Aquaman through the hospital and into a room that had a water tank set up in it. Batman had gone ahead to get the tank ready and when the gurney came in the room, Superman lifted Aquaman up and put him in the tank. The rest of us had spilled into the room and watched as the beeping on the monitors evened out.

The doctor turned around. "His vitals, they're stabilizing." He said astounded. Batman walked over to the heart monitor and handed the doctor some papers.

"Maintain saline at 3.5 percent." He told him. He talked to the doctor some more but I had just turned around and watched Aquaman in the tank. Putting him in water makes sense since he lives there anyway, I thought. He must rejuvenate in water just like I do. I turned to see that the doctor had left and everyone had gathered around the tank.

"Same goes to you Evie." Batman said.

"Huh?" I said, coming out of my thoughts.

"Drink the water, it'll heal your ribs." I looked down and in all the commotion I forgot that I still had my water.

"Right, thanks…wait how did you know my ribs were hurt?" I asked him. He hadn't been around when I had gotten here, and my bandages were covered. Bats chose to ignore my question and he turned back towards the tank. I rolled my eyes at his mysteriousness and took a sip of my water. Immediately, the pain in my ribs had faded and I didn't feel the sting from my scrapes anymore. I smiled to myself, this is a major perk.

About half an hour later, I was sitting on the hospital bed, twirling my staff between my fingers, a habit I had picked up for when I was bored. Green Lantern was looking out the window and the rest of them had huddled around the tank.

"He's coming around." Superman said, startling me. It had been absolutely silent for the past half an hour and his voice was really loud. I got up off the bed and walked over to the tank while putting my staff away.

Green Lantern strode forward and went right up to the tank. "Good. Now maybe we can get some answers." He said. Of course he would still be upset. Don't give him a break since he almost died, let's interrogate him as soon as he wakes up. "What did you do with the plutonium?" He asked, literally banging on the glass. I raised my eyebrow, is this guy serious?

"Hey Green Bean, could you not bang on the glass like an impatient child at the zoo?" I asked him. Was giving him an attitude the smartest thing to do? No. But I don't really have a filter. Before he could crush me with the power of his ring, Aquaman woke up and floated up to the top of the tank.

"Plutonium?" He asked. He pulled himself out of the tank and took the suction monitors off his chest.

"From the submarine. You stole it." Green Lantern said. I closed my eyes and smacked my palm to my forehead. Let's not ask the Atlantian how he feels since he almost died, let's ask him if he stole our nuclear devices. Nice bedside manners, John.

"My orders were to leave that vessel where it lay." Aquaman said, sounding quite angry.

Green Lantern getting in his face probably wasn't helping the situation. "And you expect us to believe that?"

"Believe what you want. Someone tried to kill me and I need to find out who."

I scoffed, "Yeah, join the club." He looked up at me and my eyes widened once I realized what I had said. "Not to be rude or anything, I mean you have every right to go looking for them." I stammered out. "I was just collateral damage, it was really you they were after. Not that it's a good thing, cause it's not. I'm just saying you're more important than I am…not that I'm not important, it's just cause you're royalty and I'm not and…" I finally stopped when Batman elbowed me in the ribs. Everybody in the room was now looking at me strangely. "Sorry." I whispered out, looking down at my boots.

"You go by Aquatica, do you not?" Aquaman asked me. I was stunned for a second. I just sounded like a lunatic, why was he talking to me?

"Yes, that's my hero name, but if you want you can call me Evie." I somehow managed to squeak out.

"I'm sorry you were hurt when it was me they were after." He said. "I've seen what you can do with water, it is quite interesting how someone from the land can control the water so fluently."

I almost fainted right then and there. Aquaman, the King of Atlantis, was complementing me on how I control water. I stammered out a quiet thank you, and then I started grinning like an idiot. Somehow, despite how crazy I looked, Aquaman managed to give me a soft smile.

Aquaman grew quite serious again, and he headed for the door, looking to leave.

"Wait, I can help." Batman said, stepping forward. "But you're going to have to trust me." Aquaman paused for a second, then he turned around and walked back into the room. We started discussing a plan to lure the would-be assassin out of hiding in order for them to finish off the job. J'onn would morph himself into Aquaman and be taken out by stretcher. The rest of us would be waiting for the assassin, and before he can do any real damage, we would catch him. Sounds easier said than done.

Night fell and we started our trap. The news crews were waiting outside along with an ambulance, after word had spread that Aquaman was being moved to a different facility to receive treatment. I was on the roof with Wonder Woman while Bats and Superman were on a rooftop across from us. We were all looking for any signs of the assassin. "I hope this plan of yours works, Batman." Diana said into her com link.

"Just keep your eyes open." He said. Not even five seconds later, the doors to the hospital opened and Aquaman was rolled out on a gurney. Immediately the news reporters and photographers were swarming him, trying to get a picture of the Atlantian. While everyone else was busy looking at Aquaman, I glanced down and saw somebody dressed in a parka and snow hat crouching behind a mail box. I believe I just found the assassin. He could have blended in a little more, it isn't December. I thought. Plus, the poor guy has to be dying under that parka.

"Guys, isn't it a little hot for winter clothes?" I said looking down at him. Just as I said it, he pulled out a missile launcher from his duffel bag.

"There!" Wonder Woman yelled out, pointing to the man. I rolled my eyes at that. No. Really? The guy wearing winter clothes in the summer is our guy…and he's right there?! Gasp. I'm sorry, I can't control my sarcasm.

"I see him." Batman said, looking through his binoculars. Or batnoculars as I now call them. I don't know what he calls them but it's probably the boring old name for them. At least my word was more fun.

Just before the assassin could pull the trigger on the launcher, Batman had thrown a batarang and pushed it downward, so the rocket hit the ground and exploded before it could hit any people.

As soon as he realized that his plan failed, the assassin ran away and down an alley. Superman flew after him while Batman went to check on J'onn. I decided to follow Superman to see if he needed any help. Just as I turned the corner, I saw that Superman had bent over to pick up a manhole cover, but as soon as he touched it he was thrown back and electrocuted.

Batman and J'onn ran down the alley as I was bent over Superman checking to see if he was okay. J'onn phased through, and I swore I heard an engine going past even though there was no cars around us. J'onn told Diana that our would be assassin was heading her way.

"Do you have this?" I asked Batman. He looked back down at Superman and nodded. "Alright, I'm gonna go help Wonder Woman." I jumped in the air and a disc was created under my feet. God, I loved doing that! I flew to where Wonder Woman should be positioned at.

There was a giant crash as Diana pounded her way through the ground. I waited to see what would happen, and there was another smaller portion of concrete that crumbled down again. "I don't think that was supposed to happen." I muttered to myself. I heard the engine of the assassin and I flew down into the original hole that Wonder Woman made.

I caught up with him after a few turns and I smirked. Wrong move going in the sewers buddy. I decided to mess with him a little bit. I froze his motorcycle so it stopped suddenly and he was thrown forward into the water. I stopped my disc and just hovered in the air a couple feet away from him. He was groaning and struggling to get up. I guess I threw him a little too hard.

"Next time, don't run from someone who controls water in a giant tube full of water." I said to him. There was a splash behind me and Batman was standing there. I pretended to dust my hands off and turned towards him. "Well, now that that's done would you mind cuffing him? I'm sure you have handcuffs with you, right?" Even from here I could see Batman roll his eyes at me but nonetheless he walked forward.

"Don't move." Batman growled out. I finally got a chance to look at the man, even if it was for a brief second. He wore a red and silver outfit, with what appeared to be a metal helmet that encased his whole head. He had a small red scope over his right eye, I assumed that helped him shoot. Before I was even done looking him over, he had rolled onto his back and threw a small silver circle in the air just above Batman's head.

My eyes widened and before I could do anything gas came out of the disc. The second it came near me I was thrown into a coughing fit so bad that I couldn't breathe. I barely saw through the gas the assassin running away, but I was coughing so bad I never would have been able to go after him.

The gas let up a few second later and I was able to draw a small breath. "What the hell was that?" I wheezed out. Through my watering eyes I could see Batman was doubled over coughing just as bad as I was. I gathered what little strength I had and raised the water levels up quickly until it reached the top of the ceiling and I brought it down just as fast.

The gas was gone and I gulped in some air, and I could hear that Bats was doing the same. "Sorry I got you wet, I had to get the gas off of you." My voice was all raspy from all the coughing.

"It's fine." Batman said, his voice gruffer than usual. He straightened himself up and looked down the pipe in the direction our guy had run down.

"I don't suppose you know where this pipe leads, do you?" I asked him.

"This isn't Gotham, I have no idea." He said. I nodded and started jogging down the path with Bats next to me.

"Wait, does that mean you know the sewers of Gotham too?" I asked him. He only smirked at me and didn't say anything while we continued to run. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. How do you have time to actually go do things when you're memorizing maps of the sewer?"

He was saved from answering when we reached the nearest manhole. Thankfully it was uncovered, but it was still a good ten feet up. Before I could even think, Batman had grabbed my waist and pulled me to him before he used his grapple to get us both out of the sewer.

My cheeks instantly went red after being in such close proximity to him. I'm not saying I liked him or anything, it was just a little unnerving. Plus I could feel his muscles and let me tell you, they felt pretty good. Don't blame me, I may be a hero but I am still a girl. I notice these things.

Once I steadied myself on the ground I muttered a thanks, trying to let him avoid seeing my red cheeks. I doubt he did but like the silent man he is, he didn't say anything. "Come on, Superman is following him." Bats said before using a grapple to get up into the air.

"Oh, right…yeah." I had almost forgotten we were following an assassin. I jumped on a disc and followed behind Bats. We rounded the corner and saw a green van on fire and Superman holding our assassin. "Do you know who this guy is?" I asked Bats.

"His name is Deadshot. He's one of the most deadly assassins out there. He hardly misses a target."

"Well, I hate to mess up his record." I said not sounding very sorry at all. We walked over to Superman just as Wonder Woman and J'onn did.

"Gee, why would a hired gun try to shoot somebody?" he asked, laying the sarcasm on thick. "Could it be that someone paid me to?" If he wasn't a bad guy I probably would have laughed at how sarcastic he sounded. A man after my own heart.

"Who?" Wonder Woman asked him.

"Oh come on babe, you know I can't tell you that. Professional ethics." He said. I could practically hear his eyes roll as he said that.

"Oh please," I said stepping forward. "You have no ethics. Just tell us who payed you already." I snapped out. I didn't feel like standing out here all night just so some jerk can mess with us.

"So you're the girl that can control water." He said. He looked me up and down and my skin crawled. "Tell me, are there any other liquids you can control? Cause sweetheart, I would love to find out." My eyes widened as I understood double meaning behind what he said.

"What did you just say to me?" I growled out. I walked forward and practically ripped Deadshot out of Superman's grasp and held him up by the front of his suit. "Would you like me to freeze that area of your body, sweetheart?" I practically spit at him. "Cause I can guarantee that would get you singing like a song bird."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whipped my head around. "I'll take it from here." Batman said. I looked back at Deadshot to see that his eyes had gone wide. I shoved him into Batman's grip and took a step back.

I looked down and saw my hands were shaking, that's how mad I was. I'm a woman, not a piece of meat. I got enough of that kind of stuff in the Navy by the guys who didn't think I was worth anything. I certainly wasn't going to take it from some scumbag who shoots people. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay. I'll tell, I'll tell." Deadshot said. I was very pleased to hear that he sounded panicked.

"What did he say to him?" I asked Superman, curious of what Bats could have said to make him flip that fast.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Superman said. Well alrighty then.

The pair walked back over to us and Batman pushed him towards us. Deadshot dusted off his shoulder where Batman had touched him. "Who hired you?"

"I don't know. I don't ask questions." He said. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. A whole lot of help this guy was.

"Not good enough. How were you paid?" Batman said.

"In gold. See?" Deadshot looked over to an overturned chest that had an enormous amount of gold coming out of it. With the heated discussion between him and me, no one had noticed it.

"That has to be worth thousands of dollars." I said. Batman went over and picked up a piece and looked at it closely.

"Spanish doubloons." He said.

"Where would they get coins like this?" Wonder Woman asked.

I snorted "I don't know, maybe some pirates hired him." Everyone looked at me a little annoyed, except Deadshot who let out a loud snort. I looked at him furiously. "I don't remember talking to you." I said. His eyes widened and he didn't say anything else. I looked up and everyone was still looking at me. "Sorry." I said looking down at my boots. I really needed to stop doing that every time I get embarrassed, it was starting to become a bad habit.

"Atlantis. That is where you would get these coins." J'onn said. I realized he was right. With all the sunken ships and shipwrecks that have happened, especially during the times of the Spanish conquistadors, they would have plenty of treasure to just give away.

"We've got to warn Aquaman." Superman said.

"Too late." I looked up and Green Lantern was hovering above us before he dropped down onto the ground. "That royal pain in the neck's already gone. And I couldn't stop him."

"Hera help him." Wonder Woman said. I internally rolled my eyes at that, and then a thought popped into my head.

"Wait," I said. "Does this mean we are going to Atlantis?" I asked excitedly.

"It would seem so." Superman said. I squealed inside. Atlantis! The city underwater, where everyone there could control water and were super cool and watery! I wanted to jump up and down, I was so ready to go. "Come on, let's go."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Deadshot trying to nonchalantly creep away. "Not so fast." I said. He tried to run and I decided it was time for payback. I froze him directly to the ground in a giant bunch of ice. "This should hold him until the police arrive." I said. Superman chuckled and walked past me.

Deadshot was struggling to get out to absolutely no avail. We all filed past him, with Bats and I going past him last. "Aw come on sweetie, a little help here?" He shivered out. I just laughed and kept walking.

"Sorry, but you aren't getting out of there. Next time you should watch your mouth." I called over my shoulder.

"That was a little harsh, don't you think?" Batman asked me.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. "He deserves it." I looked up and Batman was smirking again. "By the way, what did you say to him?" I asked.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." He said and quickened his pace so he was walking in front of me. I shrugged my shoulders. If he didn't want me to know, it's probably for the best.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Diana had gone to get the jet when the rest of us stayed behind and waited for her. We started discussing plans for how we would talk to Aquaman once we get to Atlantis. I had noticed that Batman had been very quiet and stood farther back away from the group. I walked over to him.

"Everything alright? You're even more quiet than usual."

"I'm fine." He said, not even bothering to turn towards me. "I'm not going with you guys to Atlantis. I'll stay up here and keep an eye on everything."

I guess I should have known that Bats wouldn't want to go with the rest of us. Even though he had been helping the League with the big dangers, he still preferred to work alone. "Alright, that's probably a good idea." I said. If something were to happen up here than none of us would know. "Let us know if you need anything." I had already turned and headed back towards the group when I heard the familiar sound of Bats' grapple shooting up. By the time I turned back around, he had disappeared in the shadows.

Diana had come back with the jet, so we all had piled in and headed towards the ocean. We dove under the waves and were off to Atlantis. This trip seemed longer than when we came to rescue the ship, and I started to get anxious. Despite working with the League for over a month now, I still got nervous before our encounters with the bad guys.

"We're almost there." Diana said breaking the silence. "Atlantis is just beyond that reef." I pushed aside my nerves and focused more on my excitement. I was going to go see Atlantis! I wondered what it looked like, if the buildings were made of gold, or coral, or old ships; I wasn't sure what to expect. It would be so cool to see a city that is completely underwater.

"Don't expect them to welcome us with open arms." Green Lantern said, and with that my excitement was swept away and my nerves had come back to take its place. Thanks G.L.

"Set the ship down here." Superman suggested. "Maybe we can slip under their defenses."

"Yeah, I doubt that. We are in their ocean. They probably knew we were here five minutes ago." I said. I love being right sometimes because no sooner had I said that, two explosions rocked the ship.

"Evie is right. They've already seen us." J'onn said. We all looked out the front window of the jet to see a giant ship that dwarfed ours, along with dozens of foot soldiers on their underwater jet skis.

"If it's a fight they want, they've got it." Green Lantern said glowing green and heading for the back. What is it with this guy and wanting to fight everyone?

"Wait! Remember why we're here." Diana said, stopping Green Lantern from doing anything too stupid, like start a war. That would be a pretty dumb thing to do. Even though he didn't look happy about it, G.L powered down.

"Good. Let's go talk to them." I said slipping on my air mask. Superman and Diana did the same and we opened our hatch and swam out into the middle of the vessels that were surrounding us.

"Hold your fire! We come with an urgent message for your king." Superman called out to the soldiers. I held my breath to see what they would do. A second later missiles were heading straight for us.

"Scatter!" I yelled out. Green Lantern put a shield around us to protect us from the blast and we headed towards different directions to stop the incoming soldiers. Two soldiers on speed jets were coming my way so I ducked and weaved in between the rocks to try and lose them. Unfortunately that didn't work, so I thought of a different plan. I hid on top of a rock, and when one of the jets came near me, I plunged myself on top of one of the soldiers shoulders and grabbed his neck. I flung him off the jet and he hit one of the rock formations.

However, in my genius plan I never thought about what I would do with the speed jet, you know, since I don't know how to drive it. The jet started plummeting to the ground so I jumped off and floated in the water. The jet hit the rocks below and exploded.

The other soldier following me saw the explosion and started coming in our direction. I pushed myself through the water until I was a good bit ahead of him. I stopped and turned around, looking at the jet. I waited until he was close to me and I took my staff, extended it, and clotheslined him. He flew off of his jet and sank to the bottom. I carefully swam back to where everyone else was trying to stop the larger ship from firing at us.

Superman lifted a rock and ran underneath the bottom of their sub, sinking it. "This way!" he said flying past us. We swam past another rock arch, and we saw the outline of buildings.

"There it is!" G.L pointed out and we swam faster to the buildings and as we got closer, I realized that the city was under a giant bubble. That surprised me, I thought that the city would be completely submerged underwater. I was so curious about the city, once we helped Aquaman I wanted to ask him if he could show me around. That might be a stretch though, considering I had only talked to him for a total of like, five minutes.

Once we got closer to the city, we started letting our guard down. There didn't seem to be any more soldiers following us, so we weren't in immediate danger. At least, that's what I thought. There was a blast behind us and silver spiked balls were floating past us. They reminded me of old Navy mines that you would see in movies.

We each ducked and dodged them, careful not to try and set them off. I dove down deeper and somersaulted myself over an incoming mine. I carefully weaved my way back to the others. "Not even close." Green Lantern said.

I was thrown forward into the rock wall when the first mine exploded behind us. Spoke too soon G.L, I thought. "Depth charges." I heard J'onn say. Each mine that went off caused the nearest one to go off as well, surrounding ourselves in a ring of explosions. I was being tossed against the cliffs from the pressures and forces of the explosions, and I was unable to get myself back up. After one large explosion, a piece of rock fell off the wall behind me, hitting my head and I blacked out.

Why was everything so bright? And what the hell is that beeping? I groggily opened my eyes and saw I was kneeling in a giant room, with marble floors and giant pillars. This must be one of the buildings inside of Atlantis, I thought. There was a man standing in front of Superman, speaking to him about Aquaman.

That's when I noticed the metal sensors on top of everyone's heads, I assumed that's what the beeping was. I thought my headache was because of the rocks, but now I'm pretty sure it's because of this thing on my head. What the hell were they planning on doing to us?

"Where's Aquaman?" Superman asked the man he was talking to.

"I thought your kind already took care of him." The man in the green outfit said.

"No. He came back here." Diana said, just waking up as well.

"We came to warn him about a plot against his life," Superman said, trying to make the guard understand that we wanted peace, and not a fight. "An Atlantian plot." I glanced around the room and noticed that we were surrounded by not only guards, but some civilians as well. They were all dressed in varying shades of green or blue. I wanted to look around some more, but the guard standing next to me didn't look too nice. I certainly didn't want him thinking I was trying to escape.

I noticed a movement on the balcony above me and I looked up to see one of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had red hair, that looked almost purple in the light, and she was wearing a green crop top with gold on the edges and matching pants. She had a sheer cape that trailed down her back and around her legs. Then I noticed the crown that was on top of her head. That has to be the Queen of Atlantis, I thought, perhaps she could get us out of this mess.

"Lies and deceptions!" The man Superman was talking to said. He picked up his trident and shot Superman with an electric beam. My eyes widened, why couldn't these jerks just believe what we are telling them? The force of the beam knocked Superman backwards and he laid on the ground groaning.

"I consider this latest incursion nothing less than an act of war." He said, looking at all of us.

"Yeah? Last time I checked, we didn't shoot first, you just did." I said, giving this man my meanest glare. He looked over at me and I knew I probably shouldn't have opened my mouth.

He walked over to me and knelt down, putting his trident right up against my throat. "You dare speak to me like that, you land dweller? Just because you can handle water as well as an Atlantian can, does not mean you are worth anything here." He pressed the end of the trident in my throat a little harder with enough pressure to draw blood, and then he stood back up and walked to the center of the line we were kneeled in. "You'll be executed as enemies of the crown. Then I will wipe out the surface world forever." With that threat he turned away, and we were all lead to a metal room.

The others were led in first and handcuffed to the walls. Just before I was about to enter a guard grabbed me and pushed me to the side. "This one thrives in the water. Take her to the heat chamber." A not so gentle guard pulled me out of this room and into a smaller one.

I started struggling but the guard only gripped my arm harder, so hard I'm pretty sure I'll have a bruise there tomorrow. "Umm, not to sound rude or anything but where are you taking me?" I asked him, figuring if I knew where I was going, I would be able to get myself out of this situation.

"The heat chamber." He grunted out, obviously not interested in talking to me.

"Oh, now I know where I'm going. Thanks big man!" I said in the most sarcastic tone of voice I could possibly muster at the moment. Suddenly he spun me around so my back was to the wall and my feet off the floor, while he was holding me up by my neck. This guy had a strong grip and I couldn't draw in a breath.

"Listen to me you Land Dweller, I don't like you. Quite frankly, I'm going to enjoy watching you burn up in the heat chamber." My eyes widened and I started panicking. What did he mean I would burn up? He gave me a sickly sinister grin. "That's right girl. The heat chamber is where Atlantians go to die. It's so hot it burns them to a crisp. Who knows what it will do to you when you're in there." At this point I was seeing black spots in my vision and I could feel myself about to lose consciousness, until he released my neck and I dropped to the floor.

The second the pressure was gone I started sucking in air, trying to get the pounding out of my ears and the spots in my vision to go away. I had hardly taken a single deep breath when he pulled my arm and practically dragged me the rest of the way down the hallway. He opened a door and inside was a glass container, with large vents coming into the top of the container.

My heart rate quickened and I started squirming harder. Too long in that heat, and the water inside of me would evaporate, killing me in a matter of minutes, practically burning me from the inside out. My struggles were proven completely pointless as the guard threw me in the chamber and the door locked behind me.

I scrambled onto my feet and started banging on the door trying to break it. The guard looked back at me and sneered before pressing some controls on a table in the middle of the room.

The vents turned on and I immediately felt the heat coming through them. Imagine opening a black car in the middle of the summer on the equator. Then multiply it times a hundred. Within thirty seconds of the vents turning on I could feel myself becoming dehydrated and sweat was pouring off my body. The seconds seemed like lifetimes, and I could feel my skin drying up, literally watching cracks form on my arms. I started coughing and I collapsed onto my knees. The inside of my body felt like literal fire, and I curled up into the fetal position.

I figured that this was the end of my life. The city that I was so excited and willing to see would be my cemetery. I wanted to laugh at the irony but if I did that my lungs might turn to dust. I closed my eyes, preparing for death, when I realized it had gone quiet in my glass box. Then I realized the vents were no longer on.

My eyes fluttered open and I saw a woman on the other side of the glass, the unconscious guard at her feet, pressing the buttons on the control panel. She looked up at me and I realized that it was the woman in the crown that I had seen earlier. The door to my box opened and a cool gush of wind came in.

I still couldn't move, but I felt her drag me out of the box and onto the granite floors in the middle of the room. I probably looked pathetic, trying to draw air into my lungs, but my entire body felt so dry that I couldn't do anything properly. I wondered if this is what fish felt like when they were out of water. "Perhaps this will help." I heard the woman say. Seconds later I felt a splash of water on me, and it was absolute Heaven.

Just from that one splash of water, I felt ten times better. I was able to draw in breaths without sounding like I was dying, and I could start to move my body more without being afraid it would break apart. The woman gave me another splash of water and I felt completely renewed. I sat up and looked up at her. "I don't mean to sound rude, but who are you?" I asked her. She held out a hand and pulled me up from the ground so I could steady myself.

"I am Mera, Queen of Atlantis and wife to our King, Aquaman." She said. I nodded and looked down at the guard lying on the floor.

"Nice work there your majesty." I grinned and looked at her. She also smiled, but it vanished quickly and she looked quite serious.

"We must go now. You're friends are in as much danger as you were in." I frowned, suddenly worried about them. In my whole being turned into a raisin ordeal I had completely forgotten about them being chained to their own chamber. Mera and I rushed out into the hallway and back where the others were. We peeked into the door and I saw that the container the others were in was filling up with water. Now I see why I couldn't have gone in there. It would have been way too easy for me to stop the water. I checked to make sure the others hadn't drowned yet, but they were still struggling which meant that they hadn't been underwater too long.

Mera went in first, slipping through the door and behind the guards. Without warning, she picked up a silver weapon that somewhat resembled Hawkgirl's mace, and whacked both guards on the head with it. They crumpled to the ground in a heap and didn't move. I rushed into the room while Mera was already pulling the lever to drain the water that had filled the container with everyone in it.

The water was sucked down the drain like an oversized bathtub and the glass lifted up. The others were panting hard, trying to catch their breath and refill their bodies with oxygen. I didn't even bother waiting for a key and I went over to J'onn first and slashed his shackles off with a piece of thick ice. He ripped the headband off his head and sent me a smile.

Mera had already taken the locks off of John and she was making her way to Diana. "Thank you. But why?" Diana asked Mera in a weak voice. Usually I would have something sarcastic to say about the whole thing, but seeing as how she almost died I would give her a break, just this once.

"You believe someone in Atlantis had betrayed my husband. I also fear for his life, but I need your help." She explained. My heart went out to the poor woman. She sounded so desperate and sad, you couldn't help but want to help her.

"You've got it." John said, with Superman and J'onn walking behind him and rubbing their wrists where the handcuffs were. I smiled a bit at that, it was nice to see John so determined to help the Atlantians when twelve hours earlier he hated them. I personally think John needs to let lose a little bit, he's too serious all the time.

Mera had led us out of this torture building and let us walk around Atlantis. The buildings were incredible, they were all sorts of geometric shapes, and the colors weren't too bright or too dark, they resembled natural ocean colors. I was practically bouncing up and down when I was walking I was so excited. Apparently I was too excited cause Superman put a hand on my shoulder in order to calm me down a tad bit. "Sorry." I said shrugging and looking sheepish. He only smiled and shook his head. That's what I liked about him. He didn't take the small things too seriously unlike some people we know. *cough cough* John Stewart *cough cough*. Oh sorry, must have had a tickle in my throat.

Anyway, back to the tour. The best part was the giant waterfall that was in the middle of the city. It had a bridge that circled the whole thing and the sound was so soothing. It seemed like the most fitting thing to have in the center of the city. A place where air can meet water all the time.

"Your kingdom is truly magnificent." Wonder Woman said, reflecting my thoughts. "I see why Aquaman protects it so passionately."

"Unfortunately, there are those whose ambitions would destroy it." She said. I had to hand it to her, for her family being missing, she was holding all of this together very well. I suppose that must have been the Queen in her. Her people looked to her and drew their strength from her.

Mera was right with the whole destroying Atlantis bit, because when we turned the corner on the bridge guards started shooting at us, nearly hitting the Queen herself. Out of instinct, I drew the water from the waterfall and froze it creating a giant block of ice in order to protect us from them.

More guards came from behind us and I heard Green Lantern tell everyone to step back. I was too focused on my ice to really pay attention to what he was doing but I heard a giant boom and the bridge rattled, with the sounds of screaming guards following. Luckily I had jumped and formed an ice disk while everyone else floated above the hole in the bridge, with Diana holding Mera.

"Well that was easy." I said while evaporating the water from the ice into my staff, which was now back on my belt.

"Thank you." Mera said looking up at Diana.

"This fight is far from over." J'onn said looking at all of us. He flew up over the city and we all followed suit. We decided to go back to the palace in order to regroup and think of a plan. We entered the throne room, and we were all impressed. It was made completely of white marble and silver stone. On the far edge of the room sat a platform with Aquaman's throne on it, in between two black marble pillars. I was ogling at the room when my eyes found Mera.

She looked as if she were about to collapse from the stress she had been through these past two days. "Your highness, perhaps it is best if you rest for a minute." I said gesturing to the stairs in front of the throne. She gave me a grateful smile and I led her over to the stairs while the others seemed to split up to look for Aquaman. I sat with her and tried my best to soothe her.

After a few moments neither of us had spoken. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what to say to the woman. She was missing her husband and son, even I had no idea what kind of pain that felt like. "You are quite talented with water." She said softly, breaking the silence.

"Thank you." I said just as quietly, not wanting to be so loud in this big room.

"It seems as if you are not Atlantian, yet you have the very powers that we have. How is that?" She inquired. I bit my lip, thinking of a way to tell her how I got my powers without boring her about my past.

"Well, I was part of the military for a little while. One day I had walked into a lab filled with chemicals, and one of them exploded. The next thing I knew when I woke up in our hospital, I could control and manipulate water." I said. I figured that would be the short and sweet version. Mera was looking at me with wide eyes, as if she was surprised that I was not born with this ability.

She seemed to have gotten over her disbelief and she smiled. "When this whole thing is over you should come back here to Atlantis sometime. Perhaps you can learn new ways to use your powers and I could gain a friend." She said looking over at me. "I may be queen, but that does not mean that I have too much time to go out on social visits. It would be nice to do girl things with someone who isn't intimidated because I am their queen." She explained.

I sent her a smile and patted her hand. "That sounds wonderful. I would love to see more of your kingdom." I said. Before Mera could reply J'onn materialized through the floor.

"We've searched the entire palace." He said. Superman and Diana flew in from an upstairs balcony.

"But there's still no sign of him." Superman said. With these words, Mera finally broke. Her strong façade cracked and it was plain as day, the pain that she was feeling. She put her hands over her face and sobs racked her body. I put a comforting arm around her shoulders and my other hand rubbed circles in her arm.

"Mera, it's going to be okay. We'll do everything we can to bring them back to you, I promise." I said to her. Just then, footsteps echoed down the hall and everyone, except Mera, looked up at the doorway. I looked up and my jaw dropped.

Inside the doorway was Aquaman, holding a baby who I presumed was his son. The joy didn't last because my eyes immediately glanced down to the red bandage covering his left hand. That can't be good. Mera must have sensed that someone else was in the room with us, because she stopped sobbing and moved her hands from her face. She finally looked up to see her husband and child in the doorway.

A look of pure joy swept across her features and in mere seconds she was sprinting across the room to get to them. I stood up from the steps and met the others in the center of the room. She tackled them both into a hug and they murmured some words to each other, but as soon as Aquaman let go of his son, we all could see the red stump where his hand used to be.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

While Aquaman wasn't freaking out over missing a hand the rest of us were. Mera immediately rushed him to their version of a hospital so he could get looked at and possibly fixed. From what I understood, the doctors didn't think they could reattach the hand, but they could put on a prosthetic.

We all stood in the operating room while the doctor put something metal in place of Aquaman's hand. The noises of the drills and the sight of all the blood was making me a little nauseas, so I did the best I could not to look over at the doctor working, instead, finding the floor tiles much more interesting.

"His own hand. I can't believe it." Superman said, still not quite believing it.

"I told you he was a madman." John said, crossing his arms.

"Is it madness to sacrifice all for someone you love?" Mera asked him. At least John had the decency to look a little ashamed for calling her husband crazy right in front of them.

"Can't you work any faster?" Aquaman demanded of the doctor. Good grief, if cutting off your own hand isn't enough to keep you down, than what is?

"This is a delicate operation, My Lord." The doctor said. "It can't be rushed." I don't know what kind of doctors they had here in Atlantis, but they freaked me out. Why were they in a full body jumpsuit? It was extremely unnerving to not see any skin at all, and only see a blue suit and some weird looking goggles.

Aquaman continued to sit in the chair, groaning in pain as the doctor attached his prosthetic on. I'm glad I wasn't in that situation, cause they would have had to have given me barrels of anesthesia to make sure I didn't feel a thing.

Suddenly a small beeping noise disturbed the continual zapping of the doctor's instruments. At first I wasn't sure what it was, but then I realized it was one of our com links. "Superman, a situation has developed up at the north pole." Ah, so Bats decided to make another appearance today. How thoughtful of him.

"What, did Santa forget to pay his rent this month?" I said loud enough for Batman to hear. I heard the loud sigh and could practically picture the eye roll and frown that was quite normal for Bats to wear when he was around either me or Flash. What can I say? We are the comedic relief to this team.

"No Evelyn." Bats said. Ouch, use of my full name. "Thermal readings show temperatures increasing rapidly."

"If that continues, the ecological effects could be catastrophic." J'onn said.

"Then let's check it out." John said, always ready for a fight, he is.

"But what about the crisis here?" Diana asked, looking over at the royal family who was gathered around the doctor.

"I have a feeling the two events are connected." I said.

Aquaman looked over at us just as I said this. "It's the doomsday thermal reactor." I blinked, not quite understanding what he was saying.

"Uh, yeah sorry but did you say a doomsday thermal reactor?" I asked. "That doesn't sound like a fun time."

Aquaman ignored me. "We designed it to create a polar meltdown."

"What?" John shouted. Great, and these two were getting along somewhat well.

"I had it built as a weapon of last resort." Aquaman explained. "To protect Atlantis, should the surface world ever attack." We all just stood there in shock, not quite believing that the Atlantians had a weapon that could kill all of the humans in practically a day. "But I never armed it." Aquaman added looking down.

"Oh, well if you never armed it I guess that makes it a-okay then, doesn't it?" I said, getting quite upset. Not only was he prepared to kill us but he would take the rest of the animals down with us? I mean honestly there are better ways to end the world then melting the North Pole. Think about the polar bears people! We need to save them!

Aquaman glared at me, but it faded when he saw just how upset we all were. His glare turned into shame, and my heart started to melt a little bit. I could see he never actually intended to use it. This doomsday device was no different than our nuclear weapons. God forbid those ever have to get used. I suddenly felt bad for snapping at him like that.

"Then Orm must have armed them," John said, interrupting the awkward silence that had settled around us. "Using the plutonium from the submarine."

"If the polar cap melts the world will sink beneath the waves." Superman said. To be honest that didn't sound like such a bad world. I mean, I would have fun, the Atlantians would have fun, but I guess for everyone else it would kind of suck. "Everything will be destroyed." He concluded. Suddenly this plan didn't sound as cool.

"We have to stop Orm." I said.

"And he will be." Aquaman said. His procedure was finally done and he stood up from his operating chair. In place of his left hand was a harpoon, attached by a gold medal holder on his wrist. That was the most metal thing I have ever seen, no pun intended. He was like a cooler version of Captain Hook. Except much hotter. What? I'm not blind. He's gorgeous.

"I'll see to it personally." He said and with the expression that was on his face I believed him. Poor Orm. He's gonna have hell to pay when Aquaman gets ahold of him.

"So, road trip to the North Pole anyone?" I asked.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Soon enough we were on our way to the North Pole. Aquaman decided to swim there while the rest of us flew. Well, I say flew but I guess you can call my version surfing. It was so much fun to skim across the tops of waves, I don't know why I didn't do it more often. Oh, that's right, cause I'm always saving the world and kicking ass.

Aquaman was pretty fast in the water, I had to go my full speed just to keep up with him. He was literally like a torpedo in the water. We reached the shore to the North Pole and he flipped himself out of the water, scaring off some seals that were chilling on the ice cap. And yes, I totally meant that pun.

"Aquaman, wait!" Superman called to him. I got off my ice disk and started walking behind Aquaman, with my staff in hand.

"Why do you follow?" He retorted looking between me and the others.

"We want to help." Diana told him.

"This is my battle." Aquaman said, obviously not budging on doing this by himself. "No one asked you to fight it."

"Well since we all live on this planet, we automatically have to help protect it." I said, flipping my staff over in my hand. "You don't get a say in that matter."

The others hovered beside both of us. "Evie is right." Superman said. "Like it or not, we have a stake in the outcome. We're not leaving."

"Just stay out of my way." Aquaman grumbled out. With all the grumbling this guy does he could rival Batman. Suddenly, a light beneath the ice exploded and we were all pushed back, but we landed on our feet. Here we go again.

The ground beneath us shook and two giant Atlantian ships rose out of the ice and started shooting at us. Superman and J'onn flew towards the closes ship while Green Lantern put himself, Diana, Aquaman and I into a ball and flew us right behind the others.

Up ahead I saw an entire squadron of Atlantian soldiers on jet skis come towards us. "Hope you guys are ready." G.L. said and he reduced the sphere, letting Aquaman land in the ocean while the rest of us flew towards the ship. G.L put up a shield to block the rays from the soldier's guns. I lifted the water up to create a giant wave that lifted all the skis out of the water and flipped them over, sending the soldiers tumbling into the water. That should stop them for a little bit, I thought.

There was a loud cracking noise behind me and I turned to see some of the big glaciers starting to crumble apart, it was getting too warm up here. "Superman, the glaciers are already starting to melt." I heard Batman say through our coms. I looked over my other shoulder and saw his bat jet moving past the glaciers on the other side.

"I know, but we've got our hands full here." Superman said into his com. In the background I could hear the firing of the guns and they were only getting louder. I whipped around and saw another fleet of skis coming towards us. Four were headed straight for me, so instead of flipping them up this time, I decided to get a little rougher. I made a wall if ice right on the surface of the water. When the skis tried to go over it, they got caught and the men were sent dozens of feet up in the air and landed with a smack in the water.

Suddenly there was a huge splash and I looked over to see Aquaman on the back of an orca, jumping on top of a group of soldiers. "That has to be the coolest thing I have ever seen." I said to myself. (And look! Another ice pun!)

I looked back around and saw that everyone else was busy fighting other soldiers, but the glaciers were still melting at an alarming rate. "We need to turn the machine off." I said into my ear com. "Does anyone copy?"

"I'm already on my way over to the machine, meet me there." Batman said. I looked around and saw that one specific glacier had heat waves coming off of it. Looks like I found the hiding place. I jumped on a disc and made my way to the glacier, with Batman catching up to me. "There's not much time." He said looking over at me. "If we can't shut that down the entire world is doomed."

"I suppose this is a bad time to say I told you so." Green Lantern said into his comm.

I rolled my eyes. "Now really isn't the time Green Bean." I said. I turned to Batman. "What do we have to do?" Before he could answer me there was a bigger rumble than before as more ice fell down into the ocean. "Wait, did it just get hotter?" I asked.

Batman didn't say anything, which meant that I was probably right. We both landed and stood at the entrance of the glacier, dodging the falling ice pieces. "Bats, we might be too late." I said, starting to get a little panicked.

"Not yet." He said as he ran into the glacier. I chased after him, right on his heels. We raced in through a side entrance and saw the giant machine sparking and smoking. Great, it's completely fried. I nervously looked over at Batman but he didn't seem to be worrying too much. He picked up a few pieces of the machine and threw them back down.

"No good. I'll have to go inside and manually shut it down."

"That doesn't sound too safe." I said, worriedly looking at the machine which seemed to be sparking even more frequently.

"Your ice, can it protect me?" Batman asked.

I paled a little bit, I wasn't sure if I could put enough ice around him without actually seeing him. "I might, but I would have to be directly with you. I'm not sure if I could do it without a visual." I quickly said, knowing that time was of the essence. Batman seemed to hesitate for a second, but he nodded.

"Alright then." I said. I stood directly next to him and closed my eyes. I imagined a layer of ice covering both of us, but with the consistency of water, so we could move without breaking the ice. To my absolute surprise it held together when we walked forward into the tube we would have to crawl into.

Batman went crawling in first and I followed behind him. We had only been in for a few moments when an explosion rocked the machine back and forth. We both paused and waited to make sure nothing would happen then we continued on at a faster pace. "We might want to hurry, just a teeny bit." I said.

It was hot as hell in this machine, and I could feel myself starting to weaken. I wasn't fully recovered from the heat chamber I had been put in earlier today, and this was only depleting me more. Plus, I was tasked with keeping both Bats and I safe from this machine, using a technique I had never done before. Needless to say, the stress was starting to get to me. "Seriously Bats, how much longer?" I asked through gritted teeth, with sweat dripping from my forehead.

"We're here." He said as we came up on a valve release. He twisted the nozzle and the machine started shutting down. As soon as he said we were safe, I release my hold on the water and it fell onto the ground. I don't even have the energy to soak it all up. I lean up against the wall and put my head back, closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. I probably look like a wreck at this point but I didn't care.

"You alright?" Batman asked. I opened one eye to look at him and he was staring at me, looking quite concerned.

"I'm fine. It's just been a long day." I said, resting my head back against the wall.

"I could assume that from the bruises on your neck." He said, nodding to them. Oh yeah, I had completely forgotten about that.

"Yeah well what can I say, me and security guards don't get along. Especially when they throw you in a heat chamber and try to turn you into a raisin." I said. He nodded so I guess he understood what I was saying. I had finally gotten my breathing returned to normal and I sat up on my knees. "Okay, let's get out of here."

We crawled back out of the tunnel to see Aquaman walking towards us. "Looks like we did it." I said.

"Then the threat is over." Aquaman said. Without another word we left the machine behind and went towards the entrance of the cave where the jet was parked. Aquaman jumped in the water and went back over to the others, presumably to tell the others the good news.

"Do you want a ride?" Batman asked me. I was quite shocked, usually once the mission was finished he would high tail it out and we wouldn't see him for a few days. I was still feeling weak so I nodded and jumped in the back. Bats got in the front and threw me something, which landed in my lap.

"Here, this should help." I looked down, and sitting in my lap was a bottle of water. I arched an eyebrow and picked it up.

"Since when do you keep water in your jet?" I asked him.

"Since the last time I got thirsty." He deadpanned out. It took me a second to realize that he was joking.

"Are you joking around with me?" I asked him. He didn't say anything but I could see him smirking in the reflection of the glass. "You are joking." I gasped. "Mark this down ladies and gents, that on this day in the good year of our Lord, the Batman of Gotham told a joke!" I said in a totally ridiculous British accent.

"Evie, just drink the water." He replied, but I could hear a hint of a smile in his voice. Soon enough we had landed where the others were. He opened the hatch and I jumped out, but I realized that he didn't.

"Are you coming with us?" I asked. He just shook his head.

"I need to-"

"get back to Gotham." We both finished at the same time. "Yeah, I know." I said. I smiled and turned around. "Hey Bats?" I said looking over my shoulder. He looked up at me expectantly. "Thanks for everything." I said. He nodded and flew off.

I turned back around and the others were talking to Aquaman. "I need to get back and fix the damage my brother has done to my kingdom." He said.

"We'll come with you, in case you need anything." Superman said. Aquaman looked reluctant but he agreed. "Very well."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

We all stood in the throne room, with Mera standing next to Aquaman who was sitting in his throne. We all were behind the throne in a line. Aquaman said he needed to hear what the guards who had betrayed him had to say about their actions. He sent for them and they were escorted in.

One man was pushed to the front by the others. Poor son of a bitch, I thought. He was going on and on about how they were not to be blamed for their treason. "And surely, you must know, My Lord. Our loyalty belongs to you and you alone. We never believed in Orm's plan. But your brother forced us. The truth is we were only following orders." He said as he finished.

I didn't think for one second that Aquaman believed any of this, and I was proven right. Aquaman stood up and looked down on the guards. "Get them out of my sight." He said. From the look on his face I could understand why he was such a great king. His orders were absolute, but when the time came for it he was kind and caring. He was exactly what people needed.

"I can only blame myself." Aquaman sighed out. "My fear of the surface dwellers blinded me to those I should've feared most, and it cost me dearly." He finished the end of his sentence holding up his new harpoon hand.

"Don't be too hard on yourself." John told him. "Maybe we've all misjudged." He said. It seems that it only caused the world to almost end for these two to see the error of their ways and reach an understanding of each other. Go figure.

"Perhaps. All I want…all I've ever wanted is peace and security for Atlantis." He said, looking out at the silhouette of the buildings that made up his kingdom.

Superman stepped forward. "After what's happened, it won't be easy."

"I know." Aquaman turned around and looked at his son, who was in Mera's arms. "But some sacrifices are worth it."

"Besides, I don't think you're one for doing things the easy way." I said. Aquaman looked over at me and chuckled.

"I want to thank you all." He said, looking at each of us individually."

"It's not a problem. Anytime you need help, just let us know." Superman said. We took that as our dismissal and we started to walk out.

"Evie!" Mera called out. I turned around and she came walking forward and wrapped her arms around me, now that she had handed to baby to Aquaman. I returned the gesture. "Thank you so much." She said. She pulled out of the hug and kept her hands on my shoulders. "You are always welcome to come and visit me and my family." She said.

"Thank you." I said, "I'll make sure to stop by soon." I gave her one last smile and headed for the large doors. I had a strong feeling in me, that even though it has been a rough road between us, one day the Atlantians and the people on the land would one day live together in harmony.

#Batman #Bruce Wayne #Batman x Oc #Bruce Wayne x Oc #Dc

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the-sweetest-dragon · 4 years

Text

Things Can Only Get Better - Chapter One

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Pairing: Stiles Stilinksi x OC (Evangeline Monroe)

Word Count: 11k

Warnings: allusions to trauma, me explaining things, anxiety, an extremely slow burn

AN: Hi... I am alive, barely. I honestly don’t know if anyone really wants this, but I’m posting it because @nerdsarebetter told me to <3. This is purely self indulgent but I’m actually kinda proud of it so uh..... yeah. Sorry this isn’t my IT fic but this has been making me really happy so you’re just gonna have to deal with it. Oh, the dots symbolize a change in point of view, just so everyone is aware

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“The wolves in the woods have sharp teeth and long claws, but it’s the wolf inside that will tear you apart.” -Jennifer Donnelly

Mom and I drove through many different states during our drive from Kansas to California. We watched the sun set in New Mexico and the sun rise in Arizona. None of them compared to Kansas, but we’d learn to deal. Mom and I paused to rest when we reached California, since we had been driving for what felt like forever.

The move was necessary; we all needed a bit of a fresh start. We were returning to Mom’s old home, Beacon Hills, where my aunt and cousin still lived. Now, you may be wondering why we were living in Kansas when we could have been living in California the entire time. My parents met at the University of Kansas; she was an art history major and he was a law student. It was instant chemistry and after they were married, they just never saw a reason to leave Kansas. Until Dad got this job offer and decided that we all needed a change of scenery.

Was that partially my fault? Yeah, kinda. Last winter was rough for all of us, and I knew it was one of the reasons Dad accepted this new position. I also knew he wouldn’t ever insinuate that it was fully my fault, even though it definitely was. Mom assured me that Dad wanted this job anyways, and I tried to believe her.

We settled down for the night in a cheap motel just inside the California border. I took the time to relax and update my cousin and Dad about our travels. Dad sent me a picture of the new house, with him smiling in front of it. I couldn’t help but smile; he looked so happy already. Lydia, my cousin, gave me details about the high school that would be starting the day after we arrived. She told me about her life, the classes and teachers we would have, how excited she was to see us.

I knew having Lydia Martin as a cousin would help me find friends, but she was insistent that I would have to have a boyfriend. Now, I wasn’t going to think too hard on that one, especially since I knew that with Lydia around, finding a boyfriend or even a guy that was interested in me would be practically impossible.

Lydia looked a lot like me, in a lot of ways. We shared the same red hair and our faces were very similar. When we were little, people would confuse us for sisters when we would visit her and her parents. The small differences between us weren’t necessarily in looks, but in our personalities. Lydia had always been bossy and confident, and remained that way. I have always been more of a classical bookworm; I would sit alone and read during recess, I never had many friends, and I wasn’t the prettiest. Despite sharing similar faces, Lydia didn’t have to struggle with her weight. I had… issues, that came to a head last winter.

We started the drive back up again early this morning. It was only another two hours in the car and then we were in Beacon Hills. I watched in awe as the city sprawled out in front of us. We drove down several streets, Mom exploring her old home that she would be able to share fully with her family. Soon we were turning onto the street to our house.

As we pull into the driveway for our new house, I can’t help but admire it. Dad had found probably the prettiest house I could have ever imagined. It’s painted a deep blue color, with ivy crawling up the sides. The front porch held an old picnic table and a few boxes from Dad moving a few things in. It’s pushed up against the woods, the tall trees embracing the back half of it.

I pull myself from the leather seats and stretch before getting out of the car. Mom smiles over at me before doing the same. I can see her mind working on how to improve the house, where she can plant her garden and let it blossom. Distracted by the house, I don’t hear another car pull up behind our own.

“Evie!”

At the sound of my name I quickly turn to find Lydia standing near the parked U-HAUL Dad drove up here a day before. I let out an ungodly squeal and run towards her, catching her in a hug before she can tell me to stop. She let out a soft sound of discomfort before I let her go.

“Sorry,” I say with a smile. “Wasn’t expecting you to be here already.” I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear and readjust my glasses to sit more comfortably on my nose. “Are you here to help me or…?”

Lydia laughs softly and shakes her head, strawberry curls bouncing slightly at the movement. The light caught her green eyes, making them sparkle like emeralds. Not for the first time, I wish I had inherited green eyes instead of my father’s dark brown ones.

“I’m here to tell you about my party that you’re the guest of honor this Friday.” I let out a soft groan; parties were one of my least favorite activities. “No, I will not hear any of that. You are my cousin, you have to be introduced to the public in the grandest way possible. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, ok?” I nod, agreeing silently. Arguing with Lydia was not something I wanted to do, ever. She would win and it’s much easier to just agree with her.

Lydia left with a pat on my arm, leaving us to move in on our own. She stopped to hug my parents before getting into her car and driving back to her own house, in a much more expensive part of town.

Moving all my boxes into the house took longer than I originally expected. By the time I had gotten everything into my new room it was dark outside. Instead of unpacking, I decided to take a short walk into the woods, just to explore a little. The air had turned chilly, so I grabbed a hoodie and changed into more comfortable shoes.

“Don’t forget a flashlight!” Dad says before I head out into the dark. He hands me one with a smile. He was used to me sitting at the edge of the woods at our old house, reading a book against a tree.

As I enter the dark of the woods, I can immediately sense something off. The woods in Kansas never felt like this, never felt so… sinister, like something was watching me. I shake the feeling off, knowing I only felt this way because it was new.

I walk for maybe twenty minutes before I trip on a tree trunk. I wince, hands and knees scraped and bloody from the fall. I wipe the blood from my hands off on my jeans when I hear a howl in the distance. I fix my glasses and tilt my head, making sure I heard it correctly before continuing. The sounds of animals were familiar and not threatening, but it was still spooky. I make it another few feet when I get the sense that something is following me. I check over both shoulders and see nothing but the feeling doesn’t go away. I turn back towards the house and quicken my step, refusing to run quite yet.

The feeling continues and I’m so distracted by it that I trip again. I land hard on my already cut knees, my flashlight disappearing into the brush. Biting my lip so hard, I taste blood, but refusing to let out a sound of pain to alert whatever was following me that I was injured. I fumble, trying to pick it back up when I feel something close around my ankle.

Before I can scream, I’m being dragged backwards, farther into the woods. I try to kick at whatever is holding me, when I feel wickedly sharp teeth latch into the fleshy part of my calf. I scream, both in frustration and pain as I double my efforts to get free. Nothing I do seems to make it let me go. The pain becomes secondary to the panic that fills me. What happens if I can’t get free? Will anyone come to find me? What will be left of me to find? I feel immense anger take over me; I did not come all this way just to be taken out by some anonymous thing. Letting the rage fuel me, I kick my attacker so hard that I hear a bark of pain and the teeth let go. The moment I feel it release my leg I’m up and sprinting back to the house.

I run until I can see the light of the house and I’m out of the woods. I check over my shoulder to see if anything follows me but the only thing I see is darkness. Collapsing on the front porch, the pain finally hits me. The reek of my blood fills the air and the sight of my own blood leaking out of me makes me want to vomit. I press a hand to my calf to check the damage, feeling the bite marks that it left there. A sob escapes me and that's the moment Mom decides to open the door.

“Honey! What’s wrong? Where’d all this blood come from? Are you hurt?” she questions in rapid fire succession. Instead of answering, I break down in tears. Mom pulls me inside where Dad is waiting with a first aid kit. He calmly applies pressure to the bite mark, asking quiet questions about what happened. I give a quick version of the story, including my thought that it was a wolf that bit me. Dad nods but Mom looks like she may argue with me. Thankfully, she doesn’t.

Dad cleans out my various wounds with alcohol and I wince softly. He apologizes and puts bandages on my hands and knees, then wraps my calf in gauze and tapes the edges with medical tape. The wound still bled a little.

“Can you stand?” Dad asks gently. I nod and he pulls me up carefully.

“We should take her to the hospital Danny! She could be seriously injured!” Mom exclaims, her panic evident in her voice. Dad turns a level look at her, one hand resting on her shoulder.

“The marks aren’t deep enough for stitches, Mandy,” he says calmly. “We cleaned them out really well, so there shouldn’t be any infection. We’ll keep an eye on it, okay?” Mom nods, wiping at a tear that had fallen. Dad helps me up the stairs to my bedroom.

After he deposits me into bed, Mom sits down beside me with a glass of water and a few painkillers. She runs a hand over my uninjured leg and smiles at me.

“I remember when I was little, your grandma always warned me to stay out of the woods. She said bad things lingered there.” She sighs, a frown forming on her face. “I never understood the warning, but I do now. Please, don’t go back into those woods. I know you like to read in secluded spots but from now on, the woods are off limits, especially at night. Do you understand Evie?”

“Yes, Mom. I understand.” She nods, a sigh coming from deep within her. “I think it’s for the best anyways. They kind of freak me out. It’s nothing like the woods in Kansas.” Mom laughs softly, shaking her head.

“You got that right kiddo.” She sighs. “Well, try to get some rest babe. Lydia will be here bright and early I’m sure.”

I nod and she gets up off my bed, walking to the door and leaving my room. I drift off sometime around one in the morning, Persephone, my cat, curled up next to me. I, surprisingly, have no dreams, not even with the horrific events of the night plaguing my waking thoughts.

My alarm goes off at six and I groan before getting up. My hands and knees still ache from my falls in the woods, but the bite had stopped bleeding sometime in the night. I would have to get Dad to replace the bandages anyways, just to be safe. I carefully remove the gauze from my calf, checking it out in the mirror before turning on the hot water. The marks themselves weren’t big but they went deep into the muscle of my calf. I take a quick shower and sit patiently on the toilet seat for Dad to rebandage my leg. He does it without complaint, even giving me a smile before patting my thigh and returning to his own morning routine.

I dress quickly, in an outfit I had planned on the drive here. The loose fitting plain pants paired with a white button down, the shirt half tucked in and I unbutton a few buttons then roll up my sleeves past my elbows. I put on a gold locket I got as a present from Nana before leaving Kansas and admire the way in glints in the light. I finish the outfit off with a thick black belt before rushing to do my hair and makeup. I keep my makeup light and pull my short hair into a half ponytail, letting my bangs fall slightly in my eyes before putting my glasses back on. A honk from outside makes me rush to put in earrings and I grab my shoes and bag before rushing out the door to Lydia’s waiting car. I wince as I get into the car, my wounds still aching. Lydia lets out a wolf whistle, admiring my outfit. She’s dressed rather nicely too, though that is her default. Dressing nicely gives her confidence, and Lydia has always had a great sense of style. I smile, showing off my outfit for her, her expert eye noting all the little details and gives me a nod of approval.

“Great first day outfit Evie. It’s almost perfect.” I laugh as I buckle my seat belt, leaning down to roll the cuffs of my pants a few times and slipping on my boots, accidentally flashing my bandage at her. “Woah what happened to your leg?”

I retell my story to her, leaving out some of the scarier details to not freak her out as badly. As I tell her, Lydia’s eyebrows retreat further and further into her hair, her eyes going wide at the mention of feeling like I was being stalked. I show her the bandages on my hands as well, laughing about how clumsy I was right before I was bit.

“That’s so weird. We’ve never had animal attacks before,” she says. After a pause, she continues. “Well, just stay out of the woods, Evie, and we won’t have an issue.” I laugh softly as she turns the ignition and we drive in comfortable silence to school. Once there, she turns to me, her curls moving with her. “So, I’ll introduce you to Jackson when we get inside. I’m sure he’ll love you.” She smiles, giving me confidence. Having Lydia’s vote of confidence meant the world to me.

“I’ll do my best to make a good impression.” I shoot her a lopsided grin, my glasses perched precariously on my nose. Lydia gently pushes them back up and boops my nose before getting out of the car, making me laugh. I unbuckle my seat and grab my bag before doing the same.

I follow her through the main doors of the school, ignoring two boys talking on the sidewalk. One was taller than the other, with fluffy hair and an uneven jaw; I vaguely recognized him. Maybe I had seen him on the street yesterday? The other had a buzzcut and whiskey brown eyes. They’re discussing some body the police found in the woods last night and I feel a surge of panic fill me. My stomach turned sour and I’m suddenly glad I hadn’t eaten yet. That body could have easily been me. It had been found ripped in half, by an animal they thought. Their conversation stops as we walk by.

“Hey Lydia! You look… like you’re going to ignore me,” the buzzcut one says. I turn and shoot him a soft smile in apology and hurry along with Lydia. Poor boy is probably in love with her, like most boys are. Jackson is a real lucky guy if Lydia chose him out of the millions of guys prancing around trying to impress her.

The feeling of panic settles in my gut, and I suddenly remember that I hadn’t stopped to take my medication before leaving the house. All eyes fall on us, making Lydia smile as she struts down the hallway to her locker, but I frown pausing slightly. She definitely didn’t prepare me for this. A boy quickly joins her side and I hurry to catch up, trying to forget about the panic lacing my body. I check my bag for my antidepressants, but realize they aren’t there quickly. I quietly curse, hoping no one heard me as I race to catch up to Lydia before the bell rings.

I bounce on the balls on my feet, a smile flashing across my face at the boy, who I assume is Jackson. His face is handsome but seems to be set in a permanent scowl. He gives me a quick nod and turns back to Lydia. They have a soft conversation right before the bell rings. I wince, the sound too loud in my ears. Lydia gives you a worried look before taking me to the principal's office for a tour.

She leaves me with a smile and a promise to meet me at lunch. I walk in and have a short conversation with the secretary, giving her the files from my old school that I had put in my bag, the one important thing I had remembered to take with me today. The tour is short, mostly going through where my classes were going to be before she drops me off at my English class, where another new girl is being introduced.

“Class, these are our new students Allison Argent and Evangeline Monroe. Please do your best to make them feel welcome.” The other new girl is pretty, with dark curls and pretty dark eyes. I shoot her a smile before heading towards one of the only open seats, coincidentally near the boys from earlier. Allison does the same, sitting behind the one with fluffy hair. I watch as he turns to hand her a pen, a grin plastered on his face. The other one turns to look at me and I catch a whiff of his cologne, which is far too strong for a Wednesday morning.

I gag slightly at the smell and he makes a face at me before turning his attention back to the teacher. God, I had never had such a strong sense of smell before. Maybe I’m coming down with something? Trying to quell the panic before it sets in, I push my glasses back up onto my nose to distract me, and try to concentrate on the lesson and not the awful smell radiating from the boy next to me.

He smelled of the woods and death on top of his strong cologne. Now that I thought about it, so did the other boy. He had the reek of blood lingering on him as well. I’m so focused on the smell that I drop my pen. As I reach for it, so does buzzcut and we hit our heads on each other.

“Ow,” he says rather loudly. I mouth sorry and he hands me my pen, grimacing slightly.

“Stiles, if you have something to share with the class, maybe you should stand up.” The boy, Stiles, shakes his head and the teacher continues with his lesson. I readjust my pony tail and continue to take notes quietly.

The next half of the day passes quickly and soon it’s lunch time. I search for Lydia in the cafeteria and spot her sitting with Jackson, having a heated conversation about something. I pause after getting my food and feel the ache in my leg start to lessen. I smile to myself, happy that it’s started to hurt less. Lydia spots me and waves me over to her table, where the other new girl, Allison, is also sitting. I walk over quickly and sit down next to Lydia.

“Evie, please help me convince Allison that she has to come to our party.” I make eye contact with Allison, who shakes her head slightly, making me laugh slightly. “She says she has a family thing but we all know that’s a load of bull.”

“If she doesn’t want to come, that’s her business Lydia.” I smile and extend my hand to Allison. “I’m Evie by the way, Lydia’s cousin. You just moved here right?” She nods and the conversation flows easily after that. We compare schedules and find out that we share three classes with each other in the afternoon: PE, chemistry, and math.

Apparently, PE is used as an extra practice for the lacrosse team, which I won’t complain about. I hate mandatory physical exertion. However, as Lydia explains the game to Allison and I, I’m lost within five minutes and Allison seems just as confused as I am. Lydia gives us all the details on the guys on the team, mostly in relation to which ones she thinks we should date. She completely skips over 24 and 11, deeming them undateable by not mentioning them. Allison and I share a look, already wondering who the two could be.

“Who’s number eleven?” Allison asks. I raise an eyebrow, turning to Lydia to hear her answer. Lydia purses her lips, an unreadable expression on her face.

“I’m not sure,” she says after a slight pause. “A freshman maybe?” I laugh softly, shaking my head. It’s just like my cousin to not know the boys that don’t catch her eye. We watch both boys take off their helmets to get a drink and their identities are revealed quickly.

“Oh, it’s those boys from English class,” I say with a flick of my hand. Lydia laughs, Allison joining in soon after but quieter. I lean forward, balancing my chin on my hand. “They’re kinda cute, in a nerdy kind of way.” Allison nods and Lydia’s face pulls into a frown.

“Out of all the guys, you think they’re cute? Them? Seriously?” The confusion on her face makes me want to laugh, though I refrain from doing so. “Evie, I can understand. The boys at your old school were atrocious to look at, all weak jawlines and colorless eyes. Not sure about you Allison, but you have to have better taste than that. You’ve been all around, surely there’s better guys than those two?” I shrug, turning my attention back to the boys running on the field.

“It’s not just about looks Lydia, it's about personality. I much prefer someone with a sense of humor over someone with perfect cheekbones,” Allison says with a smile. I nod, agreeing. I notice how she watches McCall and already I know she’s interested in him.

“Personally, I don’t really care about gender either. If they have a good personality, what should it matter what they look like?” I say. Lydia just shakes her head and turns her attention back to the field to watch Jackson practice. I nudge Allison and lean in close to whisper in her ear. “That got her to shut up, huh?”

Allison laughs and bumps me with her shoulder. The rest of the period passes in relative silence. At one point, I pull out a book and start reading, the pages fluttering in the slight breeze. McCall apparently has improved immensely over the summer according to Coach. However, every time the ball was caught a shiver ran up my spine at the sound. It hurt my ears to hear, like nails on a chalkboard but not nearly as bad. It got to the point that the sound was making my head throb in pain. I rub my temple and dig through my bag until I find the bottle of ibuprofen I had stashed in there. I take three and take a swig of water out of Lydia’s bottle. I pat her leg before going inside at the sound of the bell.

“See you after school?”

She nods, dismissing me with a wave of her hand. I grab my bag and hurry to my next class. The rest of the day passes quickly and I meet Lydia back at her car. Jackson and her are making out quite ferociously on her side of the car, making me roll my eyes. I sigh and go to find another ride. Maybe Allison could give me a ride.

As I walk back towards the school, I get body slammed by some guy, sending me tumbling to the ground. My books fly everywhere and the other person makes a loud sound of pain.

“I am so sor- oh it’s you.” The guy sighs, and overs a hand to help me up. “You really need to learn to watch where you’re going.” It’s the guy from English, Stiles I believe, that I had bonked heads with earlier. He hauls me up to my feet and picks up my sprawled books while I dust myself off. The cuts on my knees are screaming, but the pain is quick to fade after a few seconds.

“Thanks,” I say with a smile, happy to reconcile. I hold out a hand. “I’m Evie, by the way. Stiles, right? I’m really sorry about earlier.” The boy blinks in surprise, not used to female attention. He takes my hand and shakes it. I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear, taking my bag back from him. Stiles looks over my shoulder, realizing without me saying anything why I was walking away from Lydia’s car. “Would you mind giving me a lift home? My ride’s kinda busy.” He gets a funny grin on his face before nodding.

I follow him back to his car, an older Jeep that I instantly fall in love with. Jeeps have always been my favorite car, and I was saving up for one before… well, before last winter. I can feel my face breaking trying to contain my smile. Stiles raises an eyebrow and opens my door for me. The inside of the Jeep is messy, as if he kind of lives in it.

“So, Evie. How’re you related to Lydia?” he asks as I climb into the car. I throw my bag in the back and buckle my seat belt.

“She’s my cousin, our mothers are sisters. I just moved here from Kansas.” Stiles frowns, as if Kansas is an insult to him personally. He turns the ignition and we drive silently after I give him my address. I wince only once, when we hit a pothole in the road that reminds me that my calf is not ok. I lean down to check the bandage, but there’s no new blood. Stiles looks over at me at that moment.

“What happened there?” he asks.

“Oh, I got bit by some animal last night in the woods,” I say with a wave of my hand, like it’s no big deal that I probably should have gotten a rabies shot. He slams the brakes, shooting me forwards in my seat and hitting my head on his dash. “Ow!” I rub my forehead, with an indignant look on my face. “What is your obsession with hurting me today?” He turns towards me quickly, one arm flinging itself over the back of my seat.

“You got bit in the woods last night?” he asks.

“Yes, what part of that did you not understand?”

“My friend Scott was bit last night too! Why were you in the woods? Did you hear about the body that was found?” he says in rapid fire. “I wonder if it was the same animal… Can I see the bite?” My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion but show him the wound only to discover that it has fully healed. His eyes go wide and I hear him mutter, “oh fuck.”

“I - I don’t understand. It was bloody this morning…” Stiles looks panicked, and honestly I’m on the precipice of a panic attack myself. “I promise! I had to change the bandage this morning because it had bled through the first one. I have no reason to lie to you.”

“I don’t understand then. You don’t even have a scar.” I sigh and lean my head onto the dash. Could this day get any weirder? Stiles sits up straighter in his seat, as if an idea came over him. “Have you been having hearing and light sensitivity? Scott said earlier that the lights were hurting his eyes and that he had heard someone’s phone call from outside.” I nod, narrowing my eyes at him.

“I’ve also had a sensitivity to certain smells. Like earlier, you smelled awful.” A hurt look crosses his face, and I try to quickly amend. “You smell fine now, but earlier you reeked of death…” I pause. “Maybe that was Scott. I apologize for saying you smelled bad.” He shakes his head, a small smile on his face.

“You’re forgiven.” The smile falls when he realizes how close the symptoms were to each other. To be honest, it was kind of freaking me out as well. Before I know it, the Jeep is in motion again but the opposite way from my house.

“Where are we going?”

“My house, we need to do some research.” At the word research, a smile floods my face, despite the panic still racing through me. I adore research. Stiles turns to me, a frown on his face. “We have to figure this out. You and Scott could be in serious trouble if we don’t find out what the hell is going on.”

……………………………………………………………………………………..

We researched for hours, her chair pulled directly next to mine as we poured over any information on werewolves and the supernatural that we could find. Every once in a while I would look over at her, still astounded by how much she looked like Lydia. They could almost be twins, if you didn’t look too long at them. Evie must have gotten her dad’s eyes because they were a deep brown, darker than even Scott’s eyes, while Lydia had green eyes that reminded me of spring grass.

Everytime Evie scooted her chair closer to mine, I moved away slightly. Not because I didn’t like her, but because she kind of scared me, and not in a fun way. If she and Scott are what I think they are, they could be really dangerous. As we collected evidence, the more worried Evie became. I watched as her eyebrows scrunched together with every new piece of information.

“So, if I am a werewolf, when’s the next full moon?” she asks suddenly. I do a quick search and look back at her, finding that her eyes had gone wide, the pupil completely taking over the brown in her eyes. The next full moon was this Friday, coincidentally the same night as Lydia’s party. “Oh this is bad… this is very, very bad.”

“Why? It won’t be that hard to just not go.” She shakes her head, running her fingers through her already messed up hair. It had come down from her small ponytail about an hour into our research.

“The whole reason she’s even having a party is because of me. It’s my introduction into Beacon Hills.” Evie sighs, tugging on her hair once more, as if it was a nervous tick that she couldn’t control. “She’ll be pissed if I don’t show up.” She turns to me, worry shining in her eyes. “I’m a pretty calm person. Do you think I’d be ok?”

I pondered the question. Evie did seem pretty laid back and generally pretty calm. I didn’t know her that well, but if the hours we had spent pouring over information wasn’t an indicator of how calm she was, I didn’t know what would be. But with all the information we had found, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to stay calm, especially in a party setting. The lights, the music, the drinking. It was a lot to handle, even for a normal person.

“I have more confidence in you than I do Scott, but I still don’t think it would be a good idea.” She nods, a sad look crossing her face and I instantly feel bad. I lay a hand on her shoulder and squeeze gently. Then, an idea pops into my head. “What if I went with you to the party?” She raised an eyebrow.

“As what, my date?” I blink a few times, not having considered the possibility that people would think we could be dating.

“I mean, it would be easier to explain than the actual reason. And, I don’t think I’d be invited unless you personally invited me anyways,” I say. Evie considers it for a moment, thinking through all the possible scenarios and how it could go wrong if she didn’t have someone with her to calm her down if the change was too powerful. “Before you decide, I really should call Scott and tell him about what we’ve found. I don’t think he’ll be as accepting of this fate as you are.” She nods.

“Do I need to find a ride home or do I need to be a part of this? What would you like me to do?” she asks and I balk at the question. I had just assumed she’d stay, not really understanding that she may need to go home to her family. It was weird how comfortable I was around her already, despite our rocky start. I consider her question for a moment, before deciding Scott would probably be more willing to hear it from a stranger than me.

“I think you staying would be a good idea. Scott isn’t the most perceptive guy, usually needs a helping hand to understand things. Maybe if you’re here to help me explain, he’ll be more apt to not do something stupid.” She laughs, a bright happy sound. I notice that we haven’t eaten yet, and it’s getting to be kinda late. “Hey, I’m going to go call Scott and then order a pizza, anything in particular you want?” I ask, hoping she doesn’t say something dumb like pineapple. She taps her chin, considering all the options.

“Do they have meat lovers?” she asks. I nod and go off to take care of my calls, leaving her in my room alone. The one to Scott goes immediately to voicemail, as usual. Placing the order to the pizza parlor was a lot easier and quicker than I thought it would be, considering the time. I walk back into my room, only to find that Evie has made herself comfortable on my bed and is doing homework. She looks up and says, “What? I have math homework.” I just shake my head, a small smile on my face.

We work on our homework in relative silence, Evie only talking when she has a question about a math problem. The pizza arrives and I finally get a hold of Scott, who’s at my house in less than ten minutes. The call was filled with him gushing about asking Allison to the party on Friday, though I’m not sure how he pulled that off. He’s at my house in less than ten minutes, a knock at the door announcing his presence.

I watch Evie shake out her shoulders, as if preparing herself for battle. She’s not entirely wrong. Opening the door for Scott and ushering him in takes all of five seconds and he’s heading up to my room before the door is even shut. I hurry after him, only for me to run into his back. Hard. He had paused in the doorway, blocking me from entering.

“OW! Dude you can’t just stop in the middle of a doorway!” Scott turns to look at me, a confused look on his face.

“Sorry, wasn’t expecting you to have a girl in your room!” I snort, a bit impressed with myself at the realization that I did have a girl in my room, and push past him into my room, where Evie is sitting cross legged on my bed. She waves, a piece of pizza in hand. Scott looks back at me with a gleam of mischief in his eyes. I huff out a sigh, already knowing what he’s thinking.

“It’s not what it looks like… I mean, it may look like what it looks like, depending on what you think it looks like but it’s not…” I drift off, earning a snort from Evie. I glare at her, but she just shrugs and nervously starts picking at her eyebrows. “Not helping.”

“So what’s she doing here then? Is this a date? Am I interrupting or…?” Scott asks. Evie just laughs, shaking her head. I glare at her again, she’s really not helping my case at all.

“No, you’re not interrupting, but we do have some things to share with you,” she says. She meets Scott’s eyes, not an ounce of fear in her body. “We have the same problem. Both of us were bit by an animal last night in the woods that half a dead body was found in. I can’t be sure that it was the same animal, but my bite has disappeared, and I’m assuming yours has as well.” Scott looks at me, confusion written plainly on his face.

Evie just sighs, already distraught. “We’re werewolves. The light and sound sensitivity, the heightened smell, the quick healing. All signs point to lycanthropy.” Her eyes drop to her hands, which had moved from messing with her eyebrow to messing with the ends of her pant leg. With a sigh, she pulls the pant leg up, showing Scott where her bite mark had been. Evie runs a finger over it, as if checking to see if there was anything left of the wound. “This morning I was bleeding and now there isn’t even a scar. I know it’s a lot to take in but we have to be careful from now on. We’re dangerous,” she says, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Scott looks at me, and I nod, confirming what she had said. He shakes his head, either not believing it or not wanting to believe it. I open my mouth to explain more, but he’s out the door before the time the words can form. I exchange a look with Evie and hurry after him, hoping to catch him before he goes completely loco. I catch up, winded and with a racing heart.

“Dude, you have to believe us. This isn’t some prank. You have to be careful, especially on Friday.” Scott turns quickly to look at me, making me backpedal a few feet so I don’t get run over, again. Confusion is written plainly on his face. I mentally kick myself; of course Scott wouldn’t know what Friday meant in werewolf terms.

“Why? What happens Friday?” he asks.

“Friday’s the full moon, man. That’s when your bloodlust will be at its strongest. You won’t be able to control yourself, especially around Allison.” His eyes flash yellow, something I hadn’t seen Evie’s do yet. I don’t back down, even though I really should have. Anger radiates from him, and I put my hands up in surrender. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you gotta believe me. I’ve seen the way Allison affects you, it’ll be easy to lose control, especially at the party. You have to cancel.”

“I can’t do that! This may be my one shot with her! Nothing will get in the way of that!” he yells. I stop, not used to being yelled at by Scott. He turns away from me, returning to his fast pace and I let him leave. Knowing he won’t come back, I turn back towards my house

Once inside, I raced up the stairs to see that Evie was packing up her homework, her back turned towards me. She turns when she hears me at the door, a sad smile on her face. Evie tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear and pushes her glasses up her nose before speaking.

“So, he took that rather well huh?” I let out a strangled laugh and collapsed on my bed. I feel, rather than see, her sit down beside me. “Hey, if nothing else we’ll know where he’ll be Friday. We can keep an eye on him.” She smiles down at me and I smile back, before a thought hits me.

“We should have told Scott that we were dating. Would have made Friday so much easier.” She snorts, flopping back on the bed.

“May have made it easier, but I have a feeling he’s going to ignore us like the plague.” She sits back up with a huff. “Well, I guess you better get me home. I had told my parents that I was studying with a friend but after last night it wouldn’t surprise me if they gave me a tighter curfew.” With a groan, I sit up as well. It was well past ten, we had been here for at least seven hours.

The drive to her house was quick and mostly silent. I could tell that all of this weighed heavily on Evie; her shoulders had drooped and her eyes were dull. As I pull into her driveway, she turns towards me, putting a hand on my arm and squeezing lightly.

“My dad is standing outside. He’s going to say some really dumb things,” she says. I nod, not fully understanding but agreeing nonetheless. “Pick me up tomorrow morning? I don’t know if Lydia planned to pick me up or not and I’m not allowed to drive.” I scrunch my eyebrows together, confused. Evie just shrugs. “I’m not… a safe driver.”

I hop out to help her out, still pretending her leg hurt even though it had healed over. I grab her bag for her, a tight smile pulling across her face. Handing it to her, I look towards where her father lingered on the porch. I wave and he starts coming closer to say hi, I guess. Evie stands there nervously, unsure to how her father will react. He meets us at the Jeep and we shake hands. I make sure to keep a smile on my face, though his grip feels like he’s going to break my knuckles.

“Thanks for bringin’ her home, it’s much appreciated.” I nod, trying to seem as non threatening as possible. He claps me on the back. “Now then, was this a date or just studying?”

“Dad!” Evie exclaims. Her dad just holds his hands up in surrender and smiles at his daughter. “No, it wasn’t a date. Stiles was helping me with math, right Stiles?” I gulp and force a smile.

“Yes sir, just math.” Evie smiles at me before pushing her dads towards the house.

“See you tomorrow!” she calls over her shoulder, her dad’s laugher catching on the wind. I smile as I get back into the Jeep. Maybe, just maybe, this will all work out okay.

………………………………………………………………………………………

My sleep that night was less than restful. I had dreams where I had claws and fangs and I ran through the woods naked. I woke up to my mom yelling my name from downstairs. I groan, dragging myself out of bed to get dressed quickly. I pull on a patterned green sweater with a black skirt and grab my boots from downstairs, not bothering with makeup or trying to make my hair look better. I ran my fingers through it and called it a day. Grabbing a granola bar and my bag, I was out the door and hurtling for my ride within ten minutes. I skid to a stop when I see not only Lydia’s car, but also Stiles’ Jeep waiting for me.

“Well this won’t end well,” I say under my breath. Lydia gets out of her car and reaches me first, a confused look on her face. I smile at her, hoping that she won’t be angry.

“What is he doing here? I thought I was your ride to school!” she says with a stomp of her foot. I look over her shoulder and make eye contact with Stiles, hoping he understands that he needs to get his ass out of the car now.

“He gave me a lift yesterday,,” I say as Stiles hops out of the Jeep and rushes towards us. “Stiles offered to pick me up today, since I hadn’t heard from you.” I smile apologetically at my cousin, watching her eyes narrow at the two of us. Stiles throws an arm over my shoulders, giving me a small smile. Something must click for Lydia because her face quickly changes.

“I said to get a guy on the lacrosse team!” she exclaims, surprising me slightly.

“You play lacrosse right?” I ask, actually unsure if I had dreamed that part of the day or not. He looks back and forth from Lydia to me before nodding. I turn back to Lydia, a smile on my face. “You never said that he had to play, just that he had to be on the lacrosse team.”

“Be careful with my cousin,” she says before getting into her car and speeding off.

“Let’s get going.” Stiles opens my door for me, yet again. “Thanks, but you really don’t have to do that.” He just shrugs and I get into the car with a sigh. The ride to school was relatively quiet, mostly filled with our combined anxious sounds. Stiles wouldn’t stop drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and my leg wouldn’t stop bouncing.

“So, how are we planning to make people think we’re going out?” he asks. I sigh, a headache already forming.

“Lydia already assumes we either hooked up or something. She’ll spread that like wildfire. We won’t have to do anything,” I say softly, pulling at my eyebrows in nervousness. Stiles just nods and opens my door for me, yet again. We walk into school together and immediately people start staring. Stiles and I hurry towards English, with moments to spare.

The stares don’t stop there. I’m not sure if it’s out of confusion or jealousy, but either way I’m not a fan. It follows me the entire day, only stopping when I get to lunch and a different scandal has happened, taking the heat from Stiles and I.

After grabbing my tray, I search for his shaved head, already deciding that I would rather sit with him and Scott than deal with Lydia’s angry eyes that had been following me all day. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Almost instantly, Lydia is there, Jackson and Allison in tow. Jackson plops down, a scowl on his face. I really don’t get a good vibe from him, but that’s a conversation for another day.

“We are going shopping after school today,” Lydia states. I make eye contact with Allison, who was sitting very closely to Scott. I raise an eyebrow at her, somehow already knowing that she won’t want to go.

“Is there a reason why?” I ask. Lydia flips her hair over one shoulder, hitting Stiles in the face. I hold in a laugh, knowing that would set her off. Allison shakes her head at me, desperate to get out of this endeavor. I turn towards Lydia, a frown settling on my face.

“You both need new outfits for the party,” she states matter of factly. I sigh, already knowing we won’t win this argument. “Evie’s closet is totally void of any party clothes and I know Allison’s is pretty much the same.” Lydia pointedly looks at both Scott and Stiles. “Since my friends refuse to find acceptable dates, everyone’s outfits will have to be perfect. Especially you, Biles.”

“It’s actually…” he starts, then Lydia glares at him. “You know what, Biles is fine.” I laugh softly, gaining a frown from Stiles.

“If I agree, do I get to pick out my own dress?” Allison asks. I shake my head, already knowing the answer. Lydia would not relinquish that particular thing. If she couldn’t pick our dates, she sure as hell would pick what we wore.

“Of course not, I already have them picked out. We just have to go pick them up.” Allison and I make eye contact, shrugging. What could go wrong? It was just shopping.

The shopping actually didn’t take too long. She really had picked the outfits out already. Lydia refused to let us see them, but insisted they would fit perfectly. I hated to doubt her, but I was pretty sure she didn’t quite understand I wasn’t a size four. So, I made sure to check at least the size of the dress was correct. Shockingly, it was and I was insanely grateful that she hadn’t tried to stuff me into something too small.

We dropped Allison off first, her house not too far from my own but much larger. Her family must have money out the ass to afford it. After exchanging goodbyes (and numbers since I had basically no one's information), Allison hops out and leaves Lydia and I alone in the car. I decide to take the plunge and apologize for this morning.

“I didn’t mean to upset you this morning. I didn’t know you’d show up to give me a ride,” I say softly. Lydia shakes her head, waving a hand to dispel any hard feelings.

“I was more confused than upset. I wasn’t expecting you to get a guy so fast.” She nudges me with her shoulder, getting me to laugh. “While I still don’t get why him, I won’t question your choice too much, as long as he keeps you happy. You deserve to be happy after everything.” I smile sadly and she grabs my hand, squeezing twice. I grab all my stuff from the backseat and head inside.

I work on homework for a few hours and take a break to answer texts and eat dinner. Around ten, I hear my phone ring and Stiles' name pops up on my phone. I answer, a smile on my face.

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask quietly, fully aware of my parents sleeping in the room over from my own. I close my door, hoping that keeps the noise to a minimum.

“I have a lot to talk about, are you home?” I furrow my brows. His voice is echoey and filled with anxiety, making me wonder what he’s found.

“Yeah…” I say cautiously.

“Okay, great! I’ll be there in a few.”

I wait for a few minutes and then I hear rocks hitting my window. I open it, seeing Stiles standing not too far away with a handful of pebbles. Racing downstairs, I let him in and hold a finger to my mouth to signal that he would have to be quiet. We’re up the stairs in record time and I softly shut my bedroom door behind us. I watch Stiles take in the mess that is my room, and I rush around to pick it up a little to make it look less like I just moved in, even though I had. Stiles watches me with a grin on his face, all anxiety from the call dissipating from his face.

“So, what happened?” I ask, keeping my voice low. He takes a deep breath, readying himself before launching into his story.

“Me and Scott were in the woods, trying to find the other half of the body that was found because he said he saw it before he got bit. We didn’t find the body, but we did see Derek Hale, who was being extra spooky in the woods for apparently no reason and-” I hold my hand up for him to pause and he stops mid sentence.

“Hold up. Who’s Derek Hale?” I ask.

“Oh, I totally forgot you just moved here. Of course you don’t know. Duh Stiles.” He hits himself on the head, making me laugh a little. “Six years ago there was a fire at the Hale house, and lots of the family died. Only a few survived, one of which being Derek. Everyone thought he left after the fire, but apparently he’s come back.” I nod, now somewhat caught up. “Anyways, he was in the woods being creepy and threw Scott’s inhaler back to him. We think he may be behind the murder and you guys being bitten but we aren’t sure and have no definite proof.” At the mention of the bite, I start to pace. Stiles sits on my bed, picking at my bed spread.

“So, if he’s the one that bit both me and Scott, what does that mean? Is he the alpha?” I ask. Stiles shrugs, unsure. He seems to be more occupied with looking around my room. I sigh, deciding to sit down next to him, forgetting that I was already in my pajamas. With a boy in my room. The urge to pull the blanket over my head was getting stronger by the minute. Lydia would skin me alive when she found out that I had Stiles in my room and didn’t make out with him. I laugh softly and turn myself towards him.

“What?” he asks, his whiskey brown eyes searching my face. I just smile, knowing he may not like my answer.

“Lydia will be so disappointed in me,” I say with a sigh. His eyebrows furrowed together, making me laugh again. “I have a boy in my room, with no intentions to make out with him.” He laughs, shaking his head. I pat his knee. “Well, anything else you need to tell me?” I ask.

“How’re you doing, with all of this?” he asks. I sigh, running my fingers through my hair, contemplating how much to share. This was just one more problem in my life that couldn’t be fixed, and I had a lot of practice with such things so I wasn’t nearly as freaked out as someone else would be. I settle for a nicer version of the truth, knowing that while I felt comfortable around Stiles, he didn’t need to know all the dirty details of my life right now.

“To be honest, not well. Every little sound is amplified tenfold and certain smells make me want to vomit. Heightened senses are not the superpower I wanted,” I say with a slight smile.

“You’re handling it all really well, a lot better than Scott is. You just seem so…” he pauses, searching for the right word. I raise an eyebrow as he settles on the word that everyone uses to describe me. “Calm. If I were you, I’d be freaking out.” I shrug, stretching my legs out on my bed.

“My constant state is freaking out. I was diagnosed with anxiety in middle school and I take antidepressants that even me out a lot. I haven’t had an attack since last year,” I say, hoping he won’t ask me to elaborate. Thankfully, he does not. Stiles just nods, as if understanding without me having to say anything. “This whole werewolf thing may be good for me, maybe the healing factor will seep into my brain and repair the pathways that make me anxious.” He laughs.

“Well, it did fix Scott’s asthma.” He pauses, pondering something. “Have you tested the extent of your reflexes? Scott got weirdly good at lacrosse right after he got bit, catching every ball that was thrown at him. I wonder if yours have gotten better too.” I shrug, unsure if I really wanted to know or not. I was never good at sports before, what would be the point in trying out for them now?

“I’m not really an athletic person,” I say, gesturing towards my body. Stiles rolls his eyes, a funny look on his face.

“Oh please. Every time I turned around today some new guy was staring at you. Every guy on the team thinks you’re an absolute babe,” he states. The compliment catches me off guard, though not totally unwelcome. It had been a long time since someone noticed the way I looked, without being creepy about it. Stiles pats my bare thigh, not noticing the way I tense up as he does so, and stands up. “Well, I’d better get going before your dad threatens to kill me.” I laugh, shaking my head. “See you bright and early tomorrow morning?”

“Sure thing,” I say with a smile. He starts to walk out, but pauses in the doorway. Stiles turns to look at me, a weird glint in his eyes.

“Oh, and by the way. I meant what I said. You’re a total knockout.” He leaves with a smirk, my mouth hanging open like a fish. I stay like that for a good amount of time, trying to decipher if he was flirting or just being nice.

It takes a while, but I finally settle myself down enough to sleep and for once, I don’t have any nightmares or dreams.

I woke up on time for a change and took time to look nice. I showered, removing the bandage and deciding that I wouldn’t put another on. The people who knew wouldn’t notice and it was a waste of gauze. I select a cream colored button down sweater, a pair of brown trousers, and a pair of ballet flats. I curl my hair a little and add minimal makeup along with my necklace and a few rings. Shockingly, I even have time to eat an actual breakfast before I hear the Jeep pull into the drive.

I kiss my mom’s cheek on the way out, grabbing my bag and heading out. Stiles opens my door for me and I smile up at him. We chat on the way to school about nothing in particular and our day goes much the same way as yesterday. We eat lunch together, Allison and Lydia joining us once again. Jackson is there too, but he doesn’t talk much; he mostly just glares and looks moody. I sincerely don’t know what Lydia sees in him, I can’t detect any sort of a personality coming from him.

Lydia drives me home after school, our conversation filled with talk of the party. She seemed confident in my abilities to get there myself, not offering me a ride or anything. Getting ready by myself feels like a monumental task, especially since tonight was not only the party but also the full moon. My first full moon as a werewolf, and I was going to a party. Honestly, how dumb am I?

I pick nervously at my cuticles as I pull the outfit we decided on out of it’s bag. I let out a soft gasp; Lydia had picked out a deep green dress with a corset-esque bodice and long lace sleeves. It was short and made of a satin material, which would hug my curves nicely without feeling clingy. If I was being honest, the dress kind of scared me. I’m not used to showing so much skin, especially since I would be in front of so many people.

I slip the dress on, skipping looking in the mirror just yet and heading towards the bathroom to do a more dramatic makeup look. My version of dramatic is just a heavier blush and a slight winged liner. I refresh my curls from this morning, making a few frame my face. I also make sure I put in contacts, though I have noticed my eyesight getting better. I slap on a little lip gloss and hurry to put on the heels that Lydia had chosen.

Remembering that tonight may not go so well, I pack a small bag with extra comfortable clothes, just in case I wolf out and end up naked somewhere. I pat Persephone on the head as I grab a pair of sneakers to throw into my bag when I hear Stiles’ Jeep pull up to the house.

He gets out to help me get myself out to the car, somehow knowing I’m worthless at walking in heels. I notice that he’s gotten very dressed up for a party. He’s paired a light pink dress shirt with a black tie and grey suit jacket with skinny jeans. I raise an eyebrow, wondering if he got dressed in the dark but not really caring too much. I have come to appreciate his weird sense of style, with his many layers of shirts and odd pairings of colors.

When he finally looks at me, his mouth drops, making me laugh loudly. I can’t say I was expecting that kind of reaction but I won’t say no to it.

“You look… wow!” I shake my head at him, a smile crossing my face.

“Yeah?” I do a little spin for him, just to get the full effect. Stiles laughs and helps me into the Jeep. I watch him rush to his side and get in the car.

“So, I’ve got some things prepared in case you feel like you may lose control.” He pulls a duffle bag out of the back seat and hands it to me gently. “I have rope, cuffs, and if it comes to it, chains. You said Lydia had a basement, right?” I nod and he continues. “If we have to, we can keep you down there away from everyone.” Something on my face must have betrayed my thoughts of worry, because he quickly adds, “not that I think you’ll have too much of an issue with it. You seem pretty in control right now.”

I smile, but something must have changed in my face because Stiles’ eyes lock onto my own. Fear leaks out of him, the smell of it hitting me quickly.

“What? What’s wrong?” I ask, immediately worried.

“Your eyes were yellow for a second. I hadn’t seen them do that yet.” His fingers start drumming on the wheel, an anxious tick of his that I nearly duplicated by bouncing my leg.

“Oh. Is that bad or…?” I gnawed on my lip, hoping that my eyes changing color wasn’t a bad omen of what was to come.

“I don’t think so. You weren’t doing that on purpose right?” I shake my head. “Maybe it was triggered by feeling anxious. I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” He smiles, but the reek of fear lingers.

The party goes off without a hitch. Lydia really does throw great parties, though I barely see her or Allison the entire time, though I try to periodically check on them, just to make sure. Allison seems to be having a really good time with Scott, and Lydia is off with Jackson somewhere almost constantly disappearing into dark corners to make out.

I stick with Stiles most of the time, his hand on my arm a constant comfort. We drink a little, but I mainly try to stay away from the alcohol. The lights outside hurt my eyes, so we stayed inside. He barely leaves my side, only leaving for a few minutes to check Lydia’s basement. Stiles is back within moments, finding me in the same place he had left me. We dance a little, his moves goofy and catching me off guard. I genuinely started having a good time, the worry that had consumed me for the past few days slowly leaking out of me.

However, sometime around ten, Stiles rushes out to follow Scott out of the party and leaves me on my own, without much of an explanation.

“I’ll be right back!” he yells before disappearing. I try to keep to myself after that, not wanting to risk anything. Not long after he leaves, I realize that I haven’t seen Allison in a long time and go to find her.

“Hey have you seen Allison?” I yell over the music to Lydia. She shakes her head, and continues to dance with Jackson. I sigh, irritation crawling its way up my spine. It couldn’t be that hard to know where one girl went, right? I quickly crush the irritation, knowing that won’t help me find anyone.

I head towards the bathroom, deciding that would be the quietest place to make a call. I call Stiles, he doesn’t pick up. Then I try to call Allison, no answer there either. Frustration and anger fill me, nearly overtaking the anxiety of the situation. I grip the sink and watch my fingers lengthen and grow sharp claws. Looking up, I watch my face transform slowly; the space between my brows becomes flatter, my eyes turn a bright shade of yellow, and two pairs of fangs rip through my gums. I groan, realizing how painful having extra teeth in my mouth was.

I try to take deep breaths, to find my center but nothing works. God, Lydia will kill me if I mess up this stupid bathroom. My face stays the same and at that moment I’m glad Stiles left to trail after Scott. I don’t think I’d want him to see me like this. Shockingly, at the thought of Stiles my claws slowly start retreating. I watch as my hands return to normal in a few moments and the pain in my gums recedes slowly.

Closing my eyes, I try to think more about Stiles and the way he calms me down. I think about how his hand on my arm kept me stable tonight and my eyes return to their usual dark color. Focusing on the image of him dancing in my head, I can feel my face settle back into its normal position. I sigh, letting go of the sink and stare into the mirror to make sure everything is back to normal.

Once I’ve assured myself I’m back to being myself, I smile at my reflection. A sense of pride overcomes me, making my smile turn into a grin. I didn’t hurt anyone. A weight is slowly taken off my shoulders and I feel as if I can finally breathe again. I made it through my first full moon without doing anything stupid, I wasn’t naked in the woods, no one was dead. I could handle this. I could do this.

#teen wolf #stiles stilinski #dylan o'brien #new oc #werewolf #i have too much time on my hands #things can only get better #teen wolf season one

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moonlightfilly · 7 years

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My brother called Scott McCall a boring, vanilla character and I’m just... A consistently good person shouldn’t always be written off as vanilla. Scott was faced with hard choices, and the constant encouragement to slacken his moral standing and just kill the threat, and decided that that wasn’t who he wanted to be and stood by it. But his moral standing doesn’t make him perfect, and he doesn’t consider himself to be either - which is what saves him from the Vanilla Good Guy evaluation imo:

He makes mistakes, and he knows he does and beats himself up over it. Sometimes, it’s true, he puts his trust in the wrong people, but even when he’s been put through hell by bad people over and over he holds on to his faith in humanity. It’s not stupid and vanilla to want to hold on to the idea that people are still worth protecting and believing in. Sometimes bad people are just bad, and he knows this; he understands how dark the world can be, and we’ve seen him struggle with feelings of hopelessness because the bad just doesn’t stop coming, but he refuses to give in. There are times where he does almost take it to the next step, but he stops himself because that’s not who he wants to become. He learns from his mistakes, but he doesn’t let it harden his heart.

#Scott deserved better treatment by the writers and more screentime but that's not a reflection on his chara but the shortcomings of JD #better writers would've given us more insight into Scott's struggles etc (he's the MC writers) but u can see even from what we've been shown #sure i love morally gray charas it's true but that doesn't make all good non-gray charas automatically boring/bad imo #Scott McCall #Teen Wolf #sorry for just randomly going off i was just thinking about Scott and my brother's words....#Scott McCall appreciation #Scott McCall positivity #Evie watches Teen Wolf #Evie watches #tumblring by moonlight

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shutupsourwolf · 3 years

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actually about my last post i am gonna make it sterek related, teen wolf au but after season three when cora comes back to town and starts living with derek, and stiles has had his crush on lydia but it's run it's course at this point and he's kinda let it go as they become friends while he develops this dumb crush on derek that he thinks is never gonna happen that lydia finds out about and will tease him for relentlessly the minute derek is out of hearing range (what is that a mile??) until she meets cora and is really looking at cora when she grabs her arm after she pulls the fire alarm and oh. o h. okay i might owe stiles an apology for making fun of him for thinking a broody hale sibling is hot, this might be a problem-

#i'm like. two or three episodes past motel california rn watching it for the first time and only remember the bare bones timeline #of what happens after from a lot of googling so if this is inaccurate it is what it is #i like that i've lurked in this fandom for almost three years but i only started actually watching the show in quarantine #evie speaks #cora hale #lydia martin #teen wolf #cora x lydia #corydia #sterek #stiles x derek #stiles stilinski #derek hale #this is a hale siblings stan account at this point

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berkcwitz · 4 years

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❛ ✶ ( madison beer, cisfemale, she/her ) spotted ! jalissa berkowitz was spotted singing along to find my way by dababy in hilton grove . you’ve heard of them right ? they are a twenty two year old pornographic actress / internet personality who has already amassed a net worth of 550m . you should really follow them on insta @callmejalissa , they’re about to hit 89m followers . the tabloids have been calling them the vixen because they are known for being whimsical but also a bit abrasive . though most people recognize them by a drunken gaze staring into the mirror as she holds finger guns to her head , a laugh too contagious , leaving notes in lipstick on bathroom mirrors & echoing of her mothers longtime disapproval . — ooc info ( mia. twenty. est. she/her. )

GUYYYSSSS ?! this group ? a masterpiece , wow . im hella excited to get to roleplay with you all . im mia by the way , im twenty ( i’ll be 21 in june what a vibe ) & i live in the est ( a clam chowder eating , dunkin donuts chugging , no Rs havin , boston sports loving new englander ). also i go by she/her pronouns ! i am going to be so honest with you guys . this intro is dummy long . like , i promise i will not judge you if you hmu asking for a quick synopsis of my girl because this shit below this cut ? is a novella & a half , sis . if im very honest i really just needed to flesh her out completely because she’s a new baby of mine ? and i wanted to make sure i really knew her before i put her out on the dash . im so anal about this , i know . anyways , before this little note section gets as long as the intro without further a do ? adu ? idfk ... here’s jalissa , she’s ... a piece of work . also if you'd prefer to plot on discord hmu @ 𝖒𝖌𝖐'𝖘 𝖜𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖊#9789 .

𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐇

full name: jalissa billie-jean berkowitz nickname: lissa , jals , jb , berks , jalissa cadden ( porn name ) birthday: october 13th birthplace: fort lauderdale , florida hometown: hilton grove residence: hilton grove nationality: american ( est. 1997 through birth ) , british ( est. 1997 automatically a citizen due to mother’s citizenship , passport was claimed est. 2012 ) ethnicity: askenazi jewish ( maternal & paternal , 100% ) religion: judaism orientation: pansexual , panromantic ( she never really came out per say , people just kind of know she’s attracted to all genders . her family is very religious and she’s very involved with her synagogue so she’s made the choice not the necessarily put a label on her sexuality but is open about loving people no matter gender ) languages spoken: english ( fluent , first language ) , yiddish ( fluent , second language ) , spanish ( fluent , third language ) , german ( conversational , fourth language ) . father: henry christian berkowitz ( 50 years old ) was born & raised in fort lauderdale , florida by a politician / banking heir & talk show host / philanthropist . henry himself went on to follow in his father’s footsteps and serve as a us senator for two terms & currently is the ceo of berkowitz capital . ( relationship: it’s never been perfect but the love is clear in the relationship & he’s been much better at being supportive of her in recent years . certainly a daddy’s little girl even when you do wrong you can’t do much wrong type of situation ) mother : austen sylvia rachelson-berkowitz ( 48 years old ) was born & raised in westminster , england up until her teens when she & her mother moved to washington dc after her mother had become the incumbent uk ambassador to the united states . austen was crowned miss usa at the age of 20 & later went on to follow in her families long time involvement in politics ( holding former offices as a us representative as well as governor for two terms ) . today she spends much of her time putting her law degree to work on criminal cases . ( relationship: they’ve never been close & have never quite seen eye to eye . since jalissa was nineteen she & her mom haven’t said more than ten words to one another & if they have it’s never necessarily positive ) brother: kenneth patrick berkowitz ( 24 years old ) was born in fort lauderdale , florida & raised in hilton grove . he shares the same parents as jalissa and is the couples first born & only son . kenneth is following in the berkowitz footsteps & is heading the uk sector for berkowitz capital since graduating from columbia university a couple years back . ( relationship: the two siblings have always been close. they had a similar friend group growing up & alot of the same interests . they’re still rather close to this day despite being countries away from one another ) sister: sariah rachel berkowitz ( 19 years old ) was born in fort lauderdale , florida & raised in hilton grove . she shares the same parents as jalissa and is the couples last born . sariah currently attends stanford university where she’s on a pre med track . ( relationship: the two were often at each other’s necks growing up . mostly because how similar they are to one another . as of recently the two have grown close , though , with sariah fessing up to looking up to her older sister ) social class: upper education: highschool diploma ( hilton grove highschool g. 2015 ) career: youtuber ( from 2014-present ) , pornographic actress ( from 2016-present ) , podcaster (from 2018-present ) notoriety: being apart of the prominent berkowitz family , having one of the top 10 most watched pornographic movies , her podcast with her best friend tickets to our downfall & her youtube channel callmejalissa . weight: 122lbs height: 5′4″ hair color: brown ( with blonde highlights ) eye color: hazel ( wears blue contacts sometimes ) positive traits: whimsical , astute , extroverted , affectionate , quick , intelligent , friendly , ambitious , passionate , humorous , loyal , compassionate , effervescent negative traits: opportunistic , recalcitrant , hypocritical , vain , critical , stubborn , distant , sneaky , abrasive , sarcastic , obsessive , vengeful , reckless , arrogant likes: black coffee , birthday parties , lying , sunshine , baby pink , glossy lips , gossiping , stand up comedy , sunkissed skin , dogs , peanut butter , popping champagne bottles , driving with the windows down , swimming , mimosas , oversized sweaters , taco bell , cranberry juice , makeup , football , cosmetic work , arguing , online shopping , exotic foods , jewelry the price of a car , fresh berries , roller skating dislikes: liars , driving in the snow , her mother , jelly , basketball , bad drivers , when people lie about their cosmetic work , sushi , hateful people , disloyalty , overly emotional people , romance , being alone , astrology enthusiasts , hospitals , silence , cheap perfume , criticism , traffic , being late , red wine , short hair , anything banana or grape flavored hobbies: reading magazines , dancing to her newly curated playlist in the mirror , gossiping with her grandparents , video editing , meddling , going for brunch , goat yoga , drinking alcohol while snuggled up in bed , painting alternate universe cartoons , attending big soirees , making impulsive decisions , smoking weed , sleepovers with her closest friends , suntanning on yacht decks , late night instagram lives , marilyn monroe movie marathons chara inspo: kourtney kardashian , emily nelson ( a simple favor ) , tan france ( queer eye ) , evie zamora ( thirteen ) , rebekah mikaelson ( the vampire diaries ) , jennifer check ( jennifer’s body ) , gabrielle solis ( desperate housewives ) , regina george ( mean girls ) , lucifer morningstar ( lucifer ) , kathryn merteuli ( cruel intentions ) , veronica lodge ( riverdale ) , chanel oberlin ( scream queens ) , samantha jones ( sex and the city ) , andie anderson ( how to lose a guy in 10 days ) , blair waldorf ( gossip girl ) , naomi lapaglia ( wolf of wall street ) , maddy perez ( euphoria ) , kat hernandez ( euphoria ) fashion inspo: fran drescher , bella hadid , alex chung , madison beer , romee strijd , kendall jenner , selena gomez career inspo: tana mongeau , jordan lipscombe , sofia franklyn , alexdandra cooper , lana rhodes , abella danger headcanons: she has one hundred percent smashed the windows in an exes car , she drives a black range rover , vandalized an exes home before , says “ harely quinn is my spirit animal “ once a day , is not the type of ask if you’re okay with her vlogging , has slept with rock stars and couldn’t care less that they’re basically the age of dirt at this point , is actually very sad when she’s not putting on the vivacious front in front of people , dances on tables whens she’s drunk , its not a party unless someone has offered her a line

𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀

the berkowitz family name has long been one that holds prestige & power . among the 1% for over a century . they are a prominent banking family that has had their hands in the pots of nearly every big banking company across the nation . coming into the united states after word broke of the california gold rush back in 1849 , the berkowitz brother’s were of the lucky few to acquire pounds of gold by the thousands . later founding what would become a leading investment bank known as berkowitz capital . the generations to follow would capitalize on the head start given to them by the two brothers . expanding the family company as well as the knowledge of the family name through heavy involvement in politics alongside the kennedy’s . since as early as 1953 there has always been a berkowitz family member actively appointed to a political role ( governor , senator , representative , us ambassador , etc ) . although the families roots within the states are documented in the capital of california , as generations went on they made their way over to the east coast , with most of the family members now residing in southern florida .

the rachelson family is a prominent political family . synonymous with power & eloquence . with their rise initially taking place in the british parliament . many escaped to england from germany between 1933-1935 . they hadn’t settled into the states until jocelyn rachelson ( jalissa’s maternal grandmother ) was appointed the united kingdoms ambassador to the united states in 1987 . the rachelson’s have since had heavy involvement in the us government , both behind the scenes and at the forefront . much of the rachelson family have stayed within the european union ( germany & poland ) as well as england . although the few that followed jocelyn to the states now reside in washington dc and the tri-state area .

henry & austen had met through their mutual friends . it didn’t take long before the two became a rather public couple , a supercouple if you would ( similar to that of a brangelina of the 1% ) . although they’d met in new york the two decided that when it was time to start a family they wanted to move to hilton grove , an island austen had eyed for years . instead they found themselves moving down to fort lauderdale where henry had grown up . before they knew it , they were three kids deep in settling down in fort lauderdale . austen’s anger from never wanting to build a life in florida started to tumble into the relationship & the daily life of the family & so in an effort to recover the marriage henry agreed to moving the family up to hilton grove , where they have resided ever since .

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀 𝐄𝐑𝐀

jalissa was born the second of three children and oh boy does she suffer from middle child syndrome , riddled with a envy and a need to be in the mix . the berkowitz household , although , from the outside looking in looked like a fabulous family life was anything but . jalissa , like her siblings , was born on a pedestal & what came attached with that was even higher expectations from her parents . her parents found a way to be extremely authoritarian & uninvolved all at the same time . they were very dismissive if you disappointed them & everything jalissa did seemingly did just that .

for a long time she was obsessed with getting her parents approval , she’d turned life into a silent competition between herself & her siblings . she befriended only the people her parents approved of , did all the events they asked her to do , did everything she could to excel academically & only dated people who were of benefit to her parents ( people who’s parents where also in high places ) .

during highschool she joined the model un , debate team , and soccer team . if it were up to jalissa & not her parents she’d probably had joined the cheerleading team but her mother would never let that fly . it was too “ self indulgent “ to fit the family brand ( if only she’d known what would be coming years later lol ) .

it wasn’t until she was seventeen that she started to deviate from her parents wishes . of course , the catalyst to this was a boy , one her parents hadn’t really approved of but jalissa was completely head over heels for him . he really helped her boost her confidence to be her own person ? and not allow her parents to treat her like a puppet . with his encouragement she started her youtube channel , something she’d wanted to do for years but her mother had shot down the idea anytime jalissa brought it up . it was once again too “ self indulgent ” . the channel known as callmejalissa was an outlet for her , talking to a camera was the most heard she’d felt in seventeen years of her life . and god she knew that was hella sad . she really grew to view her subscribers as family & by the time her channel was brought to her parents attention ( more like her mothers , her dad had found her channel just four months after she’d made it and promised not to tell her mother so long as she was smart about what she posted ) she was about to turn eighteen and there wasn’t much they could do to stop her from doing it .

at eighteen she’d graduated highschool salutatorian with offers from university of pennsylvania & brown university . in all honesty she didn’t wnat to go to college , she saw it as a complete waste of her time . it wasn’t like she was going to do anything with the degree anyways . it would simply be a point of bragging for her parents at events & at this point she really could care less about them being able to brag to their friends . she knew she had to play along though , because this was the same year she was going to receive her first half of her trust fund ( a whoopin 500m , yes her trust fund in total will be 1b her parents are grossly wealthy guys ) so she bamboozled ? her parents , promising she’d committed to attending penn just so they’d allow for the money to be released to her account . she moved out of the house , literally moving into a house of her own a couple blocks from her parents house & claimed she was living in pennsylvania for college . we stan a sneaky binch .

two months later her parents were at her front door , though , ready to give her an ear full . her mother basically disowned her at this point . telling her how every year jalissa found a new way to be a bigger disappointment . her dad kind of played good cop , like he normally would because her mother often dug into her pretty deeply . to the point where any insecurity ( even though with the way she carries herself you’d never think she has any ) she has stems from something her mother has said / called her in the past . if henry berkowitz had a soft spot , it was certainly jalissa , it that had only grown clearly with the harsher austen became on the girl .

a few months before her nineteenth birthday a sex tape was released of jalissa cheating on her boyfriend at the time . it was a drunken mistake she’d made around the time of her mother basically disowning her , but that explanation did suffice for her boyfriend who inevitably broke things off with her . although this was a horrific time she’d received an abundance of offers to film more tapes . it was enticing to say the least . she was someone who loved intercourse but also had this deeply rooted desire to get back at her mother ? and what better way to do so then to something so far left from what her mother was about . this was next level disappointment in the eyes of austen berkowitz . the only thing that made sense ( in her mind ) was to dive head first into the porn industry .

like you’d expect her parents had a fit when they found out about her new career choice . although her internet fame had soared to new heights and her youtube & instagram followers were loving every second of this move . her mom was currently serving as governor and has since not been able to get elected in the political world since jalissa became one of the top porn stars around . they basically blacklisted her & jalissa feels no remorse , she’s gone so far as telling her mother “ sucks to be shunned , huh? ” .

although it took her dad a while to come around , he cares far too much to shut her out .

not to long after jalissa & her best friend started their podcast tickets to our downfall , it’s a mix of call her daddy & the basement yard , basically two besties talking on a level that most people wouldn’t want to leave the privacy of their own space , giving advice , hoe tricks , and telling funny stories of their past . it a total hit & one of jalissa’s favorite things to do .

she live sin the same house she has since she was eighteen . she lives on her own with three dogs and a cat . she absolutely hates being alone and so maggie ( a tan corgi puppy ) , louis ( a yellow lab puppy ) , humphrey ( a chocolate lab ) , and cedric ( a orange scottish fold ) are her babies that keep her sane in her big ole home .

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

as you can tell jalissa is chaotic , impulsive , reactive , and overall just searching for attention . she doesn’t care if the attention she receives is for the wrong reason or not , as long as she’s getting it . despite this she’s a good person ? i promise . she’s very friendly , loves a good joke & having a good time . very fun loving . she’s the type of person to try and bring up everyone else’s mood even when she isn’t feeling 100% herself . she’s loyal to those she deems are loyal to her . sometimes she’s bad a seeing who is actually loyal to her though & will be disloyal to someone who actually has her back ? oops . she’s definitely not the type to sugar coat anything for you , she tells it like it is & refuses to apologize if that hurts your feelings . if you cross her ? i’ll be praying for you . she’s the type to fuck your s/o , tell your boss some wild story about you & dump alcohol over your head at an event all in the matter of a week . don’t get her going , she’s absolutely relentless . with that said she’d very affectionate ... ? you can catch her hugging up on whoever is next to her at all times . touch is her love language , because lord knows she’s no sweetheart . she hates the stereotype of porn stars / internet personalities being ditzy , although she didn’t attend university she was accepted into two ivy leagues based off her academic abilities alone . the girl is intelligent & enjoys having a clever conversation from time to time .

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

a girl squad or just a squad in general really , give my baby her lil group of people please

her ex boyfriend from when she was seventeen ( he’s mentioned above ) but basically he’s the one who encouraged her to not let her parents make her their puppet , they didn’t approve of him , jalissa fell head over heels for him . they would’ve dated for nearly two years because the sex tape of her cheating on him came out .

the person she cheated on her ex with ? maybe they’re the one who leaked the sex tape ? maybe they never even told jalissa they were recording ?

her best friend that she does the tickets to our downfall podcast with ? these two are literally like twins , just two peas in a pod ( pun intended )

fans of her work ? and im not taking about her youtube channel or podcast

ex hook ups that think she’s crazy ? she probably gave them reason to think so lbr

frenemies give me blair & serena circa season one type of shit

just plain old enemies , they were probably friends at one point or maybe just have always disliked one another ?

smoking buddies were they literally just hot box cars together and munch on taco bell talking about why sound vibrates & shit

someone who isn’t afraid to confess their love for jalissa but her damaged ass refuses to confess her feelings for them ? so it’s just this constant cycle of them having a good time , them being sweet & her just gets weirdly quite & starring at them before she complaining about them going and ruining the vibes

she’s a bad influence on them ? they’re a good influence on her ? ride or dies ? partners in crime ? only friends when there is a substance involved ? sugar baby vibes ? unlikely friends ? flings ? crush ? friends with benefits ? everytime they are around one another its a fight ? someone she lets crash at her place sometimes ? someone she’s backstabbed & maybe they don’t even know she has & they still think she’s a ride or die for them ?

#hilton:intro #❛ 🍑 ── 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑. / INTRO.

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