How hard could it be? • LM / SS

Chapter 102

TRIGGER WARNING: binge eating

                         "Where'd all the
                                  time go?"

Jade shoved her house key back into her pocket, wanting nothing more than to shove the stupid thing through Stiles' head. The whole ride to her house had went from a full minute of silence to non-stop rambling until she shot him a glare, and the cycle continued. For someone who didn't want to be killed, he sure wasn't acting like it. Then Derek had started following the boy's lead, asking question upon question until she turned the volume on the radio up to thirty to shut them up.

"We're gonna wait here for Scott. We're gonna sit quietly. And we're not gonna call or talk to anyone," Stiles explained, blindly searching the wall for the circular light switch. Believe it or not, walking around in complete darkness was kind of difficult when he kept bumping into the coffee table and then the tv stand.

"Do I talk to you?" Derek asked, hoping the answer was no. He understood why Jade had snapped at the hyperactive boy at least nine times on their way over, because he never seemed to know when to close his mouth. And considering he had been so adamant that Jade was going to kill him, he hadn't done anything to prevent that. Instead, he just seemed to aggravate her even more, to the point where if she had killed him, he probably would have helped hide the body.

"No."

"Good."

"Fine."

"Who's gonna talk to him?"

Jade screamed, stamping her boot against the floor in frustration as she clutched her chest. "Fucking hell! You gave me a heart attack!"

"What are you guys doing here?" Rafael McCall asked, a bag of takeout food in his hands as he tried to analyse the suspicious teenagers.

"I live here, so that was a bit of a stupid question. And they're here because they seem to be my shadows and we need to wait for Scott," Jade explained, throwing her jacket onto the floor beside her black school bag. She had only worn the stupid thing once, and it seemed to be getting more use than her school bag. At this point, she was surprised she hadn't gotten in some kind of trouble for missing so much time. On the bright side, her grades were still good, which was the main thing that mattered.

Rafael ignored the girl's comment, after getting used to her sarcasm in the last few weeks. He kind of took pity on her in a way. She always seemed to be on her own recently, the usual giggles from her and Allison being a distant memory at this point. He had tried to check in on her a few times, but she had just acted defensive or blanked him. It was understandable though, given that she was always gonna side with Scott on her opinion of him. "I'm waiting for him too. We're supposed to have dinner. I brought extra, you guys hungry?"

"Yeah," Derek and Jade both answered at the same time, the girl already digging her way through the bag.

"No. We're not hungry," Stiles contradicted them, widening his eyes in warning. "All three of us aren't hungry. Thanks though."

"Speak for yourself, I pay him ten dollars a week to order me my food. If you think I'm leaving this here, you've got another thing coming for you," Jade scoffed, taking out the two plastic containers and setting them at the head of the table. The chicken curry and noodles were the only thing that kept her sane, kept her going until the end of the week.

Ever since Melissa had started picking up extra shifts at the hospital, Rafael had been helping out. He had done some repairs around the house, fixed Max's skateboard that had broke, taken Fern to the vet for her injections when the kids were in school and came around the evenings that Melissa wasn't home to have dinner with his son and the twins. He was trying, even Scott was willing to admit that.