Aspen Juniper Veata has only ever known Beacon Hills to be a quiet and dainty town. Herself, along with her best friends Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski, had gone unnoticed by their peers in high school for as long as they could remember. Aspen ha...
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Mumbling incoherently to herself, Aspen attempted to wedge three of her books in her locker next to the empty water bottle and Stiles' lunch box. The bell for the next class rang three minutes ago, and she knew her teacher would have a fit if she were late again. After seeing her grades the other night, she couldn't afford any more useless absence. After a few more attempts, she resorted to angrily stacking everything and slipping out a notebook that she was pretty sure belonged to Scott and slammed her locker shut.
Pressing herself between two students who didn't care to move after countless pleads to move aside, she let her eyes downcast for a few seconds. Enough moments for her to stumble back the moment she felt herself slam into a chest. A yelp slipped her lips before a tight grip on her wrist hauls her from falling back anymore. After finding her vision again, her cheek immediately heats up when she sees Jackson standing before her, a smirk plastered on his face. But not wickedly.
"Jackson," she mumbled with uncertainty. She hasn't really spoken to him in a while, and whenever they did cross paths, it wasn't exactly friendly. And if she was being honest, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. A few students brushed her shoulder to get past, and she realized they were standing dead center of the congested hall. "S-sorry,'" she stammers after a couple of brutal seconds and shook her head with a weak smile, "I didn't see you--"
"No, no," Jackson laughed, the corners of his eye crinkling in an oddly adorable way that she bet Lydia gushed over. "It's all good. It's my fault."
His tone was jocular and sounded foreign on his tongue. Aspen tilted her head with a sheepish smile of her own, scrunching her nose at his odd behavior, but she masked the confusion with a light laugh. "Agree to mutual faults?"
Jackson laughed and nodded his head in agreement, shouldering his backpack. But he was still smiling--well, for better terms smirking. A smirk on Jackson's lips isn't an odd thing; the guy practically oozes cockiness. But it was what was in his eyes that caught her attention. Like he knew something.
"So you and Lahey? How's that going?" he asked, his voice deep yet chipper. It was like a gender switch of Lydia. Seeing Aspen's bewildered expression, he lifted a hand and chuckled, "Just wanted to see how things are holding up. His old man passing away must have been rough even if he was an asshole. But believe it or not, I know a thing or two about losing parents."
Aspen made sure not to show it, but it finally hit her that Jackson was adopted. He was the star lacrosse player. Who would think his life is anything but perfect. But it wasn't. She wondered if the boy has ever gone through an identity crisis, considering he's never met his biological parents.
She instead gave a nod of understanding, drumming her fingers on her notebook as she rolled back on her heels. To keep things light, she blew out a whistle and acted surprised, "Woah, that almost sounded since Jackson."
