─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"you have never looked so beautiful, did you know that?" liam dunbar questioned.
it was now summer of 2013. liam had turned seventeen already in april while his girlfriend's birthday was just at the end of the month. the two were in liam's bathroom, moonee zhao-mccall perched on the side of the dunbar-geyer's bathtub.
moonee loved to change her appearance, everyone knew that. from the piercings she put in her face and the colours in her hair. she didn't care how she looked to other people, she changed her looks to make herself happy.
and maybe her boyfriend happy too.
so the said boyfriend was chopping off her long, eighteen inch, jet black hair into a ten inch bob. just to symbolise the new school year and the new age she would be.
"thanks, li." she smiled, watching as he swept up the chunks of her hair that were sprawled onto the bathroom tiles.
"breakfast is ready, guys!" liam's mother called from downstairs.
"coming, mom!" liam shouted back. "come on!"
the two rushed down the wooden staircase to find liam's mother by the kitchen counter with croissants, two glasses of orange juice and cut up fruit waiting for them.
the brunette woman grinned the second she saw the girl. "you look amazing."
"that's what i told her." liam smiled as he slid into one of the seats.
"thank you, jenna." moonee beamed, taking the seat beside him. "and thank you for the breakfast."
"of course!" jenna dunbar said. "you know you're welcome anytime. but you two better hurry, practice starts soon. liam, are you driving?"
"i wish." liam shook his head. "moon insists that she needs more practice."
"it's not fair, you always drive us everywhere." moonee spoke, her mouth packed with melon. "it should be equal. shouldn't it, jenna?"
"of course." jenna nodded in agreement, making moonee stick her tongue out at her son. "so, was the hair an impulse thing or have you wanted to have it short for ages?"
"she actually just woke up and the first thing she said was 'i want to cut all my hair off'." liam explained. "i thought she meant like a buzz cut, but she was close to tears when i pulled out the hair clipper."
jenna laughed at that, shaking her head at the young couple. she loved it every time moonee was over because the two truly entertained her. the dunbar women wished her husband wasn't working the morning shift at the hospital, so he could've seen this encounter.
"we're kinda doing a reverse here, jenna." moonee spoke. "liam's growing out his hair and i'm getting mine shorter."
jenna reached over and tussled the boy's now longer brown hair, making him groan. "i do love that you're growing it out. what's made you decide to do it?"
"he wants us to have the same length." moonee shrugged.
"that's not true!"
"do you think he'd look good with some coloured highlights, jenna?" moonee asked. "maybe hot pink?"
"i think it would really bring out his eyes." jenna nodded. "just like how the nail polish did. you have such a talent with colour matching, moonee."
"thanks, jenna." moonee gave her a toothy grin, knowing how much it was annoying liam.
"we should go now, thank you for the breakfast mom." liam quickly got up from his chair. he stacked he and moonee's empty dishes in the sink and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek.
"bye you two, drive safe!" jenna stated. "hope to see you soon, moonee."
"and what about me?" liam questioned, tossing his moonee the car keys.
moonee caught them in her left hand. "she's already cursed with having to see you everyday."
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
his girlfriend dropped him off at school and left to get changed into her lacrosse kit. but liam was laying on the floor of the boy's locker room, his best friend laying on the bench, face down.
franchie had been devastated for the last part of summer, where her girlfriend revealed that she would be leaving town to protect her sister. and liam was sad too that he had lost such a close friend, and the realisation hit him that this was the last year he'd be spending with his dear girlfriend.
corey was already in his lacrosse uniform and pads and his boyfriend was there for moral support, trying to get the boy dressed and keep fran from sobbing again.
"i can't handle this." liam groaned.
mason sighed in exasperation as he and corey gave up and decided to just start dressing liam themselves.
"yes, you can!" mason encouraged him. "you were literally with her this morning, she's not going away anytime soon."
mason grabbed liam under his arms and pulled him into a seated position, so he could help put on a long sleeved shirt.
"and you've handled so much worse than this! you're practically the alpha now!" mason reassured him.
"for now." liam muttered. "soon i'll be nothing without her."
"liam, can you help me with this, please?" corey muttered, trying to put on his shoulder pads.
"hayden left me." franchie muttered.
mason moved over to her, pulling her up too. "she moved. to protect her sister. and it's not like she dumped you or anything."
"she basically did." franchie sighed. "at least your girlfriend is still here."
"not for long." liam continued. "who's to say she won't get rid of me once she moves onto uc berkley?"
"liam, why is your arm so heavy?"
"okay, scott says coach is losing it." mason read the new message on his phone. "and moonee is for some reason tackling everyone... i think she's bored?"
liam pouted. "scott's leaving, too." he leaned forward, as though he was about to lay face-down on the ground again, but corey pulled him back into a seated position.
mason, too, was starting to become impatient with liam and franchie's loud groaning, as he first crouched down to look the boy in the eyes.
"going to college is not leaving, okay?" he exclaimed. "it's called growing up! and we're all going to be going to different colleges eventually."
corey stood up straight, looking at mason with an offended look. "i thought we were both applying to ucla...?"
liam gasped in betrayal. "you're going to the same college?" he asked.
"i'm going to be alone forever." franchie continued.
the two boys gave each other a look. corey placed a hand on franchie's leg. "you're not alone fran, you've got us."
"and we love you very, very much." mason explained. "don't we liam?" he smacked the boy's arm.
liam quickly nodded. "yeah, i love you fran. but not if you're going to ucla too—"
"that is not the point!" mason grabbed liam's lacrosse stick before shoving it into his arms, next seizing his helmet and sticking it on the end of the stick.
"then what is the point?
mason and corey each took one of liam's arms and lifted him to his feet. though he did nothing to help the two with the weight of his body, causing corey and mason to struggle in their efforts to drag him out of the locker room.
"come on, fran."
the girl groaned, pulling her self up to her feet, following behind the boys.
"the point is that summer's almost over. we're about to be seniors. this is about to be the best year of our entire lives, and you're still captain of the lacrosse team, so come on and—"
while the two tried to drag liam through the door, backwards, they tripped over liam's feet and tumbled to the ground . franchie let out a laugh, making them smile that she was finally a little bit happy.
"coach is making diaz captain." mason announced, making the boy quickly get up.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"whatever happened with those wolves is definitely supernatural." liam stated.
the three were in scott's room, liam and scott were finishing up the latter's suitcase packaging for the university of davis. while moonee sat criss-crossed on the bed, looking through her psychology textbook.
they were discussing what the two had seen in the woods during lacrosse practice, after nolan holloway had come face to face with a wolf.
scott groaned from exhaustion as he and liam continued to tru to push dow the suitcase latch. "well, i wouldn't say definitely... it could have been a parasitic infection. i mean, we get dogs coming into the clinic with botflies coming out of their skin."
"yuck!" moonee cringed.
"can that happen to people?" liam questioned.
"yeah. yeah, they crawl under their skin, lay some eggs..." scott began as they lifted up what they thought was the sealed suitcase. "and eventually, they—" but as they laid the suitcase by moonee's legs, it burst open, forcing all of scott's clothes to spring out. "burst." scott sighed.
"should've asked me for help." moonee sang out.
"you wouldn't have helped even if we did."
"you're right." moonee nodded.
the two perched down next to each other on either side of moonee, with liam anxiously running his fingers through his hair. after a moment of awkward silence, scott looked at liam.
"so, you wanna talk about it?" scott spoke up.
liam gave his alpha a confused look. "i thought we were talking about it..."
"no, that's not what i'm talking about." scott shook his head.
"he's talking about how you practically turned into an actual wolf on the field today." moonee spoke up, biting down on her pen.
"oh. that. me" liam chuckled anxiously and glanced away.
"yeah, you—your fangs, your eyes, the growl..." scott listed.
"it's not like we've gotta talk about this." liam began to feel embarrassed to be scolded in the presence of his girlfriend.
scott sighed. "you just need to remember your mantra: "what three things cannot long be hidden?"
liam bit his lip, growing quite awkward. "look, i haven't had to use that in—"
"what three things cannot long be hidden?" scott repeated, not wanting liam to talk himself out of the conversation.
"the sun, the moon." he looked back at moonee, holding back a sad smile. "and the truth."
"again."
liam took a deep breath and shut his eyes. moonee had now taken her attention away from her work, watching the boy. "the sun... the moon... and the truth."
"better." scott smiled with pride.
liam looked at the busted suitcase in front of them. "you don't have another suitcase, do you?"
scott reached for something underneath his bed and pulled it out. it was the roll of duct tape that stiles had given him, which made the boy smile in memory of his best friend.
"i got duct tape!" scott exclaimed, tossing the roll to liam. "and a lovely sister willing to help."
moonee glanced around the room. "you have? that's nice. where is she?"
"very funny."
⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
alexandra daddario is playing his mom for like two chapters!! they have the same piercing blue eyes. and fun fact jenna was originally going to be played by sarah canning