c h a p t e r t h i r t y s e v e n
restraining order

"You will not go within fifty feet of Jackson Whittemore. You will not speak to him. You will not approach him. You will not assault or harrass him physically or psychologically." Sheriff Stilinski dropped the clipboard he was reading from onto the table that the three teenagers were sitting at.

It clanged on the metal table, causing Harper to look up, although she regretted that decision as soon as she did.

Rose, Melissa, and Jackson's dad were standing around them. Melissa looked extremely angry at Scott, who was just looking down at the table, unable to make eye contact with his mother. Stiles just looked ashamed and Harper was devastated.

It seemed like lately all she was doing was making empty promises to her grandma about making her proud, and then going ahead and breaking them. Harper hadn't seen her grandma angry in such a long, long time, but there she was, a scowl on her face as she burned holes into the back of her granddaughter's head.

A heavy silence filled the room until Stiles spoke up, "what about school?"

"You can attend classes while attempting to maintain a fifty foot distance." Noah replied, clearly tired and stressed out.

"Okay, what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time and there's only two stalls available and they're only right next to each other?" Stiles questioned, and Harper didn't know if he was doing it to make fun of the whole situation or if he was genuinely being serious.

Stiles was so sarcastic that was hard to tell sometimes.

Harper sent Stiles a small glare while Jackson's dad huffed. Noah folded his arms across his chest and Melissa sighed loudly. Scott didn't even bother looking up from the table, completely done with Stiles.

"I'll just hold it."

...

Harper looked down at the floor while Rose proceeded to yell at her. Yes, yell at her. Rose Verum was yelling at Harper, and Harper didn't blame her. It was almost refreshing to finally hear what Rose had been thinking the whole time, instead of just getting dissapointing looks like normal.

"I can't believe you, Harper Verum!" She yelled, her voice slightly scratchy. "Between what's going on with me and the packing, I can't believe you'd do this! It's almost like you want me to hate you, Harper. Are you really that mad at me?"

Harper was sure that her friends could hear what her grandma was yelling at her, causing her to blush. She hated being yelled at, especially when it was in front of people. What her grandma was saying was completely embarrassing her, and she was clearly talking about her lung cancer, which made the matter a whole lot worse.

"No, grandma." Harper whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "It-it was just a joke."

Rose chuckled dryly, " a joke? A joke!? Harper Jean Verum, this is not 'a joke'. You have been given a restraining order! What do you think your parents would have said, huh? Certainly not good things, that's for sure. Why do you feel the need to go against everything I do lately? Sneaking out, lying, getting detentions, getting called into the prinicipal's office, getting a bloody restraining order! Enough's enough, Harper. You need to tell me what's going on right now."

It hurt Harper what Rose had said about her parents, but she knew that it was true. Her parents had been such quiet, average people. All they ever wanted from Harper was good grades and a good attitude. She seemed to be keeping one of them, but the latter had been a bit harder lately.

"Nothing's going on, grandma." Harper mumbled, tears glossing her eyes over.

Rose shook her head. "Well, clearly something is going on. You can rebel against me all you want Harper, but it's not going to bring your parents back. I'm all you have for now, so you need to tell me what you're thinking. You need to tell me what the hell is going through that head of yours."

Harper wanted Rose to stop talking about her parents. She knew if she carried on talking about them then Harper would have a break down, and she really didn't want to do that.

"It's not about mum and dad." Harper's voice was thick with emotion as she looked up at her grandmother.

Rose raised her thin eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"I know they're dead, and I know that nothing will ever bring them back. I'm not doing this on purpose. I don't mean to be such a failure, grandma. I want to make you proud and I want to make them proud- but I just keep messing up. And I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." She sniffled to stop herself from crying.

Her grandma wouldn't stop shaking her head as she turned away from Harper. "I'll meet you back at home. You're grounded."

She left, the doors slamming behind her. Harper stood in the middle of the hallway, ignoring the sympathetic looks she was getting from Stiles and Scott, and even Noah and Melissa. The Empath could feel their sympathy, and she hated the feeling with everything inside her.

Harper turned around to face them. "I'll see you at school." Her voice showed no emotion whatsoever, and she wasn't even crying. She just looked so calm.

She nodded towards her two best friends, before going after her grandma. Stiles turned to look at his dad, giving him a pleading look. Noah nodded, and Stiles went after his girlfriend, running down the hall.

He opened the double doors, seeing her walking down the pavement. Stiles called her name, causing Harper to stop. She turned around just as he caught up to her, wrapping his arms around her petite frame. He whispered soothing words and ran his long fingers through her hair, holding her close to his chest.

Harper didn't cry, she was too tired to cry. She just closed her eyes and inhaled Stiles' scent, a feeling of calmness rushing through her. She held onto him as if he was all she had left, which was soon to be true.

...

Harper walked beside Allison into the school library, attempting to ignore the camera that was so obviously following them down the hall. They moved behind a book shelf and the hunter pulled her tablet out of her bag, pushing it through a gap in between the books, Scott grabbing it from the other side.

"It's everything that Lydia could translate." Allison spoke, making it look like she was talking to only Harper. "And trust me, she was very confused."

Harper nodded along to what Allison was saying, putting a show on for the camera that was watching them.

"Yeah, what'd you tell her?" Scott mumbled from the other side, scrolling through the pages of the beastiary on the tablet.

"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." Allison cringed, trying not to laugh.

Stiles looked deadly serious on the other side of the book shelf as he stared at the two girls. "I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

Everyone turned to stare at him and Harper couldn't help but giggle as Allison became more awkward, giving him a nod of the head.

"O-oh." She pursed her lips together. "Great."

"Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" Scott questioned, looking up from the tablet to Allison.

Harper shook her head. "No, not really. Although, Stiles was right about the murderers." She mumbled, shooting a quick smile at her boyfriend.

"Yes!" Stiles fist pumped the air.

"In the beastiary, it calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance. There's also this story about some South American priest who used the Kanima in order to kill all of the murderers in his village-" Harper carried on.

"All right, see? So maybe it's not all that bad." Stiles looked at Scott.

Harper grabbed a book that was on the shelf beside her, opening it on a random page and pretending to flick through it in order to make Allison and herself look more natural.

Harper sent him a look. "You didn't let me finish. Eventually, the bond grew so strong that the Kanima just killed whoever the priest wanted it to."

"All bad, all very, very bad." Stiles muttered.

Allison nodded, "here's the thing, though." She whispered, grabbing a book. "The Kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be until-"

Scott cut her off, "'until it resolves that in its past which manifested it'." He read from the tablet in his hands.

"Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, then I could have told you that myself." Stiles muttered, rolling his eyes.

Harper bit her lip. "What if it has something to do with his real parents?" She wondered out loud.

Scott nodded at her. "Yeah, does anybody know what actually happened to them?" Scott looked around at the three of them.

"Lydia might." Stiles guessed.

"What if she doesn't know anything?" The werewolf questioned.

Allison and Harper placed their books back in the shelves as Allison spoke up, "well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me, so... I'll talk to him myself."

"Okay, what do I do?" Scott asked.

"You have a make-up exam, Scott." Harper reminded him, and Stiles nodded along with her.

Allison moved her hand through the shelf, gently holding his. "Promise me." She mumbled.

Scott hesitated, "if he does anything, you run the other way."

Allison let go of his hand, standing up straighter. "I can take care of myself." She insisted in a hushed tone.

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me. If he does anything..."

"Like?"

"Anything... weird or bizarre- anything."

Stiles suddenly shoved his head through the shelf. "Anything evil." He hissed.

Allison gave him a look and pressed her hand against his forehead, shoving him back through the book shelf. Harper chuckled as her boyfriend let out a bunch of noises, scrambling to catch the book that he was holding.

...

Harper had insisted on going along with Allison to find Jackson, since she had nothing better to do. It was either that, or go to her meeting with Morrell, and Harper didn't really feel like talking about her feelings today. Harper and Allison had both slipped off their heeled shoes when following him to the boys locker rooms, knowing that he would be able to hear them.

The shorter brunette placed her hand on the door handle just as it opened, causing the two girls to jump back in surprise. Harper had to hide an eye roll when she saw that it was just Matt leaving.

"Oh, you two scared the hell out of me." Matt chuckled, looking down at the shoes that they were both holding.

Harper forced a smile. "Oh, um, sorry, we- we were just, y'know- nothing." She scoffed nervously, glancing down at her cat socks and cringing.

"A- that's a- nice heels." He pointed at their shoes.

Allison looked down at them. "Oh, yeah. My feet were hurting, and so were Harper's. Yeah, both our feet hurting... at the same time." She nodded awkwardly.

"Same reason I never wear mine." Matt joked, actually causing Harper to let out a small laugh.

Allison clearly didn't get it. "What?" She tilted her head, confused.

"Uh, forget it." He shook his head at Allison.

Allison pursed her lips together. "Right... well, if you don't mind, I have someone to talk to." She put her hand on Harper's shoulder. "Harper's right here though, I'll be back in a minute."

Harper mentally glared at Allison as Allison slipped through the boys changing rooms door, leaving her alone with Matt.

Matt smiled at her, "hey, did you hear about the underground show?" He asked while Harper slipped her shoes back on. "Apparently they've got some big names spinning."

Harper looked up from her shoes and smiled politely at him. "Oh, you mean like a rave?"

"Oh, is it still a rave if you don't roll? I just call it a party. But hey, I've got a friend who can hook us up with tickets if you're down. You want me to get you one?" Matt spoke enthusiastically.

Harper tilted her head, "Oh, like a date? Because I have a boyfriend..."

Matt shook his head quickly, laughing nervously. "It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be." He rushed out, obviously afraid that she would say no.

Harper actually felt bad for him. "Okay, sure... As long as it's not a date, okay?"

Matt nodded, a smile on his face. "Yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Um, it's Friday, so... Looking forward to it."

"Yeah." Harper forced a nod and a smile as Matt began to walk down the hall, shooting her a thumbs up.

Harper sighed, closing her eyes for a second just as Scott came rushing down the steps and into the hallway. She looked at him in confusion as he rushed past her and into the locker room, slamming the door open.

The Empath followed him inside only to find Allison on the floor and Jackson frantically pulling his lacrosse shorts over his naked body. Scott looked between them both before his eyes landed on Jackson and he glared, anger radiating off of him.

"I-I'm fine." Allison stuttered. "Scott. Scott, I'm fine."

Jackson looked up, seeing Scott in the door way. Fear filled his eyes and Scott completely freaked out, running forwards and slamming into Jackson, sending him flying against some lockers. They fell down behind him, leaving Jackson furious.

"I have a restraining order!" He screamed, standing up and breathing heavily through his nostrils.

"Trust me," Scott scoffed. "I restrained myself."

And then Jackson launched himself at Scott, slamming him into the wall. Scott grabbed Jackson again, pulling him backwards only for Jackson to suddenly turn, throwing the werewolf into the shower area. Scott climbed back up, growling.

Harper pulled Allison away from them when the fight began to become too much, their bodies flying into walls everywhere, everything breaking around them. Harper had to look away, unable to watch one of her best friends get absolutely crushed by Jackson Whittemore.

Suddenly Jackson threw Scott so hard that Scott fell through the locker room door, landing on the floor outside with a loud grunt. Jackson proceeded to climb on top of him, ready for another go, when Erica pulled Jackson away and Stiles pulled Scott up. Harper and Allison followed them out quickly, Harper moving to stand beside her best friends.

"What the hell's going on?" Harris suddenly yelled from down the hall, quickly coming towards them all. "Hey! Enough, enough! What do you idiots think you're doing? Jackson! Calm down! Mr McCall, you wanna explain yourself? Stilinski? Verum?"

Nobody said anything until Matt suddenly appeared, holding out Allison's tablet. "You dropped this." He spoke.

Harris grabbed it before pointing at Scott and Jackson. "You and you- actually, all of you. Detention. Three o'clock."

—-
i HaVe A rEsTrAiNiNg OrDeR

IDK WHY BUT THAT LINE MAKES ME LAUGH SO HARD EVERY TIME HAHA