CHAPTER THREE
HOW THE TURNTABLES

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     At least when Alana Jane was at home, she was able to stay in her room where she could simply mind her own business. Her mother was already home by the time she arrived but her father was still at work and the first thing she did was say hi to her mother when she walked inside.

     "How was your first day?" her mother asked and Alana Jane pursed her lips.

     "Only two social encounters for today," she said while tilting her head.

     "Are you still avoiding your friends after all these months?" her mother questioned and Alana Jane's mood went from okay to sour in a second.

     "They're not my friends anymore, Mom. Friends aren't supposed to abandon you when things get rough," Alana Jane said as her shoulders dropped. "I'm going to go change."

     She turned around and went upstairs to her room and closed the door completely. She remembered the day she told her mother that she was no longer a member of Scott's pack, but she simply thought the solution would be to give him time and everything would be fixed. A small but important detail to remember was that Alana Jane's parents were completely oblivious to the supernatural world of Beacon Hills and they didn't know anything about Alana Jane's psionic abilities. So when Alana Jane told her mother that she was no longer a part of Scott's pack, she actually told her that she and Scott were no longer friends. Since then, that was all her mother knew and there was nothing else. Her father on the other hand just responded with nothing more than a shrug and dismissal telling her that she would soon get over it. Alana Jane could never tell her parents the truth and that's what sucked about having the powers she had.

     The dark haired girl sighed as she pulled her shirt over head just leaving her in her baggy jeans and pink bra. She tossed the beige material into the laundry basket right beside the closet and grabbed a white t-shirt. Once she had that on, she took off her jeans and her skin was suddenly touched by the cool air in her bedroom. She put the jeans in the basket as well and pulled a pair of sweatpants up her legs and tied the drawstring to hold them over her hips. She could simply relax and get her homework done without any distractions and let the day fall behind her.

     Talking to Scott for the first time in months was a game changer. The last time they spoke, she was parting ways from him and the others and not a word was said between them since that day. She could've let her hostility get the better of her and let him fight with that man on his own. She wanted to just walk away and let him fight him by himself but even after everything, she still helped him to defeat him. She still used her powers to help him no matter how much she wanted to just walk away.

     In order to release the stress from her mind, she did what she always did when her mind was filled with unwanted thoughts and stress. She painted. She grabbed a small and thin blank canvas and sat at the wooden desk where she did most of her paintings. There was paint splattered on the surface from all her other paintings and the jar of brushes sat in the corner. She picked up a graphite pencil and started lightly sketching the image in her head onto the canvas. After a lot of back and forth of sketching and erasing, Alana Jane put the pencil back in its jar with all the other ones and opened the top drawer which was filled with tubes and jars of acrylic paints.

     She lost track of how much time she spent working on her new painting which meant she got what she wanted and that was to forget what she was stressing over. She was even surprised when her mother came into her room to tell her that dinner was ready and even after she was finished, she went back to her painting. Her parents had already cleaned up and gone to bed but she was still awake with paint staining her fingertips until she heard tapping against her window. She ignored it the first time but once she heard it a second time, she decided that she couldn't release her stress if someone was busy tossing rocks at her window. Alana Jane sighed as she opened the window and saw Stiles and Liam standing right outside while Stiles was getting ready to toss another rock.

     "Oh, so you are awake," he said as he dropped the rock and Alana Jane rolled her eyes.

     "What the hell do you two want?" she questioned. "My parents just went to bed ten minutes ago."

     "We need your help with something," Liam said.

     "Give me one good reason why I should help an annoying little shit like you?"

     "Liam's not so bad," Stiles said with his hands on his hips.

     "I wasn't talking about Liam," Alana Jane said with her eyebrows raised and the young werewolf coughed into his arm awkwardly while Stiles sighed.

     "AJ─"

     "You don't get to call me that," Alana Jane said through gritted teeth. "Not anymore."

     "Alana Jane," Stiles corrected himself. "We need you, okay?"

     "That's what you said three months ago. Then you said you didn't need me anymore. What makes this time any different?" Alana Jane asked while leaning over the windowsill.

     "We need to follow someone and we need to know what he's planning but obviously, we can't look into other people's minds," the pale boy said and Alana Jane laughed.

     "You mean to tell me that you only need me because you want me to follow somebody around and look into his head for you?" she questioned and Liam shrugged his shoulders.

     "That was pretty much the idea," he said and Stiles nudged him with his elbow.

     "No," Alana Jane said as she stood up straight and went to close the window but Stiles stopped her.

     "What do you mean no?" he asked.

     "Don't you understand English? My answer is no, I will not leave my house or use my powers to spy on someone," Alana Jane said while glaring at the two boys, especially at Stiles. "None of you were there when I needed you and you said you didn't need me anymore so you have a lot of nerve coming to my window and asking me for my help."

     Alana Jane closed the window and the curtains and even turned off the light to let the boys know that she was done talking. She was just going to have to finish the painting some other time but she was too tired to clean up the mess on her desk. Once she crawled into her bed, many thoughts started to cross her mind. Did Scott and Stiles ever feel guilty when they turned her away, the same way she felt guilty for turning Stiles and Liam away just now? Did they hesitate the same way she did?

     Alana Jane sighed as she lay down and covered her entire body with the blanket. They probably didn't feel bad since they made their decision without even blinking so why did she keep debating herself? Why did she debate herself when she saw Scott fighting the man with the talons? Why was she feeling bad about sending Stiles and Liam away when they came to her for help? At the same time, it was ironic how the people who shunned and abandoned her were the same people who came to her for help out of all the people they could go to. To be fair, Liam didn't know what happened but Stiles did. She wondered if they were ever going to tell Liam and the rest of the pack what really happened and why they didn't see or talk to Alana Jane anymore.

     To be completely honest, she shouldn't care about what goes on with them anymore but she couldn't help but wonder about what was going on with them since they went their separate ways. She sighed heavily as she closed her eyes, wishing that things could've been different. But truth be told, nothing was ever going to be the same again.

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     The second day of school was supposed to be better than the first but not in Alana Jane's world. For her, nothing was different and she still felt the same as she did before. Even when she was at her locker, Scott still stopped by and he could smell the aggravation radiating off of her as soon as she saw him standing there.

     "Before you get mad─"

     "Too late," she said abruptly. "I thought I made it clear that you and Stiles stay the hell away from me."

     "I know. I just wanted to talk to you about last night. Stiles told me about last night, about how he asked you for help and you refused," Scott said and Alana Jane scoffed.

     "Perhaps it didn't settle with you guys. I don't owe you shit. I am not obligated to help you when you ask for it," Alana Jane said and Scott sighed.

     "I understand how you may feel─"

     "How I may feel? You don't know anything about how I really feel. None of you guys understand anything. You are not the one who was abandoned by the people who were supposed to be your friends. You are not the one who was betrayed that night. Until you know what that feels like, you can't understand how I feel at all," Alana Jane said before slamming her locker shut, making Scott flinch as she walked away.

     To hell with him and everyone else.

this is kind of shorter than what i planned but it's okay. how is everyone liking this story so far? if you are confused about what happened between alana jane and the pack, it will all be explained later.