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.*･｡. WAITING FOR SUPERMAN .*･｡.
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031.
LOIS' WEB.
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——

Lois and Luna walked by Allison's side as the three of them entered the library, acting casually as they observed the room. It now had cameras in every possible corner, ones that followed as you moved, and they gave Lois the creeps. She didn't like the idea that Allison's grandfather had put up cameras to watch their little group in their efforts to finding the kanima, nor did she like that her mother was the new receptionist and supply teacher.

   In fact, Lois hated it.

It felt like the Argents were taking over, and not for good reason. The family were trying to take over Beacon Hills, and succeeding.

   After another long conversation the night before, between Lois' father and Jackson's, it had eventually been decided that she wasn't going to be counted in the restraining order they had put in place.

Instead, the brunette was to simply stay away from Jackson at all times possible. No unnecessary talking, and certainly no invading his personal space — things like that. They were allowed to work in class together if it was to happen, and she wasn't banned from being around him, but she still wasn't really supposed to. Which, a few months ago, would have been fine by her considering she'd never wanted to be near him, but now....it was an issue. She didn't have to be fifty-feet away from Jackson, but she wasn't allowed to talk to him anymore than Scott and Stiles were. They were all to just leave him be.

   Although, Lois was still curious why Jackson had changed his mind about her being refrained from talking to him by law, but there hadn't been too much time to question it. Somewhere in the course of the night, Allison had somehow gotten Lydia to translate the rest of the bestiary while they were at the station, and it wasn't the best news.

   So, seeing as Allison and Scott weren't ever meant to speak or communicate or else her mother would kill him, the group had come up with a (debatably) more discrete way to be able to update one another on what Lydia had managed to transcribe.

Hence why the three girls made their way to the rows of shelves at the vert back of the library, talking quietly about girl things as they began searching through the different books. It was a broad topic, consisting of their period, ovulation, and other things that most people had no business to question, so they had managed to make it without anyone trying to stop them — if anyone had even noticed, that is. Lois doubted it: the librarian was practically asleep at her desk, so they were bound to be fine. When they saw that the coast was clear — and Miss James was snoozing — Lois pushed two books away from one another, leaving an empty space that showed Scott and Stiles on the other side. She snorted.

    "It's everything Lydia can translate," Allison explained, looking around to see if anyone was watching. She then pretended to find a book, slipping the tablet through the gap, "And trust me, she was very confused."

   Scott took the tablet, "Yeah— what'd you tell her?"

"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," she snickered.

Stiles guffawed.

"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

"Oh—!" Allison hummed, "That's great..."

Luna sighed at her boyfriend, the way he stared down Allison with a hurt look in his face. She had seen him play his mythical creature games — all of which were very odd — and they had bored her half to death. Lois was the only one who had ever been able to pretend that she enjoyed them, simply because she'd always had to pretend. They were like siblings. Half the time, she had to play with him when they were kids.

"Okay—" Scott quickly pushed along the topic, glancing back up at the girls and ignoring his pouting friend. "Does it say how to find out who's controlling him? Or, why?"

Lois sighed and shook her head. Allison had updated the girls already, "Not really, but Stiles was right about the murderers."

"Yes!"

"Stiles—!"

The group of teenagers hushed him violently, all looking around in hopes that no one had noticed what they were up to. When there was no movement, nor anyone pulling them away from the shelves and dragging them to the principals office to throw them in the dirt, they all sighed in relief. Conversation continued.

"It calls the kanima a weapon of vengeance," Allison quoted and leaned in closer to the shelf so that they could hear, "There's a story in there about this South American priest, who used the kanima to execute murderers in his village—"

"Alright, see?" Stiles said, "So, maybe it's not all that bad."

"Not all the bad?" Repeating his words, Luna rose a brow mockingly at the boy. He froze, not wanting to hear the terrible elements of the story that were bound to follow, but he listened anyway. The blonde held onto the bag over her shoulder, huffed, and continued for her friend, "Not bad, until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to."

"Okay...so, it's all bad." He responded, "All very, very bad."

Lois shook her head, "Here's the thing, though — the kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf," Lois recalled what she had read on the tablet. It'd been pretty important; "But it can't be—"

Scott frowned down at the device, "Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it."

She hummed. It applied to Jackson pretty perfectly, considering he had received the bite and should have turned into a werewolf if his body allowed it. Lois had spent hours trying to figure out why the boy may have had trouble accepting the bite how he should have done; what in his life could have ever possibly ruined the process? Lois had eventually figured that Jackson Whittemore had a million issues, all of which stemmed from him being a self-loving asshole, but she couldn't quite find a specific one. He had always been like he was — she briefly wondered whether it was in his blood, or his genes. Maybe he was just born that way.

"If means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy—" Stiles quipped, "— I could've told you that, myself."

"He's right," Lois agreed, thinking back to all the times she had been dragged out to spend time with him and Lydia, "I've had to spend too much time with Jackson. That boy's honestly got more issues than vogue."

Allison pursed her lips, "What about his parents?"

"Yeah—" said Scott, "What if it's something to do with them?"

"His real parents?" Lois tried to recall if their was any mention of his real parents over the countless double dates she had been on with the couple, but Lois had no recollection of them ever really coming up. His adoptive parents had barely come in conversation most days, so she struggled to believe that Jackson had ever spoken about his biological ones. "He never spoke about them, much."

"Does anybody actually know what happened to them?" The omega asked Lois as well, knowing that she was the only one who was likely to know.

"He never said anything to Danny," she confessed.

The boy had told her that one night, when he was wondering whether Jackson even cared about him at all. He had been cruel at a bowling game and Danny had gotten upset, complaining to Lois about how his best friend never told him anything, anymore. It was an argument that had blown over, soon enough.

Lois thought about it, "But, I guess, Lydia might."

"What if she doesn't know anything?" Stiles quirked a brow.

"Well, I can ask her?" She suggested, "She'll talk to me,"

"And Jackson doesn't have a restraining order against me," the hunter pitched in, liking the plan. "I'll go and ask him, myself."

Unhappy with the arrangement but unable to stop it, Scott sighed and nodded his head. He was willing to let them give it a shot — it wasn't like he and Stiles could, "Okay, what do I do?"

"You have a make-up exam, remember?" Allison told him. She quickly noticed the reluctance on his face, but she narrowed her eyes at him, pushing her hand through the gap between the books to hold his hand. "Promise me,"

"If he does anything, you run the other way." He told her.

She frowned, "I can take care of myself—"

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me." Scott spoke with confidence and conviction, "So, if he does anything—"

"Like?"

"—anything." He repeated, "Weird, or bizarre— anything."

"Anything evil!" Stiles shot his head through the shelf.

Sighing, Lois pushing him back.

"Ow—!"

"What do we do?" Luna spoke in reference to herself and her boyfriend, the latter currently rubbing his face to soothe the hand mark that his best friend had left when she had shoved him away from the couple. "Surely there's something we can do to help? We can't just sit around, and wait."

"See what you can find about his parents online," Lois nodded to herself, "They have to be somewhere."

The Scooby Gang all agreed on the roles that they were going to play with partaking in another investigation, bidding each other discrete and silent farewells before the girls headed one way and the boys headed another. It was going to be difficult, especially trying to find out about Jackson's biological parents when he had never spoken about them to any of them, but they had found out crazier things over the past few months.

Lois parted ways with Allison and Luna when she spotted Lydia down the hallway, giving them tight smiles and making her way over to her strawberry blonde friend.

Here's goes nothing.

• • •

"I don't know, Lo...." Lydia sighed as they walked down the hallway, side by side. "I'm not really supposed to tell, anyone."

"Isn't it, like— a rule that anyone who says I'm not supposed to tell anyone is always dying to tell, someone?" Lois tested, peering over at her friend to see if that had persuaded her to be give up any of the information. "Lydia, you know that you can trust me!"

She nodded her head. It was true, she could trust Lois. Lydia could always trust Lois. Even if there had been a silent tension lately, with all of the hidden secrets and things that Lydia didn't know about — how they had all been acting so weird around her, and so strange altogether. She had no idea what was going on, nor why one of her closest friends would want to hide so many secrets from her, but Lydia still trusted Lois. She always had.

But, Lydia frowned, "Why do you want to know?"

"Something about my dads work," Lois lied through the skin of her teeth, to which her friend rose a brow. She sighed, "I can't really tell you—"

"Then, I'm not telling you."

  "Wait—" she scoffed at how childish it was, "—seriously?"

"Seriously." Lydia echoed, "You've been so strange, lately, Lois. You barely have time for me anymore, and I know that I've been pushing you away a lot — but thats because I'm scared, okay? I'm terrified!" She pursed her lips, "I have no idea what's up with you, but that doesn't mean I want to lose my best friend completely."

The girl stilled.

She watched, mouth slightly agape, as Lydia also stopped and turned to face her. It was eerily similar to the small reprimanding she had received from her father the night before, the same what's going on with you? and why are you acting like this? Lois hadn't realised that what they'd been doing had been so obvious, while also so secretive, and that other people had taken note of all they had been up to. The days that they had ditched school, and not done their homework, and how the teenagers had just been off. No one could figure out why, but people had definitely noticed.

Lois didn't realise that other people had cared enough to notice that she was acting differently.

She hadn't really expected it.

"You're not going to lose me," she eventually spoke.

"Then tell me what's going on," Lydia almost begged, ignoring the students that bumped into them while they were stood in the very middle of the hall. "I'm worried about you..."

"You don't need to worry about me—"

"But I do! I worry about you a lot, Lois." Her friend let out a sharp breath. She bit down on her lower lip, as if she was really contemplating something at the back of her mind. Lydia didn't want to upset her friend, but she had to ask for the sake of her safety and well-being. "Is this about your mom?"

Lois wasn't all too sure what had happened after that. She wasn't sure why her cheeks had flushed and her vision flickered red, nor why her fingers had tightened their grip on the strap of her bag, squeezing it so tightly that it began to hurt.

When Lydia had said that, something inside of Lois snapped.

"Why does everyone think that this has something to do with my mom?" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation. Her eyes burned with tears but she kept them down. Like always. "This has nothing to do with her! I don't understand why the minute that I act any differently, it all has to be about her. No one mentions it until I'm tired, or until I'm too quiet," Lois mocked, "Then, suddenly, everyone cares—!"

"We do care!" Lydia shot back, eyes wide.

"Well, have you ever thought that maybe I don't want you to?" Lois spat, shaking her head, "That I don't want you to care about her? How I feel about her? That I don't want anyone to care?"

Lois took in a deep breath, basking in the silence between them. Other students were speaking, yet it still seemed so quiet.

"Why do you think no one knows, Lydia? Only you and Stiles."

"Not even Scott?" Her tone was gentle.

"He knows that she's not around," she shrugged her shoulders and rubbed her forehead. It was suddenly much quieter, and she was calmer, and the heavy burden on her shoulders did not seem so rough, "That doesn't mean he knows why."

   Pursing her lips tightly, Lydia nodded her head, taking in and listening to what Lois was saying. Her friend was softer now — even after all the years they'd been good friends, Lydia had never seen Lois snap, at least not about her mother. She never really spoke about her, the loss being too traumatic, and Lydia felt guilty for pushing her. Lydia knew that losing her mother was something different to Lois. She hadn't lost her in the way that most people lost their loved ones, not to illness or natural causes. She knew her friend had lost her mother in a horrific way, a way that haunted her every single day. She shouldn't have pried.

    "Sorry," Lois eventually sighed, "I shouldn't have lost it. You don't need that, right now."

    "No, I'm sorry..." Lydia only ever apologised to Lois, "But I don't think I can tell you about Jackson's parents. It doesn't feel right, not when he told me in confidence."

    "It's alright, Lyds."

   And it was. Lois knew what it was like to pry about someone's parents, or family members that weren't around. While it was possibly going to help them save Jackson, or maybe even get him out of the situation he was currently in, she knew that she couldn't force someone to tell them about it. They were simply going to have to find out, some other way. And that was alright.

   After sharing a hug and waving each other off, Lois took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, shaking her head slightly and heading over to her locker. She opened the metal box and threw in the books that she didn't need yet, and sucked in her pink lips as she stared into it.

What a mess.

   Lois rested her head against the cool metal, taking a moment to compose herself. This wasn't about her; it was about Jackson.

   When she was able to put on a smile, Lois took a step back and sorted out her hair. She adjusted her clothing until she was sure that she didn't look like she'd been borderline meltdown, which would have been a lie, then stepped back and shut her locker.

    "Hi, Lois!"

   The brunette jumped, throwing a hand to her chest, shocked to have seen Matt stood on the other side. Lois let out an awkward laugh, breathing heavily, "Uh— hi...?"

    "Did I scare you?" He asked with a smile.

    "Not at all," she shook her head sarcastically, "Everyone hides behind my locker door, without me noticing."

    "Sorry about that," Matt chuckled, "I didn't mean to."

    "It's okay," Lois shook her head, the two lapsing into silence. He proceeded to smile at her silently, making their conversation even more awkward, and the girl sucked in her cheeks as she swayed on the balls of her feet. "Did you want something—?"

    "Ah— Yeah, totally!" He scratched the back of his neck, his cheeks a bit red. Matt looked back up at her and smiled again, fidgeting nervously as he prepared what to say, "I was wondering if you heard about the underground show? Apparently, they've got some big name spinning."

    "Yeah, I heard about that," she nodded, "You know who it is?"

    "Not yet, but, uh—" the boy shrugged his shoulders in attempt to act nonchalant despite him grinning, "I've got a friend who can hook us up with tickets, if you're down. Want me to get you one?"

    "Oh—!" Lois' lips formed a circle.

   She definitely hadn't expected that.

    "Uh— well..." the brunette furrowed her eyebrows, feeling guilty, but not wanting to go with the boy. Lois had never had any interest in him, not even in a platonic way, and he actually creeped her out a little. She tried to think of a lie, "Sorry, Matt, I—"

   He rose an eyebrow, already looking sad.

Lois knew that just denying him wasn't going to work, so she did what she often did best in tough times: Lois decided to improvise.

    "—I already have a date," Lois told him, perhaps a little too happy when she found the perfect lie. He frowned and she made herself look less enthusiastic about rejecting him, as to not hurt his feelings even more. Clearing her throat, she nodded slowly and rocked on the balls of her feet, "Sorry."

    "Oh, that's—" Matt nodded slowly, "—that's fine. Who is it?"

   Did he have to keep asking questions? Lois froze again, her eyes searching around the hallway in attempt to find someone to cover her excuse. Lying was easy the first time, but it got more difficult to cover up when people asked questions. When people asked, you kept lying and lying, until you had spun yourself a web and lost original lie in the midst of it. She wished that Matt would have just left it at that — but, of course, he hadn't. He had asked and now Lois has to think. But upon catching sight of both Stiles and Luna running after Erica from over Matt's shoulders — her best friend waving his hands desolately in signal that she needed to come with then — her mouth fell open. What the hell was he doing?

    "Lois? You there?" Matt gently wiggled his fingers in front of her face, causing her to snap back to reality. He sighed, "You were telling me who you were going with?"

   She nodded, "—uh, yeah."

    "So? Who is it?" He pried.

   Her eyes flitted back towards Stiles, Luna and Erica, her gaze focused upon the leather jacket she wore.

    "Isaac."

    "Isaac?" He echoed, confused. "You're going with Isaac?"

   Lois nodded distractedly, fidgeting on her feed, "Totally."

    "Wasn't he arrested?" Matt queried, confused that she would rather go to a party with a murder suspect than with him. "For killing his dad? Barely comes to school anymore? That Isaac?"

    "You got it! That's the one—" Lois forced a laugh, but on the inside she was screaming. She had no idea why she had told him that she was going with Isaac of all people, but she had panicked. That was the first name that had come to her head, and the only lie she could think of.

   She was so screwed.

    "But—"

    "Sorry, Matt, again— can you excuse me? I've got to go check on something," she didn't give him time to respond before she had scooted out of the way, waving at him and sprinting down the hall in the same direction that Stiles, Luna and Erica had gone.

   It didn't take long for her to catch up with them.

But Lois was hardly able to intrude on their conversation before the boys locker room door burst open, and out came Jackson and Scott.

   Lois gaped at the scene, pushing herself foreword and helping Stiles pull Scott to his feet. Erica held back Jackson on the other side of the hallway, both girls looking up from their current jobs to see a teary Allison stumble out of the locker rooms, wiping her face feverishly. Luna pushed through the angry teenagers and put an arm around Allison, checking to see if she was alright.

    "What the hell's going on?"

   Lois sighed as Harris made his way between them, "Hey— enough! Enough."

   The boys calmed slightly, enough to be let go, though continued to glare at each other. It was awkward to he stood around, waiting as Harris eyes up all of the teenagers and frowned.

    "What do you idiots think you're doing?" He interrogated, turning to Scott. "Mr McCall, you want to explain yourself?"

    "You dropped this." Matt butted into the conversation, having heard the commotion, passing foreword the tablet that he had picked up from the ground. Harris glared at him and snatched it, tucking it under his arm as he observed the scene.

    "You and you," he pointed at Jackson and Scott, then smirked to himself. Harris raised his hands and signalled to all of the teenagers that circled him, "Actually, all of you. Detention."

   Lois groaned.

    "Three o'clock."

——

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