𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘃𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗻𝘁

Dysfunctional

"Hey mom, hey Lydia!" My voice echos through our large, cold house, and I let out a shiver. Muffled answers are heard down the hall and I head towards my room. 

The personality is stripped from it, as our house can only be seen as picture perfect. Half of the posters and pictures in Scott's room are mine, that I couldn't put up in my room. My bed is untouched, and has been for about three days, but will no doubt be used by some horny teenagers tonight. 

A sparkly dress is draped over my desk chair and I call out to Lydia, "Is this for me?" 

"Yes! You'll look so hot in it! Gotta show these kids what the new Martin sister at school is all about." 

"You're the best!" I put my foot on the end my jeans and struggle to get my leg out, nearly falling onto my metal bed frame. 

Once the dress is on, I study myself in the mirror for a moment. One thing I like better about Scott's room: The mirror is only from the shoulders up. I turn away from the mirror and sit down at my desk, quickly throwing on some eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. 

A quiet knock on my doorframe is followed by the soft voice of my mom. "Hi honey! I haven't seen you in a few days, how has school been?"

"It's been good." I clear my throat and force a close-lipped smile. 

"Have you made any new friends?" she pushes my hair out of my face with her pointer and middle finger. 

"Well yeah, one. Allison. But Lydia introduced me to her, I've been to anxious to talk to new people." 

"Have you had any anxiety or panic attacks lately?" a familiar worry comes across her face. 

"A few a day. It's kinda of worse than ever." I can't get myself to make eye contact with her, the guilt I feel for causing everyone in my life such stress because I can freak out any minute never leaves. 

"I wish I could fix you." She sighs and begins to walk out of my room, but stops at the doorframe when I respond to her comment. 

"Fix me?" I ask, whispering the next part, "You sound like dad." 

She takes a deep breath, "Your dad and I are having dinner, but will leave for the cabin before the party starts. Lydia already ate, I'm sure you could find some pizza during the party. See you when you show up at our house again, love you." 

I follow her as she leaves my room and I swiftly shut the door behind her, locking it. My cheeks begin to feel hot while I chew on my lower lip and insistently blinked away tears. "No. We are not crying over something as stupid as a that." I repeat to myself, while putting blush on my cheeks to make the redness in my face look like nothing more than makeup. 

I deeply inhale and close my eyes for a second, before getting out of my chair and walking out of my room, heading to Lydia's. 

"So?" I twirl in front of her open door while doing jazz hands. 

"I love it! You look gorg. I mean, of course you do - I picked out the dress."

"Thanks. Anyways, how are you thinking of doing it?" I ask, stepping into her brightly colored room, full of different shades of pink and purple. 

"Doing what? Dumping Jackson?" I nod. "Easy. 'hey Jackson? Yeah you're just not doing it for me anymore. Sorry, I think we both need something new.' Tadaaa!" 

I would tell her about how cruel her idea of a good break up speech is, but this is Jackson we are talking about. If I were to give her any advice, I would tell her to roundhouse him in the head right after dumping him. Then again, I worry that he would try to hurt her back if she did that. He's the scum of the earth, I wouldn't put it past him. "Sounds perfect." 

"Great!" She stand in front of her mirror, trying out different poses. "Hey, pretty much everything is ready for the party, but can you sit on the stairs and make sure no one tries to like... break in while our parents are still here?"

Before I get a chance to respond, she starts leading me out of her room and closing the door. "Thank you!" The door clicks shut. 

✿

I make myself comfortable on the hardwood staircase and I wait for my parents to finish eating their dinner. I try my best not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but in a large house like ours, voices travel. 

"You need to understand, she's never going to change!" 

"There are things that we can do to help her." my mom responds. 

"Oh yeah? Like what, Natalia? Like the same things we have been doing to try and help her since she was in fourth grade? You need to understand." My dad starts raising his voice, probably not realizing i'm home, as I'm usually not. 

"Understand what?" My mom snaps back. 

"That we have a screwed up daughter." 

The words ring in my ears. A phrase that I know wont leave my mind for years, if it ever does leave. I tried to hold the tears prison in my eyes, but they fought out. Once it started, the silent sob I let out created my stomach muscles to convulse, leaving me wondering if I was going to get sick. I reached my hands up to my face and cupped my mouth with them, making sure no one could hear. We have a screwed up daughter. I repeat the words to myself over and over again before my attention is shifted to the door, that is being opened. 

"Stiles! um, where'd you get a key?" I croak out, vigorously wiping my face. 

"Made a copy. Thought I'd get here early. Danny didn't want me to drive him because he doesn't trust that I won't crash into a tree."

He starts walking towards me, and I take a step back, hoping he doesn't notice my swollen face.  

"Maeve what's wrong?" he speeds up and gets to me before I can back away again. "Are you crying?" his hands rest on my shoulders, thumbs moving across my collarbones. 

"Umm," I shake my head, "No. Well yeah but not anymore."

"What happened?" 

"Nothing. It's okay."

"Maeve, seriously. What happened? Did someone say something?" He maintains eye contact, even when i look away, his eyes follow mine. 

"Just my dad."

Stiles pulls me in for a hug, "Do you still wanna be a part of the party?" my hair gets in his mouth and muffles his speech.

"Yeah, I'll be okay." I begin to laugh, "Danny really didn't trust you to drive him?" 

"He said that I shouldn't be trusted with anything that has wheels." he lets go of me and sits down on the stairs. 

"Did your parents leave yet, because even though I'm still convinced you and Scott are gonna go on a murderous rampage tonight, I'd still like to start partying."

"I think they left out of the door in the kitchen," I say, "Now we just have to wait for people to start showing up."