✔𝚮𝐞𝐥𝐥𝛐 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 ➳ 𝚩𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝚩𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 3: 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝚩𝛐𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 Oakworth Hills crawled along the landscape at this time of year. If you saw it during spring, right when the snow and ice started melting from the mountains, you would hear the roar from miles away but it was quieter at this time of year.

Jo walked through the tree line, spotting the blue shine amid the leafy green and an exasperated breath flew from her lips. Age hadn't made her wise enough to know you shouldn't run from your problems. Pretty pathetic she still ran away when she fought with her sister, or any family for that matter.

She sat down on one of the larger rocks by the bank, picking up a few stones. Everything was much easier before Peggy had gone away for college. Not that they didn't fight before, but it was all they did now. They never talked, and Jo barely even knew what was going on in her sister's life.

That's probably why Mom and Dad asked Peggy to come up here with them, but they could have at least asked what she wanted. Decisions were just made for Jo without any consideration towards what she wanted. Everything only got worse when she broke the news she wasn't going to college.

Her parents wanted her to be ambitious, but she never cared enough about anything to get there. Or the anything that she did care about wasn't what her parents wanted it to be. Jo always liked drawing, from when she was a little girl and up until now, it was the only thing she truly enjoyed.

Not that Mom and Dad would understand that. Plenty of people were good at drawing, and it couldn't ever be a career in their mind. But Jo didn't just draw, not since she became older. Her drawings were pieces of art, paintings with compositions that told stories grand enough for the stars.

Before her dad threw out her paintings.

She kept to her job at the movie theatre after high school, but whenever she could, she would still draw. Even if it was only with a pen and paper. Jo gripped the stone firmly in her hand and stood up on the rock. She took a step back and then threw it as far as she could. The stone soared through the air and landed a little short of the halfway point in the river's width.

"Are you going for baseball pitcher after summer?" Pietro's voice sounded through the trees as he climbed up onto the rock.

"Yeah, but I dunno if I'll be good enough." Jo jokingly pouted before cracking a grin and she sat down again. "I guess Tony was right about the whole maturity thing."

"Since when do you listen to Tony?" Pietro asked as he plopped down next to her, and Jo shrugged.

"He was the smartest guy in our year," she said and climbed forward to swing her legs out over the edge and see if she could catch a glimpse of her own reflection.

"You weren't far behind," he said, and she scoffed, laying down on the warm rock. Maybe a little too harshly as a dunk sounded from the back of her head.

"I was good in English classes and that was it," she said and crossed her arms over her chest. "The man is going to freaking MIT. As if I can compete with that." Jo shook her head and stood back up, standing right on the edge of the protruding rock.

"Look who's letting fate take control again," Pietro sang and hurriedly got on his feet while she kept swinging her foot back and forth.

"I lose my balance; I apply for college. If I don't; I'll- I'll keep working," Jo breathed and put her arms to her sides, closing her eyes. 

Pietro had a full ride scholarship with track and field. Tony didn't ever have to worry about money. Even Wanda was going to college next year. Jo would be the only one left in the shithole of a city they had grown up in.