doomsday. [ yellowjackets ]

seize.

xxx.

chapter seize.
sixteen.

xxx.

Alex headed into the cabin, having ignored the few glances that were shot her way. Jackie was easy to find; she was sitting in the kitchen, flipping rather aggressively through some magazine in an attempt to look busy. Alex knew she was upset, but she couldn't help but grin a little.

    " Why are you smiling like that? If you came in here to give me shit like Taissa, you can turn your happy ass right around. "

God damn. Alex thought to herself, but her smile didn't fade as she shook her head, " Jesus, Cap, why do you have to be so harsh? I'm smiling because I think you're funny. "

" There was nothing funny about that. " Jackie insisted, and Alex held her hands up in surrender.

      " Alright, you don't have to chew my head off now. " *She remarked, blowing a puff of air out as she went to lean against the back of one of the kitchen chairs. The tan girl looked over Jackie, a particular glint in her eyes.

        The team captain tried to ignore her, but after an undisclosed amount of silence, she turned her head and raised a brow, exasperated, " What are you doing? "

        " Trying to figure out if a raccoon died up your ass or if the smell of Misty's duffel bag is finally catching up to you. What's wrong? " She asked seriously, meeting the other girl's eyes finally.

         Jackie pressed her lips together, and when she didn't immediately respond, Alex figured she wasn't going to say anything, or if she did, it wouldn't be the truth. However, the blonde eventually threw her head back and her hands out by her sides, groaning in annoyance, " Fine. Things with Shauna and I feel..distant? She barely talks to me anymore, I'm lucky if she'll even look at me when I talk. And I miss Jeff, way more than I ever thought I could, and being out here..it's like, worse than hell on Earth. I feel like an outcast in the middle of nowhere. "

          Alex just stared at her, even after she was done talking, which earned her another look from Jackie, to which she jokingly said, " I asked what's wrong, not for your middle school troubles. "

          " Get out. " Jackie deadpanned, and the darker haired girl let out a quiet laugh, shaking her hands.

            " Sorry, I'm kidding. I don't do well with other people's emotions. " She insisted, shaking her hands dismissively.

Honestly, she didn't know how to respond, or what to say that would even remotely make her feel better. Alex thought Jeff was a complete dunce, and that Jackie could've done a lot better than him, but he was the exact type of boy a girl like Jackie would go for. She also wasn't particularly close to Shauna, she barely spoke to her outside of soccer, and even now that they were stranded in the woods with limited options of conversations, she had still only talked to her if it was about Jackie.

She, like everyone else, could still see the very obvious distance growing between Jackie and Shauna though. Jackie was left to her own devices more often, while Shauna usually had Taissa glued to her side. Alex could see it in Jackie's face that it was killing her, and that killed a piece of her, too. She had seen how Taissa and Van acted, and she knew firsthand those sorts of feelings. And the way she talked about Shauna ignoring her with such hurt in her eyes was the same.