Jace watched in slight horror as Juniper scarfed down her burger, her mouth being a black hole and the burger a galaxy.
"So, um," Jace starts and Juniper looks up, a piece of bacon hanging from her mouth. "So you like–" Juniper interrupts. "Burgers? Fries? Food in general? Yes. Yes, I do." Juniper goes back to gorging on her burger. "My sister loves the milkshakes, but we can only get them half the time,"
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah," Juniper says through a mouth full of burger. "She's adopted, so we look totally different. We call her Tiny, but her real name is Tzipporah," said Juniper, who had finished her burger, which it seemed like she only received it seconds ago, and worked to stuff fries in her mouth. "That's... nice," Jace said awkwardly.
"Yep, why don't we get down to business, eh?" Juniper concludes her meal, wiping her fingers off on a napkin. Jace was mildly horrified. "How...?... Nevermind, uh, um, lets see..." Jace drummed his fingers, pulling out a black book. "Is that a fucking diary?" Juniper laughed.
It was an odd sound, kinda dorky and childish, for someone as grim looking as Juniper. "No! This!—" Jace pointed to the book. "Contains all you need to know to identify creatures! Like werewolves and— and shit like that!" Jace tried to sound intimidating, but his voice was far too squeaky for that.
"Honey," Juniper said sarcastically, gesturing with a fry she'd took from him. "This whole, 'trying-to-be-a-manly-man-when-I-really-belong-at-Weeny-Hut-Junior' thing is not working for you."
Jace heaved a sigh, closing his eyes, and felt Austen plop down next to him. "What'd I miss?" She spoke through a mouth of fries. The woman ate more than thirteen elephants would, and almost never gained a single pound. A powerful talent.
Jace flipped through the pages and began to read aloud, "A werewolf can be identified by someone easily excited, but also very loyal, in the way a dog or wolf is. They favor meals of meat rather than lettuce, and often have impressive athletic skills. A werewolf could be a head cheerleader, the leading quarterback, a fitness teacher, or even a leading sports star in disguise," Said Jace.
Juniper ponders for a moment, thinking of suspects. "Sparrow's boy toy is the leading quarterback, and he always smells bad. There's Lace, she's the head cheerleader. There's Coach McClain, he's the P.E coach. Or maybe Prinipal Laurens. He's fucking shredded, LMAO," Juniper snorts to herself. Austen watches, unamused.
"Silus gets super excited easily, but he always seems super nervous all the time, so I might be mixing it up," Juniper looked off, and Austen was still unamused.
"Are you two dating or something? You're awfully fond of him."
Juniper clenched her jaw, remembering how it felt just like yesterday Sparrow had asked her the same thing.
"Are you two dating or something? You're awfully fond of her."
And Juniper gave the answer she had given Sparrow.
"No. Just... friends. Nothing more."
———
509 WORDS.
COMPLETED MAR. 29TH
YOU ARE READING
Pale
FantasyAt fourteen years of age and in the middle of her freshman year of high school, Juniper is about as normal as your average Joe. She gets C's and B's in school, isn't necessarily athletic, but can run if she needs to, and never really knew her father...
