Empathy ⌯ Stiles Stilinski

[26] the necklace

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐗
the necklace

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( wolf's bane; pt.i )

ZERO. Zilch. Never. That's how many times Maddie has been grounded in her life. Whether it be because she was too scared of the consequences of breaking rules or because she wanted to follow them, Maddie has never been grounded. Sure, there have been a few scoldings, a few speeches about how she should take responsibility and act like a grown—up ( despite, you know, being a kid ) but she was never grounded.

So it came as a little bit of a shock when she arrived home to a punishment: straight home after school with Harrison —— because as much as her family like Stiles, he's been involved in all of the trouble she's been caught up in recently —— and the inability to leave the house unless it is literally on fire. Those were the exact words of her uncle, to not leave the house unless it is literally on fire.

Sometimes she's a little glad that it's Harrison who has him for a father and not her, but whilst her mom is away for her work, he becomes the default guardian.

The only reason she didn't get her phone taken away is because they know she'd need it in case of emergency. In case she ever found herself in a similar nightmare—inducing horror movie—like experience. Maddie sincerely hopes not, the one incident has caused her anxiety to rise every time she turns a corner in the school. She's even refused to take bathroom breaks because it means that the halls are empty and walking through them alone makes her skin crawl.

But her anger on the whole grounding situation has simmered because she's forced herself to understand why. She's never done this before, she's not snuck out, she's not broken into her school in the middle of the night, she's not gotten her cousin hospitalised, so yeah, she understands why the grounding was necessary.

It is, however, inconvenient. Take for example, last night, when Scott and Stiles were thrust into an unexpected car chase with the police and the Argents alongside Derek Hale, the not so dead werewolf as Scott had discovered on the night of the full moon. They also learned last night that their chemistry teacher, Mr Harris, is somehow involved with whatever is going on with the alpha and that Allison's necklace also connects.

"Look, I'm not mad I wasn't involved, that's not what I care about," Maddie tells Stiles as they stand outside the school, waiting for Scott. "I'm mad you guys didn't call me and invite me."

"Would you even have been able to come?" Stiles asks, looking at her in confusion.

Maddie looks to him, blinking. "That is besides the point," she avoids. "The sentiment of the invitation is what matters."

"Okay, you're just looking for an argument right now." Stiles shakes his head, letting out a sigh.

Giving a smile, Maddie leans her head against Stiles' arm for a moment before standing straight again when she sees Scott approaching the two of them. She offers a smile and he smiles back, the tension between them has thankfully lessened in the last few days.

Ever since the full moon, Scott's made it his life's mission —— aside from finding a cure to his certain lycanthropy problem —— to find any and every way possible to apologise to Maddie for kissing her. It marks the difference between them because she just wants to forget it happened and he is almost constantly apologising for it, which makes her side pretty difficult to do.