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He knew that leaving Beacon Hills was the best option for him. Everybody in the town was talking about his miracle, everybody wanted to know how he came alive again from the dead. Even the police had put him a nickname, the “zombie kid”
With all Jackson had been through, his parents decided that he needed to start over new. They all needed to start as a family again and they chose England as their new home.
At the beginning Scott was worried about him leaving as he didn’t know how to control his werewolf impulses. But he also knew that Jackson needed to heal and overcome all his traumas. Obviously, Stiles had found a solution to this problem; he gave him ,as he called it ,“ The little guide on how to be a werewolf” in which he had written all the things he and Scott had learnt in the past. He couldn’t believe he was accepting pieces of advice from the fucking loser of Stiles,but he had to admit that he was right.
Danny also tried to talk with him when he came by his house to say goodbye. It was hard for Jackson to admit but deep down his heart he cared for him because Danny had been his only true friend. Although he used to hang out with the rest of the team and other “friends”, he knew they were only interested in his money. He didn't care because he prefered to pretend in front of them instead of being himself. But Jackson couldn’t trick Danny, he could see under his mask and was always there to help him despite the fact that Jackson was a jerk to him.
Yet, there was only one person who really knew the real Jackson, someone who knew when he was having a bad day and he tried to cover everything with a smile, all his flaws, all his fears and the few good things he had. She knew every single part of Jackson.
Lydia was the reason why Jackson was leaving Beacon Hills. He wasn’t escaping from her, It was quite the opposite,he wanted to protect her from him. During the time they were together, he had never paid attention to her feelings. Like him, Lydia had been acting as if she were a shallow girl and that's why they were the perfect couple: the sporty guy and the popular girl. However, she was more than a pretty face, she was incredibly intelligent and so generous and he had never appreciated this side of Lydia. He had spent so much time being an asshole that he couldn't notice it and now he regretted it.
Notwithstanding all this, Lydia had saved him. When everybody wanted to kill him because it was the only solution, she risked her own life just to save him. And the most incredible thing about that, was that she still loved him.
Jackson spent his whole life believing that love was an invention of society so people could feel satisfied with their life, so people could stick to the status quo: you were born, you go to school. you graduate, you get married, you have kids, you work, you get retired and then you die. He had never let himself feel loved because he was too afraid to care for someone. After his biological parents died, he got used to feeling lonely. He embraced loneliness as it was a safe ground for him. When The Whitmores adopted him, he had already built a wall around his heart, a wall to protect his heart so he couldn’t feel the loss of someone, not again.
And without him noticing, Lydia had penetrated this wall like water erodes the stone, little by little, she had not only penetrated his mind, but also his heart and soul.
Finally love had found its way to reach him and he had to protect it by all means, even if that meant leaving Lydia.
If he wanted to be with her, first he had to heal. He had a lot of things to work out which included his childhood traumas, the fact that in the last month he had killed four people and on top of that, he had to learn how to be a werewolf.
It was time for him to face his fears so he could be at peace with his feelings, otherwise, he would end up turning into a Kanima again.
And so one of Jackson biggest fears became true, the day he had to say goodbye to Lydia was one of the worst days of his life. They spent the whole day together in his room. They had sex but it was more than that. As all his senses had developed, Jackson wanted to remember every detail of her. The softness of her skin against him; the rhythm of her heartbeat; the smell of her hair and her bright blue eyes staring at him as if he were the only human left in the world.
Lydia was lying on his chest with her eyes closed while Jackson stroked her hair. He wished he could stay like that forever but he knew that the bubble wouldn't last forever. So he decided to do the imaginable.
“I love you” he blurt out
“What?” Lydia said as she rose her head
“What you’ve heard” he answered
It was so weird to hear those words coming from his own mouth, he thought he should have said it more often because the way Lydia was smiling was worth it.
“Say it again… please” she giggled
“I love you … I love you … i love you “ he repeated as he leaned to kiss her.
…………………….
It had been a month since he had moved to London and Jackson was having a hard time fitting in. Something strange for him as he had never had problems socialising; he had always been self -confident. Whenever he entered a room, he overwhelmed everyone, becoming the centre of attention. However, he had decided to keep a low profile as he didn’t want the stories about the zombie kid to follow him to London, but he didn’t last long.
He was getting bored of going from home to school and vice versa; he needed to feel alive again so he decided to practice a sport as he used to do
Unluckily for him,there wasn't lacrosse at the Westminster city school, instead, there was football and rugby. Obviously, he rejected football as he considered it to be a dull sport for weak people. He used to practise lacrosse because he liked the close combat and the adrenaline he felt while running or when he scored a goal. Why was Scott able to shine on the team using his powers and he wasn't?
Moreover, his psychologist - yes he was doing therapy - had told him that he had to find a way of externalising his anger and all his frustrations.
To be honest, he had chosen to try out for the rugby team, just because he wanted to kick Harry Hill’s ass. That bastard had been bothering him since his first day at the school; calling him names such as the cowboy or barbie’s Ken or mocking his accent, but Jackson never answered to these provocations as he knew it might lead to a disaster.However, he knew that in a rugby match he could take him down without having to face any consequences.
Yes, he was back to the old ways, but changing and growing is never easy, he was l earning how to solve his problems without recurring to physical violence but with Harry you couldn't use words, he needed to learn the lesson.
“Oh guys , look who has come to train today “ Harry said mockingly
Jackson didn’t answer, he sat down in the grass next to the other guys who also were there for tryouts.
“Hey Ken, aren’t you afraid of hurting your porcelain face?” he said, stepping in front of him as the rest of his friends laughed. Jackson continued in silence tying his shoelaces. “ aren’t you listening to me?” Harry asked, putting his face almost a few centimetres from Jackson’s. Yet, he didn’t answer.
“You know rugby is a sport for tough guys not for pretty boys like you, this isn't hollywood” he said
“HILLS , i think i have told you to put the cones in the field” Shouted the coach.
“ yes coach” he answered quietly and ran to fetch them
“ well well well , let me see who our news recruits are… make a line “ said the coach while reading a list with their names “ Palin”
“ here sir”
“Phillips”
“Here”
“Stevenson”
“here”
“Whittemore”
“Here”
“ Oh the American boy” the coach said stopping in front of him “let me tell you that rugby isn’t like your “ American football” … it may look similar but we don't use protection… our protection is the team force… isn’t that true?”
“Yes, coach” exclaimed the rest of the team
Jackson was tired of hearing so much bullshit against him and being unable to respond. In the past he would have kicked everyone’s ass, even the coach’s but he was trying to become a better version of himself so he just kept his mouth closed and counted till ten while breathing. His psychologist was right, it helped him not to explode like a volcano but he wasn’t sure how long he could last without doing it .
“ First we are going to practise some speed drills… let’ see how fast you can run” said the coach, watching at his chronometer
It was a piece of cake for Jackson, he controlled his speed so he would finish 2 minutes before the others. Then they practised a resistance activity around the pitch which was also easy for him, and again he tried to keep his classmates rhythm.
“Rugby isn’t everything about speed ,you also need strength so now you will run with the ball and you will try to avoid a tackle” the coach gave the directions.” Phillips you go first”
Jackson was waiting in the row when he noticed that Harry had gone ahead in line to play with him. He didn’t know how it happened but that bastard tackled him down. He couldn't believe it, it was impossible, not with his werewolf senses.
“ I told you that this wasn’t a runaway,” Harry laughed as he left
Jackson lying face down began to feel the anger rising inside him, counting to ten wasn’t working.It was quite the opposite,his eyes turned yellow, his claws were dug into the ground and his breathing was fast; he could only think of destroying Harry's body leaving him totally unrecognisable. Right before losing his mind, he felt the touch of the metal against his chest making him come to his senses. He looked down and when he saw the heart shaped pendant hanging his body relaxed as he thought about her. Lydia had given her necklace so they could be together despite the distance. “ So you don't forget that I love you” he remembered her words as they said goodbye. Jackson had promised her that he would do things right so he tried to recover the normal rhythm of his breathing; he waited a few seconds and then he joined the others.
“ I wanna try again” he said back in the line looking at Harry
“Ok Whittemore… Hills to your position” ,said the coach
This time it was Harry who flew through the air and landed on his back on the ground as Jackson continued running with the ball.
“ I like your attitude Whittemore” the coach told him as he passed by
After that, Harry didn’t bother him again, well not during the rest of the practice, for someone who was always being the centre of attention he was really quiet.
“ Well this is it… i made a decision and congratulations you all get in the team” the coach exclaimed and everybody cheered. Although he knew he would enter the team, Jackson felt a relief because he wanted to go back to normal or at least be the most normal person a werewolf could be.
“ You have homework now, you have to study the rules and to help you in that task you will have a tutor.. Phillps will work with Cook, Stevenson with Vince and Whittemore with Klein”
“Hi I’m Andrew… but you can call me Andy” said the boy sitting next to him
“Hi” answered Jackson while pouring water on his head
“If you are free we can hang later out so i can teach you the basics” he said nicely
“Eh “ Jackson said as he didn’t want to talk, he was tired and he just wanted to go home “ i don’t wanna be rude but…” he didn't finish the sentence as his head shifted in Harry’s direction who was staring at him.
“ Don’t worry about Harry , he is jealous because he heard that Mel said that you were handsome. He has been after her since last year but had no lucky” said Andy, making Jaackson laugh “ So .. you used to play lacrosse, didn’t you?”
“How do you know?” he asked surprised
“ actually i heard you saying that in the french class” the dark curly haired boy admitted
“Yes, i used to be the captain of the team … co-captain” he rolled his eyes
“ everybody to the showers” shouted the coach
“ so we can eat something and i tell you about rugby and you tell me about lacrosse” he said he said standing up and stretching out his hand
“ Okay, “ Jackson answered, giving up and shaking it. He had to learn to be more friendly and if he wanted to shine in the team he had to get along with his teammates. He needed to start over new and that was his first step.