Chapter Four: Stefana's Battle
"Steffi, are you going to come out of there at all tonight?"
Madeleine knocked gently on her bandmate's bedroom door. "Luca's brought
in takeout and it's going cold."
"I'm not hungry, Maddy. Leave me alone." Stefana called back through the
door. "Go away and quit fussing, will you?"
"Stef, you have to eat." Madeleine frowned.
"Maybe, but I'm not hungry right now." Stefana shot back. "So leave me
alone!"
"Very well." Madeleine sighed. "Though if you're hungry later you'll have
to cook your own."
There was no response, and Madeleine shrugged, making her way downstairs
to the dining room.
"No Stef?" Luca shot her a questioning glance. Madeleine shook her head.
"Not hungry, again. Third night in a row." She agreed with a frown. "I
can't exactly forcibly drag her down here, but it can't be good for her."
"She came home the day before yesterday near tears." Marissa said softly.
"Aaron dropped her home - I don't know where they went, but it seems to have
upset her again. She snuck out this morning, and I'm half afraid she brought
drugs back with her."
"I thought she was getting past that!" Luca stared. Marissa shook her head.
"Unless Steffi gets help and learns how to deal with problems without drugs,
Luca, she never will." She admitted. "I tried talking to her yesterday afternoon,
but she just told me that she didn't want to talk. Like Maddy, I don't want
to push things with her. I just don't think she's as okay as she's trying
to make out she is."
"If she's got drugs in her room, we should remove them." Clay said darkly.
"Before she has another psycho fit and hurts someone else."
"And you're not the right person to do it." Marissa squeezed Clay's hand.
"I'll talk to her after dinner. Don't worry," as Clay raised an eyebrow.
"I'll be careful. I promised her I'd be here for her, and I will. As soon
as I'm done eating, I'll go."
"I wish I could've talked her down to eat with us. She's not eating much
at all." Madeleine grimaced. "I'm finding that her wellbeing means a lot
more to me than I thought it did, to be quite honest."
"Well, I'll take her up something when I go." Marissa suggested. "Put some
rice and chow mein under the grill to keep it warm, Luca, and I'll see if
she's found any appetite."
"No problem." Luca did as he was bidden. "Pity we don't have any ice cream.
That usually tempts her to eat."
"It's not good for her, though." Madeleine reflected. "Living on coffee,
cigarettes and ice cream never did anyone any good...not to mention we don't
know what else she might be adding to that mix."
"Try methamphetamine."
Stefana's voice came from the doorway, and her bandmates turned to stare
at her.
"Stef..."
"Well, it's true." Stefana shrugged, her tone bitter. "I thought you might
be talking about me. I was right."
"We're worried about you." Marissa told her. "Stef, did you bring drugs
home yesterday?"
"Yes." Stefana met her friend's gaze with a flat one of her own. "I was
unhappy. I needed a lift."
"Oh, Steffi." Luca sighed. "Why? I thought you were doing so well..."
"Look, this is my problem, not yours. Let me handle it my way." Stefana
interrupted. "Besides, I only took one or two."
She reached into her pocket, producing a polythene bag which held a handful
of pills. "This what you want?"
She tossed it onto the centre of the table. "There, you can have it."
"Stef, what is all this about?" Madeleine asked. Stefana dropped down onto
her empty chair, and for a moment she didn't speak. Then,
"If you don't take them away from me, I won't be able to keep from taking
them." She whispered. "And if I take them then I go crazy, like I did at
Mari. I don't want to hurt anyone again."
Clay eyed his bandmate keenly, then he scooped up the pills, tossing them
into the bin.
"Good call, kid." He said quietly.
"Will you promise me not to go buy any more, Stef?" Marissa begged. "Even
when you're unhappy? You're only getting yourself more in debt, and it's
going to mess with your mind and make you more miserable than before."
"Where did you get the money for them, anyway?" Madeleine wondered. "Aaron?"
"Don't be dumb." Stefana was scornful. "I earnt it."
"You earnt it?" Luca looked anxious. "What did Rory ask you to do?"
"He didn't." Stefana shrugged. "I went to see him. I told him that if he
didn't play his cards right, I was going to sell certain information to
the papers. He paid up."
"You blackmailed our boss?" Madeleine's eyes almost dropped out of her
head.
Clay chuckled.
"Nice touch." He said appreciatively. "Though you shouldn't be spending
the money on drugs, Steffi. I think we've all seen how much trouble they can
cause in recent weeks."
"I know that, so don't talk down to me like I'm a child." Stefana snapped.
"It's not as easy as you might think to just stop like that, you know. I'm
trying, but I have to do it bit by bit. Okay? I'm fine - I'm handling it.
Just let me, will you?"
"She did the right thing by bringing them to us now." Marissa admitted.
"Okay, Stef. We'll trust you."
"There's some food under the grill if you're hungry." Luca added. Stefana
shook her head.
"Not really." She replied.
"What did you threaten Rory with?" Clay was curious. Stefana shrugged.
"I know plenty about that jerk." She said airily. "Since Luca showed him
who was boss, I figured that Diablo call the shots at Rebel Records now.
So I thought I might as well cash in. Besides," she bit her lip, then, "I
didn't want to take it from any of you. You've been, well, strangely nice
lately."
"We do care about you, Stef." Madeleine told her gently. "Do you believe
us now?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Stefana grimaced.
"By the way, Stef, I found this on the unit downstairs."
Clay pulled something from his pocket, pushing it across the table. "It
yours?"
Stefana took the crumpled bit of paper, unfolding it and pulling a face.
"Yes. It has my name on, dumbass."
"Well, that was a giveaway." Clay admitted with a twinkle in his eye. "You
going to go?"
"Don't know." Stefana shrugged, folding it and slipping it back into her
pocket. "Jewel weddings are beneath me."
"Aaron invited you to his wedding?" Luca looked anxious. "I didn't know
that."
"For a good reason, too." Stefana snapped. "I haven't decided what I'm
doing yet, so lay off. It's no big deal, anyway. Aaron is my friend and
friends invite each other to things. What's so odd about that?"
"Nothing, except the fact you're in love with the groom." Luca frowned.
Stefana bristled.
"Thank you for pointing that out." She said bitterly. "I'm sure I hadn't
realised it already."
She got to her feet, dropping the invite onto the table.
"I'm going back to my room." She muttered. "Company down here stinks."
"Nice going, Luca." Marissa rolled her eyes once Stefana was gone. "Very
tactfully done."
"Sorry." Luca looked sheepish. "She's still touchy about him, huh?"
"Yeah, that'd be an understatement." Marissa looked troubled. "She's very
much in love with him, Luca. I think it might be as well to see if we can't
keep her away from Aaron's wedding - otherwise we've no way of knowing what
might happen!"
PART THREE: TILL DEATH US DO PART
Chapter One: A Father Should Be
Chapter Two: Stefana
and Aaron
Chapter Three: Sylva
Intervenes
Chapter Four: Stefana's
Battle
Chapter Five: Common
Ground
Chapter Six: A Special
Meeting
Chapter Seven: La Familia
Santiago
Chapter Eight: Hen Party
Chapter Nine: Rory's
Scheme
Chapter Ten: Stefana's
Dilemma
Chapter Eleven: A Friend Indeed
Chapter Twelve: Sadie Gets Involved
Chapter Thirteen: The Night Before
Chapter Fourteen: Closure
DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE
Copper, Nancy, Sylva, Anna, Blade, Raesha,
Sirena, Topaz, Aaron, Sophie, Justin, Elliot, Rosita, Luis and
any other characters in this fiction which do not appear in the
animated Jem series are copyrighted to me (E.A Woolley) as of January
2002 <unless otherwise specified> and are not to be reproduced
without permission ANYWHERE. Jetta, Pizzazz, Stormer, Roxy, Raya and
all other original Jem characters are the copyright of Hasbro Inc, Sunbow,
Christy Marx and the other writers of the Jem series. The future world
of Pizzazz, Raya, Jetta, Roxy, Stormer, Clash, Synergy, the fate of Jem
and her memorial are all copyrighted to me. The future world of Kimber
and Shana is copyrighted jointly to myself and Gemma Dawn.
The concept of 'Jewel' is entirely my own,
and any apparent link with any fictional or actual person or persons
of this name is entirely coincidental. Equally the characters in
this fiction are not based on any real life individual.
The concept behind the future world of Danse,
Aja and Craig, the idea behind Jerrica's futureworld and the
split of the Holograms is copyrighted to Gemma Dawn, whose Teenangel
Outsiders fiction is directly twinned with Just a Dream. The character
Sammi and any of the other Teenangel Outsider characters mentioned
in this fiction are entirely copyright to Gemma Dawn and appear here
only with her permission.
Pay her page a visit!
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