Some people you've known forever. They've earned your trust and always seem to be there for you, like they're going to stick with you through everything. You have this connection with them that you never imagined possible with anyone before. But things change, and life will surprise you, as it continues to surprise me.
I woke up to the sunshine coming through my window shades. A yawn sneaked out of me. I stretched out my arms and looked over to my alarm clock, rubbing my eyes to see the time was exactly 5:30 am. I got up and walked over to my mirror. My long, dark brown hair tossed and twisted into messy waves. I scratched my arm as I made my way over to my dresser. I had about an hour and a half until I had to get in my Audi A4 convertible to drive to school. Luckily, my school was only about 5 minutes away from here. I threw on my jeans and shirt and began to work on brushing through through the knots in my hair. I had a little more energy than usual that morning. My best friend, Jacob, came home from Las Vegas after 2 weeks.
Jacob was the coolest person I had ever known. He was my best friend in the entire world. He was the only person I genuinely felt I could tell anything to. For as long as I've known him, we were closer than close. We met when we were only in 1st grade. I could remember the first time we talked to each other. I was in the cafeteria by myself, looking for a spot to sit, when this skinny, brown-haired, green-eyed boy spilled his applesauce all over me. A couple of girls from my class pointed and snickered. I could still feel the blood rushing to my face to this day. I also remembered him blushing. He used to stutter when he was little, so instead of saying "I'm sorry," he said, "Uh, um, oh gosh... I-I-I'm sorry. You see, my shoe lace was untied, and I-"
But I cut him off before he said anything else.
"Don't worry about it, accidents happen." I muttered, feeling more embarrassed than ever. I grabbed a paper towel from one of the lunch aids and moved along, trying to find someplace where I could disappear. I sat in the corner of the room at a table alone. Jacob continued on, looking for a spot to sit. After about a minute and a half of searching for any empty spaces, he came over to where I was sitting.
"Do you mind?" he asked.
"I suppose not," I said, looking down. He probably thought I was a klutzy freak with no friends. Even though this was true, being the new kid, I did not want anyone to know that yet. Especially boys.
"So where'd you move from?" he asked, curious. I raised my eyebrow, confused that he was actually asking that question.
"Um, I lived in Long Island, New York. I got here about a week ago. Today's only my third day here," I explained, but not to a point where it might annoy him. I did not want to lose the only friend I might possibly have.
"That's interesting! What's it like there? I've never been outside of New Jersey before," Jacob added with slight excitement. We continued to talk, and wound up spending the rest of the day together, and we've been friends ever since.
I turned up the radio to hear Z100 playing the end of "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift, only for the millionth time. I tapped my toe to the beat as I gathered my books and put on my eyeliner. As the song changed over to some rap song I've never listened to in my life, I heard my step-mom calling my name from downstairs.
"Bella, you have ten minutes! Come downstairs and have a bagel before you leave," she called.
"Coming!" I yelled back, rolling my eyes. Esme can get so paranoid, but I still adored her. She married my dad when I was eleven. My biological mother moved to Maine, which is a good distance away from Massachusetts. I'm not really upset without my mom though because she wasn't nice to be around, from what I could remember. I heard my dad say once that my mom was the type of person that if you did one thing wrong, she had to make a scene. My dad, Charlie, told me he was in love with my mom, but she changed, so they divorced. I was about 7, and I only remember my mother vaguely. She hasn't even tried to make any communication with me since she left. So I figured it's better that I wasn't attached to her.
Two years later, my dad met Esme. Esme was a tall, beautiful, blonde woman managing the Home Depot in town. My dad was always in there for tiles, fans, nails, paints, etc. He's a home re-furnisher, so he's always re-doing our own home. I remember Esme being described as my dad's "special friend", but at the young age of 9, I didn't really understand what that meant. Little did I know that a little over two years later, I'd be calling her "mom". I didn't have a problem with Esme being a part of my family, though. She treated me special, like I was important. Esme was a good change.
I ran my fingers through my wavy locks as I packed my notebook into my bag. I checked the clock - it was 6:46 am. I had less than fifteen minutes to get to school. I ran downstairs and took a seat by my older sister, Rosalie. Rosalie was 18 years old and in her junior year of high school. She was pretty tall, about 5" 7', with long blonde hair. She had a reputation for being very popular in her grade, and even in others. She's had more boyfriends than I can count, only a few I actually remembered.
Me and Rosalie have been close ever since we were little. We made a promise to tell each other everything when she turned 13, and the promise hasn't been broken for four years straight. The one thing I never asked about was what our mom was really like. All I knew for sure is that Rosalie never really liked the idea of our dad re-marrying. She says when I was a baby, they were inseparable. She said she couldn't imagine him with anyone else, no matter how nice they were. When Rosalie met Esme, she basically pretended like she wasn't even alive. Rosalie still isn't really comfortable with Esme being a parental figure. Rosalie will acknowledge her now, but still has a bad attitude towards her. It made me feel bad for Ez though; she's such a nice person, and it was a shame she was being treated this way. But I figured Rosalie couldn't really help herself, so I stayed out of it.
I bit into my cream cheese bagel as Esme brought out the orange juice. She had a wide smile across her face, as usual.
"It's Tropicana, no pulp. Your favorite!" she shrieked excitedly as she handed the glass to Rosalie. Rosalie glared at the juice.
"Um, thanks, I guess..." Rosalie mumbled as she pressed the tip of the glass to her lips. "So Bells! I hear Jacob's back from Vegas?"
"Yeah, he came back yesterday. He'll be in school today," I explained.
"That's good. I haven't seen him in so long! It's a little weird because he's usually here 24/7," Rosalie pointed out. I smiled as I finished off my bagel and grabbed my stuff.
"Yeah, it's going to be great to see him. I've got to go, I only have six minutes until I'm late to school. See you later," I said as I walked out the door and into my car. As I put the car into gear, I started to remember Jacob. It really was going to be nice to see him after being gone for a week. With me and Jacob, not seeing each other for a week is like not seeing each other for a year. We spend nearly every waking moment with one another. I had called him the night before he left, but it wasn't the same as seeing him in person. Surprisingly, I hadn't heard from him at all since we talked on the phone. Hearing his voice again would be refreshing too. It was strange, being without him. Going to school without meeting him at my locker, driving home from school together... it was all so empty without Jacob being there to brighten my day. Every day without my best friend was simply dull, sort of like a pencil after taking a long test. There's just no more quality to it anymore. I never realized how Jacob affected me until he had left. But that would soon be all over. He was back.
I parked my car in the closest spot to the school. I could see Jacob's Volkswagen Jetta parked a few spaces ahead of mine. Knowing he was here again made me smile. I shuffled all my things together and hopped out of my Audi. Shoving past the mob of teenage girls, giggling at whatever they were gossiping about, I walked over to my locker, thrilled to see Jacob waiting for me.
"Long time, no see!" I called as she approached her friend.
"Mi amigo! Como estas?" Jake cried as he gave me a reuniting hug. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, giving me one good squeeze before letting me go.
"Haha, I'm good. How was your trip with Emmett?" I asked as I put in the combination to my locker, which usually took a good four tries until it actually worked. Emmett was Jacob's older brother, who had been dying to get Jacob to Vegas. Jacob was staring at the ground.
"Oh, it was fine," he said as he leaned against the locker next to mine. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Are you alright? Something seems wrong," I asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he mumbled again, still looking at the floor.
"Okay then. So, you want to come over after school? We can play Twister. I also got a pound's worth of skittles that needs to be consumed, which I figure won't be an issue, since it's you," I laughed, knowing how much he adored Skittles. If Jacob were to be stranded on an island and could only bring one food, it would most likely be Skittles. It was his guilty pleasure. Jacob smiled.
"Sure, I'd love to!" he exclaimed, seeming excited to get back into the old routine. I closed my locker.
"Cool. I'll meet you in the parking lot after school. Okay?"
"Sounds good," Jacob confirmed, making his way to homeroom. I turned the opposite direction and starting walking to 1st period with Ms. Newton, but Alice stopped me. Before I knew it she had her hands gripped tightly around my arms. She looked like she had something to say, grinning slyly.
"May I help you?" I asked, taken by surprise.
"I saw that you know," Alice said, still smiling.
"What? Freddy? Yeah, he's back. We're hanging out after school today for the usual Monday stuff. Do you want to come?" I offered.
"Oh, yeah. Sure, sounds like fun. But you really just don't see how you are, do you?" she asked, changing the topic. Alice was very good at that. She always needed to prove her point. I've always told her she would make an awesome lawyer. Whenever she tries to convince me of something, I usually give in. She was great at tricking you into thinking she was correct. It was a good thing she didn't deal drugs.
"What do you mean, I don't see how I am?" I asked, extremely confused. I had said less than 6 sentences to her and already I was acting in some way?
"Oh never mind. You'll come to your senses one day. Ignore me, I'll let you figure this one out on your own." she stated, satisfied, skipping away. I stood there, trying to understand what she could mean. I gave up after a while. I figured she was right, and that I'd figure it out in my own time.
After school that day, Jacob drove me and Alice to my house. Esme was delighted to see Jacob back, as was Rosalie. Jacob might has well have lived in my house. He was here at least 4 out of 7 times a week. Mondays were never questioned if he would be coming home with me or not. It was always obvious that Jacob would be here. He always came on Mondays. Jacob and I had developed this weekly get together back in 5th grade, when Jacob was in football camp for the summer. I hadn't gotten to hang out with him for 3 weeks straight, since the camp was a sleep-away camp. We both decided we need a day where we will most definitely hang out. Just one day out of the week which was guaranteed we would see one another. It became a tradition after the first couple months. Now it had become involuntary, almost like instinct. Just a part of our daily routine. Alice joined us every once in a while, which we didn't mind.
"Jacob, you're SO cheating!" Alice accused, nearly dying from laughter. In the middle of Twister, Jacob had gotten himself in the most awkward position; his hand crossed over mine to touch the blue circle as his foot reached over my back and onto the red spot on the left side of me. His other foot was on the green back by my foot, and he had one arm still free.
"I am not! This is hard work, Alice. Just spin the spinner. My feet are on the correct colors, and so is my hand," he retorted.
"I said left hand yellow, not blue!" Alice argued.
"You lie," he accused.
"Can we just keep playing!? I don't know how much-" I collapsed before I could finish scolding my friends. This was great for their own amusement, and they continued to laugh at me.
"Aw, fuck, I lost. AGAIN. Oh, and thanks guys. I'm glad you find my pain funny!" I joked.
"Bella, I don't know why you insist we play Twister every Monday. You fucking suck at it!" Jacob teased, giggling. I rolled my eyes and got up to get myself some water. Alice looked down at her watch, like she compulsively does about every 10 minutes.
"It's almost six, I have to be home for dinner. I'm going to walk home. Bye guys!" she said, making her way towards the door. She stopped halfway out and came back inside, running to me.
"Almost forgot! This is for you. And you ONLY," she emphasized, glaring at Jacob. Jacob raised his hands in innocence. Alice made her way out again. Jacob took an apple from my kitchen and made himself right at home, as usual. I laughed at him.
"You know, Jacob, it's pretty awesome how you're comfortable enough to just walk into my kitchen and grab whatever you fancy," I pointed out. He grinned.
"But that's why you love me!" he teased. I felt myself blush a little. Soon the phone started to ring. It was Jacob's dad, Jasper. As Jacob talked, his face fell little by little.
"Oh. Right, okay. No, I haven't said anything. I will, Dad. Eventually. It's not time yet... okay. Yes. I'll be home in a few. Alright, bye." he said, hanging up. He looked up at me, looking slightly upset.
"What's up?" I asked, hoping everything was okay.
"I have to go home, I almost forgot I have a doctor's appointment in about an hour," he explained. I frowned a little, but then smiled.
"Well what are you waiting for? Get the hell out of here," I said, jokingly. This perked him back up, and he laughed again.
"Fine! I'm out of here! Bitch," he said, winking. He gave me a hug, then unexpectedly kissed my forehead. "See you tomorrow," he added. Then he was gone, yet again. I sighed.
I sat down and turned Comedy Central. They were playing a rerun of Dane Cook's "Isolated Incident", which was my personal favorite. I couldn't force myself to watch those stupid reality shows everyone was into on MTV, like Jersey Shore or Teen Mom. It was so stupid to me that every second I tried to watch I could feel my IQ dropping point by point. Just as Dane started telling his joke about the rude waitress and things he didn't want on his sandwich, I remembered the note Alice had given me. I dug in my pockets and soon felt the point of the folded paper. I crinkled it open. It had said,
Bella,
Meet me in the parking lot after school tomorrow. I have something really important to tell you.
Make sure Jacob doesn't show up. Thank you.
Love, Alice.