Lillian Folsby was a normal teenager in many ways. It was basically the usual stuff; she went to school, had a best friend, an annoying family, etc. She was a junior at her high school and got fairly good grades. Lillian wasn't popular by any means, but she didn't think of herself as "nerdy" or a "loser". That might have something to do with her best friend Roxie.
Roxanna Mitchell was a go getter. She didn't let anything stand in her way, and her colorful personality had always balanced out Lillian's shy, quiet demeanor throughout the years. Roxie was Lillian's best friend, and as far as Lillian was concerned, she only needed one best friend anyway. Roxie had always been there for Lillian when she was down, and made Lillian feel more confident then she would normally on her own.
"Hey, Lils! Check this out," Anthony McDaniel called, rushing to catch up with Lillian. Lillian had been strolling casually through the halls on her way to lunch, secretly hoping that Anthony would call her name and run up to meet her. She tried not to show her smile as she turned around and smacked him lightly on his arm.
"Anthony you know I can't stand being called Lils, Lily, or any other nickname you can come up with!" Lillian chided. Anthony grinned goofily and it was all Lillian could do not to beam back up at him. Only Roxie knew that Lillian had a crush on Anthony McDaniel, and Lillian planned on keeping it that way. Anthony was really smart, a straight A student. He was also on the basketball team, so he was never teased for his good grades. Most would say that Anthony was out of Lillian's league, but lately he had taken an interest in her. Lillian suspected it was because she had been in most of his classes for the past two years, trying vainly to get his attention with small conversation and subtle hints and it had finally paid off.
"I'm sorry, Lillian." Anthony stressed her name jokingly. "I just wanted to show you this," Anthony pulled a well thumbed flyer out of his backpack and handed it to a now slightly trembling Lillian. She had seen this flyer before; it was an advertisement for a new Starbucks that had just opened in their small town of Forks. Lillian reread the flyer and nodded.
"Yeah, I've heard about it." Lillian tried to sound casual. "Were you planning on going there?"
"Umm… I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? After school today?" Anthony asked, nervously stuffing his hands into his pockets. Lillian smiled and bobbed her head as a yes. Anthony grinned, and feeling more confident, took his hand out of his pocket to take Lillian's hand. "Great, so I'll see you there at six o'clock?"
"Sure, that's fine." Lillian squeaked, excited by her crush's hand in hers. The two of them trickled into the cafeteria with all of the other students, and separated when they reached Lillian and Roxie's table.
"I'll see you later, Lillian." Anthony called as he strode away towards his own lunch table. Lillian waved goodbye, not trusting her voice to be able to call back.
"Oh my gosh, Lillian! Did Anthony ask you out?" Roxie asked once Anthony was out of earshot. Lillian sat down and told Roxie everything that had just happened, but she was a little distracted for some reason. The whole time she recounted her story, she felt as if someone was watching her. Feeling a bit ridiculous, Lillian paused to look up and see if anyone was watching her.
"Is anything wrong?" Roxie asked, looking at her friend's troubled gaze.
"I'm not sure. I'm probably just imagining-" Lillian froze. She saw what was bugging her. Across from the cafeteria another student was staring at her with rapt attention. Lillian had never seen him before; it was a tall boy with reddish-brown skin and long, dark hair. He was staring at her intensely, almost… hungrily. Lillian quickly looked down and tried to stop her hands from trembling.
"Lillian, what's wrong?" Roxie asked a bit more forcefully this time. Lillian didn't look up for fear of catching the boy looking at her again, so she spoke down to her lunch tray.
"There's a kid looking at me, across the cafeteria." Lillian mumbled, gesturing in his direction subtly. Roxie looked where Lillian was pointing and gasped.
"That's Jacob Black! Don't you know him?" Roxie asked. Lillian shook her head. "Well maybe he's not staring at you, maybe he's just bored. Do you want to find out?" Roxie inquired, an evil smile on her face. Lillian nodded.
Roxie was never one for subtlety. She stood up with a flourish, grabbed her lunch tray, and promptly pretended to trip into Brittany Sutton. Brittany screamed as Roxie's entire tray of food came raining down on her head, and Roxie almost overdid it, but it looked quite dramatic to anyone watching. Brittany's scream had caused everyone to look at her, which was exactly what Roxie intended. Lillian looked at the boy, Jacob, again. He was still staring at her! Everyone else in the cafeteria was looking at the scene Roxie had caused, but Jacob was still looking at her! Their eyes met for a moment, and Lillian felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Without thinking, Lillian leapt up and raced out of the cafeteria. She didn't care how weird she looked to anyone else; she just wanted to escape the dark eyes of Jacob Black.
Lillian raced down the hall, towards the girl's bathroom, and was just opening the door to the bathroom when a warm hand caught her arm. Lillian gasped and turned around to see Jacob Black towering above her. Lillian had no idea how he had caught up to her so quickly, he had been on the other side of the cafeteria! Lillian took a deep breath, and looked up into the eyes of her stalker.
"What do you want?" Lillian demanded, her voice now trembling along with her hands. Her arm was starting to feel hot from Jacob's warm grasp; and she tried pitifully to pull it away, but he would not let go. With his other hand, Jacob slowly and carefully reached up to cup Lillian's cheek tenderly.
"You."