Disclaimer: I am not SM, and I do not own Twilight, Paul, or shapeshifters. I only own Lake.

If you want to see some of Lake's outfits, check me out on Polyvore! I'm Miss-Vannie

Monday Morning

Paul:
"New girl in school?" I asked Jared, looking around for signs of crowding around potential new blood.
"No, just grown girl in school. Very easy on the eyes."
"Huh. Who is it?"
"The girl over there with grey eyes. They kinda pop out of her face because she's so dark."
"Woah. Yeah they do. Um. I'm going to go talk to her."
"Why? It's not like she's alone or anything." I took a step forward.
"I just... Feel like I should."
"Whatever. I'll see you after second period."
I slowly walked over to the girl. She was very pretty, from the angle that I got. But her eyelashes were thick and I couldn't quite see her eyes. The people around her sorta drifted back in any direction, like pepper and soap in that stupid science experiment with water. I was the soap. I didn't really mind, as petty humans tended to annoy me and I would have trouble keeping me temper. As I grew closer, she started to look at me. Finally our eyes met. It wasn't what I expected at all. There was no mysterious wind that blew our hair back while we blinked slowly and seductively. It was a normal eyes meeting. Betcha thought I was gonna imprint, right? Well, I wish I had. But no. Nothing.
"...hi?"
"Hey there. I'm Paul."
"I'm Lake. Is there a reason you're staring at me like that?"
"... Sorry. Nope. Absolutely nothing." I was a bit frustrated. Imprinting was a bitch.
She laughed tinkly...ly...
"I might just know what you were looking for." I looked at her, confused. But she offered no explanation. Just started introducing me to her new group. I got Sandra, Matt and Carla before I couldn't remember. Well, three wasn't bad. They all looked like relatively nice people. So I decided I would chill with them. I plopped down in the seat next to Lake. As the bell rang, her friends started spreading out into the seats.
Mr. Derane came in and started teaching. He was a nice, forty-something man with a good sense of humor. One of those extremely wholesome people everyone wants to have teach them.
I whispered to Lake.
"Hey, are you new?"
She laughed that tinkly laugh again, but very softly.
"Not new. Just different. Less awkward, you may say. One day you'll know."
"And one day you'll give me an answer that doesn't have to be deciphered."
"Secrets aren't always mine to tell."
"There you go again."
She just winked and looked at Mr Derane, who graciously didn't call us out. His philosophy was: if they're not bothering anyone else, why make a scene. If you fail a test, you suffer the consequences.
After class was over, I gathered my scribblings together and shoved them into my backpack. Lake did the same, neatly putting them into her folder, which she carried.
"What class do you have next, Lake?"
"Math, Algebra 2." She rolled her eyes.
"Crap. That sucks. Well then, I guess I'll see you at lunch?"
"Sure, I'll save you a seat. Do you have anyone else you want to save a seat for?"
"...no, they'll all be fine."
"Bitch! Hey! Yeah you. Where are you going?" I groaned as I heard Karol call out. Lake was her target.
"I don't think that's any of your business." She responded coolly.
"Too fucking bad. You know, you might actually look human if you covered up that face with a little makeup." I opened my mouth, no sure if I should say something or if Lake wanted to respond on her own. She rested her elbow on my shoulder. She was quite tall, but her elbow was still pointing up because I was so tall.
"Maybe I'm not human. Maybe I'm an alien come to take you back to my planet, Guadalajara to drain your soul and make you my minion. Did you think of that?" I was almost doubled over, trying not to laugh and get involved.
"You know what? I don't car-"
"And another thing. I'm not afraid to show my true colors or my real face." She gestured in a circle around her face.
"You should be." Karol shot back.
"Maybe I should. But I'm not. So, toodles. I'm off to do something PRODUCTIVE." And that confident little vixen walked gracefully off down the hall, leaving an astounded Karol behind her. And WHY couldn't I have her as my imprint? Half the people in the hall were watching, and as I walked after Lake, I whispered to Karol,
"Girl, you just got OWNED."
She was still fuming and couldn't answer. I found Lake laughing quietly with another girl at the water fountain. I heard them talking about holy macaroni. So apparently Lake didn't go around telling her "I'm so awesome" stories. Just dominated and moved on.
"Oh, hey Paul, do you know Marie?"
"No, we haven't met. Hi Marie."
"Hey." She but her lip, obviously intimidated by me. I gave her a warm smile. She smiled timidly back.
"Marie's in chem with me." Lake said. Marie softly spoke.
"Yeah, we both love combining solutions for the colors alone."
"Ah. Sounds like you girls are a dangerous pair then." I said with a friendly smirk.
"Could be! We haven't blown anything up yet." Marie was getting a little more comfortable. A guy walked past us quickly in the hall, but slowed to say hi to Lake and Marie.
"Lake! What's good? Marie, we still on for tonight? Hey, dude I don't know!"
"Hey Mark! Jordan's looking for you in the caf."
"Hi Mark."
"Awesome socks, seeya later!" He was walking backward but then turned around and walked quickly into the cafeteria.
"Mark is your boyfriend, Marie?"
She blushed very deeply.
"Um... It's kinda... Complicated. And unofficial. But sorta."
"We'll looks like you got a great guy there. And he's very lucky too." I told her, making her blush even harder.
"Oh, thanks. I didn't expect you to be so nice, Paul." She told me. I raised my eyebrows. Lake clarified.
"There are lots of stories about your temper, hotstuff."
"Oh. Well that's not good." I was a little embarrassed. I knew exactly which stories they were talking about. I'm not exactly longsuffering.
"No worries. I don't judge people based on their rep. I once had one too." Lake said.
"You were violent and temperamental? I can't see that."
"No, I was awkward and antisocial."
Marie giggled and we both looked at her.
"So like me." We all laughed.
"No honey, you're cute and intriguing," Lake said, plopping an arm around Marie.
"But now you're very popular because you're witty and nice, Lake."
"Oh thanks.. It makes me happy to hear that."
"And I'm still cute, right?" Marie said, with a half-smile and a twinkle in her eyes.
"Yes, you're very cute." I told her. She blushed again.
"Anyways, hotstuff and cutie pie, I gotta go to math. So I'll see you both later!"
Lake waltzed off in the direction of the math building, and Marie said goodbye, too. I absentmindedly went to my class and sat through the lecture, mulling over this new girl. What made her so popular? She was very ordinary. But it seemed like much of the school was her friend. I was coming up with a blank. When class was over, I ran into Karol. She was still cranky. She was our school's resident bitch. Every school has one. But I grabbed her arm. She spun around.
"Hey can I ask you something?"
"You can ask. I probably won't answer but you can ask."
"What makes Lake so popular? Do you know her from last year?"
"Psht, you're obsessed with that chick too? Yeah I remember her. She was a brown, awkward noodle, with no sense of style or humor."
"So why do people like her now?"
"She's pretty I guess. She's not that smart, interesting or funny. I don't really know what she has going for her."
"Huh. But she's nice and she cared about people. That's why people like her. Because you're both pretty, but nobody really likes you. No offense."
"Like I care. I don't need human approval."
I looked at her intently. She seemed sad or lonely.
"Are you okay?" She took a deep breath.
"Yeah I'm fine. Here, give this to her. She dropped it on her way to class."
"What is it? And how come its wrapped?"
"I don't want anyone to know its her journal and that I'm giving it back without saying anything."
"What's the W for?"
"Well, I was mad at her when I wrote that so it's W for W-"
"Okaaaayyyyy" I didn't know why it bothered me so much to hear Lake called a whore.
"I was gonna say Walker. That's her last name."
"Oh. Right. Kay. So why are you giving it back?"
"Nothing good in there. Girl has no crushes, secrets or people that she hates. It's all stories about other people. All nice. She's the most irritating person."
"Wow. She really is that nice. Well, thanks Karol. I'll give this to her. Gotta go to class."
I left, tucking the journal under my arm. What was the catch? How was I missing the one thing wrong with Lake? She couldn't be just a nice person. She's too... Intriguing. I wondered if I HAD imprinted and just didn't know it. Maybe my mixed blood wasn't strong enough to trigger such a harsh reaction to my imprint. After all, the only guys who had imprinted so far were Sam and Quil, both were direct descendants. My mom wasn't even half of the original pack members. And my dad... Well actually I had no idea who he even was, even less who he was descended from. That was an interesting theory, and I liked the thought of imprinting on Lake. I was quite proud of myself for thinking of it.
Finally it was lunch period. I found Lake in the caf, sitting on the top of a table with a group around her. I found the seat she had saved next to her. Jared looked confused from across the room, but shrugged and sat with the other wolves. Embry glanced over and started laughing. I saw him mouth "imprint" and make a kissy face, but I just rolled my eyes, surprising myself at how little he bothered me. They all looked shocked that I hadn't even growled at them. But they soon forgot and moved on.
-0-
Later that day, I dumped my backpack on my couch and took off for patrol. As soon as I phased, Embry was bombarding me with questions.
"Dude, who the heck was that girl you were sitting with? Did you imprint on her?"
"Her name is Lake Walker. I don't know if I did, I think I might have."
I replayed the first time I saw her in my head for him to see.
"Nope. Not strong enough."
I explained my theory to him.
"Woah, did you think of that yourself?"
I grunted, a little irked. Where was my calm from when I was hanging out with Lake earlier?
"Maybe she's supernatural. Makes you calmer. She's not a leech, though, right?"
"No she's not a leech. Maybe you're right. I mean, vamps and werewolves exist, we can't be the only two supernatural beings out there. That would explain why so many people like her."
"Huh. Could be. We'll have to ask Sam later."
We continued running in silence. Well, not really. We both had things running through our heads, but neither of us cared about each other's. mostly having to do with homework.
I fell asleep that night thinking of Lake and her mysterious grey eyes. And all the mysterious things she would say.