DISCLAIMER: None of these characters mentioned are my own, unfortunately. They all belong to Stephenie Meyer. :]
There she was again. Bella Swan. What did Tyler see in her? All I saw was a short, skinny girl with mousy hair and dirt brown eyes to match. What was she wearing, anyway? Didn't Swan know that the first few days of school, even when you moved in the middle of the semester, your appearance was everything? Every article of clothing you wore during those precious first couple of school days would impact you for the rest of your high school career.
I flipped my blonde hair back, annoyed, and took a sip of my water through the straw. I never put my lips on the bottle top itself. It ruined my lip gloss, and I didn't need that. Not when I was undergoing so much stress.
"Hey, Lauren, Mike, Angela," Jessica said as she sat down next to me. "You guys remember Bella, right?"
How could we forget her? I thought to myself. She's the only thing you ever talk about, besides Mike. I offered a brief smile, though, before returning to my own lunch. At least, I tried to, before Bella slid her tray right in front of mine and sat across from me. I looked up, ready to scowl at her, but she was looking down at her food. Good, I thought. She knows her place.
Already Jessica was going on and on about how hard Spanish was. She kept asking Bella questions, as if to verify the proof that it was just like she said it was. Bella said barely anything, though, merely nodding and grunting occasionally. Frowning, I turned my attention back to watching Tyler Crowley walk across the cafeteria towards our table.
Tyler and I had been friends since grade school, like everyone else at our school. But he and I, we had a special thing going on. When we were first graders, Tyler had given me a cootie shot. And ever since then, I was captivated. Most boys would only give a cootie shot to other boys, and the same was with girls. But Tyler had given me one. Me, Lauren Mallory. That had meant he liked me in first grade.
In fifth grade, we pretended to get married. That was just something we had done during recess one day. Another boy in our grade had dared Tyler to get married to someone from our class, and Tyler had picked me. Over all the other girls. That meant he liked me in fifth grade.
Last year, during our sophomore year, he had asked me to homecoming. I ended up sick with the flu the night of the dance, and I heard Tyler went stag because I couldn't go with him instead of getting another date. That meant he liked me in tenth grade.
We were juniors now. He had to still like me. Smiling coyly, I waved over at Tyler, beckoning him to sit next to me. Of course, I was so lost in my own world that I didn't notice when Jessica was trying to get my attention.
"What?" I snapped, annoyed as she waved her hand in front of my face. Gross. Her palms were all sweaty and glisten-y. It was disgusting. "Get your hand out of my face! God!" I smacked her wrist away, scoffing. Jessica looked defeated for a moment, before relapsing into her story again.
"I was saying, Lauren," she continued, "that you should definitely come with me to look for a dress for Mike's party this weekend. He said it's going to be totally amazing. Right, Mike?" Jessica perked up a lot when she said Mike's name, turning towards him like a lovesick puppy.
Of course, Mike was talking to Bella in the same way. "What?" he asked, looking up from his daze. "Oh, yeah. Total rager. Yeah."
I rolled my eyes. What did Jessica see in Mike? And what did Mike see in Bella? Jess was my best friend and everything, but she could really be a ditz sometimes. Really shallow, too. And what was even worse was that she didn't realize she was shallow. I know I was shallow, but I was proud of it. Jessica didn't even have the vaguest idea, however.
Jess had started gushing and blushing from how Mike had spoken to her. I tuned out and paid attention to how Bella was taking Mike's unsubtle flirting towards her. She was acting like it wasn't something that happened often to her, which was probably the truth. I sighed, sipping my water again and looking down at my food. Ugh. So many carbs on one plate. I didn't understand how it possible for the lunchladies to even do. I shoved my plate away, taking the apple from Jess' tray. She didn't even notice, and I didn't care. Taking a bite, I nodded my head at her like I was actually paying attention. Which I wasn't. God, she was oblivious sometimes.
Tyler was getting closer, and I was getting antsy. All I wanted to do for the remainder of my lunch period was flirt with Tyler. But he had stopped to talk to someone on the way to our table, and was taking forever. It was getting to be too much.
"I'll be back," I said to the others, grinning and standing up. I was so glad I had decided to wear a pleated miniskirt and heels, despite the weather. Together combined, they made my legs look endless, and that's the look I wanted for getting Tyler to finally ask me out on an actual date. It'd been a while since I'd had a good date.
"Hey, Tyler," I said cheerfully as I approached him, blatantly ignoring the person he'd been talking to. Some football player or something, I think. An athlete, I knew that. It didn't matter to me. "I saved you a seat at our table. Aren't you coming to sit?"
"Oh, yeah," Tyler said, grinning down at me and making me beam even more. "Thanks, Lauren." He followed me to the lunch table, setting his tray down next to mine as if it were the most casual thing in the world. I loved it.
After a little bit longer, with flirting with Tyler safely nestled into a comfortable time table, Bella got up to empty her tray. I was grateful for the break from her, and immediately turned to Tyler to talk some more.
He was already facing me, though, with a huge grin on his face. "Hey, you and Bella are friends, right?"
I hesitated for a moment. I didn't want to lie and say yes, but at the same time, I didn't want him to think of me as cruel for saying no. So I went for the lie.
"Oh, yeah, totally," I beamed, nodding my head and flipping my hair. "We're almost besties. Why?"
"That's awesome," Tyler said. "Think you can put in a good word for me? I kinda like her."
And like that, my world came crashing down. The water bottle in my hand was suddenly crushed, spilling water all over my skirt and t-shirt and legs. Everyone at the table stared at me as I glared at Tyler, then stood and stalked out of the cafeteria.
Passing Bella, I gave her a menancing glare that she probably had no clue what it was about. But she deserved it. Bella Swan had stolen my friends, and how my almost-boyfriend. She and I were definitely besties now, so I hadn't lied to Tyler. Yeah, we were besties.
Enemy besties. Bella Swan was going down, and I wanted to make sure that I was the one who caused her fall.
Author's Note: Hope you all liked it. :] I've been wanting to write a story about Lauren for a while. She just seemed so mad in Twilight, and I was inspired from that. :]