"Hey there beautiful," I heard a familiar male voice say smoothly as I was putting my binder in my school locker, in a rush to get to lunch. Closing my blue painted locker door, there stood my best friend, Embry. He was a smidgen shorter than me with fat cheeks and long eyelashes. He never liked it, but I always referred to him as my little munchin. His maple brown eyes with gold flecks glimmered in mischief, and his dark curly locks that reached his chin bounced with every head movement. I rolled my eyes, then shook my head. Embry was a dare-devil and completely thoughtless. I had to admit though, he could bat those long eyelashes of his and sweet-talk his way out of everything. However, he did have a bad habit of pulling a lot of stupid stunts and jokes.
"God, Embry, don't talk to me like that!" I teased it off as we walked to the cafeteria together, our friends Jake and Quil joining us on the way there. Jake was the tallest out of everyone, although recently had shot up a few inches the past week or so. His hair was long, jet black, and straight, and he had a habit of covering his head with a beanie. He was the polite, quieter, and the more athletic one of our little group. Then there was Quil, average sized with a little bit of extra weight in his stomach area.(But he wasn't fat by any means...) Quil had a head of tight soft black curls that sprung back to place if you pulled one. All three of the boys had dark Indian skin that all the natives possessed, dark hair too. So I obviously was the odd one out, my white skin so pale, it could be compared to a porcelain doll. This also meant I burnt far too easily, so it was a good thing we didn't get much direct sunlight here in La Push.
"Hey babe," Quil began, trying to get my attention, "I wish I were adenine because then I could get paired with U." Jake and Embry laughed so hard, probably from the stunned look on my face.
"All in favor to vote Quil out of our cafeteria table?" Embry shouted. "I!" Jake and I shouted with big fat smiles as we started setting food on our cafeteria trays.
"Sorry Quil, that was just the worst pick-up line I've ever heard." I said. Quil had claimed he was just kidding as he ruffled my hair, sending long curly and very light blonde hair flying throughout the air. We got settled at our table and began light chatter as we ate at our food. I tried so hard not to snicker at the fact that Jake was practically shovelling food in his face. What a dork, maybe he was going through puberty, I thought sarcastically. Then, it occurred to me that an odd silence fell over our lunch table. "What is it?" I inquired, looking between Quil and Embry. Both of them had been staring, and I looked to see what was causing them to fall with that dumbstruck expression. I blinked my blue-grey eyes, wondering if I saw correctly.
Is that... Jared? I knew he'd been gone a week or so, but it didn't really effect me. I looked at Embry. "What's going on?" I whispered, hoping to get some insight. Embry was, afterall, Jared's best friend. Even closer than he was with me, I'd say. Examining Jared, he did seem different, I couldn't put my finger on it though, because he wasn't one I typically hung around with often. Embry angled himself back to his table, eyes looking distant, with big frown on his face. "I haven't seen him the past week and a half. He hasn't even talked to me since then." he murmured.
"Like... he blows you off?" Quil questioned. Embry nodded sullenly. "He's been ignoring me completely today."
Looking between the two, I then heard Jake sigh. Looking to him, I saw his eyebrows scrunch together in frustration. "He's like... Paul." Everyone was confused by the statement, no one was especially close to Paul, he'd always seemed like a pretty big asshole.
"Paul just disappeared for, like, 2 weeks, and came back a different person. Ever since he's been hanging around that college guy, Sam Uley, like a puppy. Maybe Jared decided he wanted to join their little group too?" he grumbled, obviously not happy of the thought of this "gang."
I looked between the guys, and slowly, a smile crept onto my face as a plan formed in my brain. "Dare me to confront him?" I asked. Embry wouldn't do it, because I knew good and well he didn't want to piss Jared off or hurt his feelings, or something along those lines. Quil laughed loudly and heartily, nodding furiously, but the bell interrupted. "I'll do it in the hallway on the way to art, I smiled." I looked to Quil, "I'll meet you on the way class, Quil." I said, since we had the next class together, which had been art.
Getting up from my seat and throwing away my trash, I headed quickly to my locker to get the supplies I needed for art, which was my sketch pad and portfolio. Luckily, the school supplied the students with most of the needed art materials. Then, I spotted Jared from the corner of my eye, and I turned. As I started to approach him, finally, I began to realize what was so different about him. First off, his hair was cut very short and to the head, I faintly remember his dark brown hair being a bit longer than it was now. Secondly, the guy was huge. He had to have grown half a foot in a matter of weeks which was... completely unrealistic! Jared had bulging muscles, that I actually struggled really hard not to gawk at.
"Hey you!" I hissed up to Jared, with my being a mere 5'4". He slowly turned, staring at me curiously. "How can you even think about treating Embry so badly? He's been nothing but good to you, and you turn around only to give him the cold shoulder and treat him like shit!" I snapped, my blue-gray eyes boring into his, when I got too tense, I looked away briefly. I knew good and well Jared could snap me like a twig if he really wanted too... Jared shook his head and snorted in disbelief at my bravery to confront him.
"I don't deserve this!" he laughed, shakily, as if he were someone good and someone who actually supported the La Push community. The fact that he thought of himself so highly made me laugh! Jared's jaw clenched, as he moved past me sluggishly, the side of his body crashing into mine rudely, I was surprised by his strength, to be honest with you. I watched in shock as he stomped through the hallway, that was the moment I realized a few people had actually gathered around to watch our fued, which sort of embarrassed me. Then, I saw Embry stop in Jared's way, and my eyes bulged out of my head.
"Don't you even think about talking to Corsica like that again, you asshole!" Embry hissed. I watched from afar as Jared's eyes glared down at his friend, and he gave Embry a good shove, causing him to fall to his butt. Jared practically jogged away from the "crime scene" as I ran to Embry's aid. I was moved, and proud to call him my best friend. To be honest, I was surprised he practically chose me over Jared in the first place!
"You're so brave, Embry!" I said joyfully as I began helping him up. When he got to his feet, he adjusted his t-shirt, then pulled his long dark curls back in their original place.
"He pushed me..." he mumbled, I noticed his jaw clench tightly. I pulled my best friend into a casual half-hug.
"I appreciate it, you have a lot of courage." I said gratefully, as I let go of him. "Want me to walk you to class? He painfully shook his head, I could tell by his body language he just wanted to be left alone. Leaving to meet with Quil, I couldn't help but feel a little giddy that Embry stood up for me.
The rest of the day went quickly, mostly because I was distracted, from having so much on my mind. The heavy thoughts also really distracted me from Quil and my artwork during the period.
"You sure you're alright?" Quil questioned, interrupting my train of thought. I blinked my grey eyes, and looked at him, coming to my senses. I'd noticed hiss chair was a lot more angled towards me than usual. It was so odd being able to notice details like that, painting detailed scenes tended to have that effect on me, though.
"I'm fine. It's just... today has been a rather odd day," I mumbled, "But I just can't put my finger on it."
Quil continued to fill the rest of the period with chatter I didn't really listen to. Luckily, just nodding is a good enough response for him. By the end of the school day, I felt relieved to be able to walk home and clear my head. I decided my cluttered mind was just caused by the fact that Embry was unhappy. He was my ultimate best friend, afterall. Entering my home, I dropped my backpack on the floor.
"Miss Hatcher?" I called out into the spacious house. There was no response. I frowned as I made my way upstairs, she must've been working especially hard tonight. Like she always was. Miss Hatcher was my foster mom, just sort of caring for me for the time being. I tended to get tossed around house-to-house pretty often, but surprisingly, this was the longest I stayed in one household. It wasn't that I was necessarily a bad child, I got my nose into trouble every now and then, though. My depression was something parents didn't want to really deal with, either. I sighed as I thought of my brith parents. Did they know where I was? Did they care? Did they know my name? Did they ever think of me?
I liked to make up unbelievable stories of a man and a woman madly in love, so much so, they used it to create a beautiful blue-eyed blonde haired baby. Then, caught in a horrible storm, for they were on a ship, the basket that held their baby got caught in wave, and floated to safety. Maybe that was why they couldn't find me.
Although, I did know the harsh reality was that they didn't want me, they just cared enough to not get an abortion. No magical story of getting lost at birth. Just a mistake of a baby. Sighing at these rather depressing thoughts, I climbed into bed and pulled a book out from beneath my pillow that was about dreaming and the psychology behind it, until my eyelids became heavy and I fell asleep, which was rare of me to do without eating dinner. I spent the rest of my night dreaming of an endless forest, the one that surrounded La Push, to be exact.
I was simply running and running, yet it felt like I was going nowhere.