Chapter 2: Pancake 1
I pulled into the Gilbert's drive way and hopped out of the car, making my way to the front door. I took a calm breath in, then out. I brought my knuckles to the door and plastered a smile onto my face. Game on.
I had made sure that my face portrayed no hint that I had had a breakdown only hours ago on my way here. My clothes were crisp and presentable. A pink polo paired with blue jeans had me looking sweet and trustworthy- or that's how I hoped it looked. I needed to maintain the 'good side' with Jenna so I could protect Elena.
My smile multiplied in size when the woman opened the door.
"Hi! You must be Rosalie! I'm so sorry about your mother!" Jenna threw her arms around me.
This was to be excepted, and even if I had never seen her before in my life, she was compelled to think that her and my 'mom' had been best friends, and that she had passed away. Jenna was also compelled to allow me to stay at her house until I had other permanent arrangements ready. I felt bad for this poor woman to have to be made into a pawn of the Tigren council, but it was necessary for her niece's protection.
"Here, let's get you inside." She turned around and shouted up the stairs, "JEREMY! COME GET HER LUGGAGE OUT OF THE CAR!" Then she turned back to me.
"How are you, honey?" She asked as she sat me down at her kitchen table.
"I'm doing fine, thank-you." I was so freakin' fake with that phony little smile still on my face, and kiss-up attitude, that I wanted to vomit on myself.
A boy, who I'm guessing is Jeremy, trudged down the stairs- presumably on his way to get my things from the car.
His black hair was spiked, and his eyes were as dark as midnight. The hair gave him that image of youth- but I had a feeling he was anything but pure. His boyish looks were off set by the look his black eyes gave; that of pain and having known sadness.
I gave him a weak smile and he nodded in acknowledgment.
When he walked out the door, I could have sworn I had gotten a whiff of... of- drugs? Was this kid a druggie? This might complicate my job a little... except I didn't have to protect this addict, only his sister.
He returned with all of my bags piled into his arms. He dumped them by the stairs, and was about to head up them when Jenna stopped him.
"Jeremy, come meet Rosalie. She will be staying with us until she finds another place to go." He sighed but walked over to me. I smiled at him again and he gave me a tinny tiny one in response. Jenna blinked at this. Was she suprised that he smiled? Hm. I guess he didn't smile a lot... I smiled brighter before loosing pretty much all of my happiness.
He always told me my smile was contagious.
As my grin faded from my face, a confuzed look spread accross Jeremy's face at the sudden change in m y behaviour. But before he could question me, a brunette came down the stairs.
"Hey Jenna can- oh! Hello!" Her doe eyes locked on mine.
"This is Rosalie Tomphson, she needs a place to stay for little while until she gets her own place." Until my mission is done. How long would that take? I guess until I'm called off by the council.
"It's nice to meet you, Rosalie. I'm Elena." She smiled warmly at me, and I forced myself to put up a front. I smiled cheerily back and said,
"It's great to meet you, too." Elena was now all the way down the stairs and in the kitchen with us.
"Are you going to be in school with us?" She asked.
"No, I became a legal adult two weeks ago, and I finished school a while ago."
"Oh." My age might be controversial, but I was dubbed eighteen by the council so that I could focus solely on protecting her, instead of some silly school stuff that I had learned hundreds of years ago.
Silence filled the room.
"Elena, why don't you help Rosalie get settled into the guest room upstairs?" Jenna spoke, finally.
"Sure!" She said perkily. Why was I getting the feeling that she was putting up a front, too?
Elena led me to a nicely sized room with cream colored walls and dark furniture.
"This is it." She declared as she gestured to the room with open arms.
"It's great! Thank-you."
"It's no problem. Do you want some help unpacking?"
I was about to say, "No, I'll do it myself." But decided to have some bonding time with my protectee.
"That'd be great!" I said instead. We unloaded my clothing- stopping occasionally when she complemted my closet.
I unpacked my pictures, and on purpose leaving a dew 'undesirables' in the bag, and we placed them on my dresser top.
"Wow. They are both smoking hot." She had gone back to the bag and pulled out the dreaded photos.
"Is he your boyfriend? Or him?" Gesturing to each picture.
One with me at a sitting in a blue-eyed man's lap at the beach, and one with me and a green-eyed man infront of hundreds of flowers in Maine.
"Neither." I said shortly and tried to busy myself buy folding up some shorts and placing them into my dresser. Elena shook her head.
"You can't tell me that you were not- at even one point- dating either of them? With that look in all of your eyes?" Elena's voice was incredulous as she took turns staring at each boy.
"Maybe at one time." I murmered as she finally set it down with my other photos.
"So you dumped this Matt kid the week after?" I questioned Elena. Unpacking my things had escalated into serious female bonding time consisting of pajamas, chocolate, and stories. She had been telling me about how her parents has passed away and how terrible she had felt about dumping Matt. I had known about her parents death, but I was uninformed about her perspective.
"Yeah. But I just thought, 'how can I make him happy when I'm not happy myself?' Ya know?" Her tone was protrayed that she figured I could relate, but instead flinched as she said this.
"Whats wrong?" Elena questioned my reaction.
"Nothing." I said quickly now concentrating deeply on my bedspread. Elena gave me a look. "That's just almost exactly what one of my boyfriends said to dump me... a while ago." I said glancing up at her, and my hardness dissapated as I told her this, and I stared at my hands that had intertwined themselves.
"Sorry! Here," she broke a hunk of her chocolate bar and handed it to me, "have some chocolate." She was so sure, so serious as she placed it into my hand, that I had to laugh at this. 'Chocolate fixes everything!' Soon enough we were both laughing hysterically over such a simple thing. I hardly knew her, yet I felt a tight bond already solidifying.
I was now laying in the plush, cream colored bed in the guest room of the Gilbert's home. Elena seemed like a very nice girl, and someone who I could rely on. Even though I probably wouldn't. Maybe before... but not now. You could only rely on one person: Yourself.
Jeremy, on the other hand; I would probably have to get used to. He seemed like some seriously damaged goods.
I mentally slapped myself. We're all damaged goods. Me most likely even more than him.
Then maybe I would end up being good friends with him; we both have a load of troubles.
We'll just have to see, then. Friend or foe?
