Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer!
A/N: I swear, I am not this mean in real life. I wrote this chapter against my will after entering the world of Gossip Girl, so blame them. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to continue in this fashion. Leave me a reply; they are great.
xoxo, RLM.
lol
This morning I rose with the sun. Its shining rays poured through my bedroom window, exciting my nerves, expelling through my mind a rare anesthetic that washed away last night's troubles. Minutes into the morning and I sat on the sill again, letting the unusual sunlight seep through my veins.
"Good morning, Lauren," my dear father spoke, as he peaked through my bedroom door.
"Morning, dad," I replied, my conscience only half present.
"How is my favorite freshman doing?" he asked bombastically, crossing the room to lean against the wall beside my window.
The idea of being a freshman wasn't a problem for me – I fit in at Forks High respectively. It was the Cullens and Hales who did not. I groped my mind with this early blunder, silently cursing to myself for deluding myself with thoughts of the creepy family so soon in my marvelous morning.
"Everything is wonderful, dad!" I exclaimed, flashing him a brilliant smile.
"That's my girl," he replied, landing a brusque kiss on my forehead, and then walked out of my room, seeking his morning coffee downstairs.
I felt uptight in an odd way, yet I somehow felt a compulsion that today would serve me well. I couldn't give up now. I had yet to have 179 more days of school to prove my worth to Forks High School – prove to them that I was better than those new kids.
I walked somberly into the double doors of the school after my dad dropped me off and ambled curiously through the hallway, looking for any signs of gossip floating around the school. There was none – yet.
I found a comfortable crowd to stand with, a crowd consisting of a very extraordinary Jessica with extraordinary make-up on this fair morning, and young juvenile boys who decided to dress up extra nicely, I bet, was for the attention of Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale. Why, oh why, I grumbled to myself. This morning was going to hell so fast – oh, so very fast!
"Lauren! hey girl!" Jessica beamed as I came up to her.
"Good morning," I replied with my lips pursed. "What's the occasion?" I mocked her.
Her expression sank and her cheeks pumped up with my remark. She looked at me in disdain as if disappointed by my sour behavior. I only looked away un-knowingly, listening in for any news of the new kids.
Rochelle and Amber, two juniors stood beside Jessica, and I listened in to what they were saying.
"Do you know what I heard? I heard that Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen made out in between all of their classes yesterday!" Rochelle boasted.
I smirked zealously, for once proud of myself for accomplishing my mission. It didn't even take that long for my serious words to reach Jessica's ears, and then be preached throughout the town in one single night. It was amazing how quickly news traveled – astonishing, in fact.
"No way! He can't seriously make out with his sister! That is so disgusting! Eww! He is so handsome! You have to be kidding," Amber replied, shuddering deeply as she took the facts in.
Only, they weren't facts, but rather twisted observations on my part.
"Well, I'm not. This family is utterly weird, don't you agree? I mean, they are gorgeous! They really are! But they act as if we're inferior to them. They don't have any right to come to our town and act as if they own!" Rochelle replied.
Finally! Somebody who agreed with me!
I walked to class hopefully, an emotion that didn't exist yesterday. There was hope for me this year. The rumors would spread so quickly, the new kids wouldn't stop them in time. But in time, they never even showed up. First period passed and none of them showed up. It came to me in a horrific yet pleasing thought that maybe they had decided to move away. It served them right! Maybe they really did know what was best for them after all… smart kids. My father was right… they were smart kids.
It was rather disappointing that it took five periods to pass for the boys to finally notice my new plaid skirt. Tyler commented on it when I walked into English class, and then people finally began to look at me! I was disappointed it should take them over half of the day, but I guessed it was better late than never… though, it was discouraging still. I hated to think the boys were still drooling over Rosalie Hale's outfit yesterday. No doubt, she spent three hours preparing for a seven hour school day, just for the sort of shallow attention she sought after. For me, everything was natural. I never had to spend three hours flipping my hair in the morning, as Jessica probably did this morning.
And to think of Jessica, oh, poor Jessica! She prepared so much for her handsome Edward Cullen, and he doesn't even bother to show up. And in a disgusting way, she deserved it. There wasn't anything special about any of those new kids. They were only here to flash for one day, but now that they were gone… that put me in control.
"Hello, Tyler," I said smugly, taking a stand beside him in the cafeteria during lunch.
"How is your day?" he asked in a trance.
"Hmm, it is definitely fabulous!" I exclaimed.
"That's good," was his short reply.
I walked away disdainfully and met Jessica who stood in the lunch line, speaking to Rochelle and Amber again, discussing various topics concerning the infamous group of people I had had enough to do with.
"What? Are you missing your dear friend, Mr. Edward Cullen?" I gloated to Jessica. "Is there really a need to put that much make-up on, Jess?"
"Looking nice, matters to some people, Lauren. I'm sure you would understand, wouldn't you?" she replied.
"What does that mean?" I asked sternly.
She digressed immediately, "You haven't spoken to Jasper Hale yet, I hear?"
I looked down at her apprehensively, and said rather loudly, "And how is your relationship with Edward Cullen? Is it blooming as slowly today as it did yesterday?"
"At least I spoke to him, Lauren," she tried indignantly.
"Be careful, sweetheart. Most people don't believe that. Anyway, Edward Cullen has no interests in you whatsoever. He didn't even bother to show up today."
"And neither did Jasper Hale."
"I told you already," I said, "I have no interests in him. Not anymore. It was fun for the two minutes it lasted. I'm sorry you're still dazzled by Edward. Besides, there are better looking men out there for me."
And as for you, I wanted to tell her, but decided not to. I knew when to stop speaking.
I flipped my hair and stood up straight to appear more dignified.
"Lauren, quit the trash. Besides, they probably went hunting earlier than expected," she tried.
Together, intensely, we walked to a table and sat down beside some boys, behaving now that we were in their presence. It was amazing how that happened, actually. We fought like hell with each other, but when around boys, drama instantly ceased.
I couldn't help but address Mike Newton sarcastically: "You look handsome today."
He blushed, his cheeks filling with crimson blood that gave away his utmost purpose.
Tyler approached me roughly at the end of lunch. His face was blank, but I knew he had something on his mind.
"You don't have to be so jealous, Lauren," he accused me.
"What makes you think I am jealous?" I said dastardly, arching an eyebrow potently to hide any signs of that jealousy I knew was oh, so very present today.
"Just because your Romeo has fled the scene rather early, doesn't give you any right to rack down the others."
I stared at him angrily. How dare him!
"Unlike everybody here, I am not groveling over the Cullens and Hales!" I said with a stiff, but unsteady tone.
"Keep it down, Lauren. Don't give them a reason to think otherwise," he warned.
Hopelessly, I replied, "They already have a reason to believe so."
"And what is that reason?" he asked curiously.
"I'm the one that spread the rumors about Jasper and Alice making out," I confessed.
"What? Do you mean that they didn't make out?"
"They only kissed. It was a peck on the cheek, probably wishing each other luck for the day, but I changed it, thinking that there was more, only there wasn't."
"Because you were jealous?" he scoffed. "Lauren, they were on campus for two minutes! It took two minutes for your jealousy to reach its peak? That is unbelievable!"
"What is believable, really?" I said somberly.
"Certainly not you," he scathed.
"I had to, Tyler!"
"Oh really? That's quite difficult to believe, don't you think?"
"Rosalie!" I began, and then muttered under my breath, "that whore," knowing nobody thought of her that way except me, "she kept on glaring at me all day! What was I supposed to do? Let it go? Most certainly not!"
"What made her glare at you all day? She seamed pleasant to me," he replied nonchalantly.
"That's because you're a guy! She wants your attention."
"No, I don't think so. She seemed down right occupied with her own boyfriend."
"And who is that?" I asked.
I couldn't believe she already hooked up with one of the guys in the school on her first day in this town and at this school. This was completely and utterly unfair.
"You wouldn't believe me," he replied.
"Really?" I breathed tryingly.
"I told you already – you won't believe me."
"Tell me, Tyler," I begged.
"Well, tell me this – do you really like Jasper Hale?"
His question caught me off guard. I hadn't wanted to admit to anybody except myself that I truly did like him – or more than like than I cared to admit. There was a certain atmosphere to him that I cherished in the seconds that I experienced it. It was a certain confidence, a boldness contrasting with a reluctant attitude he had. He wasn't one to be outgoing, but rather private, and he had a sense of secrecy, a sense of purpose in the things he did, the way he acted. I wished he would have spoken to me. I wished he would have introduced himself, rather than clan around his family all day. I missed the opportunity to speak to him.
"Is he coming back? Will he come back for me? Or is he really dating his adopted sister?"