... Black Hearts before Sorrowful Souls ...
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, or any of the characters.
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1 – Thank You.
"School starts in a few days," Mrs. Neil hummed. "Are you looking forward to it?"
"Not really, Mrs. Neil," I mumbled, playing with my cheerios. How could I look forward to all the stares I'd receive? Sensitive people would tell me that they were sorry for my loss while those more obnoxious would ask for details of the murder. I lifted a spoonful of soggy cereal to my mouth but lost all will to eat it. Liam, Mrs. Neil's youngest son, had stopped by to help move in the rest of my things. He started to take the bowl from me, his eyebrows lifted. I shrugged and pushed it towards him. Mrs. Neil slapped his outstretched hand with a wooden spoon.
"She needs to eat. Ari, dear, would you prefer pancakes? I'm almost done."
"No thank you, Mrs. Neil."
"I told you to call me Lisa, dear," She gave a friendly smile. I returned it with an empty one of my own. I guess it would be okay to say that she saw me as the daughter she almost had. She had had a daughter – born two months before I was. Her daughter died at birth, strangled by her umbilical cord. I shuddered at the thought that I had been wearing diapers that belonged to a dead baby.
I guess calling her Lisa was the least I could do…
"No thank you, Lisa…" I wrinkled my nose. "I'm fine."
Mrs. Neil started to say something, but the doorbell interrupted her. "I'll get it," She said, setting her spoon down on the table. "Liam – watch the stove, will you?"
I followed Mrs. Neil to the door, wondering if it was another vase of flowers or a card. Mrs. Neil carefully unlocked the door (she and Mr. Neil had installed video cameras and updated their alarm system in an attempt to prevent anything from happening) and opened it to reveal a tanned, petite girl whose face was hidden behind a bunch of flowers with two equally tan people standing behind her. The Floros family.
"Hello, Lisa. Is Ari here? We just wanted to-"
"So-So!" I gasped, pushing Mrs. Neil aside in my excitement. I hugged her and started to laugh, crushing the flowers against my chest as I spun around the foyer, jumping up and down. "How was Greece? I missed you so much! Did you find you Greek god?" I knew exactly why they had come and hoped to play it off. I was just managing to take a stroll around the neighborhood without crying at the sight of my house – I didn't want to deal with remembering that they were dead. How had I managed an entire summer without my dearest So-So? How had I managed this summer without her? It seemed like a lifetime ago that I had spoke to my best friend, instead of a couple of months.
"Greece was fabulous! I missed you, too. The donkey guy was cute. I've got a ton of pictures." I was glad she decided to humor me. She knew how I took to loss. She had been the one who had gotten me to talk after two weeks of silence after the death of my puppy when I was six. Maybe it was because her mother was a psychiatrist, or maybe it was because she understood me better than most.
"Sophia…"
I looked up and smiled at her parents. "Hello Mr. Floros. Hello Mrs. Floros." I released Sophia and took the now bent flowers. "Thank you for coming by. I hope you had a good time on your vacation." I could feel myself becoming the polite, reserved person I had locked away. It came up like a bitter taste of vomit – like I knew it was coming and I couldn't do a thing to prevent it. Once it came out completely, everything would become a mess.
"Sorry we couldn't make the funeral," Sophia gave a sad smile. "I'm sure it was beautiful."
"It was," I took Sophia's arm. "I was waiting for your call. I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun critiquing my wardrobe."
Sophia turned to her parents. "Can I stay? I'll be home by ten – I swear."
Mrs. Floros glanced at her husband and shrugged. "If it's fine with Lisa."
"Oh, Sophia's welcome whenever."
"Okay then," Mr. Floros sent Sophia a sharp look that I found hard to understand. "Have fun girls."
"Bye!" Sophia skipped past Mrs. Neil, totally ignoring her. "How was your summer? Oops, I mean…"
"Boring," I shrugged. Again – the insensitive vomit just came up. How could I call my summer boring? I found out I was part of some historical pack destined to fight the enemy – vampires, one of which just happened to be the love of my predestined, future love Jacob Black. Oh, life sucked.
Especially when you decided to keep all this information from a future psychiatrist. One way or another…she was bound to find out.
"Boring?" Sophia arched a slender, black, perfectly shaped eyebrow. "In you boredom did you just happen to take some steroids?"
"Huh?"
"Look at you!" She waved her hands; her expression was one of mock disgust. "We were supposed to be shorties together, forever! You had to go and get…tall. But – you look awesome. Are you an exercise addict now? I bet you have abs."
I looked down at myself, blinking in amazement. It was like being a fifth grader in school and standing beside the kindergartners. I couldn't imagine myself really growing any. I knew I had grown some, but I hadn't noticed the change of height as much as Sophia had. Maybe it was because we had been the same height when we had last seen each other.
"Sorry, little So-So."
"Hey! Respect you elders," She grinned. "Sixteen as of September twenty-third, baby."
I paused at the door of the guestroom (my room, but I had yet to see it that way) and opened the door to let her in. Sophia blinked at the color. "Orange and blue, huh? Nice – navy blue. You know what else is blue? The Mediterranean!"
"Ha, ha. How did you enjoy your trip? Still jetlagged?"
"'Twas fun! And no, I'm not. Regulated my clock with Red Bull and Starbucks."
"That would explain your twitching eye," I laughed. "Here we are." I threw open the closet door. Sophia rubbed her chin, her brown eyes narrowed as she examined my pathetically undersized articles of clothing.
"Won't do at all. Oh, can I have this? It'll barely reach your ankles, anyway."
"Sure," I eyed her as she proceeded to strip the hangers of clothes. She recognized one of Aki's sweatshirts and left it alone, subtlety maneuvering her hands to brush past the piece without so much as touching it. When Sophia was done I had almost no clothes left.
"We need to go shopping."
"Do we, really?" Every vowel dripped with sarcasm. Sophia ignored me, a bright grin flashing across her sun-tanned face.
"Yeah – duh. None of your clothes fit well, anyway." She climbed onto the mountain of clothes she had set aside in the corner and declared as hers. "To the mall!"
She definitely was not one to give caffeine to.
Her excitement was quickly shut down, however, when she realized neither of us could drive, which meant we had no form of transportation.
"Oh, he's back from college? Hey, Liam!" Sophia hissed as he passed the open door. He paused, his head bobbing to form some sort of nod as he held a basket of laundry in his arms. I sniffed. Laundry made me think of Aki. Aki made me think of my parents. My parents made me think of death. Death made me think of vampires. Vampires made me think of Bella. Bella made me think of Jacob – who would now be lonely, unless he had taken my advice and had decided to make me jealous. And Jacob made me think of…
I sighed.
Sophia made her way to the door, taking slow, deliberate steps. She leaned against the doorframe and twirled a wavy strand of hair around her finger. "Hi, Liam. Ari's in major need of clothes, but we have no way to get to the mall," She pouted. "Could I ask you a favor? Could you please drop us? We'll find a ride back…"
Liam shrugged, shifting the laundry in his arms. "Hey, don't worry. I'll even stay the whole day – I wouldn't mind buying a new battery for my laptop. Will you be ready in ten minutes?"
"Yes!" Sophia clapped, bouncing. She looked as if she were about to ricochet around the room. "Thank you!"
He left with another careless shrug. I rolled my eyes. "You are gifted, my friend."
"Ha. You should've seen me with the donkey guy! He had the dreamiest eyes," She gave a sigh full of longing. "Oh, well. I have his address. He's going to be my new penpal!"
She waited for my reply, but I could do no more than shake my head.
x—x
"Beautiful!" Sophia clapped as I stepped in front of the mirror.
"Sophia, I can't wear this." I eyed myself, wondering how much of her 'clock regulators' she had had to drink in order to mess with her mental stability. How had she even found something this short? Was it legal? "Every time I move I violate the dress code!"
"Fine," She sighed, waving me away as she wandered away from the changing section to look at clothes. I changed into my former clothes and made my own selections. Sophia sniffed.
"All short sleeve? I don't know… won't you be cold?"
I shrugged. "Nah, I'm...hot blooded." Sophia turned her attention to the cashier, pulling out a visa. I bit the inside of my cheek, deliberating whether or not to tell her why I was hot blooded.
But I wasn't allowed to – best friend or not. But… What if what happened to my parents happened to her? They had only been human – she was only human. Besides the Neils, she was probably the only other thing I had left…in this life. My totally, completely human life. I blinked back tears. "Sophia…"
"Mhmm?" She took her receipt and stepped aside so I could hand the cashier my own clothes.
"Thanks for…everything. For being human."
Okay. Next chapter will be… Ari's POV? I guess. Then maybe a JPOV. I still have to write them… Thanks for all the reviews! Ten already, shweet! Okay, I won't take long – I'll go start on the second chapter. I'll try not to make the next few chapters painfully slow, but if they are, many apologies.