A/N: Hey everybody! So sorry it took me forever to update! I'd say it won't happen again, but I don't wanna lie to you. Odds are it probably will. At any rate, I hope guys are ready to read chapter three, I know I was excited to write it. I do wanna touch on a few concerns and questions people had written in their reviews:
Firstly, just so everyone knows, the timing of this begins where "waking up" begins in New Moon, but instead of Charlie confronting Bella, Jake is put into the picture earlier than in NM. Secondly, the reason I have Jake a little "flat" (read the reviews), is because, like I said in the full summary (see CH.1) He isn't going to be as relevant a character in my story as he is in NM, but not to worry, Jake-fans, cause important werewolf info will be included in good time. I hope that clears up any major concerns, just let me know if there are any more.
Now, on with chapter three: New Kids!?!
Our random week off had passed way too quickly. I had gone down to see Jacob at La Push once more before the week was out.
He had been really helpful in keeping my out of my Zombie-Bella state. I did get the oddest feeling that he may have liked me a little bit more than a friend, though. It was weird, but cute, I guess, in a strange way…
At any rate, the worried look on Charlie's face had lessened in severity a little bit, and he hadn't brought up me moving back in with Renee again, so I hoped my little bit of socializing had helped him worry a little less about me.
Actually, the whole week off from school had sort of forced me to "wake- up," so to speak, from the anti-social auto-pilot mode I'd been in for he last four months. That's what made going back to school even tougher. Outside of school, I had some control over where I went, who I talked to, and what I thought about. At school, I didn't have as much control over that. He was still all around campus, at least in my mind.
Uncharacteristically, I overslept and was, believe it or not, late to English. Mr. Berty glared at me as I walked in, but continued reading from the book as I slid into my seat.
I leaned over to Mike and tapped his desk to get his attention. He looked up, startled. The shocked look on his face made it obvious that he was not startled at the interruption, but more at the fact it was me doing the interrupting.
"Hey, Mike. What page are we on?" I asked, trying my hardest to ignore his surprised expression at hearing me speak.
He stared at me for a moment, but recovered quickly; smiling at the fact I was talking to him again.
"Um, we're on page 65. Do you wanna share my book with me? I could scoot my desk closer to yours…" he whispered back hopefully.
Wow. He just doesn't give up does he? I thought ruefully.
"Thanks, Mike, but that's okay. I have my copy with me…" I told him, and then ducked down to retrieve my Animal Farm book from my backpack.
I could see the disappointment in his face, so I hastily added:
"Thanks for the offer though, Mike. I appreciate it."
He smiled, recovering from his momentary feeling of defeat.
"Let me know if you need anything else." He offered.
I gave him a half smile then pointedly focused my gaze on the text.
It seemed to take Mike about one hour to completely forget my last four months of anti-socialness towards him. I knew this because the second after the bell rang, Mike asked me if I wanted him to walk me to Calculus. I was pretty sure he'd insist on doing it if I said a polite "no thanks," and I didn't want to be rude by telling him the honest answer to that question, so I agreed.
Mike babbled on about work and how it was going to be great to work together tomorrow as if we hadn't been working in almost complete silence for the past several months.
When I walked into calculus, no one was paying much attention to the warm-up problems Mr. Varner was writing on the board. Instead, everyone was chatting rather animatedly amongst themselves. Gossiping, I realized.
I took my seat next to Jessica, who, as usual these days, was facing away from me. She'd taken my closed-off behavior rather personally. Today, however, I actually was paying enough attention to notice, and overhear what she was talking to the girl next to her about.
"So, yeah. It's about time we had something interesting happen here. I hope they're interesting. It would be a shame if we got new students, and had nothing to gossip about. At least, we can hope they'll be more exciting than Be—" Jessica stopped short when the girl she was talking to, looked pointedly behind her, signaling for Jessica to stop before she said something about me. Jessica, glance over her shoulder at me, and looked blankly at me, as if she didn't know me at all.
I decided to ease the awkwardness, and just say something. It was better than just staring back at her.
"So, um, we have new students starting here? When?"
Jessica just looked at me for a long moment.
"You're talking to me all of a sudden?" she asked bitterly.
I wasn't sure how to proceed.
"Well… yeah?" it came out like a question.
"Oh. So now you're eavesdropping on my conversations?" She demanded.
"You weren't exactly whispering…" I pointed out. "Besides, when there's new gossip, you're the first person I think to ask." I said.
To a normal person, that'd be a kinda backhanded compliment, but to Jessica, it was like telling her she was the winner of a popularity contest.
"Oh." I could tell she was debating whether to dish or not… she lost against her better judgment.
"Well, there's these new kids. They're all seniors. And from New York. As in New York City! I mean, how awesome is that? There are the two twins, a boy and a girl, their names are Aidan and Genevieve, and then the girl's boyfriend, Skyler. Liz told me last period that she heard from Steven, who heard it from his sister's best friend Janice…" I tuned out for the long train of he said she said. When She started making sense again, I tuned back in.
"… said they're from Alaska. Like it's so sad though! The twins' parents, like, died! So they got all this, like, insurance money from it, and emanciapitated themselves—"
"You, mean emancipated." I cut in.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. Anyway… that's why they moved here. They could only emanci… whatever… if they moved to a smaller city. It's kinda weird, but so cute at the same time that her boyfriend moved with them. It's, like they couldn't be apart or something like that. Such a shame though cause, I heard that Skyler is totally gorgeous! They all are actually. They kinda remind me of the Cullens, ya know, before they went AWOL…" Of course, she didn't notice my flinching, and just babbled on.
She just had to go there didn't she?
"So yeah, the twins, Genevieve and Aidan, look alike, but not alike at the same time. Genevieve has really long blond hair, and these bright blue eyes. Liz said that they don't look normal. I bet she wears contacts. Aidan has them too, but he's supposed to be all emo looking and kinda closed-off. With the dark hair, and the bangs in his face. He's supposed to be totally hot too though. I wonder what his deal is? Skyler and Genevieve were, like, really friendly, at least that's what Liz said. I guess we'll find out at lunch though. Lauren invited them to sit with us already. She's totally got it covered!" At the name "Lauren," I tuned out of the conversation for good. She was not my biggest fan, and I was becoming less and less fond of her general bitchiness towards me.
At any rate, Mr. Varner had now cleared his throat for the fifth time, making it clear that anyone who was still talking when he got to the sixth time would most likely get detention. So I got started on the problems on the board.
My day went on as normal from there. I went to class, and took shockingly accurate notes. I heard a few more bits and pieces about these new kids, but I hadn't actually seen them yet. I had sort of forgotten about them, lost inside my own little world, trying to pretend I don't still have OCD (obsessive Cullen disorder). That was until I got to lunch… then my life suddenly got more… complicated.
A/N: insert evil, maniacal, giggle-slash-cackle here I'd apologize for the cliff hanger, but I'm not actually sorry… You'll appreciate it too, once I post chapter four, which I'm working on right about now. I hope to post it soon, but I want it to be perfect! I hope you guys enjoyed chapter three. Let me know if you have any comments, questions, or concerns. I'm always happy to clarify any issues you might have with Solstice.
Luv ya,
Dreamysilverdragon08
