The next day, Amethyst pulled on light wash ripped jeans, a black and white striped shirt with a silver scarf and laced up some black wedges. Noticing a darkening bruise on her arm, she grabbed her tan leather jacket out of the closet and slid it on as well. Her makeup had taken longer than expected that morning because of the bruise and she was close to actually running late to school, so she left her hair natural and ran down the stairs. Thanking whatever being had the power over the rain, she walked out into the surprisingly dry day, grabbing an umbrella just in case.
The drive to school was quick, and she jumped out of her car the minute she parked. Thankfully, she was late enough Tyler apparently hadn't been able to wait for her, so she hurried to her first class instead, only smiling at Angela before the class began.
She slid into her physics class for second period, intent on not acknowledging anything. Her plan was instantly broken by a voice she wasn't expecting.
"Hi," the voice came, almost like bells. "I'm Alice."
Amethyst looked at the girl standing beside her desk in surprise. Alice Cullen seemed to be even more gorgeous close up, which created a twinge of annoyance within her. Everything was so perfect about the girl, other than her oddly colored eyes that Amethyst could not bring herself to get past. "Amethyst," she replied shortly, looking back down at her notebook for the class.
"You won't need that today, silly." The brunette raised an eyebrow at the playful tone of voice. "Today is group work, and you're in my group."
Thinking back, Amethyst realized it was Wednesday, which meant they would be working on their semester project. She bit back a sigh of annoyance, but nodded toward Alice. "Should I move?"
"Nah." The small girl smiled brightly, taking a seat next to Amethyst. "Let everyone else move their desks over to us."
A grin pulled at the corner of Amethyst's lips as the people walking inside did exactly that until eight people were in the room, divided into two groups. The two others in her group looked at Alice expectantly, so Amethyst followed their lead.
Alice pulled out a notebook filled with impeccable notes, Amethyst noted slightly sourly. She flipped to a divider where everything for the group project was contained, and the taller girl felt an eyebrow slip up at how empty the pages were.
"We're working on an analysis project that we haven't actually had time to analyze yet," Alice explained with a small smile. "Our project involves predicting and analyzing splatter patterns as they relate to direction, substance and force. So in class, we've mainly been working on putting together what we want to test and calculating our predictions."
Amethyst reached over to take the notebook from Alice, flipping through the scant notes. "When were you planning on testing?"
"We were trying to wait for a sunny day so we could test outside, but Alice always goes out of town on nice days," the girl from across the table – Mallory – said.
Alice shrugged her statement off. "My family loves camping and goes every time it's nice outside."
"So when?" Amethyst pushed.
"Well, we can't do it at my house. I have too many siblings," James replied, looking up from his notebook for the first time.
"My parents work weird hours and won't let people over," Amethyst said quickly, realizing where the situation was going.
"My house wouldn't be great." Alice frowned slightly. "We don't really have an area where we could test this appropriately."
Mallory pulled at a strand of her hair and sighed. "I can ask my parents if we can use the basement or garage. I can't guarantee anything."
The group quickly worked out times Mallory could ask her parents about and traded contact information before Amethyst pulled out her laptop to type up a spreadsheet of what the group had pulled together up to that point. Once the bell rang, three of them exchanged awkward smiles while Alice beamed at them all, before heading to their next classes.
Amethyst checked back out until lunch, when her expectations were not disappointed by Tyler leaning near the cafeteria entrance. She walked right past him, unsurprised when he fell into step with her anyway.
"Look. I didn't offend you yesterday, did I? I really just wanted to have someone to share the drive with and didn't mean anything by it."
"I know you didn't." Amethyst got into line, still not looking at Tyler.
He wasn't going to back down, though, moving into her line of sight. "Then we're okay? You weren't avoiding me this morning?"
"No, I was just running late," she replied, thankful it was only half a lie leaving her mouth.
Tyler nodded slowly as they both grabbed trays. "So everything is okay then?"
"Just peachy," she muttered, grabbing a bowl of soup and her drink before going to pay. Amethyst walked away from the cashier without waiting for Tyler, which prompted him quickly pay before moving to catch up with her.
"Amethyst-" he reached out and grabbed her arm in the exact same spot her dad had the day before. Amethyst surprised everyone, including herself, when she cringed in pain and went to pull away from his grip at the same time, causing her to jerk just a bit too much.
Her tray went crashing to the floor, but Amethyst hardly acknowledged it. Instead, tears welled up in her eyes as pain slowly spread down her front from hot soup soaking through her shirt. She looked up to see Tyler staring at her in open-mouthed shock, and that most of the cafeteria had a similar reaction, except for those who were already laughing.
Her eyes unwillingly swept the room until she found those odd honey colored eyes, where all five sets were trained on her. There were various degrees of surprise and concern across four faces, but anger was the predominant expression on one face. Edward's face wiped as she acknowledged his expression, but she barely processed it. Instead, Amethyst noticed she was still standing in front of the cafeteria, soaked with vegetable soup.
Tyler reached out to her again, but she turned away and pushed her way out of the cafeteria instead, refusing to allow the tears in her eyes to fall. She finally found the bathroom and breathed a sigh that it was thankfully empty. Climbing into a stall, Amethyst pulled her jacket and shirt off, using toilet paper to wipe at her skin. She spent special time wiping around her two largest scars – one crossing her abdomen, another on the upper right side of her chest. Finally having removed all the burning liquid, she looked down at the ruined shirt in dismay.
"Amethyst?" A soft voice called into the bathroom, making the girl freeze up. "It's Angela."
"What do you want?" Amethyst asked, realizing her voice lacked any real conviction.
Angela's shoes appeared under the stall door. "I brought you a new shirt. It's just one of the ones from the gym but I explained what happened to Coach and he was happy to give me an extra…" Amethyst wrapped an arm around her abdomen as she listened to Angela. "I can pass it over the door for you."
Although she didn't reply, Amethyst found herself unsurprised a shirt appeared over the top of the stall door. She reached up, careful to use her uninjured arm, and pulled the shirt over her head. It was large on her and unflattering, but better than wearing the under armor or shirt she would wear in gym class for the rest of the day. She did slide her jacket back on before exiting the stall, pausing at Angela's smiling face.
"Thank you," she said softly, walking around the other girl to get to the sink.
Angela followed her, making eye contact in the mirror. "Are you okay? Tyler was really concerned."
Amethyst felt her grip tighten on her soiled shirt for a moment, before turning on the tap for warm water. "I'm fine. The soup didn't burn me." The skin was a bit raw and pink, but she knew it hadn't been hot enough to actually cause any damage.
"He was concerned you emotionally, too." The taller girl studied the brunette. "He said it looked like you were going to cry."
Amethyst snorted. "Forgive me for being in pain when hot liquid covered half my body."
Angela's lips pressed together, slightly obviously displeased with the response. Amethyst ignored her look, instead running her shirt under the warm water to attempt to keep it from staining. "Tyler's a really good guy."
"I never questioned that." Amethyst pumped some soap into her hand and used it to scrub at the top.
"Then why are you being so polar to him? And everyone else?"
An eyebrow drifted up her forehead at the seemingly so calm girl, who had a rather frustrated look on her face. Amethyst sighed, turning the water off and wringing her shirt out.
"Look, thanks for helping. But I don't need friends here. I'm not looking to make any, either." She squeezed her shirt one final time before shaking it out and draping it over her arm.
"Why not?"
"Why should I?"
"Because you're human," Angela replied, looking surprised. "You're in a new place and people need support when they have to face new challenges in their lives. Even if it's just someone you can call when everything seems overwhelming, everyone needs a person in their lives. And you really don't want anything like that?"
There was truth to the girl's words, but Amethyst wasn't about to tell her that. "I don't need it. I'm not here to make friends."
"Fine, then why are you here?" Angela was obviously unhappy with the other girl's answers, which were beginning to push on her nerves.
Amethyst turned to look in the mirror, making sure her makeup was still in place. "My parents wanted out of New York. I'm 16 and didn't have a say." Noticing the other girl's eyes soften again in the mirror, Amethyst reached into her bag and pulled out her cover up so she could layer on more over her bruise.
"Even though it wasn't the best situation that brought you here, it doesn't mean you have to hate it so much."
"You're right." Amethyst snapped the compact closed. "I don't have to hate it here. And I suppose I don't. But I also don't see the point in making friends when everything will just fall apart eventually anyway."
"Why would you say something like that?"
"Everything always does." She stepped around the taller girl as the bell rang and walked to her gym class with her head held high, despite the whispers echoing around her.
When she reached glass, she grabbed the long-sleeve under armor from her bag along with her other gym clothes before utilizing the dividers to get changed. When she exited the locker room, she could feel Tyler's eyes focused on her as whispers started up again. Ignoring them, Amethyst took her spot and began to stretch out.
The looks and whispered comments fluttered around her for the rest of the day, and she sighed with relief the moment the bell rang to dismiss the students for the day. Amethyst waited for everyone to leave, but was surprised when Emmett Cullen was one of the last ones left in the classroom with her.
"You okay there?" He asked, a grin stretching across his face. "Lunch looked a little rough today."
"I'm fine," she grumbled, shoving the last of her books into her bag and getting up.
Emmett followed her. "You didn't look too fine. I mean, it looked like Tyler barely touched you and you dumped soup down yourself."
"Great, nice to know I looked like a total spaz while also looking like a bitch." Amethyst considered going to her locker for a brief moment, but decided against having to deal with the crowded hallways.
Emmett trailed behind her. "Easy there, that wasn't what I was saying."
"Of course not," she muttered, opening her umbrella as she got closer to the student lot.
"I just want to know if you need to talk about anything."
She stopped instantly, twirling around to stare him down. "Excuse you?"
His hands went into the air instantly. "I didn't mean anything by it." He didn't wither under Amethyst's intense glare, something that kind of surprised her.
"Why would I need to talk about anything? Especially with someone who has only spoken to me before when it involved his brother hitting me in the face?"
"What is with you and picking arguments?" Emmett stared at the girl, amazed she had so much rage within her. "Can't you get along with people?"
"Yes, I can get along with people and yes, I can make friends. I just don't want to here. It doesn't matter. Nothing here matters." The last part of her statement came out with so much passion Emmett found himself staring at her again. "I wasn't expecting Tyler to grab me and didn't have a great grip on my tray. It was off balance and just happened to tilt the wrong way. Now back off."
She stormed off toward her car, wishing she had a place to escape from everyone, her parents included. That thought made her freeze, realizing with whom exactly she had just decided to pick a fight.
Fear gripped at her, and she spun to find the Cullen's car, grateful when she saw they had not left yet. Two pairs of honey gold eyes met hers immediately, both with thinly veiled surprise as she headed in their direction.
"Emmett, may I speak with you?" He was one of the last to move his eyes toward her.
"Why? You told me to back off."
"Please." Her voice was soft enough that it seemed to take him by surprise, so he nodded and followed her a few steps away from his car.
"What's wrong?" Emmett asked, looking over her face.
Trying to change her expression back to neutral, she took a breath. "Please, don't tell your dad I dumped soup on myself. Or picked an argument with you."
Both of his eyebrows shot up as a small huff left him in surprise. "What?"
"Please, don't say anything to your dad. If you do, tell him not to say anything to my mom. It'll just worry her, and she really shouldn't be distracted right now." Amethyst attempted to explain the situation without actually explaining it.
"You mean you aren't going to tell her?"
"I just don't want to bother her with something so silly. You know how it is with parents." She kept eye contact through the entire conversation, hoping that would be enough to convince him.
He nodded slowly, keeping his gaze steadily on hers. "Sure. We'll inform Carlisle."
"Thank you," she breathed out, already turning back toward her car. Amethyst quickly glanced over to the rest of the Cullens and nodded to Alice, ignoring the other three stares as she gripped her umbrella tighter.
The rest of the week was quiet, at least in comparison to her first few days. Lunch was spent in silence at an empty table, working away at homework so there was less to do at home. People in her classes rarely spoke to her, instead choosing to whisper about her in plain sight. The school had agreed to add her on the list of math tutors but would not assign her any students until after winter break. Her major project in photography was coming along well, as she was working to capture water movement and reactions. Amethyst was happy with the essay she handed in a day early to government about the WPA, and thought she would be relieved school was over for the weekend and she would have two days away from the whispers and judging looks.
However, getting away from high schoolers did nothing to keep her safe from her parents. She hid away in her room, buried in the next book on her reading list for literature most of the weekend. Amethyst's parents only bothered her at meal time, and even that wasn't a regular occurrence. They would often decide to go out to eat without her, allowing her to go downstairs and grab snacks or more water without worrying about confronting them.
Saturday passed without incident, but Sunday proved to be more challenging. The sun finally peaked out from behind the clouds for the first time since her family had moved to Forks, so Amethyst opened her window and leaned out, pleased by the lack of screen but abundance of fresh air.
She settled in under the window to continue working her way through Fallen Angels. She lost track of time as she fell into the world of battle and struggle, enthralled by the characters and storyline Myers created.
However, before she was halfway through the book, a bird shot in through her window, making her scream in shock. The bird seemed just as startled as Amethyst, flying around in circles and cawing, upset by the fact it felt trapped in the room.
Amethyst jumped up, attempting to shoo the bird back out the window with her book, but it didn't seem to be able to figure out how to get to the window. Her door was thrown open, her father glaring angrily into the room.
"What the hell is going on in here?" he yelled, ducking and cursing in surprise when the bird came straight toward him and down the stairs. Dave turned to stare at Amethyst, who was standing with her book still in the air, partially frozen by shock. "Go get it out of the house!" He demanded, and the girl jumped into action.
Running downstairs, Amethyst grabbed a towel before throwing the front door open. The bird was still making just as much noise as it was upstairs, the caws eventually meeting with her mother's scream. Amethyst rushed toward the family room where the sound had come from to see the bird flying over her mother's head.
Amethyst shook the towel at the bird to get it away from Carla as her screaming continued, a move she didn't think through very well. The bird flew over to a lamp, knocking it over in its panic.
Trying to keep it from breaking anything else, Amethyst opened the towel to wrap around the bird, but it had other plans, heading into the kitchen. She followed it quickly as it knocked over a glass from the counter, managing to shatter that as well. The noise seemed to scare the bird toward the front door, where Amethyst was finally able to get it out with a few more snaps of the towel.
She found herself laughing as she pushed the door closed behind the bird, the whole situation seeming incredibly odd and almost impossible, until suddenly she wasn't laughing anymore. Instead, Amethyst found herself on the ground, winded.
"What the hell was that?" Dave screamed at her, Carla just over his shoulder.
"Nothing, I had just opened my window," she gasped out, biting her lip when a kick followed almost exactly where the punch had just landed on her stomach. She could smell the alcohol practically rolling off him now that the excitement was over.
"And why would you do that?"
"It was just so nice outside-"
A glob of spit landed on her face, shutting her up instantly. Amethyst reached up and touched it in shock, staring back up at her father. "You're going to pay for the lamp and the glass. But you're such an idiot; I'd be surprised if you could get a job to pay for it anyway."
Carla laughed over Dave's shoulder, slowly breaking Amethyst's heart more.
"You're not even worth it," came her father's last words before he walked back to the living room with his wife, leaving Amethyst on the floor.
She didn't stay there long, instead making herself an ice pack before running back upstairs to the bathroom. She stared at the girl in the mirror with a greenish-purple right eye and cheek with small, jagged scars covering most of her face. The spit had dried, leaving a small mark where it had landed. Amethyst considered her reflection without interest, distancing herself as much as possible from the girl she was seeing.
As she wet a wash cloth to wipe away the dried spit from her face, tears began to drip without her consent. She was struggling to breathe for more than one reason as reality hit her, causing her to grip the sink tightly.
Amethyst looked back up in the mirror at all her marks, almost unable to believe a single person could cause so much damage to her. More specifically, how her father could treat his daughter as if she was worth less than the dirt on which he walked.