Chapter 7: Tracks
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, but I do own a pack of gum.
BANG! I jump out of bed. What the fuck? Was that a gunshot? Is there a crazed gunman out here? BANG! I dive down to the floor, fearing that if I sit up I'll get a bullet right through the forehead, just like in every action movie ever made. I watch way too much tv… focus, Annie! I crawl out of my bedroom, looking for my mother. Then again my mother is so batshit crazy that it could be her out there, shooting at random for her own amusement. BANG! I flinch at the sound. Is it getting louder? Are they getting closer? "Mom! Where are you?" No response. Holy fuck, my mother is dead and I'm going to die next. "Annie? Are you okay?" Oh thank god she's not dead. "Yeah, I'm okay. What's going on?" I can tell that she's somewhere downstairs, but I'm not sure where exactly. BANG! Oh shit, it's definitely getting closer. "I don't know. I'm going to go check it out," she yells, then I hear the front door open. "No! Mom, they'll shoot you! Stay down!" I hear the door shut. Who hears gunshots and walks towards them? I have to save her!
I stealthily make my way downstairs, expecting bullets to fly through the wall at any moment. I make it to the kitchen where I grab a frying pan. Frying pans can deflect bullets, right? There hasn't been any gunfire in a few minutes, so this is my change. I slip out the front door, tiptoe around towards the back of the house and peak my head around the corner. That's when I hear shouting. "Hey! Are you crazy? Who hunts right next to someone's house at the break of dawn?" Well my mother is brave, I'll give her that. Then again, screaming at a person who you know has a gun isn't very wise. Okay, here we go.
I jump out from behind the house and charge. I stop when I see who it is holding the gun. Oh come on, you can't be serious. Gabby is standing a few feet away from my mother and I. She's got a scary looking rifle in her hand, and she's dressed in camo clothes. What the hell? Gabby, of all people. I almost didn't recognize her, and probably wouldn't have were it not for her trademark nail polish. "Gabby?" Gabby looks over at me, only just noticing my presence. "Annie?" She looks me over, taking in my messy hair, pyjamas and the frying pan in my hand.
She bursts out laughing. I scowl. Excuse me for not stopping to dress up for the occasion. "Bitch," I grumble, only making her laugh even harder. My mother looks between Gabby and I, confusion etched into her face. Gabby eventually stops laughing and walks out from the forest, although she giggles a few more times. I roll my eyes, then introduce her to my mother. "Mom, this is Gabby. Gabby, this is Lisa, my mother," I say. Gabby's eyes nearly double in size. "Hey, you didn't tell me your mom is a teacher at school!" She stretches her hand out to my mother, who shakes it cautiously. "So, um, Gabby, do you always go around shooting things before school?"
Gabby smiles sheepishly. "I'm sorry Miss Platwurst. I had forgotten than you moved in. The house has been empty for a couple years now." Huh, I guess that makes sense. But seriously, Gabby with a gun? Remind me never to make her angry. Gabby looks at me again, trying her best to hide a smirk, and failing miserably. "You want to come inside?" I ask, making my mother give me a look that told me she didn't like the idea of having some trigger happy teenager sitting in her living room. "Sure," Gabby says, oblivious to my mother's discomfort, and follows me back to the house.
When we get to the front door I turn around. "Did you put that thing on safety?" I point at the gun. Gabby lifts the gun to put it on safety, and the barrel ends up being pointed right at me. I crouch down, sticking the frying pan out in front of me as if were a magic shield. "Gabby! Stop trying to kill me!" Gabby points the barrel down and rolls her eyes at my behavior. We walk inside. Gabby unzips her camo suit, her normal clothes underneath. She rests the gun next to the front door, then pulls her long blonde hair out from the tight bun she had tied it in earlier.
"Hey, my car is down the road. I can give you a ride to school if you want, my way of apologizing," Gabby says, looking at me apologetically. "Sure, just let me get dressed," I say, giving her an awkward smile. "Really? I thought you were already dressed," she says sarcastically. I roll my eyes and head upstairs. Oh, I brought the frying pan with me. Whatever. I get dressed, brush my hair, grab my bag and the frying pan, and head back downstairs. I go to the kitchen and put the pan in its usual spot, then return to the living room.
Gabby is sitting on the couch. My mother is glaring at her, making her fairly uncomfortable. Then she gives me a glare for inviting her inside, which I just roll my eyes at. "Hey Gabby, ready to go?" Gabby turns around and nods. She grabs her camo suit and her gun and we head out to her car. "Be safe!" My mother shouts. We both giggle at that, then keep walking. We come across Gabby's car in less than a minute. It's a silver Honda Civic, nothing too crazy on the outside, but for all I know she could have an arsenal hidden inside the glove compartment. I climb into the passenger seat, tossing my bag in the back seat. Gabby pops open the trunk and puts her gun and camo suit inside. I still can't picture her as a hunter, even after seeing it with my own eyes. She closes the trunk and walks around the car, climbing into the front seat. She starts up her car and we're off.
"You know, I never thought of you as someone who would be hunting turkeys right at the crack of dawn on a school day," I say, genuinely impressed. Gabby scoffs, "What do you think I do with my spare time? Do makeup tutorials on YouTube?" I think about it for a moment. That is pretty much what I expected. "Well… yeah, actually." She scowls at me, annoyed by the fact that I can't imagine her as a badass. We pull into the school parking lot, and Gabby nearly crashes the car three times in less than a minute just trying to find a parking space. When she finally stops the car I release my grip on the sides of my seat.
We step out of the car, grab our bags and head for school. "So, does anyone else know that your mom is a teacher here?" Ah, there it is. "Just Viv," I say, not really wanting to get into it right now. "It's not a big deal, Annie. No one cares if your mom is a teacher. You've already proven to everyone that you won't take shit from anybody." I smirk at that, feeling my ego inflate by the minute. "I still can't believe how illogical you are. You hear someone shooting outside your house, so you walk outside and, with a frying pan no less, attempt to charge the person with the gun!" She starts laughing at me again, to the point where there are tears in her eyes. Why do I get the feeling that she won't be letting me live that down for, well, ever.
I frown, not amused by the situation. I actually thought I was going to die! "You're such a shit, you know that?" She frowns. "Hey! Okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop." We walk inside and separate to go to our lockers.
I'm grabbing my books for my first classes when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see Viv smiling at me. "Hey Annie! How are you?" I smile, happy to see a friend who won't try to shoot me. "Okay for the most part, except that Gabby tried to kill me this morning," I say nonchalantly, getting a raised eyebrow in return. "What do you mean she tried to kill you?" I take a deep breath and explain what happened this morning. Viv almost falls to the floor with laughter, which is starting to get on my nerves. I don't like to be laughed at. "It's not funny! You should be in awe of my bravery!" I say dramatically, setting off a whole new wave of laughter.
Once she recovers, she pulls me in for a hug. We stay like that for a few seconds, awkwardly hugging and giggling in the hallway. Then I grab the rest of my books, close my locker and head to my first class of the day with Viv. "Oh, I almost forgot. How did it go with Chad yesterday?" I remember that she told me that she was going to break up with him. Viv looks down at the floor, not wanting to look me in the eye. "What's wrong? Did he say something to you? I can slap him if you want, since I'm pretty good at it apparently," I say, trying to get her looking more like herself. To my relief, Viv gives me a lopsided smile. "No, it's not that. It went about as well as it could have, I guess. Honestly, he didn't seem to care," she says, then out of nowhere she starts crying. No, don't cry! Shit, what is wrong with me? Of course she'd be upset about it, why did I ask?
I grab her by the hand and lead her to the bathroom. She starts sobbing uncontrollably. I pull her to me and hug her tightly, waiting for her to calm down enough for me to understand what she's blubbering. "Why? Why isn't he sad? I'm sad. Why doesn't anybody like me?" I pull back from her enough to make sure that she is looking at me before I speak. "Viv, don't ever think anything like that. You are an amazing person, Chad has no idea what he just lost, okay? And what about Gabby, Ty, Maria and me? We like you a lot! Cheer up," I say, awkwardly patting her on the head. Viv seems to feel better before long, her sobs from before just a sniffle or two. "Ugh, why do I cry so much. My mascara is ruined," Viv says. Yup, she's fine. "Yeah, you should probably get that checked out," I joke, earning a swat on the shoulder.
Ten minutes later, because Viv refused to leave the bathroom until she looked 'somewhat presentable', we leave the bathroom and head to class. We sit in our seats at the back of the room. About ten minutes in I lose interest, so I start making paper airplanes and throwing them at Viv. We start an all out war, even getting some of the people around us to join in. By the end of class there must be at least fifty planes scattered all over the floor. Everyone chips in by pushing them to the back corner of the room as stealthily as possible, since no one wanted to be in detention. The bell rings and everyone who took part in the paper plane battle rushes out of class as quickly as their legs would take them, exiting even before the students at the front of the room.
The rest of the morning would turn out to be uneventful, except for a few students whispering about my mother being a teacher at the school. Really, Gabby? No one seems bothered by it though, which proves that I am in fact paranoid. Eventually it's lunch, much to Viv's delight, who wouldn't shut up about being hungry all morning. We sit at our usual table, where Gabby is telling her side of the story of what happened this morning. "A frying pan? Are you serious?" Maria snorts, trying to imagine how ridiculous I must have looked. I look over to Ty, who is nothing but impressed. I give him a high-five. At least someone agrees that it isn't funny. "So is everyone here part of the reckless shooters club, or is that just Gabby?" Gabby pelts a French fry at me for that. "My dad's a hunter, but I'm not a big fan of it myself," Ty says.
Viv raises an eyebrow. "Oh, trying to avoid talking about your little 'incident', are you?" I look at her questioningly. "Here's what happened. Ty was about eight years old when his dad decided to teach him how to hunt. So his dad takes him out there and, long story short, Ty kills a rabbit. He cried about it for a week. He was traumatized." Viv chuckles. "I was not! I was eight, who teaches their kid to kill animals at the age of eight?" Ty says defensively. "My dad did, what's the big deal?" Gabby asks, somewhat offended. "My point exactly. You're crazy." Ty says. "Crazy? I'll show you crazy!" Gabby gets up from her seat and chases Ty, throwing food at him as he runs away. Maria, Viv and I just watch on in amusement. Viv gets up from the table. "I've got to go talk to the science teacher about next week's test," she says. I look at her in mock surprise, "Oh my god, you're a nerd!" I gasp.
Viv punches my arm, waves goodbye, then leaves, leaving just Maria and I at the table. "So why did you grab a frying pan?" Maria asks, not following my logic. "Because frying pans deflect bullets, duh," Maria bursts out laughing. "No they don't! Annie, how much tv do you watch?" I think about it. A lot, although I don't think I've watched any tv since I got here, which is pretty unusual for me. "It's a secret," I reply, refusing to give her a number she can use against me.
She rolls her eye, then her face becomes serious. "You been talking to that Cullen?" Okay seriously, what is her problem? How is that any of her business, anyway? "So what if I am? I'm not going to avoid her just because someone I don't even know claims that she's dangerous," I say, getting a scowl in response. Why even bring it up? We're having a fun time, then she just decides to pick a fight with me? "You're making a mistake, Annie," she says. Ooh, I'm so scared. "Yeah, whatever you say, Maria." I get up from the table and leave the cafeteria.
The rest of my school is uneventful, thank goodness. Gabby offered to give me a ride home from school, and apologized for this morning, since she really did feel bad about it.
I go outside to meet up with Gabby in the parking lot. I stop. I'm getting this feeling… I feel someone watching me. I scan the lot, but all I see are students walking to their cars. Then I see him. A boy around my age is standing all the way at the end of the lot, staring at me. He has bronze hair, he's very pale, and he looks… angry. Is he angry with me? No, that's not possible, we've never met. I stay where I am, watching him watch me. What does he want? The longer he stands there, the more uncomfortable I become. I want to look away from him, but for some reason I can't. "Hey, Annie! Sorry I'm late, I was getting chewed out by my history teacher. Guess who has a detention tomorrow. Me, that's who."
I jump in surprise, making Gabby smirk. She walks past me towards her car. I look back to the other end of the lot, but the boy is gone. What just happened? I follow Gabby to her car. He probably wasn't staring at me, I bet he was just waiting for someone. He looked furious. Man, I wouldn't want to be the person he was waiting for. Then again, he might not have been there at all, since I am apparently incapable of telling the difference between what's real and what isn't.
Gabby starts the car, pulling me out of my thoughts. We spend the car ride chatting about random things, although for the most part Gabby just fills me in on the gossip of people I don't even know. She drops me off at home, apologizes for this morning, pulls me into an awkward hug and drives away. I watch her car until it disappears, then go inside. I go up to my room and flop on my bed, mentally drained after yet another bizarre day. Is this seriously my life now?
I hear my phone ring. Fuck, it's probably Maddie. I just listen to it ring until I can't stand it anymore and answer it. "Hey Maddie," I say, expecting to get a scolding for not answering her texts. "Who's Maddie?" Wait, what? Bella? Oh, right! I told her she could call me. Stupid bad memory. "Hey, sorry Bella. I'm just tired, it's been a long day," I say, earning a chuckle from Bella. "Want to talk about it?" She sounds concerned, which is incredibly sweet. "Okay. Well this morning someone was shooting outside my house, which scared the crap out of my mom and I, since we thought someone was trying to kill us. So my master plan was to grab a frying pan and jump the person. Turns out it was just my friend Gabby, hunting a deer, or turkey, or something," I wait a moment for Bella's reaction. "You what?" She asks in a low voice.
She makes a sound. Was that a growl? "Are you crazy? You can't just go around attacking people with frying pans! Especially people with guns! What were you thinking? You could have been hurt! What the hell am I supposed to do if you get hurt, Annie?" Okay, definitely didn't expect that. She's upset, which makes me feel awful, but at the same time her concern for my safety (and sanity) is really touching. I can feel myself blushing, I must look red as a tomato right now. I don't think it's possible to be blushing any harder. "I need to see that you're okay. Can I come over?" Bella asks, making me blush ten times more. I guess I was wrong.
"Um… sure you can," I manage to squeak out. "Okay, I'll be there soo—" "Who's that?" I hear someone on the other end of the line. Funny, I could ask them the same question. "Hold one for one second, Annie," Bella says, followed by an argument of whispers, none of which I could make out. I hear Bella sigh, "My sister really wants to say hi to you, is that okay?" Whoa, her sister? Why does her sister want to talk to me? Should I say no? Is that even an option? "Oh, sure," I say, my mouth answering without my brain's permission. "Okay, here she is," Bella says reluctantly. I hear the phone being passed over to someone. "Hi there!" A girl shouts into the phone, taking me by surprise. "Um… hello," I reply. What's wrong with you? Stop being so awkward! "My name is Alice, what's yours?" Well, she certainly seems friendly. "Annie, Annie Stone," I say, much more confident this time. "Hi Annie! I can't wait to meet you, this is so exciting!" She shouts. Wait, what does she mean by 'meet her'?
I hear another whispering argument, then the phone gets passed again. "I'm so sorry, she promised she wouldn't be weird, but I shouldn't have trusted her. Anyway… can I still come over?" Bella asks, almost making me laugh out loud. As if I could say no. "Of course you can," I say, wanting to make it clear that she is welcome. "Great! I'll be there soon, okay?" I nod my head. Wait, she can't hear that. "Okay," I say, practically doing backflips. She hangs up the phone. I flop on my bed again, staring up at the ceiling.
Holy shit, she's coming over. Bella Cullen is coming over to my house.
A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry about taking so long with this chapter. The past few days have been SUPER busy. Thanks for reading/following/favoriting/reviewing. I really appreciate it. Fun fact: some frying pans CAN deflect bullets! (I looked it up) (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME) Next update will be soon, thank you guys for being so awesome!
:D
P.S.: Diablo Blanc: I'll be introducing the rest of the fam soon, don't worry ;)