Seven: You Sort Of Stink

It had passed several days after Maria's rejection. In truth, I wasn't sure how many days had passed due to canning myself in my room with all curtains closed. For several days, I sat at the edge of my bed, staring at the blank white wall. I couldn't eat, drink, or sleep. There were probably a couple of times when I regretted playing around with girls, but it was only because they automatically assumed that we had some sort of long lasting relationships. But this regret that I currently felt was painful. It was as though a thousand knifes had been stabbed through my flesh.

"Paul," my mom called from my locked door. Until now, I had never locked out my mom out of my room before. But I couldn't face her. In some ways, karma was a bitch. If Mom saw my sleep-deprived, lifeless face, she would automatically ask what had happened. Would Mom be disappointed if she knew how much I had become like that douche?

My mom had raised me by herself. She had been just an eighteen year old teenager when she got pregnant with me. Naturally, she fessed up to her so-called high school sweetheart, the douche called Dad. But as probably any guy in their teenage year, he ran away from La Push. Not to mention that he had taken some girl along with him. Though Mom won't ever say, I suspect Douche Dad was cheating while being in a relationship with Mom. From Mom's experience, I learned that having a romantic relationship meant shit and crap, especially in high school. Every day, there's girls and boys who break-up in high school. It was the reason why I didn't ever want to be tied down to commitment. Besides, like I said before, the girls who came to me were usually just looking for a good time.

"Paul," Mom called again.

"What," I grumbled with a slight sigh.

"Jared came to visit."

"Fine," I sighed, standing up from my bed. But the moment I took a step, I ended up tripping over my feet. I hadn't been on my feet for a long time. Quickly standing up, I unlocked the door and opened it.

"Dude, you sort of stink," Jared greeted me as he entered my room. I growled and nearly choked him. If he had decided to insult me on my hygiene, he was more than welcome to leave.

"Hey, don't growl at me right now. I sort of have good news for you. But first off, we better open those curtains and your window," Jared moved around my room as if he owned it. I rolled my eyes, plopping back onto my bed. There was no way that there could ever be good news. The only good news would be if Maria had an angelic voice from heaven call out to her to forgive me. Maybe Michelangelo or Gabriel could visit her and inform her how much benefit she'll earn if she decided to give me a chance. I mean, I was practically her soul mate. That's what imprinting meant. Me and her were halves of one soul. Together, we would become one soul. Oh god, I'm repeating myself.

"So... first off... good news No.1, Kim and I are going out," Jared grinned proudly as I immediately glared at him. Did he come in here to rub this fact in my face? He could get his imprint to become more than friends while I had gotten my imprint to become less than friends - not to mention, less than strangers.

"Dude, don't glare. Here's the good part. I told Kim that you were interested in Maria," Jared beamed as if he won the Nobel Peace Prize. I stared at him, debating whether to kick him out of my room this minute. There was no good news for me. I had been stupid to even let this optimistic dumbass in.

"If that's all, get out," I hoarsely groaned, feeling extremely weak. The continuous days of no eating, drinking, and sleeping was finally taking a toll on my energy.

"No... no... there's more. Kim is asking Maria to this get-together at First Beach, tomorrow. I think you should come," Jared announced. As much as joining Jared and Kim at First Beach sounded tempting, especially because my angel would be there, I had no hope right now. Maria would probably not go to the party and if she did, she'd just ignore me.

"In fact, maybe... you just need to start step-by-step. Instead of starting out by hitting on Maria, maybe you should just start out by being nice to her," Jared suggested as if he were some love doctor. I glared at him.

"Don't you think I tried that," I snapped.

"Well, maybe you didn't try hard enough. Besides... Maria sort of has been looking for you," Jared mumbled quietly.

"What? Really?"

My eyes were now opened wide as blood pumped in my veins. I felt like an activated robot, feeling lively and energetic at the news. Maria felt something for me other than hatred!

"Well... she kept glancing at your seat," Jared commented slowly as he stared at me as if I'd grown three heads or something.

"Haha... Jared this is great news," I exclaimed, standing on my feet. I man-hugged Jared, patting him on the shoulder.

"Dude... uh... I know you're happy, but let go of me. You stink," Jared groaned as he pushed me away.

"Sorry man, I'm gonna shower right away. So First Beach, tomorrow, right. And she'll be there right," I confirmed with a smile on my face.

"Yup, she'll be there. Just don't do anything too stupid," Jared warned. I nodded, saluting to Jared as I made my way to the bathroom. Time to clean and please.


"Paul... are you feeling alright," Mom asked as I made my way down the stairs on Saturday. I was dressed to please with a black wife beater, swimming trunks, and my straw fedora hat.

"Yup. I'm in control, Mom," I grinned as I sat at the kitchen counter and wolfed down my breakfast.

"Oh... okay... But Paul... if you ever need some sort of advice or just need to talk... I'm always around," Mom confined me. I nodded, even though I wasn't thinking much about what she was saying. I was thinking of ways to get Maria. She obviously had a bit of romantic feelings left for me if she kept glancing at my seat. Perhaps she had missed me while I was gone. But would she ever admit that she missed me? No, knowing the Maria right now, she would never act without some sort of trigger. How to make her admit her feelings...

Just then, my cell phone rang and I stared at my ID Caller. Natasha


"OMG, Paul! I'm so glad you could make it," Natasha squealed aloud as she ran toward me. I wasn't exactly thrilled to see Natasha, but she would be a great pawn. All I needed to do was use Natasha to make Maria jealous. From my experiences, girls always acted on their emotions - jealous becoming the trigger for many girls random actions. All I had to do was look like I was interested in Natasha in front of Maria. As soon as Maria would see me with Natasha, she would drag me away and confess her love to me. I am such a genius.

It was a few minutes later that I smelt Maria coming here. Grinning, I eagerly shoved my tongue down Natasha's throat. Natasha enjoyed our French kiss while I opened one eye to watch Maria's movement. She stared at me and Natasha for a minute, more than a minute. But instead of walking up to me and Natasha, she beelined for Kim and Jared. But of course, Natasha, being my excellent pawn, immediately stopped her.

"Oh... Maria, I'm so glad you could make it. I didn't think you'd make it today," Natasha exclaimed snobbily, which made me frown slightly. I didn't like how rude Natasha was sounding to my imprint. Natasha was just the pawn, the important one was Maria. Why couldn't Natasha get that in her head?

"Oh... I just came because of Kim," Maria faked a smile as she tried to walk to Kim. Of course, Natasha had more to say.

"You were right about Paul not being interesting in you. Too bad you're just too plain. Enjoy the party while you can. Paul and I have somewhere to go off to," Natasha smirked at Maria triumphantly as she clung onto me. Wait. This was not how I planned it. There was no way my angel was plain. She was beautiful. But before I could interrupt or clear the misunderstanding, Maria nodded and grinned, "That's nice, bye."

"Hold on," I called out, but Maria was already far away.

"Paul, we're going," Natasha cooed as she tugged my arm. I reluctantly agreed, hoping that there was still some chance that Maria would walk up to me and Natasha and cause drama. Why couldn't she act like those stupid chick flicks she likes to watch? Maybe she would walk up to me and Natasha, bitch slap Natasha, then share a passionate kiss with me.

But as I sat with Natasha, patiently waiting, a boy came up: a Caucasian boy with chestnut brown hair. If he were a blood sucker, I'd shred him to pieces instantly.

"So... what's a girl like you doing over here? You don't really look like those natives," the boy greeted casually. I glared at him. How dare he talk to Maria so carefreely.

"Look. I'm no one suspicious. I'm Andrew Mosier. I'm a junior at Forks High. 17 years old. Single. And I decided to come talk to you because I was bored of hanging out with my group and you were very pretty," Dumb Dumb grinned from ear to ear. How dare he use a trashy pick-up line on my imprint!

"Thanks, but bye," Maria answered out of courtesy. I sighed with relief. At least Maria was smart enough to know not to talk with Dumb Dumb.

"Aww... could you at least tell me your name, beautiful," the bastard cooed and I was on the verge on punching him in the face. That shithead was persistent. Why couldn't he leave my Maria alone?

"Why should I," Maria sighed exasperatedly.

"Because... you looked bored. I thought you'd like some company," he grinned flashing his boyish grin. I growled lowly. Maria was mine. She would come to me if she wanted "some" company.

"Besides, that guy over there, the one who has that clingy bitch, he keeps staring at you. I bet you that he actually wants you," Bastard whispered as he glanced at me. I glared the best I could to warn him to back off.

"Who?"

"Him," Shithead whispered as he touched my angel's face! How dare he! Even I hadn't gotten close enough to place my hands on her soft milky skin.

"I don't think he's staring. He's glaring," Maria corrected as our eyes met. I didn't realize that I was still glaring until Maria gripped Andrew's hands away from her head.

"Oh... no way. I'd say that he over the moon for you."

"Well, yes way because he's my ex," Maria snapped irritatedly. Ouch. This bastard was digging me a deeper grave.

"Ah-ha, I see how it is. Is that girl his new bitch or something," Dumb Dumb asked. What girl? What bitch? It was only Maria I wanted. She knew that right?

"Always has been his bitch. Now, I'd feel much better if you'd..."

The boy pulled up Maria from her seat on the log.

"What do you want?"

"Let me take you out on a date. I'm bored. You're bored. Let's go have fun. Everything's on me," that boy suggested as he dragged my Maria away. This was not going to happen in my watch. Maria was mine, my imprint, and my soul mate. I would kill someone, preferably him, if he laid more than a finger on my angel.

"I gotta go," I huffed as I pulled away from stupid, clingy Natasha.

"But Paul," she whined, but I ignored her as I headed toward my truck. I was going to watch them so that Shithead wouldn't make any more moves on my Maria.


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Now that I have finally updated up to the part with Andrew, I will be switching alternatively from Maria's Pov to Paul's Pov. So... I'll be updating Crushed along with this story as well! :D

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