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Chapter 11
I find Kate immediately after first period. I need to pick her boy minded brain for a moment. Edward just confused the hell out of me this morning and yesterday for that matter. As I'm walking down the hallway, I notice eyes all over me and whispers of my name, tangled with Edward's in a web hot juicy gossip, as I go on my now sluggish path, to find my best friend.
This is exactly what I didn't want for my high school experience. I've been the gossip of this town enough in my middle school years. I just want to keep to myself now and it looks like, thanks to Edward, I'm no longer going to be getting the silent treatment from my fellow classmates. Shit, this sucks!
When I finally see the familiar long blonde hair of my closest friend, I sigh in relief. I hope she'll know what I should do, as I'm sure she's heard numerous rumors by now. It being nearly second period and all, there's no way she couldn't have.
I approach her from behind and must've scared the shit out of her, because she nearly jumped out of her purple sweater. "Hey, sorry to scare you, but I need to talk to you. Now please." Yes, it was a desperate, please get me out of here and help me out with this plea, but I didn't care. That's what best friends were for, right?
She turns around, raising her eyebrow at me, as if to say, you need to spill.
She's right, I do and I want to, right now. "Well, hello to you too best friend. Seems I've missed out on Forks most popular couple somehow. Mind filling me in on what's going on with you and our famous quarterback?"
Why did everything have to be about football in this town?
Couldn't he just be Edward, not Edward, Brilliant's fantastic quarterback?
I give her a look of my own, begging her not to start this shit with me. She knows me better than this, better than the overly exaggerated stories she's heard by now.
"Come on now Kate, you know it's not like that. I need you right now. Can you follow me to our place?" She knows exactly where I'm talking about.
It's the place we go whenever we have something big to share or need to talk in private or even to just get away from the annoying voices of this school.
She grabs my arm and starts pulling me behind her. I'm so glad, that nothing further needs to be said. She knows I wouldn't suggest our place unless it was important.
She doesn't turn around, just continues to talk to me over her shoulder. "Ah Shit B! Something really is going on, isn't it?" I didn't know how to answer that, which is why I need her help.
She looks at me over her shoulder, while still hauling me to our spot. "Um, I don't know. That's why I need to talk to you. I don't know what's going on here, really." I'm a rambling mess, by the time we finally make it to our secret spot behind the gym.
She finally stops tugging me forward and turns to face me, giving me a look of pity or maybe concern, in the process. "Okay, okay, start from the beginning. What happened at church yesterday? I mean, you know we all saw you guys talking." Of course I know that, and if I didn't know then, I would by now from all of the not so silent whispers going on around me.
I suddenly find my electric blue chipped nail polish very interesting, as I pick it and think of how to answer her question. "Well, it actually started before church." Kate looks at me with big wide eyes, waiting for me to continue.
"I uh—I ran into him at the sporting goods store on Saturday and he helped me find something for Charlie and then carried it out to my truck for me. He was all blushing and awkward and it made me feel awkward and flushed in return." I look up from my attack on my nail bed, to see Kate grinning at me. What the hell?
"Save that grin Kate, I'm not finished." She has the decency to remove it from her face as I continue to tell her all about what happened at church, both conversations, and how I thought he was making fun of me. I tell her how I think it's possible that he's in cahoots with Alice and her crew.
She sneers at the mention of Alice and I can't help but smile. "Listen B, I really don't think he would even associate with the likes of Alice and the other Whoreleaders. He's just not like that or into sluts for that matter. From what Garrett tells me and what I've witnessed from him all of these years, he actually seems like a really great guy." I look away from her again as she's telling me this.
For some reason, her effort of reassurance is doing the opposite. I don't feel reassured, I feel nervous and prickly now and I don't know what that means.
I suck it up and look at her as I finally admit to the both of us that maybe she's right. "Yeah, I think I'm starting to see that now. I'm not sold on the idea of a friendship or anything with Edward yet, but I don't think he's out to get me like I did." Kate looks at me curiously now. She knows there's more and I might as well spill it all now.
"Well, he called me after church yesterday. I thought it was you actually. Thanks by the way for not calling and checking on me after the church incident." She knows I'm teasing her. I couldn't resist throwing that in there for humors sake.
"Yeah, sorry about that," she giggles. That giggle said it all too, she was a smitten kitten over Garrett.
I laugh right along with her. "No, you're not, so don't even lie girl." We continue laughing for a minute and it's nice to break the tension that this morning has already brought.
"Anyway, so he called and apologized for his behavior at church and tried to convince me that he wasn't playing games with me and would never do anything like that. I'm not saying I totally believe him." Kate gives me a stern look and I look back down at my nails once again, the polish is now demolished from my nervous picking.
"What? I'm not saying that I think he's out to hurt me, but you have to admit that it's a little odd, that we've known each other our whole lives and now, senior year, he wants to get to know me." I have her there and I know it.
She leans up against the gym's brick wall and thinks over what to say for a moment. "Yeah, but I guess the same could be said for Garrett and me. I mean we've never really talked much before, but for some reason, something just changed this year. It made us see each other in a different light I guess." That makes since I guess, but I still can't help but be leery.
We stand there and talk for a few minutes longer, knowing that we're already late for class, so it doesn't really matter at this point. It's our senior year and they are just ready to get us out of here, which means, seniors don't get in trouble for being tardy. It's sad, but true.
I tell her a little more about what happened this morning when I got to school. How he hollered at me once again as soon as I stepped out of my truck. I also confess to the flutters and regret it once I do. I don't know why either.
Kate's my best friend and I trust her with my life, but this is out of my comfort zone and so foreign to me. It's like by me admitting that, I'm admitting to a lot more and allowing feelings that I didn't know were possible to surface. It honestly it scares the shit out of me and I don't have time to feel this way.
She doesn't dwell on it, but I can tell by her smile that she's got ideas running through her head. I'm just thankful she doesn't voice them. We turn the conversation over to her and Garrett for a moment and just as I expected she's all in like with him, deep heavy like and a little lust too.
A few minutes later, we decide we really do need to get to class and we take our time getting there. I'm in no rush to sit through another boring class, although I do have plenty to think about today, so maybe it'll go by quickly.
It thankfully does and so does the next one, before I know it, it's time for lunch. I admit that I'm nervous, because I know I'll see Edward in here and I haven't seen him since before school this morning. I didn't even see him in the halls between classes, which makes me wonder if he's avoiding me. I talk myself out of that thought as soon as it enters. I mean, why do I care anyway? I don't.
I find Kate already holding our place in line and see Jacob and Garrett standing with her. Jacob looks awkward and out of place next to the two of them. I can tell he's uncomfortable, so I waste no time going over there and chatting him up as they are lost in their googly eye fest. If I didn't love Kate so much, I'd be giving her a hard time about it, but it's nice to see her so happy with someone.
I stand with my hand on my hip, talking to Jacob. He's adorable in that little brother kind of way. He's a year younger than me and has the cutest little black rimmed glasses. I often feel the need to stick up for him against the bullies. He's smaller than most guys and he's extremely insecure about it. I'll never let anyone say a cruel word about him in my presence or out of it for that matter.
We grab our food and once we're sitting in our basically assigned seats, Jacob continues telling me all about this chemistry project he's been working on in class, but I get sidetracked by eyes so crisp, they could only be described as Spring Green. However, they don't look cheerful when they are looking my way right now.
Jacob and I are laughing about how much trouble Mike's been having mixing the chemicals in class. He's making me laugh so hard when he tells me how, just this morning, Mike made some sort of concoction, that when the teacher came over to help him out, it somehow caught her hair on fire and made her curse out loud in class. This got Kate and Garrett laughing too, so when my eyes land on his and I see that look from him, one that's slightly pissy, I sober up quickly and turn my back to him and focus back on Jacob.
What began as a fun lunch is now ending with me feeling unsure about myself and aggravated that I'm letting someone make me feel this way. Why is he mad at me and giving me the stink eye? I didn't do anything. I just sat there and laughed with my friends at lunch. Didn't he do the same with his? Ugh! Boys are so stupid and confusing.
I'm late for my next class, which just so happens to be the class I share with Edward. I had to talk to Kate first and explain what just happened. She reassures me that it was probably nothing and he might not have even been looking at It could've been someone behind me. I don't really believe her, but accept it anyway. I make it to class right as the tardy bell is ringing and take my seat immediately.
All through class, I'm dissecting every single interaction I've had with Edward since Friday night. I'm also trying desperately not to look at him. When I finally do look up, I see that there are only two minutes until the bell rings. I start packing away my things, because I know one thing is for sure, I don't want to talk to Edward right now. My mind is a giant messy mud puddle. It seems it's been this way since our interaction on Saturday. I'm really frightened that he seems to have this much control over my thoughts already.
Now I just need to decide if I want to let him in. Thankfully the day is nearly over though and I'll have all night to talk it over with Kate. Hopefully, she's not sick of talking about him already. I know it gets annoying when all a girl wants to do is talk about the same guy and the same situation over and over again, but I've never done it before and by damn I need to tonight.
I find Kate after school and ask if she wants to come over so we can talk about boys. I never thought those words would leave my mouth and I hate that I'm turning into such a girl over this shit. Kate loves it though and lets out this girly squeal that I make her promise to never do again.
Kate left earlier and really we talked more about her and Garrett and their weekend, then we did my current situation with Edward. It was fine though, she hasn't had the chance to gush much about him yet, so I happily listened as she told me every single detail of their new relationship so far. Yes, they are already boyfriend and girlfriend. They made it official right before he headed up to the football field for practice after school.
She was on cloud nine and I let her spend hours talking to me about how sweet and perfect he is. Thankfully my dad wasn't here for her for it, because I don't' think he could handle this much girl talk.
Daddy's working the late shift tonight, but I fix him some dinner anyway. Nothing fancy, just some spaghetti, but it's better than a frozen pizza.
As I'm cleaning up the kitchen after putting my dad's food away, I can't wipe the smile off of my face. I'm absolutely thrilled for Kate and her happiness makes me giddy as well. I'm wiping down the stove top, which got messy while the meat was cooking, when the phone rings. I set the rag down and run to answer the phone.
"Hey Kate. Calling to tell me what a wonderful kisser Garrett is, again." I giggle into the phone again, because she really did tell me about ten times how amazing it was to kiss and be kissed by Garrett.
My giggle gets caught in my throat when a deep husky voice responds. "No, I was calling to tell you what a wonderful kisser I am. Wanna give it a try sometime?"
I drop the phone as I think, Oh my shit! I'm in trouble.
A/N: Thought, you might want the rest of the conversation in EPOV… or is it even Edward on the phone? Lol.
Thanks so much for reading guys! Mwah!
