So this is getting posted as quickly as possible. I hope to get at least three reviews for this chapter. I really appreciate all of you who take the time to read this story. Ya'll all deserve cookies!
I walked to Spanish with a slightly less heavy heart. The two Cullens, Emmett and (Mary) Alice, weren't in there, believe it or not. I didn't think the Cullen kids could get sick. I tried to remember if I'd seen them at their table, but found my memory to be less than stellar. I'd been much too preoccupied with the fact that my friend was, well, you know, to actually pay attention to the Cullens.
It brightened my spirits ever so slightly, not having to deal with the Pixie's hatred. I still wasn't certain what I'd done to her. I would probably never know.
I sat down and began to pull out my notebook for class. There were a few jocks sitting behind me, laughing and goofing off. I found it slightly annoying given that today was the day Charity had passed, but didn't say anything. The final bell rang, yet our dear teacher wasn't present. She must be doing something really important; she was the most punctual woman I'd ever met.
"So, did you ever do her?" I heard one of the jocks ask another. My ears perked up while I flipped to a new page in my notebook.
"Charity? Sure, three or four times," one of the jocks chuckled. I let my pencil fall to the ground, making sure it rolled towards their seats. I twisted around and bent to retrieve the useful device.
"She told me that she was a virgin," someone exclaimed.
"As far as she knew," I heard the grin in his voice as I slowly looked up to see who the perpetrator of the offense was. I didn't recognize the angelic blonde haired, blue eyed boy that was smiling proudly over his feat, but that was irrelevant. He'd raped Charity and was flaunting it now that she was… was no longer here!
Blind rage filled my heart as I drew my torso fully upright and clenched the pencil as hard as I could. Before I even knew what I was doing, I'd whipped the pencil around and stabbed it right through his bloody hand. Scarlet bloomed prettily on his pale skin, punctuated by his howl of pain. One of his friends yanked the pencil out, which was quite stupid really, and flung it at me. It missed and landed in one of the cheerleader's laps. Her resultant squeal almost made me laugh. Almost.
I was too focused on the kid I'd just stabbed to do so. The removal of my weapon had caused the wound to gush even more. So much ruby liquid was spilling from the injury… I was entranced by the surrealness of it all. Well, no, not quite. Perhaps it was the sheer amount of blood such a small object could produce that engrossed me. Whatever the case, the scent of iron had quickly tainted the air, making it hard to concentrate on anything except the blood…
"What is the meaning of this?" the teacher called. I jerked, as if awakening from a deep sleep. She was striding towards us and she looked very frightened. Crap.
"The new girl stabbed Josh with a pencil!" one of Josh's buddies pointed out.
"I am not new! He raped Charity!" I snapped back.
The teacher looked appalled, as she should. "You shouldn't make up such nasty things about people, Still-Heart. Josh comes from a very good family. I can't believe you'd use a classmate's death as an excuse for your own devilish actions! Principal's office, now!" she turned her piercing gaze away from me and refocused on poor wittle Joshy-Poo.
I was revolted by the teacher. Just because Josh came from a 'good family' meant he would never rape Charity. It was his word against mine, and, unfortunately, his word won out. It made me so furious! I hoped that he lost the use of his hand for the next year, if not for the rest of his life.
The secretary smiled at me sweetly as I walked in. "Why do you seem to always be in here?" she chuckled.
"Where's the principal's office?" I asked sullenly.
Her smile diminished, a lack of trust quickly coloring her eyes. Of course, now she thought I was a troublemaker. Everyone in this town probably did. "She's to the left of the nurse's office. I'll page her right now."
Of course, the principal was a flipping woman. Women tended to be the strictest, at least where I was from. I might be able to charm a man, but a woman? No way, Hosea.
"She's waiting for you," the secretary murmured before going back to her computer.
I nodded and went to my doom. It began with, 'You could've killed him! You are very lucky that I'm not expelling you! You're even luckier that we're not pressing charges!' Turns out, poor wittle Joshy-Poo was her nephew. What luck?
About ten minutes into her lecture, she paused to inform me that Mom was on her way. Apparently, Mom had given the school her number within the past few days, so they'd rung her up to come down to collect me.
She saved me about thirty minutes into the woman's rant. Her anger was evident as soon as she marched into the room. It was comparable to the ire I felt when I stabbed the idiotic kid.
Alternating her intense red glare at me and the principal, she demanded, "Why is my daughter in your office?"
"She stabbed Joshua Hargrove in the hand with her pencil. He might have lost full use of it," I mentally cheered. "She is being suspended for the rest of the year."
Mom exhaled slowly, obviously trying to reign in her temper. "Why did she stab Joshua with a pencil?"
I jumped in before the principal could say anything. "He was gloating about raping Charity!"
"As she alleges," the principal butted in with a harsh glare. It didn't cow me. She looked more like a ticked off kitty cat compared to my mother. Mom was the real lioness in this room. "My nephew would never do anything of the sort. She obviously is using the death of her classmate as an excuse to enact violence on him!"
Mom looked at her coolly, "I don't believe you're in the position to make that call. You are related to him and, therefore, inclined to think of him in a good light. He could murder the president and you'd think he was the best thing since the word press."
"Nevertheless, Anne stabbed a student. She is hereby suspended. Any argument and she will be expelled and be held accountable by the law."
I groaned and let my head crack against her desk. There went my grades, swoosh, down the toilet bowl. Not to mention the fact that Charity had been done wrongly and no one was going to stop it, least of all the principal.
"I'm surrounded by idiots, Mother," I said as we strolled outside. I had my backpack in one hand, thankfully. I was not leaving it again.
"Yes, but you're one of them. Of all things, why stab him with a pencil? Wouldn't a punch to the face have done?"
"Sure," I admitted abashedly. "But, the pencil was in my hand."
"Oi, right when I unground you, you always do something to make me regret it," we climbed into her car at that point. Once the door clicked shut she added, "Though, between you and me," Mom leaned in secretively, "I do commend you for your effort."
"So, does that mean I'm not in trouble?" I inquired with a note of hope. Underlying it was a deep sadness that I didn't know how to rid myself of.
"If anyone asks, I did everything but kill you," she warned.
"Didn't you?" I asked innocently.
"That's my girl! Now, let's get home. I think Laurie's fixing you a chicken pot pie tonight!"
The chicken pot pie came as promised. I ate it while Laurie and Mom told me about their days. When I told them that Charity had, as I put it, passed on, they patted my back sympathetically, waiting for the onslaught of tears. To their surprise, the tears never came.
I'd promised myself that I wouldn't cry and I hadn't, couldn't, and wouldn't from then on.
"So, I was thinking, we could start on our trip early," Mom said as she snatched my Kool-Aid and played with the glass. Her lips were curled up and her eyes twinkled naughtily.
"Mom," I sighed. "We don't have the money yet. I still have my entire senior year to get through."
"You could graduate early?" Laurent inputted quietly. That was an unusual occurrence. Laurent was actually quiet.
"I want to experience high school to the fullest, Laurie. I really wanna go to prom. I'll consider it over the summer. Before my sixteenth birthday I'll decide… promise?"
Mom nodded hesitantly. Her eyes looked so big and doe-like, I felt kind of bad. "It's just, I guess I miss Maine. I don't like it here as much. You seem to be getting into nothing but trouble and…" she groaned and set my cup down.
I snatched it from the table and gulped it down. She stuck her tongue out at me.
"I just really wanna go to prom before I give up on high school. Hopefully, you can talk her into letting me go? Otherwise I might just have to take another year of school…"
Mom perked up and, with a smile, exclaimed, "I'll see what I can do."
That night, I cried big salty tears for a girl that could've, should've, been my best friend. I know I promised I wouldn't ever cry again, but, as soon as my head hit the pillow, the tears came and they came hard. To my credit, I didn't make one single sound to alert my mother that I was crying. The tears were silent as the darkness in my heart.
Around midnight my weeping subsided, but sleep refused to come. Thoughts of Charity kept dancing through my mind. Who she was, why she was, the evils that must've been done to her, her final moments…
"Stop," I ordered my thoughts quietly. My voice was barely a breath, slicing through the icy silence of my room like a butter knife.
It was to no avail. The thoughts were crowding in my head, vying for attention. Charity in the morgue, Charity being raped, Charity, Charity, Charity…
I flung the warm covers from my body and crawled from the bed. The floor was like ice against my bare feet. It helped my focus drift from… No. Don't go there.
I padded over to the window and looked out into the night. The moon was full and luminous, sending shadows fleeing into the forest for protection. The lawn was alight, almost as clear as day, and sparkling with the first hints of morning dew.
A small smile fought its way onto my face as I realized that, for a few spare moments, evil had been conquered by an entity light years away. I sank to my knees and leaned against the glass, wishing that I could be outside, savoring that small momentary lapse.
A wisp of white flashed along the edge of the trees. I blinked lazily, thinking it had to have been my imagination. It flashed again, forcing me to lean in closer. What on earth was that? Korbin's story came to mind, unbidden. The wolves were cursed with the inability to transform on any other night aside from the full moon…
The thought was so absurd that a chuckle escaped from my lips. It was probably just a trick of the light. I shook my head, feeling the need to escape the isolation of my room.
I carefully stood up and crept downstairs with the pretense of getting a glass of Kool-Aid. Low voices alerted me that someone was already in the kitchen. I slowed, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"Victoria, we must leave this town. There's a newborn-" Laurent's voice trailed off. "Anne?" he called.
I flushed before entering the kitchen. "I needed something to drink," I murmured lamely.
Mom stood up and quickly prepared a steaming hot glass of Kool-Aid. I took a long drink of it as she encompassed me in her cold arms. She couldn't know I'd been crying, right?
"I love you, sweetheart," her sweet voice was muffled by my hair. It was totally normal. She didn't know.
"I love you, too," my nose sniffled a little, revealing what I'd been trying so hard to mask. If she hadn't known, she knew now.
"Why don't we play a game of poker before you go to bed?" Laurie asked with a clap of his hands. I smiled, albeit a little watery, at him. He was trying to keep the waterworks at bay and he was doing a darn good job at it.
"I'll beat you just like last time!" I exclaimed, withdrawing from Mom's fragile grasp with vivacity.
"If I recall, that was a drawl!" Laurie defended himself viciously.
"Liar! Gather what manhood you have left and walk away!" I stomped my foot and put my hand on my hip for emphasis. While stomping, I slipped a little, but quickly regained my footing.
Thankfully, Laurie didn't comment. "Never!" he let out a loud laugh.
"I'll get the cards," Mom offered.
Oh, they were going to die.
So, I hope ya'll liked it. As always, reviews (constructive) are welcome. A quote that I feel goes with an upcoming chappie is "Life asked Death, "Why do people love me, but hate you? Death replied, "Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth.""
