Falling so easy when you're in my reach
My heart sinks when we're stuck in the sky
Not mine to keep, in love with memories
My heart breaks while we're stuck in the sky
Maria Isabel - Stuck in the Sky
It was only 7 o'clock in the morning but I already felt like turning around and heading back home.
I wanted to stay in bed, but I remembered the stupid promise I made to Mr Carter. The pitch for my return to Forks was wholly based on wanting to get my degree here, when honestly all I wanted was to make out with my boyfriend one last time, and I couldn't even do that.
I took the bus into Forks this time- I wasn't going to risk my life for a fake education. I asked Paul to text me the schedule last night, unfortunately the bus had a two and a half hour interval between each trip, which meant I had to wake up at 5:30 to take the 6:30 bus into Forks or else I'd be two hours late for my first day back at that dump.
So here I am at Forks High 30 minutes early, dragging myself to the locker I'd been using last semester, devoid of energy and mentally drained from last night's events.
I will say that it's nice that the building is so empty at this time, it certainly minimizes the chances of me running into Bella and having to cut a bitch.
on the other hand the sun hasn't even fully risen yet, so the halls have an eerie ambiance to them, not to mention I haven't fully recovered from that Upside Down moment I had on Saturday at the gas station. Long story short- ya girl's on edge… big time.
I open my locker with very little force and scan lazily for the books I need for first period.
After picking them up and placing them into my book back, I shut the locker. I nearly scream when I see who's on the other side of it.
As if he appeared from thin air, Mike Newton is standing right next to me, a large dopey grin adorning his baby face. His blonde hair styled into his usual do and his blue eyes bulging with a mixture of confusion and excitement.
"Jesus Christ, Mike." I breathe out heavily, my hand clutching my chest to try and soothe my racing heartbeat.
"You're back!" He exclaims chipperly. A little too chipperly for 7 am on a Monday morning.
I immediately want to hit him upside the head with my bookbag. It had to be a crime to have that much energy so early.
"Yeah. Came back a couple of days ago." I grumble with a grimace, and start my slow trek to my first class, uninterested to see if Mike's keeping up or not.
"Where-." He coughs. "Uh where were you?" He tries to play nonchalance but I can hear the curiousity in his tone.
"California… family emergency." I say simply as I squeeze myself past a group of freshman girls giggling in the hall.
"Oh is everything alright?" He sounds concerned, I feel a little bad for lying.
"Yeah. Peachy keen."
He gives me a goofy grin. "That's great. I missed you- I mean-."
"We all missed you." A voice intercepts and I turn around to see Christie standing behind us with her backpack over her shoulders and her hand on her hip.
"Christine!" I grin and wrap my arms around her, relieved to see a friendly face.
"Hey girl, you good?" She smiles back at me, her lightly freckled cheeks dimpling.
"Yeah yeah! I missed you too!"
"Where were you? You ditched the last few weeks of junior year and I didn't see you all summer." We continue walking and talking
"I had some family stuff to sort out in California."
"They don't have phones in California?" I feel my ears heat up. Great, my cover still managed to make me out as a bad friend.
"I'm sorry. Everything happened so fast, it was all so crazy." Half truths are better than full lies.
"It's okay, I forgive you," She moves closer to me and says lowly with a mischievous smile. "And you're welcome for pulling you away from Mike."
I smiled coyly at her once I realise that we'd lost Mike somewhere during our conversation.
"You're having lunch with us right?"
I stop in the middle of our tracks, causing Christine to stop too and look back at me curiously.
"Uh- I don't know." I pull my sweater sleeves over my hands and look at her hesitantly.
It takes her a while, but her gaze finally eases. "Don't worry, Bella ditched a while ago. She sits with the Cullens now." Her voice is softer, laced with empathy and kindness.
"Huh." I exclaim with faux diplomacy. I guess everyone knew about it then. I'm not sure if I should feel relieved that I don't have to explain everything or embarrassed that the whole student body thinks that Edward broke up with me to be with Bella.
"So what do you say? Lunch?"
"Sure," I smile at her gratefully. "What's on the menu today?"
"I don't know." She shrugs. "Definitely something gross."
"Oh yum, can't wait."
She links her arm through mine and we continue walking down the hall together.
"What's your first class?"
"Uh-." I look down at the schedule I collected from the front office earlier.
"Ew," I make a face of disdain. "Calculus."
"Oh. That sucks, I have English, then Spanish."
I look down at my schedule again and see 'Spanish room 202' right after Calculus.
"Oh yay, I have Spanish next too." I grin at her excitedly.
"Great! I'll save you a spot."
"Thanks Christine."
"Don't sweat it. I should head to English though. It's on the other side of the building and I gotta secure my spot in the back of the class. You good on your own?"
"Yeah" I swat her away.
"You sure? Cause I can totally sit in with you for a couple of minutes and roundhouse kick Mike if he gets too close."
I can't help but let out the deepest laugh.
"Go!" I say in between chuckles, pushing her away playfully.
"okay, okay." she turns to leave, not before sticking her tongue out at me and pulling the peace sign.
I walk into the almost empty classroom with a small smile on my face.
This won't be so bad. I've got some great friends here, my life doesn't need to revolve around heartbreak. I can get through this, all I need to do is suck it up, stop moping and put my best foot forward. I think to myself as I find a seat in the back and settle into it.
I start pulling out my books with newly found optimism, it however doesn't last long.
I instinctively flinch when I hear a familiar voice call my name. Damn universe, can I catch a break?
I try to ignore it. Maybe if I close my eyes it'll disappear.
"Amiyah." Im called again. It's Alice Cullen. I can tell without even looking, the mellifluous undertone that all the Cullens seem to have when they speak is present, as well as her own unique peppy ring.
I gaze up at Alice's porcelain face. She looks stunning. Her short hair is slicked stylishly by hair gel and she's wearing a pretty floral dress with long flowy sleeves.
"Good morning!" She greets me with a grin that belongs on a Colgate commercial.
"Hey Alice." I give her a small, polite smile in return.
"Would you mind if I took a seat?" She points to the desk right next to mine, with a perfectly manicured fingernail.
I can't very well say no, now can I?
"No problem." I shrug indifferently.
"I'm so happy you're back!" She grins at me once she's settled into her seat.
I squint my eyes in confusion. Now wait a damned minute. Isn't she the same one that tried to push Edward and Bella together?
Edward told me about the vision Alice had of him and Bella before I came to Forks. He also told me that it was Alice's idea to throw Bella a birthday party.
I'm not mad at that, Well not really. In the book, Alice and Bella really got along, I wasn't expecting that to change because of me. I'm just bitter that in the whole year I had spent in Forks and in the three months as Edward's girlfriend I was never shown the same amount of hospitality as she'd given Bella .
If you can't tell by now, yes I have my petty degree.
"Thank you." I reply delicately.
I would like nothing more than to let the rest of the class go by without having to say anything else to Alice, but I just know that wish won't be granted.
"Would you like to sit with us at lunch?" She asks me warmly
"Oh, I'm sorry but Christine already invited me to have lunch with her today." I say, pouting with fake regret.
"Oh," She looks disappointed, I can't figure her out. "Maybe tomorrow then?" She asks hopefully.
"Sure." I force a smile onto my lips.
"Amiyah I wanted to apologise." "I know I can get a little bit too invested in Edward's life, but he's had it tough and I just want him to be happy. And I can tell that do, make him happy that is.
I may have been a bit resistant to you in the beginning, but I hope you didn't take it personally. I had it set up in my mind, how i believed everything would go and when it veered off its course I got a bit agitated."
"I'd like it if we could start over, maybe even be friends?" She says with a hopeful smile.
I'm left stupefied. For the rest of the period I'm left musing over Alice's apology. Even when I join Christine for Spanish her words are still floating at the back of my mind.
hours later it hasn't drifted far from my thoughts, however I force myself to push it down once my lunch break begins.
I walk alone to the cafeteria, Christine had Art after Spanish while I had Physics so we don't get to walk together.
I quickly grab a plate of salad from the salad bar and slowly walk to my usual lunch table, where I can already see Christine waving me over.
"Hey y'all." I smile at the lunch table group tentatively.
I'm immediately bombarded with questions once I place down my tray.
"What happened?"
"Where were you?"
I patiently answer all of their harmless questions with my perfectly concocted lies. The questions were dying down until…
"Do you know about Edward and Bella yet?"
That last one piques my interest.
"What?" I direct my gaze to Lauren Mallory, her critical eyes alight with mischief. Of course it's that messy bitch who brings it up first..
"Edward and Bella are a thing now, did you know?"
I watch with wistful satisfaction as Angela elbows her side harshly. "Ouch." She squeals in pain.
"Yeah, but it's totally fine with me. I start stabbing at my salad wildly. All is good in this hood, I say with a forced smile and then proceed to shove the mountain of leaves I've collected on the fork into my mouth.
"If it's any consolation, the group mind is one hundred percent team Amiyah, well except for Ben, he wants to remain neutral so I guess we're ninety-nine point five percent team Amiyah." Jessica tells me resolutely.
I chew furiously, my mouth is too full to reply how sweet I find it. I've never had a group of friends that cared so much. I want to pull everyone in for a group hug, maybe not Lauren though.
"Thank you guys, but there's no need to take sides. Really. I'm over it." I say once I've painfully swallowed down the dry kale.
"That's real mature of you Amiyah."
"Thanks Mike."
"Kiss ass." I hear Tyler cough at the end of the table.
"So what I miss while I was away?" I ask the table.
"Nothing much really. We have a new History teacher, Mr Martin, he's a bit of a cornball but he's not as tough as Mrs Reyes was so that's a win."
I drone out the rest of their idle chatter as my eyes follow Edward making a slow yet impactful entrance into the cafeteria. He might as well be walking in slow motion the way my eyes are trained on his every movement. He's not wearing anything that would be particularly eye-catching if another guy had it on, however he manages to look completely breathtaking in it.
I miss you. I let the thought travel to Edward
His eyes tell me he misses me too and my heart flutters, knowing it's true.
Why are you sitting alone? I turn my gaze to the Cullen table, sans Edward. Rosalie and Emmet. Alice and Jasper are sitting together with their hands intertwined while Bella is sitting on the edge of their table, looking painfully out of place even with Alice trying to involve her with her animated babble
Right you can't answer me. So is this how we'll be communicating from now on? I can't talk to you in public or anything?
His gaze softens and I can almost hear him say 'not for long'
Yeah I know, it's not forever. I respond in my mind.
"I love you, okay" I say desperately wishing for a response.
"Amiyah?"
I visibly jump when im pulled from the one-way mental conversation I was having with Edward by Mike calling my name.
"Yeah?" I huff out exasperatedly.
"I was asking if you wanted to catch a movie on Saturday?"
He looks so hopeful. I just know if i said 'no' it would feel as if i just kicked a puppy. Anyway there's no harm in going to watch a movie with a friend.
"Yeah. Yeah that sounds good."
"What's happening on Saturday?" Christine expertly intercepts.
"Mike's inviting us out to the movies."
"Cool, I'm in."
"Well you weren't really invited…"
Christine ignores him and turns to her side where Angela and Ben are sitting and eating their lunch quietly. "Ben, Angie you up for a movie date on Saturday?"
Ben and Angela share a short look, communicating silently between one another before Angela finally speaks for the both of them. "Yeah, we'd love to." She says with the sweetest smile.
"Jess, you're in too, right?" She calls Jessica who's sitting next to the couple,keeping close attention to the conversation.
"Well actually-." Mike tries to interject.
"Yeah, sounds like fun." She beams at Christine.
"We're in too by the way, thanks for including us Mike." Tyler shouts sarcastically from the end of the table, coming up from his heated debate with Eric.
"Great, it's a group hang now." Mike gripes with an eye roll.
"I'll be there too, Can I bring a plus one?" Lauren asks, twirling a blonde strand of hair around her finger.
"I don't see why not." Christine answers Lauren, while grinning cheekily at Mike
"Yeah, the more the merrier." He grunts, poking irately at his spaghetti.
"Great! I for one am pumped.
"Me too! I grin gratefully at her for saving me from what was guaranteed to be the worst date of all time. "Oh, can I bring a plus one as well?"
"You. Uh, you want to bring someone?" Mike stutters uncertainty.
"Yeah, my friend Paul. He's from the reservation."
"Ooh, Paul" Christine tries his name cheekily. "Is he cute?" She leans in to ask, smiling roguishly.
"Eh, he's alright." I pick some salad unto my fork. "He's a couple of years younger than us."
"Does he have a girlfriend?"
I try to think if I ever heard Paul mentioning seeing someone, or if I remember reading that he'd imprinted on anyone yet. After coming up blank on both, I shrug. "I don't know actually."
"I can ask him if you want."
"Girl, I don't want him for me, I wanna know if he's a suitable rebound for you!"
I visibly blanch at just the idea of being with Paul. No offense to him, he's a great guy, but i hardly see him in that sense, i doubt he sees me as more than a friend either. besides, I'm a one-man-woman, nevermind the fact that currently I'm technically single.
" Oh no, Paul is just a friend." I go back to eating my salad in an attempt to end where the conversation is heading.
"Yeah, Christine they're just friends. Let it go." Mike swoops in to presumably save me, putting his arm around my shoulder which causes my eyes to involuntarily widen in surprise and my body to stiffen in discomfort.
Luckily the bell rings at that exact moment, saving me from further awkwardness. I quickly push his arm off of my shoulder, and smile at him placidly.
"Gotta head to Gym." I explain to him before I hightail my ass out of the cafeteria at a speed I'm sure Sonic would be proud of.
I frown when I realise I didn't get to say goodbye to Edward.
Fucking Mike. I groan in my head, walking sluggishly the rest of the way to my gym class.
A/N
*not edited
Hi everyone, i hope you all are staying safe especially during the festive time! I have the next 3 chapters in my drafts so those should be out soon. I hope you're all having a happy holiday time! Don't forget to comment and vote. I literally love every single comment and i swear they make me update faster. Im looking at this a/n and damn is it going everywhere, im sorry its 3 am my sleeping schedule is fucked.