Chapter 3

Studying

"Where have you been?" Julie's mother asked as she came into the door. She was sitting on the couch reading something. "Oh, I was over Chase's." "And you couldn't call?" Julie thought for a minute. "Yeah, um his mom was on the phone all day, don't ask." "Oh, well dinner will be ready in just a few." "Ok," she said.

She headed up the stairs for her room. She went in and opened her back pack. She pulled out the glass figure carefully and put it on her shelf. How would she go back tomorrow without her mother getting suspicious of something? She had to think of something.

At dinner, she had an idea of what to do. "So, mom I'm gonna be up Chase's house for a while." "Oh, that's nice. Why?" her mom smiled. "Um, we have a project to do, in history." "Oh, well maybe he can come over here?" "Yeah, maybe."

Julie lay in bed, all night thinking about Edward. There was something about him that was so mysterious. He was very quiet, a good listener. She almost felt bad for him. She knew the whole story about how he had first come down to the neighborhood and how things started out okay, but then got worse. She wished that he hadn't gone threw that, then maybe she could bring him back down again. Eventually, Julie drifted off to sleep after thinking of these things.

Julie awoke to the annoying sound of the beeping alarm on her dresser. She was very tired and not in the mood for the people at school. For a minute, she thought about faking sick, but then she remembered Edward. If she faked sick, she wouldn't get out of her mom's site. So, she went to get something to wear.

She grabbed something a little bit dressier from her closet. It was very nice, but not too fancy. It was something she would probably wear on a date. A short black dress type thing with long sleeves; she grabbed a pair of long black and purple socks and her short black boots. She fixed her hair so that it was in an up ponytail and a little shaggy looking. But then decided against it and let her hair down. She put on some simple hoop earrings and went down stairs for breakfast.

"Hello Julie," her mother said as she came downstairs. "Julie," Emily said waving to her sister. "Hi shortie," Julie said rubbing her sisters head. Emily fixed her hair and continued eating her cereal. "Your outfit is wild," her mom said, looking at the stockings "I like it," she offered Julie some oatmeal and Julie took it to the table.

After eating, Julie went upstairs to grab her bag. She looked over at the sculpture and began to feel excited about seeing Edward again. She got an idea and grabbed her sketchbook and a few colored pencils, put them into her bag and went back down stairs.

Julie was outside of the school when she spotted Chase sitting under "his" tree. He sat there everyday, usually reading or throwing stuff at the popular kids. She ran over to see him. "Hey look, it's Lydia Deetz!" said one of the jocks with a group of guys and some skinny, big-boobed, preppy popular girls. "I thought it was Ozzy Osbourne," said one of the other guys. She rolled her eyes at their stupid not-funny joke and sat down by Chase.

"Hey," he said putting his book in the bag of his pocket. "Where were you yesterday? Did you call?" Julie paused for a minute. "Uh…no, my mom took me shopping for a prom dress; stupid." She rolled her eyes, hoping he'd fall for it. "Oh, at the mall." "Yeah," she said. He started laughing. "What?" she asked frowning. "I was at the mall yesterday. All over it. Where were you really?" he asked. Julie looked down at her boots. "You went up to that mansion, huh?" he asked smiling. Julie looked around. "Don't tell," she pleaded. "Relax. Did you find anything?" "Um…" Julie thought it useless lying. He could always tell whether or not she was telling the truth, which always got on her nerves. Even her mother couldn't do that. "What?" he asked widening his eyes. "Well, I kind of did, that's all I'm gonna tell you." She said. He shrugged, obviously not interested. "Except that, I need you to act like I'm over at your house after school for the next couple of weeks." She said. "Okay…" he said looking confused. "Just trust me," she said. "If my mom calls, tell her that I am there." "And if she wants to talk to you?" "I'll deal with that when she gets suspicious." She replied "What if she comes to get you?" Julie thought for a minute. "Tell her I'm on my way home." She replied. "Then just call my cell and I'll take the shortcut home." "Okay, smarty. But what if she calls to talk to you and you're already home; but she knows you're home, she's just testing you to see of you're really there. Then I fall for it and tell her you're here and she tells me she is at home and then you get caught?" Julie stared at him confused. "Where did that come from?" she asked. He pointed to his head. "Well, I'll call you everyday as soon as I get home and then you'll know I'm home." The bell rang as she finished her statement and they both went to class.

Julie had been drawing a lot during the day. It was almost the end of the report period, so no one really had lessons planned. They were either taking finals or watching a movie or something. As soon as Julie was done with finals, she would start sketching her picture. She decided that since Edward had given her some of his art, she would give him some of hers. She was now finishing the sketching and was going to color it. Chase managed to grab a seat by her without the teacher noticing. He grabbed her paper and looked at it. "This supposed to be me?" he asked looking at the picture. Julie took it and shoved it into her binder. "No," she said. "What was it?" "Um…a guy," she said. "Another 'Edward' drawing?" he asked, but not rudely. He knew she was sensitive about everyone calling her crazy about Edward and didn't add to the annoyance. "Yeah," she said "You could say that." "Well, that was the best one." "Have you seen him?" she asked sarcastically. "I mean it looks more like an actual person. The other ones looked…animated." He said. She smiled at the compliment. "I'd keep that one," he said as the bell rang.

After school, Julie walked with Chase to the mansion. "Now, what are you going to say if my mom calls?" she asked him. "Julie can't come to the phone, she is in the bathroom." "And what if she doesn't call today?" "Save the excuse for the first time she calls." "And if she says she'll wait for me?" "I'll tell her you'll be a while because you're sick and throwing up." "That should buy some time." She said. "And if it doesn't, I'm way better at this than you." He said smiling. She punched him soft in the arm. He waved goodbye as he turned the corner to his house. Julie waved and headed straight for the mansion.