AN: Sorry about the formatting on the last chapter! Should be fixed now! Again, reviews feed my motivation... and otherwise, I just hope you enjoy~
"Did you hear?" I smiled at Angela, feeling tiredness dragging at my eyelids as I anticipated the words that would follow. "The new family at town has kids in our year."
"I did hear." My return wasn't unkind, but Angela gave me an apologetic smile nonetheless. I accepted her offering of an ice coffee; I loved my friends and their bribes for my time.
"Jessica or Lauren?" She questioned with a giggle.
"Try both, at the same time." We both snickered at that. The more extroverted of our friends were running around like startled hens today; the first day of high school, an essential day for establishing social standing.
Like everyone at Forks hadn't attended the same elementary and junior high schools for their entire lives. The only exceptions, of course, being sudden new arrivals- such as the new family. And, well, myself I suppose.
I… didn't like to think about that.
"How long until one of them wins them over?" Angela asked, a competitive edge lacing her tone. I took the distraction with welcoming arms.
"It depends, I suppose." I mused. "I haven't even seen them, y'know? How many are there?"
"There's five, and don't even bother with your bet." Lauren approached from behind us, huffy and pouted as she flounced over to join us. Clearly, attempting to win over the newbies hadn't gone her way.
"They're only doing a half day, the lucky ducks." Jessica pouted, close on Lauren's heels. The pair had been near inseparable since Jessica's family had moved to town, according to Angela- only splitting apart once last year in an argument. "Their family only arrived yesterday, and is doing a tour of the area to get settled in for the rest of the day."
(I'd watched that once myself. Over boys, of course; it was settled quickly enough. A simple miscommunication, where Angela got excited over the prospect of a love square. Turns out it was just two pairs.
I was rather relieved it was just two pairs, to be honest.)
"Oh?" I tilted my head, leaning back a little to look back in the direction the pair of best friends had come from. Trying to catch sight of the new fish in the pond. "Sounds like they'll be behind from the first day."
"Yeah, well they'll have to figure it out by themselves, if they keep acting like that." Lauren scowled harder, if that was even possible. I arched my eyebrows and smiled at her.
"Sounds like they're fun to be around."
"Yeah, fun." Jessica laughed, taking my usual word choice and rolling it around. "If by 'fun' you mean 'refusing to talk to anyone but their siblings', then sure, they're 'fun'."
I carefully kept the smile on my face, even as I felt my heart ache a little at her words. I… had used to be like that. I think I used to be like that. My siblings had been my life, but now-
"Ah, well, it is what it is." I brushed it off, gripping my bag a little bit harder in my hands. My vision was blurring around the edges, but a flash of pale skin against the red wood of the school buildings caught my eyes- thankfully allowing my vision to sharpen once more. "Oh, is that them, then?"
I could see why Lauren was so pissy about them not being eager to talk to her- they were all good looking, and would do well on the whole social ladder thing. But, honestly, they looked happy with their own company, and I couldn't begrudge them that.
As I watched, the little black haired one bounced forward in front of the group with a smile, saying something that sent the taller two boys into their own sets of laughter.
'Yeah,' I thought, pushing my hair back behind my ear as the wind tried to blind me with my own extremities. 'I can't begrudge them that.'
Suddenly one of the siblings, the boy with the golden hair, turned; I blinked as I watched the wind press the hair out of his face. If it weren't for how far away he was, I could have sworn he was looking… right at me.
Sighing, and shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all, I turned my gaze back to my friends. The new kids would have plenty of people staring at them for the next… well, year, honestly; knowing how often things happened around here. I didn't need to add another person to that crowd.
In doing so, I failed to see they way his eyes stayed glued to me until I disappeared from sight.
Like many first occasions, the first day of school seemed to pass me by in a relative blur. Orientation sessions were repeated to us by each new professor. Each new class gave my friends cause for either celebration or grief- depending on who else was present.
Angela and I exchanged glances of relief when we found ourselves alone together in our advanced maths class. Jessica nearly cried in joy when she saw me walk into literature with her, and Lauren did the same when I walked into cultural studies. I nearly cried too at the latter, but for an entirely different reason; while Lauren was definitely taking the subject as a slacking opportunity, I was actually interested in the subject.
Ah well, at least I'd be studying enough for two of us now?
"So how did your first day go?" Uncle Charlie asked, after the waitress had taken both of our orders. The staff at the Lodge still insisted on giving us time to read the menu, for us to feign interest in their other dishes… as though Charlie and I weren't stupidly predictable creatures of habits.
Sometimes, I'd order a different soft drink to liven things up. It gave all of us a bit of a laugh on a duller night.
"Not too bad." I shrugged, smiling with a weightlessness I didn't quite feel. Hadn't for over a year now. "I've got a few classes with my friends, but most of them are by myself."
"Hey, that's not a bad thing." Charlie tried to console me, even though both of us knew I wasn't objecting. "That gives you a chance to make some new friends. Speaking of, did you hear about the new family in town?"
"I think everyone has heard about the new family in town." I rolled my eyes at Charlie in good humour, and we both chuckled at that. There hadn't been a single conversation today that hadn't turned to the new family at town.
They would be the talk of the year; guaranteed.
As the talk of last year, I could literally guarantee that.
"Fair enough." Uncle Charlie shook his head, before thanking the waiter as she brought our dinner over to our table. "Still, new friends? Couldn't hurt, right?"
"Right." The smile on my face felt empty, my chest a hollow and empty thing with nary a beat to be heard. Uncle Charle didn't seem to catch a wisp of the chill in the air, and I was glad.
Fake it 'til you make it, mother had always said.
"Right." I mumbled, shoving a salty fry into my mouth. Couldn't hurt. Right?