Chapter Two: Sad Machine

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Twilight or any of it's characters. They belong to Stephanie Meyer. I do, however, own Mandi Valentine, Julie Yang and Mai Yang. So far that's it. I might or might not add more. But I don't like to have a ton of OC's. I prefer to keep it to a minimum.

"You missed school yesterday!" I awoke to the sound of my mother's voice snapping at me. I peeked out from under my covers to see her standing there in my doorway, red faced and angry. What else is new?, I thought to myself.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't feeling well." I pulled my comforter off of my face and glanced at the clock on my bedside table. It was almost two o' clock. Meaning I slept for over twelve hours.

"Mandi, I am getting sick and tired of having to cover for you!" She ripped the blankets off of me and threw them on the floor. The cold air hit me and I curled up into a fetal position, attempting to keep warm. "What are people going to think when they find out my daughter is a little junkie?" I couldn't tell if that was rhetorical or not so I decided to simply keep my mouth shut.

Mom continued to rant about how I was such a failure and she swore up and down that I was making it my life's mission to convince people she was a terrible person, blah, blah, blah. As she whined about how much she hated me I quietly got up and got dressed. I choose a pair of black skinny jeans, a black tank top with a ripped band t-shirt over it and my black hoodie for the weather.

"See? You wear the devil's cloths. We are a Christian family! People are going to thi-"

"I don't care what people think!" I burst out, "why does it matter so much to you?"

She stayed silent for a moment and I instantly regretted interrupting her. The look in her eyes told me what was coming next and I closed my eyes bracing myself. Although no matter what I did, whether or not I knew it was going to happen, I was never ready.

My mother stuck me across my face, hard. I was knocked off my feet, falling to the floor. I looked up at her with tears in my eyes, she looked back at me with an unreadable expression.

She pointed a long manicured finger in my face, "The Lord says "Honor thy father and thy mother," She spat. "And since your father isn't here I am the only one you must honor". A long, dangerous pause. Briefly I wondered if she was going to hit me again and I was grateful when she didn't. She turned on her heel but before she left me there, bleeding on the floor, I heard her say in a deadly whisper, "Don't you ever disrespect me like that again."

I wanted to cry, but if I did that I knew I wouldn't be able to stop and I wouldn't be able to leave the house. I pulled myself together, silently made my way to the bathroom and finished getting ready there with the door locked.

I did my usual make up. Dark eyeliner, mascara and silver eyeshadow. I finished with matte red lipstick and with that I exited the bathroom and went back into my bedroom where I grabbed socks and shoes and my over the shoulder bag. Now that I was ready I left the house, my mother was nowhere in sight on my way out and for that I was grateful.

I didn't want to but with no where else to go and nothing else to do I made my way to school. I knew I was going to be late, the day was already more than halfway over. I would rather go to school than deal with my mother, though.

The walk to school went by quickly especially since my mind was preoccupied. I was so distracted by the man of my dreams, literally, that I hadn't even realised when I made it to the front doors of Forks High School. I was only brought back to the real world when I collided with some ditzy asian chick. All of my things came tumbling out of my bag as we went crashing to the ground.

"Watch where the fuck you're going!" I barked hypocritically.

I tried to gather my things quickly, searching through the clutter first for my weed to put it out of sight. I spotted it near her pencils and just as I was about to reach out to grab it she picked it up, looking at it as if she didn't know what it was.

"That's my shit!" I snapped and without thinking I pushed her to the ground, knocking my little dub sized baggie out of her hand. Before she could sit herself up right I grabbed my herb and tucked it away safely in my bag.

"Hey chill," She said with her hands raised, palms facing me in an open manner, "I wasn't gonna take it, I was just trying to figure out what it is."

"Great," I sighed to myself, "A goody two shoes." Thankfully she didn't hear me. Hopefully she doesn't snitch on me, I silently prayed to a god I didn't believe in.

I began to put my stuff that was still scattered across the ground back into my bag. In my peripheral vision I could see that she was trying to get my attention but I wasn't interested. That is, until she picked up something that I forgot I even had with me. I went to steal it from her grasp but she retracted her hands and I made a sound of annoyance.

"I'll make you a deal," She paused and I nodded my head for her to continue, "If you tell me what that is, I'll give this thing back."

I blanched at her, an unattractive snort escaping me, ""So you're bribing me with something that already belongs to me?"

After a second of contemplation she admitted, "Yes. Yes, I am."

I couldn't help but appreciate the guts this girl had, maybe she isn't a goody two shoes after all, I decided. "You're funny," I said with an ironic smile, "you remind me of… well, me."

"You remind me of Mandy Milkovich," She replied with a smile of her own.

"From Shameless, on Netflix?" This girl just keeps on surprising me.

"Yes! Do you watch it?" She asked.

I wanted to say duh, instead I decided to take the more polite route, "Are you kidding? I love that show!"

"Oh my God!" Me too!" At this point she had me intrigued.

"Well I'm surprised you don't know what this is even though you watch Shameless." I pulled out my cannabis and waved it in front of her before putting it back in my bag.

Her expression was almost cartoonish. I half expected a question mark to pop up above her head, "What do you mean?"

"It's just for cooking," I answered sarcastically with a laugh.

Her face went from questioning to suspicious. "Really?"

I sighed to myself before replying monotonously, "No, dufus, it's pot."

"What? Like drugs?!" Her eyes grew wider in surprise.

I pierced her with a look that could kill. "Loud enough?" I hissed. "Yes, like drugs, and if you snitch I'll fucking kill you. Got it?"

"You won't kill me." She shrugged with a laugh.

"You're right, but I will beat the shit out of you." I promised.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna tell." She reassured me, for my sake or hers I wasn't sure.

Finally she returned my cigarette disguised chillum. Once I finished putting my things back in my vintage satchel I stood up and she followed suit.

"So anyway, I'm Julie," She introduced herself, offering her right hand.

I hesitated but ended up accepting her handshake, "I'm Mandi."

She raised her eyebrow before asking, "Was that sarcastic?"

"No, my name is actually Mandi," I confirmed, "Spelled with an 'i' instead of a 'y' though."

Julie laughed, "Are you like a clone or something?"

I smirked at her, "Maybe."

She peeked at her phone and to my relief stated that she had to be on her way. It's not that I didn't like her as a person, I just wasn't comfortable with human interaction.

"Okay See you," I held up my hand in a half heart wave before making my escape towards the school's entrance.

She headed off to the parking lot but not before she waved back and said goodbye.

As I made my way through the halls I couldn't help but allow a small smile to creep onto my face. Julie Yang was definitely an interesting person. And in a shit hole like Forks, Washington there wasn't whole lot of interesting people.

I couldn't help but feel like something was about to happen. I wanted to blame this feeling on my anxiety but I was sure that my life was about to change drastically. I just wasn't sure if it was going to get better or worse. In retrospect, it was the other way around, the pit in my stomach was the cause of my anxiety.

A/N: Thank you readers for bearing with me on the lapse in time between each chapter I've been posting, I also want you to know I appreciate your patience as I figure out how I want to write my version of the twilight world. I've reposted a few chapters here and there as I've edited the punctuality and some events here and there. If you guys have any questions or recommendations feel free to PM me!