Thursday went by in a flash - Friday did only become notable by the reminder from Dominique of the weekend. "Oh, by the way, Avery," she began after our conversation had shifted from the course of the hockey competition we had had the previous hour. We were sitting at the second table from the front next to the window, along with Sarah, Samantha Collins and Rochelle Smith, two of Sarah's classmates. Dominique was facing me, halfway through a sandwich.
"Tomorrow you can either come to my home or I can pick you up in town, 'cause your home's a little far off the route."
It took me a moment to realise what exactly she was talking about. Oh, right, the trip to Port Angeles. I was surprised that she still wanted to take me along: and to be honest, I didn't look forward to it that much.
"Town will do just fine. The bus station?"
Dominique nodded as she fiddled with Sarah's salad spoon. "It's probably best to leave on time, say, 12?"
In that case, I would have plenty of time to walk my newspaper round.
"I would agree on that. Do I have to take along anything special?"
Sarah, previously engaged in another conversation, now leant forward over the table. "Nah, we can just, like, eat in that cute little restaurant, right?"
Sarah sent a pointed look at Dominique, who sighed.
"Sure, sure. You're not gonna budge on that anyway. I'll pick you up after Avery, okay?"
"Sure, sure," she mimicked Dominique's tone. "I told you we were going there sometime, and we are."
Dominique rolled her eyes with a smile. "Don't worry about it alright, I didn't say no."
"But you thought it."
I smiled fondly at the two as they continued to bicker, and looked around the cafeteria.
At the table positioned diagonally across us was Bella with on her left Jessica, Angela on her right, Mike, Eric, Ben, Lauren and Tyler, the last few being more like acquaintances of Bella's than actual good friends. Lauren especially. The blonde was currently chatting with one of the girls at the table next to them whilst Bella seemed to be in a similar situation as I was. Jessica was rambling on about something Angela mostly agreed on, asking Bella a question every once in a while.
Our eyes met and she tried to telepathically send me a message that most likely contained the letters S, O and S.
I merely grinned back.
She rolled her eyes with a hint of a smile as a response before her attention was drawn back to the entrance of the cafeteria.
I followed her gaze and watched Edward and his siblings enter. As usual, they were headed for one of the tables next to the windows. The smallest girl with spiky black hair, Alice, was chatting animatedly with the tall blonde girl, Rosalie. The blond boy, was it Jasper? He was talking with the brawny guy, Emile- no, Emmett, and Edward who followed in after them.
For some reason, Bella was still a little obsessed with the latter, even though she would never admit it.
Just as I was musing over this, Bella allowed her dark brown hair to fall in front of her face, thereby creating a hairy curtain between her eyes and the rest of the world apart from her group of friends at the table.
This had been a habit she'd already had from the moment we first met, back in Phoenix. She used to be the girl that often sat alone during lunch break, nose stuck in a book and she would never even as much as look up whenever someone passed. It had taken a terribly long time to coerce her out of her shell, but once you got to know her, Bella was actually a great friend. I could only feel happy for her that she had found new friends among her peers so soon, here.
Now that I came to think of it, Bella also would go to Port Angeles tomorrow with Jessica and Angela, only a little bit later. Maybe we could find a chance to meet up with them then.
Soon the bell rang, indicating the end of lunch break. Together with Dominique and Samantha Collins, I walked to the lockers where I took my books for Greek Literature. Yesterday I had forgotten to take Edward's notebook to school, this time I made sure it was there. He took his notes really carefully and his handwriting was neat and practised.

The remainder of Friday passed without any special or notable occurrence.
Saturday morning the 12th of May came in the usual way of any Saturday: I left the house at 6 AM, drove to the town's distribution centre where I greeted Olivia Svenson, the manager of the centre, walked my round in the usual quietness of the morning and returned home at 8:15 with the assumption that Bella was most likely sleeping in.
Then around noon I headed for town again, where I was met by Dominique soon after arrival.
"Now that's what I call timing," she called from the driver's seat through the opened window.
I smiled and approached the Volkswagen. "Yes indeed - it would be a shame if either of us would have to wait for a considerable amount of time."
Dominique laughed, "Yeah well, I almost overslept this morning- I'd forgotten to activate my alarm."
I stepped inside, claiming the back row. "You woke up by yourself then?"
Through the mirror I could see Dominique raise an eyebrow. "You're not calling shotgun?"
I frowned as I buckled in and placed my bag next to Dominique's, which was also on the back seat. "What is shotgun?"
Dominique chuckled and drove out of the parking lot. "You have hereby officially undone your shotgun rights." She then proceeded to explain what shotgun was.
I did not exactly understand as to why anyone would feel the need to turn the seating arrangement into a competition. With children it was understandable, but why did adolescents like Dominique and Sarah still partake in such activities? Soon enough we stopped in front of Sarah's home, a little further away from the town's centre. Sarah was, however, nowhere to be seen.
Dominique had parked the car at the side of the road and turned it off with a sigh. "I'll go get her," she announced and got out.
For a short while, I had the privilege to behold the backside of the town's bakery, which also served as the entrance of the Jameston residence. From the outside looked cosy. It had been built with wheat coloured bricks and brown brick decorations. The rectangular windows had been added to the house in a mostly symmetric way, but other than that, it didn't stand out more than the average townhouse.
Before long Dominique emerged from the back door, followed by Sarah, who had some trouble with keeping her small bag off the ground. Her brown coat wasn't exactly cooperating either as the bag or rather satchel would slide off her shoulder. Dominique immediately stepped in on the driver's side whilst Sarah looked at me with a hint of surprise before walking to the other side of the car.
"Heyhey," she sighed once inside and threw her satchel on the empty space next to the other two bags. "You didn't, like, call shotgun?" was her first question. She tried to face me and buckle in simultaneously.
I shrugged. "I had no idea that shotgun even existed, hence I lost the right," I explained jokingly.
Sarah laughed at that as Dominique drove us out of town. "Like, honest? Don't you know shotgun in Arizona or something?" Sarah questioned faux-concerned. "'Cause then we'll have to re-educate you entirely. Do you know any of the rules on calling shotgun?"
Obviously not. "Um, no? Apart from this one I don't.."
Sarah gasped and turned to Dominique. "Nic, how dare you! You've, like, left poor Avery completely in the dark!"
Dominique smiled with her eyes focused on the road ahead. "I was too busy dragging your lazy ass out of the house to explain all the rules, but you go ahead. Spare her a little though, we still need her alive."
Sarah turned back to me with a grin that promised no good. In the next hour, the freckled girl explained all the rules and sub-rules of calling shotgun to me, most of which were optional or overly obvious. She then continued on which rules she and Dominique frequently used.
When she was finished, I was confused and we entered Port Angeles. I hadn't been here in months, I mused, having forgotten half of the rules already. Those months felt so much shorter though, rather weeks. Dominique parked the car in the town's centre near the restaurant they had meant when Sarah had mentioned eating out the other day. From there it was a short walk to the shop: it wasn't as grand or ambitious as the myriad warehouses in Phoenix' centre, but it still was bigger on the inside than one might expect. Sarah basically dragged Dominque inside while I followed them.
"Come on, this way... Tadaaa!" She proudly presented a corner of the shop that was dedicated to dresses, skirts and gowns of all sorts and sizes.
"That's a lot of dresses," Dominique commented dryly.
Sarah snorted. "Well, duh. And I'm not the only one who's gonna fit a dress today you hear me? You're gonna try on some too," she demanded.
Dominique rolled her eyes, giving off the impression that Sarah wasn't one to take no for an answer.
"And you too Avery!"
Wait, what? When had been decided that I was in need of a gown?
"If you're going to prom with us," Sarah explained with a smug grin, "then you're going to, like, need a suitable dress. Right, Nic?"
Dominique sighed. "Sare, if she doesn't want to-"
"Don't 'Sare' me, sometimes you gotta treat yourself! And she can't miss her first prom here, especially Girl's Choice!" Sarah's facial expression suddenly changed into a meaningful smirk. "On that matter.. have you asked someone already Nic?"
I expected Dominique to uninterestedly raise an eyebrow, but instead her face flushed. "No, I haven't."
It was Sarah who raised the eyebrow. "Uh-huh. Sure you haven't. Come on, who is it!"
Dominque looked between me, Sarah and her own feet uncomfortably. It took a moment of silence for me to get the hint. "Oh, I am – um- going to take a look at the racks over there.." I announced and moved to the back of the store.
Even though I could still clearly hear the two talk, I tried to block it out and focus on the gowns there. They were more decent than the ones in the front, that is, they actually had a skirt part to just above the knees, just under or all the way to the ankles. In the second part, I found a cute black dress with three-quarter sleeves, a band around the waist and a black and white knee-length skirt that flowed from the waist.
It would suit Bella perfectly, and it was the right size and all (that is what you get when you help your best friend folding the laundry). I decided to take it along, knowing that the chances of Bella picking a dress for herself were slim.
Among the long dresses, I found myself a nice gown too, not too expensive either, a deep purple one with short sleeves and thin ribbons around the waist.
"Avery, could you help?"
With the two dresses, I walked back to the front, where Dominique and Sarah had just tried on their first dresses.
"And?" Sarah asked expectantly and twirled around. "What do you think?"
It was hard to keep my personal preferences out of the picture, but the dresses they were now wearing...
"A general or an honest opinion?" I asked, not entirely convinced which answer they preferred.
Dominique frowned. "Are they that bad?"
I shook my head. "No, no! They are gorgeous, and people will love them at the prom," I quickly told them. It's just... I'm not certain... For some reason, the colour doesn't fit your hair exactly, and in your case," I turned to Dominique, who had chosen a plain dress, "I would say that you can have a bit more... I don't know, just... a bit more. This is your prom, you're allowed to shine," I added with a smile.
Dominique took my advice better than Sarah, who really liked the dress. For a moment I feared that I had ruined whatever image she had of me, but within a few minutes, she began to search for another dress anyway. Not that I didn't feel bad about advising against her choice.
They tried on different gowns and dresses after that, one better fitting than the other. In the end, Sarah opted for a dark green dress with a halter top, maxi skirt and an open back with straps crossed on her back.
Dominique was holding a suitable dress consisting of a white top with a sweet heart neckline and a salmon pink tulle skirt that flowed from the waist.
"Just take it Nic, it's absolutely fabulous," Sarah tried to convince her, however, Dominique remained doubtful.
"I really like it too," she admitted, "but I... I mean, we have some dresses at home still, and this one's not low-priced or anything..."
Sarah rolled her eyes and was about to say something when the bell of the store rang. Two girls entered, the first one I recognised as Jessica Stanley, and the second, more timid one was Angela. Jessica cast us a short glance before they headed off the far back of the store. Angela greeted us with a smile and a "Hey" before following Jessica. A third girl entered- Bella, of course. She had told Charlie earlier that she would be going to town with her new friends today also. She seemed a bit lost.
I quickly walked over to her, leaving Sarah and Dominique to discuss the dress. "Hi Bella, how are you today?"
When she saw me she gave me a smile in return."Hey. Um, yeah, it's okay. We had muffins on our way here," she added.
I did not know what to do with that information. "Oh, alright, that is nice, I suppose. At any rate, you are going to look for a dress with them?" I had put the black dress in a canvas bag which I had brought from home, I intended for it to remain hidden for now.
Bella sighed, following Angela and Jessica with her brown eyes, and habitually took hold of her sleeves. "I don't know. I'm only here for advice and for a fun day out with them, honestly. Maybe visit a small bookshop that I found online. I'm not going to prom anyway, I'm going to Seattle, remember?" There was uncertainty in her voice as if she was trying to convince herself of her plan.
Behind me, Dominique had made her decision. "Come on Sare, let's pay for these."
This sudden turn took Sarah by surprise. "Wait, so you are going to take the dress after all?"
I looked back at them, just at the moment that Dominique glanced at Jessica and Angela. "Yeah, I'm sure." After which she walked in the direction of where the owner of the store had said she would be, somewhere in the back. Sarah cast me a confused look before running after Dominique, carrying her own dress.
Was there something about the presence of Jessica, Angela and Bella that persuaded Dominique in her choice? I raised an eyebrow and turned back to Bella, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.
"So, why don't you go join them," I suggested her, and nodded towards Angela, who was looking through the variety of dresses, and Jessica, who was more interested in the shoe department.
"Hm?" Bella looked up, startled, though hardly visible. "Oh, um, I don't know..." She bit her lip. "I think that they'll enjoy themselves, and I kinda wanted to go to that bookshop and it's getting late already..."
About that she was right, me, Dominique and Sarah had been in this shop longer than I had expected. From the back, the two reappeared, both carrying a plain plastic bag. "Are you coming, Avery?" Sarah asked me, stopping in the door opening while Dominique walked outside.
I mused the case for a moment. Then I shook my head.
"I am terribly sorry, but I think that I will join Bella to the bookstore - I have not been in one in a long time, either," I told them, hoping that this decision would not hurt their feelings.
Sarah looked between me and Bella, then back at Dominique with a slight frown, entirely different from the bubbly, cheerful Sarah that I knew.
"Alright then, do we still need to pick you up or will you be fine?"
I gave her a smile. "No worries, we will catch a bus if necessary. Thank you for taking me along," I added.
Sarah nodded. "Okay. See you Monday, then," she concluded, the corners of her lips the slightest bit curled up.
"See you then."
Sarah exited the shop, and through the window, I could see her explain the plan to Dominique, who glanced at me.
"Are you sure you want to go with me?" Bella asked, a bit late.
When I looked back to the street, Dominique and Sarah were gone. "I do. Or would you rather prefer to remain here?"
Bella's brown eyes darted back at Jessica and Angela, fiddling with the hem of her jacket. "Um.. Give me a sec." She walked over to Jessica and Angela and explained to them that she would not join them in the search for dresses. Again, they spoke hushed, but it was a small store, and I was not deaf.
Jessica seemed to disagree but eventually shrugged. Angela just gave Bella a kind smile, and Bella returned to me. "Alright, let's go."