Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine
Authors Note: usually I wait for reviews before uploading again but not this time and I'm finding it really weird!! So I am going to stop with this chapter now and not to be one of those people who refuse to upload without a certain number of reviews...but I would really appreciate a few to cover the chapters I upload today just to let me know how you all liked it!! Alright well thanks and enjoy...the next chapter is Claire's first day at school this is a sort of prequel to it...kind of lol :P
Chapter Twenty-Seven
C.P.O.V
It had been three weeks since I had seen Quill. I hated that I could count the days since I had last seen him, I hated that every time I went to sleep my dreams revolving around him in some way; I hated that every time I sat down to write something I would end up drawing eyes, eyes that resembled Quill's eyes remarkably. I knew I was probably being overly dramatic about the entire thing, but for some reason I felt that this entire thing was incredibly important, I couldn't shake the irrational urge and I found that it was growing by the day. Instead of feeling a little better and having my mind wander off into thoughts other than that of Quill, it stubbornly refused to do as I wished. A crush, that's all it was I told myself, nothing less nothing more just some stupid crush that had gotten out of hand. I had to forget that Quill was so close to my vision of what the perfect man would be like, interested in the same things as me, he always seemed to know exactly what to do and say to make me feel relaxed, his presence alone both calmed me, made me feel safe and drove me crazy all at the same time.
My miserable state had seeped into everything, I was beginning to notice that my asthma was reappearing again too. It had been so good lately, that I had taken to leaving my inhaler in my car as opposed to carrying it around in my bag everywhere with me. Jane had mentioned it to me a few times, but when I had told her about how I didn't really need to use it all that much anymore she had seemed surprised and instead of the usual tirade of questions that would follow from such a revelation she had accepted it and had become quite thoughtful. But now it was returning again, no where near the degree that it had been when I was in England but a few times a week I would feel my breathing becoming a little more difficult, making me nervous enough to carry my inhaler around with me more often. I doubted that I could feel more miserable even if I tried, and because I was determined to avoid Quill at all costs it meant that I had to limit my trips to La Push, where I knew that I was bound to run into him.
Jane had been surprised at my sudden change of heart, when I became reluctant to visit La Push, if I went there Jane was always with me, her and Emily were becoming better friends now that we were living closer to one another. I could tell that Jane was missing some of her friends from London, and now she had her sister to talk to, and even if she wasn't the same, I think that Emily was the person she really needed to talk to. Unlike some of the women Jane would associate with back home, Emily actually cared, and was unconcerned about the superficial things that Jane's friends would drone on about, the newest fashion trends from Milan, new fad diets; something that Claire heard about on a daily basis growing up. Claire wasn't fooling herself into thinking that Jane was becoming some kind of different person spending more time with Emily, if anything it made Jane more resolute in staying the same, trying to encourage Emily into sampling the finer things in life. But Emily was like Jane resolute in remaining the same also, probably one of the main reasons they had fought for so long; both being so stubborn.
I had decided not to get Quill's car, as much as I had liked it, I decided that it would only serve as a reminder of him, and had agreed to get a second hand car from the second dealership that we had visited. The car was nothing special, a Toyota Corolla that had low mileage and a CD player, it was a faded shade of blue that I didn't really like, but considering that school started soon I couldn't afford to be picky. Sam had seemed particularly disappointed at my decision, encouraging me to get Quill's car, I had used the excuse of finding the steering difficult to use as the car did not have power steering, which was a lie the car had driven like a dream and it made me slightly miserable when I was driving my own car, whose steering wheel liked to lock every time I made a sharp right turn. Reilly had taken to ringing me looking for a ride every now and again, I sometimes agreed to it depending on the time of day he needed it. When I knew that Quill would be at work during the middle of the day, I had no problem calling by, Emily was always delighted to see me, inviting me to stay the evening for dinner. I always refused though not wanting a repeat performance of the first day that I had called over alone, and ended up sitting next to Quill, my excuse was always that I didn't like to drive too late in the evening as I didn't like driving in the dark, an excuse that was hard to use considering how bright it was during the summer evenings.
School was beginning the next day and I was in my room sorting through my new books, leaving everything to the last minute as usual, shoving everything unceremoniously into my bag. Jane had picked up my uniform for me, it was a grey pleated skirt, a white blouse and a navy v-neck sweater. I had been horrified at first at the prospect of having to wear it, I did not like wearing skirts, they were a pet peeve of mine but a non-negotiable par of the uniform. I was allowed to wear black tights with the skirt which was a small consolation, along with black shoes, that was the only part of the uniform I didn't mind, having a pair of all black converse that would do the job nicely.
"Claire are you ready for tomorrow?" Jane asked from her bedroom door, I jumped in response not having heard her approach. "Umm...yeah I'm just finishing up now I have a few more things that I need to put in.." I said, packing the books that were lying beside me on the floor into my bag. Jane raised an eyebrow at me, looking around the room sceptically at the piles of discarded stationary and books, "Well I'll wake you in the morning before work then I suppose, but you really ought to get some sleep soon it's getting late.." Jane trailed off turning to leave, "Oh and Claire...have a good day tomorrow.." she finished, glancing quickly over her shoulder before walking off down the hall. I stopped what I was doing looking after her as she walked away, I hadn't expected that from her, usually she quite easily ignored everything that went on in my life, not bothering to concern herself with it. Maybe Emily was rubbing off on her more than I had thought she possibly could. I smiled at the thought, it was moments like these that Claire could actually imagine the two of them being sisters.
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True to her word Jane had appeared at her door bright and early that morning, without so much as a warning or any words at al in fact she turned on the lights, and ripped the blanket off the bed, despite my mumbling protests. It was definitely the perfect example of a rude awakening. Gone was the mother from the night before, who had wished me a good day at school, back was the mother that made it her personal mission to appear unconcerned. Dragging myself out of bed, I got dressed slowly, every movement feeling sluggish, not having gotten much sleep the night before. Usually I wouldn't wake up from my dreams, instead they would last all night, it was only in the morning that I would wake and remember that I had, had them which would infinitely put me in a bad mood. But no that had not been the case last night, from about two in the morning until three there had been some dog outside the house howling. I had cursed it, getting out of bed and turning on my light to see where it was hoping that I might frighten it away.
Instead when I had appeared at the window, the howling had stopped for a moment and changed to what I thought was a remorseful tone. It had sounded so human like in a warped way that I had stood there and listened to it for far longer than was necessary, feeling the odd compulsion to go outside and comfort the creature. The animal suddenly stopped when the lights of the security car, came by obviously someone had rang complaining about the noise and they were coming to check it out. I thought that I had seen a glimpse of dark brown fur, on some animal that seemed far too big to be a dog, closer to a bear in fact but shaped differently as it disappeared into the forestry by my house, but decided that I was imagining things. It was probably the lack of sleep I reasoned, the shadows from the lights playing tricks on me.
Turning off the lights and climbing back into bed, I heard the animal howl once more and the pain that I thought that I heard in the sound caused my heart to pound almost painfully in my chest, my breathing becoming unsteady. There I went being completely illogical again, getting upset over some animal howling outside of my house, grabbing my inhaler and taking two puffs from it to steady my breath, I fell back into my pillows. Dreaming again, not just about Quill now, but about an oversized dark brown animal, one that was in pain one that I seemed to know, one that I wanted to comfort. Sometimes I really hated my imagination.