A/N: Chapter three, everybody! Review, please!
"You know, now that I think on it, you're actually kind of…pathetic." Natalie told Kim truthfully as the latter drove her and Rory to school. Laura and Alex had both managed to get rides from their friends.
"Thanks, Nat. It's nice to know my best friend is so…supporting of me and my endeavors," Kim snorted, making a sharp enough turn to send Natalie reeling into the dashboard. It also dislodge Rory, who had her Calculus extra homework spread across the backseat. She promptly began moaning about how the vectors or something had been lining up to the vertices of something, and now she had to start all over. Kim and Natalie both ignored her.
"Oh, Kimmy," Natalie said, imitating Laura effectively with a high-pitched, bored drawl and sort of superficial-looking expression, if expressions could be superficial. "You totally have a chance with Jared Cameron, who is now a steroid-taking, weight-pumping, muscly mass of pure hotness, because after eight years of pining and stalking—"
"Ten," Rory corrected eagerly. Kim glared at Rory in the mirror, but blushed slightly.
"—I mean, ten years of obsessive pining and stalking and staring and following and creeping—"
"I never creeped!'
"There was that time when we followed him and his friends all the way to Port Angeles—"
"Your idea, Natalie!"
"—though nothing's come of this stalking, one-sided relationship," Natalie continued without a break in her Laura-impersonation rant. "You never, ever, gave up for one second that there might be the slimmest chance that he'd like you back, even though you've never spoken two intelligible words to him. In your life. You totally have a chance; we totally should do, like, voodoo with one of his old tissues."
"You're gross." Kim said, pulling into the school parking lot.
"Am I, though? Or am I right, like I very nearly always am?" Kim rolled her eyes at this. "Listen, Kim, it's kind of pathetic. Really. You're like…a basset hound. You sort of follow him around like a little puppy, with your eyes all big and hopeful and your tail all wagging, and he's like your irresponsible owner who doesn't want to play with—" Natalie decided, and Kim parked the car, grabbed her bag, and was out before Natalie had finished her sentence.
"Kim, I swear! It's freaking unhealthy! You should go…fool around with someone, from Forks or somewhere else where it won't get around and just get over Jared already." Natalie stumbled out the car, her enormous backpack hindering her exit. Kim rolled her eyes at her.
"Natalie, just yesterday you were jumping up and down on the bleachers because he was back—"
"He was hot! I was excited; he excited me! Can you blame me?" Natalie defended herself vehemently.
"Come on, we'll be late," Kim rolled her eyes, blushing slightly and heading towards her History class.
"Maybe you should corner him in a supply closet and, like, bang his—"
"Goodbye, Natalie!" Kim sang over her shoulder, walking into History.
"Jusd bein helbful, Kim," Natalie called to her, her nose covered with a handkerchief. Kim smiled, in spite of herself.
Yes, there he was. Jared Cameron. Sitting there, in the seat next to the seat that she sat at, breathing the same air Kim would breathe in only a few short seconds; his mere existence was godly. He seemed surreal in that moment, like he was something too perfect to be sitting in the chair next to the chair she would sit in, his perfect elbows resting on tables older than their parents, his perfect nose breathing in the air that had been recycled through the school's crappy ventilation system. He was too good. He was too good to be real.
In that instant, as Kim paused in the doorway of the smelly History room, taking in the truest form of perfection, she realized something truly important: Natalie was right. She was pathetic.
Shaking her head slightly, Kim continued to the seat next to the seat that Jared was sitting in, her stomach twisting in happy knots as it always did whenever she was near Jared. She sat down as quietly as she could, biting back a smile at how happy she was that he was still sitting next to her in History. She blushed, promptly shielding her face from him with a curtain of her black hair.
"Well, Mr. Cameron. Long time, no see." Mrs. McBrian said, looking down at Jared. He looked up at her, flashing her a glimpse of his perfect, white teeth in a beautiful smile. Kim's heart stuttered.
"Mrs. McBrian, I've been sick for a while," he said, grinning cheekily at her.
"I'm not an idiot, Jared. Make sure you borrow the notes you've missed, and for God's sake, catch up on your homework!" A few people snickered at her last comment, and Jared blushed. He really was beautiful… "Okay, class; get out your copies of Great Expectations, and your notes from Mr. Henderson's English class. You will be writing a two-page essay on the lifestyle of the masses in Victorian England." Everyone just sat, staring at her. Mrs. McBrian glared at them all. She clapped her hands twice. "What are you waiting for? Go!"
Kim didn't move, but she heard Jared's chair creak as he turned to her. "We're reading a new book?" He asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice. Kim opened her mouth to speak, found that she'd left her voice in the hallway, and ended up simply nodding her head, inwardly cringing in embarrassment. She blushed bright red, again.
He cleared his throat, clearly feeling awkward. "Do you have a…uh, pen?" He asked, rummaging around his books for the elusive writing utensil. Kim nodded, pleased with the extra "Mhhm" she'd added to her nod. She rummaged around in her blue pencil case, finding a green pen with Clearwater Family Diner, serving families since 1986 on it and handing it out to him. She happened to look up at him in that half a second when the pen passed from her hand to his, her brown eyes meeting his black. He had been about to grin at her, his usual confident smirk, but it fell from his lips as he met her eyes. His mouth dropped open, his eyes widening as emotions danced across his chiseled, handsome face; confusion, adoration, awe, fear… Kim realized that they'd been staring at each other for far to long, and promptly blushed, using her hair as a curtain to hide herself from him. He let out a little noise of protest, and out of her peripheral vision, she saw that he was opening and closing his mouth, trying to find his voice.
"I—you—wow—you're pretty—no, I mean—not that you aren't pretty, because I think you're beautiful—not to sound creepy or anything, but—are you—will you—what's your—are you new?" Jared asked, his voice shaking slightly, like he had so many things he wished to say but couldn't possibly express them all without a significant time frame.
"No…" Kim was confused; he thought she was new?
"W-who are you, again?" Jared asked, stuttering slightly.
"You don't know?" Kim asked, biting her lip when she felt her eyes sting with tears. He really hadn't known she existed? All this time, she'd thought he just hadn't acknowledged that she was alive, but he really didn't know… talk about awkward.
"No—I'm sorry—really sorry. I'm Jared, Jared Cameron." He said, sticking out his hand in greeting.
"I know," she said, and Kim mentally kicked herself. He's finally noticed you, dimwit, and now you go all bitchy on him? What the hell is wrong with you?
I don't know, Kim thought to herself sadly. "I'm sorry," Kim said, looking up at him and slightly surprised that he hadn't looked away from her. "It's just that—well, I've s-s-sat here all year, and I've known you since we were in kindergarten and you've been to my house, and ate dinner with my family a few times." It all came out in a rush; years of quiet longing and years of resenting her invisibility, and the word vomit was pouring out of her. This sucked.
Jared's beautiful face crumpled into a frown; in fact, he looked anguished. "I have?"
"Yes," Kim answered, turning back to Great Expectations, and the textbook's words on Victorian London. Her voice acquired an edge to it as she continued."You used to date my sister."
"I did?" He seemed surprised; like he honestly couldn't remember. Kim felt like she'd been punched in the gut; had he really dated so many girls that he couldn't even remember?
"Yeah. I'm Kim," Kim said, blushing slightly. He was happy; it took her a moment to realize it was because she'd told him her name.
"Kim." Jared echoed, his whole face lighting up. "That's beautiful. You're beautiful." He blurted out the last, and Kim snorted quietly.
"That's not true," Kim said, and Jared made to protest, before Mrs. McBrian interrupted them.
"Kimberly. Jared. Flirt outside my class, next time?" Kim blushed furiously, but Jared grinned widely at her. The class snickered as classes tend to do whenever someone gets picked on by the teacher; usually, they are just glad that it wasn't them getting picked on.
"Sorry, Mrs. McBrian," Jared said, his eyes never leaving Kim. He did not sound sorry at all.
Throughout the rest of the class, Kim attempted to do the work they were supposed to be doing about Great Expectations; 'attempted' being the operative word. Kim found it very hard to concentrate when Jared freaking Cameron would not stop staring at her.
"Here are my notes in Henderson's, and my notes from McBrian's," she handed him her notebook, after class was over and the lunch bell had rung, overly conscious that is had been hastily erased of all remnants of any Kim 3 Jared notations. He reached for the notebook, his huge hand brushing against her tiny one, making her face flush. He took the notebook as if it were something as sacred as the Ark of the Covenant, handling it delicately. He placed it into his backpack, his dark gaze returning to her face immediately. He smiled at her again, and Kim felt her heart stutter. As if he had heard it, Jared's smile widened. She blushed, and his smile widened.
"Kim Kim Kim Kim Kim, you won't believe what Destiny was saying to Maura who heard from that Sabrina girl who heard from Clark who heard from Craig who overheard Lisa telling Stephen! Destiny was saying to Maura who heard from that Sabrina girl who heard from Clark who heard from Craig who overheard Lisa telling Stephen that Jar—Ohmygod, it's true!" Natalie burst into the deserted classroom, barely stopping to breathe. She looked from Jared to Kim to Jared to Kim to back again, moving her whole head as if she couldn't believe her eyes. Let it be declared far and wide that Natalie Marie Wright was rendered utterly and comically speechless for the first time in living memory. Natalie's mouth opened and closed a few times. Jared turned back to Kim, pretending that they hadn't been interrupted.
"You, uh, free this Saturday?" Jared asked, suddenly looking nervous, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He clearly did not like having an audience in Kim's blabbermouth best friend.
"Yeah, I…uh, think so," because I'm free for every Saturday night until the end of time…Kim thought to herself. "Why?"
"Why? Kim, Jared freaking Cameron is asking you out! You don't question it, are you stupid?" Natalie chipped in, looking flabbergasted. Jared ignored her, something that Natalie clearly did not like.
"Because, I—um, well, there's this, uh, party thing in Forks, and if you wanted, um, we could—"
"Carpool?" Kim asked, mentally face palming. Natalie did an actual face palm, causing her nose to bleed.
"Um, well, that's actually not what I meant, but—"
"Kim wants to go! She'll go! She wants a date! Believe me, I'm her social manager!" Natalie had stemmed the blood flow from her nose and had joined back into their conversation, determined to save Kim from social retardation.
"You have no social life! You get chronic nosebleeds!" Kim snapped at Natalie.
"Says Miss I've-never-had-a-boyfriend. Oh yes, I went there!" Natalie retorted. Kim rolled her eyes, blushing at her friend's behavior in the presence of Jared.
"So, will you come as my date to the party with me? I am Jared Freaking Cameron, after all," by his smirk, Jared had regained his confidence. Natalie had the gall to blush at use of her phrasing, and Kim blushed because—well, he was Jared freaking Cameron, and he was asking her out. And she was currently catatonic, and her tongue was unable to reply.
"S-s-s-sure," she choked out, and for all the effect it had on him, she might as well have announced he'd won a million dollars.
"Okay, I'll pick you up at, uh, seven. No, six, and we could get dinner before—no, the party's at eight, so I'll pick you up at seven forty-five and we'll be late because we won't be the losers who are there early. Yeah, that'll work!" He turned back to her, smiling widely. "Wanna eat lunch with me today, Kim?" He looked so hopeful, Kim wanted to jump into his arms and never let go.
"She can't. As her social manager, I'm afraid I have to step in and prohibit any social events that correspond with any prior social commitments—" Natalie stepped in, adjusting a pair of glasses that had mysteriously appeared on her nose. Kim rolled her eyes. Natalie was nothing if not dramatic. Jared looked crestfallen at the rejection Natalie had made for Kim.
"Save the drama, Nat, I don't have any plans—" Kim didn't want Jared to be sad. Nope. Not ever.
"What about our weekly taco run and our daily gossip sesh?" Natalie whined, abbreviating the word "session" to "sesh".
"Where would we even get tacos, Natalie?" Kim asked, pleading with Natalie. "You can drive my car…" Kim prompted, and Natalie brightened.
"Return her in one piece, Jared Freaking Cameron, or else there'll be hell to pay!" Natalie sang, skipping out of the classroom.
"Sorry. I didn't know she would—" Kim started, feeling embarrassed for her friend. Jared shook his head, waving her away.
"It's no big deal. She's funny."
"She wasn't really trying to be funny…the glasses, though, were just one of her props," Kim informed him, and Jared nodded, smiling at Kim.
Kim's mouth dropped open. She'd had an actual sentence with Jared, without stuttering like some idiot! Yes! And he'd asked her out! And then to eat lunch with him!
Kim's spirits soared, and her smile appeared to be permanent on her face. Nothing could ruin today.
Nothing.