Disclaimer- No, wishes do not cone true, after all.
Chapter 10- Jealousy is a disease. Get well soon!!!!
*************************************************************************************************************************************
Well, I'm just going to come right out and say it. Somebody has to.
Everybody in all of La Push (excluding myself, of course) is on hard drugs.
It's kind of tragic really. Just think of all rehab counselors we're going to have to hire. Taxes are definitely going to go up. It's pretty much unavoidable.
Ok, perhaps I'm exaggerating the littlest bit . But still, an alarming number of La Push residents have lost they're mind all around the same time. It can't just be a coincidence.
So, naturally, drugs are looking like a fairly reasonable explanation.
Just try to think of another excuse for Paul Lansing's current behavior, because that's the only one I can think up.
Except for the ever popular alien abduction, of course. But I can't help but think that if aliens wanted a human specimen to study, they could do a lot better than Paul Lansing.
I'm just saying.
By now I'm sure you're wondering what said 'current behavior' might be.
This current behavior I speak of is Paul standing stock still in the middle of the aisle between the row of desks that lead to his seat staring, opened mouthed at one of my very best friends.
The same friend that he had always made it his soul mission in life to torture every waking moment she was around him.
Ding-ding! You guessed it.
Paul Lansing was staring at my friend, Sara Burnheart, like she had just crowned him king of La Push. (Hmmm, now where do I know that look from?)
I think a recap is going to be necessary.
The door slammed back against the wall with excessive force revealing an angry looking, not to mention HUGE, Paul.
Paul didn't offer his apologies to the shocked and slightly terrified looking Mr. Maddox for his tardiness. He also didn't greet any of his friends or any of the girls he usually flirted with before and after class, a favor they all readily returned.
Every person he glared at on his way into the classroom either shied back or gave terrified looking nervous smiles until his glare drifted away from them to the next poor unsuspecting victim. The class as a whole seemed entirely to frightened to even acknowledge his arrival.
Well, unless you count staring, slack jawed at him, in which case they did acknowledge him. If you're going to count that, then they practically threw him a welcome back party.
While everyone else seemed about ready to shit themselves over Paul's arrival, Sara, of course, did not.
She might hate him, but I never got the feeling she was afraid of him. I don't think my friend's afraid of anything except saturated fats and scales.
Sara rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.
Too loudly apparently.
Paul snapped his head up to glare at Sara , who was looking towards the wall clock, and snarled out, "You got a problem? Because if you do I can…."
And that's just about where he dried up.
Sara had snapped her head back to meet his eyes and hit him with her truly world class scowl (a look known to castrate men on sight) when he froze.
The second their eyes met, Paul looked like somebody had just tazered his ass.
Whereas, Sara just continued to look like Paul was the largest nuisance to ever be placed on this planet (Which he probably is, second only to Jared of course.)
"What will you do, Paul?" Sara snapped, "Gawk at me some more?"
Paul's only response to this was, you know it, more staring with a few loud shallow breaths added in to shake things up.
How can you tell if somebody's having a stroke? Not that I would particularly care if Paul were to drop dead on the spot (if anything I'd be the one organizing the parade that would surely follow such an event) but I don't want Mr. Maddox to get in trouble for having a student die on his watch. Not after putting in so much effort to ensure a good grade in his class. It's too late in the year to suck up to an entirely new teacher.
"Uhhh………I……You…….ahhh" Paul croaked out.
Wow. His vocabulary has actually gotten shorter. I didn't think that was possible.
Sara looked unimpressed, and cocked one eyebrow at him. I had never been able to do that. You know, the whole moving just one eyebrow thing.
By now the entire class was staring back and forth between Sara and Paul. No doubt they were as flummoxed by this as I was. It was quite well known the true nature of their relationship.
That nature being, Sara trying to ignore Paul while Paul tries to make Sara suicidal.
Mr. Maddox cleared his throat loudly from the front of the room and the class slowly turned their attention back to him, " Everybody turn to page one hundred and sixty three. Mr. Lansing, if you would be so kind as to take your seat so we can begin the lesson."
Paul didn't appear to have heard the teachers simple request if the way he continued to stare at Sara in amazement was any indication. Somewhere in the last two minutes his mouth had started to randomly open and close like a fish on dry land.
Jared leaned out of his seat a bit so that he was leaning closer to Paul, "Damn it, Paul! Sit down!" He whisper yelled.
"Mr. Lansing!" Mr. Maddox had begun to show a hint of irritation in his tone, "If you have a problem with your seat, I'm sure they have one up in the deans office that might better suit you."
Paul tore his eyes away from Sara for the first time before quickly settling them back onto her, as if they hurt too much while doing anything else.
Jared scooted out of his seat and went to stand in between Paul and Sara. Paul growled at him.
Wait. Growled? Really?
Well, if anybody I know would growl it would be Paul.
Jared calmly set both of his hands onto Paul's bulky shoulders and shoved him two paces down the aisle before more or less forcing him into his seat.
Normally, Paul would have made a huge scene, probably a huge violent scene, at being handled in such a way but he was too busy trying to crane his neck to see around Jared's large form that was blocking his view of Sara to fight back.
Jared released his hands from Paul's shoulder. I half expected him to jump right back up but just when it looked like he might do just that Jared quickly stepped to the left so the Paul once again had an open view of Sara. Paul relaxed back into the small seating space available in the standard school desk, his eyes yet again settling on an annoyed looking Sara.
"Sorry about that, Mr. Maddox." Jared apologized for his friend and sat back down in his seat to my left, ignoring the stares of the whole first period Algebra two class and shooting a lingering glance my way.
I had become accustomed to this over the last week. While he no longer flat out gawked at me for the whole fifty five minute period anymore, Jared never went longer than about a minute and a half with out looking my way. It was like he was trying to reassure himself that I was still there, sitting safely in my too small school desk, doodling pictures in the margins of my notes and trying to ignore him.
The rest of the period passed slowly while I alternated between trying to dissect Paul's recent change in behavior and glaring at Jared whenever I caught him looking at me.
Since Jared had been semi-stalking me for about a week now I was almost used to this new and strange treatment. So much so that it didn't even fluster me anymore to know that he was more or less tracking my every move and would most likely try to corner me after class in an attempt to make inane comments, like complimenting my shirt or asking me if I needed a ride home.
Sara, however, wasn't used to life as a stalking victim. As time went on and Paul's intense stare of awe didn't begin to waver she grew more and more frustrated. She would wiggle uncomfortably in her seat, uncross and cross her arms over and over, huff loudly and tap her pen insistently on the edge of the desk.
By the time the bell rang out shrilly over head Sara flew out of her chair and darted out the door before anyone else. Paul, of course, quickly followed.
I have a feeling this won't end well.
"Kim." Jared spoke up from beside me where he stood with his things all gathered up and in his bag, smiling hopefully at me.
"Jared." I said, flatly.
He didn't seem to notice my unwelcoming tone and his grin, if at all possible, spread even wider across his handsome face.
"Can…can I walk you to your next class? It's English, right?"
In case you didn't catch on, yes, he had memorized my entire schedule. Often, he'd be waiting in the hallway outside my classroom's just to say high or send me a wave I'd pretend not to see.
Is it too soon to call the cops yet?
This is just the kind of stuff that happens before a girl ends up in the channel five news or as the 'true story' used as inspiration in a low budget horror movie.
I swear to god, if I find him in my shower the bastard is going down. I know kick-boxing. I could take him.
I turned to my would-be stalker and answered him, "Thanks, but I think I can find my own way to English class all by myself. But, if it makes you feel any better, I'll be sure to leave a trail of bread crumbs in my wake in case I get lost."
I left just in time to see Jared's hopeful smile falter.
**********************************************************************************************************
"Oh, Kate!" Amy Fink's shrill voice pulled me out of a daydream that, oddly enough, involved Sara roasting Paul's large intestines over an open fire and babbling on about calories.
My day dreams just keep getting weirder and weirder. Although, as of this morning, I'd say this one actually seems pretty likely.
I jerked my head up to see Amy and Shandra standing against the back wall of my English classroom and looking at me expectantly.
I guess this mean's I'm Kate.
"Hey, Andy and Sasha." I greeted with a sarcastic smile.
Amy just snorted at the mix-up with the names and slithered towards me, swinging her non-existent hips and beckoning her lap dog to follow her with two fingers.
"So, how was detention?" Amy asked with a sneer.
Oh, look! It wants to be friends!
"Well, like any other part of my life that I have to endure without your sunny presence, I can assure you detention was bleak and dull." I said, with obvious false sincerity, "Why do you ask?"
"We heard you had it with Jared." Shandra spoke up from behind Amy, earning her a annoyed glare from her master.
I tilted my head to the side and considered Shandra, "Huh. And here I thought Amy had had you de-barked."
Shandra just blinked at me, obviously not understanding. Amy however turned red, indicating that she had understood my thinly veiled insult. She always had been the smarter of the two, even if only by a little.
Let's face it. Shandra isn't exactly what I would call steep competition in the intelligence department. But I wouldn't take her on in a contest about reality television trivia.
Amy swept her chemically treated hair over one of her scrawny bird shoulders and glared at me, leaning forward and putting her bony hand on my desk, "Let's just get right to the chase here, Kate."
I narrowed my eyes at her and leaned back in my chair, putting more distance between her and me, crossing my arms over my chest (Which, by the way, is a whole lot bigger than hers. Not that it's a competition…but if it was I'd be winning.).
"Let's." I agreed.
"We want you to stay away from Jared." Amy said, straightening back into her usual prim and proper posture.
Shandra nodded her agreement from behind Amy's left elbow.
"I'd love to, " I informed the deficient duo, "Unfortunately, he's not letting me."
Amy snorted derisively, "Yeah, right. Everyone can see the way you're constantly throwing yourself at him."
Shandra added an ever compelling, "Yeah!" from behind Amy.
Throwing myself at him?
Ignoring someone, telling them off every chance you get and basically rebuffing any and all attempts they make to communicate with you is throwing yourself at someone? Huh. Who knew?
"I don't throw myself at anyone, and certainly not Jared Ferdy." I said, with dignity.
Amy caught on to the tone I used with Jared's name, "And what, exactly, is wrong with Jared?"
"Oh, nothing. As long as you don't mind dating one of Satan's minions." I told her.
"Oh, please!" Amy exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of student at near-by desks, "You're just upset that he's so obviously out of your league."
Well, that's about enough of that, I think.
I stood up from behind my desk, emphasizing the fact that I was a whole foot taller than her and had about thirty pounds on her, "Don't go getting your tiny little panties all up in a bunch just because you can't get the guy you want to go out with you. If Jared doesn't want you it has nothing to do with me, it's probably just because he has better taste than I thought."
I carefully marked this down as a victory on my mental score board as I gathered my things to move away from Amy.
Amy:0 Kim:1
Someone in the room whistled, long and low and a few people let out bursts of nervous laughter. Amy turned pink again, under about an inch and half of make-up and Shandra stared at me blankly, obviously not understanding that Amy had just lost a fight.
And, stupid me, I thought that Amy had lost the fight. Little did I know, this was just one battle in a war. A war I would end up loosing, big time.
*******************************************************************************************
A/N- I know that in the books Paul imprints on Rachael but I wanted him to imprint on Sara in this story. No offense meant to any Paul/Rachael fan's out there.
I also know that Jared's last name is Thail, but I didn't when I started this story and I'm not about to go back and change every time I ever said his name. You'll just have to forgive the continued name mix-up. Sorry.
Scroll on down and click on the little button that says 'review' on it like a good little reader. That's it. Go on. Don't be afraid. The review button won't hurt you. The review button is your friend.
