Chapter 4: Friends?

I woke up to the sound of someone slamming the door. I didn't catch a sight of who it was, but I had a strong feeling it was Ally; I could smell it; her lavender smell left a big trail of where she'd been. I sat up in bed and became aware that I was fully dressed. That's when I remembered the night before; the night I officially destroyed my new life. I'd done a pretty good job, if I had to say it myself: Only friend; offended. Only hope of getting a boyfriend; hurt really badly. Friend's boyfriend; probably pissed too, since I smashed his friend. Yep, I'd been nothing but thorough.

I got up, took off my stupid tight top, threw it in my closet and pulled on some normal casual clothes: Jeans and a red sweatshirt with my name on the back and the boarding school's logo on the front. I suddenly noticed how weak Ally's scent was. Had she slept with Aaron? I believed so.

It was a Sunday and I had nothing planned, so there would be plenty of time to regret everything and give up. Lovely.

I remembered a paper that was due tomorrow. It was about Wuthering Heights, so it wouldn't take me long to finish. My mum and dad used to read it to me when I was younger; it was my mum's favorite book. We read it together; I would read the descriptions, my mum would read what Catherine said and my dad what Heathcliff said, both with so much passion, it made me shiver and smile at the right moments. I sometimes forgot that it was my turn to read.

This was definitely not a hard assignment. I would make it later. I was hungry now. How long had I slept? I looked at the clock. It was already 11:00 AM.

Before I went down to the dining hall, I brushed my fingers through my tangled hair, yawned and went out on the hall. It was crowded with people enjoying their Saturday. As soon as I stepped out everyone went completely silent. Were they rehearsing a play? I squinted trying to see if I could spot Ashton Kutcher yelling "You got Punk'd", but I wasn't a celebrity, and I couldn't find him anywhere.

Then two seconds after the silence broke into a storm of whispering, and everyone glared at me. Wasn't it rude to glare? I tried to ignore it as I walked through the crowd that backed up against the wall as I passed like I was some kind of monster. Okay, I was a monster, but they didn't know! Or did they? Had my little stunt yesterday revealed my secret? Panic hit me. I had trouble breathing and I could feel my skin get warmer. Had I just destroyed many centuries of excellent secret-keeping?

Get yourself together, I thought and shook my head, try to listen to what they're actually whispering about, before you freak out, you idiot. Wow, even my thoughts hated me, but I did as they had advised me to. I didn't have to concentrate much before I could focus on one of the conversations. It was two girls who were gossiping.

"She almost killed him" one of them hissed in a slightly nasal voice.

"I know. And it's Luke! He won't be able to attend to the game on Saturday. We will lose big time, because of her!" the other one hissed back, the first voice wasn't nasal; this one was.

She tried to point at me in a subtle way, but failed miserably. I then thought of what she'd said. Had I broken Luke Parker's – one of the important player's- body? I thought it was a normal Luke, like Luke Johnson or Luke brown, not Luke Parker. Well, I just kept ruining my own life.

"She's probably pissed because he didn't kiss her, or maybe she expected even more. She's such a slut. She doesn't talk to anyone besides Ally, who's a freak. She thinks she's so much better than us." the first one hissed. No they both had nasal voices.

"She's so stupid; everyone knows he's a virgin." I snorted loudly. Had I expected a kiss from him? The thought gave me nausea; he was the last person in the entire universe I would kiss.

"Oh my god, she's looking right at us, look away!" The second one hissed again. It took me a few seconds before I realized I'd stopped to stare at them while laughing to myself. I hurried forward and away from the two girls and everybody else's evil glares.

I peeked through the big wooden door to the dining room, and to my relief it was almost empty. There were a few people sitting at the long oak tables, but I would have no troubles finding a quiet place to eat for myself.

I grabbed a bagel and a juice and went to the table furthest away, where I sat on the edge.

Here I was out of hearing range, though I could easily hear them. I started absentmindedly nipping on the bagel. It felt out of place as it slit down my throat and into my stomach, but it was another one of the consequences of pretending to be human. I could survive on human food, but blood tasted so much better. I could feel the burn in my throat, it wasn't too bad, but it was there, reminding me every second that I didn't belong here.

I tried to tune out the burning and the angry whispering around me, by focusing on something else; memories.

The first one I tried to remember was once when I was pretty young. It was the day we moved from Forks, Washington to Cordova, Alaska. I remembered Embry had lied to his mother, said he was going on a boarding school in Alaska to find himself. Oh the Irony. Quill wasn't going; he couldn't leave Claire, and had therefore joined Sam's pack again. I remembered how Leah and Seth hugged their crying mother goodbye, promising to come back soon, but knowing that it might be a lie. But she would survive; Sue was a strong woman, who'd survived the death of her husband, raising two teenage werewolves and still seeming at ease.

I also remembered my mum saying goodbye to Charlie, my granddad. He had tears in his eyes, though he would have denied it, and my mum's face was turned into the one of a tortured person; the vampire way of crying. Then there was the farewell between my dad and his parents and siblings. None of them were coming with us. That goodbye had been one of the hardest to watch. Even though they were my own family, I had to look away; it was too personal and intimate.

The only goodbye to beat them was the goodbye between Jacob and Billy. Their relationship was something so strong it was impossible to understand. They'd hugged each other for so long, burying their faces in each other's shoulders; Jacob bending down and Billy stretching in his wheelchair. I didn't dare to look, because no matter how you put it, I was the reason behind all of these goodbyes.

I remembered experiencing all of this while constantly shifting carrier. They all hugged and kissed me, but I was focused on the others instead of focusing on my own departure. I regretted that now. It had been so emotional in the little clearing in front of my old house. The Cullen's house, as it was known in the little town of Forks. Such a lovely little town…

My memory was interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly, probably to get my attention. I looked up from my frozen position - staring at the veins in the wood – to look at the person.

"What?" I said in a voice that sounded like I'd been woken up from a nightmare.

The person was a boy, about 18 years old. He had brown hair that was a little longer than most guys'; it fell like a wavy curtain right over his high cheekbones. It suited him and made him look shy, or maybe he was just shy. His smell was hard to identify, but definitely in the tree department. His eyes were grey, but they weren't focusing on me anymore. He was having a staring competition with the floor.

"Hi… I know it's really rude and I should…" I didn't hear anything else he was saying; his strong British accent blew me away. I had never heard a British accent in real life, and I found it more adorable than I thought I would. He looked at me a little intimidated, but still like he was waiting for an answer. What had he just said?

"What?" I had to ask once again and felt rather stupid.

He took my 'what?' as a doubt of his question instead of an actual question.

"I'm so sorry, I'll just leave," he apologized, of course still in a British accent, though that surprised me for some reason. He turned away and went for the door.

"No!" I yelled a little too loud. People turned around to look at me, but I ignored them. He turned too. "I'm sorry. I really didn't hear you." I apologized and looked at him as he stood there deciding whether to leave or stay.

"It doesn't matter anyway" he said his hands in his pockets, eyes on the floor; still refusing to look at me, and turned around again to leave.

"Well, that mystery's going to keep me up all night" I mumbled to myself a little disappointed and returned to eating my bagel.

"What?" he asked and turned around - once again - to look at me. His eyes were a deep ocean blue with hints of grey around the pupil. Enchanting, one might say.

"Nothing… you just go ahead and leave without knowing what I would've answered" I said and dismissed him. I played the mysterious card; maybe he would find my comment really weird and run away, which didn't bug me, since everyone else thought that about me too. Or he would fall for it, and ask his question again.

He sighed like he was irritated, but smiled a little smile afterwards. "Fine, I'll ask you again" he said and surrendered. "But before I do, please remember that it's a stupid request," he added and looked up to check my answer before he continued.

I nodded. "Good. I was just… wondering if… maybe… you would… give me your… juice" his searching for words and sweet accent meant I had to focus real hard on what he was saying.

I laughed at his request, I couldn't help it. It was still weird he asked me, hadn't he heard? I'd ruined the big game. The important game we had to win, to go through to the next round. The game that was so important I'd actually considered watching it. And I hated sports.

"Sure, you can have it" I said when I'd finished laughing. "If you tell me your name" I added and smiled at him. Maybe he could be my new Ally; a guy version of Ally. Or maybe just a normal friend.

"Oh… then I don't want it" he said, but this time he didn't turn around.

"How bad can it be?" I asked. I was the one called the same as the Loch Ness monster, how could his name possibly be worse?

"It's William, but I prefer Will, though that doesn't make it much better" he said and shrugged.

"William? That's not bad, it's really authentic. Mine's Renesmee, but I'm mostly called Nessie. You know like the Loch Ness" I laughed my high bell-like laugh again and offered him my hand to present myself properly.

"Yours is definitely better than mine. I mean Renesmee." It was like he tasted the name on his tongue. My name sounded much cuter in an English accent. I might consider introducing myself like that. "It sounds like a flower, very poetic" he continued and shook my hand, instead of ignoring it like Luke. He sat down on the opposite side of the table and took my juice. First I was very confused, but then I remembered my promise.

"Can I ask you something?" I then asked and proceeded to eat my bagel again, while looking at him.

"Depends on the question, Nessie" he said and smiled a crooked smile.

"Are you from England? And if yes, why did you decide to come to Canada? Oh and why did you ask me for my juice?" I knew it was more than one question, but I wanted to ask all before I forgot them.

"Yes, I'm from London; Notting Hill actually, and I decided to come to Canada, because I found Notting Hill a little boring, and I needed some change. Then I saw this add that I could go to Canada and live on this boarding school. So I did. The reason I asked for your juice, is because I always drink juice in the morning, it's my own kind of coffee. But there wasn't any left today" He explained and smiled; he seemed a little more comfortable now.

"So you're all alone on this continent?" I asked a little amazed. He didn't seem like the type who just ran away from home to get some excitement. I should really stop stereotyping. I'd been right about Luke, but William sounded a little deeper than shallow, superficial Luke. "And that's not what I meant. I meant why did you ask me?" I asked, before he could answer my first question and watched him drink the juice before he answered.

"Yeah, pretty much. It's scary, but I think it's a big step towards finding who you are," he said. He wanted to find himself, just like me. If I didn't constantly think of Jacob, he would definitely be a great soul mate. He had to think a bit longer about the other question, but after two minutes he answered that too. "First of all you had the juice" he said and laughed. Was it possible for a laugh to sound British? Apparently it was, because his did. "And then you did look a little lonely. No offence. And everybody else was sitting in groups, and I'm not that good with groups. A single person is more than enough for me to handle." He laughed again and I laughed with him.

"I was pretty lonely." I admitted. I leaned forward and cupped my hands at my mouth like in Kindergarten when you wanted to tell a secret. He played along and leaned forward too listening carefully. "Everybody hates me" I whispered and chuckled in his ear. He chuckled too, and whispered back:

"And why do they hate you?" I smiled at his question; he hadn't heard the gossip.

"Mainly because I injured Luke Parker when I pushed him away from his attempt to kiss me" I was happy to tell my version of the story, instead of listening to people saying I wanted to kiss him. The thought almost made me shudder.

This time William didn't chuckle; he guffawed, and I pulled away to make sure he wouldn't deafen me.

"You… rejected… and injured… Luke… Parker?" he managed to say, between his roar of laughter. If people weren't looking before, they were now. And they weren't subtle about it. I didn't blame them; I was staring at him too. I didn't get it; why was he laughing? Didn't it mean anything to him that Luke Parker was injured? Judging from his laughter, I would say, it didn't.

"Yeah, but not on purpose" I mumbled in shame. Violence was not something I supported.

William took a deep breath, steadying his breathing before he talked again.

"Splendid!" He said exactly how I'd imagined him saying it. "I'm sorry, I seem rather mean now. I know I'm supposed to be angry with you, because he's the most important guy here. But I just really, really, really dislike him. Thank god I'm not his roommate. Can you imagine how horrible it must be for Aaron?" I froze at the mentioning of Aaron, but he didn't notice.

"It's great he finally asked that girl out. Allison, I think. They both have such nice personalities. I have almost all my classes with Aaron, except Biology and Calculus."

He kept talking about his problems; Luke, making fun of his accent, his cluelessness in Biology, and this cute girl he liked, Julie Denison, but didn't have the guts to ask out. It was very comforting to hear about some normal human problems. I didn't talk much; told about my horrible date with Luke, offered to help him with his Biology, and encouraged him to ask Julie out. Sometimes he asked me about my life, but I smoothly turned it into a question for him instead of answering. He wouldn't understand my life; nobody would.

This is a little shorter than my pervious chapters… sorry (:
Just want to let you know that William is one of my favorite characters I've ever created… And now I'm sharing him with you guys… so tell me if you think he's amazing too ^.^
As always… please please please review! I read all of them and I appreciate them all ^^
One of you mentioned there are a few grammatical errors, and I do my best to correct as many as possible.
Just so you know… I post new chapters every Friday ^^
If you have any questions at all, please ask =]
Love you xxxxxxxxxx
- The Author 3