Don't own anything except OC's.

Chapter 2: Staring

Kim's POV

The next day, Jared wasn't in school. Or the next, or the next, or the one after that… two weeks passed and still, no Jared.

Was it weird that I was starting to worry?

The amount of times I had talked to Jared could be present on my fingers, and yet I couldn't help but worry about what, where and why he was gone. Was he sick? Had he dropped out? Was he just skiving off? I had so many unanswered questions that no one could answer. Whenever the subject of Jared was brought up, so many different stories were produced that I didn't know which one to believe.

Some people thought he was on steroids, some swear they had seen him hanging around with Sam Uley, who people say belonged to a gang, and others think he is off selling drugs. They were just some of the stories, the others were so ludicrous and stupid I didn't even pay attention to them (someone seriously said that they think he was abducted by aliens).

I awoke to the bleeping of my alarm and had to reach out and smack it five times before it shut off. I contemplated pretending I was sick for the day and just sleeping, but was overruled when I heard Anna-Marie banging on the door screaming for me to get up. Once showered and ready, I went to get breakfast and was surprised to see my parents near the front door.

"Good morning, Kimberly," mom greeted me idly. Dad walked away and ignored me, too busy shouting into his earpiece phone.

"Morning mom," I replied instantly. "What are you still doing here?"

"We have a meeting so we have a late start," mom answered shortly. "And now your father is making us late by ringing people when we should be driving!" she called, aiming a glare at my dad, who chose to just ignore her.

"Oh." I said disappointedly, though I didn't know why. "So did Anna-Marie tell you about her Math test?"

"Yes. She got a B. I have to say I'm quite shocked. I expected more from her."

Why did that not surprise me?

"I thought she did very well, actually, mom. Math is extremely hard this year," I said, knowing it could do nothing but having to try anyways.

My mom pursed her lips. "Yes, well, I expect more from my children."

"Of course, mom."

We stood in awkward silence for a while. My mom tapped her foot impatiently on the ground and shot my dad annoyed glances every five seconds while I stood shuffling my feet, wanting desperately to leave but not having the guts to. Dad finally clicked off his earpiece and my mom huffed.

"Finally," she snapped at dad before flinging open the door and storming out.

Dad grunted deeply. "Honestly, be quiet, Bethany. It was an important phone call and your constant child-like puffing wasn't helping me." Then he was gone, too.

Goodbye, then.

"Where's the math test gone?" I asked when I saw that it was no longer on the fridge where Anna-Marie had proudly hung it only yesterday night.

She shrugged. "In the bin. I don't know why I got so excited, it was only a B."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Mike shook his head and gave me a look that said "I've already tried". Sighing, I got myself a bowl a cereal and watched as my sister moodily stared at her orange juice as she swished it around the cup.

My parents ruined everything.

"Kimmy!" Erin screeched as soon as she caught sight of me. "Going for the wet look today?" she chuckled, picking up a strand of my wet raven hair with her fingers.

"If you haven't noticed, Erin, it's raining," I replied, smiling slightly.

"It's always raining," she scoffed bitterly. "I'm so moving somewhere sunny when I get older!"

I smiled at her, but didn't agree. I loved La Push. Unlike most of it inhabitants, I didn't crave to get away from the small town. Whenever I went away with my parents on holidays I could only last around three days before I wanted to be at home again. There was just something about La Push that made it magical and, in my opinion, nowhere else would feel like home.

Against my better judgement, I couldn't help but look for Jared again as I went about my day. I tried to pretend I didn't care where he was, but I just ended up searching anyway, so there was no point in kidding myself. At break I went to swap my books over without my usual perk as I knew Jared wouldn't be sitting next to me today in History, making the concept of school feel incredibly pointless.

I slammed my locker shut harder than I intended, making a freshman behind us scream in fright.

"Ooohhh, someone's moody about not getting their Jared fix," Erin sung, giggling wildly.

"Shut up," I hissed, smacking her arm with my History book. "Someone might hear you!"

"I hardly think anyone is really interested, Kimmy," she said bluntly, raising her eyebrows. "They're too busy with their own sad lives."

"You're too kind to me, you know that?"

She smirked at my sarcasm. "I know."

Next lesson ticked by agonizingly slow and then History came along. Instead of rushing to get there, I stayed back, slowly gathering my bag and walking at a normal pace to the History room. People were already sat when I got there, all whispering and giggling excitedly about something or other. Jett Walker probably cheated on his girlfriend again.

"I can't believe how hot he is!" Cindy Mane squealed from the table to the right of me.

"I know, right? Jared was never that good looking before."

Just like that my interest peaked.

"What?" I blurted before I could stop and think.

Cindy and her friend turned to me, Cindy, who always told me the latest gossip even if I didn't want to know, smiled at me and her friend scowled like I wasn't worthy of her time. "What?" her friend spat.

"Jared's back?" I questioned, fighting to keep the happiness out of my voice.

"Yep!" Cindy popped her lips, eyes bright. "And he's, like, grown loads."

"What do you mean?"

"He's like the hulk or something!" she shouted, catching the attention of some guys behind us. I blushed at their stares and shook my head so my hair covered my face. "His muscles are a-mazing! And he's grown at least a six inches!"

Her friend, who looked like she now thought I was worthy of her time after realizing I was kind-of friends with Cindy, grinned at me. "He's like a Greek God or something. Totally doable now."

I scrunched my nose and sat back in my chair at the thought of Jared being doable to her. And what did she mean by doable now? Jared had always been doable, gorgeous, amazing, drool-worthy...

Getting off track.

Blinking, I shook my head and tried to focus on the present time. My eyes flickered to the door, a glimmer of hope shuttering through me with every person that walked through the door. When I was just about to give up hope, he waltzed through the doorway.

Holy. Shit.

I thought he was stunning before, but now he was a whole different level of hot. He had grown from just under six foot to well over, around six four—six five. His body looked like he had spent the last year working out none stop at the gym, his thick, round muscles clearly visible under his tight light blue tee-shirt. His russet skin seemed to glow more than before, and he had buzzed his raven hair so it was only about two centimetres long.

Surely it couldn't be possible for something to be so perfect? Was I dreaming? Hallucinating?

Murmurs broke out into the classroom and a girl to the left of me even wolf-whistled. Like most of my classmates, all I could do was stare open-mouthed at him as he walked forward and—shit—took a seat next to me. My face reddened straight away and I looked down to my notebook, quickly making myself concentrate on doodling something. When my wrist stopped moving I looked down to what I had drawn, horrified when I saw I had put Kimberly Cameron in scrolling letters cocooned in a heart.

I let out a quiet scream and slammed my book shut before I looked at Jared, praying that he hadn't been watching me. Bad idea. When I looked at him, I got caught up in the curve of his nose, his rugged profile and the way his lips pouted slightly. After five minutes of none-stop staring, Jared scrunched his eyebrows together and turned. My heart jumped into my mouth at being caught looking and I flushed bright red, whipping around to watch the teacher do the lesson.

I felt him still looking at me and dared to glance his way. He wasn't scowling or glaring like I thought he would be, but instead he was gazing at me with the happiest expression I had ever seen in my life, including the one he had sent me back when I was ten. He looked utterly euphoric. My insides flipped and twisted, making goose-bumps break out all over my skin. Heart pounding, I turned away again, only to glance back two minutes later and catch him still watching me.

I started to feel very self-conscious, did I have something on my face? Feeling sweaty, I reached up and, as calmly as I could, brushed my hand over my face, then I cleaned my teeth with my tongue, just in case.

Nope, he was still staring.

Was he looking at someone behind me? I peeked around the room, but saw people writing notes, flicking paper airplanes at each other and doodling on their hands or notebook. No one was even looking at Jared, or me, anymore.

"Kimberly?" Mr Horan called, making me look up from my book. He was standing above me with his eyebrows raised. "Homework, please?"

"Oh, right," I muttered, finding the three page essay I had to write and handing it to him. He rolled his eyes at me and then went onto the people behind us.

And you know what? Jared continued to stare.

I should have been freaked out and started to slap him across the face, but I felt kind of... flattered? It was the first time he had ever taken notice of me before and I wanted to reel in it before he figured out whatever the hell he was doing and went back to not noticing me again.

"Kim?"

My eyes widened slightly at the deep rumble of his voice. I cleared my throat and swallowed thickly. "Y-yeah?"

Oh, God, he's smiling at me!

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said lightly.

I'm pretty sure I almost fainted.

Did he seriously just say that to me?

I was too shocked to respond, so I turned to the board, my jaw unable to be picked up from the floor. Jared Cameron had just called me beautiful. Was this some kind of joke?

When the bell rang I picked up my things and tried to escape possibly the most awkward situation I had ever been in, in my life. I joined the mass of students pushing their way into the hallway but was stopped.

"Kim."

Jared's boiling hot hand was gently gripping my upper arm and forcing me to look at him. I felt my face heat up as he grinned down at me.

"Yes?" I barely whispered.

"Would you like—"

He was cut off by someone brutally grabbing my tee-shirt and dragging me off into the hallway. Stumbling over myself repeatedly, I was pulled down the hallway and pushed up against a locker like I had done something terribly wrong.

Erin looked at me as if I had told her aliens were invading.

"What the hell was Jared doing talking to you?!"

Thoughts?

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-Laylax