Author Note: Next Chapter is her, Lys, and Castiel's little 'talk.' Gosh, I'm glad I have online school. It's semester finals and I don't have to take my Algerbra final 'cause I'm passing and I did the extra credit :)
Bad news- I got about a sixty on my art final, a high seventy on my Oklahoma History final, but high eighties on three of my English finals (I have three of them- one for grammar, one for vocabulary, and the last for overall). I still have to take my Science final tomorrow. Wish me luck, God knows I need it ;-;
Now, I do study- honestly. I just have a really short attention span so when taking the test, it's not that I don't know it, it's I don't have the attention span to think about it. ;-;
~CWA

(P.S. Please review!)

Chapter 5- Evil Beeping:

Annabelle:
Even after a week, Mason still didn't tell me how it went with Alexy. I knew it went well though since Mason was always smiling like a loon and Alexy was blushing every three seconds during school. I wondered if Mason ever kissed Alexy yet. Yuck- I mean, that's my brother so…I don't like watching my brother kiss anyone. Not the dog- and that did happen. Not a cat- that happened too. Not a girl. Not a dude. Not a chair- sadly, that has also happened. Thinking about my brother's kissing experience with things that shouldn't be kissed (ex: a plant, a cat, a dog, a chair, a snowman, a box, a stuffed animal) just reminded me that I should slip alcohol into his drinks more often.

Still, I couldn't help but be a bit bitter. I mean, Mason embraced the watch and was dating Alexy. The watch would probably go off with Alexy. My brother's love life- grade A. I still had an F in Love Life. I was still single. I still hated the watch. I was still too chicken to sort out my feelings between Castiel and Lysander.

Yeah, I have feelings towards both of them so it won't end up well. Castiel was great. He loved rock music. He was rebellious. He was like a guy version of me sometimes. Lysander, however, brought out a side of me that I forgot. He brought out my softer side. He wrote poetry. He didn't make fun of me when I wrote poetry. He…was awesome too. I glared at the watch, I swear if you go off and I'm either A. Alone, B. With a chick C. With neither of them or D. With both of them and you don't specify which it is- I will destroy you ten times over.

I looked at the time left. 00:00:21:03:53:15. Three weeks was all that I had left. I couldn't help but me mad and weird and just… sad. I guessed part of the reason I was sad was because…Mom and Dad still weren't there to help me. I wanted them to yell at me for smoking, give me advice, cry with me, tell cheesy jokes…anything. I glared at the watch, I freaking hate you so much.

In anger, I smashed the face of the watch against the mirror. The mirror shattered and I cursed as the glass cut both of my wrists.

"You okay," Mason asked as he knocked on my door.
"Just peachy," I yelled.

I could almost hear him sigh,

"…Just hurry up! We have to leave in like ten minutes!"
Damn it! Cursing, I cleaned up the glass- wincing when they cut my hands and wrists even tossing them in the trash, I went to the restroom. I grabbed the first aid kit and searched through it.
"Finally," I muttered as I found the bandages.

I wrapped my wrists lazily and looked at my hands. They weren't too bad, just one small cut here and there that wasn't very noticeable. The bandages on my wrists, however, were noticeable. The bandages started about half way between my wrist and elbow and ended just before the watch on one arm. The other arm was bandaged just around the wrist area like a watch. Damn it in one way, in trying to destroy a watch, a gained another.

After I finished wrapping my wrists, I put my hair into a low ponytail and got dressed. I looked at the clothes and decided to wear some of the new clothes that Mason got me. He knew what I liked- so I did like the clothes. I wore the new black skinny jeans that had white spots of 'paint' on it and a white long-sleeved crop top. I looked at myself in the mirror- not too bad. Plus the long sleeves will hide the bandages.

Then, I headed out with Mason. As we walked to school, he sighed,

"Are you really going to show that off?"
"Show what off," I asked confused and then I realized what he meant.

I had a tattoo. It wasn't colored and instead was all black with shades of gray. It was a tattoo of thorns on a stem with roses on it. It outlined my hipbones and stopped at my lower back and just at the end of my hipbone in the front. In a way, it was more of two tattoos- one for each hipbone. I liked it but now I felt a bit more conscious of it- it didn't help that I also had a belly button piercing. I shrugged,

"I'm not showing it off."

Mason sighed,
"Just…be careful. I don't want you getting in trouble with the teachers or anything."
"Like I care," I mumbled.

0000

At school, the first person I ran into was Castiel and Lysander- just like usual.
"Hey Red. Good morning Lysander."

Castiel looked at me amused,
"Princess has a tattoo?"

I shrugged. Lysander looked at me curiously,
"I was unaware that you had a tattoo."
"You didn't ask," I pointed out, "and I also have a belly button piercing."

I poked my belly and smiled. Castiel looked amused as he half-smirked. Lysander…I wasn't sure, but he did seem at least slightly amused.

"Hey, Lys," Castiel said, "Don't you have a tattoo?"
Lysander sighed.
"I do."
"Ohh," I said, "Where is it? What is it?"
"…It's on my back, it's wings, " he finally answered, "and no you cannot see it."
I pouted,
"Dang."

Just then Mason and Alexy passed us. Both of them were laughing and Castiel's eyebrows shot to the heavens when he noticed that they were holding hands.

"You're brother is…"
"Awesome," I suggested, "cool? Annoying?"
Lysander and Castiel both looked at me and I smiled,

"Gay? I know. And he's happy. I'm just glad that they are more open about it at school now…is that a problem?"
I was testing them. Mason may annoy me, he might be weird. He was still my twin though. I'll be damned if I let someone make fun of him.
"No," Castiel finally said and Lysander nodded in agreement. I smiled,

"Good!"

000000

At lunch, I didn't see Castiel anywhere.
"Huh, I wonder where he is," I muttered. Rosayla and Lysander looked at me nervously.

"You weren't aware," Lysander asked.

"Aware of what," I narrowed my eyes.
"Deborah came back," Rosayla finally blurted out. I blinked in confusion,
"….who? I heard someone was back….is that who everyone was talking about?"
Rosayla tsk'ed,
"Deborah is Castiel's ex. Take it from me- she is not nice. She's so-"
"So what," someone asked.

I turned to see a chic that honestly- looked like she would be a Grade A bitch. Castiel was behind her and he was wearing….not his usual clothing that was for sure. He glared at me slightly. I felt a tang of…something. I shook my head. She smiled,

"I'm Deborah! You must be the newer student I had heard about…Annie?"
I scowled,

"Annabelle," I corrected, "Only my friends can call me Annie or Anna or anything else."

She smiled- oh that is so fake and bitchy. Rosayla had narrowed eyes at Deborah and Lysander looked concerned.
"I'm sorry, I hope you can forgive me so we can be friends," she said but I could tell it wasn't sincere. I scoffed,

"I only accept apologies if they're sincere. See ya."

I nodded a goodbye to Lysander and Rosayla. Castiel was glaring even worse at me and I headed to the roof for a smoke. I wasn't sure why Castiel was glaring at me. Though, I could tell that his total change in attire was Deborah's doing. Is he not over her? I couldn't help but feel a bit sad at that though.

"Are you alright?"

I turned to see Lysander. I put out my cigarette.
"Dandy."

He sighed,
"You do realize that Castiel is just trying to sort through his own feelings?"
I scowled and huffed.

"Whatever."

Lysander shook his head,
"Annabelle, you mustn't just toss your feelings over your shoulder. You should take a look at yourself before looking at others. I know you do have feelings, there is no need to act so careless. That is not the real you, both you and I know that."

"Victorian-say-what-now," I said shocked.

Lysander sighed,

"Nevermind."

I shrugged, brushing off what he said. I didn't want to think about what he said. Was it true though? Do I just push away my feelings? No, I didn't think I did. But was that how it seemed to people?
"Sometimes it's better to ignore feelings," I muttered, "then you don't have to deal with them."

He looked at me curiously,
"Why do you say that?"
"For one, my parents died not that long ago," I said bluntly, "I would rather not think about the sorrow in my heart….gosh, I've been hanging out with you too much."
I tried to smile and lighten the mood. It didn't work. Lysander looked at me concerned,

"You're still mourning," he pointed out, "…that's okay, you do know that? It is perfectly alright to be sad and cry."
"Not to me it isn't," I muttered and walked past him. He surprised me by grabbing my wrists as I walked past. I winced and he looked at me.

"Annabelle," he questioned as his eyes widened. Shit he saw the bandages. I gave a sheepish smile,
"I sort of smashed my wrist into the mirror when I tripped," pathetic but half-way true.

He looked at me dubiously. I shrugged, but didn't really have a good explanation.

Third Person:

Despite Annabelle's rather poor excuse, Lysander didn't question her. It was still on his mind though- throughout the whole day. Is she truly that upset over her parents' death? Was Castiel or I the cause of it? He shook his head- he would never admit it but he did care for her. In what ways, he wasn't sure yet. Still, Lysander was unaware that Castiel was just as conflicted. Yes, Castiel was very conflicted. On one hand, he had Deborah- his first love, ex, and apparently, she did want him back. On the other hand, he had the kick-ass newbie that was Annabelle.

"Castiel," Lysander finally voiced as he approached Castiel after school. Castiel, for once, wasn't with Deborah. Castiel scowled,

"What?"
"I'm concerned about Annabelle," Lysander admitted.

Castiel looked at him confused,
"What? Did she get hurt or something?"

"….Castiel, I am concerned that she may have hurt herself."

There was never another sentence that could have shocked Castiel into his senses so quickly.

Mason:

I looked down at my watch. I didn't tell Annabelle but it was lower than hers. I looked at it. 00:00:00:00:10:05. I was exactly ten minutes away from meeting my soul mate. Oh gosh, this is more horrifying than I thought it would be. I gulped and looked over to Alexy. We were both the only ones left. It was after school and we were in the empty classroom. What we were doing in an empty classroom? Talking.

"Twins are a lot of work," I said as I ran a hand through my hair.
"But we love 'em," Alexy pointed out, "So…what is the deal with your sis?"
"I don't know," I said, "She's still mourning our parents, I think…and I have to stay strong for her. I can't make it any worse for her, ya know? She dyed her hair green because she didn't want to be reminded of Mom."
"You do know you don't have to stay strong, right," Alexy pointed out, "But I meant the tension between you too. Sometimes you guys are cool and sometimes you're not."

"…We're both jealous of either," I admitted a bit shamefully. Alexy just nodded,
"M'kay…you do know that won't end well right?"
"I know," I sighed.

Honestly, it was a bit hard to have a heart-to-heart- conversation with Alexy. He was a bit selfish sometimes and he had a short attention span…still…I looked at my watch. 00:00:00:00:10. He's it, I knew it. I could hear someone outside in the hall but it didn't matter. I looked at him and we stared at each other for a while. Then I made the bold move. I kissed him. My watch beeped.

Annabelle:
As I passed one of the classrooms after school hours, I ran into Deborah- again. Great- why is she the one I had to run into? I didn't like her. Castiel avoided me all day because he was too busy following her like some love-sick puppy. At least Lysander could see through her bullshit.
"You really shouldn't be wearing a crop top," she said sweetly.

My eyes narrowed, oh that's shallow I'm skinnier than you….and cue the glaring contest. Or is this a blinking contest? We just glared into each other's eyes. I have been a good girl though- Mom…I pushed that thought away. I had been good, just like Mom said for me to be. Otherwise, I would be fighting back a lot harder and I probably would have already hit her….Unless it was because I was just less of a violent person as I was before. Huh.

Either way, at one point, her eyes widened slightly. I heard beeping. I closed my eyes tightly, oh god no. Please no. I slowly peaked at my watch- it was still ticking. I wasn't sure if I should be mad or relived.