Enigmatical
By wired2damoon
Chapter 3: Bloated Marshmallows And Best Friends
A/N: Okay, so I'm so chuffed that my feedback so far has been lovely, thanks so much. Thanks especially to Clear Plastic who likes my Claire (you probably noticed I made her a little different to the conventional Claire) so thanks for that, this chapter is dedicated to you Clear Plastic. -wired2damoon- xx
-Claire's POV-
I'm an enigma.
Wow…what a statement eh?
I always loved a dramatic opener…guess it's the writer in me. I'm a sucker for histrionic statements.
I'm an enigma shrouded in mystery. That's a mouthful huh? And yes, I am aware I'm practically repeating myself, but just go with it, it's for theatrical effect.
You're probably wondering why I'm making such declarations, I could really waste my time explaining these little rants I go on every so often, where I feel frustrated with myself because I just don't understand anything about me or my abnormal mind most of the time, but now, unfortunately is not a good time or place to discuss such matters.
No, now is a time, to stand on front of a gigantic, intimating mirror, in a hideously pink bridesmaid dress whilst you're future step-mother-from-hell gushes around you like an irksome fly, with her fake nails and fake smile and fake tan and fake boobs, as her mother, that stony-faced gargoyle, grumbles about how I look bloated.
"Well, what do you think Claire-bear?" Valerie, AKA (Queen Bitch) asked, in her sickly sweet, fake-ass tone of voice that made her sound like she actually gave a damn about my opinion.
God I hate when she calls me Claire-bear. There's only one person (apart from my mother) that gets away with that…and unfortunately she does not match up to him in the slightest.
I plastered on the most bogus grin I could master whilst gushing in an equally nauseating tone, "oh its lovely! I can't wait to stand up on front of my entire town dressed like an overweight, embarrassed marshmallow."
Valerie's demeanour changed so dramatically at my utterance that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from bursting out laughing.
"Well that's just too bad Claire! That's your dress, so deal with it!" she scolded, all traces of her honey-laced tone banished as she adapted her mother's gargoyle silhouette, folding her arms indignantly.
I couldn't help but smirk with triumph as I noticed the sudden disappearance of 'bear' at the end of my name.
Mission accomplished.
Now, how the hell am I going to convince her that the marshmallow look was so last season?
Hell, its not like I know a whole lot about fashion…
Wow…for once I wish my all-knowing, half-vampire, best girl-friend was here to aid me in my sinfully ignorant fashion sense, courtesy of her Aunt Alice's 'fashion-genius' of course.
Oh…I suppose that description was a bit confusing eh? Oh well…try keep up.
"You can take it off now!" Valerie exclaimed loudly as she watched me drift off in my own little fantasy world, she never did get used to that 'quirky' side to me.
"Oh…right…" I mumbled, utterly distracted, shaking my head slowly.
It took five people, twenty agonising minutes, and a lot of gritting my teeth to help remove me from my marshmallow doom, and when I was released I was happy to hear my cell phone ringing.
"Hello?" I practically yelled down the phone, utterly over-excited at the thought of been rescued from the torture that was this activity for a few moments.
"Claire? It's Nessie…" came the angelic tone of my all-knowing, half-vampire, best girl-friend, Reneesme.
"Ness!" I boomed, completely exuberant upon hearing her voice. Hey, don't blame me okay, I just spent the whole morning with the spawn of Satin.
"Ha, you sound happy to hear from me", Nessie laughed, her voice positively heavenly. Man was I envious.
"Oh Ness, you've no idea", I groaned, side-stepping Valerie's glare and making my way to the back of the store, away from prying ears.
"So, how's the she-devil?" Nessie asked, her curiosity and concern laced into the one question.
I sighed and ran my hand over my face tiredly before replying softly, "as evil as ever. I swear, hell is on earth, right here in this bridal store actually…anyway when are you coming home? I miss you like crazy you know."
Reneesme has been my best friend (excluding Quil) since before I can remember. Quil told me that when she and I were little, Jacob brought her to the beach to play with me and we just hit it off ever since.
Unfortunately, her family moves around a lot, never too far mind you (they couldn't as Jacob's pack has to stay near La Push), but she never seems to stay in the one place for more then a year, but her place in Forks still belongs to her family, and at certain times of the year they venture back - staying in hiding of course.
I was told all about the history of the Cullen family, back when I was very young. It was the stuff of legends now really. All about how the werewolves and vampires united as one to fight these 'Volturi' and how a vampire and a human fell in love and reproduced a beautiful baby named Reneesme which later a werewolf (Jacob) imprinted on. It was a truly amazing part of the history of Forks and La Push and was a frequent and most epic part of the bonfire tales nowadays.
But to me, Reneesme, was not merely a semi-unique phenomenon, but like the sister I never had…uh…I mean…always wanted…Suzie was hardly sister-material.
"Aww I miss you too Claire…I'm seriously getting bored of the Louvre now, I mean, there's only so many times I can look at a painting", she mumbled and I could practically see her roll her eyes.
"Wow…it must be such a bummer to be vacationing in France, I feel so sorry for you", I smirked sarcastically.
Nessie huffed, "well, you don't have to spend all day going to museums and looking at towers and other stuff that you've already seen a million times when all you really want to do is lounge around and watch TV with your own personal space-heater."
I grinned at that, "so does that mean you're coming home soon?" I asked hopefully.
Nessie laughed her goddess-like laugh again, "yep, we should be home for the weekend, I'll make sure of it! I can't wait to meet this foreign exchange student."
My eyes lit up as I remembered the student that was going to be staying in my house until Christmas, I really couldn't wait to meet her either.
"Yeah, I know it's all really exciting, I was emailing her the other day, she sounds awesome, it should be cool when she starts high school with me", beaming and grimacing simultaneously as I thought about the excitement of a new person but the utter terribleness of impending school doom.
Nessie feigned ignorance, "oh yeah, you're a junior this year right? Wow…I can't believe you're seventeen in October."
I couldn't help but laugh at my best friend. She was always going on about my age. I always found it rather funny that she was in fact two years younger then me and yet, she had gone to high school twice already in two different states and looked about eighteen/nineteen.
"Yep, I'm the big one-seven in a few weeks, do you wanna put Alice on so she can tell me what people are getting me as presents?"
Okay, so I know I was chancing my luck a little bit, but you can't blame a girl for trying can you?
"Ha, not a chance! As if she'd tell you anyway, oh, hold on, Jake wants to say something", Nessie mumbled, her voice fading.
"Hey Claire-kid, what's up?" came the voice of Jacob Black, Quil's pack Alpha.
"Hey Jake, not much, just the usual crap you know, how's your once-in-a-blue-moon-vacation?" I asked, still sort of stunned that Jake took a break from patrolling for a whole week to go on a vacation in France with the Cullens.
But then again, wherever Reneesme went, Jacob followed.
"Its good, too artsy for me I think but the sights are good. Weather isn't too sunny so we're always out and about. Still can't wait to get back to La Push though, maybe I'll finally have a decent meal", he laughed throatily, sounding more like he was barking.
I shook my head, typical werewolves, always thinking of their stomachs.
Suddenly out of peripheral version I saw Valerie motion wildly to me from the other end of the shop.
Sighing and rolling my eyes, I mumbled, "sorry Jake but I gotta go. Queen Bitch is summoning me, say hi and bye to everyone from me".
"Sure, sure, Claire-kid, see ya soon", Jake replied, before Nessie's voice over-powered his, "bye Claire!"
I laughed, "bye Ness!"
As soon as the line went dead I felt the familiar sense of dread over-whelm me.
Great, I had another gruelling hour with the mother of all evil before I could finally break away and seek refuge in Quil's house.
This was going to be one long day…
A/N: Okay, originally I continued on from here to make a gigantic chapter but I've decided to split this and the following chapter in two instead of having it as one big chapter. Please forgive me but when you read the next chapter you'll realise why I did what I did. Feel free to press the button, it's loads of fun I promise!! -wired2damoon- xx