Okay so I finally got the fourth chapter up and I am working on the fifth I absolutely LOVE! how the forth ones is comming out, trust me I know you, my readers, will too.

Well thank you for reading and don't forget to review. I know and understand this chapter may seem a little slow. I'll make up for it in the fifth, every good story has to work up to it's plot right?

Oh right, if you haven't noticed the chapters are actually song titles that I think correspond in a sort of way with their chapter, they sort of helped me while I wrote.

Chapter 1:Orphan should have been Orphan Train by Lee Ann Womack. Chapter 2: High School by Barlow Girl. Chapter 3: Family Portrait by P!nk. this one is One Step Closer by Linkin Park

Chapter 4

One Step Closer

During first period I tried not to linger on this little poking sensation in my mind that told me Andrew's dark hues were fixed on me, in which Pamela reminded me the first few times she caught him. Each time I attempted to turn and confirm it myself something stopped me, maybe it was the fear of it being true or of it being false, I didn't know. For whatever reason I let myself stay stalk still until the bell rang, even afterwards I was a bit stiff in leading the shy Pamela out the door; thankfully she didn't take any notice.

I gratefully remembered Andrew didn't have second period with me, but Pamela did. Just like the day before she was quiet, politely keeping a conversation going with little or no input. She had a gift in making not so talkative people spill everything from what they had to breakfast to choosing what color socks to wear that day, it was being proven. How she did it I'd love to find out one day.

Somehow the day seemed fast, despite Andrew's staring at me in first period, the continuous mutters in second, my hand nearly getting glued to the desk in third, courtesy of Jordan; and more staring from Andrew in fourth. For a Thursday it felt like someone had pressed a fast forward button, sort of uncommon when everything felt like slow motion to me on any other day.

"Gonna eat that?" said someone, I'm not sure who. My mind was wandering in and out of my head. Andrew's dark, nearly black eyes, kept getting caught in my minds eye. He was a bit irritable with Mrs. Cullen today and unfortunately he would be that way through to the next week.

On the Friday of my second week in school I was sitting in my third period with Derrick flicking paper behind him at Jordan who was, in turn, flicking them at me. I hardly felt anything when the little wads of paper hit me –of course I'd been thinking a bit about how Andrew had been gone since the day before and still wasn't back that day-, I was sure though, that a few of them got caught in my hair during that time. Some people had confirmed just that when the bell rang and I stood to stuff my books into my bag, turning my back –which, of course, included the back of my head- to them.

A few of the snickers came from Jordan who I playfully glared at while Derrick quietly pulled a few of them from my damp hair. It hadn't been raining that morning but the morning fog was enough to soak anyone through a few good layers.

When Mrs. Cullen turned a corner heading back to her classroom. Derrick pulled away and I smiled my thanks but saw he didn't care to even look at me any longer. On the first day I was here he was so jubilant and amusing, but when he'd discovered Andrew's presence here he brooded. Jordan had told me it wasn't like Derrick to act this way, that not even he knew what was wrong with his brother. Pamela had confirmed just that when I asked her about Derrick's odd personality. Both had explained that normally Derrick always had something to smile about.

It didn't seem that way now as he held an umbrella over his and my head, Jordan doing the same on my other side with Taylor. The blonde girlfriend was especially talkative that day, something about the cafeteria from what I could hear –which wasn't saying much with one small black ear bud in my right ear blasting a guitar solo that reminded me of a more classical tune.

"Nombre de Dios(1),Taylor did you hear what happened?" Maria was behind us where a small crowd had gathered pushing herself away from everyone to get to where we were, shortly after her followed Pamela, her blue eyes wide with shock it seemed.

Taylor scrunched up her petite nose in a look of annoyance, shaking her head. She'd said before she hated epidemics of all sorts because she'd gotten enough of them in the city. Now she did as best she could to avoid them.

Maria, however, seemed eager to tell, Pamela looked frightened and it peaked my curiosity. "What happened?" I asked, since Taylor wouldn't. I didn't need any further explanation however when I saw Coach pulling Dana Mayer out from the crowd, limp in his arms like a rag doll or jell-o.

"What happened?" I repeated, this time with a bit more urgency in my voice as Pamela broke down into tears. Derrick reached out and pulled his sister into him looking to Maria for an answer.

"Well-" but she was quickly cut off by an approaching blonde Kylie and Jennifer.

"She got attacked as far as I heard, a wild dog, or something, maybe it was a person." Said Kylie Road from my first period, behind her Jennifer Miles from my fourth. There was no remorse and only amusement caught in the blonde's voice, she seemed amazingly calm despite the hysterics around her.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well, duh, her arm was like totally ripped off." Jennifer said, no justice at all for Dana's best friend currently being comforted by her older brother. Kylie didn't seem to mind how rude her friend was though, and sadly I'm really not one for confrontation, Taylor and Maria on the other hand…

"Can't you see how upset she is? You better shut up before I walk Miles over you Road." (A/N: I mentioned in a previous chapter their last names: Miles and Road) Taylor said, cracking her left fist against her right. Maria, behind her, shared the gesture.

"Oh cool it, they said she slipped and hit herself pretty hard against the cement. She'll scar, nothing big."

"She almost hit her head but Mrs. Cullen happened to be near by and caught her in just enough time." Kylie shrugged and turned away from us walking back into the crowd, probably to go on about how they'd seen the whole thing.

It seemed for a moment Pamela was going to calm down but Maria had rolled her eyes and shook her head to deny what they said. "Nuuh, she's lying. You know how Dana's diabetic? Well she hadn't been eating properly and got kind of woozy, she nearly fell over, kind of scraped her arm some but that's what happened."

Pamela seemed a bit more worried now that she knew the true story and whimpered childishly as she pressed her face against Derrick's chest. I, however, wasn't paying attention to any of them around me anymore. A calm Mrs. Cullen was already out of the crowd leaning against a wall muttering into a small black cell phone, not even bothering with getting the others to class. Her eyes were focused on the crowd of people, a grimace on her lips and she seemed almost to be reminiscing.

It was a little odd though that a moment ago I'd seen Mrs. Cullen walking in the opposite direction only to be suddenly at the spot that Dana was. When she snapped the phone shut she turned directly towards me and seemed to realize how I'd been analyzing her. Mrs. Cullen came to the understanding that I'd noticed something, something she didn't want anyone to know. The frown she had was only deepening and I should have looked or walked away but I couldn't help just staring at the woman who was discreetly doing the same to me; that is, no one else would be able to tell that she was staring at me but since I was overly observant I could see those little irises pinpointed on me.

Pamela was running off at the mouth to Derrick about how much Dana hated drawing blood and was sensitive to pain. Taylor and Maria were fuming next to each other still staring after Jennifer and Kylie who were indeed soaking in all the attention; Jordan holding his girlfriends hand in fear that she'd actually start something. No one was paying any attention to me when I took a few steps nearer to Mrs. Cullen and she turned the corner, away from everyone.

Following behind Mrs. Cullen I was sure she knew I was there; her short Brown hair was just barely grazing her shoulders hiding the sides of what would be her peripheral vision but I could still feel the light gold-ish color of her eyes on my being. I suppose if there were something bad going on she wouldn't have let me follow her. She'd walked all the way to her classroom and pressed the door open, letting herself in. Why than, when I opened the door, was no one there?

By the time I got home that day I still hadn't figured out how Mrs. Cullen had pulled a Houdini. People said she'd left to check on Dana and never came back, we'd had a sub but no one seemed to have a problem or find it at all out of place while I quietly contemplated how bizarre the situation was. There was a chance I could have been going crazy and hallucinated her walking into the classroom, or maybe I just hadn't looked in well enough and missed her while I scanned the room quickly. I didn't know and honestly hadn't taken the time to care much since it did nothing but give me Goosebumps.

Sitting on the couch of the living room I'd begun to do my homework by the time Natasha bounced in waving something in my face. It took me a moment but I finally was able to grasp that part of my mind that belonged in reality.

"Phone, Claire." She said holding out the wireless for me to take hold of.

"Uhm, thanks." I took it and she walked right back out of the room, I could hear Jessica around the corner pestering Natasha about who was calling me; she sounded excited.

"Hello?" I said finally. It was Pamela and Taylor, mainly Taylor as she kept snatching the phone out of the other's hands. For about five minutes it was just a lot of muttering and trying to get the phone out of the others hand until Maria won in the end.

She mentioned going to visit Dana in the hospital and staying over there to make sure she was okay. It didn't seem like a bad idea and when I passed the idea by Jessica she didn't hesitate one moment to say yes. I realized now what it felt like to be a teenager and get to go out with other friends and care about another friend so much that you would want to make sure they're okay. Didn't seem like a terrible thing to have friends even though I used to say it was.

Mike came home while I was packing some stuff for the overnight stay and he kept making sure that I was okay with idea and wasn't just being pushed into it. Of course Jessica kept butting in with 'girls-night-out' type sayings, not that I was bothered by it but I didn't enjoy Mike's bit of overprotective tendency in my direction, my only thought was that it could pose a problem in the future; at the same time it was nice to know he cared for my well being.

Not to long after that I was seated at the kitchen table with Natasha, playing go-fish and she was beating me. I'd never been lucky at card games, they were fun but I lacked that gene that made my choices good ones. I groaned and threw down the ten cards in my hand just as she threw down her last two. Natasha, I realized, psyched out her opponent like a professional that gave her a mind over matter advantage –if that even made sense, I suppose it did to me.

Taylor had barely waited a second after knocking on the door to realize the door was unlocked and invite herself in. Jessica wasn't to thrilled, maybe she'd expected to see Pamela come in, or maybe even Kylie and Jennifer; I took Jessica as the type who was probably a popular girl back in her time. Mike on the other hand seemed a little more comforted at the fact that it was Taylor, her blonde hair and pink streak didn't throw him off like it did his wife.

"Let's go Claire, we got to get there before someone comes in and tells us we can't." she announced her whole being a little brighter than it should have been considering why we were going. Than again it probably wasn't every day they stayed the night in a hospital, I had sure never done it before.

Before long I was out the door with Jessica arguing about something really small and silly, Natasha seemed to be the only one genuinely pleased with me making friends; it was nice having a little sister like her.

The mini-van was already a little loud by the time I'd slipped into the backseat next to Pamela. Maria was driving, complaining to Pamela about her other three siblings making a mess in the car earlier and her having to clean it in order to use it. Quickly Maria turned those complaints to me much to Pamela's pleasure, she wasn't very keen on having to be the pinpoint of Maria's irritation.

It was an hour-long drive but we got there just in time to watch them give Dana her dose of insulin and an apple to eat, she seemed all right considering her extremely low blood sugar. Apparently she was also anemic which made eating a harder task than it should have. I never knew someone so sick but it would also explain why the calmer Pamela was her best friend next to the more rambunctious Maria and Taylor.

"Pam, you're seriously doing homework at the beginning of the weekend?" Taylor said, while Maria bent over Pamela's shoulder to glance at what she was writing.

Pamela pulled the notebook closer to her and I glanced at the paper of her notebook, Dana caught it too pointing towards it.

"That's a sketchbook, not a notebook." She said.

"Oooh, Pam, what you drawing?" Maria questioned reaching over the girl to grab the drawing pad.

"It's nothing, just an art assignment." She said pulling away from Maria's wandering hand and right into Taylor's.

"Lookie here, it's a boy!"

Maria moved over to Taylor and gaped. "Not just any boy, it's the Cullen boy." She said making it sound like it were the most shocking and impossible thing to ever happen in the history of the world.

I was lazing around by the window helping Dana sit up a little more while Pamela tried to get the book back and by the time she did a nurse had come in to see what all the noise was about. Taylor had made up a quick excuse about there being a bee that flew in which was surprisingly bought despite the fact that all of the three windows in the room had been shut tight since we got there.

"So why are you drawing the Cullen boy?" Said Maria in a mediocre dreamy tone.

"I told you, it's for my art project."

"What art project would have you drawing a hottie like him?"

Pamela blushed and finally said, "He's my partner."

"No way, are you serious?" Taylor asked, both of them were kneeling in front of Pamela like she was some kind of goddess.

"We drew rough sketches of each other in class on Wednesday and uhm, I have to complete mine over the weekend from memory since he never came to school."

"So than, you got to talk him?" Maria was practically drooling over Pamela's words despite her friends unhappiness with the task at hand.

Next to me Dana pleaded for me to help Pamela, she knew as much as I did that Pamela was uncomfortable with such kinds of attention. Before I could do anything Maria asked another question that made everything turn around.

"I bet he told you some things about me, he's always staring at me in class and I just know he's going to do something like ask me out really soon."

Pamela was flushed and shook her head looking up Taylor and than me, "Actually he asks me a lot about Claire."

Maria frowned and Taylor turned her head towards me in a look of inquiry, something along the lines of 'why'. All I could even hope to respond with was an 'I don't know' because I honestly didn't say much to Andrew and I wouldn't know the last thing about why he would be interested in knowing about me, because if by some chance he liked me he didn't show any signs at all like he did walking down the hall with a laughing and flirty Kylie or Jennifer. It was complicated, but at the same time it just seemed like another piece to a puzzle, one for little piece, but it was also aggravating, pushing me closer to the edge of a 'curiosity attack', that I wasn't getting anywhere closer fast enough.

1. Spanish for, "In God's Name." And exclamation only used in proper Spanish.

Okay, thanks for reading. Chapter 5: Missing will be up ASAP.

:x: Anna Craft