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Jamie's Point of View

Ugh! Disgusting! I thought as I watched Nate and Alex strolling down the hallway, hand in hand. How could Alex prefer that freak over me? Still, seeing Alex made my heart flutter, and butterflies flew in my stomach. My eyes appraised his dirty blond hair, his mesmerizing green eyes, and his masculine, lanky body. Was it desperate of me to be in love with someone who was gay? I glared at Nate, trying to be inconspicuous. Alex caught my glare; I guess it was no secret of my distaste for his new boyfriend. He ignored it though, as usual, paying no attention to my bad mood.

"Hey, how was math?" Thanks, remind me of that test that I know I failed.

"Great," I lied, but he laughed, seeing through me right away.

"How'd you do on the quiz?" he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up," I snapped. He chuckled and we ambled to the parking lot. How could cheerful, flamboyant Alex be with gloomy, dull Nate? I should have expected this though, for trusting people. I tried to forget the face of who I once thought was my true love: Mark, now officially my one true heart breaker. For two years, he had dragged me along...pretending to love me, lies effortlessly slipping through his teeth every time he'd said, "You're the one"...only to end up cheating on me. I couldn't trust anyone with my heart. I'd learned that, if nothing else, from the experience.

I stepped into the back seat of Alex's shiny new Pontiac Vibe and started jabbering. "Alex, really...Mr. Stepp has it in for me. I tried to study last night." He smiled, his emerald eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, I'm sure you spent hours studying," he replied with heavy sarcasm.

"Whatever."

Nate muttered something under his breath. What a cynic.

"So, anyway," I continued, "When are you and I going to Port Angeles? I need a girl's night out." I purposely left out Nate; I didn't want him to drag me down. I hoped that Alex caught the hint.

"Well, tonight Nate and I are seeing a movie. But...tomorrow?"

"Oh," I mumbled, trying to hide my disappointment. Nate, unfortunately, was an important part of Alex's life...for some weird, unfathomable reason...and I had to deal with him.

"We're here, Jamie. Sweetie, I'll call you later okay?"

"Fine."

I sighed as I climbed out of the car. My life sucked. As soon as I opened the door I saw my black lab Banner bounding towards me, his mouth pulled into a grin, his tongue flopping every time he hit the floor. I laughed. Banner could always bring up my mood, whether I liked it or not.

He followed me into my room, tail wagging. Sometimes he was the only creature who understood. I logged onto my laptop entering through all the screens that I received from not shutting my computer down properly. I checked my email: "twenty-eight new messages," the text flashed. Great, just what I want to do. I deleted all the spam and narrowed the junk down to eleven messages. I really needed to get off of those mailing lists. About half of the messages were from Danielle. All of them were about her boyfriend Tommy.

Jamie,

What should I get Tommy? I mean it's our one year anniversary. It needs to be really special. I love him so so so much! I was thinking maybe a gift card…. I don't know...that doesn't seem to be good enough.

Danielle :)

Jamie,

Guess what?! Tommy wants to go to college with me!! This is the first big step in our relationship. Who knows, in another four years we could be getting married! I'm sooooo excited! I really think I'll go with him. He is such a good boyfriend! I should definitely make plans with him, don't you think?

Danielle :)

I put my head on the table. Didn't she realize how quickly relationships could end? That one day you would be passionately in love, the next your heart was broken seemingly beyond repair? Not that I could blame her. That's how I had felt about Mark. I decided to answer those later, putting people's love life aside and turned my thoughts to Alex. How could he like Nate? I shuddered at the thought of him, sunlight glaring off his glasses, white blond hair permanently gelled into spikes, and his horrible fashion sense. (Thank God that Alex was helping him.) Why would Alex the anarchist, Alex the troublemaker, Alex outspoken and unpredictable, have a relationship with someone who had almost nothing in common with him?!

I shut off my computer, not bothering to shut it down properly, and muddled through through my homework and dinner. When I finally did get in bed, I couldn't fall asleep. I tossed and turned in bed. I knew what was bothering me. My old life. I had thought of it too much today...usually, I just put it in the back of my mind and ignored the horrible memories. Having them flood in, all at once, was overwhelming...my head throbbed as my mind unwillingly wandered to my old home. Florida: the flat land, the humid climate, the washout blue skies...the place where I'd transformed into a pessimistic, hostile adult from a naive, outgoing girl. The roaming, endless landscape replayed in my mind until I drifted off into slumber.


Ava: We hope you liked this chapter! It's a little depressing that Jacob isn't in it much but Jamie needs to be introduced.

Aubrey: We plan on updating next Sunday September 7.

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