Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay but I was away for the break. I also wrote the first chapter of Model Daughter if any of you are interested.
Thank you for all of the wonderful, wonderful reviews and I hope you'll forgive me for using this as a thank you instead of individual ones.
I hope you'll enjoy it! Let me know what you think!
-S
P.S. Happy New year!
Miss Imprint
Chapter 24: Against the Wall
And when your back's against the wall,
That's when you show no fear at all
And when you're running out of time
That's when you hitch your star to mine
We won't be leaving by the same road that we came by,
My Shadow, Keane
Thunk.
I winced as the basketball bounced cleanly off the rim and away from the net. I grabbed another ball from the metal bin next to me and dribbled it halfheartedly before lobbing it at the hoop again. I missed.
Thunk.
I was supposed to meet Ana in a few minutes and I couldn't for the life of me think how I was going to handle this. I knew what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to be gracious and polite and ignore the fact that she had stolen the boy I was still completely in love with. I was supposed to tell her it was okay, that I didn't mind, because I understood. Because that was what Alice Cullen had told me.
That it would work out.
And if it would work out—that meant that someday, somehow I'd get over Seth and I wouldn't want to cry every time I saw him and realized how different everything was. And that began with being nice to Ana.
Thunk.
Maybe she'd forget, I thought for a moment. Maybe she'd forget about our appointment and I'd never have to talk to her.
I hated her. I realized as I let my head fall forward slightly in defeat as another ball missed the basket.
Thunk.
I hated everything about her and I'd never even met her. I threw the ball as hard as I could and watched miserably as it sailed over the hoop and the backboard and into the bushes.
"And you say I suck at basketball." A wry voice came from behind me and I spun around to see Seth smirking, a duffle bag over his shoulder. He was gorgeous. The morning sun left reddish brown flecks in his hair and his dimpled grin was decadent.
I let out a slow breath and smiled sheepishly. "Just working off some jitters."
His brows dipped for a second before he pulled his bag over his head and let it fall to the ground at his feet. "Let me show you how it's done."
He caught the ball I threw at him easily with a single hand and then with his eyes on me the entire time, sunk down slightly and scored a perfect three pointer.
"Show off." I grumbled, catching the ball slightly off balance. "I'm just saving my strength."
He snorted and to my surprise I started giggling alongside him and for a moment everything was the same.
And then it wasn't.
Seth scuffed his shoe slightly awkwardly in the asphalt black top and slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "How are you?" He wasn't looking at me.
It made it easier to lie. "Fine." I scratched the back of my neck. "And you?"
He smiled, exhaling. "Great. Really, really great except for this one thing." He looked up at me then and he tilted his head nervously.
I let my eyes fall shut as the relief flooded through me at those words. It wasn't the same. But it was familiar. It was a return to form. It was an offer. We could forget that it had all happened. We could go back to us.
And I wanted it so badly. I just wanted to numb some of this pain that was in my chest that screamed so loudly at night when I stopped trying to forget. I could do it—if I got some of him back then maybe I could do it.
"Seth?"
My eyes jerked open and I saw her, her there with her head tilted, her blond hair swaying in the wind forever interrupting us.
"Ana." He breathed and there was a flood of warmth in his face. He was watching her, his eyes slightly glazed over and I wondered if he even remembered I was there.
I should have thanked her, I guess, in a weird way she reminded me why I couldn't do this again. Because whatever Seth and I were was gone. It would never be the same. Because he wasn't my other half anymore, he was hers.
"I've gotta go." I muttered hastily, picking up my messenger bag and slinging it over my shoulder.
I was almost surprised when he actually turned back to me, his brows dipping in confusion. "What? Why?" He reached forward and grabbed my hand as if he could physically keep me there. "We were just—I don't understand."
"Ironically enough, she's not here for you, Seth." I informed him, squeezing his hand before pulling mine away. "She's here for me."
"This is the gym," I gestured half heartedly, my other hand reaching back to rub the base of my neck. "We're too small for a football team but our basketball team is actually pretty good."
Ana just nodded mutely, her shoulders hunched high and uncomfortably.
I licked my lips and glanced despairingly at my watch. It had been roughly five minutes and already I was tongue-tied and furious in turns. I couldn't think of a single thing to say to her that wasn't trite, tried or tour-related.
To my great surprise it was Ana who broke the silence. "You don't like me." She relaxed then, looking more confident. As if she'd been just waiting all this time to say it and now that she had, everything would be fine.
I didn't know what I could possibly say to that so I just ignored it. "The gym's actually not in the same shape—there were some improvements made last year. Nothing big but I think they repainted the rafters." I was rambling.
A soft hand appeared on my forearm and I froze.
"I've been trying to understand you."
The girl did not let up. I'd give her that.
"What do you mean?" I shook her off and stepped back. I didn't want to talk to her. I don't why I asked her to clarify when I just wanted to get this over with.
"I don't understand why you did it." She tilted her head towards the gym where Marcus was just exiting the gym. "He's a moron. In trig, he asked Ms. Meredith what a hyperbole was."
I almost laughed at that. But then it got caught in my throat when I realized what she was doing. She had to stop—I couldn't risk her figuring it out. "It doesn't matter." I said finally, my hands digging into my sides. "And I don't want to talk to you about it."
"He misses you." She said again, and I wanted to wring her neck. Because it was all well-intentioned but I didn't want it from her. I just wanted to pretend she didn't exist.
"Ana."
"He really does—you know, and I've been trying to figure out what happened between you two. I mean he's perfect and from what he's told me about you, it sounds like you guys were great together."
"Ana!" I interrupted her more firmly and she had the grace to look sheepish. "I know, okay? I know he's—" I broke off, blinking harshly. I had almost given it away. I needed to stop talking to her. Immediately.
She didn't say anything, she just watched me out of those hooded blue eyes.
"Just—stay out of it. It doesn't concern you." It felt incredible to say that. Because whatever she was to him now, she was nothing to him before. She had precedence now but I had history and even though I knew it was wrong, it felt good to flaunt it in her face.
But her next words were enough to freeze me in my steps. "I don't believe you."
"What?" I forced myself to stay still.
"I don't believe you did it." Her fingers wrapped around my arm again.
When I turned around, the hopeful martyred expression on her face was startling. She really believed it.
"Well, I did." I stepped closer so that we were almost nose to nose. "I'm not as good as you think I am." My voice was strange, almost hysterical. "I know you want to play nice and have us all be friends and for everything to be wonderful again." I was mocking her and I could see the surprise on her face.
But I couldn't stop myself. It was like she'd set off this explosion and all I could think was that I wanted to see it through because I never wanted to have this conversation with her again. "I know," I continued, "that you want me to say that you're great and that you should be with him because Seth and I were better as friends anyway, but I can't, okay? I don't know why you feel like you need my approval but you better fucking get over it, because I'm never going to give it to you."
I paused, heaving and then looked her dead in the eye. "I cheated on Seth and then he moved on with you two seconds later. And that makes me feel like shit. Okay? And when you stand there and spout off about us like you know, anything it makes me want to strangle you. Not in a joking, ha-ha-isn't-that-funny way, in the real, I'm-going-to-kill-you-because-I'll-do-anything-to-shut-you-up way, okay?"
I shoved her hard, back against the wall. "Now, stay the hell away from me."
A Dr. Cullen sent a note excusing me from third period and I was escorted to a town car with blackened windows by the principal.
Inside was Alice Cullen, a petulant expression on her face and her arms crossed across her chest. She motioned emphatically to the seat next to her and I groaned before sitting down.
"You've been avoiding me." She complained. But before I could respond, she continued, "but I've decided to forgive you in light of our recent friendship. Now I need you to do something for me."
I let my head fall back against the seat and rubbed my eyes roughly. "Do we have to do this right now?"
"Yes." She said firmly, but when I looked over, her mouth tilted sympathetically. "It's a very small favor."
"Okay."
"What do you think of Marcus South?"
"I thought you said you needed a favor." I interrupted sharply.
She rolled her eyes. "This is the favor. I need an opinion."
I thought for a moment. "He's not my favorite person on the planet."
"Would you be terribly upset if he was…indisposed." But there was something about the way she was staring at the ground that made me uncomfortable.
"Indisposed?" I repeated, stretching out the word. "Does that mean you're going to…you know," I made an obnoxious biting gesture with my mouth and then mimed chewing.
Alice groaned, not amused. "We're vampires, Cassie, not cannibals."
"Right." Because there's a huge difference.
"I heard that."
I looked at her in horror. "I thought you couldn't read minds."
"Call it an educated guess." She smirked. "I was merely going to…offer him a little incentive to keep your secret."
"How did you know—I didn't even—never mind, prophetic, got it." I rambled before leaning back. "It's okay—I've got it covered."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really." She seemed oddly unimpressed.
"Yes." As much fun as it would be to see Marcus intimidated by a girl the size of an oompa loompa, I had a feeling that the less Alice Cullen meddled in my life, the better.
"I promise I won't hurt him." She said, encouragingly.
"It's not that." I turned to look at her. "I just need to figure it out myself. I don't know if I can explain it better than that."
"I understand, Cassie." She reached passed me and unlocked my door. "You're free to go."
I hesitated. I didn't have a whole of people in my corner right now and even though her offer was a little misguided it was still sweet. "Thanks, Alice. Really, I mean it."
She nodded, her eyes strangely shiny. "It's going to work out, you know."
"Yeah, you keep telling me that," I said as I got out of the car and watched it head back to her side of the mountain. "I just wish I knew what you meant."
The blue was off. I thought as I squirted more of the royal tube onto my mixing palate. That was better. I hadn't really known what I wanted to paint when I started but once I picked up the brush there was this image of a moonlit pond that I just couldn't let go of.
I didn't often paint from memory. I preferred having an image in front of me. Seth used to say that it was because I lacked creativity. It wasn't. But I didn't really have a good explanation either.
We'd had junior prom at a ranch out in the country last year and there had been this beautiful wood that the committee had peppered with soft lights and fountains. And right in the middle there was a wide pond, with a little broken wooden gate that swung in the wind.
It even creaked a little.
I'd ventured out there because my date had turned out to be a dud. Half way through the night, I caught him necking with some girl in the bathroom because I'd refused to make out with him.
He'd been a bit rough with me so I stepped on his foot and walked out. I snorted. He deserved it though. He ripped the shoulder of my new dress on a hook.
Seth had found me out there. I could see him still, watching me slightly forlornly, his suit just slightly too short for his lanky form. He pulled it off gallantly.
"What're you doing out here?" He swung the gate open and came to sit by me, his feet perched on the lower rung to avoid dipping into the water that sloshed gently onto the shore.
I let mine swing freely. "Didn't you hear? I'm too cool for school."
He groaned, nudging me in the shoulder. "I thought it had to do with Rupert making out with some Asian chick."
"What a ridiculous idea." I punctuated my words by tossing the pebbles I'd gathered in my lap into the water. They plopped extremely satisfyingly.
A soft breeze slipped through the trees, leaving little rippled footprints in the water and I watched them enchanted.
"This place is sort of magical, isn't it?" I kept my voice low, unwilling to disturb the quiet.
Seth predictably snorted. "You're such a girl, sometimes. It's a swamp, Cassie."
I just shrugged. "It just feels different."
"You okay?" He was surprisingly quiet.
"Yeah." I nudged him back. "I'm fine."
He placed a tentative hand on my shoulder and ran a finger over the tear in my dress. "Cassie?"
"You should see the other guy." I quipped.
His voice was gravely when he spoke again. "Want me to beat him up?"
I looked at him surprised. But he wasn't serious, at least not entirely. His eyes were slightly darker than I'd seen them before though. I reached up and patted his hand before shaking my head. "I'm fine, really."
"Okay."
We sat in silence for a while and then I remembered that he'd brought a date as well. "Where's Melissa?"
"Bathroom?"
"You don't know?"
He shrugged, morosely. "She's not as much fun as I thought she would be."
"Oh." I slipped off the railing, and landed lightly on the ground, wincing as my stilettos sunk into the mud. Maybe Seth was right, maybe I was just imagining this place to be more interesting than it was. "Guess we both struck out, huh?"
He nodded, before holding out a hand. "Dance?"
I hesitated. It wasn't that we'd never danced before but never like this, when we were both elegant and when we were in a place that was so isolated.
It felt like it would take us down a different road, like it would change things.
So I just laughed him off. "You've gotta earn it, Seth." I picked up a beautifully flat pebble and gestured to the pond. "First to five skips?"
He snatched the pebble eagerly, his mouth in a wide, toothy grin and nodded. "Bring it, Kennedy."
We never ended up dancing. I couldn't even remember who won. But as I still remembered that pond and the way the moonlight skirted just off the surface that night, glimmering and decadent and magical.
