Hi, guys! Brooke here, once again. Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed, followed, or favorited Just Say Yes. I really wanted to give you all a new chapter shortly after the first one but I didn't have the season I needed at the time. Luckily, I brought 3A and 3B with me back to college, so we should be set for a couple of weeks at least. As an apology, I made this chapter a decent size. (I hope it's not too long.) A couple of quick things:
1. An extra special thank you goes out to my bae (allybz) for making the cover for this story and for being my trusty advisor whenever I need a second opinion.
2. I should have mentioned this last time but that first chapter (along with Marlee's story altogether) was inspired by Daughtry's song "Waiting for Superman". Inspiration for this chapter includes Young the Giant's "Cough Syrup" and P!nk's "Trouble".
3. I will be posting Marlee's different outfits and such on my Polyvore account soon. (My username on that site is 'earthdiva'.) I will let you know when I have started to do so.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Marlee (who is portrayed by Kathryn Love Newton, specifically as Claire Novak in Supernatural), Virgnia (portrayed by blonde Gwyneth Paltrow), and the car known as Ron Burgundy. (Technically, I don't even own the car. It was the first car of someone I know.) Everything else belongs to their respectful owners.
Beep beep beep beep beep!
A hand darted out from underneath purple covers and grabbed the iPhone charging on the nightstand next to the bed. After quickly unlocking it, the irritated teenager placed the phone back on the nightstand. Five minutes later, it emitted the same annoying beeping noise, her backup alarm going off. With a frustrated groan, she once again unlocked the device and turned off the goddamned alarm. The peaceful silence only lasted for a few more moments before the door to Marlee's bedroom swung open and an older woman strode across the room.
"Good morning, starshine… the earth says 'Hello!'"
Virginia opened the curtains, letting the light stream into her daughter's room.
"The light," Marlee groaned dramatically, throwing her covers over her head, "it burns!"
"Okay, Dracula," her mother smirked, "time to get up."
Marlee's muffled voice commented from under the blankets, "I've decided that an education isn't really all that important. Therefore, I am officially allowed to go back to sleep."
"Oh, I see. How exactly do you expect to get a decent job without, at the very least, a high school education?"
"I'll sell things on the black market. I'm sure one of my kidneys would go for a few thousand dollars."
Virginia sighed, "Marlee, you need to get up and go to school."
"I'm taking a mental health day."
Virginia frowned at the mound of blankets.
"Honey, you know that I'll gladly let you take mental health days but not on the first day of school. Give Beacon Hills a chance."
An exasperated groan was the only response from the purple lump.
"Alright, we'll do this the hard way."
Virginia walked to the foot of her daughter's bed and yanked the covers off of the stubborn blonde.
Marlee lifted her head a bit to playfully glare at her mother and grumbled, "Why do you do the things that you do?"
"Don't make me get the bucket." Virginia warned.
Knowing that her mother was completely serious, Marlee swore and swung her legs over the side of the bed before grabbing the iPod next to her phone. Moving past a particularly smug Virginia, the reluctant teen walked out of her room and made her way down the hall to the bathroom. After doing her business, Marlee stripped out of her pajamas and hooked her iPod up to the speakers sitting on the counter. "Cough Syrup" filled the air as she hopped in the shower. Hot water rained down on Marlee as she used this time to collect her thoughts.
It's going to be alright, she told herself, you just need to make it through today and then you can come home. You won't have to deal with anyone else for the rest of the day. Just take it one day at a time… for the next two years… for the rest of your life.
Marlee could feel her muscles tensing up, despite the soothing feeling of the water. Every day felt like a year to her and every year felt like a century. Yet, she also felt as if time was flying by. It seemed like only yesterday…
Pulling herself out of those thoughts before they went further down that road, Marlee quickly finished her shower. Wrapping herself up in towel, she made her way back to her bedroom to get dressed for the day.
The sun was actually out today, making everything outside look pleasant. It was the exact opposite of the way Marlee was feeling right then. Remember, this is for Mom, she thought to herself as she put her clothes and jewelry on. Suck it up, buttercup. She grabbed her backpack and devices before leaving the solace of her room. Making a trip back to the bathroom, Marlee leaned in close to the mirror as she worked on putting on her makeup. Other than the weird open-mouthed faces girls made when they put on eye makeup, there was a hint of a smile on her face as she did so. Her dad had absolutely hated her makeup since the day she had discovered eyeliner. He always told her she didn't need any of that "black shit" around her eyes. Back then, she would put it on and simply left it as is; now, she knew how to use makeup remover to fix it up as needed.
Once again, Marlee pushed those thoughts away as she finished up in the bathroom and trudged down the stairs. Entering the kitchen, she moved towards the fridge and pulled out the leftover pizza from the night before. Marlee hadn't told her mother about the near-death experience or the mysterious boy that had quite possibly saved her life. She didn't want to put any more stress on her mom than was needed. That didn't mean that Marlee hadn't thought about it herself though. All throughout the night, her mind would wander back to those brown eyes and soft smile. Every time she did so, Marlee would scold herself for giving it another thought. He was just some guy. Seriously, chill out.
As she sat down at the kitchen table, Virginia walked into the room, looking as fashionable and beautiful as ever. Marlee's mom had always been a very attractive woman, paired with intelligence and a lovely personality. Maybe that was why she was so good at her job. Among the reasons for the move to Beacon Hills, one of them had been a new job opportunity for Virginia. Over the summer, one of the town's most respected attorneys, a man by the name of David Whittemore, had moved his family to London. With all of the animal attacks and property damages that Beacon Hills had faced since the beginning of the New Year, the town considered this a great loss. Virginia had been more than willing to take on the role that Whittemore had abandoned, being quite the successful attorney herself.
"Pizza for breakfast?" Virginia raised an eyebrow.
"The breakfast of champions," Marlee held up a slice of pizza as she replied, "What better way to start the day?"
Her mother smiled, making her way over to the stove and offered, "How about some chocolate chip pancakes?"
Marlee quickly dropped the pizza back into the box and moved to shove it back in the fridge. She pulled out the whipped cream while she was at it; the idea of Virginia's chocolate chip pancakes topped with whipped cream was almost enough to put Marlee in a good mood.
"So, do you know what you're supposed to do today?" Her mother asked as she worked on making the pancakes.
"Get out of bed, survive, and then go back to bed."
"Marlee…"
The blonde at the kitchen table gave an exaggerated sigh.
"I'm supposed to go to the main office, meet with the principal, get my schedule, and attend my classes like a normal student." Her statement practically dripped with sarcasm.
"You're absolutely right. That's a good little Marlee." Virginia teased as she brought a plate of chocolate chip goodness over to the pouting teen.
Marlee quickly covered the pancakes with whipped cream and started to dig in. This was the way it had been for the past two years. The pair would usually sit down at the kitchen table for breakfast and talk about what their plans were for the day, along with anything else they could think of. It was another thing that had made them closer over those years, the Decker women against the world. Well, it was more like Marlee against the world, more so than Virginia. Despite having her moments of weakness as well, Virginia Decker had always flourished and continued to do so.
"Are you excited about any of your classes?" Her mother looked at her with such optimism, Marlee felt kind of bad about squashing it.
"Mom, I haven't even gotten my schedule yet. For all I know, they set me up in the dullest classes they have to offer. It's not like I know what the teachers are like here. I haven't been around to hear if any of them are halfway decent."
Virginia frowned a bit at that. She knew her daughter hadn't wanted to move to Beacon Hills- or anywhere else for that matter. She could only hope that maybe Marlee would grow to like the town or even the people in it. Marlee had become stand-offish and anti-social since everything had happened. Most of the friends she did have weren't the most supportive or understanding, despite having been friends with her for years. Those friendships quickly met their end in due time. School itself had been a different matter all on its own.
"Marlee, I know you weren't thrilled about moving and that you're still angry about it. I want you to know that I really appreciate you being a trooper and going along with all of this. Maybe this will be a good thing for you too. Beacon Hills looks like a very nice town and the people seem to be friendly. Before you know, you'll be making friends- don't give me that look. Honey, just try and let people get to know you, okay? You're a great kid and other people will see that too. I'm sure your dad is incredibly proud of you."
Marlee bristled at that, biting her tongue so she wouldn't spit out a quick 'Well, we wouldn't know that now, would we?' The last thing she needed to do was upset her mother on her first day of work. So, instead of saying what she wanted to say, Marlee simply gave a shrug and replied with a simple "Maybe."
Looking at the time, Marlee decided now would be a good time to head out for school. She rose from her spot at the table and went to put her plate in the dishwasher. She scooped up her backpack before giving Virginia a quick kiss on the cheek and a "Love you!" Just as she started to make her way to the front door, her mom called her name. Marlee turned back around to look at the woman still sitting at the table.
"Yeah, Mom?"
Virginia let out a little sigh before grinning at her daughter.
"Try to stay out of trouble, alright?"
Marlee smirked back at her and gave a mock salute.
"Roger Dodger."
All she got in response was her mother giving her an amused shake of her head.
Marlee strode out the front door and made her way to the car parked in the driveway. Her mom had offered to trade in Marlee's father's truck for a used car that was still in excellent condition. They didn't need really more than two vehicles and they had no use for the truck anymore. However, Marlee had been adamant about trading the vehicle in. She persuaded Virginia into selling the truck to a local dealership back home and using some of the money to buy a car. Despite multiple protests from her mother about how it was impractical, Marlee ended up buying a 1991 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Royale. Her beloved car was unique, to say the least. The exterior of the car was a burgundy color, as was the interior of the vehicle. The only change in color really were the glossy and dark, wood door handles inside the car and the whitewall wheels. When it came to naming her car, like so many kids she went to school with did with their own cars, it seemed like a no-brainer to Marlee. Thus, the Oldsmobile was dubbed "Ron Burgundy", after Will Ferrell's Anchorman character.
Sliding into the driver's seat, Marlee threw her backpack into the passenger seat and internally prayed that the car's engine wouldn't turn over. Virginia had been a little smug the first time Ron Burgundy's engine had failed to start; she hadn't found it so satisfying when her daughter had called to tell her that the car had broken down at a highway intersection. Luckily, the people that had been at the intersection as well were kind enough to help Marlee push the car over to a side road. She had waited for her mother and a family friend to come help her get the car started back up. Once again, Marlee ignored Virginia's attempts to convince her that a different vehicle would be better. The teen had grown too fond of Ron Burgundy to think about giving him up, not if she could manage to get the engine running. Marlee was pleased to find that her car was willing to cooperate today, despite her desire to avoid school. She pulled her iPod out of her pocket to plug it into the cassette tape adaptor and started to scroll through hundreds of songs, looking for just the right one. A sly grin spread across her face as one in particular caught her eye. Clicking on the song and cranking up her car's speakers, Marlee backed out of the driveway and into the street as P!nk's lyrics lead her way to school.
I'm trouble, Yeah trouble now, I'm trouble y'all, I got trouble in my town…
As Beacon Hills High School came into view, Marlee couldn't help but glare up at the building that had just become her own personal hell. Outside of the school, tons of teenagers were excitedly greeting each other, buzzing with the start of a new school year. It wasn't exactly the weather for crop top and shorts, as California high schools were usually depicted as having. Yet the students all around her were still incredibly good-looking with nice clothes.
Marlee was able to find a spot in the student parking lot next to a pale blue Jeep. Grabbing her backpack, Marlee took a moment to take a deep breath. Here goes nothing. Exiting her car, she gave Ron Burgundy an affectionate pat on the hood before she began to march towards the front of the school. Despite all of the commotion going on, Marlee could feel people's eyes watching every move that she made. On the inside, she was cursing herself for not wearing her combat boots or one of her leather jackets, anything that would make her look more intimidating and unapproachable. She put up a good front though, confidently climbing the stairs leading up to the front doors, a cold look set in place on her face. It didn't take too long to find the main office after weaving through students that were mingling amongst themselves. Marlee reached the door mere seconds after two guys started to quickly walk away from where she now stood. Her eyebrows shot up as a man, who she assumed was the principal, could be seen holding up a sword. No, that wasn't a euphemism. The man was holding an honest to God sword in his hands. Shaking her surprise off, Marlee approached the receptionist's desk.
"Hi, I'm Marlee Decker. I'm here to pick up my schedule."
The receptionist smiled at her in surprise and started to speak as she looked through the files next to her desk.
"Hello! You just moved here a couple of weeks ago, right?"
Marlee gave the kind woman a half-smile.
"Yeah, my mother and I just moved here from Wisconsin."
The receptionist chuckled as she continued looking through her files.
"Oh, that must be a real change, especially the weather. Are you enjoying it here so far?"
"I guess you could say that."
The woman- 'Mrs. Dwyer' read the nameplate on the desk- shot Marlee a grin.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy it as times goes on. The kids around here are very nice. I'm sorry this is taking so long, dear. It's my first official day on the job. The last office assistant, well, she…"
Mrs. Dwyer trailed off with a slight frown before perking up and pulling a sheet of paper out of a folder.
"Here we are! This has your schedule, locker number, and the combination. Principal Thomas should be ready to talk to you. Just go right ahead and knock on his door. It was a pleasure to meet you, Marlee. I hope you have a great first day!"
The woman was so sincere that Marlee couldn't help but give her a warm grin. Hopefully that would be the only time her shield would crack that day.
"Thank you!"
Carefully easing towards the principal's office, Marlee glanced inside and rapped on the door. Principal Thomas' inspection of his office, a look of distaste clearly displayed on his face, was brought to a temporary halt by her presence.
"Hi, Principal Thomas. I'm Marlee Decker and I'm a new student here. I was sent a letter saying I should come meet you before heading to any of my classes."
"Ah, yes, come in. Sorry for the clutter. I was on a leave of absence near the end of the last school year and the principal during that time left quite a mess."
The man glanced over at the sword in contempt as Marlee moved to sit in front of his desk. He sat down in his oversized chair and cleared his throat.
"I usually like to meet my new students in order to welcome them to BHHS and get a sense of who they are."
Translation: 'I'm here to see if you're as much of a little shit as your file says and to tell you the rules around here.'
The principal looked over at his computer before inquiring, "It says here that you moved to Beacon Hills from Wisconsin, is that correct?"
"Yeah, my mom got a job as an attorney here in town."
"I see. I've been looking at your file and I think it would be best if you would speak to Ms. Morrell, our guidance counselor, before you head off to your classes."
Marlee's jaw clenched and she could almost feel her eye twitching before she responded with a cool "That sounds doable."
Principal Thomas stood to walk around to the front of the desk and shook Marlee's hand once she was standing.
"Excellent. The guidance office is right down the hall and Ms. Morrell should be expecting you. I hope you find your time here at Beacon Hills High exceptional."
Marlee gave Principal Thomas a fake smile as she finished shaking his hand, immediately letting it drop into a scowl once she was no longer facing him.
"That's unlikely." She muttered under her breath as she left his office and exited the main office all together.
After walking a short distance and entering the guidance office, Marlee found a pretty African-American woman waiting by a door that presumably led into a smaller office.
"Marlee Decker?"
"That would be me."
"I'm Ms. Morrell. Why don't we step into my office?"
Marlee gave a sarcastic "Ha!" before continuing, "Like I have a choice."
Following the older woman into her office, Marlee instantly felt the feeling of apprehension that filled her body whenever she stepped into one of these offices. Sitting down in front of a desk for the second time in the past five minutes, she was more than ready for this meeting to be over with. There had been many like this before, though this would be the first time anyone would be telling her how much of a fuckup she was overall.
"So, Marlee, how are you liking Beacon Hills so far?"
Marlee could tell you what she didn't like. She didn't like the woman sitting in front of her, hands clasped on her desk, a particular glimmer in her eyes that said 'I'm about to psychoanalyze the shit out of you, kid.'
"It fucking sucks." She responded bluntly.
Apparently that was the kind of thing Ms. Morrell wanted to hear because that glimmer seem to increase as she opened the folder labelled 'Decker, Marlee' in front of her.
"According to your file, there were multiple visits to the principals' office and the guidance counselors' office during your freshman and sophomore years."
"Which ones?"
Ms. Morrell looked up at the stone-faced blonde.
"Pardon?"
"Which ones? We had a principal and a vice principal, plus two guidance counselors"
"It says here that you were in all four of their offices at least once each year."
The guidance counselor gave Marlee a look as she added, "You seem to be quite the attention-getter, Ms. Decker."
Marlee scowled, already fed up with this entire conversation. She knew what this was leading up to and if the woman in front of her thought that Marlee might actually offer her something, well then she was just shit out luck.
"Why don't you just get right down to it and ask me the questions that you really want to ask?"
"What exactly do you think I want to ask you?" Morrell smirked.
Marlee leaned forward and narrowed her eyes as she laid it all out on the table, "You want to ask me about my father and about how it affected my life, along with my behavior in school. You want to ask me about my mental and emotional state, psychoanalyzing everything I say. You want to wear me down until I open up and tell you my sob story. Well, let me tell you right now, that's not going to happen."
Ms. Morrell surprised her a bit by smiling and standing up.
"I think we're done here. You can pick up your textbooks for your other classes later but since you're already running late to English, I'll walk you there. It'll give you a legitimate excuse, especially if you consider the fact that there's a new teacher for that class."
She picked up a textbook that looked like it weighed as much as a brick and handed it to Marlee.
"This is your English textbook."
Marlee took the stupid thing from the guidance counselor with a slightly sour expression, all of her animosity receding as the previous conversation was left alone for now. She quickly shoved it into her backpack before putting it on and followed the woman out of her office. They had only been walking for a minute or two when Marlee saw him.
Even if Marlee hadn't thought about him all throughout the night, there was no mistaking that crooked jawline. He was walking down the hall in the opposite direction, towards them, a purpose in his stride. Just as they were a few feet apart, warm brown met bright blue. There was a flash of recognition in his eyes as they passed each other.
After a moment, Marlee asked Ms. Morrell a question that would unknowingly change everything.
"Who was that?"
Ms. Morrell gave the curious student next to her a sly smile.
"Oh, him? That was Scott McCall."
Marlee looked back over her shoulder as the two women continued to walk, only to find Scott McCall glancing back at her too.
When Marlee and Ms. Morrell finally reached the English classroom, the guidance counselor gave a short knock before they entered. Marlee did her best to ignore the room full of teenagers staring at her, curiously.
"Ms. Blake, this is Marlee Decker. She recently moved to Beacon Hills and she'll be a student in this class. It's totally my fault that she's late. We just had a meeting and I thought I would bring her down here so she wouldn't get into too much trouble."
The pale brunette standing in front of them gave Ms. Morrell a brief laugh as she responded, "Oh, that's perfectly fine. We were just starting to discuss the first book we're going to be reading this first semester."
Ms. Blake shifted her gaze over to Marlee and smiled at her.
"Welcome to our class, Marlee. I hope you'll find it to be enjoyable."
There was something not quite right about this woman. Maybe it was the way her smile almost felt fake, not even in the fake way that Marlee herself would smile. When she gave a fake smile, it always came across in a "You are really pissing me off right now" or "You're a total idiot but I can't do shit about it" manner. Ms. Blake's smile felt more like if she would just open her mouth a little bit further, a forked tongue would dart out and slit Marlee's throat.
At that moment, Ms. Morrell seemed to decide that her work there was done. Marlee could only watch helplessly as the guidance counselor walked out the door, leaving her with this strange woman and the numerous eyes that were still fixated on her form.
"Well, as luck would have it, one of your classmates just left for personal reasons. You can sit in his spot for the day and I'll be sure to have a janitor bring in an extra desk by tomorrow."
Marlee quickly retreated to the open desk, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone else. As Ms. Blake continued the discussion from before, Marlee grabbed her textbook out of her bag. She had just started to list all of the things that she would rather be doing than sitting in that classroom, when something caught her attention. Marlee couldn't help but overhear the conversation between the boy next to her and the redhead on his other side.
"Hey, Lydia," the guy whispered over to the girl as he examined a bandage on her ankle. "Is that from the accident?"
"No, Prada bit me." Lydia whispered back.
"Your dog?" He questioned, incredulously.
Without missing a beat, Lydia answered, "No, my designer handbag."
At the withering look she got in response, the redhead said as if talking to a small child, "Yes, my dog."
Marlee refrained from snickering at this Lydia girl's sass. Maybe this class wouldn't be too terrible if the redhead always had this kind of attitude.
"Has it ever bit you before?"
Lydia shook her head and gave a sound of disagreement.
The talkative kid turned in his seat to face Lydia and leaned closer to her. This did nothing to hinder Marlee's ability to hear the conversation.
"Okay. What if it's, like, the same thing with the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?"
Lydia shot him a look as she responded, "Meaning what? There's gonna be an earthquake?"
"Or something. I just- maybe it means something's coming. Something bad."
Okay, either this kid thought he was some sort of psychic or he was definitely on something.
Something bad, Marlee smirked, amused by her own inner thoughts.
"It was a deer and a dog," Lydia tried reasoning, "What's that thing you say about threes? Once, twice…"
Her inquiry was cut off as a crow loudly smacked into a classroom window, leaving a bloody smear behind. Half of the heads in the room turned to look at the splash of red. Ms. Blake hesitantly made her way to the windows as the distant sound of crows cawing reached Marlee's ears. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of dozens upon dozens of crows flying towards the school. By this time, everyone in class was looking at the window as their teacher started to turn in their direction. Ms. Blake quickly jumped back with a gasp as another crow made impact. A couple more birds met the same fate before the sound of glass smashing and the fluttering of wings filled the air. Students started diving towards the ground while Ms. Blake screamed and waved her arms at the winged menaces. Soon, all of the students were either huddling on the floor or scrambling around the room as she screamed for everyone to get down.
Fuck that.
Marlee stayed on her knees and started swinging her textbook at anything that dared to fly in her direction. As the onslaught continued, Marlee couldn't help but notice a few crows trying to go after the girl that had previously been sitting in front of her. Without much thought to it, she sprang up just enough for her to lay on top of her desk and smack the birds away from the brunette. Marlee kept hitting the flying little demons left and right before retreating to the floor. Eventually, the sound of chaos had faded away into nothing and the students slowly stood up. The mangled and bloodied corpses of the crows were spread throughout the room, feathers scattered in every direction. It didn't take long for the police to arrive, along with the parents of students who had texted them about the incident. Marlee simply kept off to the side until the girl from before approached her, Lydia trailing behind her. Was everyone in this town good-looking?
"Hi," the girl smiled, "my name is Allison Argent. Um, you're Marlee, right?"
Marlee kept a straight face as she replied in a clipped tone, "Yes."
Allison's smile faltered slightly before she continued, "I just wanted to thank you for keeping those birds away from me earlier. Everyone else was kind of freaking out but you kept it together."
Marlee shrugged and responded, "Don't mention it. I've seen worse."
Her statement earned her strange looks from both Allison and Lydia. The former composed herself enough to say, "Well, thanks again. See you tomorrow." She and Lydia made their way back to a man who seemed to be Allison's father, judging by the way he put his arm around her shoulder. Being reminded of parents at that moment, Marlee couldn't help but grin a bit as she took out her phone and captured a picture of an area of the room with less carnage. She quickly sent her mother the photo along with a text saying 'Told you I should have stayed home today.' Less than a minute later, her phone started to ring, Virginia's name and picture flashing across the screen.
"What the hell happened?!"
"It's only my first class of the day and my life has already turned into an Alfred Hitchcock film."