A week had passed since Evelyn had seemed to chip away at some of the ice wall that surrounded Rosalie Hale and they hadn't spoken since.
While the older girl acknowledged her in the hallways with a short nod, followed by a wide grin from her boyfriend, Emmet, they never approached each other.
Evelyn couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed, despite knowing deep down that their interaction on her first day had been a fluke and not a daily thing. Despite being cold, she couldn't help but think Rosalie had maybe warmed up to her a little bit during the short conversation they had had.
Clearly she had imagined it.
"Do you have a crush on Rosalie Hale?" Jessica suddenly asked, jerking Evelyn out of her thoughts.
Everyone on their table suddenly went quiet, all turning to stare at the now bright red girl with wide eyes.
Evelyn stared at Jessica in shock, her eyes flicking over to the Cullen table for a split second, not at all shocked to see them all staring. She knew it was impossible for them to have heard what Jessica said but sometimes she swore they had supernatural hearing, "What, no? Why would you ask that?"
Jessica stared at her for a few seconds trying to see if she was lying before shrugging, turning back to her food, "You keep staring at her, that's all. I didn't know if its because you liked her or something - which if you did, we'd totally be cool with that,"
The others at the table all nodded, though Lauren seemed a tiny bit more reluctant in agreeing.
"I'm straight so, no, I don't like her like that," Evelyn confirmed, her eyes practically staring a hole in her food tray as her whole face flared a bright red in embarrassment. Not only had her staring been noticed but it had been interpreted as a crush.
She hoped Rosalie didn't think she had a crush on her as well.
Her face burned impossibly brighter at the thought and from across the cafeteria she could hear the loud laughs of Edward and Emmet Cullen, something that only fueled her embarrassment.
From then on Evelyn didn't even look in the direction of the blonde girl, her eyes always immediately looking at the floor whenever she saw her in the corridors.
She was extremely confident in the fact that she was straight - she just didn't see girls in that way and she definitely didn't see Rosalie in that way. The older girl was beautiful, yes, but that was all.
So why was she so interested in her?
The question bugged her for days, her staring at the floor between lessons becoming second nature while her eyes never strayed from her friends faces during lunchtime.
Thankfully Rosalie was a Senior so they didn't share any classes.
After a while, the older girl seemed to leave her mind. Whether that was because the weird interest she had in her was dissipating or because she was too busy focusing on her schoolwork to think about anything else, she didn't know but she was thankful to not have her in every waking thought.
Her thoughts during her sleep were a different story however.
Several nights throughout the week since she had spoken to Rosalie, Evelyn had woken up to the sound of rustling and a dark figure standing near her desk, only for it to disappear once she had turned her light on - the rustling noise coming from a small breeze from her open window.
That was when she had started taking sleeping pills, sick of the dark circles that had appeared under her eyes and the snide comments from Lauren they brought along with them.
"Hey Evelyn!" A bell like voice called out as she opened her car door, already wanting Friday to be over and the weekend to begin. Looking up, she was shocked to see Alice walking over to her, flanked by Jasper and Emmett.
Jasper nodded at her as the three of them stopped by her open door, simply saying her name in greeting, while Emmett actually reached down and ruffled her hair, grinning widely.
She looked at him in shock, reaching up to sort out her hair as she stepped out of the car, a small forced smile making its way onto her face in response to their greetings.
Alice just smiled, watching as Evelyn locked her car and swung her bag onto her back before reaching over and linking arms with the taller girl, practically dragging her across the car park without a word.
"Uh, Alice, where are we going?" She asked in confusion, her eyes scanning the area until they landed on where her friends were standing, all of them staring at her in shock. She shrugged helplessly, mouthing for them to help her before she turned back around, waiting for Alice to answer.
The shorter girl smiled at her happily, "We share English on Friday mornings so I thought we could hang out beforehand and then walk to class together!" She said excitedly, "Plus this is a good time for us all to get to know you!"
Us all?
Evelyn looked over to where Alice was leading her, eyes widening as she saw both Edward and Rosalie stood by their cars, staring at them. Edward was clearly amused at the way she was being dragged over to them while Rosalie just looked like her usual uninterested self.
Panicking slightly, Evelyn tried to pull her arm out of the other girl's grip, surprised at how strong she was for such a little person. Giving up on trying to pull away, she decided to plead her case instead, "No, Alice, seriously, I need to go see my friends - I want to organise something with them on the weekend,"
Alice didn't let go. In fact, her grip seemed to get stronger, "Don't worry! I'm sure you'll be able to organise something at lunch," She reassured with a determined voice that finally broke the taller girls resolve, her panic seeming to dissipate in exchange for calm acceptance.
From behind, Emmett and Jasper chuckled.
Finally they reached Edward and Rosalie, Alice moving forward excitedly, still gripping Evelyn's arm as she practically jumped up and down where she stood. Evelyn was being jerked side to side by her movements, scrunched her eyes shut as she waited for the moment she would wake up and realise she had only been dreaming.
"You're going to rip her arm off if you're not careful, Alice. Stop it," Rosalie suddenly said in her normal cold tone that left no room for argument, causing Evelyn's eyes to fly back open.
Immediately Alice stood still, though her smile didn't fall. In fact it seemed to grow, her eyes meeting Emmett with a knowing look. The blonde girl watched the interaction with a bored look before rolling her eyes and hoisting herself up to sit on the bonnet of one of the cars.
Evelyn watched the seemingly annoyed girl with careful eyes, almost flinching when the older girl suddenly looked at her. The two of them stared for a moment before Evelyn looked away first, staring at Alice instead.
Alice returned her expectant gaze with a grin before beginning to speak, "Well, you've already met Edward and Jasper, so there's no need to introduce you to them, and I know you spoke to Rosalie on your first day so you two know each other." She explained slowly, gesturing to each person as she spoke as if Evelyn was a child.
"Which leaves me," Emmett said happily, reaching out to shake Evelyn's hand, "I'm Emmett, nice to officially meet you!"
Returning the sentiment, Evelyn took in a deep breath, awkwardness washing over her as she met Rosalie's eyes again before she quickly moved her gaze to the floor - the reminder that she stared too much clouding most of her thoughts.
"So, Evelyn, why'd you move away from New York," Emmett suddenly asked, making Evelyn's head jerk back up just in time to see the other 4 shoot glares at him.
Staring at them in confusion, Evelyn chuckled nervously, "Oh, you know, my mum just got tired of how busy it always was - the commute to work was always crappy with all the traffic," She said, voice strained as she rattled off the rehearsed words that both she and her mother had told everyone who had asked that question.
It was a small town and she refused to be known as the new girl who moved because of her dead father.
All of them nodded in understanding apart from Rosalie, who just stared - her eyes a bit less icey than usual.
Sometimes Evelyn swore that the other girl knew all of her secrets. It certainly seemed like it at times.
Before the conversation could reach another awkward lull, the bell rang, signalling the five minutes remaining until lessons began.
Immediately the group separated, Rosalie and Jasper walking towards Building 1 while Edward and Emmett moved towards Buildings 6 and 7, none of them uttering a goodbye.
Alice and Evelyn began the trek over to Building 3, where their English lesson was held.
"Is it bad I didn't know you were in my English class?" Evelyn said sleepily, rubbing her neck as Alice laughed loudly.
"Don't worry," She reassured, "I'm quite good at blending in when I want to. The benefits of being small and sitting in the back," Her smile was blinding and Evelyn couldn't help but smile back - the first genuine smile she had given the other girl.
Maybe the Cullen's weren't so bad after all.
Once you got past how weird they all were, of course.
"So how is everything? Is school okay - how are you the other students? Have you made any friends yet?"
Evelyn laughed as question after question shot through the phone, reaching up to grab a can of tomato soup with her free arm, dumping it into the trolley before swapping her cellphone to her other ear.
"Yes, Auntie Bec, everything is good so far, school is great - the lessons are beginning to actually get challenging," She laughed, grabbing a few different packets of beef and pork mince as she entered the chilled aisle of the supermarket, "As for the students, they're all pretty nice from what I can. I don't really interact with a lot of them. I mostly stick to the group that kind of adopted me on my first day," Her voice was sheepish as she admitted she was only sticking with a certain few people, knowing her aunt had always told her to meet as many people as she could in her new school.
"Ev," Her aunt said teasingly, her smile audible through her voice as she spoke, "We talked about this. The more friends you have, the more at home you'll feel. Its a small town, you need to-"
"Know as many people as possible, I know, I know," Evelyn finished off with a sigh, leaning against the trolley as she scanned the shelves, looking back and forth between her shopping list and she shelves before her, "There is this one other group, though. The Cullens - they're all siblings, adopted. I've kind of made friends with two…maybe three of them as well,"
Evelyn's Aunt, Rebecca, squealed happily down the phone. She had always been one to get over excited about the smallest things - it was adorable and one of the many many things that her niece loved and missed about her, "Oh that's wonderful, darling. Now for the big question! How are the boys over there?" Her voice was low and still held the teasing tone from earlier.
Rolling her eyes, Evelyn grabbed a bottle of mayonnaise and chucking it next to the soup, "No, Bec, you know I'm not interested in boys at the mo-" She was cut off as she spun around, her face crashing into someone's shoulder, "Ow- shit, sorry! Bec, i'm going to have to call you when I get home," Hanging up the phone, she reached back up to rub at her nose, looking up at who she had just crashed into.
"Oh I'm sorry, are you okay?" The boy asked, his hands coming to hover by her arms as he bent down slightly, inspecting her face, "There was no permanent damage was there? No nose bleeds?"
Letting out a laugh, Evelyn dropped her hand, smiling at the boy to show him she was fine, "Nope, all good. Lucky you, no lawsuits coming your way just yet,"
"Ha, says the girl who crashed into me," He shot back, grinning happily now that he knew she hadn't been hurt.
Evelyn just briefly raised her eyebrow in response, "Fair enough," She said with another laugh, sticking out her hand in greeting, "I'm Evelyn Hale, you?"
"Jacob Black, nice to meet you!" Jacob grinned down at her, pushing his long hair over his shoulder, "You new around here? I haven't seen your face before,"
"Is this your way of asking me if I come here often?" She replied with a giggle, not noticing the other person that had entered the otherwise empty aisle they stood in, their eyes watching the interaction carefully.
Jacob grinned in return, shrugging slightly as he eyed her trolley and its contents, his eyes landing on her abandoned backpack at the end of it, "Oh, you go to Forks High School," He observed, "That's cool, I go to school on the reservation. Always wondered what your guys' school is like"
Snorting slightly, Evelyn turned back to look at her list, moving further down the aisle with Jacob walking casually besides her, "It's nothing special, trust me," Her voice was strained as she reached up to try and grab something from the top shelf, smiling when the taller boy retrieved it for her instead, "So, if you live on the reservation why are you shopping here? You guys have a store, right?" She asked, intrigued.
"Mmhm, we do but there's a few things they don't sell so I come and pick them up here whenever I get the chance," his smile was blinding as he spoke, "In fact, as much as i'm enjoying talking to you, my dads actually waiting out in the truck,"
"Oh!" Evelyn nodded understanding, "Yeah, of course! It was nice meeting you!"
Jacob's smile widened as he quickly grabbed a few items of food before walking off in the direction of the tills. Evelyn watched him go, finally noticing the other person in the aisle.
Rosalie.
Swallowing slightly at the sight of her, she turned back around, trying to push the awkward encounter she had had with her and the others after Alice had dragged her across the car park this morning.
She shook her head. It didn't matter. Rosalie wouldn't approach her first anyway, she was fine.
Looking down at the last item of food on the list, she exited the aisle and turned into the next one, quickly scanning the shelves for the item she needed. When she finally found it on the top shelf, she audibly groaned, wishing Jacob hadn't had to leave so quickly - she was going to have to climb onto the trolley to grab this and that was just a disaster waiting to happen.
Preparing herself for the almost 100% probability that she was going to fall flat on her arse, she positioned the trolley next to the shelf before awkwardly climbing onto the side of it, her legs shaking slightly as she tried to hoist herself up into it without standing on any of her food.
"Get down, now." An extremely annoyed sounding voice suddenly instructed, making Evelyn freeze in place, "I mean it. You're going to fall and hit your head on the floor,"
Immediately, Evelyn was clambering off of the wobbling trolley, a cool hand coming to firmly hold onto her forearm for support as she swung her leg off, now firmly on the stable floor.
Unsurprisingly, it was Rosalie stood in front of her, her eyes frostier than normal as she glared, quickly releasing her grip on the shorter girls arm, "Asking for help would have been the simpler option," She said sharply, slightly rising up on her tiptoes to grab the item that Evelyn had been trying to reach before placing it in the trolley, "You should try it sometime instead of immediately jumping into the option that could break your neck,"
Evelyn didn't know what to say, a small 'thank you' being the only thing she could force past her lips as she looked at the older girl with wide eyes.
Rosalie nodded before quickly walking away, disappearing as she turned the corner and leaving Evelyn room to finally breathe normally again, her face a light embarrassed pink.
Was that girl ever going to warm up to her?
