The Rise of Lydia Rowe ↠ Jasper Hale (ON HOLD)

[2.04] eight weeks

✧ WEEK ONE ✧

WHILE LYDIA'S WORLD CRUMBLED AROUND HER, the world outside continued on. She went to school, passing through the halls like a ghost haunting the building. People stared, whispered, wondered what had happened to make the Cullens disappear from town so suddenly. 

They seemed so happy, they whispered, looking at Lydia with curious eyes. What happened?

If only Lydia knew the answer. 

Bella withdrew from her friends, including Lydia. Lydia heard secondhand that after Edward told her they were leaving, she tried to follow him through the woods and got lost. She was found that night almost catatonic, and when she came back to school, she wasn't the same. She went through the motions, but there was no emotion in her face, no sign of life from the pale girl whose heart had been broken just like Lydia's. 

Guilt kept Lydia from reaching out. She feared Bella would hate her for what Jasper had done, the near-attack that had prompted the Cullens' move out of Forks. So she stayed away, watching from afar as Bella grieved. 

And Lydia grieved, too.

✧ WEEK TWO ✧

Gwen sat next to Lydia on her bed, her own heart breaking as her best friend cried against her shoulder. "I thought we would be together forever," Lydia whimpered. "How stupid was I to think that?" 

"You weren't stupid, Lydia," Gwen murmured softly, rubbing Lydia's back soothingly. There were tears in her own eyes, though she pushed them away, focusing all of her energy on comforting Lydia. "You were in love." 

Lydia sniffled pathetically. "I was just another high school girl who fell in love and thought it would last forever," she said, her voice cracking pitifully. "It didn't even last a year." 

Gwen let Lydia cry, wishing there was something she could do to take away her best friend's heartbreak. 

✧ WEEK THREE ✧ 

Tracy entered Lydia's room quietly, not wanting to startle her daughter. She hated seeing Lydia like this—it reminded her too much of how she'd been after the assault, locked away in her room and spending far too much time in her thoughts. Tracy knew too well that those thoughts weren't the best company.  

"Lydia, honey?" Tracy called softly. "Do you need anything? Something to eat? Some water?" 

Lydia didn't turn to look at her from where she laid on her side, facing away from her door. She just shook her head.

Tracy let out a soft sigh before sitting down on the bed next to her daughter. She brushed a strand of hair behind Lydia's ear, getting it out of her face. "What can I do to help you feel better?" 

"Nothing." 

Tracy looked at the wall that held Lydia's pictures, frowning at the pictures of the Cullen family. Tracy had liked the Cullens when she first met them, and she didn't hate them now. She couldn't hate an entire family because one of them broke her daughter's heart. 

But she didn't particularly like them anymore. 

"It won't always hurt like this, Lydia," Tracy murmured, hoping to bring her daughter some comfort. 

"It feels like it will," Lydia muttered. 

"I know," Tracy whispered, sighing quietly. "I know it feels like it's going to last forever right now. But the heartache will fade, honey. You won't feel like this forever, I promise."