L'amour (e.c)

twenty one; cross keys

"Well Lottie, he shouldn't be staying over anyway."

"He doesn't! He just stays late." A little white lie ever hurt any body.

"I'm not stupid, you know? I was your age once before."

"Exactly! So you know what it was like then." Charlotte pulled herself away from her mother, using her hands to add effect to her point.

"Thats what I'm worried about!" April also used her hands to add effect to her point.

"Oh please! You were such a church girl!" The mother and daughter duo burst out laughing, spending the next twenty minutes making the room look as nice as possible, more for Charlotte than Bella and Angela just because she was a firm believer in rooms effecting your mental health. Which meant she really needed it to be perfect right now.

Just as April was hanging the last bit of a fairy light to the roof the door bell chimed, causing Charlotte to bolt up from the her place on the floor where she'd been day dreaming to go and greet one of the most important people in her life, and Bella.

"Hi, hi, hi,hi,hi." As soon as Charlotte had pulled the door open she'd grabbed Angela into a hug. Angela Webber just radiated good vibes and a hug from her made Charlotte ten times better, and also make her feel more like the Charlotte she was before she'd really been involved with Edward Cullen. The one who wasn't now consumed with thoughts of vampires, or wasn't reliving the life before she came to Forks.

Of course Charlotte had to pull Isabella Swan into a hug after her rather long one with Angela, it wouldn't be fair if she didn't. Plus the awkward girl was standing more awkward than she usually would.

"Me and my mum have just decorated the spare room for us, perfect for any future movie nights! Come on!"

The girls all raced up stairs, Bella slower than the other two, not wanting to fall and embarrass herself. The last thing she wanted was to have April Smith have to look her over the first time she meets her.

'10 Things I Hate About You' was watched until the girls decided to order some pizza and have a catch up on everything that happened in the last few weeks.

"Sorry for not inviting Jessica, I know she's your best friend Bella but I just didn't think I could sit and listen to her voice at the minute." Angela pulled a disapproving look at Charlotte, reminding them of the chat the pair had earlier on how Charlotte should only say positive things about Jessica and try not to talk bad about her to others.

Apparently that would help change her perception of her.

"What? I didn't even say I find her voice annoying, just that I can't listen to it. Because it is annoying." Charlotte held up her hands, defending herself against Angela's firm gaze.

"Actually thank you for not inviting her, she er.. well she hasn't exactly been the.. nicest at the minute."

"Oh no." Angela muttered, Bella had every right to mention that Jessica wasn't being the perfect best friend at the minute, but it would probably have been better to not mention it in front of Charlotte who was looking for every chance to call Jessica out at the minute.

"Why? Whats she done? If she's said something to you I swear down she can have another drink on her head. I don't care, she can't be mean to you and not face the consequences."

In Charlotte's eyes, Bella was defenceless.

"Well- I mean- yes. She just said how I've ruined any chance she had with Mike. That er... all the time she blamed you for taking it away when she should have actually been blaming me. He won't date her if he's dated her best friend."

Charlotte threw her head back and let out a long loud laugh at what Bella had stated, before getting up and pacing around the room. "The cheek on it! No it's not your fault he won't go out with her, or my fault- it's her fault! If she wasn't such a gossiping bitch maybe he'd want her."

The next few minutes, were spent with Charlotte going off on Jessica, occasional chime ins from Bella on what else had been said, and Angela trying to convince Charlotte not to say anything to her at school.

The three did all end up pinky promising to not say anything to Jessica and just keep the peace that they had established only a few days before.

But when Charlotte saw Jessica Stanley sat at their usual table on Monday, Charlotte was happy that she'd crossed her keys.

The ginger walked up to the table, a smirk resting on her face. One she reached the table she pulled a sarcastic smile at Jessica, placing a hand on her hips just waiting for her to say something first. Angela couldn't help but let a long sigh fall from her lips.

"Hi Charlotte, are you going to sit down or you just going to stare?" Jessica started, now Charlotte could defend herself and tell everyone that she was provoked. Which is exactly what she wanted.

"Thank god you asked Jessie, if I had to look at you for one second longer I think my pupils might have exploded."

For some reason that riled Jessica up more than Charlotte intended it to, she had expected the girl to just start arguing with her, it wasn't the best comeback after all. What she didn't expect was for Jessica to stand up, slam her hands down on the table and try to start kicking off. "You listen here-"

Key word being try.

"No actually, you listen here you cheeky little cow." Charlotte's eyes filled with rage at the Stanley girl, she just couldn't stand her.  "There is no way on this earth a girl like you can say anything bad about Isabella or me. Because us two are worth thousands of you, you want to know why? Because we want to be nice to people, we don't want people to think we have to be nice to them just so we won't go on and spread rumours about them-"

"-That's not why people are nice to me-"

"Don't interrupt me. You're just mad because you no longer have control over Bella, you no longer have a say on who she's friend with and who she doesn't like. So you're just trying to blame her for him not wanting you. You even tried to blame me! If he wanted you, he'd have you baby, trust me I would know."

Jessica was going to form some of retort to do with Edward Culled, but thought it best to walk out of the room instead. Not wanting to embarrass herself in front of the Cullens who she could see watching. She also knew that Charlotte hadn't been too bad with her right now, on a scale she'd reached a solid 60.

Once Charlotte had watched Jessica leave the room and some girl who she wasn't familiar with chase after her, Charlotte sat down opposite Angela and Bella. The surprisingly calm girl, pulled the other two an apologetic look before holding up her hand, showing her crossed fingers.

"Sorry." She shrugged "Cross keys."

the character development in this book is so minimal compared with to next one, i literally hate the first book but love the others (the ones i've written)