WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2004
FORKS, WASHINGTON
.....
Driving with her sister-in-law, Caroline, always felt like she was in a race car speeding for the finish line before the timer went off.
The twenty-two-year-old woman was an absolute leadfoot whenever she got behind the wheel of any poor car that had to be driven by her. And it didn't help with the constant shrieks of laughter coming from her son, Lorraine's year-old nephew, Carson. (Aptly named for the love his mother held for driving.)
So, when the dark skinned woman whipped her 2004 Toyota Camry into the school's parking lot with a need for speed. Lorraine was in quite a hurry to scramble out of the passenger seat and onto the safety of the wet concrete below her as she hobbled away with a prayer leaving her lips, while behind her, the elder woman cried out a "have a great day at school" before yanking the car into drive and drifting off onto the road, leaving a cloud of smoke in her place.
Lorraine pale complexion seemed far paler to the peering gazes of the Forks High student body. Their analyzing eyes taking in the crutches she had wedged beneath her armpits and the slightly wrinkled outfit that she'd thrown on in the earliest of morning; a pair of dark navy-blue colored khaki shorts rested on her lower frame and with it she wore a black tank top under a darker blue flannel that had been tossed at her by a hurrying Oliver.
The outfit wasn't one she'd wear to school on a normal day-to-day basis. But with the very much noticeable external fixator bar holding her newly implanted patella in place around her knee. There were barely any choices for her to wear in the first place.
"Lory?!" The sudden shout drew said girl's attention to a beaming teenaged boy with inky-black locks of hair curving his oval shaped face. His square-thinly framed glasses were speckled with splashes of raindrops. But it did nothing to deter the monolid eyed boy from meeting her surprised downturned ones.
"You're back!"
His lanky form sidled up to her as she ascended the stairs slowly.
"My parents told me that your dad said you might possibly be returning to school soon, but they didn't say when. So, I was pretty worried." His rapid paced words fell quiet. "But firstly. How're you doing?"
Ethan, as that was his name, was the elder brother of Eric Yorkie.
He was an overall energetic and charismatic person with a big heart. And unlike his younger sibling, he knew when to push the buttons of those around him and when to not press for answers – which is something the now sixteen-year-old knows nothing about as he is absolutely fascinated with being a reporter for the school.
Both Lorraine and Ethan met on the playground in their second grade of Elementary school, which consisted of them arguing over who got to climb the rock wall first. But their stubbornness gave way to a close friendship as they realized they were alike in their love for anything athletic and for the chosen academics in welding, whenever Coach Clapp allowed them to scurry on off to the carpenters/welding building off campus.
Lorraine had seen him when he'd come to visit her while she was in the hospital and during her first few days of bedrest. But with him having work and attending school, both hadn't seen each other for some time. It did her some good to see the kind boy again, after missing his friendly smile while she had been gone. So, she simply reached over and wrapped an arm around his waist, giving him a squeeze before releasing his stunned features.
"Missed you too, Yorkie," her voice was husky with emotion as she gifted him with a tender smile and eased back to meet his rounded eyes. "And I am doing better. Just got a couple more months left before they remove the bar completely, is all. Dad thinks it's because I've been resting a lot."
A soft look adorns the taller male's face before he sets his arm around her shoulders with a lightness that showed how careful he was being. "That's great news, Lory. All I want is for my friend is to heal."
"Keep talking like we are and both of us will be having the waterworks," she joked.
"Ah well, it's manly for men to cry now and days, y'know? Hell. I caught Eric sobbing over an episode of that demon/human anime show he watches on Saturdays..."
Ethan snorts at the memory, sending her an amused look while he offers a lending hand to the double-doors of their high school.
"I confronted him about it, and he went into a full-blown meltdown. I've never seen him turn a shade of red before, but now I have."
"You mean Inuyasha?" She gazes up at him with a frown.
A look of bewilderment crosses his face. "You know about it too?"
"What's wrong with that? I've just recently started watching it with Marcus. He got me on it the first few episodes- I'm rooting for Inuyasha and Kagome, just so you know. I can't really say I like that priestess he used to be with."
She goes on to say, shaking her head at the poor love triangle that the characters found themselves in.
Ethan's brown irises are wider than earlier, and his laugh is sudden and bellowing.
"What's wrong with that?! So, what if I watch some anime with my brother... you stop laughing, Ethan or so help me." Lorraine's face is a blushing mess now, feeling embarrassed.
"Not you too!" He crows with a guffaw, trembling under the weight of his laughter. "No way!"
Lorraine, realizing that she had told a secret delight of hers' to the crowing boy, huffed at his dramatic bellows before shoving her shoulder against one of the doors to enter the busybody halls of the main entrance of Forks High, leaving Ethan behind. She crutches past the zeroing gazes of the students and towards the front office.
Her ears are burning with the minimal humiliation she was feeling at confessing such an awkward, yet favorite, pass time of hers to the teen.
A cry of her name goes unanswered as she continues to the office's front door.
The owner of the shout belonging to a still wheezing Ethan, who slipped past the students in the crowded hall. His voice echoing in the looming archway. "Oh, come on, Lory!"
A minor curse followed once he was pulled back by shouldering masses. "Wait up!"
She did, in fact, end up waiting for him to ease next to her before the front door. The withering glare she sent him was one of scolding, which he could only exchange an awkward smile in response.
"Are you finished, now?"
Ethan chuckled and nods, "yeah, I am."
They both give one another looks of exasperation in the end.
"I've missed your dramatics," he tells her with a gentle pat on the shoulder. The warmth mingling in his voice ties in with the expression painting his fair features. "Nothing felt the same without you here."
"Well, don't worry," Lorraine grins at him with a blinding smile.
The small fading scar along the bottom of her lip stretches at the length of her grin, but it shows the genuineness in her action as she meets his chocolate irises with her light-colored ones.
"Now that I'm back, in minor condition, I plan on being here till Graduation. These poor sods have no clue, especially Vindictive Varner."
"Oh, I've got to admit. I honestly think the old crotch really missed his favorite verbal chess mate." His words caused her to nearly choke on the shock she felt. And judging by the smirk on his face, he was very much aware. "No, I really do."
Lorraine shivered at the idea, while turning the knob of the door to enter the vanilla scented quarters of the Secretary's office. She shot Ethan a look of dread as they approached the front desk. "You're lying."
"I wish I was," he says.
Whatever she wanted to say next was squashed by the low gasp before them.
The redhaired woman behind the desk stared at the two in total astonishment. Mrs. Cope's doubled eyes were locked on the now uneasy form of Lorraine, taking in the teen's appearance with glistening light brown orbs.
She wore a beige colored suit, feminine enough for her tastes, that had the jacket removed while she worked on setting piles of important files and documents away, though that was now nowhere near important enough than the young girl standing across from her.
"By the Lord above," the elder woman murmurs this with a slightly trembling hand laying against her blouse's chest. Her face was now as white as chalk. "Is that you, Miss Malarky?"
Lorraine could only wave politely at the women, knowing this was what she could expect from many other teachers and classmates.
So, she responded with kindness. "Hello, Mrs. Cope. I am happy to be back."
Even if that was a boldfaced lie.
"Dear me, you look much better! Oh, I am sure your old man and brothers are absolutely thrilled to see you up and moving again!"
The woman stood from her chair and leaned over the desk to get a better look of the now uncomfortable teen. And as her wandering gaze met the sight of the metal bar locked around the girl's right knee she gave another gasp.
"I- I heard. But seeing is quite different. My girl, I am so sorry for the pain you must've been put through."
Her kind words were nothing Lorraine wanted to hear, as they brought back painful memories she did not wish to relive again. So, with a tight, stiffening, smile. She met the woman's tearing gaze and shook her head.
"Yes, I am." Her voice was rigid. "Um... I'm here with my doctors note and a slip from my counselor. These were to be brought in earlier, but my father was too busy."
Mrs. Cope blushed in minor shame before nodding, causing her bobble-like earrings to shake side to side. Her face was a mask of hidden emotions now. "Yes, yes. Of course. Just give them to me and I'll let you go on to class... It's good to have you back, Miss Malarky."
"I- thank you." Is all Lorraine can offer the woman before she hurriedly crutches out the door.
The awkwardness that lingered in the air follows her and Ethan into the hall.
"That was a trainwreck to watch."
His eyes were hooded by the thin frames covering them, but she could spot the frustration in them regardless.
"Come on, Lory. I'll escort you to your first class and we can meet up before gym with Coach Clapp."
Lorraine rolls her glacial-blue orbs and bites down the agitation that bubbles and boils beneath her form as she crutches next to her friend and down the east hallway.
"I could practically feel her pity..."
Her words were said bitterly.
Ethan's stalking slows into a snails pace when he caught wind of her words. His face falls for a moment and he can only stare down at her grim expression with a look of lost that hadn't clouded their features before. His hands rise and fall, hopelessness filling him until he could nothing but sigh in regret, upset for his friend in her place.
The brief air of despair hovers above the black haired girl's once laughing face, crumbling her elated emotions and earlier confidence into one of dejection.
Slowly, they continue to the first class that Lorraine would have to endure for the day.
The tangle of emotions warring within her chest causes her brows to furrow into an aggrieving frown that speaks on the turmoil that floods her heart and mind. She hated, despised, the pitying glances and words. After everything that happened, she wanted to thrive on more positive emotions once she'd been able to toss away those choking negative thoughts.
She had worked hard to relieve herself of those crushing thoughts and feelings. So, for her to see any sort of pity.
It twisted and mutilated her resolve.
She had been so focused on her inner turmoil over what happened to be a minor inconvenience. Lorraine didn't hear Ethan say his farewells or pull her into a gentle embrace as he hurried to his own class for the morning.
The blank stare she developed was tightening over her consciousness, taking hold. It left her stranded in the now empty hallway and battling her inner demons.
Enough. Let it go, let it go already...
The overwhelming thought nearly crushed her entirely until a sudden hand grappled onto hers'.
The freezing temperature of that hand could only belong to one of the Cullens and with a startling realization, Lorraine's chin was tipped upwards to meet the harden gaze of Jasper's butterscotch irises as he held her attention completely captive. The quiet support he offered her shattered the grim feeling that caked her being. His presence, though one of her current reasons for why her mind and heart were warring within her, was a boon.
He was someone she could depend on. And a breath of fresh air whenever it seemed as if the room itself was closing in on her.
But the fierce glint in his eyes now were overpowering to her haunted gaze.
His eye held a certain strength and firmness that it was like he was trying to mentally beat back the ever-creeping shadowy demons lurking inside of her very heart. The cold grip he had on her chin was tender and yet stronger than he had ever held any part of her before.
He continued to stare deeply into her watering, weary eyes until a feeling of acceptance and relief took place. It's enclosing impression caused the tightness in her shoulders and stiffened form to melt against his hands.
"Breath, with me," the southern accent is a beacon to her darkened and beaten soul. Her ears twinge with the very sound of his lukewarm voice.
The distant pounding of her heart reverberated throughout her body as she felt his chilly fingers drift down the side of her neck, till they rested firmly against the back.
"There you go, nice and easy."
"Thanks for that," is all she can offer the toned male as he looms above her like some sort of avenging angel with a lethalness to him that scares away her worries. "Just a bit too much going on in my head, is all."
Jasper's withering stare makes her balk, before he gently brushes aside a stray curl from her field of vision. This action makes the stare seem almost protective in a way. "Never say thank you to me for being here, Lorraine."
Her body slumps in his temporary haven.
"C'mon," his cool touch pulls away from the back of her neck and shoulder then. His hardened stare had dissolved into a pool of molten gold that nearly takes her breath. "We're a little late to Mr. Berty's class, don't you think?"
The calm way he states this brings forth a weary chuckle. But she nods along and takes a settling inhale and releases it with a sturdy exhale. "Thanks, Jazz."
He simply offers a compassionate smile in return.
_____
Here have it!
She's back in school and on her way to fulfilling her goal in graduating from Forks, one way or another! And if you notice. I added an older sibling to Eric Yorkie. I wanted her to have a friend, who was someway connected to the main characters, but yet not majorly. And as you see, she still is dealing with some of her inner demons and turmoil and despises pity. Her parents had raised her to be dependent and proud, yet kind and mannerly.
And we also have our beloved Jasper making an appearance.
Thank you all for the kindness in votes and comments!
Vote, Comment, if you wish!