Cookie: Lalalala, I felt random and found a pic of anime girl that reminded me of Stacy, all sad and alone O.O
Now the song "Dearest" from Inuyasha is one of my favorite songs from the anime. ^_^
It's weird but when I'm writing this story I picture everyone as anime characters O.O hmmm *laughs*
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*~Stacy's POV~*
That same afternoon after school, I ran into West at the grocery store.
I don't know why I was so surprised to see him, it's a small town and we both lived in it but as I watched him casually stroll towards me in a confident yet predatory manner, my instincts kicked in and I found myself backing away.
A slow and knowing smile spread across his lips as he watched me backing away. His dirty blonde hair was slightly tousled in a strangely becoming manner, still wearing his red basketball jersey. His hands were tucked in his black jeans, black boots soundless as he continued to stalk after me. My eyes darted to the black shirt he wore beneath the jersey and I had a suffocating feeling that I was back in that dream, the dream where he had massive black wings and wore all black.
I turned and stumbled into a rack of spices that I hadn't known was behind me until it was too late. Small bottles of spices clattered on the floor, one rolling towards West. His foot shot out and stopped it. I swallowed and watched him bend down and picked the spice up, wondering why I had to run into him of all people.
Was it just coincidence or...? No, I thought, it must be just coincidence. West couldn't have possibly known that I would be here and came looking for me. That dream was making me paranoid.
West straightened and closed the distance between us, bottle of spice in one hand. He examined the bottle with a curious look on his handsome face before his blue eyes met mine. Then he smiled and for some reason my heart skipped a beat.
Dangerous, my mind whispered. This boy is dangerous.
"Fancy meeting you here, Stacy Bennet," he said, offering the bottle of spice to me. I glanced at it but didn't take it.
West cocked his head slightly, the smile on his face becoming a full fledge grin. I shivered and held the pink food basket in front of me, as if the little thing could protect me from him.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "You look like you just saw a ghost."
Or a devil, my mind retorted. I winced at the thought.
"I didn't know you were so clumsy," he chuckled, setting the bottle back on the rack since I refused to take it. His eyes settled on me. "Are you going to pick those up?"
I looked down at the bottles of spices at my feet and flushed. I don't know why I felt so embarrassed all of a sudden. I bent down and set the basket aside, picking up the spices around me. I flinched when West bent down to help.
When I reached out a hand to pick up the final bottle his hand reached for it at the same time, brushing gently against mine. The sudden contact made me jump and I snatched my hand away. Heart pounding, I lifted my eyes up and met his. They twinkled back at me with the same mischief I've often seen in Courtney.
I stood and quickly arranged the spices back on the rack, ignoring West as he did the same. When I was done I picked up my basket and turned and walked away. My instincts told me to get away from him and fast.
"Leaving so soon?" I heard him say from behind me. "And here I thought we were just beginning to bond."
I stopped walking and swirled to face him. "What do you want from me?"
His eyes widened innocently. "What do you mean?"
"Did you know I was going to be here? Have you been following me?"
His smile turned mocking. "Now why would you think that?"
I glared at him. "Stay away from me."
Before I could turn around and walk away his hand shot out and grabbed my arm, jerking me towards him. Words of protest died in my throat when I saw that his eyes had darkened dangerously, all sense of mischievous playfulness from him gone.
"She's only toying with you, you know," he told me. "Courtney."
I trembled but lifted my chin up defiantly. "Let me go."
"Did you have a nice chat with her this evening?"
I blinked up at him. What? Had he been watching us during lunch? Courtney and I had silently parted ways after that but...had he been around the whole time and I hadn't been aware of it?
"What do you want from me?" I repeated.
West smiled. "Oh, it's not what I want from you that you should be worried about, Stacy. The real question here is, what does lovely Courtney Heart want from you?"
I've been asking myself the same question all day but found no answer. Why was Courtney suddenly so interested in me? Did I even want to solve this riddle? I feared the answer I might find.
"Hey, guys, what's going on?"
Both our heads jerked up and looked behind me at the sound of that voice. A cute Asian girl stood a couple of feet away from us down the isle, a curious look in her wide brown eyes. She wore purple overalls that looked just a little bit too big for her, a stripped white and purple shirt underneath it. Her straight dark hair was put up in two pigtails on either side of her head, purple bows decorating it. It matched her sandles.
She was holding a lollipop in her mouth as she gazed at us, tilting her head to the side as her eyes landed on the hand the West had on my upper arm. She popped the lollipop out her mouth and smiled. "Are you two playing a game? I love games."
"Yes," West lied smoothly with a charming smile that would have charmed the clothes off the strictest nun. "Why don't you leave and let us keep playing, hmm, little girl?"
"I'm not a little girl," the girl laughed. "I'm already..um..." She looked thoughtful before brightening. "I'm already seventeen years old!"
I blinked at her with surprise. Seventeen? She hardly looked fourteen.
"I get this all the time," she said with a wave of her lollipop, strolling towards us now. "People think I'm younger than I really am." She stopped right next to me and stared at West's hand on my arm. "Hmm, gee, mister, that looks like it's hurting her. What kind of game are you playing again?"
West's eyes narrowed down at her, a flash of annoyance crossing his face before he reverting back to his charming self. "Oh nothing, just a secret game between me and Stacy over here, right Stacy?" He didn't wait for me to respond and let go. "But I guess we'll have to continue it later."
"I'm Ami," the girl stuck a hand out to him. "Ami Anderson. My last name used to be Chidori but when Mama married an American it became Anderson. We just moved here a couple of days ago."
"The name is West," West told her without taking the hand she offered. "West Kingsley."
Ami turned her eyes to me expectingly. I cleared my throat. "I'm Stacy, Stacy Bennet."
She smiled. "Hallo Stacy Bennet, nice to meet you." She took both my hands into hers and shook them. "I think we're going to be great friends!"
"Well isn't that sweet?" West said sweetly but his voice held a hint of mocking. "You made a new friend, Stacy. Wait til she hears about your father."
I turned red and snatched my hands away from Ami. That's right...I almost forgot about my father. Sooner or late Ami's going to hear about my past and she too will probably avoid me. They always do.
"I gotta go," I mumbled and brushed past Ami, heading towards the cash registers.
"Her father?" I heard Ami asked West curiously as I walked away. I turned the corner before I heard West's response.
No doubt that the next time I see Ami Anderson...West would have already turned her against me.
***
I wasn't surprised to see Ami Anderson being introduced in my second period class the very next day, but I was surprised that she willingly agreed to take the empty seat beside me by the window.
Hadn't West told her everything?
"Hi!" She said cheerfully to the class and bowed. "My name is Ami Anderson, please take good care of me."
Our classmates chuckled, not knowing how to react to her sudden bow and show of respect. A few of us knew that it was a Japanese custom but were rarely saw such things here in the small town of Provence, Virginia. We were barely a speck on the map.
Today Ami wore another type of overalls but this time it was blue and fashioned into a skirt that hung just above the knees. She wore a pink shirt with it and the image of Hello Kitty peeked out at us from the front. This time her dark hair was in one pigtail to the side, bangs hanging on her forehead.
She looked so cute that I had the sudden urge to pet her. When she took her seat next to me, she smiled and placed her Hello Kitty backpack on her chair. "Stacy! Hello! Remember me?"
I looked at her from under my black hood and smiled wanly. "I remember."
"Oh good!" She laughed, "I'm so glad we have at least one class together."
"Yeah."
"So what other classes do you have?" Ami asked, noisily scooting her desk closer to mine. "Maybe we have more classes together. And hey! You can show me around."
I glanced around the classroom and saw how people were watching us. No doubt that any of them would love to gossip to her about me. Stacy Bennet...the murderers daughter. But why hadn't West told her yesterday? I thought with a frown. I had been so sure that he would.
"Miss Anderson, Miss Bennet," our math teacher, Mrs. Bates looked at us disapprovingly under the rim of her black glasses. "You two can talk amongst yourselves later but right now it's class time."
"Wow she sounds strict," Ami whispered to me as soon as the teachers back was turned. "But I like it here in Province. It has pretty woods."
"You shouldn't talk to me," I blurted to her, glancing at the faces of our classmates, the ones who were trying to listen in on our conversation. Nosy bastards.
Ami's eyes widened. "But why?"
I looked at her. "I'm not very...welcomed here. If you get involved with me you'll be shunned."
I had learned that from experience. Several new people had tried to be friends with me before, even knowing about my father but they never lasted. The pressure of our peers forced them away from my side. I didn't blame them though. They shouldn't have to become an outcast because of me.
"Because of what your father did?"
I stared at her. So West had told her about my father. "Yes, because of what my father did."
"But why would I stop being friends with you just because of what your father did?" She asked, genuinely surprised. "You're not your father."
"No," I whispered, "I'm not."
Ami smiled. "See! We're already agreeing on things! I knew we'd be good friends."
I smiled at her and this time my smile reached my eyes. I don't know what it was about Ami, maybe it was her charming innocence but she made me want to smile. Aside from Courtney, who hadn't even spoken to in first period because she seemed to like to keep me on my toes, I found myself with a new friend.
How long will she last?