November 2014
"I swear, it's totally legit. I heard Rebecca tell Caitlyn that these new people moved in across town. Her mom's their real estate agent." Jessica Stanely said, immediately plopping down in her seat next to Emeline as she entered their English classroom.
"And why do we care?" Emeline asked her, a fond smile decorating her face, as she turned to face her friend, who looked like she was about to burst out of her seat.
Jessica hadn't been this excited since the two got a cute new pre-algebra teacher back in middle school.
"Because Emeline," she said in a hushed voice, trying not to alert their teacher to their back row conversing. "apparently they have like, ten kids or something. According to Rebecca they're all our age too."
"Ten kids?" The last time any new person had moved to Forks was when Mike Newton moved in seventh grade, and the Newton Family hadn't been very well received at first. It would be the end of the word of a family with ten teenagers actually moved to Forks.
"Yeah! I think they're adopted or something though." She explained, but Emeline still doubted it.
"Do you have something to share with the class Mrs.Stanley?" Their English teacher asked, pointedly staring at Jessica and Emeline, obviously miffed that the two of them hadn't even been pretending to take notes.
"Well actually-" Jessica started in a snarky tone, and Emeline quickly leaned over to cover her mouth, keeping them from getting in trouble, making a few of their classmates laugh as they looked back at the two girls.
Ms. Dinkel, their English Teacher, tapped her foot for a moment, as if daring Jessica to speak, before sighing. "Don't make me separate you two." She said weakly, knowing that the threat was empty, and that was that.
Jessica licked Emeline's hand, causing the taller girl to yank her hand away from Jessica's mouth like she'd been electrocuted.
"Do you have to be so dramatic?" Emeline asked, rolling her eyes.
"As a matter of fact, I do." Jess said, sticking her nose up in the air, before finally taking out her notes and turning her attention to their teacher.
After English it was time for lunch, and the two quickly made their way to the lunchroom, Emeline using her binder to keep safe from the pounding rain while Jessica decided to just book it, her small figure streaking across the courtyard, abandoning the sidewalk in favor of trying to save her carefully straightened hair from the rain.
Once they got to the lunchroom they sat down at their usual table, and launched into conversation with the rest of their friend group as Jessica pouted about how her genius hair saving method failed, grinding her muddy sneakers into the linoleum floor as she complained.
Angela, the tallest (and shyest) of all of the friends had some trashy romance novel out, and while she kept a straight face, and Emeline knew that whatever was inside would cause most to blush.
Mike and Erik were in the midst of some debate that had carried on throughout all of the classes they shared, which was typical for the two boys, and Jessica was trying to get their attention to share her news with them, to no avail.
"I'm telling you Mike, a shark would totally win." Erik said, banging on the table for emphasis.
"Bears are obviously superior, Erik." Mike said, his spite palpable in his voice. "All it would take to kill the shark would be the best dragging it up on land."
"Question-" Emeline interrupted, curious about the logistics of this imaginary fight that the two boys were proposing. Though the play fighting was constant, it would never get old. At least to Emeline it wouldn't. "Would the shark and the bear be fighting in the ocean? If so the shark would have an unfair advantage."
"It's a magical environment where both animals are at their full potential." Mike explained, drumming his heavily bitten fingers on the lunch table in front of him
"What kind of shark?" Angela asked over her book. "Cause an angel shark wouldn't stand a chance, but a tiger shark could."
"Uhhhh-" Mike turned towards Erik, unsure.
"Great White." Erik said confidently.
"Shark wins then, no contest." Emeline said, and the other girls agreed with her, much to Erik's delight. They'd all seen shark week, there was no competition.
Mike sulked quitely, upset that hid bear was theoretically beaten in the imaginary fight.
Erik pumped his first and started obnoxiously humming We Are The Champions, and when he finished Jessica finally pounced, sharing her news about the new students.
"There isn't ten of them Jessica. That's just excessive." Mike said, and Emeline thanked him for having some sense.
"Do you think they'll be hot?" Erik asked, flipping his dark hair out of his face.
"That isn't the most important thing here, Erik." Angela said in an exasperated tone.
Emeline wasn't against the idea of new people moving to Forks, and she was slightly excited by the prospect of new friends, but she didn't want to hype herself up for nothing. What if they were homeschooled? Or they were mean? Or a million other things that could go wrong? It just didn't make sense to me to get excited before they even knew their names.
"Hellooooooo? Earth to Rivera." Mike said, waving his hand in front of Emeline's face. She swatted him away and he pouted at pouted.
"I'm paying attention." She said, yknow, like a liar. "We're still talking about the new people, right."
"We were planning a movie trip, actually." He said, and Emeline smiled.
"Count me in." No questions needed to be asked. Movie trips consisted of sneaking in as much food as they could into the closest theatre, which happened to be in Port Angeles.
"Cool! So we'll go Saturday night. Do you need a carpool with me?" He asked, and she nodded, her mom was working so she wouldn't have a ride.
"What movie are we going to see?" Jessica asked.
"There's The Immatation Game." Erik suggested, but he was shot down quickly.
"What about The Book Theif?" Angela asked, but she was shot down too.
"The new Hunger Games movie?" Mike asked, and they were about to agree on it before Erik informed them that he hadn't seen the first movie, and that idea was ruined too.
"What about Big Hero Six?"
"NO." They exclaimed in unison, and Emeline pouted. It wasn't her fault they didn't like quality movies.
"I think it would be fun." Angela said, and Emeline had a feeling she was just trying to reassure her after the harsh rejection her idea had recieved. Emeline didn't really care though. It wasn't her problem if her friends had no taste.
"What about Jessabelle?" Jessica suggested. "We all like horror."
The group all agreed to that suggestion, though Mike made a face, letting his blonde hair flop into his eyes to enhance his brooding look. It was clear to even a random onlooker that he did not agree with that statement.
"I think it's perfect. A loud, dark theatre, and plenty of opportunities for the lovely Emeline to cuddle up to me." A lanky figure approached the table, and sat down on Emeline's other side.
"And where were you, Tyler?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. She hasn't seen him in the lunchroom, though that wasn't entirely unusual.
"Make up test in Chem." Tyler explained, slinging a toned arm around her. This earned him a flick on the nose from the brunette as she squirmed to escape from his grasp.
"Hands off my lover." Jessica said, and Emeline rolled her eyes. Tyler compiled though, and Emeline was grateful to Jess.
Tyler was constantly flirting with her, though she was fine with casual flirting and banter, she didn't like physical contact from him. It made her uncomfortable, and along with it came Lauren Mallory's jealousy.
"Speaking of lovers, are you inviting yours to the movie?" Mike asked Jessica, distaste coloring his voice when he mentioned Jessica's boyfriend.
Jessica had been on and off dating a guy named Randy since Sophomore year, and for the better part of a year they had definitely been on. She was practically obsessed with him.
"I don't know." Jessica said, biting her lip. "He's been really distant lately."
"Is that why he's sitting with the basketball team instead of us?" Angela asked, and Jessica nodded her head sadly.
"It'll be nice to have a movie night with just us." Mike commented, a little insensitive, and Emeline flared at him.
"Don't be a dick, Newton."