School had lost its appeal. The stress of being a junior hit me hard. The teachers kept griping about how we needed to be prepared for our senior year when all any of us wanted was to never come back. Between cheer practices, being in LA Push, and the endless pile of homework, I had no time to focus on the absence of my friends.
My only friends at the moment seemed to be Evie from the cheer squad, and Tracy, my lab partner from my sophomore year. We were both in the same grade and coincidentally all of her classes were the same as mine. Greg transferred to some other school, leaving Tracy brokenhearted, and Thomas just avoided me whenever he could. Not to mention, Paul quit his job as the assistant coach, leaving me alone in hell. I was losing more people in my life, it was like a domino effect. First Emmett, then Jennah, Greg, Thomas, and now Embry.
Despite it being a Monday, I was wearing my cheer uniform. My blonde hair was tied messily into a ponytail and I ached to let it down, unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to.
I stood by my locker when Bella approached me. She mentioned taking Jake's lunch again and I easily agreed to accompany her. Though I wasn't planning on returning to school afterward. We walked out of the school together and I swung my backpack over my shoulders. Once we reached the truck, we both hurried inside the cab to avoid the cold air.
We drove to a small fast food place and ordered food for Jake before driving toward his school. I nodded to Bella and exited the truck. My sweater was unzipped and I got a few glances from people as I walked into the school. Forks High's emblem was noticeable but nobody commented on it.
"Hello, Ethel." I greeted my favorite elderly lady. She worked the front desk at the school and I've seen her so many times, that we had finally learned each other's first names.
"More food?" I nodded. "When will that boy start to bring his lunch?" She chuckled and handed me the visitor pass.
"I pray that it happens soon." I waved bye to her and walked to the cafeteria. I pushed the heavy doors open and scanned the room for Jake's enormous body. I spotted him sitting with Quil and Embry near the back. I quickly walked over to them and dropped the food onto the table.
"Well look at little miss cheerleader." Jake mocked me. I gave him a sarcastic smile.
"Shut up." I glared at him. "Here's your food." I waved and went to turn around when I felt a hand on my wrist. I followed the length of the limb and was met with Embry's shy stare. "Yes?" I rose an eyebrow. He glanced at my wrist before shaking his head and letting go. "Bye guys." I hightailed it out of there, I didn't want to be stopped again.
"Take me to Emily's," I said to Bella as I climbed into the truck. She eyed me curiously but nodded anyway. The drive was small and I was grateful for that. I grabbed my bag, waved bye to Bella, and walked up to the door. I knocked and waited for the door to open.
"You know there is no need to knock," Sam said as he welcomed me in.
"What if you and Emily were doing the nasty in the kitchen? That's not something I want to walk in on." I grimaced and shook the mental image from my mind.
"I'll put a sock on the door as a warning." He scanned my uniform. "Shouldn't you be at school?"
"I should be, but am I? No." I took off my sweater and placed it on the coat hanger by the door. "Besides, I'm caught up in all of my classes, missing one day won't kill my GPA."
"If you get in trouble, don't blame me." He shook his head and walked into the living room. I walked behind him and smiled at Billy and Harry as they sat there with Paul and Jared.
"Hello, my lovely people." I greeted all of them.
"When the hell did you become a cheerleader?" Jared asked.
"Last year." I sat in between him and Paul on the couch. "And watch your language." I scolded him.
"But you curse all the time." He pointed out.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." I dismissed him. He snorts and returns his attention to the tv, where a football game was playing.
"Why aren't you in school?" Billy asked. I sat on the armrest of the couch and draped my legs in Jared's lap.
"Your son wanted lunch," I told him as I glanced around for Emily. "Where's Em?" I turned to Sam.
"What do you mean he wanted lunch?" Billy raised an eyebrow at me.
"Bella takes him lunch whenever he asks and I sometimes go with her." He nodded and averted his gaze to the football game.
"Em's in our room." I nodded in thanks to Sam and bounded off to their bedroom. I knocked and waited until Emily's voice piped up from the other side of the door. "Hey, hey, hey." I grinned at her and plopped onto her bed, mindful of the pile of neatly folded clothes on the bed.
"Hello, Clary." She chuckled. "What can I do for you?"
"Clothes," I stated. "Remember that box of clothes I left here, where'd you put it?"
"The guest room." She nodded to her door. "Going anywhere special?"
"I'm hanging out with Quil later, and I don't want to wear this stupid uniform to the movies." I rolled my eyes and grimaced. "Well, I'm off to change. Toodles!" She laughed as I exited her room. I entered the guest room and dug through the closet for the brown box with my name on it. I finally found it and I dragged it out of the small closet before rummaging through it. I finally settled on a decent outfit and I chucked my uniform off and left it on the bed before slipping the new outfit on. I slid my feet back into my white Keds and deemed myself ready.
"Em, can you pin my hair back for me?" She nodded and I sat cross-legged on her bed with my back to her. She brushed her fingers through my hair and I felt her divide my hair until only the top half was in her hands. She tapped my shoulder and I stood up and walked to her mirror. "Thanks, Em." She smiled at me.
"Where are you going dressed like that?" Paul rose an eyebrow at me.
"After school let's out, I'm going to the movies with Quil." I sat beside him on the couch. "And no it's not a date." I rolled my eyes.
"Well, what else am I supposed to think when you say you're going to the movies with a boy - alone." Paul retorted.
"Well, originally it wasn't going to be just the two of us, but Jake canceled and Embry - well it's kind of obvious why he doesn't want to go."
"If he pulls a move, hurt him." Jared wagged his finger at me.
"Yes, because the boy who fangirls over puppies is going to do something inappropriate." I scoffed.
"He's a boy. It's genetically wired in our brains to make a move when we're sitting next to a pretty girl." Paul informed us without looking away from the TV. "Plus, you'll be in a dark movie theater, some crazy stuff has happened in those."
"Oh yeah, because you know all about that." Jared grimaced at him in disgust.
"I had my first kiss in a movie theater." I giggled.
"That's it, you are not going." Jared glared playfully at me. "Clary, why would you kiss a boy in a movie theater?"
"It just happened." I shrugged. I felt a vibration in my jacket pocket and pulled my phone out. It blinked with a text from Quil. "Alright, well I'm heading out. Quil said school let out early, so he's going to meet me at the theater."
"I'll drive you." Sam piped up. I nodded and grabbed his hand, dragging him to his truck.
-
"Thanks for the ride." I waved to Sam and walked over to Quil who was waiting patiently for me. "Hey." I gave him a quick hug.
"I already bought the tickets." He smiled and guided me inside the small movie theater. It only had two screening rooms and after we bought snacks, we walked into one. The seats were red and faded. There were only ten rows of seats and only a few people were occupying the small area. Quil directed me to the middle row and he scooted down until he was directly in the middle.
The lights began to dim and a warning sign flashed on the movie screen. I fished my phone out of my jacket pocket and I switched it to silent. Just as I was about to put it back, my screen lit up as someone called me. My palms began to sweat and I had to force down the gasp that tried to escape. My screen only had one name written on it: Emmett's.