The rest of the week was uneventful. Jessica had no more near death experiences and Edward was back to ignoring her existence. Not strictly true, she almost spilled sodium hydroxide on him during lab and he glared at her like she meant it. She wasn't going to sabotage her grade just to give him some chemical burns.
The weekend finally came and she and her friends decided to visit La Push to go surfing. The water would be freezing and the threat of hypothermia was half the fun. Tyler was feeling better since the crash and Mrs. Crowley begrudgingly let him go with strict instructions to take it easy which they all knew he was going to ignore. His van was being repaired which left the boys to ride with Mike and the girls with Lauren. Jessica was a bit miffed to be separated from Mike as she usually spent the car ride trying to get him to notice her.
They arrived at La Push and quickly made their way to the water. Angela who hated being cold but was there as moral support, took a seat on a log and drank cocoa from the thermos she brought. Jessica was the first in the water, bracing herself against the freezing water until she was waist deep. The pain shot through her veins, nearly paralyzing her with the pain but she pushed through it, getting on her board and paddling towards the waves.
She got knocked down after she rode the first wave. Eric got knocked down multiple times while Tyler and Mike tried to drown each other. Lauren was the best surfer among them and was the only one to make it to shore without getting submerged. It was excruciating but fun.
She got out of the water, the wind making her shiver as she jogged towards Angela, dragging her board with her and dropping it down to the sand.
She asked, "Can I have some of that cocoa?"
Angela poured her a cup and handed it to her. Jessica sighed in pleasure as she drunk, it burned her tongue a little but she didn't mind. Angela made cocoa just right, not too sweet and with a slight bitterness. She licked her lips as she finished her cup.
She and Angela both turned as they saw the Quileute boys walking towards them. Puberty hit those boys like a train because the skinny boys they saw over the summer were taller and muscled like professional athletes. Shirtless and wearing only cut-offs, all the tanned skin was almost too much to bear. The tallest of them suddenly stopped, his brown eyes widening in shock before he collapsed to his knees.
Both she and Angela rushed over. The other Quileute boys were worried and hovered over him. Angela went down on her knees and softly asked, "Are you okay?"
He looked up at the sound of her voice, something like awe in his eyes. "You're...you're..."
"Angela," she offered with her friendly smile. "And you are?"
"Jacob," He smiled back brightly. "It's nice to meet you."
The two continued to stare into each other's eyes as if they were the only wo people in the world. Jessica felt like an interloper on a scene she wasn't supposed to witness. She looked to the other Quileute boys who were exchanging knowing smiles with each other. It was as if she was the only one who didn't know about something important that had just occurred.
Jessica cleared her throat. "Hey, Ang, it's getting dark. We should get started on the bonfire."
Angela snapped out of whatever trance she was in and got to her feet. Jacob followed, wiping off the sand on his hands on his cut-offs. Angela turned back to him and asked, "Would you and your friends like to join us? We have s'mores."
His friends started elbowing him with the same knowing grins. He pushed them away and gave Angela that bright smile again. "We'd love to."
The Quileute boys helped them whittle away some sticks for the marshmallows. Jacob and Angela sat together as they made s'mores together. Angela had never looked so flustered and giddy, not even when she talked to Ben Chenney who she'd had a crush on since Sophomore Year. Jessica couldn't hear what they talked about but before they left La Push, she saw Angela write her phone number on Jacob's arm.
On the drive home, Jessica couldn't help herself anymore.
"So, you and Jacob?" she started. "What happened to Ben?"
"He's been dating Katie Marshall since the summer," Angela answered. "And Jacob is nice."
Huh. She didn't remember hearing about Ben and Katie. Then again, the only time she never really talked to either of them. Angela hadn't mentioned anything and she wondered if her friend had been suffering in silence all this time.
Bad friend alert. Jessica was a bad friend. She should've seen it. She had to return her Best Friend title.
"And you're okay with Ben and Katie?" Jessica asked, feeling like a butthole. "I mean, you could've told me and we could've eaten some ice cream and watched America's Next Top Model together."
Angela, ever kind and gracious, just smiled and reassured her, "It's okay. I'm happy for them."
"Besides, she has a new guy now," Lauren finally spoke. "Somebody actually taller than her. He's got to be around seven feet."
"Yes, and we all saw those abs!" Jessica nudged Angela playfully. "Seven feet and all muscled goodness. Angie, you lucky girl!"
Angela covered her face in her hands, flushed red all the way down her neck. "Please stop. We haven't even gone on a date."
"But you didn't see the way he looked at you," she insisted. "It's like that French saying coup de food-"
Angela corrected her softly, "Coup de foudre."
Jessica took freaking German. Whatever.
"What I mean is it was like love at first sight," she explained. "He saw you and he was a goner."
Her friend smiled, hopeful and vulnerable. Angela was the best of them and she took care of them all without asking for anything in return. Whatever jealousy she would've felt in that moment, Jessica pushed to the furthest part of her mind because if anyone deserved love at first sight and happy endings it was Angela Weber. Jacob Black would be the luckiest boy in the world to end up with somebody like her.
"We don't know anything yet," Angela countered. "It could go nowhere."
"We'll see," Jessica had a very good feeling about all of this. "And when you guys get married, I'm the maid-of-honor, right?"
Lauren scoffed. "No way, Stanley. I'm willing to duel you for the job."
Jessica met Lauren's gaze in the rear view mirror and declared, "You're on, Mallory."
The rest of the week flew by as Homecoming was next weekend. They had a Pep rally on Friday before the football game to announce Homecoming court. Jessica's nomination had excited and freaked her out. She wanted to win but also knew it wasn't an outcome she had zero control over.
She tried to hide her disappointment as Lauren was crowned queen. It made sense. It was all a popularity contest and Jessica was aware that people could find her annoying. "Abrasive" is what the guidance counselor called her once like that was okay to say to a student.
By some surprise turn of events, Edward Cullen was nominated for Homecoming King which made her wonder if they were being serious or if it was a joke. If anybody was "abrasive", it would've been him. He wasn't at the Pep rally though and Mike was crowned king. She would have the added torture of watching one of her best friends dance with the boy she liked at the dance.
She was still part of Homecoming Court which felt like second place and she never enjoyed that. Second place was half-best, not good enough, mediocre. She always strived for more, to be better. But popularity contests weren't something she could strive to be better at. It was just something some people were naturally gifted in and she was...well, she was just herself.
She contemplated skipping Homecoming but Angela persuaded her to go, asking to be her date. She pretended not to stare longingly at Mike as he danced with Lauren. Tyler and Eric danced with her a few times and even both at the same time as they spun her around in a monstrosity of limbs set to Time of My Life. Tyler tried to lift her like in the movie Dirty Dancing and nearly dropped her.
Her friends were so weird.
At the end of the night, sticky from sweat and having drank too much punch, she sat with Angela at their table, discarding their painful heels.
She leaned her head on Angela's shoulder, feeling tired and nostalgic. They had been to every dance together all their lives and she felt a nearly crushing feeling in her stomach as she realized this would be one of the last. She and Angela would be in different colleges and there would be no more terrible, wonderful school dances like this. They were nearing the end of something.
"Hey, Ang," she said. "Promise me something?"
"Yes?"
"No matter what, we'll still be friends?" she swallowed, adamantly refusing to cry. "No matter what, you won't leave me behind?"
Angela took her hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly. "Of course we'll always be friends, Jess."
Jessica sighed, that crushing feeling lessened a bit. "Love you."
"Love you too."
Emily's birthday was the next week and their mom baked Funfetti cake. They sang Happy Birthday and Emily blew out her candles. Jessica got her a CD of the High School Musical soundtrack which she knew her sister would be playing non-stop. She also got her a poster of Zac Efron so her sister could start making a shrine for him.
Not that she blamed her. When the movie had premiered, Jessica had swooned with Angela about Zac Efron. They planned their wedding to him and the name of their future children. Emily had threatened to disown her for trying to steal Troy Bolton from her and didn't talk to her for two days.
"What'd you wish for?" Jessica asked as they ate the cake. "Zac Efron proposing to you?"
"I don't need to wish for that," Emily declared with all the wisdom of a eight-year-old. "That's destiny. You're the one I made a wish for."
"No way. What'd you wish for me?"
"A boyfriend," Her sister gave her a pitying look. "You're not getting any younger, Jessica. You need all the help you can get."
"Okay, squirt. I don't need any help," she protested. "I have a plan."
Emily shook her head. "Waiting for Mike to finally realize he loves you is not a plan."
She spluttered, unable to comprehend her sister talking to her like this. What happened to that sweet little girl who only wanted hugs and to watch the Tetetubbies? Who was this demon that took her place? She had half a mind to hide the High School Musical CD.
"There has to be other boys at your school," Emily continued. "Other fish in the river?"
"The sea," she corrected. "And no more talk about boys."
"I was just trying to help," Emily sighed and got up to put away her empty plate. "If you ever need my advice, my door is always open."
Jessica frowned at her sister as she went to her room. She stabbed into the remains of her slice of cake and scoffed. As if she would ever ask love advice from someone who still slept with a nightlight. Her love life was just fine.
No Edward in this chapter but we do get some Jacob. No love triangle for this story. I wanted to focus on Jessica and her other relationships in this chapter.
1. Emily Stanley is an original character by me. She is not in the books. I based her on a mix of Ava Morgenstern in Girl Meets World and Rachel Hansen in 500 Days of Summer.
2. High School Musical came out in 2006 and I was in love with Zac Efron.
3. Dirty Dancing was a film that came out in 1987.
4. Yes, Jessica calling Emily "squirt" is a Finding Nemo reference. Jessica really likes that movie.
5. Chapter title is a play on the 1981 horror film 'An American Werewolf in London'.
Do you like how I write? You might want to check out my original fiction. I joined a writing contest so if you would like to support me and help me win by reading, I would appreciate it. The book is finished and you can read it for free on Radish, it's called Bedroom Hymns by Seph Meadowes. radishfiction.com/stories/27949