Stir-Crazy

The first day of school, was surprisingly, not as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, there was the occasional group of people who stared at me, but I had expected some sort of jungle scene where I was isolated from society or something…

Okay, I watch too much Mean Girls, sue me.

Instead, most people didn’t even bother giving me a second glance, and for that I was grateful. I was just another face in the crowd, even if it was an extremely small crowd. La Push High only featured kids that lived on the reservation.

I was pretty sure that Cora had spread at least a dozen rumors about me from her rumor mill, also known as where she and her followers issued out the latest “gossip” (useless and false information that usually involved hookups, breakups and diseases).

As far as I knew, I had herpes or some other STD or even worse-I could have hooked up with Embry. Either way, these rumors made most people curious-you could always tell by the expression on their faces, but because of my ‘condition’, they stayed away.

Typical Cora.

The classes were going smoothly, and I didn’t have to introduce myself for anything embarrassing, so I usually kept to myself.

A few people had tried to befriend me, but I had politely turned them down. I didn’t need friends. Especially the overly cheerful type like most girls inhabiting the school. At least, I didn’t need friends until I saw her. Sure, I had seen her before walking around, but it was different this time.

This time, I really, saw her.

I had just turned into Literature when I noticed her. She was sitting at the back, a bored expression on her face. She was flipping through pages of a novel, though I couldn’t see the title or the author. A permanent scowl had settled itself on her mouth, and I was instantly intrigued.

She was very pretty though, in an exotic sort of way. She had choppy hair, like it had been cut a while back and was growing out again. Her eyelashes were long, and fluttered against her high cheekbones. Her skin was a shiny copper, and her eyes a dark brown.

Surprising her, and even more myself, I found myself sliding off my backpack so it landed with a thunk against the tile, and sitting in the chair.

“Hey,” She looked up at me, confused. An eerie silence filled the air, neither of us sure what to say. “Mind if I sit here?”

She shook her head, but refused to say anything.

“I’m Lainey.” Alarm was evident in her eyes. So she had heard too. “I’m not at all associated with Cora. And I don't have an STD”

The girl stared at me strangely (and I would too if I was her), for a couple of seconds, as though she was checking if I was a predator or not before nodding slowly. I was accepted.

“I’m Leah.”

“Nice to meet you.”

We sat in comfortable silence before the door swung open and Jacob and Quil strolled in. Jacob spotted me almost immediately.

“Lainey.”

He didn’t say anything else, just my name. Did he want to be mysterious? My name could be interpreted so many different ways…was he flirting with me? Or did he just not really care?

“You stole my Cap’n Crunch!”

I immediately felt stupid after I said it because a few people turned to stare, and Quil began to snicker.

Jacob just shrugged and gave me the what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it? look.

I didn't even know why I had blurted it out, and I flushed slightly before Jacob turned to Leah.

“Sam wants to see you after school.” He mumbled, before making his way to a seat around the front. As soon as he was out of earshot, Leah burst out laughing.

“You stole my Cap’n Crunch!” She mimicked in a high pitch girly voice.

I had only known her for a few minutes, so I wasn’t sure if I should laugh along or sock her in the face.

“What, it’s true. He ate my cereal.”

“It’s sounds like he took your virginity or something,” she muttered, quite loudly and I turned bright red.

“Ew.“ I groaned, though on the inside, I thought about it…that wouldn’t be so bad.

Oh God, pull yourself together!

Jacob turned around confused, but I couldn’t bear look at him and instead shot Leah a glare. She just shrugged. Jacob had turned around, and Leah was relieving her last chuckles.

“So,” I drawled, desperately trying changing the subject. “How do you know Jacob?”

“Oh, he and I, we’re in a gang.” I must have looked horrified, because she quickly added on, “it’s not like a biker gang or anything, it’s a patrol for La Push. We protect it and stuff.”
“Oh.” I sighed, relieved.
Our teacher had yet to show up, so I turned my chair towards Leah, attempting to get some information. “

So what’s Jacob’s story. The real story, not the public one.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Never mind.” Leah laughed, before lowering her voice, gesturing for me to move in closer.

“I’m not supposed to be telling you this, but frankly-that boy needs help. You see, it all started when he was fifteen. A girl who he used to be friends with moved to Forks, and he fell in love. He was infatuated with her, and thought she was the one.”

“It always starts with a girl.” Leah nodded before continuing.

“But she had a boyfriend who was…different. The girl was so serious about her boyfriend, it was unreal. And Jacob was still there, pining after her. But then her boyfriend left her. He moved away to Alaska or some place up North. He said he never wanted to see her again.”

She paused and took a dramatic breath.

“So she was stuck in Forks, alone and depressed. Jacob was her sunshine, and cheered her up, or at least tried his best. He used to be like that. You know the kind of people who could cheer anyone up. He had smile that reached his eyes, and it practically lit up the town. Anyway, they did everything together for months. She came out of her depression, but she would always love her boyfriend. Jacob tried to push for a relationship, but she only saw him as a friend.”

“Poor guy…” I blurted out, causing a few people to glance our way. I mouthed a sorry, before turning back to Leah, who was now speaking barely above a whisper. I wasn't sure if it was because she didn't want Jacob to hear, or because she wanted to be dramatic. Knowing her, probably both.

“But then, her boyfriend came back, and they began their relationship again, as serious as ever. And Jacob was still pining, waiting for the perfect moment. He even attempted to kiss her a few times, so I heard, but she felt nothing. And then it happened. He found out that they were getting engaged. Married. And he was shattered. At eighteen, the girl he loved was getting married. So, he went to the wedding, but he became depressed. He even tried to run away a few times. And then, she moved away. Nothing. Her whole family disappeared without telling anyone. They could have moved anywhere. Jacob ran away to Canada for about two months, to take some time to think. Last I heard, they sent him a postcard and told him they had a baby girl.”

“Oh. My. God. Where does Cora come in?”

“Well, Jacob returned after a while. He was not the same, though. He became upset all the time, moping around and getting angry at the easiest things. He would never smile. At all. He would just stay in his room and sleep. Most days he didn’t go to school. One day though, Quil convinced him to get back on the ‘dating wheel’ again.” I snorted.

“Typical Quil.”

“Exactly. Anyway, he met Cora at some sort of speed dating thing. He had already met about six different girls, and she seemed to be the best one. They had some things in common, so they agreed to go on a date. I suppose it went well, though I never got details. Either way, she was latched to Jake’s side the next day. And that was about four months ago when that happened, and you’ve come here since.”

“Wow.” I shot a glance at Jacob, who seemed to feel my stare at turned back to glance at me. I blushed before dropping my gaze.

So he had a past, too. I wasn’t the only one. We sat, chatting about everything from recliner chairs to politics, before the teacher finally showed up-half an hour late. And for some reason, as she blabbed on about what books would be reading this year, my eyes wandered toward the back of Jacob's head, and for some reason, I felt a lot better.