Keep on Living

With four of my hardest classes out of the way, I could finally relax. Unfortunately, the earlier incident with Jacob left me a bit shaken. I don't really know why, it really wasn't that big of a deal, and I've fallen on my face hundreds of times before so I've sort of gotten used to people laughing at me for that. But there was something about Jacob Black... something that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.
I shook my head, trying to clear my head. Because Lord knows trying to cook with a mind on something else was a very unwise thing to do. I settled myself at one of the tables, where I found pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils set before me. I glanced at the empty seat on my left, when a whirl of blonde jumped into my vision.
I sat back, startled at the pale young woman grinning at me. She was probably my age, though she was no taller than 5' 1", and had long, platinum blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail. Her bangs fell above and into her gray eyes, and her white teeth could clearly be seen due to the grin stretched across her face.

"Hi! I'm Arianna Parker, and you must be the new girl! Ha ha, well duh you're the new girl, everyone knows that, but still, ya know? Oh, but you can just call me Parker!"
She had somehow managed to say all of that in one breath. How, I'm not quite sure. Despite the fact that I could only stare at her, the cheerful expression on her face never wavered.
"It's... nice to meet you, too," I finally managed, offering a pathetic smile. Her lips twitched upwards even more, if that was possible, and she slid into the empty seat next to me. I wanted to ask her if she lived on the reservation too, as I hadn't expected to see anyone else... Caucasian at the school, but I felt like it'd be kinda rude.
That wouldn't be racist would it?
(So sue me, I'm a dork.)
"So my pops tells me that you're George's new stepdaughter?" she asked as she swiveled around on her seat. I nodded, trying to suppress my smile, which seemed to be a result from her hyperactivity. "That's so cool! I've known George since I was like... born, you know? Nice to know he's finally settled down."
I raised my brows. "So then you live on the reservation, too?" Oops, that just slipped out. I blame her cheeriness for taking me off guard.
Fortunately, she seemed to take no offense at all. "Yup! This is where I was born! ... Well, not here," (she indicated the kitchen and school), "'cause that's kinda weird, but here in La Push. I live with three older brothers and Pops." I noted that she left out any implications about a mother, but decided it wasn't any of my business to prod into.
"Well, I have an older twin and a younger brother, and a mom and dad, though my dad's still in New York."
Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "You lived in New York?" Before I could nod or say yes, her body lurched forward so that she was on the edge of her seat, and her face was only inches from mine. "OHMYGOD THAT'S SO COOL!" she squealed. All eyes in the kitchen seemed to shift to us, and I looked around wearily, though Parker didn't seem to notice at all.
"Y-yeah, I guess," I replied, a bit taken back by her excitement.
If she noticed, she paid no mind. "I've always wanted to see New York 'cause it looks so pretty in all the pictures that Pops has and oh my God the lights and the buildings and the people and the cars and the--"
"Parker, if you don't mind, I'd like to start the class now." An elderly woman stood at the front of the kitchen, both hands planted firmly on her hips. Despite the harsh and strict tone of her voice, a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. Clearly this was something that happened often.
Parker giggled. "Soooooorry, ma'am!"
The teacher, Mrs. Carson, gave us a simple assignment since it was just the first day of school. Parker began to knead the cookie dough as I poured the chocolate chips into it.
"So you said you have a twin, right?" she asked.
I nodded. "Yeah."
"That's so cool!" she squeaked. I half expected her to throw her arms up or clap them together, but she fortunately kept them in the dough. "He goes here, right? What's his name?"
"Yup, he goes here. His name's Tanner." The conversation lingered in the air for a while. "My little brother Jonathan's eleven, so he'll be going to the mid-school in La Push. What are your brothers like?"
She made a face of contemplation where she wrinkled her nose and creased her forehead. I resisted the urge to laugh, and only smiled. "Well Troy's the oldest, and he's thirty-one, Kyle's twenty-eight, and Stephen's twenty-two. Pops owns an auto shop in town, so all of them work there, except Stephen who's going to Washington University to become a doctor. I'm at the shop a lot too -- actually, I'm there pretty much everyday after school and on weekends."
I checked her face for signs of disgust or discontent, but she just seemed as happy as ever. "So... you like working there?" I asked, unable to picture her in a mechanics suit with a wrench in hand.
She nodded excitedly. "You bet! I love it there -- I might as well live there, Troy says. Pops used to take me there all the time, even when I was just a kid, so it's like my second home. Though I do probably spend more time there than at my actual home..." She tilted her head to the side, the look of thinking on her face again, but she eventually shrugged it off. "Oh well. So I've actually been working on cars for a while, and Pops says soon enough I might be able to put together my own car! Exciting, really!"
Now that was something difficult to imagine: little Parker working on the underside of a car, her short legs barely sticking out from underneath.
Her chipper voice snapped me out of my thoughts: "So what do you do?"
The answer was almost reflexive, "I dance." She made an 'o' with her mouth and looked at me with wide eyes, which I guess was her way of urging me to go on. "Well, mostly ballet. I've been doing it since I was three. I try to do a bit of acting and singing, too, but that's just so I can get into musicals and stuff."
"Ooo, an artsy fartsy person! I never would have guessed!" I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but with her perky tone of voice, I doubted she was even capable of sarcasm.
A comfortable silence lingered as we finished up the dough. I was never able to believe that saying about happiness being contagious, but I found it all too easily with Parker. Her unnatural amount of giddiness was almost overwhelming, but definitely reassuring. She reminded me a lot of Whittier. ... Except a lot shorter and little ditzier.
"Sooooo..." I looked up at her as I began to spoon the dough onto the tray in rolls. I quirked a brow curiously, not really liking the sly smile on her face. "Have you met anyone you liiiiike yet?"
For some reason unbeknown to me, I instantly thought of Jacob. I inwardly cursed at myself and shook my head, trying to rid of the images. I turned my eyes back to the tray and cookie dough in an attempt to hide the blush that was inevitably taking over my cheeks and face. I could just feel her grin growing.
She lightly nudged me in the side with her elbow. "Heeeey, you're bluuuuu~shing! Who is he? Who is he? Come ooooon, you can tell me! I'll give you a suuuuugar cookie! Or a banana. Bananas are really good you know, bright and yummy! They're good for your body and your soul!"
I couldn't help but stare at her. Well, that was definitely something that Whit didn't have: ADD.
The dreamy look on Parker's face was quickly wiped off, and she unfortunately returned to her original train of thought. "So who is it, eh? Eh? Eh eh eh eeeeeeeh?"
"What? No one! I've only been here for like a week!" I protested. I was obviously failing, because my face felt like it was on fire. "That's ridiculous."
She raised a brow, doubting every word out of my mouth. "Riiiiiiight. Well, let me warn you, Arianna Parker always finds out everything! I will find out! BWA HA HA HA!" she cackled, instantly earning the attention of everyone in the room, including Mrs. Carson's.
I sunk in my seat, dropping the spoon, trying to hide from everyone's eyes. Not again.
"In the light of the sun,
is there anyone, ohh it has begun;
Oh dear you look so lost,
eyes are red and tears are shed;
This world you must have crossed, you said:"

For me, Study Hall is like heaven. If I'm lucky, it takes off about an hour's worth of homework, so I have more time to be pathetic and lounge around the house when school ends. Until the dance studio opens and I can talk to the owner, anyways.
I had been sitting in my seat for a while, working on a worksheet for AP Bio, when suddenly a pair of hands clamped over my eyes. I jumped in my seat and probably would have screamed had I not recognized the unnatural heat of the hands. "Okay Jacob, if you ruin my make-up, I'm going to be very unhappy."
"Geez, Jake's always getting the recognition, isn't he?" laughed a familiar voice. I froze, instantly blushing again when the hands pulled away to reveal two of his friends. Well, that was definitely embarrassing.
"Well, I guess he'll be glad to know you're thinking about him too," snickered his other friend. What was his name? He was a lot more buff than the others... and I think he had a really weird name? Quil?
I scowled. "I most certainly am not! It's just -- he's been catching me off guard a lot lately, so I just figured it was him." The two of them looked at me unconvinced, but I just rolled my eyes and returned to my work.
The other one, Paul I think, continued to hover over me from behind, which was no problem considering his ridiculous height. "AP Biology? Why would you wanna take that?"
"So I can go to college, make money, and move back to New York," I replied curtly.
"Ouch. Not a big fan of La Push, are you?"
"Is it that obvious?" I asked sarcastically.
"Naw, just a guess." He grinned.
"So, uh..." I glanced at Quil out of the corner of my eye, and he looked a bit apprehensive it what he was about to say. "Are you feeling... better?"
My hand instinctively reached back to rub the bump on the back of my head. "Well, there's a bump there that hurts only if I apply pressure to it, but other than that, I'm fine."
He smiled sheepishly. "Again, I'm really sorry about that."
Noting his sincerity, I couldn't help but smile. "Really, I'm fine. It's not a big deal." Paul and Quil exchanged a look, and I couldn't help but watch them suspiciously. "Though you must have a pretty good arm; I never would have guessed it was frisbee that hit me."
Paul snorted. "Yeah, Quil's a real beast."
Quil growled as he smacked him. "Shut up, Paul."
Oookay, these guys were weird. As they argued in hushed whispers with the occasional punch or slap, I continued with my homework. Just as I began to sketch out the process of DNA translation, Paul crouched down by my desk and rested his chin on top of it.
I blinked at him. "... Can I help you?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"W-what!?" I was probably redder than a tomato, but his face held a calm expression, as though he were expecting my reaction. Flushed and taken off guard, I really had no idea how to respond to that. "W-what kind of question is that!?" I snapped.
He suddenly grinned. "I don't know. I'm just curious. Do you?"
"I don't see how any of that is your business," I snapped, running my fingers through my hair in an attempt to calm my nerves. He stared unblinkingly at me, which was, quite honestly, really freaky. I scowled and turned my eyes back to my paper. "No."
"Why not?"
"Where are you going with this?" I had yet to realize if this was some kind of joke or not.
He shrugged again and said nothing. I guess the interview's over.
Study Hall went by peacefully after that. As peaceful as sitting between Quil and Paul can get, anyways. They proceeded with throwing paper airplanes at each other, though a couple went astray and ended up crashing into my head. I tried to throw my eraser at Quil at one point, but I just succeeded in throwing it out the window. What can I say? I have no arm strength. Or aim.
Finally, the last class of the day, and of all things it was Drama. It was reassuring above all else, and something I enjoyed, so I wasn't going to complain. I poked my head into the classroom, and was greeted by fifteen unfamiliar faces. Well... maybe it was a little more overwhelming when I was actually in the class.
"Themitra?"
You really would think that I'd get used to this by now. I spun around my feet, eyes wide, and came to face -- or to chest -- with Jacob. Again. I jerked my head upwards, and found him grinning down at me.
"Huh, you've never come off as a Drama kinda person," I commented.
"A semester of fine arts is required for graduation." He shrugged, proving that he obviously didn't want to be here.
I couldn't help but snort as I walked into the room, which was devoid of any desks, and sat myself on the ground. He instantly took a seat next to me, dropping his bag to the ground and shifting so that he was facing me. "So, how's your first day been?"
"Sucked."
He chuckled. "You're not really giving it a chance, are you?"
"Nope." No point in lying.
"Hmm... I bet I can get you to change your mind."
I quirked a brow at the sly expression on his face. Why did that remind me so much of the look on Parker's face? "Yeah, I doubt it," I snorted.
He grinned. "Is that a challenge?"
"It's not a challenge if you know you're gonna lose." The drama teacher walked in, and immediately began to hand us scripts for The Importance of Being Ernest.
The grin never wavered. "We'll see."
"You don't even know me,
and you don't even care;
Ooo yea.
She said you don't know me,
and you don't wear my chains.
Ooo yea."