Not Your Enemy

The ride to school was full of purposeful off-key singing and inside jokes. Both girls basket in their rekindled friendship and acted as if the large spat hadn’t happened. Tobi felt better than she had since school started and the large smile on her face was the evidence of this. As her voice cracked at overly high pitched vocals, Ruby laughed at her and did the total opposite by singing obnoxiously low. The two drove into the school parking lot with their windows down and sang louder than they had been; the attention they were getting widened their smiles. However, when Tobi cut off the car and the music stopped a loud pounding was heard on the side of her car. She looked back and glared at Dalton while jumping out of her car.

“You’re the asshole who put the dent in my baby, aren’t you?”

Tobi stomped over and pushed Dalton away from the door he was abusing with his foot. She glared up at him with all the anger and hatred she held from him and punched him square in the jaw. Once she saw what she did, her glare turned into a widened gaze and she looked at her shaking first. Ruby rushed from the car, her eyes wide behind her glasses and she stood between Dalton and Tobi. Her hands were shaking as well, but Tobi knew it was for different reasons.

Dalton glared at both of the girls in front of him; Ruby for trying to run away from him, and Tobi for punching him. He pushed Ruby beside Tobi, but before he could do any harm to either of them two cold hands were resting tightly on his shoulder. He looked back and found himself in between two very angry Cullen boys. Their glares could kill, literally, and their grips only got tighter as the seconds passed.

Alice, Edward, and Rosalie rushed quickly over to stop Emmett and Jasper from killing the poor asshole in front of all the humans and Bella watched from her place next to Mike and Angela. Her heart started to speed up, not only because the air was full of tension but also because she was starting to feel a small bond with the girls. She hadn’t really hung out with them, but because they were the interest of two vampires, like her, she felt they had a lot in common. “Don’t do anything that’ll cause a scene,” she whispered, knowing that each Cullen ‘kid’ could hear her from far away.

Edward looked back at his girlfriend and nodded before getting between the human and his brothers, “I don’t think we want to cause trouble. Do we?” he said loud enough to sound as if he were reasoning with everyone, “why don’t we just go back to my car and bring Tobi and Ruby with us?”

Jasper’s grip loosened very slowly, but with help from Rosalie and Alice he let go. His deadly gaze never left Dalton’s surprisingly fearful eyes, but his cold body moved to Tobi’s side. He felt the shock and panic radiating off of her, so he pushed away his emotions toward Dalton and turned a softer gaze onto Tobi. His hand shot up to a loose strand of her hair and move it from her light brown eyes. Without saying a word, he grabbed her hand in his and pulled her away from the scene. He held his breath the whole time, for he heard her heart pounding dangerously fast and her blood was obviously pumping along with it.

He didn’t want another incident to happen as it did the day before.

Tobi looked back and met eyes with Ruby, who was trying, along with the Edward and Alice, to persuade Emmett to move away from the scene along with Jasper. Emmett’s eyes had darkened, as did Jasper’s, and instead of the golden warmth Tobi was use to she saw a dangerous darkness that drove chill down her spine.

“Are you ok?” Bella asked when Tobi was at her side and looked at the group that was slowly making its way toward them. Tobi nodded but didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what possessed her to actually punch Dalton like she had been wanting to for years, but when she was actually able to do it she felt accomplished and as if it was one of those stress releases that relaxed whoever did it. A smile made its way onto her lips and she leaned into Jasper to keep herself from fully relaxing her body. Yet, as soon as her head touched his shoulder she felt him tense under her touch.

When Ruby arrived, Tobi reached out and linked her arm tightly with her friends and tried to get Ruby’s shaking body to relax. A couple of seconds passed before both girls were wrapped in a large blanket of soothing comfort and Alice was talking animatedly about absolutely nothing. Tobi knew she was trying to take their minds away from what had happened just moments before.

The bell rang, symbolizing the start of the school day and the separation of Ruby and Tobi. They embraced tightly before saying a quick ‘later’ and walking toward their classes with Emmett beside Ruby and Jasper holding Tobi’s body tightly against his. His sudden burst of personal contact puzzled Tobi, but she wasn’t complaining. The way his fingers tickled her hip bone made her want to scream from how wild it drove her, and his protective yet dominate gaze he still held made her want to tackle him then and there and just lose herself with him as she had thought of so many times since he kissed her.

Edward mentally gagged when he heard Tobi’s thoughts and he shook his head. He thought Tobi was the second most innocent person since arriving to Forks. Of course she was human and made mistake, but her personality was purer than most humans could even wish and her thoughts mainly focused on blocking out the negative people in her life. But, when she thought of things like ripping Jasper’s clothes off with her teeth it made Edward wish he could control whose thoughts he listened to. However, he couldn’t think of Tobi negatively because Jasper, no matter how hard he tried to fight it, thought about doing far more vulgar things to the poor human girl.

The day passed quickly, and before she knew it Tobi was walking into the lunch room with Bella walking silently beside her and two giggling girls behind her. Getting fed up, Tobi turned around and crossed her arms over her chest, “Look, instead of talking about the past why don’t you two find something new to gossip about? Face it, my business is getting pretty old and everyone has heard you two bitches bag on my every day since my incident. I don’t care if you think I’m a fucking slut,” –Tobi unfolded her arms and took a step closer to Lauren and Jessica- “but continue talking about me like I can’t fucking hear you and I’ll rip the ghetto extensions out of your heads and use it as nooses to hang you.”

A laughed sounded from behind Tobi and she turned around to see Ruby looking both shocked and proud at that moment. When Tobi looked back at Lauren and Jessica, the two glared at her but said nothing more. Tobi took that as a victory and continued walking into the cafeteria. Ruby laced her fingers with Tobi and they walked over to the Cullen table.

“My little girl’s all grown up!” she announced, sitting next to Emmett without hesitation and pulling Tobi down with her. Tobi shook her head and looked beside her to see that Jasper’s seat was empty. Curious, she looked around the table for answers and Alice giggled.

“He’s just in the line,” she sang out, “but let’s talk about tomorrow night! Since Ruby’s already been over, I think I’ll let Jasper show you around because I have to help Esme and Rosalie finish a couple of garden arrangements, Edward will be busy entertaining Bella, and Emmett will be keeping Ruby company while everyone is finishing everything up. So what do you guys want to do first; dress up or hair?”

Tobi looked over at Ruby and then back at Alice while shaking her head, “I’m not too big on fashion and hair. If you haven’t noticed… that’s kinda Ruby’s forte.”

Alice giggled, “You’re never too old to learn! Now, I think we’ll start with dress up and then I’ll do you guy’s hair! You’re going to look so pretty when I’m finished, and after that the real fun will start.” Tobi wanted to protest but the gleam in Alice’s eyes and the large smile on her face was just too much for the French girl to kill. So, she just smiled and nodded. Conversation bounced around everyone at the table and then Alice seemed to space out for a while. Tobi shook her head and laughed softly when Alice came to.

“Are you ok?”

Alice nodded and bit her lip,”Um, what are you doing Sunday?”

Tobi thought and then straightened her back when she remembered. She turned her body to face Ruby and with an excited smile she grabbed her best-friends hand, “I was watching the news and it suppose to be extremely sunny so I thought we could go to the beach in La Push.”

Ruby nodded, “I was going to ask you that, and I have to give Emily her clothes back anyway. We can leave first thing in the morning and just hang out for the rest of the day.” –She looked over at Bella and the Cullens- “would you guys want to come with us?”

Tobi looked expectantly at her new friends and waited for their responses. She thought it would be really fun, just them enjoying the sun and tanning. Tobi laughed at the thought of herself tanning, she’d only get darker but maybe get a feint glow from the UV poison. When she saw the Cullens and Bella hesitate, she pouted and clapped her hands together as if begging, “Oh, come on! Please, it’ll be so much fun. We can even bring a Frisbee if you want… though I’d rather lie out and enjoy the sun.”

From beside her, Jasper tried to ignore his thoughts on straying to her in a tiny bikini just lying down in the sun. Her thin body just there, calling him. He was snapped from his thoughts by a sharp kick into his shin and he narrowed his eyes at Edward, who simply shrugged in return. He looked over at Tobi and shook his head, “Sunday isn’t good for me. I have to get up early with Carlisle and Edward to take my car to the mechanics.”

“You have a car too?” Tobi questioned her voice full of disbelief, “So, your brother has a kickass Volvo and Rosalie has a BMW? You guys have no idea how lucky you are.”

“Trust me,” Rosalie whispered, “we aren’t.”

The lunch bell rang and the rest of the day passed quickly. Before she knew it, Tobi was riding home with Ruby and planning what they were going to do at the beach on Sunday. When Tobi parked in her driveway, she noticed the familiar car of her dance instructor on the curb and her smile widened. Tobi loved her dance instructor, but didn’t really see her as often as she use to. That made Tobi feel as if she were neglecting someone important.

“Hey, can I stay over tonight?” Ruby asked as Tobi parked in her driveway.

Tobi nodded, “Yeah, just don’t tell my mom you haven’t been home last night or else she’ll think you’re avoiding your aunt and uncle.”

“But I am,” Ruby laughed bitterly

“But we don’t want my mom to think that,” Tobi shook her head and got out of her car. She looked around, expecting Dalton to pop out of nowhere and kill both her and Ruby for what happened earlier but let out a breath of relief when nothing happened. “Come on, Holden was asking about you and I bet he creamed himself when he heard your voice this morning. You don’t want to keep the horny pervert waiting.”

Ruby shuttered but laughed as she followed Tobi inside.