Not Your Enemy

Tobi’s fingers played with the lighter as she stood outside the counselor’s office contemplating whether or not to actually go through with her planned. Just an hour before, Tobi thought out careful steps to actually getting good advice on how to handle the harassment. She forgot that, in order for her to the advice she needed, she’d have to tell Mrs. Wyatt her personal business. Tobi didn’t want to do that because she felt the aged woman would judge her as well.

Just like the others…

“Well, are you going to go in?” a kind voice asked from behind.

Tobi turned toward the person and her heart raced as she met the green eyes of Mrs. Wyatt. She grabbed her chest with one hand as the other shot back to her lighter to calm herself down before shaking her head and smiling, “I knocked but no one answered so I just decided to stand out here until you came.” The lie came with ease, it was smooth, and it even sounded like Tobi was just as innocent as she wished she was.

“Do you need to talk?” Mrs. Wyatt asked, walking closer to Tobi and started searching through her many keys for the key to her office.

It was then or never for Tobi, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words that would’ve helped her. The younger girl shook her head and smiled, “I was just wondering if I could take on a higher French class. I already know everything on the syllabus that was given yesterday and I think I need more work because I know the language already.”

Mrs. Wyatt looked at Tobi closely before nodding her head and opening her door, “Yes, I’ll talk to your administrator as soon as I can and either tomorrow or Thursday you’ll have your schedule changed. But remember, you might have to change your entire schedule to get into the class you want.”

Tobi nodded and backed away a little, “Thank-you.” And then she walked away. The smile on her face was small but evident because a schedule change was exactly what Tobi needed. If she was out of her first period her whole school year would’ve been perfect as long as she ignored the comments and stares like the year before.

That’s all she thought she needed to do.

As Tobi walked out of the school, the first bell rang and a crowd of people came her way. She dodged them smoothly by cutting through some bushes and walked over to her car. Once she reached her baby a small dent on the passenger side caught her attention and she back away a little to examine it. Anger boiled in her body and she looked around for anyone who looked like they would’ve gone so far as to vandalize her precious car, “What the hell?!”

It took over several minutes to calm down, and once she did Tobi yearned for a cigarette. She knew she was going too far with the smoking, for she had smoked a whole pack the day before, but with the gossip and now the dent she needed a relaxer. Getting in her car and rolled down her windows just a bit, Tobi searched for a new pack she always kept for emergency’s and started her stress release ritual. After she smoked just one cigarette she rested her head on her headrest and pulled out the book she had read several times before.

She had forgotten her contacts and used her reading glasses that hadn’t been touched since freshmen year. Tobi never liked her glasses, but she couldn’t complain for genetics played a role in her crappy eye-sight; that just added to the dislike she felt for her mother.

First period passed, and the second bell ran signaling the short break before the next class. Tobi had quickly gotten bored of the book and ended up just playing with her lighter. She didn’t feel like going to her classes that day, and she doubted she’d end up leaving the car until lunch so she could at least pretend she’d gone for Ruby’s sake. Yet, once again, her ‘good’ planning seemed to fail when a tapping sounded from her window.

Jasper didn’t see Tobi in first period, but he swore he smelled her in the parking lot that morning. Her scent wasn’t one he could mistake for any other human’s and even with his constant thirst for her he knew he wasn’t to the point of going crazy. During the whole hour of chemistry, Jasper’s mind went to Tobi and the vision Alice had of her. Several times he’s smelled smoke and the stench of cigarettes on her, but he didn’t think she was the kind of girl to actually smoke them.

When the bell rang, Jasper shot from his desk and toward his Spanish class. Alice shared that class with him and she waited with unsettled eyes as Jasper walked closer to her. She looked up into his darkened, worried eyes and knew at once that he was falling for the other girl even if he wasn’t going to admit it. Alice shook her head and sighed out, “She’s been in the parking lot, but after second she’s walking in. She really needs someone to talk to.”

Jasper nodded and thought about going to talk to her himself, but he didn’t want to lose himself.

“Don’t worry,” Alice whispered before walking into the classroom, “you’re not going to hurt her.”

With that helpful notification, Jasper walked down the hall and out the front door so he could at least see Tobi to see if she was ok. He found her car and his mind raced as he saw her playing with a lighter oddly close to her face. Quickly, he walked over and tapped on her window and held his breath when he heard her heart rate pick up.

Tobi hid the lighter in her jacket pocket and stared, shocked, into the beautiful eyes of Jasper. Before even thinking about what she was doing, Tobi rolled down her window and the smoke left over blew in Jasper’s face. Shit! she thought, watching his nose crinkle in what looked like disgust.

“You’re going to get in trouble for skipping,” Tobi spoke first, tired of just creepily staring at the boy who was hungrily staring back at her. He didn’t look at her like he looked at her that night, Jasper looked at Tobi like he literally wanted to eat her.

“I should say the same about you,” Jasper muttered, peering closer at her and the state she was in. From a mile away Jasper could feel he stress and pain Tobi was feeling and his dead heart broke every single time he was around her. He wasn’t use to caring about a human as much as he did for Tobi, but he couldn’t care for her properly. He feared he’d lose control over his actions if he did.

“Don’t worry about me,” Tobi snapped, “I’m nothing important.”

The words ‘you are’ almost left the lips of the blonde boy but Jasper stopped them. He couldn’t say that because he was afraid of what would happen if he did. Jasper was afraid Tobi would fall in love with the monster he was as Bella did for Edward, and even if he felt strong emotions for Tobi he couldn’t allow them to be returned.

“You can leave now,” Tobi whispered, looking out of her window and away from Jasper. She felt his eyes on her and suddenly a wave of happiness shot in her direction; which was odd because Tobi had nothing to be happy for.

“Please go to class,” Jasper muttered in a voice that made waves of pleasure shoot up and down Tobi’s body. She looked back at him with shocked eyes and nodded her head slowly. She didn’t know why she was doing it, but Tobi found herself getting out of the car and walking back into the building with Jasper behind her.

The whole time she questioned what had happened in the parking lot.