Like a Skyscraper

Kaelyn stared at herself in the mirror and frowned. She bumped her shin on her nightstand last night and now there was a bruise the size of her fist on her leg. The blonde sighed and pulled her pants and shoes on before heading into the kitchen.

“Morning Mom,” she greeted and went to the table to grab a Clementine. Lila smiled tightly at her daughter.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Pretty good,” she lied, “I feel a lot better than yesterday.” Lila relaxed at Kaelyn’s lie and smiled easier.

“That’s great. Oh I forgot to tell you, your friend, Paul, called for you last night, but you were already in bed.”

“I’ll call him back after school. Thanks Mom,” Kaelyn said as she walked out the door. Once she got in her car, Kaelyn sat there and let her body catch up. She felt lethargic and achy, but that was becoming more common every passing day. But she wanted to stay in school until graduation so that she didn’t miss anything.

“Let’s do this,” she mumbled and backed out of her driveway. When she pulled into the school parking lot, she was attacked by Alice.

“Well hello, Beautiful.”

“Hi, Alice… What did you eat this morning?” Kaelyn laughed at the shorter girl. Alice just smiled and linked arms with her friend.

“I wanted to get to you before someone else did,” Alice trailed off and looked over at her siblings. Kaelyn looked their way too and saw Rosalie lecturing Emmett again. He rolled his eyes at her and looked straight at Kaelyn. He half smiled, and Kaelyn gave a small wave. Rosalie saw the exchange and yelled at Emmett even more.

“Rosalie is being especially vicious today. I’d watch my back if I were you. She thinks you're out to steal Emmett from her,” Alice whispered. Kaelyn swallowed her fear and kept walking with Alice.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

~*~

Lunch rolled around and going to the cafeteria was not something Kaelyn wanted to do. Grabbing her sack lunch, she walked with her fellow classmates to lunch. When she arrived, she noticed that neither the Cullens nor Hales were there yet.

“Kaelyn!” The blonde whipped around to face the last person she wanted to see, Rosalie.

“We need to talk.”

“About?” Kaelyn asked.

“Don’t act stupid with me. I know that you want Emmett, but that’s not going to happen. He’s mine, and you need to back off before things turn ugly,” Rosalie threatened.

“First, I don’t want to take Emmett from you, and second, I think you’ve already made things ugly by acting this way,” Kaelyn retorted.

“You little bitch—“

“Hey! What’s going on?” Emmett asked rushing over to them. The others slowly walked over as well to see what was happening.

“Nothing.” Rosalie snapped.

“Yeah, nothing. I don’t need to take this from you. I'm leaving.” Kaelyn turned and walked out of the cafeteria and then out of the school. She didn’t stop for anyone. She got in her car and drove home feeling upset and frustrated.

Kaelyn pulled into her driveway and called Paul.

“Hello?”

“Can you please come pick me up?”

“I’ll be there in two minutes.” Kaelyn got out of her car and soon enough, Paul pulled up in front of her house. He jumped out of his car and pulled the petite girl into his arms. Kaelyn buried her face in his white t-shirt.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked softly. Kaelyn shook her head.

“Hmm, let’s get you back to my place. I’ll make you some chocolate milk,” he grinned. Kaelyn choked back a laugh and got into his car with him. The drive was quiet, and Paul had to stop himself from asking her again.

“Rosalie picked a fight with me,” Kaelyn mumbled once they parked in front of Paul’s house.

“What do you mean?” he asked. Kaelyn got out and walked inside his house like she owned the place. Paul was hot on her heels looking for answers.

“I mean, she confronted me at lunch and accused me of basically trying to get into Emmett’s pants! Back off before things get ugly my ass!” Kaelyn yelled trying to get rid of her anger.

“She told you that?” Paul raised his eyebrows.

“Yes! Who does she think she is?” Kaelyn growled. Paul chuckled and poured her milk before mixing in the chocolate syrup.

“Why are you laughing?” Kaelyn snapped. Paul held his hands up in surrender before sliding her the glass of milk.

“I just didn’t realize how aggressive you can get.”

“Oh shut it,” she mumbled and took a gulp of her drink, “Thanks for the milk…” Paul laughed loudly and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked resting his chin on her shoulder. Kaelyn nodded softly and continued drinking her milk. Kaelyn walked away from Paul forcing him to let go of her. She rinsed her glass out in the sink before turning back to him.

“What would I do without you and your chocolate milk?” Kaelyn joked. Paul shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“Eh you’d probably throw some stuff or break some shit.”

“Oh, nice,” Kaelyn snorted and walked into his living to sit on the couch. Paul joined her and turned on the TV. Cops was on so the two settled down and Kaelyn snuggled into his side. Paul wrapped his arm around her and held her close. He closed his eyes and wished for the millionth time that he could imprint on the girl in his arms, but nothing happened.

“Did you talk to Emmett after what happened?” Paul asked as they watched a cop run after some guy.

“No, I just wanted to get out of there and you were the first person I thought of to call…” she trailed off. Paul felt his heartbeat pick up and he looked down at Kaelyn.

“You know I’ll always be here for you, right?”

“Of course, you're my best friend,” Kaelyn answered looking into his eyes. Overwhelmed, Paul cupped her cheek and kissed her. Kaelyn’s eyes grew to the size of saucers before she pulled away.

“Paul, I—“

“I know… Sorry, I got caught up in the moment. You know that I care about you, and I know you have feelings for that Cullen, but I will always be here. Even if it means I’ll just be your friend, I can do that,” he explained. Kaelyn swallowed the lump in her throat and hugged him.

“Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me…” Paul closed his eyes and held onto her not wanting to ever let her go again…