My Little Star

I checked myself in the mirror for the eighth time in two minutes, running my hand through my straight hair for the twentieth. I made sure the bags under my eyes were covered thoroughly with foundation before taking a deep breath and grabbing my bag from the chair next to me.

Normally I wouldn’t really worry so much about how I looked in the morning because I was only going to school, but the less sleep I got, the less confident I became about how I looked, and I hadn’t slept at all since I arrived in Washington three days ago. There was something about this place that left me restless.

Paul was driving me to school again today like he had all week, which was also why I kept checking myself in the mirror. For some reason, I just always felt like I needed to look good whenever I was around him, which was completely ridiculous because we were only friends.

Paul learned that it was wise to just walk into my house whenever he needed me, because first, it was always unlocked and second, it took me about twenty minutes to open the door the first time he came to pick me up.

That was why when I walked into my kitchen that morning, I wasn’t at all surprised to see him sitting at the table, leaning back in his seat with a Styrofoam cup in his hand. He smiled when I walked in, standing up as he placed his cup on the table and opened his arms for a hug. I grinned at the routine he started a few days ago, wrapping my arms around his torso and ignoring the tingling in my abdomen as he hugged me back. Paul was the first person I got a hug from every morning for the past week, mostly because he was the first person I saw every morning, but still. It’s not like I minded. As rediculous as it was, that was the little push I needed to pull myself out of bed every day.

“How are you on this lovely morning?” Paul asked me as we made our way to the front door. There was a bit of sarcasm in his tone and I just laughed.

“Thank Santa it’s Friday.” I mumbled in response, shaking my head and closing the door behind me before we started toward Paul’s car.

“Santa?” he asked, looking over at me with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged, sliding into the front seat as he did the same. “Not really too fond of the whole ‘Jesus’ thing.”

“Fair enough,” He mumbled, nodding thoughtfully as he started the car and pulled into the street.

“Coffee?” I asked, eyeing the white cup that was still in his hand.

“Do you even like coffee?” Paul questioned, handing over it anyway.

“Nope.” I replied, taking it from him and gulping down a bitter mouthful before placing it in the cup holder with a disgusted look on my face. Of course, I needed the caffeine but I didn’t want to drink too much of it because he looked like he needed it. There were purple rings under his eyes and although they weren’t nearly as bad as mine, they were still there.

Paul turned the dial on the radio, causing the volume to shoot so far up that the car shook. I grinned, loving the adrenaline that pumped through my ears along with the deafening bas.

“Life is a highway; I wanna ride it all night long!” Paul sang loudly along with the radio as I sat next to him, watching and giggling.

At the next part he looked over at me with that crooked smile, sending me a wink. “If you’re going my way, I wanna drive it all night long!”

I laughed at his silliness, shaking my head as we pulled into the school parking lot. Paul shut the car off and sent me a smile before we both got out and made our way over to Jared’s car, where some of the other guys were standing around with Kim.

I smiled at Kim and skipped over to her while Paul greeted Jared, Quil and Seth with a strange man hug thing. I greeted the other guys before scanning the rest of the parking lot. “Hey guys, where are Jake and Embry?”

Jared and Paul exchanged a look that I didn’t understand before Jared looked over at me. “Jake had to give Embry a ride today, but his car broke down, so they’re going to be late.”

I didn’t really believe him, because of the way he said it, but I just shrugged it off, waving a farewell to everyone as Kim linked her arm with mine and pulled me in the direction of the school.

“You know your boyfriend is a horrible liar, right?” I said to her, glancing at her with a smirk as she just laughed.

“Yeah, I know, it’s convenient sometimes.” She shrugged, quickly changing the subject. “So is your mom going to leave you alone with Austin again tonight?” She had a bitter tone to her voice that made me smile a little bit.

Kim didn’t like my mom. It was mostly because she had left me alone with Austin every night since we got here; so she could go out and do God knows what and then come back home at the crack of dawn and start all over again, but it was also because she hadn’t met her yet; and it was much easier to dislike someone you haven’t met.

I shook my head as we entered the double doors. “No, I signed him up for the daycare that Emily’s niece goes to, so he’ll be there.”

She smiled excitedly. “Great! That means you can sleep over tonight. I don’t want you to have to be home all alone anyway. I worry about you.”

That made me want to smile and cry all at the same time. It was a great feeling, to have someone worry about you like that, but it was also what I always said to Ryan when his dad wasn’t around.

“Yeah, sure. I was planning on video chatting my cousin back in New York tonight, but I could introduce him to you if you want.” I hadn’t gotten in touch with him or Kelly since the day I left and I really missed them.

“Okay,” she smiled, nodding as we pushed through the crowds of people in the hallway.

I was about to comment on the unusual amounts of people when a girl with blonde highlights in her dark hair pushed passed us, roughly bumping her shoulder with Kim’s and causing her to stumble back a few feet.

“Watch it, bitch.” The girl snapped, glaring at Kim before turning her back and disappearing into the crowd of people.

“Who the hell was that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes in the direction the girl just disappeared in as I helped Kim pick up a few papers she had dropped.

She shook her head quickly, standing and shoving a few papers back into a book, refusing to meet my eyes. “Nobody. She always does things like that. Don’t worry about it.”

My anger spiked as I raised both eyebrows, trying my best to stay calm. “You mean she’s done this before? Does Jared know?”

Kim’s head shot up, her panicked eyes finally meeting mine. “No! I- I mean she usually only does it when I’m not with anyone. Please don’t tell him Stella! He’ll over react! He gets really mad about stuff like that.”

I pursed my lips, staring at her skeptically for a moment. She didn’t know that I would probably overreact way more than Jared does or that I had a history of anger problems, but I didn’t bring it up. Instead, I just sighed, giving in to her pleading eyes. “Fine, but you better promise me that you’ll tell me the next time she does anything. And I mean anything. Deal?”

She sighed in relief and nodded in agreement, just as the homeroom bell rang.

“Crap!” Kim hissed, grabbing my arms and pulling me down the hall so fast I felt like my arm would rip off.

We got there quick enough so that the teacher didn’t freak out, and for most of the half hour we were in there, we were talking about how much fun we were going to have once school let out.

The morning flew by in a blur. Neither Jake or Embry were in my second period class like they were supposed to be, but in the middle of third period, Jake came into English, giving the teacher a sheepish smile and a late slip, leading me to assume that he and Embry had just arrived.

Next period was lunch, and when the bell rang I stood up and walked across the room to Jake, who was pushing his chair in.

When he saw me he smiled tiredly, holding his arms out for a hug, “What’s up shorty?”

I hugged him back and when I pulled away he was watching me skeptically. “You still haven’t gotten any sleep, have you?”

I refused to meet his eyes. He knew about my insomnia, and ever since I’d told him he’s been on my case about it. I mean, I don’t blame him for worrying about me, because he was the closest thing I had to a best friend here in La Push. I had actually told him everything that was wrong with me. The insomnia, the migraines, the asthma, the ADHD and the anger problems. Everything.

He took it a lot better than I thought he would, and supported me as much as he could, telling me several things about himself in return, like how he was completely in love with this girl Bella, who he apparently had ‘history’ with.

Anyway, as he stared at me with concerned eyes, my gazed was glued to my shoes.

“It’s fine Jake, really. You don’t have to worry so much.” I mumbled following him out into the hallway.

“I’m going to worry if you aren’t sleeping Stella! It’s not healthy!” he argued looking down at me incredulously as we made our way to the lunch room.

Gritting my teeth together, I sighed, not up for an argument. “I’ve tried everything, okay Jacob? Subject change please.”

He sighed as we walked into the crowded lunch room. “Right, sorry. Are you hanging with us tonight?”

I slid into a seat at an empty table and Jake followed my example as we waited for everyone else. “No, Kim and I are having a sleep over. We might hang out with you guys before we go to her house though. I don’t know for sure.”

He nodded thoughtfully just as Seth, Embry and Quil showed up, each of them plopping into nearby chairs and immediately beginning to gorge themselves with food.

“You guys are such fatties.” I laughed, shaking my head at them as Jake laughed with me.

“Hey, I am not fat!” Seth countered with a mouthful of hamburger.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” I mumbled playfully, stealing Quil’s soda and taking a gulp of it just as Paul and Jared walked over.

Kim was following slowly behind them, forcing a smile when she got to the table.

I narrowed my eyes at her. It was obvious that she was upset. “Hey Kim, will you come with me to get Embry a napkin?”

Embry looked up at me when he heard his name, his mouth filled with mashed potatoes. “I don’ needa napkin.”

I blinked at him, standing and grabbing Kim’s arms. “No, no. That’s okay. We’ll get you one anyway.”

Ignoring the confused looks cast our way, I pulled Kim across the room to the napkin dispenser. “What happened? Why are you upset? Was it that girl again? I’m going to kick her ass Kim-”

“Stella, stop. It’s not a big deal. She’s just in a bad mood today or something.” Her eyes filled with water and I clenched my teeth, trying to keep myself calm as my hands balled into fists.

“What did she say to you Kim? Please tell me. I promise I won’t tell Jared.” My voice was soothing and much calmer than I thought it would be as Kim sniffed, rubbing at her eyes.

“Sh-she called me a fat cunt,” she got choked up, a few tears spilling over as she continued. “And then she told me that I didn’t d-deserve Jared.”

My jaw clenched, my finger nails digging into my palms so much that I was afraid I would draw blood. I unclenched my hand stiffly and took one of Kim’s as gently as I possibly could, pulling her back across the room, towards where the guys were sitting. “Okay Kim, you don’t have to tell Jared what happened, but I want you to sit with him because he can do a way better job at making you feel better than I can.”

She just nodded, sniffling and tightening her grip on my hand as we got closer.

Jared was the first person to spot us, and when he did, he immediately stood up, looking worried as hell. “What happened?! Kim, why are you crying?” He looked at me desperately for help but I ignored him, gritted my teeth.

“Jared, don’t ask her any questions right now. She doesn’t want to talk about it, so just try making her feel better, okay?” I let her hand go and gave her a gentle push in Jared’s direction as he nodded and took her in his arms before meeting my eyes for a second with a grateful look and then pulling her to sit down.

The other guys were all looking at me with caution and worry, probably because of how stark raving pissed I must have looked.

“I’ll be right back.” I muttered, meeting Paul’s concerned eyes for a split second before turning on my heel, my eyes scanning the crown for my target.

As soon as my eyes landed the head of blonde highlights my brain switched into angry bitch mode. I quickly made my way across the room to her, where she was towering over a freshman girl, who looked as if she was ready to soil her pants. I felt eyes on me as I got closer. The number of people crowding around Queen Bitch and the freshman was growing, as if they couldn’t wait to see what the new girl had to say.

I stepped in front of the freshman girl, who was almost as short as I was, just as the bitch raised her hand up, as if to slap her. She stopped her hand in mid-motion, looking slightly confused and extremely annoyed. “What the hell do you want, freshman? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Junior,” I corrected through gritted teeth, not bothering to warn her that she was working my last nerve.

The girl scoffed, clearly not believing me. “Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England,”

I rolled my eyes at her attempt at sarcasm as a few people around us snickered. I could tell that the girl standing behind me wasn’t there anymore and I didn’t blame her for leaving; the girl towered at least a foot over me and would be extremely intimidating to someone who didn’t know any better.

“Listen Blondie, I didn’t come over here so I could listen to your lame ass attempt at being a stand up comedian.” I spat, my hands clenching and unclenching. I was itching to punch the ugly smirk right off her face.

She narrowed her eyes at me, taking a threatening step forward. “Well then what the fuck do you want, pip squeak?”

This girl was testing my patients, and between the lack of sleep and the fact that I already had a short fuse in the first place, it wouldn’t be long before I snapped completely. “What I WANT, is for you to stay the fuck away from Kim. She doesn’t need your crap.”

Blondie snorted, giving me an incredulous look. “What? The two cent hooker can’t fight her own battles?”

She barely even finished the question before my fist sprung forward, connecting perfectly with her jaw. It seemed like the whole world went silent as her head snapped back, as if she wasn’t expecting me to go that far.

Now normally, when something like this happened to me, I wouldn’t be as angry after the first hit, because I was finally letting it out. But this time was different. When she pulled her head back up with that goddamn smirk on her face again, it just worked me up all over again.

She went to hit me back but I ducked; only slightly distracted by the people around us, chanting and cheering. Idiots. I pushed her stomach as hard as I could, causing her to fall back and land on the floor.

My heart was pounding angrily in my ears and I was totally oblivious to the sounds around me, completely prepared to jump on top of her and beat the living shit out of her. Then, suddenly I felt a warm arm wrap itself around my torso, pulling me backwards and out of the crowd.

PAUL
I knew Jared was dying to question Kim about what had her so upset, but with the warning Stella gave him, he kept his mouth shut.

I could tell that Stella was mad-no that was an understatement. She was pissed. Her eyes met with mine for half a second before she mumbled something about being right back and then disappeared across the room.

Jake and I exchanged weary looks before he spoke up, directing his statement towards me. “This doesn’t look so good dude.”

Nodding in agreement, I stood up, my eyes scanning the lunch room but not spotting Stella. “I think we should go find her, ya know, make sure she doesn’t murder anyone.”

Jake nodded, standing up and telling the rest of the guys to stay put as I forced a reassuring smile in Kim’s direction. We both walked, shoulder to shoulder through the cafeteria, searching for my imprint, when Jake nudged my side with his elbow, nodding toward a crowd of people a few feet away.

I couldn’t see through all the people and I didn’t know what they were all looking at but a bad feeling in my gut pushed me to go check it out. As we got closer, it got louder and I was becoming more and more uneasy.

There were people everywhere, all of them pushing and shoving to get closer to the inside of the large circle that was beginning to form on the far side of the room. The word ‘fight’ was floating around the crowd like a soup bubble, causing my stomach to twist with unease. I had lost Jake somewhere in the crowd, but at the moment I wasn’t too concerned about him.

Still motivated by that bad feeling I had, I pushed through the cheering bodies. I finally made it to the front line of teenagers, and when I did, I stared in wide eyed astonishment as Stella punched Michelle Evans square in the jaw.

I blinked, stuck in a frozen shock for a few seconds as my Imprint pushed the school’s bitch right on her ass. I snapped out of it, lunging forward as I saw that she didn’t have any intention of stopping, and hooked my left arm around her stomach, pulling her backwards and using my other arm to push away the idiotic bystanders.

She kicked and yelled at me, squirming and flailing her body with all of her strength as I carried her into the hallway with one arm.

I slammed the cafeteria door shut before dropping Stella onto the empty hallway floor, frustrated with her struggling. “Would you calm the fuck down please?”

She landed on her toes, glaring at me with clenched fists. “I can handle myself.” She spat through closed teeth.

I knew it wasn’t really me she was angry at, but it still upset me that she was talking to me like I was. “I was trying to help you.”

“I don’t need help. I had it under control.” She told me stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest.

I scoffed sarcastically, raising both eyebrows at her and taking a step forward. “Oh really? And do you call decking someone ‘having things under control’?”

“Actually, yes. It felt nice before you came and dragged me away.” She seethed, narrowing her eyebrows at me.

We were inches away by now, glaring at each other like our lives depended on it.

Just as I opened my mouth to say something, the door behind us slammed open and Jake, Embry and Seth stormed into the hallway with frantic eyes. When Jake spotted Stella he sighed in relief and then threw his hands up in exasperation. “What the hell has gotten into you? You’re lucky there are never any teacher’s around during lunch!”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks for the lecture dad, but I can take care of myself.”

Jacob sighed, giving me a pointed look before taking Stella by the shoulders and pulling her down the hallway muttering something about having a talk with her.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Embry and Seth, knowing that despite everything going on at the moment, they had news for me about the red headed vampire we had been chasing. Even after the Cullens returned from their extended disappearance about a week and a half ago and joined forces with us, we still hadn’t even gotten close. “So, what have I missed?”

Embry was the one to answer me, a solemn look on his face. “After you got off patrol this morning, Jake caught her sent and the two of us chased her for a good hour.”

“Why didn’t you catch her?” I snarled. I was on patrol until at four this morning and I was completely fed up with chasing this damn leech. We had been after her for over a month now; and all just to protect Jacob’s goddamn human. She wasn’t even his imprint!

“She keeps jumping from our side of the treaty line to Cullens’. Sam and Carlisle had a meeting and decided it would be best that we team up to hunt her down, rather than sticking to our own sides of the treaty line. Edward thinks it would be best for Bella too, that way we could all protect her better. ” He said the last part cautiously, glancing behind him at Seth, as if he was afraid of my reaction.

I let out a frustrated growl. I knew this meant that we would all have to double our patrols and I was not happy about it. I was already operating on only four hours of sleep because of my current shift; I didn’t know how much more I could handle.

Before the conversation could continue, Jacob walked back over to us, looking stressed. “Stella is going to get some water, and hopefully cool off a bit. She’ll be back in a minute or two.” He spoke to all of us before turning to Seth. “Can you go sign the three of us out at the office?” he asked, referring to me, Stella and himself. “Kim, Jared and Quil are still at lunch. You and Embry stay here with them and keep an eye on things, in case Sam spots you know who.”

Seth nodded obediently, nodding in my direction and clapping Jake on the back before disappearing down the hall.

Embry glanced in the opposite direction quickly before his eyes darted back to Jake and I with uncertain eyes. “Yeah . . . Well good luck with that.” He glanced to where Stella was emerging one last time before turning on his heel and walking back through the blue double doors.

With each step closer she took, with that guilty look and her big eyes, biting her lip and clutching a water bottle tightly in both hands, I couldn’t help but forget why I was even aggravated with her in the first place.

Goddamn imprinting.