ೃ⁀➷ ˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
oh merde
( twilight. eclipse )

chapter three.
an unknown redhead

THE weekend flew by in what seemed like a flash. After the (awkward??) encounter between both Georgine and Jasper, the girl had started to act somewhat weird. She suspected it was because of the way Jasper had reacted when mentioning that... beast... and how he had handled the situation... and then the random calmness over-washing her like it was a natural occurrence. Georgine Brodeur was sure she was going to drive herself insane.

Without Bella present in Forks, Washington, the teen's weekend consisted of, mainly, just her own company. She finished her History essay in record time; using the Friday afternoon as a time of studying and research, so she could get a feel of what she was actually going to be writing, unlike most of the times, and had it finished and printed by Saturday lunchtime. Georgine was happy with herself, to say the least, that she was able to get such a gruelling essay (in her opinion, it was History) out of the way so early on, leaving room for other things she could do... Except, there wasn't much else.

For the rest of her weekend, Georgine spent her time reading arguably one of the best books ever written in any time (...again, just her opinion), Pride and Prejudice. To her, the book was just such a... rollercoaster of emotions, and she loved that. There was nothing better than a well-written book that made you feel everything the characters were feeling, that made you yearn for more once that last paged had been turned. And, unfortunately, there weren't many books like that.

Occasionally, Georgine would decide to come out of her room, depicting that she needed a change of scenery, rather than reading in the same constant place for the whole weekend. Her mother hadn't any suspicions on her behaviour; this was practically considered normal behaviour for her daughter━━what, with English being her most favourite subject, and all━━and that was without Bella. If the girl was in town, to say the least, it probably wouldn't have been much too different. Georgine still would've spent most of the weekend with her head in a book as she sat idly somewhere, except they more than likely would've worked on the essay together, and spoken on the phone at some point.

Georgine hadn't mentioned her... strange... encounter with the Hale boy to her mother, for obvious reasons. The interaction would only fuel her raging suspicions even more; like lighting gas on fire, you were expecting an explosion. Then, this would've only enraged Georgine for her mother not having let the subject go━━although, she couldn't necessarily blame her mother, considering now, she, herself, could even notice it was almost blatantly obvious.

She just hoped it wasn't too obvious that the boy himself noticed, too.

On Monday morning, she was awakened from her slumber through a loud voice, booming as it echoed up the stairs and into her bedroom. Her mother shouted her name, calling her downstairs, as she stirred awake. Groggily, she pushed herself out of bed, a grumble escaping her lips once she looked at the clock on her bedside table and noticed the time: 5am. What on earth was her mother doing shouting her awake at this time?

She hadn't bothered to change her attire, or fix her hair, or look somewhat respectable considering the time, or the fact that it was her mother. Dark strands of hair were sticking up in places, in awkward positions Georgine didn't even know was possible, but continued her way down, nevertheless.

Once she had made it to the bottom of the stairs, she saw her mother sitting on the small, circular kitchen table━━positioned perfectly by the window that looked on outside so the woman was able to nose on her neighbours━━a coffee mug in her hands, blowing on the steam in an attempt to cool down the heat emanating. It seemed as though her mother had not long woken up, either, as her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and a few dark circles positioned under her eyes.

Upon her arrival, her mother had turned her head slightly to the left, mid-sip, a mixture between a scoff and a chuckle escaping her lips. Georgine frowned at her mother, already miserable enough due to the time that she had been woken, wondering what she was finding funny. Reaching her hand up to her face to wipe away some of the excesses that had dribbled a little out of her mouth from laughing, finally sipping down the remnants, before coughing lightly. Georgine waited for her mother to expose the truth behind her humour. "It's just your..." She paused, a small smirk appearing on her face, pointing at her daughter's attire, "...your shirt. I didn't know you still wore that. To be honest, I thought I had thrown it away long ago." Georgine finally looked down at her over-sized t-shirt, now bothering to take notice in what she was wearing in front of her mother━━Winnie the Pooh.

The daughter sighed, throwing her head back slightly as her mother continued to giggle into her coffee mug. "Mom, you should know by now that I'll always be a child at heart." She threw a sarcastic smile her way, lifting her shoulder up to her face in an attempt to look nice, before heading over to the━━thankfully━━already-filled coffee machine. If Georgine was going to be up at this time in the morning whilst having a conversation with her mother, she was definitely going to need caffeine. "Why'd you call me down so early, anyway?" She asked, stifling a yawn behind her empty hand.

"Oh, Bella called. I told her you would call her back soon."

Georgine placed the machine back in its place, bringing the warm mug up to her face, her brows furrowed. Bella called? What was Bella doing calling so early in the morning? She sighed into the mug, its warmth sending heat through her system, almost willing her awake. "Alright, I'll call her later."

"Umm, no." Her mother responded quickly, standing up as she made her way to sink, having finished her coffee already━━although, Georgine didn't know how long the woman had been up before her, doing God knows what. "I said you'd call her back soon." She emphasised, placing her own mug in the sink before taking her daughter's out of her hands, as it was mid-way up to her lips for another sip, placing it down a little too harshly on the counter behind. "That means now."

The daughter sighed, once more, before walking over towards the phone hanging off the wall and dialling in her friend's home number. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to her━━in fact, she was quite curious as to what the hell the girl wanted to talk to her about━━but it was just too fucking early for Georgine to be anything but miserable.

The ringing silenced as the receiver picked up, on the other end. "Georgine! Finally!"

Georgine was taken aback a little. "Finally? It's 5 o'clock in the fu━━" She stopped, hesitating, as she remembered that her mother was only a few feet behind her, listening on intently, most probably. She turned around slightly, eager to know whether she was correct, and found her mother watching her closely, knowing that her daughter was seconds away from swearing, her expression challenging. "It's 5 o'clock in the morning!"

Bella sighed down the phone, already having expected the answer. "I know, I know, but I wanted to speak to you now rather than at school. We might not get a proper chance━━what, with everyone nosing as to where I was this weekend."

Georgine scoffed a little, as she thought back to their friendship group, and how nosy they genuinely could be. "Yeah, I get it. So, how was your weekend?"

The young pair had continued their conversation for a little while, taking it in turns to conversate about their own weekends. Bella had spoken about her visit with her mother, how she missed her dearly, and how she had reacted to Edward. This made Georgine scoff, knowing that her friend's mother would most likely think the same as herself; it was intense. But, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The couple looked out for one another, protected and cared for each other, and Georgine respected Edward for that... probably one of the only reasons she tolerated him, considering he left her for a while.

When it was Georgine's turn to explain what her weekend consisted off, she didn't particularly know where to start. She mentioned how school was boring, of course, without the girl's presence, and told her any essays that were needed to be due in soon. She then proceeded on with caution, a seemingly touchy subject. "I also ran into Jasper." She whispered his name.

There was a small, momentary pause of silence on Bella's end. "Really? Where?"

Georgine let out a little laugh, remembering their encounter. "The woods... Yeah, it was kind of weird. I was just walking home and I remember hearing this... noise, and I saw this huge animal, but then it ran off... and there was Jasper..."

Another pause. "That sounds... weird."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Georgine watched as her mother walked past her, motioning with her finger that she was going upstairs to take a shower, her daughter nodding in response, before wrapping up their finished conversation. "I'll see you at school then?"

"Yeah━━" Bella had began, before stopping herself, laughing lightly, and then continued, "Actually, Edward's taking me today.." Georgine took in her friend's words. She didn't mind that Bella had wanted to arrive at school with her boyfriend━━that was natural━━but it meant she'd have to walk through the woods again; something she definitely wasn't keen on anymore. Before she could rebuke a response, her friend had cut her off, "But he offered to take you, too."

Okay, weird. That wasn't necessarily something that happened often, especially considering she didn't particularly like him after what he had done to Bella. The two had never really had a proper conversation with one another; they had only really noticed each other once Bella had arrived, introducing him to their friends as her boyfriend. "Oh, yeah, okay, sure. Thanks."

When they had bid each other goodbye, hanging up the phone of the wall, Georgine sighed, running a hand through her messy strands of hair, finding knots on the way down. As she thought about things, she had started to notice a lot of weird things occurring as of recently, and they always seemed to tie around that one family...

♡

The three of them━━Georgine, Bella, and Edward━━had arrived to school with a few minutes to spare, before the bell would sound. The drive to their destination wasn't as bad as Georgine had expected it to be, purely because she was having to endure a car journey from someone she used to loathe... and now he was being nice? She thought he was most probably trying to make up for what he had done to Bella to Georgine, too, based on how close the two girls are. Awkwardness had surrounded them to begin with, enveloping them in a shroud of darkness, as none of them said anything, but the two occupants in the front had, in the end, started a conversation that Georgine felt no place to get involved in.

As they pulled up, in the parking lot, and in a space that provided as its usual for Edward's car, the three of them sat, idly, as they watched the sudden rain begin to fall from the sky. Georgine tied her up, before pulling her hood over her head, not wanting to get any of her hair wet so early in the morning━━it just looked so dead whenever it was wet, and she didn't need that on the first day of a new week.

Bella and Edward spoke in hushed voices, not wanting the girl behind to hear, but she was pulled back into their reality when Edward's tone of voice suddenly changed. "If I told you two to stay in the car, would you?" Georgine lifted her head from where it was resting━━uncomfortably━━on the window, watching the rain as it manoeuvred down, before trailing her eyes over to where Edward was looking━━Jacob.

At the sight of their old friend, both Bella and Georgine immediately opened their doors to approach him━━much to Edward's disappointment as he stepped out, too, rolling his eyes and muttering something along the lines of of course not under his breath. The three of them began to walk over to Jacob, the tension between them somewhat suspicious, almost as if each of them was a little angry at the boy for all different reasons. Jacob watched them approach from afar, the longing stares surrounding him seeming not to bother him, as every student walking past ogled over in his direction. Georgine didn't completely understand why so many people were staring━━he was just another kid, but then she supposed it was due to the difference in his appearance compared to everyone else who lived in the area, considering Jacob didn't.

Jacob met the trio half way, stalking over with a look on his face that told Georgine something wasn't quite right. His expression was one of anger, resentfulness and confusion as Bella stalked off a little in front, leaving her friend and her boyfriend just a few paces behind, neither not exactly keen on getting involved in a conversation with him, due to separate reasons. The truth was, even though Georgine was able to eventually, sort-of, forgive Edward for breaking her heart when he left for months, she was unable to do the same with Jacob. There was just something about the situation that included him, that made her feel a little uneasy. Not only had Jacob broke her best friend's heart, like Edward, but he had ultimately ripped it to shreds and then stood on it, repeatedly... at least, that's what it seemed like to Georgine.

As her thoughts ran wild, a bitter laugh was heard to the right of her, emanating from Edward. She looked up, to find him staring up at the situation ahead of him, a small, almost teasing smile on his face━━that same one! He didn't bother looking down at the girl━━although, Georgine knew that he knew she was looking at him━━so, with furrowed brows, she spoke up, "What are you doing?"

It was a question Georgine hadn't realised she had prepared, her brain seemingly working with her mouth to voice a very needed conversation. Edward then looked at her, his golden eyes taking over her own as he feigned confusion. "I don't know what you mean..." But, there was that same fucking smile, and it drove her mad, because she knew there was something going on that Edward knew about, and he enjoyed knowing that she didn't know... What?

The pair of them were brought back into the conversation━━now consisting of the four of them━━as they heard Bella mention her and Edward's trip down to Florida. At the mention of it, Edward laughed lightly, before turning his head to gaze around at the students around them, some of them still watching on. Bella looked back at him, wondering why he was laughing. "He's checking you see if...." He paused, looking down at Georgine again, before continuing, but only slightly, "...well, you know..."

This didn't necessarily settle well with Georgine━━she didn't like being out of the loop. Ever since she had begun her teenage years, she couldn't help but be one to enjoy knowing, to be able to feel like you're involved, something she could say probably came from her French side of the family (...not that she was being stereotypical...), and this was not one of those situations. She furrowed her brows, confusion over-washing her body, watching as three pairs of eyes landed on her own. "What?" she questioned, but they ignored her, turning away.

She let it go, as the conversation took on another toll, one that seemed to send a small chill down her spine, as Jacob spoke to Edward, "I've come to warn you." Georgine couldn't tell exactly whether his words were a threat to the boy next to her, or some form of help, but either way, she didn't really fancy being apart of it. She looked in Bella's direction for help on wanting to get the hell out of there, but it was no use, as her friend continued to look at both boys, confusion now engulfing her.

Jacob continued. "If your..." And he stopped, looking over at Georgine, once more. He looked her up and down, an expression that told the girl he no longer viewed her the way he did all those months ago, when they were close friends. She raised her eyebrows, as if to challenge the boy, and he seemed to back down. "If your people...come on our land again..."

"What?" Both Georgine and Bella questioned, cutting off Jacob before he could say any more. Bella's confusion seemed to be a different one that Georgine was feeling, as she immediately looked over at Edward, searching for answers, as he, in return, avoided her eyes. Yet, Georgine's confusion was one that told the girl she was now completely out of the loop, with no understanding of what was going on, as they used a sort-of code to talk within her presence. And it was starting to piss her off a little bit...

Georgine tried to rack her brain for answers, as both Edward and Jacob continued to argue back and forth between them. She casted her eyes down to her shoes, a headache of sorts forming behind her eyes. Everything was just becoming... too fucking much! Why was it that, all of a sudden, so many strange things were happening, and they were all happening to her? She wouldn't mind if they were happening around her, or very far away from her, but, no, they were happening dead centre, in front of her face, as if begging for her attention. Georgine wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of it all, she goes crazy (that's if she makes it out alive, before she either kills someone, or dies of a fucking headache, anyway...)

Movement next to her brought her back to reality, her eyes still stinging with a few tears of pain she tried to fight back, looking up, and finding Edward now directly in front of Jacob. She looked down, watching as Edward's fists clenched and unclenched, fighting off anger. He threatened him, ordering him to leave, but Jacob stood his ground. "She has the right to know," he whispered, but his voice came clearly out, just-about to Georgine, from where she stood a little ways away, her hand on her head for comfort, Jacob's eyes watching her curiously, before looking back at the boy in front of him, "She's the one the redhead wants..."

Okay, now she'd had enough! There was too much fucking code and dizziness and unknown things getting to her, picking at her brain like a bird, asking for its way in. God, she just wanted to scream, but she knew if she were to do that, right in the middle of the parking lot, surrounded by many onlookers, she would be declared crazy almost instantly. She hissed out in pain, her hand now banging lightly on her head, hoping it might ease the pain, but it only made it a little worse. With her hands on her knees, she couldn't tell whether the conversation had finally stopped, or her headache was just that bad that she could no longer hear anything. Looking up, her breathing slightly heavier, she saw the three of them watching, all with concern over the faces━━but she definitely didn't care about one of them, partially didn't care about the other, and definitely did care about the last one.

Her eyes met Bella's, her own brows furrowed, before giving her friend a pained smile, shaking her head━━something she shouldn't have done, considering it only caused her to feel more pain!━━and pointed off towards the doors. She whispered, "I'm gonna go..." Georgine only took one step in the direction of the front doors, and Bella moved with her, too, reached out as her mouth opened to say something, but she cut her off, "I'm okay. I'll see you... whenever."

She began to walk off, again, but stopped next to Edward and Jacob, before turning to face them. They were both looking down at her━━God, why is everyone always taller than her?━━Jacob breathing harder than Edward, who was keeping his composure steady throughout their argument.

"You're both dickheads."

Georgine didn't particularly know why she said it, especially to Edward, who she was just about starting to like━━Jacob was the one who deserved it more, but she didn't think she'd go about herself to show her anger towards him for what he had done to Bella... and to herself. Not only had he treated Bella badly, but he had also said a big fuck you! to their own friendship, something Georgine was very fond of, considering she found it difficult to find nice enough people to hang around with living near her.

She stalked off, up the steps, and toward the front door. She kept her head in her hands, her eyes forward so she wouldn't bump straight into someone and only cause more damage to herself, and to someone else.

But, as she carried on, hissing out in pain every few seconds, she didn't know that more than three pairs of eyes━━the three that she had been talking to only minutes ago━━were watching her as she left.

One of them, hurrying off after her, concern washing his own eyes...

♡

The looks surrounding Georgine Brodeur were enough to tell her she needed to stop taking notice... or she was about to kill someone. As she walked through the corridor, pushing past herds of crowds as students waited around for the first bell, still clutching her head in her hands, people continued to stare, like she was new, like she was deformed, like she was deranged.

Even though it was only minutes ago that her headache (is that was it is?) had begun, due to the impending conversation between herself, Bella, Edward and Jacob (well, she wasn't that involved, was she?), Georgine was still hoping that by the time she was a good distance away, it would have cleared. But, so far, she was having no luck.

The girl had no idea as to what bought such a scrutinising pain in her head about; it couldn't be just the simple talk between the trio using code words, because she'd been in a similar situation before. In fact, she'd been in quite a few; moments like that occurred when she was mainly in the presence of Jessica, and her ex-friend didn't particularly want Georgine to try and get involved within the conversation... and, that time hadn't bought on this pain, so what had?

The unanswered questions, swarming about in her head, bouncing off the walls of her mind, only seemed to cause her more pain, and she instantly stopped questioning herself. She tried to think of something else, mainly something that would calm her down, but that would only, naturally, be reading, and her mother. Yet, both thoughts would only cause more of a headache. With the thoughts of reading, she would only be reminded of the English essay due. Now, she had completed it, of course━━who would've expected any less?━━but, she hadn't thought it was to her best standards... maybe she was just having a bad day that day? And, her mother... well, that only bought her to imagine a topic included in one of their last conversations: Jasper Hale. Need she say any more?

But, as she rounded the first corner, heading straight in the direction of the girls' bathroom, hoping to be able to clear her head in an isolated area━━with the hope that no one else was in there, however━━Georgine heard her name reverberating through the walls of the building. For a moment, she thought about stopping, about turning around and wondering what the person wanted, but, then she remembered the dilemma she was in. She didn't exactly want to look like a deranged weirdo who was clutching their head at only the pain of a headache (???) in front of someone, not even Jessica. So, she carried on walking.

But, it seemed as though the person didn't want to give up so soon, as, at the last second, just before Georgine was about to open to door in front of her, a hand wrapped itself around her wrist, stopping her movements. Anyone wouldn't have expected, at the speed that Georgine was pacing, that the action just played out would've had to have been somewhat rough, to be able to stop her from moving... but, it was gentle. The hand around her wrist was somehow calming her down, but only a little, as the pain throbbed in her head died down slightly, before turning around.

Jasper Hale.

She should've fucking known.

"Hey," his voice spoke out, the sound honey to her ears, melting along the crevices of her mind as she stared into his eyes, watching them as they looked back at her, "are you okay?"

It was soft spoken, and she knew he meant well, but the headache was starting to get worse as the seconds ticked by. She felt as though if she didn't get away now, the thump-thump of pain would embed itself in the walls of her brain and leave a permanent mark.

And that thought alone caused her to snap.

"Yeah," she bit back harshly, venom on her tongue. "I'm perfect. I couldn't be any better than what I'm feeling right now." Georgine paused as a million thoughts swam throughout her mind, each one a sharp edge stabbing into her brain as it pleaded for mercy. "My head... feels like it's on fire. My headache doesn't even feel like a headache, all because of some conversation that I wasn't really involved with confused me. I've had headaches before, but this... this is worse. People don't get headaches like this just because of a little confusion."

She paused for breath, laboured and hollow, taking in everything she had just rambled out. Georgine Brodeur wasn't one to ramble, at least not to someone like Jasper Hale, who she barely even knew. But it seemed as though she had completely forgotten who was in her presence, and as she recalled of her whereabouts, she looked down, finding her wrist still within his grasp. Jasper seemed to have noticed, too, as he suddenly dropped his hold on her and straightened his back.

A few moments passed between the two of them, the silence enveloping the enshrouding awkwardness, but neither of them bothered to do anything about it. "Right. Well..." Jasper seemed to pause for thought, before breathing out, "why don't you go into go into the bathroom, do... whatever it is you need to do... and you can talk to me about it on the way to class?"

It was more of a question than a statement, and one that Georgine couldn't quite fathom. Jasper Hale was offering to walk her to class whilst she ranted about her troubles. What had the world come to, exactly?

The girl contemplated the offer, before subtly rolling her eyes (this only caused her to feel more pain in her head), but, nevertheless, began to make her way into the bathroom behind her, knowing that Jasper was going to be waiting outside for her.

Georgine wasn't in the bathroom for long━━5 minutes, maximum. She had refreshed herself enough that she was now feeling as though she looked presentable; something Georgine was fine with, having had such a rough morning already, and the day hadn't even fully started, yet. As she had believed, Jasper had been waiting outside of the door for her, leaning up against the lockers opposite, his eyes focused on the ground. At the sound of the door opposite him opening and closing, his eyes wandered up to her own, and a small, almost sympathetic smile creeped up onto his face, adorning his features, and making him look breathtaking.

"Ready to go?" It was a simple question, one that was complimented with a nod of his head in the direction of her first class (how he knew what it was, she didn't know, but her brain was thumping too much that she didn't bother to question it), but all she could muster up was the nod of her head before they began moving.

For the first minute or so, neither of them spoke, neither of them necessarily wanted to. Jasper didn't want to push the girl's limits on what she wanted to ramble about or not, wishing to respect her privacy, and Georgine believed she needed to shut her mouth as tight as possible before she made herself look any more like an idiot and any less like a sand person... not that she cared about what she was like in front of Jasper... she just had common decency...

It wasn't until Jasper cleared his throat, signalling to Georgine that he was ready to speak, before the two both died of enshrouded awkwardness. "So," he began, pausing, "what exactly got you feeling confused, if you don't mind me asking?"

God, he was such a gentleman, and God, did that piss her off.

She sighed, swallowing hard before thinking it over. Should she tell him the truth? Not only did it sound slightly insane, but it involved his own brother and his brother's girlfriend━━some people wouldn't necessarily take lightly to criticism like that. "Well, I don't really know." Georgine looked over at him, seeing a confused expression upon his own face, and realising she hadn't exactly explained what she meant. "What I mean is, I don't know the specifics of what the conversation was about. I just know it was... weird."

She paused again, and waited for some type of answer to see if she should carry, but all she got was a nod of approval, which was good enough for her. "It was your brother, Edward." Jasper's eyebrows shot up at the name, before she clarified further, "and Bella." This time, his eyes had widened a little, almost as if he knew what their conversation had held without even being present. "Jacob was there, too, and it got a little... heated."

"What do you mean?" he questioned, but there was something about the way his voice sounded that Georgine couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Well, Jacob mentioned this... redhead person," as she went to open her mouth to say more, out of the corner of her eye, Georgine could see Jasper visibly tense up at the mention of the redhead. Did he already know what they were talking about? Come to think of it, it was likely that he knew, considering both Edward and Bella were involved. But, that didn't explain why he would be pretending to be out of the loop... She continued on, "and that she was after Bella, or wanted Bella, it was something like that."

A few seconds of silence enveloped the pair once more, but this time, it was filled with contemplation. Jasper was wondering what the hell he should say next, knowing that the topic wasn't exactly one he wanted Georgine involved with. He could easily come up with an excuse, but being around the girl made him feel nervous already, and he wasn't about to screw up whatever they had going on this early on. On his right, Georgine was contemplating the topic, again. It was all so... cryptic, and yet, Georgine didn't know if she even wanted to get involved. Whatever it was, it was clearly something a little concerning, seeing as someone was either after Bella, or just wanted her? But, either way, she'd rather stay out of that mess.

Jasper eventually spoke up, claiming that he had no idea what his family were conversing about; having never heard of this redhead woman before; and mentioned how he would make sure to ask his brother about it, knowing Georgine was now concerned with Bella's safety.

They made it to Georgine's next class just in time, as the bell rang only seconds after their arrival, the sound echoing in every student's ears as a warning to hurry. Her next class was Economics━━a class she didn't necessarily hate, but didn't enjoy, either. It was one of those, where it really depended on your mood on that day as to whether you enjoyed the class or not. Right now, Georgine could really do without having to endure an hour of it, especially with her headache still present.

Before Jasper bid the girl goodbye, however, he made sure to send her a small, sweet smile, one that had Georgine's heart fluttering just a tiny bit. She felt her heart rise in a few beats per minute, and wondered if her face gave away what she was feeling. Oh, she really hoped it didn't. But before she could try and hide the redness she already knew what taking over her cheeks, she felt a new emotion; a sudden wave calmness overcame her, sending the racing of her heart and flush of her cheeks away in a second. She thought nothing of it, only that she was thankful that she didn't have to endure any further embarrassment, and bid the boy in front of her goodbye, turning behind her and stalked into the classroom.

It was only when she had sat down and gotten comfortable, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, that she remembered the same thing had happened before, in the past. And she remembered there being the same exact person in her company the last time.

♡

Georgine mulled into the cafeteria, bag clutched in her hand as it fell limply over her shoulder, her eyes almost broody. The last hour of Economics had not been fun, at all. Unfortunately, it was the type of lesson where the teacher wants you to actually participate, rather than listen and take notes. And she was most definitely not in that mindset on that day. Having to think hard enough to answer questions━━that Georgine would swear were difficult, honestly! ━━had only worsened her headache, and now all she wanted to do was go home more so than she had already.

But Georgine trudged on, passing by people she hadn't wanted any interaction with on that terrible day. Her mind wouldn't be able to fully uphold a conversation, with its own steady heartbeat cascading against its walls, only causing her more pain. She needed to sleep. That's what she needed, to find a remote and empty table somewhere in the corner of the room, where she knew no one would most likely bother her (she hoped, anyway) and rest her head and her eyes.

She scanned the room as quickly as she could, looking for any safe passage towards an empty table, before finally spotting one, right where she had hoped━━the corner. Most times, that table wouldn't be occupied, but sometimes it would, and Georgine was grateful that this wasn't one of those times.

Unfortunately, she hadn't hoped enough, because not even a few steps towards her rest, someone had come up beside her and tapped her on the arm.

Turning around, Georgine came face-to-face with Alice Cullen... another one of the family. She had that perfect smile on her perfect face, and even though all Georgine wanted to do was run to a secluded area, she couldn't help but stay put and listen, because, God, Alice was just that perfect.

"Hey!" Alice chirped, her voice soft and silky, like melted chocolate. Her piercingly golden eyes stared into her own, and Georgine couldn't help but feel a little inferior. Even though Alice was easily the sweetest person alive, she had a feeling she could be a little feisty. "It's Georgine, right?"

She was a little stumped at that question, even when she shouldn't be. She had been at that school for the same amount of years as the Cullen family, yet she was still left feeling a little shocked that they knew her name, especially one that she had never spoken to in her entire life. Although, as Georgine got to thinking about it, Bella most likely brought up her name in conversation at some point, seeing as they were quite close. She was bound to have come up in a conversation at some point.

"Um, yeah," Georgine quickly spoke, before she was deemed a little weird at such a simple question such as this is your name, right?, and blinked, coming back to her senses. "And you're Alice?" Her statement (which she knew to already be true) turned into a question, wanting to pretend like she didn't really know the girl.

"That's me!" she responded enthusiastically, and Georgine couldn't help but wonder how someone could be so happy, so often. She had seen Alice around a fair few times since she had first started highschool, and couldn't help but notice it was a very rare occurrence for the girl to not be adorning a smile. She only wished she could always be that happy. "Me and my brothers were wondering if you would like to sit with us, seeing as Bella isn't here, right now?"

Georgine suddenly stopped short of breath, thinking back to when she had last seen Bella. Why wasn't she here? The last time she had been with her, Georgine had stormed (sue her, okay? she wasn't feeling the best!) off before she could witness the end of their conversation. Had she taken off with Jacob? "Um...." she began, her eyes narrowing into little slits as she weighed up her options. She looked over into the direction of where Alice had come from, only to find both Edward slumped down on his chair, his eyes holding interest in the surface of the table, and Jasper, posture up-right and eyes set on her. Before she could answer, Alice spoke up again.

"We just... wanted to keep you company."

Wow. Talk about a guilt trip.

Before Georgine's mind realised what she was doing, she nodded her head, watching as Alice's face immediately lit up at her answer, eyes bright. Alice's figure skipped into the direction of her original residence, as Georgine only shook her head, wondering what the hell she was doing and since when was she this sociable?

She sat down, body and smile stiff with awkwardness, taking the seat next to Alice, and opposite both of the boys. Nothing was said for the first few moments, and Georgine couldn't help but wish she was a little meaner so she didn't have to endure this torture.

"So..." Alice spoke up, smile still plastered on her face, and probably not coming off any time soon, Georgine guessed. "Are you coming to our graduation party?"

The question was aimed at Georgine, she realised after a few seconds, and tilted her head in confusion. She hadn't heard anything about a graduation party, or at least, she didn't think she did. There was a chance it could have been mentioned whilst she was in her Economics lesson, but, then again, she hadn't heard anything at that time. "I... don't think so."

Alice's eyes, that were trained on her, expectantly waiting for an answer, moved across to Jasper's. They had changed emotion, from soft and loving, to anger and confusion. She gave her brother a knowing look, tilting her head back in the direction of where Georgine was sitting, but Jasper only shrugged his shoulders, his own eyes glaring at his sister.

Since when did everything get so confusing?

Georgine heard a small, scoff-like come from Edward, her head turning towards him, her brows still furrowed and eyes still narrowed. Her mouth opened to speak, to say something she hadn't had planned (that was happening a lot lately, her body taking control over her mind), but Alice cut back through, causing Georgine to look at her. "Well, I think it would be nice if you did. I think you'd really enjoy it."

She paused. "I don't know... parties aren't really my thing."

Alice's face sunk in a little, her expression turning a bit sad, before she offered, "Bella will be there." A pause. "And we all will, obviously." Another pause. This time, a knowing smile on her face. "And Jasper will, obviously."

What had that meant?

She tried not to think about it too much, not with her headache already starting to seep back through with its impending pain from the amount of cryptic expressions and meanings behind words happening around her. Georgine thought over it; she had never been the type of girl to enjoy a party━━you could either find her in the corner, alone, or she was trying to leave at any given moment. But, she supposed if Bella was going to be there, it wouldn't be too bad.

Plus, Jasper would be there. And he was still kind of cute. Why not?

A small smile upturned her face, her cheeks becoming plump and her eyes lighting up just a few bulbs. She scraped her tongue along her teeth, checking over with herself in her mind if this was really something she wanted to be apart of, before nodding. "Yeah, sure. I'll come." She looked around at the other two occupying the table, and watched as Jasper's eyes turned a little brighter, and a teasing smile laid place on Edward's face.

After that, their conversation didn't seem so awkward, anymore.

NOTE.
!!!!! yep, edward offered to take georgine to school once jasper realised she'd walk through the woods again bc he was worried!!! my babies!!
also, i did have to slightly change the original conversation between edward, bella n jacob for obvious reasons,, cause georgine was present and she knows NOTHING about ANYTHING... and... headaches??? i wonder why??