LEGO HOUSE

eight.           she's happy

▬▬ CORI'S FINGERS TAPPED against her desk, her red eyes – that now swirled with hints of gold – were locked on the small icon of her blonde best friend. In the picture, Lola had her eyes squeezed closed and her tongue hanging out if her mouth as a princess tiara sat crooked on her messy curls.

Cori couldn't help but smile at it, she could remember that day perfectly... Well, not really. Most of the day was a blur of book stores and bugging Phil, but she did remember her and Lola finding the plastic tiaras in a store and she remembered the multitude of pictures they had taken. And she knew that her icon on Lola's computer was a picture of her with her own tiara.

Taking a breath, she glanced out the window to see Alice and Emmett standing just barely hidden but the treeline. And she knew his eyes were locked on her window, even if he was supposed to be watching their surroundings. She didn't like having them out there – she didn't like having him out there – but she knew it was for the best. Even with her home, it was better to have the extra muscle. Especially from someone that knew how to use it.

"Screw it." She muttered and she hit the small icon and it barely had a chance for it to ring once before Lola's glare took up the screen.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been calling you for weeks! Noah said you skipped school and that you... what's wrong with your eyes?" Her hazel eyes squinted as she leaned closer to her laptop so she could get a better look. "Coraline Leigh Swan, you better start talking now."

Cori swallowed the lump in her throat but the burning didn't subsided, it never did. She was sure it never would. "You remember how we used to joke about being vampires? After we read that one series in middle school? Um, The Sookie Stackhouse books?" Lola nodded. "It's not a joke anymore."

Lola was frozen, her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open as she looked at the girl.

"And, um, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I hate it. I hate it so much." She wiped her eyes despite the fact that no tears fell. "There's this burning in my throat that I can't get rid of and I have all this strength that I can't really control. A-and I'm scared to hug anyone, like, really hug anyone. I almost bit Carter at school, I stopped myself but I-"

"Cori." Lola spoke, her voice calm despite the millions of questions rolling around in her head. She knew she had to be there for her best friend, even if she didn't entirely understand what was going on. "You're gonna be okay."

"I don't think I am." She shook her head, her shoulders shaking as a sob wrecked through her.

"Yes, you will. I know you will. You're Cori freaking Swan. There's nothing you can't do. Besides, you'll have me. Always."

"Yeah, but you're in Arizona."

Lola's lips pulled into a wide smile, confusing the new vampire. "Not for long."

"What?"

"My parents have this work trip planned, it's a few months long, and I suggested that I move in with you guys until they get back or until college starts. I already talked to Charlie, he's all for it. Thinks it'll get you out of this mood he thinks you're in. My parents even agreed, especially after I told them that he was a cop. It didn't take much convincing actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they were super cool about it. But I just think that's because I turn 18 in a few months and they're ready to get rid of me."

"No, Lo, not that. You're really coming here? To stay?"

"Yep." The blonde nodded, her smile wide. "It was supposed to be a surprise, but it sounded like you needed some good news."

"How are you just accepting all of this?" Cori asked, completely confused the girl before her was being so calm about the whole situation. Especially since, out of the two, Cori was the calm one and Lola was not.

"Oh, trust me. I'm freaking out." She chuckled, making the shorter girl laugh. "But you need me right now, so my freak out can wait."

"I love you, weirdo."

"I love you more, weirdo."

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▬▬ CORI HAD HER EYES closed as she laid out on the bed of Noah's truck, her hands crossed over her stomach and the boy's letterman folded under her head. Her head close to the tailgate and her feet towards the cab of the truck. A smile played on her lips as she took a breath, letting the warm air invade her senses.

Carter chuckled as he looked at the girl from where he sat on the tailgate, he wasn't exactly sure why she had walked over and just laid down without so much as a word. And he found her amusing.

Noah, on the other hand, was completely confused. He leaned back, letting his elbow rest against the plastic liner of the truck as he reached over and lightly poked her cheek. "Are you alive?"

She couldn't help the laugh that escaped her, if only he knew. She opened her eyes, her blue contacts covering the red and golden swirl of her irises. "No." She hummed, turning to look at him. And for once she wasn't lying, at least not completely. And just that small slice of truth, even if it was nothing but a joke, made her feel just the slightest bit better.

"What's got you all..." he trailed off, waving his hand toward her.

"I like listening to you two talk." She shrugged, not that she could actually recall any of what they had been talking about but they're voices were soothing, almost.

The two boys shared a look. "Do we have a stalker situation?" Noah asked, his eyebrow raised slightly.

"No, dumbass." She chuckled, reaching over and lightly hitting his leg. "It's just nice. Comforting."

"And that's just her strange way of saying she loves us." Carter leaned back, smiling as the girl turned her head towards him.

"Exactly."

"You could just say that, ya know." Noah told her. "Instead of a bunch of weird shit that makes you sound insane."

"My way is more fun." She shrugged, letting her eyes fall closed again and Noah's eyes bounced between the two, his eyebrow pinched slightly.

"I'm sorry. I have to ask... what's been going on between you two?" He asked, pushing a hand through his hair. "A few months ago, I was certain you two were sneaking around, but not very well. Especially after New Years. But ever since you stopped ignoring us, I can't tell if you're just better at hiding it or if I just made the whole thing up in my head. And Lola's no help, when I asked what she thought she said that she wasn't sure."

Cori kept her eyes closed as she let out a small sigh. "You wanna tell him?"

"We hooked up a few times." Carter told him, a half-hearted shrug lifting his shoulder. "And I guess you could say we were sneaking around-"

"Please don't call it that. It sounds dirty." Cori cut him off, a shiver running through her as her nose scrunched in disgust. "We were just having some fun, private fun."

"And now?"

"And now we're friends who used to make out." Carter shrugged and Cori chuckled as she shook her head a little, not that she could have explained it any better.

"And it's not weird?"

"No. We were friends before, we're friends now."

"Exactly." Cori hummed, unmoving.

"You guys are confusing." He mumbled as he pushed himself up and the two simply laughed at him. Carter shifted a little and laid back, his head resting on the girl's stomach as his feet dangled over the tailgate. Cori smiled as she moved her hands and let her right arm lay across his chest as her left hand toyed with the ends of his perfectly styled hair.

"Yeah." Carter hummed, closing his eyes under his sunglasses.

Noah looked back at the two before laying down, his head close to Cori's waist as he used his arm as a pillow. "So, are we skipping class to nap? 'Cause I am all for it." He closed his eyes as Cori laughed, the sound carrying through the air and drawing the confused – and slightly judgemental – eyes of those around them.

Alice smiled at the three from where she stood next to her car, Jasper at her side. She had been worried about the girl despite the visions she had seen where Cori was nothing but happy with her vampirism. Now, she knew that her visions weren't far off.

"She's fine." Jasper drawled, rubbing his wife's back, his gold eyes on her. "She's in a good place."

"I know." She hummed, tilting her head back to look up at him. "Just worried about her."

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "She's happy. I promise."

"Good." Alice mumbled, her golden eyes moving back to the three teenagers that laid in the back of Noah's pickup. Carter and Cori were laughing and teasing Noah, who had sat up with his phone in his hands and a wide smile on his face and a blush on his cheeks. "She seems like herself again."

"She's always been herself." He stated, looking over at the three. He hated that everyone seemed to think that Cori no longer acted like she once had, and it was true, but she had changed. "She's just adjusting. Still very much Cori, just a little bit different."