The Reject Chapter Eighteen

Where you go I go

What you see I see

I know I'd never be me

Without the security

Of your loving arms

Keeping me from harm

Put your hand in my hand

And we'll stand ~ Skyfall- Adele

The funny thing is... there isn't any funny thing. Weird. I haven't laughed for about four hours now, not even a smile. So it was stupid when I felt like laughing when I saw Jace sitting in the cafeteria, surrounded by girls. He was hiding the annoyance on his face very well, but one look in his eyes and there it was.

Ashley, however, didn't feel the same about the situation.

'Can you believe those girls? Gosh, such sl*ts!' I frowned at her and stopped myself from reminding her that she used to act the same back home. Even now, as she walked towards Jace, swaying her hips.

When he saw Ashley coming, he was more irked. Lovely.

From there, I decided to give Jace and Ashley some private time. Uh... how much ever private it can get with all those girls around. Instead, I looked at my table, filled with my pack. Sam saw me coming and waved at me. Grey pointed at the vacant seat next to him. Katie and Lily smiled at me. Troy... well, he was putting his head down, obviously sleeping. The poor, little tired baby. Practices had had a toll on all of us. All but... me.

I sat down next to Grey, high-fived Sammy, said hey to the girls with a smile of my own (just a tiny one, hardly a smile), ruffled Troy's hair. I felt welcomed.

'So...' I looked around at the table 'What's happenin'?'

'Nothing.' Sammy sighed. He looked tired, but not that much.

'What's up with Ashley?' Katie asked nodding her head towards Jace's table.

'Haven't talked to her for days.' Lily said.

I looked at Ashley, and I wasn't surprised to find not a single girl, other than herself, at Jace's table. Oh great. Can't believe she threatened them. She leaned towards Jace from her place on the table but before she could flash him, he suddenly got up really fast. Then he looked directly at me. His head just jerked towards my seat in the cafeteria. My eyes widened.

His jaw was clenched. His hands were fists. His eyes were like the real metal, silver. You won't be able to see anything in them. No emotion.

He turned around and walked out the cafeteria. Ashley was frozen.

I looked around worriedly at the table. This was bad. We all seemed to have made an arrangement in about five seconds. Well, not we all. More like everyone except me.

Grey nudged me towards Ashley and I glared at him, but went anyway. Lily passed me a bag.

Okay, so the big deal was that when Ashley gets embarrassed, she goes off into this.. shell of her's and it's really hard to make her do anything fun. And as much as she was... not nice these days, she was still a best friend of mine, a pack member and I owed her for the good times. The good times before we got involved with this cursed pack.

I put my hand around the stiff shoulder of her's and pushed her slightly, getting her off the table. We started walking out, towards the bathroom, the place where heartbroken girls cry their hearts out.

Once we reached, I locked the door and waited for Ashley to say something. It always went like this. I've even memorised the handbook. The imaginary handbook. See:

The Imaginary Handbook of How to Deal with A's Tantrums

1. Get her into a bathroom or a deserted place, ASAP.

2. Lock the door.

3. Wait for her cry (try not to cover your ears, it'll offend her more)

4. Pat her shoulders along the way of her story and try to give her advises. Hug her after.

5. Give her a new and nice article of clothing to make her feel a little better.

Those are the magic five steps that the entire pack is familiar with.

A strange sound made its way out Ashley's mouth and I winced. It wouldn't be loud enough for any human walking outside the bathroom door but my hearing is a bit too advanced. More than a normal were, even.

'I-I can't believe he did that!' she started, tears streaming down her face, mascara streaking her cheeks 'I... I thought he liked me!'

I decided to tell her the truth.

'Ashley, he does like you, but not the way you... do things.' I told her, wiping her cheeks with a tissue. She looked at me with big eyes, confused 'What do you mean?'

I sighed 'I mean, you don't have to show him your... cleavage to make him like you. He's not that type.' She glared at me 'Why didn't tell me that before? And how do you know that?'

How did I know that? I was taken off-guard. What could I tell her?

'I uh... I'm good at reading people?' I tried to make it sound real. But in a way, it was true. I was good at reading Jace. Not everyone.

'You are?' she looked at me, as if trying to read me. Honey, that won't work.

'Yeah, I mean, whenever he's surrounded by those girls in the cafeteria,' I looked at her pointedly but she just nodded 'Don't you see how annoyed he gets?' she nodded again but I knew she was lying. She didn't know.

'So what should I do?' she asked me, wiping her cheeks with the tissue I handed her.

What should she do?

'Um...' I looked around the bathroom. What should she do. I realized I was looking in the bathroom for an answer and immediately felt stupid.

My eyes stopped at the mirror. I saw myself. My brown contact lenses, dark hair, slightly tanned skin. I realized Jace liked me for what I was.

I turned to Ashley with a smirk.

'What?' she asked cautiously, heartbreak forgotten. Seriously, why does my pack get scared of me whenever I smirk?

It's... fantastic, though. Lovin' it.

'Be yourself.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, Jess. That helps.'

'Name's Al, and it will help.' I opened the lock on the bathroom door. 'Where're you going?'

I ignored her question. 'Get the girls,' I told her, throwing the bag which contained a new Gucci jacket.

'We're going shopping.'

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