But you didn't have to cut me off

Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing

And I don't even need your love

But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough

No you didn't have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records and then change your number

I guess that I don't need that though

Now you're just somebody that I used to know ~ Somebody that I Used To Know - Gotye Feat. Kimbra

The Reject - Chapter Nineteen

'Eww! No way am I shopping from there!' Ashley hissed, a disgusted look on her face. 'Why not? I always shop from there!'

'That's why more guys are after me.' she sighed, making me frown, and added 'You have horrible fashion sense.' Well, sorry not to inform you Ashley, but over a twenty guys from this town had already asked me for dates, only to be rejected, even though I didn't want to hurt them. But what's a relationship if I don't even like them like that?

I glared at her 'Are you doing this for Jace or other guys?'

She sighed, annoyed 'Why can't I do this for Jace and the other guys? It's good to be a...' her eyes roamed my body, a disapproving look in her eyes 'Pleasant sight for eyes, don't you think?'

Um, hello? Obvious much?

'Then... Be selfish for once and think of yourself instead of what others think of you.' I muttered as I pushed her into the store.

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

'Okay guys!' I grinned at my pack sitting in the living room, waiting excitedly for the show.

'Are you ready, for the new...' and better 'Ashley!' On cue, Ashley strutted out with her first converse shoes, from behind the unleveled curtain held by Lily and Katie.

There were gasps, alright. But I wasn't surprised. Ashley had changed.

She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a long white shirt which was mostly covered up by a full buttery white sweater, and black major heels.

I, myself, had changed my sense of fashion. I wasn't wearing shorts and a tank top at the moment. Instead, I had on a short, flowy dress, which was also a buttery white color, along with an adorable sweater and black burgundy tights. A long necklace was around my neck and I had on cute, dark and light bracelets on my wrists.

'Okay,' Ashley said, a bored expression on her face, though her ears were red 'How's this,' she waved her hands over her body 'Gonna help me get Jace?'

I smirked at her 'Oh, don't you worry about that,' there were gulps from my pack sitting behind me 'You'll get him no problem.'

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

'Ashley, get out of the damn car!' Katie hissed at the closed window or Ashley's car.

'Hey, no cussing!' Sam's mutter was ignored.

'Ashley!'

'What's going on here?'

'Grey! You're finally here! Where's J-Al?'

'Hey, what's going on here?' I asked as I jogged towards them.

'She won't get out of the damn car!'

'Hey, no cussing!' she rolled her eyes at me. 'I said the same thing!' I high-fived Sam.

'Seriously, I'd never thought Katie could yell like that.' I looked at her, cautiously.

'Oh, she can yell a lot better.' Sam wriggled his eyebrows suggestively, making me and everyone else laugh. Except Katie and Ashley, that is.

I sighed 'So, she's not getting out?'

Katie and Lily shook their heads, looking like sad puppies, making their mates hug them, and me look away.

'You better get out of there if you don't want me to smash your car, Ashley.' I mumbled.

We all heard a growl and the door opened, stepped out Ashley with her new look.

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

'Whoa!' 'Wow!' 'Who is that?' 'No way! It's that slu-Ashley!' 'What happened to her?' 'She looks cute!' 'Oh my gosh! Look at that girl next to Ashley, Allyn!' 'My! Allyn looks gorgeous!' 'Do you think Allyn will go out with me?' 'No way, man. She's too hot.' 'Maybe she'll like the new CK shirt I'm wearing.'

After hearing all the whispers and mutters, all I can say is Ashley wasn't too happy.

'I am the one who went through the trouble of getting a makeover and you're getting the praise! What the heck's going on?!' she said as soon as she dragged me into the bathroom, right after the lunch bell rang.

'Ow, let go of my hand!' she had caught on to it tightly in order to drag me here. I don't feel pain that easily, but Ashley's a Fighter, and I wasn't in my "War Mode", Grey came up with that name. Basically, I'll feel as much pain as a normal Fighter lycanthrope will when I'm not in it. And, Ashley meant for it to hurt, because, well, it was hurting... I don't know what's wrong with this girl these days. She's just not her normal self.

'You said that he didn't like me because I was mean to others!' tears streamed down her cheeks as she furiously hissed/whispered, 'You said he didn't like the way I dressed so I changed everything! But why is he giving you all the attention?!'

Giving me all the attention? What is she talking about?

'Ashley, calm down. What do you mean?' I caught her shoulders.

She laughed bitterly 'You don't know, Allie? Hah, that's just like you.' That would have sounded a bit more sweet if she hadn't said it with disgust.

'Ashley, what's going on?' I was getting tired and extremely annoyed at her. What on earth is her problem these days? I almost wanted to give up being her "friend".

'Jessie, you are unbelievable! Didn't you notice? You dressed me up in these stupid clothes so that Jace would pay more attention to me. But guess what? Not only Jace, but everyone, has payed more attention to you than anyone had ever done to me!'

'C'mon, I haven't even seen Jace today, other than in maths.'

'Yeah, and that was enough for him to keep staring at you.' she shot at me.

'Um, he sits in front of me, Ashley. He can't see me. Alright, you're just nervous. C'mon, let me clean your face before the mascara dries.' She obediently came forward but it was obvious that we weren't on speaking terms anymore. All because of that idiot. I'm going to have a talk with him, that buffoon.

After I dropped Ashley by my pack's table, so that they could go to the basketball match that was about to start, I immediately went in search of Jace. I knew that he wouldn't go for the basketball game. He wasn't interested in it.

First Destination: The chemistry lab, as it was the closest but no one was there. Fail.

Second Destination: Football Field. Okay, I honestly just came here to check out the football players, but whatever, no one was there. Fail.

Third Destination: Library. Isn't that a bit cliche?

I went inside the library, and I did find Jace's scent. Now let me tell you something, the library was my favorite room in the whole school, and it was also huge. As in, extremely huge. I followed his scent and found him sitting on the floor, between two shelves that contained fictional books.

'Hey, Al.' he muttered, without even looking up. That pissed me off a bit.

'Hey, Jace.' I said with venom. Well, I tried. It was hard to ignore how cute he looked with the sunlight in his slightly messy straight hair. He was wearing a grey T-shirt (and yes, his muscles were seen), he had on black skinny's, and his black jacket was on the floor next to him. Not that I... checked him out or anything, of course not.

He casually patted the floor next to him. 'What's up?'

'Uh...' I sat down, cross legged, a bit away. 'Nothing much?' What on earth was going on?

'So... what makes you come here, Allyn.' he closed his book and set it on his lap.

'Uh...' what was I here for? Oh, right, Ashley, 'Um, Jace, I have a request...'

'What makes you think that if Ashley changes her sense of fashion, I'll like her?' he asked me.

Whaaaaaat...? I hadn't even said a word!

'Uh....' I drawled on, without thinking. He rolled his eyes 'Isn't that why you're here, Allyn? For your friend?' I somehow got a feeling that he didn't approve of my friendship with Ashley.

'Hey, wait a minute, what are you talking about?' I frowned 'Ashley is my friend and yes, I am here because of her but that's because I want to help her! She hasn't been like... like...' I waved my hand wildly 'this for a guy before! She actually, genuinely likes you!'

While I was trying to explain this to Jace, I somehow felt... bad. What was I saying? Sure, Ashley wasn't so crazy about a guy before but... was it genuine? Was it actual? Was she just doing it because he had rejected her? I had no idea. So why was I doing this? What was I so desperate about?

He stared at me for about five seconds and my voice faded away.

'What are you doing, Jessie?' he sighed, patting my head. I sighed too, having no answer.

What was I doing?

'I... I just...' I sighed again. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I leaned back onto the bookshelf.

'You know what?' Jace said all of a sudden. 'I wanna show you something.' I looked at him cautiously. 'What?'

He grinned, got up and held his hand out to help me up. I naturally took it and was immediately reminded of when I was 12. I let go of it quickly. He shot me a questioning glance and I pretended to look away at the books. 'Where're you taking me?'

'You'll see.' he said with a mischievous smile, that made my heart beat fast. Wait, it wasn't his smile that made my heart beat fast, of course not. I was only walking fast so my heart was trying to catch up. (As if I didn't train everyday)

He pulled me in between two shelves, too quickly for me to be able to read the name of the genres. 'Wha-!' his hand covered my mouth before I could say anything and he flattened me against the shelves. 'Mhm! Mmm!' My voice came out muffled.

Jace removed his hand and put his finger on my lip, as he shushed me. His body was covering mine and his face was extremely close to mine. His eyes were looking into mine and I was either breathing hard, or not breathing at all. I don't even remember. It was all so sudden.

'What...?' I whispered. That was when I noticed we were not alone in the library. There were footsteps. Two heart beats other than our own. Two men. But why were we hiding?

From the sound of their footsteps, they were coming closer. I had understood that Jace didn't want them to find him, so I automatically cut off my scent. It was like a reflex, a defense mechanism for me. And there I stood frozen, with Jace's body covering mine, his eyes staring into my own, so close that we could kiss. No, no, I mentally shook my head and concentrated on the men.

'He's not here.' I heard a voice mutter. From that, I figured out that he was a man around 30 to 40 years old.

'Yes, I was certain that I'd seen him enter. His scent was strong as well, but now it seems to have disappeared.'

Scent? They could smell scents? My eyes immediately snapped back to Jace's, a question in my mind, but he just looked confused as well. 'Scents?' I mouthed to him and he shrugged, a confused look still on his face.

'Very well. We'll search for Mr. Artemis in the deserted art classroom.'

We heard the footsteps walk out the door and I looked at Jace. 'Your name, Jace...' I murmured 'What's your surname?' He smiled at me and extended his hand. 'I am Jace Edwin Artemis, my lady.' I jokingly tried a British accent 'Oh my! What a lovely name, Sir Artemis!'

We laughed and walked out of the library, the thing that Jace wanted to show me completely forgotten.

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

'I am sad.' I sighed as I sat on my favorite couch in the pack house. No one heard me. (T_T)

'I am saaad.' I said a bit louder. I was ignored.

'I AM FORLORN!' I yelled. Everyone looked at me. 'You don't look forlorn.' Grey noted. I felt like banging my head on a wall.

'Ayy, she just needs attention, you dumb Alpha.' Troy said as he sat down next to me, 'Tell papa all about it.' I gave him a weird look but I told him anyway.

'...Ashley's changed completely...'

'...All for a boy...'

'...Is mean to others...'

'...Completely different...'

'...Don't know what to do...'

All the complaints that I'd been filling up, I poured them all to Troy. Somewhere in between, the others started to listen as well. Thank God that Ashley was out shopping with her "friends".

'What should we do?' I sighed, completely lost.

'I can't believe it. She's so different.' Katie frowned.

'I wish she never changed.' Sammy pouted.

'I don't know what to say to that.' Troy sighed.

'Only if Jace agreed... maybe she'd be back to normal.'

'What if we find her another guy?' Grey asked, uncertain about Ashley.

'Or... or what if we make Jace agree?' LIGHT BULB!

'What do you mean?' Katie asked.

'What if we tell him to go along with it?' I looked around.

'Haha, that sounds so much like a fake boyfriend!' Sammy laughed at the "irony". A joke only he got.

Everyone shared secretive looks. It was settled.

Heyy! The spacing might not be that good because I no longer can used Word :( Please vote!