The New Girl (0PEN)

[Reagan Harper]

Jeez. She hated the weather here. It was freezing, and the rain only helped lower the already chilly temperature. The falling rain wasn’t light either. Oh no, when it rained in La Push, Washington, it poured. Reagan shook her head as she carefully watched where she stepped, avoiding any big puddles that had already accumulated. She had just bought her new closed black heels for her presentation and she would be damned if she ruined them the first time she wore them out.

Her mind wondered back to the memory of her giving her presentation earlier that day. She was trying to forget about the huge, nervous grin that she was sure had been plastered on her face as she presented her homemade animal cell model to her science class. Cringing slightly at the thought, she held her umbrella closer to her body as the wind picked up. Although her gran had always commented on how naturally warm-blooded Reagan seemed to be, the tan girl couldn’t help but admit that wearing the black sleek shorts she had on was a risk for this weather- even for her. She could feel the goose bumps crawling up her skin as she quickened her pace. The walk from school usually was a peaceful one, but right now her mind was searching for a distraction to block out the thought that she had at least half a mile left to walk until she was home.

Drifting back to the memory of her in her science class, she could remember her best friend Isabella Viles giving her an enthusiastic thumbs up from the back of her classroom to quietly cheer her on as she stood in front of the class. Her nervous smile had then become a bit more relaxed for a moment until her eyes drifted to the empty seat next to her best friend. Reagan could feel her smile then tense slightly and recall how heavy her stomach then felt when she took the sight of the empty seat in. The seat didn’t belong to her, but her other close friend Jacob Black. He had been absent… again.

As a student who strived and usually won the perfect attendance award at the end of the year, Jacob’s absences obviously just annoyed at her first. But as they became more frequent and back-to-back, she now started to worry. She knew Jacob and Izzy had just gotten over a bad breakup, but the two had sworn they had made amends and were back on friendly terms. So if Izzy wasn’t the problem, then who or what was?

The sound of an old engine shook her out of her temporary thoughts, and Reagan almost expected to see Jacob in the Rabbit next to her. Her hope sank as she turned and saw an old red truck rattle past her instead. Narrowing her brown eyes slightly, she cocked her head slightly to the side as she saw that the driver was a young brunette, a teenage girl who couldn’t be more than a year older than her. Something about the girl had been very familiar, but Reagan couldn’t place it. Trying to connect the dots, she glanced at the red truck again before it disappeared out of sight. She could see an old bumper sticker promoting the Fork’s county Police force and then it hit her.

The girl that had been driving was Bella Swann, Sheriff’s Swann’s daughter. The new girl in Forks. Bella, who use to visit in the summer when she was younger to visit her dad and play with Jake. Reagan remembered the fact because she remembered how bummed she and Izzy would be when he ditched them to go play with her. He would spend all his time with Bella, and now Reagan couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Bella was taking all his time away again. From La Push, from school, and from her.

Clothes.

[Alana Merez]

Friday. A day that was fairly significant to the younger generation who had school throughout the week. If you thought about it there was really only three days that kids thirteen and up cared about; Monday being the most dreaded, and slowest day of the week. Friday which was like opening presents early on Christmas Eve, and of course Saturday and Sunday. Days you could sleep in as long as you wanted, and laze around to your hearts content. Those two particular days were like grasping a handful of sand; they slipped by much to fast, and before you knew it dooms day number one had arrived again. God Alana felt old sometimes.

She no longer felt like a normal teenager. Being one of the handful of teens who actually worked and went to school, her schedule was more complicated than the average teens. Every day of the week without fail she had to book it to work after school, where she spent a ridiculous amount of time on her feet running around showing people this and that, folding, and price checking clothes. Then afterwords she had to book it home where a pile of homework always waited for her. It was like she was married to her job, and cheating with the pile of homework... it was that bad.

Therefore to her Fridays didn't mean much aside from extra time to catch up on homework, and sleep before work. However today Alana Merez could've screamed for joy. The store manager had a family emergency and so the store had been shut down for the day. And yeah it may have been bad to be so excited over another persons tragedy, but Alana justified it by reminding herself that it wasn't said family problems that had her excited, but having more free time. When work wasn't draining her youth, she had time to actually do the things she missed the most... homework pile be damned.

Three thirty hadn't came fast enough, those last few minutes of class dragging on forever. As soon as the bell had rang Alana had shot up out of her seat like someone had lit her butt on fire, and was out of there. Her friends had literally only seen a flash of her, as she waved a quick goodbye and yelled out a greeting to them. One thing was on the quileute girls mind: Dancing. It had been forever since the opportunity had come by for her to be in her element, just grooving away. There wasn't anyway Alana could've fit in her hobbies along with all the things she had to do everyday, but today was a free day.

Dancing had been apart of Alana's life since she was two and wobbling around. Rhythm was practically engraved in her bones. Practically bursting with the need to move, Alana walked along the sidewalk beaming with excitement. Even the gloomy weather couldn't dampen her mood, and really it was always raining in La Push. Shielded by her Minnie Mouse umbrella, Alana took a bite of her granola bar, distracted enough by a familiar passing car that she nearly walked right into someone; dodging at the last minute.

"Oh! Heeey, Rea." A bright grin stretched across her face at the site of one of her best friends: Reagan Harper. Practically like family, her soul sista from another mista... err mother. Rea was only one of her many friends that Alana missed hanging out with. Stupid work. "Headin' home?" Asking just for the sake of small talk, Alana fell into step with the brunette, already knowing the answer to that question. The thing about the Rez was that all the houses weren't that far apart. Reagan had always lived just a few streets from her since like forever. "I finally get a chance to head to the studio, I'm like ridiculously excited-"

Rambling a bit as her pocket vibrated, Alana dug around for her hello kitty phone, eyes lighting up as she saw Mdots number. Her current crush, possible the most swagtastic guy she'd ever met. Even if he was slightly geeky at times, Alana's day was made even more at the cute text, her sentence trailing off. Glancing up at Rea after her brief distraction had passed, Alana frowned a bit finally noticing the look on her face. "What's up girl?"

outfit