❝she was their autumn moon, brilliant and beautiful, guiding their way though the dark...❞
❝... and they were all of the stars in her night sky - glowing constellations,
forming a map that lead her
...
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A WEEK COMES AND GOES. Eli and Charlie attempt to make something edible for dinner. She smiles and chats with her new friends at school. She diligently completes her homework and does her laundry.
She ignores Leah and Paul's phone calls.
Eli feels awful about it, but every time one of their names pops up on her phone screen, she freezes. Logically, she knows that they won't treat her any differently - they've more than proven that to her - but the thought of opening up to them, of being vulnerable and explaining why she got so triggered the other day at school...
That fear paralyzes her.
So she lets their calls go to voicemail and goes through the motions and pretends like there's not a black hole inside her, slowly draining the life out of her day by day.
Rosalie Hale, a literal angel in human flesh, makes sure that she's never alone at any point during the school day. If Rosalie is not there, one of the other Cullens is. Emmett follows her like an overgrown puppy, chatting with her about cars and sports, or Jasper, murmuring interesting tidbits of history, or Alice, taking her arm and bouncing happily to class, chattering away about fashion and brand names and how she, Eli and Rosalie need to have a girls' day soon.
Jess tells her that this behavior is decidedly not normal. "The Cullens have never been friends with anyone outside of the family," she insists when Eli raises a skeptical eyebrow. "And you made Rosalie Hale smile yesterday! It was like seeing a freaking unicorn, Eli, I swear to God."
By the time Friday arrives, Eli feels better. More normal. Not by much, but enough to where the guilt at ignoring Leah and Paul is too much to bear. So, on her lunch break, she tells Jess she has to do something and sits on one of the chipping blue benches in the quad. The sky is a dark, roiling grey above the tree line, reflecting the turmoil inside of her.
