Surviving High School

Shopping

A/N: I figured I'd double post to make up for my failure to post on Saturday.  Again, thank you all so much for the love you are showing this story.

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I rolled over as the alarm on my clock went off and slammed my hand down on it until the stupid thing shut off. I slowly peeled an eye open and noticed the time. Ugh!  Eight-thirty was way too early to be getting up on a Saturday morning. I kicked off my covers and tiredly trudged my way to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I grimaced at what I saw. My hair was a tangled rat's nest and I had dark circles under my eyes. Despite going to bed fairly early, I'd tossed and turned all night with strange dreams, starring both Edward and Victoria.

After showering, I headed back to my room to find some comfy clothes to get me through the tedious journey that I was about to embark on. What had possessed me to agree to go shopping with them? Oh, yeah. I thought it'd be fun to have a girl's day out. Not sure how much fun it was actually going to be. A few minutes after I finished putting my hair into a ponytail, Jessica called me to tell me she would be arriving in about five minutes.

I cautiously navigated my way downstairs and grabbed a granola bar just as Jessica pulled into the drive. I headed out the door, locking it behind me, and groaned when I noticed that Lauren was in the front seat. I'd somehow forgotten that she was going shopping with us. I opened the back door and slid in next to Angela, who looked as tired as me.

Jessica turned around in the driver's seat and smiled at me. "Thanks for coming, Bella! We're gonna have so much fun today! I can't wait to go shopping!"

"Yeah," I replied rather weakly. I was so not looking forward to this. Beside me, Angela gave me a sympathetic smile and patted my arm.

"It'll be all good, Bella. We'll have fun."

"Sure we will," I mumbled.

The car ride to Port Angeles was pretty quiet. Things between Lauren and I were still tense. Honestly, I couldn't bring myself to care whether or not I had hurt her feelings. She hadn't said one word to me yet and that was fine. I didn't have anything to say to her--well, nothing nice anyway. Jessica and Lauren kept a running conversation about what type of dresses they wanted to get and about the dance in general. Angela and I talked quietly in the backseat about some class assignments and TV shows that we had watched. Halfway to Port Angeles, Jessica brought up the football game.

"So, Bella," she began, "I saw you at the game. Did you have fun?"

"I did. I didn't understand what was going on, but I still had a good time." I deliberately left out the fact that we had gone to the diner afterward, even though I should have known that the gossip girls would have heard that we had gone there.

"I heard that you all went to the diner with the football team after the game was over."

I shared a look with Angela and replied, "Yeah. Alice invited us to hang out with them after the game."

"Well?"

I met Jessica's gaze in the rear view-mirror, and she must have noticed my confused expression.