THE LAST RESORT.
❝ Temperance is the outlier of Forks' High School - the one girl people recognise but never take the time to remember. She followed her friends blindly in hopes she'd be included time and time again. She would squeeze into the tinie...
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Hazel eyes gaze down at the cracked phone screen in dismay and fingers tremble. The clock read nineteen forty. They had arranged to meet at seven which had come and gone. Her hope was slowly dwindling and a weight presses harder against her chest.
Temperance looks up from the screen and glances towards the doors, eyes wide and desperate. Surely he wouldn't be much longer. His car probably ran out of gas and his phone went flat - thats why he hadn't turned up or called.
Temperance hadn't spoken to Tyler Crowley much, apart from the few acknowledgements when he'd interrupt her conversation with his girlfriend - ex-girlfriend, Lauren Mallory. Lauren and Tyler were the Ross and Rachel couple of Forks. They would be in love in first period, hating one another in third and making out in sixth.
Hence why Temperance was surprised when Tyler had interrupted her and Lauren's conversation to talk to her. She was confused and embarrassed when he asked her to have dinner at the seafood shack. She felt suspicious of his request and wanted to decline politely but the words got stuck in her throat at the glare in Lauren's icy blue eyes.
Lauren had agreed for her, ignoring the growing look of panic on Temperance's face. "Relax T, you can tell me everything he says behind my back. Think of it like an undercover mission, or whatever."
At the remembrance of her assigned nickname 'T', Temperance's eyes water, filling the brim and threatening to overflow like a waterfall. From a young age, she slowly accepted that because her name wasn't simple like Chloe or Grace, it wasn't worth the extra effort to remember it.
She had tried countless times to be remembered by her peers but no matter how many times she volunteered at the school dances or joined the volleyball team, she wasn't remembered. She would be left standing alone at the sign in desk at the gym doors, stamping tickets and hands for the entire night until she feels too isolated and leaves for home. Or she would be left on the bench for the entire season unless another stand in member was sick and so she was the only option.
Being the last resort was a bit tiring sometimes but if it made others happy, then she wouldn't object because at least she was being included in something.
Growing up, she thought that having a twin sister would mean she would always have a companion.
Perhaps that would've been true if her sister wasn't as extroverted or charismatic as she was. Perhaps then Temperance would've felt more comfortable with who she was but she didn't, and so she hid behind a wall of insecurity. She didn't blame her sister, how could she? Temperance's isolated life was her own fault.
Temperance looks down at her phone screen again to show only a few minutes had passed and she still didn't have any new messages or missed calls from Tyler. Her sad reflection stared back at her as the lock screen turned black.
She had borrowed her mother's lipgloss and tried out a new peach coloured eyeshadow palette. It took her a few tries to get it right but she managed to create a shadowed eye with the various shades that she was proud of it. Temperance loved the colour pink - she believed it made her her strawberry colour hair more vibrant.
