headache / jasper hale

05 | french project

Thea

"Bonjour les élèves!" My teacher, Madame Greppi, says, calling the class' attention over to her. "Aujourd'hui, je vais vous regrouper pour un projet concernant la mode française!"

I let out an inaudible groan - a project on French fashion? You've got to be kidding me! It's not the actual project aspect of it that I hate, it's the fact that I have to work with another person. And if you know me, then you know that I don't do well with working with others. With people, in general.

Madame begins to read off the partnerships and I zone out, biting my nails as I hope for not a completely useless and brain dead partner.

"And our last group," Madame says. "Thea Sperling and Alice Cullen."

Sucking in a surprised breath of air, I turn to see Alice wave at me excitedly. With as much courage as I can muster, I raise up out of my seat and drag myself over to the empty desk next to Alice's.

"Hi!" Alice greats me, opening her notebook before resting her chin on her hands, watching me with a large smile.

"Hello," I say quietly, dropping my stuff on the ground before sitting in the empty desk next to Alice. She pulls my desk closer to her with ease - which is surprising because of how small she is.

"I'm Alice," she says, grabbing my hand and giving it a quick shake. "You're Thea."

"In the flesh," I say awkwardly, wondering how this girl is so excited.

Alice's smile grows at my attempt to be funny before she leans back in her seat. "So," she says. "I have a bunch of clothes from France back at home, so I was thinking that we should just go to my house tonight."

"Your house?" I stammer, nervous flames bubbling in my stomach. Me? At the Cullen household? A disaster waiting to happen.

"Yeah! But don't worry, we won't bite," she says with a wink. "Esme makes the greatest snacks, so I think it will be worth it."

"Esme is your adoptive mother, right?" I ask before I can stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth.

Alice's smile grows even more - if that's at all possible - before she nods her head. As if she's happy about my prying for information.

"Yeah - you can meet her if you'd like, you could meet all of them." She says simply and I quickly rush to decline the offer.

"I'm not good with people," I say when she asks why. Looking down at my desk, I fiddle with my notebook. "Never have been."

Alice reaches over and grabs my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You're doing good with me," she says and for some reason, my heart swells at her words. "I could pick you up at 5?"

I bite my lip, thinking for a moment before nodding my head. I tear a piece of paper out of my notebook and write down what I believe my address is. "Here's my address, I think." I say, handing the slip to Alice's awaiting hand.

Alice reads over it before nodding, slipping the paper into her shirt pocket. "I'll find it."

The bell rings and I flinch in my seat, unnerved at how quickly class had went by talking to Alice. I stand and pull my desk back to the correct position before turning to Alice, who is packed and waiting for me.