The Rise of Lydia Rowe ↠ Jasper Hale (ON HOLD)

[1.04] stay away from the pretty boy

LYDIA WALKED INTO HER last class of the day, thankful that in about an hour, she would be free. Gwen had offered to stop by a little frozen yogurt shop downtown on their way home from school, and Lydia had gladly accepted. She figured frozen yogurt was a good reward for surviving her first day at a new school.

Thankfully, her last class was honors physics, which Lydia did fairly well in at her old school. Her teacher gave her the materials she needed for the class along with her syllabus and quickly signed Lydia's slip. There was only one empty seat in the classroom, in front of a newly familiar face.

Jasper Hale.

As Lydia sat down in the empty desk, ready to get through her last class of her first day, she was all too aware of the godlike beauty sitting behind her. As much as she had promised herself that she wouldn't date again for a long time, she couldn't help but think about the Hale boy. It was ridiculous and far too naïve, but he was a quiet, potentially misunderstood boy and she was a broken, hopeless girl. It was a love story waiting to happen.

No, she scolded herself. Stay away from the pretty boy—it'll just end badly.

She focused on the lesson, jotting down notes when she heard something she thought she would need to remember later. When she was just listening, she quietly tapped her fingers against the desktop to ease her boredom. Most of the lesson was on things she'd already done, so she found herself glancing at the clock periodically, counting the minutes until the final bell rang.

When it finally did, Lydia gathered her things and picked up her backpack. Thankfully, her final class was near her locker, so she had no trouble finding it. As she put her things away, she locked eyes with Jasper as he exited the classroom. Gathering her courage, she gave him a sociable smile. He didn't return it—he just snapped his eyes away from her and kept walking.

See? Stay away.

Gwen arrived at her own locker a few moments later. Lydia closed hers and joined Gwen, patiently waiting for her to get all of her things. They walked out to the parking lot together, a comfortable silence enveloping them. Lydia glanced around the parking lot, smiling when she caught Bella's gaze.

"Ready for fro-yo?" Gwen asked, starting her car.

"Always," Lydia said, putting on her seatbelt.

Gwen pulled out of the school parking lot, turning on the radio as background noise. "How was your first day?" Gwen asked, reminding Lydia a bit of a mother asking about her daughter's first day of school.

"It was fine," Lydia replied. "Most of the people here seem nice."

Gwen got quiet for a moment before she said softly, "Don't feel like you have to be my friend because our parents are friends, Lydia." Her voice wasn't cold or vindictive—it was just soft. Sad. "I'm not exactly popular, especially after what happened earlier this year."

"I'm not hanging out with you because our parents are friends," Lydia told her sincerely. "I'm hanging out with you because you seem really nice and sweet. You're just the kind of friend I need right now." She paused, mulling over the last thing Gwen had said. "Do you want to tell me what happened earlier this year? You don't have to, and I completely understand if you don't, but... well, I might be able to understand what you went through."

Gwen glanced at her before returning her gaze to the road. "I really hope you can't," she murmured sadly.

"Try me," Lydia said.

Gwen's gaze stayed focused on the road as they made their way toward the fro-yo shop. "It was the beginning of the year," Gwen told her. "This football player asked me out, but I told him I wasn't interested. He... didn't like that." Lydia watched her nervously tap her fingers against the steering wheel, knowing where her story was going. "One day when I went to the bathroom, he followed me. Locked the door... When he was done, I went to the nurse's office and just... cried. The nurse called the police, I went to the hospital. By the end of it all, he was sentenced to four years in jail and I was in therapy twice a week. A lot of the students here thought I made everything up, since he was the kind of guy everyone liked. They couldn't believe their friend would do something so... sick."