Tattoos & Scars [1] | Jasper Hale

-15-

  Joanna stared at the pair of pumps that Leah shoved into her possession.

  She looks at them with wide eyes before jerking her eyes at Leah was fixing her jean jacket. The older woman let her hair loose once again and sported a strapless, yellow dress that made her russet skin look flawless. On her feet were a pair of heels that were coated heavily in a nude color.

  Joanna, on the other hand, decided to sport a pair of black leggings, a solid, orange tube top and a jacket similar to Leah's. Of course, it was in the chiller season, but Leah advised that, "They'll be countless people. Sweat everywhere - you'll be fine."

  But chills still crawled at her skin. "I'll wear my combat boots and a winter coat, I'm not trying to die here." She placed the pumps by her bed, and grabbed her worn out boots to wear. They were black and were clearly old as Joanna bought them in her sophomore year of high school. "I'm not trying to get sick."

  "You don't seem to leave the house and you're always frowning," Leah said, looking at the female from the corner of her eye. "It's my duty to make you have some fun."

  She rolled her lips into a thin line. "I've been through shit and I do have fun. I hang out with Bella and you guys. I'm just..."

  "Having some trouble?" Leah guessed, stopping her actions. Her voice was sarcastic, but held a melancholy feel, "I've been through it."

  Joanna was about to speak, but her door was blown open by an upset teenager. Kinsley marched into the room, glanced at Leah before jumping on her sister's bed and screaming bloody murder into a quilt that was on her bed. Instantly, Joanna became both concerned and irritated. Concerned for her sister's wellbeing and irritated due to the fact that nails on a chalkboard was being bloomed out of her sister's mouth.

  "Kins," Joanna said softly, taking a seat next to her younger sister. The teenager stopped, looked up to her sister with glossy eyee. "What's wrong?"

  "I miss him," she whispered, tapping her nails together she spoke. "Then I'm also upset because I'm getting along with Bella. The girl who took him."

  Rolling her eyes at that, Joanna listened as she continued. "I miss the Cullens, though I'm not sure about Alice. You always held a slight grudge on her and I guess it reflected on me also. Gosh. Then you had Jasper. Wasn't he obsessed with you?"

  Hearing his name made something in her stomach twist uncontrollably. It made her eyes sting a little and it made her hands clench her blankets. "Please, Kins, I can't talk about this right now." Kinsley noticed her sudden change in mood, and slowly she got off her bed. Eyebrows falling together, she questioned her older sibling.

  "I'll be fine. Do you want me to stay here with you?" Leah's features twisted into sympathy; she didn't care if Joanna stayed home or not. If Seth was this way, she wouldn't waste a chance to stay home with him so he could let all his problems fall away. She would take away his pain like he did for her. What he did when Sam Uley happened.

  She visibly flinched at his name.

  "No, I'll survive," Kinsley insisted, playing with the strings of her yellow hoodie. Her eyes locked with their guest. "Go hang out tonight. Mom is gonna be home soon anyway, and I have Theodore."

  "You really liked him, didn't you?" Leah asked, feeling a slight connection with the younger sister. They made eye contact once again and she swallowed heavily, "You liked that boy and he left you for someone else." It was a statement and not a question. "You thought you had him but you never did, you had that feeling, yeah?"

Kinsley, with glossy eyes and trembling lips, nodded weakly. "I never officially had him. We had theater together and we partnered from time to time. He was sweet, quiet, but would have short answers to anything he was asked. I liked him, a classic bad boy almost. Then Bella came along, she's nice, but she took someone I thought I could have a chance with."