CHAPTER FOUR
❝ art of writing ❞

THE NEXT DAY came a little too quickly for Hayden Marris. After spending well over an hour at La Push with Paul, she came home to an empty home. The girl had ordered out that night, not bothering with cooking over a hot stove. Instead, she took to a book she had yet to finish, before going to sleep.

Hayden's alarm clock awakes her, rattling the nightstand below. The brunette runs her hands down her face, embracing the upcoming sun through her open curtains. She turns off the alarm, steadies herself on her feet, and makes her way over to the closet at the corner of her room.

When Hayden had arrived, her room hadn't had any furniture in it. Of course there was a fair amount of dust, building up from all the years of the Marris family's departure. It had taken almost a full day to move everything to the way Hayden liked it; her bed shoved up against the wall opposite of the window, and a nightstand beside it, along with a vanity and lots of wall decorations.

By her second day, photos and white Christmas lights were assorted on the walls, and all traces of dust had vanished. The wooden floors had been polished, and Hayden had gotten around to fixing the white canopy over her bed. She had went with a black and white color scheme, seeing how she liked things plain and simple. And back in Georgia, things had been the exact same.

She had set up her makeup and perfume collection in the bathroom attached to her bedroom, then sorted out her clothing and shoes in the closet. Hayden had found a piece of wood in the old garage and spray painted it black, before nailing it to the wall and putting her favorite books on it. And, with a little more decorating, her new room was finished.

Hayden sighs as she gets to the sink, her eyes finding the mirror at once. She had slipped on a pair of ripped jeans, plain white socks, and one of her old softball shirts, and was finally facing the dark circles under her eyes. With a groan, she pulls her hair into a messy bun and fixes the dark circles with a bit of concealer. With a little mascara, she was finished. Hayden grabbed her car keys, shoes, and bag, before making her way down the stairs.

Her mother was already awake by the time she reached the kitchen, a mug of coffee in her hands. She blows away the steam, taking a seat on a bar stool.

"Did you sleep well?" Amberley asks her daughter, unfolding a newspaper as she places her coffee down.

Hayden nods, tying her shoes as she takes the seat across from her mother. "It was okay. I'd prefer to stay home and sleep for another few hours, but I'll survive."

"Your father and I should be home a little earlier tonight," she comments, glancing up from the newspaper. "We should be able to do something together . . . maybe go out to eat or catch a movie. Would you be okay with that?"

Hayden's breath gets caught in her throat, and she pauses to look up to her mother.

It was a rare moment that Hayden's parents were home early. They were gone until midnight on a normal basis, and were sometimes awake just in time to see their daughter off to school. And Hayden wasn't about to turn down the offer of getting to see them.

"Of course," Hayden breathes. "I'd love that."

"Just be home no later than six," her mother instructs. "And we can decide what to do when you get home."

"I'll be here," she states without hesitance, her eyes checking her phone for the time. "I have to go, mom. I'll see you later."

"I love you, honey," her mother kisses her head as Hayden hugs her, pulling her bag onto her shoulder.

"I love you, too," she chimes, moving to the front door with ease. "Bye."

---

" . . . and I swear he was going to ask me to prom," Jessica Stanley whines, glancing between Hayden and Angela as they walk into the school building. "I guess he just doesn't get it. Why do boys have to be so clueless and exasperating?"

"You're overthinking it, Jess," Angela says to her, closing the doors behind them. "Maybe you should just ask him- it could be for the better. What if he doesn't know you still like him?"

The two had met with Hayden as she pulled into the parking lot, not wanting to even get out of her jeep. But she knew that if she wanted to go with her parents later on that day, she would have to make it through the school hours first. And so she walked with them, not bothering to enter in on their conversation of Mike and how Jessica wanted to go to prom with him.

"It's been four years, how could he not know? I mean, I know we've dated before and stuff didn't seem to work out, but that doesn't always mean we can't fall back together."

"Two people that are destined will always end up together," Hayden says, surprising herself as she looks to Jessica. "I wouldn't worry about it. Just go with the flow, Jess. And if things don't work out, I'm sure you could find the perfect guy for you."

Jessica thinks over Hayden's words for a moment, jealousy sending a pang through her chest. But as she narrows her eyes, she finds her face softening as she stares at the girl a little longer.

"You're right," Jessica finally decides. "Thanks."

Hayden nods slightly, her eyes skimming over everyone in the hallways. The bell hadn't rang yet, but everyone was already making their way to first period. Hayden found herself drowning out Jessica and Angela's new topic, focusing more on the new faces. She studied each of them carefully, noticing that most of them were pale.

But if was obvious that none of them were as pale as Emmettand his family. And soon enough, Hayden had laid her eyes on the boy himself.

Emmett stood with Edward and Bella, a grin sketched on his lips. Edward almost immediately noticed Hayden's stare, his eyes finding her. Hayden blushes as Bella and Emmett turn to her, too. She didn't let them see her flushed cheeks, though, as she turned to Jessica and Angela again.

"So are you guys up for it?" Jessica asks, clearly excited from the wide smile on her face. "We could go tomorrow, if that would best fit your schedules."

"I'm down," Angela states as soon as she finishes her sentence. "I've been wanting to surf for a while. How about you, Hayden?"

"Hm?"

"Come to La Push," Jessica rolls her eyes, noticing that the girl had zoned out to stare at Emmett Cullen. "You can invite someone, or you can just hang with Mike, Eric, Angela, and I. Tyler and a couple others are coming too."

"Tomorrow?" Hayden asks, finally catching up. "Yeah, okay. What should I bring?"

"A board and wetsuit if you surf," Angela tells her, shoving her glasses farther up on her nose. "If you aren't down for swimming, you can stay at the shore with some of the others. I'm sure Eric wouldn't mind staying back with you if you didn't want to surf."

"Okay," Hayden gives her a smile, stepping forward to follow them through the hall. "I might be able to."

"This is going to be so fun!" Angela chimes, not notcicing that Jessica had fallen back to walk with Hayden. "We haven't done this in so long, I absolutely can't . . . "

Jessica moves closer to Hayden, nudging the girl's side to get her attention. Hayden looks to her, clearly confused.

"Just some friendly advice," Jessica starts, nodding in Emmett's direction. "I wouldn't even bother. He doesn't have a type, Hayden. It would be a lot easier to not waste your time."

"Yeah, I know," Hayden says, a bit hesitant as she looks back to Emmett again. "Thanks for telling me, though."

Hayden wasn't sure what to expect as she stepped into her first period class. She had guessed there would be a few students already in their chairs, preparing their work or something. But what she didn't expect was for Emmett to already be in his seat.

The girl wasn't sure if she was hallucinating or not, but she was sure she had just saw Emmett in the hallway. Instead of thinking too hard on it, though, she moved to her seat without a single word. Hayden pulls the English book out of her bag, along with a notebook and a pencil.

"Liking the weather so far?" Emmett asks, not looking up at her as he scrbbles down the notes on the board. Hayden jumps, momentarily frightened by his sudden interuption of the silence in the room.

"Uh—" Hayden composes herself, blushing furiously as Emmett laughs at her. "Yeah, I guess. The rain doesn't really bother me much."

"Just wait for the snow," he shakes his head, staring at her for a moment.

"I like the cold," Hayden assures him. "I didn't get much of the cold or snow back in Georgia, so it feels kind of nice to get away from the sun for a while."

"Surprising," he mutters, chuckling as he continues the notes.

Hayden begins to copy her own notes too, having to stand up to see over the students that were entering the room. Their teacher sat at his desk, typing away on his computer. Hayden huffs in exasperation as the others continue to block her sight of the board. Emmett shoots her a quick smile, sliding his full page of notes over to her. The girl stares at his neat handwriting in astonishment.

"How did you finish so fast?" Hayden asks him, furrowing her eyebrows as she sits down. "There's no way you can finish so fast and still manage to have such neat handwriting."

"Jealous?" Emmett raises an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair.

"As if," Hayden snorts unnatractively. "I was just wondering how you could write all that down so fast."

"It's an art."

_______