Oh, woop... Lunch.

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

Gabrielle entered the cafeteria, lunch in hand. She'd been at this school a month, but it already seemed she was a "person repellant." In a small town, it's hard to keep things silent, and thus almost everyone knew about her "episodes." Everyone was too afraid of saying or doing something that might trigger a flashback and send her into... whatever it is she's sent into when she flashes back.

She didn't care, though. She didn't need people to be happy. Well, she wasn't exactly happy... but she was making the best out of this green Hell.

She took her seat in one of the lunch tables furthest from anybody. Sitting down, she opened her lunch, but didn't begin eating. It was another of her mother's amazingly good Italian dishes, but she just wasn't in the mood for Italian.

She sighed and looked out one of the windows. It was an unusually bright day. There were no clowds in the sky, and she noticed something else lacked: The Cullens. Not that she cared, of course. She hated the Cullens. Gabrielle wasn't sure why, but she didn't. From the moment she'd seen them...

[Bella Swan]

I've officially decided, today has to be one of the most boring and LONG days ever. Maybe it was because in almost every single one of my classes so far, the teachers had gone on and on with lectures.... Or perhaps it was due to the fact that Mr Varner had called on me in class not once... not even twice.... but three times. For whatever reason, he had been targeting me lately... Probably because I hadn't been concentrating on my trig as much as I had previously when Edward had been.... gone.

Still, he had no right. But if I was going to be honest with myself.... I knew the day was going by slowly because Edward was absent. I was really starting to hate sunshine. Rain was now much more preferred. Sometimes Edward's being a vampire was a very annoying thing, like now.

Silently I sulked away in my mind, continuing until I heard my lunch table go quiet. At first I thought I had done something. Or even worse, somehow Edward was here, in the sunshine... which was completely ludicras because he would never do something that would let the truth about him and his family be known... But when i glanced up I saw what everyone was staring at. The new girl... Gabrielle. Instantly I felt a wave of empathy wash over me entirely. Oh how well I knew what it felt like to be stared at and the new kid. But unlike when they had looked at me when I first came, they looked at Gabrielle as if she was revolting. It was rediculas. She hadn't done anything to receive this negative attitue towards her...

Apparently though this was High School. I had an urge to go sit with Gabrielle... But I doubt she'd appreciate it, thinking it was some joke or something... Or I'd trip and fall and make a fool of myself on my way over there...

Then I heard Lauren's nasal voice. She was whispering frantically to Jessica... about GAbrielle. And in an instant, i had pushed back my chair, grabbed my apple and lemonaid and walked over to where Gabrielle was seated.

It wasn't until I was standing on the opposite of the table Gabrielle was, standing directly accross from her that I had realized what I'd done. It didn't matter to me what Jessica or Lauren thought. -They'd probably just assume Bella was going where she belonged to 'join the reject table.' I was really nervous because I had walked over here and had no idea what to say....

From my table I could hear Mike asking Jessica, "What is she doing?"


I tried to tune them out, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

"um... Hi Gabrielle," I greeted, my face blushing crimson, an irritating habit. "Would you mind if I sat here?" I asked, nodding to the seat in front of me.

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

Gabrielle looked up at her visitor, and realized she liked Bella so much more when her love wasn't around. She couldn't stand that Cullen boy, even though she had no real reason. She just... didn't. "Go ahead," she said warmly, trying to be nice. "As long as you're not, you know, like that Jessica. I knew a girl like her back home, exactly like Jessica. But she's dead now, so I'm okay." She laughed as though it was a joke, but it was true. "That girl back home" was dead, thanks to Katrina. Gabrielle knew she should care... but frankly, she didn't care about the death of the people she didn't like. She was just like that. "You're Bella Swan, right?"

[Bella Swan]

I smiled gratefully back at Gabrielle, and sat down. As I sat down, my nerves began to settle.

"Jessica," I quietely muttered with distate. Answering her question, i began, "No." Then went on, "I'm not quite like her."

I had learned alot about Jessica over the past few months... She was nice to you when she wanted something. She was almost as bad as Lauren.

"Oh and if you like her, you should really meet Lauren," I added sarcastically. Thankful the table was far enough away from mine so that I wouldn't be heard. The last thing I needed was to be hated by Lauren and Jessica even more than I already was.

As I listened to Gabrielle talk, I couldn't quite understand the expression or words Gabrielle had just used... It was understandable to hate people, obviously.... But was she serious about the girl at her old school dying? Were the rumors about the whole her moving here because of the Katrina disaster true? And if so did she really find it funny? Or did it traumatize... so she made it into a joke? I couldn't quite get it, after a moment, i just let it go... Not wanting to ask. Id just make do with what she told me.

I smiled again, then answered her question, perhaps a moment too late, "yeah, I'm Bella."
Quickly I asked, "You're Gabrielle Gamarra, right?"

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

"The infamous." She said with a wide grin, shoving her food back into its bag. "So, this school's a bit of a drag, don't you think?" She said, looking around at all the students. "It's so much smaller than my last school, and it's a lot different. My last one was a lot more... diverse, to put it lightly. Here, it seems like everyone the same. They wear the same clothes, do the same things... it's all so strange to me." She laughed and pulled her dark hair out of her face and into a pony-tail. "It's strange here. Very strange... kind of cold."

[Bella Swan]

I listened intently as Gabrielle spoke, and her words rang true. Most of the things she had said, I too had thought when I first moved here... But then of course I had been too distracted by Edward and his mysterious world to care much... And my life had become full of pretty... diverse people... Humans obviously, but then of course there was the whole vampire and werewolf thing. I allowed myself a small grin, thinking of Edward, though it didn't last long.... As my thoughts moved towards my best friend, Jacob.

I hated how I had to choose... It didn't make sense that I couldn't.... have both. I felt guilty that I had chosen Edward, but... he was a part of me, I couldn't not choose him.

I sighed, hoping my face hadn't betrayed the emotions that had passed through my mind, then began speaking.

"I understand what you mean. Forks is boring and plain to put it lightly. And for me, when I moved, it wasn't so much the cold but the rain that got to me." I grinned thinking of the disgust I had towards the 'wonderful' weather in Forks.

My thoughts were still towards Jacob, when I added "You should visit La Push sometime, if you haven't already. It's... well... more diverse than Forks, the ocean is gorgeous..." my voice trailed off, then with more enthusiasm, I added "And cliff diving is great there." I would never forget the thrill of jumping off the cliff that day... It had been exhilerating while falling. Under different circumstances it would have been much more... enjoyable.

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

Gabbrielle listened to Bella speak, deciding that she really liked this girl, despite the fact that she hung around with those pale-faced freaks. Of course, she had no room to talk about being pale-faced. She was pretty light herself, despite her Italian mother and father. It was all in her head, though, the result of the trauma. She had no reason why her appearence had changed so drastically, but it had.

"La Push?" She said, cocking her head curiously to one side. "Yeah, I went out there already. It was really neat and stuff, the ocean looked a lot different than the one back home. I was there watching the sunset one day when I met this dude. First person, other than you, to give a damn about me. His name was Jake... Jacob, I think. Pretty nice guy, except he ran off all... suddenly."

[Bella Swan]

I was thinking of how stupid it was that everyone seemed dislike this girl-including Edward, though he still hadn't told me why... When i realized she said she had already been to La Push. I smiled, nodding my head as she described a basic day in La Push when I realized she had met Jacob.

His name was Jake... Jacob, I think

In my head, millions of questions popped up... How was he? How was Billy... Was he dealing with being a werewolf alright?

So many more... but I knew that Gabrielle wouldn't know the answer to any of these. Once again, I loathed the feud between vampires and werewolfs.

But.... Why had Jacob ran away from GAbrielle? It wasn't.... like him. Especially if she said he was kind to her, which he was to almost everyone... but still.... had she said something to upset him? Was he having trouble controlling his emotions?

With all the confusion within my mind, I was barely able to register the words Gabrielle had spoken before mentioning Jacob.

First person, other than you, to give a damn about me

I really was glad I had decided to come sit by her. And right about now, I hated everyone in the room for not caring. For not seeing that Gabrielle was a person, and not caring.

I lifted my chin up, responding, "Well, almost everyone here are jerks, so who gives a... damn about them."

It was so easy to talk to her, easier than I had expected. With almost everyone-with the exception of the Cullens and Jacob- I had try to be around them. This was too simple.

My heart felt heavy when i thought of Jake again.... "Yeah, I know Jacob. He is or was, my best friend." i sighed, "Do you know why he ran off? Was he ok?" I finished, my voice surrendering to the anxiousness that I felt.

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

"Uh..." she shrugged. "He just said he had something to do. He didn't say what, though. He was a really sweet guy, almost rivaling the sweetness of my friend back home... David." She thought of David with a heavy heart, remembering the day he died. "Kind of reminds me of David, though, except David was Indian and Jake's, well... Indian. Er... Native American. Why'd Columbus have to go and call them all Indians? It just confuses us now." She laughed, resting her cheek on the palm of her right hand, propped up on the table.

[Bella Swan]

"oh" I said, blinking, I inhaled deeply. I still was worried about Jacob... But maybe I was taking the whole 'run off thing' a little to literally.

"I take it you and David were... pretty good friends then?" I asked, not wanting to appear nosy... But the way she talked about him... it was as if he had died... Did he? Or did they just.... stop talking?

I tried to focus on what she had just said, rather than trying to figure out what had happened to her....

As I heard what she was talking about, I laughed as she went on about the whole Columbus naming Native Americans Indians, as well as India Indians, before I responded, "You shouldn't have asked me that," grinning, before starting an explanation.

"Columbus ended up calling Native Americans Indians because he thought he had made it around the world all the way to India. He had never been there, only heard the tales of the people. The stories he had heard seemed to fit what the people there were like.... so he assumed they were 'indians.' It didn't help that the Chinese had already visited the Americas way before Columbus ever did.... Because of that, some of the asian culture influenced the Native Americans culture, including some of their language.... So when Columbus heard talk of some of the past Chinese rulers and such... there really was no doubt left in his eyes.... that what we call Native Americans... were Indians... if that makes sense"

At least, that's my opinion of why, based off of what I researched."

After finishing my explanation, I felt my cheeks blush crimson... I couldn't believe I had just lectured. There was something utterly absurd going on.

"Sorry!" I apologized, slightly mortified.

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

She stared at Bella for a moment, not expecting the history lesson. "Wow, I seriously did not know that. And I thought the Vikings were the first to come to the Americas?" She tilted her head to the side. "And... Columbus discovered places like Mexico, didn't he? Aaah! It's so confusing! I love history and all, just not American history." She laughed, playing with the strings that were used to pull the hood of her hoodie tight.

"I'm more of an acting buff, anyway. This school doesn't seem to have a drama department, though, which is a shame. Back home, it was freaking huge, dude." She laughed, thinking back to how her old school was. "Our acting teacher, Mrs. Nabb, was the greatest. She would always do really contreversial plays, like Bang! Bang! You're Dead! And the Leramie Project. It was great.

"It's a real shame that there isn't much to do creatively here. I go to the forest and paint a lot, though. There's always something to paint... but it's always the same thing. A grim sky, over-green trees. I usually improvise and add in fairies and random stuff like that."

She realized she'd never answered Bella's question about David. "Oh... and about David... yeah, we were pretty close."

[Bella Swan]

There it was again... the pause and then the 'were.' I really didn't want to just nose around in her life, but I was curious. So of course, I forced myself to voice, "Were?"

Instantly, I regretted it. Not because of her reaction, in truth, I hadn't really looked to see.... which was pretty unlike me. Normally I would analize peoples reactions to questions to find out answers... but it felt wrong in this case.

"Sorry, um... It was wrong of me to... intrude?" my voice trailed off. I decided to address what she had talked about BEFORE she had mentioned David...

Embarassment from my american history caused my face to heat up again... I forced myself to laugh before adding, "I really don't like American history either... Just something I had engrained in my brain a few times." I didn't want to say anything else, in fear of rambling again.

I fidgeted with the cap of my lemonade bottle before saying, "Yeah... Acting has never been huge for me. I think it's amazing, i personally could never do it though." I sighed, having a mental image of me on a stage... only to fall off because of my own two feet.

"If you're willing to go into the cities or something, who knows though... they may have more creative opputunities there than in great ol' Forks."

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

She watched Bella for a moment, saying nothing at all. She decided to completely ignore the comments about acting, and American history, and going into the cities. She was, for her own sake, going to get David out of the way. Nobody ever really asked about her life back in great New Orleans, and when they did, she was surprised to find that she didn't go into fits. Maybe what people said didn't set her off. Maybe it was her suroundings...

"Yeah, well... were is the only word I can use. You see, my parents weren't afraid of Katrina. They were some of the people who didn't think it was going to hurt anything... when we were proven wrong, we were forced onto our roofs. Ever seen those news specials on TV showing people being rescued from their roofs? That's exactly how things were for us. Three days we spent on top of that roof. On the first day..." she shuddered, thinking about that horrible, tragic day. "On the first day, I looked over to the house next to ours. That's where David lived... and, well, I saw his family on the side, reaching into the water. So... I ran to the side, realizing what must've happened."

She paused for a moment, inhaling. "You see, we didn't live in a rich neighborhood. Our houses weren't very big, only one story. The water easily jumped over onto the roof, and if you didn't stay in the middle, it would drag you under. And David... David, I guess, was trying to yell something to me. I couldn't hear it over the storm... so, the water dragged him under. The last I saw of him was his hand pop out of the water." She shrugged, pushing back the images. Some how, they weren't as horrible when she wasn't experiencing them in an attack. They just seemed like a bad dream. "That's it."

[Jacob Black]

OOC: We also did Chicago... remember that... Nabb back off after that!

[Gabrielle Gamarra]

OOC: Yes, but we have Nabb now. =) So screw you. XD And Bella, ignore Jacob's comment. We go to the same school district. His school is the rival of mine... but we just got their acting teacher. So yeah. Ignore him. XD

[ohhaithar]

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