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This moment-this small, insignificant moment-would change your life forever. It was just too bad that you didn't see it back then.
It was nothing more than a crush-
Everyone had their own list of people they have had crushes on, from celebrities to classmates, and one of yours just happened to be Jared Cameron.
Your crush began and ended in your freshman year of highschool; the very year that you met him. Everyone said that he was an asshole, a fucking prick who is practiclly a fuck-boy, not that you believed it. You didn't have any proof for your own beliefs either and that was because you only saw him in one class. History. Where if you were not ready for the lecture and notes then you were dead. The thing is though is that at some point you wished you were dead. Maybe you were taking this crush too far-becoming boarderline obsessed with him-though if you admitted it...that only seemed like a worse fate. Worse than watching Jared fuck his way through the first semester, leaving girls with tears in their eyes and marks on their arms and necks, alone.
By the time that Sophmore year came you no longer had a crush on Jared Cameron.
The world seemed like a brighter place now that mopping over a boy seemed so far away in the past. Your grades boosted along with your gpa and your future seemed to be filled with possibilities. Not to mention the friends that you were making with girls who wanted nothing to do with Jared. It seemed like a blessing, that life was looking up, and then senior year began coming to an end. Coming with a moment that seemed so insignificant during all of the memories of your life.
This is how everything changed:
Someone snatched the pencil from your desk.
In that moment, when you were ready to send a sharp punch into whoever decided to steals mouth, two eyes meet and everything changed.
You just didn't know how bad it was then.
Jared Cameron wouldn't leave you alone after that.
He wanted to know your name, your favorite color, what foods you like, where you live, what your plans for your life were. As if he had any right to your business. As if he was planning to change everything about you. So instead you tell him to 'fuck off asshole!', yet the next day there he is again. Waiting for you at the front of the school. It doesn't matter how much you degrade him, how much you threaten him, he simply smiles and laughs and follows.
Eventually he ask you to date him.
You say in the most firm, disgusted filled tone, 'No'.
Then things change for the worse.
The world of the tribe opens up in the most horrid way: the Elders welcome you into your role without asking what you want, the pack expects you to be silent and docile and to cook, and Emily Young comes to you with magazines on weddings and pregnancies. Each time sending even more anxiety through you as Jared looks on smilings because this is supposed to make you happy.
You finish high school with a strong enough gpa to apply for as many scholarships and colleges as you can. Not that you tell anyone: you can't. So instead you pack away enough clothing, money, and snacks to where it isn't noticable. Then you dump it inside a storage locker in Oregon where it will sit inside your mothers 1970 voltswagen van until you can leave.
Unfortunately leaving is harder than you had expected.
Rachel Black plans on going with you now and being with someone who can get a job with a college degree seems like a safer option. Because being around these shapeshifters is anything but safe. Though as time goes by there seems to be a silent understanding for those who want to leave. Leah Clearwater. Claire Young. We make it a routine to go off together knowing that one day we will never return.
Then Jared finally sleeps with you, you don't consent, and you find yourself pregnant.
The Elders are happy and the pack is happy, but what they don't see is you crying and scrubbing at your body until a rash begins to form.
What they don't see is how Rachel takes you out to a Planned Parenthood.
What they don't see is the call that you make to a therapy institution in Flordia.
They only see what they want and what they want is a happy story to write down for future generations and you don't give them that.
Jared is told of everything that he never allowed you to say: That you had a crush years ago thats been long since dead. That you have plans and goals and a life of your own. That after he raped you-when you finally learned to not be afraid to speak of it to someone-that you had an abortion. That you are Pro-Choice, with a love for comedy and crime shows, and an allergy for cats. That you are not what he wants you to be and before he can so much as speak you leave.
Freedom is going to be a long road ahead, but maybe you'll be able to forget about the one named Jared Cameron.