A/N: usually I don’t do author’s notes at the beginning, but I just need to point out that we’ll be switching from Belle’s POV to third person every time I put up a three dash divider, like this : -- (Get it, three dashes, third person?) ahahah, -slaps knee- that one was a knee slapper.

--

Turf and Love

By: Sesheta

Chapter: IV

Blake made me almost five minutes late to English that morning. Luckily he was in my English class, so I could give him grief all the way from his new locker, which was a few lockers down from mine, to the classroom.

Mrs. Jenkins was frazzled and busy as we walked in, and we slipped in unnoticed. She was a squat and rather chubby lady, with thick black rimmed glasses over beady green eyes and frizzy brown hair.

The class was full of chattering students as Mrs. Jenkins tried to call roll over the incessant noise – she was still on the B last names.

Vanessa, Claire, and Toby hailed me from where they were sitting in the center of the room. I walked over to them, and Blake went to the back of the room. He seamlessly faded into the small group at the back – the group of tattooed and pierced kids who sat so still and silent they seemed to be dead, or sleeping.

“That the Blake kid you were talking about?” Vanessa asked me as she popped her gum obnoxiously. I sneered at the girl; whos skirt did nothing to cover her tanned legs.

“Yeah,” was all I offered as a response.

Claire raised her eyebrows questioningly; she was in repose against the edge of a desk, her legs crossed at the ankles and the sleeves of her uniform sweater pushed up to her tan elbows.

I sat down in the hard, plastic chair that belonged to the desk in front of Toby and in between Claire and Vanessa. I crossed my legs at my knees, stuffing my numb, cold fingers in between the crook of my top knee and the top of the leg on the bottom, sufficiently warming my fingers.

Vanessa just licked her lips and popped her gum again in response to my answer.

Toby was the only one to vocally give his opinion on Blake.

“The kid seems weird; at least he’s fitting in with the stoners.”

I nodded and folded my arms.

“Belle Landers?” I didn’t answer my name, just to make Mrs. Jenkins call it again. “Belle, are you here?”

“Oh yes!” I said in the tone I reserved for playing the part of the servile student. “I’m sorry Mrs. Jenkins; I’m here!”

“Alright Belle, I’ve got you.”

Blake sent me a weird look from across the room; I turned away from him before we could make eye contact. It was best to wean him away from the idea that we could have any kind of friendship in school.

“What do you say to the mall today?” Claire asked over Mrs. Jenkins’ lesson. I seriously contemplated the question in my head. The mall was our territory; people we didn’t want in it were not allowed, and they knew who we were.

Our territories included the mall, the courtyard at school, Melcher Park, and any place else we decided that we wanted. We stood unopposed, no one ever ventured onto our land if we didn’t want them there.

It’s not like there was a constitution though; those rules weren’t written down anywhere, they were just there. Everyone knew them, everyone followed them. It came with the turf.

“Yeah. Mall sounds good.”

Everyone else chorused their agreements after me.

“Awesomeness!” Claire looked delighted that her plan had come through.

“Claire Danes!” Mrs. Jenkins cried from where she was standing behind her black teaching podium.

“Yes, Mrs. Jenkins?”

“Be quiet right now, this is on the test Thursday.”

“Yes ma’m.”

Clair turned around in her chair after Mrs. Jenkins took her beady eyes off her.

Bitch, she mouthed silently.

Everyone silently laughed, but I was busy writing down that we had a test on Thursday.

Lunch that day was simply a baked Potato and some kind of spinach barf that jiggled when poked with a fork. The dark green of the spinach nearly blended in with the black of the tray.

“You’d think that since we pay so much money to go here, we’d get some decent food,” Jessica said. She, like me, was eating food from home. However, she eyed Martin’s food with disdain as he inhaled it.

We were sitting in our usual place on the steps. I was at the top, with Jessica next to me, and everyone else sat comfortably draped around us. A few people were scattered around the outer edges. Those people came and went, the only reason I even knew their names was because we go to a small school.

“Ugh, I wish Blake wouldn’t hang out with those kids,” Vanessa said after a few minutes of aimless chat in which Toby and Martin went through their regular lunch routine of bartering food.

“Why does it matter to you Vanessa?” I knew exactly why it mattered to her – she wanted Blake in a way that was utterly in appropriate, but she would never risk social status to sleep with one of the stoners, no matter how much she liked them.

“No reason.” Jessica and I exchanged glances with raised eyebrows, and Vanessa acted like she hadn’t seen them.

I ran a hand through my hair, allowing the layers to fall in my face but avoiding the bobby pin that kept the shortest ones away from my eyes.

I spotted Blake and the stoners out of the corner of my eye – sitting on the other, darker side of the courtyard. My courtyard. I narrowed my eyes; the ice blue slits could penetrate deep and hurt anyone I wanted them to.

I turned around just as he was shifting his head over to look at me. I never caught the expression in his eyes, but I felt them on me for the rest of the lunch period.

“What are they doing here?” Toby asked in disgust.

I sneered.

“It’s only for one day. It looks like Blake is their new leader; how cute. I’ll straighten him out when I get home.”

The beautiful scene and beautiful people around the courtyard would not be marred with cigarette smoke and black clothing for long.

--

Belle turned around just as Blake shifted his glance to them. Ryder had warned him of the hateful glances they would get, encroaching on the “Cool clique’s” land.

“That’s alright man; I have a total in with her,” Blake had said. The rest of them; Jake, Krista, and Mels had quietly followed Blake and Ryder.

“Dude, I hope you know what you’re saying. What I would give to go out there and smoke a few.”

“Why don’t you? It’s not like they actually own the land.”

“Actually, Mels’ parents might as well own the land. They paid for the building of the courtyard.”

“Really?” Blake turned to Mel and raised his eyebrows. She blushed under her pale white foundation and black eyeliner.

“Yeah.”

“Then, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be welcome.” He put on a mock smile, and everyone followed him, defeated but still skeptical.

Blake could feel her eyes on him, and they hurt more than he intended to let them. They were cold and calculating. He almost felt a hint of frostbite when he turned to look at her full on. She’d already turned her snowy-white head on him.

For the rest of lunch he observed her thoughtfully as he took long drags on his cigarette. His new group of friends was not a talkative bunch; they strayed from one topic to another like leaves on the wind. More often than not there was just smoke filled silence. Blake was hardly missed in the skittering and unfocused conversation.

He watched her intently, observing her mannerisms through heavily lidded eyes with the hood of his dark grey sweatshirt hiding his face in shadows.

She had a tendency to lean in to someone when she was talking. When she disapproved, she sent a scathing look to one of her friends, crossed her arms, and wrinkled her nose critically, as if she smelled a particularly bad odor.

When she did approve, she lifted her eyebrows and her wide eyes took on a clear look, as if she was making sure she did approve before she actually nodded the affirmative.

When she smiled, her bright, straight teeth were always shown in her smile. Her full lips widened into a brilliant smile, and the corners of her eyes crinkled up. She threw her head back with no inhibition – as if she was shouting to the sky how happy she was – when she laughed.

He made a split decision at that moment, he would encroach on as many “territories” of hers as possible. He didn’t even know why it came to mind, but it was stupid for her to have such a handle on this whole town. He should have control of it; not some petty, pretty girl.

“What other territories does she … “own?”” He asked, turning to Ryder and grinding his cigarette under the toe of his right black converse clad foot.

Ryder sighed, already seeing the cogs turning in Blake’s brain. Taking over the city was not something on his high school to-do list, which included:

-getting stoned

-hanging with friends

-sleeping with a few girls, and finally,

-maintaining his perfect 1.0 GPA and getting his parents to pave his way through high school with their money.

--

After school, we all hit the mall. It was exactly as we’d left it the last time; the pretty people draped all around it, each clutching Abercrombie bags.

Me, I didn’t go for Abercrombie or Hollister. I went for the higher end stuff, like the Soho store and Juicy Couture.

I was really just there to check the status of the mall. I was backed by Jessica, Vanessa, and Claire. Half the football team was there, including a few of my ex-boyfriends.

All of my old relationships were very strange. I always simply patched things up quickly after the break up. We said a few nice parting words and went to an awkward, but still close friendship.

Kevin, Kyle, and Mark, the troupe of X’s, were all burly and handsome and had each been football captains at one time. It was the type I always went for – the type I was expected to go for.

So, accompanied by my wingmen and women, I walked in for our routine inspection of the mall.

We inspected – informally of course – each of our territories on the same day. The list was as follows:

-Mall: Tuesday

-Park: Thursday

-and courtyard every school day

Everything was peaceful. Kids hung around the fountain in the center – draped casually across the concrete and sipping Mocha Lattes like they owned the place. Though as we walked by, they each raised their hand in greeting, acknowledging that they in fact didn’t own the place. We did. They were just lucky to be there.

“Hey Belle!” I nodded in the direction of the voice, neither seeing nor caring who it was.

--

Our shopping exploits over, each of us left the mall. I was glad Blake had gotten a ride from a friend, because I would not have brought him to the mall with me. I probably would have just left him at school.

“Bye Belle! See you tomorrow!” Vanessa shouted. Somehow I knew she wasn’t sincere, but I called my goodbye anyway.

Claire and Jessica followed me to the car. My football wingmen had broken formation minutes ago and were already gone.

I leaned against the door, crossing my arms and looking up at Claire.

“We need to talk to you,” she said in a cautious tone. I nodded.

“We hear, from certain very… reliable sources, that the stoners are trying to take over our land.”

I felt a surge of disapproval flow through me, accompanied by the stinging, bitter taste and rush of adrenaline that went with my anger. My heart pounded erratically and my eyes swam a bit before I could focus on not-becoming angry.

“Well, we’ll just have to see how far that goes,” I offered as a short response. Jessica and Claire gave satisfied smiles as I ducked into my car.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jessica called. I smiled warmly at her.

“Ok! See you then!” my normal tone was back, as if I was never angry.

But, I still was.

A/N: ooh, Belle’s got a bit of a temper problem there.

Hope y’all understood the POV changes and such. And I know you hate Belle now. However, remember the things I described in the FAQ in Chapter 2. Belle likes to be powerful and in control. Unfortunately, so does Blake.

THANK YOU for the few reviews, and for all the happy birthdays! Y’all are amazing!

SummerBaby94

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