A Whole New Me Read online

  Chapter 4

  Desire wasn't just Azalea’s cousin, she was her sister and she loved her to death though she was a little over protective (Sometimes she played the mother role better than Rose and her real mother ever did). Before she left town Azalea told Dez what Rose and Dave told her about being "adopted" so to speak—It was more like kidnapped. She took it better than Azalea expected, though they weren't really related Dez never treated her any different, her and Trey were the only ones who didn't treat Azalea like an outcast and she loved them for it, they were the brother and sister she would kill to have.

  They walked out to the parking lot after Azalea convinced Mialynn and Lea to let Dez join them. It didn't take much convincing they seemed to genuinely like her. Lea hopped into Mialynn’s Corvette which looked really nice, not better than Llorel’s Mercedes' but it was better than Dez's blue Sedan. They agreed that Mialynn would take Lea home and they’d meet up once Azalea was all packed up and ready to go.

  "Will Miss Lady Tyrant let you come and stay the weekend with me at Lea's?"

  "No I don't think so she's going to have to make sure I grabbed the paper work she requested before I start my classes on Monday, and then she's going to make me finish unpacking." That was so like Tyra she was so mean and unreasonable; she always put Dez to work because she was too lazy to do the stuff herself. Azalea and Dez started calling Tyra Miss Lady Tyrant in second grade once they found out what the word tyrant meant. The name suits her well, but they’d never call her it to her face or around Rose and the rest of the kids because they would always run back and repeat it." But she's going to let me come shopping with you guys on Saturday."

  “Really; you asked her?"

  “Well she doesn't know that she's going to let me go yet." She smiled sheepishly.

  “Oh” Azalea said as Dez pulled into the drive, they got out of the car. It didn't surprise Azalea much that the door was unlocked she knew Trey would be home waiting for his date to arrive.

  Azalea walked Dez up to my room and they pulled out her pink duffel bag that she used when having sleep overs at Dez's house. Azalea and Dez haven't hung out with each other since the fall out with Rose and Azalea.

  Dez started going through Azalea’s closet to stick clothes in the duffel bag. “Z what happened to your fashion sense? This shit is like twice your size, you can't possibly fit into this stuff. Look at what you're wearing now! You don’t like a little attention do you?” She started throwing clothes on the ground until she came across a black cardigan that just so happened to be the only thing she put into the duffel bag. “The rest of this shit gotta somehow disappear Z” she said motioning toward the pile of clothes on the ground. “You gotta get rid of this crap, you can keep the shirts if you want you can wear them at night but you will not step foot out of this house or any hose wearing the rest of these clothes. Why do you wear this shit anyway? You have a beautiful curvy body that I would love to have but you hide it underneath clothes that could fit a 600 lb. woman.”

  “I don't care about what I wear Dez, it's just clothes."

  "Well for now on you can borrow some of my sisters’ clothes until we go shopping on Saturday, you'll only need 1 pair of clothes and then we'll go shopping and restore your closet with some better clothing."

  "You mean to tell me you expect me to fit any of Cindy's clothes?"

  "Well it's better than trying to get you to squeeze into my size 0 pants; you won't be able to fit any of my stuff." She didn't make Azalea feel better but she did have a point. Dez is very skinny, she barely had any thighs let alone ass and she still wears a size A in bra's, but she made up for it in her face. Dez is gorgeous she may not have a body but she has a pretty face. She has gorgeous brown eyes and long flowing black hair with brown highlights, she had full lips with a beautiful smile and naturally tanned skinned, boys loved her.

  Dez found a yellow sun dress in the back of one of Azalea’s drawers and threw it into the duffel bag. "Never thought I'd say this but we need a smaller bag" she said pulling out the cardigan and sun dress.

  They finished packing and Dez got Azalea some black cargo shorts and an off the shoulder top from her sisters closet. Azalea said goodbye to Trey as Lea came to pick her up around 5.

  "I thought your Cousin was going to be joining us?" she said pulling out of the drive.

  "Not today her mother needs her for some selfish reason, but she's going shopping with us for sure."

  Azalea spent all of Friday watching all of the twilight movies. She and Lea broke out into an argument over Azalea’s pure hatred for Edward; she was most defiantly team Jacob.

  "The vampire would destroy that mutt with one thought."

  "Oh come on Lea, Edwards as thin as a splinter, Jacob could pick his teeth with him, he could pick apart his limbs with one breath, but if it makes you feel any better he'll do it when the suns out so that you can see the glitter on his torn up body." Azalea smiled knowing that would get her mad.

  "Well Edward sure as hell would be looking mighty sexy in that light." she grinned.

  "Are you freakin kidding me? Edward? He's the ugliest vampire of the Cullen's. I can't determine if he scares me more in his human form or his vampire form."

  “If you were so smart you’d know that he looks the same in both,” Lea said.

  “Ye I know—ugly,’ she said with an annoyed look.

  When they finished the movies it was about 10:00 and Lea went off to bed. Azalea changed out of her cargos and shirt and put on her black beater with the yellow Batman symbol in the center and some boy shorts. She walked down to the kitchen to get a glass of milk before bed and she ran into Jaiden who was eating left overs at the counter.

  "How ya doin’ Green?" he said looking up from his plate and resting his elbows on the counter.

  "Green?" she questioned as she reached into the fridge for the carton of milk.

  "Your last name’s Green is it not? Besides your eyes are green and I’mma take a wild guess and say your favorite color is green” Azalea grabbed a glass out of the fourth cabinet she opened and filled it with milk.

  "Oh really? What if I told you, you were wrong?" she said walking over to stand next to him.

  "Then I'd tell you that you're not a very good liar, but don't take office to it, no one’s a good liar around me." Azalea arched a brow not at all convinced.

  "Really?" He slightly shook his head yes.

  "Well shall we test it? You obviously don't believe me." Azalea re-arched her brow.

  "This shall be fun" she said as she sat at the opposite side of the counter as him. "So how do we test this little theory of yours?" she asked taking a sip from her glass.

  "It's not a theory" he said taking his plate over to the sink. "Let's just say I don't know why but I can't be lied to" he said joining her over at the counter.

  "Ok so if I said...I like your shirt would you think I was lying?"

  "Aww" he said tapping his chin. "But you and I both know that you'd rather me not have a shirt on at all, even though you do like the shirt" he smiled. It was true she did like the shirt and she would love to see him without the shirt but the thought hadn't crossed her mind until he said it.

  "I'll ask you some questions and you answer them if you lie I'll know it." Azalea ran her hands through her hair before agreeing to the terms.

  "Are your eyes naturally that color?" he asked furrowing his brows.

  "Yes... why do you ask?" He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned closer.

  "I've never noticed how beautiful they are, I've never seen eyes quite like yours they're truthfully amazing." Azalea looked at him very confused as she noticed the astonished look on his face.

  "What's so special about them they're just green?"

  "No they're not they got like little gold and silver laced through the green and this morning they just looked gold... I can't really explain it" he said shaking his head.

  "Well thank you I guess I've never really paid it much attention" she said making up an
excuse as to why she never noticed these gold and silver spots. Azalea finished her glass of milk and put the empty glass in the sink.

  “Was that the end of our game?” she asked as she returned

  “I swear I had other questions like a list of your one night stands, how many hearts you’ve broken in the last year, your relationship status with Llorel—”

  “There is no relationship status with Llorel,” she said finding that question the weirdest of them all.

  “In that case no questions come to mind,” he said with a cocky smile.

  "Alright well I'mma head upstairs, good night." she said turning the corner toward the stairs.

  "Night Green." she heard faintly behind her.

  Azalea usually drank a glass of milk so that she could fall asleep without the nightmares; she’s had the same nightmare for as long as she could remember. she hasn’t had the nightmare in a while now, her nightmare for the past 4 days were about Llorel and not the good kind—if there is a such thing as a good kind of nightmare.

  Azalea slipped under her covers and slowly drifted away, immediately she noticed that something was wrong. It started off like the nightmare she’s been having before she met Llorel. There was a war and both men and women were a part of it. There was a great amount of blood splattered everywhere. Azalea was on the ground watching the event. It was a war against vampires and they were killing everyone that she’s ever loved. One escaped without being seen and he made his way toward her. Why wasn't she running away from him? She just sat there on the ground watching him approach. He came nearer and retracted his fangs then she started to hobble away. She looked down and realized that her legs were cut up pretty bad and she had a stab wound in her abdomen, now she understood why she wasn't running, He came closer and pounced on her, shoving his fangs in the pulse of her neck, she screamed as the pain corrupted her.

  Azalea heard a knock on her door half in her dream state still until she woke up panting and sweating. This time the person didn't bother to knock again she heard the door open and she sat upright in her bed terrified. It was Jaiden. He walked in farther and sat at the end of the bed.

  "Are you ok?" he asked concern consuming the look on his face.

  "Did I scream out loud?" she asked wiping her hand down her face sleepily, it sure felt as though she had screamed out loud her throat felt too sensitive and raw like a raging fire in her throat.

  "Kind of, is everything ok?' he asked again.

  “Yea, yea everything's fine" she tried to convince him.

  "Green I thought I told you that I can tell when you're lying to me, and by the look on your faced you're frightened, did you have a bad dream?"

  "Yea" she said reluctantly giving in to him, feeling like a kid telling her parents that she had had a nightmare. Jaiden moved down to her side of the bed.

  "Do you want me to stay with you?" he asked. There was no charm, no flirting, no tricks up his sleeves...wait a minute he's shirtless. She was so wrapped up in her nightmare that she failed to notice his lack of shirt. Her eyes wandered across every inch of his exposed chiseled body before she brought them back up toward his face reluctantly. His face was battered in concern as he patiently awaited her answer.

  "Yes" she said as she scooted over to make space for him.

  "Are you sure?" Azalea pulled back her covers and patted the empty spot beside her and that was answer enough for him. He slid in beside her and made himself comfortable. She turned her back on him and curled up into a ball not wanting to make this awkward.

  "Good night Green."

  "G’night.” After that she fell right back to sleep without the unwanted dream this time.

  When Azalea woke up she was lying on Jaiden’s bare chest, So much for not wanting to make this awkward, she thought. When she looked up he was looking down at her.

  "Morning" he said as a smile touched his lips; he was enjoying this too much. Azalea got up off of him and tousled her already messy hair.

  "What's this Green?" he asked touching her bare shoulder.

  "Nothing" she said quickly, shocked that she had been so careless as to cover her skin up.

  "Lea wants you" he whispered before he exited her room with as much grace as he could muster. Azalea went down stairs and Lea was waiting at the counter for her.

  "Hey Lea what's up?" she said sitting across from her at the counter.

  "I'm sorry did I wake you?" she asked obviously noticing the lack of shower, and her bed head.

  "It’s fine I would have woken up eventually."

  "Well good since you're fully woke I'll give you some time to recover from your night last night then be ready to go" she said leaving her seat.

  "My night last night?" she asked arching a brow.

  "Well yea I heard you scream last night but Jaiden beat me to your room, and I didn't see him come out." she said giving her a wink. "Jaiden's usually not the comforting type but I guess you bring out the best in him." she said turning to make her exit. Azalea did the same and headed toward the shower, smelling like jasmine and vanilla by the time she got out.

  Azalea put on her sun dress and cardigan and met Lea, Mialynn, and Dez downstairs as they waited for her. They left shortly after breakfast and hit the first mall they seen. Dez literally bought her a whole new wardrobe like she promised and Azalea wasn’t so sure she agreed with some of her outfit choices.

  Lea saw this topaz strapless dress with teal sequences that stopped a little above mid-thigh and came with a pair of shiny leather leggings with teal jeweled studs running up the side of the leg, and she insisted Azalea wear it to the party tonight. They went to other malls to gather as many accessories as they could. To compliment her dress Azalea got a teal tongue piercing and teal earrings that Dez was proud of and said that she would have picked it out herself if Azalea hadn't.

  After their shopping they went to a food court and sat down to eat.

  "I convinced Jaiden to come to the party with us so he's gonna be our designated driver" Lea announced.

  "Why'd you do that?" Azalea asked. "Couldn't we just get Dez or you to drive us?"

  "Nope" she said stuffing French fries in her mouth.

  "Why not?" Azalea asked refusing to let the topic go.

  "Cause I already asked Jaiden" she said with a smile.

  "Why does it matter who drives us let's just go so we can get ready" Dez suggested.

  "I know, really we should be thanking Jaiden for doing this for us" Mialynn added.

  "You’re right Mialynn we should thank him but how?" Lea asked.

  "How about a simple thank you Jaiden" Azalea said with her head down toward her unfinished food.

  "No Azalea we can't just give him a simple thank you—"

  "You're right Lea we can't just give him a simple thank you without a hug" Dez added. Azalea immediately gave her a death stare that she was pretty sure if Dez would have seen it she would have dropped dead.

  "How about one of yall give him a dance too so he's not just standing there at the party, I mean he doesn't even really want to go he's only doing it because I asked him."

  "You’re right Lea someone should dance with him" Mialynn agreed.

  "How about you Azalea?"

  "Why me?" she asked Lea.

  "Cause Jaiden doesn't know Mialynn and Dez as well as he knows you besides you have the most to be thanking him for, remember last night?" Yes I do remember last night and this morning which is why I don't want to dance with him.

  "What happened last night?" Dez asked with a curious look on her face. Oh God! Azalea swore before Lea delved into the story.

  "I don't know I just heard Azalea screaming last night and Jaiden got up and went to her room but he didn't come out until this morning so I never got a chance to ask him if everything was alright. When I saw her this morning she looked fine maybe just a little embarrassed but for the most part she was ok so I didn't question her about it. So Azalea what did you and Jaiden do last night that had you so embarrassed the next morning?"r />
  "We didn't do anything!" she said a bit defensive knowing exactly what Lea was implying. "I just had a nightmare and I guess I screamed out loud, Jaiden came in and asked me if I was alright and then stayed the night with me to make sure but nothing happened." she said getting up to throw the rest of her food away.

  "Well still bottom line is Jaiden needs to know how thankful you are so therefore you'll be dancing with him tonight," Lea said getting up to throw away her things.

  "So it's settled we all thank him and give him hugs and then Azalea saves a dance for him, now let’s go and get ready" Dez said throwing away her trash as well.

  When they got back to Lea's house with shopping bags in hand Jaiden was sitting on the sofa in the Living room. He got up and Lea greeted him first as Azalea stood in the background as awkward as ever.

  "Are you nervous?" Dez whispered into her ear. Azalea looked at her and gave her a guilty look.

  "Did something happen between you two last night?" she asked with a shocked expression on her face.

  "No it's not like that, remember Halloween? Well he kind of saw something that I didn't want anyone to see" Azalea said shyly.

  “Oh come on Azalea that was an accident, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

  "You weren't there Dez" Azalea said with a bit of an edge to her voice. "What happened to me that night was no accident."

  "What exactly did he see?" she asked quietly.

  "The mark on my shoulder, he asked about it this morning, he was awake before me so I don't know how many others he seen as well all I know is he pointed out the one on my shoulder." They heard a high pitched giggle and it immediately cut through their conversation. The giggle came from Lea; Jaiden was spinning her around as she gave him his hug.

  "Aww I wish our brothers were like that, they seem like they get along so well." Dez said.

  "Well though Trey's not my biological brother he's everything I would wish for in one." Azalea said back as she watched Mialynn give her thanks and head upstairs to get ready.

  "You're right and I guess I'm kind of glad that Jaiden is not my brother because he's hot" she said with a smile before making her way over toward him to give her thanks. Azalea watched on the side lines as she thanked him and got on her tippy toes to give him a kiss on the cheek and a big hug and as she was doing this Jaiden was looking right at Azalea the whole time. Dez left and sprinted upstairs to get ready. Jaiden continued to look at her as she just stood there. Move Azalea! She tried to tell herself but her legs just refused to move. She watched as a smile crept onto Jaiden's mouth, it was a sexy crooked one.

  "Fine I'll come over to you" he said teasingly. Azalea wanted to smile but she couldn't her body was not listening to her at all. Jaiden slowly made his way toward her, one more step and their feet would have touched that's how close he was.

  "Are you ok?" he asked as his brows shot up to his hairline. Azalea didn't even shake her head to indicate that she was alright she just continued to stand there mute.

  "Azalea what's the matter?" he asked furrowing his brows, and yet she just continued to stand there. That was the first time he’s ever called her by her name, and if she’s being totally honest with herself it sounded good coming from his mouth but she liked his little nick name better.

  "This is gonna be her first party since…well, for a while now. The last one she went to didn't really go as planned and so I guess she's just a bit nervous" Dez said from the top of the stairs. Azalea’s eyes wouldn't even obey her when she commanded them to look away from Jaiden and look at Dez.

  "Is that it?" Jaiden asked a little above a whisper. "What happened?" he asked.

  "She's not going to tell you." Dez said from her spot on the stairs.

  "OK" he said slowly. "You'll have friends with you ok so nothing’s going to happen" he said.

  "There were about 300 people at that party and something still managed to happen" Azalea got her mouth to say.

  "Ok sure but weren't none of those people me and when I say I won't let nothing happen to you I mean it" he said a bit harshly which caused her eyebrows to react to the harsh tone of his voice. Azalea didn't even see Dez make her way down the stairs toward her until she felt a tug on her arm.

  "Come on Azalea let's get you ready" she said yanking her toward the stairs. Azalea finally let her eyes drop from Jaiden's and followed Dez upstairs. She went into the guest room that she’s been staying in and Dez dropped a shopping bag at her feet.

  "Get dressed; Mialynn will be in to fix up your hair. I'll drop the rest of these bags off at your house and meet yall at the party." she said before turning and leaving her alone. Azalea took another shower so that the steam filled with the scent of Jasmine and vanilla could calm her down. She put on the strapless dress and leggings and looked into the steam filled mirror, she cleared the steam off the mirror and took a look at the marks that were on her shoulder, she grabbed the cardigan that she wore with her sun dress and put it on to cover up her marks.

  When she walked back to the mirror more steam had fogged it up, she cleared it and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Mialynn’s reflection in it, Azalea immediately remembered that she was supposed to be doing her hair, so she sat down at the vanity chair so that she could get started.

  "Aren't you gonna be a little hot in the cardigan?" she asked as she took a bundle of her hair and started to curl it even more than it was.

  "No I'm actually cold," she lied.

  "Sweetie it’s still summer how can you possibly be cold?" she asked as she sat down that section and started to curl more of her hair.

  "I don't know" Azalea said as she let her finish curling her hair.

  "Would you like it up or down?" she asked as she finished curling it.

  "It doesn't matter to me do what you want."

  "Fine how about we go up and down" she sectioned part of her hair and began twisting it into a ponytail without any pony tail holders, she then began to twist it into a bun, and she let the back fall loose around her shoulders. She left a few curls in her face and began to spray it as she covered her eyes.

  "All done" Mialynn said as she wiped her hands off. "Wait stay here I got something that would hold that bun together." She left the room and Azalea looked into the mirror, she did a good job Azalea really liked it. Mialynn came back with a butterfly clip and she fixed it into Azalea’s hair it went perfect with her outfit with the teal in it. "Perfect you look really nice Azalea." she praised.

  "Thanks to you" she said as she got out of the vanity chair.

  "No honey you are truly beautiful." she said with a genuine smile before leaving her room. Azalea looked at herself in the mirror one more time before going down stairs to join the rest.

  "Where's Dez?" Azalea heard Lea ask as she came to the top of the stairs.

  "She said she had to leave but that she was going to meet us at the party." Azalea said making her way down the stairs.

  "Damn!" she heard Jaiden say. Azalea immediately stopped and looked up.

  "She said she'd meet us there," she tried to explain not sure why that had him so upset.

  "No honey he means damn you look good" Lea explained.

  "Oh" Azalea said shyly as she continued her way down the stairs.

  "Now that's what I call making an entrance," Lea said as Azalea joined her at the foot of the stairs. Lea had on a red tight fitting shirt with cut outs on the side and leather pants, her head was tied up in a sophisticated style on top of her head and it was truly gorgeous.

  "You look beautiful Lea" Azalea complimented her.

  "Thank you but I don't look nearly as good as you do." Azalea gave her a shy smile. "You might get hot in that cardigan though, isn't that dress strapless do you think it will hold up ok?" Lea asked.

  "Let’s hope so" Azalea heard Jaiden say.

  "Trust me she has enough boobs in that dress it has no choice but to stay up" Mialynn added making Azalea extremely uncomfortable.

  "Alright can we go now?" she asked interrupting
all three of them.

  "Sure come on lets go you're chauffeur is at your service." Jaiden said playfully. They all followed Jaiden outside. Azalea immediately went straight toward the back of the car so she wouldn't get stuck in the passenger’s seat next to Jaiden. Mialynn slid in next to her and Lea took the seat next to her brother.

  When they arrived they were immediately stopped by Dez, Dorian and Llorel.

  "Yall made it!" Dorian said arms wide in a welcoming gesture or hug Azalea wasn’t sure which one. "Damn Azalea you look sexy, did you remember to wear your tongue piercing?" Azalea stuck her tongue out to show him the teal little pearl on her tongue. "Damn!" he said running his hands through his hair. "You're definitely going to have me up all night." Azalea stuck her tongue in her mouth and backed up a bit while everyone else laughed. Azalea felt a hand on her waist and she looked up to see Jaiden behind her.

  "You're not too good with compliments are you?" he whispered with a teasing smile on his face.

  "Alright yall don't just stand there go dance and have fun!" Dorian announced.

  Azalea did have a lot of fun, surprisingly. Everyone was being nice to her and talking to her except Llorel. He would just stare at her for no reason but he wouldn't have anything to say...She think they’re ignoring each other but she doesn’t know why but it's ok with her, she wanted nothing to do with him.

  Azalea danced with Dez, Lea and Mialynn she even danced with Dorian.

  "Did you dance with Jaiden yet?" Lea asked as they danced together.

  "No...Not yet"

  "Well don't you think you should hurry before the nights over?" she asked as she spun around. "Tell you what there's another song coming up promise me you'll dance with him then?"

  Azalea let out a big sigh before giving in to her request. "Sure, fine I'll dance with him for the next song." Lea left and went to go dance with Dorian. When Azalea looked for Jaiden she ended up running right into Llorel and the girl he was dancing with.

  "Hey watch where you're going!" his date spat. When Azalea looked up she noticed that the girl Llorel was dancing with was Stacie-Ann.

  "Sorry" she said so low she didn't even care if she heard her or not. Azalea tried to walk around them but of course Stacie-Ann had to create problems.

  "Oh look its Ms. Green, where's Maria when I need her." Azalea wasn’t even sure if that was an insult what was that supposed to mean?

  "Hey Stacie leave her alone—"

  "Llorel I got this" she said turning her death stare back on Azalea.

  "Look—"Azalea started before she felt someone’s hand on her waist.

  "Hey you wanna dance?" Azalea immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Jaiden, how ironic, she thought.

  "Don't waste your time on her. Hey you're cute you should come dance with me."

  "Thanks but no thanks, besides you have a dance partner right beside you," Jaiden said politely.

  "Yea but we're done, besides don't you wanna dance with someone worth your time?"

  "I do, and that's why I'm trynna get Azalea here to dance with Me." he said winding his arms all the way around Azalea’s waist until they reached her back and leaned his jaw on her shoulder, the same shoulder he had seen the mark on. Azalea immediately began to get self-conscious but she refused to move a muscle.

  "Trust me you don't want to be seen with her—"

  "Stacie!" Llorel said in a warning tone.

  "Why wouldn't I want to be seen with her? I mean she's sweet, and sexy, and she's a great friend, I love her personality, she's all around beautiful inside and out I mean that's reason enough for me." Azalea didn't know whether or not he meant that or if he was just saying those things, besides how could he tell all of those things about her when they only just met.

  "How about we go dance now?" Azalea suggested getting uncomfortable just standing there for Stacie-Ann’s eyes to dissect.

  "Yea you’re right, let’s go before they play the next song" he said uncaging her from his arms. "I hope you know how to slow dance" he whispered before bringing her onto the dance floor, on the other side of where Stacie-Ann stood next to a not at all happy Llorel.

  The party was actually fun besides the part when Azalea had ran into Llorel and Stacie-Ann but she avoided them at all cost and ended the party saving the final dance for Jaiden.