#also i felt the same when i got mine like. suddenly everything seemed wearable again. including the tight stuff i never wore. wild

[sn0wbat]

baby's first binder ♡

[paullahotes]

Incalescent-Chapter Four

Pairing: Paul Lahote x Fem!OC

Summary: Em just wants to be loved and have a family for once in her life. But nothing has ever gone right in her life before so why should it now?

Word Count: 6k

Warnings: kissing, tiny vampires who won’t take no for an answer, lots of feelings that are all over the place

A/N: Listen, I don’t think I’m a good writer so this could be terrible! Let me know what you guys think of it!

Paul had cooked for me again when we got back from the beach. We had only spent a short amount of time there but my face was feeling tight with a little sunburn. Though I was grateful because I hadn’t had much sun since being here in Forks. I also felt grateful now for the blush that spread across my cheeks every time I looked at Paul. As I had watched him cooking with his back turned to me everything felt like it was falling into place.

I had spent my whole life thinking that everything was going to be awful and lonely. I always thought that it would just be my father and I, with him forcing me into solitude for fear of people finding out our secrets. Now so many people knew our secrets and I couldn’t feel safer. The thought of my dad randomly popping in still loomed in the back of my mind, though I knew he wouldn’t find out about anything. Who would tell?

  Yesterday had gone so well after I ditched the rest of my school day that I decided to go against my father's wishes and skip school again today. Paul had given me a clean shirt for the day after I spent the night at his house. The fabric was soft and smelled like him. He was out on patrol now but every time I inhaled I could smell him and that comforted me. 

Thinking back to last night was a good distraction from how bad I was turning out to be at sewing. I was at Emily’s house, sitting on her couch and sewing the packs clothes back together. They shredded them when having to phase quickly and Emily tried her best to put them back together so they didn’t have to keep buying new ones. My fingers fumbled with the small, delicate needle as I worked on a pair of Embry’s shorts. They weren’t too bad and I’m sure Emily would have no problem fixing them but my fingers were not cooperating with the task at hand. 

“Have you ever sewed anything before?” Emily asked, laughing lightly as she saw me struggle with the needle. I huffed out blowing a piece of hair out of my face and glared at her slightly. The smile on her face didn’t waver and she mumbled, “so stubborn, just like Paul.”

“I will learn how to do this correctly,” I mumbled out through my gritted teeth. Over the years I hadn’t taken on too many hobbies that involved me producing something. I was always fascinated with art and got really in Art History at whatever high school I went to. But I never took a regular art class and when I was forced to I didn’t excel in the slightest. The same went for my love of books and music, I would never sit down and write either. 

“At least you’re trying to help,” Emily mumbled back, there was a needle pressed between her lips as she spoke. “Jared’s girlfriend is a very lovely girl but she took one look at me doing this one day and didn’t offer anything. She just sat with him at the kitchen table, eating the food I had made.”

“Hm, maybe I should’ve done that,” I joked just as the needle poked my finger. It didn’t bleed, thanks to my more durable than human skin. I swore quietly to myself and shook my finger off, it was more of a hit to my ego than painful. 

Emily and I fell into silence then, except for my occasional swearing. It wasn’t long until I had finished Embry’s shorts and I was sighing in relief. I held them up to inspect them and saw that they were in fact wearable but he would win no fashion awards for them. 

We spent a couple hours sewing, some of it in silence and some of it with the living room filled with laughter. Being at Emily’s place felt like home. People were constantly coming in and out, leaving food or taking it. Over the course of the day I had seen every member of the pack and their girlfriends. I had even had the privilege of meeting Sue Clearwater when Leah had shown up with her in tow. They were stopping by to grab some of the clothes, Leah didn’t have any clothes of her own to sew because she had finally controlled her random phasing.

I noticed as I was going through the pile of clothes that Emily had given me, none of them belonged to Paul. I scanned the piles of freshly sewn shorts and shirts from Emily’s piles and realized none of Paul’s clothes were there either. Emily noticed my looks and followed my gaze around the room as I looked.

“Paul can control his phasing, he was the worst at first. We’d be sitting around, laughing at some jokes and suddenly the urge to phase hit him and he had to run out of the house quickly.” Emily explained to me like she could read my mind. Paul always seemed so collected that it sounded odd to me that he had trouble controlling anything. I started to wonder how that would even work, I didn’t really know anything about the wolves and I had yet to ask Paul.

“When were you going to tell us?” Emily and I were taken out of our thoughts as we heard Leah’s voice call out. The front door banged open to reveal Leah standing with her hands on her hips. Her eyes trained directly on me. 

“Tell you what?” I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion. Leah walked over and sat on the couch next to me. Emily had stopped sewing and pushed everything to the side, watching our interaction.

“When we are in our wolf forms we can hear each other's thoughts, all of each other's thoughts,” Leah started, looking over at Emily and then back to me. “Paul and I were just phased at the same time with a couple others and he was thinking about something that happened between the two of you.”

“Oh,” I mumbled, my body started to feel hot all over. My mind wandered back to Paul and I kissing the previous day. It didn’t dawn on me how it would look wearing his shirt and I hoped they didn’t notice that I was wearing it. 

“What happened?” Emily asked, coming over and kneeling on the floor beside my legs. She looked up at me with wide, excited eyes as she waited for me to spill the details. I pushed my sewing stuff to the side before looking between Emily and Leah.

“Paul and I kissed…” I trailed off as the two women squealed, Leah gripping my shoulder and lightly shaking me. “...we kissed a lot.”

“Finally, I’ve been getting sick of Paul’s sad inner monologue about he thought you hated him because you weren’t showing any signs of liking him beyond friendship,” I rolled my eyes at Paul’s idiocy.

“I’m very happy for the two of you! From what I hear you make Paul happier than he’s ever been,” Emily said, with her hand on my knee and squeezing it encouragingly. 

Emily and Leah forced me to tell every single detail from the day before. Every kiss that Paul and I shared, along with every last thing we said to each other before and after. They were both confused when they asked if he told me about the tribes legends and I said that he hadn’t. They both shared a knowing look and dropped the subject quickly. The interaction made me make a mental note to ask Paul about it later. 

“Now that you and Paul have decided to be more than friends we should double date sometime!” Leah suggested, holding Em’s hand tightly. 

“That would be great!” I exclaimed, though I sounded very nervous. Were things moving quickly or was I just not familiar with everything?

Emily and I spent a while talking about the guys we were with. She confessed she thinks Sam would be proposing soon and she couldn’t wait to start planning the wedding. The thought of watching Emily and Sam get married warmed my heart. Being able to be around the two of them and watching be so in love, felt so pure. I knew I was a better person for just being around them.

“Hello, ladies,” Sam opened the front door dramatically when he came in. He took a couple large strides across the room to scoop Emily up into his arms, kissing her. I looked away to give them privacy and saw Paul walk in. He stopped in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed against his chest and smiled at me.

“C’mere,” Paul said, nodding his head to signal what he wanted. I scrambled to my feet and walked over to him without hesitation. If we were being honest once I kissed him for the first time I didn’t see how I’d ever be able to stop. 

He didn’t waste anytime as he cupped my face and leaned down to press his lips to mine. With my hands on his waist I pushed up on my tip-toes to deepen the kiss. I vaguely heard Leah mumble something about everyone being ‘so gross’ before she brushed passed me and Paul, running into the forest. Paul didn’t stay kissing me for long. He eventually pulled away to press our foreheads together and look into my eyes.

“Missed you today,” Paul whispered to me. I gripped his hand that was cupping my face and pressed harder against his palm. It was silly that I had missed him too. We had only been apart for a few hours, less than if I had gone to school. 

“Walk me home? I should catch up on some homework considering I do have to go back to school eventually,” he took my hand and we said a quick goodbye to Sam and Emily. She thanked me for helping her and didn’t let me leave until she had quickly put together my school lunch for tomorrow. She had upgraded me from a plain paper sack to a lunchbox of my favorite color.

Paul and I walked hand in hand through the forest. My body temp has always been higher than a humans from what I had noticed over the years from accidentally touching people at school in the hallways. Paul however burned hotter than I did. I had noticed it before but now that we had been touching more regularly it was very apparent. His hand clasped mine, the heat almost searing my skin.

We came up to the river that separates Forks from La Push, he looked over at me wagging his eyebrows. He stepped back a few paces and then ran forward as fast as he could, launching himself over the river. My stomach flipped in fear, he had never done this in his human form. I was never worried about his wolf form making it over the river but I had no idea how he would make it over as a human.

“Were you worried?” He yelled over to me from the other side of the river. He looked smug as I watched him in awe. He had made it and was able to land gracefully. Frowning at him I took a couple steps back and launched myself over the river like he had. As I flew through the air I knew I had gone further than Paul and began to smirk. I landed then hit a cartwheel just to show off. Putting my hands in the air dramatically when I was done, I spun around to face Paul.

“Show off,” he muttered, shoving me lightly as he passed but still grabbing my hand to hold it. I giggled lightly and gripped his hand in mine, my other hand going to hold the crook of his arm. We walked quietly the rest of the way to my house, it was a comfortable silence.

“Emily told me you’re the best at controlling your phasing,” I started to speak when my questions from earlier popped back into my head. When I looked over at Paul he looked sheepish, like he was embarrassed from the praise.

“Now I am but when this first happened I wasn’t,” Paul explained, sounding like he didn’t want to. We walked in silence for a couple more minutes, our paces slower than a snails. 

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable by bringing it up. I’m half a vampire and I barely know about them and they’re my kind. Finding out people can turn into wolves really turned my world upside down and I was curious about how it all works,” I felt myself starting to feel defensive and on edge. I wasn’t allowed to ask my dad questions and if I did he usually yelled at me for it. Paul wasn’t anything like my dad but I didn’t know anything else. 

“I’ll have to bring you to a council meeting sometime so you can hear it from them, I’ve told you a little of what I know about it. It has to do with who are ancestors are,” Paul started, squeezing my hand lightly. He looked serious now, determination clear all over his face. “Everyone that can turn into a wolf now relates back to the original one. Taha Aki, the first shapeshifter in our history. Our main enemies over the years are the same, our legends call them the ‘cold ones’.”

“I’m assuming the ‘cold ones’ are vampires,” I concluded, thinking about how cold my father felt to the touch. Every vampire that I touched was cold like ice, one touch from a human could give away a clue as to what they were.

“You’re right, every time vampires come near us our genes tell us to turn into wolves,” Paul told me, as we walked into my backyard. “I don’t like to take credit for being the best at ‘controlling’ my phasing. We haven’t pinpointed a trigger for it besides the vampires. We don’t phase do to emotions or situations. We phase when we’re happy, mad or sad so none of really know how to stop the phasing. It’s all just luck.”

“Maybe it’s a skill you develop over time,” I suggested, trying to sound hopeful. To this day I hoped that I would show signs of some sort of ability. I had tried for years to force something out of myself. I tried to figure out things I was good at to see if I could practice them enough to where it started to grow and become something beyond the average but nothing ever panned out.

After a while my dad made me give up, his excuse was that I looked stupid trying to force something that wasn’t there. He said I wasn’t special and couldn’t make myself become special no matter how hard I tried. 

“I’ll be back later after my patrol,” Paul told me as he walked me up my back steps. I was pulling the back door open when he pulled me into him for a kiss. It was unexpected and left me breathless. He had the same smug look on his face from earlier. He pressed a quick kiss to my lips before letting me go.

“Don’t take too long,” my voice barely above a whisper, with a slight hoarseness to it. He winked at me and sprinted off into the woods, unbuttoning his shorts on the way. I shook the dizziness out of my head and continued into my house.

The paper I was working on practically wrote itself. I had been writing the same paper for my history classes for a few years now. Whenever we were given the opportunity to write about the Civil War I wrote a lengthy essay about the women of the time and how they helped, sometimes more than men, in the war. It was fun to see what men in our history tried to erase and I loved digging up new details about the women. 

The sudden ringing startled me as I was typing out my last sentence. My phone had been left back on the kitchen table while I sat at the island working on my paper. It was probably Paul changing plans and sending someone else over to spend the night to make me feel safe. I picked it up without looking.

“Long time no talk,” I joked as I answered. It had only been a couple hours since Paul had dropped me at my house. The other side was silent for a minute. “Anyone there?”

“You skipped school today,” a voice finally came through but it wasn’t Paul. My heart skipped a beat. My whole body broke out into a cold sweat so bad I could feel the beads of sweat pop up all over my skin immediately. 

“I-I, uh…”

“I don’t want to hear it. I warned you before I left. I would always know if you stepped out of line and you have. You are walking on thin ice with me now,” he seethed on the other end. I could hear the malice in his voice. It felt like shards of glass were hitting my ears with each word. I couldn’t defend myself, the words were stuck in my throat. 

“I have eyes everywhere, Clementine,” he started speaking again. He had eyes everywhere? I spun around anxiously, looking out the doors to the backyard and all the other windows that anyone could see me through. 

“I’ve left you speechless now, haven’t I?” he asked, sounding satisfied with my lack of response to anything he said. My body felt like it was vibrating, my legs were weak. I gripped on the kitchen table as my legs started to give out.

“You better start being able to speak because I have a little question for you,” he began. Sitting down at the table, I stayed silent and let him continue. “Did you think I wouldn’t find about your dangerous little dog friends too?”

I froze, my tongue going so dry I thought it would turn to dust. I cleared my throat hoping it would help before I spoke, “What are you talking about?”

“I have a reliable source that says they saw you with them, more than once over the past couple weeks. Did you think you could away with kissing one of those foul beasts?” he explained to me. Someone had been watching me the whole time? Someone had learned the packs secret in the process? My stomach flipped as I thought about how someone had seen Paul and I at the beach, spying on us while we kissed. This was all my fault, I knew something like this would happen if I got too close to anyone. I had never underestimated my dad before and I shouldn’t have this time around either.

“They have just as much of a secret to keep as I do, maybe even more so,” I tried to reason with him. It was foolish to even try but I had to. I was old enough at this point to do things for myself and I had to stand up for myself, no matter who my dad has watching me.

“The more people that know about you the worse off you’ll be. Vampires are curious creatures, they love to check out their own kind from time to time. Sometimes even hunt them for fun. Do you want to be hunted for fun, Clementine?” The second use of my full name alerted me to how serious he was. There would be no reasoning with him now, not that there ever was to begin with.

“No, father,” I muttered quietly, my stomach churning. It didn’t matter how old I got or how far he was from me, I would never be out from under his control. He had never let me go far enough to learn how to be on my own or defend myself. 

“I suggest you stop seeing your friends and continue to go to school. You never know the next time someone will be around and see you,” he warned before abruptly ending the conversation. My phone beeped alerting me to the ended call but I sat there with my phone to my ear, frozen in place. 

There was a clock hanging on the wall across from me, I could hear each tick the second made as it went by. My phone began to slip from my hand as my muscles went slack. My whole body slumped back and my phone went clattering down to the tabletop. 

The only good thing that came from that conversation was the implication that no one was currently watching me. Who would even be helping my father keep an eye on me? He had driven the notion of never getting to know anyone into my brain so much that I thought he had always adhered to the rule himself.

I snapped out of it suddenly, grabbing my phone and typing out a message before my brain could even realize what I was doing. It was a message to Paul, a light and airy feeling one, about how I didn’t need anyone over tonight because I was working on a paper and would be doing so all night. I didn’t bother to wait for a reply, turning my phone off and leaving it upside down on the kitchen table.

We hadn’t unpacked everything when we moved in. Most of our stuff still in boxes around the house. I didn’t know exactly where my father had put the box that held our curtains but I was on a mission to find them. I wouldn’t be letting anyone spend the night here anymore so I would need to make myself feel as safe as possible and I was going to start by having all the windows covered so that no one could see in.

The box wasn’t too hard to find, it was located in the closet under the stairs. Everything I needed was miraculously in it, from the curtains to the curtain rods that held them up. There were so many windows all over my house that I hoped I had enough to cover all of them or I would be limiting where I go when I was home. 

It didn’t take long for me to hang up curtains all over my living and in my kitchen. There was nothing I could do about the sliding door, no curtains were big enough so I looked around for a bed sheet big enough to cover it up. I already had my sheets on my bed and my dad wasn’t around to use his, not that he would anyway since he never slept.

With hammer and nails in my hands and a bedsheet in the other hand, I set to work. Standing on different kitchen chairs in the process, I had the bedsheet nailed over the sliding door in no time. Feeling no safer when I was done, I decided to grab my laptop and school work and barricade myself in my room until it was time to go to school in the morning. I reluctantly had to grab my phone and turn it back on just so I could set an alarm in case I somehow was able to fall asleep.

Paul had texted back saying that was fine and wondering if I was sure I didn’t need him. He didn’t express it but I knew he was hurt by me suddenly being cold toward him. We had just gotten to a good place, one I had never been in before and it was ruined. This was my life and I had better learn to just keep my head down and deal with it. 

To distract myself from the hole I was on the brink of spiraling down I decided to get my essay back out and begin to pick it apart. My eyes were burning by the time I decided my essay couldn't get any better. The sun had been gone for a while now, the sky completely dark and void of stars. Looking out my window and into the backyard I saw something move beyond the tree line. A shadow too big to be a human or vampire but it was too far away for me to be sure it was one of the wolves. But if it was it was probably Paul checking on me to make sure my father wasn’t home and keeping me from him.

Guilt washed over me as I abruptly shut the curtains and threw myself down on my bed. The blankets were in a pile next to me and I grabbed them, pulling them to me to wrap my body around. I didn’t want to cover up for fear that I would need to get up quickly to defend myself, only to get stuck in the blankets and get killed because of it. I didn’t have much of a say in the matter as my eyes closed and didn’t reopen.

Rap! Rap! Rap! I startled awake at the sudden sound, my feet hitting the floor before my eyes even opened. The pounding sound didn’t stop. As I gained my bearings I realized it was someone knocking on my front door. It couldn’t be anyone I knew because Emily had a key to my house and would give it to anyone she trusted who wanted to come see me. 

From the top of my stairs I could see a man with a navy blue hat on standing on my front porch. His whole frame wasn’t visible through the little window on my front door so I couldn’t know where he was from until I went down and greeted him.

“Can I help you?” I asked as the door swung open. His whole uniform matched his hat. The crisp navy blue uniform, was loose on his body. He stood awkwardly on my porch with a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. 

“I have a delivery for, Clementine Abbott?” It was more of a question than a statement. I nodded at him and he handed me the clipboard to sign my name, stating that I received whatever it was he had brought with him. He uttered a quick thank you and picked up a heavy box from the porch that I hadn't noticed before. It was a white, styrofoam box. The same kind we put blood bags in when my father and I stole them for me. 

“This isn’t the only thing,” He gestured my usually empty driveway. There now sitting in the driveway and looking completely out of place was the car I had wanted for a while. It was the newest version of it too. A royal blue, Land Rover Range Rover, sat there looking pristine. The man handed me the keys and an envelope. 

“Have a good day,” I muttered, trying to be polite but I was in absolute shock. The envelope was heavy in my hand, somehow even more so than the keys were. I tore it open already knowing who it was from.

Clementine,

This is sort of a peace offering. Peace on the condition that you do as you are    told from now on. The car is so that you don’t have to rely on anyone for anything. You have everything you need at the house and you have a credit card to go and buy whatever you should find the need for. The car is now a way for you to get there without running into anyone while you walk to and from. 

The blood bags are so that you don’t find yourself thirsty and running into the dogs while in the woods hunting. Remember, I will know if you see them again. 

You will see me again very soon. I have run into an old friend and we have something big and exciting planned. You’ll know everything when the time is right.

Hope you just love your new dream car!

Stay Safe,

John Abbott

Him and an old friend had something big and exciting planned? Nothing about this letter sounded good. Each word brought more bile to the back of my throat. Breakfast was now out of the question with the way my stomach felt. With the blood bags stowed away in the fridge and the keys left on the island in the kitchen next to my backpack I went upstairs to take a shower and get dressed for school. 

It may be springtime here in Forks but the weather didn’t show it. The window to my bedroom had slight fogging to it, meaning it was a lot colder outside than inside. Slipping a sweater over my head to pair with my jeans I was finally ready to leave for school. Despite everything I was excited to be able to drive at school, especially in the car I had wanted for so many years. 

My car stuck out in the school parking lot. Everyone had used cars, years old. I had noticed that even the Cullen’s had a car that blended into the surroundings. The only other car that stuck out like mine did was Bella’s old, rusted, bulbous truck. I parked in a spot that was the closest to the school, I had never driven to school before but I’m sure it was rare that this spot was ever open this late in the morning. 

A couple kids were staring as I grabbed my bag and got out of the car. I needed to head to the main office building to print out my paper quickly before going to class. It was due this morning and if I hadn’t spent time procrastinating my skipping school to hang out with Paul I would have already had it done and turned in. This was super last minute for me and I usually never did this. If my dad found out I was turning my paper in the last minute he would say it was late even though it was right on time. 

There was no one in the main office that I could see but I could hear the principal and secretary somewhere chatting. The smell of coffee lingered in the air, it was an office but it felt comfortable. Without bothering them I went to the computer and signed in to print out what I needed. 

The task didn’t take as long as I thought it would so I went back to my car with my papers. The Cullen’s had now arrived. Bella had gotten out of her truck and was now standing with the two vampires at their car, chatting quietly while eyeing me in my car. I looked away from them and put my papers away.

It wasn’t surprising to me when I heard a soft knock on my passenger side door. When I looked up I saw Alice. She waved at me, looking sheepish. My lips pursed but didn’t go into a full pout. There was no getting out of this so I clicked the unlock button to let her in. She slid in gracefully and let out a long sigh.

“I’m really sorry for what happened the other day,” she started, turning her tiny body to look into my eyes. Her tiny, cold hands reached out and grabbed mine. She clasped them tightly as if to emphasize how serious she was. 

“I can be a lot and most people don’t really like that. My siblings however are usually the quiet brooding types so I didn’t see the outburst coming,” she looked genuinely upset. I knew from what I heard the other day that she could see the future, which made me wonder how she didn’t know what I was. Or maybe I was going to be able to keep my secret forever and they’ll never find out?

“It’s fine, this whole town seems to act weird when new people show up,” I wasn’t going to drag this on. She needed me to accept her apology to get her to leave me alone. She seemed to agree with me as she nodded slightly and leaned back in the seat.

“Are you alright?” She asked, her eyes were locked with mine. She was probably noticing how tired I looked. Or maybe it was the fear I had that showed all over my face. Was someone watching me interact with her? Would my dad call again threatening me to not talk to the towns vampires? Or would his friend show themselves to tell me to stop in person?

“I haven’t been sleeping that well,” I muttered back to her. It wasn’t technically a lie, I was scared of being alone in my house and I was scared that my dad would show back up soon. I had a lot on my mind that wasn’t letting me have the peace of mind I needed to sleep. She seemed to believe me and leaned back in her seat looking around my car.

“I love your new car by the way. With your taste you’d really get along with my family. We may take a bland car to come to school but we have a whole garage of fancy ones,” she seemed excited now. Her eyes went somewhere for a second, like she was seeing something I wasn’t. She looked very worried for a minute but then shook it off with a laugh.

“Are you graduating this year? I know you have a couple classes with Edward and Bella but you could just be advanced,” she asked. Where could this be going? I thought once I told her I wasn’t bothered by what happened the other that she would leave me alone but it wasn’t turning out to be like that.

“You guessed it, I’m a genius. I’ll graduate next year hopefully early so I can start some college,” and hopefully get the hell out of this town. After the stunt I pulled my dad probably wouldn’t argue if I asked to move after this school year. Hopefully whatever him and his friend were planning it would be over in time.

“Would you like to come to the graduation party I’m planning anyway? You said you wanted to graduate early so you won’t get one if you do that! Edward and I really want you to know how sorry we are for the other day and what better way to show you than a party in a mansion!” she was easily excited. Her cheerful voice filled the car as she spoke. There was a sparkle in her eyes as she waited for me with her hands now clasped under her chin no longer holding my hands.

“Oh, I don’t know…” the look on her face told me it wasn’t optional. It was clear that she wouldn’t leave me alone until I said yes. I leaned back in my seat, feeling defeated. If my dad found out he would be furious but what teenager says no to a party? The Cullen’s clearly knew how to dig into someones life and would surely nose around more if I was acting like anything but a normal teenage girl. 

“Yay! This is so exciting!” Alice squealed, bouncing around in her seat. She settled down after a second and looked me over. “I think I know your size so I’ll send you something to wear to it! You’ll love it!”

“You don’t have t-” she was gone, the door clicked shut behind her. She was already standing back with Bella and Edward before I could even process the door shutting. Edward looked displeased at what she was telling him, probably about how she invited me to the party. Bella looked uneasy and I could hear her mumble something about them ‘being tricked by them’. Whoever ‘they’ were worried me a little bit. Bella seemed really scared about whoever they were, scared to the point of some new kid in town being a potential threat.

All the students in the parking lot eventually made their way to their classes. I followed only after the three people I didn’t want to interact with again had disappeared to wherever they needed to. The gloom from over night had stayed, low rumbling thunder sounded in the distance. The rain was staying away, for now, as I made my way to my first class.

I turned in my paper as soon as I got there and the teacher read it while he played a video for us. It was over the Civil War and turned out to be very boring. If I hadn’t slept at all last night I’d be a goner as the black and white pictures flashed, dully on the small tv screen at the front of the class. Much to my mortification he read my paper during class and stopped the video before it was over to make me read my paper to the entire class. 

Everyone stared at me as I stammered through the words. The teacher applauded when I was finished and bragged to the class that he hadn’t read a paper ‘this good in years’.He wanted to keep it and hang it on his wall if that would be alright with me. I just wanted everything to be over so I told him it was alright and practically ran back to my seat. 

The rest of the morning went quickly, as usual. I kept under the radar for it, not wanting to risk reliving my first period of the day. My lunch sat on the table in front of me as I sat in the cafeteria. I was alone today, thankfully, and could eat in peace without having to storm out at any point. 

Alice, Edward and Bella were all sitting with the group of people they had been with the first time I saw any of them. Alice was inviting them to the party too. Everyone seemed shocked by the invite and one girl even exclaimed that ‘no one has ever seen their house’. Alice seemed to ignore that and her eyes went somewhere again, I was guessing the same place they had gone when she was in my car. Edward looked concerned in the worst way. His eyes became scared even though he was trying to hide it and he subconsciously put his hand on Bella’s. The small action took some fear out of his eyes and he tried his best to shrug it off and look normal. 

Lunch was over in what felt like a matter of minutes and I was walking back to class when I overheard Alice and Edward whispering anxiously to each other. Bella was nowhere to be seen so it seemed like they were keeping something from her. They were stopped just outside a classroom, so I stopped behind a tall bush and pretended to be on my phone as I eavesdropped.

“My vision was clear, she’s coming this weekend,” Alice whispered, she sounded more determined than scared. 

“We have to get Bella out of here for the weekend. I’ll remind her of the place tickets Esme and Carlisle got her for her birthday, maybe she’ll actually listen to me for once and go visit her mom,” Edward suggested, he didn’t sound determined. He sounded completely wrecked at even the thought of Bella not listening and being here for whoever was coming this weekend.

“She’ll go I can see it but she’s going to ask you to come along. You should go, we can handle Victoria without you,” Alice assured him. My heart seized in my chest at her name. The pack hadn’t seen or caught her scent in a couple weeks, they thought she had finally given up and moved on. They needed to know she was coming back, they needed to prepare.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to risk it all and go warn them about it. I had no idea what my father would do if he found out about me seeing the wolves again but I didn’t matter when it came down to every life in the packs and the lives of those involved. Hell, I would probably even join in and help them catch this dangerous, red-headed vampire.