"I saw you with them yesterday," Jake says in lieu of greeting. His face was contorted in anger as he storms up to you, steam practically pouring from his flared nostrils. His hands are balled up into fists at his sides, and even with your long friendship, you unconsciously back up a step in fear.
"I don't know what you're talking about," You mumble, looking down at the book in your lap to subtly try and get him to leave.
When you had come home from school that day you had stuck your hand into the side pocket of your bag only to find that you had forgotten your keys. Now locked out, you had to wait for someone to come home and let you in.
Thankfully the brunt of the winter chill had come and passed, otherwise, you would have had to take refuge with your neighbour Candice. The woman was nice, if not a little strange, far too nosy for your families tastes.
"Don't play dump," Jake practically growls, pointing an accusing finger at you, "I know it was you with them yesterday. I thought I warned you about them and their cult. But you never listen when Embrys involved, do you?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" You exclaimed, jumping up from the steps to get in Jakes face. You were far from intimidating, practically shaking in your boots from his palpable anger, but you refused to back down to whatever he was insinuating.
"All you've ever done is follow Embry around like some lovesick puppy. It's pathetic, watching you fall all over him as you try to catch his attention," You couldn't say anything to him, tears stinging your eyes as you gape up a Jake. He slowly started to shake in anger, lips pulled back in a snarl over his teeth, "After he joined Sam and his little cult he's been nothing but a dick to the three of us. But there you were, sitting and laughing with Embry and Paul fucking Lahote as if what they've done, what he's done, doesn't matter."
"And what did they do, huh? What have they done to you or anyone in La Push to deserve the rumours that were spread about them?" You all but shouted, glaring up at Jake. You quickly take a step back, however, when you noticed Jakes shaking has gotten more violent. Holding your hands up in what you hope is a calming motion, you try and catch Jakes eye, "I think you need to calm down."
"Yeah, like I'm going to listen to you," Jake spat, turning on his heel and stomping off down the road. He heads off in the direction of Bella's house, still visibly shaking even as he gets further away.
Now that he was gone you take in a shaky breath, pressing a hand over your frantically beating heart. Even though it hurt to hear him talk about Embry and Paul like that, you knew where he was coming from.
The groups change in appearance and personality was sudden in a way that no one could understand. Even you had judged Embry without a second thought, dashing away a near life long friendship for rumours spread by strangers.
There wasn't much you could do now that Jake knew about you and Embry talking again. Given how angry he was, you wouldn't be surprised if he confronted one or even both of them, if he felt brave enough.
Slowly easing back down onto the front steps, you let your head fall backwards, letting out a heavy sigh. But as you do, you notice the blinds swing closed from the house across the street. Seems like Candice got herself her daily dose of drama, just what you needed.
Opening your book back up, you had barely gotten comfortable on the stone steps before your phone was going off in your bag. Letting out a long, draw out groan, you contemplated just leaving it, not wanting to deal with whoever it was.
After a moment of hesitation, you decide against it, fishing through your bag until your fingers graze against the cool glass screen. To your surprise, there was a new message from Paul, sent in the group chat that Embry had set up the night before.
[𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕]: this I gonna sound a little strange, but I think I could feel fear through the imprint bond...
[𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙]: Jake was just here. He saw us together yesterday. He yelled a bit then stormed off, I'm a bit shaken up I guess
[𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕]: what did he do?!
[𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙴𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚢]: are you okay?
You feel your chest bloom at their concern, a wide smile stretching across your face. Pressing a hand to your warm cheek, you fight to control the giddy smile on your face as you type back a response with one hand.
[𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙]: in fine! He got really angry tho, more than I've ever seen before. He was even shaking. Does that mean he's gonna shift soon?
[𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙴𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚢]: probably. We're gonna have to let Sam know what happened.
[𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙿𝚊𝚞𝚕]: shit. That means we can't go out tonight. Sams gonna hold a meeting over this.
[𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙]: thats fine. I have homework to do anyways. Don't have too much fun without me ;)
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway pulls your attention away from your phone. Your dad parks the car, looking beyond tired as he says something over his shoulder to the twins in the back seat. The two of them are talking excitedly, hands flailing wildly as they try and talk over each other.
You slide your book back into your bag. With the twins as excited as they are, there was no way you were getting any reading done any time soon. You just hoped your family didn't notice the lingering panic that was surely written all over your face.
Rất tiếc! Hình ảnh này không tuân theo hướng dẫn nội dung. Để tiếp tục đăng tải, vui lòng xóa hoặc tải lên một hình ảnh khác.
You've probably realized that not much has changed in this rewrite. Most of it is just blending chapters together, or cutting out chunks from the more hefty ones.
