Clarity // p.l

009

Elise couldn't hide her surprise and slight aggravation when the wavy haired brunette awkwardly stood before her, an oddly colored orange jacket resting on her shoulders. "Sorry to bother you but me and some of my friends are headed up to the beach later, whale watching and surfing and we were wondering if you wanted to tag along."

Bella was a an unusual character, her muddy brown eyes seeming to light up with a hopeful glint that the dark side of Elise begged to say no to watch it fade. "It's cloudy and cold."

"You don't have to actually surf but the boys like to get in the water."

"Boys? Like Emmett and Jasper? Edward doesn't really seem like the swimming type."

Shifting nervously on her feet, the chief of police's daughter glanced back at the Cullen's, her safety blankets that seemed, even from afar completely displeased by the present interaction. "He isn't, actually none of them are going to be there but we could get to know each other better. I can give you a tour around that end of town, I have a friend down there."

"Down where, you never told me which beach."

"La Push beach," She supplies, tucking her pale hands deep in the confines of her jacket pockets.

Biting on her lip for a moment, the spine of her book tucked comfortably between her palm and the tips of her fingers she contemplated the offer before humming. "I suppose I wouldn't be doing much else better that watching whales and freezing my ass off."

"Do you want to drive together?"

The bell rang behind them, the warning sound forcing their legs to walk towards the public school. "Probably not the best idea, Asher will want to tag along and he doesn't like being wet for long."

Bella seemed taken aback at the response but didn't question it, only nodded obediently. "That's cool too, I'll text you the address."

"No need, La Push is on google maps, I'll figure it out. Just text me a time."

"Three and being food, blankets too."

Elise nodded and have a wave before walked the opposite way, her locker nowhere near the brunettes. "Still reading that useless book?"

"It's not useless, Ash, you just can't read it."

Rolling his eyes and opening his locker beside her, he hung his backpack inside and got ready for the first class. "Why would you be able to read something that I can't?"

"Maybe I'm just special."

Letting out a scoff, Asher nodded his head, one arm filled with the first three classes of the day, one single pen gripped between two fingers. "Didn't need a book to figure that out."

Elise shot him a look, shutting her book and holding it along with her other binders. "Don't make plans for later,we're going to the beach with Bella and some of her other friends."

"Bella? The weird girl who hangs around that weird family."

"That's the one."

"Find anything out yet about them?"

Her hands went surfing through her hair, pulling out a knot towards the end. "No, but Asher they're hiding something, they are something."

"I know, they have this weird aura, I don't like it. They give me goosebumps."

As if they were spoken into existence, the family seemed to fill the halls, their topaz eyes focused before them before leisurely sliding over to Elise and her brother. Keeping eye contact with them until they broke it, it seemed that they were onto them, that they were increasingly aware of the fact that the duo was doing some serious digging and they would find whatever it is that they're looking for.

The day strolled along, the younger Dunatos finding herself excited to get away from everything and the calming sounds of water at a beach would be nothing better. Elise drove her and her brother home, making food and bringing all the blankets she could find before they were packed up again and driving on the clear roads.

"Stop at a gas station."

"I told you to make sure you had everything before we left, what do you need?"

Asher turned the radio station, his warm brown eyes glancing over to his sister as he answered her. "I want licorice."

"Ash," Elise complained, she hated gas stations, they were weird and the people who she found coming in and out of them all looked like they had something to hide.

"Come in with me." They unbuckled their seatbelts and Elise locked her doors behind her, leaning closer to her brother.

This particular gas station was clearly in another part of town, not a single white person in sight besides them. Everyone else was a gorgeous bronze skin tone, their long, dark hair trailing down their shoulders like sacred waterfalls. "You new around here?" A deep voice spike from beside her causing her to jump a little.

He was handsome to say the least, his brown eyes looked like melted chocolate that Elise wanted nothing more than to drown in. He stared at her with this awestruck look, pretty soft looking lips slightly parted. There was something oddly familiar about him like she'd seen him before but she was more than sure she would remember his face. "Yeah, my family and I live in Forks but we're headed to La Push beach with some friends."

"Really? I live by that beach, I'm there everyday."

"Does everyone in La Push look like you?" Elise couldn't stop the words before they spilled from her lips, a faint blush appearing across her cheeks at the grin that formed on the man's face.

"Look like me?"

Gesturing to him, she nodded. He was tall and filled with nothing but strong muscle and Elise wanted nothing more than to trail her fingers down the mouthwatering lines of his biceps. "I'm gonna shut up now, I have no clue why I said that but please forget it ever happened."

"El," Asher called from an aisle, his head bent downwards while examining the two different candy packages. "Green apple or Gaga Grape? Who is this?"

"Paul," His gruff voice responded seemingly growing more stern and manly in the presence of testosterone. "Paul Lahote."

Asher bobbed his head up and down. "I've heard about you, you life down at the rez, you're friends with Sam Uley." Paul waited for the silence, the one that people usually associated with Sam's name, the whispers of their supposed cult waiting to come from his lips but Asher seemed to be either completely oblivious or not giving a damn. "We actually have to go man, but we should hang out sometime."

"For sure man, I'm positive we'll bump into each other again. It's a small town."

Elise turned away from the boys grabbing the green candies out of her brother's hand and headed to checkout mumbling under her breath. "Apparently, not small enough."