"Where were you!? We left you a message."
Kiara peered over Jessica's shoulder as Angela addressed the girl stepping out of a car directly outside of the restaurant. She felt her shoulders relax a little as she realised it was Bella Swan, completely unharmed and looking nothing if not as uncomfortable as she did usually when attention was directed to her.
"We waited, but we were starving --"
Jessica's words fell short as the driver side of the car opened up, none other than Edward Cullen stepping out in his trademark grey coat. Kiara smirked a little as she made eye contact with Bella, noticing how the girl blushed a deeper shade of red as the attention switched between her and the owner of the car she had just stepped out of.
"Sorry I kept Bella from dinner. We ran into each other and got talking," Edward smiled at them, Kiara sniggering under her breath a little as Jessica and Angela stumbled over their words a little as they spoke to the bronze haired boy.
Kiara couldn't help but think that she was maybe the only person in the entirety of Forks who didn't have eyes for the boy at this point - and if she looked closer she might have noticed the way his lips twitched a little as she thought that.
"Maybe I should make sure Bella gets something to eat," Edward interrupted before they could leave, noticing how they all turned to look at him in amusement. "If you'd like. Then I could drive you back myself."
"That's so... thoughtful," Angela swooned, Jessica nodding from beside her and echoing the statement. Kiara smiled gently at the duo as she lightly pushed at the other two girls to try and get them to move on and give the surprisingly new couple a chance to head inside and enjoy their dinner.
"Speaking of thoughtful..." Edward muttered under his breath as his eyes looked over the girl's heads and across the road. The four other girls all turned around to follow his line of sight, each and every one of their jaws dropping slightly as they noticed who was strutting towards them with a smile on her face.
Rosalie Hale paused in her step as she neared the five teenagers, shooting a smile at them all and holding her gaze on Kiara for a split second longer before looking at her brother with what Kiara sensed was a slight forced smile. He seemed genuinely surprised to see her, but as they stared at each other for a moment his gaze softened a little as they seemingly had a conversation with their eyes.
"You forgot this, Esme told me to bring it to you since I was dropping Emmett and Beverly off at that Italian down the road," Rosalie told him, reaching out and dropping a faded old wallet into his hands. Edward smiled at her for a moment, knowing fine well that he had a completely fine and full wallet tucked in the pocket of his jacket. "Hey, Kiara."
Kiara smiled shyly at Rosalie as the blonde turned to look at her as if everyone else wasn't there, her hand resting on her arm for a moment before she dropped it with a small smile.
"Thanks for letting Edward and Beverly borrow your notes for me - I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow?"
Kiara nodded as she watched her walk back to her red convertible, almost as if the whole interaction had been a figment of her imagination. Of course, Jessica and Angela's constant teasing about the interaction their entire drive back to Forks reminded her that it was real but Kiara didn't mind. She'd take 10,000 hours of teasing if it meant Rosalie would even glance at her like that again.
_____
Funnily enough, Kiara did NOT see Rosalie the next day. She didn't get to see any of her friends - because as soon as she got in from Port Angles, her father was rushing out of the door with the intention of heading towards Sam's house. While Kiara had hated the man for a while, she was starting to accept whatever weird relationship he had with Jared and Paul, so she went with her father without any hesitation.
Riding with Harry Clearwater was a little strange since she hadn't really spoken to the man in years but it was clear from the atmosphere in the car that something bad had happened. She didn't want to interrupt whatever dark silence was happening in the car but the absence of her twin was rather unsettling considering it was as if they were mourning.
"Dad... is Jake...?"
"Your brother is fine," Billy replied, twisting his neck to look at the girl who was sitting in the back seat of the car. It was a bit of a squeeze but she could make do. "There was another animal attack. It's Waylan, he's..."
Billy didn't need to finish his sentence. Kiara had clearly gotten the point that he was trying to get to from the sudden look of panic and fear in her eyes. Her father's fishing friend was dead. The man who had played Santa for her when they were growing up was DEAD. She didn't care anymore that they were going over to Sam's, in fact she almost felt better knowing that if anyone was equipped to keep her father safe from whatever animal was roaming about, it would be the boys.
She wasn't sure if she really believed their whole park ranger story but it didn't matter in that moment. What mattered to her was making sure that her best friends were safe, and that they were going to be able to promise her that her father would be too. She didn't even pause to think about herself because Kiara knew that if anything happened to her family that she wouldn't be able to live without them. It wasn't even an option to her that they could ever get hurt and here she was, faced with the knowledge that a second person had been killed in an animal attack that week.
As soon as they pulled up to the house, the boys and Emily were already waiting outside. A few of the older men from around the reservation - their Elders - were also gathered outside but they paid little attention to Kiara as she hopped out of the car and locked eyes with Jared and Paul. A few of them looked over as Kiara and Paul crashed into each other, the boy holding the much smaller girl to his chest tightly as she breathed in and out quicker than usual. Jared looked at Paul for a moment as the other boy let go and allowed Jared to wrap his arms around her too, Sam and Emily smiling a little despite the situation.
Of course, Kiara didn't know anything about how the boys turned into wolves daily. The very elders standing around her had even experienced it themselves when they were younger and they couldn't help but almost sigh at the disappointment of neither Paul nor Jared imprinting on the youngest Black daughter.
While they didn't want Jacob to have to phase, some of the elders had hoped that one of the boys would imprint on Kiara in the hopes that the Black line would stay within the Quileute bloodline - although Billy would have been furious if a single one of the wolves ever thought about touching his daughter like that. Kiara just hoped that her father never found out about how her and Paul used to spend their drunken Saturday nights together, under the sheets of his small single bed.
"Kiara, hey," Emily breathed out as she pulled the girl into a half hug, smiling as she passed her a freshly made warm cup of hot chocolate. Kiara accepted it with a smile as she looked at the men gathering outside of the house before looking back at Emily in confusion. "Oh, they're just having an emergency council meeting. The boys are going to attend but I was thinking we could put on a film, maybe chat about how school is going and just wait for them to be finished?"
Kiara nodded, knowing that council meetings like this tended to be invite only. Since she wasn't really one for listening to their stories at the bonfire either, it was very likely that there would be no chance an invite would ever be extended to herself anyway. She thanked Emily as they settled into the woman and Sam's couch, wrapping the blanket that she had taken freshly out of the laundry for Kiara around herself.
Her mind couldn't help but wander back to when she had seen Rosalie earlier that evening. It always seemed like the blonde was dressed to perfection without a single hair on her head out of place every time that Kiara saw her. Kiara wasn't stupid, she knew that she was falling hard for the Hale. Of course, she was in no hurry to admit that to her friends but the constant nagging of her family and friend's disapproval of the family was thrashing against its cage in her mind.
"What's got you all lost in your thoughts?" Emily eventually asked, pausing the film after realising that Kiara had barely blinked in the first half hour it had been playing. She was well aware that the girl had been spending time with the Cullens and how the boys felt about it but she understood that Kiara was a rebellious teenager who wasn't going to stop something just because her father and his friends told her too.
"You wouldn't understand," Kiara brushed her off, thinking that she would just drop it the way that her father or the boys would.
"Try me."
Kiara paused as she looked at Emily, trying to decide whether or not she could trust this woman. Only a month or so prior she only knew her as the woman who had home wrecked Sam and Leah's relatipnship - something that had spread around like wildfire. Only a month or so ago, she thought she was an acquaintance to some drug smuggling gang.
"There's this girl. I like her, like a lot I think, but it would never work out," Kiara told Emily, trying to not think about the worry she had that Emily would repeat this to Sam who would in turn tell her dad.
"And why not?"
"She's not... really liked much around here," Kiara replied, noticing how Emily's eyes softened a little in understanding. There weren't many people who weren't welcomed in La Push and she knew fine well from Sam, Paul and Jared's rants that Kiara had been spending more time with the Cullen's than any of them would have liked.
"I'm not going to tell you what you can and cannot do, Kiara," Emily finally said after a moment. She wasn't really sure how to respond. "Sometimes relationships are doomed before they even begin."
Kiara deflated a little at that, knowing that she had just opened her thoughts to Emily only to be shut down based on the prejudice that a lot of her people had towards Rosalie's family. However, Emily wasn't finished there.
"But sometimes, people just need to get used to something before they learn to accept it," Emily replied, knowing that there was no way Kiara's father or the pack would even allow the thought of getting used to Kiara and a vampire but not wanting the girl to be upset. "That, I know from experience. You know, people around here weren't exactly keen on the idea of me and Sam at first. Sometimes things just have a way of... working out."
Kiara nodded, taking that as the end of their conversation. She didn't know Emily enough to start diving into all of her innermost thoughts and turmoils but the woman had said enough to calm her mind slightly. Maybe her and Rosalie were doomed but maybe they would eventually work out. Regardless, Kiara knew that it wasn't going to be solved tonight.
It was going to be a long night, and Kiara knew it was likely that she would end up staying the night while her father and the rest of the guys tried to decide what to do about all of these animal attacks.
______
Kiara was off school for an entire week. Her school friends hadn't understood her dad's decision but they respected it enough to keep her up to date with the latest school gossip - including the fact that Bella and Edward had skipped school after lunch period a few days prior before turning up in his car together and practically being joint at the hip. Kiara dreaded to think how her dad would react when he found out about that one, but for now she had no intention of even mentioning it to him.
Besides, it seemed like Bella and Edward had decided to skip school again on the day Kiara was finally allowed off the reservation. She hadn't had her class with the three Cullen's that day and considering she had spent her entire lunch break speaking with her teachers about catching up on the work she missed, she also hadn't caught a glimpse of them throughout the school day.
It wasn't until she found herself leaning against the wall of the school, waiting on one of the boys to pick her up, until she finally caught a glimpse of the blonde Cullen that she had been hoping to see. Rosalie Hale smiled at her as she walked away from her siblings, telling them she'd catch up as she met eyes with Kiara.
"Hey stranger," Kiara replied, causing Rosalie to roll her eyes a little. The blonde hated the fact that she was allowing the girl to get closer to her, but there was just something so irresistible about Kiara that she couldn't just figure out. She knew it was forbidden; she was a vampire and Kiara was a human, a Quileute human at that.
"I should be saying that to you," Rosalie replied, trying not to show her concern that Kiara hadn't been at school all week. Alice had tried to keep an eye out but she was getting black patches for Kiara but Rosalie and the family had just put it down to overworking herself trying to keep an eye on both Kiara and Bella. "Since you were the one who skipped a whole week of school."
"Funny, is it not you whose dad takes you out of school every week there's a little sun?" Kiara teased before shrugging and dropping her sarcastic act. "Yeah, my dad and his friends - the rangers on the res - thought it was best I stay off while they tried to make sure whatever animal was attacking people had moved on."
Rosalie felt her body chill at that, knowing that if she had a beating heart it would have missed a beat. She was naive to think that Kiara could be kept out of the rivalry between the Cullens and the wolf pack but this was just a sudden slap to the face in the form of a reminder as she realised that the girl and herself were destined for different walks in life. Kiara would go to college, move back and likely live in La Push while Rosalie would vanish in a few years, cutting all ties with the human.
"Speaking of concerning," Kiara carried on, not having noticed how Rosalie had tensed up. "Should I be worried that Bella and Edward keep skipping school and walking into the forest together? Seems a bit... serial killer-ish. You know, people talk."
Rosalie knew that Kiara was joking, but it didn't do much to calm her down. Rosalie had made it very clear to her family that Bella and Edward getting involved with each other was dangerous for them all and now that Bella knew their secret, she was constantly worried that Kiara would find out. She might have liked the human more than she should, but she would never let her into their supernatural life the way that Edward had done with Bella. Rosalie knew more than anyone how fragile humanity was.
"Oh yeah?" Rosalie replied, faking a smile as she tried not to act tense. "About what?"
"How your family is dangerous," Kiara replied, the conversation suddenly changing atmosphere as Kiara looked at Rosalie with an intensity that the blonde didn't know the girl had in her. She had seen Kiara's temper many times in the past few months but this was new. "Just the usual."
"Maybe they're right," Rosalie replied, echoing their previous conversations. She stared firmly back at Kiara, all hints of teasing gone from her face now as she felt the eyes of her siblings rest on the duo from across the school parking lot. "Maybe your family is right about us."
"My family thinks I should stay away from you," Kiara told her, her voice now mirroring Rosalie's. The girl rested both hands on the straps of her backpack as she pushed herself off the brick wall, moving slowly towards Rosalie and gradually reducing the distance between them.
"They're definitely right," Rosalie corrected herself, but the slight waver in her voice told Kiara and herself that she didn't want that at all. She almost cursed at herself, knowing that the last thing she should be doing was leading the girl on. Kiara deserved a normal human life like the one Rosalie had craved her entire existence, and she wouldn't get that with her.
She held her ground as Kiara moved so close to her that Rosalie knew that if she hadn't hunted the day prior she would have had to turn around and walk away before doing something she would regret. She could hear the girl's heartbeat so clearly, the way the blood in her body was rushing about urgently as her heart beat faster. Kiara was calm on the outside, but Rosalie could literally hear how nervous she was.
"So tell me," Kiara said, lowering her voice as her eyes briefly dropped to look at Rosalie's lips. "If this, our friendship or whatever we are, is so wrong... then why does it feel so right?"
Rosalie could hear Alice and Beverly squealing slightly from across the parking lot as they grabbed on to Emmett and Jasper to draw the boys attention to how close the girls at the front of the school had gotten to each other. She paid little attention to them however, as her mind was more focused on the way Kiara was leaning in towards her. Everything in her mind told her to step back, to put an end to this before it began but her entire body stayed in its place.
Just before Kiara's lips were about to touch her own, a loud car revving into the parking lot caused the younger girl to pull back with a groan as she turned to look at the car swinging into the closest car parking space. Rosalie felt a slight wave of irritation cross her as she turned to look at who had interrupted their almost moment, feeling the instant slap in the face of reality come to her as the last person she wanted to see stepped out of the car.
"Little Black, get in the car. Now," Samuel Uley ordered. His voice was tight and Kiara knew that while he might not have seen their almost kiss, he had certainly seen enough to know that she was more than just lab partners with the Cullens. Kiara wanted to argue but the burning look in the man's eyes told her that this was a battle she had no change of winning.
She smiled briefly at Rosalie for a moment, almost apologetically, before moving forward and swinging herself into the front seat with a huff. Sam stood at the driver's door, his eyes latched on Rosalie's for a moment longer as the two stared at each other with nothing but unbridled hatred. They both knew that the girl sitting in the car was going to cause a lot more trouble when it came to their treaty, but neither was willing to admit defeat.
Kiara placed her head against the cold window of the car as they started the drive home. She had almost managed to drone out Sam's pre-rehearsed speech about how the Cullen's were dangerous and how her father had warned her about them and how Paul and Jared would hate to know that she was lying to them all and putting herself in danger.
She soon found out that maybe her father and his friends were right. Because she was woken up 48 hours later by her father informing her that Bella Swan had ended up in the hospital after a hectic few days involving the Cullen family, a breakup and one hell of a fall through a window.
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