As I'm walking Seth home I hear something in the woods. "Now, Alex, I'm gonna need you to stay beside me. We're gonna run." Seth calmly says. "What?" "Now, Alex." We take off running, getting to his house in under a minute. He opens the door, pulling me inside. "You've gotta stay here tonight. Embry won't want you walking home by yourself." He says as Sue comes in, a questioning look on her face. "Mom, Alex has to stay here tonight." Seth tells his mom, his face serious. "Oh, okay, I'll get the guest room set up." She says as I pull my phone out. "I gotta call dad." I state, walking away.
"Alex?" Charlie asks when he answers. "Hey, I can't get home tonight, Embry doesn't want me walking in the dark. And he's out for the night so he can't drive me." I say, twisting my hair around my fingers. "Are you safe?" Is his next question. "I'm at the Clearwater's. I'm most definitely safe." "Okay. As long as you're home in the morning." I nod, saying okay before hanging up. "Everything good?" Seth asks. I nod, turning to him. "We probably should've stayed at Sam's." I laugh slightly but I'm more worried about what was out there. "Yeah, probably." He chuckles but it's forced.
"I'm sure we're okay." I state, setting my hand on his shoulder. He nods. "I'm sure we are." We sit in the living room watching movies for a while before I end up falling asleep. I wake up the next morning in a bed. My heart picks up when I realize I'm not in mine, Sam's, or Embry's bedroom. The door opens and in walks Leah. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. Your heart- I heard- Are you alright?" She stumbles through her words as I nod. "I forgot where I was." I laugh slightly, running my hand through my hair. She forces a small smile, looking down at me. "Hungry?"
I nod quickly. "Come on then." She almost grins when I trip over my feet climbing out of the bed. I hit the floor with a loud thud, groaning when I do. "Ow." I mumble, looking up at her. She laughs, helping me up. "Embry's on his way over." She says, brushing my hair out of my face. "Thanks for helping me." "I wouldn't thank me yet." She says, motioning for me to follow her. We walk to the bathroom and she points to the mirror. Blood drips down my chin from my lip. "Damn." I mumble, quickly grabbing toilet paper to wipe it away. "Sorry I laughed at you." She says quietly.
"I would've laughed too." I admit, pulling my lip between my teeth, trying to stop the bleeding. I hear the door open downstairs and I will myself to stop bleeding because it'll just worry Embry and he might blame Leah. We walk downstairs, as I slightly hide behind Leah, wiping my lip with my sleeve one last time. "Hey, baby." Embry grins, reaching his hand out to me. I take it, walking toward him. Immediately his hand comes up, his thumb setting on my lip. "What'd you do?" "I tripped climbing out of bed." He laughs as Seth and Sue walk in. "I'm always clumsy." I shrug.
"True." He says, wrapping his arm around my waist, walking us toward the door. "I appreciate you letting her stay here, Sue, but we're gonna head out." He smiles at her, pulling me with him. "Thank you, Sue." I step away from Embry, hugging the woman carefully. She hugs back, sighing. "You're welcome here any time, Alexandria." She smiles when I pull back. "Thank you too, Seth. Had you not thought so quickly something could've happened." I hug the young boy. "Of course, Alex, gotta keep you safe." He grins, hugging back. Embry clears his throat.
"Alright, well apparently we're leaving, I'll see you guys around." I smile as Embry takes my hand, walking us out. We're in the truck when he turns to me, grabbing my face and pressing his lips to mine. "I missed you." He mumbles between kisses. I laugh, pushing him away. "You just saw me yesterday." He drops his hand to my thigh, starting to drive. "And?" He says, looking at me for a split second. "And I missed you too." I admit, messing with his fingers. "I knew that. I also heard you walked Seth home at dark. Don't do that again." "What was I supposed to do? He had to get home."
"You stay where you're at. You call Sue, call your father and you stay where you are." He states, not looking at me. "What was out there, Embry? What do you know?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at him. "Nothing, baby. Just wanna make sure you're safe." He says, squeezing my thigh. He looks at me, a goofy grin on his face and I can't help but drop the glare and smile back at him. "You're such an idiot." I laugh, shoving his shoulder. We pull into the Black driveway after he tells me that he and I were supposed to hang out with Jake and Bella. We mess around for a while until we just walk.
"Gosh, it's so pretty here." Bella says, her hands shoved in her pockets. Bella and I haven't talked much recently, she's always with Edward and I'm always with Embry. "So, Alice has planned a big graduation party. Which you're invited to." She says, walking beside Jake. Embry and I hang back a bit, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, kissing my forehead. Jake starts acting weird, continuously looking over at me and Embry, glaring until we look away. "I just wanted to do this differently. Smoother. But now I'm out of time." He says. I step a bit closer.
"Do what?" She asks. "Quit listening." Embry whispers, making me face him. "You need to hear the truth, Bella, understand all your options. And you need to know that I'm in love with you and I want you to choose me instead of him." Jake says. My eyes widen. "Ooh." I whisper, listening again. "I thought you understood." Bella breathes. "I don't feel that way for you." "I don't buy it." Embry grabs my arm, leading me back to his truck. I turn to look at them when Jake smashes his lips to Bella's. Bella pulls back, punching him as I walk over, shoving him into the water.
Bella and I stand over him, glaring at him. My sister groans, holding her hand as I glare at the boy pushing himself out of the water. Embry grabs my waist, throwing me over his shoulder. "Let's go before this gets any worse." He says, quickly walking to his truck. I thrash in his grip. Jake, of all people, would be the last I'd expect to do something so idiotic and just plain stupid. "Stop it, Alexandria." Embry scolds, dropping me into the truck. "Did you see what he did, Embry? He's forcing himself onto my sister, I can't just let that go." "Edward will handle it." He states, climbing in beside me.
"How do you know?" "When you love someone you defend them." He says, looking at me as he starts to drive. I smile, setting my hand on his knee. We pull up to Emily's, both of us going inside. I sit at the table before Embry lifts me, sitting me in his lap. "God, could you guys be any grosser?" Paul fakes gags, narrowing his eyes at me and Embry. "Yes." I state, kissing Embry roughly. Paul gags again before I pull away, laughing. Emily smiles. "I think they're cute together." She says as I turn to Embry. "You got patrols today?" I ask. "Unfortunately." He grumbles. "Sucks to be you." I smirk.
His fingers dig into my hips. "Watch it." He hisses in my ear. I shiver at his warm breath on my skin as Paul groans. "You guys are so disgustingly good for each other." I laugh slightly, leaning back against Embry. "I'm leaving, I can't stand this." Paul grumbles, walking out. "He's just like this because he hasn't imprinted yet." Emily says as she sits at the table. "Hopefully whoever he imprints on calms him the hell down." I state, thinking about the boy's temper. "Hopefully." Emily says. "He deserves someone that calms him down but also knows how to deal with him."
Emily nods quickly. "Oh, I totally agree." She says as Sam walks out. "Embry, let's go." He says, motioning Embry with him. Said boy stands after carefully standing me up. "I'll be back to pick you up later." He grabs my hips, pulling me to him before pressing his lips to mine. Sam clears his throat. "Now, Call." He orders. Embry straightens up, nodding. "Gotta go." He grins, kissing my forehead before walking out with Sam. "What's going on with that? Why's Sam so order-y with Embry?" "He hasn't been focused." Emily says. "He hasn't been paying attention when he needs to."
"Is it because of me?" I ask quietly, looking down at my hands. "Just because it might be doesn't mean you've done anything wrong." She says, setting her hand on mine. "I feel like I got him in trouble." "Even if you did that boy is too in love with you to get angry." She laughs. I smile, my face going red. "You think he's in love with me? I mean I know we said I love you, but being in love and loving someone is totally different." "Oh, honey, he is entirely in love with you." She laughs. After sitting and talking with Emily for a while, the boys come back.
I leave and the following few days Bella had been even worse to be around as she got ready for graduation. She was attached to Edward at the hip and when they weren't together she was snippy and rude to me. "Bella, can I do your hair for graduation?" I ask, popping my head into her room. She sighs and I start to turn away, realizing I should've just let her be until I hear, "Where are you going I thought you were gonna do my hair?" "I thought the sigh meant you didn't want me to." I admit, turning to her again. We decide on loose curls but no makeup.
That night, Embry told me he was headed out, going to some party. "Be careful." I mumble through the phone, slightly upset I wouldn't see him tonight and I didn't get to see him the other day because he was busy with the pack. After that day as Sam's, he's been distant and calling me Alex. "What's going on, Alex? Why do you sound so upset?" "I'm not. It's nothing. Have fun at your party." I muster up my happiest voice. "I'll see you tomorrow? Right?" I ask after a moment of silence. "I don't know, Al, maybe." I scoff slightly, nodding. "Okay." I hang up.
Bella opens my door, looking down at me in bed. "You coming to Alice's graduation party?" She asks. "I'm allowed?" "Yeah, of course." She says, motioning me up. "Get dressed and I'll drive you." I smile slightly, nodding quickly as I stand. "Two minutes is all I need." "Take your time." She closes my door as she walks out. I do a small happy dance, excited that my sister and I are getting along and I finally get to meet the Alice she talks about all the time. I throw on a simple black skater dress and my Converse before throwing my hair into a bun, letting pieces down to frame my face.
I walk downstairs, finding Bella in jeans and a nice top. "You look nice." She says, smiling at me. "It's the only dress I have and you say Alice is all about fashion so I decided why not." I ramble slightly, taking a deep breath. "Sorry." "No worries, come on." At the party I meet Alice first, she's about as tall as me, with short black hair and, of course, a fashionable outfit. "It's so nice to finally meet you!" She chirps, hugging me tightly. "I love your outfit." I say when we pull apart. She smiles widely as she pulls me inside with Bella.