"Alright ladies," Marcus said as he pulled up in the driveway of the small red house, and Lark's eyes widened when she saw the number of people scattered outside, ready for the party to start. When Jacob had told her he and his father invited nearly everyone they knew, he didn't seem to be joking. "we're going to remember to be on our best behaviors, right?"
"Oh, please," Lark scoffed, and looked at where her dad sat in the front seat of the Nissan. "As if you had to ask. I'm an angel."
Lark followed her parents out of the car to where they could see the flames of a bonfire slicing into the night sky, and the sounds of the partygoers dwelling among them. A few teenagers milled about the crowd, who gave the newcomers a nod in hello, along with adults that greeted the Hudson family with a cheer, their eyes lighting up as they saw Marcus leading the small trio.
"Small towns," Marcus said to Lark and Diane with a large smile. "you can't help but love them."
"There's the man of the hour!" a voice boomed, and Lark looked to see Jacob pushing a man in a wheelchair over to Marcus, the man eager to greet his old friend. "The prodigal son returns."
Marcus leaned down, greeting the man with a bear hug as the two laughed joyfully, clapping each other on the back. When he stood back up, he gestured for Lark and Diane to step forward.
"Billy, you remember my wife Diane, and my daughter Larkin." Marcus introduced. "Lark, this is Jacob's father, Billy."
"Hi," Lark greeted with a smile.
"Jake, why don't you show Lark around so she can meet the others?" Billy suggested, and Jacob nodded, gesturing for her to follow him. "I need to introduce Marcus and Diane to some people."
"Follow me." Jacob informed her, bidding her parents goodbye and leading her over to where a group of teenagers gathered near the fire. "Everyone's over here."
Among the group seated near the flames she recognized Alicia sitting next to Quil and Embry, the latter's arm wrapped around her shoulders. She greeted Lark with a friendly smile, waving her over to join them. Along with them sat three other girls, as well as three other boys she didn't recognize. All eyes landed on her as Jacob led her over, their conversation ceasing as they took in the newcomer.
"Alright everyone, this is Lark." Jacob introduced. "Marcus's daughter. Lark, you know Alicia, Embry and Quil, but this is Charlie's daughter Bella Swan, Seth, Leonora and Leah Clearwater, Jared Cameron and Paul Lahote."
"Hi," everyone greeted with a friendly smile, except for the last boy, Paul, who simply continued to stare at Lark, almost as if he were in a trance. His eyes never quite left her, even as she stepped over to the benches to find a place to sit down.
"You can call me Leo." Leonora said, scooting over on the bench she sat on to make room for Lark to sit next to her.
"Paul..." Jared said, elbowing the boy next to him in an attempt to get his attention, but the boy's eyes remained locked on Lark. "Earth to Paul."
"Hmm?" Paul asked, snapping out of his daze and looking around, his cheeks tingeing red a bit in the firelight from embarrassment as the group laughed. All except for Quil, Embry and Jared, who stared at Paul with concerned gazes. "Oh, sorry. Hi."
"So, Lark." Leo said, changing the subject. "Are you going to Forks for school?"
Lark nodded. "I will be, yeah. May's not exactly the best time of year to switch schools, so my mom's been homeschooling me since January, when we found out we were moving. I'll start this fall as a junior. What about you guys?"
"We all go to school on the reservation." Seth explained. "Leah graduated from there a couple of years ago, along with Sam, who's over there with Charlie and Richie."
"Except for me." Alicia said cheerily. "I'll be sure to show you around when school starts. It's a small place, you'll get used to it quickly."
"And I'm graduating from Forks at the end of this year." Bella said. "It's a shame you couldn't have taken over the mantle of being the new girl while I was still there."
"So what brings you to Forks?" Jared asked.
"My father's writing a new book." Lark explained. "He thought a new change of scenery might be nice, and he's from a place so full of legends and stories anyways, so my parents thought bringing us back to his hometown would be good for us. But my brother's still back in Boston. He attends Bentley University where he's studying business."
"Food's ready!" a woman called from over by the fire, where piles of hamburgers and hot dogs covered a large picnic table, quickly taking the attention away from the conversation and over to the mountains of food.
Lark stood up off the bench with the others, crossing to the table while Paul and Jared took off racing to see who could get to the food first. With a sigh, Embry ran after them, yelling for them not to eat all of it and to share some with the others.
Alicia sighed, trying to conceal a laugh as she shook her head back and forth. "I'd say they aren't always like this, but I'd be lying."
"How much do they eat?" Lark asked in astonishment. "There's enough to feed a village here."
"Which, thankfully, is how many people we have here." Leo said, gesturing to the crowd around them as they reached the picnic table. "Thanks, Mom." she said to the woman who had called everyone to eat, placing two hot dogs on her plate and reaching for one of the bags of potato chips.
"Welcome to your new home, Lark." Leo's mom said to the young girl. "I'm Sue Clearwater. Your father was always a good friend to my husband, Harry. If you ever need anything while you're here, you're more than welcome to come to us."
"Thank you," Lark said. "it's so great to meet you. Salem never had a super close-knit community like this, it's nice."
"Salem like Witch Trials, Salem?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lark nodded. "That's the one."
"That's so cool!" Alicia exclaimed. "What's it like?"
"Well, the Witch Trials have made it a very popular tourist destination, especially around Halloween time." Lark explained, and noticed that Embry, Jared and Paul had rejoined the conversation as the three girls walked back to the benches they had been sitting at previously. Lark's eyes widened as Paul sat down next to her and she noticed his plate holding four hamburgers, whereas her plate only held one. "Holy shit, where do you put it all?"
Paul laughed with a shrug. "Guess I'm just always hungry."
"Right. Anyways," she said, moving back onto the topic of her hometown. "We didn't live far from the Salem Witch Museum, and my mom worked there, so my brother and I used to spend quite a bit of time there growing up."
"So you know all about the Witch Trials, then." Leo summed up.
Lark nodded. "I did quite a few projects on it back in middle school."
"Such a strange piece of history." Paul laughed off. "A group of bratty teenage girls just going around and accusing women of being witches? And people actually believed them to the point that they started hanging these women until finally they had the common sense that witches didn't actually exist?"
Lark shrugged. "That depends on whether or not you believe the old legends about the witches that used to roam the world." she countered.
"Guess I'm not a person who reads much into these things." he said. "I mean, they are just stories after all."