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T O B E T R U S T E D
( chapter eighteen)
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* . °•★| Lyla couldn't deny she was nervous about going back to school after spending the weekend hanging out with the pack. They'd made her laugh more than she had in months and they made her forget her guilt over leaving Jess - or at least, they shared in her guilt, lessening the burden. They'd all had to leave people behind in the dark, a price of their genes, and to keep others safe and out of their world. Lyla still didn't understand what her roll was in all of it, she knew there was a reason Paul was allowed to tell her, but she just couldn't figure it out, and he hadn't fessed up yet.
She was getting ready for school, putting a dot of mascara and concealer on when her phone buzzed. Paul was calling - his name alone on the screen was enough to make her smile, though she'd deny it if anyone ever asked.
"Hey." She answered. "What's up?"
"I'm outside." He told her and she could here the smug grin in his voice.
"No, you're not." She scoffed, but her eyes widened when she tuned in to the sound of an engine running. "Seriously, Paul?"
"What? I thought I'd pick you up, take you to school." He told her.
She groaned dramatically. "Fine, gimme a second." Lyla hung up without waiting for a response, collecting her things before rushing outside, yelling goodbye to her uncle.
She jumped into Paul's truck, turning to him with an arched brow.
"So, you're giving me lifts to school now? Any other perks of knowing the secret that I should know about?" She asked him playfully.
"Plenty, but you'll have to wait and see." He smirked, before taking off, driving to school.
They got out of the car once Paul had parked it in his unofficial spot next to Jared's, laughing and paying no mind to the nosey eyes that ogled them.
"Wait, so, that's how Bella found out?" Lyla laughed in disbelief. "She slapped you and you lost it?"
"I mean, yeah. You should never slap a shapeshifter." He advised her with mock seriousness.
"Oh, I'll bare that in mind." Lyla assured him with a roll of her eyes. "Good on Bella, I seriously never realised what a badass she was when I first met her."
"Hey! She slapped me, that's not badass, that's rude." Paul protested.
"You probably deserved it." Lyla scoffed, giving him a teasing smile. "And I'd definitely say you guys are even since you then tried to maul her."
"What are you guys talking about?" Jacob asked as him and Embry joined them walking through the hall.
"I'm just saying how Paul deserved it when Bella slapped him." Lyla explained, sending Paul a pointed look, who scoffed in return.
"Have you heard from her? Bella, I mean." Jacob asked, trying his best to sound unbothered.
"Um, no, sorry. We haven't spoken since our little fight... Which I should probably apologise about now that I know everything." Lyla said the last part thoughtfully, more to herself.
She felt guilty for yelling at Bella the way she did; knowing about the secret now made her understand why Bella was so insistent about not telling her anything.
"Yeah, well she hasn't spoken to me since she ran off to save that bloodsucker, Cullen." Jacob growled venomously.
Paul and Embry rolled their eyes, having already heard enough about Bella Swan for a lifetime, and being completely sick of seeing the circle of thoughts Jacob had about the girl while in wolf form.
"Hang on, 'bloodsucker'?" Lyla picked up. "You mean to tell me, that the Cullen's are vampires?" She whispered harshly, whirling in the boys, and earning hesitant nods from all three of them.
She stood in shock for a second, starting to walk down the hallway again.
"Oh my God! This is crazy. Does Bella know?" They nodded again. "Then why is she still with that guy!?"
"They don't drink human blood. Apparently they're different from other vamps, and apparently, Bella loves them for it." Paul explained, sounding disgusted.
Jacob began shaking, clearly not a fan of Bella's opinion of them.
"Hey, Jake, calm down." She soothed, bringing him out of his bitter thoughts of when Bella chose to go to Italy for Edward instead of staying with him.
The boy stormed off, no longer shaking, but still angry. Embry quickly scurried after his friend, sending Lyla an apologetic smile.
"He gets pretty angry about it, I mean, Bella picked a dead guy over him. That's gotta hurt." Paul winced at his friends pain. "Come on, we're already late to first period."
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Lyla found it easy to ignore the stares when Paul was beside her, making her smile or laugh, and distracting her however he could. But it wasn't so easy when she was alone, and considering he was in the grade above and not in any of her lessons, that meant most of the day was hard. She tried her hardest to act unbothered, sending glares to anyone that failed to keep their comments to themselves. Tyler Davis, still angry about Lyla elbowing him in the gut, spared the girl no mercy, making comments all day about her being the latest druggie. Tina was no better, the pair of them acting like children, spreading rumours and snide remarks. They were seriously lucky Lyla didn't clock them round the face - and that Paul hadn't heard what they said.
"Hey." Paul greeted as Lyla walked out of her last lesson before lunch.
She sighed. "Paul, you really didn't have to wait for me."
"You've said that after every one of your lessons." Paul pointed out as they started walking.
"And you've still waited for me outside of every one anyway." She returned with a sigh.
She'd never admit it, being someone who valued her independence, but she was glad Paul stuck to her side every moment he could. Not for comfort or safety or whatever - no, she could handle herself in that aspect - but to keep her calm, stop her from going on a rampage and screaming everyone who so much as sent her a judgmental look.
"Exactly, so don't waste your breath, I'm not gonna listen." He smirked at her, before grabbing her hand and dragging her to the cafeteria.
If it weren't for the girl next to him being the sole focus of all his attention, perhaps he would've heard the less than flattering words sent Lyla's way. But, no, he was completely absorbed in the feeling of having Lyla next to him, knowing his secret and accepting him for it. Lyla followed him awkwardly, scoffing at how everyone moved out of his way and stared at the unexpected duo.
"Yay! You're here." Kim cheered as they reached the lunch table.
"Yep, Paul dragged me the whole way." Lyla explained, holding up their linked hands with a playful eye roll.
"And thank God he did. He'd only be staring at you on another table if you didn't sit with us." Embry outed the older boy, who retaliated by elbowing Embry harshly in the gut.
"He's kidding." Paul told her.
"No, he's not." Jared backed up, not looking up from the food he was shovelling into his mouth, not noticing his girlfriend's look of disgust as she watched.
"Shut it, Cameron." Paul muttered.
"Dude, you're literally going to choke." Lyla stated as she watched Jared eat.
"I wish." Paul grumbled under his breath, earning a kick to the shin from Lyla. "Hey!"
"Don't be an ass." She told him.
"You're the one who kicked me." He complained.
"Well, you're the one who was being an ass." She reiterated.
Jacob and Embry laughed at the duo, while Kim was complaining to Jared about how laughing while he ate really would make him choke.
"Don't worry, I'm a skilled eater, I'll be fine." Jared reassured his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry, Kim, but your boyfriend's an idiot." Lyla dramatically broke it to the girl, her hand on her heart.
"I know." Kim agreed, wrinkling her nose as Jared grinned, his mouth still full of food.
Lyla laughed, smiling at Paul as he put an arm around her, joining in the laughter. She looked away from him, scared that she'd start to blush, but the sight her eyes found made her smile waver. Jess sat alone, looking sadly at her lunch before getting up and fleeing from the cafeteria, for a moment Lyla considered going after her, but she knew that her company would be the last thing Jess would want.
"Lyla, you should come, too!" Kim's voice brought her back to the conversation she'd zoned out of.
"Sorry?" Lyla frowned, confused by the eyes of everyone at their table looking at her expectantly.
"After school. We're gonna go cliff diving, you'll love it." Jared filled her in, enthusiastically.
"You go cliff diving?" Lyla scoffed at Jared, who looked at her in confusion. "Jared, you wouldn't even jump off of the diving board when we went to your cousins house and used their pool."
They all began laughing, Lyla's comment made even funnier by Jared's blush and him sputtering excuses.
"Anyway, isn't it a bit cold for that?" Lyla asked.
"Not for us." Paul reminded.
"Me and Emily don't actually join them, we just watch from the beach, let them show off." Kim said with an eye roll and a good-humoured laugh. "You should come."
"Uh, yeah, sure." Lyla agreed, before grinning at the girl.
"Uh oh, I know that grin..." Jared said in a cautious tone.
"Only if you come cliff diving with me." Lyla challenged Kim.
"What, no way!" Kim squeaked.
"Oh, come on, we can't let the guys have all the fun." Lyla insisted.
"Are you sure? It's really cold and rough out there." Paul reminded her, looking unsure himself.
"We can jump from lower than you, since we aren't cool enough to be able to turn into wolves." Lyla teased, before turning back to Kim with a pleading look.
"I-Stop looking at me like that!" Kim told her desperately.
"Come on, Kimmy." Lyla begged playfully.
"Fine." The girl gave in, though her expression was less than thrilled, but it made Lyla beam with excitement.
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True to her word, Kim arrived with her swimming costume under her clothes. It was cold, but there wasn't much wind that day, which is why they'd decided it was a good day for cliff diving, the current being weak and the chill in the air lessened.
"Wow, you actually showed up." Lyla teased.
"Don't joke, I practically had to drag her here." Jared quipped, earning a glare from Kim, to which he responded with kissing her on the cheek.
"While, Lyla dragged me." Paul laughed. "Literally, I've never seen someone so excited to jump off of a cliff."
"What can I say? It sounds fun." She smirked, before grabbing Paul's hand and beginning to make her way up to the cliff edge.
Once they'd reached where they wanted to dive from, after letting the boys have a few go's jumping from a higher ledge (them having the supernatural ability to heal making them more reckless) Lyla looked over the edge, smirking with excitement.
"Nope, no, you're crazy. I'm not doing it." Kim declared, backing away from the edge.
"Kim." Lyla moaned.
"Lyla." Kim mocked. "Look, I don't do heights, getting me up here was an achievement in itself, can't you leave it at that?"
"No, come on, do you wanna go down the boring way, or the fun way?" Lyla asked her.
"The boring way, definitely the boring way." Kim decided after taking another peak over the edge.
Lyla sighed and sent Jared a look.
"Okay, babe, why don't I jump with you?" He offered.
She still looked hesitant.
"Please?" Lyla begged.
"Fine." Kim gave in. She turned to Jared with a surprisingly intimidating look. "But if you let go of me for even a second, I will never speak to you again."
Jared sent Lyla a look that she only laughed at.
"You jumping with us?" She asked Paul.
"Umm..."
"Come on, don't make me third wheel." She whispered to him, nodding at Jared and Kim.
"I would never." He grinned.
Lyla quickly stripped into her bikini, ignoring the bite of the cold as her excitement built. She turned to the others - catching Paul's eyes scanning her before snapping up to her face. Jacob, Embry, Sam and Emily watched from the beach (unbeknownst to those on the cliff, making bets on whether Kim and Lyla would go through with it).
"Ready?" She asked them with a smirk.
"No." Kim whined.
"Yep." The guys smirked.
"Okay, one..." Kim jumped on Jared's back, squeezing him tight. "Two..." Paul grabbed Lyla's hand, sending her a cheeky grin. "Three!"
They all jumped, Kim's scream drowning out Lyla's laugh as they fell through the air. They hit the water, one by one. Lyla had let go of Paul as she swam to the surface, taking a deep breath when she reached it and pulling her hair out of her face. She looked over and saw Jared and Kim first.
"Oh my God! Lyla, I hate you, I'm never doing that again." Kim told the girl, her teeth chattering and her arms still clinging to Jared, only earning a laugh from Lyla.
Paul's arms snaked around Lyla's waist from behind, making her jump and turn her head to look at him.
"Hey." He grinned.
"That was so fun." She laughed, glad for Paul's warmth in the freezing water.
"You surprise me more and more everyday." Paul told her with a wink.
"Yeah, yeah." She waved him off, though her smile refused to fade.
They didn't stay much longer, it was way too cold for the girls, even with Paul and Jared, and they all had school the next day, plus the guys had patrol, still on guard in case the red-headed leech returned. Paul drove Lyla home, her snuggled comfortably under his arm in an attempt to warm up.
"Thanks, Paul." She said, they'd pulled up to her house, but she made no move to get out yet, and he made no move to let her go.
"For what?"
"For making me laugh. It's fun, hanging out with you."
"Yeah, well, it's fun hanging out with you too."
Lyla smiled, but she knew she should get inside, though the last thing she wanted was to part company with Paul. It seemed that the more she spent time with him, the less she could imagine life without him. It scared the girl to some extent, but she couldn't bring herself to stop.
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How has this book had 6k reads? Like, my mind is blown. Thank you guys so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think!
xxx