"
But I am very poorly today and very stupid, and hate everybody and everything.
"
-Charles Darwin
Revenge & Friendship
On Sunday morning Harper stood on the porch of Embry Call's house. The girl who had been fuming moments prior felt every bit of fire leave her little by little. Why was she even here? She was fully capable to do the project alone. And yet she wasn't going to. It wasn't fair for her and she wasn't going to let anyone push her around, and not Embry Call no less.
With a surge of confidence, Harper knocked on the door. She could hear a ruckus from inside as someone rushed to open it. Embry's mom was beautiful. She aged gracefully, but that didn't mean she was without wrinkles or flaws. Her thick dark hair was braided down her back and laced with gray hairs. Her hands were adorned with rings. Harper could see the wrinkles around her eyes when the woman gave her a kind smile.
"Hi, um who are you?" She asked lightly. The confusion was evident in her voice and her face as her eyebrows furrowed slightly and her lips pursed. Harper couldn't blame her. After all, she didn't think Embry of all people would have teenage girls banging down his door. Tiffany Call was thinking the same thing as she studied the young girl on her doorstep.
"Hello Ms. Call," Harper beamed up at the woman. "I go to school with Embry and we have a project due soon," Harper explained. Tiffany nodded along with Harper's words. "We were supposed to meet yesterday and he just never showed."
At this Tiffany opened the door wide and gestured for Harper to enter her humble abode. "Come on in," she said tiredly.
Harper entered the house and a somewhat uncomfortable feeling settled in her. It was homey and warm. The teen was aware that Embry was happy around his friends, those he knew and was comfortable with and liked. That did not include her. She didn't know why he didn't like her and she had sneaking suspicion that it had to do with that rat bastard Uley. She shouldn't have come. She really should not have come at all. What was she even doing here-
"Embry's room is the last one down the hall to the left," Tiffany called from the kitchen where she was making lunch. "I don't think he's awake yet, but go ahead and wake him up."
Harper nodded numbly, the braid she had tied her hair up in hitting her shoulder as she did so. The girl padded quietly to the room, her heavy boots not making a single sound. Embry's door was decorated with pictures of random bands that Harper did not know, some looked heavy metal others were rock. It was the only thing parting his room from any of the other rooms of the Call house. The teen hesitantly knocked on his door. After hearing no response she opened it.
Embry's room wasn't what Harper had expected. She had expected it to be messy, a disastrous pigsty. It had been kept fairly clean and simple. The walls were plastered with random posters except for where a couple of skateboards were hanging up. The blank pieces of wall revealed a creme colored paint. The floors were wood and pretty bare, except for a stack of books, magazines, and movies next to the dresser and a pile of shoes next to his laundry basket. There wasn't a lot of furniture in the room. A dresser lined one wall where a small tv sat along with a radio. Opposite to it was a twin bed. The comforter and sheets were a dark gray, both of them had been pushed aside and onto the floor by Embry.
He slept on his stomach and cuddled the pillow with his back facing the door, his feet hanging over the edge. He wore a simple pair of black basketball shorts and socks. Harper rolled her eyes and scoffed lightly before striding over to him. She had seen enough shirtless men in the past week to last a lifetime.
Harper walked until she was close enough to touch him. A cruel smile played on her lips as she squatted down to be able to whisper in his ear. As her warm breath fanned over his neck he whined and pushed himself deeper into the pillows. She rolled her eyes.
"Embry," she called lightly in a whisper. He barely moved and just burrowed himself even further in the pillows. The girl scowled lightly before trying again. "Embry, wake up," Harper said slightly louder and backed away as Embry turned towards her.
"Mom?" He asked groggily. A hint of a giggle released from her.
"Wrong like usual, Embryo," Harper said even louder.
"Harper," he mumbled out with a drowsy smile on his face as his unfairly long eyelashes fluttered open.
And then he seemed to realize who was leaning over him.
"Harper?!" He asked as his eyes opened wide. He saw her leaning over him and as planned he freaked. Embry shot up and bonked heads with the girl who backed up with hiss as she held a hand to her forehead. It hurt like a motherfucker.
"Who else?" She questioned as she rubbed her forehead. "Were you expecting company?" She asked rhetorically
Embry, who had suddenly noticed he was very shirtless grabbed his comforter from the floor to cover himself. Harper rolled her eyes. "Literally anyone but you," he bit back.
Harper pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. He had completely brushed passed her second question. "You were the one who said we would do this shebang on Saturday and then you totally ditched me!"
The teen's eyes widened. Of fucking course. Embry shook his head to try and explain to Harper that he had been with Quil and Jake and those two doofuses completely broke his phone somehow. He wasn't able to get Harper's aunt's address and thus wasn't able to come. Harper was not hearing it. Because certainly Jake and Quil would have a phone. She backed away and crossed her arms, raising a brow challengingly.
"Get dressed, Call. We have work to do." With that Harper walked out of Embry's room.
The boy brought his pillow to his face and screamed in it.
Harper strutted to Ms. Call who was putting the finishing touch on her nachos with a grin on her face. She looked Harper up and down. "Did you have anything to eat yet," the woman asked deeming her acceptable.
While Harper did have breakfast with Emily she hadn't had lunch. "No, ma'am," Harper said politely with a perfectly kind smile, just as her dad taught.
Ms. Call faked a look of disgust and batted away the comment, setting down the plate of nachos on the table. "Please, call me Tiffany," the woman laughed.
Embry had stumbled into the kitchen with a horrified expression settled on his face. Where had he written 'Yes mom, please invite the human steamroller who hangs out with junkies over for nachos'?
Now, Embry was a teen boy with eyeballs and decent taste in girls. So yes, he thought Harper was attractive, but that did not mean he liked her in the slightest. He could be attracted to somebody he hated or didn't like in the slightest and that was very normal, thank you very much.
The boy had brushed his teeth and thrown his hair up, only because he was way too lazy to make an actual effort, sticking to basic hygiene. A canvas jacket covered some random holey shirt he had borrowed from Jake ages ago. The rest of his ensemble was the usual jeans and skate shoes.
Harper and his mom were laughing and conversing with each other. Laughing and conversing. Embry felt like his head was going to explode, he could already picture his mom asking him to ask her to prom. Ugh, this was bad. This was very very bad.
Tiffany turned to look at her son excitedly as he stood in Harper's blind spot. "Embry, you didn't tell me that you had made friends with such a nice Makah girl."
When would the sweet release of death take over? It would never end. Harper turned to him and while her smile looked genuine he could see her devious scheming in her eyes. She was evil. This was torture. Plus his mom genuinely liked Harper. Oh my god, he bet she would even ask her to dinner.
"Hi Embry, Tiffany was just telling me this interesting story about you in the bath-"
"Gotta go, mom. Bye love you!" Embry shouted as he pulled Harper up from her seat and tugged her to the front door.
Harper was impressed with herself. She had not expected that to work as well as it did. All she did was ask Tiffany if she could mess with Embry after the stunt he pulled yesterday and she readily agreed. The girl turned back slightly to wave at Tiffany. "Bye, Tiffany, thank you for having me," she called out while Embry shut the door as quickly as he possibly could.
"Come over for dinner this week!" Tiffany's voice was heard through the door.
Embry narrowed his eyes at Harper who had that same smug smile she usually wore in school. She wasn't better than everyone else. Why was she acting like that? "Come on Embryo, let's scoot." Why was she like that?
Embry was grumbling to himself as she led him to her hideous blue jeep. It was a beater for sure. With duct tape in certain spots and dents in others. The jeep must've been ancient or Harper was a terrible driver. The boy stared with a look of disgust on his face, stopping in his tracks. "What is that?" He asked in horror.
Harper turned back, hurt written all over her face. "Offense taken," she snapped as she stalked over to the driver's seat.
"Is that safe to drive?!" Embry exclaimed, stopping only when he saw the withering glare Harper shot him.
"That is Nova and she is perfectly safe," Harper reassured a dubious Embry. She had insisted they go out into bear-infested woods and now this! He was beginning to think Harper was suicidal.
"Why am I having trouble believing you?" He grumbled as he hopped into the passenger seat. He eyed the thunderbird charm dangling from her mirror to the spotless interior. At least she kept her car clean on the inside.
"Shut up, I'm letting you choose the music," she told him. Embry didn't bother to show that he was grateful for this to her, but he had a lopsided smile turned down to the floor. "Out of the kindness of my heart," she murmured.
The drive to Emily's was a short one and both were thankful for this. They were not thankful that the entire Injection Society was at home. Harper visibly paled and opened the door shakily. Embry noticed her discomfort and quirked an eyebrow.
"I thought you were buddy-buddy with the cult," Embry commented to Harper before exiting her car.
Harper shrugged and waited for Embry to catch up with her. "I was up until I found out about everything everyone was saying," she informed him, before putting on her 'bitch face'.
That was what Paul had dubbed it and Kim had almost smacked him when she heard, thankfully for her, Jared did it.
Harper strutted into the house, the three guys spattered around the house with Sam on the couch watching the game, Paul and Jared were playing a card game on the table. As soon as she walked inside with Embry trailing after her all eyes were on him. 'Good,' Harper thought with a snort.
"Hi, Auntie Em," Harper began with a sickly sweet tone. "I need to go into the woods for a school project, is that okay with you?"
Embry was confused because Harper does whatever she wants no matter what anyone else has to say despite caring an awful lot. His brows threaded together in confusion and he turned to look at the three boys that were altering the stares between him and the girl.
Emily furrowed her brows and jutted her head to Embry "Who's that?" She whispered, excitement evident in her tone. Embry would've felt satisfied with the comment if he wasn't so innately aware of the death glare Paul and Jared were giving him.
"That's Embry, he's my partner for the school project. I don't even like him as a person so there's like a 0% chance that we're going out into the woods to bump uglies," Harper said bluntly.
Sam, who had just taken a sip of water was coughing in disbelief while Jared stared slack-jawed. Paul, ever the opportunist, took a peek at Jared's cards. He had gotten used to Harper's biting remarks. As had Emily who just shrugged.
"Promise you'll come back before it gets dark out and that you won't go too far," Emily offered.
Harper was biting back a scathing remark about being a dog on a leash. She just smiled and nodded. "Embry, I'm going to grab my bag and the stuff, I'll be right back," she promised with that glint in her eyes.
She knew what she was doing. She knew. Embry groaned internally as he watched her flounce up the stairs. His gaze met Emily's who smiled at him.
"Sorry about Harper," Emily began with a kind smile.
"Yeah, she's a real raging bi-" Sam, Emily, and Jared all shot Paul a withering glare. She had been giving them the third degree since getting back from Sage's and they had a feeling it had to do with whatever the girl had told them. She had several scathing names in her arsenal. Paul stopped and sighed, "A really lovely and caring person."
Embry would've laughed if he wasn't so terrified of the boy. Emily softened her gaze and as she heard Embry's stomach rumble she pointed to the plate of muffins on the kitchen counter. "Would you like one?"
Embry took a muffin appreciatively and mumbled a thank you. He ate in silence, highly aware of every second that ticked by. And then he had another muffin and then another. He had never been a stress eater but this was a sucky situation Harper was putting him through.
Harper rushed down the stairs after finally grabbing her stuff and for a moment she looked apologetic. "Sorry, I couldn't find my camera," she had told him.
Harper was right to take them to Emily's. The trail was easy to get through and Harper had already taken enough notes, they just had to grab samples. That was Embry's job. Harper spent most of it with her eyes on the ground, taking a picture and writing notes about whatever specimen Embry had collected.
The two had traveled pretty deep in the woods when she spotted it. Like it was routine she went through the process of taking the measurements of the telltale ginormous wolf print on the ground. When she had snapped the picture of the print Embry had finally turned to her.
He stepped closer to her to look over her hunched over body. Embry felt his blood run cold as he looked down at the large imprint on the floor. He could feel his mouth dry as fear ran rampant through his head. "Harper?" He asked.
Harper heard his voice above her and stood, standing in front of the print. "Mhm," she mumbled out while scribbling something in her notebook.
"What is that?" He asked although he had come to his usual conclusion that it was a bear print.
He was wrong, but he was highly illogical at the moment.
"It's a pony," Harper sassed. "Jesus, Embry what does it look like?" She turned back to look at him to see his face had completely drained of blood and the boy was looking wildly around. Harper sighed and put her hands on his upper arm to still him.
Surprisingly it worked as Embry's head snapped to look at hers. His breaths were shallow and fast-paced. For a second she thought she could hear his erratic heartbeat. "In for four," she told him, doing what she had said. "Out for four."
Embry had finally caught on with what she was doing and repeated the action. Harper led him to kneel at the print. "This," she began, "is a wolf print."
Embry shook his head and opened his mouth to argue. "Are you fucking with-" but Harper put a finger to his lips and shut him up.
"A bear print has a much bigger sole to toe ratio. Plus bears have five toes and they aren't spread out that much," Harper pointed to each of the toes as she informed him.
"Harper, if this is a wolf print-" she shot him a look and he rolled his eyes. "Okay, this is a wolf print, doesn't that mean the wolf is huge?"
Harper nodded, clearly pleased with herself, and flipped to her math page that she did on Saturday when Embry blew her off. "Yep, according to my math they're about the size of a horse, about six feet..." she explained and paused. The girl bit her lip and Embry could tell she was contemplating telling him something.
"Well, this one is," she finally spit out, fiddling with her braid.
Embry's jaw dropped. "Wolves travel in packs," he whispered out sounding as if he was in pain.
The girl nodded again and anxiously bit at her thumb. "I think there are three of them based on the different lengths and impression depths. There could be more, but I don't know," she said with a shrug.
The boy felt himself freeze up and snapped his eyes to Harper's. She looked at him curiously as she could see his brain moving miles a minute. "We have to tell somebody," he declared, standing up and turning away.
"What? No!" Harper shouted, following after him. She grabbed his forearm to stop him from going to Sam or a council leader or god forbid animal control. "You can't!" She shouted.
Embry turned to her with a look akin to either exasperation or anger, Harper couldn't tell. "What do you mean I can't?" His tone and face had softened at the desperation etched in hers.
"Embry these are the biggest wolves ever seen since prehistoric times," Harper had not fact-checked this but at this point, she would do anything to get Embry to shut his stupid mouth. "I think it's a new species, but I have to collect more data, please."
She was begging. Practically groveling at his feet. Embry paused and pursed his lips. "Harper it's not safe-"
"Embry, you have an irrational fear of going into the woods after a couple of bear attacks, no one else is going in here," Harper said with such certainty he felt like he had to believe her.
Embry, while knowing that she was right, crossed his arms challengingly. "What about you? Are you trying to become a bowl of dog chow?" He retorted.
Harper looked at him crossly. "No, I-" she paused as she wasn't sure what to say. What was she supposed to tell him? 'I honestly don't care about my well being.'
"Exactly what I thought," he said smugly. Harper resisted the urge to roll her eyes and pouted. "I'm coming with you," he stated with such certainty.
"Absolutely not!" She shouted with him while Embry stayed statuesque in his spot, raising an eyebrow.
"It'll keep Emily off your back," he informed. Embry wasn't a total dunce. He had seen the way Emily asked her to come back at certain times. The way she asked made it seemed like she had gone through the forest once before.
"We could use the project as a cover," Harper mused. It was what she had been doing today and it had worked. Embry looked pleased with the notion that Harper was going to go along with one of his ideas. She snapped her eyes to his and narrowed them, pointing her finger into his chest. "Just until I get a picture of one."
"Just until you get a picture," he promised and held out a hand for her to shake. The girl reluctantly did so.
Like that a deal had been struck up, Embry wouldn't tell anyone about Harper's secret expeditions and he would get to tag along.
"Also," she said with a tight grip on his hand, "you have to promise you won't fall madly in love with me." Her teasing smile was enough to tell him that she wasn't joking in the slightest.
Embry let out a snort at her. She raised an eyebrow at him and he begrudgingly sighed. The boy rolled his eyes and said, "I promise that I'll never fall in love with you. Cross my heart, hope to die."
"Here's to hoping."
Embry rolled his eyes at her taunt, a hint of a smile making its way on his face as the two walked back to Emily's in a nice silence. They fell back into their routine of collecting specimens, taking its picture, and writing notes. Occasionally they would come across a wolf print or two.
***
Harper would be that bitch to knock on your door on Sunday and make you come out to the woods bc she can't do it alone and that's on being pushy and slightly manipulative.
Also it's a coming up quick.