"
That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show.
"
- Ada Lovelace
The Art of Avoidance
As November bled into December Harper could feel them pull away from her. Paul, Jared, and Sam had been spending less time in the Young household and more time doing whatever they do. Run around shirtless? Deal drugs? Who knows, honestly. The two teenagers even skipped school. Harper couldn't care less, but the other Young couldn't care more. Emily had been on a stress baking marathon and while the scents coming out of the kitchen were heavenly it was starting to worry Harper.
Embry had been weird since the party. Jake and Quil had told her about his, uh, drunken tell-all asking about his flaws the day after Mike's killer parter. Harper hadn't realized asking him if he would stop being so anti-social would cause him to clam up and completely avoid her. Despite that, they both killed the presentation. They got an A.
Oddly enough, he still hung out with her after school. Every day he would get a ride from Harper and they would spend a couple of hours walking around the forest, following the map to the areas that usually had the most tracks, and then he would skate away to go home after making sure she got out of the woods safe.
It was frustrating, to say the least. Every time she would show up at the lunch table he would leave or refuse to look at her. He wouldn't even bother during biology or their shared math class to give her a single hi. But as soon as the bell rung dismissing us from school it would be like normal.
And while Embry recession from Harper's life was confusing and hurtful she had begun to hang out more with Sage during lunch where the two started going back to the library again. Her flirtationship with Eli was still going on strong and she had even been invited to hang out more with their group. Bowling, movies, video game nights at Mike's place, were the extent of the activities she was invited to hang with and she readily took each one. Harper decided it was nice to have a lot of friends. Much better than in Neah Bay. She was also a stuck up stone-cold bitch there, but still.
Harper kept seeing Mina everywhere, actually seeing wasn't the right word. It was more or less a sense of foreboding. There was a constant presence hanging over her shoulder. From her walks in the forest, where she had yet to even see one of the mega-wolves, to her shifts in the diner. Sometimes when she would go to clean a table she would find a pair of sunglasses sitting on the table with a note written on the table. It was always something so frighteningly accurate.
The first time it happened was December first. She and Eli had just started to close up and Harper began her duty of cleaning the tables. She started on one end of the restaurant to the other, going methodically and with absolute focus.
Okay, so she had been spacing out.
When she had finally reached the last booth she was frozen in her place. All the blood drained from her face and her lips parted as she stared down at the glasses the woman had worn with such a flourish at the simple high school kickback. Alarm bells rang in her head. No, a siren was going off. She could feel it deep within her. It was a primal instinct to want to leave.
But curiosity got the better of Harper when she noticed the napkin underneath the shade with writing on it. Harper didn't wait for a second to pick up the glasses and slip them in her apron pocket. The note read:
𝓘 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓼 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓼. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓽 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓮 𝓒𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓮 𝓸𝓻 𝓝𝓲𝓴𝓸𝓵𝓪 𝓣𝓮𝓼𝓵𝓪 𝓸𝓻 𝓐𝓵𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓽 𝓔𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓲𝓷. 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽'𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓗𝓪𝓻𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓓𝓲𝓪𝓷𝓪, 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓼𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾.
- 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓐𝓜
Yeah, scarily accurate and yet they were gaining a presence in her locker where she had hung them up. They were very inspirational. So far she had fourteen of them. Even when she wasn't working Eli or Ms. Mooney would give her the note at the beginning of her shift. They both shared their concerns with Eli asking her if she had a stalker and Ms. Mooney offered to talk to the sheriff about helping her file a police report. She had denied. Didn't know why. She should have done it and yet it felt like she couldn't.
One of life's little mysteries that hadn't yet been brought to light, Harper supposed.
Another one of life's mysteries was why Paul and Jared stood imposingly at her locker on that fateful December Monday. Despite the cold temperatures the two were oh so modestly dressed. The thought was laughable.
They were also gaining a crowd as people watched for the upcoming and surely entertaining interaction. The last time she was seen speaking to them she had said Paul had a small dick so she could understand why people thought it would be funny.
"Can I help you?" She asked sourly as she shoved the two aside and unlocked her locker.
Jared moved so he was standing beside Paul and behind her. "Uh, yeah you can," Jared said lightly as if he wasn't too sure of himself.
Not that Harper minded, he was easier to mess with when he was like that. "Please enlighten me, oh great steroid junkie," she said sarcastically. Harper smirked to herself as she loaded up her backpack with the books she needed. She could practically feel Jared's hurt glare and Paul's eyeroll. It was the desired reaction.
"How original, Old Timer," Paul quipped.
Harper nodded in response. "I know, I'm just the queen of originality," she said passively as she pulled out a notebook and flipped through it to make sure her homework was still there. When she realized that Paul hadn't responded she turned to look at him with a taunting smirk on her face.
He wasn't responding because he was glaring passed her, surprisingly enough Jared was too. Their deep eyes bore not into her but the fourteen napkins she had taped to her locker. It was... odd. After watching them for a moment and filling it into the 'Care About Later' space in her brain she slammed her locker door shut and strutted away to meet with Embry in the parking lot.
Embry had been leaning against her Jeep and playing on his phone when she showed. The girl alerted him of her presence by unlocking the car and racing to the driver's seat, hoping that Paul and Jared weren't following her.
"Hey," Harper greeted awkwardly seeing as that was the first time she had said it all day to him.
"Hey," Embry sighed out moodily and rolled his eyes.
Harper who had almost put her key in the ignition dropped her hand and instead turned to him. "Okay, time's up, Call," she said, crossing her arms. At his confused expression, she rolled her eyes. "It's been like two weeks since that party and you've started avoiding me. I've given you enough time to deal with whatever moody bullshit you have, now tell me what the fuck is going on," Harper blurted out.
Embry looked pissed off. No scratch that he looked annoyed as he dropped his phone and let out a sigh. "No offense, Harper, but my friends have been giving me so much shit for hanging out with you and I was tired of it," he said bluntly as he looked at her.
This wasn't Embry. This was... weird. This was very weird. Whenever Embry was hurtful it was always playful or teasing and there was no meaning behind it, but this hurt. It hurt a lot. "Why were they giving you shit?" Harper asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Embry stared at her. Studying her face as her eyes started to become glassy and her red lower lip began to shake. Was she... was she about to cry? Cocky and overconfident Harper didn't seem like someone who would be the type. Embry didn't like Harper. Not one bit. He didn't like the way she made him laugh and made him feel lighter than air even when doing the simplest things. He didn't like the way that when she laughed he felt happy, even when it was at his expense. He didn't like the way when she got excited about something her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he certainly didn't like when her brain worked so fast that she knew the answer before the question was asked.
"People always let you down," his mom had said when he asked about his dad the first time.
He knew girls like Harper were a loaded gun. The moment he felt at ease or thought that their feelings were mutual or at least beginning to form into something that could be seen as more than friends, she pointed it at him and shot him in the heart. He was just glad he hadn't told her he liked her, of course, he didn't know until he had seen her with someone else, but still. He didn't want to see her or be around her, but Harper was reckless and if he didn't keep her in check during those walks she would probably start carrying around some raw meat as bait to attract one of those mega-wolves. It would work, but she would probably get more than she bargained for. Like, y'know... death and all that jazz.
Harper had let him down. She didn't mean to or even knew she had, but it had happened. He didn't want to tell her, not with her boyfriend.
She didn't like how long he sat there without answering. Something about Embry had been off and it was freaky and weird and Harper was worried but right now she felt ready to cry and she would not cry in front of Embry Call.
"Get out," Harper mumbled out pulling Embry from his stupor. He shook his head and he didn't hear her. So when he quirked his head and opened his mouth to ask she yelled it. "Get out, Embry!"
And he did. Soon enough she could hear Embry skating away. When she knew for sure that he was gone Harper rested her head against her steering wheel and let the first tear fall. And the next came in a downpour. Harper was an ungly crier.
She knew Embry didn't like her. She knew she clashed with a lot of people. She knew that she was a lot and annoying and was just too damn smart for her own good. She would have never have guessed that his friends were making fun of him for hanging out with her when she thought that they were her friends too.
Harper pulled out her phone and quickly dialed Sage's number. She needed to hear somebody's, anybody's voice right now to get Embry's out of her ear. Sage went straight to voicemail and so Harper went down to the next person on her list of people she still considered friends as Jake and Quil were now out.
Eli picked up quickly. "Hey, Harper what's up?"
A smile spread across Harper's face without her even noticing. "Eli, hi!" she said shakily, her voice more of a croak. She cursed herself for a moment.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked quickly.
Harper shook her head and wiped her tears quickly as if he could see her. "I-I'm not fine and I was wondering if you were free and maybe we could, uh hang out or something," she rambled. The girl pulled down the visor and opened the mirror so she could see the damage her tears did. She quickly fixed her makeup and tried to fix her puffy eyes.
"Are you crying?" Eli asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Yeah, trying not to," she put bluntly as she was now focused on fixing her makeup.
Eli looked around at the small-boys only group before him at the bowling alley, he would be next up. "What do you want to do?" He asked.
"Go somewhere where I don't have to think."
Eli nodded at her response and walked back to the boys. He started taking off his bowling shoes while the guys shot him curious looks. "I know just the place. I'll pick you up from you place in like fifteen, I'll speed," he explained.
"You're the best Eli," Harper said with a smile on her face. "See you soon."
"See you soon," he murmured into the phone before hanging up. Eric, Tyler, Mike, and a couple of guys from his grade looked at him in either confusion or with slow smiles spreading across his face. "It's Harper," there were several ooh's from his older friends. "Something happened and she's crying. I'll catch you guys later." He stumbled up and out while fumbling to fix his jacket.
Harper had eventually pulled up to her house with her hands gripping the wheel so tightly she thought the circulation was going to get cut off. She didn't want to go inside. If she went inside she would have to deal with Emily worriedly asking if she was okay. And Emily was worried enough already. And she doesn't want to do that. Because Emily does that a lot.
And then Harper saw Jared make his way over to her side of the car and she got out as quickly as possible. The boy looked confused for a second and looked back in the car like he expected someone else to be there. Probably Embry.
"Where's-"
"Don't, Cameron," Harper snapped holding up a hand that caused him to pause in his place.
"Where'd you get the notes from?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
The girl furrowed her eyebrows as she retucked her hair behind her ears. "From work," she put bluntly. Harper didn't want to tell him about the creepy lady.
"Why?" He asked as Harper stepped away from him.
"Why do you want to know?" She retorted, gripping at the straps of her backpack.
"They just all look, uh, super personal," he tried his best to explain as he couldn't just tell her that her locker was the only one that stank of a leech.
Harper nodded indignantly. "Yeah, they are. And we aren't friends. So, why should I tell you," she explained honestly as she made her way to the top of the porch. Jared stood at the bottom and she could tell that he was trying his hardest. Harper scoffed before turning on her heel and entering Emily's.
"That wasn't very nice, Harper," Emily chastised lightly as she measured out the proper ingredients for something along with the brownies and lemon squares she had cooling on the countertops.
"He was being a nuisance." She could see Emily roll her eyes and felt a sting of regret hit her in the chest before batting it away. "I'm going to hang out with Eli," she informed Emily.
"What happened to Embry?" The woman asked not knowing that it was a tense subject.
"His friends were making fun of him for hanging out with me and so he stopped talking to me in school. I didn't know that was why I just thought he was having a hard time," Harper explained, taking a bit of a lemon square.
She could see Emily pause. The woman turned to look at Harper over her shoulder. "What?" She hissed out.
"I know, right!" She exclaimed. "He's been getting weird, like moodier. And I don't know if he just has a constant fever or..." Harper stopped when she noticed Emily's pained expression. "Are- are you like constipated?"
Emily snapped out of her stupor and smiled at Harper unconvincingly. Fortunately for Emily, Eli knocked on the door. Harper moved to open it before one of the Steroid Junkies opened it while shirtless and embarrassed her. Unfortunately for Harper, Paul got there first.
He opened the door and looked Eli up and down hoping to intimidate the boy. Eli wasn't that easily scared away. He looked at Paul with his oh so charming smile and pointed at him. "Paul, right?" He asked.
Paul didn't answer and instead just left the door while Harper rushed out, grabbing Eli's hand in the process and closing it. "I am so sorry," she apologized.
Eli shrugged. "It's fine, I got an overprotective older brother myself," he explained. His eyes were entirely focused on Harper's hand in his.
The girl looked at him curiously, her jaw dropped. "Oh, uh, they're not my brother's they just hang here for the free food," she said lightly and laughing uncomfortably until she noticed he was looking down at their hands.
Harper immediately separated them, her cheeks flushing a deep red. "I'm so-" she was cut off when Eli intertwined their hands, swinging them as they walked.
"It's okay, we've fake dated remember, we've done worse," he said with a shrug. Instantly Harper was taken back to last week's party where they made out as a dare.
"Touché."
Jared and Paul watched as Eli and Harper held hands and walked to his car, listening in for fun or blackmail material.
"Five bucks says she completely destroys him," Jared said, his face completely serious as he heard 'fake dated' and watched their hands swing.
Paul's eyebrows raised to his hairline and he shook his head. "Hell no, I'd lose five bucks."
Eli had taken Harper to a place he had oh so originally dubbed as his spot. It was a little room in the Stanley Home that connected to his room. In October he had gotten permission to change it into a hang out are and he added things like a projector along with the majority of the blankets plus a couple of beanbags. It also served as a storage area for the LEDs he had at his party that now bordered the perimeter of every wall. It was the main reason why Jessica barely saw him around the house.
So the two sat around and watched Disney movies and played video games until Harper no longer felt pissed off at Embry. At some point, Harper turned towards Eli who had a look of concentration on his face as he tried to catch an M&M in his mouth. His tongue was sticking out as he threw his head back and tried to aim properly so that it would just fall in.
"Do you think I'm unlikeable?" Harper asked.
Like that, all of Eli's concentration left him as he looked at Harper in confusion. Harper, the Harper 'I've been studying for the SATs since I was twelve' Young. Harper 'I know random things about space because I watched everything done by Neil deGrasse Tyson' Young. Harper 'I once learned the entire history of male circumcision because I was bored' Young. Harper was a lot of things, but unlikeable wasn't one of them.
Harper watched dejectedly as she saw Eli think about and consider her words. "No," he finally got out. "No, you're super likable. All of my friends think you're great. Even Jessica warmed up to you which is like a miracle in itself and so did Bernie, and Bernie hates everybody!"
The girl nodded at his words and bit her lip as she thought about what Embry had said earlier. Why would Jake and Quil make fun of Embry for hanging out with her? It's not like she's disgusting, or unhygienic. Ugh, it just didn't make sense. Maybe he was throwing them under the bus. Maybe he just really didn't like her.
"Hey, Harper, what happened?" Eli asked hesitantly as he took her out of her mind.
Harper turned to him with expressions of slight shock and embarrassment before ducking her head and rubbing her neck sheepishly. "One of my friends has been super weird around me lately. Like not talking to me or looking at me while we're at school, but he hangs around after school all the time and it's super frustrating. So I talked to him about it and he told me that his friends had been making fun of him because he was, uh, hanging out with me."
With no hint of hesitation, Eli said, "He's an idiot. They're idiots." He paused as he took in the sadly smiling girl. "Do you need a hug?" He asked opening his arms wide from his spot in a nest of blankets.
"Yeah," she croaked out moving into the embrace. They laid there like that for a while with Harper curled around Eli.
She looked up at him, really looked up at him. He looked beautiful. Not painstakingly gorgeous, but in a simple kind of way. The way he smiled and laughed and hugged her tighter when one of the characters was going into a dangerous situation. Harper had been struck with the sudden realization that this was the closest she had gotten to him without being intoxicated.
It was nice.
Harper was suddenly aware of how close she was to his face when she lifted her head up slightly to look at him. As if he had noticed she was staring at him he looked down. They were close and neither made a move. She could feel his warm breath against her cheek.
"I mean wait, what?" Eli stuttered out as if he had suddenly realized what was happening. "Are you..." Harper raised a challenging brow and smirked at him. "I mean. Are we about to kiss right now?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
Harper boldly nodded. "Yes, that was the-" She had been cut off by Eli ducking his head to meet her as he tightened his loose hold on her waist. She threaded her hands through his hair and could feel his lips open as he let out a quiet groan.
And that was how Jessica found the two when she burst into his 'chill area'.
***
Me, creating tension and drama bc I don't want Embry and Harper to move too fast. Agh I would never. It's despicable to say such an outrageous accusation. Also, Eli thinking Paul was her brother just had me cackling because they're attitudes and personalities are alike except when Harper gets angry she doesn't get violent she just gets mean. Her bark is worse than her bite and he's a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy. They also definitely act like siblings even if they don't look like it.
Plus Embry accidentally pushing Eli to Harper, whoops, that definitely was not planned whatsoever. I'm not using Eli as a plot device in order to show that Harper really isn't one to be in a relationship at all bc that shit stresses her out bc trauma.
I've been doing some thinking about eclipse even tho we haven't gotten to the meaty part of new moon and are still in bella's depressive episode, I think she would vibe really well with emmett, but that's bc emmett is a dudebro king. she would also like rosalie bc she's an insanely gorgeous smart girl who knows about cars, something which had never been a niche interest to her until she uh saw rosalie, but no... they're totally not connect at all.
mina and jasper would hate each other and idk why but thats the vibe im getting. mina's just a chaotic presence that does stuff for shits and giggles and i feel like she also would not vibe with jasper as a confederate soldier and niether would her daughter b-