Leah imprinted.
That was hard to believe. Most of Ashley's disbelief came from Leah herself because she never believed it.
So, the girls came up with a plan. Ashley already liked Brad as a friend, so, in the next couple of days, she'd get close to him, as a friend and then introduce him to Leah, properly.
How it would go from that point on was none of her business but as a friend, she could and would do this much.
Right now, she was in that process. It had been a week. Of course, her seeming overly interested in him would cause a misunderstanding so she was playing it low and cool. And so far, he seemed like a good person. Against her restrain, she could picture him and Leah together.
Ashley started sitting closer to Brad in their shared class. Just as the teacher ended the class, they started talking. While they were walking out of the class, Ashley spotted the two familiar faces.
Jasper and Alice.
Jasper had his arm around Alice's waist and they were standing close to the walls. Ashley let out a surprised gasp. She turned to Brad. "So, I'll catch you later?"
He nodded. They had plans, later on, to revise for the quiz that was coming up.
Ashley rushed to her uncle and aunt and hugged them. Alice smirked. So, who was that?"
Ashley rolled her eyes. "It's not what you think,"
"Should've known," Alice pouted.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ashley asked.
"What? We can't visit you?" Jasper shot back.
She smiled. "You can! Just a heads up would've been nice,"
They went to a cafe inside the campus. "So, how's everything at home?" Ashley asked.
Alice and Jasper shared a look. "Good," he answered.
"That didn't sound so assuring,"
Alice rolled her eyes and paid for Ashley's coffee and water. "It's good. Bella's good. She has impressive control. Reneesme is good too. She's growing up pretty fast, that's all," she quickly explained.
"What do you mean?" Ashley furrowed her brows.
Alice showed her a couple of pictures on her phone. A little girl with the family. "That's Reneesme?" she asked in shock.
Jasper nodded. That was impossible. The girl in the picture looked like she was five or six. Reneesme was a few weeks old.
Alice sighed. "Everyone's worried that she's growing up too fast and that she won't stop," she said.
"Which means..." Ashley murmured but she didn't complete the sentence. "Damn,"
"How about you?" Jasper asked, changing the topic.
Ashley shrugged. "It's good, I'm really adapting. It's weird having people around who go to sleep though," she said and they chuckled.
Alice and Jasper told Ashley about home a bit more. They told her about Jacob, how he practically moved in and was always around Reneesme. Ashley told them a bit more about university life and all.
The only time where the topic of the pack, and subsequently Paul, was brought up was when Alice and Jasper told her that the pack was staying away and wasn't causing them any problems.
Ashley still felt like there was something that they were keeping out but she didn't pressure them much. She knew they could tell whether she was suspicious or not.
Alice checked her phone and nudged Jasper. "It's time," she whispered to him but Ashley caught her.
Jasper turned to Ashley. "We've gotta go,"
She nodded. "Okay, I've got some reading to do anyway,"
They hugged again and right now Ashley could definitely tell that something was wrong. The way they hugged her felt strange.
It felt like some kind of goodbye. Their guilty faces afterward only confirmed her theory further.
"We love you, kiddo. Take care," Jasper said.
She nodded. "Yeah. Love you too,"
She never usually told them to take care, since they were the indestructible killing machines but something in her gut nudged her. "You guys be careful too,"
The next day, Ashley came back to her dorm room, exhausted.
All of the assignments and lessons were starting to show their workload and she wasn't able to keep up, even though she was a freshman. She had to do an assignment the night before that was due at 8 AM. She didn't get much sleep.
She was looking forward to going back to her room and just relaxing. Maybe watching a few of her shows or listening to music.
Just when she got settled into her bed, Leah called her. She picked up. She was frustrated with Jacob.
"I know I followed him with my own free will, but fucking hell, he's dumb," Leah was saying.
"What did he do this time?" Ashley asked.
She heard Leah sigh. "It's not that big, it's just small things that build up over time,"
"Look, I get that he imprinted and all, right now I really get it, you know, but this, he doesn't even pay attention to Seth and me," she ranted.
It was happening just as Ashley had predicted. Jacob was a teenager and he acted out of an impulse decision. He didn't think it through.
Ashley huffed. "I'm not surprised, honestly," she replied. "I told him this was going to happen. Granted, I didn't know he was going to imprint on my cousin or niece, wow it feels weird to say that, I have a niece, anyway, but I knew it would get messy,"
"Yeah... Honestly, I think I miss Sam. At least, he thought things through," Leah said.
"Wait? What?" Ashley excitedly asked. Wow, character development! Look at that,"
She heard Leah chuckle. "Well, yeah, you know, since I imprinted, he doesn't really bug me anymore. I could care less,"
Ashley couldn't help but smile. "That's great to hear!" she said.
"Which brings me to the next thing I'll say. Are you sitting down?" Leah asked.
"I'm laying on my bed like the dead. I'm ready,"
"I went to talk to Emily today," Leah said.
"WHAT?" Ashley exclaimed and jumped on the bed. Thankfully, she didn't fall but her pillows did. "OMG, You're serious?"
"Yes, we talked,"
"And? YOU CAN'T JUST DROP THIS BOMB ON ME AND NOT GIVE ME ANY DETAILS," Ashley let out.
She heard Leah being amused at her reaction. " Well, ever since I imprinted, obviously my anger melted away a bit. I kinda get it down. Even though it was still shitty what I went through, and I won't forget them, I need to move forward. I started thinking, what if it was the opposite? What if I was the one to imprint first? I don't know... I just had a clear mind after so long and I think I wouldn't want someone to stay with me when they loved someone else. Not fair. Anyway, with that clarity, we talked. She apologized, I did too. And... now we're on speaking terms. She says hi, by the way,"
Ashley stayed silent and took it all in. "Woah," she said at the end. "I'm glad you two made up," she added. "Tell her hi when you see her again,"
She couldn't help but picture herself in Leah's situation. Sure, what she went through was bad, losing someone you loved. What if she and Paul met on other terms and then he imprinted on someone else? Someone... family. It would devestate her. And if it was her in other circumstances, she felt like she wouldn't be happy in a relationship where her partner didn't feel the same.
"I also saw the pack," Leah said. "Since I left, my connection with them was getting weaker, which was a blessing since I didn't have to hear their thoughts anymore, especially Sam's... which doesn't bug me anymore. Anyway, I didn't know they'd be there since I don't have the connection anymore, and I should've guessed. I'm stretching it out, I saw Paul,"
"Oh," Ashley murmured.
"You two haven't spoken since the woods?" Leah asked.
"Yeah," Ashley answered. She didn't contact him and he didn't too.
"He looked out of it, he didn't even give me a snide remark. Thought that was the reason,"
Ashley took a deep breath. "We've been through so much. We always made up somehow. But I don't know how I can get past this, I don't know even if I can get past it," she replied. "Could you?"
Leah didn't answer for a while. "Well, you know how I handled my breakup, so I don't think I'm the right person you should be talking about this," she said. "I also told Sam... that I imprinted,"
"Yeah?" Ashley asked but her mood was down since the mention of Paul.
"Yeah, he was surprised as well. I don't think we made up but it was a step toward that. He even said that he was sorry it all turned out this way. But this time, it didn't hurt as much as it did when I looked or talked to him,"
She was surprised Leah even talked to Sam in a non-threatening way. That was huge. She was happy for her friend for finally being able to leave that in her past. Aside from all the drama, she liked Sam. She use to like. He decided to attack her family.
It was a dilemma. She knew they were just trying to protect their tribe and it was their mission but it was her family. The lack of options was what was really getting under her skin. Why did it all have to be this way?
"Well, that's good to hear. Maybe the boys will finally get their heads out of their asses and treat you with the kindness you deserve,"
"Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't exactly nice to them either,"
"Yeah, but what they were doing was extra. I think we could all agree on that," Ashley said.
" Okay," Leah huffed. "I've gotta go now. Mom's at Charlie's place so I've got to cook dinner for Seth and me,"
"Okay, say hi to him for me," Ashley said, trying to hide her surprise upon learning Sue was with Charlie. They'd been spending too much time together, and it only made her wonder whether he knew, about all of it. Neither Alice, Jasper, or Leah said anything.
There was too much on her mind. School, Reneesme, Paul, Leah, Jacob, the pack, her family, the strange visit from Jasper and Alice. She picked up her phone again and called Edward. He picked up after a few rings.
"Hey, is everything all right?" he asked upon answering the call.
"Wow, why so serious?"
"Must be because I'm a parent now,"
"Edward Anthony Masen Jr. Cullen! Did you just use sarcasm?"
Edward let out a small huff. "Did I? I didn't realize. Anyway, I'm kinda in the middle of something, is it important?"
"Uh, no. Not really," Ashley lied. She had a feeling he wouldn't give her the answers she wanted anyway.
"Alright. Bye," he said and ended the call.
She looked at her phone angrily. Something was going on, she just knew it.
The next day, Ashley woke up and went to her classes. On her lunch break, she met up with her roommate Katy. Katy was telling her about this new guy she met during one of the parties she went to last week and really clicked.
"He didn't even make a move to have sex! I can't believe such a guy exists. And he's really tall!" she squealed.
Ashley smiled. "Wow, the standards have really fallen down,"
Katy rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it,"
Katy ate her food as she eyed Ashley. She only took a few bites and didn't continue. "Are you alright? You seem out of it for a couple of days. Is everything alright?"
Ashley sighed. She couldn't dump all of her troubles on her friend. Plus, she couldn't even tell the majority of the things going on.
"It's my boyfriend," she said. It wasn't all lies.
"Oh," she said, "What happened?"
"Uhm, so, you know I come from a small town. You know, how the people who live in small towns usually always live there and there is always some bad blood between some groups?"
Katy nodded. "Well, my family and his... they are the different groups. And something went down between them. He's on the other side, so we're not talking now," Ashley explained it the best way she can.
"Hmmm, like you're Juliet and he's Romeo? The families fought?"
"Something like that," Ashley smiled.
"I'm sorry, is there anything I can do?"
Ashley shook her head. "No, but thanks. I think I can get through it by myself, for now," she said. "I'm thinking of going home soon. Maybe we can sort it out,"
After lunch, Ashley had a bit more classes and when they were finally over, she called her mom.
She didn't answer and called her half an hour later. " Hey, Mom,"
"Hey baby," Rosalie replied.
"How's it going? I heard Leah visited you," Rosalie asked.
"Yeah, she did. We had fun. It's going great, the classes are a bit hard to keep up with but I think that's usual for any student,"
Rosalie chuckled. "Yeah, I bet, honey," she said.
There was something with the way she talked. Like Edward. It seemed like they wanted to get over the conversation as soon as possible.
"I'm thinking of skipping class tomorrow and spending the weekend back at home," she blurted.
"What? No," Rosalie quickly shot.
Ashley was surprised at her reaction. "Why mom? It's my home too and I want to meet Reneesme,"
Rosalie sighed. "It's not that, baby. You know it's not safe yet. Bella's been a newborn for a few weeks now, she doesn't have the control we have. It's not safe,"
"But there are seven of you against her, you could stop her if something goes wrong,"
"It'd be hard, she's very strong at the moment. She even beat your dad at a wrestling match. Besides, you remember her birthday, right? I can't possibly put you in danger baby, you can't come,"
Ashley didn't say anything for a while. "Is that the only reason why I can't come?"
"Of course. What else would it be?" Rosalie asked back. From her tone, it seemed like she figured out Ashley knew something was wrong.
"We could come to visit you if you want to see us. Maybe even bring Reneesme, but you can't come home," Rosalie said sternly.
Ashley took a deep breath. "Fine," she huffed and ended the call in annoyance.
She got to her dorm and dropped her stuff. After changing her clothes she grabbed her notes for the class she shared with Brad and left her room to go meet up with him to study. She planned to have drinks with him after the quiz and Leah would come so that they could officially meet and spend some time.