"
All creative people want to do the unexpected.
"
- Hedy Lamarr
Operation Smartass
"Hey, dad," Harper sighed out, trying to keep her voice steady. She didn't want to cry. Not for him. Not now. Crying wasn't a weakness to Harper, but he would see it as exactly that and she didn't want to be weak. Not to him.
She pulled the receiver away from her ear and pressed it against her chest, holding her head high and chin up so nothing could leak from her eyes before bringing it back after composing herself. "It's Harper." The girl bit her lip, unsure of what to do or say. She had never been good at talking to her dad. "I was wondering if I'd be going back to Neah Bay for the summer or..." she paused again, shaking her head and letting out an unsteady breath. 'No weakness, Harper,' she thought to herself. 'No weakness.' She pursed her lips to keep them from letting out a sob before wiping the tears that had escaped. She didn't know why she was crying.
"How are Maya and Claire? You all haven't visited in a while and I- I... I miss you." Harper bit at her lip while her fingers drew patterns on the wooden floor of her bedroom. She shook her head, deciding that if he didn't want to talk she wasn't going to. "Call me back when you get a chance. We need to talk about something. Bye, dad."
She had tried calling him earlier only to be met with his answering machine. Just like this time. She tried calling him earlier in the week too, only to be met with his secretary. Harper wanted to throw her phone at the wall. To watch it crumble apart. To imagine that it was her dad. Harper shook her head and instead tried to call her grandpa. Her Grandpa, unlike her father, came by often. Usually at random times throughout the week whenever he could. Sometimes on Sundays, more often on Wednesday or Monday. He liked talking with her, enjoyed her presence. He definitely saw her as more than a nuisance that he could shove away to a relative's home. He, unlike Harper, loved the... pack.
Harper was bitter and angry.
"How's my favorite girl?" Her grandpa asked jovially when he answered the ringing. It caused a smile to crack on Harper's warm face. Her cheeks were somewhat tear-streaked.
Before Harper could even respond to the question her mouth began to ask what she really wanted to. "Who's Aminah Murray?"
It wasn't silent on the other line. She could hear him sucking in his breath and she could picture him rubbing at his wrinkled eyes. The static between the two was growing higher as the silence continued until it was the only thing she could hear. White noise.
"Pumpkin," her grandpa began with a sigh, "it's not my place to tell you."
She wanted to curse at him. But that would be wrong, she wasn't angry at him per se, just angry at her dad, and Maya and Claire who drank up all of his attention- No. No, it was wrong to be angry with them. Maya had called and talked to her at least twice a month just to ask what she was doing and how she was doing. Apparently she talked to Emily as well. And well, Claire was a monster baby and nothing more. Her dad, however, might just be the devil. No, that was wrong too. There had to be a reason, there had-
"Does dad hate me?" She questioned, her voice cracking and breaking. Her cheeks were hot and wet. Her lips were bitten raw. Oh, if Grandpa Young could see her now.
The man on the other side of the line stitched his brows together and his jaw dropped. "Sweetheart, no. He- just..."
"He's a good dad to Claire," she noted sadly. "I've seen it. He takes her on walks through the park with Maya. He goes to every doctor's appointment he can. He's already looking at kindergarten programs and she's, what, like three?" Harper shook her head and lifted herself off of the small rug that she had been laying on in the middle of her room. She sat up, staring at the pictures that had been pinned to a corkboard along with assignment dates and maps. There was one of her, her dad, and Emily when she was little. It was Halloween and she went as a vampire. She had to be scary. Emily was a fairy princess.
"He loves you, Harper," her grandpa pleaded but it fell on deaf ears that had already known the truth.
She shook her head. "He has a funny way of showing it, doesn't he?" She questioned rhetorically. Harper didn't wait for an answer before hanging up. She had to get ready for school anyway. The world doesn't stop for one sad little girl.
The ride to school was fast and reckless. She even thought she knicked the car next to her when she parked but luckily it was just a previous scratch given she was sure her powder blue jeep wasn't purple. She slammed the door shut and roughly grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat.
She didn't even notice the group of guys in the bed of Jared's ancient beat-up truck staring at her as she passed in a hurry.
"Am I going crazy," Quil began warily looking between Paul and Embry, "or did she look like she was crying?"
(She hadn't known that she was.)
Embry jumped down from the bed of the truck and would have gone after her if it wasn't for the vice-like grip Paul had on his forearm. Embry lowered his eyes to look at Paul's hand before trying to tug away to no avail. "Dude," Embry hissed out as he struggled against him. The others averted their eyes. "What's your deal?"
Paul sighed and shook his head. He had been over at Emily's today. He couldn't miss breakfast, not with the, uh, high metabolism that came with being a shifter. But he had heard it. He had heard her calling only to be met with a voicemail and a sharp pitched tone. He also heard her asking for a certain leech that they knew would be a problem at some point. They just hadn't expected it to be now.
"It's her dad-" Paul began and this was a mistake. As soon as the d-word left Paul's mouth Embry was all but thrashing to get out of his grip. Paul tightened it and grabbed his other arm too. "Listen, you obsessed little shit," the older wolf hissed out, stilling Embry's movements, "she called her dad and he hasn't been answering her." Embry widened his eyes and made a move to leave only for Paul to tighten his grip. They heard a crack and the rest winced while Embry yelped.
"Paul-" Seth began only to be cut off by the older wolf who had already started to set the bone in its place. Somehow the healing process hurt more than the injury itself.
"No, then she called Grandpa Young, you know him, the one who brings pumpkin bread," they all nodded except for Embry who glared at him like a petulant child. Paul still hadn't let go. "Yeah, and get this, she was asking about," he lowered his voice to whisper, "Mina."
They stilled, eyes wide and thoughts running rampant.
"She knows," Embry finally croaked out, doing what he does best, jumping to conclusions.
Jared and Quil both shook their heads while Jacob pouted. "There's no way," Quil said. His voice betrayed his thoughts as it shook nervously.
Embry shook his head and scowled at the ground before his face softened slightly, the corners of his lips coming up into a small smile. "Don't underestimate her," he warned. "She's smart," he finalized with a small nod.
Jared quirked his head, looking too much like a puppy. "But how much does she know?" He asked catching the confused glances of his packmates. "Does she know that Aminah's her mom and she's trying to get more information on her? Does she know that Aminah and Mina are the same person? Does she know that we're, y'know..."
They all nodded somewhat apprehensively while Embry gulped. "So, what do we do?" Jacob asked impatiently, his thoughts probably rotating around Bella in some way.
Seth smiled gleefully and excitedly. "Reconnaissance!" He exclaimed. The youngest was met with blank glares and furrowed eyebrows except for Embry who nodded.
"Spying?" Embry offered, gaining Seth's bashful nod in response. "Okay. Who's going to try to gain intel?"
They all turned to Embry, looking him up and down before quickly turning to the ever so bubbly sunshine and rainbows Seth Clearwater. He beamed at them while Embry looked betrayed, quickly swatting Paul on the shoulder with an indignant, "Hey!"
"What?" Jacob complained with an eyeroll. "They're related, and she's the nicest to him."
"Please," Seth begged, pushing his lower lip out in a pout and clasping his hands together.
Embry scowled at them but softened at Seth's puppy-dog eyes. Well... he- he couldn't say no and let out a groan. With a heavy sigh, he finally agreed with a begrudging, "Fine..."
Seth let out an ecstatic giggle and all but bounced away from the group, shouting over his shoulder, "Wish me luck."
Once he was out of sight they turned to each other, looking at one another apprehensively.
"He's gonna get torn apart, right?" Quil asked.
Paul nodded with an almost proud smirk displayed on his face. "Oh, absolutely, and I can't wait to watch." With that, he pulled Embry along with them as the two set out to watch the trainwreck that was Seth's half baked plan.
Harper was having a shit day and her first period hadn't even started. She wanted to bury herself in a pile of books and just not leave the library. Mrs. Walker, the librarian and Sage's grandma, would've understood. She had roughly thrown her backpack in a seat on one of the tables before rushing off to go through the stacks of books.
She started in the Quileute history section. A portion of the books held in La Push High's library was dedicated to the traditions, and legends of some of the more prolific tribes, including Harper's Makah tribe. Her fingertip lightly brushed against the signs as she read through the titles
Harper didn't get halfway through looking before she was interrupted by a sharp poke at her shoulder. She couldn't help the aggravated sigh that she let out. Her eyes closed lightly and she barely shook her head. Now was not the day to mess with her. Now was not the time. Harper slowly turned, glaring daggers at the smiling fourteen-year-old boy.
His grin slowly slipped off his face before coming back full force. "Hey, Harper! How's it going?" He asked jovially, his eyes left hers for a second and instead came to the books she was looking at. Oh. He quickly looked back to her dead stare and beamed at her.
"Fine," she shortly answered as she skimmed through the pages, looking for anything that could be of use.
"Cool. Coolcoolcoolcoocoocool." He paused eyes flicking around before seeing Embry and Paul peering at him through the bookshelves. Paul had a wide grin spread across his face and Embry looked upset. "So!" He exclaimed, suddenly very incredibly nervous. "Whatchya doing?" He winced as his question came out in a singsong tone.
Harper stilled and looked up at her younger cousin before shaking her head. "Doing some research for my Quilayute class," she lied, completely turning away from him and towards the book. She ran a hand through her hair before deciding to choose a book and hastily flipped through it.
Seth let out a breath of relief that he wasn't aware he had been holding. "Great, it's really cool to learn about the tribe," he began before hearing a sharp slap. He looked over Harper's shoulder to see Embry with his head in his hands and Paul shaking his head quickly. "I mean, but they're all the same, right? Like they all have the same gist and I'm sure there's uh, nothing of importance here, you could just, uh- look it all up online."
Unbeknownst to her younger cousin, she rolled her eyes. "Fascinating," she responded dully before loudly flipping the page. Seth winced before blabbering on about something Harper couldn't care less about because she found something important. Harper felt her lips pull into a grin as she read the sentence she had stopped on over and over again.
"Most of the Quileute Tribes' legends are orally told during their council meetings or written copies can be found in the council headquarters."
And Bingo was his fucking name-o.
Obnoxiously the girl rolled her eyes and pushed the book back into its spot before walking away. "You were right, Seth," she begrudgingly told him before shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair. "There was nothing," she groaned out. Harper quickly grabbed her bag and left the library in a hurry, running off to where Embry had assumed was their Biology class.
As soon as she had left the duo had slinked towards a grinning and proud looking Seth. "Did you see how quickly I saved that?" He boasted. "Who has two thumbs and just saved the day, this guy."
With a small smile, Embry lightly shoved Seth out of the way and quickly pulled the book Harper had been reading before skimming through it.
"Good job, runt," Paul commended. The insult barely dimmed Seth's proud look but the groan Embry let outdid.
"She was lying," he explained to the two confused boys who did the same thing Embry did when they found out. He pointed to the same sentence Harper had found and shoved it into their faces.
Seth looked aghast and seemed so ashamed of himself that Embry felt bad for even showing him. Paul, however, shrugged. "Is it really that big of a deal if Harper found out? If your mom found out?" Paul asked rhetorically.
A flash of hurt crossed Embry's face as he nodded quickly. "Yes, yes it would be!" He whisper-shouted at Paul, not bothering to look at the way too distraught Seth. "Bella got involved in the supernatural and now everyone's at risk. I just don't want Harper getting involved in this bullshit. And don't even get me started on my mom."
He had been continuously grounded and yelled at since his transition. He had been scowled at, cried at, and ignored at one point. She did it for a day before pleading for him to open up to her, to tell her what was wrong. It felt like his lips were cemented together. He felt like he was going to puke rather than explain to his mom that he was actually a giant furry beast.
Paul looked at him incredulously, his eyebrows raised to his hairline in disbelief. "You act like she wasn't already involved since her first day here. Since the day she stepped into the woods. Since she saw that leech bitch and Sam's print. Since you fucking imprinted on her," Paul chastised with something akin to a glower. He moved closer with every word and Embry moved back. Each word was like a strike to him. The truth hurts, doesn't it? He paused before letting out the final blow, neither of them aware that Seth had slipped away quickly, already anticipating the fight that would come out of it. "Since Sage became one of those bloodsuckers!" His voice had reached a low and deadly pitch.
Embry stumbled back at him and looked at the ground in shame. "I-" he began before getting choked up. He knew why he was being emotional, why he was sad instead of furious. Because Paul was right. He didn't realize he had started crying until the tear trail down his cheek. "I just want to protect her," he whispered out. "And I- I can't. She hates me, Paul. And I just want her to like me. I don't want to be a freak."
Paul looked shocked, feeling regret and shame before opening up his arms somewhat uncomfortably. So Embry hugged him tightly while Paul loosely let his arms hold the younger boy. "Hey... it's okay?" He sounded unsure of how to comfort Embry and Embry would've laughed if he wasn't so distraught.
"I'm so stupid!" Embry's muffled voice cried out.
Paul laughed and soon enough Embry was shakily laughing as well, wiping his eyes and nose as the two separated. "Yeah, you should prioritize your brain cells over your fear of rejection," Paul teased.
Embry looked offended for a second before laughing with Paul, albeit a bit more uncomfortably than the junior at the truth in his words. Paul clapped Embry on the shoulder, something he did often to the people he was close to. "Yeah," Embry agreed with a watery smile and nodded. The warning bell rang and he hastily wiped his eyes and nose with the sleeve of his threadbare long-sleeved shirt.
Paul looked over him, checking that he was okay before nodding to himself. "Make sure she's okay," he told Embry before heading off in the opposite direction.
Embry nodded in agreement and set off towards his biology classroom. His eyes immediately met Quil's in the first row, each of them displaying some sort of shock or worry. Why? Because Harper Young wasn't in her seat. She wasn't writing down something in her notebook and she most certainly wasn't discussing something with Mr. Hunt.
Embry uncertainly took his seat after Mr. Hunt cleared his throat, gesturing his head to Embry's assigned seat. They waited. The bell rang. They waited and waited. Neither Embry nor Quil could pay attention to the lesson. Their thoughts that were running rampant were as far away from biology as possible. Instead, they were focused on the ever so troublesome Harper.
Because she never showed and Harper doesn't miss class. Ever.
This was a known objective truth to the universe. Like the sky is blue or the acceleration due to gravity is always 9.81 m/s ². But Harper had decided that enough was enough. She had ended up walking out of the school moments before the warning bell had rung. She had already entered her car and peeled out of the parking lot of the school.
Harper looked up at the small home with a small cocky smirked fixed on her face. She was going to figure out this bullshit if it killed her. With that, she knocked on Billy Black's door. He was the council leader. He told the legends. If anyone he would know. And yeah, he was without a doubt going to tell Sam and Emily about her skipping school. But it was a risk she was going to have to take. She was determined and if she wasn't going to find out who the fuck Aminah Murray was and what she was she was going to figure out this wolf business.
Because Harper doesn't like being wrong.
She nodded at Billy Black who opened the door before narrowing her eyes slightly. "Hey, Mr. Black," she smiled lightly before letting her face slip back into seriousness. "Nice to see you." She didn't allow him to finish before she said, "We need to talk."
Billy furrowed his eyebrows but maneuvered himself around so she could walk into the rust-red home. "Shouldn't you be in school, girl?" He questioned her.
Harper let out a sarcastic laugh before going back into her serious tone. "Don't call me 'girl', Mr. Black."
"Only if you call me Billy, Harper," he replied, holding out her arm to a seat at the less than grand kitchen table.
The teen in question nodded before sitting down and clasping her hands together. She pressed her full lips together in a thin line and stitched her eyebrows together, her face something akin to utmost concentration. Billy had an inkling.
"Tell me about the Quileute legends, Billy... Please?"
***
Paul in the second chapter: flexing in front of Harper because 'it's not my fault nobody told me she was cute'
Paul in the twenty-third chapter: calling Embry out on his bullshit because she's practically his sister even if she doesn't consider him to be her brother.
That's growth bby !!!! love to see it love to hear it. Also, men cry, Embry's stressed and angry and has no outlet for his emotions and he grew up with a mom and I'm just saying that tiffany call didn't raise a toxically masculine bitch. Ayo, also, comment headcanons you have about the pack, i wanna hear em.