Author's Note: Leah needed some loving, obviously. This is going to be a fairly short fic- I'm thinking around five chapters- and it should be finished pretty quickly.
LOL sex jokes about Leah.
Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight world and all it's amazing characters. I own the original plot of this fanfiction, as well as my own original characters.
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1. Boyfriends
It was hard being the only girl; it was hard only having boyfriends. Although Leah did enjoy the gratuitous amount of time she spent with her 'boys', it was a simple fact that she often yearned for the company of people who would not burp at the dinner table and then laugh about it for the next three days. It would be so nice to have a friend who didn't dance to Justin Timberlake in their boxers, or eat gallons and gallons of brownie mix straight out of the bowl; it would be nice to have a female friend, a girl to confide in, someone to talk to. These were Leah's thoughts as she trailed behind her pack, arms crossed tight over her chest and scowling.
They had spent the afternoon in the theater, watching two and a half hours of the goriest bloodfest Leah had ever laid eyes on. She had squirmed in her seat, determined not to cover her eyes, for the longest time before eventually deciding to stake out in the bathroom until the movie was over, under the pretense of stomach problems. Leah was never one to admit that she wasn't as tough as the boys in her pack, even in matters of movie watching. Unfortunately, she had exited the bathroom some fifteen minutes later only to be jumped at by Jacob, who popped suddenly out from behind a corner with a guttural growl. Leah had screamed, throwing her hands forward in an attempt to fend him off, and he had laughed.
They were still giggling about it up ahead.
It wasn't that Leah didn't love her pack, because she did (in her own, bitter sort of way). They were all she had, they were her everything; she was closer to them than anyone else in the whole world, and she did enjoy their company- sometimes. The problem was that they were boys: nasty, immature, snot-nosed boys and Leah oftentimes felt like their reluctant babysitter. Not to mention, of course, that being tapped into their mind was completely disgusting. As a matter of fact, if Leah had to hear so much as one more perverted boy thought, she would snap. Honestly, they said she was bitter and mope-y, but they had no idea what she had to deal with on a daily basis.
"Come on, Leah," Embry called out cheerfully from up ahead, "We're getting slushies. Quil's going to snort his." Quil turned around long enough to give Leah a thumb's up.
What she would never admit was this: it was highly doubtful she would get along any better with a group of girls. Leah was not exactly very feminine; she had some rough edges that probably could use a bit of sandpapering. As a matter of fact, she was usually just as annoyed my females as she was by males. While boys were loud, perverted and gross, girls were petty, conniving and fake. Leah did not truly get along with anyone, but that was because she did not want to; she liked being difficult, in a twisted sort of way.
Tucking a strand of her short, unevenly cropped hair behind her ear, Leah picked up her pace. Quil snorting a slushie actually sounded sort of cool (although she'd whine about it being gross, to keep up appearances).
• • •
"What's the matter with Leah?" Embry grumbled to himself, rubbing his arm where she had punched him.
"The same thing that's always the matter with Leah," Quil said quietly with an impish grin, speaking lowly so that the female member, who was currently occupied in the bathroom, could not hear. Jacob gave him a low look. As the pack leader, he had taken on something of a silent resolve to make sure Leah didn't feel "too much like the odd man out". Little did he know, even the statement "odd man out' made Leah feel out of place.
They all recognized that she seemed to be getting better, if painfully slowly. She no longer tormented everyone else with memories of her heartbreak, instead focusing on petty insults, minor threats and constant challenges, as if to prove her worth. Although she always dragged behind, complaining, they knew she secretly loved it; that was the benefit of a hive mind.
"Let's not tag team Leah," Jacob said, poorly coming to her defense. "Think of how hard it must be to be in her position. She really misses her female friends, I think."
"She makes everything hard," Quil muttered to himself, his eyes looking almost fearfully at the women's bathroom. "And why's she always in the bathroom? I swear, if I have to hear about her women problems again."
The whole pack, including Jacob, groaned loudly. Last week, Leah had been on her period and it had been terrible. Not only had she complained even more often than before, she had eaten pretty much everything in sight (fortunately, the pack had learned to hide some of their goodies from her when it was 'that time of month'). She had been ornery, bitter and –worst of all- not the least bit discrete. While changed, she thought very clearly about her period and the pains it causes, going into careful detail. It was some kind of a sick joke to her. When she was in her human form, she continued to loudly voice every gory piece of information that came to mind.
"It's only once a month," Jacob said helplessly, "And she has to hear about all sorts of weird things about us."
"Nothing like that, though, that's just unnatural," Quil retorted.
"How do you think I feel?" Seth suddenly called, "She's my sister."
They all nodded sagely, agreeing that Seth had it the worst off.
"It's not like we can get rid of her," Embry said wisely. Even if they could get rid of her, they wouldn't want to; she made a pretty good Beta and could be a lot of fun, when the time was right.
"Maybe we could find her some girlfriends?" Seth asked hopefully, wanting to help. If Leah had some girls to talk about her problems with, maybe she would be more pleasant.
"No, that's no good," Quil said, dawn breaking on his face as an idea struck. "What she needs is a boyfriend."
"Err, I don't think she's ready for that- emotionally," Jacob said.
"She just hasn't found the right person yet," Quil said with a wave of his hand. "It's because she's always in La Push. If she was in college, or she traveled or something, this wouldn't be a problem; she should have a girl's day off."
"But she doesn't have any friends that are girls." Seth sounded exasperated. "That's the problem."
"A girl's day off, with just her, then," Quil tried. "We could pay for her to go to a spa in Port Angeles or something." And somehow, this made sense to the rest of the pack. It was well meaning of course- they just wanted their friend to be happy. Of course, being forced to go to a spa all by herself was likely to make Leah just the opposite, especially since she wasn't really a spa kind of girl. The whole ordeal would probably just make her feel more estranged.
They quieted down as Leah regally exited the gas station bathroom, her hands swaying from side to side. She turned, suddenly, aware that her pack all had identical, impish grins on. "What did I miss?" she asked, almost scared by what she saw.
If only she knew.
