ShaSha's P.O.V.
Friday
I hopped off the plane and squinted through the rain and at the forest. Headlights flashed from inside the darkness and I let out a sigh of relief and annoyance. About time, I thought. Two figures appeared on either side of me, both carrying heavy suitcases, as the familiar black corvette came into view. The drivers, a tall dark-skinned man with curly hair, got out and popped the trunk open for us. We gratefully shoved out over weighted bags into it and we all squeezed into the back seat. The seats were soft and leather and I was in desperate need of a warm bed…and a shower. But they were hard to enjoy as well as the soft jazz music when I was wedged between two bickering women.
"Why did you have to pack so much stuff? I almost broke my back carrying your shoe bag!" Eryn was saying to Melissa. Mel was playing with a strand of her auburn hair and she couldn't help but grin when she looked at us. For some reason, I always made her laugh whenever she looked at me.
"A girl can never have too many shoes, Misses One Pair." Mel was talking directly to Eryn now. Eryn just stared back at her, slightly rubbing her sore back.
"Besides, my shoe bag isn't anywhere near as heavy as your book bag! Are you some kind of philosopher or something?" The rest of the ride was silent. I found myself staring aimlessly out the window and into the black night. My two buddies and I were visiting our old friend Blake who lived in Forks, Washington. She and I go way back to the 1st Grade when I accidentally tripped over her dumb jump-rope and twisted my ankle. As for the two idiots squashing the life out of me and chastising each other's fashions, Blake and I became fast friends with them in the 7th Grade and the four of us have been inseparable ever since. We were all heartbroken when we heard Blake was moving and I even suggested kidnapping her from her parents. But now that she lives with her totally awesome aunt, we can go visit her and spend the rest of her senior year with her at the La Push High School.
Boy I hope they have food there.
We arrived half an hour later at the Tenor residence and I smiled slightly as I peaked over Mel's shoulder at the two story white house. It looked modern enough even though Blake's aunt was a huge antique fan. Through the rain the three of us spotted a tall figure with pale skin waving at us from the open doorway, a huge grin on her face. She was in sweats and a t-shirt that was tied up in the back and her hair was in a pony-tail. How professional of her, I thought to myself. But the one thing that made my guess of who the person was true was the huge grin that she wore as we quickly filed out of the car.
It was Blake.
I felt my breath slowly slip away from me again as two arms locked around me, pulling me into a great big hug. It didn't help when I felt two more pairs of arms circle around me, blocking all means of escape. The owners of the arms didn't help my situation either when they both shrieked,
"Blake!"
"Mel, Eryn, ShaSha! Oh it's so good to see you!" Blake replied in the same high pitched voice. She was about two inches shorter than me although she had a death grip on me and I struggled for breath. Only now just realizing my pain, she let go of me and Mel and Eryn continued to strangle her with their own hugs. I laughed with them and I was happy to know our little reunion has lasted for at least two minutes until Blake wiggled out of Eryn's arms and said cheerily,
"I'm so glad you made it! I was afraid the endless rain would scare you away." Just then I realized it was still pouring out. I just stared up at the sky with a curious expression.
"Speaking of rain, is it possible that you could let your dear old soaked friends in for a cup of hot coco?" I inquired. Blake didn't hesitate to practically shove us through her front door and, thanks to Melissa's semi-high-heels, we all tumbled onto the couch and poor Eryn ended up on the floor. But Mel didn't seem to notice because she stood right back up again and jabbed a finger out the door and at the car and said frantically,
"What about my shoes? They'll be ruined if they are out in the rain!"
But Eryn and I knew better because her huge leopard spotted suitcase full of shoes was tucked safely inside the truck, underneath the rest of our belongings. We both knew she just wanted to try more of her shoes on because some of them she had bought on the way here. There was no point in trying them on in the plane because she would be sitting most of the time anyway. But Blake didn't look as concerned and she shut the door, not once glancing at the car.
"Don't worry about it Mel. One of the guys can grab your stuff later." She said, smiling reassuringly. But I didn't think it was necessary because all of a sudden Mel didn't seem to care about her shoes anymore. She was staring at Blake with her jaw hanging open slightly.
"Guys?" Mel repeated. "As in boys?"
"Yeah…" Blake said, cautiously. I didn't blame her because I wasn't too thrilled about the look in Mel's eye either when she said that. Eryn was standing next to the much taller red-head in an instant with the same look.
"You know boys here? Where are they from?" Eryn asked.
"Um….La Push. I go to school there, remember?"
"Are they cute?" Mel asked, ignoring her question.
"Well…" Blake began.
"What do they look like? Are they the same color as ShaSha?" Eryn interrupted her.
"Yes, kind of." I guess that's probably true. My skin is kind of a faded russet-color and my eyes are brown. But I'm not a Native American, I'm an African American. I was lucky in this case and I tried to imagine the three of my friends at the high school filled with girls and boys that looked sort of like myself. The three of them would stick out like sore thumbs.
"Heh. Good luck with that." I said from my seat on the couch, half smothered into its softness. They all stared at me with amusement in their eyes and Eryn said,
"What's that supposed to mean?" She knew what I meant and she had a look of mock anger on her face. I shrugged and grinned, the picture of them still painted in my mind.
"Nothing. Just that the three of you could pass as sisters. Triplets even, if you look at it from far away. What, it's true! It's not my fault you all suffer from albinism." Mel stuck her tongue out at me and Eryn rolled her eyes. Blake laughed and went into the kitchen to start up on our hot coco. Probably trying to get away from Mel and Eryn's probing questions. I quickly got up and followed her with the two nut-balls behind me. I sat on a stool while Mel and Eryn lounged near the kitchen table. Blake poured water into four cups and stuffed them into the microwave. There was a comfortable silence in the room until Mel suddenly remembered what they had been talking about before. Her attention turned to Blake who tried her best not to notice the red-head staring at her.
"Sooo……you like any of these guys?" The sly fox said causally. I guess I wasn't really expecting that answer either because Blake had taken a test sip from one of the cups to see how hot it was and warm water sprayed out in my direction. As if I wasn't drenched enough as it is.
"What?" Blake asked, bewildered. I wondered if they were that good-looking. The three of them all had strange tastes in men and whenever we watched a movie, Blake and Mel always took the hero's side while Eryn and I had the hots for the bad-boys carrying bazookas. Strange, right?
"What are their names?" Eryn asked, trying to hide her laugh but failing miserably. I'd been wondering that myself. Blake seemed to take that as an opening for escape and she quickly said, turning her back to us and focusing on the hot coco,
"Well…there's Sam and his fiancée Emily, Quil, Embry, Seth and Leah Clearwater, and Jacob Black. There's two other guys but I can't think of their names." Blake said, handing us our hot chocolate and keeping one for herself. There was a small silence in the room as we all swirled the tiny marshmallows around in our cups. Suddenly Blake looked up.
"Oh! And there's Paul." She said. I glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Paul?"
"Yeah! How could I forget someone like him?" She said, mock astonishment in her voice. Then she chuckled. I stared at her.
"Someone special?" I teased. Blake shook her head quickly.
"Not even close." There was another small pause. Finally I chugged down the whole cup and tossed the glass in the sink, got up, and stretched. The three of them glanced at me, still sipping silently at their drinks. Slow pokes, I thought.
"I'm gonna go take a shower if that's alright with you?" I said, looking at Blake. She shrugged and I left the kitchen for a brief moment. I came back in and my recently dried off clothes were soaked again and I was carrying a bag full of clothes.
I ran upstairs and practically dived into the shower, making sure every speck of dirt was off of my tan skin. I got out fifteen minutes later, a burgundy colored towel wrapped tightly around me, and ran into a spare room I had specifically claimed even before we were off the plane. It was a simple room with a bed, a nightstand with a lamp on it, a desk with a bunch of old papers on it, and a small closet that would probably fit all of my belongings. I quickly transitioned into my favorite yellow silk shorts with frogs on it and put on a tank top. I leaned out the door and called a goodnight to my friends who were all already locked in their rooms, deep in thought probably.
I shut off my lamp and quickly crawled into bed and stared up at the ceiling. I let out an exhausted sigh and pulled the covers up to my shoulder and closed my eyes.
Paul, I thought. What a dumb name….