This was originally going to be titled The Inconveniences of Imprinting, but I decided last-minute to go with The Heart Wants What It Wants. I hope you guys like it :)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight. I can only lay claim on Lena and the rest of the Fawling family, as well as a few random friends. Whoever you don't recognize is made up by me, and all the rest are owned by Stephenie Meyer.
The Heart Wants What It Wants
1. The Way Things Were
"I can't believe I'm actually saying this…" Lena Fawling states as her dark brown eyes scan the sheet of paper in her hands for the third time in a row, "but…you passed! I mean, you actually aced it. There isn't even a single thing to correct." She pauses, finally glancing up at the boy she's been tutoring the past couple of weeks, "Wait a minute. Did you cheat?"
Lena notices he's staring down at his lap in mild interest, paying her absolutely no mind at all. "Paul," She calls for his attention, eyeing him suspiciously, "Are you even listening to me? What are you looking at?" She reaches across the table and snags his phone right out of his hand. Her eyes narrow in anger at the thought that he might have actually been cheating on his practice test right in front of her, when she's taking time out of her busy schedule to ensure he passes his final exams, but then she glances at the screen. Her cheeks heat up in embarrassment and she immediately places the phone on the table in front of its owner.
"Well, at least I know you weren't cheating," She notes in amusement, peeking across the table at Paul through thick eyelashes and wondering what his reaction will be.
Paul snorts, both at Lena's reaction to seeing a photo of one of her friend's in very little clothing, and at the notion that he'd found a way to cheat on a Geometry practice quiz she made for him. "Nope," He replies. "Does that mean I passed?"
"Ugh, you never listen to me," Lena complains, shaking her head. She reveals his quiz score for the second time, also showing him the worksheet for emphasis. "Yes, you passed. You got every answer right. I think you might actually understand Geometry now."
"Awesome," Paul sends his tutor a grateful smile, "My final for Geometry is on Monday. Hopefully I don't forget how to do all this shit by then."
"You won't forget," Lena insists, rolling her eyes. After all the hours she's spent going over Geometry theorems and equations with Paul, he better not forget what he learned in three days time. He came to her two weeks ago, begging her to help him study for finals otherwise he won't pass the 10th grade. First, she laughed in his face, because after all, that's what he'd have done to her. And what else are neighbors for except to make fun of them for your own amusement? But then she realized he'd never actually sincerely asked her for anything before, so she decided the nice thing to do would be try and help him.
Paul's cell vibrates loudly against the wooden kitchen table, and he casually picks it up. Before he has the chance to open the text message, Lena warns, "If that's Sera again, tell her to keep her damn pants on. We still have to go over the Biology practice before you can leave." She shudders at the thought that one of her best friends is currently sexting naughty pictures of herself to Paul Lahote. She knew Sera had a thing for Paul, but she didn't think she'd be inclined to send him pictures of herself in lacy purple lingerie. Where did she even get that from? And how did she have the guts to take picture like that in her parents' home? Sera Quinn's parents are really strict!
It wasn't a text from Sera this time, it was from Max. Paul groans, "Seriously, Lena? Come on, we can do your dumb science flashcards tomorrow. I told the guys I'd be home twenty minutes ago."
"First of all," Lena corrects, flipping her Biology book closed in the process, even though she had only just opened it, "Yes, I was being serious. Second, we have work tomorrow, and the last thing I want to do when I get out at 7 o'clock on Saturday night is wait around for you to finish working so we can study friggin' Biology. Third, why would you tell your friends you'd be home at five-thirty when you told me you were free to study until six?" She takes a breath, trying to calm herself down. She should know by now that Paul is totally unreliable, hence why he's failing three of his four major classes in school, and she shouldn't let herself get so worked up. It's not her problem if he has to repeat Grade 10. No one can say she didn't try and help him. And if he really wants to ditch the rest of his study session to hang out with his friends, then that's fine; it means she has more time to hang out with her boyfriend than she originally thought she'd have, and that's a definite positive.
"Sorry, I forgot," Paul shrugs, not seeming sorry at all. "And why can't we study at work? It's not going to be busy all day." It is her family's store, anyways. It's not like she's going to get in trouble. Saturday might be Fawling Market's busiest day, but there's still plenty of down-time.
She can see she's not winning this argument, so she gathers her notes and sticks them back in the blue folder she's been using specifically for studying for final exams. "Fine," She sighs, "Whatever. I don't really care." She stacks her Biology and then her Geometry books on top of the folder and gets to her feet. She's honestly surprised her siblings left her and Paul alone for as long as they have in the first place. Then again, tonight is Cody's second-to-last game of little league before the season ends, so maybe her mom took Camille and Maya with her to watch him play.
When she notices Paul hasn't moved from the table, she sends him a questioning look. "Can we still study on Sunday?" Paul wonders, looking semi-hopeful and also slightly guilty.
"I guess…" Lena answers slowly, "But besides Biology, what else is there to study for? You said you're getting a B in History, right?" Paul nods. "And you also said you're doing okay in English, so…?"
He winces, "Well…I thought I was doing okay in English. Turns out that book I never read is going to be on the final, so…"
"What book?" Lena asks in alarm. They read five books this year, and all of them are going to be on the final. How did Paul get away with not reading one of the books when that was basically all they did and talked about in class for months at a time? She wants to reach out and shake some sense in her stupid neighbor, but she doesn't think it'll do him any good.
Paul waves away her disapproving frown as he murmurs, "Oh, you know, the King of the Flies, or whatever."
Lena internally groans. "The Lord of the Flies," She corrects impatiently. "Why didn't you read it?" Out of all the books they read this year, she'd have guessed that one would be a book that could actually hold Paul's interest. All the guys in her English period said it was their favorite read. It's about a group of English schoolboys whose plane crashes during World War II, and they have to learn to survive on their own, and basically the entire book is full of anarchy and violence! What's not to like? Did Paul seriously read Animal Farm and not Lord of the Flies? Lena doesn't understand.
"It looked stupid," Paul says.
"You're gonna look stupid, sitting with all the sophomores when the rest of your friends are juniors!" Lena loses her temper momentarily and yells at him. She adds, "Sorry. Just, try and read the book, okay? It's actually good. I think you'll like it. Give it a chance."
"There's no way I can read the whole book in four days," Paul remains pessimistic.
"You have to at least try," Lena insists. "And don't use SparkNotes."
Upon glancing out the window over the kitchen sink and seeing three of Paul's jock friends loitering on his front porch, she suggests, "You should probably go. Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest are waiting for you." In her head, she ponders if it should actually be 'Dumb, Dumber, and Dumber-er', since Paul's probably 'Dumbest'. She doesn't think the other three are flunking out of the 10th Grade.
"Oh, yeah," Paul says, finally rising to his feet and gathering his very few belongings from the table-top. "Well, thanks. See you tomorrow, Fish Sticks." Then, he's out the door and jogging across the Fawling's yard to his own.
Fish Sticks? Lena can't help but face-palm at the idiocy of that old nickname. Is he really still calling her that? They were eight-years-old when he made it up, and it wasn't funny then. So, she refused to eat anything but fish sticks for dinner until she was almost ten, what's wrong with that? Just because the saying goes, "You are what you eat," does not mean Paul had to call her what she ate. Although now, looking back on it...Lena chuckles. It is kind of funny, she supposes. How did she survive on fish sticks for almost two years? And entrusting her secret with the idiot neighbor boy was clearly a mistake, as the nickname has lingered around for eight years now, but at least when Paul calls her Fish Sticks nowadays nobody knows what he's talking about. Nobody but Embry, and probably her cousin, River.
Now that her mind is on Embry, Lena pulls the cordless telephone off the wall and punches in her boyfriend's home phone number. It rings a few times before his mother answers, "Hello?"
"Hi Tiffany," Lena greets familiarly. "How are you?" She's known Tiffany Call since she was a baby, and the woman is like a second mother to her, especially since Lena's mother, Winona, and Tiffany are best friends.
"Hey Sweetie," Tiffany replies, sounding happy to hear from her, "I'm fine. I'm sure that's not why you called...?"
"You know I love talking to you, Tiffany," Lena says sweetly, "But I finished studying with Paul early, so I wanted to see if Embry could come over now. Is he home?"
"He's right here," Tiffany says, and then hands her son the phone. Embry puts it to his ear and says, "Hey."
"Hi," Lena smiles, feeling happier just hearing his voice. After a brief pause, she states, "Come over."
"Okay."
.
Lena hangs up the phone, still smiling, because that's what she always loved most about Embry. He doesn't ask questions, doesn't argue, just wants to see her as much as she wants to see him, always. They never grow tired of each other. For as long as she's known Embry, and that's basically forever, they've never argued or disagreed about anything. They were always smiling when they were together. Literally everyone who knew them thought they'd stay together throughout high school and beyond, one day getting married and having babies of their own. Their own mothers thought it would happen, and eagerly anticipated the day.
The only problem is that was the way things used to be...and things aren't that way anymore.
Author's Note: What do you think? I'm not sure I even like the end, but I didn't want the first chapter to be too long. More on Lena and her family will be explained next chapter. It's going to get much, much better from here, I can promise that. I've been playing this story out in my mind for months now. I may even post another chapter tonight. But it will most likely end up being tomorrow since I just started it.
Please Review! Any feedback is much appreciated :)