A/N
Gracie has had a hard life. Her only escapes have been cheerleading and her friend Vivi. Embry's life hasn't changed much since Breaking Dawn, patrolling with Jake's pack, and hiding his secret from his mom. When he imprints on Gracie he isn't exactly ready to throw everything away for her though. This story will show their up's and down's as they get to know each other, the good, bad, and ugly.
Disclaimer: I own nothing :)
…C'est la Vie…
Embry POV~
The only thing I could smell was leech, it was everywhere. I was running in circles trying to find the source, but to no avail.
'Embry! Stop running, and just look!' Sam ordered in my head, 'The sooner you calm down and pay attention the sooner this will be over!'I could feel my brothers running faster when more of the bloodsuckers came into my view. Three of them launched themselves at me.
The last thing I remember is the pure stench of them all before I blacked-out.
"Shit, he's been out for a while!"
That voice sounds familiar. Aw, shit. Damn leeches got me. I struggled to open my eyes and heard Jake and Quil sigh with relief when they finally cracked open.
"What happened to the leeches?" I asked immediately.
Everyone exchanged glances before Paul spoke up, "When we showed up, they'd already gone."
"Yeah, we were going to track them, but we had to take care of you first," Sam put in. I groaned, great so they were still out there because of me.
"Well, we have to go after them!" I yelled. No way were they getting away from me again.
"Embry, they left our land, they ran east, all the way to Florida according to Alice. They're not our problem anymore," Quil informed me.
"So, what? We just let the defenseless humans fend for themselves?!" I asked angrily. Jake and Quil exchanged wary glances with each other.
"Well," Jake started, "We get that your mad and all about the leeches getting you, but is it really worth it to cross the country just to get them?"
I looked at them all angrily, "Come on! There's more than enough of us here to keep the land safe if I go!" I yelled, "It's something I have to do." I added quietly.
Sam sighed, "If you go, you're not going alone." I looked over at Quil and Jake. They both looked unsure, no doubt because of their damn imprints.
"Guys, think about it, if you come with me to get the vamps, you have the satisfaction of knowing that they can never come near Claire or Nessie again," Their eyes widened as they considered it.
"We're in!" They yelled together.
Sam groaned, he'd obviously been expecting them to say no, "Alright, well we need to get things set up, for your little quest."
I looked at him questioningly, "What's there to set up? We'll just run down, rip 'em up and run back."
"But, what if it takes longer to find them or destroy them? We need to figure out an excuse for you to stay there," he thought for a moment, "Do you have any relatives in Florida?"
"Umm, I'm not really sure. My mom would probably know though, I'll ask her tonight." Because that wouldn't be awkward at all, living with my family, who are basically strangers.
I ran home to my mother, wow how pathetic does that sound? I phased in the woods behind my house and yanked my shorts on before running up the steps into the house. My mom looked up as I walked over to her.
"What's up, sweetie?" She asked as I sat down across from her at the table.
"Do we have any relatives on the Florida?"
She looked up confused, "Actually, yes! My distant cousin on my mother's side. Let's see she'd be my third cousin twice removed, I think," She paused, "Why the sudden interest, Em?"
"Well, I was actually thinking of going out there for a little bit, you know see some more of the world, and I figured it'd be easier if we had family out there." I lied quickly.
"Oh, well that's wonderful! I'll call Carol right now! I'm sure she'd be happy to have you. But, are you sure that you really want to go all the way down to Florida, though? How long are you planning on going anyway? If it's long you'll still need to go to school, you know."
"I don't know how long yet, so I guess just sign me up or whatever as far as school goes. But, I think it'll be good for me to get out of this little town for a while,"
"Alright, I'll go call. But I'm sure Carol would love to have you," She got up and grabbed to phone before looking for her address book for the number, "We haven't talked in a while, I wonder how she's doing."
I sat at the table while she called, unaware that I could hear the whole conversation. It went like this:
Mom: Carol! How are you and the kids?
Carol: Umm, I'm sorry who is this?
Mom: It's Michelle! Your distant cousin?
Carol: Oh Michelle! God, it's been so long since I saw you!
Mom: I know! So, how have the kids been?
Carol: Amazing! I have all the girls doing cheerleading and Josh is doing football. Cassie gets to cheer for him at all his games, it's so cute! How's your son been, Embry right?
Mom: Yes, Embry's been good, and that's actually why I called. Embry was wondering if he could come out and stay with you for a little while, just to get to know you, and see then
Carol: Um... Well, um I'm not sure that would be too good an idea. I've already got a full house, and with Vivi, Brianne, and Alani all competing this year things are going to be very hectic around here
Mom: Well, surely you can find some time to meet Embry, he really wants to see more of the world than this little
Carol: Well, I guess he could come... When should we be expecting him?
Mom: How about on the 22nd? Is that okay?
Carol: Sure, but warn him, we will be very busy around then with competition being the next
Mom: I'm sure he won't mind, maybe he'll even go to watch the girls.
The entire time I sat there wondering how my mom didn't notice that Carol sounded like a total bitch. But, maybe it was just me. Mom walked into the room smiling and told me that I'd be leaving in a week and that she had gone online and had my ticket and everything. And now there's no backing out, I have to go stay with some random family of six, in their supposedly crowded house, and watch a bunch little brat's jump around in skirts and look like sluts. Fantastic.
"Well, I'm going to go tell Jake and Quil that I'm going. I'll see you later," I told her as I walked out the door, careful not to mention anything about Sam. She still thought I was involved in a gang.
"Have fun! Tell them I said, 'Hi!'" She yelled after me. I went back into the woods and stripped down, tying my shorts to my leg before taking off running for Sam's house. When
I got to Sam's I barged in and took a seat at their table as the pack came in and lounged around the kitchen.
Sam spoke first, "So? Do you have anywhere to go?"
"Yep! I get to stay with my mom's bitchy third cousin and her five kids in their crowded house. I leave next week." Jake and Quil looked at me, "You guys will have to just camp out in the woods or something. Unless you randomly found out you have relatives out in Florida too."
Jake rolled his eyes, "Yeah, because that happens all the time!"
"Hey, hey now! No need for hostility!" I mock-scolded him. He gave me a look that clearly said fuck off. Some people are so touchy!
Mom pulled up to the airport in Seattle, I could already sense that this would be difficult.
Sure enough, "Oh, Embry! Are absolutely sure you want to go?" I mentally rolled my
eyes.
"Yes, mother. I'm a big boy I'll be fine."
She sighed before unlocking the doors and popping the trunk for me. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and climbed out and grabbed my bags. I went through security and settled in my seat, squished in the middle of two people who apparently knew each other. But after almost barfing when the plane took off and the people bickering around me, the plane ride wasn't too bad.
When I finally stumbled off the plane at the Orlando International Airport, I glanced around for someone with with my skin. I realized almost instantly that, that wasn't going to work seeing as how, unlike Washington, not everyone here was completely pale. There were tons of darker-skinned people like me, along with people of basically every ethnicity.
Things couldn't ever be easy could they?
Finally I spotted a women with tan skin and my mother's eyes watching me, not even bothering to approach me, even though she obviously knew it was me. Did I not nail the bitch part? I walked cautiously over to her and asked, "Carol?" She simply nodded before turning around to get my bags from the conveyer belt.
The ride home was to say the least, awkward. We barely talked, but I did find out my cousins' names. The oldest one was about a year younger than me(16) and was named Vivi, then there were the twins, Alani and Brianne who were both 9, then Cassie and Josh, who were 6 and 7. All that I concluded about that was that, damn Carol got busy!
We arrived at the house bigger then me, Jake, and Quil's houses put together. Oh yeah, I'm sure it's very crowded in there. When we walked in I could hear a girl screaming, most likely Vivi, about someone stealing her lollipops. Why the hell does she care that much about a couple of suckers? We heard her stomp around for a minute before we heard two younger girls scream, obviously the twins.
"Give them back, you little brats!" We heard Vivi screamed at the twins, before Carol decided to intervene.
"Vivi! Stop trying to kill your sisters! Alani, Brianne give your sister back her damn lollipops! Why you would want them I don't even know," I looked at her confused, they were 9 what was so weird about them wanting suckers?
"Lollipops are like a second pair of underwear that cheerleaders wear over their real underwear so, when they jump around and stuff their underwear doesn't actually show," I must have made a face or something, because she just rolled her eyes before going upstairs and telling the kids to come downstairs. They all filed down the stairs slowly, none of them looking at me. So bitchiness is hereditary, who knew.
"Embry this is Vivi, Alani, Brianne, Ashley, Josh," She said pointing to each of them in turn. The most I could conclude was that me, Vivi, and the twins all looked exactly alike, and the other two must look like their father. I also saw that Vivi and the twins were dressed way to inappropriately for girls their age. They shouldn't dress like that until they're at least 19.
They each gave a little hello, except for Vivi who just looked me up and down and snorted, before pulling out her phone and leaving the room, "Brianne, Alani! You better get ready now, if you don't want to be late for practice, which wouldn't be good considering competition's tomorrow," she called over her shoulder. The twins jumped up like someone lit a fire under their asses and ran after their sister.
"Shit! I forgot they all had practice!" She turned to me, "Say Embry, could you drive them to their practice? You just have to drop them off and chill out in the lobby for a little while."
"Umm, well how do I get there?"
She gave me the first real smile I'd seen from her, "Vivi can tell you how to get there! Thank you, I would never be able to get them all where they needed to go!"
I smiled back just as the girls came back downstairs all wearing shorts, t-shirts, and Uggs, and carrying their purses and these weird red boxes. Vivi grabbed a pair of sweatpants hanging off the back of the couch and slipped them over her shorts before walking outside to the car, with the twins following her. It was like they were clones.
Driving there only took about 15 minutes and when we got there the girls all ran in and into what I assume was the gym. I stopped inside the lobby and sat down in one of the chairs getting settled. I could hear people yelling on the other side of the door, and focused on what they were saying all I heard was someone yell, "Lemme take my pants off first, God!"
What. The. Hell.
I peeked inside the door and saw that, thankfully, everyone had their pants on, and it looked like Vivi and some other girl her age were jumping around, but hitting poses in midair. It was actually kind of cool. I saw the other girl turn her head towards me and I jumped back to my seat in the lobby.
I watched as all the little girls who had been watching Vivi and her friend filed out the door and stared at me as their parents arrived to take them home, but Alani, Brianne, and Vivi stayed in there. After most of the little girls left a bigger group of cheerleaders, a lot of which were surprisingly male, who all looked about Vivi's age came in talking and laughing. I went into the bathroom so I wouldn't have to sit there while they stared at me, and soon enough they all went into the gym.
I took a nap for about an hour and a half until I heard a big group of parents coming in, they, of course, stared at me for a few minutes before going into the gym. I followed them to see what was going on. The coaches approached me and said that only friends and family of the cheerleaders could come in here. As I tried to explain to the coaches I could here all of the girl cheerleaders whispering to each other about me. They called me, banging? What the hell? I gave them all a nasty look, the freaking plastics.
After I finally convinced the coaches that I was related Vivi, they told them to begin. They all went into positions, waiting for something and one girl was like on top of me she was so close. She had an amazing scent though...
All of the sudden, music loud enough to burst my ear drums started up and the girl in front of me turned to the front and all I could see were her eyes. They were amazing, hazel, but with different colored flecks that seemed to change color as she moved, and then they disappeared. I searched the mat for her and saw her do a bunch of these weird twisty back flips. Then a few guys grabbed her feet and threw her into the air and then catch her again so it looked like she was standing on their hands.
The music shut off and I watched as she was thrown up again and landed almost laying down in the girls' arms. She looked up and smirked at me and my obviously shocked face and ran jumped onto the trampoline and soared about 20 feet in the air. And I may have given a slightly unmanly yelp when she did.
I realized about five minutes late that I had imprinted and my thoughts started whirling. Of course I have to imprint on some brainless cheerleader. She'd never even like me anyway... not that I like her! She's probably stupid or something, I walked into the lobby mildly pissed.
"Come on Gracie!" Alani and Brianne called. At the same freaking time.
I heard someone giggle and looked up to see my imprint walking up to the twins and say, "Coming, coming! You know girls, beauty can't be rushed." Her name's Gracie! It's such a beautiful name, too... The girls laughed as they followed me onto the parking lot.
"Um, what the hell kind of car is that?!" I heard Gracie ask nastily. I wasn't going to bother explaining to her that it wasn't my actual car just a rental, but whatever.
"Could you not talk like that in front of the girls? You're not being a very good influence," I informed her. She raised her eyebrows and looked at me with eyes that spelled 'death'.
"I don't think you should start with the whole bad influence game. You don't even know the girls! Tell me Embry, How are you related to Vivi and them anyway?"
Shit was it third cousins four times removed or fourth cousins three times removed?! "Umm, wel-"
"That's what I though," She said snottily, "Why don't you just try to get this piece of crap running and get us home? Oh, and try not to crash, guys with as much air in their head as you have shouldn't be allowed to ride in a car, let alone drive one!" Of course my imprint has to be a bitch.
The girls piled into the car and I asked where Gracie lived. Vivi told me just to take her to their house. When I wondered out loud why Vivi pulled out her phone and started texting furiously before saying, "She needs to stay at our house so she can get ready for competition with me. Her parents can't help her get ready, so my mom does, okay?" Gracie was actually quiet throughout all that but when I looked at her she was just looking out the window. She looked beautiful when she was thinki- STOP! I don't want to love her!
We pulled up to the house and Gracie and the girls climbed out just as Carol ran out and hugged Gracie, she looked like she was shaking. I heard her whisper to Gracie, "Don't worry you can stay here as long as you need! I'll have the girls and Embry give you some distance too."
Gracie whispered back a quiet 'thanks' before running into the house. I looked questioningly at Carol, but she just shook her head, and her and the girls went inside. While I sat there confused, and praying that nothing was wrong.
A/N
Okay that's one chapter down! I would love it ever so much if you could find it in your heart to leave me a nice looong review! I'll see if I can give you a quick update. By the way, if you want to see the type of stuff Gracie's team is doing, I would suggest looking up Top Gun Allstars on youtube. There's a really good video of them from NCA Nationals, I think it's the second video there. Maybe I'll put a link to it on my profile... Check it out, they do some pretty insane stuff.
~Angelic-Story