The obnoxious ringtone my mother had set for herself on my phone woke me up. I groaned and reached over for the shiny new iPhone I'd gotten for my birthday.
"Hello?" I murmured. I reached over to grab my glasses and slid them onto the bridge of my nose. "Mom, it's like six in the morning."
"I'm sorry, baby!" she replied. "I completely forgot about the time change."
My mom had been calling me at least once a day since my sister left for her honeymoon. Bella's remote location made it near impossible for her to get cell reception and Mom was feeling lonely without her. So naturally, she called the other daughter constantly to see what was happening on my side of the country.
"How's Jacksonville?" I asked, turning over onto my back.
"Warm." I groaned.
I missed the sun. I missed the warm Florida air. I missed my mom.
The thing that surprised me the most was that even though I missed all of those things I was starting to become extremely attached to Forks. My dad was amazing company. He knew when to be around and when to give me time on my own. Sue was around a lot and I was pretty sure I had gained fifteen pounds in two weeks from her cooking. Seth and Leah were pretty fun to be around when they weren't fighting. I'd even made it down to La Push a few times to see Jacob.
"I'll talk to you later, when you're conscious." I chuckled. "I love you, baby."
"I love you too, Mom." I hung up and fell back onto my pillows.
I took over Bella's room. It wasn't like she really needed it anymore now that she was married. Charlie and I made a big project out of it. We repainted the walls and replaced the bed sheets. The room transformed from Bella's to mine.
"Soph?" I rolled out of the bed and opened the door.
Charlie waited outside in the hallway for me and smiled gently. "I'm headed to La Push for a little while, wanna tag along?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Let me get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs in five."
"I'll time you, kid." He winked.
I hurried to my closet and pulled on a pair of black leggings. I buttoned an oversized plaid shirt on and then shoved my feet into a pair of riding boots. I threw my hair up into a pony tail as I bounded down the stairs.
"Going for the four eyes look today?" Dad joked as we climbed into the cruiser.
"Is that your attempt at a joke, Dad, because I'm pretty sure the four eyes thing stopped being affective twenty years ago." I smirked back.
Charlie chuckled and shook his head. We spent the remainder of the drive in silence. It wasn't awkward. Although I was much more like Mom, I could stand the silence better than she ever could.
I drummed my fingers on the door along to the song playing softly over the radio. As we passed onto the reservation I glanced out the window. I sat up straight when I saw a blur of color amongst all of the green. Dad glanced over at me and raised his eyebrow. I sighed and sat back in my seat. I was exhausted, clearly I was seeing things.
"Sofa!" I rolled my eyes at Jacob as he yelled at me from his garage.
I turned to glare playfully at my dad as he chuckled and headed into the house. I walked across the yard and over to the garage. I stopped in the doorway when I realized there were other people in there with him. I chewed on my lip nervously.
"Sofa, you've met Quil and Embry, right?" he asked as he gestured to two of the guys I remembered from the wedding.
"Um, not really." I replied as I stepped into the garage. "I just remember an incredibly awkward standoff in the woods with my sister and brother-in-law." I smirked and walked over to lean against his car.
Jacob was leaning over the hood messing with the engine. He sighed and leaned up from the engine to give me a look. I only shrugged back. It didn't take a genius to know that Jake had feelings for Bella. It was incredibly obvious. Quil and Embry were both snickering to themselves. Embry looked over at me with that same meaningful look he gave me the night of the wedding. I wasn't sure what he was trying to get across with that look and it was incredibly frustrating. It seemed like he was trying desperately to tell me something but couldn't find the words to say it.
"Have you talked to her?" Jake asked.
"Nope." I replied, switching my weight over to my other foot. "Cell reception is crappy on a remote island in the middle of the ocean."
"So you know where they are?" I nodded.
When Edward and Bella first left for their honeymoon I had no idea where they were going. No one told me because I'm absolutely terrible at keeping secrets from Bella. I probably would've ruined it in the first fifteen minutes of knowing.
"Isle Esme." I shook my head. "Who owns an entire freaking island?" I turned to see all three of them with wide eyes. "Yeah, that was my reaction too."
"Has she talked to anyone?" he asked.
"I think they have some way of communicating with the Cullen's." I shrugged. "Alice texted me the other day and told me Bella said hi."
Jacob frowned and then leaned back down to inspect the engine. I sighed and stood from my position against the car. I walked over to the bench Quil was sprawled on and plopped down next to him. He grinned at me, but didn't say anything.
I spent the next few hours in the garage with them. Quil spoke for everyone mostly. He was loud and joked a lot about being in love with my sister. I knew it got on Jake's nerves at first, but eventually he started laughing along with everyone else. Embry kept quiet most of the time. He just kept looking at me with that same love-struck gaze the entire time. If it were anyone else I might've been creeped out, but it was somehow really endearing coming from Embry.
"As fun as this is, I'm gonna go for a walk." I stood from my squished position in between Quil and the wall.
Quil protested at first, but let me go with a wink after Embry offered to walk with me. The two of us walked in silence for the most part down the street and towards the beach. When we got there I unzipped my boots and left them near a piece of driftwood. Embry watched me curiously as I skipped over towards the water. I pulled my leggings up to my knees and splashed my way through the shallow waves.
"You're gonna catch pneumonia, Sophie!" Embry chuckled as he walked over towards me.
"Come out here!" I grinned back. "We can suffer together."
Embry grinned and kicked his sneakers off. He ran out and wrapped his arms around me. I squealed as he spun me around. The cold water nipped at my feet, but I hardly noticed. I placed my hands on Embry's shoulders and frowned a little.
"Why are you all so hot?" I asked.
He smirked back at me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I gently pushed my hands against him, but he didn't budge.
"It's just a thing." He shrugged. "I'm not sure why it happens."
I accepted that answer for now and let him spin me around in the water more. It took me a while to notice that quite a bit of time had passed since we made it to the beach. The sun was long gone and the moon was rising in the sky. I sighed and slowly pulled on my boots while standing. Embry laughed as I tried and failed to balance on one foot while putting one of my boots on. I glared at him playfully and punched his arm.
White hot pain shot through my wrist and it took everything in me not to scream. Instead, I groaned loudly and dropped down to the sand.
"Holy crap!" I complained, gripping my hand close to my chest. "What are you made of bricks?" I accused.
Embry immediately sprang into action. His hands fluttered all over my arm. He didn't put any pressure anywhere. He pulled me closer to him gently and apologized profusely.
"I'll get you to your dad, hold on." He easily picked me up and began fast walking back to Jacob's house.
"Embry!" I heard Jacob first. He and Quil came sprinting from the garage and met Embry in the driveway. He didn't let me go, if anything his grip on me tightened. I buried my face into his chest and groaned again.
"What the hell man?" Quil asked.
"She hit me." Embry replied. "It was just a joke, she wasn't actually trying to hurt me, but she hurt herself."
"Charlie's gonna flip." Quil chuckled and began to lead the way into the house.
Dad leaped out of his chair when Embry carried me inside. He was on a rampage instantly. He questioned all of the boys, asking who got me hurt. He blamed Jacob, saying that he was supposed to watch out for me.
"Dad, it's fine." I spoke up. "I punched Embry as a joke. I wasn't prepared for the brick wall my fist made contact with."
"Again?" Dad complained. "Do you Natives have something against my daughters?"
What the hell was that supposed to mean?