Christy held her pose, arms out and head facing the forest behind Bella's house. She could hear the girl straining a little less than last week with the pose as she followed Christy's lead. "Practice is the key for anything really." Christy spoke softly as she started to move slowly into the next pose. "Have you noticed it helping yet? I've heard people say it starts to help in a matter of a few weeks."
"But you didn't experience that?" Bella asked as she did her best to follow the movements Christy was making as clear as she could.
"I was forced to learn to control my body a bit differently, and by the time I was studying this I had an unfair advantage of not owning real muscles. I couldn't tire out with the Warriors Pose." Christy chuckled at the jealous sigh her response got.
"I feel a bit more balanced." Bella managed and they continued to work quietly, with Christy just giving her feedback to the girl when Bella wasn't quite making the pose right. The coat and warm clothes weren't as hard for her to work with as they'd worried it would be, and the weather was merely cool, not cold today. "This will be nicer in Spring." Bella muttered and it was a rare comment about the future. Christy just stared toward the forest and smiled as Bella hinted that she'd stick to this tai chi.
They were quiet a little longer, before Christy spoke again. "How are you doing with the assignment I gave you?" She made sure to ask gently, knowing that Bella had a tough time with this and it was still early January. Bella hadn't been working on this long. Christy had started giving Bella work that required she think about two possible futures. Bella had to apply to at least 4 colleges, for a human life, and had to do a bit of thinking about what was the perfect age to be for a vampire.
"How old would you have chosen to be if you could have?" Bella asked as they stood up, Tai Chi completed for the day.
With a heavy sigh Christy glanced at her reflection in the window of Bella's house. "Older than this, that's for sure." Christy watched the slight pain reflected in Bella's eyes, and knew where that girl's mind went. "I would want to be considered an adult for eternity. I would also want a decent amount of time I could develop a life for before having to move on. Keep in mind that what you want out of life will dictate this more than anything else." Christy moved to gently pat Bella on the shoulder, and stared into her eyes when Bella looked up at her again. "For me, I would have liked thirty, because it wouldn't take much to make me look twenty or forty. I could have a long time in a place with a range like that." She held her arms out. "I didn't get that, but if I had the ability to chose, I would have picked that."
"Thirty?" Bella's voice was a little louder and tenser.
"That's what I would have wanted. You need to make up your own mind about this. I plan to stick around, so don't feel pressured to pick something under twenty just to make sure I'm here for it." Christy knew in the book that Bella was turned in less than a year from now, but they were planning without any of that inside knowledge. The mere act of planning her life, gave Bella some power over it, and that was what she needed now.
"Would you have chosen to be a vampire?" Bella asked and moved to sit down on the steps into the house as she started this conversation outside. Luckily no neighbor was so very close they could hear it even if they were outside. "If it weren't suddenly thrust on you like this, would you have picked this?"
Christy sat down slowly, facing Bella from the next step up. "I have always chosen life, even when life wasn't really all that possible or that good. I chose to live through hell just to see the end of my world, and I stared that asteroid down as it came to earth. I'm not really a good representative of vampires Bella, because under this new body, that isn't what I am. I'm still that woman that fought hard for every day I was allowed to continue living so that I could try and get my people even one more day."
Bella seemed to pale and Christy sighed heavily. "I haven't been human in a while either, but I do like the power to make a difference in the world. If my choices were Human or Vampire, I could have chosen Vampire. I don't have to fear the sun, or holy objects, so it makes it a bit more appealing than in the movies." Christy gave Bella a hint of a smile. "I did reach thirty as a human, it was over ten years ago, but I did become an adult Bella and I liked my life before it all fell apart. There is something to be said for both in this." Christy knew that Edward and Rosalie wouldn't agree with this, weren't able to see it, but Bella was able to. "You have to pay for every decision you make, if you decide to be a vampire you pay with the secrecy and the lack of a normal life or kids if you wanted that and the traditional things about having a human life, and if you decide to stay human you have to deal with mortality and the way your body will eventually give out on you. You will be more vulnerable too. It's the same with any other decision big or small, once you pick something there are other things you will give up for it. You have to decide what you can live with. I've had to make some horrific decisions in my life, and no matter how hard they were, they were easier for me to live with than the alternative."
"The cannibalism." Bella whispered almost too quiet for a human to hear.
"That was one of them, yes." Christy answered nearly as quietly. "I didn't choose to live on a dying planet, that was forced on me. The way I dealt with the end of the world was all I could control. Many people didn't agree with the choices I made at that time, and I continue to pay for them even now, and I will likely pay for the rest of my life. That is what making choices can become, something you have to live with forever. You are making huge decisions, ones that can't be taken back. Few people your age have to face a decision like that. "
"There are vampires my age, or that were turned at my age." Bella almost choked that sentence out and Christy moved to rest a hand on Bella's arm for a moment in support.
"Few, if any, vampires had to choose whether they were turned or not. I doubt even a fraction of them even knew what a vampire was, so they couldn't choose that. Most had it thrust on them like I had the end of the world thrust on me, and had to learn later what they were. Their only decision was how they were going to adjust to their new lives, how they were going to accept what they were and live the rest of their lives. Some get caught up in all the new powers and others get stuck on all the new limitations." Christy stared into Bella's eyes, seeing the watery sheen to it that said Bella was near tears just saying that much. "You've chosen to take more control of your life than the other vampires you've met ever had." A tear trailed down Bella's cheek.
"HE thought he had no soul, that vampires had no soul." Bella whispered in a painful voice and leaned forward to wrap her arms around her knees, looking smaller and more fragile.
"I don't believe that. I've met monsters that have raped and killed, I've met politicians that have argued that a genocide was a good idea for a group of people that hadn't attacked them because they were afraid they would attack them. If these bastards had souls, why wouldn't a vampire?" Christy shook her head at the memory of feeling those people die and the way they reacted to her powers. Christy had a vague sense of her powers now, they were muted and quiet in her new body and she wasn't sure they were really there or if she only felt what she thought she should after having those powers for years. Without them she'd have no definitive answer about the vampire soul, but she was still positive it was there. If Bella were stronger, and this wasn't about Edward, Christy would talk about how unhealthy and insane that thought really was, but talking about the self-hatred Edward felt and the way it ruined any happiness he could feel was not going to go well.
"I know, they have to have souls." Bella muttered and then stared out at the woods.
"I think your father needs to see my eyes, before his imagination runs wild for any longer." Christy spoke after the silence took too long and found Bella looking at her again. It was a badly needed change of subject. "So we need to decide, does he see them red or black? Red is a bit too unnatural, but black could be mistaken for my being a druggie."
"What?" Bella's eyes grew larger. "And black? Can you even do that safely?"
Christy sighed heavily. "My will is rather strong, but I'm not even sure how long it would take to go black."
"I don't know that I want you testing that with my father." Bella spoke a bit more firmly.
"And how would he take red eyes" Christy shook her head. "If he didn't suspect I was a drug addict and that's why he never sees my eyes, I wouldn't bother with this. If he makes up too much in his head about me, he won't want us spending time together and I'm wanting to spend more time with you, not less. We have a lot to do and it just doesn't feel like we have enough time. We have to have some sort of plan by summer."
"I don't want to risk Charlie in this." Bella pushed and Christy went quiet for a moment.
"Okay, so we'll go with the idea that I'm albino and dye my hair. It covers a few of our claims about me and most people know very little about it. Human albinos aren't really red eyed like this." Christy thought for a moment. Normally she wouldn't talk so much about a decision, her partners in situations where decisions needed to be made were more than able to follow her line of thought, but Bella needed the practice on decision making and exposure to what she'd need to think about in the future. It almost felt like Christy had an apprentice of her own. She found herself spelling things out like Mystique had for her in the beginning.
The sound of the police cruiser was easy to pick up from down the street now that Christy knew what it sounded like. They'd gone inside and sat in the living room to watch a movie. It was the simplest solution Christy could come up with, and she sat in that room with her sunglasses off.
Rather than alert Bella, and have the girl tense up, she continued to focus on the movie. Bella's acting skills weren't something they'd need to test too badly for this, and Christy already knew that in life and death situations that girl could act. It just wasn't clear how she'd do at this moment. Once she heard the cruiser stop Christy spoke up. "TV off." It was part of the plan to not have something to distract Charlie from the fact Christy's sunglasses weren't on. It wouldn't do to take this risk and have him not even notice if something on TV distracted him. He was easily distracted by TV.
Bella's eyes widened when she turned it off and she craned her neck to look toward the driveway. "You'll do fine, just don't overdo it." Christy reassured the girl quietly and then just smiled "Might as well ask you if you've figured out a potential major for college." Christy offered as a conversation and smirked as she saw Bella roll her eyes at that.
"Not really." Bella muttered, but then sighed heavily. "I might like English as a major, since I like to read all those books that are assigned in school, unlike the other kids." Christy did manage not to smile at those words, a hint to the healing taking place. Bella wouldn't have even mentioned books a month ago.
"That's a good major, shows you can communicate." Christy nodded, thinking about careers after school, which was a conversation they hadn't reached, because so much depended on Bella's decisions about being a vampire. There were some jobs that were just a bad idea for a vampire. Dr. Cullen might have made one of those work, but the challenges weren't something a newborn would need to work with.
Christy glanced at the sunglasses sitting on the coffee table and sighed as she heard Charlie taking the steps to the front door. "I would pick something different this time. I did Psychology last time, maybe Anthropology or Creative Writing." Bella looked a little more interested in the conversation suddenly and Christy could see questions growing, but the front door opened.
"Hey I'm home Bells!" Charlie's voice called out into the house.
"We're in the living room." Bella called back and Christy could hear him muttering about the fact that of course she was here. He used to like that, but his suspicions were ruining that in spite of the fact Christy could see her presence was helping Bella. Hopefully this fixed the problem.
"What are you two doing?" He sounded confused and when he moved into the room.
"Just talking." Bella answered and glanced at Christy a tad too obviously. Charlie followed her gaze and when his eyes widened Christy gave an embarrassed squeak as she reached for her sunglasses as if just realizing she didn't have them on and that she was horribly embarrassed about it.
"Dad." Christy heard the slight censor in Bella's voice and it sounded pretty genuine as the girl scolded her dad for staring while Christy hurried to put her sunglasses on. Bella was doing better with this and Christy wondered for a moment if training could have turned that girl into a spy. She was much more unshakeable than her peers, it held promise. She let that thought go as it didn't fit in this world at all.
"I should probably get going." Christy stammered and stood up a bit nervously. The rest was Bella's show, at least for now.
Bella escorted her to the door and gave her a pleading look, which Christy just answered with a gentle squeeze of Bella's shoulder. "Yeah, see you later kiddo." Charlie managed, but he still sounded shaken. Bella would explain that Christy was an albino, that she was upset being stared at, and that was why she had the sunglasses. Bella would shame the suspicion out of Charlie if this worked and they wouldn't be faced with him suggesting Bella not hang out with Christy after this.
Christy left, leaving Bella responsible for fixing this. Bella was uncertain about it, but Christy liked the lesson it would teach, not to rely on the vampires to take care of every problem. Bella needed to be self reliant, and see herself as capable again. Edward had destroyed that in her. He was poison in many ways, but it wasn't up to her to say that to Bella now. No, she just did what she could to help the girl get her own strength back for when Edward's controlling behavior, and he, came back.
This started off as something to do while she waited for the Cullens, and someone to talk to, but Bella was growing on Christy and she was starting to think about all the things that were wrong in that girl's story. Christy walked away with her hands in her jacket pockets, and smiled just a little as she heard the scolding tone in Bella's voice when she said Charlie had stared and it made Christy so uncomfortable she had left.
…
As Christy walked through the streets of Port Angeles she sighed. Bella wasn't enough, the girl had to go to school, and had a job, and it wasn't fair to rely on her for any and all entertainment. Today was a prime example, as Christy was on her own completely for today in spite of the fact that they'd dealt with Charlie's suspicions so well he was no longer giving Christy searching looks. Christy was now wandering the city for something to do and if she happened to run across a meal she'd take it.
"Hey Ms. I wear sunglasses at night!" A teasing male voice called out and Christy couldn't help but turn her head at the familiar voice. Jacob Black was grinning at her from the entrance of a store in the mall she was walking passed . He must have just stepped out, or Christy knows she'd have caught his scent. His dog smell was stronger now. Christy frowned a little as she realized it was very strong indeed, and she looked passed him to see two other boys right behind him.
She can't help but smile at his friendly look, but she was a bit uneasy about running into him after what all Billy had to say about her going to the movies with his kids on the phone. "Hey Jacob."
"Hey guys, this is the girl I was telling you about." He called back to the other boys, getting them to step outside as well. "Christy, these lunk-heads are my friends, Quil," He pointed to one, "And Embry." The other waved just a little at her.
"Nice to meet you guys." Christy gave them a polite smile, noticing how sharp the dog smell was coming from Embry. He must be the boy who was going to shift first, she thought of the book and wondered how soon he was going to shift. He smelled almost the same as Sam and the others now, and he also looked tall and muscular. The other two boys were clearly not as developed as he was yet, getting there, but not there yet. "What are you up to?" She glanced at her watch to see it was after school hours now, but they had to have booked it to the city once school let out to be here, or these guys had skipped.
"Just hanging out." Jacob offered, but Christy noticed one of the guys had a bag from JC Penney's in his hand. She hid her smirk at the cover up for shopping, as if that wasn't cool enough. "How about you hang out with us?" He offered nicely and there was a chuckle from one of his friends, as Christy found herself conflicted. "We were about to get a bite to eat."
"I already ate." Christy lied, as her mind debated about what to do. "But I guess I could sit with you all while you eat. Gives me a chance to get off my feet, I've been walking a lot today." Billy Black would be pissed. "But I heard your dad doesn't really want you to spend time with me."
"What he doesn't know can't hurt him." Jacob grinned, not realizing his dad had a reason for his demands, but Christy was bored and could see the benefits of being friendly with the wolves, before they became wolves.
"Look, I have fangs." Quil laughed as two fries dangled from his mouth after they got their food. Christy saw a good opening and took it, the teasing came easily in this group.
"And look, your fangs are as limp as your dick." She smirked as the other two boys hooted and laughed, while Quil went a very deep red. "You're not gonna get any blood with that, just like you won't get any," She didn't need to finish her sentence, the boys were already causing a scene with their amusement.
Some 'wolf to be' slapped her on the back in congratulation, and Christy could feel the extra strength that boy didn't realize he had yet. He was lucky he was slapping a vampire's back, or he could have hurt some girl.
"Man, I can't believe Jake actually found a cool girl for us to hang out with." Embry smiled at her.
"I'm so cool I'm cold." Christy smirked at the play on words the boys would catch later, after they changed. The story about cold ones would be on their minds then.
"That's not a good advertising for your snatch." Quil gave her an evil smile, obviously getting even. If he thought he'd get her to blush he was disappointed, because Christy couldn't, but she didn't even let him embarrass her. She'd worked with Mystique after all, no teenage boy would be able to outdo Mystique at this game.
"Oh how cute, you are trying to joke like you know what you're talking about." Christy smirked at him and shook her head, before turning in her seat obviously, to make a play of ignoring him.
It was as she looked away from the rather rambunctious boys that she saw the two other people walking their way. The boy was young looking, early teens most likely and the girl looked significantly older. She frowned and stopped walking to stand at the side of their table with her arms crossed in front of her. "I give you guys a ride here and you're supposed to meet me at the car when it's time to go. That was the agreement."
"Oh man, sorry Leah." Jake spoke and Christy found herself studying Leah, and what must be her brother Seth. Five soon to be wolves, she was surrounded. She did the best friendly smile she could manage and bumped Jake in the back with her elbow to get his attention. "Oh, Leah, Seth, this is our new friend Christy." He waved between them in a very brief, barely done, introduction.
"Nice to meet you." Christy said, while taking in the woman she'd spared from even more heartache. Leah had long hair at this time, but then many of these 'soon to be wolves' did. It would go away.
"You too." Leah nodded at her and then glanced at the guys again. "So, we need to head back. You know my mom said I had to be out of the city before dark." There was a small cringe in Leah's expression that was so quickly hidden the teenagers wouldn't catch it, but Christy suspected she knew where that rule came from. It was probably new to this girl, if it even existed at all. She could be lying to the boys because she wasn't willing to be here after dark just yet.
Christy said her goodbyes and gave vague responses to comments about having to get together sometime. She wanted to see what trouble she'd get into from this visit before making more.
…
"Too bad you don't eat animals. Apparently there are some bears getting too close to town." Bella muttered during an odd commercial on TV that had a bear looking into a car. "Hikers are talking about them, they must be huge based on the descriptions."
Christy glanced at Bella for a moment, unsure how to respond, because she knew those weren't bears at all, those were the Quileute wolves. "Humans have encroached on wildlife habitat to the point many animals have no choice but to move into the neighborhoods." She went with a generic response.
"And that's why there are more than enough humans for vampires to eat, I got it." Bella smirked just a little and gave Christy a shake of her head. "You don't have to keep telling me that."
"Alright." Christy conceded, as she started to think of one of the assignments she wanted to give Bella. It could wait though, there were other things to be done first. Research on endangered species could happen later, even after the Cullens returned, but there were some things that coven would not want to let her do with Bella. "Are you ready for another task?"
"What are you thinking?" Bella turned the tv on mute and faced her.
"I think it's time to meet the elderly." Christy could see the confusion on Bella's face. "One it will show you what you can look forward to as a human, and Two they can tell you how the world has changed in their lifetime. You can expect it will always be changing, and what was once considered an 'adult' isn't now." Christy spoke more quietly, in response to something the Cullen's had incorrectly assumed when they left Bella. "Only some people get that old. Many people die long before they reach that age, but we'll go with the optimistic view of a human lifespan."
"What do you want me to do?" Bella frowned in confusion.
"Visit a facility where there are some elderly, find a few people who are still aware enough to be able to interview. Pick out questions you think will help you understand what the world was like, don't ask them about their health, that will not make them want to talk to you, ask them about when they were your age, or the age you are thinking is a good age to stay forever. Find out enough you could write a good article for a paper or magazine if you needed to."
Bella let out a huff of air. "Your assignments are harder than the ones my teachers give me."
Christy smiled. "I used to teach college classes, I would hope my assignments are harder." Bella's eyes widened at that nugget of information. "But seriously, self reflection at the scale I'm asking you to do it is going to be hard. I need it to be hard, and you need it to be, so that when you make up your mind we both know you made the right choice." Christy also thought of the other people Bella may need to defend her decision to, and this research would give her the tools to prove herself.
"Okay." Bella sighed. "I'll find a place to go and do this. How many people should I talk to." Christy could easily see the introverted girl wasn't looking forward to this, and was forcing herself to agree to it. Christy only asked for three interviews, it wasn't a lot, but there would be other research the girl would be doing in the next few months. Three should be enough to give her an idea.
…..
The problem with giving Bella work to do was that it took up Bella's time, Christy thought as she tossed the dead child pornographer into the Puget Sound. Bella was working on her interviews and tomorrow she would be working at the store. Christy had time to kill.
She turned, now no longer hungry, and started to make her way back to Forks. She was getting much better at finding her way back, but today she just followed her own scent back through the woods. She was careful at the points where she had to cross roads through the woods, either going too fast to be seen or at a human pace. The sun was almost down as she got to the outskirts of the town, and she heard swearing and a clank that sounded like metal on metal.
Curiosity is what made her slow down and make her way closer to see what was happening, that and dread about sitting in the house in the dark with nothing but her radio for yet another night. She wasn't really eager for her own plans for the night.
"Fuck!" An angry woman seemed to growl the word out and there was another clank of metal on metal. Christy stepped just out of the treeline to see that the long black haired females back was facing an SUV and the spare tire at her feet, along with the pieces of a jack answered why she was upset. It didn't look like she really knew what she was doing.
The scent was strong, and Christy frowned when she recognized the smell of fear coming of the woman. She looked harder to see her looking along the darkened road, back where she'd come from and in the direction she wanted to go, but something made Christy think the woman wasn't hoping some guy would come by to help her out. It seemed like the woman was afraid someone would come by and find her here. It was just something about the way the woman moved. Christy trusted her own instincts on this and moved quickly to the other side of the road and into the tree line to see what was happening from the other side.
Leah Clearwater looked frustrated and upset. "Damn, is this your idea of luck Annie?" Christy muttered to herself, thinking of the girl that granted her luck before Christy left that world. It couldn't be a coincidence that Christy was here, facing this woman yet again when the woman needed help. Apparently the way to the packs heart was going to be through their only female wolf.
Still, Christy stood still, unsure if it was Annie's influence or not. There was no place near her, no car she could point to and say she'd driven. If Christy came out of the woods to help Leah, she'd be coming out of nowhere with no story she could give that would not be suspicious. It was a mistake that Mystique had told her to rarely make, and only in dire situations.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Leah yelled and there was a smell of blood in the air, blood and fear. Christy started to move instantly, stepping out of the woods and toward the young woman struggling with her flat tire.
Christy made sure to move at a human pace and she made a lot of noise so she didn't startle the woman. The scent of fear increased as Leah looked up toward her, and the heart beat from the woman sped up. "Hey, Leah right?" Christy smiled and made her shoulders relax quickly. "Oh god, I'm so glad you're here. I tried hiking and I don't have a clue where I am. It got dark and I thought I'd be stuck out here forever." Christy only took in enough air to talk, and did her best to look nonthreatening. The smell of blood wasn't abundant, it was probably not a serious wound. Now that Christy was closer she could tell.
"Do I know you?" Leah's voice was a tad tighter, tad higher, than it had been in the McDonalds over a week ago.
Christy stepped over a tree trunk as she approached the ditch separating her from the road. "Christy, Jake introduced us in Port Angeles." It took a moment but the woman's eyes seemed to relax, even as Christy crossed the ditch and stood in the headlights so that Leah could see who she was.
"God, I'm glad it was you. I was worried some creep would stop." Leah's words were so quiet they were obviously not meant to be heard. Christy forced herself not to grimace once she had confirmation about what caused the scent of fear in the air. "You know how to change a tire? If not I'm afraid I'll only be keeping you company as we're both stuck here."
"I've done it a few times. I should be able to get this changed." Christy said as she moved around the SUV to get a closer look at what was happening. There was a small drop of blood on the cement and Leah's hand was clenched tight. The blood was barely visible, but it was clear it must hurt. Christy lowered herself to the ground and worked the jack. The smell of blood was human, with just a hint of wolf, but not enough wolf to cover the human scent just yet and it was a rare test of her control. Christy knew her will was iron, but she hadn't used it in this way before. Christy just gritted her teeth and focused on the tire. "Any chance you can give me a ride to my place?" Christy had to ask, because not getting a ride would be more suspicious, but she wasn't looking forward to being in a vehicle with a bleeding woman for any length of time.
"Of course, I wouldn't leave you out here. Who knows what…" Leah's words trailed off and Christy knew where her thoughts had gone.
"Good." Christy gave a grateful smile to Leah before working off the lug nuts on the tire. She did remember to look like it was hard, and she did her very best to not overtighten the lug nuts once she had the spare on the vehicle.
When they got into the car, Christy cracked open her window. The drive was slightly awkward, and they ended up talking about Jacob and his friends to start with because that was all they knew for sure they had in common.
"Why were you hiking?" Christy could see Leah taking in the fact that Christy had no supplies, as the conversation moved away from teenage boys.
"It wasn't so much hiking as walking into the woods." Christy grimaced as if upset about the day. She wasn't thrilled with lies she knew would be found out quickly once the woman shifted, but then she'd have to understand that Christy couldn't really tell the truth. Even the wolves weren't telling the truth to those they knew were changing, so it wouldn't be a shock Christy lied. "Boredom can be more dangerous than I thought. Bella had things to do and I thought I could just kill a little time trying to see what animals are out there. I didn't expect to get lost, I mean how hard it is to stay to one path?"
A small smirk crossed Leah's lips. "Apparently it was much harder than you thought."
"Thanks." Christy looked at the road and recognized it. "Oh, turn left here." She noticed that Leah used her good hand for that, and that she was careful to not put the palm of her injured hand on the steering wheel. Still it wasn't a horrible mess and Leah was saying nothing about it, so if Christy were human she wouldn't know Leah cut herself trying to use the jack. The girl was hiding that pain, and somehow that wasn't a surprise that she'd do that.
"You don't live too close to anything do you?" Leah asked as they drove along the driveway that had trees canopying it and twists and turns that kept the house hidden for a while.
"Not really. It is in the middle of nowhere." Christy glanced at Leah as they made their way along the driveway. "It isn't my place. I'm staying at my cousin's place. He and his family moved recently, and I needed a place." They made the last turn and the house appeared to come out of the woods, out of nowhere. Leah took in a slightly surprised breath. "It's crazy huge for one person, so I just closed up some of it and don't even use it."
"That would be crazy huge for my entire family." Leah muttered. "Who the hell lived here?"
The SUV came to a stop in front of the stairs to the front door. Christy turned to Leah. "The Cullens." She could see the widening of eyes and then the house got another long stare from the driver.
"Cullens huh? That explains why Jacob and the others were begging me to not mention you when we got back to La Push." Leah shook her head and gave Christy an odd look. "You've got some weird Romeo and Juliet thing going with Jacob?"
Christy couldn't help but chuckle. "Not quite, I like him, and like spending time with him. I just don't like getting him in trouble for it." She shook her head and sighed. "I don't call him, I don't arrange to meet him anywhere, but if I run into him I am not rude. I know his dad would prefer I had nothing to do with him, your dad probably wouldn't want to hear you ran into me either."
"It's so stupid, using a legend to justify this." Leah seemed to growl, it was a weak human growl, but still it conveyed her irritation well. "It isn't your fault some stupid legends of our tribe had the Cullen name in it. It was a stupid coincidence and they all act like its fact."
"Yeah well," Christy wondered if her planned words would be remembered at the right time. "You can't do anything but play the hand you're dealt in life and if it is a crappy hand you just do what you can with it. You don't fold in the game of life, you just keep drawing cards looking for a better hand."
"That's some bullshit there." Leah's teeth made a sound as they ground together for just a moment. "Sometimes nothing fixes the crapfest your life becomes and the next card just makes it more shitty."
Christy stared at the girl who thought she had it so bad, and knowing her life was only going to get worse over the next month or two it was hard to hold her help back. Too hard. Leah's attitude wasn't going to make surviving the next few months easy for her, perhaps it may even make it impossible. "Your parents will get worried if you take too long to get home."
After going into the house Christy made sure to light the lamps quickly so it would look like she had electricity from the outside. Once the car was out of sight Christy blew out some of the lamps and just left one on. It was enough light for her, for now. She pulled out the Harry Potter book she was working on and started to read, hoping that her evening would continue to be uneventful. Her scent was all over Leah's car, and if the woman ran across any wolves on her way home Christy was sure to hear from them. Hopefully she was lucky and that didn't happen.
Harry Potter helped to distract her from the thoughts in her head. The wolves to be deserved more help than the tribe was giving them; they deserved some warning about what was happening to them.