My eyes widened as our new guest walked in. She was rough around the edges, definitely. She wore a big black jacket, baggy jeans, and a tight wife beater. Her silky, shinny blonde hair was pilled on top of her head in a messy bun. She had a toothpick between her white teeth. Her squinted blue eyes looked around the living room as she dropped her blue duffle bag.
"Leah! Seth! Come here!"
Leah rolled her eyes, dropped the towel, and walked into the living room.
Our guest smirked at Leah and held out her hand. Leah looked at it strangely.
"Yo, you!" she called, nodding her head at me. "Come show her."
Without question I walked up to her and held out my hand to slap and pound. Her smile changed from a smirk.
"Nice,
dude. Name?"
"Seth. You?"
"Leslie."
As quickly as she came she took out a cigarette from her butt pocket and popped out a lighter.
"Aye, Sue, smoke in here?"
"Outside Leslie!" my mom called back from the living room, holding Claire in her arms. Claire was giggling crazily.
Leslie shrugged, took the cigarette, and shoved it back in the pack. "You guys wanna smoke?"
"No,
I don't smoke," Leah rolled her eyes. "It tastes like
shit."
I had two options: smoke and be with her, or not
smoke and not be with her.
Slowly,
I walked up to her side, nudged her, and took a cigarette from her
pocket. "Don't tell Sue."
She smirked. "Will do."
She looked behind her shoulder. "Be back in a few Sue! Call if
ya need anythin'!"
With that Leslie walked out the door, and
I followed. Leah rolled her eyes at my stupidity; she always had a
grudge on those who got imprinted. Ever since that thing that
happened with Sam she despised our mates, even Emily, her best friend
and cousin. I never thought I'd be a part of that grudge.
Leslie took out her lighter, stuck the cigarette between her glossed lips, and lit it. I did the same, but as soon as the smoke came into my lungs I choked. The hard taste that bothered my lungs didn't seem as bad until it actually got into my body.
When I looked over at Leslie, she was giggling and shaking her head.
"Can always tell the first timers," she chuckled, taking a puff of the cigarette. "Put that out, kid."
"Kid?" I asked, throwing the cigarette down and putting it out with my foot. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen, you?"
My
eyebrows raised. "Fifteen? Girl, you look at least
nineteen."
She shook her head. "Naw, dude, if I was
nineteen I'd be outta this hell hole."
"Well, don't be
calling me kid anymore, Les," I warned. "I'm
seventeen."
She looked me up and down. "You? How about
twelve?"
Those words coming from anyone else's mouth would result in an automatic beating, but there was no way I could hit her. She was there, she was my all, and I couldn't hurt my all without hurting myself.
"Kid, you have lots to learn," I chuckled, leaning against the porch railing.
Leslie shook her head. "Hey, you got some druggies down here?"
"Aren't there druggies everywhere?" I asked. Boy, that was a stupid response.
"I
suppose. I'm just askin cause I got the shit to sell."
"You
sell drugs?!"
My breath quickened, and for the first time I
was scared for her. She was going to get cancer and die and get brain
dead! All these bad scenarios ran through my mind.
"Calm down, Seth," she laughed. "I don't do them as much as I used ta. It's just to make money, so I can buy my cigarettes. It only helps me with quitting the actual shit."
"Leslie..."
She shook her head. "Well, anyways, I'm gonna walk around for a bit, catch the town."
"Need an escort?" I mused, looking out at the horizon.
"Naw,"
she laughed, pulling something out of her pocket. "Got my own
protection."
When I looked over at her she popped out a
blade, smirked, and popped it back.
"Leslie, there's no need to use that," I tried to convince her.
"Just in case." She winked. "Gotta be safe, Seth, right?"
"Just don't pull it on anyone unless they deserve it, alright?"
She looked at me with a mischevious smile. "Will do, Seth."
Without another word Leslie ran down the stairs and into the street. This was one girl that I knew could take care of herself.
(Leslie's POV)
The cool wind that blew on my face never came to my attention until I actually stepped out of the shaded porch.
Slowly, I zipped up my jacket and stuffed my hands into my pockets. I decided to walk down to wherever the road took me. The gravel felt strange against my feet instead of the pavement that I was used to. New York was always as cold as it was in La Push, so it didn't bother me as much. Still, I missed the smell of coke, marijuana, and cigarette smoke in the air. It was too fresh here, too clean. I didn't like that.
After a few minutes I threw my cigarette butt onto the ground and put it out with my foot. Quickly, I took another one out of my pocket and lit it. The new dirty air felt so good.
Just a mile or so down the road I got down to the lake that was the biggest attraction in the entire reserve. It was sad.
When I got there I sat myself down on the beach and took my shoes off. The hard, wet rock felt strange against my bare feet, but I liked it.
There were people around my talking, but their voices were blurred by my own thoughts. My mind was everywhere, from New York, to the calm waters, to the little girl to my left, to the idiots jumping off the cliff. It wasn't too much to take in.
What was too much to take in was the thought of not saying goodbye to my father. Sure, I hated him, but I couldn't stop myself from feeling upset about how I didn't get to tell him how I felt.
"Claire!" a man called as a giggling toddler ran away. She came towards me and hid behind my back. I chuckled and shook my head.
"Hey,
Claire, I see you," the man shook his head. "Claire, get
away from the nice lady."
A small voice popped out from
behind me. "No!"
"Sorry about this," the man sighed.
I
shrugged. "It's cool. She's cute."
"Thanks. I
haven't seen you around. You're that girl that's staying with the
Clearwaters, huh?"
"You knew that how?"
"We
know everyone around here. Leslie, right?"
"Yeah," I replied. "You are?"
"Quil,
and, as you might have heard, the little one behind you is Claire.
I'm supposed to be babysitting her."
"You got a crap
ass job," I chuckled. "C'mon out kid. Jigs up."
A smiling Claire walked out from behind my back and into Quil's arms.
"Claire, apologize to Leslie for disturbing her." Quil nuzzled the little girl's face.
She smiled at me. "Sowwy."
"It's cool kid," I replied, nodding. "You ever need to hide again, you come find me. Promise?"
"Pwomise," she giggled.
Quil
rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Leslie. That makes my job a whole lot
easier."
"No problem Quil," I chuckled.
"Hey, the rest of the guys, they wanted to meet you. We're all friends of Seth, and I think he's down here with us."
"He
followed me," I laughed. "I thought it was clear I could
take care of myself."
"He's protecting you. That's what
we do down here. We look out for each other."
"That's
cool, I suppose. So where are these guys?"
"Just a few
feet that way. We're this little rascal came from."
"Sure,
I'll chill."
I put my sandals back on, and, with his free hand, Quil helped me up. It wasn't like I needed it, but I guess it was like one of those "look out for each other" things.
We walked to a group of bigger guys. They couldn't be teenagers. They looked way too old to be that.
There were three other girls with them, and three of the boys had their arms around them. So they were taken....
Seth looked at me and smiled.
"Come over here, Les," he called. The rest of the "boys" looked back at me.
"So
you're the New York bad girl," one laughed. "I'm
Embry."
The girl next to him was taken aback. She shuddered
from my strange appearance. I wasn't what she was used to.
"You are?" I asked to her.
"Payton," she whispered.
I smiled. "Nice ta meet ya."
Quil put an arm on my shoulder. "It goes Embry, Payton, me, Claire, Jacob, Taya, Kim, Jared, Paul, Cameryn, and, of course, Seth."
I did a one-motion wave. "Yola."
"Sup, sexy," Paul laughed. Cameryn hit him in the face.
"You deserved that one dude," I chuckled, shaking my head.
"I like you already," he chuckled.
"So whatcha guys doin' here when you could be in Port havin' a fun time."
"We
like to chill," Jacob shrugged. "We can go tonight, show
you the Port."
"Naw, jet lag," I blamed.
"Tomorrow?"
"Sure thing."
"Hey,
Les, Sue wants us to be back for dinner soon," Seth piped up.
"You cool with that?"
"Yeah, I dig. So, is this
all you guys do? Chill?"
"Maybe," Jared laughed. "What's it to ya?"
I
shrugged. "Nothin', really. I'm just not used to this kinda
calmness."
"Yeah, you're from the Bronks aren't ya?"
Jacob chuckled.
I nodded. "Yeah. They got the best juvie
ever."
"Too bad our nearest juvie is in Seattle," Kim laughed.
"Sue'll kill ya if she has to go up all that way to court," Seth laughed.
"Naw, Sue won't have to do nothing. If I get arrested I get sent back to New York."
"Then we'd better keep a sharp eye on you." Quil gave me a small tap on my chin. "Huh, kiddo?"
"Who
you callin' kiddo? And you are how old?"
"All the dudes
are eighteen now, 'cept Seth," he answered. "And you are?"
"Fifteen," I replied.
"Shit!"
Paul burst out in laughter. "I figured you were at least Seth's
age."
Jacob hit Paul in the back of the head. "Watch
your language. Claire is still here."
"Shit!" she
squealed. Quil's eyes widened.
"Hey,
kid, that's not cool," I said, turning to her. "You wanna
be cool, don't ya kid?"
"Yes!" she giggled.
"Cool
people don't say that word. So if you say that word you ain't
cool."
She pouted. "But Pawl said it."
"It's just us who are cool kid." I held out my pinkie. "Pinkie promise?"
She took my pinkie with hers and giggled.
"Way
to go kid."
And I felt like I was worth something.
