All rights go to Rick Riordan and Stephenie Meyer and for this chapter Kelly Clarkson! Thanks for all of you who reviewed: shalalalalalala, SarahWolfe16, Nessa2685, guest, XxxBellaBellaxxX, Riley Person, favfan, yuliom, and unknown, anna, and emocookieloverz, who guessed it right.
Chapter 7
Jealousies
Andromeda's Point of View
Previously...
When we had finished gazing into each other eyes. I heard a a noise that belonged to only one person I knew. I turned around, and it sure was the person I had expected it to be.
"Grover!" I shouted at him. Beside me Paul flinched, I don't know whether it was because of how loud I shouted, or because Grover wasn't wearing pants. I should have known he was close by, after all when Paul said he liked him after reading he had wanted to take the blame for me a breeze smelling of nature had passed by. We threw our hands around each other and stood like that for a couple of seconds. It was so good to see Grover after all we hadn't seen each other in almost two months. His duties as the Lord of the Wild was getting in my way of being with him.
I heard a throat being cleared and saw Paul looking at me questioningly. "Oh, sorry. Paul this is Grover Underwood, Grover this is Paul Lahote. Paul, he is the same Grover from the books. He has been my best friend since the beginning." I made the introductions excitedly. This was great my best friend was meeting the guy of my life, and likewise. Grover extended out his hand to Paul, and Paul shook it.
I noticed that Paul was trying and failing to stop staring at Grover's lower half. So smirking I explained it to him, "Paul, as you have noticed. Grover appears to be half-donkey-ouch" Grover had punched me in the arm. Glaring at him I continued, "But he is not, he is half goat. He is what we would call a satyr." Paul nodded and after a couple of seconds he reluctantly asked, "So he is not a donkey?" I busted out laughing and after a few seconds Grover joined me, and lastly Paul.
"No, Paul I am not half donkey. My mom was, but that is beside the point." It was Grover who answered Paul's question. I think being the lord of the wild gives you a sense of humor. It didn't matter though since I started to laugh again, and for that night everything was perfect. My two most favorite people seemed to get along.
Next day
All during class the next day, I thought of the meeting that was to come. We decided to do it earlier so we could read at least two chapters tonight. I couldn't wait to see Paul I would have transferred to the reservation's school. But well, I will have to talk to him about it. I mean what if he didn't want me there? Oh stop it Andromeda, he completely loves you. This didn't keep me from thinking what I thought next, what if before I came along, he had a girlfriend? I mean he is hot, and I am sure I am not the only one to think so.
With that thought I arrived at La Push, searching for Paul. We had agreed to meet an hour earlier than the rest of the Cullens and the pack. I came upon something that well, I did not like. Jacob and Seth were also there which helped me relax a little. You see Paul was talking to this girl, who from my point of view was rubbing on him. Which made me pretty mad. I stormed over there and I saw Seth and Jacob share eye-widening looks.
They tried to alert Paul, but he just waved them off which got me even more mad. I finally got to them and I said in a sugary tone, "Hey, Paul so who is your friend?" He turned around real slow-like, when I could see his face. I saw that he was wearing a horrified expression.
"She isn't my friend, she is just a tourist." I narrowed my eyes at him. So did he let every female visitor this close to him? I stepped from behind him to fully see this tourist. What I saw shocked me. This girl looked like an older version of Nancy Bobofit. Her Cheetos freckles looked as orange as before. I looked at Paul and shot him a look that said, Are you for real? Nancy Bobofit? I pulled it together enough to say, "Hello, I am Andromeda, haven't I seen you before?"
She threw me a sneer, I guess some people never change, "Have you already forgotten me? It's me Nancy." She luckily didn't offer her hand. "Oh, well what brings you here?" She threw me a questioningly look. "I could ask you the same thing."
"Oh, I am just here to see my boyfriend, Paul and his friends." Extra emphasis on boyfriend.
Her eyes darted between me and Paul. Poor, Paul, had been caught between this, stood there motionless. "Oh, that's good, tell me did Grover get the peanut butter out of his hair?"
"He did actually, did you get a dry shirt? I am so, so sorry about that by the way. I hope you didn't get bruises on your butt, since you fell on it." I said with a smirk.
She huffed and said, "Oh it is okay, and I just wanted to say. Mr. Brunner had the best interest in his heart...for the school."
"Oh he did, believe me. Or else, well I just don't know if you would just have to worry about water." With that I dragged Paul, with me. Leaving no option to Seth and Jacob to leave with us. Since, who wanted to be with Nancy?
The rest of the way to the field Paul tried to reassure me that he only had eyes for me. Which is true because of the whole imprint thing, but a girl has doubts sometimes. I couldn't help but remember what I was thinking earlier or Paul's question for that matter. What if there was no imprint? Would have Paul chosen me? I was afraid of that answer. As if he sensed my thoughts, he put a reassuring arm across my shoulder and gave me a sweet smile. Jacob and Seth were lost as I gazed into his eyes.
Unfortunately, the moment was broken by Grover, who was stampeding trough the bushes."There you are, Andromeda! We have been waiting for you!" When we entered the field, we saw that he was right. The Cullens and the pack were already here. I thought that Jacob and Seth were with us? Glancing around the campfire, which was built again, I finally spotted them. They were stuffing their faces with food, which I am sure that Emily had cooked. It smelled delicious from here.
I practically ran to where the food was, dragging Grover, and Paul behind me. I grabbed a pizza box, I guess Emily hadn't cooked all of it, for me and Paul. I hauled him to a log to sit down, and started to eat to my heart's content. In my own little heaven, I noticed that everybody had stopped talking. Glancing up I saw the Cullens and the pack look at me with shock. "What?" I asked them.
They just kept looking at me until finally they just shook their heads, sharing smiles. "Andy are you sure you are not a wolf?" this came from Emmett.
"Yes, Emmett I am sure. I am just a hungry demigod, that can be twice as bad." I responded with a smile. They laughed and the scene was just peaceful. When we finished eating, Carlisle got the book out his bag, he had taken it the night before. It didn't matter since the second chapter hadn't appeared yet. "So who is going to read this time?"
The wolves looked around until Sam said, "Whoever the book chooses, like yesterday." The book was passed around to see to who the letters appeared to. When it was the Cullens turn to be passed around, there wasn't much time until Emmett let out a childish yelp. "It picked me, It picked me!" We all laughed at his antics. Typical Emmett and he began to read: Chapter two, Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death. "Hmm this sounds fun," was his only comment.
I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.
"I remember my own weird experience,"huffed out Seth. With this he grabbed everyone's attention. "I was out patrolling one night, when I saw this bunny running with all of its might cross the bushes. Usually this didn't surprise me, since they are scared of us, right?" We all nodded, this was typically since a wolves prey on rabbits. "Well, anyway I followed and I captured it, and I kept it for quite some time. I fed it, since it was rather skinny when I got it and it ended up kind of beefy. The next week it was gone from its cage." He looked down, sad when he said the last part.
"And how is that weird?" Jasper inquired. "We had rabbit for dinner that day." Seth answered him while glaring at Jared. "Dude, I told you I was sorry." Jared responded to his glare.
"Yeah, well that wouldn't matter to Mr. fur-paws? Would it Jared?" Jared was looking guilty, while Leah tried to comfort Seth. Not to self, never mess with Seth and his pets. Meanwhile, Emmett began to read again. This twenty-four hour/seven hallucination was more than I could handle.
"I told you not to eat those magic mushrooms, Andro" Grover told me. "Aha, I knew you had consumed those mushrooms!" Jacob, exclaimed. I looked to him like he was crazy. While Paul was frowning at Grover, hmm I will have to find out why. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr- a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip- had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas. "Sam, do you remember, that when we went to school. We had a math teacher for like two months, and then you threw water on her and she quit?" The Cullens laughed, while Sam and the pack just looked at Leah with shocked expressions. Emily was giving her a dazzling smile, which she returned. Less enthusiastically, but she returned it just the same. Grover and I wore the same confused expressions, that is until I asked Paul what was the deal.
"It's just, that Sam and Leah used to be together. That is until he imprinted on Emily, and Leah had been well, not okay with it. You know, so it is a real shocker to see her teasing him. I don't know what changed though, she usually makes us miserable, too." I raised and eyebrow at this, so much drama. "It's a nice change."
Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was a psycho.
It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.
Almost
"You were right, Carlisle. She didn't imagine the whole thing. I thought she had." Carlisle shot him pleased smile, probably at being right. I guess if you lived as old as he, you would get wise. I thought of Ares and how long he had been around, well maybe if you are a certain type of person.
But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.
"Dude, you are still bad at lying." I told Grover. Grover was about to reply when Emmett said, "Maybe he isn't bad at lying, maybe you are just a good teller of liars." I thought about it, it was a possibility so I told him, "Try me."
"Okay, let's see, hold on," he seemed to think about it for a few seconds. Out of nowhere Edward started laughing, I don't know why but the Cullens seemed to know.
"I got it, try to decipher if I am lying." I nodded while he cleared his throat, Edward was still laughing. "I am a 400 foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings." Emmett seemed satisfied with it while I just thought Really? I pretended to think about while Paul tried not to laugh. He wasn't succeeding and Grover, well he was too far gone. "You are lying," He looked shocked and told me I was right. Like he couldn't believe it, all of us started to laugh then. We laughed for a whole good five minutes, until he got over his confusion and started to read again.
Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. "Yeah, an old hag tried to kill you." Seth commented.
I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in cold sweat. "Ugh, tell me about it. I had a dream about my science teacher throwing erasers at me, pretty scary." Collin said while shaking his head lamentably.
The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.
Paul had a dark look in his face when Emmett read this while the only comment made was Esme's which was "That is horrible, Andromeda."
One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.
"I remember that year, Carlisle, you didn't allow us to fly anywhere that year. Even that fashion show, Alice had wanted to go see, in Paris." Rosalie referred to Carlisle. "Yeah, I remember that."
I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.
"It is like you are describing Paul when he first phased." Sam told me. Paul shot me an embarrassed smile I just kissed his cheek. As the whole lot of them oohed and aawhed.
Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot.
Emmett started laughing even before he finished reading the sentence. When he did finished everybody else started to laugh, I even joined in with an embarrassed laugh. "She called him a drunkard!"
I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good. "-and she didn't even know what it meant!"
The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.
Fine, I told myself. Just fine.
I was homesick. The poor girl, what a tragic life she has lived. If it was up to me a child should always be with his or her parents. Were Esme's thoughts who unsurprisingly were almost the same as Rosalie's.
I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.
And yet...there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover,
I know she loves me but I can't help but feel jealous of this half-donkey man, was what Paul was thinking.
-who'd been a good friend, even of he was a little strange.
Grover turned toward me and said, "Don't I feel loved," while I just gave him a sheepish smile. The rest laughed, Paul was the loudest.
I worried how he'd survive next year without me.
"Again thank you,"
"Your welcome," I told him sincerely while he rolled his eyes.
I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.
As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. "Yeah, you had to learn to fight the minotaur." Sam said while Seth nodded along. He reminded me of a puppy sometimes.
The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.
"You skate?" it was Brady who asked me. I shook my head while he looked disappointed. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.
"Good thing we didn't have to do that, huh, Jake," Embry told Jacob.
"Yeah, but if it was engine base we could pass it with flying colors."
I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.
"Not a good feeling at all, let me tell," We all wondered how Rosalie had experienced this since she was a vampire. At our confused expressions she said, "I was still human, and I loved the dresses my mom made for me. We had this huge tree in our backyard, and I just love going around it." By this time she had captured all of our attention. Emmett looked like he hadn't heard this story, either. "One day I was around it, and I didn't notice the ants going into my dress. Until they started to bite me, I screamed. My mother heard me and she came out of the house running with my aunt in tow. They took it off me, my aunt wanted to throw away my dress but it was my favorite. It was green with white lace..." At the end she had a dreamy look in her face, remembering the old times.
I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will only accept the best from you, Andromeda Jackson.
I took a deep breath, I picked up the mythology book.
I'd never asked a teacher for help before . Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam.
"Did you?" Alice asked me. "No I got a... C! I know I was shocked too." I replied. She laughed her silver bell laugh.
I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.
I walked downstairs to the faculty office. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.
I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "...worried about Andromeda, sir."
"We are too, since she is after all Paul's mate." Seth said which of course made all of them laugh. I gave him a glare which made him uneasily laugh, satisfied with my work I turned around.
I froze
I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.
I inched closer.
"...alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"
Carlisle observant as always pointed out, "Is that what you meant at the beginning of the book that when you know, they know too?"
"I am impressed Doc you got it right."
"We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the girl to mature more."
"But she may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"
"Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her enjoy her ignorance while she can still can."
"Sir, she saw her..."
"Her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist
"Do you mean the movie or you know like fog?" Emmett's question was pointed at Grover. He looked at me for help, I shrugged at him. He told Emmett that it was a magical veil that prevented the humans from finding out the truth.
-over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that."
"Sir, I...I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was chocked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."
"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Andromeda alive until next fall-"
The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.
Mr. Brunner went silent.
At this moment everyone's attention was captured. Even Jared had stopped eating his Oreos, and Sam had stopped midway to stealing one of Jared's Oreo. The moment was broken when Jared saw Sam's hand with an Oreo and he immediately punched him. At Sam's yelp everyone threw dead leaves that were in the ground at them.
My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.
A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.
"It was a bow, Andro." Grover whispered to me.
I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.
A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.
A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.
Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."
"What's the winter solstice, Andromeda?" Carlisle asked me. "I don't think it is just the day December 21, that is important."
"You are right, it is not just the day, it is one of the days that the gods have a council meeting. What sets apart this meeting from the other one is that Hades, god of the Underworld, comes to it."
"Why does he come to this meeting and not the other one?" His tone conveyed curiosity.
"Zeus allows him to go because it is the darkest day if the year." I told him. This seemed to satisfy him, for the moment, since he didn't ask anything else.
"Mine either," Grover said. " But I could have sworn..."
"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."
"I wonder how he knew?" the Cullens, Grover and I looked at Quil with curiosity. He seemed to notice our questioning glances since he said, " Oh, we have last term exams tomorrow."
"Don't remind me."
The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.
I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.
Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.
Grover was lying on his bed,-
"Whoa, wait, he shares a dorm with you?" Paul asked me incredulously. Now that I think about it, it was kind of weird. After all the other boys and girls had been separated, but we weren't. I turned to Grover and asked him, "Why were we sharing the same dorm?"
"Chiron thought it would be better, so I could keep an eye on you." Paul was still looking like he smelled something bad. Awww, he really does care, I thought. I was worried that he would murder Grover, and a lot pf people did too. Since everyone was snickering. So I gave him a chaste kiss in the cheek.
studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.
"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to get ready for this test?"
I didn't answer.
"You look awful."
"Grover, those three words, you can never ever tell a girl, even if it is true or not." Alice told him, he just smiled sheepishly at her.
He frowned. "Is everything okay?"
"Just... tired."
I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.
I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.
But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.
"Hey, does anyone else want to read? I am getting tired it. I can't comment as much as I want to." Emmett said while wearing a puppy-eye expression.
"Emmett, you know that not anyone can read the books, the book has to chose the rea-" I was cut off suddenly by Emmett putting his outstretched hand on Rosalie's forearm and saying, "I Emmett Cullen, give thee Rosalie Hale, the ability to read the rest of this chapter," and with that a blue hue surrounded Rosalie. She then said, "I can see the words now," I looked at him with a shocked expression,"How did you do that?"
"It just came to me, you know," Hmm, well, I wonder if he has any other surprises. Rosalie then started to read the rest of the chapter.
The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,
"You have it easy, Andy,"It seemed that the rest of the pack had adopted the name Emmett called me, "we only have one hour." One of the wolves that I didn't know the names of said.
my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.
For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.
"Andromeda," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's...It's for the best."
His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.
"I don't like this Nancy," Rosalie said.
"Me neither," Paul mumbled. It didn't look that way earlier.
I mumbled, "Okay, sir."
"I mean..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."
"How dare he say that to you Andy!" Paul looked at me with compassion in his eyes.
"Paul, I am sure he had a hidden meaning to that." Esme tried to reassure Paul. "Isn't that right Andromeda?" I nodded and it seemed to calm down Paul more than it did Esme's assurances.
My eyes stung.
Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.
"Right," I said, trembling.
"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I am trying to say...you're not normal, Andromeda.
"Ha, what every teacher has said to me on the last day of school. Don't feel bad we are in this together now." Embry said to me.
"Poseidon help me," blurted out. His mouth popped opened in shock, while everyone was laughing.
That's nothing to be-"
"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."
"Andromeda-"
But I was already gone.
"I am already gone already gone
You can't make it feel right when you know that it's wrong
I'm already gone, already gone
There's no moving on so I'm already gone" Edward sang softly, but we all still heard. At our questioning glances, he said, "What that's a good song."
"Yeah when Kelly Clarkson sings it." Emmett shot him down which made all of us laugh while just making Esme and Carlisle to chuckle.
On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.
The other girls were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents.
When Rosalie read this, Esme was thinking, Maybe we should gives these half-bloods some funding, after all we aren't necessarily in need of it. Edward nodded in her direction for he had as always been reading her thoughts, even if he wanted to or not.
Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.
They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.
What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.
"Was it really that hard finding a school for you, Andromeda?" Esme asked me worriedly.
"It was hard because well my record isn't the most..um..great, and those schools that offered special help for kids with dyslexia and ADHD we couldn't afford. But don't worry we made it through."
"Oh," one of the girls said. "That's cool."
They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.
"You exist for me, baby," Paul teased me I chuckled at his antics. Grover looked like he was laughing too, either that or he was chocking on his peanut butter.
The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.
"Stalker much, Grover?" Quil asked him with a raised eyebrow. We all began laughing, though Esme and Carlisle just chuckled again. But that all changed when Seth who had been drinking Coke, couldn't hold his laughter and made the coke spew out of his nose. That made Esme and Carlisle laugh, Quil laughed so hard he fell from the log he had been sitting in, quickly followed by Leah. Who had been laughing at Jacob because he got the coke in his face. Jacob's expression was so hilarious tears formed in the corner of my eyes, and I am sure I wasn't the only one. When Rosalie stopped laughing which wasn't easy considering that Seth and Jacob were rolling on the floor fighting, she began reading again.
During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. I occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assume he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.
Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.
"So you sat down?" This comment made all of them laugh.
"Hey, I haven't learned yall's name, what are they?"
One of the seven said, "My name is Harry," he had black hair with the typical sun kissed skin as the others looking about 13. The one to his right spoke, "My name is Ron," this guy had red-orange hair. A standout from the usual black or brown hair, he also looked to be 13.
"Weasley?" I asked him, the others laughed and he looked like he got that a lot.
"Haha, no not Weasley." The one to Harry's left said, "I am Hunter Niall," this guy was also a standout with blonde hair. But he also had sun kissed skin, "You sound a little British," Sam laughed and another one of the wolves, that I had yet to learn his name, snorted at my comment. Hunter's only reply was that he had lived in England most of his life and he had just recently came back to his original home to be turned into a wolf. I just raised my eyebrow my my we had a British man in our midst. And let me just saw if I hadn't loved Paul with all of my life I would have thought this dude to be extremely gorgeous.
The one to Hunter's left spoke up next, "My name is Cal Blaire," This guy looked to be about 17 and he shared similar features with Hunter but it ended because while Hunter was fair Cal was dark. The one to Cal's left then said, "My name is Derek Lakes," he then pointed to the remaining two, "that's Lucas Parker and Eddie." When introductions were finally over Rosalie picked from where she left off.
I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"
Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"
I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.
Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"
"Oh...not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"
He winced. "Look, Andromeda... I was just worried for you, see? I mean hallucinating about demon math teachers..."
"Grover-"
"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and..."
"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."
His ears turned pink. Just like right now that he had been caught eating the many soda cans that the boys were drinking.
From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."
"Do you still have that card?" I pretended to look around in my pockets meanwhile disbelief was coloring his face. Not wanting to hurt his feelings I stopped pretending saying, "Are you kidding? I think I lost it even before I arrived to my house G-man."
"Oh, well," his eyes were downcast until he said, "do you want another one?"he asked.
"Maybe, you should give one to all of them, I am sure you have enough."
"I will," and with that he took off to give each one of them a card.
The card was in fancy script which was a murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:
Grover Underwood
Keeper
Half-Blood Hill
Long Island, New York
(800)009-0009
"Hey mine doesn't say keeper it says Lord of the Wild," Emmett complained. While Esme was thinking I should call this number and ask if we can fund them.
"I know, Emmett, it is just that since then I changed jobs." Grover said with a shrug.
"What's Half-"
"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um...summer address."
My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the the others at Yancy.
"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."
He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."
"Why would I need you?"
"Andromeda," Esme scolded me with a disapproving tone. The vampire mother oddly reminded me of my own mom, Sally Jackson, who by the way I should call. I gave her a sheepish smile, embarrassed after all he had been there for me. I was also planning to call my mom in the morning.
It cane out harsher than I meant it to.
Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Andromeda, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."
I stared at him.
All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.
"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"
There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.
"So basically it smelled like Sam?" Leah asked with an innocent tone making all of us laugh. Instead of retaliating like I thought he would, he blushed making all of us laugh harder at his embarrassment because he made it look like he was guilty of charge.
The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.
After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off.
"Looks like they needed you Rosalie," Jasper told her with a smirk earning an Oreo in his face that even he couldn't stop with his reflexes. But maybe it was because he was too busy laughing with everybody else. Don't get me wrong though, we weren't laughing that she was a mechanic rather at the picture in our heads.
Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.
We were on a stretch of country road- no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars.
"I am glad to say that, that piece of land is litter free, thanks to yours truly." Grover bowed while saying these while the pack sarcastically clappedwhile Esme was earnestly clapping.
On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.
"How do you differentiate between old-fashioned and modern?" asked Quil.
"Um, cobwebs?" I questioningly stated. He seemed to accept it since he didn't say anymore.
The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots,
"Man, I am getting hungry." Paul told as he was getting up to get more food.
"Paul you do know that you finished two and a half pizzas, 2 dozen sodas, and three bags of family size chips, right?" He stopped for a minute considering my words, "When you say it like that you make me sound fat...but I am still hungry." so he went to get him some food. I just smiled and shook m head at him, if we were ever to get married I don't how much food I will have to cook between the two of us.
-jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies
Some of the people present were wearing confused expressions while some had a dawning suspicion of who these ladies were.
sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.
I mean those socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks.
"Oh so unlike when Alice tried to knit. She was also trying to make sockz, which ended in a catastrophe as big as a sweater to suit four of me but they didn't look like socks." Emmett teased her earning a punch from Jasper, who Emmett along with everybody else was laughing too hard to notice until he was half way across the field.
The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the right knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.
All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.
Everyone gasped when they realized they were the fates, except those who already new i.e. Carlisle, Edward (who read Carlisle mind), and of course, Grover.
The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.
I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.
"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"
"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"
"Yeah, Weird. Huh? You think those socks would fit me?"
"Not funny, Andromeda. Not funny at all."
The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors- gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.
Catch my breath, no one can hold me back,
I ain't got time for that
Catch my breath, won't let them get me down,
It's all so simple now"" Someone softly sang, as we looked around for the culprit I remembered it was a Kelly Clarkson song, "Edward,quit it. You will never be the next Kelly Clarkson." Making him look downcast for a minute and then he resumed singing much to the pain of Emmett's ears who was sitting next to him.
"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."
"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."
"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.
Across the road, the wold ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for- Sasquatch or Godzilla.
"Neither, they were for Leah," Sam said with a snort, leaving a red faced Leah only option but to toss him one of Jared's Oreos.
At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.
The passengers cheered.
"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"
Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.
"Ugh, that is not a good feeling," Edward commented.
"How would you know, bloodsucker?" Jacob asked him but not in an unfriendly way.
"Simple, I almost died from it." This got Jacob to shut his trap.
"Oh, well that works."
Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.
"Grover?"
"Yeah?"
"What are not telling me?"
He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Andromeda, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"
"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like...Mrs. Dodds, are they?"
His expression was hard to read but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds.
"What can be worse than an old pre-algebra teacher?" Embry asked me.
"You," responded Paul making me laugh and making the others chuckle.
He said, "Just tell me what you saw."
"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."
He closed the his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.
He said, "You saw her snip the cord."
"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.
"Yeah, it means someone is going to die," Jared said. There was a stunned silence to which he said, "What? I watched that movie, Hercules." We all nodded in understanding. Even if it was misleading it had some truths.
"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."
"What lat time?"
"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."
"That sounds so reassuring, Grover," Edward's tone was laced with sarcasm.
"Grover," I said, because he was really staring to scare me.
"I understand Andy, heck I would be scared too." Seth said.
"Wow, Seth you are starting to sound like Paul before he met the love of his life." Sam said. I know the words might sound corny but it still made butterflies fly around in my stomach.
"What are you talking about?"
"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."
This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.
"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.
No answer.
"Grover- that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"
He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.
"By the way Grover, I would like some golden lilies." I told him when Rosalie finished. Paul was still looking jealous, so I murmured something into Grover's ear to see if he would help me to get Paul rid of the green monster.
With a smile he said, "That is a great plan, Andromeda." While everyone else looked at us with confusion.
Anyone recognize Emmett's lie? And what can Andromeda's plan be? Anyway review, review and review!