I sighed as I stood in front of the principal's office, feeling nervous: there'd been a note taped to my locker that I had to talk to Mr. Cabot. I'd spent all day avoiding him and just trying to sit still through what turned out to be some of the most boring classes ever, but it'd been difficult. I couldn't stop thinking about Embry.
It'd been a two weeks since Embry'd kissed me, and life was sort of fantastic. I had friends. And they weren't at school, but they did exist. And I had a boyfriend. And I was acing my classes. My mother still hadn't reappeared, but I liked it that way—it was easier.
My day was going well. Except for Mr. Cabot.
I finally knocked, shifting nervously as Mr. Cabot instructed me to come in. I turned the note over in my fingers as I went inside and sat down across from Mr. Cabot. What was I supposed to tell him?
"Miss Mehta," Mr. Cabot said solemnly. "We need to discuss a few things, first of which being the fact that I have no idea where your mother is." I froze at this, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest, while I sat here and wished that Derrick was here with me. "I dropped by your house last night and no one was home and my wife mentioned over dinner that your mother left a few nights ago and never came back." Oh no. "I've called every contact number I have for her since yesterday afternoon in an effort to talk to her about your performance yesterday, and all of the numbers have been cut off, or now belong to someone else."
"Mr. Cabot," I began slowly, my heart pounding. "My mom's just on a trip, she'll be back in a few weeks…"
"She left you and Derrick alone for a few weeks?" Mr. Cabot asked. "This doesn't seem very responsible, Miss Mehta." Mr. Cabot looked unhappy for a moment, and his voice dropped. "And your mother has had problems in the past." I swallowed, straightening and glaring at Mr. Cabot angrily.
"This isn't your business." I said tightly. "Mom's got problems but she's fine now," That was a lie, and it probably meant I was a sociopath that I felt absolutely no remorse for it, "and she's just on a trip. If you're uncomfortable with that, you are not my parent. You don't have to be comfortable with that."
Mr. Cabot stared at me evenly. "Miss Mehta, I work at a school. I have a civic and personal responsibility if I think children are neglected or abused." My heart was pounding in my chest. "I'm also your neighbor and remember—remember when your uncle came when you two were younger because your mother was too sick to take care of you." My eyes filled unwillingly with tears, and I swallowed hard, trying not to cry. This was none of Mr. Cabot's business. "I'm unwilling to leave you in a hostile home environment. And I've seen your injuries. The bruised ribs the PE department told me about, the mark on your face from where I can only assume someone slapped you…" I swallowed again, leaning forward and massaging my temples.
We sat in silence for a few moments, and Mr. Cabot sighed. "Alright, Miss Mehta. I'll let you go now." I nodded, staying silent. "You also have to serve a week's detention, but that can start tomorrow. Also remember that your uncle has to call me." I nodded again, rising from my seat and darting out the door, thankful that I had free periods for the rest of the day: I darted into the parking lot and walked to where I knew I'd left my car, enjoying the cold wind on my face.
I flipped open my phone and played with the buttons, considering my options. I really wanted to call Embry. But I'd already flipped out on him before. Not to say I wouldn't again, but I might want to save my flip out opportunities.
I punched in my mother's cell phone number as I got in the car, praying that what Mr. Cabot had said was true—that she'd disconnected her cell phone.
The number you're trying to dial is no longer in service. I exhaled heavily, slamming my door shut. I flipped my phone shut and pursed my lips before I flipped it open again and dialed Derrick's number automatically, not even bothering with my contacts.
"You're supposed to be at school." Embry's voice said as he picked up Derrick's phone, and I grinned in spite of myself. It was pathetic how Embry's voice alone now brightened my mood.
"Thanks Dad." I retorted. "And even though you're not in any position to be saying that," I began, shifting the phone to speaker and putting it in the cup holder, so I wouldn't get pulled over by the cops, "Since you're skipping school with the not-really believed excuse of a bad case of Mono, I do not want to debate that." My voice softened. "I need to talk to Derrick, Em."
"But I want to talk to you." Embry complained, and I grinned at the warm feeling that spread through me at these words. So, so sappy.
"Meet me at the Caribou Coffee in 20 minutes?" I suggested. I hated Caribou Coffee, and thought the cofee was actually god-awful, but it was the only chain coffee place that the town council hadn't tried to shove out. The town council, for some reason, lived in fear of chains worming their way into our not-so-quaint little town.
"Yes!" Embry sounded delighted, and I heard a crashing sound then some sort of bustle.
"Hey Rosie," Derrick said charmingly.
"Hey Der." I chimed. Then I remembered why I'd called Derrick in the first place, and the happy feeling went away. "Oh, um." I hesitated. "Der, Mr. Cabot sort of knows Mom's not home. I tried to lie but—"
"Fuck." Derrick groaned in irritation. "What—Ro, he can't find out, this isn't funny."
"Of course it's not funny, idiot." I retorted. "Because it's not a joke." I rolled my eyes at how stupid my brother could be. "However. The good news is that he's not really sure and I lied in a way that can continue at least till Thanksgiving." I grinned proudly. "Bad news is I lied for you retards and have a week's worth detention as a result, and I told Mr. Cabot that Uncle Walt would call him despite the fact that Uncle Walt really can't do that because he doesn't know you have not-really-mono." I continued all in one breath. Derrick sighed heavily on the other end of the phone, and I heard voices in the background—Jared, Jake? All I knew was that it wasn't Embry, because his voice had somehow become so distinctive to me that I wouldn't have confused it.
"What?!" Derrick demanded confusedly. "Wait, I'm so..." He paused. "Jared, goddamned stop it!" He shouted in the background, answering my unsaid question. "I'm talking to my sister!" He shouted angrily, and I rolled my eyes as I pulled onto the highway.
"Derrick, calm down." I ordered in my serious voice, hoping that would be enough to stop Derrick from phasing. I hadn't had to talk one of the boys down yet, but I really wanted to try--Kim had told me, briefly, that it wasn't that hard to talk your imprint down, because they'd do pretty much anything for you. But I was the only one with a sibling among the wolves who had an imprint, which meant I was so seriously involved in the pack's lives that I might have been too far in to talk Derrick down from any ledge.
"Derrick," I continued when I just heard him panting. "Calm. Down. Now." I paused. "I'm being serious, bro. Don't you dare phase or I'll hang up on you." I explained to him, and I wondered, somewhere in the back of my mind, when I'd begun to use phrases like "phase" so easily. Would this ever be the norm, for me?
I mean, we had to be honest. Werewolves were not normal--even more not normal was the fact that my own brother and my sort-of boyfriend were werewolves and I just sort of took this for granted.
But what was my other option? Derrick was my brother, my twin. I couldn't just reject him because he was actually a giant furry beast sometimes. And I couldn't reject my best friend turned ex best friend turned almost boyfriend because he had the same issue. Especially when I literally had no friends who weren't either furry beasts or loved furry beasts (Kim Conweller, for one, who I wasn't even really friends with, but I could actually talk to, and Emily).
I rolled forward, waiting until Derrick's strange gasping noises stopped to continue my conversation. "Anyway, as I was trying to tell you," I continued to Derrick after a few minutes. "I thought that maybe Sam," who I'd met briefly, and had turned out to be the boy who had originally tried to get me to go away, two days ago. "Could call and be like 'hi I'm Walter Mehta, and my nephew Derrick who I'm like a father to,' (because that's what I told Mr. Cabot) 'has Mono.'" I pulled into the parking lot for the strip mall where Caribou Coffee was.
"Uncle Walt has a southern accent." Derrick pointed out accurately.
"Mr. Cabot and Walt haven't actually met, have they?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "And they're not about to be best friends. After a few months..." I fell silent, remembering that what I was about to say was no longer necessarily true. After a few months we're out of here. Embry was here. Derrick was bound here by some sort of 23rd genome that sketched me out and turned him into a giant wolf on occasion. Jared, Jake, Paul, and Quil were here.
Mom was here.
Or, you know. Sorta.
"Yeah," I finally said. "That could be a problem." My voice was suddenly bleak even as I pulled into my parking spot and stopped my car, then sitting there and leaving the keys in the ignition.
"Hey," Derrick said quietly. "You okay?" He asked. I glanced down at the radio, which I'd put the XM radio my uncle was paying for on, playing around with the stations mindlessly.
"I'm hanging in." I said finally, looking up and spotting Embry, who was currently grinning at me from his spot leaning against one of the columns in front of Caribou Coffee. "Okay, gotta go!" I said more cheerily. He looked fantastic, his brown hair looking windswept and his face was just... oh God this sounded sappy, but his face was just perfect. Why had I gone from hating Embry to loving him in ten seconds?
"You're sickeningly in love with Embry." Derrick offered to me in a slow drawl, and my gaze flicked frantically away from Embry as a hasty blush covered my face, even though Derrick couldn't see me.
"Are you kidding me!" I demanded in an infuriated whisper. "I'm not in love, Derrick. The boy broke my heart a few months ago, and then we were just friends! If I actually loved him... what--are you--you're--" Derrick, who had been snickering, fell silent at my last stuttering defensive statement, and I pressed my hand over my eyes, blushing heavily again.
"You are!" He whispered to me. "You would have just made fun of me if you weren't--oh my GOD my twin sister, Rose Kathleen Mehta is in love with Embry Hudome Call!" He sounded caught between disgusted and really, really pleased.
"Stop it." I shot at him. "Now I'm going to go work out whether I'm actually dating this boy or not in the next half hour or so." I informed Derrick flatly. "So you'll be normal and nice and a supportive twin brother because I'm currently involved in a world where werewolves and vampires not only exist but argue frequently because you are a wolfboy." I kept my voice light and teasing, knowing that Derrick knew me better than to think I was actually bitter. And I was actually a little bitter. But this wasn't Derrick's fault. So I wouldn't channel it towards him. "Bye Bro." I said with a charming tone.
"You win. Bye." He said flatly, and I flipped my phone shut and jumped out of my car, raking some of my hair out of my face. I strode towards Embry, and he grabbed my waist and flipped me around, so my back was against the wall he'd been leaning against, and my arms folded around his neck easily. He pressed his lips to my collar bone, than the base of my neck, then he ducked his head beside mine.
"Hey, girlfriend." He whispered to me, and I grinned, turning my head to press my lips to his.
"Hey boyfriend," I murmured as I pulled back, and he grabbed my hand and pulled me after him into Caribou Coffee. I grinned, ducking my head. I heard someone call out just as we got in line, and Embry and I turned as one, our hands still tightly clasped.
"Embry, hey man," Rowan Morgan said, coming from where he'd been sitting with a few of his friends, and Embry pulled me to him, one arm around my waist. "Oh, Rose?" Row had been a friend of mine, just a normal friend, not a best friend, back before. Before Embry had ditched. "Wow, are you guys...?" His voice trailed off, and he looked at me seriously, his gaze asking what he didn't dare say allowed to a boy as big as Embry. Is this actually a good idea?
Row had, in addition to Derrick, tried to pull me out of the loner spiral I'd shoved myself into following my friends' collective ditching. He'd seen me pull back, had tried his hardest to pull me out of my funk, but when I'd stopped answering the phone when he called, he'd lost his drive.
"Yeah, we're dating." Embry said, grinning recklessly. "How've you been man? It's been a while."
"Great, great." He frowned at Embry. "You still at school?"
"Eh, sorta." Embry said, shrugging, and I ducked my head, trying not to show how uncomfortable Embry's answer made me.
"And our Rosie's letting you?" Rowan demanded, grinning at me, his gaze serious all the same. He was watching me, trying to gauge my reaction to what he'd said, and I smiled carefully at him. "Doesn't sound like the Rose I remember. From sophomore and part of junior year, of course." Embry stiffened, and my gaze fell, even as I slipped my hand over Embry's on my hip.
"Row." I said quietly. "Don't." I murmured finally, after a moment, and Rowan stared at me again before he nodded, pulling back and crossing his arms against his chest.
"Whatever you want, Rosie." He said gently, and I nodded, leaning back against Embry. Rowan peeled back to go to his friends at their table, and I turned to Embry lifting my head to look at him.
"What was that?" Embry asked slowly.
"Rowan's just used to intercepting." I murmured, glancing back at the boy. "Back when we weren't talking, Row tried to take care of me, insofar as he could." I shrugged, and Embry looked pained, even as he played with the ends of my hair.
"Okay." He said finally, pulling back, and I rested my fingertips against his chest.
"Are you okay?" I asked emphatically, looking up at him, my gaze solemn.
"I just... wish that the last few months had never happened." Embry sighed heavily. "The last few months almost destroyed you, I've seen everything in Derrick's head." Embry sounded heartbroken, even as he glared at the wall before turning his broken gaze back to me. "I've seen everything in Derrick's head, Ro." He repeated. I frowned--I'd been a loner, and cried a few times, sure, but I hadn't been, like, cutting or anything. "I just screwed you up bad and I feel guilty." He murmured.
"I survived." I told Embry, lifting my hand to slip around his neck. I pulled him down for a kiss and he didn't resist.
And what I'd said to Em was true. I had survived.
And come to this.
