Chapter 9: Leah's Good Faith Offer

Avery trailed his sister in seething disgust up path to the front door.

"I can't believe you made us leave. You are so embarrassing sometimes." He grumbled. "Why can't you just let me make friends?" Lily wheeled around with sheer anger across her face. The last thing she wanted was grief from her brother. She was still reeling from Jacob's story. Why was he telling her tall tales?

"Shut up, Avery!" She hissed in a low voice. "Do you want dad to hear us? Do you want him to find out where we've been?" Avery stopped and glowered at his sister. He knew as well as Lily what would happen to them if their father found out they had gone to First Beach. But he knew the crime that carried the bigger sentence would be due to their choice of company. It was no secret in the Matson household that their father saw Jacob and his friends as a bad influence. Although, up until tonight, Lily couldn't understand why her father was so wary of them.

"Fine." He mumbled. "But I still don't forgive you."

"Fine." Lily replied as she shoved her door key into the lock. Avery walked passed her in silence as he sulked up the stairs to his room.

"Goodnight, son." Lily heard her father call from behind the door."

"Night." Avery called from his room. Lily rested her head on the door as she pulled her key out of the lock. Damn, she thought. Of course her father would wait up. She composed her face as best she could and closed the door.

Her father sat in his armchair reading his newspaper. Lily noticed how her father, sitting in his chair and reading his paper under the light of a solitary lamp, reminded her of a Norman Rockwell painting. Sometimes her father could be so cliché.

"What's wrong with Avery?" Her father questioned as he folded his newspaper and placed it in his lap. Lily sighed; she knew this was only the beginning of his questions.

"Nothing, he's just being Avery." Lily answered hoping he would buy her vague answer. His father peered at her and she could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes but didn't press the issue any further.

"How was Port Angeles?"

"Fine."

"What did you do?"

"Walked around. Nothing interesting." Lily's father nodded silently. He knew he wouldn't get much more out of her. She stopped telling him about her days when she was nine years old, the year her mother died. "Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, Lily." He replied as he picked up his newspaper and Lily climbed the steps swiftly to her room.

The next day doorbell rang with a hollow ding dong. Dr. Matson answered the door briskly. He wondered who it could be, the welcome wagon had dwindled after school had started and he wasn't expecting any visitors. He swept the door open with a smooth and graceful tug. Leah Clearwater stood before him looking up at him with a wide, overly sweet smile as if she were forcing her face to look naturally happy.

"Hi. Dr. Matson!" She said in the sweetest tone she could manage. "Is Lily home?"

"Hello, Ms. Clearwater. She's upstairs." Dr. Matson replied confused pointing towards the stairwell directly behind him. "Is she expecting you?"

"No." She said innocently.

"May I ask what this is about?"

No. What is he? A prison guard? Leah thought. She knew he wasn't going to be easy to get by; all she heard were stories about how he was so strict about his children. Embry was right about him.

"Just girl stuff." Leah replied vaguely. She peered around Dr. Matson looking for an opening where she could slip through. She was fast. He'd never be able to catch her and she smiled to herself at that thought.

"Girl stuff?" he questioned.

"Yes." She sighed in her best teenager voice. "You see. My mom and I thought it would be a great idea to invite Lily over for the rest of the weekend. This way I could introduce her to the girls and properly introduce her to La Push and Forks. My friends are so excited to meet her and they want to throw a slumber party for her. You know, have a girls night. It would be so awesome." She squealed.

Dr. Matson stood puzzled as Leah swiftly ducked under his arm and into the foyer.

"Please, come in." He fumbled.

"Thanks." She said smiling pleasantly. She stood looking at Dr. Matson with expectant eyes, asking permission to go upstairs. Ha. She thought. As if he could catch me.

"Well, I suppose that sounds ok." He said with an unsure slowness.

"Great. Thanks!" She yelled as she bolted up the stairs. She wasn't going to give him a chance to change his mind.

"First door on the left!" He yelled unnecessarily. Leah turned to face a white door with a sign that said Lily's Parking Only. Leah rolled her eyes. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. She took a deep breath and raised her hand to knock on the door. She wasn't about being sappy or pleading the case for others in general. But this was for Jacob and she reminded herself that she didn't want him to have the same fate as her. She forced a smile on her face and rapt her knuckles gently against the wood.

"Come in." Lily called from behind the door. Leah pushed open the door slowly and peered in. Lily sat on her bed reading a book.

"Leah?" Lily said though it sounded more like what are you doing here rather than being surprised about the person standing in her doorway. "Hey"

"Hi." Leah said as she hesitantly stepped into the room. Normally, she would come in with guns blazing but she figured she would take the delicate approach for now. She didn't want to scare Lily off, well, anymore than she already had been. She looked around Lily's room searching for the words that seemed to escape her. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Lily asked though she already had a feeling it would involve talking about Jacob. She closed her book and tossed aside as she tucked her feet underneath her. Leah strode forward and sat on the edge of Lily's bed with uncertainty.

Gentle, Leah. Be patient. Help her understand. She tried to convince herself knowing that it was going to take her best effort to be sympathetic.

"About Jacob." She replied. Lily exhaled in frustration. It was bad enough that she couldn't stop thinking about Jacob, even though she was furious with him. All she wanted to do was be angry and be left alone.

"I don't want to talk about him." She said folding her arms across her chest. Her eyes glared at Leah with a warning she didn't heed.

"I just wanted to explain…" Leah said trying to maintain her patience but Lily cut her off.

"I don't care, I don't want to talk about Jacob and I don't want to here what you have to say." She growled.

"Tough." Leah replied with authority. Leah's intense gaze matched Lily's. A moment passed and Leah sighed in slight defeat. This is getting me nowhere.

"Look. I just wanted to talk." Lily relaxed slightly. She sensed that defiance was futile in the long run and figured it was better to let Leah say her piece and leave.

"So talk." She replied coolly.

"I know why you left the bonfire the other night."

"Do you?" Leah knew that Lily wasn't going to let her guard down easily and in many ways, she understood. She knew that if she were in Lily's place she would react the same way. In a normal world, this whole thing seemed crazy, werewolves, vampires, and blood feuds, what normal person would entertain such things? But, Lily was going to have to deal with it. Well, she hoped that for Jacob's sake, Lily would learn accept it.

"Yes." She replied. "What Jacob told you is true." Lily rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in utter frustration. Why had her father accepted this job amongst a community of crazy people? She had read the mythology of her father's people in one of his textbooks but never dreamed how thoroughly they actually believed the legends.

"Oh really?" She shrilled incredulously. "And I suppose that you believe that you are a werewolf too who is destined to protect your people from vampires!"

"Yes." Leah hissed glancing at the doorway. "Keep your voice down!"

"Keep my voice down? Ha. I can't believe this. You come here to tell me that you, Jacob, and all of your little friends are a pack of werewolves and there are vampires in the world and I'm just supposed to smile and say 'ok'."

"Pretty much." Leah replied sarcastically though she immediately regretted her words. She had to remember this was going to take patience. For a moment, Lily was speechless with anger as she sputtered incoherent sounds. Her eyes narrowed.

"You seriously need to consider theraphy! Are you all insane?" Leah sighed. Why does everyone think that I'm insane?

"Do you suffer from vitamin deficiency from the lack of sun?" Lily continued.

"No, that would be the vampires."

"Oh, very funny." Lily yelled. Leah leaned in and placed her hand over Lily's mouth.

"I said, keep your voice down!" She said. "Now, if I take my hand off your mouth, will you promise to stop yelling and chill out?" Lily glared at Leah but nodded her head in consent.

"Why do I have to keep my voice down?" She whispered harshly.

"Because, no one is supposed to know our secret." She replied. "Well, most outsiders, anyway. Those are the rules, but there are exceptions." Rules, Leah thought, that Jacob had been so fond of breaking with Bella.

"And I suppose I am the exception to that rule?" Lily was growing tired of this story. Why were Jacob and Leah so insistent and so thorough with this lie? What was the point of it all?

"In Jacob's case, yes." Leah replied in a matter of fact tone.

"Why?"

"That's for Jacob to tell you."

"Then why are you here?" Lily asked angrily. Leah sighed.

"Because you won't talk to him and I'm tired of seeing him moping around." I've seen him do that for too long. Leah thought.

"What makes you think I'm going to talk to him again?" Lily challenged. Leah's eyes narrowed. She realized she was making little progress and she had already wasted too much time. Leah took a deep breath knowing there was only one way left to convince her.

"If I promise to show you something, will you promise to talk to Jacob?"