Phasing

by Olanthea

Very loosely based on the Twilight saga. Original characters no Bella/Edward/Jacob. A familiar Forks/La Push setting. Teenagers Angie Pochoda and Eli Perdit try to deal with the phases of their lives, but overcoming one often leads to another.

10. Tryouts

Chapter Ten: Tryouts

Eli couldn't sleep that night. He was tired of waiting and tired of phoning. He hadn't called as much today as the day before. All it took was one call to the house for Amanda Pochoda to tell him where Angie was and who she was with. It didn't surprise him. She had mentioned it to him before; he was just never told that it was a for-sure thing. That one he could let go. Today was a different story. She could have returned one of his calls or texts. He waited in the morning, but there was only so long that he could give it. This was supposed to be the last warm weekend of the season. It wasn't raining at all. It was bright and beautiful. Joel's parents were taking the boat out again. Eli had to call Angie. She'd die if she missed it, he just knew it. Her phone was off. He tried to justify it. Maybe her phone was dead. Maybe it malfunctioned and wouldn't charge. That happened to Spence once – of course that was after his cell went in both the washer and the dryer. So Eli called the house number. Amanda answered again. Angie was home this time. She was just in the shower. Kimmy was on her way over, she said. That was alright. Eli had no problem inviting Kimmy along too. Even if they had plans and couldn't come boating, they could come hangout afterwards. But Amanda didn't stop there. She was chatty, which may or may not have been a good thing. The girls had to get ready to go to a party, Amanda said. Wyatt was coming to get them later. "He seems like a really nice boy. He's real polite. I think he'd be good for her," Amanda added. Eli could have thrown up right then and there.

"Just tell her that I called," he said. She never called back. He wasn't waiting around for her. He went with his friends, but he checked his phone every time he thought he heard even the slightest sound, resulting only in him dropping his phone several times - in the boat, fortunately, and not in the water. He was so distracted, that he was outside of every conversation that took place. Spence and Cameron just laughed at him, though Eli barely noticed.

Afterwards, as everyone was heading their own direction, Joel kept Eli back.

"It'll be okay," he said.

Eli was lost. What Joel was talking about didn't register with him.

"Angie," Joel explained. "You love her, don't you?"

"…Joel, man…" Eli said, trying to figure out where all of this was coming from.

"She does too. You can see it. Maybe she's just scared. You know, her mom and all. Doesn't want to be the same way."

Joel never usually said that much, but when he did, it was usually worth listening to. Eli wasn't sure if he wanted to, though. He wanted her so bad, but he was getting tired of chasing after her.

"Just be patient."

That was easy for Joel to say. He had all the patience of Job, and then some. But Joel had nothing on the line in this. Still, Eli couldn't throw his frustrations out at him. So Eli just shook his hand and said goodbye. He didn't even notice how warm yet clammy his friend's hand was.

Eli stayed up all night watching a movie in the living room. His dad must have sensed that his son was upset, because he stayed up with him until it was quite late. They didn't talk. Nelson Perdit wasn't really into father-son speeches. But if Eli needed to say anything, his dad would be there to listen. By one in the morning, Nelson finally went to bed. He patted his son's shoulder as a goodnight. Eli didn't go to bed. By three in the morning, weariness beat out Eli's frustration, so he fell asleep right there on the couch, in a slumped but seated position. He was woken up by eight o'clock as his family was preparing breakfast and Matthew and Gabby were searching for morning cartoons. It didn't help Eli's demeanour at all; he was still grumpy. He spoke only in inaudible mumbles whenever someone addressed him. It must have been bad because his mother kept asking him if he was okay, and even got up to feel the temperature of his forehead.

"I'm not sick!" he said. It was the most audible thing he had said all morning. But he shouldn't have been so harsh. His dad pushed his chair back and told Eli that the two of them were going out. Eli was still dressed from the night before, so he wasn't even given time to change. His dad didn't tell him where they were going, they just got in the truck and left. They didn't really go that far, just over to the hardware store and picked up some lumber. Eli was still confused, but he was sure that there was going to be work involved. His dad wasn't much of a talker, but he was a worker. If one of his kids seemed putout, he put them to work. He didn't do it as a punishment, more like a chance to release aggression and even meditate. His grandfather once said that everyone has their peace, their point of calm, and that it was always different for each person. It seemed like being busy was the Perdit way, though Nelson and his father went about it differently. Moses centred himself by taking care of people, animals, and plants. Nelson liked to use his hands, build things. In a way, it was like they both found peace in fixing things. The only thing that Eli wanted to fix right now was his life. He didn't think building birdhouses or painting fences would accomplish anything more than prolonging his frustration.

After buying the lumber, they stopped at an old part of the reservation. It was a rundown house owned by an elderly couple, one of the oldest in La Push. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph came outside when they saw the truck pull up and greeted the Perdits in Quillayute. So this was the job. Nelson had offered to help fix up their front steps, which were wooden and falling apart. They had cement blocks supporting the second to bottom step, but that only made it the most secure step out of all of them. It could easily fall down at any point, and in some places the wood planks had already snapped. Nelson helped them back up into their sad looking old house as Eli unloaded the truck. It was going to be a long day of unexpected work. They had to strip away the old stairs and build everything from scratch, even the banisters. Nelson worked silently as he measured and marked the wood. Eli could only take so much of the silence, so once they actually started joining the pieces, he began to talk.

"Sorry I snapped this morning," Eli said while sandpapering edges.

"You didn't sleep much," Nelson said, still focused on his work.

"Yeah, that's part of it, I guess."

"Your pants are too tight," his father said.

"What?"

Nelson tapped his son's shin with his pencil. Eli looked down and saw his pant leg up about an inch.

"Must've shrunk," Eli said.

"Or you're growing. Growing pains can drive you crazy sometimes," Nelson said calmly as ever.

"Yeah, well so can girls."

Nelson almost smiled.

"Did you ever like a girl that you just couldn't get to like you?" Eli blurted.

Nelson raised an eyebrow and smirked. That was about as close to a laugh as Nelson ever usually got. He nailed another plank and then nodded.

"Every man faces that problem," Nelson said in his calm way.

Eli sighed. "Except for the guys that get the girls that the rest of us can't."

Nelson smiled again. "Sometimes those girls aren't worth having," Nelson said. "And sometimes the effort you put in to winning those girls over makes them worth having. And sometimes, things just work out, for no reason than that's just the way that the stars happened to align that day."

Nelson's speech was too poetic to be of his own making. Eli guessed right away that it was one handed down by his grandfather.

"Your grandfather used to tell me to be patient. When she's the right one, you'll know, and it won't be long before she knows, too. It's hard to be patient when you're young. You want everything the moment that you think of it. You'll see things differently in a few years."

Yes, that was definitely an inherited speech. It was also very cliché. Eli knew that he was teenager and that all teenagers get angsty and feel like the world is out to make their lives difficult and that everything would be sorted out as soon as their hormones stopped going crazy. But hormones or not, Eli knew that he was being treated unfairly. He deserved more for his efforts.

"What do you do when she's with an idiot, and she won't talk to you anymore because she knows that he's an idiot and you won't stand for it?" Eli said, sanding the newly placed banister.

Nelson just looked at his son for a moment, and then went back to nailing the other banister pieces to the steps. That basically meant that Eli's dad have given him all the advice that he was capable of mustering. Obviously his dad never had this problem. Eli's mom was a smart woman, and she and Nelson met when they were quite young so they must not have had many dating issues to sort out beforehand. But Eli was leaving a key part out of his argument; he didn't ask his dad what his chances were with a white girl, especially when the guy who was his competition was also white. It would be hard enough to figure out a rez kid with a non rez kid. Maggie Perdit wasn't a Quileute, she was Carrier, but she still grew up on the reserve. Eli just thanked the universe that he was almost graduated and would be able to get off the reserve soon. It wasn't that he hated it, it's just that he needed to get out from this closeness. If he were in a big city, no one would just assume that he was a rez kid. No one would probably even care. There was a time that he was in Seattle visiting his sister and someone discriminated against him because they thought he was a Mexican. Eli wasn't offended by that, he thought that it was hilarious. Eli had never even been to the southern states, and he definitely didn't speak a word of Spanish. Maybe that's why he had to be patient. He had to grow up, get out on his own, and then maybe the world would start making more sense once the edges blurred a little.

The stairs were almost done. Eli was actually feeling a little better. Mrs. Joseph scuttled out of front door with an old serving tray with orange Tang and bannock with jam. It was a good time to test out the new steps. Eli tried them out first. It felt solid. Nelson followed behind, bouncing a little on a few of the steps to see if they were holding steady. It seemed to fit well; it just needed to have a protective coat of primer put on it. They dusted themselves off and went inside to wash their hands - at the request of Mrs. Joseph. Eli used their bathroom, and when he came back outside, his father was already sitting and chatting with Mr. Joseph in a mix of Quillayute and broken English. Mrs. Joseph poured Eli a glass of the Tang and jammed a piece of bannock for him.

Nelson passed Eli's phone to him. Eli had placed it on the porch while they were working, and his dad must have put it on the table when he sat down. 1 missed call. His heart jumped. He checked the number. It was her. Finally! But his elation mellowed out as he remembered everything. How many times had he tried to call her, and now after one try he should just give in? He took a bite of the bannock. He should probably wait until they primed the stairs at least. The phone rang again. Eli felt it vibrate in his hand. He sighed, got up and went towards the truck, just to be able to take the call in private.

"Yeah?"

There was a pause before a hesitant voice said, "Hi…Eli? You called?"

Eli scoffed. Yeah, about fifty times! "Hey, Ange. Yeah. Didn't realize that you had your weekend booked."

"…I…I wasn't really sure what was going on."

"So how was your date – or, sorry, date-s?" he said, really emphasising the plural bitterly.

"…it was okay…Look, Eli, I wasn't trying to avoid you."

"Hey, whatever, right? You're gonna do what you're gonna do."

"Eli, are you mad at me?"

Eli huffed. "You could have just given me a heads up, you know? Maybe I wouldn't have wasted my time."

She was quiet on her end.

Eli was breathing heavily. "Look. I'm kinda busy right now. I should probably go anyway before your boyfriend gets jealous."

There was a sniffle and a faint voice than said, "…yeah…sure…"

Eli stopped breathing. His tone softened. "Ange? You okay?"

"…yeah. If you gotta go," she mumbled with anothersniffle.

Eli didn't know what to do. He'd never been in this situation before. "Ange? Are you crying?"

She didn't say anything, but there was another sniffle.

His heart sank. "Ange, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean – I was just really hoping to see you this weekend. I'm not mad at you. Promise. Geez, I'm sorry."

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she said with another sniffle.

Eli sighed. "Hang on." He walked back towards the porch. He quickly asked his dad if he could bail – of course he said it in Quillayute, which he figured would not only go over better, but he didn't want Angie to know that he was actually in the middle of something. Nelson just raised a querying eyebrow, which made Eli add, "I think I made her cry," in a guilty voice. Nelson rolled his eyes, and excused both himself and his son.

"I can take you home," Nelson said, "but you have to convince your mother to borrow the car. I promised the Josephs, and today might be the last day we're able to do it before the heavy rain sets in."

Eli agreed to it. His mom wasn't quite the pushover that his dad was, but if he told her that Angie was upset, she'd let him go. Although, if he told her that he was the reason for it, he might not be allowed to take the car ever. As Eli shot out of the car, his father yelled out the window, "Good luck. I don't envy you."

Eli dashed inside. Without taking a breath he blurted, "HeyMomIneedthecar."

"Excuse me?" Maggie Perdit said from overtop of her magazine.

"Dad just dropped me off. I need to get in to Forks."

His mother raised an eyebrow. It was one of the few traits that Mr. and Mrs. Perdit shared.

"Angie was on the phone crying. I kinda need to see her."

His mother's sceptical expression dropped instantly to one of heartfelt concern. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'll take care of it. I just really need the car. Please. Please," Eli said folding his hands to beg.

"On the hook," she replied.

Eli shot towards to front door, grabbing the keyring off of the set of hooks on the wall. "Thanks, Mom. Love ya. Bye!" he said running out to his mom's car. It was very rare that he ever got to drive the car. He was so used to the truck that it took him a while to remember that this one was an automatic. Once he realized that not being able to reach the clutch was okay, he darted off. He stopped just once at a gas station, but he didn't get gas there.

Angie felt even worse now. Eli was mad at her but now he probably figured that she was throwing down the pity-me card. She didn't to get all soft and sobby. Now she was responsible for making Eli feel bad twice over, which made her feel even worse. She hated this. She never cried. It was a point of pride for her. She would never let her heart break. So why did it feel like it was starting to? And who did she have now? She found herself upset beyond the capacity to control it, and who could she call about it? Wyatt? There's no one she'd be least likely to tell than him! How did she find herself so reliant on a boy? This couldn't happen. She couldn't let this happen. And now she had made herself even more upset than before. She hadn't actually been crying on the phone, merely beginning too so that her nose became runny and her throat tight. But now, thinking about everything, real tears were silently streaming. It was a good thing that her mom was out, otherwise she'd probably be having a panic attack right about now. Amanda Pochoda tended to overreact very easily.

Then there was the sound of a car coming up the drive way. "Oh great," Angie moaned aloud. Her mom had come back. She probably forgot her purse or something. Angie retreated to her room, and plopped herself on her bed with a pillow. There was a knock on the door. If it was Amanda, she'd have a key to let herself in. If it was anyone else, well they could go away. They knocked again. Angie just waited it out. By the sound of it, they gave up and went away.

Then there was noise that scared Angie half to death; a tap on her bedroom window. Her heart was racing. Then a muffled, "Ange?"

"Eli?"

She got up and threw back her curtains. Sure enough he was standing on the other side. She slid opened her window. "Eli, you creeper, what are you doing?"

Eli pushed a large rock over with his foot and used it as a step. "Hey," he said, his elbows now able to rest on the casement. He had a plastic shopping bag dangling from his wrist. He reached in and pulled out a pintsize tub of ice cream. "Peace offering."

Angie unlatched the window screen and removed it. Eli handed the small tub to her.

"So are you gonna let me in, or am I just gonna hang out here?" he asked her.

She left her bedroom and unlocked the front door. Eli wasn't far behind. The moment he came into view Angie sprung a hug on him. It definitely caught him off guard, but he didn't stop her. Her arms were wrapped right around his neck and her head was bent down and buried at his throat.

"I'm sorry I'm a terrible person," she mumbled.

Eli nearly choked. "Whoa. Hey. What. No. Ange. I'm the one who's stressing you out. If I just minded my own business, I wouldn't have…"

Angie slowly let Eli go.

"I'm sorry too," he said.

So the eruption from this morning had faded out. They sat in her room, eating ice cream. Angie leaned up against him, and he put an arm around her torso, the only way that they were capable of sitting so close to one another and still have use of each hand to hold the tubs and eat at the same time.

"Can you tell Joel that I'm sorry I didn't come?" Angie asked.

"He's cool with it. He was the one telling me that I shouldn't worry about it. Sometimes I think he understand you more than I do," Eli said with a laugh.

"He's a good guy," she said.

"He is. See, you should be holding out for a guy like that."

Angie laughed. "Maybe a little too passive for me. I might accidentally steamroll him one day."

"Nah, you don't hit that hard."

"You haven't seen me play. I've been known to make people bleed before," she said.

Eli laughed at the absurdity of the comment. "What do you do? Kick 'em with your cleats?"

"I said I was tough, not sadistic."

"Well you haven't beat me up yet."

"I could take you," she joked.

"Uh huh, sure. Save it for the tryouts. Those are coming up, aren't they?"

"Yup. Wednesday. It's going to be brutal."

"Why?"

"You know I'm going to try to kick the basketball. It's inevitable. I'm pre-programmed to kick things."

"I'd laugh if you got a basket doing that. It'd be hilarious," Eli said, already laughing and spilling his ice cream down his chin and onto his shirt.

Angie gave a playful scream and shot up in case the dessert would end up in her hair. She ran and got him a paper towel. He stood up and was able to get the drippy ice cream and cookie chunks off, but the brown streak that it left wasn't very appealing. He took his shirt off and went to wash it out in the bathroom sink. Angie was now flat on her back laughing at him. Eli was in the bathroom laughing at her laughing at him.

A knock on the door. Angie didn't really think twice about who it might be. With Eli having shown up, it didn't really matter. Angie took a long breath, trying to stop smiling. She ran her fingers through her now dishevelled hair. Good enough. She answered the door. Her smile faded when she saw who it was.

"Oh, hi."

"Hey," Wyatt said. He stood awkwardly in the door way. His hands clutching a grey knit sweater. "You left this in the car. Thought you might want it."

Angie took it. It wasn't hers, but she knew that it was Kimmy's so she might as well keep it for her until Monday. "Oh, thanks."

She could see him trying to inch his way in. She didn't really want to invite him in, but to just leave him out there would be rude. He flashed a smile at her. He must have thought that he was gaining extra brownie points for his chivalrousness. That smile quickly melted when Eli came out into the hall, his shirt still in his hand. Angie knew that she was going to be caught in the crossfire. But Eli just smiled, not his wide beaming smile, but a sneaky sort of toothy grin. Given his shirtlessness and Angie's flushed face, he must have known what this looked like. With his hatred of Wyatt, Angie knew in the pit of her stomach that Eli was going to play it up, just to piss Wyatt off.

"Hey. Wyatt, right? How's it going?" Eli said cheekily.

Wyatt just grimaced. He gave a nod of acknowledgement, but that's as far as his politeness would take him.

Eli's smile got wider. "Hey, you two probably want to talk alone, or something. I'll just wait out back in your room, Ange, okay?"

Angie didn't know what to say. Technically Eli wasn't doing any harm – it was only his mannerisms that were suggestive. "…yeah, sure. Go ahead."

Eli nodded his head to the blond boy. "See you around, Wyatt."

Wyatt's face was going red. His nostrils flared. He didn't relax until Eli was out of sight.

"It's a long story," she muttered. "He spilt all over his shirt. He's just cleaning off."

"Right," Wyatt said. He was trying really hard to bite his tongue. "We're still cool, right?" he asked her hopefully.

"Yeah. Yeah," she replied.

"Okay. It's just – it's just hard to tell with you sometimes."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I take it that today is your friend day?"

"Yeah, sorta. I've only been able to see him about once a week."

"Okay. I can work around that." He stepped back for a moment, looking down the hallway, "SEE YOU AROUND, THEN!" Wyatt called out.

Angie didn't get it. Why bother? Then Wyatt put his arm around her and planted a kiss on her. Once again Angie just let him do it, but she was annoyed about this one. Obviously he was doing it simply to show Eli up. Where did this sudden outburst of dominance and possession come from? When he was done, he looked at Angie with a smirk. "See you tomorrow," he said to her.

"Yeah, see ya," she replied. She shut the door behind Wyatt when he left. When she turned around she saw Eli standing in the hallway, his shirt now on and his eyes narrowed.

"What is it with you two?" Angie exclaimed. "I swear, if I had never been involved, you two wouldn't give a crap about each other."

Eli scoffed, but lightly, "Ange, we don't give a crap about each other now."

"You know what I mean!" she said. Then she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt. She felt Wyatt-fied and unnatural.

Eli laughed. He knew that he could kiss her better than that. She wouldn't wipe it off either. He didn't know how he knew that; his experience was limited. His turn was coming, he could feel it. Already today was a victory. He was in and Wyatt had been turned away.

Eli knew what he had to do now. He had to be there. That was the only advantage that Wyatt had over him – he was there every single day, in all of her classes, at every lunch hour, etc. It was going to be time consuming, but the saying goes that persistency pays off. He told his plan to Spence, who was in full support, and who also informed everyone else they knew.

Realistically, Eli couldn't show up everyday, so he had to be selective. At least Angie was talking to him more regularly now. He reserved as much judgement as he could and kept up the friend front. This way he was able to be a part of her day. He knew who she hung out with, how much homework she had, what she was looking forward too and what she was dreading. It was simple. Wednesday would be his day. He was lucky that P.E. was his last block. He was able to sneak off early without changing and not waiting for the bell. Spence had cut that entire block of math class and was already waiting in his car. Before the end of day announcements sounded on the school PA system, the two of them were already leaving La Push behind them.

Spence was more excited than Eli thought he should be. They weren't going to actually make a big scene or anything, though Eli had the feeling that Spence would try. It didn't matter. Angie wouldn't care if Spence looked like an idiot. She was still getting used to him and his loud obnoxious tendencies. Eli would have asked Joel to tag along instead, but he had missed every day of school so far this week. He seemed fine on Saturday, but anything can happen to get someone sick. Cameron was a write-off because there would be no way that Jennifer would allow for him to be a part of Operation Break-up as Spence called it. So it was just the two of them. When they pulled up to the high school parking lot, most of the student cars had already gone. It was easy to see where to go; the gym doors were open to let air in as well as observers. Mostly teachers and parents sat in the bleachers, but there was good number of students there too. Eli wouldn't have been able to recognise the table, but seeing Wyatt in a group in the corner was all he needed to assure him that he was in the right place at the right time. The tryouts had already begun before Eli and Spence arrived, so they missed the drills and were now actually playing a full on game with a large amount of switching out. The boys just grabbed an empty spot on the bleachers, not too far from ground level, and easy access to the stairs. Spence wasn't much into sports himself, but he smiled as he sat down, looking at the girls on the court below running back and forth. He turned to Eli and said, "Damn, I should get me a white girl. Any recommendations?"

Eli just jabbed him with his elbow. He could have told Spence that it wouldn't be worth the trouble, but he was too distracted himself to bother keeping his friend in check.

The coach blew the whistle, bringing the game to a standstill. He read out a list of last names and positions, and those girls who were called took their place on the floor as those who had just played took a seat on the bench. Eli didn't need "Pochoda" to know where Angie was. She took her place as a forward. It was very apparent that she was in the game. Her knees bent, her back hunched a little, ready to dart out. She had her eye fixed on her check, ready for the whistle to blow, and then that player would never be able to shake her off. And that's exactly what she did. She was fast, and she could manoeuvre. She could change direction in an instant, weave in and out of other players even in the tightest of spaces. If her team had the ball, she was right there fighting off the offensive, and when the tables turned, she was ready to steal. It was stealing where she got aggressive. She wasn't a ball hog, in fact, whenever she did get the basketball she was determined to get rid of it as soon as possible - she wasn't going to be held responsible for shooting. She'd fly up in the middle of a pass, knock the ball right out of someone's hands, and get so close to whoever was in possession that they couldn't even dream of sneaking it by her. This was where problems started to occur. No one could say that Angie wasn't good at what she did, but she had a number of fouls called on her. Most of them were for traveling – she sometimes carried the ball from underneath when dribbling – some for being in the key, but those were violations that were called on most girls. The big one was the personal fouls. Angie would sometimes appear way too quickly, scaring one of the girls who'd then trip, then claim that they'd been pushed. Angie would swear that she never touched them, but she had no choice but to apologize and keep her distance. There was only one incident where someone actually did get hurt. Angie had just stolen the ball mid air, knowing that she'd try to pass it right away, the opposition tried to position herself ready to block. The problem was that this girl didn't move quite as quickly as Angie did, and when she landed, ready to make for the clearing, she rammed right into the check. The foul was called on her. A roar of boos sounded at the coach – Wyatt's group who had been rooting her on (along with a few of the other girls from the group who were on the court). The girl who was knocked down played it up, but when she got to her feet, she threw a dirty curse at Angie, which didn't go unnoticed by the coach who then gave her a penalty. Both girls were asked to sit down.

The coach switched one more time – some girls doubled. Angie figured that the coach was sampling out the potentials again. Her name wasn't called. She grabbed her water bottle and her backpack. She saw Wyatt get up from the far side of the bleachers to meet her. She moved closer towards the door so that she wouldn't be in anyone's way. The next thing she knew, she saw Eli and Spence coming down the bleachers. Despite the miserable failure of today's tryout, she broke out into a smile and ran for them. She jumped at Eli and threw her arms around his neck. He picked her up and swung her around a little.

"Ew, you're gross and sweaty," he joked as he swung her.

He put her back on her feet. She then gave Spence a hug, who found it very unexpected and didn't know what to do. It ended quicker than Eli's.

"Way to cause some concussions there, steamroller," Eli said to her.

She bowed her head self-consciously.

He put an arm around her friendlily, as a half hug. She smiled again and said, "Thanks for coming, guys. I didn't know that you would be."

Spence just shrugged. "What else are we going to do on Wednesday night?"

"Well, Thursdays will be good again," Angie said excitedly.

"Carl," Eli said to finish her sentence.

"And guess who's getting cable installed this week!"

"'Bout time," Eli said, high-fiving her. "Premiere party at your place."

Spence just shook his head. "I don't get what you guys see in that show. It's so slow."

"Hey, no knocking Carl," Eli said, mock threatening, "or I'll send Ange out on ya to be steamrolled."

"Isn't that the guy from your house?" Spence asked, nodded towards Wyatt.

Wyatt stopped across the room when he saw Eli and his friend standing around Angie. Angie turned to see him and had the feeling that she was going to be mortified. She was right.

Eli smiled and waved at him. "'Sup, man?" he shouted at Wyatt.

Wyatt just glared.

"Dude, I don't think he understands you," Spence told him. So he faced Wyatt, held up an open palm and said, "How, Kemosahbe," in his most hammed-up TV Indian voice.

Both Eli and Spence were killing themselves laughing. Angie hid her face in her hand.

"I cannot believe you guys," she said, but she couldn't hide her smile no matter how mad at them she wanted to be.

Wyatt came over. He wasn't going to back down. His strides were made with confidence. When he got close, he ignored the guys and just smiled and Angie, swooping down to give her a hug.

"Hi…" she said awkwardly as he squeezed her too tight.

"A bunch of us are heading out as soon as June and Taylor are done. You coming?" Wyatt asked her.

"…uh…" She looked back at her friends.

Eli put up his hands. "Hey, we just dropped in. You do what you gotta do." He sounded sincere, at least beyond his cheeky tone. He usually sounded a little harsher if he was upset. "Call me if you get bored," he said.

"…okay," Angie said as he gave her a goodbye hug.

"See you, Angie," Spence said with a wave.

"Later, Wyatt," Eli said.

Wyatt put his arm around Angie's shoulders.

"I'll just get changed, okay?" she told him, wriggling out from under the weight of his arm.

As she was changing, Angie was kind of wishing that Eli would have said something. He couldn't have come all this way if he didn't have something in mind. Maybe he was doing something with Spence. Surely Spence wouldn't have agreed to come out just to watch a silly tryout. Well, whatever their business in Forks was, she was still glad that they stopped in.

When she came back out, Wyatt was standing right there. He took her backpack and swung it over his shoulder, and then took her hand to lead her to his car. The rest of the table got into their cars and off they went for celebratory nachos and milkshakes. Their drinks had only just arrived when Angie's phone vibrated. It was only a text, but she was still relieved. Being out with the group meant that more things were happening over her head, and Wyatt was being as close as ever. His deadweight arm just pressed her down into her seat. The text would at least give her something to do while people ignored her, and keep her preoccupied in case Wyatt tried to kiss her again – for some reason he was starting to make a habit of it.

bored yet? It was Eli.

maybe

should I send a rescue party?

a party?

maybe not a party

haha, really?

rescuer on the way

who did you send?

the usual. tall dark & handsome

Joel?

?

kidding

2nd table from the counter

Angie looked up. A large group of people were passing by her table, obstructing her view. When they finally went past, Angie saw the usual tall dark and handsome standing, bent over his phone.

see him yet?

She couldn't help but smile. She asked Wyatt to pass her bag to her. He asked if everything was alright.

"Yeah, fine. I just have something I have to do, okay?"

He was hesitant, but he wasn't going to stop her. She managed to scoot out and around the rest of the group. She put some money down on the table for the food that she was supposed to be sharing.

"How long have you been here?" she asked Eli when she came up to him.

"Only as long as you needed me to be," he said. "You ready to be rescued?"

For the first time, Angie took his hand, ready to lead him out of the door. He just smiled and went with it.

"So where's Spence?" Angie asked outside.

"Across the street."

Eli didn't want it to be too weird, so they opted for getting a table at the next door restaurant. He anticipated that Angie would be done with Wyatt before eating, but even if that wasn't the case, she wouldn't turn down a dessert with him. He lucked out. Angie even seemed to be appreciative of it. She sat there talking and laughing and really being a part of what was going on, as opposed to being Wyatt's wallflower. Even she and Spence were getting along fine on their own. She was trying to talk him into a Carl party, but Spence declared that he'd need a better incentive to sit through that show – she'd have to provide food, and maybe the entire girls' basketball team. To which Angie replied, "What, you don't want the cheerleaders?" Spence found himself completely dumbfounded and speechless while Eli laughed at him for being shown up. Angie could be witty like one of the guys when she wanted to. She wasn't an accessory, which Wyatt apparently didn't understand yet. It didn't matter though; at this point Eli had two victories over the blond boy. It was only a matter of time now.