Title: The Best Of Times: Trailing for Hope
Chapter 34: Faces On Milk Cartons Or, Thinning Sanity
Rating: T, for language I guess. If the rating changes, you'll be the second to know.
Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of Twilight and all its proceedings, they continue to belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Summary: Ava Swan never expected to move to Forks, Washington, permanently. Then again, she never expected to be imprinted on by a hot-headed shape-shifter either. ...No Bella, or Edward-bashing. Follows storyline from "New Moon". Despite my attempts to write a believable Paul/OC fic, there's no way I can make this sound original, ever.
Notes: I apologize for any grammatical errors, as classes pick up tomorrow and I am not mentally prepared to handle that kind of stress again. Also, this chapter is preeettyy short.
P.S. If I missed something grammatical or something doesn't make sense, please PM me and let me know!
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! :)
Two days later. Tuesday. 5:43 PM. Swan House
After days passed with no new information about the vampire, Ava was beginning to get antsy. She pestered Bella about it constantly and she could tell that she was beginning to get annoyed.
It's not like Ava could help it. Paul and Jake and the lot of the Uley Pack hadn't said anything to her other than everything was going to be fine. But if that were the case, then why hadn't they gotten them yet?
Ava moved her leg up and down under the table, hitting the bottom and jostling it. Paul frowned, raising a brow at her. "You need to calm down."
Instantly, her leg came to an abrupt stop and she glared, snapping a him, "sorry for not being calmer about being hunted down by a vampire."
"You're not being hunted down." He rolled his eyes; lately, it had been the same conversation with her. In an attempt of comfort, he continued, "it's not like the leech will get within 100 miles of your house."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure no one thought a vampire would break in here in the first place," Ava said snarkily, crossing her arms. She saw his face darken and he frowned heavily.
"Which is why you should have listened to me and stayed at Emily's, instead of being stubborn-"
"It's not like you would have left me alone, anyway," she bit back, cutting him off. She knew her anger was misplaced; if anything, she didn't really have a reason to be angry, but she needed to shove her emotions somewhere.
He cleverly decided against answering, not taking her response very seriously. As more time passed with no word, Ava was slowly becoming more and more snappish with everyone.
"Sorry," she mumbled after a brief pause. Even though she was sleeping a little better – the knowledge that the house was guarded putting her at slight ease – Ava was still filled with unrest. How Bella was prone to every life-threatening situation, she had no idea.
Paul's face clearly showed that he held no contempt towards her and Ava sighed heavily.
She ran the pad of her finger on the edge of the newspaper. "Have you seen this?" She said blankly in an effort to change the subject, gesturing to the newspaper left on the table: ONGOING TERROR IN SEATTLE: MURDERER OR FLUKE?
"There's another murder in Seattle."
Paul leaned over, his eyes tracing over lazily. "Damn."
"It's weird, right?" Ava asked, picking it up and furrowing her brows. "All the missing people and murders…"
"Sounds like Seattle to me." He shrugged.
"Seattle doesn't have mass murders and kidnappings every other day," Ava deadpanned. "It's weird."
"Also, sounds like you're overthinking," he mentioned casually.
"I'm not crazy," she mumbled, letting the paper fall back onto the table.
She changed the subject again after a small lull. "Who's guarding?"
"Cullens."
Giving him a dry look, Ava pursed your lips. "I said, who."
"I don't know their fucking names," he said bluntly before adding, "but Call and Jared are next."
Leaning her head back, she stared at the ceiling. "...I'm going to die."
Paul's eyes narrowed instantly. "No, you're not. You're going to be fine."
She lowered her head and stared at him, the agitation clear on her face. "Even if this vampire is caught, we still have Victoria to worry about." Just thinking about it caused herself to tense. "It's one thing after another."
"The leeches have the redhead to worry about," he corrected. "She's after your cousin, not you. Since she's practically their property. You'll be fine."
"That isn't helping," Ava snapped, his nonchalant response disappointing her; she hated the thought of Bella still being hunted down. "And she's not their property."
With a final comment, she huffed, "they aren't even bad. You're working together."
Paul wanted to roll his eyes at her weak rebuttal, but he held himself back from doing so; it would more than likely just get her even more pissed off. He knew that the leech-lover was probably going to turn into a leech herself andeven Sam had up and accepted it. The single person that was in a weird, back-and-forth denial was Jacob.
"The only reason we're doing this stupid truce is to keep you out of trouble," he commented off-handedly, shooting her a dull stare before continuing, "trust me, it isn't because we enjoy their company."
With a loud scoff, Ava leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms. "Keep me out of trouble? I didn't even do anything."
"Right," he muttered bitterly. "It's your stupid-"
"Hey," Ava interrupted, already knowing where his statement was leading. "It's not like she asked for it."
This time, he did roll his eyes. "She's with them."
Ava couldn't contest that detail and she stayed quiet, sulking silently.
The next day. Wednesday. 6:05 PM. Swan House.
"Are you kidding me?" Ava hissed, keeping a grip on Bella's arm.
Bella tried shoving it out of her tight grasp but gave up after a few failed attempts. With a trying look at Ava, she replied, "no, I'm not. That's what they said. They need to figure something out before the Volturi get involved."
"I don't even know what that means," Ava said harshly, her patience splintering down.
After a pause where the two stared each other down, Ava spoke up, "…so, are we just going to pretend that this is totally normal?" She continued, giving her an exasperated look.
Ava had gotten home from school hours ago and waited impatiently for Edward to drop Bella off after she had gone to his house. She was desperate to ask about the progress on tracking Victoria and the mystery vampire. As soon as she spotted her through the window, she pounced, going downstairs in record time and nearly giving Charlie a heart attack after flying past him.
It didn't take long before Bella broke and spoke about some...newborn vampire army being formed.
And the unsolved cases in Seattle being a direct effect.
Bella faltered in her response, beginning to move towards the front door after Ava had prevented her. "It...isn't. It's not normal, but we have to get through it."
"Do you think Victoria is involved?" Ava blurted out nervously, following her inside. She lowered her voice to continue, "what are the odds of some...army being formed and her not having to do anything with it?"
"That's what they were thinking too," Bella answered absently, weaving her way through the house. When she first learnt about the murders and disappearances in Seattle, the thought that the culprit being vampires hadn't crossed her mind.
Ava blew out a frustrated breath; Bella was way too calm about this. "How does it not concern you that there's a newborn-newborn-" She cut herself off when she entered the kitchen and saw Charlie sitting at the table. "...Thing."
Charlie, upon catching that tidbit, looked up with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you girls going on about?"
"Baby class." Ava recovered quickly. "Um. Child development. Jessica has to take a fake baby and keep it happy for a week. She had it at lunch today and it just...kept on, you know, crying."
That was the best she could come up with on the spot and she almost winced at how stupid the cover-up sounded. "...I'm just worried about her grade is all. You know she's valedictorian?"
"Is she?" Charlie said blankly, already having lost interest and looking over the files scattered around the table.
"Bella…" Ava trailed off quietly, trying to nudge her towards the stairs to continue talking.
"It's okay." Bella smiled tightly. "She'll finish the assignment, and everything will be back to normal. No babies." With that final promise, she silently told her that the conversation was over, and Ava scowled.
"Fine." She breathed out, turning on her heel and stalking towards the stairs, grumbling. "But I hope she doesn't come crying to me when she fails the class."
Two days later. Friday. 7:23 PM. Swan House
"It won't kill you."
Paul shook his head firmly. "No. I'm not doing that."
"But-"
"No."
"You're not-"
"No."
"It's fair." Ava frowned, rushing out her defense. "I came to your council thing and now you come to Alice's graduation party."
"No."
It had been the same back and forth for the past ten minutes. Unfortunately, they were both stubborn as hell and neither refused to back down in the slightest. Ava opted against telling him about the whole army ordeal...it's not like they were going to attack or anything and there was no use in worrying him more than he already was; he, along with the rest of his pack, were running themselves ragged and the last thing Ava wanted was to make it worse for them.
Ava pressed her mouth into a thin line. "Why?"
"Why." He scoffed disbelieving. "Why would I consider going anywhere near one of them?"
Frowning, she crossed her arms. "Because I'm also graduating, and you've already said you aren't going to the graduation. Alice invited me and now I'm inviting you."
"And I'm saying no..." He mimicked her sharp tone. "...Way in hell. I'm not going anywhere near them if I can help it."
"Why," Ava asked again, inadvertently raising her voice to a whine. "Just go for, like, five minutes to say hi and then you can leave."
"No."
"Give me one good reason."
"They smell," he insisted, wrinkling his nose. "It's bad enough you go to school with them and I have to deal with the stench clinging to you at Emily's. And the lee-...Bella's little bloodsucker being here all the fucking time."
"You're here too. And they'd say the same thing about you," Ava shot back petulantly, exasperated with his attitude. She didn't see anything wrong with her request; it's not like she was asking him to become best friends with Emmett.
"I'm not going," he repeated. "And I'm not changing my mind."
Narrowing her eyes, she tried once more, "Jake is going. Bella's inviting him today." After a few seconds she added, "all I'm asking for is for you to think about it, not say no the minute I ask."
"Fine," he placated, keeping a taunting tone to his voice. "I'll think about it." As an afterthought, he added seriously, "but don't be disappointed when I don't go."
Ava stayed quiet for a few minutes, hoping he'd break and go to the stupid graduation party with her instead of agreeing to pretend to think about it.
Just as she was positive he was going to relieve the silence, they heard a commotion outside. Moving across the room, she lifted her window and stuck her head out to hear better; Ava didn't have access to see the front of the house where the noise was coming from, but she immediately recognized Jacob and Edward's voices. Wondering where Bella was, Ava opened her bedroom door only managing a step before feeling the familiar heat directly behind her.
"What are you doing?" She hissed, turning her head to the side, her eyes darting downstairs to make sure that Charlie wasn't close before turning herself to fully scowl at him. "You climbed through my window, you're not even supposed to be here."
"Jacob is here," he said dryly. She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. "...And?" She said after his prolonged silence.
"Why is he here?"
"He was with Bella earlier." Ava rolled her eyes at his sour expression. "How am I supposed to know."
Just as he was going to respond, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and in a fit of frantic panic, she shoved him with as much force as she could muster. Under normal circumstances this would've done virtually nothing but catching him off guard successfully startled him enough to stumble back a step, now hidden behind her doorframe.
"Ava, what are you doing?"
"Nothing!" Ava said quickly, whirling to look down at Charlie who was staring at her curiously. "I...thought I heard something."
"Are you sure?" Charlie pressed, his niece's strange expression slightly unnerving him.
"Yup, yeah." Ava side-stepped towards her room slowly, making sure to keep her eyes locked on his. "Fine. Um, I think there's something going on outside, so…"
Charlie glanced in the direction of the front door, his ears picking up the muffled racket. "Yeah, what's-" He looked back up but only caught Ava's door slamming shut.
"Teenagers," he mumbled, shaking his head and heading towards the front door.
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Incorrect Quote(s) of the Chapter:
Ava: What I'm trying to say is...what if we went to the party not as friends?
Paul, gasping: You mean...as enemies?
Ava:
Ava: I don't even get why I feel the way I feel about you.
.+.
Jacob: When it comes to Bella, Ava has no survival or self-preservation instincts.
Paul: That can't be true.
Jacob: Watch this.
Jacob: Hey, Ava, Bella fell outside and scraped her knee.
Ava: *jumps out of a three-story window*
.+.
Ava, climbing into the dryer: disgusted, I am revolted, I dedicate my entire life to our lord and savior jesus christ, and this is the thanks I get.
.+.
Bella: Oh worm?
Ava: Wig.
Bella: Crops? Watered.
Ava: We stan!
Charlie, crying: What are you guys saying?
.+.
Bella: Is ten a lot?
Charlie: Depends on the context.
Charlie: Dollars? No. Missing people? Yes.
.+.
Ava: Someone will die.
Paul: Of fun!
.+.
Uley Pack: Yeah. The Cullens very, very unfairly accused us of poisoning them.
Emily: You got framed?
Uley Pack: No, we poisoned the shit out of them, but they didn't have any proof.