A Twist of Fate: Dark Fate
Chapter Ten
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Kami ransacked through Kim's room. Looking for another clue. A hint. After twenty minutes into her search, she stumbled upon Kim's school notes. Organized by year. And class. Her fingers fiddled through the pile of wire bound notebooks until her eyes landed upon a familiar green notebook Jared had returned to her on the day of the infamous swap.
"Gotchya!" She exclaimed before tearing through the notebook to the end.
Her eyes scoured the page of the half-assed notes she jotted down in a rush after waking up during that calculus lesson. While ignoring Jared.
Did she miswrite anything and screw her sister over? Had Jared informed Kim of the pencil she sent flying at him and her rude acceptance of it when pretending to be her? Had her sister harbored a ridiculous grudge over that?
The notes were normal. Formulas. Explanations consisting of horrendous step by step problem solving. Kami flinched as her brain recoiled in a PTSD moment of one particular unsolvable calculus problem that still haunted her to this day. It had resulted in her first failing grade in her high school career. It had once been the limiting value of her despair until this summer.
Alas, the notes were meaningless to the mystery she needed to solve. There was no puzzle piece for her to discover after all.
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After a 30-minute shower where she scrubbed her body in her watermelon shower products from head to toe, Kami felt somewhat relaxed. Her spirits were oddly lifted by the simple task of removing the stench of regret from her in the form of puke, sweat and alcohol. It was a good thing too because her mood was about to be soured. When untangling the bath towel from its cocoon around her damp hair, her cellphone began to ring.
Due to her mellow temper, she strolled over to her phone on the nightstand with no idea who was calling. She gambled with what fate may be throwing at her. But when her eyes landed on the screen of her phone, she realized she made the wrong bet. Stupid shower and its warm water making her too content with her outlook on life in that brief moment.
Her boyfriend was calling. And for some unfathomable reason, her fingers worked of their own accord to answer the phone.
"Hey." It definitely wasn't the friendliest 'hey' she had heard from Joey's mouth. "It's been over a week. I know I said I was cool with giving you some space, but you missed the first day of school. Not just me, but none of our friends have heard from you. I mean even Julie. She is your best friend." Joey paused as Kami was forced to listen to his noisy breathing, as she imagined he was attempting to calm himself down. Knowing Joey, his nostrils were flaring as he counted back from five before continuing on chewing her out- as she kind of deserved upon his laid-out facts.
Kami's phone began to vibrate in her hand, and she noticed a new incoming call. The phone number was unknown, so she decided to let it go to voicemail.
"After all the people that went missing this last year and not one text to any of us? Even just a 'hey, I'm alive'. You're alone at your grandmother's house. We've all been worried, but also haven't wanted to overwhelm you with what you're going through right now. You can't pull this shit on us! If you hadn't answered this phone call, I was considering freaking out and wondering what I needed to do before confirming you as a missing person. Aaron still hasn't been found. You know how much that has haunted me, right?"
Kami jerked back from the speaker of her cellphone. The weight of his accusations hit her in full force. Aaron. She had forgotten about him and that girl who she knew that were among the string of missing people in their city. She had accused Kim of being selfish, and she had been doing the exact same thing to her friends back home. She could have at least told them her intentions. She had meant to. Once she had left so they couldn't stop her. Kami muffled her sobs with her hand before she brought the phone back to her ear.
"Kami, come on. What's really going on? I can hear you crying. This is me. Talk to me."
Kami could not help but answer him with silence. Her heart was unsure of what to even say to Joey first.
"Let me come over." Kami squeezed her eyes shut tight before shaking her head. She swore she had told him she had come to La Push on Sunday night. She had texted him…hadn't she? "I have seen you at your breaking point this summer. I can handle it. I am driving home from practice. I'll stop by."
If Kami could have, she would have continued to answer him with silence. "I'm not home," she admitted, her answer given so fast that she was sure it sounded unintelligible. Sort of hoping it had too. She paced around the space of her bedroom waiting for her response to sink in for Joey.
"Oh, alright. Did you go out? Should I meet you somewhere or wait outside of your house?" Kami winced before tapping the butt of her phone to her head.
Between shallow breaths she huffed out, "I am not in Seattle, Joey." Without meaning to, Joey's tan face popped in her mind. She watched his blonde brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of why his 'girlfriend' wasn't in Seattle. Thinking more on it now too, Kami realized she never had texted him. Because she didn't know how to explain her family in La Push. So, she saved her text as a draft.
"Where are you?" She could hear the worry in his tone. Her guilt was beginning to burden her. She had been so good at ignoring it since deciding to board a greyhound bus out of the Emerald City.
Kami cleared her throat, attempting to buy herself time. "La Push," she somehow managed to choke out.
"…Why?" After everything she had put him through, she knew he deserved some sort of explanation (even if half-assed!). But Kami was too tired to add in another sub-plot to the drama unfolding in her life. She walked backward until her heels hit the frame of her bed, letting her limp body flop back on the mattress.
"I promise to text Julie for updates. I have some family here I have to work things out with. Thanks for calling me. You're such a great guy. Let's break up. I know you're going to have a killer soccer season. Good luck with it!" It was a compliment sandwich, with a breakup snuck in. Because she was a coward and things wouldn't pan out with Joey. She actually even knew this since the calculus swap with Kim. While after a full semester of lusting after Joey and carefully crafting ways to come across one another and charm him…he just didn't seem the right fit for her.
Don't get Kami wrong. He was very cute, nice, great soccer player (which is a x10 hotness factor in Kami's book), an honor roll member, superb kisser, and just happened to check off all the boxes Kami was sure any girl would want in a guy. He was missing something key though. And for the life of her, she couldn't place what it was. Dragging him along for the shitshow of her life with how it was currently going just seemed unfair.
"What? Did you just break up with me?"
"Joey, I am an emotional mess who cannot offer you what a normal senior girl should in a relationship at our age. Over this summer, I feel like I have aged a decade. I am doing you a favor." She snapped the phone shut before he could agree with her. That still would have hurt because she couldn't ignore that there were some lingering feelings for the captain of the boy's varsity soccer team.
Before she could forget, Kami immediately texted Julie.
Hey. Sorry I've been MIA. I am alive. In La Push. I will call you next Sunday and explain more. For now, I can't really talk."
Kami was about to listen to her 'new' voicemail when a notification of a text response from Julie popped on her phone's screen. Curious, she clicked on the 'open' option of her phone.
You dumped Joey? Wtf is going on with you? Call me. ASAP.
Kami's fingers worked quickly to scroll to her original message to Julie. She visually confirmed she had not added in the breakup in that text. Kami rolled her eyes as once again Julie focused on the less important news Kami had shared. She couldn't deny she was also a tad annoyed that Joey worked fast to send out the breakup announcement to their friends and to let the ladies at the school know he was back on the market.
Sunday. Ttyl.
With that nuisance now dealt with, Kami was free to check the voicemail.
"-I'd sell my soul to be able to talk to her. Really talk to her." The deep, husky voice sounded vaguely familiar to Kami. La Push familiar. Obviously, this was a butt dial voicemail. She was inclined to delete it before listening to the next minute or so remaining of the message. But something within her implored her to be noisy.
"I would shatter my bones to stop her from suffering through everything I brought upon her with this. You know I can't though. That clock ran out the moment I told the wrong person. I am losing faith in this whole imprint business. How could things get fucked up this much? This is my punishment for not knowing it was someone else, right? If I was better to her, I would have doubted the shift of the bond when I saw the wrong person instead." Kami was beginning to feel sorry for the guy despite not understanding the La Push slang called "imprinting".
"I can't make her stay and endure this. Even for the imprint. I am hurting her inadvertently. There is no coming back from this mess. Really. I fucked up. Nothing I do could be enough to make it up to her." Kami wanted to actually be able to talk to this mystery man. She understood being in a tough pickle herself. If she could have, she would have told him to not give up if his feelings were so strong for this girl.
"When I saw her again after so long, my walls caved in. All I want to do is give us a chance. But I can't. Not at the cost."
The voicemail was over, and Kami was starting to wonder what that cost was when a more important question came to her mind.
Who the fuck had her number to butt dial her?
The only people in La Push with her number should have been her mother and Kim.
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Author's Note:
This was kinda meh. The original ch 10 one was spicier, but I thought I was bringing up a crucial plot point too soon for some pack d-rama. So, I decided to write in about Joey and cast some foreshadowing. Also, this won't be the only time we see Joey in this plot. O_o ~ Pixelephant
Response to Guest review:
Guest: The Pack drama to come is going to be juicy! I am shipping the friendships with Paul & Leah 100/10 : D