A.N: EEEPP! I am very excited for this chapter. It's...it's a thing. This chapter is very much a thing.

TWELVE

Blessed

Eve was enjoying her ice cream. She had a sinking suspicion that she looked even more like a child than she already did as she was licking the bubblegum flavoured scoop on its waffle cone but she couldn't care less. She was enjoying the overwhelmingly artificial flavour that the Americans had somehow made just shy of being too sweet to handle.

And the beach was gorgeous. She would need to come out here with her camera sometime soon; she was sure that the light of sunset or maybe even dawn would hit the waves just right and make a breathtaking picture.

She could imagine it now: there would be clouds - there were always clouds in La Push - but these clouds would ghost along the skyline because it was summer and they were allowed some respite from the rainforest. The sun would place itself in that odd spot where you weren't sure what direction it was going in. But it would peek out behind the clouds and the light would colour purple, hints of dark blue, orange and some pink.

If the tide was in, and it would be, then those lights would transpose onto the gently rolling waves and maybe there would be a shadow in the corner; a large dead branch that had collected just the right amount of seaweed on its bark to make the texture stand out against everything else.

Maybe if she did it just right then you would be able to smell the salt air and feel the sea breeze when you looked at the picture.

"Evie?"

Eve turned to look at her dad, just a little bit annoyed that he had broken her out of her daydream. But it wasn't his fault. It wasn't like he could see inside her brain and he had been the one to get her the ice-cream and bring her here.

She hummed.

"Do you like it here?" he asked.

She was a little bit surprised. The question had come out of nowhere. But then again, maybe it hadn't. Their dad had been affected more so than any of them when their mum had died.

"I think it's growing on me," she said. "I really hate how they do school, but the work is somehow easier than I thought it would be - other than maths. And pop quizzes." She shuddered and her dad laughed. "But I'm...having fun."

And she was. Other than constantly wondering where the twins were - but that didn't matter so much now that they were off for the summer - she was enjoying spending time with them. And there were a few girls from school that she had made friends with too, just by pure coincidence and First Heritage having a very dedicated seating arrangement in the lunch hall. She sat with Connie and Sonia when the twins disappeared.

"I'm glad. You've seemed happier," he said. "And that's good for you. After your mum...died I was worried about you. I didn't know if you would bounce back."

"Yeah," she said quietly. She took a small lick of the ice cream but it didn't taste as good as it had before. The wind blew and she smelt smoke from somewhere on the Reservation. Someone was having a BBQ, or maybe just burning something. It was a smell that reminded her of family summers and camping. It was comforting and bittersweet.

"But you seem to be adjusting to everything." He was quiet for a moment. Eve waited for him to continue because she knew this mood. It had been a frequent thing over the last few months and there was nothing she could really say to him. She just had to listen.

"I'm proud of you," he said. "But I keep wondering if this move was a good idea," he said. "I thought it was the best thing to do at the time, but now I'm not so sure."

"Why?" Eve asked, but she wasn't sure what 'why' she was asking.

Was he going to move them back? Eve wasn't sure she could handle another move so soon and she didn't think that Naima could either. Not after putting so much into the house.

"Has Naima said anything to you? Have you noticed her acting strangely?" he asked.

The sudden change in topic was difficult to wrap her head around. "What?"

"I'm worried about her. She keeps hanging around that boy."

What boy? Was he talking about Sam? Because Sam was pretty far off from being a boy. Eve had never seen her dad and Sam standing side by side, but she was pretty sure that Sam was just slightly taller. And the man had his own company so no, she wasn't sure that he was a boy.

"Uh," she trailed off. "Yeah. They've become friends."

"Just friends?" he asked.

Eve felt her stomach churning a little bit. Suddenly the ice cream was too sweet and the artificial flavour was coating her tongue in a way that made it feel bitter and spongy.

"Yeah."

He hummed, and she recognised the tone again. This hum was the I-don't-quite-believe-you hum. She'd heard it most when she wasn't feeling well and couldn't go to school, but it had mostly been directed at Naima.

She didn't like hearing it.

Was that what she had sounded like to Naima? All judgement and righteous indignation? Eve hadn't even known that she knew that word but it felt right the moment it placed itself into her head.

What was so wrong with Naima liking someone?

"Why - why do you ask?"

Her dad looked at her when she stammered over her words and it felt like he'd taken that as confirmation for something. "There's something off about him - about all of them."

Well, that was...Eve had had similar thoughts about the twins but that didn't mean there was something wrong with them.

"I've been talking to some of the residents and some of them can't sing their praises enough but most think it's better to stay away from them. That they're taking drugs."

"But that - people talk all the time. They probably talked about us!"

They definitely talked about her! It was fine for Naima, she didn't wear a hijab. Sometimes it was like having a giant target on her forehead saying LOOK! I'M DIFFERENT.

Eve had gotten more than a few stares when she'd started school and every time she went shopping with Naima it felt like there were eyes glaring into her skull. People didn't know what to do with differences and Americans were more overt about it.

She had been scared to move to America. Nothing good seemed to come to Black people or Muslims, nevermind Black Muslim girls!

But she had learnt to deal with it, learnt to deal with the questions and the staring and the just-above-whisper comments. Because it would happen everywhere she went. And this was a part of her.

"Which is why I let them come to the house!" he said. "But there is something wrong with them and I don't think Naima should be getting involved with that boy - or you with the other two."

She didn't want to stop being friends with Colin or Brady. They were fun, they didn't treat her differently because of her scarf and they actually liked her specific brand of awkwardness. They were her friends.

"I -" she didn't know how to respond or react. "I don't think that there's anything bad going on dad. I like the twins, they made me feel welcome. And Sam hasn't done anything but help."

Her dad looked at her. His face was smooth but she could see the disappointment and the resolution in his eyes and she tried to swallow down the knot in her throat but it wouldn't go.

"I don't think his intentions are that innocent."

Eve knew what he was suggesting and she had to admit that there was something odd about how much Sam was around Naima - how intensely he had stared at her the first time he'd seen her.

There was something about the two of them that made her feel weird and uncomfortable. It was like she was always intruding on something that she shouldn't be a part of, even if it was just a shared smile.

Everything held some sort of weight between the two.

Eve could only imagine how much her dad must have been watching the two of them when they all came over. Because she had been watching too.

It didn't help Sam's case that they looked like they were always flirting.

But so what? A small voice whispered from the back of her mind. So what? Wasn't she allowed to be herself? Wasn't she old enough to make her own choices in life?

That day - their argument - came back to Eve. Wasn't Naima right? Wasn't she responsible for her own life now?

"I don't -"

"Keep an eye on Naima. Tell me what she does with the boy. She won't listen to me but someone has to stop her from making a mistake." He looked at Eve hard.

She wanted to say no but it felt like she was rooted to the spot. Her fuzzy tongue was too big for her mouth. The familiar feeling of guilt sat tight on her stomach and no amount of swallowing it down was doing anything for her.

Eve looked down. Her ice cream had dripped onto her jeans and she hadn't realised. The bright pink - pink not blue like it should be - stained the dark wash.

She nodded.

A.N: This marks the end of the first 'arc'. The next chapters don't have a beta reader so any mistakes are going to be mine. I'm actually re-working some things in chapter 13 this week but I'll post it for Thursday if everything works. This was a shorter chapter :)

You'll be happy to know that the next chapter is another 3.2k chapter. Maybe more. I can't remember.

Please please please tell me what you think about this chapter. I distinctly remember this one being one of the easiest to write which is...interesting. But either way, I really want to know your thoughts!