"So after this, it's gonna be done?" In his hands, Embry held Jacob's best wrench. Earlier that week, after making calls all up and down the coast, Jacob had finally located the last few parts for Leah's car. Yesterday, Jacob and Quil had driven all the way to halfway to Olympia to pick up the parts. And on this Sunday, Jacob was determined to finish Leah's car once and for all.
"Should be."
"Good. Leah's been nagging me about it for a while."
"She has?" Jacob hadn't seen Leah much lately, but when they had met with the Elders last weekend, she had asked him about it. Fixing up the car had taken longer than Jacob thought it would and he did feel bad about it. But, surprisingly, Leah had yet to nag him about it. She had seemed understanding when Jacob told her it would be a little bit longer. But Embry was patrolling with her and he was in her head. So he would know. And if Leah was nagging Embry, it was only a matter of time before she would be nagging Jacob.
"Well, she's mentioned it a few times. She's been carpooling with Kim almost all semester and Kim has been driving the whole time. I think she feels bad about it."
Jacob tightened a bolt on the engine but didn't look at Embry before handing him back the wrench.
After a minute of no response from Jacob, Embry continued, "But Leah knows you've been working about it. Don't worry about it."
Jacob slid out from under the car and looked at Embry, "You two have sure been spending a lot of time together lately."
"Just patrol," Embry answered coolly, "Are you excited for prom?"
Jacob didn't challenge Embry's open attempt to change the subject, "I guess so. Yeah."
"You and Alyssa sure have been spending a lot of time together," Embry mocked Jacob's accusing tone, but Embry smiled as he said it.
"Yeah." Ever since Jacob and Alyssa had finished their lab report in chemistry, they'd ended up hanging out every couple of days, always under the guise of studying, but half the time, it ended up being a make-out session or just general teenage tomfoolery. It felt good to have something in his life that wasn't pack related at all. And it gave him something to do when Seth and Quil were at their imprints and Embry was doing God knows what, "She's cool, I guess."
"You guess? Paul said he and Rachel walked in on you too making out last week."
That had happened, much to Jacob's chagrin and Paul's delight. Paul hadn't let it go all week. Every time he was over, he mentioned it. Never mind that Jacob had caught him and Rachel in much more precarious situations. That didn't matter to Paul. All that mattered is that he caught Jacob with his hands up Alyssa Morgan's shirt and Paul made it his personal mission to know that every wolf and imprint knew.
"She's pretty cool," Jacob admitted. Alyssa let him touch her tits pretty regularly. She also wasn't opposed to sitting with him while he worked Leah's car. Those weren't the only things that made Alyssa cool, but they certainly helped.
"Who all is in your prom group again?" Embry asked.
"Uh, me and Alyssa, her friend Laurel and some guy from Forks that she's going with and I think someone else? Not sure though. And Alyssa wants Quil to go with her friend Cora, but just as friends so that there's an even number. So maybe Quil if we can convince him to ditch babysitting duty. Why? Did you want to go?" Jacob wasn't exactly looking forward to prom itself, but it would be made better if Quil and Embry went with him. It was the after prom that Jacob was looking forward to.
"Nah, I have patrol that night."
"I'm sure we could get someone to cover for you. Or maybe we could convince Sam to trade us nights. I bet we could convince him to trade us for the next Saturday."
"We don't need to bring Sam into it," Embry said hurriedly.
Undeterred, Jacob tried again, "I'm sure Seth would trade with you. He'll do anything if you just ask him nicely. Or even if you don't ask him nicely and just tell him, he'll do it."
"No. I really have no desire to go to prom." Embry said with a tone of finality, "Besides, Leah would freak if she had to patrol with Seth, I think."
"Really?" It wasn't like Jacob didn't know that Embry and Leah had patrolled together exclusively for… well, a while now. Longer than a month. Jacob hadn't really thought much of it. He and Leah had patrolled together exclusively for a while in the beginning. But the way that Embry said it… it gave Jacob a strange feeling. Like maybe there was something more going on, "Why are you two patrolling together so much anyway?"
"We're working on keeping our thoughts hidden," Embry said simply, as if that didn't open up even more questions.
"Why?" Jacob demanded, "What type of secrets do you guys have?"
"Me? I have none." The look on Embry's face was indecipherable, "But Leah? She has plenty. Mainly what she gets up to with her boyfriend, I think."
Oh, right. Leah's stupid faceless boyfriend. All Jacob knew about him was that he was a pale face and a college student. He pictured a surfer dude or maybe a frat-boy wannabe. As far as Jacob knew, Leah hadn't really dated anyone other than Sam and he was fairly confident that her new boyfriend was nothing like Sam.
"Hmph."
"It's nothing personal, you know," Embry assured Jacob.
"I know it's nothing personal." Jacob meant to sound nonchalant, but instead, it came out sounding defensive.
"I'm pretty sure she still considers you her favorite pack member. And she was really happy that you agreed to work on the car for her."
"I don't need Leah to like me or anything." Jacob slid back under the car, trying to hide the fact that he was pouting.
"Yeah, well, I just know you two got close when all that shit was going down with Bella's kid and all. And I know you value Leah's friendship. So I'm just letting you know that I'm pretty sure that Leah values your friendship, too."
Jacob didn't respond. He knew that Embry could see right through his lie. Jacob just hoped that Embry wasn't lying about Leah – Jacob would never admit to it, but he couldn't handle the idea of Leah and Embry together as anything more than friends. And Jacob couldn't help but wonder if there was more to their constant patrolling than Embry was letting on. But Embry was his friend and Jacob determinedly put the thought out of his head. Embry wouldn't lie to Jacob… would he?
After tightening the final bolt, Jacob tossed Embry the wrench once more.
"Toss me the keys," Jacob requested as he slid out from under the car. Embry immediately stood up and reached for the keys from the pin that they were hanging on the wall.
"It's done?" Embry asked.
"If it runs." Jacob caught the keys as Embry tossed them to him.
They both held their breaths as Jacob opened the car door and put the keys in the ignition. Carefully, Jacob twisted the keys and the engine roared to life.
"You did it!" Embry crowed.
Jacob took a step back from the car and listened. The engine purred smoothly, just like Jacob expected it to. His work was the best in La Push, he had no doubt about that. But still, every time he heard an engine come to life after working on a car, a sense of relief and pride swept through him. He couldn't stop the proud grin from gracing his face. He'd done it.
"I'll take it for a quick test drive. You wanna go tell Leah?" Jacob asked, climbing into the driver's seat.
"Hell yeah I do," Embry grinned and offered Jacob a high-five, "She's gonna love it, Jake."
Ten minutes later, after a quick drive around the reservation, Jacob drove Leah's car back to the garage. Standing outside of the door was Embry, leaning against the wall, and beside him, Leah. Her arms were crossed but she had a hopeful look on her face.
"Is it done?" Leah asked as soon as Jacob jumped out of the car. She and Embry had both followed him into the garage.
He tossed her the keys in response, "Runs and everything."
Leah walked slowly around the car, examining it carefully, "Wow, Jake. It looks good. I'm not going to lie. I'm impressed." She opened the car door, sitting inside for a second, "You couldn't think to vacuum it, though?"
"Not a full-service shop, sorry, Leah."
"Can't believe I paid for this," Leah muttered under her breath, though the giant grin on her face revealed her true feelings.
"You didn't pay for this!" Jacob exclaimed. But he did feel a little bad about the state of the car. He'd remembered to vacuum out Rachel's before he turned it over to her, but in his excitement to get Leah the keys, it slipped his mind, "If you want, I can wash it out and vacuum it tonight," Jacob offered.
"No way. It's my car. I'm not giving you back the keys for a long time." She was circling the car again, running her hands across the exterior. The smile on her face hadn't disappeared.
"What if it needs repairs?" Jacob asked.
"If it needs repairs this quickly, I'm bringing it to a real mechanic – not you."
"Hey!"
"You're the one who fixed it up, Jake, it won't need repairs," Embry chimed in. He had sat back down on the couch and was watching as Leah admired her car.
"I'm only kidding Jake, if it has any problems, I'll bring it straight here," Leah promised, before adding quietly, "But only cause you're the only person I know who'd fix my car for free."
"I do you a great service and this is how you treat me?"
"I said thank you!" Leah protested, "What else do you want?"
"I don't even think you said 'thank you,' Leah," Embry laughed.
"Well, thank you, Jake."
"You're welcome, Leah."
"That wasn't that hard, was it?" Embry asked. Leah tossed a nearby wrench at Embry, something she could only do because of Embry's supernatural ability to catch it without hurting himself. But Embry wasn't upset, he just started laughing even harder, and Jacob and Leah were soon joining in.
"Knock, knock!" A pleasant, sing-songy voice called from the door of the garage, interrupting the moment.
"Hey, Alyssa," Jacob wasn't sure why, but his stomach suddenly felt like it was filled with lead. Maybe it was Leah, whose cheerful, smiling face now looked quite sullen, standing by her barely finished car that made Jacob less than happy to see Alyssa.
"Hi, Jacob, hi, Embry!" Alyssa greeted the boys merrily, but her eyes narrowed a little bit once she noticed Leah. Alyssa recovered quickly, though and she was suddenly smiling at Leah as if she was happy to see her.
"Alyssa, you know Leah Clearwater, don't you?" The res was small. The chances of Alyssa not knowing Leah, or at least not knowing who she was, were slim to none. But Jacob had been raised with manners and so he prepared to make a formal introduction.
"I don't think we've ever officially met," Alyssa said after an awkward minute of the two staring at each other. Alyssa's fake smile was still plastered to her face, "I'm Alyssa."
"Leah." Leah's voice was not exactly friendly. She was back to scary Leah, the one who had terrorized the pack after she had first phased. This was not the fun Leah who had been joking around with Jacob and Embry just a few minutes ago.
"Jacob just finished fixing up Leah's car." Embry seemed to sense the sudden tension in the little garage. For the first time in years, Jacob missed the times when all girls and women were strictly forbidden from the garage. Or even the years when the female species wasn't exactly forbidden, there just wasn't a girl on the face of the planet who wanted to enter the garage. There was something about having his girlfriend and his Beta in the same place that didn't seem right.
"I didn't realize it was your car that Jacob was working on," Alyssa spoke carefully and Jacob watched as Alyssa studied both Leah and Leah's newly finished car.
"Yep! Jake went with me to buy it and then he spent these past few months fixing it up." It almost sounded like Leah was bragging.
"Oh." An unreadable expression graced Alyssa's face.
"Yeah, and now I'm done with it." Jacob gestured to his dirty coveralls to demonstrate this point, "Did you want me to show you anything else, Leah?"
"No. I trust you, Jake. Besides, you've already promised to fix anything else the car needs it." Leah smiled at Jacob, but he knew her well enough by now to know that it wasn't genuine.
"Yeah, I will," Jacob assured her.
"I'll see you later, Jake." Leah pecked him on the cheek, much to Jacob's surprise. The action seemed to surprise her, as well, because she blushed redder than Jacob had ever seen her before and quickly bounded into the car, "Thanks again!"
Leah drove off in a hurry and Jacob looked over at Embry and Alyssa, who were both standing at the corner of the garage. Embry refused to make eye contact with him; looking positively shocked. Alyssa, on the other hand, looked positively furious, all pretense of politeness all gone.
There was no mirror in the garage, but Jacob was positive that his face was as red as his dark skin would allow.
"So…" Jacob started, determined to break the awkward silence, "Anyone want a soda?"
"What exactly are you doing at the community center again?"
Alyssa's truck traveled along the bumpy road to the community center. Jacob preferred to drive himself, but he'd spent the morning with Alyssa after patrol last night and didn't have his car.
In the week or so since prom, Jacob had found himself spending more and more time in this truck – and more and more time with Alyssa. As a general rule, Jacob preferred to drive, but Alyssa's truck admittedly had more room for activities than the stupid little Rabbit. It was the first major flaw he found in the car. And so they settled for Alyssa's truck, which was larger than his and therefore more acceptable even if Alyssa never let him drive it.
"I have a meeting with the Elders." Jacob didn't elaborate, even when Alyssa shot him a look from the driver's seat.
What exactly Alyssa thought about the rumors that Jacob and his friends were in a gang, Jacob didn't know. They'd never discussed it. Alyssa was smart – smart enough to know that Jacob wasn't in a gang – but that didn't mean she wasn't suspicious about Jacob's various activities.
"Just the Elders?"
"Well, Sam Uley, Jared Cameron, and Leah Clearwater will be there, too," Jacob admitted.
"Hmph." For a second, Jacob thought Alyssa's questions were over, "And why exactly is Leah involved?"
"Leah?"
"Yeah, your little… group. It was always all boys. It was you and Embry and Quil and Paul and Jared and those younger guys. And you'd all follow around Sam Uley."
"Yeah." Jacob didn't like where this was going.
"And Leah and Sam used to date. Until he cheated on her with her cousin. It was the talk of the res that entire summer."
"Sam and Emily didn't cheat," Jacob muttered, coming quickly to their defense. But he didn't know why. Why did he care if everyone thought that Sam and Emily had an affair? It wasn't quite the truth, but it was close to it.
"What?"
Jacob could feel Alyssa's careful eyes on him, "The situation between Sam and Emily and Leah is complicated, that's all."
"But Leah hates Sam." It wasn't a question.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so."
"So why is she going?"
"She has to be there," Jacob answered without thinking about it.
"Why does she have to be there?"
"She just does." Jacob's answer shut Alyssa up for a moment or two, "We both just have to be there."
"You too sure spend a lot of time together," Alyssa remarked, "And what exactly is your little group anyway?"
"It's just… we do stuff for the Elders."
"All of you?"
"All of us."
"Even Leah?" It was impossible to miss the doubtful note in Alyssa's voice.
"Yes, even Leah."
Prom had gone well, all things considered. Quil had gone after all and had a grand old time with Cora (maybe even a good enough time to think about dating someone while waiting for Claire to grow up or whatever it was he was doing – but Jacob didn't want to get ahead of himself and ask Quil anything like that). And the entire time, Alyssa never asked about the awkward exchange when Leah picked up her car and kissed Jacob on the cheek while Alyssa was in the garage. It had all seemed like smooth sailing. But now Alyssa was asking a lot of questions and Jacob wasn't sure what to think.
"Hmph. You're awfully close to her."
"Leah?"
"Yeah."
"She's my friend, I guess." She was really Jacob's Beta, but it wasn't like Jacob could tell Alyssa that. And really, friend was the appropriate word for Leah and Jacob's relationship, all things considered. Jacob didn't repair cars for free for just anybody. He did it for friends. So that made Jacob and Leah friends.
"I see." Alyssa's lips were in a tight line, a slight frown on her face.
The community center was just down the road now; Jacob had never been so happy to see the old building. The passenger seat was never Jacob's favorite place, but right now, it was especially unbearable. It had been ridiculous of him to think that Alyssa would never ask questions about the pack. Although it seemed like she cared less about the pack and more about Leah.
"Well, I hope you enjoy your meeting," Alyssa said as she pulled up to the front of the community center. Alyssa's tone told Jacob plainly that she did not care very much whether he enjoyed his meeting.
"Thanks," Jacob muttered in response. Without saying anything else, he slid out of Alyssa's car and walked the few steps to his customary waiting spot. It was luck that Leah wasn't there yet waiting for him; he hated to think how Alyssa would react if she saw Leah waiting at the community center's doors.
As Alyssa drove away, Jacob struggled to pick out the piece of paper from his shorts pocket. School was ending; summer was coming and with it, changes to everyone's schedule. That meant that the patrol schedule had to be completely re-written. Quil had told his grandpa he'd help out in the family store a few times a week, Leah still had her job at the Resort and Embry had signed up to take summer classes at Peninsula Community College, meaning that all these things had to be taken into account when making the patrol schedule. It was going to be a long, boring meeting, especially since Jacob was sure that Sam's pack had the same new restrictions now that school was out.
His own summer schedule was mostly undecided. Jacob definitely wasn't taking any classes like Embry but he didn't have a job lined up like Quil or Leah. Billy had agreed to loan him some money to attempt to flip a car and Old Quil offered him some shifts at the store, so he'd earn some money at least, but he also had a feeling he'd end up taking any patrol shifts that the others wouldn't be able to take.
"Hey." Leah's voice interrupted Jacob's careful studying of the piece of paper.
"Hey, Leah."
"Is that everyone's schedule for the summer?" Without asking, Leah took the paper from him, looking over it for herself, "Ha. Embry's taking an extra class? What a nerd. I'm surprised Quil isn't on babysitting duty all summer… though I guess Emily is probably taking care of that. Hey, you don't have anything for Seth on here."
"Is he doing something this summer? He didn't give me anything specific."
Leah shrugged, "Hanging out with the damn vamps too much probably. Should we go in?"
Jared and Sam, deep in their own discussion about their pack members' various plans had passed Jacob and Leah with merely a quick wave in acknowledgment.
"Guess so." They followed Sam and Jared through the hallways of the community center before arriving at their usual meeting room. The Elders were already sitting at the table. They motioned for everyone to join them, barely pausing their own discussion to welcome the new participants in their meeting.
As Jacob was expecting, the meeting dragged on. There were the usual updates that they had to go through and then Old Quil lectured them about the perils of summer as if the packs would have too much time on their hands between patrols, jobs, and their various other commitments. And Old Quil was not known for being succinct and Jacob was tired and he had been on patrol last night and Old Quil was still talking and…
Bang! The sound of something hitting metal echoed through the room, followed by a sharp pain on his shin. Jacob sat straight up, suddenly wide awake. Across from him, Leah's eyebrows were raised and she was looking straight at him. It took Jacob a second to realize that she'd kicked him.
The rest of the meeting's participants seemed to pay no attention to the commotion; the sound of Leah's foot hitting the metal bar beneath the table did not cause Old Quil to pause or hesitate or do anything except continue to drone on about tribal traditions and honor.
It was another two hours (or, at least, it felt like that, in reality, it was probably only fifteen minutes) before Billy moved the meeting into the only real part that had an impact on Jacob's life (if Old Quil thought his words were impactful – he was wrong. They were not.): the schedule.
As Jacob expected, it took a long time to sort through the patrol schedule. Even figuring out which days would be Sam's pack's days and which days Jacob's pack would take took a long time, as they realized that there was not a set schedule that would get them through the summer. Even with Sue constantly reminding everyone they would meet next (and the week after that) and they didn't have to have all the details ironed out, it didn't stop everyone from bringing up things that would be potential conflicts weeks in advance.
Finally, they worked out a schedule that would work for everyone. It was messy – there were a few double shifts involved – but it was something everyone agreed on, and the Elders let the wolves go.
"Sounds like everyone has a pretty good summer planned," Jared remarked as soon as the Elders dismissed them. The four of them walked together towards the door to the room, Leah and Jacob ahead of Sam and Jared, "Much better than last year when we all had to worry about a giant vampire war."
The heavy door closed behind Sam with a loud bang as Jacob led the other three into the hallway.
"I mean, I'm getting married, so yeah, I'm pretty pumped for the summer," Sam's deep voice echoed through the empty halls of the community center as he spoke.
Beside him, Jacob swore he could feel Leah tense up. He glanced over at her, but her face was unreadable.
None the wiser, Jared and Sam kept up their conversation, "Oh yeah, when is that again? Me and Kim were talking about going down to California for a weekend, maybe. But we'll make sure to do it away from your wedding."
As Jared and Sam discussed dates and Sam's honeymoon, Leah turned to Jacob, as if she was determined to block them out, "You have any travel plans this summer?"
"I'm still recovering from Hawaii." If Jacob never left Northwest Washington again, he wouldn't be disappointed.
"At least you went somewhere," Leah muttered. She pushed the door to the community center and hurried out without bothering to hold the door for anyone else.
Once outside, Sam bid them all a quick farewell before trotting off to the woods. Although Jacob and Jared called out a goodbye after him, Leah stayed silent.
"You all heading this way?" Jared asked as the three of them walked towards the road as if he didn't know exactly where the Black and Clearwater houses were. They weren't too far from Jared's family's house, but somehow, the three of them had never walked together. Probably because Kim lived on the opposite side of the reservation.
"I am," Leah confirmed, "Jake, are you headed home?"
"Yep." It was home or Alyssa's and home was clearly the better option.
"Jake, you got any special plans for the summer?" Jared asked as they started asking.
"Nothing in particular,"
"Hanging out with Alyssa?" There was a sly smile as Jared hit Jacob on the back.
Jake rolled his eyes. He had walked right into that. "I'll probably spend some time with her, I guess."
"You guess?" Jared laughed, "I heard you two were getting pretty close on prom night…"
"Who told you that?" Jacob demanded. He noticed Leah laughing beside him, a sort of unfamiliar laugh that was neither genuine nor kind.
"I have my sources," Jared said mysteriously. Before Jacob could challenge on who his sources might be (if Jacob had to guess, it would be Quil, the man was a great friend but he had never been able to keep his mouth shut), a car drove past them at a speed that wasn't frequently seen on the reservation, "Oh, wait, that's my sister! Natalie! Natalie! Can you give me a ride?" Jared chased after his sister without bothering to say goodbye to either Leah or Jacob.
The car slowed down and Jacob could hear Natalie and Jared arguing in a fashion that reminded him of his own relationship with Rachel, or even similar to what Leah and Seth when they bickered. All sibling relationships were truly the same.
With Jared gone, Jacob and Leah continued down the dirt road towards both of their houses. Leah was uncharacteristically quiet; she seemed to be mulling something over in her head. Jacob had half a mind to ask her what she was thinking about, but he didn't.
"You excited for the summer?"
"Not really."
"Cause Sam's getting married to Emily?" It was Jacob's best guess, but he did regret saying it.
"No, it has nothing to do with that. I'm just not excited for the summer because there's nothing exciting happening. But honestly Jacob, I don't really give two shits about Emily marrying Sam. Not anymore."
"You don't?"
"Not really," Leah said, "He's kinda an ass and if Emily wants to deal with him for the rest of her life… well, that's her business. This year made me realize that I kinda dodged a bullet."
"I think you did," Jacob told her truthfully. Sam was an ass. That much was for sure.
"I'm glad you think so," Leah smiled at him, though it didn't quite meet her eyes.
They walked in a comfortable silence. Leah, while tall, was still a good bit shorter than Jacob, but she kept up with his pace evenly.
"How's…" Jacob feigned struggling for the name. He knew the name of her stupid boyfriend almost as well as he knew his own name, "Danny?"
"Dunno," Leah shrugged, "I broke up with him."
"You broke up?" It was impossible not to let surprise fill his voice. Leah had been single? For how long?
"Yeah," Leah shrugged.
"I didn't know… I'm sorry."
"It wasn't a big deal. What, were you expecting me to freak out because of how I handled the whole Sam situation?"
"Uh…." Even before the whole wolf thing, it was common knowledge that Leah hadn't handled the whole break up with Sam well. Not that Jacob blamed her. It was a shitty situation all around.
"Jacob, listen. Danny was a rebound. A hot guy with no more than three brain cells, at the absolute maximum. Good in bed, actually funny and completely and totally different than Sam. So he was a great rebound – just not someone I wanted to spend my life with." Jacob couldn't believe how honest Leah was being with him. She looked at him as if she was daring him to challenge her. When Jacob didn't say anything – he genuinely didn't know how to respond – Leah spoke again, "Too much information?"
"No, not at all," Jacob recovered quickly with a sort of lie. He still hated to think of her in bed with some hot faceless guy.
"Maybe I'll find a hot tourist to hook up with. I need a summer romance," She said it casually, like this was the type of thing they talked about frequently.
"I'll let you know if I find any hot tourists guys."
"Well, I don't trust your taste – you lusted after Bella for how long now?"
"And you dated Sam for like three years," Jacob shot right back.
"Touché," Leah laughed, "touché."
"It'll be a good summer," Jacob said with confidence.
"You think so?"
"Well, it can't be worse than last summer."
"Don't tempt fate," Leah warned.
As she said it, there was the sound of a familiar truck that was driving by, from behind them, where the roads crossed. Alyssa.
"Jacob!" Alyssa didn't have to yell, with werewolf hearing, Jacob would have heard her if she had just said his name in a normal tone. But of course, Alyssa didn't know that.
Jacob sighed, causing Leah to let out a chuckle.
"Jacob!" Alyssa called again. She honked her horn, which really, wasn't necessary. Even if Jacob were human, he would have been able to hear her.
Jacob turned around, "Coming!"
Still, he stayed by Leah's side for a moment, looking down at his Beta. He found himself wishing he could have continued the walk back with Leah. It'd been so long since they'd done it and he'd forgotten how easy it was to spend time with Leah.
"You better go. She doesn't look happy," Leah said. She glanced up at him.
"She'll be fine," Jacob said with more confidence than he felt. He was dreading going to Alyssa; their previous conversation weighed heavy on him and he knew Alyssa would just have more questions.
"Sure, sure," Leah could always see right through him. Alyssa honked again, "You better go before it gets worse."
And Jacob knew that Leah was right, so he jogged off to Alyssa's side. A sinking feeling filled his stomach. He was suddenly worried that Leah was right. Maybe he had tempted fate.
Hi hello! I hope everyone had a nice holiday season for all who celebrate. I know that this has taken a really long time so I apologize for that. I just want to say thank you to everyone who commented - I really do read your comments and they do give me motivation. I'm not abandoning this fic so hopefully the next chapter will come faster. Thank you again for reading and especially thank you to everyone who commented!