Hello guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! Today's song of the chapter is "Teach Me to Fight" by British powerhouse Yonaka! Enjoy!

Teach Me to Fight

"This place is so fucking weird," Bella muttered to herself as she walked back to Charlie. She was frustrated, freaked out, and fucking irate. Forks was meant to be a boring mid-stop in her journey toward adulthood, and yet, she found herself surrounded on all sides by weirdness. Beautiful, self-important vampires and roid-raging natives and hate-filled girls apparently were in excess in such a small town. Not for the first time, she asked herself why things seemed to always happen to her.

She scarfed down the fish and potato salad that Charlie handed to her, ignoring her father's amused stare, and went back for seconds at the same time as Jake and Seth, along with two other boys Bella didn't recognize.

"Oh, there you are!" Jake said loudly. "Been looking everywhere for you."

"I was over at the fire with Sam," she told him.

"Sam?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"He's the one who found me," she told him. "I was thanking him, and he said something about me and Charlie always being welcome here. Good to know the tribe is inclusive."

"Oh," Jake muttered.

"Jake doesn't like Sam much," one of the new boys told her. "I'm Embry, and this is Quil."

"M'lady," the shorter one said, tipping an invisible hat to her. She couldn't help but laugh, but from his nervous chuckle that wasn't the response he'd hoped for. Poor kid.

"Hi, guys," she greeted happily. "I'm Bella."

"Oh, we know," Embry laughed. "Jake never shuts up about you. Poor kid's hopeless."

She wondered if there was any situation that couldn't be ruined by the inherent awkwardness of teenage boys. Nothing was sacred, it seemed, even first meetings. Jake looked horrified, embarrassed as hell, and she was sure she probably didn't look much better.

"Okay," Jake coughed. "Well, we're gonna head over to the fire. Don't be a stranger, Bells."

"Sure thing," she chuckled. She shook her head as they walked away, hoping that Jacob's infatuation didn't evolve into something more. She didn't have the heart to rebuff him, to hurt him, if he tried, but she would if she was forced to.

"That was painful to watch," Emily's voice spoke from behind her. She stepped up beside Bella and watched the bonfire rage from a distance.

"It was more painful to experience," Bella responded.

"I heard about what happened with Leah," Emily told her.

"Jesus, word spreads quick around here. Do you have like, a tribal gossip groupchat or something?"

Emily laughed loudly, shaking her head. "No, it's just impossible to keep things quiet here. She didn't hurt you too badly, did she?"

"Nah," Bella played off her injury. "Knocked me around a little, that's all. But I won't be looking around for her anymore. I'll leave that to family. Learned my lesson."

Truth be told, her desires were torn. On one hand, she wanted to have constant tabs on Leah Clearwater, if only to be as far away as physically possible from the girl at any given moment. On the other, though, she still felt a need to be close to Leah, to figure out what exactly made her tick. Call it morbid curiosity, but Bella had never had much sense of self-preservation.

"Harry reamed her out plenty when he got home, from what I heard," Emily reassured her.

"She doesn't deserve that," Bella muttered. "It was a fight, that's all. And she's hurting right now."

"So's everyone else," Emily argued. "Dragging someone out of a truck and beating them up isn't something to just write off, Bella."

"I'm not writing it off, I'm erasing it entirely," Bella declared suddenly. "How are you being so objective about this? Isn't it partially your fault?"

"It's personal," Emily said coolly, suddenly on the defensive.

"I'm sure it is. But I figured you might be a little more understanding, Emily. She's your cousin, and she has to watch you go around with her ex all the time. I'm sure you and Sam are both great people, but that shit has to hurt."

Emily was quiet after that, and Bella felt awkward and guilty for chewing out someone she'd just met, cheater or not. She mumbled some form of goodbye and walked around the beach, waiting for Charlie to get ready to leave. The wind off the water was frigid and hard, and she had a hard time staying upright. The heat from the fire didn't travel too far, and she had half a mind to go back before she noticed a solitary figure standing just at the edge of the shore.

Leah had her shoes off, toes right at the seam where tide met sand. Bella watched as the older girl flicked her toes out and kicked sand into the oncoming waves, the tiniest of smiles on her face. Her recent arguments with both Sue and Emily had partially reignited some kind of sympathy for Leah within her, but she was more hesitant now. Less inclined to be open, less forgiving. Second chances weren't something she often handed out, much less if Leah even wanted one. She was still doubtful.

"I won't bite," Leah told her, flicking her eyes over to where Bella stood.

"I was more concerned about what's left of my shirt. My collar's ruined," Bella said as she approached.

"Orange isn't your color, anyway," Leah tried to joke. "Did you a favor."

"Asshole," she laughed, rolling her eyes. "Why aren't you out there with the rest of the tribe?"

"I'm in time-out," Leah told her. Her tone was joking, but Bella could see the guilt in her eyes, the weight on her shoulders. Leah looked defeated, broken. It was something that Bella was familiar with, and it felt a lot more important than some ex-boyfriend troubles. Something was seriously affecting Leah.

"Did you eat?" Bella asked her.

"Yeah, I got a bite in before everyone showed up. How was your nap?"

"Uneasy," Bella replied honestly. "Gotta be honest with you, Leah. You scared the shit out of me today."

"I scared myself," Leah agreed. "I don't want to be this person, the type that hurts people. When your head hit the asphalt, I freaked. I thought I'd killed you. I was never like this before Sam."

"You don't have to be," Bella told her. "Let people help you."

"I don't know how to."

"Me either," Bella chuckled mirthlessly. "I barely even let Charlie in. It just feels so awkward to put my problems on other people. They have better things to do. But…we don't. You and me, I mean. I don't know why I'm even considering this…" she trailed off, watching the water reflect the stars. Out in the dark, it was impossible to tell where the sky ended and the ocean began. It was complete oblivion out there, an endless crashing of waves and void of deep sea.

"I want to be your friend," Leah said quietly. "I made possibly the worst first impression in the history of first impressions, but I can do better. I promise."

"I don't give third chances, Leah," Bella said, still looking out at the spray. "If you ever put your hands on me like that again, we're done."

In a very real but detached way, she realized that she was making what could potentially be a very poor decision. Leah was unstable, obviously had anger management issues, and could conceivably physically harm her very easily. By all rights, she should have just walked away and scorned Leah Clearwater until her dying day. But she didn't want to do that, and she had enough experience with dealing with things and people that weren't necessarily the healthiest for her to do it smartly this time around.

"I know. You won't have to." Leah sounded adamant, determined. Bella hoped it would be enough.

"Good, then let's head back to the bonfire. I'm freezing my ass off out here," Bella told her, grabbing Leah's hand and dragging her toward the high flame.

"I'm still in time-out," Leah reminded her.

"Not anymore. You spent enough time with your nose in the corner. If anyone has a problem with it, they can take it up with me," she snorted.

"Hey, don't joke," Leah told her. "You've got a mean right hook. My eye's gonna look like shit in the morning."

"That reminds me," Bella said thoughtfully. "Part of this whole thing. You're gonna teach me how to fight. I'm so out of shape it isn't funny."

"I can do that. And you do look a little twiggy," Leah laughed. "I wasn't gonna say anything."

"Some of us aren't graced with perfect genetics."

"I think it's a tribal thing," Leah told her. "Billy's told us all the legends before, about the greatest warriors growing big and strong to protect the tribe. Never believed it before, but…"

"I wouldn't disregard it," Bella told her as they reached the wonderful warmth of the driftwood fire. "Weirder things have happened."

She felt more than saw the odd and incredulous looks she and Leah were getting from members of the tribe. The adults – Sue and Harry especially – looked downright flabbergasted at the pair of them sitting quietly around the fire. Jake looked incensed, ready to jump into any fray at any time, and Bella was immensely grateful at his willingness to help her when she needed it. Seth merely looked confused, like his brain wasn't quite on board with what his eyes were seeing. Charlie, bless his soul, looked on with a fond expression, and she smiled and winked at him when she caught his eye.

"Dad likes you," Bella muttered to Leah. "I'm still on the fence."

"Charlie's a saint," Leah said contently, ignoring Bella's jab. "Probably one of the best people I've ever met. He's been around so much since we found out about Dad's heart condition. Helping out around the house, keeping the old man in high spirits. You already know this, but you're lucky he's your dad."

"Yeah," Bella said, looking back at her dad. "I really am. Harry's pretty great, too, though. Billy nearly laid an egg when he found I was dating a Cullen, but Harry just told me that he trusted my judgment and that old scary stories didn't mean as much as people want them to."

"That stupid oral story?" Leah asked, rolling her eyes. "We have so many around here, so many different versions of the same tale. Billy's a purist, he takes it all to heart. None of it's open to interpretation with him. Dad's always been more of a non-traditionalist, more open to outsiders and all that. When the Cullens showed up, Dad and Billy fought for weeks over the whole hospital thing."

"You guys missed out," Bella joked. "Carlisle's a great doctor. You know that show House? He's like that, just, y'know – not a complete asshole."

She shouldn't have been surprised, given how they'd literally just talked about Harry's heart condition, that the revelation of Carlisle's medical acumen would upset Leah. But Bella really hadn't been thinking that much about it, up until the point where the older girl started shaking in her seat. A cold sweat picked up on her skin, and her heart beat rapidly and unevenly in her chest.

"We had a medical genius in town," Leah gritted her teeth. "Someone who could help my dad with his heart, and Billy's stupid superstitions kept us from him?"

"Hey," Bella said firmly, gripping Leah's arm. "Chill the fuck out. I mean it."

"Right," Leah breathed out hard. "Yeah, you're right. Shit, I'm sorry. I think I'll talk to mom tomorrow about anger management courses or something. I need to get my shit together."

Bella had an idea, some stupid concept she'd seen in an old romance movie years ago, and thought about proposing it to Leah.

"You got anything left from when you dated Sam?" Bella asked her. "Pictures, CDs, clothes, anything like that?"

"A couple things," Leah answered, cocking her head to the side. "Why?"

"I've got some stuff like that, too. We should burn it. I've heard it's cathartic. Might help let go, you know?"

"Where the hell did that come from?" Leah asked. "You got that from a movie, didn't you?"

"No. Shut up," she pouted when Leah laughed. "I don't know what friends do, asshole. You got any better ideas?"

"Movies. Shopping. Driving around. Eating," Leah listed off on her fingers.

"Okay, okay."

"Concerts. Hiking," Leah continued. "Burning the shit our exes gave us."

"That one I can do," Bella said. "We'll work it out. I know just the place."

A/N: This chapter isn't really what I wanted it to be, but it works well enough with what I've got written. Working out an entire plot with a character that gets maybe 20 pages of screentime in a four-book series is daunting, but hopefully I'm making it interesting. I don't know how HP writers get it done with characters like Daphne Greengrass, but they're a different breed anyway. I love you!