Chapter 4: Hustled

From: Jake

?

Are we hanging out soon? Don't flake

From: Sophie

Sorry, it's been a really crazy week

Bella almost got hit by a truck or something a few days ago ?

She's been acting really weird ever since idk

How's tmrw sound?

From: Jake

WTF

sophie are u being srs?

From: Sophie

I told you it's been really crazy lately

From: Jake

Is she okay? What happened ?

From: Sophie

She's okay I think. Long story, easier to tell IRL.

From: Jake

Ok well tmrw defiantly

From: Sophie

*definitely

From: Jake

Whatever

Harry's kid is coming along btw u know that right?

From: Sophie

*thumbs up*

"Jake, again?" Bella asks from the driver's seat, her eyes never straying from the road. I nod my head as I chew on a piece of gum, and hum in agreement in case she can't see me. "He wants to hang out tomorrow. I told him about the whole parking-lot fiasco, by the way."

Bella groans and closes her eyes, giving me a disdainful side-eye. "I, uh, wasn't really trying to spread that around, you know."

I scoff. "Bella, the entire school knows, which means all of Forks probably does, too. It was really only a matter of time."

"That's not true."

"It totally is."

"Says who?"

"Says me, Forks, Washington aficionado, genius."

"Well…who am I to argue with a title like that, I guess."

"See? I knew you'd get it."

I blow an obnoxiously large pink bubble next to her, and right before it pops, I quickly inhale the gum right back into my mouth. "Anyway," she alludes carefully as we pull up to a stop light. "I'm…uh, not really sure I can hang out tomorrow."

I let out an aggravated moan and tilt my head back onto the seat before turning to her. "Why not?" I ask.

"I…might be going down to La Push with a few friends at school. I…I sort of invited Edward to come along."

"...The weirdo."

"Edward."

"Right. I guess we're on a name-to-name basis with the guy who freaked you out for the whole first week, or whatever."

"He's just…different, that's all."

"Yeah, so was Jeffrey Dahmer, Bella. Doesn't mean I'd wanna go around hanging around him, either."

In an uncharacteristic display of churlishness, Bella scoffs at me. "You don't even know him, what bad things do you possibly have to say about a guy you don't know?"

I turn to her again, my eyes slightly narrowed and my brows furrowed in confusion. "You were the one who told me he was weird, you know," I say honestly. "I was just agreeing with you. Sister-camaraderie, and all that."

"Okay, well, maybe I've changed my mind. Which means you can, too. For the sake of…sister-camaraderie, whatever that is."

"Hm. Well, I want proof he's not weird before I decide that for myself."

We pull into the school parking lot, and I unconsciously roll my eyes at the prospect of having to go to class. I can't quite explain it, but I'm in an absolutely foul mood today, and I'm sure Bella notices it, too. My whole body seems like it's moving through mud, my head swimming in exhaustion as I unbuckle my seatbelt and mentally steal myself for another day.

"Hold on," Bella says over my shoulder, reaching under her legs for her backpack and pulling something out from the side pocket. It's a banana, and she holds it out towards me with a twist to her mouth. I don't even know where she got it from - Lord knows Dad doesn't keep fruit...or anything remotely healthy, for that matter, in the house.

"Uh...why are you giving me this?" I state more than ask, not bothering to take it from her hand. She shrugs and thrusts it over to me with an annoyed expression. "After school snack. Or breakfast, since you didn't eat anything before we left. Just have it with you."

"Thanks, but I'm good."

"Sophie, it's a banana. Take it, I don't want it."

"Well, I don't want it either," I say snappishly. "And I did have breakfast this morning, thank you very much."

"Chocolate milk isn't breakfast."

What are you, my mother? I snipe to myself rudely. I don't need one of those. Never did.

I quickly shake my head of the ugly thought, and as I climb out of the truck, the thought of arguing back is too tiring to entertain. I reach behind me and grab the banana, feeling a little guilty that I could think of something so crass in the first place. "Thanks," I say, only half-meaning it. "You don't have to wait up for me today, or anything. Might have practice."

"Might have practice? Don't you have a schedule for that sort of thing?"

My brain sluggishly tries to supply something, but nothing sensical comes out. "Yeah, sometimes, I dunno. See you later, Bells."

Taking the banana, I chew my gum a little more aggressively as I make my way over to the main entrance of the school. As I meander through the parking lot, I can't help but notice the same two strangers from the other day- Alice, and…Jasper, I remind myself, with a gaggle of other mystifyingly beautiful people flocked around them.

I blow another bubble.

It's hard not to stare. The whole group of them…whoever they are. They aren't even doing anything besides standing around, looking drop-dead gorgeous like the parking lot is a Calvin Klein casting call, and somehow it's the most attention-grabbing thing I'm sure anybody's noticed all morning.

The girl with the pixie-hair, Alice, raises a light hand at me. It's a wave, I realize. With my banana in hand, I wave back a little uncomfortably, and walk directly over to the trash can outside the front door.

I drop the banana right in beside a pile of trash, and I walk on in without a second glance.

The rest of the day passes by in a haze, and before I know it, it's Saturday morning. By the time I rouse out of bed it's nearly eleven, and the shock of seeing the time glowing on the screen of my phone jolts me from right out underneath my covers. How did I sleep in so late? I wonder incredulously. Am I coming down with the flu, or something?

There's a series of missed texts, all of which are from Jake.

From: Jake

Helloooo u still down to hang 2day?

Sophie

?

I'm coming to get u

Sophie ?

-30 MINS AGO

"Shit," I hiss out, throwing the duvet off of me and scrambling to my feet. I quickly glance around my room for clothes, cursing at myself for not running a load of laundry the night before. Layers, I think to myself. When you don't know where you're going or what you're doing, wear layers.

So I do. I scrape together a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and my Varsity jacket, pulling each item out of thin air as I hurry to dress myself. I throw a winter hat over my head since I don't have enough time to figure out what to do with my hair, and my eyes search my surroundings for my boots. Where are my boots?

Letting out a noise of frustration, I open my bedroom door and call down the stairwell. "Dad?" I yell. "Have you seen my rainboots?"

I hear talking somewhere beyond my line of vision, but no one answers me. My eye twitches, and I quickly trample down the stairs. "Dad?" I call out again, shoving my outward-facing pockets into my jeans. "Dad, have you seen my-"

I bump right into my father, my head colliding with the back of his shoulder as I distractedly look down. I nearly fall right down on my ass, but my wavering arms and a quick pull upright from Dad steadies my wobbly stance. "Woah, slow down there, kid," he says to me with an alarmed chuckle. "What's the emergency?"

"I can't find my…" I look past him and to my utter embarrassment, Jake is peevishly sitting on my living room sofa next to a boy with hair even longer than his counterpart's. The unknown boy sees me and his eyes widen, and he offers me a bright smile. I can't remember ever seeing him before, but he almost seems familiar.

It's the long hair, I think. He looks kinda like Jake, is all.

For a reason I still don't quite understand, I find myself ducking behind Dad like I've been caught half-naked, and I tug on his police jacket. "Dad, I can't find my boots," I whisper urgently, my eyes darting to Jake and the other boy.

"What boots?"

"My rainboots, Dad."

"What do they look like?"

You bought them for me! I want to scream. "Green. Tall. Boots," I grit out.

The boy next to Jake makes a tisk-sound between his teeth, and I glance over at him. "Yikes," he pipes up. "I guess it's too late to tell you I'm pretty sure we saw your sister walk right out with them, huh?"

"Bella?" I ask him, like he'd even know.

"Do you have another sister we don't know about?" Jake pipes up sardonically, his churlish attitude undoubtedly because of my tardiness. "Yeah, Soph. Bella. Those boots are long gone, girl."

My eye twitches again, but I push a smile onto my face that almost definitely looks more like a scowl and I hold up a single, waiting finger. "Be right back," I say to all three of them before sprinting back up the stairs.

As I make my way back up to my room, I hear Dad let out a sigh.

"Girls. Confusing as all hell, I'll tell ya."

"Yeah," Jake replies loudly enough for me to hear. "Trust me, we know."

I settle for a pair of Chucks.

It is very decidedly not what I would want to wear on a day as cold and rainy as this one, but I consider it a small sacrifice considering how long I've kept Jake waiting.

The ride to…wherever we're going…is a cheerful one, despite the sour mood from earlier. Embry, one of Jake's friends from school, occupies the passenger seat of the Rabbit as the other boy and I settle in the back.

I don't say much to him, a little redfaced at my immature behavior from minutes ago, but I can physically feel the weight of his stare on the side of my face. I take a stick of gum out of my pocket and pop it in my mouth, and as I turn just barely to look at him, he takes advantage of whips out a hand.

"Seth. Seth Clearwater," he introduces joyfully, showcasing two rows of bright, white teeth. His hand is still extended out towards me, and I realize it's because he wants me to shake it. For some reason, I don't, maybe because it's a little strange- do people our age even shake hands?

"Sophie Swan. But Jake probably already told you that, I guess...gum?" I offer a little shyly, pulling out another stick from the package. He nods, and as I hand him a piece, friction from my jacket sends a little pulse of static shock up my arm. I hurriedly pull away and wave it off as he does the same, and we both let out a light, surprised laugh.

"Sorry, I think I zapped you," I confess weakly.

"No way, I thought that was me."

"I'm pretty sure it was me, this jacket is, like, a total static magnet when it's been dry-cleaned."

For the first time, Seth looks down at it and his eyes widen. "Whoa, Varsity! I thought Jake said you were a sophomore, like me."

"She is," Jake says from behind the wheel, giving me a weird look with a suspicious glint in his eye. "She's just that much of a pro, Clearwater."

Seth's eyes widen even more, and I send an embarrassed kick to the back of the driver's seat. "He's being dumb," I defend.

"She's being modest. Sophie's a total beast at soccer, dude. She'd kick any of our asses any day of the week."

"Because you're such steep competition," I joke between noisy chewing, ignoring the heat prickling at the back of my neck. "Really, you can just ignore him. Trust me, he cries like a big baby when I actually do kick his ass."

Jake lets out a choked noise at the taunt, but Seth smiles like he's in on the joke. "Is it wrong that I kinda wanna see that?"

"You might get to see it sooner than you think. Jake, where are we going, exactly?"

This time, it's Embry who lets out a taunt of his own, shoving his fingers under Jake's ribs as he smirks evilly at the driver. "We're going to La Push, who woulda guessed it?" he says sarcastically. "Hey, whatdya know! That just so happens to be where Bella headed off to, today, isn't it?"

My eyebrows furrow in bewilderment- why would we be going to La Push? Was Jake planning on us all meeting up, or something? Did Bella know? "Why are we going there?" I ask.

"Why not?" Jake coughs. "It's a… beautiful day...for the beach."

It's really not, I think to myself, glancing out the window. In fact, it's even colder and rainier than it usually is at the end of March, and I'm wearing canvas sneakers. Shit. "Jake, I'm wearing Chucks."

"Well, that's tough luck. Shouldn't have run so late, Soph."

I sink a little in my seat, knowing it's not a chastisement so much as an acknowledgment of my own uncharacteristic behavior this morning. "Sorry," I grumble. "I didn't even realize what time it was."

"Yeah, we gathered that after the first thirty minutes went by," Embry interjects next to him, providing a very unnecessary ribbing.

"Not like you," Jake says offhandedly. "You're usually the one getting on me about lateness, girl."

"It's…just been an off-week for me, that's all."

His eyes peer up at me in the rearview mirror. "Oh. Because of…Bella, or-?"

"No, no, it's just, like... one of those weeks, you know," I interrupt quickly. "Did you bring a soccer ball? Or is all this La Push-business just because you don't want me to show you up during a scrimmage for the billionth time?"

It's a distraction, and luckily, it works. He gleams at me in the mirror.

"Wanna place money on it?"

Jake's friend, Quil, arrived right before we pulled up alongside the road, and we barely get through some light ball-passing before Jake wanders off. His eyes widened immediately at the sight of a pair of vans pulling their way onto the beach, and before I know it, his tongue is practically lolling out of his mouth as his two friends tow along behind him.

"Have fun, kiddies!" Embry shouts back to Seth and me as they make their way down the shoreline. "Remember: don't talk to strangers, don't get in the water, and curfew's at ten!"

I make a mocking face back at him as I kick the ball up into my arms, feeling a little defeated at the lost prospect of winning against three older boys. So much for that, I think inwardly, not sure what else to do now that I've been left behind with this boy I barely know alone on the beach.

Seth's persistent grin fails to leave his face, and if anything, he looks completely undeterred by this sequence of events. "Ugh, what a fake-out," he tells me jokingly. "Guess they just couldn't handle the pressure of playing against an all-star, right?"

I smile wanly and shrug. "I think it has more to do with Jake wanting to flirt with my sister than it does soccer."

"Well… I'm still game, if you are. Literally. Assuming you can play in those shoes you made such a fuss about, obviously."

I glance up at him, and his eyes are narrowed in a playful challenge. "Oh yeah, these old things," I reply feignedly. "I dunno... they might make me bad enough to give you a fighting chance."

"What kinda chance, do you think? A fifty-fifty shot, maybe?"

I can't help the competitive smirk that rises to my face, and I shrug again. "Sure. Ten bucks says you win, ten bucks says I do."

"Okay. How're we playing?"

"1v1, possession, forty-five seconds. Whoever has the ball at the end of the countdown wins," I explain, pushing my hair behind me under my hat. "You a newbie to this? Do I need to break that down for you, or…?"

Seth smirks back. "I'm slow on the catch-up, but I think I got it," he replies. "Best four out of five?"

"Why don't we try best two out of three, to start off? After all, my stupid shoes might put the odds in your favor, after all."

"Sure. Whatever floats your boat, Varsity."

I set the ball down in the sand between us, and motion for him to move back until we're both a good ten feet away from makeshift midfield. I hold up three fingers, keeping my knees bent and crouching into a sprint position, and fold them down one by one.

Three. Two. One.

As soon as my thumb tucks itself back into my hand, we both dart forward.

I notice a few things right off the bat- for all the hustling I thought I was doing to win this game, Seth seemed to really undersell his own athletic abilities. It nearly catches me off-guard, the cleanness of his footwork and his impressive speed, but I force my brain to unscramble itself so I can hold my own.

What the hell? I think, watching as his sneaker-clad foot darts between my own in an effort to keep possession. Whatever, I can run laps around you, anyway. Fine by me, Clearwater.

Forty-five seconds ends as soon as it begins, and with a quick flick from the side of my shoe, I kick the ball out from under him. I laugh a little breathlessly as we both take a few steps back, and I place my hands on my hips as I meet him with half-scrutiny, half-appreciation. "Okay," I admit out loud. "I was expecting something a little less…"

"Good?"

"I was gonna say intense, but that works, too," I continue. "You might've forgotten to mention that you play soccer, Seth."

His eyes widen and he offers one of his beaming grins again, but he shakes his head. "Nah," he says bashfully. "Not the real thing, anyway. Ma says it's too expensive to be on a team, but a bunch of the guys on the Rez and I play a few pickup games, here and there."

For a second, I feel a little bad at the underlying implication, but find myself even more impressed that he's had little to no formal training whatsoever and somehow, can play like this. "Well, that sucks," I tell him. "For me, obviously. Because what you're telling me is, there's a chance I could lose to a kid who only knows how to play soccer from…street games with his friends."

He smiles toothily, his cheeks turning a little ruddy. "Well, you did say it was a fifty-fifty shot, don't count yourself out so soon."

"Oh, don't worry, I wasn't. Just stating the facts."

"Me too. You won the first round."

"By…" I squeeze my thumb and my index finger together until there's hardly a space in between. "This much."

"If you thought that was harder than you thought it'd be, you have zero clue how much effort I was putting in on my end," he laughs. "Jake was right, you are really good."

Usually, compliments from strangers regarding my soccer skills just make me feel a little sheepish. More often than not, they're given by people who don't really know the game, and even more frequently, compliments come from the sorts of people who certainly wouldn't insult me to my face.

That's probably why it takes a minute for his words to sink in- I realize this is the first time I'm playing against someone with so little experience and yet plays with every intention of winning, and even more strangely, this person is a stranger- a stranger who has nothing to lose or gain from a quick 1v1. Even Jake gets pissy when he loses to me, yet this guy hands me praise like it costs him nothing at all to give it.

"Well…I guess you do anything often enough, you kinda should be good at it, right?" I ask weakly. He bats a hand at me as he backtracks into his original position, shaking his head.

"Eh, don't make it sound so cheap. C'mon, we still have two more rounds. Gimme all you got."

I take off my Varsity jacket, and take a deep inhale.

I win all three rounds, but similar to the first one, the wins are hardly by a landslide.

Seth and I are collapsed into the wet sand, my knees bent as I fold over my lap, elbows propping me up. My temporary opponent lays flat on his back, uncaring that his long hair will probably have grains of sand in it for weeks. My eyes stray past him out towards the shoreline, where I see Bella and Jake walking alongside each other in deep conversation.

"My dad told me your sister just moved back here after a long time away," Seth says after a long period of peaceful quiet. "Is it weird?"

"What is?"

"Living together. Because you grew up here, right? And she didn't?"

I nod my head in agreement with his last question, but I find myself unsure of how to answer the first one. It's just on the verge of too personal a question- regardless of our little soccer game, it's not as if I really know this person.

"It's not really…anything, at least, not to me. Not normal, but not weird. In-between, maybe."

"Sure."

"How about you?" I ask in an attempt to redirect. "Jake said your sister was… going through some stuff," I put it mildly.

Seth scoffs. "How'd he put it?"

"That she's a total nightmare, if I remember."

The boy blinks at me, and immediately, I wish I could shove the words right back into my mouth and the ground below me would swallow me whole. "Sorry...I could've worded that a little better," I admit quietly. "My dad says I can be 'to-the-point', whatever that means."

He looks at me for another moment, but the smile I hadn't even noticed fall reemerges back across his features. "Nah, don't worry about it. You're right, at least. Or Jake's right, in any case. It is a kind of a nightmare living with Leah right now."

It's probably not appropriate, but the sudden gloominess of his words piques my curiosity. I open my mouth and snap it shut just as quickly, wondering if it's at all acceptable for me to pry. He must see the internal battle written across my face because he lets out a big sigh. "It was a breakup, and breakups are hard I guess. There's a lot more to it than that, but it was super dramatic. She's totally heartbroken about it."

"Oh," I say pitifully, although it's not as though I can really sympathize. "Were they…together a really long time?"

Seth makes an uneasy face and looks out at the waves beyond us, and with his hand, he waves it back and forth in a so-so motion. "Sorta. There was a lotta ups and downs, over the years… but I guess it was a long time, after all," he explains. His cheeks turn ruddy and he glances at me before quickly averting his gaze to the ground. "Sorry, I'm sure you don't wanna hear all about-"

"No, no! It's okay, I was the one asking-"

"Yeah, no, it's all good."

An awkward pause falls over us, and I distract myself by picking at a stray lock of hair over my shoulder.

"It's just… my mom says I should be more patient with her, 'cause she's really sad and everything. I probably shouldn't be ragging on her when I'm sure there's a lot more I don't fully understand. Just have to wait it out until she's better," he adds.

"I get it," I tell him, because I think I do. "Perks of being the youngest, right? Lots of waiting around," I say sarcastically.

"Tell me about it. They always think they're the ones waiting on us, but sometimes it feels like all I do is wait for her."

My eyes widen, and though he doesn't know it, Seth's one-off sentence brings me right back to the conversation I had with Bella the other day.

"Pretty sure the roles got switched, somehow. You're supposed to be the little sister, I think. It's like you grew up overnight."

"I'd hardly say overnight. Had to do something to occupy the time over the years, right?"

All I do is wait for her. It perfectly explains a feeling I didn't even realize I had, and I nod. "Yeah," I reply, my voice a little shaky. "That's exactly what it feels like."

By the time Jake saddles us all back in his dinky little red car, I feel tired enough to sleep in for an entire day. After a quick bickering session, I finally convince him to take me home instead of the diner on the Rez where he, Embry, and Seth all planned on going after the beach.

I'm too exhausted to even really feel hungry, anyway, so I don't really feel like I'm missing out despite Jake's dour attitude about my impending absence. As we pull up to my house, I turn around to unbuckle my seatbelt, and I notice Seth's smile has diminished into something like disappointment. I wonder if it's he's disappointed because I'm parting from the group so soon, but I quickly dismiss the idea.

"You sure you don't wanna just tag along?" he asks quietly in the backseat as Jake and Embry argue over the stereo. "I'm sure we won't hang around for too long, or anything."

I shake my head, and I wave away the offer. "My shoes are soaked through, so I should head in. No thanks to you from the near ass-kicking you tried to give me, obviously," I joke. He smiles a little at that, and as my hand reaches for the door handle, he lets out a sudden gasp.

"Shoot, I owe you ten bucks!"

His exclamation reminds me of our little bet, too, something I'd completely forgotten until now. With a smirk, I hold a hand out. "Now that you mention it, cough it up."

Seth makes a big show of padding around at his pants, and he looks at me helplessly. "I…forgot my wallet?"

"Wow, seems convenient."

"I wouldn't have mentioned it if I wasn't good for my word, I swear," he promises hurriedly. He bites at the inside of his cheek and meets me with a meek grin. "I, uh…guess that means I'll have to pay you back…next time," he says too-innocently.

His words force Jake to look at us in the rearview mirror, his eyes squinting devilishly between the two of us. I raise a brow at him, and he looks away.

"Yeah…next time."

I give Jake a pat on the shoulder as a silent thank-you, and unfasten myself from the seat.

"So…just, like…are you saying that there'll be a next time...?" Seth trails off.

Embry grumbles something to himself as he wipes a palm over his face, and it sounds a lot like a mournful "Jesus Christ."

I bite into my lower lip as I fidget in my jacket, and I glance towards the front door of my house. "Um, yeah. Yeah, that could be…"

Nice, I think. Fun, even. The kind of fun Dad tells me I should be having when I play soccer in the first place.

"...Cool," I settle for.

He beams. "Cool!"

"Yeah, cool."

"Awesome," Seth tacks on happily. He lifts himself from the seat as I open the passenger door and clamor out, and I realize he's pried his phone out of his pocket. He punches a few keys before holding it out to me with a flushed face, and I take the old Motorola questioningly.

"You could, uh, put your number in there," he suggests quietly. "You know, just so we can talk about when you're gonna kick my ass again…?"

For some odd reason, Seth's words force Jake and Embry into fits of hysterical laughter in the front seats, and both he and I look at each other bashfully as I quickly punch in my phone number. Glancing up further on the screen, I notice the word scrawled across where my contact name should be. Varsity Ass-Kicker.

"Very funny," I say wryly before handing the phone back to him. "There you go. And just to warn you, next time, it'll be a landslide win on my part. I promise."

"I'll, uh, hold you to it," he tells me.

"Okay, cool."

"…Cool."

"Oh my god, Sophie, please get the hell away from my car," Jake bursts out with a groan. "I can only be tortured by this crap for so long before I want to puke."

I have no idea what torture he could possibly be referring to, but I peel my hands away from the Rabbit with red cheeks and offer a wave to all three of them. "Bye guys, be careful on the road!"

"Go inside already!" he yells back.

Jake speeds off, and distantly, I can see that Seth is still waving at me. Tentatively, I wave back until the car is out of sight.

As I make my way up the stairs and unlock the door, my phone immediately buzzes. Keeping my keys inside the lock, I flip open the Samsung and notice an unknown number along with two texts, back to back.

The first one is a blurry, pixelated picture of what upon second glance I recognize as a brown, weathered wallet. What?

I scroll down to read the second, looking for context.

Guess what I just found in my pocket! Crazy, right? Talk soon!

It takes a full minute to understand what he's talking about, but once I do, my brain seems to short-circuit in surprise. Did I just get hustled?

Again?

I laugh out loud in surprise as I make my way inside, and I let out a breath. "Seth Clearwater, you little…"

A/N: Ahhh! First Sophie-Seth interaction! What do we think, y'all! Please let me know your thoughts! xoxo