chapter eight

I didn't like being stared at. It actually took every ounce of my willpower to not chew my tongue off while three different people blatantly and unrelentingly stared at me while I pretended to focus on the biology worksheet in front of me. Kim, Embry, and Bobby I guess all collectively decided that instead of mitochondria or whatever, their focus this whole class period would be on me. And what sucked most about it was that I was really fucking bad at biology, and Bobby was way worse.

I hadn't talked to Embry since that morning he followed me into class, key word being talked. When Quil started driving me to school, Embry had been posted up at his parking spot, waiting for us. And every morning, he would walk next to me while I went to classes, and didn't say a goddamn word to me. Just walked me to my classes. And not even the classes we had together. Embry Call trailed an inch or two behind me everywhere I went, waited by the door while I sat at a desk, and then went off to his own classes. And when we did have a class together, he'd sit behind me and stare at the back of my head the whole goddamn hour. I tried to will myself to think it was creepy, but I couldn't bring myself to be that bothered by it. At least he didn't say anything to me.

The same thing could not be said for Bobby. "Why is Embry Call staring at you?"

"I don't know."

"But you know he is, right?"

"Yeah."

"But you don't know why."

"No."

"Kim is staring at you too."

"Yeah I know."

"Do you know why?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

I sighed. For a girl who had never paid me attention before, bullying or not, she sure did want to talk to me. "Because her boyfriend is an asshole and she's been a bad friend and I threatened to hit her and now I'm sitting with you and one year you got everyone to call her human Shrek."

Bobby chuckled. "That was funny."

"No, it wasn't," I shot back. Bobby talked too much.

"Why do you keep defending her if you're not friends?"

"I'm not defending her. You're just not funny."

"You don't wear makeup," she stated, simply and quickly.

"Yes I do," I argued back, annoyed. Bobby's bullying style was usually just pointing out obvious flaws and exaggerating them to make her victim even more intensely aware of it, and this weird psychological picking she'd been trying to do with me was irritating. I'd rather her just tell me my nose was too big or something pointless like that so we could've both moved on.

"No," she said back to me, slowly, "you wear like mascara and lip gloss and you put pomade on your eyebrows. But you don't wear anything else and you don't really get complex with it. How did you know my foundation didn't match?"

I glared at her. "Because I'm not blind? I can tell the difference between colors."

Bobby tapped her pen against the table. Out of everyone who was staring at me, Bobby was the worst, because she had the ability to talk to me. "Do you wanna go to a party at my house on Friday?"

"What?"

She sighed, like I was being stupid. "Listen, I drove three of my friends to school that day. I talked to like four more before I walked into class, and no one told me my foundation didn't match. You're the only person who said anything. I didn't even believe you but I checked and you were right."

I gaped. "I was insulting you."

"And no one's ever done that before! Look, I know you think I'm like an unfunny caricature of a mean girl in some teen drama, but I think you're cool, and I want you to come on Friday," Bobby pleaded, and I wondered if she had ever pleaded with anyone before.

And I was kind of perplexed, because I couldn't imagine what was so special about me now that everyone decided they wanted a piece of me. "Even if I wanted to go, I couldn't. I'm grounded and my mom took my car keys."

Bobby rolled her eyes. "That's hardly an excuse. One time my parents grounded me and I still managed to make it to Seattle for the night. You can make it." The bell rang, and she stood. "By the way," she said, sliding me her paper, "I'll let you copy my answers too."

Bobby Evans left me wondering what type of person she was.

I had my journal tucked under my arm. The morning after I had thrown it into the woods, I ran back out there, ready for a new and cryptic message of secrecy. But there was nothing. No new note, no clues, no hints. And that was the push I needed to start asking real questions again. I was ready to start again, clean slate with new theories. I was planning on spending my lunch period on research, digging up new theories as to why my brother was dead. And I was really ready this time, because I wasn't going to let Kim distract me. But there was curly haired boy with a heavy lunch tray next to me, thwarting my plan.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with your friends?"

Quil looked up at me with his mouth full. This was my first day in a while eating in the cafeteria, and instead of spending time with his cult buddies, Quil reserved a table with me. We looked over at the two tables that all of the cult boys and their girlfriends had taken up. Embry, Seth Clearwater and Jacob Black were pouting at one table, while Paul Lahote, Jared and Kim were pouting at another. It was funny to see Embry with his arms crossed over his chest glaring at Jared, who was doing the exact same to him. "No," he said swallowing, "they suck."

"I'll drink to that," I mumbled, and Quil's eyes darted to me. "Joking! Jesus, even I'm not gonna bring booze to school." Quil shook his head and dropped his attention back to his food while mine darted over to Embry, flicking back and forth between him and his buddy. "Jacob looks like shit, huh?"

Quil shrugged. "I guess. He's pretty banged up about that girl that dumped him. Honestly, I felt bad for him at first, but at this point it's pretty annoying. Won't shut up about it. Plus I think he's arguing with Paul over something."

I chewed on my tongue and tried not to make it obvious that I was staring in that direction. "Yeah I heard about that. That girl from Forks or whatever. Bella right?" And even though I was thinking about Jacob, I kept looking at the boy next to him. I didn't mean to do it, but I was so used to be stared at or followed by Embry that I never really got to look at him like this. And there was something really weird about Embry and how even though I convinced myself that he or his presence didn't' really matter to me, I couldn't stop thinking about him. Somehow, I always veered back to him.

"Yeah, Bella. She's nice."

I looked back at Quil. "You've met her?" I didn't know why I was being so nosy, and I started to miss the days where the only place I got my information from was girls whispering in class and Kim's drunken ramblings. I didn't know when I started caring.

"Yeah, a while ago. She used to come over to the reservation like every day after school to work on some bikes she got from the junkyard. And then her boyfriend came back into town and none of us had ever seen her since. It's a shame. She's pretty hot." I snorted. "What?"

"You're such a dude sometime," I said into my plate of food, and looked back up to see Embry's eyes had landed back on me. His eyes made me feel weird. I turned back to Quil, and I figured that if I couldn't sit here and research, I was at least going to try to get something out of Quil. I made a tactical move. "Hey, did I tell you I saw something weird in the woods the other day after you left?"

Quil's back straightened and his eyes flickered around the room. It was like my words sparked him. "Yeah?"

"Um, yeah," I started, "after you left I was in my backyard just um," throwing my personal journal into the woods in hopes someone in your cult would tell me your culty secret, "getting some fresh air. And I thought I saw this woman. She had like," I blew air out of my mouth, "crazy curly red hair. But like, I only saw her for a second. And then she was gone."

I watched Quil's face, waiting for some sort of response. "That's uh, pretty crazy, Rem." He took his eyes away from me for a second and nodded. "Um, I gotta go. I'll see you later. I'm driving you home right?"

Quil didn't wait for my answer. He pushed away from the table, and walked out of the cafeteria. It didn't take long for the rest of the cult boys to get up and follow, one by one they all rose from their seats and trotted out of the cafeteria, and I almost wanted to tell them it would be less suspicious to all get up at once. Jared, then Paul, then Jacob, Seth and Embry last. And before he walked out the door, he gave me one more look that felt strangely like an apology.

They were gone for the rest of the day.

I walked through the halls looking for at least one of them (not like they would be hard to spot, they were at least a head taller than everyone here). But they were all gone. Which confirmed at least one of my theories; they knew whoever I saw in the woods that day.

By the time that the last bell rang and classes were over, it became pretty clear that none of them were coming back for the rest of the day. I sat down at the pavement at the edge of the sidewalk while people ran off to their own cars or got driven home by their friends that didn't ditch classes or forget about them and I thanked god it wasn't raining.

And I sat there for about twenty minutes, watching the rest of the student body disappear from campus and thought about how much it fucking sucked to not have my own car. I stood and brushed off my legs, and that was when Embry pulled up.

I saw his truck enter the parking lot and knew within an instant that Quil sent him. My arms crossed over my chest as he sped over to my spot on the curb. His car was old, and he had one of those window cranks that took forever to roll down. I stood still while the window was rolled down painfully slowly, first revealing his forehead, then his eyes, his nose, and his mouth. I ignored the way my stomach lurched. "Hey," he said.

"Did Quil send you because he forgot about me?" I asked, deadpanned.

Embry shrugged. "Do you still want a ride?"

I didn't argue, just got in the passenger seat.

Embry really took the whole, 'not in the mood to talk' statement really far. He was humming along to some song that played on the radio, and didn't even attempt to start a conversation with me. And it bothered me, a lot. There was really no explanation for why it did, especially considering how irritated I got when he did talk to me. But he didn't say anything to me. He didn't even look at me.

It seemed kind of weird, some may even say a bit mean, to attach yourself to someone and follow them everywhere and then decide that you didn't want to talk to them anymore. My heart was beating quickly and my hands were sweating and I kept shooting glances over at Embry. His silence was driving me insane. The drive back to my house wasn't long but it sure as hell felt like it was.

And he looked so content, like he was completely unbothered by the silence. I didn't know why I wanted to talk to him, but I wasn't saying anything either. My mouth felt dry. "Here," he said suddenly, and I didn't realize he had stopped the car in my driveway.

"Thanks," I said, and waited for something from him. But he just gave me a tight smile and a wave. So I left. I got out of the car and started walking towards my front door and by the time I turned back to look at Embry he was already backing out. I felt displaced, and really fucking confused.

Embry Call was on my mind for the rest of the night.

hi guys sorry this is a short filler chapter but next chapter is gonna be rlly good i think ur gonna like it. thanks for all ur reviews its super encouraging i lov u guys. every review = one pet for my cat