A/N: Okay, here's chapter two! I was very productive today, as you can see! EMBRY IS HERE! And so is Kim, and Jared, and Natalie's mom and Natalie's brother. But Embry, yay! And someone gets a cantaloupe to the prefrontal cortex!
Okay, so some things I forgot to post with Chapter 1:
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or the lyrics I use as chapter headings. Credit where it is due.
And WARNINGS: Swearing, Sex, Drinking, and mentions of child/substance/spousal abuse.
"Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Someone who loves you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone."
—"Soulmate", Natasha Bedingfield
My mom is a sensible woman, and I trust her judgment.
…oh my god I can't even say that with a straight face. Okay. Right. Starting over.
My mom is a sensible person under certain circumstances. However: she is my mother, and crazy Aunt Daphne is her sister, so she isn't immune to moments of unconstrained melodrama.
Such as right now.
You might be thinking that this episode of insanity might be wrought out of concern for the fact that Jared Cameron brainwashed Kim Connweller.
But no.
She's running around the house like a chicken with its head called off, calling Dr. Gerandy at the hospital in a fit and tripping over Mr. Noodle because she thinks that I am the one in this situation who needs psychiatric help.
(…apparently my epiphany sounded crazy instead of brilliant to her.)
Dr. Gerandy, of course, is very familiar with us. (Like, actually, we invited him to our Christmas party). We know him very well from all the incidents concerning yours truly that resulted in an urgent need for emergency care (including but not limited to: asthma attacks, allergic reactions, falling from great heights, falling down stairs, falling off stairs, skateboarding, "cliff diving"/cliff falling, knife accidents, burns, and spider bites).
This being said, Dr. Gerandy asked (calmly) what exactly was wrong with me and when my mom couldn't give him a single (actual) symptom, he said, and I quote: "Tylenol and sleep."
(I know what he said because Mom stomped around for twenty minutes, muttering it over and over.)
And I'm honestly not certain if he was recommending the Tylenol for me or for my mom. (I am more than a little afraid to ask.)
But either way, my mom was pretty insistent that I was seeing things and that Kim was just going through the apparently mandatory "I have my first boyfriend and he is my whole world" phase. Psh. As if. She just doesn't like things that mess with the perfect order of our lives.
"She'll get over it real quick, sweetheart," Mom soothes, still looking a bit frazzled as she forcibly tucks me into bed at noon. "Just go talk to her. She'll listen to you."
"No, she won't."
"Why wouldn't she, Nat? This is Kimberly we're talking about, of course she'll listen."
"Mom, I told you. He brainwashed her. Him and Sam Uley and Paul Lahote—"
"I can't say I'm pleased that your Kimberly is keeping company with that type of…person…but, Natalie, brainwashed? Really?"
"Yes, Mom, I told you—I have to make her see sense! He's using mind control—"
"Mind control? Natalie, don't be ridiculous."
"It's not ridiculous! It's the truth!"
"It's crazy talk is what it is. Kim is your best friend. Just talk to her. I bet she hasn't even realized she's neglecting you—you know how much she likes this boy."
"…because she's been brainwashed!"
"Enough with this brainwashing nonsense! You are watching too much science fiction, young lady."
"But Kim's in danger—"
"Kim in danger! I'd worry about myself if I were you! Do you want the whole reservation to think we're out of our trees?! No, I should think not! This is the last I'll hear about this brainwashing business."
"But—"
"No buts, Natalie!" she puts a finger against my lips to shut me up. When she's confident I'm not going to protest anymore (clearly she's a lost cause if denies the truth in front of her nose, and frankly I have bigger fish to fry considering the imminent danger my best friend is in), she stands up and walks to the door. Mr. Noodle heaves himself up onto my bed, settling in at my feet—finally, an ally!
"But if it'll make you feel better, I could ask around. See if Aunt Daphne or any of the others know anything more about your Kimberly in this…thing…" she trails off with a tired sigh.
"Thanks, Mom."
"Of course, sweetheart. Feel better, okay?" As she closes the door, I hear her whisper-shout: "A cult? What is in that allergy medication!? Lord, that child."
…thanks, Mom.
I wait until her footsteps retreat down the stairs before I turn to Mr. Noodle. "Noodle," I tell him with as much seriousness as I am capable. He woofs slightly. "Noodle, you are no longer only ranked Mr. Noodle—you are now Sgt. Noodle, second-in-command of top secret covert Operation Rescue Kim. Swear your secrecy!"
Sgt. Noodle woofs.
"Good enough," I decide. I wrestle out of bed. As always, I not to gag at the bubble-gum pink walls of my room—an unfortunate consequence of being the only girl after five boys.
I have to dig into my dresser to find my cellphone—Razr phone, be jealous—and quickly dial my brother Jordan.
Okay, so to avoid confusion, I have five brothers, and yes, their names all start with J (Mom's name is Josephine, so apparently it's 'cute' or whatever):
Jeremy, the oldest, is kind of a douchebag and he's kind of in disgrace ever since he knocked up this chick senior year, married her, and divorced her before the baby was born— and then totally ditched. (Unfortunately, he picked the most annoying girl in Washington to knock up; ironically she's Emily Young (of the Sam Uley Scandal fame)'s sister Hannah.)
Jeffrey is second oldest, and apparently he's an "artiste" although I have yet to see any paintings that look like anything other than a rapid paintbrush let loose on an innocent canvas.
Jordan is after that, and he's a totally dweeb nerd guy. He's in Japan working on computers, and according to Jeffrey he has a super-hot Japanese girlfriend. Named Gretchen.
Then there's Jackson, who is my second favorite brother. He's studying zoology at U-Dub and sends me cool things from his research expeditions in the Amazon and the Andes.
Jonathan, or Johnny, is the last one, and the closest to me in age. He's probably the nicest out of all my brothers. He's also the only one who bothered to know Kim's name.
So of course he's the person to call.
"...hello?" Johnny's voice is thick and slightly muffled, like he was asleep.
"Johnny! Johnny, I need your help!"
"…Nat? That you? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but Johnny—"
"So you're not bleeding, the house isn't on fire, and there isn't a mass murderer in the next room?"
"Well, no, but since you're in Chicago I really don't know why calling you would be my immediate course of action in any of those situations."
"Fuck, Natalie, it's like—really early…"
"So? Get your lazy ass out of bed! Your sister is in need of dire assistance—"
"I'm going to hang…up…now…"
"Johnny, Kim's in trouble!"
"What?"
"Kim, she's in trouble—"
"What happened, Nat? Is Mom there?"
"No! Don't tell Mom, okay? She thinks I'm imagining things!"
"…Nat, this wouldn't be the first time. You thought Mr. Kipman was a Satanist!"
"…in my defense, he was boning Maura Goodwin. So he wasn't, y'know, godly or anything."
"Christ, Nat! Get to the point!"
"Okay, okay! Kim has a boyfriend." I pause to let this sink in.
"…and?" Johnny grumbles. "Lots of girls get boyfriends, Nat, it's not the fucking apocalypse!"
"But Kim is—"
"I cannot believe you fucking woke me up to talk about girl drama!"
"There's something wrong with her boyfriend!"
I hear a rush of air over the other line, and I can kind of picture Johnny sighing exasperatedly and pinching the bridge of his nose. "What, pray tell," Johnny asks in a flat, angry tone of voice. "Is 'wrong' with her boyfriend?"
Where do I begin. "It's the guy she's liked since we were five, who didn't know she existed until like, a month ago—" hyperbole. "—and then he was suddenly all over her, like he couldn't get enough—it was like real, live, actual love at first sight or something."
"Good for Kim, then."
"No! No, Johnny, not good for Kim! Why does he all of a sudden like her so much? What brought it on? So I thought to myself—"
"Oh, Jesus, here we go."
"—'I bet it's a bet!'"
"…what? Do you think you're living in a chick flick or something?"
"Exactly! That theory didn't hold ground after awhile, and besides, Kim got a little pissy whenever I accused him of being in it for money."
"Well, I should hope so! Nat, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
"But now she's ditched me for him and his band of steroid-using creeps! I think she's been initiated into their cult!"
"Wait, what? Did you say a…a cult?"
"… did I not mention the cult?"
"I think I would remember a cult, Nat."
"Right. Well, you remember what happened with Sam Uley?"
"Yeah. The whole thing with Leah." A pause. "Wait, you actually think he's going to leave Kim for her cousin or something? Isn't Kim's cousin, like, eight, and y'know, a dude?"
"…well, Kim does have a cousin our age…who's a girl…but she lives in Oregon with Kim's crazy aunt!"
"Okay, so then I really don't see what Sam Uley has to do with this."
"Sam Uley has to do with this because that whole thing—well, minus the Leah and Emily thing—the disappearing and the growth spurt and the anger and the shadiness in the woods—it's all happening again."
"Wait, what?"
"This started happening in, like, October. But basically Kim's boyfriend—well, he wasn't her boyfriend then—"
"Get to the point!"
"Okay! God! He disappeared and so did this other guy in our class—and then Aunt Daphne—"
"Oh, not Aunt Daphne, Nat. She's crazy."
"—she saw him and Paul with Sam, in the woods, shirtless!"
"…you think you're in a romance novel or something?"
"NO! Johnny, I'm being serious—they're all weird now! They don't talk to their old friends, and they both quit sports—and believe me, sports scholarships are the only way either of them could pay for college! They cut class all the time, and they're both failing—and they talk about Sam like he's some kind of god. Whenever he calls, they immediately go. If he tells them to do something, it's like they have to do it. Kim said that Jared once ditched on their date because Sam showed up and ordered him away!"
"Are you sure you're not exaggerating?"
"Yes! Yes, I'm sure—ordinarily I wouldn't care, Johnny, but they got Kim!"
"What?"
"Sam Uley and his weird cult thing—they've got Kim, too! She's not in her right mind, Johnny…it's like she's been ordered to secrecy, too…and it's like… she doesn't do anything without Jared. I haven't seen her without him in a month! And—back when they would separate sometimes—she kept checking her phone to see if he'd called her! She hates to be away from him for even a minute! And—whenever I try and talk to her, it's like I'm talking to a wall! She won't listen to me!"
"Oh. Wow."
"I need a plan! I'm going to rescue her!"
"Wow, okay…uh, well, Nat, from what you've told me—that might not be the best idea."
"What?! Johnny!"
"Hear me out, Nat! Christ. Okay. I have a few reasons, so just shut up and listen, will you?"
"Fine."
"Okay. First: whenever you try to plan, it never goes well."
"I don't like what you're accusing."
"Nat. It doesn't. Don't pretend. Second: if this is that guy Kim was always making moon-eyes over in the diner—"
"YES! That was him!"
"—then maybe she doesn't want to be, you know. Saved."
"…well, of course she doesn't want to be saved, you blockhead! She's been brainwashed!"
"…I'm going to pretend you didn't just accuse your best friend of being brainwashed."
"If you saw Jared and Sam and Paul—actually, there's two more now. You remember Rachel and Rebecca?"
"Remember Rachel and Rebecca? Nat, be serious: every guy on that reservation knows who Rachel and Rebecca are."
"Their brother, Jake. He's one of them."
"Wait, little Jake?"
"…erm, not-so-little anymore, Johnny…he's like, six five."
"Holy shit."
"His friend, too. Embry."
"I don't know him, but wow. Little Jake. He's not—there's just no way he's in a cult."
"That's where the brainwash theory comes in. The new people in the cult—Kim, Embry, Jake—they're the type that would never risk school or break the law or anything, and yet—here they are. Still think it's not plausible?"
"…okay, now I'm a little weirded out. Something is definitely not adding up."
"See?! I knew it!"
"And that brings me to point number three!"
"Which is?"
"If there really is something bad going on—and I'm not saying there is!—then for Christ's sake, stay out of it. If something bad is going on, don't go poking your nose in it! Jesus, Nat, bad things happen to people who stick their noses where they don't belong! If there's even an ounce of truth in what you're saying, then just leave it the fuck alone. I mean, what if it's drugs or something? There is a big difference from poking into Sam Uley's business and poking into the business of some drug cartel, and God help him if he's gotten mixed in with one of them. And if he's gotten a bunch of kids involved…well, that's not in your hands. Even if it is Kim who's involved. It could be real, actual danger, Natalie, and I have half a mind to give Mom a call and let her in on your scheming."
And they say only the Wright women overreact.
"What? Johnny, you wouldn't!"
"Then promise me, Nat! Promise me that you'll keep away from Kim and—their gang or cult or whatever! The last thing we need is you getting sucked into that mess."
"So now you believe me."
"…that doesn't mean anything, Nat! All I know is what you've told me, and frankly you're capable of blowing things way out of proportion!"
"What, so I'm just paranoid? What happened to 'stay away from them! They're drug dealers!'? Hypocrite!"
"I'm not being a hypocrite, Natalie, I just want you to be careful! So promise me that you'll stay out of their business!"
"I can't promise that! She's my friend! I—I won't abandon her!"
"Natalie! Either she doesn't want saving—"
"Because she's been brainwashed!"
"—or she's gotten herself mixed in way out of her depth with stuff neither of you should ever get involved with! You want to help her? Stay away, Nat."
"…b-but, Johnny…it's Kim…"
"Natalie…I'm sorry I yelled at you. Just…be safe, okay? …and Nat?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Kim's an idiot if she's ditching you for some empty-headed lemming taken up in a cult."
"But she's not an idiot, Johnny. Kim's smart."
"Nat, even the smart girls have a way of being stupid for some guy."
"Okay. Okay. Bye, I guess."
"Bye, Nat." I snapped my phone shut and gave the recently-promoted Sgt. Noodle a glare he really didn't deserve. The drawback of subordination.
"Well, that was depressing." I tell him, flopping back onto the bed. I don't know whether it's the phone call with Johnny or the noxious shade of pink in my room, but either way I have the urge to vomit.
(Sgt. Noodle and I end up watching E.R. reruns for two hours, reflecting on life and hating ourselves.)
And then Sgt. Noodle woofed, and with it, came a sudden, beautiful epiphany that brought back meaning to life.
"You're right, Sgt. Noodle!" I jumped up, yanking on my boots. "I never actually promised him anything."
And with that, I snuck out past my mom, who was vacuuming the dining room, to my car.
Operation Rescue Kim is on.
…okay, so now that I'm in my car I have absolutely no clue what I'm going to do with my life. Or with Operation Rescue Kim.
Fuck.
—you're the best friend, that I've ever had! Been with you such a loooong time, you're my sunshiiiine, and I want you to know that my feelings are truuuuueeee—my phone rings, shattering the silence, and my heart leaps as I fumble around for my cell.
Please be Kim, please be Kim, please be Kim…
"Kim?"I shout into the receiver. I kind of hate that I sound like such a wuss.
"Yes, it's Kim!" Her voice is tinny over the phone, but painfully and wonderfully familiar.
"Kim! You're really there! On the phone! I can't believe it!" …maybe I was a little paranoid about the whole 'cult' thing.
"Natalie, did you call my mother and tell her I was in a gang?!"
Oh, shit. "No—what? I hate your mother."
"Yeah, well, I'm grounded because you made up some rumor about Jared being in a gang—"
"Hey! I did not make up that rumor, Kim!"
"—and then you blabbed to your mother about it, and she told my mom! My mom, Natalie, and she went nuts and now I can't see Jared anymore—"
"That's a good thing! Something's not right with them, Kim!"
"That is none of your business, Natalie! None! You had no right to interfere with my relationship!"
"I didn't interfere!"
"And you don't even know Jared, okay! You're just judging them without bothering to know the truth!"
"Kim, I'm—"
"What? You're what? You're sorry? I'm grounded and forbidden from seeing my boyfriend because you betrayed trust, because you interfered—and you're sorry?"
"Kim…I—Kim, it—dangerous—"
"You wouldn't understand, Natalie!"
"Then tell me! Tell me, Kim! Help me understand!"
"What, so you can tell your mother?"
"No!" I'm full-out sobbing now, and I know she can hear. Not like she gives a shit, apparently. "No! So I can be your friend!"
"Who said I even wanted that anymore! I get one good thing in my life, and you have to ruin it, don't you!? You have everything! Why can't you just let me be happy for once?!"
She couldn't have hurt me worse if she'd taken a steamroller to my car, with me inside it. "Kim….what happened to you? What did he do to you?!"
"He hasn't done anything to me, Natalie! I'm just standing up to you for a change!"
"Standing up to ME?!"
"Yeah! Standing up to you!"
"What the fuck, Kim?! I'm the one trying to help you!"
The dial tone is the only answer I get.
I decide to being a total cliché and scream into my empty car like Kim could hear me. I snap the phone shut and throw it in the backseat, kind of wishing I could throw it at Kim.
I'm torn between begging and crying to Kim, and punching her in the throat.
Wait.
What am I doing? This is the proof! This conversation—Kim would never had yelled at me like that pre-Jared.
Conclusion: definitely brainwashed.
"Natalie? Are you out here?"
Oh, fuck. Mom is peering at my car from the porch, and I can tell she's pissed. Don't look in the car don't look in the car don't look in the car—
"Natalie? Natalie—Natalie Lisa Wright!" She looked in the car.
Doing what any sane person should do when confronted with an angry mother, I jammed my key into the ignition and fucking hurtled out of the driveway.
(icing on the cake: I totally drove into one of her potted plants. She's going to disembowel me.)
Having escaped immediate death, I continue on my merry way. Well, not merry, since my best friend has been brainwashed into thinking that I am the enemy instead of the true foe.
(That would be Jared, in case you've been asleep this whole time.)
And then it hits me that I've sort of kind of maybe alienated everyone: Kim, Johnny, Mom…
Only Sgt. Noodle remains.
…wait a minute. Whoa ho ho, doth mine eyes deceive me, or is that Jared's truck parked in front of the convenience store?
I immediate swerve into the parking lot. I'm confident I'm taking up about three parking spaces and I'm also somewhat confident that I'm blocking Jared in (win for Team Nat!) but who gives a shit about that.
I sneak in, glad that the Atearas removed the bell from the ceiling after it fell and gave me a concussion this one time.
(see? bad luck.)
I carefully close the door behind me and listen for the sound of voices in the refrigerated section.
"Jared, Emily didn't say to get pizza rolls!" Kim, I breathe, creeping around an aisle towards the sounds of their voices.
"Aw, Kim," Jared. I wretch a little for effect, ducking behind frozen peaches. "Please? Just one box."
"Fine, but you're paying for it, Jared."
"You're the best, Kim!" there's silence for about half a second, and then: "Aw, come on, you guys. Can't you keep your hands off each other?"
A shiver ripples down my body involuntarily.
That can't be Embry Call, dweeby best friend of Jacob Black and Quil Ateara. That's not his voice. It can't be.
Only one aisle separates me from the Lovebirds of Satan and Unfortunate Casualty Number One. Kim's words are echoing through my brain: who said I even wanted that anymore who said I even wanted that anymore who said I even wanted that anymore—
and just like that, I'm climbing up racks of produce, listening to Jared and Embry attempt to wheedle extra food out of Kim, and this rescue mission is starting to feel a hell of a lot like a revenge mission.
I reach the top of the cantaloupes as Jared and Embry beg for ice cream like little kids on a shopping trip with their mom. I peer out into the next aisle over, balancing precariously on the stack of canned corn with cantaloupes digging into my torso. They do look like little kids, in a weird sort of way, as they beg for this and that. Kim has a stern look on her face that she's used on me numerous times, but apparently you're allergic to coconut, Nat, you can't have a Mounds! has shifted to Okay, Jared, one more box of fudgesicles. And apparently letting him have fudgesicles means hey, let's play tonsil tennis in public—
Fuck that noise, I think,and it's stupid and dumb but this is what happens when I am without Kim's common sense for too long.
I grab the thing nearest to me, a cantaloupe, you know what, I'd like nothing more than to throw it at my stupid, brainwashed, ex-best friend's stupid fucking face—but it's heavy and awkward and as it slides out of my hand prematurely, its direction entirely misguided, and I watch, in horror and mortification, as it completely misses Kim and hits Embry Call right in the skull as he was turning around to beg for mozarella sticks.
Jared has Kim locked in an embrace and they're such fucking idiots that they don't notice Embry's bewildered (and quickly growing angry) face whip around to catch a glimpse of me…
…falling on my ass as the cantaloupes and canned corn give way. I hit the ground with a great crash and get smacked on the head with several cantaloupes.
Karma, I guess?
"What the fuck?" suddenly I'm ripped off the ground, out of the mess of cans and cantaloupes on the ground, held up on unsteady legs by a tight band of fire or something curled around my bicep. I glance over. It's a hand, vibrating slightly and scorching hot, and then suddenly the owner of the hand shakes me so hard I think my brain might rattle in my skull.
"Did you seriously just fucking hit me in the head with a fucking cantaloupe?" My eyes travel up the arm, taking in sculpted muscles under a tight T-shirt and a murderous scowl on his face.
I quickly lower my eyes back to the hand cutting off circulation to my arm. Fuck. I thought he was the nice one.
"Ow, ow, ow—" I scratch at his hand, my eyes snapping up to meet his.
The scowl slides off his face, his mouth hanging open like he just got hit in the head with a cantaloupe. My stomach lurches pleasantly, and an odd sort of heat passes over my body—like I'm desperate for heat but burning a fever; a fever that only the heat pouring off of Embry's lean, glorious figure could cure.
Closer, closer, closer. An alien voice chants in my head.
"Embry," I sigh, like it's a prayer. His name off of my lips makes his face light up with a still very dazed expression.
I forget about the cantaloupes, and the circulation rapidly being cut off to my arm. I forget about Kim and Jared finally catching up to the action. I forget about Mrs. Ateara rounding the corner, shrieking about the cantaloupes. None of that is real.
Nothing has ever been real before this moment.
Before Embry.
"Natalie?" Kim shrieks, and I jump a little. Right into the remaining cantaloupes, as would be typical of my luck. There's a great crashing as it starts to rain cantaloupes directly over my head, with Embry breaking out of his apparent daze a second too late to do anything useful.
I crumple under the rain of the cantaloupes, Embry's hand around my arm the only thing holding me up.
And then everything went dark.
A/N: Thoughts? Was it rushed? What do you think?