21- College Life
"Come on Leah, we are going to be late for class if you don't hurry up." My roommate Jenny was moving around the room with too much perkiness for this early in the morning. I contemplated murder, but then I would have to get out of bed to do the deed. Jenny did not know how close she came to death before I rolled over and tried to pull my pillow over my head, I ended up falling out of bed. Sometimes it stunk being over six feet tall, especially when you had to sleep in a twin sized bed. I usually had a choice between either my feet or my head hanging off the end. I cursed the alien that had chosen to add tall genes to the werewolf package. May that bastard rot in his alien version of hell and be forced to sleep for eternity in a bed too small. A bed rusty nails that are too small, I added while rubbing my bruised ass.
I quickly pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt, my college uniform. Jenny was waiting impatiently by the door tapping her foot when I got back from brushing my teeth.
"Good thing you showered last night, or we would be completely late." She told me while she pulled on her jacket. She of course was freshly showered, her newly highlighted brown hair was straightened with meticulous care, her make-up was light but perfect. I pulled out a cap from under my bed, and voila my hair was done.
"There is no way I am fighting the crowds in the morning for a shower, especially these girls. I thought teenage boys were bad." I shuddered at the memory of my first morning here. I had thought that an hour and a half to get ready to go would be plenty of time but I had not counted on the fact that there were no empty shower stalls. Needless to say I did not get a shower that morning, but I learned to shower at night instead.
I did not really care what my hair looked like, this was college, not a fashion show. I had voiced this opinion to Jenny in one of the common rooms, I might as well have stabbed every girl in the back while telling them their butts were huge. If I had not been committing social suicide it would have been kind of funny how all the girls gasped perfectly in unison.
There was one good thing that came out of all of that, Jenny proved herself to be a true friend. Some of the other girls, well let us just say we did not spend friday nights braiding each other's hair.
Jenny was from a small town in Idaho, she had told me the name of the town once but I had promptly forgot it. She had chosen University of Washington to see the world a little before she headed back to the "bumpkin world" - her words, not mine. She was somewhat of a shy girl, and spoke very quietly except in the mornings when I wanted her to shut up. It was obvious that she had led a very sheltered life, but her lack of experience seemed to be mainly due to her choice. From what she had told me if you really wanted to, you could find trouble even in a small town; her three older brothers had managed to do that.
US History was my first class on Wednesday mornings, Jenny was in there with me. Since I had started a semester late I was taking the first semester parts of all my freshman courses. Jenny had failed this class and had to repeat it, I spent a lot of time helping her study, it was a good thing because teaching her helped me learn the material better. History class was one of my favorites, my grade reflected the fact that I loved it.
It was raining when we got outside, but this was Seattle I would have been surprised had it not been raining.
"You forgot your jacket again, you will be cold." Jenny pointed out as she zipped up her own stylish jacked. "As often as you forget your coat I am surprised you have not caught pneumonia yet."
"Darn it, oh well I will manage somehow. It is too late to back for one now." I replied as we jogged across campus to get to the right building. It was infinitely frustrating trying to pretend to be normal at all times, living in the dorm I never got to just be myself. That is why I had started to hang around Phila's apartment, I did not have to be normal with her. Plus she always had food in her fridge, Phil had started to teased me about the amount of time I spent at Phila's place. He had suggested that I might have to help with the grocery shopping soon.
Recently I had not been able to see much of Phil, I would probably have missed him a lot more had I not been so busy. He was still working in LA for the next month or so as he closed his practice there. As a doctor you could not just up and leave any time you wanted, you had to make sure your patients would be taken care of after you left.
"Are you ready for the test?" Jenny asked me nervously as we approached the large lecture hall where we had our class.
"I think so, it is the only one of my classes that I feel confident in," I told her with a sigh. "I have an English paper due right after my test."
"That sucks, whatever you do don't take it to the writing center. I took my last paper there so that they could check it, and it still had grammatical errors." Jenny complained. "They are really piling it on us, I have a pre-cal test this afternoon. I swear all our professor got together and planned it like this." She grumbled, "I bet they were laughing as they said 'Let us slam them as hard as possible the week before spring break.' It is not like we need sleep or anything."
"You know what they say, it is not paranoia if they really are out to get you." I deliberately joked, hoping to lighten the depressed mood. "I had a friend look my paper over for me, so I feel pretty confident about it being solid as far as the grammar." I told her with a smile. Phil being as old as he was had some uses, one of them was he had a pretty good handle on the English language and he made an excellent proof reader. There were no grammatical errors in my papers, he had torn it apart the first time I had sent it to him - and the second time as well. The third time around I threatened to bodily harm if he found anymore errors. He sent it back to me without any of the glaring red font of the previous drafts, but I was pretty sure he changed some things.
"Must be nice," Jenny commented. I had to agree with her, Phil was very nice, but I think he was more determined than I was for me to succeed in school. His family valued education and knowledge, so they were very supportive of my college pursuits.
Getting through the history test was fairly easy, I finished it early even after double checking my answers. I watched Jenny pulling on her hair in frustration as I left, I guess she did not think it that easy.
I got to my English class a little too early but I did not mind, it gave me the opportunity to look over my biology notes. I was taking Biology for my necessary science credit, Phil had mocked me when he figured out that I was taking the non-majors version. It was still kicking my ass, my only reason for passing was the fact that Phila was a biology professor and willing to tutor me. I had fought too hard and been through too much to get to college, I was not going to let something as minor as pride get in my way. I had practically begged Phila to help me.
"You don't have to beg you know, just ask. I wish my students would actually ask for help instead of coming to me after they had failed the test whining for me to give a bonus assignment." That was another reason I spent so much time at her apartment, I needed her to help me pass biology.
So I was sitting in English looking over my flashcards when I felt someone sit down next to me. I knew who it was without looking up, the smell gave away the identity of the boy who occupied the chair next to me. I don't know what deodorant Peter used but I did not like it, I really missed Phil's citrus and sage smell.
"Hey what are you doing?" He asked me while he was getting settled.
"Studying?" I told him without looking up, it should have been pretty obvious. My lack of sleep made me a lot less patient than usual.
"How is your paper going?" He continued, I guess the fact that I did not make eye contact with him was not a big enough clue that I did not want to talk right now.
"Considering it is due today, I would hope my paper is done." The stress over tests and lack of sleep might have made me a little more sarcastic today. Not that I was all sugar and spice most of the time. This is who I was, you could take it or leave it.
"Yeah I guess." He said awkwardly, I looked up to see his face turned beet red. I was starting to suspect the kid had a crush on me. Time to nip that in the bud, not that he was not nice and all. I was just not ready to date, been there done that, have the mental scars to last a lifetime. Next time I went into a relationship I would do it with my eyes open, knowing full well all the faults and flaws of my partner. Phil had laughed at me when I had told him this, he did not think you could truly figure out a person until you live with them for a couple of centuries. Some people did not have the luxury of centuries.
Peter seemed like a nice guy, he had pale blonde hair with matching light blue eyes. He fit in very nicely in Seattle with his pale skin, I would imagine if there was any sun it would burn his fair skin to a crisp. Fortunately for me the teacher entered the classroom giving me an excuse to concentrate on putting away my biology papers and getting ready for class instead of continuing the awkward conversation with Peter.
Maybe it was because I was a few years older than everyone else in my classes, they were all freshman straight from high school, maybe it was because life had knocked me around and I had survived, but I could not relate to these kids. Even with Jenny, most of the time I felt decades older than her. It helped that mother had given me a great deal more freedom than her parents had, also being a werewolf had given me the confidence to do more risky things. There is no way Jenny would ever hop on the back of a stranger's motorcycle, if I was more cautious I might have missed out on Phil. In retrospect Phil could have pretty much done anything to me, so that might not have been the wisest decision on my part. Taking all that into account brought along the conclusion while I could 'hang out' with Jenny we were world apart. Even ignoring the fact that I was a wolf it was hard for me to find any similarities between myself and these freshman, they did not know what it was like to fight for your life.
The worst thing that had happened to Jenny was that Mary Joe, her nemesis from high school, had worn the same dress to prom. Mary Joe's crime was even more heinous because she had the audacity to look better in the dress than Jenny. Apparently this was a big deal, nearly a year later Jenny was still complaining about it.
It was in the middle of the professor's rant about Dante and his need to force the audience to feel sympathy for Lucifer that I heard my phone buzz. Part of being a member of the family was that you got this neat little cell phone, well it looked like a cell phone but I was pretty sure it was more than just a plain old phone. I considered reaching into my bag to see who would call me at this time, mostly it was my brother or Phil who called me, but my brother should be in school and Phil was probably doing a boob job. Yes I knew Phil did things other than breast augmentation but the boob job joke never got old.
I looked up at Dr Wilson, she was heavily into her explanation with arms waving and bracelets tinkling. She was hippie all the way, and was completely anti-technology. Earlier in the semester someone had made the mistake of not putting their phone on vibrate. Dr. Wilson had not only stopped in the middle of her lecture, she had actually taken the phone away and answered. Remembering that incident, I decided against pulling out my phone to see who was calling. If it was that important they could leave a message, though knowing Phil he could probably manage to charm my professor even without flashing his dimples.
Less than a minute later I heard the sound that indicated I had new voice mail, and I started to get concerned. I spent that last twenty minutes of class counting down to the end. This of course had to be the day when Dr. Wilson did not realize what time it was and went over her allotted time.
I threw my stuff together and was one of the first ones out of the classroom, wolf speed was convenient at times. The caller ID had my mother's business number, I listened to the message my mother had left. It did not alleviate any of my worries, my mother wanted to know if I knew where Seth was.
"Leah oh thank god," my mother told me as soon as she answered the phone, she sounded very relieved that I called her back. "Is Seth with you?"
"Mom it is the middle of the morning on a school day, have you tried the school?" I was getting a little frustrated with her, she had called me in the middle of the class and freaked me out with her message because she forgot it was a weekday?
"Leah, school is out for spring break. I have not seen Seth since Sunday when he was supposed to go over and spend the night at Jake's house." She had started to feel uneasy last night but had not been able to get a hold of Jake until this morning, Seth had not spent the night with Jake on Sunday. Jake had assumed he had gone home instead.
"Seth usually does not do this sort of stuff, I was wondering if he went to see you." My mother asked me in a hopeful tone.
"Sorry mom, I have not talked to Seth in over a week." I hung up on her quickly after making promises to call around. I went outside and found an empty picnic table, it was pretty chilly outside so I was guaranteed some privacy. I only had a few hours left before I had to get ready for work, I had been planning on using this time to study for my biology exam tomorrow.
"Darn you Seth, you had better be dead in a ditch or I will kill you myself." I muttered under my breath, getting more worried the longer I thought about my usually considerate little brother.
I quickly called Jake to see if he knew anything, last time he saw Seth was at the bonfire on Sunday night down by the beach. My brother was supposed to go home with Jake but Seth had not shown up at Jake's house. Jake had assumed he had gone and done something with his girlfriend Jill since she had snuck out to attend the party.
I spent the next half an hour tracking down Quil and Embry, they told me the same story, last time they had seen Seth was at the bonfire. Quil offered to phase to wolf form to see if he could locate Seth that way, but unfortunately he was unsuccessful.
I hope he appreciates how much I love him because I am about to call the Cullens. Esme was the only one on Earth, she was quickly building a house for them on the outskirts of Seattle, the rest of the Cullens were staying with various family members on the island. She had not heard from Seth but offered up her entire family if a search was needed.
"Thank you but he went missing on the Rez and I do not think Sam would appreciate you running around there." I politely told her. Honestly Esme was not so bad, if you could ignore the smell the vampires were all right. They would never be my BFF but neither were they demons from the pits of hell that had come to Earth with the singular purpose of ruining my life. It is kind of pathetic that I really used to think that. I was swiftly running out of options.
Phil was in LA at this all week long and would only come back on the weekend, I did not think he would be very helpful when he was so far away. My other reason for calling him last was that I did not want to seem too dependent on him. I was a big girl, I could solve my own problems. Unfortunately my brother was involved and I knew too much about of the things that went bump in the night. I finally broke down and called Phil to see if he had heard from my brother. All I could get was his voice mail. "Now what Leah?" I asked myself after leaving a quick message. I had run out of options, barring getting in the car and going back to the Rez to search for him myself there was nothing left for me to do. Jake and the boys were already running around the Rez, it was good to have a pack to help you out.
Then I remembered that Phila should be on campus about this time, I quickly headed over to the science building. "A ravenous pack of vampires had better have taken you out Seth or else."
It started to rain a little harder, my hair was completely soaked even with the hat on. Good thing I was a wolf or I would be running the risk of catching pneumonia. People were giving me funny looks as they huddled under their coats while rushing towards their destinations. I might not need a coat for warmth but I might need it so that I don't make people suspicious, something about being outside in freezing March rain in nothing more than a tshirt and jeans made people take a second look. In the future I should just keep a sweater or jacket in my book bag just to fit in a little better.
Someone generously held the door open for me as I entered the science building. I assumed Phila's offices would be somewhere in here.
"I thought I was hard core, but at least I know to wear a raincoat." I heard a voice commenting beside me. I looked over to see a guy wearing shorts and a t-shirt underneath a light raincoat. The boy had balls, it was pretty cold outside in this March weather, especially if you were not a wolf.
"Where I come from it rains more than here." I told him with a smile.
"Yeah where I come from this is summer weather but I still wear a raincoat." He replied while he shook the rain off the jacket he had just removed.
I started heading for the stairs before realizing I had no idea where Phila's office was. I paused at the bottom of the one of the stairwells trying to determine what was the best way to locate her. We had never said it out loud but it was better for everyone involved if I did not interact much with Phila at the university. She was a junior level faculty and I was a student, technically I think it would have not looked good for either of us to hang out socially.
"Hey you ok?" The guy in the shorts asked coming up behind me.
"Yeah do you know where," it took me a moment to remember her last name, "Dr. Smith's office is?"
"Sure, I know exactly where it is but that information would not be very helpful right now." He was looking at me with a great deal of concern, I must really look like a drowned rat.
"Why not?" I asked belligerently. Punk kid, I had possible vampire attack to worry about and he was being cute. Ok so I might have started the joking around but still, I needed to find Phila.
"Because she is teaching a lab right now." He clarified.
"You know her schedule?" That was kind of creepy, what kind of a person memorizes schedules?
"She is my advisor, and I work in her lab, so yeah I may know that on Wednesday afternoons she teaches a lab." He told me while folding up his coat and putting it away in his bag.
I pondered for a moment about whether or not to interrupt her class, but I quickly decided it was worth the risk. Seth did not normally do this, I had to make sure he was all right and therefore I would pursue this avenue until it came up dry like all the others. "I take it you know where this lab is?" I asked hopefully, stalker boy in the shorts so far had been well versed in her schedule.
He led the way quickly up the stairs, but not before giving me a searching look. "So are you a student here?"
"Yup just started this semester" People often thought I was one of the more senior students, especially since the wolf genes made me look older. It did not help that I did not put as much effort into my looks as the other freshman girls. I had noticed that the junior and senior girls were not as put together as the freshman. Trying to distract myself from images of Seth dead in a ditch or worse yet being pulled apart in some laboratory, I questioned the man next to me. "So where do you come from that you consider March Summer weather?"
"Alaska, where are you from that it rains more than in Seattle." He threw my question back at me, I had to admit the boy was quick.
"Just a little place southwest of here," I knew we were closer to the biology wing, someone was dissecting something, I could tell by the smell.
"So why do you need to talk to Dr. Smith?" He asked, curiosity was thick in his voice.
"I have to ask her a quick question." I answered vaguely, some of Phil's bad habits had started to rub off on me.
"I have not seen you around here, are you new to the department?" The helpful boy continued his interrogation.
"Me in this department? As in a biology major? Not in this lifetime. The only reason I am taking bio as my science credit is a dare." Damn Phil the jerk, he knew I could not resist a dare. It was probably why he had done it.
"So you don't like biology?" His was absolutely shocked for a moment before his expression changed looking insulted. Just because I did not like the subject did not mean anything. I did not get all bent out of shape just because someone said they did not like history. But maybe once I got more into it I would take it more personally. This guy did not look like a freshman, in fact he looked like he should be fairly close to graduating.
"Nope not really, I would probably be flunking my biology course if it was not for some friends tutoring me." I did not specify who had helped me, Phil had been a bad influence I was learning to lie while telling the complete truth.
"Who is your teacher?" He asked as we rounded another corner on the stairs.
"Professor Price." I made a face while naming the one in charge of torturing me.
"Yeah he kind of sucks as a teacher but so long as you memorize anything he writes on the board you should be able to pass." He told me with a knowing nod.
"I wish it was that simple but I got grandpa quizzing me on the weekends making sure I know everything?" Phil had been shocked the first time he had questioned me about what I was learning in class. Ever since then I got a phone call once a week where I had to explain what we were doing in class.
"Your grandfather quizzes you?" He asked sounding shocked.
I laughed, I could not help myself. I had gotten into the habit of calling Phil grandpa, for some reason I had not considered that other people would think I was actually talking about my grandfather. If I was going to be honest with myself part of the reason for calling him grandpa was to keep my mental distance. Otherwise I might risk trying to jump his very sexy bones which would ruin our very cool friendship and possibly cut me off from a yummy food source. So for now I settled for enjoying the eye candy that was Phil and did not try to go for a taste. "He is not really my grandpa, he just acts like one at times."
"Yeah I know what you mean, I thought I had left my mother behind in Alaska but apparently she just passed me off to Dr. Smith. I get the 'Tell me Mr. Harper how have you improved yourself today?' question from her." He made a face, I kind of pitied him. You would have to prepare for being questioned by her, there is no way you could BS your way with Phila. She really knew her stuff, but then she had been studying biology for millennia.
Ryan, was his name, he finally remembered to introduce himself. Ryan Harper from Alaska, it was nice to know his name if only so that I would stop thinking of him as 'shorts boy'. He led me all the way to the door of the lab where Phila was teaching, I could not hear her lecturing, hopefully they had moved onto the portion of the lab where you actually had to do stuff. This was good for me, I did not want to interrupt her lecture.
Phila was helping someone dig through the corpse of some small animal I could no longer identify, but she looked up immediately after I appeared at the door.
"Leah what is wrong? Are you hurt?" She walked towards me with a concerned look; hunting her down in the middle of her class was not the norm for me, I could see why she would think something was wrong. She looked perfect as usual, with her charcoal grey slacks and baby blue sweater set. Only the frown on her face marring her flawless appearance.
"It's Seth, my mom called, she has not seen him in almost three days. This is a long shot, but would you happen to know where he is?" Saying it out loud made it more pathetic sounding.
Phila's expression changed, I could almost see the cogs turning in her head. Considering what I knew of Phila, those cogs were turning very quickly. "Mr. Harper would you be so kind as to hop down to the Science Department office and get something warm to drink for Miss Clearwater."
I had forgotten about Ryan's presence, he had remained with me in the hallway where Phila had joined us. When I looked up at him it was to notice that he was intently listening to our conversation.
"Mr. Harper?" Phila repeated herself, her tone severe and authoritative.
"Tell me everything you know." Phila said as soon as Ryan turned the corner, she had used a quiet tone, humans would not be able to overhear this conversation.
I quickly went through my phone call with my mother followed by all the subsequent phone calls.
Phila thought for a moment before she asked for my phone. "First of all let me say that no I do not think you are overreacting, this is out of character for Seth. He is usually a responsible and thoughtful young man. So for him to go off without telling anyone is of concern. I have to get back to class but what I need you to do is call Kendrick. Here, I found his phone number," she handed me back the phone. "I need you to tell him everything you just told me."
She turned around and started heading back to class. "By the way, if you wish you can use your native language with him, Kendrick is a linguist and pretty much speaks them all."
I was hesitant to call Kendrick, I did not really know the man. All I knew about him was that he had been the one to watch over my tribe before Phil and Phila had come. That and I had seen him once when we had first gone to the island, he was the one with the insane number of tattoos. I paused for a moment considering my options, did I really want to involve the family? I had exhausted all other avenues, plus I had my own responsibilities here and I could not just drop everything and go back to the Rez. Since I was no longer working for my mother skipping out on work was not an option, my current employers would not understand me just not showing up for work. On top of all that the family had far more resources at their disposal, they had more eyes than my small pack not to mention more money.
"Good evening." A low voice greeted me pleasantly right after the first ring.
"Hello I would like to speak to Kendrick please." I did not really recognize the voice, but it had been over two months since I had met him that one time.
"Oh hello Leah, this is Kendrick. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" He said curiously.
So I explained again, Kendrick lost some of his cheerfulness. But he did reassure me that they would look into it. When he said 'they' I was going to assume him and his partner, I could not recall the name - it was something foreign sounding.
"I will call you when I find something concrete, unless you prefer a text message?" Kendrick was being very kind considering I was practically a stranger.
I agreed to the text message, he did not know how long this would take, and I had to be at work in less than two hours. Ryan had come back carrying some hot tea in a styrofoam cup, I had thanked him and got back to my conversation with Kendrick. I was glad that Ryan had not stuck around, I did not want to explain to him why I went to Phila when someone was missing. Ryan seemed like the type of guy that would want an explanation.
I quickly ran back to the dorm and changed into some dry slacks and a nice shirt, this time I remembered the coat. I had to go to work soon, but first I would stop at the library to get some studying done. The biology exam was tomorrow and I would not have much time to study tonight, since I was helping close at the restaurant tonight.
I was trying to earn some extra cash and had taken any and every possible time slot my boss would give me. I wanted to get enough saved up so that by the end of the semester I could get my own place. The dorms were great in terms of price, but I could not sleep. The wolf hearing made it so that I heard everything, and I swear someone was always awake and talking in that building. There was nothing more annoying than the squeaky sound of teenage girls gossiping.
It did not take me long to dash across campus to find a quiet spot in the library, well as quiet as it could get with wolf hearing. I pulled out my noise canceling headphones, a gift from Phil after I had complained about the noise level. I would normally have not accepted the present, he had given me far too many gifts already, but these headphones were made with alien technology so they actually were really good at blocking out noise. It was the same stuff they used to disguise their heartbeats when they met with the Volutri as "Zombies".
I quickly read through my notes realizing that I did not need to study as much as I had anticipated, Phil constantly quizzing me whenever he talked to me over the weekends had forced me to learn the information. "Thanks, grandpa." I muttered under my breath.
My phone moved a little across the table in front of me, I quickly grabbed it up and tried to answer, but it was just my half an hour warning that I had to get to work.
I packed up my things, grabbed my coat and headed to my car. I had found employment not far from campus, at a small family owned seafood restaurant called Fisherman's Pier. The joke, at least I thought it was funny, was that it was nowhere near the water.
"Good afternoon Mr Peters." I said coming in the back door. The boss and owner, Thomas Peters was a man in his early sixties if I had to guess, with a full head of mostly grey hair. His wife, Mille Peters was also in her early sixties, she unfortunately did not have a full head of hair. It would seem that women could go bald as well, though it was not the same as men, she just had really thin hair at the top of her head.
"Oh hello Leah, you are a little early today." He said from his small office beside the kitchen.
"I am not really on the clock yet, I still need to make a phone call." I had recalled that I had completely forgotten about Jake. I stepped out into the alley to talk to Jake. He was a little annoyed at first when I told him I was involving the family, but he had to admit he had not found any evidence of where Seth might be. We could use the help.
"I can see why you did it, but it does not mean I like it." Jake told me. "Call me if you hear anything from them." He may have wanted to do things for himself but was mature enough to realize sometimes you had to ask for help. He had grown so much in the past year, we all had.
Standing next to the dumpster was not one of the most pleasant things to do, so I quickly said my goodbyes and headed inside.
The time at work passed swiftly, we were surprisingly busy for a Wednesday night. I did not have that much time to worry about Seth while taking care of my assigned tables. I was not complaining about the hard work, more customers meant more tips and I desperately needed the cash if I was going to leave the dorms behind.
I had been so busy that I forgot about Seth until I finally sat in my car. "You really need to get some sleep Leah." But that was not going to happen for another few months.
Seth is at home, he was fine, just wanted to go off for a little while to think. That was the text message waiting for me from Kendrick. I laughed with a combination of relief and humor. I was going to take a wild guess that Kendrick was one of the psychics of the family. He told me everything without telling me anything at all.
I also had a message from my mother saying Seth had come home, she had left the message at 8:30 at night. It was half past ten according to my dashboard clock, too late to call her back. I would wake up early tomorrow and call her before she went of to work.
The biology test went well or at least I thought so, I reminded myself to thank Phila for helping me study. I would not thank Phil, it would give him an excuse to be even more bossy. Of course I had not woken up early enough to catch my mother. I had barely enough time to grab my book bag and a granola bar for breakfast as it was.
After my test I called my brother on his cell phone, he had not picked up when I tried calling him on it yesterday but I got a hold of him today. The family had given him a phone as well, we had told my mother it was a free phone that I got as a package deal when I bought mine. She agreed to let Seth keep it, since it was free and he was very responsible for his age.
"Hi Leah," I heard him say in a subdued tone. "By the way thanks for ratting me out."
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" I shrieked into the phone.
"Yeah I kind of figured that out when looked up to see this huge guy covered with tattoos glaring at me. By the way Kendrick is one scary looking man, especially when he is angry."
"Good, I hope he knocked you around a bit too." I was not going to apologize for my actions.
"Not exactly but when I got home I found a note from his parter with a full lecture on family obligations and responsibilities, I would almost have preferred an ass kicking. Next mom came home and I swear gave me the exact same lecture almost word for word." He mumbled with a great deal of contrition.
"Well you left me with few options when mom called to tell me you were missing. Do not blame me for working with what I have." I was not sorry, Kendrick had done what I asked.
"Yeah well sorry if I caused you problems in school." Seth apologized his voice filled with contrition.
"So what exactly were you thinking over?" I asked, he had better have a good reason.
Unfortunately he did, one that immediately garnered my sympathies. While he had been a complete gentleman with his girlfriend, she had not returned the courtesy. He found her making out with another guy at the bonfire, that is what prompted his flight.
"I guess I can't even begin to imagine what you went through when Sam broke up with you." There was my little brother thinking of someone else when he got broken up with. I allowed myself one smile before a scowl took over. Who did this little slut think she was? No one messed with my little brother.
I asked if he needed anything, like me coming home but he told me it was all right. I needed to call Kendrick to both thank him and ask how my brother really felt. But first there was something else I needed to do, the anger at that little bitch resurfaced. My brother might be kind enough to forgive her for cheating on him but I was not that kind. How dare she do that to Seth? She was not going to get away with this, my hands shook slightly as I dialed the number.
"Hey Phil I need help getting rid of a body." I growled without preamble.
"All right. Have you killed her yet?" There was my Phil, it was like he could read my mind even though he was in another state.
"You know you are supposed to be talking me out of it. Not encouraging me to commit murder." I felt a smile starting to form on my face.
"Oh right...no please don't, think of the children." He said in a deadpan tone.
"What children?" Wondering how the conversation had altered so quickly.
"I don't know they always tell you to think of the children. But seriously if you are thinking of taking out your brother's ex, don't bother. Someone already beat you to the chase."
Oh crap, knowing this family bullet to the brain is not exactly beyond them. I might talk big but I don't think I really wanted that girl's blood on my hands. "Ummm what happened?" I asked reluctantly.
"Josefine went around finding seedy bars and wrote 'Call Jill for a good time', followed by her home phone number. So Jill should be getting a few calls from drunks soon." He told me with a laugh. Josefine, that was the name of Kendrick's partner.
I had no choice but to laugh along with him, I can imagine how well that would go for Jill considering her parents were so conservative. "Wait a minute. Her dad is a cop on the Rez, what happens if he finds out it was a prank?"
"Nothing, Josefine did it far enough away that there is no way that anyone in your family could possibly be implicated." Phil's family knew what they were doing and by the looks of things we were now fully under the umbrella of their protection - apparently this even covered teenage drama.
I grumbled under my breath, this Josefine had beat me to the lecture and the revenge. There was nothing left for me to do, I was feeling a little bit out of the loop -protecting Seth was my job, not this other woman.
"Are we still on for brunch Saturday morning?" Phil asked changing the subject.
"You make promises of food and I will follow you pretty much anywhere." I told him honestly.
"You are such a food floozie," his voice was filled with laughter.
"Only for your cooking, don't worry I am completely faithful. Speaking of food I have to go eat." I hung up on him quickly and ran to one of the cafeterias on campus before heading to my biology lab.
A/N: What do you guys think of Leah's experience with college life? So I know you all want some loving so I promise you the next chapter will involve a kiss as well as a sex toy. (Am I evil or what?) All right don't pull out the pitchforks, I will post the next one tomorrow.
Twilighter: I promise you there will be some kissing in the next chapter...with tongue. So hold your little lemon crazy horses.
ABarbieStory: Yeah it is fun to put in those little clues that only make sense later, there are others in there. As well as a huge clue that Leah totally missed. Have I made you crazy yet?
Keither Serenity: Pleading the fifths is perfectly fair, as for alien boy Stef and Embry I will go into that later. Glad you like that Leah is making herself at home at Phil's place, I am going to guess that Phil is not bothered by it either. As for the romance...well I am sure you saw the author's note. :D
Connect2tjb: Yeah scifi is fun to read, it also helps that I am a total science nerd, glad it makes sense for you. I worry at times, but that is just my nature. Oh well. I am off to finish off the next chapter.