A/N: I don't own Twilight or anything else that may be familiar to you while reading this story.

So this is chapter 81 of Static. It's really long (the longest? I think so), so I apologize for that, but it's all within reason. This chapter features: a little bit of everything and everybody.

Enjoy.

LXXXI.

a little party never hurt no one
not you and me
a little party never hurt no one
we were born to be free

One particularly warm night in late-June, Embry found himself knocking on the metal door frame of Quil's basement. He hadn't heard from Quil in a while, and he knew he wasn't at either of his jobs.

When Quil finally answered the door, there was a tired yet wild look in his eyes. "What do you want, Embry?" he asked, his voice lifeless.

"I wanna know what the hell you've been up to," Embry replied. "Are you gonna let me in or not?"

"Come in, I guess."

The second Embry stepped into the basement, Quil locked up the door. He had a newly installed deadbolt added to the frame.

"Paranoid?" Embry asked.

Quil laughed, but it wasn't funny. "Yeah," he said, sitting down on the couch. "You could say that."

"Have you heard anything from—?"

"No," Quil said sternly. "No one's come to me about anything. I've just been so fuckin' paranoid since we got back, though. They're still all over Forks. I still see his brother's face all over TV."

"Who's 'they'?"

Quil nodded over to the door. "You know," he said quietly. "Them."

Jesus Christ, Embry thought. "Well," he said, trying to distract from Quil's immediate problems, "I checked your Vine account, and your followers are fuckin' hyped over the mixtape."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and they're mad that they still don't have a release date."

"It's not like they're gonna buy it."

"You're not putting it up for sale," Embry reminded him. "So that's not the point."

"Maybe we should take a break from the mixtape," Quil said. "Seth's about to go to college because he's smart or whatever, and Jake's just left us for dead."

"He works at a garage in Port Angeles now," Embry replied. "Or so I've heard."

"See, that's what pisses me off the most about Jake," Quil said. "He's so fuckin' secretive. He thinks he's better than the rest of us."

"You know he does his own thing," Embry said, his tone semi-defensive. "He doesn't need nine other people to know what he's doing. I'd just say he's low-key." Just because Jake minds his own business and hasn't killed anyone doesn't mean he thinks he's better than us.

"Nah," Quil said. "He could win the lottery and nobody would even know until he dies."

"Well, we don't need him to finish the mixtape. We're almost done and he hasn't really helped with too much of it, anyway."

"I still think we should take a break."

Embry's voice was blunt. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?"

"There is no way I'm more dedicated to dropping your mixtape than you are. That's not right."

"You're not gonna gain anything if we drop it," Quil said. "Neither of us are. It's just a stupid mixtape."

"Quil, this is about your life. You wanted to tell the story about your life and the shit you've been through, so you're gonna tell it. Oh, and I did not listen to you rap about pussy and weed while burning my ass off in a cramped little car in the South for nothing."

Quil just looked up at him. Then he glanced down at his laptop bag. "Is that your laptop?" he asked.

"I wouldn't come here without it."

"Give me the fuckin' mic."

After reworking some tracks and applying the final touches for the next few days, 98350 was finally ready. The quality wasn't the best or the most professional, but it was Embry's proudest achievement, and with some convincing involved, it was finally Quil's proudest achievement, too.

Quil and Embry got everyone together on Independence Day, the eve of Quil's birthday, by renting out a big cabin between First Beach and the woods just to throw a party. It was near the cabin where Kim and Jared's latest and final altercation had occurred, but much closer to the beach.

Upon getting out of her car, Kim felt a cool breeze. It chilled her just a little too much, but then she remembered that it was not February. She was not here to meet Jared in an attempt to defend her sexuality and shut him out of her life for good. That had been the hard part, but it was over now. This—an Independence Day party—was the easy part. She looked to Leah, who was getting out of the passenger side, and smiled. Leah smiled back.

This is the easy part, Kim reminded herself.

La Push was full of avid firework users, so the night sky was filled with red, whites, and blues, illuminating the water. Crackling noises filled the air, so the loud music playing from the cabin didn't stick out much.

When Kim and Leah entered the party, they realized that there were way more than eight other people packed in the cabin.

"Wow," Leah said sarcastically. "I love high school."

They glanced around the living room. In addition to their friend group (minus Jacob), were plenty of other people that neither Kim nor Leah knew. They had to be from Port Angeles or something. Then again, rez parties were never that great, so what was the point in making the drive? There were also a few gaggles of teenage girls in the area. Leah could see the braces from a mile away. For a moment, she thought she saw Claire, her cousin (well, Emily's cousin on her dad side, but that was the same thing), but Embry soon distracted her.

He pulled both Leah and Kim into hugs. "Thanks for coming through, you guys," he said.

"Of course," Kim replied. "I heard this is also Quil's birthday party?"

"Yeah, but don't let him know that," Embry replied. "It's a surprise. We're dropping the mixtape at midnight, but we'll be playing it in just a minute."

"Elaborate," Leah said. "I didn't think he'd ever finish it."

"He has some loyal producers," Embry said smugly.

"Hey, do you know where Jake is?" Leah wondered.

"I was just on the phone with him. He should be on the way with his girlfriend soon."

Leah's voice shot up an octave. "Girlfriend?" she repeated.

"That's what he told me." Something or someone behind Leah and Kim caught his eye, and he promptly brushed them off. "I'll see you guys later, alright?"

"Okay," Leah said, but he didn't hear her.

"Jealous?" Kim asked her, and Leah knew just who she was talking about.

Leah quickly shook her head. "Me? No. I haven't even seen her yet, and I'm not into Jake like that anymore."

Kim pursed her lips and gave her a look. "If you say so…"

"Come on." She raised the back of her hand. "Do these fingernails look like I'm still into Jacob?"

Kim, with the biggest smile on her face, took Leah's hand. "You finally cut your nails!"

"I was wondering, though," Leah said, "did you want me to cut them out of a style preference, or…?"

Kim playfully rolled her eyes. "You'll see, babe."

Leah smiled, and she felt a lot better about the existence of Jacob's brand-new girlfriend.

The loud music was suddenly cut off, and Quil was trying to get everyone to quiet down.

"Hey," he said. "I wanna thank all of y'all for coming tonight. It really means a lot to me. I'm about to play y'all something so exclusive, nobody's heard this yet. This is my new mixtape, 98350, which is gonna hit every illegal music site you can name at midnight. Enjoy, motherfuckers!"

Quil was met with scattered applause, and the music began. The first track, "Bambi," began, and it was just like the demo that Embry had showed Emily back in New York, except much cleaner.

Leah and Kim had found the beer in the kitchen when the latter girl realized the song was about her. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Quil can actually sing," Leah said. "And rap. Holy shit."

"No, the lyrics," Kim replied. "He's saying 'Bambi.'"

Leah listened a little closer. "Oh, shit, you're right. This is totally about you." And the song was pretty passionate, too. Quil was going on about how he had always been in love with Kim, even when she was dating a quarterback, and even when he found out she liked girls. He artistically described the details of her ass, which caused Kim to grow beyond embarrassed.

Kim let her face fall into her hand. "I thought he was over me," she groaned.

"Hey, Leah," a voice suddenly said. Leah and Kim looked up. It was Emily. "Hey, Bambi," she added with a teasing smile.

"Don't remind me," Kim said.

Emily hugged them both. "How are you guys?" she asked.

"Sober," Leah and Kim said simultaneously.

"Good to know. Have you guys seen Embry?"

"I think I saw him passing out CDs in the living room about thirty seconds ago," Kim said.

"Oh, okay. Did you guys see Claire? 'Cause I swear to God, I just saw her."

"That's weird," Leah replied. "I think I just saw her, too. You might wanna say something to her, though, because if I do, I'm gonna end up hurting her feelings."

"I don't really care that she's too young," Emily admitted. "I bet she's not even the youngest person here. She just better not still be with Quil because that's fucking gross."

Leah shrugged. "Maybe she's not here, after all. She's not the only little bitch with braces and hoop earrings."

"True," Emily agreed. "I'll see you guys around." Then she left the kitchen, in search of Embry.

98350 by Delinquent V turned out to not be such a bad mixtape. It was good for an absolute amateur, and it certainly had an artistic vision.

Emily and Embry were sitting on a couch just talking when she complimented his artistic vision as the fifth track ended.

"This is so good so far," she told him. "You're doing a great job."

"The next track's a banger," he told her. "Just wait."

The next track wasn't a banger, though. It was a spoken word interlude.

"Wait, what the fuck?" Embry mumbled to himself.

The passage sounded unfamiliar to Emily at first, but she ended up reciting the rest of it herself. Quil just ended up changing some of the pronouns and names to suit him.

"What the fuck was that?" she asked Embry.

"I… I don't know," he admitted. "We went over the whole album just the other night and that wasn't on it." Then he got up to find Quil. Emily followed.

Quil was in the kitchen, surrounded by a group of younger girls who were overly impressed by his musical talent.

Embry pulled Quil, who was already half-faded, aside. "What was that last track?" he asked.

"It's an interlude called 'Young,'" he replied. "I threw it on last night. Fits right in, huh?"

"Where did you get it?" Emily demanded. "Because I wrote that."

"C'mon, Em, don't be mad."

She gave him a look, and her arms were crossed. "You can't take something I wrote, change up the names, and call it your own," she told him.

"Is it illegal?" Quil challenged.

I'm a fucking amateur, she thought. Of course, it's not illegal.

"No," she said, "but it's unethical."

"What?"

"You created some weird Fifty Shades remake of my original poetry that serves as a track for your mixtape."

"Fifty Shades?" he repeated, totally lost.

Emily, exasperated, looked to Embry. "And you had no idea about this?"

"No idea," Embry said.

"You made a fan fiction out of my work," Embry told Quil.

"Em, it's really not that deep," he said. "If you want royalties, you can have royalties, but there's not gonna be that much since I'm releasing this for free."

"It's not about money," she said.

"Then what's it about?"

"I don't need another person taking my shit without asking me first. I don't write for anybody but myself, and just because I'm not published doesn't mean you can go ahead and take what's mine for your personal gain."

"Look, Sam came to me about it last night," Quil explained. "When he took your notebooks, he really did throw them away in the end, but he kept one poem that he thought was good. He showed it to me last night, and it was so good I had to record it, mix it, and put it on the tape at the last minute. I changed a couple of words and names around to make it about Claire, but it's also an homage to you. That's part of the reason why it's called 'Young.'"

Wow, she thought. That's actually not that terrible. I'm still mad at Sam, though.

She calmed down a bit. "That's kind of sweet," she admitted. "You're still a fuckass for doing that, though. Is Sam here?"

"Doubt it," Quil said. "But if you see him, you better let him what's up 'cause I shouldn't have taken the rap for all that by myself."

"Fine," Emily said. "Good job. Just don't do that ever again, okay?"

Quil grinned. "We good?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "We're good."

"Aw, c'mere."

He pulled her into a hug, and everything was okay.

Leah was sitting at the front porch, listening to the fireworks go off and sipping from a beer can, when she suddenly heard something pull into the gravel parking area nearby. She turned, and that was when she saw two figures, both wearing motorcycle helmets, getting off a motorcycle.

There he is, she thought. When has he ever been into motorcycles like that, since his attempt to build them with Bella failed?

Jacob took off his helmet first, and seeing him was like a breath of fresh air. Leah hadn't seen him around since they all got back from the road trip. Then the girl with him took off her helmet, and Leah felt her self-esteem plummet, just a little bit.

Jacob's new girlfriend was a white girl of about Leah's height with thick, wavy, light red-gold hair that flowed down to the center of her back. Her body was great, too, with pronounced hips and an actual ass. Even from this far away, she looked like she came out of a movie.

Where the hell did he find her? Leah wondered.

Jacob and his girlfriend locked up their helmets to the bike and then walked up to the front porch, their hands interlocked. Leah almost hoped they would ignore her, but Jacob just wasn't that kind of person.

"Hey, stranger," he said to her.

"I was starting to think you died," she replied, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling. She had been wondering if he still saw her as a friend, or if he was through with her entirely. It wasn't like she had given him an easy time. It wasn't in her nature.

It just wasn't in Jacob's nature to hate her, because he smiled back.

We're still friends.

Jacob and Leah hugged, but it wasn't awkward, even in front of his girlfriend. When they broke away, he turned to his girlfriend and said, "Lizzie, this is my best friend Leah. Leah, this is my girlfriend Lizzie."

Lizzie was even prettier up close. She had a few gold-colored freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, eyes the color of cinnamon, and really great eyebrows. Physically, she was pretty much perfect.

Lizzie stuck out her hand, and it took Leah a moment before she shook it.

"I've heard so much about you," Lizzie said, a warm smile upon her face.

"I hope they've been good things," Leah replied playfully. "Are you from around here?"

"I'm up in Port Angeles for the summer, but I'm actually from Portland. I go to school there."

"Portland," Leah repeated thoughtfully. "Hope you don't mind the extra rain up here."

Lizzie shrugged. "It's not too different."

Leah looked to Jacob. "You guys should come inside. Delinquent V's mixtape isn't that bad. Oh, and Quil's been asking where you are for the last fifteen minutes." She rolled her eyes.

"I thought I was scrapped from the project," Jacob replied.

"Maybe you should ask him for the creds."

The three of them went inside the cabin, and the place was so hot they almost went back outside. The party was still going strong, and Leah hadn't even spotted any vomit yet. So far, it was pretty classy.

Lizzie managed to find some people she hadn't expected to be at the party, and she was catching up with them in the living room, so Leah got Jacob by himself for a much-needed moment in the kitchen.

"Okay, so first of all," she said, "where did you find her?"

He sighed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No, no, it's a good thing. A really good thing. Jake, you know you haven't been around. I have to know everything. Where'd you meet her?"

"We met at work just about the second we got back from the road trip," he said.

"The garage in Port Angeles, right?" she asked.

"That's the one. Liz and I hit it off really fast. We've been together since the beginning of June."

"Holy shit," Leah said.

"What?" he asked semi-defensively.

"It's nothing, Jake," she said, and it was reassuring. "I'm happy for you. I'm just surprised that I didn't know earlier."

"Nobody found out until now," he replied. "Except my dad. I mean, just 'cause the ten of us know each other doesn't mean we all have to know what we're doing."

"You're making moves on your own," she murmured.

He nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "It's about time."

"Tell me about Lizzie," she said. "She's gorgeous."

His face lit up like the sun. "Yeah, she is. She's great. She's really funny, and she knows cars. She actually helped me build that motorcycle we came here on."

"I was gonna mention that," Leah replied. "When did you start getting into motorcycles again? I thought you gave that up when you and Bella got busted."

"Oh, right, 'cause my interests only exist when Bella exists, right?"

They both laughed. "It's not that," Leah said. "I'm just… surprised. Jake, you sound really happy with Lizzie."

He just stood there with brightest smile on his face. She almost wanted to cry. Jacob Black, who she felt had never really cared about anything, was in love.

And she wasn't even mad that he wasn't in love with her.

"Remember that one night in February or March when we went out and then came back to your place?" he asked. "And we ended up talking all night?"

Leah didn't forget anything. "Of course," she said.

"Remember how we were talking about how that 'other half' talk is straight bullshit?"

She nodded. "Nobody is made for someone else," she echoed. "We're made for ourselves, but we can adapt to other people. We can change."

"Exactly. Lee, I think Lizzie is the closest I'm ever going to get to someone being made for me."

It took Leah all her might not to cry.

Jacob Black was going to be okay.

"Me and Liz," he went on, "we didn't get together because we had to. I mean, yeah, we met at work, but I didn't grow up with her. I chose to be with her and she chose to be with me and… it just works. You know?"

Leah nodded. "You sound really crazy about her."

"I think I am," he said. "And I know we're probably moving too fast, but… But at the end of the summer, I'm gonna move to Portland with her."

She raised her eyebrows. "You are?" Again, she was more shocked than upset.

"I got a job set up over there. Her dad's really big on cars."

"Figures."

"Yeah, I know. But he offered me a job, and I took it. Besides, Lizzie's gotta go back to school at some point."

"Wow, Jake," Leah said.

"That was a lot, I know," he said, "but I haven't told anybody else except my dad."

"I'm just having a hard time believing all this," Leah admitted. "I'm so used to you moving slow. You usually take your time in everything you do. Did Lizzie change all this?"

"Throwing myself into a relationship with Lizzie is one of the best things I've ever done," he said. (Leah was trying super hard not to be upset now.) "If I don't get out of here now, I never will."

She couldn't even be mad at him, though. He was right.

So Leah decided that she liked Lizzie. She had to have been some sort of miracle worker, because Jacob, who had been deemed "damaged goods," wasn't so damaged anymore, or he was at least actively working to become whole again. Leah liked that Lizzie had turned him bold enough to finally say goodbye to the badlands, because the badlands might just consume him entirely if her were to stay. The badlands were a beacon—they kept pulling people right back. Leah liked that Lizzie made Jacob feel like he could breathe again, because his lungs had been too full before her.

Maybe part of that was Leah's fault. She could see it. She was as consuming as the ocean. She could be overbearing and unwavering. She had a smart mouth with a minimal verbal filter. She was the queen of sarcasm, passive-aggression, and sly digs. She didn't seem to have a problem with her attitude, but it was too hot for some people. Too energetic and aggressive. She could admit that her personality certainly was not everybody's cup of tea. (So it was a good thing that Kim preferred coffee.)

Leah was too much and both she and Jacob knew this. She still loved him—she would always love him in one way or another—but love alone was not enough to keep him from sinking. He needed more. He needed a life jacket. A little buoy of hope. That was what Lizzie was for him, and who was Leah to not want him to finally reach safety?

She didn't regret letting him go. It had to have happened sometime. All she regretted was the fact that she hadn't let him in when they had been kids—back when they had been thirteen and fourteen and fifteen. Maybe he would have helped ease her out of her attitude. Maybe he would have showed her how to not be so rough. He couldn't have stopped her father's death, but maybe her response would have been less volatile.

Then again, maybe he wouldn't have loved her at all if she had changed. Jacob existed in such a calm, quiet way that she may never know. And deep down, she was okay with this because in the end, he would be okay, too.

Paul and Bella were just pulling up to the cabin when Bella cleared the notifications on her phone for the tenth time.

"Damn, is Kim okay?" Paul asked.

"She's fine," Bella replied, turning her phone over to hide the screen, which kept illuminating. It wasn't Kim who kept texting her, but a person she had blocked a long time ago.

Edward Cullen just did not know when to give up.

This was the third day that Edward was texting her, and from a third different cell phone number since she kept blocking him. She was in the process of getting a new phone with a new number, but she wouldn't be able to go until tomorrow, and that didn't even feel close enough with Edward harassing her like this. She didn't want Paul to freak out, so she had lied and said it was Kim who was texting her, but it wasn't that convincing anymore.

"We're just gonna go in and out, right?" she asked Paul as they got out of his car.

"In and out," he promised. "I mean, as quick as we can since Kim's blowing up your phone."

"Right." Now that she thought about it, she really should talk to him.

Bella, already prepared to endure at least a little secondhand weed smoke, entered the cabin before Paul did. She quickly greeted the people she knew and congratulated Quil on his mixtape all without stepping in vomit before she found Kim, who was standing in a corner, talking to Leah.

"Hey, Leah," she said. "You mind if I talk to Kim for a second?"

"Sure," Leah said, and then she and Kim exchanged a look for half a second, but it felt like forever. Bella didn't understand why or how they weren't dating, but they were practically the same person at this point. It was cute, but in an almost terrifying way.

Leah excused herself, and Kim turned to Bella. "What's up?" she asked.

"Baby girl," Bella began, "you hate men more than anyone I know—"

"Whoa," Kim interrupted her. "I don't hate men. I'm not even gay."

"Um."

Kim refrained from rolling her eyes. "I'm bi," she said. "Not Gay Lite. Not Diet Gay. Bi."

"I'm sorry," Bella said. "It's just that I know you generally don't take shit from men. What do I do when one is fucking with me?"

"What do you mean?"

Bella unlocked her phone and tapped the latest message from Edward, instantly opening all the other ones from just this number alone. She handed the phone to Kim, and Kim carefully read all of them, scrolling down. They were baseless messages, just the typical I know that you know something as well as the classic Don't play dumb and Answer me, bitch. He called her a cunt, too, but it wasn't like this was a new thing for him.

"Jesus, who is this?" Kim asked. "He's a real asshole."

"It's Edward. My ex, the guy who bailed us out of jail."

"Isn't his brother—?"

Bella nodded. "His brother is the one who was murdered."

"Does he think you have something to do with that?" Kim's voice was quiet.

Bella shrugged, and her expression was truly worried. "I don't know. He thinks I may know whoever did it, but I have no idea. This is the third number he's using because I keep blocking him."

"He really won't stop, huh?" Kim asked, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Bella just shook her head.

"Come with me."

They went out to Kim's car, and Kim made sure nobody was around when she reached into the glove compartment.

"What, are you gonna give me your registration papers?" Bella asked, leaning against the back door.

"You wanted my help, right?" Kim asked, her voice biting.

"I guess."

Kim got out of the passenger side and shut the door. She had a gun in her hands. It was the exact same gun she had threatened Jared with, except she had put the bullets back in when she had finished using it.

She gently held it out to Bella. "Here," she said. "It's already loaded."

Bella took it, but all she did was stare at it in her hand. "Kim, what the fuck?" she asked. "Where did you get this?"

Kim couldn't bring herself to admit that she had bought a gun from a guy who had recently been shot in the head.

"I know about you and Paul winning the lottery," Kim said, "and you're gonna need this a lot more me if you're feeling threatened. I'm not saying you should shoot the guy, but you need to bite back if he's trying to mess with you."

"Have you used this before?" Bella asked.

"Almost. Be smart, Bella." She closed the passenger door and locked the car. She began to head back to the party.

Bella couldn't even move, but she didn't want to give the gun back, either. She didn't want to back out without even going in. "Is that it?" she asked.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Kim said, turning around. "For the love of God, hide it somewhere good when you're done with it."

"Okay."

Leah and Kim ended up leaving the party once Bella and Paul did, and the four of them managed to catch each other on the way out, near their cars. Bella had hidden the gun in her purse, but she hugged Kim and Leah carefully.

Paul, on the other hand, wasn't careful. It wasn't in his nature.

"Thanks for everything," he told them. "These last few months with you guys have been real."

"What, are you going away, too?" Leah asked.

"Yes," Paul said matter-of-factly. "We're moving to Seattle in August."

Leah gave Kim a look. "We're gonna be the only ones left here," she said, trying to hide the sadness in her voice. Yes, it was only Paul and Bella leaving this time, but that wasn't the point.

"We should all get together one last time," Paul suggested. "All ten of us."

"You really don't get sick of anyone," Kim said playfully. "You better stick to your word."

Paul flashed a smile. "Don't worry about it. Take care, you guys."

"You, too," Leah said. "Always."

"You know it."

A/N: The next chapter will likely be up in January. Happy New Year!

Thanks as always,

HS