A/N: I did it! I remembered to update in a timely manner! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and my other updates, as updating three fics in two days, plus remembering to post this chapter today, was super tiring. Love you all, and thanks for your reviews! You guys enjoying my shit makes my day.

Chapter 7

A few days passed since Riley "found out" about the shifters and vampires, and she ended up falling into a routine. Her days would start out with Leah or Paul driving Riley to La Push. From there, she would find random jobs to do, whether it be helping with cars, moving things around, picking up supplies, helping Emily out with cooking, or doing part time work at one of the La Push pack connected businesses. She only wanted to pay them back, but they had worn Riley down into accepting some payment each time, so that she would be able to buy things for herself. After work, she'd hang out with the pack, which included Bella these days, and just joked around or had fun, and Emily would check on her arm. At night, they'd either have a bonfire Riley would join, or Riley and Bella would hang out at Bella's place, or Riley and Paul and Leah would hang out by themselves. Then when it was time for bed, Riley would go back to the Cullen mansion and go to sleep, Leah or Paul staying over.

It was fun, so much fun. Riley even found herself relaxing around the pack and Bella. She had never felt anything like this before, since Sasha. It made her miss Sasha more than ever, but also made Riley feel close to Sasha in a way she hadn't felt since Sasha's death. Riley hadn't let down her guard completely, she doubted she ever would, but she had let it down around them more than she had ever done around anyone before or after Sasha. She even found herself showing off on occasion, performing tricks she had learned over her life, while sneakily trying to figure out the limits of her strength, speed, and senses with Paul and Leah.

Had Riley been honest with herself, she would have been happy living the rest of her life this way. But of course things had to change; these weren't normal kids, and this wasn't anywhere close to a normal life. There was plot, a path that had to be followed, and Riley knew that. She just didn't realize it would happen so soon.

It was only a few days after Quil had joined the pack. Riley, the pack, and Bella were all standing at the top of some cliffs. Riley was taking in the view, enjoying the fresh air and the last chance for her new "normal."

She knew this was what would lead up to the moment Bella would jump off the cliffs alone, and then Alice was going to see it. A selfish part of her wanted to stop everything somehow, make Bella go home, but she couldn't. She had heard the shifters talking about trying to catch a red headed leech, and knew it was Victoria, that the woman was already enacting her crazy plans. If the Cullens didn't end up coming back, someone was going to get hurt, maybe even killed. She loved everyone in her own way. She loved Sam and Emily and Paul and Leah and Seth and Embry and Jared and Quil and even Bella, who had turned out to have all kinds of fire in her and was not nearly as boring as she had been in the books. And because she loved them, she refused to do anything that could put them in unnecessary danger, especially the kind that could be fatal. She didn't want to go through the death of a loved one ever again.

Which was why she was going to throw herself into the cliff diving and enjoy the hell out of this day. She didn't know how many more normal days would be left after.

"You okay, Riley?" Leah asked softly, sensing that Riley wasn't being her normal weirdo self. "You seem kind of off."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Riley gave Leah a sly smile as she leaned against Leah's arm, having to stand on her tiptoes to get anywhere close to Leah's ear. In a purr, she added, "With you around, I'm always on."

Leah turned redder than Riley had ever seen, and to Riley's surprise, she didn't shake Riley off or even give her a glare. There were a few moments of silence before Leah finally seemed to get a hold of herself.

"Fuck off," Leah muttered at last, but it didn't have any of the usual heat behind it.

Over time, Riley had noticed Leah wouldn't react so strongly to Riley's flirting unless the pack was around to hear it. It was clear Leah was slowly crumbling, and definitely feeling more of an urge to give in to Riley's advances as time moved on, even when she saw Riley flirting with Bella too. If Leah really wanted to, Riley wouldn't hesitate to jump into bed with Leah, or even just fool around, as long as she knew for sure their friendship would stay intact.

"So are we ready to jump or what?" Jared asked. "Don't tell me you human pansies are going to hold the rest of us up?"

"Like hell I'm going to!" Riley eagerly ran forward, ready to jump right off the cliff, but the back of her shirt was immediately grabbed by Paul, dragging her back.

"Wait a second there, shorty," Paul muttered as he lifted the girl off the ground. He immediately held Riley away from his body before she could try to kick him, but that didn't stop Riley from creatively cursing him out. "You need to take your clothes off first so it doesn't drag you under, and you need-what did you just call me?"

"A crusty fuck puppet," Riley answered proudly.

"The hell is that even supposed to-never mind. Anyway, clothes off first, and Emily needs to have cleared your wound for getting wet first."

"Emily cleared me, don't you worry your weird shaped head," Riley said with a roll of her eyes.

Paul eyed her suspiciously before glancing down at her still wrapped arm. Finally, he turned to Sam. "Did Emily actually clear her?"

Sam nodded. "Her burns have healed well, so yes. It's only still wrapped up because Riley asked Emily to do it.."

"You're being such a mom, Lahote," Quil snickered when Paul still hesitated about putting Riley down.

Paul's eyes snapped to Quil with a snarl. "Watch what you say or I'm shoving my fist down your throat, Atera," Paul threatened.

Riley had enough, so she quickly put her hands up, slipping out of her shirt and kicking off her pants, leaving herself in nothing but a one piece underneath. She knew the pack would be looking, which was exactly why she had chosen to buy a swimsuit that covered some of her more serious scars; she didn't want them to be too uncomfortable. What wasn't covered was still more than enough to shock everyone there. The entire pack plus Bella found themselves tracing the girl's body, wondering what had caused all of those scars, and all feeling a protective anger in them rising at the sight. Even Jacob, who wasn't nearly as close to Riley as any other member of the pack, had visions of beating the shit out of the people who had done that to Riley flash repeatedly through his head.

After getting her bandages off, Riley turned to Bella, who was standing close by with Jacob at her sides. Her arms were wrapped around herself awkwardly, head cocked as if she was listening to someone. Riley knew it was one of her hallucinations of Edward, one of the things the girl still hadn't been able to get over. She winked at Bella, gathering the brunette's focus, and said, "See you at the bottom!" before jumping off the cliff.

There was a bunch of cheering as Riley did a series of flips before hitting the water in a perfect dive. She closed her eyes, letting out a sigh of bliss at the feeling of the cold water invigorated her, even the strange warm burn that ran up along her lightning scars at the contact felt strangely good.

Riley took a moment to just relax under the water, glancing over at her injured arm. For a moment, she frowned at it; the lightning pattern left on her skin seemed to glow in the dim underwater light. Curiously, Riley touched it, tracing it from her hand to the inside of her arm, then to where it twisted around her bicep, up her shoulder, and finally, ending in a strange looking pattern at her heart. It didn't hurt, but the injury seemed to hum.

Lightning strikes weren't supposed to do this to people...right?

Two people were suddenly next to her, having dived into the water. Riley looked over curiously to see Paul and Leah, both of them glancing around anxiously, before two pairs of concerned eyes fixated on her. Relief shined clearly in Paul's eyes while Leah looked irritated at seeing Riley completely fine, returning their gazes curiously. Then they seemed to notice the way Riley's lightning scar was glowing.

Paul immediately grabbed Riley underwater, shielding her arm with his body as he hauled her to the surface, Leah swimming around to the front of Riley's body to help shield her from sight. As soon as the three surfaced, Leah glared at her.

"You were underwater for way too long, you idiot!" Leah snapped. "Are you trying to give everyone a heart attack? And what's with the…" Leah glanced over at Riley's arm to find it no longer glowing. She hesitated for a moment, unsure if what she had seen had really been there, or if she had been hallucinating.

"Yeah, the fuck was with that?" Paul demanded in a low hiss.

"She's fine, guys!" Seth shouted, having seen them come up for air. "Riley was just being a dick again!"

"It was an accident this time!" Riley called back in protest.

"Ten bucks Papa Leah and Mama Paul aren't going to let Riley alone," Jared said, but not loud enough for a normal human to hear, so Riley had to stay silent.

"Extra five bucks Riley finds a way to jump in alone anyway," Jacob added.

"Well I bet twenty that Leah and Paul are going to let Riley jump alone as long as she doesn't pull a stunt like this again," Bella said, surprising many that she jumped in at all. Not Riley, though; she knew how cool Bella really was.

"I'm with Bella," Seth said. Looks like someone had faith in his sister.

"Dude! Are you going to answer us or what?" Paul demanded, shaking Riley and distracting her from who else was placing bets. "What was going on with your arm?"

"I don't know," Riley said. She was just as confused as they were; just more easily distracted. "It just did the glowy thing on its own."

"Has it ever glowed before?" Leah asked. She frowned when Riley shook her head. "Then why did you ask to have it wrapped up even though you didn't need it?"

Riley ducked her head, surprising Leah and Paul at the show of embarrassment. "It makes me feel cared for, okay? I'm not used to feeling like that, and I...I like it, you know?" Riley had been getting better at letting people in, but it was still hard to admit such a weakness for her. She half expected to get made fun of even though she knew Paul and Leah weren't like that, but instead, she got a brief awkward hug from Paul and a hand squeeze from Leah.

"Hurry up and move guys! I want to jump!" Jared shouted from above before anything else could be said between the three.

"I hope the water goes up your ass, Cameron!" Paul shouted back up as he flipped Jared off. Leah glared at Jared too, but still started tugging Riley toward shore. Once the three were back on land, Riley started to make the climb back up the cliff, eager to jump again, only to be stopped by Leah and Paul stepping in front of her.

"You really shouldn't go for another dive," Leah told the human.

"Yeah," Paul agreed gruffly. "What if your arm starts glowing again? What if someone sees?"

"Guys, trust me on this one, I need to jump again. Just one more, and I'll be done." At Riley's words, Paul and Leah shared an uneasy glance, but relented just as splashes were heard behind Riley, followed by cheers. It was a signal that Riley had to hurry up and convince them before any of the others could get out of the water and overhear them.

"Okay but one of us should jump with you. Just in case anything goes wrong," Paul said. Damn, he really was like an overprotective mother.

"No, I need to jump alone." Riley could hear the boys start to swim toward the shore, and became clearly more urgent. "Trust me, one dive, and I'll swim out immediately. Please?"

It was the please that had done it. Neither of them had heard Riley say that word unless Emily was trying to drill manners into the girl. The fact that she said it now proved how important it was to her.

Leah sighed and nodded. Paul crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled about how the jump had better be worth it.

Quil came up to them only seconds later with a huge grin, shaking out his wet hair. "I take it we'll be done here once Bella and Jacob jump, huh?" It was so fucking clear he was in on it, but Paul and Leah were clueless.

"Nah, we can do at least one more jump," Paul said with a shrug. "Unless you're already tired out? Baby need a nap?"

Riley hid a smirk at the shocked look on Quil's face, turning to look up at the top of the cliffs where Jacob and Bella were standing. "You can do it Bella!" Riley cheered.

Behind her, Riley heard Jared whisper to Quil, "We've still got this. There's no way those two are going to let Redwood jump alone."

Bella jumped. It was awkward, a bit of flailing involved, but she hit the water pretty cleanly, and Jacob followed with a cannonball a second later. They emerged pretty quickly, Bella shivering from the cold, with Jacob immediately wrapping a towel around her. It was so clear how in love with Bella he was, but Bella still appeared pretty clueless to his feelings as she thanked him.

"You don't have a wolf's body heat and you've been standing here longer than the rest of us. How are you not freezing?" Bella asked Riley in disbelief as she pulled the towel tighter around herself.

"Oh, my body has had years to adjust to being cold," Riley said, unaware of how much her statement made the hearts of everyone hurt. "So these days, I don't really get too cold anymore unless it's, like, way below freezing."

"But it's still march! You're not even shivering!" Bella exclaimed. When Riley just shrugged, Bella sighed in defeat. "You're insane, you know that Riley?"

"Yup, you people tell me every day," Riley replied cheerfully. She bumped her wet hip against Bella, adding in a suggestive tone, "If you ever need help warming up…"

Jacob stiffened a little as Bella let out a laugh; he knew how much of a flirt Riley was, but Riley could tell on some level, he was afraid of Riley actually stealing Bella away from him somehow. Sorry to tell you this, buddy, but that's still Edward's job.

Bella rolled her eyes and gave Riley a playful shove. "You're incorrigible."

"You have no idea." Riley started to head up the cliffs with some of the pack before turning to give Bella a playful wink over her shoulder. "Keep your eyes on me, Bells. This is for you." And Seth, but if I admit that, they'll know I overheard them.

"Sure, Riley. Sure."

As Riley went up to the cliffs again, the boys, save for Sam, wouldn't stop teasing Riley about her flirting, and about her "cheating" on Leah. All of Leah's threats and curses couldn't silence them, but Riley being allowed to jump alone did. Turns out everyone had bet against Leah and Paul, just as Riley suspected.

That day, Riley made Seth and Bella a good chunk of money.