IV.

Both Daphne and Mike spent their weekend recovering from the Friday night party—Mike played basketball with his friends in the driveway and Daphne avoided the voicemails filling up her phone, pretending she didn't care that the one person she wouldn't have minded talking to didn't call.

Come Monday, Daphne found herself slipping into an easy routine with Mike. They bickered about music on the way to school, she said hello to his friends and walked with Angela to her locker. She did her best to stay invisible in her classes and by the time fifth period rolled around she found herself being shown around the various pieces from the upcoming musical's set that needed to be painted. Will was nice, he didn't comment on the social disaster that the party had been and instead, he walked her through the school's art room and where she would spend most of her time.

"We'll eventually move everything over to the theatre," Will said as Daphne shrugged off her coat and slipped on one of the painting smocks that hung on the wall, "but in the meantime, Ms. Fields lets us use her classroom since there are no art classes in the afternoon."

"Gotcha," Daphne looked around, a few kids scattered here and there, painting various pieces of foam, plywood, and fiberglass. "So, what are we painting today?"

"Today," Will stepped away from the work table to go sort through a few large pieces of foam, "we're painting a brick-type wall. Gray brick, black lines—think you can handle that?"

"No promises."

Will laughed as he and Daphne busied themselves gathering brushes and paint, and to Daphne's surprise Will slid onto the stool across from her as he selected one of the brushes they pulled, "you don't have anything else to do?"

"Trying to get rid of me already?"

Daphne chuckled as she dipped her own brush into the gray paint, swiping it back and forth as Will did, "just curious—as the stage manager I assumed you'd have more important matters to attend to."

"Well," Will's eyes remained on the foam board as he continued to paint, "as stage manager, it's my job to fill in various roles as necessary and right now we're very behind on painting."

"How kind of you."

Will grinned playfully as he glanced up across the table at her, "you're not as bad as you think, you know."

"It's one color…"

"Still."

The two worked in silence for several minutes, doing their best to cover the foam in the first shade of gray. It wasn't until Will returned from refiling his paint that he cleared his throat and broke the silence, "so, it was uh—nice seeing you outside of school on Friday."

"Mmm," Daphne glanced over at him to see his eyes firmly down on his work, "it was an interesting night, wasn't it?"

"It's a good thing you left when you did," Will said, "the cops showed up not long after and started checking cups and IDs."

"Did you guys get out?"

"Oh yeah," Will nodded, "it's easy to scatter with that many kids. We always park further away to get out faster."

"Are there that many parties in this town?"

"No," Will smiled, "but I'm prepared."

Daphne laughed, "well, I'm glad you all got out without a phone call to your parents."

Another beat of silence passed before Will said, "while I do need to help with the painting, I also wanted to check your temperature on what happened at the party."

Daphne glanced up mid-brush stroke, a curious look on her face. Did Will know about the soccer team?

"What…happened?"

"Yeah," Will shifted, his shoulders hunching awkwardly, "with Whit and Nicole."

Daphne felt the anxiety slip off her shoulders as she relaxed slightly, "it's totally fine."

"It's easy to get caught up in the small-town mindset," Will said, "and with alcohol mixed in sometimes filters and reasoning go out the window."

"It's ok, Will, really."

"Regardless," Will looked up at her, "I apologize on their behalf."

"It's not needed," Daphne smiled at him, "but thanks."

A few more minutes of silence passed before Daphne said, "your friends are nice, by the way. They're all seniors?"

"They are," Will said before smiling, "both nice and seniors."

"And all…actors?"

"Brian doubles in both drama and the orchestra," Will said, "so I'm not sure where he'll be to be honest, but Whit and Nicole have both auditioned for leading parts."

"The same part…or?"

"No," Will shook his head, "the school would never recover from the drama if that happened. No, Nicole's going for Fifi, the feather duster and Whit auditioned for Belle."

"Oh wow," Daphne's eyebrows rose, "she must be pretty good then?"

"She certainly likes to think so," Will smiled playfully, "but yeah, she's pretty good."

"The stage manager and leading lady?"

Will nearly choked on his saliva, glancing around the room before looking back at her, "you think Whit and I are…?"

"Aren't you?" Daphne's eyebrows rose, "I'm sorry, it seemed like you two were…something?"

"No," Will shook his head, "we're not—no."

An awkward silence filled the space between them as they continued to paint for the rest of the class period. Several times Daphne had thought to say something but changed her mind upon seeing Will's determined face.

When the bell rang forty-five minutes later, Daphne wasn't sure she'd ever been so happy. Clearing her throat softly, she followed Will's lead and washed out her paintbrushes before gathering her things and exiting the classroom.

Will came to a stop a few feet away from the door, his hand buried in his hair as he looked over at her. "Look, Daphne," he glanced around and then back at her, "I didn't mean to sound so…shocked. I just—shit."

Daphne lifted her eyebrows, watching as Will dropped his hands to his side.

"I'm messing this all up," he visibly shook his head, "I just don't want you to think I'm…attached."

"Attached?"

"Attached."

The two high schoolers stared at one another for a few moments, Will waiting for Daphne to say something more and Daphne waiting for the ground to swallow her whole.

"Look Will, I uh—"

"Daphne!"

Daphne glanced over her shoulder to see Mike standing at the end of the hall, waving to her. Mike usually had terrible timing and was never the best at reading body language, but Daphne had never been happier to see her cousin.

"I gotta go," Daphne gave Will a small smile, "see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow."

With another week under her belt and semi-awkward conversations with Will behind her, Daphne was definitely looking forward to the weekend. She planned on borrowing her aunt's car and taking the scenic trip along the coast to Port Angeles to clear her head and heart when Mike waltzed into her room just after breakfast Saturday morning.

"Whatcha doing?"

Daphne sat with her legs folded under her, one hand holding herself up while the other lazily browsed on the old laptop she'd brought with her from California.

"Logging into my email."

Mike glanced around the room, so far Daphne hadn't made that many changes to it, aside from hiding the hideous Mallard lamp his mother loved. "I'm heading over to First Beach if you're interested."

"First Beach?"

"La Push," Mike clarified, "it's a cool beach, nice to look at, and sometimes the waves are nice for surfing."

"If you don't freeze to death first."

Mike rolled his eyes, "you wanna come?"

"Do I want to come sit in the cold, damp weather and watch you try to drown yourself?" Daphne lifted an eyebrow, "I think I'll pass on this one."

"It's usually an annual thing," Mike walked further into the room, taking a seat on the desk chair, "we all go down—surf, eat, mess around. It's a great time."

"But…?"

"But," Mike's shoulders dropped, "Angela can't make it this year and Lauren's got practice today."

"Which means?"

"Which means that Jessica's not super into being the only girl there."

"Ah," Daphne reached forward to close her laptop, her eyes returning to Mike's a moment later. "But if I go…"

"Right," Mike nodded.

"When are you leaving?"

Mike glanced down at his watch, "about ten minutes? We're meeting at the store and then Tyler's going to drive us all."

Daphne wrinkled her nose and Mike shrugged, "I know, he's a lot. But he's got the biggest car and it saves me gas."

Daphne sighed as she pushed herself off the bed, "alright, fine. But tell him to tone it down a little ok?"

Mike held his hands up with a nod before exiting the room, leaving Daphne alone with her thoughts as she made quick work of changing into warmer clothes. Despite the relatively mild temperature, Daphne knew from experience that hanging around the beach often meant battling a combination of wind and cool misty air and there was no way she could put up with both Tyler and being cold at the same time.

True to Mike's word, Daphne found herself buckled into the Ranger ten minutes later, nursing a thermos of scalding hot tea as Mike pulled off the main road and into the parking lot of Newton's Olympic Outfitters. The truck jumbled a bit as Mike navigated the parking lot, some areas more uneven than others. It was fairly busy, but then again the weather was decent and it was a weekend.

"Is that a…" Daphne leaned forward, squinting her eyes at the side of the building as Mike circled around looking for Tyler.

"A soccer ball?" Mike glanced over at the side of the building as he pulled into a parking space beside Tyler's van. "It happened a few days ago, I think. Dad's annoyed."

Daphne couldn't help but eye the soccer ball with an arrow going through it, the soccer ball almost deflating around the arrow. Part of her wanted to believe that it was a coincidence. The other part of her knew better.

"Well, let me know if they need help painting it."

"Mom's not too bothered by it for some reason," Mike said, "it's not the first time this has happened."

"Aspiring graffiti artist in Forks?"

Mike snorted as he got out of the car, walking around to meet Daphne at the back so he could pull his bag out of the truck bed. "More like La Push."

"Hey Man," Tyler greeted Mike with a clap on the shoulder, the van's back hatch opening to reveal a few surfboards, "you look good, Daph. The weekend look suits you."

Daphne intentionally took a larger sip of her tea, hoping that the burning feeling on her tongue would suppress the comment she had bubbling up.

"Let's go," Mike shot Daphne what she assumed would be one of many apologetic looks on this trip as he tossed his bag in the back, the two climbing into the nearly full van.

Eric had claimed shotgun long before Daphne and Mike arrived, with Jessica in the middle and Ben in the back. Daphne attempted to be a proper wingwoman, doing her best to give Mike enough time to take the seat beside Jessica, but he only continued on back beside Ben, shooting Daphne a small smile.

"Hey," Daphne offered Jessica, the latter glancing back at Mike's retreating form as he found his seat in the back.

"Hey."

The conversation didn't get better. Ben and Eric occupied most of it, alternating between the latest action movie and how dull Biology was.

"I'm going to transfer into your biology class," Mike said, "chemistry is a lot harder than I expected and I just need one more science credit before senior year."

"Molina's cool," Eric said with Tyler nodding from the driver's seat, "I hear we're going to go on this awesome field trip next semester."

"The only thing you have to put up with is Cullen," Ben offered, "but he doesn't say much, and the way the class worked out he doesn't have a partner. Maybe you'll pair up with him, eh Mike?"

Mike rolled his eyes.

"Which one?" Jessica glanced back at Ben curiously.

"Edward," Tyler said, "you shoot your shot with one of the Cullens yet, new girl? I'm pretty sure every female in the student body has been all over them."

"Man, c'mon." Mike tossed a dirty look toward his friend.

"Like you all don't drool all over Rosalie on a daily basis," Jessica sent Tyler a knowing look at which he only rolled his eyes, a small smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Have you met any of them?" Jessica turned her attention back to Daphne as she watched the verbal ping-pong match.

"No."

"Well—that's good." Jessica shifted awkwardly, sneaking a glance at Mike before continuing, "because Edward doesn't date. I guess the girls in school aren't pretty enough or something."

Daphne didn't want to say that she couldn't imagine why a fairly new student may not want all of the student body's attention on them but thought it might be better to keep that comment to herself.

Changing the topic to something safer, Daphne asked, "do you surf?"

Jessica blinked at the sudden topic change, almost as if she were considering playing along. Daphne felt her shoulders relax as Jessica nodded. "Sometimes, yeah. I've wanted to be a surfer basically since Angela and I rented Blue Crush."

"That is a good movie."

Jessica smiled and Daphne took it as her first win with Mike's friends.

The drive to First Beach was surprisingly quicker than Daphne expected it to be. Based on how Mike had talked about gas mileage, she assumed it would be closer to an hour. But in reality, it was under thirty minutes. Amused at what Mike and his friends considered to be "a drive," Daphne found herself hopping out of the van happily. She inhaled the salty air into her lungs, her shoulder muscles automatically releasing as she took in the sights.

First Beach was a beautiful beach, unlike any beach Daphne had ever seen. The heavily wooded area butted up right to the beach, with smooth stones picking up where the damp earth left off. Scattered across the stretch of land, it seemed like the dark rocks blended in nicely with the gray sand and while both were equally as beautiful, it was the driftwood that really surprised Daphne. Massive amounts of driftwood scattered the beach, ranging in sizes not bigger than a knife to the size of a tree trunk.

"Nice, huh?"

Daphne nodded as Mike came to stand beside her, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his puffer vest, "it really is. So not like the beaches back home. It's like…basically untouched."

"There are tide pools down that way," Mike nodded towards the south, "there are some gnarly boulders in the water, but since you're not interested in surfing that's not of much concern to you."

"I'm not interested in freezing."

"You moved to the wrong part of the country then, cuz," Mike nudged her with his elbow, a teasing grin on his face, "have fun people-watching."

"People?" Daphne lifted her eyebrows as Mike walked backwards towards the van where Tyler and Ben were trying to put on wetsuits while Jessica used the van for privacy to change herself. Daphne motioned around with her arms, a wide smile on her face that Mike hadn't seen since she arrived in Washington, "with a view like this, how could anyone be looking at people?"

Mike only laughed.

True to her word, Daphne enjoyed watching the ocean come and go as it kissed the shoreline. So many different types of birds hovered and landed, and while she alternated between sitting and walking up and down their area of the beach, Daphne would be lying if she said she wasn't amused watching Mike and his friends fail at surfing.

Tyler was the first to call it quits after taking several hard waves to the head. Emerging out of the ocean looking exhausted, Tyler peeled his wetsuit off and wrapped a fluffy towel around himself before following it up with a soft-looking blanket. He flopped down onto a log beside Daphne, sighing as he did so.

Daphne prepared herself for non-stop, one-sided flirting with Tyler, but instead, he chose to egg his friends on and poke fun when needed. He'd even managed to get Daphne to crack a smile with one comment in particular aimed at Mike.

Ben was the next victim of exhaustion, crawling out of the ocean with his shaggy hair falling into his face. He followed Tyler's lead, first with the towel and then the blanket, a beanie coming down over his ears as he took his place beside his friend. Daphne almost felt a little guilty as she continued to nurse her still-warm tea.

Almost.

Giving it a valiant effort, Eric, Mike, and Jessica only managed to keep at it for another ten or fifteen minutes, the three exiting the ocean looking like drowned rats.

"What a workout," Jessica huffed a laugh as Mike handed out towels to her and Eric. She thanked him softly and Daphne smiled into her thermos as she watched Jessica squeeze Mike's hand, their eyes meeting briefly.

"I'm starving," Mike pulled on a thick sweatshirt after taking his own wetsuit off, "sandwiches anyone? Daph, you hungry?"

"I'm alright for now," Daphne shook her head, "I think I'm actually going to take a walk by the tide pools."

"I'll meet you down there after I finish my sandwich," Tyler set her a sly week at which Mike rolled his eyes at.

So much for thinking Tyler was done with flirting.

Daphne left her blanket behind on the log and made her way down the beach in the direction Mike pointed to earlier. The beach seemed to become more popular the longer they were there, with a handful of high schoolers playing soccer on the beach. She eyed the group, studying each of the boys but didn't see anyone familiar.

Wishful thinking.

Daphne found several younger kids with their parents studying the tide pools, squealing when seeing something move and laughing about things here or there. Several times she heard, "don't touch that!" from various parental units.

It wasn't until she'd thoroughly looked through the tide pools, wishing she had a camera to take a picture of a very large starfish that she heard her name. The voice was almost unfamiliar, but also warm at the same time and when she lifted her head to look around she nearly did a double take.

"Funny seeing you here."

Paul Lahote looked like he was in his element. A thin fleece covered his upper body, his shoulder filling out the jacket nicely, his hair loose and blowing in the wind and Daphne tried not to focus on how good his jeans looked. Although judging by the easy smile forming on his face, Daphne guessed her admiration didn't go unnoticed.

"Last time I checked," Paul glanced around, the smile lingering on his face, "this was my reservation."

I couldn't help but slip in the Twilight reference at the end. :)

Sorry for the delay, the December sickness got me. Hope you enjoyed it, I'm eager to read what you all think!