Chapter Eleven

The Confrontation From Hell

Kelsey

As I drive home, my mind replays the conversation I had with Paul Lahote. And how I brushed off my diabetes; the bleeping of my CGM alerting me my blood sugar was low. It's not that I'm ashamed of my diabetes, I have a YouTube channel where I talk about my life with it, it's just that I don't like telling everyone I meet I have diabetes.

The house is quiet when I pull up. Bella the Bitch must have gone to bed and Dad's most definitely in bed by now. It's ten thirty and he'd had to wake up really early this morning. Something about a robbery in Sandborn, a few towns over.

I make my way down the stairs without waking anyone. I smile as I step into my bedroom; it'll be good to sleep in my own bed. I'd gone to the bonfire straight from the hospital and I can't wait to sleep in my own house. You know, without nurses waking me up all the time?

I return to school on Monday. Nothing too interesting happens except for an unannounced fire drill. If, by some miracle, you've never experienced this, think of the bloodbath scene in the Hunger Games. Yeah; it's just like that. Only worse because there are way more people.

By the time I get to our class meeting spot, I have a bruised shin, my foot's been stepped on five different times by five different people, and the fire alarm damn near burst my eardrums. And I'm not the worst of the casualties. Don't ask me how, but Sarah Brentwood manages to break her arm. Real life Hunger Games.

By the time I get to my car at the end of school, I'm so over everyone. I just want to go home, curl up in bed with a cup of hot cocoa and a book and stay there for the rest of the afternoon. Or, at least, until softball practice at five. But sadly, that's not meant to be because Bella's waiting at my car.

"Can you go to the reservation with me? Please?" Bella asks. She's been begging me to go with her to confront Jacob for the past two days; ever since I got out of the hospital.

"Fine." I snap, just to get her to shut up. "But you owe me a caramel apple latte."

I drive my own car. Bella's an absolute grandma behind the wheel. I'm not a daredevil driver by any means, but I do go at most ten miles over the speed limit. Bella always goes ten miles below.

I park outside the Blacks' house and rummage through my backpack. I remove a small bottle of lavender essential oil, which I use when I'm starting to get anxious. I put three drops of the already diluted mixture onto my arm and rub it in, inhaling the smell of the calming herb.

I still take medication for anxiety and OCD, but the essential oil is more of a complimentary method. Essential oils can never replace actually medicine. Funny enough, Renee actually thought they'd actually replace my asthma medicine for awhile. That is until I had a major attack and passed out on the stairs at school.

I slip the vial back into my backpack and push open the car door. Bella's finally showed up and is staring Sam Uley down. Oh geez.

"Bella, starting off this conversation with your pathetic attempt at a death glare isn't going to get you anywhere." I inform her, shutting the door the my hip. And then promptly reopening it because I got my insulin pump tubing caught in the door handle and damn near ripped the site off my stomach. Which would have sucked.

"Come on, Bella. This was a bad idea." I say, rolling my eyes when my sister gives me her patented "you're right but I'm gonna ignore you" look.

"You should listen to the girl." Paul Lahote steps off the stoop and stops a few inches from Bella's face. And then my sister, who's known for doing stupid shit anyway, does something even more stupid than usual; she smacks Paul across the face.

Chaos. Instant chaos. In point five seconds, Paul has disappeared, and in his place stands a large snarling wolf.

"Holy fucking shit." I mutter, taking a couple steps back.

Then, as if this wasn't crazy enough already, Jacob jumps off the porch and transforms into a wolf, too. What the bloody fuck?

My breathing is coming quick, although I'm not wheezing yet. But if I don't get to my inhaler, it could very well become an asthma attack situation. And stupid me, I'd left my backpack in my car. The backpack that contains not only my diabetes supplies, but the inhalers I need.

Okay. Okay. Think, Kelsey. Think.

I begin to slowly back up, palms up in front of my face. I grab the car door handle, moving slowly to avoid distracting Paul and Jacob from their battle of the testosterone that they've got going on.

I turn to look through my pack, keeping one eye on the chaos unfolding behind me. I come up with my preattack inhaler and take a quick pull off it. I stand there for the required five minutes, feeling the tension in my chest release somewhat. I put the inhaler back, apply another layer of lavender oil, and turn to the pandemonium.

I feel like my head is about to explode. Bella's screaming; not words, she's just screaming. Sam Uley is trying to pry the two (guys? wolves? whatever) apart, and not having much luck with it. And everyone else is just watching the shitshow.

I massage my temple with one hand, the other clinching into a tight fist around my keys. I'm not one for the idea of hurting people, but if it comes down to a self-defense situation, I'd rather have this than nothing at all.

Thankfully, it doesn't come to that. Sam finally manages to pry the two apart and sends Jacob inside to cool down. He gives Paul a stern glance before striding back to the stoop. Bella's scream tapers off.

"Damn, Bella." I say, giving my sister a look. "You've lost your fucking mind. I had my suspicions before, but now you've proved it."

"Like you're one to talk about crazy." Bella snaps back.

"Excuse me?" My eyebrow shoots up. "If you know what's good for you, you won't finish that."

I then turn back to the four guys (wolves?) standing on the stoop. "Okay, so who the fuck wants to explain what the fuck just happened? And if someone could grab me a few Tylenol, that'd be great."

A/n: Sorry I didn't update when I said I would. It's been really busy in la casa de Lauren. So, if you've read my profile, you'd know one of my favorite series is the Aurora Cycle trilogy by Aimee Kaufman and Jay Christoff. The final book comes out on November 9, so just over 28 days away. And yes, I've been counting down the days. LOL. If you haven't read it yet, ten out of ten, would highly recommend. Okay, so here's the deal: if we get to 28 reviews, I'll update Thursday. If not, I'll update Saturday. Later!

Lauren.

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