When Kim and Elizabeth arrived half an hour late to First Beach, the sun was already setting. ("Not late—fashionably late," Elizabeth argued.)
The tide was higher than normal at this hour, but the white-capped waves crashing together was stunning. The setting sun looked like it was melting into the sea like butter. The sky was a dark green that mirrored the tumultuous sea, a mirror cut in half, and she felt an ache of familiarity looking out at it. When was the last time Kim went to the beach? And really looked at it? Kim wasn't sure she could ever get used to the beauty of First Beach.
Wow. I really am going to miss this. She felt a pang in her chest as she looked at all of her classmates around her.
"Hey, you're here!" Charlie called out to them as they walked down the hill from the parking lot. He wasted no time jogging up to the girls to meet them halfway, his face flushed either from the fire or the cold ocean air. He stopped in front of Kim and opened his arms to her.
She froze before awkwardly giving him a side hug. It went on for several moments too long.
Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Where's my hug, Charlie?"
He grinned sheepishly, and briefly hugged Elizabeth before taking a step back. Kim had to suppress the urge to laugh at his embarrassed expression, and Elizabeth winked at her over his shoulder.
"Well, ladies?" he said, gesturing towards the seating circling the bonfire. "Shall we?"
The beach was a popular spot for travelers and residents alike, and Kim was surprised to find that it was relatively empty aside from the group of teenagers surrounding the bonfire. As they approached, Kim was able to pick out a few familiar faces. She told herself she wasn't looking for anyone specifically, but when she didn't see him anywhere, she deflated.
The bonfire was already built, and the hole was a couple feet deep, with pieces of wood piled on top of each other in the shape of a log cabin, complete with a ring of discolored rocks. The sand was wet enough to keep it from spreading, but close enough for a few of them to sit together on large pieces of driftwood.
Most of the people there were friends of either Charlie or Elizabeth, nobody Kim was close to. She could imagine Maya complaining about how crowded it was, a fact that would have made it easier for them to ditch.
Kim hadn't brought a blanket, and she sat on one of the largest pieces of driftwood beside a hollowed-out trunk. Her bulky winter coat offered her little protection from the wet wood, and her jeans were wet in seconds.
Elizabeth immediately sat next to her before Charlie could. His sullen expression quickly passed when he went off to sit on a blanket close to them. Avoiding his gaze, Kim looked around at who else was there. Most of them were other seniors, and their siblings.
The others were white kids she didn't recognize and she guessed that they were students from Forks. They stuck to themselves, standing or sitting a few feet away from the fire, and talked amongst each other. She wondered if they were invited.
While the white kids talked to themselves, the Quileute kids stuck close to the fire. One of them Kim recognized was Jacob Black.
She couldn't remember if he was a year below her or two, but he was always nice to her. He was sitting with Quil Ateara. Embry Call was absent.
She was never very close with Embry, but they used to live across the hall from each other when they were younger, and their moms were close before Tiffany Call abruptly moved away. They had been on the same track team and would often run together. But he and Charlie were much closer, and it made everything seem so "perfect" and "right" when she and Charlie started dating. Embry was friendly and joked with her a lot, even after she and Charlie broke up.
Not that it mattered anyways, since she would be seeing less of them now that she wasn't on the track team anymore...
"We should have brought s'mores," a girl sitting across from Kim said.
"Well, beer is enough," said another guy with a loud laugh.
"I, for one, can't survive on just beer," Charlie said. "I need some burgers, at least."
"Speak for yourself—more beer for me!"
Kim glanced over at Jake and Quil. They weren't paying attention to the others, but weren't talking to each other, either. Jacob stared blankly into the fire, the light playing across his tired face.
The wind started picking up and whirled around them, bringing the cold ocean air in. She shivered.
In response to the wind, the fire crackled and rose with it.
"I'm going to miss this," Elizabeth said, quietly echoing Kim's earlier thoughts.
She was surprised. Elizabeth would miss this? She had already been accepted to a university in sunny Los Angeles, and constantly talked about how excited she was to move down there. If there was anyone who should be excited to leave, it was her.
Before Kim could open her mouth, another voice interrupted.
"Miss this? Yeah right," said another boy in their grade. "I can't wait to leave."
"You think this is a shit hole?" said an unfamiliar voice. Everyone's head turned to face the interruption. It was a white boy. "Try coming to Forks. Nothing to do there."
There was an awkward pause. One of the Forks girls yanked on his sleeve, shaking her head. Everyone else in the small group of white kids snickered and whispered amongst themselves.
A heavy cloud rested over them. This was a private area of the beach reserved for just the people of the tribe, not that the white kids cared.
Beside her, Elizabeth, flicked her hair over her shoulder and tilted her head at them, smiling. If you didn't know her very well, you would think she was being nice—but Kim knew better. Elizabeth was pissed.
"That's funny," she said slowly, her tone mean-girl-nice. "I don't seem to remember any of us calling La Push a 'shit hole.'"
A few of the Forks kids stared back at her in shock. Elizabeth was the most white-passing one in the group—from her light skin to her striking blue eyes—and Kim could tell that they were surprised.
"I didn't call this place a shit hole—don't put words in my mouth," the blonde boy said, backtracking.
"Compared to us, I understand why people would call Forks a shit hole. Why else would you be here?" She shrugged with an innocent smile
Kim couldn't help it—a small laugh escaped her lips.
"Is that why you guys have to play on our high school basketball team?" sneered one of the blonde girls.
A few of the Quileute boys stiffened; the basketball team dissolved years ago due to lack of funding. A few played on the Forks team, and were typically the best players, not that the white players treated them with any respect anyways. Now only one or two played on the Forks team, sometimes none at all.
"And we still kick your ass in track and soccer?" Charlie suddenly said, and Kim couldn't help but smile at him.
"Yeah shove it, Cold Ones," retorted Kyle, a boy on the track team, and it was so random that the group started to laugh.
Cold Ones were vampiric colonizers that made a treaty with the Quiluetes a hundred or more years ago to keep the peace. In most contexts, it was a part of the legends used to educate the Indigenous children about their history. To call these teenagers from Forks "vampires" was not only hilarious, but fitting.
The Forks kids' confused looks made them laugh harder. Some rolled their eyes while others blushed in embarrassment. Kim cast one last glance at them before glancing at Jake and Quil, both laughing along with the others. She directed a smile at them. Jake caught her gaze and he hesitantly returned one to her.
Thankfully, they didn't say anything else and shuffled further down the beach, muttering to each other in low voices—away from them, which was fine by Kim. Let them build their own damn fire.
Once they were gone, they all visibly relaxed and continued chatting amongst each other again, most of them in low, excited voices. Elizabeth's hands were shaking and Kim put a hand over hers.
Charlie shot up and opened a small cooler. "Hey, this calls for a celebration—want one?"
The group of La Push teens agreed and excitedly reached their hands out to him.
"Loudmouth over there gets first dibs!" Charlie tossed a can over to Elizabeth, who caught it with a squeal of delight.
Kim hesitated a moment before hearing herself say, "I'll have one, too."
She ignored the look of surprise on Charlie's face, and she avoided his gaze after he tossed one over to her. She snapped her can open with a crack! and clinked it with Elizabeth's.
"Hell yeah, girl!" Elizabeth cried, and took out a small, pink Canon PowerShot camera. Kim immediately bristled at the sight of it, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm only going to show it to Maya, I promise—she would not believe this unless I had photographic evidence! Kim Connweller, drinking, at the beach? Who are you?"
She rolled her eyes and played along as they took one together and then one by herself. She made a silly face—scrunching her nose as she pointed to her beer can. She blinked against the flash that she was sure would make her look super washed out.
"How are you so cute without even trying?" Elizabeth whined at the camera's screen and Kim laughed.
When she flipped her camera around to show her the digital screen, Kim was shocked to see that she didn't really look that bad. Her nose was red, her lips were chapped, and her hair was wild underneath her wool cap, but she had to admit that she did look...different. In a good way.
It might just be a testament to Elizabeth's camera skills because Kim certainly was not photogenic, but with the warmth of the fire reflecting on her skin and the dark woods behind her, Kim had to admit that she actually looked okay for once.
Kim reached for it and Elizabeth immediately pulled it away. "Don't delete it!" she cried dramatically. "I'm emailing this to you, too. You're so welcome for your new MySpace profile pic!"
"Whatever," she laughed and took another sip as Elizabeth took pictures of the others.
Kim tried to not notice Jacob and Quil's silence, or the fact that they hadn't grabbed a can for themselves. They talked mostly to themselves, occasionally looking around, as if expecting someone. She sipped at her drink, carefully trying to listen in on their conversation.
As if feeling her gaze, Jake's eyes shot to hers, and the intensity caused her to immediately look away.
Further down the beach, a few of the Forks locals whooped and laughed loudly to each other. Most of them were standing a few yards away from the bonfire - not close enough to be included in the group, but not far enough away to keep their voices from carrying.
She took another sip, and started coughing uncontrollably. God, this tastes horrible. It was the cheap stuff—the kind of beer someone bought illegally for minors and pocketed the rest of the cash.
It was then that a loud howl ripped through the air.
Kim jumped at the sound, and Elizabeth latched onto her arm. Both girls swiveled to look at the woods, which were blanketed by the thick darkness that revealed nothing.
"What the fuck was that?" one of the Forks girls asked loudly, giggling nervously a few feet away from the fire.
"Oh, I don't know, probably a moose," said a white boy, rolling his eyes. "What do you think? You don't know what a wolf sounds like?" The girl beside him huffed.
"It sounds like it's in pain," Elizabeth said softly.
Kim nodded, her eyes still trained on the treeline. "Maybe it's hurt?"
The ignorant blond boy from before started talking loudly. "My dad loves hunting them—says it's no fun hunting without a challenge."
At that, the La Push teens glared at them.
"Mike," the girl beside him hissed, elbowing him in the side. "Stop being such a jerk."
"Calm down. I only mean when they cause trouble," he hissed back to her, but loud enough for the whole group to hear. "Like when they get into my MeMaw's chicken coop. And it's not like my dad's stupid enough to hunt here."
The girl beside him huffed but didn't challenge him further. The silence between the two groups was awkward as they listened for more.
When a few of the Forks kids began complaining about the cold, they started packing up and heading towards the parking lot. Kim watched their backs as they walked away, talking and laughing with each other.
Suddenly a pair of hands clamped down on Kim's knees, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Hey, what the hell is wrong with you?" Elizabeth snapped, swatting at Charlie, who was smiling boyishly up at them.
"C'mon, you two are so easy to scare," he said, his eyes glittering as he smiled up at Kim from his seat on the ground in front of them. Kim smiled reflexively back at him. His own cap was pulled over his ears, and his features were soft enough for her to remember a time when the two of them used to be together. Or maybe that was just the beer talking.
Catching her smile, he leaned in a little too close. "A few of us are going to get some more firewood, wanna come with?" he asked softly.
Kim's stomach twisted at the thought. They wouldn't be alone, but it was dark.
"And go towards the woods with the creepy howling? No thanks," Elizabeth said,shaking her head. Charlie looked expectantly at Kim.
Kim shook her head. "No way, I'm good. You guys can go on without me."
He frowned before reluctantly getting up and following the group as they headed towards the woods. She kept her eyes forward, watching the flames. As they walked into the woods, Kim, Elizabeth, Jake, Quil, and a few other underclassmen she wasn't familiar with were the only ones to remain.
"Thanks," Kim whispered into the mouth of her drink, and Elizabeth winked.
"I got your back. I don't see why the boy can't take the hint."
Kim nodded mutely, but gnawed on the corner of her lip. If only Maya thought the same, instead of constantly encouraging them to get back together…
Watching Charlie's back as he retreated into the woods, she felt her heart sink. It wasn't his fault, not really… He obviously still had feelings for her, and left as much room as possible just in case there was the tiniest chance Kim changed her mind. But she knew: she didn't feel the same way—maybe never did. That didn't keep her from feeling bad about it.
Beside her, Elizabeth began talking to an underclassman as Kim took another sip. She tried her hardest not to stare at Jake or Quil sitting across from them, but her eyes kept drifting towards them anyways.
She couldn't remember the last time she actually talked to Jacob or Quil—they were close to Embry, but didn't really run with the same group as Charlie. Kim had always liked them because they were so nice and a bit goofy.
But while Charlie wasn't close with them, they were close to Embry. Could that be who they were looking for? And if they were worried about him like she was, surely they knew about Sam Uley?
Could they know something?
She took another big gulp from her drink. Liquid courage, don't fail me now.
"Hey, uh… How's Embry?" Kim asked awkwardly. "Is he feeling okay?"
Elizabeth shot her a quizzical look from the corner of her eye, but Kim kept her eyes trained on them, bouncing back and forth. The light from the fire cast an orange glow on their faces as they were pinched with worry. Quil kept his eyes to the ground.
"Still sick," Quil barely muttered over the fire crackling.
"Oh." Kim swallowed. "Is he...sick with what Paul and Jared had?"
"Good question," Jacob said, the bitterness in his voice obvious. "We'd know more if he bothered to talk to us."
Kim felt Elizabeth roughly grab her arm with a loud gasp. "What the hell?" she hissed in Kim's ear. "Is that—?!"
Their gazes snapped to where she was pointing, and at first the only thing Kim could see was a tall shadow stumbling out of the woods, not far from the entrance Charlie and the others had disappeared into. The sun had set long ago, and the dark clouds made everything more difficult to see. A chill overcame her.
Kim could barely see the shadow as it staggered closer to them, but right as it stepped across the forest onto the beach and into the light, she realized who it was in a paralyzing rush.
Embry Call was walking slowly towards them with only a pair of ratty, torn shorts and an unzipped hoodie. His hair was wild, as if he had rolled around in the dirt and leaves, and it looked almost as if his whole body was convulsing.
He was still a distance away, but as soon as the others saw and recognized him, some of the boys stood up and ran over to him, shouting. As he drew closer, she noticed a dark red wound on his chest—like a burn or a deep scratch. Kim's mouth fell open at the sight. It looked raw and bloody, like something had attacked him.
Next to her, Elizabeth whispered a quiet "oh my god," gripping Kim's arm tighter. What was she even seeing right now? Was this seriously happening? The sight of him made her shudder, and more than that, he made every person in the group look at him as if he was a body that had just dug itself out of his grave.
It took several, long moments for Embry to reach the boys as they crowded around him, talking over each other in a rush. His face was pale, but didn't seem to register what the boys were saying to him at all. He looked like he was in shock, and his eyes roved wildly over their faces until they settled on Jacob and Quil, both looking at him wide-eyed
"Dude, are you okay?" asked a junior beside him.
Another boy went to reach for Embry before pulling his hand back, thinking better of it. "Yeah, wh-what the hell happened to you? Where are your shoes?"
Embry didn't appear to register their questions as he walked closer toward the bonfire, towards Jacob and Quil. The boys behind him followed him, confused.
It was when Kim looked down and saw his bare feet that she snapped out of her trance and started to stand up.
"Em—" It came out as a croak, and when his eyes darted to hers, they looked cold and glassy in the light. She froze. His eyebrows furrowed, and for a moment Kim thought he was going to say something to her before he rubbed at his face with shaky hands.
"Sit down!" Elizabeth hissed, yanking her body back down. Kim fell down to her seat so hard, her breath left her body. "Don't you see what he looks like?" she continued whispering. "Let them handle it!"
"It's not like he's going to hurt us," Kim snapped back, but even though saying the words out loud made her consider the possibility. Elizabeth was still gripping her arm tight enough to bruise, and she had to twist it away before she let go. "Look at him—he's hurt. Something happened to him."
"No shit," she said, with more worry than anger in her voice as she reached for her purse, shifting the contents around. At the sight of her flip phone, Kim swallowed before directing her attention back to Embry.
He was no longer looking at Kim, but continued walking toward Quil and Jacob in short, uneven steps. The boys around him drifted further behind, their questions drifting off as they stared worriedly after him.
Jacob stood up abruptly. She couldn't see Jacob's face from her perspective, but from the way he stood, she could tell he was scared. His legs were trembling.
"Christ, Em, what the hell happened to you?" Jake asked, his voice shaking.
Standing in front of them, Kim realized how tall Embry was now. He looked like he had grown a full head taller than them just in the last week alone. But...that was impossible. Kim saw him just the other day, and growth spurts didn't just happen like that. Her eyes had to be tricking her. Right?
"Can you—are you okay?" Quil asked hesitantly, standing up slowly beside Jake.
Embry took an uneven step back and raised his hands so that they were at level with his eyes, looking at them as if they were someone else's attached to his body. His lips quivered, but Kim was too far away to hear anything.
"Embry. Embry. Look at me." Jake took a step towards him to close the distance, and his eyes snapped down to his, wide in fear.
"No - no—" Embry said, shaking his head. He extended his hands, keeping his distance. "Y-you have to st-stay away."
Jake reached up and grabbed for his arm. Embry choked, and pulled away violently, but Jake didn't hold on for more than a few seconds before letting go with a gasp. "What the hell—Embry, you're burning up! You're on fire. And your chest - what the hell happened?"
"We - we need to call the police," Elizabeth said suddenly, her voice shaking as she put her phone to her ear.
"No!" Jacob snapped, reaching for her.
Barely registering what she was doing, Kim reached for the phone in her hand, yanking it out and snapping it closed. Before Elizabeth could respond, Embry began to talk again.
"The legends - " Kim wasn't sure if it was a laugh or a gasp as Embry buried his face in his hands. "The legends are true." Behind him, the group of boys glanced at one another and murmured to each other in worried tones. "They're fucking - they're all true, oh god…"
"What?" Jake said, barely a whisper.
From behind his hands, Embry shook his head. "I'm one of them… I turned…"
"Holy shit, you guys!"
Kim whipped toward the shouts as they ran from the woods.
Charlie and the others were sprinting away from the forest down the hill to the beach like they were being chased. She blinked to make sure she wasn't imagining it, and they continued to shout obscenities, throwing looks over their shoulders as they neared. She stood slowly up, this time not pulled back down by Elizabeth, who was staring at them with wide eyes.
As they drew closer to the group, Kim's stomach dropped at the expressions on their faces. Despite their run, they looked pale and sick, as if they had just seen a ghost.
"Oh my God, are you guys okay?" Elizabeth asked, standing up with her.
"The - the woods," said one of the boys, panting.
"There's something in there," Charlie said, bending over, gasping. "We saw - something, I don't know what."
Elizabeth crossed her arms but her voice trembled. "You're not being funny. Stop scaring us."
"It's not a joke," Charlie said, shaking his head. "There was - we don't know what. We saw something big."
"A bear?" asked Kim numbly, her voice distant.
He shook his head. "I don't… I don't know. Maybe? But it was so big. It looked like - "
His voice completely fell away when he noticed Embry standing a few feet away.
"What the - ?" Charlie looked him up and down, his mouth open in shock. "What the hell happened? Where did he come from?" Taking a step closer, he shook his head. "Embry, what…?"
Emrby didn't react to the sound of his voice, only shook his head back and forth from behind his hands. His shoulders were now lurching violently, and they all watched him sob quietly, stunned.
"You didn't see him walking out of the forest you walked into!?" Elizabeth said incredulously, her voice too high-pitched.
"No, sorry - we were a little preoccupied!" Charlie snapped back.
"Both of you, shut up!" Jacob snapped, and they stopped immediately. Kim had never seen someone live a day after telling Elizabeth to shut up, but when she looked over at what they were staring at, that was the least of her worries.
Embry stopped sobbing as quickly as he started, and his hands fell from his face.
Turning slowly around, he faced the woods again, tears still running down his face. The group followed his gaze, and Kim's heart thundered almost painfully in her chest as she saw who was walking up to them
"Who invited them?" whispered a shaking voice.
Kim's stomach dropped.
Walking towards them was Jared Cameron and Sam Uley.
As much of a shock as it was to see Sam Uley, she couldn't keep her eyes away from Jared. She barely registered Sam's buzzcut and enormous height - bigger than any wrestler or superhero on TV - before her eyes were drawn to Jared. He was wearing shorts and a hoodie similar to the ones Sam and Embry wore, but less dirty and torn up. His eyes flickered to Kim's, and a strange energy passed through her body when their eyes met. He looked serious, and very, very tired.
"S-Sam..." Embry said, and took a step back. Was he afraid of them?
"Embry." Sam's voice was deep and calm. It was the kind of voice that demanded to be heard. "I need you to come with me."
Everyone stood frozen, watching as Embry turned back to face the group. He didn't have a look of fear in his eyes this time, but of resignation. As if he knew this was going to happen. She expected one of his friends to speak up, to say or accuse Sam Uley of...something. But Jacob, Quil, Charlie… Everybody was silent as they watched Embry walk over to Sam, sparing one last glance over his shoulder, as if he were walking into a force they couldn't stop.
Kim watched them go, Embry's body trembling and his head shaking back and forth. Sam wrapped an arm over his shoulder, in a non-threatening way, to comfort him. Instead of walking back towards the woods, they walked to the parking lot where a familiar car Kim hadn't noticed before sat running.
A rush of voices exploded around her, the loudest being Charlie and Jacob. Kim didn't even notice Jared still standing there, only a few feet away from her, staring at them with a grimace.
"Should we call the cops?"
"Was he on drugs? He looked high as fuck - "
"Where are you taking him?!"
"Embry…" Kim murmured to herself, still staring at the parking lot. The truck backed out, the headlights flooding the beach a moment before leaving the parking lot.
She swallowed, gripping Elizabeth's cell phone in her hand before opening it and started scrolling through the contacts with shaky hands. Elizabeth let her, watching her over her shoulder.
A hand suddenly reached out and tore the phone from her grasp. It felt like it burned her frozen fingers, and she lurched away. "What the—?" Kim gasped.
"You can't call the cops," Jared growled - actually growled - at her. His eyes were dark and she took another step back, her ears ringing.
"Get the hell away from her!" she heard Charlie call out from behind. Jared didn't respond except to close his eyes and take in a deep breath through his nose.
Cold rage started to boil inside of her as she stood there, fuming. He was standing so close, too close.
Charlie appeared beside Kim, putting a hand on her lower back and she instinctively leaned closer to him. "Kim, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"I wouldn't hurt her," Jared bit out.
He glared pointedly at Charlie's hand on her before turning attention to the group.
"Alright, everyone, please calm down," he shouted over them, turning around the face of the majority of the group. Kim saw his shoulders tense, the muscles in his back rigid even from underneath his thin hoodie. They looked like they were shaking, like he was shivering.
The group miraculously quieted down, but from a few feet away she caught sight of Jacob and Quil. Jake looked murderous.
"I know you have a lot of questions about what just happened," he said, his voice even, "but I'm going to ask you all to try to believe me when I say that Embry will be okay. Sam is taking him to his house for the night and I'm going to call Ms. Call myself to let her know. There are some things we don't know going on, and he's been going through a lot of personal issues and may have had too much to drink - "
"Bullshit," Jake snapped.
Kim watched Jared's shoulders rise an inch higher. "Excuse me?"
"Embry wouldn't drink and go running around the woods at night - without shoes on," Jake went on, hissing. "We know him. We're his best friends. If there was something going on with him, we would know."
Jared paused for a moment, and she could see the corner of his jaw tense. "Like I said. There are some things going on. You should ask him yourself - "
"We've been asking him!" Jake shouted, taking a step before Quil threw his arm in front of him to stop him. "The problem is people like you - " he pointed at his chest " - and Uley are scaring him and making him feel like he can't tell us anything. What are you doing to Embry? Huh?"
Jared was quiet another moment before the group started talking all at once, shouting over each other.
"I'll call the cops on you, asshole," Charlie shouted over the crowd, and at that Jared twisted around to glare at him. "On you and Sam Uley! Just try me!"
Kim thought she heard him snort but he continued to glare at Charlie before looking down at Elizabeth's phone still in his hand.
Reading the name Kim was about to dial, he shook his head. "Sam won't answer. Might as well not even try."
Looking at her again, his eyes burned like hot coal.
Jared abruptly tossed the phone back at her. She caught it against her stomach with shaky hands, looking up at him once more before handing the phone back to Elizabeth.
Jared let the group go on shouting at him for another moment before he finally said, "Embry is sick. He isn't feeling well. His mom knows what's going on, and to be honest, it's not my business to tell. And I would think he wouldn't want you guys to go on talking about him like this. I'm sorry we dragged you all into this, and I know it won't stay a secret, but I'm asking you to be...sensitive to his feelings."
His tone made it seem like he wasn't sorry at all. He looked at each person's face, including Jacob and Quil's, before turning to face Charlie, Elizabeth, and finally Kim. "Embry's going through some shit, okay? Just give him some space and some time to get his head on straight. If you want to talk to him, I can give you his mom's number."
"Embry should have been the one to say this," Kim heard herself say before she realized she was speaking.
Jared barely looked back over at her. "Like I said. Just give him some time."
The group talked quietly amongst each other now, and Jacob glared at the ground in front of him, deep in thought. The unattended fire had gotten weaker and weaker, from the wind and sand, until it was barely there at all. The light that flickered off of Jared's skin now was a distant glow.
One of Charlie's friends wordlessly walked over to it and started to put it out. A couple others began to help him, and a few others started to pack their things into their coolers. They all snuck quick glances over at Jared. Jacob Black in particular kept an eye on him-it was obvious he wasn't going anywhere until they spoke, and whatever it was, he didn't want an audience.
"Do you want a ride home?"
Kim turned towards Charlie, his question taking a minute to process. He looked at her earnestly, his gaze shifting between her and Jared, and Kim realized his hand was still on her lower back.
She stepped away from his reach, and he waited a moment before dropping his hand.
"I came with Elizabeth," she replied instead. He pressed his lips together before nodding once.
"Okay," he said. "Will you call me when you're home safe?"
Kim felt a flicker of annoyance, and she broke her gaze. "I'm...pretty tired."
Charlie must have nodded, but she watched his shoes closely until they finally shuffled quietly away.
She tried to take a deep breath in, but the air caught in her chest. Was it cruel, what she was doing to Charlie?
She shivered, and looked over and saw Jared still standing there. He was staring at her again with a frown. Her whole body chilled under his gaze, and her cheeks grew warm despite it.
"Let's go, Kim," Elizabeth said. Nodding in response, Kim cast a wary glance over at Jared. From behind him, Jacob and Quil still stood with their arms crossed, Jake glaring at the back of Jared's head. The rest of their group already left the beach, leaving only the boys, and Kim and Elizabeth.
"Yeah," she whispered, "yeah, okay."
Elizabeth started towards the parking lot, and Kim followed after her. After a few steps, she looked over her shoulder. Jared was in a deep conversation with Jake now, and even though she couldn't understand what they were saying, she could hear Jacob shouting at him.
A/N: Chapter title inspired by "By All Accounts (Today Was A Disaster)" by Emery.
Reviews are greatly appreciated!