❝later that night, i held an atlas in my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered 'where does it hurt?' it answered 'everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.'❞
the twilight saga / embry call
eclipse ― breaking dawn pt 1
...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER NINE: AT AN IMPASSE
■■ ■ ■ ■
MAE WAS NOT LOOKING forward to school the next day. The thought of facing Embry -- or any of them, really -- was frankly really embarrassing, but unfortunately for her, neither James or Kira fell for her classic 'I'm too sick to get out of bed' act and she had no choice but to go.
"It'll be fine, Mae, you'll see." All morning, Lina had tried her best to assure her that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was, but it went in one ear and out the other as Mae scanned the corridor for any sign of them.
"That's a lie and you know it," she scoffed when her words finally registered.
Lina frowned. "That's what you used to say to me, though." Mae just shot her a deadpan stare before heaving a sigh, the two coming to a stop outside Lina's locker as the warning bell rang. "Look, you haven't really got a choice, Mae. You're here now, the only way that James or mum are coming to get you is if you break a bone."
"That could be arranged," she muttered, to which Lina narrowed her eyes at her in disbelief. "Okay, maybe not. We could always ditch?"
"No way in hell to both," she shook her head. "Just suck it up and go to class, Mae."
Mae sighed again but nodded in defeat. The two went their separate ways to English, which just so happened to be a class she shared with both Embry and Jared, the last people on earth she wanted to see. They were already there when she arrived, both watching the door like they were waiting for her to walk through. Embry's eyes lit up when she did, though the spark was quick to fade when she just averted her eyes to the ground and sat down behind them without a word.
"Hi, Mae," he greeted after a tense moment of silence.
Still refusing to look up at him, she replied, "Hi."
When she said nothing else, he let out a sigh. "Mae, can we talk? I promise I can--"
Fortunately, Mrs Watkins' arrival cut off whatever he was about to say to her. Embry's face fell as Mae turned to the front, he stared at her for an instant before resignation crossed his face and he too turned around.
The next hour was spent ignoring his stares and half-hearted attempts to catch Mae's attention. She hated every second of it. The longer it took for Embry to get through to her, the more determined he seemed to become to get her to listen. Part of her wanted to be stubborn and ignore him regardless, but the other part of her hoped he really did have a reason, a good one.
She wasn't ready to find out, though.
When the bell rang, she was out of the room before Embry had gotten out of his chair. She heard his disheartened 'she hates me' that Jared tried and failed to rebuke before the chatter of other students drowned them out. It wasn't that she hated him, don't get her wrong, but she didn't like being stood up. She didn't like crying or feeling as stupid as she did sitting in that diner alone. Embry had to understand that.
