Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE TRIP TO SEATTLE was mostly uneventful, besides a bump or two into a few creeps along the way.
We had finished picking out our dresses within the first hour of us being there, both of us choosing something simple as neither of us really felt the desire to make much of an impression at the party.
"I'm not excited to be around Bella Swan and her cult of Cullen's," Lizzie admitted as I laughed and shook my head at her.
"Why don't you like them?" I questioned, though a part of me was glad she didn't really like them after I found out that the Cullen's were vampires.
Emily and Jacob had both taken turns explaining the treaty to me and some of the differences between the two supernatural rivals.
I had read up on vampires and werewolves when I was a kid, but it never dawned on me that they were real. Though, I still didn't understand how calm I was when I found out they were.
It was strange like I had already known it all to be in the back of my head. I didn't quite understand it, but that knowing feeling seemed to be there somehow.
"Honestly, they give me the heebee-jeebeez." Lizzie shrugged, her hands tucked in the pockets of her jacket as she slowed down and looked at me.
I raised my eyebrow as I slowed down next to her before she finally stopped and let out an annoyed groan. "Just be careful around them, okay?"
Her voice was strict, all jokes pushed aside as she stared down at me in a sort of motherly way.
Lizzie always struggled with expressing her emotions and vulnerable side, she had been this way since we were kids and it had only seemed to get worse the older, we got.
In this moment, though, I could read every expression on her face.
She looked genuinely worried, and it made me shiver at what it was that made her so concerned.
I knew what they truly were, but Lizzie didn't.
Did she?
Questions ran through my head, causing me to grow nervous before Lizzie just smiled and reached over to playfully punch me in the shoulder. "Come on, it's getting late and my dad will kill me if we don't at least get on the highway before the sun goes completely down."
I nodded my head, still questioning things but following her nonetheless.
Neither of us noticing the red-eyed boy that had been eyeing us from the shadows.
•••
THE NEXT DAY CAME by quickly as Lizzie and I attended the graduation party at the Cullen's home. Many of our other classmates scattered all around as Lizzie ran off to a few of her close friends, and I was left bouncing on the balls of my feet by the back window.
I could see Jacob enter the house with Quil and Embry behind him, causing me to head towards them as Jacob hands Bella a wolf keychain.
"Hey, Eloise!" Quil greets me with a wide smile. "We haven't seen you in a while! We for sure thought Paul had been keeping you all to himself."
I raise my eyebrow in confusion before Jacob and Embry seem to elbow him at the same time.
"Paul? I haven't seen him in weeks." I exclaim as the three of them exchange confused and concerned looks. "And why would he want me all to himself, anyway?"
Questions began to swarm my mind, but Jacob just cleared his throat and tried to cover it all up with a few jokes that I wasn't quite buying.
"It's nothing, we just miss seeing you around is all." Embry jumps in and gives me a small hug before we are interrupted by Alice Cullen.
She stood at the top of the stairs looking like she was in a daze before I remembered Bella explain that vampires had certain abilities and Alice's was seeing into the future.
Jacob put his hand on my lower back before leading me through the crowd to follow Bella and the rest of the Cullen's into an empty room.
I felt out of place as I watched them all get into a heated conversation, my shoulders brushing against both Quil and Embry's as I stood in between them.
"Why did you bring Eloise into this?" Bella barked at Jacob, who had his arms crossed over his chest.
I felt a brief sadness wash over me as all of my suspicions of Bella being annoyed with my presence since meeting the Pack seemed to be revealed as true and not just in my head as I had hoped.
The sadness seemed to melt away as Embry threw his arm lazily over my shoulder to comfort me.
"Because she's part of our family now," was all Jacob said as Edward seemed to read his mind and glance over at me in what looked like a realization.
Edward put an arm on Bella's shoulder to quiet her as he whispered something in her ear.
Everyone looked at me, causing me to grow both nervous and angry.
"Is anyone else going to fill me in, or am I just going to stand here looking like an idiot?"
Embry chuckled and mumbled under his breath, "I can see why she is Paul's."
I glared up at him, more confusion on my face before Carlisle, the eldest Cullen, interrupted us.
"Now is not the time for bickering," I shook my head at Embry's lopsided grin and returned my attention back to the Cullen's as they began to explain the newborn vampires that were becoming an even bigger problem and were on their way to Forks.
I felt anger in the pit of my stomach at all of the unanswered questions in my head and now the new ones that were forming.
I knew a little bit about the newborn vampires, at least from listening to Jacob one night outside of my house as I had noticed him sneaking around Bella's window.
He had told me about him and some of the pack patrolling the area, but I didn't think much of it at the time.
But what did Paul have to do with it, besides being part of the pack?
Why did everyone seem to always lump me into this dynamic with Paul?
We had only been on one date.
And that date didn't end very well, might I add.
There was always this weirdness between the two of us and I didn't understand any of it.
Question after question, after question.
It made my head hurt before I was brought back to the memory of Paul asking me if I had listened to a word Jacob had said when he explained some of the wolf things to Bella and I.
My mind raced, confused even more as the words Jacob had said that day no longer seemed to register to me.
