Lemon Water // Paul Lahote

forty five

Serena

"You need to block out anything bad someone says about Bailey. She's your tick and it's going to be hard, but I'm confident we can do it"

"How do I do it?" Laken asked

"You need to think of the good things. Maybe some happy memories you and Bailey have together, otherwise think of what you like about her. Tell me them"

"This one time in fifth grade Bailey and I were paired together during gym class for badminton. We were really good and she was really good at it. It was the championship game and we had just won match point and I turned to see the biggest smile I've ever see across her face. Instead of a high five like I was looking for she gave me a massive hug"

"Ok, let's try again now. Bailey will never ever accept you as an imprint. You will be lonely for the rest of your life because she will never be able to look at you again" Laken was shaking of anger, but I could tell thinking of Bailey was calming him

"Nobody likes Bailey besides a few people in the school because she's a brat" that set him off and his wolf was in front of me within seconds.

"Damnit, Laken! Try harder! Shift back!"

"I don't know what else to do, that memory isn't working enough"

"Think of something else"

"Um, Bailey and I went to the winter formal together in eight grade. She actually asked me to it and made a big sign to ask me. When I said yes she got so excited I got excited too. Before the dance we got dinner together and I learned so much about her. Like how she likes the color blue because it's her younger sisters favorite color, or that she always says please and thank you no matter what because her grandma raised her that way"

"That's good, think of that and let's go again" I threw insult after insult out about him and Baileys love life, or just Bailey in general. This time he calmed himself down to the point where my insults weren't even bothering him anymore.

"I did it!" Laken cheered. He was cut off by a howl that sounded like it was only a couple feet away.

"Go, I can get home myself" I told Laken and he nodded and shifted into his wolf.

Right before he was going to take off in the direction of the howl, a red blur sped by us followed by a line of wolves. I looked in shock as I identified each member of the pack chasing the blur.

The last one was Embry, who stopped when he got to us. He growled and rolled his eyes before he started to growl at Laken. After they were done communicating, Embry took off again while Laken stayed back with me.

Laken walked towards me, still in his wolf form, and nudged me in the direction of my house. I walked with him, keeping my eyes wide open looking for any dangers. He led me all the way to my bedroom window and waited until it was shut again before he sprinted off into the woods again.

I decided that I would wait up for Embry to make sure he was safe, but I had no clue when he would be back. The alarm clock read 2:37 am and we had to be up for school in less than five hours, but suddenly I didn't feel tired.

I sat at the desk with the lamp on reading one of my books for hours before the sun started to rise again. My eyes felt heavy but Embry wasn't home yet, so I couldn't go to bed. It was 5:40 and it was too late to get any sleep anyways since I had to be up by 7:20.

Embry

I snuck back through my bedroom window well after the sun began to rise. We had chased that red headed leech for over four hours before she jumped to border into Canada.

After sneaking in my window the first thing I did was notice that Serena wasn't in her bed. She snuck out last night with Laken and Paul, Sam, and I were all pissed. After he joined us he explained that she was helping him control his tick, but it didn't cover the fact that she still went behind our backs.

Looking around our room quickly, I found Serena face down on the desk with a book in her hands and the desk lamp on. "God dammit, Serena, how late did you stay up?" I mumbled, knowing that she wouldn't hear me.

I grabbed the book from her hands and folded the corner to mark her page, then picked her up and set her in her bed. I decided that we didn't have to go to school right away since we both had late nights so I texted the guys to not wait for us, although I doubt many of them would be in school anyway.

I set an alarm on the clock for 9:15 and set it to the lowest volume to make sure only I would wake up for it, then got in bed. After making sure Serena was still asleep I closed my eyes to take a quick nap.

Serena

"Serena" someone said while shaking me. I groaned and rolled onto my opposite side but the shaking continue. "Serena wake up! We need to go to school now"

"What time is it?" I groaned, opening my eyes slowly to adjust to the light.

"9:30" the person responded

"What?!" I exclaimed, shooting out of bed. Embry backed up quickly to avoid my flying limbs

"I came home to you face down on the desk and figured you could use a little more sleep" Embry replied

"What time was it when you got home?" I asked

"6:35 ish"

"I was waiting up to make sure you were safe. I was only asleep for probably 20 minutes before you got home. How was I not able to stay up for an extra 20 minutes?!"

"Hey, it's ok! You don't have to wait up for me, especially on nights like last night. We would have been way longer if she hadn't crossed the border when she did. Besides, I was busy worrying about you while on the chase"

"What? Why?"

"You snuck out! I woke up and you weren't there! I thought something got you! And Laken took forever to catch up to us and I thought you were in danger when he was bringing you back! That and you were basically forcing him to phase in front of you?! Have you see what happened to Emily? It's not a good idea to be that close when we're angry!"

"I'm sorry, ok?! I was pissed off at him, which I still am, and he asked for help! What else was I supposed to do?"

"Stayed away like we told you! Newly phased wolves are dangerous, and you're going to stay away from Laken until we say he's clear, got it?"

"Yeah, got it. Give me five minutes and I'll be good to go" I deadpanned, walking away from him quickly so he wouldn't see the tears forming.