In This Life ○ Paul Lahote

Four

"Come oooonnnnn." Rachel groans and I try and type faster. I huff out a breath as I save it and look up to a vary anxious Rachel.
"It's already 1:05!!" She complains and Mr. Black laughs at her as I shut everything down.
"Will you calm down! Not everyone likes showing up three hours early!" I shout back and pack up all my things so it's not in Mr. Black's way.
"We need to drive." Rachel says hastily and I roll my eyes.
"No. We're walking." I scold her and she groans like a thirteen year old. I roll my eyes again and put my bag back in Rachel's room. I walk out to see Rachel already out the door, resulting in me shaking my head.
"Do you need anything before we go Mr. Black?" I ask and he chuckles and shakes his head no.
"If we wait any longer I'm sure Rache will have a heart attack." He says and I chuckle and he sends me off with a wave before I close the door and walk calmly over to Rachel who's practically vibrating.
"Who's the one with the ADHD now." I mumble and she punches my arm.
"Ow!" I laugh and grab my arm as she storms off. I laugh as I catch up to her, matching her pace easily.
"Do you really wanna show up all hot and sweaty?" I ask her, making her slow down to a walk and I sigh out a breath and walk slowly, enjoying the slow pace of La Push.
"How long did you run for this morning?" Rachel ask randomly and I shrug my shoulders.
"About four-five hours." I reply and that's the end of that conversation.
"There it is!" Rachel says happily and I watch her book it to the door.
"Hey! Rachel!" I shout at her and jog to catch up as she runs in the house and I hear two girl squeals. I go for the door handle but pull back and stick my hands in my back pockets, spinning so my back is facing the door and I groan a little. I can't just saunter into someone else's home. I turn back to the door and pace a little, hearing the vague sound of their reunion.
"Who're you?" I hear and jump a little, turning to see a group of vary muscular, vary tan, vary shirtless men. One of them being Jacob.
"Oh! Hey Jenna!" Jacob grins and jumps up the steps, giving me a hug which I return.
"Sup Baby Cob." I tease and he groans loudly and I hear some of the other men laugh.
"What're you doing outside?"
"Rachel ran in." I tell him and he chuckles as another man walks up.
"You must be Jenna. I'm Sam." He says and offers a hand for me to shake.
"Of course! Rachel's told me a lot about you." I smile and shake his burning hot hand.
"Come on in." He nods at me and I do as instructed, walking over to Rachel and Emily.
"You must be Jenna. I'm Emily, it's so nice to finally put a face to the name." She says and I chuckle as she hugs me and I hug her back.
"Likewise. From what Rachel's told me I feel like I grew up here." I reply and she grins. I look off to all the guys and notice they're keeping a rather safe distance away. They don't look shy so the behavior is weird.
"So, you're a psychology major?" Emily asks and I turn back to her and nod.
"Indeed I am." I smile.
"What're you working on now?" She asks.
"The study of human behavior. You can tell a lot by a person's body language, the pitch of their voice, where they look to." I nod and she looks a little confused.
"I want to be a Criminal Psych Analyzer. Say a criminal pleas insanity. I decide if the criminal in question is, in fact, mentally unstable. And if they're lying, they get an extended sentence." I nod and look around to see everyone has tuned in.
"So basically I'm going to be a living breathing lie detector." I smile and see a couple fidget, resulting in me raising an eyebrow at Jacob who can't help but avert his eyes from my own.
"Sounds difficult." Emily chuckles and I chuckle along, nodding my head.
"At first, but like everything else it gets easier as you go along." I reply.
"As I've heard your cooking only seems to get better and better." I say and she laughs as Rachel nudges her.
"You've heard that huh?" She asks and the oven bings, signaling the end of something baking.
"Who's hungry?" Emily asks and all the boys cheer in the positive, making me chuckle.
"So Jenna!" Jacob calls and I exit the kitchen and look over to him, leaning on the peninsula, folding my arms across my chest.
"I've found you a test subject." He replies, making me chuckle and nod.
"Alright, who's my ginny-pig?" I smirk and he pats a boy's shoulder.
"My friend Paul here." He nods and I grin, looking over at the boy who stood smirking.
"Well Paul, nice to meet you then. I'm Jenna." I say and offer my hand, his cocky smirk drops when I look him in the eye and he falters, if only for a fraction of a second. Everyone else dulls into silence and I tilt my head at him, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Nothing's normal about this behavior. Unless he has bipolar disorder. Or even split personality disorder. Maybe even dissociative disorder but none of those fit, it's something else. Something I've never seen before.
"Jenna." He nods and grips my hand firmly but delicately and gives me a slow shake.
"Nice to meet you." He replies softly and let's my hand go at a slow pace. Maybe he's just into older women.
"So, you sure you're ready for this? I don't hold back." I tell him with a grin and I hear a chuckle behind me and look to Sam who was smirking with his arm around Emily.
"Then you two should get along just fine." His smirk turns into a smile. One that leaks acceptance and trust. Not the distant look and off putting stance I got out side of the cozy house.
"So, when do you want to start?" Paul asks and we all sit down at the large table as Rachel and Emily set the table.
"Oh we don't have to start right now- do you want help with that?" I ask Emily as she carries a heavy trey.
"I got it." Sam interrupts and picks it from her hands.
"Thanks Babe." She says with a smile.
"It was really heavy, don't worry." Emily smiles at me and Rachel snorts, drawing attention to her.
"What." Emily asks.
"Jenna? Nothing's too heavy for Jenna." Rachel grins and I roll my eyes.
"No, it's just that everything is too heavy for you." I smirk and start putting food on my plate as the guys snicker and Rachel hits the back of Jacob's head, making me chuckle.
"Shut up!" Rachel shouts at him.
"Yeah!" I shout in agreement and he groans, making us all laugh some more.
"Do you want help with the dishes after?" I ask and Emily smiles, sitting on Sam's lap due to the lack of seats.
"Yeah that'd be a big help." She smiles.
"Oh any time." I nod before everyone goes quiet and the only sound is cutlery scrapping against plates.

"Oh, I need to go submit that paper." I jump out of my seat on the sofa. I've been bouncing me leg for quite a while and this is giving me the perfect excuse to run home. I can stay sitting for another minute.
"Want me to come with you?" Rachel asks and I shake my head.
"No it's fine, I know the way." I say and Rachel's eyes drop a little and her smile turns bittersweet, making me clench my fists but I smile and make my way out of the house.
"Wait, Jenna!" Paul calls and I stop, spinning around and bouncing from one foot to the other, looking up at him seeing as he's still on the porch.
"Sup?" I ask, hands in my pockets.
"When are we gonna..." He trails off and a light bulb goes off in my head.
"Oh! Right!" I say and jog back up onto the porch.
"You have a cell right?" I ask and he nods, taking out his cellphone and handing it to me, unlocked. I take a picture of myself and save it as my contact photo before punching in my cellphone number and my email.
"There, in case you need to cancel or reschedule or need anything." I tell him.
"Perfect." He smiles down at it.
"Oh, do you need mine?" He asks and I nod with a chuckle, unlocking it and handing it to him. He also takes a picture of himself, making me grin. He doesn't look like the picture type.
"That's my number." He says and I look it over before nodding.
"Perfect." I repeat and smile up at him.
"So when do you want to start?" I ask.
"Tomorrow?" He asks and I nod.
"Sure, you have school right? I could pick you up and we can go to a diner or something." I suggest and he grins widely.
"That sounds perfect." He nods making me chuckle.
"You really like that word. Perfect, I mean." I tell him and he smiles knowingly, leaving me in the dark.
"So I'll pick you up after school?" I ask and he nods. "Bye!" I call and wave before jogging home, figuring I could do a lap or two or five around the reservation before bed.