The girl with the snake skin

16. Sunrise

The rest of the night we spent with my mom. Her getting to know Paul and vice versa, half of it she would give me a knowing look whenever he wasn't looking. Eventually Paul got over his nervous phase and is now relaxed and himself. Instead of cooking mom ordered pizza and we tried to get Paul into Grey's Anatomy. Eventually we gave up with a promise that he will get into it eventually. Mom went to bed early saying she had to be up early for a meeting at work. After she was out of ear shot Paul asked "Where does she work?" "She's a pediatrician at a smaller practice." "I thought she was like vp of the serpents." "She is but that doesn't necessarily pay the bills. Plus she loves helping kids. It's also why the 'war' between the Northside and the southside doesn't really affect us." "Because she helps the children of the town." "Yeah and shes good at her job. She's helped everyone in this town since I was a baby just because she wears a cut doesn't change anything for them." "What about the other serpents?" "The other serpents think of the cut as who they are more than a symbol of what we are. And they take any negative thing thrown at us seriously. Like I can easily let a comment slide past me, yeah sometimes I do have to prove myself because of what people think about anyone wearing a cut but oh well it's usually just rumors and stuff that gives us a bad name." We continue our conversation before heading upstairs to my old room. "I still can't believe your mom is letting us sleep in the same room." "Well yeah. She trusts me enough to either not do anything or use protection plus as kids me and Reggie use to have sleep overs, even once we got older and we'd study together and it got late we respected her for opening her house up to my friends to never disrespect her like that. And the two other rooms in this house we leave open in case a serpent needs a place to stay. My friend sweet pea basically lives in one of the other rooms. He ran away from his parents they weren't on good terms or something no one really knows or talks about it, so like the mom she is to everyone she let's him come and go when he needs to." "Really?" "Yeah, she'll do anything for family, whenever he stays he either leaves money, buys groceries or something." "Wow you're mom's pretty cool." "I mean yeah, but from what I remember your mom was pretty cool too." Paul's voice kind of saddens, "yeah." I sit next to Paul on the bed. "Hey I know you miss her and you kind of hate the drunk you have for a dad, but you can't say you aren't grateful for the time you got with her. And if you ever need it, I'm sure my mom will be happy to fill in her shoes as best as she can." "I just wish I didn't have to go home to that man everyday." "Why didn't you ever say anything about it? To the tribe or something. Everyone knows how your dad is, Billy's chief he could've talked to my dad and they could've granted you the ability to live on your own." "I actually never thought of it, since I'm never home it never really mattered, since Im usually at Jared's or Sam's." "Makes sense I guess but still when you turn 18 you should definitely move out." Paul leans back on the bed. I get up and head to the bathroom connected to my room and change into a shirt that's kind of big on me and some shorts. I walk back and stop when I see Paul already under the covers asleep. Shaking my head I turn off the light before climbing into bed next to him.

The next day I wake up at 5 and shower. I dry my hair putting it into 2 french braids. I throw on my black ripped jeans a thermal grey longsleeve and my sleeveless cut. I brush my teeth, put on lotion perfume and chapstick before waking up Paul.

"Paul come on get up" in response I get a mumble. "Come on you have to shower so I can show you something." With his face still in the pillow I can hear a mumbled "what time is it." "It's 5:30." Earning me a loud groan before he lifts his head up and looks at me "why would you wake me up this early." "So you can shower, and get something to eat before I take you somewhere." "But the sun's not even up yet." "Exactly." I saw with a smile. Knowing I won Paul slowly gets up and heads to the bathroom. I wait until I hear the water turn on to head downstairs where my mom is getting ready to leave. "Where are you going this early." "Taking Paul to watch the sunrise." "Mmm sounds fun." "I'll see you later mom." She kisses me on the forehead before saying a quick bye as she heads out the door. As I wait for Paul I decide to text Toni.

R: hey I'm in town the next couple of days, have someone I want you guys to meet, meet me at Sweetwater river.

T: ooo did you finally bring the boyfriend. I need help with something anyways. Don't ask questions in front of the guys I'll tell you later.

R: Gotcha I'll see you later

By the time Paul came down it was 6 and still dark outside. "Why are we up this early?" "Because everyday I use to wake up this early, and I'd go watch the sunrise and write music until I had to go to school." With my explanation we both head to the door me stopping to grab a blanket and we leave. On our way to Sweetwater River we stop at McDonald's to get some breakfast. Then we pull into the makeshift parking lot of the river. "Okay don't get weirded out but weird shit happens all the time here. And since it's still winter the river most likely still frozen over." Paul just looks at me with half a McMuffin in his mouth still half asleep. "Come on" I grab the blanket thankful it's one of those picnic ones with a plastic bottom. I open the trunk and grab my car that has a permanent spot there. and we both head off to my usual spot, Paul carrying the food.

When I sit the blanket down me and Paul both sit and finish the food. By the time we finish the sun is starting to rise. "I know you're sitting next to me but we're out in the snow how are you not freezing." "I actually don't know, I mean this thermal is pretty warm and I guess I'm used to Forks and the always rainy weather. But it is warmer here even in the snow than it is in forks."

We sit there watching the sunrise when it fully rises Paul decides to speak up. "Wow so you did this every morning." "Not every morning but most yeah, it's beautiful with all the trees and the different seasons make it different but I also came here to be alone and relax. If I had something bothering me I could clear my head you know?" Paul nods in understanding, "Besides only a few people know about my music, people just think I have good taste in music." "Does anyone here know you can sing?" "I mean yeah a couple parties I've gone too had karaoke. And my closer friends know but they'd never say anything." Paul nods before getting quiet. I grab my guitar and start strumming random notes. "I just realized you never have these kind of talk with anyone except me and Jared." Paul shrugs, "I've just never been that close to anyone, Jared was there when I first phased, yeah Sam was to but he has Emily, Jared has Kim but he's still like a brother, and then there's you. We're connected by the spirits. I can feel at home with you." "Wanna hear a song I wrote a while ago?" "Sure."

(Picture it in a females voice)
When I finish the song I put the guitar down. "I wrote it when Bella was all depressed." "It's nice. I like it." We sit there in silence until we hear people coming. Knowing it's Fangs Sweet Pea and Toni I don't look towards the noise, instead I look towards Paul. "Ready to meet my friends?"