GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

[6]

Lark laid her beach towel out on the ground and took a seat, looking out at the waves and highly anticipating the day ahead of her. Now that Forks High School was officially out for the summer, her mother had let her off the hook with homeschooling, and she was finally free.

Fumbling around to attempt untangling her earbuds, Lark plugged them into her iPod, hitting the button for the music to shuffle before putting them in her ears and rummaging through her bag in search for her book. When she finally found it sitting in the bottom amidst all the crumpled pieces of paper and empty chewing gum wrappers, she smiled contently, gazing out at the water once more before opening her book and beginning to read. However, she was interrupted a few pages in by a shadow falling over her, and she looked up to see Paul crouched down next to her, and Jared, Sam and Embry stood a small ways behind him.

"Whatcha got there?" Paul asked, taking the book from her hands and surveying the cover.

"That would be a book, Paul," Lark huffed, reaching out in an attempt to steal the book back from him.

"More Greek myths, huh?" he said. "What's Hercules doing now? Singlehandedly saving the world?"

"Actually, I'm reading about the story of Narcissus." she said, jutting her lip out and giving him a puppy dog face. "Can I please have it back?"

Paul smiled, handing her the book back. "You should come cliff diving with us."

Lark surveyed the cliff, her eyes widening as she turned back to Paul. "I should what?"

"Come cliff diving," he said. "it's recreational."

"I don't have a bathing suit," she explained, "or a death wish. But you guys have fun, and I'll stay here on the ground where it's nice and safe."

"Suit yourself," he said, giving her one last cheesy grin and running over to the boys before the group hurried to the other side of the beach.

Lark watched them retreat, shaking her head with a small smile before turning back to her book and finding the page she had been on, no thanks to Paul. She turned back to her reading, keeping her earbuds off this time so she could hear when the first one jumped, and be able to watch the action. By the time she heard the first yell in the distance, she looked back up, seeing Embry in the middle of a flip and her jaw dropped, envisioning the great fall from the cliff down to the water below.

After Embry went, Sam was next. Unlike Embry, Sam was a simple man, and didn't include any of the fancy flips in his fall, he simply just jumped and enjoyed the descent. Paul was the next to go, backflipping off the cliff and resurfacing from the water with a triumphant grin, closely followed by Jared.

The boys made their way to the shore and Paul jogged back over to where Lark still sat. As he drew near, she put one hand up, giving the boy a suspicious glare.

"Drip water on my book and I will kill you." she warned, but Paul only shot back his signature grin.

"Good luck with that, sweetheart." he said, taking a seat on the sand next to her. "How's your myth?"

"Hey, it's a great story." she protested.

"What, man falls in love with himself and goes so crazy that he can't marry himself that he ends up dying?" Paul asked, returning her suspicious glare. "It's a little morbid, Hudson."

"It teaches a lesson." she defended. "Narcissus was so infatuated with himself, and that's what caused his downfall. It teaches anyone who hears the tale that being selfish and obsessed with yourself isn't a good thing."

Paul sat in silence for a couple moments, studying her. "And you actually believe in this stuff?"

"Maybe not this one specifically," she explained, closing her book and setting it on top of her bag. "but all the legends had to come from somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, I know, that's what you said the other day." he said. "But why do you, specifically, believe in them? Like the Quileute wolf stuff you were asking me about the other day. Do I look like a wolf to you?"

"Well, n-no," Lark sputtered, "but there's this story my mom used to tell me when I was a kid. One time, she was hiking with my aunt, and they got lost off the trails. They almost got mauled by a bear, but they were saved by a giant wolf. After the wolf saved them, she looked in his eyes and said they looked almost... human."

Paul watched her as she told the story, furrowing his eyebrows together a bit. "But don't werewolves only change during a full moon?"

"Not always," she said. "usually they do. But according to the Quileute legends, no."

Paul looked off into the distance at the water, and the two fell silent for a moment, the only noise in the distance aside from the roaring of the waves being the shouts of glee from the other boys as they took their second round cliff diving.

"How do you do it?" she asked him, "How can you live here, surrounded by all of this for your entire life, and not think it must mean something more?"

Paul shrugged, turning back to face her. "I guess we were always just introduced to the legends as bedtime stories. We were never told that they were actually real. Don't get me wrong, they're interesting stories, and I think it's cool that you know so much about all this."

"Hey, Paul!" Sam called, and both Lark and Paul looked up to see the boys standing by the shore again. "Next round, are you coming?"

"Yeah!" Paul called back, standing back up from the sand before turning back to Lark one last time. "Hey, what are you doing this weekend?"

Lark shrugged. "Not much. Probably just hanging out with my parents."

"Listen, the uh..." Paul trailed off nervously. "the boys and I are taking a camping trip this weekend, but we'll be back Sunday night. Would you maybe want to go get dinner with me when I get back?"

Lark smiled softly, a bit of a blush beginning to spread across her cheeks as she nodded. "I'd like that."

"Cool," he said, taking a few steps backwards to join the other boys but his eyes never leaving hers. "Does seven work for you?"

Lark nodded. "It's a date."