GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

[18]

"Lark, your ride's here!" Diane called as Lark finished applying her mascara and struggled to quickly pull on her shoes without toppling over in the mess of clothes strewn across her floor in the attempt to get ready that morning.

"Coming!" she shouted back, grabbing her backpack off the floor and hurrying down the stairs, only pausing to pick up an apple from the bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter and give her mother a quick hug. "Bye Mom."

"Bye!" Diane called after her as she ran out the door. "Have a great first day of school!"

As soon as Lark was outside, Alicia pressed down on her car's horn, beeping at Lark as she ran to the passenger side.

"Come on!" she exclaimed. "First day of senior year, let's move it!"

"Hey," Lark said, taking a seat and buckling her seatbelt. "Okay, okay, let's go."

Alicia was quick to pull out of the Hudsons' driveway, turning onto the main road, crowded with vehicles housing students on their way to Forks High School for the first day of the new year. Though Lark was sad that her other friends would be going to school on the reservation, she was happy to have Alicia there to show her the ropes and not make her feel like a complete newbie on her first day in a new school.

"So..." Alicia trailed off. "we haven't talked since the wedding. And I hear you found out something... interesting."

Lark nodded. "I sure did."

"We can't talk about it much just yet, because we're meeting up with Leo after school when we can really discuss everything." she began. "But Lark, I want to apologize to you. I wanted to tell you, we all did. But Sam swore us all to secrecy."

Alicia pulled into the parking lot of Forks High, shutting off the car as the two girls sat in silence for a moment, save for the clicking of unbuckling their seat belts.

"I don't blame you." Lark said, staring at the looming school building before them. "I've had a few days to really think, process everything. How's Paul doing?"

"Moody, as usual." Alicia scoffed as the two girls climbed out of the car, grabbing their backpacks and crossing the parking lot to enter the building. "A little more than usual, I guess. I haven't really seen him. Aside from being at Emily's house with the others, he's either been at home or wandering the woods in his... other form." She stopped as the two reached her locker, where she set down her backpack and pulled out her folders for her first classes of the day. "You're going to have to talk to him soon."

Lark nodded in agreement. "I will. I promise."

****

"You're late!" Leo called out as the bell jangled over the door of the ice cream parlor, announcing the arrival of Lark and Alicia, and the girl gestured to the table in front of her, where three ice cream sundaes were already waiting for them.

"Traffic," Alicia said nonchalantly, shrugging as the two girls took a seat next to the Clearwater girl. "Everyone's in a hurry to get out after the first day."

"Anyways," Leo said, her devilish grin landing on Lark. "we have much to discuss with our newest club member."

"Club member?" Lark asked suspiciously, raising her eyebrows.

"The 'we're not werewolves but we hang out with them' club." Leo said, lowering her voice. "Also I want to hear exactly how it happened. Paul left out that part."

"It happened after the wedding." Lark explained. "I guess I kinda just pieced everything together then. It was no longer just speculation, but everything really clicked in that moment. So I stopped by his house, gave him all the evidence. He tried to tell me it was crazy, he really did. But he slipped up, and then it all came out."

"I'm impressed." Leo said. "Truly."

"We tried to help you," Alicia chimed in, "we really did. That's why I helped you with the board so much. I only pulled out stuff in those books that would lead you in the right direction."

"It would've been too obvious if we were both eager to help you." Leo continued on. "So one of us had to be the skeptical one. Alli's much more interested in these things than I am. Besides, snarky and sarcastic is kind of my specialty." she said with a wink, taking another bite of her ice cream.

"So what happens next?" Lark asked.

"Sam swears you to secrecy and if you fail any of his tests, you'll be put to death." Leo said in a deathly serious tone, causing Lark to choke on her ice cream.

"I'll what?" she spat, trying to regain her breath, and the two girls burst into laughter.

"I'm kidding!" Leo assured her. "Next, you and Paul talk. You work out whatever you both left off on, and then you live happily ever after. Just maybe don't tell anyone the guys and my sister turn into huge furry creatures when they get angry."

Lark nodded, taking the last bite of her ice cream. "Yeah. Yeah okay I can do that."

"Come on." Alicia said as soon as all three girls finished their sundaes. "Lark, I'll take you home, then I have to go meet up with Embry."

The girls bid goodbye to Leo, piling into Alicia's Ford and making the short drive to the Hudson residence. Lark said a quick "see you later" to her friend, making her way inside the empty house and back up the stairs to her bedroom.

Setting her bag down on the floor, Lark crossed the room to the old police board, standing in front of it with her arms crossed over her chest, studying the board's contents. Amidst the various strings of yarn and newspaper clippings of the large wolves that had been roaming through Forks in the weeks before the Hudson family's arrival, she found Paul's face in the picture pinned to the board, smiling at the camera in the goofy grin that once in a while found its way through the boy's hardened exterior.

Lark picked up the garbage bin from where it sat next to her desk, setting it down in front of the board as, one by one, she tore down its contents and dropped them into the small basket. In no time, the bulletin board was once again bare, with the various pictures and strings filling the waste basket near to the brim. She moved the garbage back to its original spot, picking up a stack of Polaroid photos off her desk and proceeding to pin them up on the board, full of memories, both new and old.

In the top left corner of the bulletin board now rested a picture of her with Leo and Alicia, taken at La Push the day the group had convinced Lark to try cliff diving. The three girls sat in the sand, smiling up at Quil, who had been taking the picture. In the lower left corner sat a picture of her and Paul, one they had taken themselves the day they went on the picnic since there had been no one else around. Back when Lark's knowledge had been mere speculation, something for her to chase after despite everyone telling her it was crazy.

As soon as every picture in the stack had been pinned to the board, Lark stood back, admiring her handiwork. In addition to the first two pictures, there were some of her family, as well as some old friends from back in Salem. How her life had so drastically changed in the few months since her move across the country, Lark couldn't even begin to explain.

"There we go." she said with a satisfied smile. "That's much better."