Lemon Water // Paul Lahote

forty one

Serena

The bath was extremely relaxing and took my mind of the incident almost entirely, although thoughts still lingered in the back of my mind about how I'm not good enough for Paul. Before I knew it, mom was knocking on the door, "you doing alright?"

"Yeah, just give me another hour or so" I replied.

I sat in the bath until the water was ice cold. Getting out I dried myself with a towel before putting on the robe mom left for me. I got dressed in Paul's sweats and sweatshirt before going ti the living room to find my mom.

She was sitting on the couch waiting for me and patted the seat next to her when I walked in. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Not really"

"Ok" she said, pulling me into a hug. We sat like that for ten minutes before I started to talk.

"I was so stupid. He said he liked me and I believed him and it was all just for a stupid dare! I feel like a grade A idiot! I'm humiliated and can never show my face in school again!"

"No sweetie, you're not an idiot, you're just confused with everything that's happened over the last few weeks and that's ok"

The front door opened and Embry walked inside with Jake and Quil, "hey, I'm home. There's someone who wants to talk to you Serena"

Laken walked out from behind the boys with his head down, "I don't want to talk to you" I said, looking away

"Please, Serena, just hear me out!" Laken pleaded

"Why should I? So you can destroy my mental state again? I don't think so! Stay away from me"

"Serena I'm sorry, I don't know why I did it I was being stupid. Please, just listen to me!"

"Go home, Laken" I said, ending the conversation. I watched as Laken left my house slowly, turning around once but then deciding against it and committing to the king walk back to his place.

"Sleepover in our room?" Embry asked, looking at me and mom. I nodded my head excitedly and looked at mom with puppy dog eyes

"I guess, but be quiet, I have the early shift tomorrow" mom said

"Yes!" We all cheered, running towards our small bedroom.

"I don't know about you guys, but I have dibs on this bed!" Jake said, jumping into my bed

"Jake, no! That's my bed!"

"You snooze you loose!"

"Move over!" I said, bushing him towards the wall and climbing in with him.

"Is this what it feels like to be Paul?" Jake asked and I smacked him with my pillow.

"Hey Serena?" Embry asked

"Yeah, Em?"

"Lakens a part of the pack now"

"What?!" I yelled, shooting up into a sitting positing, "how?"

"Embry and Paul beat him up and he got so angry he shifted. Then Jake beat him up when he got to Emily's" Quil told me

"Oh, at least you guys beat him up" I said laying back down.

We laid in silence for a long time, each of us with our own trains of thought. Embry was in his bed while Quil was on an air mattress shoved between our two beds, leaving only about a foot and a half of space for the door to open. I was uncomfortable in bed with Jake, he was large and it didn't help that I only had one blanket on my bed.

"Hey guys?" I asked

"What" Jake responded

"What day is it tomorrow?"

"I have no clue" Embry said.

"I think it's Sunday tomorrow, but I'm not sure, maybe it's Monday" Quil said

"If it's Monday than oh well, what's missing one day" I said, closing my eyes and pulling the blanket closer to me.

Embry

"It is not Sunday!" I exclaimed when the alarm began going off for the third time this morning. The four of us had been ignoring it but now we only have half an hour to get to school and it's a 10 minute drive.

There's also four of us that need the tiny bathroom so this is going to be great. "Shut the stupid thing off" Jake yelled, yanking the pillow out from under Serena and pressing it over his face.

"You guys, school starts soon so get up and get ready! There's toast on in the table!" Mom yelled through the door before I heard her leave the house.

"I like toast" Quil said, jumping out of bed. Jake and I followed Quil as he shimmied out of the door, but I turned back around when Serena wasn't following.

"Hey, let's go eat so we can go to school" I told her, pulling the blanket off of her head

"No! I don't feel good!" She groaned

"You don't feel good or you don't want to face Laken?"

"The second one" she trailed off

"Here's what you're going to do, you're going to get out of bed, eat some breakfast, and get dressed to show those idiots what they're missing, sound like a plan?"

"I guess"

"That's my girl, come on, let's get up" I helped her up and we squeezed out of our room.

We found the guys all dressed already and destroying the giant plate of toast that mom put on the table for us. "We saved you guys some!" Quil said with a mouthful of half chewed food

"Gee thanks," Serena said, taking a slice, does it come with manners?"

Quil blushed and quickly swallowed his food, "sorry" he said

"Shit!" I said looking at the clock, "school starts in 10 minutes. Hurry up and get dressed Serena!"

Both of us rushed around the house getting ready as fast as we could so we wouldn't be late, but it was no use because by the time we got to school homeroom had already started.

"You ready to go in?" Jake asked and we all nodded. We parted ways at our lockers and each went to our own home rooms.