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— 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 best to put the incident from the day before behind her, as she focused on putting her locker combination in correctly. But she couldn't help but think about what had happened.
After both Brady and Edward had assured her multiple times that they were okay, and weren't really phased by the altercation, she'd finally managed to relax for the rest of the ride to a sandwich shop Brady had wanted to try. When Edward had gone off to the bathroom while she and Brady had ordered, the two had agreed to not tell anyone else about what had gone down. And that had been that.
Willow suddenly pulled herself out of the memories of the previous day, and finally managed to open her locker door.
But before she could place any books into the small space, the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind the door grabbed her attention.
She pulled the door closer to herself to get a glimpse of who had approached her, and immediately tried to move the door back to its former place once she saw who it was.
Unfortunately for Willow — she wasn't very strong, to begin with, and the fact that it was Embry whom she was trying to avoid...well, she was pretty unsuccessful.
He easily stopped the door from slamming into his face, and he stared at her with such an intense seriousness, that it scared her a little.
"I need to talk to you." His tone was clipped.
"Well, you're right here. And speaking to me, might I add." She retorted.
"I'm serious, Willa-bear. Th-" The sound of the bell ringing finally got the students to move. And just when Willow thought she got away with the confrontation and turned around to make her way to class — she ran smack dab into someone's chest.
She stepped back and looked up, only to lock eyes with Paul Lahote. She sighed in exasperation, though for some reason she couldn't help but feel calmer now that Paul was here.
Nonetheless, she shook the odd feeling away and turned to look back at Embry. "So you guys are just gonna corner me now? If it's really that important then just spit it out. I don't wanna be late."
She leaned back against her locker and crossed her arms, mentally preparing herself for whatever bullshit was about to spew out of their mouths.
"You shouldn't be hanging around with Edward Cullen. Or any of the Cullens. They're bad news." Embry warned her.
And before she could protest, Paul spoke next. "He's right. You don't know them as we do."
Willow couldn't stop herself from scoffing. "You're. Kidding." Pushing herself away from the locker, she got right into Embry's face.
"You claim their bad news, yet Edward was the only person that was able to pull me out of my spiral after you left me and broke my heart. He found me at rock bottom and hasn't let me reach that point again ever since. What the hell would you know about him being bad news?"
And then she turned to face Paul — also getting right into his face. "And as for me not knowing them the way you do? If knowing them in your way means having a mutual disliking of each other, then I hope I never see things through your eyes."
She turned to Embry one last time. "You left, and I was lost without you. But I found my way."
And then she finally walked away, ignoring the burning stares she could feel them throwing at her back.
— 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐆𝐎𝐓 home, she saw Briar jingle her keys at her, and immediately pulled out her phone to text Edward.
When she got his confirmation for picking her up a few moments later, she looked back up at her older cousin and nodded.
Usually, Briar liked to do all the talking during her and Willow's car rides. Willow never minded, and just always let Briar lead the topic of conversation. But she seemed to sense her younger cousin's mood this time because she didn't start talking right away. And when it was just radio silence between the two, the girl finally sighed.
"Alright, spill."
Willow furrowed her brows in confusion. "What?"
Briar just raised her brows as if to say, 'Well?' and then looked back at the road once more.
The brunette gave in after a moment of contemplation but continued to stare outside of the car window.
"I got cornered by Embry and Paul Lahote at school today." Willow started, and she knew Briar's hackles were starting to rise without even needing to look at her cousin.
"I swear, if those assholes did something to you, I'll kill them myself." The russet-skinned girl started, only for Willow to interrupt her in hopes of calming her down.
"They didn't hurt me, Bri. I swear. They just tried telling me that hanging out with Edward and the rest of his family was a bad idea. That they were bad news. I kind of lost my shit on them before storming off, but honestly...it's been bothering me all day." She finally turned to look at Briar and watched as the other girl's brows furrowed in a mix of confusion and concentration.
"Edward Cullen? Isn't that the one that you've been hanging out with since Embry ditched you?" Before Willow could respond, Briar was already wincing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that." She smiled apologetically, before once again centering her focus on the road.
The younger girl shook her head, a small smile of amusement on her face. "It's alright, you weren't lying. Embry ditched me — and then had the audacity to tell me that Edward was the one I shouldn't be hanging around with. I mean, who the hell does that?" The smile had disappeared halfway through her statement — replaced with an expression of anger.
As the girls neared the boundary of the reservation — Edward's Volvo in the closing distance, Briar spoke her last piece of advice of the day.
"Embry was — is a good kid. You and I both know that. He did a shitty thing, yes, but he's obviously warning you about Edward because he still cares about you in his own warped way." She paused, before continuing.
"I think deep down you're still angry that he left, and you're worried he might be right about Edward. You don't wanna get hurt by another friend, so you're defensive." She side-eyed Willow for a moment, before continuing once more.
"And don't think I forgot about Paul. You mentioned that he also cornered you, but you didn't say anything about him after that. Either Paul wasn't that important — which doesn't make sense, given that you mentioned him in the first place; or he wasn't the one that actually bothered you at all."
Willow never got to respond though, because Briar was already bringing the car to a stop. "Have fun with Edward. Love ya, Willie."
And then she drove off, leaving a whirlwind of thoughts for Willow to digest on the ride into Forks with Edward.
