PURSUIT // P. LAHOTE

[009]

The next morning, Skylar was determined to shake yesterday's events out of her mind. She went straight home after leaving Billy's place, and headed straight for her room, willing herself to go fall asleep quickly.

It was a new day and the boy was pushed to the back of her mind. It was a slow Sunday, and Skylar didn't see much of Charlie or Bella for the majority of the afternoon. When Charlie finally appeared he gave her a quick smile and walked to the dining room to catch up on some paperwork. Bella didn't appear until the sky was dark, sulking to her room and not showing up for the remainder of the night.

The rest of the week was hardly any different. Both girls would leave for school; Skylar sticking close with her group of friends and Bella drifting in and out. Mike seemed to be staying away from the girl and Jessica was busy shooting her small glares every few minutes.

It was Friday afternoon, just after school when Bella stormed down the stairs. Skylar immediately perked up, quickly pursuing her sister. "Hey! Where the hell are you going?"

Only a few steps from her truck, Bella whirled around and threw her hands up. "I can't believe I didn't see it before! Don't you see why Jake changed? Why Embry changed? It had to be Sam!"

The conversation with Embry echoed in her mind from a few weeks back, and Skylar's face fell. "Bella... Maybe we should just stay out of this. I mean, what can we do to help them, especially if Sam got to them?"

"We have to at least try!" Bella cried out. "I'm going to Jake's now and if you want to come, you can." True to her word, she marched to the driver's seat and had the truck roaring to life in seconds.

"Oh, for fuck sakes. Why can't we just be normal teenagers?" Skylar muttered as she heaved herself up in the truck. "C'mon, let's get this over with."

Bella was huffing so much, Skylar had to look over every once in awhile just to make sure she was okay. The hardened look on her face didn't let up once, and it only seemed to deepen when they arrived.

With a small sense of clarity, Skylar felt a twinge of embarrassment as she remembered her actions from the previous week. Sure she was mad, but storming in now seemed a bit unnecessary. Apparently, Bella wasn't thinking the same thing.

"Why can't we just be normal?" She asked again as she threw her head back, resting it on the seat for a second before following her sister into the house. By the time she exited the truck, Bella had stormed past Billy. The older man looked at her, and Skylar weakly smiled back, feeling guiltier every second he looked at her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled as she walked within hearing distance. "I know I didn't really handle that well last week. I- I didn't mean to just break in like that."

Giving her a small, but strong smile, Billy squeezed her hand. "It's okay. I get that you're worried but we're handling it."

Just as she was about to respond, Bella appeared again only to push past the pair, heading towards the back of the house. "Oh, shit, shit, shit."

Skylar had to speed up her walk to keep up and by the time she was next to Bella, four men were standing some distance in front of them. She swallowed back the lump in her throat as she spotted Embry, who was staring sorrowfully down at her before turning his head. Sam stood in the middle with a boy slightly younger flanking him on the right. She felt her heartbeat increase as her eyes caught onto the fourth - the one was with Sam the other day. Paul.

Bella didn't have the same hesitation. "What did you do to him?! Huh?" Going even closer, Skylar went to reach for her arm. Shrugging it off, Bella continued to walk until she was almost directly in front of them.