PURSUIT // P. LAHOTE

[011]

i actually really love this gif for some reason or maybe its just bc i'm a sucker for girls in hats

Skylar's nightmares were bad that night. She had been expecting them but she still found herself waking up every few hours, trembling as she shot up and a light sweat seeming permanent on her skin. The terrors shifted, starting with vampires and alternating to werewolves. In her dreams she imagined the long fangs and blood red eyes vengeful as the pale monster lunged at her, and the snarl of the towering canine as it snapped its jaws.

The sun was just peeking through her curtains when Skylar gave up sleep all together, choosing to just lay under her covers. Everything was normal 48 hours ago. How had so much changed in two days?

Everything with Embry was falling in place, slowly clicking together. Her hurt disappeared but was filled with sadness. She didn't know what he meant about them, how they couldn't work things out. Did he not want to wait on her?

And then there was Paul. He had acted strange when they first met, yeah, and then blowing his fuse when Bella pushed her down. He was just another complicated piece to the story.

Monday would be better. She would be back in school, where she was surrounded by normal people doing normal things, her friends with her. Things would get better. But first she had to survive today.

To be honest, seeing Bella was one of the last things she wanted to do. Skylar understood why she kept her secrets close to her. Hell, Skylar would've done the exact same thing if it meant protecting her sister from harm. If she saw Bella though, then she would start thinking about the Cullens and the wolves. Ruling the wolves out as company as well, Skylar decided that the day would best be spent hanging out with Charlie, redoing some of their favorite activities together. Normal activities.

So she spent the morning glued to Charlie's side, scrolling on her phone as he read the paper. Riding beside him in his cruiser as they headed to eat at the small shop for breakfast. He glared at her later as she handed him a beer then immediately taking one herself but decided to ignore it and focused on the game in front of them.

It was one of the things on why Skylar was closer to Charlie. She could spend a day with her friends and it would be a good one in her books, but she made sure to make time for him. After moving up to Forks she'd grown to enjoy the programmed games on every other day, Charlie's sarcastic cussing muttered under his breath thinking she couldn't hear them, and just the time she spent with him in general. It wasn't an unusual sight for him to be relaxing on the worn out chair while she sat on the floor working on multiple school projects – when she actually had the patience for her school work.

So naturally he didn't question it when Skylar chose to sit beside him while Bella headed out the door. Her sister paused in the doorway, sparing a glance at Skylar but continued to walk out. If Charlie noticed the tension between the two, he didn't mention it.

It wasn't long, however, until her mind drifted from her paper to the supernatural events she had been hit with. The more Skylar tried to push it out, the more she thought about it. Eventually, she pushed her hand through her hair, blowing out a puff of air and stood up. Charlie raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say a word as she made her way out of the living room and up the stairs.

Immediately she walked over to her laptop and pushed the top open. Moving the cursor rapidly across the screen, she opened a tab on Google and searched vampires. Briefly, she remembered hearing the wolves talk about the cold ones and assumed they were talking about the Cullens. Deleting the words on the search bar, she found herself hesitating before slowly typing in the words.