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THE NEXT WEEK WENT BY quickly, with Lucy adjusting to life in La Push.
It had taken her two days to sort through her belongings, especially since everything she kept from her old house had arrived shortly after she settled in. She didn't have a lot of space, but she managed, storing her mother's things in the attic along with other family treasures.
It was easy for Lucy to get used to the routines and habits of the Ateara household. She found herself slotting into their lifestyle rather so seamlessly, it was as though she had been around for months.
Joy Ateara worked long hours. She was awake and leaving for work at six, only to return home around six or seven at night. By then, she was usually tired and annoyed from having to deal with irritating customers at the local bank in Forks and fell firmly into the couch in the living room. She worked hard, being the sole provider for the family of three – now four – which Lucy admired as much as she was empathetic towards her.
To help out, Lucy had made them chicken alfredo for dinner one night, after seeing an exhaustion on her aunt's face she was familiar with. After taking one bite, she was quickly elected as designated cook for the family. Her strongest campaigner was Quil, of course, who had demanded 'gourmet' dishes every night since.
Lucy often wondered how her grandfather and cousin had survived without her helping her aunt. The one time her cousin had attempted toast, he had managed to not only burn the bread to a charcoal crisp, but to completely break the machine. Her grandfather, on the other hand, would flick his hand dismissively towards the stove and mummer something vaguely about "a fire" when asked to help.
However, her most important accomplishment that week was finally dragging the truth out from Quil.
"So, Embry – the one who gave me my corsage – disappeared right after prom? And then Jacob a few weeks ago?" Quil had briefed her on his failing friendship saga, and she was still trying to understand what had happened.
"Yep." He huffed. He was lying flat on Lucy's bed, continually flinging a stress ball to the roof and catching it. "I even looked in the woods for them."
"And they both were gone for like, a week? Then they return, looking completely unrecognisable and don't say two words to you?"
"No calls, no texts, no conversations." Quil confirmed, sighing bitterly.
"Well that's bullshit!" She angrily decided. "Not acceptable!"
Quil rolled on his side, facing his vexed cousin perched on her desk chair. "It's not like them. They hated Uley and his junkies – and now they're with him? I just don't understand."
