Hope Mikaelson in La Push

Chapter 2: Strangers

Hope's POV:

The next few weeks go by and there isn't a day that I'm not in Jake's garage with him and Bella. I'm slowly starting to see Jake's childhood crush on Bella begin to come back and I can't help but feel bad for him.

Bella is in no place mentally for another relationship and I don't know when she will be there. Cullen really screwed her up. Right now I'm listening to Bella and Jake are arguing about who is influencing who when there's a knock on the door and Embry's voice enters the garage.

"Yo, Jake, are you in here?" He asks. I grin when I spot him and Quill walking towards us. "HEY! H, you're back!" Quill exclaims as I get up and go over and hug my other two best friends. Besides Paul and Jake, these two have known me the longest.

They've known me even longer than Paul. Them and Jared, but Jared forfeited my friendship when he joined Sam's cult and now, Paul has too. I feel sadness overcome me as I think about my lost friend. I've lost a lot recently, but I never thought I'd lose Paul.

Him and Jake have always been a constant presence in my life. We had a friendship that I thought was unwavering, but I guess I was wrong. I've been wrong about a lot of things recently. I hate being wrong. I lose people when I'm wrong.

"Hey dorks, how have you guys been? Lost without me I'm sure. I was starting to get worried. I thought Jake had killed y'all since I've been back a while still haven't seen either of you." "Well thank you for the concern Hope, it's touching, truly." Embry jokes. I just grin at them.

They turn to Jake and Bella now. "Hey Jake." "Hey, guys, you remember Bella, right?" He asks them. They hadn't seen her since we were eight or nine I think. She never hung out in La Push, it was alway Forks. "So the bike building story's true." Quill mentions.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I taught him everything he knows." I bite my lip to hold back my laughter at this. "What about the part where you're his girlfriend?" He asks. I send Jake a smirk at his flustered face. "Uh...we're friends. You know." Bella mutters awkwardly.

"Ooh, burn!" Embry calls. "Actually, remember, I said she's a girl and a friend." Jake tries. "Embry, do you remember him making that distinction?" Quill asks. "So you guys have girlfriends? That's awesome." Bella teases, trying to help Jake out. I laugh at this.

"Please, Quill's taking his cousin to prom and Embry failed at asking me." "Hey! How was I to know that Lahote was already taking you?" He asks. I roll my eyes. "We go to every dance together, it was a given."

"Well, now that he's out of the picture, will you go to prom with me?" He grins, not thinking about what he's saying. I look down at the thought of one of our many traditions ending. Jake walks over and smacks the back of his head. "Idiot." Quill tells him. "Sorry H." Embry mumbles.

"It's ok, he's no longer worth my time. He showed his true colors. Let's just drop it...ok? And Embry, I'll think about it." His expression brightens at this. "Hey look Em, she actually sees you." "You think you're funny don't you?" Embry asks.

The two start rough housing around and I laugh along with Quill and Bella. "They always like this?" She asks me. I nod. "Always. That's why I love them, despite them being complete idiots. She chuckles at this as we continue to watch the two.

"Got five bucks on Embry." Quill calls to me. I smirk and look at Bella, knowing she's thinking the same thing that I am. "You're on." Luckily Quill ended up paying Bella and I each five buck due to Jacob's obvious win over Embry. The boy had no chance.

Though, I was a bit surprised to find that Em actually put up a better fight than usual. All three of the guys look like they've been working out recently which I know is not the case for Q and Em. They avoid physical activity at all costs.

I got started taking up boxing and when I told them they physically cringed at the idea. Good thing though cause now I can kick their asses with no effort. Jake is a little harder to take on, but I always win. The guys are wimps.

After a few months of boxing Paul and I started to train together. Guess that's another tradition broken. There's endless traditions that Paul and I have and I know that whenever a new one breaks I'll break a little more each time. Weeks pass by and I settle into a routine.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday I'm with Jake and Bella in the garage, Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm with Quill and Embry, and Sundays I take to myself. I usually call one of my aunts and we talk for a while. It's normal...I hate normal.

I hate how I know exactly how my life is going to go from day to day. I hate schedules. I miss the spontaneous trips through the woods, the cliff diving, the walks on the beach whenever I'm upset about my dad. All things I used to do with Paul.

He was the excitement in my life and now he's gone. You would think that being a all powerful supernatural creature would be enough excitement in my life, but it's not. The more normal my life gets the more I dwell on what life was like before my parents died.

It sucks to think about, but Paul is probably the only person who could take my mind off things right now and he's not here. I hate how dependent I am on him, but when someone is there for you, with you every single day for eight years you forget what life is like without them.

I've seen Paul with Sam and Jared while I'm walking around the reservation with Quill and Embry, but he never looks over at me, never acknowledges my existence. It's like he's a stranger who can't be bothered with a the broken girl longing for him to show that he still cares.

I guess that's what we are now. Strangers.