My Lovely Angel

When people talked about Paul and Jared, everyone knew who they were talking about. They were the two boys that ruled the school—the reservation even—and didn’t even try. They were tall and muscular, and looked like they could kill you with the flick of a finger.

Them, and Sam Uley who was even more intimidating to Angel than the other two.

But now, as Angel wandered the hallways in search of her best friend, she saw Embry leaning against a set of lockers with Jared and Paul. And not only that, but he fit in, she realized. He looked almost exactly like them: a buzz cut, strong, and tall. And good looking, Angel thought, strutting by them.

“Angel.” She stopped short, surprised by the manly, husky voice that had just called out her name.

“Yeah?” she asked, spinning on her heel and facing the three boys, one of which was staring her right in the eyes with cold eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he forced out awkwardly, “for everything. It was childish.”

“Its fine, Embry,” Angel spoke after a moment. “Forget about it.” She turned around a second later only to be pulled back again.

“Just ignore Jacob and Quil for the next few weeks. Their going through…some changes and they’ll be even more temperamental.”

Angel nodding, grinding her teeth together from pain Embry was inflicting on her arm. “Alright,” she squeaked, afraid if he held on any tighter her arm would snap.

“Dude,” Paul suddenly shoved Embry’s hand off her arm, and a bruise was already forming on her pale flesh.

“Fuck,” Embry muttered.

“Thanks for the warning,” Angel said, rushing back down the hallway.

“Em,” Jared growled, “You need to be careful. Humans, especially Angel, aren’t as pain resistant as us.” Embry shook his head and breathed steadily through his nose. He had just hurt someone…a girl nonetheless. He felt like such a jerk.

“Just let me…,” he trailed off, stepping forward slightly to apologize to Angel, again. He never meant to hurt her.

“No. Just…cool down.”

Embry sighed and pounded his fist into a locker. This was even more of a curse than he thought.

“What the hell?” Tatiana shrieked when the two found each other at lunch. “How the hell did that happen?” she asked. “Did you put your arm under a moving monster truck?”

Angel shrugged and collected her salad on her fork, stuffing it in her mouth. “Embry grabbed my arm.” Only it sounded sloppy and unrecognizable.

“What was that?” Tatiana asked, not completely hearing her.

“Embry just grabbed my arm a little too roughly,” she answered a bit louder this time.

Tatiana snarled and picked up her best friends arm gently. “Well, looks like he tried to rape you,” she said with a click of her tongue.

“You can tell that from a bruise on my arm?” she asked.

“Well—” she was cut off by a certain male that made her skin crawl.

“Damn, that’s the most color I’ve seen on you besides your clown like makeup,” Jacob snickered, poking his arm making her wince in pain.

“Alright, emotional pain is one thing,” Angel growled, glaring at the two tall boys in front of her, “but physical pain is just a whole new level. Maybe you should go get some help for your mental instability.”

Jacob mock laughed and averted his eyes from her arm to her eyes. “Who did that?” he asked, a little too much concern in his voice. He caught himself before anyone could comment on it. “I thought Quil and me were the only ones who were allowed to torment you.”

“Yeah,” Tatiana said, taking her glare away from a shocked Quil, “and Embry.”

The boys flinched at the name. They hadn’t seen their friend since he had ran out of school the other day. Actually, they had seen him. Out and about the reservation with Jared, Paul, and Sam; people the three boys used to hate.

“Embry did that?” Quil nodded at the pale girls arm. Tatiana and Angel nodded. “Well, we no longer associate with him, so it’s not our problem.”

“You no longer associate with him?” Angel asked disbelievingly. “I wouldn’t blame him though, you two are jackasses.”

With that, Angel grabbed Tatiana’s hand and pulled her across the lunch room and away from the two boys that had quickly became an annoyance.

“One day you’re here—with us, your friends—and the next you’re hurting random girls!” Quil shouted, shoving Embry with all his might, but barley made the taller boy move.

Embry shrugged and looked away. “I apologized. I didn’t mean to hurt Angel—it just happened. And you’re being such a hypocrite, telling me that it’s horrible for what I did to her when you make her life a living hell! You don’t even care about her, so don’t fucking bring that up. What happened to Angel was an accident and I feel bad, but until you know what I’m going through, you cannot criticize me on things I can control.” Embry was shaking, right in front of his former friends. He had a feeling he would phase, and he didn’t have they other guys with him to calm him down. All he had was what Sam had told him about keeping calm, and not to overreact.

Jacob scoffed, though, making it harder for Embry to control himself. “I don’t give a fuck. You left your best friends behind and joined that fucking cult that you were bad mouthing just two weeks ago!”

Embry took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I’m leaving.” And then he sprinted back into the woods, leaving his friends behind yet again.

Angel threw an oversized shirt over her head, just wearing that and her underwear to bed. As she curled under the warm, fuzzy comforter, she sighed and ran her fingers over her bruise lightly. It had turned a very sickly blue and purple color by the time she had gotten home, but she knew that Embry didn’t mean it.

And she also knew something was wrong. Embry hated Paul and Jared, along with Sam, so it didn’t make sense he was suddenly always hanging out with them. Along with the fact that he had shot up at least three inches since she last saw him, and was incredibly stronger.

Something was up. And she was going to find out what.