Brave This Storm

A couple of days had passed since Mariana had seen the news bulletin, and today was the first day she was venturing out of the house. Her grandma had taken Donovan to pre-K for the last couple of days as well as this morning, but Mariana decided to man up and go out into the small town to browse the shops while she waited for pre-K to finish so she could pick Donovan up. She didn’t like the uneasy feeling that had settled in the stomach while she walked into the centre of the reservation, but she ignored it. What could possibly go wrong?

But when she walked down the main road in the reservation centre, Mariana felt eyes on her. Eyes burning into the back of her head. She quickly turned to look in that direction, and there stood Seth and his mom Sue, both of them smiling sadly at her when they saw she was looking at them. What the fuck? Why were they…oh no. Oh she knew exactly why they would look at her with pity. They knew about what happened in LA. But how?

Mariana turned her head as she felt more eyes burning into her, clenching her fists when she saw Jared looking at her too. His girlfriend Kim looked at Mariana, frowned, and then Jared started whispering. Mariana fought hard to stop herself going over there and punching one of them when Kim’s eyes widened and she looked back at Mariana, pity in her expression. Mariana didn’t want anyone’s pity. She didn’t want anyone knowing what had happened to her, but it looked like that was inevitable now.

And she knew exactly who had spread the story – and by chance, there he was. Mariana narrowed her eyes as she spotted Jacob walking around a corner at the other end of the road, and started running towards him. She ignored the stares that followed her, not caring what people thought. It’s not as if they could hold anything else against her.

“JACOB!” Mariana yelled.

Jacob stopped walking at the sound of Mariana’s voice and turned around with a smile – only for the smile to drop when he saw the furious expression on her face. What the hell?

“How dare you,” Mariana hissed, glaring at him as she caught up to him.

“Uh, what?” Jacob frowned.

“You told people about the news bulletin! Don’t act stupid!” Mariana said angrily.

“Well, yeah I did…but what’s wrong with that?” Jacob asked, confused.

“Because it’s my private matter! What gives you the right to spread my shit around?” Mariana exploded.

Jacob’s forehead creased at the level of her anger, not liking how she was yelling at him over something he thought was right to do.

“Anyone watching the news at that time would’ve seen it too,” Jacob pointed out.

“That is not the point! If people had seen it on their own, then that’s different. You told people about it and now everyone’s staring at me in a pity party!”

“Ana, I didn’t mean to…”

“But you did, Jake! You told people on purpose! You weren’t forced into it, you didn’t say it by accident – you went and told your friends on purpose!” Mariana yelled.

“But I…”

“Why did you do it, huh? To get a kick out of the pain of the new girl in town? To make me feel even more out of place than I already do? To get a higher ground because you know my story? Please, enlighten me,” Mariana growled.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Ana! I was trying to help!”

“Well you fucking didn’t!” Mariana shouted.

It was at this point that Paul walked around the corner. He had heard shouting and was confused when he recognised the voice as Mariana’s, and now he was even more confused to why she was shouting at Jacob.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on?” Paul frowned, jogging over to Jacob and Mariana.

“Don’t you fucking start, Parker. You know all about what happened to me thanks to Jakey boy here,” Mariana said angrily.

Paul glanced at Jacob’s distraught expression, giving Mariana the answer she needed.

“Perfect. Just perfect. So now what? Everyone’s going to pity the freak who left her boyfriend to be slaughtered?” Mariana laughed bitterly.

“Mariana, I didn’t tell my friends so they would pity you! I told them so if…whatever it was that attacked you came back, you and Donovan would have protection,” Jacob said desperately.

“I don’t need your protection or your pity. Just stay away from me and my son,” Mariana spat.

Hurt flooded across Jacob’s face, making a guilt twinge inside Mariana, but she held firm and started walking away. Jacob had been the one to spread around her agonising story like mindless gossip, after all.

“Mariana, wait!” Paul called.

Mariana ignored him and carried on walking, so Paul ran after her, moving in front of her so she couldn’t move any more.

“Don’t do this to Jake,” Paul said softly.

He hated the thought of someone else needing his imprint so badly, but he knew that Jacob’s feelings for Mariana were only friendship, but a strong friendship at that.

“He’s the one that spread what happened to me, Paul. That shit was private! Why do you think I didn’t tell anyone myself?!” Mariana hissed.

“I know you wanted to keep what happened in Compton to yourself, but all Jake was trying to do was help. He cares about you, Ana. We all do,” Paul said.

Mariana sighed, running her fingers through her hair wearily. She knew deep down that Jacob was only trying to help, but it was the fact that he went behind her back that pissed her off. He could’ve at least asked her if it was alright to tell his friends! What she didn’t understand was how Paul could get her to lose her anger so quickly. How did he do it? How did he have so much of an effect on her?

“I don’t like people talking about me. I had enough of that when I was 16 and pregnant. I came here to get away from all the shit, not so more people could stare at me,” Mariana muttered.

“If anyone gives you trouble, I’ll sort them out,” Paul said, squaring his shoulders.

Mariana chuckled, rolling her eyes, only making Paul smile slightly. At least she was calming down.

“That’s sweet Paul, but you can’t stop everyone pitying the new girl,” Mariana said with a weak smile.

“Sure I can. And so will Jacob, Embry, Quil, Sam, Jared, Seth and Leah,” Paul said firmly.

“Even Leah?” Mariana mused.

“I’m as surprised as you. Leah doesn’t like anyone, but I think she’s warming up to you. I think it helps that you don’t take shit from anyone,” Paul grinned.

Mariana couldn’t help but laugh, nudging Paul with her hip. Paul nudged her back, before turning his head and nodding at Jacob, who was still standing on the road. Jacob smiled a little in relief, glad that Mariana didn’t hate him completely, and walked off, leaving Paul and Mariana alone.

“Thanks, Paul,” Mariana said.

“What for?” Paul shrugged.

“For calming me down. For making sure I didn’t do anything stupid. For making sure I didn’t hurt Jacob,”

“I’ll always be here for you,” Paul murmured.

Mariana bit her bottom lip as a thought came to mind. Should she…? Could she…? Paul didn’t understand her silence, but he smiled at her anyway, which made Mariana’s mind up.

“Is that dinner offer still open?” Mariana said softly.

“W-What?” Paul stammered, not expecting her to say that.

“You heard me,” Mariana said playfully.

“O-Of course it is! But…why?” Paul asked.

“I don’t trust a lot of people, Paul, but you’ve shown me that I can trust you,” Mariana said simply.

A wide grin spread across Paul’s lips before he could stop himself, making Mariana giggle. It was almost nice to have someone so eager to please her.

“Look, I’ve got to pick Donny up from pre-K now, but let me know the time and date, yeah?” Mariana said.

“I can go with you to pick Donny up, if you want. We can figure out when’s best for you while we walk,” Paul suggested quickly.

Mariana bit her bottom lip, but nodded. Someone so willing to be involved in her life, and willing to be so involved with her son, was always a good thing, right?