Better Than Revenge

Seth's POV:

Elena wouldn't move.

"They already know you're here." I told her. "If you can smell them, they can smell you."

She shook her head, completely doubtful. "What if they don't want me to come back? What if they say no?"

I stepped back to relieve our stretched arms. "The Cullens believe in second chances, Elena."

"They won't forgive me." She was convinced. "They won't trust me."

"They will." I assured her. "You just have to earn it."

"Do you trust me?"

Her eyes were very intimidating. They weren't as red, but red enough to make my stomach jerk.

"You see?" She dropped her head. "I've ruined everything."

"All I know is I'm not a professional in the vampire department and you need help. Carlisle will help you. He's a good guy." I brushed the creases in her forehead away with the pad of my thumb. "You'll get through it."

She closed her eyes. "Will you help too?"

"I promise."

Her arms were locked tightly around my waist, but it didn't feel like a hug. It felt inhuman.

"What about Valerie?" She suddenly wondered.

It was a subject I wished to avoid. "What about her?"

"Shouldn't you stay with her?"

I touched a whispy strand of her hair. "She spends alot of time with Jake these days."

"How is she doing?"

I released the clench on my teeth. "I don't know, I haven't talked to her in a while."

She stepped back to check my expression. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, of course."

She squinted her eyes and smirked at me. "You're lying. I can tell because you touch your nose everytime you lie. Like Pinocchio, making sure his nose didn't grow."

I chuckled, partly because she caught me but also because she remembered crazy stuff about me that I barely noticed.

"Welcome back, Elena." Carlisle appeared out of nowhere and startled me, but only a little.

She smiled at him, but I could see panic in her eyes. Carlilse's were very dark, it definitely wasn't normal. It worried me too.

Then I remembered Bella.

He nodded once in a greeting "Seth."

"Is Bella feeling better?"

His creepy eyes shifted. "She's still very ill. But her spirits are high."

"Did you figure out what it is, yet?" Elena jumped in.

"I'm still not sure, but it's best to limit the visitors."

It was my next question.

Carlisle placed his hand over Elena's back, gesturing her forward.

She smiled politely and walked slowly as he led her into the house. She looked back once, so I gave her a thumbs up.

. . . . . . . .

Val's POV :

“Are you sure?”

I didn’t even have to look at the steep drop off the rocks a few yards in front of me. “I’m sure.”

“Come on, you can’t just sit around and be boring.”

“The water’s three degrees warmer today. You’ll miss out.”

I snapped my fingers dramatically. “Oh, darn. A whole three degrees?”

The guys waved their hands at me and gave up, racing each other to the edge, everyone except Quil. He was still trying to keep Claire from running all over the place. It’s not the smartest move to bring a 3 year old to a 20 foot drop off.

“Three degrees can really make a difference, you know.” It was Leah who joined me in leaning against Sam’s car.

“Yeah, I know, I’m just…”

“Oh, I know you’re scared. But we can make sure that kid with the grape-sized brain I’m forced to call my brother doesn’t encourage bad things to happen.”

“It’s not his fault I‘m scared.” I insisted, as Seth was struggling in taking off his shirt. His head wasn’t fitting through the head hole.

“That’s right, I forgot. He’s the smart one.”

I looked at Leah, her lips slightly pursed and her arms crossed, the expression that she always seems to have. Then I looked back to Seth, finally getting the neck of his shirt over his head, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again, flashing me one of his smiles when he noticed me watching. I blushed and smiled back. They couldn’t be more different from each other.

Leah laughed a short, quick laugh. “You guys are pathetic.”

“Excuse me?” I eyed her suspiciously.

She laughed again, opening her mouth to say something, but laughing a third time instead.

I creased my forehead, letting her laugh at me or us or whatever she thought was just so funny, even though I felt like I should defend myself somehow.

“Hi.” Seth leaned towards me, but awkwardly leaned back again. He tried to make it unnoticeable. Leah continued her weird dispersed chuckling fit.

“Hi.”

“You’re not gonna jump?”

I chewed on the side of my cheek, gazing at the spot that seemed to drop off the face of the earth. “I don’t think so.”

“You’re scared, huh?” He looked down and kicked a rock near his foot.

“Kind of.” Leah butted in. Seth raised his head to glare at her. She grinned, satisfied with another victory in annoying her brother.

“Maybe I will one day, but right now I think I’ll just watch.” I smiled at him to make him feel better, and it seemed to work.

Paul snuck around from the other side of the car and scooped me into his arms before I even knew what was happening. “Alright, you big baby. You’re going in whether you like it or not.”

I immediately tried to squirm away. “No, Paul, wait - “

“Come on, there’s like a one in four billion chance you’ll get your brains knocked out by pointy rocks.” He began taking his long and very quick steps towards the edge.

“Paul, please don‘t.” I began to panic.

“Dude, put her down.” Jacob defended me, although his voice wasn’t very convincing.

“Val, it’s about time you start being a big girl, don’t you think?” Paul grinned evilly down upon me.

“Paul, seriously, she‘s scared. Put her down.” Seth got involved when Paul continued to carry me.

He was getting closer. The only thing I could do now was hold on tight and avoid being tossed off a cliff like a stone.

“One, two…”

“No! Paul, stop!” I strangled his neck and grabbed his shirt. Anything in hands reach was clutched in my fists.

“Two and a half…”

“Paul!” I screamed his name, and so did Seth at the exact same time.

“Paul.” Sam’s firm tone stopped Paul in his tracks like he knew the secret password to stopping Paul‘s nonsense. He dropped my feet first and I started backing away, my heart gradually slowing with each step.

When I thought it had returned to it’s normal pace, it jumped when my back hit something I wasn’t expecting. Seth’s fingers curled around my arms from behind, still holding onto me as he shifted to the front.

“You‘re okay.” He told me.

“I’m okay.” I said, trying to convince myself of it.

“Aw, you know I was only kidding.” Paul punched my arm playfully.

“You were?” The inside of my mouth was dry.

“You didn’t think I would really throw you off a cliff, now did you?” Paul smiled and winked at me, advancing one step closer.

I automatically took another step back, and in doing so I noticed something struck across Seth’s back.

“That wasn’t funny. She’s really scared, Paul.” There went Seth, my special little hero.

“Relax, kid. It was a joke. She forgives me, right Val?”

I squinted my eyes and reached forward, running my fingers along the dark pink line that drew diagonally across Seth’s back. “What happened?”

I watched Paul smirk and breathe on his knuckles, wiping them coolly on his shoulder.

Seth spun on his heels to face me again, his face going white like I‘d caught him cheating on a test in third grade. “That’s been there.”

“No it hasn’t.” Paul was still smirking.

“Did you do this?” I demanded Paul, pointing to Seth’s back.

“It’s nothing.” Seth yanked his shoulder away, hiding his back, but I yanked it towards me again.

“It is not just nothing.” I touched it again, the scratch slightly raised on the surface. “Paul?”

“Don’t look at me. It was all Seth’s idea to start the bet.”

Seth kicked Paul in the shin.

“What bet?”

“Val, it isn’t anything to worry about - “

“I want to know. What bet?”

Seth and Paul shared a weird mental conversation before looking back at me.

“Well, Paul said he was tougher than me, so I bet him that if we fought every day for 30 days I would win more fights out of the 30 than he would.”

I simply stared at them. “Fought?“

“In wolf form.” Paul pointed out. Seth kicked him really hard this time. “Because we fight like dogs.”

I let it go. “What do you fight with? Knives?”

Paul laughed. “Sure.”

“So what does the winner get?”

They had to think that one over. I let my forehead fall into the palm of my hand.

“Eternal Glory.” Paul decided.

“Fair enough.” Seth agreed.

“Dare I ask who’s winning?“ I muttered.

Paul crossed his arms and straightened out his shoulders. “Tie.” He revealed.

Seth took one look at Paul’s much larger frame and broadened his shoulders as well. “But today is a new day.” He reminded Paul.

Jacob’s head poked through their shoulders. “Five bucks on Clearwater.”

Paul dropped his tough guy stance and instantly turned into a 10 year old. “Oh, come on, for real?”

“I taught the kid everything he knows.” Jake said, patting Seth on the shoulder. “If he uses his amazing skills, you’re done.”

I attempted to get back my authority over the situation. “Seth, you don’t need to prove anything. You’re both insanely tough, okay? I wouldn‘t pick a fight with either of you.”

They rolled their eyes, including Jacob.

I stuck my nose in the air. “Fine. I’m telling Sam.” I knew Sam wouldn’t let them be so immature.

And yet they laughed.

“Sam already knows.” Seth informed me.

My jaw dropped and I left the three to see if they were telling the truth.

Sam was throwing his shirt and sneakers through the window of his car. I realized Emily was here now, but Leah was gone. She probably jumped to escape the awkwardness.

“Sam,” I called his name before I’d reached him.
“You’re welcome.” He smirked, turning his body to face me. Emily’s head appeared from inside the window.
“Oh, thank you.“ I tucked my hair behind my ear and they both smiled to me. “You know about Seth and Paul’s little bet?”

He pressed his lips into a line and nodded.

“And you’re letting them go along with it?”

He shrugged. “It’s doing more good than bad. They get stronger each time they fight. It keeps them out of my hair, too.”

Has everybody lost their mind? “They’re going to kill each other! What’s the purpose, anyway?”

“Who’s your pick?” Jacob held his palm out between us, a few dollars laying inside of it.

“I’m not getting involved.” I said, pushing his hand away.

“Jeez, you guys are no fun. Sam’s neutral too.” He gave us a look, like he was superior for betting on a fight that was between two of his best friends.

“My money’s on Paul.” Embry slapped his cash in Jake’s hand.

Quil and Jared came over to place their bets as well, and I noticed that both Seth and Paul were missing.

A baby plopped into my lap. Claire pulled at the sides of her cheeks and stuck her tongue out at me. I looked up at Quil. He winked and pointed at me.

“I owe you one.” He reminded me.

Wonderful.

I judged my dirt drawing of a bunny and scribbled it out with the short stick I was holding, kicking the dirt around with my shoe for extra emphasis.

“So how long do these little brawls usually last?” I asked Emily. She had come to sit next to me and help babysit after everyone had rushed into the forest after their bets.

“It depends. Shouldn’t be too much longer.” She was watching the leaves blow in the rarely warm wind, their backs showing on occasion. “A storm must be coming.” She observed.

“It’s supposed to be really warm the next couple days, isn’t it?”

Emily leaned so she could see Claire sitting on the other side of me. “Claire, what are you doing?”

Her arms were spotted with the stickers from the princess book she had in her lap.

I laughed. “They’re supposed to go in the book, not on you.” I peeled a sticker off of her arm and stuck on the page to show her what I meant.

“No!” She squealed, ripping the sticker out of the book and slapping it back onto her arm. “It’s pwetty here!”

“Ok, ok.” I folded my hands in my lap to avoid being tempted any further to pick the stickers off of her. I’ll let Quil deal with that one.

“So what’s going on with you?” Emily bumped my elbow. “Every time you catch Jacob’s eyes you both blush.”

I played dumb. “Really? I didn’t notice.”

She sighed, but smiled. “You know, even if you don’t remember much about me, you should know that we’re really close friends. You used to tell me everything.”

I started drawing with the stick again. “If I tell you, do you promise you’ll just keep it between us? At least until I figure things out.”

“It depends. What did you do?”

I figured out how to word it. “I didn’t really do anything. It’s more of what I let happen.”

“Hmm…” She drew out the possibilities. “Are you making me guess?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

She waited.

I spit it out. “I kissed Jacob.”

She nodded as if she’d predicted that was the case.

“But when I did it, I didn’t know about Seth. Jacob told me after. And now I don’t know…well, I don’t know anything.”

She stared, expressionless.

“Say something.” I urged her.

She changed what she was going to say right before she said it. I could tell. “He’ll understand.”

“Is it bad that I don’t want to tell him?”

I heard the hooting and cheering before I saw them all emerging from the trees. Seth was being bumped around between them in a congratulatory way, while Paul trailed behind, a nasty scowl on his face.

“Aw, you guys missed it! Paul totally screwed up!” Embry was so excited.

I noticed Paul cradling his wrist in his hand, rubbing it and trying to shake it out.

I walked over to him when the rest of them were giving Emily a play by play.

“Are you okay?” I asked pretending that I didn’t care and was still mad at him for trying to hurl me off a cliff.

“Fine.” He spat, shaking his wrist harder. I could faintly hear it cracking and snapping.

I shivered at the sound. “Stop it, jeez!” I grabbed his wrist, looking at it more closely. It was bruised and swollen.

“Your hands are cold.” He said absently.

I spread his fingers out in my palm. “You’re hands are warm.” The puzzle pieces fit together in my mind. “You’re warm too?!”

“What do you mean ‘too’?”

My eyes jumped around frantically. Paul was warm, Jacob was warm, Seth, Quil, Embry, Sam. They were all warm!

It was the most familiar thing I’d noticed since waking up.

I also noticed they way everyone suddenly became tense, the fun and cheerful atmosphere replaced by a chilly and anxious one.

A girl peeked out from behind a tree. She seemed lost, stepping forward cautiously. She spotted a face, probably the one she was looking for.

Her unnaturally red eyes played tug of war with my memory.

Seth emerged from the mob around him, and said one word. “Elena?”

Just one word, and I felt the door in my mind fly open, granting freedom to my memories.