Better Than Revenge

Valerie's POV:

I needed to tell someone, and the best person seemed to be Emily. Since she wasn't a werewolf, there was not a chance that she would accidently leak the information through her thoughts. And I trusted her the most.

I arrived at her cute little home and positioned my knuckles to knock on her door, when I noticed a deafening silence that consumed it. The sun had just set and it was cooler outside, but it was all too quiet.

I knocked on the door and discovered it was already open. The wood creaked as it swayed inward, revealing a dark and silent room. It was extremely unusual, considering Emily was always either making food or serving it to the endless pits. It was abandoned.

"Emily?" I disturbed the stillness, stepping inside. I began to worry. "Em, are you here?"

I felt along the wall hastily. My fingers found a lightswitch and I flipped it up.

"SURPRISE!"

A camera flashed in my face and blinded me.

A series of cheering and talking quickly filled the silent space. I was still recovering.

Emily stepped forward, through the wall of people to greet me. "It's a welcome back party!" She giggled.

It took me a second to catch on. "Oh."

"Look at her face." Embry chuckled, waving his camera. "Got a picture so you never forget it, Val."

I blinked. "Thanks."

"You were surprised, weren't you?" Jared smirked.

"Uh huh."

"Can we order pizza now?"

Emily slapped Paul's arm. "Don't be rude. It's Valerie's party."

Paul rolled his eyes. "Val, do you want pizza or what?"

"Pizza is fine." 

Jared picked up the phone and waited while being shouted at with pizza toppings. “We need four large pies with -"

“Pepperoni!”

“Pineapple!”

“Ham!”

“Pepperoni, pineapple, ham…”

“Bacon!”

“Peppers!”

“Peppers, bacon…”

“Extra cheese!”

“Mushrooms!”

“No, no bacon!”

“Oh, wait, no bacon…”

“Yes, bacon! You can’t eat pizza without bacon!”

“Only get a half pie of pineapple.”

“Scratch the pineapple instead of bacon, please…”

“No, I said half a pie! Are you deaf?”

Jacob appeared, snatching the phone out of Jared’s hand. “Just get us two with everything and two plain, please.”

He was harrassed by everyone around him, but set the phone down and pushed himself forcefully towards me, planting a gentle but very noticeable kiss on my lips.

I slipped out of it, embarassed when everyone ooh-ed and whistled. I gave Jake a look. They didn't know about us yet...well, they know now. I wasn't sure how they'd react.

"Jake and Val, sittin' in a tree." Embry began the childish song, and the others joined in. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage..."

"Then comes puppies in a...puppy carriage?"

Paul was mauled with punches in the arm for ruining it.

"Alright, knock it off." Sam announced over the commotion. "Who's picking up the pizza?"

Jake raised his eyebrows at me. I nodded instantly. "We'll go." He took the sleeve of my jacket in his hand.

Sam nodded once. I bet he was hoping no one would volunteer so he would get to escape. Too bad I'm smart, too.

"Thank you." I sighed once I was in his car, safely away from the party.

Jake laughed. "You hated that, didn't you?"

"I don't really like surprises."

Jake started his car and backed out of the driveway. "I thought you might need a chance to recover."

"I do, thank you.'" I breathed again.

His eyes found mine when he smiled, looking at me differently than he did before, when he was only my friend.

"You look like something's bugging you."

"Huh?"

He shook his head. "Don't pull that crap. What's up?"

I debated whether I should tell him what I wanted to tell Emily. I wouldn't get to tell her tonight, but I didn't know how long I could go without saying anything.

"Valerie?" Jacob sang my name.

I twisted the ring on my finger. "Um,"

He waited patiently.

"I don't know if this really happened, because it was before I lost my memory, but...Elena told me she killed herself because she wanted to remind Seth of his feelings for her."

He thought about it, but came up confused. "What?"

Since I got this far, I kept going. "She knew that he would have her turned. It was part of her whole...plan."

"Wait, wait. So she killed herself to get Seth to want to turn her?"

"No, Jake. She wanted him to realize how much he cares about her. And she wanted him away from me. She knew that he would need to spend long periods of time with her. It was all thought out."

He was disgusted. "She had a plan to get rid of you?"

I leaned against the window. "I don't know if she predicted I would lose my memory...but it sure helped."

"And Seth's too freaking clueless to see it."

"I guess he is."

Jake squeezed my hand and held onto it. "Did he talk to you yet?"

I nodded, resting my head on his shoulder. "Yesterday. Why?"

His arm shifted a bit. "He yelled at me after that. I mean, if you think Seth can yell."

I sat up. "He yelled at you? For what?"

"He was going on about how I stopped him from helping you remember just so I could have you to myself, which is the farthest thing from the truth that has ever come out of his mouth."

"So...he knows about us?"

Jake looked over to me and nodded.

I groaned. "Seth,"

"He's crazy."

I sort of disagreed. "If you didn't tell him to not help me, maybe things would be different. And I can see where he's coming from, but... I don't know."

"Val, she still would have manipulated him into Psycholand. And we didn't know what to do with you; we were afraid you wouldn't be able to handle our life, since you basically forgot it all on purpose."

I looked down at my feet. "I guess you're right."

. . . . . . . .

Seth's POV:

I looked in the window before going inside. When I walked in, they all froze, just staring at me.

I was already annoyed. "What?"

No one answered. It was obvious they were having some sort of party. I clearly was not invited. "What is this?"

Quil answered. "Val's welcome back party?"

"I wasn't invited?"

Again, nothing.

"Where is she?"

It was Quil again. "She went to get the pizza with Jacob."

Jared elbowed him in the ribs. "They should be back any minute."

I nodded, but they kept staring at me. "I know." I told them, rolling my eyes a little.

They dropped their tense shoulders.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't really like them together." Embry said.

"Yeah, it's weird." Quil agreed.

I shrugged. 

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you?" Paul jumped in.

"I don't know." I squeezed my head in my hands.

"Fix it, then." Quil said. "Tell Jake to get his own girl. Seriously."

I didn't say anything.

"You really should just punch him in the face. I mean that's what I would do." Paul smirked.

"Val wouldn't like that." Embry pointed out. 

"You don't know that. Maybe she's the kind of girl that likes to be fought over?"

"Paul, please stop talking." I said simply.

"Hey, no room for party poopers."

Emily hurried over to the front door. "They're back." She opened it wide and stepped back, allowing Jake through with a stack of pizzas.

Everyone rose to their feet and followed Jacob like a bunch of ducklings. Emily held the door for the girl trailing behind. She stepped inside and didn't notice me at first, heading for the kitchen.

"Val, did Jacob have any change?" Emily wondered.

She turned back and felt in each pocket of her jeans, pulling out a few dollars. "Yeah, here you go..." Her voice faltered as her eyes spotted me.

Emily quickly took the money and scuttled out of the room.

She refused to look at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know there was a party...did you?"

She glanced in the kitchen at the scavengers and finally looked right at me. I half smiled, and she ran across the room and wrapped her arms around me.

I didn't understand it at all, but I didn't care. I hugged her closely.

"Val."

She flinched, spinning to the voice.

Jacob completely ignored me, but I felt his teeth clench. "You better come get some pizza before it's gone."

"I'll be there in a minute." She said. Jake leaned away.

Val turned slowly to face me. "I want to apologize for yelling at you."

"He's listening." I whispered, watching the entrance to the kitchen.

She waved it off. "I don't care. You were only trying to protect me. I'm sorry."

I smiled, because I knew he was listening. "It's okay."

She smiled back. "Do you want some pizza?"

I nodded, and she took my hand in her own, towing me into the kitchen. We passed Jacob, and he eyed me casually. It was the casual way he did it that told me this wouldn't be easy.

He doesn't know who he's dealing with.