two ocean's edge

♡

GIANNA CAN FEEL her stomach practically crying by the time lunch rolls around, and tries her very best to ignore the aching feeling that arrives once your body has decided you need to eat immediately. She must've burned off her single piece of toast she ate this morning, by now.

She pushes through the swarming crowds alongside her best friends, all heading towards the lunch room, speedily walking as fast as their legs could without full on sprinting, in an attempt to find a good spot in the queue.

Gianna's good at this. The crowds in this school never really phase her, purely because of the fact that they're so much smaller in size compared to the school she went to back in Florida. It was a nightmare just trying to enter the hallways, let alone cramming to get ahead in the lunch queue or finding a nice table. But Gianna's learned a few tricks and tactics from the stampedes in her old school's hallways. And, considering how small her new one is, this school in comparison is simply a walk in the park.

Her face lights up at the sight of what's being served as dessert today - a lemon sponge with thick frosting, probably her favourite thing to appear on the cafeteria menu. That's another positive thing about Gianna's new school - the food is ten times better than the gross stuff they served at her old one.

Gianna pushes past a few more people, dragging her friends with her, in order to get to the queue - but it seems to already be extremely busy. She must've been let out of her lesson later than usual.

Liv starts to ramble about some boy a year or so above them that seems to enjoy finding ways to piss her off whenever he sees her, and Gianna tries to listen, however she can't help but become distracted. Because somehow, of all the people in the school she could wind up standing behind in the lunch queue, she realises the person in front of her is Seth.

Why is this boy everywhere?

"Oh my god, Gia, you weren't even here yet when it happened, basically..."

Gianna's attention snaps back to her friends, as they explain some kind of incident that happened with this particular boy Liv dislikes that occurred before she moved to La Push.

"What's his name, again?" Gianna asks, so that Liv can continue to ramble.

"Matt, he's an asshole,"

"Gi, how many cakes are left?" Vanessa asks, changing the subject so Liv won't get too worked up.

"Hold on, I'll count now," Gianna says, leaning forward and standing on her top toes to see over Seth's shoulder how many lemon cakes are still going.

She counts how many are left, and then how many people are left in the queue, including herself, and sighs.

"Shit!" she says. "They run out just as they get to us. That's it, day ruined,"

Obviously she's being slightly dramatic, but still - that cake could've made her day a lot better.

"I hate Mr Young, if he didn't go on rambling about shit we already know, we'd have gotten here earlier," Vanessa grumbles.

The three continue through the queue, filling their trays with food and scoping out any free tables they can quickly rush to once they've grabbed their lunches. Gianna sways on one foot, starting to get tired from standing in one spot for so long. In fact, the girl gets so busy daydreaming about what she might do when she gets home she doesn't even notice the boy in front of her turn around until he starts speaking.

"Imagine getting completely wiped out by a wave," Seth says through a teasing tone. Gianna blinks for a second, before letting out a light laugh, realising he was referring to the previous day at the beach.

"Leave me alone, Seth, I didn't see it coming,"

"Yeah, because you were busy watching everyone else," he grins.

"I was just seeing who else was around, is that a crime?" Gianna raises an eyebrow. "Anyway, I waved at you and you ran away. What, are you scared of gingers or something?"

Seth laughs. "You might be the only red-head I know that makes ginger jokes about themselves,"

"Yeah, I have to do it before anyone else does," Gianna nods. "If I get there first, they can't do it,"

"Smart," says Seth with a nod, before continuing. "No, I forgot something, so I had to go home,"

"What did you forget?" asks Gianna, and the boy pauses, looking away for a moment.

"Uh..." he hums. "I can't really remember... oh, it was a football," he says suddenly, nodding.

You friends already had a football, Gianna thinks. But she's not going to interrogate the boy - clearly he doesn't want to talk about why he left. And it's none of her business anyway (even if it does frustrate her a bit - she is, after all, the nosiest person in Washington, as her mother says).

Never mind. One thing Gianna learns from this is that Seth Clearwater is an absolutely awful liar.

"Oh," she says, smirking slightly because she knows he's talking shit.

They finally reach the end of the queue, and Seth picks up the last lemon cake - catching Gianna off guard, because instead of placing it on his own tray, he puts it on hers. She gives him a questioning look.

"I don't like lemon cake that much," he shrugs. Gianna smiles, her eyes brightening.

"Why're you so nice, Seth?" she says through a joking tone - even if she and the boy both know she thoroughly means it.

"I know, I'm amazing,"

"Okay, don't get too arrogant. You're the one scared of gingers,"

"I'm not scared of gingers, gingers are scared of me,"

"As a member of the ginger community I can safely deny that theory,"

Seth grins, and the two hover at the side of the queue, allowing both Liv and Vanessa to overtake them.

"Have you done the Physics homework?" Seth asks. Gianna blinks, before her eyes widen and she says,

"Shit, I haven't. Have you?"

Seth shakes his head. "I was gonna ask if I can copy yours. Guess we're both screwed,"

"You'll be fine," Gianna says, beginning to walk slowly to the table her friends had managed to claim. Seth continues alongside her.

"How?"

"You're Miss' favourite," Gianna says, giving him a small playful nudge. Seth chuckles, shaking his head.

"Am not. She liked teaching Leah, that's all, it's just because I'm her brother,"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Still makes you a favourite," Gianna says, spotting her friends in the left corner of the room and making her way over there.

Seth's are sitting on the table next to them, so he pauses, and says, "I'll see you in Physics, then. Hopefully Miss'll be in a good mood, and she'll let us off lightly,"

Gianna grins. "Hope so - thanks for the cake,"

Seth grins and nods, before turning away and heading off to his own table of friends.

Gianna can't help but feel a surge of guilt in her stomach as she sits down, because Seth really has no idea about her creepy wolf thing for him. What makes it worse is he's just so nice. Too nice. He's much too pure to have the burden of a werewolf on him, and Gianna wishes she could just leave him alone. But she's not going to ignore him if he speaks to her, is she? She might be many things, but she's certainly not rude (unless she needs to be, perhaps).

Whatever. Gianna really just wishes she wasn't the only shapeshifter she knows - she needs someone to ask for advice on all this weird wolf shit. It's her luck she's the last wolf in the family. Typical, really.

♡

GIANNA AND SETH do get lectured over their forgotten homework, but Gianna's much too anxious about what's happening after school to care.

See, her mother's been on at her to get a job for ages - mainly because Gianna likes shopping and she can't keep relying on Christmas and birthday money to pay for whatever it is she's after. And, well, Gianna sort of understands where she's coming from. She also knows she's been spoiled by her mother quite a lot, so perhaps she ought to get a job so she can work for her own money. As much as she really doesn't want to work.

There's a restaurant not too far from where Gianna lives, called the Ocean's Edge — and the owner of which just so happens to be good friends with her mother. And so, ever since the mention of the fact that they need employees, Heather hasn't hesitated to recommend her own daughter to the owner of this particular restaurant. He eventually accepted, which quite simply just makes Gianna think they're desperate for waiters — leading to today, which is supposed to be some kind of trial shift or something before Gianna's officially hired. Fun.

The thing is, Gianna has a lot of confidence with many different things — but when it comes to starting something new with people she doesn't know, she's terrified. She supposes it's a good thing the owner's friends with her mother — maybe she'll feel a little less intimidated.

So, after getting home from school, instead of heading to the beach, or perhaps into Forks with her friends to shop like she usually would, she gets changed into what's considered appropriate for her soon-to-be job — a black polo shirt with the Ocean's Edge logo on it and a black pencil skirt. Gianna quite enjoys the outfit, she won't lie. There are much worse outfits to wear in the workplace, like those horrible coloured uniforms employees have to wear at supermarkets — she feels for the poor souls that have to endure wearing those. She knows she couldn't.

The red head is greeted by an employee when she walks in, who guides her through behind the bar to meet her boss — a man named Ralph. He's tall and bald, but has a long, dark brown beard and quite a stocky build with a round stomach. He wears an enthusiastic smile upon meeting Gianna and reminds her slightly of a bear.

"So," Ralph says, after introducing himself to Gianna. "Are you here to do a sort-of trial shift? Or are you here just to talk and go over how to work everything? Obviously we'll pay you if you decide to do a trial shift — and we'll show you how everything works, and what not."

"Uh," Gianna says, slightly taken aback as she wasn't really prepared for questions straight away. "I mean yeah, I can do a trial shift, now."

"Great!" Ralph says brightly. "You're job's pretty straightforward. You'll be expected to take orders and waitress — and then help clean up afterwards. You do get a break if you're working long hours, obviously. Oh — and sometimes I might need you to help prepare some of the easier dishes, like desserts — but I'll show you how to do it beforehand, don't worry,"

Gianna nods, running each line over her head so as to not miss anything important. There's a rustle in the kitchen, the doorway of which Ralph is standing in front of.

"So... I think, if you're doing a trial shift now, the best thing is for you to be shown where everything goes, how everything works, you know, the basics."

Gianna nods.

"I'm out front on the bar, and I also help prepare food in the kitchen, so I'm a little busy at the moment — but don't worry!" Ralph continues. "We have one of our best employees working with us today," he pokes his head through to the kitchen as he says this, as though notifying whoever it is he's speaking about.

"He'll show you everything and help you out today,"

And then a weird feeling in Gianna's stomach begins to appear, as — somehow — she already knows who's going to walk through the kitchen to greet her when Ralph calls him.

Gianna's gut has never been wrong — proved once again when a tanned boy with dark hair and a bright smile rushes over upon hearing the boss shout,

"Seth!"

Of course.

♡

SETH IS VERY TAKEN ABACK when he's called out by his boss to welcome the new employee and sees Gianna Hart standing awkwardly in front of him. It's a very small world — creepily small. He hasn't had much to do with her before the whole imprinting business and now she seems to be everywhere. Seth wonders if that comes with it? Maybe once you've imprinted on someone, all the stars seem to align and decide to place them closer to you than before. Or maybe it's just dumb luck. Whatever it is, Seth's never been happier to be introduced to a new co-worker.

Then again, he needs to remember not to be so over-the-top. Sometimes he feels like he lets the imprinting shit get the better of him, and the next thing he knows is, he's giving up a lemon cake at lunch for a particular red-headed girl, or he's smiling and waving from across the room. Sure, his friend (and pack leader, he supposes) Sam told him to embrace it — but there's a difference between that and completely freaking your imprint out. And Seth sometimes gets the vibe that that's exactly what he's doing.

After all, Gianna's just a girl. She doesn't need some strange supernatural shit interfering with her business — she's already had enough on her plate moving here to begin with.

But then, sometimes Seth wonders if he'd act the same even if he hadn't accidentally put a weird wolf claim on her. It's not like he's mad about it being Gianna...

Anyways, back to work. It's now his job to teach Gianna everything she needs to know about Ocean's Edge and the magic behind it.

"Seth Clearwater," she says, once Ralph's disappeared to serve some people at the bar.

"The one and only," Seth replies with a cocky tone. "What brings you here?"

"I'm broke, and my mother's refusing to give me money anymore," Gianna says. "You?"

"About the same," Seth nods. "So, what do you need to know first..?"

"Shouldn't you be deciding that?" Gianna says. "After all, you're top employee, according to Ralph. Is there anyone who doesn't like you, Seth? Or are you at the top of everybody's good books?"

"Well, it is quite hard to hate someone like me," Seth says, before his face brightens up. "Okay, I know where to start! So—"

"Seth! We've got an order for you to take out!" A voice echoes from the kitchen.

Seth's plan is immediately shut down by this announcement. Gianna smiles.

"Go on, then show me how it's done. I'll watch from the bar," she says. "You can show me how a top employee carries a plate to his customers,"

A grin appears back on the boy's face. "Watch and learn,"

And so Gianna does — she watches him carry a plate of what looks like a fish burger and fries to a table right in the corner of the room. She does snicker a little, because on the way back to where she's standing he trips on one of the chair legs.

"Is it mandatory to almost fall over on the way back?" she asks with a smirk, to which Seth playfully rolls his eyes and says,

"Oh shut it, you,"

Another order is called to be taken out, so instead, Seth turns to Gianna and raises an eyebrow.

"Think you can match my excellent waiter skills?"

"Without a doubt," Gianna replies, as Seth picks up the dish and hands it to her.

"Prove it, then. Table Number Nineteen — the one by the window," he says, nodding to the back of the restaurant.

"You'll be amazed," Gianna says, taking the plate from the boy and turning to walk off — before pausing, and turning back to him. "Hold on, what is this even called?" she gestures to the dish she's holding.

Seth smirks, this time. "Seared scallops,"

"Smells gross," Gianna says. "Don't tell Ralph I said that,"

"Your secrets safe with me — now hurry up or it'll be cold!"

"My bad!"

Gianna completes her first waitressing task successfully — even making a mockery of Seth and pretending to trip up as she passes him back to the kitchen, just as he's heading out to take someone else's order. He lets out a chuckle as she does so.

The red-head also managed to take a few orders and get them back to the kitchen without making any errors. Seth also taught her how to make a chocolate fudge cake dessert — which was pretty much how Gianna imagined. She just warmed up a fudge cake and placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream next to it. Nothing that complicated.

And it all goes pretty well — Gianna enjoys her shift (perhaps partly because she has a familiar face) and Ralph happily agrees to take her as an employee.

So, as she leaves at around ten o'clock, Seth Clearwater is her subject of thought — because she can't quite grasp, or understand, why he suddenly seems to appear everywhere she goes.

Maybe the universe is mocking her. Maybe it's purely a coincidence. But whatever it is, Gianna knows one thing — she needs to speed up on her little mission to find the Quileute Tribe, so she can finally get some answers.