Roman was trudging through the halls, notebook clutched tightly in hand as she hastily tries to cram as much as she can with the little amount of time she wants to actually spend doing in. She didn't want to waste any of the time.

It was valuable and her grades weren't all that important to her to begin with. It was more for the sake of graduating, ensuring that she could actually get her diploma.

She bounced through the halls, dodging people as she went.

Esme had packed her a lunch she was really looking forward to. Smiling brightly as she handed over the brown paper bag with a kiss to her cheek.

Buzzing with delight at the thought, Roman slipped into the cafeteria before any of her friends, dropping her book to the table as she pulled her food from her bag.

She greeted her friends kindly as they arrived, smiling around her mouthful of a sandwich as they jabbered about one thing or another. They were all excited about the upcoming end of the year. Jessica was made valedictorian. Angela was excited but excited, about going off to college. Lauren was happy to tell anyone who listened about the new dress she bought for the ceremony.

Her girlfriend had yet to arrive. Roman shifts in her seat, eyeing the sulking Mike with narrowed eyes.

Alice came in with a scowl. Sitting silently at her side.

"Where's Bella?"

The vampire hissed silently.

Lauren scoffed. "Haven't you heard? That Quileute boy came by on his motorcycle and she left with him after English."

"She what?" She gaped.

"Yup, Mike saw her go."

She eyed her friend and the girl's vicious smile. "Are you trying to imply something?"

"No, why would I ever do that?" Lauren asks with faux innocence. "You guys are the ones with that weird open relationship."

Roman crushed what was left of her sandwich. "Do you have something you would like to say, Lauren, or are you just going keep making passive-aggressively judgemental comments?"

"I'm not making any sort of comments! I swear!"

"You know, I'm getting tired of always defending you to people. I always swore you were a good friend, a kind friend, but you know what?" Roman asked, standing calmly as she began to pick up her things. "You're a mean person sometimes — an ugly person on the inside — and one day that's going to catch up to you. Call me when you're ready to be a proper friend again."

Alice stands at her side, having helped her pick up here things. At least the vampire didn't look as upset as she did before. Guess Bella really did runoff.

"Oh, and your speech is going to be epic, Jess, no matter what you decide."

It's like she can breathe again once she leaves the cafeteria, the outside air cool in her lungs. Alice stays silent at her side waiting patiently.

"Was she always so terrible?"

"Yes, but you knew that."

"Yeah, I did," Roman sighs, claiming one of the picnic tables.

"I'm happy that you stood up to her."

"Bella would've been, too... Did she really run off with Jacob?"

Alice's grinds her teeth before she pouts, looking down to her lap. "He's going to take away my Porsche."

"Nah, I won't let him if it makes you feel better. He knows how hard it can be to deal with Jacob and Bella is very stubborn when she wants to be," Roman reassures gently. "It's like she forgets that I live there now so she can just say assures going to visit me. He can't keep her from doing that even if he is worried and jealous..."

"You think he's doing this because he's jealous?"

"Partially. I understand the concerns he has about the wolves and the occasional impromptu shifting, but he never gets so uppity when I go," Roman explains, picking at her fingers. "I know he doesn't like it, but u think the real driving force is just his district and envy when it comes to Jacob."

Alice is silent for a moment, no doubt searching for the correct response in whatever future she sees.

"Edward does worry about you each time you step out of my range of sight. It happens much more frequently lately, however, so he can't always tell if it's because you're with the wolves or if it's something else. I'm certain he's going to pace a hole through the floor one day.

"But he knows he can't stop you. That keeping you apart from Seth could cause the boy to break the treaty, and more, if he had ever hurt the boy in any way then you might never be able to forgive him," Alice tells her, laying a comforting hand atop Roman's.

She rolled her lip between her teeth.

"I would stay here more often if he just asked. Bella might not like the bed, but it's better than anything I've ever felt, you know?" She jokes lightly. "I can't sleep in their couch forever, and as much as I know it's not true, I just feel like a burden on poor Sue.

"I don't mind his fear and protectiveness, but making executive decisions for us like this isn't right no matter his reasoning. He isn't allowed to keep us from the people we care about. That hurts us, too."

The rest of the school day passes in a blur as Roman forces herself to actually focus on what her teachers are saying, leaving early for study hall as she does every day.

She's expecting it to be Alice waiting for her out front with Edward's Volvo ready to go. She wasn't quite sure what to do about the cherry red Mercedes parked outside the high school, the blonde beauty seated clearly in the driver seat -- fingers curled perfectly around the wheel as she waits patiently.

Roman sat in the passenger seat silently, buckling herself in as she places her bag in her lap.

They pull away as soon as she's safely seated, zooming away from the building faster than necessary.

Normally, she would use this free time to get in her hours at work. It was the perfect way to fix things so she wasn't swamped with hours on the weekend in order to get everything done, but she had a feeling they weren't going to the ranger station today. That would make things way too easy, simple, and if that was the case, she seriously doubted Rosalie would have left her home just to drive her.

The blonde glances at her. "He's coming back early, just so you know. I'm not sure if you're going to be returning tonight, but I'm sure you would like to see him."

"Why is he coming back?"

Rosalie shot her an amused look. "Pretty sure Alice had no choice but to tell him the truth."

"Because Bella ran away with Jacob," Roman snickers. "And now you've kidnapped me."

"Oh yes, he's going to be furious about this."

"About what? Where exactly are we going?"

The blonde smiles sharply, happy with herself as she continues to drive quickly, speeding down the highway road that led to the reservation and she began to grow antsy -- wondering if Rosalie had lost her mind by driving off in that direction.

They were close to the treaty line, dangerously close, and she continued to glance to the tree line, waiting for one of the wolves to come out and attack for breaking the treaty.

She should have known better than to think Rosalie had lost it as she breaks, spinning her car so the tires squeal and she was parallel to the invisible line.

"What?" she squeaks, twisting around in her seat.

Rosalie laughs, shaking her head. "You should have seen your face. Come on. Get out."

"And do what?"

There was a whoop, a howling type sound that has her spinning -- a grin tugging wide across her cheeks. Seth came skipping from the forest in just a pair of cut off khaki shorts.

She laughed, bouncing from the car as she ran to meet him. He caught her as she threw herself at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Rosalie called me. Said you were gonna need someone to pick you up."

"She called you? When?"

He shook his head, placing her back down. "Around the same time Jake turned up with Bella. I thought it was you calling. It was your number."

So Alice must have known all day that this was going to happen, that she would lose both of us. Wow, she really needed to make sure Edward didn't take back her car -- not that she believed he actually would.

"Rose asked you to pick me up?"

"Said it was important I did if I didn't want you to walk the rest of the way."

Roman turns back to the car, smiling at the blonde that stood at the front of her car, cell phone held in an outstretched hand.

Running over, she hugs the girl happily, mumbling a soft thank you. She really didn't need to do any of this for her, it was more than unnecessary, but it was kind and heartwarming to think that she cared enough to do this for her. With the way that Edward was acting, she wasn't sure how difficult he was going to make coming home now.

She really hoped it didn't change anything, but still, she wasn't going to protest seeing her little brother.

"Make sure to call if you decide to stay," Rose mutters lowly, eyeing Seth carefully. "And do try and check up on Bella when you're there. She's quite accident prone as it is."

"That's putting it mildly," she sighs. "I'll be sure to call if I stay, alright?"

It's all the blonde needs to hear because she's back in her car driving away faster than Roman could imagine.

She blinks as she disappears, biting her lip to hold back a chuckle.

"It was nice of her to let you come over," Seth says. "Jake was really angry after he spoke to Bella last night."

"We're you worried?"

"Not as much as Jake. He was fuming, ready to break the treaty because he thought they weren't going to let her see him again."

"And you?" She asks, confused as he leads her into the forest.

"Worried you might try and fight a vampire over telling you what to do."

She scoffs. "As if. He's gonna come back and it's gonna be like all of my anger never existed."

"When is he coming back?" 

"Tonight, apparently. Rose gave me a warning in case I wanted to stay here." 

Seth looks at her, eyes knowing. "You gonna stay?"

Roman shakes her head, sighing to herself knowing well enough that she would never give up the chance to see him no matter how much she truly loved to spend her time with Seth. Lord, she was a terrible person sometimes -- most of the time. 

"Seth..."

He nods, accepting. "Then we better get you there quick."

"How exactly do you plan that?" 

The boy grins, running off behind a tree. She blinks, taking a cautious step forward. It was a different portion of the forest than what she was used to. The side of the highway something well-maintained to keep the overgrowth from destroying the road and causing traffic. It was a mess of cut branches left to rest on the earthy floor and bush trimmings. 

She hated it here, just barely within sight of the road. She preferred it further in where she could be surrounded by tall sturdy wood and a sky of green leaves. 

There's a snap and a flash of movement before the giant sandy wolf comes skipping into sight, prancing around her in this prideful strut that looks beyond silly with oversized paws. he was tall and gangly, towering over her even in this form. 

Roman laughs, a full-on deep belly laugh, that has her clutching at her stomach. Seth snorts, puffing air into her face, before he nudges her with his nose, tipping her to the ground. 

He drops on top of her, laying his heavy head on her lap. 

"Hey! Get up!" 

The wolf grumbles something intelligible. 

"Stop complaining! Get up!" 

He moves, sitting up so he was looking down at her, tongue lolling from his mouth, inching closer.

"What are you doing? No! Don't do that!"

Roman shrieks and sputters from the trail of spittle that he swipes up her face into her hair, making it stick up around her face. 

She pushed up at him, fingers stroking through his coarse hair until she came up near his ears, scratching the best she could with him sprawled over her. 

"Can we get up, please? The others are just gonna make fun of me now," Roman whines, turning her head to the side as he goes to lick at her face again. "Aw, Seth, come on!" 

Once he finally agrees to get off her, she staggers to her feet, frowning as he lies as low that he could to the ground as he looks as he expectantly. 

"What?"

Seth eyes his back pointedly before turning back to her. 

"You aren't actually serious, are you?" 

He snorts, pawing the dirt. 

Roman shakes her head, failing to hide her excitement as she tries to settle on his back properly -- making sure she wasn't about to fall off when he was sprinting through the trees. He wasn't likely to let her fall anyway. 

She gripped a fistful of the fur around his neck. Her fingers hurt with how tightly she holds him. 

"Okay, be careful, alright?" she says, leaning down. "Don't go too fast. 

The wolf huffs, shoulders rolling. He takes off with a blur, nearly throwing her from his back, and Roman screams, lying closer so her cheek was pressed against him. She could feel every ripple of muscle, every press of his steps into the dirt. 

It's dizzying, incredibly amazing, and it makes her head spin with the speed of it that whips against her cheeks and burns at her eyes. Nothing looks the same in the speed, the trees a dangerous, confusing mess, and Roman gasps as he bobs and weaves in and out of the trees. 

He jerks, dropping down with a long-jump that makes her stomach sink and heart thud. 

"Seth!"

Silent laughter ripples through him. 

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hello! its really weird when a chapter has neither bella or eddie in it but oh well... 

unedited

2019-11-23