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𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃 IT WAS ABOUT A MONTH LATER, Layla had somehow gotten over Angela, or she was putting on a mask and Sophie had completely forgotten about the party, still going through with the shopping and horror movie with Bella, who still felt a little awkward.

The duo were exiting the cinema along with a group of others behind them, a paper box half—full with popcorn clutched tightly in Sophie's hands, she popped one in her mouth occasionally as they walked whilst Bella stuffed her hands in her pockets, staring up at the dark sky above, "I don't understand why there are so many zombie movies." Sophie stated, her mouth full of popcorn and Bella nodded in agreement, a slight scoff escaping her lips.

"Yeah... Maybe it's a sign not to catch diseases." Bella assumed, shrugging and Sophie snorted loudly, swallowing the bunch of popcorn in her mouth.

"Stay away from sex, Bella." She teased, throwing a piece of popcorn at the Swan girl, who dodged it, a grin on her lips.

"Well—" Bella opened her mouth to continue, only to be cut off by a number of motorcyclists stood down at the bottom of a street, sending flirtatious eyes to the two girls.

"How 'bout a ride, girls?" A man called out, making Sophie visibly cringe, continuing to walk whilst she placed popcorn in her mouth but she soon realised Bella wasn't beside her, so she turned around to find Bella hesitatingly moving towards the men.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Sophie chucked her popcorn to the ground, much to her dismay, and she grabbed onto Bella's arm, tugging her back, "Are you crazy?"

"Hey, don't be a party pooper!" A guy called out and she scrunched her brows, throwing up her middle finger as she dragged Bella away from the middle of the street.

"I want to do it, I need to take risks, Sophie." Bella excused, tugging her arm from the St. James' grip but Sophie shook her head, running to stand in front of her 'friend'.

"Bella, you're not thinking straight. This is too dangerous, do something like cliff jumping— actually, don't do that. How about I take you..." Sophie looked to her left, attempting to think of something less dangerous for them to do and as she looked away, Bella rounded her, heading for the motorcyclists.

She quickly noticed and spun around, moving to rush towards her only for a ghost—looking figure to appear in front of Bella — it was an illusion of Edward, "Move, Bella." He whispered and Bella jumped, rolling her eyes, continuing to head down the street.

"Okay, what the actual—" Before Sophie could finish her sentence, Edward appeared again, causing her to shake her head, convincing herself she was only seeing things but she wasn't, it was real.

"Turn around, Bella. This is dangerous. Listen to Sophie." Edward muttered, walking beside Bella, who took a step backwards before the illusion disappeared into the air.

"Come on, girl! We don't bite." Another man called out to Bella and Sophie squeezed her eyes shut in attempt to forget what she'd just seen, knowing her friend's life was being put in jeopardy. She rushed forwards, standing in front of Bella.

"Pedophiles." Sophie snapped, dragging Bella by her arm with force, never letting go, even when the girl attempted to pull away, she never let go of her grip on her arm, "I swear, I'm going to murder you, Bella."

"I thought... I saw something." Bella trailed off and once they turned the corner, Sophie let go of her arm, spinning around in irritation.

"Yes, I saw him too, but you just put not only yourself in danger but me too. Did you really think I would just let you go and get yourself killed? Really?" Sophie crossed her arms over her chest, fuming with anger whilst Bella just looked off into the distance, possibly confused, "Bella!"

Bella's eyes snapped over at Sophie, a little frightened as she watched Sophie shake her head in disbelief, storming off down the pathway. As the fresh air entered her lungs, her anger began to subside into bewilderment as to what just happened, she knew Edward was weird... But not to the point where he could become a ghost and appear out of thin air.

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IT WAS ONLY TWO DAYS and Sophie was still incredibly shook, she couldn't stop thinking about it. How it could possibly be linked to the wolf situation, she even wondered if Edward could be a wolf but she crossed that theory out shortly after, insisting that if he had to be a supernatural creature, he would most definitely be a vampire.

After school, she headed over to the Res to see Embry, the two deciding to meet up on the beach. It was sunset, the two sat side by side in front of the sea, the soft sand beneath them. Sophie had her legs criss—crossed, her elbows propped up on her knees whilst Embry's knees were propped up, his arms resting on his knees.

The only sound that could be heard was the waves crashing against the rocks and the sound of the wind blowing through their hair, it was a peaceful silence... until Embry decided to speak up, his face scrunched up in confusion, "So, wait a minute, you're saying that you and Bella Swan saw an illusion of Edward Cullen?"

"That conversation was hours ago, where have you been?" Sophie turned her head to look at him, her cheek pressed against her palm and he shrugged, staring right back at her.

"Wondering how that's even real, like really? An illusion? Like a hallucination?" He pestered further and Sophie just rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief before turning back to the ocean, watching the sun disappear behind the water.

"No, Em, it was real." Sophie mumbled, her chin against her hand and he nodded, leaning back onto the sand, his hands behind his head. She turned her head to look at him, wondering what he was up to and she watched as he stared up at the stars, the crashing of waves soothing his ears. Suddenly, Embry grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her down beside him, the two giggling as they stared up at the night sky.

After a few moments of silence, Embry decided to speak up again, "I still can't imagine you and Bella being best—friends." He teased, laughing to the point where he was choking, causing Sophie to burst into an uncontrollable laughter, watching him almost choke to death.

"Instant karma." She stated, watching as he calmed down, narrowing his eyes at her and he sat up properly, regaining his breath.

"No, seriously though. Are you gonna hang out again? You know, she brought bike parts to Jake's house yesterday so they could fix them together." Embry explained, watching as her smile dropped, her mood shifted from happy to miserable. She sat up too, rubbing her eyes to stop the tears from forming.

"Cool..." She forced a small smile, rubbing her hands onto her jeans and he raised his brows, realising his mistake but before he could apologise, she opened her mouth to speak, "And probably not, not after what happened. She's heartbroken and insane, Jessica can deal with it."

Embry nodded, his eyes moving back to the sea when a lightbulb went on in his mind, his eyes widening in realisation, "Oh, yeah, by the way, you know Sam Uley and his group? Paul and Jared?"

"Um, kinda." She smiled slightly, the side of her head now resting in her palm and he shook his head, seemingly uneasy of something... or someone, "Why?" She asked further, knowing he was keeping something in.

"They've been following me, like watching me. It's so weird." He visibly grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut as if he was having nightmares about it, as if the thought of being watched caused a shiver to shoot up his spine.

"Seriously? You gotta report that, Embry." Sophie sat up straight, goosebumps appearing all over her arms. She was suddenly cold, knowing the feeling of someone watching you all too well. Her eyes darted around the empty, dark beach, unknowingly searching for that wolf, only to find nothing.

"That's the thing, I can't. The whole Res respects the hell out of Sam, if I report him, nobody would care. They'll say he's protecting me or something." He rolled his eyes, picking at the sand between his knees and Sophie scrunched her face up in irritation, watching her best—friend.

"Have you told your Mom?" She questioned further, receiving a shake of a head in response.

"She'll only freak out." Embry let out a stressed sigh, burying his face in his hands and Sophie placed her hand on his shoulder, her thumb caressing the skin under his black shirt, "I'll just ignore them, they'll get bored eventually." He mumbled into his hands and she nodded, patting his shoulder.

"Yeah, that'd be best." She nodded, dropping her hand from his shoulder and into the sand. Her hazelnut hair flew in the wind, slapping Embry in the face and he chuckled, pushing it away from his eyes.

"You should really cut your hair." He joked, a huge grin on his lips and she snapped her eyes over to him, her green eyes trailing down to his hair which reached down his back.

"You should really cut your hair." She reached out and tugged at his long black strands, causing him to yelp out in pain, shuffling away from her, unable to stop the laughter erupting from him.

"Never!" He stumbled, pushing himself up and he ran through the sand, Sophie hot on his tail.

"I'll cut it with one of these rocks! Oh, come on." Sophie giggled, chasing after him, her toes digging into the sand and he laughed, tripping over onto his back. He yelped, rushing to get back onto his feet but she caught him, jumping on top of him.

Embry groaned loudly, holding onto his stomach from where she'd landed on him, but he couldn't erase the grin on his face, it was irreplaceable. The two laid back on the sand, staring up at the stars just a couple of metres away from their belongings, their heavy breaths and the sound of the waves crashing against the large rocks being the only sounds they could hear.

It was peaceful, relaxing even. A nice change in atmosphere compared to what she'd been going through the past couple of months. She was finally able to breathe.

@amxliewrites — 2024