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     𓏲 ࣪₊♡𓂃 LIKE EVERY MORNING, her father was stood in the kitchen in his scrubs, stirring his coffee with a spoon, the warm steam a nice contrast to the cold room. And, her mother was sat at the table, sipping on her own coffee as she scrolled on her tablet, seemingly reading an online book with her leg crossed over the over.

Sophie strolled into the room, running her fingers through her hair. She was clad in a grey sweater and dark blue mom jeans, her infamous Vans on her feet. It was colder than usual, which was odd to say in Forks, it was cold almost everyday, even on the sunniest of days but for some reason, even with the heating on, she was still breathing fog.

"Make sure you wear more than two layers." Corrine spoke up towards her daughter without even looking up from her tablet as if she could feel Sophie's presence and the aforementioned girl chuckled, looking over at her dad just as he glanced at her.

"Morning." Henry grinned, picking up his cup of coffee from the counter and bringing the edge to his lips. Sophie smiled at him and took a seat beside her mother, sneaking a peak at the words on her tablet, causing Corrine to move the screen away, narrowing her eyes playfully at her daughter.

"Mom's reading that story about Johnny Depp again." Sophie outed Corrine to her father, a huge grin on her face when the older woman sent her a glare.

"No, I'm not." Corrine defended, hiding her tablet away and Henry just chuckled, rolling his eyes as if he was used to it, which he was. It was silent for a few minutes, Corrine continued to read her e—book whilst Henry washed out his coffee cup and Sophie sat staring at the wall, her eyes squinted towards the painting which was slightly crooked.

Her lips parted, a small amount of fog escaped her mouth, fogging her vision. The painting hung on the wall began to shake, making little to no noise yet Corrine still noticed, her eyes trailing from the shaking painting to her daughter, who watched the painting with concentration etched onto her features.

"Soph." Her mother's voice sounded and Sophie flinched, the painting falling to the ground with a thud. The younger St. James looked over at her mother, her thick eyebrows still knitted together and before Corrine could speak further, Henry walked into the room, grabbing his jacket from the back of one of the chairs.

"Soph, do you want me to drive you to school today? Your car's frozen over like an ice cube." Henry chuckled, zipping up his coat and Sophie looked over at her father, immediately nodding as if nothing weird had happened just a few seconds ago. She stood up, avoiding her mother's gaze as she exited the room, "What happened?"

"What?" Corrine ripped her eyes away from the doorway of which her daughter had exited through, now watching as her husband bend down with an oblivious smile, picking up the painting that had fallen. He placed it back on the wall, a crooked smile on his lips.

"Must've fallen." Henry shrugged, turning back to his wife, "I'll call you when I get to work. I love you." Henry leaned down, pressing a kiss to Corrine's lips softly, his lips lingering on hers for a moment longer than she'd expected before he eventually pulled away, a grin on his lips, "The cold ain't bothering me today."

He stated with a chuckle and Corrine forced a smile, pretending to be okay. She wanted nothing more than to open up to the love of her life, to tell him all about her worries towards their daughter, about what Sophie could do. But... she couldn't, it was too dangerous, not only for Sophie herself but for Henry as well.

"I love you, too. Safe travels." Corrine muttered, watching him walk out of the open dining room and into the living room. He let out a loud laugh, opening the door leading to the hallway.

"Safe travels." He repeated to himself with another laugh, shaking his head in disbelief as to what she'd said. He left the house to find his daughter sat in the passenger seat of his car, staring out of her window, a distant look in her eyes but he didn't even realise how emotionless she looked, climbing in without a worry in the world, "Hey, uh, you ever get any more notes from anyone since that incident?"

His question was sudden, and random, and managed to take Sophie aback, her eyes immediately snapping over to him. She watched as he turned on the engine, starting up the car and rolling out of the driveway, and when he didn't hear a response, he looked over at her.

"Is that a yes? Because if it is, I'll have to talk to Ch—"

"No, no, I haven't." Sophie shook her head, looking away from him to the scenery outside the window and he let out a sigh of relief, tapping his fingertips on the leather of his steering wheel.

He cleared his throat. While Sophie and her father weren't as close as she and her mother were — something he was well aware of — he made sure to never act awkward around her, as if they were strangers, no matter how awkward she felt.

"You want me to drive you down to the Rez later?" His Australian accent rolled off of his tongue like oil and the hint of a smile spread across her lips, her eyes moving from the window to him.

"That'd be great, actually. Thanks, Dad." Her smile widened as she watched him grin from ear—to—ear at her agreement, he seemed over the moon about being her personal cab driver despite the fact she had her own car.

"We can get coffee on the way as well, if you'd like?" He offered, a smirk playing on his lips now and Sophie's smile widened even more than before, the corners of her eyes creasing. Again, despite their lack of closeness, he still knew every way to cheer her up.

"Yes, please." She clapped happily, her enthusiastic mood a contrast to just a few seconds ago and Henry couldn't be more proud of himself for turning her frown upside down — he knew how low she'd been recently.

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"WHAT'S GOT YOU SO HAPPY?" Layla asked as she bit into one of her carrot sticks, her free hand clutched onto Angela's under the table and Sophie giggled lightly, taking a sip of her apple juice. Layla glanced over at Eric, who also seemed happier than usual but he was completely oblivious to their conversation, too engaged in conversation with Mike, "Wait... Did Eric finally grow the balls to ask you out?"

"What?" Sophie scrunched her brows, the straw of the carton still wedged in between her lips and she looked over at Eric. He looked pissed... if anything, she'd never seen him so annoyed.

"I told you that with confidence!" Eric refrained himself from throwing his sandwich at Layla, who was laughing uncontrollably, her free hand held to her stomach.

"Huh? You have a crush on... Sophie?" Jessica asked, approaching the table with Bella glued to her hip, the two seemingly having heard the conversation on their way over. The Stanley girl placed her tray down beside Angela, taking her seat whilst she gave Eric a weird look and Bella was quickly brought into an unwanted conversation with Mike as soon as she sat beside Jessica.

"No, well— It was years ago, shut up." He shook his head with a roll of his eyes, unwrapping his sandwich in hopes they'd turn the conversation topic away from his old crush on Sophie.

"Okay." Jessica's eyes widened and she held her hands up in surrender before she looked over at Angela, dropping her hands, "So... You two are finally official? I'm glad you've gotten out of that weird shell you were in, Angie."

"Thanks, Jess." Angela responded with a wide smile, clearly overly appreciative of the backhanded compliment her best—friend had given her whilst Layla sent Sophie a look, a look that said all Sophie needed to know.

"Anyways, Layls, I'm actually happy because I'm getting coffee with my dad after school." Sophie grinned, taking another sip of her juice and Layla's brows knitted together, surprised and unsurprised at the same exact time.

"That's it? I swear you're the simplest person ever, it's so easy to make you happy." Layla let out a soft laugh, her hand still holding tightly onto Angela's and Sophie glanced at their intertwined hands, an instant pang in her heart occurring at the romantic moment. She didn't know why, she didn't know why it hurt so much every time she saw any kind of PDA... even when she saw her parents being loving towards one another, it caused her heart to ache.

"I guess so..." Sophie smiled a little, watching as Layla was quickly pulled away from the conversation and she looked down at her tray, fiddling with the edge of it when a chair screeched towards her. Her green eyes looked up, meeting a pair of brown ones and she came face to face with Bella, who wore an anxious expression.

"Hey... Have you heard from Jake at all?" Bella asked, it was clear it'd been lingering in her mind a few too many times and Sophie, no matter how upset she was with the Swan girl, felt slightly sympathetic towards her.

"Um, yeah. I went to see him the other day after we spoke and he's just been sick. Sorry, I forgot to tell you." Sophie sent her a small smile before she looked down at her food, picking up a celery stick and dipping it into some hummus.

Bella nodded, slightly unconvinced but Sophie wouldn't lie... right? She was too sweet for that... right?

"I was just asking because I'm gonna head over and see him later." Bella told her, also looking down at her tray but as she finished her sentence, Sophie looked up, her eyes widened in the slightest.

"Oh... Okay, try not to catch his fever." Sophie joked, yet none of them laughed, only smiles — it was awkward and Sophie wasn't sure how much longer she could handle it but thanks to her best—friend, to her cousin, to her guardian angel, she was brought into a different conversation, saved from the awkwardness that was Bella Swan.

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"COFFEE WITHOUT MILK IS A CRIME." Henry St. James stated as he sipped on his coffee, one hand on the steering wheel and he placed his coffee cup back down in the centre console, his eyes on the road ahead. They drove down the infamous long road sheltered by trees towards the Reservation and per usual, Sophie couldn't look away from the beautiful scenery.

"Agreed. I love coffee but without milk, it's too bitter." Sophie visibly shivered, remembering the last time she attempted to drink straight coffee and how she had to spit it out immediately, the taste too strong. She sipped on her milky coffee they'd gotten from Carver's on their way and she smiled as the warm liquid slid down the back of her throat, the unpleasant thoughts immediately vanishing from her mind.

Henry chuckled as he watched how peaceful she became, turning up the radio playing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Sophie smiled wide, humming along to the song she knew oh so well.

The two St. James' began to sing along loudly to the song, dancing along as the wind blew through the window, through her hair. She let loose, they both did. She needed it, she'd been so tense recently, she'd cried so much and been through way too many stressful situations, it felt nice to finally be free, to finally be happy — even it was just for a moment.

As the song came to a slow end, Henry pulled into the driveway of the Embry household and Sophie grinned, grabbing her half—empty coffee and her bag, "Thanks for driving me, Dad, and for the little bonding time. I really enjoyed it." She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek before climbing out.

"Make sure you text your Mom if you're staying the night!" He called out to her through the open window, waving her goodbye and she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, giggling quietly to herself. She sent him a thumbs up and a little salute before entering the house.

The sound of his wheels rolling against the pebbles outside were heard as she closed the door behind her, and she kicked her shoes off, making sure to put them near the door neatly before making her way into the kitchen. Ms. Call was on the phone stood by the fridge, a pen in her hand as she wrote something down on a post—it note.

When they locked eyes, Sophie smiled and Ms. Call grinned back, holding up her finger as if to say 'one minute'. Sophie nodded and placed her backpack by one of the stools, taking a seat. She held her coffee tightly in her hands, taking a sip every few moments as she pretended not to listen in to Ms. Call's conversation.

Just mere seconds later, the phone was placed back onto the wall and Ms. Call let out a sigh, turning towards Sophie, "Sorry about that, I was just sorting out Embry's inheritance money." She let out another sigh before she walked over to the opposite side of the island, sending Sophie a smile, "Speaking of the little wolf, he isn't here."

Sophie furrowed her brows, sipping on her coffee, "He isn't? That's weird, he told me he'd be home." The corners of her lips downturned curiously, wondering why he lied but Ms. Call was more worried, a nervous tone laced in her voice.

"He said he was meeting up with Quil. He might be with the pack." Ms. Call suggested, turning around to preheat the oven and Sophie nodded, sliding off of the stool.

"I forgot about the whole wolf thing, to be honest. I'll go on a search for him and I'll tell him to let you know he's okay." Sophie told Ms. Call with a wide smile and the woman grinned appreciatively in return, watching as Sophie flung the strap of her bag over her shoulder, heading towards the door, "Oh, by the way, I think you look extra beautiful today with your hair braided like that. You should do it more often." Sophie complimented, pulling on her Converse.

"Really? That's so sweet, thank you, sweetie." Ms. Call placed her hand over her heart, pouting just a tad at the kind words coming from the girl who was just like a daughter to her.

"Bye, Ms. Call!" Sophie waved at her, opening the door and Ms. Call shook her head in disbelief.

"For the last time, you can call me Tiffany!" She called out but it was too late, the St. James girl had already gone on her little adventure to the place she knew Embry would be — the Black's cabin.

@amxliewrites — 2025