┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

THE DAY NELLY LEFT

NELLY COULD STILL REMEMBER THE DAY SHE HAD FIRST ARRIVED TO THE QUILEUTE REZ.

It had been a couple of weeks before her fifth birthday when her mother said that they'd be making the big move, and it had been a couple of days after her fifth birthday when said move actually occurred.

The only reason why Mary-Anne Sequoia had even moved to the Lummi reservation anyways was because her husband insisted they move to his home tribe after their marriage. But Mary-Anne's mother was a Quileute, and so was her mother, and so was her mother before her. It only felt right to properly settle down where she'd grown up, after the divorce had well been finalized. Though, the trek to actually get there had been a tiresome one.

The Quiluetes were a much smaller tribe, and that was the first thing Nelly noticed. They were moving in with their grandmother, into her quaint little evergreen bungalow with a massive yard, on a gravelled street with only a few other houses scattered about.

The box she'd been carrying was almost bigger than herself, but she lugged it out of the moving truck and onto the front porch, sitting on it with a huff. So far, she'd yet to see any kids her age living nearby, which was of course another difference she noted. Back on the Lummi reservation, all of her neighbours had children her age— but here? Her hope of having friends nearby and at her disposal was dwindling.

Until her grandmother approached her with her hands on her hips. "What's got you so glum?" Tabitha Greene asked, observing the child's sulking figure.

Nelly shrugged. "There's no friends here," she stated miserably, using the term friends to encompass any child that was her age. As far as she could tell, the only friend she'd have would be her younger brother who was barely starting to babble a full sentence.

Tabitha chuckled lightly, putting a hand on her granddaughter's small shoulder and using the other to point to the house across the street. "You might find what you're looking for over there," she said with a knowing smile, and before she could even blink, Nelly was rushing across the yard.

She didn't even bother looking both ways as she all but sprinted up to the single-storied home across the road, stopping just shy of the front door which thankfully had a bell to ring.

Nelly only rang it once, because she knew her manners, and stood up straight as she waited for an answer. Though she was practically buzzing with excitement, she tried not to let it show, but even she had no control over the wide smile on her face that showed off her freshly missing front tooth.

The door opened, and Nelly was faced with a boy that was just a little taller than she was. He looked very confused as to why this random girl was bouncing on her heels, right on his doorstep. "...Yeah?"

"Do you need a new friend?" she asked, foregoing introducing herself in order to jump right to the nitty gritty of why she was there.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed. "Uhm..." he stuttered, his hand leaving the door handle as he looked at her, a light blush dusting his cheeks. "I mean, yeah. Sure... I guess?"

The girl with long brown cheered happily, sticking her hand out in the way that her father taught her to do. "I'm Nelly," she finally said, preening when the boy shook her hand. She didn't let go; rather, used her sturdy grip on him to pull him away from his home, "c'mon, let me show you my gramma's tire swing— it's so cool!" 

The boy let himself be pulled along, pleasantly amused by his new neighbour's antics. He figured this was Miss Tabitha's granddaughter, the one she'd been telling him was coming to live on the reservation now. She was precisely how the older woman described her to be: lively.

"I'm Embry, by the way," he said when they'd crossed the street, the girl finally letting go of his hand.

"Both of our names have five letters! You're definitely my new best friend."

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

The years raged on, and despite only being a year younger than her self-proclaimed best friend, Nelly could genuinely say that she adored Embry Call.

And the feeling was definitely mutual.

They continued living across the street from one another, developing the routine of meeting by the road before school each morning so that they could walk together. Even when Embry got to high school, he still made it a point to drop her off on his way before heading to class.

Sure, they had their others friends on the reservation, but at the end of the day when all of the noise disappeared, it would always be Nelly and Embry. Two peas in a pod, undisturbed by the world around them, unchanged. Familiar.

But, despite their decade of friendship, things took a startling turn for the worst once Nelly got to the small high school in La Push. The first semester went by without fail, and she was undoubtably excelling in her classes. Not to mention, her extracurricular were off the charts; tutoring the younger kids on the rez, volunteer work at the beach, helping with sport camps at the youth centre in Forks— you name it, she was doing it.

Then, when the winter was in full swing and the start of their second semester began, Michael Sequoia suddenly wanted back in his children's lives. He was trying to file for full custody with some fancy lawyer he conjured up out of nowhere, and her grandmother's house suddenly seemed more tense than usual.

There were countless arguments over the phone with occasional meetings being held in Seattle, and she knew that nothing good would come from her parents' dispute. Why had it taken Michael ten years to give a damn about his kids?

It was started to wear Nelly down too, the constant stress of not knowing whether she'd be packing her bags or not quite yet. She could remember knocking on the door of the Call residence with a cooled facade on her face, only to have Embry's mother answer with a solemn look.

"He's sick, honey," Tiffany Call responded, a hand going to the girl's shoulder comfortingly. "He should be back at school by Monday, I'm sure."

She wasn't wrong; Embry was indeed back by the following Monday, but he was different. He was almost sickeningly different.

His long hair was cut short, cropped, and he'd arrived to the school with Paul Lahote and Jared Cameron in towe. Sure, Nelly's friend Kim was also in the mix, only because Jared had a more than obvious crush on the Connweller girl, but it was odd.

Once upon a time, Embry had called them hall monitors on steroids. Now, though? Now Embry, with his lean yet larger muscles and sudden growth spurt, was looking just like them.

Nelly cornered him at his locker. "You haven't been answering my calls," she stated, crossing her arms over her chest with narrowed eyes. She had so much to tell him, so much to fill him in on about what had been going on while he was ill. "Not even a text back, dude."

Embry remained silent, rifling through the contents of his locker as though he hadn't heard her speak. She snapped a finger beside his ear, watching him flinch but remain staring at his locker with his lip curled back. "What, Nelly?"

The brunette blinked. "Woah— what's with the attitude?" she questioned harshly, not knowing why he'd just snapped at her. It was not in Embry's nature to be mean spirited, much less mean spirited to Nelly of all people. Hell, he could be loud and rambunctious when he wanted to be, but he'd never raised his tone at her. Never. "What the hell is going on with you?"

She watched as his fingers tightened around his locker door, sighing through his nose. "I've got important shit going on," he responded hotly, and Nelly couldn't help but take a step back. "Just back off, alright?"

"Embry, what—"

"I don't have time to deal with you anymore."

Her heart seemed to stutter in her chest, the few classmates that were littered around the hall seemed to zero their attention on the so-called inseparable pair. Embarrassment coursed through her at the sheer number of eyes locked onto their exchange.

Deal with— had she been something that Embry had to deal with? Like some sort of damn chore?

When she had yet to verbally respond, Embry turned to her with a retort on his lips, but fucking froze instead the moment he met her gaze of pure devastation. In that moment, with the pull in his chest aching ferociously, he wanted to take it all back.

Through Nelly's rapid blinking, she saw his mouth open and close like a fish out of water, and suddenly, it was her that was angry. The roles were reversed in an instant, because Nelly Sequoia was headstrong— she wasn't the kind of girl you could just poke fun at without earning some sort of punishment.

She just never thought she'd be dishing it out to her best friend.

"Fuck you, Call," she spat, using her knuckle to wipe at a stray tear that had escaped her eye. Embry was shaking his head, making a single step forward before Nelly suddenly spun on her heel, walking down the hallway with her chin raised.

And Embry Call? Well, he stood in the hallway and watched his damn Imprint go, taking his heart with her and remained unknowing that it would be the last time he saw her at school.

It would be the last time he saw her at all.

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

hi you guys, and welcome to WAITING ROOM. an embry fic has been long overdue, and now i'm hyperfixated on it so expect more to come :)

chapter one should be out when you see this, so enjoy!! all my love xx