CHAPTER THREE:
GLORY

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UNLIKE MOST DAYS, SHAY was awake and out of bed before her alarm clock could ring. Forks was unusually warm that morning, and she woke just as the sun began to rise behind a cluster of clouds, sweat sticking to her skin and overheating her body. With a sigh, she kicked her blankets to the end of her bed, just lying there for a moment. She was almost asleep again when her brother started moving around in his room, switching on his radio and playing music as he began to get ready for school. Shay's bleary eyes opened as she scowled, covering her ears with her pillow in a desperate attempt to block out the sounds. But in the end, it was no use, and after several long minutes, she decided to get up and tackle the day head-first.

Her brother was leaving the bathroom when she stepped into the hallway. He sent her a devious grin as she narrowed her eyes, shouting a teasing "love you" to her as she stormed past him, slamming the bathroom door behind her. She took her time getting ready for work, spending an extra few minutes in the shower, lukewarm water spraying down her body and washing away her woes. And when she went back to her room, her brother had already disappeared downstairs, his radio silent. Shay smiled, switching her own radio on and turning the volume down low. She danced around her room, any annoyance at being woken up early gone as she searched for a decent outfit to wear. Cora wasn't strict on uniform at The Carver Cafe, but they did have to stick to certain regulations and Shay respected that. So after much contemplation, she chose a loose brown jumper and a pair of pale blue skinny jeans that were cuffed at the ankles.

With that, she went downstairs, shoving her feet into a pair of lace-up combat boots as she entered the kitchen where once again, her brother was busy reading a book. Shay forced back a smile at the frenzy in his eyes, making her way over to the fridge and grabbing the carton of orange juice from the door, moving to place it down on the table in front of him.

"Let me guess," she hummed, taking a seat across from him and propping her legs up on the chair beside her. "You forgot to do your homework again? I'm really starting to see a pattern here, buddy."

"We have a test on this book today," Sebastian muttered, ignoring his sister's look of disgust as he drank straight from the juice carton, his eyes still focused on the book in his hands. 

"You think you'll finish it in time?" she asked, noticing the number of pages he hadn't read yet and holding back a wince. Sebastian just shrugged, only somewhat listening to her. "Okay then."

She stood up, eyes darting to the clock that hung above the doorway to ensure sure she had enough time for her morning coffee. She searched around the cupboards, preparing her drink and taking a sip from the to-go mug with just a few minutes to spare. She looked over at Sebastian, who was nowhere close to the end of his book.

"Sebby, we gotta get going," she told him, watching as he scrambled to his feet and packed up his things, the book still gripped in his hands as he followed her out the door. 

The drive was a silent one. Sebastian was too distracted to pick a radio station, so Shay chose one herself, driving down the busy roads as her brother sat beside her, now skimming the chapters he had left to read. Too soon, they pulled into the school parking lot, and Shay turned to her brother as she came to a stop in an empty spot by the main doors, noticing the faint look of panic in his eyes as he glanced from her to the book in his hands to the school, catching sight of his friends waiting for him by the bike rack. 

"Hey," Shay sighed, trying her best to sound reassuring as she reached out to squeeze his hands with her own. "You're gonna ace this test, Sebby, try not to panic about it."

"You used to always panic before tests," Sebastian mumbled, thinking back to his sister's high school days where he'd come downstairs in the middle of the night to find her almost asleep at the kitchen table, surrounded by stray pieces of paper and open textbooks. He'd try and convince her to go to bed, but she'd insist that she had to finish another assignment, that she didn't have enough time to sleep, that he didn't have to worry about her. 

"I know," Shay nodded, seeming to remember the same thing. "But it's different now. I had more things to worry about then, you don't. You've got this, Sebastian, I believe in you. And even if you don't do your best, there's always time to improve. Don't stress."

Sebastian shrugged and sunk further into his seat. Shay rolled her eyes, throwing open her door and stepping onto the sidewalk as her brother frowned at her through the window. His eyes went wide as she made her way to his side of the car, propping open the passenger door and forcing him out of the vehicle.

"Okay, okay," he grumbled, reaching inside to grab his things. "Thanks for the inspiring pep talk, sis."

"Any time," she winked at him. "Now get in there and kick some butt, Seb."

She watched him move towards his friends with a grin, sending him an enthusiastic thumbs up when he glanced back at her nervously, only to giggle as he blushed in embarrassment and looked away.

"Hi, Shay."

Shay's eyes went wide, and she quickly spun around, coming face-to-face with a beaming Alice Cullen. Immediately, Shay's heart began to flutter, and she internally scolded herself for being so lovesick. Behind Alice stood two of her brothers, Edward and Jasper if Shay remembered right, and Bella Swan, Edward's girlfriend. The three of them were watching her with amused smirks, their eyes darting between a grinning Alice and a blushing Shay.

"Hi, Alice," Shay waved, sending the others an awkward glance as they simply stood there in silence. "And, uh, Alice's family."

"What are you doing here?" Alice asked her, unphased by the students who rushed past them as the warning bell rang for morning classes.

"Oh, just dropping off my brother," Shay shrugged, waving a hand towards Sebastian as he passed them with his friends in tow.

The boy in question had noticed them standing there, and his eyes lit up in realisation as he noticed how flustered his sister was. He sent her a smug smirk, to which she glared at him as he sent her a mocking wave before disappearing inside the school.

"Anyway, I better get to work," Shay muttered, beginning to move towards her car. She expected them to move along but instead, they stood and watched her curiously, sending her into another nervous frenzy.

"I'll see you later then," Alice beamed, and Shay's insides warmed at the sight.

"Why?" she hummed, leaning against her door in an attempt to seem confident. "You gonna drop by?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, glancing around the empty parking lot with a sigh. "We should head inside. It was nice seeing you, Shay."

"Yeah, you too," Shay mumbled, her eyes tracking Alice's every move as the brunette and her siblings began to walk away, Alice sending her one last blinding smile over her shoulder.

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NIGHT HAD FALLEN IN Forks, Washington. A bleary-eyed Shay Chambers was wiping down the main counter of The Carver Cafe with Cora by her side. The dinner rush had just ended, and the usually busy booths were almost empty. The Simmons, an elderly couple who ate at the diner every evening, inhabited one of the two-seater window tables, chatting as they finished their usual meals. In a booth at the opposite end of the room, Charlie and Isabella Swan were eyeing the dessert menu, subtle tension lingering between them. For a moment, Shay wondered what had happened between them, but she was quick to smother her unneeded curiosity as she averted her eyes away from the duo. Instead, she frowned as Cora gave a bored sigh, circling the counter to take a seat on an empty stool. 

"And you're sure there's nothing there?" the older woman asked Shay for what seemed like the hundredth time, her chocolate eyes bright, teasing and eager for gossip. 

Shay scowled at Cora, her lower lip jutting into a dramatic pout. "I'm sure. I only just met her, Cora." By her, she meant Alice Cullen, who Cora had taken a liking to ever since she noticed the blush that had coated Shay's cheeks when speaking to her. Cora was like a mother to Shay, she just wanted what was best for her. 

"Fine," she rolled her eyes in defeat. A moment of silence passed, and Shay naively believed that Cora had let the topic go. Then, her lips tugged into a determined smirk, and Shay knew that she hadn't. "But you think she's cute, right?"

"Why does that even matter?" she sighed, and Cora gave an amused giggle that only bothered Shay more.

"It just does," she shrugged, and the younger girl paused what she was doing to meet her eyes. Cora didn't get sentimental often, but she seemed to make an exception for Shay. "Chambers, you're not the type of person to have crushes, I know that, so does everyone else who knows you. You've always put your brother and your job first, but it's okay to think someone's attractive. It's not a bad thing. It doesn't mean you're in love with them or anything. Just let yourself feel something other than worry about Sebastian and stress about the cafe. You deserve to live a little, you deserve to be a teenager."

Shay was quiet for a moment, before she gave a faint sigh and a nod. It wasn't much, but Cora accepted it nonetheless, reaching out to squeeze her hand as she glanced at the clock above Shay's head. "You can head home now, girly. I'll close up tonight."

"You sure?" she asked, though deep down, she was jumping at the chance of an early night.

"Yes, now off you go," Cora insisted, promptly snatching the rag from Shay's hands and moving to clean the counter in her place. 

Shay made her way to the storage room to grab her things, searching for her phone and texting Sebastian that she was on her way to pick him up from his friend's house. She hugged Cora, calling goodbye to the Simmons before heading to the front door, and nodding at Charlie and Bella as she went. The latter sent a close-mouthed smile in her direction, and Shay's cheeks warmed as she remembered Bella's eyes on her that morning, watching as she stuttered and blushed in front of Alice. 

The drive to Sebastian's friend's house was quick, the boy in question living just around the corner from The Carver Cafe. Sebastian was waiting for her on their front porch, a middle-aged couple and two other boys alongside him. He waved goodbye to them as he jogged down the stairs towards Shay's honda, clambering into the vehicle with a wide grin on his face. The whole way home, Shay listened as he told her about his day. About the test that was a lot easier than he thought it would be, about a game his friend had brought (Shay believed this friend was called Tobi, but Sebastian had a few friends, and it was hard for her to remember their names) and how he couldn't wait to go home and watch a new episode of some tv show he loved. Shay nodded along with him, but deep down, something told her that their peaceful night-in wasn't going to go as planned.

And she was right.

For as she pulled into their driveway, the first thing Shay noticed was the range rover in her usual parking spot. The porch light was on, casting shadows on the lawn, the front door wide open. Shay shared a look with her brother, who stared back at her with wide eyes. They were quick to get out of the car, sticking close to each other as they moved into the house. The television was on, and they could hear someone laughing from the couch in the living room. Their laughter was quick to fade, however, as the door shut behind them and the television turned down. Shay's breath hitched as she stared at the person before her; her mother stood opposite them in all her chaotic glory, the biggest smile spread across her face. 

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INTRODUCING...

FAMKE JANSSEN
as MELODY CHAMBERS