CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
SUN IN ECLIPSE

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THERE WAS A NEW girl in town. Actually, correction, there was a whole new family in town, and everyone was eager to catch a glimpse of them, to see who on Earth had decided to move to La Push of all places.

It was safe to say their tiny community didn't often see new faces.

Which meant that everywhere Maggie went, the Cooper-Songs were the hot topic of conversation. The only topic on some days. The grocery store, school, even in her own home. In a non-creep kind of way, Maggie felt like she already knew everything there was to know about them, even the things they didn't necessarily want out there...

The patriarch was a man named James Cooper — which, admittedly, unsettled Maggie at first. But everyone praised the man without even really knowing him, so she supposed that had to count for something. He was the new history teacher at the local middle school, which fellow teachers such as Wren appreciated. He also enjoyed hiking on the weekends with his youngest daughter and was an all-round nice guy. Maggie didn't know how the rumour-mill figured this out when the man hadn't even left his house yet, but you know what they say; the devil worked hard but middle-aged small-town mums with nothing better to do with their lives worked harder.

As for the matriarch, her name was Kira Song, a high-class name for a high-class lawyer working in a firm based in Port Angeles. According to Vera — who heard it from a friend of a friend of a friend — Kira and James had gotten married just a few years ago. Their unification was joyful for the most part... kind of. There was always one who had to be the black sheep, right? And for this particular family, their black sheep happened to be James' eldest daughter, Allison.

Almost twenty-one and away at college studying criminology, Allison Cooper was the rebellious child who skipped out on her dad and younger sister sometime after her mother died when she was a teenager. Now, according to Dakota, who had heard it from one of the regular middle-aged wine mums who frequented the diner she worked at, Allison had since patched up her relationship with her family, but things were still kind of... rocky, especially since her dad had remarried so soon. Hence why she wasn't in Washington and everyone else was.

Next came Maeve, who was the most interesting of the elusive family in Maggie's opinion. Going strictly by Mae ever since Allison dubbed her with the nickname as a kid, she was Maggie's age and set to start school any day now. According to Kim Conweller, who caught a glimpse of the girl out in the woods early one morning, she enjoyed hiking and painting, the perfect combination of her exercise-fanatic father and her artistic, go-with-the-flow mother. Unlike her sister, Mae liked her step-mother and step-sister well enough. Some would even say she was closer to her step-sister than she was to Allison and they were blood. But of course, she would never admit it.

Which brings us to the last of the sisters; Lina Song. As Kira's only daughter, it was pretty obvious even to strangers in La Push that she felt pressured to make the stern woman proud by achieving every bit of success there was to achieve for a girl her age. She studied hard in school, to the point she barely had a life outside of textbooks and revision timetables and pages upon pages of articulate notes. Where Mae was the adventurous one of the two, Lina was the sister who took everything just that bit too serious. That wasn't to say she didn't want to experience the fun side of things but Lina Song had always been trapped in her own head, pleading with the anxious part of her brain to let her free. So much for new town, new her.

Oh, and she also happened to be Maggie's age. How did Maggie know that? Well, she'd heard it from a friend of a friend of a — God, she sounded too much like Vera. Just the thought sent a shudder of horror down Maggie's spine as she tore her eyes away from the bus parked across the school parking lot. There, she'd seen Kim making her way down the stairs with two unfamiliar yet easily recognisable faces standing on either side of her.

Maeve Cooper and Lina Song.

Maggie wasn't blind, she could see they were both pretty. Mae with her curly hair, mischievous smirk and glinting eyes to match. Lina with her soft smile, clutching a book against her short frame. They definitely weren't related by blood but they moved like they were; the same walk, the same mannerisms. Some used to say the same thing about Maggie and her siblings —  well, before everything happened with Zeke and things began to splinter. But that wasn't the point! Combine that with the fact that Maggie had only just been thinking about Mae and Lina, and she was quick to avert her eyes with blushing cheeks, as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have been.

Across from her, Quil raised an eyebrow curiously. He was leaning against the side of his truck, the two of them waiting for the rest of the pack to show up. Yeah, that had also happened. About a week after Harry's funeral, Maggie got the call to come over to Sam's place. There, she found her cousin sitting at the table, wide-eyed and thoroughly freaked out that he'd somehow managed to turn into a freaking wolf. He'd only been back at school for a few weeks but those weeks were long enough for everyone, including Hayden, to see the changes in him.

Speak of the devil... Hayden's shoulder roughly shoved against Quil's as she and a girl named Maia made their way inside. Now, Hayden had never spoken a word to Maia before Quil phased, but ever since her sort-of boyfriend went off the grid then came back ignoring her, not to mention how her best friend also dropped off the face of the earth then came back dating Paul Lahote, Hayden had been kind of pissed. She wanted to know what they were hiding and both of them would've been happy to explain it to her. But of course, there was just one problem.

Quil hadn't imprinted. Which was fine but Sam had gotten it into his head that continuing things with Hayden would only break her heart in the end. Which, in Maggie's opinion, made no sense seeing as Seth and Zeke were doing just fine as friends, but Quil had taken it to heart like the idiot he was and now refused to even mention the girl's name. Maggie tried her best to stay indifferent but Hayden wanted her to choose and when she didn't, Hayden made the choice for her.

So, yeah... Hayden Calder had a new best friend, and it wasn't Maggie Sullivan. She also had a new boyfriend, and he wasn't Quil Ateara.

"You good?" Quil asked, a slow smirk curving the corner of his mouth.

"Are you?" Maggie was quick to retort, eyes flickering between him and the retreating figure of Hayden.

For a second, Quil's face faltered. Maggie knew he desperately wanted someone to confide in. It was obvious even to someone like Paul, who at the best of times was completely oblivious when it came to emotions and heartbreak. But Quil was also an Ateara and Atearas were stubborn. Therefore, he was quick to shake his head at her question, downright ignoring the imploring glower of her eyes as he followed her gaze towards where Kim was making their way towards them with Mae and Lina wandering off in the opposite direction.

"I'm fine. But I saw you ogling the new girls," he snickered. "You got a crush, Maggie? What's Paul going to think?"

Maggie scoffed just as a pair of arms wrapped around her stomach. "What's Paul going to think about what?" the boy in question asked with furrowed brows. When Maggie hesitated in answering, his grip on her tightened, the other guys looking between them curiously as they crowded around them. "Maggie? Quil?"

"Maggie's got a crush," her cousin was quick to blurt, faltering under Paul's stern stare. Paul hadn't even been glaring at him and yet Quil was still caught in his old mindset of please don't kill me every time he looked in his direction.

"On who?" Paul questioned, more curious than anything.

Maggie rolled her eyes, muttering in denial as Quil responded, "The new chicks."

"Mae and Lina?" Kim filled in their names. "They're really nice! I sat with them on the bus. I could introduce you, Maggie."

Before Maggie could try to divert the subject, Jared and Embry started snickering, encouraged by Paul's frown to chant variations of Maggie and Mae/Lina, sitting in a tree. Maggie scoffed at their antics, especially when Paul rose to the bait and removed one arm from her waist to slam his fist into an unsuspecting Embry's shoulder.

"Ouch!" the boy in question cried, rubbing the irritated spot as Jared ducked out the way, not wanting to be next. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot," Paul deadpanned, his arm returning to grip onto Maggie.

Maggie smothered a smile. She already had a crush, so to speak, and it definitely wasn't on either of the new girls.

There were a few minutes to spare until their English block began, allowing Maggie and Kim to slip away from the group and head to the bathroom. Kim was busy gushing about Mae and Lina, insisting on introducing Maggie to Mae as they'd 'get along like a house on fire' when Maggie pushed open the bathroom door and came face-to-face with Hayden and Maia. At once, both duos went quiet, just staring. Hayden's gaze had dropped to Kim's arm looped through Maggie's but she said nothing as Kim squeezed once in an 'are you okay?' gesture. Maggie returned the action, her nod almost unnoticeable. Kim took that as a sign to let her go, leaving Maggie alone to wait at the sinks while Kim slipped into one of the stalls.

"I spoke to Zeke earlier." It took her a moment to realise Hayden was addressing her. At the mention of her brother's name, Maggie's eyes narrowed, wary of where the conversation was leading, especially with Maia stuck to Hayden's side like glue.

"Oh? Nice..."

"It's funny," Hayden chuckled but the sound was like broken glass, sharp and almost malicious. Maggie hadn't heard the sound from her before. It hurt, like Hayden was nothing but a stranger. "He asked me how our sleepover was last night, so I'm guessing you haven't told him anything. Were you just using me as a cover-up for hooking up with your new boyfriend?"

Maggie bristled at the insinuation, internally hoping that Kim would rush back out at the sudden change in conversation. Judging by the harsh spin of toilet paper behind the stall door, she would be any second now. Maggie tried to remind herself of this as the familiar feeling of anxiety swelled in her chest. Hayden wasn't wrong but she wasn't right either.

"Zeke must've gotten confused," she said at last, folding her arms to hide the nervous tremor affecting her hands.

"I thought as much," Hayden smiled. "So I made sure to clear things up on where this friendship stands."

The open-ended resentment was a challenge. Hayden was searching for a reaction. Perhaps it was petty but she wanted desperately to see what secrets Maggie was keeping close to her chest. Maggie wasn't like that; secretive, distant, easy to anger. Maggie knew Hayden blamed Paul. Maybe she even blamed Kim, who practically shoved her way between the two girls to wash her hands. But Maggie didn't care anymore. She remained tight-lipped as Hayden's shoulders deflated for an instant, then hunched back up as she linked her arm with Maia's and stormed out of the room.

The bathroom door slammed shut, leaving Maggie and Kim to stand in silence.

"You alright?" the latter frowned, drying her hands on a paper towel before chucking the pieces into the bin.

Maggie shrugged. Just a few months ago, she and Hayden had traipsed the school corridors, arm-in-arm, only one thing on Maggie's mind. One day, her smile and laughter would be real again, the emptiness that Carson had left behind would be filled back up, at least a little bit, and Maggie could let go.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Carson's absence had only pushed them further and further apart. It was his death that sent everything spiralling. Sure, she'd never reasonably blame him but sometimes Maggie wanted to be selfish, she wanted someone else to pin the blame on for the cards she played. If Carson hadn't died, she wouldn't be like this; easy to back down, hard to understand, irrational and locked in her own head even when she was smiling and joking and leaning into Paul's arms like everything was normal. When Carson was there, she and Hayden had never gone so long without speaking to each other. He always knew what to say to bring them back together. Heck, he would've even had advice about Zeke. How to patch up the ever-growing distance between them, how to unveil the secrets kept on both sides.

But Carson wasn't here. His ghost would always be just that, and Maggie had a feeling she'd always be this. Still, she swallowed back the terror that reared its head as Kim linked their arms together and drew her close to lay her head comfortingly on the girl's shoulder.

Please don't, Maggie wanted to scream. I don't want you to end up like Hayden, like Carson.

But Kim wasn't a mind-reader so she stayed like that until they reached Maggie's classroom and Kim departed for the one next-door, leaving Maggie to momentarily drown in her own pool of broken promises. However, it wasn't that far into the lesson that her phone buzzed in her pencil case. Maggie cast a wary glance around the room, hoping no one had heard the sound against her desk. Thankfully, no one turned her way, not even Hayden in her new spot beside Maia. Moving quickly, Maggie dragged the phone across her desk, leaning it against her thigh.

Paul <3: Kim told me you saw Hayden
Paul <3: You okay?
Read at 9:16am

The response was instinctual. She didn't want him to worry.

Mags: it was nothing, i'm fine

For a moment, Maggie watched as the message changed from delivered to seen. Paul's response seemed to take forever but in reality buzzed through in seconds. Maggie could practically hear the annoyance resonating through the screen.

Paul <3: That's bullshit
Paul <3: Don't lie to me Maggie
Read at 9:19am

Mags: fine
Mags: honestly? she got to me and i hate it
Read at 9:21am

When Paul didn't respond and the message stayed on read, Maggie assumed that his teacher, a stern woman named Mrs Keaton who was an absolute stickler for the rules, must've caught him. So she shoved her phone back in her pencil case, catching Hayden's eyes for a second as the girl tracked the movement. The second Maggie raised an eyebrow at her, she turned away. The same thing happened again after class as Hayden set off for Maths with Maggie's very own aunt. Then, again, when Maggie waited outside the door for Paul and Hayden brushed past the two in the doorway, shoulder shoving against Paul's warm skin.

"Just ignore her," Maggie muttered into his chest, keenly aware of how he was glaring at Hayden over Maggie's head. She knew she sounded hypocritical but she couldn't let him lose control in front of everyone.

Paul sighed and kissed her forehead, prompting her first genuine smile of the day. She leaned up to peck his lips instead, intertwining one hand with his while waving into the classroom at Wren behind her desk.

"I'm taking you out on a date tonight," he declared suddenly.

At that, Maggie froze, cheeks tinting pink while he smirked at her reaction.

With everything going on, she and Paul hadn't had time for dates. He was busy patrolling and bending to Sam's every command. She was busy with that same drowning feeling from earlier and trying to fight off the realisation of impending doom. Paul had prefaced their relationship, warning her that dates would be on the backburner for a while and Maggie was fine with that. In fact, the romantic side of having a boyfriend was the last thing to cross her mind. Still, it was undeniable that Paul's declaration had sparked something in her. She leaned up on her toes then, pressing her lips to his.

"Really?" she murmured into the kiss.

Paul smirked. "No. I was just joking. What do you think?"

Maggie rolled her eyes and pulled away but it was safe to say that Paul had succeeded in distracting her for the day. She didn't think about Hayden once.

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A/N: Who else noticed the comparison between the first chapter of the last act and the first chapter of this one? I've had this in mind for a while now; the idea that Maggie had hoped for a sense of peace when she first returned to school, to smile for real someday, but months had passed since then and someday couldn't have felt further away. It's sad, but this happens to be one of my favourite chapters. What do you guys think? And are you excited for the next chapter? And Paul and Maggie date's coming!! What are your theories?? Let me know!