CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
HEAD UNDER WATER

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FOR THE NEXT WEEK or so, Maggie had herself convinced that her life had become a permanent debilitating hangover. Logically, she knew it made no sense, but every day that came and went only seemed to worsen the pounding ache she’d woken up with that dreaded morning after.

First it was having to listen to Paul’s never-ending complaints about Emmett Cullen (something about sighting Victoria and the Cullens getting in the way of the pack catching her.) Then the typical bullshit of having Zeke Sullivan as a brother (for some strange reason, he was suddenly being civil with her — of course, it wasn’t like what they used to be, but nowhere near as distant either; Maggie had this sneaking suspicion that Paul had something to do with it.) And just to make things worse, her therapist had gone on holiday for the rest of the month, leaving Maggie to feel like she had no one to confide in when the nightmares made their grand but gory return.

Really, it was a wonder no one had noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes from lack of sleep, or the way she always seemed to arrive at school first because she’d been up since the crack of dawn, or how she seemed to disappear into the background every time her friends — or Hayden — were around.

Or perhaps they did notice these things and they just didn’t know what to say to bring her back.

Maggie couldn't blame them for that. She didn't know what to say either.

The tortuous school week slowly but surely faded into a weekend spent at Sam and Emily’s house. On top of Paul grumbling about the Cullens, his new Math assessment assigned by Wren (the betrayal was bitter but expected) was a popular thing for him to complain about. It meant having to invite Mae Cooper around, pushing her even closer to discovering the truth. Embry was scared shitless the whole of Saturday morning, pacing in dizzying circles like he hadn’t spent the entirety of the bonfire growing close with Mae.

“What if you just cancel, Paul?” he had suggested not even five minutes before she was supposed to arrive. “Tell her you’re busy or something.”

As much as Paul would’ve loved to avoid his school work, he knew both Mae and Maggie would never let him get away with it. He also knew that Mae made Embry nervous and the vindictive part of him liked seeing him squirm.

“Sorry, man, no can do,” he smirked right as footsteps were heard on the front porch. “She’s already here.”

Dismayed, Embry collapsed into a chair opposite Maggie, dramatically covering his face with his hands. Amused but sympathetic, Maggie reached over to pat him on the arm right as an eager Emily raced over to answer the door before Mae could even think to knock. There she stood on the other side, fist raised and wide-eyed by the sudden action. She didn't seem to notice as Embry, stricken, darted away from the table to hide on the couch. Instead, she gave Emily a bashful smile before glancing over her shoulder at the car reversing out of the driveway. “I’m Mae… I’m here for Paul…?”

“Oh yeah, Paul mentioned someone was coming over,” Emily beamed. Paul snickered from Maggie’s side, turning to wink at Embry. Sighing, the other boy sat up to reveal painfully obvious rosy cheeks. This time, Maggie couldn’t help smiling along with Paul’s laughter. “It’s nice to meet you, Mae. I’m Emily Young.”

Before they knew it, Emily had stepped aside and Mae was making her way into the house. Maggie was once again struck with the reminder that Maeve Cooper was seriously pretty. Despite only being dressed in jeans and a hoodie, she existed like her whole outfit was made for the runway. Her confidence was something that Maggie had always longed for but never quite achieved without feeling fake. At the best of times, Maggie Sullivan acted like a stranger in her own skin, like every movement she made, every breath she took, was controlled by someone else’s mind. 

Paranoid, she was quick to avert her eyes as Mae took in the crowded living area. Everyone but Jacob and Seth were there already; the former was in Forks while the latter had decided to spend the day at Maggie’s house. Maggie tried her best to smile as Paul pulled her against his side, his warm fingers tracing soft lines up and down her arm. When she turned to look at him, his brows were furrowed, eyes locked on her smile instead of the half-eaten muffin in his other hand.

“What?” she murmured, her smile slowly falling.

Paul didn’t answer for a moment. He was too busy watching her like he was finally seeing everything she’d been hiding — well, beneath what he already knew. “What’s wrong?” he said at last, his hand pausing its path up her arm.

Maggie didn’t know what to say. Everything’s wrong, Paul, her mind wanted her to scream. But of course, her mind and heart had two different ideas of the truth so she stayed quiet and turned to face Mae instead.

“Hi, Mae,” she forced her smile to return. Mae seemed none the wiser. Maggie felt cold without Paul’s arm around her but was grateful for the moment of relief as she pulled Mae into a hug instead. “You know pretty much everyone here but this is Sam and Leah. Sam is Emily’s fiancè and Leah is Emily’s cousin.”

Leah’s face was thunderous when she turned to glare at Maggie, but Maggie couldn’t bring herself to care despite the heat that prickled in her cheeks from the sudden tension. It was the truth but perhaps she shouldn’t have poked the constant elephant in the room. 

“They don’t talk much,” Embry joked when neither Sam or Leah responded. At last, Sam managed a nod in Mae’s direction, arms locked firmly around Emily’s waist, while Leah merely scowled between Maggie and Mae like she couldn’t decide which one of them she disliked more.

“Yeah, don’t take it to heart,” Jared added despite Sam’s glare of warning. “Sam’s just naturally bland and Leah is grouchy on a good day.”

“Yeah alright,” Sam rolled his eyes as the rest of the pack laughed. He forced a smile onto his face (was it mean of Maggie to say it looked more like a grimace?) and watched Mae release Maggie’s arm to inch closer to Embry. “It’s good to meet you, Mae. Embry has told us a lot about you.”

Maggie grinned at the look of outrage that made itself at home on Embry’s face. Snickering, the pack couldn't resist looking back and forth from Mae to Embry like they were some kind of movie. Mae returned their eager stares, responding to Sam with an “it’s good to meet you too.” Still, despite her confident tone, it was easy for Maggie to notice the hopeful spark in her eye as she stored away the knowledge that Embry liked to speak about her. It was a feeling Maggie knew on a personal level, back when things first began to bloom with Paul, that naive hope of simple love. Even now, it took a firm hold of her heart, pushing her closer and closer to something that Maggie wasn't quite sure she was ready to admit.

“You two should get started,” she cleared her throat, reaching down to run a hand through Paul’s hair when he groaned and pouted at her dramatically.

“Five more minutes?” Much to Maggie’s surprise, his arms looped around her waist to draw her body closer. With his head resting on her stomach, Maggie’s heart hammered so hard she was surprised the boys couldn’t hear it. Nevertheless, they managed to put two-and-two together pretty quickly when her cheeks flushed bright pink, prompting them to share an obvious look with a smirking Paul.

Clearing her throat, Maggie scoffed, “Mae’s waiting on you, dumbass.” She was reluctant to push his arms away but did what had to be done.

Paul sighed but didn’t argue as he lowered his feet from the table. With a vague gesture at Mae, he sat back and waited for the girl to set up the books she’d brought along with her. Of course he had nothing himself, despite the disapproving lecture Maggie had given him when he picked her up that morning. Mae didn’t seem to mind though; she barely had anything either.

“Alright,” Emily clapped her hands at the other boys. The action reminded Maggie of a mother keeping her children in line, or a farmer ushering along livestock. “Let’s go outside.”

“Why?” Jared whined, voicing the look of disappointment that had settled across Embry’s face. “I wanna watch Paul struggle.” Paul shot him a dirty glare that quickly brightened when Emily smacked Jared's shoulder. “Alright, geez, I’m going…”

With one last kiss on Paul’s cheek, Maggie followed them outside. Collapsing into the cushioned chair beside Sam and Emily, the two girls exchanged excited whispers about a recipe Emily wanted to teach Maggie while Sam reigned in the pack every time they got too rowdy. On more than one occasion, they had to force Paul back inside the house, which Maggie had to admit was a good distraction from the moments of silence that lingered between her and Emily’s conversation. Every time it got too quiet and Maggie's mind wandered, Paul would appear, almost like he knew her thoughts were learning how to spiral further and further out of her control. Of course, Paul was really only rebelling because Math was pretty much torture for him, but Maggie appreciated it nonetheless.

Barely an hour had passed when she froze out of nowhere, a new kind of silence settling over not just her and Emily, but the whole pack too. In the distance, the sound of a motorbike engine rumbled, growing louder until it eventually sounded like the vehicle had pulled into the driveway.

In an instant, the boys had rushed inside, ignoring Emily’s shouts for them to ‘slow down’ and ‘be considerate of Mae and Paul.’ Really, she should’ve known it was useless, for Mae and Paul had already given up on their work ages ago and were sitting at the table rolling a stray tennis ball back and forth between them. They looked up at the ruckus. Paul almost immediately followed after the guys.

“What’s going on?” Mae asked as she wandered over to Maggie. “Who’s here?”

Maggie merely sighed, her brows furrowing. It was obvious Mae didn’t know what to make of the expression. She folded her arms over her chest almost defensively. “It's just Jacob and a… friend of his.”

Together, the two girls joined the others outside. In a stance that mirrored Mae, Maggie’s arms folded across her chest at the sight of Bella Swan huddled beside Jake. It wasn’t that Maggie hated Bella now but she didn’t necessarily like her either. After everything that the Cullens had put her through, she still went back to them the second they showed interest in her again. Watching Jake pine after her while knowing it would never go anywhere was hard for Maggie, for all his friends, as was accepting that Bella could be okay spending time with the very monster that hunted them day-and-night, the cause of the pack's phasing. Maggie barely tolerated the Cullens living in Forks let alone them going near one of them. Perhaps it was just bad experiences with Victoria but she would’ve never been able to trust them like Bella did.

“Glad you’re here, Bella,” she heard Embry comment teasingly. For once, he seemed oblivious to Mae standing behind him, her brows furrowed as she watched the stranger with interest. “Maybe we can get a break from Jake’s obsessive inner monologue.”

“You’re one to talk,” Jacob exclaimed, stubbornly ignoring Bella’s stare darting to his blushing cheeks.

“I wish Bella would call,” Paul mocked, his voice rising to a whiny pitch despite Jacob’s own voice being deeper than his. 

“I wish Bella wouldn’t call,” Jared retorted, nudging Paul’s arm as both of them laughed.

“Maybe I should call Bella,” Embry joined the teasing again, wriggling his eyebrows at Bella’s growing smile.

“Maybe I should call Bella and hang up,” Quil concluded.

All of them burst into wild laughter. Maggie shook her head as she wandered over to Paul’s side, allowing the boy to put a hand on her waist when he shifted closer to her subconsciously. When the group went quiet, Embry took the opportunity to introduce Mae. Bella was already scanning the crowd, her eyes lingering on Maggie, but she was forced to turn away when Embry called her name.

“Bella, this is Mae,” he said. “Mae, meet Bella Swan.”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Bella’s eyes brightened with recognition — of course, it was unrequited because Mae was incredibly confused, but the fact that Bella knew who she was already raised a sense of wariness in the pack. What was Mae Cooper to Bella Swan? Bella, who definitely wasn’t the type to encourage small-town gossip? She barely knew how to walk in a straight line without tripping. New girls in La Push were the furthest thing from her radar.

Or they should've been.

“Mae Cooper. Lina’s sister, right?”

Mae frowned. "How do you know my sister?”

And what on earth did Lina have to do with it?

“I’ve seen her around town before,” Bella stammered, shooting Jacob a desperate glance that went unnoticed to Mae but was keenly tracked by everyone else. The new tension was palpable, festering something bitter in Maggie’s chest. “She mentioned you...”

“Oh.”

The sudden slam of the front door had Maggie flinching almost sky-high. She hadn’t noticed Leah’s absence, too caught up on observing Bella to make sure the whole pack was present. She shifted even closer to Paul as Leah shoved her way to the front of the group, scanning Bella up and down with evident distaste.

“Bella, this is Leah,” Jacob sighed. Much like Maggie, he already knew how this was going to end. “Harry’s daughter.”

Bella’s eyes dimmed at the man’s name. “Oh, hey. I’m, uh… I’m really sorry about your father.”

Maggie winced, instinctively waiting for Leah to lash out. No one had mentioned Harry Clearwater to Leah or Seth if they could help it — heck, no one mentioned Harry Clearwater to any of the pack, who carried the loss of him like an infected wound.

Now, Maggie had known Bella to be a bit on the tactless side, but not like this. Surely she should’ve known that someone like Leah wouldn't appreciate an apology from a stranger, from her especially…

“If you’re here to torture Jacob some more, feel free to leave,” Leah snapped, reminding Maggie of a viper spitting venom.

With one last dark look at the rest of them, she stormed towards the trees and out of sight. A moment later, they heard a rueful howl fading into the distance. The sound was sobering, a reminder that time wasn’t on their hands.

“Paul, Jared,” Sam turned towards the two boys — the ones with the most experience; both a blessing and a curse. “You should get ready for patrol.”

Maggie’s heart panged with disappointment when both boys gave their reluctant agreement. She’d hoped for some more alone time with Paul and even said as much when he came to pick her up. Most of their week was spent exchanging quick hellos and goodbyes. This was the first real day where they’d seen more than a fleeting glimpse of each other and already it was being cut short.

Was it petty for Maggie to put the blame on Bella? Maybe if Bella wasn’t there — if she stuck to Forks and Edward — Sam wouldn’t feel the need to put extra patrols in La Push and Maggie would be free to spend time with her boyfriend and friends, like a normal girl her age would.

But of course, Maggie wasn't normal, and Bella seemed pretty comfortable where she was.

“What’s patrol?” Mae asked with a confused but curious frown. Maggie froze at the question, sharing a wide-eyed look with Paul. When no one responded, she turned to the person closest to her and nudged his arm. “Embry?”

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Embry looked almost desperately to his friends. When no one offered up an explanation, his shoulders slumped in defeat. If Mae noticed, she didn’t show it, listening in silence as he said, “The boys like to… to patrol La Push for the council, keep an eye out for the trouble-makers… you know… maintain the peace.”

It was a poor excuse and kind of hard to imagine that a group of teenage boys and a man in his twenties would willingly band together to 'keep the peace' in their hometown, but Mae seemed to take his word for it, much to Embry’s momentary relief. With Paul no longer free to finish their assessment, he decided to drive Mae home, leaving the house in tense silence until Embry’s truck reversed from the driveway and out of sight.

“He’s going to have to tell her soon,” Emily stressed, frowning from where she’d been watching them through the window. “I don’t know Mae but she seems like a bright girl. Intelligent. Someone who won’t be easily fooled by stupid excuses like the one he just gave.”

“That’s up to Embry,” Sam shrugged. Maggie had to fight off a scoff. If they were going to wait around for Embry to pluck up the courage, Mae would stay in the dark forever. “Paul, Jared, you should get going.”

Maggie's heart almost immediately sank again. She had to force a smile as Paul pecked her lips, so fleeting she barely felt it, before he disappeared out the door behind Jared. A moment later, they heard two howls, a signal for Sam to monitor in the coming hours. 

"I should get going too," Maggie said before her mouth had a chance to catch up with her brain. Going meant seeing Zeke, meant hiding away in her room with Scooby and reruns of the show he was named after. Sure, the house was pretty much empty with Paul and Jared on patrol, Embry with Mae and Jacob with Bella, but the alternative wasn't much different to a brooding Sam Uley for company. "Unless…?"

Quil was still there. Her cousin for all intents and purposes. He hadn't noticed her staring, too caught up in trying to steal a fresh muffin from Emily's newest batch, but he looked up when Emily smacked his hand away and gestured her head towards Maggie. It wasn't hard to notice the dark circles around his eyes. They matched her own. Perhaps it was a family thing to always run on the final fumes of their energy.

"Wanna hang?" she asked, wincing at how painfully awkward she sounded around her own damn cousin. She cursed herself some more, hating how she hung onto Quil's drawn out sound of contemplation. She really needed to make more friends. "You don't have to…"

"I'm down," he cut her off with a huff when Emily continued to hold her muffins far out of his reach. "Jacob's glued to Bella and Embry's probably gonna sulk about Mae when he comes back, so I'd rather not be here — no offence," be added when Sam grunted and Emily frowned at him. "Let's go, cousin, maybe we can 'hang' at the beach."

Rolling her eyes at his teasing tone, Maggie didn't hesitate to follow him out the door. Emily gave her one of the muffins on her way out, beaming when Maggie made a sound of triumph while waving the muffin in front of a betrayed Quil. He tried to take a bite right out of her hand, prompting Maggie to squeal and smack his arm. She raced towards the truck and Quil was right behind her. For just a moment, she let herself pretend that her cousin was Zeke and that nothing could ever tear them apart.