CHAPTER FOUR
DIFFERENT

Montana's head was lowered as she leaned over to tie up her shoelaces. Training had almost finished for the day, and Montana was preparing for one last run on the 800m distance track. Except, as she lifted her head back up, she caught sight of Jared Cameron and Paul Lahote watching in the stands.

Montana's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she studied the two of them, wondering what they were up to. Paul sat on the bench, his interest taken by the burger he was chomping on, whilst Jared's eyes drifted across the grounds. Montana lifted her hands to tighten her ponytail, Jared's stare soon locking with hers. A large grin broke out across his face, his arms raising to wave enthusiastically at his old friend.

"Is that Jared Cameron and Paul Lahote?" Verity Chase asked, looking into the distance with a squint, hand raised above her eyes to shield the sunlight.

Montana exhaled heavily, her hands resting on her hips as most of the girls at practice stared up at the boys.

"What are they doing here?" Lisa Michaels asked curiously, coming to Verity's side. The two girls turned to face Montana expectantly.

"Are they here for you?" Verity questioned. She arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well?"

"Guess I'll find out," Montana mumbled, setting her sights on the boys as she made her way across the grounds towards them. Jared nudged Paul, prompting him to rise to his feet. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of having tweedledee and tweedledum here?" Montana asked sarcastically, hopping up onto one of the benches, arms hanging over the white barrier.

"You have nicknames for us now?" Paul asked, a smirk teasing his lips. "That's cute."

"Don't push it," Montana warned him, eyes shifting to Jared. "Seriously, what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, my dearest Montana," Jared began, an innocent smile pulling at his lips. Montana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm here, first and foremost, because I am very interested in your extracurriculars–"

"Get on with it."

Jared cleared his throat, hands gripping onto the white rails. "Ok, so I need to ask you a tiny bit of a favour." He held up his thumb and forefinger, an inch of space between them. "Just a tiny one."

"Answer's no."

"Aw, come on," Jared pleaded with her.

Montana sighed heavily, deciding to at least hear him out. "What is it?"

"Well, you know Kim, right?"

"I do know, Kim," she responded, leaning her elbows against the railings.

"I was thinking, you know...about how girls talk," he said slowly. "And you're...friendly..." Montana quirked an eyebrow. "And...approachable. So I was wondering if maybe you could...put a good word in for me?"

"Okay, first of all, Kim thinks the sun shines out of your ass," Montana pointed out. Paul choked on his laughter from beside his friend. It was a very well known fact that Kim Connweller had a huge crush on Jared. For the life of her, Montana could not see why. Kim was a nice girl, friendly, smart, pretty. When Montana was off sick for two weeks with flu, Kim kindly sent her the notes she'd missed from English without Montana even having to ask. Jared, on the other hand, wouldn't know what being helpful was if it smacked him in the face. "I sincerely doubt you need my help."

"I know but–" Jared cut off, exhaling heavily. "I don't know how to talk to her."

"Hm, that's a first," Montana noted. "You usually have no problem talking hours on end." Jared gave her a sarcastic smile. "Anyway, what's with the sudden interest in Kim? You haven't given her the time of day for years."

Jared scoffed. "It's not been years."

Montana looked towards Paul for back up, who eventually nodded his head in agreement. "It's been a long time."

"Well." Jared shrugged, unable to come up with a reasonable answer that did not have anything to do with shape-shifters, imprinting and soulmates. "We got talking the other day."

"Then just talk to her again and ask for her number like a normal guy," Montana said simply.

Jared breathed out exasperatedly. "Will you please talk to her? I know you have English together."

"Maybe if you hadn't been such a dick to Dakota I'd think about it," Montana said, folding her arms across her chest.

He sighed, his shoulders falling in defeat. Montana caught the flash of guilt in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. He'd been hurting ever since the day Sam told him he'd have to stay away from his best friend. Jared knew he broke Dakota's heart with the words he told her the last time they spoke. It tortured him every single day, especially when he saw her walking in the halls, both of them desperately trying not to make eye contact with each other. He missed his best friend more than anything. "It's complicated."

"Yeah, you mentioned that once or twice," she responded harshly.

Jared lowered his head, an ache settling in his chest. He couldn't stand how much he'd hurt Dakota, and in turn Montana. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you."

The wounded look on Jared's face sent Montana's stomach churning in guilt. She wished that she had more of a ruthless attitude, like Dakota did, but if she let him walk away looking as sad as he did then she'd end up feeling bad about it for the rest of her life.

"Wait," she spoke up, against her bitter judgement. "I'll talk to Kim. On one condition."

Jared turned back her with a smile. "Anything."

"Talk to Dakota."

Jared's smile faded. "Montana–"

"I don't want to listen to any more of your excuses," Montana interrupted. "At least give her an explanation. It's the least she deserves."

"Montana," Jared said, shaking his head sadly. "Montana...I can't do that."

She stared at him for a moment, in slight disbelief that he could deny a request like that. Montana realised she'd completely forgotten how badly he actually treated her cousin, and this interaction served as a clear reminder. She wasn't going to let him walk all over her. "Then I can't help you."

"I wish I could," Jared spoke up. "I wish I could talk to her. More than anything." Montana hesitated, meeting his somber eyes. "I miss her. I miss both of you."

Their eyes lingered a moment longer before she broke contact, pushing away from the railings with a shake of her head. "It's not enough."

Jared didn't follow her as she walked away, which she expected, but Montana was not prepared for Paul to climb over the rails to hurry after her. "Hey, wait up a minute."

Montana slowed to a stop, turning around to face Paul. She shrank back slightly as he stopped in front of her, his huge frame towering over her. "Paul, I–"

"It's not about that," he dismissed. "We wanted to ask you something else." Montana searched his eyes for a moment, frowning. "Your friend, Embry, has he...has he been acting any differently lately?"

"What?" Her mind began racing, wondering what Paul could be referring to, whether there was something going on with Embry that she didn't know about. "Why? Has something happened?"

Paul shook his head, eyes growing distant in thought. "No, no. Just...be careful."

Montana opened her mouth to respond, unable to conjure any words as she watched Paul walk away, left completely dumbfounded.

"Bradley!" Coach Roberts shouted from across the field. She jolted from being abruptly disturbed from her thoughts, whirling around to face him. He wasn't an impatient man, nor was he entirely strict either, but she could see the irritated creases in his forehead as he waited for her to return back to training.

The group of girls were watching her closely as she jogged back across the field, Montana quickly apologising to coach on her way back to the track.

"Everything ok?" He asked her, glancing briefly over her shoulder at Jared and Paul in the distance.

Montana nodded, a tight smile on her lips. "Everything's fine."

After practice had finished, Montana made her way to the parking lot, still dressed in her sports gear, having not bothered to change. She waited patiently, leant against the passenger side door of Jacob's car, waiting for him, Embry and Quil to get out of detention.

They arrived around fifteen minutes later, grins on their faces once they all spotted her. "About time," Montana said with a playful smile, pulling herself away from the car as they neared closer to her.  "How was detention?"

Quil's smile slipped into a pout. "Boring without you." Montana grinned at him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "God, you stink. No time to shower?"

Montana shrugged, unbothered. "Got lazy."

Jacob twirled his car keys over his finger, unlocking the Volkswagen. "Good session?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she answered vaguely. Jacob frowned at her reply, but decided not to push it. Montana was usually bursting to tell them her latest news, whether it was a new personal best time, or another competition coming up; after training was usually the time they saw her most enthusiastic about anything. But, for some reason, not today.

Embry also noticed the difference in his friend, but didn't think too much of it. He reached into his backpack, which was stuffed full of snacks he'd raided from the vending machine, and tossed Montana a cereal bar, knowing she'd be hungry after training. She caught it with ease in one hand, smiling at him in appreciation. "Thanks, Em."

He nodded in response, unable to help his eyes trailing over her sports attire, specific attention on her small running shorts. Montana didn't notice, as she was busy climbing into the passenger side of the car, but Jacob did, smacking Embry hard on the back of the head as he passed him.

As the four of them got into the car, Embry glaring daggers at Jacob as he rubbed his head, Quil immediately launched into the story of the prank they'd played on Mr Harris – the one which had landed them in detention in the first place. Montana laughed at their antics, shaking her head as usual whenever she heard about their misbehaviours. She had to admit, as much as she disliked their biology teacher, they were very lucky to have only gotten away with a weeks worth of detention.

Embry and Quil soon began plotting their next ideas of getting revenge on Mr Harris. Montana was half-listening, chuckling sometimes at their ridiculous suggestions. For the most part, though, she couldn't keep her mind from pondering over what happened with Jared and Paul at practice – most notably, Paul's warning about Embry.

Jacob had noticed something was bothering Montana, and kept casting occasional glances over at her whilst he drove. Her eyes were distant, eyebrows drawn together, the frown on her face signalling she was deep in thought. "Everything ok?"

Montana was drawn back to reality when Jacob placed his hand against her knee, his light touch disappearing almost as quickly as it came. She turned her head towards him, giving him a small smile of assurance.

"You've got that look on your face," he stated.

"Hm?"

"The 'Montana' look," Jacob continued, looking over at her again. "You know, the one where you have something on your mind, and you won't stop thinking about it unless you actually talk to someone."

"Okay, first of all, please stop knowing me better than I know myself," she told him. Jacob cracked a smile. "And secondly..." she paused, sparing a glance behind her at the two boys in the back of the car, both too engrossed in conversation to notice anything else. She breathed out heavily, giving in to Jacob's questioning eyes. "Jared and Paul were at practice today."

Jacob's mouth clamped shut, his previous smile completely disappearing. "What?"

"They wanted to talk to me."

"What did they say?" Jacob asked, instantly becoming protective. His worried eyes searched her expression for any tells. "Did they do anything?"

"No, they were fine," she assured him, though Jacob didn't ease up at all. "It wasn't anything much, really..." she trailed, a sigh passing her lips as she looked back at Embry in the back seat. "I can't tell you right now."

"Montana–"

"Drop me home last," she told him. "I'll tell you everything, but not right now."

Jacob exhaled heavily, nodding his head. He turned his full attention back to the road, hands tightening around the steering wheel, silently cursing Jared and Paul for daring to even come near Montana – especially after the way Jared had treated her and Dakota.

Whilst Jacob straightened up, entire body now riddled with tension, Montana sank back into her seat, Paul's words running through her head. Embry, has he been acting any differently recently? Montana cast another concerned look over at the boy in question, who was casually munching on chips, laughter booming through the air as he joked around with Quil as usual.

Montana turned around to face the front again, swallowing heavily. If Jared and Paul knew something about her best friend that she didn't, she was determined to find out what it was.

A/N

Jared and Paul, my favourite idiot duo.

This is a bad filler chapter because I am currently drowning in uni work and consequently am lacking inspiration to write!!! Love uni 🙃

Honestly, just want to binge watch twilight for the rest of my life