LET DOWN

twelve.            they're not people

▬ CORI PULLED HER KNEES up to her chest, pulling her hoodie over her legs as she sat on the beach. It was overcast, the sky dark and the ocean was the most beautiful deep blue color that she had ever seen. But her attention didn't stay on the water for long as Rachel sat next to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulders and pulling her into her side. She rested her head on the older girl's shoulder, a soft smile pulling at her lips.

"How you feelin'?"

"Same as I felt when you asked five seconds ago." Cori chuckled a little, turning her body a little so she was more comfortable against Rachel's side.

"Indulge me." The Quileute girl huffed. "I saw your head hit concrete. I'm a little traumatized."

"That's fair."

"How are you not? You could've died."

"I don't remember it." She shrugged, her eyes closed. "At least not all of it. I vaguely remember someone honking their horn. The next thing I know, you and Paul are hanging over me."

"My little Cori." Rachel mumbled, wrapping her other arm around the girl and pulling her closer to her before lightly kissing the top of her head, being careful about where she had kissed her.

"I'm fine." The blue-eyed girl chuckled lightly. "Doc says I should get my memory back, just gotta wait for the noggin to get back to normal."

"I thought we were meeting at my house."

The two girls turned to see Paul making his way down the beach, a simple t-shirt and shorts on while both of them were bundled up in hoodies, beanies and scarfs – though the scarf around Cori's neck was completely Rachel's doing.

"That's just your excuse for being late." Cori told him, her eyes slightly narrowed. He was late often, which is why she and Emmett had so much time to study after school the past couple of weeks.

"I cut school for you." The boy pointed his finger at her. "I'd be nice to me."

"Like you need me to make you cut school."

"She's got you there, babe." Rachel chuckled, looking up at her boyfriend as he rolled his eyes before sitting next to her. Rachel grinned, leaning over and placing a quick kiss to his lips, which then brought a smile to his face.

"Get a room." Cori mumbled jokingly, shoving Rachel's shoulder and pushing her into Paul a little.

"Aww, is my little munchkin bitter?" Paul teased.

"No." She hummed, her cheeks going slightly pink as she settled her eyes on the water.

"You're blushing." Rachel stated. "Why are you blushing?"

"I'm not. It's cold."

"Coraline Swan! Is there a guy?" Paul asked, his eyes going wide as his smile grew.

"No." She ducked her head down, hoping her hair would hide her, now, red cheeks. "I've only been here for a few weeks, how would there be a guy?"

"There's a guy." Rachel nodded. "Who is it? Is it the same guy you wouldn't tell us about at Carvers'?"

"There isn't-"

"Cori, honey, your face gives you away." The older girl sighed, patting her back. "So just tell us."

Cori sighed, letting her eyes fall closed for a moment. She knew they wouldn't drop it, they were incessant little parrots when they wanted to know something. So much so that she'd always cave and tell them what they wanted to know. And her head hurt too much to listen to the same three questions over and over again. "I'm not even sure if he likes me. But I think I like him. It's only been a few weeks, but he's so sweet and hot."

"Ooh!" Rachel nearly squealed, excited at the prospect of her best friend finally having a boyfriend, and a hot boyfriend at that.

"Excuse me?" Paul leaned forward, his eyebrows raised at his girlfriend and all she had to do was lightly peck his cheek and a smile pulled at his lips.

"Tell me everything." Rachel reached for Cori's hands and squeezed, making the younger girl giggle a little.

"He's a senior, but he's in a few of my classes and he spent the past two weeks helping me get caught up, he even gave me his notes."

"Boring." Paul rolled his eyes then he groaned a little when his girlfriend threw her elbow back into his chest.

"I think it's cute." Rachel smiled at the girl.

"He even picked me to be on his team in gym, like, I was his first pick."

Paul's brows creased a little as he rested his chin on Rachel's shoulder. "Then he definitely likes you. No guy throws away his first pick like that unless he likes a girl."

"Hey, I got, like, seven points for our team and we won." Cori defended, pointing her finger at him.

The boy simply raised his hands as if to surrender.

"Don't listen to him, he's a boy. Boys are stupid."

"Ouch."

Rachel waved him off. "So, who is this guy?"

"You don't even know anyone I go to school with." Cori chuckled a little, though both of her friends knew she was stalling.

"I know a few people."

"Look, Munchkin, you don't have to tell us." Paul told her, getting a wide eyed look from Rachel. "As long as it isn't one of those Cullens-" The name left his lips like venom, taking the girl by surprise. And Rachel watched as Cori's smile faded, her eyes going wide with confusion. "I'm sure whoever-"

"It's a Cullen?" Rachel cut the boy off and Cori swallowed the lump in her throat.

"You're kidding me?" Paul huffed, all amusement leaving his face and his hands tightened into fists in the sand. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." He turned, his jaw cleaned and his eyes squeezed closed and Rachel quickly turned, her hands on his cheeks.

"Hey, breathe." She mumbled, her eyes wide. She was scared he was gonna phase right there in front of Cori, that he could possibly hurt Cori and that was the last thing she wanted.

"What? I don't get why everyone on the reservation hates them." Cori argued, fighting back her tears. Paul had never once reacted like that and she wasn't sure how to respond. "They've been nothing but nice to me. They're literally the only people who have talked to me at school since I moved here."

"People." Paul scoffed. "You have to stay away from them, Cori." His angry eyes landed on her as Rachel held onto him, she was the only thing keeping him grounded.

"No." She shook her head and Paul's entire body tensed.

"Take her to your car." He mumbled, his voice so low only Rachel heard him.

"They're my friends."

"Cori, let's go." Rachel pushed herself up before pulling the girl up. "To the car." She pushed her a little, rushing her across the beach but Cori resisted.

"No, I wanna know why he's so pissed off." She huffed before looking at Paul, her feet planted in the sand. "Please explain to me what's so wrong with me having friends. They're nice to me. They actually like me. Emmett even sat with me at the hospital when you left me!"

The boy shoved himself to his feet before stomping down the beach.

"Cori."

"Hey, get back here!" She shouted, shoving against Rachel. "Don't walk away! Talk to me!"

"Cori, stop." Rachel warned.

"No, they're good people."

"They're not people!" Paul shouted, turning back towards the girls, his body trembled as his hands balled into fists.

"Cori, let's go."

"No!" She shook her head. "This is bullshit! You don't know anything about-" Her words trailed off as Paul thrashed a little, his limbs contorting before changing entirely. Cori went still, her eyes going wide as huge paws landed in the sand. Her blue eyes watered, fear taking over her very being as a snarling wolf now took up the space Paul once had. "Wha-"

"Paul." Rachel started towards him, keeping Cori behind her. "Calm down." She tried but the wolf let out a low growl, his eyes narrowed on the blue-eyed Swan before he turned and ran down the beach.

Cori took a few steps back before stumbling. She fell, her butt hitting the sand as her eyes watered. Had she really just seen her best friend turn into a wolf and run away? Had she been the reason he had turned into a wolf? And why the hell wasn't Rachel as freaked out as she was?

.

.

.

.

.

.

▬ CORI HAD CONVINCED herself it was a dream due to her concussion. No matter how much the nagging feeling in her gut told her that it wasn't, she told herself it was. She needed it to be a dream.

What made it more real was the fact that she hadn't heard from Paul in two days. She had heard from Rachel, but it wasn't anything more than a text to see how she was doing. She never once mentioned the wolf and Cori didn't ask, she didn't even reply to the text.

Her head hurt and her body was a little sore, a few bruises had formed on her side, she assumed it was because of how she hit the pavement but that was simple speculation on Bella's part.

She still had little to no memory of the accident, she barely remembered why she wanted to talk to Bella in the first place. She could remember everything else about that day, but after school let out it all got kinda... fuzzy.

Fuzzy was how she explained it to Charlie when he asked for the hundredth time in the span of three days – he was worried and he hoped that her memory would return. He wasn't a doctor, but three days seemed like a long time when his youngest couldn't remember how she had ended up with a concussion. He was in hell for those three days, but he assumed she had it worse.

.

.

.

.

.

.

▬ CORI GROANED AS SHE pressed her fingers to her temples, her head hung forward as she was jostled about in the cab of Bella's truck. It would be her first day back at school, though she hadn't missed much because Emmett had enlisted his siblings in taking impeccable notes in any class they shared with the young Swan and every night he'd bring them to her with a wide smile and a snack. Each night he brought a different snack, one night it was cookies, the next powdered donuts, and last night, a burger the size of his hand – he had big hands.

"When did this road get so bumpy?"

"It's been like this forever, I assume."

"Make it stop." Cori grumbled, she had been complaining since they left the house that morning. It was too cold, the truck was too tall, the music too loud, the truck sounded like an angry gremlin who had smoked twelve packs a day for seven years – her exact words.

"We're almost there." Bella sighed, reaching over and patting her sister's shoulder, she felt bad. She had been the one to throw her to the ground, granted it possibly saved her life, but she was the reason Cori had a concussion. "Just breathe."

"I am breathing."

"Don't be so grumpy." Bella muttered, pulling into the school parking lot and Cori sighed a little bit, it wasn't completely smooth but it was better than the road. "I'm going on a field trip, you gonna be okay without me?"

"No. I think I may just die without you."

"You're pleasant today."

"Dr. Cullen cleared me for school and dad didn't want me to miss any more. That doesn't mean I'm happy to be here."

"Okay." Bella mumbled as she parked the trunk and Cori quickly slid out, looking both ways before she crossed the parking lot.

"She's alive!" Travis grinned and the other Cullens turned to see the small girl approaching them. And she couldn't, for a second, understand why Paul was so pissed just because she was friends with them – she quickly reminded herself that it was a dream and that her best friend hadn't turned into a wolf.

Edward quickly looked up at the girl, he was leaning against his car, his arms crossed over his chest and his brows creased. He could hear the war inside her brain, whether she had dreamt it or not. But he knew that, deep down, she knew it wasn't a dream no matter how many times she told herself it was.

"Hey, Shortcake." Emmett gave her a soft smile, his hands lazily shoved into the pockets of his jeans. A small smile tugged at her lips, as it did every night he dropped by her house just to give her that day's notes. "You feelin' alright?"

"Not really." She shrugged, moving closer to him. She slipped her arms around him and, though he was taken by surprise, he quickly wrapped his arms around her. "This helps." She closed her eyes, her head against his chest as he rubbed her back.

Edward quickly gave Emmett a wide eyed look, trying to convey what he had seen in Cori's head but that was a lot to say with just a look. So he walked away, lightly tapping his ear as he went and when he was sure no one else but his siblings could hear him, he told them what Cori had seen, what she didn't want to believe.

"She knows about the wolves."