《Youth ✿ Paul Lahote [1]》i. first sight
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Alex Santiago hated change.
It was this year in her life that the hatred was the most prominent, as Alex felt like her whole life was being turned upside down.
The Santiago family had lived in Forks, Washington for their whole lives. That was a stable pillar. Not once had they moved house or had to rearrange their living spaces, they had always stayed put. Alex's room had always been painted the same beige color and she has always had a room opposite her twin brother, Jordan.
Alex's life had always been stable, in fact it was that stability and lack of change that she craved. Everything was simple and laid out for her – she had the same hopes and dreams for her life since she was five – and the now sixteen year old girl was always sure of where she fitted in life.
That was until Jordan announced to his twin sister that he had received a football scholarship to a high school in Ohio, which would further help in to get to college in that same state. He was moving in a few days.
Ever since the Santiago twins were born it had been them against the world. They were each others best friend – no matter how many times a day they pissed each other off. It had always been the two of them, but with the news of Jordan's departure on her mind Alex wasn't sure how she was going to be without him.
Truth was that Jordan had always been her security blanket. He was outgoing, showed great sporting talent and was the biggest joker of all time. People flocked to him, he was like a magnet and everyone wanted to be close to him. A born leader and achiever. Alex loved this about him, she could hide behind the boy so she didn't have to be seen.
Alex was a lot softer spoken – most people described it as being a pushover – and preferred to stick to her own thing. She was very independent and it wasn't very often when she was concerned with what others were trying to do.
Extrovert vs Introvert. The twins were two very different people, and yet they were each other's rocks.
If the thought of her twin brother leaving her wasn't enough, then her parents told her they were selling her childhood home in Forks and moving to the local reservation of La Push to save money. Alex had definitely had her boat severely rocked.
In the space of a week her life had been shaken and Alex was surprised she hadn't burst into tears with the stress of it all. She was losing her brother to another state, the house she had grown up in was going to have some other family living inside it and she had to transfer schools in the middle of her junior year.
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For a girl who despised change, Alex Santiago was going through a hell of a lot of it.
"Smile, Alex," Jordan was wondering around the room, his voice echoed as he spoke. There was only a bed placed in the barely furnished room and the dainty white bed frame had Alex's name written all over it. "Change can be good sometimes."
Alex dragged another box into her new room – which she could already tell was not going to be the same as her old one as the walls were an off white and it was a whole lot smaller. "That is the biggest lie you have ever told."
"You're so dramatic," Jordan turned to his two minute younger sister and put on a sickly sweet smile. "Must be the extra two minutes you spent in Mom's womb."
Alex ignored his smart ass comment and crossed her arms across her chest. "Since you are ditching me to live with a bunch of stinky jocks, can you at least put those muscles you always brag about to use and bring up the rest of my stuff?"
Jordan scoffed acting like he was offended but walked past Alex, scuffing her hair on the way past to do exactly what she asked. He would never admit it, the boy was too proud, but if Alex asked him to do anything for her he would probably do it. All Jordan ever wanted was for her to be happy.
"And try not to break anything or Mama will actually kill you this time."
Alex was very aware that tomorrow was the day her brother departed for Ohio. This fact terrified the girl, but she knew she was going to try her best to put on a brave face. She didn't know life without Jordan and not having him around was going to be a big change in Alex's life.
"You okay?" Jordan asked when he returned to her room, two of her mirrors in his hands. He instantly noticed the frown pulled down on Alex's face.
Without even a second thought Alex was nodding her head. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Growing up with someone for your entire life meant that you knew them pretty well. Jordan could see the sadness etched onto his twin's face at this very point in time, although he was sure she would never admit it. "We're going to be fine, Lexi. I promise."
The brunette simply nodded again, praying that Jordan would be right. Alex had no clue how she was going to let him walk to his flight on Sunday without hopping in his luggage. She hated the feeling of being left behind, especially when it came to Jordan.
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One thing that Alex was pleased with living on the reservation about was the thick woods that expanded behind her house. In Forks, although there wasn't much space between La Push and the small town, Alex hadn't lived near the trees at all. It was soothing to her how calm the place was.
The brunette tugged her sweater sleeves down so that they covered her small hands. Despite moving houses it didn't change the climate of this place, which Alex secretly loved. It meant that she had a good excuse to stay inside all day like she preferred.
Sitting on her back porch steps only sounded like a good idea to Alex because she needed out of her new house. It didn't feel like home, no matter how many family photos her mother put up or whether her father had removed his shoes in the middle of the hallway instead of at the door like he always did. Alex knew it was going to feel even less homily once Jordan left, with only her and her parents being present.
"Dude, did you not see how mad Sam looked? We're toast if we don't apologize."
"I told you eating all of Emily's food while they were on vacation was a bad idea."
"Didn't stop you from joining in, Paul."
Alex scrunched her face in confusion at the sight of two shirtless boys walking out of the woods not far from where she sat. Loose denim shorts hung off their hips and the brunette wondered how the weren't shivering in the cold wind. Her home did have a small fence, but it in no way concealed the boys from Alex and vice versa. In their defense it wasn't trespassing as her new house only had a few neighbors, and they were placed with quite a distance from her place.
"You peer pressured me, Jared. That is going to be my excuse anywa–"
Paul swore that he could feel someone looking at him, and indeed when he turned to look at the culprit he was surprised at what he saw.
She was tiny, with glossy dark hair draping over half of her face. Looks however became secondary to Paul as he locked eyes with a girl that he had never once seen on the reserve before. That was a surprising fact also since everyone in La Push knew each other.
Sam and Jared had always told him that you would know as soon as you imprinted. It wasn't a feeling one could ever explain, and Paul had only just understood this now. It was all in flashes, glimpses of this girl he had only seen once and Paul was now imagining more of her than he thought possible. Laughter, stupid adventures and her presence that made his heart sing.
Paul Lahote had just imprinted on a brunette who looked half his size and that he had only seen once in his entire sixteen years of living.
Alex wasn't sure why the taller boy of the two was continually staring at her, in fact it was making her nervous. She didn't mean to get caught staring at the two teenagers, it was in them catching her watching them that made Alex want to curl in a ball. She didn't like people watching her, which is exactly what the pair were now doing.
Her eyes instantly fell down to the muddy ground to her left and Alex was sure a blush had come onto her cheeks. In two seconds Alex was up on her feet and speedily walking into the house, not looking back once at the boys that she could feel were still watching her as she walked away.
Alex hoped that she never had to see them again, especially the one that was almost burning her with his stare. She had been embarrassed enough.
Jared had put two and two together rather quickly. His laughter rang out through the vast space, his hand coming to clamp on to his packmate's shoulder. "This is amazing."
The girl was gone from his view and Paul instantly felt a pang in his chest to follow her. He wanted to not only learn her name, but to know all about her. Inside and out. "Shut up, Jared."
"This is called karma," Jared was still stifling laughter. The act of imprinting wasn't funny, in fact he thought it was a beautiful thing. The circumstance however was priceless. "You dig on Sam and I everyday for imprinting and now look where we are. You are locked with her for life, dude."
"I don't even know her name," Paul mumbled to himself, the image of the girl's face already pressed into his brain for what he assumed would be forever.
Jared shook his head. "You will. You will most definitely know it soon."
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