the girl who cried wolf // Twilight Saga

°seven°

“You protect the ones you love.”

○○○○

Paul and Ronnie were still dancing around his kitchen as the phone ran. He let go of her to answer it.

“Hello? Sam, what’s up?” Ronnie watches as Paul’s reaction went from relaxed to tense in a matter of seconds. “What? When? Okay, yeah tell him I’ll bring her right over. Okay, thanks, Sam. See you soon.”

Paul hung up and stood there, looking at Ronnie with tears filling up his eyes. “Paul, what’s wrong?”

“Harry had a heart attack.” Ronnie put her hand to her mouth. “Charlie and Billy are over at his house with his family. He’s gone, Ron.”

“No.” Ronnie shook her head. “He can’t be gone.” Tears fell down her face as Paul pulled her into a tight hug.

“Ron…” He tried to soothe her. “Your dad wants you over there. We’ll go to yours first, so you can change.”

○○○○

The drive to Ronnie’s was silent. Her tears had finally stopped as she looked out at the rain falling.

They pulled up outside the house and Ronnie saw Bella’s truck. “I’ll wait here for you.” Paul said as Ronnie opened the door of the truck. “Wait. Stop.” Paul quickly leaned over, shutting the door closed. “There’s a vampire here.”

“How do you know?” Ronnie asked, looking around.

“I can smell it.” He huffs and starts the truck again. “We’re going straight to Harry’s.”

Ronnie turns around and sees a familiar car. “That’s Carlise’s car.” She then looked back at her home. “They’re here with Bella.”

She got out of the truck, with Paul hot on her heels. “Ron, stop!” He grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“They won’t hurt me!” She tells him.

“Look, if a Cullen is back, this is their territory.” He looked at her. “The treaty says we can only defend on our own lands. I can’t protect you here.”

“Okay.” She rest her hand on his cheek. “It’s okay. You don’t have to. Go to Harry’s. They need me more.”

“Ron..”

“Paul, please.” She begs him. “Bella is in there. I’ll ring you as soon as I can.”

Paul didn’t say anything else as Ronnie walked away, towards her house. She took a deep breath and opened the door. As she walked inside, closing the door, she saw Bella and Alice sitting on the couch. “Oh, my God, Bella, you’re okay!” She goes over to her sister and hugs her. “Alice, you’re here!”

“And you smell like a wet dog.” She sniffed as she stood up beside Ronnie.

Ronnie lifted up the hoodie and sniffed it. “Oh, yeah, Paul, he’s kind of a wolf.”

“Like Jacob.” Bella interjected. “They’re in the same pack.”

“Girls,” Alice sighed. “Wolves are not good company to keep.”

“Speak for yourself.” Paul’s voice filled the room as he walked from the kitchen, followed by Jacob.

“We had to make sure you both were safe.” Jacob said, looking between both Swan girls.

“Well, I’m not going to hurt them.” Alice spoke in her defence.

“No, you’re just a harmless Cullen.” Paul growled.

“We’re talking about the other bloodsucker who tried to kill Bella because of you.” Jacob looked at Alice like he could kill her.

“Victoria?” She asked, looking around at the four in front of her.

“Yeah, she’s been around.” Bella shrugged her shoulders.

“I didn’t see her.” Alice said. “I didn’t see you get pulled out of the water, either.”

“Water?” Ronnie turned to Bella. “What happened?

What did you do?” “I’ll explain later.” Bella whispered.

Alice turned her attention to the two guys. “I can’t see past you and your pack of mutts.”

“Don’t get me upset.” Paul argues as he stepped closer to Alice.

“Hey, stop.” Ronnie stood in front of Paul. trying to calm him down. “Stop, stop, stop.”

Bella looked at Alice, asking if she could give them a minute. She obliged and walked out the back door.

“Is he?” Jacob asked Bella. “How many Cullen’s are back? How long are they staying?”

“It’s just Alice.” Bella told him with a hint of sadness in her voice. “And she can stay as long as she likes.”

“Are the rest coming back?” Paul asked as they followed Bella into the kitchen.

“No,” Bella shook her head. “Not that I know of.” She looked between Jacob and Paul. “Anything else?”

“That’s it.” Jacob shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, if that’s all, then you two better go run back to Sam.” Her emotions turned to anger.

“Bella…”

Before Ronnie could finish her sentence, the phone rang. Jacob, being the closest person to it, answered.

“Swan residence.” While on the phone, Ronnie noticed Jacob getting tensed. “He’s not here right now. He’s arranging a funeral.” Jacob threw the phone back on the hook and turned to the three of them.

“Who was that?” Bella asked.

“Always getting in the way.” Jacob huffed.

“Jake, who was that?” Ronnie asked, as Jacob began to pace back and forth.

“Ron, Bella, get back.” Paul ordered as he tried to settle Jacob.

“Bella!” Alice shouted as she ran back in. “Bella, it’s Edward. He thinks you’re dead.” Ronnie watched as Jacob stood in the corner. “Rosalie told him why I came here.”

“Why would yo- Why didn’t you let me speak to him?!” Bella shouted at Jacob.

“He didn’t ask to speak to you.” Jacob shouted back.

Paul grabbed Jacob as Ronnie grabbed Bella, separating them. “Bella,” Alice called out to her. “He’s going to the Volturi. He wants to die, too.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Bella ran up the stairs, and quickly packed a small bag. Ronnie, being the protective sister, made sure Paul kept Jacob away from her.

“He left you, Bella!” Jacob shouted at her as they followed Bella out to Alice in the car. “He didn’t want you anymore, remember?”

“Jake, shut up!” Ronnie turned and shouted at him.

“She can’t just drop everything and go to Italy!” Jacob threw his arms up. “What about Charlie?”

“She’s 18, Jake. Shed can do whatever she wants.” Ronnie put her hands on Jacob’s chest. “I’ll try to come up with something to tell Charlie.”

“Why would you do that, V?” He asked, looking defeated.

“Because she’s my sister. And you protect the ones you love.” She looked over Jacob’s shoulder to see Paul giving her a small smile. “Paul, can you take Jake to Harry’s?” Paul grabbed Jacob’s arm, pulling him away. “I’ll be there soon.” Ronnie called out to them as she headed down to the car.

“Thank you, Ronnie.” Bella looked up at Ronnie through the opened window.

“Be careful, Bells.” She warned her. “Alice, please ring me if anything happens.”

“Don’t worry, Veronica.” Alice smiled at her. “I’ll take care of her.”

Ronnie stepped back as Alice drove off. The last time Bella drove off with a Cullen, James was after her, wanting to kill her. And unlike last time, Ronnie wasn’t going with her..

○○○○

Later on that evening, Ronnie had finally made it to Harry’s. Walking towards his house, Sam had met her.

“Veronica.” He called out as she walked up to him. “Paul caught me up with what happened with Bella. Are you sure everything is okay?”

“Nope.” Ronnie said, popping the ‘p’. “But you should have seen her, Sam. There was no way of convincing her any different. She was going to Italy one way or another.”

“You should know, if something happens and they kill her..”

“Don’t worry, Sam.” Ronnie interrupts him. “If she dies because of him, you won’t get a chance to get near him, because I’ll kill him myself. And he knows that.” Ronnie walked away from Sam, entering Harry’s house. She finds where her dad and Billy are. “Hey, dad.” He hugged her dad tight. “Billy.” She leaned down to hug Billy.

As she looked back up at Charlie, she could see his face was covered in tear stains. “Where’s your sister? She should be here, too.”

“Uh, don’t worry about Bella.” Ronnie brushed it off as she looked to see Paul with Embry and Jared near the corner of the room. “Where’s Sue?”

“She’s in the kitchen.” Billy says. “Won’t sit down for a goddamn second.”

Ronnie nodded at them, walking towards the kitchen, where she saw Sue making some food. “Hey, Sue. let me do that.” Ronnie walked over to her, taking the knife off her.

“Oh, Veronica.” She wiped her eyes. “Thanks for coming. I just need to make sure everyone has enough to eat.”

“No, like I said, I can do it.” Ronnie grabbed her hand. “Go be with your kids, they need you the most.”

“Thank you, Veronica.” She pulled Ronnie in for a hug. “I’ll try to see if I can get Leah out of her room.”

As Sue left, Emily and Kim joined Ronnie in the kitchen. “Ron-Ron!” Kim quietly laughed as she pulled her in for a hug.

“Hey, Ronnie.” Emily smiled at her. “We know it’s not the place, but we both wanted to know how your date with Paul went.”

Ronnie started blushing as she could see through the opened door that Paul had slightly turned his head, so he could hear her answer. “You know, even though it ended with us here, it was good.” Ronnie smiled at the two girls. “I had fun.” Ronnie grabbed the plate of food she had finished making, and headed back out to the crowd, placing it on the table. She then turned, watching as Seth came walking down the stairs. “Seth.” She called, walking towards him.

“Hey, Ronnie.” He looked at her with a sad smile.

“I’m really sorry about your dad.” She rested her hand on his shoulder.

“Thanks.” He looked around the room. “I’m just gonna go down to the beach for a little while.”

“Would you like some company?” She asked him, in the hopes he’d says yes so he wouldn’t be alone.

“Yeah, I actually would like that.” He nodded his head and made his way towards the door.

Ronnie follows him, as she passes the guys, Paul grabs her arm, stopping her. “Here, it’s freezing out there.” He took off his jacket, and placed it around her shoulders.

Ronnie turned to see Charlie looking at the two of them. “Thanks.” She gives Paul a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

She walked out the door, joining Seth outside, as they made their way down to the beach.