Author's note: Okay, here are some things I need to get oput of the way. First, I don't own twilight or any of the characters, just the ones that I've created here. Second, for those of you who have already read this, yes, I rewrote this first chapter. Third, there is some minor cussing in here, but these are teenagers I'm writing about, here. They are going to cuss. I tried not to do it alot, in my defence. Ditto Embry's somewhat shady past. Fourth, REVEIW. REVEIW OR YOU SHALL DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH.

Just kiddng. But do reveiw though, I would love some constructive critisism.

Cathryn's POV

Six years. Six years, and not one day less. That was how long it took me to discover all the freaks at my school, and befriend them. First grade to sixth grade. Six years of being left out, of not understanding jokes, of breaking down the air-tight walls that cliques had created in order to get the desired friends. Because really, who wants to have a bunch of boring friends when you are just the opposite of it? I'd just finished

my seventh grade year. That's it. One year. I got one year of friendship and happiness, and then we had to up and move?

I guess I had no one to blame but myself. I was the one who had wondered off that day while we were on vacation in Seattle three years ago. It wasn't my mother's fault that in her impassioned rush to find her only child, she met a man living there and fell so deeply in love with him that they had to go and get hitched.

On second thought, maybe it was my stepsibling's faults. Because, you know, Mom did try to do what was best for me. Bob moved down to Florida with his two kids, Mark and Lizzie. At the time, everything had seemed fine. It was fine. But then Mark and Lizzie went and got all homesick. Lizzie started failing and showing up at our house at three o'clock in the morning too drunk to even talk. And then Mark got into all these fights at school, and they both swore up and down that it was because they missed the gloomy and rainy hellhole that was Washington State.

So then we all had to move back up there. Not back to Seattle, because that wouldn't have been fair to me. According to my mother, I'd feel left out, like Mark and Lizzie did, and I'd get into trouble, like Mark and Lizzie did. According to my mom, all of these things could be stopped if we just completely started over. Don't see her logic? Good. Me neither.

The Olympic Peninsula. That was where we were moving. Right on the coast. Around a teeny town called Forks, and two Indian reservations called Makah and La Push. Mark was going to college in the fall, and Lizzie and I got to choose which school we wanted to go to. Both of us chose the one in La Push. God knows why Lizzie chose it, but I just wanted to go because of the cool name. Quileute. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, that was the only good thing about this whole mess. The name of the school.

Although, personally, I wouldn't have minded too much if they just home schooled us. As it was, they told me that I could either ride home with Lizzie-an idea that Lizzie was even more against than I was- or make a friend with as license that will drive me to and from school. How was I supposed to do that? I'd rather just walk. Or, Mom could make everything easier for me and take up home schooling.

Because, really. Wasn't it enough that I be forced to move across the country, from a place where it isn't unusual for there to be seventy degree Christmases, to a place that rained nonstop and occasionally had snowstorms in June? To throw a new school into the mix should be considered child abuse.

Apparently though, my parents disagreed. The way they saw it, we'd be moving there at the end of May, so we'd have three whole months to make friends and all that before school starts. Which was the biggest piece of crap I'd ever heard. Uh, hello? This was Me, remember? Miss Independent, loaded with sarcasm, attitude, and stubbornness? Not to mention so insane that even I knew it? How did they expect me to actually talk to random strangers before it was even necessary? And say nice things?

I tell you, they were living in a fantasy world.

I lazily put the suitcases in my bed, a knot the size of a bowling ball in my stomach. Sure, I had the best room. At the tippy top of our three story house, slanting at the ceiling, my own bathroom, the only rooms on the third floor. Bright Kelly Green, complete with a balcony and my own thermostat, which was a good thing, because I always seemed to be colder than every one else.

Still. In my opinion, it was all a trick. I'd been the one to throw a fit about moving. I'd been the one to where all black on the last day of school, to show that I was in mourning. For what? My social life, which was almost certainly coming to a painful and sickening end.

Like getting an awesome room could change any of that.

I flopped down next to my bags and stared upward. This was going to kill me. They would find my lifeless remains lying over the tearstains on my pillow after the first day of school in September. Maybe then the dictators I was forced to call my parents would see the error of their ways, and they would bury me back home in Florida, then move back their in order to be closer to their loving and wonderful daughter, whose death had been entirely their fault, uncaring of the whines and protests coming from Mark and Lizzie. Especially Lizzie.

If I was Lucky. Which I wouldn't be. I was never lucky. I had always thought that if you are an Aries, then your supposed to be luckier than all of the other star signs. Like, always winning bingo and never getting caught when you do bad things and stuff like that. I was an Aries. I was born on April Fools day, though, so maybe that was why.

God. This sucked.

Ding, Dong.The ringing of the doorbell brought me back to earth. I trudged wearily down the stairs, trying to look as pitiful as possible, just in case anybody were watching.

It was Lizzie who answered the door. "Hello," She said uncertainly.

"Hi, we are the Gates; we live just down the road from here. We just wanted to bring you something, you know, welcome you to La Push."

"Oh. Right. Hang on a sec. MOM!!!" She yelled over her shoulder. I winced. I called my stepfather 'Bob', not 'Dad'. Why my darling stepsister didn't extend the same courtesy to my mother was beyond me.

My parents were at the door and welcoming the Gates in a second. My mom's mood had improved so greatly since meeting Bob. That was the sole reason I didn't try to break the marriage up. And it wasn't like there was anything wrong with Bob himself. Sure he was balding and a little plump and wore really thick glasses and ties so insane even I was embarrassed to look at them, but he was a good guy. And a lawyer, which brought in a pretty hefty income, in addition to my mother's. She was a doctor.

I could even handle Mark. He stumbled down the stairs, hair tousled and rubbing his eyes. Apparently he'd gone to sleep in the forty-five minutes we'd been here. The one and only thing he ever willingly did. Besides punching half the guys in Gainesville. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase, just behind me. He definitely had temper problems. But then, so did I.

It was Lizzie whom I didn't like. She was grouchy and spoiled and the biggest flirt I'd ever seen in my life. She leaned against the wall, sneering at the Gates daughter.

I felt suddenly protective of the poor girl. Yeah, she was probably the typical small town girl. Cheerleader. Gossiped all the time. Scared to death of sticking out. Her physical build supported my assumption. She was short and muscle toned, her jet black hair pulled back into a tight pony tale just above her crown, her bangs falling into her almond shaped eyes. Definitely the cheerleader type, and definitely not somebody I wanted to be friends with. Still though, it wasn't like she'd done anything to us. Yet. Lizzie could stand to chill just a little. Probably she was intimidated. She looked older than me, but younger than Lizzie, and much prettier than both of us.

"Cathryn," My mother said, grabbing my arm and pulling me over. "This is Leslie." The girl waved uncertainly. "She'll be starting high school this year." Older than me, but younger than my sister. I was right. "Why don't you show her your room and you two can talk." My mom had this huge goofy grin on her face, like she thought that we would become best friends by the end of the week. As if.

I sighed, but lead her up the two floors and into my room for my mother's benefit.

"Wow." Leslie said as we walked in. "Nice room."

"Yeah," I said tonelessly, sitting on top of one of my bags.

We sat there awkwardly for a moment, not looking at one another. Finally she said, "Sooo….you're new here."

I rolled my eyes. What an intelligent conversation starter. It wasn't even a question. "Yeah," I responded coolly.

More silence.

Before I could stop them, visions of the impending school year began running through my head. Would I be the topic of all gossip? Duh. This place was the smallest, most close knit, most boring town I had ever been to, and I was the new girl. Of course people would talk. Heck, people talked at my huge school in Gainesville. And where would I sit in lunch? Because I was not, under any circumstances, eating in the library. Or worse, the girl's bathroom. Most likely, I would end up with a bunch of girls who looked and acted exactly like this Leslie person, listening to them exchange diet ideas ad hair tips while keeping my head down and never uttering a word.

Joy. Oh, joy.

Ding, Dong.I leapt up and raced back downstairs. The doorbell? Again? I could barely handle one irritating family, what was I supposed to do with two? If they had any kids….

I marched up to the door and answered it, scowl in place. Maybe if I looked unfriendly enough, they'd just say hi really quickly and leave….

"Hi! I'm…Keilly…." She faltered as she took in my expression. She too, looked older than me, maybe in Leslie's grade. She looked nicer, though. Somebody I could more easily get along with. Tall and plump, her white blonde hair pulled into low pigtails on either side of her face.

"Cathryn," I said dully, sticking out a hand. She took it, smiling tentatively.

"So…you want to come in or something?" I asked her. Please, please, please say no….

"Sure."

What did I tell you? Bad Luck.

"This is Leslie, "I told her after leading her up the stairs and into my room. Leslie had taken her shoes off and was lying on my bed, glaring at the ceiling exactly like I'd been doing moments before. She looked up at the mentioning of her name. When she saw Keilly, her face broke into a huge smile. When she smiled, her face looked totally different. Almost like some one I might be able to tolerate.

"Hey, Keills!" She said enthusiastically.

They knew each other. Of course.

I immediately assumed that Keilly was just like Leslie and that they were going to be immediately absorbed in their own conversation and I would be left out of the mix to listen to my iPod in piece. However, Keilly surprised me by talking adamantly to both me and Leslie, smoothing over Leslie's awkward and my weird with her own savvy sweetness. We covered about a zillion topics. Keilly's boyfriend, Seth Clearwater, apparently a total hunk. Colin, Leslie's crush, also seemingly gorgeous. Seth would be a senior, Colin a year behind him, and Keilly a year behind him. When I told them that I would be in eighth, they both showered me with details such as which teachers were crappiest, which electives not to take, and which cafeteria foods were the most inedible. They also mentioned a guy named Drew, who would be going into my grade.

"We should introduce you guys sometime." Leslie said.

"Yeah! He's going with Seth and me and Leslie and another friend of ours, Brady, to the movies tomorrow. You wanna come with?" Keilly asked.

Which was how I ended up spending my second day in Washington with a bunch of weird friends I hadn't made yet.

Naturally, I was really nervous. If I wanted to avoid being a total loser from now until the foreseeable future, this had to go well. And some of the people I would be with were more than three years older than me. Why hadn't I just made an excuse not to go? I did that all the time back in Gainesville. Granted, the excuses were more about academics than my social life, but still.

It was about one o'clock when an old SUV pulled up in front of my driveway. I went out the door hurriedly, trying to avoid anybody coming inside. My mom was just a little on the protective side, and she really didn't need to know about me going out with a bunch of strangers.

The back door opened, and a guy got out. I stopped walking for a moment in shock. Whatever I'd been expecting, it wasn't this. He was huge. I was tall, five seven, but this guy was at least a foot taller than me. I could see his muscles even through the shirt he was wearing. Was this Seth? He was definitely good looking. The man walked around to the front of the car and switched places with Keilly, who had been in the passenger's seat. She smiled when she saw me, and opened the door for me to get in.

"This is Seth," She said giving the driver a huge smile. He looked surprisingly similar to the first guy I'd seen. Were they brothers? He nodded vaguely in acknowledgement, but his eyes were on Keilly. I looked away quickly. The look they were giving each other…it felt private. Like I was intruding on something special, something sacred. I could see in just a few seconds that Seth loved Keilly more than anybody else. However, instead of being touched, like most girls would be, I just felt uncomfortable. Uncomfortable, and a little bit creeped out.

Thankfully though, Keilly continued the introductions, distracting me. "This is Brady," She said ruefully, gesturing to the man next to Seth who had gotten out earlier. "And you know Leslie of course, and this is Drew."

Drew was every bit as big as Seth and Brady were. He was supposed to be thirteen, like me, but he could have passed for somebody in his twenties.

I got in, scared to death. How could Keilly and Leslie stand them? They made me so nervous, like any one of them could snap my neck in two at any given moment. Which they probably could. The back seat was jam packed full of textbooks and snacks and sports equipment, so I was forced to sit in between Drew and Leslie. I shrank into Leslie a little bit, chastising myself the whole time.

I mean, seriously. They were just a couple of over sized teenagers. They shouldn't have bothered me. Leslie and Keilly obviously trusted them, so I should too. I forced myself to lean carelessly against the seat, smirking slightly. That was My Look. Confident, fearless, smart, not the kind of girl you wanted to mess with. The exact opposite of how I felt, but nobody had to know that.

However, much to my surprise, within about fifteen minutes of the hour long drive to Port Angeles where we would see the movie, My Look became real. It was so easy being with all of them. Brady, for example, was a giant cheese head. He flirted shamelessly with Leslie and I the whole time, seeming to know that Keilly was untouchable. Seth and Drew punched him several times throughout the drive, but the idiot barely seemed to even notice. Drew was like a milder version of Brady, playful, but knowing his limits. He was funny, and I was laughing almost the entire time. Seth seemed to like anything Keilly liked, and therefore was really nice to me. But I had a feeling that he would have been friendly anyway. He just seemed like a sweetheart. So he was all right for Leslie, even if he wasn't my type.

Not that there weren't downsides. I was absolutely smooshed. There were four people in a seat that only held three. I was also sweating the whole time, due to Seth's car being without air conditioning and Drew's skin being way hot. Though when I asked him if he had a fever, he said he felt fine.

I also had no idea about anything they were talking about. I had to ask for clarifications a lot more often than I would have like to, but nobody seemed to mind. Then when we got to the movie, it totally sucked. It was the latest thriller, and the special effects were horrible. Instead of screaming like everybody else, we mostly made fun of it the whole time. Except for Keilly, who hid her face in Seth's chest, shrieking. Seth seemed to enjoy this. Plus the guys were huge popcorn hogs. I didn't know it was even possible for three guys to eat so much. They were at the concession stand getting refills more often than they were in the theater.

When it was over, Seth drove us back to the rez, but instead of taking us all home, he drove us to a coffee shop where he and Brady and Drew proceeded to rob the place of all food. Leslie and Keilly and I sipped our frapichinoes and made fun of them.

Was I actually having fun?

At least until Keilly nodded off in Seth's lap. That was, apparently, the signal that it was getting late. For Seth, anyway. It was weird how every little emotion Keilly felt seemed to be doubled on Seth. Like he knew her better than she knew herself. And he seemed to worry at the slightest hint of her discomfort. So, so weird.

Which was probably a good thing, seeing as I was a giant freak myself.

Every day after that I was with Keilly or Leslie or Drew or Seth or Brady or some combination of the five. It was amazing how well we all got a long. I was happy around them, and it was easy to forget about the constant cover of clouds and rain, and Lizzie's moodiness, and the impending school year in which I would know absolutely NO ONE but Drew. He told me that we could go over to the high school during lunch though, so that helped.

I also went to dance camp, which was amazing. I hadn't danced since I'd found out that I'd be moving here, almost six months ago. It felt great to get moving again.

I'd been right about Leslie being very fit. That summer, she criticized every unhealthy bite Keilly and I took. Keilly kept eating, unashamed, but I slowly gave up junk food and took up jogging with Leslie every night.

I made some cash by babysitting another neighbor, two little girls. One was eight, and her name was Blaire. The other was five. She was Claire, and my favorite of the two. She was five, and had what was quite possibly the wildest tangle of curls I'd ever seen, but majorly shy. The first time I babysat, I thought she was one of those weirdoes that didn't speak for the first time until they were like seven. But when she finally did open her mouth, she was a pretty cool kid.

What was even cooler, however, was that her family had a friend that was at their house ninety nine percent of the time, and he very rarely wore a shirt. Although he kind of ruined it when he spoke, being one of the most obnoxious people I'd ever met. Still, we got along all right. Plus, the guy worshipped Claire.

However, this is still me we are talking about. And me means bad luck. So of course something had to change.

I just wasn't expecting it to be so drastic.

Chapter 2 Upside Down Running- David Archuleta

Embry's POV

Okay. So here's the thing: I'm a werewolf. A werewolf who's two bets friends both have a good chance of being his half brother. A werewolf who's mom doesn't know about what I am and so takes my disappearing every night as a sign of her 'failure as a parent'. A werewolf who is trying to somehow make it through college without angering Sam. Not an easy feat, let me tell you, especially when I got there on a soccer scholarship.

I mean, you're supposed to work hard when you play a sport. And most people have to, if they want to avoid being kicked off the team. But I don't have that problem. I'm the guy looking around at the other guys making sure he's not waaaaay ahead of them. I'm kicking the ball as gently as possible as to not break the goal or any of my teammates. I'm trying to emphasize with the ref because I know if I get mad at him I will become a giant dog and people will come for me in the night with flaming torches and pitchforks like they did to Frankenstein.

And hey, it could be worse. I could be bad at soccer. If I were in a parallel universe. Because I was good at it even when I was a weak and uncoordinated human. And a guy's got to make sacrifices if he wants a good job. I was studying to become a chemical engineer, with photography on the side. It turns out that a really good way to irritate a pack of werewolves is to take pictures of them. And occasionally I actually get a decent shot.

Plus there's the whole muscle thing. And being physically like twenty five. No zits! I looked around now and saw guys breaking a sweat trying to talk to girls who'd fallen all over themselves to get at me. And no, that wasn't my ego. It was a fact. It was weird to me now, but I used to be so awkward around girls. Now…lets just say I'm never lonely at parties and bars.

Speaking of, I have a new girlfriend. Kayla. I wasn't actually aware of that fact until she called me up the other day going on and on about what an amazing night we had together. We went on a date, and I came out of it sure that she was the most annoying creature I'd ever met. How some one so dumb could talk so much was beyond me.

She was taking me to Blockbuster shortly so we could rent a movie to whach together.

If it ever occurs to me to show up.