I sighed as I zipped my suitcase closed.

'Goodbye, Washington D.C. Washington, here I come.'

My mom's car horn beeped, letting me know that she was waiting for me. I grabbed my backpack, and snapped one last picture of my room. It felt strange now, with it's now white walls, and clear floors. Since I was going to Washington to live with my uncle, my mom decided to move to a smaller house outside our town. I had decided to give away all my toys and most of my books when I turned ten, since they were all pretty useless, so packing wasn't hard. What I had kept was all contained within my backpack and roller suitcase, which I got down the stairs with little difficulty. I stepped out the front door, and locked it. Waving goodbye at the house, I slowly made my way to the car, where I deposited my stuff into the trunk. Climbing into the front seat, I tried to appear as happy as I could. My mom wasn't fooled.

"It's okay, Autumn. This is going to be great! You always said you wanted something exciting to happen." I shrugged. I hadn't had this in mind when I told her that.

"I'm fine, Mom," I huffed, looking out the window so she wouldn't see the glassy look in my eyes that showed I was close to tears.

She patted my shoulder. "You'll love Washington. And Uncle Billy says that Jacob's very excited to have another teen in the house since his sister, Rachel, left."

'Yeah, right.'

"I'm sure I will. I just wish it didn't have to be so rainy," I admitted.

"Just give it a few months. Soon enough, you'll be complaining when it's sunny outside."

"I'm sure I will," I said flatly.

"Well, let's get going. Your flight leaves at 9:30, and I don't want to be late. You love flying in planes, don't you? I remember when you went on your first plane. You were so nervous, you wouldn't open your eyes or let go of my arm until we had been in the air for 10 minutes. But when we got to Orlando, you were pretending to land the plane."

"Yeah, Mom. I remember the DisneyWorld trip. Planes are okay."

She nodded. "Good."

We didn't talk much on our way to the airport, and only conversed a bit once we were waiting for the officers to finish scanning my bags. We had another hour before my mom wanted to head for the area around where my plane would arrive, so I suggested that we go to the Starbucks and get some hot chocolates and muffins. We chatted a bit between sips and bites, but I knew both of us were nervous. Mom shifted in her chair.

"So, how do you think you'll like your new school?"

I shrugged. "I'm glad I don't have to go to that special school that Jacob goes to."

I refused to say the name of our people. I didn't want to go down that road. Mom sensed my hesitation, and guessed what it was about.

"Honey, sooner or later you have to face the fact that these people are family. You can't keep pretending that things are different."

I sighed and pretended to check out the Bestsellers shelf at the front of the airport's bookstore. Months ago, my mom had told me about Uncle Billy, and my cousins. Before that, I didn't think I had any family but Mom. When I was about two, my dad died, leaving Mom and I alone. My mother hadn't contacted our family much after that, since the only family members we had were on my dad's side. Mom was an only child, and her parents had passed away when she was in college. So she didn't talk about family. I never asked. It just worked like that. Until March.

"Mom, I might not be able to escape it, but I can avoid it."

Now it was her time to sigh. "Why do you need to avoid it?"

"I'm not like them."

"No, you're like me."

My eyebrows knit together, like they always did when I got frustrated. "Why do I have to look so different?"

"I don't know," Mom said, sounding more tired than she looked.

My dad had been born and raised in Washington, where he met my mom. They lived there until I was born, and then Dad died two years later. Mom didn't want to live in a house with so many memories she had shared with him, so she moved across the United States to a comfy two-story house in Maryland, close to Washington D.C. There I had grown up, and I wasn't eager to leave. But Uncle Billy had been insistent on me moving over to the land near a small town called Forks. Mom would not tell me the reason, no matter how much I begged.

'I always liked spoons better.'

I turned back to Mom. "I could at least have been a mix between you two."

"Well, it didn't work out that way. We can't do anything about that now."

"I know..."

Dad had been dark-skinned, with long black hair, and eyes like night. He was always smiling brightly in the pictures, and his eyes were squinting, as I had learned to be a family trait. My hair had been deep brown since I was born, and my eye color was similar. Though it was the middle of July, my light skin stayed the same, apart from my slightly red cheeks. But sunburn wasn't quite the same.

"Autumn," Mom said hesitantly, "you're perfect the way you are."

"Nobody's perfect."

"You're as close as it gets."

"We've been over this already."

"Not enough for you to believe it."

"Apparently not enough for you to give up, either..." I mumbled.

Mom's eyes narrowed. "Well, I can see you've finished your muffin and hot chocolate, so you can go see what's over at the bookstore if you want. Here," she said, handing me a twenty dollar bill. I shook my head.

"I can pay for a book myself."

"I know, but I'm not going to be buying stuff for you anymore, besides on your birthday and Christmas."

"Fine," I muttered, begrudgingly accepting the money.

The bookstore didn't have much, but I found three mildly interesting books that I decided could satisfy me for the flight. With nothing else to do, I headed back to where Mom was sitting, silently praying for time to go faster.

I sat down in a seat by the window. My goodbye with Mom had been tearless, with few words. Neither of us were really the emotional type; I hadn't cried since I was four, and I had never seen Mom cry. She said she did when Dad died. I guess that was a reasonable time to cry, you know? So I had promised to send an e-mail every so often, and she had nodded, and we said goodbye. Then there was just awkward silence, so I eventually turned around, re-secured my carry-on bag, and walked to my plane. And here I sat. It was a nice seat, not too far up front, and not too far back. After getting bored from looking out the window, I took out my camera. I took no time in taking two pics of the plane - one of the front and one of the back - and then one of me. Mom had specifically instructed me to take plenty of pictures to send to her so she could know how things were going, and see some things for herself. I didn't really mind, since I had loved photography since I had turned 12 and gotten a high quality Nikkon. Before that, I had only known the ways of cheap CVS-bought cameras. My pics only took a minute - including the time it took to check the pics for flaws - so I got out a few new Sudoku books Mom had gotten me a week ago, and worked on those. It took a lot for me to get tired of those puzzles. That's how I stayed for six hours, which is how long it took for us to be ready for flight, to get into the air, and to land in Seattle, Washington. The flight attendant explained all this boring stuff about exiting the plane - none of which interested me in the slightest - and then it was time to get off. I took deep breaths, and stepped into my new life.

AN : Hi. So, this is my third story, though it's my first Twilight story. I hope you like what I have so far. Review please!