Hi and welcome! I read Twilight when I was fourteen in high school, almost ten years ago now and have always been more interested in the wolf pack dynamics. There won't be much Cullen action here but I certainly don't do that weird thing where fairly likeable characters suddenly turn into horrendous villains.

Hope you like it!

1.

Nora Redtree eyed the building in front of her distastefully. School on the La Push Rez was going to be far different than what she was used to, not the least being the lack of white people she was used to back in Chicago. She had been the one to stand out at The Ballet Academy she had been attending for the last four years, her russet skin a marker of her difference. Here, she blended into the crowd, and in a lot of ways, Nora was glad for it.

"Come on, Nora," James Redtree, her cousin nudged her shoulder, pushing her forward.

She smiled at him weakly and then followed him through the doors and into the hallways that were surprisingly busy for a school so small. He lead her to the office and dropped her off with the woman behind the counter, dropping a kiss on the top of her head, before sweeping back out into the crowd, carving a path with his tall frame.

"Miss Redtree," the receptionist, who had introduced herself as Mrs. Carter, called her attention with a smile, "I have your schedule here and your locker combination. If you could get each of your teachers to sign this form for me and drop it off later this afternoon that would be wonderful."

Nodding at the kind woman gratefully, Nora took a deep breath and went back into the hallway, determined to find her locker and make it to her first class on time. She looked at the watch on her wrist and swore under her breath – the first bell would ring soon and she had no idea where she was going. James had promised her that he would get her here with plenty of time, but he had taken so long to get himself ready this morning they had left fairly late. She wanted to kill him. He had disappeared too, so she couldn't even ask him for help.

"You look lost," a deep voice said from behind her.

Hand on her heart she spun around and was surprised by the largest boy she had ever seen grinning at her from ear to ear. He was well over 6 foot, as broad as a line backer, and with more muscles than was fair for any one person. Voice lost, all she could do was nod pathetically.

He chuckled at her. "Show me your papers."

She handed them over without complaint and watched carefully as he scrutinised them carefully. He smiled at her and gave them back. "Your lockers near mine, I'll take you."

"Thank you," she said quietly, following as he began walking. She walked quickly to try and keep up with his long strides. She marveled at the way people moved out of his way as they saw him coming, and tried to ignore the funny looks she got off some people when they noticed her with him. Eventually, he stopped and leaned up against a bank of lockers, and gestured to the one on his left.

"This is you," he said kindly.

She smiled shyly. "Thanks."

"I'm Seth Clearwater," he said, "you must be Nora Redtree?"

"How do you know my name?" Nora asked him with some surprise.

Seth laughed loudly, attracting some attention from those around them. "Nora, you'll learn quick, this is a very small town, everyone knows everything."

"Great," she muttered under her breath as she closed her locker door. "Any chance you could point me in the direction of Junior English?"

He pushed himself off the locker effortlessly and nodded. "Sure, it's actually a shared class with the Seniors so I'm headed there myself."

She thanked him gratefully as he smiled and led her back down the hallway they had come from. It was such a small building that they didn't have to go far and after only walking a few hundred meters Seth was showing her the classroom. Unfortunately, they were a little late so the rest of the class was inside and all turned to watch her as she walked in. Her teacher, her schedule told her his name was Mr. Carter, waved her in impatiently.

"Come along now," he urged her, reaching out to take the form in her hands. "And how nice to see you Mr. Clearwater, we are certainly very blessed today."

The boy grinned cheekily and sauntered into the room, straight into a seat down the back next to another boy nearly as big as he was, and leaning back onto the back legs of his chair.

"Miss Redtree," Mr. Carter said, pulling back her attention, "I guarantee everyone here knows your name by now so I'll spare you the meet and greet. Take any empty seat and keep up as much as you can."

Grateful that she wouldn't have to introduce herself, Nora scurried to an empty desk, on the other side of the room from the one person who had been kind to her today, and slouched down to avoid what seemed like the stares of every other teenager there. Luckily for her, the content was similar to what it had been back in Chicago so she didn't feel too lost, even if most of her time had been spent in a studio rather than a classroom. Soon enough, the signal to the end of class went and the rush of students to the door was a little frightening. Nora kept back until there was a clearer path before heading out herself, Mr. Collins pulling her aside to look at her schedule quickly and pointing her in the right direction. Biology, she groaned internally, she hated science. She didn't understand any of it and it had been years since she'd had to do any. It hadn't been a requirement once she hit the advanced levels. As soon as the class had started and the teacher, a young and pretty white woman called Ms. Sanders, was talking them through the task Nora tuned out. She didn't have a clue what they were saying. She was startled out of her daydream by a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, you're James' cousin right?" a girl was standing by her desk, and belatedly, Nora realised that people in the room were all moving around.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she stuttered, forcing a smile.

"Cool," the girl said, taking a seat next to Nora. "I'm Sarah, he's a friend of mine. Wanna be lab partners?"

Nora nodded enthusiastically. "But I will warn you that I haven't taken any kind of science course since I was a Freshman so I know basically nothing."

Sarah looked at her strangely. "No science at all?"

"It wasn't a requirement for me and I always sucked at it," she shrugged.

"Oh well," Sarah said brightly, "it's your lucky day. I'm pretty good at Biology so I'll help you out, see what I can do to help you catch up."

Nora thanked her profusely and did her best to pay attention as she walked her through the day's lab. She was a good teacher, she thought, she went through everything step by step and did her best to explain it all in simpler terms but Nora was not hopeful about her chances in this class.

By the time she got to lunch Nora was feeling fairly tired. So far, none of her teachers had made her introduce herself, all commenting on the fact that everyone on the Rez knew her name already so there was no point really. Double-edged sword, Nora thought, she may not have had to stand in front of a bunch of strangers and talk about herself but she was clearly the current source of town gossip. Walking into the cafeteria she glanced at the food on offer but scrunched her nose at the unappetizing options. It looked like it would be home packed lunches for the time being.

"Not eating Birdy?" James asked, slinging an arm over her shoulder heavily.

"I don't think I could get any of that down," she said truthfully, poking at a lump of… something on his own plate.

"Yeah," he said, looking at his lunch consideringly, "I guess it's not exactly the nutrition plan you've been on for the last few years." He shrugged. "Oh well, come on and I'll introduce you to some friends of mine."

Arm still slung over her shoulder he steered her over to one of the tables in the middle of the cafeteria. She sighed, she should have known he'd be one of the loud guys at school, he had always given off that energy. On the way over to his friends they passed Seth sitting with his friend from English and a few other boys, all as big as the first two, and all as intimidating. She was unsure if she should greet him but he solved that problem for her by nodding his head and sending her a two-fingered salute.

"What was that about?" James asked her, eyeing the boys at the table suspiciously.

"Hmm?" Nora asked, confused. "You mean Seth? He helped me find my locker and English this morning after the only other person I know around here took off on me."

James rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah sorry about that, I didn't think about it really."

"Either way, Seth helped me out and he was nice to me."

James grunted. "Yeah he can be charming but you'd do best to keep your distance, trust me on that."

She recognised the stubborn tone to his voice and decided it would be better not to argue, even though she was itching to ask him what the big deal was. She'd ask him later, she thought, when she could escape to her room when they inevitably butted heads. Not caring if James was watching or not, Nora smiled and waved back at Seth.

As they reached James' table she saw Sarah sitting with them and was relieved when she stood up and greeted her loudly, taking Nora's arm and pulling her down into the seat next to her.

"Everyone," she announced, drawing the eyes of the others at the table. "This is Nora, James' cousin. Yes, we know she's new, no, we're not going to be annoying and ask her for her life story on the first day." She turned to Nora and winked. "That's for tomorrow."

Nora laughed and waved at the group who all waved back and said hello. James looked satisfied and smiled at Sarah, who blushed and looked away. Interesting, Nora thought, they would make a good couple, she decided. Both were tall and athletic and Sarah was very pretty, with high cheekbones and eyes so dark they looked black. Her thick hair was kept short, in a cute bob just longer than her ears and it swung prettily around her face. There were five others who were regulars at the table, three guys – Kaden, Zack and Trey, the former being James' best friend, and two girls – Georgina and Destiny. When Nora introduced Destiny the girl grimaced and rolled her eyes.

"Dee, please," she said dryly.

First impressions told Nora that they were a pretty nice group, nicer and less cut-throat than what she was used to, and it wasn't long before she fell into comfortable conversation with them.

"So where are you from?" Zack asked eventually. Well they hadn't done too badly, when she thought about it, they'd managed to not ask the probing questions for at least twenty minutes.

"Chicago," she said simply.

"God, why would you ever leave the city to come back to a place like this," Georgina said, shocked.

"James missed me and called me everyday for three months begging me to come home to hang out with him," Nora smirked.

James squawked indignantly and glared at his cousin. "Toby, maybe, but not me."

Nora laughed and shook her head. "No, no," she said slowly. "There was just some family stuff going on that meant I had to come here pretty unexpectedly."

Luckily, that seemed enough of an explanation for the others and the subject dropped, though James looked at her in concern. She nodded her head, almost imperceptively, and smiled quickly to let him know she was okay. It was nice, she decided, to sit with her cousins friends and listen to them laugh and talk about their normal lives. There was no judgement about the food on her plate, constant talk about whatever showcase was coming up, who had logged more hours practicing in the studio that week.

At the end of the lunch hour James decided he would do his job as her cousin and walked her to her last class of the day, gym. Finally, something she would not suck at, years of dance meant she was stronger than she looked and fit even if she hadn't been in training for a few months. She changed quickly once in the locker room, never having been quite comfortable with sharing that public a space. She was one of the first people out there and soon realised that the Rez gym was smaller than the typical high schools. It had just one court which was already occupied by a freshman class bouncing basketballs around. Groaning, it struck her that if they weren't going to be inside, they would be outside. She wondered how often that would be happening considering it rained what seemed like 90% of the time in La Push.

"Hey, Nora right?"

Nora looked up from her spot sitting against the wall and was startled to see yet another giant towering over her. Jesus Christ, she thought, what the hell was in the water here? She nodded and tried to smile.

"Cool. You met my friend Seth earlier. I'm Collin," he pointed over his shoulder. "That's Brady over there." There was another boy who was watching the freshman play calling out critiques and laughing as they looked back at him a little fearfully.

She levered herself up to try and get some height back. "Nice to meet you. Are you a Junior too?"

He nodded and grinned. "Sure am. But our classes are mostly doubled with the sophomores because we miss a bit of school. You probably won't get the pleasure of our company."

She laughed. "That probably means there's more room for the rest of us."

He smirked. "You like tall, dark and handsome Nora?"

"Yeah, can you let me know if you see someone?" she rolled her eyes.

"Oooooh, slammed," a new voice entered the conversation. Collin's friend, Brady, seemed to have gotten bored of his hassling the younger kids and sauntered up behind the two. "Sweetheart, it must be your lucky day because your Prince Charming is here."

Before she could respond Collin turned and thumped his friend in the arm which devolved into a wrestling match between the two of them. Nora stepped back, startled as she avoided their limbs flying.

"Littlesea, Fuller," the gym teacher barked as he marched over to them, prompting the boys to let go of each other and lean back against the wall. "Keep it on your own time."

"No worries, Coach," Collin said blithely while Brady grinned at Nora.

"And you must be Nora Redtree," he said, turning to Nora. "James is a great ball player, been on the school team since he was a freshman. I hope you got some of his talent for athletics."

She smiled weakly and gave a half-hearted response.

Not seeming to notice her discomfort, he gestured for her, and by extension the two boys, to follow him outside where it seemed the rest of the class had already convened. To her surprise, one of the boys from James' lunch table, Trey she thought his name was, stood at the front of the group and he smiled and waved her over when he spotted her.

"Didn't know you'd be in this class," he said as she made her way over.

"I didn't realise you weren't a Senior," she said.

He shrugged. "Yeah, me and Zack are neighbours, have been since we were born."

"Well it's nice to have a friendly face around anyway, so I'm not complaining."

"Yeah," he said, shifting on his feet. "Listen, I don't know you and you certainly don't know me but James is my friend so I feel like I should say something so here it goes," he took a deep breath. "Littlesea and Fuller, they've got reputations around here, they can be nice enough guys but I just know that James would be worried if he knew you were hanging around them."

Nora didn't know what to say. On one hand, she was getting a little annoyed with people telling her who to talk to, but on the other she didn't want to turn away a friendly face when there was one.

As though reading her mind, Trey smiled uncomfortably. "Look, just forget I said anything. But just be careful, okay?"

She nodded her head in agreement, glad that she hadn't had to think of something to say to that. One day at a new school and she was already dealing with the dangerous crowd.

Watching Collin and Brady play basketball, on the outside courts, was both bewildering and terrifying. Due to the size of them, both height and width and some pretty impressive muscles, meant that they were easily the strongest ones on the court and sure, there was some moments when they ploughed someone from the other team down, but it was obvious that they were holding back. Until they went up against each other and they slammed around the court. Nora thought it best to hang back and out of the way as much as possible rather than hit the ground and break any bones.

By the end of class she was exhausted just watching them. She felt relieved when she changed back into her clothes and left school knowing that she could go home and relax. Trey walked with her back to the carpark and waved goodbye as she spotted James, hurrying to his car.

He was leaning against the hood and smiled at her slyly as she approached. "That Trey you were walking with?"

She knew what he was implying so Nora glared at him witheringly. "He was being nice. Another person who made sure I wasn't lost so you didn't have to stretch yourself too thin."

He laughed and pulled her into a headlock, ruffling up her hair. "Aw, don't worry Birdy, I knew you'd make it through."

She shoved him off of her and got into the car, not in the mood to deal with his games. He laughed again as he got in beside her and tore off out of the carpark. Nora's hands clenched as she breathed in and out slowly. James was an awful driver, he sped too fast and barely paid attention to what was around him. It took them all of five minutes to get home and she was surprised to see her aunt's car in the driveway. Her aunt and uncle owned a hardware store in Forks which had them both working long hours. James helped out a bit on weekends, and her aunt had said that in the next few months Nora would be able to pick up some shifts too. She walked through the front door and was hit by a tornado of arms and legs that wrapped themselves around her middle and squeezed her tight.

"Toby, let go of Nora please," her aunt called exasperatedly from the kitchen. "Hey honey, how was school?"

Her aunt was a beautiful woman with black hair that she cropped short to her ears. Each morning she spent half an hour arranging it carefully into cool spikes that she said kept her looking young. In addition to running the hardware store, Aunt Therese made traditional jewellery, earrings and necklaces mostly, that she sold in the Rez general store and from town. It was pretty popular with tourists and locals alike. Nora herself always loved getting something new for her birthday each year. Toby was the youngest Redtree, ten years old and the most energetic person Nora had ever meet. He had the same black hair as his parents and was skinny as a stick. He had knobby knees and a gap toothed grin and ran about everywhere. Nora loved him to pieces.

"It was pretty good," she assured Therese, prying Toby off of her and giving him a hug before sicking him on James who was walking in behind her.

She took a seat at the stool in front of the kitchen counter and accepted the cup of milk handed to her with a smile. "Made it to every class, wasn't too lost except for Bio but I've already snagged a study partner."

"Sarah said she'd help her catch up," James announced as he joined them in the kitchen, having shooed Toby off.

"Oh that's good of her," Therese said happily. "I've always liked Sarah, she's a good kid."

Nora agreed and told her aunt so before excusing herself to her room needing to take a minute to breathe. Closing the door behind her she flopped back on her single bed and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It had been a long day and she was ready to get some sleep but she knew if she napped now she'd be awake in the middle of the night and unable to get so sleep again. Instead, she forced herself to sit up and see to some of her bags that still sat unpacked in the small robe. She grabbed one out and opened it, peering inside to see a stack of photo frames that she had brought with her. Pulling the top one out she smiled at a picture of her mother holding Nora as a toddler at the house they had lived in here in La Push. Before she had died. Before her father had taken her away to the big city where he got a good job and paid for her dance training but forgot that he had a daughter the minute he remarried. The minute he couldn't hide her away at the academy anymore he had organised for her to be back in La Push living with his brother's family, and Nora couldn't bring herself to miss him. She put the picture on her bedside table, moving it around carefully until she was happy with the angle.

As she arranged the rest she smiled at ones of her on stage performing at her best, with friends she had made years ago, and one, right down the bottom of her and her father dancing at his wedding, smiling and laughing in the moment. She studied it for a moment and then sighed, putting it back in the bag and shoving that under the bed.

I will admit to having no set schedule on updates for this story, and I apologise for that. My job keeps me very busy (I'm a teacher) and I just write for fun when I have some free time. But I'll try to get things up to keep the story going anyway. Let me know if you liked it, any constructive criticism is welcome, and hope you enjoyed.

Hannah