I always loved fairytales. When I was a child, I would beg my mother to read me always one more before I fell asleep. And, ironically, my favorite was Little Red Riding Hood, who could always out smart the wolf, although I wouldn't realize why it was so funny until much later in life. Even after my mother died, I kept her old book of fairy tales and brought it everywhere with me. My father never read to me the way mom did, although mom's death really broke him emotionally. He was a good dad, but he never quite recovered. Grandma helped him through it, pushing him to take care of me and not wallow in self pity. That's why, when a teaching job opened up in La Push, Washington. I was actually happy about the move; I'd never really been close to anyone at school, so I wasn't leaving behind friends. Besides, I loved the rainy weather of the Olympic Peninsula. It suited me just fine. It had been too long since I visited last.
We were living with Grandma at her insistence, but also because I think Dad worried about her often. She was Quileute, like my mother had been, and her home was only a short walk from the beach. I looked nothing like the Quileute, I was pale and lacking russet colored skin, with golden brown hair and emerald green eyes. I looked more like my father than my mother. I stood in front of the mirror and wished I fit in more here.
"Anastasia! Anastasia Delilah Conrad!" My grandmother called up the stairs. I groaned and stomped down the stairs. My grandma was making pancakes in the kitchen, where my father already sat. I took a few onto my plate and sat down. My father was silent, he usually was, so I paid no mind.
"Are you excited for school, Annie?" My grandmother's throaty voice asked. I smiled at her and nodded. It wasn't so much excitement as nervousness, but she didn't need to know that.
"The kids at school are so nice here, you'll fit right in." She continued to chatter as she urged me to eat my pancakes. Finally, my father stood and I followed him out to our old car. I settled into the passenger seat with my backpack and was quiet as I drove to school. We were there sooner than I expected. The school was all in separate buildings, but there were only three of them, shrouded in morning fog. A lot of people were already arriving, pulling old battered cars into the small lot. I looked around as kids poured into the school. My father had already left, and I waited five minutes before I followed him. The office was clearly marked first building. I headed there first, trudging through the rain.
I entered the office and shook out my damp hair. There was a woman there, her dark hair and russet skin gleaming in the fluorescent eyes as she looked up. I met her eyes and blushed, looking down at the floor.
"I'm Anastasia Conrad." I mumbled. The woman's eyes brightened.
"Hello! I'm the vice-principle, Molly Ateara. It's nice to meet you, your father has good things to say about you." Molly chattered while digging through the papers on the desk. She finally found what she was looking for and pressed a couple pieces of paper into my hands.
"Your schedule, a map of the school, and the lunch menu." She stated as I looked over them. I nodded, looking over the map. It seemed simple enough. My first class was on the second level of this building, A.P. U.S. Government. I trudged out of the office and up the stairs along with a wave of other students. I felt like everyone was staring at me, and I dropped my eyes to the floor as I rushed to the classroom. I was the second one in the classroom, and I dropped into a seat in the middle of the class. The other girl was sitting two seats ahead of me. She turned to look at me and smiled brightly. She slid out of her seat and moved to the one next to me.
"Hi, I'm Claire Young. You're Lina Beach's granddaughter, Anastasia right?" She introduced herself, sliding gracefully into the seat next to me. She had copper colored skin and dark brown eyes and curls. She held out her hand and I took it, blushing.
"Yeah, Lina Beach is my grandmother. Call me Annie." I replied easily. There was something about Claire's warm grin that drew me in.
"I was new last year too, I live with my aunt Emily and her husband, Sam Uley. Our house isn't fare from Lina's, if you ever want to hang out. I like you, I think we should be friends." She giggled and I couldn't help but join in. She made it seem so easy.
"Why did you come to La Push?" I asked, curious. She shrugged.
"Before I moved here, the last time I visited was when I was two. My mother never brought my sister and I back, she said it was dangerous here for some reason. I think she just had a falling out with Emily. But I could never stop thinking about this place, it haunted my dreams. When I was 16, I told my mom I was moving in with Aunt Emily. There was an argument, I don't think I'm allowed to go back to her place, but I don't mind so much. I have lots of friends here and I'm happy. Oh! You need to meet Quil!" She said, easily sidetracked
"Quil?" I questioned, genuinely interested to hear more of her story.
"Yeah, he's 20, he's close to Sam. He's so gorgeous, tall, built…" She sighed wistfully and whispered quietly. "I think I'm in love with him! But he's so gentle and careful, I think he must be too shy to tell me how he feels, because I know he loves me too." I laughed at her confidence, but the classroom was feeling up. People waved and said hello to Claire, most just stared at me. I went back to looking at the desk.
"Annie! These are my friends, Lucille and Abigail. Lucy, Abby, this is Annie, Mrs. Beach's girl."
Lucy and Abby both had identical dusty gold skin, however Lucy had wavy dark hair and sparkling blue eyes. Abby's hair was straight raven colored, with bright blue streaks, and she had coal colored eyes and black glasses. They were both grinning as well.
"Nice to meet'cha." Lucy said, winking.
"Ditto Annie. We're always looking for new victims for our gossip frenzies." Abby added, and I smirked. Grams was right, I would fit in well here, just like I'd always pictured I would. The rest of the morning passed quickly. Luckily, at least one of the girls was always in my class. The school was small enough that it was possible. At lunch time, Abby dragged me to their table. The girls sat there, along with a younger boy.
"How was your first day of high school, Daniel?" Claire asked happily as we sat down. The boy looked up from under his dark hair and grinned.
"Confusing, who's the new chick?" He asked, looking me up and down. Abby smacked him.
"Annie, this is our little twerp friend, Daniel. He's a freshie. Daniel, this is Annie, and she is far too good for you." She teased. Suddenly, a phone went off. Claire's eyes sparkled and she dived into her bag. She pulled it out and grinned, flipping it open. Her eyes sparkled as she turned back to us.
"The boys are having a BBQ for us after school at Emily's. Quil and Jake are going to pick us up. Are you guys coming?" She asked. There was a mumble of assent and Claire grinned at me.
"You'll come too, Annie? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!" She dragged out and pouted. I bit my lip, unsure, but I did need new friends, and nothing could be better than a BBQ.
"Okay, okay. I'll come, Claire. Just stop pouting!" I relented and she grinned again. The rest of lunch passed in a blur, as did the rest of the day. At the end of it, I made my way to my father's classroom. He was teaching first and second year math, Daniel probably had him for class. I slipped into the classroom and he paused, looking up at me, smiling.
"Hi pumpkin, how was your first day? Meet anyone interesting?" He asked, arranging things on his desk.
"Nice, dad. I met a couple of people, Claire Young and her friends." I added. He nodded. "They actually invited me to a barbeque at Sam and Emily Uley's. They were going to drive me over there, they live close to Grams, apparently."
My dad's brow furrowed and he smiled. "Lina likes Sam Uley. Have fun dear, be home by nine." He said, going through papers. I kissed him on the cheek and hurried out. Claire was waiting for me at the end of the hallway.
"Are you allowed to come?" She asked, linking arms with me. I nodded and she laughed in glee.
"Abby and Lucy took Daniel home to his parents, they'll meet us there. They want to get all pretty for their boyfriends. They're dating Quil's friends, Embry and Paul. Jacob and Quil are going to take you home so you can drop off your stuff, then we're going to my place." I nodded as we stepped into the sunlight.
There was only a few cars still in the lot. The one that drew my eye was a little beat up blue mustang. The two guys standing beside it were impossibly huge, taller than anyone I'd ever seen before. The one of the right was built bigger, but the one on the left was just as muscled, only leaner. I gawked as Claire yelled out.
"Quil! Quil!" She called. The bigger one turned toward us, holding out his arms. Claire ran to him, jumping into his embrace. He caught her easily and spun her around, both of them laughing, but I wasn't paying attention to either of them.
The man beside Quil had turned from the car as well, his eyes avoiding the showy spectacle of Claire and Quil and turning to me. I gasped at the depths there, a fire that burned in the darkness. He was staring so intently at me, I was surprised I didn't catch fire. There was a hard set to his jaw, an angry jut to his lips. He ripped his eyes away from me and I blushed, looking at the ground. Quil let go of Claire and she reached for me, dragging me forward.
"Quil, Jacob, this is Anastasia Conrad. Lina Beach's granddaughter." I let my gaze flick up, being careful only to look at Quil.
"I go by Annie, but it's nice to meet you, Quil. Claire mentioned you." Claire blushed and Quil looked down indulgently.
"You weren't saying how handsome I was again, were you?" He reprimanded gently, wrapping an arm around her tiny shoulders. She glared at him playfully. I let my eyes flick to Jacob, he was staring at me again. I was beginning to feel self conscious. Claire and Quil finally noticed, and Quil elbowed Jacob.
"Sorry." He said as if snapping out of a trance. "Nice to meet you, Annie. I'm Jake Black."
"I gathered." I replied flippantly. He grinned, and I saw some of the anger fade from his eyes.
"Feisty, huh?" Quil remarked as he helped Claire into the backseat. "Good, you'll fit right in here. Us La Push guys love our girls with attitude."
I blushed again and slid in next to Claire. Quil jumped in the front seat and Jacob slid gracefully into the passenger seat. Claire leaned forward, talking in Quil's ear as he drove. Jacob and I were silent, but I kept on glancing at him, wondering why he had been staring so hard at me. We pulled up into my driveway and I jumped out of the car and ran into the house, needing the few seconds to think.
What was so captivating about Jacob Black?