[A/N: Well, this is my new story. I have already written the first five-six chapters and I will be posting one every Monday. Hopefully after a crappy Monday, you find hope or something in my storytelling. Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!]
"Claire, are you ready to head home?" Quil asked me as he gently rolled his thumb over the top of my hand. Despite his warmth, I shivered from his touch. Without even asking he put his sweater around my shoulders and smiled. "Feeling cold?" He asked while putting his arm around me to ensure I wouldn't be chilly.
I shook my head no to the first question, and refused to answer the second one. I closed my eyes happily and lay my head on his shoulder. I was in such a peaceful place.
We were at First Beach, watching the sun rise. He had came in to my room at five in the morning to sneak me out so we wouldn't miss a thing. There was a hardly a day where we missed a sun rise. Each rising was always different than the last, but somehow similar. Each time the sun beamed its first rays, we both thought about how lucky we were to have another day. I knew this because Quil had expressed that vocally to me, and I couldn't have agreed more.
Once the sun was above the horizon, Quil and I walked the twenty minute trail back to my house. I then pretended to wake up for the first time, ate my breakfast, and drove with my siblings to school. I was almost finished with my sophomore year, with only two and a half months left.
Quil nudged me in the shoulder, bringing me painfully back to reality. He pulled me up slowly and we began to walk back to my small cottage of a house, hidden in the woods. The entire twenty minutes Quil was talking about what he had planned for us this upcoming summer.
"We'll for sure have to go cliff diving. Not off the big ones of course. Then one day we should take a hike until we find a perfect place for a picnic. We'll bring sandwich meat, cheese, watermelon, tons of water, and a barrel full of gummi bears!"
That got me smiling widely. Quil knew that gummi bears were my favorite food. He figured it out when he saw I had five bags of them hidden under my bed.
I turned to Quil suddenly as I remembered something I wanted to this summer. I clapped my hands to get his attention and moved my hand like a dolphin to imitate my idea- surfing.
"Huh?" He laughed, knitted his eyebrows, and started his trail of guesses, "You want to dance? No? Um, drive? Make weird hand gestures?" I gave him a playful slap on the shoulder.
I stopped dead in my tracks and pretended I was on a surf board, trying to balance.
He finally got it and sighed. "Claire, no. That's too dangerous."
I rolled my eyes. 'You're the one who wanted to take me cliff diving!' I stopped the subject there though, knowing Quil was as stubborn as a mule ever since my little surfing incident when I was twelve years old.
Quil had finally agreed to teach me how to surf, and I was overjoyed. I actually got up on the board and rode twice with Quil. One day I ended up falling, getting caught up in the wave, and I was carried half a mile out to sea. The only reason I got out that far was because I had sneaked out while he was at a tribal meeting, and tried to surf alone. Luckily Quil had this sense something was wrong and was pulled to me. Well, that's at least how he described it.
I gave him my best puppy dog face, begging him to teach me to surf again.
He just laughed. "That face stopped working on me since you were five and you know it."
My eyes rolled and I began to walk faster, realizing that I needed to get home soon before my family woke up and noticed something was wrong. Quil picked up on my pace fast and grabbed a hold of my hand. We ran as fast as he knew I was capable of.
Just when we came to my house and I was working on climbing through my window, Quil grabbed and held my face between his hands. "You're not upset that I won't take you surfing, are you?"
I wanted to nod and push him away, but instead shook my head and gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled widely and kissed me on the forehead. "See you tomorrow, Claire-bear, have a great day." And he was off.
I climbed fully in my window and took excited, deep breaths from Quil's kiss. I even jumped around a little, stopping when my little sister Holli rolled to face me in her bed. Her eyes were still shut though, so I exhaled the breath I had taken in when she had frightened me. I threw my tennis shoes in my closet, took off my thin sweater to reveal the white blouse I had chosen for today. I would have worn it around Quil this morning, but it was too cold and I was afraid he'd say it was too low cut for me.
I walked to our vanity and fixed my hair and did a little eye make up. I then retreated, yawning, to the kitchen to start the routine which was my life.
Dad sat at the table, watching the news from the small dining/kitchen area. He hunched over his cup of coffee and sipped occasionally. He gave me a small wave and said "Morning sweet-pea". I started off the morning by making Holli's lunch sack first. I hated to play favorites, but she was the light in my life. I packed her a PB&J, apple juice put into a water bottle, and a granola bar. I frowned, knowing most kids probably have better lunches, but we just couldn't afford any soda or chips. I wrote her a note inside saying: Have a great day sweetie and don't forget to give your teacher the box tops I put in here. Love you.
Next was Eric. Since he was a growing boy of eleven, I packed him two PB sandwiches (he was allergic to the main ingredient in jelly), apple juice like Holli, and two granola bars. I packed it all strategically so it would fit into a hidden compartment in his backpack. Eric was bullied in school a lot, and since he wouldn't leave the elementary school until next year, no one was there to protect him from getting his lunch stolen. Him and I had recently constructed a hidden place where Travis (his bully) wouldn't find it. I left him a note: You know Ms. Hassinger will allow you to sit in her class at lunch so nothing will happen, so go there and eat peacefully. Don't let Travis intimidate you. One day you'll be big enough to take him down. Love you.
The next three were for my older half-brothers Tyson, Kail, and Gene. Each of them got their four bologna sandwiches with two bottles of water and three granola bottles. Since they refused to carry around lunch pails, I put them straight into their backpacks. In their notes, I reminded Kail to study in homeroom before his big history test. Gene I gave encouragement to finally ask the girl he liked out to the school dance. And Tyson I criticized his big fat head and drew a smiley face with its tongue sticking out.
I turned to go join dad and watch the news, but found the table empty. I looked out the living room window and sure enough his car was gone. He went off to work an hour early. And he most likely wouldn't get home until eleven that night. That meant I would have to either get everyone to eat an early dinner before I left for work or I'd bribe Gene into making some macaroni for them all.
As I sat down in the hard wooden chair, I felt some of my joints crack and put my head on the table in exhaustion. Ever since my mother died four years ago, my family was a wreck.
Dad was fired because he missed a week of work for mourning his wife, we lost our house due to late payments, and my brothers started phasing into big woodland creatures.
The days I discovered my brothers had became werewolves was competition for one of the worst weeks of my life. Luckily, they didn't take me too much by surprise because I had been with Quil many times while he was phased. My brothers were terrified yet amazed with what they were.
I once asked Quil why they all changed within the matter of a week, but he had no explanation. The only explanation was that the Cullens and more vampires came back into the area for Jacob and Nessie's wedding. When vampires come to town, it inspires all of this wolf magic to begin. They are what caused the first wolf in the pack, my uncle Sam, to become one.
My peaceful thoughts were disturbed when I heard my oldest brother Tyson slam his door down the hall, which caused everyone in the house to awake and begin to yell. I rolled my eyes. It was time for another typical Young morning.
"Fucking bitch!" Kail screamed as he stormed into the kitchen. "You know, I stay out all night and protect this damn land, and what do I get when I try to get at least thirty minutes of sleep? People slamming doors!"
Holli was the next one to get up. She ran into Kail and scowled. "You have to put one dollar and fifty cents in the swear jar, dude!" She grabbed on to Kail's arm as he ignored her and kept ranting. "Kail, you have to! You swore, so now you have to!"
Eric arrived next. "Claire, I can't find my glasses! Dad's going to kill me if I lose them again!" He tugged at my hand and I followed him willingly to his room which he shared with Gene. "Gene, have you seen my glasses?" He shook his brother hard until Gene grunted and sat up.
I began looking at the table beside his bed. That's where I put them every night after tucking him in. I got down to my hands and knees and started reaching under and behind the table. I got eye level with the floor and saw them, so I reached my hand over to grab them. Before I even got the chance, Tyson came in. "Hey, Claire, sorry I woke everyone up. I swear it was the wind that closed that door though-" he was interrupted as his foot collided with my back. Due to his wolf grace, he didn't trip, but I lay there in agonizing pain.
Great, just what my back needed. Tyson offered to help me up, but I refused his hand and went in to the bathroom. I choked down two energy pills and two pain reliever thanks to Tyson the Bison. I showed Eric where his glasses were, and he spit-shined them so they were clean again. Just as I got everyone ready to leave, Quil came in, looking worried.
"You okay?" He asked me, putting his hands on my shoulders and looking me in the eye. I nodded and Tyson explained what happened. I gave Quil a questioning look.
"I just had a bad feeling you were hurt, that's all." Before I could thank him for his concern with a hug, he suddenly noticed my top. "Claire, isn't that top a little-?" I challenged him with my eyes to finish his sentence. He gulped. "Grown up?" I heard one of my brother's groan as Quil took in the middle part of my chest that was exposed.
Knowing we had little time, I ran to my room, put on a t-shirt, and came back out. I waved him good-bye and we all got in to Tyson's big van. It was a gift from the pack that Tyson got two years ago. He loved it because he claimed it was a chick magnet. Holli and Eric liked it because they were able to jump around in the back since there were only two seats. I was always on the passenger side, staring out the window, trying to get a little rest in before school.
First off was Holli. She grabbed her lunch sack, kissed my cheek, then yelled at Kail for not putting money in the swear jar. Thank god he had fallen asleep so he wouldn't argue back.
Next was Eric. Gene was in the back with him showing him how to sock a good punch. I looked at him disapprovingly. "Well, would you rather him get beat up?"
I chose not to answer the question, even for my own sake. Eric thanked me and Gene for helping him find his glasses this morning and took off in a flash. If it weren't for the fact that he was strictly Makah, I would have thought he was going to become a wolf in a few years.
Next stop was high school.
La Push high school had 714 students. Smaller than our old school in Oil City. We transferred here while I was in the middle of sixth grade. It was small, and everyone knew everybody. The guys were either wolves like my brothers or complete jerks that wanted to fill their lives with weed and sex.
Tyson parked his van and we all got out, with the exception of Kail. Gene thought it would be funny to leave him in there, but I climbed in the back and shook him awake anyways.
As I walked in to the school with my three brothers, all the girls were sighing in awe at the 'Hot Young boys'. Probably wondering how in the hell a loser like me could be related to such 'Gods'.
Even though we were half siblings, we still looked alike. The dark skin, hair, and eyes all about the same tone. Gene and I had raven black hair like our father. Tyson and Kail had the identical dark brown hair which was from their mother Julia. She was Quileute so that's where the wolf gene had been passed down. Julia had walked out on dad when she found out that he was cheating on her. In time, my older brothers learned to forgive their father, but still wished their mother was around. She fled the country, and only sent the child care money she was ordered to. Dad had been cheating on Julia with my mother; Anna. Anna was Makah like dad, which is why Eric has no chance in hell of phasing like his older brothers. My mother was always caring, and didn't marry our father until she was pregnant with Holli. Unfortunately, a couple of years later she was killed while driving home in a snow storm.
My brothers took the news worse than I had. Anna was just like another mother to them. She treated them with respect and tried to give them anything and everything she had because she felt guilty that that she was the one who split their parents up. I remember when the news came from my father that she had perished, Tyson just flat out left.
Kail was absolutely silent, but I could see the tears welling up. He was a big softy when it came to his family. Gene was left comforting me and Eric. Holli was only two, she didn't understand what 'dead' meant, but she cried once she felt the sadness radiating around.
The funeral was four days later. Kail had disappeared along with Tyson, and Sam had delivered the news that they had phased into wolves. They were so distraught, they couldn't phase back. Gene was able to wait until after the funeral until he ran out and joined his brothers.
I can still remember walking up to my mom's casket. My dad was in the back talking to a few of his aunts and uncles, and I brought the kids up with me. At the age of twelve, I held Holli in my arms, along with Eric's seven year old hand in mine, and we walked up a long aisle. My mother was Catholic, despite growing up to believe Makah legends, so the place her ceremony was at had beautiful glass stained windows and candles everywhere. I saw a few people turn up their heads as we walked by, anxious to see how Anna's children were going to react. Holli bawled when she saw mom. She tried to jump out of my arms towards her, but I kept them locked around her.
Before I could break down in front of my sister, Aunt Emily had came and retrieved Holli from me so I could stand alone with Eric for a while. He was so strong; he never cried. I, on the other hand, was pulling out tissues left and right from my little purse. Before we turned to head away, Eric leaned over the casket, whispered, "I love you mom", and kissed her cheek tenderly. I started to sob and pulled him in to a hug. The rest of the day was a blur.
I was brought back to the actual time when Kail nudged me. "Whatcha' crying about, Claire?" He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and rubbed my arm softly.
Quickly I wiped away my few stray tears and shook my head at Kail. It was when I turned my head I noticed Derek staring at me from across the hall.
Derek was my first crush when we moved to La Push. He was very popular, but so caring and nice to everyone. His mother was deaf, so he was fluent in sign language and showed me the ropes around the school. My brothers never approved of my crush, but they would have to deal. Sometimes they were just too observant.
[What's to come: I pushed Kail slightly out of the way when Derek started making his way to me. Kail grunted but walked a few feet to his locker and started putting his bag in it.
'Good morning, how are you?' Derek signed to me.
I smiled. 'I'm good. And yourself?' I signed with extra grace.
"Just fine now that I've ran into you," he flashed me a toothy smile, then leaned forward. "I was actually wanting to ask you something of mild importance."
I raised my eyebrows in interest.
He placed his hand around my waist, despite the killer glare he received from Kail. My stomach lurched forward in excitement and fear. "Walk with me, won't you?" He pulled me along with him anyways. As we moved, we got a good amount of people staring at us. Probably wondering what this attractive guy was doing with a silent, mousy girl like me. "So, I'm sure you're aware of the 'Last Chance' dance tomorrow night." ]