Prologue

"I can't believe this is actually happening." he said to me as we laid in his bed holding each other. "I know, it's just not fair. What does she expect me to do without you?" I replied, feeling his hands slowly caressing my bare back. "And me without you." he replied and rested his chin against my nose. I wished we could just run away together, and not have a care in the world. Up to this point we hadn't had one, and now it seemed as if everything was falling apart. I felt that hot feeling in the back of my throat and felt my eyes begin to water. "Don't cry baby," he said wiping my tears. "Distance wont make me love you any less."

Chapter One

I woke up to the annoying sound of my cell phones alarm clock. I slowly opened my eyes to see complete darkness except for the glowing red numbers where the awful noise was coming from. I raised my arm and clicked the snooze button rolling over to fall back asleep. It felt like only seconds later that the alarm was yet again ringing. This time, I opened my eyes long enough to look at the time; it was 5:46 a.m. This time I decided to press the button that turned the alarm completely off before I rolled over and tucked my head under my pillow.

"Gwen? Are you up sweetie?" I heard my mothers voice on the other side of the door. "Ya mom, I'm getting up." This was the day I had been dreading for weeks. Throughout these weeks I had been trying to convince my mom not to do this, or at least to let me stay behind, but she wouldn't let up. She had always been a determined woman. "Okay good, we can't be late. Can you be ready in 20 minutes?" she asked. "I guess, mom." I replied unenthused.

I finally dragged myself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. I decided I didn't have enough time to shower so I figured I would make myself look half decent. I looked around my bathroom and was sad to think this would be the last time I was in it. All of my things were packed in my shoulder bag which was sitting on the counter beside the sink. I reached in to grab my hairbrush and makeup bag. I brushed my long blonde hair up into a ponytail. The ends looked slightly frizzy from not showering, but that was probably just a side effect from highlighting it. I reached for my makeup bag and applied a light layer of lip-gloss and mascara. I looked at myself one time over. Everyone has always said that I have my mothers big light-green eyes and freckles, with my fathers tanned skin and small, round nose.

I didn't remember my father, but from pictures I knew I looked much more like him than my mother. My mom, Valerie, had fair skin and dark hair, looking almost the complete opposite from me, except for the eyes.

I realized I was only wearing panties and a t-shirt, so I dug through my bag until I found a pair of jean shorts to throw on along with my flip-flops. I heard my moms muffled voice yelling from downstairs. I quickly put everything back into my bag and hurried downstairs.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw my mom standing by the door with her small bag on wheels. "We can't be late Gwen, we have to go now." she said with a subtle hint of urgency. "Okay I'm ready." I replied, following her as she opened the door. Before I closed it behind me, I took one last look around. It was just after 6 a.m. and still virtually dark, but I had memorized this house so well I could see in it. All of our furniture aside from the beds had already been taken, but to me it was still home. "Come on Gwen, lock up." My mother rushed me as she opened the trunk of the taxi parked in the driveway. I followed her instructions and made my way to the back of the car. I took one last deep breath before I got in, remembering the smell of the ocean I heard rumbling in the distance. The humid, summer air felt so nice, and I wondered if there would be any difference to the air where we were going.

I woke up, startled by my mom shaking me awake. "We're here hun, let's go!" I heard her say. I opened my eyes to see the terminal of the airport. I realized I must had fallen asleep during the car ride here. "Okay mom I'm up!" I yelled, making the cab driver jump. We grabbed our small carry on bags from the trunk, paid the driver and headed for the American Airlines check-in.

"American Airlines flight 680 from San Francisco to Quillayute State Airport is now boarding for all rows." I heard a woman's voice say over the airport intercom. My mom smiled at me and picked up her bag. I followed her and handed my boarding pass to the flight attendant. She scanned it and handed it back to me. "There you are Miss Leiman, enjoy your flight!" she said cheerfully. I gave her a faint smile and headed through the clear sliding doors. Once I had found my seat on the small plane, I heard my cell phone beep in my pocket. I pulled it out to find a text message from my boyfriend, Trey. Good luck, babe. Call me when you get there. I couldn't wait to get the 2 hour flight over with so I could talk to him. We had been together for about 10 months, he was definitely the only serious boyfriend I had had up till now, and I was worried the distance would tear us apart. He was the all-American boy next door. Perfect brown hair, perfect smile, football player. I had wondered why he chose to be with me at first. He was popular and could get any girl in the school he wanted, but he wanted me. I had never been very popular. I was quiet for the most part and kept to myself and my small circle of friends. During the first week of senior year at school, he approached me. He thought I was new, though I had had several classes with him throughout high school. I figured it was because I had done a complete 180 since junior year.

Over the summer, I changed so much. My older sister came back from university for the summer and couldn't believe I hadn't yet grown out of my tomboyish stage. She took me on a wild makeover trip with some of her friends. I never realized I could actually be pretty until she showed me how. I was never ugly, but I hid behind my glasses, braces, and bland hair for too many years. I actually think that my sister regretted that; since that day it seemed I got all the attention when we would go somewhere, not her.

God I was going to miss Trey. I had spent almost everyday of the past 10 months with him, and now I would be lucky if I got to see him at all. My mom then sat next to me.

"You do realize that we're doing this for the right reasons, right Gwen?" I nodded my head slowly as I looked out the circular window onto the tarmac. My father had been a native councillor most of his life; helping native people who struggled with addiction and helped them receive benefits and government funds. My mother used to do it with him and actually started the business before he left her when I was 2 years old to be with another woman.

My mother cried when she told me he passed away of a heart attack, but I didn't. You can't miss someone you never knew. Not only did I not know him; he made no attempt whatsoever throughout the remainder of his life to contact me. He didn't even write me any letters or pick up his phone once, so I really felt no remorse. A couple years after leaving mom, my fathers new girlfriend left him for another man. What goes around really does come around, I thought to myself. He left his business along with their old house in Washington to mom. He didn't have anyone else I guessed, and she would be the person who would carry on his work. Mom had been working as a councillor back home in San Francisco for troubled youth at a high school since moving away from Washington. It was almost an hour drive from where we lived in Petaluma, and she just wasn't making enough money to support us. She saw this as a perfect opportunity to start fresh and still be able to do what she loved. Me on the other hand, saw this as a curse. My father had done nothing for me my entire life and the first time he does, it's the last thing I want. I mean who wants to leave all their friends and the people they love? All of these thoughts running through my head made me feel dizzy, so I grabbed the pillow from beneath the seat in front of me and dozed off to sleep.

"Gwen! Wake up, we're here." I heard my moms voice say as I felt her shake me. I slowly opened my eyes to see her stand up and pull our bags down from the overhead compartment. I turned and looked out the window on the other side of me, and just saw green forest surrounding the edge of the concrete tarmac. We got off the plane and I felt the warm air hit my face. It didn't feel quite as humid as Petaluma, but I was actually expecting it to be colder. We walked from the small airplane and I saw a familiar car parked a few hundred yards away. It was my mother's silver SUV which she had driven down a couple weeks ago when the rest of our things had been brought down.

"I'm so excited for you to see the house Gwen!" my mom said enthusiastically. I smiled and nodded, pretending to be even half as excited as she was. "It's much bigger than our house back home and there's even a pool! We're going to have a lot of great times honey." she said. I thought she must have been so excited because this is where her and my father had lived many years ago, and it would be like returning home for her. We got into the car and headed down a long, winding road surrounded by nothing but forest. It was beautiful, and I felt a strange attraction to the nature. I had always lived in a well developed area, so I appreciated the change of environment. After driving for about 10 minutes, I started to see small shops and a large sign which read "La Push", home of the Quileute tribe. I took a wild guess that this would be where we were living. I noticed to my left was the ocean, large and vast but with a strangely shaped island. I could see many cliffs, a large beach with lots of driftwood and a small marina with a few boats parked in it. On the other side of the road I saw a bate and tackle shop, a gas station with a convenience store, and a smoke shop. That was pretty much it for the small town, besides rows of similar looking small houses lining the road.

Just as it seemed like we were about to get back into the wilderness, we turned down a long driveway hidden by trees. I could see a large wooden house with a wrap-around porch a few hundred yards away. "This is it Gwen! Isn't it beautiful?" I had to admit, it was a big, beautiful house. It was completely surrounded by trees and as we pulled in front and stepped out of the car, I heard running water coming from the back of the house. My mother took in a deep breath through her nose. "I've missed it here so much." she said, and I noticed her eyes were watering. My mom rarely cried. I think I had only seen her cry two or three times so it must have really been true.

I followed her as she walked up the porch steps to the front door. She pulled out her keys and unlocked it. We walked into a large, open room that was very nicely decorated like a chalet. I looked around the large house and was surprised. Much of our furniture from California had been set up, so it really felt like home.

"Hey mom, is the phone set up yet? I need to call Trey." I asked. "Yeah there's a phone on the counter in the kitchen." she said, as she carried her bags up the stairs. I walked through a hallway that brought me to a state-of-the-art kitchen. I saw the phone beside the fridge. I dialled Treys phone number, hoping that we had a long distance plan. "Hello?" I heard Treys tired voice. "Hey! It's me, I just got here." I said. "Oh hey, how was your flight?" he asked. "It was good, I slept for it I was so tired this morning!" "That's good, but hey I'm actually in the middle of something can you call me back later?" he said. I was a little surprised, I thought he would be really eager to hear from me. But I agreed to call him back later.

I decided that I would check out my new bedroom. I walked up the stairs and explored the house. There was a long hallway with doors on both sides. I opened each door and looked in as I made my way down the hall. There was an office, my mothers bedroom, a linen closet, a bathroom which I figured would be mine and finally I opened the last door on the right which was my bedroom. It was a big and bright room with a large window. It was painted a beige colour and had a big, comfy looking bed. I noticed my mom had already hung up some of my pictures and my hot pink comforter was on the bed. There was a large closet on the far wall with many of my clothes hung up. I ran in and plopped on the bed. I could get used to this! I thought to myself. This house was much bigger and nicer than our old one. I got up and looked out the window. It looked out onto our large backyard, complete with a big deck, a pool and a hot tub.

I went back downstairs to find my mom walking out the door. "I'm going to the store to get some groceries. I'll be back in about an hour." she said. "Would you mind if I come? I'd like to check out the town a bit more." I asked. "Of course honey." she smiled at me.