Pup stepped out of the car and looked at the glass doors of the new school. She had looked forward to going to school for so long, but now the urge to vomit was strong and she breathed deeply through her nose.

Her mother was pressing important words into her from the driver's seat but she did not hear them. She fixed her eyes firmly on those glass doors and pretended the swirling mass of students and activity wasn't there.

Just focus on the task at hand, Pup thought. Just walk in through the front doors, that's all you have to do… work out your next task after that.

She had not even noticed that her mother had driven away as she made her way up the steps.

Pup and her unusual family had always come back to Forks. As a young child, she had not understood the draw of the place. It was cold and wet and the biting wind kept your head down and stopped you from looking at the mountains and the trees. Pup preferred the mountains of France and the trees of Scotland, but if she was really going to choose she would stay in the warm waters of Rio where she often went with her grandparents.

It was only in the last few years that her father had explained that this place, or his reservation and the land around it was in his blood. His family had lived here forever and, if he travelled, this place would always pull him back eventually. At first, he would stay behind when we would travel due to his leadership, of sorts, on the reservation. Soon, however, he chose to travel with Pup and her Mum. He was restless when he was away, though; no matter how distracting or action packed the trip he always looked kind of itchy anywhere other than this place.

So everyone decided that it was a good time to stay put for a while and let Pup get a diploma from the same high school that her mother and grandparents had gone to. Pup had been campaigning for this for at least 4 years. She had no friends. The kids on the Res looked at her strangely, and she did understand why, but it seemed unfair that after so many years of harmony the Quileute would still be untrusting of the 'blood suckers' as they called them.

There were no children on her Mother's side of the family but for Pup and her younger brothers. At one point they had talked about Pup, Renesme, Jacob, Bella and Edward all attending as they all looked the same age but Edward had, rightly, pointed out that it would draw unwanted attention and it would not be fair to Pup to have to endure the torture of high school with her parents and grandparents. It was time for Pup to add her own graduation hat to the wall of them at the Cullen's house.

Last night Pups grandfather had tucked her in and told her again the importance of their secrets. That she should be wary of young people, of friendships but most of all, opening up to people. Pup didn't really see the point in going to a school if she couldn't make friends but she nodded and smiled at him when he kissed her forehead with his hard, cold lips.

To her amazement, Pup found that not only had she walked herself into the school but she had a map and a timetable in her hand and she was finding her way to her first class. The halls teamed with people who all had so many things to say, everyone seemed to know one another, and no one paid her any heed. Pup relaxed as she realised that it would not be hard to keep her families secrets from these people as no one would ever talk to her let along pry the true identities of her family from her lips.

First class was drama and the urge to vomit came back to her as she saw the large auditorium with students already in it with scripts in their hands, their excited chatterings echoing through the huge room. She fixed her eyes on the teacher, a sandy-haired man in grey and beige. She just needed to get to him and tell him who she was quietly, that was all.

"Pup Cullen-Black?" the room went silent as the sandy-haired teacher read her name out. "Pup? Is that your real name or your nickname?" A few people laughed and they were shot quick looks of disapproval but Pup kept her eyes fixed on the teacher.

"It's my real name, Mr Fennon." If she had been more like her younger brother Eph she would have come up with something clever to say but her brain had become a dry wasteland.

"Not to worry Pup, We've actually been working on a play this term. Have you ever done any Greek tragedy before?"

"No" He tossed a spare book at her.

"Well this is good timing, the last few weeks were the awkward trust games and today is the first read through"

Everyone, without prompting, sat cross-legged in a circle on the stage.

"Cutest. Name. Ever!" the boy to my right said putting his hand on my arm, "Your parents must be total hippies. I just got Greg which starts no conversations at no parties" He had hair that, undeniably, required time to perfect and his smile was all gums and dimples.

She wanted to say something nice back. Some kind of casual compliment that would grant her her first ally here, but Greg was shushed by Mr Fennon.

Pup had, so far, been educated by her family and her grandfather Edward was mostly in charge of literature, but she had not read this one. It was called Iphigenia in Aulis and from what Pup could pick up form the stuttered first read through from her classmates it was typical greek nonsense; Someone dishonors someone, they talk about it for hours, they make a decision to kill someone, they talk about it for hours, they make a botch job of sacrificing someone and the Gods intervene.

Pup found the whole thing to be ridiculous, these people were idiots: incapable of making clever choices and they blaming fate when everything went wrong. She had been brought up by people that believed they were pulled by forces bigger than themselves and yet they were all capable of making a well-informed, educated, democratic decision in a crisis and the people in these books were mostly kings and great heroes!

Finally, the bell went and everyone got up and filtered out.

"Where you going now Puppy?" Greg wrapped his arm around her neck.

"It's Pup. Errr, looks like Geography in East Wing" she said blushing deeply and shrinking into herself.

"Woop woop! Me too. Miss Rice is the absolute worst but she's a bit deaf so we can chat"

Greg chatted about all kinds of things that Pup didn't really understand while they walked. Bands, shops, names of apps and games that she had never heard of but she nodded along and laughed where she thought was appropriate so she didn't give herself away.

"So how come you don't go to school on the Res?" He said as if it was the first thing he had wanted to ask me but hadn't wanted to offend. Greg was right they could chat freely without reprimand and they weren't even seated at the back of the class.

"Oh, um, well I guess… I guess I'm a bit of a mix of things" Greg had no idea how true that was, "so Mum and Dad… well, Mum really, wanted me to have a more mixed upbringing"

"Coooool, so how come you've come mid-semester?" Greg leant on his hand and looked at Pup sleepily and she noticed he was wearing tinted lipgloss and maybe even mascara.

"Mmm, not sure really, we travelled over from London and my parents had all this business stuff to sort out and … I don't know really."

"London! Eeeekkk. I was going to ask about your accent."

"Like I said… bit of a mix. I'm not British but, for some reason, some of that accent stuck. Not sure why there, I've lived all over" She was not telling him anything that she shouldn't but she felt like she was trying to stand still on a trampoline while people jumped around her.

"You're an army brat, I knew it! So is Shana, you'll meet her at lunch. She's the best" He emphasized the last bit like it was etched in stone. Somehow Greg had already sewn Pup into his schedule. Pup was glad for it, though. A well manicured human shield for the horrors of starting school.

The rest of the day whizzed by and Pup quickly learned that by far the best tool in her arsenal were questions. It made people talk a lot and stopped questions being fired at her.

Shana was a curvy, acerbic redhead with fake tan lines and something to say about everyone. She did not take to Pup as quickly as Greg had but by the end of the day Shana had invited Pup to some kind of social gathering at the weekend, which had made Greg pogo on the spot and squeal with delight.

By the end of the day, Pup was more than ready to go home and unpack all of this new information for anyone that would listen. She couldn't even hear her new friends chattering after the final bell went she just headed for those glass doors and looked about wildly for her Mum's car. Mum would definitely laugh at her the moment she got in the car. Greg had attacked her at lunch with makeup and Shana had done something strange with her hair…. Something about looking just like someone from a movie.

The parking lot was a mass of people getting in cars and hitching rides with friends and filtering onto buses but the familiar black Jeep was nowhere to be seen. Pup's new friends fussed her goodbye and left. She sat on the wall by the entrance and distracted herself with her new textbooks but her ears burned and a churning feeling rose in her stomach. She was by no means alone; there were still people socializing and the sound of the people on the sports fields but something felt very wrong.

Pup knew that she was unremarkable. She was not a sad girl, not inclined to moodiness or wallowing like other people her age but she did understand that all the people she grew up with had an abundance of gifts. Her mother was a communicator, she could make herself and others understood to anyone, she was a diplomat and brought patience and warmth to any disagreement or strife. Dad, well Dad was a werewolf. He was alpha wolf in his community. He was strong: a warrior. Everyone that knew her respected my grandmother Bella. She carried a presence with her of someone who was responsible for everyone's well-being. My Grandfather Edward could read minds and is faster than any other vampire she had met. Together they were like one being, they moved in sync and were rarely apart from one another. Pup always thought they were like a two person school of fish. Even her brothers were more remarkable than her. They were born in wolf form and only phased into human shape at the age of 18 months. But Pup was just a girl. She didn't have the amber eyes that the Cullens had nor were they the deep brown of any of the guys on her father's side of the family. They were grey, just grey. She wasn't strong, or fast, or witty or agile. She was just… Pup. Her biggest fear was that she would always be this way. After all, she was the first part human, part Vampire, part wolf that had ever existed so there was no manual to go to for unremarkable offspring.

A screech of rubber on tarmac snapped her out of her thoughts and she saw her father's motorbike speed up and skid to a halt in front of her. Jacob pulled his helmet from the box on the back of his bike and hurled it at her.

"Get on Pup, we have to go"

"What's happened?" Pup had never seen fear in her father's eyes and it froze her to her core. Jacob looked around as if there were people in the trees surrounding the lot then he looked back at her in irritation that she was still not on the bike.

"NOW!"