Author Notes: Okay, so I wanted this to be a bit longer, but I felt I had to change POV and I wanted to start a new chapter for that. Sorry if it takes a while before the next update - I'm new to this and I always find something I want to change when I'm checking my work! Anyway, hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters and all credit goes to Stephenie Meyer.

Seth Clearwater

Moan, moan, moan, moan, moan, moan, moan… I was getting better at ignoring Leah's increasingly frequent rants. They were almost never directed at me, but I always seemed to be the audience, which was incredibly frustrating. It was like she was having permanent PMS, and had to unleash her hormones on the nearest victim, which was most often me.

I stared out through the plain, square window over the sink, squinting to try and penetrate the solid wall of water obstructing my view. I never did understand how the Olympic Peninsula was still above sea level. It seemed as though there couldn't possibly be anywhere for so much rain to drain off to, and the sheer force of it should be too much for the earth to withstand anyway. The whole area should've been underwater for thousands of years, like Atlantis. Ha, no doubt the elders of the tribes would've soon made up legends about how the Quileutes became mermaids or something along those lines. It seemed more possible for people to evolve fins and tails than it did for them to turn into wolves, as they did in all the ancient stories that the old folks believed in, for some reason that remained unseen to me.

My sister's face became more and more bitter, and I could only guess, considering I wasn't listening, that she was bitching about someone or something

"You know what, Leah?" I interrupted, piercing her little egocentric bubble. "There may just be a small chance that you're not the only person on the planet." Sarcasm dripped from my tongue like venom. Leah was about the only person in the whole world who I was even close to hating. True, she used to be nice, but that was back when she could stand to be in the same room as Sam Uley. Times had changed since then, and I personally, on this matter, preferred things the way they had been.

She scowled, contorting her face to resemble the bitter harpy she really was. If there was anyone I could honestly call evil, she was standing right there in front of me. I'd swear that she deliberately set out to make everyone else's life miserable, but I guess what Sam had done to her was almost reason enough. Be that as it may, I couldn't bring myself to dislike Sam like Jacob and his friends did; he seemed kind of cool to me.

Leah stalked off to her room, evidently genuinely upset that I hadn't been listening to her. I very nearly felt bad for her, but then I realized I hated her anyway. She was my sister; what was I supposed to do? Well, I supposed she wasn't so bad. I mean, she did love me and she did look out for me. Okay, I take it back, Leah wasn't all that awful.

I sat down at the ancient kitchen table that mom refused to replace until it literally fell apart, and began swirling my cereal about in the bowl. I wasn't quite sure why I'd gotten it in the first place because I wasn't at all hungry. Oh well – waste not want not. So I lifted the spoon to my mouth and chewed each hoop separately. It wasn't like I had anything else to do today.

As if she could read my mind, my mother came into the room at that exact moment and asked me, "Seth, honey, what were you planning on doing today?" in that sweet, caring voice I knew she used only for me, dad, and Leah, although the last one hardly deserved it. Sue Clearwater had a fierce reputation amongst the residents of La Push.

"I'm not sure…" I replied. "Maybe I'll just catch up on some homework or something."

"Sweetie," she said to me, with an almost sympathetic look in her eyes, "I know you have no homework left – you haven't left the house for anything but school for weeks. Why don't you call Marcel or Bennie?" Or maybe that look was pleading me to get out of the house. I didn't really want to stay in that badly, but my two 'best friends' were not who I wanted to see right now. At least I had a legitimate excuse this time.

"Because Marcel's gone camping with his folks and Bennie won't go anywhere without him. 'Sides, they're idiots anyway." I muttered the last part under my breath, no need to get my mom all worked up over just how much I was neglecting my friends. All I ever seemed to think about these days was–

Stop right there, I told myself, you're not supposed to be thinking about that. I had forced myself into keeping a close watch on my thoughts, but man, breaking bad and confusing habits was hard, especially when I couldn't quite bring myself to make them unwanted.

Instead I forced my mind back to Marcel and Bennie. They were my closest friends in my year at school, but choices were limited. The tiny Quileute Tribal School's student body was primarily composed of elementary-school-aged kids. Many escaped to the larger schools in Forks, Port Angeles, or Sequim (if they were really desperate) as soon as they could. I only hung around with Marcel and Bennie for convenience, not because I particularly liked them. I would hang out with – No. I was doing well with the whole 'not thinking that name' thing. Anyway, I would hang out with… him, but truth be told, his friends intimidated me a bit. I was surprised that they did and he didn't, to be honest, considering he was so much taller and quite a bit bulkier than he used to be.

She tried again. "Collin? Brady? Archie?"

Wow, she must've been desperate. I barely ever talked to these kids, except to be polite at family gatherings and similar events.

I sighed. "Mom, they're all freshmen. C'mon, I mean it's the twenty-first of January. It's winter. Can't I just stay here?"

Not that I was sure what to do with myself if I stayed at home. My mom was right, I had no homework left. For some reason she was desperate to get me out of the house, and dad was at work, and Leah wasn't much company. I could watch a movie… My thoughts trailed off when I saw a flash of inspiration in my mother's eyes.

"Fine, but you know, you haven't seen Jake in a while…"

Dammit.

Author Notes: I realise that Seth isn't really innocent enough and also not much happens in this chapter. Please be patient - I'm working on it!