California Girl

Hi guys! This is part of my Imprinting Universe, but you don't need to read my other story, I Saw Her Standing There, to follow this one. My OCs and some storylines will be mentioned, but since this is from first person POV, it will be explained! :D If you did read my other story, thanks for reading this one! :D Hope you like it, it's a little different- not as funny to begin with, but it'll get better. Please review! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize, but I own the characters of The Bird Family and friends and The Hunter Family and friends. Thanks!

All mistakes are my own, I'll try and correct any as I see them, but I'm only human- I will miss some.

1. Prologue


Carmen POV

His hands were rough against my skin. He was gripping me too hard. I had quickly learned that the pained expression on his face plus the muscles made for a not very pleasurable experience. He didn't kiss me while it happened, he kept his chin on my shoulder, staring at what I think was graffiti on the door of the bathroom stall he'd pushed me into. He was done soon enough. He left the stall and immediately started washing his hands.

"Um... see you, I guess." I mumbled, twirling the ends of my long black hair. He glanced over his shoulder.

"See you..." He murmured, then turned and walked out of the bathroom, not saying anything else. I counted to five and tried to make my hands stop shaking, before exiting out of the boys bathroom, through the cheap, dirty, dim-lighted cafe and out into the darkness of the night, not looking to see if 'Logan' had stayed.


I'm Carmen Bird. I'm sixteen years old and I'm from San Diego, originally. On Monday, I was told I'd be moving a week on Friday. I'd spent three days locked in my room (not even leaving for school) crying. I had a perfect life in California. I didn't want to go to Washington and live in a small house with a shared bathroom and a sweet grandmother I hadn't seen in six years.

I never did figured out why she and my parents had fallen out.

"It'll do you good, Carmen." Dad had told me. He was a museum curator. Very brainy, but sweet. He would've done anything to make me happy... until...

I mean, he used to call me Angel... I'd heard my dad call me Carmen only three times before...

"You'll like it, Chica." Mom was less disappointed, which made me feel like crap- had she expected this from me? It certainly felt that way.

I walked down the dark street, towards the bus stop. I could've cried. I'd not been allowed my car when I moved and I was forced to use public transport.

On Friday morining, I'd sat on a plane for two and a half hours, rode a train for two more hours, gotten a bus for forty-five minutes, then arrived at an empty house with a note saying:

Carmen Margarita Bird,

Sorry I'm out, sweet girl, I'm next door and I will be for the next few hours, make yourself at home and take this change for the bus if you want to visit Port Angeles! Have fun! Be safe!

Love, Grammy Bird.

I'd locked myself in my new room for an hour before it gave me a migraine.

It was too white and there was an old treadmill in the corner of the room. My king-sized bed was left at the old apartment and I'd been left with a single bed. It hadn't been made when I arrived. It was just a mattress held up by a simple metal frame. My old room was red and had black furnishings. I'd loved how expensive it felt... it was luxurious and I liked having that.

When I left my room, I walked to the bus stop that was down the street from my house and got on the first bus that came. I ended up in Port Angeles, next to a cheap, rundown cafe with a boarded up window. I walked in and ordered water. I didn't know what I'd expect to find, but when my eyes met his, I knew what we'd end up doing.

He looked as bad as I felt. I never asked him what was wrong, though.

"I'm Carmen." I smiled, sitting down at his table. He looked up and smiled lightly, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Logan."

Logan Heights... Sure, not exactly luxurious (or even safe, sometimes), but still... It was home...

"You're cute." I whispered.

"You're pretty."

Next thing I knew, we were in the bathroom, his hands pulling through my hair, making me wince. I tried to make it feel a little bit romantic... I'd run my hands through his shaggy blonde hair and kissed his neck... he didn't care. We got what we wanted in the end.


"Mommy... Daddy..." I wiped my eyes again. I couldn't be crying yet. I had to start strong... I could break down later. I walked into the living room. My parents were snuggled up together on the couch in front of the TV, a documentary about fossils playing that my father watched while my mother read her Cosmo.

"Angel!" Dad grinned, turning the volume on the TV down. "Angel, what's wrong?"

"Miha?" The two stood up, the magazine and documentary forgotten. My parents truly loved me.

"I, um, I have to talk to you." I stammered, walking over to them. They pulled me into a shared hug and we all sat back down on the couch.

"Carmy, you're scaring me." Mom said, slowly. I closed my eyes.

"Well... you know how I've been dating Vince and all..."

"What about Vince?" Mom asked, her voice even more concerned.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, no!" Vince loved me! "I, um..."

I had to just tell them. I had to just say it.

"I'm pregnant."

It was so quiet I wasn't even sure I'd said it at first- they were so silent. Finally, they both moved off of the couch and into the kitchen. I could faintly hear them.

"...Visit your mother... Do her good."

"...I don't know..."

"It's a small town... no influences."

"You're right."

And that was that.

I was moving to El Pusho, or whatever.


I walked into the house and kicked off my shoes at the door. As I pulled my jacket off, I walked into the small living room.

"Sweet girl!" Grammy Bird rose from an armchair and walked over to me slowly, pulling me into a hug. She was tiny and frail, but she loved me with all of her heart and didn't care that I was pregnant or that I got an abortion. I was still her perfect granddaughter. As I walked further into the room I realized that she wasn't alone. On the couch sat a man I didn't recognize... he was...

A total freaking babe.

He had muscles everywhere. He was tanned and shirtless. I was feeling weak at the knees. He was beautiful!

"Hey..." I said, slowly, putting my jacket over the back of an armchair, then sitting down.

The man was good looking too. I thought he was around twenty-five from his body, but his face had a boyish charm that I recognized...

"You remember Quil Ateara, of course? You were always such good friends!" Grammy said, gesturing to the man.

It couldn't be...

Quil Ateara was my childhood best friend- our dad's were best friends growing up. When my family had lived in La Push until I was six years old, we'd been best friends. For a few years after we moved, we continued to visit La Push in the Summer. When I was ten, we stopped visiting them. They came to visit us until I turned fourteen (two years ago), then Quil just stopped coming out to San Diego. Last year his mother hadn't even joined us.

"Quil? Woah." I stood up, as did he. He pulled me into a hug.

"Minnie!" He grinned, holding me against his bare chest.

Wanna take this upstairs, away from my grandmother?

"It's Carmen." I muttered. I was too grown up for the nickname he always insisted on using. "When did you get buff?" I pulled back. "...And tall?"

He was always scrawny and shorter than me, even though he was older. It'd always been my advantage, plus I could totally beat him up.

"When you got all pretty!" He twirled my hair, but there was something in the way he said it that wasn't flirty... he didn't see me that way?

Everybody sees me that way...

"Quil was just coming to see you!" Grammy explained. I nodded and pulled out of his hold completely. As his body left mine, I realized how warm he was.

"Are you sick?" I asked, standing on my tip toes to rest my hand on his forehead. He shook me off and laughed.

"It's a genetic thing."

"Freak." I joked. He rolled his eyes and pulled me back into a hug. The warmth made me forget all about crappy Washington... it brought me back to the beach, the sand, the sun, the boys...

"Well, I've gotta head to work. See you later, Minnie." He kissed the top of my head and my grandmother's cheek, before leaving the room, and then the house.

"Such a lovely boy... very hungry." Grammy said, absent-minded-ly, sitting back down in her armchair. I sat on the couch and watched the TV as Wheel of Fortune played.


I woke up and stayed in my room. If I could stay here forever, I would, but, of course, I have to go to school. I was supposed to attend the Reservation high school, but because of building repairs, everyone was attending the school in the main town of Forks. I groaned at that. I'd be different.

My father, William Bird, was Quileute. My mother, Marisol Lopez, was Puerto Rican. I was a mix of the two. I had russet skin, black hair and brown eyes. I was pretty, I think... probably more than just pretty...

I mean, there had to be a reason why the guys liked me, right?

I checked the clock.

11AM.

I frowned and climbed out of bed. I pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt, then, as the cold air gave me goosebumps, I groaned and pulled on a University of San Diego sweater and threw my hair into a ponytail.


"Grammy?" I asked, walking into the living room. She was watching CSI reruns and talking to herself about who the murderer was. I smiled and sat down on the couch.

"Hi Carmen!" She grinned at me before turning back to the TV. "It's him! Clearly it's him!"

"Want me to make any lunch?" I asked. I was always good at cooking- Mom had taught me. She had learned from her mom, and her mom had learned from her mom, and so on.

"Oh! That would be lovely!" She grinned again, before yelling at the TV. I laughed and walked to the kitchen.

The cabinets and fridge were full of food. I wondered how my tiny grandmother had bought all of this, but figured I'd find out if I was living here for a while.

I made sandwiches for two and tea. Grammy told me that I should be chef or a very good wife. I laughed and realized that maybe this place wouldn't be so bad...


Embry POV

I sat at home alone. Mom was at work and I didn't have patrol. I should've been sleeping, but I couldn't.

One of my closest friends, Scarlett Hunter, was lying in a hospital bed right now. She had been attacked by Logan, our newest Pack member.

God, was that guy a total douche.

I really liked Scarlett. I had liked her since the day I met her- I'd tried desperately to imprint on her (and gotten ridiculed for it later), but no, Seth had to go and take her.

I doubted that it would happen to me. The only un-imprinted ones were me, Leah and Collin... and Logan, now, I guess.

Brady, the second newest (at the time) wolf, had imprinted on Scarlett's best friend. It didn't seem fair. I'd been waiting for years to imprint- they were new. It wasn't fair at all.

At least I wasn't Leah.

I hated to be mean to her (she had no problem being mean to me, of course), but it was true. She was bitter and probably will be until she imprints- if ever.

All I wanted right now is to imprint. I remembered the conversation I'd had with Scar before the accident.

"I'm so sick of imprinting." I accidentally growled at her, which made her to put her hands up in surrender.

"Woah, dude, calm down."

"It's not fair. I get to hear all day, everyday, about how amazing it is to have an imprint." I tried to calm down, but I'd been holding in these thoughts on patrol for so long... I had to get it out.

"Well, you might imprint-"

"I won't." I snapped, lifting my head up and looking at her beautiful face. "It's supposed to be rare, but because the Pack is so big, it's 'okay' that more of us have done it."

"So?"

"So, more than half the Pack have done it, now. It's unlikely that I, Collin and Leah will imprint now." I looked down. I couldn't look at her anymore. It only made me feel more jealous of Seth for having her. "It's... it's not fair."

"Well, you're a total babe, Em, you'll find a girlfriend."

"Well, yeah, I guess... but I'm never gonna have that special connection my brothers have." I sighed... then I clicked what she had just said. "You think I'm a total babe?"

"Obviously." She rolled my eyes, which made me feel proud. I sat up and lifted my head up. Apparently a pretty girl thought I was a babe. Awesome! "So, you're looking for potential girlfriends now?"

"Well... if I do find an imprint, I don't want to be in a relationship and have to hurt someone..." I sat back again. I was always worried about that. I doubted that Quil would've had that problem- Paul certainly didn't- but I was worried about it. I didn't want to cause anyone any pain.

"Oh! You want a fling?"

"Um..." I looked up again, shocked. She was deadly serious.

"Preferably a slutty girl, am I right?" She wiggled her eyebrows, and I nodded slowly, embarrassed. Slutty girls wouldn't be upset if I broke up with them, right? Well, that's what I hoped...

But I didn't want a bunch of slutty girls- I wanted my imprint, right here, right now.

I just had to find her.

I just had to find her.


Please review my prologue! I hope you liked it enough to read my next chapter! Send me any questions or comments or concerns, thanks! :D