CHAPTER ONE

I remember the day I met Paul Lahote as if it was yesterday.

It was a pretty un-normal day for us, as we had just moved to La Push four days ago, my older sister claiming that she wanted embrace our Quileute routes, despite the fact that she had showed no interest whatsoever in seeing the land our late father had come from ever before. Avoidance had slipped into the role of her best friend over the last six months, so I guess it was only a matter of time before she finally cracked living under the roof of the house we had grown up in, a house that despite all the good memories, now left the both of us with empty, painful reminders of what would never be again.

So, with very little notice Natalie had called a realtor and our little house in Quincy, Washington was sold in less than month, leaving us with lots of packing and little time to do it. We had managed though, and together we said goodbye to the only place that we had ever called home. Which is what brought us to this little rainy reservation.

La Push was a completely difference atmosphere than our hometown, and it was nothing like I expected. Not that I had really had too much of an expectation, as this place and it's history had never been a prominent part of my life, even with it taking up half my ancestry.

My father had been the one born and raised in La Push, growing up with his single dad, who had passed away when he was nineteen, which is when he had met our mother, fallen in love and gotten married. The epic love story had lasted a while, though I had never gotten to witness it. My dad died when I was two so I had never known him. My mother and Natalie had told me stories of him, and I had a book of old Quileute stories and Legends, but otherwise my heritage had never played an important role in my life until now.

Natalie had taken it upon herself to pick the "perfect house" and while neither of us had seen it in person the pictures had been lovely, and she had sent the cheque for first and last month's rent immediately. My sister was quick to get stars in her eyes and jump into things – and as bad as I thought the idea of renting a place without seeing it in person first was, I didn't correct her on it, glad to see her happy for the first time in months.

So I was just happy to see it live up to expectations the first time we saw it. It was as tiny as it looked in the photos, but there was something charming about it, with brown siding, a flower garden in the front and a cottage-like feel as it was located on a street with a row of houses backing into the forest. The word "quant" that had been used in the ad was a perfect description.

"I love it." Natalie said as she opened the front door, walking into the house with a watery smile on her face. "Carmindy, isn't it great?" I followed after her less exuberantly, nodding slowly as I took in the interior. It was completely open, with the eat-in kitchen leading straight to the living room which led to three sets of doors, which I assumed were the two bedrooms and bathroom. It wasn't overly large, with no hidden stairs or hallways anywhere, and despite it being nothing more than a foreign space it had potential to become something more for us.

Since the house already had furniture in it we moved the rest of our stuff in pretty quickly with just the two of us. It took Natalie no time after that to start meeting all of the neighbors, which I left her to do by herself while I stayed inside, preferring to read and keep to myself. She had always been a social butterfly like our mom. To my surprise they had always told me dad was the same way, which obviously made me the oddball out. Not that I really cared, so long as I had a cup of coffee and a good book I was more than happy by myself while someone else did the socializing. Unfortunately, Natalie had hit it off especially well with our one neighbor, Wendy Lahote, who happened to have a son that was my age. This, of course, meant that all of us just had to get together for supper.

Then we can just flash forward later that night to the dinner from hell.

Wendy and Natalie tried. They really did. Both of them seemed to be getting along like they were old friends, and it wasn't either of their faults that both Paul and myself were anti-social, non chatty individuals who despite being the same age, had absolutely no interest whatsoever in getting to know each other, or interact like normal, conversational human beings during dinner.

In fact sitting across from him and staring at his dark eyes and cocky smirk, I was particularly un-chatty. I had been from the moment I stepped through the door and he swept his uninterested thou-is-mightier look over me, lingering a nanosecond and a half too long on my chest, then raising his eyebrow at my forced smile turned grimace at him. I wasn't terrible looking, but I also kept myself hidden under baggy flannel and glasses. He might have been a decent human being, if he wasn't such a cocky asshole and typical teenage boy (something I greatly disliked). Basically, it didn't take either of us long to realize we had no interest in each other.

It took, however, about a half hour into the meal for us to realized that we quite disliked one another.

"So you two are only a year apart. Isn't that great?" Wendy said brightly, finally coming out of her conversation with my sister to realize that the two of us still weren't hitting it off. (It was also the second time she had mentioned this fact, and the fourth she had used the term 'isn't that great').

I grimaced. Then I noticed Natalie's glare and tried to lift the corners of my mouth an inch higher into a smile instead. "It's..great."

"Maybe if you two had a conversation you'd find some things in common." Natalie pushed.

"Yes!" Wendy chimed in. "Paul's a big fan of cars. He has a motorcycle, which took me a while to get used to but he just loves it."

"I, uh, don't really know anything about cars. I only turn sixteen next year so won't have my licence until then."

"Carmindy's really good at school. She's actually a really dedicated student." Natalie interjected when she realized I wasn't in a hurry to supply the Lahote's with a variety of my interests.

"Seriously? Who actually likes school?" Paul added, though the question was directed at me rather than my sister. "Paul!" Wendy hissed. I narrowed my eyes at him. "People with intelligence." I shot back in a tone that implied that I doubted he had any. Natalie gasped "Carmindy." but to be fair, by that point both Paul and I were too busy with each other to pay any attention to our authority figures.

"Funny, that's what I would call a nerd. Let me guess, you don't even have a boyfriend back where you came from?"

"No, but at least I have a reason not to since I focus on school cause I actually want to go somewhere with my life. What's your excuse? Nobody wants to put up with your great company?"

"Actually I do have a girlfriend."

"Oh she must just be a gem herself."

"Well, she's a lot easier to get along with then you."

"Seriously?! I like to read. I like books. Sorry that's so hard to wrap your big head around!"

"I think you're the big headed one. And I'd rather watch a movie."

Clenching my jaw I stood up just as he did. Cue the awkward silence around the room. I tried to be as polite as I possibly could in my aggravated state. "Thanks for the dinner Wendy, it was great but I think I better get home. I'm getting tired, though I might try and get some reading done." I sent a pointed glanced at Paul as I said this. "Mom, I think I'm gonna head out for tonight too. Maybe spend some time with my girlfriend." He said back.

"I-well-I, uh-yes, okay... It was lovely having you over Carmindy. Maybe you can... come and visit again... sometime."

I smiled at her. Not if your son is going to be around. "Yes, thanks again for the meal Wendy. Nat, I'll see you at home?" My sister nodded, giving me a look that said we would be having a talk later tonight. I sent them both another tiny smile and hightailed out of there and through the front door back to our house without so much as a backwards glance.

Okay, so our first impression was anything but nice, but it was the beginning.

Soooo... this is the start of a new fic. It's just an idea so far though I'm hoping to continue with it and see if everything falls into place and goes where I want it to. I don't own Twilight (obviously) but my own characters are my own (obviously ;)). I know, very short, sweet and too the point for a first chapter, but I wanted to just dive into the story and all it's little quirks, and am excited to see where it leads!

It is a Paul/OC story, and no he is not a wolf (yet!)
Reviews are encouraged and very much appreciated!