Author's Note: So this is my new story. I hope you guys like it, and just for the record, I haven't quite read Breaking Dawn yet. So I don't know what happens, and please, PLEASE don't write any comments or reviews that will give it away! Thanks!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own the Twilight series and/or any characters, excluding any original characters, of course. Duh.

I pulled my beat up Dodge Neon into the gravel driveway, suspicious I had been forgotten about when I didn't see my cousin's ancient truck or my uncle's police cruiser. According to MapQuest, I had traveled 2285.91 miles (It felt much longer to me.). I'd started in southwest Illinois and passed through Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana to get to my destination—Forks, Washington.

All that and they had forgotten about me.

I got out of the car and walked to the front porch, hoping they were still as predictable as I remembered. Standing on tiptoes, I reached up and felt for a key on the eaves of the door.

My fingers brushed against the key and knocked it onto the porch. Great. As I bent down to pick it up, two large white sneakers stopped right next to me. Startled, I looked up. How could he have gotten so close without me noticing?

"Hey." A russet skinned giant dressed in cutoff jeans and an opened button-down shirt—which revealed some pretty impressive muscles—grinned down at me. He had short-cropped black hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a thousand-watt grin.

"Hi," I said cautiously and stood up slowly. My fingers were clutched around the key, ready to use it as a weapon if need be, although something about his smile made him seem harmless.

"I'm Jacob Black," he introduced himself.

"Sarah Loker." My defenses began to drop slowly.

"I came by to see if Bella was around." He was eyeing the silver key in my hand probably thinking I was a burglar.

"I'm Bella's cousin," I explained. "I'm staying for the summer. I guess her and Charlie forgot I was coming today."

Jacob laughed. "Yeah, Charlie's watching the game with my dad."

"Just my luck," I muttered. Louder, I added, "And Bella's probably gallivanting around with her fiancé."

Jake's smile faltered for a split second, but he regained his composure so quickly I almost wondered if I had imagined it. "Well, welcome to Forks then."

"Thanks." At least I had one person on my welcoming committee. I mean, I hadn't been expecting a party or anything, but it would have been nice if someone had remembered.

"Do you want help getting your stuff inside?" Jacob offered his eyes flickering towards my car, which was crammed full of boxes.

I wasn't going to pass up his help. It would take me hours if I had to unload by myself. "Sure."

I unlocked the front door and left it wide open so we would be able to get the boxes inside more easily. Then, Jacob followed me to the car.

As he grabbed the first box, he asked teasingly, "Are you sure you're only staying for the summer? Because it looks like you packed up your entire life and stuffed it in here."

I grabbed a box for myself and started towards the house. Jacob followed behind me. "I am only staying for the summer, but then I'm headed off to California for the fall."

"College?"

I nodded, walking up the narrow flight of stairs slowly so I wouldn't trip. My room was the guest room at the end of the hall.

I opened the door and flicked on the light. The shades were pulled and the room looked like no one had ever used it. Knowing Charlie, no one probably had.

"Whoa," Jacob said in reaction to the hideous floral wallpaper and the matching floral comforter and pillow set.

"Whoa indeed." I wrinkled my nose in distaste. I set my box down on the wooden floor.

Jacob followed suit. "I hope you survive the summer in here."

I grimaced. "Me too."

We went back down and grabbed more boxes. After a few more trips, we were done. This was mainly due to the fact that while I could only manage to carry one box at a time, Jacob could carry multiple boxes at twice the speed.

"Thanks," I said gratefully once we were done and sank down onto the bed. My arms were tired.

"No problem." Jacob hadn't even broken a sweat. He leaned against the wall. "So where are you from?"

I guess since we were done unloading boxes and I wasn't huffing and puffing climbing the stairs he figured now would be a better time to talk.

"Illinois."

"Like Chicago?"

I smiled. "I wish. Further south, closer to St. Louis."

Jacob nodded thoughtfully. "So why are you visiting Forks your last summer before college? Don't your parents want you to spend it at home?"

I looked away from him. This was a harder question to answer. Maybe it would be easier if I lied…

Luckily, before I even had a chance to reply, I heard a faint roar coming down the street.

"Bella's back," Jacob told me.

The roar must be her ancient truck that she had emailed me about. I was glad for the distraction, and sure enough, as I looked out my window, Bella was pulling into the driveway beside my Neon.

"Sarah?" Bella called as she came up the stairs. She appeared in my room looking sheepish. "I'm sorry. I thought you were getting here tomorrow."

"Surprise," I said. "At least Jacob showed up to help me."

Bella's eyes stopped on Jacob who was still resting easily against the wall. She looked slightly uncomfortable. "Hey."

"Hey," Jacob replied coolly. "I should probably get going."

Was I missing something? I thought that Jacob had stopped by to see Bella, so why was he leaving when she had just gotten here?

"Okay," Bella said without arguing.

Jacob's eyes flicked back to me. "See you around."

Then he was gone.

I waited a moment before I asked, "What is going on between the two of you?"

"Nothing," Bella said, but I knew she was lying. It was written all over her face. "I'm going to go start dinner."

I was too tired to follow her downstairs to question her and demand some real answers. Instead, I curled up on the bed, not even bothering to pull back the hideous covers.