"I hate you" I muttered under my breathe at the driver of the rented car.
Mrs. Dwalaya was lecturing me on how to be proper at all times. I've heard the same lecture, a hundred times over. I'd gone through almost 20 different foster homes in the last year. I blocked out Mrs. Dwalaya, the scenery was very green, in fact its all I've seen for the last hour. It was all tree's "this is great" I thought to myself unenthusiastically. Mrs. Dwalaya, obviously realizing I had tuned her out, stopped talking and I relished the sudden quiet. We continued to drive down the long winding road and soon a small town came into view. A wooden sign stood before it looking brittle and run down it said "La Push". The town looked almost as bad as the stupid sign. It was small and looked like it was going to fall apart with a sudden gust of wind.
"Is this it?" I asked my voice trembling slightly.
Mrs. Dwalaya glanced sideways at me and nodded.
"Yes, but Mr. Uley's house is in the woods"
I rolled my eyes, even better, I was a big time city girl; it was going to be a long two years. I was only 15, and had two more years of high school, and it was only the middle of summer. Mrs. Dwalaya spoke again
"Now, I'm not going to lecture you but I want you to know this is your last chance for a real family"
I sighed "he's my half brother why wouldn't he want me?" sarcasm was dripping from my voice.
"Be nice" she warned me
"I will" I rolled my eyes.
We were driving down a long dusty deserted road. Finally we came to a clearing, a small wooden house stood in the mist of all the trees. It looked like a shack out of a horror movie. I slowly climbed out of the car and looked around. I didn't care if the look on my face showed disgust, because that's what it looked like, a small little house, in the middle of a bunch of trees. It looked so neat and country style. I hated it. Yet I, Raina Uley, was going to have to live here.
Mrs. Dwalaya decided to take charge and walk up to the door; she placed on firm knock on the door. A few moments later the door opened and a young woman was there. I was still standing by the car gaping at the scene in front of me. Mrs. Dwalaya motioned for me to come over. Slowly I walked pulling my long blonde hair into my face and pulling my beanie hat over my face. I had reached the porch of the little house and looked at the young women. She was Native and very beautiful but the left side of her face was scared, the thick dark ugly marks pulled face into a permanent grimace. I didn't show much surprise, I'd seen scars before, I had one that ran across my back, it was from one of the times my father had come home drunk and had thrown a broken beer bottle at me. Mrs. Dwalaya already taking charge of the situation probably trying to find the fastest way to get rid of me.
"Raina, this is Emily Young, Mr. Uley's fiancée" She said.
Emily smiled at me; I gave her a small smile, since she looked nice enough.
"Come inside" she said looking at both me and Mrs. Dwalaya.
Mrs. Dwalaya shook her head
"I wish I could but I must get going if I am to meet another family on time" She said. Emily nodded and Mrs. Dwalaya turned to me and said
"Come Raina, let's get your things from the car" I shrugged and walked back to the popped the trunk with the keys and I lifted it up. I grabbed the big brown suitcase and set it on the ground. I then grabbed my soccer duffel bag and slung it over my shoulder. I dragged the suitcase and duffel bag to the back door of the car and grabbed the two tote bags that were there and my purse from the front seat. I lugged all of the bags by myself back to the porch, where Emily took the two tote bags from me.
"Thanks" I mumbled
"I'll show you to your room" Emily said.
I nodded and she started to turn only to complete her spin as Mrs. Dwalaya cleared her throat
"I'll be on my way now" she said looking about to jump for joy. Emily nodded and said
"Thank-you for bringing Raina here" Mrs. Dwalaya nodded and said
"My pleasure" with that she got into the car and drove off without another word.
"She doesn't like me much, I caused her a lot of trouble" I said watching the car disappear along the road.
"She doesn't seem very pleasant" Emily said grinning at me. I smiled a shyly at her
"Come, I'll show you to your room, I've spent days working on it, I hope you like it"
She said looking back at me. She went up a staircase and stopped at a door
"This is the only bedroom upstairs, mine and Sam's is downstairs"
She opened the door and walked in, I followed her. The room was actually an okay size. A double bed was on the left wall, covered by a beautiful purple duvet cover. The walls were a light grey. A desk sat in the corner of the room, a closet was along the east wall.
"I love it" I said surprised, it was so neutral, so me. I turned to look at her. She was beaming with pride. I set my suitcase on the floor and unzipped it, for some reason, I actually wanted to unpack,
"I'll go start supper, let you unpack and settle in; Sam and his friends will be here shortly" Emily said putting the two tote bag down.
"Cool are his friends here often?"I asked. She stood at the door looking slightly uncomfortable
"ya always" She smiled suddenly
"Supper will be ready in an hour" I nodded. She shut the door after her. I walked to the window and noticed there was a flat surface; wide enough to sit on, it over looked the ocean. I sighed I felt relaxed for the first time in a year. I felt safe here; my father had put me in the hospital before I was taken into the foster system. Yet time and time again, he seemed to find out where I was and try to bring me home. I started to unpack my clothes from the big suitcase and hung them up in the closet. I didn't have many clothes, but I had enough. I hung up the few dresses I owned. Next I put all my t-shirts and undergarments into the small dresser in the back of the closet. At the moment, I was in a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a long sleeve baby blue shirt, I took out my other two pairs of jeans, a light wash distressed style and the other, my treasured pair of apple bottom jeans. I placed the jeans and all the other pants and clothes into the bottom drawer of the dresser. I shut the closet and walked over to the desk putting my writing stuff away. I loved to write, either stories or songs. Music was my escape from my life. I finished unpacking the few other belongings I had such a little knick-knacks from every place I had lived. I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. I was met by a wonderful smell and people's voices. I walked slowly down the stairs. I stood at the bottom of the staircase taking in the scene. Six humongous men were sitting around the kitchen table. All were dark skinned with dark black hair. They were all huge. I gaped a little. Emily noticed me standing there and said
"Raina, are you finished unpacking?"
As she said this all of the men turned to look at me. I blushed and looked down.
"Ya, I don't have much"I muttered cursing myself for leaving my hat upstairs. Emily smiled.
"Do you need help with supper?" I asked wanting to get out of this awkward moment. Emily smiled brightly at me
"Sure you can start the salad" she said.I walked over and stood in the kitchen. One of the men stood beside Emily and smiled at me, Emily glanced up at him then looked at me
"Raina, this is Sam" I smiled shyly, he's your half brother Raina why are you so shy, We didn't have the same mother but our fathers were the same drunken idiot, he grinned back
"How are you?" he asked me
"I'm okay" I said in a small voice "you?" I asked
"Great" He said still smiling, he continued "this is Jared, Paul, Jake, Quil, and Embry" he said pointing to each one of the men, they all waved their hands and a chorus of
"Hey's" came out.I nodded and waved shyly. Emily motioned for me to come into kitchen she had set all the stuff out to make a salad, but there was almost 4 heads of lettuce in the humongous bowl.
"Uh, do I make it all?" I asked looking at the bowl. Emily smiled at me
"These boys eat tons!" she laughed.
"Oh" I responded, peeking at the men under my hair, they all looked the same. Even my brother. I put together the salad as Emily put a plate mile high with steaks and another dish full of ribs. I placed the bowl of salad down beside the dishes of potatoes and vegetables. Everyone sat down and Emily motioned for me to sit in between Sam and Jake. I slid into my chair, feeling really small between them. Sam looked down at me
"you're really tiny" he chuckled.
"haha" I said smiled at me. I rolled my eyes. All the men attacked the food and I watched in surprise. Emily glanced sharply at the men who started eating slower. I took a small spoonful of potatoes and a little bit of salad. I started eating, still somewhat amused and scared. I finished eating and set my fork beside my plate. Emily looked at me from beside Sam
"Raina, you should eat some more, you haven't touched the ribs or steak"
I looked at her sheepishly
"Well..I...uh...I don't eat too much meat..."I stuttered looking down.
"Oh" Emily said looking slightly embarrassed
"You should have said something" I looked up at her
"it's okay, I don't eat much". Quil smiled goofily from his seat across the table
"Well we are going to have to change that eh?"Embry, who was sitting beside him, punched his shoulder and they laughed together, while I stared at them one eyebrow raised slightly. Emily looked at me and said
"Don't worry, this is normal" she said looking at them with something that looked like motherly affection.
"Oh, I already figured they didn't have big brains" I said smiling saucily.
Sam laughed and said
"Well, it shows we're related" He said in a booming voice. All of their voices were deep, and somewhat scary. To be honest all of them scared the crap out of me. I smiled slyly and grinned at him. Normally I was never this happy or care free, but I felt happy here, something I hardly ever felt, and I wanted them to want me, something I had never felt with any foster family. My grin faltered as that little pessimistic voice in the back of my heard told me they won't want you for long you're not worth it, Shut up, I thought. You know your father will find you. It nagged on and on. I stared at my plate, trying my best to ignore the voice. I stood up and picked up my plate. I walked to the kitchen conscious of the stares that followed me, gosh they must think I'm insane, I thought suddenly, or bipolar. I placed my plate in the sink and walked back to the table, picking up their plates. Emily stood when I got to her
"I'll finish picking up" she said smiling at me "you should go relax, you've had a long day"
I smiled at her, she is so nice, I thought happily, and I don't think she hates me. I could have jumped for joy, when Sam spoke up
"I agree, go relax, but don't get used to it, we'll put you to work soon!" he smiled jokingly.
I smiled back "haha" but as I said this I was thinking, does this mean they actually want to keep me?, I kept smiling and walked to the staircase, I turned back and looked at Quil,
"Oh and good luck trying to change me, I'm pretty set in my way"
He laughed "oh, we'll shape you up in no time".
I raised my eyebrow at him
"You seem sure of yourself"
He shrugged and said
"It'll be a fun challenge"
I giggled and froze, did I just giggle?
"Sure" I said backing up the stairs waving to the rest of them.
I walked into my room, and felt at home. I grabbed a pair of black polyester gym shorts and a light green t-shirt. I grabbed my bathroom bag and walked to the bathroom that was across the hall from my room. I took a long shower, to relax my muscles. Letting the warm water run over my body, taking all the tension from my body. I turned off the water and wrapped myself in the fluffy purple towel that Emily had put on my bed for me. I didn't know how she knew but purple was my favourite colour. I quickly washed the makeup off my face and I brushed out my long blonde hair, as I was doing this I wondered how out of place I looked, being pale and blonde, surrounded by people with dark skin and dark hair. I threw my brush into my bag and I turned to look in the mirror again and by that time my hair was already curly. Normally I straightened it every morning, but the second it got wet it curled. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and walked out of the door. As I entered my room I glanced at the clock, it said 7:30, I wasn't really tired, so I decided to try something. I opened my window as far as it would go. Carefully I climbed out of the window and sat on the little roof. The wind was chilly, but it was a beautiful night, I could hear the waves of the ocean, hitting the rocks.