Maybe saying I was happy to be moving would be pushing it a bit far, but I never was one who enjoyed change. Dad had been moved to the small police station in Forks and we were all travelling the long trek across states to this rather overcast little place. The new house was right on the coast, by what was called First Beach in La Push, and it really was beautiful. It had white shuttered windows and seemed to be all stuck together and circling round itself. My step-mum was not fully convinced by this new location but she saw how much my dad loved it and smiled at the grin it put on his face.

'Hey Al,' she said to me, faking a whisper, 'you think your Dad's ever going to get the motivation to go to work?' She smiled over to where he was staring out at the sea. This had always been my Dad's dream. We had always lived in the city but he always longed for a place like this, so similar to where he grew up. Meg, she had always been a city girl but she knew this is what my Dad needed and had worked out a compromise with her work. She'd probably be travelling about a bit but I'm sure they'd work it out.

Meg went back to get the twins out the car as Thomas and Maddy scrambled out of their car-seats towards the sea. Thomas was six and Maddy four – both of them were Meg's children from a previous marriage but me and Dad had moved in with them when Maddy was just one and I loved them as if they were really my brother and sister. The twins were two and, while they hadn't been planned as such by Meg and Dad, they were an important part of the family.

'Ally!' Dad called as he began to unpack 'Do me a favour and make sure Tom and Mads don't drown?' he asked with a smile – they were getting dangerously wet. As a I made my way down the beach , I couldn't help myself but admire the beauty of this place.

I wasn't sure whether it was a blessing or a curse that I only had two weeks of school here before we broke up for the summer. I thought it was a bit stupid for me to go for just two weeks and then break up for the entire summer and start all over again – especially as I was only ever going to have one year in school here anyway, but Dad insisted it would be a good way to get to know people here on the reservation.

'You alright Al?' Dad asked for about the hundredth time as he drove me to school on the way to the police station.

'Dad, I'm fine. How are you feeling? First day of work and all,' Dad rolled his eyes as I imitated his tone.

'Alright cheeky,' he grinned, 'I'm just concerned about you, that's all. Go get 'em tiger,' he joked as he parked the car.

'Thanks Dad, and don't worry, I'll pick Thomas up on the way back.'

'Thank you, really Ally, you're a life-saver!'

'Have a good day,' I said with a smile, getting out the car and walking away towards the school. It was much smaller than my last school, with only about 40 in a year. I'm sure it would be fine, I tried to tell myself as I walked into the school. It wasn't that I didn't like to meet new people, I just wasn't great in big groups.

'Hi, I'm Ally More, I was told to pick up a schedule here?' I said to the receptionist, handing her the welcome letter I had received in the post.

'Ah Ally, we were expecting you. Here's your timetable – you're in Mr Grady's tutor so your first class is just down the hall on your right. If you could get this slip signed by the tutor and bring it back to me by the end of the day – just to ensure you've made it and all that – we'll be running,' she explained quickly, 'Any questions?' I shook my head, thanked her and made my down the corridor, to the classroom she pointed out to me.

Mr Grady was a balding middle-aged man with a remarkable sense of humour. He made me feel right at home, directing me to an empty seat next to a curly haired girl called Julia, who smiled at me before Mr Grady called the room to silence and took the register.

'Hey Ally, what class have you got next?' Julia asked warmly as Grady dismissed us for our first lessons.

'Ermm,' I began slowly, checking my timetable, 'English literature, what about you?'

'Same, with Macmillan right?' I nodded, 'she's pretty good,' Julia continued as I followed her out the doorway. She was easy to talk to and came across incredibly kind. When lunchtime came, Julia beckoned me over (fortunately as I was getting that panic in the pit of my stomach where I couldn't see anyone I knew as a walked into the canteen) and introduced me to a group of her friends. I sat down next to someone called Colin who, even for a seventeen year old seemed rather huge.

'Ally right?' he said as I sat down.

'Yeah, nice to meet you Collin,' I replied with a smile.

'yeah, yeah, not to be rude, but I reckon I'm at least five times the size of you,' he added with a grin. A tall girl the other side of Collin leaned round to join the conversation.

'Now Col, that's not really the best ice-breaker, normally something along the lines of where are you from?' she asked, batting Collin playfully on the arm. Collin pretended to look hurt and I laughed, replying to both of them.

'Well Steph, I'm from centre New York and Collin, it may be true, but I'll have you know I am officially average height for a girl, you're just crazily off the scale.' He laughed at this and Steph seemed incredibly interested in New York – it seemed she had a budding interest to be a high-flying journalist. They were joined later by another tanned, muscled boy called Brady and two other boys, Conner and Pete who came in complaining about the biology teacher who had kept them in late until every spot of the lab was cleaned. I was very grateful to Julia, who kept shooting me reassuring glances, for introducing me so easily to her friends.

At the end of the school day, Steph, Julia and I left our history class together and walked away towards the carpark. Steph offered me a lift back but I declined, I knew she lived the other end of town and I had to walk round to get Thomas anyway.

'Thanks Steph, but I've got to pick my brother up from school anyway. It was lovely to meet you both, see you tomorrow,' I said with a wave as they both climbed into Steph's slightly tired looked truck. I saw Julia laugh as Steph stalled on her first attempt before driving it slightly joltingly out of the car-park.

Thomas seemed very excited when he finally made it out of class.

'Could you have come any slower? A snail could have beat you,' I teased gently, taking his rucksack from his as he jumped about at my side, all the way home telling me stories of his first grade teacher, his class mates and the class hamster that stayed at the back of class. When we got home the house was empty but I noticed a night on the kitchen side.

Ally and Tom,

Hope you have both had FABULOUS days, I'm sorry we're late home on your first day back but as way of apology we got you doughnuts (only one Tom!) and can't wait to hear all about it.

SO much love

Mum/Meg and Dad/Henry

I laughed at the note and Tom's excited face when I handed him the doughnut. It wasn't long before the child-minder dropped the twins and Maddy back and I knew that the parents would be back soon. I decided to make lasagne for dinner, knowing it was one of Meg's favourites and she would be stressed from travelling back from work, worrying about the younger children.

Once I was done with the cooking, I put the lasagne in the oven and encouraged the kids outside with the promise of a game, lugging the picnic rug out with me. Bethany was in a whiney mood so I sat with her on my knee but Daniel seemed full of energy, charging around after the ball, even though he could never get close to either Maddy or Tom. After a while he tired and came to sit down next to me and Bethany, where I was reading a book and she had finally settled, pulling the grass happily.

'Ally,' he asked seriously, 'when can I be older than Tom?' I tried to hold my laughter in.

'I'm afraid, you cant be honey, but' I continued in a whisper, 'you will always be 32 minutes older than Bethany,' this seemed to placate him slightly as he wandered back off to the other end of the garden. Just then I heard the doorbell ring and, picking up Bethany, who whined when I stood up, made my way back inside, sparing a glance towards the other children to make sure they were okay.

I opened the door to a tanned man, holding hands with a very pale, extraordinarily beautiful woman.

'Hey, I'm Jacob, Jacob Black, we just live round the corner, we thought we'd come say hello. This is Ness, my wife,' She smiled a hello as well.

'Hi, I'm Ally, I'm afraid my parents aren't in at the moment, but do come in,' I said moving out the way of the doorway. As they moved past me they looked very young to be married, they couldn't be more than maybe 22, but it was a small town I guess. Either way, it was very kind of them to pop round. They were still here when my parents returned and, politely declined dinner, but seemed very happy to meet them.