My name is Katherine Abner, but everyone calls me Katie. Up until yesterday I lived in Beverly Hills with my mom and her scumbag husband, Calvin. I always knew that Calvin was bad news, but my mom never listens to me anyway. As I was saying, a couple of months ago, my mom and I walked in on Calvin and the housekeeper going at it on our couch. Needless to say there was a lot of arguing and tears until my mom finally filed for divorce and moved out. Calvin was a big shot attorney, which is why we could afford to live in his huge Beverly Hills mansion. My mom, however, worked at a bank before she married Calvin and now the divorce has rendered us almost completely broke. Since my mom had no job and no money, she decided it would be best to move in with Grandma Betty in La Push. If you don't know where that is, all you need to know is that its a indian reservation that borders Nobody Cares, Washington.
When I was little, my mom and I visited Grandma Betty at least twice a year, but we haven't been back since I was eight. When we got into town on Sunday, Grandma Betty was waiting for us on her front porch where she was shielded from the rain. I got out of the car with my bag slung over my shoulder and ran onto the porch.
"Grandma Betty!" I dropped my bag on the porch and flung my arms around her. What can I say? I was excited to see the coolest grandmother ever. My mom got out of the car seconds after I did, but she looked more disgusted than excited. She never figured out that living with Calvin in Beverly Hills sucked.
Grandma Betty and I ignored my mom's bad attitude as we set up my bedroom in the small house. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. My bedroom is the only one on the first floor. Before Grandpa Jon died, it was his study. Now it has a twin sized bed with green bedding and a small dresser. It didn't take long to unpack, all I had were my clothes, the only two books I actually like to read, my laptop, and the iPod nano I got for my last birthday.
"Would you like me to shut the door on my way out?" Grandma Betty asked as I flopped down on my bed.
"Would you mind hanging out with me for a while? I haven't seen you in forever." I know its weird to be a seventeen year old that still likes to spend time with her grandmother, but she's the coolest sixty-eight year old I've ever met. When her hair started turning gray, she didn't wait even a minute before she dyed it black. She didn't have many wrinkles either and gave new meaning to the phrase "you're as young as you feel".
"I'd love to. What's on your mind?"
"I have to go to the school here. Look at me, I'll stick out like a sore thumb." I am a quarter Native American, but my dad was super pale and it reflected on me. I'm tan, but not tan enough to be Native American. My hair is dark, but not dark enough to be called black, not to mention the insane curls that my dad gave me. Going to school in La Push can only make me feel like more of an outsider than I already am.
"No you won't."
"If I don't stick out for my lack of skin pigmentation then it will be because of my personality. There's a reason why I didn't have any friends at my old school."
"Trust me, Katie. Everything will be fine." Grandma Betty was always able to make me feel better, even when I'm convinced that nothing good will ever happen in my life. I gave Grandma Betty another hug as a loud crash sounded from somewhere in the house followed by a loud, "god dammit!" from my mother.
"I'm going to go help your mother before she destroys something important." Grandma Betty sighed theatrically. I laughed and stretched out on my bed. That first day flew by much quicker than I wanted it to. My mom finished setting up her stuff before dinner and my grandma made her famous chicken pot pie. We ate and watched TV for the rest of the evening. Before I knew it, my alarm clock was demanding that I wake up for school. I've never been a morning person, so it didn't come as a surprise that my mom and Grandma Betty steered clear of me until I took a shower and had my morning bowl of Cap'n Crunch.
My mom dropped me off in front of the school and I was left to find the office by myself. There was a middle aged woman sitting at the front desk typing away at something. I cleared my throat to get her attention.
"Can I help you with something?" She asked politely.
"I'm a new student here. My name is Katherine Abner." She typed a few letters into her computer and printed something off before handing it to me. It was my schedule and a map of the school. She explained how the rooms were numbered and how to get to my locker from the office. She also wrote down the name and locker number of someone who would be happy to show me around. I thanked the secretary and headed off in the direction of my locker.
Students crowded in the hallways and I tried not to get noticed by the resident mean girls or bad boys. I didn't have any books to put in my locker yet, so I just leaned against it and stared at my map until the bell rang. I turned down the hallway just to ran smack into some girl. She was prettier than I am, so she was probably one of the mean girls.
"Sorry. I haven't had the chance to get the traffic patterns of this hallway down. At my old school the path I was taking would be completely clear, but I was obviously wrong. I'll stop babbling and get out of your way now." Most of my words came out in one breath and the girl gave me a weird look.
"What's your name?" She asked.
"Katie."
"I'm Kim. You're funny. You should sit with me at lunch." I've never had a pretty girl be so nice to me.
"Sure, okay." Kim smiled and started walking to her class while I headed to mine. The classes here were much the same as the ones I was taking in California. I had Algebra II first followed by Chemistry, US History, and English. I had lunch somewhere in between. There weren't as many people going to this school, so I hoped it would be easy to find Kim.
The classes were pretty easy and I was more than happy to go to lunch after US History was over. My old school's cafeteria could fit three of this school's cafeterias inside of it, but the cliques here looked a lot less threatening. The jocks' table was right next to the skaters' and they were socializing like decent human beings. The same went for the dance team and theatre club. I found Kim sitting at a table full of boys that had the demeanor of bad boys, but the muscles of athletes.
I can't deny that I was a little scared to approach Kim and her friends, so I stood off to the side until I could build up my nerve. Kim noticed me and gave me a friendly wave. That was enough of an invitation for me as I took a seat between her and one of the muscular boys that could've been brothers.
"Who's the new chick?" One of the boys asked. There was really only one way I could describe him: perpetually angry.
"This is my new friend Katie." She leaned over towards me and stage whispered, "You'll have to excuse Paul, he has a pole permanently lodged up his ass." I tried to hold back the laugh that was trying to escape. Paul was already shaking with anger and I didn't want to make it any worse.
"Calm down. She's only teasing." Said the boy on Kim's other side.
"Katie, this is my boyfriend Jared, you already know Paul, that's Embry, Quil, and Seth." Kim pointed each of the boys out as she went around the table.
"Nice to meet you."
"Has anyone heard from Jake lately?" Embry asked after a couple minutes of silence. There was a thud and Embry let out a grunt of pain. I assumed someone kicked him under the table.
"What? You know everyone is thinking it!" He complained.
"Who's Jake?" I asked.
"He's still hung up on Bella, where do you think he is?" Paul interjected.
"Who's Jake?" I tried again.
"She's on her honeymoon, Jake can't follow her there." Seth pointed out. I was starting to get frustrated. I don't want to pry, but when everyone you're sitting with is talking about someone, its nice to be kept in the loop.
"Give him a break, he just had his heart broken." Kim told them.
"Will someone please tell me who Jake is!" I finally rest of the table went silent and fixed their eyes on a spot above my right shoulder.
"That would be me." A voice came from behind me. I stiffened and turned around slowly. Why is it every time I act like a crazy person, there's always an extremely hot guy standing right behind me?
"I'm Katie, I'm new and I usually don't borderline stalk people through their friends. I also don't raise my voice like that either, but I like to be kept in the loop when I'm talking to people, which doesn't happen very often anyway. Today is kind of an off day for me-and you don't really care, so I'll shut up now." I said trying to keep from blushing. Kim laughed at me while Jake just stared at me with a weird look on his face that I can't describe.
"Oh my god! Jake just-ow! Stop kicking me!" Embry shouted.
"I think your friends want you to shut up." I told him.
"Doesn't mean they can kick me." He grumbled.
"Its okay, Embry. I would never kick you."
"At least Katie cares about me. You all have officially been replaced." Embry hugged me and stuck his tongue out at the rest of our table.
"I'm flattered."
"Flattered enough to go on a date with me?" He asked. Beside me, Jake let out some kind of animalistic growl.
"Sorry. I'm not into the whole dating scene."
"You wound me. I thought you loved me." Embry put a hand to his heart as if someone had actually stabbed him there.
"Rule number five: expect the unexpected."