Amal Jamah POV

Chapter 1

We moved to a new house. The house was nice and I'm pretty sure the neighbours would be too. We lived close to the forest, and although the forest freaked me out, at least it looked nice.

"Hey, Amal, " my brother, Jamal shouted as he entered the house. "Make me a sandwich!"

Jamal was my 19 year old brother and he was lazy. He was second oldest as my brother Hassan was thirty-two years old.

Hassan was married to a Quileuten girl called, Bessie. They got married straight after high school, at eighteen. A year after Bessie gave birth to Greg.

Greg was now thirteen and a half. They also had 2 other children, twins, Nabela and Casper.

I know. Casper. Bessie really knows how to name them.

I picked Nabela's name, Hassan gave me the honor, because I didn't want Bessie to name Nabela something like, Veronica. Casper and Nabela were 7 years old, and so cute.

Hassan and Bessie were crazy about each other. I could understand why, Hassan and Bessie were both loving, kind people. They were perfect for each other.

This reminded me I had to go over to their's in couple of weeks.

Anyway, Mustafa and I got along, though and he was very protective of me as the rest of my brothers were.

Yeah, I was one of the 2 girls in my family.

The other girl in the family was my little 5 year old sister, Naima, who was ill in hospital.

Naima suffered from leukaemia.

"Fine." I said, annoyed.

He came in the kitchen followed by his friend, Omar, who grinned at me.

"No, Omar, I'm not making it for you." I said, not even glancing back at him.

Jamal laughed, "She's my sis, dude. She'll only make me food."

"Yeah, Omar, get your own slave." I said, looking for a plate. "They are free of course. Jamal never gives me money."

I passed Jamal his plate.

Jamal grinned and smiled smugly at Omar, taking a big bite. "Thanks, sis, this is ABOSOLUTELY delicious."

Omar's stomach groaned. "I'm hungry, Jamal, that's so cruel."

I smiled and got ready making another sandwich.

Omar was Jamal's best friend. He was the most annoying person I have ever met, but I'd known him for years and he was like my older brother.

"Here you go, Omar." I said, putting the plate in front of him. "I wasn't really going to leave you out."

He looked at me as though I had saved his life. "I love you, Amal."

I rolled my eyes. "Boys."

And I left the room.

On the way to the sitting room, another brother burst into the house with 4 of his friends.

"Hey, lil' sis." Mustafa yelled.

"Amal, looking good ..." Carl said, flirtaously.

I cringed. "Carl ...!"

Mustafa smacked Carl's head.

"Hey!" Carl complained.

"I told you not to do that." he said, furious.

Carl shrugged.

"Asalamu alaykum, Amal," said Jonny.

"Wa alaykumu salaam." I said, politely.

Jonny was a recent muslim convert. He was also Mustafa's longest friend since preschool. He was so sweet and caring and sometimes he even defended me against my own brothers.

Tyler was the most confident, popular guy of the whole senior, oh, and the whole school. When he was in my house, though, and asking for our food, I could use school against him.

Jim was also popular, just like most of Mustafa's friends were, but he and I were enemies.

Mustafa was a 17 year old.

Next in line was Yasir, who was my twin but he was older by 1 hour.

He was the popular guy in my year, but he never dated because he:

-believed that in Islam you dont date.

- was saving himself for my best friend, Samiya.

Samiya was, of course, oblivious to this.

We all, except for Jamal, went to La Push High.

Jim (my enemy) sniffed the air. "Who made that?"

"I did." I said, civil enough.

His nose wrinkled in disgust. "It stinks..."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Hey, who baked a cake...?" Carl asked, interrupting Jim.

"Obviously, it's my genius of a sister's work." Jamal said, coming out of the kitchen, with a piece of the cake on his plate.

"Hey," I protested. "Those aren't for you, Jamal ..."

"Seriously, Ami," Jim said, peering at my backside. "You dont need to add on more weight, your back-end is getting pretty big ..."

I turned to him, my eyes burning with hate. "Jim, if you dont shut that mouth of yours, I will have no choice but to ..."

Jonny patted my arm. "Ignore him, Amal, he's an idiot."

I continued glowering at him.

Then I slowly calmed down, while Jim smirked at me.

"By the way, Jamal, I made those for our neighbours." I said. "I'm going over there..."

"Give it to your hungry brothers instead," Mustafa groaned.

"It's good to have good relations with neighbours." I defended, grabbing Jamal's plate.

"I agree," Jonny said, while I played tug of war with Jamal. "It's an important part of Islam, you know, being good to neighbours."

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Jonny, this is why I think that you are the best friend any of my brothers could have, because you aren't immature."

"When are we immature?" Jamal and Mustafa demanded.

I looked at Jamal's hand still on the plate. "Really? Do I really have to answer this?"

They were quiet while I finally retrieved the plate from Jamal.

I paused, looking at the cake, finger prints still visible. "Actually, have this I'll give them the bit left."

Jamal and Omar sniggered and I rolled my eyes, saying, "Grow up."

...

I knocked on the door, with a plate of the cake and some biscuits I brought from Quileuten convenience store.

The door opened.

A woman in her mid twenties answered. Her face was beautiful apart from the scar that changed half her face.

She smiled, the scar making her smile turn downwards on one side. "Hello, can I help?"

I smiled back. "Hi, I'm your new neighbour, we just moved in last week."

"Is your mom around?" she asked, looking behind me. "I'd love to invite her round."

"Um, either she's working or at the hospital." I replied.

"Hospital?" Her eyes wide.

I nodded. "She visits my sister there everyday after she finishes work."

"Is your sister ... ?" she trailed off, unsure.

My voice went cold, "She's fine."

She looked taken-aback at my tone.

I swallowed, looking down at the plate. "Um ... I made you a cake. And I brought you some biscuits."

She smiled, warmly. "Come in."

I nodded and stepped in.

"So, um ... about your sister," the woman started. "I'm sorry for prying."

I shook my head. "It's fine and I'm sorry for biting your head off, it's just ..."

The woman smiled, sympathetically. "You dont have to tell me."

"I want to." I paused. "My sister has leukaemia and the doctors say she wont even get to her teens. I dont want to feel bitter and angry. I dont want to cry too much ..."

"Why? Why cant you cry too much? It's fine ..." she started.

I shook my head. "It's not fine. Everyone dies in the end and I have to accept that. In life, we lose people we love, we lose money, bad things happen, and the way we handle it is not to give up and go mad. It's to carry on no matter what the problem. It's to help us grow strong and to help us remember that everything has an end and our end will come soon, too."

The woman looked dazed. "Are you a life-therapist? That was the most motivating speech I have ever heard."

I laughed, shaking my head. "No, it's the way I keep sane. And because I'm a muslim every calamity is that much easier."

"By the way, through all of this heart-to-heart, I forgot to introduce myself." she held her hand out. "I'm Emily Young soon-to-be Emily Uley."

"Amal Jamah." I said, shaking her hand.

"So, did you move schools as well as houses?" she asked.

"Well, we actually still go to La Push High. We lived in Forks, but my older brothers couldn't get into Forks High. So we just went to the nearest high school."

"Oh, La Push high," Emily said, smiling. "Do you know Jacob, Embry, Quil..."

"The protectors?" I asked.

She nodded.

"I dont really talk to them," I said, making a face. "They swan about the school thinking that they are so cool because they're protectors. So, I dont really like them."

Emily frowned. "They're nice boys. You're not being fair..."

"Emily, if you saw them you would definately think they were stuck up. I bumped into the one called Embry and I said sorry to him and everything, but he glared at me and wrinkled his nose like I was disgusting. All without even glancing at me. If you dont call that stuck up, then what is?"

I decided I shouldn't mention the more unfortunate past I had with him.

The door burst open. "Emily, you made anything good?"

She smiled. "Hey, Sam and no I haven't."

Sam Uley aka drug dealer was Emily's fiancé. Well, that was unexpected. I wonder if Emily takes drugs, too.

He smiled at me, still looking at Emily.

"Emily, the others are coming soon ... Oh, wait they're already here."

Suddenly, I was aware of the temperature rising twice as much as when Druggie (my name for Sam) came in. The noise levels also grew to a point where I could not stand it.

The members of the Druggie and co. rushed in like a herd of elephants. Well, they were close to the size.

"I'm hungry, Emily..." Quil moaned.

God, what a baby.

A couple of them (Embry and Collin) rushed past Quil and Emily, and charged to the fridge.

I was stood by the fridge and I wasn't wise enough to move out of the way in time.

"Oomph." that was the noise that came out of me when I collided with two extremely big, as hard as brick wall, dopey, steroids dependant teenage boys.

I sat on the floor, waiting for someone to help me up or maybe apologise. Unfortunately, neither of these things happened.

They stared down at me, incredulous.

Did they not see me? Were they really so blind in their struggle for food that could not see a person stood in front of them?

My nose was the most injured part as the fool, Embry, elbowed me there.

Embry helped me up.

I held my nose, blinking quickly to stop the tears of pain from flowing out.

Embry turned away not even apologising.

"See, Emily," I whispered to her. "He just broke my nose and he doesn't give a shit. They are all stuck-up, snobby, bastards, especially Embryo."

Embry slowly turned to me, his eyes burning and his teeth bared. "What did you say?"

I looked him squarely in the eyes, raising my eyebrows. "You are a stuck-up, snobby, druggie and ..."

I trailed away, my face showing disbelief and disgust.

I saw his anger wash away and his words disappear. He stared at my eyes, my mouth, and his mouth fell open.

I looked around the room. His friends were shocked, they were staring transfixed at Embry.

I turned back to Embry. He was still staring but now he smiled. His face that was usually angry and bitter and tired. Now he wasn't even tired. He looked like he had just discovered the treasure at the end of a rainbow. Like he was happy and in love and ...

I mock-retched, suddenly, making everyone jump. Embry looked concerned and immediately rushed to me.

"I dont need your assistance." I snapped.

Embry's head snapped back as though I had slapped him. He looked at me quietly, hurt and reluctant. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, that was rude and stupid of me and I'm sorry. How about a clean slate? I'm Embry Call."

He held his hand out.

I stared at his hand, critically.

"Shaking a person's hand is basic politeness." Jacob said.

I ignored him, and turned back to Embry

Embry smiled, "I dont bite."

I stared at his hand, again, making it clear that I didn't want to lay a finger on him.

Embry sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "Your name is ..."

"And why do you need to know?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Please, what's your name?" he was almost desperate.

"You dont know my name?" I said, quietly, but angry.

He stared at me before saying, "Are you famous?"

Someone snorted.

I gave Embry an annoyed look.

"Are you serious?" I said before I answered, sarcastically. "Yeah, yeah I'm famous."

Embry smiled. "I knew it! I knew I saw you somewhere before. So, what are you famous for?"

I snorted. "I'm a supermodel."

"Oh, yeah," Embry nodded.

I shook my head. "Ok, this is going too far. I'm not famous. Emily, you cant tell him my name ..."

"Amal Jamah." Emily called, helpfully.

"Emily!" I snapped. "I dont want this loser to know my name."

Embry's eyes sparkled and he mouthed my name a few times, before he said. "It's beautiful, just like you."

I glared at him. "Fuck you."

They all looked surprised.

Emily gasped. "Amal! That is rude ..."

I shrugged. "He deserves it."

Embry looked hurt.

"Dont give that look!" I snapped. "It's your fault for ... you know what? It doesn't even matter. Adios, Emily. Sam. I've got to go."

Embry frowned. "Are you going?"

"Yeah!" I said, rudely. "I said that. God, are you deaf?"

"Wait!" Embry said, urgently. "Do you go to our school?"

I ignored him. "Emily, thank you for today. I'll see you next time."

"Amal." Embry said. "Just one little thing ..."

I was already gone.

Asalamu alaykum- it's Arabic for, peace be upon you.

Wa alaykumu salaam - it's basically just right back at you.