Disclaimer: I own nothing, I make no money, I'm just having fun in Stephenie Meyers world.

The first 18 years of my life had revolved around 2 things, horses and history. I had grown up on my family's ranch in Fort Worth, Texas. My father traveled the country training horses for everything from racing to competitions and anything in between so he wasn't around much. It never bothered me though I always had the ranch and the rest of my family. My mother's side of the family owned the ranch and had for generations, supposedly we had owned the land since the late 1700's. She and I were fairly close but we were both awkward horse crazy women whose idea of quality time included long silent trail rides. Everything was great for the longest time, I was homeschooled so I could help out with the animals so my days were spent under the sun and typically in the saddle. Silver Creek Ranch was my one love and my life.

On the rare occasion I wasn't working with our horses, I was researching the history that seeped the area. It was fascinating to me how little the land had changed over the centuries. In its own way Silver Creek had helped influence history. Our ranch had supplied horses during the Civil War, sheltered people during famine, been a stop on the underground railroad, and those were just some of the major events. In the library we even had old photographs and records.

Then July 10th happened. It was a scorching hot day, record breaking even for the Texas heat. I was riding out to check on the horses in the far fields, they needed to be brought in so we could make sure they stayed cool enough. A few of our mares were close to giving birth, I was especially concerned about them getting over heated. I hadn't even made it halfway when I heard the screaming of a panicked herd. My ride for the day was a young mare, recently trained to carry a rider and when the fearful trumpets reached her she easily threw me. I was an experienced rider but there was nothing I could have done. I flew through the air as she bolted and left me behind in the field.

I must have hit my head or something because what happened after that is fuzzy. The next thing I remember is running towards my house, weaving through the fleeing animals. Everything was on fire. I couldn't think, the heat barely registered even as I ran through my blazing home. I wasn't sure if my voice wasn't working from the smoke or if it had just gotten hoarse from screaming for my mother, for anybody really. Firefighters arrived and managed to pull me out of the house even as I fought to go back inside. I remember being loaded into an ambulance and hearing my mother screaming my name then I suppose I passed out again. I woke up in the hospital sometime later with my mother sitting at my bedside holding my hand. I had a concussion, broken nose and ribs, damage from smoke inhalation, and let's not even get started on the burns.

We had lost everything, Silver Creek was gone. Most of the horses had died or escaped, those that had been found were sold to ranches and stables in the area. Grandma Iris was gone and Grandpa went a week later from a heart attack. The house and stables had burned to the ground and I guess Mom didn't have the heart to start over so we sold most of the land too. All that remained was what had been inside the safes we had in the office and library. My father filed for divorce when he found out the ranch was gone and he wouldn't be running it one day. Apparently he had started another family in Kentucky with some woman named Tasha while he was off 'training horses'.

Heartbroken in every way imaginable my mother reached out to her brother, my uncle Charlie. He was the police chief in a small town in Washington. That brings us to today, mom had finalized the paperwork on our new home in the same neighborhood as uncle Charlie's house last week and today was the big move.

I pulled the headphones from my ears as mom steered the Uhaul moving van into the driveway of a decent sized two story house. It was nice enough I suppose but I missed the warm wooden look of our old home. This house was a white with dark shingles covering the layered roof. A covered porch wrapped around the front and right side of the house with a few steps leading up to the porch from a paved walkway that lead off from the winding gravel driveway we were currently driving through. There was maybe 30 or 40 feet of grass before the woods started behind the house.

There was nothing wrong with the house but it wasn't home. There wasn't any open space, I couldn't feel the sun on my skin. Everything was so green. I almost felt claustrophobic being surrounded by so many trees after living on the open plains for so long. I was thrown out of my thoughts of displeasure by Charlie's voice.

"Claire! You girls finally made it. How was the drive?"

"Long and my ass is asleep! Now get over here and give your little sister a hug!" My mother replied joyfully as she jumped out of our rented van, the gravel crunching under her weight. She ran straight into his arms causing me to smile to myself. Uncle Charlie had always been my favorite, maybe it was our personalities being so similar but we had always gotten along great. He and my mother, Claire, had a special relationship as well. After Renee had broken his heart and left with their daughter, my mother had gone and stayed with him for nearly a month getting him back in shape.

"Uncle Charlie!" I shrieked happily and got a running start on jumping onto him and mother.

"Sage! Baby you're getting a little too big for this!" My mother laughed even as she pulled me into their hug.

"Too big? What in the world do you mean? Do you even eat kiddo?" Uncle Charlie joked, jabbing me in the ribs playfully. I only pouted in response, turning my nose up to him and turning to grab some of my bags to take inside.

The movers had already taken all of our big things and arranged them as mom had asked. This would be my first time actually being in the new house though, mom had shown me photos and asked my opinion on a few things but I had let her take the project on. Busy hands heal a broken heart grandma had always said. Mom and I both seemed to stand by that. She had thrown herself into the move while I had busied myself with school work. 'Sucks that I still have to redo my senior year…' I thought to myself. Some credits didn't transfer properly from the homeschool program so I had to sit through an entire year of Forks High School.

I stepped into the new house and set my bag down next to the staircase to look around while mom and Charlie dealt with some of our porch furniture. The stairs to the second floor were directly in front of you when you stepped into the house. The first floor seemed to have a pretty open design, to the left was the kitchen. Like the rest of the first floor it had hardwood flooring. It was a simple kitchen which worked well for me and mom, neither of us could cook very well. Happily I noted that there was a dishwasher next to the oven.

"Maybe this place won't be so bad after all" I muttered, running my hand along the handle on the dishwasher as I continued my tour. Walking around the island in the middle of our kitchen I went on to our living room. My first thought was it was huge. The living room literally took up the entire width of the house. A large sliding glass door took up a decent portion of the wall, leading out to the back part of the partial wrap around porch and to the back yard. Two comfortable plush looking couches sat facing the entertainment stand. A recliner sat closer to the glass doors, angled so you could look outside without a glare in your eyes. A large rectangular rug sat in front of the furniture, it was dark blue in color complementing nicely with the dark couches.

The last part of the lower floor was set up like an office with book shelves running the entire length of the wall. A simple wooden desk sat in the middle of the room that would eventually hold a computer and any paperwork that needed done. After completing the circle I returned to my abandoned bag and carried it upstairs. My room was the door immediately to the left at the top of the stairs. Then there was a bathroom and hall closet. The last door upstairs was my mom's room, complete with her own connected bathroom. The lucky woman, but she won that room fair after an intensive round of rock, paper, scissors.

Inside my room sat a dark 4 poster bed, my mattress already in place and covered by a comforter with beige and brown geometric designs. Matching pillow cases covered all 5 pillows, I insisted on having all of the pillows. It was aesthetically pleasing and most importantly beyond comfortable. The closet was small but more than large enough for my needs considering I also had a dresser next to it. I had windows facing the woods to the left of the house and facing the backyard. Dark brown curtains covered the windows and a beige rug covered the floor. To sum it all up, I loved it.

"Mom! I love how you set up my room!" I yelled down the stairs as I slowly walked back outside to help with the van full of our things. Much to my chagrin, her and Charlie had finished while I was on my leisurely tour.

"So when do I get to meet my cousin?" I asked Charlie. His daughter Bella had moved in with him about a week ago, I had known about her my entire life but with her living here and in Arizona with her mother and me living in Texas we had never actually met. I knew she was just under 2 years younger than me but that was about it.

"Well, she should be getting out of school any minute now. I told her to come over, so as long as she doesn't get lost Bella will be here." He said with a shrug as he brought a beer to his mouth. Mom and him had made themselves comfortable with a 6 pack sitting between them on the porch. I settled myself into the swinging chair in the corner of the porch not too far from my mother.

"She's a junior right? At Forks High where I'll be going?" I asked curiously. I was irritated that I was going to be 18 soon to be 19 in my senior year, but kind of knowing someone else would be nice. I was excited but I was also nervous to be honest, I had never gone to a traditional school.

"Yeah, she's in her junior year. She seems to be doing well with the new school. Even made some friends already it seems"

Things fell into a comfortable silence after that and I decided to migrate back to my room to give them some space to catch up. I distracted myself with setting up my books how I wanted them. Most of them went downstairs in the office-library space with bookshelves, but I had a small bookshelf in my room for my favorites or whatever books I wanted to cycle through. It was only about 3 shelves high and maybe 2 feet long, but it was perfect for my needs. I decided after sorting through my collection that I wanted some of my civil war books in my room along with my favorite books. Most of them were educational books, encyclopedias, history books, and the like. I also had some classics like a collection of Edgar A. Poe's works, a few teen fantasy series, really anything that caught my interest. After my books were in order I started on my music collection I had started to work on after the fire. I almost had everything again but it would be a work in progress for a long time.

Finally my bedroom was in order and exactly how I wanted it. Looking out the window I realized I had taken longer than I intended to, the sun was sinking down past the treeline. Wandering back downstairs I thought I would check on mom and Charlie. Walking back out the front door I saw them both laughing happily to something I had missed. Sitting in the swing I had been in earlier was a girl. She seemed taller than me with long dark hair that fell in waves down her shoulders. She had a small smile on her face as she watched our parents, her dark brown eyes sparkling in merriment with her thin shoulders shaking slightly as she held back a laugh.

"What'd I miss guys?" I said with a smile on my face, amused by the way everyone's eyes jerked to me.

"I was just telling Bella here a little bit about her big cousin! Remember the carrot incident?" My mom laughed as she wiped away a tear.

My jaw snapped open, childhood stories were NOT on the list of ways I'd like to make a first impression. The carrot incident being my mother's favorite to tell. I had been 8 or 9 and thought since we gave our horses carrots that was what I should be snacking on. So I had grabbed a big bag of freshly washed carrots and brought them along to my Balto movie marathon. Next thing I knew I had eaten 3 and a half pounds of carrots and had to go to the hospital. I had literally overdosed on carrots and my mother found it hilarious.

"It's really not that funny!" I complained, which only served to make her and Charlie laugh more. "Bella do you want to come inside away from these two and grab a bite or something?" I invited my cousin, partially just to escape the horrors my mother could unleash and partially to get to know her.

She nodded her head in consent and we withdrew into the house to settle down at the kitchen island. We had a few moments of awkward back and forth before we found a common interest to break the ice. Amazingly enough we were both Supernatural fans and she loved a lot of the classic literature that I did. Books were an amazing ice breaker in my opinion.

"So, you've survived a week of Forks High School huh? What's it like Bells?" I finally broached the topic that was on my mind.

"It's been good. I guess. Everyone's friendly enough but being new is apparently a hot commodity around here. They tried to make a feature about me in the school paper before I convinced them not to. The only thing that was kinda weird was this boy, he spent the day glaring at my like I had killed his dog or something then just disappears. Didn't come to school at all!" She complained, this guy had obviously been bothering her for a few days. We were just getting to know each other but I could tell that Bella wasn't the type to open up about things like this so quickly.

"Sounds like an asshole." I dead panned, not sure what else to say about it. We chatted a bit more about random topics before Charlie came in telling Bella it was time to head home. I guess he was playing the responsible adult role since my mother was still giggling in the recliner. I was happy though, she hadn't smiled this much since the fiasco with my father.

"Remember, school tomorrow Sage. Don't forget to pick up your papers from the front office" Charlie said as he and Bella escaped the house. Once they had left I told my mom good night and headed to bed myself, it was early for me but after everything that happened today I was tired. I set the alarm on my night stand for 6am so I would have plenty of time to get to school.

It seemed like I had just closed my eyes a moment ago when the dreaded alarm went off signaling I had to wake up. After a vicious fight with the snooze button I finally rolled myself out of the warmth of my bed and into the shower. I enjoyed my calming sandalwood scented products even as I rushed through my morning routine. I had already picked my outfit the night before knowing I would snooze far too long in the morning. I went to my full length mirror and studied my reflection after getting dressed and finishing my hair.

A short girl with sun kissed skin stared back at me, her green eyes slightly exaggerated by eye-liner. Shaggy straightened black hair fell to just barely touch her shoulders with the front framing an angular face. Light blue faded skinny jeans were tucked into brown leather boots that covered her legs from the knee-cap down. A white, well fitted tank top laid beneath a brown short jacket that hung just to the bottom of her rib cage. A dark knitted scarf was folded neatly around her neck, hiding her sharp collar bones and most of her chest from view. Though to be completely honest the scarf would come off in an instant to protect her hair from any rain.

After turning this way and that I decided I was satisfied with my appearance. Grabbing my plain black messenger bag, I darted down the stairs to grab some toast before heading to school. Luckily my mom was on the ball, a to go cup of coffee and toast all ready to go. She was still in her checkered pajamas humming to herself in the kitchen as I flew through the kitchen.

"Where's my keys mom?" I asked when I realized I didn't have them. My old car had been damaged in the fire so I had gotten a new Jeep. I referred to it as a happy upgrade. She tossed the keys to me as I walked out the door. Sitting proudly in the driveway was my gleaming charcoal grey 2008 two-door Jeep Wrangler. I had the top on it today, being in Forks you never knew when it was going to rain. It was a short drive to the school, it was less than 10 miles away from our new home.

I easily spotted Bella's orange monstrosity when I pulled into the school lot, unfortunately there weren't any open spots near it. Bella waved sympathetically as she saw me circling the parking lot searching for an open place. Near the back corner of the lot I saw a few vehicles that stood out from the rest. Not to sound judgemental but it was like this was the rich kids area to park. Luckily for me, there was an open spot right between some Volvo and another Jeep. Unfortunately for me, right when I pulled into the space and parked I swung my door open just as a blonde boy was jumping out of the other jeep. To my utter mortification, my door smacked him. I just sat there mouth gaping like an idiot too! I couldn't even get my brain to function enough for an apology. Strangely, a wave of calm spread over me just when I thought I had hit the peak of my embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, I uh… didn't see ya there" I finally managed to drawl, my accent coming out stronger than usual.

The blonde man just continued to smirk before he replied in a smooth southern accent of his own "Not to worry ma'am, no harm done" tipping his head before moving on.

It took a few moments for my brain to kickstart before I got out of my car. The blonde boy and the rest of his friends, or maybe they were family, had long since left. I walked towards the school and Bella caught up with me.

"What was that?" She asked me, seeming more interested than I thought.

"I accidently hit the blonde one with my door… It was an accident though! I just kind of froze afterwards which made it even more awkward than it already was." I explained to my cousin. My mind still kind of stuck on the unknown man's jawline and gentle accent.

"Those were the Cullens! The one I was telling you about, they're his family. The blonde boy is Jasper. Everyone says he's intimidating, but I think he's just quieter than the others." Bella muttered to herself mostly.

"So his name is Jasper…"