25 to Life

I do not own Twilight

Chapter 1: Welcome Home

The small pickup truck shuck as it passed over the uneven dirt roads of La Push. Small wooden houses surrounding us that I never thought I'd see again. Everything was exactly the same as it had been 2 years ago.

A sudden jump caught me off guard when the truck fell into a deeper than usual batch, nearly knocking me off the mountain of luggage and off the truck. I let out a loud cuss as my hand shot out and got a hold of the rail. From inside the cabin I heard: -"Language!"

-"Sorry mom"

A loud laugh came just after, the deep tone nearly making the cabin vibrate: -"You ok back there Jay?"

I nodded even as I knew he couldn't see it and settled back on the suitcases to prevent them from falling.

-"I'm good"

-"Well be careful back there kid"- Uncle Ben yelled out, sticking his head half out the window to try and get a look and see if I was alright.

-"No worries, even if I fall off I ain't going much further than the floor"- I shout back with a smile. He laughed and went back inside as I went back to reminiscing the good old days.

There is the grocery store… the Ateara house… trees… the Levi's house… trees… trees and…

More trees.

I sighed and pulled back the hoodie off my head as the rain had stopped a couple of minutes ago. Still, La Push being La Push, I'd been soaked even before it started raining. I pocked the suitcase underneath me, and so was the luggage apparently.

I stared up at the sky, the gray clouds reminding me of the perpetually dark skies of New York City, just with 5 trees per building instead. Maybe I'd miss New York, maybe I wouldn't.

I wasn't sure of anything anymore; maybe, I just wanted my life back.

The pickup took a sudden turn to the left and then everything was like engraved in stone, 15 trees, 7 bushes, 5 wild flower plants… and there was home.

I felt a soft tinge of homesickness once the faded red walls came into view, it was exactly as I remembered: the minimal porch, the small windows underlined with white morning glory's and white window panes, the same old squeaking swinging chair that always seemed to be more inclined to the left but when you sat on it you'd glide down to the right. I remembered everything, and it all hurt as hell.

No matter how much it looked or even felt like it, this would never be a home again.

The truck stopped barely a foot away from the low steps of the front porch and died with an agitated groan.

-"We're here" My mom sang, probably to wake up Monika. A sweet giggle came just after followed by a bunch of baby spoken: "Izz this it, Izz this it?"

-"Yes this is it, this is our new home Marie, do you like it?"

-"It soo pwetty"

I jumped off the side of the truck with two of the suitcases to land beside mom and little Marie in her arms. I smiled up at her: -"Just like a fairy tale isn't it?"

-"Yez, Yez, lik sweeping beawty!"- Marie shot out her chubby little arms out, as if she wanted to reach every extension of the vision in a bear hug.

-"Oh, you mean little Miss Princess"- I turned to look at my older sister Monika, getting out of the truck with a rat's nest for a head- "Slept well your majesty?"

-"Bite me, brave heart"- She shot back, walking straight to the house to try and open the door.

I was just about to respond when my mom cut in between us: -"Hey, no fighting, this is supposed to be a happy day"

And exactly what about this situation could be defined as "happy"?

I kept that to myself as a carried the suit cases into the house. I paid the inside no attention to keep my emotions at bay and it really helped that over the oh so familiar smell of wood wax a thick layer of dust was suffocating the air. I left the suitcases in the small living room and went to help Uncle Ben with the rest of the luggage.

Just half way out the door a small bronzed hand was rested on my shoulder. I turned my head up to look at my mother's dark eyes.

-"You should go and look for your friends"

-"But we haven't even unloaded the stuff"- I frowned, sending a meaningful look at the full off the top truck. Mom just shook her head and caressed my cheek: -"Uncle Ben will do that, you go on and have some fun"

-"Yeah kid, I'd get the hel- I mean very far away from here if I were you"-Uncle Ben suggested as he carried inside about 5 suitcases, awkwardly and painfully looking arraigned in his arms. My mother sent him a reprimanding look, which had made him think twice his choice of words as she set down little Marie on the floor for her to stumble away into the near empty kitchen.

My frown deepened but nodded nonetheless: -"Ok then, give me a ring if you need anything"

She just nodded back and I still waited a couple of other uncertain seconds before sighing and taking my leave.

-"Are you sure you know where to find those kids?"

I smiled up to my Uncle as I retreated down the vanished trail to the main road: -"I know exactly where their bum asses are"

He laughed and then groaned in pain as he lifted the huge suitcase Monika had brought over.

-"Good luck with that"- I snickered with a final wave and ran off before he could regain his breath. Poor man was going to get the life squished out of him.

The running soon turned into a soft jogging and finally to a peaceful stroll. I checked my watch, about 1:46 pm. And it was Saturday, yup, I knew exactly where I would find those guys.

I'd come to forget just how fast you could reach everywhere here, anything you could think of was 5 minutes away, so now I was facing the small grocery store with it's wide windows and shiny red wooden double doors, looking as if where finally embracing globalization, or just about realizing we're on the 21st century already.

I stopped in front of the wide front windows, the surface so clean it made me remember the smooth perfection of the Times Square, with all the light and sight reflecting on it.

I'd gotten so immersed in the shiny window that when the bell on the double doors sang I jumped into fighting position, fist balled and raised. Only a second later I realized what I was doing and relaxed, looking around to see if anyone had seen me jump like a street cat.

There was a group of huge guys over to the left, chillin' over at the Ateara's house, but they didn't seem to be paying anyone no mind. I sighed in relieve and rearranged my jacket on my shoulders.

-"Jamie? James is that you?"

My head snapped back to the store, meeting a small group of 3 teenage boys standing still with the open door, their brown eyes wide and smiles covering over half their faces.

I smirked

-"The one and only"

Not even a second later I was bombarded with three hard frames and a bunch of girl like squeaks; I got the air punched out of me for a minute before I could start to push them off.

-"Yeah, yeah, I'm feelin' the love, now get off"- the boys let go of me, still laughing in excitement as, again, I looked around, this time in a mock way to say: - "People gonna think we're together"

I earned a couple of punches and a new round of laughter as I was saluted once again, but this time I could actually answer. Darren came up to me and we pumped fists to then pull me into a half hug with a lot of wide palms on the back. He hadn't changed much other than the same growth spurt all of us had, he still had that long black hair in the same thick braid and the same weird ass nose he'd had since he'd broken it 5 years ago with his bike.

Then came Justin, same old mushroom hair cut and thin, long face and girly eyelashes, he gave me a short hand shake to pull us into a shoulder to shoulder bump.

Last came Alex, he shot back at me before I had even let go of Justin and twirled me around in a tight ass bear hug. Now I knew who'd left me breathless the last time. By the time he set me down the other two assholes were laughing their asses off, making the group of buff guys across the street turn around and stare.

I punched Alex fat stomach mockingly, still getting some air out of him as he doubled over.

I gave him a couple of soft pats on the back as he huffed and struggled for air: -"Good to see you man"

I looked once again at the bunch of Hercules in front, they were still staring. I was about to spank my ass in their direction when one of them sparked my interest. There weren't just dudes, in the middle and far off in the porch, was a girl, and she looked like she'd just seen hell and back.

I didn't even have time to frown when a hand fell strong on my shoulder. It was Darren, smiling just like I remembered him to as he solemnly said unto me:

-"Welcome home dude… welcome home"

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