Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my alarm at 6:00am. Although the continuous beeping was getting very annoying, I wasn't awake enough to lean over and turn it off, so I left it on. After a while, I slowly began to fall asleep again, and I would have been able to do so had it not been for the fact I forgot Aaron had very good hearing. If that weren't enough, Aaron's room was directly next to mine and our beds were against the same wall. Therefore, as soon as I was about to fall asleep again, a very drowsy Aaron stumbled into my room.

"Turn that stupid thing off," he murmured. "I'm still tired." I took in a deep breath. I leaned up and pushed the off button on the top of my alarm clock. Aaron sighed in relief. "Thanks," he mumbled almost non-coherently. "Now I'm going back to bed." After Aaron left, I sighed in annoyance.

Slowly, I turned and stumbled out of bed. I skid my sock covered feet across the hard wood floors into the bathroom across the hall. Quickly, I striped down and jumped into the shower. As the warm water rinsed over me, I woke up more so and began to grow excited. This was my first day of school.

At 6:23 I wrapped a towel around myself and slipped back into my bedroom unnoticed by the others sharing the same floor as me. I got dressed in my favorite jeans, a simple black t-shirt, my tennis-shoes, and a black hoodie that said, 'I can't help but be AWESOME!' on the front in big orange letters.

Once I was satisfied with my clothes choice, I started on my hair. I turned my hair dryer on the lowest setting it could go (so I wouldn't disturb everyone else too much) and dried my long blondish hair. Because the dryer was so low, it took me almost fifteen minutes to completely dry my hair. Once it was dry, however, I ran a brush through it and let it hang down naturally. I applied eye liner and a light purple eye shadow. I stood in front of my vanity mirror and admired myself. I smiled softly and did a quick twirl. Perfect.

At exactly 7:30, I skipped down the stairs and into the living room. I chuckled when I saw Seth and Aaron barely awake sitting on the couch. I came up behind Aaron and gave him a hug.

"Good morning," I said into his ear, kissing the top of his head. He groaned causing me to roll my eyes. "Fine then Mr. Idonotlikemornings. I'm sure Seth wouldn't mind a hug." I moved over and gave Seth a hug instead. Seth didn't groan in response, but he didn't say anything is response either.

I walked around the couch and into the kitchen where Aunt Sue was busy making breakfast. She smiled when she saw me come inside. I told her good morning and took a seat at the table.

"How are you this morning?" she asked sweetly. I smiled and shrugged.

"Alright I suppose," I replied. "A little tired, but I'm much better than the two rocks in the living room." Someone chuckled from behind me and wrapped their arms around my neck. Because of how warm and how big the arms are, I concluded it was most like Aaron.

"Hey." I was right. "I am most definitely not a rock. I am up and moving." I rolled my eyes.

"Sure. How long did it take you to get out of bed?" Aaron rolled his eyes and flicked the back of my head.

He replied, "It took me no longer than…" He had to pause for a moment to count up the amount of time it took him from the moment he woke up to the moment he actually got up and came downstairs. "Thirty minutes. If that. Though, my morning didn't start off to the best with having to hear that 'beep…beep…beep…' right in my ear." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm surprised you even remember getting up. It was really early you know. 6:00am!" Aaron smacked me on the back of the head and sat down in the chair next to mine. Aunt Sue chuckled as the two of us interacted together. After a while, Seth stumbled into the kitchen and sat down next to Aaron. He laid his head down on the table and began breathing evenly as though he fell asleep again.

"So," started Aunt Sue. "Are you going to go looking for a job this morning Aaron?" I turned my attention to my brother. Aaron shrugged.

He replied, "Maybe. I'm mainly up because Sam asked me to come see him after dropping Allie and Seth off at school." I raised an eyebrow.

"Sam? As in Sam Uley?" Aaron raised his eyebrows at me and nodded.

"Yes, Sam Uley. Why? Do you know him?" I started to nod then stopped and began to shake my head then stopped again.

"Well, kind of. He was the guy that was engaged to Leah then broke it off to be with her cousin Emily. I was just surprised you would be going to see him. And now that I think about it, why are you going to see Sam Uley?" Aaron and Aunt Sue grew quite. I looked back and forth between the two of them sensing the strange tension in the air.

Eventually, Aaron answered, "Sam just… He's one of the friends I told you about that I have besides the two at your school. He… he said he's got some work for me for a while until I can find a job." I looked between Aunt Sue and Aaron again. There was something they weren't telling me, and I didn't like it. However, at the time, I can't say or do anything that would prove this thought true. They'd just deny it. Therefore, I nodded slowly and allowed Aaron and Aunt Sue to begin talking about something else.

As I sat there, a million thoughts were racing through my head. Why was Aaron really going to see Sam? Why would he lie to me? Was what Aaron doing connected to why Sam broke up with Leah? What is the real reason Sam left Leah for Emily? And most importantly, what was everyone keeping from me, and was it in any way connected… with my parent's death? I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. So many things to figure out… I suppose it's a good thing I have a long time to figure everything out.

Aaron dropped Seth and me off at school at 7:52. Seth said he'd wait for me to catch up while I said bye to Aaron.

"I'll miss you," I whispered. Aaron smiled weakly and put his hand against my cheek. A single tear fell from my eye, but Aaron quickly rubbed it away with his thumb.

"Don't worry," he whispered back. "I'll come to you as soon as you need me. Just give me a call." I opened my eyes and smiled back at Aaron. I reached through the window and gave him a long hug. As he drove away, I felt another tear trying to break loose from my eye. A hand rested itself on my shoulder.

I looked up at Seth's concerned face. He said, "Hey, it's all right. Let's go ahead inside. We need to make sure you have everything you need." I smiled up at Seth and gave him a hug which surprised him. After a few moments, he hugged me back.

We let go, and I said, "Thanks for being here for me. It really helps." Seth smiled a crocked smile and chuckled.

"I do my best cuz. Now let's go." Seth took me to the office so I could get my schedule and a map of the school.

After waiting in line for about ten minutes, Seth leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Hey, I have to go. I've got to do something for one of my teachers before classes start. I shouldn't take too long. Just go ahead and get what you need, and if I'm not back when you're done, just wait on one of the benches outside. I shouldn't take more than about ten or so minutes. Do you think you can last that long?" I sucked in my breath and held it for a moment. I could make it without someone here for a few minutes. How hard could it be?

"I'll be fine," I whispered back. "Go do what you need to do." Seth smiled sadly at me one last time before disappearing out the door and down the hall. I let my breath out and turned back toward the front. There was only one person in front of me, and they were just finishing up.

"Next," the woman at the desk called out. Slowly, I took a step forward. The woman looked up at me for a moment before looking back to her computer. "May I help you?" she asked.

I took a deep breath and softly said, "Yes. I'm a new student here, Alliena Syst. I need my paperwork." The woman did a few things on the computer before acknowledging me.

"I asked if I could help you. Did you not hear me?" I closed my eyes and took another breath before nodding.

"Yes ma'm. I asked if you could get my paperwork for me. I'm the new student, Allie Syst." The woman heard me this time and swerved around in her chair to a filing cabinet. She dug through a few drawers before pulling out a folder.

"Ah," she drew out. "Here we are. Allie Syst. Here is your schedule and forms you need to get signed by each teacher. Would you like a map of the school?" I nodded. "Here you are. Class starts in twenty minutes at 8:30 on the dot. Don't be late, but if you do end up lost and are late, it'll be excused, only for today. You're locker is number 231 and the combination is on your schedule form. Good luck."

I thanked the woman for her help and left the office. I looked up and down the hall for Seth, but he was no where in sight. I sighed in frustration.

"Well," I thought to myself. "I'm sure I can get along without him. I just need to get to my locker then come back. It shouldn't take too long." I swallowed one last time before starting down the hallway. I read along the locker numbers until I got to 231. I sighed in relief at being able to find the locker and punched in the combination, and the locker opened with ease.

I looked at my schedule. I had World History, Algebra II, Study Hall, English, Lunch, Biology, Free Period, Art, and P.E. I went ahead and kept the things I would need for my first two classes and decided since the Library, which is where Study Hall is held, is on the same hall as my locker, I would get what I needed for third and fourth then. Okay."

I put the things I wouldn't need into the locker and took the rest with me back towards the office. When I arrived back, Seth was pacing back and forth while talking on the phone. I chuckled when I got close enough to hear what he was saying.

"I'm sorry Aaron; I just don't know where she went... No I didn't… She could be anywhere… Fifteen minutes… I'm not over reacting!" I chuckled lightly and put a hand on Seth's shoulder. He spun around and sighed in relief at the sight of me. He said into the phone, "It's alright. I found her… right where I left her… don't say I told you so!" I chuckled and took the phone from Seth.

"Hey Aaron," I whispered into the receiver.

A deep voice replied, "Hey sis. Stressing Seth out already? I thought you'd wait at least until after first period." I chuckled.

"Na," I replied. "It's too fun to stress him out. Fun and easy." Aaron laughed into the phone.

"Well you two get to class. Have a good day, and I'll be there at lunch. Love ya." I smiled sadly and closed my eyes tight.

"Love ya too. Bye." I snapped the phone shut and held it strait out with my eyes still closed. Seth took the phone and looked at me worriedly.

He asked softly, "Are you alright?" I bit my bottom lip for a moment before nodding. I opened my eyes and put on a fake smile.

"I'm perfectly fine." Seth had a look of doubt cross his face, but he dismissed it.

He asked, "Hey, let me see your schedule. We might have classes together." I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"How would we have classes together? I'm a sophomore and you're a freshman." Seth smiled.

He replied, "At our school, there could be any grade in any of your classes. It just depends on who's taking what. The only thing organized by grade is Art, and that's only because it's the only required class every year that changed the curriculum depending on what grade you're in." I nodded slightly and handed him my schedule. His explanation didn't really make since, but I could deal with it. Seth smiled.

"Do we have any classes?" I asked. Seth nodded.

"We have first, fourth, and sixth together." I nodded again then remembered that Aaron said he had some friends in each of my classes.

I quickly asked, "Hey Seth, do you know two guys named Paul and Jared?" Seth narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. They're both in our first class. Why?" I got the feeling Seth didn't really like these two guys by the way he reacted, but since I already started the conversation, I might as well finish it.

"Well, Aaron said Paul and Jared were his friends, and he asked them to watch out for me while at school. Do you think you can point them out to me first period?" Seth looked to the ground like he was deep in thought.

Instead of answered my question, he asked, "Aaron said they were his friends?" I nodded. He rubbed the side of his head and mumbled, "Why would Aaron hang out with them?" Seth turned his attention back to me. He continued, "I'll point them out to you, but make sure you're careful around them. I've heard some bad rumors about them. They aren't exactly the most social people. They hang out with their group which, until now I suppose, consisted of Paul, Jared, Leah's ex-fiancée, Sam, and even Leah's been hanging out with them more. I don't know why Aaron would be hanging out with them, but they're kind of like a gang. There are rumors they do drugs and a bunch of other bad stuff." He paused as though thinking something through before finishing. "If Aaron thinks you're safe being with them, by all means be with them. Aaron would never do anything to hurt you. I'd just be careful if I were you. I wouldn't want my little Allie getting hurt." I smiled at his concern and gave Seth a big hug.

"I love you a lot Seth," I mumbled. Seth smiled and hugged me back.

"Love you too cuz. Now come on, we'll be late for first if we don't hurry." I nodded and Seth led us down the hall to World History.

Have you ever had one of those teachers where when a new student is in the classroom for the first time, they have the need to make them stand up, introduce themselves to the entire class, and tell them something about themselves? I absolutely hate those teachers, but as my luck would have it, that's the kind of teacher I had first period.

Seth and I got into the classroom about thirty seconds before the bell rang, so he wasn't able to point out Paul and Jared to me so I'd know who they were. Seth didn't have any available seats, so I ended up having to set in the only empty seat in the back behind this huge guy. The guy looked to be a native from the reservation, but that wasn't surprising since most everyone here was. What surprised me, though, was that he was bigger than a normal high school student should be. He reminded me of Aaron on the way he was built. When the class started, I tried to hide behind the guy in front of me, but to no avail. The teacher, Mr. Kink, still had me introduce myself.

"Class, it seams we have a new student. Ms. Syst, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about you? You don't have to come to the front if you don't want." I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth in annoyance. I'd rather have stayed unannounced the entire class period, but it seams that wouldn't be happening.

Slowly, I stood up and looked around the class room. Everyone had turned so that they had their eyes focused in on me. I took a deep breath and said, "Hi. My name is Allie Syst, and I just moved here with my brother, Aaron, from Texas." I started to sit down but the teacher stopped me.

He asked, "Why'd you move all the way up here? That's an awful long way's away. Texas all the way to Washington." I could feel my jaw start trembling. I clenched my hands, but they were sweaty and sticky. I tried to breathe in and out slowly to calm myself down, but the pain in my heart was building. I closed my eyes tight to keep tears from falling down. I tried to say something, but my voice seamed to have vanished in an instant.

My first instinct was to run out of the class room. I wanted to run away from here, from this situation, but that would not be a good way to start off at a new school. However, I didn't know how much longer I could stay in this spot as Mr. Kink waited for an answer along with the rest of the class. I glanced to Seth for help. His eyes were filled with sadness. He looked to the door then back to me. This was his way of saying if I left to calm down, it would be alright. He'd explain everything to Mr. Kink. I gave him a look of appreciation before looking back to Mr. Kink.

"I," my voice cracked. "Do you mind if I… leave for a moment?" I was on the urge of tears. I needed to call Aaron. "I need to call my brother," I added softly. Mr. Kink narrowed his eyes.

"Now, child, I do not just let kids walk out of my classroom. I simply asked a question, and I expect you to give me an answer without leaving. You can do whatever it is you need to do later." I closed my eyes and felt a tear fall down my cheek. The boy that was sitting in front of me clenched his hands together and started shaking in anger.

He glared at Mr. Kink and said, "She needs to leave the class room. Let her go." Mr. Kink started off again saying how he didn't allow students to leave in the middle of class. Appearently the guy had enough of Mr. Kink and stood up himself. He put an arm around my shoulder and led me out of the classroom with Mr. Kink yelling the entire time.

"If you two leave, don't come back into my classroom!" Mr. Kink exclaimed. The guy leading me ignored Mr. Kink and led the two of us out of the room and down the hall. Once we were outside, I let the tears fall. The boy wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. I didn't care that I didn't even know who this person was. He was wiling to help someone he didn't know, and for that I was grateful. As I cried into his chest, I couldn't help but notice that he was very warm. As warm as Aaron was in fact, and I had never met someone who was as warm as Aaron.

After what felt like hours, I managed to stop sobbing and reduce it down to a dull whimper. The boy holding onto me looked down on my tear stained face and quietly asked, "Are you alright?" Slowly I nodded.

"I'm fine," I whimpered. "I just need to call my brother." The boy nodded and had me sit down on one of the benches. He sat down next to me and watched closely as I pulled out my phone and dialed Aaron's number.

"Allie," came Aaron's worried voice after only one ring. "What's wrong?" I slowly explained to him what happened, the whole time the boy next to me rubbing my back to try and keep me calm. When I was done Aaron stayed quite.

"Aaron," I whimpered.

Aaron eventually replied, "Who led you out of the classroom?" I opened my mouth to reply, and then remembered I never asked the boy's name. I looked to him.

Somehow, the boy knew my question and simply said, "Paul." I smiled softly and relayed the name to Aaron. I heard Aaron sigh in relief.

"Okay, Allie, maybe it would be best if you came home. Although you're trying to be strong, which I'm ever thankful for, it's only been a little over a month since they died. Paul is one of the friends I told you about. Can I talk to him real quick?" I looked back to Paul.

"Aaron wants to talk to you, Paul," I said softly. "That okay?" Paul smiled slightly and nodded.

"That's fine. Let me see the phone." I put my cell into Paul's outstretched hand. The two talked for a while before Paul gave me my cell phone back.

"Hello?" I asked softly.

"Hey," Aaron said. "Paul's going to give you a ride home then stay there until I get back. No one is there right now, and I don't want you staying by yourself. It should only take about half an hour for me to get back; do you think you'll be alright?"

I smiled softly and replied, "Yeah. I'll be fine." Aaron sighed in relief.

"You're being real strong about all of this. Thanks Allie." The line went dead. I sat there frozen for a while just staring at the phone. I heard Paul clear his throat after a while.

"So," he said softly. "You want to go ahead and get going?" I smiled at Paul shyly and nodded.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm ready." Paul led me to his car and helped me into the passenger side. Once I fastened my seatbelt, we started down the road. At first, the two of us sat in Paul's truck in silence until he decided he was tired of it.

"So," he started. "How do you like La Push?" I shrugged.

"It's alright," I replied honestly. "I haven't really had a chance to do anything or meet anyone besides going to the beach with my cousin and going shopping with my other cousin. I'd love to have a chance to explore everything, but I don't know when I'll be able to." Paul nodded in understanding.

"Well, I could always show you around. There are a bunch of neat sights I could show you, and I could even introduce you to my friends. I'm sure they'd love you." I smiled at Paul's generosity.

"Thanks," I breathed out. "That's really nice of you to do." Paul blushed slightly and looked away.

He replied, "Don't mention it. You seam like a really cool person." I laughed at this.

When Paul looked to me with a confused expression, I explained, "That's nice of you to say and all, but I'm not a really cool person. I'm just plain old Allie. Aaron and I aren't anything alike, so if you're basing your observation based on him, you're way off base." Paul chuckled lightly.

"I'm actually glad you and Aaron aren't alike," he admitted. "Aaron gets on my nerves so bad. And just so you know…" Paul looked me in the eyes with a crocked grin on his face. I blushed slightly as he leaned in closer to me. "Plain old Allie is anything but ordinary."

I pointed out our house to Paul, but he ended up passing it and had to turn around. When we pulled to a stop in the driveway, Paul and I raced up to the door. Paul won, but I denied this and said I just was going easy on him since I kinda liked him. I opened the front door, and the two of us went inside. I stood in the middle of the living room facing Paul with my arms spread out wide.

I did a quick spin and declared, "Welcome to our amazing house where anything and everything happens." Paul smirked and collapsed onto the couch. I fell down next to him, and the two of us sat in silence for a while.

Eventually, Paul broke the silence, "So, Alliekens, tell me about yourself. What's your favorite animal?" I rolled my eyes.

"Well, Pauly, my favorite animal is a monkey. Yours?" Paul raised an eyebrow.

"Pauly? What's with that?" I chuckled and put my hands on my hips.

I replied, "You called me Alliekens. Call me that, I call you Pauly." Paul rolled his eyes and nodded.

"All right, Alliekens. My favorite animal is most defiantly a wolf." I nodded. "You know, I'm not really a person that can go one question at a time. How about, you just give me a brief over view of Allie Syst." I smirked and took a deep breath.

"Well, Pauly, my full name is Alliena Kale Syst, but I hate the name Alliena. It reminds me too much of a girly girl, so I just go by Allie or Al. I was born November 30 and am currently 15. I actually have two older brothers. Aaron is one of them, but I have a much older brother that's about 27 now and lives in Alaska last time I checked. His name is Austin. My favorite color is blue, song is "Welcome to my Life" by Simple Plan, food is bananas- goes along with the monkey favorite-, movie is Titanic, show is NCIS, shape is octagon, month is April, number is 321, and band is Script. I've been out of the country once when I went on a school field trip to Russia in the sixth grade. I'm an A, B student. I am allergic to milk, dogs, strawberries, and pine trees. I've been to jail twice for the same thing which I'm not going to tell you. And, I skipped third and fourth grade because Aaron was moving up to the bigger school as a sixth grader but that next year was the first year they allowed fifth graders into the school, and Aaron wanted us to be in the same school, however, because I skipped third and fourth grade, I ended up getting held back my first year, and it took me another year to get caught up on third and fourth grade things before I was finally able to pass fifth grade when I was taking fifth grade the year I was supposed to. Aaron never had me skip after that.

Paul chuckled lightly at my story. I really hated Aaron for making me go through three years of fifth grade, but I suppose it was alright since I was with him all that time. Paul's face got serious suddenly and he looked to me.

"You're allergic to dogs? How do you know?" I sighed and rubbed the back of my head.

"Well, when I was about seven years old, my parents got me tested for allergies, and we found out I was allergic then, but we never really believed it until I was nine because I never reacted to being around dogs. When I was nine years old, Aaron suddenly decided he wanted to get a dog, and when I kept sneezing and coughing, there was no doubt as to my allergies. After about two years, my allergies got so bad that I was having sever allergic reactions to being around the dog, so I started to get allergy shots every week. About a month after getting allergy shots, and them working to stop my allergy of dogs, Aaron decided to get rid of the dog. Ever since then, though, Aaron still takes me once a week to get my shot so that I don't end up having a bad allergic reaction to any of the neighbors dogs or anything like that.

Paul nodded in understanding. He seamed to be deep in thought. I opened my mouth to say something, but at that exact moment, there was a knock at the door. I sighed and stood up. I walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Aaron smiling like an idiot. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's up with you?" I asked. Aaron rolled his eyes and walked inside. He fell onto the part of the couch I was previously sitting on. I sighed but didn't protest. I was far too curious to argue that he stole my seat. I leaned back against the armrest of one of the chairs and asked again, "What's going on? Why are you so happy?" Aaron grinned and let out a sigh of relief.

"I met a girl," he replied finally. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's her name?" Aaron leaned his head back.

He sighed out, "Her name is Hannah." From the corner of my eye, it looked like Paul grinned slightly, but I ignored it.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirteen." I raised an eyebrow again.

"Well," I started. "She's a little young. Why did she make you so happy?" Aaron's smile wavered for a moment, but it quickly returned full force.

"She reminded me a lot of you, and I thought maybe you two could become good friends." I gave a half smile. Either Aaron was being very kind to me to try and make me feel better, or he was hiding something from me. Either way, I wanted to meet this Hannah girl.

I asked, "When can I meet her?" Aaron smirked and looked back at me.

He replied, "In about an hour. I invited her and her older brother over." My eyes narrowed.

"Wouldn't she still be in school though?" Aaron shook his head.

"Their both homeschooled." I nodded slightly. I shrugged.

"Alrighty then. I'm going to take a quick nap. Wake me when they get here." I didn't wait for a response, but instead went upstairs to my room and fell onto the bed. My bed seamed so soft right now. I thought through everything that just happened.

I'd never seen Aaron get so happy about a friend he found for me. There had to be something he wasn't telling me. Whatever it was, I bet Paul knew as well. I groaned into my pillow. I wrapped my arms around it and closed my eyes. At the moment, I didn't care what secret Aaron and Paul were hiding. All I cared about was sleep.

A hushed voice woke me up, "Allie." Whoever it was shook me until I groaned in response.

"What?" I growled. I opened one eye and looked up at Aaron's smiling face.

"Hannah and her brother are here." I sighed and closed my eye back. I slowly sat up and stretched my arms out as far as they would go.

"I'll be down in five," I mumbled. Aaron nodded and quickly left my room. I sighed and threw my feet off the bed. With my eyes still half closed, I ran a brush through my hair, took off my hoodie leaving me in a simple black shirt and jeans. I took a deep breath in then let it out.

"Come on Allie," I said to myself. "Let's get going." I walked downstairs to the living room where Aaron, Paul, another guy, and a girl were all sitting. Aaron was sitting next to the girl that I assumed was Hannah. Paul was sitting in the far chair and the third guy was sitting on the couch with his back to me. I walked around and sat down next to the guy. Aaron smiled at me.

He pointed to the girl next to him and said, "Allie, this is Hannah." Hannah was one of those people who was a simple beauty. She had short choppy black hair that was spiked up in the back. Her skin was very pale, – well, at least compared to Aaron, Paul and I – and she had bright blue eyes. She was obviously short. About two inches shorter than me, and I was only about 5ft 2in anyway. She wore a dark brown t-shirt and jean shorts. Appearently she didn't get cold very easily. Hannah didn't really wear any makeup, but it's not like she'd need any. She had a perfect complexion. Aaron then motioned to the boy next to me, "and this is Jayden."

I looked to Jayden and had to stop myself from gasping. He had the same pale skin as Hannah did, but his eyes and hair were both jet black. His hair was longer than normal, but it stopped just after his ears and was in a messy yet neat style. Sitting down he appeared to be at least 6ft if not taller, and he was very leanly built. Through his white t-shirt, you could see his entire 6-pack perfectly outlined. He smiled at me which caused me to blush. I kicked myself mentally for it.

"Hello Hannah, Jayden," I replied softly. "It's nice to meet you." Jayden chuckled at my shyness.

He said, "Nice to meet you too, Allie." I pulled my eyes away from Jayden and looked back to Hannah.

"So," I began overcoming my previous behavior. "How did you meet Aaron? He said y'all met earlier today?" Hannah nodded rapidly.

"Yeah," she replied. "I got turned around on my way home from the store and ended up on the beach. Aaron was there with some of his friends and offered to show me back to the main road." I nodded. An awkward silence befell the room. Paul looked at the clock on the wall and sighed.

He spoke up saying, "Hey Aaron, I've got to go. I have work I need to do." My eyes narrowed since it was only about 9:45am, but I didn't say anything. Aaron nodded slightly.

"I don't have to go today. Take my car if you want so you can come back later. Key's are by the door." Paul nodded and stood up. He smiled at me as he went by. I smiled back, and just like that he took the keys off the table next to the door and was gone. Another silence befell the room.

Tired of the silence, I decided to speak up, "Hey, why don't we go cliff diving? Seth took me yesterday, and it was really fun." Aaron raised an eyebrow in question.

"You want to go cliff diving?" I nodded.

Hannah leaned forward in her seat and exclaimed, "That sounds like fun! I wore my bathing suit under my clothes in case we went to the beach. Let's go!" I smiled. I liked Hannah already. Both Aaron and Jayden jumped up.

"Hold on a second," Aaron gasped out.

"Yeah," seconded Jayden. "Isn't it dangerous to go cliff diving?" I rolled my eyes.

I replied, "No. I went yesterday. It's perfectly safe." Neither boy looked sure about the idea. I looked to Hannah who was watching me with pleading eyes. I half smiled at her, and she knew what I was thinking. Gotta love girl telepathy.

Hannah looked up at the guys, "You know, I guess we could always do something else." A wave of relief rushed over the guys faces. I smiled.

"Yeah," I added. "We could always go biking. Seth's got a bike in the garage, and he did say I could drive it if I wanted to." If only I had a camera on me at that moment. Both Aaron and Jayden's eyes grew so large I just knew they would pop out of their heads. They stood their stunned for a moment. I smiled back at Hannah. "Let's go." She smiled back and jumped up. The two of us turned to walk away when we were both forcefully pushed back onto the couch. I looked up to see Jayden with his arms on my shoulders holding me to the couch, and Aaron doing to same to Hannah.

"No," Aaron said simply. "We'll go cliff jumping, but you will not under any circumstances, ride that death contraption known as a motorcycle." I smirked at how well the plan worked out. Hannah and I pretended to be disappointed.

"Alright," I said softly.

Hannah sighed and said, "I guess cliff jumping will be a close second to biking." I smiled up at Jayden.

"Excuse me." He looked down at me. "Do you think you can release me so I can go get changed?" Jayden's face grew as red as a tomato. He nodded and quickly removed his hands. I motioned for Hannah to come upstairs with me so she could get ready as well. The two of us went into my room and started laughing. I finally calmed down enough to speak.

"All brothers react the same," I gasped out. "About certain things." Hannah nodded and wiped her eyes.

She replied, "They sure do. I don't think I've ever seen Jayden get up so fast." I chuckled lightly. Hannah sat down on my bed and smiled up at me. She looked around my room and nodded in satisfaction.

"You like it?" I asked after a while. Hannah snapped her eyes back to me and nodded rapidly.

"It's really cool," she replied. "In fact, it reminds me a lot of my room." I smiled and sat down next to her on my bed.

"So," I said simple.

Hannah smiled and also said, "So." I took a deep breath.

I looked back to Hannah and remarked, "So I was watching you earlier, and it looked, to me, that you might, just a little, have a crush on Aaron." Hannah's eyes widened. Her face grew really red as she tried to explain.

"N-no!" she replied. "I…how could I… He's like… a lot older… I would never…" I raised an eyebrow at her. Hannah watched me for a while before sighing in defeat. "Is it that obvious?" she mumbled. I chuckled.

"Na, not really. I didn't really notice anything. I just wanted to see how you'd react." Hannah pretended to look offended.

"How could you?" she asked dramatically. "And here I was thinking we could be friends…" I rolled my eyes and playfully pushed her.

"Oh cut it out." We both chuckled softly for a few moments. Hannah fell back onto my bed and looked up at the ceiling. I did the same.

"I don't know," she started out softly. "I just feel this connection to him, ya know? Not really an I-want-to-date-him-so-bad kind of connection, but more like, a best friend connection." I didn't say anything. I simply let her talk. "I don't really know why. I just met him this morning, but as soon as he asked if I wanted to come hang out with him and you, I just automatically said yes. It just felt right, like even though there's about… an eight year age difference between us because I was going to be around him. I've never felt that way about anyone before. Not even Jayden." When she finished, I sat up. She followed my example and watched me, waiting for me to say something.

I sighed and replied, "I can't pretend to know how that feels because I've never felt it, but something I can tell you, Aaron's a nice guy. He's been acting really strange lately, but that's beside the point." I smiled and placed a hand on Hannah's shoulder. "If you will allow it, I would like to become your honorary sister so that you can always come and have someone to talk to about stuff like this, because I seriously doubt you'd want to talk to Jayden about this." Hannah's face turned just as red as it was before.

"He'd probably kill me if I tried," she replied lightly. I chuckled lightly.

"But if you don't want to talk to me, I'm sure your mom will be just as willing to listen." Hannah's face grew dark. She looked away and closed her eyes tight. I was confused. What had happened?

She whispered, "I would talk to my mom, but she died last year." My heart did two things at once. It sank for her, but it also leapt for joy for me. I was somewhat happy because I wasn't the only one going through the pain of losing a parent. I pulled Hannah into a hug as she began to cry. I rubbed the back of her hair as she cried into my shoulder.

"You're alright," I whispered. "I'm here for you." I pulled away from her gently. Hannah looked up at me with questioning eyes. I smiled sadly and closed my eyes as tears fell down my cheeks. "While I can't understand what you feel concerning Aaron, I can understand this. My mom and dad both died in a car crash last month. That's why I'm here. I couldn't stand to be in the same place where all my old memories were."

Hannah's face remained unchanged. We both hugged each other again and began to cry once more. I didn't care that I was hugging someone I only met half an hour ago. All I cared about was the fact I finally made a friend. One that I could connect to. One that seamed to care about me. Someone knocked on my door, but I didn't care, and apparently Hannah didn't either.

"Hello?" Aaron's voice came through the door. "Are you two alright?"

I knew that if I ignored him long enough, Aaron would simply come into my room, but I didn't care. After about a minute, my prediction came true when Aaron and Jayden both came into my room. Aaron's eyes were filled with pain when he saw that I was crying, but they seamed to also be filled with pain at the sight of Hannah crying too.

He walked over to the bed and sat down right behind the two of us. Because he had such large arms, he easily wrapped both arms around Hannah and me. His eyes were closed tight as he held us close to him.

"It's alright," he whispered. "You're both going to be just fine."

After about fifteen minutes, I managed to stop crying. Hannah came shortly after that. Aaron continued to hold onto us until we were fully recovered. I smiled a small smile towards Hannah. She smiled back. Aaron looked between us and sighed in relief.

"Are you two both better now?" he asked softly. I nodded in response for the two of us.

"Yes," I said weakly. "We're going to be just fine." I smiled back at Hannah once more. "The two of us just found that we have more in common than we thought." Aaron smiled down at me then Hannah. He looked up at Jayden.

He said, "Maybe, if the girls don't mind, we could just stay in today and watch some movies." Jayden nodded, saying he didn't mind. I looked to Hannah, wanting to know what she wanted to do. She nodded once towards me ever so slightly.

I looked up at Aaron and whispered, "We'd prefer that as well." Aaron smiled down at as again and stood up, taking us with him. I looked up at Aaron and asked, "Could you let us go? We're going to change into something a little more comfortable." Aaron smirked and nodded. Once he and Jayden were both out of the room, I smiled at Hannah.

"Would you like to spend the night?" I asked her. "Me, you, and my cousin Leah could all stay up and do fun girl things. And since I'm probably not going to be going to school tomorrow, there wouldn't be any set time we needed to go to sleep. What do you say?" Hannah got the biggest grin on her face.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. She quickly recollected herself. "Well, as long as Jayden says it's alright." I smiled.

"I'm sure he will."

I changed into my pajamas, and I let Hannah borrow my other set I had since she didn't have anything else to change into. We agreed we'd go get her clothes later. Once we were both done, we skipped downstairs were the boys were waiting for us. Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"Planning on taking a nap?" I rolled my eyes and placed my hands on my hips.

"No silly, we're going to watch a movie." Aaron nodded his head up once in a very slow manor.

"Ah," he replied. "Alrighty then. You two can stay here in the living room. I've got some friends coming over a little later, so don't be surprised when they come in. They have a key." I nodded, but was curious as to who was coming over that had a key.

"Which friends?" Aaron took in a deep breath then let it out very quickly.

He replied, "Just Paul and Jared. They're coming over for dinner. Sam will be coming over later tonight with a few others." For a brief moment, I thought back to what Seth said earlier about them being a gang, but I quickly rid the thoughts from my head. Aaron was smarter than that. I nodded slightly in reply and turned back to Hannah with a smile on my face.

"So, what movie do you want to watch?" She smiled back, and the two of us went over to the movie shelf.