Chapter Two.

Things could be worse.

"Mom, I'm gone out…" I yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Spencer was waiting at the basement door. I had no idea what he planned for us to do, but I couldn't contain my giddiness. Mom could see for the past three days how excited I was.

I took one last peek in the full-length mirror. I had straightened my curls. Now my hair came down to my hips. It took an hour and a half to do, but I didn't care. It looked cold out, but Spencer only had a pale blue t-shirt on, and jeans. I had on my long purple knit turtleneck, and a pair of black skinny jeans. I decided not to where a coat. Just before I went to the door I grabbed a black scarf, and wrapped it around my neck. I pulled my black Ugs over my feet. Then I swung the door open.

"Hey you." He said. His t-shirt was blowing in the cold gust of wind. He wore no baseball cap today, so his tousled brown hair was blowing in his eyes. Suddenly he frowned.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously. Had he realized he was too good for me?

"What happened to your curls?"

"I straightened my hair." I answered with a shrug.

"Well, I love you curls. Don't do that next time we go out." He winked at me.

"Oh, you're so sly." I mocked him. He stuck out his tongue. "So where are we going?" I asked as a gust of wind hit me. I wrapped my arms around my waist. He looked totally at ease, even in his flimsy clothes. "Aren't you cold?"

"Oh. Cold." He said franticly. He bit his lip, then smiled. "I have some weird thing, makes my temperature really high all the time. It's weird."

"Really?" I asked. It sounded stupid, but I just shrugged and asked again where we were going.

"Beach." He replied. "Want to meet some of my friends?"

I knew I must have looked disappointed. His friends. Not just us. Was this a date or not? "Yeah. Sounds cool."

We turned a corner, and went through a narrow path. I tripped over a root in the ground, and managed to catch myself on a tree. He just laughed. Then I saw the beach. The waves were crashing up against the rocky shore. The sun was just setting over the island far in the distance. I gasped. He gave me a sideways glance, and the corner of his lips turned up. I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling back. He could tell.

"Hey Spence!" A boy who was about the same height as Spencer ran over to us. He had a toddler wrapped over his shoulder. She was screaming. I guessed she was about four, or older. Maybe five.

"Hey Quil. Hey Claire-bear." The little girl screamed in reply. "This is Sierra."

"Hi." I said, suddenly shy.

"Hey." Quil answered in return, raising his eyebrows at Spencer. He rolled his eyes.

"Come meet some more of my friends…" Spencer grabbed my hand and towed me down to the shore. There was a boy and a girl holding hands, walking down the beach. It looked to romantic to fit in with Quil and Claire. There were also some boys chilling around a fire. One had a girl on his lap.

"Woooo!" One called. He was by far the tallest I'd seen so far. He had long hair, way longer then Spencer's. "Look at what Spencer brought!" Spencer gave him the dirtiest of looks, then ignored him altogether. He began introducing people.

"This is Embry, Brady, Collin, Seth, Matt, and Jacob." Jacob was the one who called out to him just seconds ago. Then he turned to the one with the girl on his lap. "Leah, and Aaron. This is Sierra." Spencer sat on one of the benches by the fire, and pat the seat next to him. I sat.

"So, Sierra." The one named Embry began. "For fucks sake, why are you hanging out with this screw up! There's a seat next to me, you know." He winked, and Spencer snorted. Then he put his arm around me.

"Back off" He warned. But there was humor in his voice. I wondered what brought all these boys, such different ages, together. They all had one thing in common. They were all Quileutes.

"Ooh, you just gonna let me him hit on your girl man?" Jacob asked with mock shock in his tone. Spencer let out a laugh. I felt suddenly accepted.

"I'm just kiddin' by" Embry spoke again. Then he muttered. "I'm still wondering why someone as pretty as you would waste time on Spence though."

I looked up, to see Spencer glancing back at me. He was smiling a beautiful smile. It nearly took my breath away. "I have my reasons." I replied, not losing his gaze. The boys roared with laughter. Spence rolled his eyes, and got up.

"Come on, we're leaving them." He winked at his boys and we headed down the beach. Past the couple holding hands. "Hey Sam. Emily." He waved. Emily had a scar across her face. I swallowed. She was beautiful, but the scar ran from her temple to her jaw. Spencer seemed to notice.

"Attacked by a bear…" He said shaking his head. I saw his jaw tighten.

"Bad bears here?"

"Sierra," He laughed. "Come on, when are bears good. Life's not like a fairy tale. No little bears living in a cottage, going out because their foods to hot."

"There might be nice bears somewhere. You never know, it's a weird world."

He stiffened. I frowned back. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Come on. Lets go get something to eat?" He started walking back in the direction of the fire. I sighed. He didn't say any thing to me until we were sat down again. Some of the guys gave us questioning looks. This time I was squished between Spencer, and Embry. Not that I minded. Embry was really nice. He started talking to Spencer when we sat down. I wasn't focusing on their conversation. I was watching Emily and Sam. They looked so in love. Then my gaze went to Quil, and Claire. There was another women with them now, she looked a few years older then Quil. They were talking, and the women picked Claire up. She started kicking and screaming. I heard her yell something about wanting Quil. Quil just stood there, with a huge smile. I didn't know who the kid was to him, but he must have really loved her.

"Yeah, sounds good. Tomorrow, defiantly." Spencer said. I swung my head around to look back at them, hurting my neck.

"Oh, Sierra. You wanna come?" Embry asked.

"Where?"

"Party tomorrow night. Up on that cliff there." He pointed to a big cliff. It wasn't too high, and it sounded fun. Anyway, if it meant being with Spencer I'd go anywhere.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't know how to get there…"

" Oh. Damn. That's right." Spencer said. "Man, I'll be working until seven. Wouldn't be able to pick you up in time. Embry, d'you think you could drive her?"

"Yeah, no big. I'll pick you up at five?"

"Sounds good to me."