- Jared's POV - 1 Year Ago –

The gravel crunched under the weight of my truck as I pulled up to the familiar house of my Auntie Anami. It was a small, two story home painted a pale blue with gray accents of window panels and rooftop. I opened the front door unannounced as I had many times before, and was immediately greeted with the smell of breakfast overwhelming my nose. My feet followed the trail, leading me into the kitchen where I found my older cousin of four years, Cadence.

She was a tall, tanned woman with chocolate colored eyes. Her long black hair was in soft waves that bounced with every rushed step she took. She was in mid conversation, my presence unnoticed as she let out a laugh into the phone.

"Yeah, I could've sworn I set my alarm but really I somehow must've accidentally put my phone on silent last night."

I propped myself to lean casually against the entrance of the kitchen. "Running late as usual, Cay?" A small shriek was my reply as she jumped, turning to me and slapping me with a stack of papers that were held in one hand.

"I've got to go Rachel, my cousin just showed up." She bid her goodbyes, hanging up and putting her phone into the purse on the counter. "How many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me like that! I could have a knife one day and accidentally stab you." She mumbled under her breath, "though that doesn't seem like a bad idea."

My hand was held against my chest in fake shock as I took in a dramatic gasp of air. "Here I am, early in the morning, doing you a favor and you plot my murder, right in front of me no less!"

Cadence rolled her eyes at my antics as gave me a pat on the head with her free hand, despite myself towering over her. "You know I do this out of love, you're practically my little brother."

My arms crossed over my chest as I rolled my eyes. "Your 'little' brother who's taller than you."

"I understand, you're a sophomore in highschool now, you're growing up and having your… unnaturally large growth spurts. Just do me a favor," She turned to me, grabbing her bag from the counter in the process and sliding the papers into it. "Just stay away from drugs okay? Any taller and I'll mistake you for a giraffe on steroids." She gave me a teasing grin before checking her watch for the time. "Anyways, I'm running late for this meeting. I'm supposed to meet the doctor I'm going to shadow this next semester. But hey, just incase I get scheduled early in the mornings could you do me a solid and…" She pouted her lips and gave me a hopeful look.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll give her rides to school until she gets that piece of metal on the road. Where is she by the way?" She pointed with her lips towards the window. I didn't have to turn to see the separate garage through the glass. "Gotcha. Now run along before you're more late than you already are." I waved her off as she began walking backwards, towards the door.

"Thanks again for taking Lani to school for me! There's breakfast plated and ready for you guys on the stove. See 'ya Jare!" She turned and exited the house, a muffled "bye Lani" heard afterwards, followed by the start of her engine.

I swiveled around, exiting the kitchen through the side door that lead towards the garage. Despite the number of times I've hung out with Leilani here, it's one of those places that I could never get tired of.

On the right side towards the back corner, hung a heavy punching and bag, a few pairs of gloves both worn and new laid in a crate beside it. Near the front right-corner, next to the entrance where I stood was a small TV atop a short bookshelf, two equally sized speakers placed on either side for the radio on one of the shelves. In between the bag and the TV was a bench press.

On the left side of the garage there was a '66 911 Porsche. It had a few rust stains on the hood and top, and missing the front two tires as it was propped on two jack stands. Against the left wall was a wooden table, half the tools scattered about the table while the other half was still in the toolbox.

The place was pretty much half-gym and half-garage. No doubt most of these things were left behind by her late dad, my uncle Theo. He passed away when Leilani and I were both ten years old, from the same car accident Jacob Black's mom passed away in. From what I know, Uncle Theo was giving her a lift somewhere and a truck managed to t-bone them. The car swerved off the road and they crashed into a stone railing.

Leilani told me before that it's hard for Cadence and their mom to stay in the garage for long, so it's mostly just her in here. At least, when I'm not around. Their mom, my Auntie Anami, is gone 4 days out of the week. She travels around as a financial planner for growing companies, though most of the time it's in Seattle, so it's not too far.

Underneath the metal heap poked out two legs. I grinned to myself as I walked towards her, the obliviousness present when running through the blood of both my cousins. I hooked my foott under the cart Leilani laid on, sliding her out with a tug. I crouched down to her eye level while wiping a grease stain from her cheek across her forehead.

"Alright little grease monkey. I've been sent to fetch you so we can get to school." I peaked down at the watch on my wrist. "You've still got time to shower so I suggest you do so now."

Leilani laughed as she sat up from her position, grabbing my arm for support to stand. She dusted her hands together, wiping them across the pants of her dirty sweats. "Shower? I'm going to school just like this." Her arms spread out as I looked her up and down with mock disgust.

"Please, you smell worse than grandpa's farts ."

Her eyes squinted, pulling a wrench from behind her as she waved it threateningly towards me. "Watch it Jare, don't make me use this against you."

I held my hands up in surrender. " What is up with the women in this family trying to kill me? And how come you haven't been inviting me over more often? Have you no love for your flesh and blood?"

She rolled her eyes in response. "As if you need an invite to come over. Besides, Cay threatened to sell me off to help pay for the food supply. She says every time we eat, we go through a weeks worth of grocery in a day."

"She eats like a bird, of course everything seems big in proportion to what she eats!"

We continued our conversation for another minute before heading back into the house; Leilani upstairs to take a shower and myself to the kitchen, eating my breakfast while waiting for her to finish.

Twenty minutes passed before we headed off to school. It wasn't too far from where she lived, about a ten minute drive, but we were running late so we had to skip going to our respected lockers before class. We shared our first period together, the ever so entertaining U.S. History. Please, note the sarcasm.

We entered the classroom, barely making it on time before the late bell rang. She sat in her seat, next to the window, and I sat beside her. It wasn't even 10 minutes that class had started before she nudged me by the elbow and pointed with the back of her pencil to the person next to me, Kim. She leaned in to whisper. "Look, she's already starting." Leilani has it in her head that Kim has a thing for me, though I don't really see it.

My eyes glanced to the other girl next to me, just catching her direct her stare somewhere else. I shook my head slightly, leaning back towards my cousin. "You'd think after a month of school, you telling me this at least 3 times a day would be enough."

Leilani gave me a shit-eating grin. "It's never enough."

"Oh don't take out your frustration on me because your boyfriend isn't here." Her paled face gave me the satisfying pleasure of getting back at her. "Or maybe you're just too excited to see him in gym class while he's all sweaty. 'Oh Embry'-" She smacked a hand to my mouth as she looked around. I saw her eyes land on Jacob Black who sat across the room.

"Shut up Jared!" She loudly hushed me before lowering her voice. "I don't want anyone to know about this, let alon his best friend." She removed her hand from my face. "You're already not helping me in our last period. I don't want things to be awkward between us."

"I'm just trying to help my little cousin out."

She sat back in her seat, defeated. "Three months doesn't make a big difference, idiot."

The teacher hushed the class, putting our conversation on hold and leaving me to my thoughts. Leilani had the biggest crush on Embry Call. It was amusing, unfortunately for her it was at my dispense. Our last period was chemistry and we had to sit in alphabetical order. Although both our last names are Cameron, my first name beginning with the letter 'J' was the reason I sat with him at our table, while she sat at another table with a girl named Katie, beside me.

True to my word, I did try to help her out whenever I could, dropping a few hints every now and then. As well as a few embarrassing stories. Or whenever we were able to freely choose our partners, I'd suggest he work with Leilani, if either Jacob or Quil hadn't already taken him. I wouldn't be doing this if she woman'd up and just told him straight out how she felt. She does this thing where she gives her crush a code name. In this case, Embry was "Gordon". So when people ask her if she's interested in anyone she says Gordon instead of Embry. It's her way of 'masking the truth'. You can imagine the confusion for the boy if he ever reciprocated her hidden feelings.

But oh man, she's such a spazz when it comes to him. One time in class, we were dissecting a frog and I happened to strike up a casual conversation with him. Of course Leilani happened to over hear me but really, asking anyone if they're interested in someone, wasn't that big of a deal. Right before he could answer me, I heard Katie shriek. All eyes turned towards their table as Leilani stiffly held the scalpel, embedded deep within the frog, with eyes locked on me. Katie had a small splatter of frog guts across her goggles. I never let her live that one down.

I had to smother the oncoming laugh with my hand, the memory fresh in my head. The rest of the class was boring lecture. Our teacher held us even after the bell rang. He was one of those "I dismiss you, not the bell" types of teachers.

Movement from the door's window caught my eye as a tall figure peered inside. Paul Lahote. His eyes stopped its' searching as he smirked and waved. From the corner of my eye I saw Leilani wave back. It's not that I didn't like him. It's just that Paul gets around, if you catch my drift, and it makes me uncomfortable knowing who that's the other person that she calls her best friend. With the exception of Leilani, we hang out with other groups of people. If it weren't for her or living in a small town, I wouldn't know who he was. Call me over protective, but if it weren't for her devoted crush to Embry, I could've sworn that they were on the verge of going out.

Five minutes later we were dismissed, and I exited the room with a quick bye for my cousin and a nod towards Lahote.

A shoulder knocked into me, the person nearly stumbling backwards to the ground. "Oh hey, sorry man." My hand was held out, offering to help the guy up.

"How bout instead of watching your cousin turn into another notch on Lahote's belt, you watch where the hell you're going?"

My brows furrowed as my hands reached back and lifted this guy off the floor by his collar, slamming him into the lockers behind him. No one talks about my family like that. His eyes winced as I pushed him further into the metal, my face lowered to his eye level. His whimper went deaf to my ears as I leaned closer to him, my voice low with threat. "What the hell did you just say?"


Two chapters in one night. Originally these two were supposed to be put together as one but I thought it'd be better if I broke it up.

On another note, I've had this story in my head for a while. I started typing it up but my computer crashed and I had to start over on my iPad T_T

I want to edit some photos and upload them somewhere to give better visuals of what I've been imagining, but again, I can't do so until my laptop is fixed. In the meanwhile, for those of you that are wondering what my OC characters look like, my muses are Nicole Gale Anderson (Leilani) and Shay Mitchell (Cadence).