Chapter Two

Bex's POV

Ten minutes later found me pulling into the Black's driveway on the La Push reservation. It would have been sooner, but I missed the turn off. Give me a break! I'm new in town. I parked and cut the engine off, not even bothering to take the keys out of the ignition before sliding out of the rental truck.

I climbed up some steps and crossed the porch, where I was faced with a dilemma: the door. Billy knew I was coming, and we're family and everything, so it's okay if I just walk in…right?

But we're not that close. Aside from lunch, it's been years since I've even seen him. I should knock.

But it's been years since I had to knock on a door! Normally I would have just texted whoever's house I was at that I was here and to 'get off their but and come let me in.' But the only number I knew for them was their house number, and calling them just to tell them I am here would be even more weird than me just walking in. I know Billy didn't have a cell phone, but I have no idea whether Jake did or not. I mean, what teenager doesn't have a cell phone these days? But then again, if he had a cell phone, why wouldn't I have a number?

"I should just knock…it'd be way awkward if I just walked in and we weren't close enough for that." I thought to myself, but I froze when I raised my fist to enact this thought.

"But what if Uncle Billy is the only one home?" I silently continued to second guess myself. "He's wheelchair bound. Wouldn't it be a lot of trouble for him to have to get all situated in his chair, and then navigate it to the door?" That seemed kind of rude to me, to cause Uncle Billy so much undue trouble.

The clock was ticking. I needed to make a decision soon, before someone came along and saw me standing there like an idiot. It'd already been a few minutes since my internal struggle began. I had just about convinced myself to go ahead and knock and hope for the best when the door opened, without me having performed any action. I jumped in surprise, the fist that was still hanging in midair falling to my side.

"Oh, ah…Hey Jacob!" I tried to greet him naturally, but I don't think I really pulled it off.

"See!" I berated myself. "Jake was home! You should have just knocked, you loser!"

Jacob looks a lot different than he used to. He's always been on the taller side, but he shot up about another seven feet (I'm exaggerating of course) since the last time I saw him. It also looked like he'd been hitting the gym a couple of times a day. Jake still had the same black hair Carson and I had, but since Jake had always lived on the res, his hair had always been long. Now, he'd gone and cut it all off. He was hardly recognizable.

"Hey Bex." He said looking around, probably trying to figure out what was taking me so long. "Were you planning on coming in anytime soon?" He smiled at me, but I think it was just to cover up the weird look he was giving me. I don't blame him. It had to look pretty funny, me just hanging out on his porch for no reason. On the plus side, the old Jake was much more recognizable when he smiled.

Wait a minute…how did he even know I was here? I mean…sure Uncle Billy probably told him I was coming, but there's no way he could know the exact moment I arrived…right?

Just when I was beginning to really overthink this whole situation, I saw the curtains on the window by the door twitch. Oh…right. If I remember correctly, that's the living room window. He was probably just watching television, and just happened to look out the window and see me drive up, or he saw the truck in his driveway or something.

The pause in our conversation got a bit awkward as I scrambled for a reasonable explanation for just standing on his porch. "Lie! Lie Bex! Lie!" My internal monologue screamed at me.

"Well I knocked, but no one answered. So I was just waiting here, you know, being polite and stuff." I said, hoping he would buy it. Curse me and my awkward weirdness!

"Really?" He asked. I nodded, even though I knew that he knew I was lying. But what are you gonna do? What's done is done! "I'm pretty sure I would have heard it." He said with a secretive smile, like he knew something I didn't. People up here just have a weird sense of humor I guess.

I shrugged my shoulders and stepped around him into the house, like it wasn't my fault his hearing is bad. I took a couple steps in and looked around.

The place hasn't changed much. Same faded white walls, same family photos, even the same old rug. The only thing that's changed is the size of the muddy shoes thrown by the door. These new shoes were huge. And there were a lot of them, especially for a place that only housed two boys. They ranged from tennis shoes to combat boots. And every single one of them was absolutely massive!

I turned to look back at Jake, noticing once again how big he's gotten. He's humungous! Over six feet tall and every inch of him covered in muscles. Cousin Jake looks like he could play for the NFL! Kid's grown up.

He looked over at the pile of shoes I had been looking at, then back at me. "Oh, I've got some friends over in the living room. But Dad's in the kitchen with your stuff. Just through there." He said, pointing. Then he turned tail and headed back into the living room

"Thanks for the escort, cuz." I thought to myself. That was a little abrupt.

"He probably just doesn't like being interrupted when he's with his friends." I concluded, thinking back to all the times I'd yelled at Carson for barging in on me and my friends' sleepovers…

I thought I saw a flash of ink on the top of Jacob's arm as he turned, but he was gone before I could get another look. Does he have a tattoo? That just seemed so out of character to me. Shaking my head to stop my thoughts from going off on these wild tangents, I headed the way Jake pointed.

I walked into an empty kitchen. Uncle Billy was not in here. I could see some paint trays and brushes sitting on the kitchen table though. I picked them up, balancing them precariously in my arms, and looked around the kitchen for Uncle Billy again, like I had missed him. Still no one there but me.

I felt a little weird just taking their stuff, even though I had permission. But I feel like one of the Blacks should be there to, like, double okay it. But there's no way I'm bothering Jacob again, especially in front of his friends. With a sigh, I readjusted the trays and turned…then I hit a brick wall.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed. Well…it felt like a brick wall, but it turned out to be just another freakishly tall/ripped Quileute boy. He had his shirt off and…well, let me just say me likey! Talk about muscles…I had the impression of looking up…way up, to see his face. Of course, it took me a couple of seconds to register all of that. I had dropped all my borrowed items on impact, so I bent down to pick them up.

"Watch were you're.." He trailed off and his eyes got wide as I looked up at him.

"Oh sorry!" I said, apologizing purely out of habit. Then I thought about it, and my look turned into a glare. "Wait…no I'm not. You ran into me! You watch were you're going!" I threw back. I emphasized my point by poking him in the chest, balancing my stuff on one arm. Then I turned around and stormed out, without thinking twice about telling Uncle Billy or Jake that I'd gotten what I needed.

Had I looked back, I would have seen that he was staring at me, frozen, with wide eyes.

"The nerve of that kid. What's his freaking problem? Mutant mother fucker. Who does he think he is?" I muttered on my way out.

"Well someone's got a potty-mouth." I heard an unfamiliar voice from the living room say. Ordinarily, I would have taken this as my cue to go in there and introduce myself, by my little kitchen encounter had pissed me off. A lot. Rude people are like, my pet peeve. So I just continued storming out the door. I threw my crap in the back of the truck, and drove home a little faster than what was completely necessary.

o*O*o*O*o*O*o

Half an hour later found me found me back in my new room, violently priming my walls. I was still kind of mad about that jerk back at the Blacks'. As I primed, I kept thinking of better comebacks and witty things I should have said.

Isn't that always the way? Why can't we think of good comebacks when they're actually needed?

A small part of me knew that I was blowing it way out of proportion. So he snapped at me a little. The guy could have just been having a bad day. Everyone says things they regret every now and then. Even me, not that I usually admit it.

But like I said only a small part of me felt this day. The rest of me wanted to go track that guy down and make him apologies.

"This was in the shed out back when we went out there for those tarps." Dad said, just barging into my room without knocking. Well, I guess I really can't blame him. My door was open. With him came the top part of a ladder, the rest extended into the hallway with (I assumed) Carson carrying the other half.

"You know, 'cause you're short." Carson grunted as he tried to maneuver the end of the ladder through my doorway without hitting anything. As much as I would love to argue with him and prove him wrong, he's not. I am short. And he's been giving me crap for it my whole life. So instead of throwing back some comment denying my…height problems…that we all knew would be false, I just shot him a glare and returned to my priming. They set the ladder up for me and then went back to painting their own rooms.

Manual labor (like priming your walls) doesn't really require much of your attention. I kept catching my thoughts drifting back to Jake's house and the guy I had run into.

Clearly Quileuten, he had the dark eyes, skin, and hair typical of Native Americans. It was cropped short though and, now that I thought about it, was exactly the same as Jake's. I'm pretty sure the unnamed guy also had a tattoo on the top of his arm. The same location as Jake's.

"They must be really good friends," I decided, "to get matching tats and haircuts." But anonymous had had these deep, dark, mysterious eyes…

Lost in my daydream, his eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger in my imagination, until they were all I could see. In my mind, I could see the instant replay of his eyes widening with…shock? curiosity? Something, whenever they had met mine…

"How's it going in here?" My head jerked around to the doorway my dad was now standing in. It was only then that I realized it had been a few minutes since I'd moved. I'd been standing there frozen, with paintbrush in hand, for who knows how long. I only hoped Dad hadn't noticed. I decided to play it cool and act like I had been being completely normal.

I've only been here for, what? A day? And it's already turned me into an awkward freak.

"Oh, ah…Good." I said, being as normal as possible. "Almost done with the first coat." I replied, getting back to work. It was true. I'd actually gotten a lot done before going off into La La Land. I only had the top part of the last wall left.

"Looks good." He complimented, glancing around. "I'm just going to see how Carson's doing, then I'll call for a pizza. There's a place here that makes stuffed crust." He told me.

"Really?! Stuffed crust?" I questioned, my attention captured and brush freezing once again in midair. "Sounds good! "We Gilberts like us some cheese in our crust. I mean, we really like us some cheese in our crust. "I'll be down in a few." I said, working double time now. The faster I finish, the faster I can get me some pizza.

o*O*o*O*o*O*o

A few hours later found me fed, watered, and working on my second coat of primer.

I'd forgotten how much better crust is when it's filled with cheese!

The craziest thing happened while we were eating it, though. My cell phone rang. It was Nicole, my best friend from back home! I know what you're thinking…there's nothing crazy about a friend calling, but wait until you hear why she called! Turns out, Nic and some of our other friends had bought stoner's pizza and thought of me! Aren't they sweet!

And before you ask, no. I'm not a stoner. Stoner is just my favorite kind of pizza. It's this super awesome pizza with the most random stuff, like mozzarella sticks, on it that you can only get at Gumbys, this supper awesome pizza place in San Marcos. Isn't it crazy that we were hundreds of miles away, but we happened to be eating pizza at exactly the same time? I thought so.

It made me feel closer to them. We talked for about thirty minutes, about everything going on back home and how much I wished I was there. I finished my second piece of pizza as we commiserated about how much we missed each other. I washed my greasy hands in the kitchen sink and then started up the stairs, leaving my dad and brother sitting in that awkward silence around the pizza box.

I guess it's kind of rude to be on the phone during dinner, but I haven't seen my friends in days! And it's not like either of them were going to be much conversation. They're boys. The second you put some food in front of them, their mouths get filled instead of flapping.

"So how is everyone down there?" I asked on my way upstairs. It seemed like an easy enough question to me. You give the standard reply of "everyone's good," and move on to something less generic. Instead, I was greeted with a tense silence.

Something's going on back home, and I'm probably not gonna like it.

"About that…." Stacie trailed off.

"Alright. What is it?" I asked, freezing on the middle of the stairs, hand gripping the railing. "Just spit it out you guys."

"It's…Zane." Ashley finally said. Her voice was filled with hesitation and pity. Zane's my ex. He's kind of a jerk. "He's been all over Mindy Shavers since you left."

"Zane? That's what this is about? Zane! We broke up, remember? Who cares what he does anymore. He's a jerk." I laughed. I was actually nervous for a minute there!

Yes, for a brief but idiotic time, I did date Zane Matthews. It was a mistake, mostly because he's a huge jerk-off. But even after the break up, he never really let me go. He was always hanging around and making a pest of himself. He would follow me around like an annoying little puppy.

I can honestly say I feel nothing for the guy anymore. Actually, I don't know if I ever really felt anything for him. It was more of a…stereotyped arrangement. I guess that's what you would call it. You know, hottest guy – hottest girl. Quarterback – cheerleader. You get the picture. It was kinda fun while it lasted, but Patrick got way controlling and started taking "us" waaaaay to seriously. So I broke it off.

I don't really think it had a chance to really set in for him that we were over, and only about a month later, my mom passed away, and my entire life was uprooted. I got distant with everyone, not just him. Everything got put on hold, including dealing with him.

And then, I moved away. I guess that's how you really put an end to a relationship – moving. But normally I don't think you have to do it so literally.

As for Mindy, we've never really got along. She's a grade above me, a senior like Patrick, and head cheerleader of my old squad. We've always competed over pretty much everything, but after graduation everyone knew I'd be taking her place as head cheerleader. She reeeeeally didn't like that. I guess she thought I still had feelings for old Zaney-poo, and was trying to hurt me by messing around with him.

It's kind of pathetic, actually. I moved all the way across the country, and she still feels threatened by me. I guess I should be honored!

But hey. I've released Zane to the world. If she wants him, she can have him! I don't care. Ever since Mom…well, all that old petty drama that used to make up my life just seems so stupid now. Inconsequential. It all seems so far away now.

Well, since I moved to Washington, I guess it kind of is.

"Oh I'm so glad you're not upset! I didn't think you'd be, but you never know…But for the record, Mindy's a total slut, and you're waaaaaay prettier than her!" Ashley said.

"Totally." Stacie added, and we all laughed. It's true. Her nickname is Bendy-Mendy. The football team calls her Bendy-Mindy, and I don't think it's out of appreciation for her cheerleading skills.

I started walking up the stairs again, towards my room. "Man I've missed ya'll!" I sighed.

"We miss you two!" Stacie squealed.

"It's just not the same without you. Our entire group's dynamic is thrown off." Ashley pouted.

"Don't worry guys." I said into my phone once I figured I was out of my family's earshot. "I have to make a visit home pretty soon. To pick up my car." I said. The other end of the line got quiet. Anything even remotely related to my mother's death tended to turn a conversation awkward.

"Oh. Yeah." Stacie said (if you haven't figured it out yet, Nicole's phone was on speaker, so they could all talk at once).

"Listen Bex, about your mom…" Nicole started.

"Save it." I cut her off, a little too harshly. Instantly, I felt bad for snapping. It's not their fault Mom's gone. I shouldn't take it out on them. It's just, I'm so sick of people apologizing for my loss. They can't fix it, and she's never coming back, so why even comment on it?

I guess I'm really just tired of everyone pitying me. I know it's completely awful of me, but to be honest I just prefer not to think about it. Not to think about…her. It's just too painful.

But…I had been the one to bring it up.

"Sorry." I mumbled after a shocked silence.

"Don't worry about it, Bex guh." I smiled at Nicole, my snow white best friend, talking with a gangsta's cadence in her voice. "You know we love ya, no matter what!"

"Thanks girl. Right back acha." I whispered, leaning my head against my bedroom wall. Belatedly, I realized that I probably should have checked to see if it was dry. Luckily, it was. "Alright well, I've got to get going ya'll. I've got four walls here just waiting to be painted." We said our goodbyes, and I got back to work.

I never knew painting was this hard! I'd used up rolls and rolls of painter's tape and had several tarps lain out, but it still took a lot of concentration to keep the primer off the floor, windows, and doors. Whenever I dripped it somewhere that it shouldn't have been, I had to hurry up and wipe it off before it stuck, usually with my hands. I was practically covered from head to toe in paint by the time I'd finished the second coat. Even an hour of scrubbing in the shower couldn't get all of it off! I had dozens of little white splotches all over me! And I had used a loofa!

At least I managed to get it all out of my hair. For a minute there I'd looked prematurely salt-and-peppered! Can you imagine? Like I was old or something!

"We definitely should have hired professionals for this shiz." I thought to myself as I climbed into my sleeping bag for my second night of sleeping on the floor.

"Thank Goodness the furniture is getting here tomorrow!" I muttered. "I don't know if I can last another night like this." Fortunately, depending on your perspective, it was so late by the time I finished that second coat, I fell right asleep the moment my head hit the pillow and slept like a baby until I heard my brother stumbling around the next morning in the room next to mine.

o*O*o*O*o*O*o

I woke up late the next morning with a headache from sleeping in a room filled with paint fumes. Probably not my smartest decision, but oh well. It's not like I had anything that important to do today. I could hear my brother tripping over stuff in his room next door. In fact, his loudness is what woke me up! "Like father like son." I mumbled, recalling my father's clumsiness from yesterday morning.

I drug myself out of bed and opened my windows, hoping to disperse the fumes and get some good clean air in here. Then I went out into the hallway where all my bags still were, grabbed some clothes and toiletries, and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

I dressed for another sloppy day, in athletic shorts and a tank top, hair up in a messy bun. It's still early in November, so I probably could have worn stuff like this for at least another half-month and been pretty comfortable back in Texas, but walking outside in this outfit here would probably kill me. I'd turn into a giant Bex Popsicle.

Did you know that they don't even have air conditioners up here? Even in their cars! You have to, like, specially request it. And the craziest part is, you don't even need it! You just open a window and boom! You're cold. Up here, it's all about them heaters.

I really wasn't all that hungry, so I just got straight to work. I'm actually painting today! Man, it seems like all I've been doing the past two days is painting. Well, that's actually kind of true. We kind of have to rush fixing up the house, because Dad starts work on Monday, and I start school, and Carson's catching a plane Sunday night back to San Marcos. So this weekend's really all we have to get this stuff done.

Actually, since our furniture is getting here this afternoon, we have to have everything painted by then so we don't have to worry about messing any of the new furniture up. So, rush rush rush!

After about an hour and a half, I was done with that first coat of paint. And it looked pretty great, if I do say so myself! Now I just had to kill a few hours until I could put the second coat on.

o*O*o*O*o*O*o

Believe me when I say this: You don't realize how much time you waste watching television, until you don't have one around to watch.

Eventually, I decided on a run. Just because I can't be a cheerleader anymore, doesn't I don't want to look like a cheerleader! And it never hurts to stay in shape.

"I'm going jogging!" I said, poking my head into the kitchen were Dad was drinking a cup of coffee.

"Alright, be careful. Don't get lost." He said absentmindedly.

"Be careful?" I snorted as Carson walked into the kitchen and reached for the cereal. "What do you have to be careful of in Forks?"

"Wolves." Carson grunted, even though this really wasn't his conversation.

"Wolves? What?" I asked.

"Yeah. I heard 'em howling all night long. Kept me up for the longest." He replied, rubbing his eyes.

"Cool." I thought. "Wolves."

I've always thought wolves are really pretty. In fact, they're my favorite animal. It's kind of a lifelong goal of mine, to have a wolf as a pet. Well, maybe not a real wolf, because there's probably laws against that, but like a dog that's part wolf or something.

"Yeah. Me two. They sounded pretty close to the house. I don't think it's anything to worry about during the day though. Just keep an eye out, and stay on the main road." Dad said.

"Sure thing. Be back later." I called over my shoulder. And with that, I left.

Sorry ya'll. I know its slow going right now. Nothings really happened in the story yet. I'm just kind of setting everything up right now, that's why it's so boring. It'll get better. I promise 8)