The following day I met Rachel in Forks. She was a coffee freak so we often hung out at the local diner when nothing was going on in the Reservation. While she drank her super-hot, super prim coffee, I fed my face. It was a good deal and it left me satisfied every time. Their breakfasts were amazing.

"So, guess what?"

I raised an eyebrow at my best friend. "What?"

"I heard Jacob's coming back for the Cullen-Swan wedding," she whispered. "My dad was on the phone to 'Golden Boy' and I overheard it."

"So? What's the big deal?" I asked, shoving an extra syrupy piece of pancake in my mouth. That stupid wedding had been the talk of the town for the last month and most of us couldn't wait till the damn thing was finally over.

"Well supposedly my brother is going to try win Bella Swan back before she marries that Cullen kid."

My eyebrows almost shot into my hair. "Really?" I rasped out, ducking lower so that no one could hear our conversation. "I don't even get what they both see in her. She's just so..."

"Plain? Boring? Pale?" Rachel finished before we both cracked up laughing. "My brother's so stupid. He could do so much better than Charlie Swan's daughter. No offence to Charlie."

"Does that mean they were actually together?" I wondered.

Seth had mentioned before his abnormal growth spurt that Jacob and Bella had been hanging out a lot after Edward broke up with her because he had some family thing in Italy. I supposed it wasn't too hard to believe they could have actually been a couple.

"Hell if I know," Rachel shrugged. "All I know is, thank God we are leaving in two days. That way I don't have to watch my brother make a total ass of himself."

The chime of the diner bell rang making Rachel and I both turn toward the door.

"Oh fuck." We both swore, as we tried to duck out of sight and away from the diner's newest guest.

"Hi Leah... Rachel," Emily mumbled with a shy wave.

I rolled my eyes and sat up, slapping my friend's arm to do the same. There was no use hiding.

"Hey Em," I grumbled, pushing my food away.

She fumbled nervously with her fingers and I fought the urge to bark at her. My stupid cousin was the most annoyingly nice person I had ever met. She purposely made it hard for me to hate her over the whole Sam fiasco.

"How are you? You must be so excited to be leaving soon," her eyes lit up as I looked at her. Even with the scars on her face, she looked devastatingly beautiful. My anger flared.

"Yeah. We are. Only suckers get stuck on the Reservation." Rachel answered for me, scowling as she stood up and brushed her straight hair over her shoulders.

Emily's face fell immediately and her eyes were fixated on her hands once more. That was a low blow, but I couldn't say she didn't deserve it.

Rachel and I walked from the diner hand in hand, hers squeezing mine ever so often.

"Did you see her hand?" My best friend asked wearily.

I nodded a silent reply.

Seemed like Emily really was going to be stuck on the reservation. Judging by the rock on her finger, that looked suspiciously like Sam's grandmothers ring, she was a sucker anyway.

...

Our remaining two days passed quickly. Between packing up the rest of my junk and hanging out with my mom and Seth, I could almost not believe we were leaving already.

I gnawed my bottom lip as I stared into the mirror. Grabbing a brush and a band, I tied my hair in a high bun attempting to tame my wavy hair. I hadn't bothered to dress too proper, going with a simple pair of black jeans, a grey tee and my tennis shoes.

A knock sounded at the door and my mom sat down quietly on the bed as I used bobby pins to keep back some of the stray waves. She held in her hand a small velvet pouch.

"What's in the bag?" I asked curiously.

"A little present." she replied.

I instantly perked up. "A present? For me?"

My mother chuckled as I dived onto the bed and waited with baited hands to receive the wonderful surprise. It didn't take a genius to realise no one really had money on the Reservation. Money had been especially tight after Dad had died, so a present of any description was like Christmas.

"I know it's not worth much, but Grandma June had given this to me as a girl when I went off to Nurses College in Seattle. She said it would remind me of home when I was feeling down and ready to give up."

Pulling a chain and pendant from the velvet enclosure, I wanted to squeal. "It's awesome, mom. Put it on me?"

I scurried into an upright position and touched the pendant in my fingers. With the clasp locked, I bolted to the mirror and admired the simple piece of jewellery. The freshwater pearl sat neatly below the hollow of my throat, held by a thin silver chain.

"It suits you," my mother smiled as she stood behind me.

"I love it." I chimed as I turned to hug my mom.

She held a little tighter than usual but I allowed it. With my dad no longer with us, and Seth at Old Quil's, I knew mom would be dreading the silence of our little house while I was gone. I felt guilty for wanting to leave so badly, but she had wanted this for me too.

And she loved me enough, to let me go.

...

The drive to the airport was a little somber. Until both my mom and Billy decided it was the norm to remind us girls of the general rules of college. They explicitly instructed that should we drop out, become pregnant or try drugs, we would be buried in the backyard with the family pets.

Seth snorted in delight listening to our parents threaten us. Rachel even found it amusing to accidentally brush up against my brother at every chance she got. I merely rolled my eyes and watched as the green surroundings of LaPush slowly disappeared out of sight.

After the hugs and tears at the airport, my best friend and I waved our family off as we were ushered through security. We were lucky enough to have a spare seat between us on the plane so we took turns in sleeping through the seven-hour flight.

Arizona felt like a life time away. But even then, it was a life we were both desperate to live.