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SECRETS

SYDNEY

I wasn't sure where I was going when I left Charlie's. Story of my life. I just went where the wind blew me, skipping from place to place, all across the world, never settling in one place long enough to call it home.

But this past year, I had had a reason for once. A purpose. I had been searching for my true family, and now that I had finally found them, I had discovered I really couldn't stay put for once. So I was back to wandering aimlessly again.

I enjoyed the opportunity to run as fast as I could, blurring through the forest, really stretching my legs. I ran for a while, heading east, then suddenly stopped. I was still in thick woodland, but I felt I was far enough from Forks that the Cullen's probably wouldn't come across me on one of their hunting trips. I had accidently stumbled on them once or twice on my trips through the forest, but I had managed to get away without them noticing. No point in even giving them a hint of what I was.

I turned and started scrambling up the tree next to me, a giant of a redwood. It showed how deep I was in the forest that it hadn't been cut down and made into furniture. I climbed about three quarters of the way up, high enough that I would have an uninterrupted view far around me, but low enough that I could comfortably perch on a branch without fearing that it would snap under my weight.

I sat with my back pressed against the tree trunk, my legs dangling from either side of my branch. I pulled my rucksack off and placed it in front of me, unzipped it and dug through the clothes I'd grabbed from Charlie's for my phone. Turning it on, I saw that I had 16 new messages and 21 missed calls. I should really have been checking my phone more often, and answering back to a few of the messages so as to make sure none of my friends would get it into their heads to come and look for me. It wouldn't do for any of them to come to Forks and decide to snack upon one of my family or have a faceoff with the Cullens and tell them who I was. I preferred not to tell anyone anything about me unless necessary.

I brought up my inbox, and started working through my unread messages from the oldest to the newest. Mostly they were trivial, friends wanting to meet up, but the newest message caught my eye. It was from a close friend of mine, Ben. He was about the same age as me, I had found him in London two years ago, and we had hit it off straight away.

Where the hell r u?

Oops. He sounded a little annoyed. I clicked on my phonebook, scrolled down until I found his number and hit the dial button.

He picked up on the first ring. "Finally Syd! I thought you were dead or something!" His cheerful voice rang through the speaker.

I laughed. "Well, I'm obviously not."

"What happened to you? You weren't answering your phone for the longest time."

"Sorry. I just wanted a bit of time on my own, you know?" I lied.

"For a month? Ah, whatever. Tell me, you in Washington state?"

I was surprised. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

I could almost hear him tapping his nose as he replied. "I have my sources. Anyway, I just touched down at Vancouver airport. Victoria wanted me to give you a message. Tell me where you are, and I'll come meet you."

Damn. I couldn't well tell him where I really was. I wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn't be sure that no one was eavesdropping. I would put it past Victoria to have bugged my phone. "I'll meet you in Seattle. Do me a favour and book a hotel room on your way there."

"Sure," he agreed cheerfully. "I'll text you the hotel address. Gotta go now, nearly at the passport barrier. Talk to you later."

"Bye," I said, grinning, and hung up. Just hearing his voice was enough to make me smile.

I tucked my phone into my jeans pocket, slung my backpack over my shoulder and let myself fall sideways off the branch. I hurtled towards the earth, pushing off large branches to avoid them, the smaller twigs whipping my face before turning in the air and landing, cat-like, in a crouch on the balls of my feet. I stood up, brushed off some leaves on my shoulders, and set off towards Seattle at a leisurely run. There was no rush, Ben would most likely take a few hours to get down to Seattle from Vancouver. Why he had gone there I could not fathom, I thought D.C would have been a better choice. But whatever the reason, I couldn't wait to see him.

"Sydney!" Ben cried as I arrived outside the fancy sounding Sourange Hotel. He was lounging against the wall outside, dressed normally in jeans and a checked shirt. But no one would ever mistake him for ordinary with his golden hair and extraordinary chiselled good looks that we were gifted with. He enfolded me in his arms, holding me in a bear hug. The stubble blooming on his cheeks scraped against my skin, but I didn't mind. "I missed you," he said.

"I missed you too." I stepped backwards out of him arms, and felt a twinge of guilt as I looked up at him. Why hadn't I texted him before or something?

He beamed at me. "Come on, there's a cafe 'round the corner. Let's go there and get something. I'm starving."

I laughed as I followed him. He always had had an insatiable appetite.

The cafe was small, but stylish, with shiny metal tables and black chairs. Ben and I settled into the square, black armchairs around the table next to the window. I ordered a hot chocolate and a croissant, Ben also ordered a hot chocolate, but with a basket of muffins.

"So tell me," he started, biting into the first muffin in his basket, a blueberry, "what you been doing this past month."

I took a sip of my hot chocolate. It was hot enough to scald a human's mouth, but not mine. I leaned forward. "I wasn't totally honest with you earlier."

"In what way?"

"When I was human, I was adopted. Then, when I turned, I started digging into my past. Since I had been ripped away from my adoptive family, I became curious about my real one."

Ben was listening intently. He motioned for me to go as I stopped.

"After some hacking, I found my mother's file on the adoption agency that my family had gotten me through. Her name was Renee Swan." I swallowed. "She listed being unable to care for a second child as her reason to giving me up."

"Second child?" queried Ben, his eyebrow raised.

"Yes. At the time, she had a two year old daughter with my dad." Resentment flashed through me. "But she kept that one."

"Did you find her?"

"Not her. I don't care much about her. I mean, she gave me up, didn't she? But she had separated from my father at the time of my birth, so I figured maybe he hadn't wanted to give me up. So I started looking for him."

"He lives in Washington?" Ben connected the dots.

"In Forks with my sister Bella," I agreed.

"Wow. What are they like?" Ben asked curiously.

"Fine actually. I just couldn't stick with staying in one place, so I left." I leaned forward. "But get this, there's a vampire coven in Forks, and my sister is dating one of them."

Ben choked on his muffin. "What?" he spluttered after he managed to swallow the blockage in his throat.

"You heard me.."

Ben laughed a little. "Vampires," he scoffed. "Their so weird."

"Well, they're not like us," I reminded him.

"Still. Anyway, let's go back." There was a sudden excitement in his eyes.

"What? No! I didn't exactly leave on the best terms," I admitted reluctantly.

"What did you do?"

"Punched a boy for making fun of my sister." I smiled sheepishly.

"Attagirl," Ben congratulated me. "But you still gotta go back. You shouldn't give up on your family now that you've found them," he continued, suddenly serious. "Tell you what, I'll come with you. We'll stay here for the night, 'cos I've already paid for the room, and then tomorrow we'll go to Forks. We can get a flat or something, and I'll go to school with you." He grinned. "I haven't been to school for a long time. Besides, new girls."

I considered this. It sounded good. It would be nice to have someone at my back.

"Hope your minds protected" I warned him cryptically.

He tapped his forehead. "Jahed taught me some new tricks while you were gone. Don't worry, I know how to keep people out my mind." He pulled out his phone as he finished the last muffin, and swallowed the last dregs of his drink, tapping away at the screen.

"What're you doing?"

"Looking for a flat. Ah," he held up his phone for me to see. "Two bed roomed flat, near town centre, three miles from local high school."

I couldn't argue. "Go on then."

I checked my own phone as Ben made the necessary arrangements. Sure enough, Bella had left me a few angry voicemails. I sighed as I imaged facing her again tomorrow. But at the same time, I was quite looking forward to going back to Forks. Especially now Ben was coming with me.

"I don't wanna," I whined, sounding like a sulky child as I hung back from the path leading up to Charlie's house. Ben and I had stayed the night in Seattle, and had been to see the flat Ben had just bought. It was all done very quickly, since Ben had offered a few thousand over the asking price if he could move in today.

"I don't care, wimp, you're doing it anyway," Ben replied remorselessly. He pushed past me and marched up the path to the door, took the door knocker and banged it down hard three times. Groaning, I blurred up next to him. I didn't have to take care that anyone would see me, as there were basically no neighbours for a few kilometres each way.

Ben just had time to give me a comforting smile before the door was whipped open by Charlie. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he'd stayed awake for most of the night, his cheeks unshaven, not in a rock star way like Ben, but in a didn't-have-time-to-shave way.

"Sydney?" he whispered, as if he couldn't believe that it was me.

"Yeah." I braced myself for the yelling that would surely follow. But what he did next surprised even me. He reached out and hugged me as tightly as he could.

"You came back," he sniffed. I felt a tear drop from his eye onto the fabric of my t-shirt. Moisture was beginning to well up in my eye as well, and I blinked it away before anyone could see.

"Of course I did." I patted his back somewhat awkwardly. I had absolutely no idea what to do.

Charlie drew back, his eyes still somewhat watery. "Who's this?" he asked, seemingly noticing Ben for the first time.

I quickly made introductions. "Ben, this is my dad Charlie. Charlie, this is my friend Ben."

Ben beamed at him. "Pleased to meet you sir," he said genuinely, holding out his hand for him to shake. I saw in Charlie's eyes that he liked him as he accepted Ben's handshake.

"Likewise. Come in, come in."

We followed him through the hallway to the kitchen. It wasn't empty. Bella was there, standing with her arms crossed next to Edward. I suppressed my feeling of dislike for him, focusing instead on Bella's angry face.

"Where have you been!" she yelled. "I've been going out of my mind with worry ever since you left!"

"I'm really sorry," I replied weakly. "I just needed some...space?"

"Without saying anything!" Bella wasn't going to be stopped.

"Please Bella. I'm really sorry. I was just a bit crazy. This place doesn't feel like home yet, I guess." I gestured vaguely around me.

"She's not going again," put in Ben. Bella turned to him.

"And you are?"

"Ben Hilsmitch," he introduced himself, reaching out to shake her hand. "You must be Bella."

"Um, yeah," she answered, looking a little dazed by his smile. I knew from experience that it did crazy stuff to your mind. "And this is my boyfriend Edward."

"Hi Mozzarella," Ben joked. Edward stared at him frostily.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't worry about it mate."

"Are you really staying for good now?" Charlie interrupted as Edward opened his mouth to reply.

"Uh, about that. I'm staying, but I'm gonna live with Ben in his flat," I admitted.

"No way," denied Charlie flatly. "You are not living with a boy. You're only sixteen for Chrissake."

"Daaad!" I rolled my eyes. "Ben's my friend."

"You could say I'm her brother from another mother," inserted Ben helpfully. Charlie stared at him blankly. "She's like my sister," Ben clarified.

"Well, I don't care," declared Charlie. "I'm your father, and I say no."

"I can't live here on the couch forever you know. Besides, I'm legally emancipated, so you can't control me," I argued.

"How'd you have enough money for a flat anyway?" queried Edward, one sculptured eyebrow raised.

"'Cos I'm a rich bitch, innit doe Mozzarella." Ben played up his British accent.

Edward moved suddenly, as if preparing to hit Ben, but stopped, and went back into his original position. He moved so fast that no human would have seen it, but me and Ben did. Ben's smile grew insolent as he silently dared Edward with his eyes.

Charlie looked crushed. "Don't you want to stay with me?" he asked, sounding slightly pathetic.

"Of course I do. But there's no space for me here. I'll be coming over most days after school anyway, and Ben's coming to Fork's High School as well, so he won't be able to corrupt me." Ben had somehow managed to enrol himself there last night.

"He's coming?" Edward asked in disappointment.

"Yep." Ben was still smiling, but I recognised by his stance that he was poised to fight. I reached out and touched him softly on the shoulder. Stop it I sent.

I felt Ben's muscles relax under my hand. I checked my watch.

"We really have to go Dad. Ben and I need to go buy some furniture for our new flat. You guys can all come over when it's done," I added.

"Oh. OK. I'll see you later then." Charlie looked sad.

"It was a pleasure to meet you sir," Ben said to Charlie.

"Please, call me Charlie. I'm not the Chief right now, so there's no need to."

Ben grinned. "Pleasure to meet you then, Charlie."

"And you."

Ben left the room, but not before turning to Edward, making a V of his index and middle finger, then pointing them first at his eye's, and then at Edward's, the gesture for I'm watching you.

I hugged Bella and Charlie. "See you later guys." I completely ignored Edward, although I didn't think he noticed, staring after Ben as he was with a faintly confused expression.

"Nice family," commented Ben as soon as we got into his car. "Except for the boyfriend."

I laughed as Ben turned the key ignition and pulled away from kerb, speeding away.

Krissy & Weronika x