A/N: Hello, all! How is everyone doing? I know this is a couple days before I normally release, but I'm going to be super busy here soon. I can't quite promise an update next week, but if it doesn't happen then I'll make it up by updating twice in a week later. I really love seeing all of the reviews you're posting, they truly do make my day! I smile so much every time I get an email that says a new review was posted. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

CHAPTER FIVE
Relations

At first, I was sure Will would forget about our argument from a couple days ago, but soon found out the assumption was horribly wrong. When I walked down the stairs the next morning, Will was sitting there again. I had to wonder if the hospital had scheduled him later shifts just to spite me. He had a bowl of cereal in hand this morning, eating at a steady pace until he took note of me. He slowed tenfold then, watching me closely as I prepared a bowl of strawberries and sat up on the counter like I did every morning. Will's eyes lingered as if he truly believed I would snap at any moment.

"Were you crying last night?" Will asked me, pronouncing every syllable like he was scared to ask me. Maybe he was.

"No," I lied, resuming my breakfast soon after. It was clear he knew I was lying, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to answer truthfully. If I did, then he would want to know why. The phone call from last night was still fresh in my mind. I didn't want to vocalize that I'd lost my best friend quite yet. It would also be tough confiding in Will about anything right now, considering he was still so on edge about my health. After that last conversation, I was sure he wanted to have me admitted somewhere. It was a wonder he still let me take over telling Laurie bedtime stories.

Will watched me then. He paused eating, gray eyes flitting about as he took in my features. It was clear he was breaking apart each part of my expression, trying to search for something specific laying within. "You can talk to me, you know. We're family," the adult spoke then, taking my wrist in his hand after I'd stood to put my empty bowl away. His eyebrows were pulled together, face desperate for any kind of response from me that wasn't cold.

"I don't know anything about you," I finally spoke, voice so quiet even I wasn't sure the words had sounded. Will seemed taken aback, but I continued anyway. "Have you thought about that? We're supposedly family, but we don't know anything about each other. The last time I saw you was when I was seven. Do you know how much has happened since I was seven?"

"Yeah, but we're still s-"

"Siblings?" I cut him off. Honestly, I wasn't sure why I was making things worse. It was like my life wasn't already a mess and I wanted to make it worse for some reason. The words were spilling out of me and I had no way to stop them. These were all things I'd wanted to say before, but I couldn't bring myself to. "Will, I know nothing about your life. I don't know your birthday, your anniversary, Laurie's birthday. I wasn't even aware you got married until you showed up after Mom died. If you didn't care to know about my life back then, then why should you care now?"

Silence. I think I overdid it. "I have to get to school," I murmured, ending the conversation and grabbing the keys to my car.

I was thankful for the drive to the school, no matter how short it was. It gave me time to collect myself before entering the building. Last night it had been decided that I would be giving Forks High a new start. Perhaps the high school wasn't my prison, but an attempt to find some peace in my turbulent life. After all, the people there were nothing but kind, for the most part. It wasn't Hannah's fault that I had to leave my old life behind. Emmett was right, too, why shouldn't they get to know me? They weren't Will; they'd never had a chance to know me, so I shouldn't take that away from them just because Will didn't take the opportunity.

"You look like you're in a good mood," Hannah spoke up from her seat in English. How did she always get to the classroom before me? I thought I showed up to the school early, but she must get there as soon as the doors opened. "Did that Josh kid propose or something?" she laughed, though her expression showed she still wasn't leaving that option out.

"No, he didn't," I responded lightly, shaking my head and sitting down in my own desk. "I think I'm finally starting to settle in here, though," I answered. "You said quiz team tryouts are soon, right?"

Hannah's face lit up at the mention. I had told her earlier that I had no intentions of joining the Forks quiz team, but it was more out of spite than anything else. I hadn't wanted to establish a life in Forks because I still had one waiting for me in Roseville. Now that Roseville was abandoning me, though, I knew I had to find my own life here. "Yep! Next wednesday is the last day to sign up. I thought you weren't going to join?"

"I thought so too," I answered, meaning to elaborate but Mr. Rosen cut us off then by beginning class. The lecture was boring; I'd already read Sound and the Fury so didn't need another lesson on it. In fact, all of my classes seemed to rush by. I tried speaking to more people, though. Like in drawing class I'd made an actual effort to talk to Nick, who really was a nice guy. We'd sat at the same lunch table for a month and I don't think we'd ever had the chance to really talk to one another. He was quite the artist, too.

Then chemistry. The same feeling of dread threatened to bubble up in my chest then as I entered the room. I hated to avoid speaking to someone so rudely, and it filled be with guilt every time. It wasn't just me though; there were times I'd speak and Jasper just wouldn't have a response. At least he wasn't my only lab partner.

"How's your boyfriend?" my other lab partner asked as soon as I walked into the room, calling it out so loudly that everyone else in the room turned to glance at me. From the heat in my face I knew my cheeks had turned bright pink.

"I told you yesterday, he's not my boyfriend," I corrected, rolling my gray-green eyes and setting my books down at the table. I could have sworn I saw Jasper visibly relax then, though it could have been a figment of my imagination. "He's a good friend of mine that I haven't seen since I moved here."

"That's not what I heard this morning," Emmett laughed, nudging my side with his elbow. He was always gentle with me; I could tell even then that he was trying hard not to put much strength behind the movement. I was glad he was a friend of mine; I wouldn't want to be on the bad side of someone so visibly strong. "The whole school's talking about you and your lover," he continued, eyes twinkling with such amusement I was surprised he hadn't formulated the rumors himself. "Apparently you're engaged. I don't see the ring, Valerie."

The expression on my face must have been a sight, because Emmett howled with laughter then, catching the attention of the lab group beside us. Even Jasper had a smile pulling on his lips; the other boy watching our interaction from the other side of Emmett. "What? Where would someone even get that idea?" I asked incredulously, watching as Emmett grabbed the edge of the table as if it could somehow get him to stop laughing. "Stop laughing, it's not funny!" But even by now I couldn't hide the smile on my face.

"Just face it, you're the new kid. You're going to have rumors spreading about you until people know who you are," Emmett explained. "It happened with us, too."

Sometimes I forgot that they were the new kids before I was. The difference was, they all had each other to lean on. It seemed, though, that they never stopped leaning on each other. Every time I saw any of the Cullens, another wasn't far behind. "I hate to break it to you, but there are still rumors about you all. I think I've learned more about y'all from other people than from being your lab partner."

"You don't really believe those rumors, right?" Emmett laughed then. "They're about as true as all the rumors about you." There were multiple? This was the first time I was hearing about any of it. I was suddenly thankful that it was another work day, for I was given an option to lean in close and hear everything people said about me.

"What do people say?" I returned then, "None of it's true, probably."

"Let's find out," Emmett continued then, not even bothering to pull out his textbook and pretend to work. "You tell me a rumor you've heard, and I'll tell you if it's true or not. But I get to do the same." This felt like a trap. I couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect of sharing any more information with him, but I had to remind myself that it was my new goal. I couldn't establish a life here if no one knew what was real about me and what was only a figment of the town's imagination.

"Fine," I answered, tapping my fingers on my chin from the hand it rested upon, trying to think of a proper question to ask. There were so many things I heard about the family, but I couldn't find it in me to start with the really juicy stuff. "You're from Alaska."

"That's the best you can come up with? Yes, we're from Alaska. We moved here my Sophomore year," Emmett answered, shaking his head at my question. "I heard you're here because you got arrested in Roseville."

I scoffed then, rolling my eyes at the rumor. "No, of course not. What, do people think valedictorians just go around committing crimes? That's crazy," I countered, though a loose smile remained on my face. "You can just dispel that one, okay? I heard...y'all are dating each other."

"We're not related, right?" was all he said. It wasn't a denial, which made me nod. I supposed it made sense then. They weren't, in fact, related, so it was okay for them to date, I guessed. It was still pretty weird though. "And not all of us are. Just Rosalie and I." Fair enough. "You don't like Forks."

"It's growing on me," I answered quickly. "You don't talk to anyone because you think yourself superior."

"Why would I think that?" Emmett laughed then, clearly amused with the rumors being spread about his family.

"Oh no, not just you. All your siblings, too," I added then. Most of the rumors about them I'd chosen to ignore, but this one might've had some truth to it. I didn't truly believe Emmett was capable of such thoughts, but Jasper? I'd come to the conclusion that he ignored me because he thought himself better than me. For whatever reason, I wasn't good enough to have his time of day.

"Well, I assure you, that one is false," Emmett answered for me. "Apparently you're lying about why you came to Forks. Apparently...both of your parents died."

Yikes. Is that what people thought. I supposed it made sense; people will assume the worst until you give them an explanation. Still, I honestly thought people would take my word that I was just looking for a change of scenery here. "No. No, that one's not true either," I answered, thankful to hear the bell ring. As soon as I heard it, I leapt up from the stool and grabbed my books, all but running out of the room.

Lunch didn't come fast enough. I'd spent too long thinking about my family then. Even through lunch as the girls and guys were talking about the latest homework assignments and gossip, I was thinking back on my conversation with Emmett. It was strange that people were so interested in my life. I was just some girl from Alabama, it's not like I'm anything interesting. It made sense for there to be rumors about the Cullens; they were all absolutely gorgeous and appeared to be straight out of a movie. They were mysterious and interesting; that one made sense, but me? I could admit I was somewhat attractive, but nowhere near their level, and was anything but mysterious. I dropped my head onto my arms on the table, tired of being the new kid. The others let it happen, too, knowing that there were days when I just preferred to relish in my own thoughts.

"Hey, uh, Val?" Jordan grabbed my attention from across the lunch table. When I lifted my head again, I noticed her eyes were focused on something behind me. "Someone's staring at you." She winked at me then, as if she knew something I didn't. I spun in my seat then, trying to see who it was that she was talking about. Surprise ran through me when I caught the golden gaze of none other than Jasper. He hadn't spared me much more than a glance for a month, and now he was staring? "What did you do?"

"Nothing, I don't think," I answered, forcing myself to turn around to face my own lunch table again. The feeling on the back of my neck didn't ease though, telling me he hadn't looked away yet. "Really. I haven't even spoken to him today."

"You also haven't complained, either," Jordan laughed, shaking her head. "Normally you sit down and rant about the guy. Did something happen?" Clearly no one believed me.

"No! Nothing happened, I promise. And maybe I'm just tired of drama. If he wants to think he's too good to talk to me, then so be it. I'm not gonna waste my energy on it anymore." The feeling that he was watching me went away right after.

When I walked into the calculus room, he was already sitting in his seat beside mine. I made my way slowly over to the table, trying to ignore what happened at lunch. It didn't make sense to me why he would be staring, and honestly I didn't want to worry about it. As I'd told my friends, I was making a serious effort to reevaluate how I planned to live my life in Forks for the next several months. It would do no good to worry about any sort of drama, especially concerning a guy.

I'd actually intended to focus on Mr. Gleeson's lecture that day, but it seemed Jasper had other intentions. Soon after class had begun, he whispered to me, "You really think I believe I'm better than you?" His voice sounded incredulous, like his actions thus far couldn't possibly lead me to that conclusion.

"Well, yeah, actually. But it doesn't matter," I whispered back shortly, not even bothering to turn my head in his direction. I could see out of the corner of my vision that he was looking at me, golden eyes looking over my expression much in the same way Will had that morning.

"That could not be further from the truth," he corrected me then, clearly ignoring that fact that I didn't want to talk to him. I was done, honestly.

"Really? Never could've guessed that one," I shot back in a whisper, finally pulling my gaze from the front of the classroom to him. His honey-colored hair was looking as perfect as ever and his eyes looked into mine. He seemed almost amused by this conversation.

"Are you sure you're not dating Josh?" He seemed concerned by it. That one pissed me off more than anything else.

"And what? You ignore me for a month and think you can just talk to me again? That's not how this works. You've acted disgusted by me for a month, you don't get to ask me questions about my love life," I snapped back, trying hard to keep my voice down to a whisper. I wanted nothing more than to yell at him, but I was already on thin ice with Mr. Gleeson after the last time I'd argued with Jasper in class.

"I was never disgusted by you, Valerie," Jasper explained, "I just don't believe it wouldn't be wise for you to be friends with me."

I watched him then, searching his expression for any sign of a joke. When no further explanation came, I shot back, "Then why are you talking to me?" When he didn't reply, I turned my head back to the front of the room to attempt taking notes about derivatives.

"Are you sure, Valerie? I don't want to make you stay in just to watch her," Rebecca spoke as she flew around her bedroom getting ready. I sat on her made bed, legs tucked under me and using my arm behind me to stay upright. "I don't mind rescheduling so the babysitter can watch."

"Rebecca, I really don't mind," I told her once more as she adjusting her red dress and touched up her makeup. "If I minded, I would have said no. Go have fun, you deserve to have a date night." Rebecca and Will had planned a night out in Seattle, but the babysitter had called that afternoon to cancel suddenly. They were worried to ask me because I'd never had to watch Laurie all night before, but I didn't mind.

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow when we get back," Rebecca told me.

"Please, you do enough for me already. Go enjoy yourself. We'll both be here all safe and sound tomorrow," I answered. It was a Friday evening, so she likely assumed I had a party to go to. The thing she forgot was, I'm still the new kid. I had plenty of parties and hangouts to attend in Roseville, but no such thing existed for me here in Forks. Besides, I truly did enjoy being around my niece.

"Of course. Be safe. Have a good night, Val," Rebecca spoke before giving me a hug and hurrying out the front door. Will had been waiting for her in the car.

I stood up from my spot on the bed, then, closing the bedroom door on the way out. I found Laurie coloring in her bedroom. "Looks like it's just you and me tonight, Laurie," I spoke then, sitting down on the ground and leaning against her bed frame. "What're you coloring?"

"Star Wars," she answered, resuming sticking her tongue out to focus soon after. I nodded and then proceeded to pull out my own homework to do. There wasn't too much, thankfully.

Two hours later, I realized Rebecca and Will had picked an awful night to leave the house. A bad storm had hit Forks, effectively waking up Laurie and sending her screaming through the hallway to my bedroom. "Aunt Val! Aunt Val!" she shouted, hopping up onto my bed and shaking me even though I was already awake. Another bolt of lightning elicited another shriek from her, her little arms wrapping around me tightly.

"It's okay, it's just a storm. We're inside, nothing can hurt you, Laurie," I cooed then, wrapping my arms around her, too. It seemed fate hated me, though, for then the lights flickered and then went out completely. I'd never hurt a little girl scream so loud. "It's okay, I promise. The power just went out." I grabbed my phone then, turning the flashlight on and handing it to her. "Go down stairs and sitting on the couch, okay? I'll be there in just a moment, I promise."

"Okay," she returned tentatively, walking slowly out of my room and down the stairs, my phone held out in front of her like a beacon.

I got up from bed then, pulling on a bra and feeling my way around the house to find a proper flashlight. By the time I made it to the living room, I'd found three flashlights, a lighter, and four candles. I set up and lit all four candles in the living room, then lit up all of the flashlights. Though the room was still shadowy, there was some clear light in the living room. At that point I could see Laurie sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest, hands clutching my phone tightly. Her gray eyes were watching me with a scared expression; clearly power outages didn't happen too frequently around here.

"Hey, Laurie. I know I already told you a story tonight, but do you want to hear another one?" I asked then, sitting down beside her and raising a brow.

"About Gideon?" she probed, moving to sit on my lap and straddle my waist with her little legs.

"Nope, not this time. About your grandma, my mom," I spoke gently then. Her expression lit up then. No one talked about my mom or my dad around her. She knew even less than what I knew about Will, which just broke my heart. I'd wanted to tell her stories of Mom before, but I'd never had the courage. It seemed now was better than never, though. "Okay. I used to play outside a lot when I was younger, just a little older than you. Your grandma only had two rules for me. One, I had to be home by supper. Two, if I ever heard thunder then I was to run home, no matter where I was or what I was doing," I began to explain, a small, nostalgic smile taking over my expression.

"So there was one day when I went out exploring. I'd gone pretty far from home, too, further than I'd ever gone before. I was alone this time, too, not with any of my friends. I saw dark clouds moving across the sun, but I didn't think anything of it. I was just so excited to be outside. Then I heard thunder. Loud, rolling thunder. The kind that makes the ground shake a little. You know the kind?" When Laurie nodded, enthralled with the story, I continued.

"Well, I wasn't smart. I wanted to explore some more, so I didn't go back home. I ended up caught in the middle of a storm outside. I got really scared, too, because of all the lightning, but the rain was coming down so hard that I couldn't find my way back into town. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the storm. Now, your grandma was terrified. She could've stayed inside though, but you know what she did? She was a hero that night, and ran out into the storm. She went searching for me for hours, and finally found me. She took me home. Guess what? The next night, we found out that a huge tree had fallen right in the area I'd been exploring in. I could have died, but your grandma was a hero."

"Wow! Grandma saved you?" Laurie asked then, leaning in closer to me with wide eyes.

"Yep, she sure did. She always acted like that, though, totally selfless. She always did right by her family, that was for sure. And she was brave, too. She could get scared, but she never let that fear rule her," I explained then, "And guess what?"

"What?" Laurie asked then, enthralled by my words. I felt a lump forming in my throat through the story and I was sure my eyes were glassy with unfallen tears. Despite this, though, a smile remained on my face. I missed Mom, but was so proud to say I knew her.

"You remind me so much of her," I spoke, brushing some of Laurie's hair out of her face. "You're selfless, and kind, and so, so brave. She could do anything she set her mind to, and so can you. Never forget that, okay?"

"Okay!" Laurie spoke, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. The storm continued on, and Laurie still jumped, but she didn't scream again.

"C'mon, let's get to sleep, okay?" I offered.

"I don't wanna be alone," she murmured then, gripping onto my t-shirt.

I watched her then. Never would I have guessed that I'd be good with kids. It came pretty naturally, though, which I supposed was a good thing. "How about we have a slumber party in the living room, okay? You go get your sleeping bag and pillow from your room, and I'll get us plenty of blankets."

When Rebecca and Will would return the following morning, they would find Laurie laying in my arms in a pile of blankets on the living room floor. It wasn't comfortable by any means, but if it helped Laurie get to sleep, then I would do it.

Surprisingly enough, that was the first night since I'd arrived in Forks that I didn't have a dream about home.