*Big thanks to mama23keiki for beta-ing!*

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Chapter 5 – Escape from Forks

Regan

Day two. Here we go… I thought to myself as I pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail. I groaned when I spotted the large circles under my eyes.

I spent half the night lying awake in my bed, worrying about the wolf that I had heard in the yard earlier. That was something I definitely hadn't experienced in the city. The bone chilling noise echoed in my ears all night as I envisioned huge, hairy beasts lunging at me with their razor like, blood covered teeth.

"Stupid," I chided myself, smoothing the hair away from my face. Observing my long, dark brown hair in the mirror, I was glad that I had tossed the idea of cutting it months ago. I was never a 'short hair' kind of girl and my thick locks were one of my few attractive features. My hair was parted to the side and it usually hung over at least one side of my face to hide my plain green eyes. I was short too, so that paired with my mediocre looks made me utterly forgettable in my opinion.

I ate breakfast with Charlie in agreeable silence. My aunt Renee had never said much about Charlie in the few times I had seen her growing up, so I really hadn't known what to expect. She didn't speak of him like women typically did their ex husbands; full of bitterness, regret, and dislike. No, what she said about Charlie had been short but complimentary. I liked Charlie; he was easy to deal with. He didn't ask many questions; he didn't pry; and most importantly, he didn't make me feel like I needed to be making polite conversation when I was with him. Sue was a bit harder. She was always asking questions, smiling, and trying to get me to open up – I could already tell she was going to be a piece of work.

"I'm taking you to school. Sue had to work early," he said gruffly, placing his empty coffee cup in the sink. I nodded, picking up my backpack and following him to the driveway. I paused nervously before climbing into his slightly rusted police cruiser. The last time I had been in a police car was after I had gotten caught using my mother's stolen credit card and it hadn't been a pleasant experience.

Charlie noticed my pause and shook his head. "It's just a car," he muttered, bringing it to life with a turn of the key. "People hate riding in these things. Bella always used to, anyway."

I looked over at him as he spoke her name. Something about it just seemed…sad. I waited a few more minutes into the short ride before bringing it up again.

"Do you miss her?" I asked finally. He rolled down the busy street in front of the high school. He nodded at several people as the car rolled to a stop in front of the building, and nodded his head curtly.

"I do. But it's nice to have you around. And Leah and Seth."

"Sue has a son?"

"Yup," he said, squinting up at the sky through the glass window. "Bella visits…" he trailed off, glancing back down. I watched his face as he spoke of her, and it seemed pained somehow.

"But?" I prodded. I knew I was being rude, but I wanted to be nosy. I really wanted to know more about that girl in the picture.

"Nothing. She…she's married now, with a…family," he said, choking out the words.

"She does? How many kids?" I asked. At this point, I was just avoiding school.

"Uh, just one. Say, isn't that first bell gonna ring here in…oh…three minutes?" he asked, looking at his watch. I glanced down at my cell phone in my hand, frowning.

"You know the bell schedules at the high school?" I asked in disbelief. Charlie looked chagrined for a moment, then nodded shortly again.

"Small town. Truancy. Got a job to do," he replied gruffly, looking over at me. I bit my lip, looking over at him. There was something strange about the way he changed the subject that I wasn't sure I understood. It was almost like…he didn't want to talk about Bella?

I wasn't sure, but I didn't have much time to worry about it either. The bell rang, signaling that I was already late for my first class.

"You'd better go…don't want you to be too late," Charlie muttered, nodding toward the building.

"Fine," I muttered, stepping out into the light drizzle that had begun to fall. Charlie rolled down the window to the cruiser to speak.

"Tell Mr. Kirk that I was running late," he said. I froze, realizing that Charlie knew the name of at least one of my teachers, and even that I had him first period. Maybe I should give Charlie more credit that I have been. My stomach twisted a little bit as I realized that getting anything by him would most likely not be an easy feat.

I gave him a weak smile and turned towards the building, glaring upwards at the sky. Did it ever stop raining here? Heaving a sigh, I slung my book bag over my shoulder and made my way to my first class. I didn't even really care if I had the right books at this point.

School dragged by again and I talked to even less people today than I did yesterday. I saw Claire again, but she didn't even see me this time – she was too busy talking and laughing with a group of girls as they flounced down the hallway. I felt more like an outsider than ever.

At lunch, I made my way to the cafeteria and looked around for an empty table. Crap, there were none. Every table had at least one or two other people at it, meaning it would be impossible for me to sit alone again.

"You can sit here," a voice said. I looked over to see two girls sitting at the same table I had claimed the day before. It had been the only empty one available.

"Oh, uh…thanks," I mumbled, tossing my book bag on the ugly cafeteria floor. I pulled out a chair, setting down the bagged lunch that Sue had packed for me, making sure I was sitting a safe distance away from my company.

The first girl noticed and giggled quietly. "We don't bite," she said flatly, then glanced at her friend. "Well, Courtney does," she added with a snort. The other girl shoved her in the shoulder, and then glanced up at me.

"I'm Mackenzie…but call me Kenz," she said, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Courtney," the other echoed. Both girls were dressed fashionably, albeit a bit racy for school in my opinion. It wasn't that I cared though; I just had heard that 'no cleavage at school' speech from plenty of principals and teachers over the years. Kenz had blonde hair that looked like it had been dyed too many times, judging by the looks of her dark roots. Courtney had dark brown hair that was perfectly styled and coiffed around her pale face and too large nose. Neither girl was particularly good looking, but that was masked by expensive looking clothes, dyed hair, makeup, and jewelry. I looked down at my own outfit self consciously; black skinny jeans, plain black flats, and a red sweater. Not exactly the epitome of cool compared to these girls, but did I care? Suddenly, I did. They were dressed to the nines and here I was in my dorky sweater. Great.

"So you must be new or something," Courtney prodded, looking over at me. Mackenzie, or Kenz, continued to sit next to me, twirling her dyed hair and looking bored.

"Yeah, I uh…started yesterday," I said, opening my sack lunch. I winced when I pulled out a sandwich with a smiley face written in permanent marker on the top of the baggie. Super.

Courtney glanced down at my food, snorting to herself, but said nothing. Kenz followed her gaze, her eyes widening at Sue Clearwater's obvious attempt to ensure that I had no friends – ever.

"Yeah, we were…gone, yesterday," she finally said. Courtney giggled, and Kenz soon joined in. What was I missing?

"Oh?" I asked hopefully, suddenly curious where kinds went in this po-dunk town to ditch. These two had a confident ere about them that told me they weren't wild about school and had no qualms about skipping most of it. These were people I needed to get in good with.

"We met some guys who kept us out pretty late…" Courtney breathed her eyes un-focusing slightly.

"Were they hot or something?" I asked awkwardly, looking over at Kenz. She nodded.

"Yeah, they were from La Push."

"Am I supposed to know what that is?" I asked.

They explained to me that it was a reservation for a local tribe that was located a short distance from Forks and when the boy selection got meager here, they would drive up there to hang out sometimes down on the beach. Apparently they had met some boys there a few nights ago that had interested them and they had been invited to a party this weekend. Bingo.

They extended the invitation to me, and it included a promise for beer and boys. I didn't really care for either one of these girls, but I was determined to have a little bit of fun in this town. How else was I going to forget what had happened in Phoenix? I had been miserable there and I was determined to not be miserable here. And besides…beer helped forget things and not feel and I needed that right now.

When Friday finally came, I was grateful. I had made it a few more days without seeing or hearing from the awful wolf that had been outside my window and I felt better about school. I still wasn't crazy about Kenz and Courtney; however, they were friends, and I was in no position to pass up friends in this dead little town. There was literally nothing to do – there wasn't even a Wal-Mart, much less entertainment for a teenage girl. For the most part as I floated through the week. Sue tried harder and harder to get to know me and I felt bad for pushing her away – I just wasn't ready yet. Charlie was more my type with his quiet, gruff demeanor and few questions asked.

"Any plans for tonight?" he asked me at dinner. I looked up at Charlie over my green beans and nodded. I was raised a vegetarian and my wacky mother had insisted I eat all organic foods for most of my life. By age sixteen, I was pretty used to it.

"Yeah, uh…some girls from school asked me to go to the movies. They're picking me up at 9," I lied. We were really going to La Push to a party that one of the hot guys they had spoken of was hosting. I felt bad lying to Charlie, but….I wasn't stupid. He was still a cop. He wouldn't let me out of the house if he knew what I had planned.

"Little late to go for a movie isn't it?" he asked. I shrugged, thinking quickly.

"No, um...a new movie came out that we really want to see and we just wanted to avoid the lines," I answered hopefully, giving him my best 'trust me' smile. He nodded, scooping up more meatloaf.

"Just…be careful. Call if you're going to be out after midnight."

"Do I have a curfew?" I challenged slightly, raising an eyebrow at him. Charlie was stern but I was quickly learning that he wasn't as stern when Sue wasn't around. She was working late and doing inventory at the Piggly Wiggly bakery tonight, leaving me and Charlie leftovers in the oven for tonight.

"No, just…try not to make it too late?" he kind of asked and stated at the same time. I nodded, looking back down at my green beans. Suddenly, I wasn't very hungry after lying to Charlie.

I got ready fairly quickly after we finished eating, throwing on jeans and a simple black top. I tried dressing it up with one of the few necklaces that I had brought with me, and slipped on a pair of black boots to finish that off. I pulled my wavy, dark brown hair out of the messy ponytail that it had been in all day, fluffed it, and decided to just let it hang down. I completed my look with some lip gloss, dark eye shadow, and some black eyeliner to complete the 'dark' look. The past week had been so stressful that all I really wanted to do was get my hands on some alcohol and throw it back as quickly as possible to help myself relax.

I didn't really like the taste of alcohol but I have to say I'm pretty crazy about the way it makes me feel; all numb and fuzzy, like nothing matters. When you're drunk or high, things just don't hurt as much.

I waited at the window that had a clear view of the street, knowing that I would see Kenz's car as it turned onto Charlie's road. After a few minutes, I saw her little black Pontiac pull onto Charlie's street and I bolted downstairs before Sue had a chance to come home and ask where I was going.

"Have a good time," Charlie muttered, glancing up at me as I raced out.

"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder, slamming the front door shut. I grinned when I saw Courtney hanging out the window of Kenz's car, motioning wildly for me to get inside.

"Come on!" she hissed. "We're gonna be late!"

"Shh! Police chief, remember?" I laughed, climbing into the backseat. This was it; it was really happening. I was escaping from Forks for at least a little while. It had been a long first week, and I couldn't wait to blow off some steam. She sped off and raced along some back roads to an even smaller town, labeled by the mossy wooden sign, 'La Push'. I rolled my eyes as I saw the population count on the sign, resisting the urge to snort in disgust. How did these people survive and not go crazy seeing the same god damn people all the time?

Kenz pulled up to a small, cabin looking house that was off the main road. We walked inside out of the frigid air and my stomach was alive with nervous butterflies. Why was I so nervous? I could really care less what these small town people thought of me, but for some reason I wanted them to like me.

Courtney practically shoved me through the door when I paused, making me stumble slightly as I went through the door.

"Whoa, careful there," a deep voice said. I looked up, and I mean up, to a tall boy's brown face and white teeth. He grinned at me, catching my elbow before I could fall to the ground.

"Sorry," I mumbled, dropping my eyes. We walked into the loud little house that was crammed with people talking and laughing over the music that was playing. It was a small place but extremely warm in both temperature and atmosphere; as soon as we walked in, we were surrounded by several dark skinned, bright eyed boys that were huge.

There must be something in the water up here…Jesus! I thought, looking at all of them. There had to be at least ten gargantuan sized boys in the room, all with the same tan skin and rippling muscles that were clearly visible through their shirts. We weren't the only girls there; in fact, several of the girls that were already there tossed us a few dirty glances when the boys started talking to us.

"No one's driving, right?" one tall boy asked, looking at the three of us. I glanced nervously at Kenz, who was shaking her head 'no'. I had a feeling she was lying just to get the red plastic cup out of the boy's hand, but I wasn't about to let that stop me from having some fun for tonight. He smiled and handed us each a cup full of beer which I downed immediately. He just flashed his white teeth at me and laughed, handing me another one.

"Got any pot?" Courtney purred at one of them. A sterner looking boy stepped forward, shaking his head.

"No, no drugs. Just beer tonight girls," he replied, brushing his slightly shaggy hair out of his eyes.

One of the other boys glared at him and shoved him on the shoulder. "Geez Embry, lay off it already," he laughed. The shaggy haired boy winked at Courtney, who giggled to herself at the attention. I tried not to roll my eyes at her. Kenz and Courtney weren't really my favorite people in the world so far, but hanging out with them was better than holding down the fort with Charlie all night.

I continued to drink and make small talk with the tan-skinned boys around me, and then I saw him. He was tall, dark, and far more handsome than all the other guys there I had seen. Kenz and Courtney went off on their own to talk and flirt, leaving me standing in the kitchen next to the beer. He sauntered over to me, not taking his eyes from mine. He was perfect.

My breath caught in my throat a little as he finally made his way through the crowded kitchen to stand towering in front of me. I swallowed a little, taking in his dark, handsome features and spiky black hair. His dark brown eyes bore into mine, giving me chills of delight at the sudden new attention. He was single handedly the hottest thing I had ever seen and I couldn't believe he was even looking at me. Since when did guys this good looking even give me a second glance? This all seemed too good to be true.

He stepped closer to me and I could smell his spicy scent as I breathed in a little faster, trying to calm myself. Holding out his hand, he cocked his head to the side.

"You must be new around here; I've never seen you around."

I shook it, letting my arm tingle as he shook it. "Regan," I managed to stutter, staring into his deep brown eyes. He smiled, giving me a self assured flirtatious smile.

"I'm Brady."

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