Jamie looked herself over briefly in the bathroom mirror before hurrying down the steps to the kitchen. Emily was at the stove, while Embry, Liz, Collin, and Brady were seated around the table eating. When Embry looked up from his food he did a double take, and coughed, choking slightly on his food.

"You're not wearing that to school, are you?" Embry asked, looking her outfit up and down in a slight panic.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" she asked, looking down at herself. Normally, she wouldn't care what she looked like at school, just throwing on an old T-shirt and either jeans or sweatpants, and leaving her hair in natural waves. But, this was different. People knew her back in Port Townsend, she'd grown up in the same school district since preschool. But here, she was the new kid. She had the chance to make an impression here. To not be the girl who had a total of maybe three friends, who no one really saw outside of school, who no one knew what her home life was like. She didn't want to be the center of attention, but she didn't want to be the girl whose whole life was shrouded in mystery.

So, she had gotten up a little earlier than normal and straightened her hair, leaving the dark brown locks to shine in the light. And she decided to wear a white turtleneck that clung to her frame, while the neck flared out. Over it she pulled on a gray, denim vest, leaving it unbuttoned in the front. Lastly, she was wearing black skinny jeans and plaid Vans.

"Nothing, you look beautiful." Emily answered as she set a large plate of waffles in the center of the table.

"Exactly!" Embry exclaimed, looking back at Emily. "I know how a teenage guy thinks." he stated, pointing to his own head with a finger, "They're going to be staring at her and thinking things that I'll wanna beat them for."

Jamie shifted nervously as she wrung her hands together. "Should I go change?" she asked quietly.

Liz whacked Embry upside the head as she looked at the young girl. "Don't worry, Jamie, you look fine. Embry's just being an older brother."

Jamie smirked weakly as she took the only empty seat between Liz and Collin. The latter chuckled quietly, making her look over at him as she grabbed a bottle of maple syrup.

"What's so funny?" she asked warily. Collin smirked sideways at her.

"Oh, nothing. Just that Brady's demonstrating how all those guys are gonna stare at you."

Jamie looked past him to Brady, who was staring at her, his gaze looking her up and down. She blushed, her whole body heating up under his stare. She glanced at Embry, who was glaring at Brady.

Still blushing, Jamie turned to her food and started eating, trying to ignore the feeling of being stared at.

The back door opened and closed, and Sam came inside wearing only denim shorts, beads of water covering his entire body and dripping from his hair.

As he walked past the table, he patted Jamie's shoulder and shoved Brady's head down, breaking his stare, which Jamie was grateful for. He then kissed Emily on the cheek, taking a plate of food from the counter and starting to eat, leaning back against the edge of the kitchen counter.

"Excited for your first day of school?" Sam asked Jamie as he ate.

Jamie shrugged. "I actually was until someone made me second-guess my outfit choice." Jamie answered, looking pointedly across the table at her other older brother.

Sam followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow, not knowing what had happened moments before he came inside.

Embry sighed. "You look great, Jamie, I just…don't like the idea of other guys thinking that."

Liz, Jamie, and Emily smirked at his answer.

"Yeah, Jew, you look fine." Collin added with a smirk. Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"Um, what did you call me?" Jamie asked slowly, trying to figure out if it was some kind of insult or not.

"Jew." Collin answered casually as he took another enormous bite of waffles.

"Why?" Jamie asked warily, uncertain if asking that question was a safe idea.

Collin swallowed his waffles before answering, "Since you took Uley as your last name, your name is Jamie Uley. 'J', 'U'. Jew."

Everyone stared at him with looks suggesting they were all thinking the same thing. He's an idiot. Brady face palmed before he smacked his best friend on the back of the head.

"Ow! What?! It's clever!" Collin defended himself.

"It's not clever, you're just stupid." Embry pointed out as he stood up, taking his plate to the counter to put it in the sink. "I'm ready whenever you guys are." he added to the whole group as he went back to sit at the table. However, instead of taking his previous seat, he simply lifted Liz into the air, sat in her seat, and placed her on his lap. Liz tried not to smile as her cheeks darkened.

"Not fair, I just got down here." Jamie complained as she tried to eat quicker.

"School doesn't start for another forty minutes. You're fine." Sam reassured her as he glanced at the clock on the nearby wall.

Embry had offered to give Jamie, Liz, Brady, and Collin rides to school; Liz had a license and Brady and Collin had their learners permits, but Liz preferred riding with Embry while Brady and Collin didn't have cars of their own.

When everyone was done, they all piled into Embry's large pickup truck. Liz sat in the front passenger seat while Jamie squeezed in the back seat between Brady and Collin.

"Hey, Jamie?" Collin asked as he turned to look at her, "It just occurred to me, how is it you don't at least have a drivers permit, but you said you have a gun license when we first met you?"

Jamie looked down uncomfortably, and she noticed Embry re-grip the steering wheel as his fists tightened around it, his knuckles almost turning white. She shrugged noncommittally in answer to Collin's question, wanting the subject to be dropped.

"Col, shut it." Brady growled. Jamie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed he was shaking slightly as glared past her at his friend.

After an awkward five minute drive, they pulled into a small parking lot in front of a brick, one-story building. This school was a lot smaller than Jamie was used to back in Port Townsend, but she actually preferred that in a way.

"Great," Brady muttered sarcastically, "you mean no one burned it down yet?"

Jamie covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, and Brady smirked sideways at her before opening his door and waiting for her to get out after him.

They met up with a bunch of the people she'd met previously at Sam's place already, as well as a few others. Shawn, Scott, Josh, Quil, Bryan, AJ, Seth, Kori, Zack, and Alex were all waiting around Quil's car as they approached.

"Excited for your first day?" Seth asked Jamie, his arm wrapped tightly around Kori's waist.

Jamie shrugged. "Eh. Can't be that much worse than my old school, it's a lot smaller."

"Yeah, but heads up; everyone knows everyone around here." Quil warned, "Meaning, the second one person notices the new kid," Quil pointed at Jamie, "the whole school knows about you. Next thing you know, all these crazy, whacked out rumors start spreading around the place."

"Oh come on, what's the worst they can come up with?" Jamie asked doubtfully, crossing her arms over her chest. All the guys glanced among themselves, some with grimaces, making Jamie regret asking.

"Well…lets just say our group as heard quite a few rumors thrown around about us." Alex stated cryptically.

"Like what?" Jamie asked curiously.

"Well, our group as a whole has had several names; like the La Push Gang, hall monitors on steroids, the cult, Sam's Gang, you know stuff like that." Embry started as he looked upwards thoughtfully, "Also, when Liz and I first got together, her ex started a rumor that she cheated on him with me and got pregnant, so she dumped him for me," Liz rolled her eyes at that one, "Oh! Rachel Black works here, and there were rumors going around that the only reason Paul graduated was cause he was sleeping with her." everyone laughed at that as Embry continued, "Well, that might've been true, if he didn't graduate the year before she got a job here. So, obviously people are pretty stupid."

Jamie laughed at all the ridiculous things people actually thought about her friends and family. Did people honestly believe that crap?

Before Jamie could make her own comment, Embry turned to her. "We should probably go get our schedules from the office. I can help you find your classes and locker." Jamie nodded as she followed the group inside the building and to the office.

When she went up to the desk after the others, an older, obviously Quileute woman with graying hair smiled politely at her.

"What's your name, dear?" she asked kindly.

"Um, Jamie Uley." she answered quietly.

The woman tried to keep the curiosity off her face, but Jamie could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she flipped through the files of schedules. "Uley, huh? Any relation to Sam or Allison Uley?"

"Uumm…" Jamie glanced over her shoulder at Embry, who shrugged at her, silently telling her it was up to her what she wanted to say, "Uh, I'm Sam's sister."

"Huh." the woman still hadn't looked up as she skimmed through the paper. 'Seriously?! What's taking this woman so long?!' Jamie practically screamed in her head, getting impatient. "I didn't know Allison had a daughter."

Jamie refrained from rolling her eyes as she took the paper the woman held out to her. "I'm not Allison's daughter." she answered quietly before she left, ignoring the still-curious look the woman had on her face.

As she followed the others out of the office, Collin stated, "Well, that's the start of the latest LPG gossip."

Jamie looked at him in confusion before Brady leaned a little closer and whispered, "La Push Gang."

"Oh." she breathed as she looked down at her schedule.

"Hope you don't mind being looped in with 'Gossip Central'." Collin joked as they headed down the hall.

Jamie shrugged. "Not like I have a choice. You guys almost seem cool enough to be friends with." she teased. Before she knew it, she was in a headlock.

"'Almost'?" Embry repeated in mock disbelief, his arm pinning her in place, while probably using next to no strength, as he gently rubbed his fist into her head in a noogie. "What do you mean 'almost', Shorty? I feel insulted."

"Embry, let her go." Liz ordered sternly, though the fondness in her voice showed how much she cared about him, "It's her first day here, the last thing she needs is to go to her first class with her hair messed up. Next thing you know, people will start saying she 'did it' with someone in the Janitor's closet."

Brady and Embry both growled at that comment as Embry gently released his sister's head.

"Thanks." Jamie breathed in relief to Liz as she brushed her hair down.

"No problem." Liz shrugged as she came up beside her and took Jamie's schedule from her hands. "Lets see what classes you have."

The first class she had was math with Collin and Bryan. Second hour was English with Shawn, Brady, and Alex. Third was business with Liz, which apparently Rachel Black was the teacher of. Then she had lunch with everyone. Fourth hour she had gym with Kori, Seth, AJ, Collin, and Brady. Fifth she had study hall with Quil, Josh, Scott, and Embry. Sixth hour was history with Quil and Kori. And seventh hour she had science with Bryan and AJ.

Once she found her locker and put everything where it needed to be, the bell rang signaling they had to get to their first class. So, Jamie was off to math with Bryan and Collin. Wonderful…

XXX

A few hours later, Jamie was seated alone at a small table in the library, where her study hall was. There were about a dozen people in the room, most of them whispering among their friends when the teacher turned her back, but a few were working on some assignment a teacher decided to hand out on the first day, or reading a book. Since, so far, her teachers had been nice enough not to give her homework apart from the occasional syllabus, Jamie had nothing to do. So, she decided to look for a book to check out.

As she skimmed through the titles on the spines of the books, she tried to find something that peaked her interest. However, after almost five minutes, she was about ready to give up. Until something finally caught her eye. She pulled an old-looking book from the shelf. It was coated in a thin lair of dust that came off on her hands. She blew as much of it off as she could before she opened it and flipped to the table of contents. It was a book of the Quileute legends!

Jamie smiled as she skimmed through some of the legends. The Cold Ones, the Third Wife, Taha Aki…It was amazing!

Jamie's smiled widened as she closed the book and went to the desk to check it out. She fully intended on becoming more educated on her culture and tribe. After all, it's a part of her now.