Chapter 8

Shades of Green

I couldn't decide whether Mr. Harper was so into what he was teaching that he didn't notice that the majority of his students were sleeping in class, or if he was just past caring.

"Psst!"

I nearly jumped out of my chair. Mr. Harper glanced in my direction and I quickly pretended to be taking notes from the overhead. Once he looked away, however, I turned to glare at the boy next to me. He was definitely a native of the area, with the features of a Native American, tan skin and dark hair.

"What?" I hissed. Some of his friends were watching the exchange.

"I'm Justin and this is Matt, Tripp, and Rod." He said, introducing his little crew. Each of them did the little head-nod thing so characteristic of boys. It was something I have never been able to figure out how to do for the life of me. "So what's your story?"

"My story?" I replied, playing dumb. I was hoping that they would lose interest, but based on experience, the chances were slim.

"Yeah, you know, your name, where you're from, if you have a boyfriend back home?" He answered back with a flirtatious smile. Ick.

"I don't really see how that is any of your business." I replied with a fake smile. Okay, I know I was being unnecessarily mean, but like I have mentioned before, or you may have noticed, human boys just aren't my...type. I'm more of an undead kind of girl.

"Ahh, come on don't be like that. I won't bite." He tried again. I held back a laugh.

"It's not your bite I'm worried about." I replied, turning back to Mr. Harper's excellent lecture. I heard someone else laugh from across the room. I turned to see Justin glare over towards a very serious looking Wes.

The bell rang just as Mr. Harper was about to give the class 'the most important report they would ever have to write during their high school career'. I highly doubted that.

I escaped before what's his name and his posse caught up with me. I glanced down at my schedule and headed off towards the other side of the school. Luckily, I only had a class with Rod, who was the only one I could easily recognize due to his multiple piercings, and he didn't acknowledge me. Then I only had to catch glimpses of the others in the hallways.

The rest of the day was dull, like every other school I had been to. I had lunch with Claire, thankfully, and Anna, to my poor ears' dismay. Apparently, Melissa and Krista were talking again, in case you wanted to know.

Claire caught up with me in the hallway. "How was your first day?"

"It was like any other first day, I guess. Everyone was nice though." I replied, shrugging.

"Yeah. School will be school. Anyway, I have to go to tutoring today so we can talk later, 'kay?"

"What do you need tutoring for?" I asked. I was under the impression that she was in the top rankings of her class.

"I'm a math tutor for the middle schoolers." She explained.

"Oh, I see. Well, see you later then." I replied as she hurried down the hallway.

When I walked outside, there was no sign of Paul, so I pulled out my battered copy of Sense and Sensibility and sat with my back against a large totem pole that was just outside the front doors of the school.

"Hi." A voice came from above me. I was startled, but didn't jump. Years of experience, I guess. I looked up to see Wes standing over me. Wow, he had actually spoken. I'd been wondering if he was selectively mute.

"Hi." I greeted back, wondering why he waited until the end of the day to finally speak to me. He'd had plenty of opportunities throughout the day.

"Camryn, right?" He asked, sitting down in the grass beside me.

"Yeah." I said, still befuddled.

"How was your first day?" He asked. I noted the page I was on and closed my book.

"It was okay." I answered.

"What are you reading?" I held up the title for him to see. He nodded. "Haven't read it. Is it any good?"

"I think so." I replied.

"I noticed that you were sitting here for a while. So I was wondering if you needed a ride home?" He asked suddenly.

"Umm...," I looked around. Almost everyone was gone, and still no sign of Paul. I looked at my watch. It read 3:59. I sighed. "If you wouldn't mind. I guess my ride forgot or something." I was disappointed. Here I was, starting to believe that true love crap they were throwing at me.

"Cool. I'm right over there." He said pointing an old brown station wagon. Lovely.

We got up and headed over. That's when it dawned on me, the perfect opportunity to get some clues to my family's past. I slid into the front seat. The first thing Wes did after turning on the car was to switch on his CD player. It was a band I didn't recognize, and definitely not my taste. I held my tongue though.

"Do you know anything about a family that used to live around here? The Cullens, I believe?" I asked casually. He turned the music down.

"There are a lot of old rumors about them. Why do you ask?" He said, turning on the windshield wipers as it started to rain.

I shrugged. "Mr. Harper said something about them after I told him my name, Cullet."

"Oh, well, I think one of them was a doctor in Forks. No one around the Rez trusted him or his family. He and his wife adopted a lot of kids, though. And one of their boys ended up marrying the Police chief's daughter right out of high school. Then the whole lot of them left town." He answered.

"Turn right up here," I told him. "How do you know so much anyway?"

"My dad's a police officer. He works for Police Chief Swan. So he gets to hear all about how Bella, that's his daughter, and her husband are doing." He answered, turning right.

"Why didn't anyone trust them?" I asked, wondering how much the people on the reservation knew.

Wes laughed. "It's actually pretty funny. My grandparents have it in their heads that they were the 'Cold Ones' from the old Quileute legends." He laughed again. "It's all a load of bull if you ask me."

"Yeah, that does sound ridiculous." I replied, faking a laugh.

Wes slammed on his brakes. "Oh, shit!" He screamed. I jerked forward, the seatbelt wrenching painfully against my right shoulder blade.

"What the hell!?" Wes exclaimed, peering out the front window through the rain, which was getting heavier by the second.

I peered out too, my breathing hard. The shape of a man stood only a few feet away. He began walking up to the passenger side of the car. I rolled down my window manually, ignoring Wes' protests and violent language.

"What in god's name do you think you're doing? Were you trying to kill us?" I yelled angrily, my green eyes flashing in anger.

"Get out." Paul replied roughly. He was sopping wet.

"In this weather? You've got to be kidding me. I'll meet you at the Uley's." I answered, starting to roll up the window. He placed his hand on the window, making it so I was unable to roll it up anymore.

"Camryn." He said my name in a strained voice, as if he were trying to control himself. "Get out and I'll take you the rest of the way. My car is over there."

I sighed, knowing that I didn't really have a choice. "Fine," I answered curtly. "Sorry, Wes. Thanks for the ride." I gathered my stuff and slid out of the car. Wes was giving me a weird look.

"Are you sure you'll be all right? He looked kind of angry." Wes said, pointing to where Paul now stood beside his car, which I hadn't seen before.

"I'll be fine, he's just a bit moody." I replied, not really understanding why I was even making excuses for Paul's behavior.

"See you tomorrow!" Wes called pulling away. I hurried over to Paul's car. He was already in and had the door ready for me the moment I reached the passenger side.

"Who is he?" Paul asked, pulling out onto the road to drive the rest of the way, the whole half-mile.

"A guy I met at school. He offered me a ride when someone forgot to pick me up." I answered.

"Work ran late," He replied. "What's his name? Do you like him?" He had a more worried tone to his voice now.

"Wes, and yeah I guess I like him all right. He's nice...even though he has a very interesting taste in music." I shrugged.

Paul stayed silent, his hands gripping the steering wheel. "Wait. Are you jealous?" I smiled at the thought. I started laughing. He gave me a worried sidelong glance as we pulled up in the gravel driveway.

"What? If this Wes is what makes you happy then go right ahead. I won't stop you." Paul allowed, but it sounded like he meant the exact opposite. I laughed even harder.

"What are you laughing at!?" He asked, frustrated.

"You think I want to go out with Wes? Wes?" I answered, wiping a tear from my eye.

"Well, you said you liked him." He ventured, still very much confused by my reaction.

"Well, I like a lot of people. Besides, he's not my type." I explained, shaking my head at the thought of me actually being romantically interested in a human boy.

"Really?" Paul asked with a small smile.

"Don't get any ideas. I still don't not like you." I warned him sternly. He still sat there grinning like an idiot.

A knock on Paul's window brought him back to reality. It was Jared. Instead of waiting for Paul to roll down his window or opening the door he ran back into the house after Paul gave him a grim nod.

"What's going on?" I asked, noting the extreme mood change.

"Well, you know how I said that work ran late?" He asked.

"Yeah. Hold on, you didn't mean the auto shop, did you?" I so hoped I was wrong.

"No." He replied with a sigh.

"Oh my god. What's happened? Is everyone all right?" I asked in a panic.

"Everyone's fine." He assured me, squeezing my hand. "But Sam and Jake want to ask you a few questions. If that's okay with you?"

"What kind of questions?" I asked nervously, my stomach beginning to do flip-flops.

"You don't have to answer any that make you uncomfortable. I promise." He said. "I'll be with you the whole time. They're waiting."

I nodded slowly. "Okay." We got out of the car and instead of going into the house, Paul led me around the side to the old garage. Sam and Jake were waiting.