A/N: Sorry it's been so long! It actually wasn't my fault though. This chapter has been sitting, ready, for near a week now, but suddenly had an issue with me posting new chapter to here, and wasn't letting me :S I don't know why, but it was very annoying lol. This is a bit longer chapter to hopefully make up for the lateness. My life is taking a serious turn for the hectic-ness, fair warning.

My sincerest and greatest thanks to RANDOM COOKIE NINJA, brightglo, scbear7, TempusSimia, kikikiki, FallenAngelx3 and 3DWishes for their wonderful reviews. You guys and your support are what keep me going ^.^

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Ten: I Lied

When I finally got the guts to sneak out of the bathroom and back to my room, Leah was gone. I cringed and mentally slapped myself. What was with me, seriously? I was going to give myself whiplash with my recent moods.

I refused to think I was out of line in any of this-I had enough guilt placed on myself as it was. But it wasn't Leah's fault either. I had a right to my point of view and my desires and how I lived my life. If I didn't want countless ties to the rest of the world, then that's my prerogative goddamit.

I sighed, dropping my damp towel on the floor, not bothering to hang it up. It probably wouldn't dry in this rotten weather anyway. Why did my life have this uncanny ability to make everything so complicated? Nothing seemed simple anymore.

I ran a brush roughly through my damp locks, scowling at my reflection as they became tangled and wavy. It always did this when it was wet. I didn't really like the curls, they were more annoying and harder to contain.

I huffed, dropped the brush and twisted the offending locks up into a high pony tail, didn't really help since some strands immediately fell loose and hung down the sides of my face. I traced my jaw line, tilting my head so I could get a good look at every part of my face and neck. I'd been lucky so far, ironically enough, and not had any scaring on my face where it was practically impossible to hide.

"Tsk, tsk, not turning vain are you, Evie?" The voice made me jump and spin around. Was I that distracted by looking for scars, or was this place making me loose my touch so much that Sam could sneak up on me? Sam. His massive frame was standing in my doorway, watching my carefully with a small smile.

"Um, no. I'm a girl, I look in mirrors occasionally." I said, hoping it sounded light hearted.

He chuckled. "Are you coming back downstairs anytime soon? Or are you hiding up here?"

"I'm not hiding." I protested. "I showered, and did what I was told and got ready for the bonfire."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you were like other girls, but it still took you three hours to do that."

My eyes bugged out. "Three hours?" I groaned, how had I lost track of three hours? "Oh my god…oh well, at least I got out of half the work."

Sam laughed. "So you did, you'll be stuck with cleaning up though. Come on, we're about to leave."

I slipped my phone into the pocket of my hoddie and followed him out the door, muttering to myself. "Bugger,"

I was, literally, picked up and deposited securely in between Quil and Embry in the back of Sam's beat up old blue pick up. There were boxes and bags of snacks and pre-made dishes of food. I nearly died laughing when Georgia handed me a stick.

"If they go to touch it, or if they even look like their thinking of touching it, hit 'em. And make it hard." She said sternly, fixing the boys with pointed glares before climbing into Rachel's car with the other girls.

I waved the stick, which was a half inch thick piece of pine, around menacingly. "Hear that? I get to hit you."

"Only if we do something wrong." Collin declared nervously, his voice rising an octaval. We were silent for a moment, and then burst out laughing again.

"Ah, pup," Paul slung an arm around poor Collin's shoulder and ruffled his hair. "Don't be scared of the little girl."

"Oi!" I reached over and hit him across the knees with my stick. "Who are you calling little? I totally kicked your arses today!"

"I heard about that, did you really kiss Max?" Vincent asked, turning all interest back to me alone. Quil, he, Collin and Kevin hadn't been present. And they always liked hearing the story from the person who was mostly featured, even if it was the same as what they'd been told by someone else. Although, I wouldn't put it past those who were present to exaggerate.

"Yes, I really kissed Max." I said, my tone hinting at bored-ness.

"Wow." Kevin shook his head wonderingly. "But I thought…"

Jared hit him upside the head. "Shut up!"

I raised both eyebrows questioningly but no one brought forth an explanation, so I just rolled my eyes and took in the scenery. I went silent, content to just look as the green passed and the wind pulled at my hair, loosening strands to flick around my face and knot up. Content to drift into my own world as the boys talked and laughed loudly.

My body tensed as we turned up an all too familiar road, the one that led up to the traditional place of the bonfires, a little fact that I'd forgotten about until now. We passed a simple dirt turn off and my eyes unwilling followed it up until they landed on a simple faded yellow house, nestled neatly into the forest's edge.

My old home looked the way it had always looked, though now it was admittedly a bit on the over grown side. Had no one else moved in? Was it still really the same? I hadn't been back there since the day Mum took us away. Tash had been back there several times after he died, but not me. I'd gone to the funeral then let Mum take me straight back home.

The wind seemed to get colder all of a sudden and I hugged myself a bit tighter, snuggling into Embry's side since he was emitting that much heat. So were all the others, so squished between Em and Quil like I was should have made me hot.

Em shifted and looked down at me as I laid my head on his shoulder. "You okay, Evie?" He asked quietly, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulled me closer.

I nodded, chuckling softly, though I doubt he heard it over the wind. "Yeah, just cold, and your like a heater."

I felt more then saw him smile. "It's a Quileute thing."

"I know, like the appetite thing to." I tilted my head up and smiled at him. "I'm so glad I'm not full Quileute, if I ate like you guys do, I've be the size of a whale."

The boys all laughed and I puzzled over how they had possibly heard me. "I'm just gonna label you all weird, and leave it at that." I teased, shaking my head. "I'm in no mood to try and figure you lot out anyway, I've had enough headaches today."

"Who said you'd be able to figure us out, even if you tried?" Paul asked, he was always quick to leap onto possible weaknesses, which in my opinion, made him smart as well as an arsehole.

"Who said there was anything to figure out?" Quil added quickly, shooting Paul an annoyed look which was just shrugged off.

"I do." I stated, as if it were obvious, which it pretty much was. "There's something up with you guys, and I will figure it out." I looked at Paul pointedly as the pick up came to a stop next to the other cars. "I always win." I stood up and leapt out of the back, jogging over to the girls, leaving the boys in the dust, confused.

"Your not playing with their brains, are you?" My sister asked me as I skipped over to her.

"Who? Me?" I blinked innocently. "I wouldn't dream of doing anything to them."

"Just don't torment them any more, their crazy enough as it is without you helping." Rachel laughed and I found a new respect for her.

I grinned stupidly. "Okay, okay. I was only confusing them a teeny tiny little bit…it's so easy that I just can't resist. Has anyone seen Leah? I have some major sucking up to do."

"She's helping Sue." Emily told me with a smile. I seriously don't think I've ever seen her not smiling. "She's bringing the desert and plates and stuff."

"Oh okay. Why didn't anyone come and get me? I could've been making myself useful."

The five of them traded looks. "Well, we thought it'd be better if we left you on your own for a while." Kim said carefully, avoiding looking me in the eye.

I snorted. "Are you guys seriously that scared of me?"

"No." Tasha said immediately with a frown. "I just suggested that you might need a bit of cool-down time. I love you, Evie, but you can be a right bitch. And you were fighting with Leah. I think that's a pretty good indicator that you needed to be left alone."

"You make me sound like a temperamental wild animal." I muttered, though I knew she was probably right.

"But you can be helpful now." Georgia piped up, dumping another box of snacks from the boot of Rach's car into my arms. She sent me a smile. "These have to go on one of the tables that are supposed to be coming off Max's pick up."

I looked over to said vehicle, which was indeed loaded up with tables, but was not being unloaded. "I can be the supervising sergeant if you'd like." I said, perking up. "Things will be done in double time." Not waiting for a response from the girls I shouted to the boys. "Oi! You lazy, overgrown halfwits! Get your scrawny arses into gear and get the tables off that heap of shit. NOW!" It kind of scared me that I could imitate my ex-marine combat teacher so well. He was the type of person that just had to look at you and you complied with everything he said in favour of not being killed on the spot.

They stared at me, like everyone, and I narrowed my eyes. "Are you deaf as well as stupid?"

"Wholy shit, I knew she was nuts but that is just scary." I heard Vincent mutter to Brady, who had kind of paled.

"Hop to it!" I demanded, planting my hands on my hips. "We don't have all day! Maxwell, Paul and Kevin, get the tables off. Jared and Collin, unload all the food-devour one crumb and I'll have your hides made into mats. Quil and Brady, move all the logs around the bonfire. Embry and Vincent, build up the fire. Sam, help our beloved elder guests get comfortable. And Seth, next lesson: How to command a group of people, even as incompetent as these fools."

My apprentice shot to my side and smiled nervously at me, looking thankful that I wasn't directing my combat-marine persona at him. "What about Leah and…well,"

I finished for him. "Leah is fine. If the other one shows his annoying self, then tell him he's to clear this beach of every rock and stick. Now, onto your supervising lesson, it is by no means the easiest job. Organising other people to complete an operation is more difficult then being handed a single task to complete."

He nodded, taking it in and probably wondering if he was going to be the one to tell Black what his single task was. Probably also wondering if I was joking about it or not. I was half inclined not to be.

"While everyone else only has to think of this one thing, you have to think about every single aspect going on and be prepared for every problem you may encounter." I paused when there was a loud bang and a string of curses as Max dropped a table on Paul's head.

"Don't be such a sissy, Walker!" I all but bellowed. "Laurence, you prat, you break one of them and you'll walk back to get another one and pay for a new one!" Max looked at me with a small smirk, pleased at getting Paul, it faded to an obedient nod as he took note of my expression. "Don't any of you morons think that I can't watch you all at once either! Collin! What'd I say about eating the food?"

The poor kid actually spat out the marshmallow and retreated behind Jared for cover. Oh yes, I was good at this. This may not be exactly what most people aim to be good at but…well, I never said I was normal did I?

I sighed. "How you lot survive, I'll never know." Glancing at Seth I patted his arm comfortingly, he looked a little worried. "Don't worry, you've pretty much gotta be a complete arsehole to be really good at this. There's your Mum, come on."

As Sue's car pulled up, Seth and I trotted up to meet her and Leah. I threw myself at my best friend and crushed her in a hug. "I'm sorry." I said sincerely.

She just smiled a little and shook her head. "It's okay, you're you, and I happen to like you the way you are. I shouldn't be asking you to change."

I beamed and she looked around at the proceedings with narrowed eyes. "What on earth is going on? Are they all working?"

I nodded and waved off her surprise. "I decided to make up for all the work I missed out on before." I bounced over and hugged Sue. "Hi, Aunty Sue."

"So you decided to make the boys work double time?" Leah called to me as she grabbed the box of paper plates and bowls from the backseat.

"Durh,"

Sue laughed and kissed my forehead. "That's the spirit, how come you missed out on job, Seth?"

Her son shrugged and smiled boyishly at her as he grabbed the other esky of what I'm guessing contained the deserts. "'Cause she likes me,"

"He's got a job." I said, tugging on Sue's hand to come away from the car and any type of work. "I'm teaching him how to be a supervisor, that's the hardest job of all…excuse me." I took a couple of steps away from her and yelled. "WALKER! What the hell are you doing? Get off Laurence, right now!"

Paul had Max on the ground and was in the process of shoving his head in the sand. 'What has Max done this time? Blithering idiot.'

"He fucking started it!" Paul yelled at me. The rest of the boys were giggling like school girls and I saw bets being laid. Sam was just shaking his head.

"Well I don't give a fuck who started it, I'm ending it! Now get your arses up and finish setting up, then you can kick his arse into next week for all I care." Giving them the don't-make-me-come-over-there look that I used on Ben when he was being particularly stubborn, I escorted the Clearwater's down to the rest of the girls.

"Hi Sue, Leah," Emily smiled, somewhat tentatively at Leah. "We appear to be all sitting down, thanks to Evie."

"I have never in my entire life, met such imbecilic fools as these guys. And I know some really bad ones." I muttered, not really paying attention to what Emily was saying. "I swear, I'm going to wring some necks soon."

Leah laughed loudly, dropped the box she was holding on the ground and flopped onto the sand. "Couldn't have said it better myself. But, if you kill them, who you will turn into slaves?"

"I'll find someone." I said noncommittally. "Ateara! Bloody hell boy!" Maybe it hadn't been such a brilliant idea to put Quil and Brady together, there was a bit of difference between them and Quil was certainly stronger. Judging by the fact that the log he had just picked up single-handedly and handed to Brady had the younger struggling under the weight.

"What?" He asked innocently. "It'll build up his strength a bit."

"You're not supposed to kill your co-workers, you moron! The less people there are the more work you have to do." I snapped. "Listen up; you've got ten minutes to have everything ready. If you fail to meet this deadline, the consequences will be severe."

"Oh, I'm scared!" Kevin smirked.

"Don't tempt me," I said dryly. "Haven't I proved I can break the unbreakable façade you've got going? Seriously, I'll beat the crap out of you all before the days over. Ten minutes."

Georgia raised her eyebrows and smirked. "I'm envying you right about now. All we can do is yell at them and make them feel bad. But you, you can hit them and yell, you're lucky."

I snorted. "You could always kick them in the nuts. Don't matter who they are, so long as their male, that's bound to hurt like all hell. No blow is more fatal then it."

I heard all the groans at once and immediately they started yelling at me to shut up. I just laughed then stopped abruptly and glared. "Isn't there still work to be done?"

They went back to it, Sam I'd let off easy and after helping Billy and old Quil down he stayed with us, sending a smile my way. "I never knew you had it in you."

I chuckled. "I never knew you'd actually listen, came as a bit of a shock."

He grinned. "I find it kind of hard not to listen to that tone. Are you sure there's nothing you want to tell us? Little secret?"

I tried not to fall over. My heart rate skyrocketed, my breathing became irregular and my eyes shot to Tasha and Leah, half in panic and half accusingly. But both shook their heads ever so slightly. I swallowed my panic and fought to regain my calm and answer Sam.

"Whatever gave you the idea there was a secret?" I said, in what I was hoping was a confused, non caring tone.

He just kind of narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me and shrugged. "Must just be a family trait then."

"Yeah, maybe," I muttered, rubbing my hands over my face. 'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?' My mind yelled at me. 'What the HELL was THAT? Since when do you react like that? Are you trying to give yourself away, you stupid GIRL?'

I snapped at my mind, even my little inner voice was getting the better of me these days. I groaned out loud when he-who-shall-not-be-named-'cause-it'll-piss-me-off wandered down the road towards us. I leant my head on Leah's shoulder and waved in Seth's direction. "Go and give it its assignment, and I want a restraining order issued."

"You're serious about that?" He asked tentatively. "It'll take forever."

"Thus the point," I muttered.

"Who, Jacob?" Sue asked, confused.

Billy sighed. "What's he done to upset you, honey?"

Grumbling, I looked at him pointedly. "I'm sorry, Billy. But your son is a lunatic and I recommend mental help as soon as possible. And I really don't want to talk about what he did. In fact, I forbid it to be mentioned. Ever."

He heaved another sigh. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad…"

"Oh, I'm positive it was, and oh so much worse." I winced, smiling at Leah as she threw an arm around my shoulders. It felt like a weight had been lifted now that we weren't fighting. That's the best thing about true best friends. No matter what you were fighting about, you always made up and were right as rain again before the day was over.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Black hesitated a moment before deciding to head over to Embry. Clever choice. "Can't I just run?" I whispered to Lee.

She chuckled. "Don't be such a sissy, Hanson."

"Hey! Why are you copying me? Your not sticking up for Paul are you?"

She gave me a disgusted look. "Don't be stupid. Since when do you run from problems?"

"Since I'm not aloud kill this problem." I returned dryly.

She looked at me sympathetically, but it was gone faster then it came to cover it up. "It'll be alright, Evie."

I sighed, hoping to any and every higher power that she was right.

The night went surprisingly well; even more surprisingly was that I enjoyed myself. Black kept his distance, thankfully, I was sure I would've snapped if he'd tried to talk to me. He kept looking at me though. I felt his boring eyes into me nearly all night. It was unnerving, to say the least. And I just knew it was him, like his gaze suddenly had its own feel to it.

We talked and laughed and told stories, well, everyone else talked and laughed and told stories. I tried to distance myself as much as possible. It was impossible not to join in on the laughter though. I stayed around the elders as much as possible however. Then we ate and laughed some more, then it was time for the legends. The atmosphere changed dramatically and everyone quietened down and drifted back to the circle around the fire. Billy was chief, so he would tell them.

I remembered these. I remembered snuggling up to my Dad's side as we listened to Jacob's granddad tell them when we were young. I glanced over at the little toddler, Claire. She was Emily's niece and was currently perched on Quil's lap, staring at Billy with wide eyes.

I wonder if that's what I looked like on these nights. Tugging my hoddie closer I turned my attention back to Billy, whilst trying to keep warm and still breathe as I was squished between Leah and Tasha.

I listened intently, getting drowsier as the night wore on and Billy's lulling voice slowly sending me to sleep. Not in the bored way. He'd just started on how our tribe are the descendants of wolves when my phone vibrated wildly in my pocket, making my giggle softly as it tickled my stomach.

Muttering a bad phrase to myself I pulled it out and checked the caller id, well aware that Billy had stopped speaking and everyone was looking at me. I stood up, it was Maddy.

Tasha's hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. "Eva!" She hissed. "Put it away! You're being disrespectful!"

I pulled from her grip and matched her tone. "I have to take it! Excuse me." I jogged a few paces from the fire where I was hopefully out of earshot and answered. "Hey, Mads."

"Oh, Evie, thank god you picked up!" She said, sighing in relief. Her voice sounded muffled and there was a familiar noise in the background of helicopter blades and the buzz of the engine.

I narrowed my eyes and spoke in Portuguese in case we were overheard, couldn't be too careful around this lot. "What's going on, what's wrong?"

"I need you to do me a favour." She said quickly, speaking back to me in Portuguese also. "I know you're with your family but I really need you to do this, Evie."

"Of course, just tell me what's going on!"

"I need you to watch Ben for a while. I've got an assignment and Dan has been assigned on with me. I don't know what else to do with him. I need him to be safe…"

"Of course I will, Mads. When is Benny not safe with me? Of course I'll watch him, I love having him, when?" I interrupted her flustered speech.

"Now, I need you to be in Forks in half an hour, we're flying over."

"I'll be there. What's the assignment?"

"Africa, rogue gorilla group, well, more rogue then normal. Their after some high diplomates and they called in a favour and asked us to help." She said. "With their elections coming up its hell over there, I don't know how long we'll be gone."

"Not as bad as Afghanistan I'm sure. No one's madder then those barsteds." I muttered sourly, feeling the sting of my back at the memories of just how mad they really were. "Be careful, I'll see you for the drop in twenty-five."

"You too, see you then, sister."

I snapped the phone shut and jogged back to the fire, where there were some very confused faces.

"I have to go, I'm sorry." I kissed my sister's cheeks and looked at Billy apologetically. "Chief, I'm apologise," I brought my fist to my forehead in a sign of respect, speaking in our traditional language. "I have not forgotten." With a last smile I jogged up the beach.

"Evie! Wait!" Tasha yelled hopelessly.

"I'll be back soon!" I shouted over my shoulder. I sprinted up the sandy track to the cars and almost had a heart attack when a hot hand flew out and grabbed my forearm. "What do you want?" I snapped at Black as I recovered quickly, dropping out of my defensive stance. "I have to go!" I yanked my arm away and continued running.

"You said you could only speak Spanish, Italian, French, and Chinese." He called after me, sounding hurt and confused.

I almost ignored him and kept going, but at the last second I stopped and spun around. It was well and truly dark, and I could only just make out his outline with the shadows of the fire down below.

"I lied."

A/N: PLEASE READ! CONTAINS SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION! -And there you go, things are startin' to happen :)

Note, the Quileute language is a font that I found and downloaded off the net, it translates into "Chief, I apologise. I have not forgotten." I have no idea how they traditionally address and speak to each other, or if that is even the right language, but it'll do for now (-:

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had a tone of fun writing it and it's mostly just for the humour side of things. As I mentioned at the beginning, my life is really busy at the moment, and I'm having trouble finding time for everything. We're in the process of moving PLUS I've got a heap of assignments due and, overdue, but we shall not mention that, lol. I don't know when the next chapter will be, HOPEFULLY not to far away, but I thought I should let you know that, that's about the end of the important information, lol. It will be posted as soon as it's ready-permitting that allows it!

Please, please, please, PLEASE review! Your thoughts and support is the best encouragement and helps to keep the chapters coming (:

Lots of love,

Meg xx