Hey Guys!

So, I just want to apologize for not updating for awhile.

I had this plan worked out so that I could update like every week since it's summer, but some things came up and that plan kinda fell apart.

So, I'm terribly sorry.

This chapter is a continuation from the last chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy it. I wrote this late at night so I apologize for any mistakes you see.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything except Rowan and Luna!

Enjoy!

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Someone once told me that you have to choose

What you win or lose

You can't have everything

Don't you take chances

Might feel the pain

Don't you love in vain

Cause love won't set you free

I can't stand by the side

And watch this life pass me by

So unhappy, but safe as could be

So what if it hurts me?

So what I break down?

So what if this world just throws me off the edge

My feet run out of ground

I gotta find my place

I wanna hear my sound

Don't care about all the pain in front of me cause I'm just trying to be

Happy

-Leona Lewis, Happy-

Rowan:

The first half of the school day flies by after Physics, and as the lunch bell rings I silently wonder what will happen. Luna and I both revealed our scars; revealed the pain we've endured. Inside, my mind is yelling at me for letting my carefully constructed walls come down, but my heart urges me to finally let some of this pain out.

Luna has done something that no highly paid professional therapist was able to do in months.

I don't feel like eating lunch today, and Luna silently walks beside me as we take our usual seats at our table. Luna's dark raven hair fell around her like a curtain, and she quietly rung her hands.

We're both still reluctant, and because Luna revealed her scars first, I can tear the rest of my walls down first.

Because I'm tired of carrying all this pain around like a thousand pound backpack I can never take off.

"I only cut my wrists for about six months. Some girl at a school I went to introduced it to me; she told me it made the pain go away" I said cautiously, careful to maintain an even voice.

Luna looked up, the dark curtain of her hair falling back, and her blue eyes locking with mine. She looked at me in curiosity and understanding. She knew my pain.

"….I was thirteen…Talon was just three years old, and it was a couple days after my birthday….We'd always had this tradition of sorts to just go out somewhere and spend family time together. Normally, as a young just-turned-teen family time would've been last on my mind, but my grandparents had just died so, family time became very important…" I began slowly; I took a deep breath.

Luna looked at me with wide eyes, all those questions she'd wanted to ask me were finally going to get answered. She didn't say anything; she just waited for me to continue.

"…We were going to IHop, and I was so excited to finally be spending alone time with my parents without Talon along to always need something or steal all of their attention. It was just another normal night, no different than the night before…" I said pausing as I struggled to keep my voice even.

"My mother was turned around in her seat, discussing plans on going to Florida for two weeks over summer break. My dad would occasionally add in his opinion, but otherwise remained focused on the road. Then…out of nowhere….s-some t-truck slammed into our car…we never saw it coming…" my voice was shaking as I struggled to regain control.

"…The car was knocked from the road, and we started rolling down this hill, seeming to hit every tree on our way down…the car just kept flipping over and over. I remember the car hitting a tree or something weird causing the car to go airborne momentarily before it came crashing back down…and I lost consciousness…" a few traitor tears had managed to finally break through; my voice was shaky, and wobbly.

"I woke up in the hospital, and my best friend's mom came into the room. She took one look at me, and burst into tears. She ran over to me, and pulled me into a hug, and just kept sobbing…I was confused, and had no recollection of what had happened. I remember her saying, "They're dead, Row.." and suddenly it hit me. Getting knocked off the road, the car rolling down this hill; everything…"

I couldn't see through the tears that clouded my vision. God, how long has it been since I've cried this much?

"…My dad was killed instantly from the truck that had slammed into his side of the car, and my mother died on the way to the hospital…I should've died too; I saw the wreckage; the car looked like a pancake. But, somehow, I pulled through. When I was released from the hospital, I was taken to the orphanage Talon had been placed in, and there I met Marissa who is our social worker. From there, we became foster kids, and that's why we're staying with Jack and Clara" I finished as I wiped tears away.

I looked up and saw that Luna was crying along with me. She wiped a tear away, and reached out a hand and placed it on my forearm and gave it a comforting squeeze. The simple action was better than any words she could have said.

Despite the tears, I managed a small smile because I felt a small weight lift from my chest.

Luna:

Oh how wrong first impressions are. The girl I thought Rowan was is not the girl sitting in front of me, currently wiping away tears. This Rowan understood pain and hurt, and knew what it was like to be an outsider. Her façade she put on when we first met was impressive and scarily perfected, and I don't understand how I could have managed to get her to stop the façade without even really knowing what I did.

A small wobbly smile tugged at the corner's of Rowan's mouth. Her watery green eyes were red and puffy, and her eye liner was slightly messed up. I felt a smile tug at my mouth because even though it was small, it was a genuine smile. Not the fake ones that looked scarily real.

I lifted my hand from Rowan's forearm and gently wiped my own tears away. Rowan moved her arm slightly, and I caught a glimpse of the small, thing white scars that were permanently etched into the skin on her wrist. They were faint, and could be overlooked if one wasn't paying close enough attention.

We aren't so different. And if Rowan can open up, then I can too…I know I said I never wanted Rowan to know, but…maybe if I open up, life won't be so hard anymore. If Paul proclaiming to want to protect me could almost make me spill my guts, then Rowan can know.

"I think at one point in my life, I had a normal happy life. I don't remember more than just a few fuzzy pictures in my mind, but at one point in time, I had everything a kid could want. I had a happy home…that is, until my father left when I was four. I don't remember much about the man, but I do know that when he was there everything was better…" I started slowly.

Rowan had stopped crying at the moment, and was now looking at me. She had no form of disgust on her face, and she didn't show any signs of suddenly running away, deciding that I was too messed up in the head.

This encouraged me to continue.

"…My mother didn't handle my father's abandonment very well. At first, she was depressed; always crying, locking herself in her room for hours on end, and occasionally drowning her sorrows with alcohol. My aunt had been staying with us, but she'd had to return home to Seattle or risk being fired. With my aunt gone, and my mother still lost to her depression, I had no one to take care of me. I made the mistake of disturbing my mother while she was locked up in her room….I just wanted something to eat…she was on the borderline between tipsy and drunk…"

Rowan's face looked pained, and knowing; she could see where this was going. Her green eyes were wide, and momentarily searched my face, taking in the make-up caked onto my face before her eyes snapped back to mine.

"I look more like my father than my mother, and when her drunken eyes landed on me, it was like what was left of her sanity just snapped. I remember her screaming obscenities, cursing my father's existence. That w-was the first time she hit me. I was four with a black eye and a bloody nose. My mother's depression turned to anger, and she took it out on me. Emotional, physical, mental—she attacked everything, leaving me to feel like less than garbage in more ways than one…"

Rowan was crying again, and I didn't realize I was either until Rowan placed a hand on my forearm much like I had moments ago. You never realize how much inner turmoil you have until you try telling it to someone else.

"…I watched a movie once on TV and the main character cut herself. I was seven, and started cutting my wrists. I could handle that pain. When my mother started bringing around trash for boyfriends, I was now not only her punching bag, but I was suddenly her personal maid. She was never around much except when she brought one of her boyfriend's home, or was ordering me to do something, or to simply go into a fit of rage and take her anger out on me…"

"My aunt came to visit when I was nine, and she had been unpleasantly surprised at the sorry state my mother was in. I can remember hearing them argue from my room. Their arguments always ended in my mother storming out of the house. My aunt was my only source of love and compassion, and I remember begging to live with her; after she walked in on my mother smacking me across the face, she immediately began to start filing for custody of me…"

How different my life might be, if I had gone to live with her.

If she hadn't died.

"…But, my aunt was diagnosed with cancer, and she didn't have the strength to take care of herself, let alone me. I was ten, and everything in the six years since my father's departure caught up to me, and I couldn't bear the thought of living in that house anymore. I tried to commit suicide, but my aunt found me before I could do serious harm to myself. A month later, my aunt was in the hospital because she was so weak from the cancer that had spread throughout her body…it was a fast growing cancer, and they'd found it too late for the chemo to do anything…"

This was the worst part. The death of the only family I ever loved.

"…I was beside her, holding her hand when she died. Before she died, she made me promise that I would stop cutting myself and never try committing suicide again. It was hard at first, but I did stop, and I stopped thinking about killing myself. Nothing at home changed, but life at school got better when Paul forgot my existence. It was tolerable. Because Paul stopped humiliating me in public, people forgot about me, and I kept it that way" I said ending my life story in a less complicated nutshell.

Rowan was still crying, and I was too for that matter. I felt myself jump when the late bell rang officially signaling the end of lunch, and I realized that we were the only two left in the cafeteria. But, I couldn't bring myself to care about that at the moment.

Rowan:

After lunch Luna and I went to class late, and were scolded by our teacher and given a warning. My classes went by in a blur until it was time for gym. We had a substitute teacher, so we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. Luna and I spent the class period sitting in the bleachers working on our Pre-Cal homework.

About halfway through the period we took a small break, and I realized that Paul, Embry, and their friend Quil were missing. Luna told me that Paul had been gone all day, but I remembered seeing Embry this morning. Luna said it wasn't unusual for them to miss several days in a row or suddenly leave.

Was it bad that I missed him?

When school finally ended, Luna and I walked home. When Luna and I parted ways, I watched her walk away with a sense of dread. I know I'd worry about Luna everyday from now on because I know what she goes home to now and there wasn't much I could do to help her. I could call the police, and she'd be put in foster care like me, but I don't know how well Luna would handle moving from home to home.

Sighing, I opened the front door, and walked into the living room where I saw Talon sitting on the couch watching SpongeBob. Jack and Clara were at work, Miranda went to Port Angeles with friends, and Autumn was at a friend's house.

Talon looked up from the TV and smiled at me, "Hey Rowan" he greeted.

"Hey bud, how was school?" I asked walking toward the stairs. Talon slid off the couch and followed me.

"It was fun! I made a hundred on my spelling test today! See?" Talon asked sitting himself on my bed, and pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket.

I gently tossed my backpack on the bed, and took the paper. The words were simple things, like cat, dog, like, need—you get it. Talon's sloppy writing was sprawled across the page with a "100 Good Job!" written across the top in red pen.

"Awesome, Talon! I'm proud of you!" I said ruffling his hair.

Talon laughed and beamed at me. "Did Clara or anyone call?" I asked setting his spelling test on my nightstand so I could put it somewhere to keep.

Talon nodded, "Clara called. She wants you to go to the store and get stuff to make spaghetti with for dinner and make it before she gets home" he said.

I inwardly groaned. Walking to the store was not one of the things I wanted to do today. It's times like these that I wish one of my previous foster parents had let me get my driver's license.

"Did she leave money for me?" I asked.

Talon nodded, "It's on the table in the kitchen" he said.

I sighed, "Okay. Go put your boots and rain jacket on, and let's go" I said.

Luna:

For some reason, instead of going directly home like I usually do, I decided to go to the beach. It'd been an emotional day, and the beach was one of the places that held happy memories that weren't tainted by my mother.

I hugged my jacket closer as the wind picked up a little bit, and gently let my backpack drop onto the sand before sitting beside it. There wasn't anyone around for as far as my eyes could see. The dark gray waves gently washed up onto shore, and I was suddenly hit with the urge to stand in the water.

Gently, I tugged my rain boots off, and then my socks leaving me barefoot. I slowly got to my feet, and walked to the edge of the water, and watched as the water washed up around my ankles. Chills ran up my spine, and my jeans got a little wet. The wind picked up again, and lifted a few strands of my dark hair.

For the first time in a long time, I was at peace. My body was relaxed, and my mind wasn't troubled. The feeling was so foreign to me. The last time I'd felt this was when my aunt had decided to take me away from this hellhole before she died.

That felt like a lifetime ago.

"Luna?"

I turned my head, and to my surprise I saw Paul walking toward me. I felt my eyes widen, and my cheeks turn several shades of red. Paul was in nothing more than a simple pair of old fraying khaki shorts. I quickly averted my eyes from his chest and instead looked at his eyes.

"Uh…hey, Paul?" I blushed again from how dumb that just sounded.

Paul looked at me, "What're you doing out here?" He asked.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You don't look sick…although, you might get sick if you don't put on more clothes" I said.

Paul chuckled, "Don't worry about me, I don't get sick easily" he said.

"Then why weren't you at school?" I asked my curiosity getting the better of me.

Paul smirked, "Miss me already?" he asked playfully.

I felt my cheeks redden again, and I mentally cursed my pale and easily blush-able skin. "N-No…I was just c-curious" I stuttered. Way to go Luna, because that sounded so convincing.

Paul laughed, "Whatever you say, Angel" he said. (A/N: I know it's a common nickname, but for some reason I can just see Paul calling Luna that)

My eyes snapped up at the nickname. My cheeks turned a bright red, and my stomach did a few nervous flips in my stomach. A sharp cold wind blew suddenly, cutting through my jacket like a cold knife, and I feel myself shiver. Paul notices, and steps closer to me and I can feel his abnormal body heat radiating off of him. I gladly welcome the extra warmth.

"S-So, w-why did you miss school?" I stuttered feeling my cheeks redden more. I'm sure I looked like a tomato now.

Paul shrugged, "I just wasn't feeling like going to school today. I had some stuff to do" he said.

I gave him a look, "And that requires you to run around half naked?" I asked.

Paul let out a bark of a laugh at my question, and I found myself smiling too. Then, it dawned on me that I was actually having a civil conversation with Paul and I didn't feel the urge to run far away from him.

It actually felt, dare I say it, nice talking to him.

Rowan:

The small store in La Push was practically deserted except for the old man at the front with the cash registers, Talon, and myself. A small plastic basket hung from the crook of my arm with a few assorted items for spaghetti. I was currently trying to reach the cans of spaghetti sauce which was oh so inconveniently placed on one of the top shelves out of my reach.

Talon watched as I failed to reach the can, occasionally laughing when I would try to jump and grab it and fail. Huffing, I pushed a stray curl out of my face, and glared up at the red cans that silently taunted me.

I felt my eyes widen when a tanned hand suddenly reached up, and effortlessly grabbed a can of the sauce I'd spent the last three minutes trying to get. I looked to my right, and saw none other than Embry beside me. He met my gaze, and offered me the can. I gently took it.

"Embry?" I asked.

"Hey Rowan" he greeted.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"I had to pick up a few things for someone" he said gesturing to the flour and three cartons of eggs in his arms.

"Oh" was my brilliant response.

Embry chuckled, which caused me to blush a little bit. "Why'd you leave school early today? I didn't see you in gym" I asked.

"Something came up, and I had to leave early" he said.

"I'm sorry" I blurted randomly. I felt my eyes widen slightly from my outburst, and I was tempted to slap my hands over my mouth.

Embry gave me a look, "For what?" he asked.

"I shouldn't have run away like that this morning, especially since you've been really nice to me the past couple of days, and I run off when you were just concerned for me…" I rambled.

"You don't have to apologize for that, Rowan. I shouldn't have pried" Embry said.

"No, no…you weren't prying at all…I'm just not used to people…actually caring" I said quietly looking away from him, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

Embry gently reached out, and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear which caused me to look at him again. His hand lingered a second longer than it should; my stomach flipped nervously and my cheeks turned red in a blush. "It's not wrong to let people be concerned for you and actually care about you, Rowan" he said gently.

"I know…it's just something I'm not used to" I said quietly.

Embry gave me a look, "I'll always care, Rowan" he said.

I could tell he meant it, and that caused me to blush again. Maybe it was the sincerity of his words or the look on his face—maybe both—but that invisible force tugged at my heartstrings again, and I was tempted to break down again and confess everything to Embry.

First Luna, now Embry?

A small tugging on my jacket brought me back to reality, and I looked down to see Talon. His green eyes looked up at me innocently, "Rowan? Can we go now? I'm tired" he said.

I looked down to Talon, "Okay, we'll go" I said.

I looked back to Embry, "I better be going. I have to make this dumb spaghetti, and I want to get back to the house just in case it decides to rain" I said.

"Rowan, can you give me a piggy back ride? I don't want to walk all the way back" Talon said pouting slightly.

"I can't carry you and groceries" I said which caused Talon to pout more.

"You walked here?" Embry asked.

I looked back up at him, "Yeah…I can't drive or anything…so I had to walk" I said feeling slightly embarrassed again.

"I can give you a ride home" Embry said.

"I don't want to bother you more than I already have…" I mumbled looking at the floor.

A warm calloused hand gently gripped my chin, and lifted my head so that I was looking at Embry again instead of the floor. My cheeks flushed again, and my stomach felt like it was doing summersaults. "You're never a bother Rowan. I would feel much better dropping you off and knowing you're safe, than worrying if you got home okay" he said.

"O-Okay" I stuttered.

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I'm not too crazy about how I ended this chapter, but I couldn't think of how to contiue it.

I hope you guys enjoyed the Paul/Luna and Rowan/Embry moments.

As of this chapter, you're going to see a change in the way Luna and Rowan act towards the boys, and now that the girls have opened up to each other Paul and Embry are going to start coming into the story way more.

Also, before I forget, I want Embry to have a nickname for Rowan, but I can't think of anything. So, if you guys want, you can leave any ideas in a review or PM me.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Review?

Please?