CPOV:

The next morning, I had woken up earlier than intended and rolled my eyes at the sun already streaming in through the window. This bloody heatwave had to happen the same weekend I was forced to be with Jared. He made me hot and bothered enough without the added 85-degree heat that was estimated for today. I blushed slightly at that thought, the way I was drawn to him was ridiculous. I barely knew him and yet when I stood near him every molecule in my body seemed to want to get closer.

I shook my head and gave myself a once over in the mirror. I'd thrown on a white bathing suit under my white dress. The dress was cotton and loose-fitting, like an over-sized shirt, and fell loosely off my left shoulder. I piled my hair up in its standard messy bun on the top of my head and grabbed a pair of sunglasses. I threw a towel, a water bottle, and my book into a bag before sliding my feet into sandals and heading out.

It would take me about 15 minutes to walk to the Fisherman Memorial and I was running slightly late. I found myself a little nervous to see Jared again. He had so obviously been following me yesterday when I left school and I didn't like him questioning me about Tokala, it made me feel guilty.

T had called me yesterday evening and we spent over an hour on the phone. I apologised for not reaching out and he apologised for overreacting and ignoring me. He asked me to meet them later at the beach and I'd agreed. I told him what I was doing this morning and he was just silent. We had ended the conversation awkwardly, but I was relieved we'd at least got to some kind of agreement.

I rounded the corner of Spruce Street and went to cross the road, the memorial plinth directly opposite me. Jared was stood next to it, looking out across the Marina and out to James Island. He appeared to be in navy swimming shorts and a white T-shirt. The fabric stretched across his muscular back; his hands were shoved into his pockets.

As if he could sense me, he turned and his whole face broke out into a grin. It was so infectious I couldn't help but smile back.

I reached him in a few steps and stopped the other side of the memorial.

'Hey Kim,' he breathed, looking down at me. His eyes moved quickly up and down my body and I raised an eyebrow at him.

'You need to be normal, otherwise I'm going to have to just tell Mr Green that we can't work together and fail.' I tried to keep an annoyed look on my face, I didn't want him getting any ideas. Bullshit my mind told me.

He laughed lowly and met my gaze, I tried to avoid being sucked towards him by quickly blinking and putting my sunglasses on.

'I'll try to be normal Kim.'

He looked out to sea and then back to me, 'So, where do you want to start? Where holds the most significance to you on the Rez?'

I wrinkled my nose as we started to walk along the marina and into town.

'Nowhere really, I can't say that anywhere means that much to me here.'

He looked confused and I carried on, unsure why I was suddenly talking to him so readily. He was close enough that I could reach out and brush his arm with mine. He had silently moved to stand on my left, so he was next to the road and I was by the water.

'I just, don't love living here, I guess. I know I sound like a crap Quileute, but I don't really relate to many people that live here. I mean I respect the ancestors and I kind of believe in the spirits, but I don't feel the connection.' I shrugged and peered at him through my glasses.

Jared was staring straight ahead, his jaw clenched.

'You kind of believe in the spirits?' he asked me.

I sighed, 'Yeah I mean I'd love to believe them completely, to think they were watching over us all, but I just don't buy it. Why would they want so many of our people to just continue dead-end jobs, never really amounting to anything?' I bit my tongue, I had no idea about his family, what they did.

He didn't look angry, just confused.

'What do you mean?', he asked again, his voice softer.

'Jared, look at the years above us, look at our parent's generation. Married at 20, babies at 21, their kids go to school, date their childhood friends and the cycle continues. No one really does anything, no one goes anywhere. I just really don't want that life you know?'

I turned to him and the look on his face took my breath away. He looked tortured. As if I'd just told him that I hated Christmas, despised the elderly and spent my spare time murdering puppies. It made me want to take everything I'd said back and comfort him.

I pulled myself together. What the hell was going on? Yesterday I was trying to stay as far away from Jared as possible and this morning I was spilling my heart and soul out to him. It must be the weather.

He coughed and as soon as the expression had crossed his face it was gone again. He smiled at me, though this time it seemed more forced.

'So, are you planning on getting out of here straight after we graduate then?'

I shook my head, 'I kind of wish I could, but I can't afford it this year. I don't know if I even want to go to college, but I want to do something. I feel like I need an adventure, something different.' I paused, 'What about you?'

He scoffed and looked away from me again, 'I'm not even sure I'll be able to graduate at all, let alone go to college. I have lots of commitments here anyway.'

I raised an eyebrow again, 'Do you?'

Maybe he had a girlfriend, maybe he had already got someone pregnant. My chest constricted and I tried to ignore the panicky feeling in my throat. Get a grip Kim. Why do I care if he's with someone? I have a bloody boyfriend of my own.

He nodded wistfully, 'Yeah, I help with a kind of…protection on the Rez I guess. I'm kind of tied to it. I doubt I'll ever leave.' His deep voice appeared closer to me than before and I felt the back of his hand brush mine. Heat sprung from our hands and travelled up my arm and I recoiled, sweat forming at my hairline.

I moved further away from him and fanned myself with my hand.

'How is it so shitting hot at this time in the morning.' I hissed.

Jared laughed heartily. 'You swear a lot for a ...' he stopped laughing when he looked at my face.

'For a girl?' I asked him acidly.

Jared swallowed, 'No,' he started fumbling his words, 'Just…you're quite different from the girls I'm normally around.'

I looked down the main street as we rounded the corner, First Beach on my right. A couple of our fellow classmates were on the beach, seemingly having the same idea as us about the project this weekend.

'Good.' I said firmly, 'I don't want to be like them.'

Jared stopped when we reached the La Push Police Department and I realised we'd walked the length of Ocean Front Drive.

'So, there's nowhere you find special here, at all?'

I looked out over the beach and cast my eyes to the trail that led to Second Beach. I did like it there, a lot. But I hadn't visited that beach with anyone else. It was where I went to escape, alone. I hadn't even been there with T.

Jared followed my gaze and nodded his head, 'Second Beach?'

I nodded slightly, 'It's peaceful.'

He let out a breath. 'Yeah, it is. I go…running, near there sometimes.'

The way he said running made me look up at him. His face was showing no emotion however as he just stared back at me. He spoke again, 'I really like Second Beach, no one else from our class will pick it, let's head there.'

'There's nowhere else you'd like to write about?'

He laughed and just started moving down the trail ahead of me.

We said nothing as we picked our way down to Second Beach and along the sand to the shoreline. He stopped when he reached the water, and it was only then that I realised he hadn't been wearing any shoes this entire time.

I removed my sandals and let the ripples lap at my feet.

Jared was stood to the left of me again, staring intently at my bare shoulder, his face unreadable.

I felt the air change again, get hotter even. His gaze seemed to burn my skin, it sent waves of heat through my chest and up to my face. The feelings I got from just being next to him made me want to turn around and run. I could not fathom what was going on, the attraction to him was totally different to what I had felt towards to Tokala.

I mentally grimaced when I thought in past tense. Was I no longer attracted to T at all?

I cleared my throat and looked at the horizon, hazy in the heat. I was sweating under my bathing suit now, itching to get in the water but there was no way I was going to suggest swimming with Jared.

'I asked you if you wanted to write about anywhere else?' My voice came out slightly shaky and I cleared my throat again.

His smile was wide as he shook his head, 'No, I feel the opposite to you Kim. I feel connected to everything. The earth, the sand, the trees, the cliffs. It's like I can feel our ancestors in every part of the Rez.' He let his breath out and tilted his head towards the water.

I was shocked. I had thought I would find him saying something so profound, silly, but I didn't. Watching him stand there I understood it too, he even looked like how I imagined the first tribe. Unbelievably tall, strong, tanned, muscular. His hair was raven black and stuck up in different angles from where he kept tousling it. His skin was the colour of toffee, his face angular and hard.

He broke the moment by grinning at me again.

'So, what shall we do? Take pictures? Collect rocks? Pick up some…sand?' He looked around, running out of ideas.

I couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face and his eyes sparkled as he watched me.

We spent an hour or so roaming the beach, picking up interesting looking rocks and taking pictures of our surroundings. Jared told me a couple of stories about the beach, its significance to our tribe and I made mental notes.

I was shocked at how comfortable I felt in his presence. It was way better than when we were at school, freer. I wondered if it was because no one else was around. I felt trapped there, certain that someone would be talking about us, that I would piss someone off.

It was weird really, for someone who wanted to leave this town so badly, I really did care what people thought of me.

Jared seemed more at ease here too, less cocky, less intense.

The sun was high in the sky by the time we had finished, and it was beating down ferociously. I was aching to get in the water and swim, and I could see Jared kept looking at the shoreline too. I couldn't though. That would be too dangerous.

Jared seemed to read my mind as he quickly looked behind us at the trail and then back to me again.

'Well if we're all done here, we should head back.' I tried to make my voice harder, less like a question and more like a statement. My wall had slipped with him this morning and I didn't know why. It was like the second I had seen him earlier, I felt different. The pull towards him was getting worse and worse and my mind was racing.

I knew hardly anything about him. A week ago, he wasn't in my thoughts in the slightest and now I could barely stop thinking about him. Things were changing with T, with my friends. I felt that all aspects of my life had suddenly been tilted on their axes and the only common denominator was Jared.

He took a step towards me and I took one back, turning on my heel I started walking quickly towards the path. He didn't stop me, but I felt him close behind me. As we rounded the headland and descended towards First Beach, I noted my friends sat on towels spread out on the sand.

I heard Jared mutter something under his breath, but I didn't ask him to clarify. I took a deep breath and shook my previous thoughts from my mind and walked towards them. He followed me still.

When we reached the group, they all turned to look at me and I smiled.

'Hey guys.'

They all smiled and greeted us, but I could tell Jared was making them uneasy. Tokala was staring directly at him and Dakota kept glancing nervously between the two of them.

Jared smirked and folded his arms over his chest, making his biceps ripple as he drew himself up to his full height. I was almost convinced this was something he had started doing on purpose, whenever T was near.

I looked between the two of them and rolled my eyes, turning to Jared.

'Thanks for this morning. I'll see you in class.'

His eyes moved from T to my face then, and his smirk got wider. 'Well we still have to write everything up, much easier to do that together don't you think?'

I narrowed my eyes at him and ground my teeth, 'Fine. At school.'

He shook his head again, 'I've got a lot of catching up to do, you know since I was off sick for so long, and all my free time is taken up already at school.'

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, aware of my four friends staring at us.

'Well what do you suggest then?'

'Tomorrow? You can come over to my place?' He winked at me as he said it, his eyes never leaving my face.

I opened and shut my mouth several times, my heart hammering against my chest. How did he get off being so brazen, so fucking cocky all the time? Didn't he realise much harder this made it for me?

I heard Tokala stand up as he moved next to me. 'You're not going to his place,' he said to me, but he was staring directly at Jared.

Jared just shrugged, completely unbothered by Tokala's presence, 'I wasn't asking you.'

Jared was staring at me, Tokala was staring at him and I was staring at anywhere but the both of them. The air crackled and I let out a sigh.

'We can meet tomorrow.'

Jared grinned as Tokala's head whipped round to me.

'But I'm not coming to yours.' I continued. 'We can meet outside, or at the diner. It won't take long.'

Jared shrugged again, his smile stretching wider as he cast a look to Tokala now. He took this as a win. Was it a win? Was it even a competition?

I had taken Jared's sudden interest in me at face value, he was known for being a flirt, for being outgoing. I assumed he had made his way through most of the girls at school, and now he thought someone with a boyfriend would be more of a challenge. The way he was looking disdainfully at Tokala, like he was a piece of shit on his shoe, only strengthened that idea in my mind. I'd been stupid for thinking I could open up to him earlier.

I glared at him. 'Stop smirking like that. I'm only doing this because it's for a school project and we have to. Not because I want to hang out with you.'

His smile faltered for a second and Tokala interlaced his fingers with mine. He was smug.

Jared replaced his grin again and started to back away from us, 'Yeah, yeah. Keep trying to convince yourself of that Kim. I'll text you.'

T dropped my hand again as I was left speechless. How dare he.

I turned back to our three friends on the sand and flopped down next to Bly. She was looking at me curiously. Meda was staring at me, both eyebrows raised as if to say; I told you so. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her. One thing this week was doing, was making me realise how annoying I really found her.

Bly came to my rescue and changed the topic, talking about the upcoming graduation and inevitable party. I shot her a look to say thank you and stretched my legs out next to her. Tokala kept glancing at me, he clearly wanted me to say something, do something, to reassure him that we were okay. I just couldn't.

As they were talking, my gaze was drawn further down the stretch of sand. Jared had joined a group of his friends and they were kicking a ball about. Shirtless. Even from where I was sat, I could see how ripped they were, they seemed to take up half of the entire beach.

I swallowed hard.

The heat was becoming oppressive. I tilted my head back, trying to catch the sea breeze but the air was still and heavy. Sweat was starting to drip down my back and my throat was dry. I looked across at the group again and Jared was stood still now, staring at me.

Even from this distance, I couldn't handle his gaze. It was too much. Everything was different. I know they say people act crazy during extreme weather, but this was something else. My boyfriend of three years was sat in front of me and yet I was being inexplicably and utterly pulled to another man by his eyes.

Fuck this.

Tokala, Dakota, Bly and Meda all stopped talking and looked at me. I hadn't realised that I'd said that out loud.

I jumped to my feet and pulled my dress over my head, along with my sunglasses, and threw them on the stand.

'I'm going swimming. I can't stand this bloody heat for one more second.'

I pulled my hair out of its elastic as I neared the water and dove in. Relishing in the cool waves lapping at my skin as I swam deeper. If I could swim and swim and never look back, I'd be happy right now.

Finally needing air, I broke the surface and turned around, looking back to the beach. Jared had somehow moved to the shoreline, exactly where I'd gone in, and looked like he was pulled back by Embry. Tokala had also stood up and pulled his shirt off, glaring at them as he started to walk towards them too.

I was starting to get really annoyed with his possessiveness. I had no idea what game Jared was playing but T should trust me enough after all our time together.

'Just leave me alone,' I groaned, not caring that he wouldn't possibly be able to hear me all the way out here.

I took a deep breath ready to dive under again when I saw Jared had look sharply towards me and suddenly allowed Embry to pull him away. I let my breath out again and flipped onto my back.

'I wasn't talking to you,' I whispered as I let myself just float.