By the time Jules got back to the house, she was ready to burst. The entire day had overwhelmed her unlike anything she had experienced before, the information overload threatening to tear her apart. She rushed up the stone porch steps, not even bothering with her key as she shifted the locks with a twist of her outstretched fingers, slamming it shut behind her as she leaned against the painted wood heavily, exhaling deeply as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her hair was windswept from her trip back, entire demeanour ruffled and chaotic.

"You okay?"

Jules would never admit that she let out a girlish shriek, but she did, ripping her skates off her shoulder ready and aimed as she jumped towards the manly voice. Relief flooded her at once as she saw her Uncle in his uniform, leaned up against the open doorway of the living room with folded arms and mirthful eyes. Jules glowered at him, jabbing the dangling skates once in his direction before turning around to put them away. She would clean them later, she was too exhausted to deal with anything other than a hot shower and her bed. "That bad, huh?"

"Well now I know how it feels to be a zoo animal." Jules sighed dramatically, taking her backpack and her coat off. "If one more teacher asks me if I'm struggling to comprehend their English I- alright, perhaps I should apologize in advance if you have to pick me up from the principal's office in the new future."

"Don't you dare." Charlie warned her sharply, following her as she walked past him to get to her room. "Did you make friends?"

"Hmm, one. She offered for me to join her table at lunch but I had a headache. Jetlag." Jules explained shortly. This was not a complete lie, the more begrudgingly awake and aware Jules became as the morning progressed, the more her nerves were frayed by the ogling and the murmuring- until she decided sitting in a crowded congregated space was going to be too much of a headache to be worth whatever tragic food the cafeteria would undoubtedly serve. Instead, she had picked up an apple from the lunch line and made her way outside, enjoying the fresh air and the smell of wet forest around the little empty outdoor courtyard area. Ella had understood, and Jules had been grateful- she needed to process her new reality bit by bit, not all at once. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Break." Charlie answered. "Figured I'd check in, it's your first day."

"You didn't need to but thank you." Jules tossed her backpack through the open door of her room, lingering with a smile in Charlie's direction. He just shrugged. "I'll probably just sleep off some of the jetlag, wake me up when you get home?"

"Yeah, sure." Charlie nodded, before seeming to hesitate. "Uh, Billy called to check in."

"Oh?" Jules raised an eyebrow, leaning her back against her doorframe. Billy Black and Harry Clearwater were regular features of her childhood summers in America, she always felt like she'd spent more time on the Quileute Reservation than she did in the dull town of Forks itself- much to the eternal gloom of her indoor-loving cousin.

"How do you feel about a trip to First Beach?" He tucked his hands into his police jacket pockets with a wince, as if afraid of her answer.

"When?" Jules scrunched one eye up along with the left side of her face, praying for all that it was worth that she had enough time to just crash in her bed and have a moment to herself.

"Six-ish? I should be home around then." Charlie offers. Jules floods with relief.

"I'll be ready."

And she was. Jules didn't end up napping like she thought she would, too awake after her shower as her mind raced on. Instead she laid in her bed and stared up at the white ceiling, replaying every interaction she had had on her first day of school in America. By the time Charlie had gotten home and showered, changing into one of what Jules assumed to be many flannel shirts- she was already ready for him, tugging on a worn brown suede biker jacket. "You look like you're doing better."

"Mhmm. Are we leaving now?" She flipped her hair out from under the collar.

"Sure." Charlie's a little surprised at how quick she'd gotten ready, having prepared himself for a long wait. "Uh, you done?"

"Yep." She pops the p, shutting her bedroom door behind her before leaning against it to pull on her black felt boots rather gracelessly over popcorn printed socks. "I call dibs on the radio."

Charlie rolled his eyes, following her out towards the door as he took his keys off the hook in the entryway. "Do you remember everyone or do you need a crash course?"

"It's been three years Uncle Charlie, I don't have amnesia." Jules rolled her eyes as she stepped out into the brisk evening air, the temperature drop significant enough to notice. "Shit."

"Language kid." Charlie warns her half-heartedly, earning a middle finger that has him chuckling despite himself. "You aren't gonna make my job easy, are ya?"

"Nope." Jules agreed simply and cheerfully, popping open the passenger side door of his cruiser. "At least I behave where it matters."

"Like what?" Charlie snorts in disbelief.

"No drinks, no drugs, no parties." She lists as they both get in, shutting the doors in tandem behind them before pulling on their seatbelts.

"That's fair." Charlie hummed thoughtfully. "Who do you remember?"

"The Blacks." Jules listed out as she reached over for the radio under the police CB she had been banned from touching, Charlie beginning to pull out from their driveway. She winced. "How're they holding up after Sarah?"

"Eh." Charlie bristled. "I'm sure the twins could use a friend who understands what it's like."

"It's not the same." Jules shook her head, leaning back against her seat as she propped one jeanclad leg over her knee, patting her hand on her thigh along to the bass-heavy thumping tune of the Bee Gees song that streamed throughout the car. "So what's the event?"

"No event, just a grill out on the beach." Charlie shrugs, welcoming the change in topic. "Harry caught some good fish, and Billy's bringing the sausages. We can pick up drinks on the way."

"Warn me next time? I can make something for everyone." Jules furrowed her eyebrows at her Uncle. Charlie nodded firmly, and they drove on.

By the time the two arrived at First Beach on the Quileute Reservation, the sun was low on the cloudy horizon and Jules could see ant-like people gathered around a low fire amongst massive curled driftwood logs. It was a long walk getting down to the beach from the parking area, and Jules struggled sharing the load of a cooler full of canned drinks with her Uncle. They dropped it unceremoniously on the sand as old Billy Black grinned and called out from where he had been laughing with a much older man. "Hey! There they are!"

"We were beginning to worry you might never show." Harry Clearwater joked from another log as Charlie went in to greet his friends jovially, Jules smiling at the cheerful sight as she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, lagging behind.

"Jules!" A familiar voice saved her from interrupting Charlie's bromance, Juliette's eyes lighting up at Rachel Black waving her over. "Come on!"

"Hey!" Jules greeted back fondly, twirling on her ankle to beeline straight for where the twins sat in the corner with a pretty couple Jules didn't recognize. Jules kept her cold hands in her jacket pockets as she dipped down to kiss Rachel and Rebecca on their cheeks, unceremoniously dropping herself onto the sand before criss-crossing her long legs. "It's been so long, I've missed you guys."

"How've you been holding up?" Rebecca looked like she wanted to talk about anything else at all, squirming in her worn denim jacket. Jules shot her a look with a raised eyebrow. The older Black twin grimaced. "We meant to keep in touch…"

"You had shit to deal with." Jules shook her head. "So did I. Trust me- it's all good."

"Have you met Leah and Sam?" Rachel, who Jules had always been closer to, offered the perfect escape route to the topic of their dead loved ones as Jules smiled at the cheerful couple on Rebecca's other side. "Leah's Harry Clearwater's eldest- don't let the googoo eyes fool you, they only met a week ago."

"Rach!" Leah blushed furiously, the colour pretty on her sharp tan cheekbones. Jules only grinned widely, her dimples popping out at the cute couple. "It's nice to meet you. I feel like I already know you, my Dad never shut up about you when you came down to visit."

"Yeah, I've heard stories about you too." Jules chuckled as Leah's expression dropped and Sam laughed silently next to the girl he had his lanky arm around. "I feel like we were meant to hang out once?"

"You ditched for Jake." Leah remembered, rolling her eyes.

"Where is the little pipsqueak?" Jules looked around, trying to find the little boy she used to babysit during the summer with her cousin Bella.

"Probably at the rock pools with his friends. You remember those, don't you Jules?" Rachel teased her as she flushed. "Jules was convinced she'd find an oyster pearl one day, spent every minute she could out there digging around in them with a stick."

"Remember when Bella slipped and knocked Jules out on her ass right into the big pool? She was like a human wood chipper, her teeth kept going chh-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-chhh the whole trip home." Rebecca laughed as she mimicked the chatter of teeth, and Jules scowled at the twins while everyone laughed at her. "Gosh, look at you now. It's crazy."

"Don't you start." Jules groaned, too tired to deal with the commentary on her looks.

"That bad huh?" Leah understood at once with an amused smile.

"They wouldn't stop staring at school today." Jules pouted. "It was exhausting, I feel like every word I said today got shared around like a code to crack. It was so much attention, I don't get it. Why? Why would you care so much about someone else? It's stupid."

"If it makes you feel any better they gossip just as much when one of us go into town to eat at the diner or something." Leah offered kindly. "They're something else, the people in that town."

"I don't like them." Sam shrugged, reaching over to take a sausage on a stick off the mesh-rack grill covered in food above the fire. "The palefaces are kinda judgy. I went down to Newton's store once to buy some hiking boots with my mom and they watched us like we were gonna steal something."

"That's horrible." Jules frowned, thanking Rachel with a nod when she gets up and offers to get them all drinks. "Wait- you all go to school here, right? Not in Forks."

"No, we're on the Rez." Rebecca confirmed. "Leah and Sam would've been in the same year as you though."

"So would twin genius here but they skipped." Leah shot Rebecca a rueful smile, the latter sticking her tongue out at her from where she sat with her elbows on her knees. "If you want you can hang with us after school? I mean, you seem cool, and Charlie's always at my house anyway."

"Sounds fun." Jules smiled, relieved.

It was easier with the Quileute kids. Rachel and Rebecca weren't nearly as bright and bubbly as Jules remembered them to be, but she appreciated that the twins accepted and understood the same exhaustion she felt whenever someone brought up the people they had lost. Leah and Sam, meanwhile, were a breath of fresh air- and Jules found herself quickly bonding with Leah's naturally snarky personality and Sam's sense of adventure. The two were a lot more outdoorsy than the twins, and it wasn't long before the trio made plans to go hiking together on the weekend.

Little Jacob Black returned after the sun had long disappeared, two boys at his flanks as Jules jovially greeted the preteen who spent so much of his summer with her little cousin. He had stared at her awestruck, and Jules and the others couldn't help but to tease him constantly over it, entertaining themselves thoroughly throughout the barbecue.

Jules felt finally like she had somewhere she could belong.