Chapter One: Talise's POV

Getting older had its ups and downs. Well, that's a bit of an understatement. Life had its ups and downs. That's what Talise Uley told herself as she sat down at her usual lunch table. Her best friend, Embry Call, scooted closer to her, pushing his corn onto her plate.
"Veggies are important," she chided.
"Yeah, for you," Embry grinned.

She rolled her eyes, but didn't argue as he stole a bite of her meatloaf.
"Just start dating already," Quill Ateara fake gagged at them. Embry and Talise ignored him, starting up a playful banter.
"Going to the cliffs this weekend?" Embry asked Talise as they finished lunch.
"Hopefully," Talise answered. "If Sam lets me."

They both knew the answer was probably going to be no. Last week had been a special occurrence, Embry's 16th birthday and Talise had to practically guilt her brother into letting her go. In the past couple months, he had grown very, very, very, paranoid about letting her out by herself.

It was strange. She used to have free rein of the Rez, hanging out in the woods or at the beach with Embry, Quill, and Jacob. Now, she was basically under house-arrest and she hadn't done anything wrong.

Quill started to say something before a loud bout of laughter sounded. The trio looked over to see Jared Cameron and Paul Lahote goofing off. Something had happened to them recently, both shooting up and gaining extreme amounts of muscle. And they started hanging with Sam all the time.

Talise wasn't dumb. She knew the rumors that were being spread. The ones that Sam was running a drug business or something and the boys were on steroids. They weren't, hopefully. Sam had promised.

Oh, well. People were going to believe what they wanted to believe. Most of the teens just wanted to know why Talise was still so tiny. She had an answer for that. Genes. Sam got the good ones, she got the bad ones.

The bell rang and the trio spilt up, heading to different classes. Sitting in her assigned seat, she opened a textbook, reading through it. AP history was basically a free period. She know ninety-five percent of the answers and the teacher didn't bother calling on her anymore.

The Rez school was small. Only a few hundred students. She had gotten used to listening for footsteps of different students and was surprised when she heard a new pair. A throat cleared and slowly she looked up.

She was surprised to see Paul Lahote, one of Sam's… lackeys? Is that the right word. His eyes met hers and his jaw dropped. She squirmed under his gaze.
"Yes?" she asked. "Can I help you?" He closed his mouth, swallowing deeply.
"Sam wanted me to give you a message," he managed to get out.

Closing her book, she pursed her lips. For a moment, a puzzled expression fell on her face before it was replaced with a look of resign.
"He wants me straight home after school, yes?"
"Yeah… said to cancel any plans you have."

For a spilt-second, it looked like she was going to yell at him. But she decided against it. She worded her sentence carefully.
"Can you take a message back for me?" Paul nodded quickly, almost too quickly.

A small, unnerving smile appeared on Talise's lips.
"Tell him... No. I won't. I've had plans with Sue and Seth for the past three weeks. I'm not canceling." She smiled brightly at Paul. "Will you tell him that? Please?" He nodded again as Mr. Bronze walked into the room.
"Paul?" he called. "Shouldn't you been in class?"

Paul stuttered out a reply before dashing out of the room. Talise settled back in her seat, content to listen to Mr. Bronze's lecture. She thought everything was going to be fine for the rest of the day. Sure, she'd probably be grounded for disobeying her brother, but that was just a price that needed to be paid.

Kinsley Gash was waiting outside of the school building for Talise. She grabbed Talise's wrist, ignoring the other girl's cry of protest.
"What did Paul say to you?" she asked accusingly. Oh yes, Talise almost forgot about Kinsley's hopeless, fruitful, not-going-to-happen crush.
"You know he works with my brother?" Talise asked. Kinsley nodded, arms crossing. "He was delivering a message from Sam."

That seemed to satisfy Kinsley enough to let Talise go with only a brief threat. Not that it would matter, Talise had no plans on talking to or about Paul Lahote for a while. She had no interest in him. He merely worked for her over-protective brother and… even though she knew it wasn't true, he could be taking drugs.

Pulling her keys out of her bag, she walked to her truck. Seth Clearwater was waiting for her, jumping up and down eagerly.
"Ready to go?" he asked her.
"Slow down grasshopper," she teased, unlocking the truck. Seth climbed in, pulling on his seatbelt.

She was about to put the truck into gear before someone stopped her, knocking on the window. She sighed, seeing Jared. He was going to report to Sam.
"He's gonna be as mad as a gopher," he warned her when she rolled down the window.
"Great," she grinned grimly. "I can't wait."

Jared back away, letting her pull out of the parking lot. Seth was talking a million-miles an hour about everything and nothing. He stopped when they were a good distance away from the building.
"Thought he wasn't talking to you," he remarked.

Sighing, Talise shrugged, gripping the steering-wheel tightly.
"So was I," she muttered. Jared used to be one of her closest friends, now he barely spoke to her unless he had an order from Sam or needed something in the house. They didn't have the same friendship. Not anymore.

Part of Talise wondered if they ever were actually friends. Was he just trying to get close to her to get to Sam? It was something she spent countless sleepless nights thinking on. Not that it mattered much.

She started thinking things straight on. Paul Lahote was a temperamental hot-head who didn't deserve her time. Jared Cameron was a terrible friend, who didn't deserve her tears. That's how she saw it. Was it fair? Maybe not. But such was life.

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer