Thank you for the lovely reviews and favorites! To Ghostwriter 71: Daphne is sadly not the same Daphne Blake from our beloved Scooby Doo, I just really love the way the name rolls off the tongue. I did love your comment, so I added it into a bit of conversation in this chapter... :)

II.

"What are your plans for the weekend?"

Paul glanced up from his bowl of cereal to look across the kitchen at his Dad. Peter Lahote was once a handsome man, and Paul supposed on some scale he still was. But years of hard work in construction left him rough and aging, his frown lines deep and his eyes tired. He and his father had the same bone structure, which made Paul inwardly wince, hoping he aged a little more gracefully than his old man.

"The weekend?"

"The days between Friday and Monday?" His dad's dark eyebrows lifted curiously, "I thought your entire life revolved around it."

"Yeah," Paul went back to staring down at his cereal, "no plans."

Peter lifted his coffee and sipped it slowly, studying his son across from him as he did so. When had things become awkward between them? Sure Paul turned out to be a tough teenager, after all, half of Peter's free time was spent talking Billy down after Paul had gone and done something and upset the elders. But weren't all teenagers a challenge? Surely other parents had to deal with this from time to time too. Peter sighed, he wasn't supposed to have done this alone.

Inwardly shaking himself out of his thoughts, Peter placed the coffee mug back onto the table. "What happened to your girl? Annie?"

"Abby." Paul kicked himself internally for answering so quickly. "Her name's Abby—we broke up."

"What happened?"

Paul really didn't want to answer the question, but seeing that he had his dad's full attention, he inhaled deeply before answering him, "she uh—she found someone else."

"Found someone else?"

"Yeah, Dan."

"Dan…your friend Dan?"

Paul only nodded as he took another bite of his cereal, watching as his dad leaned back heavily in his chair, his frown only deepening as he did so. "Did she break it off before or…?"

"No." Paul shook his head as he pushed himself away from the table, taking his last bite of cereal as he walked towards the sink, "I found out when I went over to Dan's last week."

A deafening silence filled the kitchen while Paul put his dish in the sink and walked over to the counter where his backpack and keys were. "I'd like to tell you it gets better, son," Peter drowned the rest of his coffee before standing, "but it doesn't. Women are the worst—they see something better and just…bam!" Peter's hand landed loudly on the counter beside the sink, causing Paul's shoulders to tense up, his back suddenly feeling stiffer than normal, "they leave you."

"I gotta get to school, pops."

"Remember what I said," Peter called out to his son as Paul threw his backpack over his shoulder and reached for the kitchen door, "you can't trust 'em. Any of 'em."

"Bye, pops."

Paul hadn't felt this happy to leave the house since the last time his dad had sat him down to warn him about how terrible women were. His dad had been halfway to drunk then, mourning the life he could have had. At the time, Paul had passed it off as grief, but now with his dad being sober well…Paul supposed his dad had reason to feel that way. After all, his wife, Paul's mother, had left them when Paul was barely eight after Peter had walked in on his beloved wife with his former best friend.

Climbing into his jeep, Paul did his best to shake his dad out of his head, but the words kept replaying over and over in his head even after he'd parked and hopped out of the car. Paul had just managed to push his dad's words to the back of his mind as he focused on getting through the day when he spotted Abby and Dan leaning against Dan's locker. Their foreheads were pressed together as Dan said something that made Abby laugh. A laugh that Paul used to hear daily, a smile that he used to get when he'd whisper things into her ear. But now, as Paul came to a stop halfway down the hallway, it finally hit him that it was over. Abby was with someone else now. She wasn't his to make laugh anymore, she wasn't his to think about. She'd cheated on him with his best friend. Just like his mother had cheated on his father.

For the first time in his life, Paul felt just like his father.

Shit.

He wasn't sure which hurt more, seeing Abby and Dan, or coming to the realization that he was just like his dad.

Paul didn't remember walking the rest of the way down the hall, or his first few classes of the day. It wasn't even until lunch, as he flopped down into his normal seat at the table off to the side, that he seemed to remember that he was at school. "You ok, Lahote?" Hugh Britefield nudged Paul's elbow as he watched his friend take a seat, taking note of how pale his friend looked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Might as well have," Paul picked up his fork and nudged some of the food around on his tray, "what's going on tonight? Tell me there's something going on."

"I heard something about a party in Forks," Hugh shrugged, "but that's about all I know. My cousin might be coming home for the weekend—he'll probably have beer. We could take it down to the beach and light the driftwood on fire or something."

"The elders freaked last time we did that."

"We could take it down to Forks and practice our tagging. I just restocked my cans a few days ago."

"Doesn't sound terrible," Paul took a bite of his lunch, "put a pin in that one."

"Hey man," Hugh greeted Ken Williams as he sat down on the other side of the table, "how's it going?"

"Fine," Ken scooted his chair in as he sat down, "have you seen Cameron? What's he on?"

"Jared?" Hugh leaned back in his chair to look around the crowded cafeteria, searching the faces to find the man in question, "I haven't seen him. I think we're supposed to have Bio together, but he's missed it this entire week. Even the first day."

"Strange."

"The dude looks like he's been on steroids all summer," Ken said before glancing over at Paul after spotting Dan across the room, "have you talked to Dan since…?"

Paul glanced up from his food tray, his hand tightening his grip on the fork—feeling the smooth plastic starting to bend in his hand as he stared hard across the table. Inhaling through his nose to try to calm himself down, he noticed his back hurting again, like it had this morning. Had he slept on it weird last night?

Realizing he hadn't said anything for more than 90 seconds, Paul cleared his throat and released his fork, "why would I talk to Dan?"

Hugh exchanged glances with a curious Ken, "we just thought maybe you'd want to straighten things out? We've been friends for years—"

"I have zero interest in talking to Dan," Paul shoved his tray away from him, suddenly not hungry anymore as that growingly familiar ache in his back flared again, "what are we doing tonight?"

Ken cleared his throat before answering his visibly agitated friend, "there's that Forks High party tonight…"

"Can you tell your weird friend to stop staring at me so much?"

Mike Newton glanced up from his spot at the study table in the library to see his cousin standing before him, a few books in her arms. "Uh—" Mike cleared his throat, glancing nervously off to the side where their rather severe librarian usually sat. Thankfully her chair remained empty. He knew from experience that Miss Heart had a zero tolerance policy for talking during study hall. "Wh—which friend?"

"The dark haired one? York?"

"Yorkie," Mike said, "Eric Yorkie."

"Yeah, can you tell him to stop trying to take my picture? I'm starting to get weirded out—should I be worried?"

"He's harmless," Mike paused for a moment, "I think. Anyway, yeah, I'll tell him to lay off."

"Thank you."

Daphne turned to walk away but Mike leaned forward across the table to grab the strap of her bag, "hey, hey, sit for a sec."

Daphne slipped into the chair across from him as he readjusted his chair, glancing around to see who may or may not be lurking nearby. "Look, about yesterday at lunch—"

"Mike, please," Daphne shook her head no, "we can't keep doing this. I'm fine. If I was going to turn into a puddle anytime anyone mentioned a fender bender, I wouldn't be here, got it?"

"They didn't know. They don't know. It wasn't on purpose, I promise."

Mike held Daphne's gaze longer than necessary as the cousins stared at one another. Mike may not have spent a lot of time with Daphne growing up, but he knew her well enough to know the struggling girl across from him was lying. He'd thought about it all night—replaying the lunchtime conversation in his head over and over again. Tyler and Lauren hadn't meant anything by it, and if they knew Daphne's history he was almost positive Lauren wouldn't have made the comment she had. But regardless, she had and here they were.

"Lauren's a pain," Mike said softly, lowering his voice a bit more, "but she's not evil—I don't think. Anyway, not important," he waved his hands as Daphne frowned at him, "she doesn't know anything about what happened in California. If she had, she wouldn't have mentioned it."

"Mike, I said I was fi—"

"It can't be fine, Daph. It can't. Not when I see your eyes well up like that."

Daphne took a moment to glance around the library. Most of the tables were filled with students pretending to work on other assignments during Study Hall. She could see a few kids from science class playing with a paper football in the corner. Inhaling softly, she turned her attention back to her cousin. He'd always been a master of the puppy dog look.

"I'm getting better," Daphne said softly, almost weakly, "not every day is great—not every moment is great. But it's getting better. I can't control what people say and do around me, Mike. There's no way, without you telling everyone in this school what happened, that you could censor them. It is what it is. Please stop worrying."

Mike chewed on the corner of his lip, trying to come up with something that would make her feel better. Sighing, he said, "do you want me to tell them?"

"Mike, c'mon." Daphne rolled her eyes as she reached for her books and pushed her chair back.

"I'm serious."

"I know, that's what worries me." Daphne shook her head, "no, Mike. We're not going to go up to every person I meet and tell them not to make jokes about car accidents or else you might send me into a spiral. No. We're just going to move on with our lives."

Mike gave her a flat look as she stood to her feet, "that's not what I would say."

"You're right," Daphne lifted her eyebrows, "because you're not going to say anything."

They held one another's look for a beat before Daphne motioned towards the door, "anything else before I leave?"

Mike shook his head no.

Daphne left the library after she abandoned her books at the reference desk; she'd come back for them another time when she didn't feel like she was suffocating. Mike was right. She was bothered by it. Jokes about car accidents—even one as harmless as a fender bender, did bother her. They did cause her to feel that stomach lurch that often came with anxiety. They did make her feel like she was back in California, in front of the Hyatt Regency, her cell phone falling to the pavement—

"New girl watch out!"

Daphne stopped just before she would have run directly into the back of the janitor's full mop bucket. The middle aged man glanced over his shoulder at her curiously as he finished mopping up a circular area near the doors to the cafeteria. Turning her head, she spotted the lanky guy she spoke with earlier in the week.

"Eh, thanks," Daphne took a step back, the tips of her shoes slipping across the wetness, "that would have been—terrible."

"Very much so," he adjusted his backpack as he took a few steps towards her, "you looked like you were on a mission there."

"That's one word for it," Daphne didn't have the heart to admit that she was really just on her way to the girl's bathroom to cry in a stall. She swallowed thickly before looking over at him, "thank you, again."

"Sure," an awkward silence fell over the two, "I uh—don't think we made introductions the other day. I'm Will."

"Daphne."

"Figured," the boy called Will lifted the corner of his lip, "there's been whisperings of a new girl named after a Scooby Doo character. I assumed it was you."

"I wouldn't say I was named after a Scooby Doo character," Daphne smiled softly, "happy coincidence really, but I do appreciate her fashion sense."

"Well it looks to me like you're both danger-prone," Will had a full smile across his face now as he motioned with his thumb back towards the janitor, "it might be a good idea to keep your head up."

"Duly noted."

Will laughed and Daphne managed to crack a smile of her own. "Where are you off to?"

"Gym."

"My condolences," Will held his arm out in the direction of the school's gymnasium, "I'll walk with you."

Daphne fell into step beside Will, unsure what to say to the guy as they made their way down the hall. What were they supposed to talk about? The weather? Sports? It'd been years since she had to make small talk with someone she didn't know at school. Being the new kid definitely sucked.

"Have you thought anymore about the musical?"

"I really have no artistic ability, Will."

"Normally that'd be a problem," Will shrugged, "but we really need the help."

"I hadn't planned on joining any clubs or anything, to be honest," Daphne said as she and Will turned a corner, the boy slipping his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"It'll get you out of gym class."

Daphne came to a stop outside the double doors that led to the Forks High Gymnasium, her eyebrows raised as Will paused to glance back at her, "you should have led with that, you know."

Will laughed, "meet me at the office after school and we'll get you transferred."

"So I hear you're the new star of the school musical."

Daphne gave Mike an unimpressed look as she slipped into his car, the door closing behind her with a thud, "I don't have to act or be on stage."

Mike laughed.

"I was told all I had to do was paint set pieces." Daphne finished buckling her seat belt before sighing, "and it gets me out of gym."

"There it is," Mike slipped the truck into gear before pulling out of the Forks High School parking lot, "mom'll be so thrilled."

"It's really not a big deal."

"Mhmm," Mike grinned over at her, "my little drama nerd settling into small-town life. Pretty soon you'll be volunteering at the Truck or Treat and dressing up for the Twinkle Lights parade."

"Alright, new topic please."

"There's a party tonight."

"That sounds terrible. What else ya got?"

Mike shook his head at her, pausing at a stop sign as he did, "it doesn't happen often, what with Chief Swan always roaming around and such, but this one's supposed to be pretty epic."

"Gag me with a spoon," Daphne fake coughed as she patted her chest dramatically, "you did not just say epic. Let me out, I'll walk home."

"It's a good thing you don't have any acting parts."

Daphne laughed, "alright, jokes aside, where's the party?"

"Just south of town," Mike said, "far enough away that we shouldn't disturb any neighbors, but close enough to town that we all don't feel like we're about to end up in a horror movie."

"Comforting. One of your friends?"

"Not really. His name's Greg, he's in your grade actually. Greg Simpson, any classes with him?"

"I'm pretty sure my school Rolodex is now up to five or six people, including you," Daphne shook her head, "so no, no idea who he is."

"It starts around 9:30, just after the football game is over."

"Well, have fun," Daphne watched as Mike pulled off the main road and onto his neighborhood street, "don't get anyone pregnant."

Mike tossed Daphne an annoyed look, at which she only smiled sweetly back at him.

"About that…I kinda need you to go."

"What?" Daphne frowned, "why? Is it a senior thing? No juniors allowed?"

"No, it's a mom thing."

"I'm not following."

"I'm supposed to include you in things," Mike sighed, "if you don't go, mom'll want to play board games or puzzles or something so that you don't feel abandoned and I won't be able to go."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Daphne."

"I'll just tell her I don't want to go," Daphne shrugged, "what's the big deal? It's Friday night, don't your parents have a date night or something? Enjoy that new hot tub?"

"I don't want to even think about that," Mike visibly shivered as he stuck his tongue out, "and no. No matter how much you tell her you don't want to go, even if you tattooed it across your forehead, she wouldn't believe you."

"Aunt Karen is a really interesting woman."

Mike sighed, half rolling his eyes as he leaned back in his seat, "well?"

"Alright, Mike. Fine," Daphne unlatched her seat belt as Mike pulled up into his driveway, turning the car off once he was situated in his spot, "but please don't make us stay long."

"Curfew is eleven on weekends," Mike said, "by the time we get there, we'll only be there a couple hours at most."

Daphne reached over and patted the side of Mike's face as she cracked open the car door, "that's cute Mike, really cute." She slipped out of the car a moment later, the door closing behind her as she left Mike behind with a confused look on his face, "just make sure one of the downstairs windows is unlocked so we can crawl in."

True to Mike's estimation, Daphne found herself coming down the Newton's staircase just after nine that evening. She'd since changed out of her school clothes and after throwing around just about every piece of clothing in her wardrobe, decided on black jeans and a button down top that she liked to think suited her body type well. She walked into the kitchen to see Aunt Karen filling the stove top kettle with water, an empty tea cup on the counter beside her.

Mike stood near the door, shrugging on his jacket. The evenings in September were still fairly crisp and not yet freezing according to the residents of Forks. Although, to Daphne, it seemed to always be freezing compared to what she was used to. Daphne opted to slide on a fleece jacket, hoping that there would be no outside portion to this party.

"Are you excited for your first Forks High party?" Aunt Karen asked happily as she turned the knob on the stove, the gas igniter clicking before the flame dispersed evenly under the kettle, "Mike says it's just going to be a few handfuls of kids at Greg's house? The Simpson's are lovely people, they always stop by our truck at the church's annual Truck or Treat and Heather's turkey gravy recipe is just out of this world—"

"We're gonna go, mom," Mike grabbed his key off the hook by the door, pushing the backdoor open for emphasis, "don't wait up."

"Home by midnight please, Micheal. Have a great time, Daphne."

"I thought you said curfew was eleven?" Daphne asked once the back door was firmly closed behind them.

"It is," Mike unlocked the Ranger, "er, or was, I guess. Taking you means I get an extra hour, it seems."

"Did you know she was going to do that?"

"Daphne," Mike climbed into the truck, waiting for Daphne to join him before continuing, "the last thing I want to do is to try to figure out why mom does what she does."

"Fair."

Mike pulled out of the driveway and took off down the road, and Daphne silently thanked the wonderful folks at Ford for putting a decent heating system in the truck. If she had any doubt before, she definitely used to this weather.

Mike fiddled with the radio, despite the drive only being ten minutes at most. Daphne watched as Mike jumped from station to station, trying to find the perfect song. "Are your friends going to the party?"

"Mhmm," Mike finally settled on a Top 40 station, Meant to Live by Switchfoot playing through the speakers as he moved his right hand back to the steering wheel, "Tyler's going to pick Eric and Ben up. Jessica usually drives Lauren and Angela."

"Angela seems nice."

"She is," Mike nodded, "she's really great. Ben's got a massive crush on her—we've all got bets on when he's finally going to ask her out."

"Before prom?"

"Duh."

Daphne laughed, "what about the rest? Lauren and Tyler are…maybe dating?"

"Eh," Mike rolled his head back and forth, "sure, we can call it that."

"And Eric?"

"He's had a crush on Sam for a while now—but she's with Lee, so I don't really know what's happening there. He's quiet about that sort of thing."

"And…Jessica?"

Mike didn't say anything, his eyes flickering back and forth along the dark street as he made the turn off the main road, slowing down to accommodate the neighborhood's speed and any potential wildlife that may decide to cross. Swallowing thickly he said, "what about her?"

"You tell me."

"We broke up over the summer," Mike said, "she's been talking to some dude in Texas or something she meant when she visited her grandma. I don't know. I don't really want to talk about it."

Daphne allowed Mike his thoughts, goodness knows he gave her a wide berth when it came to her own thoughts and feelings. The rest of the drive was silent until the sounds of a vibration filled the car, Mike glanced over at Daphne as she dug through her purse to find the source of the noise.

Her cell phone lit up with a familiar name as she pulled it out of her purse, her hand tightening around the device.

"Who's Louis?"

"Just someone from back home," Daphne pressed the side of the phone to silence the vibrations, the call going to voicemail a few moments later, "are we almost there?"

"We're here," Mike slowed down dramatically as he joined what appeared to be the entire Forks High student body parked in the front yard of a two story home. "Looks like the football team's already here."

Daphne watched Mike maneuver into a make-shift parking spot beside a white Mercury that she was fairly sure belonged to Jessica. "There's a lot of people here—I didn't realize this many kids went to Forks High."

"Yeah, well," Mike slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he rounded the truck to stand beside Daphne as she climbed out of it, "looks like there's a lot from Neah Bay High School too."

Daphne looked at him blankly.

"It's who they played in football this evening."

"Ah, gotcha. Did we win?"

"Who knows. Looks like there's some kids from the Rez here too."

"La Push?"

"Mhmm," Mike eyed a group of guys hovering near a pick-up truck and made a point to steer Daphne away as they walked towards the house.

Daphne loved her cousin, but Mike was about as subtle as a gun.

"I take it they're not friendly?"

"Depends on who you ask, I suppose."

"I'm asking you."

"Newton!"

Daphne sighed unhappily as she watched Tyler Crowley approach them, a large grin on his face as he reached them, "hey man," Mike reached out and clapped Tyler's outstretched hand, "been here long?"

"Nah, just got here," Tyler turned his attention to Daphne, "you look good, Daph."

Daphne didn't mind the shortened version of her name, or at least, she hadn't until Tyler said it.

"Uh, thanks."

"Let's get inside," Mike suggested, shoving Tyler gently towards the door, "the wind's picking up."

"Pansy."

Mike's only response was to shove Tyler again, the two boys laughing as they made their way onto the porch of the house. Daphne nodded here and there to kids who smiled or nodded to her as she followed behind the boys. It wasn't until she reached the landing of the porch, Mike and Tyler greeting the rest of their friends standing near the front door that she noticed another group of guys leaning against the railing.

There were three of them, tall with long, shiny dark hair. Her eyes briefly connected with the dark ones of the guy with the shortest hair. His slightly wavy hair was pulled back into a very small pony tail at the back of his neck, the strands brushing the collar of his jacket. Daphne's eyes drifted down from his face towards his hand, where a freshly lit cigarette rested between his fingers. The end glowed gently in the dark as he lifted it to his lips, holding her gaze there as she took a step closer to Mike and his friends. Daphne was embarrassed to say that if it hadn't been for Angela greeting her, she probably would have stood there all night staring at him.

"I don't know about you all, but I'm ready to get inside," Jessica rubbed her arms for emphasis, "are we all here or…?"

"Yeah, let's go," Ben smiled warmly at Angela and by extension Daphne who stood beside the tall girl, "Ang, can I grab you something to drink?"

"That'd be great, Ben."

Daphne turned her head to look back towards the guy by the railing to see he was already watching her. The cigarette dangled between his fingers now as his elbow rested on the railing. She watched as he gently released the smoke through his nose.

An interesting feeling settled in Daphne's stomach as she held his gaze for a moment longer, watching as the corner of his lip twitched upward, before she too disappeared inside behind Mike's friends.

Daphne hadn't felt this feeling in quite awhile and as her stomach stopped turning over, a more familiar, deeper—much heavier feeling settled in its place.

Guilt sure was a bitch.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!