The next couple months went about the same, with less people as nosey as they were the first day. Between Ben, Angela, and common sense, people figured out Jacob was going to school on the rez. Jacob and I saw each other nearly every day, he was usually waiting for me when I got home from school.

One Friday afternoon in October, he seemed more excited than usual.

"Alright Black, why do you look so mischievous?"

"Nothing! I'm just excited to spend more than a couple hours with you. Go pack a bag, you're spending the weekend with me."

"And what makes you think I'm just gonna jump when you call?" I smirked at him, knowing full and well that I would happily spend the weekend with him.

"Besides the fact that you can't resist my masculine charms?" I raised an eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes with a huff. "Rachel's in." My eyes went wide, and I'm pretty sure glass shattered somewhere from my squeal.

Much to Jacob's annoyance, Rachel and I were closer than sisters. She was a couple years older than Jacob and me, but neither one of us noticed.

Until she went off to college.

We emailed back and forth, but I hadn't seen her since March. She had been a good little student and taken a full load during the summer semester. Can't blame her, I would have done the same thing. Get it over with.

It took me all of three minutes to get everything I needed for the weekend, and we were on our way. For some reason, seeing Rachel turns me into one of those idiotic school girls I'm always complaining about. We ran and hugged each other and went off to sit on the front porch to catch up. I heard Jake grumbling something under his breath as he took my bag in, but I knew he expected it from us.

"So how are you and Jake?"

"We're good. Separate schools suck, but otherwise we're good."

"Oh yeah…..?" She asked, implying something more with her tone and smirk..

"Don't even start with that, I get that enough from Angela." I said, rolling my eyes.

"What?" She asked in mock innocence.

"It's your brother, isn't that a little weird for you to even think about us dating?" I said, lowering my voice.

"Nah. I've had my time of acceptance, now I'm ready for you two to quit beating around the bush, and just go for it."

"Can we please not talk about this here?" I whispered looking toward the front door.

"Oh please, he won't come within ten feet of us for fear we'll talk about periods or something. Oh! I almost forgot, what's Leah up to." She asked.

"No change." I said somberly.

"Oh no, she's still no better?"

"Would you be?" I asked rhetorically.

"Actually I'm surprised she hasn't burned his house to the ground. Scratch that, I'm surprised she hasn't burnt him to the ground." Rachel joked with a dark laugh.

"Yeah, Jake won't have much to do with him either."

"I wonder if she still talks to Emily."

"I don't know, I haven't talked to her in awhile. She just kinda sits around sulking. She's changed so much, and I hate Sam so much for that. He did this to her. He broke her, and I will never forgive him for that."

"Well, let's go find our sister and see how she is."

I'm not sure if broken justified her state of mind. I hadn't seen her in several months.

Ever since Jacob and I had become friends, Rachel, Leah and I had always been close. After Rachel went off to college, Leah and I remained close, but then Sam ruined everything.

They had been together for years. It was always Leah and Sam, and they were happy, perfect for each other actually. They complimented each other like nothing else I had ever seen. I had always thought it was above and beyond what Jacob and I had.

Then one day her cousin came into town, Sam took one look at her, and just like that, it was over.

We were all shocked and devastated, but nothing compared to how Leah felt. I couldn't imagine. I didn't even want to. She withdrew from everyone, kept to herself, even attempted to drop out of school, but Harry and Sue put a stop to that quick. It was absolutely, the most unhealthy thing I had ever seen. I had even tried the whole tough love thing on her. That backfired in a bad way.

"Damn it Leah! I can't do this anymore, I can't just sit here while you do this to yourself."

"Then don't. I never asked you to stay with me like some pathetic puppy."

"Really? Sorry if I care too much to let you deteriorate to nothing. I know you hurt, I get it -"

"You don't get anything. You don't understand, and you never will."

"If this is what happens, then no, I hope I never understand."

"Just leave. You can't help me. No one can."

"I'm not leaving. You're my sister, and I can't just let you rot like this."

"You are not my sister. You don't even belong here. You aren't part of this tribe, and you never will be, you're just a little white girl. Just. Leave."

So I did.

And I hadn't been back, though I had called her mom to check in on her from time to time.

I never told anyone, not even Jake, what she had said, no matter how much it hurt. I knew it wasn't personal, I knew she didn't mean it, and that she was just lashing out, but it still hurt, and had caused some little insecurity I wasn't aware of to flare up at the time.

Sue greeted us both at the door.

"Girls! I'm so glad to see you! Come on in! Leah usually takes her time coming home from school, but she should be here shortly."

As we all sat in the little living room, I was reminded of the many nights the three of us would all camp out here, watching scary movies, talking about anything and everything, staying up way too late giggling, and then waking up to the smell of Sue's delicious breakfasts.

I was brought back to the present by the sound of the front door.

We all stood up looking toward Leah, as she stood staring back at us. I couldn't figure out if she was just surprised to see us, or afraid of why we were there. The look on her face seemed to give off both emotions.

"Rachel?"

"Hey girl!" Rachel walked over quickly and wrapped her in a big hug. I just hung back to kind of feel out the situation. Neither me or Leah were big on hugs. Rachel was usually our one exception, you just couldn't help it with her. When Rachel released her, Leah looked at me. I gave her a small smile.

"Hey Bells." She said quietly.

"Hey Leah." I said with a tight smile.

We stared at each other for a beat, before she surprised me by giving me a quick tight hug.

"Come on upstairs you two." She turning for the stairs.

"Woah Leah, you auditioning for Hoarders or something?" Rachel joked as we walked into her room.

"I haven't seen you in months and the first thing you do is complain about my housekeeping skills. Nice Rach." Leah grumbled under a half smile.

"What, were you expecting me to hold punches?" She said laughing.

"Well, I'll take what I can get. I missed you like crazy. Both of you." She sent me a meaningful look.

Instead of bringing up Leah's mental state since Sam, Rachel started in about her life away from home, and we fell into the comfortable conversation we used to have all the time. We talked about classes, other friends, and unfortunately the topic of boys came up.

"So there's this guy I've been seeing." Rachel admitted

"And you didn't think to tell us before now?" I asked in mock hurt.

"I didn't want to talk about it in an email, and I wanted to wait until I thought there was something to tell."

"So….is there?" Both Rachel and were shocked speechless when Leah prodded her for more information. "What? Geez guys, I didn't turn lesbian or anything. Of course I'm interested in what's going on with you."

We laughed as Rachel filled us in on her new guy.

It wasn't anything serious, just because she wouldn't let anything complicate her already complicated school schedule. She had gotten a minority scholarship and she was using it to get her PhD, and her plan was to open a clinic here in La Push.

Not only was the majority of the population low income here, but a lot of them, mostly the older ones, didn't trust the 'white men' to practice medicine on them. At one time Leah and I were planning on going into nursing so we could all work together. Until we realized that I faint at the sight of blood, then that option went out the window.

We talked for several hours, completely unaware of what time it was. Before we knew it, it was nearly midnight, and we were saying our goodbyes, promising to meet up the next day. Leah stopped me as Rachel walked down toward the road.

"I need to talk to you. Privately. Can you come over tomorrow, just you?"

"Leah, really, there isn't anything-"

"No, not that, although I can't even apologize enough. No, it's something else."

"Yeah, no problem. How about first thing in the morning."

"Perfect. See you then."