"Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings." - Ralph Blum

I do not own Twilight. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer!

The air around you felt humid. It stuck to the exposed skin of your arms and legs in an uncomfortable way but you were used to this. The sun was covered with a thick blanket of clouds that would probably be gone in about an hour or so after the storm was over. You could tell it was coming based off of the sway of the palm trees and the blowing wind that smelled like moisture. This was Florida for you though, "constantly sunny" with "perfect weather". You liked the rain but you could do without all this humidity. Even more so now that your mom was gone.

She died a couple months ago after getting into a nasty car accident. She was a single mom, your best friend. Now you were pretty much alone. You weren't close with any relatives but since you were still considered a minor at 17, your cousin offered to let you move in with her family until you could move out.

You didn't really have any other options did you? So you accepted her offer for a place to stay. Your cousin Stacey lived with her husband Dean in a small town in Colorado. From the occasional facetime call during the holidays when you were little, you knew some stuff about the couple. You knew that Stacey and Dean had no kids. They were two very career focused people and they seemed to have a decent amount of money. The only time you'd ever met them was with your mom when she returned home to that small town for a close friend's wedding when you were six. You knew you were lucky to have anybody at all caring for you in your situation.

Here you were getting out of an uber to the Orlando International Airport. The driver helped carry your bags out of his trunk and set them down for you on the pavement. The ride here had been slightly uncomfortable as you almost broke down in the backseat more than once. You were torn about how you felt leaving. Were you going to miss the place that reminded you so much of your mother and a time when you were so content? Or were you glad to just leave it all behind? You guessed it was both. You were leaving friends behind as well and you couldn't help but feel this was also the end of your childhood.

You grabbed the few pieces of luggage you had and took off towards the doors, checking the time on your phone as you did so. It was 11:24 am on March 3rd so you had a good amount of time to get through security and to the plane. You couldn't even remember what a plane was really like and traveling on one alone left a pit in your stomach. You took one last look at the now rainy Florida sky, took a deep breath, and set off into the airport.

At first you thought the plane was going to freak you out. However, in the air you felt relaxed listening to the playlist you made for the flight on your phone. You slept most of the time and woke up just before you landed in Denver. The flight, in total, was only around 3 or 4 hours long. Because of the time difference, when you landed it was 1:56 pm.

Making your way through the airport, you got your bags and headed to wait outside for your second uber of the day to pick you up. You'd been told on the phone that Stacey was having her assistant pick you up around 2:30. After getting outside you sat down and played on your phone for a bit. The time passed slowly but eventually you saw a sleek, black car pull up. You thought it was an Audi or something like that. You thought you'd heard the name of it before but you didn't really know anything about cars. The window rolled down and a man wearing a gray suit and aviator sunglasses sat in the drivers seat.

"Hello, are you Miss Stone?" he asked with a nod in my direction.

"Yeah that's me. You can call me Rachel though." I walked over with my luggage.

"I'm Holden" he went to shake my hand and saw my bags. Holden easily picked them up when I had been struggling with them all this time and placed them in the trunk. I sat in the backseat, still holding the carry on bag I had brought with me. The man returned to the drivers seat.

"Denver to Evergreen is around 36 minutes give or take" he looked back at me in the rear view mirror and I nodded.

I put my earbuds in, slumping against the window and let the music drown everything out like on the plane. I couldn't believe that only a few hours ago I had been home and now I was halfway across the country for the foreseeable future. I decided to look out the window and pay attention to what this state was like since the only place I had ever lived was the opposite of this. There was just so much forest and I thought it was beautiful. I had never seen trees like this before either and all the greenery was mesmerizing.

Before I knew it, we were close to our destination. The town of Evergreen was just that. Ever green. the roads were lined with some old and some new buildings. We drove past a group of teenagers who looked at the car with curiosity. I could already tell that this place had small town energy and it was one of those towns where everyone knew everyone. The group consisted of three girls and two boys. The two boys were athletic by the look of them and they each had their arm around the shoulders of a girl in the group. I hoped that I could make friends in this town quickly...

I was torn from my thoughts when I noticed Holden was talking and I took out an earbud.

"-town hall over there" he pointed at a building I had seen the teens walking in front of.

Holden laughed and shook his head. So I'm guessing he could tell...

We turned the corner and I saw what I presumed was Evergreen High School.

"That's Evergreen High. I graduated from there as did more than half the people in this town." he nodded towards it. "Your cousin told me that's where you're enrolling. What year are you going into?"

"Oh I'll be a junior this year"

He smiled as we pulled into a hidden driveway that revealed a decent-sized cabin. He parked the car and went to get my bags. A woman I could tell was Stacey walked out the large front door. Her hair, dark brown like mine, was in a sleek bun. Her face was framed with glasses that made her look older than 32. She was wearing a beige cardigan over a white business shirt and a black pencil skirt that came right above her knees.

"Hello Rachel," she smiled, "How was your drive, dear?"

"It was good. It's so beautiful out here." I anxiously replied.

"I know. That's why we decided to live a little ways away from the main roads." she waved to the forest that surrounded most of her house. The house was huge. You could tell that it had been built within the decade based off of how modern and new the cabin looked.

"Your house is amazing Stacey" I said as I looked a it in amazement.

"Thank you" she smiled, looking amused at the face I was no doubt giving right now.

"Well, come inside and I'll show you your room." she put her arm around my shoulder and led me inside.

A/N: How was this? I know it's really short but chapters will get longer when more starts to happen. It's my first fanfiction that I've really ever posted and I'm excited about it so I'll keep writing anyways.