I made it all the way to the parked cars where the beach ended and the road began before Bella caught up with me. She didn't seem out of breath, but I was. My chest heaved at the thought of that huge guy shimmering and vibrating and holding my hand too tight. I flexed the bones and they popped loudly, making me jump.

It was the eyes though. That guy had these super dark eyes, too dark for me to see inside. I thought about the way they had reflected the firelight in that moment, when I had looked at him, and they had looked almost… like an animal's did. Adam and I used to watch Discovery channel all the time, and they looked exactly like a predator's eyes did before they went in for the kill.

"Hey, I'm so sorry about Seth. He really is a sweet guy, I know that he didn't mean to freak you out," Bella apologized to my back when I kept walking.

I shrugged but didn't say anything. "I'll give you a ride back to your house if you want," she offered, sounding unsure for the first time that night. All it took was that slight bit of hesitance, and then I knew. My back straightened like a rod.

Bella wasn't being nice to me because she missed me while I was gone or because we had been really great friends. She wasn't being nice to me because she wanted to be my friend now. She wasn't even being nice to me because she thought that I would want to go to a party that all my former classmates were at. Bella was being nice to me because she Knew.

She knew what had happened to me a year ago.

I coughed up the catch in my throat that meant I wanted to cry, and I turned on my heel to look her in the eye. I was right, her eyes were sad and she was giving me a soft smile, like she thought I was barely holding it together. Which was true, damn her.

Before I could tell her she could take her sympathy straight to hell, a large Quileute boy, I think his name was Embry, ran up to her and whispered something low and fast in her ear. Bella answered in the same tone, and I found myself leaning forward to catch a beat of their quiet conversation. Then they both straightened and turned to me.

"Gracie, my friend Jake needs to talk to you for a minute. If it's too much, I can tell him later," Bella says softly, only a fraction louder than what she said to Embry. She reached out and placed a motherly hand on my shoulder. I fought the urge to push her down into the rocks and tell her that I already had a mom, no matter how shitty she was, and I didn't need my next door neighbor turned supermodel family woman to give me any more nurturing.

I nodded instead of doing any of that, and Embry ran back off in the night, towards the forest. He was only wearing cut off jeans, despite the chill in the air from the downpour that had happened earlier in the day.

Bella and I stared at each other in the moonlight. Her knowing what I had never wanted anyone to know, and I knowing that she knew. It was excruciatingly uncomfortable.

Jacob interrupted our stare down by running in between us at a full sprint, grabbing me immediately by the shoulders and giving me a firm shake. When my head stopped spinning and I was able to look into his eyes, he gave me the meanest look I had ever seen. I wanted to curl up in a ball. I tried to look anywhere but his face but his dark eyes kept me hostage.

"You can't tell anyone what you saw tonight, girl. If anyone asks, Seth had a seizure. It's really important that you don't tell anyone. If you do, we could all be in danger, even you. Do you understand?" Jacob asked me, speaking quickly. I nodded fervently, hoping he would let me go. He was warm, too warm for me, and all I wanted was too lay in my bed until my heart stopped trying to beat out of my chest.

"Jake, that's enough," Bella commanded. My eyes squeezed shut as I thought of what could have happened to me tonight. While I didn't know what kind of danger that the Seth guy posed, I knew it had been life altering now. This show of aggression was enough to set anyone on high alert.

"Let go," I heard myself whisper, "let go, let go, let go, let go, let go, let go. Let me go."

He didn't let go until he was ripped off. My eyes sprang open at the sensation of freedom. Bella and Jacob squared off, both emitting inhuman sounds and letting their lips curl up to expose their teeth.

I reached for my phone and whipped it out while they were transfixed on each other. My fingers searched for my mother's name without having to look at my phone and I pulled it to my ear tightly. It rang for a tone and then my mom answered, sounding giggly.

"Shanna Seeders speaking," she said, and then I heard Daniel behind her say something and she laughed again.

"Mom," I gasped out, wincing as my voice caught in my throat, making me unable to say anything else. But my mom knew.

"I'll be right there, honey. You sit tight. Don't leave. Don't move, Gracie," she said, sounding out of breath and I knew she was running around the house already slipping on shoes and grabbing her keys. I hung up right as I heard our front door slam shut.

Bella and Jacob had stopped inching towards each other, looking like they were going to try to rip out each others throats. Instead, they stood and eyed each other coolly; as if they had reached an unspoken understanding in the two seconds that I had been on the phone with my mother.

Jacob turned around to look at me one more time before he too ran off back to the forest he came from. Bella gave me one last sympathetic look as I turned away from her and waited for my mom to fulfill this promise. I let myself cry, silent tears.

I cried for how awful Forks and myself. It was too spooky, and I spooked easily. I didn't fit in before I left and I didn't fit in now. I missed Alaska and Adam and even though I didn't want to admit it, I missed my dad and the way our family used to make sense. I cried for that more than anything.

I don't know why that boy had shaken like that, but it had shaken me too. It had shaken loose all of these things that I had kept on high shelves, too high for me to reach. That boy had made me remember the good, the bad, and myself. And I never wanted to feel that way again. I never wanted to see that boy again.

Mom picked me up then, so I was able to escape whatever was chasing me. Sobs ripped out of my chest as she pushed some curls out of my face. We drove through the forest where huge Quileute men ran off to, and I swear I heard a wolf howl.

Nobody said anything in my house the next morning. I had called Adam when I had gotten home and he had barely gotten a hello out before I was sobbing again. He listened to me cry until I fell asleep.

Mom set some pancakes and bacon down in front of me, but I felt sick. Disgusting Dan was gone for his job and a car insurance provider or something like that, and I hoped that this was always the way it was in the morning.

"Do you want to tell me what happened at that bonfire last night? Did someone say something? Was it Amanda Halfhorne? She always the snottiest little kid, I remember when she used to register at the toy store for her birthday parties and—" My mom raged, apparently picturing the sight of Amanda Halfhorne sticking her nose where it didn't belong. I stopped her with a short bark of laughter and a shake of my head.

"No, Mom. It was nothing. Really," I swore, even though it was. Mom was already feeling the stress of having one estranged child; she didn't need a crazy one too. Plus, Jacob had made me swear not to tell anyone the way that Seth had acted. I was guessing that applied to my gossipy mother in the pinnacle of the sense.

Mom narrowed her eyes at me and I looked away. Adam used to say that moms could always tell when their kids were lying. He used to say that a light came on in our foreheads that only our Mom could see. It used to scare me to think that I had a light bulb in forehead that could call me out on my lie. My tell when I was younger had been that I cupped a hand over my head so no one could see my light. It had led to a losing poker streak with Adam and his friends, of course.

I guess my mom couldn't see my light this time, because she didn't bring it up again. Instead, she finished my breakfast for me and babbled about taking me out to shop for some summer clothes in Port Angeles. Apparently, Disgusting Dan made a lot of money, and she was no longer relying on child support.

Deep down, I wanted to confront her about telling Bella. There was no other way that she could've found out besides my mom flat out telling her. And maybe she even tried to convince Bella to be my friend. My stomach twisted at the thought.

"Um, maybe we can go shopping later," I said, ignoring my anxiety. "I want to take a walk."

My mom looked surprised. Before I left, I never went outside without a purpose. But Alaska had been so beautiful, and I missed the cold, crisp air biting at my lungs.

I went upstairs and ignored my room looking like a tornado had buzzed around it. The socks that I could find were mismatched but fuzzy, and made the rain boots that I slipped on feel cozy instead of foreign. Mom and I exchanged a brief goodbye and then I left.

My house was the second to last one on the street. We didn't have a neighbor across the street. Sheriff Swan's house rested to our left and Huey Thomas had a house to our right. Huey was also the owner of the whittling shop on the square. My house was quaint and had a small green patch of grass Mom called our front lawn that I had mowed in the summers, but now lay overgrown and infested with weeds. I gave it a side eye as I past, allowing the slight fear that something unknown could pop out of it as I passed. Nothing ever did, but nature should always be feared a little.

I walked towards the woods, following a little path that Adam and I had used to run get to our tree fort. I frowned when I thought about Adam; he was probably wondering what had happened last night. And I couldn't tell him.

I walked all the way to our old tree house. I hadn't been out here since Adam had moved away to college. It was overgrown with vegetation and the steps nailed into the tree for us to climb up to the fort looked unstable. I smiled anyway, and was about to take another step when I heard a groan.

My senses were on high alert in a second, forcing me to survey the area quickly. My eyes locked on the source, about thirty yards off the path. I don't know how I missed it before. It was large and twitching, and the light drizzle was making steam come off its warm body.

It was a man, and a naked one at that.

I grabbed a stick, about as long as my arm, and slowly trekked over to the shivering body. He lay hunched up in the fetal position, and pink scratches crisscrossed his back. They may have covered his whole body, but my vantage point only allowed to see the part that was facing me. He had obviously been attacked, and it very well could've been the wolves that I had heard last night. I hesitated at the thought, but I was now about five feet from his body.

I poked him with the stick.

He shuddered, but his head turned around as his eyes fluttered open. I dropped my stick in shock and sprinted to the tree house. I had recognized him, and in the split second that our eyes had met, I knew he had recognized me, too.

It was Seth, the guy from last night. The reason I was feeling so out of sorts. The cause of my current problems in Forks. I mean, what were the fucking odds?

I didn't turn around but I heard his body heave off the ground and the crack of sticks breaking around him as he followed me. I hit the tree that held our childhood fort and starting climbing, hand over foot, up the tree. The footholds were creaky and I felt one break under my foot about half way up the tree. I grabbed on tight to the one in my hand and just pushed myself up to the next step.

I made it up into the tree house and slammed the trap door shut. It smelled like wet dog and dry rot, but it was a fuck of a lot better than being on the ground with him. I gasped for air and shook out my arms for a minute before I got brave enough to look out the small window and see if he was still there.

He was.

I ducked back inside before he could see me and thought about what I could say to scare him off. I could tell him I was a murderer. I could tell him that I had a gun. I could tell him that I was going to call the cops.

I leaned out the window and shouted down, "Go away!"

His head shot up to look at me and gave me a bright smile. "Hi. Hello. Hey," he called up, rapid fire.

"I'm gonna mur- I mean I've got a g- I'm gonna tell the police!" I stuttered, cursing myself. It would've worked if I had only used one.

"What's your name?" he yelled back, sounding unperturbed by my threats. I frowned and pushed away some of the curls falling in my eyes as I leaned out the window.

"Fuck off, dude," I screamed down. He smiled again and laughed too. I wanted to wring his neck.

"I'm Seth. Seth Clearwater. Do you mind throwing me like a jacket or something? To cover up my business, if you know what I'm saying," he called up through his laughter. I pulled my head back inside as I considered this. He would probably leave if he weren't naked. It seemed logical enough to me.

I took off my jacket and dropped it through the hole in our tree house. When I stuck my head out again he had covered up by drawing the jacket around his waist snugly. It barely fit him, despite his waist being the skinniest part.

"Do you mind if I come up?" he asked politely, cupping his hand over his mouth so I could hear him. Before that, he'd been using his hands to cover up his situation.

I shook my head. "Yes, I mind very much. Don't come up here. I remember who you are," I told him. He shrugged and looked around to avoid looking at me, I guess.

"I want to apologize. That wasn't me last night. Can you come down here?" He tried again, sounding more forlorn than polite now.

I glanced over my shoulder at the trap door behind me and contemplated it. He was being very nice now. And maybe I had been too hasty to push all of my problems on him. But he was super weird, and had vibrated last night and was naked this morning. What if he was crazy or something? What if he tried to strangle me? In a fight, Seth Clearwater would definitely beat me.

A minute later I was halfway down the tree and cursing the name of Seth Clearwater yet again. And I was also cursing my poor judgment to run to a tree house instead of civilization. I had forgotten all about the step that had broken on my way up the tree, and when my foot failed to find a place, I lost my balance.

My hands searched for a place to dig themselves in and my fingernails strained to keep me attached but I fell away toward the ground, still about 30 feet below me. I know I screamed.

I braced myself for the impact and a broken bone, but Seth somehow caught me. It had all happened so quickly, I don't know how he managed it, but I was in the air and then I wasn't.

Seth looked at me and the tension in he held in his eyebrows melted, and I let my shoulders release the built up anxiety. He put me on my feet and I grabbed his arm as I regained my balance. Once I realized what I was doing I stopped, but the lazy smile on his face didn't go away.

"What's your name?" he asked again, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Gracie," I whispered back, feeling like if I were too loud, I would break this. He didn't look away from my own blue eyes, and there was definitely something.

"I'm Seth."

"I know," I laughed, unable to hold it in. This was a very different guy from last night. He had the same face, the same dark brown eyes, the same (amazing, I will absolutely admit it) body, but he was different. He made me feel bubbly inside, like all I wanted to do was laugh.

He threw his head to one side like a dog, and I sobered up. His focus wasn't on me, and I took in my bright yellow rain jacket tucked around him. That was even funny. I giggled, and I hated myself for it. I'm a chuckle-r, not a giggler. And not even thirty minutes ago, I had felt like I had one of the lowest points in my life.

"I'm sorry for last night. I don't know how to make it up to you, but right now I have to go. Can I give you your jacket later?" he asked hurriedly, stepping close and towering over me. I was average height, around 5'5", but I felt like a troll under the bridge in comparison. I craned my neck back to look into his eyes, and they held urgency and sincerity. Last night I felt like I couldn't see emotion in his eyes, but now I felt like I could see a thousand.

"Yeah. Okay," I said, barely finishing my thought before he was careening through the jungle, towards the road on the path that I came from. I watched from the base of my tree as he exited the path and then I lost sight of him. My breath whooshed out of me and my shoulders slumped. I felt so tired, as if I had lost my energy source.

I started walking back towards my house, feeling a nap. I had faced a naked man, fallen out of a tree, and had a brief conversation with the person who had made me question everything about myself, all in the span of about fifteen or twenty minutes.

My feelings toward Seth had shifted dramatically. He had saved me from certain injury, for starters. He was polite. He made me smile, and he made me laugh. He was actually hot, really hot, when he wasn't scaring the shit out of me.

I'd gotten to the road and checked to see if Seth was still running down it, but he was nowhere in sight. My mom's car was gone and when I got inside there was a note on the fridge that she had gone out to meet Disgusting Dan for lunch. I shrugged, not even bothered, and went back to bed.

Maybe Forks and I would get along after all.

I don't own Twilight.

Tell me what you guys think. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants.