Sorry for any mistakes. I haven't been feeling up to par lately.

Jacob didn't seem fazed by the amount of people staring at us from inside the house as he toted me into the room.

"This is cozy, isn't it? I wouldn't mind a bit of elbow room, though." Jacob admitted dragging me towards Sam and Jared, who were gaping down at me.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked, befuddled. Perhaps he was rethinking his earlier assumption of me. 'She doesn't seem like she'd be much trouble…'

"Ah, I found her taking a little walk and we decided to join you." Jacob smiled with his lips tightly closed.

Please don't mention smoking, please don't mention smoking, I chanted in my head, trying to compose myself. This was just as big a shock to me as it was them.

This Jacob fellow was definitely not high up on my list.

"I thought you were sick." Kim had ducked behind Jared, but had now reappeared. If she was a cartoon character, smoke would be coming out of her ears. She was furious, but her polite manners kept her from expressing it.

"I was! Then when I got better I began to walk to school and got lost and you know, couldn't find my way out so then I ran into this…" I looked Jacob up and down for a brief second, trying to find the appropriate word. "…guy and err…ended up here." I nodded, knowing I was in so deep shit. "Yeah…fuck." I whispered.

"Thankfully Jacob found you then, isn't it?" Sam looked at Jacob, his eyes erratic.

"Oh, yeah, absolutely," I bit my lip and looked down at my filthy feet.

"Where are your shoes, Shan?" Kim huffed. "Only you would forget something like that. Let's just head home and we can get you cleaned up in time for school."

"Hello? What's the commotion in here?" A light voice floated out from all the bodies and an extremely pretty girl appeared, startling me. Her face was deformed on one side by three very long, painful-looking scars.

"Nothing to get upset over," Sam placed a hand on the girls shoulder protectively.

I cringed at the girl's face and immediately shunned myself for doing so.

"Just Kim's sister." Jared muttered, shaking his head.

"Ah, this is the one who I've been hearing so much about, then?" She hummed lightly, looking at Jacob the same way Sam had before. Then she looked down at my hand and a smile lit up her face as if she had gotten some incredibly good news. "Wonderful," She smiled and ducked back into what I assumed was a kitchen. "I'll be right out with breakfast!"

"Good to meet you, too." I scowled at the doorway all the boys had blocked again.

"That's Emily," Jacob explained lightly.

"Oh, yeah?" I noticed what she had been staring at earlier- my hand was still immersed in Jacob's. I yanked it away quickly and shoved in to my jeans pocket. No matter how good he looked, he was still an ass for pulling that little stunt in the woods.

"She and Sam are getting married this fall." Kim told me, eyeing Jared wistfully. I had to hold back a retort.

"That's nice," I slid backwards, my hands still in my pockets. Everyone in the room was staring at me now, as if I was a new toy.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jacob grabbed one of my arms and dragged me back to his side, then started talking to two of the boys again.

I seethed. "Let go!" I tried to pry his fingers away from my arm, but they were like iron.

"So you can go running out the door and get yourself killed?" He snorted as if that was exactly what I planned to do. "I don't think so."

"Get off of me!" I twisted, but he didn't budge. "You are such a bastard!" I turned to my sister. "Do you see what he's doing? Kim! Are you even paying attention? This is abuse, you know."

"Then stop struggling," Jared suggested, not breaking eye-contact with Kim.

"I wasn't talking to you, Lurch." I growled, still wiggling.

"I see you're blood sugar is better now." He smirked slightly. He must have smelled the remains of smoke wafting off my sweatshirt and jeans.

Kim's lips moved rapidly, but she whispered so I couldn't hear what she was saying. Jared answered her, not bothering to keep his voice down. Kim was looking more and more excited by the minute.

I spun towards the rest of the room, all of those who were staring at me before were in deep conversations with each other now. Every so often they would glance at me, smile, then go back to their private chats.

It was infuriating. I was obviously missing something…something big.

"So is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on here? Or am I just going to stand here on display for the next hour and a half?" I interrupted Jacob's conversation.

"You're obviously on display." He looked down at me, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "So be a good little mannequin and look pretty."

"You bastard," I stamped on his foot without luck.

"That's not helping anyone, Shannon." The tallest of the boys he was talking to chuckled at my antics. I quickly recognized him as the boy who had almost broken our couch- Quil.

"Yeah, well if he would let go that would certainly help me." I felt like fighting was hopeless, plus my arm was getting sore.

"You're quite defiant, you know that?" The other boy gave me a small smile that lit up his long face.

"So I've heard." I gave one last hard tug before giving up.

Jacob immediately let me go. "Now don't go running off anywhere, Shannon. I'll just have to hunt you down again."

I snorted, ignoring the glare from my sister. "Right," I nodded, not admitting I had planned on doing just that.

"You're going to be a challenge, but don't worry about that." He gave me a wink. "I like that in a girl."

"That's not the only thing you'd like in a girl." Quil muttered, looking up at the ceiling.

"Shut up, Arteara." Jacob smacked him.

"I'm just saying!" He laughed and Embry joined in, making me feel even more uncomfortable.

I had to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"That was nice, wasn't it? I mean, none of us have ever seen Jake so happy." Kim told me breathlessly as we walked through the front door. She paused to wave at Jared as he pulled out of the driveway.

"Who's Jake?" I grunted, pulling my sweatshirt off my head and tossing it onto the floor.

"Jacob, of course. He got his heart broken by a girl and that's why he left last-" She turned to look at me and her mouth popped open, making her look like a goldfish. "You can't get undressed in the front hall!"

"Watch me." I pulled the damp shirt over my head and threw it down next to my other discarded clothes.

"Someone could see you!" Kim panicked, her hands flying to her face.

"Who cares?" I unbuttoned my jeans and shimmied out of them.

"I do! And Jake might care, too." She stared at me, standing mostly naked in our front hall. "For your information."

"Don't care what you think," I kept my underwear on and opened the hall closet to look for my garbage bag of clothes I knew Kim had hidden there. "Definitely don't care what Jake thinks."

"You should!" She followed me to our bedroom, still set on convincing me. "You two would be really great together, you know. Mom and Dad would love that."

"I'm sure Mom and Scott would absolutely shit and die from the pure happiness that it would bring to them, but I have to pass. He isn't my type." I ripped open the bag and dumped my clothes on my bed, pillaging through the mass. "Thank God at least one of us was gifted with a brain."

"Oh," She frowned at the mess of clothes, completely ignoring my jab. "Believe me, he is exactly your type. He does not get any more your type."

"That's too bad, isn't it? I mean, considering I am completely, absolutely, positively not interested." I pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a tank top.

"You're being retarded. Jake is like…the Romeo to your Juliet. You two would be absolutely perfect." She sighed and sat on her bed while I zipped up my green jacket.

"You know they died at the end of that play, right?" I pulled on my socks and shoved my feet into my shoes, slightly amused by Kim's ranting.

"You know what I mean." She sighed and smoothed her skirt before looking at my ensemble. "You could dress a little nicer for school."

"Just tell everyone I'm colorblind." I picked up the new backpack that Scott had bought me- I had never used one before- and headed out the door with Kim right on my heels.

"I might have to." She stopped to lock the front door behind us and then jogged a little to catch up with me. "Remember when we used to do this all the time? When we were little? Mom and Dad would leave for work and then we would walk to La Push Elementary together in the morning." She chuckled at the memory.

"That was a different life time under different circumstances." I brushed away the thought of happier times; My Mom smiling and packing us our lunches, Dad picking us up everyday after school in his pickup truck…not a BMW.

"But it was still nice." She sighed. "We used to have matching lunchboxes and you wanted to be just like me. Remember when you had that huge crush on-"

"Cut it out, okay?" I began to walk faster.

"Fine," We walked a few more steps in silence before she began again. "So what is your type, exactly?"

"Not Jake."

"Oh, be reasonable. Short boys? Tall boys? Fit? Skinny? Smart? Funny?" She pumped me for information.

"Girls," I told her, smirking.

She choked on her own spit. "What? Oh, you're kidding."

"Obviously,"

"Anyways," Kim took a minute to get back on track. "So why don't you like Jacob? We could double. I'm serious. He and Jared are like brothers, you know. Oh! And maybe even Sam and Emily."

"No," I shook my head.

"Well, I'll call Jared and he can drop by with Jake after school." She smiled to herself and I could see the cogs turning in her mind. "Just in case,"

"Can you just drop it? It's not happening, Kim."

"I'm so sorry for trying to be happy, Shannon. Obviously I'm going to hell for it, aren't I? At least by your book," Kim held out her hands to the sky as if she was talking to the clouds.

"You don't get it, do you?" I didn't turn around. "Our lives would still be like that if Scott hadn't come out of nowhere and ruined everything."

"Scott ruined everything?" Kim shook her head in disgust. "Did you even get the whole story, Shan? Do know why Mom married Scott? Why you came to stay with us? Have you seen Mom lately? Have you noticed how incredibly happy she is? She didn't used to be like that."

"Fuck off," I suggested, speeding up when I could see the school ahead of us. It was torture, but it was also eight blessed hours without having to deal with my family life.

"That was really mature!"

"I know, right?" I called back, giving her a short wave and trotting up the steps into the red brick building.

I made it to my first class with minutes to spare. In all my life I could never remember showing up to high school on time, let alone early. It was odd watching all of my peers filter into the classroom as I waited.

A boy with fly-away ginger hair was the last one to take his seat. When he saw me staring, he winked at me before turning towards the front of the classroom.

I scowled down at my desk, annoyed with his actions. He was the same one who had been giving a week's worth of dentations last class for being tardy.

"Hola la clase," Ms. Partridge walked into the class room, her over-sized bag tucked under her arm. "Please open your texts to page two hundred and twenty."

I open my book and stared down at the pages before resting the side of my face on the paper on my desk. It wasn't as soft as my pillow, or even a rock, but it was all that I had.

There was a time in my life when I really did pay attention in school, but right now the only thing I wanted to pay attention to was whatever my subconscious mind came up with.

"Miss Shannon?" A ruler hit on the desk next to my face, causing me to jump in my seat. "Are you with us today?"

"Obviously," I groaned, stretching my arms high over my head. I was well aware that every pair of eyes in the room were glued to me.

"Then perhaps you would like to translate the writing on the board." Ms. Partridge crossed her large arms over her equally large bosom.

"Err…No, but thanks for the offer." I watched her face go from sallow white to bright red within a matter of seconds.

"Pardon me?"

"No. Thanks." I spoke slowly, emphasizing my words. I could hear the class snickering around me, but I held my ground. I couldn't back out now.

"Translate the board." Her voice was as stiff as mine was relaxed.

"Let me make this very clear to you, alright?" I stared at her, lowering my voice until only the people at the surrounding desks could hear. "I refuse to answer that in front of the entire class and most certainly embarrass the hell out of myself just because you think I need punished. Do you like making little children feel bad about themselves? Is that why you became a teacher? If so let me be the first to applaud you. I love it when people like you find pleasure in my misery. It just makes me feel so…educated."

"You…insolent, unappreciative child…"

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to say something. "Or did you need me to say that in Spanish for you to understand it?" I clucked my tongue against my teeth and proceeded to do so, much to the rest of the classes' amusement.

She looked truly shell-shocked for a moment before regaining her thoughts. "Detention," She blinked furiously. "You…out…now." She pointed one of her sausage fingers at the door.

"With pleasure," I stood up, sliding my books into my backpack and flashed her a small smile. "Until tomorrow," I practically floated out the door.

The walk to the office was one of slight joy and more than slight regret. My mother would kill me and Scott would buy a book on teenage therapy. Kim would die of embarrassment, but it was well worth seeing the look on that biddy's face in there.

I slouched into the office and fell into one of the gray and red waiting chairs.

"How may I help you?" The receptionist looked up from her solitaire game with a pair of dreary brown eyes.

"Kicked out of Spanish class," I nodded as if this was normal.

"Partridge?"

"Yes sir," I stood up and took the piece of paper she had been filling out.

"After your last class turn that in to the teacher in room C105. If you skip it you get double." She turned back to her computer game of cards, ignoring the phone that was ringing right beside her.

"Thanks," I gave her a small salute and walked out without any trouble. Of all the people I'd met in La Push so far, she was definitely my favorite.

AN: I have no idea why it took me so long to write this. No inspiration, I suppose. Yes, I do speak Spanish, but I didn't have the patience (nor time) to write all of that out. I can't spell any of it. Besides, who would have read it? Not me.