No matter how many stars I wish on, I don't own Twilight or it's characters, darn it! Twilight and it's original characters are property of Stephanie Meyer. All original characters (Not many of them, but the few that are here) are the result of too many late nights and too many energy drinks! :) Take care all! ~AD

Chapter 5

The next day was school as usual, and a part of me wished I'd called in sick and spent the day at the reservation with Jacob's family.

That was the coward's way, though.

I'd had to learn to be stronger after becoming a vampire, and I wasn't going to break that now...But how I dreaded lunch.

As it turned out, there was now a Cullen in all of my classes. Jasper in history, Rosalie in home economics, Alice in math, Emmett in gym, and (joy of joys) once again I had Edward in my advanced biology lab. Thank the Gods, I already had a partner so there wouldn't be a repeat of that fiasco.

Once again, the Cullens were the topic of choice at lunch. I picked at my salad, and tried to ignore the chatter.

"He's so cute!"

"They're all so perfect!"

"Hey, are they dating?"

"I wonder why that Edward kid is so angry."

"That Alice is a little weird..."

Disgusted, I got up to throw my salad away, and decided to go outside for a walk. It was overcast, like always, but at least it wasn't raining.

"Bell, er, Ella?"

With a sigh, I turned around. Alice stood just a few feet away, looking a little unsure of herself.

"What?" I said, sounding about as weary as I felt.

"I just thought I'd let you know that they're doing the blood typing thing in biology this afternoon. In case you wanted to skip out."

"I don't really have a problem being around blood anymore." I said dismissively. "Not human blood, anyway. Never really did."

"Oh," She said. "All right."

She turned to go, and suddenly, I felt like I'd kicked a puppy. Alice had always been my favorite Cullen, other than Edward, and damn if I didn't still miss that closeness.

"Hey, Alice," I called out. "Thanks for the heads up anyway."

She gave me a small smile over her shoulder, and went back inside the lunchroom.

Well, damn. That resolve of mine didn't last very long, now, did it?

Suddenly, faking an illness and going to the res didn't sounds so bad. A few coughs and a fake gag later, I was in my car and heading out of town. Jacob met me on his porch.

"Well, look who the wolves drug in?"

I groaned. "You would make a joke like that. It's a little sick."

He grinned that familiar grin, and I had to laugh.

"Want to meet the new pack?" He asked. "They should be familiar with your scent so that they don't accidently track you some night."

I shrugged. "What the hell. I don't want to be a chew toy, so I guess I'd better."

He cringed. "Ouch."

A short while later, and I was running through the woods, hunting for food side by side with three large wolves. It turned out that Jacob's oldest son, Gabe, had been the first to turn. With him were two of his friends, Chris and Marcus. Sure, I could have gone hunting alone, but I didn't really feel like being alone today. After I'd fed, I sat on a boulder and watched as the three wolves wrestled and played together. I was laughing and enjoying myself, when Gabe decided that I needed to take a more active part. He charged and rolled me, wrestling playfully.

One moment, I was face down with him standing on my back, and the next he was sailing through the air.

"What..." That's all I got out before there was a rushing sound, growls and hissing. I looked up to see Esme, Alice and Emmett standing between me and the wolves.

"No," I screamed, and rushed to stand between the two groups. "Don't hurt them!" I screamed at the Cullens. To the wolves, I yelled for them to go home, that I was safe and I'd check in with them later that night. While they didn't go home, they did retreat to the edge of the small clearing, but they kept watch over the Cullens and I.

"What were you doing?" I yelled at the Cullens. "They weren't going to hurt me!"

"Uh, yeah," Emmett said, scratching his head. "I guess I'm seeing that."

"How did you end up friends with a pack of wolves?" Esme wondered.

Alice looked frustrated. "I can't see anything with you and them."

"Well, stop watching me!" I snapped.

Emmett chuckled.

"Now, what?" I asked, getting frustrated myself.

"Can I call you 'Dances with Werewolves?" He asked with a grin.

Alice reached up and hit him in the shoulder.

Esme closed her eyes and shook her head.

I stared at him a moment before I simply couldn't help myself. I laughed.

"Only you could come up with something that lame, and make it funny." I said.

He shrugged.

"We thought they were going to attack you." Esme said.

"No, we were just messing around." I gestured to the small pack, "We thought it would be a good idea for them to get used to my scent so that they don't accidently attack me when I'm out hunting."

Alice looked puzzled. "How is it that you're friends with a wolf pack?"

I shrugged. "A friend of mine shifted just before I was bitten. He's actually one of the pack that killed Laurent. He's the one who helped me for so long, I guess we both taught each other how to adapt to our new lives."

Alice looked suprised. "So that's why I suddenly couldn't see you. I can't see anything having to do with the wolves. That's why I didn't see your attack, or what happened after. You've been around the wolves for a while, haven't you?"

"Yeah," I said.

Esme looked sad. "I would have come and gotten you, if I'd only known. It couldn't have been easy."

"It was Hell," I said. "Jacob helped me out for a long time, so I was never really alone until about 30 years ago." I stopped and thought about that. "God, I remember when I dreaded my 18th birthday, and now I'm talking about being almost a hundred years old." I shuddered.

Alice grinned. "I stopped counting after 50."

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, these wolves are my friends, so if you could avoid hurting them in the future, that would be greatly appreciated."

The Cullens all nodded.

I motioned for the wolves to come closer. They snarled and made a big show, but I think they were too curious to really do any damage. "This is the Cullen family...some of them, anyway. This is the family your tribe has the treaty with."

They growled in what I hoped was acknowledgement.

"Well," I said, suddenly at a loss, "I hate to break up the party, but I'd better get these kids home."

"All right, Bella." Esme said.

"Glad you're not still trying to rip our heads off," Emmett threw in.

"Bella," Alice started, then she simply held her arms out. "I know it's too little, and way too late, but I'm sorry. I should have realized that something wasn't right."

I shook my head. "It wasn't your job to watch me. You still should have written, e-mailed, called...or something."

"I know. Edward convinced us that we would do more harm than good contacting you, and I believed him. You were hurt when we left, I know that, but I didn't see how contacting you would make it any better. I still should have." She shook her head sadly. "I thought of you as a sister once, and I'm hoping that the Bella I know isn't buried so deep that you can't forgive me someday."

If my vampire body could have called up tears, I'd have cried a little at that. Instead, I found myself stepping into the offered hug. Was I still hurt, yes. Was I still angry, sure. But I'd still missed my friend, and longed for the comfort that I'd once found with her.
Suddenly Esme and Emmett were there too, and it turned into one big happy family embrace.

For the first time in longer than I cared to admit, I felt like a little piece of myself, a piece I hadn't known was missing, fell back into place. I wasn't ready to completely forget the hurt and anger from their abandonment long ago, but maybe I was just ready to let a little of it go...

For now...

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I'd finally come home.

Chapter 6

I mended my relationship with the Cullen family slowly, and was even able to think back on my "before vampire" life with considerably less of the familiar hurt and pain that it used to bring. I still couldn't look at, speak to or speak about Edward, however. That was the deepest wound, and probably the one that would take the longest to heal.

More and more wolves were joining the pack on the res, and I became their unofficial "Vamp" mascot. As soon as another wolf pack member joined, I was contacted to come meet them. They were 12 members strong...the largest in the Quileute's history.

Jacob voiced his worries over why this group was so large, and I had nothing to offer in way of an explanation except that maybe it was because I was spending so much time around the reservation.

It didn't even cross my mind that there was something else coming.

Something else that would cause a mass break-out of the shifting tribe.

I was living in a state of happy ignorance, in a way. Perhaps it was being back in Forks again, but I became relaxed and not as obsessively on guard as normal.

The Cullens and I had settled into an uneasy state of tolerance. We could be friendly towards one another, yet still keep enough of a distance between us that I was able to live with. Things seemed as if they were finally settling down.

That should have been the first sign that something was wrong.

It was lunch time. I wasn't feeling like being social, so I put my iPod earphones in and pretended to be texting on my phone. In all honesty, the iPod wasn't on and I wasn't really doing anything with the phone, but the fact that I had them visibly in hand seemed to discourage people from interrupting my solitude.

I had started carrying a phone because it gave me something to fidget with in order to maintain the "I'm human" facade. Most people don't realized it, but humans rarely hold completely still...and when they actively try to hold still, it's so out of the ordinary that it will actually make other humans uneasy. After becoming a vampire, Jacob worked with me constantly, reminding me to move. To this day, I'm still not sure if it was for my education or if it had simply been driving him crazy.

Mid-fake-text, my cell phone rang. I hurried to silence the ringer and checked the caller ID. "Black, Jacob," it said.

Frowning, I tucked the phone in my pocket. For him to call during school hours, something must be going on. I pulled up the hood on my sweatshirt, and walked outside into the slightly muggy afternoon. Quickly, I dialed Jacob's number and waited impatiently for an answer.

"Bells?"

"Yeah, Jake," I said. "What's up?"

"Something's going on that I think you need to hear about." The worry in his voice resonated in my head. Jake never worried, and he sure never called me when I was in school.

"Sure," I replied. "What's going on? Pack business?"

"I think you need to come to the reservation. Now."

"Alright," I said, quickening my step. "I'm on my way to my car right now, and I'll be there in a few minutes."

"See you soon," He said, sounding slightly relieved. "Drive safe, but get here."

Instead of responding, I simply hung up. I fished my keys out of my jeans, and was on my way out of the parking lot in moments.

Just before the school was out of sight, I thought I'd caught sight of a familiar figure in my rearview mirror. Standing outside the large double-doors leading to the school, watching me go, was Edward.