Chapter 2: Bone Fire SHOCK!

Now that it's all said and done,
I can't believe you were the one
To build me up and tear me down,
Like an old abandoned house.
What you said when you left
Just left me cold and out of breath.
I fell too far, was in way too deep.
Guess I let you get the best of me.

Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.

You took a hammer to these walls,
Dragged the memories down the hall,
Packed your bags and walked away.
There was nothing I could say.
And when you slammed the front door shut,
A lot of others opened up,
So did my eyes so I could see
That you never were the best for me.

AJ's POV:

Ok I am freaking excited, I am going to the bone fire! I think it's a good chance to meet new people who I might like. You know I have earned a chance at friends. The challenge was telling mom that I am not moving again of me and DJ.

…FLASHBACK…

"AJ…DJ did you both finish packing?" Mom called from the bedroom at the end of the hallway.

"No mom we didn't," DJ took my hand and we walked up to mom by her bed.

"Well why not? We leave this afternoon." She gave us a smirk and put her hands on her hips and went back to stuffing clothes into her bag not even bothering to fold them.

"Mom I'm not…" I began.

"Mom we are not moving again." DJ corrected me, reminding me that I'm not alone in this whole situation.

"Oh and why not?" Mom stopped abruptly, we flinched but it's time for things to change. She had a hint of amusement in her eyes. She didn't believe us. Great! This is going to be easy!

"Mom we're were almost 14, we need real friends that we won't leave behind in 5 days! And we need a real life. You say you want us to be successful when grow up all the time but you keep taking our chances away from us when they are this close!" I held out my hand and made a tiny gap in between my thumb and pointing finger, tears fell freely. DJ pulled me into a hug whispering that everything would be ok, when really it's not.

Mom was lost in thought and she also began to cry. She let out soft sighs full of sadness and sat on the bed with her head in her hands.

"How did I let everything get so… out of hand?" She whispered to herself.

DJ and I waited giving her space to think. A smile spread across her face. "You are absolutely right. I have kept you from earning friends and having lives. And for that I am sorry." I smiled and went to hug her with DJ right behind me.

I wiped some of her newly fallen tears. We all laughed at the fact that we were crying. But for once they were tears of joy.

"Does this mean…" I waited wanting her to finish the sentence.

"Yes we are staying. But…" She held up a finger stopping our joy. "You still need to pack were going to live with Grandpa and Grandma Cullen." She waited for us to explode out of our minds, to basically go crazy.

"GRANDMA AND GRANDPA?" We mimicked each other together jumping up and down. Mom dropped her head into one of her hands and shook her head laughing.

Grandpa Jasper and Grandma Alice. She is not really moms, mom but she is her auntie. Before we were born grandma adopted mom because our moms...mom died when she had our mom. Wow confusing.

"Yeah now go pack I have to tell them were are coming." Although I can bet Grandma Alice already knows we plan on coming.

Before mom could pull out her phone it buzzed in her pocket.

Mom didn't even have to look at the caller ID to know who it was. She flipped it open and waited, "ALIECA YOUR STAYING?" The oh so familiar voice shouted into the phone. We all flinched away from the loud noise, mom held the phone a safe distance away from her ear.

"Yes WE are." She emphasized we real slow.

"OMIGOSH AJ AND DJ TOO!" She was still yelling. Even though we were on the other side of the room we could still hear her perfectly and still have to cover our ears.

"Yeah they are." Mom giggled. I wonder what it was like for her before we were born. Hum I'll have to ask her about that when things…calm down.

"Umm mom one more thing." I said.

"Hold on mom, yes sweetie what is it?" She held the phone to her shoulder.

"Well we were wondering if…" I was cut off by grandma on the phone.

"Let them go they deserve a night out." She said from the speaker her voice finally calm. I smiled, she is such a great aunt, grandma thing- person.

"Well what is it that you want?" mom asked knowing she cannot deny her mom, but still she made an attempt to act motherly.

"Can we go to a bonfire tonight?"

"I… we meet a few people when we went to the store earlier and they invited us." DJ talked but mom stared at me.

"People?" She continued to stare at me.

"Yeah Quil and Seth. You know Uncle Seth." DJ said.

"Don't be over protective…let them go." Alice said from the phone.

"Ok you can go just stay together." She said sternly. Jabbing a finger in my direction.

…FLASHBACK END…

I'm glad Alice was there otherwise, I would be at home watching moves as always.

My eyes open and reality comes back to me in a flash. Steam rises all around me and engulfs in a cloud. I reach for the handle and wait for the water to stop, my vision in the mirror reappears. I jump out in hope that I wasn't in too long, I wipe my hand along the clear glass leaving on strip that is uneven at the edges. I can only think about what is going to happen as I get ready. Leah picked out a pair of purple skinny jeans, black high top converse, a black shirt and jacket. A smile lifts at the corners as I take in my smile. It's shocking that I can smile and mean it. When I finally fall out of my daze I realize it's starting at any minute.

"DJ hurry up its time to leave!" I banged on his door. He usually waits till last minute to finally get ready. I hope this isn't one of those times!

"Ok, ok calm down I'm ready." He walked out his door in jeans a black shirt and white vans.

I held up his sweater. He smiled and grabbed it from my hands. "How did you know I was going to wear this sweater?"

"I guess it just hit me!" I laughed and grabbed his arm.

"Mom were leaving. We will be home as soon as it's over." We both hugged her goodbye and headed toward the beach.

I wasn't hard to find the group of people, one the guys are huge, and two you could see the fire sparks in the dimming gray night. The sky was dark but it had an orange glow from the fire, stars crawled on every inch of the sky and I could swear I saw a shooting star.

We walked up to be greeted by Quil, I gave him a hug and DJ did the boy handshake thingy. UGH boys!

"Hey glad you guys made it!" he smiled exposing and long line of brilliant white teeth. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah thanks for inviting us."I said as DJ shook his head in agreement.

"You can sit right there."He pointed to a large tree that had fallen over. We took our seats as everybody began to gather around the large fire that looked as though animals were dancing around in the sparks.

"Want anything to drink?" Quil asked me.

"Umm can I have water…DJ?" I asked.

"Nah I'm cool." Typical boys… UGH.

"Ok." he flashed a smile and walked off.

"Wait! I'll get my water." I smiled at Quil. This is a good chance for DJ to get to know the guys. I'm not going to take that chance away from him. Besides I could use a little guy time myself. Hehe kidding.

Quil lead me over to a table at the edge of the glow of the fire and stopped to pull out my water.

"Hey AJ I would of got your water." He said after I took a sip. The water flowed down my throat making me wake up for my nap in the shower.

"No it's ok Quil really, it's just my mom moves us around so much that I really want DJ to the chance to make solid friends, you know?" My eyes grew moist. Oh my god are you serious! Why in the world am I crying? I should be happy out of my mind.

Quil noticed my tears and pulled me into a huge that not even a paper could fall from. I know that I shouldn't be hugging him not only 'cause of the fact that we just meet, but I don't even know him. But instead of being scared or completely repulsed the hug was warm and relaxing.

About 20 minutes later (or that's what I felt like, I could of stayed in his arms all night) we released from the hug even though it seemed like neither of us wanted to.

"Thank you Quil, I really needed that." I smiled. "I really had no idea why I was crying." I tried to explain but he stopped me.

"Don't worry about it. All of us go through it once in our lives don't we?" He was so right.

"Yeah but still thanks I'll make it up to you. I promise." My body heaved up in a sorry attempt to stand on my tippy toes, I gave him a kiss on the check and gave his hand a slight squeeze. I took a small slow step back and went back to sit with DJ.

"I'm going to hold you to that." He called after me, I could hear the smile in his voice and feel it on my face.

"Where were you?" DJ whispered to me.

"Don't worry about it, I'll tell you later." Although I don't plan to, I mean it's not like anything happened. We just hugged.

"Hey everybody! Did I miss anything?" A deep voice called from a distance. Nobody looked up except for me and DJ.

"No." Seth said and continued to play with Claire. The tall muscular boy walk up to the surrounding group. He was dark skinned and like many other guys here not wearing a shirt. His eyes were dark and endless but filled with pain he looked like he hasn't slept in days huh wonder why? I suppose most girls would be attracted to this man but I have a feeling I know him from somewhere. He looked about 30 years old or somewhere around the same age of my mom.

This man… or boy said hi to everybody as he went around the circle of people.

He stopped in his tracks when he noticed to two new faces, ours. "Hey I don't supposed me have met before? You are?" he stuck out his hand to each of us.

"This is AJ Brandon Cullen Clearwater…and DJ Damien Cullen Clearwater, right?" HE paused and we nodded. "Yeah, wow that was a mouth full." Quil said walking up behind us holding my water that I forgot at the table. Sorry I was kind of occupied hugging this one strange guy who I am weirdly attracted to, to remember my water.

"So I'm guessing everybody just calls you AJ and DJ?" He had amusement in his eyes but it died out as soon as it started. "Hey I'm Embry." He smiled, but he didn't mean it. Wait! Did he just say Embry as in my DAD Embry? DJ and I froze as the name hit us right smack in the heart.

"There Alieca's kids." Seth said. Half a second later he understood what he said and smacked his hand over his mouth. Everybody lifted their heads slowly to take in Embry's response.

DJ and I just stared in complete horror as Embry froze and began to shake.

"WHAT?" He shouted. I couldn't make out any emotion on his face because he was shaking so much.

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!

"I could really use a wish right now."

Embry's POV:

I hope I'm not running late. The bone fire is starting any minute.

That's the least of my worries.

I'm Embry and that's the only thing to you need to know that's important in my life except the fact that the love of my life, my soul, my reason to exists, left me 13 years ago. She has been around La push lately but has left before I even know where to find her. That day was terrible for me I found out she was pregnant and how was I supposed to respond? I know I didn't do anything right after that, I just avoided her for a while and one day she was on the beach and saw me standing with Amy. She smiled and left and well… never reappeared. I messed up and I really need to fix this.

I'm in stuck in a vortex and cannot find my way out. Pain is miserable.

I could smell the bone fire up the beach and I put on my best happy face.

"Hey everybody! Did I miss anything?" I said as I entered the group.

"No." Seth said playing with none other than… Claire. I glared at him I swear he is so basic sometimes.

I left Seth alone and said hi to everybody, there were two new faces, that held something I don't know… familiar.

"Hey I don't supposed me have met before? You are?" I stuck my hand out to both of them. They have to be twins. Just like my kids are… where ever they are.

The girl took my hand first then the boy. Their hands were warm but still had a slight chill to them. They looked really familiar.

"This is AJ Brandon Cullen Clearwater…and DJ Damien Cullen Clearwater. Wow that was a mouth full." Quil said. Aw crap another imprint! Well at least he has a chance to love her. Sigh.

But I'm smiling, why? Why do these to kids make me want to smile?

"Their Alieca's kids." Seth said and slapped his hand to cover his mouth. My body tensed up and I began to shake.
Alieca, Alieca, Alieca! She is back! I have to find her! I will look to the ends of the earth until I find her and get her back.

"WHAT?" I shouted. I was shaking more rapidly not because I was mad but because I was so happy I could smile and not have to fake it!

AJ's POV:

Embry is here right now. CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! We cannot tell mom about this. Or we will move for sure.

"Umm I think we should go." I said standing up and taking DJ's hand. We backed away slowly until we were in the trees shadows then we ran.

Before we reached the house I stopped DJ.

"We have to promise each other to never tell mom about this or we will have to move!" I whispered to DJ.

"Agreed I just hope he won't find mom and hurt her… again." His voice sounded so helpless, I hugged him and we both just stayed like that for a while.

This is not going to be easy mom has been hurt enough, looks like someone else is going to have to be the grown up for a while…