A/N: Um, okay. I need to just stop making excuses. I had an indefinite writer's block. I had no idea where I wanted to take this story from my last chapter, and it was extremely frustrating. But I read the wonderful reviews by you guys on my story, and I saw how much you guys wanted me to continue, so I found my muse and just went for it. ;)

Can I just say now that I am on SUMMER VACATION, I have a ton of time now, so you can expect more updating. :D

Love, Chels.

Warning: This chapter has drug usage references. Please pay attention to the rating- M.

Chapter Song: Cherry Blossoms, by The Hollow Crowes.

Sera (Nia) POV

Another day.

I got up out of bed, stretching my limbs.

I looked in the mirror.

What I saw appalled me. Only a week after everything, and my skin looked sallow. I had dark circles under my eyes. My hair was considerably more frizzy than normal.

My eyes were blank.

I shrugged.

I got up out of bed to find that Nessie, Allie, and Jake had all left without telling me. I guess they finally got the memo since every time they pleaded for me to go back to the main house and visit everyone, I shook my head and remained mute. There was only so much three people could take, and I was making them miserable.

I hated that fact. They didn't deserve it at all.

I hadn't eaten at all since that day a week ago, but I couldn't bring myself to feel very hungry. I knew that I was thirsty, and that was something that was never going to change despite my mood, but I couldn't find the energy to go hunt.

Or do anything.

I was supposed to hang out with Jesse today though.

Since he took my lip virginity and my actual virginity a week ago, we had only had sex one other time. I knew that if I kept subjecting myself to having sex with him, I would feel worse and worse. I already felt the change after the second time. When he had pulled out of me, I felt incredibly sick, but knew that my half-vampire stomach would never betray me like that. And to be honest, he didn't look like he cared too much about what I felt.

Jesse had figured out my schedule by now. He came around noon, when everyone was sure to be gone. And like clockwork, 12:05, there was a knock at the door. I ran at a human speed to open it.

Jesse was leaned against the wall of the house with his arms crossed at his chest. His scent was making me thirsty. Crap. "Hey babe," he commented, taking in my obvious lack of preperation for the day with contempt eye. I didn't say anything.

"You gonna get dressed, or...?" Jesse trailed off, walking past me into the house. I sighed.

"Just woke up, sorry." I wasn't really that sorry.

"I got time," he said offhandedly.

My lips made a tight line. I couldn't necessarily say I liked the kid. I watched him move around the room like a snake, his eyes darting to everything, sizing it all up like it borderlined on valuable and dangerous. I made a quick memo of every grabbable thing in the room so I would know if it went missing later.

I went into my room and shut the door behind me. I had recently acquired some seblance of clothing taste since last week. It's funny what stays with you even when you don't actually have someone to impress anymore.

Jesse didn't really count to me. There was only one person I was ever interested in impressing, and he was too busy kissing other women.

I brushed my hair until it was somewhat smoothed down. I used some powder to cover the dark circles under my eyes and threw on a light mascara. I picked out a collared shirt with a denim collar and white flowing material for the rest of the shirt. I picked a pair of skinny jeans and my signature Chucks.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake my obsession with these shoes.

But when I walked out of my room, he looked at my shoes with disdain. "Your shoes are muddy."

My jaw locked. "My shoes are classic and wonderful," I defended.

He sighed and continued to check out the contents of the living room. "You gonna keep snooping?" I said a little acidicly.

"Whatever Nia. You ready?" he snapped.

I shot him a look and marched back into my room to grab my purse. Not that I caried anything too valuable. Just a key to this house and the main house.

I walked back outside to find that he was already out the door. I rolled my eyes and followed in his footsteps, and locked the door on the way out.

He had his SUV that I lost my viginity in parked outside in all of its glory. Although I was somewhat regretting losing my virginity to the asshole, the SUV held some meaning in its own way. Not that I really wanted to remember the night in general.

Not that I ever want to even think about that night again.

I opened the passenger door to see him shaking his head. "Sit in the back please."

My jaw dropped. "Excuse me?" Depressed or not, I was raised to tolerate no bullshit.

"We're picking up Duke today." He said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world and I was an idiot for even bringing this issue up with him. I ground my teeth.

"Who the fuck is Duke?" I growled. I imagined this Duke guy being slashed to pieces by my claws. I knew I was being unfair since I had never met the kid, but Jesse already made me not like him.

"Well, aren't we a little firecracker," he said with a smirk. Speaking of claws, my fingers formed one when I saw his coky little face. "Duke is my best friend. He's also getting me some weed. He doesn't know you, but since he's giving some to me so he gets front."

I flared my nostrils but said nothing. That was the most unconvincing, unintelligent, half-baked reasoning I'd ever heard in my life. Instead, I did what I normally didn't do.

I did as told.

I got into that back seat with the most dignity I could muster in my situation, and fought to control my temper.

He didn't even have the decency to apologize or justify the situation.

Asshole.

And so we rode (with me in the backseat) down the highway to Boise. I knew that if I so choosed, I could rip him to shreds. I could take his blood. I had the power to change my situation, but I was too pathetic to do anything about it.

It's a funny thing realizing you're at rock bottom. When you realize that you're sitting in the backseat of an SUV because you were told by an asshole that that's where you belong, and you don't even have the energy to rectify the situation. Maybe I was taking the backseat thing too seriously, but I still fought the urge to rip his throat out.

Depressed or not, I would have to hunt soon. My thirst was making my already prominent temper issue even worse.

But there was one problem that I refused to tell anyone, because I wasn't telling anyone anything. And it would also bring more attention to me, which I definitely didn't want.

My dreams.

Of course, they always come into play. Always.

My dreams. They were getting even more shadowy and mysterious, and for me, that was a rarity. Clarity defined my visions.

I kept dreaming of two figures. Vampire, as far as I could tell, and women. Something about a doctor too, appearing sometimes and other times, not. The figures were shadowy. They were playing with my visions. And they were getting closer.

As far as I could tell, they weren't threatening my family at all. They were only focused on me. To be quite honest, they scared me half to death. My visions were never this dark and jumbled, but here I was.

Maybe it was because my life was muddy now?

That couldn't be it.

I had been through rough patches in my life but never had they affected the clarity of my visions.

I was stupid. I knew I was stupid. I was just too selfish, wallowing in my self pity, over my best friend that I was desperately in love with kisssing another girl a week ago.

I should tell someone. The only problem being that I hadn't been around any family (including Nessie, Jake, and Allegra) and there hadn't been an opportunity to say anything.

I wanted to keep mulling this over, but someone I suspected as Duke was walking along the road towards the car. Jesse pulled over.

"Hey man," he called, putting the car in park and unlocking the doors.

Duke jumped in and looked genuinely suprised that Jesse had a guest. "Hey," Duke said, extending a hand. I bit back my pride and shook his hand. Duke, if that was even his real name, had Native American features. His hair was cut short, not in a buzz cut, but just enough to be styled I guess, if he wanted to. My first impression was that he looked a lot like the guys back in La Push.

I was hit with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia then. I would give anything to be in La Push right now.

"Duke, this is Nia," Jesse said, starting the car.

"Nia," Duke said, "Interesting name."

"It's a nickname," I informed him. I tried not to think of my other nickname.

He raised an eyebrow, expecting a full answer. I sighed. "Seraphina. That's my full name."

"An even more interesting name," he commented appreciatively.

I shrugged. "I have a cousin named Renesmee."

He looked shocked that Renesmee was even a name that was formulated by a functioning brain. "Guess it runs in the family then. You must be an interesting person to have a name like that," he said, winking.

I gave him a small smile in return. "I like to think I am." More than you know, I addded in my head.

"Well, I'm sure your cousin isn't as pretty as you are."

Jesse leaned over and slapped his head. "Hey, she's mine."

I bit back the growl in my throat. I wasn't a piece of property. The only person that ever said that I was his was...

Um.

Him.

I winced. His face in my head that I had been trying to keep out this whole time was like taking a bullet.

"Hey, you okay?" Duke asked, turning back around and seeing my face.

I looked at him with shock. Maybe it was crazy to think that Jesse actually knew someone with the common curteosy to ask a person if they were feeling all right.

"Um, yeah. I'm okay. Just...stubbed my toe," I lied. I heard that hurts for humans.

Duke said, "Oohh, bummer, that hurts like a bitch," and turned back around when Jesse distracted him with some talk about cannabis, or "weed" I guess, and when he was gonna get it. Still, I stared at the back of Duke's head, wondering how he could be friends with Jesse.

Soon, the drive turned into something unfamiliar. "Jesse, where are we going?" I asked, breaking into the conversation, maybe a little rudely. Sorry I wasn't sorry.

"To pick up my sister," Duke said. "And her friend."

"Oh? What's your sister's name?" I asked curiously.

"Demi. And her friend's name is Tony."

"Is she your younger sister or older?"

"Twin sister. Younger by eight minutes."

"Yeah, and Tony is the guy she fucks," Jesse taunted, a smirk on his face. Duke punched Jesse hard in the arm. After the way he treated me, I had to admit I got a little pleasure from seeing him wince.

"Anyways," I said, feeling more talkative that I had felt all week, "I have to ask. Is Duke your real name?"

Duke turned around to look at me and smiled warmly. I almost teared up with the injustice of it all. I suddenly wished Duke was the one to find me at that party. "Nope. Duke is just a nickname. It's really Demitrius, which is literally the dumbest name I have ever heard. My sister's name is Demitria. My parents thought they were being clever by naming us names that sounded so similar. They're fucking idiots," he said for good measure. He looked away for a moment, shook his head, and grinned. "Whatever."

"When did you get the nickname?'

He thought about it and shrugged. "I can't really remember. I think just one day I told everyone to call me Duke, and it stuck."

Jesse laughed. "You're sure talkative today, Nia."

"I'm talkative around interesting people," I returned smoothly.

Jesse pouted and Duke laughed. "She stuck you one, bro."

Jesse smirked his signature smirk. "It's more like I stick her one."

My jaw dropped for the second time today, second time today due to the fuckery that just came out of Jesse's mouth.

...Excuse me.

I felt myself blow a gasket. I couldn't help it.

I was literally apalled that someone could even say that, much less while the person was in the car.

I let go of some of my control. I snarled.

Duke flipped his head around and looked at me in surprise. "Are you...growling, Nia?"

I stopped suddenly, feeling a sense of shock. I sent a heated glare at Jesse before I flipped my head away. "Habit I do when I'm angry."

I said it nonchalantly with just the right amount of anger, but I was freaking out inside. How could I be so stupid!

Stupid, stupid girl, Seraphina!

Jesse was eyeballing me from the mirror. I met his shocked gaze steadily, not a hint of wavering. "Never speak to me like that again."

Seven words. Seven calm words. But my voice was so unwavering that I heard him gulp. Duke looked over to Jesse.

"You're such an ass," Duke commented.

I almost kissed him right then and there.

But knowing my luck, that would just cause problems.

Without any talking after that, Jesse pulled up to a house on the corner of a suburban neighborhood that smelled strongly like cannabis. I wiggled my nose. As soon as he had parked, I unbuckled and jumped out.

Duke walked ahead of me, and I allowed him to lead me up the path to his house. Jesse followed closely behind me. I'd like to say that he was effectively put into his place due to his lack of eye contact with me.

Duke let himself into the house and called out, "Demi, I'm here."

My first impression of the place was that it looked like the stereotypical bachelor pad from all the movies. Leather couch, very little interior decoration, a big plasma screen TV with all of the video game consoles, and an empty box of pizza sitting on the coffee table. The place reeked of weed and booze and sex.

We all waited patiently at the foot of the stairs. A minute later, a pretty native girl came walking down. She was only an inch or two taller than me, whereas Duke was approaching six feet. She had silky black hair that I was instantly jealous of and feather duster eyelashes. She was towing a boy with light brown hair and boyish looks. Jesse was the only one who looked like the bad boy out of the group, surprisingly.

"Oh, I don't think I've met you before," Demi said, approaching me. "I'm Demi." She seemed genuine enough.

I smiled, trying to look upbeat. "Nia."

"Seraphina," Duke said, winking. I smiled for real that time.

That was weird. Smiling.

For some reason, I had the urge to practice psychometry on Demi, but I decided to leave it be. I didn't need to bring more attention to myself after the growling incident. Jesse was still quiet, trying to look at everything but me.

"This is Tony," she said, looking at Tony with eyes full of adoration which instantly made me sad. He didn't seem to notice her. I could relate. Tony smiled and shook my hand briskly.

"Who's up for a smoke?" Duke said, pulling out a bag of cannabis. It instantly gave off that signature odor which I knew would be in my lungs all day. I figured this was for the best, because I couldn't help but noticing how delicious Duke smelled right now.

Everyone looked at the bag appreciatively. It was quite a large bag, I guess in drug terms, and everyone started pulling out some cash for their share. I almost did the same until I felt Duke's hand on mine. I looked up, an he was smiling at me. "For a new friend, no charge."

God bless, I hope all your dreams come true, amen.

Even though it was drugs we were talking about, I still appreciated the kindness he was showing me. Jesse gave me the physical release, but he didn't actually care about me. Duke was...nice. I needed nice.

You had nice, my inner conciousness tortured me, you had Seth. But he had that girl.

I shut down, going still to absorb the impact. I was too young to be hurting this much.

My life would be hell until I talked to Seth, I knew it. I wanted to believe I had just imagined the whole thing. That he had somehow been overpowered and he had been forced into the kiss.

But I saw him kiss her back.

And for a moment...I thought we had had something.

Like we would have ended up together.

Now I was just a mess.

Duke tapped me on the shoulder, distracting me from my pain. "Hey Nia...you coming?" he said unsurely.

I nodded a little too frantically. "Yeah."

We all loaded up in the car, but this time it wasn't as demeaning to be put in the backseat now that there were two more members. Tony asked once we all got buckled in, "Did anyone bother to invite Carol?"

Duke and Demi scoffed. "Carol is a bitch," Demi said.

"Couldn't have said it better, sis," Duke agreed, and high-fived Demi.

Tony laughed. "Ouch. Whatever. She's a fun time."

"When she's drunk," Demi reminded him. Tony shrugged.

Jesse laughed and turned on the stereo. Screamo blasted from the speakers that pricked at my sensitive eardrums, but everyone else was really into it.

"You like Of Mice and Men?" Duke called to me.

"Never heard of them," I yelled back. He looked shocked.

"Did you grow up in a supressed household or something?" he joked, but he still wanted an answer.

I smiled without humor. "Something like that. My parents and family are...cultured people, I guess you could say."

I didn't feel comfortable talking about my family since I couldn't really say anything bad about them without being highly unfair, but he looked at me like he did earlier, expecting an answer. To that, I just shrugged at him.

When he turned back around, I focused on the energy of the music, the screaming. I found that even though it was hard to get used to at first, I actually enjoyed it. The passion behind was enough to satisfy my newfound apathy.

We drove to the forest, where three tracks into the album, Jesse turned the music down to focus on what he was doing. Some ways in, he pulled into the cover of the trees.

Suddenly, I had a quick flash of vision, exploding into my conciousness like a dynamite stick being set off.

Forest. That's where those figures were. They lived in the forest.

And they were getting closer.

I shuddered.

I fought to keep my terror down. I would need to tell someone soon. That would be the most irresponsible thing I could do, possibly putting everyone I loved at risk, just because of my selfish wallowing. However, there wasn't much I could do, in the situation I was in. In the meantime, I tried to cover up my distraction, which wasn't hard, since no one really noticed.

Jesse parked the car and we all jumped out, I a little shakily. Tony pulled put the pipe, Duke the cannabis.

They got everything ready, and Duke took the honorary first puff. He handed it to Demi, where she took a big hit and coughed. She handed it to me.

"Um..." I said taking the pipe unsurely. Duke's eyes widened.

"Please tell me you've done this, Nia!" Jesse exclaimed.

I smiled apologetically. "Sorry." It really wasn't my fault I was raised horribly sheltered. I didn't really mind. I was supernatural. But in the supernatural world, they didn't have stockpiles of weed laying around everywhere.

Duke laughed. "Oh my god, you're parents will hate us!" He was referring to the cultured joke from earlier. With that, he took the lighter. "Put it to your mouth," he said. I did as instructed. "When I light it, inhale." He flicked the lighter on and lit the cannabis. I inhaled.

It burned my throat. A lot.

I handed the pipe back to the Duke as I coughed harshly. "It hurts," I commented.

"It does that to you," he said. He handed it to Jesse, whose eyes were on me the whole time he puffed from the pipe.

It was like that for a half an hour. We took turns from it, and within two inhales I could feel it. A lot.

Who would have known? Hybrids are very affected by drugs.

Within four inhales I had to sit down. I was high as a kite.

It was funny how much changed in the week. I was no longer a virgin, and I had just snuck out of the house to smoke some weed. I was also miserably heartbroken, which no matter how many times I brought it up with myself, I couldn't seem to get over that fact.

Soon, they were adding more weed to the pipe, and I had to tell them I couldn't because I was ready to fall asleep. It was so easy to feel relaxed, especially because I hadn't been sleeping that well.

Tony teased Demi and I for being a "lightweight," as he called it. Whatever. All these interesting terms.

Soon, Jesse tapped my shoulder when I was starting to doze off. "Hey," he said.

"Um, hey," I responded, working with human speed to my feet.

"I wanted to uh, apologize for being an ass earlier." He stuck his hands in his pockets.

Hmmm. He did something half nice. "Forgiven," I said, partly because I was too relaxed to care.

I took a look around and realized that everyone was some ways ahead of us, walking back to the car. It was just me and him.

"Everyone likes you, by the way," he said. His pale green eyes looked at me with almost childish earnest.

I smiled. "That's a relief, I suppose."

Jesse smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I almost pulled away, but I didn't. I figured I was already on the bottom.

For a moment, I believed that he had some redeeming qualities. I hoped he did.

I wanted to believe that everyone did.

We got to my house first, mostly by request from me. I was too tired to even continue hanging out with them. On a random thought, I made a note to tell Grandpa, if I ever got the chance to, about the affects of cannabis on hybrids. It was weird, but it seemed important then.

I climbed out of the car, waving goodbye to everyone. Jesse shot me a look and smiled slightly. Duke winked at me. I smiled back in both of their general directions, turned, and walked up the long path. They pulled away soon after I got out of the car.

When I was in the clear, I ran with vampire speed back up to the front doorstep. It was five o'clock and no one seemed to be home yet.

I walked in through the door, making my way through to the kitchen. I would write a note to Jacob and Nessie to tell them I was going to go hunt, because that was my number one priority to ensure that I wouldn't be a danger.

Instead, I turned the corner and almost ran into someone.

I skidded back to see that I was standing eye to eye with my mother.

"Seraphina, honey. Please, let me talk to you."

A/N: A little cliffy there. Well, since I have more time, expect another chapter soon. ;)