AN: Yep. I'm updating. You should be proud. I'm desperately looking for a beta- I've messaged a couple of people but I haven't heard back from anyone, sooo if you're up to the job, please message me on here, when I only check my messages when i'm on the site OR you could always email me at brittanyxraee (.) aim (.) com, where I get my emails sent directly to my phone. I'm just looking for someone to check my grammar, make sure my tenses are all caught up and the same (I seem to have a problem with that, thanks to Cassy-Kay, for helping me out!) and to smooth out any plot kinks. I mostly write my stories at night, after work and school, so I'm tired and groggy, meaning that I don't always proofread what I'm submitting- which is TOTALLY a problem, because then you're focused on the mistakes, rather than what you're reading. Anyways, I'm sorry for rambling, so onwards with the chapter! Please tell me what you think at the end!

The front door opened with a loud bang that made both the girls and myself jump. They looked up, their mouths chewing their chicken nuggets and macaroni quickly, as if they'd never eaten before.

I felt like a shit sister.

Dean's door slammed shut.

I sighed, wiping my hands on a dish towel. There was a footstep behind me, and my mom appeared, looking sleepy. "Hey guys."

"Hi Mom," we all said. She gave what I believe to be a smile, but it came out as a grimace and her face drooped. She wasn't old- she'd had both Dean and I when she was seventeen- but she looked like she was in her late forties.

My mom used to be beautiful.

She used to have long curly hair that I played with a lot when I was Raven's age. They were perfect corkscrew curls and they never got frizzy. I used to be so jealous and I wanted them so much- my hair was pin-straight and couldn't hold a curl no matter how hot the curling iron got or how much hairspray I used.

Her eyes, a golden hazel with flecks of green, used to shine and sparkle brightly, even when she was sad.

Her teeth weren't perfectly straight; quite the opposite actually. She had a small gap in her front teeth, but they were so white and she had such a pretty smile that you looked past the imperfections.

I hadn't seen my mother smile in a really long time.

She yawned then, and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, filling it with coffee from the coffee pot.

"Do you have work tonight?" she asked me.

"Yep," I said, backing out of the kitchen. It was difficult to be around someone who exuded so much sadness and negativity; it was uncomfortable. "I'll be home around eleven."

And I ran to my room.

I worked in a fancy-shmancy department store on the Makah reservation. It was the only one besides whatever was in Seattle or Port Angeles. We got customers from Forks, La Push, Makah- it was always crowded.

I was a sales associate in the jewelry department. There were things on display that cost more than anything I'd make in my lifetime, probably. It was an okay job. I made a little more than minimum wage, and it helped with some of the bills at home. It didn't do a lot, but I felt better knowing that we still had heat and water, thanks to me.

Besides, I got to dress up a little bit, as was the code for the store. I didn't have a uniform, but I did have to dress professionally. It was nice; sometimes while getting dressed, I pretended I was going out with friends or going out to dinner with someone.

Yeah.

I peeled off my sweater leggings and sweatshirt and opted instead for a black pencil skirt and a flowy white blouse. I pulled the bun out of my hair, ripping a brush through it and decided to keep my glasses on. There. Acceptable.

Except I was colder now.

When the doctor told me it was anemia that made me so cold and pale- or rather, the lack of red blood cells carrying oxygen to my brain- I actually sighed in relief. Of course, he had given me some weird looks after that, but I had a name for it. There was actually something wrong me and my mom stopped accusing me of lying all the time. I had medication and iron vitamins that I took daily and it had definitely helped; I wasn't as cold as I used to be.

But I was still cold.

Aside from being cold 24/7, it had other drawbacks as well. One being that if I didn't eat at certain times during the day, I'd get light headed from not only the lack of oxygen, but lack of nutrients and faint. There were monthly blood tests and transfusions at the hospital in Forks.

It was just annoying, really.

Satisfied with my appearance, I grabbed the car keys and called out to my family as I left. The drive to Makah wasn't very long, but it gave me time to think about all that had happened today.

Jared.

I didn't want to believe it was all a crazy prank, but what if it was? What if Paul and Jared had a plan to embarrass me in front of the whole school?

Why would they do that? a small part of my mind asked.

Maybe they found out that I liked Jared? I thought.

That couldn't be, though. The only person who knew about my crush on Jared was Avenue, and to be honest, I didn't think she particularly cared too much to tell Jared.

So then why? my mind asked again.

I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to let myself think what I desperately, desperately wanted to believe.

That Jared could possibly like me back.

I felt a bit better, now that I had convinced myself that it wasn't a prank, but still confused as to why he was talking to me. I got to work and clocked in, smiling at co-workers as I made my way down to my department.

The only girl I worked with, Jillian, was already there and she looked up at me as I slid behind the counter, smiling.

"How's it going?" she asked, leaning against the glass counter and smiled. Jill was like a supermodel, very thin and pretty, with the fashion sense to go along with it. I felt like a little girl playing dress up compared to her.

"Swell," I said sarcastically and she laughed as hard as Jared did when I used that word earlier this morning.

"Listen, my sister is Emily is coming to visit tonight. She just got engaged and she wants to show me her ring, so could you keep an eye out for her?"

"Sure," I said, looking around. It was kind of crowded tonight, although the customers were more concerned with clothing than jewelry. "What does she look like?"

"Oh," Jill said. She suddenly looked uncomfortable. She crossed her arms. "You'll- you'll know it's her. We sort of look alike."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Okay." I got out a duster to pass the time and went over to a tower of watches.

As I was dusting, I was acutely aware that someone was watching me. I looked around carefully, trying to see if it was someone hiding behind a clothing rack, or something, but I didn't see anyone. The feeling never left, though. As I spun around the tower of watches, I almost bumped into a customer.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said. "Do you need-"

And I stopped dead.

The customer, a curvy woman with golden skin, looked up. One side of her face was gorgeous, and very similar to Jill's, so I knew this must be Emily. But the other side was marred and scarred, angry red lines pulling her face down. Her mouth sagged a little. I understood suddenly why Jill looked uncomfortable before.

"Hi," she said and it was odd to see only one side of her mouth move. "I was just looking. Sorry if I messed anything up."

She reached up to straighten out a watch. I shook myself.

"Oh no, you didn't, it's okay. Did you need help with anything?"

"Uh, well yeah, actually. My sister works here- at least, I'm almost positive she does- but I don't know what department- maybe you know her? Her name is-"

"Jill," I said smiling and she smiled back at me. "She told me you were coming in. She works over here, actually."

"Emily!" Jill squealed and they hugged each other, laughing. Apparently, they hadn't seen each other in a while, so I let them catch up as I continued dusting. When I was finished, I came back around slowly, letting them have their time. Emily was asking about Claire, Jill's daughter and then the topic changed.

"-always has the guys over. Paul, Jared and Embry eat everything-"

I froze.

Jared.

How did this woman know Jared? Sure, Jared was a common name, but paired with Paul and Embry? Paul was a pretty common name too, but Paul was Jared's best friend and Embry certainly was not a common name.

"I'm sorry," I said, interrupting her. They looked at me in surprise, probably forgotten that I was there. It was easy, I guess. "But did you just say Jared? As in Jared Cameron?"

Emily blinked. "Yeah, I-"

Her eyes traveled down to my nametag where Kimber was neatly printed and her eyes went wide.

"Oh. My. God. You're Kim! The Kim!"

I glanced at Jill, my heart racing, but she only shrugged.

"Er- yeah, that'd be me. I guess."

She pulled me into a hug then, squeezing me hard. Her demeanor suddenly changed, and I felt like my mom was hugging me, the way she used to hug me before things got shitty at home. Embarrassingly, I felt tears well up in my eyes and I hoped that my glasses would hide the fact that I was crying.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you! Jared's told me so much about you!"

Jared's told me so much about you.

"He has?" I asked. "When? How?"

"Oh, today! He's still at my house, actually. He's friends with Sam. My fiancé," she added, wiggling her fingers. I saw a small, modest but still very pretty ring on her left finger and my heart contracted.

"Congratulations," I told her. Emily's at 6! Isn't that what Paul had told Jared this afternoon? It felt like ages ago, weeks maybe, but it had only been a couple of hours.

"Who's Jared?" Jill asked, nudging my side. "Your boyfriend?"

"No!" I shouted, jumping away from her. They both gave me weird looks, and in Emily's case, it was sad. "He's- I don't even know what he is, he just started talking to me today-"

I was so flustered.

What was wrong with me? I couldn't even speak coherently.

All I knew as that Jared was talking about me. Me. To people, his best friend.

Me.

Me, who was almost seventeen years old and had been in love with him for over a year now. Me, who had never had a kiss or a boyfriend, or even a best friend to talk about these things with. My stomach was churning, but I wasn't sure if it was a good feeling or a bad feeling. I tucked my hands under my armpits, because the cold was getting to me. Emily noticed.

"Are you okay?" she asked, stepping forward and placing a hand on my shoulder. I nodded quickly, moving out of her grasp.

"Yeah, I'm fine- I'm just cold is all."

She nodded, looking thoughtful and then clapped her hands together once. "Well, I should probably get going," she said. "before the boys eat everything in my house." She gave a tired sort of laugh, almost sort of like a mother would laugh over her children. "It was nice to meet you, Kim." Her eyes sparkled. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around soon."

"Um. Sure, I guess?" I hadn't meant for it to come out like a question, but it just did. Emily winked at me, kissed Jill on the cheek and left.

Jill was eyeing me.

"Okay," she said, pulling me by my shoulders and steering me to a chair. "Now you have to tell me everything."

The house was dark and silent when I walked in later that night. I dropped my keys on the counter then picked them up after thinking twice. I would be the one driving to school tomorrow.

In my room, I undressed and slipped on a big shirt that had once been my father's.

I didn't know my father, having only met him once or twice with Dean when we were little. My mom had been cleaning stuff out from the attic and had found a couple of his things in a box which she had thrown away without any hesitation.

I went back and got everything when she wasn't looking and washed the shirt twice. I found a couple of old records, and a few movie stubs but that was it. It was all I had of the person who had donated half of my DNA and then never wanted anything to do with me or Dean ever again.

I shouldn't have wanted to meet someone or wanted to love someone who had given me up like I wasn't their child. But I did. And very badly.

Dean didn't. Dean had told me long ago that if our father ever came around, he'd likely beat the shit out of him for leaving Mom in the mess he did. But I think the only reason why he said that was to hide the fact that he wanted a dad too.

All of us did.

I set my alarm clock, making sure that it was set properly and on loud, so that I wouldn't miss it in the morning. I turned down my bed sheets and climbed in, taking my glasses off in the process. I was exhausted; emotionally, physically and mentally. What a long day. And I was freezing.

It was then, laying there in the quiet house that I realized my mother hadn't noticed that two of her children were bruised and the other two weren't speaking.