{{Charlotte's POV}}
I tackled my dad as soon as I saw him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
He laughed. "Seems like you like your room."
"Yes! I absolutely love it!"
He laughed again and hugged me back.
I pulled back and pointed out behind us. "And there's a forest behind our house. That makes it better."
"There is another thing that I think you will like as well."
"What? What?" This was a lot of excitement for one day. But who was I to complain?
"If you follow the trail," he pointed to a little bend that had a small ribbon on a tree, "it'll lead you to a small clearing and a little pond."
"Really?"
He nodded. "It's only about a mile until you reach it."
"That's awesome!" I started towards it.
"Hold on just one second." He grabbed the back of my shirt keeping me still. I looked back at him puzzled. "You have to meet our guests."
Just as he said that, two guys came out from the backdoor. Even though I didn't know them, I recognized both.
"Oh. That's Jacob and someone I ran into coming out of my room."
They stopped in front of us. Now that I had time to stop, I looked more closely at the one I had run into. He looked a lot like Jacob–muscular, russet skin, dark eyes, similar haircut–but her was slightly shorter. His eyes were rounded, and his face looked sweeter. In a way, you could see that he was younger than Jacob and looked more like a child. And he didn't have a shirt on.
I stuck out my hand. "Charlotte Duckling."
"Seth Clearwater." He shook my hand, and I noticed his skin had the same unusually warm feeling to it.
"You're hot," I blurted out. He smiled. I heard my dad and Jacob chuckle. I realized how he might have taken it. "Oh, wait, I didn't mean it like that." I tried to control my thoughts, trying to straighten them out. "I―well―um―your skin… it's hot, well warm. Unusually warm. It's―uh―maybe I should just stop talking." I blushed.
"It's okay. I know what you mean." His voice was soft and held a caring edge to it. I instantly loved it. He still stared at me with the loving look. What's wrong with him? I couldn't look away from his eyes either. It felt like they were drawing me in. We continued to stare at each other.
My dad cleared his throat and I jumped. I looked away from Seth, feeling myself blush deeper. I saw Jacob shaking with barely contained laughter. What was so funny?
"Charlotte? The trail?" I looked at my dad confused for a second then gasped.
"Oh right! Can I go now?"
"Don't take too long."
"I won't." I took one last look at Jacob and Seth before heading for the trail. "See you guys around."
They both nodded.
"How about you guys come in for a while?" I heard my dad say.
"I'm sorry, but I have to be somewhere."
"Seth?"
"I have to go talk to Sam."
"Oh, that's fine then. We'll see you guys later. Thanks for all the help."
When I reached the edge of the forest, I turned to see my dad walking back inside. Jacob and Seth were already walking towards a car at the end of the driveway that I hadn't noticed before. Before they were gone, Seth looked at me and waved. Not sure what else to do, I waved back, watching his smile grow bigger. Then they disappeared around the corner and were gone.
•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•
I didn't stay at the little clearing long, only enough to look around. It was beautiful. It was a perfect circle with a pond near the edge to my left as the trail opened to the clearing. It was big enough to swim in and took up a little less than half of the clearing. It was like my own little paradise.
I walked back along the path to my new home. It was getting darker and I feared that I had stayed out too long. The path was getting harder to see and there was no moon out tonight. My house finally came into view, and I walked quickly towards it.
"Charlotte?"
"Yes?" I asked as I shut the back door.
"Where were you?"
"Still in the clearing. It didn't realize it was so late. Sorry."
"It's fine. I was just worried that you had gotten lost." He sat on the couch. "I was just about to come looking for you."
I sat on the couch beside him. "So what are we doing tomorrow?"
"I'm going to look around the town. What are you doing?"
"I don't know. Stay here? Finish unpacking." I shrugged.
"When you're done maybe you can go with me to La Push."
"Where is that?"
"Just outside of Forks. Jacob and Seth live there. You could hang out with them later."
"Hanging out with two teenage boys. Sounds like fun."
"Boys aren't that bad. You just have to get to know them first."
"Uh-huh." I got up and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Dad."
I ran up the stairs quickly and changed. As I looked around my room, I noted a few things. The room didn't have curtains. I would definitely need some for the floor-to-ceiling windows. And paint for the walls. And more decorations. I had the whole summer to decorate. I wondered if Dad would loan me his credit card to buy a few things… I think he would if I asked nicely and not go overboard.
I didn't realize how tired I was until I was in bed. I yawned and closed my eyes. I quickly fell asleep, thinking of all the possibilities for my new room.