A/N: Thanks to the wonderful Leon McFrenchington for answering all my annoying questions and getting my chapters back to me maaaad quick! And thanks to Chelsea whose brilliant idea it was to include Head-ward in this chapter!

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Fourth Wheel

Holy shit. What did I just do?

Damn this ridiculous vampire memory of mine. That look on Rosalie's face will haunt me forever. How could I be so stupid? So mean? Rosalie was so disheartened by my defiance that I doubted she would send my uncles after me. Knowing her, she's probably seated on the couch next to Emmett, TV turned off for once, frozen—like a statue—thinking that I was the spawn of Satan.

"Earth to Nessie!" Chuck shouted.

"Hmm?"

"Geez, you've been staring out that window for the last five minutes."

"Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. What's up?"

"Dude, your sister is smoking hot. Totally frightening and intimidating but really, really hot. What's her deal? She seeing anyone?"

"Actually, yes. And anyway, she's way out of your league, Chuck." Both Blake and Clementine chuckled.

"Yeah, man. You would've never had a chance. She looks like she could have eaten you alive," Blake joked.

I laughed nervously at his statement—and at how true it was.

"Never hurts to ask…" he said, returning his attention to the dark road ahead of him. Blake and I were in the backseat of the cruiser; the metal grating separating the front seat from the back was funny to me. My mind kept wandering back to Rosalie. I felt like a criminal for what I had just done. I'd never disobeyed Rosalie before. I had been a total brat and she didn't even deserve it. What I did was wrong—so wrong. I knew she wanted the best for me and was just looking out for my well-being. I felt guilty pangs in my stomach – I felt like I should go back – but then they would think I was a wimp – but if I did go back, I'd have to fear the wrath of all that was Rosalie. I was screwed either way.

I weighed my options and decided I was going to stay – I was going to take advantage of being a normal teen for once in my life.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen, if you don't have them turn around this car this instant I swear you'll never see daylight again!" My father's voice boomed loudly in my head. I jerked my head around in search of him. His voice was so loud, so real – it felt like he was right next to me. "Be the smart girl your mother and I raised you to be and come home now!"

My hands shook as he yelled at me in my head – but this was going to possibly be my one and only chance of ever being normal. I wasn't going to let it slip right through my fingers.

"No," I said out loud, defiant once again.

"What?" Clementine asked me, turning in my direction.

"Um…nothing," I said, staring back out the window. I heard my dad's low growl in my mind – but I tried to ignore it to the best of my ability. Tonight was going to be my night. This time, I was completely free. No pesky cell phone with its annoyingly magical GPS to track me down. It was just my new misfit friends and me.

"So, where are we going? It's pretty late, aren't all the bars closed?" I finally asked, trying to push my father's voice and the image of Rosalie to the back of my very confused mind. I couldn't figure out the direction we were heading, but it looked like we were heading away from Downtown Denali.

"We've got a secret spot that we go to," Clementine said.

"To get drunk!" Chuck added.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"On the edge of town by the river. There's an old salmon fishery that's been abandoned for years. All the kids at school use it to throw keggers," Blake pointed east.

"What's a kegger?" I felt dumb for asking but I was wanted to know everything about these teenagers' way of life.

"Silly, Nessie," Chuck replied. "A kegger, most innocent one, is a wild party where absurd amounts of beer is dispensed in little red cups to the under aged—at least in our case."

"Sounds like fun."

"Ugh. I hate keggers," Clementine scoffed. "They always buy the cheap shit that makes you want to gag after three cups."

"Just because you can't handle your liquor, dear sister, doesn't mean it's not fun," Chuck retorted.

"Chuck… any particular reason you talk like that? Dear sister? Most innocent one?"

"What?" he gasped.

"You know what, jackass." Clementine shoved him. "Chuck thinks he's better than us just because he's scored higher on his SATs." I laughed silently to myself. I didn't want to say anything and seem like I was bragging or showing off, but I was fairly certain I was far more intelligent than the three of them combined.

"Whatever," he hissed. "We need gas. There's a station up ahead." Chuck steered the car off the road to the right and pulled up to one of the open pumps. "Be right back. Anyone want anything?"

"Do you want anything?" Blake asked me.

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry. I had a big lunch."

"Clem?" She said no as well. Blake rolled down his window. "Get some jerky. I'm starving!"

I tried to open my door but it wouldn't budge. I could have just ripped the damn thing off but then I would have lots of explaining to do. "Umm… Clem? Could you let me out?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, hopping out of the front seat.

"I need some air. It smells bad in here." I fanned my hand in front of my nose.

"Like, piss and puke and ass…" Blake added. "I'll come with you. I could use a smoke break."

Clementine opened my door and I nearly fell out. Blake laughed at me, extending his hand.

"Sure you haven't started drinking already?"

"Very funny…" I slapped his hand away.

"Oh, come on. Don't act like you didn't like me grabbing onto you." He linked our hands together. I smiled at him alluringly, looking at our intertwined hands.

"You know," he started as we walked out of sight of the car, "for someone who seems to be as badass as you are, you seem to be really shy at times."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, becoming slightly offended – and slightly feeling like my secret of being inept to normal teenaged things was out in the open.

"It's just, I mean – you'll get drunk, you'll smoke – but when it comes to the little things like, for example, me holding your hand – you seem to get nervous. Nervous like you've never held a guys hand before."

"Pshh…well, um, I have," I defended myself.

He laughed again, pulling me into of him. "Just like that. But you know something, I think it's cute." He brought his lips to mine. At first it was a tender kiss– but it quickly progressed into a full-on make-out session. I was kissing Blake—but I was thinking about Jake. Thinking about what it would be like—feel like—to kiss him like this. My kiss with Jake was chaste and sweet—this was anything but innocent.

He traced his tongue along my bottom lip; our lips moved languidly together, trying to find a rhythm. His tongue darted in and out of my mouth—it tasted like cigarettes. His hands ranged up and down the sides of my torso to the front of my abdomen, slowly making their way to my breasts—which were thankfully tightly bound by my sports bra. I forced his hands back down to my waist so he could get the point; my boobs were a strictly no touch zone—at least for now. I wasn't ready to go any farther. Regardless of my actions the last two nights, I still had some morals.

"Sorry," he apologized, a light blush warming on his cheeks. "You're so hot. I don't think I've seen anyone more beautiful. Ever."

"Even my sister?" I asked seductively.

"I prefer brunettes," he said as he pushed away tendrils of hair from my face.

"I'm not really a brunette."

"No…" He gently held up a fistful of my long curls to the light. "You've got like a reddish, brownish, coppery thing going on."

"I think the more specific term for it is bronze." The wind was picking up and I shivered. "Alright, I think we should get back to the car now."

We walked back to the car, his hand tightly gripping mine. At the same time, Chuck was running straight for us at full speed, clutching his coat shut like he was hiding something. "Go, go, go!" he yelled. "In the car, now!"

"What about the gas?" Clementine asked.

"Fuck the gas! We'll make it! Inside!"

Blake and I stamped out our cigarettes and jumped into the car. I didn't know why but my heart was pounding. Chuck started the car and peeled out of the gas station, the sound of clanking glass resounded from inside his coat.

"What the fuck, man?" Blake hit the metal grating.

Chuck was panting, still out of breath. I wanted to know what all the excitement was about. "I…" He breathed in deeply before finishing. "Whew, okay. I stole this…" From his coat, Chuck pulled out three bottles of liquor.

"Vodka and rum," Clementine said, examining the bottles. "Very nice."

"Yeah… old man Foster had his back turned so I thought, 'what the hell, we needed something to drink so… might as well.'"

"What the hell is this? Wine? What are we… 30?"

"I'm sorry…" he huffed, "that I didn't have time to read the fucking labels! Jesus! Just say 'thank you, Chuck.'"

"Thank you, Chuck," she replied sarcastically.

"You could have gotten caught!" I scolded him.

"The possibility of getting caught is half the fun." Chuck grinned deviously. "Hey, look. We're almost there."

The road leading up to the salmon fishery was bumpy and obstructed by rotten logs. Blake and I got out of the backseat and cleared the road as Chuck drove carefully over the dips and potholes. "So, this is where you guys go, huh?" I looked up at the old, beat-up building. Its windows were boarded up and it was severely defaced with graffiti. "Very… charming."

"You complaining? I can always take you home?" Blake teased.

"No. No. Not at all," I insisted. Chuck parked the cruiser off to the side and he and Clementine joined us.

"It's ugly as hell but has tons of personality," Chuck said, reaching for the bottles in his sister's hands. "Come on, bitches. Let's get drunk!"

****

We annihilated two of the bottles in no time. The warmth of the alcohol flooded my body and the feeling from last night returned. Blake was seated at the edge of the loading dock, feet hanging over the sides, and I laid on my back, my head resting in his lap, looking up at the clear night sky. He ran his fingers through my curls, lulling me to sleep when suddenly, Clementine screamed.

"Chuck, you bastard! What the fuck was that!" I propped myself up onto my elbows to get a better look. Clementine was chasing after Chuck throwing dirt clods at him.

"I was just screwing around. Stop chasing me! I'm gonna hurl!" He was hunched over, hands on his knees, dry heaving. Clementine smacked his back several times.

"That was so gross. Now my hair is going to smell like rotten fish, you asshole." She stormed off in the opposite direction while Chuck tried to regain his composure.

Blake's body shook as he laughed so I sat up and I nuzzled in closer to him. "Cold?'

"No," I snorted. Cold? Hardly. I was still plenty warm from the alcohol.

"So you ready for the school year?" he asked.

"Are you just drunk or did you just forget that I'm home schooled?" I replied coldly.

"Oh, yeah. I just forgot. I was really drunk last night." He hiccupped and pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket. "Want one? They're kinda smushed now but you can still smoke 'em."

"Sure," I said, reaching for one. "Light, please?" I cupped my hand over Blake's, shielding the flame from the wind. "So, school. You excited to be going back?"

He shrugged. "School's whatever. Just two more years… I can't wait to get out of here," he said, drawing in a deep breath and exhaling a thick, plume of smoke. I brought the menthol cigarette to my lips and did the same.

"What then?" I asked.

"College maybe. I haven't really thought about it. What about you?" He flicked the butt into the water then turned to face me.

"I don't know. I haven't really given my future much thought. I doubt my parents will even let me go."

"They're that strict, huh?"

"Totally. They want to shelter me from the big, bad world." I couldn't help rolling my eyes.

"Don't they all." He lit another cigarette.

"Don't they all what?" Clementine said as she sat next to me.

"Nothing, we're just talking about parents," he said, handing me the cigarette.

"And how much they suck," I added as I blew out the smoke. The combination of the alcohol and cigarettes made my head spin—in a good way.

"Ugh. Tell me about it," Clementine scoffed. "So, Nessie… that's a mighty big mansion you live in…"

"Yeah, we've got a big family," I replied, resting my head on Blake's shoulder. "Ten to be exact."

"Damn! Ten people all under one roof?" Clementine exclaimed. "How do you all not kill each other?"

"Trust me… it's hard. Very hard. I'm sorta the black sheep in my family… I don't really fit in, I guess. And it doesn't help any that…" I stopped abruptly.

Oh, shit. How was I going to explain my family's weird living situation? Clementine and Blake were eyeing me curiously.

"Doesn't help, what?" Blake asked.

"That my brothers and sisters are together. Like together, together."

"What?" they both yelled in unison.

"Wait, wait, wait… let me explain." I raked my fingers through my hair as if it would help the spinning stop. I needed a clear mind to explain the complication of my family life. "We're all adopted so really… it's okay. Weird, yes, but… not illegal. Not anything gross. I mean, yeah, okay, it's kinda gross." The words kept spewing out of my mouth. "Wait, what was I saying, I've got myself confused."

"So, who's hooking up with who?" Clementine asked excitedly. The scandal of my family life obviously intrigued her.

"What are you guys talking about?" Chuck finally rejoined us.

"Nessie's brothers and sisters… they're like… hooked up with each other," Clementine filled him in.

"What? Really? Oh, I need to hear this."

I leaned back into Blake's chest. He wrapped his long arms around me and held me securely. "So… my brother Emmett… the big one from the bar last night…"

"That dude was scary," Chuck interrupted.

"Shhhh," I hissed. "So, he's with Rose, the blonde from tonight."

"Lucky. Fucking. Bastard," he muttered between gulps of wine.

"Alice and Jasper—my other brother from last night—are together; and then there's Bella and Edward."

"That's six, you make seven, and your parents are nine. Who's the tenth?" Blake asked.

"What?"

"Who's the tenth? You said you've got ten people at your house."

"Oh, right. That would be Jacob. He's not adopted. He tries to act like my big brother but all he is is a big, fat jerk," I fumed. 'Jacob Black… if only he could see me now,' I thought to myself. He wouldn't think I was so young anymore. 'And who does he think he is anyway, I continued to argue internally, telling me I'm too young… Dad's nearly a century older than Mom.' "Whatever," I muttered through gritted teeth, mostly to myself. "Jacob is gone. He's with Edward and Bella in Washington visiting family."

"Sounds like you kinda hate the guy."

"Yeah, well… anyway. Whatever." I eyed the bottle of wine Chuck was holding. "Give me that." I swiped it from his hands and took two long swigs. I almost spit it back out. "Ugh. This shit is sour." They all laughed maniacally, drunk from all the alcohol. "What about you guys? Dating anyone?"

"Who's she not dating?" Chuck blurted, pushing Clementine off the wall ledge.

"Whatever. I'm not dating anyone. Though I would love to get me a piece of Brandon Lane. Hello gorgeous!"

"Please. He won't touch you. Not after you fucked Drew."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that," Blake said. "I totally forgot about that."

"Oh, and let's not forget Jason Zimmerman. Jesus, sis… is there anyone on the football team you haven't slept with?"

"I didn't sleep with him, jerk. We just messed around… a lot," she said, unable to hide an amused smile.

I knew no one that they spoke of. The names were all foreign to me. Though they easily accepted me into their little group, I was once again an outsider. I had no experiences, no memories with which to share. Nothing for them to relate to.

"It's getting pretty late," I said, trying not to sound awkward.

"Early you mean," Clementine quipped. "What time is it, anyway?"

Chuck pushed back his coat sleeve to look at his watch. "It's 3:30."

"We should take the cruiser back. Dad's gonna be up by 5," Clementine said.

The sinking feeling in my stomach returned. I wasn't ready to go home and face Rosalie just yet. "I can't go home."

"You can crash at our house," she offered.

I contemplated her offer for only a minute—my brain was too muddled to think any longer than that. "Sure… I'm going to be in tons of trouble if I go home right now and I'm too tired to deal with that mess." I stood up too quickly. My head was spinning—I felt like I was going to fall over for the umpteenth time tonight. Sure, alcohol and cigarettes made for a great night but they definitely had their downfall. I was going to have another hangover in the morning for sure.

Great.

****

"Kill the engine," Blake instructed. "And the lights, too. We'll roll the car into the driveway."

I must have passed out on Blake's shoulder sometime during the ride to Chuck and Clementine's. The sound of his voice shook me out of my sleep as we pulled into their neighborhood.

"Uggggh… my head. What time is it?" I asked, rubbing my temples and squinting my eyes. I already had a mean headache.

"It's 4:15. We just got to their house but we have to sneak back into their house."

"You sure he's not going to hear it?" I asked, worried that we were going to get caught.

"No, Dad's dead to the world. He won't hear it… I'll steer, you guys push," Chuck said.

"I'm not pushing! You push!" Clementine whined.

"Fine. I'm too fucking tired to argue."

"You can stay in here, too, sleeping beauty," Blake said, kissing my forehead.

Before I knew it, the car was safe and sound in the driveway. According to Clementine, it looked just as it had before they took it. She looked extremely proud of herself for accomplishing such a sneaky task—I almost laughed at her satisfied expression.

My legs felt like jelly as I stepped out of the car; I had to use the door to steady myself. Blake laughed as he watched me attempt to walk.

"You asshole!" Clementine whispered a scream and hit the side of Chuck's head. "You didn't unlock the door before we left!" She jiggled the doorknob furiously.

"I thought you said you were going to!" he yelled back at her while looking under the welcome mat. No spare key.

"Great! How are going to get inside now?" she huffed and sat down on the porch steps. "We're going to be in so much trouble."

"Any windows open?" I suggested, walking around to the side of the house. The three of them followed me as I began checking the lower level windows first.

"The only window that might be open is mine… up there." She pointed to a window on the second floor. I knew how easily I could get up there and open it—but not without revealing what I was.

"Okay, so how exactly do you suggest getting up there?" Chuck asked, using a tree trunk to hold himself up.

"Hello… is there not a tree right next to you?" I said, rolling my eyes. "Let's just climb it."

"I don't know about you, but I am not climbing a tree with stilettos on." She pointed to her blood-red heels. "And even if I didn't have these on… I don't think I'd be able to get up it anyway. I'm not exactly coordinated—especially with how much I've had to drink tonight," she laughed.

I knew I was going to have to be the one to get us in. I just had to figure out how exactly I was going to do it without all of them around to watch me. "I took gymnastics when I was a kid," I lied. "I'll do it." I kicked my shoes off. "Hold these please." I tossed Blake my shoes. "I'll meet you at the front door."

"Are you sure you can do this? I don't want you getting hurt," he said, worried.

"Nessie, our Dad's room is right next to mine. Please be quiet," Clementine warned me at the same time.

"Oh, please. I'll be fine. He won't hear a thing. I'm quite stealthy," I said as I placed my foot in the crevice of the tree. "Go, I'll see you in a minute."

"Not until you get up there safely," Blake said.

"Go!" I ordered. The three of them turned on their heels and stumbled off to the front of the house. Once they were completely out of sight, I used my vampire abilities to jump up. I grabbed the edge of the roof, pulling myself up with ease—even in my state.

Quietly, I slid her window open and hopped inside. Clementine's room reeked of cigarettes and cheap perfume, which only made my head throb even worse. I silently exited her room, making my way easily through the darkness of her house. The stairs creaked as I snuck down to the lower level to the front door.

I opened the front door with a smile. "Told ya. Piece of cake."