Twelve years later, the scene opens on the fairly more cheerful setting of Nashville, Tennessee. A faded yellow school bus shuts its doors behind a girl of about sixteen and drives away along the dirt road into a cloud of dust. The girl stands in her place, looking at a light brown country house in which her mother was awaiting her return from her last day of sophomore year.

This girl has light brown hair with natural blonde highlights, dark brown eyes and an olive skin tone. She's of average beauty; not in the least bit ugly but not pretty enough to turn heads. She got her almost black eyes and wide smile from her father, a pure Quiluete Native American from the northwest peak of Washington. But her light brown hair and naturally tan skin that almost never burned came from her mother, who moved from Italy to America when she was eighteen, and then she met the girl's father.

She divorced him four years later, however, because he got absorbed in the Quiluete tribe's superstitious legends and it was too much for her to handle. She took her three-year-old daughter to Tennessee and went up to Washington for a month each year so the girl could visit with her father and brother, who was a year older than she, but the visits got farther and farther apart and soon ceased when she was six years old.

She couldn't remember much about her father and brother, but from what her mother told her, they, and their superstitious beliefs, sounded beyond annoying. She remembered the Washington reservation all to well, though, and could easily recall it's boring atmosphere.

Her father's house was musty and small, and he constantly had other tribe members over for dinner. There was absolutely nothing to do for a five year old girl, let alone any other child under the age of which they could drive to a nearby city and find other means of entertainment. She much preferred Tennessee to Washington, and her mother who had acquired a southern accent and friendly hospitality over the years.

The girl sighed a breath of relief; the same breath that everyone in her school had on that day because the end of the year, and made her way up the front porch stairs and in through the screen door, which slammed behind her.

"Momma! I'm home!" she called when she got inside to wherever her mother might be.

"Dallas? Honey, could you come in here for a sec?" her mother called from the kitchen. Dallas set her bag down on the couch in the living room before finding her mother in the kitchen at the stove, stirring something in a big pot.

"Yeah, Mom?" she said.

"How was your last day of school?" her mother asked conversationally.

"Good." Dallas shrugged. "I'm so glad it's finally over."

"That's nice." Her mother nodded, and then it was silent.

"Is…there something else you wanted to say, or can I go?" Dallas asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No, there's something else." Her mother said hesitantly. "Um…"

"What's wrong?" Dallas asked, suddenly concerned. Usually her mother had no problem saying what was on her mind.
"Nothin'! Everything's fine…it's just…. oh, you're not going to like me after I say this…" her mother said, going from talking to Dallas to talking to herself under her breath.

"What?" Dallas asked again.

"Um… how would you like to visit your dad and your brother for a month this summer?" her mother finally said, all in one breath.

"I'd rather gouge out my eyeballs with a hot iron rod. Why do you ask?" Dallas said sweetly. Her mother wrinkled her nose at that comment, but shook her head and ignored it anyway.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. Sweetheart, you're goin' to visit your dad and brother for a month this summer."

"Why?" Dallas growled.

"Because you haven't seen them for ten years and it would be good for y'all to catch up. I talked to your dad about it already and he said things are a little crazy up in the La Push area right now, but he'd love to have you."

"What did he mean by 'a little crazy'?" Dallas said in the same growl.

"Apparently Quil's got himself quite a group of friends up there now, and it'll be good for you to meet more people your age." Her mother went on, ignoring her still.

"I have friends here." Dallas growled.

"I know you do, honey. But still…" her mother trailed off, then pulled herself together and smiled. "I bought your ticket online yesterday and your flight leaves tomorrow at noon, so you should probably pack your stuff sometime tonight."

"Tomorrow?" Dallas cried. "Are you trying to ruin my life?"

"How is a simple visit with your dad ruining your life, Dallas?" her mother asked, putting the hand that was holding the wooden stirring spoon on her hip.

"You know how much I hate Washington. I have to go by myself?" Dallas asked.

"I don't have the money to send us both down there right now. Your father is going to reimburse me half the money when you come home." She replied. "Why don't you go upstairs and cool down and I'll yell up when it's time for dinner."

"Urgh!" Dallas groaned loudly, and stomped her way up the stairs as loudly as she could. She slammed her bedroom door and threw herself onto the bed, face down, and didn't move until her mother called her down for dinner.

----

"I hate my life." Dallas Ateara muttered to herself the next morning as she untidily threw her clothes into a huge suitcase that her mother had dug up for her from their previous trips to Washington. She stuffed a few of her classic novels and notebooks in on the top next to her everyday toiletries and sat on the top to zipper it shut. In her carry-on bag were a few more books, her ipod, her cell phone, digital camera, a few cosmetics and a lime green fleece blanket from her bed so she could hold on to the 'home' smell for just a while longer.

"Dallas, honey? Are you about ready to go?" her mother called up the stairs.

"I'll never be ready." Dallas said icily under her breath.

"What was that, sweetheart?" her mother called.

"Yes, Mom." Dallas yelled back, and pulled her suitcase off her bed and dragging it and her carry-on toward the door with her. She took one last look around the room before pulling her stuff to the stairs and pushing it down. She padded down the stairs behind it and picked it up after it landed with a thunk at the bottom. Her mother helped her put them in the trunk of the car once they were outside.

The conversation on the way to the airport was one-ended; her mother was trying to make small talk and apologizing every now and then, but all she got for responses were 'uh huh's, 'yeah's, and 'whatever's. At the airport, however, Dallas hugged her mother tightly and had to fight back tears.

"You have a good trip, now. You hear?" her mother said, wiping a tear from her own eye. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you, too, Momma." Dallas said.

"I want you to call me every night or two to check in and tell me how you're doin', all right?"

"Okay, Momma, I will." Dallas said.

"I'll see you in a month. I love you."

"Love you too, Momma." Dallas turned and waved from the ticket checkpoint before heading down the long, gray hallway to the plane.

She found her seat, which was located in next to the window and two businesswomen dressed in pinstriped skirts and blazers with laptops balanced on their knees. She forced a smile at them and settled down in her seat with one of her favorite books.

She was dressed quite comfortably for the flight in one of her favorite outfits; broken in, light blue jeans, a white t-shirt under a brown and white plaid western style button up, her favorite brown cowboy boots and a cowboy hat hanging around her neck, which she took off when she sat down and set in her lap. Anyone on the plane would automatically think of her as a true Tennessee girl, and she would stick out like a sore thumb in Washington. She didn't want the attention, but she did want to rebel. The last thing she wanted was to fit in with them.

When the plane landed, Dallas put her book back in her carry-on and left behind the two businesswomen. She walked along a similar gray corridor to the Seattle airport and looked around for her dad and brother once she found her suitcase on the conveyor belt. The only way they would know what she looked like was from her sophomore school picture, which her mother had mailed down when they came in back in October. She finally saw them; a man in his early forties looking around over the tops of people's heads standing next to a tall, muscular boy about her age who was talking quietly to the man, most likely trying to tell him details of the picture so he would know what to look for.

Dallas took a deep breath and waved slightly at them; the man who was her father's eyes lit up as he made his way through the crowd, the boy who was Quil not far behind.

"Dallas, sweetheart!" her father said, pulling her into a backbreaking hug. "Look how grown up you are!"

"Hi, Dad." Dallas said, patting him awkwardly on the back.

"So you're the sister I haven't seen in ten years." Quil grinned at her. She smiled weakly, but Quil and her father registered it as a shy smile.

"You're gonna love it here, I promise." Her father said. "Quil's gonna introduce you to all of his friends that pretty much live at our house anyway." He teased, shoving Quil playfully.

"Yeah, you'll love the guys. Like me, they're all huge and look kinda intimidating, but on the inside they're just a bunch of softies." Quil said with a grin. Dallas just nodded.

"We've fixed up your old room for you; put a bigger bed in there and added a desk for all your stuff, and you still got your old dresser. So when we get back to the house, you can unpack your stuff and make yourself at home." Her dad said. "A little later I've got a pretty big barbeque planned as a sort of welcome home party for you."

"Oh, Dad, you didn't have to-" Dallas started.

"No, I wanted to. Everyone's gonna be there, and we do this all the time anyway. It'll be fun, I promise." He said. There was no more room for Dallas to protest. He put his hand on her back and she thought she saw Quil snicker at her obvious discomfort. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's head on home."

----

A/N- Hey guys! I'm finally back, and will be posting a little more often now. Thanks for giving this one a try; it's gonna be one of those 'you love it or you hate it' kind of deals. I hope for the best!

Love you with all of my heart, .