A/N- Hello! Um, just something I thought I'd mention… that last chapter was full of flashbacks, but chapter three and this chapter both take place toward the beginning of New Moon. And here are just a few things I thought I'd clear up:

Yes, I am fully aware that Quil lives with his grandfather, Quil Sr., but father fit more into my fanfiction.

Yes, I am also aware that Twilight takes place back when it was written in 2005, but I'm changing that, too. This is for the most part present tense, but time doesn't really matter.

Okay, that's about it for now. Hope you like this!

(Present)

"Dallas?" Quil Sr. called up the stairs. "Is that room gonna be all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, Dad. It's great." Dallas called down. She put the last of her clothes in the dresser of her new room for a month. It was somewhat familiar; it was her room when she was a baby and also where she stayed up until the time she was six. There was a twin bed in one corner, a small desk in another. The floors were a cream colored carpet and the walls were dark wood boards; it reminded Dallas of a refurnished camp cabin. The one window, accented with blue curtains, looked over First Beach not a half a mile away. Everything else was just dirt roads and the woods out in the back of the house, as well as other houses.

At this point, Dallas despised her mother for sending her here. And on such short notice; she didn't have time to say goodbye to any of her friends, or to make a run for it. Her dad seemed nice enough, and Quil… she would have to judge him later. The barbeque later that evening would have ample time for assessment.

Much to Dallas's dislike, she didn't stick out as much as she'd hoped. It turns out that the people on the reservation dressed in simple, blue jeans and cotton shirts much like the few plaid ones she had packed with her. And when she got inside the house, she saw a cowboy hat that belonged to her father hanging on a hook by the door. There was nothing she could do about it now, and now that she thought about it, she didn't want to be an outsider while she was here. It would be more impressive to show that she could easily adjust to their lifestyle. Anyway, what could be so hard to adjust to? It was an Indian reservation, for crying out loud. The most fun they probably had were little cheesy campfires where they would tell fake ghost stories, or the lame barbeque her father had planned for that night.

Dallas took one look around her new room and decided it had been personalized enough, so she kicked off her boots and went downstairs.

"There you are, Dallas." Her father said when she got downstairs into the kitchen. He was shaping clumps of meat into burgers with Quil at his side. "Why don't you go wash your hands and we'll put you to work?" she did as she was told, flipped her hair into a ponytail and stood by his side for further instructions. "You can just help us shape these burgers for now. There's a lot, so we've got to get moving." He said.

"What are you doing, feeding an army?" Dallas asked without thinking, widening her eyes at the amount of meat that was on the counter. Quil Sr. exchanged a look with his son and they both smirked.

"No, worse. Quil's friends." He said. Quil let out a bark of laughter, and Dallas smiled a little and got to work.

An hour or so later, it was about five o clock in the evening and the sun was setting down under the water at First Beach. Dallas had helped her brother and father shape about forty burgers, toss two mixing bowls of green salad, stack packet after packet of franks, and fill a few coolers full of various sodas. Now Quil was wiping down the counter, and their father was washing his hands free of all the food ingredients it had accumulated over the past few hours. When he was done, he wiped them on the leg of his jeans and clapped them together, announcing the completion of the preparation round for this epic barbeque. Quil and Dallas let out a breath of relief and Quil went to lounge in front of the television, but his father stopped him in mid step.

"Come on, let's head out to the beach to see who can help us carry all this down." He said, and Quil groaned before tromping to the front door, knowing his father did not like repeating himself. Dallas followed him with her father bringing up the back to close the door.

----

"So, Dallas." Quil said on the way to the beach. Their father said he was going to go see if Billy could help set up the grill for the first time of the season. Who Billy was, Dallas didn't know. "How do you like La Push so far?"

"Eh, it's okay." Dallas shrugged.

"Just okay?"

"Well, there's nothing to do, for one. I don't know anyone but you and Dad for two and for three, I don't really like the idea of spending a month halfway across the country with two people who have barely acknowledged mom's presence or mine for the past ten years, no offence." She said, casting an apologetic look his way.

"Hey, me and my friends find fun things to do here. You'll love it by the time you have to leave, I promise." Quil grinned. "I'll introduce you to everyone. There are my two best friends, Embry and Jacob, and then there are the Clearwater kids who we don't know too well, but they seem nice enough. Jared, Paul, and then of course good ol' Sam Uley. And about the whole me and my dad not talking to you thing…well, I'm really sorry about that. I think having a sister is really cool. I want to make up for the years we didn't spend time with you while you're here." Quil finished, looking over at Dallas sincerely. She just smiled slightly and kept her eyes focused on her feet. When they reached the beach, Dallas got her first glimpse of La Push natives outside her family.

There were four boys about hers and Quil's age, tossing a Frisbee up and down the sand. They all had the same dark tan skin and nicely toned muscles that Quil had. Some were sporting blue jeans, others were wearing basketball shorts. A couple had stripped off their t-shirts that were now laying in the sand, and there was a pile of scattered shoes by a bench. Quil grinned and jogged over to them; they stopped throwing the Frisbee to slap high fives with Quil and to glance over at Dallas curiously.

"Hey, guys." Quil said. "Hey, there's someone you gotta meet. Dallas, c'mere." Dallas walked slowly over to her brother. "Guys, this is my sister Dallas. Dallas, this is Jared, Paul, Embry and Jacob." He said, pointing to each boy in turn. Dallas waved shyly.

"Nice to meet you." She said quietly.

"She's up here from Tennessee to stay with me and my dad…er…our dad for a month. So she can hang out with us, right?"

"Yeah, sure." The boy named Jared grinned. He had short, cropped black hair and was wearing a pair of blue jeans.

"So…Tennessee, huh?" Quil's friend Embry said. "This has got to be somewhat different, right?"

"You have no idea. I haven't seen one Starbucks or the sun shining since we were in Seattle. I think I might die." Dallas said, being completely serious. The five boys laughed anyway.

"We have diners around here to get coffee and things, but if you want Starbucks, you gotta go up to Seattle for the nearest one." Embry said.

"Yeah, Jake could drive us if you want." Quil said, shoving Jake playfully. Dallas turned her eyes to the long haired boy wearing a gray t shirt and blue jean shorts, who stumbled slightly from Quil's push. In Dallas' opinion, Jake was the best looking one of them all, but the cocky smile on his lips made her wrinkle her nose in disgust slightly the way she had when she saw similar smiles on the lips of Tennessee boys.

"You don't look old enough to drive." she commented.

"I just got my license. I'm sixteen." Jake said.

"Yeah, now he can drive legally." Embry said, and the five boys laughed. Dallas forced herself not to roll her eyes.

"Hey, my dad needs some help bringing the food and grill down here. Come help me so we can eat." Quil said, turning back up the beach.

"Food!" Jared roared, jumping on Quil before running past him towards the Ateara house. Quil sprinted off behind him, then Embry and Paul ran to catch up. Only Jake stayed to walk with Dallas.

"Aren't you going to go race with your friends? You know, isn't it like some sort of male need to always be the 'alpha of the pack', so to speak?" she asked him. Jake let out a bark of laughter.

"Interesting choice of words." he said, still snickering. "If I wanted to, I could blow by them all even with this much of a head start." he added with a shrug. Dallas didn't bother try to hold back an eye roll this time, but just let it come. Jake wasn't watching. "So what has old Quil mixed up for the barbeque tonight?" he asked.

"Burgers, hot dogs, salads, soda." Dallas replied.

"Nice." Jake and Dallas watched Jared pummel Quil into the sand and Paul trip over him face first. Now it was Jake's turn to roll his eyes. "I'll catch up with you later tonight, huh?" he said, and then sprinted off behind his friends with speed that Dallas couldn't help but marvel at. Just as he'd promised, he blew by the others as they scrambled to beat him back to Dallas' new home…for the moment.

----

It was later on that night, pitch dark, and Dallas sat on a tree trunk holding her can of diet coke. She sat by herself, watching everyone else. She met other people but didn't really remember who they were, other than Quil's friends who she had met earlier. She tried her best, but there were just too many of them. She jumped slightly when her father spoke.

"Okay, if they boys would settle down for a minute, I think we're about ready to sit around the campfire and tell stories. Quil, sit down! Embry, don't torment Jared, please. Thank you." he said. Dallas laughed slightly as she took a seat beside Quil on a log closer to the fire. Jake sat next to her, and the other three boys sat in front of them.

"I see Quil's friends are making you feel right at home." Her father said with a grin. Dallas smiled a little.

"All right, who wants to go first?" the man Dallas learned was Billy and also Jake's father said. Jake grinned.

"Three blonde models walk into a bar-" he started, but Billy gave him a glare that said more clearly than words to shut up. Dallas' father stood up to speak, and the laughter that Jake received died down as everyone turned their attention to Old Quil, who had closed his eyes. The fire crackled in front of him dramatically and he took a deep breath before he began to speak.

"Long ago," he began in a raspy voice. "The Quiluete tribe was-" he stopped suddenly and looked to the woods on the other side of the beach from the ocean. "did anyone else hear that?" Dallas listened closely and jumped when she heard something rustle in the bushes. She felt Quil jump slightly beside her and Jake made a move to stand on the other.

"Jacob, no." Old Quil said sharply. "stay where you are."

"Who's there?" Billy barked at the moving bushes. At the sound of his voice, whatever was moving emerged from the trees. It was a boy, seventeen or eighteen years of age. He was covered in dirt and his clothes were tattered.

"Who are you?" the young man named Sam Uley barked, standing up. Jake and Quil stood up, too, ignoring the looks they got from their fathers. Dallas shrank back into their shadows.

"My name is Peter, and I mean you no harm. If I told you what I am, I know I will no longer be welcome here, and with saying that, I think you now must have some idea. But I am here to warn you from something that you would otherwise have no warning against." he said. Dallas noticed Quil and Jake share a look of hatred for the newcomer, which made her glance to see her father's reaction. He had the same hatred in his eyes, but said nothing.

"Say what you came to say, vamp, and then leave." he growled. "You should have never set foot on Quiluete land in the first place, and I'm in my right mind to kill you. Final judgment will be made when we hear what you have to say." Dallas was shocked when her father said this to Peter and to Billy and the other adults. Did he literally mean 'kill' him? She hadn't ever seen her father as a man to kill anyone. What was going on?

"My former clan leader, James, is planning something terrible. He has this idea set into his head that if he can get his clan members to change the children of the moon into vampires, he can create a new super-species. It's a truly heinous plan that he isn't even sure it will work. If it doesn't, many members of your pack and his clan could die. Even if they try, the humans in this area are no longer safe. There are many newborns in his clan that have never tasted human blood before. Once they get the scent, there's almost no stopping them. How many of your pack have changed?" Peter said breathlessly.

"That isn't your business. How do I know you aren't a spy, huh? Get off our land before I change my mind about not killing you." Old Quil yelled. Peter turned to walk back through the forest.

"I'm going to consult the Cullens down in Forks. I suggest you do the same." he said, and then he was gone.