I woke up to the door bell going off like a fire alarm. Looking down at what I was wearing, I saw the old pair of sweat pants from moms' drawer I'd pulled out last night and an old torn up sweater of Charlie's.
As I stumbled down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I yelled at who ever had the audacity to come here and start ringing my ear off to shut the hell up because I was moving as fast as I could.
When I reached the door, I found none other than Jacob standing there shuffling back and forth on his feet. "I take it you're not exactly ready to go yet?" he joked looking me over.
"Ugh, what time is it?" I asked blocking my eyes from the rush of vague sun light.
"Its 10 o'clock sleepy head, now go get dressed or else there'll be no food left for us." and with that he let himself in and sat on the couch happily. Looking back over his shoulder and up at me he said, "Go on now. Don't wanna be late now do we?" I huffed and made my way back up the stairs.
Charlie must have taken my clothes to wash them…great. Digging through moms' closet I found something that looked like it'd fit ok. It was a pair of plain blue jeans and I added my own bit of style to it with black spaghetti-strap tank top and a red Tee to go underneath. I put my hair in two small pigtails one on each side of my head (search pictures of Misa Amane from Death Note to really understand what the hair looks like) and made my way back downstairs.
"Now that's more like it. Put your shoes on and let's go." I glared up at him. The drive was spent in silence. But when we pulled up to Emily's house, the silence stopped and was replaced with the sound of mouths glomping down hand fulls of food and people talking and laughing. When I looked at the people inside the small house, I had the strange feeling that I didn't belong in their group. This was a family, I was an outsider, who was I to come in and expect to be a part of this family?
But when I spotted Emily in the kitchen along with two other girls, I walked over towards them.
"Um...Emily right?" I asked quietly. And with that everyone got very quiet.
"Oh! Serena, I'm so glad you could come! Sit, sit, boys make room for her! She's a growing girl and she needs her protein more then you bottomless pigs." Emily said shooing them away to make a place for me at the table.
One snorted and said, "For your information we're not pigs, we're…" but he cut off mid-sentence. Everyone looked at me.
"What?" I asked my mouth full of pancakes and in my hand a fresh baked blueberry muffin. "Oh! That, yeah it's okay I already know."
They still kept looking at me strangely, "what? Do I have something on my face? Or are you guys not used to seeing a thirteen year old girl eat pancakes?" Then I looked across the room, and something strange happened. There was this kid, he didn't look much older than me, maybe sixteen or so, and he just stood in the doorway, staring at me. A rush of heat flooded through my body when I looked at him. I couldn't tear my eyes away, and it seemed like he couldn't either. Finally I was pulled out of my trance when I heard growling coming from behind me.
I turned around to see Jacob had put his hands on my shoulders, almost like he was protecting me. He was shaking madly, and then the door slammed shut and when I looked back at where the boy had been standing, he was gone.
"Um…what just happened? Jake? Dad? Hello anybody left in there?" I asked waving my hand in front of his face, but he still wouldn't release his hold on me.
"Emily?" I squeaked out. She came over and pulled Jake away from me, and Sam ushered him out to the backyard. Next thing I know there is a giant russet brown wolf standing in the middle of the massive yard.
"What just happened? Anybody? Hello am I the only sane one left in this place or something?" Emily grabbed my hand and lead me out of the dining room and into what I assumed was her and Sams bedroom.
"Have you ever heard of imprinting Serena?" Emily asked. I nodded my head.
"So is that what just happened? I got imprinted? Huh, I always pictured it differently." She let out a small giggle at that.
"You certainly don't seem freaked out. Especially since you don't even know who he is." She said as she sat on the end of the bed. I sat down on the floor in front of her.
"Well why should I be? I mean, he seems like a nice kid. Who is he anyway? And why did Dad freak out like that? I mean, it's just imprinting right? What's the big deal?"
Emily sighed and shook her head. "His name is Seth, Seth Clearwater. He's a really good kid. He gets the best grades out of all the young boys still in school. But Jacob, I could try to explain it to you all day but the short version is, he just found out that you're his daughter, his little girl, and the first real time he's gotten to spend with her, one of his brothers imprints on her. He'll be happy for you in a little while, but right now just let him let out some of his steam." And with that she stood up.
I'm beginning to like Emily a lot, no wonder mom talked so highly about her, she's awesome. I was feeling kind of bold so I stood up and asked her, "Hey…Emily I was wondering something." She turned around and looked at me. "Yeah, what's on your mind?"
"Well…you see…um…I kinda don't really have anything besides what I wore yesterday and what's in my moms' closet from when she left. But she was older than me when she left, and a lot taller, so I was wondering if maybe…you and I could…go shopping?" Her face seemed to light up at this idea.
"Of course Serena! I've been waiting for the perfect moment for a good old fashioned shopping spree. Do you think some of the other girls could come along?" She was so excited, and to be honest I was to.
"Sure why not?" I said. "When do you wanna go?" she thought about this for a minute before going to her door and yelling for the other girls. Not two minutes later three girls were coming inside the room.
"Girls, its shopping time. Miss Serena here needs some clothes and asked us for assistance, will you come or will you go?" all three girls had big bright smiles on their faces, "We're in!" they shouted. Emily looked down at me.
"So, when do you wanna go? It could take a while to get you everything you need, and depending on whether or not you'll be staying with Jake or Charlie makes a big difference. So go back to Charlie's and when he comes home talk to him about it and when you get the final verdict I suggest you call me. Here's my number," she said as she handed me a piece of paper.
I looked over at the clock on the wall, it was two already. Damn time passes when your dad flips out 'cause you got imprinted on and you get to go shopping with four girls you've never met before or even know very well but have heard about your whole life. Maybe I should start heading home….
"Well…I think I'll head out if that's okay with you guys. It'll take a while to walk from here back to Charlie's so…yeah…talk to ya later Emily." And with that I left the house, only to be bombarded by the boy I saw earlier. He looked cute, and I could tell by looking at him, that he was a little nervous.
"Hey…" he said. His voice was like leather, soft and smooth.
"Hey, it's Seth right?" I asked him.
"Yeah…I'm Seth. And you are…?" he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. His eyes were a deep dark brown. Soft, but held the hint of a mystery deep within.
"I'm Serena." I said turning so I could face him head on. He was tall, very tall. I'd guess about a foot taller than me, maybe more. But that's normal because I'm pretty short. His hair was black, like really black. And short, yet had this shaggy quality about it. His lips were full and round. Almost inviting me in to kiss them. OMYGOD what am I thinking? I don't even know this guy! Get a grip Sere! Look at his eyes, not his lips, or his fabulous abs…holy crap what's happening?
During my mental rant, he started laughing. A genuine, really laugh. And it sounded…nice. It was calming almost. I found myself calming down with his presence near me.
"What's so funny?" I asked him putting my hands on my hips awaiting an answer.
"What? Oh nothing, nothing. You were just looking at me funny, like you were trying to analyze me like a science project or something." And with that I laughed to, my cheeks flushing madly.
"That weird huh? Well I apologize for my oddlyness, mister I turn into a giant furry wolf-boy. Next time I promise not to look at you like a science project." We laughed for a good couple of minutes until we finally caught our breath.
"So…" he started.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Um…where you headed to?"
"Back to Charlie's. I gotta start walking now or else it'll take too long and by the time I get there it'll be five and Charlie will think I got kidnapped or something." I said and started walking again.
"Well how about I give you some company? While you walk and then when I know you're safe and you won't get kidnapped, I'll give you your space." He said laughing as he came up behind me and put his arm around my shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing bub? Get that thing off me before I rip it off of your shoulder and feed it to the ocean over there." I said pointing over to the ocean waves lapping against the sand on first beach.
He quickly removed his arm from around my shoulders. It was funny how just a moment ago we acted like we'd known each other our whole lives and now we were back to being strangers with a joined future.
"So…how old are you?" he asked.
"Thirteen, I'll be fourteen on October 16th. What about you?" I said glancing in his direction.
"Sixteen," he replied looking ahead as if trying to find something interesting to keep him from staring at the ground.
"That cool," I sighed. Things were getting quiet now that the laughing had stopped. I kept trying to think of a conversation starter, but nothing came to mind.
"Where did Bella go after she left?" he asked.
"Well…no, I don't. I barely remember where we lived when I was four to the time I turned ten, but when I was ten we moved to South Carolina. We moved around so often, and she said it was because of work, but I knew why we moved so much. She didn't want us to get too attached to a certain place when she knew that we were just going to have to leave anyway. The longest time we stayed anywhere for a certain amount of time was when I was nine. Mom wanted to move back to the northwest so we moved to Portland, Oregon. We stayed for a year maybe longer I'm not sure." I stopped feeling my throat tighten up and a lone tear roll down my cheek.
"Hey, you okay? We can change the subject if you want," he said sounding concerned.
"Nah, I'm fine. It's just hard, I still have a hard time believing that she's gone. It's been six months and still almost every night I wake up half expecting to be back home, hearing the sound of cars driving by our town house and the soft sound of one of moms cd's playing in the room next door."
"You miss her a lot don't you?" he said it more as a statement than a question.
"Yeah, I miss her more than you can imagine. She was the only family I've ever known. If it weren't for my friend Addy, I wouldn't have been able to make it on my own this long. She stayed with me till we crossed into Nebraska, then we had to split apart."
"Wow, for a thirteen year old, you sure have had a lot go on. I lost my dad, coincidently it was the same day I phased for the first time. But I still had my mom. I can't imagine what it'd be like to be so alone, and to be only thirteen when all this happens…wow." He sighed.
We walked in silence until we reached Charlie's. The house was dark and no one was inside.
"Well…I guess I'll see ya later then." And with that I opened the door and walked inside. I heard his footsteps walk away, but then they came back, and through the door he said, "I'm patrolling the area around here tonight if you want to meet in the woods out back and talk some more, feel free to come." And with that he left. And this time, he left for good.