A/N – I do not own any of the characters borrowed from Twilight and Stephanie Meyers.
Chapter 3
"OK, I'm ready!" I say as I come out of the bathroom. I had stalled more than long enough trying to get my emotions in check. That nightmare shook me.
Uma is standing in the kitchen waiting. Her fragile shoulders are covered in a beautiful knit shawl.
"Is Sam coming to pick up?" I ask looking to fill the silence.
"Oh no child, we'll walk to his house. It's not far at all. The weather is beautiful and it will give us a chance to talk." She opens the door and I follow her outside. She points to a path leading down the hill from her house. It appears to meander a bit, turning this way and that. There's a bench underneath a tree about halfway down and there are even more containers overflowing with flowers lining both sides of the path.
As we step down from the porch, I offer my arm to Uma which she takes. We start down the path.
"So, how is your mother doing Tia? I wasn't expecting Jem to call last night. She sounded very agitated on the phone." Uma had stopped at one of the flower containers to pull a weed or two as she waited for my answer.
Great, how do I answer this? I thought. I know I can't tell her the truth. Well Uma, my mom is most likely doing drugs with her drug dealer loser of a boyfriend. Oh, and by the way, he attacked me the other night. I had come to hate my life in Vegas but I could not bring myself to be this honest with my grandmother. Instead, I choose to dodge her question.
"She's been super busy at work lately. What you thought was agitation was most likely exhaustion. She's upped her hours at the casino lately intending to tuck all of that extra money into my college account." Looking at a different mound of tiny blue flowers, I ask "Who built this walkway Uma? I don't recall it being here before."
"Child, you were only 7 when you were here last. Life might seem to be at a standstill here on the Res to you especially since you've been living in Vegas, but changes do happen." She smiled as we continue walking. "Sam built this path for me. He's always been so good to me. He said that he didn't want me to walk down this steep hill by myself. It was his Emily who planted all of these lovely flowers and had the bench added. After his dad died, he decided to build a house close to mine just so that I would never have need of anything. Either Sam or Emily comes visit me every day, especially if they smell my blueberry muffins fresh out of the oven. I can't wait for you to meet Emily, Tia. She's so sweet and giving. I was so sure that Sam would never settle down after he finished school. However, his love for her has tamed him. She is his perfect match."
"Oh and before I forget, please be careful not to stare at Emily tonight. It upsets Sam." She added.
We were nearing their house. It looked like a mirror image of Uma's home, only with a much larger front porch and a second story. Flowers spilled out of planters and containers all over the front porch. The house looked so comfortable and inviting.
We walked up the steps to the front door. I reached up to open the door for grandmother when it suddenly opens. I then find myself face to face with a gorgeous shirtless boy.
"Will do. I'll call you later tonight Sam." He says over his shoulder as he's about to leave. He turns around just in time to realize that he's on the verge of running us down. He stops and smiles.
"Well, hey there! You must be Tia, Sam's cousin." He said. I nodded unable to speak. "Grandmother told us that you were coming."
"Yeah, I uh…" I stammered attempting to reply but I didn't know what to say.
SPOV
At about 6:15, Jake walks through my door following his nose as always into the kitchen where Emily is putting the finishing touches on dinner. I had asked him to stop by before he started his patrol. He came out with a drumstick in his hand.
"So what's up Sam?" That's Jake for you, straight to the point.
"I have a favor to ask. Could you ask Bella to come over to meet Tia sometime later this week? I think she really needs some friends. Do you remember that haunted look that Bella had in her eyes before you imprinted on her? Well, I see something similar in Tia's eyes but I'm positive the cause is different. I think that those two would really hit it off."
"Will do. I'll call you later." He replies as he is about to head out of the door.
TPOV
"Tia, this young man is Jacob Black." Uma explained. "He's a good friend of Sam. Jacob, now be a good boy and let us in." Uma added.
He continues to smile as he bows out of our way letting us enter. He winked at me as I passed by. I ducked my head and blushed brightly as I walked into Sam's house. We hear the door close behind us as Sam comes into the room holding Emily's hand. I look at her and now understand Uma's statement about not staring. She was tall and willowy with long black hair like my own but the 3 jagged scars that ran down the right side of her face were definitely something to make a person stare.
"Tia, this is my fiancée Emily. Emily, this is my cousin Tia Walker."
Emily smiles hugging me lightly. "Welcome to our home Tia. I hope you are hungry. I made Uma's favorite, fried chicken and potato salad." My stomach growled and I said "I guess that answers your question Emily." allowing a small smile to escape. I think I'm going to really like Emily as my mood brightened a bit.
Dinner with Emily, Sam and Uma went much better than I had expected, pleasant conversation and delicious food. The talk at the table didn't make me uneasy at all. There were no awkward silence like when mom and I actually managed to sit down together to eat. Over the past couple of years, mom and I had spent less and less time talking. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager now but I'm not sure of that. Sometimes as mom sipped her morning coffee, I would catch her looking at me. She looked like she was about to say something but she would then sigh, finish her cup, and go to her room to get ready for work.
As Emily dishes up dessert (apple pie, YUM!), Sam brings up the topic of school. Ugh, I can't wait. Another new school… "I took the liberty of speaking to your counselor at school Tia. Your schedule is ready and waiting for you in the main office. All you need to do on Monday morning is stop by the office on your right just after you go through the main entrance." he says.
"Thanks for getting that worked out for me, Sam. Transfer paperwork can be a pain."
"That's not the case here Tia." Sam replied. "We make sure that our people are taken care of first. The paperwork will get done, always does. Our res school is smaller than what you were used to back in Vegas. Everyone is friendly and looks out for each other. I'm pretty sure that you won't have any problems at all on your first day."
I smile at Sam in what he takes as agreement. However my thoughts are completely different. Small schools are scarier to me than large. It's so easy to hide in a crowd, to blend in. The more I think about Monday, the more anxious I become.
"Dinner was amazing Emily. Thank you for everything." I tell her. Emily smiled sweetly as she starts to clear the dishes. Sam takes Uma to settle her in a seat in the living room so I decide to give Emily a hand with the clean up and follow her into the kitchen.
Placing the dishes in the sink, Emily says "Tia, I'm glad that you are here. I'm not of this Tribe and ever since my accident, I haven't made lots of friends. I'd like very much to call you my friend."
I give Emily my best smile. "I'd like that too."
After another half hour, Uma decided that it was time for us to head home. She didn't care much for walking at night. We say your goodbyes with Emily telling us that she would come up to see us in the morning.
On the way back up to Uma's cottage, I notice a smaller path leading down the back side of her house. "Where does that go Uma?" I ask.
"Oh that leads to a small lake. The area is very pretty. You should take a walk down there if you get the chance." She replied.
After getting ready for bed that night, I slip my head phones on. Thinking back, I realized that the day hadn' t been nearly as awkward or painful as I had expected. With a sigh, I pick up my charcoal and sketch book to add another couple of drawings to my collection; one was a red headed woman and the other was a set of eyes that stared into your soul.
Sunday morning arrived with sunshine and chirping birds. I woke up at about 9 am feeling rested. I get dressed and come out of the bedroom. Uma was already up. I could see her watering her flowers on the front porch. I imagine that the flowers alone keep her busy throughout the day. I pick up one of the huge muffins on the kitchen table, grab my MP3 and sketch pad and head out onto the porch.
"I'm going to go explore the lake in the back Uma and maybe do some sketching. I won't be gone long." I say as I kiss the top of Uma's head. She smiles and waves me on.
I walk down the path towards the lake. I see a picnic table tucked under a nice shady tree. I climb up on the table to look out over lake. It was truly beautiful here with the trees swaying slightly in the breeze, birds chattering and the occasional squirrel squabble over a nut. I take out my ear buds, pop them in and turn on my music. Pink's music was perfect for me at the moment, just enough spite, energy and hope in her lyrics. I hum to myself as I grab my charcoal to start sketching a robin perched on a branch to the right of me. I sketch the bird quickly and turn my entire body towards the limb to get a better view. I'm shading in the branch when I heard a twig snap behind me. I jump and turn around to see a boy walking towards me. He was handsome (have I seen one here that wasn't?), friendly in his approach and looks to be a year or two younger than me.
"Hi, I'm Seth Clearwater. I saw you sitting here, thought I'd come by to say hello." He said.
"Hi, I'm Tia Walker." I reply turning around to face him. I put my sketchpad down on the table in front of me.
"You like to draw?" he asks. "Can I see some of your work? I love art. It's my favorite class in school."
I pick up my pad flipping through to show him some of my work, skipping over the red headed woman and the soul eating eyes.
"Wow, you are good! Will you be taking art here?"
"I hope so. Sam set up my schedule for me so I'm not for sure but I do want to."
We sit talking about school and little stuff for a few minutes. It felt so good to just sit there and enjoy his company. I've never had many friends. Wait who am I kidding? I've never had any real friends ever. Maybe this will change now.
"I'm going to La Push after lunch with a couple of my younger cousins. Would you like to come along?" he offered.
"Well, I need to ask Uma, but it sounds like fun." I smile. I can see the excitement in Seth's eyes.
"Great! We'll stop by after lunch, around 1 or so, to pick you up. We'll going to have a blast! Well, I need to scoot. Mom is going to kill me if I don't get to the store for her. She's baking and I don't want to miss out on her homemade rolls or have her mad at me." He waves as he heads off down another path.
I pick up my things and head back to the cottage. I see Uma in her seat by the fire enjoying a cup of tea. I tell her about Seth's offer. "Of course you should go Tia. I think you need to do more of this sort of thing. Just be home by 7 pm for dinner."
"I will Uma. Thank you!" I said as I walked into my bedroom to pack up a small bag for the beach.
True to his word, Seth showed up at our door at 1 pm with his 2 cousins, Colin and Brady in tow. He greeted Uma and asked me if I was ready to go. Brady and Collin's mom had offered to drive us over to the beach and planned to pick us back up at 6 pm. The conversation along the road was easy and jovial.
We spent that afternoon splashing in the waves, playing football in the sand and looking at the tidal pools. Around 4 pm, Seth built a small fire out of driftwood so that we could dry our clothes out a bit more. His aunt would not be happy with any of us if we got the seats in her car wet.
The twins got bored quickly with the fire and picked up the football again tossing it back and forth. Seth and I sat quietly for a bit just listening to the sound of the ocean. This was so nice. I turned my head towards the fire. My eyes went hazy and my vision shifted. In the flames, I saw a man with dreaded black hair who appeared to be running for his life. There seemed to be something chasing him. All of a sudden, the man turned to face his pursuer. He looked straight into a pair of large glowing gold eyes. He was trying to fight them off. He screamed in pain. I gasped. Seth turned to me to ask what was wrong when we heard the howl of wolves. The howls seemed to be very close to us.
"I'm thinking it's time to go home."Seth said "I for one don't want to be out here with hungry wolves. It's time for our ride to show up anyway." We all agreed and headed for the parking lot.