Thud… thud…... thud!

Delaney awoke the next morning to banging echoing around her empty room. She rolled over on the uncomfortable air mattress and clamped a pillow over ears to to try to drown out the noises that were coming from down stairs.

Boom!

"Ugh," she said, tossing the pillow aside in frustration. She knew her attempts to go back to sleep were futile, and she hesitantly opened up her eyes. Light bounced in from her window, emphasizing how empty her room was. Empty. Why is my room empty? She thought as her eyes adjusted to her new surroundings.

"Oh shit," she gasped, grabbing for her phone. She pressed the power button and looked at the time. 10:51 AM. I should have been awake almost three hours ago.

She quickly changed into the old pair of leggings and one of her father's crew neck sweatshirts that she laid out the night before. Pulling her hair into a ponytail and throwing on her glasses, she ran downstairs. When she reached the landing, she was shocked to see that a majority of the living room furniture was already delivered and assembled. She was even more surprised to see her cousin Bella sitting on the couch, a cast on her leg.

"What happened to you, Bells?"

Her cousin looked up at her from her position on the couch, and she smiled sheepishly. "It's nice to see you too, Laney."

Delaney walked over to Bella and gave her a quick hug. "I've missed you too. But I have to know what happened."

"Let's not waste time with formalities then," Bella said, shifting herself to face her cousin. Although physically older, Bella still looked almost exactly the same as she did when she saw her last year. She pulled her brown back into an effortlessly messy ponytail and rested her head on her hand.

Delaney could tell that Bella was stalling. She raised her eyebrows, waiting for her to explain how she broke her leg. Bella sighed, defeated. "I fell through a window."

Laney couldn't help but to laugh out loud. "There's no way!" She yelled incredulously. She knew Bella was clumsy, but she didn't think she could be that clumsy. "How the hell did you fall through a window? Where was this window? Did you find the biggest possible window in Forks?"

Bella threw her arms up in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll explain. I was.. I was trying to go back to Phoenix. So my boyfriend and his dad -"

"Hold on," Delaney interrupted excitedly. "Boyfriend?"

Bella's cheeks flushed red. "Yes. You'll have to meet Edward when he picks me up this afternoon. He's looking forward to meeting you," Bella smiled.

"Oh, so you've been gossiping about me again?" Delaney asked, amused.

Bella grinned. "Well, I haven't seen you in years, so I couldn't help but gossip. Besides, you know me. Forks gossip queen."

The two girls laughed together and Delaney was surprised with how at ease she felt. Delaney and Bella were very much alike as they were both fairly introverted. Even when they would play as children, they were more content with just being together than playing games.

"Are you going to start school this Monday?" Bella asked, breaking their silence and changing the subject. Delaney sighed in response.

"Yeah. I think so. I'm not really looking forward to it, to be honest," she said, laying down on the couch next to Bella. "And you're not getting off easy. You're going to tell me the rest of the story eventually."

Bella nodded in understanding. "I know, I know. Trust me. But I have a decent group of friends that are pretty nice and I sit with Edward and his family during lunch. Let me know what your class before lunch is and we'll walk to lunch together."

"You're the best. Seriously," Delaney said, and she meant it. Bella was very observant and could tell that Delaney was feeling extremely anxious about starting a new school towards the end of the year.

"I remember what it was like to have everyone gawking at you. Besides, what are cousins for?"

Delaney had a shrewd suspicion that her arrival wouldn't be quite as momentous as Bella's. Bella was effortlessly beautiful; she had long, wavy brown hair and and beautiful chocolate brown eyes. She never wore any makeup and her thin stature was lithe and graceful (even though she was clumsy). But one of her downfalls was that she didn't realize the effect she had on people. People were drawn to her.

"Hey, sleeping beauty!" Delaney's dad bellowed, making the two girls jump. He placed the box he was carrying in the kitchen and walked back out to the living room. Wiping his brow with his sleeve, he leaned against the door frame.

"Dad!" Delaney yelled back, but couldn't hide her smile. She threw a pillow in retaliation, which hit him in the chest.

"Oh," he said in mock anguish, grabbing his chest. "You got me!"

"Why did you let me sleep in?" Delaney mused.

"I knew you had a long day yesterday. What's another few hours? And besides, me and Charlie got a lot of work done without you slowing us down."

"Very funny, Dad."

"Billy and Jacob Black should be coming by in about a half hour and that should help quite a bit," he said. Hearing the gravel crunching in the driveway, Delaney's Dad looked out the window. "Bella, I think your boyfriend is back to pick you up," Jonathan said, walking over to her and helping her up. "Now remember, if he ever gives you any trouble, you know you have two giant police officers that would defend your honor…"

"Uncle J," Bella said, shaking her head. "You're just as bad as Charlie. Delaney, come with me so Edward can meet you."

The two girls walked out of the home and stood on the porch. A silver Volvo sat in their driveway, and when the driver saw the two girls exit the house, he opened up his door. A tall, copper-haired boy got out of the car. His golden eyes were striking even from a distance and Delaney knew why Bella was head over heals for him. He was easily the most handsome person she had ever seen in her entire life.

"Hello Delaney," Edward said, nodding at her. He glided over the Bella and wrapped a protective arm around her waist. "It's nice to finally meet you. Bella has been talking about you coming for weeks."

She looked at Edward curiously. With the way he spoke and how he strung his words together, he sounded like he was from a different century.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Delaney said. Do you have any brothers?

As if reading her mind, Edward continued, "Bella sits with us at school during lunch. You'll have to join us and meet my family."

"That would be nice. I appreciate it," Laney said nervously, kicking herself for looking like a slob next to someone who looked like a literal model.

"I don't mean to steal Bella away…" Edward started, but Delaney interrupted him.

"Steal away," she dismissed awkwardly, and Edward chuckled, leading Bella to his car. "She's not much help with the whole unpacking situation."

"Can I come come over tomorrow?" Bella asked before getting into the car.

"It might be better if I come over to your house, all things considered…" Delaney said, gesturing to Bella's leg.

"That's probably a good call. See you tomorrow."

Edward honked the horn as they sped away and Delaney gave them a quick wave.

Delaney started taking boxes from the U-Haul truck to her room. She felt a pain in her chest with every box that she opened, reminding her of her old life back in Ohio. It was a very strange feeling to see all of her possessions away from the place that held them for years and into a new room. After unpacking a few boxes, Delaney ran back downstairs to grab another box. When she reached their front door, she heard her father talking to someone. Walking out on the porch she saw a large, old truck in the driveway and an older man in a wheelchair.

"Dad," she said, grabbing his attention.

"Come here, Laney! I have someone for you to meet!" He said excitedly, gesturing for her to run over to them.

"You might have been too young to remember, but this is Billy Black," her dad said, patting the shoulder of the man in the wheelchair. His skin was weathered and his black hair was worn long and covered with a dark tan hat. His eyes were so dark they were almost black, but a bright smile rested on his face.

Delaney returned the smile. "Of course I remember you! I have you to blame for the nickname 'little bear.'" When she was very little, her parents would spend Christmas eve with Billy and Sarah Black and a few other families from the reservation that she couldn't remember anymore. As a child, Delaney was very chubby with dark brown hair that stood straight up on it's ends, like a bear cub's fur. One Christmas Eve, Delaney crawled away from her mother's grasp towards the bright lights of the Christmas tree and started (well, tried) to climb it. She was saved by the protective hands of her father, but not before Billy could call her "Little Bear."

"Try to keep your paws off of the Christmas tree this year, little bear," Billy laughed, steering himself to over towards the moving truck. She could hear a few voices yelling around in the back and boxes clanging together. Billy pounded the side of the truck with his fist. "Jake!"

A tall boy jumped out of the back of the truck a few moments later, and Delaney was struck by how attractive he was. There must be something in the Forks water. How are there so many attractive guys in one place? He had russet skin, and long black hair held together in a pony tale. His russet skin was tanned from the sun and his high cheekbones were prominent against his boyish face. Delaney instinctively pulled on her sweatshirt, wishing she looked a little more put together. He's kind of beautiful.

"This is my son, Jacob," Jacob smile politely and gave Delaney a small wave. "His friends, Quil and Embry and rummaging around in there as well."

Jacob waved at her and a brilliant smile was etched across his face. "Hey!"

Delaney waved back shyly, inwardly kicking herself for being so awkward, but the rest of the morning went by quickly, and even painlessly, despite the moving. After a few hours, Jacob, Quil, and Embry had all of Delaney's room unpacked.

"You have a lot of stuff," Quil sighed, exhausted. He fell to her bed and sprawled out.

"Gross! Get your sweaty body off my bed!" She laughed, trying to pull Quil off of her bed.

"I thought girls liked sweaty bodies in bed?" Quil said, raising his eyebrows.

"Alright!" Jacob said, giving him a high-five.

"You guys are annoying. Get out of here," she chuckled, gently pushing them towards the door. "I think we might actually be done!"

The group went downstairs and the boys ran outside. All of the boxes were in their new home and surprisingly enough, only a few weren't unpacked. Delaney and her Dad didn't bring much from Ohio, choosing to sell a lot of their old belongings, so every remaining item was meaningful and important.

It felt so nice to feel apart of a family again. Her mother's family lived in Ohio, but when she lost her mom, she felt her family drifting away from her and her father. Sitting with Bella was comfortable, and she was so excited to be close to her family again.

She stood in the doorway and watched her father sitting with Billy on a couch that had yet to make it's way inside, roaring with laughter. She smiled, resting her head against the old door frame; she hasn't seen her father this happy in years. A few yards away, she watched Jacob, Quil, and Embry tossing around a football that they found in the U-Haul truck.

"Delaney!" Jacob yelled. "Think fast!"

Jacob threw the football through the air towards Delaney. Her father used to play catch with her when she was a little girl, so she caught the football with ease. However, the laces of the football stung the palms; Jacob was much stronger than he looked (and he already looked very strong).

"Nice catch, little bear," Jacob laughed.

"Don't call me that!" Delaney yelled back, throwing the football as hard as she could. Jacob and his friends laughed wildly, and Quil caught the football easily. She ran over to the boys and joined their game of catch.

Maybe Forks wouldn't be so bad after all.