Here it is, chapter three :) Sorry it took so long, but to be fair, it's A LOT longer then the previous ones. Give me your thoughts and opinions as always I love to have feedback.

-Steph


The car ride home had been completely silent. Quil, while much calmer, had been in a mood the entire way home. He kept grumbling to himself, flexing his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

Davie had tried to start a conversation with me, but that died once it accidentally mentioned one of Quils old friends. Once they dropped me off, I skirted Gran by telling her that the movie was dumb but Davie and his friends were great.

It wasn't until I had showered and was getting into bed that my phone went off, alerting me I had a new message. After I climbed in and settled myself, I checked it.

Hey C, it's Davie. Sorry bout my dick head brother. Hope you had fun and still wanna hang out sometime.

A slow smile lit up my face. Davie really was a sweet kid. I typed a quick reply, assuring him I had a great time, his brother aside. I also added in that it'd be pretty cool to go the beach sometime later in the week. I had never seen the ocean, but had always wanted to.

After we said goodnight to each other I laid in bed, thinking about the events today. Ashton. Somehow he knew what happened to me. I know he knows, even though his advice was vague. He had to have seen it. Did he catch her in the act? Did he save my life, only to leave me alone on the side of the road, unconscious?

After countless times trying, I realized I wouldn't be able to make sense of it tonight. With an irritated sigh, I rolled over. Sleep was not going to come easily tonight, either.


A little over a week after the pizza parlor fiasco, as I am now referring to it as, I had convinced the guys to take me to the beach. They insisted First Beach had the best sand, so I excitedly donned my swimsuit under a pair of white shorts and a pink tank top. The bruises on my neck had faded mostly, and could be covered up completely with a little liquid foundation.

I grabbed a bottle of juice and an over-sized beach towel before making my way to my moms borrowed jet black Kia. I cranked on some tunes, feeling the happiest I had in a long time as I belted out the words completely off-key.

When I finally arrived at the small gravel parking lot used for the beach, I immediately spotted Quil unloading a surfboard that he had strapped down to the top of his Grand Am. Butterflies filled my stomach as I parked. He looked really good today. He was showing off his lightly toned tan torso, his long hair loose. He had a braid running through it, a red and blue bead strung in. A pair of lime green and white swim trunks covered his legs.

"Hey stranger," I said as I pulled my car up next to his. Quil smiled at me through my open window.

"Hey Carrie! I brought my surfboard, just in case you wanted to, you know, try it out," He said. I smiled, remembering our conversation on the way to the movie about how I always wanted to learn.

"I'll give it my best go," I said with a laugh. "I don't have the best balance." Quil smiled even wider this time.

"Cool, cool. The the rest of the guys are just down there," He said, pointing off to the group of rambunctious teens swimming in the water. "Gotta warn you though, waters gonna be super cold,"

"I can handle it," I said with a wave of my hand. Quil smirked while shaking his head.

Making my way over to the guys, I took a minute to take in the view. It wasn't a beach so much as it was a cove of sorts. Tall cliffs stood of to the sides, the beach nestled in between. There was a buoy a few yards out, and Collin and Davie were attempting to get Brady off of it. It wasn't until they both grabbed in ankle that they finally managed to dismount him.

I laughed to myself deciding to let them have their fun and take advantage of one the rare sunny days we get here. I laid my beach towel out, quickly slipping off my shorts and tank top.

"Oh," I heard. I turned around to see Quil blushing, looking away. I raised my eyebrow at him with a smirk.

"What? Never seen a girl in a bikini?" I joked. Quil rolled his eyes, shrugging off my teasing good-naturedly.

"I thought you wanted to come to the beach to swim," He emphasized. "Not lay in the sun like some lazy cat," He had a teasing grin on his face, his eyes filled with mirth.

"Oh shut it Ateara. I'm just waiting for the guys to finish their game of...whatever they're doing. I'm not really in the mood to be held under water by them all." I shot back lightly. He shrugged.

"Suite yourself. I'm going to go test this baby out," He said, looking lovingly at the bright red and orange surf board. I gave him a funny look.

"I thought you said you've surfed before?" I questioned. Quil smiled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, no. I have, this boards just new. Haven't had the spare time to take her for a spin yet,"

I nodded in understanding as I bid him good luck. Quil rolled his eyes yelling he didn't need it as he paddled out to find his wave.

I layed back down, soaking in the bright sun. It felt amazing. I hadn't been sleeping nearly good enough since the night I was attacked, and I could feel myself being slowly lulled to sleep by the soft crash of the waves.

Suddenly I was very cold. Spluttering, I sat up drenched. Davie grinned, showing off his perfectly white teeth.

"Hah, gotcha," He crowed. Brady and Collin started cackling from their safe distance on the shoreline.

"Oh you asked for it," I growled. Brady had the decency to look slightly scared. Shooting up from my towel, I chased him into the water. Brady yelled, retreating further into the icy waves. Collin just rolled his eyes, moving aside to let me get my revenge.

We continued this way for about a half hour, dunking one another under the water, until I heard Quil call me over.

"Hey Carrie! Still wanna give 'er a try?" He yelled. I dunked Davies head under long enough to see he was a little ways over out of the danger zone. I smiled yelling my agreement when Davie popped up.

"You little-"

"Truce!" I yelled, holding my hands up. "Quil's gonna teach me to surf,"

Davie rolled his eyes. "Have fun with Quil," He said mockingly in a girlish tone before grabbing an unsuspecting Brady by the shoulders and shoving him under.

Quil turned out to be a great teacher. After showing me some simple techniques more towards shore, he deemed me ready to hit my first wave. To say I failed miserably would probably be the understatement of the year. The guys all laughed an carried on, but Quil gave me a patient smile.

"You'll get it Carrie," He said. "It takes a while to learn, believe me. I had five or six wipe outs way worse than that before I was even able to semi stand up,"

I gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks. I think I'm about done for now though," I said.

"Yeah," He agreed. His eyes lit up with an idea. "You know we could come by ourselves sometime, when the guys aren't here to be jerks and stuff. I could totally teach you." He said. I looked at him, slightly flustered. Was he asking me on a date, or was this just a as friends hanging out alone thing? I figured it was probably the latter.

"Yeah, that sounds great," I replied. After that we packed up all of our stuff, ready to go our separate ways. I had to get home to help Gran make dinner, and Brady and Collin's mom had told them if they were late to dinner one more time she was going to ground them.

I was just about to turn and head for the Kia when I saw them. There were five shadowy figures at the top of one of the tallest cliffs. They were all pushing each other around in a joking manner. I squinted. There was no way they were planning on jumping...A fall from that high would hurt, and who knew what kinda rocks were right below the surface of the water.

"What are they doing?" I asked no one in particular. I heard a scoff beside me.

"Cliff diving," Davie said. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"From there!?" I stressed. Davie nodded, a scowl on his face.

"Yup. That's Ashton and his friends. Or maybe gang would be a more appropriate term," He sighed in a disappointed sort of way. "Normal people jump from that one there," He said, pointing at a significantly lower platform. "But not those guys. Oh no, they always have to be the best."

Quil grunted, cutting off my reply. "Let's get out of here. Being in there presence makes me wanna hurl,"

They guys agreed, walking off towards Quil's Grand Am. I watched the five figures on this cliff, transfixed. There was no way...

And then the first one jumped. I let out an involuntary yelp as he dove gracefully under the water. Seconds later a head popped up. I shook my head in amazement. La Push guys are insane.


A couple days later marked the first of September, so naturally school was starting soon. My senior year. Unfortunately I'd be going to Forks High, and all of my new friends would be attending their own high school on the reservation. Over the past two weeks me and the guys had grown quite close to one another.

It was seriously like I had gained three brothers, and one friend. Quil being the friend. Me and Quil's relationship definitely felt different, but it was probably due to the fact we were much closer in age to each other then to the other three.

I had taken him up on his surf boarding lessons, and I was gradually getting better. Being the patient teacher that he was, he never laughed or made fun of me anytime I wiped out. And there were a lot of wipe outs.

It had been nice to see this side of Quil. Back at the pizza parlor, he had been so mad. He had literally been shaking with anger. And then, again at the beach, when he saw Ashton and friends on the cliff. My Quil, the one I knew, was patient, friendly, a real jokster. The Quil he seemed to be turning into when I wasn't around...was no good.

Davie had been keeping me updated on the rez happenings, and from what I've heard Quil's temper had been getting shorter and shorter. According to Davie, (and Brady and Collin) it was only a matter of time until he exploded and did something regrettable.

So as the first day of September drew to a close, so did our last surfing lesson. Even with the wet suit I had purchased due to the freezing temperature the water had casually dropped to, it was starting to get too cold for lessons. It was with a heavy heart I allowed Quil to end them, but only with the promise they'd be started back up next summer. He'd been more than happy to oblige.

So, after stripping off the wet suit and throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, Quil and I tromped back to his Grand Am. The sun was setting, as it had begun to do earlier and earlier everyday. It was beautiful. The sun glowed a deep red almost, with orange and yellow fading off. It contrasted starkly to the dark black ocean.

"It's pretty," Quil commented, stopping as well to observe the view. "Kind of makes you think, huh?" He asked. I turned to him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Makes you think about what?"

Quil sighed, shaking his head. "Nah, it's dumb."

"Oh come on Ateara," I goaded. "You know I won't look at you any differently," I said, nudging his shoulder playfully.

"It makes you think how precious life really is. The moments you take for granted, like a beautiful beach sunset for instance. You can't rewind time, but sometimes it feels like someone pressed fast forward, and I don't know how to make it pause." He said. I nodded.

"I get what you're saying. Life's short, so don't miss the beauty standing right in front of you." I murmured. Quil turned towards me now, a soft smile on his face.

"I don't intend to," He said. Then, with his large, oddly warm hand on my cheek, he looked me in the eye. "I think I'm gonna kiss you," He said.

I nodded dumbly, butterflies turning rapidly in my stomach. And then he kissed me. All of the sudden it was like an electrical current was shooting through my body. All of my nerve endings were on fire. All intelligible thought ended, and I melted against him.

When he pulled away, he had a smile on his face. "Wow," I whispered unintelligibly.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while," He whispered. I smirked.

"Why'd you wait so long for?" And then I kissed him back.


The couple days leading up to the beginning of the school year were filled with Quil. The guys had been surprisingly cool with it, Davie actually rolling his eyes and muttering, "'bout time."

It was the day before school started, and Quil and I were laying in Grans backyard on a large patchwork quilt. The tree we were under was a beautiful red, the trunk white. Quil was on his back and I was cuddled up to him.

"You know, with school starting I'll see you like half as much," He stated. I grumbled.

"No."I said. Quil chuckled, entwining his fingers in mine. I still couldn't get over how perfectly they fit there. We both kinda stared at them, and then Quil squeezed my hand.

"You know I'll always be there for you, right?" He asked.

I turned to him with a questioning look on my face.

"What do you mean?" I asked. His eyebrows furrowed, a far away look coming to his eye.

"I just mean I won't ditch you, like Jacob and Embry did to me." He said with a sigh. "I'll never do that to you, Carrie."

I gave him a serious look, knowing this was important to him. "I'd never do that to you either," I said meaningfully. Quil gave me a soft smile, tightening his arm around me.

"You know, I've never felt like this so quickly. I mean for another person. I feel like I've known you my entire life," He said. I looked up at him, his eyes looking off into the tree.

"I know what you mean. It's weird how quickly we clicked. It was...effortless," I replied. Quil just smiled.

"I'm glad you came to that horrible zombie movie."

"Me too."


The alarm on my phone woke me up at precisely 6:30. I groaned into my pillow, definitely not in the mood to get out of my very warm, very comfortable bed. Five minutes later my safety alarm went off, to ensure I didn't over sleep. Being I needed a second alarm, getting out of bed was obviously a problem for me.

The shower was hot, the food (which consisted of strawberry poptarts) was not. I was in full on zombie mode. The first day of school never agreed with me. It took me at least a month to be able to get up (and actually be alive) before the sun.

Finishing my breakfast, I hoped through the shower before slapping some light make up on, mostly to cover the sleep deprived bags under my eyes. I pulled my hair into a simple pony tail, and didn't bother wearing anything too dressy. Yoga pants and a sweatshirt were good enough for me.

I arrived in the parking lot fifteen minutes later, carefully parking the Kia towards the back of the lot. The last thing I needed was a door ding on my moms car, and teenagers aren't exactly known for being exceptional drivers.

Making my way to what appeared to be the main building, I quickly located the office. A short plump woman sat behind the desk, which had a plaque announcing her name was Mrs. Cope. I gave her the best smile I could muster, which was severely lacking. Mornings really weren't my thing.

"Hi, I'm Carrie-er Carolynn Benson," I stated, slightly flinching at having to use my formal name. I hated it. Sometimes I wanted to shake my mother and ask her what she was thinking when she named me something I've only ever heard old ladies named.

"Oh, okay. Just let me look you up in the system real quick. You're the new girl, right?" She asked. I nodded dumbly, looking around as Mrs. Cope clinked and clacked on her keyboard. The room was small, the large have moon shaped desk taking up the majority of the room. There were doors on either side of it, one labeled, "Principal" and the other jarred open enough to let you see a copy machine. Other than that there were a few chairs for people waiting.

"Okay, here it is!" She announced. I jumped, slightly startled, and grabbed my schedule from her. There was also another form. "Okay so that's your classes and when you have lunch, and this one just needs to be signed by every teacher you have by the end of the day," She said. I glanced down and saw six blank spaces, and nodded. "Alright dear, you're all set. Have a super day!" She exclaimed. I gave her a look, attempting a smile. People who had that kind of energy in the morning couldn't be trusted.

The first class of the day was English. I was thrust to the front of the room where people ohh'd and awe'd at the new girl. Well, not really, but you could tell new students didn't happen to often, because everyone seemed slightly interested.

The class passed quickly, the only thing slightly exciting to happen is when the girl next to me asked to borrow a pen. Mrs. Johnson was a stickler for talking during the lesson, I guess. On the way out of the room, the pen borrower, Jessica, yelled for me.

"Hey Carrie, wait up!" I stepped off to the side letting the mass of teens sneak by me as I waited for her to catch up. She smiled as she held something out to me. "Here you forgot your notebook." she said.

"Oh thanks," I said gratefully. Jessica nodded, but then gestured to the schedule I had in my hand.

"What class do you have next?" She asked. I looked down to see it was biology. She nearly squealed, grabbing onto my arm as she started leading the way.

"Omigosh, me too!" I grinned, her enthusiasm slightly contagious. She led the way to room, keeping a constant flow of chatter the whole way. I cut in a few times to answer questions or ask my own, but she had a very domineering control of it. I had a feeling she was a bit of a gossip as well.

As we sat down, she started telling me about some family that moved away. I guess the guy(Edward? Eddie?) broke things off with Bella, and it completely killed her. Jessica gave me all the dirty details as I sat patiently, never being one for gossip.

Finally the teacher called the class to order, and Jessica was forced to shut her trap. We learned about things I had no interest in, and I boredly stared out the window. It was a cloudy day, like usual. Every once in a while, a sprinkle or two would come down from the sky, but mostly it was just blah.

Finally second period also came to a close, and I let Jessica talk my ear off as she offered to lead me to my next class. She (un)fortunately didn't have the same one, so we parted ways after she made me promise to eat lunch at her table.

The rest of my classes flew by, lunch coming quickly. After standing in line and picking out my food, I easily spotted Jessica at a crowded table in the center of the cafeteria. I walked toward her purposefully, fake smile on my face. Hey, if I wanted to make any friends, I had to start somewhere. Plus eating lunch alone really stunk.

Jessica saw me just before I got there, and she pushed the stocky blonde guy next to her over.

"Move over, Mike. Make room for Carrie!" She said. I smiled at Mike, who rolled his eyes at Jessica before complying. He gave me a friendly smile though, before moving on to pestering a tall guy with glasses and dark rimmed glasses.

Jessica started talking to a rude blonde she'd introduced as Lauren Mallory, who was shooting unnecessary snooty looks at a half-dead looking brunette. The girl was skinnier than what could be considered healthy, but she tried hiding it with overly baggy clothes. Her hair was dry and limp, and she had dark purple bruise like bags under her eyes. She half halfheartedly held a conversation with a girl whose name I learned to be Angela Weber. This must be Bella.

Conversation continued and Jessica and the Snob included me in their conversation. It seemed there was a dance coming up, and according to Jessica, I had to attend. Lauren seemed like she could care less, but she attempted to fake a smile for my benefit.

The rest of the day passed easily enough. I had one more class with Jessica. The Snob happened to be in it with me as well, and just as the bell rang I noticed Bella slipped into the back. It was a long hour of listening to Lauren complain how annoying Bella was and have Jessica basically tell her everything she said was amazingly right.

When the day finally ended, I rushed home. It felt like I had been trapped in that building for a week instead of the measly six odd hours I was actually there. Gran greeted me when I came in, What Not To Wear blaring loudly from the other room.

I shook my head at her teenage like habits, choosing instead to head to my room. When I made it into the solitude that was my bedroom, I was able to safely unwind. I tried calling Quil, to see how his first day had went, but it went to voicemail. I frowned, sending him a text instead.

Things with Quil had been going more than well, and I was excited to see he felt the same way I did. It should have been scary to me things were progressing as quickly as they were, but it just felt natural.

I ended up doing homework that had been assigned in biology, even though it was the first day. I finished it quickly, and having nothing else to do I finished unpacking some boxes I'd been neglecting.

By the time I was getting ready for bed, I had still not received a text back from Quil. It was odd, considering we were usually talking back and forth in either person or text. I tried calling him again, but it was useless.

Suddenly visions of the red-eyed woman entered my head, and a feeling of cold dread climbed up my spine. It couldn't have anything to with her, could it? I felt a cold pressure around my heart, but I attempted to squash it. He had probably lost his phone, or it had died, but I still couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding.

The red-eyed woman had tried to kill me. She was clearly psychotic, and wouldn't have just let me go. Something had to have stopped her. Ashton?

The thought made me frown. How had he known what had happened? What were him and his freaky posse of muscled men hiding? The same thoughts I had circling through my mind for weeks started circling again. I then knew what I had to do. I had to find Ashton.