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Seven-Mila

I checked my phone all day, which was very stupid of me. Embry didn't have my number to call or text that he wasn't coming. That didn't stop me from looking at my phone. I should have given him my number. It was stupid for me to invite him and not give it to him. If I had I wouldn't be holed up in my room waiting for him to show up. Yes I had been holed up in my room since I finished my homework. Hoping and waiting for Ava to let me know he was here or for him to just walk right up. But it was already 8, he wasn't coming.

"Dinner's ready," Ava called from behind me. I checked my phone again before sliding it in my pocket and going to the table. Jeff and Ava were laughing about something. They were so cute together. They were always laughing or smiling at their inside jokes. I sat down and helped myself to the spaghetti Ava had made. Jeff got a little bit of salad and stuffed a forkful in his mouth. I had noticed that while Jeff shared some characteristic with Embry and all his friends, he looked nothing like them. For starters he was much smaller than them. He looked average compared to them. This was my first time seeing Jeff since I had gotten all moved in. His work kept him away most of the week.

"So how's it going?" he asked with a mouth full of salad. Ava gently slapped his hand and shook her hand.

"It's alright. Kinda quiet when you guys aren't here though. Back home there was always a car driving past or some kind of noise. Out here I don't hear anything really."

"Maybe you could go over to Emily's during the day? She doesn't work and I'm sure she would love some company," Ava said. I hadn't thought about that but it sounded like a good idea. I didn't want to impose on Emily though. Sure she had invited me back but it sounded more like a two for one thing you know. Her actual words were "Bye Embry we'll see you guys later" Surely that didn't mean I could come alone. She had pretty much lumped us together, not that I minded. What the hell was I thinking? Embry was a grown man, I couldn't even get into a club with him.

"You better check with Sam. Make sure that it's ok. You know how he can get," Jeff said with a slight chuckle. It was like he was trying to be funny and failing miserably at it.

"What so you mean?" I asked him confused.

"Sam's very picky when it comes to Emily. I mean he hardly lets anybody in his house and if they are in he's there. With him working during the day he might not want an outsider there with Emily. OUCH," he yelled out. He looked at Ava and scooted his chair back. Ava stared at him as he gently rubbed his shin where she must have kicked him. She turned to look at me.

"What my idiot of a husband means is Sam's a little over protective of Emily."

"That's not the vibe I got when I met him last night," I told her.

"You met Sam and Emily?" Jeff asked surprised "But you're an outsider even more than me and I've only seen-"he stopped talking when Ava kicked him again in the leg. I sat confused about everything was happening, it was obvious that Ava was trying to stop him from saying something but what? And the way Jeff was describing Sam was nothing like he was when I met him. Sam was nice; all of Embry's friends were nice. And what was up with him calling me an outsider? He had done it twice within a few minutes. Jeff groaned and stood up from the table.

"What do you mean outsider?" I asked. Jeff opened his mouth and was about to say something when Ava held her hand up.

"That's a term that the Elders and the older folks use. But that doesn't apply to you. Your father was one of us, you're one of us. Jeff is being an ass. We're a very small community. And we believe in taking care of one another. But trust me you belong here," Ava said with a smile. My phone started pinging, letting me know I had a text message. I suddenly wasn't very hungry anymore and needed some air. I held my phone up.

"I gotta take this," I told Ava. She nodded her head as I stood up. "Stay out of the woods," she yelled as I walked out the front door. Of course I wasn't going to go into the woods. It was almost dark out and I knew I would never find my way out. I was just confused. Jeff said they didn't like outsiders but the lady I saw in the forest was clearly an outsider. She looked nothing like the folks on the res and neither did I. For the first time since I had left Michigan, I wished I was back. I wish my dad was here, he would have done a much better job than Jeff explaining everything to me. My dad always told me I should be proud of my heritage, the fact that I was Quileute and African American but the truth was I knew more about being black than I did being Quileute.

I knew how to grow up in a city. I knew nothing about growing up here. I was used to having chaos and structure around me at the same time. Which probably doesn't make any sense but that was my life. I had things I was supposed to do, places I was always supposed to be. Meanwhile the city was always buzzing with activity around me. Here everything was slow and it was driving me crazy. My dad always told me the stories about but Jeff was right. I was an outsider who really knew nothing about their heritage.

"We found love in a hopeless place…we found love in a hopeless place….we found love in a hopeless place." I tapped the screen and put the phone up to my ear.

"You never called me back," Caleb said. He didn't bother with a hello especially when he was mad at me.

"I know I'm sorry. I went out with Embry and got back late."

"Two things who is this Embry person and why do you sound so sad?" Caleb asked cutting me off.

"I just miss home that's all. And you of course," I added quickly. The last thing I needed was for him to be even more upset with me.

"Awww I miss you too Mila. Now tell me all about this Embry," he demanded. I walked off the porch and sat down in the middle of the grass and told Caleb all about Embry and everybody else I had met. When I was done he filled me in on what I had missed in his life. Before I knew it two hours had past. Caleb made me promise to call him tomorrow. I told him I would and hung up. When I hung up it I stayed in the grass listening to the sounds around me. Hearing crickets was a rare thing back in Michigan. I wondered if my dad used to do this when he was my age. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine him lying in the grass in front of his house. I knew it would have been amazing to see.

Suddenly I heard a howl. It sounded far away but I just jumped up and ran in the house. Ava and Jeff were sitting on the couch watching TV. The fact that they disagreed earlier had disappeared. I wanted to ask them about wolves but they would probably say that same thing they said about the bears. I would ask Emily when I saw her tomorrow. I knew she would tell me the truth.

The next morning when I showed up at Emily's she was in the kitchen just like last time. Sam gave Emily a kiss and waved goodbye before leaving the house. So much for Jeff's theory. Emily cleared away the breakfast plates and sat them in the dishwasher. After the kitchen was clean we went into the back porch and sat. I still had a couple hours before classes so I figured now would be the perfect time to talk to her.

"Can I ask you a question Emily?"

"Sure," she said smiling at me.

"Do you believe in the whole "outsiders" thing?"

Her face went to a look of concern. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well Jeff was really surprised when he found out that I met you and Sam. He said it was because Sam was extremely picky about the people he lets in and when it was an outsider he always sticks around. Both times I've been here; he's made it a point to leave us alone."

"Jeff is right Sam is very protective about me but he's also like that with our entire tribe. As far as an outsider, you are the furthest thing from an outsider."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're dad grew up here. You are a part of this tribe just as much as Jeff or Sam or even me for that matter. You know you're actually more a part of this tribe than me. I was actually born on the Makah reservation."

"So how did you end up here?"

"I met Sam and we fell in love. Eventually," she added before laughing. She looked down at the ground, almost as if she was replaying their entire relationship in her mind. It made her smile even wider.

"So what the deal with the wolves?" I asked. Emily's head snapped up. Her eyes shifted left to right before she cleared her throat. "It's just that since I've been here Ive heard them every night. I mean is it something I need to be worried about? Ava said bears are further away but it sounds like the wolves are right here. And there are literally no fences around here."

Emily laughed again. "It's fine really. There are a few running around here but trust me they know not to mess with anybody. I'm gonna go start on lunch," she said before jumping up and going back inside. I looked down at my phone. She had just finished making breakfast and we still had a good chunk of tiem before lunch. It was obvious that was her way of getting out of the conversation. None of this made sense; it was like everybody had one big secret and I wasn't in on it. Emily and Ava may have said I wasn't an outsider but that didn't stop me from feeling like one. I went inside and grabbed my laptop, Emily was talking on the phone to someone, quietly I might add. I went back outside and pulled up Google. Anytime you want to know something Google tell you right? Wrong, after an hour all I found was nothing more than demographics. It was everything dealing with the land and a census but nothing about what I really wanted to learn, the culture. I only had ten minutes before classes started so I gave up on my search…for now.

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