Author's Note: I really hope you like this chapter.

Thank you: periwinkle rose, galwaygossipgirl, PassionPeach, Miss Sallerina, gene14, Anne Shirley Cullen, adia.M, Twilightlover4eternity, Annie-In-Wonderland, xx5gbi5xx, midnightsdream92 & Breathless In Voice for reviewing last chapter.

ALISON ANDERSON

TRRRN.

"Not now, not now," I muttered as I canceled Allen's phone call, re-positioning my new laptop on my desk, opening a new text file that was to be thrown in that over-crowded folder just like any other one. I cleared my throat, clicking my first keys into the document.

Dear Colby,

I know it's been a few days since I last wrote to you. So, sorry. I hope you're not mad.

Yesterday, I went to school. As usual. You know, 7th grade isn't as exciting as I thought it would be before I started; no-one is thinking about anything but rumors. Rumors, rumors, rumors - I hate them. And when you think they'll forget as soon as something else shows up, they don't; they just stop talking about it for a while, but it's brought up in any argument/tease/bullying, etc etc etc.

Now you're curious. Hm. I don't know what to say, really. I guess I have to tell you now, since this is bound to be the headline for a couple of days at the very least. Last week, that son of- okay, toning it down - I mean, Nate, Jarrett's CrossFire buddy, to my surprise, asked me out (you don't have to ask: I said no), and now no thanks to Jarr, the whole student body thinks I'm depressed because I 'broke up with the Ferrari guy' - A.K.A you. Arrrrgggghhh... I know how stupid that is; I mean, I never even dated you! And it's been three months - how do they even remember? They can't stop bugging me about it, and I yelled at them, a little too loud and too rude, and now I have daily detention for two weeks. Yeah. Dad's not the proudest father on the planet, but I hope he won't tell Mom.

I'm not depressed over what happened, you know? I'm not. Really. No. Never. Okay, maybe a snitch - just a teeny tiny little tad, but not what they think. Sometimes it hurts, like now, but the good kind of 'hurt' you know? Um, you don't. Uh.. well, shutting up. But what I'm trying to tell you is that, even though I know you won't be back, and you don't want to ever see me again (for some reason, you idiot) and I don't call you and I changed my number and, and, and - I just know dating someone else isn't right; we're soul mates, so even if we're never gonna be together, being with someone else means that they're DEFINITELY not the one for you - and I seriously don't feel like wasting some time with some jerk when I know we won't get along.

Moving to something else.

I WENT CLIFF-DIVING YESTERDAY! Yayyyy! Cousins are THE best! You can kill Quil later, but it was Claire who insisted I would try, and he can't say no to her and it was the best day E-V-E-R! (But I'll try to convince him to go higher than the lowest cliff next time).

I hope you're okay. I really do. Seriously. I hope you're happy, too. I hope you have cliffs wherever you are. Phase a little more so I can hear about you.

Did you know you look so much like your Dad it creeps me out?

Whatever,

Allie.

I clicked save, threw it in Colby's folder, and shut the laptop down, knowing he would never read them.

COLBY BLACK

"Colby, if not for you then for us. Look, I know you don't miss them, but Ness and Jacob just want to see you," Edward told me, "You don't even have to pretend; they understand - just be there."

I sighed. Chelsea, for some reason, 'cut my relation' - as Edward put it- with both my parents and Sarah, but not the Cullens. Now, they were strangers to me, or as close as family friends, but they weren't family to me; it made me feel incomplete in a way, and if Edward hadn't fully explained the reason, I wouldn't have guessed. Of course, I felt bad that someone out there was hurting because of me, and this was the only reason I was going to be there.

"When?"

"They're there now," he said, "Even your sister. Please, Colby: just try not to be hostile to them."

I frowned. "Why would I be?" I said as I slid into his newest Volvo (something about an obsession my grandma developed).

He didn't reply, instead, he drove and took us to the Canadian mansion.

The three of them were sitting in the vast living room, each either fidgeting or looking at the ground, looking abnormal; not the way I remembered them. The last thing I saw or heard of them (even mentally) was three months ago. I phased twice since then; once out of boredom and the other out of frustration of not seeing Allie or hearing anything from her for so long, and neither of those times I found Sarah or my 'father' there. Once I entered the room, their heads snapped up, and Mom was the one who hurried to hug me.

It felt...out of place. Pleasant, but out of place. Two seconds later, I wrapped my arms around her awkwardly and she took a deep breath, pulling away, taking my face in her little hands. Her eyes were glistening with hints of tears and her lips quivered whenever she tried to speak, so she sent images through my head, expressing her thoughts.

I miss you.

The thought itself sent goosebumps in my arms; I wanted to tell her that I missed her, too. I wanted to make her feel better, but I couldn't lie to her about that. I couldn't tell her I missed her while I didn't.

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I thought, taking a step back. She looked at her feet, sniffing, her curls falling to cover her face.

"It's okay; I don't blame you," she muttered.

"You know what?" Sarah yelled, jumping to stand between both of us. "I do! I blame you for what happened, Colby!"

"What?" I snapped, "It's not my fault some bloodsucker-"

"No, it is!" she insisted, growling, "You let her that close when you could've easily killed her! What did she tell you, huh? What did she have to do to make you listen to her?" she yelled, "You make me sick."

"Sarah!" Dad warned, "It wasn't his choice."

"But he let it happen," she replied, turning to me, "You're not my brother anymore, you know that? My brother is more responsible - more reasonable. I can't even talk to you anymore."

"If I could reverse it, I would," I hissed, "So don't even go there."

"Yeah, right."

"Listen, Sarah," I glowered, "If you deny the fact that I wouldn't reverse what's been done, I'll-"

"What? Kill me? Say it; you left your pack behind, why wouldn't you?"

"You two stop this right now!" Dad said.

"You know why I left Washington!"

"Yeah?" she said, "Because 'Allie might phase'? Is that it? Well, I'm a genetic carbon copy of you, and she's still human. Six vampires crossed the borders in three months and she's still human; if she was to phase, she would have."

"I don't want to take the chance; I don't want to be whatever triggers her genes."

"Are you even listening?" she said, "She's human, her father's human - she-"

"You listen, Sarah," I cut her off, "Rach and Becca are both direct descendants, but both of them left WA for a long time. Leah stayed - she phased. Do you see a pattern here? It's not about gender anymore."

"What about the rest of the tribe? How many girls are direct descendants? Brady's sister, Paul's cousin, Mary... why didn't they phase? It's impossible! Leah and I are exceptions!"

Shut up!

You're just saying that because you know I'm right.

We both froze; we hadn't been able to do that ever since Chelsea. Ever since what happened, we weren't able to communicate mentally, privately. "Did you just...?" I asked.

She smiled, winking at Jasper and Edward. Yes. Yes, I did.

ALISON ANDERSON

"What are you doing up there?" Quil asked. I giggled.

"Figured the scene is much better up the tree," I answered.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, Monkey Of The Year, your boyfriend called."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What boyfriend?"

Quil and Claire often visited/sneaked in/sneaked me out to keep me company since they (and I) knew we were blood-related. "Said his name was Nate, I think. Wanna tell me?"

I huffed. "He's not my boyfriend!" I groaned, "I don't even like him!"

"He told me to tell you that you can always call," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Quil?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

He laughed. "But he sounded so, so desperate."

"Aw, poor little kid," I said, gasping dramatically, "I should bring him chocolate."

"You're impossible," he chuckled, shaking his head. "Now hop down; Claire and I are going home, and you probably should-"

I covered my ears. "Not listening."

He rolled his eyes. "Colby's coming!" he yelled.

I stared at him, removing my hands from my ears. "What?"

He smiled. "Colby's dropping by to say hi in a few; he's back in town."

I blinked. "Dropping by where?"

Quil raised an eyebrow at me. "Here...?"

I set my mouth in a hard line. "Tell him not to," I decided, "I don't want him to come."

"What do you mean?"

I swallowed, not wanting my tears to show in my voice. "I mean," I inhaled deeply, feeling a slight strain as I did, "H-He- I mean, I don't want to see him again."

Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

He didn't smile, he didn't nod, he didn't move. "Are you serious?" Tightness, for the fourth time in six months, crept over my chest, so I just nodded, turning around, climbing back down as calmly as I could manage, sitting on the grass."I-I'm not sure i-if - why?"

"Why what?" Claire asked, popping her head from behind him.

He shook his head. "Let's go home," he mumbled, giving me a last glance. "I'm sorry, Al."

Not wanting to speak, I nodded, waiting until they drove away to finally let some of the tears out of their cage in my eyes, the silent sobs painful as my breathing got shallower. This was the fourth time this happened, and the last three weren't necessarily connected with the thought of Colby, but rather with very inappropriate settings. But, again, since when did illness pick a good time to appear?

I let my mind wander, flash back to when Colby told me he wanted to leave a space between us, and when I decided to make that space clear and permanent by not answering his calls, and ignoring his frequent e-mails. Instead, and to try to replace the gap he left behind (for some reason, that jerk-head's imprinting really did affect me), I kept writing letters to him - letters that never made it out of that folder, neither to the e-mail nor to the recycle bin; they just stayed there, staring at me, telling me how much of an emotional failure I was, and how much I lacked personality - how did I rely on him that much in such a short time? How did I let myself be dependent on him?

When did I lose control over my breathing again? I didn't know, but the next thing I registered was that I was hyperventilating, and for the first time, I didn't care.

COLBY BLACK

Every couple of steps towards Allie were followed by a hesitant step back; I knew speaking to her wouldn't be easy after all this time of disconnection, but I wanted to see her pretty face, hear her musical voice, argue with her stubborn self and just be around her; the last few months, regarding Allie, were painful to say the least, but what dulled that pain was that I knew I was doing it mainly for her to achieve the peace neither I nor any of the pack members could achieve since the day we first phased.

Alice was monitoring her steps, telling me when she was around wolves, sneaking behind her father's back, and when she was alone or at school. She told me once she had a recent problem that was represented in difficulty of breathing, though. Since she got back to normal after the two 'attacks' Alice caught, neither Carlisle nor Edward could really diagnose it. I was worried sick when she had that problem, but since it'd been two months since Alice's last vision concerning that, it faded gradually, leaving me with only the pain of missing her, and missing her alone.

How did I survive fifteen years without her before? I had no idea.

So when I finally caught a glimpse of her honey-colored hair, I automatically smiled, quickening my pace to reach her, getting a full-view of her, curled on the grass of her garden, shaking and wincing. Without thinking, I was by her side in a flash, taking her in my arms.

"Allie, Allie," I called, shaking her head, trying to know what was wrong.

Her lips' color was fading and she tried to open her eyes, but couldn't.

"Al, are you okay? Can you breathe?"

She shook her head faintly, her chest heaving with short, irregular breaths. I was about to call the ambulance, but suddenly, everything stopped - the shaking, the heaving, the fading of her lips' color - everything. She just took one deep, relaxed breath and straightened herself, taking a second to realize who was there.

Her ocean blue eyes kept going back and forth, taking my presence in slowly. I stayed silent, noticing how she looked just the same - cute, but instead of her looks that could kill, her eyes were soft, and not two seconds passed before she threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

"I missed you," she whined.

Slowly, deliberately, afraid she'd snap, I wrapped my arms around her as well. "I missed you, too. Are you okay? What just happened?"

She ignored me. "Would you please forget who I am? Forget I'm a Quiluete too. Please. I don't want you to leave again. Ever."

"Honey, I-"

"Never, Tommy, do you hear that? I'm begging you. I'll do anything - a-anything."

I winced; I'd never seen her so...so broken.

"I won't, I promise."

"Ever?"

"Ever, Allie. I'll never leave you again."

Now, as I remember this situation, I wish I never promised her that; breaking promises isn't on my top-five actions.

Author's Note: I KNOW!

Haha... I promise, I won't keep anything so vague like that; everything will be explained later! Now, would you please, please tell me what you think?

Review: Strawberries and marshmallows dipped in a chocolate fountain. I know you want them ;)

TooToo