Okay, here's a little background information you need to know: In this story, Sam and Emily are 21, Paul, Jared, Kim, and Leah are 19, Jacob, Embry, and Quil are 18, Seth and Scarlette are 17, and Brady and Collin are 16.

Please read and review! I'm dying to know what everyone thinks!

Monday rolled around quicker than I expected. I spent Saturday and Sunday in the house, too terrified of running into Jacob and too embarrassed to risk seeing anyone else. Seth had been kind enough to hang out with me, occasionally leaving to "take care of some business" as he put it. Leah had pretty much been gone the whole weekend—where, I didn't know—but when she was home she barricaded herself in her room.

This morning, Aunt Sue had driven Seth and I to school, which had greatly embarrassed. I couldn't bring myself to care.

Seth led me into the building—it was the smallest school I had ever seen—and walked me to the main office.

"Want me to go in with you?" He asked. He didn't have a backpack, he carried all his books in his left hand.

"No, I'll be fine," I said, though it was a lie. I was nowhere near ready to start my senior year at a new school, "I don't want you to be late for your class. I'll see you at lunch."

Seth explained to me that since the school was small enough everyone ate lunch together. I was relieved I didn't have to sit alone.

Seth must have sensed that I was lying because he enveloped me in a hug.

"You're gonna do great."

"Uh, thanks."

He let go of me, "I'll see you in a few hours."

Then, he disappeared into the sea of people packing their way into the small school.

Pulling myself together, I took a deep breath, and walked into the main office.

There was an elderly woman typing furiously on her computer that looked to be older than I was.

"Um, excuse me, I'm Scarlette Clearwater—"

"Oh! Of course, dear, we've been expecting you," The woman sprung to life. She leaped out of her seat and frantically began grabbing at papers on her desk, "You're Seth Clearwater's cousin, right? He's such a nice young man. I'm not sure about those friends of his though. Okay, here's your locker information, your class schedule, and a couple papers for your Aunt to sign," She took a deep breath, "I think that's everything…oh, wait! There's a young man who should be here any minute to show you around the school," In the next second, the door swung open, "Ah, Mr. Black, right on time. This is our new student, Scarlette Clearwater. Your job this morning is to make sure she knows her way around the building, understand?"

I turned around and bit back a groan. Jacob was standing in front of me, wearing a shirt for the first time. I wasn't surprised to see him glaring at me.

"Is there anyone else who can do this," Jacob asked, pretending I was no longer in the room, "I'm not feeling very well."

"That excuse isn't going to work anymore, Jacob Black. You've already missed too much school and this is part of the way you're making up for it." Her voice was final; he wasn't getting out of this.

"Fine," He growled after a brief staring contest. His eyes flickered to mine. I couldn't face the harshness of them so I looked away, "Let's get this over with." He barked and stormed out of the office.

I dragged my feet after him.

"Enjoy your first day, dear."

"Thank you." It was already hell.

Jacob and I walked through the halls, silent, a good foot of space between us. No one else was in the hall; I hadn't heard the bell for first period.

Finally, he asked, "Do you know your locker number?"

"1408" I answered.

"Do you know where that is?" His voice was rough.

"It's my first day," I snapped, "Why would you be here if I knew where I was going?"

He snarled, "What happed to the quiet cousin Seth kept rambling about?"

"She disappeared the second you decided to hate me." I spat.

Jacob flinched at my words, "Hate is a strong word." I ignored him, "Seth scared you would be scared to meet me, well, all of us. You don't seem to be anything like he described."

"I was scared to meet all of you. I have difficulties being comfortable around new people sometimes," I said, folding my arms across my chest, refusing to look at him. He didn't deserve to know this, "Now, I'm just scared to be around you." I mumbled the last part to myself.

He stopped moving suddenly and after a few seconds, I followed suit, "You're afraid of me? Do you think I'm going to hurt you?" He seemed pained by the thought.

I didn't answer, I didn't know what to say.

"I don't hit girls." He growled, his anger back in a flash.

"You can cause more than physical pain," I shot at him, "You may not have physically hurt me on Friday night, but you sure as hell caused me a lot of internal pain. I've met a lot of people in my life—whether I've wanted to or not—and no one has reacted as hateful to me as you did upon meeting me."

Jacob was at a loss for words, "I…"

I held my hand up, "I don't want to hear it. I just seriously hope you don't treat your girlfriend that way."

He gave me a funny look, "I don't have a girlfriend." He snapped.

"Well, excuse me," My voice was laced with attitude, "The way you were attached to Bella's hip, I assumed you were dating."

"No," He sounded bitter, "She's dating someone else."

"But you want to be dating her?" For some reason, I needed to know the answer.

"I'm the better choice for her. I just need to get her to see that she loves me too."

"You can't force her to love you. If she loves this other guy, and he can take of her and give her the life she wants, who are you to stand in the way of that?"

He moved so fast that I didn't have time to react. He grabbed my right wrist and slammed me into the lockers.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand," He snarled in my face, "Especially when it comes to Bella."

The tightness of his grip and the heat radiating off of his hand caused me to cry out, "Jacob! You're hurting me!"

He dropped my hand like it was the one on fire. His eyes were frantic; he started shaking.

"Jacob…" I said hesitantly.

"It was an accident," He said hurriedly, "I have to go."

And then, he ran like hell out of the building and away from me.

XXX

I was thankful when it was time for lunch. My classes had been decent; most of my teachers just let me go unnoticed, only one of them made me introduce myself to the class.

When I got out of English, Quil was waiting for me.

"What's up, buttercup?" He took my books for me as I opened my locker.

"Hey, Quil."

"I've come to escort you to lunch, the rest of the gang is meeting us there. You liking the place so far?" I thought of Jacob and I visibly flinched, "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine," I faked a smile as I slammed my locker shut, "Just a lot of new people for one day."

He left the topic alone as we walked to the cafeteria, which I was grateful for.

The cafeteria was bigger than I was expecting; round tables were scattered across the open space.

I spotted Seth and some guys from the bonfire sitting in the far back corner.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Quil asked.

"I'm not hungry," He looked like he wanted to argue, so I added, "It's just nerves, I'll eat when I get home."

I didn't wait for him to respond. Eventually he disappeared into the lunch line.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked when I got to the table.

I recognized Embry, Brady, and Collin sitting with Seth.

"Scarlette, hey, we missed you this weekend," Embry got out to of his seat to hug me.

"Sorry, I was catching up on some sleep. I haven't been getting much because of the move."

He didn't buy it, none of them did, but they were polite enough not to push it.

"Where is everyone else?" I wondered, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Paul, Jared, Leah, and Kim graduated last year, Sam graduated two years before them, and Jake, well, I don't know where Jake is."

"He better get his ass here if he knows what's good for him," Quil finally joined us, "He's one strike away for being kicked out of school."

"Any idea where he is?" I think it was Brady asked.

The guys all shook their heads. Something in my facial expression must have given me away because Seth asked, "Have you seen Jake?"

"This morning. He wasn't feel good so…I think he went home sick." It was partially true, he did leave.

Absentmindedly, I started rubbing my wrist.

"Scarlette!" Seth's eyes went wide, "What happened?"

It was the first time I realized my wrist was bruising. I could faintly see finger marks.

"I…I…"I couldn't come up with an excuse fast enough.

"Did Jake do that to you?" Seth demanded.

"No!" I said a little too loud.

They saw right through me.

"He hurt you?" Seth cried, jumping to his feet.

He caught the attention of the entire cafeteria.

I ducked my head down, letting my hair cover my face, "Seth, please, stop."

I was praying no one was looking at me.

"Are you okay?" Embry questioned.

"What happened?" Collin asked.

I didn't say anything.

"Tell us, Scarlette." I had never heard Seth so angry before. I didn't argue with him.

"Yes, it was Jacob," my voice was as quiet as I could make it, "I said something about Bella and he got mad at me."

I jumped when Seth slammed his hands on the table, "I am going to kill him."

He began stalking away from us.

"Seth…" I tried going after him but Quil blocked my path.

"Embry, make sure she gets home okay." Seth called before he disappeared.

Everyone was still watching us.

A few minutes later, a howl pierced the air.

XXX

Sure enough, Embry was waiting outside my classroom when the final bell rang.

"Have you heard from Seth?" I demanded as soon as I saw him.

"No, not yet."

"Will you tell me why Seth was freaking out like that?"

"I already told you, I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," I glared at him, "It's not my place."

"You know something and you're not telling me," He didn't say anything, "He's my cousin, I'm entitled to know what's going on with him."

"Stop pestering me, Scar," He followed me to my locker so I could grab my things, "He's probably at home waiting to tell you what happened."

Begrudgingly, I dropped the subject, and followed him out of the building.

"You don't have to drive me home," I said, I needed a little time to get my thoughts together, "I can walk."

"I'll let you walk home if you can tell me how to get there." He said.

"Um…" He smirked at me, "I could figure it out."

"Just get in." He laughed.

Embry spent most of the ride home trying to get a good look at my wrist. I suspected that he wanted to see how badly Jacob hurt me but I did my best to keep it out of his line of sight.

When we got to the house someone was waiting on the front porch.

Embry growled, "What the hell is he doing here?"

When he stopped the car, I realized it was Jacob. I looked at Embry with panicked eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." He was comforting to have around.

Together, we climbed out of the car.

"What are you doing here, Jake?" Embry demanded.

"What are you doing with Scarlette?" Jacob countered.

"She's my friend," Embry snapped, "Which is more than you can say."

Jacob snarled at him.

"Seriously, Jacob, why are you here?" I questioned, wanting him gone as soon as possible.

"I need to talk to you." He eyed Embry.

"I'm not leaving." Embry folded his arms across his chest.

"Scarlette isn't your concern." Jacob snapped.

"I'm staying. So tell Scar whatever it is you have to say and then leave." Embry ordered.

"Fine. I came to tell you that I think it's clear that we won't be able to avoid each other around here, but I think it's best if we just try to ignore one another. I don't see any way for us to ever really be friends or even acquaintances, so I think it'll be better if we just pretend we don't exist to each other."

Anger and hurt flooded every inch of my body, making it hard to breathe. Tears burned my eyes, "Screw you, Jacob Black."

I ran into the house, leaving Embry to deal with Jacob.