There was cool air blowing over Grace's face when she pulled her eyes open. She pulled in a deep breath as her eyes darted around the room to take in everything. For a brief moment, she didn't realize where she was. The darkness of the room crushed in around her and the familiar shapes were shifting menacing blobs.

Grace pulled herself up and rested on her elbows. Cold sweat freckled her forehead and beaded through her hair. Low, blue evening light flooded her shared room.

How long have I been out?

The white and black Quileute blanket was pulled up around her waist. She wasn't sure how it had gotten there. Had someone covered her or had she pulled it up over her in her sleep?

For a moment, Grace tried to recall what she had seen right before she went out. She was pretty sure she'd seen her father's face, but didn't think anything of it as she usually had visions of her dad as she fell asleep. The moment between her and Edward escaped her at this moment, whether that was her own mind trying to protect itself or something else was unclear.

She swung her legs over the side of her bed and tested her weight on her legs. Feeling fine, she stood up and slowly made her way downstairs. Charlie was parked in front of the TV watching some fishing championship show. He glanced over at her as she walked past.

"Didn't know you were here, were you upstairs?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, I fell asleep I guess." Grace's throat scratched and she excused herself to the kitchen to get some water. As she filled the glass, she had sudden flashes of her interaction with Edward. She closed her eyes tightly, a painful grimace pulling across her face as the light from these flashes were blinding. Grace leaned with her back against the edge of the sink and gulped down the glass of water.

Just as she finished, a shrill ring came from the left–the landline. Grace eyed it for a moment, skepticism furrowing her brow.

"Can you grab that, Gracie?" Charlie yelled from the living room. Grace took one more beat and then shot her arm out for the phone. She felt like she knew who it was before she even answered it.

"Swan residence." Her voice was smoother, but with a lower cadence to it, smokey and soft.

"Grace."

Silence. Breath caught in her throat cutting her means to speech.

"Grace?" Billy's familiar, warm voice echoed on the other end.

"Yes. Hi." Grace finally managed to push out.

"It's good to hear your voice. I've been meaning to come by the house and see you but our truck is having some issues running. Jake is fixing it, but I wanted to see how you were settling it." His voice was tinged with emotion, she could hear it. She could feel it, even as far away from the rez as she was. She could feel it and she could feel a pull coming from the other line.

"I- I'm fine Billy, thanks for checking in." her voice slightly cracked as she spoke his name out loud.

"Oh, Gracie-" It seemed like he could feel her emotions too. It was too much. Right now it was way too much.

"Listen, thanks for calling, but I was just about to start cooking dinner and I have some reading to catch up on. School's starting soon and I want to be on top of things...for mom. So I- I have to go." The words hurried out and away from her like a runaway train. If she paused for too long, a sob would overwhelm her and she didn't want that to happen.

"Right. Listen, about school….If you wanted to come to school on the rez, it might be an easier transition. You know you'd be welcome and it might be good to reconnect-"

"Thanks Billy, but I really have to go." She hung up. Guilt flooded through her instantly. Her hand hovered over the rehooked receiver for a moment before she pulled away and jerked open the fridge.

"Charlie, you hungry?" She yelled from the kitchen, trying to practice control in her voice.

"Uh, yeah, sure! Thanks Grace." he called back.

She wiped one fallen tear from her cheek and got to work.

August

The first week of school was upon her. She had been trying to clear the jitters rushing through her for the past month.

July had passed without incident and August was much of the same. Bella had invited her to go hiking a couple of times and they even went to Port Angeles for a bookstore run together. Edward had made himself scarce since that first day they had met. Grace had been concerned at first and worried that she had offended him somehow or that he didn't like her.

During her trip to Port Angeles with Bella, she asked her about it.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked, feigning surprise.

"I mean, I don't know, I just haven't really seen him. You always skip off to be with him and by the time I come downstairs he's like halfway out the door. Is it something I said?" Grace placed a loose piece of hair behind her ear. She had opted for pulling her hair up into a messy bun and some pieces hung in strands around her face.

"Grace, that's definitely not what's happening." Bella responded, shaking her head and smiling. Grace narrowed her eyes.

"Then what's happening?" She asked. Intuitive as usual. Bella tripped over an uneven step in the sidewalk and looked down abruptly. When she looked up, she pointed to a shop ahead of them.

"Let's check out this place!" Grace had let it go for now, but she realized that there was definitely a reason he was keeping her distance. She just wasn't sure why.

The Sunday night before her first day at Forks High, Grace was in the bathroom braiding her hair into two soft plaits. She wanted to make a good impression and part of any good impression at a new school was making sure you only stood out in good ways.

For Grace, one of the best features she liked about herself was her hair. She understood how typical that was, but it was something that connected her to everything she wished to forget and yet she loved it. Her black hair was shiny and coarse and it fanned out around her face announcing itself first as her most prominent feature. It fell straight down her back most often, but in the damp of Forks, her hair had a slight wave to it which she could enhance using braids her mother taught her when she was younger.

Her mother loved her hair and had spent countless hours throughout her childhood combing it with her fingers and a brush and braiding it expertly through her slender fingers.

Grace caught her eyes in the mirror and slowly combed through the loose ends of her hair with her fingers, carefully braiding each piece. Bella climbed the steps and rested in the doorframe of the open bathroom.

"Hey, so Edward usually gives me a ride to school in the mornings, but I was thinking we could just take my truck since it's your first day. Sound good?"

Grace turned and gave her a quick smile. "Yeah, thanks."

More confirmation of him avoiding her. Well, he couldn't avoid her forever, they had AP Chem together.

The morning drive into school was easy, if a little dreary. The hum of Bella's truck was comforting. Bella had promised to show her around to her classes and introduce her to the group of friends she had at school. I was surprised when she mentioned friends other than Edward seeing as she only ever spent time with him that summer. Regardless, Grace would be thankful for new people.

When they parked, Bella's eyes rested over Edward's Volvo parked a few rows away. He was waiting on the steps for her. A light drizzle began misting from the sky. Bella couldn't help but smile and Grace couldn't help but feel happy for her. This guy, however intense, seemed to bring out the brightest parts of Bella.

They both popped open their doors simultaneously and slung their bags over their shoulder. Grace smoothed down the frizz forming on her wavey black hair and was pulling her sleeves down when she heard joyful exclamation from Bella.

"Jake!" Grace's head shot up and her eyes darted around the parking lot. Maybe this was some school friend. But once Grace rested her eyes on the warm, broad figure of Jacob Black, she knew who Bella was addressing.

Though taken by surprise, Grace couldn't help but feel a warm, calm pulse through her. Bella bounded toward Jake and Grace hesitated. Jake cracked an overwhelming smile, emanating glee as Bella threw her whole body at him to catch despite the raised looks she was getting. He embraced her and Grace, head up, clutching her backpack trudged forward on the weight pavement.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked, the smile still plastered across her face. He returned the smile in kind and nodded toward Grace, only glancing briefly at her before gluing his eyes back to Bella.

"My Dad wanted me to drop off a good luck gift for Grace, so I thought I'd swing by." Bella blew out a breath of happy air and peered around Jake to meet Edward's gaze. Jake looked over his shoulder, unimpressed and seemingly undisturbed. Edward was keeping his face smooth, but Grace could feel what felt like jealousy coming from his eyes. Bella hesitated and then patted Jake on the arm and with a "It was good to see you, come by soon!" she skipped off across the parking lot, leaving Grace facing a towering Jake.

"Hey," his voice was friendly, warm, uninvested. Grace pulled her backup up a little bit, her eyes falling to the ground.

"Hey" she returned.

"You haven't come by the rez. My dad was hoping you'd stop by." he relayed coolly.

"Yeah, sorry. Just been busy getting ready for my new life." She gestured around her. Jake smirked.

"Right, well anyway. I've been tasked with dropping this off." He unfurled his right hand before her. In it was an intricately braided cedar bracelet, dotted with green and auburn bloodstone. Grace's mouth automatically fell open at the incredible detail woven through the patterned bracelet. This was something her father once showed her how to make when she was little but the art of it escaped her now.

"Wow." she breathed. She could feel tears coming to her eyes and took a step back to look up at Jake to steady herself. She didn't know why, but this felt like what she needed. To look upon a familiar face, like her own and feel the pull of home and it's comfort. Jake held her gaze for a moment, his dark eyes swimming with mystery.

"Here." He closed the gap between them and deftly encircled her wrist with the bracelet. He tied it off with a quick braid, mirroring the pattern of the bracelet and then gently raised her wrist and lowered his head to meet it. She could feel his warm breath move across the delicate skin of her wrist and just the hint of his lips brushing the base of her palm as he took the long loose thread in his mouth and bit it clean off.

"There." He smiled, satisfied with his work and letting her hand go quickly.

Grace couldn't take her eyes from the bracelet for a bit as she tried to hush the well of emotion budding inside her. She took a deep breath and smiled up at Jake, feeling more whole than she had in awhile.

"Thanks."

"Of course." he shoved his hands in his pocket taking a step back and retreating somewhat. "Come by sometime. I don't know how long I can keep Billy at bay with these faulty repairs I'm pulling." He ducked his head and jogged off waving to Bella as he passed.

Faulty repairs? Was he buying her time? But why? She watched him disappear down the street toward his Rabbit and hop in a drive off. Every cell in her body felt pulled in the direction Jake was driving off in, but Grace planted her feet, wrenched her gaze up to meet Bella's and a seemingly bristled Edward, and moved toward the high school.

This can work. She repeated to herself. It had to.