A/n: Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading and favoriting/following! Special thank you to my reviewers! I hope you all enjoy this new chapter.
When Sunday rolled around, I dressed in a blue one piece swimsuit and a pair of loose fitting clothes. Jessica had driven to pick up Angela and I, stating that the other boys would meet us up at the beach. I had extended the invite to Jasper and the others, though they politely declined. He said something about having a family thing today and I tried to hide my disappointment.
"We are gonna have so much fun! I hope Mike will like my swimsuit," Jessica rambled as she drove us down to the reservation.
"I'm sure he will Jessica. Mikes just a little slow on the whole romance thing," I tell her, popping my head forward from the backseat. "And I'm sure Angie here will be turning a certain someone's head as well"
"Karina!" Angela gasped, ducking her head.
"Huh? Whose?" Jessica turned quickly to stare at Angela.
"Watch the road please!" I laugh out. I didn't want to straight up expose Angela, so I left it at that.
We arrived at the beach after the guys and who had set up some towels a few feet away from where the small waves broke. We were lucky enough that the weather was only overcast and not yet raining. The temperature was warm but not warm enough that I wanted to get into the probably cold water.
"Hey! You guys made it!" Eric called out as he noticed us carting down some bags to their spot.
"Yeah, even though we had crazy driver here almost hit a mailbox on the way," I giggled at the playful glare Jessica sent me.
"I was not that close to it. You're so dramatic!" Jessica smiled over towards Mike's direction. "Well, let's get in the water!"
We all stripped down, and walked towards the water. When my feet touched the icy water, I had to bite down a hiss. The memory of my dream resurfaced and I made sure not to let the water go past my ankles. I don't know why the dream affected me so much, it just felt like a warning of sorts.
Jessica and the guys quickly went further in, obviously used to swimming in the waters cool temperatures. Angela and I stayed together though and began discussing some books we had both read recently.
At the sound of Jessica shrieking as Eric and Mike began splashing the girl, I turned to Angela. "So are you going to make any moves?"
"I don't know. I don't think he really likes me like that. I'm not very good at making moves either," Angela sighed looking wistfully towards Eric. "It's probably better that we just stay friends.
"Ang, you are a beautiful, kind, and intelligent woman. Eric would be dumb not to be in love with you," I assure her. She just laughs off my comment.
"Thanks. But what about you? Do you have your eyes set on anyone? A certain Cullen maybe?" Angela teased with a laugh. "Your expression to that gives me my answer."
"I-I mean. No, we are just friends. He wouldn't look at me like that," I sigh. Despite my crush on the gorgeous man, I doubted he would return any feelings for me. I was just plain me, and he was a god in comparison.
"Karina, you are a beautiful, kind, and intelligent woman and he would be dumb not to like you too," Angela threw my words back at me. "Plus, I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you!"
"The way he looks at me? He doesn't look at me in any special way," I scoff. Though I thought about it. Did he look at me differently?
"Uh yeah he does! I've never seen his face light up the way it does, until he met you!" Angela gushed. Her words made made flush brightly but I continued to brush off her comments.
"Come on Ang, you need to go get in there and make some moves. I'm not letting you waste your chance!" I laugh as I stand and drag Angela towards the water.
"Karina! No! I can't!" Angela laughed loudly as I attempted to push her into the water. I saw the others perk up at the sound of us.
"Ooo. Is the about to be a cat fight? That's hot!" Mike whistled out and playfully cheered me on. "Come on Karina! Get her in!"
"Angela! Don't let her get you like this!" Eric called out and it gave me my chance. Angela became distracted and I pushed her into the water.
Angela came back up sputtering and I ran back to our stuff quickly. She shook her head at me, but swam over to the others and starting talking it up with Eric. I smiled at the happy expressions of the others playfully having a water fight. It always made me so happy to see others happy.
I didn't want to take the risk of having a freak out, so I stayed on the beach. My dream was still to fresh in my mind. I shivered at the memory. I decided to be a little brave myself, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Jasper.
'How's family time going?'
I almost get an instantaneous reply, which sends my heart fluttering.
'Good. Are you having fun?'
'Yeah. It's nice just being able to relax on the beach.'
'You aren't going to swim?' His reply made me pause. Should I mention my dream?
I look over to see Angela being held on Eric's shoulders as they played chicken with Mike and Jessica. I can't tell Angela to be brave and then to just chicken out myself.
'I don't think so this time. My nightmare from the other day kinda scared me away from the water for now.'
'Do you wanna talk about it?'
I smiled at the consideration. He really was sweet, except when he would excessively tease me.
'Maybe another day.'
'Okay.'
'I guess I should let you get back to your family.'
'I'll see you at school. Enjoy your time.'
I didn't reply to his final text and just instead laid out on the towel. I guess I fell asleep at some point because I felt someone shaking me awake. I jumped up in confusion and saw the others toweling down and redressing.
"Hey sleepyhead. We were thinking about going to one of the diners on the Rez before heading home, you good with that?" Jessica laughed at my expression.
"Yeah yeah. That's fine." I slowly got up and changed into some my clothes again and helped everyone finish packing up the cars.
We stopped by one of the Quiluete diners and I tried to hide away from all the stares we got. It seemed that though some people from outside of the Rez were eating here, it was still awkward. We were seated and had a pretty woman wait on us.
"Hi I'm Sue. What can I get you all?" She was very pretty and had such a sweet presence, I instantly relaxed again.
We all ordered and had begun eating when two boys entered the diner. They were all very built and attractive with shortly cropped hair, their shirtless state showing off their toned bodies. They joking shoved each other before sitting down at the table beside us. They peaked over curiously and made a comment about us being there.
"Wow there sure are a lot of pale faces in here today," the bigger of the two joked with a raised brow.
I jumped in before Eric or Mike could make a comment. "Just adding a bit of extra personality," I said shrugging. After being around Jasper so much, I was used to sarcastic comments.
"Oooo! Pale faces with a bit of bite. I like it," the smaller boy smirked at us.
Despite the rocky start, we got along with the two boys, Paul and Jared, and we were joking along with them as we ate.
"So what brings you guys to our little reservation? Based on your hair, I'm assuming the beach?" Jared asked at some point.
"Yeah, we usually go surfing here. But Karina here has never been since she just moved here, so we wanted to take her before it got too cold," Jessica explained eyeing the two boys. God, that girls hormones.
"Oh? Why did you move to the middle of nowhere?" Paul asks curiously.
"Well my mom and I wanted a new start, and we both prefer the atmosphere of a small town." I felt like the words were instinct at this point.
"Yeah but she just came crashing in and got the eyes of even the Cullens at school," Jessica said almost bitterly. She seemed to catch herself and smiled apologetically in my direction.
"The Cullens? It would be best to stay away from them, for your own sake." Jared warned ominously.
"Why is that? They seem really nice," I questioned. What was this stigma and separation between the Cullens and outsiders everyone seemed to have?
"Well let's just say they are the worst kind of pale faces. Be careful or they might suck your soul out of you," Paul said bitterly, which shocked me. Jared kicked the boy from under the table which made me even more confused. What are they talking about?
Before I can question them further, they promptly change the conversation. We spent the rest of lunch talking before we decide to leave. Despite their words, they were nice guys, if not a little strange.
Jessica drives me back home and I crash in my room wandering about the warnings I was given. What was it about the Cullens that set everyone off? Was there something the family was hiding? And why did I feel like I didn't want to find out? It made me nervous, but I cared for them so much already, I didn't know what to think.