Chapter Three:

When I woke the following morning, I had fully expected to find that Noah had made his way into my bed in the middle of the night but he didn't, not that night or the next couple of nights.

While the first few days here were a bit awkward simply because I didn't feel that we were too familiar with our new housemate, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the boys were handling being here. For one thing, we didn't have to wake up every morning and wonder what version of our parent we were going to have to get for the day and for another, even though I felt that I was taking my time with growing comfortable with our arrangement, I couldn't argue that I did feel safe—that this house felt like a home.

When my father stated that he wanted to enroll the boys in school, he had failed to mention that he had already done so. The day before, he took the boys to tour their new schools and he had done so without waking me up that morning which irritated me but I knew why he didn't, he had made that much clear. I wasn't their parent. It wasn't an older sister's job to enroll her siblings into school and meet teachers and staff.

Today was their actual first day of school and despite what we had spoken about, I set an alarm so that I wouldn't miss the boys before they left. The alarm had hardly sounded when I turned it off, immediately sitting upright in bed and turning on my bedside lamp considering that it was still dark this early. I wasn't even sure of what I wanted to do today but I brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, applied a hint of makeup, and got dressed for the day before heading down the stairs, following the smell of cinnamon rolls. I still wasn't quite prepared for what it was like to not be the first person awake in the house, having to rush to feed mouths, and get Ben to school but I could admit that it felt kind of nice to wake up and not have to worry about making something to eat right away.

When I entered the kitchen, I hardly expected to find Ben and Noah sitting at the table already starting at their plates. "Wow, you guys are up early." I commented, smiling at Noah all dressed up and ready to go to his first day of school ever. Like dad, I could agree that he should have been in school last semester of the school year but mom hard started her craze about him leaving the house and stated that she wanted to home school him which she didn't.

"I wanted to get up a little earlier and make sure that I know where all of my classes are. I don't want to be the guy that's wandering the hallways lost or showing up to my classes late and having to awkwardly find a seat while everyone's staring at me." Ben explained and I nodded in agreement.

"Are you sure you aren't just the slightest bit excited?" Dad said as he brought a plate to the table and set it down beside Ben, a plate for me which he proved by pulling back a chair and waiting for me to sit down. It wasn't until I sat down that he went to make his own plate.

His gesture and the question that he posed caused for me to smile softly as I looked down at my plate with a large cinnamon roll beside scrambled eggs and some berries.

"I guess that I'm sort of excited." Ben admitted before taking a bite of his cinnamon roll. "Dad told me that I can join any clubs or sports that I want. I've never really had that choice before." Ben said to me as I started eating off of my own plate.

He was right, mom was persistent that he went to school and came right home seemingly having little regard for the social lives of any of her children. "I say you should join however many you'd like. I wasn't able to join any either. I wish that I could have though."

"What if I really miss home while I'm away? Will you come get me?" It was Noah that spoke this time and his eyes settled on me from across the table just as dad came over and set his plate down at the spot next to him. Immediately after taking a seat, instead of focusing on his food, dad smoothed his fingers through Noah's dark hair causing him to look up to meet his gaze.

"You're going to have so much fun that you won't even want to come home. You're gonna have a sweet teacher and lots of toys in your classroom to play with and there will be so many friends that you'll make in class. Even if you do miss home just a little, the other kids there probably do to, you aren't alone in that." Dad said, smiling down at his son as his son nodded and popped a blueberry in his mouth, giving him a smile in return. When I was a kid, starting school in Oregon for the first time, that was something that I wish that I could have heard.

The closer that we seemed to get to their time to leave, the more excited both boys seemed to get about their first days. As I walked them to the front door, helping Noah put on his backpack that dad had bought him, I couldn't help the anxiousness that built inside of me that they would feel outcasted somehow or that they simply wouldn't like their schools but I did my best to hide it.

"I hope you guys have a great day at school." I told both boys as I hugged them and then in a movement that still didn't quite feel natural, I gave dad a side hug. "I think I'll be out before you come back. I want to walk around and get to know the place a little."

"Okay, the reservation is pretty walkable but we'll probably have to figure out some sort of car situation for both you and Ben. For now just stay warm, okay?" He commented as his arm moved to embrace me.

I was already ten steps ahead of him on that subject. The money that I had started saving up when we lived with mom in the case that we had to run away was also supposed to go to a car. At the moment I had about enough funds to buy a sketchy car from a random seller on craigslist that could make no promises on the condition of the car but now that we were here and things seemed more stable, I had time to save more money by finding a job.

"Will do, see you later." I said, following them outside but stopping on the porch to watch the boys pile into the car before dad steered the vehicle out of the driveway and down the road. I took a deep breath before I stepped back into the house, going up to my room to find a pair of boots to fit myself into and a larger coat and scarf to warm myself with. Dad had made Ben and I copies of the house keys before we had even arrived and so I swiped mine off of the coffee table before locking up and leaving the house.

Dad was right when he said that La Push was fairly walkable. I did feel that I had been walking for almost fifteen minutes though before I started seeing paths leading to a couple of attractions. From what I could see, there was a diner on this path, a coffee shop, a couple of boutiques, a salon, a bakery, and a trading post. At the given moment, a cup of hot coffee sounded nice and so I figured that I would start there, immediately after stepping through the entrance though, I realized that I had drawn the attention of the few people sitting in the shop and immediately remembered what dad said about everyone knowing everyone. I realized that in this room of people they either all knew who I was because of my brief time here during childhood or they were all confused as to who I was.

"Welcome in! Would you like to try our-oh! You must be Tobias' daughter. What was your name again, sweetheart?" A beautiful woman with dark eyes and dark hair cut into a short style at her shoulders asked me as she took me in with a smile.

"I'm Aria." I said, giving her a polite smile though I felt somewhat uncomfortable knowing that this stranger knew me or knew of me.

"I'm Sue Clearwater. My kids and I don't live that far down the street from your dads house. He's so excited to have all of you back here, we all helped set up the house in preparation for you guys arriving home." She explained, yet again making me wonder just how excited my dad could have been to have us if he hadn't gone out of his way to make many appearances in our lives over the past few years.

"It's nice to meet you. Thank you guys, for helping. The boys and I really love our rooms, I think that it's really made the difference in adjusting to life here." I shared with her, meaning every word.

Once she had asked for my coffee order, she held me in conversation while she made it. She spoke of how she had known my father since they were children and that she remembered small glimpses of me as a child, Ben as well. She even reminded me of the bonfire that was happening tonight that I had almost forgotten about entirely.

"Everyone's very excited to met all of you." She shared as she set in front of me three drinks in a carrier causing for me to raise a brow. "Could I ask you a favor? There's a bakery right next door, my niece owns it and my daughter typically works the front register, would you mind taking them their drinks as well? I can't leave the counter for too long." She said just in time for the door to chime, letting her know that another customer was here.

"Oh, yeah, of course." I said, though I thought that it was a little odd to make such a request of a customer. "How much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house." She said with a smile and a wink causing for me to grin and nod as I picked up the carrier.

"Thank you, again!" I called out as a stranger held the door open for me and let me through.

I realized that I'd run into a problem when I made it up the steps of the small bakery. My hands were occupied with the drinks and I worried that if I took one hand off to open the door, all three would come tumbling down, making a mess of the entrance. Just as I was about to settle for setting the carrier on the ground and opening the door, the door began to open and I stepped aside to reveal a girl seemingly my age that looked like a reflection of Sue. This must be her daughter.

"Did she seriously send you over here to deliver us drinks?" The woman asked me as she looked at me with a mix of amusement and horror.

"If by 'she' you mean Sue Clearwater, yes." I said with a sheepish smile as she gestured for me to come in and let me place the drinks on the counter.

"You better be careful doing my mom too many favors, you'll be working at the coffee shop before you know it." The girl said as she moved behind the counter picking up the drink that she seemed to know was hers based on the color of the coffee. "I'm her daughter by the way, if that wasn't obvious. I'm Leah."

"I'm Aria and honestly, if your mom has a position open there I am more than willing to take it. That's why I decided to come out and see some of the shops today." I explained.

"Leah? Did you let someone in? We don't open for another fifteen minutes." A woman said, peeking out from the backdoor and raising her brows in surprise when her eyes landed on me. In the brief moment that her eyes flicked to Leah, I took in the sight of her cheek scarred as if she had some encounter with a wild animal. "I can't say that I've seen you around here before."

"This is Aria, Tobias Lark's daughter." Leah explained as she looked over at who Sue had stated was her cousin. "You're newest employee."

"I'm sorry?" I pipped in and I looked between the two women but Leah stopped me.

"Aria, this is my cousin Emily. Her bakery opened up a couple of weeks ago and I have absolutely zero talent in baking, nor do I have any interest in handling the cash register every day to make up for that." Leah said, shocking me with her honesty. "Can you bake?"

"I-yes, I a can." I said recalling the numerous birthdays for my younger brothers that I had to make cakes or cupcakes for despite the fact that we only celebrated as a family. Whatever recipes Emily had that I didn't know, I could practice at home.

"I mean, would you be interest in working here? Please don't feel pressured because of her, Sue made her start working over here to help me out and she misses working in the coffee shop." Emily said but her eyes gave away her anticipation.

"No, I actually am looking for work right now. I would love to work here if you need the help." I insisted and so she smiled at me and nodded in return.

"Do you think that you could start tomorrow? I know that there's a bonfire tonight and they tend to run late but we open later on the weekends. I'll worry about preparing the items before open and I'll show you how to work the register when you get here if that works for you." Emily explained.

"Of course, I'll be here." I promised, feeling somewhat confident about the fact that this seemed to all just fall into my lap.

The girls insisted on keeping me around for a little while longer. Emily gave me the tour of her little bakery and explained how she had gotten her start. She had always loved baking and her fiancé had surprised her with leasing out the vacant shop that had gone out of business years and years before. I wouldn't have been able to tell that this wasn't a brand new shop though with its pale blue walls and new appliances. Clearly, her fiancé loved her quite a bit.

When the shop opened, Emily sent me off to a table with a large muffin to eat, insisting that she couldn't let me leave with an empty stomach although I had breakfast this morning, coffee and now this but I didn't fight her on it. There was even less to fight about when I bit into the warm muffin, it was delicious.

When I finally did leave the bakery, I still took the time to weave in and out of a few of the other local stores and when I finally looked to check the time on my phone and saw that the boys should be home, I started my walk back to the house.

I was relieved to kick out of my boots once I closed the front door behind myself and when I stepped further into the home, I found my family in the living room seemingly just talking about their day. "How was it?" I asked, sitting down on the couch beside Ben.

"I had lots of fun just like daddy said!" Noah announced to us. "We even have a class pet, a turtle. His name is Finn."

"Well, isn't that clever?" Dad asked with a chuckle.

"That's awesome Noah. I'm so glad that you liked it." I said, joining in with dad's laughter and turning my attention on to Ben. "What about you?"

"It better than I imagined it would be. Everyone was nice, I didn't get lost going to any classes, I even made a few friends that I ate with at lunch. One said he'll be there tonight, Seth." Ben said, sounding genuinely optimistic about the day that he had.

"The clearwater boy?" Dad asked, his curiosity peaked. Ben nodded in response. "The Clearwater's are very good friends of mine. I've known them for years."

"I met a couple of them today too, Sue and Leah." I chimed in and Dad nodded in acknowledgement. "They seemed very nice."

"That's all of them then, Harry passed away earlier this year. Heart attack." He explained then, seemingly not wanting to bring down the mood, dad stood from his seat on the couch. "Let's get ready for the bonfire tonight, yeah?"