The last thing Embry Call expected was to open his front door in the middle of a thunderstorm to none other than Kiara Black, dripping wet from head to toe and a deep scowl etched on her face as she looked at the boy with an expression that he couldn't quite read.
"Hello?" Embry asked, not entirely sure why the girl that usually pretended he, Quil and Jacob didn't exist was now standing as if she was waiting to be welcomed into his home. He was actually surprised that she even remembered where he lived, since the trio of boys hadn't spent time with the girl at his house for at least six years.
"Is Jake here?" Kiara asked, stepping under the cover of the porch as she tried to peer over Embry's shoulder to look into his house. The boy furrowed his eyebrows slightly, feeling a little invaded but knowing that something must have been up for two reasons. The first being that Kiara never came to see her brother or his friends, and the second being that she had referred to her brother by his nickname - something she only did in rare circumstances.
Embry nodded, moving aside with little hesitation and motioning for her to come in. She smiled thankfully at him, maybe the most genuine she had been to the boy in years. He shut the door behind her, instantly noting how she was dripping water on to the wooden floor and looked uncomfortable at that fact.
"Eh, you can take your coat and shoes off and just leave them there," Embry muttered awkwardly, feeling the tension rise now that the girl was just standing there quietly as she did as he offered, looking around and seeing that nothing in the house seemed to have changed since she was there last.
Kiara used to love being at Embry's house. His mom made the best chocolate brownies, and the four of them would always be found in the yard as they played with a scabby football that Embry's mother had given him when he was younger. The boy had never known his father, but that didn't matter to him when he had his three best friends to play with instead.
Over time, Kiara had drifted from the boys as they all became more interested in fixing up cars and bikes while she had been significantly more interested in hanging out with Paul Lahote and Jared Cameron's friends, going to parties and getting drunker than the other three had ever gotten combined. Her trouble-making traits had become well known throughout the La Push reservation, and it was no surprise that Tiffany Call had been somewhat relived that she was no longer influencing the boys and rather out with the older teens.
"Kiara Black? Is that you?"
Kiara turned with a sheepish smile as Tiffany Call entered the hallway, her eyes wide with surprise as she noticed the drenched girl. She hadn't seen her in years, and it was a shock to her system to see a fully grown Kiara Black standing in her hallway as if the past six years had never happened. While she was glad that the girl had drifted from the boys when her trouble making habits had started, she knew that Kiara was acting out to help cope with losing her mother - and to some extent her sisters since they liked to almost pretend that La Push and their little sister didn't exist. Tiffany Call would be lying if she said that she didn't care about the Black girl, and seeing her turn up on the door step covered in rainwater and mascara streaming down her face set her mom instincts into full force.
Within two minutes, Tiffany had given the girl a set of dry clothes to wear while she attempted to dry the ones that Kiara had been wearing. Kiara had told her it was fine and that she didn't want to be any hassle but Tiffany had demanded that she get into new clothes before she got hypothermia since they all knew that none of them would be able to afford the hospital bill if that happened. Kiara had smiled after a moment, thanking her gently before heading back downstairs to where she knew Jacob, Quil and Embry would be in the basement.
Growing up, Embry's basement had always fascinated her. It was one of the only houses on the res that had a basement since most were more cabin lodge based buildings. They'd spent much of their preteen years in that basement, since Embry had pretty much declared it was his room once he turned 11. Tiffany couldn't say no to his pleadings and eventually gave in, moving his bed into the room and turning his room into their laundry room instead.
Trudging down the steps, Kiara was very aware that Embry had been telling the other two boys about her sudden appearance since the conversation abruptly cut off as she reached the basement. Jacob was looking at her with concern in his eyes, confused on why she would sudden appear without any warning. He knew she wasn't having a good time recently, what with her getting expelled and having to move to Forks High, but he was surprised that it was bad enough for her to come and see him while he was at a friends.
"Kie, you okay?" Jacob asked, the nickname rolling off his tongue like it used to when they were younger. She didn't usually let anyone use the nickname that her mother had reserved for her but when she was upset Jacob couldn't help himself from letting it slip out.
"What does Samuel Uley have that I don't?" Kiara eventually said as she sat down on the bottom step, tears pooling in her eyes as she looked up at the three boys who were now looking completely more confused than before. "Jared and Paul both replaced me with him, and now Dad is sitting having coffee with him and discussing options for my future as if I'm just some little girl. Why does everyone pick Samuel Uley over me?"
Jacob crossed the room in an instant, wrapping his arms around his sister and hushing her cries as she burst into sobs. Quil and Embry didn't know what to make of the scene, confused as to why Sam Uley was getting so involved in the lives of so many of the teenagers on the reservation. They knew all the drama about how he had broken up with his long term girlfriend Leah Clearwater a few months ago to start dating her cousin, and how her cousin had gotten attacked by a bear only days before too. Everything about that man seemed unsettling, and if Billy Black was in talks with who they assumed to be a drug dealer about Kiara, it was even more confusing.
If anything was certain however, it was that the three boys in the room had a lot more hatred for Sam Uley and his lackeys with every sob that left Kiara's body.
_____
Kiara and Jacob walked in a comfortable silence as he pushed her bike beside him, the rain having died off and the twins both knowing that they would have to head home. While Jacob had no issues with their father, he was a little confused on why Billy Black was ready to accept a car from Sam Uley without any hesitation. The man had always prided himself on not accepting hand-outs and it just seemed bizarre that he would accept one from the man who had essentially pushed for Kiara to be expelled after pouring milk in Paul Lahote's locker.
"So, made any friends at school?" Jacob asked after a moment, trying to take her mind off of the argument that was sure to be awaiting her once they got back to the Black residence.
Kiara shrugged, not really knowing how to answer that. Would she call Angela, Eric, Jessica and Mike her friends? Not really but at the same time she guessed they were on their way to becoming somewhat acquaintances with the girl. It wasn't like she could necessary say the Cullen family either, since Rosalie seemed like she'd rather be anywhere than near her chemistry lab partner half of the time.
"A few I think," Kiara told him before remembering how he had often listened in to their dad's complaints about the Cullen family. "I met the Cullen's - they're a lot different than I expected. I didn't realise that Dr Cullen even had children, since I usually don't like to listen to dad's rants."
Jacob shrugged, his hands still gripped around the handles of her bike as he pushed it for her. She could have just rode it home but she had decided that walking with Jacob was maybe something that was long overdue. She'd spent the past few years distancing herself from her twin and maybe some twin bonding was exactly what they needed. Besides, it wasn't like she really would get much chance to see him any other time since he was always either at his school or with the boys.
"All that treaty history, I think the old man really believes in that stuff, yanno?" Jacob murmured softly, knowing that deep down a piece of him maybe did a little too. "Their family being the arch-enemies of the older generations of Quileute's, that is."
Kiara shrugged a little, nodding as she looked at Jacob and noticing the look in his eyes as he repeated the myths to the girl. She knew fine well that there was a belief that their ancestors were once strongly connected to wolfs but a myth was all that was - she knew that for sure.
"Do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Believe it," Kiara asked, not convinced that her brother didn't buy into all of the myths that they would tell around a campfire with Billy and his friends when they were younger. "The stories about the Cullen's and our grandfather."
"It's just stories, Kie," Jacob reminded her, reaching over and ruffling her hair as they reached the front of their yard. Billy was seemingly awaiting their return, standing next to someone that she hadn't expected to find on their porch after ignoring her for months now. Jared Cameron sent her a small smile as he watched the twins walk closer, Jacob excusing himself to put her bike into the shed and looking for any excuse to avoid whatever conversation was about to happen.
Kiara eyed up her old friend, noticing how his hair that had once fallen just above his shoulders was shorter than she had ever seen it - even shorter than the first time he had cut it after he started hanging out with Sam. He was in a muscle vest, something that confused the girl greatly since it was freezing out and had just been raining for hours too.
"Hey Kiara," Jared spoke gently as she approached, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she looked between him and her father, unsure what was about to happen next. "Take a walk with me?"
____
"So he offered you a car and you said no?"
Kiara was regretting even mentioning her disastrous weekend to the Forks High group, none of them really understanding her reasoning for refusing to take a car from the man that she was sure was attempting to turn all of her old friends into drug dealers or something. Her walk with Jared had not been informative at all, but rather was the boy telling her that Sam was a good man and was only trying to help out as he felt bad for getting her expelled.
Obviously the girl who held grudges like it was shopping bags didn't accept this at all, telling Jared to tell Sam to stick his offer where the sun didn't shine and storming back to her house. Billy was less than amused at her slamming the front door when she came back in and informed him that she wasn't hungry so wouldn't be joining him and Jacob for dinner but he had already told Jared that he didn't think seeing her old friend would sway the girl's opinion on Sam at all.
"Look, he's only offering me it cause he feels guilty for getting me expelled," Kiara explained as she chewed on her salad, having opted to make her own lunch instead of buying the canteen food. Something about it didn't seem appealing to her and if she was going to survive a year at the school then she needed to make sure she didn't die of food poisoning first. "Besides, Jacob gave me a lift today so he can fix my bike, so he's picking me up anyway. I don't need my own car."
Her eyes flickered across the cafeteria to where only four out of the six Cullen's were sitting, Jessica having already informed their table that Alice and Jasper had not been in her second period history class that morning. Kiara wasn't sure why the girl felt like that was something monumental enough to be shared with them but she assumed that the school was that boring that anything could be considered gossip nowadays.
Almost as if she sensed her gaze, Rosalie's head turned to look at Kiara for a moment, her steely eyes fixed on the brown eyes of the younger Black sibling as she stared back with unwavering eyes. Kiara sent her a small smile after realising she had been caught staring, raising her hand and giving the blonde an awkward wave. Rosalie felt her lips twitch a little, sending her a small smile before watching as the brunette turned back to the table to be bombarded with a thousand questions about the exchange that they just had.
"She thinks you're hot, in like a mysterious way," Edward informed Rosalie, leaning back on his seat a little as he shared a smirk with Emmett. The two brothers loved to wind up Rosalie and with Alice's vision alluding to a potential bond to form between the blonde and the Quileute girl, it was something they knew would set her skin on edge. "Incase you were wondering."
"I wasn't," Rosalie replied, a scowl now on her face as she glared between her brothers. Sure, she thought that Kiara Black was rather attractive but she was a human - a fragile, killable human - and there was no way Rosalie was going to risk exposing her family over something as small as some good smelling blood and a little mutual attraction. The rest of the family saw partially through her excuse about exposing the Cullen's vampire traits, knowing that Rosalie's underlying feelings about immortality were a large factor.
There had never been any secret about her distaste for her immortal life. She was grateful to Carlisle for saving Beverly and herself to some extent, but a piece of her would always hate that she was never going to get the life she wanted. She didn't want riches or knowledge or power, she had always just wanted to get married, have kids and live to see her kids have kids. She didn't want Kiara to have that choice ripped away from her the same way that she had, and Alice's vision of the younger Black twin becoming one of them was something that Rosalie was determined to change.
After all, Alice's visions were only potentials of what the future might look like based on decisions that others made. Rosalie just hoped that it stayed like that, potential.
____
"Not a fan of the school when its sunny, huh?"
Rosalie turned to look at Kiara in surprise, not having expected the girl to say anything. They'd spent the past fifteen minutes of the chemistry class in silence, occasionally passing the small test tube across the table to each other to double check their assignment calculations without so much more than a thank you.
"What?"
"You guys don't come in," Kiara shrugged, not looking up from where she was slowly adding in some acid to the liquid substance that they had created. She paused for a second before realising how absurd she sounded, looking up and explaining herself to Rosalie. "I personally think it's cool that your dad lets you go hiking when it's nice weather. Mine would never let me skip school, and I'm pretty sure that the admin office are under strict orders by Chief Swan to let him know if I even think about missing a period."
Rosalie blinked for a second as she took in the ramble from the girl, unsure what to actually reply. Kiara was more observational than she had previously given her credit for, and Rosalie made a note to try and keep up her human appearance more before the other girl suspected anything was up.
"Yeah, Carlisle is pretty cool, I guess," Rosalie finally said, not really sure why she was humouring the girl. It was no secret that the blonde adopted Cullen was the least tolerable with people outside of her family, so she wasn't even sure what it was about Kiara Black that made her so unable to stay away. She knew fine well the girl's lineage, yet here she was unable to stop chatting away to her. Rosalie knew for a fact that Edward and Beverly were laughing up ahead. "I should have pre-warned you, I didn't even think about the assignment."
Kiara smiled softly at the blonde, shrugging a little as she reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of dog eared notepads. Rosalie looked at them with a slight displeasure at how crumpled and torn they were before Kiara slid them across the table to the blonde with a slightly bigger smile on her face.
"I made notes of it all so you can borrow them and fill it into your textbook if you want," Kiara admitted, a slight blush coming up her cheeks as she attempted to watch Rosalie subtly. The vampire gritted her teeth for a moment as she smelt the rush of blood to Kiara's cheeks as she blushed, but instead took a deep breath out before turning to look at her with a small appreciative smile.
Kiara was learning to appreciate that the Hale girl was remarkably closed off and that every small smile was unprecedented for people at Forks High School. She wasn't sure why Rosalie had always seemed kinder to her than to everyone else, but she was just putting it down to the blonde feeling bad for her as the new kid during the middle of the school year. Kiara was sure that once their assignment was over, Rosalie would go back to pretending like she never existed.
After that, they continued on with their work in silence. They were doing textbook based work rather than practical so Kiara allowed herself to tune out from the rest of the class as she continued to think about what her father and Jacob had said about the stories of their tribe, still unsure on whether or not it was even wise to trust the Cullens. Then again, she thought, the stories also said that her grandfather and his grandfathers were wolves so she wasn't really sure how reliable they were to begin with.
Just as she went to turn to Rosalie as ask what she had gotten for the fifteenth question, she felt her phone vibrate a couple of times in her pocket. Looking up to make sure that their teacher was distracted, Kiara quickly jammed her hand into her pocket and tugged her phone out to look at the notification flashing across the screen. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the message, the familiar anger that she tried to push down often coursing through her veins as she bit back a sarcastic laugh at the message on the screen.
"Dick," she muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes as she shut the phone off and rammed it angrily back into her pocket. Not noticing the side eye that Rosalie was giving her at her sudden change of attitude, Kiara grabbed her pencil and started filling in more answers with such an aggression that Rosalie was worried she was going to snap her pencil.
"Is everything okay?" Rosalie muttered lowly, making sure that no-one around them could hear. She knew Edward and Beverly were already likely aware of the girl's snarky comment and she knew that Edward likely already knew what the conversation was about to be about since he was probably snooping in her mind like the creep Rosalie thought he could be. A slight twitch of his fingers against the textbook he was holding told her that he certainly didn't appreciate her thinking of him as a creep.
Kiara looked over at Rosalie for a moment, the scowl still etched on her face as the metaphorical raincloud above her head tried to decide if it was going to stay or drift away. Just as she went to open her mouth, the bell rang signalling the end of the day for the teenagers and undercover vampires. It was almost as if the bell snapped Kiara out of her thoughts, causing her to jump away from their table as if she had been burned as she gathered her stuff.
"Look, don't pretend like you care," Kiara snapped at Rosalie, catching the blonde off-guard. "You've made it perfectly clear that you want nothing to do with the rest of us so just mind your own business."
Even Beverly and Edward couldn't help but turn around at the sudden mood swing in Kiara, the three of the vampires all watching in slight disbelief as the girl went storming out of the room and slamming against other members of their class as she went. Rosalie and Beverly both turned to look at Edward for an explanation on why she suddenly turned all sour, and the younger of the vampire sisters tried not to look offended by Kiara's rejection. She hated being rejected, but for some reason this hurt more than any other rejection she had ever faced.
They sat in silence for the rest of the period, the usually feisty Rosalie still lost for words at the sudden change in atmosphere between them. She knew that she was drawn to the human sitting beside her more than anyone else she had ever met, but she didn't really quite know how to reply to her sudden streak of anger. Edward would occasionally glance over his shoulder at squint at Kiara as he listened to her thoughts, eventually stopping once the younger Black sibling looked up and raised her eyebrows at him with an attitude.
As soon as the bell rang, Kiara was up and out of her seat so quickly that Rosalie didn't even have time to tell her to have a good afternoon. It wasn't the final class of the day, and she was more than aware that Kiara should have turned right out of the door to her next class but instead the brunette girl turned left as she headed out of the room.
"What's up with her?" Rosalie finally asked Edward as the three Cullen's stood in the hallway, watching her storm past people in the opposite direction than she should be.
"Her brother was meant to pick her up and he's cancelled on her so she has to walk home," Edward told the two biological sisters, Beverly furrowing her eyebrows as she realised that there was rain forecast for the rest of the afternoon. "Yeah, she knew that too - about the rain. So she's planning on leaving now and hopefully getting home before it starts."
Rosalie felt like she should have gone after the girl, offering her a lift or even offering to walk with her - but she knew she couldn't. Edward nodded sadly at her realisation, Beverly not needing to read minds to know the struggle that they were debating.
Kiara Black lived in La Push - the one place that the Cullen's couldn't go. So Rosalie watched her go, her chest feeling unnaturally tight as Alice and Jasper approached them, Emmett trailing behind as he slammed his locker shut in the distance.
"She'll be fine," Alice told them all, almost suspiciously happier than usual. "I've seen it."
____
Just when Kiara thought her day couldn't get any worse, the music playing through the headphones in her ears cut to an abrupt stop. Groaning as she rammed her hand into her pockets to grasp at her smashed up phone, she almost yelled in anger as she pressed the home button repeatedly to only be met with a black screen.
As if someone was playing some cruel trick with her, she felt a small droplet of rain hit her eyebrow just as she angrily rammed her phone back into the pocket of her jeans. She stopped for a moment, looking up and praying that it was just a loose water droplet from a tree leaf rather than the heavens opening up - but she was right in her original thoughts.
It was starting to pour with rain. She wasn't even out of Forks yet.
Feeling that familiar heat of anger rise up her neck, Kiara kicked at a puddle on the ground. She knew it wasn't exactly wise since it was only going to get her more wet but she couldn't help herself from attempting to exert some of the anger that she was feeling. She knew that she had a short temper but today had just been testing her from start to finish - and she also felt terrible about snapping at Rosalie earlier on.
She had literally just been thinking that her and Jacob were getting on much better than normal and then he had to go and cancel on her - knowing that it was supposed to rain and that she didn't have her bike either. The universe truly had some way of making sure it showed her how much it hated her.
Kiara continued on down the road for another five minutes or so, the rain turning torrential as it soaked her to the bone. She shivered as she walked, knowing fine well that the notes she had made in her class that afternoon were going to be utterly drenched and she regretted not having stopped by her locker before starting her ridiculous notion to walk back to the reservation.
Almost as if she had somewhat cursed herself, she furrowed her eyebrows and felt her heart rate pick up slightly as she heard a car driving behind her slow down and begin to crawl behind her. She'd heard horror stories of men trying to pick up vulnerable teenage girls on the side of roads, and she swore that if anything happened to her she would make sure she was going to go kicking and fighting.
"Kiara!"
The girl jumped at the voice, not having expected the rolling down of the windows to be accompanied by such a familiar face. She gawped a little as she looked into the car, Rosalie raising an eyebrow in impatience at her as she motioned for the girl to get in.
"Look, are you getting in or are you going to stay out there in the rain?" Rosalie said, a little more forcefully than she meant it to sound. She almost sighed at it, before realising that Kiara had taken her up on the offer and was rushing over to the passenger seat of the car with little hesitation.
"Sorry..." Kiara rushed out as she clambered into the car, noticing how her jacket was getting water over the seat and how her dripping bag was leaving a small puddle on the floor mat of the silver car. "I'm dripping all over your seats."
Rosalie shrugged a little as she looked at the girl, quickly scanning her up and down in concern as she noticed how drenched the teenager was. She quickly moved her hand to fiddle with the central controls, turning the heater on just a little. She didn't really feel temperature changes but it was clear the girl was not just soaked but also freezing.
"It's okay," Rosalie told her, not saying anything else before she realised the silence she had created was slightly awkward as Kiara nodded and simply played with her fingers. She could tell the girl was still nervous as her heart rate was still beating faster than expected. "It's Edward's car anyway so I don't really care if it gets wet. That's more of a him problem than a me problem."
Kiara snorted a little at that, looking sideways at Rosalie with a smile as her sarcastic reply eased her a little bit. "You sound like my brother."
"I guess he's a smart boy then," Rosalie replied, her voice rather monotone but the little twitch of her lips showing her that she was joking around. Kiara smiled as she leaned back into the seat, realising that not only had Rosalie turned the heating up but that she had put on the seat warmer for her too.
They sat there for a moment more, the car humming as the engine ran despite the fact they weren't moving. Kiara was a little confused as to how Rosalie had known where she was and why she had even driven by - since she was supposed to be in class just like the Black was.
"Aren't you meant to be in class?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Rosalie replied smoothly, her golden eyes meeting Kiara's soft brown eyes as she almost challenged the girl. Kiara didn't bite, shrugging as she felt a small grin break out across her face at Rosalie matching her energy.
"Touche," she muttered, before the silence enveloped them once more. "So... I don't really want to go back to school and I would just ask if you could drop me off at mine since you've offered me a lift but I know your family doesn't really like to come to the rez..."
"You know about that?" Rosalie suddenly interrupted, worry settling into her bones as she looked at Kiara in surprise. She knew that the Quileute pack were back up and running after her father had recently met their leader at the treaty line a few months after their return to Washington, but as far as she was aware Kiara wasn't involved with them.
"Yeah, my dad's a pretty big fan of our old tribe stories," Kiara shrugged, looking over where Rosalie had started to look ahead and was clutching the steering wheel so tight that Kiara was worried it would break. "Don't worry though, I don't believe any of it. But I get why you guys would stay away, I would too if an entire community believed a folklore about my grandparents."
Rosalie relaxed a little at that, knowing that the tribe were right to think what they thought about her and her family. She was just glad that Kiara didn't believe the legacy, knowing that it would have been hard to stay around the teenager if she did.
"Anyway, so if you just drop me off at the Chief's house that would be great."
Rosalie nodded as she started to drive again, confused as to why they were heading to the police chief's house of all places. She turned to open her mouth and ask the question, her cold facade fading naturally around the girl. Her blood still called to Rosalie, but it wasn't unbearable the way the others had described it before. She knew that was because she had never tasted a drop of human blood, and she had no intentions of trying either.
"Him and my dad are like... best friends," Kiara admitted as she saw the slight curiosity on Rosalie's face. "His daughter is actually starting Forks High this week. My brother's been working on this old battered truck that Chief Swan bought as a welcome back gift for her."
Rosalie almost scowled as she thought about another new kid to the school, knowing her family would likely have to listen to students introducing them again - and she had a gut feeling it would end up as that Jessica girl who she found rather unbearable to listen to. New kids at Forks High were uncommon and to have had two in such a short period of time was sure to set the school buzzing with teenage hormones, gossip and a lot more thoughts for Edward to be stuck with.
"Mind if I put the radio on?"
Rosalie wasn't sure at what point Kiara had started to feel more comfortable around the blonde in the few shorts weeks they had known each other, but this certainly was showing the start of it. The brunette girl sang along to a few of the pop songs on the radio, even going as far to break into a huge grin as Taylor Swift came on and asking if Rosalie minded if she turned it up.
Kiara Black was just glad she had finally started to make a friend out of the closed off Hale - even if their friendship was a little strange.
______
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(Okay so I am very aware that in real life if you were to walk from Forks to La Push it would take 5 hours, cycling is an hour and driving is 22 minutes - but for the sake of this story, I'm just having La Push and Forks slightly closer together than they are in real life)