•Syndicate By The Fray•

"You look so cute." I cooed at Charlotte as we sat in the dressing room. I'd already tried on my dark blue bikini and picked out my flip flops, and was waiting for Char to pick a swimsuit. She was currently dressed in a lady bug printed suit and I thought it suited her dark brown hair and blue eyes perfectly.

Sometimes I thought it was weird how much we didn't even look alike. Charlotte was a carbon copy of her dad. The only thing she got from me was my nose and hair. Thinking about it made my palms sweat and I wiped them on my jeans while making an attempt at shoving the painful memories away.

No need to spoil such a good day. This is a new start.

She giggled at me in the reflection and spun around a few times. "I like it!" A smile formed on my face and I shook my head at her in amusement. "Is that the one then?"

Her forehead wrinkled as she studied her reflection for a moment before turning to me with a wide smile. I nodded, smiling at her and stood up to help her out of it and into her other clothes.

When we finished we shopped for some more regular clothes since we didn't really have anything, before paying. It was only around four or so and so we wandered around the mall for a while longer, just enjoying the experience.

We'd both been incredibly sheltered throughout our lives and only witnessed the bad things, so it was a big change to be suddenly shoved into this rural and somewhat pleasant life.

Charlotte yawned and rubbed at her eyes beside me. I squatted down in front of her and frowned. "You okay?" She nodded, looking at me through hooded eyes. A smile crossed my face as I watched her. Poor kid. She had really wanted to go to the beach. Well, it'll be there tomorrow.

"Come on. Let's get you home."

She didn't protest and halfway out to the car I had to pick her up because she was leaning into me so much. She fell asleep almost immediately when I put her in the car.

The drive home was quiet, and it was then that it started to sink in how really different this was. My hand rested comfortably on the wheel and the scenery in front of me was pleasant as I drove. My mind gradually started to drift from the newness of the place I was in to the principle at my new school.

The corners of my mouth immediately turned down as I pondered the mysterious woman. She was so.......sharp and unapproachable, but at the same time you just wanted to gravitate towards her. Like an invisible force was pulling you towards her.

I remembered when she'd looked up for the first time, her face was so ethereal, almost angelic, with the soft cheekbones and those stormy grey eyes that had you spiraling into them and losing yourself before you even noticed.

And then she'd opened her mouth.

I shook my head, and sighed. The woman was freaking gorgeous there was no doubt about that, but damn she could be mean. And she scared me a little, which was weird since I'd been through hell and back.

But hell didn't have her. My brain argued.

I grumbled under my breath as I pulled in front of the apartment. Charlotte stayed asleep, even as I carried her inside, which was surprising considering I wasn't the least bit graceful about it.

I tucked Char into her new bed, covering her up and placing a soft kiss on her forehead before I headed out. She'd wake up in a few hours and hopefully I'd be back by then.

I changed into a light black sundress even though it was Oregon, and grabbed one of my new leather jackets on my way out. I decided against taking the car, since the apartment was just a few blocks from the beach anyways.

The crashing of the waves was soothing and my toes sunk in to the dry sand, unpleasant at first, but soon I didn't care. The wind was a tad chilly as it whipped my hair around, but it was nothing compared to the blistering coldness of the sea.

My feet went numb after a little while and I decided just to sit and watch the sunset for a little bit. There were people here and there, walking dogs and flying kites. A group of what looked like college kids played volleyball off to the side of me a few hundred feet.

My mind was almost to the point of combusting. I was so so happy I'd gotten Charlotte out of that house before anything bad had happened to her. If they'd done to her what I had to let them do to me, I would've never forgiven myself. I wrapped my hands around my knees and laid my forehead on top of them, trying to take deep breaths and trying to push the memories back.

Something hard suddenly came in contact with my cheek and I fell to the side with a hand to my face while trying to choke down the profanities. The volleyball bounced a few feet away from me and a minute later a shirtless blond guy ran by to get it, not looking at me at all as he retrieved the ball and ran back to his game.

I was tempted to get up and beat his ass but I just didn't feel like it. Blood was filling my mouth as I'd accidentally bitten my tongue when I got hit.

I spit it out and probed my cheek gently, wincing when a sharp pain seated through my face.

Awesome, just what I needed. A bruise on my face the first day of school.

I buried my face in my arms again and tried to blink away the tears. I didn't want to cry. I wasn't weak. I was just so....overwhelmed.

I could hear the crunching of sand underfoot and mentally groaned, hoping no one was going to bug me. But then a cold, moist, black nose slid under my arm. White and grey fur greeted me along with a pair of cobalt blue eyes.

The husky puppy flopped its tongue out at me while baring its teeth in a wolfish grin. It's little ears were spiked all the way up and looked ridiculously too big for its head.

"Well hello there gorgeous." I cooed at the adorable animal. It cocked its head at me and licked my face. I giggled and scratched behind its ears, glancing around vaguely for an owner. When I didn't see anyone I frowned.

"Where'd you come from, huh?" I wondered a loud. The rambunctious little pup, which I'd figured out was a girl, replied with a high-pitched whine and clambered into my lap with sandy paws.

The little twerp was asleep within minutes. A heaving ball of soft white fur.

I glanced around one more time in a attempt to find the owner but I came up empty again. Sighing, I decided I couldn't possibly leave her here and picked her up, turning to walk back up the sandy pathway.

"Scout?"