I was in a valley, a valley of high mountains and snow, covering the landscape. The ocean was nearby lapping against the shore, a chill breeze flowing off of it. The only sound was the water.

Or so I thought, i listened for anything when the sound of a crackling fire filled the air. The smell of wood burning filled my nose. It was then I ended up in a little village, large tipi's arranged in a large circle created the village. In the middle a large fire was surrounded by a hundred people. They began speaking in a language that sounded vaguely similar though I wasn't sure how it was familiar.

It was native in tongue.

I only caught a few words, 'danger' and 'leave' at first, I thought they were talking about me, but no one noticed I was there. For a moment I stood and watched the others as they discussed. It was clear they were frantic and afraid. Something was threatening them.

Before I could find out everything turned dark, the only thing I could hear was the screams, the ripping of clothes, then growls or ferocious beasts.

The vibration of a stampede ran past me. the light returned and the landscape changed from an island of life to a lifeless abandoned landscape. Broken tents, broken totems, a dead village. Then in front of me was a man, pale as the moon an evil smirk on his lips. A Vampire.

He lunged at me.

I woke with a start my body curling in on itself, eyes darting for the danger. Only the dull gray light, the familiar light of an overcast morning, filtered outside my bedroom window.

I sighed realizing it was a dream, then I smirked to myself because I knew what today was. It was Bella's birthday and I know she said no presents, but did I listen... No.

No, I did not.

After stretching I got up and prepared for the day. Senior year was so far easy, most of my classes were shared with Alice, who has become a good friend. I couldn't really get rid of her if I tried, and I mean that literally, she showed up to my home on many occasions.

So, I accepted the vampire into my life. It was nice to have a friend that I didn't have to worry about telling any secrets, seeing as she had her own to keep. I was still cautious of them though, not afraid they would hurt me because I knew they would do everything in their power not to, but danger still lurked.

I was extra careful about papercuts, or any injury really. But I did find some solace in the family if they were around there would be less vampires. I mean three in four years was good odds as far as I was concerned, plus from the way Alice explains most try to avoid each other.

As I finished my shower, I glanced at the wall in my room, across from the window, it has become a picture wall. Pictures of Toby and my dad join the dozens of pictures I took this summer. True to my word we went some place warm and with plenty of adventure, I spent two weeks in Costa Rica. There were plenty of places to get lost in the beauty of the country. It was just what I needed after a semester of insane terror.

I grabbed my jacket and backpack, making sure Bella's gift was in my hand, before heading to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. As usual Eve is already down there. Recently she has been working from home more often, aiding other surgeons via phone and going over cases.

"Morning Al"

"Good morning, Eve"

She glanced at me, then did a double take examining me closely. "have you grown?"

I looked down at my jeans, they did appear to be a little shorter, nothing major though. "I don't know, I just thought they shrunk a little."

"maybe you're going through a growth spurt" she mumbled.

"aren't I a little old for that?" I asked eating my oatmeal.

"depends, your dad had a growth spurt when he was like 20 or somthing."

I shrugged, I guess it was possible. "Guess I'll have to get some new jeans this weekend." I chuckled as I rinsed my bowl and grabbed my lunch.

"yeah, probably should before it gets too cold, and you have flood jeans." She laughed ruffling my hair... furrowing her brows "yeah, your definitely getting taller"

"hardy har-har..." I closed my bag "okay, I better get going, I want to be there before Bella, so she can't hide from me"

"I don't want to know" Eve laughed as she walked to her office.

I drove to school in quite peace, really hoping today wasn't the day that Bella got up early, then again she was dreading the day so I expect she might try to skip all together – if her drug wasn't here.

I pulled into the familiar parking lot behind Forks High School and spotted a silver Volvo but no orange truck. Good.

Edward was leaning against his car waiting for Bella no doubt. His sister Alice was standing by his side waiting too. Of course, Edward and Alice weren't really related. In Forks the story was that all the Cullen siblings were adopted by Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme. But their skin was precisely the same pale shade, their eyes had the same strange golden tint, with the same deep, bruise-like shadows beneath them. All their faces were startlingly beautiful. To someone in the know - someone like me - these similarities marked them for what they were.

Vampires. Or Cold ones to my people.

It was a terrifying discovery at first, but after they saved my life, I grew to accept them. I was still weary of going to their home and being surrounded by everyone but one at a time was fine.

Usually Alice, but I was okay being around Carlisle... he was always so calm. I didn't feel any sort of fear or need to be cautious around him. The others? Only slightly.

I couldn't explain why, but I took it as my body telling me not to get too comfortable. They may be 'vegetarian' and appear as anything but a threat, but I knew the power they had. I couldn't be complacent, like Bella. I just had this intense feeling in their presence like I was constantly waiting to get shocked, staticky was the feeling.

I got out of my car and went to stand near the siblings, holding a brown paper wrapped package. Bella had explicitly hidden her birthday from everyone, and she didn't want presents. I knew she hated the idea of aging; it was something that she despised.

For some reason, being older than Edward was not okay, or something like that, I never really got an answer as to why she didn't want to get older. I didn't see it as a problem, so I decided to remind Bella that while she may be 18, she was still a kid and there were a plethora of things she could do now. Vote, go to clubs, by cigarettes, go into adult stores... I don't know how much of that Bella would do (probably none). But she could travel more... maybe I shouldn't tell her that part, she might decide to take off with Edward.

So I really only hoped to get a laugh out of it.

Bella arrived and slammed the door of her '53 Chevy truck - a shower of rust specks fluttered down to the wet blacktop - and walked slowly toward where we waited. Alice skipped forward to meet Bella, her pixie face glowing under her short black hair.

"Happy birthday, Bella!"

"Shh!" Bella hissed, glancing around the lot to make sure no one had heard her. She really was paranoid, it's not like we were planning to jump her with a surprise party, my mom shut Eve down quickly with that one.

"No presents," Bella protested in a mumble.

Bella really wasn't in a good mood, I mean how can you be angry with Alice, she's like a little kid in so many ways. She was also tiny. "Okay... later, then. Did you like the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"

"Yeah. They're great."

"I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience." I glanced at them, it wasn't a secret, to me, that they had been in school for a long time, who knew how many times they graduated high school. But that probably wasn't the best thing to say to Bella, who was becoming more and more obsessed with being just like them. Was she obsessed with immortality or was it something more?

"How many times have you been a senior?"

"That's different."

Once they reached us, Edward held his hand out for Bella. She took it eagerly then glanced at me; her face fell when she saw the package in my hand. "no... no I said no presents"

I gave a fake pout "well, that's not fair. Okay it's your birthday and kids get new toys on their birthday"

"I'm not a kid" she protested weakly before giving Edward a look, one that plainly said I'm still aging and blah blah.

"you still live at home, right? and Charlie still pays for your food?" when Bella nodded, I smirked "still a kid. Besides 18's the new 5, whole new world of adventure out there, so buck up kiddo. And take your present"

Edward chuckled slightly as I handed the package to Bella "cool, now that you have it, no give backs and I have to get to class. Bye"

I let out a laugh as I heard Bella whine in protest.

I walked into the classroom; English was my first class. The only core class that I have all semester. I had managed to get enough credits so that next semester I could technically take it off. Like I planned before... I might do it, maybe get some sort of internship or a job to help pad my CV for college. Or maybe I'll skip and start my own business... Forks wouldn't be the best place for that. I still had some time to figure it out though.

First, I had English, then Art (ceramics), then gym, then aerobics, lunch, the of the day I was an office assistant.

I took my seat near the middle of the class and prepared for the day or class. I was not looking forward to this, we had just started Romeo and Juliet. It took a whole month to prepare for this. Mr. Berty loved Romeo and Juliet. So much that we were going to spend the semester on it.

I hated it.

Mike sat next to me. Mike had changed over the summer - his face had lost some of the roundness, making his cheekbones more prominent, and he was wearing his pale blond hair a new way; instead of bristly, it was longer and gelled into a carefully casual disarray. Jess was the same in appearance, but personality wise she wasn't obsessed with Mike anymore. She had grown up a little bit but still was a gossip.

As the day progressed, I thought about the still ever-present pile of driftwood sitting in my yard, then Halloween, it was right around the corner, there was so much to do.

Not that anyone ever trick or treated at my house, it was too out of the way. Instead, my mom hung out at Charlie's, and they passed out candy there. Eve would spend her Halloween at Mark's down on the reservation. I would usually go do to the reservation and hang out with some of the other kids. Or occasionally i went to the diner where I would hang out. Cora would have movies on repeat, so it was a big spot for kids to go when there wasn't a party.

Leading up to Halloween though, I helped Ms. Davis and the Elementary Art teacher Mrs. Jones with after school activities with the younger kids. We would make masks, carve pumpkins, just make a bunch of Halloween decorations, and give them things to do.

I also made quite a few masks and decorations that got sold at the craft store during the season, too. I got a commission for every piece of art sold. And they would sell out, a lot of people decorated for the holidays but not all of them had time to make the stuff. Sometimes I even sold some stencils or masks that need painting so the kids could still do some DIY.

At lunch, like last year I sat with the same group of people only this time Edward and Alice joined us. Alice and I shared art again, which I enjoyed but was also slightly jealous of.

The vampire had perfect reflexes, so she didn't need to try nearly as hard as I did to make things look great. And they always looked great. I wasn't saying that my art looked bad, it actually looked really good, but it was with hours and hours of practice.

A strange kind of truce existed at that table. Now that the "older" and somewhat scarier (in Emmett's case, certainly) Cullen siblings had graduated, Alice and Edward did not seem quite so intimidating, and did not sit alone anymore.

My other friends, Mike, and Jessica, who were in the awkward post-breakup friendship phase unsurprisingly, Angela and Ben, whose relationship had survived the summer, Eric, Conner, Tyler, and Lauren all sat at the same table, on the other side of an invisible line, that separated them from the Cullens. I was the only one who sat on that line. While Bella sat on the other side, separating herself from the others.

I wish she wouldn't alienate herself, it always made me think she was planning on becoming one of them, of leaving Charlie and joining the Cullens. I knew logically the only way she could have a relationship with Edward, she had to, but I didn't like it. I didn't like how Bella was ignoring everyone else for him.

Edward and Alice didn't find this minor ostracism odd or hurtful the way I would have. They barely noticed it. People always felt strangely ill at ease with the Cullens, almost afraid for some reason they couldn't explain to themselves.

The afternoon passed quickly and soon I was driving home. I wouldn't go to the elementary school until October hit, so until then I took do making masks at home. I also knew, in the back of my mind, that I needed to use the ever-growing pile of driftwood.

At some point I needed to tell the guys from the reservation to stop bringing me the wood. Sam came up over a few weeks ago with a trailer load of it and an apology. He was different than before, instead of his normal long hair he now had short cropped hair and was 'buff'. Part of me thought that the rumors were right, he was on steroids, but the other part said Sam would never do that.

Either way he apologized for disappearing, for not being there when I got hurt. He didn't tell me where he went or what happened, and I got the hint that I shouldn't ask. It didn't settle well with me, but I let it go.

I figured if I needed to know he'd tell me. And the way he looked at me made me think he knew something I didn't, like he was waiting for something to happen. It was a little unnerving.

At home I set up station in the kitchen, the tv playing Romeo and Juliet, for English. The entire story really irked me, so I would never watch it just because.

Two kids who just met fall in love, then die for each other. One you can't fall in love with someone you just met, you can lust after them... You need to develop; you need to know them. You can desire them and want to be with them but loving them takes time.

Two... they killed themselves. If that isn't the perfect example of if you leave me, I will kill myself, then I don't know what is. And it irritated me that so many people compare their relationship with it. So many people thought they couldn't live without another person and if their relationship isn't to that level, it isn't good enough.

Death isn't ideal but it's a part of life and you can't just end everything because someone you love dies; they wouldn't want that. My dad didn't want that for my mom, and I was glad she didn't give up. And if you're young like Romeo and Juliet... there'd almost certainly be another Romeo.

A better one that would actually check to see if you were dead. Stupid book, stupid movie.

I realized faintly that Bella loves the story and it worried me if Edward ever left. Not that I think Edward would, I liked him – to a point. I hadn't seen much of his relationship with Bella, other than the fact that they are never separate. So, he's a little possessive, maybe.

And Bella's the same way.

They literally can't do anything alone. I worry for them; the psychological implications of the relationship and co-dependency is off the roof. I wondered if maybe it was a vampire thing, but thought better of it.

Carlisle and Esme don't spend all their time together, they act like a normal married couple. And then Charlie isn't codependent on my mom, so I don't know where Bella got it from. Could be her mom, but from what Eve told me Renee is a lot like her, the outgoing persona, she was capable of living alone and it took her a little while to find a new husband, and for the first part of their marriage he traveled a lot. Renee was fine.

I shook my head; it wasn't my problem; the Cullen's weren't my problem. As long as they didn't hurt anyone, and right now they're up six. Six times they've saved someone. Three times for me and three times for Bella-that I know of... I would take one off because they caused Bella to get hurt the last time. The others weren't inherently their fault, because James and them would have passed through either way and i had been in the woods.

I had seen Rosalie a few times over the summer, but it was only in passing. And that hurt, I wasn't sure why. I guess part of me still hoped I'd get the chance to be with her. But the distance has done my mind good, she still plagues my dreams some nights and sometimes I find myself wishing she were around, but I knew the implications of being romantically involved with a vampire. I would have to become one or risk serious injuries again.

Neither sounded appealing.

More recently though my dreams had been overcome with wolves; good and bad. I remember the first one I had, and it terrified me. That nightmare had cause quite a bit of terror. Couldn't sleep for a while, not peacefully at least. I mean I just got over the nightmares of James and now a new vampire invaded. Piercing red eyes and blonde hair, sinister smile. It was awful.

As I began working on my homework, I had this intense urge to do everything now for some reason, I heard the door open. I jumped up slightly looking towards the entrance, my body relaxing when I realized it was my mom.

Ever since the incident in the spring I've been a little weary of being home alone, during the day no problem, but it's getting darker sooner, and with no way to see in the dark I had no clue who was waiting.

I was afraid another James would show up.

So much so that I had gotten thick curtains and blinds for my room. I didn't want to risk the chance of someone watching me while I was sleeping or showering. Before I wasn't worried because I didn't know about the vampires but now that I do.

And Toby wasn't there to protect me.