Chapter 6: Getting to Know You

All rights to SM and she sadly owns the characters but the ones I put in of course.

Word Count: 3,264

A/N Pictures of all outfits and such are on my blog just erase the spaces and brackets to access it, .ca, any mistakes are that of my own, now on to reading the chapter J

BPOV

As I pulled away from the school I watched through my rear-view mirror what Paul was doing. I watched him shake his head with a small grin on his face, almost a fond smile but there was no way that I could know. I watched Jared walk up and say something that caused Paul to turn around and say something back, not even a few seconds later everyone was there and they were all bent over at the waist laughing, I just shook my head. I knew they were going to be a bunch of people that would be interesting to hang out with. My symptoms of being sick seemed to passed as the day went on, I didn't have any more heat flashes and my head quite hurting around lunch time.

My first day went pretty smoothly, I was surprised with the amount of people who accepted me. I knew that some people would have to because I was the Police's daughter but I was a "White Girl" in an all Native Folk school and reservation. The amount of people that accepted me surprised me, if they hadn't though, I wouldn't know where I would fit in. I feel like this place is somewhere where I should be, that I actually have some sort of purpose here. Even within the group of guys I felt like I belonged and that I was important. It wasn't long before I was pulling into my drive and shutting the truck off. I knew that Charlie wasn't going to be here, pretty sure he was in Forks this afternoon but I could also be wrong and he could just be with Billy.

I ran inside and took my bag upstairs to my bedroom. I threw it onto my bed with no intentions of actually doing any homework till Sunday by the latest, homework wasn't my strongest point in life. Something that I knew would some day turn around and bite me in the ass for but oh well, I'll deal with that when it happens. I figured that I should grab a quick shower, wash away the first day of school grime off my body. I grabbed a good pair of bra and panty set and headed to the shower where my towel and washing stuff was already in. I knew that it was going to take some time getting used to actually bringing stuff to the bathroom and actually getting dressed in the bathroom, or at least partially dressed, before leaving. In Arizona I had my own bathroom; basically, the basement was completely my own living space, which was great. It meant that when I had friends over no one would bother us and when I wanted to have a shower I didn't have to worry really about putting clothes back on. I washed my hair with my coconut smelling shampoo and conditioner and scrubbed my body with my new body soap that smelled like green apples. I did a quick shave of my legs and underarms, usually, I would wax my underarms but I didn't want to wait and it was getting to be a bit much under there. After rinsing off I stepped out and dried off I put on my undergarments and wrapped my hair in my towel for it to dry and walked to my bedroom.

I walked to my closet and opened the door, trying to decide what I should wear. I pulled out this funky strapless crop top with mostly blue, pink, and black as the main colors with one of my many black plain tank to go over it. Next, I went over to my dresser and pulled out a pair of my favorite short shorts that showed off my legs. I decided to through on a silver chain link bracelet and my cross necklace to finish the outfit off. I looked over at my clock and saw that I had about only 5 minutes to go before Paul got here and we headed to the beach. I ran down the stairs and grabbed a bag to put some water and snacks in as well as my phone and sunglasses. I put on a pair of sandals and waited outside for Paul to arrive. It wasn't a long wait before Paul was pulling into the driveway behind the truck. He started to get out when I walked up to the passenger side door and was getting in. I waved at him to stop; I was not a big fan of guys trying to help me into vehicles, I wasn't some invalid that couldn't do anything.

"Hey," I grinned over at him, once I was seated in the front seat. His truck looked like it had lots of time spent on it. There was spots of repairs and some spots that looked like they were work in progresses.

"Hi, how are you?" he grinned a blinding grin back.

"Good. What time are we needed at Jake's for the sleepover tonight? I am assuming it is a Jakes, right?"

"I told the guys when we left that we would be there at 7:00 and it is 4:00 so we have three hours to kill. And yea, it's at Jakes, they usually are."

"Sounds awesome, I will have to go a little bit before that so I can pack a bag but you are welcome to sit on my bed while I do that," I remarked to him as he was backing out of the driveway and headed towards the beach. The weather was perfect to go sit on the beach with, and relax. Maybe we will get to know each other better. The ride to the beach from my house was a quite one but it was not an awkward silence just a peaceful one.

Once we reached the beach we jumped out of his truck and headed to the sand. I was looking forward to being able to sit on the sand and breathe in the fresh air of the water. That was something that I didn't get to do when I lived in Phoenix. Don't get me wrong we had the fresh air but it was dry. Here every time I step outside I take a deep breath of the fresh air, I can physically feel myself relaxing. We found a good spot and I hadn't realized it but he had grabbed a blanket out of the truck and was laying it down on the ground. I sat down beside him and looked out towards the water. The color was dark and seemed to go on for miles along the horizon. Waves were hitting up against the sides of the cliffs so harsh but at the same time peacefully, I knew that today would not be a day for people to go cliff jumping. In La Push cliff jumping was something that many locals did often, though I personally not done it, never really had an interest to do. When I visited in the summers Jake, Rachel and Rebekah and I would all go, but I would just sit and watch them, to chicken to actually do it. I have always loved to sit and just watch the water. Never have been big on swimming but watching that is something I absolutely love to do.

"How are you doing? Are you glad you came back?" Paul asked to start the conversation.

"Pretty good, I mean sure I miss my mom and my best guy friend Luca but I will still talk to them and hopefully Luca doesn't get into too much trouble without me there to pull him out. Yeah I'm glad I made the decision to come back, I missed dad for too much for the decision to be easy really. How about you, how are you doing?" I replied I wanted him to know more about my life in Arizona for some reason, I normally don't tell people about Luca right away. Especially talking about the trouble that the two of us would get into, more so after my accident.

"Fairly good, who is Luca?" He asked and there seemed as if there was a hint of jealousy in his voice, which is silly because Luca was not someone I would go for.

"Oh, Luca is one of my best friends. I met him at this summer job that I had and we connected really fast. He had done some pretty interesting things and needed to make up for it so they police put him as a volunteer at the job. He really isn't a bad person just someone who tends to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets blamed for a lot of things that he didn't do. Brought me into some of these said things but somehow with me there we always got out of you know? I always worry about him; he trusts to fast and gets hurt for it. Must be the Italian in him," I explained with a fond smile for the guy, remembering some of the crazier stuff he somehow convinced me to join on in.

"Do I even want to know what you got up to with him? Was it anything that was dangerous?" He asked with a cringe on his face, and I laughed. Many people thought that what Luca and I get up too were pretty interesting, I can only imagine what Paul thought about it. Hell dad doesn't even know half the shit that the two of us have gotten into, though nothing to do with drugs, neither of us would touch that with a ten foot pole much less our own hands.

"Probably not, about the wanting to know thing and there was never anything that almost got us killed, well not super close, there was this one time where he wanted me to jump off a cliff because he wanted to impress someone but other than that nothing to terribly dangerous. He tried to get me to do some drag racing but I drew a big fat no to that one. We also have never touched anything to do with drugs, too much history on his side with that shit. "

"He wanted you to jump off a cliff and drag race? What type of guy is he?"

"One that didn't have a father figure at all in his life, he's a good guy I swear. He never really talked about his father, I don't even think he even knew who he was and I never met him either. Though I have met his mother, lovely woman she is, always tries to do right by Luca, he really is her star," I expressed with a sigh, I missed both Luca and his mother, couldn't wait till he phoned, hopefully it would be soon.

"Just because he didn't have a father figure doesn't mean he should be doing dangerous things like that. My own father didn't play a big part in my life and I don't do dangerous and reckless things. I actually think I turned out to be pretty good considering the circumstances really."

Paul did have a good point; "Luca never did anything with the intentions of getting hurt. From what I know of his childhood he wasn't always reckless, I know that he grew up in Italy, and moving to the States had a big effect on him because he originally came over without his mom at first. He lived with some relatives before she came across. Luca had told me that he had always wanted to know who is father was but his mom would never tell him, always ignored or changed the subject when he asked. He once asked his mother while I was at his home to see if she would tell him something but she never would. Sometimes even I wonder who his father is because he doesn't even have his last name from what I know; he's got his mother's last name instead, Luca Castronovo."

"Are the two of you close?"

"Very, I told him everything. He was my confident after the car accident after I lost my best girlfriend. I told him about all of the things that I noticed to change about myself. I told him that it was weird that when I was supposed to have the casts on for up to 2 months at most and ended only having to have them on for 2 weeks because I had healed so fast. He actually helped me decide to tell my mom that I was moving here or not."

"What else have you noticed that has changed about yourself, besides the quick healing?"

"I have noticed that my sight, sense of smell and my hearing has most definitely improved. I have also noticed that when I woke this morning I felt extremely hot, like burning on the inside and my head felt like someone was taking a jack hammer to," I explained, maybe he had the answers to why I was changing and feeling the way I was.

"Anything else seems different to you?" Paul questioned almost hesitantly, he sounded like he was worried for some reason like maybe he didn't want to know the full truth about what I was feeling.

"No, not really, I think maybe I am just getting sick. These are some of the symptoms that I get before I get sick, I don't normally get sick but when I do it hits me pretty hard. Why, should I possibly asking my dad about something?" I replied I always knew that my dad ran a little warmer and was always curious but have never had the guts to ask why.

"No I don't think so, just promise you will tell me if anything gets worse, okay, or changes in any sort of way?"

"Yeah, now tell me more about you. You said that your father wasn't in your life very much, what happened to him?"

"My dad well let's just say that an ant would have been a better father than he was. He was an abusive asshole that didn't know when to stop. Was always beating the shit out of me and my mother till finally she walked out and I grew the balls to beat back, haven't seen him since then. "

I let out a gasp and almost whispered out, "He was abusive? What did he do?"

"Yea, he could get pretty bad but when he started to drink he would be downright horrible. He learned not to touch me after I started to fight back, though, noticed that I was significantly stronger than he was. I always ended up doing more damage to him then what he could do when he got his hands on me. He did finally get fed up and walked out though, so there was some benefit of me fighting back. My mom, I guess you could say was smart enough to get out before he got worse, only down side is that she didn't take me with. She left when I was about 3 years old I think, I don't really remember her much. Left the old man to raise and beat the shit out of me. He blamed me for her leaving, always said that if I wasn't born then she would have stayed. I just wish that she would have smart enough to take her only son with her when she left." He ended is story with a shrug of indifference.

"Oh Paul," I whispered while moving closer to him on the blanket and wrapping my arm around his shoulder. His story made me thankful for my parents, even though they were divorced, they both still cared for me and when my mom brought in Phil he was just another father figure for me to look up to. Phil treats me like I am of his own blood, though I think he wishes that him and mom would have a one of their own, maybe they will now that I'm gone, which will be good for both of them. Then they wouldn't feel so empty nested now that I'm back with dad. Sometimes I have wondered what my life would have been like if my parents didn't get a divorce and my mom didn't take me to Arizona with her. I wonder what it would have been like if Phil hadn't come into our lives. Would my mom be different, would she actually act like a mom and not some over grown teenager, that's why a kid would be good for them, Phil would help her settle more into the role of being a parent then what my dad could do. Would have I actually had the time to be a true child while growing up? Don't get me wrong, I had times where I could be a child but that was normally only when I came and visited my dad and was playing around with Jake.

I wanted to stop thinking about such heavy stuff so I prompted him to talk about what the guys are like, giving a me a picture of what to expect tonight.

"Oh man, the guys can be great at times and down right riots at others. There's always some sort of commotion going on," he said with a fond smile while thinking of everyone.

"Tell me about them as individuals?"

"I'll start with Sam, he like the leader of all of us. Always making sure we are safe and happy. He's got a hard shell though, his upbringing was very similar to that of mine, but he had a loving mom and no dad. Then there's Jared, which is already know a little bit. He's always been quite, and the rock of our relationship you could say. He always has been there when my dad got rough when I couldn't fight back yet. Once you get to know him and he likes you, he's loyal to you for life; it's one of his perks." I grinned at his friendship with Jared, from the little I knew of him I could agree with the loyal part, but I also think there's more of a goofy side to him too.

"What about Embry and Quill?"

He barked out a laugh at the mention of those two and went on to say, "Those two are never separated. Quill specifically is the clown of the group, always trying to find the joke in anything and sometimes the jokes aren't the most appropriate, so be prepared to have many innuendos this evening, and honestly Embry just feeds into those jokes." He continued to tell me about the rest of the group as we continued to sit on the beach. The girls all sounded like people that I would get along with really well, even Leah. Learning about Seth just made me want to squish his cheeks together he was just so darn sweet and cute. Everyone honestly sounded like a great group and I couldn't wait to get to know all of them on personal levels. Maybe even get information on Paul from them. Paul didn't have to tell me about Jake I knew him pretty well already, even though we've been fairly strained lately he was still my brother. I was happy to get to sit and spend time with Paul like this. It showed how much he enjoyed being friends with everyone and how loyal he was to each of them, it really made me want to know he interacted with everyone.