"Are you guys going to help, or what?" Evelyn whined loudly as she struggled with the plates of food in her hands. Her sharp gaze was directed at Jacob, Quil, and Embry, who were currently lounging in the lawn chairs set up in the Clearwaters' backyard instead of assisting in setting up for the cookout party.

Sue had invited Evelyn and Marie to come along, as well as Charlie and Bella, so her aunt had insisted they show up early to help get the food ready and set up. Sue had told Evelyn and the boys to bring the food out to the picnic table in the yard, but so far Evelyn was the only one actually doing any work. And yet somehow, she couldn't find it in herself to be surprised.

Embry grinned lazily up at the girl as she passed him. "Nah, it looks like you got it covered, Ev."

Evelyn scowled at him, adjusting the weight of the plates in her hands. "Asshole," she mumbled not-so-quietly under her breath, making the three boys erupt in laughter. With a huff, she turned and began to head in the direction of the tables that Sue had set up to deliver the food.

"Okay, okay, I'll help. Wait up, Ev!" Jacob called from behind her, and she slowed only slightly as he ran up beside her with expectant hands. She raised her eyebrows at him as she handed him the veggie tray in her hand without slowing her pace. "Geez, how many carrots did Marie load on this thing? It's actually kinda heavy."

"I think you forget how much food it takes to feed all of you," Evelyn quipped back, nodding back towards the other boys, who were now joined by Seth, with a smile. "It's kind of scary how much you guys can throw down."

Jacob flexed his free arm dramatically, an easy grin on his lips. "Hey! These biceps didn't come from nowhere, you know. A man's gotta eat."

They had reached the table then, where both Marie and Sue had heard the last part of Jacob's words. They shared a quick look before both of them burst into giggles. Evelyn snorted as they set down the plates in the spots that Sue had cleared for them on the tabletop. Man... right.

"Aw, that's cute," Marie cooed, reaching up to ruffle Jacob's hair as she walked by. "Keep telling yourself that, Jakey."

"Hey!" Jacob exclaimed, his hand flying to his hair as he hurried to fix it again after Marie had messed it up. Marie waved him off as she walked away, and Jacob was just about to say something else when Sue interrupted him from behind them.

"I hope you both know how to use a vegetable peeler because I have a whole basket of apples that need peeling for the pie tonight and no time to do it." She smiled sweetly, holding up a pair of the utensils and shoving one into both of the teenagers' hands.

Jacob scowled at the device in his hands. "Sue, I really don't think--"

But the woman was already walking away back towards the house. "Thank you!" She called out to them without turning around. Jacob looked down at the peeler in his hands and then at the large basket of apples on the table, a loud sigh escaping his lips. Evelyn shook her head, already knowing where his mind was going.

"Oh no," Evelyn began, lightly shoving him towards the table. "You already said you were going to help me and you're not allowed to back out now."

Jacob rolled his eyes as the pair sat down, but his easy-going grin lit up his face. "Wow, I'm not allowed? You're spending too much time with Leah, you're almost as bossy as her now."

Evelyn elbowed him in the ribs, earning an annoyed grunt from the large boy next to her. "No need to talk badly about Leah. We're actually kinda friends now, you know." She frowned suddenly, looking around at the various people milling about the property. "Speaking of Leah, where is she? I haven't seen her since I got here."

Jacob shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he struggled to get the skin off the apple in his hand. "She usually doesn't stick around for this kind of stuff."

Evelyn frowned. "Why? I thought she liked getting together with everyone."

"She does... or she used to, at least. That was before she and Sam Uley broke up."

She suddenly remembered Leah talking about Bella the other night at the diner. So that's what she meant by knowing how Bella feels. "Who's Sam Uley? I've heard the name but I haven't gotten to meet him, yet."

Jacob nodded in the direction of the Clearwaters' house, towards the group of people sitting and talking on the back porch. Harry and Marie were there, as well as Charlie, who she figured must have just shown up. A couple other older members of the tribe were sitting in chairs, and then she noticed a large, muscular man with dark, cropped hair. He had his arm around a small woman at his side. She was facing away from the two teenagers towards the house, so Evelyn couldn't see her face. She could feel the sense of purpose and power radiating from the boy even from where she sat. It was a little unsettling, to say the least.

"That's Sam and his fiancée, Emily. She's Seth and Leah's cousin. Apparently Sam got together with Emily right after they broke up their senior year of high school last year and it's just been kind of awkward ever since." Jacob shrugged, turning back to the basket of apples. "I don't know all the details but I do know that Leah disappears whenever Sam comes around. I guess it's easier for her that way."

Evelyn nodded, her heart aching for the girl she was slowly starting to consider a friend. Poor Leah. If Jasper was still here, she would probably be doing the same thing, too. The girl also couldn't help but notice the slight tone of bitterness in Jacob's voice when he mentioned Sam.

She waited a few moments, peeling in silence, before she spoke again. "So... I take it that you don't like Sam very much, either."

"I don't really know," Jacob said, but again, she could hear the negative tone in his voice. "He walks around here like he owns the place and knows something that the rest of us don't. It doesn't help that Paul and Jacob follow him around like his little lost puppies, or something. It just annoys me, I guess."

Evelyn frowned, glancing back at Sam Uley. Now, she saw two other boys who could only be Paul and Jared hovering near Sam and Emily. She also noticed Billy Black, who must have just come outside on the porch in his wheelchair, sitting and laughing with them.

"Your dad seems really friendly with them," she observed, making Jacob scoff as he peeled his apple with slightly more aggression.

"Don't even get me started on my dad," Jacob told her. "Him and the other elders see him as this golden poster boy or something. He's always telling me I should go hang out with them more. Honestly, I think he's finally starting to go senile."

Evelyn rolled her eyes, gently elbowing him in the ribs. "Don't be mean. Your dad is probably just looking out for you."

"Yeah, I know. It's just super weird, you know? I was telling Bella about it the other day and she said the same thing." He paused for a moment, biting his lip. "So... do you think Bella is gonna come tonight?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. Probably not if she didn't come with Charlie." At Jacob's visible deflation, Evelyn smiled and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Jake, she just needs some time. It's still hard for her to be out and around a bunch of people."

Jacob scowled, throwing the freshly peeled apple in his hand into the basket. "I just don't understand why she's still so hung up on those stupid Cullens. They just up and left without any explanation. I would never do something like that to her."

"I'm sure you wouldn't," Evelyn breathed softly, her throat tightening at the sudden reminder that she had been left behind, too.

Jacob, noticing the sadness in her voice, quickly tried to make things better. "I'm sorry, Ev, I didn't mean to sound rude—"

"Except you did, Jacob," Evelyn interrupted, but she had a soft smile on her face. "It's okay, really. You're allowed to have your own opinions of them. Don't hold back on my account. Although, I'd keep your thoughts about the Cullens to yourself around Bella. It's still a sensitive topic for her."

Jacob nodded solemnly, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what Evelyn could only assume to be Bella. "Yeah, I noticed."

Just then, she heard her name being yelled from behind her. When she turned, she saw her aunt on the porch waving at her to come inside. At the sound of Marie calling her name from the house again, Evelyn stood and brushed off her jeans. "I believe I'm being summoned. You think you can handle the rest of the apples on your own?

"Why do you have so little faith in me?" Jacob retorted, a goofy grin on his face. "I got this. I'm basically a pro now."

She giggled, pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders. "You better be, cause if the pie is bad I'm telling Sue it's your fault." At the look on Jacob's face she grinned, ruffling up his hair again to annoy him even more. "I'll see you late tonight then."

Jacob hurried to fix his hair again with a mock scowl on his face, smiling when Evelyn stuck her tongue out at him. "See ya, Ev. I'll save you a spot at the bonfire later," he called to her as she began walking towards the house.

"Can't wait!" She called back over her shoulder, and she hurried towards the house where she could feel the warmth from the kitchen emanating from the screen door.

As she walked, her mind lingered on Jacob's words. I would never do something like that to her. It wasn't a secret that Jacob had always had feelings for Bella; whenever they were together it was written all over his face. She hoped that Jacob wouldn't try to rush Bella or talk her into a relationship that she didn't truly want. Right now, in her opinion, Bella needed supportive friends, not another relationship when she had not even gotten over Edward yet. She could only hope that Jacob could see that, too.

***

The rest of the cookout party went by quickly and without a hitch. A lot of Harry and Sue's friends on the reservation came, and Marie and Sue had cooked an excellent meal while Charlie and Billy had been in charge of grilling all of the meat. Evelyn found herself more relaxed than she had been in a long time as she hung out with Jacob, Seth, Embry, and Quil. After dinner they had played a modified version of football in the yard, and when it finally got dark enough, everyone gathered around the fire pit in the backyard to listen to the tribe elders tell stories.

She found herself squished in between Jacob and Embry as she stared at the fire, rolling her eyes when the two boys would argue around her and giggling when they would whisper their jokes about the stories in her ear. Because of them, she honestly couldn't remember a thing about the stories since she was so distracted the entire time. Next time, she thought, I'll sit somewhere else so I can pay attention.

It was late by the time Evelyn and Marie made their way home, the scent of campfire smoke and the freshly cut grass lingering on their clothes and hair. As she followed her her aunt inside their cozy home, she couldn't help but smile at the comforting feeling of having both a full stomach and heart. A warmth she hadn't felt in a long time was settling in her body, and the pleasant feeling of her tired eyes drooping made her excited to go to sleep.

As Evelyn shut the front door behind them, Marie trudged into the living room, flopping down on the couch while a yawn escaped her throat.

"Shouldn't you be going to bed, Marie?" Eveyln asked, her tone teasing as she paused at the foot of the stairs before she went up to bed.

Her aunt yawned again, shaking her head and letting her eyelids flutter closed. "I will, I will, I just need to sit down for a second..." Her soft voice trailed off as she settled deeper into the couch cushions, and Evelyn knew that she would be asleep within seconds from the exhaustion of the day.

She sighed and tiptoed quietly to the armchair where they haphazardly threw all of their throw blankets and grabbed a brightly colored one that her grandmother had knitted years ago. Carefully, the girl draped the blanket over her aunt's sleeping frame, smiling when she saw the woman subconsciously snuggle deeper into the couch with it.

"Goodnight, Marie," she whispered, gently brushing her lips on the woman's cheek as she reached over and turned off the lamp on the end table beside her.

The house was quiet save for the creaking steps as she made her way upstairs to her bedroom. Evelyn, too tired to keep her eyes open all the way, walked into her room and grabbed the first pair of sweatpants and t-shirt that she could find and went into the bathroom across the hall to shower.

She relished the feeling of the hot water running over her tired body, slowly but surely rinsing away the lingering dirt and smoke smell away. She couldn't help but smile when she thought of the pure happiness she had felt that night; there was no sadness, no awkward silences, no uncertainties. She felt like a normal girl who had hung out with her normal friends, and she was suddenly grateful to be purely human. She would have to make sure Bella would come next time. Some time away from Forks would be good for her. Maybe Jacob can convince her to come if I can't...

After she had put off getting out of the shower long enough, she turned off the water and hurried to dress to fight off the biting cold that swirled in the house from the chilly winter night. She quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face, not bothering to dry her wet hair before she went back to her room to get ready for bed.

Feeling slightly less tired after her shower, Evelyn sat down at her desk to continue working on a sketch she had started earlier of the barren trees outside her window. However, when she reached for her pencil, she had the sudden feeling that something was not quite right. Her hand froze in midair when her eyes landed on the framed picture of her parents resting innocently on the corner of her desk. Normally, she wouldn't have been concerned, but the soft light from her desk lamp made her notice that the picture had been moved slightly to the left of its original spot. There was even an outline of dust marking where the frame had originally been sitting, and now it was positioned to the side as if someone had picked it up and put it back down again.

That's strange, she thought. She knew neither her or Marie could have done it since they had both been gone the whole day... so who could it have been?

Her thoughts immediately jumped to whoever it was that she suspected of supposedly following her. Had they been in her room? Her stomach knotted in fear, and she felt her heartbeat speed up as she stood and quickly checked in her closet and under her bed just in case they still happened to be here. What do they want with me?

But then the logical part of her brain seemed to take over. She had been in a rush this morning to leave the house. She probably just bumped it when she was getting ready and doing her makeup at her desk. I'm just being paranoid. The picture had just barely moved; more than likely she had just bumped her desk earlier and the frame had moved with it. After all, if someone was following her and did in fact make it into her room, why would they only move an old photograph of her parents on her desk? It just didn't make any sense.

Still, she made sure her bedroom window and door were securely locked with the curtains drawn before she went to sleep that night. Despite talking herself out of a panic earlier, she wasn't going to take any chances.

***

"--and then she had the nerve to tell me that she wasn't leaving a tip! Even after I had her meal remade three times just because her burger wasn't 'crisp' enough on the outside! I swear, if another old lady complains to me about seasoning... Evelyn, are you even listening to me?"

The sound of her name pulled Evelyn from her thoughts. She and Leah were performing their nightly dishwashing duties after closing time while Marie finished up in the office, but she had barely registered her friend talking because the storm brewing in her mind had occupied nearly all of her attention.

"Sorry, Leah, I guess I'm just distracted tonight," she answered honestly, wiping the sweat from her brows with her forearm.

Leah scoffed, reaching for another dish to scrub. "No shit, you've been drying the same plate for like five minutes. What's your problem?"

Eveyln looked down sheepishly at the plate in her hands and the growing pile of wet dishes on the counter as she realized Leah was right, and hurried to put it away and grab another one. "I don't know, I just didn't sleep that great last night. Bad dream."

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't entirely the truth, either. She had had a strangely vivid dream the night before of Jasper, but it wasn't in any place that she recognized. She had seen him sitting at a desk in what seemed like a large lecture hall, with his long blond hair pulled back and glasses resting perfectly on the bridge of his nose. He had looks so familiar and like a stranger at the same time; it was unnerving to see him so clearly in a dream. She had felt like she was actually there with him, and tried to call out to him multiple times to no avail. There were other people there, too, humans, and she had noticed that all of them except Jasper were taking notes as if they were in class. It was strange, to say the least, and when she woke up she felt like she had stepped between the two places simply through her dream. Compounded with her anxiety about the moved picture frame, she had no idea what was going on. Maybe I am going crazy.

The sound of the bell on the front door made both girls pause momentarily. Evelyn could faintly hear the footsteps of whoever had just walked in on the wooden floors behind the door to the dining room, but otherwise they had made no other sound.

"Do people not understand that we close at nine? That's the third time this week," Leah said, rolling her eyes as she went back to scubbing.

"I guess not. Maybe they're from out of town," Evelyn suggested lightly, grabbing another plate with the towel in her hand.

Leah frowned as she worked, water splashing around her. "Whatever, I had to kick the last person out last night so it's your turn now."

Just then, Marie poked her head out of the office. "Could one of you girls take care of that for me? I'm still balancing the books and I'll forget where I was if I stop."

Evelyn sighed, already making her way towards the dining room door as she continued drying. "Yeah, yeah, I got it. It's your turn next time, Leah."

"No," She heard Leah deadpan from behind her as she reached the door, making her laugh before she swept through the doorway and into the dining room.

She started speaking before she saw who had entered. "I'm so sorry but we closed an hour ago. You'll just have to come back to--"

The moment her eyes fell on the stranger in front of her, her breath seemed to catch in her throat. Her eyes immediately were met with those of brilliant gold, the telltale sign of a "vegetarian" vampire. She gasped, the plate in her hands slipping from her fingers and shattering on the floor with a loud crash. She instantly recognized him as the boy she ran into at the movie theater a few nights ago. What was this vampire doing here in Forks?

The mysterious stranger's golden eyes flashed when he took her in, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Instantly, she was suspicious. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, as if he knew something about her that she didn't know herself. Her green eyes narrowed at the unfamiliar vampire as her fists clenched at her sides.

"What do you want?" She demanded. "Who are you?"

Just then, Marie came rushing out from the kitchen, her eyes widening when they landed on the broken plate at Evelyn's feet and the topaz-eyed stranger standing in front of them. "Evelyn, are you okay? What happened?"

Evelyn blinked, wary of taking her eyes off the man in front of them. "Sorry, I just dropped a plate. It was an accident."

Marie walked over, taking her niece's hands in her own to examine them for injuries. "You're not hurt?" She asked, her eyes scanning the young girl's body feverishly.

"No," breathed Evelyn. Her aunt's eyes met her own once more, and the girl nodded towards the vampire standing in the doorway of the restaurant. Marie frowned, turning, and Evelyn could see the shock and confusion when she took in the stranger with her own eyes.

"Can I help you, sir?" She asked, her usual bubbly customer service voice tinged with suspicion. "We closed at nine. If it's not an emergency, I suggest you come back tomorrow when we're open."

The man raised his hands in defense, and Evelyn suddenly noticed a newspaper clutched in the palm of his pale hand. "I don't mean to intrude. I was just in the area tonight and I wanted to respond to your ad as soon as possible." When Marie didn't answer immediately, he continued. "I'm a student at the community college and I was hoping I could take the dish washer job, if it's still available." When he finished speaking, he smiled, showing off his perfectly white teeth and a dimple on his left cheek.

The sound of his silky smooth voice made Evelyn's breath catch in her throat. She had nearly forgotten the hypnotic quality of a vampire's voice, and the sudden reminder was making her head spin. There was no way that she believed that he was simply a local college student, but when she looked at her aunt she was mildly disappointed to see that his charm seemed to be working on her.

Her aunt had visibily relaxed, and she offered the vampire a warm smile. "Well the job is still available, if you want it. I'm afraid it's a little late for me to do a real interview right now but if you'd like to come back tomorrow we can talk more about it then, Mr..."

"Cameron. My name is Will Cameron. I'll make sure to stop by first thing tomorrow."

Marie smiled again, nodding in satisfaction. "Alright then, Mr. Will Cameron, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Marie Masen, and this is my niece, Evelyn." She gestured to the girl next to her, who was still staring with narrowed eyes at Will in an attempt to see what his true intentions might be. "I look forward to talking with you in the morning. I hope you have a good rest of your night."

Will nodded once, his eyes crinkling at the corners when he smiled. "Thank you so much. I'll see you tomorrow then, Ms. Masen." His eyes shifted to Evelyn, his eyebrows slightly raised as if he were daring her to say something. Eveyln stayed silent. "Goodnight, Evelyn."

And with that, the vampire disappeared out the door and into the night.