CHAPTER NINE

"Okay, I have no idea where we are." Jeremy says as he looks around the airport.

"Port Angeles." His sister tells him, and he flicks her ear. "Ow!" She spins around and punches him in the arm.

"I know what city we're in, you pain in my ass."

"You didn't specify!"

"Now, now, children — violence isn't the answer." A male voice gets their attention, and both teenagers turn around to find a slightly familiar man with dirty blond hair looking at the two of them, seemingly amused by their behavior.

"Henry?" Jeremy asks, uncertain, and he smiles.

"Come on, I don't look that different, do I?"

"Well, I was only six the last I saw you, so I have no idea." Jay shrugs.

"I remember." He nods. "You've both grown up a lot since then."

"Yeah, well, that was nine years ago."

"Come on. Kim's waiting at the car." He holds his hand out for Jay's bag, and she passes it to him before she and her brother follow him through the airport. "When we talked on the phone, you said that you were alright keeping your stuff in my room and sleeping on the pullout couch in the living room, but if you want more privacy, I can sleep in the living room instead." Henry says.

"You don't have to do that." Jeremy shakes his head.

"Teenagers should have access to a place where they can be alone. Especially when sharing a limited amount of space with two girls."

"I won't argue that one." He says, and Jay turns to glare at her brother briefly.

"I got the room all set for you." Henry tells him. "Brand new sheets and pillow, an empty dresser for your stuff. My dresser's still in there, but the room's yours otherwise."

"You're sure it's alright? I don't wanna put you out of your own room."

"I get in late sometimes anyway. It'll work out better so that I don't wake you." He insists, and the teenage boy nods.

"Alright, thanks." Jeremy says, and he nods.

They make it outside, and Henry leads them to his car in the parking lot. They see a teenage girl with dark brown hair that's pulled back into a ponytail. She smiles when she sees them walking over to her, revealing a row of straight, pearly white teeth.

"I actually forgot how much you two look nothing alike." Jay says, making Kim laugh.

"My white-boy big brother."

"Shut up." Henry puts his hand on her face and pushes her back a step.

"Dude, his hand is, like, the size of your head!" Jay starts laughing as Kim punches her brother.

"Why are you so damn loud?" Jeremy shakes his head as he helps Henry load their stuff into the trunk. "We're right here."

"Who asked you?"

"Come on." Kim motions to the car, chuckling at all of the bickering. "I'll sit in the back with you, let Jeremy sit up front."

"He's not special." She says, but climbs in the back with her anyway.

A few minutes later, Henry's driving down a wet road toward the reservation that they've lived on practically their entire lives. "It's a long way back to the house, about an hour and a half. Do you guys wanna stop for food on the way or pick up pizza once we're closer to home?" He asks the two siblings.

"We ate during the layover. Pizza's good." Jeremy says, to which his sister agrees.

"I knew I'd like having you two around." Kim smiles, and Jay chuckles as she looks at her.

"She'd have pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let her." Henry explains.

"Huh, sounds like Jay with burgers." The teenage boy says, and his sister smiles when he looks at her. "How are you not fat?"

"It's a medical miracle."

"Or a fast metabolism." Henry supplies.

"Behold Dr. Connweller." Kim mumbles.

"Could be genetic." He glances at Jay in the rearview mirror. "Was Jenna the same way?"

"Uh, kinda." Jay clears her throat. "But I was adopted." She tells him, and he nods. 

"Right. I always forget. You were always so much like her whenever we were around. And you never left her side." He says, and she smiles. "I was sorry to hear that she passed."

"Yeah... Yeah, me too." The little brunette looks out her window at the passing trees.

Later that night, Henry walks into the kitchen where Jay's washing the plates that they used when they were eating their pizza. "I got this, you don't have to." He says, gaining her attention.

"Oh, I don't mind. I'm almost done anyway." The little brunette says, and he leans against the counter a few feet away from her. Actually, she's glad to be doing something entirely mundane for a change.

"Listen, I didn't mean to upset you earlier." He says, and she shakes her head.

"You didn't. People just don't usually bring up my mom anymore, like they're afraid I'll break down if I hear her name." She shuts off the water after rinsing the last plate, then she sets it in the strainer beside the sink. "Truthfully, your comment just made me think about when I was a kid. I forgot how attached to her hip I used to be." She tells him, and he chuckles.

"That, you were." He nods. "Anywhere Jenna was, you had to be too. She used to have to sneak off just so she could go to the bathroom alone."

Jay laughs as she covers her face. "Oh, that's so embarrassing." She says, and he shakes his head as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"No, not at all. You were a kid, it was sweet how much you loved her. And she adored you." He tells her, and she moves her hands so that she can look at him. "She was just as attached to you as you were to her. It didn't matter how young she was, you were her kid, and no one was telling either of you otherwise."

She smiles. "She might as well have been my best friend. It was crazy how well she knew me. I swear sometimes she knew what was bothering me before I even did."

"Miranda used to say that you two were in sync with each other." He says. "What one of you felt, the other was always soon to follow. Like you read each other."

"Got worse as I got older."

"You mean after you hit puberty?" He asks, and she starts laughing.

"That was the worst." She shakes her head as her laughter dies down. "I used to think it was a good thing that there was no man in the apartment. 'Cause how would he deal with us?"

"Ah, I'm sure you guys weren't that bad." Henry says. "I remember Jenna. She could be feisty, but she was one of the nicest people on the planet."

"Yeah. Yeah, she was... They always say that it's the good ones who are gone too soon." She says as she looks down.

"Her life may not have been as long as it should've been, but it was still full." He says, and she looks back at him. "You gave her that, kid. She was beautiful, intelligent, and she knew a love that only a daughter can show a mother. Trust me, I saw it with Kim and our mom before she passed." He tells her, and she smiles.

"Thank you." Jay says, tears in her dark eyes, and he nods.

Henry's seen a lot of grief in his line of work, and he's gotten good at knowing what the right thing is to say. Moreover, he knows what's true that helps bring peace after the loss of a loved one like that that Jay's experiencing.

—

"No, no, no." Jeremy quickly grabs his sister's arm as they walk into the cafeteria at Forks High School, he doesn't want her walking anywhere near one particular table. "Not with Jessica. That girl flirts more than Damon does."

"Damon flirts with you?" Jay smirks, and he glares at her.

"You know what I meant." He points toward a table that only has one girl sitting at it. She has a tray of food in front of her, and she's staring out the window. "Over there."

"With the girl who looks like she wants to be alone?"

"Maybe she just has no friends. She could be the you of Forks." He smiles when she shoots him a dirty look.

"You're a comedian." She turns on her heel and walks away from him. The little brunette stops next to the table and then greets the girl sitting there. "Do you mind if my brother and I sit with you?" She asks, and the older girl looks up at her.

"Uh, sure." She pulls her backpack off of the chair nearest her and sets it on the floor.

"I'm Jay, and this is Jeremy."

"Bella." The brunette tells them as they sit down. "Are you new here?" She asks, though that doesn't seem like it's her real question.

"Yeah, it's our first day." Jeremy tells her. "We just moved here from Virginia."

"Oh." She nods.

"Are you from here?" Jay asks as she starts eating her salad.

"Originally." Bella nods as she looks at her. "I was born here, but my mom and I moved when I was a baby. I moved back to live with my dad at the beginning of the year."

"Oh, cool. Where did you live before?"

"Phoenix."

"Wow. That's a big difference from here." The younger girl says, and she nods, a half smile forming on her face.

"We're not bothering you, are we?" Jeremy asks, and Bella shakes her head.

"No. No, not at all." Actually, she was just thinking that it was kind of refreshing to be talking to someone who isn't simply trying to see how she's doing. These two strangers have absolutely no idea about what happened to make her avoid people most of the time.

The rest of the week passes much like their first day at school. Jay and Jeremy both talk to other kids during their classes and then spend lunch with Bella at her table — they're all in different grades, so they don't share many classes. Either Henry or Kim picks them up to drive them back to the reservation, and the three teenagers do their homework together at the dining table. It's a nice routine that they all fall into pretty quickly.